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beatrice-otter · 2 months

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Fic: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

fandom5k authors have revealed! So I can reveal what I wrote. First of all, thank you to my recip violet_pencil for having some great prompts, that was lovely. It's such a help to get an idea that inspires me, but which I also know my recip will also like. The relationship and pairing sent me in a direction I'd never considered before, and also I think in the process I figured out a bit more of why the Prophets are the way they are and why Sisko is important to them.

Title: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Author: Beatrice_otter Fandom: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Characters: James T. Kirk, Benjamin Sisko Written For: violet_pencil in Fandom 5k 2024 Rating: Gen Length: 5,787 words Betaed by: Greenygal

On AO3. On Squidgeworld. On Ad Astra. On Dreamwidth. Rebloggable on Pillowfort.

Benjamin Sisko was watching the heat death of the universe. Benjamin Sisko was helping the Bantaca Spire be erected in B'Hala. Benjamin Sisko was trying to comfort Kasidy over his entering the Celestial Temple, and failing because he could not collect enough of himself in one time and one place to give her the attention and care she needed. Benjamin Sisko was watching Cardassian soldiers use tractor beams and force-fields to remove the Orb of Harmony from the ruins of the monastery at Choddosh. Benjamin Sisko was in the Celestial Temple, teaching the Prophets about linearity for the first time using baseball as a metaphor. Benjamin Sisko was watching Kai Kira direct the Vedek Assembly to begin considering her successor, because she was going to retire to the monastery of Basyo Ume in nine weeks. Benjamin Sisko was watching the star that would one day be named B'hava'el coalesce and begin to burn.

Benjamin Sisko was no longer corporeal, but he had a headache anyway.

"The Sisko is overwhelmed."

Ben turned to face the Prophet who had once possessed his biological mother. "Yes," he said.

"Why?" she asked. "The Sisko is no longer linear."

"But I am," he said. "Not as linear as I once was, but … if I had left it behind completely, you would not be wearing that face, or speaking."

The Prophets had no language; they didn't need it. Individuality, like linearity, was something the Prophets didn't quite understand. They needed language no more than the different spores of a fungus needed it. What one knew, or thought, the others could sense as part of themselves.

"The Sisko has many tasks to perform," the Prophet said. She studied him. "The Sisko is doing them well. Yet the Sisko is overwhelmed."

Ben thought it through. "I am doing them well—because you see them as I am doing them, in the future, from my perspective."

"Yes," she said.

"You're asking … how is it that you know I am capable of doing things and learning your way of seeing the universe, but am also having problems."

"Yes."

"That's not how it works for linear beings," Benjamin said. "We develop and grow over time. We learn things. We start out, as infants, knowing nothing and capable of nothing. As we grow, we gain skills and knowledge by trying, by failing, by doing things many times until we have mastered a skill."

Ben brought them to the park where his father was teaching him how to throw a baseball. Five-year-old Benjamin had thrown other things, of course, but nothing with the same size and mass and heft. Most of his throws went wild, and Joseph patiently practiced with him, giving him tips, encouraging him.

Ben and the Prophet watched the child he had been over months and years, learning to throw the ball, learning to hit a ball off a tee, learning to hit a ball thrown at him.

"These tasks are more difficult for you because your body is not fully developed," the Prophet observed.

"True," Ben said, and moved them to the Academy gym where he had learned hand-to-hand combat. "But when I learned to fight, I was at the peak of my physical prowess. Adult but young, strong, dedicated—I'd done running and weightlifting and other sports in high school. And still," he nodded at his younger self, "you see how I struggled. How much time and effort and practice it took me to learn how to do it. Academically, it was the same. I learned a great deal in my time at the Academy—because I studied. Because I practiced using the knowledge."

They watched him in flight simulators, in classrooms, and finally in holodeck models of various ships learning to fix everything from hull breaches to fluctuations in the warp core. "When I started with the practical engineering scenarios, I knew the books backwards and forwards, because I'd spent months—years—preparing and learning everything I could about ships. Even so, learning to translate that to practical action took time, and repetition."

"The Sisko has had time to learn here," the Prophet said. "The Sisko has all of time to learn here.

"But all of it at once."

The Prophet studied him. "You want something smaller. Simpler. A … 'beginner project.'"

"That would be very helpful," Ben said.

The Prophet took them to a place that was like the Celestial Temple, but smaller. It, too, was outside of time and space; it, too, was anchored to one physical location (though that physical location traveled through the galaxy and would one day pass beyond it). Still, it was more tightly bounded; the connections to time and space were weaker. And it was … simpler. It was alive, but it had no sentience.

The Prophet observed the place she'd shown him, and he could sense her affection for it. And her frustration. Very like the way his sister Judith had looked at her dog Sadie when Sadie had chewed up her slippers.

There were people in the simpler anomaly, but they were not like the Prophets. They could not see it for what it was.

"How did they get in here?" he asked, scrutinizing them. "They're not from here, they're linear. Corporeal." Although not very linear; they tended to replay the same few events, time after time. Whole worlds in a bottle, visions that they could not always tell from reality.

"This ribbon does not have the capacity to make its entrance safe for things and beings of matter," the Prophet said, pointing out the great rip in space and time that was the point where the infinite interfaced with the finite.

Ben studied it, and saw the problem, and also realized that he knew this anomaly. Not from his time in the Celestial Temple, seeing all of space and time, but from a report that had crossed his desk three years into his time on Deep Space Nine. It had been flagged for him because of a few superficial similarities to the wormhole, but the most interesting thing about it had been … "Kirk," he said.

James T. Kirk had come out of the Nexus to help Picard save the Veridian system, and died in the process.

So what, Ben wondered, was he doing still in the Nexus after that point? The Prophet's attention had turned elsewhere; Ben could have asked her or any Prophet, for they were all connected to each other and to him.

But this was meant to be a learning experience, and Ben thought he would rather figure it out on his own. He dove into the Nexus, and was relieved to find that while it was infinite and nonlinear, like the Celestial Temple, it was at least a smaller infinity. Ben could wrap himself up in it and be slightly less overwhelmed.

There were Prophets here, too, though it was not their home. It was … a place of retreat? Regeneration? And they liked it best when the Nexus responded to their desires, not the desires of the corporeal, linear beings trapped inside it.

Ben's job, he realized, would be to clean it up. Put the linear beings back in the linear world, and hopefully arrange things so that they would stop falling into it. Or being killed by it.

He had all of time and space to work with—and this time, he had the opportunity to actually talk with the great Captain Kirk without having to worry about the Department of Temporal Investigations. Ben entered into Kirk's environment, and breathed a sigh of relief as it helped him gather all of himself into one moment and setting.

Kirk was sitting at a campfire, drinking a cup of coffee. He was older and stockier than he'd been when Ben had gotten his autograph at Deep Space Station K-7. He was not alone; Ambassador Spock was with him, and another man Ben recognized after a moment's contemplation as Doctor Leonard McCoy.

Neither man was actually there, of course; these were phantoms of Kirk's own mind given form by the Nexus. Kirk watched them bicker, and there was a hunger in his eyes.

Ben studied him with senses he had not possessed as a corporeal, wholly-linear being. This was not all of Kirk, he realized, but rather a fragment of him, left behind when he had left the Nexus. Kirk knew where he was, he knew none of this was real; he knew that he was alone. Given his limited perception of the Nexus, that wasn't enough to free himself.

Ben gave himself a physical body and stepped forward through the trees to the edge of the clearing.

"Hello," he said.

Kirk looked up. His companions continued their conversation, like holograms set to limited interactions. "You're new," he said. "Are you real?"

"I am," Ben said.

"You've got a Starfleet badge," Kirk said. "If you want me to help save someone or something from the Nexus I'd love to, but the last time I tried it didn't actually work. We tried to leave the Nexus and nothing happened."

"But it did," Ben said. "You and Captain Picard left the Nexus and saved Veridian IV, although you died in the process. The problem is, the Nexus is not so easy to leave. Part of you remained here."

Kirk wiped a hand over his face.

Sisko gave him a moment. How much time had it been, subjectively, for Kirk? Did he feel like it was only moments since he'd met Picard, or had he felt the years in between?

"I'm glad it worked," Kirk said. "Although part of me wishes Picard never came and told me where I was. Being trapped here was a lot nicer when I didn't know it was a trap and none of this was real. I don't suppose you have a way out of here?"

"I do," Ben said. "It's complicated, and I'm trying to figure out the best way of handling it."

Kirk waved a hand, and they were in a briefing room done with mid-23rd-Century aesthetics. Kirk himself was younger, in a gold tunic, just as he had been when Ben first met him. "If there's one thing I've got, it's time. How can I help?" He gave a wry smile.

Ben took a seat at the conference table. He could think this through on his own, of course, but it would be more interesting to do it with Kirk, and get the legend's perspective. If his adolescent self could see him now, he would be so jealous. "I'm Captain Benjamin Sisko, former commander of space station Deep Space Nine, near a planet called Bajor. I've been … adopted into a group of noncorporeal energy beings called the Prophets, who live outside of time and space and experience it all at the same time, instead of in a linear progression from one moment to the next."

