#i can't wait to get the lore for the new lead written

[siconetribal]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💚

I have been sitting on this for so long because I just couldn't decide! (Does it matter if they're WiP?) Limiting to five is going to be tough, since I like most of my body of work. I'm working on two currently, so I guess I'll pick a mix of fandoms? Alas, without further ado and in no special order, here is my list (all links lead to chapter 1/one shot. Any and all others can be found in my master post):

Put it on My Tab (Jason Todd)

Summary: Everyone deserves time off, and the vigilantes of Gotham are no exception to the rule. The boys decide to take a weekend to let loose. Who knew a few drinks would lead to a stranger in bed? A/N: This was an idea I had sitting in my head that was planned to a few parts, now it's multiple chapters. I'm glad it's well received, I was super nervous people wouldn't like how I depicted Jason.

Coffee Shop (Ryo Bakura)

Summary: The morning rush waits for no one, and that first hit of caffeine is a must! But what can you do when you're stuck behind someone who can't settle on an order?! A/N: I know there's always a lot of Yami Bakura fics, so I wanted to a give a little shout-out to the host himself, Ryo Bakura.

Revenge (Rika)

Summary: How could her friends abandon her, forsake the paradise she had awaiting them? What could she do to right these wrongs? A/N: Please read TW. A Mystic Messenger fic written from the perspective of the antagonist. My first time ever writing one, and I'm still fairly proud of it.

Relaxing Tea (Satsuki Kitaoji)

Summary: On a street lined with fancy boutiques, there stood a quaint little place on the corner. During the day it remained closed, but come around 4 PM, the lights were on and the open sign sat in the window. Unassuming yet inviting, it attracted the people in need of something. A something that the busy world was unable to give. One evening on the way back from a busy night, a particular man stood at its threshold. Something beckoned him here. A/N: One of my first Voltage fics that I've written, and possibly one of the first fics I've ever written on here.

Plus One (Loki)

Summary: Loki debuts with the Avengers, and all the news and media outlets are dying for the latest scoop. How does one actually get the attention of a prince who once was only seen as a god from lore? A/N: This one didn't get a lot of love, which kinda hurt since I really liked it.

THIS TOOK LONGER THAN IT NEEDED TO, STILL! I battled with a fifth option, trying not to repeat any fandoms!

[bone-wolves]

Listen I love my current lead wolf (Denali she's perfect) but this Cryptid Catastrophe event is THE ABSOLUTE BEST TIME to plan for a cryptid lead wolf

This MAY be the design. Maybe. Still got some time, Denali is only 5 1/2 yrs lol

I am grinding for scales to get as much as I can off the event shop. I'm having so much fun y'all! I love these cryptids!!!

[goforth-ladymidnight]

On ACOTAR Faeries and Names

For some reason, SJM undoes most, if not all, of traditional faerie lore in her books. (I haven't read TOG or CC so I can't comment on those.) The cynical part of me thinks it's because faeries can be difficult to write well, therefore she took the easy route; the more forgiving part of me thinks it's because she set out to explore why humans believed certain myths about faeries, but then lost interest as she spent more and more time in the realm of the Night Court. (Side note: I find it odd that SJM chose to emphasize that the Illyrians are NOT really faeries, whether High or "lesser". I honestly wonder why that is.) Regardless, there's nothing very faerie about SJM's High Fae, etc. except for their ethereal beauty and pointed ears and the fact that they can do magic, I guess.

I've already written about Aging and Lying when it comes to ACOTAR's Faeries, and I thought I'd touch on another aspect of faerie lore that SJM chooses to ignore. (Heh, that rhymes.)

Names.

His [Rhysand's] eyes shifted to my face. “What’s your name, love?” Giving him my name—and my family name—would lead only to more pain and suffering. He might very well find my family and drag them into Prythian to torment, just to amuse himself. But he could steal my name from my mind if I hesitated for too long. Keeping my mind blank and calm, I blurted the first name that came to mind, a village friend of my sisters’ whom I’d never spoken to and whose face I couldn’t recall. “Clare Beddor.” My voice was nothing more than a gasp. ~ACOTAR ch. 26

Clare and her family are killed because Rhys revealed that name to Amarantha, even though he admitted later (in the next book) that he thought she made it up. So, Feyre's fears were not unfounded, but once she is Under the Mountain with everyone else, she is still reluctant to give her name when Amarantha asks for it.

Lucien is even brought forward and refuses to give away Feyre's name. For his defiance, Amarantha orders Rhysand to shatter his mind before Feyre finally gives in and shouts her name for everyone to hear. The Lady of Autumn even repays her sacrifice by helping her with one of Amarantha's "household tasks".

What is the sacrifice, though? It would seem that the only reason Amarantha wants to know her name is because Feyre knows hers, and wants to address her "properly":

“Feyre,” Amarantha said, testing my name, the taste of the two syllables on her tongue. “An old name—from our earlier dialects. Well, Feyre,” she said. I could have wept with relief when she didn’t ask for my family name. “I promised you a riddle.” ~ACOTAR ch. 35

In traditional faerie lore, it is said that names have power, so giving a faerie your name gives them power over you. (It is important to note that they cannot take anything from you. It has to be given.)

There is a scene in Hayao Miyazaki's animated classic in which the young protagonist Chihiro signs a contract to work for the sorceress Yubaba. In a beautifully animated sequence, her signature floats away and into Yubaba's waiting palm. She literally signed away her name. Chihiro is then given a new name in exchange: Sen. By the next day, she has already forgotten her original name and her purpose (freeing her enchanted parents). It is only when another ensorcelled young man gives her the bundle of her old clothes with a card in the pocket (with her name written on it) that she remembers who she was, and why she's there.

I just think it could have been very interesting to give Feyre a similar plotline in ACOTAR. By giving Amarantha her name, she no longer has it, and can no longer remember it. (And since the story is told in first person, it's easier to convey.)

How she gets her name back could be handled in one of two ways: Lucien gives back her name like the true friend he is, or she doesn't remember it until the very end.

If we explore the second option, this is what I'm thinking: Amarantha sought to break Feyre in mind, body, and spirit. The one thing she could never take from Feyre was her love for Tamlin.

“I love you,” I said. “No matter what she says about it, no matter if it’s only with my insignificant human heart. Even when they burn my body, I’ll love you.” My lips trembled, and my vision clouded before several warm tears slipped down my chilled face. I didn’t wipe them away. ~ACOTAR ch. 43

In my Faeries and Lying essay (linked above), I think it would have been more powerful for Amarantha to want Feyre to admit to lying about her love for Tamlin. In the same vein, I think it would be that much more impactful for Feyre to admit that even if she does not know her own name, she knows she loves Tamlin, and that's enough.

It's the one thing Amarantha couldn't take from her. It's the reason Feyre went Under the Mountain in the first place. And most importantly, it's the answer to the riddle. Love. And that's enough.

[invested-in-your-future]

Just because I got few similar asks asking about that

The issue with "Fixing" a writing of a show is that you are naturally assuming you are only fixing specific "season" and that there will be a point in the show when the writing "goes back" to being coherent and proper.

So for example, if you are trying to fix Volume 4 as Volume 5 is airing, you might, consciously or subconsciously, hope that V5 ending is where everything once again "clicks" and thus you just need to alter what doesn't work in V4 and what doesn't in V5.

