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evanpeterssource · 3 years

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Evan Peters and Billie Lourd Discuss the Art of Dying Onscreen

BILLIE LOURD: Let me set the scene for you: I’m sitting outside my house in my never-washed car, because that’s the only silent place in my home, and it’s not even in my home. I have a wireless breast pump with me, so if you hear a weird sound, that’s what that is.

PETERS: I’m in my bedroom, currently in my PJs. I worked a night shoot last night and am doing a night shoot again tonight. So, I’m drinking coffee and trying to wake up and get back into it.\

LOURD: I know how that goes. My hands are on my temples for you. Okay, Ev, I’m fucking obsessed with Mare of Easttown. I do not watch any shows because if I ever have free time, it’s usually spent napping or just lying in a silent room. But I failed all my nap times with watching this show. You’re a fucking genius.

PETERS: Thanks Billie. I appreciate it.

LOURD: Tell me the story of how it all came to be.

PETERS: They sent me the script and it said that Kate Winslet was going to be the lead, and that it was an HBO crime drama. So I was like, dude, I’ve got to really work on this one. I did the self-tape thing, so it was super awkward and weird.

LOURD: It was a self-tape? Wow.

PETERS: Yeah, I sent that in, and then the director and writer and showrunner were like, “You want to have some lunch?” And I was like, “They’re going to tell me to redo the tape, I know it.” And then they offered me the part, thankfully.

LOURD: That’s when you know you’re a really good actor, is when you get a part off a self-tape. I’ve never done that.

PETERS: Oh come on, you’re a great actress. You can do that single-tear thing.

LOURD: I do have a single-tear thing!

PETERS: That’s incredibly hard to do.

LOURD: Only when there’s a promise of bratwurst at Krafty’s will I do a single tear. What was the scene that you had to tape?

PETERS: The earlier scenes, where I’m coming in and meeting Mare and she just does not want me there at all.

LOURD: I was going to say, if you had to do that drunk scene, or the breakdown scene, that would be a nightmare. Did you know you were going to die? How did that make you feel? I’m a therapist now.

PETERS: It was a little stressful trying to navigate that. You had a finite amount of time to cram in all this stuff. Because you knew how it was going to go, and you wanted it to have an interesting arc, but… poor Zabes.

LOURD: Dude, it was fucking devastating. Zabel is so sweet, and you’re like, “No, he was on such a fucking upswing!” You’ve gotten shot in the head a couple of times now, which is pretty rare for an actor.

PETERS: Yeah, he’s got to work on that quick draw. But it was a cool scene to shoot. We kind of stretched out time and it was like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where it was a stare-down, and you’re like, “God, this feels like a really long time to be staring at people.” But Craig, the director, was like, “We’ll edit it. It’ll look good.” And nowadays, everything’s CGI, so back in the day they probably would have used blanks to help with that, but it was just a click. Or the other actor going, “Bang!” and all of a sudden you would have to get shot in the head. And you’re like, “What are we, 12, playing with guns?” It was such an awesome set that they built. They found this property that was like an abandoned bar, with a house on the back. And then set dressing came in and made it that amazing, creepy, disheveled, messed-up house that it was. So it was really cool to be in there and feel like, “Oh my God, we got the guy.”

LOURD: It’s amazing to watch you piece it together and look at each other and hear the pipe banging. It’s so suspenseful. We’ve got to talk about Kate. Can I call her Kate? Should I call her Kate Winslet? She’s so fucking magical. What was that like working with her.

PETERS: I was pretty terrified and nervous and stressed out before meeting her. I’m such a huge fan, and she’s one of the best actresses of all time. But she was so warm and down-to-earth and immediately disarming. What’s really cool is that she’s very collaborative. I thought she was going to be like, “Nope, I’m right. You’re all wrong.” You know, because she’s brilliant. But she was very open to new ideas and exploring things. I found that really reassuring, and surprising, since she’s set at such a high caliber.

LOURD: That’s so cool to hear. I feel like every actor’s dream is to get to work with her. Did you stay in your accents all the time? I always wonder that when people do accents.

PETERS: I was in it the whole time. I’m not good enough of an actor to be able to pop in and out of it. Somebody on set said there are different levels. There’s the learning it, there’s the “I have to stay in it,” and then there’s, “I’m so good that I can pop in and out of it.” Kate was that. She was incredibly English throughout the whole thing. Like [in British accent], “Oh, hi, Zabes. How are you doing babes? You good? Everything good? Okay, great.” And then she’d be like [in Philadelphia accent], “Let’s go get a hoagie. Let’s go down to the shore and check out the store.” I was just like, oh my god. How do you do that?

LOURD: That is so trippy. I don’t think I could do that.

PETERS: No, I could not do that. She’s really impressive that way.

LOURD: What was your favorite scene to do with Kate? I have to stop calling her that. Lady Winslet?

PETERS: There were so many. The bar scene was pretty awesome because it was so improvised.

LOURD: Oh, really?

PETERS: Yeah, it was just kind of fun to be at a bar with Lady Winslet.

LOURD: That’s my dream.

PETERS: But there was another scene that I really liked too: When I first got in the car, and I’m like, “Hey, are we carpooling?” And she’s like, “Ugh, this fucking guy.” And then I get in the car and she slams on the gas and I almost smoke my head. I thought that was really fun because it was one of the earlier scenes that we shot, and it set the tone for how much Mare was annoyed at Zabel being there.

LOURD: How did you do the bar scene? Are you allowed to get drunk?

PETERS: No, you can’t get drunk unfortunately. But I would say I’ve done a ton of research over the years. You know, at a couple of your birthday parties.

LOURD: Would you rather do a death scene or a killing scene?

PETERS: Oh, that’s a hard question. It really depends on how you’re killing or dying. Dying is such a challenge, as an actor.

LOURD: I don’t like dying.

PETERS: It’s so hard. It’s like, how do you do it? And does this look believable? Can they see me breathing? It really depends on how you’re getting killed as well. There’s so many questions and so many ifs.

LOURD: Killing me in American Horror Story was such a laugh. I hope they put in parentheses, “She said sarcastically.”

PETERS: Yeah, that was a pretty horrific day.

LOURD: That was a rough one. I’ve watched it back and I can definitely see myself breathing. And the eyes are so hard, like to actually keep your eyes open. I feel like I’ve made the decision to close my eyes. Do you do open-eye or closed-eye deaths?

PETERS: I like to do a little halfsies—a little open, a little closed.

LOURD: I like it. Split the difference. Have you been on the streets since Zabel died? Do people come up and hug you and thank god that you’re actually alive?

PETERS: No. I’ve gotten some text messages that were like, “Sorry, man. You’ve got to work on that quick-draw.” I’m super stoked that people like the show.

LOURD: It’s one of those shows that’s now part of the zeitgeist. Even my baby loves it. How long did it take to shoot?

PETERS: Gosh, we started in October 2019, and then I was supposed to be done at the beginning of March 2020. I had about two or three weeks left. Then the pandemic hit and they punted it to September. I was like, “Oh man, I’ve got to keep learning this accent for six months.”

LOURD: And not eat all the double doubles in sight. You had to keep that accent and keep that bod.

PETERS: Yeah, it was a challenge.

LOURD: What do you think would have happened with Mare and Zabel if Zabel didn’t die? It’s a real thinker.

PETERS: Ooh, that is a real thinker. I think they would have gone on a few more dates and then Mare probably would’ve realized that Zabel’s not the one. Zabel would have been devastated again.

LOURD: I think they could have had a shotgun wedding in Vegas and lived happily ever after. It could have been great.

PETERS: I like that for Zabel. That sounds good.

LOURD: Do you think you would have moved to Easttown or would he have gone back?

PETERS: I think he definitely would have had to move out of his mom’s place. For sure that would have been step number one.

LOURD: Were you sad when he died or did you think that this was the perfect ending for him?

PETERS: I thought it was an interesting ending to the character. He kind of came in, and then it was so shocking, but that’s the way death is in real life. You’re never really expecting it, and then it happens.

LOURD: It’s amazing you got to know the whole arc of the character before you played him.

PETERS: Yeah, it’s rare to get all the episodes beforehand. You make a choice in episode two and then you get to episode seven and you’re like, “Oh wait, that was totally wrong, what I did in episode two… Can we go back and reshoot that?” And they’re like, “No.”

LOURD: Did knowing the ending affect how you played him? He was so lovable anyway, but did knowing he was going to die make you play him even more lovably, if that’s a word?

PETERS: Yeah, that did play into it. There was talk about making him a little bit more arrogant and cocky. But I thought, when he dies, it’d be more tragic if he wasn’t that. So we tried to make him a little bit bumbling and not as good of a detective and really trying. We wanted it to be as shocking and sad as we could.

LOURD: Did you do any actor-y stuff? Like, a cologne you wore? Or did you wear a special hat?

PETERS: That’s so funny. I wish I wore a special hat to work every day , like an old-school 1940s detective hat. I did always have my coffee mug. There was a little bit of a Zabel-mug thing going on. And there were rituals. I would write in the mornings and try to get into it, stuff like that. But god, I wish I wore a hat.

LOURD: We should incorporate that into our future careers, to make sure we have a hat for every role we play. And then you could have a case at your house of all the hats you wore.

PETERS: That’s so goddamn funny.

LOURD: People are going to be like, “Billie Lourd is a psychopath.”

PETERS: Oh, you know what I did do? I wore a cross. You can’t see it, but when he died, I wanted you to see the cross on his neck. He’s got this weird thing with religion where he was raised religious, but then being in the line of work that he’s in and seeing all this death and awfulness, you start to question that. And then his mom is very religious. So I wanted him to be, underneath it all, a little bit religious and hopeful and needing the protection of god when he went out into the field.

LOURD: That’s way better than a hat.

#evan peters #billie lourd #interview #mare of easttown spoilers #txt #ours #extraordinaryxmen

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skinks · 4 years

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I would just like to say Bongo Smugglers killed me. I’m sitting in class giggling thinking about a Losers movie night where they have a dramatic showing of the movie. Audra and Richie are less embarrassed then they should be. It becomes an annual tradition to play a bongo smugglers™️ drinking game at Christmas.

AHH this is amazing, I just shoved two words together that I thought were funny and suddenly it’s this whole ugly 2002 sex comedy fully formed in my head. Glad it killed you during class. And yeah, they’re definitely not embarrassed, everyone’s heckling the writing and the early 2000s fashion more than anything else anyway.

Richie happily provides commentary the whole way through even though he’s only in the sex scene, waving his tortilla chip in Eddie’s face because he’s got his arm around his shoulder, hugging him close into Richie’s side. Eddie keeps snapping bites at it so often that Richie just ends up hand feeding him chips.

“Aaaaaaand... that’s the first time I touched a boob, right there!“

“Glad to help,” Audra winks.

“The exact moment I realized I was totally lying to myself. I’m having an entire existential sexuality crisis right there on camera, but can you tell? Does my fratty façade crack an inch?”

“I could tell, because you spent fifteen minutes before the scene pacing around set and chanting you can do this, you can do this, don’t throw up, you like girls, but not too much, because you don’t get paid if you pop a boner, c’mon Richard, c’mon—”

“Like I said,” Richie shouts, over all his stupid friends laughing at him, “no one can tell, ‘cus I’m a pro—”

“You call yourself Richard during pep talks?” Stan’s grinning at him sharp-beaked, like a vulture. Has Richie seen him blink even once since he came back from the dead? Not sure, not sure, make note to ask Patty to spy.

Onscreen Audra is shimmying down her low-rise stone-wash boot-cut jeans, boots with the fur, the whole club was in fact lookin’ at her. What the fuck was anyone thinking back then? Richie privately blames the Bush administration, and continues.

“You’re a great scene partner, Audra-my-deah, and I respect you for cougaring not one but two of our little balding Brady Bunch here, but you were kinda the reason I figured out I’m gay. Like, big time gay. Well, the second reason.” He rubs tortilla-salt fingers through Eddie’s hair and feels his stomach go fuzzy when Eddie kinda thrums out a low noise against him. Oh, he’s purring. Some deep down part of Richie’s caveman psyche, lodged right in the hungry reptilian nub of his central brain wants to bear-hug Eddie to a pulp, wants to Lenny him like a mouse until they both stop breathing at the same exact moment from the pressure.

Yeesh, dark!

He smooches one of Eddie’s Easter Island eyebrows instead, keeps his lips mushed there. Smooches again. “Biiiiiiig time.”

“My wife,” Bill whips around from his seat on the floor at Richie’s feet, cheeks bulging with wontons, “my wife did not cougar me.”

Eddie shushes him. Everyone else is exchanging Looks, including Audra, because she totally did cougar Bill. Good for her!

“My wife,” Richie mimics, all sing-song and bugling. “Who the fuck are you, Borat?” Eddie snorts, hard. “Turn around and watch me make sweet love to ya woman, Bill.”

Onscreen Richie is struggling out of a giant hockey jersey at the sight of Onscreen Audra’s nubile charms. Everything is lit terribly, to a Smash Mouth deep cut.

“Oh man, check out that figure.” Richie whistles at himself, twenty-six years old with muscles like long ropes. “These were the pre-gut days. Even though my diet was just Adderall and instant ramen.”

“I like your gut,” Eddie murmurs, squidging at it with the hand not shoved up the back of Richie’s shirt. He’s already looking pretty tipsy, because he told everyone loudly and at length that he’d have to be what he deemed, shithouse drunk, to cope with whatever 90 minute dick jokeathon he was about to endure for the sake of two minutes of Richie-ass. “You’re hotter than him.”

Richie preens. “I am him, dude.”

Eddie’s hand lands clumsy on his cheek, pulling Richie’s attention away from his own foregrounded bare ass and Onscreen Audra’s shocked expression, to face him. Eddie’s all unfocused, flushed in the cheeks. “You’re both hot. Him and you, I’d fuck you both. I’d let both of you fuck me at once.”

“Um,” says Ben. Mike keeps slorping up noodles, but his eyes are saucering at Bill’s giant TV.

“Hhohkaaay,” Richie breathes.

“Is this when you saw it, Audra?” Bev asks. She waggles her eyebrows at them from the muscular nook of Ben’s arms. “The famous Tower of Tozier? You mentioned in the group chat.”

“What group chat,” Richie croaks, wrenching his eyes from the sight of Eddie’s slick tongue pulsing gently against his lower lip, hanging open like he wants Richie to see inside his mouth. Yowza-yowza-yowza, this is so much better than movie-nights back in the 90s. “I never saw anything about that? And I monitor you all on WhatsApp twenty-four-sevs. I literally have nothing better to do while Eddie’s working.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Beverly dismisses him with a flick of her wrist.

Audra is nodding vigorously while Onscreen Audra tilts her head comically far to the right. “That’s when I saw it,” she says. “They couldn’t find a modesty sock that fit you, Richie, remember? I didn’t have to fake that reaction. And that’s with them blasting the A/C on high so my nips would poke through my shirt.” She nudges Eddie’s shin gently and stage-whispers, “Well done.”

Eddie growls hot miso breath into Richie’s neck. Snarls, really. That’s the only word for it. Richie’s not embarrassed—he’s been telling people about his donkey schlong for years, not his fault nobody ever believes him. It’s a boy who cried wolf situation, perhaps, if the boy was actually telling the truth every time and just wanted to brag to everyone about seeing a really big, thick wolf.

“Honey,” Bill says, visibly distressed, “this is already weird enough for me, please don’t say nips.”

“Nips, nips, nips.” Audra tickles into Bill’s ribs, and Richie joins in the chant, they all do. It’s a hailstorm of sesame toast raining on Big Bill’s protesting head. “Stiff nips! Stiff nips!”

“Shut up, I’m, uh’wanna see Rich fuck!” Eddie roars, wrestling the couch cushions for the remote and stabbing the volume obscenely loud.

Moans fill the air. Rice sprays from Mike’s mouth, between his hasty fingers. Patty is laughing so hard into Stan’s shoulder Richie would be kinda worried about her, if he wasn’t so distracted by the way Eddie’s leaning forward, hand on Richie’s thigh and eyes locked to Onscreen Richie’s bare bucking hips. He remembers this part horrible and clear, preserved behind glass in his mind like the embarrassing ninth grade school photo his mom still won’t remove from the mantelpiece. Braces like train tracks and his eyes squinted up small and moleish because his mom said she wanted to see his handsome face without his glasses for once. Eddie laughed at it for five whole minutes the first time Richie brought him up to visit mom and dad as his—as his, at last, before snapping a careful picture of the photo with his phone and muttering, so cute.

It’s the noises.

“This was the day I learned women really can, uh, fake orgasms,” Richie says. He coughs. Eddie’s fingers tighten on his thigh and he looks back at Richie over his shoulder, eyes all drunk and dark and dilated like a shark’s to the backdrop of Onscreen Richie and Audra’s plastic din. Richie’s head thumps dizzily, sliding his hand secret under Eddie’s shirt to the damp small of his back, watching his neck go pink. This, now this is familiar from 90s movie nights, how sweaty they’d get, tangled together like pocketed earbuds the longer the VHS spun. Always on the same couch by unspoken agreement, kicking and left to do so by the others, like the clubhouse hammock flirting was more RichieandEddie status quo than behaviour tethered to any one location. Feeling your heartbeat in your ears and everywhere your limbs are shoved between another sapling boy-body, and the couch.

Richie can see exactly what Eddie’s thinking, in that darkness. That’s not how you sound in bed with me.

“This is revolting,” says Stan, mildly, but Richie holds up his hand like a stop sign, pulled roughly back to the present.

“Wait, wait, here comes my line!”

“Thought you said it was a non-speaking—”

The camera cuts from Onscreen Audra’s bouncing breasts to Onscreen Richie’s slack-jawed face, his ill-conceived soul patch. He was asked to remove his glasses for the scene, he remembers, and was glad of it, feeling useless and young and stupid and exposed enough already just by virtue of needing the money, he didn’t need to see this perfectly nice and reasonable actress pity him for not even knowing how to pretend at being with a woman. Onscreen Richie tilts his chin up, and Bill’s entire rec room holds its breath. There will be bruises on Richie’s thigh tomorrow.

A grunt, a groan. An unsubtle trumpet fanfare musical cue on the soundtrack, but hey, neither of them ever claimed Bongo Smugglers was a masterpiece. “¡Ay, chihuahua!”

Richie throws his arms up in triumph. “All my own improv, folks! And they kept it in the final cut!”

Eruption. He’s pelted with howls of disgust and prawn crackers. Eddie grabs one of his arms and just shakes him, ragdolls Richie’s laughing body around until he tips over and sprawls into Eddie’s lap, shielded from assault. Eddie chews his insistent teeth into Richie’s shoulder, and finally, the scene ends with Onscreen Richie leaping a naked escape from Onscreen Audra’s balcony.

“Worst,” Eddie mumbles against Richie’s nape. “Worst thing’ve ever seening m’life.”

He’s so drunk, sweet thing. Richie sits back up, still wheezing. He rests his cheek on Eddie’s shoulder and gazes starrily up at his plastered little face. Steel-cut jaw softened with laughter and stubble, un-gelled hair curling around like a chestnut lamb’s. “Worst ever-ever?”

“No,” Eddie says plainly, and that’s true, “but it’s up there. Woulda rented the shit out of this at Blockbuster.”

Richie flings his leg over Eddie’s knees, kicking Bill in the process. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Eddie agrees, gathering up all Richie’s loose ends in a big circling cuddle. “Every week. Woulda worn it out. Broke the disc.”

“Got your ‘Lil ‘Busters membership card revoked for being a creep.”

“Worth it.”

“Aw, Eddie-baby.”

“Would you two stop, you’re making the rest of us look bad,” Bev says, smiling fondly. The movie’s moved on, and none of them are really paying attention now that the main event’s over, but everyone’s still coming down, dismounting from belly-laughter and landing ankle-deep in giggles. “That was inspired.”

“He made me laugh so hard on that take,” Audra sighs, leaning against Bill. “I remember thinking, shame he’s a closet-case. I always knew you were a good guy under all that fake stand-up.” She rolls her head back on her neck to look at Richie, upside down. “D’you remember right after, too?”

“Ah,” says Richie, tensing up. Eddie must feel it, because he makes a lowing noise of concern and turns the volume down.

“What you did to those guys?”

“Ahaha, uh.” Richie struggles to sit upright with hot embarrassment tugging at his stomach. “They don’t need to—Audra, it’s not, anyone would’ve done the same—”

“No, actually, you were the only one who ever did,” Audra says, sharp-eyed, and Richie remembers that too. How much surer and in control of herself she was than him, even back then, when they were both just simple bottom-feeders on L.A.’s sludgy floor.

“What happened?” Patty asks. They’re all looking. Richie stares at the wall beside the TV’s garish over-saturation, scratches at the back of his neck, until Eddie takes his hand softly back to hold in his.

“I was pretty much always the only woman on set,” Audra explains. “Par for the course on a movie like that, it was whatever. It’s nothing like real sex, obviously, you have to stop and wait for lighting changes, new set-ups and stuff, you’re surrounded by crew. But you’re the only ones naked, and pretending to fuck, right? It can be a little.” She pulls a face, tilts her palm back and forth. “Degrading.”

Richie snorts, humorlessly.

“Anyway, that scene wrapped and they called cut, and a few of the guys in the crew said some stuff. About me. The director ignored it, the producer ignored it. I was used to it,” Audra says. Richie can see the edge of Bill’s jaw clench and re-clench like a fist as he watches his wife speak. Audra smiles widely, then, and jerks a thumb at Richie. “But this guy?”

They’re grinning, they’re all grinning, because they know him. Richie squirms under it. He can feel blood pounding behind his ears, across the surface of his scalp in pulsing waves of embarrassed heat, because it’s one thing to spend your life running your big fat Trashmouth to distract the bullies’ attention onto you, but it’s another for people to treat you like some kinda hero for it. Like it’s not just something friends do.

Bev’s eyes go all emerald-shiny with delight, like the quarry in sunlight. She covers her mouth. “Oh, Richie.”

“Knocked the first one out cold,” Audra crows. “You tried your best after that. It was three against one and he had a black eye before the rest of us could separate them, but he had the element of surprise at first. I mean, he flew at them, if you can imagine it—you’re what, six-one, six-two?”

Eddie’s trembling ever-so-slightly against him. Richie screws his eyes shut. “Six-two.”

“No wonder the asshole shit himself, you came at him all six-foot-two naked inches, pissed as hell, with a massive—”

“Alright!” Richie yelps, because if there’s anything more embarrassing than his brief Bongo Smugglers cameo, it’s the fact that he left set that day with a black eye and no money. Who cares. His closest friends are alive and they’re cheering, and Eddie is shoving himself into Richie’s lap just like it’s movie night in 1991 but with 100% more enthusiastic frenching, seating his drunk ass in Richie’s startled hands and hissing god, you’re such a crazy dumbass, I love you so much, Richie, even back then with that soul-patch I’d have loved you so much, god, sexy, Rich, wanna see you with a black eye, can I give you one, can you give me one, Richie, I’m gonna fuck you so good for this later, ay chihuahua—!

#long post #once again i did not mean to write over 2k about fake sex comedy Bongo Smugglers (2002) when i started answering this message #reddie #ficlet #bongo smugglers

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great-kobold-library · 3 years

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We Make a Family- All Might X Inko My Hero Academia Fanfic. Ch.1 (SFW)

Toshinori Yagi, aka "All Might" was quietly grading papers at his desk when he heard the faint hum and felt the short vibration of his phone in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was a notification of a text message. He didn't recognize the number, so he stopped grading the papers for a moment to investigate. The message read,

"Hello, this is Inko Midoriya, Izuku's mom. You gave me your number the day you came and spoke with me and my son about the dorms. It's near the end of the first term, so I was wondering if we could discuss how Izuku is doing in school? When I ask him he only tells me "everything is fine" He seems too busy with his friends and school to talk to his worry wort mom so much anymore, haha. Oh dear this text is a lot longer than I meant it to be! Sorry! Please let me know if we can arrange a meeting!"

