#(and also an assumption about the captain's gender)

[dykedvonte]

No but like imagine all female crew minus like Jimbalaya lol

I like this thought but like I imagine you mean Jimmy is also the only guy vs like everyone being girls with Anya.

Cause then it becomes how different women react to when something like this happens. Like I think Curly’s reaction would be different if Curly was a girl on a fully female crew. I think those behaviors and comments towards Anya Jimmy would make wouldn’t fly so much. Not just because Curly can tell they aren’t his usually “harmless” teasing but because there’s other women that are reacting. She’s seeing how bad those reactions are and is second guessing how much she let slide.

Daisuke would be a young woman, likely more conscious and aware of guys like Jimmy since she would be considered a party-girl. He’s like the guy you have to watch your drink around, gets to close and “accidentally” grabs or touches something, factors she would mentions to Curly. Swansea is an old gal, knows men that think they are owed something when a lady is nice to them or just because. She still has the same past and can see that selfishness in Jimmy, likely tells Curly to get some sense about her friend, not just for their sake but for herself.

Again, when I talk about Curly being marginalized gender wise and having that experience I don’t see it as her not getting it, but simply wanting to believe Jimmy is one of the nice guys… well nicer guys… well okay guys. And then she still has to think about that. Having all the other women point out all the signs makes her tip her rose colored glasses a bit, sees those red flags for what they are. I don’t think it’s easier for her but she’s more willing to act out of her feelings.

It would bring up a part of rape culture that doesn’t get depicted a lot of how woman can accidentally or even purposely enable it against other woman. Internalized misogyny, slut shaming and just the assumption of trust. Curly wouldn’t think it was Anya’s fault but she wants some type of hope to exist Jimmy isn’t that sort of man, it’s an internalized denial that slows her movements because this was a man she trusted, a man she had put her safety in, gave so many chances to to… she wouldn’t like thinking about it, but she has to as the Captain, as a woman and as Anya’s friend.

It’s a very harrowing situations especially because they are all women with one guy but it feel like it is resolved quicker and the horror aspects and context surrounding it centers on the crew slowly coming to see Jimmy as a figurative monster and the literal monster he is.

[jennelikejennay]

I watched two TOS episodes recently, Metamorphosis and Wolf in the Fold. Both were interesting, neither was awful, but I can see the reason people who have seen this kind of episode calling the show misogynistic.

I disagree, because our heroes never for a second hate women, but both episodes are extremely gender essentialist, and the women lack agency almost entirely.

First: Metamorphosis.

This is the one where they find Zefram Cochrane and he's being kept forever by a cloud creature called the Companion.

In a shocking twist, we find out that the Companion is a girl. This changes everything apparently:

KIRK: Feminine. No doubt about it.

SPOCK: Yes. The matter of gender could change the entire situation.

KIRK: I'm way ahead of you.

SPOCK: Then it is not a zookeeper.

KIRK: No. A lover.

How can a cloud be a girl? Well, gender (and heterosexuality) is a constant of the universe it seems.

COCHRANE: Captain, why did you build that translator with a feminine voice?

KIRK: We didn't.

COCHRANE: But I heard—

KIRK: The idea of male and female are universal constants, Cochrane. There's no doubt about it. The Companion is female.

The assumption that every species has those two genders and is always heterosexual is bad enough. But beyond that, unspoken, is the idea that falling in love is what women do, that if a woman is on screen it is safe to assume that it's because of a romantic situation. Why couldn't the woman still be a zookeeper? Or maybe have maternal emotions? Or want to be friends?

The complete absorption of a female character is glossed over. She's not dead, anyway, and some other lady can do her old job. Byyyye!

So. The idea was interesting but the execution left much to be desired.

Next was Wolf in the Fold. I skipped it last time I was watching because it didn't sound very good. And I was right! It's not.

First off, the male gaze is.... noticeable.

It's not as bad as it could've been. This lady appears to be doing this for fun, and she's happy to leave with Scotty. It's just that the society is very free and sensual. Okay.

The other weird thing is that Bones and Kirk say that they're setting this up for Scotty, to cure his irrational hatred of women, because it happened to be a woman who caused him to be injured recently. So really, it's medicinal. At first it sounds like they're joking, but then the log says the same?

Either way, I don't really care for the scene. It feels like the woman exists to be pretty and presumably to sleep with Scotty, and then, of course, to be killed.

The plot here is that something is killing a lot of women, and Scotty is suspected, but [spoiler] turns out it's another cloud creature. It feeds on fear, and therefore preys on women because they have "more fear." A lot of unsolved murders of women throughout history turn out to be because of this thing.

It feels like it glosses over all the actual reasons women are so often targeted for crime, with gender essentialism again.

So, on the "women are real characters with agency" scale, these two episodes fail. Women are the problem, which the male characters solve.

That said, I don't think either one does much to support the accusation that Kirk is a misogynist. In both cases, it's the situation that's the problem, the world itself. Could he call it out better? Sure. But he does help the Companion get her man, and he does catch the woman-killing creature, so that's nice.

Then he heads off to a café where "the women are so—"

We never get to hear what the women at the café are like, except that it's clearly something sexy, given Spock's lack of interest. I don't think it's wrong to like to look at pretty women—I also like to look at pretty women—but it still feels pretty scuzzy the way it's depicted. As if the women were a product available at the café rather than people they might meet there.

So. I can sure see why these episodes weren't on the lists of "best of TOS" that guided me on my first watch through.

[wardensantoineandevka]

It is definitely biphobic to insist that Imogen or Laudna can't be bisexual, but do you think it is biphobic to interpret either of them as lesbian at all though? Neither of them have really shown overt attraction to male characters. If a canonical teenage crush makes a character definitely bi than it would be valid to headcanon Beau as bi as well.

Note from Captain—this is not a post to argue about the specifics of interpretations of Laudna's and Imogen's specific identities, and I don't care to entertain attempts to "prove" their specific identities in my ask. This is a discussion about the, for lack of a better term, politics of patterns of behavior around those interpretations and the way we as people engage with and form those interpretations.

I don't think that's inherently biphobic at all! A lot of the nuance in why I list that specific point is very much flattened by the need to be concise, but I definitely do not think interpreting Laudna or Imogen as lesbians is inherently biphobic.

(I do also note that Beau did not say—as far as I'm aware—that she had a crush on him; she had a boyfriend, and "it wasn't, like, a thing". This is pedantry, but the specifics are important to Beau's romantic history. It is not valid to headcanon Beau as bi because she did not state she was attracted to that boy: she had dated him despite the clearly stated absence of attraction was the point of the story.)

I think there's a biphobia in the automatic assumption that they MUST be lesbians, which is prevalent in the fandom, and a general resistance—and at times overt aggression—to any interpretation of them being bisexual, despite bisexuality including "attracted to multiple genders with a strong preference for women".

Certain circles place intense and vocal importance on them being specifically lesbians, and in some quarters, there's this disgust or aversion to the idea that they may be attracted to men in any capacity. That is certainly biphobic, and it is separate from simply interpreting them as lesbians for whatever reason, particularly in the absence of a confirmed specific orientation. There is a vast gulf between interpreting them as lesbians and insisting that they should be treated as canonically specifically lesbians by default and that they cannot possibly be anything but lesbians (as mentioned in your ask), despite there currently not being any confirmation of their specific identities at this time.

That gap between an assumption that all wlw must be lesbians and interpreting some wlw characters as lesbians specifically is an important one, and one that I emphasize.

I do not think that it's biphobic at all to interpret wlw characters who don't have confirmed orientations and don't have clear romantic history as lesbians. I do think there's a biphobia in positing that they must absolutely be considered lesbians by default and in a complete dismissal of the concept of "wlw, more specific identity is interpretative".

