#also surprisingly nobody arguing against him is mentioning how distracting it would be to everyone around him

[michaelgovehateblog]

There's someone on radio 2 right now arguing that going on your laptop during a performance in a theatre is completely fine and acceptable, what

#thats crazy #also surprisingly nobody arguing against him is mentioning how distracting it would be to everyone around him #so weird #not politics

[strange-lace]

Macaque

I was in the mood to make more content for Inverted AU, so here’s a short-ish fic of how episode 9 would go in this AU with Macaque, Wukong, and MK! Enjoy the shadowpeach!

Another demon defeated but still no sign of Sun Wukong. Macaque let out a sigh before rolling his shoulders to bring relief to tense muscles. Oh well, he'll just have to keep looking, not like he hasn't been at it for years now. At least this city he wandered to was quite nice with pleasant people, nothing too out there aside from demon attacks.

"Hey! Hey you! Shadow monkey man!" Macaque wouldn't deny that the sudden voice made him jump, considering he was on top of a pretty tall building. Apparently not tall enough to stop the young man from climbing up the side, somewhat out of breath yet that didn't deter from the determined look on his face. He simply brushed his messy hair out of his eyes and adjusted his teal backpack, which looked surprisingly heavy. Macaque couldn’t help but be somewhat curious as to what was in that thing.

Wait was that the Monkey King's staff in his hands?

Indeed it was, he'd recognize that weapon anywhere.

“Ah, you must be the Monkie Kid I’ve been hearing so much about, am I right?” That got him a look of suspicion before the young man also seemed to remember the staff in his hands, causing him to let out an amused huff at his own paranoia.

“Yeah, the staff kind of gives it away, don’t it? Name’s MK though. Now whomst is you? Most of the time, demons who ask me who I am are five seconds away from trying to kill me.” Macaque couldn’t help but chuckle at that, already finding that he was starting to like this little guy and his attitude. Perhaps if a person like MK was chosen to wield Wukong’s staff, then perhaps that meant his love had finally started turning things around for the better. Maybe it meant he finally stopped being someone he wasn’t all for the sake of keeping a memory alive.

“The name’s Macaque, though, the Six-Eared Macaque is actually my full name. But what brings you up here exactly bud? I doubt you’d climb up this high just for anybody.” MK’s face showed that he wanted to argue that point out of principle before remembering his purpose for coming up here.

“Simple, teach me.”

Wait what?

“What what?” MK scoffed at the question.

“I want you to teach me to fight, like how you fought that demon back there. I don’t intend on leaving you alone until you do and that is a threat!” Macaque didn’t doubt that he meant it that way and could very easily follow through on that. Sensing he wasn’t going to get out of this, he let out a sigh before giving MK a smile.

“You sure your mentor won’t have a problem with me teaching you?”

“Bold of you to assume Wukong’s disapproval will stop me.”

“Well alright then, I think we’re gonna get along just fine, bud.”

---

“I see what you’re trying to do, you’re afraid of holding back and giving your enemy the opportunity to win. But the first strike isn’t the most important one. Every strike counts. Other people may tell you that patience and focus don’t matter but a fool allows himself to rush without restraint. While you have power inside you, you have to use it carefully. Take the power to defend others, not just destroy those who stand in your way. You’re not a weapon kid, you wield the weapon above all else.”

---

It started with a fairly innocent question from MK after one of their training sessions, him slowly going through a water bottle given to him by Macaque while the monkey made them something to eat. He needed a distraction to stop himself from taking over the cooking, years of feeding others making him feel guilt the moment someone else took over.

“So Mac, how exactly do you know the Monkey King?” To his credit, Macaque only fumbled the slightest bit at that sudden question and was able to save the plate before it crashed to the floor.

“Oh um well… funny thing about that is, well… we used to be together actually. Like y’know… together-together,” he explained while he plated their food, wincing internally at how awkward he sounded. With his back towards MK, Macaque didn’t notice him go tense and grip the couch arm so tightly that the wood underneath cracked at the pressure.

“Used to be together, huh? What happened?” Macaque couldn’t help but shiver at the chill which traveled down his spine. MK’s voice was perfectly even and calm yet he was filled with an overwhelming fear that warned him to not turn around and remain perfectly still until the danger passed.

His ears twitched at the sound of sparks behind him, magic power permeating through the air.

“I… I messed up honestly. We had an argument about something, I don’t even remember what it was so long ago. But I had to leave to just get some space and air before I said something I’d regret, something I couldn’t take back. It was only meant to be a couple hours but some stuff out of my control happened and by the time I got back… Wukong was gone. I had been looking for him for centuries after that and then… well then you found me.”

“What, you hoped getting on my good side would mean that you’d win the Monkey King back?” His tone promised nothing good if Macaque kept digging himself a deeper hole.

“No! No, nothing like that at all. I don’t expect Pe-...Wukong to take me back or anything like that. I just… wanted the chance to apologize to him is all. If he wants anything to do with me afterwards, then I want that to be his choice. Nothing more, I swear.”

MK remained silent behind him before the sudden tension in the air dissipated as quickly as it appeared. Macaque let out a sigh of relief, slowly turning around to see MK still sitting on his couch, placing the staff back in his ear nonchalantly.

“Fair enough, sounds like you both were just idiots who don’t know how to communicate. If you actually intended on using me to get to the Monkey King, you’d have actually mentioned him during our training and yet you haven’t. And you can’t lie to save your life anyway. Just don’t be an idiot again alright? Monkey King… Wukong, he’s a mess and I don’t think he could handle thinking he’s been abandoned again.”

Macaque could feel his heart break at the idea that his Peaches, his love, thought that he had left permanently. He wanted nothing more than to run to him now and make things right. But that was Wukong’s decision to make, nobody else’s.

The two ate their food in silence after that.

---

Sun Wukong may have supposedly “lost his edge”  but he was by no means dense or oblivious.

And while he was certainly happy about his successor’s vast improvement over the past couple weeks, a part of him sensed something was off. Like his successor was hiding something from him. And those moves he watched MK use to absolutely demolish the old mural, the Monkey King swore he had seen them before.

But it couldn’t possibly be. He hadn’t seen him in centuries. Not since he… left, like everyone else.

“I’m impressed, my boy! Tell me, how did you do that? Have you been seeing another mentor perhaps?” Wukong asked, his typically serene smile straining the slightest bit at the idea of his son student learning from someone who wasn’t him. The sensible part of his brain was gently poking at him, reminding him that it seemed silly to get upset about such a thing as, if anything, MK had appeared significantly calmer during their training compared to when they started. This could be a good thing, it told him.

Yet it was silenced by the majority of his brain which ran on fatherly protectiveness and had immediately been plagued by images of the worst case scenario. A demon had approached MK, promising him to make him stronger while also poisoning his student as a bid to turn him against the Monkey King before stealing his powers or, Heavens forbid, harming him.

No, Wukong refused to even allow a chance of that happening, logic and reasoning be damned.

“Hey, you’re the one always going on about ‘patience and focus’, I’m just finally putting what you said into practice,” MK answered, the picture of being casual which only set off further alarm bells within Wukong’s head. But before he could question him further, MK’s phone dinged to tell him of a new text message which he quickly read over, his eyes widening slightly at the message.

“Welp, looks like I gotta cut things short for now Wukong, something came up and I gotta head out. See ya later! Don’t forget to eat something tonight and sleep, I will know if you don’t.” And with that, MK was off through the hole he had created in the wall where the mural was before the Monkey King could get a word in edgewise. 

Wukong waited long enough to allow MK to get a reasonable distance away before transforming into a bird, flying after his successor.

Something fishy was going on and the Monkey King was determined to find out what it was.

---

“Why exactly are we climbing up to this giant mountain again Mac?” MK wheezed, hating to admit it but this hike had genuinely winded him despite all his training. He had immediately gone to Macaque’s place the moment he got his text only to be told to follow the six-eared demon, leading them to where they were now.

“Well, consider this your ‘final exam’ bud! I want you to use everything I’ve taught you to fight against me, no holding back. Think you can do that?” MK couldn’t help the twitch at the corners of his mouth at the sight of Macaque’s genuine excitement as he explained, all six ears twitching while his tail was wagging like a dog. A demon who was centuries old and had fought countless powerful demons had no right looking that endearing, but here MK was looking with his own two eyes.

MK gave a chuckle before straightening himself out, wordlessly pulling the staff out his ear.

“You sure you’re comfortable getting your ass kicked by me, Mac?” With a smirk, Macaque summoned his own weapon in a flash of purple with the beginning of two shadow clones pooling at his feet. They shyly peeked from the ground from behind their master.

“Oho, a couple training sessions with me for a month and you think you have what it takes to defeat me, bud? Well then, bring it Monkie Kid!” MK didn’t hesitate to charge forward with Macaque mirroring him, weapons at the ready and adrenaline already running through their veins.

“Enough!”

A sudden force landed in between them with enough force to send them both flying backwards.

MK and Macaque recovered in time to see who decided to interrupt their duel.

Both of their hearts nearly stopped at the sight of the enraged Monkey King but for vastly different reasons.

“You have 5 seconds to explain yourself for trying to harm my-” Wukong’s rage quickly deflated as the dust cleared enough for him to truly see who it was he had thought was attacking MK. “Mango Flower?”

“Um… hello again, Peach Blossom. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Macaque joked, voice weak as he restrained himself from acting out of bounds even if he wanted nothing more than to gather the other into his arms. It had been so long, far too long. 

He nearly broke at the sight of tears beginning to form in Wukong’s eyes.

His resolve finally shattered as the Monkey King ran towards him, arms outstretched, and before Macaque knew it his legs were moving on their own. The wind was knocked out of him at how tight Wukong squeezed him yet he returned the embrace back with gusto, ignoring the groaning of his ribs. He simply buried his face into the other’s fur, the smell of peaches still there even after all these years. Faintly, Macaque realized he was also crying once he felt a wetness on his cheeks.

Macaque let out a squeak in surprise as Wukong picked him up in the hug and spun him around, the sound of his laughter echoing throughout the mountain. The sight of such unabashed joy on his face was enough to make the six-eared demon to start laughing too, joy contagious in the best of ways. 

MK would deny it unless under the threat of death but he couldn’t help but smile as he watched the two monkeys get lost in their own little world. It made the guilt which nagged at his chest at having to manipulate the two to make this meeting happen ease up, seeing how happy the two were.

