#avasarala x holden

[pixiedane]

Title: We Walk Through the Fire Artist: Zayde Wølf featuring Ruelle Footage: The Expanse

Summary: Chrisjen Avasarala and James Holden share a deep regard for each other.

[quixoticfcrged]

@aeternals / halston continued from [x]

He nuzzled in again to steal another lingering kiss before pulling back, offering out the second bulb of coffee as he replied. "Pretty decent," Holden admitted, letting a hand slide up to tease through the still tousled strands of her bed head with a soft, low hum. Falling asleep with her in his arms, and waking up with her next to him certainly didn't hurt. And these times? The in between times, when the mandates had already been issued, but before the trouble could begin, were some of the better times he'd spent on the ship, with his crew, his little found family.

"Waking up with no new messages from Avasarala chewing my ass out, fresh coffee made, nobody trying to kill us yet, and no alarms blaring - I don't want to jinx it, but I can't think of a single thing to complain about." He let himself slide closer, an arm curling around her waist, happy to enjoy the moment for what it offered. "Alex said something about a ... Kamal brunch supreme in a few, wanted me to extend the invitation to you, too, if you want to join."

[phantomstatistician]

Fandom: The Expanse

Sample Size: 520 stories

Source: AO3

[universalimagines]

I just finished watching The Expanse and I’ve got to say, it’s a hell of a show. Great characters l, well written world building, realistic physics for space travel and a jaw dropping story. (Plus the coolest ship I’ve seen, fuck yeah Rocinante)

Since I love this show so much now, I’m adding it and it’s characters to my list of shows/characters I write for so please send in those asks!!!

[expansefanficstation]

Holden liked to joke that maybe Finlith was a water-wyrm in a past life, and Finlith always insisted, rather indignantly, that he had always been a dragon.

A Dragonriders of Pern AU for the Expanse, complete with telepathic dragons and all that jazz.

[thenarrativefoil]

anybody got a copy or link to the x ray bonus content for s6 of the expanse???

[presidentlauraroslin]

Chrisjen x Bobbie - An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it.

Bobbiehad put on her power armor so many times, she hadn’t ever bothered to keepcount. It felt like a second skin, the weight familiar, the parts clicking intoplace like they had never left. But it was different this time. It had beendifferent on the Guanshiyin, but that had been a crisis situation, adrenalineand training taking over. But she was on Martian frigate that wasn’t Martiananymore, surrounded by everything her planet had made.

But shewas donning her armor as a traitor, as a defector, snapping everything intoplace to help a bunch of misfits and an Earther who would have died if it weren’tfor her. Nothing about this should feel right, she didn’t have her team to yellencouraging words at, no hatred at Earth to spew. It was just her and her armor,and a people she barely knew but had to trust to stop a war.

“Whenthe rains fall hard on Olympus Mons, who are we?” she whispered as she checkedthe ammo of her gun. Somewhere she could hear the answering call, the sound ofher team filling the small space, their voices echoing off the walls.

“MMC.”The far too familiar voice reached her ears and she spun around, eyebrowsraised. Avasarala just smiled, leaning against the ladder, looking just ascomfortable there as she had in her own office. It was a skill that Bobbiealmost felt envious of.

“How didyou - - ?”

“Do youthink I can’t recognize a Martian Marine Corps battle cry? I thought there wasa lot more crushing our mountains and draining our rivers in it.” There wasn’tany venom behind her words and despite having been stuck in same room as herfor several days, it was difficult to reconcile this softer side of Avasaralawith the woman who could cut down anyone with her words. Even stripped of her fineryand a good few inches shorter in her mag boots than her heels, she was still anintimidating person.

Bobbieshrugged. “Seems pointless now.”

“Itdoes. Things have changed too fucking much.” Avasarala looked up at her, not inthe slightest put off by Bobbie’s height or the armor that made her even morelethal. Her expression was surprisingly soft. “Not all of it for the worse.”

