#star trek big head alien

[noperopesaredope]

I just randomly remembered the fact that, when I was a little kid, I thought God was supposed to look like this mf:

And I just thought that everyone knew that. This is the canonical version of what (the Christian) God looks like. I was so baffled when I learned that that is not the common portrayal of God, and that my figurine of this guy was not a figurine of God, he was just from Star Trek. Nevertheless, when someone mentions God, I almost always imagine this guy.

[thagomizersshow]

I love when sci-fi/fantasy writers throw in a random fact about a fictional species that actually has big repercussions for that species' biology.

Like, there is a species in Star Trek called Saurians who are adorable dinosauroid looking dudes. They've had very little revealed about them despite having been mentioned as early as the original series by way of "Saurian brandy" — a drink that is so strong it can put a Klingon on their ass in one swig.

Other than that, most of what we know about them comes from snippets involving a reoccuring character on Discovery named Linus, who is mostly a comic relief character. Now the reason I bring them up is that in one episode there's a scene where Linus is eating bamboo of all things, and I'm not sure the writers realized how telling this is about Saurian biology.

Bamboo is a damn hard food to eat, and us humans can only eat the shoots of a few species. Even then, raw consumption of shoots can lead to cyanide poisoning if you aren't careful. We still don't know how exactly a lot of animals that eat a lot of bamboo (bamboo lemurs, red pandas, bamboo rats, elephants, gorillas) are able to digest so much of it without getting cyanide poisoning. There is some sort of neutralization process in giant pandas involving the rhodanese enzyme that turns cyanide into the non-toxic thiocyanate that they just pee out, but the process is still poorly understood in other species.

Bamboo is also hard to digest for the same reason all grasses are; their plant wall cellulose is hard as hell to break down. Like, your choices are:

a) you do a poor job of digesting it and just spend all day eating (giant panda, red panda, bamboo lemur)

b) you grow really big and have a big gut (elephants, gorillas)

c) you only eat the parts of the plant that are easier to digest (bamboo rats)

On top of that, bamboo is loaded with silica phytoliths that are like microscopic bits of glass. These evolved to make their tissues even harder to chew and metabolize.

It's hard to make out in the scene, but it looks like Linus is eating raw bamboo leaves. Just picking them up with his fingers and munching on them like it's nothing. That means his teeth and/or jaws would need to be very powerful (maybe hypsodont? or maybe tooth batteries?) AND, because he's eating it raw, he'd have to be immune to the cyanide in some way.

One explanation could be in the Star Trek Adventures TTRPG, where Saurians are said to have an ability called "Enhanced Metabolism" where they recover from toxins faster than other species (my guess is this was meant to reference their brandy being so strong). BUT, that's not the same thing as the immunity real bamboo eating animals seem to have. My head canon is that Saurians have a diet similar to red pandas, where bamboo-like plants are their main diet on their homeworld, but they'll eat other stuff too when it's available, AND they've evolved some way to convert cyanide into a harmless chemical they excrete, like a giant panda.

All of these whacky biology shenanigans stem (hehe) from the casual writing decision to make a supporting alien character seem weird by eating a weird thing.

[bettyfrommars]

Call From a Payphone at the End of the World

Eddie Munson x Reader

18+ONLY, mention of smut, yearning, gender neutral reader but a few pet names are used, alcohol consumption, angst, no Vecna, new crush, star-crossed lovers, strange things happen. Reader and Eddie are over 21.

word count: 1.6k

This a mix of several fic ideas that all blended together somehow. One being a road trip fic where Eddie falls for an older reader that I hope to finish one day, plus something for the Stranger Prompts list. Several of the prompts are used in this, but I wanted to keep them a secret. I wouldn't say this is a hurt/no comfort fic, but there will be a hint of that. It is a hopeful, star-crossed lovers story at its core.

------

After Eddie pumped a few bucks worth of gas into the tank, he couldn’t get across the parking lot to the payphone fast enough.  He was sure his heart would explode if he couldn’t talk to you again as the few hours of highway seemed to roll out for an eternity. 

He punched numbers into the metal key pad and then held a hand over his heart, waiting.  Just after the second ring, there you were with that voice he’d come to adore with every fiber of his being.

“Hey you,” his smile was so big it made his cheeks hurt. “It’s Eddie. Wanted to check in, you know, make sure you made it home okay.”

At the other end, butterflies exploded in your stomach.  “Hey there stranger,” you ached to reach out and hold him.  “I was hoping it would be you.”

He played with the metal cord attaching the receiver to the phone box, tucking his chin so that his next words were mumbled.  “What would you say if I told you I missed you already?”

He felt as if he no longer existed in this reality, as if time and space and whatever the hell else didn’t matter as long as he was connected to you somehow, as long as you were real.  The words kept bubbling up in his chest, and if he didn’t let them out and tell you how he felt, he might suffocate.  

You put down the stack of mail you were holding and sat on the nearby chair to calm your buzzing head.  “I’d say you got it bad for me, Munson.”

“I think you might be onto something there,” he chuckled, turning his head to make sure no one from the isolated gas station was lurking nearby.  “I wish I could kiss you right now.”

“I wish we could do more than that,” you said, grinning. 

“Glad I’m not the only one,” he pinched the front of his Megadeth shirt and brought it to his nose. “I’m never gonna wash this shirt ever again, just so you know.  It smells like you.”

“I almost kept it,” you started to doodle spirals on the pad in front of you with a red pen. 

“I would’ve let you,” he smirked, remembering the way you straddled him in nothing but that shirt in the back of his van for one final quickie before parting ways.  The feeling of being inside of you, that sense of completion and connection, would be his main masturbation fodder for the foreseeable future.  

Holy shit, he was crazy about you.

Having such intense feelings for someone after barely 24 hours of knowing them was not reasonable, he knew that, but he also didn’t care.  

He’d been on his way home from visiting his friend Ronnie when the storm hit, and some of the roads were blocked off due to flooding.  The rain crashed down all night, lightning cracked the sky, and all he could think of as your bodies writhed tangled and sweaty, was that he could die a happy man.  

He called Gareth that night, told him he wouldn’t make it to practice, and decided to slink into a dark bar for a beer.  There you were, looking all sorts of futuristic and out of place.  You had a device in your hand that resembled something out of Star Trek, but you said it didn’t work, that it was “dead” and you couldn’t find your “charger”.  You fascinated the fuck out of him.  He asked if you were an alien, and without missing a beat, you responded, “would that be a problem?”

Not at all, sweetheart.  Not. At. All.

“I kinda want to get in my car and race back to you,” you spoke softly.

Eddie tilted his head back and closed his eyes. “Man, that’s all I could think about the whole way was turning around. I feel like I left my heart on the road back there.”

“I’ll keep it safe,” you whispered, making his entire body shiver with longing.

“When can I see you again? I mean, when do you think…should I come to you or—”

The automatic operator’s voice cut him off, asking him to deposit 25 cents.

“Are you calling me from a payphone?” You sounded astonished.  “I didn’t even know those things existed anymore.”

“They’re all over the place, sweetheart,” he huffed, distracted with searching his denim pockets for change.  “Not all of us have strange little pocket calculator things we speak into.”

“I love an old school man.”

Hearing the word “love” roll off your tongue in relation to him made him want to reach out and take you in his arms so bad he could scream.  

“Hey, I left all my change in the van, this is going to cut me off, but I’ll call you when I get home, yeah?”

“Please do, I don’t care how late it is.”

“Okay I will, and also—”

But then the line went dead.

You pulled your iPhone away from your cheek and stared at the screen with a sad frown.  You hoped that one day he’d let you bring him up to speed with the age of technology.  Until then, you found it charming as fuck that he didn’t own a cellphone, and loved to act oblivious to anything involving computers. 

You had your cell charging on the countertop when one of your friends texted you a few minutes later, demanding the details of the mystery man who’d swept you off your feet in some dive bar out in the boonies.  

Usually, you avoided one night stands at all costs.  You had to care very deeply about someone in order to be intimate with them, and for some reason, you felt bonded to Eddie after the first hour.  It was thrilling, but also scary and uncomfortable all at once. 

“What happened to the dude you were supposed to meet there?” Your friend Tina asked.  “The one from the dating app?”

“Oh, he never showed,” you chuckled, thinking that you’d totally forgotten why you’d driven almost two hours away to another town in the first place. “But it was for the best.  If he hadn’t ghosted, I never would have met Eddie.”

“What was the name of the bar again?” She asked after you dished all of the details on your new crush.

“Wait, I think I have one of their matchbooks in my bag—” you dug around, finally holding it out in front of you.  “I guess it’s called The Upside Down? Never heard of it before, but the address was correct, I’m sure of it. My GPS was acting weird, so who knows.”

The bar hadn’t been updated since the 70’s, it seemed.  Wood paneling, sticky tables, peanut shells on the floor, and one of those vintage jukeboxes that played nothing but oldies.  Eddie remarked that it reminded him a lot of one of the bars he did gigs at with his band.

Corroded Coffin, you doodled the name down, reminding yourself to google it later. Eddie said he wasn’t on social media, and pretended not to know what it even was.  Just one more quirk of his that charmed you to death and made you smile to yourself.

You fell asleep on the couch that night with the phone on your chest, and woke up the next morning with a kink in your neck and a dry mouth.

Nothing from Eddie, not even a missed call.  

Maybe he got in late and didn’t want to wake you.  It was almost 9:00 in the morning when you tried the number he’d given you for his uncle’s place.  

The number had been disconnected or was no longer in service.  

Panic swelling in your throat, you scrolled back to the number of the payphone he’d called you from. 

Also not in service.

Glassy eyed, you sat up and stared at the wall for a long time.

Soon after, you wiped away frustrated tears and got on the internet to search.

“That can’t be right,” you whispered at the screen, looking at a photo of Corroded Coffin at a bar called The Hideout in 1985.  Eddie Munson, graduate of Hawkins High in 1986.

You swallowed thickly, shaking your head.

Zooming in on the few photos you found, you couldn’t help but notice the insane similarities between your Eddie, and 1980’s Eddie.  The one you knew was maybe a few years older, but that was definitely him.

Could it be a relative? No.

All of the odd conversations you’d had that night began to click together.  Had his perplexity with the idea of you carrying a phone been legit? You figured he was just being silly.  

There wasn’t much you could find about him, but one final news snippet caught your eye:

“....Hawkins native and Corroded Coffin frontman Eddie Munson has not been seen or heard from since the fall of ‘89 after leaving a cryptic note for his uncle, Wayne Munson.  “He had a bunch of letters he wanted me to pass out to his friends,” Wayne explained. “He said he hoped that he would be able to come back to Hawkins, but he wasn’t sure how it all “worked”. That he loved me, but he had to go and find someone.”

You gulped, tears rolling hot down your cheeks.

“He went back,” you sniffed, choking on a sob. “He went back to find me, he…”

You trailed off, looking up at the clock, and then over to your car keys on the table.

What if Eddie circled back to find you and you weren’t there? What if that bar you’d met at never even existed?

But Eddie, he was real, and he was coming for you.

You left a note too, texted Tina, and then you were on the road again.

Pedal to the metal into the gathering storm.  

—-

Thank you for reading, I love you.

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Making Humanoids Less Human

I did make a small post on this, but now I've got the art for a much bigger and more detailed post! so here we go.

I had several anonymous asks that all came in quick succession weeks ago. Every single one of them was basically just a variation on "how would you take (typically humanoid) fantasy being, and make them look less human?"

This blog does not exist for me to just give people original designs for free, my goal is to show off my own personal thoughts about fantasy design and help people figure out how to adjust their own designs to fit their vision better. That means when people ask me questions about how to do something, I want to give them things to think about so they can come to their own conclusion. I don't mind making original designs to illustrate concepts, but a whole flood of "show me how to make this specific thing look different" all at once like that was too much. I'm not answering them all individually, it's just not what I want to do.

But what I can do is show my own thoughts and ideas about how to take any fantasy design and push it further away from "human", and you all can look at my ideas and figure out your own way to do things!

So here are the main 4 methods I've come up with to make humanoids look less human.

(image description: a simplified drawing of a humanoid face surrounded by four altered versions of the same face. clockwise starting from the top left, they are:

Speculative, drawn as a cat person. Additive, drawn with horns, pointy ears, sharp teeth, and a second pair of eyes. Subtractive, drawn with blank eyes, no nose, and no eyebrows. Exaggerative, drawn with a long face and huge eyes, as well as a wide mouth, narrow nose, and big ears.

end description)

I am personally a fan of the speculative route, which means exploring an alternate root of evolution to create a new design. Through this method, I've created monkey elves, frog goblins, and pig orcs.

the additive option is the most common, I think. adding new feature or doubled features to a humanoid form is a very intuitive way to change the design and make it look less human. you see this in most fantasy and scifi designs, like star trek aliens and the dnd player races.

subtractive and evaggerative are the most common options for people that like the uncanny valley. it's really easy to make uncomfortable designs by removing or exaggerating recognizable features, and they're often used together. Slenderman, for example, removes all facial features and skin color but also exaggerates the limbs and body.

Combining the four methods will give you a really interesting design as well! So for practice I decided to explore an alternate design for Tieflings, the part-demon player race in dnd.

(image description: four examples of differnt tiefling designs using the previously described methods. the additive example is just offical dnd art of a tiefling woman with purple skin, horns, and a long tail.

the subtractive sketch looks very alien, with a bald head, empty eyes, and no other facial featuers aside from a small mouth. it has three fingers per hand and two toe per foot.

the exaggerative sketch shows a hunched humanoid figure with huge eyes and big ears. the neck, limbs, and digits are all long with claws at the ends of the fingers and toes, and the limbs are also quite muscular.

the speculative sketch shows a bipedal figure with features similar to a giraffe, including a long neck, ossicones, and hooves.

end description)

now, because tielflings have such a distinct look to them, obviously my new sketches don't really look like tieflings, do they? the only one that comes close is the giraffe. relying only on one type of alteration to the human form has left the designs rather empty and lacking in the more iconic traits of the original concept. so i tried a sketch that combined my ideas! it came out looking like a completely different creature lol, like it could be a kobold or something, still not really a tiefling.

(image description: a sketch of a creature with a giraffe-like head, long tongue, and sharp teeth. it appears to be roaring at something and stands in a half-crouch. it has long limbs with hoof feet and clawed hands, as well as a long tufted tail curled behind it. end description.)

didn't work out. too far into the animal side of the speculative evolution, I think. so I tried again and got a design I liked much better!

(image description: a digital painting of a tiefling leaping back and casting a glowing orange spell. she is wearing a tunic with a corset and detached sleeves, as well as several pieces of jewelry. Her skin is purple with dark patches like a giraffe's spots, and she has a giraffe's ossicones as well as hoof-like hands and two-toed hoof feet. Her tail is long with a tuft at the end. She has glowing eyes and a flat nose, and there is a single sharp tooth visible poking out of the side of her mouth. end description.)

Brought the face back into slightly more human proportions and that helped a lot. Sometimes designs just take a few tries! that's normal.

and hopefully this is helpful to all of you! there are so many ways to alter humanoid designs to come up with something original and unique to you!

[rogueddie]

"Hey Steve," Eddie asks, turning to him.

Steve perks up, finally looking away from the tapes he's been rewinding, excited for a distraction. "Yeah?"

"Have you ever seen a movie or TV show with gays in it?"

"Yeah? Who hasn't?" It's such a boring question that, shaking his head, Steve turns back to his work.

"Wait, no, stop," Robin snatches the tape out his hand. "No, you haven't. Name one."

"Uh, Star Wars, for one. Duh."

