“I’m happy for you but, shoot, Oscar, I don’t wanna sound unsupportive, but maybe you should give the badge back? Your experiment was an accident.”
“Everything is so cute!”
“Scan me again, I can do better than five!”
“Let’s not have this task be another one of those experiences where you become a lovable disaster attempting a task that could just take five minutes?”
“Thank you and I love you and I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry, we don’t. I’m very smart and I still do not understand.”
“Okay, Pepper, we’re gonna walk you through your day and figure out who would have the motive to steal your blanket.”
This was written prior to the results of the poll (go vote!)
I love this family! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Which Darling-Pan sister are you? Tag yourself, I’m Katniss. Never mind, I’m all of them!
There were only supposed to be two girls… and then, I realized… Peter and Wendy would want more kids. And they’d probably be open to adopting kids, seeing as there was some good that came from the Lost Boys. But, of course, Peter’s no longer the bloody demon who we met in OUAT season three. Therefore, his only motivation for gathering up orphans (or, more accurately, in the case of Max, neglected children) is to make sure they feel safe, loved, and a little less lonely.
Although Rey was nineteen when she was adopted by Peter and Wendy (who was just about to die), she desperately needed a family. Sadly, I don't currently have that dialogue or scene written yet, but it is incredibly important and I do intend to share it someday. Hopefully, soon.
Max was seventeen (but was fifteen in her home Membrane (ST) in the year 1986) when she was adopted by Peter and Wendy. However, after the events of ST3, the couple decided to go through a much longer legal process to obtain custody of her. Susan- Max’s biological mother- had already begun to drink heavily after Billy’s death, as his father had already begun to take his anger out on the two of them; naturally, she was hesitant to let her daughter become someone else’s child… but she learned that her potential adoptive father (Peter) had already been treating Max remarkably better than her husband, despite his own past. This is during "The Piggyback". The scene takes place in Max's mind:
“Hello, Max.”
(She yelps and whips around to see… Peter Pan, sitting in a chair at one of the tables. Max scoffs) “What the fuck? I thought you were-“
*hurt by the assumption* “Vecna?” (Peter laughs sadly) “No, Max. It’s me. It’s really Peter Pan.”
(Max registers the sadness in her mentor’s voice) “No, um…” (She scratches her head, tries to correct herself) “… I didn’t mean-“ (She finds her words) “I didn’t doubt for a second that it was you. I just didn’t realize-“
“Oh, you thought I was going to be a voice in your head again?” (He laughs softly… before his expression shifts. The dark angel/ bloody demon has emerged… to protect a loved one) “No. Absolutely not. No chance in hell.” (He gestures to the chair across from him) “Sit, please. We have a lot to talk about.”
(Max nods, obeying his command) “Are you here to say goodbye?”
(Peter’s eyes widen, but he shakes his head) [folks, this is what we call dramatic irony] “No. You’re not going to die, Max. I promise.”
“But you said we had a lot to talk about-“
“That’s cos we do.” (He smiles at her, tears in his eyes) “Oh, Maxine Mayfield. The Zoomer.” (He sighs, takes her hand) “You were always my favorite.”
(She furrows her brows) “What?”
(Peter laughs and repeats his statement) “You were always my favorite, Max. Out of everyone… it was always you.”
“In the Party?”
“Sure. But… in my class, you were always my favorite student.”
“You shouldn’t have a favorite student. That’s pretty fucked up.”
*you need to let me talk… ily* [not romantically] “Well, I do… and it is you.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll bite.” (Max makes one of her classic faces) “Why me? Why not Dorothy, your own daughter?”
“That would be nepotism.”
(Max scoffs) “Fair. But-“
“We both know Gavroche… not my favorite. Harry is everyone’s favorite. Ron… is Ron. Hermione, kind of a suck up. Mike… we don’t love him.” (They share a brief laugh) “Eleven… she’s great, but… not my favorite. Will… well… excellent student, but not my favorite. Lucas… need I say more? Sadly, he’s not my favorite.” (Beat) “Dustin… like Hermione, is a suck up.” (He sighs) “And Violet… you know. She’s… impressive, but not my favorite.”
(Max is stunned, has no idea what to say) “I… um-“
“Which leads me to… something that Wendy and I decided a while ago- after Billy… died… which is not your fault. Anyway…” (Peter takes out a folded up document, hands it to Max) “… you now have a strong father in your life.”
(Max takes the paper, unfolds it) “You mean, father figure-“
*soft* “Read it, Max.”