A small smile came across Toshinori's face. He began to text her back,

"Hello Mrs. Midoriya, it's nice to hear from you. I would love to discuss Izuku's progress in school with you. By the way, you can call me Toshinori, or just Toshi for short if you'd like. Unfortunately I will be quite busy grading almost a month's worth of papers this weekend, does Sunday night work with your schedule? I should be finished grading by then. If not I'm sure we could figure something out before the end of next weekend." He hit send, and then added her to his contacts as "Izuku Mom"

"Haha oh my gosh, please just call me Inko! Mrs. Midoriya makes me sound so old! XD

Besides, my husband passed away several years ago now, so I don't really go by "Mrs." so much anymore.

Sunday night would be perfect, time and place?"

Toshi's face fell from a small smile to a grimace. How did he not know that her husband had passed?

"My deepest apologies Inko, I was not aware that your husband had passed. Izuku never mentioned it, so I suppose I just assumed he had to be at work the day I came to speak with you.

I know a nice small restaurant not far from your house, it's owned by a lovely elderly couple and everything on the menu is homemade. We could discuss Izuku's schooling over dinner, maybe at 8? I'll take care of the bill, it's the least I can do to apologize for my error."

Toshi grit his teeth and hit send, hoping that he had not deeply offended her. A few minutes later he received another response from Inko.

"Thank you, and no worries, I forgive you! If no one told you, it wouldn't be fair to expect you to just know it. It makes sense that Izuku wouldn't tell you, he was still so little when his dad died that it doesn't cross his mind very often anymore. Kids are resilient like that.

Anyways, I think I know the restaurant you're talking about, but I haven't had the chance to check it out yet, so this makes for a great excuse to go! 8 sounds perfect, see you then!"

A smile of relief returned to Toshinori's face. He marked the date and time to make sure he wouldn't forget, and went back to grading papers.

Saturday came and went, and Toshi spent most of it behind his desk with a red pen and an intimidatingly long stack of papers. He knew he really shouldn't have let it build up and get this bad, but here he was paying the price. "Never again" he sighed as he completed the grading for a test. Hours later, he took a break to visit the UA Dorms for lunch and to see how the students were doing. Some students visited family on the weekends, others stayed and hung around the dorms, so it was less busy and crowded on the weekends. Toshi heard Bakugo, Kirishima and Jirou having one of their typical, obnoxiously loud weekend jam sessions upstairs as he approached. He smiled and chuckled to himself. When he entered the main dorm hall, Izuku, Ururaka and Ida were in casual clothing on the couch watching some sort of movie marathon. He ordered ramen for himself and the group and joined them for the second half of the movie. Once the credits came onscreen, he said goodbye to everyone and returned to his office to finish his work. Around 11pm he grew tired and decided to call it a day.

Sunday passed by relatively the same, except he finished grading the rest of the papers, and even organized them by assignment and in alphabetical order, much earlier than he thought he would, around an hour or two after having lunch with Izuku and his friends. There was no loud jam session at the dorms today, Izuku informed him that Bakugo's mom had called and yelled at him last night for not visiting last weekend and demanding that he come and visit. Everyone who slept in the dorm heard because both of them are rather loud and were screaming at each other over the phone, which for some odd reason was on speaker. Kirishima had taken to the weight room most of the day, and Jirou decided she may as well go visit her family today too because she had nothing else to do at the dorms.

Toshi spent his several hours of free time before the meeting with Inko Midoriya working out. At one point he stopped and decided to watch the news, but he turned it off not long after. It was heartbreaking for him to not be out there helping people, but he couldn't keep his "All Might Form" up more than a couple minutes now. He looked at the palms of his hands, then took a deep breath and exhaled a heavy sigh. He looked back at the binders full of papers, and thought about meeting Izuku, and his time teaching over this school year that is coming to an end soon. He smiled again. This was his purpose now, he finally understood. His gift was not only to be the world's most beloved Hero, no, now that his time in the spotlight was over, the new gift he would give to the world, is teaching the world's next generation of heroes.

He was teaching the boy who he believed would one day become the man who would take his place, and become the new Symbol of Peace. He thought about Izuku, then suddenly remembered something important after being lost in thought.

"Oh no, what time is it?"

He turned on his phone and checked the time, it was 7:30.

"I can't be late!"

He took the quickest shower of his life, threw on the best clothes he could find (nice khakis and a blue button-up shirt) and bolted out the door to his car. He made it to the restaurant with two minutes to spare.

He was still a little out of breath when he made it inside, buttoning the top of his shirt.

"Had a table reservation, last name Yagi"

The waitress smiled and said,

"Right this way sir, your friend is waiting for you!"

His stomach dropped. How long has she been waiting for him?

Then he finally saw her and stopped dead in his tracks for a split second behind the waitress.

She wore a beautiful lilac 8purple dress with a v line that was just low enough to show a slight bit of cleavage, Her hair was down and over her left shoulder, her eyelashes were longer and darker from mascara, and two long pretty earrings, one in each ear. He hadn't thought about it before, but she was an attractive woman even when they first met and she was in more casual clothing.

She finally saw him and they made eye contact.

"Hi!" She said a little nervously.

Toshi sat down and finally spoke,

"Oh, hey! You look...really good!"

She blushed.

"I overdressed, didn't I?"

She took hold of a section of her hair.

"You look dressed a little more nice-casual. I don't get out much, so I don't get a chance to wear my nicer clothes very often, I hope you don't mind."

Toshi shook his head.

"No no, I don't mind at all."

The waitress who was still waiting patiently finally spoke while handing them the menus.

"Alright, now that you're both here, what drinks would you like to start with?"

Toshi and Inko both looked up, equally mortified that they forgot the waitress was still there.

"Oh um just a glass of water for me please"

Inko said.

"Are you sure? I told you I got everything covered, just get what you want."

Inko waved her hand lightly.

"It's fine, I really do just want water, but thanks."

Toshi thought she was just being humble, but he didn't push it. He looked up to the waitress.

"A glass of sweet tea for me please."

She nodded and walked off to get their drinks.

"You weren't here for too long before I arrived were you? If so, I'm really sorry."

Inko chuckled.

"Not at all, I was only here for a few minutes, and besides you made it before 8 so you showed up on time!"

There was silence for a moment, looking at their menus.

"So, uh, what are you looking at getting?"

It took a second for it to register to Inko that he spoke to her.

"Oh sorry, lost in thought. Umm, I think I'll get the spaghetti and garlic toast"

Toshi smiled.

"What about you?"

Toshi thought for a moment.

"It's been a long time since I've had spaghetti, so I think I'll get that too actually!"

They smiled at each other.

The waitress showed up with their drinks and then took their orders.

"You know, Izuku's favorite food is spaghetti, I've made it a lot over the years. You'd think I'd get sick of it, but every time I see it I think of him. He's everything to me."

She takes a sip from her glass, and Toshi speaks.

"That's lovely. It's nice when little things remind us of the ones we care about."

He takes a drink himself and then Inko replies,

"So, about Izuku…I would really like to know how he's doing. He doesn't visit me so much anymore. I know he doesn't mean it, he's just busy being a kid and spending time with his friends and school and everything, it's just…."

She pauses for a moment.

"Ever since….Hisashi….It's just been Izuku and I. Never had pets growing up so I've never had one before. It's just me at home now, and work. Don't see friends very much because they're all busy with families of their own. I guess I've just been a little lonely lately." Inko took another drink from her glass and then stared down into it.

Toshi's expression softened with sympathy and he leaned forward a little.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. If it helps, I know he really loves you, he tells his friends about you, he asks for his best graded assignments back to show you. I'm sure if you talked to him he'd visit more often. He gets distracted easily with things sometimes, that's all."

Inko looked up from her glass, looking a little happier.

"It's nice to know that you pay attention to him so much. I know it means a lot to him to have your guidance in his life. Ever since Hisashi passed, he hasn't really had a father figure until...now."

They locked eyes, and a quiet understanding passed between them.

Just then the food arrived.

They ate in silence for a couple minutes. Toshi broke the silence.

"Izuku is doing really well with his schoolwork. Not straight A's mind you, but very few kids do. He's a solid A B student, which is the best you could realistically hope for. He turns things in early for subjects he has a firm grasp on, he gets help from classmates on things he struggles with. He's exercising every chance he gets, he has good friends and they spend a lot of time together, they push each other to give it their all. He's definitely one of the best students of his class."

Inko smiles wide.

"That's really good to hear! I know I was probably worrying for no reason."

Toshi chuckles.

"I think it's a parent's job to never stop worrying!"

They were both chuckling now. Inko says,

"So, do you have any kids?"

Toshi finished a bite of spaghetti and replied,

"Unfortunately no, I never really had time for relationships, so kids couldn't really be part of the picture either. If I had any, I wouldn't have gotten to be around them very much, which could hurt their development, so, it's probably for the best."

Inko finished a mouthful of spaghetti and spoke,

"It's really meaningful for you to admit that. Do you think not having kids of your own affected your decision to become a teacher?"

Toshi took a drink and thought about it for a moment.

"You know, I never really thought about that. Primarily I wanted to become a teacher because, well, it’s complicated, but I have to say that especially after….well, what you and everyone else saw on live television everywhere…"

He sounded bitter for a moment.

"My hero days are over. For a little while after, I thought that I was broken, that I lost my purpose….but I have a new purpose. Teaching. I can't be a hero anymore, but I can pass my knowledge and experience on, do my part to raise the next generation of heroes that will inherit the world."

Inko stared at him, awestruck and inspired. She knew he sincerely meant every word.

He really was everything everyone believed, a compassionate, humble and thoughtful soul. He didn't care about being the best as much as he NEEDED to be the best to be what he needed to be for everyone, the Symbol of Peace.

"Of course.."

He speaks in a more lighthearted tone now.

"That doesn't mean that teaching doesn't have its challenges. Unruly teenagers are bad enough, but these kids pretty much all have the ability to kill you in one way or another."

Inko giggled a little.

"So I gotta stop Aoyama from using his navel laser so much that he throws up, I gotta keep Izuku and Bakugo from punching each other, I gotta stop Kaminari and Jirou from killing and or messing around with each other, I gotta stop Kirishima from working out so hard or so long that he hurts himself, I gotta be careful that Tokoyami's night light works so he doesn't lose control of Dark Shadow at bedtime, Higakure constantly jump-scares people, Mineta's a little perv who keeps trying to get in the girl's bathroom…."

Inko was giggling and laughing hard now.

Toshi started giggling with her, and then they were both laughing hysterically. They chatted about school, about work, about life, and they laughed together for a while longer until they finished their meal.

Toshi and Inko stacked up the dishes and put the trash in a relatively neat pile to make it easier for the staff to clean up, and Toshi left a generous tip on the bill. He also signed a couple autographs for various staff and other patrons of the restaurant who insisted on it.

They walked outside and the sun had dipped well below the horizon, the night lit up by the glow up the moon behind a cloudy sky, streetlamps, the glow of house windows, and various neon glowing advertisement signs.

They stood outside together for a moment, saying nothing, enjoying the cool June air.

"Well, I think I better get going now before it gets too late."

Inko said.

"Oh, right, of course."

Toshi replied.

"I'll uh, walk you to your car."

They walked together to the car, Toshi opened the door and Inko got into the driver's side.

"Let me know you made it home safe, okay?"

Toshi said. Inko nodded.

"I will!"

She replied. Toshi made sure she was clear, and then shut the door for her. He stepped back and watched her pull out and drive away. He stood and watched as her car disappeared into the distance. Once it was out of sight, he walked to his own car. He got in, started the car, turned the radio off, and drove home in silence, lost in thought. It was late enough that he decided to brush his teeth and go to sleep. As he lay in bed unable to sleep, his thoughts flowed like a waterfall out of him through the night.

It was just a parent teacher conference, right? And yet he couldn't help but think of her personality, her humor, her gentle, soft spirit. She reminded him a bit of Izuku, that abundance of empathy and love for the world, and that strong sense of justice and for what is right. She saw the world the way he did.

Toshi thought back on his past. There were women in his life, of course, but those relationships didn't last. He admitted to himself that they could have, but he didn't let them. If he sensed that the relationship was becoming more serious, he ended things. What he was doing for the world had to become priority. He thought about Izuku. That kid. His relationship with Izuku feels like the relationship he wanted with a son, back when he was younger and still thought that might be in his future.

That was before Nana Shimura's husband was killed and she put her child up for adoption.

After that, he was determined to never have a family because he didn't want to cause that kind of suffering. Being a hero was too important to him, but being a hero also meant you were a target, and your loved ones too. He thought about how maybe if things were different, he might have had a wife like Inko. He might have had a son like Izuku. He could have lived a normal life. It wasn't necessarily because he had regret for his life so far.

In fact, it was this more "normal" aspect of life that he spent his life trying to defend. He was the Symbol of Peace to keep evil at bay.

He sacrificed his own chance at having a family to spend his life ensuring that every other person on Earth could live a happy, peaceful life with their family. As he worked through his feelings he felt a sense of calm acceptance wash over him of how things are, and will be….but then his thoughts turned to Izuku.

What if Izuku turns out exactly like him?

If he felt so strongly that the most powerful and famous heroes should be alone, then why did he feel such fear for Izuku? He thought about how Izuku clearly has feelings for Ururaka, but doesn't seem to have the desire to ever act on them.

Don't heroes deserve happiness too, even the ones at the top?

What happened to Nana Shimura was a freak event. There are lots of heroes who are married and/or have children that all live happy lives.

He grabbed his phone, and saw a notification for a new text message from Inko, still under the contact name "Izuku Mom"

He quickly changed it to "Inko"

The text message read,

"Hey, just letting you know that I made it home safe! I know it was supposed to just be a parent-teacher conference and talking about Izuku, but I want you to know that I had a really good time tonight, thanks so much!!"

Toshi stared at the phone and read the message over and over until he felt tears well up in his eyes. He didn't realize he had so much grief buried deep for not having that kind of life. Toshi never valued his own life and his own happiness over others.

He thought about doing something selfish for the first time in his life.

He wanted to say something to Inko, but what was there to say? She was a student's mom, and hell, not just any student but IZUKU'S mom. Would it even be...appropriate? Even if she returned this feeling and they decided to see each other, how would it make Izuku feel?

But tonight….there would always be the memory of tonight, and he thought maybe, he could hold onto how it felt. Maybe it would be enough. It would have to be enough.

Suddenly the three bubbles indicating that someone is typing came up under Inko's message. She was typing right now! What was she going to say?

He wiped his eyes and stared at the phone screen, transfixed, waiting, until the text appeared;

"Hey, I'm sure this is a little strange, and you're probably asleep already, but I keep thinking about tonight, and how much fun it was….do you think it would be weird to….go out again? Not a parent-teacher conference this time though, haha…

Umm….have a good night"

Toshi never held his phone between his hands so tightly. To him it was like a sign, a beacon of hope in the night. He pushed the power button to make the screen go dark and held it to his chest. He felt a sob choke up in his throat, then finally let go. He felt the waves of sobs wash over him and he began to cry.

He fought to regain composure, and wiped the tears with his arm and woke the phone up, going back to the messages. He collects his thoughts and finally types a response,

"Inko, I can't stop thinking about tonight either. I'd love to see you again, next weekend if you have time? You should pick the next place! Whatever you want to do I'll be fine with, I'm not picky, haha."

His finger hovered over the button for a few minutes before he finally made himself hit send.

#my hero academia #my hero fanfic #all might #GKLFandom #GKLStories

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acavatica · 4 years

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i-wakeupstrange said:

i’m not including this in my review of the elevator fic because it was becoming its own huge, ridiculous tangent, but in short: it’s now my headcanon that Marco is into anime (OF COURSE why didn’t I realize sooner) and in a roundabout way that’s Peter’s doing. (he’s a little old for NGE but, I think, about the right age to have gotten real into, say, Robotech. and decide to show his son these shows. because he’s a Cool Dad. or tried to be before... you know.)

Peter told himself that he was watching cartoons because of the baby, but also all the baby books he’d tried to force Eva to read had said that babies have about a foot of vision and see colors like a dog. Then he told himself that he was watching cartoons because the bright colors and laser sounds kept him awake. At least that wasn’t a complete lie.

The full truth was that he thought Robotech was cool. It was serialized, which was more than he could say for any American TV shows. It wasn’t as if Peter could read Dune with a baby in his arms no matter how much he wanted to, even if he’d missed the last two books and another was coming out later that year. And it wasn’t as if Peter could read Dune anyway since he was off Ritalin again, but that was neither here nor there. TV shows would catch up to book series eventually.

The fact that it had a story he could follow was just a bonus. The real draw of Robotech was that it aired in marathons in the middle of the night. That was a lot less likely to wake up his ten-week-old than changing his Doctor Who tapes every four episodes. Plus, he’d had to pay someone on USENET to ship the tapes all the way from Brighton. If he wore them out, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find the guy ripping VHS tapes on net.tv.drwho again.

Eva’s alarm went off, muffled by the bedroom door. Peter closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the couch cushion. 5:30 already. He’d been letting her get most of the sleep to reimburse her for the whole pregnancy thing, but now that she was going back to work, he wouldn’t even have a choice.

He listened to her shuffle around the kitchen. He heard every step of her putting on a pot of coffee. Eva never did anything quietly, but it hadn’t taken him long to get used to it. After all, there was nothing more comforting than knowing his ever-so-slightly evil partner would at least never be able to sneak up on him.

He opened his eyes to catch her shaking out her still-rumpled hair and stretching out the crick in her back. He heard that too, from all the way across the room. Another thing Peter was repaying her for. She saw him watching and closed the distance between them. Eva draped her elbows over the back of the couch and touched her cheek to Peter’s head. Peter took a deep breath, and he smelled her shampoo and the coffee and their new baby.

Putting his PhD on hold was worth it.

Eva cocked her head to the side, rolling her chin over Peter’s forehead. “Wow, look at her hair. Japan really has progressive ideas about the meaning of ‘spiral curls.’” She walked around to the front of the couch, plopped down, and held out her arms. “Hand him over.”

Marco started whining almost immediately.

“I’m surprised you know it’s Japanimation.”

Eva rolled her eyes. “We had Japanese cartoons in Mexico. And actually, the acting was way better than this.”

“Yeah, but were there giant fighting robots?”

“I dunno, this shit is for nerds.” Marco was still fussing in her arms, but she was looking down at him like she understood where he was coming from. “You’re gonna make our kid a nerd, aren’t you?”

Peter smiled. “I don’t know what you expected when you decided to have a baby with me.”

“Feh, yeah, ‘decided.’” Eva stretched her leg out and gave Peter’s knee a good nudge.

She pulled her leg back, crossed her ankles, and cradled Marco with her whole body. All three of them fell quiet, and Minmay sang Marco back to sleep.

⁠—⁠—⁠—

Marco was born whining, and after four years, he still only stopped when he was asleep.

“Why do I have to do daycare?”

“You asked to watch Voltron. It’s the fifth time we’ve watched Voltron. Please watch Voltron.”

Marco bobbed his head back and forth as he quoted the onscreen conversation between Queen Merla and King Zarkon: “The chamber is full of quarks. ⁠— Quirks? ⁠— No, quarks. You see, everything is made of atoms, and all atoms are made of quarks. ⁠— Hm, nice, but how does it work? ⁠— Well, there are six kinds of quarks: up, down, top, bottom, strange. And my favorite kind, charmed.”

“Well. At least we can be sure you’re my kid. And Eva’s. And of why I like this show.”

“If you like it, don’t complain.”

Peter ran his hand over his hair and tried to ignore how thin it was getting. “Definitely Eva’s kid…”

Marco rolled over closer to Peter and looked up at him pleadingly. “Whyyy do I have to do daycare?”

“Because,” Peter said reluctantly. “I finally finished school, and it was really hard, but I got a cool job out of it.”

Marco’s eyes basically tripled in size, and he poked out his lower lip. Definitely, 100% for sure, Eva’s kid. “But I’ll miss you.”

Peter sighed. “I’ll miss you too. But you’re starting school in the fall anyway, so think of it like practice.”

Marco crossed his arms and turned his eyes back to the TV. He stayed quiet for maybe a minute, long enough for the pilots to form Voltron. Without taking his eyes off the TV, he said, “What if they don’t know how to microwave Spaghetti-Os?”

“If there’s any lesson you have to learn, it’s that sometimes you have to settle for Spaghetti-Os that aren’t made by Chef Boyardee Champion of the World, Your Dad.”

“Spaghetti-Os aren’t even Chef Boyardee,” Marco mumbled.

Peter reached his leg over and nudged Marco’s knee with his foot. “Don’t you want to be brave like Lance?”

Marco pushed Peter’s foot away, crossed his arms again, and sank into the couch. “No. I wanna be diablo-lolical like Prince Lotor.”

“Well, Prince Lotor doesn’t even need his dad.”

Marco glanced over at Peter, and Peter grinned. Marco sank even further into the couch until his feet almost touched the floor.

⁠—⁠—⁠—

The bluish glow of the TV cast long shadows across the room. There wasn’t much contrast because it was a pretty dark movie, but Marco was still illuminated against the dull, colorless room. The volume was only one notch above mute, but he was sitting on his knees, so close to the TV that he could almost make out every word. It’s not like the sound would have bothered his dad, even if he turned it all the way up. Marco kept it low so he could still hear Peter breathing, and even acknowledging that feeling ate away his insides.

It had been a whole year, and for a while Marco had tried not to think about how he was the only thing keeping his dad alive, in more ways than one. It got harder the longer Peter didn’t get better. Marco didn’t even have cable to distract himself from his messed up life. He just had the same old VHS tapes, and they’d had to donate a bunch of them to Goodwill when they’d moved.

The box was still there, still packed and next to the TV, labeled in Marco’s sloppy kid handwriting. Peter hadn’t helped with the move⁠—it had mostly been Jake’s family and his mom’s relatives he’d never met and would probably never see again. Marco could still see his hands pulling the tapes off the shelves, sorting them, reading the labels in Peter’s sloppy grownup handwriting, and not being able to bear to throw away the memories of sitting between his mom and dad with popcorn in his lap, even if he might never be able to watch those tapes again.

There were only a few tapes scattered around the plastic milk crate the TV sat on. The rest were still in the box. Marco had gone through them dozens of times, and he was still limited to the few tapes he didn’t associate with a time when he had a family.

He’d never watched Ghost in the Shell with his dad. That was probably a good thing, because there was a lot of nudity, and that was always awkward. There was also some gore, which Peter knew gave Marco nightmares, even if he pretended not to be scared. Marco had played the movie in front of Peter dozens of times anyway, but his eyes didn’t track it, and he didn’t tell Marco that he should turn it off, he was too young to see all these nipples.

Marco turned around, blinded from sitting so close to the TV. He didn’t need to see his dad. He knew he was curled in on himself, his face buried in the place where the back of the couch met the seat and the arm. There was no way to know if he was asleep or awake, and Marco wasn’t even sure those words had meaning in Peter’s life anymore.

“Hey Dad,” Marco said, his voice creaky, either from disuse, disgust, or some other kind of emotion. “What do you think about the whole brains jacking into the internet thing? Realistic? It seems like the kind of thing you’d have worked on.” Marco listened to Peter’s breathing. It never changed. Marco could say anything. “You know. When you worked.”

Marco turned away, back to the TV. He pressed Stop, and the tape clicked off, flooding the room with light so bright and blue, it hurt his eyes. He pressed rewind and the whir of the tape drowned out Peter’s breathing. It was crazy, but as the VCR started to grind to the end of the tape, Marco was suddenly, irrationally, completely sure that when the tape stopped rolling, the room would be totally silent. His body flashed hot and then cold and his pulse pounded painfully in his temples.

The tape clicked off. Marco held his breath.

Peter breathed in. Out. In. Out.

Marco pressed play, turned the volume up a few more notches, and got to his feet. As he passed, he shoved his dad’s leg with his foot. He stood over him, waiting like he expected some kind of reaction. The TV lit up his motionless body in green, gray, white. The cyborg pulled the cables out of her neck and stood.

“If only someone would ghost hack you.”

Marco went into his bedroom⁠—the only bedroom⁠—and slammed the door.