[kyogre-blue]

More details I want to note down for RDCH.

1. We still haven't seen Kali/Kalli/Carly in the story, but we get a few panels showing her. She has a surprisingly cutesy face. (Does this mean that if Lee Geon got genderswapped for some reason, he'd be a surprisingly petite and cute woman?) One of those flashes is from Yooha pov in DC. The way the translation renders her thought bubbles before and after makes no reference to "Kalli" at all, but it might be the case that there was some confusion about pronoun genders in there. Anyway, curious what was going on there.

2. The timeline after Blood Fog was that Hugo had time to investigate and find Libra's involvement, stormed in to confront her, and then she went to the hospital to screw with Yooha. That makes it seem like at least some time passed after the whole incident, but the kids were still sleeping over at the hospital. Was it that they refused to leave their mom, or was Hugo hoping that Scorpio's protections on the hospital would be safer for them?

3. Speaking of that flashback, Giselle has a couple panels where she imagines Hugo as her follower, complete with a fancy military uniform, which... looks good, sure, but it is so different from anything Hugo ever chooses to wear. The most he manages is an extremely basic suit for public appearances, and the rest of the time he either dresses in very plain combat clothing or in super casual jeans and t-shirts. In fact, if you imagine that Lee Geon never bothered buying himself new clothes, then he's just been wearing stuff Hugo gave him. The only thing to suggest they're not sharing clothes is that Lee Geon wears shorts a couple times and Hugo never does. (I still remember them sharing that teddy bear apron lol)

4. Giselle suggests that Hugo refusing to join her comes down to him still holding a torch for Lee Geon, which seems to be the general impression everyone has. It's.... not necessarily wrong, but it feels a bit of a weird assumption. Yeah, when Lee Geon is around, Hugo basically follows his orders, but he's not his subordinate in any official capacity, and when Lee Geon isn't around, Hugo makes his own choices in a completely normal way. Like, I would assume he just has very understandable ideological objections to the other Saints, or even just assume pride. So did Hugo do something that made everyone think of him as Lee Geon's slave loyal subordinate, or are they all just terminally Geon-brained and projecting?

5. Giselle wants Hugo. Steven wants Hugo. I don't recall now whether Kevin tried to recruit Hugo, but at minimum he is very tsuntsun toward him but then coordinates with him very smoothly. And in the novel, Sophie is apparently quite taken with him. So at this point I feel like the Saints can be split into two categories: the ones that want to fuck Lee Geon and the ones that want to steal his man. And Aries, I guess. Some want both. (You might say "what about Ivan" but let me tell you, he is suspiciously fixated on Hugo, who even get a special pet name. Villain wishing for a hatefuck behavior.)

6. Aside from making a spear for Yooha and screwing up Hugo's bow, Lee Geon also says he's planning to make something for Sungjae and Jiwoo. Very curious.

7. Steven had to keep suppressing the evil god in Yooha's arms, so he's been her guardian for ten years. It's also mentioned with no details that Oliver killed the previous cadre captain, whom Yooha calls "teacher." We don't get a clear shot of him tho. Listen, Steven is a funny side character, I appreciate that he has a fair share of reactions to things, and even gets moments like tackling Yooha out of the way or stepping in to take a blow for her, since he's raised her for so long.

8. I am curious how to interpret some of the divine gods siding with Lee Geon. Steven says that Leo is "sleeping" with no explanation, but Virgo is shown as actively endorsing all this. Scorpio is initially said to be backing Libra but then Hayley switches it to Lee Geon, so it's like... there might not even be a god? There's also other spoiler(tm) questions that I am very curious about.

9. The manhwa repeats the "30 years since invasion" number, putting the current year as 2030 or 2031, which is different from the novel's 25 years. I guess this is probably to avoid having the story be set in almost modern day? They might have wanted to maintain the "near future" date, but I'm not really sure why. The divergence point is way in the past anyway.

10. Yooha is "vice celestial lord" but also only S rank, compared to Oliver being SS and divine cadre captain. From what I recall, you can have more than one cadre captain. We see a couple in Gemini, though it might be because they are in charge of different geographic areas?

11. Let me just say, "Baron Helmet" is a stupid name. He's probably not very strong, and the actual issue is that he has some power given to him by their "lord." Previously, when everyone got dragged into a sealed dimension by Libra flunkies, the Saints couldn't connect to their gods, but Lee Geon could still use his powers fine. This time, super regeneration doesn't work in order to up the stakes, but the reason should be that his power was being drained out by contact with the monarch's power. He directly compares it to the cursed dagger he got stabbed with at the Demon Tower.

12. Speaking of which, the Demon Tower is apparently quite strategically important, as the unknown civilization wants to rebuild it.

13. Chapter 92 ends on a cliffhanger about the penalty time for Lee Geon being resurrected after the Tower ending. The initial time given was 1032 hours, which is 43 days. So it's been 43 days since he returned. (The novel says that was in August, so it is now October.) Additionally, the chapter 74 cliffhanger before the hiatus said there was 65 hours until the invasion, so there was less than three days Yooha declared she'd be leaving Leo and Lee Geon sent Taekwoo's head to Libra. There was probably a few days between that and Lee Geon's big declaration against Libra.

And I guess that's it for now.

[mananabuffins]

I want an episode of star trek where there's an alien spaceship and all the crew member look like stock standard human-adjacent aliens, but the fem individuals all use he/him pronouns and the masc ones use she/her pronouns and then shennanigans and the crew think their translator is hacked or broken or something but it turns out that while the people it translated using she/her pronouns are the ones who give birth, their own language actually used pronouns / gender indicators in their language that would more closely map to the near-universal Federation member species gender concept of man, even if their sex might be categorized differently by the Federation. So there's a discussion about the importance of challenging your assumptions but also how it's important to give others more than surface level respect, and that means paying Quark to rewrite your universal translator. But the whole time the crew is talking about this, the aliens don't actually know it's happening (until they're asked by a crew member) because the translator is doing the wrong thing twice on their end, so Near the end of the episode they show a masc alien, now correctly translating as he/him man, who is pregnant. Maybe the captain of the alien ship or something.

please take this in good faith

[phoenixcatch7]

Because my brain has three fanfic ideas on rotation, I have of course gotten struck by the idea of reincarnating Ichigo Kurosaki into someone from ff7. But I'm torn - I can't decide which character to choose!

Obviously, I can't have him overwrite someone too different from him; it'll take out all the tension and character relationships. No one around him would believe it's the same person as before, and no one would trust him nor could he 'continue' to fill the original role. There'd be an intervention of some type, he'd lose his job, and be pretty quickly shunted out of the story, thematically (and literally). The dissonance would be too great. On the other hand, anyone too similar might lead to negligible differences to their original role in the story, bar the new overwhelming power, which again doesn't make for very good stakes.

You've got to achieve a good blend of before and after, to achieve that perfect sweet spot of believable assumptions and explanations for the change. 'We think he had amnesia' or 'we don't really know what happened, but trauma changes everyone' or even 'I wonder what happened when he was gone?'. You want to achieve that down but not gone energy, unintentional on the arriving character's side or not. So:

Options and explanations under the cut! (kinda long lol)

Aerith: Unconventional but huge potential!! Would be very cool indeed! Good parallels, good plot relevance to enter the final fight - there'd be some snags, mostly with the flowers and turks, and she's way more smiley than Ichigo lol. But the determination to help the community and (most of) the individuals in it remains, either through his help at the clinic or stubbornly maintaining and defending memorials to the dead. He's used flowers before, heck it's his opening scene. It's easy to imagine him seeing the affect greenery has in this new world and throwing his all into working with it like aerith did. Her connection to the lifestream, which is basically the reiatsu/afterlife of the world, would translate seamlessly to his sensory abilities. Heck, his full bring has green light effects!! It's perfect! And even if he followed canon and got killed he's got his shinigami form and copious amounts of bloodlust.

