#lore from Star Trek coded

[hypo-spray]

Crazy how a character can be in like 4 episodes of a tv show with like almost 200 episodes and still be the Main Blorbo in my head

[firefly-suite]

hi and welcome to tdp callbacks that would actually send me

"if i am the king then you have to let me go"

"i'm corvus, i was specifically requested"

"i don't believe in locks"

"haha nice one callum, he deserves it"

"lady justice came to me in a dream"

"don't get yourself killed."

"strength isn't always about weapons"

"shhh, nobody likes a noisy mage"

"tell me she wasn't your world"

"you're just like your grandmother"

"she’s not my friend, she is my prisoner"

"rickety snickers"

"wasn’t the horse~"

"i am a storm dragon. i certainly hope it's working."

"in the name of love, you may perform acts so unforgivable… you will never forgive yourself."

"we could travel the countryside and try the seven cakes of xadia!"

"i am prepared to do anything to protect the king. anything. i hope you will understand"

"i guess it wouldn't be the first time i accidentally on purpose ruined a super rare magical artifact."

"don't do this. i will kill you" "probably"

"anyone know any adventuring songs?"

"we can find more practical uses for this one"

"well, i think about it like this, why see myself as chained down, when i can be chained up?" "i admire your tenacity"

"just the three of us"

"watch, he'll come back reciting an epic poem about his adventuring. he's probably late because he's stuck thinking of a rhyme for 'legendary heroics.'"

"the world just isn't ready for what we have. "

"i have been doing research!" "yes, i can see that"

"i do not understand girls"

"i thought you disapproved" "i disagree. but i stand by you anyway"

"you know what? in a few years, when you’re older, buddy, we’ll sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk about sandwiches."

"i would rather die a king, than live as a coward."

"edge-frazzled"

"soren is a doof but he's my doof!"

"it doesn't matter what happens to me. live or die, this dragon goes home."

"the kingdom of duren has been suffering from a terrible famine for nearly seven years. "

"you big dumb human."

"even if you were wearing the rarest legendary armor, forged by sunfire elves... super dead."

"fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me. fool me three times, back to you again." "that's not how it goes." "shame on you."

[mythalsknickers]

I never expected Veilguard, I hoped and prayed and spent months scouring Bioware news for any sign of DA4 at that point code named Joplin out of a desperate need to cope. When the dreadwolf trailer released I felt a sense of hope but at the same time with the various resignations and layoffs that hope was muddied with concern, not for the game but for the people and the creative souls behind the game.

It is so easy to forget that there are real people behind this game who underwent immense stress and trauma to themselves to make sure this game got released. Dragon Age and Bioware as a whole has introduced me to some wonderful people, and gives me hope daily much like Star Trek that the world can be a better place.

That said as someone who is in the Critical space, and likes to engage with my media on an in-depth level that was born out of my virgo desire to know everything and writing, I hate that the DA Critical space has become a pit of toxicity that encourages people to say the most scathing things to the Developer Team under the guise of online anonymity, if you don't think the Developer team was reading your critiques and wish lists for Dreadwolf. You are lying to yourself. They loved interacting with fans and speaking with us in AMAS and Q&As and just in general on their Twitter/Bluesky Accounts, they were social media aware. I dont think this is a bad thing, they have always been passionate about DA and wanting to see and interact with the fandom and the fanworks.

Leave the Devs alone.

They pivoted Joplin a Multiplayer concept into a single player game with no pre-production or reset. It is, and always will be a miracle we got Veilguard. It may have it's issues, but so did DAI and DA2, and lets not forget DAO. I have cried and mourned the franchise and the developer team deserves so much more than what they received. I hope the Devs know how thankful some of the community is, and that the devs are able to heal and rest now.

My meta and critiques on stuff is over seven months old in drafts will eventually be published but it will be published because I enjoy the lore, and want to build off it more. Yes this is about that article from bloomberg.

[westleywithatea]

Hey everyone reading,

I’m working on a fan video about “Yaoi of 2024”. And in need of assistance. Because I’m not in all the fandoms and not caught up in everything of everything.

Pls send me (ask box is open) raw original content of any of the following. I want screenshots, posters, video clippings, etc. BUT no fan works of any sort. Use “#2024yearofyaoi” so I can organize my inbox.

Arcane Jayce + Viktor 

^ were there queer coded moments? sort of flirting?

The moment they “broke up”

+++

Bill Cipher + Ford 

^ book screenshots of hints

mostly Book of Bill

Mabel’s comments.

~~~

Sonic movie

^ i heard that there’s something between that Eggman and other adult in black?? Idk my Sonic lore but I heard shippers had fun.

The recent Sonic 3 movie came out 2 days ago. I’m fine with posters and trailer clips.

+++

Spirk (Star Trek)

^ so i heard very recently that there was recent 2024 content.

give me anything that isn’t readily available from a YouTube Search

~~~~

Kagurabachi

^ if someone can explain what 2024 update made it queer (and provide proof), I will include this title

also let me know if the yaoi is doomed, old men, toxic, or a combo of any of them or none of them

if there was a break-up, I’ll also take it

UPDATE: let me know which content is “spoilers” and which isn’t. (Is it trailers content? Is it plot twist?)

UPDATE 2:

Interview With a Vampire (2022 series)

Season 2 came out in Spring 2024

Lestat/ Louis

[annie-in-the-real-world]

earlier this year my bestie/roommate was having a bit of a bad time, and to fix that the two of us watched the all three Extended Editions of The Lord of the Rings (I had never seen the extended editions before, so it was a lot of fun!)

One night, a few months later, I was overwhelmed and bordering a meltdown, and one thing that helps when I feel one coming on is reciting trivia on my special interests. Obviously I started telling Star Trek facts, and then I had the idea of “oh…could we watch star trek, you and I, a lil special interest share? 🥺👉👈” And they said yes! (Mainly cuz I told them about Amok time and how gay it is)

Since the extended LoTR is about 13 hours, that equals 13 episodes of tos.

The first section contains ones I definitely want to show them, and I need to pick six more from the second section (Trouble w Tribbles, A Piece of the Action, The Way to Eden, and This Side of Paradise I’m saving for my birthday party).

I’m definitely partial to City on the Edge of Forever. A lot of the ones I picked are Important to the TOS lore lol, and others I picked bc I loved them as a kid, like I, Mudd and Shore Leave

So uhhh thoughts on which from the second section to add?? (The ones with the • are ones I have rewatched this year, just my own lil code)

[vind3miat0r]

seen this going around, thought i'd join in :)

things my boyfriend does/has done that are very Asher coded <3

once texted me at 2 AM asking if giving anal was criminal

can will and has serenaded me (and it was BEAUTIFUL it made me CRY)

invoked the fury of our friend group by asking if a hotdog was a sandwich

has a true crime hyperfix

also like gorey things

is chronically on twitter

hypes me up continually when i think a good art/fic/audio thought

remained the token straight+cis friend for about a year until he had a bi+trans awakening

theatre kid (derogatory) (affectionate)

“babe, you’re dating an NSFW writer AND artist”

sends stuff that sounds horribly out of context until he elaborates

insert btw/adhd creature here

smiles and nods when i send him my incoherent thoughts and analyses on Redacted lore (“i have no idea whats going on, but good for you!”)

average conversation between us: “BABE BABE” “WUH??” “*insert something insane*” “WHAT???”

as seen above, most commonly calls me “babe”

loves starkid musicals

unfortunately not a star trek fan, but i talk to him abt it and we’re gonna watch it together when we get our own place <3

joined in on the “youre not straight” jokes early on (in reference to my having scoliosis and being gay)

despite being orchidsexual, he is the kinkiest person ive ever met, PLEASE SIR YOU SCARE ME SOMETIMES—

“do you have a piss kink?” “MJSJHDSJ WHAT??”

^ keyboard smashes

“‘look at that high-waisted man, he has feminine hips!’” “and i was like ‘NOOOO THATS THE THING IM SENSITIVE ABOUT’” “this is why i love you”

once sent me a very detailed message about how he would body that one goth chick from monster prom 2

“youre literally Asher” “who?”

the most supportive boy ive ever met augh i love him <3

one could also say that he’s Guy-coded :)

[fanaticsnail]

This is just me being overwhelmingly annoying, but Star Wars is literally my main fandom and I am neck deep in Mando lore (both canon and legends....... I need help).