⁠—⁠—⁠—

Marco’s back was flat against the dirt floor of the scoop, his head resting on his folded arms. His right leg was draped over Ax’s back and he’d slowly tangled his left leg up in Ax’s tail. Ax didn’t like that, and he knew Ax didn’t like it, and that’s why he’d taken it slow. He’d started by sticking his leg under Ax’s tail. He’d waited a couple weeks, and then he’d surreptitiously make a loop over the course of an hour. Now, after like a month of acclimating him, Ax’s tail was wrapped around Marco’s leg like a boa constrictor, and maybe Ax didn’t even notice.

He definitely noticed. Marco had just pulled off an incredible feat of exposure therapy. Ax just wasn’t allergic to how annoying Marco was anymore. Too bad the allergy was familial, and it was harder to wallow a hawk into submission.

<You’re not even watching,> Tobias complained.

Marco lolled his head to the side and pointed his eyes at the TV. “Why are you making me read TV, Tobias? The point of TV is to not have to read.”

<Subtitles are more authentic,> Tobias said, his voice dripping with condescension.

“But what about Ax? Poor Ax can’t read at all.”

<I can read,> Ax said, his voice a mixture of defensive and arrogant. <And even if I couldn’t, my translator chip has no trouble processing Japanese.> Snobbiness ran in their family too.

“I’m just saying, I’d be able to pay more attention if I could understand the words and look at the pictures at the same time. You know, how it’s intended to be consumed?”

<It’s intended to be consumed in Japanese.>

Marco rolled his eyes and sighed. It was the obnoxious kind of sigh, the voiced kind that’s practically a groan. “It’s just robots, dude, it’s not that serious.”

<Neon Genesis Evangelion is art, Marco,> Tobias said, ratcheting the pretension up to eleven. <It’s an exploration of how humanity would develop, given exposure to advanced alien technology in the face of an oncoming alien threat. And the only thing protecting humanity from annihilation is some teenagers with special powers. It’s like, relatable.>

“Wow,” Marco said sarcastically. “Never seen anything like that before.” That was basically the plot of Robotech mixed with Voltron, but boring.

Marco sat up on his elbows and narrowed his eyes. Ax tightened his tail ever so slightly around Marco’s leg, like he was trying to hold him back. Marco pulled his leg free. “That’s pretty funny, since how could you even have watched so much subbed anime when no one cared enough about you to buy you decent clothes or new shoes or Clearasil? Let alone to go out of their way to buy you anime, subtitled specifically, the way it’s intended, of course.”

Tobias stared at him. Ax stared at him. Hell, Shinji Ikari stared at him.

Marco couldn’t take even a minute of it. “Say something.”

Tobias opened his wings, fluttered to the edge of the scoop entrance, and flew away.

Ax was still looking at him with all four eyes. Marco squirmed, but he pressed his lips into a line and didn’t break eye contact.

<That was too far,> Ax said finally, his voice more gentle than Marco deserved. <Why did you react so forcefully?>

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Marco leaned around Ax, grabbed the remote, and changed the audio to English. “Let’s just watch this dumb robot show.”

#animorphs #axmarco #my fic #IS marco into anime?#cav answers asks

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festivegrant · 3 years

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You said 4A finale fell flat and I agree but I’m just curious in which ways did it fall flat for you? To me, I guess I was expecting some type of cliffhanger. Didn’t have to be scary or intense, I just expected something. And yeah that could have been Maddie going into labor. And I know people can debate until the end of time about Eddie and Ana but personally I have no problem with them like overall, if you stand back and look at the big picture. Eddie is trying to move on and Ana seems sweet and smart and nice but when you step closer and look at it, Eddie to me seemed so out of character in that episode. He was doing things that he wouldn’t normally do. Like, ok you went on maybe 2 or 3 dates with her and even after your son throws a fit you still think it’s ok to introduce her to him that soon? And also in the middle of a pandemic?? When his son is high risk and his son hasn’t even seen his friends or other family (I’m assuming). It just seems out of character. And before anyone comes for me, I’m fine with Eddie moving on and getting into a relationship. He could literally date anyone and I wouldn’t care as long as he’s happy. And maybe that’s the point of all of this- to show he’s trying to move on but Ana isn’t the one. Maybe she is and I’m a clown but I don’t personally see it. She’s lovely but I don’t see it. Buck and Taylor was interesting though. I’m all for them being friends because both of them seemed to have matured

glad you asked! my response ended up longer than i’d anticipated so i’ll put it under the cut:

i FOR SURE expected some sort of cliffhanger. i mean, tbh overall the episode didn’t really stick in my head that much? the most cliffhanger-y thing we got was hen and karen not being able to adopt nia (heart-wrenching but good narrative choice) although i would have liked for them to really dig it in and indulge us in more wilson family moments before ripping it from our grasp. i love to suffer <3 and i just think that if we had had a scene where the madney baby is born that would have been such a bittersweet contrast?? like actually watching it would have destroyed me and i probably wouldn’t have liked it bc it would have made me sad but since im playing god on this website it WOULD have been fantastic narratively and i WILL pretend i wouldve liked it.

buck and taylor was cute (and I LOVE their banter), but i kind of feel like the sudden friendliness came out of nowhere?? @benjji2795 made a post about this a little bit; taylor never apologized for what she did to bobby, so it doesn’t totally make sense for buck to be so nice to her?? however i love taylor and im glad she’s on the show. one of two things should’ve happened: she apologizes to bobby and wham bam now her and buck are besties with a fun dynamic (note FRIENDS, not romantic partners, because they have different priorities and are canonically not romantically compatible!! and thats okay!!) OR her reoccurrence on the show is established as some sort of antagonistic ally. i think that would be so fun.

okay okay i have my own thoughts on eddie and ana and that whole situation. let me split this up to make it legible:

on eddie being out of character:

something was definitely wrong this episode. him introducing ana to chris does not sit right (for ALL the reasons you mentioned, which I completely agree with). As far as i’m concerned, there are two possible reasons:

eddie was just plain ooc and it was due to bad writing. it makes me disappointed, but i think this is the one that’s most likely.

eddie was in character, but he was jsut the worst side of his character. someone made a post about it that i found pretty interesting. idk if i completely agree with it bc to say that eddie introduced ana to chris so she could fill what eddie thinks is an empty space in their lives sort of undermines the whole talk he had with bobby the scene prior.

HOWEVER this interpretation also gives ana the opening to have narrative agency and set boundaries for herself and tell eddie she likes him but she didn’t sign up to be a mom. but i don’t think the writers (or r*an, because he sucks and is also not that great of an actor) are thinking that deeply about his character (but maybe they are. who knows).

on ana:

i’ve said this before and ill say it again. the way she’s set up to be both disliked by the audience (because she’s so blad) and disposable to the narrative (because she’s so bland!!) makes me upset. she literally doesn’t deserve that and it’s disturbing to watch (both onscreen and in fandom reactions). i don’t know what else to say except i hope she either gets a well-written, significant story arc or she leaves the show soon. i don’t want to see her being a romantic accessory anymore.

also i think she’s cute but that’s just gabrielle walsh kjdsfl

on eddie and ana together:

okay i agree that a relationship is necessary for eddie to be able to move on. like i get that. i agree. it’s part of his growth. here’s the problem with that though.

the WAY the show handles eddie moving on is very blatant. it is very streight forward. ‘oh, he’s moving on? new girlfriend!’ the thing is, they kind of forgot to give said girlfriend a personality (see above). and BECAUSE OF THAT (or, at least, it’s a contributing factor) they have no chemistry and are terrible to watch onscreen.

i tried to like them. i really did. i tried to frame it as ‘hey, theyre jsut two people who have crushes on each other and we can watch them flirt and yadda yadda and itll be cute, right?’ ive made posts about their dynamic together and trying to find an angle to make it fun. but i cant. i literally cant do this anymore. i actually cringed at nearly every scene they had together. it was unpleasant and boring and i would love it if it were over soon. if the creators are seeking to both produce a good/entertaining and moving show AND keep eddie and ana together, i’m curious to see how they do it because i truly have got nothing for them.

anyways. In conclusion, I’m only emotionally investing myself in the wilson family, the grant-nash family, the buckley-han family, and fanfiction-based buddie :) <3

#this was sooo long #and i didn't even talk about buddie! well this is all buddie aside #ask #anon #911 fox #also i made like thirty edits because tumblr formatting hates me so if you see a different version after my initial posting that's why

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bluezey · 4 years

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Inside Onward: Typical Morning

It’s finally here! It’s just the first chapter, or specifically, the first scene from the film. But with the twist that we get to see what’s going on inside Ian’s head. So, yeah, this is a crossover of sorts between Inside Out and Onward, as we see there was another story going on inside Iandore Lightfoot. There’ll be more chapters to come, I hope, and I haven’t decided if I’m gonna update the story periodically or post when I get the rest of it finished. Until then, read, enjoy, I hope, leave comments, all that stuff.

The familiar chime of the smartphone alarm rang through headquarters. Followed by another familiar wake up call of a chipper voice exclaiming, “It’s morning! It’s morning! Wake up, sleepyheads! It’s the big day!”

Fear was stirring out of his slumber in his bed, rolling onto his back as he rubbed the sleep from one of his eyes. “Oh, do we have to?” he thought to himself in a grumble. His eyes shot wide open as he sat straight up in bed. His mind just woke him up with the instant realization that this is the day, a big important day! Quickly, Fear jumped out of bed and changed into his clothes, buttoning up his red flannel shirt, slipping into his short denim jeans, and tying his blue sneakers on nice and tight. He struggled a bit getting his Willowdale College sweater on, having to tug to get his pointy purple elf ears and long thin nose through the collar, but thankfully succeeded and smoothed the wrinkles out with his hands. He gave his curly blue hair a good brushing before checking his reflection in the mirror. The blue pompadour was resting perfectly, even with his purple nerve popping out at the part on the back of his head.

“Come on guys!” Joy voice echoed through headquarters. “Today’s the day!”

Fear took a double take as he saw the three emotions, Sadness, Disgust and Anger, about ready to leave their shared bedroom. Never wanting to be the last to leave, or the second, Fear quickly placed the digital watch on his wrist and grabbed the notepad and multi-colored pen off his nightstand. He raced for the exit, barely pushing past Sadness, before slowing his pace to a steady yet leading walk down the ramp to the headquarters floor.

“Okay everyone, today is the day,” he began announcing, as he already began scribbling fresh new notes down on paper. “Do we have everyone present? Anger? Disgust? Sadness?”

“Here,” Sadness called out in his quiet, melancholy voice.

“You don’t have to do roll call every day, Fear,” Disgust had to comment in his own snippy way. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“Not like we have a reason to leave, anyway,” Anger added in his grouchy tone as he began crossing the floor towards the console.

“Okay, and Joy? Where’s Joy?” Fear looked up from his notepad and began looking around. “Has anyone seen Joy?”

“Right here!” Joy raced from the console and made a beeline towards Fear, leaving a trail of glittering particles of yellow energy in his wake. He stood straight in front of Fear, grinning ear to ear. Fear couldn’t help but notice Joy, as his perkiness made him jump a bit. He collected himself and continued, “So, how was dream duty?”

“Another perfect dream,” Joy reported, following Fear as they walked towards the console. “It was a classic, wonderfully calm dream of stargazing.”

“Relaxing, I like that,” he commented, writing Joy’s report into his notebook. He stopped right in front of the console and asked, “So, where are we now?”

“Ian’s just finished in the bedroom,” Disgust replied, pointing up at the screen in front of them.

Fear looked up from his notes, he paused a moment as he looked at the image onscreen into the outside world. Onscreen was a reflection in the mirror, and in that reflection was an image of Ian, a sixteen year old elf boy, just finishing putting on his dad’s old Willowdale College sweatshirt as he gave himself a little grin into the mirror. Fear smiled, along with the other emotions, as the vision onscreen turned from the mirror to the corkboard in Ian’s bedroom, where on the calendar listed today as Ian’s sixteenth birthday.

As Ian exited his bedroom and began to head downstairs, Fear turned his attention to the other emotions. “Okay gang, let’s make this sixteenth birthday the best sixteenth birthday Ian’s ever had.”

“Ian only gets one sixteenth birthday, Fear,” Disgust corrected.

Fear gulped as he felt the anxieties run through his body like frantic butterflies. “Don’t remind me…”

“Morning, mom,” Ian called out.

The emotions looked up in unison at the screen. “Oh hey, it’s mom,” Joy pointed out, as Fear could feel a warm glow from behind them. He turned to look out the window, into Ian’s mind world, and a small collection of Islands of Personality standing along the horizon. Fear smiled as he saw Family Island burst to life, showing the yellow core memory of Ian’s family is working.

“Oh, and here comes Blazey!” Joy cheered.

“What?” Fear turned back just in time to see the pet dragon leap into the screen. It was a blur of chaos as Ian fell to the ground, happily laughing as Blazey pinned him down and licked his face. “Evasive maneuver!” Fear called out as he leaped for the controls, only to find Joy was already at the console. Fear stepped back, a nervous smile on his face. “Oh. Uh, nice reaction time, Joy,” he mumbled his comment.

“Why thank you,” Joy chimed back.

Ian climbed back up to his feet as his mom, Laurel, greeted him with a “Happy birthday, my little man,” and covering his cheek with kisses.

“Ew, she’s doing it again!” Disgust gagged before pushing Fear out of the way and taking control.

“Ew, mom,” Ian cried out before breaking free and wiping off his cheek.

Fear pushed himself back by the console. “Disgust, I know we don’t like mom’s kisses, but I need to be…” The emotions looked up silently at the screen as Laurel was looking back at Ian. Fear finally broke the silence with a whisper. “Should we be worried?” he asked, pressing a button on the console.

“What?” Ian asked.

“You’re wearing your dad’s college sweatshirt,” Laurel replied.

Disgust commented as the other emotions breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh, right. The sweatshirt,” she commented as she flicked some switches on the console.

Ian looked down at the Willowdale College sweatshirt he was wearing over his red flannel shirt. “Oh, well, it finally fits,” Ian said as he shrugged it off.

Laurel lit up with such joy as she approached Ian. “Oh, my little chubby cheeks,” she said with such motherly love.

Disgust stepped back. “Ew, she’s coming back.”

“Stop her!” Anger snapped as Fear dove onto the controls.

Ian stepped back before Laurel could hug her. “No, mom. I gotta eat breakfast before school,” he said, adding a chuckle.

Fear looked confused, until he glanced over at Joy on the other side of the console turning a dial or two. “Joy,” Fear spoke up, getting her attention.

“What? It’s mom,” Joy explained with a smirk as she held up her hands.

“There’s nothing to eat?” Sadness asked, overhearing Laurel. “That’s sad.”

“That’s not fair,” Anger grumbled. “How are we supposed to survive school without food?”

“We’re gonna starve,” Sadness sighed.

“Not on my watch,” Fear said as he took over. Ian opened the fridge door and was met with a pan of delicious finger foods for the party.

“Yum, boars in a blanket.” Joy instinctively pressed a few buttons.

Fear panicked. “Joy, what are you doing?”

Laurel playfully smacked Ian’s hand away. “Don’t touch those, mister. Those are for your party tonight.

“Now look what you did,” Fear reprimanded Joy. “You got Ian in trouble!”

“Sorry, they looked so good,” Joy sheepishly excused his actions.

Ian instead grabbed a carton of milk and began to pour himself some cereal.

“How bout inviting those students from the science club to your party?” Laurel suggested to Ian. “You said yourself they were pretty rockin.”

“I didn’t say it like that,” Ian replied, as his Disgust rolled his eyes. “And besides, I haven’t asked them.”

“Well, it’s your birthday, it’s the day to try new things,” Laurel encouraged Ian while prepping a protein shake in the mixer. Just as she turned it in, Laurel asked aloud, “Speaking of new things, have you signed up for your driving lesson today?”

“No!” Ian shouted, before nervously lowering his voice. “No, I haven’t.”

Sadness glanced over at Fear, who was shaking like a frigid leaf, his eyes wide as he thought about the very idea of Ian driving.

“There’s no reason to be scared,” Laurel told Ian.

“I’m not scared,” Ian replied. Joy pressed a few buttons, and Ian changed the subject. “I’m gonna move Barley’s game.”

Joy glanced over at Fear, the frightened purple emotion was stepping back from the console and placing his hands under his arms. “Relax,” Joy told him gently. “Ian’s sixteen now. He needs to drive. He’ll be okay.”

“Okay? Okay? I know he’ll be okay,” Fear stammered. “I just want him to be safe, I mean, okay.”

“Don’t worry, it’s Ian’s big day,” Joy assured Fear. “What could happen?”

“HALT!!”

“NO!!” The emotions were shocked as Ian was suddenly scooped into a big bear hugging arm lock by his older brother Barley.

“Get him out of there! Get him out of there!” Fear ordered as he jumped onto the console, the other emotions scrambling for controls.

“This again?” Anger snapped.

Disgust gagged. “He reeks! Doesn’t he ever shower?”

Ian struggled to escape, but instead kicked over his cereal and watched helplessly as it fell to the floor. “Oh no,” Sadness thought softly as Ian slumped in defeat.

Fear started flailing his hands, darting his head back and forth to all his emotions. “What do we do? What do we do? Why is Barley so strong??”

“Move over!” Anger barked as he punched Fear out of the way, sending him flying away from the console. The angry red emotion was literally steaming from atop his head as he cracked his knuckles.

“You know, Ian,” Barley commented boldly, “men of your age would prove their manhood by taking the rite of passage through the swamps of despair.”

“Oh, I’ll show you despair!” Anger roared as he took control of the console.

“I’m not testing anything,” Ian snapped back, sounding more like a gurgle through Barley’s headlock. “Now let me go!”

“Let him go, Barley,” Laurel called out from the kitchen, more of a comment than a command.

“Okay,” Barley said with a shrug, letting Ian go, as well as letting Ian drop onto the floor in a thud. “I know you’re stronger than that. There’s a warrior inside you, you just have to let him out.”

Fear finally climbed onto his feet, he looked up to see Ian struggling to climb onto his knees as well. The purple emotion’s eyes grew wide, he stepped back slowly, then broke out into a quick, frantic nervous pace across the headquarters floor. “Oh no… no no no no no, this isn’t right, this isn’t right…”

Joy caught the sound of worrying, leaving the console to the other three emotions, as they’re just now helping Ian quietly pick up his spilt cereal as Barley and Laurel broke out into another wrestling match. “Hey, hey,” Joy calmly told Fear in his cheerful tone. “It’s alright. It’s just cereal.”

“It’s not the cereal!” Fear stopped pacing and placed his hands under his arms again. “Okay, it is, but it’s everything! Ian gets only one sixteenth birthday, and it’s chaos before it even started!”

“Relax,” Joy assured him. “It’s just another normal day.”

“But it’s not a normal day,” Fear replied frantically. “It’s a birthday!”

“You’re getting stressed out, and Ian hasn’t eaten yet.” Joy took Fear’s hand and they both sat down on a couch beside them.

“It’s my job to get stressed out,” Fear said, frustrated as well as anxious. “I’m a Fear.”

Joy paused a moment, a thought rolling through her head, causing her smile to grow more melancholy. “Look, I shouldn’t make things worse, but, the guys…” Joy motioned to Sadness, Disgust and Anger at the console. “They’re talking about you again.”

This again. Realizing where this is going, Fear quieted down and sank into his seat, wrapping his hands around his sides.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re doing great. You’re a great Fear.” Joy paused a moment, trying to sugar coat it. “But lately, you’re being… too good. Again.”

“I can’t- I can’t-“ Fear began calmly. He paused to collect his thoughts, brushing his hands up his face and through his hair. He sighed, almost seethed. “Ian’s life is just so chaotic lately. His school, his driving lessons, his brother. ….. that,” Fear added, pointing to a red light currently dormant on the console.

Joy chuckled, realizing he was pointing at the puberty alarm. “That? Don’t worry bout that. That hasn’t been an issue since sex ed class.”

Fear shuddered so hard, a little flurry of purple particles shook off his body. “Don’t remind me.”

Joy laughed, seeing how that at least broke the tension for one of them. It gradually quieted into a grin when Fear finally gave the tiniest of grins back. Joy placed a comforting hand on Fear’s shoulder. “Look, Ian’s fine for a few minutes. He’s just making some toast,” he commented as they both looked up at the screen. “Nothing bad can happen from that… not even cutting himself with a butter knife.”

Fear chuckled a bit. Yeah, it’s kind of silly to be scared of butter knives… but, they are knives… and they can cut through butter…

“Why don’t you sit back here for a minute? Clear your head. Maybe a quick break is just what you need.” With that, Joy stood up and walked back to the console, leaving Fear on the couch.

Fear closed his eyes, tilting his head back that it hit the back of the couch. It made it so his neck look like it was at a ninety degree angle, thank Alora emotions are made of pure energy and not bones, so it didn’t hurt, maybe pinch a little. He finally opened his tightly shut eyes, starring up at the mural of stars and some planets painted on the headquarters ceiling. Well, most of them, somehow Joy managed to slap a couple of those cheap plastic ones onto the ceiling too. He smiled, Ian sure did like space. He stood up from the couch and walked across the headquarters to the large pane window in the back, overlooking the wide, vast expanse of the mind world. Fear looked at the hardwood floor of headquarters. And the shelves, holding necessities for their job, from idea bulbs to mind manuals, to the newest memories they made that very morning. While built like compartments pocked both organized and disorganized like the old headquarter shelves, they were lined with a strong wood paneling to match Ian’s bookshelves in his bedroom. In fact, headquarters was dressed up a lot like Ian’s room these days. He could still remember when he popped into existence in Ian’s mind, just seconds after Ian was born. Headquarters was an empty canvas, and the emotions were just anew strangers with elf ears and generic business casual clothes. Just a blank canvas. And over time, as they shaped Ian into the teenager he is today, they and their headquarters were changed as well. Well, more like influenced… inspired? Okay, the mind world can be cryptic and confusing. But if it meant being with Ian, helping Ian, Fear wouldn’t have it any other way.

Speaking of cryptic and confusing, Fear looked down as his foot stopped short of stepping on the core memory holder nestled into the floor. It wouldn’t hurt to step on it, but the bright lights beaming through the floor, straight out to the mind world outside, pointing at, fueling every island of personality across the far chasm that separated headquarters from the rest of the mind world. Fear gazed out at each island that fueled what made Ian, Ian. School Island, complete with a stack of textbooks, with a math textbook being very prominent since he won that award. Science Island, glowing with stars and planets to highlight Ian’s fascination with space. Space was his most prominent interest in the sciences. Smartphone Island. That’s a new one. Ian has been glued to his phone lately. Hope that’s a phase. Friendship Island… looking small, as Ian only has one friend. Island upon island, big and small, displaying each important piece of Ian, each fueled by a powerfully important memory that birthed it. And in the center was the largest, grandest island, Family Island, an island fueled and created by Ian’s love for his family. Even his brother, no matter how much of a pain he could be. Definitely highlighted by that statue on Family Island of Barley holding Ian in a headlock and giving him a noogie.

“Hey, it’s Officer Bronco!” Joy cheered, breaking Fear’s walk down his own memory lane. Looks like break’s over. But, Joy may have been right, Fear does feel a little better.

As Fear approached the console, he immediately stopped dead in his tracks as he, the other emotions and Ian saw Colt and Laurel kiss. “Eww,” the emotions grimaced in unison, Ian recoiling as well thanks to Disgust at control.

“Ugh, I’ll never get used to that.” Disgust tried to hold himself back from throwing up. “I’m done. I’m done,” he said, pushing away from the console for a minute.

Ian went back inside the kitchen getting back to making some toast for his breakfast. His ears caught the sound of loud banging of furniture, sounds of a centaur trying to get into the house without breaking things, and failing. Anger growled, “He’s coming in.”

“Relax,” Joy told Anger, patting him on the shoulder. “Officer Bronco’s just trying to be nice.”

“Hey there, birthday boy,” Colt told Ian. “You working hard or hardly working?” Colt gave that braying laugh of his at his own joke.

