#maybe all the lab rats are besties

[findoesstuf]

More skrunkles for @tsaikonautz ‘s lab rat AU. Silver (Cyan Powers), Blaze (Purple cat w fire), and Amy (Pink Hedgie!) are my designs, while Miles “Tails” (Fox w two tails), Sonic (Blue Hedgie), and Knuckles (Red angry one) belong to Tsaikonautz!

#sonic fanart #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #tails fanart #sonic au #tails the fox #tsaiko lab rats au #I don’t know if that’s the right tag #anyways #skrunkles to see #blaze is a very angry but mature kitty #silver is a sad baby #and yea that’s about it #I can see Amy and blaze being friends #and silver and blaze ofc #maybe all the lab rats are besties #one big friend group #that would be sweet

[ecargmura]

Paradox Live The Animation Episode 3 Review - The Found Family

TCW have such a calm and soothing vibe; they’re so warm and adorable too! Compared to BAE who are a group of inseparable besties and cozmez who are actual brothers, TCW feel like a little family with Saimon as the dad, Yohei as the mom, and Shiki and Ryu are their kids. It feels like a nice change in tone from the energetic vibes that the youngsters of BAE and cozmez gave off. Maybe it’s because TCW have actual working adults in the fray?

Speaking of which, BAE vs cozmez ended with the former as winners, but why did TCW vs Akan Yatsura already spoil the results after the opening sequence? That’s no fun! However, I do think that the prime focus wasn’t about their rap battle but the group as a whole and plot related stuff. The main focus of this episode is like a snippet of TCW’s daily lives with Ryu finding a cat one day and Shiki trying to recover from his trap reactions and anxieties over his mistakes on stage.

Saimon is the gentle father figure to the kids and loyal and trustworthy confidant of Yohei. He’s definitely the glue that sticks them together because he’s the one who found all of them one day, pertaining to his bad habit of picking up strays. I do find him adorable as heck with the way he gets swayed by Ryu’s puppy eyes and the Kurobuchi’s kitty eyes combination and asks Yohei if they can keep the cat. Yohei’s the caring but nagging mother hen who acts like he doesn’t care but truly does. I do wonder how these two met because they seem to be long time friends. Regardless, whoever designed these two and the kids deserve a raise because they’re all so gorgeous. Like, Paradox Live doesn’t skimp with the designs. They’re all legit 10/10’s.

Shiki is very anxious. He has very poor reactions to phantometals and his trap reactions probably are worse than Allen’s. The way he screamed in the middle of the night was really hard to watch. I do wonder what his connection is to Nayuta. Are his reactions related to Nayuta? Other than his trap reactions, Shiki as a character is a very meek individual. He’s insecure, has low self-esteem and always holds back. From what I know, all Paradox Live characters have sad backstories, so I assume the same for Shiki.

Ryu’s the biggest mystery in the group. Nothing is known about him. He has no memories nor a given age. I’m not even sure if Ryu is his actual name. Eccentricities and enigmas aside, Ryu’s biggest unique factor is his inability to have trap reactions. He can use phantometals all he wants and he won’t get withdrawals from them. While Shiki states that it’s a gift, it makes him different from the rest and that worries Ryu. It seems that Ryu’s biggest worries is being ostracized as an anomaly. There are glimpses of his memories as he seemed to have once been a lab rat and ran away. Is he related to Alter Trigger in a way? I have to say, Ryu’s my favorite of TCW despite me simping for how fine Saimon is at times. I think that his positivity is infectious and the way he described Akan Yatsura as Momotaro characters and Zen as muscles was hilarious.

Speaking of which, Akan Yatsura, from their brief screen time, also gives me big family vibes. Given how Iori and Yohei are connected, it’s like Akan Yatsura had a family outing and went to visit Yohei’s bar as a detour. I do wonder if these two groups will focus more on the darker side of this show’s story.

Also, I heard Akira Ishida as the crazy scientist in that one brief sequence change. They legit got a well-known VA like Ishida in this anime as well as Kenta Miyake as the Paradox Devil. They’re not playing around with the VAs at all. Heck, TCW’s voice cast list is pretty stacked. Saimon’s voiced by Ryota Takeuchi; Yohei’s voiced by Yuu Hayashi; Ryu’s VA is Natsuki Hanae and Shiki’s Junta Terashima. I’m familiar with all four VAs, so it feels great that they’re showing off more of their talents.

TCW’s song gives more of a jazz bar vibe and I like it a lot! It’s a lot different from the loud and fast tempo BAE and cozmez songs had. It matches their vibes a lot. Are all of their songs like this?

Anyways, this was a good episode and it makes me want to see more of this adorable family. I’m assuming next episode is focused on Akan Yatsura, and I’m excited to learn about them too! I feel like these episodes are more focused on characterization rather than singing and I’m not too sure how I feel about that. On one hand, it’s nice to learn about the characters and not get the songs overshadowing them. On the other hand, I don’t like that the rapping is always towards the end. Anyways, what are your thoughts about this episode?

#paradox live #paradox live the animation #Naoakira saimon #yohei kanbayashi #ryu natsume #shiki ando #review #anime #anime review #the cat's whiskers #tcw #ecargmura #arum journal #akan yatsura

[ridiasfangirlings]

Rat Yata and Rat Fushimi are besties but it ended when Yata decided to join a human gang cause he thought they were cool. Fushimi doesn't see the appeal of humans and is angry that Yata ditched him for them. Fushimi then joins the human police force so he could get back at the gang and Yata. Stuff happens and they became friends in the end. Fushimi also realized it's not so bad being around humans who are as smart as him.

….So are they like mutant rats or talking rats? Or is this some kind of Ratatouille situation? I have questions. Maybe like some kind Rats of NIMH situation where Yata and Fushimi are smarter than normal rats (though not a lot smarter, in Yata’s case) and they can even speak, they just don’t do it normally where humans can see. Fushimi doesn’t trust humans because they only experiment on you and try to kill you, and he does his best to keep Yata away from them. The two of them live in their little sewer home, which is surprisingly clean because Fushimi’s a super fastidious rat and won’t live anywhere messy (but he also doesn’t like to clean so Yata does all that). Yata though is intrigued by humans and always wants to watch them, he knows the guys who experimented on them were bad but there have to be some good humans somewhere right.

One day Yata is out on his own and gets in trouble, like some of the scientists from the lab SLATE that he and Fushimi escaped from find him and try to catch him. Totsuka happens to be walking nearby and sees this poor little ginger rat running and hiding and feels bad, picking Yata up. Mikoto comes up to join him all ‘what’s with the rat’ just as the scientists come around the corner and demand to have the rat. Mikoto doesn’t do well with being threatened and makes quick work of the guys, sending them running. Yata can’t stop himself from yelling ‘that was so cool!’ and Totsuka is like did my rat just talk.

Homra takes this surprisingly well though, like yeah Yata’s a rat but he’s kind of a cool little dude. Yata knows that Fushimi wouldn’t approve so he’s like seeing Homra in secret and ends up helping them. Like say Homra still gets caught up in helping Anna who is also dealing with scientists due to her clairvoyance powers and Yata feels a kinship so he assists, like chewing through the alarm wires and stuff. Yata is made an official member of the gang and he’s so proud, deciding that see humans really are fine and Saruhiko will have to understand now. He tells Fushimi about Homra and this basically goes as well as you’d expect, with Fushimi angrily breaking things off. In the aftermath Fushimi is wandering alone on the streets when he decides to steal some food, making this whole clever plan to break into a nearby store. As he’s leaving with the food he runs into a bespectacled policeman who was watching him the whole time, glasses shining as the man gives an intrigued ‘oya.’