Okay. What if the big fours of the Kid Pirates were Mandalorians in some way (in Disney canon all shown Mandos are humans but I love Legends canon more, so I'll go with this version.) So, considering Killer never removes his helmet, he is definitely a Child of the Watch. And since him and Kid go way back I imagine so was Kid, although after they left the Creed, he broke the code. Killer never did. (Kid with a beskar arm save me, KID WITH A BESKAR ARM SAVE ME. He definitely has a flamethrower installed in it. Mandalorians love flamethrowers.) They are both foundlings. Zabrak Heat who might be a descendant of some of Maul's supporters during the Clone Wars (the Armourer has little horns on her helmet, so we know Mando helmets could be adapted for a horned creature). Maybe Mirialan or Chiss Wire, once again a foundling, with a trident made of pure beskar that pierces through practically everything. Maybe Victoria was also part of the Children. Maybe her life was taken by a Death Watch member which lead for the four to break their ties with the Creed.

Or maybe, they had a Force bound lead.

And since the Mandalorians' worst allies are the Jedi....

Former Jedi Law, Bepo, Penguin and Shachi. Jedi Researcher Law who battles the call of the Dark Side as his thirst for revenge against certain Warlord rises with every passing day (now I'm thinking about Zygerrian Celestial Dragons -> Zygerrian Cora and Doffy......), who uses his missions for looking for information to fill the gaps of knowledge in the Jedi Archives to gather intel about Doflamingo. Jedi Sentinels Shachi and Penguin who use their missions among the common people to do the same and are first-eye witnesses to the corruption of the Galactic Government. Jedi Temple Guard Bepo who not only keeps the Temple safe but also has certain access to the Senate building and uses it to help Law. In the end, when Law leaves the Jedi Order, they follow him (and slowly gather the Heart Pirates).

And of course, they definitely cross paths with a certain mischievous Force wielder, the Light Side itself reborn in a human form, brighter than the Twin Suns of Tatooine, kinder than a smile.

(And now I want to write it *bites fist*.)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NEVER STOP, I FREAKING LOVE THIS!!! AAAAAAAAAAAA.

KID WITH A BESKAR ARM, HELL YES. IT HAS ALL THE TRICKS IN THERE, TOO. WHISTLING BIRDS, FLAMETHROWER, LIGHTNING CHAINS YES. Weaponsmith Kid, tho 👀

Foundling Zabrak Heat was my immediate thoughts, to be honest. Just look at him. He belongs to the Mandalorians now, the beautiful sweetheart.

Okay, but what if Victoria was the reason Kid broke his vows under the Child of the Watch. Something, something, CPR, something. CHISS WIRE, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?? AAAAAAAAAAAA

Zygerrian Doflamingo!!!!!

Grey Jedi Mihawk. Jedi padawan Zoro. Away from order Law who is still a skilled force user? AAAAAAAAAAAA.

Galactic Government Celestial Dragons and Marines 😭😭😭😭😭😭. Council of Warlords. I just love this so much.

LUFFY A JEDI OF THE LIGHT WITH A BRIGHT SMILE TO COUNTER THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Trust that every time I write "AAAAAA~", I am absolutely screaming, fanning face, giddy, and grinning ear to ear. I have been a Star Wars (and Lucasfilm) and Star Trek fan before I was born (to two cosplaying parents). I love it (although the Christmas special was hard to get through).

If you write this, I will be reading the ever loving hell out of it. I just love it all so, so much. Beautiful thoughts, I can't. I just AAAAAAAAAAAA.

[nirogryphon]

whats ur parallel fanon

i'm assuming you saw this post, right? are you talking about that specific guy? that's adzuki. idk if you're wanting headcanons about what i think about that boss or an oc lore dump. to me they're both, so that's what you're getting. it's gonna get long, get some popcorn.

in my splatoons world post-memverse runthrough, beans (my four) beg marina to let it out because he saw that it was sentient and wanted it to join his bf as a polycule. It's got a very similar level of kindness and whatnot to beans, but is extremely dry, blunt, and overall "emotionless" (not true, we'll get to that).

you see, i don't think parallel canon is 4, but merely a program made to mimic 4. Marina wanted one of the best in the NSS, so she asked Beans (instead of Ty, who was an elite, but then again, who got their ass handed to all those years ago again?) to offer up a brain scan to get a copy of that fighting skill of theirs for what would become the Parallel canons. Unfortunately, like with any technology, this wasn't perfect, especially with someone who was sanitized like how beans is. That scan ended up grabbing some other aspects of him, like a bit of his personality and, mainly, his fear of himself. He's gotten over it for the most part, at least that's what he thought anyways. When testing, fighting a perfect copy of yourself isn't going to pop up really at all, so this doesn't come up as an issue until Marina's released her little game for the sanitized to use, allowing the one freak scenario to arise.

The rogue code, formerly dormant, activates immediately when beans ends up confronting parallel canon. He's hesitant at first, but remembers it's not him, merely code made to look and fight like them. So, without much worry, he begins to charge at it for the fight, that code kicking in to overdrive and making it act the exact way beans would if it were the other way around. It retreats. It cries out, garbled, in supposed simulated fear. Beans stops in his tracks, staring down at the clone, only seeing his socked face staring back in the reflection of the mask.

This sparks a snowball effect of new programming being written without an author, a program learning, becoming sapient, alive. A scenario that forces one to confront something he wasn't fully ready for and another to realize what it is. Subsequent run attempts, the two keep learning about themselves and eachother in combat, regardless on if either of them like it, until eventually coming to a rather peaceful confrontation, a realization that neither want to hurt the other, and yadda yadda yadda something something long messy story short it's a reconnection with the self and learning to love oneself again. I don't want to get into detail here, I'm personally still torn on whether or not this exact part should be sfw or not, so, lol.

Regardless, it's still ultimately what the memverse was made for: helping the sanitized remember and become themselves again, and while it isn't an evil agent 4, what we got works way better with what I had already and it's just perfect.

As for adzuki itself, I'm not sure exactly the details on its anatomy when given the physical form outside of the memverse. I do want to stick to a very similar palette to what PC has in the memverse, as well as being made out of goo still, but does that mean it's a physical jelleton in the walking world? Don't know for sure yet. I'll work that out in time. Adzuki's voice is an AI recreation of Beans', sounding extremely similar, but obviously synthesized.

As for personality, Adzuki is a lot like beans in its ideals and bonds. However, due to being based off code not meant to emote or show tone, it struggles a lot in doing so, save for a few exceptions. It can only really express emotion through body language instead, and a lot of what it says is extremely clinical, blunt, and dry. Think Data from Star Trek. Of course, that doesn't mean it is emotionless, quite the opposite. Adzuki merely expresses emotions very differently than the regular inkfish. There's also a few ways to gauge how intense the emotion it's feeling is via how unstable the goo it's made out of is or by how bitcrushed its voice has gotten. Essentially: the drippier and messier it is, or the more low quality the voice is, the more intense the emotion it's feeling is.

Some exceptions that break that stoic mask of sorts can be via substance use, like drinking or smoking weed. Once that code is overwritten inside it during these exceptions, Adzuki is almost indifferentiable from beans beyond appearance.

Adzuki, unlike canon PC, loves using the order roller the most out of all the order weapons. It's extremely annoying with it, and enjoys sneaking up on someone to vert-swing them.

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

You know, instead of making this a reblog of my post. I'm going to make it its own. This concerns this one. https://www.tumblr.com/geekgemsspooksandtoons/749080478974443520/you-know-i-just-wanna-say-this-now-i-actually?source=share

I was actually very surprised that post got some attention. I'm guessing a lot of people agreed with me. Granted, I think my criticisms could've been clearer because I hadn't seen Predators in years. And I seem to agree with certain things someone like Cordz has said. But glad people understand why I guess I don't talk much about Predators.

And I want to say this here too. You know, I totally understand if some fans aren't really into the "Space Samurai" idea with the Yautja lore in the comics. Or more so, they don't like them being similar to something like the Kilngon's from Star Trek. It's not for everyone. I can understand if some people simply want...the Predators to be all...assholes in a sense? I mean, they kill people. This is a very "Chaotic Neutral" species.

Granted, I'll always fuckin hate the idea of them being "Rich dentists" or just...watching Movie Bob's video of "STOP TRYING TO MAKE US LIKE THE PREDATOR" I still hate this video. This video is stupid. This dude didn't watch the movie right. And comparing it to Eric Trump WHAT THE FUCK DUDE?! God, I hate this video.