So you think up of which parts should be changed. And sure that might mean entirety of Menagerie location needs to go (because real world implications of that whole arc are just...NO and you can probably think up a better WF storyline in half a hour with how bad that was) and Port needs to disappear off the face of this fictional story and pointless empty scenes of Ruby and Co walking through exact same forest textures need to be changed, but the structure might still work right? They are still traveling towards a specific goal right? So you just have to change HOW they get to that goal, because there is a goal right??? And then You just need to tweak the elements that don't work in V5 up to the ending where you hope things might get shaken up a bit more and go back on track.

But then V5 ends and the writing's still a mess. And before you manage to quite think through what to do, V6 starts and the writing is STILL a mess and what's more, it has a whole new set of problems and by this point you realize that for example, the entire structure of Kingdom of Mistral doesn't quite make sense, as if "someone" just plopped bunch of town locations in a straight line and then used Google's translation feature to just make up bunch of names for them, because entire continent is ultimately just an irrelevant detour.

Whoops, now you have to review what you did with fixing earlier parts and see if new problems arose, change up the geography of the story a bit, etc. You just realized that there's not really "a point" to the adventure of traveling through Mistral anymore so you need to think something up as you realize that the main character of the entire story has absolutely zero character growth from V3. The show is back to status quo yet again and its like V4 through V5 are completely pointless.

You realize, that Ruby Rose, the character that went through some of the most lifechanging events ever, just spent two seasons just ambiguously walking through bunch of forest areas and towns.

What's more, the team is back together but literally nothing that happened has been addressed in anyway and there's no actual growth of the characters at all. That can't be right. Right? Surely at least Yang and Blake w-... Oh no...

Resigned, you go back to your thoughts about what would need to change in V4 and a lot has to change once again to make Mistral anything but one huge pointless detour.

But its okay you th-...wait what's that sound? Its as if, somewhere just outside, a train just went off the rails as it was crossing a bridge and then somehow managed to jump over a shark and then exploded as it hit the ground...Whoopsie daisy.

In this exact moment, the writing throws you the infamous "Salem Flashback Episode", "The Lost Fable", and accidentally entire lore is now broken completely and it might be one of the worst written things in the entire show till that point, that kind of trivializes multiple mysteries people were waiting for and makes the writing for lead villain extremely tropey and honestly (yet again, as you start to notice a pattern in how the show writes women) misogynistic and if you want to make things work you might as well redo that too. Wait..."that" as in what??? As in the entire core of why the show is happening in the first place? THAT's broken? Well F-...

So now you barely started sorting out the mess of V5 (because its entire volume of basically literally nothing happening and whatever interesting happens always gets off-screened) and the show-proper just basically NUKED almost all of it's set-up and more than half of it's mysteries.

You realize you are staring at an episode that honestly can compete with worst seasons of Voltron in how bad it is. You actually start to think it might compete with the second genLOCK season in awfulness, but end up not thinking it can be THAT bad. I mean the show will never go bad as genLOCK S2, riiight?

Its okay, its okay - you have been theorycrafting RWBY stuff since the first trailers hit. You've read all the song lyrics which are filled with all these immaculate hints at the intent behind the show, thoughts of various characters and where things are going, you can maybe piece together something other than another "disgruntled manipulative woman" storyline. The songs having actual lore is great. I mean they wouldn't just suddenly throw that away, right? As that thought hits you, a sense of dread starts to overcome you.

And thus as another disaster closes in. at this point, little does your past self know that in the future, few years latter, the show will deliver a whole season of nothing but train crashes, but this time the sharks being jumped will talk like humans do.

So yeah... you can't really "Fix RWBY". Sure parts like Ren and Nora's backstory episode are nice and there are moments that felt good otherwise, but at that point, pretty much majority of post-V3 stuff is outright unusable. At this point to Fix RWBY means to redo literal core reasons on why the story is happening, how the world and it's lore works, motivations of the characters and, well, everything...

And that's how you end up with a file over hundred pages long that quietly has chronicled both your efforts to make sense of what the show even wants to be, as well as the show's descent into just complete randomness...

After all, when a writing team writes EVERY volume as one huge pointless detour that in no way actually enhances the characterization or story, at some point the whole train is bound to derail and crash...over and over again.

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Cap (evil beast who plays with my emotions <3) lore questions for PN!! (unrelated to the thing i'm writing, i just realised i can just, well, ask you about the things i've been wondering about)

obviously if any of this veers off into spoilers territory or would lead to you pointing out something you wish to keep close to your chest, do just say :)

Numero Uno: i don't speak spanish not sure what that is, so we know that Juleka is every cats favourite human friend, is that just because its cute (valid) or is there more to why they flock to her? and does this happen to other miraculous holders? as i may just be forgetting something, apologies, but i don't remember if marinette has spoken about experiencing this as well

2) what was with the crows. tell me please. was it just for the.. i forgot its name- the really fucking cool thing which was amazingly written (metallica moment) or is this a new creature that follows her around due to symbolism or that you just wanted to use to foreshadow Cool Things Dead Ahead, once again, why are the other holders not experiencing this (or is it just 'off screen'?)

3) at the end of the chapter it was very very fast tonal change, civilians don't seem to be taking hawky boy as seriously as they should even those majorly affected, now this is obviously because a) he attacks with the stupidest looking guys b) no consequences due to ladybug and c) even the heroes seem to be content with goofing off, so will there be a tonal shift in public opinion as things become more serious or will that continue to be something they have to wrok against, the fact that as soon as an attack is over all fear of these events seems to dissipate (although we have seen that our core heroes seem to understand the severity of the situation slightly more) or am i being silly and the fast moving on is people posturing to not seem as affected?

4) are they being paid for the work they do...? like, i feel as though they should be and we all know that people like to throw money at things they like to show that affection, so even if it wasn't a government (or i suppose just the mayor) funded thing they would still end up with money from people. wait now i'm creating problems in my head of people pretending to be the heroes online to get money- scrap this one people would scam others if it was a thing <3 i just think it'd be nice if they were financially compensated... i feel like chloe would panic with more money and try to find a charity she likes only to end up making her own for very specific a very specific cause...

5) is there any fun world building things / lore that you want to discuss? i have for sure missed a lot of things i'm curious about this was just off the top of my head as i was musing about panthera, but its always interesting to see dealers choice

(bonus question, do you have specific real cats /designs in mind for minou and parrot? if so show us the beasts, in case you can't tell from the everything about me i like cats and would enjoy that greatly)

Number Hana! (lets learn some korean shall we?) Miraculous holders do indeed attract their animals! It's like a drawn magic thing. The animals aren't per say processed but they have this innate desire to follow and to find interest in the holder. (Marinette has been followed by ladybugs. Bees will follow Chloe soon. And so on and so forth.)

Number Dul! The crows are... lets say Juleka's thing. Not Panthera's thing. Not the cat miraculous's thing. Juleka's thing. Although.. half of those birds are only there cause they recognize and like her in an actual bird way and not a magic way. They hang around Rose's window a lot (both at the hospital and at home) and corvids have amazing memory on who is friend and foe!

Crows and Ravens- they're a sign of bad luck and death. They only started to show up around Panthera very recently. Imagine like, just days before Hero's Day they've started to show up more and more. Juleka finds them a bit, ominous, but is nice to them anyways as respect. Unfortunately this just attracts more birds, poor Adrien's allergies...