So now Fushimi is like an unofficial policeman (oh oh do you think Munakata would buy him a little uniform) and he and Yata end up clashing due to Homra’s less than legal activities. Fushimi claims he doesn’t care about these humans, they’re just means to an end, and Yata’s all upset that Fushimi keeps trying to be his enemy. Say eventually they all have some issue with the secret lab SLATE that’s been trying to like create superpowered individuals and Homra and the police work together to stop them, in the process Yata and Fushimi are finally able to settle their differences and become friends again. Fushimi grudgingly admits that some humans are okay and maybe he doesn’t mind so much being around ones with sense (by this of course he means Awashima and like Akiyama and Benzai, Munakata is still his annoying boss who keeps trying to pet him all the time and buy him cute rat enrichment toys). Yata realizes that even if he and Fushimi are on opposite sides they can still be together, there will always be a place just for the two of them as partners. 

#sarumi #Talking K #I'm just saying I have questions #imagine Fushimi in his tiny uniform #I bet Munakata gets him a little cage and lots of enrichment toys #do you think Kusanagi would allow rat Yata into the bar or is that unsanitary

[idyllic-affections]

just a lil sumeru characters x kaveh's sibling!reader ramble! i've been thinking about this for a long time and i just NEED to dump all my thoughts out ajsskjhash

trigger & content warnings for non-graphic depictions of torture, brief discussions of death, Emotional Baggage(tm).

so i always imagined that kaveh's sibling!reader from this post would be lured in by grand sage azar and forced to be involved in dottore's insane ass mechanical god experiment. see, i imagined [name] being fated for an early death. i always imagined that they knew a little too much for a normal, vision-bearing (they have a geo vision in my brain hehe) human being.

to be straightforward, i imagine that they are in possession of the book "before sun and moon." it's a miracle that celestia hasn't struck them down yet. this is why dottore would seek their involvement.

of course, i also imagine they would downright refuse to use their wisdom for something so sacrilegious. maybe this is why celestia has kept them alive--they carefully gatekeep all of their wisdom so that forbidden knowledge such as theirs does not spread around. now... if dottore can't use their wisdom, their knowledge of the divine, their knowledge of things they shouldn't know, he supposes he can use them for other things. he's a resourceful man, you know? might as well see what this mysterious fluid he's been working on does to a human.

later on, after all this has passed, after they've recovered (physically at least), nahida asks them to tutor some kid named "hat guy." they're vahumana's most brilliant graduate, the akademiya's beloved grand historian. there's no-one more fitting for the job, she would say. hat guy? that's a weird name to be registered under, but whatever. they love and appreciate nahida as an archon but also as a friend, so of course they agree!

the wanderer is less than thrilled to find out he has to face another one of dottore's lab rats. it is a mocking, glaring reminder of the shitty person he once was.

emotional development ensues. the wanderer can hardly stand to look into their trusting eyes as they contentedly ramble about enkanomiya and how thankful they are that the divine priestess kokomi herself personally allowed them to go in and look around. he's not really listening.

'i let you be abused,' he thinks. 'why are you so kind to me?'

but he slowly comes to realize that it was never about him.

any lingering rage they might feel is not directed at him, or... at who he used to be. they aren't mad at the balladeer. to be fair, they don't even know who that is... nonetheless, none of that anger is directed at his past self.

(maybe one day he'll ask nahida to show them the truth. the guilt lingers within his being like a ferocious beast, tearing and clawing at his chest as he recalls the way they screamed.)

it's all directed at the doctor.

hm. he can relate.

anyway kaveh's sibling!reader and wanderer are besties who are making a revenge plan against dottore. they get collei involved too! <3

#aphelion speaks 🌸 #maybe ill make an actual post based on this #who knows! #i just Needed to get all my thoughts out #the brainrot was too strong LMAO

[undertheknightwing]

you mentioned in the tags of this post that you think Gar and Jane would have been chaotic besties, and I would love to hear any headcanons or thoughts you have about those two, if you'd be open to share? Or I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on Gar and Jinx if you'd rather talk about that

(also! hi! we haven't talked but my teen titans blog is bilingual-beast-boy. it's really great to find another blog who loves gar :) )

hi! thank you for the ask,, I love talking about my hcs for Gar and his relationships with other characters lol

for Jane (if she was in the Titansverse that is), I can't imagine she was very happy when she learned Chief brought a kid to Doom Manor and that it was his next "save" because they all know what it really means when Chief "saves" someone. He probably caused their accident and now is gonna use/treat them like an animal.

Ya know, "not being very happy" is an understatement. Jane would be PISSED. She's extremely protective of children because of what happened to her. And then here's the Chief strolling back into the manor with some sickly, terrified-looking thirteen year old boy with green hair at his side, that he informed will be living with them now. If that didn't make her upset, learning that Chief completely stripped this kid's humanity away and turned him into something beyond science's understanding, ruining an innocent kid's childhood, sure would make her want to put her fist through Chief's face.

I can see her threatening Chief too, telling him if she finds out he's been using Gar as a lab rat or gets his gross hands anywhere near him for anything besides check ups on his powers, she'll bash his face into the pavement.

since Jane is permanently in her 20s, she'd be the member closest to Gar's age (13 at arrival) so she takes up the role of big - probably.. maybe.. not the best influence - sister, who makes sure Chief stays the fuck in line.

Out of all the Doom Patrol's powers I always thought Gar's matched Jane's in a sort of way since he also has a bunch of different beings living inside him that are able to affect his thoughts/actions. They're just animals with their own feelings and thoughts instead of differently personalities.

and since Gar went years without having his powers, he was very overwhelmed and scared when they started giving him animal urges and the animals themselves began to communicate with him in their way. Because only Jane could put herself in his shoes, understand how he was feeling- at least a little, she was the one to help him quiet all the voices in his head and teach him how to live with it since his powers aren't going anywhere.

For the chaotic hcs:

-Gar's favorite swear of "bullshit" he picked up from Jane. She said it A LOT, especially to Cliff. Like she and Cliff will be arguing about something, Jane will end it with "That's such bullshit, Cliff. Fuck off, you metal dick!" before leaving and Gar, who was in the room, has to add "It was bullshit, man", which makes Cliff snap at him with "Don't you start, you little shit!" and then Gar follows after Jane with a dumb grin on his face.

-Jane taught Gar how to sneak out and very much encouraged him to keep doing it with a "Niles can go fuck himself, go out and have fun" and would add "If you need me to buy you a 6 pack or anything else, I will" which Gar always declined. When Gar started filling his room with stolen stuff and Jane found out, she just gave him a fist bump, telling him "Keep up the good work, your room looks sick". then suggested easy places to steal from.

-And speaking of sneaking out, Gar would often follow Jane when she'd leave Doom Manor and join in whatever she was doing.. sometimes. If what she was doing is something he's comfortable with, he'll join, but stand and ignore it if he wasn't.

now onto Jinx, there isn't as much as Jane but I can see her getting a kick out of messing with people but gets annoyed when she can't get under Dick or Rachel's skin, so moves onto the softie Gar Logan, sure she'll be able to bug him. Surprise, surprise, she can't bug Gar because Gar is also secretly just as chaotic as her and isn't bothered by her jabs at all.

So instead of Jinx seeing him as someone to mess with, she lowkey sees him as a teammate and lets him add his sarcastic comments and jokes after hers, which gets on Dick's nerves.

If they went on a duo mission, something would probably be caught on fire or blown up, even if by accident. Like Jinx would call Nightwing, tell him "Hey Grayson, something happened on our mission and now we're stuck in an elevator" and in the background Gar is laughing his ass off because he's the reason they're in that situation. If something chaotic and dumb was gonna happen on a mission, it'd be to them. Neither Gar nor Jinx have the best luck.

While Rachel and Tim are investigating the proper way, Jinx would be spray painting "if you're evil and a part of a cult please call this number, I wanna join" on a building's wall while Gar helps.