Dude, I feel offended watching that and I can't finish it. Movie Bob isn't a nice dude anyway, and he sucks at reviewing crap. He's also a stalker in a sense, but this isn't about him Listen, I get understand the Yautja lore isn't for everyone. I do think the best course of option or what I think is maybe a balance of the two. Or how I want to see it. Sure, there's an honor code. But maybe most of the race are basically assholes and there are few that pretty okay.

You got Diablo from the first film. Pretty much the perfect example of an "Asshole" who simply enjoys the hunt. To where I may sound crazy. But ever since I was a kid, it looks like that dude smiles a few times before and after he beats the shit out of Dutch. He's very aware he could kill Dutch so easily, but he'd rather give him a 'Fair fight' after seeing what Dutch was capable of.

And then there's Dachande from the original AVP comic who is pretty much a big contrast from Diablo who doesn't even hunt humans. Granted, it seems weird I'm using a character from a comic. But I genuinely love the idea that not all Predators are the same. The idea of them or canon thing that they are nomadic, it gives variety and makes the species much more interesting. It'd be...kind of boring if all of them were the same.

But hey, this is what happens when you make a sequel and expand a universe. Yet honestly, the idea of a species not conquering other planets, but instead choosing to hunt all sorts of species is still scary. And the idea that they are aware of what they are doing.

[wwillywonka]

Star Trek for the ask game(of course)!

hello! yaaay, so excited! i'll answer for tos, tng, and voyager since those are the ones i'm most familiar with<3

for this ask game

TOS

blorbo: 💖🖖SPOCK💙<333

scrunkly: jim... he's so tragic but also so cute🥺. he makes me soft and also makes me want to be a good person.

scrimblo bimblo: JANICE RAND. CAN WE GET SOME APPRECIATION FOR JANICE RAND??. also uhura and sulu both deserve the world i love lesbian4gay besties.

glup shitto: dr. helen noel from dagger of the mind. there's just something about her attraction/devotion to jim that's so different from the other "love interests" he has over the course of the series. i'm nothing if not a sucker for people who are blinded by admiration and loyalty (cough cough. yes she is spock-coded. whatever). she's even a psychologist<3.

poor little meow meow: and if i said valeris from undiscovered country

horse plinko: bones i need you carnally i mean what

eeby deeby: SAREK I HATE YOU SO MUCH AND YET YOU ARE SUCH AN INTERESTING CHARACTER I CARE ABOUT YOU BECAUSE I DESPISE YOU SO MUCH

TNG

blorbo: data💛💛💛

scrunkly: data for this one too. but also geordi. he also always makes me 🥺🥺🥺. just a good lad. worf, too, is so shaped<3

scrimblo bimblo: pour one out for deanna troi. i'm so sorry for everything they did to you. i heart autistic characters. also shoutout to beverly for being the only competent doctor in all of star trek.

glup shitto: lore😊😊😊

poor little meow meow: PICARD YOU HAVE SO MUCH TRAUMA THAT YOU SIMPLY NEVER DEAL WITH. PLEASE GO TO THERAPY OLD MAN.

horse plinko: you know what. Q.

eeby deeby: that one fucking admiral in unification who for some reason in the novelisation wants to fuck picard sooo bad

VOY

blorbo: i know i haven't posted much about voyager yet because i'm still in the middle of watching it for the first time but. yeah it's the emh. of course it is. look at my other answers. i care about him so much and every time he has an episode centred around him i lose my shit. tuvok is an incredibly close second. and i'm only just starting s4 but seven has to be on this list because I Care Her and she doesn't fit into any of the other categories for me.

scrunkly: easy. harry kim. next question.

scrimblo bimblo: I LOVE KES SO MUCH I'M SO SAD I JUST GOT TO THE EPISODE WHERE SHE LEAVES

glup shitto: neelix!

poor little meow meow: janeway

horse plinko: also janeway. she has so much going on.

eeby deeby: also the emh

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Wesley Crusher

By Ames

Grab your favorite hideous sweater! It’s time to talk about Wesley Crusher. He’s one of the most polarizing characters on TNG, with a lot of hate directed his way, but he also has a number of great Trek moments which we on A Star to Steer Her By are going to sort through today!

We can probably blame Gene Roddenberry for making this character so insufferable, especially in the first season when he seemed to have the easy solution for the engineering problem of any given episode. Gene designed him to characterize a person’s infinite potential and then slapdashedly shoehorned him into every place he could, and you’ll notice that right after the big writers room turnover, the child prodigy started feeling more like a character and less like a cheat code. Scroll on for the list below and listen to our chatter on this week’s podcast episode (warp over to timestamp 57:36) for all the dirt. Just unplug your nanite experiment first.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Don’t shut up, Wesley While I’ll give Wesley the deserved scrutiny in a moment for the absurd number of times in season one of TNG that he saved the day, we do have to give him some credit for figuring out that Lore was impersonating Data in “Datalore.” Even while pretty much everyone on the crew was telling him to shut up, Wes had it all figured out and topped it off by beaming Lore into space.

Double dumbass on you! Wesley actually does get to shine during “Coming of Age,” an episode that really uses his youth to its advantage by having him take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. And he gets pretty far! He even figures out that Rondon is a Zaldan, so Wesley realizes that apologizing for getting run into himself is the wrong reaction for that culture and comes away looking like a badass.

Teamwork makes the dream work Speaking of “Coming of Age,” Wesley is also this close to solving the dynamics relationships test first when he helps Mordock figure it out too. Wesley’s natural affinity for helping his crewmates is more important to him than getting the top score, which TAC Officer Chang takes into consideration in the final results. I’m not sure it helped much, but it’s a good character moment.

You never forget your first “I'm never going to feel this way about anyone else,” Wesley says to Guinan after watching his first crush leave in “The Dauphin.” Strangely, it’s a very mature little conversation considering Wesley was ready to write Salia off as some kind of alien monster earlier in the episode. But he learns to accept her differences, score some relationship experience points, and get his first smooch.

The minute you walk through that door they’re your team Slowly, the show starts putting Wesley in more age-appropriate situations in which he isn’t just saving the day, so it’s fitting for him to be overwhelmed when leading his first committee in “Pen Pals.” His team member Davies effectively takes over because Wes initially lacks confidence, but he soon takes charge and they work together to save Drema IV. Go team!

You told me to improvise During the war games in “Peak Performance,” Wesley thinks outside the box and retrieves one of his many, many experiments from the Enterprise to use on the less advantaged Hathaway. While Riker initially accuses young Crusher of cheating, no one said he couldn’t sneak tools off the other ship, and it’s that kind of ingenuity that could be useful in a fight.

Begin by letting go of your guilt, Wesley His mother Beverly may be on full display in “Remember Me” as we discussed last week, but Wesley also gets some interesting development. Back in “Where No One Has Gone Before” the Traveler saw potential in the child prodigy, and when the two of them use their special powers here to open the door for Dr. Crusher to return from the warp bubble, we witness some of that weird potential get unlocked.

I’ve done it all because I want you to be proud of me We joke a lot on the podcast that Picard is secretly Wesley’s father, and it’s mostly for laughs. But when we get touching scenes between the two of them like the one in “Final Mission,” we think we may be onto something. Stranded on a planet without water, Wesley keeps an injured Picard alive (can’t say the same for Dirgo, but whatever), fueling paternity theories for years to come.

I just lost the game After Wesley leaves the crew after “Final Mission,” his appearances are more methodical, and thus his character feels more and more appropriate each time. In “The Game,” he’s just visiting but his tendency to see how things work helps him and Lefler to discover that the video game everyone’s playing is actually harmful before the whole crew turns on them.

I would like to add something to my testimony We get even more glimpses of how far Wesley has come when he’s attending Starfleet Academy in “The First Duty.” All of Nova Squadron has lied about the circumstances of Josh Albert’s flight accident, and it’s Wesley who comes clean in the end because he can’t bear the guilt and the dishonesty of covering up their nefarious actions. Take that, Locarno!

These people deserve better than to be removed from their homes We found Picard’s actions inexcusable and entirely out of character in “Journey’s End” but you know who was actually on point? Wesley freakin’ Crusher. How on earth the boy was the only Starfleet-adjacent person to actually try to defend the colonists on Dorvan V is beyond us. It strikes us as opposing Federation ideals to force the colonists to move, and Wes knows that.