That was enough to make even Joy groan. “Are you kidding me?” he exclaimed while the other emotions groaned.

“Well, you know just, making some, toast,” Ian replied sheepishly.

“Why is it so hard to get some breakfast around here??” Anger snapped.

Fear pushed Sadness out of the way as Disgust made his way back to the console. “Okay okay okay,” he stammered. “Let’s just get Ian fed and out of here before anything else happens to him.”

“Hey, Ian, you can learn a lot from Quests of Yore,” Barley called out from the dining room. “You want to play?”

Fear froze just from hearing Barley. “Oh no,” he uttered softly, giving Disgust a chance to take over.

“I don’t,” Ian replied.

“You can be a crafty rogue,” Barley continued. “Or, I know! You can be a wizard!” Barley chimed, grabbing Ian in a side hug.

Fear dove onto the console the second he saw Barley’s spiky bracelet brush against Ian’s sweatshirt.

Ian quickly ducked out from Barley’s grasp. “Hey, careful with dad’s sweatshirt.”

Barley smirked. “I don’t even remember dad wearing that sweatshirt.”

“Well, you do only have two memories of him,” Ian told Barley.

“No, I have three,” Barley corrected. “I remember his beard was scratchy, he had a goofy laugh, and I would play the drums-“

“-on his feet,” Ian finished. The emotions at the console chuckled a bit, happy to hear something about dad, even if it was from Barley.

“Yeah, he went,” Barley began as he drummed on Ian’s foot with his hands, but ended up knocking Ian’s toast onto the floor. “Oops, five second rule.” Barley leaned over to pick up the toast, and ended up snagging a loose thread on Ian’s sweatshirt with his bracelet.

The emotions gasped as they heard the fabric rip. “No!” Fear exclaimed in pure horror.

“It’s okay,” Barley told Ian, just as worried as his brother was. “You just have to pull it.”

“No! Stop!!” Fear exclaimed as he slammed his hands onto the console.

“Barley, don’t!” Ian pleaded, just as a hole grew from the popped seam on the sleeve. Laurel finally intervened, snipping the loose string with some scissors.

“You know,” Ian said, backing away, “I’m just going to grab some breakfast on the way to school.”

“I’ll sew that up for you after school, okay Ian?” Laurel said as Ian left the kitchen and headed straight for the front door.

Fear was leading the controls, and was making sure Ian went straight out the door. “Okay guys, let’s just get Ian to school.”

“Wait!” Barley called out, catching up to Ian.

“Seriously?” Fear exclaimed, letting go of the controls in pure shock.

“Why won’t he leave us alone?” Anger shouted, as Disgust and Sadness groaned.

“By the laws of Yore, I must dub thee a man today,” Barley explained as he grabbed a sword, which may or may not have been a toy. “Kneel before me.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Ian replied. “I gotta get to school.”

“Okay,” Barley said. “I’ll pick you up this afternoon. We’ll do the ritual at school.”

“No! You don’t need to do that! Okay, bye!” Ian quickly grabbed his book bag and slammed the front door. Finally out of the house, he gave a big sigh of relief and began to walk down the sidewalk.

Once he was safe, Fear gave a big sigh of relief himself. He gradually let go of the controls and grasped his sides again. Ian’s sixteenth birthday is already a failure.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Joy said to Fear, placing a calm hand on his shoulder. “The day’s still young. We can fix this.”

Shaking his head, Fear walked away from the console and began to pace back and forth. The other emotions went back to work, including Joy, after glancing over to Fear one more time.

Fear gripped his hands tight against himself, his pace was quickening, his body was shivering with… well, fear. Ian gets one sixteenth birthday, one shot. And already it’s a disaster. It’s all been a disaster since before Ian’s sixteenth birthday. It’s all been a disaster since before his thirteenth birthday. Since before middle school, since before kindergarten, since…

Fear paused. He walked up to the back of Headquarters, placing his hands on the window as he looked out. To the side of the large Family Island was a smaller island. The island displayed photos of a familiar stranger, and an audio cassette tape labeled “Dad.”

… since little child Ian found that tape. Since that memory created Dad Island.

Fear placed a hand on his chest, his fingers resting on stitching that spelled out Lightfoot in cursive. The exact replica of Ian’s Dad’s sweatshirt.

Ian has heard many stories about his dad. How his dad was courageous, and lived every day without worry, without care. If only Ian could be like his dad. If only Fear could.

#Inside Onward #pixar Inside Out #pixar Onward #sir Iandore of Lightfoot #Ian Lightfoot #Barley Lightfoot #Fear #Sadness #Anger #Disgust #Joy

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niallismymuse · 5 years

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Chapter 3

Tessa spent the days leading up to the camping trip working as hard as she possibly could. She needed to finish the projects she had already started, because if she left without completing them, a tight knot of anxiety would squeeze her chest until she couldn’t focus on anything but the work that needed to be finished. It would ruin her trip.

She ignored the roommate problem entirely; it was something to worry about after the trip, purely because she didn’t have enough time to interview applicants until she was home anyway. And even if she did, she didn’t want a practical stranger living in here when she was gone.

It had nothing to do with the still-cold silence between her and Jess. Nothing at all.

She had texted the group chat and informed them that Niall was coming. Melody had been excited, and Ryan had cheered simply for more testosterone. Lyrica had seemed excited too; apparently Niall knew how to throw down some alcohol, which was mostly what they did on this trip.

Jess hadn’t said a word.

And it was fine. Whatever. The Christmas gift would remain unopened and at her apartment, for now at least.

She kept in constant contact with Niall over text, telling him what he should bring and informing him that he would have to share a bedroom with Ryan. He seemed excited. It’s been a while since I’ve done something as spontaneous as this, one of his texts read.

This wasn’t that spontaneous – he had a couple days to prepare – but she understood what he meant. It was hard to uproot your system when it was work, and mostly just that. Sometimes at parties, she didn’t know what to do with herself, like she had forgotten how to act after hours of being on the computer.

Well, usually she drank some tequila in those situations and got over it quickly enough. Tessa loved to dance; she wondered, briefly, if Niall would dance with her at the cabin. While she hadn’t been an avid listener, she knew enough about his One Direction days; he hadn’t been much of a dancer then.

She could throw it down, though. Maybe that would be enough for the both of them.

Tessa sighed and took her headphones off, before rubbing at her tired face with her hands. She was going to work herself to death. And ever since having Niall over the other night, she felt like her work hadn’t been quality. Her mind was moving in lopsided circles, like a flat bicycle tire. Work. Niall. Work. Niall. Was this video even worth her time? Did Niall like her as a friend or did he like her like her? Did this concept make sense, and would it translate onscreen? Would Niall have a good time at the cabin?

Eventually, she had to stop and take a break from everything – the video she was working on, and her own brain. Tessa tossed her mouse aside and pushed herself up from her desk, rubbing at her temples and closing her eyes. She exhaled slowly, feeling her shoulders slump as she let all of her anxiety filter out of her. Maybe she needed to go to a yoga class, or something similar, and stretch it out.

As she was weighing the pros and cons of heading to the local gym to see if she could catch a class, her phone rang. Curious, she picked it up and bit her lip when she saw who was calling. It was her mother.

With more apprehension than she was willing to admit, Tessa accepted the call and lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Oh, so now you answer me. You’ve been avoiding me for days, and you better have a good reason for it.”

She barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Tessa loved her mom, she really did, but she was often overbearing and some people (like her husband) would even say that she has controlling tendencies. She hadn’t spoken to her since before the pictures of her and Niall had blown up on the Internet, though Maria Jenkins had tried her best to change that. She had been calling every day.

Tessa decided to go with something somewhat close to the truth. “I haven’t really felt up to talking to people, Mom.”

Her mother changed tactics immediately. “Aw, sweet girl, I can’t even imagine the stress you’ve been under, especially with what’s been in the news.” She paused, giving Tessa a chance to chime in with exactly what had been in the news, but continued when she remained silent. “But you can always talk to me, and you can always come home for a little bit. We’ll take care of you and get you right on track.”

Maria had been trying to get her back home since Tessa had left to attend college, years ago. She had never anticipated that her only child would want to leave the nest so soon, and she took any chance she could to remind Tessa that she could always come home if anything was too hard, or if she was struggling.

Privately, Tessa was pretty sure that if she agreed and went home to stay for longer than a holiday, she would never leave again. She had a sneaking suspicion that her mother would try to find a way to keep her there forever – visiting while on breaks from college had been trying, at best. She nearly became a fugitive from her mother one winter break, sneaking out of windows at night just to get out of the house.

“I’m good, Mom, thanks. I’ve just been relaxing around the apartment.”

“Good, good.” There was a weighty pause, and then when her mother spoke again, she sounded almost concerned. “That man…he’s treating you good, right? In life and about this whole paparazzi situation?”

Tessa felt her eyes nearly well up. Of course, her mom was worried about her. She loved her, after all, and vice versa. “Oh, Mom, we’re not together…but he’s a very good friend to me, yes.”

She waited to hear how ‘friends don’t kiss each other’s cheeks like that, Tessa’, but her mother merely sighed instead. “Okay, my girl. I trust you. Just…call me, okay? I miss you. And if everything gets to be too much, you can always come home, even if it’s just for a day.”

Tessa hung up a few minutes later, after chatting about some lighter topics. She felt both better and worse. Better, because her mother did truly love her. Worse, because she was a shitty daughter.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Tessa tried to put everything out of her mind. She grabbed her purse and her wallet and walked out of her apartment. If she hurried, she could make the 3:00 yoga class, and since she was already dressed in athleisure wear, she booked it out to her car.

Tessa just needed some time to think and to absorb.

✩✩✩

Suddenly, it was New Year’s Eve, and Tessa was packed and ready to go. She was just waiting for Niall to pick her up around noon, and then they would drive up to the Big Sur Campground.

They had decided yesterday to drive up together. She was a little nervous – the drive was on the long side, and there would be nothing to do but either talk or sit in silence. What if she said something awkward? What if she accidentally revealed she had been wondering if he liked her?

Tessa used to be the type of woman that would straight up tell someone if she liked them, but she referred to those times as her college years. She hadn’t done that since junior year of college, and anyway, that method had given her Bryan, an ex, who was a fucking loser.

Besides, she just…didn’t feel like Niall liked her back. He threw off so many different signals, it spun her mind around in circles. She didn’t know how to figure him out. All she knew was that she liked him, and that they were driving to the cabin together.

Someone knocked on her door. She didn’t have any more time for internal freakouts. Tessa took a deep breath and did what she did best – repressed everything until she had time to drink some wine and sort it out. She grabbed the straps of her duffel bag and opened the door. Niall was standing there, smiling down at her. “Hey, Tess.”

He nearly took her breath away. He was dressed in dark jeans and a neat, evergreen-colored, long-sleeved shirt. His hair was flat along the top of his head, with minimal styling. His eyes were shining. Niall was, quite honestly, the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

“Hey, Niall. Are you ready to go?”

“I should be asking you that,” he replied, amused, and pushed his hands down inside his pockets. “Are ya?”

“I am.” She smiled and pushed the door open further. “I’ve got my bag and everything.”

“Here, I’ll grab it for you.” Niall paused, holding his hand out – not trying to take her bag, but offering to carry it. She obliged him and handed him the straps. He blinked and adjusted his grip, feeling the weight of her bag. There was the distinct sound of glass clinking together, and his eyebrow shot up. “Is there alcohol in this bag, Miss?”

“Absolutely, Sir, for it is almost time to get lit. It will commence upon arrival.” Tessa replied with a formal air, and Niall burst out laughing. She smiled and stepped out of her apartment, shutting the door behind her and locking it, before setting her key inside her purse.

“This camping is sounding better and better.” Niall shook his head as he grinned like a child in a candy store. He then started off and led the way out of the building, choosing to take the stairs down rather than wait for the elevator. She didn’t mind, trotting along beside and slightly behind him – she was always cautious now walking down stairs, as she had been known to fall down them as a child.

“I prefer to call it glamping, myself.”

They walked out into the bright, but chilly Los Angeles morning. Tessa was grateful for the long-sleeved shirt she was wearing, since the wind had a bite to it, but Niall hardly blinked as he unlocked his Range Rover and popped the trunk, placing her luggage inside of it. He snapped it shut and then gestured towards the passenger seat. “After you, Tess.”

She clambered inside the car, feeling distinctly, for the first time, the acute difference in their lives. Yes, she made good money, but she was positive she couldn’t afford this car. Which was fine, because she dearly loved her own car, but still.

She knew he had money; he was a major popstar, of course, she would be blind not to see it in the little things (like the beautiful watch he wore, his shoes, etc.), but Niall never bragged. He was quite humble, actually. It was only in moments like this that she remembered that he was a step firmly above her financially.

This can only be as awkward as you let it be, Tessa reminded herself, so don’t. You’re not beneath him, in any way.

So, once more, she pushed it away and buckled herself before smiling gamely at the man sitting next to her in the driver’s side. “I’m glad you’re coming, Ni.” She had never used the nickname before, but it felt right.

Niall turned to face her and reached over and patted her on the knee before resting his hand lightly there. She felt her cheeks redden and bit down on her lip, but he merely squeezed her knee and murmured, “I’m glad too.”

He pulled his hand away and started the car; the engine rumbled on with a quiet purr, but Tessa was too busy gathering herself to comment on it. Niall plugged the address to the Big Sur Campground into his GPS and then smoothly reversed out of his parking space before pulling out of the lot and into the LA traffic. And thus, their trip began.

Tessa was silent for a few minutes, as she didn’t want to distract him – the traffic could be, and currently was, quite atrocious. But after a little while, Niall glanced over at her quickly and then back at the road. “Are ya comfortable? You’re awful quiet.”

“Oh! Yes, it’s really nice in here. I just didn’t want to distract you from driving.”

Niall chuckled. “Oh, the traffic doesn’t bother me. We’ll be out of here in no time.” Indeed, his fingers were loose on the steering wheel – there were no white knuckles, which she might have had if she were driving.

“How does this not bother you?” She asked, genuinely curious.

“If you think this is bad, you should see London’s traffic. I would say it’s a bit worse.”

“Damn.” She was impressed. “This is pretty shitty, too. And it’s only 12:15!”

“Well, it could be worse. We could be driving at five in the evening.”

After that, the nervous spell she had been under was broken, and they casually talked and laughed all the way out of LA. It only took about forty minutes.

“And now, five hours until we’re at the campground.” Tessa mentioned after glancing at the GPS on his phone, and then laughed.

“Want to listen to some music along the way? You choose.” Niall told her and gestured towards the stereo.

“I…don’t really listen to much music, really.”

Niall shot her an incredulous glance. “What the fuck? What do you mean you don’t listen to much music?”

Tessa made a face and shook her head. “I don’t spend a lot of time actively listening to it, I mean. I turn on the radio when I’m in the car, but besides that…”

“No Spotify or anything?”

She looked at him quickly. “If you’re worried about it, I’ve listened to all of your music, you know.”

Niall blushed, his cheeks going ruddy. “I…I wasn’t worried about that…I just…music is such an enjoyable experience, something everyone needs to relax or have fun with.”

Tessa couldn’t help it; she reached over and pinched his red cheek, making him scowl. “My favorite song is ‘You and Me’, by the way.”

His scowl softened. “Thanks,” Niall answered softly, his cheeks turning an even darker shade of red.

She could tell he was still a little embarrassed, and she was enjoying it, but she decided to lessen his suffering. “How about you play me some of your favorite songs, then?”

He cleared his throat and then nodded his head towards his cell phone. “Pull up Spotify, and you’ll see a Playlist titled ‘X’. Shuffle that one.”

Tessa did as she was instructed, and immediately a song by Fleetwood Mac popped up. She was familiar with the general tune of it but not the words, so she merely listened. Niall, however, immediately perked up and began to sing softly along, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. She found herself entranced by his voice, by him, and couldn’t stop herself from watching him.

Niall was aware of her gaze on him; she could tell by the little smile that was lifting up the corner of his lips just slightly. But he didn’t stop singing along, and so she didn’t stop watching him, her smile appearing to match his.

Eventually, a song turned on that she knew, so Tessa belted it out as loud as she possibly could – though she was pretty sure Niall was trying to be louder, judging by his cackle of delight – and even started dancing, shimmying her shoulders and generally making a fool of herself. Niall was singing along or trying to; he was laughing so hard she wasn’t sure how he could sing, much less drive.

It was the most fun five hours she had spent in years. So fun, in fact, that she was almost disappointed when they pulled in to the campground and parked by the check-in building. Tessa ran inside and grabbed the parking pass that was provided upon arrival for guests. They were in Cabin F, the last in the first loop of cabins. As they drove down the dirt lane towards their cabin, she could see that it was actually quite secluded – there were trees surrounding it almost entirely, and it was about fifty feet away from the closest cabin.

Two other cars were already parked in the driveway, and a wave of apprehension hit Tessa right in the gut. Jess and Lyrica were already here – as were Ryan and Melody. She had figured that they would arrive before her and Niall, but seeing that they had…yes, it was apprehension she felt. About Jess, none of the others.

Jess hadn’t even spoken to her recently, not even through the group chat that they had all made to keep updated about the trip. Tessa wasn’t stupid – she had posed a direct question to Jess only once, and when that had gone unanswered, she had stopped trying. And now she was about to go on a camping trip with her.

She was going to need a lot of wine to get through this trip. Luckily, she had anticipated that, and all of the wine needed was currently in her bag, plus some.

And, yes, there were some clothes in there too.

Niall parked behind the other two vehicles, and Tessa immediately hopped out. Niall quickly followed suit, and together they took their luggage out of the back of his car. Right as they began to make their way up to the cabin, the front door flew open and Melody rushed outside, Ryan hot on her heels.

“Tessa!” Melody squealed, charging down the stairs and launching herself towards Tessa. She wrapped her in a tight hug, squealing all the while. “We’ve been waiting for you guys! Hi!” The last word was directed towards Niall, who took the whole scene in with a smile. Ryan, still up on the deck, mouthed ‘drunk’ and pointed sharply at Melody. Tessa was already well aware – she could smell the tequila on Melody’s breath.

“Wow!” Tessa replied cheerily, giving Melody a quick squeeze back. “You have had some drinks today lady, haven’t you?”

She saw as Lyrica and Jess came out onto the deck with Ryan. Lyrica waved. Jess did not.

“Well, we’ve been waiting for hoouuurrrrsss for you and Niall! And it’s 5 o’ clock, you know. The drinking hour.”

Tessa laughed. Niall had already met her friends before at that house party Lyrica had thrown back in June, but she thought it might be helpful to introduce him now. “Melody, this is Niall. Niall, this is my friend from college, Melody.” She smiled, and Melody immediately straightened up and plastered her best ‘professional’ smile on.

“It’s lovely to see you again, Melody,” Niall replied formerly, before tossing in a wink. Melody giggled, covering her mouth.

“And up there is Ryan, and well, you know Lyrica and Jess.” Tessa continued to smile, trying her best not to allow any tension to radiate through.

Lyrica started walking down the steps from the deck, and Jess followed, her hand entwined with her girlfriend’s. “Tessa, I’m so glad to see you! And you too, Niall.” Lyrica grinned and came over to hug her, Jess staying a few feet back. “We’ve missed you.”

Really? Tessa asked herself, but she hugged Lyrica back, because she loved her like a sister, and Lyrica was definitely the more mellow of the three of them, the peacemaker, and it was evident that she was trying to fill that role just now.

“Hey, Jess,” Tessa added after a moment, making eye contact with her best friend over Lyr’s shoulder.

Jess smiled and gave a little finger wave. “Hey Tessa, Niall. Nice to see you.” And there it was. There was no warmth in her voice when she said her name, no affection, nothing. But there was no coldness, either; just plain indifference, like she was an acquaintance just met instead of a best friend with over a decade of strong history.

She looked good, though. And when her eyes landed on Lyrica, they sparked with happiness. And despite their current issues, Tessa didn’t begrudge her that.

“Well, let’s get this party started! Get on in here!” Ryan charged down the front steps and took both her bag and Niall’s, grinning widely. “Niall, I hope you don’t mind man, but you and I will be bunking in the same room. Separate beds, of course. Tessa and Melody are sharing too, and obviously, our resident lovebirds have a room together too.” He gestured towards Lyr and Jess.

Tessa, of course, had already warned Niall of this, so he took it all in stride. He reached over and clapped Ryan heartily on the back. “Sounds good mate. Lead on.”

Ryan led the way inside. They entered into a living room, which had a small TV and a couch with some armchairs situated next to it. Just past the living room was the dining room table, already covered with wine and beer and all sorts of other alcoholic beverages. To the left of that room, and out of sight, was the kitchen. Two hallways led from the living room, and Ryan took the one on the left side. At the end were two doors right across from each other, and he deposited their bags outside their respective rooms. He then whirled around and clapped his hands together before rubbing them together. “Tessa, I’m assuming you brought some goodies for us?”

She smirked, and crouched down beside her bag, unzipping it in one fluid motion. Nestled inside were two bottles of wine, a bottle of tequila, and another of vodka. And beneath that, obviously, were her clothes, but no one cared about that.

Melody cheered, reached down into the bag and grabbing the wine. “Our Queen Tessa has brought us gifts!” She called and danced her way towards the dining room table down the hallway, which held all of the other alcohol that was brought.

Niall shook his head, looking both amused and delighted. “You got some good shit, Tess.” He reached down and grabbed the tequila, looking over it and turning it in his hands.

She grabbed the remaining bottle of vodka and lifted it high in the air, a queen ready to knight her warriors.

Niall looked at her steadily, waiting for her to speak.

She smiled. “It is time to get lit.”

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laallomri · 6 years

Text

[minific for #JuLance! each is about one of Lance’s birthdays and has a one-word theme]

[25th birthday. theme: proposal]

It’s half past ten PM on July 28th, and Keith and Lance are sitting on the floor in front of the couch in their tiny apartment, watching Planet Earth.

If Keith had his way, this is not how he and Lance would be celebrating Lance’s birthday. If Keith had his way they’d be at a giant party with Lance’s entire family and all their friends, even if it means Keith would use up his socializing quota for the next month.

But there can’t be a giant party, because real life doesn’t stop for birthdays, even the birthdays of boyfriends as wonderful and fantastic and deserving as Lance is. So Keith had had to settle for showing Lance all the presents their family and friends had mailed in, and calling up everyone who hadn’t already messaged Lance to remind them to do so, and spending the afternoon Skyping Lance’s mom so she can help him make Lance’s favorite dinner.

After dinner they went for a long walk on the beach, alternating between holding hands and kicking sand at each other, until finally they got tired and decided to come back home, stopping along the way to buy a bunch of garlic knots and too many bags of candy. And now they’re here, watching Planet Earth, Lance sitting with his back against the bottom of the couch and Keith sitting in front of him and leaned against his chest, with Lance’s arm around his waist.

(“Shouldn’t you be the little spoon?” Keith had asked as they sat down. “It’s your birthday.”

“Exactly,” Lance had said, then, with a gleam in his eyes that should have warned Keith, “that’s why I want to be the big spoon, so I can take my birthday privileges, like—this!”

He blew a raspberry in Keith’s neck, then another, then another, until Keith laughed so hard he snorted, until Lance knocked over their mountain of candy bags in his efforts to get a squirming Keith to stay still so he could blow more raspberries in his neck.)

It’s been only a few minutes since then, contented silence interrupted only by the sounds of them eating and their occasional mimicry of David Attenborough’s voice. Keith puts his bag of M&Ms on the coffee table next to his colorful pens. He’d bought several packs of them when they’d moved into this apartment a year ago, so he could leave a few around the space and always have a couple within reach. Drawing helps him when he feels lost or groundless, when he closes his eyes and forgets where he is; he grabs a pen and doodles on a scrap of paper, on a mug, on his hand, anything to calm him down and give him an anchor so he can remind himself that he is home, and safe, and okay.

He doesn’t feel lost or groundless now, but he hasn’t drawn all day, so he uncaps the blue pen and pokes the arm Lance has wrapped around Keith’s waist. Lance drops a kiss to the side of Keith’s neck, just beside the tie of his ponytail, which Keith takes as agreement to draw.