Dick and Kory wouldn't like how Jinx is influencing Gar and Rachel would be jealous (in a "hey, wait, that's my best friend" way, not a romantic way) Gar has buddied up with someone else to joke around with instead of her.

if Gar was a villain, he and Jinx could absolutely be partners in crime tbh so i'mma add Jinx to the list of villains Gar would vibe with, right below Poison Ivy, who's definitely number one.

sorry about the wait! This was so much fun to write! also I love your Beast Boy blog!! It's always nice to meet someone who loves Gar as well 💚

#cods.talkin #headcanons #titans #gar logan

[seung-scrittore]

no, no poor brother, he bought his gf and i would have to sit and watch scary movies with them (okay maybe im just jealous he's had a partner and i haven't)

I WATCHED LAB RATS TOO!!!

comically im just gonna stay home bc my only friend is kinda in her y/n era so he has like all the week covered with hangings out with her other friends

scary movies are the deal breaker there 💔 i’m acc the wimp in my relationship, i’ll kill the bugs but if u put me in front of a horror movie i’ll cry,,,,

OMG LAB RATS BESTIES ‼️‼️ check out kickin’ it 🙏 it was one of my favourite (only) shows growing up

& staying home is underrated, but good on ur bestie !! what’s keeping u from ur y/n era tho 🤨

#[ 🧷​ ] .222 #[ 💌 ] ding! #[ 🎞️ ] .jpeg

[highlifeboat]

Okay, but like imagine Miranda and the Maid becoming besties!

Miranda fixes her tongue, makes her some kind of mutant too and now takes her with everywhere.

This took an.. interesting turn.

She's more of a pet than anything, but she's alive and she can talk again. (Not very well, but still). Miranda drags her around on a lead and she doesn't fight it cause tbh Miranda's been pretty nice to her. Maybe cause she hasn't put up a fight about anything. The Lords all find this mutant a little... off putting. (Alcina especially.)

Do you think Miranda would care enough to ask why she was in the dungeon? Cause I can see her asking and the Maid being like "Miss Cassandra's girlfriend said I assaulted her." Miranda doesn't believe her when she claims innocence, but truthfully she doesn't care enough about all of that to be upset over it. Plus, Miss Maid is a fairly obedient little lab rat. She doesn't care if she abused another maid or the Lord's themselves.

Also the idea of Miranda bringing her around the castle after Melony is doing better. And Mel seeing this version of her assaulter where she's bigger and probably stronger. Maybe the maid notices her and gives her a little smile or flick of of the tongue just to messs with her. It would send her into a panic attack. Just when she thought she was better.

#miranda would victim blame #asks #anons #the maid #tw assault mention

[alirhi]

Just another Bucky rant

Dear Marvel, can you please stop conveniently forgetting what an absolute BAMF Bucky Barnes is until you decide the plot demands it? He’s not just a collection of punchlines about his age and a metal arm, mmkay? Let’s recap YOUR STORY for James Buchannan “Bucky” Barnes, since clearly, y’all can’t remember it: (MCU only. I’ve never read the comics, and my beef is with the movies/show anyway, so for the purposes of this rant, there are no comics. Kay? Kay. let’s go)

Right from the start, Bucky was a badass. I’m not even talking about him saving Steve from yet another completely unequal back-alley brawl, I mean Sgt. James Barnes, just for enlisting and calmly going off to fight in WWII, was a badass. He clearly had some idea of the horrors he was about to face, or else he wouldn’t have been so adamant that the army taking Steve would be worse than Steve facing criminal charges for lying on his enlistment form. He knew what he was getting into, at least to some degree, and he still went without showing the slightest bit of fear for his own safety. Badass. (or possibly a suicidal idiot but I’m trying to stay positive, here XD)

Then he gets captured by crazy Nazi faction HYDRA, tortured, and experimented on. We don’t see what they actually did to him, but when newly Enhanced Steve finds him, he’s strapped to a table, bleeding, and delirious. He can barely even stand, and yet we see subtle evidence that he never broke: he’s mumbling his name and rank when Steve finds him, which (according to movie knowledge and one random comment years ago from my army vet dad lol) soldiers are trained to do to avoid spilling any secrets in interrogation. He’s barely coherent and still just mumbling his name and rank. If they tried to get anything out of him, they never did. Badass.

Also, let’s not forget that at some point during all this imprisonment and torture, he was given the Super Serum against his will, which, as I mentioned in another post a while ago, is shown to cause unbearable pain. 

So, WWII vet, escaped POW and HYDRA lab rat, and what does he do next? Not go home and cry under a blanket, which is what I would do. Not even go to a hospital. Nope. He picks up a rifle and gets right back out there to take these bastards down, and keep his lifelong bestie Steve from getting his reckless head blown off. At this point, he doesn’t even know that he’s a super soldier. He’s just 100% done with the Nazis’ bullshit and ready to raise a little Hell. Even pinned down and separated from his buddy on a train, he doesn’t freak out or even hesitate, just keeps firing until he runs out of bullets. 

That’s just pre-brainwashing 1940s Bucky, y’all. You ready for the rest? Cuz here is where I get really pissed off that the movies and FAWS keep downplaying what he can do and forgetting he’s way more than just some old dude with a prosthetic arm.

Never mind the incredible fall he survived where the only casualty was his left arm. For decades, HYDRA kept him on ice until they needed him to kill someone, thawed him out, triggered him, and then wiped his mind and put him back in the freezer. Why? Maybe in part because he was the only super assassin they had and they wanted to extend his shelf life, so to speak, but remember that little exchange between the scientist and Pierce in WS? “He’s been out of cryo-freeze too long.” “Then wipe him and start again.” Whenever he’s unfrozen for more than a day or two, Bucky starts to remember. He starts to reclaim who he is, and wiggle free of HYDRA control. Sure, they can still trigger him and force him to kill, but he’s not a blank slate anymore. The longer he’s out of the freezer, the less he’s the Winter Soldier and the more of Bucky comes back out, even if he doesn’t have his episodic memories back just yet. He knew that he knew Steve, without yet knowing his name or what their connection was. Bucky always remembered. He always fought their control.

Plus, like... even as the Winter Soldier, under full HYDRA control, he was terrifying. XD That was one incredible badass whose crosshairs I definitely would never want to be in. 

Even if you don’t take his mental strength into consideration (which you should. he’s amazing), there’s still the fact that BUCKY IS A SUPER SOLDIER. He should have been easily keeping pace with Steve and T’challa in IW, and out-pacing Sam at every turn. In some cases, the argument can be made that he hung back on purpose to avoid leaving him in the dust, because he’s a sweet guy lol. But there’s still his super strength to take into consideration. All that crazy jumping and climbing and throwing people he was doing in one scene in CW and again one time in FAWS? Where the hell was that the rest of the time? 

I understand some of the time he might have been holding back on purpose because the guilt of what HYDRA made him do was tearing him apart and he was afraid of his own strength. But there are points where even that explanation just doesn’t make sense. There are scenes where the man is fighting for his life, or for the life of somene he cares about, and the MCU still seems to completely forget how much ass this man can kick.

And then there’s the little thing that set this whole rant off in the first place: Sebastian, when asked to describe his character’s superpowers, just shrugging and going “a metal arm. that’s really it. he’s just a guy with a metal arm.” Boy, I love you to an unhealthy degree, but NO HE FUCKING ISN’T.

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes #mcu #captain america winter soldier #captain america civil war #tfawts #the falcon and the winter soldier #fangirl rant

[army-of-mai-lovers]

hello arthur!! tbh people are being terrible in your inbox and the last ask killed my brain cells so this is your free bingo card to talk about anything you like. also sometimes googling sharks with human teeth (exactly what it sounds like) helps!! much love <3

oh my gosh I’m OBSESSED with these photos they’re so cute!!!! and thank you for the bingo card Effie I appreciate it so much. I’m gonna rant about Deadly Class (a show I definitely don’t like and thus don’t run a fan blog for....smh) bc it’s on my mind and it looks like it’s just going to go quietly into that good night instead of being made fun of and dissected and I think that should change bc goodness gracious that show does not deserve a dignified death. also I’m gonna put this rant under a readmore bc this is gonna be long and it has nothing to do w atla. warnings for discussions of racism, callous mentions of murder and death, swearing, discussion of Nazis, discussion of gore, abuse ment

Okay so for those not in the know (which is probably everyone considering the show was on Syfy and it’s being canceled due to low viewership) Deadly Class is a teen murder drama set in the late ‘80s starring Lana Condor, which makes it sound like it was engineered in a lab to appeal to me. Literally my friend and I were in the middle of watching Schitt’s Creek, which I adore, and she was like “well I heard about this show called Deadly Class” and described it and I was like fuck Schitt’s Creek we’re watching this. It had a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, which usually makes me nervous, but I was literally like “I don’t care because I know I’m going to love it.” 