I had to find my own path Finally, it is a fabulous resolution to the Wesley Crusher character for him to decide on his own to leave Starfleet and go with the Traveler to discover his true potential in “Journey’s End.” For too many kids, it’s the parents who put pressure on them to walk certain paths, and we celebrate Wes for finding his own. Ya know, until he’s randomly back in Starfleet for that cut scene from Nemesis for some reason.

��

Worst moments

Wesley Saves the Day! Okay, I’m gonna lump all the obnoxious “Wesley Saves the Day!” instances into one blurb because it’s so damn repetitive. Every single time, Wesley – a child amidst some of Starfleet’s best of the best – figures out some impossible engineering problem before any of the adults in the room can, and we got so tired of it. 

Whether it’s by getting drunk and taking over engineering only to use his reverse tractor beam in “The Naked Now,” or saving the day with the Traveler in “Where No One Has Gone Before,” or spotting Picard’s brain scan from across the room and deducing there are Ferengi shenanigans afoot in “The Battle,” or cracking the lock on the holodeck door while La Forge had already admitted defeat in “The Big Goodbye,” or seeing through Lore’s disguise as we mentioned above while all the adults in the room tell him to shut up in “Datalore,” or probably a ton of others all from the first season, it was clear no one knew how to write him except as some kind of magical prodigy. Alakazam!

Keep off the grass It’s all the more clear that having a child character on the crew is just a cringey idea in “Justice.” Sure, it could have been anyone who broke the stringent rules of the Edo, but just the fact that it’s Wesley gallumphing through a flower bed like an uncoordinated doofus, destroying it utterly, makes us roll our eyes and seriously wish they’d let them execute the brat. 

Frosty the no-no man Let us not forget that it was Wesley who hit the captain with a snowball in “Angel One,” an immature and obnoxious little scene that seems to prove Picard’s point that letting children run roughshod all over the ship is an inconvenience at best and a liability at worst. And it happens to be the latter in this episode, because he ends up getting the whole ship sick with some disease!

Drug Abuse Resistance Education is futile! While we can go on about Wesley’s whole exchange with Tasha about drug addiction in “Symbiosis,” what’s most egregious is how sheltered and clueless Wesley (normally some kind of child genius) has to be to not understand how narcotics work in the first place. It’s such a forced scene that we can just feel the Reagan Era war on drugs sentimentality written all over.

I guess leaving’s gotten easy for you It’s easy to find fault with “The Outrageous Okona” – it is my least favorite TNG episode, after all. Literally everyone in this episode is annoying, and as usual, that includes Wesley who first idolizes the charming rogue, then seems really judgey of his independent and carefree lifestyle, and finally he sasses the guy into making him conclude the soap opera plot of the episode.

How do you tell each other apart? It’s a pretty cheap joke when Wesley meets Mendon in “A Matter of Honor” and mistakes him for Mordock, whom we met in “Coming of Age.” I can’t tell if the writers were trying to make a racist “you people all look alike” kind of gag, but regardless, it makes Wesley look like an idiot for not knowing anything about Benzites and Benzite culture.

Klingons hate surprise parties Everything Wesley does in “The Icarus Factor” is annoying. He blathers like a maniac at the impatient Klingon, but then takes that impatience to assume something greater is going on than just being fed up with an obnoxious tween like anyone else would be. But to make things more exasperating, the little twerp is right, as he always is, and throws Worf an Age of Ascension party. Ugh.

I think that everything that’s been going wrong might be my fault It’s not until season three that, instead of saving the day as he did so many times already, Wesley actually screws up big by releasing the nanites in “Evolution.” While it’s refreshing to see Wes finally admit to some kind of flaw, his escaped nanites end up taking over the ship and start attacking people. And what’s worse is that he tries to lie about it until Guinan catches him!

Broccoli on the side You’ll remember this from La Forge’s spotlight as well, but Geordi reveals in “Hollow Pursuits” that it was Wesley who initiated the cruel nickname “Broccoli” for Lt. Barclay. Wes, you might still be a child, but you’re in a room with adults so stop acting like one! I don’t know what’s worse: being such a dick to one of your coworkers, or all the adults in the room condoning it.

I’m the one trapped in the bubble As if his misadventure in “Evolution” weren’t enough, Wesley botches another science experiment in “Remember Me” and nearly gets his mother killed in a pocket dimension! I know we just gave him some credit for bringing her back (though I mostly give that credit to the Traveler), someone’s got to stop letting Wes hook shit up to the warp core just because he’s the CMO’s kid! Nepotism much?

The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth Here’s another Wesley moment that ended up on both lists because as much as we can see the character growth and lesson learned when he comes clean in “The First Duty,” it also needs to be said that he is fully prepared to follow Nick Locarno like a little sheep. Wesley almost certainly wouldn’t have done the right thing in the end if Picard hadn’t basically threatened him first!

You are out! Auf wiedersehen! Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t poopoo Wesley’s fashion choices. Again. It’s a trainwreck of a fashion show. Sweater after sweater – all oversized, hideously patterned, and monstrously ugly. Ames has the full write up in an early blogpost: Wesley's Sweaters: An Unfashionable Collection, but this coral nightmare from “Where No One Has Gone Before” might take the cake.

—

Well, we’re off to go exploring with the Traveler, so that’s gonna wrap things up for this one. We’re back next week with more characters to spotlight and also more Enterprise to watch over on the podcast, which you can find on SoundCloud or wherever you listen. You can also get our help on your Academy entrance exams over on Facebook and Twitter, and watch out for those flowers!

[ilovedthestars]

Data Startrek for the ask game?

(Send me a character ask game)

I apologize in advance that this one is gonna be a little sparse! I have seen maybe a dozen episodes of Season 1 TNG, and plenty of gifsets and essays on Tumblr, and that's all I have to go off of.

First impression

Based on general pop culture osmosis: He's a robot. He doesn't think he has emotions but he kinda does?

Based on Tumblr: Oh so this is where the "extremely autistic-coded robots" thing comes from, for better or worse. Everyone loves this guy (and his cat).

Impression now

I like him!! Sometimes they use him for cheap jokes or Social Awkwardness which makes me uncomfortable but when he's done justice he's very fun. He absolutely has emotions, even if they don't manifest exactly how they would in a human, but he doesn't believe that. He mostly gets put in the role of delivering exposition/information, but he's good at it. I haven't met his cat yet but i really want to.

Favorite moment

Datalore was really fun and gave me Emotions! I didn't actually know Lore existed before watching it so that was such a fun surprise. I can't remember enough of the details to pick a specific moment (but i do remember being like ohhhh when i got to "are you prepared for the kind of death you've earned, little man?" because i'd seen a gif of that and it seemed SO out of charater for Data. It made so much more sense once i knew it was Lore XD )

Idea for a story

Hmm....don't think i know enough Star Trek to write one, but I just want to see Data and Geordi hang out more. Also Spot. I really wanna meet Spot.

Unpopular opinion

I think "Data deserved better, you guys (his crewmates/the writers) are just mean" is a pretty popular opinion actually, at least on Tumblr XD

Favorite relationship

Data & Geordi! I've only gotten a bit of them together in the episodes I watched, but between that and all the fanworks I've seen, they're such good friends. Just a guy and a robot who are BFFs. They have such a casual, comfortable vibe with each other.

Favorite headcanon

I think Data gets romance arcs later or something but he's aroace to me. I'm claiming him for us

[savpumpkinhead]

TFW are all trekkies and u cannot tell me otherwise!!!

cas probably read the first spirk fan fiction from the brain of the person who wrote it. but if we are staying with his canon learning of pop culture in that one metatron episode then he definitely found old star trek zines aziraphale style and finds himself understanding spock a little too well. like u cant tell me he wouldn’t love it okay??

sam loves the old effects and science of TOS, he definitely started watching it on his own and really loved it. he probably thinks of kirk as such a role model. he is very bones coded aswell as kirk coded. he will info dump about very niche lore from older zines and books, and him and cas probably have matching pins or something silly

dean loves it but obviously hides it. he thinks kirk is hot tbh, and relates to him a ton. he likes sulu aswell cause they share an interest in old guns <33 he makes fun of sammy for liking it cause its nerdy or whatever but he really likes the simplicity of the morals and finds it comforting!!! he also subconsciously ships spirk/mcspirk so. and he makes fun of cas for being like spock in his head (cas knows he likes ST but doesnt say anything)

jack loves that shit. lasers and whatnot ??? that goes hard man. he thinks the episodes are adorable and finds the show comforting aswell. hed watch it with cas and sam a lot, and loves to see all the old effects. i think hed dress up like thé characters too and make a lot of references too it when he talks to people :3 i think hed also relate to spock cause they r both misunderstood. he also likes uhura!!!!

