#and all that has reminded me that oh right. i like reboot trek

[simptasia]

i can think about and look at anton yelchin without being in pain now

[gwenbrightly]

(Re)Building the Future Chapter 1

A mixture of ideas I’ve had rolling around in my brain since Ruin came out. Please enjoy.

 "I'm so sorry…"

"I love carrot cake. Happy birthday, Cassie…"

There's a click accompanied by sobbing, and then……. Nothing… 

…….. 

………. 

Beep. Beep. Beep. 

"Reboot complete."

Roxy regains awareness with a groan. What happened?

She tries to sit up, but something heavy is pressing down on her. Great. Just great. It feels like one of those vehicles humans use to get around the Pizza Plex. Inferior to her golf carts, of course, but also dreadfully inconvenient to be trapped under. And Roxy would know. This isn't the first time one has fallen on her since she lost her eyes to that stupid boy, Gregory. That horrible awful loser. How she'd like to get her claws on him… 

"Roxyyy" 

Roxy tries to ignore the obnoxious voice in her head. Plotting revenge is much more appealing right now than dealing with Helpy. Unfortunately, Helpy doesn't seem to feel the same way. 

"ROXANNE WOLF!" He blasts. If she were human, the volume would probably be painful. 

"What? I'm a little busy here." Roxy finally replies, giving the vehicle another shove to prove her point. 

"You're needed down below. That silly girl showed up out of nowhere and I… May have shown her how to deactivate all of M.X.E.S's security nodes. There's nothing keeping It from getting out now!" 

"Oh, Fizzy Faz. Why would you give a child that kind of power?" Roxy really wishes cursing wasn't against her programming. 

Helpy is right (for once). This is very bad. 

"I’ve been feeling a little glitchy today, okay? Anyway," Helpy says, clearly avoiding responsibility for his mistakes, "we've got a HUGE problem, so get down there and do something."

"What exactly do you want me to do? Beat it in a race?" Roxy asks, finally managing to dislodge her good leg. 

"Beating It is an option. Just not in a race. Don't worry - I'll be here to guide you, since, you know, you can't see! I'll be like your seeing eye bear!" Helpy says enthusiastically. 

Roxy sighs. Normally, she hates spending time with Helpy. He's an annoying little digital know it all who doesn't know how to shut up. (and he did just insult her). But without her eyes, she doesn't really have a choice. Her Number 1 Twice is somewhere down below and has no idea what she's unleashed. She has to save Cassie. And taking It down is also important, she supposes. 

Roxy is built for speed and agility. The next few minutes pass in a blur. Down the stairs - she loses track of how many flights. The elevator has already left. She takes another route. One covered with debris she must navigate. (If Helpy is leading her to her death, she'll kill him first). There are places she has to tunnel through planks and concrete rubble to make her way. But she does it. It's damp. She can hear water nearby and the ground makes a squishy noise when she steps in certain places. "Oh hey! There's an underground waterfall over there!" Helpy informs her at one point. 

"Focus, Helpy. We're not here to sight see." Roxy reminds him. 

"Riiiiight. Well, we're getting close. I think. Just through this door and down a few more flights of stairs!"

As she treks down stairs and through the halls of a structure she didn't even know existed until just now, Helpy continues to give her, well, 'helpful' suggestions. 

"There's an automatic door exactly 2.345 feet to your right."

"No! Not that door!" 

"Be sure to watch out for the burners on the floor in here!"

This particular piece of advice confuses Roxy to no end. "Why the Faz are there burners on the floor? Do you know how many safety regulations that violates?!" 

"Don't ask me. I just work here. Digitally, of course."

After the weird burner rooms, and another round of stairs, Roxy suddenly runs out of floor. Without thinking, without waiting for Helpy to confirm that it is safe, she jumps. Luckily, the space beneath her is not very deep. Rolling into a stand with both legs more or less intact, she scrambles around until she finds a small hole in the wall. As she crawls through, she hears a small voice in the distance say, "You're not Gregory."

Cassie is close. She can feel it. 

-~-~-~

The thing Fazbear Entertainment keeps trapped beneath the Pizza Plex doesn’t go down without a fight. Neither does Roxy. Unfortunately, she isn't able to hold it off for long before it's able to shove her aside and continue after Cassie. To make matters worse, Helpy is giving her conflicting directions, leading her in circles. It is probably interfering somehow. She's on her own if she wants to get anywhere with this. She stalks forward, listening carefully. A faint creaking, scaping sound catches her attention. Then a whimper. 

Roxy dashes to her right. Right again. Forward. In the distance, the elevator doors slide shut with a grinding crunch. It struggles for a moment, seemingly caught in the door. This gives Roxy just enough time to pull the creature into a choke hold. 

"Leave her alone!" she growls at It. 

"But she came to rescue me!" It protests in a voice that sounds a little too much like Gregory. 

Whatever actually prompted Cassie to come down here, Roxy is pretty sure the kid didn't come to save It on purpose. Cassie is smarter than that. 

"You tried to kill her!" Roxy shrieks in anger. It struggles against her. She refuses to let go. With a little luck, the elevator will finish its journey soon and Cassie will be safely back at the surface in no time. 

Luck, however, is a fickle thing. Rarely do things turn out as luckily as we would prefer. Roxy knows this. She's never relied on luck to win races or make crying children smile. Deep down, she knows she can't always win (though she still tries to, often at the detriment of others). But that doesn't make it any less horrifying when the elevator begins to plummet instead of going up. When she hears Cassie's panicked screams. Or the shattering crash of the elevator splitting apart at the bottom of the shaft. 

"No…" Roxy nearly lets go of It in her panic.  

"Now she can stay forever," It says gleefully, once again mimicking Gregory's voice. 

"One more word and I'll tear your head off," Roxy threatens. She drags It away from the elevator. 

"Lock It up!" Helpy screeches. "Lock It up!" 

"Where?" Roxy asks reluctantly. She doesn't want to leave the elevator's ruins. Cassie is in there somewhere. 

"M.X.E.S wants you to put It in one of the extra containment rooms to your left," Helpy starts, "No one is safe until you've done that."

As much as she hates to admit it, the annoying little bear is right. If Cassie is still alive, leaving It to roam free will put her in danger. 

"Okay. Let's do this," she finally agrees. Hoping Helpy's instructions ring true this time, Roxy lets him guide her to It's new containment cell. Her threats seem to have worked; the creature doesn't fight her as hard as she knows it could. She shoves the thing into the room and grabs the sliding door, ready to shut It away forever, but she thinks better of it. 

"I'll be taking these," Roxy says. Then she reaches for It's face and yanks on the eye receptacles. They give way with a pop. She haphazardly connects the wires to her own eye sockets, blinking as the world flickers into focus for the first time in a long time. 

"My eyes!" It complains. "You took them!"

[skepticbeliever-bookclub]

Greetings shippers & readers Aaaand we're back once again on a fine Autumn evening to remind you that the season of shyan in film is still on-going and in case you missed it, last June, we banded together with a few of our members and wrote them a challenge that states: Pick a movie; any movie. It could be your favourite or one you think deserves better. Doesn’t have to be Hollywood; it can be an international film or in a different language altogether. Just pick one and make it Shyan. Basically, take your chosen movie, mix in fandom and run with it! You can stick as close or as far as you like, you can use it as a sort of prompt, or if you decide that you love the storyline but you think it needs more queer drama or more comedy, or a side-story needs more flushing out. You are free to use the movie as you see fit. Well, now we’re all about to reap the prolific results! Over the course of the next few months, we will be periodically releasing a “trailer” to let you know what film fic is about to come your way. A list of films we'll have in our collection includes such titles as Superman, Call Me By Your Name, 3:10 to Yuma, While You Were Sleeping, The Brothers Bloom, and a few more! Unbelievably excited to announce that our third instalment in our collection shall be

Notting Hill

Title: New and Used Boos Rating: R Excerpt:

There’s something vaguely familiar about this guy. Shane can’t quite put his finger on it. He would’ve assumed a repeat customer, but it’s obvious he’s not a local. For one thing, it’s fifty degrees outside, positively balmy for November in Chicago, and the dude’s wearing a full-on peacoat and scarf like he’s been trekking across the Arctic tundra instead of up Fullerton. Shane watches the man covertly from his perch on the stool. The guy is poking around in the section about paranormal investigation, a look of open curiosity on his face. He picks up a book about orbs and starts flipping through it. Before he can stop himself, Shane says, “Oh god, not that one.” The guy looks up. “Sorry?” Shane clears his throat again. “You don’t want that one. That one’s shit.” The man cocks his head. He replaces the book and moves his hand a few spines to the right, pulling another book out. “How ‘bout this one?” “Nope. No. Uh, sorry. That one also sucks.” “This one?” Shane barks a laugh when the man shows him the front of a tattered copy of Detritus or Dearly Departed? Life After Life Through Orbs. A solid seventy-five percent of the books in his shop are pure grade-A bologna, a statistic he’s proud of, but the orb stuff takes the cake. “I mean, it’s your four dollars and eighty eight cents. I’ll take any amount of money from the gullible without a moment of guilt.” The man wanders close enough to read the little nameplate on the counter, which has Shane’s credentials listed, such as they are: Shane Madej, Owner and Proprietor. Up close he is good-looking in a way that compels Shane to keep looking at him. “Do you sell any books that don’t suck? In your bookstore, that you own?” The man gives Shane a glint of a grin, and Shane gets that brain itch of certain familiarity again. He’s sure they’ve met before. Shane considers the question. “Got a mint condition first edition Dorothy Sayers in last week. At least detective novels are honest about being fictional.” The guy throws his head back and laughs out loud. “Why do you sell books about this stuff if you don’t even believe in it?” It’s the laugh that does it, big and contagious, so Shane has to laugh too. The guy’s teeth are large and even and starkly white—not Midwest white—and it’s then, at last, that Shane realizes who he’s talking to. Because that’s a distinctive smile. A famous smile. It’s Ryan Bergara. Ryan Bergara, star of Source of Fortune, the titular duke in Duke of Payback—rumored to be in the conversation for the lead in the Mission Impossible reboot, which Shane can’t even talk about, he’s so excited—is in his poky little bookshop, examining the back of a book called Haunt Him, Honey: Ten Steps to Achieving a Spiteful Afterlife. Shane panics and fucks it right up. “Oh my god, you’re—” Bergara’s cheerful expression flickers. He looks away. When he looks back there’s something smoothed-over and blank about his face, his posture subtly different too: tense and watchful, like he’s preparing for this encounter to turn into something else. Shane always imagined he’d be very chill and cool if he ever met a famous person, but apparently what he would do—is currently doing—is turn into a squeaky, stammering mess and stick his own foot directly in his mouth. “—you’re an orb guy,” he finishes lamely, diverting course at the last possible second. He’s not subtle about it, but a detectable micro-expression of relief passes over the other man’s face anyway. It must be exhausting, being a celebrity. Everyone watching you, and thinking they know you, and molding a routine errand into a dinner party anecdote even as you’re standing right in front of them trying to buy a stupid book. God knows Shane’s doing exactly that, but the least he can do is pretend like he’s not. “I’m not an ‘orb guy,’” Bergara says, rolling his eyes in a hint of playful defensiveness. He frames the offending phrase with elaborate finger-quotes. “I just think they’re cool.” “They’re dust,” Shane says. “We’ve got five orbs in here with us right now, and it’s not because spirits are gracing us

with their presence from the beyond. It’s because I haven’t cleaned in here since August.” “Yeah, it’s pretty gross.” Bergara runs his finger along the shelf and shows Shane the thin layer of dust coating his fingertip, but he’s turned on that megawatt smile again. Shane wonders if it’s, like, real. Could it be veneers? Is that what veneers look like? “Well, buy something and maybe I’ll be able to afford some Pledge.” “Okay,” Bergara says, and he holds up yet another orb book, just as trash as the first few. “I’ll get this one.” “God. Not that one.”

COMING TO OUR AO3 COLLECTION **SUNDAY** OCTOBER 24TH 2021. LOOK ALIVE FOR THE PREMIERE!

[shutupanddance]

Master Post

If you’re looking for my Master List, check out this link:

https://shutupanddance.tumblr.com/masterlist

Okay cool cats and kittens, I’m creating this master post to help you navigate my page and stay updated :) It will be pinned to my blog, and it will have my fandom list, my prompt list, my to-do list, any current events, and a few frequently asked questions. So, looking for information about requesting? Suggestions for requests? Or wondering what I’m currently working on? Don’t know if I’ve received your request? This is the place to look! Just keep on reading <3

Current Events 

None!

Fandoms

Here are the fandoms I write for!!

+ Marvel (MCU)

+ DC (DCU)

+ Sherlock

+ Star Wars (trilogies, Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian)

+ Star Trek (reboots, original series)*

+ Pacific Rim

+ Knives Out

+ Night at the Museum

+ LOTR / The Hobbit

+ Jurassic Park/World

+ The West Wing*

+ NCIS*

*fandoms that you will see the most of on my blog.

Prompt List

(Does not include prompts from any current events) Here are some prompts that you can use for your request, or for your own writing! As a reminder, not all of these prompts are properly credited. Please let me know if you have the original creator’s @!

#1: “I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”

#2: “Should I ask why you have a knife in your purse?”

”It’s a dagger, actually, and no you shouldn’t.”

#3: “Close your eyes and listen. And trust me.”

#4: Rosemary, broken glass, and an old gun.

#5: “Do you remember when I loved you?”

”No.”

”Good, because I never did.”

#6: “He saw the notice in the paper.”

”Why would you let him see the paper?”

”What was I supposed to do, eat it?”

#7: “I didn’t catch your name!”

”I didn’t throw it.”

#8: “I’m not better than you, but at least I’m not you. And right now, that’s worth a whole lot.”

#9: Romantic dinner, but something is wrong.

#10: Forehead kisses during an apocalypse

#11: “This isn’t BBC Sherlock! You can’t just run around administering justice as you see fit!

#12: Trying to get a smoke detector to shut up

#13: Falling out of a closet during Hide N Seek

#14: Revealing a dark secret, but it turns out that they already know

#15: Once upon a midnight dreary

#16: The odds were never in our favor

#17: If I should die, think only this of me

#18: Attack hugs

#19: Afraid of ladybugs

#20: The dumb*ss God couldn’t stop

#21: “There’s a rumor going around that you’re the one to ask if someone needs to acquire rare and dangerous objects.”

”There’s a rumor going around that you’re an undercover cop.”

#22: A parking lot, a coroner, and snails

#23: “You’re the only person I know who calls me that.”

#24: This is not a drill.

#25: It’s the price we pay to feel

#26: A character is cleaning/sweeping the floor when someone walks by with dirty shoes (via @writingprompts365 )

#27: “I’m back from my mission!”

““You failed it.”

““How’d you know?”

They point at the TV.

#28: A character is pushed into some bushes/plants/flowers (via @writingprompts365 )

#29: A character picks up a very shiny rock (same @)

#30: A character combs another character’s hair (same)

#31: A character is forced to have a conversation with someone they don’t like (same)

#32: Laughing hysterically at their own joke

#33: Stuck under the same umbrella

#34: ““Well, this is a nice change of scenery!”

““It’s a jail cell.”

““I was being sarcastic.”

#35: ““Let me just be perfectly clear that this was not my fault.”

#36: ““Can I buy you coffee? For old times sake?”

#37: Fake dating

#38: Huddling for warmth

#39: Being high on painkillers and confessing undying love to everyone

#40: “That’s starting to get annoying.”

#41: “I fell asleep on the bus and woke up here.”

#42: “It’s freaking cold.”

#43: “You’re not exactly known for your great ideas.”

#44: ““Can you keep a secret?”

#45: Character A lives above character B, and always drives B insane with how much stomping they do. One day, A’s foot goes right through the floor, into B’s apartment.

#45: Character A and Character B, sworn enemies, are chosen to prepare the company Christmas Party.

#46: you’re a security guard at an art gallery and you held the door for me so I left you a note in the door where we met I hope you read it

#47: Person A and Person B both trying to break into the same place on the same night by accident, only to be chased by the police upon meeting and having to hide in a closet/cupboard/safe together until they leave.

#48: the first and the last word they said to each other

#49: your kid hates my kid

#50: ‘picking them up’ hugs

#51: an incredibly loud and painful high-five

#52: "Let me fix that for you."

#53: “Can’t we listen to something else? We’ve been listening to this CD for three hours now.”

“You know, I would but the CD slot is broken so it’s either this or talk to each other.”

“I wouldn’t mind talking.”

“[turns up the music louder]”

#54: "My kiss quota for the day hasn't been filled. I need a thousand more."

#55: Person A making fun of Person B's bed head

#56: Squeeze three times for “I love you”

#57: writing a love letter but keeping it to themselves

#58: Messing around in IKEA

#59: “Hey - what’re you hiding behind your back?”

#60: going to a bookshop and selecting books for each other

#61: smiling at each other from across the room

#62: arms wrapping around your waist from behind while you’re on a phone call

#63: “ rich coming from the guy who tried to kill me three days ago. “

#64: message in a bottle

#65: becoming the parents of the friend group as soon as they start dating

#66: “I love you.”

“Ouch.”

#67: “We...we did it. We did it! Oh my God, I could kiss you.”

“Well, don’t be shy.”

My To-Do List

Here is everything that I’m currently working on! If you’ve sent a request in, and I see it, it should pop up here!

REQUEST SLOTS: FULL

+ Sherlock / Reader (not requested) undetermined topic

+ Rusty Ryan / Reader (not requested) #4

+ Sam Seaborn / Reader (requested) slow dancing

*anything with an asterisks has already been started.

Tag List

@girloncorneliastreet​ for The West Wing

@wolviesbabes​ for Gibbs / Reader

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I submit a request? When you look at my blog, there is a link titled “Asks/Requests”. Click that, and submit something!