Number Set! I would say the in universe answer is more so "A" and just, the underlined layer of spite against Hawkmoth. Paris banded together and won against him, so their confidence is pretty high by the fact they somehow really did scare him off. Only the B Team are also goofing over it as well, though for them there's a slight edge, while our main two LB and PN are the most on edge.

As for the meta answer on why I wrote it like that- I just wanted you guys to have a sorta light reprieve from the angst. Some funny scenes to lighten the suffering I threw you guys into.

Number Net. Chloe's been trying their best to get them money!!!!!!! I can't remember if it's working or not.

Number Daseot. Hmmmmm.. Nothing comes to mind exactly.. I will say to keep an eye out for how I write Fei in the upcoming Shanghai chapters and how she relates to Juleka. Shanghai Special will be setting up some.. themes for Season 3. That's all.

(I got nothing on Minou he was just always a blobby void cat born from my mind. Parrot was designed a bit after my Nephew who is a cat and also the tiktok cat Reznor!)

[stereogeekspodcast]

Transcript] Season 3, Episode 7. Star Trek: Picard Series Review

Rewatching Star Trek: Picard changed how the Stereo Geeks felt about the show. We reviewed the series and shared our thoughts on it.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

Hello and welcome to a new episode of Stereo Geeks, and the very first of 2024.

This time, we've been rewatching Star Trek Picard.

I'm Ron.

And I'm Mon.

As big fans of Star Trek, the announcement that Picard was going to get his own little spinoff was exciting, but also a little bit worrying for us.

Well, there's definitely a spate of reprisals, revivals of old stuff, especially 80s, 90s things.

A lot of people who grew up at the time are currently executives and producers of Hollywood.

So obviously, they want to bring back the nostalgia factor.

And let's be honest, nostalgia sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, but it definitely sells.

Let's dig into that a little bit because season one of Picard doesn't actually work with nostalgia as much.

That's true.

There are, of course, moments.

There are cameos, reprisals, et cetera.

There is a through line, however, of Picard and his relationship with Data, his need to get closure for what happened to Data.

So that's the nostalgia factor.

The main storyline, however, even though it is tied to that, doesn't have that nostalgia feeling.

Because when you look at the main storyline, it's actually several different stories.

So we start off with the fact that Picard misses Data.

That's literally the first scene.

And you get the feeling that this is what the season is going to be about.

But then it turns out that Data has android children who are unmistakable from humans, but they don't know their true identity.

Also, we find out the Romulan sun went supernova, leading to a refugee crisis that Picard and Raffi Musiker had to fix.

Then Utopia Planitia and all of Mars was blown up by synths, leading to not only a synth ban, but the end of the refugee resettlement.

And then the Tal Shiar made it into Starfleet somehow.

But also there's a hidden sect of the Tal Shiar called the Zhat Vash and they are trying to fight the return of the synths.

Also, Raffi is now plagued by Romulan conspiracies, but nobody believes her.

Everything that went down on the Ibn Majid never got explained.

Also, who even is Soji and who is Narek?

Oh, and did we mention that Picard misses Data?

When you put it like that, that seems like a lot, but I'm gonna say something very controversial here. Well, at least it's controversial on this podcast.

From the three seasons of Star Trek Picard, I have to say season one is the most cohesive and best made.

Season two is a mess.

Season three is a nostalgia fest that is not always well-written, but that doesn't mean that I don't love season two, adore season three and still can't stand season one.

The first time I watched season one, I didn't like it. Straight up didn't like it.

First time I watched season two, I loved it except for the last episode.

First time I watched season three, I adored everything.

When we rewatched it, I liked what season one was doing. I liked the concepts. I liked all the lore that it had.

It was really digging into the Star Trek universe, but it was not long enough.

10 episodes and all that was there.

And I'm not even touching on all the interconnected parts.

Like there was a whole thing about Agnes Jurati, Bruce Maddox, Seven of Nine and her history.

All that was in there.

It should have been at least 15-16 episodes.

That would have given us enough time to actually understand how all these things are interconnected.

And it would have given the characters a bit more time to shine.

Season 2, perfectly compact.

10 episodes, every episode mattered.

It gave the characters their spotlight.

Picard got an entire wonderful arc that honestly has been waiting for quite a while to be resolved.

And season 3, 10 episodes, nostalgia.

That's it.

But yes, I agree that season 1 was the most cohesive because it felt like real science fiction.

But it was just too muddled and way too many plot points just got dropped at the end.

I think my biggest issue with season 1, and I feel like this even on the rewatch, is that there are a bunch of characters who are just so annoying that you hate it whenever they're on screen.

And every time it cut away to their stories, if you would call it that, I would just be switching off.

Mostly the Romulans.

Narek, Narissa, Commodore Oh.

I agree with you that that was the part which was muddled.

Who are they?

What are their motivations?

Because it's not signposted or elucidated at the beginning, they just seem like these very caricatured old school baddies who don't make any sense.

There's also a sort of old fashioned way of how they're presented, how they interact and the things that they do.

So that really annoyed me.

The crew of La Sirena themselves, they were great.

They were really interesting.

But yeah, it was just every time they had to interact.

And there was that entire plot line with Narek, for example, which sort of we never came back to that.

He sort of disappears in the final episode.

And then it's like, oh, okay, what happened with this guy?

That's a really good point, because Soji and Narek, that whole relationship, if you can call it that, it just felt shoehorned in, like, we have to make these characters interact.

So let them just have a love affair.

Soji just felt so very born sexy yesterday, that kind of thing.

It didn't do her any justice.

The biggest mistake the first season made was making Soji and Picard's meeting happen only in episode seven.

That's way too late.

These are the two main characters of this season.

They should be meeting way earlier.

I feel like Soji as a character, she really became more of a catalyst and a plot point.

Well, she gets dropped first episode of season two.

So she was never really supposed to be, I guess, part of the actual crew, which is sad because, I mean, Issa Briones is really good.

I mean, you reminded me that she was like 19 or 20 when she did this.

She holds her own and she plays so many different characters in the first season as well.

But I agree because there are so many fleshed out points for the other characters, especially, with Cristobal Rios, the captain of La Sirena.

I know there's an entire book, so we've read that book, but I just felt like they had a plan or a hope or something that this character who is so complicated and so emotionally needy, there was just so much that we could have explored with this person, especially in his capacity as someone who knows Picard, who looks up to Picard, who becomes trapped in Picard's spell, if you would.

I really felt like there was a lot going on there.

So there's a character like him where you know so much about his background.

You know, with Raffi, there is so much that we are learning about her and we continue to learn about her throughout the three seasons.

And then there's Soji who is signposted as this very important character.

We don't really know much about her.

Her importance is really her connection to Data and how Picard deals with that.

She's just a plot point.

It's really disappointing.

And in the end, it's not even about Soji's heritage.

Bruce Maddox apparently used a painting that Data made as the blueprint to make these androids with Alton Soong.

Data wasn't even involved at all, so that through line doesn't even work, which is a bit unfair on the character of Soji.

I think one of the problems with the entire show has been it keeps leaning on these historical moments which don't take place on screen.

The Romulan Supernova, for example.

I think the show about that would have been far more interesting.

We do get a lot of that in the books.

So I highly recommend reading The Last Best Hope, Second Self, et cetera, that entire series.

I'm okay with that being off the screen, but stuff like Data's painting of his daughters.

I'm sorry, we never saw him paint that.