"Sounds confusing," Kirk said, with the knowing air of someone who had met more than his fair share of strange things over the course of his career.

"It can be," Ben admitted. "But it means I have a much better understanding of the Nexus than you do, and can manipulate it to get everyone trapped here out of it."

"So what's the problem?" Kirk asked.

"The problem is, I'm still a Starfleet officer, sworn to uphold the Federation charter and Starfleet regulations … including the Temporal Prime Directive." Ben spread his hands. "But the Temporal Prime Directive was not designed for beings who experience time in a non-linear fashion."

Kirk cocked his head. "It assumes that you're from a specific point in time, and shouldn't change anything before that time. But if you experience all of time at once …"

"… then that doesn't work," Ben said. "Either nothing I do is temporal interference, because I'm from every bit of time I'm affecting; or everything I do is temporal interference, because I am outside of time."

"If you take all of us in here and drop us off back in the real world, no matter what time you do it, we're going to change things merely by being alive again." He looked off into space, and Ben remembered Dulmer and Lucsly's revilement of him. What had Kirk learned in those seventeen separate temporal violations?

"I could make it so that you never get swept up into the Nexus in the first place," Ben said. "But what would change because you lived? I have no idea, and you didn't live your life on a small scale—even in retirement, you could well change something major. But that applies to any point I drop you off at. Or I could take this fragment of you here, and reunite it with your whole self as you saved the Veridian system … but then you'd die."

"I don't mind dying for a good cause, but I'd rather not die if I have a choice about it," Kirk said wryly.

"And I'd rather not kill you," Ben said. "I might be able to reunite you in such a way that it changed things just enough that you wouldn't die then, but it would change things from the perspective of the time I became nonlinear—which is, I suspect, the point the Department of Temporal Investigations will use as their reference, when I return to linear, corporeal existence."

"Department of Temporal Investigations?" Kirk asked.

"That's right, they didn't exist yet in your time," Ben said. The DTI had been a fairly late development, with breaches of the Temporal Prime Directive handled by the regular Federation legal system, at first. "Lucky you. They're a department of the Federation—not Starfleet—that exists to police time travel incidents. But of course by the time they hear of something, it's already happened. And then they show up and you have to justify every detail of the mission." He shuddered. He'd gotten off lightly.

"Surely they can't be that bad," Kirk said. "It's never fun to justify yourself to bureaucrats, but there's worse things."

"True," Ben said. "But they can put in a report that will kill your career, if they don't like how you handled it, and they have no sense of humor. I was lucky, I only had to deal with them the once, and it was after a mission that had gone off without a hitch." He sighed. "And my career is well and truly off the rails in any case—officially, Starfleet has me on detached duty while I'm outside of linear time, but when I go back to corporeal existence … I'll have to resign my commission."

"Have to?" Kirk said delicately.

"I have … religious obligations, that I put off while we were at war with the Dominion," Ben said. "Even if I could do both, I have to be in the Bajor system, or close to it, and the only post there for a Starfleet captain is the command I had before I became … this." Ben gestured at himself. "From their perspective, I'm gone for … awhile. I don't know exactly how long; it's hard to judge such things, when you aren't linear." Though inside the Nexus, space and time were small and limited enough that he had a better idea. His heart sank; it was going to be longer than he had hoped. "Someone else is given command after I join the Prophets. She does a great job, but I can't just go back to my former command. Which means … resigning from Starfleet."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kirk said. "I'm sure you're a fine officer."

Ben smiled. "Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you. I don't regret having to leave Starfleet; I almost did once before, and I have much better reasons to do so now. Still … it'll be a change."

"I do," Kirk said. "Regret having to leave Starfleet. Well, I regret having to stop serving on starships; I've been an admiral, and while I can do the work, it's not for me. I'd rather be retired than chained to a desk. But I've had a purpose all my life. Important things to do—exploring, taking care of my crew, serving the Federation. Reasons to get up out of bed in the morning, reasons to feel satisfied and accomplished when I go to bed at night. Things that matter. Things that are worth doing." He sighed. "I'm sure it'll be worse in the future. In my own time, I have my friends. In the future—well, they'll all be dead, except maybe Spock, depending on when you drop me off."

Depending on how long it took Ben to fulfill his mission with the Prophets, and how well he was able to time his re-embodiment, he might be facing similar concerns. He pushed the thought aside, as he had been doing since he had entered the wormhole. There was nothing he could do about it either way, or at least, not until he learned more about the way his time in the Celestial Temple really worked. "I wish I could drop you off back when you came from." He shook his head. "It's not the Department of Temporal Investigations I'm worried about, not really. You see, in my time, we just finished a war with a very dangerous enemy, the Dominion, who not only almost conquered the Federation, but all of the Alpha Quadrant along with us—Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, everyone. It took a miracle—literally—to win, on more than one occasion. My time with the Prophets is part of the price of that miracle. I can't jeopardize the Federation's survival, and unfortunately seeing all of space and time at once isn't enough for me to accurately predict possible effects to the timeline if I change things in the Federation or its neighbors before that victory. I see all of what is; I don't see very many of the possibilities of what might be different."

"Thank you for your honesty," Kirk said. He cocked his head and gave half a smile. "Well, I've sacrificed more for less worthy causes before. And I deeply understand about consequences you can't foresee even from something that seems like a good thing at the time."

"Oh?" Ben said. "That sounds like there's a story there."

"There is," Kirk said, and told a story about being trapped in the 1930s on Earth, and the horror of realizing that in order to save Earth from being conquered by Nazis, they had to let a deeply good person die.

Part of Ben watched it happen, even as part of him sat with Kirk in the Nexus and listened. Part of Ben reflected that Kirk was very lucky that he and the other two trapped in the past with him—Spock and McCoy, of course—could all pass for white, in 20th Century terms.

"Of course, later on, I realized that we didn't have to let Edith die after all," Kirk said, looking down and off to the side. "We could have brought her with us to the future; that would have stopped her from peace advocacy in the 1930s just as surely as her death did. She would have loved the future. She would have loved to see Earth at peace, with no hunger or want or any of the things she spent her life working to help."

With very little prodding, that led to stories of some of Kirk's other adventures in time, and other adventures in general. Ben thoroughly enjoyed the stories, particularly since he could watch them as they happened, and see the ways in which Kirk shaped the story as he told it.

"So why are you so interested in my exploits?" Kirk asked at last. "It's not that I mind telling stories, and I'm glad to talk to someone who isn't a figment of my imagination for once, but … it's hardly helping you figure out what to do about all of us stuck in here."

Ben shrugged. "The Prophets aren't what you'd call great conversationalists," he said. "And they don't really understand me or my concerns. And it's hard, being non-linear, to talk with people who are experiencing only one point of time—the Nexus makes it easier, believe it or not. It touches all of space and time, but … it's a smaller infinity, than the Celestial Temple is."

"You're lonely, too," Kirk said.

"Yes," Ben said. "When the Prophets took me, I had to leave behind my wife and children, my family, all of my friends—and you know how the officers you serve with become your family."

"I do," Kirk said. "I always knew that everything would turn out fine, as long as I had Spock and Bones with me. And it was true—when I went into the Nexus, I was alone. When I helped Picard stop Soran, I was alone."

"When I went to stop Dukat and the Pah-wraiths, I was alone," Ben said, nodding. "I stopped the Pah-wraiths and sealed them forever in the Fire Caves—they won't get to burn the universe. They'll never be able to do it; the universe will end before they are released. I'll even get to go home to my family and friends, one day. When I've finished my work for the Prophets."

"But in the meantime, you're alone," Kirk said.

"Yes," Ben said. "It's been … pleasant, to sit and talk with someone who understands."

"I'm glad to have been helpful," Kirk said. "But the sooner you get your work done, the sooner you'll be able to go back home."

"It doesn't quite work like that, when you're outside of linear time," Ben said. "But I take your point." He considered the Nexus thoughtfully. "If it had emissions that were just a bit stronger in both radio and subspace bands, more people would see it with enough time to avoid it," he said. "And if I make that adjustment early enough in the ribbon's journey through the universe, that would prevent a lot of the people in it from ever encountering it closely in the first place."

"That would definitely change the timeline," Kirk observed. "Weren't you the one who was worried about timeline changes? What if one of them is a Hitler? Or an Edith Keeler? How do you know how it will turn out?"

Ben spread his hands. "If I prevent them from going into the Nexus at all, that will change history. But it will also change history if I dump them out of it at random points in time—only then, they would be lost decades or centuries or millennia out of their own time. The fact that it won't change the past of the Federation from my perspective before I became non-linear does not mean that it won't change things. What right do I have to make my personal linear lifetime as the basis around which all of space and time revolves? To say that I can't change anything before my lifetime, but I can change things that come afterwards?"