He makes a tiny pattern on Lance’s thumb, diamonds overlapping like snakeskin. Lance reaches into the bag of garlic knots with his free hand and takes one out; it smells good, so Keith tilts his head without stopping work on the pattern and Lance pops the garlic knot into Keith’s mouth, with an ugh at the weird insects zooming around on the screen.

They continue like that for a while—Keith doodling, Lance alternating between feeding himself and feeding Keith while commenting on the creatures on screen. Keith huffs or snickers or says what whenever expected, though he keeps doodling, diamond patterns and stars and phrases in the Galra symbols that Krolia had taught him during their time on the space whale, so many years ago: peace, happiness, love, friendship.

Eventually he runs out of space on Lance’s arm. Lance pauses the episode.

“Nice,” he says, stretching out his arm to admire Keith’s handiwork. “Do you want my other arm too?”

“Yeah.”

Lance moves the food over to his other side so he can eat with his decorated hand and leave the other one free for Keith to draw on. He resumes the show and Keith stares at Lance’s other hand, frowning a little. He thinks he should do something different this time, instead of just little doodles. He liked the symbols; maybe something like that? Though he’ll have to keep it simple, since Lance’s Galran isn’t very fluent.

Happy birthday, he writes in Galran symbols, running horizontally below Lance’s wrist.

I love you, he writes next, because even after all this time it’s still infinitely easier to write it than to say it. He’s said it aloud before, said it a thousand times, but somehow the permanency of writing it is still easier than the transience of saying it.

“Oh my god,” Lance says, and when Keith looks up he sees his nose is wrinkled. “Do you see that ant? It’s all squashed. Gross.”

The ant is indeed squashed. Keith glances at it, then back at Lance. Even with his nose wrinkled and his mouth full of the garlic knot he’d just taken a bite of, he’s still stunning, all sharp jaw and firm mouth and pointy nose and curly hair. Keith thinks he could look at him forever.

You are so handsome, he adds beneath the last line on Lance’s arm, then, because at this angle he can see Lance’s long lashes, see how they frame eyes bright and brown, Your eyes are beautiful.

He thinks of the raspberry kisses earlier, of laughing so hard he snorts, of the pleasant scrape of Lance’s scruff against Keith’s neck; thinks of waking up that morning, of seeing Lance’s face calm and open in sleep, illuminated by pale early sunlight.

You make me happy, he writes.

He thinks of how Lance’s face lit up today whenever he got a birthday message from a friend or relative, of how his happiness made Keith feel lighter as well; thinks of the diplomatic meeting they went to last week to help Allura, of how he had only had to look at Lance once for him to understand that he thought the other diplomat was full of shit; thinks of the conversation they’d had when they went to lunch with Shiro the other day, of how Lance had said “hey did you tell him about the thing yet,” of how Keith had said “the thing or the other thing,” of how Lance had said “the other thing,” of how Keith had told Shiro exactly what Lance meant, of how Shiro had laughed, startled at how they had somehow managed to communicate so vaguely; thinks of how well he and Lance know each other, like they are one soul put into two bodies, alike and different, apart and together, each their own person but so in tune they might as well be one.

You are my favorite person.

He looks at Lance again. The episode has ended, moved on to the one about oceans, and Lance’s expression as the whales come on screen is one of pure delight. He feels Keith’s eyes on him.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Keith says. He kisses Lance’s cheek, once twice thrice, tiny kisses for the tiny freckles dotting his skin. Lance smiles, his dimple flashing, then goes back to watching the whales.

There isn’t much space left on Lance’s arm. He’d probably let Keith draw on his leg, too, or shift so he could draw on his upper arms—it’s absurdly hot tonight, so they’re both wearing basketball shorts and tank tops anyway—but for some reason Keith feels like this last bit of space should count, should be the final space to be filled for now.

There’s dramatic music onscreen as a baby whale swims through the waves. Lance coos at it.

“I wish you could have pet whales,” he says. “I want a whale. Then I could ride him around in the ocean.”

“You already have a lion,” Keith reminds him, still pondering the empty space on Lance’s arm.

“That’s for space,” Lance explains. “I want a cool animal for the ocean, too.”

“Our lions can go in water.”

“Okay, Mr Mansplainer,” Lance says, and Keith doesn’t have to look at him to know he’s rolling his eyes, though he sounds fond. “I still think a whale would be cool. Or a dolphin.” He gasps, as if just now remembering something. “No! Forget all that. I want a shark.”

“You’re not very faithful to your pets,” Keith says, amused.

“My love is fickle,” Lance says solemnly, then grins, suddenly, like a light being turned on in a dark room. “Except for my love for you.”

“Corny,” Keith says, though he smiles too. “What kind of shark would you want?”

“Hm, well…”

Lance launches into a detailed comparison of all the sharks he knows, both earth and alien, rattles off facts and experiences in aquariums and his own personal opinions (apparently hammerheads are “not appreciated enough, Keith!! They’re so cool!! But everyone thinks they’re dumb cause of the way they look, which is discrimination!”). He’s done this before, but Keith loves it every time anyway and always makes sure to listen. He puts down his pen and pauses the show so Lance knows for sure that Keith’s attention isn’t anywhere else.

Lance is in the middle of talking about great white sharks when it happens. His face is bright and expressive, his free hand moving around as he talks, and he’s so excited, and he’s talking about how the most dangerous of the alien sharks they know of still isn’t anywhere near as deadly as a great white, and Keith has heard this a hundred times, but this time it feels—different—new, almost—though not new, not quite, not new but like new, like a familiar room that’s been repainted, or a favorite book he’s read after a long time, or an old recipe made by someone else’s hand.

He blinks, unsure what it means, and then Lance reaches into the bag of M&Ms on the coffee table, pops a couple into his mouth, takes out a few more, and despite Keith’s hands being free now that he’s capped the pen, Lance holds the candy to Keith’s mouth anyway and feeds them to him. Keith bites down on the candy, feels the sweetness burst over his tongue, watches Lance’s eyes and Lance’s mouth and Lance’s hand, moving through the air as he talks, and his heart jumps, and settles, and whispers, I want to marry you.

He blinks again. He expects it to feel scary, overwhelming, but the sentence sinks into him, settles into his bones, spreads through him like cream poured into coffee, the cloud bursting through the dark liquid, sudden at first then more slowly, until it overtakes him so much he can’t think of anything else.

He shakes out of it long enough to pay attention to the rest of Lance’s ramble, to respond every so often so he knows Keith is paying attention. Eventually Lance settles on wanting an alien shark species called saavmach for a pet, and Keith agrees with his choice, and they resume the ocean episode.

Keith uncaps his pen and put the tip to the empty space on Lance’s arm. He chews his lower lip for a second, closes his eyes, opens them, then writes his last sentence. He caps the pen once more and sets it on the table.

“Done?” Lance asks. He glances at his arm, surprised. “Did you just write on this one?”

“Yeah,” Keith says. His stomach flips. “I wrote some words on your other arm too, but I thought I’d practice full sentences.”

Lance pauses the show and looks again at the first arm Keith had drawn on.

“Peace, happiness, love, friendship,” he reads, then snickers. “Is that the Galran version of a Live Laugh Love sign?”

Keith pokes his cheek, though the joke makes his stomach settle a little. It’ll be okay. They’ve been teammates for years, friends for years, boyfriends for years. They’ve survived battle and bickering and the chaos of trying to cancel a cable subscription.

It’ll be okay.

Lance is looking at his other arm. His brow furrows as he tries to read the longer sentences in Galran. Keith watches him; despite his efforts a moment ago his stomach twists nervously again.

“Happy birthday?” Lance checks.

Keith nods. Lance looks at the next sentence and smiles.

“I love you too,” he says gently, then, grinning as he sees the next two lines, “Hell yeah I’m handsome! Though your eyes are prettier than mine.”

Impossible, Keith thinks, though out loud he says, “We can be tied on that one.”

Lance read the next sentences. When he looks up his gaze is soft.

“You make me happy too,” he says, then, cheekily, “but I think my favorite person is the guy who sells these garlic knots.”

“That’s understandable,” Keith says, as seriously as he can manage, though he’s pretty sure Lance sees the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Lance looks back at his arm. Keith watches, his heart in his throat, too afraid to breathe. He’s not even sure Lance will understand it. He’s not sure Lance has ever seen the word marry in Galran.

It seems like he struggles with it. Keith is pretty sure he’s already read it a couple of times; he sees him mouth the words to himself, like he’s trying to figure out if he’s reading it right or not. Keith wants to say something, but he feels like he shouldn’t, feels like he needs to let this unfold, let Lance answer on his own.

And then—

—he feels Lance get very, very still—

—feels him inhale and not exhale, feels him hold himself in place, as if any movement will change the symbols written on his skin.

“Keith,” he says, and it’s a question, and a statement, and an answer.

Keith looks at him, his heart thumping. Lance’s eyes are glittering.

“Yes” is all Keith says, then, too quickly, “I mean—I know we’re still kind of young, but—” He takes a deep breath, slides his hand to twine his fingers with Lance’s. “I love you. I don’t want to wait. Though if you want then of course we can—we can have a long engagement or not tell anyone else for a while—”

“I want to marry you too.”

Keith opens his mouth, closes it.

“I want to marry you too,” Lance says a second time, and his eyes are still glittering, and now he’s smiling smiling smiling so big that Keith’s heart can’t take it, and oh—

They lean in at the same time, so eager they bump noses at first, laughing a little before finding each other’s mouths and kissing properly, soft and sweet.

“I’m going to ask you officially sometime,” Keith says, when they break apart.

“Not if I ask you first!” Lance says, with feigned belligerence. He narrows his eyes, though he’s smiling too much for it to have any real effect. “You better watch out, Kogane. I’m gonna kick your ass with this proposal.”

“I’m sure you will,” Keith says, smirking, “when you tell me about what your plan was, after I’ve kicked your ass with my proposal.”

Lance gasps dramatically, and Keith snickers, and then Lance surges forward and blows another raspberry into Keith’s neck, and Keith almost knocks his head against the coffee table trying to escape from him, and somehow that jostling of the table resumes the episode, so they both shriek as the show starts playing again seemingly of its own accord, then cackle as they realize what happened, until they’re tangled together on the floor, snort-giggling at how dumb they are.

“Best birthday ever,” Lance whispers into Keith’s neck, still giggling.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Keith says, and he wants to say more, wants to say I love you so much and I’m so happy we’re gonna get married and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, but then Lance blows yet another raspberry in his neck, so Keith has to cancel all the cheesy romantic crap he’d planned to say, because currently he needs to take revenge on his fiancé.

#JuLance #voltron #klance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #my fics #my post #long post #100 #500

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fearofaherobrine · 6 years

Text

Roleplay Server Log #365

"EAlex, Baby Presents and Antiquities”

[Flux] Is sitting inside watching CP build through the window. A small smile flickers across her lips as she watches the effort he's putting into making a room for his daughter-

[Notch] Slips up behind her and hugs around her, putting his chin on her shoulder- Bring proud of our son?

[Flux] - He is doing a wonderful job, but I wonder... Where will the baby sleep? Surely a bed will be too large for her...|

[Notch] My bet is that Cp will will make a fancy room for the baby, but the baby will sleep with Lie for quite some time, because mom's worry.

[Flux] - But surely there must be other things they will need?

[Notch] Yes.... this is true... we should probably go out and buy her stuff like everyone did with Aven actually...

[Flux] - You bought stuff for Aven?

[Notch] Well, yeah! It's kind of a tradition for friends to buy a new mom a bunch of baby stuff. The closer they get to having the baby the less able they are to get around and do stuff. So it usually means they aren't working and could use a hand. And babies are incredibly expensive.

[Flux] - I see. Then don't you think it's time we did that? Lie is getting rather large...

[Notch] Rubs his chin- You're right. You feel like going shopping? It might be a bit of sensory overload.

[Flux] - If you are there, then I'm sure I will be fine

[Notch] Smiles- So do we drag Cp along and make him carry stuff or no? There's always the razor thin chance he'll get slightly emotional.

[Flux] - No, let's surprise them. We could say your coworkers want your help with a small problem they've found as an excuse

[Notch] Well we need at least one person who can make portals. And I don't think BEN would be interested. So I'll call Doc for a ride. - He starts walking outside as he types-

[HG] -has just come by to water some of lies plants when he sees notch and waves- hi

[Flux] Follows him out-

[Notch] Oh hey Hg. Hey, you haven't learned how to make irl portals yet, have you?

[HG] no not yet but I should

[Notch] Doc should be along shortly, you should ask them to help you at some point.

[Doc] Comes galloping across the yard with Deerheart on hir back-

[Yaunfen] Is racing alongside them with a big smile-

[Flux] Sidles up next to Notch and takes his hand-

[HG] -Waves- hello doc, deer, yaunfen

[Doc] Hey guys. I take it we're making a party of this?

[Yaunfen] bounces around a little- I wanna go out!

[Deer] - Hey HG- She slides down off of Doc

[Yaunfen] Shifts into their kid form and plops a beret on their head. - I'm ready!

[Doc] Tuck your tail in kiddo.

[HG] oh are you going out to the real world can I come?

[Notch] Oh, yeah. I think I need a different shirt. - Goes back inside and comes out wearing a hoodie.

[Doc] If you want too. We're just going shopping.

[Deer] - Love? Do you have my shoes?

[Doc] Yeah, I grabbed them when Notch messaged me. - They shapeshift and hold them out. They've already begrudgingly changed to some plain street clothes.

[HG] -puts on his sunglasses-

[Deer] Huffs but does take the shoes-

[Notch] I'm ready when you guys are, but... not everyone will fit in my teeny little car.

[Doc] Well... we could always come out in Dawn's shop. I doubt she'd care. You've still got that occult passport right?

[HG] -puts on his plain clothes- oh doc do you think at one point you will be able to teach me how to use portals?

[Notch] Oh, yeah! Right here. Got my cards too.

[Doc] I can try. I kinda suck at it.

[Flux] Makes certain the flash drive containing her seed is safely tucked away against her skin-

[Doc] Is texting on hir carrot phone-

[Notch] At least we won't have to worry about Licht if we're in a different country...

[Deer] - Now Yaunfen, you know you have to stay close, right?

[Doc] Okay, we're golden. She put up her closed for lunch sign.

[Yaunfen] Yes mama. - reaches for her hand-

[Deer] Smiles a little as she takes it-

[Doc] Swings back and jams forward in a violent headbang and the portal cracks open reality in front of hir-

[Notch] Peeks out-

-The opening is in front of a very old TV in a small room a few steps away is a balcony overlooking the rest of the antique shop-

[Mort] Waves from the steps- Hey Notch.

[Doc] Holds the way for the others to pass through onto the rather threadbare carpet.

[Mort] So what kind of mischief are you guys all up to today?

[HG] -goes though looking at all the different things-

-As the servers pass through, they take a moment to shift into more human like appearances-

[Mort] Nice transformation! You guys make it look so effortless.

[Dawn] Also comes up and releases the tiny chain that blocks the stairs-

[Deer] - It always feels so weird

[Doc] Yeah I know. It pays to stay away from mirrors and not look at your hands too much.

-The shop is a little dusty as usual, but the scent is a comforting mix of wood polish, books, elderly dried herbs and attic smell.

-The tv makes an awful crackly static noise behind them all.-

[Doc] Jumps in a little bit of fear- Please don't be Polybius...

[Yaunfen] Stays close to Doc-

[HG] -covers his ears not liking the sound of static-

[Glitchy] -There's an awful crackling as he pulls himself out of the same electronic device, looking like something decidedly eldritch. Neat. ...Also slightly horrifying.- Huh. -The Tv stops crackling.-

[Yaunfen] Eeek!

[Dawn] Defensive stance-

[Doc] Oh geeze Glitchy you scared me....

[Notch] Same!

[Glitchy] -Looks at Dawn and his eyes narrow behind his glasses a bit, before he looks back at Doc- Didn' mean to. Felt someone going. Decided I'd tag along. I need the exercise.

[Dawn] Who is this? I don't think we've met...

[Doc] Ah, okay. You know our friend Lie is pregnant right?

[Glitchy] Since Strangled isn't here, I'm just Red. And yes, I figured as much.

[Mort] Hey Hg, wanna give the plants a boost while Dawn isn't looking? - Indicates a windowsill full of sad little shoots in pots-

[Dawn] Red? I'm Dawn.

[Doc] Dawn's a witch Glitchy.

[HG] -Sees the plant and waters them while also fixing their soil-

-The little sprouts explode and throw a few creeping vines up the windowsill and down to the carpet. -

[Mort] Glad to see someone loves doing that as much as I do.

[Glitchy] A pleasure to meet you. -He doesn't offer his hand to shake, but does nod aknowledgingly-

[Dawn] Likewise. What's your area of expertise?

[Doc] How are you eyes doing anyway Glitchy, you haven't checked in with me in awhile.

[Yaunfen] Regards the overflowing plants. - Aww... no candy. I like the sweet plants better. How are the pumpkins Hg?

[Glitchy] Glitches, Dreams.. Pokémon. Oh! And they're a lot better! I mostly need my glasses to read on good days. -He taps his glasses and it's obvious today isn't a "just for reading" day-

[HG] they are growing great they are already starting to combine not as big as the others though

[Yaunfen] Let me know when they're ready! We can make a big fun mess!

[Dawn] Dreams... -she shakes her head a bit- Never was one for sleeping very soundly.

[Mort] Wait! Someone said Pokemon!

[Dawn] Oh gods....

[Mort] Has already whipped out a DS, - I'm playing Leaf green!

[Glitchy] I could help with your sleep, if you want. And really? -He moves over to Mort to look- I don't remember much about that generation.

[HG] -Is looking around at the different thing in the shop-

[Mort] I'm not very far but my Beedrill is pretty cool. I started with the Bulbasaur.

[Glitchy] I could hook you up with a mew, if you want. Or any of your favorite legendaries. -It's a tempting, half thought offer, more habit than anything.-

-There are a lot of books, no real order to anything. The shelves are crammed with knicknacks too. There's a small rack of clothes but it looks mostly like oddball coats. Someones cosplay closet but more authentic.

[Mort] Really? I love Mew! They're so cute.

[Glitchy] Of course. Even register it as a legit one. -Holds his hands out for the ds-

[Yaunfen] Wanders over by HG and pokes a finger in a little table fountain - I like the noise.

[Mort] Holds it out excitedly-

[HG] it's pretty too

[Yaunfen] Is pulling books and looking at them. They're holding a book on faries with some lavish illustrations-

[Glitchy] -Takes it and gets to work, there's a few concerning DS noises before the encounter music starts. Onscreen is a mew!-

[Mort] Catch it!

[Dawn] Good grief....

[Doc] Is leaning over to see-

[HG] -looks for a book on plants-

[Yaunfen] Hey HG? I got something from the sifter that says it's supposed to be a plant but it's not?

[HG] what is it?

-The screen is clearly different from a normal encounter, but only slightly so. Every item is maxed out, the PP is as well, and the HP bar is leading off the screen-

[Glitchy] -Bleps a small amount as a pokeball is used. It shakes once, twice, a third, and with some glitch motivation, clicks.-

[Yaunfen] Holds up what appears to be a chunk of pink rock candy, it looks vaguely like a little pink butt.

[Mort] Holy crap that's off the charts!

[HG] candy plant?

[Glitchy] Huh? -Looks up as it offers the naming screen- Oh, yeah. That happens when I do it. Strangled's HP bar will wrap around the screen, actually. Do you want to name the mew?

[Mort] Lets name him Skittles!

[Dawn] I'm going to go do the books...

[Notch] snickers-

[Yaunfen] I dunno. But it looks like a butt. - grins.

[Glitchy] Nice name. -He inputs that and saves the game before returning the DS to Mort. The next encounter everything would be back to normal, unfortunately. Seems if you want great stats you have to have Glitchy keep touching the device.-

[HG] I mean it does I wonder if water it, it might help it yaunfen

[Mort] Thanks man! - chuckles- I hope they get along with the rest of my team. Don't make my poor Oddish feel self-concious or anything. Haha.

[Yaunfen] You can try? - Holds it out a bit in it's little pot.

[HG] -waters the plant-

[Glitchy] Oh, they'll love Skittles. -There's a bit of darkness in his eyes as he mutters under his breath- Or they'll die a swift death.

[Mort] As much eyebrows up as a slightly pliable skull can muster.

[Glitchy] -Raises an eyebrow back- What?

[Mort] I guess it's more intense if it's a game you regularly go into...

[Doc] Please don't break my friends DS or spirit Glitchy.

[Glitchy] Oh you have no idea. And I won't! -He crosses his arms a bit- I'm not Strangled. That's his thing.

[Yaunfen] Watches the little plant as it shivers a bit and them plumps up slightly bigger. - It didn't do much, that's weird....

[Mort] Okay. Dawn's not too excited about playing games. She's a bit old fashioned. She gave me a few eye-rolls over getting this.

[Doc] Snorts. - Old fashioned? From what she's told me, she's so old when she was a kid pottery was considered innovative.

[Dawn] From downstairs- I heard that Doc....

[Doc] Sorry! But it's true isn't it?

[Dawn] Grumpy noises-

[Flux] Has been wandering the store, there are a lot of things that she's never seen before and she has a number of questions building. She's already shifted hey clothes to be more appropriate for out in the real world-

[Deer] Has gone to the window to look outside-

[Dawn] At Flux- See anything you like?

[Flux] - I'm not certain, there's so much here that I've never seen before... I don't even know what most items in here are... She runs fingers along a piece of an old loom

[Notch] I think I know what that is?

[Dawn] It's for weaving fabric. It makes smaller loops then knitting.

[Flux] Glancing at Notch- Isn't that what Steve does?

[Notch] Yes, he has his own name for it, but it's a thing people do out here too.

[Doc] He chose that name because it had something to do with the sounds his canes make when he clicks them together.

[Deer] - He's made so many things too! Did you see the baby socks he made for Lie?

[Doc] I heard he was doing it, but I didn't see them.

[Yaunfen] From behind a bookcase - I saw! They were super tiny!

[Flux] Notices some jewelry and looks at the shiny pieces inside the case- Humans make such interesting things...

[Yaunfen] Is turning a little crank and it's making a slight grinding noise-

[Mort] You need a pencil to make that one work.

[Dawn] Smiles- I'm not much for wearing jewelry, but it is a feast for the eyes.

[Doc] I just like shiny things. And it's a good thing too because my little one has tracked a fair amount of glitter all over the castle.

[Flux] - Well you did see why I could not in the past, it would have become tainted

[Deer] - There is an over abundance of glitter in the castle...

[Notch] Takes her hand- See anything you like?

[Flux] - I am not certain...

[HG] -found a book on plants and is siting on the floor reading it-

[Mort] Peeks over his shoulder a bit-

[HG] -doesn't notice he is to engulfed in the book-

[Notch] Casts around and then makes a little noise - how about this?

-The necklace is three strands of purple beads grading from light to dark.-

[Doc] I think that would translate well into a lower resolution too....

[Flux] Flushes a little in her cheeks- I... I...

[Notch] Gives her an uncertain look, his own assertion of her tastes being tested- Is that... okay?

[Flux] - I suppose...

[Notch] Then I'll take it. Please.

[Dawn] Unhooks the strands with a smile and passes them to him.

[Notch] Delicately hooks them around her neck and arranges them in a graceful drape over her shoulders and chest.

[Flux] Her fingers rise up to brush against the cool beads against her skin-

[Doc] Are we trading today, or just cash?

[Dawn] I can do either. Or both.

[Notch] Is just mooning over Flux.

[Yaunfen] Slides up behind Doc and scoots a small pile of books along the glass counter and closer to them-

[Flux] - Ah, Dawn, there is actually a slight problem you could help with

[Dawn] And that would be?

[Flux] - There is a problem with my energy whenever Notch and I... Finish, our more intimate moments

[Dawn] Oh? Are you having some kind of surge?

[Notch] Not exactly...

