#i think these two fandoms mesh very well

[mugwot]

rotating this crossover in my brain. again. i am not gonna say that the kitty is unlucky Because it is a black cat But. it sure is in situations often. lower are vague end-game Ghost Trick spoilers, go play the game! (or you know, watch a lets play) its short and sweet and has a good resent remaster for pc.

my current thought is that sissel got lost on a road trip? maybe fell through a portal? and is kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere usa. Shenanigans ensue. that happens when you have an increadibly powerful energy source stuck in a kinda defenceless body (not counting the time powers. which i am sure clockwork has nothing to say about and danny specifically doesnt have any negative experience with.)

[trohpi]

rating regulus black ships!!

jegulus | 11/10 - i love them so much. when i rejoined the fandom in 2022 and saw how the ship had blown up in the years id been gone i was really confused, but then i read just lovers and was immediately convinced lmao. they are the epitome of sunshine x grumpy and i adore them both

bartylus | 5/10 - theyre not very compelling to me, but theyre not bad by any means. i think they work better as friends but i understand why people ship them. i just prefer other ships personally, but ive read many great fics with them too!

jegulily | 20/10 - im obsessed with them. i love regulus, james, and lily separately, but together they balance each other out. plus it helps that its a combination of my two most favorite monoamorous ships (jegulus and regulily), like whats not to like? theyre definitely a top tier ship

moonwater | 10/10 - they are so cute and so overhated! theres so much potential here, like they could be friends to lovers or enemies to lovers or rivals to lovers, basically any trope you can think of lol. and think of the angst! the drama! i love them dearly

regulily | 1000/10 - yall already know how i feel about these two! they are literal soulmates and i love them to bits. their personalities mesh so well and, this might be a controversial take, but they make more canonical sense than jegulus does imo (not that canon really matters in this fandom lmao). i could wax literal poetry about this ship i love them so much

rosewater | 6/10 - i have other ships i prefer for both of them but theyre still cute and i can see why people ship them. honestly its a similar situation to bartylus, except they intrigue me just the slightest bit more lol

regumary | 4/10 - im sorry i just cant see this ship. i can see their relationship being platonic but not romantic. i also think mary is a lesbian, which doesnt really mean much considering i also love the trans girl regulus headcanon, but most of the time when i see this ship its very cishet and just not my thing. sorry yall!

regdora | 2/10 - i just cant see this ship either. its not bad necessarily, i just see the relationship between regulus and pandora as that of a sibling relationship. no hate to people who ship them, its just not for me lol

rosestarkillerchaser | 6/10 - i understand why people ship them, its combining three popular ships (jegulus, bartylus, and rosekiller), but im sorry i just cannot see james dating barty and evan. im not hating on people who ship them and its not bad by any means (i like them more than most other ships involving evan & barty) i just dont actively ship them. ive read some good fics tho!

rosestarkiller | 5/10 - similar situation to bartylus yet again, its just not compelling to me. i think regulus works better with evan & barty as his friends rather than lovers which you can probably tell given my other ratings lol

blackeclipse | 10/10 - ooooo i love them. all the best aspects of jegulus, moonchaser, and moonwater in one, its elite. james brings the buoyancy that regulus & remus need while regulus & remus help keep him tethered. they work so well together and i love them all dearly

xenoreg | 8/10 - a crackship ive come to enjoy recently! definitely a weird x weirder kind of ship which is the best. oh to be a fly on the wall of the slytherin common room when regulus told barty, evan, and dorcas that he was dating xenophilius lestrange, ravenclaws resident conspiracy theorist (pandora, of course, would have been overjoyed to have someone to trade ideas with)

regulene | 7/10 - they intrigue me tbh, like marlenes brashness and regulus’ coldness contrast in just the right ways. theyre like fire and water and i love that. plus the potential for a quidditch rivalry is phenomenal, especially considering that they could both be the seekers for their respective teams. theyre kinda similar to dorlene imo

regulilylene | 9/10 - im gonna be honest here i think i made this ship up, but i really like their dynamic. marlene and regulus are on the opposite extremes of hot and cold and lilys right there in the middle to keep them grounded, she evens them out

[imakemywings]

I know Silm tells us essentially that Nerdanel was a moderating force on Feanor, but I refuse to believe she was the “holder of the brain cell” as the current fandom phrasing goes, or the Only Sane Man in the house. #1 because I don’t think someone like that would have married a person like Feanor in the first place; and #2 because it’s just boring as fuck imo

Silm also tells us that Nerdanel was basically the only one to ever change Feanor’s mind through counsel, and that they were “companions on many journeys” and that it was only his later deeds that “grieved her.” Which idk doesn’t sound to me like a description of someone who spent her whole time in this relationship demanding Feanor behave more responsibly and trying to reign in his passions. Feanor and Nerdanel’s relationship is, in my view, very much posited as a love story of equals. Other details we know are that a) Feanor married young (no comment on Nerdanel’s age iirc); and b) His choice in spouse was surprising to the rest of the Noldor. This has always suggested, to me, that Feanor fell very hard and very fast for Nerdanel, and that he was convinced she was The One, and that their relationship was formed on a deep understanding of each other as people. Feanor didn’t care that Nerdanel was “not the fairest of her people” or that as the crown prince of the Noldor, he could perhaps have cast a much wider net in a search for a spouse. Furthermore, because Elves don’t seem to marry for politics, Nerdanel had no serious motivation to agree unless she also wanted to get married.

Which brings me to my main point: Nerdanel saw Feanor’s slightly unhinged behavior and went “damn that’s pretty hot.” You will never convince me that Feanor’s burning passions aren’t exactly what attracted Nerdanel to him in the first place. Yes they make him hot-tempered and impulsive and occasionally (self-) destructive, but they also make him interesting. Feanor feels so much about everything and his deep need and desire to create and to understand and better the world around him was precisely what made Nerdanel take another look at him. She could get underneath the prickliness to the artist, the scholar, and she loved those things, and maybe she even loved how much he rejected anyone’s efforts to make him quiet down or behave differently, to make himself more likeable. They had seven kids together--which, iirc, is the most kids of any Elven couple in Arda--ever. Is that not supposed to be indicative of the passion these two held for each other?

And frankly, I would also buy she willingly took his side in most family feuds, even when she knew Feanor was being unreasonable, and furthermore, that she found a great deal of his disruptive behavior entertaining. Anaire and Earwen can try to convince her to push Feanor to apologize to Fingolfin for his latest Incident, but is she going to? Not unless Feanor’s done something really outrageous. Otherwise, she probably can’t even get through telling him “that was really unnecessary” without laughing. Nerdanel, apologize for Feanor’s behavior? Not likely!

Nerdanel acted as a moderating force on Feanor in that I think he was just calmer around her. He’s a very volatile person and we know that he never meshed well with his step-family and possibly felt out of place generally owing to Miriel’s fate, but I think with Nerdanel it felt like he had found a place. She understood him and they were partners and they were going to do this Life thing together. With Nerdanel, I think he began from a more relaxed, less reactive place, which had a corresponding impact on his behavior. And of course, because he felt Nerdanel understood him (and liked him), and he respected and loved her, he was willing to listen to her counsel (sometimes) when he would take no one else’s.

Lastly, the idea of Nerdanel spending hundreds or thousands of years as Feanor’s put-upon wife, trying to manage him and their seven children, essentially reduced to a Nagging Wife stereotype as she acts as the only restraint on him is just so boring and what an incredible, appalling waste of her character. Why don’t you just slap her down in a 1960s sitcom? I think Nerdanel deserves more than that. She had no reason to marry Feanor except that she wanted to, because she had spent a lot of time with him and she wanted him, she loved him, and she saw a future for them together, as partners.

[the-s1lly-corner]

ok so hear me out. what about father!masky hearing that Toby is dating daughter!reader.

A teensy bit of NSFW would be fine, like hearing that Toby stole his precious daughter's V-card. (+ and how Toby ended up taking it but that's just a + if you're feeling generous.)

(MASKY AND READERS RELATIONSHIP IS COMPLETELY PLATONIC AND FAMILY-LIKE!!!!)

Father!Masky reacting to child!readers partner being Toby!

Was really debating on whether or not I wanted to answer this since personally I'm a little iffy on writing romantic stuff with toby but I think. Since its not the center piece (?) Of this request I'll let it slide this time

With that said I will say, I'm not sure if my take on the masky/toby dynamic is accurate to most peoples takes since I havent really. Seen much current fan stuff, havent really interacted with the fandom outside of fanart n stuff since 2015 so UHUH!!

Quick warning first portion of this is the admin rambling about their hcs about masky and toby before getting into the actual reader portion; they havent had the chance to talk about their creepypasta hcs in a LONG time 😭😭

Not touching the virginity thing, though sorry anon

Okay the authors note was getting too long but more on how I view the toby and masky dynamic given how I write both characters in my hc/au!

Toby does still try to piss off masky, i think. Since hes just generally an ass and there isnt much else for him to do..

You see I'm still trying to figure out how I wanna write masky and hoodie, since I do wish to honor their roots from MH and mesh together the source with the creepypasta fandoms take.. still trying to hit a balance.. might save that for another post, though! But I do wish to incorporate tim and brian into this as their own thing in my hc I'm just not sure how... anyways summary of what I was gonna say, before I deleted it; masky and hoodie arent around 100% of the time, only really when they're needed or called for. Hoodie is around more, though

Toby, on the other hand is around as a proxy 100% of the time considering. You know he krilled his shitty dad and set his neighborhood on fire

Basically there aren't many opportunities for these two to interact but when he does toby is probably shoving masky, probably trying to snag his mask, ect ect basically doing anything to find a way to entertain and stimulate himself, and that just so happens to include fucking with his fellow proxies

Masky, at least in my writing, is fairly stoic... or at least he keeps his emotions hard to read and every now and then he can be a little unpredictable. Call it a byproduct of being mentally worn down by slenderman in order to work with him, or something

Holds little to no reaction to Toby's antics, actually the only time theres anything dished back to him is when he tries to make a grab for the mask

VERY protective of his mask

Okay moving onto the actual request; regardless of how you end up being his kid.. whether it be found family or biologically.. he would try to be the very best dad he can be.. bonus points if you're a proxy as well, I think you two would train together

Call it a family business/j

I could joke about masky krilling for you, but.... considering that these are creepypasta characters... I dont think it would be a joke

Only saves that for if someone physically harms you though

Dating wise I dont think he would care..