[scrapsovereign]

That One Time I Got Kidnapped By An Evil Vampire Lord Ch. 2

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57838303/chapters/147393754#workskin

Summary: To say that Mackenzie's day starts off on the wrong side of the bed is an understatement. A stranger shows up at her work and is about to make her day a lot more interesting.

Pairings: past Ascended Astarion x Evil male!Tav, Ascended Astarion x Original Female Character

Trigger warnings/Tags: cheating, intimate partner violence, abusive relationships, medical settings, body shaming, internalized fatphobia

Renton Highlands, Washington  

Thursday, August 21rst 

8:30 AM 

“What’s the deal with Nurse Brad? He blood sugar shamed me, which I think was low-key fat-shaming,” Mackenzie complains, her mouth full of breakfast sandwich. “I’m getting bro podcast vibes from him,” she says out one side of her mouth as she chews her food with the other.

She reaches into Rob’s cup holder and takes a sip of the Annihilator she’d ordered from Dutch Bros. She takes a moment to savor the taste of 6 espresso shots, half and half, and white chocolate macadamia nut while Rob finishes chewing to say his piece.

“Lo-ki? I need the Thor-ough details- ohwhoathere!” Rob’s eyes go wide at the Tesla that almost side-swiped his Subaru Outback as he drives down the road to Mac’s.

“He said that if I went paleo and went to his CrossFit gym my A1C wouldn’t be so bad. Like excuse me, I’m on my feet all day already, and today’s the first time in weeks I’ve had fast food and a fancy coffee drink. Oh! And that I need to start reframing my paradigm to embody a ‘high value female’,” Mac rants, imitating the tone of voice Brad used with her earlier. “What does that even mean?!”

“I hate it when dudes say ‘females’,” Rob says, letting his long, salt and pepper brown hair down from its bun. 

“Right? It's so Ferengi-coded. Like, try me again when you have the latinum, small-ears…you haven’t got the lobes,” Mackenzie snickers, Rob utterly lost on what Star Trek deep lore she’s referencing.

“Is that the Star Track? What do they say, ‘Live long and let the force be with you’?” He says with a mischievous grin, turning down Mackenzie’s street.

Mackenzie sighs, taking another long sip of her coffee drink to hide her annoyance. “Yep. And also with you,” she says, deadpan. 

Rob pulls up on the side of the street across from the house she rents with Ari and turns the car off, squinting at her driveway. “Whose car is that?” 

Mac feels that all-knowing lump inside her gut solidify as she sets eyes on her car beside the other in the driveway.

“That’s Ari’s friend Jasmine, they met at ECCC this year,” Mac says blandly, taking another bite of her half-finished breakfast sandwich. 

It turns to ash in her mouth.

She gulps it down, wrapping up the other half and shoving it into her work backpack. Hopefully she’ll remember to eat it on the way back to work. 

Her phone buzzes in her hands- it’s her boss, Amanda.

“Hey-“

“Are you okay? How are you feeling? Are you still there? Do you need someone to come get you?” Amanda blurts out in a run-on sentence.

Mackenzie’s throat feels tight contemplating Amanda’s concern for her. 

Rob’s attention perks up from his phone. “Is that A-man-da Hug n’ kiss?!” He asks excitedly.

“Is that Bobbertina I hear? Heeeeeey Bobby boy!” She shouts, her voice easily heard through the phone’s speaker.

“You know, you can do this over text, or the D and D sessions where you see each other every week,” Mackenzie says flatly, watching Rob shake his head.

“Nah, it wouldn’t hit the same, you know? Hey, so, how you feelin’ Mac? Should we see you tomorrow?” Amanda asks, offering Mac the out if she wants to take the day off. 

Mac sighs wearily, rubbing her forehead. “Nah…I’m coming in. I don’t have any PTO left for a full day. Probably about 10 at the latest?” 

“Hmmm…if you’re sure…okay. Dr. Anderson called off, so it’s inbasket hell- I mean, fun for you today. I’ll help cover until you get in,” Amanda says proudly, her car door closing in the background of the call. 

Mackenzie feels a chill come over her- Amanda working in anything else other than her nurse triage inbasket is a nightmare. 

She’d better get to work before Amanda makes too much of a mess in there.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you then,” Mac says lamely. She likes her unhinged grand-millennial manager, but always feels awkward wrapping up a conversation with her.

“Okay, see you soon!” Amanda exclaims before ending the call. 

Mackenzie slumps in the car, closing her eyes for a moment to steady the flip-flopping of her stomach. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay home?” Rob asks, his brow furrowed in worry. “Ari’s home, he could help take care of you.”

“No…he’s streaming today and I don’t want to impose on him…” Mac slides further down in the seat, hoping that it renders her invisible. 

Rob’s jaw tenses, his fingers tap on the steering wheel. “You’re too nice. He’s supposed to do that for you, you know that, right? Sickness and health and all that?” He states to the road ahead of them, turning to look Mac in the eyes.

“I do,” Mac sniffles, fidgeting with a straw wrapper in her hands. “It’s funny. I spent all night wishing he would reach out and now I don’t want to go inside and see him. Or talk to him.”

Rob sits quietly with her, allowing her the space to feel her grief as it permeates the silence between them. 

“Kim said they couldn’t find anything wrong,” Mac says after a few moments, unable to tolerate the intensity of her unspoken sadness any longer. “She thought that maybe I was pregnant, but my HCG was negative and nothing showed up on the imaging. Which is fine, I don’t think I could take care of a kid right now.”

“I agree, one kid is enough,” Rob observes, curling into a ball, his gangly limbs shielding himself from the straw wrapper that hits him in the face. 

“Hmmph! Give not into anger, for that is the path to the dark side! Much fear I sense in you, young Skywalker.” He exclaims in his best Yoda impression. “But no really, Maccy. You’ve gotta be having some big feelings, you have health stuff going on, and you need some support. Have you tried to explain how you feel to him with your ‘I messages’?”

Mac huffs a laugh, wishing it was that easy. “You think I haven’t? Nursing school Jedi Mind tricks don't work.”

“Have faith in the force, padawan,” Rob says dreamily, switching to his rather good Obi Wan Kenobi impression.

“Listen. I did that when I went full motivational interviewing interrogation mode on him after he gave me COVID the first time. He said I’d picked it up from work, but then I found out about Sara, and that he got it from her and gave it to me because they were…you know.”

“I…” Rob flexes his arms, rolls his neck to the side to stretch it. “I know you’ve forgiven him, but I haven’t,” he states evenly, quietly. A sign that Mac knows he’s angry. 

Mac unintentionally twists the ring on her finger as he mentions it. “Yep, that’s…yep. Well, if anything we’ll have a chance to talk about it tonight when he wants to bang and I have to explain why we can’t. I should probably head on in and get cleaned up. Thanks for letting me crash in that empty stock room after I got discharged.”

Rob yawns and nods, leaning over the seat to give Mackenzie a tight hug. 

“No problem, facilities owed me a favor. Anything for you, anytime. You need help inside?” His brows pitch upwards, ready to spring into action. 

Mackenzie winces as she gathers her things, opening the car door, seeing it scrape on the brown grass of the curb.

“I’ll be fine,” she smiles. She’s lying to him.

Rob smiles back and turns the key in the ignition. He knows.

Mackenzie trudges to the door, goes to open the lock, but feels no resistance. She opens the door quietly, mindful of the background audio that might pick up on his stream. 

She steps over the craft foam and fabric, pins and half-finished garments as she makes her way to the kitchen table. She lets out a heavy sigh in disapproval when she sees the cookie sheet that lies directly on it littered with bagel bites, half-eaten and grown cold.

She has her work backpack almost empty when she hears the sounds of two voices moaning together, one male, the other female.

A wave of nausea surges through her, her limbs going numb.

No. That can’t be it. He’s not cheating on her with Jasmine in their bed. Mac is just being crazy again. He’s probably just watching porn. Yeah…Ari’s just taking a break from streaming Minecraft speedruns to jerk it, it’s not the first time he’s done it.