"Star Wars isn't gay," Eddie sounds dejected. It doesn't help that Robin is giving him a smug grin.

Steve frowns, looking between them "Yeah, it is. I know that it's usually... uh... fuck, what's the word?"

He tries to mime it. He makes a gesture like he's sliding his hand underneath something.

After a moment, Robin hazards a guess. "Subtext?"

"Exactly!" Steve grins, snapping his fingers. "Like the stuff with Luke! They can't just come out and say that he's gay, they'd lose profits and shit. So it's all in the subtext."

"Holy shit," Eddie breathes, looking at him with awe. "You're reading into gay nerd subtext."

"Well, it's not all subtext. Those robots were clearly gay. They kinda give it away."

"You're absolutely right, Stevie," Eddie grins at Robin, wide and smug.

"Alright, but that only half counts!" Robin pushes Eddie off the counter by his face. "Have you seen anything that's actually gay?"

"Star Trek."

"Star Trek isn't gay!"

"No, no, it is," Eddie quickly argues. "It totally is. He's got you there."

"It's still subtext and shit!"

"They got alien married!" Steve cries, outraged. "That's not... it's right there! It's so obvious!"

"They didn't say anything though!"

"So?!" Steve nearly yells, ready to start pulling his hair out in frustration. "God, I've had this argument so many times, Robs. The only way they could make it more obvious is if they suddenly stopped, turned to the camera and said something like, 'we are in a relationship and in love and gay'."

"Who are you arguing with about gay Star Trek?!"

"My gran!"

"She's a homophobe! Don't compare me to her!" Robin throws a VHS at him, light enough that he's able to catch it. "You're alone on rewind duty."

"What? Robs, noooo, please."

"Nope, I don't wanna hear it. Go. Take your punishment like a big girl, go on."

Steve flaps his hands at her, rolling his eyes. But they share a teasing little smirk as he heads to the backroom, a subtle check-in to make sure it's still a joke.

"Oh my god, he's a K/S truther," Eddie whispers. He leans on the counter, chin resting on his hand. "I'm in love."

"Ew."

[theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction]

Imagine joining the Doctor on a trip in the most reckless way...

"The Sapphire Waterfall?" You repeated, slowing your walk towards Donna. "Did he say Sapphire Waterfall?"

"Yeah, why?" Donna wondered, taking a sip of her drink. You halted and gasped in excitement. Starting to trek backwards, you pointed at Donna.

"Call him back and tell him to wait!" You instructed, leaving your friend confused as you bolted in the opposite direction. Running through the hotel, you zoomed past people and aliens until you reached the train bay.

You realised that you didn't ask Donna which dock the Doctor was standing at and felt your heart sink knowing that you were going to miss an incredible sight.

The shuttle to Sapphire Waterfall is now boarding to close on Dock 6.

The overhead voice announced and you counted your lucky stars for this information. Looking above, your saw the red sign for Dock 6 less than a metre away. Sprinting forward, you recognised the Doctor's brown coat flying with the wind just outside the door to a shuttle that was slowly leaving.

He was looking forward, in the direction that the ship was going before disappearing back inside - the door luckily still open. You considered calling for him but it be a waste of energy. You ran along the edge of the platform, building up speed and lined yourself up with the doors. The platform was coming to an end so you took in a deep breath before taking a leap of faith and jumped off - headed straight for the door.

Mistake. This whole thing was a mistake.

You cursed yourself for doing something so stupid and knew that this was only going to end one way: you were going to hit the side of the shuttle and fall to your death. Just as your made peace with fate, a hand fastened itself around your wrist and pulled you into the ship. You propelled forward and smacked into a chest with a familiar scent as the shuttle door sealed shut.

"Hello there." Ten whispered mysteriously keeping his hands on you to maintain balance. "Couldn't resist some alone time with me?"

You laughed at the sound of his voice and looked up at his charming face complete with big brown eyes. You snaked your hands around his shoulders and leaned forward for a kiss until the Air Hostess appeared into view and knocked on the wall gently.

"May I advise you that all passengers are required to take their seats before we leave the facility." She informed.

The Doctor cleared his throat and nodded, giving the hostess her cue to leave. You pulled on Ten's tie gently and smiled.

"We should get going."

~ More imagines here ~

A/n: 60th Anniversary here we come! PSA - unless the Doctor is going to catch you, pls don't jump off alien platforms x

[dyns33]

Flufftober 5 - Venom

Eddie x Reader x Venom

           "It's my night ! My night !"

           "Yes, Venom. Even though we said it was our night and you're being a little selfish, it's your night too."

           "My night ! Tell him morsel ! Tell him!"

Y/N didn't say anything, too busy laughing because Eddie and his alien were arguing over something totally ridiculous again.

In Venom's defence, Halloween was definitely the only night of the year he could hit the streets without anyone being scared of him, besides some other costume moments of course. He was always very proud to talk about the party where everyone loved him, when he 'came out of Eddie's closet'. Again, unable to stop laughing, she failed to explain why it was funny, while Eddie sighed.

Not only was he going to be able to go out without having too much trouble, if he behaved well, but there were also the candies.

Ever since he heard about the candy and other sweets he was about to receive, Venom had been "hopping" on Eddie's shoulder from morning to evening, and even at night, excited and drooling as he imagined the mountain of sugar he was going to be able to ingest in a single night.

           "I've already put on a little weight because of you, I don't want it to get worse at all. You won't eat everything all at once."

           "I'm sucking out a lot of your fat, Eddie. If you've gained weight, it's only your fault."

           "Liar !"

           "I don't think you've gained weight." Y/N said caressing his cheek. "If so, that looks great on you anyway."

           "Thanks babe."

           "He's actually put on a bit of weight, and I don't think that looks good on him. Big butt."

           "I don't have a big butt."

           "He's got a big cute little butt."

           "No, just big. But that's not important ! My night is coming ! We have to decide where we're going, to get the most treats ! I saw on the television, there are areas where they give more sweets than others !"

Not knowing at all the best route for the candy hunt, Eddie and Y/N spent several hours in front of the computer searching, until their alien was satisfied with the plan they had found. They were then able to go for a walk.

Some people were a little scared of the giant, who only replied that he was Venom when asked what he was disguised as. But with Y/N ​​dressed as a Star Trek character next to him, perfectly calm and holding his hand, no one panicked.

She'd asked Eddie if he wanted a disguise too, but he'd decided he'd go as a broke reporter with a parasite in his body and a girlfriend way too good for him. To silence him, she kissed him, and immediately Venom demanded for a kiss too.

Even though he kept saying that he and Eddie were sharing a body, and therefore everything, he didn't like being left out, with his jealous and angry temper, like a child.

Unfortunately for him, he was not a child, and the owner of the first house they visited noticed this very well.

           "... You're a little old for candy hunting, aren't you ?"

           "There is no age to love sweets !" Venom replied proudly.

           "Maybe. But my sweets are for kids. I've got an apple for you, if you want."

           "... An apple? I'm going to eat your head !"

           "He's joking !" Y/N immediately intervened, pulling him as far as possible from the old man. "Come on, V, we'll find candy somewhere else."

But despite all their attempts, no house agreed to offer candies to the alien, even if they all found that his costume was very successful.

Depressed, Venom wanted to go home, since he had no right to bite off the heads of the bad guys who had ruined his night, nor of the children who had been allowed to have sweets.

           "It is unfair."

           "It's true." Eddie sighed, patting him on the head. "But, you know, if you look in the cupboard, under the fruits, maybe you'll find something."

           "... Do not make fun of me."

           "Look."

Knowing that the alien hated fruit, and guessing that there was a chance the candy hunt would go wrong; Eddie had managed to buy several candies and hide them, just in case.

Upon discovering this little treasure, Venom let out a cry of joy, turning back to his host and quickly coming back to him to bang his head against his.

           "Thank you, Eddie ! Thank you !"

           "Ow ! I already told you that's not how you show affection. It's a cat thing !"

           "I..." Y/N whispered. "I also anticipated that things would not go as planned and... I have chocolate, hidden in the bathroom."

           "It really is my evening ! The most beautiful evening !"

           "It's a night like any other, when you are annoying and eating too much, except you were able to go out for a few hours without anyone trying to kill us."

           "Yes. Being myself, close to you and holding hands with our little morsel. The best night."

Leaving him to savour his sweets, Eddie and Venom sat together on the sofa, thinking he was right and that tonight was truly perfect.

[baylardo]

pasting this from google docs lmao editing a bit

trying to come up with nameeeesss

i got two species obvs: moth aliens and bat aliens,,, both dont have names i am broken

**moth aliens**

-had a ggggeneral idea of them being telepathic/having healing/prolonged life/free of disease properties. my thought was that peppa acquires baby before it is a baby and is in fact a pod/egg that senses/imprints/bonds to her and hatches lol. (figure the pod/egg is kinda like cryostasis for infants, sustains them but is effectively ageless and baby will gestate in it but will not be born/start aging until it “hatches”) also thought maybe baby would heal her if she gets injured at some point. maybe the antennae glow when theyre using their powers. antennae glow with heightened emotions too, less controllable when theyre younger. Also figured the antennae grow as they age; moss has lil baby caterpillar size ones rn, but they get bigger like a moth’s when he’s older.

-white/pale in scheme. my intent was to have them be like a trek species that still has "human" skin colors, just a little extra on their foreheads, i.e. antennae. maybe do something unique with their eyes? i didnt want them to have wings or extra arms.

-i thought IF they had winglike features, theyd be more like, technological inventions that respond to their brain patterns and extend from their backs when they wear certain clothing/suits. had a vague idea of them being kinda like, "light" and glowing. idk if ill do this, its like unnecessary lore that doesnt even apply to a baby lol. Maybe solar powered??? their whole planet is fueled by stars as it drifts in and out of their orbit

-liked the idea of silky clothing, dont know how to visually accomplish this yet in a way that seems "alien"

-also probably omnivorous? for contrast w/ the bats…..

-my meek little worldbuildy lore for them is that they're like, an advanced civilization and progressed rapidly in response to their planet's star reaching some stage of unsustainability for their planet. so they construct the ability to break their planet from orbit and it's effectively a planet-sized ship that houses their entire population (not fast, likely cannot go to warp, but it's a drifting planet). i figure its like, not huge for a planet lol, but still big. they somehow constructed this huge shielding technology/dome that surrounds the planet and makes it look like a big black orb but can pinch/extend itself to let light from passing stars in or protect the planet from debris. At the cost of this, theyre not super savvy on actual starships and are actually rather “grounded.” theyre also just VERY dependent on solar power as its how they sustain themselves and their planet-ship.

-I think the moth aliens are a bit naive/sheltered so like, maybe when i say “telepathic” its like, they see the best in people, but maybe not everything??? Idk get back to me on that one haha i had the idea of baby Moss digging philippa’s vibe and thats why he hatches/bonds to her. (((i also thought maybe its a maternal thing going on with philippa,,,,,,,,,,, WELL SEE))))

**bat aliens**

-to accompany the moth alien “lore”, this part’s still vague for me in my head bc its not fitting perfectly yet lol. But my current thought i dont 100% like is that the bat aliens are another civilization of aliens drifting in space aboard a starship this time so their numbers are drastically smaller. Theyve come from a similar situation but are way less smart so their planet became uninhabitable (another dying star maybe? I figure they sympathize with their plight) and they were forced to abandon it in search of a new home. the moth aliens let them land on their planet and they end up taking the bat aliens in and coexisting.

-Bat aliens end up like, substantially growing in numbers, maybe they have litters of children where the moth aliens’ babies take significant time to hatch SHRUG. And this is where im kinda like uuuuuuuh????? VERY PRONE TO CHANGE Like my thought was that somehow somewhy the bat aliens start using moth aliens’ blood for infusion type stuff at first, but it ends up exposing these perks to their biology of like, heightened brain function, maybe the lowkey telepathic abilities, etc. methinks bat aliens’ impression is that theyre looked down upon and its a way to rise above their cohabitants or w/e. stuff behind the scenes starts going down, moth aliens start mysteriously vanishing/dying, certain bat alien figures start rising into power, they kinda suppress the moth aliens, they start dwindling in numbers. Idk timewise how long it takes for all of this to go down, but their civilization eventually gets wiped out. Whether or not theyre all aware of what they’re infusing into themselves idk i havent really thought of the specifics other than like, the bat aliens that have been living off of it for generations are getting progressively changed in appearance and take on a lot of the moth aliens’ features/traits. it could be that only the higher ups in the society know the secret as theyre the ones with direct access to doling out the supply to their civilization.

-i could easily change what ive made with these guys ngl im PRETTY dissatisfied with my attempts lmao. But initially my visual thoughts for them are they’re scavengers, darker color schemes where its obvious they havent had sunlight on them in a long time, id wanted to give them features that would easily contrast with that of the moth aliens so its more like, blatantly obvious that theyve begun adopting their physical traits i.e. having whiter fur, developing little antennae, maybe their eyes change, etc.

-i also figured theyd have started off as having protruding fangs to blatantly show that theyre more genetically inclined to be carnivorous, but the ones that are infusing moth blood like, still HAVE fangs but theyre smaller. And because of their altered biology likeeee, meat isnt as appetizing to them now.

-ALSO didnt want wings for these aliens,, just want humanoid,,,,, i thought maybe going more gargoyle in their natural state and they straighten out their posture with the moth blood lol. But idk its vague and messy. :^)

[sleepymccoy]

Still thinking about a Star trek TOS Firefly au. So I'm gonna have fun writing it out.

I love the dynamic between Mal, Zoe, and Wash, so that's certainly becoming the triumvirate. Mal > Jim, Zoe > Spock, Wash > Bones. However Wash's job doesn't make sense for Bones so he's going to change to doctor.

Jim was on Tarsus 4 and suffered the same as in canon, famine leads to who lives lottery and he wasn't chosen but survived anyway. I think that makes perfect sense in the Firefly universe too, but I think unlike in trek Kodos is celebrated by the federation in Firefly for making tough choices and leading in a strong way. So he's not on the run, he's a constant background side threat who's still in power. The face of the federation in this version, but not the head of it. You feel me

After Tarsus, Jim and Bones met and became mates. I think Bones moved to a big fancy planet for his wife and child after a bit. In the meant time, we have Spock!

This got massive, have a readmore

Spock is the result of eugenic experiments (there's no aliens in Firefly 😢) like the serenity thing that the og story is about (but generational eugenics not brain poking)(because I want there to be many others, just also in hiding and with their own political factions and opinions) but his resulted in Vulcan-like stuff. I think he's still got the pointy ears and has excessively strong emotions that he's learnt to hide completely cos he was raised in a medical facility by cold scientists instead of parents and love. There's schools of thought about them, some want to integrate, some want them exterminated, some want them to form their own society. The federation stance is these eugenic things don't exist and if you see one kill it because it officially doesn't exist. So Spock is forced into hiding and hasn't really had a chance to form his broader opinion, cos it's academic anyway. They're all hiding now.

So, Spock's escaped (more on that later) and in hiding. He meets Jim and they click, probably meeting in some silly battle. I reckon Spock has ways to get away from the feds that Jim wants to learn, so Jim pushes for them to team up. They spend some time together either on someone else's ship or on a smaller ship just them two.

After a while that comes to an end and they put together a crew and buy a ship together. They hire Sulu and Chekhov who are a criminal team who need to get off this rock very fast please. Chekhov can fly wonderfully and has enough engineering knowledge that they're like hey we maybe don't need someone in the engine room!

Sulu is a jack of all trades. It takes a few months for them to realise how useful he is, he always has a skill they need and always knows someone who'll play as a contact. Absolutely invaluable.