"Either everything you do violates the Temporal Prime Directive," Kirk said, nodding, "or nothing does."

"Yes," Ben said, and realized why he had been so slow to act. Not just here, but with all the other little projects the Prophets had given—were giving, would give—him. "What right do I have to make those sorts of decisions? I'm just one human being. I see all of space and time, but that doesn't mean I understand it, and it doesn't give me any special wisdom. Who am I to make those decisions for whole civilizations of people?"

"You're the man on the spot," Kirk said. "Maybe you don't deserve to make those decisions, but who does? Maybe you're not wise enough to make those decisions, but who is? Are they the sorts of things that your 'Prophets' should be deciding instead?"

"No," Ben said. "They don't understand linear beings. Or corporeal beings. Or singular beings—they're a collective. How could they possibly understand the consequences of their decisions for linear, corporeal, singular beings?"

"Well, then," Kirk said. "Whether you have the right to make those decisions, you may have a duty to, if there's no one else who would be better at it. You'll make mistakes along the way, of course, but that's inevitable. What matters is that you pay attention and work to fix things when you do—and lucky for you, you have all of space and time to do it."

"I suppose that's true," Ben said.

"You know, I've met more than my fair share of beings with godlike powers," Kirk said. "It isn't their wisdom—or lack thereof—that's the problem. And it isn't really their power, either."

"Then what is it?" Ben asked, barely restraining himself from asking for more stories. What he needed right now was perspective, and advice.

"It's their callousness," Kirk said. "When they don't care about what their use of power does to people. That's what does the damage. As long as you're genuinely trying to do your best for the people your actions will affect, as long as you pay attention to their needs and wants and cares, there's a limit to how badly you can mess things up."

Ben thought about that. "I can watch, when I send people home, to see if it changes things for the worse, and if so, how to mitigate it."

"Yes," Kirk said. "And as for being partial, so what? That's part of being alive! Of course you have people and places that you care about more than others. Of course you have times that matter more to you than others. The only things in the universe that truly act impartially are natural forces. Stars burn according to natural principles with no regard for anyone or anything around them. You're not a star, you're a person—and a Starfleet officer."

"You know, I once said something very similar to that to the Prophets," Ben mused. "The Dominion was about to destroy the minefield around the wormhole—" he stopped at Kirk's raised eyebrows, and moved them to a place where they could see the galaxy at a scale Kirk could process. "The Dominion is a fascist empire from the Gamma Quadrant. There is a stable wormhole from Bajor to the Gamma Quadrant, which the Dominion was using to send fleets of ships through to conquer the Alpha Quadrant." As he spoke he made each place glow for Kirk, so he could see it. "The wormhole is also the home of the Prophets, whom the Bajorans worship as gods. We'd had to abandon Bajor to the Dominion, we couldn't hold the wormhole … but we'd managed to mine it so they couldn't bring more ships through."

Ben brought them closer to the B'hava'el system to watch the events around the wormhole, at a sped-up perception of time. "That held them back for a while, they could only work with what ships they already had, and the ships their allies here had. But then they figured out how to take down the mines. We were barely holding our own. If they could have brought through as many ships as they wanted, it would be all over for the Federation—and for Bajor. We launched a fleet in a desperate attempt to get there and retake the wormhole. It almost worked, but we were too late." They watched the battle. Ben felt his desperation and pain and single-minded focus all over again. He watched as all those ships—and their crews—died so that the Defiant could reach the wormhole.

Rather than narrate what happened next, he brought Kirk along to watch.

"What about Bajor?" Benjamin Sisko said, as Benjamin Sisko watched."You can't tell me Bajor doesn't concern you. You've sent the Bajorans Orbs, and Emissaries—you've even encouraged them to create an entire religion around you!"

Corporeal, linear Benjamin Sisko was not aware of non-linear Benjamin Sisko watching him, nor of Kirk's presence, but the Prophets were. They didn't approve of him bringing an outsider to watch this, but they did not disapprove strongly enough to do anything about it.

"You even told me once that you were 'of Bajor'," his linear self insisted, "so don't you tell me, you're not concerned with corporeal matters! I don't want to see Bajor destroyed. Neither do you—but we all know that's exactly what's going to happen if the Dominion takes over the Alpha Quadrant! You say you don't want me to sacrifice my life—well fine! Neither do I. You want to be gods? Then be gods! I need a miracle. Bajor needs a miracle—stop those ships!" It was interesting, the things he couldn't perceive the first time he'd experienced this moment. The Prophets were both more and less powerful than he had believed. More, because he couldn't comprehend the vastness of time in the way they perceived it; less, because he couldn't comprehend what it was like to be a being of pure energy, not merely non-corporeal but never corporeal.

The Prophets didn't understand matter, for precisely the same reason they did not understand linearity.

How does a collective of energy, which has never been connected to matter in any way, destroy a fleet of ships? How do they know what to do?

Simple: get a being of matter, a linear being, and make it part of themselves.

As the Prophets discussed how intrusive and controlling Benjamin Sisko was, what penance must be enacted for his demand that the Prophets change their very nature in order to save Bajor, Benjamin Sisko reached out to the Dominion fleet in the wormhole and began unraveling the atoms that made up the ships and people aboard them.

This was the penance required: not because, or not only because, the Prophets were upset that he demanded their intervention in corporeal matters. But also because their intervention in corporeal matters could not be done—or could not be done effectively—without him being the one to do them.

The Sisko: human, but with a Prophet feeding him a little bit of their essence to him even as he nursed at his mother's breast. Not enough to be noticeable to other humans or even to himself, but enough that when the time came, he could make the transition from linearity and corporeality into the same sort of being the Prophets were, without losing too much of himself in the process. An interface, between them and the rest of a universe they could see but not understand enough to affect.

Benjamin Sisko demanded the Prophets intervene. Benjamin Sisko was the Prophet who intervened

Ben turned away and brought himself and Kirk back to the Nexus. They had seen what they needed to see—and Ben had done what he needed to do. The Federation was saved. And he knew why he was here.

"I see what you mean," Kirk said. "That was quite a speech you gave." His smile was warm, approving, and Ben smiled in return.

"But what if I go too far? I'm not a god," Ben said. The lingering doubts swirled in his mind, and he feared that if he lost them he would lose too much of his humanity.

"Of course not," Kirk said. "People who want power for power's sake—who want that kind of control over the world and other people—usually can't be trusted with it. If you did want it, Starfleet would never have let you rise to the rank of captain. We've learned from our mistakes. But that doesn't change the fact that whether or not you sought this power, you have it. If you have it … you have a responsibility to use it, and use it well. Not for personal aggrandizement, or to make yourself or the Federation the bully with the biggest stick. But to help people live in safety and harmony, free from fear or want or cruelty. I think you'll do well."

"Thank you," Ben said. "That means a lot, coming from you."

"I'm not surprised to hear it," Kirk said. "I don't think, deep down, you needed me to tell you any of this. You were more interested in hearing my stories than discussing your problem, despite that being why you said you wanted to talk. I've been kind of wondering if you'd ask for my autograph."

"That, I already have," Ben admitted. "I mentioned a previous mission that involved time travel, and the Department of Temporal Investigation afterwards?"

Kirk frowned. He looked Ben up and down. "Deep Space Station K-7! The incident with the Tribbles!"

"You remember?" Ben asked.

"Enterprise had a crew of 430, and we didn't get that many transfers in and out over the course of our exploratory mission," Kirk said. "When we got new faces, those faces stuck around. You didn't. And now I suppose I know why."

"Please don't tell the Department of Temporal Investigation that you remember me," Ben said. "They were upset that I caught your attention long enough to get your autograph."

Kirk chuckled. "I won't. I suppose I'd have done the same, if I'd found myself on Archer's Enterprise. But now I have to know: what were you doing there in the first place?"

Ben explained about Barry Waddle, a.k.a Arne Darvin, and his desire to retroactively make himself a hero by altering the timeline, and what they'd had to do to stop him.

While he was doing that, he altered the Nexus so that it would be easier to sense and avoid … but not so much so as to avoid the incident with the El-Aurian refugees which incited Soran's work and the destruction of the Enterprise-D.

Most of the beings trapped inside the Nexus vanished, never having been there at all. Others remained, and Ben fixed that, too, altering as little as possible while still preventing them from falling into the Nexus. The El-Aurians were the easiest to handle; they were naturally more attuned to the larger space-time continuum than most nonlinear beings, and he could simply re-unite them with the part of themselves who had been rescued.

When all was done, and Ben was finished telling the story of their experience with the Orb of Time, he smiled at Kirk. "Thank you for the company, and the stories, and the advice," he said.

"You're welcome," Kirk said. "Thanks for the rescue."

They shook hands. Ben reunited this fragment of him with the rest of himself, fighting Soran on Veridian III, and shifted things just enough so that he didn't die.

Ben watched, satisfied, as the Nexus continued on its way—now safe from corporeal beings.

He turned to the next project the Prophets had in mind for him.