Until he finds out who

Really?

That asshole?

When you tell him it's very hard to decipher his reaction.. hes just

Still

And the mask isnt helping at all

Watches toby like a hawk. Like if this were genuinely any other person I think masky would do some basic sleuthing to see what kind of person your partner is before backing off... but given that he has a personal history of toby being a nuisance, he's more on the fence

Now do I think he would forbid you from seeing him?

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. I mean yeah sure, toby makes his job harder.. but has he really done anything that warrants that? Does he even have the right, even as your father?

You know that meme from monsters uni. Where sully is glaring down at mike while they're walking

That's basically masky and toby after he finds out

Not many thoughts here, I think

[orangeypopsicle]

Writing this because I'm scanning through fics right now like a sad cat in a wet cardboard box. Like, I'm so desperate for a story that shows the complexity of Velvet and Veneer's relationship, but also, I've been in such a depressive funk the past few weeks that I can't write it. I feel like I can dedicate another post to them here, though.

Velvet wasn't an angel, nor was Veneer heartless, but there is something to note how they both had a mix of qualities. This may be a controversial statement, but Veneer seems to have this issue where he leans on his more domineering sister due to low self-esteem, which results in him enabling Velvet. He loved his sister and was partially convinced to go through with harmful actions, but to what extent does loving someone also explain hyping up that person while they hurt people? Also, I don't particularly enjoy the difference in how he phrased the reasoning for his actions to Floyd versus the public. Veneer mentions the attachment to his sister when talking to Floyd, but his own personal gains in the situation are emphasized. When Veneer apologizes to the public for being a fraud, he mentions his want for fame but also retracts this statement by saying that only Velvet wanted fame, and he followed her due to not standing up for himself. It was an admission of guilt, but the shift to his sister being malicious instead of them both wasn't fully taking accountability either. It's a point of emphasis for me due to the softening of Veneer's personality by the fandom. He's a person with a reserved personality and more likely to feel remorse, but also is materialistic and a bit two-faced.

Since I don't want this to be a rant about Veneer because I very much love both characters, I want to get to Velvet. She's a person with a history of emotional regulation issues: explosive, self-serving, and self-centered. Velvet is a person who is desperate for attention and approval by any means necessary. She puts on a show (with talent she stole), gives it her all, gets very close to seriously injuring herself multiple times in the process, and offers to entertain them more when the audience cheers her on. Similar to her brother, I like to think that she's a person with horrendously low self-esteem but tends to deal with it by putting people down so that she can feel better. However, I want to give the benefit of the doubt that she may not be aware of the extent to which she uses people. When Veneer directly states his issues with their relationship in his confession of their crimes, Velvet responds by saying that she thought that he was on the same page with her ideas. Velvet implies multiple times in the story that she believes that they both wanted fame. Did that make Velvet's lack of concern over Veneer voicing his worries okay? No! I want to bring some attention to Velvet not seeming to fully understand how people feel when they are hurt or when they may have different needs. (Writer's note: Mind you, I have a disability and other mental illnesses that impair my ability to understand other people, so I'm more willing to humanize traits like that.) I also want to mention that Veneer did reap the benefits of exploiting the trolls and said that he enjoyed his luxurious lifestyle more than his remorse about hurting people. So it also may be a mix of Velvet struggling to understand people on an emotional level and a genuine misunderstanding.

Despite the two being a bundle of issues, it's very sweet how well they mesh and how they like to be in-sync. Veneer catches Velvet before she falls, Velvet pats Veneer on the head when he's nervous, Veneer instinctively goes behind Velvet to feel safe, they go shopping together and wear matching clothes, and they naturally lean into and are generally physically close to each other. They both aren't great as people, but care for each other.

On a semi-related topic and not wanting to make another post dedicated to it, I wish the movie expanded on the drug metaphor? It's a children's film, but I do feel that talking to young children at home who may be experiencing family members struggling with addiction has a place in media. It makes you do things you wouldn't normally do, it can make you hurt people in a variety of ways, it's an unfortunate lifestyle choice in a number of young people who were chewed up and spat out by the entertainment industry, it frequently starts with the idea that it's casual use/emotionally or psychologically beneficial and quickly snowballs horribly, and it alienates you from your loved ones. This could have been a unique opportunity to not only be about how drug use is harmful but also what it's like to be unequipped to help a person who doesn't want help. We tell children that drugs are bad but also don't prepare them for when the person doesn't want to stop despite all evidence showing that it's harmful. It can be very confusing because it's not emphasized how hard of a process it is to get sober or even want to get sober.

But yeah, those were some of my thoughts! Thanks for reading, if you got this far. 😅

[crushedsweets]

I am so curious as to what you'd think about Nina and Hoodie as a duo. They've been two of my absolute favorites (even if Brian technically isn't even a creepypasta) since I was younger and I've always loved them as a sort of big brother/little sister pairing. They are so siblings to me I adore them. What are your thoughts on the sillies..

OHHH this is actually super interesting... but also im worried i do not have a lot to say because they won't mesh very well/very much. but i will try. not super realistic headcanons i think but what do i know... <3

brian isnt very present in my story, partially bc ik some mh fans dont like the crossover very much. and by time ninas in the story, i want him+tim to kinda separate from slenderman as toby and kate take over. he's still involved and coming around since he gets horrible slender sickness(but its from the operator) if he's away too long, but he doesn't live near or befriend most of the main cast..

nina is very present in my story because i love her and she is such a good and fun representation of the fandom yk. but brian is much more realistic and late 30s man, while nina is a very cartoonish early 20s girl. theyre on very different fields character and life wise...

BUUUUUUUUUT they would still meet of course.

she'd be bubbling around the entire cast, meeting people through jeff. people initially think she's in the same vein as jeff, natalie, and toby, with a LONG list of blood on their hands influenced by the operator, so they just don't think much about it. theyre mostly surprised by how cheery she is, but the proxies are the first to find out she's just... obsessed with jeff..... so thats very off putting. brian isn't fond of it.

nina would develop some light slender sickness(again, from the operator) just by being around jeff all the time, but the operator never infected her because he didn't see her as a worthy vessel. so, she would have to come to the proxies about it. if toby isnt in the mood or busy, she'd just have to hope brian/tim are around with some pills that'll soothe the pain

brian is more likely to help. with nina, he'd be quick to take on a more protective role, trying to console her as she cries on the couch holding her head whining about static.

initial convos would go smth along the lines of "do you want some coffee ? or uh kids like hot chocolate huh... maybe tea" "i'm literally in my 20s please tell me toby has weed somewhere" "that does not help with this pain i promise" "how would you know" "haha. water it is."

brian was a major stoner back in his early 20s and nina thinks its fucking hilarious. . . she'll try to get him to smoke with her but he's rlly not interested LOLLLL.... hes like 15 yrs older than her he thinks its weird .

again, he's not around a lot, but she's always happy to bump into him. she'd be squealing n shit 'HIII BRIANNNN how r u :3' and he'd just be like :) hey nina. and then never answer the 'how r u' bc he doesnt actually wanna sit and talk .

its a good change of pace. he's been through hell and back for well over a decade by this point, everyone around him is a sad sack of shit, and he spent a long time just. fighting to be an optimistic, cool guy to hang around . . but .... like.... um..... its hard to be that kind of person after all he's been thru. something about nina just forces that sort of like..... glee out of him . its not a huge difference where he's suddenly bouncing and giggling and whatever, he's still just Some Guy. but he'll be like :) lol .

mayhaps he'd catch her trying on toby's goggles and he'd offer to let her try on his mask. but nina would fake gag and be like 'no i dont want that dirty musty nasty sack on my head' and he'd be like ?????. then he'd say she can wash it and then try it on. which.. as an older sibling.... is the type of shit i'd do just to get my sister to do smth for me that i dont wanna do LMFAOOO. she might fall for it just cuz my dear nina is the ultimate fangirl

i dunno i kinda struggled with this one just cuz in my au, they wouldnt be all that close and the Type of characters they are don't mesh very well, but i am super fond of the concept and would love to try expanding on it more

[randoluker293883]

QPR Buddie you say? Hmmm you, talk, I would like to hear more about your wares! (Tho not if you dont want to LOL)

xD sure!

So to keep it simple, Iv always loved buddie but as much as I love it, sometimes the nearly compulsatory need to always have the most popular ship be in pretty much most fandom works in very ship-heavy fandoms like this can be kinda exhausting? (Teen Wolf's fandom is another example of this)

Plus I'm someone on the aro-ace spectrum who swung very widely between being romance repulsed, neutral, and positive so sometimes it was just kinda not for me but often id have to "settle" for other ships in fandom works I dont like just to get a break from Buddie and their romance fandom wise

I love buddie and would love it to be canon but I think it would also be cool if we had just a very platonic male friendship with two people who obviously care about each other without it having to romantic

So one day I was just like.... what if they were in a QPR? And boom my brain has not been the same since.

Just to dudes realizing they care about each other very much to the point where its obvious its more then just a friendship, but it doesn't HAVE to be romantic or sexual, and slowly going "huh." and changing their lives to fit around that slowly as they navigate a QPR relationship and what that means for them and the people in their lives.