“It’s been so long…” Wukong whispered as he placed Macaque back on his feet, gently cradling his face as if afraid that if he stopped touching the other, that he’d disappear again. “But, why are you here? I had thought that you hated me, isn’t that why you…” Macaque went stiff in shock before taking the Monkey King’s hands into his own.

“What? No! If anything, I thought you hated me for leaving instead of talking things out and that’s why you were gone when I came back. I always intended on coming back to you Peaches, I swear on it.” Wukong’s eyes went wide at that, extremely close to crying again a second time that day. “I had been looking for you for centuries now to apologize.”

And now the warm feeling was gone, leaving MK to bite down on his staff to stop himself from screaming at how much those two had failed at the simple of communication.

“We’ve both been absolutely foolish, haven’t we?” Wukong couldn’t help but laugh at it all, which only worsened as he noticed all six of Macaque’s ears turn red in embarrassment.

“Yeah, I guess we have been-” His words were cut off as the Monkey King grabbed his scarf, pulling him into a sudden kiss that made Macaque jolt in surprise before he practically melted into the other’s arms. A purr rumbled in his chest and neither noticed their tails wind around each other.

The sound of MK clearing his throat, loudly, was enough to get them to break apart in embarrassment.

“If you two are done being romantic idiots, I have to beat the shit out of Macaque to prove that I’m better than him. I mean ace my ‘final exam’.” The grin on his face showed that he was lying through his teeth.

“Don’t think I forgot about all your trash talking, young man. How about it Peach Blossom? You willing to go all out with me and the kid?” 

Wukong’s face was the epitome of ‘Every part of my body wants to say yes but I shouldn’t.’ He was already terrible at saying no to MK and now with Macaque’s endearingly earnest face, he knew he was done for, at least with these two working together now.

“...Oh alright.”

The two mutual cheers at his agreement made Wukong feel slightly less guilty in letting his lessons go for a brief moment. But not completely.

But that was okay, Wukong was used to living with constant guilt.

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #inverted au #shadowpeach #mk #macaque #sun wukong #my writing #fanfiction

[thedistrictsleepsalonetonight]

Paper Rings (or Dani and Jamie accidentally adopt a family and also move in together)

Moving in is a process.

A process in italics. A process, underlined. A process emphasized heavily, with quotation marks around it, because Dani isn’t sure of how to describe the two months that have somehow resulted in her apparently having opened her home to a middle-aged couple, a sulky teenager, and child who bursts into the phrase “Perfectly splendid” in intervals, and a lawyer trying her very best to also have a dating life.

“Did you forget your whole entire girlfriend?” Jamie asks her, arms weighed down by a box full of crockeries and Flora who’s hanging on her back.

Oh.

Dani raises a finger like she’s making a point. “I did not,” she says, very slowly, hoping to somehow generate words as she speaks. “I did not mention you, because I didn’t need to. Because you, baby, have always been home for me.”

Hah. Take that, Hannah. To think she was of the opinion Dani couldn’t romance very well.

Jamie stares at her. “You’re so full of shit, Poppins.”

Miles opens his eyes from where he’s been listening to music on the couch for the past half-hour and leans forward, only to say — “Busted”, and Dani is officially done with everything.

*****

Strangely enough, it starts with cream.

Dani remembers it well, because it’s one of the very few argument-esque discussions they’ve had in their year and a half relationship. It’s one of the nights Dani is over at Jamie’s as opposed to it being one of the nights Jamie is over at Dani. They don’t keep track anymore. Most of the evenings, it just comes down to how much in a hurry they are to get to some place and eat and stretch out on the couch in peace.  

(Amongst other activities of course, so most of the time it’s Dani’s place)

So they’re at Jamie’s apartment, on a chilly evening about five months into dating when she jumps into bed after her shower and asks Jamie for her hand cream.

“Oh, that,” Jamie says. She opens her nightstand drawer, takes out a bottle and chucks it in her direction so it lands roughly an inch away from her hand. It also lands with its label upwards, so Dani is reading the words correctly when she says —

“This is a body lotion.”

“Yeah, that’s what you needed, right?”

“No, babe,” she answers Jamie patiently. “I asked for hand cream.”

Jamie frowns. Stares at the bottle. Then back at her. Does that for about two more times before she opens her mouth.

“Um,” she says, picking it up and pointing it to her other hand in an exaggerated motion. “Yes. You do put this on your hands.”

Why would you do that, Dani thinks, with exclamation marks punctuating every word of that. “I use hand cream. You know, it’s like foot cream but for your hands.”

“What’s that?”

(She’s not going to bore everyone with what the whole discussion that occurs then. The words keep coming, the exclamation marks keep increasing, and somehow, they conclude in this absolute gem of an ending that nobody knows how to process.)

“How could you not—”

“—wait, I’m sorry, we didn’t exactly have fancy shit up in prison, you know.”

There is silence. Dani sees her girlfriend’s lips twitching, her eyes betraying the mirth hanging behind her words. She picks up her pillow and throws it in Jamie’s face.

“You cannot keep pulling the prison card every argument we have, you ass.”

“But it works so well!”

“That wasn’t even the point. The point was that hand creams are best for hands and foot creams are best for, you know, feet and—”

“—and somehow,” Jamie tells her, “my hands and my feet are made of skin like the rest of my body. Look at that! What a surprise!”

“That’s a valid point,” Dani says, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose, trying her very best to be a nice and supportive girlfriend. “But that’s like saying that you can wear your underwear on your face since every part of your body has skin on it.”

“Who says I’m even wearing underwear?” Jamie’s right eyebrow is raised, lips pressed flat with the effort to keep from laughing and well—

(In her defense, she does have the sexiest girlfriend in the world and it’s totally understandable that she got distracted)

The next evening, she orders an entire set of creams, with Jamie grumbling in the background somewhere. I’m here most of the time anyways, she says. It’s for the both of us, if that makes you feel any better.

From Jamie’s smile, she thinks it does, and that’s how the idea starts taking root in her mind.

*****

This is how love works. Or so she’s heard. The honeymoon period is but a couple of months, and then real-life hits. After three months is when that bright illusion shatters, of your partner possibly being the most beautiful angel to ever grace this planet, and you start seeing them as who they really are — clueless and flawed individuals who do not know the difference between moisturizer and hand cream.

So she waits, holding her heart carefully in her hands. Waits a month. Two. Four. Five. And it is a couple of days after Owen and Hannah baked them a cake to wish them a ‘Happy 6 months together, y’all’, that Jamie pokes her head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth.

“Oi nah flick offa,” she says, and Dani blinks.

“I didn’t get that, sweetheart.”

Jamie disappears (to get rid of the foam in her mouth, Dani guesses) then reappears a minute later, face glowing. “I said I’m not sick of you yet.”

Dani smiles at her. “I’m not sick of you either.”

And it is such a strange thought, once articulated out loud. She still wakes up every morning, and stays for a while admiring the way the sunlight hits Jamie’s face, the way it dances with her skin and makes her look like an old Goddess; still wants to cling to Jamie like a panda whenever she sees her after a long time. Her heart still hasn’t gotten used to the most wonderful woman in the world loving her, touching her, kissing her, and she still has to give it a little time to restart every time she makes Jamie smile.  

Six months she’s kept thinking This will go away. Six months and it hasn’t.  

Dani kind of thinks (hopes, dreams) it’s forever.  

Dani kind of knows it’s forever.

Jamie plops onto the bed, arms stretching out across her back and legs finding their place over hers, interrupting her train of thought. It’s when she’s nuzzling into Dani’s shirt that the color of the shirt registers.

“Is that,” Dani says. “Is that my shirt?”

Jamie’s hands are already clutching at the fabric of the oversized lavender shirt as she finishes, as if Dani’s going to take it away from her. As if it doesn’t make Dani’s heart do funny things inside her chest to see her in it. As if she doesn’t want Jamie to only wear her clothes, because she looks so at home in them. Like she is Dani’s, forever.  

Like Dani is hers, forever.

“It’s your place,” Jamie argues. “There’s only a certain number of things I can keep wearing, you know?”

Dani kisses her cheek. Hums.

“I’m keeping it,” Jamie continues.

“Okay,” Dani says, simply, her smile saying the things she’s too embarrassed to say out loud. It’s yours. Whatever I have is yours. My home, my clothes. My heart.

(The next night when she’s over at Jamie’s, she makes Jamie pack an entire drawer full of her clothes into her bag so she can carry it over to her own place for the nights to come. There’s an empty space cleared up in the closet that sings Jamie’s name every time Dani opens the door. It will never be empty again.)

*****

“But Jamie, please,” Flora pleads.

“Yes, Jamie, please,” Dani parrots, highly amused at the vein twitching at the corner of Jamie’s forehead.

Jamie takes one look at them, at Owen and Hannah cozied up on their couch, at Miles who’s reclining against the wall trying to appear supremely disinterested and then finally to the kitten who is sleeping in Rebecca’s arms.

“Absolutely not,” she declares.

“But look at him!” Dani says, pouting. It is unfair, she supposes, for both her and Flora to pout together in the face of Jamie’s reticence but desperate times call for desperate measures.

(And she wants to pet that kitten, desperately)

“He’ll be happy with you, really,” Owen jumps in, just for the satisfaction that Jamie’s annoyance gives him, and immediately gets hit with a deadly look.

“Why don’t you guys keep him, then?”

Hannah tsks. “Oh,” she says, sounding not very sad. “I have that allergy, you know.”

“You haven’t sneezed once in all this time!”

“It’s.... a seasonal thing. A seasonal plus feline thing. I don’t know how to explain it to you, dear.”

“Baby,” Dani says, hands reaching out to hold Jamie’s. “He needs a home. We can give it to him.”

Jamie’s slowly developing a half-crazed look in her eyes, which Dani finds hilarious. “And who is this we you’re referring to? Because I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be the one taking care of the.... the thing.”

“He is a kitten,” Flora emphasizes, indignantly.

“A one-eyed kitten,” Rebecca adds, and after a round of Aws and coos that’s how Cyclops ends up living with them.

“I’m not taking care of it,” Jamie announces, right away, and Dani reminds her of it every day for a month after the day she finds them on the couch with the kitten conked out on a sleeping Jamie’s chest.  

