#i am open for plotting

[baeshijima]

thoughts on being engaged to duke!sunday, the head of the oak family, an incredibly influential figurehead within society, the close subordinate of emperor gopher wood who brought him and his sister in and raised him like his own, and the villain who faces a tragic ending in a novel you recently finished — the very same one you just so happen to find yourself transmigrated into. he is as cunning as he is blinded, a trait which brought ruin to many in the empire, and one which ultimately brought ruin to himself at the hands of the protagonists.

as luck would have it, you became a barely mentioned side character from a marquis family, whose role was to be the villain's wife stuck in a one-sided love who, too, would get caught up in the tragedy alongside him. however, now that it's you who is stuck in this position, you're determined to try any means necessary to deter him from going down that path, all in an effort to escape your predestined doomed fate!

of course, you didn't expect it to be easy. the day of your arrival in this world was already the night before your wedding, so you had little time to prepare yourself for the nonchalance of your supposed family, how they viewed you as but a means — a tool — to boost their influence and prosperity, the dismissive mannerisms of the household servants, and the absolute beauty of a man you will be married to.

(seriously. the novel descriptions did not do him justice. he was like... like... like he was handcrafted by god himself! and not to mention his sister, robin, was the very epitome of an angel! perhaps you're destined to perish by the god-tier visuals instead...)

to say the least, the wedding ceremony went by quickly. safe to say you didn't spend the night; he was cordial and gentlemanly upon letting you know that he won't do anything until you're ready, that you can take this relationship slow, but somehow you ended up feeling a tad insulted. like, who leaves their newly wedded alone in a big cold bed as they walk out on their own? a sick bastard that's who!

well, whatever. it's not like you need nor want to consummate with him! besides, you have bigger things to worry about — things such as your impending death. and, of course, the only way to stop sunday that you can imagine working is by chipping away at his resolve bit by bit, and opening his eyes to reality.

he is a tragic character, one who cares more about the well-being of penacony and its people than anyone else, but was manipulated into getting his hands dirty in the emperor's stead. you knew this. you sobbed over his story, cursed out the protagonists, and even fought internet randos on novel forums about sunday's motivation and how,

no, he is not just a stupid villain. he is a complex character with flaws and humanity and was cruelly taken advantage of by someone he considered family. he was deceived through the suffering the emperor wanted him to see to make him easily manipulated, creating a rift between him and robin to have that prominent separation. you know what? maybe you're just a !%#@ who can't even #@?"% read properly!

and yet you still find yourself at a loss when faced with the walls he has in place. your initial efforts went as well as it possibly could have; you trying to earnestly help him, while he "kindly" dismisses your offers! well, "kindly" being more condescending since you could read between the lines of his mannerisms and amiable demeanour, but that's fine! you expected this! that just means you have to double down on your sincerity, get through to his heart (somehow), and help him realise humanity isn't as weak as he's led to believe!

you have three years until the novel's plot officially starts, and another year after that until your demise. that's plenty of time to get him to warm up to you!

it was easier said than done, but after your valiant effort and abundance of time put into this relationship, which admittedly you could do with some of that lost time back, you could give yourself a pat on the back with the progress you made! while you definitely could have done without a lot of the headaches, it's safe to say sunday has significantly warmed up to you in comparison to your wedding day. he now willingly eats all his meals with you with some real conversation, takes garden strolls with you in the early evenings, invites you out for dinner at a restaurant at least four times a week, hell he's even joked and laughed with you more frequently! but most importantly, he has begun asking for your opinion before finalising any decisions he is required to make. and he actually listens and considers your side! now, that certainly is the best outcome you could hope for after all this time, and it most definitely will help in your endeavour to save you both from the protagonists!

however, you've noticed he's been more... affectionate? well, at the very least he now willingly holds your hand when in private (not just in moments when you're in the public eye and he has to make sure the family's reputation is spotless), sometimes he will hug you out of the blue ("i just need to... recharge. you have a way of calming me down. i hope you don't mind." ...how could you say no to his supreme god-tier face card? that's just a losing battle you won't even bother fighting against.), oftentimes he opts to just gaze wordlessly at you (robin had mentioned over one of your tea times how it almost appears as though there is no one but you in the world when sunday gazes at you with, in her words, "the eyes of a man so deeply in love!" ...whatever that's supposed to mean...), but a more recent development has been his sudden interest in kissing you; well, more specifically giving you a kiss to the back of your hand or on your forehead — certainly not anywhere near the lips! (besides, he's probably just gotten comfortable with you, enough where he can freely act without judgement. nothing more, nothing less.)

well, either way, development is development! soon enough, the time for the main plot to start has arrived. it of course follows what you remember, from the organised balls to the protagonists meeting to the political aspects of it all. the only difference is sunday's less active involvement in all the schemes and the emperor's ploy. rather, he seems more focused on you and the future of your marriage and even displayed a sudden interest in your practically non-existent relationship with one of the foreign diplomats, aventurine— wait...