#fanfic

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snoopctm · 2 years

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Hello Nonnatuns!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Thursday post, but since there’s been an issue raised recently and it’s Thursday, I thought I would post some of the things I’ve been thinking about. If you’re interested, more thoughts follow...

So, I’ve noticed there’s been a little bit of an issue about the new CtM Cookbook, and it’s been confusing me a little. I replied to @weshallc’s post about this already, but I noticed other comments on that post, as well, and likes, so I guess there are several people who have problems with this product. I’m wondering what it is about a cookbook that’s raising concern when there already has been a host of CtM merchandise, and not nearly as much as I’ve seen for other shows (like t-shirts, Funko Pops, even Lego sets, etc.) CtM itself has had calendars, puzzles, a board game, playing cards, etc. I’m not sure how a cookbook is much different than those things.

Also, I noticed a few comments to the effect that the CtM production team should be spending more time on the show itself than on making merchandise. I wanted to mention that I don’t think the CtM show producers or Heidi had much to do with the cookbook (or the board game, puzzles, calendars, etc.) The production company contracts with a licensing firm for merchandise, and I think the writer/publisher of the cookbook probably went through those channels to get approval. I’m sure CtM has someone to look over the products to approve them and make sure they’re well done and in the spirit of the show, but this cookbook was written by a food historian who also wrote other books, including a Downton Abbey cookbook. It’s been approved by CtM, and features pics and quotes, but as far as I know, Heidi and the executive producers didn’t have a hand in writing it. Producing this or any other product tie-ins does not usually have any direct impact on the writing/producing of the show itself. If anyone has issues with series 12, they have every right to express that opinion, but series 12 was going to be what it was regardless of a cookbook or any other CtM merchandise that could have been produced.

Also, as for the book itself, it really is a quality product. I like cookbooks, and I have a few, and this is a good one. It’s not just a collection of recipes with pics from the show. It has historical essays, and many of the recipes are described in context with moments from the show, or characters. It’s an interesting read, and I haven’t made any of the recipes yet, but they look really good. I’m looking forward to trying some of them.

For anyone who doesn’t like cookbooks, you probably won’t like this one. I understand if it’s just not your thing. Some people in the comments on Facebook were asking about a book of crochet/knitting patterns, for instance, and if that ever gets made, although I’d have no problem with it in principle, I probably wouldn’t buy it because I don’t crochet or knit. I do cook, though, so the cookbook has been of interest to me since I first noticed it for pre-order on Amazon a few months ago. CtM is a medical show primarily, but it’s also about its era and location, and how people lived then, and it’s about the characters. Food has been a big part of the show since the beginning. Eating and drinking have been the centerpiece for a lot of memorable moments on the show, so this book with its focus on food, history and context makes a sense to me. It seems like an entirely appropriate tie-in with the show, at least to me. I guess not everyone is going to agree, and that’s OK, but I just wanted to put a few thoughts out.

Thanks to everyone who reads this!

#call the midwife #ctm thursday thoughts #please feel free to agree or disagree #all fans are welcome #and important

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alessia-photography · 1 year

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Caravaggio's Rome is My Rome the book I've been writing for the past 20 years

When I first moved to Italy in 2003 I began researching, writing, taking photographs, collecting recipes, stories, experiences; I began gathering together the material that would become The Book, My Book

The book, my book began its life as "Under a Fig Tree in Rome", my love letter to the five years I lived on the streets, named after my first home, a fig tree on the Tiber Island.

In first-person narrative I told the tales that weaved together those five years. A way of apologising, forgiving, celebrating, remembering those faces & places. An exorcism of ghosts of sorts as most of the characters i wrote about are dead now. My book is a memorial. A glorification of the inglorious. But it was no Kerouac. I printed and bound "Fig Tree" and placed it in my bookcase.

My obsession with Rome remained a roaring fire in my heart after i left the city in the summer of 2007. By 2009 I enrolled in the history of art program at Birkbeck, University of London, graduating with a Masters degree in 2017, the majority of my credits being Roman/ Renaissance modules. I had learnt a great deal which made me aware that I knew absolutely nothing.

In 2016 I began writing about Rome again, but from a different angle. My boyfriend had a rickshaw which he used to transport tourists around the city. I realised the rione of Rome I had lived in & written about in The Book, My Book was also the backdrop of Michael Merisi da Caravaggio's twelve years in Rome at the turn of the seventeenth century.

I began to draw different lines on the same map, joining dots, making connections. I wrote another book, based on a series of walks in which you saw the paintings of Caravaggio as well as where he lived, where he drank, where he worked overlayed with where I lived, where I drank, where (and what) I wrote. Caravaggio's Rome is My Rome.

The lockdowns of 2020-21 changed everything for Francesco & I. No tourists, no work. Required by law to stay at home, 25 km east of Piazza Navona, I began to explore my patch the city, Giardinetti, just off exit 18 of the Grande Raccordo Anullare, the ring road around Rome. My geography had changed. & then our circumstances changed too.

In December 2022 Francesco had a car accident that left him semi-paralysed. From the moment he was discharged from hospital in February of this year I became a cook, cleaner & carer. My Rome work became a Mrs Beaton-like grimoire of recipes, household management tips, hedgewitchery and notes on a nightmare commute - with a wheelchair - across the city relying on (extremely unreliable) public transport.

My role changed, so my Rome changed and the book, my book gets re-written, again. More like a Cy Twombley painting than ever - scribble, scribble, scribble, WORD IN CAPITAL LETTERS, whitened, sanded back, text comes through the titanium white.

#caravaggios Rome is my Rome #writing #under a fig tree in Rome #rome #bachelor of arts #master of arts #birkbeck #University of London #cy twombly #Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management #grimoire #creative process

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themiserablesmiilingkiller · 2 years

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𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍.

== BASICS

NAME : Zombie or Rabid; no preference \o/

PRONOUNS : They/Them

ZODIAC SIGN : Pisces

TAKEN OR SINGLE : Single :D

== THREE FACTS

I name my dogs after RE characters because a friend told me I wouldn’t. Albert Puppy Wesker- best boy, forever in my heart- passed Nov. 2020, so now it’s just me and Christopher Puppy Redfield. She’s a very good girl, except for that time she punched out a window to get to a cat.

I used to be very into World of Warcraft and was into it from launch through Legion; I played in RP servers, did the rp mod stuff, wrote out backstories for every character (I’m an altaholic in any game with character creation), and I really miss having a group of friends in an MMO I can rp with and talk to OOC. Currently I’m trying New World, FF14, and Guild Wars 2. It’s not the same and rp servers not being a thing anymore is tragic.

I love cooking and trying new recipes; especially when I can share what I’ve made with friends. This and my love of fantasy has lead to an ongoing project about a travelling chef. Think stories about bards collecting stories and crafting songs, but instead it’s a chef collecting recipes/ingredients along with stories, and crafting/sharing meals. I’ve been working on and off on fleshing this idea out, the world the characters, all the things for about three years now. I keep going between it being a filmed show, a radio show/podcast, or a book.

== EXPERIENCE

PLATFORMS USED : Pen/paper notebooks passed between friends between classes in high school; Gaia online; AIM; MSN; WoW; Skype; Discord; Tumblr

PLOTTING / WINGING IT / MEMES : I like plotting a general setting/very loose plot, but I don’t like going into too much detail because the thread very rarely gets started when that happens. Winging it is pretty fun; I like seeing how things develop. I love memes; they’re good jumping off points for threads.

== MUSE PREFERENCE

GENDER : Any; historically I’ve tended to write males, but I’m branching off into female muses and dipping into nb muses. So far I’m enjoying all of it.

MULTI OR SINGLE : Single; I prefer doing a billion side blogs each for a different muse over having a multi because it’s easier for me to keep things organized that way. It can get confusing sometimes trying to remember who I can send things from what muse with, though.

LEAST FAVOURITE FACECLAIM(S) : I keep forgetting FCs exist. Uh. I can’t think of any I really care about one way or the other tbh.

== FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT

FLUFF: Fluff is cute; nothing wrong with a fluffy thread so long as it stays in character. Sometimes somethings bloody can be really fluffy for a muse like Evan giving fresh kills or something to who he likes. Or something fucked up like Crane’s relationship cage. Or something genuinely sweet can work, too.

ANGST: I really love angst. There’s something really satisfying about writing it. I honestly don’t know what else to say on the subject; I just really like angsty emotional threads.

SMUT: I don’t think I’m very good at it, but I do enjoy smut. PwP threads are okay; I prefer it to be something that just happens resulting from a fluff or angst or fight scene, but not as the ending to those things. Just somewhere in the middle, and then explore if that changes things between the muses, or just see how things move on from it. If that makes sense? But sometimes it’s uncomfortable because some people on Tumblr are really weird about smut; sometimes it’s easier for me to just not have threads go in that direction at all than to try and navigate that shit.

tagged by: generally stolen after seeing it all over my dash today \o/

tagging: whoever; just steal it :D

#clever ooc tag

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edisacornball · 2 years

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My 2022 Fics, Ranked!

