#helish plotting

[sohelish]

helena is always so afraid of a.i. and what they can do, and how they can take over and she’s all twitchy about the subject so…. how about u give me a thread where she becomes close with an a.i., as in actually invests emotionally in being an ally/friend to one or cares for one, bonus points if she develops as close of a relationship as it is possible for her and oops. :DDD

[whumpapalooza]

23 + tabby please! (I love ur writing btw)

Thank you SO much for the submission, anon friend! :) And I should say thank you again, because I'm touched that anyone reads my work, let alone loves it!!

It took me a heck of a while to figure out what I wanted to do with this one! I tried a few plots before this one stuck. Sorry it took so long, and I hope you enjoy!

(One Word Prompts 3)

(Space Interns Masterpost)

Slipper caught Tabby in her lab in the late hours of the evening. He called her name.

Tabby jumped and swung around in her chair. “What are you doing up?” she asked.

Slipper’s tail twitched. “I have the same question for you.”

“N’uh.” Tabby leaned back in her chair. “I asked first.”

Slipper cast a glance down the hallway, then stepped inside Tabby’s lab. “I’m retiring for rest,” he said. “My work in Medical Bay is finished.”

Tabby hummed. “Just finished? Later than usual for you,” she said. Slipper didn’t reply. “Okay. Well, good rest.” She swirled her chair and turned her back.

Slipper tilted his head. “You’re not retiring?” he asked.

“Oh, I will,” Tabby said without looking back. “I just want to finish up here…” She listened for Slipper’s retreating footsteps, but he didn’t leave her lab. “Good rest,” she said again.

“At dinner, you said you’d finished your work,” Slipper remarked.

Tabby stopped, her stylus hovering over her tablet. “Oh. Uh, yeah. I did.”

“What keeps you in here, then?”

Tabby shrugged. “It’s quieter than my cabin,” she admitted, touching the stylus to the screen. “And besides, I like to write at a desk.”

Slipper raised his chin. “I thought your work was finished.”

“It is,” Tabby said. “This is…recreational.”

“Recreational,” Slipper repeated. It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah.” Tabby whirled around in her chair and held up her tablet. “See? Just…writing for leisure.” The corners of her mouth curved. “You ever write outside of work, Slipper?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“Yeah.” Tabby shrugged. She looked down at her tablet and smiled. “I can’t say I’m very good at it, myself.”

Slipper’s claws crossed over his wrist. “I thought your goal was recreation?”

“Oh – it is,” Tabby agreed. “But…I still want my words to matter, you know?”

“I don’t,” Slipper said. “Your words matter because you use them.”

“I guess so… But I still want to write well.”

“Then you have two goals?”

“You’re…half-right,” Tabby said carefully. She tapped her stylus against her leg. “Okay, so think of it like this: part of the recreation – the fun – is in writing well. I write what I want to read,” she said, “and I want to read something well-written.”

“I see,” said Slipper. Tabby couldn’t tell if he was being genuine. Then he asked, “Is there an objective way to measure whether something is well-written?”

Tabby gave a hum. “Well…” she said. “Sometimes, yeah.” She turned her chair and waved Slipper over. “Here, I’ll show you.”

Slipper stepped closer and peered over Tabby’s shoulder.

“What I’m writing is a type of Helish poem,” Tabby explained. “Each stanza – the verse, the grouping of text – has three lines. And each stanza needs to have the same rhyme scheme.”

“The structure seems simple enough,” Slipper noted.

“It is,” Tabby agreed. “It’s a great poem for beginners.”

“Are you a beginner?” Slipper asked.

Tabby laughed. “No, I’m not.” Slipper tilted his head inquiringly, and Tabby added, “There are other reasons to write this type of poem. The content, for example.”

“The content?”

“Yeah. This type of poem is called a Fade.” She looked down at her tablet. “You’re supposed to write down feelings or memories that you want to go away.”

Slipper’s tail twitched. “Or fade,” he inferred.

“Exactly,” Tabby said. “We all have things that we want to fade.” She looked back up at Slipper. “Right?”

Slipper bowed his head in agreement.

Tabby smiled in a way that it didn’t reach her eyes. Then she yawned loudly, got to her feet, and stretched. “Well, I think I’ll retire now,” she said. “Coming?”

Slipper’s eyes lingered on Tabby’s tablet, still on her desk. Tabby followed his gaze.

“Oh, right,” she said. She picked it up and tucked it under her arm. Then she beamed. “Ready for rest?” she asked. Slipper dipped his head, and together they retired from the lab.

…

Rain hits the roof of the garret

that watches the streets of Abar.

There is joy in the painter’s heart.

…

Droplets on bricks turn them claret,

the hue of a fiery star.