But fr imagine, it's cloud v sephiroth, the fate of the world hangs in the balance, sephiroth is obsessed with cloud - but what's this! It's aerith with a steel chair and a giant glowing sword!

(also I really don't care about the gender difference lol, so here Ichigo wouldn't either!)

Sephiroth: visually their ideal/true designs are very similar (long statement colour hair, very long thin sword, inhuman eyes, big billowing black coat/trousers) and it'd be annoying to have two people with such similar designs and bloodline selling points, but on the other..... I can't NOT have an Ichigo vs sephiroth, come on! If I went this route I wouldn't even bother changing the hair colour lmao, and it'd combine with his hollow characteristics perfectly! Wings AND horns!!! Strong 'I can be your angel or your devil' energy, new sword combos, his job is basically being the biggest scariest threat out there, which Ichigo excels at. But as an equivalent captain role, he'd also get stuck with the paperwork LMAO. Sucks to suck, pretty boy. And of course the jenova issue would just result in Ichigo and Co (zangetsu and ossan) eating her for breakfast, let's be real. He finds those papers he's burning the mansion to the ground himself, not nibleheim. Of course that means no world ending threat to kick-start the story, but hey, shrinras still around, which is basically the same thing.

They've got so many parallels; hybrid entities specially engineered to be (in)human weapons, raised oblivious to their true heritage, mothers purposely infected with monsters that got passed on to them, weapon and fighting prodigies of insane proportions rapidly out classing everyone around the despite their young age, a human shaped mf of a villain who claimed they did this on purpose to forge them into what they are today... Falling to their monstrous forms in rage and pain, voices whispering cruelty in their heads... But where sephiroth fell to madness and cruelty Ichigo responded with unexpected maturity, determination and was able to accept his demons as his own, and not be consumed. He came out the other side a better person. The potential is IMMENSE.

But.... Ichigo vs sephiroth. And the personality change would basically be an inversion XD.

Angeal: he was who I originally considered - a side character enough to be interesting, honour bound like Ichigo, big black special broadsword with special origins, down to adopt small children (like teenage (?) super soldiers) and would actually take very good care of them (if with a... Unique training style XD). Perfectly positioned to massively affect the story through small changes or be an amazing wildcard. The story would be able to be SOLDIER 1st domesticity too, which I love, and there'd be a wonderfully interesting dynamic with the other two as his massive new strength and skills become known, throwing off the long established power balance and getting the attention of Science. His own storyline in crisis core is ripe for aus. I had the idea of his old orange bleeding into his black hair and making it look like tiger stripes, but genesis has bright orange hair already and it'd be too similar lmao.

You could do so much with the similar codes of honour and how that plays into fighting people so much weaker than you and just comporting yourself when you're capable of that much damage. Angel's loyalty and honour being bound to shinra and SOLDIER vs Ichigos notorious and categoric refusal to bend the knee to authority and his history of stubbornly toppling similarly injust regimes. Not to mention the modern general loathing for... The very foundation of shinra, really lol. And the circumstances when that honour falls apart. Angel dropped it like a hot potato when his degradation started setting in (which, under the circumstances understandable if not to that degree) vs Ichigo who will go down with this ship UNTIL you touch a hair on his protected's heads and even then you'll get a proper burial.

But... I just can't make him work thematically. Out of everyone in the list, he's got the weakest connection to the world's fate. What satisfying ending could I use?? What would it be working towards? Curing the degradation, perhaps?

Genesis: I just... Don't like him as a character, I confess. His bull headed 'rivalry' and lack of care for collateral (even before the degradation) and constant sniping never endeared himself to me. It reminds me more of grimmjow or noitra than anything else. But I couldn't consider the other two and not also him, and he does come with the orange hair already! And the love of theatre! Ichigo loves Shakespeare especially, so I can definitely see him giving loveless a go and loving it (pun intended). He'd for sure be compelled by the lack of ending, especially given his own thoughts on fate. His ability with materia would differ greatly from Ichigo's norm, he who is horrendous at kido but fantastic at breaking it, so that'd be a problem. And again he suffers from lack of narrative weight on the world scale, but maybe something could be done with the G cells?? Them and S cells were both very similar after all. But nothing that wouldn't already be happening with sephiroth.

Taking this role would probably be the hardest for Ichigo of the three, but it'd be very interesting to see him stretch his literary analysis muscles (which, again - this is a Japanese teenage boy reading Shakespeare in the original middle English in his own time who then occasionally gives hard hitting monologues on the nature of fate and humanity and his hollow sure didn't that verbose and metaphorical from nowhere lol). The amnesia plot line would be very interesting indeed to work with, as long as he got a hair cut.

Zack: Zack is a Shiba through and through. He's fiercely loyal, capable, goofy and hardworking, a shooting star in the ranks and friends with the most unlikely people. He would and does endure the worst torture and saves Cloud. He leaves an enormous legacy, and dies a hero. If it weren't for his chill, happy go lucky golden retriever energy I'd have chosen him over the rest, but it's not a good match for Ichigo, it'd be a crying shame to lose that and have zack go unmourned. I think Ichigo and zack would get on EXCELLENTLY.

If Ichigo did reincarnate into him, I'd have to put it either right when he enters shinra, or surviving hojos lab with cloud. But Ichigo would probably just turn and leave if he wasn't solidly integrated, but by that point zack would have made too many friends XD! Surviving the lab would be the perfect cover for the new super insane strength/abilities and his new reticence, and he'd pretty quickly adopt Cloud so that'd be all well. He'd still be stuck with the effects of heavy mako poisoning like cloud, but hey. I feel he'd overshadow Cloud a LOT though in every way, which is a huge part of the story and the cloud-sephiroth thing isn't something I'm too happy to replace? Idk. It'd be very cool to see, admittedly. He could have tiger hair too!

Cloud finding out Zack isn't who he used to be would be heartwrenching though, possibly replacing a good chunk of the sephiroth gaslighting subplot that would be dropped. An identity reveal in these kinds of fics are rare, but it'd have so much payoff here.

Vincent: ok listen listen listen. Vincent gets a fresh start in a way very very few other characters do. With him Ichigos original personality could shine through the strongest, without any pre conceived notions from the people around him. However! His past and connections make him very well rooted in the grand scheme, should we use it right. He's already used to one feral op monster living rent free in his head (and the interplay of Chaos and Zangetsu, the hollow one especially, would be hilarious lol) and he wouldn't have to explain ANYTHING to anyone lmao. And his hair could do the tiger thing, he could do pretty much anything he wanted in regards to his powers! Hollow bits like horns and eyes? Sure! Quincy stuff with his gun? Why not! And he'd certainly join avalanche, given they woke him up. Ichigo already knowing of ff7 would work fantastically too, but it'd work great even if he went in blind. Vincent's main gun weapon and his solitary ways could remain or go, but it'd also be a good opportunity for Ichigo to flex his meagre quincy abilities, with old man zangetsu as his teacher. And he'd be a good choice (along with sephiroth) to portray Ichigo's feelings of being an outsider in this new and crazy world. Vincent's pretty out of place normally.

But either way you play sephiroths father he'd be so ready to try and save sephiroth once he finds out about lucrecia. Whether sephiroth would be willing to be saved, however... Also he could probably kill jenova lbr. I mean the hardest thing would be getting her head back from sephiroth. Also he'd love that tattered cape coat thing.

Cloud: and of course the most obvious for last - protagonist to protagonist! Letting his new friends assume his 'amnesia' isn't for the reason it actually is, a grouchy but loyal underdog beloved and trusted by the eclectic friends he leads, trying to uncover the truth of this body's past simultaneously before it comes back round to bite him and to discover who it is he's replaced to mourn, guessing at what he can't intuit, clueless as to basic world mechanics. Traumatised by the death of his mother. Struggling with identity issues and something in his head and so so so ready to kill g-d OR BECOME HIM. Spikey hair.