(“We are not calling the poor thing Cyclops,” Dani protests.

Miles simply grins.)

*****

It’s time.

She’s said this to herself every morning when she wakes up in Jamie’s arms, her four pillows strewn around them and with most of the blanket hanging off Jamie’s side. Every evening as they walk back to Dani’s place arguing whether it was Chinese or Indian they were in the mood for, and when they’ve inevitably ended up at Owen’s restaurant, sharing a meal with the rest of their family. Every time they bicker over Jamie’s clothes now taking up more space in her closet than her own dresses. Let’s move in, she thinks, more and more with each passing in. Let’s live together, she almost says when Jamie decides to pop into her own apartment inevitably.

Surprisingly enough, Jamie says it first. They’re watching some reality show that involves a very accomplished woman and twelve idiots trying to win her hand, when Jamie turns to her and asks her if Dani would consider moving in with her.

“Sure,” Dani says, off-handedly, before she chokes on the large gulp of water she’d taken a moment ago. “Wait, what?”

Jamie is very determinedly not looking in her direction, her eyes hyper focused on one spot of the screen. Dani plays with her hair and waits.

“I was.... wondering, if you’d like to move in with me.”

Wondering, as though Dani wouldn’t lay down her life if Jamie asked, Dani thinks. She raises her hand, and nudges at Jamie’s chin until they’re facing each other.

“Have you thought about it?” she asks, carefully.

“I can’t stop thinking about it, which is the problem,” Jamie grumbles, and Dani is endlessly endeared by the adorable frown on her face. “Thinking about how nice it would be to go to sleep and wake up next to you every morning, and how my brother could use my apartment when he’s home from college during the holidays, and me not having to move more and more of my clothes here—”

“—and the stupid cat,” Dani adds.

“—and the stupid cat,” Jamie concludes, glancing once at Cyclops who’s finding great pleasure in chasing the Roomba around.

“Sure you’re not sick of me yet?” Dani asks her, casually, hoping she picks up on what she really means to say.  

Jamie kisses her once, twice. “Never, my love.”

And that’s that.

*****

“Catch,” Owen shouts, before a vase comes sailing through the air and lands perfectly in Miles’ hand, followed by the sound of their combined laughter.

Dani, who’s just gone through the five stages of grief, collapses onto the couch next to Rebecca.

“How did we accidentally adopt a whole bunch of children?”

“Hey!” Rebecca protests. “I am a mature adult who has her whole life in order.”

“You’re just got sent a Wazzup on Tinder by a 40-year-old man who enjoys fishing on the weekends, kid,” Jamie passes by, hand reaching out to mess up Rebecca’s perfectly done hair. “Nobody here has their life in order.”

Rebecca sticks out her tongue. “This is not nice.”

Dani disagrees. This, impromptu lasagna dinners at least thrice every week filled with laughter and ribbing, days full of sunshine and kittens and the prettiest woman at home in her arms, she thinks, is very nice, actually. Love takes effort and work, but somehow it is also easy and beautiful, and so worth it that it’s found a permanent place behind her ribcage, in her lungs, in her limbs, and in her eyes.

“Do you think this is straight?” Hannah asks her, pointing at the photos on the wall.

“Nothing about this is straight,” Miles mumbles.

“That’s very funny, Miles,” Dani snipes at him, but she gets up and stands next to Jamie. Looks up at the photos.

There’s one of her on the street corner, sitting with her typewriter, surrounded by a bunch of clamoring people. One of Jamie and her brother. One of Cyclops perched on top of Miles’ head. One, of the time when Jamie and Dani had been trying to take a romantic photo all day, only to get interrupted by Owen finger-gunning in the background. The photo had ended up including all of them, squashed together on the tiny couch, with Flora half on Jamie’s lap, and half on Hannah’s.

(There’s a last one that Rebecca had snapped in the middle of dinner one night, of Dani and Jamie staring at each other, speaking a language only they knew. Dani’s hand, carrying a spoonful of mashed potatoes, is half-raised, with the spoon almost touching Jamie’s lips. It’s Dani’s favorite. She knows Jamie loves it too.)

This is how love works, she thinks. You build a relationship. Family just sort of forms around you.

“It’s perfect,” she says, head leaning on Jamie’s shoulder.

And it really is.

#the haunting of bly manor #fanfiction #i guess this is a continuation of one of my fics??? #probably #just a fluffy oneshot of dani and jamie being super in love and moving in together #found family feels #no editing we die like dani clayton #i cannot believe i wrote this entire thing at a stretch pls forgive mistakes #dani x jamie #damie #thobm #thobm fanfic

[mcsmmafia]

MC:SM Mafia - Round VI 🧠

THE 6TH ROUND OF MAFIA

On a chilling, but not yet snowy december day, a bus drived through the thickness of the swamp to transport eight patients to a asylum to which they have been relocated.

It was a confusing swamp… trees and vines everywhere, no proper roads… but the occupants felt confident that this was no problem for the driver. He was experienced… probably. I mean, he was responsible for the safe arrival of mentally ill patients, of course they wouldn't assign an intern with such an important task, right?

Anyway, the trip lasted the whole night, but just as the sun was rising, you finally arrived at the new asylum! … Which turned out to be a surprisingly old and bedraggled looking mansion? Geesh, talking about healthcare inequality.

Anyway, even though it was not snowing, the trees had frost on their leafs and the wind blew really cold, so you made your way inside without thinking about it too much. And thank goodness, it was actually warm inside! Ah, and there stood the receptionist, a girl with long red hair and a grey, comfortable looking beanie. You went on to line up - but suddenly, the girl turned around and activated a lever on the wall behind her. Huh? What was that all abou-

AND THEN IT WAS DARK AND YOU COULDN'T SEE AND OH MY GOSH I THINK I'M SEEING PUMPKIN FACES AND THERE WERE VOICES TOO, WE'RE ALL HEARING VOICES-

Oh, wait, that might actually be just your own voice… ahh, wait, you got a pumpkin stuck on your head! Well, how did that happen?? You sure didn't know!

… wait WHY ARE WE ALL WEARING PUMPKINS, WHAT IS GOING ON, WE CAN'T GET RID OF THEM, AHHHHH!!!!!

Meanwhile, it seemed like the red haired girl was trying desperately to announce something, but nobody would listen to her. She gave us a very annoyed glance and, in the next second, she put herself in a pumpkin too. And it didn't took a second for everyone to forget where the stranger was.

Dear patients, it is time.

To freak out.

AND-

GET REALITY AND HALLUCINATIONS MIXED UP AND BE EXTRA PARANOID AND PANIC!!!! A LOT!!!!

Oh, and also maybe you should watch out for stranger-danger.

☀ Results of Day 1:

After the patients were done freaking out, they played a nice little introducing game of saying hello to each other, but became bored quickly afterwards, so they split up to explore their new home on their own - I mean, they don't remember which one of them was the receptionist, so there was no other option really.

(Just for fun, I thought about why the MC:SM characters were in psychatric treatment in the first place for a bit: Stella has overwhelming seperation fear, Warden is not really mentally ill but a stalker, Nell has chronic fatigue syndrome, Harper has schizophrenia, Radar is not a patient but the bus driver XD, Ellegaard has bipolar affective disorder, Cassie is still a murderer, and Lukas has depression. (Sorry, Lukas, I couldn't think of any other interesting disorders 😂)

🌑 Results of Night 1:

Lluna wanted to stay in the entrance hall to monitor the front door. When Ellegaard and Lukas joined, Lluna noticed only an iron weapon in the room, so Stella knew she could trust her roommates and told them that she has the Flint & Steel. When she learned that Ellegaard has the iron sword, she asked for protection and stayed in the entrance hall to groom Lluna all night.

Warden ran after Winslow to pet him, and ended up in the attic, where he finally could give that good lil' boy Winslow a pet and happily fall asleep soon after professionally dabbing to his roommates.

Nell didn't have the energy to explore more than the surroundings of the living room, but when she spotted Radar entering, she decided the attic was probably a better place and used all her remaining energy to climb up there and hit the hay.

Harper desperately tried to outrun the creepy pumpkin faces she saw in all windows, and ended up in the attic, where there were no windows. Finally feeling safe, she was able to sink into a deep slumber.

After quickly peeking into every room to make sure nobody else was living in this mansion, Radar went back to the living room to sit down on the comfortable couch and spent the whole night trying to figure this blasted roadmap out…

Ellegaard did her best to protect Stella from stranger-danger.

CASSIE grinned when everybody decided to split up, so she wanted to make the best out of it and followed Warden and ordered Winslow to follow PAMA - but they all ended up in the attic together. Well, crud. With the night wasted, CASSIE decided to just grab her kitty and go to sleep.

Lukas didn't say anything to Stella's revelation, but didn't flee either; he just sat in a corner, silent all night.

☀ Results of Day 2:

The patients argued all day about who should cook breakfast. Before they knew, the sun was already setting, so everyone just grabbed whatever they saw first in the kitchen and scattered to find a good place to sleep. Very productively spent day.

Lukas has been suspended from the round due to inactivity.

🌒 Results of Night 2:

After Lluna reassured herself last night that the front door was indeed very safe and effective against the night monsters outside, she pushed Stella to go to an extra safe place to catch up on some sleep tonight, so she followed her to the attic. She was surprised to only see Radar there, but took the chance to ask for his identity. However, he did not respond… Stella eventually gave up asking and snuggled up to Lluna to visit the land of dreams.

Warden went to grab a snack like the others, but was disappointed by the insufficient selection… a few potatoes, some mushrooms… blergh! Where's the good stuff?? THEY DEMAND THEIR BREAKFAST CAKE! EVEN IF IT MEANS SEARCHING ALL NIGHT FOR IT!! 🍰 …However, they eventually got bored and fled to the gallery in hopes for more danger. (Little did they know that danger was coming right their way, had they only stayed!)

Oh great, Nell was already always tired, and now she's also gonna be hungry because nobody volunteered to cook the stupid breakfast! So, to conserve brain energy, she just went back to where she was last night and enjoyed her sleep in sweet solitude.