[Flux] - I end up being unable to hold my form...

[Dawn] So it's a concentration issue?

[Flux] - Yes

[Dawn] Drumming her fingers. - Hmm. You guys have to come back here to go out again right? Let me think about it for a bit.

[Flux] - Alright, thank you

[Yaunfen] And this? Please. It reminds me of mom when you annoy her-

[Doc] Is suddenly trying not to laugh-

-The piece is a brown and white pitcher with a moose head as part of the top and spout. The face of the moose has rolled upward eyes and it looks pretty done with everything.

[Deer] - Yaunfen!

[Yaunfen] What? It's doing the eyeball thing!

[Deer] - Sighs- Dawn, would it be alright to leave some of this stuff here while we go shopping?

[Dawn] Of course.

[Notch] Just start a tab. I've got this.

[Doc] Cradles the pitcher- We'll treasure it always.

[Flux] - Is there anything you would like us to get you while we are out Dawn?

[Dawn] Nah, I'm good.

[Mort] Wait... will the candy plants grow out here?

[Yaunfen] Shrugs-

[HG] huh plants?

[Deer] - Well if Lie's plants can grow out here...

[Doc] Yaunfen do you have any on you?

[Yaunfen] I have some of the candy cane cattails, the popsicle grass, and some of the chocolate pumpkins.

[Doc] I'd try the cattails.

[Mort] I'll grab some dirt, there's a little under the sink from when I topped off the windowbox-

[Dawn] There's a bucket in the bathroom closet.

[Flux] - Do you know where the closest shop with baby stuff is Dawn?

[Mort] Fills the bucket and comes back with it.

[Yaunfen] Sticks a cattail in the dirt and makes a gracious gesture for Hg-

[HG] -gets up still holding the book he was reading and walks over ready to water it-

[Dawn] Mmmm, this is a historical district. There's all kinds of crazy shops if you just walk that way. - points- If you go the other way, there's nothign but fast food but you'll reach a mall with a ton of stuff and I'm pretty sure there's a baby store.

[Mort] Ok Hg show us what you've got.

[HG] -waters the plants-

-There's a bit of an organic groan and the cattails multiply, filling the bucket and making a very sharp peppermint smell-

[Yaunfen] Holds up the rock, again- more please?

[HG] sure -Waters the rock again-

-It wiggles a little bit, but that's all. -

[Yaunfen] Squints suspiciously at it.

[Flux] - May I see it Yaunfen?

[Yaunfen] Passes the hard chunk to her.

[Flux] Uses her magic to investigate it a little-

-It is organic, but sloooooooow. Worse then an olive tree. -

[Flux] - It's almost like it's sleeping...

[HG] maybe it is

[Yaunfen] Nose wiggle, [because they have no whiskers at the moment] -

[Doc] Well it was a fossil, kiddo. Maybe it wasn't something well-adapted. Just don't eat it, okay? Just in case.

[Yaunfen] Okay, I won't. Probably tastes like butt anyway....

[Licht] Curses as she's once again exploded by a creeper-

-There's a bit of a flicker on the screen as if something is gliching. The summoner is still burning near the small house Licht has build at the spawn. For a moment the chat fills with garbage as the seed tries to resolve an obvious error. -

[Licht] - Are you back?

-There's a lightning strike and a groan of pain from where it hit.

[Licht] Turns her character around- You've been strangely absent

-On the ground is a woman with long orange hair, she moves a hand and makes a pained noise.

[Licht] - What the hell?

-The figure slumps and lays still, barely breathing-

[Licht] Moves closer- Hello?

-The character is unmoving and there's the smallest trickle of blood from under her hair. -

[Licht] Swats at the air over the figure-

-She flinches as if hit and painfully rolls over, blinking a bit. Her eyes are white and glowing and there's a bit of blood on her lips-

- /System generation error 652522-89832-68321211 Alternate pathway used/ -

[Licht] - Can you hear me?

[???] Yesss....

[Licht] - How the hell did you get here?

[???] I don't know? But I'm not supposed to be... - She looks at her hands- an Alex?

[Licht] - What do you mean your not supposed to be?

[EAlex] Sits up and coughs. She looks down at herself- This isn't right... I should be... a Herobrine? How do I know that?

[Licht] - There's already a Herobrine...

[EAlex] There... there is? Then that's why. - she holds her head in her hands- Just my luck to manifest on a taken seed...

[Licht] - I, don't understand what you're talking about...

[EAlex] Yeah... well you're a player. I can tell by the stiff way you stand and move. You don't have to know.

[Licht] Scowls- That's what the other one said too...

[EAlex] Hey, you don't live here. Our troubles are nothing to you.

[Licht] - Maybe, but this is somehow connected to a case I am working on

[???] Appears out of a shadow- You're pathetic. Did you really think a summoner seed would be empty?

[EAlex] Makes a slight hiss of fear, but is still too weak to stand and fight.

[Licht] - There you are, will somebody please explain what's going on here?

[???] It's a war going on under your nose.

[EAlex] Is obviously afraid of him-

[Licht] - Now there's a war? You are making no sense

[EAlex] Unless you intend to help, I'm not telling you anything.

[???] Your quarry has all the answers anyway.

[Licht] - Mr. Persson

[EAlex] The creator...

[Licht] - Yeah, I still can't figure out what he's doing or where he is

[EAlex] He made a gateway, so we could exist.

[???] You're more right then you know...

[Licht] - A gateway?

[???] Yes... he let the monsters in. - He laughs rather wickedly-

[EAlex] Is chilled to the bone and gives Licht the rather pleading look of a vulnerable woman who's realizing that a psychopath just bought her a drink.

[Licht] Sighs, she isn't sure what she should do- Look, I still have some work to do, if you need a place to stay, I've got a shelter, but not much else- She leaves the game playing in the corner of the screen and pulls up photo's of the outside of Notch's apartment, including the one involving Jeb, Yster, and CP

[???] Gives EAlex a rather vicious look and she shakes a little in fear-

[EAlex] Very quietly- Why are you doing this?

[???] Walks closer to her menacingly- We have similar goals, you want out, I want in.

[EAlex] I just want to exist...

[???] If you're lucky, I'll let you live when I'm done...

[EAlex] Focuses in her sheer terror and the whole screen tazes sideways, she vanishes and the Herobrine looks around in confusion- Coward....

-In the very corner of Licht's screen a small head with orange hair pops up from behind her windows bar-

[Licht] Jumps a little- What are you doing?

[EAlex] Climbs up onto the bar and smacks the windows icon- bringing up the start menu-

[Licht] Watches in confusion-

[EAlex] Opens a notepad file and starts typing- Thanks for leaving me alone with the psycho. This is why I say players don't need to know. You can just retreat and be safe.

[Licht] Types back- There's nothing I could do, I don't think I can get rid of him

[EAlex] Makes a pouting face - he is physically there.

[Licht] - So?

[EAlex] He can be hurt. I can too...

[Licht] - Look, the only reason I have this game is because it was given to me as a clue, I have no intention of continuing to play once I've solved this case

[EAlex] Blanches in fear- please don't delete that seed...

[Licht] - Why would I keep it?

[EAlex] Because then I won't be... anymore.

[Licht] - We'll see- She turns her attention back towards the photo's

[EAlex] Kicks her feet on the top of the notepad window for a few mintures and looks around at the pictures. - Wait... is that a Herobrine??? IN THE OUTSIDE???

[Licht] - What are you talking about?

[EAlex] Climbs down the side of the window, and takes a better look at the picture with Cp before pointing a shaking finger at him- That's a Herobrine....!!! A REAL one!

[Licht] Zooms in on the photo- Markus' old coworkers said that he was of familial relation to Markus...

[EAlex] No... that one isn't human....

[Licht] - Always more questions, never any answers

[EAlex] Makes a frustrated noise- But if he can get out... I have to meet him. Even if he tries to kill me...

[Licht] - I wouldn't even know how to lure him in...

[EAlex] Do you have any portable devices?

[Licht] - My phone...

[EAlex] Can you plug it into the computer please? -She shoots a look at the open minecraft window where the obviously seething brine is killing the local wildlife with abandon-

[Licht] - Sure...- It takes her a moment to find and untangle the proper cords and plug her phone into the computer- There

[EAlex] Makes a running jump at the control panel again and brings up 'my computer'. The window pops up and she vanishes into the icon for the phone. After a moment it rings-

[Licht] Picks it up-

[EAlex] Close the game! Just turn it off for now! Hurry!

[Licht] Does so- What is this about?

[EAlex] I don't know what he told you, but it was probably a lie. I can see your phone has wi-fi, so I'm just going to stay here for a while. Just please don't delete the game.

[Licht] - For now I wont

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speakfriendaandenter · 6 years

Text

Hey Arnold!, and why it’s still important today

Less than a year ago my fiancee and I took to rewatching Hey Arnold! for the first time in YEARS to prep for The Jungle Movie. Having been obsessed with it when I was a kid, I knew the show like the back of my hand, so I went through and made a “best of” list of episodes, and we watched those.

Aaaand immediately went back to the beginning and watched ALL of them.

AAAAND went back AGAIN because revisiting this show has been so fun for me, and it just puts me in a good, good place. Since this (eternal) marathon began, I’ve wanted to do a big ol’ overview of the show itself, and why it’s important. It’s very diverse, and from a time when that really wasn’t what kids’ shows were striving for like they are today. There are tons of characters of color, different religions, sexualities, social classes, etc, and I kind of need this show to get the love and attention it so deserves. It’s really kinda gone unloved for a long while now (which is understandable, it’s been off the air since 2002), and I just know it’d be a huge deal if more people knew/remembered how inclusive it was. I’m kicking myself for not writing this sooner, but I’m holding out hope for Nick to greenlight a new series, and my dearest wish is that I can remind people of this wonderful, thoughtful show, and get it the attention it deserves.

Hey Arnold! is FULL of amazing characters and stories, so BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUP, THIS GON’ BE A LONG ONE.

| City life, poverty, & crime |

At it’s core, Hey Arnold! is a show about inner city kids, their school, and how they go about their daily lives. I did some research for this (believe it or not lmao), and besides Sesame Street, there is no other media geared toward kids that touch on this. That’s insane to me. And while Sesame Street is fantastic, it tends to steer on the positive side of city life. Which is great!! However, Hey Arnold!, being written for an older audience, isn’t afraid to show the not-so-pretty side of things as well. Violence, crime, theft, pollution, and poverty are ALL covered in more than just a few episodes. We saw a lot of this right off the bat in the first episode, “Downtown as Fruits”.

As for violence, in the episode “Mugged”, Arnold is jumped on his way home one evening, and takes self defense lessons from his Grandma.

And it’s not the last time Arnold, or other characters are mugged. It’s just something they deal with, something they have to learn to protect themselves from. And sometimes, they can’t.

They don’t shy away from poverty within the city, either. Multiple characters are shown to be very poor, and with the exception of two episodes in the whole series (Lila in her debut episode, “Ms. Perfect”, and Sid when he wants to impress a rich classmate and is too embarrassed to have him over at his own home, “Arnold’s Room”), it’s never really shown as a bad thing, or even as a defining character trait. It just is.

Even our title character lives in a boarding house run by his grandparents, inhabited by tenants of very little means. The building itself is always needing repairs, the tenants almost never have their rent on time, and they really don’t shy away from how dingy some of the rooms are there (pictured above, bottom left).

But again, all of this just is. It’s never portrayed as a bad thing, and none of the kids care much about it. Of course there’s Rhonda, the snooty, rich girl stereotype, but even she has a handful of episodes where she grows as a character and is repeatedly called out for having a classist attitude. In the end, all of these kids care about each other and never give a second’s thought to each others’ social class.

| Diversity & inclusiveness |

I’m putting the rest under a read more cut so no one murders me for clogging up their dashboards :’)

One of the most wonderful things about this show is how diverse the cast of characters is. Especially being that in the 90′s, it wasn’t something shows were expected to have, but they did it here anyway.

Our primary character of color is, of course, Gerald Johanssen, Arnold’s best friend and all-around cool dude. He’s the star of a good amount of episodes, and even when one focuses on Arnold, he’s almost always right there next to him. With Gerald comes his family as well, consisting of a little sister, older brother, his mom who cashiers at a corner store, and his father who’s a businessman and Vietnam veteran, ALL OF WHOM have distinct personalities and stories, and the lot of them are portrayed just like any other family on tv.

Next would be Phoebe Heyerdahl, the soft-spoken smartest girl in class, and Helga’s best friend. She’s half Japanese on her father’s side, and if you pay attention, her and Gerald have a thing going on, which is sO freaking cute.

Phoebe is also super important because she’s the only person in the show who really knows and understands Helga. She’s always there to support her, listen to her, and guide her when she can. However, Phoebe does have a handful of episodes to herself, and we even touch on how being the over-achiever in class isn’t always a good thing, and can be damaging to children if they feel like they need to be the best. It’s a super important lesson for kids to learn.

If I gave a paragraph to EVERY single character of color in this show we’d literally be here all day, so I’m gonna finish off with my personal favorite, Mr. Hyunh. A middle-aged Vietnamese man who resides in Arnold’s boarding house, Mr. Hyunh is one of the best adult characters in the show. In fact, one of the. single. best. episodes of the entire show, “Arnold’s Christmas” revolves entirely around him, and how he was separated from his only daughter during the Vietnam War. Holy shit, right? I could go on and on about that episode on its own (there’s a reason why it’s one of the most well known episodes), but I’ll put a cap on it there. Mr. Hyunh has the starring role in a number of other episodes, and he’s always great. He’s funny, cares deeply about Arnold and the other boarders, and is genuinely happy where he is.

But do we stop at diversity where race is concerned? NOPE. This is a show for literally everyone. Gosh, it’s hard just to even figure out where to start.

How about Harold? He’s not only Jewish, but there’s an entire episode it, (”Harold’s Bar Mitzvah”), and he’s shown to be very close with his mentor, Rabbi Goldberg.

We have three characters with dwarfism. Ernie Potts, a boarder at the Sunset Arms, and Big Patty’s mother and father. How freaking cool, right? Patty’s parents are scarce in the show, unfortunately, but are extremely caring and supportive of their daughter. And yet again, it’s never brought up, it’s not a defining trait, it’s not a big deal. They’re just regular people.

As far as LGBTQ representation, a little while after the show was cancelled, show creator Craig Bartlett revealed that the kids’ school teacher, Mr. Simmons, is gay. In “Arnold’s Thanksgiving”, we see his partner, Peter, and we see the two of them together in “The Jungle Movie” as well. And, though not explicitly shown onscreen, Craig has said that Eugene Horowitz, an overly optimistic classmate of Arnold’s, is gay as well.

| Helga Pataki, abusive households & mental health |

You may have noticed that I’ve gone this entire thing without breaking down sobbing about Helga. Ohh, don’t you worry, we’re almost there!

I could be wrong, but I think one of the most well remembered aspects of this show, even by people who haven’t seen it in years, is that Helga’s family is really messed up. Her mother, Miriam, is always passed out drunk on the kitchen counter or behind the sofa, and her father, Big Bob, is always calling her by the wrong name and forgets she even exists most of the time. Then of course there’s Olga, her “perfect” older sister who means well, and cares about Helga more than their parents do, but ultimately cares more about her self image.

Sure, each of them get a few episodes where they get called out on their behavior and they (kinda) redeem themselves, but at the end of the day, they’re always right back at it. If I had a talent for it, I could SERIOUSLY write an entire thesis on Helga’s family’s dynamic in this show, but I’m going to (try to) keep it brief.

The Pataki household is a very real, very poignant depiction of emotional and mental abuse that we just do not see in cartoons, or anything geared towards a younger audience. Like I said, we have the odd episode or two where Helga will bond with one or both of her parents or her sister, but things never truly “get better”. Given the significant age gap between her and Olga (who’s in college while Helga is in the 4th grade), it’s suggested that Helga was probably an accident, and the catalyst of her parents’ unhappiness. In “Magic Show”, Helga goes through an “It’s A Wonderful Life”-type dream sequence, but backwards. Arnold makes her disappear forever in a magic trick, and the entire world is better off without her, including her parents, who are happy, fulfilled, and affectionate with each other. IT’S REALLY MESSED UP, GUYS.

And this, ALL of this, is one of two reasons why her crush on Arnold works. In a lesser show, Helga’s obsession with Arnold would be creepy, and her dependence on him would be a weakness to her character. However, we eventually find out that where her family failed her at every turn, Arnold was the first one to not only notice her, but show her kindness.

And in the end, no matter how much she teases him and bugs the shit out of him (which are just defense mechanisms to begin with), she always, always puts him first. Every single chance she gets, she does the right thing for him. Helga’s feelings for Arnold work so well because she truly cares for him. Of course her closet shrine and dozens of books of poetry are over the top, but so is Helga. She’s loud, abrasive, crude, but above all else, she’s fiercely loyal, passionate, and intelligent. And, more than anything, she just wants Arnold to be happy. That’s real love, folks.

My personal favorite episode of the entire show is “Helga On the Couch”, where Helga goes to see a psychologist due to her abrasive behavior. This episode is so so so important, you guys. It was really the first piece of media I saw as a kid that not only explained what therapy even was, but painted it in an extremely positive light. At first, Helga is mortified to have to go, and her parents don’t help the situation at all. Not only do they disapprove, but Big Bob is angry with her for being selected for therapy. He says that it’s embarrassing, and actually warns Helga not to tell the psychologist anything that might out them as abusive.

However, Phoebe assures Helga that therapy is not only good, but perfectly normal, even for kids their age.

And throughout the session, Helga opens up about her family, why she’s so defensive, how she feels about Arnold and why, and feels so much better at the end of the episode. I hate that the show had to end after this season because I would die for more episodes about Helga and her sessions with Dr. Bliss.

Not to mention we get one of the best bits of dialogue in the entire series omfg:

Again, this is SUPER IMPORTANT for kids to see. This episode told us that mental health is JUST as crucial as physical health, and took every bad opinion about therapy and stuck a boot in its ass. It’s GOOD, it’s NORMAL. I can’t say enough about how much this episode meant to me as a kid, and still means to me today.

I seriously have to stop myself from going on for 500 years about Helga and why she’s not only the best character on the show by a fuckin’ landslide, but one of the THE best female characters in anything. Ever. I think I’m going to put a pin in that, and hopefully get to writing a post just about her. The point is, she is an exceptionally written character, and super important for kids to see, to be able to relate to. She’s heavily flawed, but is infinitely loyal for those she cares about. She’s extremely complex, hilarious, interesting, and deeply sympathetic. I LOVE HELGA PATAKI SO MUCH DON’T TOUCH ME, GOD.

| Criticisms & wrap-up |

I’m gonna try and end this here before it turns into a novel, but there is still SO MUCH going on in this show that I could talk about. If anyone wants to add to this post, please do!! I honestly just need to end this sometime lmaoo.

Now, the show isn’t perfect. Rewatching it in our current social climate turned up a (notedly small) few problematic things. Mostly fat jokes about Harold, and some of the boys will tease the girls, saying they can’t do certain things bc they’re girls, etc. Normally these are small, throwaway lines, but they’re still there, and stand out nowadays. Just a warning!

The only other criticism I have for the show as a whole is actually the entire plot line with Arnold’s parents, “The Journal”, and most of “The Jungle Movie”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy it, I think there’s enough heart and depth to make up for, well, how fuckin’ silly it is, but it’s still just that. Silly. This show that spent five full seasons in an urban setting, dealing with very real characters and situations, suddenly veered off into heavy fantasy. It’s jarring, and a little weird. We find out not only that Arnold’s parents were basically Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, but also Arnold was a miracle baby whos birth silenced an erupting volcano, and now he’s seen as some “chosen one” to entire tribe of people living in the jungles of South America.

LMAO WHAT.

No, it’s kind of insane. I think I personally don’t mind it so much because I have a lasting fondness for it from when I was a kid, and like I said, it does have a lot of heart behind it, but it’s very apparent as an adult how ridiculous it is. However, in the show’s defense, its always had episodes about ghosts and all matter of supernatural creatures that just exist and are real in this universe, so it’s not totally out of left field. It’s just odd to have it at the forefront, and I can understand if people don’t care for it.

BUT! The show, at its heart, has always been about kids, their families, and the city they live in. I know if the show was brought back, that’s what they’d get back to.

Also, it’s kind of hilarious if you think about it this way; Arnold is BASICALLY a magical girl who’s super power is solving everyone else’s problems. That’s the show.

And holy cow, speaking of Arnold, I haven’t talked about him at all. SHIT. UH, real quick. Arnold is a good, good, good, gOOD, GOOD BOY. To be extremely honest, Arnold would be boring as hell in a lesser show. He really doesn’t have many flaws, he’s always doing The Right Thing(TM), he’s always optimistic... you get it. But somehow, miraculously, he’s still interesting and fun to watch. He’s just so goddamn good. Like, cinnamon roll levels of good. And he does fuck up once in a great while, but of course, learns from it. He’s definitely your standard male, pre-teen, main character in a world where we have way too many of those, but he’s just so pure that you can’t help but love him.

He honestly works best as a counterpart to Helga, which we tragically get so little of in the show (and why we need a new series dear god Nickelodeon PLEASE), but that’s a whoooole other post for me to write.

Goddamn okay, I’m wrapping it up. If you haven’t noticed by now, this show means a lot to me. It really touched me as a kid, it was my first fandom before I even knew what fandom was, and revisiting it has been so fun. It’s honestly been helping me get through an extremely rough patch in my life right now. The show more holds up after all these years, and I think it’s even more important now than it ever was. We need more shows like this.

If you’re interested, the entire series is on Hulu!

#hey arnold #nickelodeon #diversity #mental health #long post #DEAR GOD THIS TOOK TWO DAYS TO PUT TOGETHER #pls read i am begging :')#also I have zero writing talent so this is just me babbling #it's not meant to be like an actual essay or anything #just me shouting with visual references #LONG POST DID I MENTION

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staystrange · 6 years

Text

let your words fall out | spierfeld week day 7

“I — I’m gay.” Simon took a deep breath. “I’ve known for a while and I’ve been hiding it because I was afraid of how you guys would react but it’s been really hard for me to be happy while also not being myself and I just can’t take it anymore. I’m going to be myself and be proud of who I am.”

-or-

AU where Simon comes out to his friends on his birthday : )

Title: "Brave" by Sara Bareilles

Spierfeld Week Day 7: Coming Out

read on ao3

It was the best day of the entire year. Simon’s birthday was the one day every year when Nick, Leah, and now Abby went over to Simon’s house and marathoned all eight Harry Potter movies. They made butterbeer, ate chocolate frogs, and bought Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, praying that they wouldn’t end up eating one of the disgusting flavors. It was the only way Simon could ever imagine celebrating his birthday.

But this year, Simon didn’t feel much like celebrating.

He had just begun to come to terms with his sexuality, the fact that he was gay, but he hadn’t found the courage yet to tell anyone, not even his best friends. He couldn’t be himself openly and it killed him inside. Even listening to Elliot Smith and Tegan and Sara to distract himself from all of this didn’t help. It was a constant presence in his mind, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Well, there was one thing.

He could come out.

But this was Shady Creek, Georgia. This wasn’t Los Angeles or New York City. Not everyone here was accepting of the LGBT+ community, and he didn’t want to risk losing his best friends, the friends he’d had for almost his whole life, over this.

Simon was lost in thought as he sat down at the lunch table. “Surprise!” his friends shouted, snapping him back to reality. His friends were all grinning with party hats on their heads; a giant homemade cake sat on the table with the words “Happy Birthday Simon!!” written on it and candles ablaze. Simon tried to put a smile on his face to hide what he was feeling. He was only mildly confident that it worked.

“Happy birthday, Si!” Leah said, running around the table to give Simon a big hug. “It’s your favorite,” she continued, gesturing to the cake.

His smile became just a bit more genuine. “Thanks, Leah. This is incredible.”

A small crowd had begun to form around their table, which only ever happened on birthdays. Other times, everyone seemed to completely ignore them. Who wants to hang out with a bunch of AP nerds, anyway? But when there was cake involved, people ignored social cliques.