There's a lot of stuff in the third season especially, where they talk about this happened and Beverly's talking about Myriad and this and that.

And we're Googling to see, did we miss something from the original TNG series, from the movies, et cetera?

It's all made up.

I mean, I get it, it's all made up.

But not having that sort of through line, that connection, it just doesn't make sense because it's so important.

These people know about it.

And at the same time, we never saw it.

So I really did worry about the writing in a lot of the show, especially on the rewatch when you realize, yeah, it wasn't you forgetting stuff, it just doesn't exist.

Because what is the point of referencing something that hasn't happened in a previous show or any of the tie-in books, comics, whatever, when you know that nobody is really coming into Star Trek Picard as a non-Star Trek watcher?

You can't get into this series without some prior knowledge.

The first season and the extreme focus on Data, it won't make sense to you.

If you already know that people are coming in, having seen TNG and all the TNG related movies, just reference things that have already been in TNG.

People are gonna know it or they are going to Google it.

So the first season, though complicated and overly convoluted with the focus on a lot of weird Romulan people, I really loved the Picard and data connection.

What I missed about the first season, aside from the Picard and Data part, was feeling some emotional connection or just being totally emotional about it.

I got that in season two.

The return of Q, who is unhinged and scary, but the season, the way it ends with Picard and Q, it was surprisingly emotional, wasn't it?

I really liked season two.

It's about time travel, so obviously I'm gonna like it.

And I think it was really compact, not just the storyline, but also the setting.

They went back to 2024 LA and they stayed there for quite a long time.

I love watching fish out of water, Rios, Raffi and Seven trying to interact with the world in the past.

Hilarious.

That whole scene where Seven and Raffi are driving and trying to escape the police, one of the best of the entire show, not just that season.

I really loved it.

And also speaking of the 2024 timeline, the best part of it was season two deals with the real problem of ICE raids and how several communities, especially in the US, well, they live in fear and they don't have access to simple human benefits, like medicines, et cetera.

And it really worked the way they included that, how Rios, who happens to be played by a Chilean actor and he speaks a lot of Spanish, so how that works into it, he doesn't have papers, so what does that mean?

That's probably why, when we first watched the second season, it just blew us away because it went back to the roots of Star Trek.

It's talking about the real world in this fictional, majestic, futuristic world through this lens of utopia.

Well, you go back and it wasn't always utopia and one tiny change in our history could make it worse or better, which is something that is explored in that season.

I really, really like that.

I didn't understand the Borg stuff.

Even on my third rewatch of this series, I don't necessarily think the whole Borg angle needed to be there.

That's really interesting because I like the fact that Picard leans into his experience as Locutus.

I felt like in TNG, they didn't really handle that very well.

This man was taken, assimilated.

He was the mouthpiece of the Borg as they slaughtered so many Starfleet officers at Wolf 359.

We see the impact of that in DS9.

It's the reason why Sisko can't stand Picard.

Starfleet just moves on.

But the show coming back to that over and over again, not just about the impact that it had on the people who died or survived, but on Picard himself.

No, I agree with you.

I like the through line of the Borg being there in all three seasons.

I just don't know if it was handled as well, especially on the third rewatch.

I can have a little bit more distance and a bit more critical thinking.

And I do think it was confused.

Because what does it all mean?

We now have a new faction of the Borg who are good guys, who assimilate after consent.

What are they doing?

Where are they?

How have we not met them in all these years?

I feel like that was a plotline that padded up the story.

This goes back to what I was saying about how season one was the most cohesive.

When you're watching the recaps of season two, and it's so long, it's like two, three minutes long, because they have to pack in all this information.

And it's simply because there are disparate storylines.

They're not interconnected.

So that's my biggest issue.

The Borg stuff, while there is the through line, in hindsight, I just feel like it was too much.

And I think the reason for that is that each season has a different type of Borg.

If it had just been one kind, it would have made a bit more sense.

It would have flowed better from what we've seen before in TNG, in First Contact, but nothing that happens in season one affects season two or season three.

And I feel like the events in season two were primarily a way to phase out the new characters.

So Rios stays back in 2024.

Jurati becomes this other Borg Queen.

Elnor, after being killed, Q brings him back.

So now he's part of Starfleet.

Raffi's the only one who stays on and comes back in season three.

Yeah, and that's also an issue which we talked about probably because we just really love these new characters.

It's not like Rios and Elnor, even Dr. Jurati, who I didn't like in the beginning, but honestly on the rewatch, she was a lot of fun.

They're compelling characters and there's a lot of complicated feelings which we didn't actually get to discuss on the show.

How Picard treats them, how they feel about him.

It's a squandered opportunity.

I say that a lot about this show.

I get it because of what season three becomes.

And when you're watching season three, you don't actually feel the absence because we'll get to that in a moment.

But I do feel like if you introduce these characters and there's so much rich history alluded to, I would have loved to see a little bit more of them.

There was something else that you had written about and that's Picard's very bad attempts at being a father figure to people.

And there is a throughline in each season of Picard just thinking that Starfleet is the answer to everybody's problems.

He gets Raffi back into Starfleet.

He gets Seven back into Starfleet.

He gets Rios back into Starfleet.

He gets Elnor into Starfleet.

He gets Jack into Starfleet.

That's a lot of people.

That's his answer for everything.

Try being a dad for once.

That was something that you pointed out and I was like, surely you're not right.

And then at the end of season three, when Jack Crusher, Picard's unknown long lost son, he turns up and he's suddenly part of the Enterprise.

I was like, oh, okay, you have a point, Ron.

But it's true.

Picard says often, Starfleet was his life, Starfleet was his family.

His best friends, his family, literally are from Starfleet.

So I get why he's sort of mesmerized and he feels like, well, Starfleet fixed his life, gave him what he wanted, which was a family.

And that's what he thinks the people he loves most will also get.

And in a way we find that, well, Starfleet is different for different people.

Starfleet is also different at this time.

And it's something that is somewhat explored in the third season.

Seven, for example, Seven of Nine, she was a Borg, she was rescued, if you could say, by Voyager.

Voyager became her family, her collective.

And the one goal for Voyager, a ship that was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, was to get back to the Alpha Quadrant.

But Seven had no connection to the Alpha Quadrant.

And what happens when she comes back?

Well, that's what we find out.

We find out that she tried to get into Starfleet, but because she's an ex-B, a former Borg, they refused to include her.

I mean, Picard obviously has a lot of influence because in season three, she's the first officer of the Titan, which was Riker's previous ship, but she's not happy because the Starfleet ship that she was on was Voyager, which had nothing to do with Starfleet.

In fact, there are moments in Voyager when Starfleet is able to connect to them once again.

And Captain Janeway does struggle a little bit with the way they speak about some of her crew, with some of the decisions that they make.

It's not fully there because we are talking about 90s TV shows which were a little bit more utopian in their outlook about authority, et cetera.

But we do see that the struggle is real in the newer shows.

Even on Star Trek Prodigy, Vice Admiral Janeway has problems with Starfleet.

They have rules that really don't make sense sometimes.

So we see that with Seven as well.

Picard and Captain Janeway, or rather Admiral Janeway in this timeline, they've convinced her to join Starfleet.

And she's got this chance, but she hates it.

She absolutely hates it.

And I did write about it after the first episode, I think.

She doesn't belong.

She's not doing what she wants.