I did this last year, and it was honestly a really good way to end my year, by meditating on what I most enjoyed writing, what I was most proud of, and what I thought I could improve. It really helped me to go into the next year thinking about how to be even more of the writer I want to be. So of course I'm doing it again!

At least this year should be easier than the twenty-seven fics I ranked last year.

What I find really hilarious is that this year, my ranking happens to line up perfectly with each story's number of hits. (As in, my favorite has the most hits, least favorite has the least.) Apparently, this year I agree with how much everyone else liked my work!

(Ranked from least to most favorite)

8. Yin and Yang: The First Soul Mates Continuation — I feel kind of bad for this one because it's basically just last by default. This is a fic I adopted from another author, and I'm still finishing up my first chapter for it. So it hasn't really actually gotten content yet and is sort of sitting in this half-published purgatory. Once I update it, I'm going to do a major overhaul, and I'm super excited to start working on it, so this is a ranking of potential, lol.

7. Alchemy Started in the Kitchen — I mean, I love these recipes a lot. I've been cooking them for years. But I mostly just published this so people would have a chance to actually reference these recipes without me having a really long author's note. I just don't really see myself as a cookbook author, I guess?

6. With Hands Raised to the Sky — This one's kind of an "it's fine" story to me. I liked writing it, and there's not really anything wrong with it, it's just not a fic that gets me really excited or emotional. I was just sitting in the hospital and extremely bored and didn't have access to all my WIP chapters, so I entertained myself by writing oneshots instead.

5. The Light We Let In (On the Subjectivity of Pain) — I only added one "chapter" to this collection this year, so it's almost more like ranking a oneshot. Same problem as With Hands, since I wrote it during the same time span, but baby Rory immediately makes me get much more attached to any fic and have more fun writing it.

4. Grafted — Agh, I love this one. It hasn't gotten very far into the story yet, and I needed to pause a little bit to work out a little bit more of my plotting, but I'm so looking forward to getting back to it. I'm especially looking forward to introducing Ed and Al to the Elrics, plus also getting more into Tree and her love of tattooing.

3. And Yet a Trace of the True Self Exists in the False Self — This was one of those fics that just sort of hits you all at once from nowhere, and then you look back and wonder how that even happened. Well, no, I know how it happened, I had an autistic meltdown day and coped with it by putting the experience into words. But sometimes I still just like going back and rereading this one to remind myself that it's okay to have days like that. And pretty much every comment I've gotten on this has ended up making me get choked up, because everyone is saying that they relate, that they needed to see characters going through experiences like this as a kid... This one has a special place in my heart.

2. The Lost Years — This one. I love every time I work on writing this one. There's just something so delightful about Ed's reactions to the modern world and getting a chance to work in some of my own city into a story for once. I've also been struggling a little with writing this one for now just because... Well, showing even Edward Elric getting smacked down into the mud from late-stage capitalism kinda suck and hurts like hell. This one just hits differently than my other fics, and I love it for it, even if it's painful.

1. The Other Side — Of course, this one is the winner. We're getting into the end of this one now, and it's always awesome to start tying together all these threads that you've been hanging for so long and watch the story start finalizing and becoming a complete picture. I was really hoping to get it done before the end of the year so it wouldn't be on next year's stats too (guilt about keeping it going so long, much?), but that's just the way it goes, I guess. I'm hoping to finish this one really soon, and I'm having a hard time not dancing in my seat until then!

Overall... I think that while I didn't publish as many things in terms of quantity and fic count, I still had a really productive year, especially considering how hectic it was. I was working a lot more on my long-form writing this year, and a lot of the work I did is like an iceberg and can't be seen on the surface. (Like how I wrote over 400k, but published less than 90k.) This year was really about putting the work in to deepen my work and become a better writer in the long run, and I'm proud of that.

See my rankings from last year! My 2022 AO3 Wrapped

#i made this #long post #fanfiction #writing #archive of our own #ao3 #fanfic #happy new year #ao3 wrapped #FMA #Fullmetal Alchemist

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limited-practice · 4 years

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Here’s a quick thing I wrote based on the prompt ‘Bumblebee and Cooking.’

My love for random comedy is unceasing, and this was a fun thing to write.

1443 words of Bumblebee trying to follow a soup recipe from a cooking book he bought from Swindle are below the cut.

Follow this simple** recipe and you’re guaranteed*** to create a meal that will startle**** and delight your guests and leave them begging, absolutely weak on their knees with their tongue lolling out of their drool stained desperate mouths BEGGING you for just one more spoonful, just one more sip, just one quick lick around the bowl in case some dripped down the side and is hardening on the bottom and it doesn’t matter that the bowl’s been rolling around the floor because we’ve all been fighting like rabid turbo foxes over it because it’s just. That. GOOD.*****

Bumblebee's arms collapsed to his sides in defeat. He held a cooking book loosely in his fingers.

“Why? Why did I buy this?” he muttered to himself under his breath. “Why?”

He shook his head, appalled at his behaviour. “And why did I buy it from Swindle? I know better than that.”

He raised his voice and looked up at the ceiling as he clenched his fist. “I know better than that!”

The book threatened to slip free from his other hand. He glanced down at the ornately decorated purple and gold book, and couldn’t help but look at the large author’s photo printed on the back. Swindle was wearing a chef’s hat and holding a spoon. He beamed up at him.

“If we get food poisoning from this I’m coming after you.”

The book dangled in Bumblebee’s hand, and Chef-Swindle looked like he was laughing.

“But due to a series of unfortunate and improbable events, this book is the only thing that can teach me to cook soup for my important dinner party tonight.”

Bumblebee put the book flat on the counter and opened it to the first page.

“‘First of all,’” Bumblebee read out loud from the book, “‘Fill six large measuring cubes with VERY watered down engex distillate. This is the base for your soup, and MUST be watered down and MUST be thin and weak and able to accommodate rapid heating as a precursor for more complex substances.’”

“That...kinda makes sense. And seems simple enough.” Bumblebee’s eyes narrowed. “But what’s the catch? What’s the catch here Swindle? ”

‘That’s it! There’s no catch, I swear there’s not! After filling your pan set the heat to a rapid - and I mean circuit melting RAPID - heat. Blast that engex distillate for approximately 60 seconds until it’s so scalding hot it could melt your plating off if you’re not careful. See the next page for a great deal on emergency medical coverage that includes but is not limited to scald, burns, cuts, dismemberments!’

Bumblebee sighed. The instructions were spread out over a double paged spread, but were squeezed into a few lines at the very top. The rest of the space was taken up by garish advertisements for cooking utensils and measuring cubes and lots of promises to save ! ! $ $ ! !

“Fine.” Bumblebee poured six large measuring cubes worth of thin engex distillate into a pot and cranked the heat up as high as the cooker would allow. Heavy wet heat filled the kitchen as the liquid bubbled.

Bumblebee turned the page to the next instructions.

‘If you haven’t burnt yourself yet, you will soon!’

“What?”

‘There’s a time in every bot’s life when they accidentally pour boiling engex distillate over themselves. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. But it is painful, so time is of the essence if you don’t want to be in agony. Put this number into your speed dial so you can call your dedicated insurance agent when it happens to you: 0800-PAY-TO-TAKE-THE-PAIN-AWAY’

“Why wouldn’t I call for an ambulance if I burnt myself? What kind of idiot would call an insurance agent first?”

Bumblebee looked at the phone number for a suspiciously long time. As if he was memorising it. The timer on the cooker dinged, and he glanced up in relief. Sixty seconds was up. He was sure he had to remove the pot from the heat now or turn it down, but he turned the page to cheek the next instruction to be sure.

‘After you’ve set the engex distillate to a low heat to prepare it as a base - and I mean a LOW heat, as if it was practically off - use this very long time to prepare your ingredients. And check out the insurance deals on the previous page if you haven’t already done so!’

“What?” Bumblebee looked between the pan of roiling liquid and the book.

‘You DID set it to a low and gentle heat, didn’t you? Because if you set it straight to a boil you’ve just ruined your soup. Why did you do that? That was stupid.’

Bumblebee swore loudly.

He turned the heat off, emptied the pot, filled another one with the same amount of liquid, and set it on a low heat on a different burner. He looked at the book to find out what ingredients he had to prepare.

‘Back when I was freshly forged and living in a strange city as I sought to make my fortune, I craved the comfort and simplicity of a home cooked meal like my mentor used to make.’

“Oh I don’t care,” Bumblebee said. “I don’t care in the slightest about your obviously made up story that’s supposed to be spark warming and reassure me that you know what you’re talking about. You just told me to set the liquid at a rapid boil and then insulted me when I did!”

Bumblebee turned the page. The story continued.

‘I also wanted a hearty yet simple meal before starting a day of hard honest labour on a brisk Cybertronian morning.’

He turned another page.

‘So I turned to a source of great stability and comfort to me; something that continues to provide me spiritual, mental, and emotional guidance in these increasingly trying times - my bank account.’