The intensityof the look in her eyes made Bobbie’s breath catch in her throat. How was she havingthis effect on her without doing anything? Right before Bobbie was walking intowhatever the fuck was going on down on Io as well. “Why are you down here?Shouldn’t you be up there with Holden?”

“DonQuixote can take care of himself, for a little while anyway, without blowing upthe system. I came here to tell you to do what you think is right down there.Don’t be too fucking reckless. And don’t die.” She sounded oddly vulnerable,despite her bravado to be the powerful Earther politician. Avasarala’s hand hadlanded on her chest plate and Bobbie swore she could feel the warmth of herskin through her armor.

“Is thatan Earther battle cry?” She said lamely, trying to cut through some of thetension that was suddenly in the air.

“No. Butyou can consider it an order if you like.” There was a moment of silence whereBobbie wasn’t sure what to do, what to say. Avasarala seemed to know, raisingherself up on her toes, her hand moving to the back of Bobbie’s neck. Bobbie’sbrain shut off. She just stopped thinking, unable to deal with the fact thatthis was real, this was happening. She watched Avasarala’s face moving closerand her eyes fell shut of their own accord.

At thefirst touch of Avasarala’s, or Chrisjen’s, she should probably start thinkingof her as Chrisjen now, Chrisjen’s lips against her own, Bobbie felt her heartstop. She was being kissed by Chrisjen, right before a possible deadly mission downto Io and she had no idea how to respond. She just let it happen, she let thekiss happen.

UntilChrisjen tried to pull back. She suddenly snapped into action, wrapping an armaround her waist, holding her close, finally kissing her back. Chrisjen felt somuch smaller than she looked. Bobbie had no idea why this was happening, butshe didn’t want it to stop. Chrisjen knew how to kiss. If she had had herhelmet on, she was pretty sure it would tell her heartbeat was off the charts.

It waswith regret that she pulled back, stumbling a little as she gave Chrisjen awide-eyed look, trying to slow down her breathing. Chrisjen looked a little dazedherself, her chest moving rapidly against the tight fabric of her flightsuit. Bobbielicked her lips and, god, she could still taste her there. “What – what wasthat for?”

Chrisjenraised an eyebrow, her hands moving over her hips as if to straighten herclothes. “That was for me. And a little incentive for you to come back.” Thatdefinitely sounded like an order and Bobbie just nodded, hoping she wouldn’thave to disappoint her.

[moocowmoocow]

Day 01 & 02 - Earth & Mars

A bit of fluff based on speculation of vague ideas of plot lines for s4. Chrisjen x Arjun; Chrisjen x Bobbie.

When she and Arjun entered the residence of the UN Embassy after the Martian state dinner, Chrisjen Avasarala found a metric fuckton of reports that she needed to read, all urgent. Holden's first report from New Terra had finally reached the Sol System. There were a string of events happening across the Belt that something in her gut told her could be disastrous but she never had the fucking time to get the pieces to fit. Reports of problems from Earth - crop failures in the North American plains, a measles outbreak in Prague that threatened to spread, water shortages in Cape Town, a massive typhoon headed toward the south of China. And her fucking polling numbers. Those were going to the very fucking bottom of the pile.

The reading was a bit more bearable when she could sit on the couch and sink into Arjun's warmth. Mars was so fucking cold and the problems of the universe so fucking heavy to sound like a goddamn cliché. They read together, he a novel and she her never-ending reports, her head resting on his shoulder, his arm around her.

The fifth time he yawned, she sat up. "Go to bed, Arjun. If you fall asleep here, your back will hurt all of tomorrow."

"Will you be up soon?"

"I have at least an hour of shit left to do. I'll try not to wake you."

He nodded and stood up. Before heading toward bed, he brought her a cup of tea, draped a blanket around her shoulders, kissed her forehead and lips. "It's fine if you wake me up, Chrisjen."

She smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand. "Good night."

A half hour passed between Arjun's departure and someone stepping into the residency. "Why is this planet so fucking cold?" Chrisjen asked.

"Some planets still have ice caps."