How specific does my request have to be? More detail is always better if you’re looking for something specific, but if you’re not picky, it’s no big deal! Even if you just say “could I have some more Spock content please?” I’ll answer it!

Do you write smut? Nope! Not for me.

Are your requests open? Not at the moment! They will be soon, though.

What do I do if your requests are closed? Send it later, when they’re open again!

Do you have a master list? I do! I also have a tag called #masterlist, which all of my work is under. You can access the master list itself by navigating to the page on my blog, or just clicking the link at the top of this post!

What’s your name? You can call me C :)

Why didn’t you reblog my post about social justice? In order to avoid burnout for myself and my followers, I am doing my best to keep this blog free of anything other than fan content. This does not mean that I disagree or agree with you, it just means that I’m not commenting. I do not need to participate in internet social justice activity when I am already an activist on other platforms, including real life.

What can I send asks or messages about? Anything!! Life updates, random questions, whatever! I love to hear from you <3

That’s all, folks!

[anotheruserwithnoname]

What am I looking forward to?

I get asked what I’m looking forward to in terms of entertainment as 2021 trundles along. I thought I’d put together a list of my thoughts of the things I have marked on my calendar (or am prepared to buy, as the case may be!)

Klokkenluider, The Sandman, The War Rooms: Obviously I’d be failing at my duty to not include Jenna Coleman’s trio of upcoming projects! I have a confession - I’ve yet to watch all of The Serpent, too. Hoping for a DVD or (even better) Blu-ray release of that later in the year too. UK has one already. Netflix does release many of its shows to permanent media so hopefully The Serpent will be one of them (ditto Sandman and War Rooms down the line).

Free Guy: the much-delayed video game-based film starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer. Reminds me of Ready Player One, which was one of my favourite films of the last few years. And it’s the first leading film role for Jodie Comer from Killing Eve and it looks like she might be playing a nerdy version of Villanelle (without all the murdery sociopathic stuff; at least, I assume!). 

No Time to Die: Some aspects of the trailers have me concerned, and whenever I hear people talk about “new directions” I get antsy because that rarely ends well. But this is Bond and while there has been the occasional poor 007 film in the past (A View to a Kill and Quantum of Solace are the only Bond films I dislike and avoid; not a bad ratio out of 25) the odds of me liking it are pretty good (hell, I even consider Spectre to be one of the best Bonds ever, and I know that’s unpopular opinion). I was concerned about Phoebe Waller-Bridge being one of the writers due to my opinion that Fleabag is overrated (I know, another unpopular opinion), but that was before I saw her work on Killing Eve. If she brings some of that spirit to the film, it’ll work. Some of the things people are complaining about don’t bug me, especially regarding the 007 designation which belonged to somebody else before the events of the 2006 Casino Royale film and in all likelihood they’ll reboot continuity with whoever follows Daniel Craig anyway so none of that matters. They could kill Bond off and it wouldn’t make a difference.

Lower Decks Season 2: Speaking of unpopular opinion, Season 1 was one of the most pleasant surprises of last year. I think the backlash against Lower Decks is primarily a case that, for many fans, their dislike and disappointment of the current state of the franchise is so high that even if they do something good, it’s rejected automatically. I’ve given up on Discovery, have little interest in Picard (I had good things to say about it last year but it’s not aged well) and don’t care to see Strange New Worlds. So I was prepared to pooh-pooh on Lower Decks (I could have worded that a bit more elegantly; I dedicate that to Seth McFarlane) but, while it’s obviously a non-canon spoof, it still feels like Trek, which I cannot say for the current live-action shows. Basically that means it’s The Orville done for Star Trek. Which is fine, because it works better than Discovery’s and definitely Short Trek’s attempts at Orvilling (which in my opinion was about as entertaining as gerbilling - did I type that out loud?). And I think Beckett Mariner is the most interesting lead character of a Trek series in years. Speaking of The Orville...

The Orville Season 3: It’s in Red Dwarf territory right now in terms of it taking forever between seasons, and I am worried that being on Hulu might make it too edgy and turn away the many who latched onto it because Discovery was too edgy. But I have faith in Seth McFarlane, so eventually we’ll see it. If not, maybe I’ll give Avenue 5 a shot. Oh, and I am expecting Season 3 to be the end. It feels like getting it made - even taking C19 into account - was very difficult this time around and McFarlane sounds like he has a lot on his plate. If it does end, I hope somebody continues it in novel or comic book form (the comics have been incredible - seriously some of the best tie-ins I’ve read in years, and they’re canon too apparently thanks to being written by the show’s producer).

Magnum PI Season 4: It’s a sweet show and I watch it for the Magnum-Higgins ship (which is currently following the Clara-Danny trajectory). And I keep hoping co-star Perdita Weeks is able to recruit BFF Jenna Coleman to appear someday. So there’s that.

Legends of Tomorrow Season 7 and the conclusion of Supergirl Season 6. Another unpopular take is I happen to really like these two CW shows. Supergirl is calling it a day after 6 seasons, with the final season split into two parts, with the second half airing later this summer. Legends is still midway through S6 but has been renewed for a 7th. Both are fun, with Legends literally being the only show on TV that is legitimately unpredictable (seriously, this past week was a riff on Baby Yoda of all things - and no, Beebo was a riff on Furby. Different merch magnet, pay attention.), plus it’s most likely (IMO) the reason why John Constantine the character is unavailable for The Sandman series (which opened the door for Jenna Coleman to be cast as his ancestor Johanna, which is fine by me!).

Killing Eve Season 4: obviously. It’s only because of Jenna Coleman that you’re not getting wall-to-wall Jodie Comer on this blog. If she and Jenna are ever cast together in anything, I might need to call an ambulance.

Peter Capaldi’s debut album. It’s about time! No it’s not, that would be silly. And I don’t want to thank C19 for creating the circumstances that led to Peter doing a record. But still - a Peter Capaldi album is coming. It just better not be digital-only. I want to see him on the New Release rack at Sunrise Records.

So looks like I have a lot of stuff to occupy my time coming up!

[kinetic-elaboration]

June 2: 2x21 Patterns of Force

Took a nap after work today!! Perhaps a bad idea.

Anyway, some thoughts on the... awkward Patterns of Force.

Another story about Jim looking for his hero, I see. That never (always) ends badly.

Definitely getting an image of little Spock (teenage Spock? young adult Spock? all little Spocks) reading about Earth history.

Oh no, an armed drone. That does not bode well. Why do Kirk’s heroes always betray him?

A subcutaneous transponder. That seems like a useful device to introduce into the narrative. (Slash remember for future purposes...)

Also it reminds of me “He’s a...a... a transponster!”

Spock in a hat. I guess the Ekosians and/or Zeons don’t have pointed ears, then.

“It’s our old enemy...fascism.”

Well this guy literally was not subtle in his references to Nazi Germany. (I’m referring in universe to what’s-his-face but this also applies to the episode writer.)

“The evidence is clear... someone did interfere.”

“You look quite well for a man who’s been utterly destroyed, Mr. Spock.” This man canNOT stop flirting for one second.

Lol, using Spock to distract the Nazi.

“It’s logical to pretend to be a Nazi? Okay, I’m convinced. You said the magic word.”

“Look! I captured him!” So proud.

Kirk’s face when Spock says he would make a convincing Nazi. Bb, you’re not doing the compliment thing right. (I’ll actually be quite honest... I find the humor in that moment but it also makes me uncomfortable given both these actors are Jewish.)

That said, Kirk is canonically better at blending into undercover scenarios than Spock is. He thinks better on his feet, creatively.

How do these people NOT recognize two whole-ass aliens.

...Maybe they do.

I do like when Kirk is being interrogated and still tries to be charming..

That Nazi really lost a lot of authority after being dressed down by his superior in front of the captives.

I like this Zeon. 

“The flaw in the plan is this locked door.” Thanks Spock. It’s this subtle humor that I think people often miss in him. Like where you can’t tell if it’s intentional or not.

Kirk is so smart!!! He never gets credit for being this smart.

Hmm, taking out the transponders is such a weirdly intimate scene.

The Zeon wants to be included in this adventure so much but they’re obsessed with each other, like “What Zeon?”

“I’ll be your platform, Mr. Spock.”

This is such a weirdly humorous interlude for a story about Nazis. Kind of reminds me in a way of that conversation with the police man on City on the Edge of Forever. I mean that ep was much better but just like the sudden switch in tone.

Spock’s like “Oh, that was cool. Made a laser.”

I heard Kirk say, “You, over there,” as in directing Spock to stand over there, but the subtitles say “Beautiful. Over there.” As in, “we did a beautiful job getting out, now Spock, stand over there.” But combine them...?

Not gonna get a disguise for Spock huh? Just gonna let him be shirtless a little more for no apparent reason.

Poor Zeon. These aliens are inscrutable and not letting him in on anything.

“Alien pistols.”

“Who would win? the entire military force of this planet or two phaser-less space husbands?"

I probably shouldn’t laugh every time Kirk impersonates a Nazi but I do. "Don't mind me... completely believable Nazi here..."

The unsubtle of the Hebrew names. And of course.. .Zeon.

“We’ll be just as bad as the Nazis.” No, actually, you’re not and never will be that’s not how it works. BUT you definitely should help the aliens. Like, that phrase grates because it’s usually used to refer to, like, use of violence, use of “censorship” but here’s it more about turning away people who are different or minority and so then it does make sense but....the connotations.

Spock’s like, “May I... get away from this emotion? Has enough time passed for me to ask that?”

More Nazis! Following them everywhere!

Oh, psych. Not Nazis after all.

Spock’s like “Betraying your own father, you say? I have never thought about that.”

“The Fuhrer... is an alien?” Actual real line AND a correct summation of the situation.

This ep does not paint the Federation in a great light. Although to be fair... John Gill was breaking the rules so.

Documentary corps... I love it. Great disguise. Flash lights in people’s eyes, have an excuse to stay in a group, no on looks at you. Genius.

Spock is honestly so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about EVERYTHING. He cannot be tamed. Again, really an aspect of him I miss in the reboots.

Kirk really is the captain of everyone in his vicinity.

“Think positively, Spock.”

Uhura is unflappable. “A Nazi Colonel’s uniform? Of course, Captain.”

Send him down naked if you have to!! Yes, please, send him down naked.

Spock giving McCoy detailed instructions on how to put on boots... Why was dialogue like this not in the reboots?

McCoy is so polite. Polite first, confused later. “Nice to meet you, Nazi--wait, Nazi???”

I love how McCoy immediately put on his drunk face and Spock was like, "An opportunity to insult McCoy?? Awesome.”

So I assumed the Chairman was either dumb or didn’t recognize them with their shirts on but apparently he was yet another mole, so. At least it’s not a plot hole.

“The speech has no discernible pattern or logic.” Hmmm, I wonder what it feels like to have a leader who speaks with no discernible pattern or logic?

Guys. Pals. Awful people. Did he really give orders, or did he just say random shit? People will flock to anything. I'll be honest, I actually think this is one of the subtler and better parts of this episode: how chilling it is to contemplate how people will rally around any non-speech that has the right tone and a few key words. This is garbage language. But it incites people to kill.

McCoy and his stimulants again.

Spock and his mind probing again.

Wow Spock really messed with his mind there. “He can answer questions but not otherwise speak?” What kind of crazy shit is that?

They are being so mean to Spock. “Malformed ears.” “Low forehead.” That’s not a low forehead, that’s bangs.

Nice triumivirate scene at the end. Feels good, feels organic. Kirk likes to hear his two BFFs bickering because it feels like all is right with the universe, and I agree. Nature is healing.

This episode has a very weird (and very hard to swallow imo) backstory. Like, who primarily associates the Nazis with efficiency? And even if you do, if you think there’s something to the way they put together the country so fast post-WWI, all of this “efficiency” is directly tied to hatred and violence. Like Isak said, the Ekosians have nothing to hold them together BUT hating Zeons. That's at the center of the design. It's not like Gill’s plan backfired it was just... a horrible plan?? It doesn’t even make sense to me that his “effective regime” was co-opted by one hateful person because what was at the center of the “Nazi” regime before the hatred of Zeons? What could it have been? There are no other alternatives provided. Also, even if it could have been somehow accomplished without the use of a scapegoat.. is fascism really an ideal? Like the story never reckoned with that concept at all, which I find disturbing.

Here’s the thing about Gill. He is a certain real type and I appreciate his inclusion up to a point. He’s the Naive, Hubristic Intellectual. He thinks because he’s studied something, academically, he knows more about it even than people who experienced it, and he can fix all of its problems. “I can do this, but better. I am so smart, I am so well-informed, I have no flaws.” I can even see this sort of person being someone a young Kirk would admire because there’s an optimism and idealism to this naivete. I don’t think Kirk is arrogant but he is very idealistic, and when he was a young man, still in the market for heroes, or at least idols or mentors? Yeah, someone with that kind of attitude toward life--that we can deeply understand and then improve upon history--would have appealed to him. It’s possible that Gill even was the “compassionate, gentle” person that Kirk thought, or that he had that side to him.

Where I think the episode erred is in absolving Gill of most of his guilt for this state of affairs. He does die and he does admit he was wrong, but his biggest sin is allegedly in introducing a regime that could be co-opted for evil rather than one that was inherently bad. He is literally drugged (tortured in a way), to emphasize just how non-culpable the narrative thinks he is. Also, while he does apologize for interfering at all, even this is fairly brief and not expanded upon in the rest of the narrative. The truth is he shouldn’t have interfered in general, because that’s not his place or his right, and he shouldn’t have interfered in this way specifically. Even if Malakon hadn’t risen and taken over, the ideal Gil was imposing was one of unthinking uniformity, lack of autonomy, worship of a leader over the rule law--these are not the values of the Federation, the show Star Trek, or me. But he’s used more as a device to explain why the show is so unsubtly Nazi, rather than a real villain or object lesson. Even though Gill is a much better object lesson than Malakon.

And what about Malakon? The ending presents him, literally and in so many words, as the “one evil man” responsible for all of this. I think we know both from studying history and, unfortunately, from our own times, that this is untrue because impossible. One evil person is just a lunatic ranting on the street corner. One evil leader became leader because others agreed and gave him power, or agreed in part, or made a deal with the devil, or disagreed but said nothing, or spoke but were overwhelmed. It’s a disservice to the subject matter to say that dictatorships or authoritarian regimes are that simple. I get that the episode is only 50 minutes and it needs to wrap up, and it’s simpler to say “Okay, killed the Villain, now we can go back to being Not Evil, all the Ekosians will be as happy as the Zeons because we never really wanted this.” But Hitler and his henchmen weren’t the only Nazis. Regular people--and in this context, regular Ekosians--weren’t Nazis too.

Overall, the episode was okay. Very awkward though. Very blunt. I think it would have been better off not using the Nazi symbology so literally. Like the idea that a human would come into a society and purposefully create something from our history is interesting (and “what if Earth but alien?” is certainly something TOS likes doing and finds various ways to do--like the gangsters in A Piece of the Action or Neo-Rome in Bread and Circuses or even literal Greek Gods in Who Mourns for Adonais?) but not worth it given which society was being emulated. It seemed to be too much an excuse to dig out the old WWII movie costumes (and put Jewish actors in Nazi regalia which... is very... distressing) and not so much an excuse for some kind of commentary along the lines of what I said above re: the hubris of historians, the hubris of time. That aspect leaves a bad taste. It had some good ideas but I think, again, it was hindered rather than helped by how literal it insisted (for some reason) on being. Compare it to A Private Little War, which was just about as obvious a Vietnam allegory as you can get, and yet still didn’t literally transport anyone to Vietnam, and this ep looks all the more clunky. I’m probably judging it more harshly than I have on previous viewings, but I really feel like... you can use sci fi to make a commentary on the rise of authoritarianism, but the delicacy of the subject matter requires you to be particularly thoughtful in the way you do it and the actual statements you’re making.

Anyway, the Enterprise Defeats Nazis is a good episode summary at least.

I think in my last attempt at a whole rewatch I stopped at around this point. I seem to have watched the next two episodes, according to Amazon, but I have a weird feeling I only watched one, the next one, By Any Other Name, and then stopped. I don’t remember either of them so we’ll see how that goes! Will they seem familiar or not?

[fand0mfancies]

Came across this on Tumblr a few days ago, it amused me for a couple of hours or more, filling it in, while watching QI.

 Fandom Questions

 1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Star Trek: Voyager, I suppose at least for reading. Started writing with Stargate SG-1.

 2. What is your latest fandom?

I dip in and out of lots of fandoms on and off, the most recent ‘pick up’ is Ballam from Eastenders, I don’t watch soaps, but Robron and Ballam both appear a good bit on my tumblr, so I eventually gave in to checking them out via fic and youtube – thank god for youtube, lol! I still don’t watch soaps, but I watch those storylines!

 3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

Gosh, that’s... actually no that’s really easy. Primeval. For anyone not familiar, it’s a ‘silly little dinosaur show’ produced in the UK. It had 4 short seasons, with a somewhat revolving main cast – although they managed to keep 3 of them through all 4 seasons – but the fandom was/is amazing. I made life long friends through the fandom and even though I don’t write much any more I still read some and still talk with those people.

 4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

I would say no. I can’t say every fandom has always been amazing – ship wars anyone! – but mostly fandom has been a very positive experience in my life.

 5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?