With a growing sense of alarm, Bumblebee flipped through the next twenty pages. The story marched through them all.

“Oh my god,” Bumblebee muttered.

Brightly coloured adverts infected each page. They surrounded the text of the story and were often embedded within it. At the top and bottom of each page was a headshot of Swindle. He smiled, dabbed his eyes with a tissue, laughed heartily, winked, and held up a copy of his insurance plan.

“This crap takes up most of the book. I paid for this. I paid actual money for this.”

Bumblebee finally came to the end of the story. He vented heavily. There was one page left of the book.

‘After the ingredients are cooked thoroughly and the liquid has thickened, it’s time to serve your soup!’

“What? What ingredients? What are you talking about? You didn’t give me any further instructions!”

Bumblebee looked at the book in rage. And slowly felt his expression melt into one of horror.

“You don’t mean that the rest of the recipe is hidden within that story. You can’t mean that. Please tell me you don’t mean that.”

Chef-Swindle held a bowl of piping hot soup in one hand and rubbed his stomach with the other.

“I don’t have the strength,” Bumblebee whispered.

He glanced up at the clock.

“And I don’t have the time! I just want the recipe, that’s all. That’s ALL!”

‘Because you’ve chopped and marinated your ingredients two days before, the flavours you’re about to experience will be divine! If you haven’t prepared them two days before, I’m afraid it’s going to smell like burnt rubber and taste even worse. Why would you do that to your guests? Why? What’s wrong with you?’

Bumblebee covered his face with his hands.

‘But chin up! Thanks to my home delivery service, you can still salvage the evening you’ve ruined by calling for a three course banquet to be delivered to the location of your choice. If you call now it will take just ten minutes to arrive. Just ten minutes to prevent your friends and family from hating you!’

Bumblebee looked at the cost of the delivery service. He choked back a sob.

‘Check out the other recipe books in my series for more delicious meals to perfect! And no, YOU’RE welcome!’

Bumblebee turned the last page. He squinted to read the small print that was squashed underneath the large photo of Chef-Swindle winking and giving a chef’s kiss.

*A highly subjective term not subject to strict definition

**A highly subjective term not subject to strict definition

***Not a guarantee

****In the good way, not the clutching-at-your-chest-what’s-happening-oh-primus-spare-me-I’m-having-a-spark-attack-I knew-I-should-have-got-Swindle-brand-insurance-because-now-the-medical-bills-will-cripple-me-and-I-didn’t-even-get-to-eat-any-delicious-soup kind of way

*****Adding mind altering drugs as an extra ingredient is absolutely not recommended. Especially not the perfectly legal ones you could legitimately purchase by calling 0800-ABOVE-BOARD-YOU-KNOW-YOU-WANT-TO

#bumblebee #swindle #transformers #my writing #I want to own a copy of this book #what if different characters wrote a recipe for a collection #random #fun #robots cooking #robots trying their best to cook #my post #humor #humour

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queensoybean0724 · 3 years

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Succession Chapter 20 (Karl Heisenberg/female reader) Resident Evil Village fanfic

Title: Succession Chapter 20

Characters: Karl Heisenberg, female reader, the Duke

Rating: PG-13

Summary: you discover a long lost relative has died and made you his sole beneficiary. While flying to collect your inheritance, you crash in a village in Romania.

Author’s Note: I do not own the characters from Resident Evil Village. This is a work of fiction. Anything remotely similar to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter 20

Heisenberg pulled a clean undershirt from the tall, five-drawer chest next to the bed. You lay naked, your head in your hand and your elbow on the pillow. The sheets were pulled up over your breasts as you watched him put on his clothes. Despite lots of begging and pouting from you, Heisenberg had to attend to his metal army and continue his work of vengeance on Mother Miranda.

As much as you loved watching him remove his clothing, there was something equally arousing watching him put on his clothing. He stepped into his underwear and khaki pants, grabbing his belt and sliding it through the pant loops. He pulled the undershirt over his head and buttoned up the khaki shirt, tucking them both into his pants. The three items he always kept around his neck were next, followed by his hat. His sunglasses followed and lastly, his long overcoat. The ensemble was complete.

Heisenberg sat next to you on the edge of the bed, putting on his socks and boots. “I need to continue my work down in the lab, but I need supplies from the Duke. He’ll be here in a few hours. But time is of the essence and what I have to accomplish will take all day,” Heisenberg said. The last few days were less working in his factory and more fucking your brains out. He wasn’t complaining in the least, but he knew that lots of work still needed to be done and he wasn’t forgetting the inevitable clash between him and Miranda. The feeling in his gut was growing; the battle needed to be fought and he needed to vanquish her.

“Well, why don’t you give me a list and I can get everything from the Duke,” you offered as you sat up in bed, “and while I’m there, I would like to see if he can get any toiletries and other items I’m running low on…”

Heisenberg was quiet for a moment as he tied his boots. You could see him mulling over things in his head...whether or not he should let you go on this little excursion. Everything he needed were things that he had bought several times over, so he knew the Duke would know exactly what was on the list. But the worry of you running away was always in the back of his mind. He felt certain that with everything that had happened between you and him and the confession of love on both sides that you wouldn’t want to leave even if the opportunity presented itself. Heisenberg knew that you would get what was needed and return to the factory. But there was also the possibility of Mother Miranda snatching you the moment his back was turned. He would never forgive himself if she got her hooks into you and used you for one of her sick, delusional experiments in order to get Eva back.

In the end, he did trust you and he wanted to show you that trust.

“Okay, I’ll give you a list,” Heisenberg said, “just give it to the Duke and he’ll know exactly what I need. But the moment you are finished, march right back to the factory. Close and lock the doors and hit the red button to the right. It will signal an alarm and let me know that you are safe…”

“I promise,” you said.

Heisenberg smiled and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on your lips. You lifted your hands to his face, moaning softly. The sheets fell into your lap, showing your tits to Heisenberg. A soft giggle lodged in your throat as he opened his eyes and looked down. He growled softly and broke the kiss.

“Such a cock tease,” he muttered playfully.

You chuckled as Heisenberg went to the table, grabbed a piece of paper, and wrote his list of supplies.

The sliding double doors were heavy and it took a lot of your strength to push them open one by one. The biting cold air rushed through the doors and nearly took your breath away. It was cloudy and chilly. The wind gusted in the distance. You hadn’t been here that long, but long enough that you could tell snow wasn’t too far off. Zipping your oversized jacket and making sure your wool gloves were on your hands, you exited the factory and made your way to the gate.

The Duke was seated in the back of his carriage and waiting as always. You smiled and waved as you got closer to him. Heisenberg had opened the gates earlier before making his way down into the depths of his factory.

“Well, good morning, Y/N,” the Duke greeted, a smile on his face, “is it just you today? Is Lord Heisenberg not going to grace me with his presence?”

You shook your head, digging in your pants pocket for the list. “Not today. He’s busy and I told him I could get everything.”

“That’s fine with me...gives us some time to get to know one another…” he smiled. You stood on your tiptoes and handed the Duke the list. “Oh yes,” he said, looking over the items, “these are supplies that Lord Heisenberg is always in need of. I know them all very well.”

The Duke handed you a burlap sack and showed you all of the things that Heisenberg needed. One by one, you placed the items in the bag. You also looked around at things that might catch your eye. Thankfully, the Duke had toiletries and supplies that you needed. You placed them in the sack along with the rest.

“Duke,” you began, “I also wanted to see if you could help me with something. I wanted to do something nice for Karl. Do you have anything that he likes that he doesn’t always purchase? Maybe ingredients for a meal that he likes to splurge on from time to time?”

The Duke thought for a moment. “I do happen to know that Tochitura de Pui is one of his favorite dishes! I can’t remember the last time he bought ingredients for that meal. Here…” he handed you a rectangular piece of paper with ingredients and directions for preparation. The Duke went through the recipe and gave you all the products needed, giving you instructions on how to prepare it. “Also…” he added, “another thing he doesn’t splurge on often is Asbach Uralt! It’s a German brandy that his father and grandfather loved. Lord Heisenberg buys a bottle of this a few times a year. This would be a lovely surprise for him...and coming from you, it would make his day!”

He handed you the bottle of the alcohol and you inspected the writing. It was in German, of course, but it filled you with excitement. Heisenberg had cooked for you ever since he brought you to the factory. Aside from the occasional meals you fixed yourself when he was off working, it was always him cooking. You wanted to do this….to cater to him and make him happy with something he loved and would never see coming.

“Thank you so much for everything, Duke,” you said as you reached into your pockets, “I have some American currency, I hope you can use it or exchange it…”

“Not necessary,” he said, putting up his hand to stop you.

“Oh, please, take it,” you insisted, “you let me have that bracelet that I gifted to Salvatore. I insist you take this!”