Harper couldn't shake the feeling of being closely watched by someone or something… she tried her best to hide her worries, but when night came, she skedaddled to the most isolated room she could find! …And, of course, that ended up being the gallery, because nobody cares for art, sigh. …But the feeling of being stalked remained - but now at last she realized where it was coming from: This weird calico cat in the corner over there with it's evil green eyes was watching her! What a creeper! 😼 She placed PAMA directly in front of Winslow to try and cover his glance, but this darned cat just walked around it. Welp, there was no way she would sleep with him around!

Oh gosh, everything is chaos… it's Radar's fault the patients are not safe in an asylum, and don't have regular meals, and now they can't stop arguing!! This is the absolute worst… and he was still really exhausted… maybe he should just go to sleep for a night. Perhaps, in the morning, things are gonna be better. So he chose a safe place to sleep, which of course only really can be the attic, and rested for a bit, after doing their best to ignore Stella's questions.

Oh my, Ellegaard was in full flow today! Was it the lack of sleep, or is she on her way to go hyper? Wherever this energy is coming from, it sure made her heat up the argument about breakfast today. Well, at least she snatched the only mushroom stew she found premade in the kitchen. Success! After being so harsh to everyone, however, she realized that she probably should try to calm down somewhere alone, so she went to the bed chamber. A big, nice pillow helps for meditation, you know? In fact, the pillows were so comfortable, ellegaard fell asleep almost immeditaly. That's how meditation works, right? 💤

CASSIE really had to contain herself to not burst out in laughter under her pumpkin mask when hearing the argument today. They're all distracting themselves, and CASSIE didn't even really have to do anything! Anyway, while the discussion was nicely heated, she had things to do. She needed to make sure that the next night would not be wasted! So she kept an eye on Warden to see where he would go this time. …And, as it turns out, he didn't go anywhere. He just stayed right here in the kitchen, searching for better food, CASSIE figured. So she ordered Winslow to patrol the hallway between gallery and bed-chamber and snuck up on Warden to cat-nap him… and was surprised when her hands could only grasp air! With the night wasted - again - she could only sleep her frustration away.

☀ Results of Day 3:

A new day dawned, and before anyone had the chance to address any hard feelings left over from yesterday, Harper spoke up to tell the patients that Winslow was following her everywhere she went. She also mentioned who else was in the room with her the past nights, skipping PAMA.

Stella then stated that she wanted to be locked up, and asked Harper to vote for herself too. Warden was quick to offer guarding them. Nobody else voted.

Warden also warned the group that he dabbed threateningly, and then tried to catch Winslow to throw him into the closet too, but he was fast to jump onto some high-laying shelf where Warden couldn't get him. 😼

🌓 Results of Night 3:

Stella had a hard time to going apart, but Lluna accomponied her all the way to the closet, and assured her with a bleat that she will reliably return in the morning to pick her up again. And she kept her word, to Stella’s great relief.

Warden regretted it a little to have volunteered as a guard, since he would rather do some detective word, but in the end he did not retreat from his duty and made sure to poke the prisoners the whole night through, even though he didn't really suspect them to be Cassie.

Nell just went to the living room again and slept like normal. She is really not afraid of traps.  

Harper was just glad to be safe from Winslow for one night, at least.

Radar took the chance and went to the entrance hall to see if there were any pets around. He could spot Lluna and PAMA, but also CASSIE - so he waited for a bit to see wheter CASSIE would leave and if one pet would go with her. As it turns out - Lluna and PAMA must belong to someone in the closet!

Ellegaard went back to the bed chamber, but when she saw that Winslow seemed to now be targeting her, she toyed with the idea of trying to figure out if she could activate a trap on Winslow - but of course, that grown kitty would be too smart to fall for his owner's traps. 😼 So Ellegaard dropped that plan and just climbed up to the attic instead.

CASSIE followed Radar - but of course he wouldn't go anywhere. CASSIE sighed in her streak of bad luck and sneaked away to the bed chamber to sleep.

☀ Results of Day 4:

Stella started the day by immediately confronting Warden about the sleeplessness-ordinance which he put her and Harper through, to which Warden apologized, stating that he didn't really suspected them to be Cassie.

Stella then went on to state that she suspects either Nell or CASSIE to be Cassie, since they are the only ones who haven't been checked by her best friend and pillow Lluna. Ellegaard vouched for this claim, only stating that she knew a thing.

Nell was about to vote Stella for the closet, but promptly retreated. Warden then voted to throw Nell out, stating that he is about 65% sure that Nell is Cassie, and 35% that it's CASSIE, which he subsequently voted into the closet.

Nell tried desperately to convince the others of her innocence, but had nobody who could vouch for her.

Stella voted for Nell to get thrown out too, but then retreated, saying that she wanted to lock her up first. CASSIE, Ellegaard and Harper agreed that there was not enough evidence yet. Harper then voted for the same thing.

(Oh my gosh, no offence to the person playing CASSIE, but I could hardly stop laughing about how they kept referring to Cassie and how nervous they were about her - and everybody just talked over that! I was so sure their cover would blow 😂😂😂)

🌔 Results of Night 4:

Stella realized that she has TWO arms, with which she was able to poke both Nell AND CASSIE at the same time! So she did that because IF STELLA COULDN'T SLEEP, THEY CAN'T EITHER! Also, it helped to distract her mind from Lluna and how she's doing.

Warden thought about sneaking to the closet and spawn-killing Nell… but realizing he had no weapon to do this anyway, he just went up to the attic and let the dream be a real dream.

Nell was really mad about being locked into a closet, and sang a song in order to try and annoy the guard so much that she would let her free - but was exhausted quickly and ended up just enduring the acupuncture. Stella really was NOT a great masseur.

Harper was paranoid when going to the gallery, but couldn't find a kitty anywhere - has he actually stopped following her? Harper was still a bit nervous, so she inspected some dusty, pixelated art about seven people with white pumpkins on their head before realizing how boring the pictures really were… but they freaked her out anyway, so she started counting all the pixels until she fell asleep.

Radar could barely follow the discussion that was going on… he was just too tired. He longed for the sun to set, and when it finally did, he concentrated all his strength to climb up to the attic before basically fainting on the floor face down.

Ellegaard was a little freaked out by seeing Winslow with her in the library, of all places. But she went to sleep anyway.

CASSIE very imperceptibly wishpered Winslow to patrol the hallway between dining room and library before she discontentedly followed Stella into the closet and endured being poked all night.

☀ Results of Day 5:

CASSIE started the day by complaining about being poked the whole night, which Stella interrupted saying that she didn't have Lluna with her in the closet, which was a problem. She also stated that Nell was singing "something about tissues", and that that was a crime because they were a Duck.

Note: The person playing Stella has a username referring to ducks.

After that, they realized that they (and it was totally not my fault) had overlooked a list that revealed that Warden and Radar were having a slumber party in the attic last night!

But that was quickly forgotten again when Warden decided to yell out loud that he wanted to throw Nell out. But when a voice from above told them to vote then, they retreated.

Stella went on to vote CASSIE into the closet, instead - but immediately rectified themself to Nell. Freudian slip? Warden voted for the same and asked Radar to guard, but Harper volunteered right after. They agreed to let Radar do it (even though Radar didn't use @Game Master ARRRGH but let's overlook that… this time.)

The patients then talked about cat-crazy people and the fact that PAMA was with them, but nobody claimed to own it, although Stella and CASSIE claimed to know who Harper is.

However, Radar revealed to have written the note last night. And then continued to ask if he could pet Lluna, because passing out is very exhausting. And thus, Lluna was promoted to stress therapy pet!

Warden also tried to vote to lock up the voice in his head. It wasn't very successful - Oh… nevermind. They put Alexa into the closet.

Radar also tried to order McMurder Fries. (Oh god, now he's losing his mind too…)

Nell brought them back on topic by loudly concluding that Cassie must be one of the people who have been locked up in the toilet, and that she's suspecting CASSIE.

Radar and Stella overheard everything but toilet and were so inspired that they wrote a survival guideline on how to survive murder and get rich. 🚽💰

Nell ignored them and voted to throw CASSIE out, to which Stella heavily disagreed.

Most patients were confused by Nell's use of the word "toilet" for the closet, but Warden approved the use of "toilet" for "closet" by saying how cruel society was for not letting him do his business in closets.

Stella brought up how she wanted to feed the zombies the flint & steel, and how a smooch would cure them… she was in her own world, for sure. She wondered if she could eat the zombies, and CASSIE too pondered how'd they taste.

Finally, the voice from above had enough and sent them all to bed. SERIOUSLY. This was long, but I had so much fun - doing this round in an asylum was the best idea ever. 😂

The Last Night 🌕

All Cassie ever wanted was to live a happy life with her 372,026,931 calico cats… but nooo, society had to declare that that was not "normal" and a sign of "mental illness" and that she should be put in an asylum for therapy. It was really their fault, not hers - the other patients constantly got on her nerves, and the staff wasn't much better as they treated everyone the same, no matter if they were sane, like her, or really crazy. So Cassie might have put up a few traps that killed a patient or two and maybe also the whole population of the house. It happens! She could impossibly have stood another second in this madhouse! Why does nobody ever seem to understand…?

Anyway, so she went outside - only to realize that she was stuck in this whole swamp dimension that was just created so that patients could never escape on their own. But the staff had to be able to get out somehow, right? She went back to the asylum, but it seemed like all their drops had disappeared already. Crud, she should've rushed to get them as soon as these people were dead!

She certainly wouldn't ever make that mistake again - but for now, she had no way to return to her home… luckily, however, her most beloved cat Winslow came to help. He risked being stuck in this mad-dimension with her for eternity! He was such a good cat. And he brought friends! 😼 😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼

Although that really cheered Cassie up, she still didn't want to accept her fate of living here forever. Maybe some day new patients would be admitted, then someone would have to bring them there and get out again afterwards…

And, look at that, they indeed came. Five more patients and one quite young looking bus driver.

Cassie spent days thinking and plotting how she could effectively eliminate them without being noticed… because even though this is an asylum we're talking about, the patients were not yet crazy enough to just let her do her thing. So she tried to cat-nap them, but it didn't quite ever work out.

As the days passed, the patients managed to narrow down who could be responsible for not cooking them breakfast and dinner - and they almost unanimously agreed that it's either Nell or CASSIE. And in night 5, Lluna followed CASSIE to the living room - she knew that was practically her death sentence, since everyone so far seemed to unquestionedly believe Stella everything she said.