How long have you got... in genuinely no particular order (basically as they came to me) Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek (TNG, DS9, Voy, Ent & Reboot Movies), Marvel, Kingsman, Person of Interest, Due South, Quantum Leap, Firefly, Buffy/Angel verse, Harry Potter, The Sentinel, Torchwood(/Doctor Who), Hawaii Five-0, Shadowhunters, Sherlock, Primeval, Emmerdale (Robron), NCIS, CSI (Vegas, NY & Miami), White Collar, Empire Records, Bull, Diagnosis Murder, MacGyver (the original), 1-800-Missing, CHAOS, Without a Trace, M*A*S*H, Charmed, Queer as Folk (US), Will & Grace, Bring it On, Nash Bridges, Magnificent 7 (TV series), House, Babylon 5 – I think I got them all... a few of those were one time only deals, but a lot of them have more (anywhere from 2-52 (or more still!) ranging from 100 word drabbles, to thousands of words – hey I’ve been writing fic for 21 years... you tend to amass a lot of fandoms...

 6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Oh geez, here we go, lol! Okay...

 Stargate SG-1: Jack O’Neill/Daniel Jackson

Stargate Atlantis: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard

Star Trek: Elim Garak/Julian Bashir, Chakotay/Tom Paris, Jonathan Archer/Malcolm Reed, James Kirk/Spock – I don’t particularly have an ‘otp’ in TNG, the couple I’ve written were Picard/Data, I’ve also dabbled reading Data/Gordi)

Marvel: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Kingsman: Harry Hart/Eggsy Unwin

Person of Interest: Harold Finch/John Reese

Due South: Benton Fraser/Ray K

Quantum Leap: Sam/Al

Firefly: Malcolm Reynolds/Simon Tam

Buffy/Angel Verse: Buffy/Giles, Angel/Spike, Xander/Spike, Willow/Tara

Harry Potter: Harry/Draco, Harry/Hermione, Harry/Hermione/Draco

The Sentinel: Jim/Blair

Torchwood: Jack/Ianto

Hawaii Five-O: Steve/Danno

Shadowhunters: Magnus/Alec

Sherlock: Sherlock/John, Mycroft/Lestrade

Primeval: Nick Cutter/Stephen Hart, James Lester/Hilary Becker Emmerdale: Robert Sugden/Aaron Dingle

NCIS: Gibbs/DiNozzo CSI: Nick Stokes/David Hodges, Mac/Danny, Horatio/Speed White Collar: Neal/Peter/Elizabeth

Empire Records: Joe/Lucas

Bull: Benny/Jason

Diagnosis Murder: Steve/Jesse

 I’ve left a few out where I don’t have particular OTPs

 7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

Here we go again... lol!

 Stargate SG-1: Jack/Sam, I just... no. I’ve read a few where it’s a background or secondary pairing, but it always makes me wince a bit. I’ve read a few with Sam/Daniel as a secondary pairing that didn’t make me react that way and I’ve read Sam with other characters, but Jack/Sam just is a nope for me.

Stargate Atlantis: McKay/Keller – no, just no. that was horrible. She treated him like... awfully, trying to change him to suit her, just... no.

Marvel: Contentious, but Tony/Pepper, also Peter Parker/Tony Stark. Maybe because I saw the movies before I ever looked at the comics, but meh.

Due South: Benton Fraser/Ray V – again, contentious, but honestly I think Ray V was kind of a shit friend to Fraser.

Firefly: Anything with Jayne. No really, I just can not stand the character. I spent most of the series wanting to punch him in the face and sometimes you get characters you love to hate, but I just hated him.

Buffy/Angel Verse: Buffy/Spike, Willow/Kennedy

Harry Potter: Ron/Hermione, Ron/Harry, Harry/Ginny... basically, Ron and Ginny should just be loveless hermits who live by themselves. Ok, no, that isn’t fair... but as much as Ron was Harry’s first friend, he was selfish and bitter and Ginny/Harry just... never sat right with me. Ron literally says she spent ‘all summer talking about’ Harry, when she’d met him for all of three seconds. She didn’t know him. It always felt like she fell more in love with the *idea* of Harry Potter, than Harry Potter himself.

Sherlock: Sherlock/Molly, he’d eat her for breakfast. Serious, she’d never survive him.

Primeval: Oliver Leek and anyway. Arg. Creepy little dude is creepy and evil.

NCIS: Ziva/DiNozzo – ugh, just no.

 Again, I’ve left out ones where I don’t have particular NoTPs

 8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

Tumblr, god damned bitches posting gifs of pretty boys falling in love, roped me in!

 9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

I dabble in several fandoms at once... but if we go by ‘most recently picked up’ as ‘current’ we’re talking Ballum, which hey, it’s always fun to have an actual canon pairing be my OTP, that’s rare for me, lol.

 10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Well (so far) I haven’t written any Ballum. (I say so far, because I’m a realist, lol). I rarely read in fandoms and not end up writing in them at some point. Although I have probably dabbled in a few I’ve not written for, but if I read it with any sort of consistency, I mostly end up writing it. I am weak!

  Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

 11. Who is your current OTP?

Okay, so that list above, just basically go with that. While I do drop in and hour of fandoms and some I certainly read in more than others, I do tend to go back to fandoms... If we were talking about what I’m mostly focused on writing atm... Steve/Tony, Mycroft/Lestrade, Harry/Draco and Robron are ones I’m currently working on most.

 12. Who is your current OT3?

I’m not currently writing anything that’s OT3 with any real focus. I have a couple of Neal/Peter/Elizabeth WiPs that I will at some point finish, but they aren’t a big focus just now. I did recently read a fabulous Neal/Peter/Elizabeth fic that’s been on my tbr list for ages.

 13. Any NoTPs?

Just... see above, lol!

 14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Harry Hart/Merlin, those two are Bro’s until the end and I will fight you on this. Also, Eggsy/Roxy! OMG they are such a BroTP! And Tony/Pepper/Rhodey – I may no like Tony/Pepper as a pairing, but I love them as best friends and of course, our Rhodes, because again, I will fight you on this, they are awesome and Tony needs his best friends!

 15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

I’m not sure there is. I suppose I’ve read a few fics for some random pairings over the years, but nothing that’s made me really ship-ship them. I like Clint Barton/Bucky Barnes, after seeing it as a secondary pairing in a Steve/Tony fic, but I’ve seen that pop up a few times since, so maybe it won’t stay obscure for long!

 16. Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Jack/Sam, Tony/Pepper, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Buffy/Spike – they all seem to be het pairings, oops. But I am mostly a slash fic reader/writer, so I suppose that’s not too surprising.

 17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Jack/Daniel from Stargate SG-1. I still love them. I still read them, although it has been a while since I’ve written them on their own (I have got some SG-1/SGA x-overs where they feature)

 18. What ship have you written the most about?

I’m genuinely not sure... without going and counting (and I’m not going any counting!) I’d guess Jack/Daniel, McKay/Sheppard, Jack/Ianto and Steve/Danno.

 19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

No, not that I can think off. I either like it or not. I do occasionally feel bad for not reading a fic if it’s an author I really like, but I don’t read that fandom or pairing, but nothing specific.

 20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Robron and Ballum, lol. I do not do soaps!

  Author Questions

 21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

 Stargate SG-1, Jack/Daniel, a story called The Dare, The Disaster, The Almost Happy Ending, And The Very Happy Ending – it was awful. Don’t go looking, lol!

 22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Don’t we all? No, I wouldn’t specifically say so. There are certainly fics, especially older ones, I wish I could have written better, but nothing I’d go, ugh I should never have done that.

 23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Uh... honestly that’s really hard. I... um... yeah, I don’t know, really. I wrote a nice little flower one in POI that I felt worked rather beautifully. The Language of Flowers. An I wrote an SGA fic for NaNo a few years ago, called A Different Life, but it’s not online, because I didn’t finish it yet and I knew I wasn’t going to finish it any time soon, so I didn’t feel it was fair to leave it up unfinished (there is a reason I don’t read WiP fics and I don’t post them either, because I know how much I hate unfinished WiPs) Edit: After writing this I reminded myself of a POI fic I wrote called Hours of Separation – It’s a Harold/John break up story that I always intended to write a sequel too where I ‘fixed’ them, but I just couldn’t do it. I broke them a little too well. But I really love it actually.

 24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

The afore mentioned A Different Life needs to be edited and finished, lol! Also a Primeval fic with the working title Crypt Keeper (don’t ask) that I worked myself into a bit of a corner on and I figure out how to fix it, but I haven’t done it yet, so it’s still needs fixing and finishing, lol!

 25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

I haven’t the foggiest.

 26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

Sometimes, really easily, a quote, a line from the fic, a song title... other times it’s like pulling teeth, hence working titles on things like ‘crypt keeper’ which is a reference to one scene near the very start and has no actual hint of the plot, lol!

 27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Oh the titles. Summaries you can just copy a few lines from the fic if you are desperate, if you had to post ‘untitled mcshep fic #67’ people would get cranky, lol, hell I’d get cranky!

 28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Oh... I... huh. I mean who wouldn’t love fanart for their stories? Any of them honestly! But if I had to choose just one... I guess something in my Animal Instinct verse, which is Primeval (although I always intended to write other fandoms in the verse) where some people transform into animals, based on their ‘spirit animal’ and some art of the characters with their spirit animal form would be awesome.

 29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

Sometimes, look if you’ve read this far, you know I write in a lot of fandoms, lol. In some fandoms it’s easier than others to find beta readers. Also, sometimes if it’s just something short, I won’t bother. But I do try for my longer fics.

 30. What inspires you to write?

That old adage, if you want to read it, sometimes you just have to write it? Spite? Boredom? Honestly sometimes I just have ideas I have to get out of my brain and it’s write or go mad(der)

 31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

That it inspired them to write something.

 32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

Sometimes, sometimes I find it distracting when writing because I end up singing along and forgetting what I’m writing, lol! I do sometimes get inspiration from songs, I guess mostly from the lyrics, but no particular band or genre – although I listen to a lot of country music!

 33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

Little from column a, little from column b... littler still from column c...

 34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

Around 60k, I think.

 35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I have. Primeval had/has a week drabble challenge, mostly when I’ve written drabbles it’s been for a challenge, with a specific prompt.

 36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

Uh... I mean, my fandoms really span the genres, but I guess sci-fi or crime are probably my favourites.

 37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

Third mostly, I have occasionally written in first person, if it felt like the fic needed it.

 38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

Little from column a, little from column b... it depends on the fandom and the story. Sometimes you just need more characters, mostly they are minor roles, I don’t tend to write much established character/oc fic

 39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Ability to convince myself people will want to read it, lol! No actually to be honest, I love to know people read and like my stuff, but I gave up a long time ago on trying to ‘please’ people with what I write. I write what I want to read.

 40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Focus. The problem with 21 years of fandom history, is well... 21 years of fandom history. A lot of fandoms, a lot of pairings and as I say, I never really ‘leave’ a fandom, I just drop in and out and sometimes that means I’ll write on something consistently for weeks or months and then end up getting distracted by another fandom again and not touch it for weeks or months again. Hence, I don’t post WiP fics, because I know I’m easily distracted and don’t want anyone to suffer my lack of focus but me.

  Fanfiction Questions

 41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

I don’t read WiP fics, so yeah... but 5 I’ve recently read in different fandoms that I’ve really enjoyed

 Turns Out, I Have a Rose Garden by betheflame (Steve Rogers/Tony Stark)

Lucky by china_shop (Neal Caffery/Peter Burke/Elizabeth Burke)

Colors by Quesarasara (Sherlock/John)

Betrayal by Blackghost7 (Gibbs/DiNozzo)

Matchmaker (Part 1 of the Marmalade Series) by HastaLux, Mottlemoth (Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade)

 42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

See now this is hard, because... ahh so many...

 FredBassett – Primeval author, her Stephen/Ryan series is epic and brilliant and endless

https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/pseuds/fredbassett

 Keira Marcos – I know other people will have said her, I don’t care. I love all her stuff, across all the fandoms she writes in

http://keiramarcos.com/

 theapplepielifestyle – her Steve/Tony is amazing. Hands down some of the best I’ve ever read. I will fight you on this.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/theappleppielifestyle/pseuds/theappleppielifestyle

 JillyJames – her Tony DiNozzo is a real life grown up... exactly as he should be considered given he’s a goddamn federal agent!

https://jillyjames.com/

 missbecky – I’ve read pretty much all her Steve/Tony and Harry/Eggsy and it’s awesome.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbecky

 Honestly, I could have listed so many more, but, I’m being good!

 43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

Everyone. The thing is, fandom at it’s best is like crack, the more you get, the more you want. The writing, the gifs, the art... it feeds you and makes you want to make more of it, because more of it needs to exist and if that means you need to do it yourself, so be it!

 44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

ALL OF THEM!

 45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

Oh hell no, not even, I can not. It took me an hour to narrow down 5 authors, I can not narrow down one fanfic!

 46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

I mean, it depends on what they like... probably the Hour of Separation I mentioned above, if they like the fandom/pairing, or my Animal Instinct stuff.

 47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

Archive of our Own. I haven’t touched ff.net in *years* since they started getting super restrictive about what you could post. I do occasionally post stuff to tumblr, but mostly I now post to AO3. I did have my own site and I’ve yet to upload a lot of stuff to AO3 – one of these... months... that will be a project – but it’s amazing. Seriously, having been in fandom 20+ years, going from having to search all over a million different places and now it’s all in one place, where we’re honestly, spoiled and protected. The kids now have no idea how crazy impossible that once seemed.

 48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

Yes, but not as often as I should. I love AO3s kudos button, so I can sort of say ‘hey I enjoyed this’ without having to comment, because I sort of hate leaving comments just going ‘hey I enjoyed this’ because I always feel like I should say more, like, oh I enjoyed this specific thing, which yes is an unnecessary hang-up, but there ya go.

 49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

Of course it’s nice to get comments, kudos, reblogs etc. I’m not as attached to them now as I was when I was younger, because I learned along the way that it was more important that I like what I’m writing than that other people do, but it’s still nice to know that something I’ve created is enjoyed.

 50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I went looking for Star Trek Voyager stuff online, pics etc, waaaaaaay back when! And I came across fanfiction entirely by accident... and I read some – het stuff mostly, then I started watching Stargate SG-1, went looking for fanfiction for that, but was not on board with Jack/Sam, found Jack/Daniel went ‘huh really? That’s weird’ read it... and yeah... 21 years later... lol!

 51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Ship Wars. No seriously, just don’t. Like, who the actual fuck cares. I like my ship, you like your ship. I don’t care if it’s canon or not. I don’t care if it’s popular or not. I don’t read my NoTPs, but I’d never dream of telling someone else not too. Yes I think they are terrible, bad, no good pairings, but that’s *my* opinion. Don’t try to change my mind and I won’t try to change yours. I avoid them like the actual plague. If someone starts that shit around me, I will shut it right down. You are a dick. Go to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.

[elysiumwaits]

Hey! If you’re still taking prompts, how about no. 71 - “I just did some calculations, and I’ve been able to determine that you’re full of shit.” As for pairing, well, I don’t know about you, but that just positively screams Sterek at me! Thank you.😊

Did you want around 1k words of domestic, established relationship, feel-good fluffy nonsense? Cause that’s what you got. It’s officially part of my happy pack-as-family universe, so. Please enjoy.

Thursday Night Feature

On AO3

Stiles’ Thursday nights are sacred, especially now that he’s officially finished with high school and no longer required to be awake before ten on Friday mornings. They are reserved specifically for time with Derek - time that the pack is not to interrupt, barring life-threatening injuries, supernatural attacks they can’t handle on their own, kidnappings, and other extenuating circumstances. Sometimes, Derek and Stiles go out. Most of the time, though, they each put on their most comfortable sets of never-wear-in-front-of-people clothes and sit together on the couch to watch tv until they can’t keep their eyes open.

The pack has, between them: 

Four Hulu accounts (Isaac absolutely must have the latest SNL as soon as possible, or he gets cranky) 

Five Netflix accounts (Stiles has had one since they sent DVDs by mail)

Six Amazon Prime accounts (for the free shipping, primarily, but the streaming is a bonus - in addition, no one wants anyone else to see what they’re buying on Amazon, so everyone gets cranky about sharing)

Two CBS All Access accounts (Jackson and Stiles both have an unhealthy addiction to Star Trek: Discovery, but apparently can’t share an account like adults)

Two Crunchyroll accounts (Scott’s anime phase never ended, and, to the shock of everyone, neither did Peter’s)

And one Youtube Red account (It’s Scott’s, and though they laughed when he got it, they do use it on occasion).

All of these are completely accessible on Derek’s Roku, as well as Stiles’ XBox One, the pack Playstation 4, and Erica’s Apple TV - which are all hooked up to or can easily be hooked up to the not-obscene-but-pretty-damn-big television in Derek’s living room. 

Which is why it makes no sense that Stiles can’t find one single stupid thing to watch.

“This is ridiculous,” he mutters to himself, clicking through yet another menu. “Did Netflix get rid of Moana?”

“Doesn’t matter, I’m not watching it again.” Derek plops down next to Stiles, sets the cold sodas on the table and throws his arm over the back of the couch. “I still have ‘You’re Welcome’ stuck in my head.”

“It’s the best of the Revival Era Disney movies, Derek,” Stiles says, flipping through the animated movies. “I think they did! Those bastards. Now if I want to watch it, I have to put the DVD in instead of just pushing a button, and I think we both know that I’m way too lazy to be satisfied with that.”

If Stiles were to glance over, he would see the exasperated fondness written all over Derek’s face. It’s a pretty common expression, one that’s been nicknamed by the pack as the “Stiles Face,” and is apparently the most obvious indication of just how smitten Derek actually is over Stiles. Somehow, though, Stiles never seems to catch it - probably because it becomes less exasperated and more fond when Stiles actually looks at Derek. 

“Ugh, what’s on the list to watch later?” Stiles finally clicks away from the animation, dissatisfied with the offering. “I guess we could just watch Brooklyn 99?” 