"[name]," he calls your name out so sweetly you nearly disregarded it as someone else he was talking to. well, perhaps you would have done had he not suddenly appeared before you, a tight-lipped smile tugging the corners of his lips as he steadily approaches you.

oh. he doesn't seem very happy, if his tense figure is anything to go by. you wonder if one of the nobles grated his nerves a little too much this time?

sunday comes to a halt a step away from you. "i don't like that... gambler being so close to you. it... it brings me a rather unpleasant feeling." there's a slight, trembling pause. not a moment later does he close the gap between you, one knee on the ground as he matches your seated height on the fountain rim, your hands gently enclosed in both of his.

you idly wonder if this is what robin meant by the so-called "eyes of a man so deeply in love" she constantly gushed about, for the way in which he gazes up at you is enough to render you breathless.

"tell me, [name]," he begins once more. there is an underlying desperation woven within his tone, one which has your head spinning and heart thumping wildly as his trembling gaze holds you in place. "tell me, what am i to do with this fervent love and overwhelming adoration i hold for you?"

oh.

...oh.

perhaps your impending doom should be the least of your concerns when you now find yourself in the arms of a clingy husband...

(though, it's safe to say you did, in fact, manage to prevent him from succumbing to his tragic fate! you just gained a loving, yet slight slightly emotionally challenged husband along the way.

well, you can help him work through it; you have the rest of your lives now to figure it out, after all.)

[superbat-lmao]

Pt. 2 of this (back by popular demand).

When Jason wakes the following morning he feels gross. His face is tacky and he’s smushed in an uncomfortable position where he feels like he’s rolled to the edge of his bed.

When he blinks up at Bruce, the events of the day before come crashing back with alarming clarity. He goes rigid and Bruce immediately opens his eyes to check on him, pulling back slightly to give him space.

And that makes Jason’s chest hurt. Because everything that had made him uncomfortable Bruce had fixed. Because Jason had been telling Bruce what he didn’t like about him the whole time.

Jason had started to like Batman. He’d gotten dry reports about life in the alley from the guy but he’d also gotten questions about what more could be done to help out alley kids. He’d taken all of Jason’s brash criticism and actually tried to fix things. Jason had started to really like the guy.

And to now be faced with the fact that it was Bruce, the guy who read like, an actual newspaper in the morning and asked about his interests like he was having teeth pulled, it still couldn’t quite compute.

Bruce couldn’t seem to figure out if Jason was comfortable on the cot, so Jason solved his problem for him by tucking his face back into his shoulder. He knew they would have to talk about it. How Jason had been kidnapped and watched his- watched Bruce get shot and then cried about it. But that conversation was going to be exhausting, and his body wasn’t sending him into a panic being this close to Bruce, so he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

Bruce seemed to get the message and started running his fingers through Jason’s hair again.

When Alfred came down with breakfast for the both of them, Jason knew his time was up. That they’d have to talk about it all. He wasn’t sure what they would do now that he knew, send him away? Or no, they’d need to make sure he never told anyone. Never let him leave?

Before Jason could spin out too badly, Bruce started explaining how he’d wanted to protect Jason by not telling him about his nightlife. How it was a dangerous secret to know since it could put people in danger.

Jason scoffed at that since he’d been abducted for his connections to Bruce Wayne, like that was any safer.

Bruce paled pretty quick at that but had that look on his face that said he was determined to get through this. Jason wondered which he actually preferred more, conversations or going to the dentist.

But Bruce continued to explain that he’d had concerns over Jason’s ability to trust adults and was entirely out of his depth on how to begin to repair that trust. That he thought Jason needed someone to talk to that would try and resolve his problems. And Batman could do what Bruce couldn’t. He had been scared Jason would run if he couldn’t convince him it would be safe, and that scared Bruce most of all.