(She does as she’s told. The words… well… “Maxine Darling-Pan”. Shocked, shaken… honored… happy, she looks up at… her father with tears in her eyes) “I don’t know if my mom will be okay with this-“
“She knows. I told her. It took some convincing, but… she agreed. And your father… who I found… in a bar… in a strip club… said he couldn’t care less.” (He wipes his… daughter’s tears) “I’m so sorry, Max.” (He smiles sadly) *crying Robbie noises* “You’ve been a Lost Girl all your life. But not anymore. Now, officially, on paper… you have a family. A real one, that loves you, and doesn’t care what you’ve done.” (He cups her chin) *whispers* “We love you… Max. I love you.”
(Overwhelmed with the news… and the thought of having four sisters… Max cries) “Dad?” (Peter smiles, very happy to hear her saying that now. She laughs) “That feels so weird to say… to you. You look about the same age as me.”
(Signature eyebrow raise) “Get used to it.”
[End of excerpt]
The sad thing is… their three biological daughters- Katniss, Dorothy and Jyn- won’t be able to grow old. This, of course, we learn from Peter in the Black Archive scene (which happens in ROTS Part Two), during his long, emotional, but very important monologue. I’ve been teasing it, and I’m happy to say that I’m almost done with it! But here’s the section where he reveals that he and Wendy passed their youth onto their children (at the time of this episode, Jyn hasn’t been born yet, let alone conceived. And, Rey doesn’t exist yet. Also, Stranger Things hasn’t come into the picture yet):
(He takes a deep, deep breath, gathering his courage) [lore drop… during a really emotional monologue? Yeah, um… more likely than you think. What do you expect from me?] “Katniss and Dorothy… are not going to be able to grow up. They’re not going to be able to age, after a certain point. They won’t grow old. They can’t grow old… and that is my fault.” (He laughs softly, sniffles) “I am, um… a lot older than I look… but, I think, I am supposed to look about, er… eighteen? Sixteen, if we really want to push it.” (He feels his heart beating even faster, every bone in his body wanting to give out… because he is so terrified, but also, still, incredibly angry) “It’s a nice face. I know. But… on the inside… complicated.” (Peter Pan, former villain… who wasn’t meant to be a father… or was he? Because, he’s proven himself to be a great one today. That is, as of right now) “My biology doesn’t match my age, of which I have lost count. We’re not… going to talk about that now. But, er… all magic comes with a price. At least, as I now know, the magic in realms related to the Enchanted Forest, does. Not so much in other Membranes. Though, uh… I have a few thoughts about… that. We can talk about it another day. Maybe after we discuss… my use of feminist phrases… to describe my life… when I am… a boy. Yikes, because that’s on me.” (Beat. He shakes his head, his body trembling with despair and deep, deep regret) “Anyway, as I was… saying… when I traded Rumple, who was, according to the Shadow, holding me back- not true anymore… and could never be true in the case of my girls- I did… receive youth. But, obviously, it was not eternal. It would run out. At the time, I figured that was it. I thought that I could escape that… by stealing the Heart of the Truest Believer… from my great grandson, Henry. As I said, I gave a shit about myself and only myself. We covered that, of course. Because we solved that problem… by making a compromise… that I still feel guilty about. So, yeah. But, um… I cursed Wendy… when I resuscitated her after she almost, er… drowned. So… we weren’t quite sure… if we could have children. But then…” (He laughs softly, holds his eldest daughter a little tighter) “… Katniss came, and we were really happy about that. But… it also meant that… she would be like us. She would eventually stop growing up… and be young forever. I think… I stopped the process as it was starting… but, sadly, once I unfreeze her age… it means that… the process will continue at a much faster rate. I froze her age, because, well, I didn’t want the love triangle to be strange when she got back, had she decided to… stay away for a while. Looks like that’s… the case. Dorothy… will go through puberty, and she’ll have her first period.” (He smiles down at her, reassuring her…) “A completely natural thing, though I’ve heard it’s painful.” (Beat) “But, this means that… they won’t reach menopause, assuming they are able to have children… that they want to. But they shouldn’t… worry themselves with that right now.” (He laughs) “No matter what, I’ll always love them. They won’t grow old… which also means they won’t be able to pass away at an old age… surrounded by people who love them. In fact… they will be… condemned… to watch as their loved ones… get old and die… while they stay the same. And after a while, they won’t be living anymore. They’ll just be existing. That’s a lonely thing, and I am frightened for them to experience that. Of course, that doesn’t mean they can’t die at all. They absolutely can. Wendy and I are the same way. The only way to kill any of us… is through violent means. Only certain sicknesses can kill us… but even then. Which is actually why I was so worried about Dorothy when she was poisoned by that son of a bitch Willy Wonka. I know now, obviously, that he didn’t intend to harm her. But I still can’t believe he thought that Dreamshade -a poison from Neverland- would make a great substitute for black dye in a Fizzy Lifting Drink! For fuck’s sake.”