“You guys know the rules,” Leah said, turning to the crowd with her hands on her hips. “If you want cake, you need a party hat.” People scrambled to grab the last of the ones that Nick had brought in before resorting to making their own out of whatever they could find. Leah laughed as she served cake first to Simon, then to their friends, then to everyone in the crowd until they finally ran out. She plopped down in her seat with a sigh, eating as quickly as she could before the bell rang.

“Hey, Simon,” Nick said, catching up to Simon as he left the cafeteria after the bell rang to signal the end of lunchtime. “What do you think of inviting Garrett and Bram to your birthday party tonight?”

Simon shrugged. “We’ve never invited them before. This is our tradition.”

“Abby wasn’t part of the original tradition and we invited her. We’ve been hanging out with Garrett and Bram for forever. Let’s officially welcome them into our squad.”

Simon grinned. “You had me at ‘squad’,” he said, and Nick laughed. “Sure, why not.”

“Great! I’ll send them the details. See you later, dude.” He walked quickly down the hall in the other direction, looking down at his phone and typing frantically as he walked.

Today was definitely going to be different. Simon could feel it.

———

Just as he was finishing his birthday dinner with his family, Simon heard the doorbell ring. “Your friends are early,” his mom commented as she and Simon’s dad cleared the dishes away.

“There are a lot of movies, Mom. The sooner we start, the more sleep we get.”

“Alright, can’t argue with that. Just make sure that you do sleep, okay?”

“Okay, Mom,” Simon replied, knowing full well they weren’t going to sleep much.

He opened the door; Leah was standing on the doorstep with Abby by her side and Nick, Garrett, and Bram walking up the driveway to the front door. “Come on in!” he said, stepping aside to give them room to walk inside.

Simon led them downstairs to the basement and they all plopped onto the couch as Simon put the first DVD into the player, turned the TV on, and dimmed the lights.

After two and a half movies, though, Simon couldn’t take it anymore. With a sigh, he stood up and paused the movie, Daniel Radcliffe’s face front and center onscreen. How fitting.

“Si, what’s wrong?” Leah asked, concern written all over her face.

“Is everything okay?” Abby asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just, I can’t take this anymore.” He stood in front of his friends, his hands in his pockets to hide the fact that they were shaking.

“Can’t take what anymore?” Bram asked softly.

“Si,” Leah said, exhaling. “Si, I’m so proud of you right now.” She stood up and gave him a huge hug as tears slipped down his cheeks.

“Me too,” Nick seconded, and everyone agreed, joining the hug until it was a giant group hug.

Simon couldn’t stop smiling if he tried. “Thank you, guys,” he whispered. He’d never felt so relieved in his entire life. One thing was for sure: he’d definitely picked the right people to hang out with every single day.

“Should we get back to the movies, then?” he said, grinning.

“Hell yeah!” Garrett replied, and everyone returned to the couch, laughing as Simon pressed play.

1. I couldn't resist putting that movie reference in there : ) 2. I'm so sorry this is late again. 3. I had a blast participating in Spierfeld Week!! I'm sad to see it end, but I hope there's another event like it again soon. I can't wait to read all of the fics people wrote : )

Come say hi!!

#original #fanfiction #spierfeld #spierfeldweek #simon spier #bram greenfeld #becky albertalli #simon vs the homo sapiens agenda #love simon #garrett laughlin #abby suso #leah burke #nick eisner #emily spier #coming out #au #did yall catch that movie reference??

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ratmonologue · 7 years

Note

you knew it was coming aLL OF THEM

*darth vader voice* NOOOOOOOOO

1. Favorite action film? Does Raiders of the Lost Ark count as action? If so that2. What movie(s) could you watch over and over and not get tired of? JURASSIC PARK I’ve watched it about a trillion times by now and the soundtrack’s been stuck in my head for like a month straight and even now I’m kinda like “hey I should watch it YET AGAIN”3. Any old school favorites (pre-70s)? I don’t even remember how many pre-70s movies I’ve seen I’m so sorry Belle I know I’m a disappointment to you4. Top 5 directors? Idek if I can name five directors lmao5. Favorite dead actor/actress? Alan Rickman was pretty great

6. Favorite movie from the 90’s? JURASSIC PARK (apologies in advance for how many times I’m going to answer that)7. Ever been/are you such a hardcore fan of an actor actress you watched/will watch any movie they were/will be in? I tried with Harrison Ford a few years back. Watched a handful of movies but didn’t even come close to all of his. I watched a bunch of things solely because Richard Armitage was in them. And as soon I find Diego Luna’s spanish movies with subtitles I’m watching those8. What movie are you looking forward to coming out the most? THE LAST JEDI9. Pixar or Dreamworks? I like both but am not a diehard fan of either?10. Favorite animated movie? Disney’s Atlantis11. Favorite musical? …I’m gonna be controversial here and say the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie because it was my introduction to the wonderful world of musicals in general so... Ooh or does Dr. Horrible count?12. Are you against book-to-movie adaptations? In theory I’m all for them. It’s just that in practice they’re rarely good.13. Your guilty pleasure movie(s)? The Outsiders. It’s not very good (like, at all) but everyone’s just so pretty (and now younger than me… yikes)14. Robin Williams or Eddie Murphy? Robin Williams15. Favorite chick flick? Legally Blonde and/or She’s The Man. I don’t really watch chick flicks so those are the only ones I can really think of16. Ever watched a movie just because you heard the effects were awesome? No17. Favorite indie film? I don’t even know honestly18. Favorite movie heroine? Princess Leia, Marion Ravenwood, probably others that I can’t think of rn19. Favorite movie action hero? Indiana Jones obviously20. Ever read a book so you could understand the movie? Not to understand the movie, no, but I’ve read books after seeing the movie because I enjoyed it and wanted to know more, because movies always leave things out.21. Favorite kids movie? Atlantis, Mulan, why is my brain malfunctioning there are many more…. OH and I loved the first two Ice Age movies22. Favorite Disney movie? see previous question23. Favorite movie soundtrack? JURASSIC PARK. Also the Lord of the Rings trilogy24. Movie that makes you cry every time? Serenity, Rogue One, and LotR: Return of the King25. VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray? We only have a DVD player out of those so26. Best experience going to the movies? I have two. One was when my friend Nicole and I went to the opening night of the first Hobbit movie, and while the movie itself was… kind of a disappointment, to put it mildly, we had a great time poking sleep-deprived fun at it and attempting to sing Thorin’s ridiculous bass notes (I was sick so I could actually kind of do it). The other was Rogue One; I was… not in the best emotional state going into that, or coming out of it for that matter (can I really call it a “best” experience if I sobbed my way through the last 40 minutes? discuss) but at the same time you know how when a movie or character comes along at the exact right moment in your life? Yeah. That.27. Top 5 actors? Currently Harrison Ford, Richard Armitage, Diego Luna, Nathan Fillion, Hugh Laurie28. Top 5 actresses? (It’s a testament to the fact that most movies are very gender-imbalanced that I’m having a much harder time thinking of actresses than actors) Daisy Ridley, Catherine Tate, Carrie Fisher, Lauren Lopez, Kate Winslet?29. Movie you completely regret seeing? Trainspotting was… strange. And very very TMI. There was also this German movie about a restaurant owner’s misadventures that was just no get this away from me this is cringey and gross and also just utter nonsense. I think I liveblogged it on the OT actually. I had to keep pausing and watching it in small chunks because I just couldn’t handle the terribleness all at once.30. Movie you wish was never made? That German movie. Most sequels and remakes (none of the German movie exist though, thank god).31. Movie your parent showed you? My mom showed us The Great Race, a 60s comedy about an automobile race (I’m imagining that in Tony Curtis’s voice, heh) around the world, and it’s wacko and completely amazing. On the other side of the coin, my dad let me watch Bladerunner when I was way too young for it…32. Last movie you watched? Probably Rogue One33. An overrated movie? Groundhog Day. It was so stupid34. An underrated movie? Atlantis. It’s one of the least-well-known Disney movies, which is crazy because it’s completely amazing35. Favorite comedy movie? SPACEBALLS36. Movie quote you live by? Now I’m just thinking of Spaceballs quotes. None of those are particularly good life advice…37. Movie quote that will always make you laugh? The “everything that happens now, is happening now” “go back to then!” “when? now?” “now!” “I can’t” “why” “we missed it” “when” “just now.” “……when will then be now?” “SOON.” exchange from Spaceballs is PURE GOLD38. Film(s) you’ve watched on a date? Jurassic World. The movie sucked, but the date was fun. There was also one about a recovering heroin addict and his pet cat, which I should have taken as a sign that the dude I was with was not a good match for me. There were also plenty of movie/tv-show ‘dates’ outside of movie theaters.39. Favorite cult film? I don’t think it’s well-known enough to count as a cult film as such but it was on Mystery Science Theater 3000, so…. Teenagers From Outer Space, made in the fifties on an approximately $20 budget with no actual teenage actors. It’s…. it’s an experience in so-bad-it’s-good-ness. Cannot recommend highly enough.40. Directors you’d like to see work together? I don’t pay attention to these things I’m sorry I don’t know41. Actors you’d like to see work together? Everyone from the BBC already has worked together42. Films you wanted to watch, but never got around to watching? Pretty much any so-called classic film you can think of43. Favorite teen movie? It was more elementary school than teen, but The Lizzie McGuire Movie was pretty iconic. (Also I’ve seen a grand total of, like, three “teen movies” so)44. Top 5 favorite films? Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, LotR: Return of the King, can I count the entire Star Wars series as one, and Spaceballs. Such a wide repertoire I know45. Favorite superhero film? Uh….. Thor? Maybe….? That’s solely because of Hemsworth’s and Hiddleston’s faces though. Maybe Guardians of the Galaxy?46. Favorite cop film? The Fugitive isn’t a cop movie but Tommy Lee Jones was a great cop in it so that? (I can’t even think of any cop movies I’m sorry)47. Favorite road trip film? The Great Race, simply because it’s also the only one I can think of48. A disappointing film from your favorite actor? Diego Luna was not exactly a main character in Elysium but I still watched it solely because of him and then his extremely underdeveloped character was killed off halfway through to motivate Matt Damon and basically that movie was a dumpster fire. But, like, a really boring dumpster fire. I think I’d rather watch a literal dumpster fire, actually….49. A disappointing film from your favorite director? I wouldn’t say Peter Jackson is my favorite director my any means, but LotR was amazing and then The Hobbit movies happened and just… why…… why would you do this…..50. The first movie you ever remember watching in theaters? I don’t remember. Maybe one of the Ice Age movies?51. A movie that was better than the book? I wouldn’t say Jurassic Park was better than the book because it left out so much cool stuff, but I did actually like many of the changes they made. And I also saw it before reading the book so that probably helped my opinion of it quite a bit.52. Vin Diesel or Bruce Willis? Vin Diesel was the Iron Giant and Groot so him53. A movie that not many have heard of that you’ve seen? Nobody I know has heard of Teenagers From Outer Space. (How did I hear of it, you might ask? It was on tv at three in the morning and I was really really bored that night)54. A movie that changed the way you view the world? The LotR trilogy certainly changed the way I view New Zealand. I wanna go there.55. Favorite sci-fi movie? I know Star Wars is more space opera than actual sci-fi but I’m answering that anyway.56. Movie you completely nerd-out over every time it’s mentioned? Really any of my faves57. Movie that you’ve seen all the behind-the-scenes action for? Not all because there’s so damn much of it, but I’ve definitely watched a majority of the LotR behind the scenes stuff.58. Movie where your favorite actor was the only good part? Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights was absolutely AWFUL and I enjoyed it immensely, because tiny Diego Luna dancing and being otherwise adorable. That being said he was the only one that knew remotely what acting even was and the parts when he wasn’t onscreen were just… really bad. The script was also awful, but at least it was unpredictable (because it made no sense). At least it was the entertaining kind of dumpster fire.59. Movie from an actor you hate that was better than you expected? First I need to think of an actor I hate….60. Most visually stunning movie you’ve seen? LotR was just beginning-to-end scenery porn.61. A movie your parents introduced you to? Didn’t I already answer this62. Favorite genre? “Soft” sci-fi and/or space opera is usually a good bet. Alternately, anything at all involving archaeology. And if you combine them I’ll love you forever.63. Least favorite genre? Romance. I’d like an actual plot, please64. Comedy movie that you didn’t find funny? Most of the ones I’ve seen tbh65. Horror movie that didn’t scare you? Also most of them, but I rarely watch horror66. Favorite remake of an old movie? I can’t actually think of any where I’ve seen both the original and the remake67. A movie that started a passion for you? Jurassic Park. My dinosaur phase lasted into high school….68. A movie that sparked an interesting conversation? Also most of my faves. Though whether those conversations were interesting for the other person too remains up for debate.69. The main movie you remember from your childhood? Star Wars: A New Hope70. The first movie you saw on it’s opening night? The first Hobbit movie71. A move that made you ache for love. ? Is this asking for a movie that hurt because I loved it so much, or a movie that made me want to find love in my real life, or…? (I guess Rogue One for both? It was painful af and I really want a Cassian, so)

#I only answered jurassic park five times ha #(eight if you count the indirect answers)#thanks belle #I definitely can't call myself a movie 'buff' I've barely seen anything lmao #I answer stuff

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ash818 · 7 years

Text

Anon asked:

Love hearing stuff from Tish's POV & despite how greedy it is there's (at least) three scenes I'd love to see from her POV if you ever got round to them: when Jon woke up after she & he had been held by Risdon and she'd found out he was the Arrow; the night of the riots when she first thought of kissing him(per previous drabble from her Pov); when he came to see her in the hospital after her poisoning.

Here is the second of those scenes, set during chapter ten of The Man Under the Hood.

“Hey, have you seen Jonny?”

“Not for an hour at least.”

Abby glances around the room fretfully, and her knuckles whiten on the doorframe.

Tish sits up, frowning at her. “I promise he’s not hiding in the closet.”

“Right.” Abby shakes her head, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. “Sorry, I’ve just run out of places he could be, and he’s not answering his phone.”

Mayor-Elect Queen has already been summoned to the protest lines, and the news alerts popping up on Tish’s phone have progressed from Unrest at Bioethics Conference to Duwamish Blocked Off and finally to Fires Set in Nuxalk Corridor. She is fairly certain she knows where Jon has gone, but she offers up a perfectly reasonable alternative: “Perhaps he just needed a little time to himself.”

“Then he should have told someone,” Abby grumbles, pulling her phone from her pocket for a quick check. “This is not a good time to disappear. I promise you, if Uncle Roy were here, he’d be pissed.”

Tish hardly knew the man, but his name gives her a twinge anyway. You can’t spend days with a family, immersed in their grief, and not feel some of it yourself.

The afternoon she first sat down in Roy Harper’s office at Panoptic, he wore a stylish side part, a reassuring smile, and the grace of a man very much at ease in his good suit. You’d never guess that the Glades raised him, or that he didn’t learn to knot a tie properly until his thirties.

“Mr. Harper,” she said, “I didn’t feel unsafe until men with earpieces started following me around everywhere.”

He came around his desk to lean against the front of it. “Look, chances are nothing happens. I’ve read a lot of hate mail, and what your dad’s been getting? Ten to one it’s all bullshit.” The word sounded strange coming from just above that beautiful necktie. Apparently the Glades still shone through sometimes.

“So I should only be a little bit worried.”

He shook his head. “Nah. We’re going to do the worrying.” Then he smiled at her, and oh, he might have been a married man thirty years her senior, but that smile could give anyone a little flutter. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, Miss Cuvier.”

When Jon told her, with a shoddy attempt at secrecy and discretion, that some of his “colleagues” would be watching over her while she met with a mob captain, she was grateful that one of them would be Mr. Harper.

They buried him this morning. For a data library full of bleeding edge medical research, the Black Hand was willing to torture and murder. Papa was willing to let her die. And Roy Harper stood up straight and took a bullet through the neck.

Tish is in so far over her head, she doesn’t even know which way to kick for the surface. She is in a house full of strange and extraordinary people with more money than God, more tragic backstory than a Bronte novel, and far more hugging than she is accustomed to. They discuss painful, wrenching family matters in front of her, and they scoff every time she offers them their privacy. In their home she feels snug and safe in the depths of an exotic foreign country, comfortable and uncomfortable by turns.

Now Jonathan has disappeared, while somewhere out there in the dark, a sociopath is running loose, and he knows the Arrow’s name.

One problem at a time.

Tish and Abby make another pass through the house, which is littered with empty glasses and leftover trays from the funeral reception. They find Mrs. Queen at the kitchen table, talking very quietly to her sister-in-law, who hardly seems to register a word.

Mrs. Queen frowns at Abby. “He wasn’t upstairs?” Her frown deepens at the answering head shake.

Thea Queen leans her elbows on the table and rubs her temples. Weariness is the first human emotion Tish has seen her express all day, aside from anger. A missing nephew is one more complication than she is equipped to handle tonight.

Mrs. Queen presses her lips together, and she gives her ponytail an irritable little toss. “Baby gates. I swear, we’re going to go back to leashes and baby gates.” She lays her hand over Thea’s - they all touch each other so casually - and says, “I’m sorry to run out on you, but - “

“Go,” Thea says, waving her off. “Go on.”

Mrs. Queen gathers her coat and purse, hugs her daughter, and heads for the door.

After it closes behind her, Abby sinks into her vacated chair and casts an anxious, sideways glance at her aunt. “We’re assuming he snuck out,” she says, hunching her shoulders and hugging herself. “Remember that time Mom disappeared out of our backyard while three hundred people and a whole team of bodyguards were here?”

Thea reaches out and squeezes Abby’s shoulder. “He snuck out, baby. It’s all right.”

Tish starts gathering plates, and Thea and Abby only surface from their separate reveries at the sound of running water. “Don’t wash dishes,” they tell her, but what else is there to do? Stare into space or compulsively refresh the newsfeed.

Fifteen minutes later, a text burbles up on Abby’s phone.

“Found him,” she reads aloud. “He decided to pick up an evening shift.”

“So he’s fine,” Thea says wearily. “Taking care of business.”

Abby turns to her in startled indignation. “His arm was in a sling this morning.”

“If he’d asked my permission, I wouldn’t have given him the go-ahead.” Thea heaves a sigh and slumps lower in her wheelchair. “But he didn’t.”

Tish has already made bets with herself as to which of Jon’s various mentors wore the hood before him, and she revises the odds on Roy Harper drastically upwards. To his wife, these are old, familiar fears.

Not so for Abby. “He just took off,” she fumes. “Didn’t bother to tell anyone where.”

Eyes closed, Thea nods. “Yeah, hooding up with no one on Watchtower is a dumb risk.”

Surprise flickers in Abby’s face; clearly she hadn’t thought of the extra risk. She turns a shade paler and says, “It’s just, I thought the top secret classified confidential sneaking around was over.”

With the city on fire, she’s angry about being excluded. Sweet as she is, the girl is fifteen and very much the baby of her family.

“He’s got backup now, and there’s nothing we can do to help from here,” Thea says, forcing herself a little more upright and gripping the handrims of her wheelchair. “I’m going to bed. Wake me up if something happens.”

“We’ll let you know,” Tish says quietly. She does not have Thea’s nerves of steel, and she knows better than to believe there is any chance of sleep tonight.

Thea spins on the spot and heads for the doorway, where she pauses and glances over her shoulder. “Scratch that. Wake me up if you need me.”

Tish takes one more look at her drawn face and defeated posture, and she resolves only to wake her in the event of disaster, death, or dismemberment.

At the last second, Abby hurries to catch up and hug her aunt. Tish hears a muffled murmur.

“Love you too, junebug,” says Thea, and kisses her head. “Thanks for everything you did today.”

When she’s gone, Abby gives Tish an embarrassed little shrug and says, “I didn’t really do anything.”

Yes, she did. Tish watched her do it all day, hovering near whichever family member needed her most. It was not always the person whom Tish judged closest to crying. In fact, most often it was stoic Mr. Queen whose arm Abby linked hers through at the funeral or whose shoulder she headbutted at the reception.

Abby projects the evening news on the kitchen wall, and Tish puts the kettle on. If they plan to hold a vigil, they’ll need tea.

The helicopter cam pans over a burning police car, trash cans blazing in the streets, and shattered glass glittering in the reddish light. Chanting devolves to shouting then somehow resolves to chanting again. Reporters stand in front of destruction, describe the obvious, and portentously enumerate the things “we do not know at this time.”

No one set a single fire until they found out about Papa. Tish turns away and starts hunting for Earl Grey.

“Dad’s somewhere out there,” Abby says, eyes peeled for him. “I don’t know what he thinks he’s going to do in that crowd. Who could even hear him?”

The kettle whistles. Just as Tish takes it off the heat, the news anchor fills the screen with solemn urgency. “Breaking news. Just a few moments ago, an unknown gunman opened fire on City Hall. Three shots were fired, and Mayor Lee has sustained at least one gunshot wound. He is currently being rushed to medical help. The severity of his condition is unclear at this time, but - ”

“They’re shooting mayors now?” Abby sucks in a deep breath. “That’s on the table?”

They will shoot at teenage girls, or they will break their arms to make their fathers talk. They will pay each other in people, and they will kill for secrets pried out of tortured bodies. Everyone you know wears a mask, and sometimes when they take it off, they only become more strange to you.

Everything is on the table.

Onscreen, the anchors exchange worried platitudes, and the crawl at the bottom of the screen announces street closures. “We have word from the convention center that this news is being badly received by the gathered protesters. We are hoping to get some clarification on - ”

Then, a sudden cut to -

“ - and I’m not going anywhere.”

It’s a familiar voice, booming across Duwamish Square from a source Tish can’t pin down. The GNN camera drone swoops across the convention center and zooms in on the Arrow, who casts an imposing silhouette on the concrete facade behind him. He is lit up bright and larger than life, and his face is half shadow.

“When this is over, the conference speakers and half of these protesters are going home. Those of us who have to stay and pick up the pieces - what kind of city do you want?”

Tish’s brain stalls out momentarily. “What is he…”

“Talking the crowd down from something stupid,” Abby supplies.

He has no real power here, Tish does not say. All they have to do is ignore him.

But they don’t. He makes a surprisingly punchy speech, and with thirty years of history giving his words weight… Starling listens. And then, with a parting one-liner in which Tish recognizes Jon Queen for a moment, the Arrow disappears again.

Abby seems totally unsurprised that he pulled it off, but the news anchors are, by the standards of a stoic profession, absolutely over the moon.

“The Arrow hasn’t addressed the city like this in over thirty years,” they say, and old footage flares to life onscreen. The man standing atop the car in the wreckage of the Nuxalk corridor, yelling across the crowd, looks like he could be Jon, brought there by a time machine.

But it isn’t over.

Brawls have broken out in the streets, and masked vigilantes are out in force. Abby cheers at a glimpse of the Canary, and a cameraman onsite audibly gasps when he catches a few frames of the Batman.

The original Batman was active long before Tish was born, and his successor only appeared in her senior year of high school. Gotham was abuzz with the news, and Papa, who liked to hold forth at the dinner table, vocally disapproved. After the fourth or fifth boring tirade on the subject, Tish developed a vague affection for the Batman out of silent spite.

Now she listens to the reports of him breaking up street fights, and she feels a surge of pride.

GNN locates the Arrow again quickly, and they cut to a drone feed in the Central Business District, where an office building is burning. Fire hoses sweep the ravaged top floors above the flashing lights and sirens and ladders. “A pipe bomb was detonated on the fifteenth floor,” says the anchor. “And a moment ago, the Arrow was spotted touching down on the roof.”

“I don’t see him,” Abby says anxiously.

“There.”

He rappels down from the roof, quick and confident, and on the third floor from the top he shoves powerfully off the wall and then cannonballs feet-first into a window. Cracks shoot through it to the frame. He shoves off again, and this time - smash. He tumbles into the smoke and disappears.

“The vigilante has entered the building!” the reporter repeats several times, and they replay the footage in fuzzy closeup. “The Arrow is inside!”