She's stuck using protocols and rules that don't make sense to her.

And I'm almost a little bit disappointed that in the end, she still has a commission, she's still with Starfleet, and it's supposed to be a big, yay, you know, all our favorite characters are still with Starfleet.

It's like Picard is on a recruitment drive.

He's very good at recruiting people, but is that really the right thing for them?

I find it interesting that the show doesn't hold back from criticizing Picard because his experiences are wildly different from everyone else's.

Raffi especially takes him to task when Elnor is killed.

But the show is still reluctant to call Starfleet out on their nonsense, which is kind of weird, because as you said, the ending is very much a rah-rah happiness.

Seven and Raffi and Jack are now leading the new enterprise, and that's a good thing.

Is it though?

Like Seven was literally resigning until Tuvok showed her Captain Shaw's last message.

One message and that's enough for all the xenophobia that she received from that man?

That doesn't make any sense.

It's funny because one of the last things that Raffi says is, it's weird to her that Starfleet has given a thief, a pirate and a spy a ship of their own, and not just any ship, the Enterprise is still the flagship of Starfleet.

And I do wonder if something like that heralds a change in Starfleet.

Even Captain Liam Shaw, in his recommendation for Seven to become captain, says that she doesn't follow protocols, but she has ideas and she has methods which are different and which do suggest a change, a new way of leading.

And also Gates McFadden, who plays Dr. Beverly Crusher.

Now, I can't remember if she wrote this in a tweet or she talked about this at Fan Expo Canada at the panel that you and I went to.

She talked about how Beverly and her son Jack, they're part of Mariposa, which was the organization that was created by Rios and his partner, Teresa, back in 2024.

They are sort of the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders in the galactic sense.

Now, Beverly and Jack being part of that, helping worlds and peoples who have been forgotten by the Federation and Starfleet.

Gates McFadden mentioned that she wants to explore how Beverly can do that work, even though now she is head of Starfleet Medical.

So it seems to me, behind the scenes and also perhaps through the writing, they're trying to suggest that these people are in Starfleet, but that doesn't mean that Starfleet stays the same.

Considering the sort of world ending stuff that happened, I would like to think that Starfleet will not be the same forever.

That being said, when you read the books about the supernova, it doesn't really show Starfleet and the Federation in very good light.

So I don't know, I just do wonder that are the writers trying to say that, yes, Picard is on a recruitment drive, but maybe for the better?

Well, that's an interesting point.

I hadn't really thought of it like that because the final season, it does seem to be about change, even though it's primarily about the TNG crew who we've seen for many, many years.

That's honestly one of the best parts of it, just seeing that entire group together, the chemistry is just, it's just there.

I remember when we saw Jonathan Frakes at Toronto Comic Con and he was talking about how worried he was when he was coming back and he was like, Sir Patrick Stewart is just on his game, such high quality acting and Frakes was so worried that he wouldn't be able to match up.

And I was like, what is this guy talking about?

He was the best part of that show.

He's so funny, he's so sweet, he's just effortlessly Riker, no matter how many years have passed by.

Yeah, I have to say these characters, you don't even realize you miss them till you see them and you're like, oh wow, I really miss these people.

And we don't even have that kind of connection with TNG, the way we do with Voyager.

And despite that, seeing these actors step back into these roles and the kind of love that they seem to have for these characters, absolutely seamless.

It's brilliant.

And I understand why a lot of people, they can't see beyond how wonderful it is to see these people together.

And that's why it's like the best season ever, this is the best Trek.

Well, we have to be measured in how we approach our entertainment media.

Something can be exactly what we want and it also can have its flaws.

Watching season three, especially we just finished watching it, honestly, I'm like, are there any flaws?

I love this so much.

I'm like tearing up at the TNG theme every time.

Every time these people interact with each other, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is like the best thing.

Geordie telling Data exactly how he feels about him, I'm like tearing up just thinking about it.

And it's so sweet.

And at the same time, I'm like, okay, do we lose a lot because we focus so much on this reunion?

Is that a bad thing?

Is that a good thing?

I don't know.

I just know that, well, the show ends on a high because you're watching this poker game between this family of characters and these actors who have also become a family.

And you can't argue with that.

You can't argue with that feeling.

In so many ways, I just think that this season, I really, really did forget that there were issues with it.

Especially in the beginning part when they're not all together, you're like, oh, okay, I can nitpick a little bit here and there and then buy this penultimate episode when they're all standing on the old enterprise deck.

You're like, this is what I've wanted on my life apparently.

Yeah, and the other thing is that you still got those moments where like, Worf and Raffi, their bond.

There is no preamble to it.

It just happened so quickly, but organically, like that last scene with the two of them together when she's got that message from her family.

And I'm just like, oh my gosh, like the father-daughter bond is just so strong.

I would have loved to see that with other people.

Like there was that scene earlier on when Liam Shaw first meets Geordi and he's like struggling to speak because he's like such a fanboy and he's just like stuttering.

He can't, and Geordi's just standing there like, oh, I'm so used to this.

And you just love those moments, you know?

I would have loved to see more of that with Rios, with Jurati.

I mean, imagine Jurati meeting Data, Jurati meeting Beverly.

Oh my God, those would have been amazing moments.

Like Rios and Riker together.

Why didn't we get that?

I really wish we had, because then that would have made the show feel like it was one continuous story.

I think you've hit upon a very good note, which is that all three seasons feel like three different stories.

And there's a reason for that, because all three seasons had three different showrunners.

Even though Terry Matalas took over for season two, he inherited the previous creators' stories and storylines.

It's like watching an anthology series.

When you have that caliber of acting on your screen, honestly, nothing else matters.

Some things just transcend writing and cohesiveness, honestly.

But the show ends, like the final ending, is a bit of a cliffhanger.

Like it seems like the Enterprise crew is going to go off on these new adventures while their previous Enterprise crew goes off on their old adventures.

And now nothing.

What is that all about?

So the final scene of the show is Q apparently returning, but as he reminds us all, humans think so linearly.

That's not how the continuum works.

He might be dead, but this is another version or a previous version of him.

And he's come to torment Picard's son, Jack Crusher.

I do think that the showrunners, Paramount Plus, whoever is behind these things, included that to gauge if there was any interest in continuing the stories of these characters.

So one has to ask, are we interested in seeing Captain Seven of Nine, Commander Raffi Musiker, consultant to the captain, Ensign Jack Crusher, as well as the LaForge sisters and the rest of the Enterprise crew, maybe some new characters, Admiral Beverly Crusher?

Are we interested in seeing all these people continue in a new show?

Well, for me, the answer is yes, because I want to see more of Seven, I want to see more of Raffi, I want to see their relationship actually on screen instead of, you know, they've broken up, they're together, they're very far apart from each other.

Don't give us two amazing bisexual characters and then be like, yeah, they're not together.

What?

That's the only reason why I need this show.

True, but we need to talk about Jack Crusher.

We can't not talk about this man.

He's sort of the catalyst and the reason all of season three happens.

Unlike Soji, this man is very fleshed out.

He is a personality, a character, a human being, and he evokes complicated feelings in a lot of us.

I just don't know how I feel about this person who creates so much damage, chaos, most likely death.

And at the same time, well, he is Beverly and Picard's son.

And I'm like, you know, he's really cool and he can do all these things and he knows all these things and he has this sort of avant-garde experience and knowledge.