Plus with personal hc's about Eddie and Buck's sexualities, it just meshed really well and now I just love the idea of it. Plus lowkey Buck is Chris' second father figure so that just fuels my fire lol

I tend to flip-flop between what kind of relationship I like Buddie having depending if im in the mood for romance or nah still but either way I love both version of buddie and wish QPR!buddie was explored more

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!

[ohheyjudesummers]

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Character: Nanami

Headcanon: PersonalAttendant/Servant!Nanami

Notable Tags/warnings (Full list at the end): Black!fem reader, oral (receiving) *Flourishing* Femdom, slight dubcon, Slightly possessive Nanami (even as a servant? Bold of him, I know)

Warnings: Like all my stories/content, this will have adult themes and as such, be strictly for/aimed towards adults (18+). Please do not recreate anything in my stories/content outside of properly consenting roleplay between adults of sound mind. This is pure fantasy for personal entertainment.  

A/N: This was slightly Inspired after reading an adult Manga about a (futa) woman who had a butler who served her every need. Nanami was chosen for This headcanon because, well, with the personality Gege gave him, he seemed the most likely to fit. *And also, if we’re being real, I was shopping for intimate wear recently and saw a steel boned corset that reminded me of Nanami’s tie.  *The way my heart nearly busted out of my CHEST in the store when I saw it.*

Also, if you’re new to my writing’s I just want to give heads up that my work tends to be on the lengthy side (God free me from the shackles of what feels like excessive writing)

Note: I Might do a part two.

Other works and Links are here for you in case you’re interested.

As always, Happy reading!

✧❁❁✧✿✿✧❁❁✧

To be perfectly honest, you were in awe when you first met Nanami. You found him intimidating, even as a woman of noble birth who had been around important people. primarily because you immediately found him to be very attractive

He's your personal attendant, your right hand at your service. But somehow, with you having to crane your neck slightly to look up at him (paired with his stoic expression), you can't help but feel a bit inadequate to him.

At that point, he curtly nods and bows slightly. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mistress Y/N." It's a simple yet powerful greeting. As it convinces you that appearances be damned, he acknowledges you as his mistress.

While you grew up more privileged than others, you never really had a personal attendant, let alone one you were physically attracted to. nevertheless, you relented.

From that point on, you welcomed Nanami to your side, which had its pros and cons.

Pros being: He was an effective and thorough personal attendant, a great conversationalist when engaged, and easily dedicated tasks for the other helpers in your manor while you worked.

Now for the cons: Your attraction toward him showed no signs of easing up. If anything, it increased. and even if you denied it, your body wouldn't.

The way your Pussy would throb in your panties whenever he was in close proximity—you couldn't help but clench your thighs together. But when you feel his strong hands actually touch you?

"Mistress?" You faintly hear him enter your room in the early mornings, as is his custom. But you refuse to leave your king-sized canopy bed. So, you lie on your side, pretending to sleep, beneath your Prussian blue mulberry silk bedding.

You know Nanami will push back the black mesh curtain of your canopy in order to reach you. And of course, he does.

As you hear his light movement as he approaches, your body warms up with anticipation and excitement. When you feel the bed dip in front of you, you know he's sitting down.

"Mistress, you have to wake up." He speaks quietly. That's when you feel his hand on the crook of your waist. That heat in you? becomes an inferno at that point, the source beginning beneath his touch.

That inferno spreads through every area of your body when you feel his thumb soothingly running back and forth, even beneath your silk sheets. particularly the area between the thick of your thighs. When you twitch slightly due to the delightful ache, your performance suffers.

"If I have to, I'll stay by your side for as long as you want to continue with this performance, Y/N," he chuckles deeply.

Please do, you think. but ultimately let your eyes fully open to see a familiar pair of  warm chestnut brown ones. A small smile is present on his pink lips.

You smile weakly back at him. Partially jokingly, you say to him, " I know how much you're a stickler for structure in schedules; I wouldn't disrupt it by making you suffer like that."

"Suffering? I don't think so—though, at your hands, I wouldn't mind. Not to mention the fact that" Nanami motions to the open area next to you. "Your bed is large enough to accommodate both of us," he says casually before gently squeezing your waist and rising from your bed to leave.

Your mouth nearly drops to your chest.

You couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough, and as you suspected when you dropped your pajama shorts and spread your legs, you were embarrassingly wet.

You spent an extra bout of time in that shower that morning, pleasuring your aching pussy as best you could. and while you were successful, it wasn't enough.

and this insatiable feeling persists from that point on. at first being Vexing—bearable as long as you came. Until it eventually gets to the point where you can't even do that with your fingers or your toys. 

Now? You were becoming increasingly agitated. And you were certain your helpers around the manor had noticed, especially Nanami.

You were ashamed of yourself; despite your parents' considerable wealth and lavish upbringing, they taught you to be respectful of everyone, regardless of their financial or social standing.

You're on the verge of withdrawing out of frustration, dismissing everyone to go on an early vacation until you can present yourself as a better lady of a prestigious manor.

And maybe Nanami is aware of this. because one night, after most of the helpers have gone to bed, he enters your home office and requests to know why you've changed your temperament.

He's the last person you want to see, but, honestly, you're not surprised. even when you dismiss Nanami's services for the day or night he still made himself readily available for you.

The only consideration he appears to have when being dismissed is that he doesn't wear a dress shirt or suit. He wore loose-fitting lounge pants with a simple shirt, much like he does now. Only the dark shirt he was wearing now seemed to fit his lean and slightly muscular frame.

But back to his question

Instead, you simply concede and continue to claim that you are simply intimately frustrated. You were at ease with your sexuality to the point where you could discuss it as an adult.

"I see," Nanami says after your explanation. then, standing, he rounds your desk. "I'd wish you'd admitted this earlier; we could have handled this much sooner, Mistress."

(Image credit to @/ANTS)

"Handled what sooner?" you ask, dumbfounded. When he comes to a halt in front of your swiveled chair, he drops to his knees. In front of you.

In his calm, cool manner, he says with the greatest certainty, "I'm yours, Mistress." Yours.  "It's my duty to handle all and anything that may leave you in or cause you stress."

At this moment, his large hands grasp the sides of your legs at your knees. That's when it dawns on you what he's about  to do.

"But wait, this isn't—you don't need to do something like that, Nanami."

Nanami abruptly cuts you off by encircling his hands behind your bended knees. You're not a small girl, so when he drags you forward with ease, it adds to your astonishment.

"It’s not only my responsibility to attend to your needs but also to properly guide you within your title. But I suppose your reluctance is to be expected when you're given something new. You shouldn't be troubled by this, Mistress. You will learn to use all aspects of me in whatever way you deem fit, not just because it is my obligation but also because it is ultimately my privilege." He pushes your legs to your chest, effectively bunching your pleated tartan skirt high around your waist.

"Oh, god," you groan quietly, gripping the seat's edge. The cool air caresses your bare pussy.

"You don't need to be ashamed. Or even shocked for the matter," His words grab your attention. his piercing gaze staring through you, he speaks, "I know your patterns and am well aware that as of very recently, you tend not to wear panties."

He recognizes my patterns? Does he...keep an eye on me when I'm not looking?

Your heart skips a beat as the strong possibility dawns on you. But you don't have much time to think about it because the moment Nanami's pink tongue peaks from his lips, he spears it between your brown folds.

"Jesus Christ!" you exclaim, sinking your head into the material of your chair.

 Nanami only grunts in response—he's far too busy French kissing your pussy to respond. Genuinely, it sounded as if a starving man was feasting on the juice of fruits. the way eyes fluttered close at his occasional grunts, which were soft yet deep against your skin—the entire sight had your legs trembling as he held them tightly against your chest.

You're not sure how long you sat there, laboriously breathing, with Nanami devoted to serving you oh-so-slowly. But he eventually pulls back somewhat. his gleaming face looking intently at you.

"Does my mistress want release? or would she like to prolong it for later?"

"Y-you were waiting? for me?" you gawk.

"Of course," you say. He nods obediently. "If my mistress truly wants to cum, I believe she has the power to command; to tell me to make it so."

You couldn't help but feel irritated about this.

You could only translate his tone as someone who was waiting on you. And as if he were slightly testing you.

while you were understood Personal attendants were not always docile servants. You couldn't help but feel that Nanami needed to be taken down a notch by you.

You, his mistress,

The irritation began to morph into something a bit stronger.

"Finish," you say, but that doesn't stop you from reaching down, running your hands through his blonde hair, and directing him toward your engorged clit—which you now suspect he'd been avoiding to edge you.

Your eye is drawn to the sly grin on his lips just before his mouth latches around your clit. Nanami doesn't waste any time and starts sucking on your throbbing clit.

"Yes, Kento, keep going, make my pussy cum." You mutter into the air.

Your fingers massage his scalp as you rhythmically hump against his mouth. He now moves his hands from the backs of your thighs to the width of your waist. It's almost as if he's trying to keep his meal in place so it doesn't flinch away from his mouth. Not that you had any intention of doing so. especially since you felt so close. Nanami's dexterous mouth—his tongue—lashes out ferociously against your clit. it takes merely a couple swipes before you feel your body seizing and your mouth gaping open in a silent scream. You arch against his mouth, impulsively gripping his hair, and even with him in your grasp, he can angle his head back down to your pulsing hole, where your release coats your outer lips. He laps at your opening with extreme caution. He doesn't want to overstimulate you.

You've just come down from your release, blissfully exhausted. Nonetheless, I find that you don't mind what Nanami is doing (or what he did previously) in the least. Still, you discover yourself urging him away from your pussy with a light grip on Nanami's blonde locks.

He looks up to you, his gaze yet again expectant but also searching yours. as if hes waiting for something. And that is when you recall his previous words—his devotion to serving you. His confidence in his abilities to advise and fulfill you, as well as his eagerness for your approval.