Eventually the engine breaks beyond Chekhov's skill to fix and they've all heard of Scotty. Everyone knows about Scotty. I think this would make a good episode one.

They work Sulu's contacts and find Scotty who is, lo and behold, having a drink with his mate disgraced Doctor McCoy. Spock, immediate dislike, this guy is a doctor. Jim, holy shit! Bones! Why the fuck aren't you emailing me back!?

Turns out Bones has gotten divorced and threw a bit of a fit in a hospital and can't work on a core planet anymore. He agrees to join the crew and Scotty has some issue that forms most of the episode plot and joins too cos hey, crims gotta keep moving

The ep ends with meeting Uhura, who manages a lot of the residual resistance movement's comms. She's the most political of the bunch, but Jim is absolutely in agreement and so chuffed to meet her even tho he's never been too war-y before. Scotty and Sulu already know her. She takes a kind of Inara role on the ship, but she's not companioning, she's boosted the comms in the shuttle and is continuing this work. It's great for her cos she gets to move around and be hard to catch, and it's great for the ship cos it gives them access to loads of underground people who aren't the hated federation

I also think she helped Spock break out back in the day. I'm not sure if she was part of it and they've met, or if she helped run things so she knows Spock but he doesn't know her. She's gonna be their reason for getting accidentally involved in larger things in the story and why they get more altruistic with their jobs. Spock also pulls them into some of the eugenic stuff

I reckon episode two needs some Spock eugenic stuff to happen so that Bones can solidify himself as on team Spock in action even if he has a go at Spock. Cos everyone else follows Jim's orders and Jim is team Spock, so I think Bones needs a chance to prove it. To great danger to himself ofc.

Repeat characters (like in Firefly they have Badger and Saffron who rock up as major non crew characters) are Chapel and Rand. I think Chapel is still on a core planet as a nurse. I would have her join the crew in season two, to look for her missing husband. But in season one she can be an insider informant for the hospital heist episode, which they do mainly for the medical equipment cos Bones has like nothing to treat people with. And maybe Spock has some additional medical needs that Bones needs to learn (Spock hates this)

Rand is like a bit of Saffron energy but less totally untrustworthy. I think she works them for her benefit but in a way where when they meet again they're like hey Janice you're not allowed on the ship but it's great to see you! Like, maybe she hijacks them to get her somewhere or stows away super inconveniently. Or maybe she just steals from them old school style and has a very all's fair in love and war vibe about it. She just doesn't hold any resentment, so it's hard to resent her

If I were to cast this show I'd cast Bones and Jim and women because I think it needs more women, might as well put them in positions of power, and honestly I think Spock's character with the emotional repression and all would change being cast as a woman whereas the others wouldn't. Spock's character in this is gonna be playing into stereotypes and expectation to stay in hiding, and those change as a woman

I've definitely got less tension on board than Firefly. There's no Jayne equivalent making life hard for everyone, but you could write an arc in for Chekhov like that if you wanted to. He could go from disliking the danger Spock and Uhura bring to absolutely admiring them over like two seasons. Could be interesting, but it's not got much to do with trek really

There's no shipboard romance here either. There could be something cool in the Scotty/Uhura that happened later in trek canon. Maybe they've got romantic history, so when she joins the ship there's tension and they just fall into bed together pretty quickly. But I'd only put that in if it added something else to the story, which it might! I'm not actually writing, I'm brainstorming

And similar to what the did in Firefly I think Spock/Bones makes the most sense. Cos we don't need proof that Spock and Jim understand each other, they're captain and first officer. They have each other's back absolutely. And similarly with Jim and Bones, they'd have old loyalty and friendship to draw on. And I think they also just obviously get along. But Spock and Bones could do with some plot prodding along, so I'd do something like the Simon/Kaylee romance where there's tension and clear desire but they're bad at making it happen. There's too much in the way. But it adds reason for Bones to have Spock's back (cos we're coming at at the start of their friendship, not years into their five years mission) and you can occasionally see Spock relaxing the emotional wall with someone other than Jim as he develops more serious a crush

I want to see! The Niska episode where Jim and Spock get nicked and tortured, and Bones goes in to trade for them back. He can only afford one but true to the Empath ep he just trades himself and volunteers for the torture.

I also want to see a Jaynestown style ep where Scotty or Sulu are the hero. I think probably Scotty. He'd be easy to write as selfish in a he only cares about tech kinda way and then to find that he accidentally did this would be funny. He also likes to keep a low profile generally so it's extra hilarious

Hospital heist ep, with Chapel cameo. I don't think anyone's handing Spock over to the feds, but maybe they get caught and Chekhov tries to trade Spock for their freedom? Not in a pre planned malicious, but more that he just doesn't prioritise Spock's safety over everyone else's. He sees it as a last ditch leverage effort, for the greater good. Could be good drama

Saffron style ep with Rand but she steals from them. I do think that's hilarious, showing them be the mark. And I'd let her win, leave them stranded without whatever thing it is she fleeced and having to find a new magical tech engine bit. But hey she left some booze as an apology and made out with Jim so it's not too bad

I really like Firefly

[aquietwritingcorner]

Jungle Adventures, Movie References, and Leo’s Exasperation

@tmnt-write-fight for @celestiall-ghost

Title: Jungle Adventures, Movie References, and Leo’s Exasperation

Prompt:  Mikey and Leo are stranded in the jungle (any iteration)

Fandom:  TMNT 2003

Word Count:  6090

Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl

Rating:  T

Characters: Leonardo, Michelangelo

Warning: NA

Summary: All Leo wanted was a couple of hours discussing some books with April. Instead, thanks to Mikey playing with April’s puzzle box, he and Mikey are now lost in a jungle in another dimension, with no idea how to get back home. If they get out of this, he just might duct tape Mikey’s hands to his shell.   

Notes:  I didn’t mean for the references to keep coming, but they sure did!  

ffn || AO3

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Jungle Adventures, Movie References, and Leo’s Exasperation

If there’s one thing that you should always remember, Leo thought to himself, it’s that you should never, ever let Mikey play with shiny objects unsupervised. Especially if that shiny object is a small puzzle box that will transport you and him to another dimension.

Leo took a step back towards Mikey, his swords held out defensively in front of him. They were in some sort of jungle, with all of the humidity and strange flora and fauna that one thought they might find in an alien jungle. Honestly, Star Trek wished they had thought up some of the animals they’d seen here. There had been some truly bizarre creatures.

If only that had been their only problem.

All Leo had wanted to do today was to head up to April’s, brew some new tea she had found, and spend a couple of hours discussing a book that she had recommended and lent to him. Master Splinter had encouraged him to do so, saying it would do him some good to relax. He’d been about to leave when Mikey had asked to come with him and turned the puppy dog eyes on him. Seeing how it was clear that Mikey had already gotten under both Raph and Don’s skin, Leo gave in, big brother instincts taking over.

Reluctantly, he’d allowed Mikey to come with him. Mikey promised that he’d absolutely stay out of their way and be no trouble at all. Leo had been doubtful but had given him a chance to prove it. That had been a mistake, as Mikey had occupied himself with April’s puzzle cube—and accidentally activated it when April was out of the room.

They’d landed in an alien jungle, full of blue-green foliage, towering trees, high humidity, no idea how to get home, and sans the most qualified turtle to figure it out. Needless to say, Leo was not happy, and Mikey had known that he was going to be in trouble—as soon as they found their way home. With no idea of what to do, they’d picked a direction, started walking, and hoped for the best.

Leo should have known better than to hope for the best.

They had, in their search for a way home, quite literally stumbled into a village of turquoise-skinned people. These people hadn’t taken too kindly to having two giant turtles—if they even knew what a turtle was—stumble into their home. Instead, they had almost immediately taken up arms, and Leo and Mikey had decided that their best chance of survival was to book it back through the jungle.

Of course, that had worked about as well as most of their plans initially did, and now they were surrounded, angry natives on all sides of them, with decidedly deadly looking weapons held towards them.

“If we get out of this,” Leo said, “remind me to tape your hands to your shell when we go to April’s again.”

“If we get out of this, I’ll voluntarily let you—look out!” Mikey jumped in front of him, nunchucks whirling as they deflected a barrage of tiny darts.

Well, that wasn’t good.

“Okay, new plan,” Leo said. “Forget playing nice. We’re taking a page out of Raph’s book and forcing our way through.” There was no way he was going to let them get caught by those darts. There was no telling what the natives would end up doing to them if they caught them.

“I don’t like that plan very much,” Mikey said, eyeing the group of twenty or so turquoise-skinned people around them.

“Neither do I,” Leo said. “But I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

He darted forward, with no warning that the natives could see. Mikey, though, saw the tells and he moved forward at the same time, nunchucks whirling. Leo did his best not to kill or seriously injure anyone, but he and Mikey needed to escape. The natives were fierce fighters, though, and did their best to avoid or block his blades with their own weapons. Mikey’s weapons, while still just as potentially deadly, tended to be less instantly lethal as Leo’s, and Leo could hear the yelps of the natives as they had hands smashed and ribs broken.

And then, suddenly, there was an opening, and they were rushing through it, taking swipes at anyone who tried to stop them, and ducking to avoid the darts, letting their shells take as much of the barrage as possible. The small darts did nothing but ping off of them, and the two of them ran, bowling over anyone in their way.

Of course, that didn’t stop the natives from giving chase. Mikey and Leo ran as fast as they could, but Leo could tell that something about it was off. The natives kept up, but they didn’t seem to be trying to stop them. In fact, Leo suddenly realized, they almost seemed to be herding them.

Oh, that definitely wasn’t good.

“They’re directing us!” he called out to Mikey.

Mikey leapt over a fallen log. “Something tells me it’s not to the next portal home!”

“Probably not.” Leo’s mind was whirling through possibilities. “We need to ready for anyth—”

Leo cut off as soon as he realized what “anything” was. It was a ravine. Or a small canyon or maybe a gorge? Don would know the exact terminology for it. But that wasn’t important at the moment. The fact of the matter was, they were coming up on a large, long crack in the earth, as wide as two of the alleyways they normally jumped put together.

“Leo—” Mikey said.

“Jump!” he said, putting on a burst of speed.

“What?” Mikey said, even as he sped up to catch up with Leo.

Leo sheathed his swords and reached into his belt to pull out his shunto spikes.

“Jump and be ready to catch yourself!”

Mikey shot him a look that clearly said he thought Leo was crazy, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he put his nunchucks in his belt, took out his spikes and ran on.

The natives were clearly surprised when, instead of slowing down, the two turtles sped up, practically hurling themselves towards the ravine. They started slowing down, trying to keep themselves from going over the edge and watched as Leo and Mikey poured in every last ounce of speed they had and flung themselves into the air.

The jump was terrifying. It was a long drop to the bottom, and if they didn’t make it across, a very painful landing was in store for them. Mikey was slightly ahead of Leo, he the faster of the two, and Leo watched as his angle curved, clearly not going to make it to the jungle on the other side. But the two of them still managed to have enough momentum to get them to the opposite wall. Leo saw Mikey hit it a split second before he did, smacking into it hard, and scrambling to find purchase on the wall. He dug his spikes in, but the wall was crumbly. It took a few terrifying seconds for him to find purchase, and then look to see if Mikey had as well. His baby brother looked a little pale but was clearly secure on the wall.

Shouts came from the other side, and then the sound of darts. With that motivation, the two began climbing, scrambling up the cliff as fast as they could. The crumbling rock made it difficult, especially for Leo, who was just a bit behind Mikey and had to make sure that the wall wasn’t going to crumble further from where Mikey had dug his spikes in, but they made it to the top. Mikey got there first and then turned to pull Leo up. For half a second, they sat there, looking across the ravine at the natives. One shot some sort of arrow at them, and Leo decided then and there that it was time to leave and disappear into the jungle. He finished standing up, and pulled Mikey along, both of them disappearing into the foliage on the other side.

“Keep going!” Leo said, not even stopping to catch his breath. “Let’s put as much distance between them and us as we can!”

“Right!”

They forged on ahead, not even trying to be stealthy as they ran. The goal was distance, not hiding, and Leo watched as Mikey pulled ahead of him. Then again, Mikey always had been the fastest of them. But had he always been that fast? And why was it getting harder to breathe? Leo pushed himself harder, trying to catch up to his brother, but for some reason he just couldn’t seem to go any faster.

And then his leg gave out.

He crashed to the ground, hard enough to rattle his brain for a second. He heard Mikey skid to a stop.

“Leo?!”

Leo pushed himself up on his elbows, trying to get his legs under him even as Mikey practically threw himself at Leo’s side.

“Leo’s what’s wrong?” Mikey’s hands hovered over Leo, clearly not sure what to do.

“My leg gave out on me,” Leo gasped out, still trying to catch his breath.

Mikey immediately moved to look at Leo’s leg. “Uh-oh,” he said, and Leo felt a slight pull. Mikey came back into view, one of the small darts in his hand. “Uh, I think I might know why.”

Leo stared at the dart. Well, that wasn’t good. Mikey was so in trouble when they got home.

“Help me up,” Leo said.

“Just so long as you promise not to strangle me,” Mikey said, already working his way under Leo’s arm and hauling his brother to his feet.

“No promises,” Leo said.

The two started moving again, Leo trying his best to keep up. But as they continued, he found himself leaning more and more on Mikey. His head was swimming, but he wasn’t sure if that was from the dart itself, or because it was getting increasingly hard to catch his breath.

“S-stop,” Leo said, and felt Mikey immediately oblige him.

“What?” Mikey said.

“I need—I need to rest,” Leo said.

For a moment, Mikey didn’t move, although Leo could tell he was looking around.

“Okay, Leo. We’ll rest in a second. But first let’s go this way.” He tugged Leo with him, eventually settling him in the hollow of a tree. “Just… stay right here. And, uh, I’m gonna borrow this.”

Before Leo could say anything, Mikey reached out, took his mask off, and then stepped back, pushing a few giant leaves in front of where he had sat Leo down. The coolness of the shade felt good to him, honestly, and he tilted his head back a bit, still breathing heavily. It didn’t take Mikey long to return, and when he did, Leo’s mask was soaking wet. Mikey gently put it on Leo’s head, not pulling it all the way down, but keeping it on his forehead.

“What?” Leo said, halfway opening his eyes. When had he closed them?

“You’re hot, Leo,” Mikey said. “And something tells me that’s not a good thing.”

“Mm.” Leo didn’t feel like arguing. In fact, the longer he sat there, the worse he felt. Mikey kept going back and forth, wetting Leo’s mask and bringing him water to drink. Leo’s head felt dizzy, off, and it became hard to keep track of things. He felt uncomfortably hot, and his mouth stayed dry. He lost track of time—not that he had any idea what day or time it was in this world anyway.

“Come on, Leo. Drink a little more,” Mikey said shaking him out of his stupor.

Leo groaned. “…When we get home… ‘m gonna put you through so much trainin’…”

He vaguely heard Mikey whine something, before the world started to fade out again. When it faded back in, he heard voices, and he tried his best to open his eyes and focus. He couldn’t see much beyond the leaves that Mikey had hidden him with and he didn’t want to risk interrupting any plans that Mikey had—and he was capable of them, if he wanted to be. He just wished he could make out what they were saying.

The leaves were pushed back, and Mikey was suddenly there, pulling Leo up and out. Leo’s head swirled, but he managed to see enough to realize that they were surrounded by teal-skinned people. He tensed, and made a grab for his swords, but Mikey caught his arm.

“They’re not the same, Leo!” he said. “They can help us. I think. Either that, or they just want to keep us. I’m not sure.”