He would be very interesting to follow, alongside, of course, the most important people, Seven and Raffi.

Well, I'm not 100% sold on Ed Speelers as the son of Beverly Crusher and Picard.

I mean, he has the hair.

He has Beverly's hair.

Listen, when I first saw him, I thought, oh, wow, somehow Beverly had another child with Jack Crusher.

And she obviously named him Jack.

But I was like, oh, he's Picard's son?

I don't see the connection, like physically or anything.

He's got the accent, which the bizarre explanation for his accent.

He went to England for a little bit and he came back with the accent.

Really?

Really?

Considering I still say presentation instead of presentation, because I heard Tom Paris say it the one time on Voyager, I forgive him.

But like, he's not supposed to be like Picard.

He has no connection to this man.

He's more like Beverly if she hadn't been stuck on Starfleet, if she hadn't faced loss so early on in her life, if she wasn't a mom who had to keep taking care of her son.

I think, you know, that sort of effervescent, ne'er-do-well, nonchalant sort of personality that he has is very much like how Beverly may have been.

So I feel that.

I just don't understand how we are supposed to like root for a character who's caused all this untold loss and suffering for a lot of people.

In a way, I keep thinking back to Captain Michael Burnham and how she wanted to make something better and ended up causing the Klingon War.

So many people's lives were changed, not just death.

People's lives were changed and she has to reckon with that when she comes back to Starfleet.

And I'm like, how do I feel about that?

We've forgotten about it because she has redeemed herself in so many ways.

She suffered herself as well, but people have made a lot of sacrifices to make sure that she keeps saving the world, basically.

Does Jack deserve that?

I don't know.

If we get a show about the new Enterprise G, we would have to contend with Jack being there.

But also, I think if Jack wasn't Beverly and Picard's son, I don't think that many people would have been allowed to die for him.

That's something to reckon with as well.

He actually says the only reason why he got fast-tracked to Ensign level at Starfleet was because of nepotism.

His parents aren't going to believe that, but Beverly has always had a blind spot for her kids.

When Wesley was part of the team, the Nova Squad, and their teammate died, she refused to believe that Wesley had done anything wrong.

Obviously, she's going to be the same way with Jack, and Picard, he can't see anything wrong with people he loves.

So this kid is going to have to have other people call him out on his nonsense because his parents are not going to do it.

Yeah, I completely agree with you on that because the only way this is going to work if they were to have a show, and I do really want one because I think we just need more Star Trek.

Especially now that Star Trek Discovery is coming to an end, we're going to have the animated properties, Lower Decks is still doing well, Prodigy, I don't know what's going to happen after season two, and we have Strange New Worlds as the only live action.

So yeah, Star Trek Legacy would be great.

Especially a show which brings in the Deep Space Nine characters, characters from other Star Trek properties, their descendants, et cetera.

That would be awesome.

Listen, I need a show where Jake Sisko is a journalist. I need this. It's very important to me.

Very true.

So yeah, I mean, I think we've been really critical about Star Trek Picard, but honestly, on rewatching it, I just fell back in love with the show, even the first season, which I did not like.

I love these characters, the new ones, the old ones.

Love the world that they've created.

I love being back in the Star Trek universe.

And I just wanted to continue.

In a way, I am trying to continue it by reading the books so that I can just hang out with these characters and this world, because we didn't have Star Trek for a really, really long time.

And we tried to fill that void with other stuff.

And now that we do, it's really hard to let go.

I'm currently listening to the entire score of Picard, all three seasons in a playlist.

I can't get out of this mode.

Yeah, I'm not even gonna think about what'll happen once Discovery finishes.

I just don't wanna deal with that right now.

You know, that's a problem for future me.

But yeah, I surprisingly really enjoyed rewatching Star Trek Picard.

I loved it a lot more this time.

I'm going to just feel like it's an anthology series and not like a show that's three consecutive seasons because that might help the enjoyment a little bit more.

But you know what?

It ends on a really happy note.

All our beloved characters are safe.

Some of them are in 2024, but it's okay.

But yeah, it was really fun.

And I really like Star Trek.

Yeah, I mean, you know what?

I would honestly probably make this an annual rewatch.

I'm not even ashamed to say it.

All three seasons annually rewatched.

So that's us talking about our very complicated, sometimes disparate views on Star Trek Picard.

Let us know how you felt about the show.

We are Stereo Geeks and we'll see you at the next episode.

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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164. The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This series continues to be addicting. Even though I had a gazillion other library books to read, I was always thinking about this one and how much I wanted to read it. With the title of the next book being an obvious revenge story, I knew this one was going to punch me right in the feels.

I was right and oh man, my heart.

I knew something was off with this one and its characters. Some things were just too coincidental for them to not lead up to a wild twist and cliffhanger, and just like the past books, this delivered. I would say this one is the most emotional one of the lot (for now) and the most complex one. We're starting to deal with the even greater consequences of the war these kids are fighting and how dirty war itself can be. I foresee this book and its heartbreaking ending being the story that will tip this series into overdrive. I absolutely can't wait to read the next book.

One star off because I have read about the dirty origins of this series.

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165. I Survived the Japanese Tsunami by Lauren Tarshis--⭐️⭐️⭐️

While I still think these books are amazing for younger readers, I find that some of them are a lot simpler than others. I don't know why this one felt like one of those stories that just flew by and I didn't really catalogue what I was reading.

I remember seeing the news stories about the tsunami as it hit and the aftereffects of the tragedy as the days, weeks, and months passed. I don't know what I was expected from this, but I kind of wanted more? It felt like I blinked and the book was done, aha.

But with that being said, I AM glad this was written! I think kids should be reading these books, if not for the adventures of these fictional kids growing up, but to learn more empathy for these young survivors!

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166. The Twenty-Three by Linwood Barclay--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Chaos. Absolute chaos.

This book was unputdownable from the moment I started it to the moment it ended. This was the book I was waiting to get to in this series because it was the eventual meet-up of everything that had happened in books one and two. All of those little clues, red herrings, and cliffhangers led to this book and I was 100% here for it.

I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil anything, but I loved the twists in this and surprises. I never expected that person to be the 23 killer and it was perfectly executed.

If Barclay ever writes in this town again, I will devour it. I read book four first and I'm kind of glad I did because it felt like a wholly new series. If you love a good mystery that spans three books, but also a series that always has something going on until the very end, then you might like this one!

One of the things I love about Barclay's writing is that he introduces all of these characters and situations and when they all meet at the end, you never would have guessed how those characters connected. I can't wait to read more books like this from him.

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167. The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A solid conclusion to the initial trilogy arc!

Such a smart conclusion and I can totally understand the hype behind this now. We learned a lot more about the characters in this one and what makes them click. We also get to see the MC come fully into her own to the point where anyone might mistake her for a Hawthorne.

I'm glad I got to read these with the next one out already because I'm so curious about what the MC proposes in the epilogue!

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168. How Can I Help You by Laura Sims--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was unsure about this book from the beginning. To the point where I read the mixed reviews to see whether I should DNF the book or not. While I don't regret not DNFing, I also feel meh about it all.

I think it was interesting reading the story from the perspective of someone who was clearly a murderer but saw herself as more of an angel of death-type (like the kind who think they're doing a kindness in killing their patients). I also enjoyed watching her mental collapse as she became more and more paranoid if the new staff member.