The words flow gently from your full lips, "You did well," As you run your fingers through his scalp, you nod, a lazy smile on your face. "You've made me happy..."

A small smile returns to his lips. Slowly, without breaking your eye contact, he plants a kiss of gratitude atop your pussy's trimmed curly hairs.

"...For now." You add.

Nanami, on the other hand, does not appear to be particularly worried. His dick throb's feverishly within the limits of his briefs as he hears your words and anticipates what's to come.

Part 2

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©JUDESUMMERS. Please do not copy, Translate, Plagiarize, or repost (sharing via link is excluded). This story is only uploaded on Tumblr, Wattpad and AO3. Anywhere else under any other name besides JUDESUMMERS is prohibited

[waheelawhisperer]

ok let's get spicy with the ship asks

fiaexu

nearldoc

lapptex

gavitomi

not sorry

FiaExu

What I like the most about it: The potential for the two of them to bond over their mistreatment at the hands of Laterano. Being unable to connect with the Sankta empathy means both of them get the short end of the stick from their countrymen, whether it be in the form of active bullying or simply having their concerns and feelings and opinions dismissed. Between that and their love of intricate firearms, there's a lot of common ground for them to build a relationship on.

Also there's this really great fic called Night Running that really put this pairing on the map. You should read it sometime.

What I like the least about it: The color scheme. Red/black/white is a fine color palette in and of itself, but it's applied to both characters in very similar ways and makes their designs feel kind of same-y in a manner I don't feel is the case for some of their more popular ships.

NearlDoc

What I like the most about it: Probably the depth and intensity of their care and regard for each other, as evidenced by Nearl's talk lines, as well as the way they play so readily into a knight/lord-or-lady dynamic that doc puts their own spin on by being a sneaky devious little gremlin. They serve as great foils for each other - both are deeply compassionate and intelligent people who devote themselves to making the world a better place for those it treats least kindly and serve to inspire those around them, but Nearl is very forthright and direct, preferring to confront problems head-on and ideally on the field of battle, relying on her combat prowess and the strength of her convictions more so than craftiness and guile to carry the day, whereas Doc is frail and limited in a direct physical confrontation, but is adept at long-term planning and political maneuvering. They compliment each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses very well.

What I like the least about it: It hasn't been officially confirmed canon yet I'll actually give you a few answers.

First off, I haven't exactly been reticent about expressing my displeasure at the handling of Nearl's storyline, especially the way the writers chose to have her stay in Kazimierz. Sure, it gives us the opportunity for some Hopelessly Romantic Pining, but I still don't much care for it, and it feels like a bit of a step backward after all the other work done with her character and the Kazimierz storyline. I'll be honest, Arknights didn't really stick the landing with the Kazimierz stories in general, given the way the writers screwed over both Margaret and Maria at the conclusion of their events.

Second off, it falls prey to the same meta issues of every other Doc x Female Operator ship, namely that on one side you have a bunch of stupid chodes who throw Korean-incel-level tantrums if Nearl is portrayed as literally anything other than GigaChad Doctor's one-note cocksleeve whose one or two personality traits besides being Horny For Doctor's Big Manly Penis come from shitty memes the fandom ran into the ground years ago, and on the other side you have a bunch of equally-stupid chodes who get their panties in a twist if you ship her with anything other than her Fandom-Approved Lesbian Lover. At no point will either group pay any attention to her actual textual characterization or relationships or contribute anything of value to the fandom besides porn.

Third off, I think that Nearl simply doesn't fit within the kind of topics that Arknights likes using the Doctor to explore or mesh well with the storylines that Arknights wants its core cast to participate in. She's too ideologically pure for the sort of morally gray horrors of war story Arknights wants the second arc of the main story to be, and while there's certainly a lot to explore within the context if a character like that being placed within that sort of scenario, it feels redundant when they're already doing something similar with multiple other characters, and not succeeding overly well in my opinion.

TexLapp

What I like the most about it: The complicated nature of their relationship and what they represent to each other. It's not just Cool Girl And Yandere, there's actually a lot of exploration of how Siracusa and its culture has affected both of them and how they deal with the lasting scars. It's fucked up and messy and there's so much to sink your teeth into - trauma, obsession, power, freedom, obligation, and so on, all wrapped up in an extremely homoerotic rivalry.

What I like the least about it: The way people reduce it to one-dimensional uwu toxic yuri without acknowledging the complexities or selling points of either character or treating them like actual individuals instead of components of a ship.

Gavial x Tomimi

What I like most about it: They're so fucking funny together. Neither of them is stupid, they're both very capable and intelligent women, but whenever the stakes are sufficiently low, they turn off their brains and solve all problems with the power of Looney Toons shenanigans. Inam has the one brain cell in the entire Sargonian rainforest and it's working overtime to keep all the other residents out of trouble.

Idk, I just really appreciate the lighthearted aspects of the Gavial events and their cast in a story that tends to be very dark and heavy.

What I like the least about it: Besides the fandom obsession with treating them as the funny lesbian crocs and reducing them to the components of the ship instead of actual characters (are you sensing a theme here?), I'd have to say it's that I find it physically impossible to be horny for Tomimi. I don't know how you're supposed to have sex with her. Her tail just gets in the way in every position. You can't even do her doggy because you smack her ass and she knocks you out cold with the big slappy. One moment you're finally all the way inside her and the next you're in the med wing undergoing concussion protocol administered by a very disappointed Kal'tsit and a Gavial who can barely control her laughter.

(I guess you can try to have Tomimi top, but I'm pretty sure she'd have a mental breakdown if anyone asked her to strap them)

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

In the mood to give my weird, probably biased WOY hot take rn so here it goes: Wander and Hater would not last in a romantic relationship.

Like, I do GET the appeal of them as a pairing? It's enemies to lovers! Everybody loves a good enemies to lovers. Plus, WOY really LOVES doing that thing where they throw a LOT of romance coding into non-romantic relationships(Deathglare gets a lot of this too lmao), and Wander is just like. Weirdly flirty? With Hater especially but also just in general. Like I get the impression that that man fucks. He and Jeff have probably had a one-night stand. But I don't think their personalities are compatible for a long-term romantic relationship.

First of all: they're both really impulsive and flighty. Which I guess could work in a relationship if both partners were completely insync with eachother, but Wander and Hater. Aren't. They are not. Plus, putting two people with short attention spans together with nobody to keep them in check is a RECIPE for disaster. There's also Hater's temper, which I don't think any amount of character development would be able to take out completely, and Wander's penchant for frustrating. Everybody. He is a very frustrating person to be around. And while I don't think a long-term romantic SkeletonDance would turn ABUSIVE, like that is ABSOLUTELY taking it too far, I do think it would be VERY unstable. They have the EXACT wrong traits in common, and the traits they DON'T have in common just straight up don't mesh well. I could see them getting together impulsively, because there is some chemistry there, but eventually the relationship would deteriorate from a combination of opposing values and goals, mutual short attention spans, and Wander getting on Hater's nerves. They'd break up, and depending on the circumstances it could end up VERY MESSY. They work better, in the long term, as friends then as romantic partners.

SO, now to address my biases, because there are a few, and I think it's important to acknowledge any potential flaws in your perspective while making an argument. First one being: I just prefer other Hater ships? Like yall know me, I'm a Deathglare girlie til the end lmfao. They're LITERALLY my OTP, you can see the influence the pairing has had on me in pretty much every other ship I've obsessed over since. But like... I'm also a multishipper, and Deathglare isn't exempt from that. I don't have any alternate pairings for Peepers(because he doesn't really interact w/ anybody outside of the main 4 and Dom for some reason and I don't like him w/ any of them except Hater), but I DO have a pretty big one for Hater, and that's Skullhunter(Hater x Ripov). Idk I just think they're kinda cute! And uh. Also a rarepair. Like there's NO content for them omfg- probably because Ripov only had one episode and there are already much more popular Hater pairings... bUT I'm getting off topic, what does this have to do with my potential anti-Skeletondance bias? Well, both of my Hater ships are VASTLY overshadowed by Skeletondance. Like I think Skeletondance is the MAIN pairing in the WOY fandom, and both of my prefered Hater ships kinda get left in the dust, at least in terms of content volume. I believe that at least part of what leads people to hate on popular things in a desire to have what THEY like be mainstream so it's easier to find a community, and I am not exempt from that. I generally like to believe I'm neutral on Skeletondance overall, but there might be some subconcious jelousy directed towards people who prefer Skeletondance that makes me think the pairing just wouldn't work. Also, I headcannon Wander as aromantic, which definitely influences my interpretation of their relationship akrngosmfmekkfoemfke

So uh, yeah. That's why I don't think Skeletondance would work long term, plus a little dissection of things that might've skewed my perspective a bit! Idk why I made this tbh, I might be going insane-

[flyingspicerack]

hey guys, this is very hard for me to talk about and bring up, but ive talked to a few people about it in priv already, and I think im ready to publicly talk about it...

When i joined the ososan fandom back in March, it was a bit... dead? And i was trying to grasp at straws, trying to find people to connect to, trying to make some friends, and came upon one person who I seemed to mesh with really well. She posted a lot about a big server she had full of people to talk about her content with and I was at first wary to join (i dont like big servers) but did so anyway. However, as I was wary, the two of us stayed in DMs for quite a while, in addition to me being in the big server as well. This person was equally reciprocating conversation with me, with equal excitement, with equal interest to the subject matter. I believe everything is going fine, them and I, i think, are becoming closer friends, she invited me to a smaller group run by someone else, things are good for a couple weeks. Im showing up and watching art streams, sure, im a little awkward, its a new group of people and I have adhd and am very neurodivergent (to which she claims she is as well) so i'm a bit... weird or whatever, but who isnt??