And well. I did not love it. 

I truly do not understand how one fucks up “teenagers (mostly) of color go to murder boarding school in the late ‘80s” that bad (I mean the Russo brothers are involved and they fuck up everything they touch so perhaps it was just that). I haven’t read the comic the show is based on but it does appear that a *lot* of the issues of the show stem from the comic, which is...disappointing. Basically, our MC, Marcus, starts off the show homeless after his group home burned down (and it’s heavily implied that he was the one to do it) and gets hunted down by these elite teenage murderers who invite them to their murder school. 

Already, numerous problems are starting to show themselves. First of all, Marcus is Latino, which, yes, it’s very cool that the MC is Latino, except he is literally the white-passingest man I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve seen my dad. I didn’t realize that he was Latino until they showed his extremely stupid backstory in a shitty animated sequence and whoever was voicing his dad did this really, really thick Nicaraguan accent and I was like wait a damn minute. So then, I looked it up, and the guy playing Marcus is named Benjamin Wadsworth, which immediately made me think that they had pulled a Noah Centineo and made me think this fully white actor was half Latino (and yes, Latinos can be white, but I think Marcus is supposed to be a nonwhite Latino, and I thought Benjamin Wadsworth was both white and non-Latino). But you know, as an light skinned ethnically ambiguous mixed kid myself, I thought I owed it to him to dig a little deeper, and turns out our pal Ben is mixed (also, he’s like six months older than me and married, which is a trip). And like, okay, I guess I’m glad they didn’t get a white non-Latino man to play a Latino character, but they literally got the whitest looking Latino they could think of to play him. He originally auditioned for Billy. Billy’s the token white. And the producers were like “wait you have Latino ancestry?” (how they found that out I don’t fucking know) and let him go for Marcus. And like. Okay. The character in the comics is light-skinned but he does not look white, and Benjamin is not a good enough actor for them to just pass on the actors who surely auditioned for that role and were more visibly Latino but like. Okay, I guess. 

Second of all, this show is mega racist and it starts to reveal itself when you look at how the murder kids are styled in literally their first appearance. What struck me the most was the fact that the Latina (whose name is fucking Maria, for heaven’s sake) was wearing a sexy red dress and Day of the Dead makeup, which, I’m sorry, huh? That just so happens to be the Mexican girl’s murder outfit? I’ve tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and speculate that maybe she wears it to like, subvert people’s expectations, but at this point idk how this is subverting anyone’s expectations nor why she’d be so invested in that. Also, she’s supposed to be a teenager. It’s fucked up to sexualize any of your child characters but it really hits different when it’s your Latina character (and yeah, I know the actress playing Maria isn’t a teenager, but still, it’s the principle of the thing). And then of course, the Black guy, Willie (no he’s not related to Billy they were just like yeah two guys with rhyming names in our main cast sounds legit) is a gangbanger dude who talks the way that white people think Black people talk. I keep waiting for this guy to have one line that’s not complete garbage, but I’m five episodes deep and so far nada, which sucks so bad because there’s like, kernels of an interesting character buried in this horrible racist trope. Also, they had him sleep with a N*zi. I hate it here. Lana Condor (her character’s name is Saya) gets off fairly okay, at least in this first shot (they don’t have her wearing a kimono to go murder people, thank fuck), but the way she behaves is super weird, like kinda flirty towards Marcus, kinda badass but not enough to actually do anything, etc. Billy’s white so they couldn’t make him a racist caricature or anything but I have no idea why he’s here. See, instead of talking about the real politics of the real world, Deadly Class makes up fake prejudice that honestly makes the lok bender/nonbender bullshit look sensible. Maria, Willie, and Saya are Legacies, which means that their families are established murderers (fun fact: the N*zi girl is also a Legacy, because her father murdered hundreds of civil rights activists. And the characters of color align themselves with her. I don’t understand.) Billy, and later Marcus when he decides to go to murder school, are Rats, meaning they have no affiliation with established murder groups. So, in this show, the people of color have privilege over the (mostly white) Rats. Make it make sense. Further, this means that Maria, Saya, and Willie should have absolutely no reason to hang out with Billy, and yet they do because the Russo brothers have heard that the kids these days like the found family trope, so they put five unlikely friends in a room together and insinuated that they could all be besties. I swear, this show is the La Croix of found family tho, in that there is absolutely no flavor whatsoever. None of the characters develop into a found family. Saya is bound to care for Marcus for reasons, Maria is using him, Willie is also using him, and Billy is only his friend because they’re both Rats. Saya and Maria are already friends (and honestly their friendship is the most compelling thing in the whole show). There are no other connections between the characters. But they’re totes a found family!!!!/s

Also, they don’t let Saya be mean. Every character says “oh Saya’s such a bitch” but do we ever see Saya being a bitch??? No! Saya is literally just a nice girl who is kinda quiet sometimes and murders people and has a tragic backstory. There’s an argument to be made for Maria being more bitchy than her tbh. And like, fine, if you want Saya to be nice, she can be nice, but stop telling me she’s mean then!!! If you’re gonna tell me that I’m gonna get to see mean Lana Condor in a leather jacket in this show then deliver bitch. 

There’s truly so much more I could talk about (Chico??? What the fuck is Chico’s arc???? What in the actual hell were they thinking when they were writing anything to do with Chico????? my DUDES WHAT IN THE SAM HELL. also making Billy straight was so fucking stupid he’s literally gay come on now, also Master Lin is so fucking useless what is he even doing here) but instead I’m going to outline the version of Deadly Class my friend and I have been talking about while we watch the inferior real Deadly Class. 

lots of things are the same actually because there are some elements of the show that have potential. Marcus is still homeless at the beginning, everybody still thinks he burned down the group home but he didn’t, Willie is still a pacifist, he and Marcus are still partners for their first murder school assignment, Saya’s mean (but like actually), Billy still has green hair and is the token white of the group (although a Billy of color.....thinking), and they all hate Reagan

in an ideal world Willie and Maria would have different names (Willie bc his name rhymes with Billy’s and that’s fucking stupid, also Willie is just a terrible name in general, Maria partially because it sounds way too similar to Marcus and I don’t understand why the guy who wrote this couldn’t make his characters have different sounding names, and partially because no Latina character of mine is going to be named fucking Maria), but for the purposes of this outline I’ll keep their names the same for clarity.

Marcus doesn’t initially have his rep. He’s on the streets when he sees a girl his age (Saya) come out of this elevator in the back of a restaurant brandishing a sword, and decides to go into the elevator, sees the stash of weapons, and decides to steal one so he can fend for himself better. 

also keeping the detail of Rory murdering a bunch of homeless kids, but now Marcus knows that Rory is actively hunting him down. 

in the process of robbing the school’s weapons collection, Marcus figures out that it’s a murder school

Master Lin catches Marcus robbing the school, they fight, Master Lin overpowers Marcus and ties him up. He says the weapons are for students only, and Marcus says he’s applying. Lin asks what his qualifications are, and Marcus says “you know that group home that burned down three months ago? all the kids that died? I started the fire.” 

(also no shade to Benjamin Wadsworth but in this version he is not playing Marcus. Marcus is not white-passing)

Master Lin initially doesn’t believe him, but Marcus presses on and eventually convinces Master Lin that this is really what happened, and so Lin welcomes him to murder school. 

Marcus’s first class is Poisons, and his lab partner is Billy, who takes a shine to him and shows him around school. There’s no Legacy/Rat nonsense, but you do have normal high school drama adapted slightly for murder school. Maria is the prettiest and most popular girl in school, Saya is the mean girl/valedictorian, Willie is the jock, and Billy’s the punky weirdo. 

Marcus is, of course, the new kid with a reputation to live up to. 