A staff member that I, to be honest, was a bit confused by. Only because she was so enthralled by this killer, but I guess there ARE those out there who are heavily intrigued by the dark deeds of others, especially if those histories tend to help that person's personal goals.

Both characters were incredibly unreliable and unlikeable. The conclusion, while fitting, I found to be a bit too quick. One moment one thing was happening and then the next, all things fell down. I do wish there was more to it. One of the things I did like about this book was the cat and mouse type of mood this book set and I found that was squashed at the end.

Read this if you love librarian settings in books that feature morally grey characters with a penchant for death. Overall, though, be aware that (for me) this was a bit of a meh read.

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169. I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967 by Lauren Tarshis--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this one!

I had no idea about the events of 1967 and I'm glad that I got to learn more about it. I also liked the focus on the dangers of polluting and leaving the forest the way you left it--without any of your garbage left behind.

Much like many of the other books in this series, the MC is dealing with the grief of losing a parent. This storyline is weaved into the tale of the strangely behaving bears. In a way, it was an extra layer of distress that the young mc had to overcome. So, while the reader can learn a bit about history, the importance of taking care of the environment, and the internal turmoil that can come when grieving the lost of someone important to you. For that latter bit alone, I wish these were around when I was a kid.

Highly recommend this one, it's probably one of my favourites of this series.

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170. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene--⭐️⭐️⭐️

This isn't my first NANCY DREW book, so I kind of knew what to expect. It was a simple and fun mystery, but I was also a little bored? Maybe I need to read more of the books in this series. Especially since I know that this is just the beginning.

I DID love the sass that Nancy experienced and how she fought back against it. The conclusion to this book was also satisfying, especially after all of the strife the characters experienced.

Also, in a weird way, this was an interesting view into the time of when this book was published. Will definitely read more.

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171. The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy from the publisher for an interview with the publisher on Indigo's Instagram. This did not affect my rating in any way.

I really enjoyed the initial trilogy of this series and was surprised to read that this one was from the perspective of two of the brothers, rather than still from Avery's POV. I really enjoyed the change because it allowed me to see the world through their eyes. It also, to me, made the storyline feel more complete, now that we have a more rounded insight into how the boys think when faced with puzzles and riddles.

I loved meeting some of the new characters in this one and how they played into the overarching story. Some added humour to the story, and other just showcased how they were truly related to one of the boys. I also really enjoyed being able to see the relationship between Avery and the brother she chooses, I think it'll be a great exploration of her choice for those who might have not agreed by the end of THE FINAL GAMBIT.

I'm excited to see how this all plays out, since this appears to be a new arc for these characters!

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Have you read any of these books? Let me know your thoughts!

___

Happy reading!

[minthe-lover]

I think alot of lore olympus could be salvaged if it was less written about Hades and Persephone from the perspective that they are good and more from "people do shitty things and sometimes we feel bad about their circumstances, but we do not justify their hurt of other." Like. Oh god. Imagine if them being a terrible couple (to others and for eachother) went from subtext to text. Like how they might not be abusive but they indulge and don't challange the worst things about each other feeding into their worst parts of themsleves. The power. The privilege. The materialism. The money. The hypocrisy. All parts of being a god. Maybe it wasn't just Demeter protecting Persephone from the other gods but from the traps of being a god. She is far far from perfect, but she even in her own privlage knows about the bullshit of olympus as someone who even as a god has not been always in their favor. What if Minthe even if the relationship was flawed atleast kept Hades grounded in a weird way while he still never understood or took the time to understand what was fundementally wrong with his actions and thoughts, and abandoning that lead to a run away trainwreck where Hades and Perse don't hold eachother accoutable and no one else dares to now. Zeus tried. He was 100% overboard and in it for the wrong reasons, but it techinically was accountability. Holy shit. From 0/10 to atlesst 8/10 to me. Like I think if Rachel went down a "Wait, these two are not a good match, and this is not a good love story" path it would be great, but she will never ever do that. Imagine if they made Persephone less of a girl boss queen good goody whatever they frame her as and more or a tragedy in one way where she succeeds but look what she became. Hpw was becoming a queen her personal tragedy? A look into the special class of gods and their dealings. Corrution from power if you will and a testing of morals anc in Perse's case losing. It could also be a deconstuction of even if she is not from olympus, she is a god and recieves privlage others won't as she learns as we also nagivate this new world with her and we watch her fall into the hypocricy and social power of the other gods. There are 100% things you might need to change, but I am saying it could be intersting.bi gave not thought everything through yet, so definatly not perfect. Don't want it to be some "farm girl goes to big city and gets corrupted by city life" thing. No sir. Maybe show how it's not just olympus but it has always been a part of her life. Maybe show not even all gods reveive the same privlage and there is a pecking order like with Apollo. Honestly. If they stopped pretending these are good people and Hades was changing for the better rather than Persephone changing for the worse and looked at the hypocrisy and classism of the gods of olympus, then I am saying we have the foundation of something spicy. Rachel can't write it though because 1.) She won't. 2.) I don't trust her.

^^^

Amazing I loved to read through your thoughts!

I've said this before and I'll say it again, lore olympus could be alot better if it was a bojack horseman style story. One where the main character is objectively terrible and abusive and the characters around them suffer but grow into better people. Instead lore olympus is just boring romantic where come on hades and persephone are just great super strong people abusing their power-

[edwardthomasnw]

Right

Here we go

(Will be honest it's not quite there, but I'm comfortable enough sharing it so it's out of my damn head-)

The most recent idea to find it's way into my head and make itself at home is Great Northern being on the NWR. With almost no one actually knowing who he is

Stay with me

So, in 1962/'63 the NWR's then CME - a former LNER man who'd moved to Sodor and The Works in the late 1940s - somehow manages to get the poor engine moved to Crovan's Gate, rather than being broken up. He also somehow gets the original frames there too. And has them swapped on. The boiler & frames of the rebuild then get cut up (this will play in later, haud yer wheesht!), and stored in trucks behind The Works with him, covered over with tarpaulins.

He is then forgotten about and left there for around half a century Because Reasons.

During the mid - late 2010s, Gordon - who, for whatever reason, is commandeered to shunt - rediscovers the frames as he prepares to move them elsewhere. Initially believing them to be some old wagon, perhaps a heavily-built wartime flatbed, the wind catches the tarp and reveals the number, presumably painted on by one of the group who switched the frames back. After the Fat Controller arrives (having been alerted to 'a situation', primarily involving Gordon having A Moment) a new small group is then made up to undertake the restoration, only they know who the engine is - though they can't stop the news of an A1/A3 just being found out the back of The Works going around.

On checking the surrounding trucks, it is realised they contain the cut up boiler and frames of the Rebuild - and then they find out why. The great-grandson of that CME finds his journal, which reveals he elected to cut up the rebuild parts in order to safely and secretly store them, with the eventual aim to recycle them into new parts for Great Northern - the same way Henry was rebuilt from a somewhat-naff stolen Pacific design into a Black Five all those years ago.. (yep, working by The Love Bug '97 rules - already had that sort of idea for Henry, and this latched to it perfectly) No one knows how it works, really, but it seemed to work for Henry - or, at least, didn't adversely affect him - so no harm was seen in repeating that process

(This last bit is where it gets A Bit Thin but I am at the Struggle Point with it now) A couple of years later (maybe a year instead), and the new boiler is in the frames. The steam tests are underway. He wakes up, to see Gordon rolling steadily into The Shop. "You started without me?" "We didn't think he'd be waking this soon..!" The Big Engine helped calm his younger brother's anxiety, and answered his questions to the best of his ability. He'd return for each of the following tests, and the 'inaugural steaming', leading him out of The Shop and into the yards - where some of the other engines were waiting to greet and welcome him.