Then, I'm pulled aside, im pulled into a smaller group chat with this person and two 'mediators' to which this person proceeds to tear into me, telling me that i make her uncomfortable, that im being codependent with her (bitch the 'co' in 'codependency' implies ur reciprocating but claimed i was the only problem), i put her up on a pedestal, says our age gap is weird, etc. (I have screenshots of the whole 'confrontation' if ppl want to see it) and i was terrified... She never indicated prior to this that I was making her uncomfortable... I thought i was doing everything correctly, i thought i was being a friend, i thought we were equally excited to hang out with one another?

So, from this, because of this, this bitch fucking traumatized me. She had me believing, and still trying to unlearn, that i am annoying, that i am a nuisance, that im a bother to everyone that i come around, she destroyed my self esteem and destroyed how i try to make friendships because i am SO SCARED all the time now... that one of you is going to turn around and tell me that I put you on some kind of pedestal, that im being annoying and bothering you all too much, its why i disappeared the other day because i got scared i was posting too much, that i got scared that i was ... doing something wrong...

So... ok now that im in it, writing this, excuse my lack of composure for the rest of this post, i tried to hold it but now im getting angry

SO FUCKING MEANWHILE THIS BITCH, talking about codependency and age gaps in friendships, her two 'lackeys' apparently were her ONLY friends during like 4 years of her life (codependent hippocracy) AND she was into ososan from the beginning when she was like fucking 14, and one of her lakeys is OLDER than me at 29 AND WAS FRIENDS WITH HER WHEN SHE WAS 22 AND THIS BITCH WAS 14 SO you're gonna sit here and tell me that OUR age gap is weird when THAT SHIT is going on????????????????????? And fucking- PUTTING you on a fucking PEDESTAL?? when YOU are the one who is the OVERLORD of this fucking server you have with like 50+ peons, AND you have this nasty ass notification in the server to alert EVERYONE when someone leaves to which is kinda creepy and controlling??

Anyway i responded scared out of my mind and backed off... she didnt want to cut me out, just limit conversation and take me out of the smaller knit circle and we could still be friends, but obviously this freaked me out and i didnt talk to her much after that.... ANYWAY so this person THEN has the audacity to reach out to me a month or so later and is like 'hey... we haven't talked much and i think something might have happened between us? are we ok? you're really distant" and then i fucking laid into her cause i had the month to think on it...

If any of this behavior sounds familiar to you, its bc the person 'in charge' is known as Ava, or pinklemonfruit here on tumblr, and one of her lackeys? Lovenu, who im pretty sure a lot of you already know of... theres another one, her name is emmy, her username here i believe is lichenqueen and was the other 'mediator' i have been told by one source that they potentially could be lying about their age, but take this with a grain of salt bc i have no proof of this

I unfortunately dove right into this when i came into the fandom bc i didn't know any better, i didn't know that these people were bad and caused problems back in the day... but now im aware and i need everyone else who may interact with them to know that they are not good people and have hurt me personally. They have caused me trauma that I am trying really hard to get over but i fear its going to take a long time...

This is MY personal story and account of interactions with these people and I will continue to believe what I know from personal experience. If you come to me, trying to defend any of these people or try to make light of this situation, you will no longer be allowed to associate with me. This fucked me up, and I will not compromise on this, you will no longer feel safe to be around if you condone how these people treated me. If you do not believe my words, then fine, but i will no longer desire company from people who will condone this type of treatment that I had to endure and have been suffering through the aftereffects of.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my story and im sorry if it ended up too personal at all. But, I really hope those that read this will... understand my timid behavior? Why im ALWAYS saying sorry? Why im always so scared in group setting like aggies, why im always so apprehensive and timid and keep thinking people are lying to me about really liking having me around? Its because of this, this is truly and horribly messed up to do to someone... making them feel so low and horrible about their existence ...

if you have any questions, i am willing to answer them...

[saccharinemeat]

What are your opinions on Hfjone ships?

oh fucking man

okay imma get crucified , but here we go. opinion on popular ones + my own rareship

Liam/Bryce

fucking SUCKS. it can only work if you're self aware about how absolutely awful and hurtful liam is,and i feel from what ive seen that the fandom just reduces them to 'omg doomed yaoi' and like, woobifies them. This ship only and only works as one sided,forced and extremely toxic (in my eyes). Bryce deserves better than Liam, and liam relentlessly hurts Bryce down to the very goddamn end (← i say this as someone who is currently fuckin obsessed with liam and self recognizes in him 😐)

Liam/Amelia

I like this one. I feel like theyre pretty good for each other, although, it's sort of a doomed one,in the sense of how it would work only if they were to be in the plane forever. I do feel like Amelia sort of lost herself in the plane forever. If those two ever got out, he'd have to take some charge on their shared recovery and Liam is NOT gonna deal with that well. Still a cute ship,and I like it.

Amelia/Charlotte

...why? this feels like pairing the leftover main characters because everyone is focused on the Boys TM. they dont really have any chemistry,like,even theorically i feel like they wouldn't mesh well,unless you wanna make Amelia basically Charlotte's therapist. But yay, women! i can't be mad about this one,really. I don't mind it

Liam/Airy

Lairy is...complicated, emotionally. I can see it actually being a thing,but it's really in a fucked up way. definitely a 'i hope we both die' kind of pairing. I think about it and it gives me heartache that i cant explain. it hurts because they both are awful in different ways but also they are trying. I will say i do enjoy it but in a way that makes me hurt. lots of angst there. I think this one especially benefits from becoming a ship that happens after moldpack being A thing

Liam/Charlotte

Okay this one is not popular,in fact i feel like nobody but me is into it but theres so much potential here. especially the way they would be so horribly,terrifyingly bad to each other. I can imagine Charlotte getting out instead of Bryce,and how different it all would be. her prideful nature and liam's manipulative tendencies are so deliciously wrong. I feel they would bring the worst out of each other. I have a lot to say about them but like. Consider those first 5 months. Liam was as isolated as Charlotte was,he only sorta rejoined the others in the last two months stretch, and I think they might've interacted during that. And just, Charlotte WOULD be interested in solving the mystery,she would jump on that chance because she needs control and Liam would be elated at first and horrified later and AGH it would be so messy and interesting. please ask me more about moldpack. im the charlotte/liam person number 1 fan now.

and now rapid fire other ships,

Oscar/Bryce - can see it,and i feel like it makes sense within Bryce's trauma streak. I can imagine them bonding and it getting a bit too close

Bryce/Stella - I wish this had more exploration,object shipcest is so insanely rare. I like it

Taylor/Amelia - kinda cute,can see it if taylor stayed in the plane. Especially if it starts as a sort of one sided crush that goes too far

Liam/Owen - this is cute,can kinda see it but only in a no-show scenario (as in, ONE never happened and this is a coworker romance thing)

Charlotte/Parker - it upsets me,but i can see them as having hooked up once and Parker catching feelings while Charlotte is super uncomfortable about it and that explains that weird tension.

Bryce/Amelia - eh. sure? it's cute but i dont care for it a lot. also i dont care for sodacentpack a lot,but it's better than sodapack alone i Guess. get ♣️'d lmao

ALSO, the crackship/crossover with showvember

Airy/Popcorn - NO. piss off the joke is boring and lame and IDK i hate it.

[eleemosynecdoche]

Fornit doesn't exist, why?

*putting on my ceremonial mesh tights and sparkly capelet*

*ascending before the altar*

*clearing my throat*

Because it sucks!

Or, putting it longer and with more jargon- Fonrit is a part of Glorantha where the fantasy content is so heavily impregnated with sensationalistic depictions of slavery in North Africa from an older generation of adventure fiction, and tied in with a heavy dose of Orientalism. So, it's got a lot of racism in the basic premise before you get to the Vadeli (and hoo boy, the Vadeli)! But of course, Glorantha has been consistently racist to varying degrees in its content, and there are plenty of places where you have to cut away a lot of material and yet I still go there. (Caladraland featured heavily in the game I recently finished playing).

Fonrit is, I would say, worse, but not so much because of the specific details, but rather because of a deeper problem- there's not much playable content when you look at it.

I don't mean that we need a Fonrit book, or Fonrit adventures. Looking at other places in Pamaltela, the Kothar/Jolar border zone, which is also filled with racist content left over from old adventure fiction and has little published material, has some immediately playable content. You have the Kresh and Arbennan confederacies in tension, preparing for war, you have (sigh) monsters marching from out of the desert, you have the fire people from beyond the desert, you have the goblins of the marshes to the east- there's an explosive metasituation to explore and play with. Even Kimos, which is just a "wow, cool fantasy backdrop material, bro!" set of paragraphs, has a nascent situation with the Gorgers you could explore.

These would require a lot of work to make playable, I would say, because there isn't that much material to draw from, but you have something to build on. It's much more work than even Ralios or Seshnela or, for fuck's sake, Arolanit, would require. Incomparable to near-instantly playable places like Fronela, Dragon Pass, the Holy Country, or the Lunar Empire, or not-quite-places like the Arkat/Gbaji content.

Fonrit then has the basal problem that there's just not that much playable content there. You have conflicts between two different moral abysses in the form of the slaver factions, and I just don't give a shit about that. You have the Pujaleg in Laskal, who are of course, denoted as evil within the fandom discourse, but even if you rightly discard that and kick it to the curb, it's just- what, a moral crusade with "grey moments" added in by force to make it feel less one-sided? Similarly, you have the Veldang, who are blue people racially oppressed by black people, and you could play a really grim situation about Veldang resistance and revolutionary efforts- turns out they're the descendants of the evil Artmali! And there's the Vadeli, still.

In order to make a playable situation, that is one with interesting and explosive tensions players and their characters can interact with, you have to essentially make your own Fonrit, or at least I would and I think the overwhelming majority of people would as well. Going back to the Vadeli, the Vadeli are extremely problematic as a part of Gloranthan content, because the extant material generally uses antisemitic stereotypes taken to cartoonish extremes- they're so blood-libel they eat their own children to stay immortal! They're so sexually perverse they use axolotl tanks from Dune!!