And Jason had to acknowledge that Bruce wasn’t entirely wrong. He probably would have run if Batman hadn’t been checking up on him, at least in the beginning. Because Bruce didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t like any of the other adults Jason knew. His body wouldn’t calm down even if he knew he was safe, and he probably would have run from that feeling.

Most importantly, Bruce apologizes. For keeping secrets and also for getting shot in front of him in a “sorry you had to see that” sort of way.

And yeah, Jason could’ve done without watching the guy that’s almost his Dad get shot in front of him, but it wasn’t really anyone’s fault.

And Jason, like a dork, apologizes for crying on him and not being able to handle it.

That makes Bruce’s face do something complicated that Jason had a hard time reading.

Bruce tells him that it isn’t actually normal to not react to someone being shot in front of you. Especially for a child, crying is a very normal response and nothing to be ashamed of.

Jason comes to an odd realization that he isn’t the first kid to know Bruce’s identity. He remembers talk in the alley of Robin, the flashy distraction to Batman’s silent stalker approach.

He asks Bruce if Robin was Dick Grayson, his ward. The supposed “brother” he had yet to meet. He wasn’t sure what Bruce was waiting for there, but he supposed if the man wasn’t even sure if Jason actually wanted to stay that it would be fair that he was cautious about introducing him to everyone.

Bruce’s face shuts down almost entirely at the mention of Dick. He seems to catch himself pretty quick though and picks a spot over Jason’s shoulder as he starts to explain the last time he talked to Dick outside of mask business. How scared he had been his- his ward would be hurt. How he’d fired him from being Robin. How he’d gone off to Bludhaven to be Nightwing. That Bruce hadn’t seen him since he left.

Jason takes in as much of it as he can. He can’t quite process what it would mean to be a vigilante, to be Robin. He still feels dazed from yesterday and the environment of the cave is strange and foreign.

He asks what the plans for the day are and Bruce huffs. Says that he’s on strict orders from Alfred for bed rest. That there will be conversations, a debrief, about what had happened, but that can wait a few days. They will also have to talk about formalizing Jason’s living situation here and registering him for school. All sorts of things, if Jason would like to stay.

And Jason does.

Later, Alfred comes in to re-wrap Bruce’s bandages and move him upstairs. Jason hovers awkwardly, wanting to help but not knowing what to do. Alfred gently directs him in helping get Bruce back to the living room. He says they can move him to his bedroom later but it’ll be easier on his mobility if he stays on the first floor for a while.

Alfred also informs them he had taken the liberty to inform Dick, Barbara, and Clark of the incident, so there will be patrol while Bruce’s shoulder is healing. Bruce goes rigid at this information.

Alfred asks if Jason will accompany him to the kitchen and help carry out their lunch.

When they’re alone, Alfred apologizes for keeping their identities from Jason, and how happy he is the boy is safe. He’d been so concerned yesterday at the car but hadn’t had time to do more than bug the vehicle.

They talk for a bit about identities and Jason accepts that it was kept from him, but now that he knows, he’ll stay in the loop.

Alfred also asks if he wouldn’t mind helping keep an eye on Bruce and make sure he doesn’t try and sneak back down to the cave without medical clearance. If he’d be alright to watch a movie in the living room with him, or a board game maybe.

Jason recognizes the ploy for what it is and plays along, grateful he doesn’t have to go worry by himself in his room or in the library.

When they bring the food out to the living room, Alfred shows Jason their selection of movies and makes sure they’re settled in before going off to take care of dishes.

Jason and Bruce start out sitting on opposite ends of the couch, but by the end of the second movie, Jason is stretched out in a way where they’re almost touching, a pile of pillows separating them.

Jason falls asleep during the third movie.

Dick arrives at the manor halfway through the fourth.

Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 (sold separately)

[lanternlit]

happy pride month for the entire queer community but especially my fellow aroallos! my aromantic pan/poly/omni/bisexuals, aromantic lesbians and gays, aromantic heterosexuals (you belong here), aromantic polyamorous and kinky peers (you belong here, annual havu reminder that in this house we acknowledge that kink belongs at pride)!

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Okay, so I was thinking about how much I hate my government rn, which led to me thinking about all the things I would do differently-then it struck me.

Could I become president? Apparently no, at least not yet.

I'll see you guys in 7 years 😘

[thelesbianluthor]

Kristen Applebees is a mess of a character in the most realistic way.