But it's just too obvious and it makes me unhappy. I like unconventional or weirdly fitting options, and well, is it weird I don't want to deprive Cloud of his growth and life in general? Ichigo's had his time as protagonist, I just feel it wouldn't be the best we could do. Ichigo would be such a guiding light for Cloud, an equal in ways so few others can be. They'd be able to connect on so many levels. There's great potential, yes, but I feel it'd almost be too easy. Ichigo would be swept along by the plot rather than being able to change it from the outside. What do you think?

Guest mentions:

Tifa: probably the best match for Ichigo personality wise, and I love the martial arts stuff, but too much of her story revolves around cloud. If she forgets, even with the best intentions, how is anyone going to help restore cloud's memory??

Tseng: it'd be so cool to have a spy Ichigo, admittedly, and also the 'I have super powers that put me on par with sephiroth' reveal would be insane, but Ichigo would probably be sacked if he took over Tseng XD. He is NOT cut out for that sort of subtlety.

Nanaki: I'm a sucker for people turned into creatures when they enter a new time/dimension, and Nanaki being another hojo victim would give him the thematic right to also fight sephiroth with cloud. Also with Ichigo's hollow form we could get a giant monster transformation!! Come on! He'd also be a good fit for Ichigo's sensory skills with reiatsu (listen I know Ichigo is renowned for being kinda bad if it's not intent or people he knows well but it's miles above what normal people have).

Rufus: this would be hilarious. Poor, poor Ichigo. He'd stage a coup. Finding and cleaning up deep ground too would be a very entertaining story lol.

Jenova: okay I know this is bizarre but this is the closest ff7 has to the soul king and Ichigo's soul is pure concentrated reiatsu, which is a pretty one to one equivalent of mako. Like, the life stream as the afterlife instead of a place would freak him out, but come on. Alien King Ichigo. 2000 yo or arriving during sephiroths meltdown or even just before hojo gets hold of her, it'd be so cool to explore. He'd be so not ready to parent a grown mass murderer traumatised lab experiment but man would he be willing to try.

Also, this would be one of the only timelines where sephiroth is saved/talked down. Ichigo being of equal strength already would get even stronger, he'd be able to handle sephiroth, probably take the attention off Cloud at least. You could take any point on the sephiroth spectrum from 'totally unwilling and mind controlled' to 'very eager to continue killing everything and will throw hands with whatever dares get in his way including jenova herself' and it'd work so well! Also I could finally give Ichigo wings. Him vs the WEAPONS would also be super cool. Maybe he could bargain with the planet? And the idea of her and sephiroths hair suddenly flushing neon orange for no discernable reason would be funny lmao.

[biblioflyer]

Picard s3e2 Reactions

Dear Picard writers, I know you’re traumatized by the backlashes to seasons one and two but you still can subvert expectations, you don’t always have to commit to the old tropes.

Where they went boldly

I’m going to start off with the good before I whine, because this was a very good episode. Spoilers ahead:

More character development for Raffi! We meet the ex-partner and get some insight into who she was before. A picture is starting to come together that she was always a bit troubled, prone to paranoia and obsessive behavior, but it got significantly worse after Mars. I was disappointed that the implication in the first episode that she had made amends with her son was not entirely accurate. The brutality of “The Choice” to either chase the mystery or have her partner advocate for her to their son was harsh but it also threw into stark relief just how hard the last decade and change was for them.

OG Trekkers will still probably be kind of salty about this. This is supposed to be a utopia! Why are there “crazy people?!” Shouldn’t there be a robust mental healthcare system and social attitudes that make seeking help a no brainer? 

What Star Trek Picard tells us about the Federation and its relationship with mental health is a topic I intend to explore more deeply as part of my “Did Picard Turn the Federation Into a Dystopia?” series (I should think of a pithier title.) 

The short version is that I think the examples we have of troubled characters has a valuable narrative purpose, recall that Star Trek is a very “meta” franchise - it is NOT a documentary of the future but rather a collection of secular fables that tell the audience about the present using the future as a storytelling device. It can also be aspirational and instructive, but again where it is these things, it is trying to lay out a divergent path we can take in order to arrive at a better future.

Raffi and other characters like her such as Barclay also tell us about the values of the Federation itself: it is incredibly respectful of individual autonomy, so much so that you can live alone in the desert, getting high and chasing rabbit holes and nobody will bother you as long as you don’t bother anyone else. 

My belief is that help is available but nobody is going to show up and drag you off to care. Whether this is for the greater good or not is a debate well worth having, especially in an era of mass shootings but also the criminalization of not conforming to median assumptions about gender.

Some may also argue that Raffi’s status as mentally ill or neurodivergent demands that she be afforded more or unlimited compassion and patience. I would tend to agree with the element of mental health discourse that a wide latitude ought to be afforded to accommodate people with personality types and conditions that make it more difficult to conform to normative society, however there are reasonable limits and people who feel victimized by someone’s behavior cannot responsibly be good advocates and caregivers for that person.

I consider it a tribute to MIchelle Hurd’s performance and the writing of the character that Raffi infuriates me yet my heart also bleeds for her at the same time. These reactions are not paradoxical to me, they are an impressive depiction of what it’s like to care deeply about someone who is incredibly difficult to be a friend or partner to.

The Captain Shaw(shank) Redemption

The Call to Adventure has been trying to reach you about your starship’s extended warranty.

Shaw’s continuing attempts to resist the Call to Adventure is in an immediate sense, very annoying, yet at the same time if one pulls back emotionally and sets aside his demeanor, his arguments are very much rooted in the tradition of “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” 

Shaw represents the conundrum that societies have always had to struggle with. From his perspective, he is directly responsible for 500 lives aboard his ship. Putting them at risk for the sake of four people who have made choices that have taken them outside the protections and jurisdictions of the Federation, even outright repudiated those authorities, is heroic but profoundly irresponsible. 

Let's not kid ourselves, before it’s all over people on the Titan will probably die because of Shaw’s decision to rescue Picard, Riker, and the Crushers from their problems. Of course it will probably turn out that the Crushers were involved in yet another convoluted mystery that could seal the fate of the entire Federation, if not the galaxy, but Shaw can’t know that yet.

Yet the heroism underpinning rescue operations is also in some sense, what makes a civilization civilized. Societies without some baseline belief in the deservedness of individuals to live, even if they don’t always make the best choices, is what makes a decent society possible, not mere conformity to a set of rules and norms. 

In some sense I think Shaw represents a callback to Season One and its baggage. One might speculate that he represents some aspect of the Federation that is struggling with shaking off its self satisfied introversion and the sense that the outside universe is full of chaos and terror rather than wonder. 

Should Shaw be “converted” to the Picard/Riker school, we might interpret this as a sign the Federation is well and truly restored as an entity that is not merely a construct of rules and norms, but is an emergent phenomenon of principles and attitudes.

Assorted Other Cool Stuff

Yippee Qa’pla-yay PetaQs!

Worf! As someone who spent much of the early seasons of TNG being pigeonholed as constantly angry and paranoid, he makes a good handler for Raffi because he’s got baggage that he’s had to overcome that slots into Raffi’s baggage well. A person torn between the high minded ethos of the Federation but prone to seeing darkness, a person who has not just lost love but buried two lovers, mayhaps we will finally get to see Worf doing the parts of the security job that involve unraveling mysteries instead of solving problems with a Bat’leth.