So Cassie took her chance, and finally went to the secret passage ways to activate a trap on Stella, Warden and Ellegaard - all or nothing!

And, look at that… when Cassie went to collect their drops, she found the FLINT & STEEL where Stella was. That was… easy.

Well. Cassie wasn't complaining.

Finally. Finally she can get out of this dimension and back to her other 372,026,922 cats who surely are still patiently waiting for her to return home! (And feed them.) 😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼

Oh, and also, she may or may not have lit the mansion on her way out just for celebration. What, now that's making her a pyromaniac? OH SHUT UP, SOCIETY! SHE JUST WANTS TO MAKE SURE THE PATIENTS ARE WARM INSIDE!!! 🔥🔥🔥

Cassie has won the game! 🧠

#mcsm #episode 6 #mafia #this was a really fun round #the most fun of them all even

[anxiouslyfred]

Dating Remy

Ya know, this is for the Vampiceit au I have with @loveceit but I have been struggling with writing the ending of it cause it romance and I ain’t good at that when it’s projects like this. 

This is how Virgil, Deceit and Remus actually get Remy to join their relationship. There’s talk of abandonment, self doubt and talk about arguments, it even gets kind of angsty for a bit but ends up mostly fluff. Also Remy does sort of pass out, sort of just get to absorbed in his thoughts to have his body react to anything at one point 

Enjoy

I wanna write more about the cafe now

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You're moping again. I haven't seen that happen since we got together." Deceit observed, coming to throw an arm around Virgil where he was curled against the arm of the sofa.

Of course Remus wasn't far behind joining them, managing to find a comfortable position over both of their laps. "What's up Blustery? Too much excitement for you to handle all of this?" he asked, blinking up at them.

"Does he hate me? Was this something I should have clarified? But we never clarified anything before that it was just all understood, have I done something wrong then?" The words did nothing to explain what Virgil was moping about and everything to confuse Deceit and Remus even more than before. All they could assume was Virgil had been dating someone but it had been cut off when they got together with him and Virgil was trying to figure out why.

They share a glance before Remus nuzzled into his stomach. "Lightning Storm, who are you talking about? I can't give suggestions without a name at least.”

"Remy of course, I was with them. I'm sure we were together and they always seemed to encourage me trying to help and get to know you better so why is he ignoring me now? He's not even been hanging out with all of us like he always used to do." Virgil spoke like it should have been obvious.

The words did make Deceit realise that while before Remy had just had coffee with him or instead of arguing over Remus being curled up with Virgil only ever joined them, the function hadn't even visited them recently. They'd even missed the show that only he and Deceit liked and had made a point of watching together.

"So we kidnap them, get an explanation and all the cuddles you want only releasing him to let Thomathy get some sleep." Remus nodded before  Deceit could finish checking his recent memories for other things Remy had suddenly changed.

At least the identically shaking heads were expected now. "Give me your arm. I need to think and biting you normally stops you saying too much nonsense."

Virgil started petting Remus's hair as he tried not to panic over the failing relationship and how confused his current dates were about him mentioning it. It had been obvious right? Nobody just cuddles, hangs out and cares for each other as much as Remy and he had been so they had to have been dating. There had even been small forehead or cheek kisses when Remy was helping him to sleep and cuddling together overnight.

"Are you thinking that Remy is now dating all of us or just you?" Deceit asked breaking from his feed for a moment before starting another drink while waiting for an answer.

"That's you two and Remy's choice. If you weren't already together I can't say whether there should be attraction there or not. That's--that's not how feelings work, right?" focusing on Remus and the rhythm of stroking his hair was already helping to bring Virgil's breathing back to a steadier pattern.

"Sleeping with Sleep sounds great, when can I start? What kinks do you think he has? I'm betting somophilia and plushies." Remus piped up, grinning as his arms was fully released now.

Dee sighed, "Chaos Causer that's for thinking about after we've actually asked Remy if he wants to date us and clarified that Virgil thought they were dating and to suddenly stop that is the height of poor manners."

"How are we talking to him about it? I've got plenty of plans we could use to capture and kidnap him." Remus began listing out possible ways while the others just enjoyed the time cuddling and calming down together.

...

In the end Virgil insisted on just summoning Remy and hoping he'd answer. Actually he accidentally tried to summon Remy when he'd gotten upset over a stupid argument with Patton over a friends party that was intended to run very late.

They'd already settled on going only for the first hour before coming home since Thomas would be filming the next day but Virgil was still shaking. It was never easy to react when Patton was properly angry at him.

"Babes, I know its been a hot second since I came around but there's no need to cry over me." The words were the first thing that made him realise Remy was actually there and Virgil couldn't help throwing himself at the function.

He was easily caught with arms wrapping around him tightly and there was a moment where all his worries almost started spilling out before new ones emerged over upsetting Remy enough he left even more quickly this time. Trying to avoid that and just keep the comfort of his first partner Virgil decided to just send a small summons to his other boyfriends and hope Deceit would know how to bring the conversation up.

"Easy sweetheart, what's got you so upset? Has there been an argument in paradise?" Remy was entirely focused on calming and comforting in that moment, soothing hands going over Virgil's hair.

Remus was the first one to appear and wrap himself around the pair already present. "What happened with the others? Who am I killing?"

"So no trouble with Remus why are you so upset, Virge?" Remy adjusted surprisingly easily to having another person hanging off his back.

"Patton wasn't being kind today, was he? With everything already going on with Remy that argument just got too much, didn't it?" Deceit's words were gentle as he came over to the trio, only stroking the back of Virgil's neck.

That made Remy pause as he took in what was being said. "What's going on with me now? And any clues over what worked my Babes up this much would be awesome."

"So he is still your babes then? Virgil's been very upset that someone he was sure he was dating suddenly wasn't hanging out with us at all." Deceit said, gaze piercing through Remy's normal smirk as Remus began migrating to mainly be holding Virgil. 

“Of course but that feels like a loaded question I'm missing, Sweetheart. Wanna ask whatever you're trying to now?” Remy was sure he was close to understanding just why it felt like Virgil was trying to become a boa constrictor surrounding him if only one more bit of information was offered.

Remus rolled his eyes then, deliberately pulling his arms so Virgil and Remy got even more closely pressed together. “You've been abandoning your boyfriend and making him sad since we got with him. Stop that. We all want you included rather than whatever disappearing act you've been doing.”

Strike two for people saying he was dating Virgil when he knew nothing about it. “Okay, Babes, when did we start dating? Cause I could really use some dates on how long I've not been treating one of the hottest folks in Thomas's head right.” Remy hated asking loaded questions when Virgil was already upset but he didn't have much choice.

“Um – maybe 3 or 4 months? You didn't know? I – I thought.” Virgil tried to explain but couldn't get past the fact Remy hadn't realised they were dating but was still calling him his Babes. He ended up just hiding his face in Remy's neck again, cheeks burning.

He blinked for a moment, mentally tracking back the time and what would have distracted him from realising Virgil thought they were dating. “So I focused so much on helping you court the vampire that I missed the start of us dating? Damn, you are like so overdue a date to The Cafe Extravaganza at this point. When are you free? We can introduce you to all my red pandas” Remy asked, assuming it was all fine with Remus and Deceit since they had actually been the ones to bring up the subject.

“I've not been to Roman's half of the imagination in ages! Can we go now?” Remus asked immediately bouncing, even though he was still clinging to Virgil's back.

“Perhaps we could all go on this date together? Of course that's as long as you aren't opposed to also dating myself and the gremlin attached to you.” Deceit suggested, finally moving to join the group embrace they'd basically been stood in.

That was pretty much the moment Remy froze, questioning if he was even awake given when he'd gotten up that morning he hadn't realised he had even one boyfriend and now he was being invited to have three, three actual boyfriends that wanted to spend time with him and love him. Up until then he'd still kept part of his concentration on supporting Virgil and trying to comfort him, but now everything that wasn't somehow supported by Remus or Deceit was falling limp as his mind tried to comprehend the situation.

They were all curled up on the sofa when Remy blinked back out of his thoughts again, Virgil curled up on his chest, audibly counting the breaths Remy was taking. “So have I gone from not realising I was dating anyone to having three boyfriends? Or was that all a dream I made after something hitting my head?”

“Real and now we need to talk about your kinks!” Remus immediately insisted, bouncing across the room, ignoring the dual sighs and headshakes his words received.

Deceit had moved to get a glass of water from the coffee top before also joining everyone around the sofa. “It was real, but it's also true that you just passed out or got locked in your thoughts more thoroughly than either of these two have managed. I know your title is sleep but are you getting enough of it?”

“I sleep when everyone is asleep. That hasn't been happening so easily with the others this last week or so.” Remy shrugged, wrapping an arm around the man on his chest while taking the glass of water with his other hand.

There were frowns on the other threes faces at their words, each thinking over ways to try and help but before Remus could offer to run around knocking anyone still awake out Virgil was speaking. “You've never done that before and we've napped together plenty of times so why aren't you sleeping, Rems?”

“I thought I was Rems? I have a name stealer for a boyfriend!” Remus pouted, shoving Remy and Virgil along the sofa to properly strop with them leant against him.

“Depends on our moods which of us is called Rems, and of course I take naps with you, you're all cuddly and sweet when you're tired so how could I ever resist joining in? Doesn't mean that I'm not affected by the others not sleeping.” Remy protested, even while reaching their hand back to comb through Remus's hair.

Deceit was still shaking his head. “You're forgetting I'm present Remy. We don't impact you if we're awake when you want to sleep and even Thomas only marginally does so since most of our sleeping schedules follow in line with his. If you're looking for an excuse for us all to sleep in a pile now though I'll agree to it.”

“Yeah, that would be good. It's when I've felt loneliest since I didn't realise Virgil thought we were already dating and I thought you'd all want some space.” Remy admitted, the awkward look seeming very out of place on him having his new loves all frantically trying to think of something that would actually divert the conversation.

Virgil came up with one first, “What were you saying about red pandas?”

“I'll tell you all about them for snuggles somewhere bigger than this sofa so we can all be comfy together.” Remy pouted, wrapping his arms around Deceit's neck when he leant close enough. “Carry me to bed, Darling?”

#anxceitmusleep #remy sanders #remus sanders #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #vampiceit

[drawings-and-nightmares]

Rule Number One

Author/Writer/Whatever: Dreams

Word Count: 2235

Editing: Uhhhhh,,,who's she?