The thing is that I understand why people got to a point where they got tired of her chaotic and careless behaviour but that's the point isn't it?

I laughed at the bits and chaos of JY so much but I understand that things can be nuanced. I can laugh at the bits while also thinking about the implications of her actions in the story.

Kristen is a mess, she is spiralling, because she is a teenager who was faced with either choosing herself and being kicked out by her family and community or forever living a comfortable lie that would have inevitably made her lose herself.

She brought back a Goddess and she found her truth in Cassandra's domain, but she is also a teenager who just went through her first breakup with the first girl she ever loved and whom she experienced the highest of high and the lowest of lows. She has a right to mess up and fail and hit dead ends. Yeah Cassandra depends on her and Kristen needs to step up and take her role seriously but at the same time, it's so fucking unfair that the weight of a divine being's entire existence falls on the shoulders of a teen girl still in high school who is trying to find herself and learning how to handle life while also still recovering from a lifetime of trauma.

Whenever I think about that scene where Kristen says that her brain feels kind of liquid and she keeps failing to hold on to stuff I feel so incredibly connected to that feeling. I struggle so much with doing things that require a prolonged effort for a long term goal. My brain fails to hold onto stuff so I genuinely don't perceive how much time has passed, time feels so blurry and I inevitably end up failing at things I should be focusing on because my mind latches onto other things.

I relate a lot to Kristen on her struggles with commitment when it comes to important things and her latching onto fun and excitement that inevitably causes her to lose track of what matters.

The thing is that Kristen relied a lot on Tracker and how stable her presence was in her life. Tracker kept her anchored while also giving her a way to channel her energy and attention so I am not surprised that when they broke up Kristen lost most of her drive towards establishing her religion. It's not Tracker's fault of course and it is something that Kristen had to learn so JY Kristen was an inevitability

[wyervan]

Hi! I just found about your slasher dca au and damn I am in love. (Down bad for those dorks I would like to put them in a blender....) ANYWAY I have a question. Since Moon has red eyes is he partly blind? Most people who are born with red eyes (have albinism) are partly or fully blind. Is he too?

Hi hi! Happy happy that you like them 👏 blend away! They’d make for a great slasher smoothie if you add some milk and frozen strawberry chunks in there too 😋

So I made the design choice to give Moon red eyes very very simply because canon Moon has red eyes. And because I think it looks cool 😝

He has sharp teeth for a similar reason. Except I don’t even have the excuse of canon Moon having sharp teeth. So it’s pure self-indulgence~

Moon has vitiligo, not albinism. They’re similar in that they both cause the loss of pigment in the skin, but the biological reason is different—albinism is a congenital condition, vitiligo is an autoimmune disease.

It is true that some people with albinism have “red” eyes (and vision issues)! In the absence of pigment in the iris, the blood vessels in the eye can be seen, causing a pinkish-red appearance. However, I couldn’t find any evidence of something similar occurring in people with vitiligo, so it’d feel wrong to claim it as the reason for Moon’s red eyes.

So no, he doesn’t have those vision issues. But I have thought about giving him some type of color blindness, probably red-green, since it’s so common in people with a Y chromosome. There’s also limited, mostly anecdotal evidence suggesting that people with color blindness can see better in the dark, which I thought would be cool for Moon.

[qqueenofhades]

Desperately want to write a Museum Heist AU. Haven't written fic in ages. Don't have a clue what the fandom/main ship would be. Don't have any plot beyond "hurr hurr museum heist shenanigans." Still want to do it. This is a problem for me.

[0m3n-0f-d3ath]

Princess Lily

[m1ckeyb3rry]

okay gang HELP ME OUT HERE…obviously this is a mass oversimplification of who reader is/what she does/the story as a whole but just vote based on the love in your heart

[hyakunana]

The Former Most Miserable Man That Ever Stepped in DGP is found saving the future with a shield and FIVE CHAINSAWS

[fluffypotatey]

hear me out, hear me out

Sharpwolf modern au except it’s practically just “Stacy’s mom”

you genius

and like, Antinous isn’t even friends with Telemachus either. just one of the neighbors, who also commutes to uni

AND!!!! AND!!!! Penelope is the dean of their department :0

which just adds to all of it

[dolotonglo]

vampire miles fic 👀⁉️

HIII HI HELLO SORRY THIS IS SOOO LATE AJDBBK but yes!! i am working on a vampire miles fic! hehehe 😼 here's a little excerpt if you're interested... 🤭🤭 be warned there is suggestive content!