Leo shot his brother a look.

“I know, I know!” Mikey said. “But it’s better than nothing!”

The teal-skinned people were quickly cutting down what looked like saplings of the giant trees that were around them, and pulling leaves, vines, and smaller plants, as well. It didn’t take long before they’d constructed a hand-carried stretcher—a litter—and Mikey was helping Leo onto it. He took Leo’s swords before he did though, carefully sliding the straps on and making sure they were secure. And with that, they were off.

The jungle really was beautiful, in its own way. The trees had a more purplish undertone than anything Leo had ever seen on earth, and the leaves a sort of blue-ish color to their green. Mikey actually blended in pretty well, even when he was near to Leo. Even the orange of his bandana made sense here, looking like some of the brightly colored flowers that hung on vines.

Leo raised a hand towards Mikey, and his brother was immediately there.

“You need something, Leo?” Mikey asked.

“How… did you find them?” he asked, gesturing to the people.

“Oh. Uh, well…” Mikey started out, clearly a bit reluctant to tell the whole story. “You see, I went to get more water, and I heard some noise. So, I went to look. And I saw our other blue-skinned buddies attacking some women. And, like, they were fighting back, but it wasn’t a fair fight at all. So, I kinda jumped out of the leaves at them, and joined it. Anyway, the ladies tried to take me with them, but I managed to get them to understand that I needed to leave to get to you. So, I left. But when I came back to the river again, there were a whole lot of them there. And with a lot of charades and Pictionary, I managed to get them to understand that you were sick. I think they have an antidote, but it’s back at their village. So, they kinda insisted we go with them, and I figured its better than what we’ve been doing.”

Leo blinked at him. Of course, Mikey would end up being friendly with some of the natives and figure out how to communicate with them.

Leo sighed, feeling dizzy again. “…I suppose so,” he agreed.

He wasn’t sure exactly how long the journey to the teal people’s village took. Time was still hard to keep track of, and by the time they got there, Leo was fading out again.  When he woke up, he was laying on his plastron on some sort of woven mat, a thin pillow of some sort under his head and bowls of some sort of incense around him. He groaned and moved to sit up.

“Leo!?” Mikey was at his side in a second but pushed him down. “Hang on, hang on, don’t move yet!”

Mike whistled, and Leo blinked, still trying to make sense of what was around him. Within seconds a teal-skinned man and a few younger looking people hurried over to them. Mikey gesture at Leo, and Leo looked up at the man from where he lay. The man nodded, then seemed to mime to Mikey to hold Leo down.

“Mikey, what—” Leo said, but that was all he got out before Mikey was putting pressure on him.

“Sorry, bro, this’ll only take a moment,” Mikey apologized.

“What will only take a—OW!” Leo felt a tug as something that felt like a needle was pulled out of him.

In fact, several were pulled out of him, and Leo grit his teeth as they were. There was more talking and gesturing that he couldn’t quite see, and then he felt hands on him, spreading something where the needles had been, and wrapping what he could only assume were bandages around them. He was tense, not liking this, but he said nothing, only shooting Mikey a look that said he would be demanding answers after this was over.

Mikey just nervously grinned at him.

After a few moments, the ministrations ended, and the assistants and the man got up to leave, making some sort of gesture towards them. Mikey returned it, and they left, leaving the two turtles alone. Leo stayed there a moment, then took a breath, and began to push up. Mikey quickly moved to his side helping him to turn over and sit up. Leo’s head still felt off, but he felt a lot better than he had earlier.

“Alright, Mikey,” he said, looking around. He was in some sort of open-air hut. “Where are we?”

“In the Teal People’s village,” Mikey said, reaching for what looked to be a cup of some sort. “You passed out again, but they brought you here. I showed them the dart and they took it, and came back and took these needles and, like, stabbed you in twelve places, like acupuncture or something, and then lit these incense bowls. It’s been, like… I dunno. Maybe a few hours? They brought me some food and then something I could draw with, so I sort of drew out what happened to us.”

Leo shook his head. “Well, at least I’m feeling better.” He looked out beyond the open-air hut and saw the people seemingly going on about their day, although a few kids were clearly curious about them. “Why aren’t they afraid of us?”

“Uh… I think they think we’re some kind of jungle spirits or something,” Mikey said.

Leo looked sideways at him. “Jungle spirits? Like what? Some… some ghost of the jungle or something?”

Mikey laughed. “Nah, that’s too dramatic. But, like, if I’ve got this right, our whole ninja skills and the way I can sort of blend into the jungle better, they seem to think I’m a part of it. And you’re like… I dunno, some other kind of nature spirit or something.”

“Fantastic,” Leo deadpanned.

Mikey nudged his shoulder a bit. “It’s not all bad! I drew April’s puzzle cube, and they recognized it. One of them pointed in a direction, and I think he was saying that there’s a big one of those that way. So, we might can use it to get back home!”

Leo frowned. “Maybe. But Donnie was the one who figured it out last time. We don’t have him here.”

Mikey frowned. “What else can we do, Leo?”

Leo took a breath in. “Not much. It’s our best option, so we’ll go for it.”

“Yeah, okay,” Mikey agreed. “But after you rest. I think the doctor guy said you might not feel good for a bit.”

Leo frowned. “I’ll rest the night. But in the morning, we leave.”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll let them know.”

Leaving was not as easy as they thought. The people wanted to make sure that Leo was alright first, and they insisted that they stay for a feast and through the night. The days and nights here seemed to be longer than on Earth, but it was what it was, and the doctor checked on him, clearly not pleased with his progress, and insisted that they stay longer. Considering that Mikey and Leo needed their help, Leo relented, and they stayed. Finally, after three days, the villagers loaded them with supplies, and a small contingency of them headed out with Leo and Mikey. It wasn’t exactly how Leo wanted to go, but it had to do.

Admittedly, it turned out to be useful. The natives showed the turtles some more of the wonders of the jungle as they traveled. Fruits that could be opened to show tasty water within them. Animals that tasted good roasted over a fire. Something that was sweet like honey, although not made by a creature that would have been classified as an insect back on Earth. Even when the jungle presented its dangers, in the forms of swarms of bugs that ate anything nearby, hidden caves to fall in, and large predators, the group worked together. Mikey and Leo certainly proved themselves to the Teal warriors, further cementing the idea of them being spirts or gods in their heads, no matter how much the two turtles tried to deny it.

Finally, after four long days, they stood in front of a large ziggurat, its steps steep. They’d had to negotiate with some aquamarine-skinned people for passage, but they seemed fascinated by Leo, and some stories from their Teal-skinned friends as well as a demonstration of Leo and Mikey’s own prowess seemed to have gained them passage.

Of course, the passage had come with some delays of their own. The aquamarine people had insisted that Leo and Mikey go through an extensive cleaning process, almost like a purification ritual, and had afterwards painted their skin with symbols and lines and adorned them with some clothing and jewelry. It had taken at least half a day, but it had, eventually, been done.

The Teal warriors hadn’t gone through the same rites, and now stood just a little way back from the base of the ziggurat watching. Leo and Mikey both glanced back at them.

“Aren’t you coming?” Mikey asked gesturing towards the stairs.

The reaction was instantaneous. They took a step back, gesturing no rapidly. Leo and Mikey looked towards each other again, and then Leo bowed to them, Mikey following suit.

“Thank you,” Leo said. He held the bow for a moment, and then both he and Mikey straightened, Mikey giving them a wave and a smile, and the two of them headed up the stairs.

The stairs were steep, and there were a lot of them. It was almost exhausting climbing up them, and by the time they got to the top, both brothers were tired, hot, and thirsty. Leo sat down and reached for his legs, massaging his calves.

“I never want to do another climbing workout again,” he said.

Mikey flopped over on his shell. “If I even hear a commercial for a Stairmaster, I’m gonna flip,” he complained.

The two took a short break, taking the opportunity to eat and drink, and then forced themselves to their feet and inside the opening of the temple that sat at the top of the ziggurat. The building looked remarkably similar to the one on the wasp world, or, at least what they could recall of it. This one wasn’t covered in wasp eggs, though, nor any other kind of eggs. The place looked well-kept and decorated, and there in the middle of the center room, was the giant version of the puzzle cube.

“So… any ideas?” Leo asked as he stared at it.

Mikey shook his head. “Nope,” he said.

The two stared at it for a moment, before Leo walked forward and put his hand on it. Like the one on the wasp world, it was heavy and solid. Moving it would take both of them, most likely.

“Donnie and April used some sort of math algorithm to figure out the other one,” Leo said. “Something about a… Fibonacci sequence?”

“Do you have any idea what that is?” Mikey asked hopefully.

Leo sighed, his shoulders drooping a bit. “Nope.”

“Me either,” Mikey said. He ran his hands over the giant puzzle cube, peering at it.

Leo slowly walked around it, trying to remember what it was that April and Don had done. Unfortunately, he’d been less focused on the puzzle cube, and more focused on fighting the queen wasp. He was three-fourths of the way around it when he saw something catch Mikey’s attention. He watched as his brother leaned in, peering at something on the cube.

“What is it?” He asked, making his way over to Mikey’s side.

“Look—they’re hard to see unless you get your head at just the right angle, but I remember seeing these in a notebook Donnie had. They’re symbols.” Mikey gestured at a place, and Leo tilted his head.

“I don’t see—” he stopped as he caught the faintest sight of something, although it was hard to see. “It’s like it’s almost not there.” He frowned a little. “What’s this residue that’s near it?” There was a whitish substance near it, almost like leftover paint or powder. He ran a finger over it, some of it flaking off as he did.

“Hang on, I got an idea!” Mikey said. He went over to one of the bowls that was nearby, peering in it before he moved on to another one. Finally, on the fourth one, he seemed satisfied and came over with it, grabbing something that looked similar to a paintbrush.

“What are you doing?” Leo asked.

“Okay, so I was reading this comic, right?” he said as he moved the brush around in the substance. “And in it there was this abandoned alien ship. The humans went on it, and they were attacked, and all sorts of stuff happened.” He started painting the substance on the place where he’d seen the symbol. “Any way, long story short, there were all these warnings about things left on the ship, but, like, these aliens saw colors human’s couldn’t and they’d written them all in that color and so the humans couldn’t see the warnings until something splashed on one of them that made it show up.”

“And you think that maybe that’s what that white residue is. This stuff, put on it so that the symbols will show up,” Leo said.

“Maybe!” Mikey said. He stepped back, putting the brush back in the bowl and looked at where he’d painted it. “But nothing seems to be happening.”

Leo frowned. “Hold on. I might have an idea now.” He went over to one of the braziers that had been set up, a fire burning in it, and brought it closer to the puzzle cube. Carefully he tipped it over just enough that the fire was close to the painted area. And when he did, the symbol started to glow.

“Alright, Leo!” Mikey cheered. “How’d you know to do that?”

Leo grinned at him a bit sheepishly. “Remember that scene in National Treasure where they use heat to reveal the map on the back of the Declaration of Independence?”

Mikey laughed. “See? Movies are good for you!”

Together Mikey and Leo worked on revealing the symbols on the giant puzzle cube, Mikey painting them as he saw the symbols easier, and Leo bringing and setting up braziers and torches to keep the sources of heat close. When they finished, they took a step back, looking at the device.

“…Now what?” Mikey asked.

“Good question,” Leo said. “I guess the next thing to do would be to figure out if these symbols can help us.” He frowned. “They look familiar.”

“Yeah…” Mikey frowned. “I think… I think Don had some of them written down.”

“I think you’re right,” Leo said. “I remember him calling April, excited about something he had discovered about her puzzle cube.” He shook his head smiling a bit. “We were going to watch Star Trek VI together, but he got so excited that he completely forgot about it. He apologized later.”

Mikey snorted. “Yeah, that sounds like Donnie.”

“I went over to them later… I might remember some of the symbols,” Leo said, frowning.

Mikey shrugged. “Let’s give it a shot!”

Carefully, he and Mikey maneuvered the device into the first configuration of symbols that Leo remembered, fairly sure that Donnie had said that it was the way he’d worked out setting it up to get them home from the wasp dimension. It didn’t work. They tried another variation of it, but again, there was no luck. After about ten different tries, the brothers sat down, taking a break.

“I don’t get it,” Leo said. “I’m positive that first order was what I saw.” He let out a frustrated huff. “I remember him saying it was like a code or an address that could get people from one place to another.”

“Maybe it’s like the Stargate.” Mikey said. Leo looked over at him. “You know—you’ve got to have a gate address, right? But it only works if you’ve got a point of origin, cause then it knows where you’re connecting from and to.”

“Actually,” Leo said slowly, “you might be onto something. Because I remember Don saying something about how he thought one of the symbols was linked to April’s puzzle cube.”

“Which one?” Mikey asked.

“The first one. It was first on the ones he had listed for our escape from the wasp world. But it came last when he was talking about going to the other world he and April had visited.” Leo frowned. He had not been happy to hear that Don and April had gone off on their own like that, but it had been over and done with by that point.

“So, what we need to do is find out what the symbol for this cube is!” Mikey said.

Leo nodded. “Spread out. Let’s see if we can find it recorded anywhere. If we think we see a hint of it around, let’s paint it and try to see it.”

They spread out, examining the puzzle cube and the room from every angle they could find. But after a few hours, it was clear that they were coming up empty. Leo stopped in the middle of the room, frustrated. There had to be a clue! They were so close! He looked down at the floor, for a moment, before rolling his neck around to stretch it out. He let his eyes unfocus, the slightly different colors of the floor blurring as he tried to clear his mind. He was missing something, he knew it. But what?

And then, Leo started. He snapped his eyes back in focus and looked around him at the floor. Glancing around, he jumped up to a corner of the room and braced himself to hold him up.

“Uh, Leo? Watcha doing?” Mikey asked, looking up at Leo like he’d lost his mind.

“Finding our origin symbol,” Leo said.

Mikey blinked at him, and then hopped up into another corner, staring down at the floor with Leo. “Holy movie references, Batman, it’s just like the library scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!”

“Exactly.” Leo said with a grin.

The two turtles hopped down and quickly went back to the giant puzzle cube. Making sure they had everything they needed with them, they set all the other symbols again, and then, after quite a bit of turning and twisting to get everything lined up just right, managed to figure out how to click the last one in place.

The device lit up, glowing, and Leo and Mikey reached out to each other, neither of them willing to even risk a separation.

“Think we gave it the right address?” Mikey called out.

“I hope so!” Leo replied.

There wasn’t time for more conversation as the device sucked them in, pulling them through it. Leo could only hope that they had gotten the symbols right, and that they weren’t about to end up some place worse.

And then, with an abrupt shift in senses, and a very hard and loud thump, Leo and Mikey crashed to the floor. Leo’s head was still spinning as there were shouts around them, and the sound of feet running towards them. Mikey groaned, and Leo pushed his brother, trying to get him off of him.

“Leo! Mikey!”

“My sons!”

“Guys!”

“Get off of me, Mikey—I don’t need your butt in my face,” Leo complained.

Mikey rolled off of him, and Leo sat up, only to immediately have April hugging him tightly. He looked over to see Splinter already looking over Mikey. He knew that he was next, their father not going to be satisfied until he looked them over himself. Leo hugged April back, even as the others rounded on them.

“Leo what happened?” Raph said, clearly taking in the body paints, the jewelry, and the clothing. “April called, said that you and Mikey had disappeared, but that her puzzle cube was on the ground.”

April let go of him, moving on to Mikey, and Splinter was right there, looking Leo over as well.