Chrisjen smiled. Bobbie. She had left her a message and had supplied her access to the embassy, so Bobbie wouldn't have to go through the layers and layers of bureaucracy and protocol in order to have access to her. She pulled the blanket closer and turned to look at her. "What the fuck happened to you?"

Bobbie's face was bruised, her knuckles bloodied, and she was putting minimal weight on her left leg. "I can't talk about it."

"Why the fuck not?"

"I can't." And Bobbie looked at her with such a mix of sorrow and pain and desperation, that Chrisjen found that her impulse to care for her overruled her demand to know what was going on.

"Come, sit. I'll get you some ice."

Bobbie limped over to the couch and settled heavily on it with a sigh. Chrisjen found a first aid kit in the kitchen and made her way to sit on the table in front of the couch. She pressed ice against Bobbie's face. Bobbie winced.

"Do you trust me?" Bobbie asked as she took a hold of the ice pack.

"With my life, you know that," Chrisjen replied, digging into the first aid kit to find an antiseptic to clean the wounds on Bobbie's knuckles.

"I need a few things. If there was any way I could get them without you, I would. But I can't."

Chrisjen took Bobbie's hands into her own, starting to treat the other woman's wounds. "What are they?"

"I need a place to stay tonight."

"That's easy enough. You'll stay here."

"I need a shuttle to get off of Mars undetected. At least at first. I need to get out to the Belt."

"Of course."

"Really? What happens when the prime minister asks you about why you gave me a shuttle?"

"I'd tell him he shouldn't be fucking spying on sovereign Earth territory."

Bobbie rolled her eyes. "And?"

"And I'll tell him that I sent you out to investigate some incidents in the Belt that concern me."

Bobbie was silent for a few moments. "I might be able to help you with that."

Chrisjen smiled. "See? It's already working out for me."

"One last thing. Could you stay with me tonight?" Bobbie looked at her with such vulnerability in her eyes, it took Chrisjen aback.

"Of course." She stood and kissed Bobbie's forehead and helped her off the couch. "Why don't you take a shower while I finish up here?" She took Bobbie's hand and led her to the bathroom.

Once she was convinced Bobbie was fine on her own, she made her way to her own bedroom and tried to not wake Arjun. However, he turned on the bedside light when she entered in the room. "I heard someone. Who's here?" he asked.

"Bobbie." Chrisjen began the process of undressing and changing into her pajamas.

He smiled. "I was hoping you would see her. You miss her."

Chrisjen nodded.

"But something is wrong because this is a damned odd hour to visit."

Clad in her pajamas, she started removing her makeup. "She's trying to protect me and won't tell me. But she's hurting."

"And you're going to help her?"

Chrisjen unwound the elaborate braids in her hair. "Of course, I am."

"Even with the election?"

Chrisjen turned to look at Arjun in shock but found him smiling gently at her. "It's one of the reasons I love you," he replied. "You can be ruthless and single-minded in your pursuit of a goal, but you do what's best for those you love."

She wasn't sure that was an entirely accurate assessment. Their son would probably disagree, if he was still living.  "And I love you because you are always willing to overlook my faults."

"Go. Take care of her."  Chrisjen kissed him before she left the room.

She found Bobbie wrapped in a bathrobe under the covers. As she slipped under the covers, Bobbie pulled Chrisjen toward her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Chrisjen kissed her, softly, trying not aggravate any of her bruises. "I've arranged a ship for you. It leaves in a few hours. You are spending the time between then and now sleeping, though."

Bobbie nodded and rested her head on Chrisjen's shoulder. Chrisjen held on to her tightly. Bobbie placed a kiss on her throat, before burrowing against her. Chrisjen ran her fingers through Bobbie's damp hair until she felt her relax into sleep. "Stay alive," Chrisjen whispered into the dark room.

[venndaai]

Chrisjen x Bobbie - 5 "You're safe now."

(The first sentence of this totally doesn’t count towards the word limit since it’s lifted straight from the end of Nemesis Games.)

“We’ll be wherever you want us to be,” Holden said. “We’re not hiding anything.”