[unadulteratedcoffeetimemachine]

You're just thinkin' it's a small thing that happened. The world ended when it happened to me.

We hug now - Sydney Rose

[violetmuses]

Bron Breakker + Female Reader anyone? 🤔

[placeholder-mcd]

(Obligatory "I sound like I'm speaking objectively from authority but this is just my opinion and it's okay for you to like media I dislike for whatever reasons you may have")

Okay so like. while "the minecraft move trailer is so bad that it makes minecraft story mode look good in comparison" is both true and funny, can we please not start pretending that story mode is a well-crafted piece of media. as someone who has played through it multiple times (first when it originally came out and I was 12 and thought it was awesome, then later as an interactive Netflix experience with friends for so-bad-it's-good reasons) I feel pretty qualified to say it blows

Like, yes. There are so many things that MCSM got right that the movie apparently got wrong. But, like, they're all extremely common-sense things to get right -- like having the whole thing be animated, and maintaining a visual style that feels consistent with minecraft, and spending time with individual aspects of the minecraft experience that have their own communities (like redstone contraptions). that sense seems a little less common now that the movie trailer exists, but still, these are all bare minimum expectations of a piece of narrative-driven media set in Minecraft.

MCSM still completely fails, however, to have any compelling characters (RIP Reuben you were just as annoying as everyone else) or non-grating dialogue. The universe they depict isn't even well thought out! Like, okay, example:

Right off the bat, they make a big decision about how they're going to handle MCSM: they are not telling a story about people playing Minecraft the video game, but are instead depicting a universe where Minecraft is inhabited by a civilization of NPCs that have identical abilities to a player (aside from like, pausing the game or changing settings or what have you). This, in itself, is not a bad decision, but it puts the writers in a position where they need to conceptualize what is effectively a Minecraft AU. You're not playing survival mode or creative mode, you're playing Story mode. In this AU, humans exist in the minecraft world and have for a long time (centuries, at least?), they've built cities, they have language, etc. Imagine you're Jesse. Imagine you've grown up inside of Minecraft. Everyone is playing on hardcore, there is no respawning, and you live in a world filled with strange and dangerous creatures that seem hell-bent on killing you. Why the Fuck does anyone go out at night. Why isn't literally everyone combat-trained. Why is Jesse acting like he's never seen a Creeper before. Why is Petra the only member of the main party who knows how to craft a pickaxe.

At the build competition, the party is surprised that the reigning building team has a beacon. But nobody takes a second to actually investigate what that means. Did their team intentionally spawn and defeat a Wither? Doesn't that make them more badass and legendary than the order of the stone? Is there a black market for nether stars? (I think Petra is probably the one who gave them the beacon since she also trades Ivan a Wither skull. But like. Why isn't literally anyone else just going and doing what Petra does. Why aren't they impressed)

Ivan having access to a Command Block is also insane. Like, it has potential to be an extremely cool choice -- did Ivan find a way to break the fourth wall? Did he find an exploit in Minecrafts code that allowed him to obtain this? The command block has the power to just generate resources out of thin air. Ivan could actually use it to become a god and give himself creative mode. But okay, we can assume that the command block is just... Different, in the AU. Fine. It's a computing center / power core for the Wither Storm. Sure

But, like. I, even as an 11 year old, knew everything there was to know about minecraft when I played story mode (and, unlike the Movie, MCSM was actually attempting to appeal to the existing fanbase), so watching these characters who have lived for DECADES within the Minecraft universe just. Be helpless and completely clueless as to how the universe works? It makes me hate like all of them. I don't care about Jesse or Gabriel and if I actually had the freedom to perform the basic actions I could perform in Minecraft -- mining, building, and crafting -- I could use my game knowledge to pretty swiftly end the entire conflict at like any point in the story. And I'm not very good at video games. But I would expect a character who's been LIVING IN THE MINECRAFT WORLD TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. BECAUSE THEY'D BE BETTER AT MINECRAFT THAN ANY OF US.