Now. When I said "problematic", I mean it very precisely, because when you dig down to the basal Vadeli content of Revealed Mythologies, you get a very different picture. And then pieces, for me, fell into place. Because knowing what I know about Greg Stafford, for him, at least for most of his life, Arkat's journey was modeled on a fantastical interpretation of his own life, coming from a repressed mainline Christian New England military family (horali from Brithos) and journeying through Hrestoli knighthood (reading Arthuriana at a young age) and then paganism (dropping out of Beloit College and becoming a hippie and self-professed shaman).

So perhaps, what we are meant to do by Stafford is read the Vadeli content in this way: the Vadeli are fantasy Jews, they are directly victimized by these antisemitic stereotypes applied to them by Malkioni fantasy Christians. Brithini dominion and Zzabur's genocide kept them reduced to the status of peasants who cannot defend themselves, with no soldiers ("horali") or priests ("wizards") and not even a general public memory of rulers ("talars").

This is problematic because this reading of the content, this interpretation, doesn't erase the antisemitic implications of the content, adds some more, and of course it doesn't carry an instantly playable situation in and of itself- what are the Vadeli doing that brings them into tension, with other people or with themselves? And beyond that, there are questions of who has a "right" to play such things in a roleplaying game, though I will be even more overly candid here than I've already been and note that I strongly believe that the concerns related to cultural appropriation in other media don't apply to roleplaying in the same way, and many don't apply at all.

(This is also a specific *possibility* or *option* for play, though I think it makes much more sense than making the Vadeli colonizers. Feel free to ask me about that, by the by, if you want a real rant on your hands.)

Anyways, I still don't have *that* much interest in doing the work necessary to finish the Vadeli to a playable state even given that. But I think that work is something I could see myself doing, in a more limited fashion, if the Vadeli entered into play on the outskirts, because I find some aspects of the Revealed Mythologies content affecting and interesting. And for Fonrit, I just think that there's so little interesting content in it that I have and would fireaxe it away in play (see the link for an explanation of that term) and just agree that it's not there. If anyone wants to go there in play... well, that's a subject for an actual game.

I have a similar but distinct set of thoughts about Prax and Kralorela, but I won't bloat this post up any further.

[revvethasmythh]

okay still on the topic of veth's "Nothing is more important than you" because honestly I think that is such an interesting and important character note for where she is emotionally at this part in the story. A long time ago, I wrote a meta about this scene (that tumblr thoroughly ate and is super hard for me to find again) predominantly because of the advice she gave to Caleb: "Burn your past." Veth is more aggressive in her advice in this scene than we see almost ever in the entire campaign. There's real fire and passion behind what she's saying to Caleb, even though the advice she's giving isn't very good or actionable for him. And I've always been of the belief that she's very much projecting her own feelings about her life onto Caleb in that moment because it's a thousand percent easier to tell someone else (particularly Caleb, whom she is closest to) that he needs to go scorched earth on his past than it is to admit to herself that maybe she wants to scorch out a little of her past, too. Especially when that past includes her husband and child, whom she loves, but is feeling deeply conflicted about because she's caught between two realities and versions of her life that simply cannot mesh together.

I think a lot of Veth's character arc in this segment of the story is so nuanced but subtle, which is why it's so rarely discussed, in addition to [insert 10 page rant about people ignoring Veth's character for other reasons here]. This quiet grappling with her impossible choices are truly highlighted by the men in her life she has romantic feelings for--Yeza and Caleb, who work really well to represent the desire for homemaking vs. the desire for adventuring. It's simple canon that Veth has at least a crush on Caleb at this stage, though honestly I'd expect it to be much more than that considering her internal conflict and what she actually says to Caleb in less than a 10-episode run ("I want to be with you--all", "I will always love you", "nothing in more important than you"). These aren't subtle hints about how she feels for him, but are rather on the nose, though I suppose they could be misconstrued simply because her relationship with Caleb has been routinely ambiguous and unfathomably intimate since the very beginning. But if that thread of understanding about how Veth is feeling gets lost, then full scope of Veth's conflict and the reason behind her projection in this moment gets lost as well because the two things Veth is feeling in that moment are a) protectiveness beyond the norm over Caleb and b) conflict over her place in the world. Anger at the bind she's found herself in where there isn't a perfect, happy ending and a choice does have to be made. It's something she's been putting off for a long time, since episode 59 when she first asked Caleb if he could just give her the answer of what she should do ("I ditched my husband in a den of monsters to go adventuring with you.")

The anger there is valid. After all, what has been easy and gone right in Veth's life? Why wouldn't she be angry and frustrated that even when everything should be working out in her life, there's one more thing lingering and tearing her heart in two, between the Nein and her home/son, between her feelings for Yeza and her feelings for Caleb? It just really occurs to me that if you choose to ignore Veth's very much canonical feelings for Caleb in this instance (which I've seen a lot of the fandom do), the drive for this outburst and the impact of it is lessened to such a notable degree. The real meat of what Veth is feeling and grappling with, in my opinion, becomes so much more opaque if you can't/don't acknowledge the feelings that are supporting it. "Nothing is more important than you." That's a categorically untrue statement. But maybe in one selfish moment, that's what Veth wants to be true.

[sightofsea]

20 questions for fic writers

I got tagged by @leonardcohenofficial!!

I'm gonna tag @fieryphrazes / @moonyinpisces / @hyruling / anyone else who wants to do this!

1.How many works do you have on Ao3? I have fifteen!!!

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 377,875 words which is. A lot! Wow!

3. What fandoms do you write for? across ao3 and ffnet I've written for doctor who, good omens, mash, it's always sunny, pacific rim, our flag means death, supernatural, the big bang theory, phantom, and atla.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? take the bones, begin anew / small infinities and all that / each flower has wept and bowed towards the east / affection and other cravings / all you left me was a pearl

5. Do you respond to comments? at the beginning of a fic/if there aren't too many comments, then yes! and if someone has something particularly insightful say or they have a question. after that it sort of feels equivalent to writing thank you cards, and I feel like responding with small platitudes is sort of an empty gesture.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? that depends! a lot of people consider the end of small infinities angsty, but I see it more as bittersweet. out of my complete works, I think "a sadness runs through him" is just a complete angst fest. my old doctor who oc fic that will sadly never be complete also had kind of an angsty ending which can be delved further into here.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? most of my fics end with two people living happily near some water but I think "stories for other people" thematically has the happiest ending

8. Do you get hate on fics? not really! maybe one or two weird comments on "all you left me was a pearl" for stede's wooing technique, and then I know a lot of people don't like the whole turned human thing for small infinities, but I feel like that's more preference than hate

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yeah! not pwp but I love a good sex scene and exploring the inner workings of desire

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? very long ago on a different platform I wrote a danny phantom and atla crossover that was never completed, and also in said doctor who oc fanfiction there was a Sherlock crossover. I don't think I'd write any crossover fic in the future unless it was a universe merger or perhaps a multiple versions of canon meshing sort of thing.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I think?? small infinities got translated?? maybe???

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? nope! it'd be Shrimpteresting to try it out, with someone I respected and knew to be consistent.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? hard to say!!! I think anything I've written for is an all-time favorite. maybe johnlock??? since it re-wrote my brain a bit at the tender age of 14?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? my johnlock magnum opus is always rotating in my mind but the way it's unraveling I doubt I'll be able to put it to paper successfully; I really really wanna finish my it's always sunny fic also bc I have all the plot points mapped out, but I sort of wrote myself into a corner on accident. both of these could be solved if I just sat down and watched enough of either show to pickle my brain in them again, but the mood hasn't come to me yet.

16. What are your writing strengths? i think said brain-pickling is one: I think I try my best to replicate the tone of whatever media I'm writing for and character voice. I feel like I do pretty well with dialogue. I think I have a good sense of humor and teasing out themes to work with. I tend to write a bunch of unconnected scenes until a common thread emerges, and I think I'm good at piecing them together in a way that makes sense.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? like maddie said before me, I also don't write linearly, and so half the struggle with my writing is figuring out how to create actual plot out of a bunch of vibes-based scenes. i'm also not consistent; I have to be in a certain mood to write. i'm extremely fickle. I tend to stick to certain formulas/themes and should try to branch out more. I'm horrible at describing action, and so sex scenes of mine can be a real slog, I think. i use the em dash far too much.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I think it can be done well, but can sometimes hinder the reader and often can be mistranslated. If I'm writing in another language it has to be phrases I'm familiar with enough to have a go on my own. I usually end up doing a lot of research.

(Side note, just while we're on the topic: I think when people write for sign language they don't include any of the physicality of it, which is a detriment to core of the language, and also ignore how blunt it is, which tends to annoy me. People tend to treat it as English+ instead of a whole other language that differs greatly even between English speaking countries and don't put the research in that they would for other languages. I'm definitely not an expert--I'm not deaf/hoh, I only use a little bit when my jaw acts up, but it really pisses me off lol.)

19. First fandom you wrote for? I wrote a big bang theory fanfiction when I was 14 and none of you will ever find it and I stand by my actions

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? all you left me was a pearl, only because it's the most fun I've ever had writing something and also the horniest thing I've written. which isn't saying much, but I take pride in it.

[fate-motif]

How do I get into Star Trek? I hear so many things about it that sound interesting, but there is just an intimidating amount of content. Do I have to start at the beginning?

i feel kind of bad about leaving this ask hanging, anon, but believe me that i’ve been considering it. i’ve been thinking deeply about a good answer to give you because i love star trek. if you follow me, you know i love star trek and if you don’t i have no idea why you asked me of all people but i need you to know that when someone asks me, hey, how can i get into star trek? i take that question very seriously. and i’m sorry if you wanted a simple order for which to watch properties but star trek’s kind of a hard franchise to get into compared to most. and you’ll find roadblocks that you probably won’t run into for other franchise. so i’m going to describe to you first, a brief overlay of the star trek franchise’s installments, in order of release, and then two (and a half) possible methods to watch them in. i hope this helps and that the length of this post doesn’t intimidate you.

a preface

i will add three initial clauses come with this guide to help you to orient yourself when unsure about what to do in the face of uncertainty.