Derek shakes his head, drops his arm off the back of the couch to curl around Stiles’ shoulder and nestle in a little closer. “You’re a full season ahead of me. We could keep going with Great British Baking Show.” 

The disgusted sound Stiles makes is obviously exaggerated, and completely offset by the way that he shamelessly tucks himself into Derek’s side. “Derek!” he cries dramatically. “If I watch Mary Berry critique a soggy-bottomed technical challenge, I will eat everything in your kitchen. And then, when I get home tomorrow, I’ll eat everything in my kitchen too!”

“Okay, then, what about Nailed It?” 

Stiles grins, then, all pretense of negativity gone. “Have I ever told you that your addiction to baking shows is adorable?”

Derek knocks his head back against the sofa, fighting a smile of his own. “You tell me every single Thursday.”

“It just really amuses me considering how much of a challenge baking is for you.” Stiles’ grin goes from enamored to shit-eating. “You could probably actually be on Nailed It, if you wanted.”

“Alright, no baking,” Derek says with a faux-annoyed growl and a grin he can’t quite hide. “Move over to Prime, we can watch the Star Trek movie with Zachary Quinto again.”

“Oh, now, that’s not fair,” Stiles snorts, clicking the buttons to lead him away from Netflix and over to the other streaming app. “You’re using my weaknesses against me. Just because I have a thing for his eyebrows - which, by the way, aren’t even really in the film - doesn’t mean that you get to use my love for this masterpiece of a reboot movie as foreplay.”

“I would never, Stiles,” Derek says, indulgently, as the movie starts up. “It doesn’t mean anything that we can’t even get through to the end without making out. Probably just a coincidence.”

“You’re damn right, it’s a coincidence.” The feeling of Derek’s shirt under his cheek is a familiar, comforting one. Stiles settles in, and knows for a fact that he won’t make it all the way through the movie this time either. Derek’s fingertips on the skin of his arm below the t-shirt sleeve are already far too distracting. “You know, I just like Zachary Quinto because his eyebrows remind me of yours. Hey, does that mean you’d make a good Vulcan?” Stiles rolls his head to shoot a winning grin at his boyfriend.

Derek looks at him, arching an eyebrow in a very unimpressed manner. “Well, Captain Stiles, I just did some calculations, and I’ve been able to determine that you’re full of shit.” 

The fingertips that had so nicely been skating across Stiles’ arm descend very suddenly on Stiles’ ribs, and if there is one thing that Stiles has learned in the course of dating a werewolf, it is that supernatural strength and supernatural speed combine to make sure that he will never win a tickle fight. His only hope is to beg for mercy or distract, and so Stiles clambers onto Derek’s lap with a shriek of laughter and plants as big and sloppy of a kiss that he’s capable of on Derek’s lips (and actually also gets some of Derek’s nose, if he’s being honest). 

Derek’s hands curl around Stiles’ waist, fingers flexing in the threadbare fabric of his pizza slice pajama pants in a way that clearly says he will mightily object if Stiles tries to move now. Stiles bites back laughter as he lifts the hem of his t-shirt to wipe at Derek’s face and nose before giving in and dissolving into what could probably aptly be described as giggles. The werewolf tilts his face with a grin, and Stiles obliges, leaning forward and pressing a much more civil kiss to his mouth.

“We didn’t even make it through the destruction of the Kelvin,” Derek murmurs when Stiles pulls away, just far enough that Stiles can still feel the breath of Derek’s words against his own lips.

“I told you this movie was foreplay,” Stiles says, and kisses him again.

[irondadgroupie]

Bohemian Rhapsody: Chapter 8

A/N: Peter is still in coma and more professionals visit him @intoresus

“Oh, sorry,” the doctor smiled at the sight of Tony slouched in a chair, his legs resting over Peter's.  

“Hey! It's alright,” The man straightened up and closed the book. “It was getting a bit monotone anyway. There are only so many times you can stand the story of Peter Rabbit.”  

“Tell me about it,” The doctor stepped into the room and watched Tony adjust the blanket over the patient. “I have a daughter who loves that story, I know it by heart.”  

“I can only imagine. So, a check-up?”  

“Just a quick one,” the doctor stared at the monitors that displayed Peter's vitals. “Your boy is doing magnificent progress!”  

Tony ruffled Peter's chair with an affectionate smile. “Well, he has always been a straight- A- student.”  

“We were a bit worried the cardiac arrest would set him backwards a lot but it seems the hypothermia-“

In life, there are few moments you go through a complete pause, one where your thoughts cease and your mind needs to reboot. That happened to Tony at the words ‘cardiac arrest‘. His eyes snapped open and his pulse turned into rapid fire.

“THE WHAT?”  

The doctor turned to him.  

“The cardiac arrest, in the helicopter? Weren't you told-“  

“NO, I WAS NOT TOLD ANYTHING!” Tony shrieked and buried his face in his hands. “This is not good, this is not good- “  

“Mr Stark, I understand it is a shock but Peter is doing fine!” The doctor tried to set a hand on his arm but Tony recoiled further away. “I admit that cardiac arrest raises the risk for another by about 70 percent if I remember correctly-“  

“OH MY GOD!”

May had barely heard the last words of the conversation, but she wasn’t surprised to find Tony panicking at the physician’s exclamation. She couldn’t even count how often she had had to deal with relatives that had yet to swallow that information – and how often she had to explain that it was incorrect. Signing the doctor to leave the room, she made a step towards Tony.

“Tony, Tony, Tony,” May grabbed the man's shoulders. “You need to calm down.”  

“Peter- but Peter-“  

“Tony, forget those numbers! They don't mean a thing!”  

“How can you say that?” The man hyperventilated. “He could have another cardiac arrest!” “Tony,” She guided his head between his knees. “Take deep breaths and I'll ease those worries. Now, forget those figures, they are not reliable and are only rough estimates. They include all cases in them: old and young, sick and healthy. Yes, initial heart failure might raise the risk for another but there are numerous other factors. Peter does not have heart issues, his main problem was hypothermia and lack of oxygen.”

“But-“  

“No, Tony, those statistics include everything from cancer patients and people suffering from severe infections to people who were hit by lightning.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Peter is fine. He’ll maybe spend some more time in slumber land but he’ll be fine.”

It took Tony quite a while to calm down after that. Every time he tried taking a breath he could feel his heart burn at the thought of how close he’d gotten to loose Peter forever. He could’ve done more, he should have -

“Stop it, Tony.” May still stood beside him, hand resting on his back. He couldn’t even understand why she was helping him, after everything that happened. “You want a glass of water?” The woman hurried off before he could give an answer and returned only a few moments later, handing him the glass.

“I’m not -“

“Yes you are. Everything’s alright and you need to drink something without caffeine for once.” When he didn’t make a move to sip, she gently gave him a reason to.

“You know we have the breathing therapist coming today, they’ll tell us what we can do to support and quicken the ventilator withdrawal process. We need to be clear-minded for that.”

“It’s today already?” The appointment had seemed in distant future when he’d scheduled it.

“Yeah, they’ll be coming this afternoon.” May was glad to see Tony’s breathing finally evening out and him taking a half-conscious sip of water. She decided to swiftly change the topic to something less heavy, something that would distract the man from the weight of knowledge. “Has Rabbit Peter finished his adventure?”

He weakly gestured to the book at the nightstand. “For the tenth time. Wanted to hear it twice today.”  

While his condition was still classified as ‘vegetative comatose state’, May and Tony had quickly learned to interpret signs of Peter’s comfort and discomfort. It was still try- and- error sometimes, figuring out what he wanted and needed, but they got better at it. After trying to read another story, it hadn’t taken Tony long to figure out the kid’s pulse only calmed down when he continued to read that one particular story. On other days, Peter wanted his hand held, or May humming some old lullabies.

“What luck I brought some new ones.”  

Tony looked up, trying to smile at another bunch of young children’s novels. For the moment though it only reminded him of the fact that they were slowly making this hospital room Peter’s room, with the flowers Pepper had bought, some more of his old stuffed animals, including a Captain America and Iron Man one that currently sat at his right and left side

“What do you think, sweetie?” May whispered, sitting down at her nephew’s bedside, her fingers affectionately caressing his cheek. “What do you want to do ‘til the big visit?”  

As always, the only response were the continuous beeps of the vital monitor and the mechanic huff of the ventilator.

“We can put up the old Star Trek movies, if you like. I can read for you, if you want. Tony read the entire night reading for you, I bet his voice is too scratchy to sound like the little Heffalump.”

Tony raised his eyebrows.

“The what?”

May’s mouth opened in shock but she smiled when she turned to Peter again. “Can you believe it? He doesn’t know the Heffalump!” She handed him the book without further words, an old copy of a children’s book called ‘Winnie meets a new friend’.

“Seems like I have to read it, huh? No way we can let him leave without him knowing Piglet’s best friend Lumpy.”

May started reading shortly after, her voice soft, and Tony found himself actually following the story of that little pink elephant and his adventures. Who knew whether or not the knowledge couldn’t come in handy someday? When May reached for her tea and paused reading for a moment to oil her voice, Peter’s pulse quickened slightly, a fact Tony did not miss. His eyes scanned the open page of the book in May’s lap before he found the sentence she’d stopped at, reading the following few lines. The next thing just happened, without either one of them thinking about it: Tony paused and May jumped in, reading the little elephant’s part, before Tony continued casually with the story, reading dialogue lines of Winnie, Rabbit, and Tigger while May took over for Piglet, Lumpy, and Roo.

May and Tony were both interested in what the appointment would bring, but for slightly different reasons. Tony still hoped the efforts would quicken Peter’s healing process to the point were they could just get rid of the breathing tube after one or two weeks of doing what the therapist recommended. May, on the other hand, knew that although they might be supporting the process with said means, Peter couldn’t get tube-free without being fully conscious, and that was a state they’d not yet reached. Which was about exactly what one of the invited physicians just tried to explain.

“What we can do is strengthen the diaphragm. That will be the main goal of all designed exercises. However, due to the vegetative state he is in at the moment, most of them have proved rather ineffective because of the lack of willing impulse control.”

“But there’s still something we can do, isn’t there?” Tony asked. He knew the basics and issues of breathing therapy, but when he’d scheduled the appointment, he’d hoped they were way past the vegetative state. In all honesty, Tony had made the necessary calls in simple hopes of never needing them. Back then, he’d thought that Peter would heal just as impossibly fast as usual - and by now be that once healthy teenager he had grown to love.

“Sure there is, I just wanted to point out that while we’ll be able to show you certain therapy aspects, they’ll be almost useless until he’s less deep in his coma.”  

As if the physician picked out Tony’s growing impatience (he wanted to do something to help Peter, not talking about “hows” or “whys”), he stood up, moving to the bag of tools they’d brought: sandbags, modified air balloons... None of those were of interest right now, but the specialists still explained the details of “the daily breathing workout” that’d include Peter learning how to regain control over the air traveling down, even though he wouldn’t be able to in- or exhale entirely by himself at the beginning. It would be a rather rough step by step work when Peter was ready for it. Until then, they had another method of artificial support that Tony was far more interested in: Electric impulse triggering.

It basically consisted of a small belt that was laid on the appropriate area, where the included electrodes would continuously send signals for the muscle to contract and relax, which would hopefully strengthen the muscle fiber that could otherwise easily dwindle.

Tony insisted on being walked through a session set-up from beginning to end.

The first step was to allow the belt skin contact, and Tony tried his best to keep a straight face when moving the gown aside. Peter still seemed covered in so many tubes and wires that the burning knife in his heart twisted at the sight. The only relief was that at least the most prominent bruises had faded away within the past weeks.

“It’s pretty simple. You enable it. There’s just one setting, no frills or anything. But you have to take care of the time. Start with two minutes a day and slowly move upwards from that so the body can adjust to the new pressure. If you want too much too quick, you could risk a charley horse that could easily impair muscle movement.”

“We won’t let it come to that.” May promised, listening to the silent whirs of the new machine added to the symphony she had somehow gotten used to. Peter laid still, showing no obvious signs that the machine was doing anything and his pulse was calm and steady. As long as it wouldn’t harm him, a condition both May and Tony had agreed on, they would try anything that could be even slightly beneficiary to Peter’s condition. 

“How has the appointment been? Any progress?” Pepper asked, placing a tray of food on the nightstand before leaning towards Peter, squeezing his hand to let him know she was there.

Tony shrugged half-heartedly and watched his spouse take her place. The woman had learned pretty early on that if she wanted to spend some rare time with Tony it had to be here since the man refused to leave Peter’s room for any longer than he necessarily had to. Showers and shaving had become less frequent too - which easily caught attention, given that Tony Stark used to be a very spruced person.

“Just like we’ve guessed. They gave us some recommendations, but in the end, we mainly have to wait until he reaches at least a minimally conscious state.”

“Still no changes?” Pepper handed him the cutlery.

“No. Still sleeping deeply.” Tony began forking up the noodles without looking, his eyes fixed on the teenager in the hospital bed. “The doctors keep assuring it’s nothing to worry about but -“

“Then it isn’t. Trust them, Tony, they know what they’re talking about.”

“It’s been so long, Pep. Too long. If he’d be normal, I probably wouldn’t worry that much... But he’s enhanced, the spider genes should’ve taken care of the damage by now.” 

Pepper sighed, not in frustration or annoyance, but in pure understanding. “After all those papers you’ve read by now, you should know that there’s no such thing as a reliable estimate on the duration of coma. There’s no correlation with the severity of injuries, so there might be other factors that his healing factor does not have a direct impact on, or they’re just... new. We have to remain patient.”

“I know.” Tony sighed. “I just hate seeing him like this. He should be in school outsmarting his classmates - not here. This is not what I meant when I said I wanted to have him around more often.”

“He’ll be fine.” Pep assured, for what must be the thousandth time ever since the accident. “And when the rough part is over, you two can have a talk about prolonging your weekend sessions.” She smiled, before frowning, suddenly remembering that there was something else.

“You should check your emails. They’ve sent first reports to Peter’s mail address, but since he isn’t able to read them just now, I had them forwarded to you, too. I assume you want to read them to him.”

“Are they good?” Tony asked, faking a casual tone.

“I didn’t look.” Pep answered. “But let’s just say the research group doesn’t exactly consist of scientist that have a happy expression on a day to day basis.” 

Tony’s eyes lightened at the words, and he would’ve given everything to have Peter wake up at them, just to see the glance of excitement in the boy’s warm, brown eyes, too. No matter how the results would look like, it would give them something new to work with, which would definitely be a reason for celebration.

Peter, as always, slept the happiness away.

But Tony refused to give up just yet. Maybe that’s what Peter needed: Hearing that the world needed him, awake and aware, to change it for the better.

So, as soon as he’d finished at least half of his portion, he reached for his StarkPad and went through loads of emails of no interest before he found the one he’d been looking for, opening the attached files.

“‘Dear Mr. Parker,’ he started, eyes already lines below. “The chemical fluid design that Mr. Stark has sent us on your behalf has been in Alpha-Testing for the past couple of weeks. Main goals of the research were to study the advances and potential weaknesses of said design in the light of the intentional idea for its use in, quoting your own descriptions, ‘biological engineering as a possible construction material for 3D printed organ layouts.’ Our momentary, rather basic results prove that the fluid hardens to a nearly perfect degree in the printing settings you recommended. Further, the general construction flexibility is very good, allowing the print-out model to accede certain movements without loosing structure.

“It is yet to be seen whether or not the chemical design will be adopted by surrounding, natural cells. Testing the inter-body-dynamics will be a huge part of further research phases.

“Enclosed, you will find the used experimental designs as well as their results, showing minor inconveniences with the current formula.” Tony stopped reading, and realized only then that he had started smiling. Scanning the list of mentioned “inconveniences” with the ‘Steak Formula’, it became clear that all of those were minor and probably easily corrected by changing just simple aspects of it. Maybe even just adapting the printer settings a little again. 

“This is better than you probably ever dreamed of, kiddo. This is extraordinary.” He threw a glance at May who’d come in after the first half of the mail, eyes widened in surprise, too.

“They’re waiting for you.” She said, thumb moving along the lines of Peter’s cheek. “You hear that? They’re waiting for you too continue what you started.”

The happiness left when a response failed to appear. But the pride in both May’s and Tony’s heart remained.

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Bob Snow & Francisco Angones

Storyboard by: Stephanie Gonzaga, Vaughn Tada, Brandon Warren

Directed by: Matthew Humphreys

Don't eat the cake.

The episode begins with Scrooge noticing that something is terribly wrong. He checks through his manor, opening a few doors to see. Webby, Lena, and Violet are dealing with a giant beast, Mrs. Beakley and Dewey are messing with a tempest in a teapot, and, in what is specifically deemed "very wrong" by Scrooge, Della actually bonding with a child that isn't the blue one. Okay, he's actually reacting to how they're both dramatically shouting about being the Legends of LegendQuest, but that doesn't seem too out of character for Della. Maybe for Huey.

After checking the whole mansion he goes back to his room, and he notices his seat is occupied by a familiar face.

Goldie: Morning, Scroogie.

Scrooge wonders why she would be here, and Louie shows up to tell him he invited her in. This episode continues the Louie Inc plotline that we last saw in "The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!". That plotline left off with Louie having a choice for his company: use Scrooge's hard work, or will it be the choice that Louie would actually pick. That choice ended up being "team up with the untrustworthy frenemy of Scrooge". Louie sees himself as a professional, he can handle this!

Not even after the opening credits roll, we see that Louie couldn't handle it, as he gets locked into a chest. Louie starts crying, saying that Louie Inc was his dream, and he thought he can be as clever as her, even calling her his hero. Goldie sees through this "crocodile waterworks" pretty much immediately, but takes kindly to Louie's training in the art of cons. That, and she needed a kid for her next con: getting into a "septleventh birth anniversary" for rich families. Who’s the birthday boy?