Things kind of fall apart when Willie and Marcus are paired up for an assignment: to seek revenge on somebody. 

also Willie’s backstory is extremely different. his dad was a Black Panther, and he was murdered by the FBI when Willie was a kid. distraught, his mom moved to Texas, where she started working a corporate job and rose really high in the ranks. To maintain her status in the company, she had to do some really horrible things, including working with the FBI to take down other civil rights activists. Willie found out about this and was absolutely horrified. his mother insisted she was doing this so that he could have a better life, but he refused to listen to her, and ran away, and ended up at murder school. 

Willie got into murder school because Lin knows who his mom is, and assumes that Willie is just as cutthroat as she is. he gains a reputation as well. 

also, Willie’s extremely wealthy, and this shows in the way he dresses (preppy jock vibes)

you don’t find out about this backstory for a minute tho bc unlike Albert Kim and the Russo Brothers, I can wait until the right opportunity presents itself for a backstory drop. 

ok anyway back to what I was saying earlier

they have to seek revenge on somebody. Marcus asks Willie if there’s anybody he wants revenge on, and Willie very sincerely says no. Marcus scoffs at him and says he’s clearly had a very easy life, to which Willie replies, “Well, who do you want revenge on?” 

Marcus immediately says, “Rory.” 

So they track Rory down, and since Marcus hasn’t actually killed anybody, he hands the weapons over to Willie. Willie frowns and says that he has nothing against this dude he’s never met before, so Marcus should be the one to hurt him. Marcus says that this is a group project and Willie’s got to pull his weight, and they get into an argument

the argument gets loud, and Rory hears them fighting and starts chasing them. 

in the midst of the chase, both of them divulge their secrets to one another. Willie laughs hysterically and says that they deserve each other bc they both lied to get where they are, and now they’re going to die because of it

Rory backs them into a corner, and Marcus uses one of the swords he tried to steal earlier to shank Rory

They throw the body in a dumpster, and after this, they’re friends, and Marcus decides he’ll fit right in at murder school. 

ok so that was only one episode but things to look forward to in the version of Deadly Class that only exists in me and my friend’s heads: Marcus dealing with the emotional and moral fallout of his first murder, Willie trying to figure out what it means to be a pacifist in a world so hellbent on doing violence towards him, Saya being mean to everyone except Maria, Maria convincing Saya to relax and have fun, the gang bonding in a Breakfast Club style situation adapted for murder school and making a joke about how this is like the Breakfast Club because it’s the 80s and the movie just came out, Saya and Maria falling in lesbians, Marcus and Saya being depressing edgelord besties, Billy being gay and fighting his abusive father, Marcus and Billy being uncool weirdo bffs, Willie and Maria rolling their eyes at Marcus and Saya’s cynicism, Billy coming out to Marcus and talking about his experiences being gay, which makes Marcus think “hang on, why do I relate to that?”, Willie seeing Marcus make a sarcastic comment about kissing a guy and having a crisis, Marcus and Willie falling in love, the gang taking a road trip to Vegas to murder Billy’s dad and giving Billy a gnc thrift store makeover on the way, and eventually the gang murdering the shit out of Ronald Reagan. 

#caps tw #effie tag #replies #not atla #racism #murder tw #death tw #swearing tw #nazi #finn don't look #politics tw #gore tw #abuse ment #you do not have to read this effie it was very satisfying just to write it #arthur tags for later #gonna show this to my friend bc we haven't outlined anything this specific yet

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.13

Keith came out the shower doing his best drowned rat expression to date. With the towel around his shoulders, Lance wondered if Keith was protecting his neck, or preventing his shirt from soaking through. Having already showered, Lance had a glass of blood wine in one hand, and his phone in the other, dinner plans having gone out the window while he was busy playing with Keith

“Do you want the good news, or the bad news?”

Keith crossed his arms, Lance having to stomp down his compulsion to go dry the younger males hair off with a towel

“What?”

“Well, remember my friends from the other night, yeah, Hunk’s going to be here in about 20 minutes to pick us up”

“I’m not going”

“You don’t even know where we’re headed to”

“I don’t care. We’re not going”

It didn’t escape Lance that “I” had turned to “we”. He figured the hunter wouldn’t trust him to go out alone, and if he hadn’t been totally awol from his normal life he would have been turning down the invitation for some serious self pampering time

“Sorry, but you see, when my friends want to hang out, I don’t turn them down. You need to go get changed into something more bar appropriate”

“We’re not going. We haven’t finished talking. You turned me, and I need to know more”

With the number of times Keith had accused him, Lance felt like he’d know Keith far longer than a week and a bit... God, he couldn’t even remember if it had been a week, Keith’s idiocy was spreading

“And I hear I was thinking you’d finally gotten a clue. We’re going, because I’m invited. I’ll go on my own if I have to, but I had the feeling you’d freak out and think your prey was running away”

Keith’s emotions flickered across his face, obviously arguing mentally about the fact he couldn’t say no, and nor did he have the power to stop Lance

“Fine, but only so I can make sure you don’t turn anyone else. If you so much look like you’re going to bite someone, I will decapitate you”

“Excellent. I think I should have something in wardrobe that’ll fit. I’m guessing you like black on black”

“What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“You’re wearing a black onesie. Some people might be into that, but at a bar, that suit’s a crime against fashion”

“It’s not made to be fashionable”

“No, it’s made so you can be all “bump in the night”. Blargh. Go change already”

Keith told Lance at least several times that wearing his clothes had been forced upon him. Lance wasn’t sure why, when Keith had chosen his own wardrobe out of what was available. In ripped skinny legged black jeans and a black silk button up, Keith looked passable. Lance chalking up the weird sensation of wanting to pat Keith’s butt to the fact he too was recovering from being poisoned. Keith was soooo not his type, never mind the fact the guy was a freakin’ human, Keith hated him with a passion. Nope. Keith didn’t look good in his clothes, nor would he look better out of them. Lance was just... going through a lot. That was it. He was not getting suckered in by those piercing purple eyes, or the way Keith’s collarbones peaked out of the shirt. The blood in his body had enough to deal with, without it deciding it needed to make a trip down south over absolutely nothing.

Leaving Blue feeding her face on wet food, Lance headed for the door, back tracking to grab Keith by the wrist and drag him along behind him. Keith was starting to object all over again, but Lance wasn’t having it. If he had to socialise around drunks, then the punishment should be shared by Keith for being so goddamn hot and stupid... mostly stupid with a dash of stupidly hot sprinkled on top, kind of like unwanted chilli flakes. Lance was feeling pretty confident in his own outfit, blue jeans, white shirts and cropped tan jacket, but Keith had one upped him without even trying. Maybe Keith would get laid and lose some of his prickliness? The anger loaf needed to let that anger go, and turn into that beautiful emo butterfly hidden inside his cocoon of douchery. Towing Keith out the house, Lance left the alarm off in case Shiro came back. Explaining Keith’s presence seemed a hard enough challenge as it was, explaining why Shiro was breaking into his house... that was a whole other kettle of fish.

*

Lance had been lied too. There was no bar, they were in fact in Platt, running a rehearsal of Hunk’s date with Shay on the weekend. Picking up Pidge, she’d thrown herself into the back of the car, hand narrowly missing Lance’s junk in her rush. Oogling Keith, Pidge had elbowed him as she buckled herself in, all Lance could do was offer a shrug. Hunk’d already been shocked enough for the three of them, Lance lying his arse off saying Keith had offered to stay a few days and help Lance take photos of his house as he was thinking of repainting. The photos were for the online lab thingo where you could upload your rooms and pick colours there. Yep, those were the words he used too, technology was forever changing and he openly admitted he missed the days before social media... other than the cat videos and memes.

With Keith having no cash, Lance paid. Choosing gold class tickets meant the food was included, and the seating private. The hunter looked spooked by human interaction, Lance ordering steak dinners for the pair of them because damn if he wasn’t in the mood for some budget dead cow. Buying the biggest coke they had, Lance enjoyed the fact that the mix ratio was whack with more syrup than soda water, the straw ending up chewed on before they’d even made it into the screening room. Lance wasn’t sure about the movie selection but with Hunk and Shay going to see the one rom-com playing, Lance steered the group away from buying tickets for it so his bestie and Shay could enjoy seeing it for the first together.