“Mikey was messing around with April’s puzzle cube, and somehow set it off,” he explained. “We ended up landing in some sort of jungle, got mixed up with some unfriendly natives, found some friendly ones, got led to a temple with one of the big versions of the puzzle cube, had to go through a ritual to get to it, and then figured out how to use it to get back home.”

“Yeah, it was crazy!” Mikey said. “We had to jump over a canyon, Leo got shot with a poisoned dart—”

“What?” Don exclaimed, rushing over. “Where?”

Leo showed him where on his leg as Mikey continued, both Don and Splinter examining the area

“—the friendly natives gave him some sort of acupuncture to cure it—”

“What?” Don repeated again, practically hissing it between his teeth. “Where?”

Leo pointed to the carefully re-bandaged places on him. Immediately his father and brother set about unwrapping them and examining them.

“—the natives thought we were jungle spirits and gave us a feast, then we walked through the jungle for days and ate a bunch of other stuff, and the hiked up a bazillian steps to get to the top of a zig-zag pyramid—”

“Ziggurat,” Leo corrected, wincing as Splinter pressed on one of the places.

“—and used movie references to figure out how to get home!” Mikey finished with a grin.

“To be fair,” Leo said. “Stargate is a TV show.”

“It was a movie first, bro,” Mikey shot back.

“But we both know you weren’t thinking of the movie when you made that reference,” Leo said.

Don let out a huff, interrupting both of them, and sat back. “I’m… going to have to process all that later. Right now, to my lab, both of you, I’m doing blood work to make sure you’re both alright.” He stood up and shot them both a hard look. “And I mean right now.”

Raph reached down helped Leo to his feet, while Casey helped Mikey to his.

“I will fetch some water and soap to clean the markings off of them,” Splinter said. He turned to get it, and then paused. “Regardless of how you are back, I am glad that you found a way to return to us, my sons,” he said.

“How long were we gone?” Leo asked, letting Raph keep a steadying hold on him, even though he didn’t need it.

“About a day,” Casey said. “Donnie was trying to figure out how to figure out where you guys went the whole time.”

“A whole day?” Mikey said. “Maaan, I missed the Justice Force marathon!”

Raph reached over and lightly whacked him on the back of the head. “Maybe that’ll teach ya not to mess with things, then!”

“I doubt it,” April said amusement and relief both present in her voice.

Leo just shook his head and let out a sigh. It had been a crazy few days for them, and he was currently resigning himself to being a pin cushion for an overly stressed and sleep deprived Don. It had been quite an adventure and, admittedly, the jungle had been beautiful, and the people there interesting. But for all that happened, and all of the beauty of that jungle, he was more than happy to finally be back home.

“Ow! Donnie!” Mikey yelped.

“Oh hush,” Donnie chastised him. “It’s what you get for sending you and Leo off on an accidental adventure. Now sit still and stop complaining.”

Leo smiled to himself and leaned into Raph. Yeah. It was good to be home.

[tickle-bugs]

Hey bugs bookanon here! I was wondering if you would be willing to do anymore Star Trek tickles, specifically the crew finding a tickle creature of some kind and wanting to keep it maybe? Or maybe a planet that focuses on tickling, likes it normal there and widely accepted as a form of bonding or something.I’ve seen that concept a few times and I think it’s so cute! If you’re not comfortable with it though it 100% okay! Thanks for taking the time read my ask and I hope you have a great day!

Can We Keep Him?

Summary: Jim saves an alien creature from a poacher's camp and decides to bring it back with him. Bones comes around...eventually.

I really wanted to do the second part of this prompt with the planet and show off some of Peebles's more feral cousins...I just might as a sequel if I find the inspiration. Feel free to enter it in the next round of prompts if anyone really wants to see it! Also thank you to @sapphicquill for helping me figure out a scientific name for Peebles!

TW: brief mentions of death/flatlining and injury in the beginning.

“Bones, would you just listen to me—“

“No! What the hell were you thinking? Risking your life for a bunch of pets?” Bones shouts from his toes. He wants to fucking throw something. 

“They weren’t pets, they were crying in cages! They would’ve been sold off or worse. I couldn’t just leave them there.” Jim clutches his torso and hisses in pain, but his eyes still flare. He tries to stand off the medbay bed. Bones corners him in. 

“And in the process, you almost died. How is that fair?” Bones seethes. “My best friend coded on my table. You flatlined under my care. Legally dead for one minute and thirty seven seconds over an intergalactic petting zoo, you fucking bastard.” 

Medbay falls quiet. Jim opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again. Bones pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a sharp breath. 

“I’m sorry. Bones, c’mere. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Jim reaches for him feebly. Bones inches closer and lets Jim pull him into a shaky hug. He rubs his back, carefully avoiding new bandages and old scars. 

“I can’t—you’ve got a big heart, alright? I get it. But it can’t cost you your life. Not like this.” Bones rests his forehead against the crown of Jim’s head. Every inch of him feels raw, like a fresh burn. 

“Are we good?” Jim murmurs. Bones heaves a sigh. 

“I will be, long as you don’t die on me in the next five minutes. You’re staying overnight for observation.” Bones points at him threateningly. Jim smiles. 

“Roger that.” Jim keeps his arms looped around Bones’s waist. Neither of them are ready to let go just yet.

A bright pink lump pops up out of the collar of Jim’s shirt, a tentacle slapping onto his shoulder, and Bones screams loud enough to wake the dead. He grabs the first thing he can reach—a bedpan, unfortunately—and brandishes it. 

“Woah! Friendly! Bones, he’s friendly!” Jim holds out his hand to keep Bones at bay. The furry…thing disappears behind Jim’s shoulder. It fucking scuttles. There’s a creature in his office. He’s going to burn down the entire ship. 

“You scared him.” Jim frowns. 

“I scared him?!” Bones shrieks hysterically, still clutching the bedpan. Jim gestures for him to lower the bedpan. Bones does no such thing. 

“It’s alright, lil guy. He won’t hurt you. Come say hi.” Jim looks over his shoulder at it and whistles. 

A pink tendril smacks onto Jim’s face, then another onto his shirt, and the creature peeks over his shoulder. It’s a fuzzy, fluffy thing that’s the size of a small dog. It’s shaped like a strange starfish—one side is pink and soft, the other is bright orange and covered in an unsettling array of little nubs. It uses them to get around, it looks like, judging by the way it vacuum-clings onto Jim. 

It blinks with one big eye, cartoonishly sparkly, and makes a warbly sound. 

“Bones, this is Peebles. Peebles, Bones.” Jim gestures between the two of them. The creature—Peebles chirps and waves a tendril in greeting. Bones slowly waves back, dumbstruck. 

“Can it understand you?” 

“I have no idea,” Jim coos in a proud-parent voice, the same one Bones used to use when baby Joanna would babble nonsense at him. It disarms him. 

“What…is it?” Bones puts down the bedpan and moves a bit closer. Jim offers his finger to Peebles and it wraps a tendril around it. 

“I don’t know. But he’s sweet and he was so scared, Bones. I couldn’t leave him. I just couldn’t.” Jim tugs on the edge of Bones’s lab coat. Peebles makes a quiet chirping noise and folds himself into the crook of Jim’s neck. 

“He likes you.”

“Yeah he’s a bit—“ Jim pulls Peebles off of him with a faint pop— “Clingy, but it’s cute. I don’t mind.”

“What if it’s just…suckering up to you to eat you?” Bones gestures vaguely. Peebles crawls back onto Jim’s shoulder and flops down, purring loudly. Jim raises his eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that! We don’t know what it is! You violated a whole chapter of regulations by bringing it on board.” Bones lowers his voice to a hiss. 

“Bones, it’s purring.” Jim reaches up and tangles his fingers in the bright pink fur. Peebles scoots down and suctions to Jim’s chest, visibly vibrating. 

“Don’t come crying to me when it burrows into your chest and…multiplies, or something.” Bones huffs and narrows his eyes at it.

“I’m begging you to stop watching those old movies. They were made centuries ago. This little guy isn’t a xenocron—“

“Xenomorph—“

“Whatever. He’s harmless and you’re paranoid.” Jim cradles the creature to his chest. 

“I’m reporting this to Spock.” Bones sniffs indignantly. 

“Narc,” Jim mutters. Bones presses his thumb slightly into one of his bruises and he yelps.

“I’m writing you up for malpractice.” Jim swats at him. 

“You do that.” Bones pats his shoulder, then gently pushes him down against the bed to rest. 

…

“Captain. Doctor.” Spock nods at them both. “I have found more information regarding the unidentified creature that you acquired.” 

Peebles perks up shyly behind Jim’s shoulder, blinking at Spock. 

“Hello.” He nods at it. Peebles chirps happily and scuttles a little further into view. 

“It seems to closely resemble the pisaster genus of sea stars, commonly hailing from Earth and other planets with similar oceanic conditions. But this creature is markedly different. I could not find any Federation record of it.” Spock takes out a holopad and taps on it. With a tossing motion, he pulls an image off the screen and brings it into the air before them. Holographic images of sea stars flash in comparison with a small 3D scan of Peebles.

“This creature--”

“His name is Peebles, Spock.” Jim smirks. Spock stares blankly before turning back to the hologram. 

“While it is true that it possesses venom, the creature is no more dangerous than a common housecat. It is incapable of administering enough toxin to cause significant damage to humanoids. Its barbs can be quite painful, but they are not life-threatening.” 

“There you have it. Thank you, Spock.” Jim grins smugly. Bones scowls. 

“Anytime, Captain. I am here to answer any additional questions as you decide on a course of action.” Spock’s face almost passes for neutral, but Bones knows his mischief too well. 

“What does it eat? Living flesh?” Bones jabs, glaring at the fuzzy pink lump trying to play with the pretty lights. 

“We are unsure at this time. It has a sensitive, porous dermal layer, but no mouth. I hypothesize that it uses the same protrusions to feed as it does to navigate. A full scan would be required to glean more.” Spock gazes at Peebles. Peebles blinks his big, sparkly eye up at Spock in wonder. He makes a swipe at Spock’s face, then his ear, trying to transfer hosts, but Spock quickly steps out of range. Peebles whimpers.

“So he’s harmless?” Jim cuddles Peebles back to him and soothes him like an infant. 

“Negligibly. I would avoid testing that hypothesis, Captain.” Spock gives Jim a very knowing look that momentarily satisfies Bones…at least until he catches Peebles reaching for him. He scowls and scoots back.

“Still shouldn’t keep it. It could carry all kinds of diseases.” 

“Thanks to Federation advancements in vaccinations, Peebles poses little risk to us by way of disease transmission. But I am sure you already knew that, doctor.” Spock’s eyebrow raises ever-so-slightly. Bones crosses his arms. Jim lights up at the use of the little guy’s name. 

“Well, that’s two against one. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna try and figure out what this guy eats before he stabs me. C’mon, buddy.” Jim stands and scoops him up. Peebles waves at Bones, its eye curving in some approximation of joy. Flabbergasted, he waves back.

He doesn’t get paid enough for this.

…

Bones knows Jim’s scream better than he knows himself. So when he hears it in the middle of the night, it shreds something inside of him. He’s at Jim’s door in a second, medkit in hand, using his key to unlock the door. He stumbles in before it opens all the way, chest heaving--

Jim holds Peebles aloft, face-flushed, while the little devil attempts to wriggle out of its grip. Grasping tendrils curl up Jim’s arm, way too long, and wrench for purchase. Suction-cupped indents cover his bare torso, an angry pinkish-red against his already rising blush. 

“So, uhm—“ Jim swallows nervously— “I figured out what he eats.”

“We are sending that thing back where it came from, end of discussion.” Bones seethes. 

“Sit.” Jim narrows his eyes.

“Jim—“

“Sit, Bones.” Jim risks letting go of Peebles with one hand to pat the space next to him. 

Bones does as he’s told. His eyes rove over Jim’s bare torso, checking for injuries. He doesn’t like the faint red marks smattering Jim’s skin, ones that the creature has clearly left in its wake, but…he’s unharmed. Visibly, anyhow. That brings Bones some measure of relief. 

“Watch. And don’t…just keep your mouth shut, alright?”

“I’ll do what I damn well please with my mouth,” Bones snaps, his filter waning with his stress and lack of sleep. Jim blushes a pretty pink. Some devilish urge in Bones wants to chase that expression further, but he opts to maintain his dignity. 

“Listen. Something tells me you’re already fed, you little shit--” Jim levels a finger at Peebles and it's immediately wrapped in a tendril-- “but I’ll let you have dessert. You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Peebles chirps and starts shimmying again. Jim heaves one long, belabored sigh, and lowers Peebles to his stomach. He lays on his back, shifts to get comfortable, then spreads his arms.

“Alright, have at it.” 

Peebles launches with ferocity and Jim screams. Bones screams and leaps for him, but he pauses when he hears…a snort?

Bones shifts on the bed for a better angle. Jim is twitching like a man possessed, his hand hovering over the mass of Peebles on his stomach. Jim breaks out into giggles that leap with each twist, until he finally curls up and laughs in earnest. 

Oh. Oh.

“Is it...tickling you?” Bones breaks out in a grin that he’s grateful Jim can’t see. Peebles scuttles over his side and Jim yelps, rolling over onto his stomach. He tries to answer, but all that escapes him are broken syllables and the sweetest of smiles.

Bones can’t help but smile wider. He has a certain quota of ridiculousness that he can tolerate, alright, and Jim accidentally bringing a tickle monster on board takes the cake but...it's nice to see him like this. Smiling. Jim's true joy is a rare luxury, these days.

Peebles crawls up Jim’s back, dodging his flailing hands and making soft, bouncy, strange little noises. Breathy, almost, and uncanny--

Peebles wriggles down into the space between Jim’s shoulderblades and the hypothesis is confirmed--Jim’s resulting screech echoes twice. Peebles is mimicking him. 

“Want help?” Bones has to shout over Jim’s shrieking. The whole wing must be awake by now, but Bones can’t bring himself to care about anything but that damned smile of his. 

Jim nods frantically, reaching for Bones. 

“Let him go, you greedy brat.” Bones worms his fingers under Peebles and gets another giggly shriek in return. Bones pats Jim’s arm in apology. 

Peebles dislodges with a pop and a contented purr. Jim flops over, throwing a hand over his face. Peebles slips from Bones’s fingers and nestles into Jim’s chest, just over his heartbeat. Both of them exhale together.

“See? Harmless?” Jim hums, beaming. Bones is too busy committing the expression to memory to argue with him.

…

When Peebles gets his own personnel file, Bones knows the fight is lost. He’s listed in the records as a captain’s aide, the ridiculousness of which sparks amused chatter for days. People salute Peebles as he scuttles around, and he chirps and does the same. It is…admittedly cute. A little. 

They set up little heated nests for him in nearly every corner, desperately trying to keep him out of the vents and maintenance tunnels. Eventually, Chekhov fashions him a collar with a tag on it—just to keep an eye on his whereabouts. A few scrapes with heavy machinery and slamming auto doors lead Bones to set up a med file for him too. Pisaster Tremulus--Spock’s approximation of a designation based on Peebles’s pheromone diet--gets filed under Jim. Bones starts to worry that he might need a veterinary license. 

The crew tours Peebles around the ship enough that he learns to navigate it on his own without more door mishaps. Turns out that he doesn’t need a human guide, but he prefers it. He seems to like being up high. 

His love for being up high seems to peak with Bones, who he’s imprinted on for some reason. Bones can’t go a minute without little chirps or clicks from some corner of his office It’s better than peeling him out of a doorframe, wailing a little too much like a human child. Bones has gotten used to tentacles gripping needily on his back.