“Damn right, if you want to stay attached to your balls,” Avasarala said. “See you tomorrow. Bobbie, I need a word outside.”

Bobbie followed her into a side room. Inside, Avasarala had crumpled into herself, silently weeping. Bobbie felt her stomach twist.

“I don’t know why it’s so fucking hard for me to ask this,” Avasarala said, “but would you hold me, please?” 

“Can do, ma’am,” Bobbie said. Avasarala felt like a bird in her arms.

“You’re safe now,” the leader of Earth said, muffled against Bobbie’s chest. “That’s what I’ve been telling myself. It makes the rest more bearable.”

[mysticandskepticmuses]

icons left to sort.

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[blue-mint-winter]

The Expanse s4e01 New Terra

On the rewatch, it’s clear the first episode is excellent - it provides the continuity with previous season, shows us the passage of time as we check in with characters and provides clever set up to new storylines of this season. Plus all the foreshadowing!

SPAAACEE. That’s what I love to see and this episode especially delivers on that front. CGI in this season is even better. I loved especially that shot of Martian scrapyard.

Lucia and her family on Barbapiccola running that Ring blockade! Yeah! Stick it to the Inners!

I love that Holden’s first line is “That’s one good cup of coffee.” OTP Holden x Coffee is still alive and doing well :) His whole first scene on Earth with his mother, talking at the campfire, seeing lightning in the distance, “Storm’s coming”, his mother giving him Don Quixote book - all of it is such a deliberate foreshadowing of events on Ilus. Great job, show.

Miller repeating himself like a broken record is a sign that something‘s wrong with him. On the other hand, he asks what rain tastes like. Aaaaaa

Upgrades, upgrades everywhere - Roci gets some, Naomi gets some for their expedition, Drummer gets some to heal her back.

Holden taking his medicine for cancer - more foreshadowing, love it.

The set up of Avasarala vs Nancy was pretty good. Avasarala is just tyrannical, Nancy brings up good points about letting people settle new planets and how they can’t keep up the blockade indefinitely and how it’s a grand opportunity for humanity, especially all these unemployed Earthers - but there’s no discussion or democratic process with Avasarala. She’s the empress that knows the best and they have to do what she says. No wonder Nancy decided to take matters into her own hands and run for Secretary-General.

“Don’t teach me about mythology.” - ok so this is funny because Avasarala’s husband is literally a professor teaching about Greek mythology this season. So maybe she knows Ilus was Ganymede’s brother which is why Belters named that their planet. But I doubt that. She doesn’t really give a shit about things like that.

That call from Clarissa to Amos was interesting, because they talk about choice. She’s imprisoned for life but on the way to Earth Amos let her help with mechanic work and he gave her a chance to kill herself in airlock if she wanted to. And Melba is grateful for the choice, which she didn’t take, but how I understand it Amos in her place would have killed himself for sure. Because he values himself and other people by their usefulness and in prison you can’t give anything back, in his own words. In his opinion, it;s better to be dead than useless.

Lol Amos asking what Avasarala was wearing.

Roci pass by Mars on transit and we have a look into another person that must be feeling pretty useless in that moment and that’s Bobbie. She’s stuck in a job she’s not really meant for, taking apart Martain warships instead of manning them as a proud marine, she had a trial, she’s living with her brother’s family. She and everyone in her life are like ships passing by each other and in effect, she’s very much alone. In transit, heading towards nowhere, without any higher purpose or life goal. But she seems to believe that a new war is coming and she’ll be needed again. We also meet Leelee and Thomas, Bobbie’s future bf. It’s a shame he wasn’t some kind of a spy though.

Ashford’s beliefs are put to test when he’s chasing pirates attacking Earth ships. Obviously these guys are Inaros’ faction, though it’s not said outright in this ep yet. Ashford is still new to this cooperation thing and no wonder it struck his nerve to be called a dog of Inners when he spent his whole life fighting them.