Taking their seats, Lance wound up between Pidge and Keith. Pidge immediately started playing with the chair remote, and Keith sighed in annoyance. Leaning in, Lance kind of felt bad that they hadn’t wound up at a bar. Keith would have been able to have a few drinks and kick back, then find someone to take to the bathroom and work that aggression out. Just because he hadn’t done the do, didn’t mean Keith wasn’t a seasoned professional

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know we were going to see a movie”

“Whatever”

“I’m serious. I didn’t know. I would have dressed warmer if I did, and would have insisted you put a jacket on”

“I’m not a kid”

“I know you’re not. I just feel bad. I was hoping you’d be able to relax a little...”

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore”

“Okay, but I really am sorry”

When dinner came out, Keith poked at until he finally gave in, pretty much wolfing it down, half an hour later Lance had to excuse himself to the bathroom, finding Keith gone when he returned. Taking his seat beside Pidge, Lance leaned in

“What happened to Keith?”

“He said he needed the bathroom. Didn’t you see him?”

“No. How long ago did he leave?”

“Not long after you... Dude, what’s your deal with him?”

“My what?”

“Your deal. What’s he still doing here?”

“I asked him to take some photos of the house for me”

Pidge crossed her arms

“If you’re going to lie, at least make it convincing”

“Who said I’m lying?”

“You did. I know you, and I know when you’re lying. Something’s off with Keith, and you’re acting really weird”

“I’m not acting weird”

“Are you two dating? Is that why you’re being weird? You feel like you can’t talk to us...”

“No! No, no, no, no, no... ewww. No. I’m not dating him, he’s a stranger”

“A stranger you bring to a movie night with your best friends”

“It was either leave him the house or bring him with me”

“So he’s staying with you, like, staying staying?”

“Only for tonight. Shiro’s going to pick him up. I’m thinking of repainting the living room closer to its original colours, and I figured having a fresh set of photos would work”

“Why didn’t you ask me?”

Pidge’s words went right over his head, before looping back and slapping him in the face. Pidge had had her feathers ruffled by Keith “taking” what would have been her “job”

“Because, my Pidgeon legged friend, you would start hunting for ghosts in my house, then try to steal Blue as you left”

“You’re dodging the question”

“I’m not dodging the question. I only asked him because he’s a professional. You’re still my number one tech guru. I’m sorry I’ve been sick and haven’t been able to hang out, but I’ve missed my gremlin. No one can replace my little anger muffin”

“You’re a wanker”

“So I’ve been told”

“Has your cold when passed? You still look pale”

“Yep. Clean bill of health from the doctor. Just the usual take it easy for the next few days, fluids, sleep, platonic dates with your best friends, the usual post cold instructions”

“I’m still shocked you’ve got Keith staying with you”

“I’m shocked too. But I keep telling myself it’s only for a few days and soon it’ll all be over”

“Dude, he was wearing your clothes”

“And?”

“Lance, you know I’d never judge you for your sexuality...”

Lance laughed, him and Keith simply too ridiculous to even go there

“It’s definitely not like that”

“Are you sure? I mean... I’ve never seen you like this...”

“What? Invaded by a photographer?”

“No, not like that... I mean... like, he’s wearing your clothes, staying at your house... it’s not like you”

“Keith didn’t have any clothes that weren’t a crime against fashion, or acceptable at a bar, which I totally thought we were going to, thanks to a certain someone. Nah, he’s just staying a couple of days then Shiro is going to pick him back up and that’s that”

“Something still feels off”

“Pidge, I promise I’m okay, and I promise Keith and I aren’t in some whirlwind romance, or whatever that brain of yours has thought up. I’m actually pretty sure he hates me, if that makes you feel any better”

“Nope. It just makes it weirder... Should we be worried that he hasn’t come back?”

“Nah, I’ll go see if I can find him. Dude’s got the social aptitude of a rockmelon. He probably peopled himself out and is having a sulk”

“If you say so. Now go away, I’ve already missed part of this riveting plot”

The plot wasn’t riveting. It was badly thought through and designed for the masses. Like most things...

Keith wasn’t in the cinemas entrance hall, nor the bathroom, Lance heading outside to search for him. Not at the front of the cinema, Lance was starting to get pretty annoyed with his missing idiot. The last place left to check was the parking lot, where he found said idiot cornered by three men. Great... just... great. He took his eyes off him for two minutes and he’d already wandered off into trouble. Walking over to stand just short of the three strangers, Lance eyes Keith who had his arms crossed, scowling at the group

“Heya, fellas. Something wrong here?”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“You know, just a concerned citizen. You’ve got my friend cornered, so if you could just see it in your hearts to let him go...”

Lance stepped back, escaping being hit in the face as the stranger bared his teeth. What the fuck?! Was Keith dense as fuck? Or did he think he had the skill to take on three idiots

“Your wallet or you life”

“Seeing you’re getting neither, I suggest you run along home”

“What did you say to me?!”

They hadn’t even had to go to bar to find trash. Lance sighed as he pulled out his phone

“Well, we are living in the age of technology. This miraculous little device lets me call the police when people like you start messing with people”

“You won’t get the chance”

“We’ll see”

Avoiding being attacked was laughable. His attackers had like zero grace, they must instead rely on numbers to look “intimidating”. Each swing that didn’t connect made them madder, their “leader” pulling out a small blade, as Lance danced around them. Putting the phone to his ear, he made as if he was calling the police and not his home phone

“I’m going to kill you...”

Raising his pointer to his lips, Lance hushed the man

“Didn’t anyone teach you its rude to interrupt someone on a phone call?”

If someone was watching, the would have found the way the three morons were falling over each other hilarious

“Yes, hi, I’d like to report an attempted robbery at the front of Platt Pictures. There’s three guys that have bailed up two men...”

Dropping down to dodge the punch thrown at his face, Lance swept the leg of the leader, snatching his blade out his hand as the man’s eyes widened for the millisecond as he fell

“Yep. There still here... I’ll wait. You guys should probably run if you’re going to. Cops are on their way”

The look in the leaders eyes was something feral, spitting like it made him cool, the man wiped his mouth

“I’ll get you for this”

“I’ll be waiting, but I won’t be holding my breath. Also, I’ll be keeping hold of this blade of yours. Evidence and all that. It’s amazing this fingerprint technology...”

“Forget it, lets scram!”

When the leaders two goons split, the man pushed himself up, running off like the coward he was. Lance giving them a little wave as they did. Ending the call to his house, Lance slipped his phone back in his pocket, before holding out the blade to Keith

“Here, a souvenir of our time together”

“I could have handled that”

Lance rolled his eyes

“Never said you couldn’t. Anyway, take it. You seem to like knives and I’ve got no use for it”

Keith frowned at the offered knife

“But the police...”

“Aren’t coming. Let’s just say I have a job where I need to keep my name squeaky clean”

“What the hell?!”

Lance sighed at Keith

“What? Do you want me to call them? I totally can, I remember all their facial features”

“You didn’t do me a favour...”

“Never said I did. Oh, you totally skipped out on movie night. Do I want to ask why you’re not inside pretending to be scared like everyone else”

“The movie was shit”

“Finally, something we can agree on. But, Hunk and Pidge are trying to be friendly with you, so leaving is kind of a dick move”

“They don’t even like me”

“They might if you’re not out here hiding. Also, Pidge thinks we’re dating, so come on darling, we’ve got a movie to finish”

Lance took Keith by the wrist. Socialising wasn’t about to kill him

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Dragging Keith’s along, Lance spoke as they walked

“Well, that’s a long story. You see a long time ago a little boy was turned into a vampire. He grew up to become a lawyer, living as human like as he could, as he tried his hardest to give back to humanity so no other little kids got hurt. He never fed from a single person, took a lover, or like harmed any one more than what you just saw... You could say things were going well for him and he was happy. That was until two hunters crashed into his little corner of the world. He was forced to drink blood from an actual person for the first time in his life. Which upset him, because he felt he’d lost a little of the humanity he wanted. Now he’s trying his hardest for a stranger who wants him dead, and refuses to listen to him, because he’s some disgusting, revolting, beast that deserves that’s not even fit to be on the bottom of your shoe”

“That’s just it, why are you trying?”