It turns out to be this reboot's version of Doofus Drake's big birthday party. Oh boy. Admittedly, the annoying living fat joke being retooled into an awkward and spoiled rich kid with creepy tendencies isn't exactly a terrible punishment for our eyes. When I imagined the Louie and Goldie adventure back when that was teased, I never expected anything like this, that's for sure.

Going away from that, anyone can guess at least one of those things Scrooge McDuck closed the door on was going to be the B plot, and it's not about that beast or the tempest in a teapot. We learn that during her adventuring days, after Donald and Scrooge would go right to sleep, Della would play a video game called Legends of LegendQuest. Huey decides to join in.

I do like the subtle joke that the "very wrong" epic speech they were doing was during the game's really long loading screen, which takes until this scene to load 100%. I would hate to say I liked it because it was the only subtle joke in this B plot, but I have to say it.

The rest of this B plot takes place inside the game world. This isn't a case of a magical video game that sucks them in, they just happen to have avatars that look exactly like them with some subtle differences. Della is this strong warrior woman with a strong resemblance to Zero from Mega Man X, with what looks like a scouter from the early days of Dragon Ball Z. I am sure this show is beyond referencing that ancient "over 9000" meme.

Her son decided to go with the joy of being an ordinary farmer who farms under a giant force field, protecting his garden from the bugs that manage to get past it. The joke is that Huey is boring, but Della is fun! Huey kind of reminds me of that other red accessory wearing kid from the other show in this episode, and not the good version of her.

We see Doofus's party, filled with more Beagle Boys than one might expect. Sorry to say, they do not appear that much. He has all the party quirks that would fit someone of his obscenely rich and richly obscene personality. Instead of bobbing for apples, he has bobbing for splinters. His birthday cake promises that it's not full of hair. Even Louie starts to talk to himself about the obvious joke that it will lead to, until he and Goldie get distracted by the party bags filled with gold.

Louie tries to take one of those party bags, only for Doofus's parents, or "servants" as Doofus calls them, to slap his hand. These bags are meant for departing guests, and are filled with priceless heirlooms from his late Guhmeemama Frances.

Doofus's parents: Guhmeemama.

Oh yeah, whenever her name is said in this episode and Day of the Only Child, they have to whisper to themselves her name. It gets a good payoff here in many more ways than one.

Louie tries to run off with two of the bags again, this time pretending to leave the party, only for Goldie to stop him this time. Apparently, she does not want Louie to be a bad party guest! Oh, and she wants all the bags. She also will not tell Louie her plan to do so, because he would not learn anything. Oh, and she doesn't know what her plan is. A lot of her dialogue is like that.

But enough about her way of talking, the "servants" announce that the "universe's perfect widdle (sic) angel" is making his grand entrance. A closed clam shows up, surrounded by angels. It's a scene very similar to a certain painting, and I really don't like where this is going.

Thankfully, they don't go with him barely covering himself up with a long blonde wig. Somehow, him just popping up right behind Louie is the second worst thing that could have happened with that. As he speaks about how seeing all of his guests with their loving parents reminds him of the only parental figure he knows, he sniffs that some of these families are filthy liars that only went to his party to get his gift bags!

One of those people turns out to be Percival P. Peppington, a guy that sort of looks like Willy Wonka and has at least enough money to hire Johnny, formerly of the Ottoman Empire, to pose as his kid. I looked Percival up, he's not a character from the comics, and he never appears again after this episode. Exposed, Percival ends up getting sentenced by Doofus to go into a trapdoor into his honey bin.

Percival: Don't you mean "Money Bin"?

Doofus: No. (hits button)

We never see this honey bin, but judging by the sound of bees and Randy's face when he looks down into the trapdoor, one would be wishing Doofus could just wish them into the cornfield instead. Thankfully, Doofus has mercy for the not-so-child actor, as he merely gets ejected via spring.

Seeing this, Louie whispers to Goldie that he can smell lies. He and Goldie will then talk about the plan to expose the two obvious phonies to Doofus, leaving them as the only people worthy enough to grab those money bags. They say this all out loud, because there's no way Doofus would hear them despite Louie's fear about him smelling lies!

It may be possible that Louie is heavily overestimating Doofus's abilities to smelling crooks, considering who those two phonies are and at least one of their plans. There's Glomgold, with a son named Sharkbomb that always seems to stay on his right arm, and Mark Beaks, who now has a son named Boyd. Clearly, one is way more unbelievable than the other. I mean, Mark Beaks having a kid? Maybe I'm underestimating how many fangirls he has. As he shows off his family selfies, all of them with his kid with the same exact face, he says this:

Mark Beaks: Yeah, I love this, uh, what is this, uh, uh, son!

This line outright blurts out that this son is completely fake, but anyone should expect that. Doofus does not smell this lie, as he just mentions that looking at his family selfies reminds him of his family memories.

This leads to Doofus sobbing and kissing his father's stomach, which happened to have a tattoo of his Guhmeemama...

Doofus's parents: Guhmeemama.

...riding on a Doofus centaur. Maybe it is best not to ask.

Glomgold also shows off his own family photos, which are surprisingly more convincing than the tech guru's, and Louie has to think fast. Thankfully, a quick trip to a nearby photo booth and Louie's not-too-convincing smiles clears that up. How it seems like Louie isn't even trying and still manages to win just seems to weaken him to me, but don't tell that to Goldie, who now wants to go on the offensive. Who is the first mark? It's not Beaks, as much as they seemed to be setting up for that joke.

All of the guests get into the pool, not by choice, and Louie tells Glomgold he wants to talk to Sharkbomb alone. Glomgold decides to try his best at ventriloquism while he's underwater to expected effects. He tells Sharkbomb about how Goldie has the hots for his dad. It's cool to see that plot thread from "The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!" get referenced, and that reference also interests Glomgold, who suddenly comes out from the water to ask if it's true.

He tries to cover it up by having his puppet son say "as if", only for Glomgold to take his own puppet son's words as an insult. Considering "Duke Baloney", this whole fight may have a bit more depth than one could see here. I don’t think it is intentional, but that is something.

Eventually, that fight ends with him beheading his own son right in front of Doofus' eyes. Needless to say, Glomgold's attempt to put Sharkbomb's head back on with his spit does not please the manchild of the day. Doofus decides to send Glomgold to the honey bin.

Glomgold: Don't let go, Sharkbomb!

Sharkbomb: Don't tell me what to dooo! (lets go)

Gotta say, Glomgold and Sharkbomb ends up being one of the highlights of the episode. Kind of wish we got to see more of them.

Instead, we get to see Mark Beaks and Boyd, the latter of which suspiciously doesn't want to put his head below water! Also, he seems to have the strength of a million and seventy men. I guess he really shouldn't complain. But I have a feeling he can't go out for a walk without rusting in the rain. I guessed this as soon as I saw him, anyway; it would be fitting for the tech guru.

Speaking of tech, they do cut back and forth between this party plot and the video game plot, and, unlike the last episode, it doesn't do any creative transitions between them. One minute, we're watching Louie plot his schemes. In the next minute, that plot pauses so we can see a close-up of Huey talking about how the fate of the land is in Della's hands...that land being the garden. The joke is that Huey is boring!

Unlike Huey's insistence on staying in his force field bubble and playing FarmVille, Della wants him to explore the world, go to a checkpoint, and use all of that XP he's getting from those bugs to become super-powerful. This is all a metaphor for Huey not wanting to leave his comfort zone even with his mother goading him to do so. How subtle do they make this metaphor?

Huey: Hey Mom? I think I should step out of my comfort zone.

By outright saying it. As an aside, being one of the adventurous nephews, is Huey really the person that needs this lesson?

Back to the more exciting plot, Boyd sure plays some mean pinball, and Doofus is taking a liking to him. Louie tries to find some dirt on Boyd, looking through Mark Beaks' Waddle profile and looking at all of the pictures with his kid. Ignoring how Boyd has the same face in every picture, the biggest tell that this kid may be a fake is that there's no baby pictures!

Louie: Where are the baby pictures? Beaks would never pass up that sweet clickbait!

Goldie: Click-what, now?

Louie's not wrong, and it's good to see one scam Goldie would never take a part in. However, they need something more obvious. Eventually, Louie gets one, as he gets connected to the Beaks Optimistic Youth Droid's Wi-Fi network.

Even though Goldie isn't tech-savvy, even she can recognize an acronym when she sees it. Not willing to outright tell Doofus about his new best friend being a robot, Louie decides to just ask the B.O.Y.D. what he did two days ago.

To make a long story short, it doesn't work out, as the B.O.Y.D. starts shooting lasers out of his eyes. Wow, I guess I can't avoid reviewing shows with laser-eye-using children.

Eventually, his fake eyes melt, and he ends up falling into the pool. Mark Beaks laments that he's going to need a big bag of rice right before he'll need something to wash off honey, bees, and whatever else is in the honey bin Doofus sent him to. Goldie is impressed, and sends some praise to her not-really nephew about how they should team up on a more permanent basis.

Doofus is really upset that his newest best friend had their eyes melted, apparently at least the second year in a row this has happened. Much like Calvin and Hobbes' "noodle incident" and whatever led to his father getting a tattoo of a centaur Doofus, one's imagination can fill in the blanks far better than even the mighty DuckTales writers could on how that could happen. Only a minute after that aforementioned praise...

Goldie: Llewellyn Duck, I am so disappointed! Ruining poor Doofus' party, trying to take all the extra bags by yourself! Who raised you?

(a minute later)

Goldie: Sorry, Sharpie, I only work for myself! I want you gone, mister!

Oh, Goldie! For reasons only Doofus seems to know, he decides to arrange that last plan with the help of the BOYD. He's able to do this thanks to him grabbing the phone that just happened to slip out of Beak's hands when he sent him to the Honey Bin earlier. Doofus presses the “Kill” button on the stolen phone, and the B.O.Y.D. rises up from the pool water, mostly unharmed. So much for needing the rice.

Doofus essentially does his “psycho rich kid” shtick again, saying that his party wouldn't be complete without him beating a pinata, and he wants to hunt the most dangerous pinata: man. As he controls the BOYD, we're left to wonder if Goldie will just take the money and run, leaving Louie to get beaten by a robotic kid.

Oh, of course Goldie decides to save Louie in the end, putting herself between the rapidly spinning bat and the "Sharpie". Doofus ends up saying this was all a test to see if Goldie could be a loving parent or not. This doesn't completely add up to the cover story, but maybe that was what Doofus actually wanted, as we'll soon see.

Meanwhile, in the video game, Huey finally manages to get out of the "comfort zone" by stepping out of it. This turns the force field off, causing an alien to zap it and kidnap his mom. He initially thinks that he should have just stayed in his comfort zone, but he then realizes he needs to save his Mom. He runs towards the checkpoint, and his level begins to rise. Or, as Della says...

Della: That power level... (scouter explodes)

Oh, dear.

Della: ...it's over 9000!

Well, I guess they were not above it after all! Do not get me wrong: I don't hate this, and at least the line still fits. Huey becomes a Super Saiyan God The Duke and destroys the alien monster with his raw fisticuffs. That's pretty much it for this B plot; it ends with a scene where Della has to wrestle the keyboard away from him because he was getting too "not comfortable". Eh.

In the A plot, we get to see the aftermath of Louie and Goldie's plot: Doofus gives Louie all of the gift bags, and Goldie's good parenthood gets rewarded by becoming the new Goldiemama.

Doofus's parents: Goldiemama.

Don’t worry, that’s not the only payoff, and the other one is so satisfying, one needs to watch the episode because I will not spoil it.

It should be obvious even from this episode that being that Goldiemama is not a pleasant reward to say the least, even without the glass dome Doofus is keeping her in. Louie, knowing this, fights with himself with whether or not he should just take the money and run. Goldie did just betray him a few minutes ago. Maybe it would be a deserved punishment to let that betrayer suffer by being in the Doofus household.

Oh, of course Louie decides against taking the money and running, and goes to the rescue of his Louie Inc partner. This was a turn of events about as expected as Goldie not willing to let Doofus break the living pinata. I mean, it's not like they're just going to shoot someone into the moon...okay, that was a bad example.

Actually, come to think of it, Louie Inc doesn't really come up in this plot. Considering a future episode, he would consider stealing a business opportunity, but he has to find some way to make it technically not stealing.

As standard for my DuckTales reviews, I am not going to entirely spoil the ending of this episode. While it shouldn't be much of a spoiler to know that Louie will not be rich at the end of this episode and Goldie will be rescued, there is a very pleasant scene to see for people who just want to see Doofus' parents get something good for a change, and to see Doofus finally get something he deserved.

I'll also show this: this episode ends with this oddly touching shot of Goldie slipping in one of the on-the-spot pictures of Louie, right next to a picture of dear ol' Scroogie. Awww.

How does it stack up?

At first, I didn't really like this episode, but repeated viewings did lead me to see some of the good of this episode. However, I couldn't shake off that I didn't really like the B plot. It's not the worst, but it's not great, either. The best part is that it's not the mama's boy this time.

Despite the good moments with Glomgold, and I did like the ending of the A plot, this episode didn't do as much for me as most episodes of this show. I'm not going to send it to the Honey Bin, though.

Next, a nightmare!

← What Ever Happened To Donald Duck?! 🦆 A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill! →

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael After Midnight: Avatar

Hyperbole is a real bitch. No matter what direction it goes in, it can seriously hamper a movie’s reputation. It’s the reason why I always just give a broad recommendation at the end of my reviews rather than a score; I find saying “Hey if you like this genre/subject matter/actor/etc, you might like this film” is a lot better than saying “This is a 10/10 five star masterpiece that all humans who ever shall exist need to see.” All too often the latter is what you get from mainstream publications when they praise a film.

Look what happened to Frozen; it was called one of the better Disney movies in recent memories and was praised to the heavens and back, which led to a bunch of people on the internet vocally disagreeing with said opinion, which then led to an entire anti-fandom of obnoxious basement dwellers who felt the need to constantly remind everyone Frozen sucked on any animation post they could find. All of this for a movie that, in hindsight, is just a solid, standard Disney princess flick.

Tonight we’re talking about a similar case, a film that when it came out was hyped up as a groundbreaking masterpiece of visual effects and a box office smash that grossed insane amounts of money… and was then derided as forgettable and a ripoff of Pocahontas or FernGully or what have you in the years to come. Yes, tonight we are talking about James Cameron’s smash hit, Avatar, and honestly? It’s probably the second best thing named Avatar out there, after Nickelodeon’s series about the last Airbender. After spending years being an obnoxious hipster douchebag and not watching it because it was popular followed by several more years of being an obnoxious douchebag who bashed whatever it was that was popular to bash, I finally sat down and watched James Cameron’s silly blue alien environmental movie… and frankly, it’s a pretty damn good movie. And I don’t just mean “oh it’s better than I expected but not great,” I mean “I can genuinely see to an extent where people were coming from when they were praising this.”

The story goes like this: In the far future, Earth is a polluted pile of fuck, so humans have taken to looking for resources elsewhere. One elsewhere? The moon of the planet Polyphemus, known as Pandora, which is home to a rare mineral that humans ironically dubbed “Unobtanium,” as it is rather hard to obtain due to the richest source being located amongst the native population: the ten-foot-tall blue alien beings known as the Na’vi. Jake Sully, a paraplegic former marine, is selected to utilize a remote-controlled artificial Na’vi body called an “avatar” so he can gain the native’s trust and maybe convince them to move, though there are tons of problems he has to overcome, not the least being that he starts crushing hard on Neytiri, the daughter of the chief (and seeing how she’s a hot blue alien played by Zoe Saldana, can you really blame him?). Can Sully help the humans and Na’vi reach a peaceful conclusion, or is the warmongering Colonel Miles Quaritch gonna get his way and start routing the natives out by force?

Interestingly, a lot of the movies that people claims this ripped off came out after this movie had been written; Cameron’s been working on this movie since 1994, when he wrote up an 80-page treatment for the film. He wanted to start working on this after Titanic, but the technology of the time just wasn’t right to fulfill his vision. Frankly, it’s a good thing he waited, because as I’m sure you know from all the praise it got, the visuals in this film are simply stunning. The Na’vi, the creatures of Pandora, the forests, all the glorious details of this alien planet and its inhabitants are just incredibly well done. If this had been done earlier, there is no way the Na’vi would have avoided the uncanny valley as well as they did; as it stands, they’re probably one of my favorite alien races in fiction, just from the visual standpoint alone. How good this movie looks compared to the story - which by comparison to the groundbreaking effects is rather basic - would almost make you think this film is just style over substance…

...But I’d argue that’s not exactly the case. While it’s glaringly obvious that the effects are the biggest draw, the story is still enjoyable and solid. It may seem rather derivative, but that’s mostly because in the span of time the film took to get made everyone and their mother cranked out environmental films or films about aboriginal people being joined by an outsider who learns from them and then fights back against people encroaching on their way of life, especially during the 90s. This movie quite frankly has an edge over all of those films; for one, this film looks way better than any of them, even Pocahontas (which is undeniably a beautiful film to look at). It also helps this film avoids the, uh… unfortunate implications that often come with these kinds of stories. I’m not here to get to into this aspect of those kinds of movies, but in the hands of less talented writers and directors there tends to be really nasty undertones. While Jake Sully does help lead this foreign culture to victory over their technologically advanced foes, it’s more due to him having knowledge of how humans work combined with the skills the Na’vi themselves have. Neither would have won without the other’s help. So yeah, the story is pretty simple, but pretty good. Not truly groundbreaking or original, but it really doesn’t have to be.