Her guts ache, a ripple of deep knowing washing over her so strongly it almost knocks her over. It helps her remember Jasmine’s car is still in the driveway, helps her see the line of discarded clothing in the hall... 

“Mmm, Ari…you fuck my pussy so good, ” the female voice echoes from the bedroom door.

Mackenzie has to be hearing things. 

Yes, it’s just an intrusive thought, she’s more than likely going crazy and hearing things others can’t hear. It would make sense- she’s sleep deprived, not feeling well, and she’s in pain. She’s just losing it, she didn’t actually hear anything, she’s imagining things.

That is, until she hears it again, accompanied by a rapid cacophony of combined moans and wet flesh slapping together.

“Yes, Ari…yes just like that…I’m gonna fucking cum on your dick daddy, ooohhhh…Ariiiiiii… ”

“That tight little hole feels so good, Jas! Cum for me, cum for daddy… ”

The floorboards creak underneath her feet as Mac tries to stealth down the hall, giving her presence away. 

Mac takes a deep breath or five to still her pounding heart. 

“Get dressed Jas, I think Kenz is home… ”

Ari’s panicked instructions all but confirm what her intuition is telling her. It did the same when she had caught him in the act with Hayleigh, a 16 year old fan that he’d brought to their hotel room at PAX last year. Mac recalls with deep shame that Ari had almost successfully gaslit her into thinking the whole thing didn’t happen. Ari might have gotten away with it if Hayleigh’s father hadn't shown up at their door 2 months later, angry as hell and demanding $750 to cover the cost of her termination.

She walks quietly towards the hall closet, opening the door carefully, pulling her go-bag out that her therapist insisted she make. 

She wraps her tingling hand around the master bedroom door, making a mental checklist of the additional contents in her room she needs to grab, keeping her mind busy to forget the sudden urge to vomit all over the floor.

The open door reveals Ari and Jas, but not in the position she expected to find them. She takes stock of what she sees, trying to ground herself in the facts. 

Ari and Jas are sitting on the bed next to each other against the headboard, disheveled and flushed, wearing what could be interpreted as sleepwear. They’re an odd pair. Jas is a tiny thing that couldn’t be taller than five feet and some change and a hundred pounds soaking wet, Ari being a few inches over six feet tall and built like a comic book hero-well, a retired one. He had a bit of a gut and some fat under his chin that he’s self conscious of.

If she had only given Ari a brief glance, he would pass her inspection with flying colors. He’s been known to walk around the house with only gym shorts on. The sight of his broad, naked chest with the slight bit of a tum hanging over the elastic waist isn’t suspicious. 

The pillow he has on his crotch is, though. 

So is the musky, slightly fishy odor of sex lingering in the air. 

Mac notices Jas’ long black hair has been pulled into a tight, hasty ponytail. Her small, slender body is slick with what she thinks is sweat even though the shirt of Ari’s she has on is dry. Her dark eye makeup around her jade eyes is smeared in streaks down her face. 

Mac then turns her scrutinizing gaze back towards Ari. He beams at Mac with his ice blue eyes, sweeping back his bleach blonde hair to show its mousy brown roots, putting his muscular, trembling arm on display. 

“Oh…ah, hey there Kenz. Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to work?” He inquires with his SoCal accent (that he claims isn’t an accent), his thumb drumming on the pillow he has atop his lap.

“Yes,” Mackenzie says calmly as she desperately tries to keep her shit together, “Usually I am.” She throws extra clothes into the bag unceremoniously, turning sharply to grab her ADHD meds out of the bathroom.

“Kenz…it’s good to see you,” Jas calls politely from where she’s perched on the bed. 

Mackenzie ignores her, looking down at the bathroom trash can briefly. 

It’s clean for once, after two months of reminding Ari to take it out.

Interesting.

“Is it?” Mackenzie asks, her eyebrows raised, her voice pitching up to a squeak.

“Why would you say that babe?” Ari asks, swallowing thickly. 

Mackenzie stares at him, emotionless. 

“Look, you guys,” she starts, zipping up her pack, throwing it over her shoulders. “It’s pretty clear what was going on before I came in.”

“We…we were uh, just waking up,” Jas stammers. “Ari was about to start streaming and I was going to keep working on our cosplays,” she says playfully, twirling her ebony hair idly with her long, manicured nails.

Nails that match the welt marks forming on Ari’s shoulders. 

“Gotta rise and grind, huh?” Mac snarks, her voice catching in her throat. 

She looks at her bedside alarm- she’s lingered too long, she’s going to be more than a few minutes late if she doesn’t leave for work now.

“You know it babe! ‘The Might Way is the right way’,” Ari smirks, parroting the way he says his catchphrase from his stream. 

“I’m sure it is,” Mackenzie clips out as tears sting the corners of her eyes. She makes her way out of the bedroom, the fibers of the tan carpet crushed underneath the stomping of her feet.

“Kenz,” Ari calls out as Mac walks swiftly down the hallway, ignoring him. “Kenz!”

She grabs her keys and her work bag, ready to walk out the door when his large, calloused hand grabs around her wrist.

“Hey. What’s going on? You didn’t come home last night,” Ari asks, his voice low and soft. 

“Yeah, well, that’s because I was in the ER,” Mac snaps, wrenching her hand away from him. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?,” he furrows his brow in worry, reaching up to cup the side of her face with care. “Why didn’t you text or call?”

Mackenzie flinches, pulling away.

“I could ask why you didn’t do the same. You know, I had been in the ER alone for almost four hours when I saw you replied with kissy heart faces to Jas after she’d tweeted about coming over,” she counters. 

“You’re acting crazy,” he coos, brushing his thumbs that smell like somebody’s else’s genitals against her cheekbones. “It’s just an emoji, it doesn’t mean what you think.”

A strong wave of nausea rips through Mackenzie- she really is going to vomit all over her husband if she doesn’t leave now. She backs away from him and opens the front door to leave.

Mac pauses and turns around to look Ari dead in his arctic blue eyes.

“You know what? This is stupid. Ari, I heard you and Jas when I came home. I know why you didn’t check on me. You were so busy fucking Jas you didn’t even think about me, where I was. You know where I slept last night until Rob was done with his shift?” she rasps, wiping away the fat tears that drip down her cheeks. “A closet. I slept in a storage closet with a pile of musty hospital blankets while you screwed and slept in our bed! Rob had to bring me home-“

“Rob brought you home ? You’re cheating on me with him, aren’t you?” Ari recoils in disgust.

Mackenzie shakes her head, so angry with him she’s unable to think of a reply she won’t regret later. 

“I have to go to work. At least I’m getting paid to get fucked over when I’m there,” she sobs out, barely able to see the sidewalk as tears stream down her face, power-walking to her ancient Toyota Camry. 

“Wait, Kenz, please,” Ari whines, following her to the driveway as she tosses her bags unceremoniously in the car and pauses to hear him say his piece. 

“What are we doing for dinner?” He asks like he hadn’t just accused her of cheating on him.

“Un-fucking-believable,” Mackenzie curses under her breath, slamming the door, turning the ignition and peeling out of the driveway faster than her sedan was built to do.

She doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she sees Ari chase after her car barefoot down the street in nothing but his gym shorts, so she does both.

…until she sees her check engine and her gas light flicker on.

Downtown Seattle, Washington  

Mercy West Medical Group Primary Care Clinic

Thursday, August 24th 

10:30 AM

“Hey boss, I’m here- what happened to you?” Mackenzie’s eyes rake over the crime scene of a nurse manager.

Amanda closes her eyes tightly shut as she tips her head back, holding pressure to a nose stuffed with cotton balls that had dripped blood into her mask. 

“So…we had a walk-in for chest pain…no insurance, of course, not our patient. And so I figure I’ll just grab him, do a quick EKG, make sure he’s not dying,” she gestures with her free hand. 

“When I go to grab him and take him back…Mackenzie Elizabeth Eriksson, with the Flying Spaghetti Monster as my witness, I didn’t think the anime thing of having a nosebleed was real,” she nasally groans, changing hands to continue holding pressure. “I was today years old when I learned it was real.”

“Did you get vitals? Does he still need an EKG?” Mac inquires smoothly, positively dead inside. She prays to whoever’s listening that Amanda can’t tell.