1. it’s okay if you don’t want to watch something, whether that be an episode or even an entire show. i know there are people who have very strong completionist instincts but i’m going to have to stress here that star trek is a franchise spanning over fifty years. all kinds of production teams have come and gone and released episodes that really run the gamut of quality like you wouldn’t believe. you won’t just find bad episodes, sometimes you will find unbelievably racist or sexist episodes. you will find aesthetic or narrative decisions you heavily disagree with for other reasons, and sometimes if you don’t mesh with something you’re watching, it’s okay to leave it behind. normally you won’t need to be heavily well-versed in the franchise to keep going to the next installment (provided you’ve already somewhat immersed yourself in how the technology and protocol of starfleet) but for a long period of the franchise, the shows were heavily episodic. you’ll recognize the more serialized episodes and shows when you see them but if a specific episode feels outdated and too weird and clearly this one very specific spat about whether riker wants to take up ballet won’t matter later on, you can move on, and in fact you might feel better if you do it instead of punishing yourself by slogging through filler that really isn’t working for you. however, and i have said this before, for a long period of the franchise, the shows were heavily episodic. one of the joys of star trek comes a lot in how a character gets deepened through every silly episode. so while you should feel free to skip an episode if you’re not vibing with it, one way you can try and parse out whether a flimsy and bizarre episode might be worth sticking with is by identifying the characters you like the most and trying to see if this episode develops them in particular. you might be in for a treat!

2. don’t be ashamed to compliment your watch with wikis. that’s how i stopped being a little less intimidated of the breadth of the star trek franchise. i knew what episodes were coming and i could liberally skip those that focused on characters i didn’t really care about or even cut out shows i knew wouldn’t offer a lot to me. granted, my experience has been a little unorthodox but if you don’t understand something, don’t be afraid to google it! wikipedia has a very strong set of plot summaries for the shows of star trek up to 2004, the end of the berman era, but for a more fan-focused perspective you might want to rely on memory alpha, a fandom dot com fan wiki focused on the worldbuilding of the star trek universe where you can figure yourself out if you have any questions about what this specific species they just mentioned might mean or if it’s just a passing namedrop to make stuff sound more alien. (memory beta also exists but it’s dedicated to archiving stuff related to secondary canons ie not the shows or movies like videogames, tie-in novels, the now defunct sequel novelverse that was supposed to continue after voyager, etc.)

3. no star trek has been good from the start. it is a common truism among star trek fans (although i have to dispute it in some cases) that the first season of every star trek show is garbage. while it may seen ridiculous to us, who are familiar with streaming services canning shows at the drop of a hat, a lot of these star trek shows got away with entire early seasons of being meh or even terrible without getting cancelled. you might even want to have the plot summaries of the episode from the first two? seasons of a show handy just in case there’s a particularly bad stinker incoming that you might want to avoid at all cost. if you want to, i’ll answer an ask for particularly offensive episodes across the franchise that you might want to avoid, but this ask is going to be long enough with just basic info as to how to get into the franchise, so i’m not going to jump the gun just yet.

PART I: THE STAR TREK UNIVERSE

so let’s start with the order of the films and shows of the star trek universe as they were released. the release order is important because every show is heavily touched by the historical context in which the properties were made in, in both good and bad ways, and the context informs decisions that were taken in them very obviously. (i will also add a small three-letter abbreviation of the title of each show because it’s a common way for fans to get across what specific incarnation they’re talking about without typing the whole thing out.)

star trek (1966-1969) [tos]. this was the original star trek show, now more commonly referred to as “the original series”, hence tos. created by gene rodenberry, it pictures a future in which earth has joined an alliance of planets named the united federation of planets that seems to expand their scientific horizons through their discovery service. it made great strides in its time for advocating for a more sexually liberated society and a more inclusive society for black people and women, even portraying one of the first interracial kisses broadcast in america. however, do note that it’s still a show of its time and it will be apparent in both casual asides from the dialogue and the plot of some of its episodes. but you still might enjoy it due to its extremely 60s campy tone and hey, it didn’t start one of the longest-lived slash pairings in history for nothing (and in fact, invented the term “slash”). just be aware of the underpinnings that a show released in the 1960s might have.

star trek: the animated show (1973-1974) [tas]. after the original star trek show was cancelled, there was an effort to continue the adventures of the main cast introduced in tos in the animated form. tas doesn’t do much that tos doesn’t already do, except that it’s animated during the dark age of animation, and so…you get a really, really goofy sequel series to a show that was already super goofy with mediocre animation and just as mediocre writing. however, a lot of people will swear by it and it has its own silly charms that you can hold on to. most people won’t judge you for skipping it because it’s more than anything, an addendum to tos.

then after around a decade after the cancellation of tas, a series of films were released after much effort to get something off the ground to revive star trek. these are also centered on the characters we met in the original series: star trek: the motion picture (1979), star trek ii: the wrath of khan (1982), star trek iii: the search for spock (1984), star trek iv: the voyager home (1986), star trek v: the final frontier (1989), and star trek vi: the undiscovered country (1991). these take place about a decade or so after the original series and we meet the original crew in higher, more cinematic stakes than in tos. just as well, these movies are not produced in the 60s on a TV budget so you could argue that the original cast really get a chance to shine in these and if you liked the cast but not the production of tos, you might really treasure them. ii to iv are continuing the same plot so you probably can’t skip anything in between if you’re touching that string of movies, but otherwise they are mostly self-contained movies. (god knows no one would fault you for skipping the final frontier).

thankfully, the success of these movies was enough to get a new era of star trek on TV off the ground. the following shows (and accompanying movies) are what we now call the “berman era” of trek, named after the main shared showrunner of the shows that more or less had the baton passed to him after gene rodenberry developed alzheimer’s and then eventually died. (do note even through progress was made between the 60s and the 80s in terms of writing women and people of color, there were still some gaping flaws that a mostly white and male writing and production team couldn’t fully cover from, and as a result if you were hoping for shows far ahead of their time in terms of representation, you might be a little disappointed with the result.)

star trek: the next generation (1987-1994) [tng]. this series takes place almost a century after the adventures of tos, and introduces an entirely new cast on a new flagship continuing the discovery work of the federation. thanks to the time skip between this show and its previous installments you don’t need to have seen much from the tos era to understand what’s going on, but if you’re here from those shows then you’ll have full knowledge of how the federation operates already, with some new technology thrown in that didn’t exist in the tos era. it also establishes a lot of long-running elements of the universe that will be crucial to the understanding of the shows after it, so if you’re not enjoying this one you might want to at least pass over some important episodes or at least read their wikipedia pages or memory alpha plot summaries.

star trek: deep space nine (1993-1999) [ds9]. this series takes place around a year before the end of tng, so you can see that if you want to start this one you might want to at least know what happened on tng. this one takes place on a space station as opposed to a ship, and is much more concerned with morally gray topics about politics and interspecies relations than its predecessors. that’s not to say it doesn’t indulge in occasional lighthearted and out-there scifi episodes but it takes it on itself to ask questions about the seemingly utopian federation and its interactions with other alien societies that don’t share its views. it’s probably both the most interesting and the most watchable for a modern audience because of its observations, but it certainly doesn’t work as well for the audiences that are looking towards star trek for more zany scifi comfort food.

star trek: voyager (1995-2002) [voy]. this one starts midway through ds9, and is probably as condensed as you get in the lore as you get in berman era trek. you kind of need to know a lot about what happens in both tng and ds9 to understand the setup for voy, which is hilarious considering its setup is that the eponymous ship gets yeeted by an extremely powerful alien entity halfway across the galaxy into depths of the mostly uncharted by the federation delta quadrant, so you won’t get that many returning plot elements across its run. it can be heavily divisive based on the quality of its episodes and its intent but it definitely sets itself up in counterpoint to the most cerebral and grave ds9 by returning to the days of purely exploration for the main cast (even if there’s a greater element of danger than in the tos days due to being so far from home). this is the last show in the tng-ds9-voy series, and the century these three shows take place in is commonly referred to as the “tng era”.

throughout the release of ds9 and voy, star trek also released a series of movies that continued the adventures of the cast of tng. these are star trek: generations (1994), star trek: first contact (1996), star trek: insurrection (1998) and star trek: nemesis (2002). these are all standalone movies and if you’ve become a fan of the crew of tng, have at it! i will warn you ahead of time that by the point of first contact there had started to be franchise fatigue. the quality of all these movies except first contact is constantly argued and for good reason, and some jokingly say that star trek: nemesis singlehandedly killed the star trek franchise. but there’s still one more show left from the berman era of trek.

star trek: enterprise (2001-2004) [ent]. this is a prequel series set before the tos days before the birth of the united federation of planets. it’s a complicated show to appreciate due to the serious franchise fatigue that was setting in by the beginning of the 21st century, its aspirations to return to its more utopian days in the franchise and then its efforts to backtrack on that completely when shows like 24 began to make a killing in the market which led to its production team to tackle, incorrectly i might add, the sensitive topics going around by the days of the war on terror. but if you’re already immersed in the universe and if you fall in love with the cast, you might appreciate the worldbuilding it offers in spite of it having all the worst excesses of the berman era section of the franchise. suffice to say that the finale of this series was the most reviled of the franchise and probably to this day.