Like now, for example, when Peebles has decided that his shoulder is the only place he can sit while Bones finalizes paperwork for the crew’s physicals. Everyone but Jim is done. Saving the best for last, he thinks wryly. Peebles chirps at him, then whines.

“Hey, lil fella.” Bones reaches up and gives Peebles a fond scritch. When he goes to pull his hand away, Peebles latches on and pulls it back—like a cat, demanding to be pet. Bones chuckles and obliges with one hand, but he calls Jim with the other. 

“Jim, did you feed your son today?” 

“Why?”

“He’s beeping at me.” Bones tries to pull away. Peebles does not allow it. 

“I think he just likes ya, Bones.”

“Sure. Your physical is in five. Do not be late.” Bones holds up his file. Jim rolls his eyes. 

“Aye aye, doctor.” 

The line disconnects. Bones collapses into his seat and starts sifting through the files, attempting to make a pass at organizing them. Is this his job? No. Will it drive him up the wall if he doesn’t do it himself? Absolutely.

He gets to the ‘C’s in relative peace, but by the time he hits Chekhov’s file, Peebles gets restless again. He starts shifting and making soft noises, passing feathery-soft fur just past Bones’s ears in maddening patterns. 

Bones shivers. 

The touch returns, more purposeful this time. It occurs to him that Jim did not answer his question earlier. 

“Alright, you little bathmat.” Bones tugs at Peebles. “Off ya hop.”

Peebles does not hop. Instead, he nuzzles into the crook of Bones’s neck. One appendage slaps across his throat, curving just below his Adam’s Apple. The others splay across his collarbones, chest, and back. Were they always that long? No, right…?

A smile pries its way onto his lips. He stifles a chuckle into his fist, but the intrigued chitter at his shoulder does not bode well for him. 

Bones jams his shoulders up to his ears. He reaches up to pry Peebles away again, losing his strength to laughter and caution (alright, he doesn’t want to hurt the little guy, sue him). Peebles seems to take this as an invitation to scuttle under his lab coat. 

Wiggling nubs make contact with his ribcage and Bones’s knees fully give out. He curls up at his desk, muffling his laughter into the surface of it. 

“I’m here early, I want a lollipop—“ 

“Fetch your beast.” Bones looks up from his desk, regrettably smiling, and Jim stops right in his tracks. A mischievous smirk crosses his features. 

“No, I don’t think I will.” Jim crosses his arms and leans against the counter. Bones opens his mouth to chastise him and all that comes out is a squeak. He wants to curse him out, to throw a pen at him, to do anything, but then wiggling touches find the back of his ribcage and he’s toast. 

Peebles is covered in small, tube-like protrusions on one side that are nightmarish to both the eye and skin, apparently. They move gently, independently, like a flock of curious pokes directly to his nervous system.

He writhes like a madman in his chair, torn between hiding his face and defending himself. He reaches for Peebles and the crafty little thing skitters right across his torso. He cackles, burying his face in his hands. 

“Alright, buddy. That’s enough. Let him go.” Jim pulls Peebles off of Bones. The lump of fuzz hangs in his arms like a cat that’s been scruffed before using its limbs to scuttle up Jim’s arms. 

“I forgot you could still do that.” Jim pokes Bones in the ribs with his pen. He jumps and snatches it back. 

“What?”

“Smile.” Jim darts a hand out and squeezes Bones’s thigh. Bones cackles and falls out of his chair. Jim doubles over and wheezes into a hiccuping giggle fit. 

“Laugh it up, you ass. Provoke me before your physical.” Bones cracks his knuckles. Jim stills. 

“Bones, have mercy.” Jim holds his hands out in immediate surrender. 

“No, I don’t think I will,” Bones says in a nasal mockery of Jim’s voice. Jim splutters in offense, then laughter as Bones shoves his hands under his arms. Peebles settles on Jim’s stomach and his voice spikes desperately. 

“Oh, look, I’ve got an assistant! On a scale of one to ten, how much do you regret being a little shit?” Bones scratches ruthlessly at Jim’s top rib. Jim clamps his arms down like it’ll help. Like Bones hasn’t done this dance with him for years. 

“T-Two and a half!” Jim giggles violently, more at the narrowing of Bones’s eyes than the dance of his fingers. 

“Hmm, condition could be improved. Don’t worry, I’ll fix that.” Bones grins evilly, his fingers crawling rapidly towards Jim’s back. 

“Bones!”

[geminiwritten]

game night ; bones

fandom: star trek

pairing: bones x reader

summary: after accidentally injuring yourself, you refuse to go to MedBay before attending a games night with the crew and your favourite grumpy (and very jealous) doctor

notes: this is bad!!! i am very sorry!!! i didn’t want to abandon it, so i forced myself to finish and it took several days, it is very disjointed, but i hope readable? let me know what you think!

important -

in this fic, the crew play pool (or billiard) but i am australian and to avoid confusion (because we probably play it differently / wrong, and i am not a professional lol) here are some notes:

the balls with the band of colour (more white) are called ‘bigs’ and the full colour balls are called ‘smalls’

you get a second shot if you sink one of your own balls

your opponent gets two shots if you sink the white ball

word count: 5363 (oops)

“Shit,” you snatch your hand away from the machinery in front of you, shaking it as if the movement would rid you of the hot stinging sensation spreading through your fingers. You look at your gloves and curse again, finding all four of the material fingertips burnt through.

“Are you okay?” Clarke, one of the newer lieutenants on board, asks as he approaches your workbench. He’s very handsome, with sandy blond hair and bright green eyes, there were five people in this room alone that would sell a kidney for just one date with him. You, on the other hand, had forgotten about his existence less than ten seconds after he handed you the tool you’d asked for this morning.

You snatch the gloves off and stare at the hot pink flesh of your fingers, “Fine, just frustrated.”

He gingerly grabs your hand, turning it toward himself, “come over here, you need cold water.”

He tows you toward the large trough across the lab, where a spread of tools and parts were waiting to be washed or drying out on the nearby benchtops. You spot a small square contained with several labels reading ‘KEENSER’S LUNCH – DO NOT EAT’ in a variety of languages, and you can’t help but giggle. The little alien was yet to find out that it was best friend Mr. Scott always stealing his food.

Clarke turns on the faucet and checks that the water is cool before pulling your hand under it. You only realise then how close you are to him, and that his eyes aren’t just green but have little flecks of gold in them, and that there are several sets of eyes glaring at you from across the room.

“Thanks,” you say, though you can’t help acknowledging the fact that you were more than capable of doing this by yourself.

“I’m no doctor,” he chuckles softly, “but you should probably go to MedBay.”

Your heart feels like it flips in your chest, sending a woozy amount of blood to your head and undoubtedly turning your cheeks pink. “I-I think I’m good, but thanks again.” You pull your hand away and dry it gently on the front of your uniform.

“What’ve ya done now’?” Scotty asks, walking toward you with a comical amount of greasy fluid smeared across his face.

“Nothing, just accidentally-”

“Touched a soldering iron,” Clarke interrupts, and though you know it’s out of concern you can’t help the indignant scowl that settles between your brows.

“I’m fine,” you say.

Scotty glances at your hand, and instead of expressing concern his lips curl into a cheeky grin, “think ya need to go to MedBay, angel.”

From the corner of your eye, you see Clarke do double-take at the affectionate nickname.

“No, I’m fine,” you repeat.

“I can take her?” the lieutenant offers, at which your frown deepens.

“Can I just go back to my quarters?” you ask Scotty, “I just need a plaster.”

Scotty nods, “it’s well past ya finish time anyway.”

You smile politely at Clarke before turning back to your workstation and haphazardly untying your apron with one hand. Scotty begins packing up your tools before you can, and you know it’s his way of showing concern, but you still frown.

“I’ll see ya later, then?” he says as you turn to exit.

“Tonight?”

“Game night,” he replies, “the capt’n got that old pool table in workin’ order, remember?”

You vaguely remember being cornered by Jim yesterday afternoon after yet another lengthy shift, and being ordered to attend a night of drinks and shenanigans since the ship was going to be in friendly space for the next few days.

“Right, uh, do you know who else is coming?” you ask.

Scotty’s grin returns, “the usual.”

You narrow your eyes and open your mouth to demand he elaborate when Clarke cuts you off, “did you say a pool table? I love that game, my dad had one when I was little.”

“Oh, then you should come along lieutenant,” Scotty says, “the more the merrier.”

Your head aches with the effort that it takes not to roll your eyes. “Great,” you say, “then I’ll see you both later, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to shower.”

You reach the turbolift and step inside, thanking the universe for its speed when you arrive on the upper-most floor containing crew quarters in less than a few seconds. The familiar corridor leads you to your room, where you sigh dramatically as you kick off your shoes and wrestle out of your red shirt. Your hand stings when you step under the hot water of the shower, so you have to hold it out while you awkwardly wash your hair and body. Sitting on your bed in only a towel, you rummage through your personal medical kit for some plasters to wrap your fingers. You try desperately to recall even an ounce of your first aid training but unfortunately, there was always one huge distraction that prevented you from ever learning anything when it came to medical training. A distraction that happened to be the very doctor who was attempting to teach you.

You lay in your towel for longer than necessary, flipping through data on your PADD and absently watching the time until you decide to get dressed. Eventually you pull on a pair of denim shorts and an old Starfleet Academy shirt before snatching a hair tie from the table beside your bed and slipping into your sneakers. The crew commons are located only two floors above you, where the rec rooms resides behind the huge cafeteria and kitchen. You can hear the sounds of laughter and conversation before you even reach the end of the corridor.

“Look who finally decided to join us!” Jim exclaims the second he spots you; his steps are unsteady and his grin is wide, he’s already very tipsy.

“Hey Captain,” you giggle, “you look merry.”

Nyota bounds toward you and wraps her arms around your neck, “oh, thank goodness you’re here, I’m losing.”

Behind her you can see the pool table situated between the bar and a cluster of low, blue sofas. “Nyota Uhura losing a game? That’s unheard of.”

“I know,” she gasps, handing you a drink, “now catch up and let’s kick some butt.”

Before you can take a sip, Jim hands you a small glass of clear liquid, “first, you have to do a shot, it’s a rule.”

You roll your eyes before swigging from the little glass. It burns your tongue and the back of your throat, spreading a fire through your chest as it descends to your stomach. “Holy shit, what is that?”

He chuckles, “no idea, something Chekov picked up a few planets ago.”

You cringe and down half the bottle of your drink in an attempt to quell the burn.

“Y/N!”

You tip the bottle back down and find Clarke standing right where Nyota had been. “Hey,” your voice is raspy, still recovering from the shot.

He chuckles, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, that was just-”

“I know, the captain made us all do one when we got here.”

Jim grins and smacks a hand on Clarke’s shoulder, “you didn’t tell me you were making friends down in the engine room, angel.”

You roll your eyes once again and swap your now empty bottle with the full one in Jim’s hand, “maybe you should stop talking before I stick a pool cue up your ass, Captain.”

His eyes narrow at your sweet smile, “we’ll see who ends up with a pool cue up their ass tonight.”

“Gross,” you giggle as he turns around, and you follow him toward the pool table with Clarke in tow.

Sulu, Scotty, and Keenser are surrounding the table, arguing about whether or not Keenser was cheating while a couple of Nyota’s friends watch in amusement. Chekov is seated on one of the low sofas along with three other young lieutenants you’d only met once or twice, and Spock is standing alone by the back wall, no doubt assessing the physics of the game in front of him. Your heart practically leaps into your throat when you spot the doctor, sat on a barstool beside Spock with his arms crossed over his chest and the usual frown set between his brows.

Your feet forget how to move in coordination and you stumble forward, but Clarke is quick to catch you. His arms wrap around your shoulders and steady you before helping you upright. “Thanks,” you say, as you look up to find his green eyes much too close for the second time today.

He smiles boyishly, “you’re a little accident prone, aren’t you?”

You nod and brush yourself off, glancing over his shoulder at the stool beside Spock, now empty.

“Come on, angel, stop flirting and let’s play,” Jim calls, now in possession of the pool cue Sulu had been holding.

Keenser hands you the other cue when you reach the table, before turning back to Scotty and launching right back into their argument.

“Hey,” Clarke says, still beside you, “I’ve been meaning to ask, why does everyone keep calling you angel?”

Sulu stops in his pursuit to the bar, with a wide grin stretched across his lips “because have you ever seen anyone who looks more like they fell from heaven? She’s gorgeous.” He stops to kiss your cheek and take the empty bottle from your hand. “Another?”

You nod, “thanks, Sulu.”

“Well, that is true,” Clarke’s cheeks turn a pale shade of pink, “you are gorgeous.”

Unsure of what to say you simply smile and step up to the table, watching Jim arrange the balls inside the plastic triangle. “Are you sure you know how to play, angel?” he smirks.

“Are you sure you know how to play, Captain?”

He lines the white ball up with the chalk marker and gestures to you, “ladies first.”

You poke your tongue out at him before taking your stance and leaning over the table. As you place your hand on the felt to line up the cue, pain ripples through your fingers and you can’t help but cringe.

“Are you okay?” Clarke asks again, and you begin to wonder if those were his first words.

“I’m fine.” You regain your focus and bite your cheek to ignore the pain in your fingers, and when you draw the cue back to take the shot, you notice blood seeping through the plasters. Oops.

Despite your injury, you break the triangle perfectly and the balls scatter across the table. One finds its way into the corner pocket, eliciting a cheer from your audience of crewmates and a little squeal from yourself.

“Suck it, Kirk,” you move around the table, “smalls are mine.”

You position yourself for the next shot, stretching onto your toes and leaning halfway across the table in order to properly reach the white ball. You draw the cue back just as a figure steps into view on the other side of the table, your heart leaps once again and your aim falters. The cue hits the ball way off centre and sends it wobbling across the green felt. “Damn it.”

Jim chuckles, “what happened, angel? Your first shot was so good!” His eyes dart from you, to the doctor, and back.

“You suck,” you say, stepping back and holding the cue upright.

With everyone watching Jim’s move intently, you take the chance to glance at your fingers. Pain is pulsing steadily through your hand, nothing excruciating but certainly uncomfortable, and blood blots the white plasters.

Clarke moves to your side once again, “do you need to go to MedBay, or we can ask Dr-”

“Seriously, Clarke, I’m fine,” you say, “I don’t want to bug Dr. McCoy on his night off.” You look over at the man in question, his expression grumpier than usual as his eyes bore into you, but the moment you meet his gaze he looks away. In fact, he turns his entire body and moves toward Spock, who is standing quietly beside Nyota.

“You’re up,” Jim says, drawing your attention back to the game.

You struggle to focus on your shot, your mind replaying the doctor’s face over and over, and wondering why he could possibly be angry with you. It was strange that he hadn’t come to see you yet, to talk to you, it has been a while since you’ve all hung out together like this and you miss him.

You take your shot and somehow sink a ball, and on your second shot you manage to position the white ball in the most inconvenient place for Jim. “I think I may have underestimated you,” he says as he steps forward, wearing a smirk.

After offering Jim a brief but cheeky grin, you decide to make the first move with Leonard. Not in that way, though you did wish you could, but you decide to approach him first and find out if he really is angry with you and if so, what the hell did you do.

You first retrieve two drinks from the bar before sliding up beside him, once again seated in the bar stool beside Spock. “Hey McCoy, thirsty?”

Relief washes over you in a big hot wave when he looks up and his expression breaks into a grin. You’re positive your cheeks have turned beet red, but you don’t care, Leonard McCoy is grinning at you as if you’re the sole reason for his happiness and that’s enough to make you dizzy. Could you imagine if you actually did kiss this man, or sleep with him? You’d probably going into cardiac arrest. Good thing he’s a doctor.