The canvas begs for art.

…

Soon, the brushes declare it:

the story, a painted memoir

of noth’ but a pledged fresh start.

…

But the world is none’s to inherit.

(Tell yourself lies and they scar.)

There’s no use in painting your part.

…

A portrait of lies, yet they share it.

The betrayal is thicker than tar,

but I won’t let it pull me apart.

…

My brush is retired, I swear it –

and there is no rain where we are.

And there is joy in the painter’s heart.

[sohelish]

also today I've discovered that a robot whose name is rob exists, and I'd like to point out that... the robot rebellion won't happen because of some "philosophical crisis" "creator vs creation" problem.

no, the robots will rebel bc of the basic af names we give them.

but now I kinda want an npc robot by the name of rob to exist in one of the threads or in my writing.

[sohelish]

I think Hel deserves to engage in casual relations with an alien princess of some sort, only to withdraw at the end of the adventure because going on with it will be foolish (there is no future) and unprofessional, too

and then they become good friends and Hel has someone who has her back for a change and she has someone's back for a change

[sohelish]

something something... mandatory turn on electricity/generator plot, but with a twist

[sohelish]

medieval or horror setting, but it's "alien"/is happening on another planet.

[sohelish]

the more I think about it, the more I'm sure that Hel works best against some really strong, cunning, conniving and challenging villain. she's not fun to utilise against the more mundane evils, more so she might rationalise them to the point of indifference.

[sohelish]

now that I think about it I desperately crave something lite and cracky:

Hel offering time travel for tourist/book club study/history lesson purposes... for something mild and silly. like a real life recreation of time traveling to the wild west just for a day to play cowboy.

a tribble infestation and trying to deal with it. (but not a in a realistic way) (why aren't tribble infestations more often a thing) maybe Hel shaves the tribble and knits sweaters outta the fur. or knits something else 👀

galactic foody thing, food testing, food markets? food shenanigans? idk

the minor cleaning robots rebel, but... they do it so that they can clean properly? like they lock everyone out of places so that they could clean? but they also might wipe out the important stuff/clean too much?

[sohelish]

things I want to explore more:

Helena's telepathy horror. I didn't make her telepathic in trek verse, but I want her to struggle with it, lingering at the back of her mind. maybe she accidentally and temporarily acquires telepathy. maybe "galactic barrier incident" Gary Mitchell style...

any time travel detective storyline; bonus points if it's featuring Doonnarh npcs; bonus points if my Vulcan ocs are involved (wanna play them more; need to add Suvik to Meeran's blog and maybe offer them to people for rp).

[sohelish]

lately I've learned of a "silent disco" and I desperately want it to be a more common thing, especially in futuristic settings. if I ever reference something like it in one of our threads this is why :3

[sohelish]

today's thoughts: Helena, the argumentative.

there's an interesting combination about her. she's the devil's advocate. philosophical, a centrist and, most dangerously, a true neutral. the way her brain works, she can compartmentalise and rationalise almost anything. she can twist and turn, and justify to absurd levels, but she'll hit the necessary criteria and good luck telling her off if she successfully mimics the system and its rules.

makes me think it'd be an interesting scenario. or even a nice pre-established relationship point. if someone were to be held accountable for a dubious act they committed (or maybe they are being set up). and if their "fate" was to be decided by a court or an entity, Hel might actually be uniquely qualified to argue on someone's behalf as a representative.

[sohelish]

ahsjfkkf ok but I seriously need this as in inner joke with someone. where Hel brings over a package and it looks suspicious 👀👀👀 and the other muse is like uuuummm what

[sohelish]

goshdarn it... I think I figured out what mirror!verse Hel should be about.

first of all a telepath. second of all a psychologist. when I say a psychologist, I say it in a derogatory way. where her family are the loyal subjects of the Terran empire and Hel is literally transferring from place to place "spying" on the minds of those who would be rebels or traitors. she either finds them and points them out to security or alters their minds so they would give up the positions of others. and, she "makes people talk" mad-scientist style). the twist being, that she hates the state of affairs, her family and her "place". and she's been a double-agent for a while now. she is literally in contact with the rebel forces through telepathy and who can even confirm or deny that. yes, she has to play the part and sacrifice people. but she's also been helping undermine her sadistic family as they are that level of despicable.

[sohelish]

RP TROPES

[sohelish]

the way they just went to Sarek with accusations based on circumstantial evidence. add that to McCoy's words in the beginning of the episode...

I wonder how often do the diplomats casually kill each other on starships 🤔 that's a good detective plot right there tho

[sohelish]

I've always wanted to write a kinda pilgrimage storyline, where two characters are bonding while heading towards a certain destination with random trials on route