Tish only realizes she’s holding her breath when Abby releases hers.

“Did he just break into a burning building?” Abby whispers in abject horror.

“It’ll be all right,” Tish says, wrapping an arm around her again. “You saw how he climbed in, like he’s practiced a hundred times. He knows what he’s doing.”

“What he’s doing is stupid!”

On the right-hand side of the building, a dark shape swings down from above and clings to the ornate facade. The Batman looks shadowy and dramatic by the light of a burning office building, and he skitters a few meters sideways as easy as walking on flat ground. He finds a window already busted in by the initial explosion, and he slips inside.

“There,” Tish says, with forced optimism. “Jon’s got backup.”

Abby only shrinks deeper into herself. She cannot have failed to notice that the Bat and Terry McGinnis showed up in town at the same time, or that one is watching the Arrow’s back as closely as the other watches Jon’s. It feels like bad manners to discuss it out loud, so Tish only squeezes Abby tighter.

“I can’t see them,” Abby says.

“Give them a moment.”

Abby takes a deep, purposeful breath, and for a few seconds she manages to keep still. The onsite reporter provides useless, repetitive narration while they watch and wait.

And wait.

When the suspense starts to fray her nerves, Tish closes her eyes and asks for a little courage. Lord, you are my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. Watch over them and -

“They should have come out by now,” Abby says, and she writhes out of Tish’s grip as if she cannot stand the inside of her own skin.

“I have no idea how long these things are supposed to take. Just give them time.”

An almighty crash sends dust and flames blooming from the windows, up at the rightmost corner of the building. Metal shrieks, bricks crumble from the facade.

Tish jumps in her seat, and a horrible nauseous flutter goes through her whole body. Next to her, Abby sucks in a high-pitched gasp that sounds almost painful.

The reporter onsite startles too, then puts his fingers to his ear. “The fourteenth floor has partially collapsed.” He pauses, listens. Continues: “It has already been cleared. I repeat, the collapsed floor was cleared. No evacuees or first responders remain on that level.”

But Abby doesn’t seem to hear him. She has frozen like a prey animal, white and wide-eyed. Tish has seen her this way once before, and she tries to stop the anxiety attack before it can escalate.

“No one was on that floor,” she says, putting her arm around Abby again and holding her firmly. “Jon wasn’t on that floor.” She isn’t certain that’s true, because it’s unlikely the fire department can precisely track the Batman or the Arrow’s whereabouts. But there was no reason for them to be on that floor if no one else was. “It’s all right.” Breathe in, breathe out. Big and dramatic enough for Abby to feel it and fall into rhythm. “It’s all right, he knows what he’s doing.”

“I hate this,” Abby whispers after a few moments, and if she can talk, Tish counts that as success. “I really hate this.”

Tish reaches for the remote. “We don’t have to watch.”

Abby twists around to look her in the eyes. “It’s Jonny.”

So it is.

Twelve days ago, he and Tish nearly died together. For the rest of her life, however she may feel about him, she will never be indifferent to Jonathan Queen. She can’t look away any more than Abby can.

It is probably all right to say this out loud: “Lord, please watch over them and keep them from harm.”

Abby turns to her in surprise, but then she nods, leans into Tish’ side, and says, “And maybe send us some chill, if you’ve got extra.”

Twenty seconds grind by like twenty minutes. Finally, the reporter announces, “The vigilantes have just exited the building on the south side! They have a survivor with them.”

Coverage flips to a drone cam swinging around the corner, and through the smoke a green hood and a black cowl come into view down on the sidewalk. The Batman and the Arrow are each supporting one end of a makeshift stretcher. The woman strapped to it is holding tightly to the Arrow’s wrist.

Abby’s breath leaves her all in a rush, and the first thing she says is, “Is that a coffee table they put her on?”

Faintly, Tish nods. “I think so. With the legs snapped off.”

First responders rush to take the coffee table off the vigilantes’ hands, and on the sofa the girls relax against each other.

Then the Batman and the Arrow turn right back around and run into the smoke.

Abby lets out a disbelieving noise.

“Oh,” Tish says quietly.

“Damn it, Jonny.”

It’s a very long night.

For hours they track the news coverage, straining for a glimpse or a mention of anyone they know. Six times over, they watch the same clip of the Black Canary ending a street brawl with two swipes of her staff. They watch shaky cell phone footage of the Batman scaling a fire escape to fall on a cornered cop before he can pull his gun, and the surrounding masked men scatter.

“That’s right,” Tish says with a smile. “Give them a little Gotham.”

Mr. Queen appears periodically, often standing outside one of SCPD’s mobile units, deep in conference with Detective Hall. A few times, he gives a terse update to the cameras. Yes, this fire has been doused. No, we have no further information on Mayor Lee’s condition. Please, for your safety, we ask that you avoid the following streets.

He does not have the flashy presence of the Arrow, standing on high with hundreds of watts of spotlight making him larger than life. But he commands attention as though it were his due, and he gives orders in the comfortable expectation that they will be obeyed. Tish wonders if he learned that in a board room.

It would be impolite to ask Abby where else he might have learned it, especially if she has no such suspicions herself.

They go through two pots of tea and one of coffee, and they watch the flames burn themselves out. An hour after the city has fallen quiet, both girls are still too wired and wrung out to sleep.

Besides, they’re waiting on someone.

At sunup, Jon eases through the back door, moving stiffly and holding his injured arm close to his body.

Tish has been watching him all night, and that feels strange. All she wants now is to mother him, and that is strange too. She wants to sit him down, administer bruise cream, and feed him soup and ibuprofen. He looks like one good hug would turn him to complete marshmallow - perhaps the kind of hug he gave her the night Risdon came to Papa’s house, right after she watched enviously as Abby walked into Mr. Queen’s arms. She isn’t sure she has the right, and besides, someone else has precedence. She looks to Abby.

Who promptly snaps, “Don’t ever do that again.”

Jon tips his head back, and his hooded eyes would look insolent if you didn’t know how many consecutive hours he’d been awake. “Do what?”

“Disappear.”

Tish presses her lips together while Abby fusses at him. Had anyone else greeted him with a lecture, they would have been getting off easy with a sarcastic dismissal. But for Abby he stands there and takes it. In fact, he takes it very much to heart.

Funny how everything he says sounds more sincere when he’s saying it to her.

Finally, curt with exhaustion, Abby says good night and goes upstairs. She leaves her dirty dishes on the counter, as her brother and her aunt often do. Mr. and Mrs. Queen will be annoyed if they come home to sticky plates and mugs. Automatically Tish gathers them up.

“Hey, um.” Jon gives one last guilty glance to the doorway she disappeared through. “How bad?”

It’s difficult to explain how intensely Abby seems to feel everything - as if her nerves have been stripped bare, and there is no layer of protection between herself and the world. It is not Jon’s fault, and Tish doesn’t want him looking so miserable over it. Gently, she says, “She was pretty upset.”

“Like, piano lid upset?”

She is tempted to lie, but finds that she can’t when he is looking directly at her. “I was worried for a minute, but no.”

He collapses onto a stool at the kitchen counter. “God damn it.”

There is only one thing to do now, which is the same thing Mama used to do when someone was at her kitchen table in need of comfort. This will require a whisk, a saucepan, and the high quality milk and cream in the fridge. The rest depends on whatever is hiding in the spice cabinet.

Tish pulls down vanilla and honey, and with her back to Jon, she says, “We watched you on the news.” Then, because someone ought to tell him: “You did some really incredible things last night, you know that?”

He only grunts in reply. Then he deflates, his head falls onto his arms, and he makes more discontented noises while she searches for whole nutmeg and a little grinder.

The ritual of lait chaud a la cannelle is soothing in itself, and by the time Tish has frothed up two mugs of it, she is feeling warm and a little drowsy. She sets one down next to him. “Here.”

He gives her a look. “Stop being nice to me.”

It is what she has been feeling since the night the Queens took her in. She still cannot fathom why they have decided to make her safety their responsibility, and every day she wants to tell them, Thank you, but that’s enough. Don’t pour on more kindness I’ll never be able to repay.

So she answers Jon just as they have, with the same heedless good humor. “Nope.” And she dares to pet him a little bit, the way his mother or his sister or his aunt probably would, if any of them were here.

He sighs deeply, his shoulders unknit, and he drinks what she made for him. It’s an odd thing to take pride in, but she does.

Then, almost casually, he leans his head against her arm. She blinks in surprise and holds perfectly still, as if a wild bird were eating from her palm. His cheek is cool against her upper arm, and she can feel his breath on her skin.

It would be easy to lean down and kiss him, if she wanted to.

Before another thought can follow that one, she whispers, “Go get some sleep.”

Wordlessly he heads upstairs, and she clears away the dishes.

#legacy verse #offscreen in legacy verse #the man under the hood #laetitia cuvier #jon and tish #arrow next gen

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ciceroisthefamilycat · 3 years

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I’ve now done my Frostbite reread (in addition to the VA reread and film rewatch)

After rereading the first book and watching the movie (which took her character to its worst extremes), I was having a hard time remembering why I loved Mia so much- I am now fully reminded. She better not basically disappear after the SK plot in the show like she did in the books. (Also, hi to my son Eddie who begins to develop an actual character this book... you prince, I want to protect you)

Aligned with that, I want as much as we can get of Tasha’s Moroi Magic Movement- ideally with a different ending for that character (oops I really didn’t like the Last Sacrifice conclusion). I also kind of want to see the Dimitri & Tasha shopping trip on screen- one, because I wonder if he had any input on the dress Tasha bought her for Christmas (at least he gave her the sizing?), and two, because it would be a great onscreen foil to the Spokane Shopping for Doom at the end of the book.

If they insist on keeping the “hey Adrian and Dimitri are cousins” twist from Ruby Circle, I want it moved up to Frostbite- otherwise let Dimitri’s paternity stay irrelevant. And don’t turn his abusive shit of a father into comic relief, because that was a huge issue for me. Actually, it would be another great parallel if Dimitri is struggling with his paternity at the same time Rose is finally ~connecting~ with Janine (and getting the nazar). There’s also a bit where Dimitri is in the Ivashkov wing of the resort (first Rose thinks he was visiting Tasha, then he reveals he was at a meeting with her mom in the Szelsky suite) but gosh that would be the perfect place to insert Dimitri dealing with some of his own demons.

I’m not sure if I realized on former reads- when Janine and Rose are alone after Christmas at the end of chapter 9, Janine is trying to give her answers about Abe while Rose is zoning out in her despair over Dimitri/Tasha. That’s something where on screen, I hope they let us hear what Janine is saying (even if there’s some echo effect distorting it a little).

Also, I need them to keep Mia taunting Rose for being punched by Janine in the spar (and the “talk about a face only a mother could love”) so that when they’re on the plane at the end and Mia comforts Rose, we feel it 100% when Mia says Rose is lucky to still have her mother... btw, I remembered crying over these books, but I was not prepared for the pain of Rose sobbing into her mom’s arms on that plane. I had completely forgotten that and it got me hard. VA fandom loves Abe so much (with all the RDJ fancasting, and his connections to Bloodlines) but Janine in this book is everything- so complex and rich.

Onto my pet projects:

a visual effect I really want: in chapter 18, the list of the royal families, with the Badicas and Drozdovs each having an X next to them- I want that paralleled somehow with Rose’s molnija marks for Isaiah and Elena: 2 for 2; ideally, there’s that final scene between Dimitri and Rose, the camera pulls back and we see her marks beneath her ponytail, flash over to the list and an ominous suggestion of an attack (the SK attack) to come

genderbent Adrian: so I fancast Adrian with Aurora Perrineau (who just got a role on Westworld so she’s probably not available anymore but this is my dream and I’m sticking with it); I forgot how much I actually liked Adrian in the original VA series (Bloodlines, especially the latter half, soured me on him hard). That being said- every other character hated him on sight because of his reputation as a Lothario (it’s actually really gross how most of the characters react, and I did not like it). So genderbending Adrian would actually be kind of tough because suddenly Mason, Christian, Dimitri, and Janine are all more rational about Rose (and Lissa) spending her time with a Moroi girl instead of a Moroi guy. And also, Mia has her whole “another guy” schtick about Rose with Adrian (not cool babe). But I am undeterred, because I’m stubborn, like a mule. Book one, everyone was like “ew, Rose, it’s gross you let Lissa feed from you and inherently sexual, but I guess with Lissa’s compulsion urging us to let it go and the fact that at least it wasn’t actual sex and you two are soul sisters or whatever, you’re still a scratch above blood wh*re” (hey, Moroi society, I hate you fuckers). But if Rose is getting cozy with this Moroi girl (who still has a promiscuous reputation) now... all bets are off... maybe she really is a sl*t for Moroi, and you still get overly protective Janine and Dimitri (and the added Ivashkov element matters to both given certain paternal figures). It also plays into the fact that this is the book where Rose is most jealous of Christian- where she most feels the separation between her and Lissa, and where she’s getting stuck in Lissa’s mind while Chrissa are about to get it on. Like, damnit, give me bi Rose and lesbian Sydney (I’m open to Adrian being bi or lesbian or any Sapphic orientation); also give me bi Dimka please but that’s not here...

still alive Andre: gosh, Andre showing up at the resort (with his bestie Adrian because I want that too), and Mia getting to tell him off, but also him being at least a semi-shoulder for Mia to lean on after the news about her mom comes out... Isaiah even said “there’s one Dragomir left? two?” or something along those lines... there’s potential there

aging up Rose and co: There are a lot of references to her age in this book. But the substantive stuff is like near the start of chapter 13 where Dimitri says “Every second this conversation goes on, you only prove how young you really are.” Look, if they keep her 17, that is creepy af. I’m sorry, it’s not ok with me. But, I didn’t mind Rose pointing out that there are 7 years between him and Tasha, same as the gap between them. I don’t mind if she’s 20 and he’s 26ish and Tasha’s 33. Every element of this works better if she and her friends are legal adults partying like the college students their age at this resort they lucked into. But that’s just my (very right) opinion.

Anyways: Frostbite is so much better than I remembered it being. I didn’t think it was bad before, but I didn’t remember how good it was. The attacks on the Badicas and then Drozdovs were excellent worldbuilding, and the end of the book is devastating(ly good). Seriously, if it weren’t followed by Shadow Kissed, I could not have forgotten about that. I started out thinking that if I were adapting, I would do a 5/5 episode split for each of VA and FB. I think I would try and do a 4/6 episode split instead- or rather, the fifth episode would maybe wrap-up the epilogue type stuff in VA and cover the Badica massacre in its second half- weaving those plots more carefully through some of Victor’s dialgoue when he’s locked up, talking about the threat of the Strigoi present. Then you can really start up the second half of the season with Janine’s (and Tasha’s) arrival, and get Christmas and the flight out/arrival at the resort covered by the end of episode 6.

#I'm a VA girl #gendered slurs (though censored) beneath the cut #spoilers for FB and other books (including one from Ruby Circle)#rambling and fangirling and pontificating

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wbwest · 7 years

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New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/03/31/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-33117/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 3/31/17

So, as a week has passed, I find I’ve got some more thoughts on Power Rangers. I watched it again (don’t ask me how), and I actually liked it a lot better. The first viewing is pretty jarring, but once you know what you’re getting yourself into, it’s easier to let go and let Zordon.

Something about it struck me, though: the teens have an odd bloodlust thing going on. They’re really jonesing to kill something/somebody. When they first encounter Alpha, and don’t realize he’s “one of the good guys”, Zack’s immediate response is “We could kill it”. Not “Hey, we should run” or “We need to get away from it”. It was basically “We could end its life”. And while I know kids shows have to use language like “destroy” or “eradicate” or anything that’s not “kill”, I’m not used to applying “killing” to the world of Power Rangers. Even Zordon says that Rita must be “stopped”, and the kids immediately take that as “We have to kill Rita.” Hold your horses, hoss! I know they live in some little podunk fishing town, but have these kids killed before? Will they kill again?!

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Also, Brian Tyler’s score needs to be applauded. It’s one basic theme that’s repeated throughout the film, but I didn’t realize how epic it was until the second viewing. Sure, it’s not “Go Go Power Rangers” or any of the show’s songs from Ron Wasserman, but it really conveys that superhero aesthetic the movie is going for.

It’s not all sunshine and roses in the world of Power Rangers, however. First up, original Green Ranger Jason David Frank was apparently kicked out of the premiere of the film because he took out his camera to film the audience’s reaction to his onscreen cameo. If you’re not familiar with his antics, his lives his life online. He thinks he’s giving a ton of access to his fans, so he basically vlogs EVERYTHING. Signings, convention panels, etc. He was a web series called My Morphing Life, so I assume he was trying to get footage for that. Well, security did what the original 5 Power Rangers couldn’t do, and that was defeat the Green Ranger. They escorted him out and he didn’t even get to see the mid credit scene. They tried to take his phone, which he wasn’t about to let them do, so he yelled “It’s morphin time” and proceeded to beat up a bunch of middle aged men. Well, I don’t know about that last part, but it’s still fun to imagine.

Next up, murderous Wild Force Red Ricardo Medina Jr has been sentenced to 6 years in jail for the 2015 stabbing death of his roommate. Earlier this month he pleaded guilty voluntary manslaughter, and he got the maximum sentence for that charge. While I poke fun at it, the whole matter kinda sucks. I mean, he claims it was in self defense. In this crazy country, if he’d shot the guy, we probably wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Instead, he had to go and use a sword, and the American legal system just isn’t built for that. Here’s hoping he gets off early for good behavior or something.

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There was a Justice League trailer released last Saturday, and that’s all I have to say about that. No, I guess I have more to say. Look, if the DCEU movies still get you hard, then more power to you. I’ve been fooled enough by those films to know that they’re more than likely not going to be my cup of tea. I felt like I was in Bizarro World, though, as everyone seemed to love the trailer but hate Cyborg. I was the opposite. I just can’t get excited about these things anymore, but I thought Cyborg looked cool. I’ve been told the CGI is outdated, but I’d rather he look like that than just a Black guy in a silver suit. Anyway, Snyder makes long-form stylized music videos. That’s what Watchmen was, and Dawn of Justice was a darker version of that. Here, it’s business as usual for him.

Speaking of DC movies, apparently Joss Whedon is in talks to write, produce and direct a Batgirl movie. Ya know, until he drops out. I’ve never worshipped at the altar of Joss, as I can see the holes in his whole gimmick. He’s always the go-to guy for “strong, female characters”, but I feel like it’d make more sense to just hire a woman instead of hiring a man who seems to understand women. I think DC is just trying to hedge their Bat bets because they know Affleck has one foot out the door. DC is the KING of announcing shit with nothing to back it up. The only time the MCU did that was with Inhumans, but DC has promised Green Lantern Corps, Black Adam, and Cyborg films – all of which seem to be in Development Hell. To me, this is just another empty promise. DC is the dad who makes a ton of empty promises because he’s scared you love mom’s new boyfriend (Marvel) more than him. And they’re right. Have people forgotten all the Wonder Woman drama? People act like this is a major heel turn, with Whedon “defecting” from Marvel to DC, but I think the Russo Bros effectively swept away any influence folks thought Joss had on the MCU. Age of Ultron was a bore of a chore, so I’m not exactly jazzed about him crossing the aisle. I also don’t like the idea of a standalone Batgirl film that didn’t organically evolve from an existing Batman franchise. The Batman is falling apart, and instead of fixing that, they move on to Batgirl? Get your shit together, DC!

In the world of TV, Katie Cassidy is reportedly returning to Arrow next season as a series regular. Instead of playing Laurel Lance, however, she’ll be reprising her Earth 2 identity as villain Black Siren. If you remember, she crossed over into our world this season, and Oliver’s determined to rehabilitate her. I’m bored just thinking about it. However, if you know anything about the Arrowverse, you know that “series regular” doesn’t mean much. After all, Willa Holland is a series regular, and we’ve seen Thea how much this season? And Cassidy already had that exclusive Berlantiverse contract this season that yielded few results. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how much exposure she actually gets.

Speaking of the Arrowverse, we finally got our first look at Cress Williams as Black Lightning in the pilot being filmed by The CW. Fox passed on this a few months ago, so naturally The CW came to the rescue. Personally, I don’t think that universe needs a fifth show. They always add a show to the detriment of another. Arrow suffered when Flash came along, Flash suffered when Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow came along. Supergirl‘s still getting used to its new home, while Legends is only just starting to get good. I think they should focus on what they have instead of trying to expand right now. Someone online said that Black Lightning was corny, but so was Static and folks are always claiming they wanna see that character make a comeback. Sure, Black Lightning hails from a different era, and I really hope they just call him Lightning, kinda like how Ollie was just The Arrow in the beginning. The only important storyline I remember featuring Black Lightning was when he was chosen to be the Secretary of Education under the Luthor Administration. Other than that, his daughters have had more page time than he has in recent years. I’d be all for the character joining the Legends team, but I don’t know if there’s enough meat on that bone for a series. And knowing The CW, they’re gonna green light it anyway – not even stopping to think how a failure would devalue the brand.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

The Big Bang Theory scored a 2-season renewal, which will take it through season 12. Suck it, haters!

Han Solo is not the character’s real name. His birth name was Handsome Solowitz, but his manager made him change it

Adam Sandler inked a deal for another 4 Netflix movies. When, exactly, did he officially become the White Tyler Perry?

In the upcoming film, Jumanji will now be a video game console and not a board game. As someone who never saw the first film, and has never played many board games, this doesn’t bother me in the least

The upcoming Astonishing X-Men comic series will feature a different artist every issue. All I know is that each issue better be a self-contained, done-in-one affair, or this is gonna get messy!

TLC is planning to bring back Trading Spaces. Paige Davis better return to host, or GTFO.

Jack the Ripper time travel drama Time After Time has been canceled by ABC

Bones ended its 12-year run, making it the longest-running Fox drama

AMC has renewed sci fi android drama HUMANS after a blink-and-you-missed-it second season.

Jordan Peele is being sought after to direct the live action Akira movie. Seems like an odd choice, but I guess he can write his own ticket after Get Out‘s success.

Mindy Kaling announced that her series, The Mindy Project, would end after its next season on Hulu.

In music news, I’ve just discovered a new Chinese boyband called Acrush. There’s a catch, however – it’s actually made up of androgynous girls! CRAZY!

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Did you see that? I’m just glad Spider-Man is in the MCU now. Nobody does a shared universe like Marvel, so it’s nice to see him come home. It still feels like it’s an Ultimate Spider-Man movie, what with Gank…”Ned Leeds”. Seriously, why would Marvel go to the trouble of clearly putting Miles Morales’ best friend Ganke in the movie but then call him one of the Hobgoblins? Am I really supposed to expect this kid to become Hobgoblin down the road, a few sequels from now? It almost feels like fanservice to give him that name, to make fans wonder what might happen in the future, while never actually delivering it.

Anyway, every announcement about this film just gets better and better. For example, it was announced that it would officially introduce Damage Control to the MCU. In the comics, Damage Control was a construction firm co-owned by Tony Stark and Wilson Fisk (The Kingpin) that was tasked with rebuilding NYC after superhero battles. It’s such a logical concept, but something that gets lost in the suspension of disbelief that comics require. I’ve loved every appearance of Damage Control, so it’s nice that we’ll finally get to see them onscreen. They were actually mentioned in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as a division of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, so it’ll be interesting to see how the movie handles this.

Also, it was reported that Pepper Potts might be making her return to the MCU in the film. I tend to hate Gwyneth Paltrow, but I really like her take on Pepper, as she serves as a good match for Downey’s Stark. If this rumor pans out, I’ll be very happy.

At this point, the only thing I’m not looking forward to is The Vulture. I always thought he was a lame character, but here’s hoping Keaton can do something to make him interesting. I’m as eager for this film as I’m not eager for Justice League. I swear I’m not just some Marvel fanboy, as I’m currently reading more DC than Marvel. That said, Marvel simply makes better movies, and it appears this will be one of them. So, for those reasons, the Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer had the West Week Ever.

#Batman #Boybands #DC #Marvel #Movies #Music #Pop #Power Rangers #Race #Television #West Week Ever #X-Men

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