Another interesting argument is between Naomi and Drummer. Drummer thinks that Belters have no business settling on planets and that will just make them into Inners. And... she’s got a point. “We’re creatures of space.” But Naomi is also right, the choice is important and they deserve a chance for better life. Also, she was just putting herself through so much pain in the gravity therapy just to get to go down on Ilus.

Btw, I still feel it’s significant that Naomi wouldn’t make that kind of personal sacrifice to go down to Earth and meet Holden’s parents, but she would do that to go on a new planet and help Belters. Earth is the symbolic past of humanity, Naomi is heading towards the future.

The shuttle getting blown up was such a good scene. We get Elvi being excited and Fayez, and Murtry’s dislike of Belters before the big boom. The shots of the wreckage after remind me a lot of plane crashes. Amazing that so many survived. And that’s the set up to the crash mystery.

Roci’s landing and Naomi’s first steps on the planet were so nice. The music on this show, mmmm. Epic.

Holden comes to the settlement and the conflict immediately starts. They want him to pick a side. That swarm attack was very convenient timing-wise. Did Miller send that to break up the argument before they started shooting? At least that’s my theory.

[naazaif327]

Now that I’ve read the first 3 books, I’ve been watching The Expanse TV series and it’s... interesting.

Its weird, the books felt way more action-packed than the show. Even though I was reading over multiple hours, the book always felt like crazy heart-pounding action sequences (Holden and his crew) mixed with more human, political stories (like Avasarala and Bobbie). But with the TV show, everything feels sort of lethargic. Like I’m watching it all happen in slow motion. 

The plot is more political and interesting, but I’m kind of over this whole “belters are the oppressed minority” thing. It’s there in the books too, but its a lot more grating in the show when most of the Belters outside of Naomi and Diogo are nameless white men who brutalize the various Inners in the belt. When Fred Johnson (played by an African American man) gets called privileged and “an Inner at heart” by the white Belters, how are we supposed to feel? When Doris (the asian woman Prax is friends with) and the other Inners get thrown out an airlock in season 2, how are we supposed to feel? 

Almost all the violence in the show that we’re shown is individual (PoC) Inners getting murdered or tortured by (white) Belters. We’re barely shown the systemic oppression of the Belters by the Inners. But we’re supposed to sympathize with the Belters? Or if we’re not supposed to sympathize with the Belters, is the message that minorities shouldn’t fight back against systemic violence? It feels like straight white people writing out another story where marginalized groups get demonized for fighting against systemic oppression in any way besides polite, peaceful protest. Every time the Belters kill/torture someone from Earth or Mars, I feel like I can hear the showrunners screaming “Malcolm X was wrong! Be like MLK or DIE”.

The characters are all either different or more fleshed out in the show, which I thought would make me empathize with them more. Instead, I feel like I’m at a remove from everything that’s happening. Like, I like that Alex, and Amos all have more complex stories, but it all just feels kind of empty. In the middle of a civil war between the OPA on Tycho Station, we cut to Amos having his ten millionth existential crisis about whether he’s a monster, and if he’s going to find his true love/oedipal complex Lydia, and I just don’t care. I do like Naomi’s expanded storyline. It makes her so much more than just Holden’s badass girlfriend. Some of my favourite scenes in both the books and the show are when Naomi and Miller bond or talk about their struggles as Belters, sharing this kind of understanding that Holden will never have no matter how empathetic and kind he is.

My favourite part of the show are the sets and the attention to worldbuilding. The effort put into every last detail of Ceres Station, the UN Capital building, Montana, and every other planet, moon, or asteroid is just astounding. The way they don’t give subtitles for the Belter language, so you only half-understand what they’re saying, just like an Earther. The space suits, the magnetic boots, Avasarala’s bright saris contrasting the wave of dark suits and uniforms of the men around her. Every beautiful detail comes together to create an incredible vision of the future even if the writing doesn’t always hold up for me personally. 