the franchise then didn’t see any more installments until the reboot movies that brought back star trek to the mainstream. star trek (2009), star trek into darkness (2013) and star trek beyond (2016) center around an alternate universe and an alternate version of the cast of tos. these are way more in line with the modern traditional hollywood blockbuster than any of the previous installments and were famously produced by j.j. abrams, who vocally admitted that he took on the responsibility because this might be the closest he might ever get to making a star wars movie. … anyway, while these movies might rub the wrong way to fans of the old movies (if you came to these movies having seen the franchise that came before you probably won’t enjoy them as much), they’re not technically bad movies though, and star trek beyond is by far the best of them. we’ll come back to them when i talk later about possible ways to get into the franchise.

once again, the success of these new movies revived attention in the star trek universe, and we have now entered the latest chapter of the star trek franchise that is still ongoing to this day. commonly referred to as new trek, the franchise has taken on a somewhat grittier, more action-based tone than what came before and the steps it took to solidify itself have been very hotly contested. that being said, as someone who’s been through the wringer of [gestures upwards vaguely] all of that, i’m going to use my trekkie street cred and still endorse new trek. there have been both reasonable and completely unreasonable criticism to the entries of new trek, but star trek has always been flawed in some way or other but even in new trek i can see the shine that all of us star trek fans see when squinting our eyes through a questionable 60s or 90s episode of a better world. i will say, though, with one exception, i think new trek is probably the worst way to get into star trek just because of how heavy it is with the previously set up worldbuilding. i’ll go into further detail when i describe the possible roads you could get into the franchise but all of these shows are piggybacking off of at least one other show or era and aren’t really made for people who are completely unfamiliar with the universe. but if you’ve made it this far, here’s the rundown for new trek.

star trek discovery (2017-ongoing) [dsc or dis, but more often than not ends up just being abbreviated to disco]. this was the starter of this new era of star trek. it starts a few years before tos and its main characters are heavily ingrained in the stories of the cast of tos, even if they are not original tos cast members themselves. the first two seasons are extremely rocky but ultimately the show makes great efforts to get the shine out of its potential in its latest two seasons. if you feel that it starts off way too tryhard and edgy in an attempt to capture a more mature audience in a franchise that’s never needed to do that, you are not alone, but they eventually recognize this tendency and begin to course correct for mature stories that aren’t trying to shock to get all its worth out of its mature rating.

star trek picard (2019-ongoing) [pic]. this show is set a few decades after the end of voy and is also target of a lot of discourse because it’s also trying to be dark and mature whether or not it’s appropriate for the franchise or for the development of these characters. decisions are made with the characters of this era that a lot of people don’t approve of (myself included). however, if you’re really invested in getting closure out of the cast of tng and you’ve been warned ahead as to the more controversial developments that they take, you might find this show worth a shot. not to show my own colors but i personally steered clear of this one

star trek lower decks (2020-ongoing) [lds or lwd]. this is the first purely comedic star trek show and the first animated entry since tas. it centers on a cast of lowly ranked characters on a ship from a low rung class of ships dedicated to the unstylish duty of second contact. this is the first entry of new trek that warmed up pretty quickly to the fans, and i have to say that this one is probably the most inhospitable to newcomers because it’s all built on the understanding that you know the star trek universe top to bottom. the animation style is contentious, due to it resembling a lot of low-quality adult animated shows, but if you get past it you will be very well entertained, because this show is comfort food for the trekkie, and it has a lot of heart as well, even if the battles aren’t exactly monumental.

star trek prodigy (2021-ongoing) [pro]. this is the first star trek show made to include children new to star trek in the audience, though it’s still highly enjoyable as an adult trekkie as well. the protagonists are refugees from the delta quadrant seeking to find solace in the federation, so you get an outsider’s perspective to the federation while they’re doing so. i’ll talk about this show later on in my potential entries to the franchise but off the bat i’m going to show my colors and say that this is the show with the best original content of the franchise since the start of new trek and a lot of people aren’t giving it its due because of its intended age range, so that’s a massive shame and i hope you don’t pass it over, anon.

star trek: strange new worlds (2022-ongoing) [snw]. thanks to the success of disco, an entire show was greenlit for the continuation of the story of one specific character, captain christopher pike. he’s actually a character introduced in tos, and so this show follows the events under his command previous to tos. it has multiple members from the tos cast like spock, uhura, nurse chapel and m’benga, but it also has new characters and new ideas to complement its tos roots. it has some questionable decisions in its writing that make me averse to it but from what i can tell it’s pretty popular due to the fact that it’s not afraid to get a little weird with it, like a lot of previous star trek shows, and i hope that they continue that tradition for as long as they’re on the air.

PART II: HOW TO GET INTO THE STAR TREK UNIVERSE

now, with all that information on the table, surely that’s the most logical way to get into the franchise? following the order of the release of the shows and movies that make part of the franchise? well, yes, and i’ll elaborate a little later on about that path, but that’s not the only way you can get through it. i have loved ones who couldn’t get into star trek through tos because the 60s production style bounced right off them. i have friends who couldn’t get into properties that don’t have the tos cast because in tng is when the lore starts to compress and become heavier and more important and they just wanted something more casual. so taking into account different sensibilities for eras of TV, the quality of the works involved, and the importance of the lore from its components, i devised two and a half ways to get into star trek that i recommend, and one experiment if you’re brave enough to undertake it. let’s get to it.

the basic tos era block: starting with the original series, then the tos movies, and then following the franchise by order of production. this would be a pretty logical way to go around it, as previously said. the world gets elaborated in the way it was written. i can’t imagine what a shock it would be to try and handle the franchise chronologically in-universe because a show produced in 2017 is a prequel to a show produced in the 1960s and the clashing aesthetics and writing would be very intense. this way, instead, you see the production value increase and the sensibilities change more towards what we have in the present day without being pulled between eras of TV. it also helps that even if you kind of don’t love the original series itself, if you like the cast of characters but not the fact that their stories have to be told in the 1960s, the sequel movies do the characters a lot of justice (up to a point, i mean final frontier exists) so you won’t be frustrated the same way other fans have to be that the limitations of the time the show was produced in completely defined the stories told with the characters. you can even just stay in your tos bubble if you like, you’re still a star trek fan if you just feel attached to the one crew, and it’s fine. but if you started here you are in an optimal position to continue with the rest of the franchise, preferably in the order of production of the shows.

reboot movies as a gateway to the tos era: starting with the reboot movies (star trek, star trek into darkness, and star trek beyond), then watching the original series, the tos movies, then following the franchise by order of production. at the risk of alienating my star trek mutuals, i’m going to say that i think not everyone will just acclimate to the production values of the 1960s so easily. i certainly couldn’t, and if i had been introduced to star trek through tos i don’t think i would have continued through the franchise. i came to the franchise through the reboot movies because it was 2013 and i thought anton yelchin was super cute. be warned if you take this path as a way to familiarize yourself with the tos cast before jumping ship to tos: these movies really are more in line with the sensibilities of a marvel movie than your regular star trek show. i only suggest this shortcut so that you fall in love with the characters and wonder what kinds of other stories they can be in aside from j.j. abrams’ questionable mystery box approach. if you do fall in love with the characters, you could make it to tos and brave through tos or even just part of tos (there’s nothing wrong with skipping episodes if you’re not feeling them!) as it is, the tos cast really get their time to shine in the sequel movies. you will benefit from having seen at least some of the tos episodes before jumping to the movies though. and as i said before, if this is where you want to end your star trek journey, no judgment! i have friends who stopped here and i’m happy for them. but again, if you’ve made it this far maybe you’re wondering where the universe can go from here, even without the tos cast. if you really can’t attach yourself to any of the new characters, however, you might be ready to tackle something like disco or snw which heavily feature or even are led by members of the tos crew, especially since you came here having started through the abrams movies and a little action and questionable modern day blockbuster quality clearly didn’t throw you off.

the basic tng era block: starting with the new generation, then continuing with deep space nine, voyager, and the tng movies, before watching new trek. another perfectly logical starting point is tng because it was meant as a starting point for newcomers of the franchise and doesn’t continue the stories of anyone featured in the franchise before. furthermore, if you want to do the same thing previously mentioned where you just want to focus on the adventures of the tng cast, that might be for you! just note that the tng cast movies have a more mixed reception, to say nothing of picard. if you want a continuation to the stories of the cast of ds9, voy, or even ent you’re fresh outta luck; none of the other shows really focus on the developments in the lives of the cast of these shows. but i will say that the world is far better fleshed out in this part of the franchise than in the rest of it, and new trek is a continuation of what was established here mostly, even if the show is set in the days of tos or thereabout.

however, i need to interrupt this suggestion with one very dire warning: tng s1 is some of the worst star trek ever to be made, and probably some of the worst TV overall. holy shit i cannot stress this enough. it is so bad that even i haven’t seen it, and you will have to ask someone who’s actually seen it ahead of time to tell you what episodes might be worth watching because the hell that is tng s1, hell even some of s2, is no joke and i can’t imagine seeing this as your first star trek ever. abuse the plot summaries heavily in early tng. you will need it to not give up hope on the franchise.

finally i’m going to suggest an experiment to you, but i don’t know whether it will work or not. start with star trek prodigy, then watch tng, ds9 and voy. this is kind of an insane route to take because none of these shows are prequel shows to prodigy (except arguably voyager) but i swear to god that prodigy is modern star trek at its very best and maybe, if prodigy gets to you, you’ll give a shot to the other shows set around its time that established the lore the same way that the reboot movies are a good gateway to the tos era of the franchise (except prodigy is actually good as opposed to the reboot movies).

once you complete either one of these blocks—either basic tos era trek or basic tng era trek—i feel like you’re ready to watch whatever show in whatever order as long as you understand the rough timeline of ent era ➝ tos era ➝ tng era. i honestly made it sound way more complicated than what it’s actually like but i hope this was in any way helpful to you. happy holidays and live long and prosper 🖖