“Y/N,” he began, “I am more than happy to help you free of charge. I do feel sorrow for the circumstances that brought you here. I can’t imagine how traumatic a plane crash is. But in the few times I have seen you here with Lord Heisenberg, I can sense a difference in him. For years, he has been unhappy. I assume he has told you what happened to him…”

You nodded your head.

“...then you know the horrors he has seen as a young child and growing up under the rule of Mother Miranda. It has hardened his mind and his heart. But since you have been here, I’ve noticed that icy exterior he has put up has slowly begun to melt. You are a kind woman, Y/N, and you two are good for each other. Consider these supplies as payment from me…”

You had to swallow the lump that formed in your throat. The kindness and generosity he has shown you had not gone unnoticed. Between him, Heisenberg, and Moreau, you have been lucky enough to see the small ounce of good this village had to offer.

“Thank you so much, Duke,” you said, “and if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know…”

The Duke smiled. “Of course, I will. Is there anything else you might need from me?”

“I think that’s it,” you smiled, holding the bottle of Asbach Uralt in one hand and pulling the hefty sack over your shoulder, “I’ll see you later! Goodbye!”

“Take care,” he said as you closed the gate behind you. He watched you walk up the path to the factory, making sure you were okay. Once inside, you gently placed the sack and the bottle on the ground and closed the sliding double doors, locking them securely. Lastly, you pressed the red button, alerting Heisenberg that you were safe and sound.

Heisenberg was pouring liquid metal into the press, making a cog for a broken machine. He smiled when he heard the alarm.

#resident evil village #resident evil village fanfic #resident evil heisenberg #karl heisenberg #karl heisenberg x reader #karl heisenburg x reader #karl heisenberg fanfic #daddy heisenberg #heisenberg #house heisenberg #succession fanfic #succession heisenberg fanfic #resident evil 8 #resident evil viii #lord heisenberg

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theji · 3 years

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Things Yizhan Made Me Do

It's BXG Day today! 🐢💛

To commemorate the occasion, I thought of making a list of 13 out-of-character things that I've done since falling into the fandom. (OK I'm a bit late I meant to do this sooner, the day is ending soon in a couple of hours).

1. Start a blog

And a public one, no less. I had a blog when I was in my teens but that was private, like a personal diary. My day job already involves writing so off-work I would usually like to indulge in mindless activities. Now, here I am, maintaining a Yizhan blog. I have not even used Tumblr prior to this but I'm enjoying it now, rambling about our fav boys. Writing is not a chore if it's about them.

2. Join a fandom

I joined a boy band fan club once upon a time, some 15 years ago, but I was never as invested in it as I am now with Yizhan. Back then it was just buying some merch, attending their concert/autograph sessions, listening to their songs. Apart from work, dog mum duties, personal relationships, other hobbies like kombucha brewing, most of my free time is now spent on the fandom. My Netflix account is crying. There is just so much to do and catch up on (I'm not complaining). I also enjoy interacting with and learning from other bloggers here. Antis are no fun and some industry news/developments/hate messages are upsetting but ultimately, you curate your own fandom experience. And I choose positivity and rationality.

3. Indulge in RPS

I don't ever 'ship'. What is 'ship'? 😆 I was always a dutiful audience, just enjoying whatever drama series and moving on after that. I started with CQL like most people and I didn't even notice/like GGDD until much later. Didn't even set out to 'ship' anyone but now I'm a self-professed turtle. SZD is SZD, and anyone can see something special between them if you keep an open mind. I wrote about my SZD reasons here previously. That said, GG & DD are individuals, each with their own successful careers. They come first, the ship comes second. That I'm very clear of.

4. Use Chinese apps

Gosh, my phone and tablet are now full of Chinese apps. I used to have only WeChat cos I needed it for work but now I have Weibo, Oasis, Douyin, WeTV, MangoTV, Youku, etc. Some of them are not even available in the app store so I had to find alternative sources to download them. haha..I even have paid membership for some of these apps. And now, browsing Weibo daily becomes a routine. If you wish, you can just get stuck browsing Weibo for a long long time. It's entertaining.

5. Read fan fic

I only started about 6 months ago but now I'm hooked and fics are largely the only thing I read these days, apart from news. But I only read Yizhan or WangXian fics (p.s. calling for fic recs of other pairings!) I know some might have different feelings about fan fics but to me, I really just see them as fiction, with characters (and sometimes traits) bearing similarities to GGDD. Similarly, I separate the platform from the incident so I have no problems going to A03 despite GG's incident. I just enjoy seeing the characters named XZ/WYB having happy endings in many different timelines and universes. While most of the fics I read are explicit (by design), I don't use them as tools to play out certain fantasies or to think of GGDD in a sexual manner. In fact, I really hate fics that have little substance and just go into the explicit parts without plot development. I like those with interesting premises too, like one I read recently where XZ is a serial killer and WYB is a police officer investigating the case but also in love with him. I do have plans to share my list of fav fan fics some time down the road so keep an eye out for it!

6. Willingly read Chinese

Yes, Chinese may be my mother tongue but I don't use it much in daily living unless I have to. I also find it tedious to read Chinese cos the characters are just so squashed together. If I have a choice, I will always pick English. But now, I read so much Chinese from my daily weibo browsing. I even read fan fics in Chinese! Who am I? On the plus side, I think my Chinese comprehension and translation skills improved. I also picked up some internet lingo used by Chinese netizens, which are pretty interesting like doi, 🐮🍺, 🖍. My all-time fav is yyds.

7. Act like a cougar

In real life, I have always maintained that younger men are childish. At least those I have encountered. But look at me now, fangirling over two younger men (I am closer in age to GG, but still..). I even jokingly call them my 'China Boyfriends'. I look at them very respectfully most of the time.

8. Buy merch

Seriously, once you start, you can't stop. At least that was what happened to me, although I'm still quite selective when it comes to supporting their endorsements. I usually go for consumables like food, cosmetics vs collectibles cos I'm more practical. Also, GG says to support their merch within reasonable means so that's what I'm doing. Just buying things that I'm interested to try and not because it has their faces or names slapped on it. In a way, this suits me cos I like trying new brands and stuff anyway.

9. Keeping a Yizhan archive

Photos, weblinks, videos, songs, fan fics list..my phone is full of these things now. I think my Yizhan photo gallery is only second to the folder with my dogs' pictures. But how can you resist when we are blessed with new pics of them almost every week?

10. Camp for livestreams

I'm lucky I live in the same time zone as the boys so I don't have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to watch something. But that's the thing, being in the same time zone sometimes make me feel like I HAVE to watch that thing live because, why not? Why wait? Not shy to admit that I once watched a live programme in the middle of work but I made sure I finished what needed to be done. I think so long as we don't let these livestream schedules run our lives, there's no harm in camping for them.

11. Watch c entertainment

I am one of those who used to pass over Chinese productions, simply because it's a Chinese production. Not in a scoffing manner but I'm just genuinely not interested in them nor the celebs. I was more of a US/UK production kind of person, occasionally Korean/Japanese. Now, I'm learning to enjoy them although I just watch those with GGDD in them. No energy to follow other Chinese celebs anyway. The other programme I'm contemplating watching even if it doesn't have them in it is Who's the Murderer (GG was only in one of the cases) cos I like the premise. On the flip side, now my sis and partner keep making fun of me cos to them, all I do now is "watch China shows". That is so not true. Or is it?

12. Write fan mail

I wrote a letter to GG once. A long-ass letter. I hope he read it. That's all I'm gonna say. 🙈 hahahahaha

13. Desire to visit China

China was never on my list of to-visit places. Just wasn't interested. I have been to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou a few times in the past for work but even then, I never felt the urge to revisit for leisure. Now, I wanna visit GG and DD's home town, visit Chongqing to see the graffiti wall with Bobii Zanbii on it, eat mala hotpot and try out their sauce recipe, attend BXG events, dine at the CQL restaurant... Watching TTXS also made me realise that there are many beautiful places in China with natural landscapes and all that. I used to be clouded by my disdain for the regime and some behaviour of its citizens but now, I recognise that the country is separate from the regime or a smaller group of poorly behaved citizens. China is a beautiful country and I would love to visit some day. I will fly over immediately on my own if someone gives me tix to ADLAD!!

Well, I hope some of these things resonate with you. Feel free to share the OOC things that Yizhan made you do.

Once again, Happy BXG Day! 🐢💛🐆🐇🐷🌶🦁🍑🐶🍍🛹🎋

#yizhan #bjyx #things yizhan made me do

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millenniumfae · 4 years

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Video Game Cooking: Nectar (Hades 2018)

Nectar is one of the in-game items Zagreus can collect. By gifting these bottles of golden liquid to other characters, he raises his affinity with them, which in turn gives him powerup items and advances character questlines.

Hades (2018) is a retelling/adaptation of the classical Persephone and Hades mythos. All items, settings, and characters are from classic Greek mythology; Zagreus’ foster mother is the primordial goddess of night. Achilles’ personal questline is about reuniting him with his lover Patrocles. Zagreus has spent his entire life sheltered underground in Tartarus, so he doesn’t know what birds are, or what winter is.