Its also just amazing to see so many ethnicities and races realistically portrayed in the future. Star Trek does have people of colour and gay people, but at that point humanity is basically one big homogenized group without much culture. Here, people still speak punjabi and Avasarala still wears saris. People still follow various religions, there are Mormons, Christians, Muslims, etc. The food they eat is from a mix of different cultures and locations. People of one ethnicity have accents and cultural differences from a completely different one. Most sci-fi set in the near future prioritizes how white American society would evolve with the advancement of technology. This show is probably the first I’ve ever seen that shows people like me in the future and it is so goddamn cool!

[whenimaunicorn]

The Expanse Fanfic Masterlist

Organized by ship in newest-to-oldest chronological order, more or less?

TV-based:

Naomi x Drummer:

And I Love You - (M) - revisiting Naomi’s exit from the Behemoth, adding in a last kiss ;)

     bonus: a podfic recording of this fic by Spinifex!

drabble: kiss on the neck

drabble: “I need you to let me all the way in”

Naomi x Amos:

Whatever You Want - (E) - my first in the fandom! The opening chapter is still near and dear to my heart. A slightly bored Naomi and Amos hook up in a bar on-station and the chemistry explodes.

Closer (E) -  Amos does his best to soothe Naomi’s anxieties during S1E5

“Atlas” - (T) - very silly drabble about Naomi discovering how Amos made money for engineering school. I had plans for finishing it explicitly, but the words never flowed.

He’s Not My Dog - (T) non-shippy exploration of Naomi and Amos’ brotp and how it fell apart during season one of the show, through her eyes.

Naomi x Amos x Holden:

Join Us - (E) - a porny little imagining of a established couple Amos and Naomi seducing Jim Holden during the downtime of S1E5

in a lovely constellation - (T) - cowritten with @rociposse; a series of shorts about the evolution of our angsty OT3. I am particularly proud of the last chapter which depicts Amos trying to care for an infant while also fixing the ship.

Amos x Holden:

Show Me - (E) - In which Amos hates to be touched and he and Holden find a way to share sexual intimacy anyway.

Am I The Captain? - (E) - silly little sex-as-battle-for-dominance fic that people seem to love, set post- S1E7

Miller x Octavia

Not Again - (E) - in which Octavia Muss tries, and fails, to resist the charms of her ex-lover, Detective Joe Miller

Chrisjen Avasarala x Arjun

the depths that pass between us - (T) -  Arjun tries to ease Chrisjen's mind as much as he can before he says goodbye. Set after she asked him to take the family to safety on Luna at the end of season one.

Book series based (spoilers):

Naomi

Infinite - (T) - how Naomi got from Filip to here

Naomi x Holden

Reunion - (E) -  Set between Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes. An exploration of how they got from the tension and angst at the end of NG to their new trust and solidarity in BA. Explored through sex because it's me. That's what I write.

Bobbie x Alex

One Night on Mars - (M) - as promised in the line that this title comes from, Bobbie makes out with Alex in a hotel room

A Stable Orbit - (T) - slice-of-life fluff for Bobbie and Alex post-Babylon's Ashes

Amos x Peaches:

Save Me From Myself - (E) - set in the last chapter of book 3… basically what I would have done in her shoes

A Warm Place (E) - set in book five “huddling for warmth” trope; my favorite out of all of them

Prisoner Transport (E) was my one foray into irreverent, self-insert smut for this fandom. The reader is a prisoner on the Roci (and I did my best to make it gender-neutral with versions for both kinds of plumbing) who seduces both Peaches and Amos

[sweeter-than]

here, have some cross-posted Expanse s3 meta

...about how Anna is the undisputed hero of the season!

Let me break it down for you, okay. She's the hero of the season, and not just for earnestly convincing everyone in the Slow Zone to turn off their drives. In the first half of the season, the Earth side has two kinds of people pushing for this war: zealots and opportunists. And Anna is like, a regular person with a wife and kid who just wants this whole big world to be nice to each other, Jesus why is that too much to ask.