“Yeah, orders are in, machine’s in there. He’s in room 7. His name’s Rion Ahncooneen. Ankhunin? I didn’t ask him how to say it, you get the idea. And uhh Maccy? You might wanna prepare yourself for this one. You ever seen Labyrinth?” Amanda side-eyes her, lifting the tissue to check and see if her bleeding has stopped.

“A long time ago, why?” Mac asks, all business as she writes his name and exam room on a sticky note, her gut tingling in an odd way she can’t explain.

“You…uhm. You’ll see what I mean. I didn’t think people that pretty existed in real life, but here we are,” she chuckles, tipping her head back again. “Hey, you alright?” 

Mac cringes at being called out. Of course Amanda can tell she’s upset. She can always tell.

“No, and if I start talking about it, I’m going to start crying and I won’t be able to stop,” Mac sets down her personal and her work bag on the chairs in her boss’ office, grabbing her stethoscope. 

Amanda eyes her go bag with somber recognition.

“I’m here for you, Cheesy. Anything you need. I have a copy of my house key in my desk- top right drawer. You can take the spare bedroom, I’ll wash the sheets and everything-“

Amanda must really be serious if she’s calling her Cheesy, the name Mac had received from an angry patient while they worked together at urgent care during the early days of the pandemic. Mac gives her a quick side hug in reply, avoiding her eyes, and marches down the hall, catching a generous glob of hand sanitizer foam when she reaches halfway there.

She opens the exam room door, rubbing sanitizer over hands that don’t feel like they belong to her, putting her best patient care game face on. 

“Hi, I’m Mackenzie, I’m one of the medical assistants here. I’m going to get an…an…” Mackenzie’s brain shorts out, her stuttering words robbed of her as she stares at the shirtless man in the exam room. 

Amanda calling him pretty is the understatement of the century.

The corners of his eyes tug up at her with a cocked eyebrow. He leans back on the exam table where he sits, playfully puffing out his hairless, smooth, perfect tits as if on purpose. 

Oh no. He knows he’s pretty. 

Mac exhales, annoyed at his preening. He’s one of those. Great. Just…great. 

She rakes her eyes over him critically; down to the slender, cut muscles of his abdomen and back up to the sharp, delicate features of his face covered by the blue surgical mask.

This is a man who takes great care in his appearance, unlike Ari. His skin practically glows in the fluorescent light of the exam room. His short nails are impeccably manicured with a layer of clear polish, his silver brows shaped to perfection, with a hint of kohl lining his eyes. His black lightweight woolen trousers hug his waist perfectly. She eyes the crisp white linen shirt that hangs on the door with a blazer that matches his pants- they probably cost as much as her rent. 

“Yes darling, you were saying?” he states airily in a posh British accent that sounds like silk velvet would feel, carding an elegant hand through his impossibly perfect, long silver waves. 

“EKG. Yep. What’s your name and birthday?” She requests, flipping the machine screen up to put in the information. 

“Rion Ancunìn. October,” he pauses to think about it, his head tilted to the side. “October the fourth…1983.”

Huh, a Libra. That explains the pompous airs he puts on. 

“Birthday’s coming up soon. Any plans for the big 4-0?” She inquires with empty interest. 

“You could say that,” he drawls flirtatiously. “Nothing set in stone as of yet, but I suppose a bit of hedonistic debauchery might be in order for the occasion.”

Mackenzie pauses and blinks after she takes out the leads and alcohol swabs from the machine, reflecting on the phrase ‘hedonistic debauchery’. She’d more or less grown up under a rock, she doesn’t know the first thing about what that’s supposed to be. She’s dying to know more, but isn’t a question like that inappropriate?

Mac’s impulsivity wins. “I might regret asking this, but what does ‘hedonistic debauchery’ entail?”

“It’s better experienced than described,” he purrs seductively, giving her a once over with half-lidded eyes.

Mac almost starts laughing. 

Is this guy hitting on her? Is he fucking for real?

“Sounds like it’s different than the usual board games and beer that’s popular ‘round these parts,” she chuckles politely. 

“I’m going to have you lay down for me,” Mac instructs, avoiding his gaze that follows her as she comes closer to him. She pulls out the table extension, turning her back briefly to sanitize her hands and put gloves on. 

When she turns around he’s watching her keenly, like a cat would observe a mouse. 

Like she’s his prey.

“And you’re not going to join me? Pity,” he pouts, looking at her out of the side of his keen ruby eyes as Mac chokes on her own spit from his remark. 

She tears open the alcohol wipes and he hums as she quickly swipes them across his left ribcage. Touching him feels like playing Russian roulette with an electric fence, her nervous system sending lightning rods of electricity down to her core. She fans him with the plastic card that houses the electrode tabs to dry the alcohol and he groans. HE GROANS. 

“That feels rather nice. Are you looking for a job? Because I could pay you to do that all…day…long,” he drawls, his eyes closing in bliss. She feels a hot flush creep up her chest, a bead of sweat dripping down her back. 

She quickly assembles the leads with shaky, fumbling  hands, her brow furrowed in concentration as she hovers her finger over the button to run the test.

“I need you to relax for just a moment,” she says monotonously, feeling another bead of sweat run down her back.

“Difficult to do when a pretty thing such as yourself is near, but I’ll give it a go,” he smirks roguishly underneath the blue mask that covers his face, giving her a sly wink. 

Mac feels her whole body tense and ache as she watches the lines turn green on the machine. 

She presses the button to capture and print out the report. She should set some boundaries with him. She should tell him that was inappropriate. She’s pretty sure too that there’s a policy about this kind of thing, not that she’d ever had to look it up.

So why do her guts tell her that the attention from him feels right? Why do they beg for more? 

A flood of shame washes over Mackenzie from head to toe. Her sex drive had been dead for almost a year and a half, so what is it about this stranger that’s made it come alive so inconveniently? Why is her body betraying her like this? Can’t she stay in control of herself? 

While Ari had incorrectly guessed she was cheating on him with Rob, had he been able to accurately detect that she would have feelings like this for another?

The tears she’d held back successfully return at the thought of Ari enduring what he has made her suffer, flooding her eyes and fogging up her eye protection. 

No, no, no. She’d done so good holding her shit together for the last 15 minutes she’s been here! She’s not crying in front of a patient…

A warm, strong hand reaches out to grip hers with care. She looks up to see Rion sitting up on the edge of the table, his eyebrows soft over his gorgeous sparkling eyes. 

“What’s troubling you, pet?” He coaxes, rubbing his thumb in reassuring circles over the back of her hand. 

Try as she may, a waterfall from her eyes streams down her face, soaking her mask as they run down in a steady river. 

“I’ve had a pretty bad day,” She explains vaguely, tearing the sheet off to show the on-call MD.

“Obviously. It must be something truly horrid to upset you so,” Rion chuckles, one of his hands coming up to trace a knuckle down the side of her tear-soaked face.

Mackenzie casts her eyes downward, fat tears pooling in the clear plastic of her eye protection as she nods with a sniffle. 

A knock at the door startles her, reflexively moving a footstep away from him.

“Everything okay in here?” Amanda asks nonchalantly as she lays eyes on a shirtless Rion, her mask hiding the lecherous smile Mac knows she wears underneath.

“Yeah, I was just getting ready to show it to Dr.Calloway,” Mac sniffles. 

Amanda takes the EKG tracing and pushes a pretend pair of glasses further up her face like an anime character, humming as she looks the sheet of paper over. “I think you’ll be fine sir- are you still having symptoms?”

“The healing touch of your lovely colleague has cured me,” he confirms, giving Mackenzie’s hand a squeeze. 

Another bead of sweat runs down Mackenzie’s back as she tries to pull her hand away.

He holds her firmly in his grasp.

Amanda’s eyes squint at Rion, at Mackenzie, and at their joined hands.

“I think we can get unhooked and dressed. It looks normal to me, but I’m just going to run everything by our on call doc just to make sure you’re safe to be released into the wild,” Amanda advises, closing the door behind her. “I’ll be right back.”

Rion lets go of Mackenzie and she goes right into autopilot, unhooking the leads with practiced ease. 

“I think my husband’s cheating on me again,” she blurts out, the confession spilling at the impulse of her traitorous gut.

“Oh dear. Do you have a lawyer?” he inquires softly, Mackenzie shaking her head in reply. 

“Would you like one?” He hops off the exam table, taking a card out of a smooth metal case, presenting it to her with a flourish.

“Astarion Ancunìn

Attorney at Law”

She looks it over, turning the card stock in her hands.