Like with the Works staff and public in general, only a select group of the engines actually know who he is, and work with Gordon to help him. He is himself aware of his true identity, but only vaguely - he can recall some memories, more from after Thompson's rebuild than before, but they're all faint and somewhat clouded. He is, however, very sure of how those around him felt about the rebuild - comforting him due to his anxiety over it, despite his improved performance, and cursing Thompson for having done such to the eldest of their clan (okay yeah I know Gordon's eldest but shush). He was never blamed or faulted, and appreciates that, then and now.

He is still figuring himself out, and as a result has come to an agreement with TFC & Gordon that his true identity is not to be officially revealed until he is ready.

Again don't expect a story from me following up on this, I'm better at creating lore than turning it into stories (and even then most of it's half-written notes..), just sharing it cause it's an idea with form to it.

[tolorelai]

If I lost my memory, what's the first thing you'd tell me about us?

Leo: Débiter? No, I'd rather plug "timeless" volume 100, place a pair of headphones over your mane and wait because I know music will always bring you back to me

Lore: I'll probably read you a bookI would have written about our love and our story just like in the notebook; reading it until memories come back

What part of your life has changed the most since we met?

Leo: So as not to deviate from the obligatory corniness we have going on in this relationship, I'll say that this is the first time my faith in love is genuine; you're what I want, you're the person who fills the void and I now understand others when they say they can't live without their person.

Lore: ive got to be cheesy on this and confess: everything? but mostly, maybe the peacefulness behind the thought that I'll never feel alone (i’ve regained faith in love and true compatibility (destiny??))

What's your favorite weird habit of mine?

Leo: i don't think it's a weird habit but i would say that you are so meticulous that i find the whole process quite adorable. i know you don't do things randomly and it's really endearing to witness.

Lore: oh gosh I have no idea?? Hahahah okay i might get one, but it's not weird just truly cute. It's the way you always«??? » in ANY situations. Like I say something stupid =???. I say something surprising = ???. WHATEVER happens = ???. (and I kind of stole this habit so I love it more)

Why do you think I fell in love with you?

Leo: That's quite a question... Well, I guess it's because I'm the only perfect man alive (or because I was born to be yours); comme on dit: lorie has a great day every day, but leo only has a great day if lorie looks at him

Lore: cause im obviously the best you could get around there and maybe cause we love the same things (partly) and when we don't, we like to share, to listen, to learn, we are suckers for knowledge meant to be also, of course and cause we are a sort of balance? I don't know, it must be cause you felt safe and at your place with me (which is mutual)

What do you get from me that you don't get from others?

Leo: I rest easy knowing that my feminine ideal is my girlfriend; totally dream walking this life with you by my side.

Lore: as simply as it is: something real. I know you love me for who I am, and you're not building an image of me to satisfy fantasies, i know you're fully awards of my bad sides and you love me anyway

NEW SET OF QUESTIONS

What changed in you after we met?

Lore: i don't think I've changed?? Or maybe cause I'm still on the process of not overthinking. Yes that's it actually, you're teaching me how to feel safe and how to accept to be heard, like completely, without any doubts (so leading to calm anxiety, insecurities etc)

Leo: alors the thing that's altered is my self-identity (for sure); I can no longer imagine a world without your touch, and without you I feel lost; in a way, you're my compass

What was the first thing you told your friends about me?

Lore: if I remember correctly, it was « i like him a lot, he is sweet and makes me laugh ». later I was screaming cause of all the things I was feeling for u (brouahah de sentiments I never felt before, I was like « I think he's the one »?!)

Leo: I think I might have mentioned that I thought you were gorgeous and intriguing + I also might have said something about you and I having a lot in common.

If you had to describe me in three words what would they be?

Lore: loyal - the smartest - multitalented (disclaimer: humor comes with intelligence to me)

Leo: refined, delicate, demure but also (mouthwatering, divine, femme exquise, flawless, tender, discreet, charming, sweet)

What's the first thing about us that others probably notice?

Lore: our chemistry

Leo: I like to think that they see how much you and I fit each other like a glove. After all, I'm sure they can tell you make me look even better cause you're my lucky charm

What makes you so sure that you love me?

Lore: I'd rather die than be apart from you another day, i feel myself with you, i can be myself with you, you are so extraordinary, I admire you so much, I always learn something from you, and I've got infinite tenderness for you. + our relationship is a monument to me, i can sabotage myself but I'll never sabotage this again (afterglow gf is over)

Leo: It feels as though I've been waiting for you all this time - as though I'm inebriated, on some type of high, at (seemingly) every interaction I have with you, and I genuinely don't think I've ever felt such pure devotion to anyone - like they'd say "I would do anything for you; you just got to love me"; that's the only thing my heart wants from you (but id still do anything for you even if your love dries out)

When did you first know I loved you?

Lore: i got hint, but more about you demonstrating you cared about me (I've got an example of this I thought truly sweet; it was during a ngl time and you anonymously asked me if I was happy at the time or something like this)

Leo: *totally clueless, misunderstood the question and he thought qu’on lui demandait when did HE know that he fell in love* Alright, I won't deny that it's a difficult question, because i gradually became aware of it. déjà, I was drenched in an immeasurable happiness whenever it came to you and i had no desire for it to stop, the thought of you consumed me. it was always a struggle for me to be in tune with my emotions but over the course of time, as i started talking to you more and more, it felt like hell when you were missing cause you were clearly imprinted on my brain. the more you opened up about yourself, the more i realized that i was starstruck by you. you made me feel at ease with my emotions (très safe space vibes)

What was the first thing you noticed about me?

Lore: but I must confess: i can't lie about it, it was your sense of humor!!!!! I used to picture you as untouchable. im impressed by you since day one

Leo: hantise tu jouais selena gomez... thank god we didn't start talking when you looked like her. but on a more personal note parce que jai que des anecdotes superficielles: i was like - damn shes rly listening to me ramble alors que je fais le clown-très vaillante vibes

What's something we did that you never thought you'd do?

Lore: when we get back together? let me explain this one i always had the thought « if the relationships comes to a breakup, just move on, you'll be okay » and it was true cause each time I tried to fix things with my exs was more nostalgia speaking than love. so I was decisive about this way of thinking, and that's also why I took that much time to come back... but you and I, we are inevitable.

Leo: pareil, get back together.... i truly thought we were doomed because you didn't rly like me (?) but i guess i've been proven wrong…

What's your favorite thing about me?

Lore: how much you care for your relatives; this unquestioned and unconditional love you've got for them, it mesmerises me.

Leo: how sweet of a woman you are like if i put you in my coffee every day i'd end up with diabetes. my fav thing about you is your identity, your entirety t'as tellement de facettes (que i cherish) i couldn't pick you're such a woman to me, like think ideal? that's what you are.

When did you see a new side of me that surprised you?

Lore: Hahahahaha at the very, very first beginning, when I did not imagine you could have any interest in me & then suddenly you said something (can't remember what) and I thought « is he... flirting with me? ») THERE you surprised me.

Leo: O_o when you liked me back