Avasarala knows that Anna is a good person. Amid this total fucking mess, many people are just trying their earnest best to do the right thing. Which doesn't sound like much but so many people don't bother. On the Hammurabi, Captain Kirino has that great speech, that sometimes good people striking a lucky moment is the x factor that shitstorms need. She sends the tape of Errinwright's confession to Souther with that in mind, but Souther is surrounded by zealotry and nonsense. And then Anna saves the day. By being a person, interacting personably with other persons. KIRINO: War is an inherently unstable interaction of three things. Intense emotion, politics, and luck. That message is luck. Maybe out here, away from all the politics and bullshit, that luck opens a door and helps a couple of grunts figure out how not to fight. I love the theme of, each of us can only do the best we can with the information we've got. But no choice is made in a vacuum. It's all a chain reaction. (Bobbie's story has always been this, but it all cranked up this season to be the crux of each half.) Then the second half echoes this, with Clarissa having imperfect information about Holden and the Roci (and whether this line of action is actually going to get her what she wants). And *everybody* is in an information hole regarding the ring. Holden's the key to understanding and spreading that message, Bobbie and Drummer and the crew of the Roci following like apostles of Traumatised Space Jesus. Anna is still just trying to be a good person. Who convinces Amos not to kill Clarissa, where it would not be good but it would be expedient. AMOS: This one won't be grateful for your mercy. ANNA: It's not about her. It's about us. And this is true when she says it! But then Clarissa, in just the same way she was killing people earlier, buys Holden and co. the time they need to shut down the ship. Which doesn't happen if Anna doesn't preserve her life here. Anna saved everybody present in the ring, and maybe beyond. Individual choices, no man is an island, and Anna Volovodov is the unquestionable hero of the season yes that's right someone give the lady a freaking medal. Naomi discovering that home is where the heart is was great. Last but not least, Wes Chatham is so wide this season. It was intermittently distracting. But thumbs up on Amos identifying feelings! And communicating them to other people! You go, baby.

[jamesholden]

You know, I already decided I wouldn’t allocate anymore of my fuck budget to hate and shit but given that the fandom is getting bigger I wanna just send out a friendly reminder for when tagging specific hate and other nonsense, as someone who tries to keep positive:

if you’re posting negativity about a character or ship, please keep it out of the character or ship tags. I know it’s too much to expect people not to put anti posts in The Expanse tag. You want your posts to be seen by people who might agree with you. I get that. Fair enough. 

But if you’re posting hate or negativity about like Holden or julie x miller or the Roci or Avasarala whatever you don’t like... why are you putting it in their tags? you know who goes in those tags? people who like those things. you know what’s pretty gross? making people who like those things see how much you don’t like it or acting as if your opinion is fact and people are wrong for not agreeing with you. because it comes off less “i want to find people who agree with me” and more “i just want to start drama” or “whatever reason i need to tell the world i don’t like what someone else likes in a mean spirited way because it makes no sense to Shannon”.

No one has to like Bobbie x Alex or Ashford or the Thomas Prince, and it makes total sense that you wanna find someone who also doesn’t like those things. but you don’t have to subject people who do like those things to your negativity about them. it takes 2 seconds to either not tag it with the name or ship name and to just tag it anti-whatever. tagging is a beautiful function and people can block your tags and then enjoy what they like. we can’t block our fave’s tags... we can’t get away from mean-spirited negativity that people don’t care to make easy to avoid

And as much as I’d like to say this is an isolated incident, it isn’t. I’ve been in the fandom since before S2 aired and this nonsense is ongoing about all kinds of stuff that people post about because they like it. it’s so easy to not tag negativity or to keep negativity to yourself. listen I have popular things i don’t like, but I don’t constantly tag posts about it. i barely even post about it out of consideration for my friends and other fans who do. i’ve been trying to be better about the things i was only okay at before because i want everyone to have as much fun as i want to have

so like... i don’t know, let’s be considerate of our fellow fans. let’s stop holding some things above others as if any one thing is really “better’ than another thing. and just understand and agree that we won’t all agree. we won’t all like the same things.

and for god sake. please stop tagging your hate in the character/ship/whatever tags. no one wants it. anti-tag it so people can block it and let’s all have a good time like we came here to do

[presidentlauraroslin]

For the minific prompts: Brenda/Sharon- N. The color green // Chrisjen Avasarala- X. A flash of anger

Brenda/Sharon – N. The color green

Suddenlyit was everywhere. In the artificially colored grass (who even had healthylooking lawn during a drought in LA), in the ever-present palm trees. It wasthe shoes of the latest murder victim, Flynn’s new health kick inspired salad,in Taylor’s hideous ties. It was the silk scarf she briefly entertained buying,until she saw the price tag, some woman jogging with a kale smoothie.