The bounty hunter is fun. Based on the design of the ship and the character’s scarring, I still assume she’s Son’a. It's actually a pretty good update to the look of the species because it actually seems a bit weird in retrospect that with all of the technology available to them, they’d look quite that morbid in spite of their vanity. Insurrection is such an underappreciated film despite it being far more like a typical TNG episode than any of the other TNG era films, so if there is even a tiny amount of worldbuilding in Picard that acknowledges Insurrection, that would be nice.

Unwanted Compliance with Genre Tropes

Okay here comes the whining.

Crush(er) my expectations, please.

“You’ll remember this day as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Picard!”

I suspect with an entire rest of the season to come, Jack Crusher’s origins may wind up being more complicated. Yet if they are going to go with the secret love child angle, I have every expectation that it's going to be well performed, everyone involved is doing a phenomenal job. This story, if played straight, is not to my liking from a world building perspective, but I’m open to it growing on me.

My problem is twofold.

First off, it's so unlike Beverly to have withheld a pregnancy from Picard. Unlike Kirk and Carol Marcus, there’s no radically divergent worldview or differences in priority. They’re both Starfleet, both exploration service officers, and they have a deep history. When they were lovers, they were old friends who had had a fling long in the past and were cautiously exploring whether or not being together still made sense. The way TNG portrayed this was incredibly thoughtful and mature, especially for the 90s. 

It's not that the secret love child can’t work, it’s just that it better be darn good in order to not feel like it's stepping all over a lot of very good and very well resolved character arcs. This is, incidentally, what makes me think that there’s probably more to it. Jack is naturally somehow embedded into the storyline to come. My current estimate is that there’s a 40% chance he’s a Synth of some sort. 85% chance he was not conceived the old fashioned way.

My second problem has to do with Picard’s arc specifically. Picard throughout TNG was not chasing a nuclear family or children. These were the furthest from his mind. Generations planted the seed that Picard might be questioning this in light of the deaths of Rene and his family. In general though, Picard has always been portrayed as less concerned with biological family and more with found family. This would likely have led to him becoming a mentor to the children of his crew, but that pathway closed off after Mars and his self imposed isolation.

Jack represents another bite at that particular apple, but it just doesn’t quite feel right to me. As someone seriously considering whether or not biological family is something that’s going to happen for him, I understand the sentiment of wanting that experience yet I also in some ways am envious of people who don’t feel the itch and can just be entirely content with deep commitments to friends and other sources of fulfillment. Being that Picard was just that sort of person, there’s something about springing the secret love child trope onto the character and having him be someone who is “not a person who leaves a legacy” that feels like a retcon of sorts. Even the “not leaving a legacy” bit is kind of contradictory because Picard is proud of his family lineage and its reputation, even if he himself was content to have no direct heirs.

Prove me wrong Picard writers. That’s not a taunt, that’s a polite request.

Raffi off the wagon. 

I really don’t want to go through this with this character if that’s where they’re going with this.

Narratively, I recognize Raffi’s struggle is everyone’s struggle to stay sober and to keep their mental health in check. Yet I sincerely hope that the classic relapse trope doesn’t play itself out because I think the character deserves to be portrayed as in control and competent after two seasons of stories about mastering various demons. 

I have never been part of the Raffi hatedom but I also recognize that there are legitimate complaints about the plausibility of this character ever having been a capable member of Starfleet and the general unlikability of the character. Which again, if you have ever struggled with caring for someone who makes it incredibly difficult to be there for them then I think we see the same thing in Raffi and the lack of nuance in the Raffi hatedom is also depressingly emblematic of the way that a particular sort of person turns every face into a mirror for their own self loathing. Herd’s performance and the Picard writers are victims of their own prowess.

It's not as if I think that a composed, effective Raffi who doesn’t drive everyone around her crazy would silence the critics; but the part of me who is still caring for people who couldn’t care for themselves wants to see the character thrive.

[reviviscencegruiform]

I'll say something absolutely correct about the education system or mental health system and everyone will think I'm brilliant until they hear me in person and go "Oh, you're from the south? Homophobic. Transphobic. CIS CHRISTIAN!"

I am 40. I probably do have some things that would be described as problematic to unlearn, we all have those things. Even the most progressive of persons will find themselves needing to be educated somewhere somehow because that is the nature of the human condition. We can not know everything at all times. Expecting perfect moral performance constantly from yourself and others is not only unachievable, but extremely unhealthy. It also leads to further malicious mindsets. See the above. There are minorities in the south you are throwing out with the bathwater in your thoughtlessness.

It isn't your or my job to educate everyone and spend that emotional energy, but it is your job to remember someone is human. Not everyone can educate. Not everyone has the patience and sometimes someone just isn't ready to learn. If you can't handle that then remove yourself from the situation. You aren't required. There are 15 billion other people that can say what you want to say better, especially online.

More importantly to my own human condition, I am nonbinary and bisexual. Those are the only labels I've found that come close to my experience, but they aren't accurate. I am in some sort of complicated emotional relationship with a tiny man who I'm not entirely sure registers gender at all and I thirst over my boss at least two times a week openly and my first crush was the cheer captain who mercilessly bullied me from elementary school to the senior year of highschool when she died in a car crash. I also am a victim of the bible belt's twisted belief system and have been very open about that trauma.

Literally, every automatic assumption that has been made about me has been wrong other than the fact I have owned a pickup truck.

[zorilleerrant]

I disagree that Captain Jack doesn't count under the Gender Clause! While he's taken on a male gender role when living in the past, there's evidence that this should be taken as convenience. Depending on what time period he's in, he conforms to expectations for men, but these change over time even when he's in the same area. Combined with repeated assertions that sex and gender are more complicated when and where he's from, I think it would be working against the text to conclude that he's a man: they simply don't have those in his culture of origin. He refers to himself as a man/is referred to as a man for the sake of fitting in, but I think it's more canon compliant to read that as similar to a woman taking on a male persona in order to fight in a war. It doesn't come through very clearly because I don't think anyone involved had much to say about gender, but it's definitely intended that we understand he and his people have very different cultural assumptions than we do. His queerness is much more sexuality focused but it's also forwarded in an era where sexuality and anything outside the gender binary are completely entangled, and I don't think we're meant to try untangling them.

Could Jack Harkness from Doctor Who kill Mcbeth? He was sorta. Resurrected. Does that count as being reborn?

Revival is a big subject of debate here that doesn't have a clean answer, unfortunately. I personally feel that rebirth does not count towards the Unconventional Birth Clause (usually; there have been some outliers), though since that's just my opinion and there's nothing objective about it, we tend to ignore it completely and leave it ambiguous. Captain Jack Harkness doesn't apply for either of the other two Clauses, either, so I'm afraid the answer is, debatably, no.

Sorry! Thank you for your submission!

[allxthingsxglxtter]

Look who just woke up- is that JAY HERNANDEZ? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s PETE "MAVERICK" MITCHELL from TOP GUN. I heard he is 40 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, they still give off a FLYING FASTER THAN HE SHOULD, DEDICATED TO PERFECTING HIS SKILL, LONE WOLF  impression. They’re known to be quite CHARMING, but have a tendency to be RECKLESS on their bad days.

Gender/Pronouns

He/Him

How long have they been in Sydney?

He only remembers being in Sydney about two weeks

Job

Captain in the Australian Military (whatever position lets him fly)

Which suburb do they live in?

TBD

Memories of their real life :

Pete doesn’t have many memories of family if he’s being honest.  His died died when he was just two in Vietnam, leaving his mother to raise the rather feisty boy on her own.  She did her best, telling him stories about his dad and what a great pilot he’d been, despite their assumption he’d crashed while at war.  And it was in those early years Pete decided he was going to fly just like his Dad, be an even better pilot and make him proud.  He remembers his mother’s laugh, how her smile made him feel.  And he remembers her funeral, when he was  thirteen.  Left in the care of his last remaining set of grandparents, his mothers parents.  Pete also remembers the lesson he learned that day:  The only constant in life is that everyone dies.  Everyone leaves.  One way or another.