The whole thing is a contrived and buggy mess that feels like it was written by a Hollywood CEO who watched someone play the game for 30 minutes, looked up some basic information like how to beat the game and whether there's any in-game lore, and then riffed on that until a script outline was finished. The programmers, visual artists, and composers clearly did a ton of work to make MCSM feel like minecraft. And they did a good job -- clearly, a much better job than the Movie is going to do. But that doesn't change the fact that the Story -- the focal element advertised in the title -- completely misses the fucking mark and centers around a group of characters who are largely incompetent and stupid in an unfunny and uninteresting way. MCSM was a shitty cashgrab by telltale games and I am not apologizing to it.

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

I have so many AU's in my head and so little energy to write them so have an OG Star Trek/Edward Scissorhands crossover I vividly hallucinated on the way to walmart today and want to write when I'm not so exhausted:

So this has the structure of an OG Star Trek episode but like the special guest is Edward. So it starts off normally with Kirk's voiceover telling his captain's log what the Mission is this episode. Said mission is to investigate weird energy readings on a planet and see if they pose any threat to the small Earth colony on the planet.

Kirk, Spock and a security team (aka redshirts) beam down to the rocky, mountainous planet and presently discover a tunnel where the energy readings are coming from. Kirk and Spock go through the tunnel and come out the other side into the verdant garden of Edward's mansion.

(rest under the cut because this got ridiculously long)

They investigate and Spock says that the tricorder readings say that this is an entirely different planet from the one they just left and that there is one life sign nearby. After investigating the garden (which even Spock comments on, leading Kirk to comment that he thought Vulcans didn't appreciate beauty, to which Spock replies that Vulcans are capable of appreciating the aesthetically pleasing without having an emotional response.)

They head inside the mansion and are surprised by the stark difference to the garden. They inspect the machines but don't know what they're for and Spock informs the captain that the life sign is on the top floor of the mansion. Since they've done this sort of thing a few times they realize this could be a trap so they retrieve the security team and also call down Bones and Scotty from the Enterprise- Scotty to see if he can get the machines in the mansion running and Bones in case anyone gets hurt.

Kirk, Spock and Bones head up to the attic. Once there they inspect the hole in the roof but all they can see out of it is the town. Kirk and Bones also find Edward's bed and look curiously at his little cutouts until Spock calls them over and tells them their mystery life sign is in the corner of the attic.

Edward is hiding in the corner like he does in the movie and they can kind of see the vague outline of a person there so Kirk gives his normal spiel introducing himself as captain of the Enterprise, on a peaceful mission, etc. Eventually he manages to coax Edward out to where they can see him.

They're less shocked at his appearance than Peg was but they're still surprised. Bones scans him from a safe distance and confirms the tricorder readings that said Edward is kind of human. Kirk questions Edward and they manage to learn his name and that he was created in the castle by his father and that he's been alone since his father died and he hasn't gone down into the town because he's "not finished". Edward is just as nervous meeting people for the first time as he is meeting Peg in the movie.

They're interrupted by a bang from downstairs and Scotty yelling that he got the machine working. Kirk asks Edward if he knows what the machine is and Edward tells him it makes cookies. Bones is skeptical. Spock mutters "fascinating" as he continues to fiddle with the tricorder. Kirk convinces Edward to come downstairs with them.

Kirk sends the security team outside so as not to freak Edward out any more than need be. Edward and Scotty are slightly alarmed at the sight of each other but Edward is quickly distracted by his father's machine actually working. Scotty confirms that it is a machine for making cookies.

Kirk asks Spock and Bones for their analysis of the situation and Spock informs them that they have not only traveled in space, but time and that they are currently on Earth in the mid 20th century (again) and that the portal between the two places will close in about an hour.

Kirk then asks what they think of Edward. Bones says he must be some kind of android and that while he looks like a man Edward obviously has the mind and understanding of a child. Spock adds that it's impressive that an inventor in the 1900's was able to make such a creature. Kirk is reluctant to leave Edward behind all alone because of his childlike nature but Spock reminds him that they're in the past and that taking Edward to the Enterprise could have dangerous consequences to the timeline. So Kirk orders him to go back to Enterprise and check history to see if Edward ever leaves the castle and if taking him could affect anything.

A little while later Spock contacts them and explains that if they leave Edward he'll eventually go down to the town, live there a few months and then be chased out by the townsfolk and subsequently killed in an altercation with them and that there's no other records of Edward that the computer or Spock can find. Kirk concludes that removing Edward from the timeline would have a negligible effect but Spock reminds him that it could have unexpected consequences. Bones adds that they don't know why the townspeople chased Edward away either and that it could be because he turned violent. They look over at Edward, who is currently sitting on the floor next to his father's cookie machine, holding a heart sugar cookie and looking sad. Kirk gives Bones a look that says, "Really? You sure about that?" and then goes over to talk to Edward.