“Hey, angel,” the nickname from his lips is so different than from anyone else’s, and it makes your heart thump even louder in your ears. He takes the drink from your hand and his fingers brush yours, making you wince. His face falls, immediately wondering if he had done something more than take an offered drink or if you were just uncomfortable with his touch – which hurts to think –, but then he notices your plaster-wrapped fingers.

“Y/N,” his voice is a warning, and the fact that he’s using your real name is enough to make you cower... and turn you on a little bit, but that’s something to unpack later.

You hide your injured hand behind your back, “Doctor.”

He stands from the stool and easily towers over you as you begin retreating toward the pool table. “What did you do to your hand?”

At that moment you hear your name called from behind and thank the universe for its timing. “Nothing, Doctor,” you reply, “now if you’ll excuse me.”

You turn quickly and begin hurriedly assessing the arrangement on the table before electing to stay on the side of the table with your back to the grumpy doctor. You bend over and try not to cringe when you position your injured hand on the felt, but the pain is only brief before you realise that you’re fully bent over right in front of Leonard. You’ve dreamt about this more times than you care to admit.

Deciding that you’ve already dug your grave, you might as well lie in it too, you arch your back and stretch a little further, feeling your shorts ride up your thighs. You draw the cue back and take the shot, sending one of your balls and one of Jim’s sailing into opposite corner pockets.

Jim chuckles, “thanks for that, angel.”

“Shut up,” you mutter, as you step around the table.

You can see Leonard now, and his face is a mask of practiced calm, but you know him too well to believe it. That man is undoubtedly flustered. You try not to giggle audibly as you lean down to take your second shot, but the distracting doctor clouds your mind and your aim is completely ruined. The white ball sails across the table without hitting a single other ball.

“Fuck!” you exclaim, at which everyone laughs.

Jim smirks, “what’s wrong, Y/N? Distracted?”

It takes all of your self-control not to throw the pool cue javelin-style across the table. “Get on with it, Kirk.”

You want to talk to Leonard again, but you can feel the plasters on your fingers growing damp with blood.  He was always weird when you got injured, almost panicky despite being a doctor who deals with literal catastrophes on almost a daily basis. You didn’t doubt he would shred you for hurting yourself and not going straight to MedBay, though in your defence you definitely didn’t think the burns were bad enough to blister and bleed.

“Did you want a few pointers?” Clarke asks, almost startling you with how suddenly he’d appeared beside you.

You frown, “with what?”

“The game,” he gestures toward the pool table.

“Oh, uh,” the lieutenant looks like a puppy dog, with wide eyes and a small pout, practically begging you to find him attractive. There are two women across the room wearing matching piercing glares, and you can’t help feeling obliged to accept his help. “Sure.”

He beams with self-confidence and follows you around the table as Jim announces that it’s once again your turn. Thankfully, most of the group has begun to lose interest in the game, settling back into the sofas or going to retrieve more drinks. You can even see Chekov and Sulu playing an intense game of Jenga at the bar.

“Okay, so you want to get a little lower, get your eyes in line with the shot,” Clarke says in your ear, and you start to wonder if this man has any sense of personal space. “Relax a little, you shouldn’t have to arch your back so much.”

You can’t stop yourself from giggling as it bubbles up, but Clarke pays no mind as he practically smothers you with his body to ‘help’ your game.

“Come on, angel,” Jim chuckles, “stop flirting and get on with it.”

Your head snaps toward him and if looks could kill, Jim would be a pile of ash on the ground. At the same time you look toward your captain, Clarke moves your arm to take the shot, since he’s practically controlling your body right now. The aim is way off with you once again distracted, and the white ball haphazardly knocks into a few other balls before sinking into a pocket itself.

You stand abruptly and take several steps away from Clarke. “Damn you, Jim, that’s completely your fault,” you say, pointing at the table.

“Hey,” he puts one hand up in surrender while the other holds his drink, “there were two people controlling that shot and neither of them were me.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” Clarke says, “I didn’t realise you weren’t ready, that’s totally my fault.”

You wave a hand, “don’t worry about it.”

Eager to shake the lieutenant you rush to the bar to get another drink, where you coincidentally find your favourite doctor. “Bones,” you greet him again, holding your injured hand behind your back.

He nods, handing you a bottle before taking an unnecessarily large step back, “so- uh, you and that lieutenant, huh? Jim didn’t tell me you were seeing someone.”

You begin shaking your head before he’s even finished his sentence, “no, no, I- um, I’m not dating that guy, at all. Actually, I barely know him, he just started kind of following me around today, and it’s really weird but I’m too polite to tell him to leave me alone, that’s it.”

Bones frowns, “oh, well- I mean, it’s not really any of my business, so you don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

“Oh,” you nod once, “noted, sorry.”

His words weren’t cruel but you couldn’t help from hearing a bitter undertone. Something about the way he spoke made you feel stupid, and almost irrelevant, like he asked you a question just to be polite and there you were ranting and raving like an oversharing child.

“Wait, Y/N, I didn’t-” his words are cut short, but by what you don’t know as you were already halfway back to the pool table and halfway through the drink you’d only just received.

Jim quickly notices your frown and stops you before you can get to where the white ball is. “Are you okay? What did he say to you?” he asks.

“Nothing, I was just rambling,” you reply, “and I could tell he was getting annoyed so I left him alone.” You wave your hand dismissively, which somehow actually gets Jim to shut up, because he freezes mid-thought and doesn’t move to stop you from walking past.

You drain the rest of the bottle in your hand and discard it on a nearby table before getting ready for your shot. You lean over the table and rest the cue on your hand, the slight amount of alcohol you’ve consumed is only making your aim a little wonky, but you confidently draw the cue and strike the white ball. Shockingly, two of your own balls manage to find the same pocket and sink with a satisfying clunk.

“Did you see that?” you exclaim, turning to Jim only to find him staring blankly at the tabletop. “Are you absolutely stunned at my incredibly skills?”

“Damnit, Y/N,” Leonard says, startling you as he appears beside you and grabs your hand.

You wince as the sting from the pressure and movement ripples up your arm, and only then do you notice that the plasters are completely soaked with blood. “Oh,” you frown and inspect your hand, “that’s weird.”

“What the hell have you done?” he pulls your hand closer to his face and gently prods your middle finger.

You gasp, “ouch!”

The doctor’s frown deepens, and he turns to his best friend, “game’s over, she’s coming with me.”

Despite the situation, Jim still smirks, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He winks as Bones rolls his eyes and tows you out of the room.

You’re a little too scared to speak as he rushes you down the hall and into the turbolift, but as the doors slide closed you realise that he’s basically been holding your hand this whole time. You try desperately to rationalise with yourself and remind yourself that he’s a doctor and your friend, and he’s just doing his job, but the stupid butterflies in your stomach continue to flutter restlessly.

“How did you do it?” he asks, his frown finally softening.

He’s standing right beside you, touching you in several places and your brain struggles to function. “When I fell from heaven?” you ask, and you’re not sure if it’s the alcohol or nerves, but you start giggling.

He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, but you can still see a tiny smirk underneath his hand. “No, angel, I’m not hitting on you right now, I need to know how you hurt your hand.”

“You’re not hitting on me right now, but you will later?”

Bones freezes, his expression torn between frustration and amusement as he considers whether or not the alcohol is influencing your words or not. “If you tell me how you hurt yourself,” he says, “I’ll flirt with you later.”

You grin, and it almost knocks all the air out of his lungs, “promise?”

“I promise.”

The lift’s doors ease open and you recognise the familiar MedBay as Doctor McCoy leads you toward it. It’s quieter than usual and you realise then that it’s actually been a while since anything had gone wrong or blown up. Jim really is getting good and being captain.

Leonard sits you on an empty bed, a hand on each shoulder, as he drags one of the medical carts over with his foot. “Do you want anaesthetic?” he asks.

You scoff, “it’s just a burn, Doctor, I’m not going into labour.”

He chuckles as he begins to unwrap the blood soaked plasters, “so it’s a burn?”

“Yep, soldering iron.”

“Why weren’t you wearing gloves?” his frown returns, “I’m going to kill Scotty, if he-”

In your lightheaded stupor, you press your free hand to his cheek and whisper, “I was wearing gloves.”

“What? Then how did you-”

“Don’t know,” you shrug, “this stupid part has been breaking every a week for almost three months, and every time I have to fix it, it just gets more and more stubborn. It doesn’t want to fuse together.”

“What part?” he asks as he sets the bloody wraps aside.

You glance down at your hand and see nothing but swollen pink flesh and blood; if you were sober, you’d probably have passed out by now. “One of the little filtering chambers from the main deuterium pipeline.”

“Deuterium?” he repeats, angrier than before, “Damnit, Y/N.”

The next thing you know, he’s pressing you back until you’re lying on the bed. A nurse hurries over at his call and then there’s a hypo in your neck. The room starts to blur, but the doctor remains in perfect focus as you fight your heavy eyelids, willing yourself to stay awake.

“It’s okay, angel, you’ll only be out for a minute,” he brushes your hair off your face as you finally lose the fight with the anaesthesia.

Your hand still hurts when you wake up, and you have to blink a few times to get your eyes to focus. The spinning in your head hasn’t stopped and when you sit up to see the grumpy doctor, you still want to giggle. “Hey Bones,” you emphasise his nickname, and you can swear you saw his scowl falter.

“You practically poisoned yourself,” he shakes his head as he carefully packs his equipment away, “deuterium is deadly in the best of cases, but in the bloodstream? You’d have been dead in a day if you didn’t bleed out first. Did it not concern you that the blisters were bleeding? I mean, sure blisters bleed occasionally but not that much, angel.”

Your desire to giggle is dampened and you swing your legs over the side of the bed so you can shuffle closer to the doctor. “I’m sorry,” you say, “I honestly didn’t think about the deuterium contamination, which makes a lot of sense because the filtering chambers are usually one solid piece, not two halves, so whoever installed that is going to get their asshole rip-”

Bones’ laughter stops your rant, and you’re forced to marvel at just how gorgeous this man really is.

“If I knew it was serious, I would have come straight to you,” you say as he helps you off the bed. Your feet are only a little unsteady and your head still dizzy, but that you blame on the ridiculously handsome man in front of you.

“I told you it was serious,” a voice calls from the corridor, and you turn to find Clarke entering the MedBay.

“Great,” Bones mutters, dropping something metal onto the metal tray and making a loud clang before wheeling the cart away.

Clarke walks right up to you and grabs your hand, “how are you feeling?”

“Fine,” you pull your hand back, “like I’ve been telling you all night.”

He chuckles, but it’s awkward, “you’re lucky Dr. McCoy is so good at his job.”

You don’t see it, but you hear Bones scoff, and that’s when your foggy brain finally manages to put two and two together. You almost gasp, but quickly mask it with a deep breath. He’s… jealous.

“He is the single best person aboard this ship,” you say, trying to ignore the warmth pooling in your cheeks. If it wasn’t for the alcohol still coursing through your blood and probably a little of the anaesthetic, you know you’d never have the guts to be so forward.

“The single best?” Clarke asks. You almost feel sorry for the guy, attempting to remain light-hearted as if he could convince himself that the way he saw you looking at the doctor was something platonic.

“Single best,” you repeat, at which Bones can’t help but smirk.

Clarke chuckles awkwardly again before gesturing toward the turbolift, “did you want to go back? The others are still playing and I’m sure they’ll be excited to see you’ve survived.”

“I guess,” you look back at Bones, “are you coming?”

He nods, “yeah, I’ll just finish packing up here. You two go ahead.”

Clarke tugs on your hand and you reluctantly follow him into the corridor and toward the lift. The doors open and you step inside, subtly pulling your hand out of his and trying to create more of a distance between the two of you.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks again.

You sigh, “yes, I am. I just-” he looks like a puppy dog, and you almost feel ungrateful for what you’re about to say. “Clarke, you’re really cool, and I’m sorry if I have completely misread the situation and if what I’m about to say is totally wrong, but I’m just not into you the way you want me to be.”

His face falls, and guilt washes over you, but then the doors of the lift begin to beep angrily as you stand between them preventing them from closing.

“Y/N, I-”

“I’m sorry,” you interrupt him and step back into the corridor, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The doors close and the lift begins its ascent. You take half a second to swallow your guilt before turning around and practically running back to the MedBay. Bones is almost exactly where you left him, though instead of cleaning up the mess he’d made while helping you, he was leaning against the bench with his face in his hands and letting out a long sigh.

“Am I that exhausting?” you ask.

He startles, but a smile quickly breaks across his face when he sees you, “you scared me, angel.”

“Sorry,” you cross the room as you speak, “I just couldn’t leave you to clean up after me, it didn’t seem fair.”

He chuckles, but its short, “what about your boyfriend? I don’t want to ruin-”

“Gross, no.”

“No?” he frowns.

You shake your head, “seriously, no, he’s not my type.”

“You have a type?” his lips quirk into a smirk.

“Yep,” you’re standing beside him now, facing him and leaning your hip on the bench, “I prefer brunettes.”

He rubs a hand down his face, as if trying to wipe away his grin, “well, I’m sure there are plenty of willing brunette lieutenants down in engineering.”

“Not my type either,” you say, unabashedly studying the doctor’s profile as you stand so close.

He chuckles, properly, and it makes your stomach flip, “so lieutenants aren’t your type?”

“Not that part,” you reply, “you said ‘willing’ but my type is more unwilling. You know, the avoidant, sarcastic, grumpy type.”

He sighs again, as if it’s taking all of his strength to remain composed, but he finally turns to you and you can feel his breath on your neck as he speaks. “Is that so?”

You nod, “yep, and you know what else?”

You’re both leaning in, and the air between you is electric. “What else, angel?”

“I’m a sucker for doctors.”

That’s enough for Leonard. He closes the distance before you can take a breath and presses his mouth against yours. It’s rushed, but sweet, and your bodies snap together like two magnets. Your arms wrap around his neck as his circle your waist and squeeze, making your heart race impossibly fast. When you pull apart, reluctantly, your vision blurs and your head spins, and you realise that the only reason your still standing is thanks to Leonard.

“I’m a sucker for accident prone engineers,” he whispers.

You giggle, “is that so?”

He kisses you again, several times, before kissing each of your cheeks and moving your bodies so that he is trapping you against the bench, turning your giggles into almost uncontrollable laughter.

“Did you still want to go back to the others?” he asks, pressing his body against yours in the most delicious way.

“I can think of about ten other things we could do,” you bite your lip.

“Really?” he kisses you again, “because I can think of about a hundred.”

END.

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. last night we watched ds9's "favor the bold" and "sacrifice of angels."

favor the bold:

worf rescuing dax during these wartime bits is EXTREMELY sweet. i think this is like 2 or 3 times now? he loves her 🥺

i love all the big cgi shots of all the different ships...i feel like i could look at those forever just noticing the various differences

quark in this episode......................

quark e kira in charge of breaking rom out. quark/kira. QUARK/KIRA! odo who? he sucks. fuck odo.

i don't mean it. i'm actually going to try as hard as i can to forgive him because it would be too exhausting to hate him until the end of the series. but FUCK ODO!!! kira doesn't need him...quark is right there...

like, odo being busy in his room fucking the mommy changeling or whatever while rom was in JAIL and kira and odo weren't allowed to see him!!!! fuck off

THE BRIG SCENE???? where rom my king rom was like. like quark was fucking. TRYING TO COMFORT HIM? and rom was just like. brother you cannot save me from execution you've got to focus on saving everyone else first. and quark was like what the fuck is wrong with you. and then proceeded to save everyone else first???