Admittedly Pete was a nightmare growing up, difficult and defiant, but brilliant.  He focused on what he needed to do and kept himself out of trouble enough to get into the Navy the moment he turned eighteen.   His goal is to be a Top Gun pilot, but he knows he’s gotta be selected, earn his way there.  While in training he meets and starts flying with his RSO, Nick Bradshaw.  They hit it off right away, and worked well together.  Nick worked with Pete’s reckless flying, and when they were assigned their first squadron they got their callsigns; Maverick and Goose.   

It wasn’t long after that they got their shot, sent off to Top Gun to train.  It was intense, but Mav loved it, meeting other great pilots as well as his direct competition, Tom Kazansky, AKA Iceman.  Did they have incredible sexual tension and Pete think Ice was hot?  Absolutely.  But everyone had thoughts like that, and nothing was ever said.  Mav just enjoyed the mini family he was apart of, Goose and his wife Carole as well as their son Bradley was Mav’s whole world.  He flirted and dated girls, ofc, but the Bradshaws were always the most important part of his life.  They were his something permanent, Mav excited to spend at least the next few years flying with Goose and being a crazy uncle to Bradley.

He’d forgotten the lesson. Everyone leaves.  One way or another.

During a training flight, he and Goose’s plane had a flameout, and Goose died while ejecting from the plane.  He was cleared of responsibility officially, but that didn’t mean Pete didn’t blame himself.  He would for the rest of his life, but he did his best to be there for Carole and Bradley.  He loved them both so much, even if he worried he wasn’t doing enough.  Wasn’t enough, because he hadn’t had a father of his own.   He and Tom became close friends, even as Ice moved forward in his military career and Pete stayed a Captain.  He wanted to keep flying, and he knew if he was promoted to far he’d be out of the air.   Did he unintentionally make Ice’s job difficult?  Absolutely, because he was reckless and defied authority constantly.  But, he always delivered results, and was right whenever he argued.  

Life was going alright, Bradley working to be a pilot like his dad and Mav, and while the thought of losing him just as he’d lost Goose was terrifying, he knew he couldn’t stop him from following that path.  That changed when he found out Carole was dying,  and when he went to see her for what turned out to be the last time, she made him promise to pull Bradley’s application to the Navel Academy.  He hated that request, even if he didn’t think Bradley was ready yet.  But, he did it, kept his promise and pulled the papers, which then led to a confrontation with Bradley after Carole had passed.  He could’ve told him, confessed the promise he’d had to make and keep.  But Pete couldn’t do that to Carole, not wanting her son to resent her for anything.   So he took the blame, took Bradley’s anger, and then, like with everyone else...Bradley left too.  They didn’t talk for years, and Mav knew he was unlikely to ever be forgiven for what he’d done.  

Life kept going, the one person Mav had left to be close to was Ice, though mostly just through messages and emails.  Ice had his own family, and Pete knew he was enough trouble for the other as he was.  When he was ordered back to Top Gun to instruct, he never imagined he would be instructing Bradley, now known as Rooster.  The squad was a good one, each one of them impressive and talented, but Mav worried for each one, the mission incredibly dangerous and it became clear his supervisors expected some if not most of them to die.  He was scared for Rooster and the rest of these kids, but worried his personal connection would hinder their success.   And then Tom wanted to talk.   Finding out Ice was going to die shattered him, and when he was gone soon after...Pete nearly quit.  However, he knew Ice had trusted him with this one last mission, and he couldn’t let him or Rooster down in the end.

He’d never been more relieved when he was named team leader, glad that he would be taking on this risk as well.  And taking Rooster on as his wingman was because he knew he was ready.  He also didn’t expect to come home from this one, determined that if anyone was going down it would be him this time.  The mission went smooth at the beginning, but when Rooster ran out of flares in the escape with missiles on his tail, Pete didn’t even have to think about it.  Putting his plane in-between Rooster’s and the missile, Maverick was shot down and knew he’d end up dead.    That is until Rooster came back for him, getting himself shot down in the process, and Maverick realized he’d never been more scared.  

Finding Bradley alive was such a relief, but he knew they could still die at any moment.  It was pure adrenaline that got them to that hangar, and the fact that that F-14 even flew was definitely pure luck.  They made it in the air, and somehow, with Hangman coming in clutch...they lived.  Not a one of them died, and Mav had hope things could be alright.  That he and Rooster could heal their relationship and be there for each other.  That was the hope that filled his heart when he lay down to sleep that night.

And then he woke up in a bed he didn’t recognize, in an entirely different time and place with no idea how he got here.  Or how in the hell Iceman was alive, in bed with him. 

What was their fake life like?

Pete’s fake life wasn’t much different than his real one.  Losing his parents from a young age, raised by his grandparents, went into the military and loved flying.  Where it diverged is when it came to meeting Iceman.  Somehow that tension actually became something between them, the friendship turning into a romance, and Pete had just turned 22 when he and Tom got married.  Mav was happy, the two of them understanding each other, and before too long had passed they started adopting kids. He loved all 6 of them, even if he worried about messing up, but Ice was always there.  Steady, and smarter than he was, and that panic quieted.  They’ve been married 18 years, and Mav’s never been happier.

[wolfsbanesparks]

I really, really love your fanfic Split. You tackle the concept of identity quite well, and it really feels authentic to the spirit of Billy Batson and Captain Marvel. You capture each character's voice so well that it is seamless when read; I could hear and visualize each character speaking or doing an action.

I wonder how you realistically portray the internal and external conflicts regarding their gender, autonomy, and bond.

Did you draw it from your own life, research, or people you know? It is quite a personal question you do not have to answer; I was just curious. I would also like to ask what would be the best way to portray that relationship accurately—as you do—so the process feels more like representation and not appropriation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Oh wow, thank you so much! This honestly made my day!💜💜💜

I'll try my best to answer your questions and give some tips. But some things are just hard to put into words you know?

Under the cut because it got pretty long.

I would say that I don't often base things purely on my own experiences, but my life, the stories I've heard or read, the people I've met, all inform how I write and what I write.

So I am Agender and I was assigned female at birth. I'm also aromantic and asexual, so I have spent a lot of time in queer spaces both online and irl. Which means ive had a lot of opportunities to talk to and learn from people with different experiences with gender and sexuality than my own. My journey of self discovery was honestly pretty easy with very little gender dysphoria and a lot of acceptance from people around me.

When I wrote Captain Marvel having very little connection to gender with no real preference for pronouns, just sort of accepting people's assumptions of his gender based on his looks, that's me. My connection to gender is extremely loose, basically nonexistent, but i dont really care if people know that or not. It's not the most common experience but it is my experience. And I thought it would make sense to apply that to my version of Captain Marvel because he has had many different forms, but his expression depended on his hosts and their ideas of gender.

When I'm writing about Billy’s struggles with gender, I often take my own experiences of being AFAB mixed with things I've learned from the trans masc community. I'm not trans masc myself, but there are certain parts that resonate with me that I include. Honestly I'm often nervous when posting chapters that focus heavily on that because, like you, I want to be both accurate and respectful. But so far the responses I've gotten are overwhelmingly positive.

And my thoughts on Billy and Captain Marvel’s relationship has evolved since I first started writing them. They know each other completely and they wouldn’t be who they are now without the other’s influence. The character of Captain Marvel is incomplete with Billy Batson and vice versa. Portraying that in a fic has been one of the major challenges of writing Split but is also the main reason the fic exists in the first place.

Drawing on older golden age comics, Billy and Captain Marvel are basically the ultimate tag team and each other’s biggest supporters. But they had distinct differences and on rare occasions got into arguments about how to live as one person.