“I don’t know, and that’s what’s getting under my skin”

Dragging Keith the whole back to their seats, they got there in time for the heroic ending where the main character saved the day. Hunk was sobbing, Pidge had gotten herself some skittles and was attempting to catch them in her mouth as she made a mess around her. Seeing they’d mostly missed the film, he and Keith remained standing there until the credits started and Pidge called “time to bail”. Ditching holding Keith’s wrist, because he’d honestly forgotten he had, Lance wrapped his arm around Hunk’s waist

“Good movie?”

“She was so brave...”

“I know, man”

Pidge cuddled up to his side until Lance looped his other arm around her

“What did you think?”

“It sucked. There were so many plot holes. I want my money back”

“Aw, never mind Pidgeon. It’s over now”

“That’s 133 minutes of my life I am never going to get back. You and Keith are arseholes. You missed most of the film!”

“Are we arseholes, or are you cranky we escaped?”

“You’re both definitely arseholes”

“Now, to be fair, Keith hit his people limit of the day. You’d never know, for all his conversational skills, but he’s a lot like you, Pidgeroonie. He gets very tired of people fast, and cannot do the brain without the coffee”

“That’s because people fucking suck!”

Pidge’s loudness caused the people walking near them to stare, staring was awkward forever one involved, Lance didn’t want the night to end awkwardly

“Okay, that’s enough exposure to the public for one night. Why don’t we grab something and head home? I’ll even pay”

“Yay! I want a super sized slushie. I should have thought of it sooner. I wonder if that slushie place with the weird flavours is still open”

Hunk groaned

“You’re making me do city driving?”

“Dude, relax. It’s night time, meaning there aren’t as many people on the road. Consider it practice for your date”

Hunk blushed, Lance laughing happily

“Don’t be mean to him, I’ll drive. Pidge, you’re in directions. Hunk, music, naturally, Keith, you get to sit in the back with Pidge and make sure she doesn’t get up too much mischief”

“What? Why?”

“Because I said so”

*

Keith opted to stay in the car and be a buzz killer as the three of them rushed to the slushie store. Minutes from closing, they were those annoying customers that all retail staff dread. Pidge was in heaven as she eyed the walls of flavour, Lance paying and limiting her to two without added energy drink. Hunk went for bubblegum flavour, Lance for strawberry. Keith hadn’t come in, but part of Lance didn’t want him feeling left out. With all the scowling faces Keith had pulled since they’d met, lemon was ruled out as a potential flavour, instead he went for iced coffee labeled as being lactose free. Keith might not be the nicest person in the world, but that didn’t mean Lance was going to be a douche over something Keith couldn’t control. He knew the man liked coffee, so it was the most logical choice. Pidge ended up unable to decide. One abomination made of orange, pineapple and mango, the second strawberry, bubblegum and coke. Making sure he’d left the woman behind the counter a very generous tip, Lance ushered Pidge and Hunk back to Hunk’s car, a little proud of himself when he got Keith’s door open with his foot in the door handle. Glaring up at him, Lance beamed in pride

“I got you one”

“I don’t need one”

“Yes, you did. It’s iced coffee, lactose free. Consider it an apology for venting on you earlier, if you need an excuse to take it”

Handing Keith the drink, Keith eyed it in suspicion

“Dude, it’s fine. Legit went from the machine to the cup then out to you. Pinky swear and all that. If you don’t want to drink it, I won’t get offended. I just thought it’d be nice to include you”

“Whatever. Thanks and stuff”

“You’re welcome. Let’s get you back home away from all these people so you can take a nap”

Keith’s expression soured, Lance was sure he was going to have the iced coffee slushy thrown at him, so shut the door quickly. Keith wouldn’t be a big enough douche to ruin Hunk’s interior. Hunk was a human, someone Keith was supposed to protect, meaning hurting his feelings had to go against whatever code hunters were bound to. Being caught up in everything going on, Matt came to his mind as Lance opened the driver’s door, his heart sinking. He hadn’t thought about Matt all night. Pidge had probably spent the whole night missing her brother and wishing it was him at the movies with them instead of Keith. He didn’t want to seem down, but it was hard to perk himself up now that he’d remembered he didn’t know how to act around Pidge. Climbing into Hunk’s car only made his heart ache more as Pidge and Hunk bickered over her flavour combinations. There was a code of privacy within VOLTRON, so he couldn’t enquire into Matt’s status. He couldn’t do anything to help Pidge with her Matt situation except for maybe confirm he was alive, which Shiro had already confirmed. Goddamn Shiro. He was ruining his night and the man wasn’t even here.

#once bitten twice stupid #vld au #mpreg #in later chapters like mentioned #klance #voltron #bottom Lance #vampire Lance #ashrathe rose #on ao3

[renwritesstuff]

first impressions

I submit to #MERWEEK2020, First Impressions. Samantha Traynor x FemShep

Sure the first time they spoke was on the Normandy SR-2, but that was not the first time they met.

October 22, 2183

“I thought you were allergic?”

“To free food and rubbing shoulders with the top brass?” A plump woman with a short bob of brown hair and blue eyes arched an eyebrow as she swept lipstick over thin lips.

“To bullshit,” Specialist Samantha Traynor clarified, her arms still crossed as she hunched in her desk chair. 

Specialist Mary Dietrich gave an acknowledging shrug. “You’re not wrong, but free food does wonders for keeping my bullshit allergy at bay.” She made a theatrical sniffing noise.

Sam pressed harder, “You know the ANN vultures will be there. Probably Khalisah al-Jilani too, your archnemesis.” She took a loud slurp of cold tea from the mug on her desk, racking her brain for more reasons why they shouldn’t go out tonight. “Also Staff Lieutenant Jeong and the rest of the smug quartermasters who love rejecting our grant proposals. You know we would be done with the new defense suite if Jeong wasn’t besties with Bautista in applied physics, right?”

Sighing, Mary made flicking motions to smooth out wrinkles on the sleeves of her dress blues. “Well now I want to go just to kick Jeong in the balls.” The orange holo screen projected from her wrist that was acting as a mirror disappeared as she set a glare on her fellow R&D mate. “C’mon Sam. Contrary to your belief, this is actually one of the perks of working on Arcturus Station. First on the victory tour to celebrate the end of the Eden Prime War! Oo-rah!”

Oo-rah, Sam groaned inwardly and more than a little sarcastically. Her nose wrinkled with her silent scowl.

Mary must have seen the face Sam made, because she stood up, hands on hips. “Suck it up, newbie! I will pull rank on you if it’ll make you leave the damn lab.”

Samantha squawked in protest. “I leave the lab!”  

Sometimes! To sleep!

Traynor.

Okay, I sleep on the couch most nights. To change?

...Traynor.

Well they shouldn’t make the laundry service so convenient then. To shower?

……Traynor.

Fine! L Wing has the best faucets! Not my fault the washroom is one door down! I am a slave to convenience, okay??? It keeps my mind researching and developing per my job title, doesn’t it??

“Sleeping and making tea don’t count,” Mary scoffed back. “Plus this is a big deal. Don’t you want to be able to tell your grandkids about meeting all the heroes who saved the Citadel and the Council?”

“...Do I have to?”

A laundry back was draped over Sam’s face, filling her vision with crinkling plastic. Mary patted her head through the bag. “Damn right, you do. Or you get to tell Lydia you made me late.”

Oh fuck. She had only met Mary’s wife Lydia half a dozen times in the 6 months since she started at R&D on Arcturus, but the woman made an impression. A stern, stoic Kodiak mechanic, Lydia had never cracked a smile once at any of the dozens of quips and small jokes Sam compulsively made. And Lydia had a voice like a drill sergeant that made Sam want to stand up straight before offering to do push ups please-and-thank-you-ma’am.