Quick notes: Based off of like, normal modern Cryptid Crew shit that doesn't have powers. There's also nonbinary Finch and dumbassery in general.

Pairings: Mainly Blinch(Blink/Finch) but there is a hint of Spralbert(Spot/Race/Albert)

Well. He just made the stupidest mistake that has ever existed in his life, and that was saying a lot of you knew Blink personally. What was his mistake, you may ask? He may have uh...told the whole Brooklyn Borough that he was dating someone. Then of course, Spot Conlon just had to tell him to invite them over. Classic move Spot, classic move. Obviously nobody believed that he did, so now he was doing this shit. Great. Who would he even?...Fuck all of this, I guess.

They'd probably laugh at him once they realized he was lying. He wasn't like Spot, who had Race and (maybe?) Albert, or Hotshot who could blow off something as “silly” as having a date or whatever. This blowed. Maybe he could say his date was sick?...No...God. Being the one of the only ones in Brooklyn who was single and actively liked someone did suck major ass-

Then, a horrible, awful idea popped into his head and...it was so bad, that it just might work. Finch. Finch owed him a favor after the uh...slingshot incident. It’d probably work, if you took away the fact that he kinda had a bit of a small crush on Finch, meanwhile they hated him. What an amazing combination, am I right? Of course he had a crush on the person who hated him the most, but it was all good. His plan was...

…..It was foolproof!

If he was gonna get Finch to do this, he was going to need to get some stuff to convince them. Uh...chocolate, flowers...wait, were those romantic? Eh, who gave a fuck. Rubber bands, a spare slingshot, and of course, slingshot ammo!(aka, various pretty pebbles that he found on the street) This should work perfectly!...Probably. Possibly. Maybe...Ok, there were very low chances that this would go good. But still, he had to try!!

_____________________________________________

“No.”

“But please-“

“No.”

“But I got you flowers and other shit!!!”

“That doesn’t mean that I’m going to pretend to go out with you, in front of the whole Brooklyn Borough!”

Blink sighed as him and his not so feathered friend argued. Ok, maybe this wasn’t going as good as he planned it out to be...but hey, it was uh...decent?

He sighed, giving them his famous ‘puppy dog eye’, “But Fiiiiinnnnccccchhhh…come on, please??? You owe me for the slingshot incident!”

Finch raised an eyebrow, “You mean the time that I shot you with a pebble and you fell off of the fire escape into a dumpster-“

Blink interrupted suddenly, not wanting to even mention that incident ever again, “YES! THAT INCIDENT, THAT WE SWORE TO NEVER SPEAK ABOUT AGAIN!!!!”

They snorted, laughing a bit. Damn, their laugh was adorable-

Blink no. Now is not the time for that shit, especially when you’re asking them to be your fake date for the entirety of the Brooklyn Borough.

He snapped out of it when they spoke up again, “You know what...fine. I’m bored anyways, and I guess that I do owe you...But, we have to ‘break up’ after this thing. Deal?” Finch spat into their hand, holding it out to Blink.

Blink nodded, spitting into his own hand, and shook Finch’s, “Deal.”

Finch pulled away their hand, “First, there’s a few requirements. One, no like, kissing and junk.”

He barked out a laugh, “Yeah uh...knowing Spot and everyone else, I dunno if that’ll even be brought up, but ok.”

They rolled their eyes, “Jesus, let me finish. Ok, two. Don’t be too much of a sap, ok?”

“Well I never-“

“Three. If you make more than one bird pun, god so help me, I will shoot another pebble at you. Besides, you’ve given me plenty of ammo to do so if you do break that rule.”

Blink sighed, grumbling a bit to himself, “....Is there anything else?....”

Finch hummed a bit to themself, “Not really...although, think of something more creative than your…’significant other’,” they started to laugh again, “God knows only you can do that.”

His ears and face turned a bright red, “Well uh, songbird, it is one of my specialties.” Songbird??? Where the hell did that come from????

They raised an eyebrow at that, but couldn't help the light blush on their face, “Songbird?....Huh….I guess that creative, even if you are being sappy….” Finch started to chuckle a bit, “Anyways, what time is this again?...”

“Uhhh….” Blink checked his watch, “Around eight?...”

“Pick me up at seven then. God knows you're gonna be late.”

He laughed, rubbing at the back of his neck, “Yeah, yeah….”

____________________________________________________________________

Ok, to his credit...he actually did make it somewhat close to seven…meaning that it was now 7:30. But the trip to Brooklyn wasn't too long anyways, so they both should be fine. He adjusted his car mirror to make sure his clothes weren't on backwards or anything. Gray jacket? Check. Pale yellow t-shirt? Check. Decent ripped jeans that he got at a sale? Check. Alright. He was all good to go.

Blink’s head turned as he heard a door open, and saw Finch. And...holy shit dude...Instead of their sweatshirt that they always seemed to wear, Finch was now wearing a pastel blue sweater instead, and...it looked good. He shook his head slightly, he couldn't get distracted now. Blink sighed a bit, and started up the car, as they leaned their head into the open car window.

“Fashionably late as always, Kid Blink?” Finch teased, grinning at him.

“Mhm...better late than never, songbird.” He laughed a bit, leaning against his seat.

They rolled their eyes and pulled their head out of the window, opening the car door and sitting down. “You know, you really can drop that nickname until we get there.” Finch shut the door and fastened their seatbelt.

Blink started to drive, smirking at them, “Mmm...yeah, but you see, Finch. I have this condition called ‘I don't really want to’. It's very contagious, from what I hear.”

Finch huffed slightly, but made no further objections to the nickname. The car ride continued in not so awkward silence, with some argument whether or not the radio station and/or music they were listening to was complete and utter garbage, or amazing entertainment that everyone should listen to and worship for its glorious lyrics.

They finally pulled in towards the apartment, which was of course, filled with people from the Brooklyn Borough. Did Spot throw a party or some shit?...To show off Blink not having a partner?...He was probably just being paranoid, since most people in Brooklyn just kind of gravitated towards the apartment anyways, like it was a black hole or the sun or...some other space and physics shit.

He opened his own door and slid over the hood in order to open Finch’s, like a real gentleman would. They responded to this by, of course, rolling their eyes at Blink’s complete and utter sap. Despite the playful banter in the car, and even the teasing now, both were nervous as hell, due to the mass of all of the Brooklyn Boys in one space.

Blink, being Blink, slipped his hand onto Finch’s, and surprisingly, they didn’t protest in return. They just gave him a glance, before starting to walk themself and Blink towards the complex, hand in hand. Ok, now that he was thinking about it, maybe he should’ve just...accepted the other humiliation. Nearly everyone in Brooklyn knew about his crush on Finch, and if he actually walked in with them, there’d definitely be teasing, and...he didn’t want to put Finch through that.

He blinked(hahahaha) in surprise when they suddenly stopped in front of the door, noticing Finch staring at him, “Uhhh…..yes?....”

Finch sighed slightly, rolling their eyes, “Well? Aren’t you going to knock?”

“Why don’t you knock?...You’re obviously paying more attention than me.”

“Oh my god,” they pinched the bridge of their nose, annoyed, “because all of Brooklyn would wonder why the hell I’m here, if you don’t introduce me first?...Wait, don’t you live here? Why aren’t you just opening the door-“

Before Finch could finish their sentence, the front door slammed open, and there was a very confused looking Hotshot. Chaos was clearly happening behind the confused boy, but it was honestly just a normal day in Brooklyn. Blink sighed in relief, thankful that he now didn’t have to explain that he was nervous about the others. Speaking of which…

Hotshot looked up and down at the ‘couple’, and smirked, looking at the both of them, “Damn. You were actually telling the truth. Honestly, I’m surprised.” He laughed, and leaned against the doorframe, “Looks like our cooking wasn’t for nothing after all!”

Blink grimaced, “Please don’t tell me that you guys cooked without me...did you mess up my fucking kitchen again?...”

“Relax! Albert and Race came over to laugh at you-“ The other boy realized what he was saying, “Errr...I mean, they came over to help cook?....”

He rolled his eye, “Yeah. Cause that’s much better. Anyways...this is Finch-“

“The Finch? You mean the Manhattan Finch that you’ve had a cr-“

Blink kicked Hotshot in the shins subtlety, looking back at Finch to see if they noticed. Luckily, they seemed distracted by their sweater sleeve, “Oh! Hotshot! Did you hurt your knee? How sad!” His voices dripped with sarcastic sympathy, just like venom would.

Finch rolled their eyes, pushing past Hotshot and Blink, “If you two would excuse me, I think I’m going to head upstairs and actually eat something. Don’t kill each other while I’m gone.”

He smiled a bit at his...well...his fake birdfriend. Heh. Birdfriend. Maybe if he stopped being dumb about it, he’d actually end up asking them out-

“Wow. I see why you like them.” Hotshot called out, causing Blink to roll his eye.

“Shut up. Let’s just go see if anything’s salvageable in the kitchen.”

“Eh. There’s probably….something. Maybe the Brooklyn Blend-“

“We’re not making Finch drink the Brooklyn Blend. Besides, that’s for us Brooklyn Boys.”

Hotshot raised an eyebrow, “Well, at this rate, they’ll be a Brooklyn Boy soon enough-“

“Oh my god, shut the hell up already.”

Blink trudged to the kitchen with Hotshot behind him, sighing as he entered. There sat Finch, with a few Brooklyn Boys beside them, and right next to them, was Spot Conlon himself. In the background, something on the stove was definitely burning.

Spot was laughing, “Tell me, Finch. How did he even work up the nerve to ask you out? Leave absolutely nothing out.”

He looked over at Finch, and felt a spike of nervousness impale him as they just smirked in response. Oh god no…

“Welllllllll…..” They placed a finger to their chin, tapping lightly, “You should’ve really seen him to believe it...he was being all blushy and sappy, per usual,” Finch chuckled softly, “...honestly, though. How’d he become so poetic for someone who eats raw chicken?”

That arose a laugh from Hotshot, Spot, and the rest. Blink crossed his arms and mumbled something along the lines of, “I’m gonna go put out that fire now,” and wandered to the stove, turning it down.

“You know, Finch,” Spot. Please. Please no- “Blink’s has his eye on the ‘Manhattan Finch’ for a while now. Which is saying a lot, if you know him personally.”