While I will say the story is the weak point, it IS carried by some truly great characters… just not Sully. While he’s a decent protagonist and all, he’s quite frankly overshadowed by just about everyone around him, with three enormous shadows being cast by Grace, Neytiri, and Quaritch. Grace is played by Sigourney Weaver. That is literally all you need to know to understand why she utterly steals every single scene she’s in, but for the sake of this review, let me explain in a bit more detail: her establishing character moment has her awakening from her avatar pod asking where her cigarette is, she openly is suspicious of Sully being added to the avatar program, she is the most honestly sympathetic and noble character in the entire movie, and her avatar is a stunning work of CGI. There’s really not a bad thing I can say about her; she’s basically Ellen Ripley with a more positive attitude towards aliens. She takes no shit and she does all she can to keep these people from being exploited by the greasy corporate shitweasels, no matter what she has to do. What a fucking hero. Can you see why Sully just seems kinda weak in comparison?

Then we have Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana. She’s gorgeous, she’s badass, and she has quite the likable personality. She almost singlehandedly gives Sully a basic rundown on how not to die and spends most of her early screentime saving his ass. This was one of Saldana’s big roles in 2009 alongside playing Uhura in the Star Trek reboot series, and it brought her tons of praise, fame, and helped get her typecast as “Badass space babe with colorful skin.” Without this, Gamora might have gone to a less impressive actor who wouldn’t have been able to showcase the emotional range required, so at the very least I’m thankful to this movie for that.

And now finally, and perhaps most importantly, we come to Colonel Miles Quaritch, played by Stephen “You wished he was Cable until they cast Josh Brolin” Lang. Quaritch is what seems like such a simple villain: a military man with some serious bloodlust, a guy who just seems to be itching to go to war. But really, there’s a lot more to him than that. One really gets the sense Quaritch really does believe what he’s doing is for the betterment of humanity, and he doesn’t go right to gunning down the Na’vi even when he’s given the word to remove them by force. There are a lot of ways to interpret him, but frankly, no matter what way you cut it he’s at the very least genuinely concerned with the safety of his subordinates (outlined in his establishing scene); this leads him to becoming probably one of the single most badass anti-villains ever conceived. The man frequently steps out into the hostile atmosphere of the moon, holding his breath, to take shots at foes before putting on a breathing apparatus. He jumps out of an exploding plane in a mini-mech, which he uses to get into a knife fight with Sully. And every heinous and violent action he takes is one he takes to protect men from dying, something he has seen far too much of. And while this makes him sympathetic to a degree, his utter disdain of the Na’vi and his bloodthirsty attitude also makes sure you want to see him gets what’s coming to him.

There’s some side characters here and there that are good, but it’s mainly these three carrying the story when it starts seeming a bit too basic for this lofty world Cameron has built. And really, this is a fantastic world he’s created. This is truly a stunning film visually, with some flavorful characters to ensure that the vision doesn’t wear on you throughout the running time. For the most part, it really does work; guess that’s just the magic of James Cameron.

This is a very good film. Not the greatest film of all time, but definitely an enjoyable, ambitious, and groundbreaking one. If I ever make a list of the best sci-fi films (and you know I will eventually), this will most certainly be on there… somewhere. It’s at least top 25 material. While Aliens and the first two Terminator films are definitely the best stuff Cameron has done, this is still quite an impressive piece of pop sci-fi he created; if you like environmental movies, science fiction, creative worldbuilding, awesome visuals, or James Cameron movies, this film is worth a watch. Hell, it’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of Weaver, Lang, or Saldana too, because their performances really drive this film. It’s a good movie, plain and simple.

...Though I don’t think it’s good enough to warrant four sequels. Fuck off, Cameron.

[cherryplasmids]

☆ stars above, stars below ☆

pairing: leonard ‘bones’ mccoy x reader  fandom: star trek reboot — out of movie sequence prompt:  “i want to stare up at the stars with you one last time” notes: character death 

—check out my other works; masterlist

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

All he could think about was the stars.

He never cared for them because they never captured his attention enough for him to gain any sort of appreciation for them. Why care for a huge ball of gas held together by gravity? The only star that mattered was the sun — not any other incomparable remote fragment. It’s needed for survival on Earth while other stars were there to look pretty.

He simply hated space and everything in it, including all the objects that didn’t harm him or benefit him — like stars.

Somehow, though, in this moment they appeared brighter than usual. Scattering charmingly across the night sky, their colors contrasting against the dark background. Regardless of what commotion occurred on any planet, they were always there, shining brightly.

It reminded him of you.

And maybe that’s why he was thinking so highly of them right now. He was vulnerable, unsure of what fate has in store for him. Their remoteness triggered fond memories of you always being there by his side. Never once leaving even when his unlovable flaws appeared. Nothing could keep you away from the Southern doctor.

He wished to be with you. To hold you and kiss you like he did only several hours ago.

How could something go wrong so fast?

One minute he was working on a patient in an unknown planet’s clinic and then the next minute, the northwest wing exploded, sending him several yards away. There were an abundance of screams and crying from injured people. Yelling mixed in only a few moments after. Officers were trying to locate the wounded. Everything sounded fuzzy to him, voices going in and out. Silence one minute, loud yelling the next. They were all foreign and distant.

He tried calling out for attention, for help, but his voice was just above a whisper. If they didn’t find and aid him soon, he would surely die. The blood gushing from his head and chest would attest to that. However, no matter how bad it looked, he didn’t feel pain.

No, all he felt was longing. He wanted to see you again.

“Bones!” A feminine dismembered voice screamed out, the same voice that soothed him on a stressful day — the one that seduced him on cool nights. The utter frantic tone did not register in his head. Instead, he heard the tinkle of your beautiful voice, chiming prettily like church bells after a wedding. He imagined you in a white gown, despite the lack of virginity you have. It made him chuckle, he was much funnier when he was drowsy.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“BONES!” You cried out, complete devastation lacing the word. “Goddammit Leonard, where are you?!” A strangled gurgle caught your attention, which caused you to have a moment of internal conflict. Leo could be severely hurt, dying as you helped someone else. Although you needed to find Leonard, you couldn’t ignore an injured victim. So you stopped running and yelling to find the hurt person. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

The strangled sound occurred again, giving you a hint of where the person might be. After a few minutes of searching, you fell to your knees at the sight, hands covering your mouth in complete shock. There was an abundance of blood, covering every portion of the injured upper body. Blood pooled around the head area, only increasing the overwhelming fright you already had. And oh fuck the smell induced a certain stomach-stinking effect — copper mixed with death. You crawled towards the blue-shirted body, fearing the absolute worse.

It was Leonard. Your Leonard.

You just about died right there.

Your hands automatically went to his face, noticing his eyes fluttering between being open and closing. Tapping his cheek, you attempted to get him to stay up. Despite the obvious large piece of shrapnel sticking from his chest, it wasn’t the worst wound. No, his head injury was much more grave. Panic rose within you. Nursing was not your occupation.You worked with Scotty in the engineering department, meaning anything dealing with the body was extremely out of your league.

“Leonard? Baby, can you hear me?”

Bones felt his nerves ease relatively fast. The voice that spoke to him, calmed him down. It was an angel no doubt. Perhaps it was the stars. If he had known they would speak such beautifully, his opinion of them would have dramatically changed years prior.

And then when he opened his eyes, the most exquisite star of them all was staring right back him, automatically bringing a smile to his face.

“Hey, sexy.” He whispered out, raising his hand to brush the hair away from your face. Well, he tried to. His limbs wouldn’t move on his command, but did that bother him? No, not when you were there.

“You’re bleeding, Leo. It doesn’t look so good. We need to get help, fix you up a bit. And then, you’ll be right as rain.” You tried smiling, but it came out as a grimace. Leonard taught you a while back that positivity in these moments was vital in keeping the patient calm. Any sort of hysterics would cause more damage. “You need to tell me what to do.”

“Haven’t kissed you since the morni’.”

Although this was a terrible circumstance, a light giggle slipped out of your lips. “Only you would think about that at a time like this.” Then a little lightbulb went off in your brain. Pressure was needed to stop the bleeding or at least, halt it until Leonard could get the proper medical care.

However, your hands trembled and your body stilled. There was so much fucking blood. It was all over you know as you tried saving your boyfriend. It made you want to throw up or pass out. The unsettling sight would haunt you for sure.

“The stars are stun’n’ ‘night.” Leonard’s words were slurred, which didn’t seem like a good thing.

“Y/N? Y/N, can you read me?” A sudden Scottish voice called out, sounding a bit frantic and out of breath. You sighed in relief, quickly grabbing your Communicator and spoke hastily into the object.

“Scotty!”

“I was worried about ya lass, where are ya?”

“Listen, Scotty, I’m with Leonard.” You said, pausing for a moment when Scotty cried out in happiness. “It doesn’t look so good. He’s bleeding, everywhere.” Your eyes teared up at every word you spoke. Even though there was hope pulsing through your veins, there was a tinge of fear gradually gaining control. “If we don’t get a doctor now, he’ll —”

“Dammit, I am a doctor.”

A choked laugh mixed with a sob emitted from your throat, as Scotty began talking and to be honest, you wished Scotty had never called. It would take more than a half hour for the crew to get your location due to an unsuspecting enemy attack. They assumed the same enemies trying to kill them was the people behind the explosion.

“Scotty, he doesn’t have 30 fucking minutes. If you don’t send anyone right now, he’ll die and that’ll be on your fucking conscious.” Slamming the Communicator shut and beside you, you gave your full attention to your bleeding doctor.

“Does it hurt? There’s a large piece of building shrapnel stuck in your chest.” You felt stupid for asking but you didn’t know what else to say. How do you comfort a man on the brink of death?

“It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.” Was all he said, negating your question entirely. You have no idea what that meant since it was most likely a southern phrase, but you did stop asking him questions.

“Remem’ our firs’ da’e? The truck one?” You nodded, brushing his hair away from his face. “I said I hat’d stars.”

“Because they remind you of space. And you hate space.”

“Not anymore. If I didn’ go to spa’ the’ no meetin’ you.” He smiled his fine lines wrinkling at the movement. It made you smile too, despite the tears raining down your face. His eyes began fluttering shut, prompting you to tap his cheek. His eyes shot open, looking more energetic than before. Sleep disappeared and he coughed up a bit of blood. You dabbed it away, disregarding the amount of blood already spilled.

“I love the stars, but that could never compare to the love I have for you.” He whispered gently, no longer slurring. He was gazing at you with the most adoration you have experienced in your entire life.

But then it suddenly hit you — this was his goodbye.

An overwhelming amount of anxiety smacked you in the face, suddenly sucking all sorts of breath out of you. Shaking your head you peered down at your Southern hunk with an angered expression. “Listen to me, Leonard McCoy and listen good. You are not dying here. You’re gonna die when I say you can, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He cheekily smiled. A deep sob released from you, not one bit as happy as Bones seemed to be. “Baby?” You raised your head, meeting his hazel eyes. Laughter was no longer present, but complete serious emotion. “I have one wish to fulfill before I go.”

You nod, leaning up to him to hear his soft words. The snot and tears mingled with one another, making you look extremely disgusting. However, Bones found you beyond beautiful, the complete embodiment of elegance.

“I want to stare up at the stars with you one last time.”

Each syllable destroys every piece of your heart. That was his last wish, his last memory and he wanted to spend it with you. Who were you to deny such a thing?

Leonard grabs your hand, attempting to get you to lay down next to him. You comply, slowly laying down next to his body, despite the warm substance of blood coating your upper body and hair.

It was silent between the pair, completely focusing their attention on the brightly shining stars above them. Leonard couldn’t help but smile — after all he had his best girl and the stars. Nothing could stop his happiness. So he gently shut his eyes, the smile never wiping off his face as the light gradually disappeared.

Once his breathing stopped, you released a bloodcurdling sob, shaking as you tightly held his cold, still hands.  

────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────

word count: 1,720 published: jan 7, 2018 edited: n/a

[whattheklance]

The rest of my season 6 thoughts

OHMYGOSH

what a season

WHAT a season

the next chunk of writing, right below here, was from when i was on the episodes I was talking about before I finished them all

KEITH IS TALLER THAN LANCE after two years

ALSO that means Keith is 21 now, even if no time has passed for everyone else.

man. i think the only reason Lance was "oh look keith's back" was mostly his bitterness over lotor and allura. it's like that bitterness revived his original behavior around Keith from the beginning. even if keith is acting different.

I wouldn't have even thought or noticed Keith was bigger or had grown if fucking LANCE hadn't pointed it out. of course lance is the first and only one to notice. not even in person but via a screen

i also forgot about the cliffhanger already that keith and krolia had found an altean. that d&d episode kinda wiped it from my brain.

and lotor had me fooled too.

though before i started watching i had read someone's post who pointed out how much lotor always told the truth but would lie through omission. not sharing any details that would paint him in a negative light.

is the tenderness he's expressed with allura also part of the lie?? cuz that seemed so genuine.

OHHHHH MYGOSH OHMYGOSH

one of my theories was RIGHT. that the shiro who returned to earth was ALSO a clone!!!

when keith first walked into that room with pods, my FIRST thought was "are all of those Shiros????"

AND OHMYGOSH they were.

when i saw the title of this episode was "the black paladins" my first thought was "does this mean not only keith and shiro, but MULTIPLE shiros will be in this episode???" AND YES. ugh yes.

i don't care that i was right. cuz this was like one of HALF A DOZEN theories i came up with.

i think original shiro NEVER returned to earth

which possibly means that haggar let the blades release A shiro because 1) it wasn't the real one and 2)she might have always intended him to be a paladin.

but i am REALLY attached to the clone shiro we got to know and love and I PRAY that we get to see him again.

and i jumped to a conclusion too quick up there. though a theory of mine was STILL RIGHT, a slight variation on what i just said. I know I have an old post where I theorized that Shiro disappeared because he BECAME ONE WITH THE BLACK LION

AND OHMYGOSH THATS WHAT HAPPENED

it's funny. there was a huge theory going around that something like that could happen to lance and the blue lion, even though there weren't really any solid grounds to think that would happen. But that's what happened to Shiro.

After Keith talked to Shiro and truly bonded with the Black Lion thanks to him. I thought we'd have to say goodbye to Shiro it REALLY felt like he wouldn't be coming back. Like we'd lost him already back in season 2.

and then them having to sacrifice the castle of lions, their home away from home. was even more loss on top of that.

so when we got Allura putting Shiro's spirit from the Black Lion into the clone's body. My heart was swelling. I was so relieved. And I like that it turned his hair all the way white. kinda like when Gandalf the Grey "came back from the dead" as Gandalf the White.

There were SO MANY wonderful beats in this season. Lots of signs of REALLY great storytelling

But I can't help but feel like someone took the great story the team wanted to tell and condensed it way too much. You can still see the elements of what they planned, but lots of important parts felt too rushed

We already know that netflix or dreamworks mandate forced them to bring shiro back a whole season sooner than the creators wanted to. I can't help but wonder what other mandates happened that limited their plans.

The WHOLE Shiro story was a thrilling concept and had some good beats in it. But it also happened a little too fast. Like, Lance's interactions with Shiro in season 5, I felt like that should have led somewhere instead of being dismissed. Even if they wanted the betrayal to seemingly come out of nowhere and surprise the team the way it did, they could've had Lance travel a little ways towards the truth, but have something happen that causes him to dismiss it. It also would’ve amplified his grief upon the betrayal happening, like he could’ve prevented it.

hell even clone shiro. Gonna call him Kuro from now on. He suspected something was wrong. That’s why I thought we were going to get SOME kind of investigation/test, even if it was limited to one episode ANYTHING. i would’ve taken ANYTHING of that nature.

I really wanted Kuro to have some sort of agency beyond his programming. For him to possibly get redeemed or something. I mean, he resisted. He wanted to resist before Haggar forced control. But in the end he was just a device for conflict, and a deus ex machina to resurrect real Shiro. kinda bummed we didn’t get any other clone shiros beyond the sleeping ones in the pods. I liked the idea of a shiro army, good or evil. But maybe they were just empty husks to be used by haggar when one breaks.

It'd be awesome if this wasn't the end of their story, and Shiro in the new body actually had Kuro's voice in his head or something, kinda like 80's Rogue in the x-men with Ms.Marvel's voice in her head. But sadly, it kinda of feels like this is the end of the Shiro Clone Saga.

More on the whole rushing good plot points. The whole reveal of Lotor's true nature with Keith returning. It felt very abrupt, and it didn't help having the D&D episode separating the cliffhanger of Keith and Krolia finding an Altean and the reveal.

Still, even though it all happened faster than I wished, all the beats with the Keith vs Shiro, and Keith discovering real Shiro and unlocking the Black Lion, and even his two year time gap, experience with the Blade and with his mother, crafted him into a confidant fighter who could finally take the lead in voltron, vastly opposite of his pre-blade self. I feel like this character arc, even though it was still too brief init of itself, makes up for some of the lost development from when Shiro should've been gone longer. We wanted to see the new team develop more than we got to. So it was really satisfying seeing them come together now, and feeling like we really saw Keith transform since he last piloted the Black Lion. Even though we had a long keith shortage with seasons 4 and 5, they still managed to have key episodes that developed his arc that led him to who he became in the finale.

though i'm relieved we got original shiro back, i feel like his being brought back was rushed too. Like, I get how that type of scene feels right for a season finale, especially with the fight and losing the castle of lions, but I wish there was more time and development between Keith's discovery of him and his actual return at the end.