When I write them, I try to highlight that Captain Marvel is more mature with a lot more lived experience that he draws on. But that doesn’t mean Billy is immature. Far from it. But he is a kid who doesn't really trust most adults and that leads to him making certain decisions that are more reckless.

In Split they are trying very hard to keep up appearances, but despite their combined experience neither really knows what would be considered normal. There's a certain amount of being out of touch or misinformed that makes their characters more endearing to me.

If you want to write them yourself (and I would always encourage people to go for it!) I suggest deciding early on what parts of Billy cross over to Cap. Figures of speech (ex: holy moley!), body language (do they both put their hands on their hips when confident or rub the back of their neck when embarrassed?), morality (what lines can and can't be crossed), and certain likes and dislikes would be a good start. From there decide what's unique to each of them. For example I often have Cap be more skilled at/knowledgable of magic even if Billy also studies magic, but is also pretty shy around other people. Billy on the other hand is more likely to curse and question authority but is also better at talking to people and connecting with them.

As a final note of advice, if you want to write about identities or experiences that you don't have: read about and talk to people who do. Whether it's fiction, blog posts, biographies, academic papers--all can help you get a more well rounded idea of what it's like and how you respectfully portray it. If you're still unsure, look for a sensitivity reader who can look over your work and help you make your story the respectful and realistic portrayal you want it to be. I'd even be willing to do that for you for things I felt qualified for. I know it's hard to take that leap sometimes but I promise it's worth it!

Whew! That was long and maybe a little rambling but I hoped it answered your questions!

[breitzbachbea]

Day 6: Pirates & Mermaids [TurGre]

My fourth entry for @hwsrarepairweek2022! A Pirate's Life is for ... not Herakles, who'd much rather hang out with his local rat catchers than rats on the corsair ship.

Ship: Turkey/Greece (Sadık Adnan/Herakles Karpuzi) Set in a Human/Historical AU (The Mediterrenean between 1480 to 1570) Please consult ao3 for a full overview of tropes, topics & disclaimers in the tags Read it here on ao3

Herakles & Sadık talk a lot about three human OCs of mine in here - all of which the lovely @captkirkland has drawn for me! [Original Post]

(Left to right: Timothea, Herakles, Omar)

(Left to right: Dilan, Sadık, Havva) (I'll still have to find a way to integrate Havva into this AU, but I'd love to.)

A few big disclaimers before we get started on this:

I sadly did not have the time to delve deeply into the academic archives of the internet to find any papers on Gender, more importantly Gender presentation, Gender construction and Gender deviance in the Ottoman Empire. I'm sure that scholarships on these topics exist and I'll add further readings for you once I find it. Please do not assume any accuracy when it comes to the topic of being transgender in the times & places this is set (The Ottoman Empire around 1480 to 1570). I've tried to the best of my abilities, but that is still based on assumptions and educated guesses. I tried to avoid any hurtful language or phrasing when it comes to the two trans characters (Dilan & Omar), but I'm open to criticism if I said something ignorant.

A lot of this has been influenced by my class "Travel accounts in the Late Medieval Ages." While it deals with the accounts of German pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem and sometimes beyond, I'm confident that many of its aspects can reliably inform the scenario of this One Shot. One of them is certainly the aspect of slavery, which was a common and widely spread occurence all throughout the mediterranean at this time, from Genua to Alexandria.

The main source for Ottoman Corsairs & the Ottoman Navy around this time I could get my hands on was "Die Seeaktivitäten der muslimischen Beutefahrer als Bestandteil der staatlichen Flotte während der osmanischen Expansion im Mittelmeer im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert" by Andreas Rieger, published in Berlin, 1994. However, as solid as I assume the work to be in many regards, it's nearly 30 years old and is heavily slanted towards european sources.

I also used the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages here and there to look up certain things, such as seals.

For the snippets of the Odyssey that Herakles reads, I used Samuel Butler's translation, which is freely available online here!. There are much more modern, and perhaps much more engaging translations of the Odyssey available, if you want to seek the text out for yourself - But this one's online and for free. Most importantly, free for me to copy & save some time.

She's the only one I want, she's my only wish

„That does not look like the letter to the Sancakbey I asked you to write.”

Herakles startled before he froze. He didn’t know how Sadık had managed to enter the captain’s quarters without making a sound. Everything on the ship made sounds, day and night, loud and banging. Sadık was a loud and booming man.

“The letter is over there.” Herakles pointed to a stack of papers on the left end of the low table. He had lowered his head again. “It only needs your approval and seal.”

Sadık did not demand that he turned to look at him. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were done?”

Herakles had become aware of how close he stood behind him. He continued to look at the book in front of him, though he could barely process the words. “I thought it better not to interrupt your prayer, Sir.”

“I finished my prayer a while ago.” Sadık let the words linger, long enough to become uncomfortable, not long enough for Herakles to come up with a reply. In measured steps, he walked around the table and sat down on its other side.

Herakles kept his head down. On the periphery of his vision he saw how picked up the paper. His seal ring was like his hands, weathered and sturdy, but of a beautiful form and a curious intricacy.

By the time that Sadık sealed the letter, Herakles had become engrossed in his readings again. The rustle of paper joined the same background noise as the waves outside and the crew on the ship.

“What is this?”

For the first time, Herakles looked up. Sadık had picked up another letter from the pile. The paper bent to its own weight enough that Herakles could see the writing.

It was in Greek letters.

He stared at the letter before he dared to look Sadık. He didn’t even wear a veil in front of his mouth; Herakles was met with an inquisitive and yet unnervingly shallow look in the brown eyes and an expressionless mouth.

“ … It’s a letter for Natasa,” Herakles admitted and held his gaze.

Sadık broke it and put the letter down. “I see. What is your plan for getting it to Athens?”

“I’ll see to it.”

“Do you have the money for it?”

Herakles tried to ignore the implicit taunt. “There must be some kind soul left on this earth, who’ll put the ease of a worried mother over the weight of their money purse.” Said as if he would believe it.

Sadık snorted. “Well, I should hope you find such an elusive and fantastical creature. Did that book of yours also fall from the skies into your lap that you believe in such miracles?”

Herakles no longer kept the edge out of his voice. He looked at Sadık. “You are prying. And I’d like the illusion that I am not here as a slave that owes you an answer in such private matters, but as a scribe and part of the crew.”

“Well, slaves are part of the crew.” His tone turned from nonchalant to boastful. “And regardless of free or not, Christian or Muslim, Turk or not, anyone on this ship has to answer to me.” A smirk to match had grown onto his face, but now it dimmed. “That was the deal for being signed on and yours is not a special one in that regard.”

Herakles would have returned the letter to Athens himself and then locked himself into his study for all eternity, lest he’d run the risk of ever meeting someone like Sadık again. But his own emotional well-being was of no concern as long as he worried about the lives of his friends Timothea and Omar. “Slaves also get their fair share of loot, so you could have a lot more pretty books, if you wanted to.” Sadık tapped on the open page and Herakles hands cramped while he swallowed his anger.

“I’ll take the illusion of freedom.” His voice was level, as was his look for Sadık, despite the amused twinkle he found in the other’s eyes. “For how long will we be at anchor here?”

“All winter, if things go badly.” Herakles’ expression slipped as he stared at him. “But I hope as much as you do that we can go for one last run. Perhaps catch some Venetian or Genovese stragglers before the winter sets in – Those Venetians have become awfully bold, anyways.” Sadık carefully set aside the letter to Natasa and took the rest of the documents to peruse. “But we’re actually headed for the Spaniards in Sicily.”

“Sicily … Yes, that is a good place …” Herakles was absentminded. He hadn’t seen Michele in many years, but knew that as owner of an inn, he’d have news of who passed through the Mediterranean.