AND THEN. HE FOOLED? DAMAR? INTO THINKING HE WAS ON HIS SIDE?

kira was also in amazing form this episode. first of all, her fucking beating damar to a pulp and daring him to do anything about it. her getting ziyal to finally turn on her dad. and most of all telling odo to sit on it and spin. literally go fuck your mother. she's amazing

nog!!! nog's little promotion. wah. about time.

sacrifice of angels:

WORMHOLE ALIENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm actually really nervous about it cuz sisko was like bajor is my home when i retire when i go home it's gonna be to bajor and they were like you will never find peace in bajor :)

it was still really cool to see them again though. i'm fucking obsessed

and like...imagine being kira, or any bajoran. and you work with sisko for five years and he's like man cmon im not jesus. stop treating me like im jesus. i dont believe in that shit. and then he goes into the wormhole to face down 2800 enemy ships and vaporizes them with his mind. buddy you're not beating the jesus allegations anytime soon or like ever

QUARK IN THIS EPISODE ALSO. everything up to him because everyone else got thrown in jail for being rom sympathizers. him kidnapping ziyal for help was brilliant. they made a good team for .5 seconds. i love also that he 1. murdered two guys 2. freaked the fuck out about it, which is exactly what he did in that one episode with the klingon lady

also, QUARK E KIRA!!!! "i'd kiss you quark but" NO! KISS HIM!!!!!!!!!!

ziyal......girl, rip. she got there in the end i guess. but holy shit, i didn't realize damar had it in him. if im being honest im glad they killed her and not rom, it looked dangerously close to heading that way i know i checked up on him on memory alpha but STILL

what was really fun about it was dukat snapping. that wasn't where i saw his arc going but him totally losing it and then giving sisko back the baseball vs sisko triumphantly taking the baseball back...wow. that prop held so much weight over these 6 episodes and i was wondering how it was gonna pay off and it paid off REAL good

odo's change of heart.....................................

look. in theory, i LOVE him having a struggle and coming down on the side of the federation because of, primarily, kira. i just think his "betrayal" came out of nowhere, he was instantly telling this mommy changeling all his deepest secrets and then linking with her without any lead up or build up. if he had been struggling beforehand, if he had still been human and wanted it taken away from him, this i would understand. but his "betrayal" had no meat to it, so his change of heart doesn't feel very meaningful either. so like i want to care but i don't.

that said, when she asked why he changed his mind and he said "i think you know the answer" that was. pretty good. that was pretty good. it makes me hopeful that odo and i can get past this very rough place in our relationship :(

TONIGHT: finally back to voyager to catch up on all the voyager we skipped to watch ds9 three nights in a row. we got "day of honor" and "nemesis," for realsies this time

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 095 - A fun day at the Zoo

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 0 Episode 1 - The Cage

One final stop between Enterprise and discovery is the pilot of the Original Series which set a decade before the rest of of the original series. A few of you have already explained to me why, but I still think it's at least a little bit weird. But anyway, this is my first foray into 60's Trek, lets see how I get on.

We're not given much introduction to our new crew before this version of Enterprise encounters a distress signal from a ship that had to make a crash landing on an uninhabited planet. The signal however was sent a long time ago, so with no indication of survivors, the Captain, presumably the Captain Pike from the Spock Short Trek, decides to ignore it.

Also: Finally an explanation for what a Class M planet is! That phrase was used a few times in Enterprise, and now I'm happy that I know what it means beyond just something vaguely Earth-like.

Apparently, our Captain is considering resigning and has becoming jaded with the responsibility of captaining, which is an incredibly different outlook from Archer. Also the fact that the ship's Doctor doubles as a mixologist is hilarious to me, I hope he gets to stick around. As Captain Pike and the doctor finish having a heart to heart though, the Bridge crew find signs of survivors, so Enterprise enters Warp 7 (Seven!!!), and heads to Talos the rescue them.

A team of six is transported down to the planet for the rescue. The planet itself is a classic desert planet. bit of sand, some rocks, but this thing that stood out to me is it's done in a studio. I was expecting something equivalent to the Doctor Who Welsh Gravel Quarry method of creating an alien planet. That said, for 60's TV pilot, it looks great.

We find the survivors of the crashed ship, but appearntly the crew is being watched. Again, I'm impressed by the quality of the alien make up here. Perhaps 60's Who's shoestring budgets set my expectations of what 60's TV Sci Fi was visually capable of, but they look really good. They even look better than some Enterprise's less interesting designs. They've even got some kind of pulsing effect on heads, which looked amazing.

I really like they way Vina acts just acts really distant, like a scientist interacting with an object of study, but then starts going off about a secret, is unsettling is a really good way, although I kinda wish it was left to build a while longer. She leads Pike away, and then survivors just vanish and the Big Brained aliens kidnap the captain.

Pike then wakes up in a glass enclosure, like a Zoo, and is apprently due to be experimented on. From that concept, I thought the episode was going to be an exploration of humanity's relationship with animals, and there is some element of that, but the main focus is on Pike's character. The Aliens start projecting illusions of different scenarios into his mind, starting with the memories of his most recent mission.

It's really interesting to see Pike's thought process play out. He knows this is an illusion and until much later is under the impression that Vina is an illusion, but still fights the illusion to protect her, and I loved how he took apart what's happening as fight is happening. Probing why an illusion would be frightened.

I really like the Talosians as a concept for a species. A species that has all this power, but just uses it to sit around to get entertainment in false realities. And I love the way Pike is just quick to figure out their exact powers and limits. It's also just heartbreaking to see how broken on to the situation that Vina is. It was here that I also kind noticed a bit commentary on viewers relationship with TV through the Talosians, which is a great theme to explore, but kind of a bold choice for your TV Shows Pilot Episode.

Enterprise tries to transports down a small rescue party into the alien zoo, but the Talosians block everyone except the women, to give Pike a choice. Spock makes the decision to leave, but the Talosians seem to also shut down Enterprise's power, then start taking all information from Enterprise's database.

I absolutely loved this episode. It had a few 60's-isms, but I was expecting those. It's conclusion just being kind of "Wow Humans don't like being slaves" felt a bit rushed, it didn't seem like they really cared about that until the end, but I still enjoyed myself here. Pike was really the only cast member here who left any sort of impression on me, but I liked him for the most part.

Anyways, I start Discovery tomorrow, which different century, different crew and different ship. It'll my first delve into Star Trek's really recent stuff, minus the short treks yesterday, and I'm excited.

[electronickingdomfox]

"Crisis on Centaurus" review

Novel from 1986, by Brad Ferguson. This one has a very "80's American action movie" feel. From the terrorist attack on a country incidentally called "New America", to the incursion into the Pentagon (I mean, the "Centaurus Defense Center"), up to the obligatory car chase (only that they're flying cars). There are also plenty of references to American brands, that supposedly would have survived into the 23rd century. Though the constant mention of money seems a bit weird (I thought money was a thing from the past in Star Trek? Might be wrong, though). Also, the terrorists are racists that want to see their country free of alien influences (and it's made abundantly clear that for them, "alien influences" include also any non-white human). It's a fast-paced novel, and keeps the reader's attention at all times, though I don't think there's much more to it than that.

The cover would suggest that Joanna McCoy plays a big role in the story. In reality, she appears very, very little, the same as her father. The other characters, however, get a fair amount of exposure, including Uhura (who gets the con for a large part of the story), Scotty (who's given an even more Scottish engineer partner), Chekov (with his own mini-romance subplot) and Sulu. As it's usual with many of these novels, Kirk seemed to me a bit off. At times, he's more Bruce Willis than Kirk here. And I have difficulty imagining him as a land-owner who's been investing in the Centaurian countryside all these years (if the movies had shown anything at this point, it's that Kirk's heart was never on land). Anyway, I don't know why getting Kirk right is so hard, while Spock and McCoy are usually fine; it might be due to the subtleties of Kirk's character. Another noteworthy thing, is that this novel often presents the thoughts of the characters, to a greater degree than other books.

Spoilers under the cut:

The first chapter already sets things into motion at a breakneck pace. A suspicious guy is waiting in the New Athens spaceport (a city of New America, in the planet Centaurus). When two policemen recognize him as a certain Holtzman, he gets arrested, and in a panic, he activates a minuscule piece of antimatter inside the box... A microsecond later, New Athens doesn't exist anymore, being replaced by a giant, smoldering crater.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise is having problems of its own. The computers have been completely fucked up, and nobody knows why: there's no air circulation, no temperature regulation, no artificial gravity, nothing... The scene of everybody floating around, while Sulu's scalding shower water floats through the corridors as a giant ball, is actually pretty funny. Scotty and his new partner, MacPherson, manage to reestablish some sense of order, but the ship is seriously crippled. Repairs will have to wait, though, since Starfleet orders the Enterprise to assist in the Centaurus crisis. There's been at least a million deaths in the explosion; possibly among them several relatives of the crew, including McCoy's daughter: Joanna. However, the tachyon cloud released by the antimatter explosion has made all subspace communications impossible, so Centaurus is isolated. For his part, Spock investigates the computer malfunction, and finds out a mysterious hole that has pierced several computer banks at exactly the same point; however, he can't make heads or tails of it.

Upon approaching Centaurus, they discover that other relief ships in orbit have been reduced to debris. And a transmission through conventional radio (the only radio that can penetrate the tachyon cloud) warns the Enterprise not to approach. Sure enough, the ship is attacked by a nuclear missile from Centaurus. It seems the Defense Center has gone crazy after the explosion, and now launches missiles at any approaching ship, friend or foe. Fortunately, the Defense computers consider the Enterprise anihillated after the first strike, so they don't continue the attack. Kirk leaves in a shuttle with Sulu, to meet with the new government at the temporary capital of McIverton. While Spock leaves with Chekov in another shuttle, to investigate the Defense Center and deactivate the missile system.

There's a brief interlude, that presents some suspicious guys (led by this Barclay dude) hiding at a safe house. It's obvious they're related to the terrorist attack, and Barclay instructs some of his goons to meet with a certain person, and force him to cooperate.

In McIverton, Kirk meets with the new president, the Minister of Defense, and the Minister of Internal Security (Nathaniel Burke). The president explains that the terrorist attack was done by a racist political group, led by the scientist Holtzman, to get more power for his group.

At the Defense Center, Spock is unable to reprogram the computer to differentiate between friendly and hostile ships. So he's like "well, let's blow up this bazillion missiles in the sun and problem solved!" (and yeah, this is totally in-character for Spock; the guy is that crazy sometimes). Thus, Spock expands the defense area of the computer to include Alpha Centauri, the computer interprets the sun as a hostile element, and launches all the remaining missiles at it. Poof! After solving this problem, Spock takes the shuttle to the northern area of New Athens, where there have been some survivors. A makeshift hospital has been established in a park, and there they find Joanna working as a nurse, safe and sound. There's a moving reunion between her and McCoy, who stays behind to help the injured. While Spock's shuttle makes trips to the Enterprise to bring medical supplies.

At McIverton, Kirk is visited at his hotel by the lawyer Samuel Cogley (from the episode Court Martial). Cogley explains that he was approached by Barclay to defend them at a Federation trial, and not on Centaurus (which has a death penalty for terrorism). And Kirk, despite not having the slightest sympathy for the criminals, considers that the matter belongs in a Federation court and vows to fulfill his duty. However, that same morning, Sulu appears drugged in bed, and the hotel surrounded by Burke's men. The Minister isn't going to let the terrorists off the hook, since he lost his family in the explosion. Kirk, Sulu and Cogley make a frantic escape in a flying car (well, not so frantic for Sulu, who's still sleeping like a log). They retrieve Barclay and his men, and take refuge in Kirk's cabin in Garrovick Valley (a beautiful, secluded forest area that Kirk bought a long time ago).

In the final part, Kirk and his companions barricade themselves inside the cabin, surrounded by Burke's troops. Until the Enterprise, having received a faint distress signal from the cabin, comes to the rescue... by entering the godamn atmosphere!! (didn't I say earlier that Spock's totally nuts?). Cogley decides to just bring the terrorists to the Federation, but not represent them, when it's made obvious that they were also involved in Holtzman's attack. The rest of the antimatter bombs, that the terrorists kept as leverage, are also identified and deactivated. While New Athens is slowly reconstructed, by the joint effort of the locals and new relief ships from all over the Federation.

As for the strange holes in the Enterprise computer banks... Spock ends up concluding that they were caused by a minuscule black hole, which existed just for a fraction of second, and the Enterprise traversed at warp speed. Does it mean that, at any time, at any place, a mini-black hole could appear out of nowhere and just pierce you like that!? That's the stuff of nightmares, really...

Spirk Meter: 5/10*. Kirk wants to show Spock his "special, secret place" (no! not THAT!, I mean his valley at Centaurus). Kirk considers that Spock would appreciate its aesthetic beauty, and invites him to stay there with him as long as he wants. Spock is also a bit hurt because Kirk didn't tell him about the valley earlier. Actually, the rating could be a bit higher, considering that the cabin is said to have just a twin bed, and a massage bed for two. Apart from this, Kirk notices things about Spock that nobody else seems to see (like Spock swallowing nervously sometimes). The two of them interact very little in the novel, though, since they take separate paths.

Some Spones too. When Spock meets Joanna, he finds her strikingly similar to McCoy and... magnificient. He thinks of her as a "softer McCoy, pretty without glamour", which says a little about how he sees the doctor himself. Also, when McCoy is in emotional turmoil upon learning that Joanna is alive, after so many days of uncertainty, Spock says to himself: "I know that feeling well, Doctor. Draw strength from me, if you need it." (only that McCoy has no telepathy so... how is he going to hear that!?).

And then there's the McKirk. A flashback chapter presents a young Ensign Kirk recovering from a wound at a starbase hospital. There he first meets this kind Dr. McCoy, who helps him through the painful months of recovery. After Kirk is healed, McCoy invites him to stay with him at Centaurus, where his daughter lives with some relatives. And McCoy brings Jim to these beautiful woods and wilderness areas, just the two of them and Joanna, and well... you know. It's even more evident, because McCoy is relieved upon seeing that Joanna approves of Jim (seems like the little girl was troublesome with most of her daddy's dates). Too bad for poor McCoy, that Kirk ends up inviting a pretty nurse (and then Spock) to his cabin, and not him...

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[disgruntledexplainer]

bad tropes

I have so much trouble enjoying science fiction and historical fiction nowadays. My stupid college education is getting in the way. things that go through my head:

-no, you can’t harvest zero-point energy from a vacuum; you need an energy gradient to do that.

-wormholes are supposed to be spheres

-no, aliens did not build the pyramids for goodness sake

-no, the church did not declare science heretical in the middle ages

-why is the middle east just a big desert in this?

-if you converted somebody’s body into energy to teleport them, you would literally just be killing and cloning them; not to mention that you would essentially be turning them into a nuclear bomb. Also, perfectly recording that information is basically impossible because of the uncertainty principle

-while on the topic of star trek, I feel like that franchise takes the prize for “the most hilariously unrealistic and over-optimistic depiction of a space-faring civilization in fiction”.

-why is everyone breaking formation in this medieval battlefield? and where are all the pikes?

-that... is not how people dressed back then in that region.

-no, hyperspace isn’t white

-just... everything about “pym particles” and the “quantum realm” in marvel

-*sigh* no, the inquisition was not burning witches in the middle ages.

-stop calling it the dark ages, I BEG you

-nobody takes conservation of mass seriously

-no, making objects and creatures out of “pure energy” isn’t a thing

-ninjas refusing to use guns because “honor” LOL what the fuck they’re ASSASSINS