In turn, ‘nectar’ exists in Greek mythology. It’s sometimes interchangeable with ambrosia; both are the legendary foods/drinks of the gods, said to grant immortality to anyone who consumes them, amongst other positive effects. In-game, nectar is the more commonplace counterpart to ambrosia; Zagreus finds nectar as a dungeon drop. But he needs to defeat the champion of Elysium boss to gain a single bottle of ambrosia.

Today, we’re gonna re-create the nectar of Hades (2018) for ourselves! It may be contraband in Hades’ domain, but it’s not like anyone pays attention to that rule, anyways.

Why are we recreating nectar, and not ambrosia? Because there already exists tons of ‘ambrosia’ drink recipes. Maybe not based off of the Hades (2018) version, but there’s nothing new or exciting in making yet another ambrosia drink. Nectar, on the other hand, gives us more room for invention.

Hades (2018) Nectar Recipe (Makes One Serving)

1 1/3 cups Martinelli's sparkling cider

2 tablespoons orange flower water

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon edible gold shimmer powder (make sure it lists all ingredients, and is certified food safe)

A pinch of coarse sea salt

A pinch of lemon zest

A drop of mint extract

The first times Zagreus gifts nectar to npcs, they describe honoring some sort of godhood custom and exchange with him with a ‘keepsake’ - an in-game powerup he can wear. Unlike with gifting ambrosia, their eyes don’t pop out with shock at receiving such a luxurious gift, it’s instead just something nice, even if relatively commonplace. But nectar is still prestigious enough that gifting the actual Olympic gods nectar goes over well.

If ambrosia is the equivalent of Zagreus gifting $30,000,000 Breguet watches to his friends and family, then nectar is the gourmet-wrapped basket of cheese and crackers you see in the ‘gift’ section of the grocery store. Something you spot while on errands, and impulsively buy so you have a hostess gift the next time someone invites you over. It’s a gift borne of societal custom, and implores the giftee to give you something in return, eventually. Everyone from your multimillionaire uncle Poseidon to your humble jailbird neighbor Sisyphus are pleased to receive such a gift, even if they might value its contents differently.

(In the early-access versions of the game, nectar was ambrosia. The final release wrote ambrosia as the coveted, rare prize you earn after defeating the champions of Elysium. True enough, Zagreus can only find ambrosia after defeating the Elysium boss.)

In original Greek mythology, ‘nectar’ and ‘ambrosia’ aren’t two distinct things. Homer describes nectar as the god’s drink, and ambrosia is the food. But in Sappho’s and Anaxandrides’s poems, it’s the opposite. There’s more recorded mentions of ‘ambrosia’, rather than nectar. Some take this to mean that both nectar and ambrosia can be seen as something both food and drink, like honey.

Both share canonical similarities. Ambrosia and nectar are fragrant foods/drinks, sometimes used as literal perfume by the gods. Makes sense that nectar smells good, if in the AD period we’ve taken the word to mean the sweet stuff within flowers.

Other than its smell, we’ve no canonical information about nectar (other than in the Odyssey, nectar is described as either ‘rose-red’ in color, or in scent). Hades (2018) rendered nectar’s appearance as an opaque, warm gold liquid in a cute little round bottle, wrapped with a ribbon to benefit its ‘gift merchandise’ reputation.

Nobody in Hades (2018) describes the taste/smell of nectar. Ambrosia, on the other hand, is said to be rare ‘vintages’ that you’re guaranteed to like. Sometimes, gifting either results in a cutscene where Zagreus and co. hang out at the lounge, complete with a sound clip of uncorking a bottle and pouring it into a tall glass. You can also see characters drink nectar amongst each other, savoring both the occasion and the taste. Eurydice also offers a ‘Refreshing Nectar’ power up item, which just kinda looks like normal nectar but in a tall glass.

There’s a clear alcohol equivalence. But nobody references drunkeness in-game. Even original classical Greek culture didn’t have a drunk culture like we do; wine was revered, but it was mixed with water to be savored, not to intoxicate oneself. Maybe nobody in-game can get drunk in the first place; everyone’s either an immortal, or a ghost.

(In my opinion, it’s always a bit weird when videogame characters can nurture deep, trusting relationships purely built upon a system of gifting items. But Hades (2018) does make it clear that Zagreus already has established relationships with most of the cast.)

Ambrosia’s a rare vintage. So what does that make nectar? We need to make something sweet, pleasant, attractive-looking, and also tangibly related to its rarer sibling. So we’re using another liquid that’s distilled and sometimes fermented; apple cider.

A bit of this decision comes from the soundbite of opening up a nectar in the lounge; it’s a thin viscosity with a slight hint of foam, almost sounding like beer. And the color matters too, since different distillations of apple cider can result in different colors, ranging from dark brown to a light, bright gold.

Apple juice, when fermented, can have alcohol contents going from light apple wine, to brandies that have 10-25% alcohol. As a culinary ingredient, its modest fructose content means a higher temperature tolerance, and its citric acid can be used as a brine. It’s a popular ‘new world’ ingredient in cooking and baking.

It’s also an ‘old world’ food. Hades (2018) doesn’t take itself super seriously, with its foil-wrapped gyros and french fries as in-game healing items. But any character/worldbuilding they do have, they keep it consistent.

Zagreus says that Hermes’ symbol “almost looks like a bat wing”, when it’s very clearly a bird wing. Because he’s lived underground his whole life, he doesn’t know what a bird is. Weapons upgraded with the aspect of people like Guan Yu, or King Arthur, are time-bending powers that no one has ever heard of, with hints that these mysterious people live in places with their own gods/mythology. Zagreus catches a trout/bass/sturgeon fish for the first time, and it’s completely foreign to him, but Achilles fondly recalls these Greece-native fish fitting of his Nereid heritage. Characters have discussions about how mortals fear death, despite Thanatos being a gentle god represented by butterflies. There’s no sun, therefore no time, in the underworld. Hades is the god of minerals as well as the underworld, hence gems and diamonds being an in-game loot.

Apples originated in Central Asia. During the Classical Greek era, they would have resembled what we call crabapples; small, hard, sour, cherry-sized. “At the Sammardenchia-Cueis site near Udine in Northeastern Italy, seeds from some form of apples have been found in material carbon dated to around 4000 BCE.”

It implores me to find ingredients that fit the setting, as with my other Video Game Cooking recipes. No pumpkins, no corn, potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes, vanilla. Instead, we have things like almonds, lentils, oranges, honey, garlic, onions (haha, suck it Achilles)

To reflect nectar’s ‘sweet smelling’ trait, we’re using an ingredient common in Persian cooking - and later the French royal court of King Louis; orange flower water. I found mine in my local Asian grocery. It’s a byproduct of making essential oil, and it’s colorless/flavorless, but with a strong aromatic smell that affects any food you mix it with. It’s also a known ingredient in modern day Greece, called anthonero (ανθόνερο).

(Eeurydice is confirmed to use both nectar and ambrosia as a cooking ingredient, and her food is apparently amazing. Maybe one day, I’ll make another Video Game Cooking recipe based off of her Pom Porridge, or Ambrosia Delights.)

And to really make it look like the food of the gods, we’re adding an ingredient found more and more in swanky bars worldwide; edible glitter powder. Originally, people only used this to decorate baked goods and candies, but come Instagram, people are making these really picturesque cocktails that shimmer rainbow. You gotta be careful when buying these for yourself, though; the tiny tins of decorative edible shimmer power you find at Michaels may not actually be as edible as they claim. I found Bakell-brand Luster Dust at a bake-supply shop. If it doesn’t list its ingredients, or certify itself as FDA-approved, then don’t use it for food.

And since it’s called ‘nectar’, we’re also adding honey. Which has long history of its divine status as a holy food. To take down the intense sweetness a bit, the tinest pinch of sea salt - another holy, pure substance. And to really bring out the brightness of the apples, we’re adding a sprinkle of lemon zest. A tiny drop of mint extract brings a complex depth to the orange flower smell.

To make a glass of nectar; cover the bottom of the glass with mint, lemon, sea salt, honey, and orange flower water. Then, pour the apple cider with the gold shimmer dust together, so that the two mix together a bit, to avoid clumping of the powder. Then you mix the drink a bit, so that the honey, zest, and salt aren’t sitting at the bottom.

It only now occurs to me that this recipe might actually be a rendition of Eurydice’s Refreshing Nectar item, rather than pure nectar itself. But just take my word for it; when you open up a bottle of nectar, you get that whiff of blossoms with the slight coldness of mint, and the sea salt/honey taste goes really well with the apple juice. I imagine that Eurydice’s somehow making a further delicious drink by adding a splash of Bailoni and ice.

Enjoy! Just imagine that you’re hanging out with Zagreus and his three partners, cracking a cold one open over stories about how crazy the surface world is. Did you know that we have machines called computers that instantly relay information all over the world??

#hades game #hades #hades 2018 #hades (2018)#hades supergiant #video game cooking

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