Blink let out a groan that was filled with nothing but emotional embarrassment. Well this was fucking great. Perfectly peachy, if you will.

Finch seemed a bit startled, blinking as he looked at the others, and then at Blink, raising an eyebrow, “...Really?...Huh. I didn’t...know that.”

They continued their conversation with the others while he tried to salvage the meal. Damn. He needed to teach the others how to actually cook for once. As he was finishing up, he felt someone tap on his shoulder. Blink turned back around to face…

Finch.

Of course they'd have questions after...all of that. After turning off the stove, he sighed, “Uh...yes songbird?...”

“Can I...talk to you for a minute?...Alone?...” They fidgeted with the hem of their sweater. Was Finch...nervous?...

Well, if Finch wasn't nervous, Blink sure as hell was, “Uhhhh….I'm assuming that I'm gonna have to say yes to that.”

Finch sighed, rolling their eyes. They grabbed a hold of his sleeve, pulling him onto the fire escape while the other Brooklyn Boy's were distracted.

Blink tapped his foot anxiously, “Sooooo….is there a reason you pulled me out here, or-”

They leaned onto the railing of the fire escape, letting out a low, exhausted sigh, “Jesus Blink...do you know how long I've waited for you to stop being stupid???”

“Wait, what-”

All that Blink knew after that, was Finch’s soft lips pressing onto his own. It was funny, in a sense, since Finch had to stand on their damn tippy toes to reach him. But hey, he wasn't really...paying too much attention to that right now.

When they pulled away, he stared at them with a wide eye. Of course, his dazed mind could only think about one thing, “B...but what about the rules?? Rule number one???”

Finch smiled warmly at him, and pressed another soft kiss to his lips, “To hell with it.”

//TAG LIST\\

@orollyitsracetrackhiggins @guys-are-nice-once-or-twice @cryptid-mike @newsies-more-like-gaysies @finchesnbinches @albertdoesnteatglass @albert-eats-cookie-cake @race-is-a-furbie @sure-as-a-star @iamliterallyaghost @amostauspiciousmanner @im-alone-but-i-aint-lonely @daavenport

#cryptid crew #my writing #writing #newsies 1992 #newsies #finch newsies #kid blink #kid blink newsies #newsies fanfiction #fanfiction #spot conlon #spot conlon newsies #hotshot #hotshot newsies #brooklyn #newsies broadway #racetrack higgins #albert newsies #blinch #spralbert

[the-desolated-quill]

Rosa - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

It comes as a massive relief to say that I really enjoyed this episode. There are a number of ways Rosa could have gone wrong and while Chris Chibnall has managed to crank out two surprisingly good Doctor Who episodes so far, it’s hard to shake off old fears. Oh my God, I thought to myself, a historical episode about Rosa Parks and the Black Civil Rights Movement. Is Chibnall biting off more than he can chew? 

Thankfully Chibnall had the good sense to hire a co-writer that can keep his white privilege in check. Malorie Blackman. Author of the critically acclaimed Noughts and Crosses series of books depicting an alternative reality where Africans developed a technological advantage over Europeans and where white people are segregated under this world’s version of the Jim Crow laws. It’s safe to say that Blackman knows a thing or two about exploring racism and, being a black woman, she’s much more qualified to talk about issues of race and to represent Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole than Chibnall is. The result is, without a shadow of a doubt, some of the best Doctor Who I’ve seen in years.

One thing I’m glad about is the way Rosa Parks is depicted. Historical stories (particularly New Who historical stories) have an unfortunate tendency to go completely over the top with it. It’s just not enough to have a character who played a significant part in human history. Oh no. They’ve also got to be the specialist, most important person in the whole wide universe. The result is that we’re often left with a wafer thin episode that completely romanticises the period of history the story is trying to depict, waters down all the more complicated and unsavoury parts of the historical setting and turns the famous historical figure into a shallow caricature of themselves (see Agatha Christie in Unicorn And The Wasp, Winston Churchill in Victory Of The Daleks and Vincent Van Gogh in Vincent And The Doctor). Rosa, thankfully, doesn’t fall into the same trap. Rosa Parks isn’t treated as a god among mortals. She’s treated like an ordinary person, thus making her actions that much more powerful.

Vinette Robinson (who appeared in a previous Chibnall penned story 42) does an incredible job playing Rosa Parks. Again, more emphasis is placed on how ordinary she is rather than how historically significant. Nowadays we of course view her as the genesis of the Black Civil Rights Movement and she has rightly been praised and immortalised for that, but it’s easy to forget that she was a real person behind the legacy, which is what the episode really delves into. We get to see her fear, sadness and frustration in this oppressive society. And it really brings home how mundane her actions really are. Sure we can see from hindsight how her actions would influence others and change the course of history, but she wasn’t some heroic freedom fighter taking a stand. She was a woman who just wanted to sit down on a bus after a hard day at work. And the fact that she, Martin Luther King and other black people actually had to fight for the right to do something so trivial is utterly ridiculous.

Some have criticised the episode saying that this is too heavy a subject matter to deal with at 7pm on a Sunday evening. I couldn’t disagree more. For one thing, this isn’t the first time Doctor Who has handled difficult subject matters (Nazism and genocide have frequently cropped up in past stories after all). But I think the criticism mostly stems from people (white people) being left feeling uncomfortable by the story and are trying to avoid having a serious conversation about it NRA style, claiming that this isn’t the right time for it. Well... when is it the right time? Nobody wants to have this conversation, sure, but we’ve still got to have it. And as uncomfortable viewing as it is, it’s important that it is not sugar-coated and that we’re reminded of how difficult things were for non-white people so that shit like this never happens again. So no, I didn’t think the use of violence against black people or racially charged language up to and including the n word were inappropriate. It was an accurate depiction of the environment at the time and if you felt uncomfortable by that, then congratulations, that’s precisely what you’re supposed to feel.

In fact I honestly thought the episode’s depiction of violence against black people was quite restrained, making the acts of discrimination that much more despicable in my eyes. Using gratuitous violence would have been a cheap shot and Chibnall and Blackman mercifully avoid that route. What makes the episode so chilling to watch isn’t the things that white people do, but rather the oppressive atmosphere they create. It’s not the arrogant tosspot slapping Ryan across the face for touching his wife’s glove that had me on edge. It was the scene after that where everyone is just silently staring at the TARDIS crew in the cafe that really made me feel queasy. The threat is implied, yet constant, which is infinitely scarier. After the likes of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss boasting about how their episodes were going to be ‘the scariest Doctor Who stories ever’ only for them to amount to a hodge-podge of tired horror cliches and a dumb monster going ‘boo’, it’s a relief to see writers take a more subtle ‘less is more’ approach. I’m sorry, but the bus driver glaring angrily at Rosa is much more terrifying than a Weeping Angel. Period.

Which brings me to Krasko, played with smug charm by Joshua Bowman who succeeds at making you want to reach through the screen and punch his racist face repeatedly. Again, some have criticised the episode for its ‘one dimensional villain’ and, again, it only seems to be white people making this criticism. Not to make sweeping generalisations here, but non-white fans seem to be largely happy with how Krasko was written and depicted, probably because they’ve had to deal with pricks like him at least once in their lives. I’m guessing the source of the criticism comes from him not having a backstory or concrete motivation other than he hates black people. But my response to that is... does he really need one? Would Krasko have really been a more interesting character if it was revealed that he was bullied in school or a black kid had stolen his My Little Pony lunchbox? Does there really need to be a reason for why he hates black people and wants to ‘put them in their place’? I would have thought him being a racist white person would have been enough reason to hate him frankly. Let’s not forget what happened when Star Wars and Marvel respectively gave their villains Kylo Ren and Kilgrave tragic backstories to provide context for their despicable actions, at which point the fans proceeded to romanticise the fuck out of them, calling them misunderstood. Maybe (and this is just my opinion) giving Krasko a backstory wouldn’t have made him more interesting, but instead would have been seen as an attempt to justify and excuse his shitty behaviour, and maybe, just maybe, we’re better off without one. Just a thought.

Besides, it’s not as if we don’t learn anything about Krasko. We’re given enough information to work with. He’s a time traveller from the future. He was put in prison for murdering two thousand people (quick side note, did anyone else laugh when the Doctor said the Stormcage was the most secure prison in the universe? Remind me, how many times did River Song break out again?). He’s clearly intelligent, as demonstrated by him coming up with a non-violent plan to ruin the lives of generations of non-white people in order to circumvent his neural inhibitors. While it’s never overtly mentioned, he’s clearly some future version of the alt-right and is there to act as an extension of the true villain of the story. Because that’s the thing the people criticising his character have overlooked. Krasko isn’t the villain. White people are. The society Rosa Parks lives in is the true villain. Krasko is there not just to get to the plot going, but also to subtly demonstrate that while things do get better for non-white citizens, there will always be that racist element within our society. Hell, Ryan and Yasmin even spell it out for you in their conversation whilst hiding from the police. While people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King made a huge impact and helped change things for the better, racism and prejudice hasn’t just magically gone away. It’s still around. There are still people who cling on to these extremist and bigoted views. Some might argue that racism has become so entrenched in Western society that it will never fully go away. That there will always be some remnant hanging around. That’s what Krasko represents. So if you thought he was a rubbish villain because he had ‘no backstory or motivation’ then I’m afraid you’ve completely missed the point.

I should also applaud Chibnall and Blackman for resisting the urge to shove in some pointless alien like other historicals have. Not only would that have distracted from Rosa’s story, the racist white people are scary enough thank you very much. While there are sci-fi elements in here, the episode quite rightfully focuses on people.