KEITH GOT THE GALRA mark from his straining to hold onto his life and Kuro's. I almost was expecting him to fully transform into a galra form of his own. Maybe that's in his future, cuz I think everyone wants to see something like that. I hope the gang comments on his mark in the next episode (did anybody get Star Trek (2009) reboot vibes in that scene?? i feel like there was a scene with Kirk and Sulu that was very similar action-wise with the whole collapsing planet-to-space structure)

Man, so this season Lance had to deal with his Allura feelings and losing her to Lotor. Then Allura had to deal with having her heart broken from falling for Lotor then learning how she was used. Ever since Lance faced his feelings he hasn't been the flirt towards Allura anymore. I hope it stays that way. I love Lance and I love Allura, but I really hope the writers don't take us a romantic route. Like if they did start to do something like that, I'd keep my fingers crossed that its purpose would be to show one or both of them that they aren't right for each other. Like, try to get together only to hilariously fail and decide against it. like Rachel and Joey in friends.

They didn't do anything with Allura presumably learning Lance's feelings from the mice. i’m surprised. i was a little worried when that happened. again, i feel like that not becoming anything could also be a sign of omitted story points.

THEY'RE FUCKING GOING HOME

and i can't help but think how we have seen neither hide nor hair of Sendak's coalition since the episode they fought and ran. They're fully functioning. a huge danger. And I remember reading a meta post after last season talking about how sendak understands better than anyone that to beat voltron is to threaten innocents lives, and to ultimately defeat voltron he'd threaten their home planet. A planet incapable of defending itself against galra tech. He even re-demonstrated those tactics AGAIN this season with the galra shield base. As if to remind us he does that...for next season. where the gang goes home only to find sendak's taken earth or something. or at least has a blockade to threaten it.

this season seriously delivered. Razor's Edge, I stand by as being the best episode of the series thus far. But man The Black Paladins episode was on par with Keith's Blade of Marmora reveal episode in season 2, which I put in the top 5.

Good season, despite the fact that possible executive mandates possibly limiting the writing all around felt VERY visible. Even if it's never confirmed for the things I felt were rushed. I feel like I can see that it’s there. I feel like I can see the story they want to tell, and then everywhere I feel was rushed was like an artificial constraint that forced them to cut something out of the story they want to tell.

Cuz it feels like, from the sheer quality of beats within the characters' arcs, anyone, who could craft what we've already seen, would understand the appropriate amount of story needed to properly depict it, and do it justice, but it's like someone who doesn't have the same understanding has told them to make it shorter, cuz reasons. And that’s how we got the end result

PS. i wonder if Kuro’s sheer blandness as Shiro playing D&D was a reflection of his programming. He couldn’t be inventive or imaginative, and his sole purpose was to be a paladin, to infiltrate, so that’s what he chose every time, constantly the same character. Cuz I feel like real Shiro wouldn’t play the same way. Of course it was funnier having that kind of character, but I really think that might’ve been for that purpose.

[exxar1]

Episode 4: Waking Up

11/14/2020

Good morning, folks. As I write this, I’m sitting in my living room, listening to an Apple music channel of classic Christmas carols, while late morning sunshine streams through my front window. I have just finished putting laundry in the dryer and washing the few dishes in the sink that piled up during the week. My McDonald’s iced coffee is almost gone, and I’m feeling ready to face the day.

I have a couple hours before I have to start getting ready for work, so there’s not a lot of time to hammer out this blog entry. I don’t have a lot to say for this episode, but I have been feeling somewhat strange for the last couple weeks. Not ‘strange’ in the physical sense, but ‘strange’ as in ‘there’s something happening with me that I can’t quite explain’.

And now I’m going to try to explain what I’m talking about.

Per my usual work routine, I spend 5 ½ hours every morning, Monday through Friday, in the lobby of Walmart, greeting customers and making sure everyone is wearing their face mask. And, as usual, I have nothing but my own thoughts and the occasional conversation with co-workers to keep me company. But mostly just my own thoughts. And boy, my brain lately will just not shut down – or even go into standby mode. It seems that all I can do lately is just think, think, think. Here’s a sample of what tumbles through my head from morning until night every day:

·      Is the ballot recounts for the national election close to being done? Will Trump retain his presidency (I hope), or will America finally get its first female president? (Yes, you read that correctly.)

·      Spencer Klavan of the “Young Heretics” podcast so damn good looking, and the fact that he’s also a “Super Mario Bros” fan in addition to being ivy league educated and possessing near-savant level human intelligence has forced me to finally admit that I have had a massive crush on him for almost four months now. (I just wish he wasn’t such an avid gym rat. That’s such a turnoff. Well, that, and the fact he already has a boyfriend.)

·      I need to start working on the story ideas that came to me a few weeks ago. There’s two really good ones that I know would make excellent short stories, or, at the very least, novellas. One’s about a superhero called The Red Mask, and the other is about cats and dogs that are created with a sophisticated AI that allows them to look, feel and behave exactly like real animals but without all the maintenance and mess that pet owners have to put up with (such as feeding them, combing them, bathing them, walking them, training them, cleaning up their poop, etc.).

·      Oh! A circuit court judge in Georgia just ordered a bunch of ballots to be thrown out in that state’s recount!

·      Spencer Klavan liked one of my tweets about Young Heretics!!!!

·      Should I have McDonald’s for lunch or the apple I brought with me? The apple. Definitely the apple. Need to stay healthy.

·      I can’t believe all the idiots on social media that not only voted for Biden/Harris but actually think that he will make a good president. What the hell is wrong with them???? Anyone with half a brain can easily recognize what Trump has done for this country, and it scares the shit out of me that the radical left (capital ‘R’, capital ‘L’) just might get their foot in the door of the White House. What the fuck is wrong with half of America right now??? It’s all that “white fragility”, “systemic racism”, “white privilege”, “black lives matter” bullshit!!! How the fuck did that horseshit gain such powerful traction in this country????Robin Deanglo and Ibram X Kendi and all their pathetic followers are so full of shit they ought to open their own manure factory!!!!

·      Yay! The 2021 “Super Mario Bros” and “Star Trek” wall calendars I ordered on Amazon have shipped! They’ll be here Tuesday!

·      And that reminds me, I need to start working on the photo calendars that I give to my family every year for Christmas. Maybe I should do that this Saturday morning before my shift at Check City.

·      Oh. Time for my break. Yay! Coffee!

And…repeat. That. All of that. Over and over all day long – creative story thoughts, political thoughts, work thoughts, checking my phone three times an hour to review the latest posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay on top of all the latest news and current events that serve to fuel my new woke self. Texting friends and family about this and that. On and on and on...

Hhmmm. My new woke self.

The other day, as this new thought occurred to me, I mentally reviewed everything that’s happened to me this year, everything that I wrote about in that first blog episode. I also thought about my recent self-examination of my whole life up to this point, the stuff I covered in episodes 2 and 3 of this blog. Then I thought back over the last two weeks: the sudden and unexpected passing of Aaron; his memorial service that I made an emergency trip home to Idaho to attend; and, finally, this new, strange…’wokeness’, for lack of a better term, that I now find myself in.

I honestly don’t know how to precisely describe it. I’ve been trying all this week to come up with apt, specific words and/or phrases, and then, finally, I thought of something. I’m a huge fan of the reboot of “Battlestar: Galactica” that was done by Ronald D Moore on the SyFy channel in 2004. It’s been a few years since I last binged all 4 seasons of that terrific show, but I was thinking about it the other day as my mind wandered, and it suddenly occurred to me what this new ‘woke’ state that I’m in feels like: the Cylon sleeper agents (who looked and acted like real humans) that were suddenly awakened to their true nature.

Yeah, I’m not kidding. Yes, I know how that sounds, but let me explain. I really feel like that, somewhere deep in the core of my brain, a metaphorical ‘switch’ was flipped from ‘off’ to ‘on’ along about late August or early September of this year. The world around me did not change, but my perception of it – as well as my perception of my place in it – did fundamentally change. I realized this week that for pretty much all my life I’ve been coasting through it. Everything that I’ve done and accomplished took no real effort or sacrifice on my part. Everything after high school pretty much just happened naturally. I decided to join the Army on a whim. When that didn’t work out, I came back home and enrolled in college. I spent 4 ½ years doing what I loved – reading, writing, discussing reading and writing – and I came out with a Bachelor’s in English. Again, no real effort. I coasted through on my natural talents. The only real work was in the core classes that I needed for my degree, like math or biology. But those were few. And then, after college, instead of putting my degree to use, I just settled for a day job in retail and then, later, in an elementary school. And then, in 2012, on a whim, I quit my job and moved to Las Vegas. Once again, I found a cushy day job where I make really good money, and…then 2020 happened.

In other words, I’ve never been an active participant in my own life. I just kinda let everything happen and went with the flow. I even had this same attitude in high school and it drove my parents and teachers absolutely mad. I didn’t care about being valedictorian or captain of the sports teams or even being the best damn piano player this side of the Rockies. All that mattered was hanging out with my friends and making sure the VCR was set each week to record the newest episodes of “Star Trek: DS9” and “Star Trek: Voyager”. And, without consciously realizing it, that’s been my attitude for my whole damn life. I’ve never cared about the world beyond my own front door. If it didn’t affect my life directly, I never paid it any attention. That’s especially true for politics. No matter who sat in the White House, my life never changed. So I figured, why bother? I’m perfectly content to live a quiet, solitary existence, and the rest of the world can do its own thing.

Except that now I’m no longer content with my quiet, solitary existence. Something within me fundamentally changed this year, and there’s no going back.

I am awake. (But, unlike the Cylons, I’m not about to start murdering humans.) I’m certain that it was God’s hand that reached down to flip that invisible switch in my brain, but now that I have rejected my former sleeper state, I don’t know exactly what to do. For the last couple weeks, I have felt nervous; anxious; excited; jittery; like a live wire that’s been cut and is now flopping on the ground, shooting sparks and energy. I have to constantly resist the urge to grab total strangers off the street and shout at them to “Wake up!” The world around us is changing, and we can’t live as sleeper agents in our own lives. Everything that’s happened in 2020 is going to shape the future of this country and the lives of everyone in it, and no one can afford to not care and just keep living their quiet, solitary lives.

This is why I scream on social media about the stupid mask mandates, and the ‘lamestream’ media, and politics, and everything else that I’ve been ranting and raving about for nine months. And yes, I’m sure some of my friends think I’ve gone crazy, and more than a few have probably unfollowed me. I don’t mean to alienate folks, but I have to put this energy somewhere or I’ll go crazy.

One of biggest changes that I have noted is that I no longer have a desire to park in front of the TV in my time off. I still have a few regular shows that I watch each week, but my passion has turned to reading and podcasts. I renewed my Audible.com membership a few months ago, and I have started stockpiling audiobooks on various subjects: biographies of the Founding Fathers of America, non-fiction books on artificial intelligence and other new forms of technology, books on world history, western literature and Greek philosophy. (I recently began listening to a series of lectures from Boston University on Plato’s “Republic”). And, of course, the highlight of my week is a new episode of “Young Heretics” every Tuesday. (And no, it’s not just because of my crush on Spencer Klavan.) I also have started carving out an hour here and there each day to grab my laptop and write a few paragraphs of new stories or just jot notes for upcoming stories.

I really, honestly feel as if something is coming. I don’t know what, I don’t know when, but God woke me up for a reason. He’s got something planned for me, and I need to be ready for it. I’m pretty certain the world is not coming to an end anytime soon, and I’m sure 2021 will be a better year for our nation than 2020, no matter who’s sitting in the White House. And yes, Lord willing, this stupid “pandemic” will also be over sometime soon. For me, personally, 2020 was the year that changed me and got me ready for whatever is coming. A fire’s been lit under my ass, but I’m not sure where yet where I’m supposed to be jumping up and running to.

I am sure, however, that It’s time to be an active participant in my own life.

Hey mom and dad, I really do care now, and I really, truly want to do my best. I want only top grades and to be the captain of…something. It only took twenty-six? Twenty-seven years? But now I’m going to be that grade-A student that you and Mrs. Tutty and Mrs. Jones and Mr. Walker always knew I could be.

Better late than never, eh?

[aceofwands]

Ria hateblogs Star Trek Discovery: Episode 6 “Lethe”

This week I’m really feeling the disappointment that I’m not here, 6 weeks in to a new Star Trek series, eagerly awaiting and watching each new episode every week with my family, like I expected and hoped. I don’t even know that I should bother hateblogging the few remaining episodes of this half of the season, it’s like ... it’s just so awful and the writing is terrible and I feel nothing but apathy for the characters and the plot ... I guess I’ll see how bad this week’s episode is

Wow, I will admit, it’s real neat seeing Vulcan in 2017 graphics. I wish it was under better circumstances ...

This aide to Sarek has such a bowl cut, it’s cringe worthy :/

... what. Ignorance is never beneficial? How is it remotely helpful to a mission to not know what it is or why you’re going there?! ugh, the writing for these characters is just so ... artificial ... it’s a problem with so much modern storytelling, it’s like they’re more concerned with having characters say cool dramatic things rather than having actual conversations

The Disco shirts are sooooo dumb. Why wouldn’t they say Discovery in full?

does she have a personality Tilly? does she?

lol Enterprise mention, because we can totally believe that this grimdark holographic spinning mess of a ship exists at the same time as Pike’s Enterprise

cut to Voq, oops I mean Tyler, and Lorca on a Klingon ship apparently

what is this a video game? oh lol, it IS, it’s the HOLODECK because they have those in the 23rd century FFS

lol Voq’s worried his cover was blown when Lorca interrogated his backstory

right. the random prisoner you just found should definitely be your security chief

“someone i can trust” HA it’s SO OBVIOUS HE’S A SPY - so now Lorca just seems stupid as well as an asshole

back to Sarek and the aide ... who just injected himself with something dubious

a Vulcan fanatic who believes humans are inferior ... whoooo just blew himself up

WOW this is bad

like this is the story you needed to tell? so much possibility for a Star Trek series in 2017 with serialisation and this is the series we end up with?

Michael instructing Tilly in the ways of being healthy is just ... why? is this supposed to show that they’re friends? are people really seeing this as cute banter? I just don’t get it

are they gonna go befriend the Klingon spy?

oh good, even better, Tilly thinks he’s hot

“my mentor, Michael” cringe.

how can Michael have spent 7 years amongst humans on the Shenzhou and need Tilly’s guidance on social interaction like shaking hands?

yeeeeah Rick Berman was excited that Enterprise was a Star Trek series where people wore sneakers, having them in a show set in the 23rd century just reinforces - along with the tactical vests and t-shirts that look like they’re straight out of any modern cop show - that this isn’t even set in the future

oh good, Michael is telepathically connected to Sarek still ... wow, this whole sequence is really dumb. like, why are they bonded? how can she sense his pain? HOW CAN THEY MIND MELD ACROSS SPACE?

ethnically diverse Vulcans are the best though

raising a human as a Vulcan just seems like emotional torture tbh? like how ethically dubious?

BEING RAISED AS VULCAN DOES NOT GIVE YOU VULCAN ABILITIES

“how can he put that kind of pressure on a child” GOOD QUESTION

renegade Vulcans tried to murder you

ka’tra has healing powers?! WHAT IS THIS BS

look, okay, it’s one thing to establish new things when you’re making up a series - but this is exactly the problem with saying your series is a prequel and part of the prime universe which has had 5 series worth of content, to then contradict it all by making up nonsense using established canon ... What’s the point? Why not just make a reboot? Set it in a parallel universe, which it obviously is. If you’re so desperate to get away from canon then don’t tell us it’s part of it! But more importantly, if you’re that desperate to ignore it and rewrite it and change it ... why not just make something new?

Lorca has shown 0 compassion to anyone before ever, why would he help her personal request?

these holograms are just so Star Wars, it bothers me every time

“there are protocols to be followed” but they’ve never followed them before, so why would they now lol

Stamets really is different - why couldn’t have been this fun from the start? “groovy” “super cool” “Sarekvision” “psychic hit of speed”

“are you really that crazy?” ummm have you met Michael?

Michael, Tilly, and Voq-Tyler on a shuttle going into a nebula to mind meld with Sarek and find it, what could possibly go wrong?

so many holograms. sigh.

lol Admiral came to see Lorca in person and tell him off  for launching an unauthorised mission led by a mutineer and a POW who has barely had time to recover - and I quote "can you even trust this guy?"

because that's how Starfleet Admirals speak

sigh. I miss proper Star Trek. this FEELS like 2017. it feels like these people just stepped out of today and onto these spaceships. it doesn’t feel like 2250-whatever. add all the holograms you want, holograms do not maketh the future - there was a tone, an aesthetic quality, including goofy space clothes and Shakespearean dialogue, that made it feel like it wasn’t happening now

“I checked him out” ya-huh, you’re gonna have egg on your face when it’s dramatically revealed that he’s a Klingon spy lol

the cornerstone of their entire defence against the Klingons is a science vessel with an experimental mushroom drive ... I can’t even with this show

Lt Stamets engaging in eugenics - hey yeah, I forgot that was an issue, funny how they’re happy to throw away 90% of what we know but keep the tiniest parts, it just makes it all so meaningless

and now they’re having a drink ... so that whole scene was just to remind us that Starfleet exists and remind us that Discovery is important to the war ... they really have to do a lot of telling on this show don’t they?

oh good, the tac vests are back

right. of course. who else would Sarek’s thoughts turn to when he’s dying? not his wife. not his son. YOU. “I was supposed to be his proof that Humans and Vulcans could co-exist as equals” ???? the Federation has existed for almost a century by this point! he LITERALLY HAS A HUMAN WIFE and that half-Human son they keep forgetting - WHY THE ACTUAL FUCK WOULD HE NEED A HUMAN WARD TO PROVE ANYTHING??????

YOU’RE his greatest disappointment? not that he’s fucked up his relationship with his son? or y’know, his full Vulcan son off making a cult?

we’ve done this storyline so many times in more interesting ways - the original, Spock - Worf raised by humans

oh good, Michael and Sarek fighting ... in his mind ...