Butmostly it was there when Sharon looked at her, behind dark-rimmed glasses, annoyancein her eyes when they were once again arguing, when she smiled at her over aglass of wine. It was there right before Sharon kissed her and right afterBrenda had made her come. She could still picture it when she went home toFritz.

“Whatare you thinking?” Sharon asked, fingers running over Brenda’s back. There itwas again, that beautiful vibrant color. Right there, looking at her, as theirheartrates slowed back to a normal rhythm and the sweat on their skin was drying.

“Nothin’.You have pretty eyes.” Sharon looked at her for a moment as if that had beenthe last thing she had expected and then she smiled, a genuine smile that madeBrenda feel warm inside.

“Thankyou.”

“I neverreally paid that much attention to green. Y’know when someone you know getspregnant and suddenly there’s pregnant women everywhere? It’s like that. There’sjust green everywhere.” Sharon’s expression changed slightly. A tightness inthe corners of her mouth, a sudden hint of sadness in her eyes. Brendaswallowed heavily. She had said too much, made it too romantic instead of the ‘it’sjust sex, Brenda Leigh’ agreement they had once made, an agreement that theywere both regretting, but were well aware of couldn’t be any other way.

Sharon tangledher fingers in Brenda’s hair and pulled her closer, the green in her eyesdifferent somehow. “Yes, I know exactly what that’s like.” The words werewhispered against Brenda’s lips before she was pulled down into a kiss, unableto see the longing for what she couldn’t have in those green eyes any longer.

Chrisjen Avasarala – X. A flash of anger

Hisknees hit the deck and she swore she could hear the satisfying clunk echoing inwhat would be his cell until they got to Luna. There was contempt in his eyes, ashe recognized just what she was wearing. The skin of her enemy indeed. 

Chrisjenvividly remembered the feeling when she thought Eros was going to end Earth,the gun being waved in her face, the hybrids launching, Bobbie going suicidal, alist of personal losses as long as her arm, Cotyar… And almost all it could betraced back to him, the business titan of the system whose greed had outweighedeverything.

Sheimagined, for a moment, digging her nails into his skin, ripping him apartpiece by fucking piece, making sure he would feel the pain of it every secondof the way. A white-hot rage pulsed through her veins. He nearly destroyedeverything, he was the cause of so much loss, he deserved to suffer. And justin this moment, she wanted to be the one to inflict it, to hear his screams, totaste his blood.

But thiswasn’t a game of instant gratification. A bloody end would be just that, anend. Mao needed to wither away slowly, knowing just what he had lost. Chrisjentook a step closer, forcing him to look up at her.

“I toldSadavir what I would do to your family if they failed to cooperate. Trust me whenI say, they will all be ashamed to carry the Mao name for next century.” Hervoice was surprisingly calm, despite the whirlwind of hatred in she felt. Mao dida decent job of pretending not to be impressed. She smiled at him, the kind ofsmile to told the other person they were fucked.

“Children,Jules-Pierre? Your own daughter? You’re a waste of fucking space. I will takeeverything you hold dear away and bury you in a hole so deep you’ll never seedaylight again.” She didn’t wait for a reaction, didn’t look at Holden. She wasdone. It wasn’t until Chrisjen stepped outside that she noticed she had beenclenching her fists so hard, her nails had cut into her palms. It had been along time since she had let anger get a hold of her like that.

Thenagain, it had been a long time since someone had tried to destroy everythingshe cared for.