Kirk asks Edward if he'd like to live with other people and of course the poor lonely boy says yes. Kirk tells him that Edward could come with them to Enterprise and that they could find a home for him with other people- and give him proper hands too. Edward is very excited at the idea of this, but Bones adds that Edward would never be able to come back to the mansion, he'd be leaving forever. Edward is sad at the idea of that, but he still wants to come with them.

So when the group leaves they take Edward with them. Edward is anxious and a little reluctant to go through the portal and gives one last look to his garden, but Kirk calls to him and after a moment Edward follows. The portal closes behind him.

The security team is beamed up first and Edward freaks out a little when they just disappear. Scotty tries to explain the transporter to him and Bones grumbles about having his atoms rearranged.

Once Edward is on the ship he's pretty overwhelmed. Kirk sends him with Bones to sickbay to get checked out and promises to come get Edward and show him his new quarters (he has to explain what "quarters" are) after the ship is underway.

Bones gives Edward a medical exam and reports to Kirk when he comes down to sickbay. Bones is... a little surprised and unnerved by Edward's anatomy and the fact that he's not just partially mechanical but that he's made up of such weird old mechanical bits (I took some pictures of the Inventor's sketches for Edward's body from the movie and I'm pretty sure this kid has a bellows for lungs HOW does that work???). He also reports on Edward's mental state and reiterates that Edward has a very childlike understanding of most things, but that he seems perfectly intelligent and can read and do things like basic math. He's still not sure if bringing Edward here was a good idea.

We then go back to Kirk's captain's log comments where he talks about the next few days and Edward settling in to being on the ship. The crew, for the most part, likes Edward and pretty much everyone is endeared by how sweet and polite he is. Kirk notes however that unlike other times when things like this have happened it seems to be perfectly natural and organic and Edward is definitely not manipulating anything. They plan to leave Edward on an Earth colony planet with the means to craft him normal hands and integrate him into society.

Edward is happy to be on the ship and with people. He's easily startled and overwhelmed and incredibly sensitive and not at all violent. In fact, on the rare occasion someone yells at him/gets annoyed/angry he'll retreat and apologize and sometimes panic and hide. The crew quickly figures out he's basically a child and treats him as such (but like, the way you SHOULD treat children, not in a demeaning way like the neighbors in the movie). He pops up in random places sometimes, like engineering and the bridge, but they're pretty sure he just gets lost sometimes and ends up there because he'll just stand in one spot and look wide eyed and lost until someone tells him what to do. He's basically the least problematic outsider they've ever had on the ship.

And then, a week or so after Edward comes on board, a dead crewman is found, stabbed through the heart.

Instantly, Edward is under suspicion. And, like, for good reason this time, like, they never bring anyone on this ship without having problems it's a theme.

They call Edward to sickbay where Kirk questions him. Edward isn't sure what's going on but he answers truthfully. Kirk shows him the body of the dead crewman and asks Edward if he knows him and Edward says he doesn't. Edward asks what's wrong with the man and Bones replies that he's dead. Edward asks Bones if he can fix him and Bones snaps at him that no, he can't, dead is dead and it would take an act of God to bring a dead person back, and then he very pointedly adds that when you stab someone through the heart that kills them. (Bones thinks that Edward killed the man, and that the townspeople drove him out on Earth because he hurt/killed someone.)

Edward is shocked and frightened by Bones' tirade, and at the end of it he very quietly states that that's what happened to his father. Kirk feels bad and tells him he can go.

Kirk and Bones argue about this; Bones doesn't think Kirk should let Edward freely roam the ship because he might become violent and hurt someone. Kirk argues that Edward has done nothing violent so far and seems innocent. Bones says that Edward's innocence might be the problem, that Edward might not even know he has the ability to kill someone and that he might have done it for the first time on accident... but he might do it a second time on purpose. Kirk just doesn't believe Edward had anything at all to do with the first murder.