Pulling the bag off her face, Sam unzipped it to find her dress blues freshly laundered and folded crisply. She mumbled, “....I’ll be good.”

Arcturus Station was the pride and joy of the Alliance with a state of the art light rail to traverse the 5km diameter arms. At the center was a large convention hall that could hold 20,000 of the 45,000 population at one time. Surrounding departments had been cleared out to serve as food stations, coat checks and privacy areas to host the current set of guests. 

Sucks to be them, Sam frowned in empathy as she waited with Mary in the biometric security line. I can’t imagine having to clean up and stash all the rubbish we have lying around just so some fancy-pants donor can hang their coat up. Reminds me of a grammar school open house.

The overwhelming number of people made it hard for her to carry on a conversation with her coworker. Mostly human, with a few asari in sleek dresses and tuxedoed turians sprinkled in made up the meandering line that started at the light rail station. Background noise consisted of a dull roar of voices that grew louder the closer the two women got to the convention hall proper with just the faintest bass beat of music.

As they finally crested the last stairwell, the site of the grand hall was truly breathtaking. Large blast windows revealed a swirling backdrop of the Arcturus Stream nebula. Even the Arcturus mass effect relay was visible, the blue element zero core at its center flickering like a star. A few moving pins of light appeared next to the relay, more ships arriving to join the fleets already at Arcturus Station.

Decorated in heavy Alliance blue and gold, there were holo posters posted at intervals around the circular hall. Dramatic vid portraits of human heroes (with occasional notable alien Council SpecTRes appearing in between, no doubt a nod to the Council guests present) animated silently, larger than life. 

A red-headed woman appeared multiple times at different angles and wardrobes on the vids, clearly the focus of the event. In one image the woman was pictured with a straight backed salute wearing dress blues, another wielded a rifle in heavy armor, another was flanked by a group of men and women (human and alien alike).

Commander Annelise Shepard, First Human SpecTRe. Hero of the Citadel. Captain of the Normandy SR-1, the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy.

The room was warm with all the bodies and Sam found herself clinging to Mary, who was busy texting Lydia to attempt to meet up somewhere on the crowded floor. The clamor of conversation barely dipped during a few speeches broadcast across the hall. Admiral David Anderson’s low bass voice welcomed the guests to the station and indicated there would be a meet-and-greet with the Heroes of the Citadel after cocktails.

Excited jabbering was all around them as people tried to catch glimpses of the headliner heroes. Sam was only somewhat familiar about the events from a few weeks ago, much of it still under top secret clearance. Just that all the recent geth activity triggered from the terrorist attack on Eden Prime culminated in the attack at the Citadel. A joint task force crew, helmed by the first human SpecTRe, was responsible for bringing the terrorist down and saving the Citadel and the Council at the cost of human lives.

It seems kind of far-fetched, doesn’t it, Traynor?

Like something I’d read in a story. Or play in a video game.

Ooo, I hope it has a character creator. And I can make the character super hot.

It took the better part of a half hour of crowd weaving to track down Lydia Dietrich, Mary’s wife. A tall woman with very short, slicked-back hair was nursing a beer while she chatted with a small group of fellow mechanics hunkered by the dessert table. While Lydia and Mary started a row of friendly bickering (“What took you so long?” “What took you so long?”), Sam wandered over to the desserts to seize an opening in the line.

Ooo, lemon curd tarts! Her fingertips drummed impatiently on her pant leg as she watched the pile of tarts diminish with each new tiny plate down the buffet line. Couples in front of and behind her were laughing and gossiping.

“Oh did you see the Commander? I saw Cameron snap a holo of her.”

“I thought she’d be taller.”

“Not sure why they felt the need to bring the quarian, too.”

“I mean, it was on the crew, right?”

She. She is on the crew. Even Sam knew that.

“Can’t believe General Williams’ granddaughter was there, too. I thought all that family knew how to do was surrender.”

“Maybe she and the quarian were a distraction for the real heroes to do the real work.”

Simpering laughter followed which made Samantha’s skin crawl.

“Not sure why they had to open this event to all the little minions at the station. We paid forty-five thousand credits a plate for this? While little desk-jockeys like miss-didn’t-even-do-her-hair over there can show up and eat our food?”

It took a glance backward for Sam to realize they were talking about her. She resisted the temptation to lift a self-conscious hand to her hair.

Poppycock, I know I look amazing. I always look amazing.

“I know, darling. Our tax dollars pay their salary. You’d think they’d have the courtesy to stand behind us in line. Like good help.”

Remaining silent, Sam continued the slow march to the dessert table. She did fire up her Omni-tool and do a quick scan while waiting, the extranet chugging a bit due to the density of guests. But she was satisfied with her results.

The long-awaited distance closed and Sam finally stood before a half-empty buffet table. The dextro desserts had been picked over, as had some of the hybrid mini-cakes and parfaits. It looked like everything was in the process of getting refreshed by the catering company. Several waitstaff with tall silver trays were making their way over from the back. 

But all that mattered is that there were still three lemon curd tarts left. All of which ended up on Sam’s dainty white plate as she swept out of the line. She felt a tug on her sleeve.

An older human woman in a far too tight evening gown scowled back at her. “I beg your pardon! Where do you think you’re going? How dare you take the last tarts? Have you any idea how long we’ve been waiting?”

Sam shrugged. “I’d wager about five seconds less than you as I was ahead of you in the same line?”

The woman’s date, a balding, rat-faced gentleman in a shiny tuxedo stuck a finger in Sam’s face. “Such rudeness! We actually paid good money to be here, so we deserve priority.”

“Perhaps she’s with the catering company, darling,” the wife simpered back as though struck with a thought. “She’s certainly dressed like them.” Her saccharine-smile was betrayed by cold, smug brown eyes.

An excited commotion could be heard behind them in line, but Sam didn’t dare glance away.

Remember, Traynor. Fixed eye contact. Bullies look for weakness.

She smiled back. “I wouldn’t say you paid Good Money to be here, did you?” She took a bite of lemon tart, savoring the acerbic flavor accented by a light sugary texture.

“What do you mean?” The couple replied in unison matching their haughty glares.

“You really should have better security on your Omni-tool. I mean, any old desk-jockey could just waltz right in and see that your asari mistress scored you free tickets. An asari mistress in the quarian slave trade, no doubt. Tsk tsk.”

The glaring transitioned to sputtering, confusion from the husband and outrage from the wife. 

“Oh don’t worry, I reported her to the authorities for tax evasion, too. I mean, how else will your tax dollars pay my salary, right? It's the only way I can afford to eat such delicious tarts.” And Samantha took another large satisfying bite before saluting with the pastry, turning on her heel, and walking proudly off to go find Mary and Lydia.

The couple stepped out of line to argue, hands gesturing wildly. They turned to leave when they walked straight into the source of the commotion: Commander Annelise Shepard flanked by Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and Tali’Zorah nar Rayya. All 3 women stood, hands on hips, glaring back at the pair. The two fled the hall, pushing past other lines in a desperate bid to save their dignity.

Ash and Tali burst into laughter before spotting Garrus Vakarian waving them over to a photo op with the turian hierarchy. Shepard remained behind, watching the dark-haired lieutenant disappear into the crowd. Her eyes crinkled and she suppressed an airy laugh.

“What are you so happy about, Shepard?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re smiling.”

“Am I?” Commander Annelise Shepard tried for nonchalance as she helped herself to a fresh lemon curd tart. She sniffed the confection, intrigued. She had never seen anything like it, but she couldn’t wait to try it.

“You are. It’s been awhile.” The asari in a low-necked evening gown came up and wrapped a hand around Shepard’s elbow, careful of the sling that held her left arm hugged tight to her chest.

“Oh, uh, yea. There’s just been a lot on my mind lately.”

“Well, I’m grateful for whatever it was.”

“Me too, Liara. Me too.”

And for the rest of that night Shepard’s smile came a little easier.

#merweek2020 #june 1 #first impressions #shaynor #samantha traynor #femshep #better late than never?