Astarion’s an unusual name. She imagines it got him teased or bullied as a kid, no wonder he goes by Rion. She finds it interesting the card doesn’t have any contact information on it. It looks custom-pressed, the paper has a good heft to it, and she can detect the smallest hint of fragrance through her mask. 

“I don’t know if I could afford your services,” she says dejectedly. “And I don’t know if I want to get divorced just yet. I feel like we could still work things out, I still love him,” she explains, her eye protection fogging up as she speaks.

“Oh, my sweet. Look at me,” he raises her chin up, his eyes darting back and forth to search her own despite the barrier of plastic and condensation between them. “Love, true love is not self-sustaining. It is a choice, and one must make that choice every day. It takes dedication, sacrifice, hard work…mutual effort from the parties involved. Honesty. Clear, effective communication.” 

His hand drops and he turns away from Mac, slipping the fine linen shirt on, buttoning it up with nimble fingers. 

“Speaking of being clear- I would hate to mislead you. I fear that I am not a divorce attorney. My legal specialty is rather, shall we say, unique? That being said, I dabble in a few areas that are relevant to your…situation.” He shrugs on the coat of his impeccably tailored suit. “Join me for a drink tonight? We can continue this discussion in a more…appropriate setting. Think of it as an informal consultation of sorts.”

Mackenzie fidgets with the card in her hands nervously. He looks like he has champagne tastes, and all she has in her go bag is an extra set of scrubs, underwear, handmade linen shorts and a t-shirt. “I don’t know if I have anything to wear…ah!”

She cries out in surprise as Rion’s hands shoot out towards her and pull the royal blue fabric of her scrub top taut at the sides.

“What’s your dress and shoe size?” He murmurs his question, holding her at arm’s length to analyze her frame and the shape of her curves.

“Depending on who makes it, anywhere from a 16 to a 20, shoes are always an 8.5,” she grouses, ashamed of how much weight she’s gained in the last few years.

Rion tsks in what Mac fears is disapproval at her larger body size. “A pity that women’s sizing remains inconsistent across the realms. No matter. You close at 5pm, correct?” Mackenzie confirms his assumption with a nod.

“I’ll have the appropriate attire delivered to you by then. The address of where we are to meet will be included with the garments.” He sweeps her hands up to his mouth covered by the disposable mask on his face, lingering a moment too long as he presses his lips to them.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, darling.”

Mackenzie stares dumbly into space as he exits the room and disappears, the realization of what she just agreed to crashing down upon her. 

[star-trek-pop-quiz]

Star Trek POP-QUIZ #7

( 18 / 11 / 2023 )

Question 1. What does NCC in NCC-1701 stand for? a. National Construction Code b. Navy-Curtis Craft c. National-Cooperation Construction d. None of the above.

Question 2.

Which of these songs has Nichelle Nichols ( Uhura's Actress ) not sung? a. Dark Side of the Moon b. Beyond Antares c. The Lady is a Tramp d. Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Bonus Question: Which of these songs appear in Star Trek TOS and which episode?

Question 3. TRUE OR FALSE

James Doohan ( Scotty from TOS ) is missing a toe.

Bonus Question: If so, which one and how did he lose it? ( 2 bonus points )

Question 4. Which of these are true about Vulcan biology?

a. Their poop are dry pellets. b. Their pee looks like crude oil. c. Their hands are erogenous. d. All of the above.

Question 5.

What is Data's Phase Discriminator? a. Type-F b. Type-L c. Type-D d. Type-R

Bonus Question: What is Lore's Phase Discriminator?

Score: __ /5 + 4 bonus

Question 1.

b. Navy-Curtis Craft

Question 2.

d. Swing Low Sweet Chariot

+ Nichelle Nichols sings "Beyond Antares" in Star Trek TOS in several episodes, including "The Conscious of the King" and "The Changeling".

Question 3.

FALSE

+

James Doohan is missing the middle finger on his right hand, he had it amputated when he was in the army during WW2.

Question 4.

d. All of the Above.

Question 5.

d. Type-R.

+

Lore's Phase Discriminator is Type-L, this is the main component that differentiates Data and Lore.

[the-crime-of-silliness]

S/I MASTERLIST

Basically, all of my current Self insert characters for my selfships, below the cut. (some ships still don't have an official s/i, be patient w/me pls lol) All of their real names are just devo btw lol.

STARFALL (Marvel Comics S/I)

Dating: Arcade.

Age: Roughly mid 20's - early 30's

Tag: 'ѕнσσтιηg ѕтαяѕ' - ѕ/ι

' There's a star man, waiting in the sky... '

After the severance of his loyal body guard, miss locke, Arcade was in need of some hired help. Fortunately, Starfall, an inhuman gun for hire was able to get into contact with him. With the power to condense white hot energy into star shaped projectiles, as well as the average powers of flight and superstrength, Starfall and Arcade did eventually end up relating to eachother a bit more, and falling in love. They make eachother worse <3

SOL (X-men Evo S/I)

Dating: Scott Summers or Todd Tolansky.

Age: 15-17

Tag: 'нєяє ¢σмєѕ тнє ѕυη' - ѕ/ι

' Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter... '

Basically an alternate, aged down Starfall. Sometimes I use them as my self insert to ship with toad, and sometimes I use them to ship with scott. Either way, they are part of the X-men, and have the same powers as Starfall, except they can't fly and get their powers from a sun powered X-gene.

LYNX (DC/DCUO hero S/I)

Dating: Jervis tetch

Age: Early 30's

Tag: 'α ¢нєѕнιяє ¢αт'ѕ gяιη...' - ѕ/ι

' I love you for psychological reasons... '

Based off the DCUO story line. After receiving Exobytes granting them the powers of a cat like superhero (including increased flexibility and agility, as well as claws, although they mostly like to use their own Katar) Lynx became a public member of the braniac resistance. They were forced to team up with Jervis Tetch to clear their name, after being framed for the murder of a C-lister villain.

Cavalier II (DC S/I / Roguesona)

Dating: Jaime Reyes

Age: 18-19

Tag: 'єη gαя∂є!' - ѕ/ι

' But no one ever sees a victory by being too blind... '

Doubles as my Roguesona. After the death of the original cavalier in the suicide squad, a young goon in Gotham city attempting to make a name for themself took it as the perfect opportunity to break into costumed crime, picking up the hat and sword the minute the news got to the other C-listers of the city. After meeting Jaime, who was in town for college, he developed an odd respect for the flamboyant antihero and their odd code of ethics, despite them being one of the weirder criminals in town.

(also jaimes on his 'I can fix him' arc bfebfwiub)

Agent D-S (Spy kids S/i)

Dating: Fegan Floop

Age: late 20s - early 30s

Tag: 'тнε sтσяү σғ тнε sρү…' - s/ι

' I won't be done until my head falls off... '

An older member of the OSS, they were sent to monitor Fegan after his turning, as well as attempt to sway him into helping the OSS. After realizing they were in love with him, they quickly chose to retire from their position and run off with him. Yeah this one's not as lore heavy sorry :p

Sumner Crow (Ever After High S/I)

Dating: The mad hatter

Age: Uhh an adult old enough to hypothetically have a highschool aged child?

'I wonder if they have wondered or will ever wonder...'

Tag: 'ρєσρℓє ωιтнσυт вяαιηѕ ∂σ αη αωƒυℓ ℓσт σƒ тαℓкιηg...' - ѕ/ι

The scarecrow from the wizard of oz(despite that not rlly being a fairytale but like neither is aiw?), Sumner met the hatter family after kinda wandering into the new bakery in town. With his daughter being at school for long periods of time, Mr.Hatter was happy to have someone with enough free time to stop into the bakery and have tea with him, and something just kinda blossomed from there.

(This S/I uses he/they pronouns!!)

Ensign Harlen (Star Trek TNG S/I)

Dating/shipped with: Q, Dr. Pulaski, Lore, Barclay Age: Late 20's, early 30's 'Welcome to the human race!'

A starfleet science officer, who is... remarkably normal. Never straying from the path provided, straightlaced and happy for it. However, after being transferred to the flagship of starfleet, their life has been nothing but a whirlwind of excitement, diplomacy, and life or death scandals, and they've had to adapt to such to survive. Now, they've accidentally caught the attention of a god, one of their coworkers, the temporary CMO, and the evil twin of one of their superior officers, firmly cementing their life as very fucking odd.