Speaking of people, let’s talk about the TARDIS crew. Yeah! They’re in this episode too! Haven’t really talked about them much, have I? The Doctor largely takes a backseat in this one, which I know some people have a problem with, but I think it was the right thing to do. We don’t want an alien white woman coming in and stealing Rosa Parks’ glory. Jodie Whittaker graciously lets Vinette Robinson take centre stage while she busies herself with other things like confronting and intimidating Krasko and organising fake raffles with Frank Sinatra. I really like the balance they’ve struck between light and dark with this Doctor (something Moffat tried to do with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor and failed at miserably). She’s funny, compassionate and caring, but there’s a little bit of Sylvester McCoy’s devious cunning in there too, which really comes to the forefront here. Did anyone else find it really disconcerting seeing the Doctor try to maintain history? Influencing events so that Rosa Parks had no choice, but to give up (or refuse to give up) her seat. While we know she’s doing it for the right reasons, in order to keep black history in check, she’s still nonetheless actively contributing to Rosa’s misery, which is actually a clever way of exploring how white people all contribute to a racist status quo, directly, indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally. And of course it all culminates in the Doctor and co refusing to give up their seats in order to keep history intact. The look on Thirteen’s face as events unfold says it all. The look of sheer sadness and self loathing, knowing she played a part in this, is haunting. Same goes for Graham’s realisation. The widower of a black woman and step-grandfather to a black teenager being forced to contribute to this racist institution is utterly heartbreaking.

But the standout of the main cast has to be Ryan. Tosin Cole truly shines in this episode, giving an incredibly powerful and moving performance. This in many ways is his episode as he comes face to face with the racist prejudices of the time period and Cole rises to the occasion. My favourite scene has to be when Ryan talks with Rosa, thanking her for everything she will do in the future and promising that things will get better. It’s incredibly emotional and I actually started tearing up with him. I’m also so happy that he was the one that got to beat Krasko at the end rather than the Doctor. I stood up and cheered. And his reaction to seeing Martin Luther King has got to be one of the most charming moments of the series so far.

Rosa is unquestionably one of the strongest episodes in all of Doctor Who. It’s incredibly well written and performed and it’s extremely powerful as well as being very subtle and nuanced. What’s more, I’m now completely sold on Chris Chibnall being the showrunner. Any lingering doubts I’ve may have had are now completely evaporated after this episode. Rosa proves that not only does Chibnall respect and value diversity both in front of and behind the camera, but that he’s also committed to creating something truly special with his tenure, using the Doctor Who format to explore hard hitting and difficult subject matters with care and respect. Truly excellent television.

#rosa #malorie blackman #chris chibnall #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #jodie whittaker #graham o'brien #bradley walsh #yasmin khan #mandip gill #ryan sinclair #tosin cole #bbc #review #spoilers

[blonde-batgirl]

Day Two: Identity

I know Keith had an entire arc about his identity in season two, but I want to talk about his identity in seasons three and four. I think that becoming the Black Lion’s pilot sends him into an identity crisis.

In season one, Keith actually seems the most settled of all of the paladins. He has no one to go back to on earth – Shiro, the only connection he seems to have, is out there with him. He does think of the desert when he’s wearing the mind meld headset (Some Assembly Required) but he never mentions wanting to leave (unlike Lance, Hunk, and Pidge in Fall of the Castle of Lions). Although it takes him the most effort to bond with his (notably fussier) lion, he falls into his role as Shiro’s second-in-command very quickly. As early as Return of the Gladiator he’s taking over when Shiro’s too busy to lead (usually because he’s being shot at). The Red Lion itself is stated to be unstable in The Rise of Voltron, but its pilot seems to be anything but. Sure, Keith’s impulsive, hot-tempered, and has a habit of going off on his own, but he seems content with where he is.

Season two complicates this. In Across the Universe, Shiro tells Keith that he’s next in line to lead Voltron. This is later repeated on the way to the Blade of Marmora headquarters in The Blade of Marmora (more on that episode later). Both times that Shiro brings this up, Keith becomes nervous and starts insisting that Shiro will be fine. He’s actively against becoming the leader and Shiro’s expectations seem to make him uncomfortable (@cityofsexyshadowhunters​ has a brilliant post about this that puts everything I thought about Keith’s time as leader into actual words. You should definitely read it. Go on. You know you want to) . This is not particularly relevant now, but it will be once we reach season three (and the point). The Ark of Taujeer is a particularly significant episode when it comes to looking at Keith’s identity as a paladin. In this episode, we see Keith pulling away from Shiro when he asks him if he’s alright. The very next scene is Keith’s nightmare, in which he sees himself dressed in Galra armour and surrounded by faceless Galra soldiers (as of season four, this feels like foreshadowing). Let’s be honest, Keith knew that he was part-Galra the moment he recognised that symbol on Ulaz’s knife. It might not have been confirmed until The Blade of Marmora, but he knew. Hence the nightmare. In The Blade of Marmora, we see that Keith fears being rejected by Shiro, so he tells him he’s fine…and goes running off with Allura. He leaves because he believes that it will protect the team. In the pod, we see for the first time that Keith’s identity as a paladin, in his own mind, is somewhat fragile when he asks Allura what the team would do without her but fails to acknowledge that losing him would also cause problems. As she puts it, “Without you, the team cannot form Voltron.” I’m going to come back to this later because I think the phrasing is important. In The Blade of Marmora, holo-Shiro tells Keith, “You know who you are. A paladin of Voltron.” This does not convince Keith to give up his knife. This is the second time since Keith began to suspect that he was part-Galra that he has shown he doubts his place as a paladin. By the end of the episode though, he seems to have accepted that it doesn’t matter, he can be a paladin regardless, confidently stating, “It doesn’t matter where I come from. I know who I am,” and trying to give back the knife, which then activates. Upon finding out that he’s part-Galra, Keith is accepted by Shiro but rejected by Allura. The final thing I want to point out about season two is how the tension between Keith and Allura is resolved (Best Laid Plans) – Keith volunteers for a suicide mission. If you thought A New Defender was the first time Keith thought that sacrificing himself was the most useful thing he could do for Team Voltron, think again.

The lion-swap occurs in season three (The Red Paladin). He doesn’t want to take the Black Lion. He outright tells us that, “That’s just what Shiro wanted!” Unfortunately, whether Keith wants to lead Voltron or not is irrelevant. He’s the one who Black responds to, so he’s the one who gets the job. Voltron would be headless otherwise. After trying (and failing) to persuade the others that him flying Black is the worst idea in the history of the universe, his first question is, “But who’s going to fly the Red Lion?” I think it’s very noticeable that Keith, unlike Lance, does not get a goodbye scene with his original lion (I’m referring to final scene of the episode, not the scene where Blue rejects him). There’s no sense of closure for him. Furthermore, Keith’s connection to the Black Lion is entirely focused on Shiro. “I know you wanted this for me, Shiro, but I’m not you.” “I can’t replace Shiro.” “I’m not the leader Shiro thought I was.” “This one’s for you, Shiro.” To Keith, being a leader is being Shiro. Unfortunately, Keith’s leadership skills are very unlike Shiro’s. He seems to have a grip on it as of Hole in the Sky, but then Shiro comes back. Tailing a Comet is, I would argue, a turning point in Keith’s attitude towards his own status as a paladin. Above quotes indicate that Keith does not want to replace Shiro. In Tailing a Comet, Lance comes to him with his own fears about being replaced. Keith tells him that, “Things will work themselves out.” Subsequently, Keith tells Shiro to take the Black Lion. He does not even mention the Red Lion. Of course, Shiro cannot fly the Black Lion right now, so Keith ends up flying it. What follows is an utter shambles of a mission in terms of leadership. Shiro and Keith are both trying to lead and, rather surprisingly, they cannot agree on anything. This comes to a head during the climax, when Shiro thinks they should focus on destroying the teludav and Keith wants to go after Lotor’s ship, which is made of Voltron-meteorite. Both of them have a point. Yes, it’s bad if the Galra get the teludav and, with it, the ability to open wormholes, but it’s equally bad if Lotor manages to build something akin to his own Voltron. Despite this, nobody backs Keith. When Lance asks him what they should do, it’s Shiro who replies. At the end of this episode, Keith tells Shiro, “I’m no good at this.” Shiro tries to reassure him, but he’s just spent all episode shooting him down. Keith doesn’t look any happier at the end of this discussion than he does at the beginning. At the start of the season he was forced out of a role he was comfortable in. At the end, he’s in one he feels ill-suited for and the person he thinks should be in it is right there, constantly contradicting him.

In the first episode of season four, Keith gives up being a paladin completely. To clarify, Keith leaves Voltron. They’ve been leading up to this since season two, guys. I have evidence. Remember what Allura told Keith back in season two? “Without you the team can’t form Voltron.” Keith’s importance is framed in terms of his relevance to Voltron. And no, I’m not criticising Allura for that. Both she and Keith are mission-orientated people. At the time, that was probably a good thing for him to hear. She uses the same logic on him in Code of Honour – “The Marmora can go on without you. They have for thousands of years. Voltron cannot.” The problem is that Keith knows she’s wrong. Remember Tailing a Comet? He knows that the team can function without him because it did. Sure, he was flying the Black Lion, but Shiro was leading and the others were following. Lance and Allura are comfortable in Red and Blue. If Shiro was back in Black, they wouldn’t need him at all. At least, that’s what he thinks. Bear in mind here that there is a time-skip of months between seasons three and four. We know that Keith only began training with the Blade of Marmora during this time. Allow me to reiterate, Keith has been a member of the Blade of Marmora since season two, but he only began training with them after Shiro’s return. He’s distancing himself on purpose. He says as much at the end, “I’m not meant to pilot the Black Lion…it was always meant to be yours.” Yes, it’s only part of it, Lotor being the other part, but it’s significant that Keith feels like he’s taking up someone else’s place. This is a character who was outright stated to fear rejection back in The Blade of Marmora. He’s not going to stick around to be told that he’s no longer of any use to Team Voltron once Shiro’s taken back Black. When Keith comes in at the end of the episode, he’s in his Blade of Marmora armour, in stark contrast to the paladins in white. It’s a visual cue that he doesn’t fit anymore. He smiles until he turns away. The face he makes then isn’t that of a boy who wants to leave. This is the face of somebody who feels they no longer have an identity here.

In conclusion, season three forces Keith out of a role he is comfortable in and into one that he never wanted. It’s a path that’s chosen for him and one that he doesn’t feel equipped to handle. Just as he’s starting to get a grip on his new role, the person he believes should be in it reappears and knocks his confidence. Everyone else seeming comfortable in their new positions, he pulls away and, once everything is how he believes it should be, leaves to join a group where identity is a distraction. A group where he’s just another faceless soldier behind a mask.

#Voltron legendary defender #Keith Birthday Week #Keith #Lion-Swap #Blade of Marmora #Shiro #Allura #Lance #Theory #VLD Season Four Spoilers #Mine