A tense couple of days pass. People are more nervous and hostile around Edward now, though a fair number of the crew still believe he's innocent. Edward keeps following Spock around because Spock doesn't get angry with him. Spock is trying to teach him to play chess. Edward is not very good at it. (Spock would never admit it but he feels a bit of a connection with Edward- he understands being half human but not being able to understand or fit in with them)

Three days after the murder the bridge gets a panicked, one word message from Edward, "Help". They find him in a corridor standing over the body of a woman crewmember with blood on his hands. Edward tells them "I didn't mean to". The woman has been stabbed.

She is still alive this time though and is rushed to sickbay. Edward is confined to quarters. Kirk and Spock go to sickbay where Bones informs them that he thinks he can save the woman but he has to do surgery immediately. He berates Kirk for not locking Edward up sooner but Kirk thinks that things don't add up. After all, why would Edward stab someone and then call for help?

Spock agrees with Kirk that they're missing something and offers to do a mind-meld to find out what really happened. Bones says that they can't do it with the crewwoman because he has to take her into surgery, to which Spock replies that he meant he'd mind meld with Edward. Kirk asks if that's possible since Edward is part machine and Spock says they'll find out.

They go to Edward's quarters and find him sitting against the wall in a corner with his knees against his chest, crying. He's overwrought and tries to apologize and Kirk tells him they're here to find out what really happened. Spock explains, in basic terms, what a mind meld is and asks Edward if he's willing to try it. Edward agrees and they do the mind meld.

Spock learns that Edward was walking down a corridor when he heard voices shouting and went to try and see what was going on/help. He found a man with a knife raised, poised to stab to the injured crewwoman. Edward ran forward to try and help and, while he couldn't prevent the woman from getting stabbed he did chase the man away by running into him and accidentally cutting him- which was how the blood got on his hands. Realizing the woman was dying, Edward panicked and called the bridge for help.

Armed with this new information Kirk and Spock now know that Edward is innocent, but they now need to catch their true murderer. Kirk comes up with a plan to trap the man and prove Edward's innocence- but it involves putting Edward in danger. Basically, they assume that the killer will want to get rid of Edward now that Edward's seen him and so Kirk figures that they can trap the man by using Edward as bait. He explains this to Edward and tells him they'll come up with a different plan if he doesn't want to do it, but Edward agrees- he doesn't want anyone else put in danger and he, kind of, in a way, sees himself as expendable.

Kirk and Spock leave Edward's quarters but stay nearby with a security team and wait. Maybe an hour or so later the murderer arrives and goes into Edward's room where he confronts Edward and attacks him. Kirk, Spock and the security officers then rush into the room to apprehend the man, but he's gone mad and a madman is powerful. Luckily so is the Vulcan neck pinch and they manage to subdue him. Edward is injured but not badly, he's more just shaken and traumatized by everything.

Everything turns out alright; the crewwoman recovers, the murderer is put in the brig, and Edward's innocence is proved.

Later, Kirk questions the murderer and discovers that the man had personal grudges against the two people he attacked and that he'd been planning to kill them for a long time, Edward just gave him the perfect excuse to finally go through with his plan. Kirk is disgusted and a little unnerved. As he leaves the brig, Spock appears and tells him that he ran the murderous crewman's name through the computer and discovered that he is the descendant of the man Edward would have killed had he stayed in the proper timeline. They have a somewhat existential discussion about how history still demanded a life be taken and this was the way history righted itself and Kirk is upset that his actions caused the death of one of his crew and wonders if he did the right thing.

And then Edward appears and smiles at them and asks Spock if they can play chess and Kirk decides that he still made the right choice.

The End

Bonus scene/story to go with this: Enterprise takes Edward to some specialized medical facility and he gets his hands and shows them and he's all excited to go on adventures with them now and no one has the heart to tell him they were gonna just leave him (no, not even Spock, the main guys probably go through passing the potential conversation to the next until it stops on Spock and Spock's like "I believe the captain wishes me to relay that he has put in a request to Starfleet to allow you to join the crew." and Kirk is like "WHAT- I mean, of course, yes, right-" and Edward's just so happy and delighted. Kirk sends a message to Starfleet like "Listen you have to let me keep him. Someone will ADOPT him if necessary but not even my Vulcan science officer can bear to break his little mechanical heart by telling him he has to leave so he's a part of my crew now. I've stopped 27 universe-ending disasters in the past week, you have to give me this.") so they just. keep Edward. And he's just a little guy who hangs out on Enterprise and they teach him how to run parts of the ship.