AND THEN WE’RE BACK TO LORCA AND ADMIRAL DRINKING WHISKEY?

bleeeuuuugh

“some of the decisions you’ve been making lately are troubling” Sooooo stop him? if only there was a chain of command?

I’m glad someone’s calling him out for being awful, but why is it a friendly chat?

oh, he passed psych evals and tests with flying colours. right.

lord please stop flirting. is that ... sleazy saxophone music?

WHAT.

ARE YOU SERIOUS SHOW?

she has GENUINE CONCERNS about his ability and mental state as a Captain and instead of telling other Admirals or having an official meeting or hearing ... she goes to talk to him directly, and then allows him to distract her by seducing her?

this has gotta be the worst written piece of crap I’ve seen in years. and I just rewatched the DS9 season 1 gems The Passenger and Move Along Home. I’ve seen Threshold, and These are the Voyages, and Shades of Grey. All of which, are better than this show’s first 6 episodes have been.

how is the Klingon spy the best character on the show? the only one with any compassion or actual emotions - is it because he’s trying to be a perfect human

they finally mentioned Spock! wait, isn’t Spock supposed to be on the Enterprise at this point? oh no right it’s 7 years before. LOL Sarek chose Spock over Michael AND THEN SPOCK REJECTED THE SCIENCE ACADEMY

why must we come back to Sarek at all? was this story really necessary? was it burning to be told? like ... what do we gain from it? does it add to his character, or Spock’s? 

Admiral found some scars on Lorca’s back in bed ... and poked them while he was asleep. LOL “you sleep with a phaser in your bed and you say nothing’s wrong?” THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE???? WHY would he have a phaser in his bed? who’s gonna attack him on his own ship?

“all these months I have ignored the signs” and it took this to finally tip you off? geezus. good lord. and she’s not like the other Admirals at Starfleet - I mean, okay actually this is the only thing the show has gotten right so far, they always were idiots lol

“I can’t leave Starfleet’s most powerful weapon in the hands of a broken man”

lol she doesn’t believe his plea not to take his ship away, and him admitting he needs help - I don’t believe him either

Saru we knew he was severely wounded, that was the whole point.

lol is he gonna get the Admiral killed so she backs off? what am I saying, of course he is - I mean, of course this diplomatic negotiation with the Klingons he’s sending her off to is going to get her killed

how can he give Michael a bridge position when she’s a criminal? this whole thing makes no sense. why did they go this nonsense route? other than for the sake of drama (oh wait, that’s the only reason they do anything on this show)

why does the replicator tell you how nutritious your food is

oh of course Voq is gonna befriend and flirt with Michael.

lord, could someone please please tell the writers that they’re supposed to show emotions, not have characters explain what they’re feeling through clunky exposition

“it’s just being human” LOL IT’S FUNNY CAUSE HE’S KLINGON

lol yep, cut to neutral territory, let’s watch as this show’s THIRD FEMALE CHARACTER IS KILLED oh no she’s just been taken hostage LOL

“notify Starfleet Command, ask for orders” W O W he is an ASSHOLE

oh good, next episode is a time loop. Mudd’s back. Voq kisses Michael. 

how is it that this show is serialised and yet feels more disjointed than say, the serial arcs of DS9? every episode it’s like ... Stuff Happens ... and it’s very very loosely connected to what happened before, but seems to be mostly at random?? like, reflecting on what I just watched, not a lot of anything happened? their plots were literally, Sarek is attacked and they rescue him because space telepathy is a thing, so Michael can have some drama I guess ... and Lorca sleeps with the Admiral who realises he’s a dangerous asshole, recommends her for a dangerous mission, then refuses to rescue her. that’s it. 

Like dude, I just rewatched DS9′s Duet and In the Hands of the Prophets last night. This rubbish doesn’t even hold a candle to it??? Kira’s entire emotional arc in season 1 from Emissary, through Past Prologue, Battle Lines, Progress, Duet, and In The Hands of the Prophets, is more nuanced, engaging, and well crafted than Michael’s emotional arc as the protagonist of Discovery. and they weren’t even allowed to do proper serialisation at that point??

[ranger-of-estel]

A Legend Returns: Chapter 5

Sara joins Leonard and Lisa at the safehouse. When they stop by STAR labs Leonard realizes he has a choice before him. 

Also on AO3

Time to choose a side

               It’s still several hours before dawn when his phone buzzes, opening it to see Sara’s smile next to her text.

Knock Knock!

He shakes his head, smile tugging at his lips as he goes to open the back door. Sara is looking up at him with a tired smile, motorcycle helmet held under one arm and hair blown across her face. “Wasn’t sure you would still be up.”

               He raises one brow at her, “I thought you weren’t coming until breakfast.”

               She shrugs, stepping past him into the house. “Guess I couldn’t sleep either.”

               He nods, locking the door before following her into the kitchen. She drapes her jacket over the back of a chair, “Seems late for a train”

               “Ollie’s bike is faster.” She motions to the helmet now resting on the table, pausing and tilting her face up slightly. “What is that amazing smell?” She walks over to the stove, stirring the pot of dark liquid.

               He chuckles, stepping up beside her and taking the spoon. “Not quite done yet, Lance.”

               She pouts at him, then turns on her heel. “In that case,” she makes her way down the hall. “I’m going to get comfortable.” She returns several minutes later in a pair of Lisa’s night shorts that just peak out beneath one of his shirts. He motions toward the couch, and she nods while he adds a layer of marshmallows in the two mugs.

               As he comes around to the front of the couch he opens his mouth to comment on her apparent fondness for his clothing, but stops short as her tired eyes meet his. She’s sunken into the middle of the couch, and he recognizes the emotional exhaustion in the always proud warrior. He sits to her right, offering one of the mugs. “I heard about Laurel,” his dips his head, “I’m Sorry Sara.”

               She frowns, settling the bug in her lap. “I was going to tell you,” she motions around them, “But I didn’t want to take away from this.”

               “Mick told me you can’t go back,” he watches her, voice softening. “H also told me what you’ve done for Lisa.”

               “Mick should learn not to say all he knows,” She mumbles, bringing the mug to her lips in what he assumes is an attempt to hide the dusting of pink on her cheeks.

“Thank you,” it’s almost a whisper, and he hopes she realizes even a fraction of how much he means the words.

She shakes her head, “You died to save me…to save us.” She pulls her knees up, eyes drifting around the room. “Looking after Lisa was the least I could do, besides.” She sighs. “It was nice to have someone who understood the, um, struggle…of losing family.” Her tone lightens before he can respond, “So, what are the plans for tomorrow?”

He considers pushing a little, telling her he’s here if she wants to talk. But instead he simply shrugs, “Breakfast, and then I should let Scarlet and his band of science geeks know I’m back.”

She smiles, offering a small nod. “Barry will be thrilled. And I need to drop off Ollie’s bike with them anyway.” She yawns.

“Come one Captain,” he reaches over, gently taking the cup from her hands. “It’s time you got some rest.”

“I’m fine,” her words are quiet, almost slurred as she shifts slightly on the couch.

“I know,” he rolls his eyes, “But even assassin’s need sleep sometimes.” He’s about to comment that she can have the guest bed; when she shifts to lay her head against his shoulder, eyes drifting shut. Part of him wants to move, to carry her through the house as he had Lisa. The other part likes her warmth, and knows if he moves her she’ll just wake anyway.

The first rays of sunlight are just beginning to peak through the window when he finally decides he has to move, gently shifting Sara to lay across the couch as he moves to the kitchen to begin breakfast. Soon the whole house smells of coffee and he turns from the bowl of batter to grab a pan. A smirk tugs at his lips as a still tired eyed Sara; with mussed hair and the sleeves of his shirt pooling at her wrists, approaches. His first thought is that she manages to look incredibly soft for an assassin, the second is that he should stop staring. As if reading his mind, she gives him a crooked little smile, hopping up to sit on the counter to his right.

He doesn’t say a word, just grabs a black mug from the cabinet, pouring a cup of black coffee which he offers up to her before opening a cabinet at her feet. She takes the mug, making a happy little noise and pulling her feet to the side so he can open the door more easily.

There are things he wants to say, wants to ask, but he knows that this comfortable, dare he say domestic, feeling could shatter with a word. She must feel it as well, since she remains equally silent at his side, just watching him cook. It feels right, just the two of them like this. But it’s been a lot longer for her, and after some of the stories on board he won’t assume that she feels the same.

He’s pulled from his thoughts as Lisa’s voice drifts in from the hall. “Lenny, that smells amazing!” Then a pause, before her tone shifts and he knows she’s glaring. “Canary,”

He senses Sara shift, “Glider.” He watches with a frown as the girls almost stalk toward one another, but then he sees Lisa grin, and Sara’s shoulders drop before they embrace. “It’s good to see you.”

“Same,” they pull apart, and there’s an openness to his sister that he rarely sees. But then, Sara has a way with guarded people.

He turns back to the stove, slipping the last of the pancakes onto the stack before glancing back at them. “Breakfast is served.” He makes his way toward the table, plate of pancakes in one hand and bacon in the other. Lisa brings syrup and butter, while Sara manages three mugs of coffee.

“Are those chocolate chip?” Lisa beams, reaching across the table to pull several of the fluffy disk onto her plate as he chuckles.

“Doubted you wanted to go out.” He shrugs, reclining in his chair as he lifts the hot drink to his lips.

“Alright,” Sara looks over at the other woman, “What have we missed?”

Lisa shrugs, “Just the usual. Caught a few dealers, some metas in a fight with Barry, robbed a jewelry store – Oh!” she points at Sara, “Remind me of that later.” Sara nods as Lisa takes another mouthful of pancake. “Rouges are all out again…and…Oh, they’re finally rebooting Star Trek with a female Captain again.”

“Bout time,” Sara pushes away her empty plate, nursing her still warm coffee.

“Didn’t take you for a Trekkie,” Leonard looks at her curiously, drawing the pairs attention.

“I wasn’t…but Raymond had a movie night between missions, and it only seemed fitting.” She shrugged.

“And with you,” Lisa glances from Sara, to Len and then back. “Aside from the obvious.”

“The obvious is a long story,” Sara shakes her head, glancing at Len. “And not really for breakfast. But,” she smiles, “I did go to Camelot,”

“No way,” Lisa straightens, “I thought it was a myth.”

“It’s apparently very real,” Leonard crosses his arms, “And my understanding is our Sara appears to have embodied Lancelot,” his eyebrow raises, “Even to the point of stealing the heart of a princess.”

She shrugs, “Arthur will never know.” She grabs the plates from the table, “I’ll wash.”

“So Sis,” Leonard leans onto the table slightly. “How about a trip to STAR labs? Then we’ll all go out for drinks?”

She smiles, “I like the sound of that, but.” She rises to her feet, “We can’t go out like this, Sara!” she walks over linking her arm with the other woman before tugging her through the house.

Leonard shakes his head, cleaning up from breakfast before going through for a quick shower. When he returns to the living area he finds the women at the table…well Sara is sitting on the table as his sister applies makeup. They are both in snug jeans and boots, hair falling in waves over their shoulders. His sister is in a black shirt, Sara has opted for red.

“You know,” Lisa glances over her shoulder at him, “Instead of watching us get ready you could go get the bikes from the shed.”

“Should I expect you before the sun goes down?” he teases.

“You can’t rush perfection Lenny,” She replies with a huff, and he can’t help but smile at her as he grabs his coat and makes his way toward the door.

When he reaches the shed he removes the lock with practiced ease, rolling back the tarp that covers the motorcycles. Lisa’s gold one is on the right, his black one next to it, and an unfamiliar one is on the left. It’s black, with hotrod red accents, he rolls his eyes. Arrow or not, Oliver still has a streak of playboy apparently. Still, it’s not a bad looking machine and will draw no more attention than his sister’s.

He grabs a rag from the workbench to wipe his own wheels down. And it feels good, grounding almost, to be back here. In his city, checking equipment and he finds himself itching for a job. He has a group of people still waiting, Heroes to help if he’s so inclined, and a hobby of pestering Central City’s hero. He knows where he fits; no shifting time, no fear of changing the course of history, just the Rogues Vs. the CCPD.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” Sara’s voice draws him back to the present, and he straightens. They both move toward their bikes, and he grabs a helmet from the bench. “Need a refresher on driving?” she teases

“You worry about yourself Lance,” he smirks, “This is still my city.” He revs his engine, pulling out of the shed. The three enter an unspoken race, though the winner is unclear as they slow down to approach the building.

Sara and Lisa make their way toward the front door, Leonard turns and makes his way toward the back. Despite the time away he still has no trouble getting into the building, making his way toward the main room.

“Felicity called ahead and said you might be stopping by with the bike,” He hears Cisco as he approaches one of the doorways, pausing just outside. Most of the group have their backs to him, and he saunters in, Sara offering a half smirk from her place.

“You should really look into better security,” he drawls, arms crossing as he leans back against a desk, “Anyone could just walk in here.”

The entire group spins, a mixture of gasps and wide eyes peering back at him. Barry recovers first and attempts to school his features. “Snart,” he takes a step forward, “What uh- what are you doing here?”

He shrugs, “Tired of being dead,” he smirks, tilting his head. “Come now Scarlet, it would take more than an explosion to kill me.”

“Sara?” Barry’s voice is strained, eyes still locked on the man before him.

“He’s our Len, back from the timestream.” She’s smiling, eyes sparkling with amusement.

Leonard sees the shift in the younger man, and quickly puts a hand out before him with a glare. “You hug me and I’ll freeze you solid.”

Barry just laughs, and for a moment he expects he speedster to embrace him anyway. Instead he just rushes over, hitting him on the shoulder with a grin wide enough it must hurt. “I told you there was the making of Hero inside.”

“Hardly,” he drawls, turning to face him, “I just didn’t like the idea of being controlled.”

“Okay, but how did you survive the explosion?” Caitlyn asks.

“And what does Sara mean stuck in the timestream? Spill it Cold!” Cisco follows up.

Before Leonard can say anything a new voice takes command, “What is all the racket?” There’s a tall, thin man in the doorway. Leonard recognizes him as Harrison Wells; who he believed dead. The other man is looking at him with similar surprise. “Leo?”

Leonard’s brow furrows, tensing instinctively at the name. “What did you call me?”

The man shakes his head, striding forward. “I’m sorry Mister Snart, for a moment I thought you were someone else.” He looks at the others, “I take it this is the man you thought dead?”

Sara nods, “Come on, it will be easier if I only have to explain all of this once.”

               Leonard stays for part of the story; but decides the reminder of what he’s done, even if Sara keeps the details to a minimum, is more than he’s prepared for. He takes to the halls, finally ducking into one of the office spaces.

               Leonard leans back against one of the desks, eyes drifting shut as he soaks in the quiet. He feels like he’s just caught his breath when there are footfalls approaching; they are too heavy for Sara or Lisa…but also too slow for Barry.

He opens his eyes just as Wells walks in, an almost smugness on the other man’s face. “Thought I’d find you here,”

“Heroes afraid I’ve run off again already?” Leonard responds.

“Perhaps, but that’s not why I’m here.” Harry crosses his arms, watching Leonard with something kin to familiarity.

“What is it you want Wells?” there’s an edge to Leonard’s voice as he shifts. He doesn’t like the way the other man acts as if he knows him.

“To give you a piece of advice.” The other man responds, “Don’t do it.”

“Do what?” Len’s head tilts ever so slightly,

“You’re thinking about staying here in Central,” The older man shakes his head, moving to browse the books on one of the many shelves. “It would be a mistake.”

Leonard’s eyes narrow, “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

“It’s not,” he shrugs, “But where I’m from you.” He glances back, “He, and I,” He frowns. “We are not close, that isn’t something either of us do.” He turns to face Leonard once more, “But I came to consider him a friend.”

“And what? I’m a painful reminder of that?” Snart scoffs.

“Hardly; but you have something he doesn’t.” Harry motions toward the hall, “In my world Sara Lance was a Captain in the CCPD, and she was on the very short list of people Leo cared for.”

Leonard is drawn in, despite himself, settling against the desk. “You’re point?”

“As mayor, when he took a stand against Zoom, he lost everything.” Harrison almost softens for a moment, “Including her.”

There’s a tightness in Leonard’s chest, “How?”

“Very near the way this Sara lost you. She died to prevent the release an explosion that would have killed thousands.” Harry steps forward, closing some of the distance between them. “I don’t particularly care what happens to you Mister Snart, but I owe it to him.” His arms are crossed once more, “You have a second chance for a future with Miss Lance; something he would have paid steeply to have.”

“I’m not that man,” Leonard responds dryly.

“Perhaps not,” he shrugs, “But if I’ve learned one thing about the universe, it doesn’t give second chances often.” He holds his gaze, tone almost sharp. “And to ignore that out of fear is an insult to those less fortunate.” And with that he turns, making his way out of the little office and down the hall.

               Leonard isn’t sure what to make of the new information; partly hung up on the idea of being mayor, and partly keeping his mind from envisioning Sara holding the kill switch at the Oculus. He and the version of him on the other earth seem vastly different; but it appears that no matter the world his story is always entwined with Sara’s.

               “There you are,” Lisa’s voice pulls him back to the present. She steps up, brow furrowed. “You okay?”

               “Peachy,” he huffs, then shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”

               She frowns, “I don’t believe you,” she motions down the hall. “Palmer is here, says you haven’t met Lily.”

               “Lily?” he quirks a brow.

               “Yeah…The old man’s daughter. She’s one of your team’s little slip ups in history apparently,” she shakes her head, “I don’t think I’ll ever quite grasp time travel and it’s repercussions.”

               He chuckles, pushing away from the desk. “I don’t think any of us have.” He allows her to hook her arm around his, leading him through the halls. The other man’s words still ringing in his ears.

Chap 4 (x) Chap 6 (x)