“You’ll only get your loot if you stay for the winter.” Sadık had not lifted his look from the papers.

“I was not going to part ways until I found the twins. Have you any news of your friend?”

Sadık smiled faintly and Herakles did the same, until he realized it. “No, but we’ll sail along a few ports well-disposed towards us, among them the port where Dilan left the ship.” The smile disappeared. “I’m worried for her – Her fate may be the same as the one of your twins.”

Herakles tried not to think of all the possible fates implied, one worse than the other.

“Well, if neither of us knows about the whereabouts of either of our companions, perhaps they’ve met up,” Herakles said. “Your friend is the whole reason why Omar left, and his sister with him.”

“I thought the same. And it’d save us some trouble, if we found them at the same time, wouldn’t it?” Sadık said and glanced at him from the side with a smile that was somewhere between heart-warming and roguish.

“And it is safer for anyone to travel in a group. Even better, either party could vouch for the other if they run into troubles with Christians or Muslims along the way. The twins know their way around people.”

“What do you mean by that?” Herakles thought about how to phrase the twins' gift of adapting to situations as they arose and the characters around them. “That they can vouch for each other?”

His heart slowed down, but didn’t sink completely into his guts. He had told Sadık that the Simonides family were converted Muslims - The Greek Natasa had married a trader from Tunis called Ibrahim and converted to Islam. There had been no lie in this story; it was the life they lived in front of everyone. No one ought to know that Natasa’s conversion had been rather half-heartedly and that the twins had been raised with a knowledge of both religions.

“I’ve known them ever since the three of us were children, you know, and unlike their mother, I did not renounce the Christian faith. Therefore, if they meet another Christian, which could mean trouble for Dilan, they can pretend to be a believer and vouch for her.”

“Blasphemous behaviour.” It was said rather as a statement than a condemnation.

“Perhaps your God and Prophet will allow it, if it is to save a fellow believer from a harsh faith.” Herakles looked away and lowered his eyes. “Though I do not want to speak on matters that do not concern me.” He looked back at Sadık. “I can only speak for their parents, who’d much rather have them back with sin than a martyr.”

“I suppose that much is true. Since their actions are none of my concerns, I’d also rather have them do what they have to do to ensure I’ll get my second in command back safe and sound.” Herakles wondered if somebody else on the ship could hear them, but doubted it. “They owe it to me, in a way. After they used their wiles to ensnare her and led her away from me in the first place.”

Herakles’ lips twitched into a smile as he snorted. A smirk flitted across Sadık’s face, but he didn’t look up from the document that he held in front of him.

Herakles returned to his reading.

'Come here,' they sang, 'renowned Ulysses, honour to the Achaean name, and listen to our two voices…

“If Dilan had any brains left, and she is with the twins, she would have already married Timothea.”

Herakles jolted up. A deep furrow between his brows and his jaw slack, he could muster a “... Huh?” as reply.

Sadık lowered the document and glanced at Herakles, undisturbed by his stare. “It would make sense, if she wanted to keep them safe abroad, travelling within the empire.”

“My apologies, Sir, but I fail to see the sense in marrying your lover’s sister.”

Sadık put the document down. “You’ve heard how the rest of the crew talks about her.”

They would not say her, for a start. “I do.”

Sadık crossed his arms, but soon unfolded them again to gesture. “Well, if she acts on land as she does on the ship, people will recognize her as a man. Which does mean that she wouldn’t be able to marry Omar, but she would be able to marry his sister, which I think would do them better when it comes to fending for themselves in the Empire. There’d be no doubt about the twins' faith and origin that way.”

Sadık had said that he had seen the twins before, or at least Omar, but only from afar or fleetingly. And evidently, Dilan hadn’t told him about how she could have easily married Omar, if one applied Sadık’s logic about her gender to him. Perhaps Omar had even run away to elope with her, with him as wife and her as husband. Although, with the penchant his sister had for women, she perhaps wouldn’t have objected to Sadık’s plan either.

“You’ve understood, Herakles?”

Herakles blinked rapidly. “Yes, yes I have. I see your point now.”

Sadık nodded. “Good.”

“She did behave very much like a man on this ship, the brief time that I knew her.” A scowl crept onto Sadık’s face and Herakles added: “So I think she probably already had the same idea as you, she’d know it would work.”

The scowl disappeared. “She is very practical about such matters. She long preferred women’s garments and women’s ways, but then the sea called and it was easier to be a man out in this world. Well, to act like one.”

“I saw she still wore a veil in a woman’s fashion from time to time.” Herakles rested his cheek on one of his hands. “So she used to live a proper woman’s life?” He lowered his eyes. “If I may ask.”

“You may.” The way he stressed the you confused Herakles. “She did indeed. I have known her since I was a boy. When the time comes where boys turn to men, she instead chose to live as a woman, as she had always wanted. So you must take my word for that she is one, no matter her behaviour and looks, and especially no matter what anybody else says.”

“I would never take anybody else’s word but yours, Captain,” Herakles replied and bit his smile back, to not make Sadık think that he was jesting. The fondness with which he spoke about his friend endeared him to Herakles. It was as if they shared some nebulous connection, some shared life experiences despite leading such starkly different existences.

“Good.” Sadık looked at the book and leant over the table. “What is it that you’re reading?”

Herakles decided to not take the chance and let the friendly tone sour over an evasive answer, though he didn’t know what a truthful one would evoke.

“It’s the Odyssey by Homer.”

It evoked no reaction at all. “What is it about?”

A thousand different answers flitted through his head behind his eyes and Herakles took a deep breath, to give an exhaustive answer to all the ways this question could be answered. However, then he remembered how it would perhaps be wasted on Sadık, as it was to most people that listened to Herakles. Being kicked off a ship far from home was however a much worse fate than being run out of the local tavern.

“The return of Odysseus, king of Ithaka, to said island after the Trojan War and the ten years he spent at sea due to his hubris.” Herakles exhaled all the leftover air with a big sigh.

“No, I meant what is this page you’re reading about,” Sadık replied and Herakles stopped his breath for a second, before he further deflated.

“Oh. It’s about his encounter with the Sirens,” Herakles said and watched Sadık carefully. He yet held back any further remarks about how Odysseus had been warned about them by the enchantress Circe, which of course would warrant an explanation of Circe herself …

“Ah, so it’s about Mermaids,” Sadık said with a smile.

“They’re actually feathered women in this text,” Herakles replied and the smile dropped.

“Huh? Don’t try and pull my leg, I know what the Italians call sirens, I know what you Greeks and everyone else calls sirens. They’re fish women. They’re mermaids.”

“Except they are not in this text.”

“You’re lying to me,” Sadık said. It was a statement.

“I am not!” Herakles insisted.

If anything, it deepened the angry frown on Sadık’s face as his eyes narrowed further. “I get no entertainment out of being fooled.”

“And I get none out of you being a fool.”

Now his eyebrows furrowed hard, but Herakles held his gaze with a stubborn fury. He did not bother with regret in this moment; for if Sadık was already too far gone, grovelling placation would demean them both.

It was the calm before the storm. Sadık was loud, bellowing and imperious. He had seen it in how he treated crew members that contested him. There was no question that Sadık would yell at him before he threw him out of his cabin, only if he’d hit him.

Instead Sadık got up and walked over to the other side of the table, where he sat down next to Herakles. “Read it to me. And you better read it carefully, because you are not the only person who can read Greek on this ship.” As if he spoke to a petulant brat, he repeated: “And I do not appreciate being lied to.”

I doubt the poor souls down at the oars can even look straight ahead anymore, much less read anything, Herakles thought but kept it to himself.

Instead, he put his head down and began to translate the part about the Sirens: “Then, being much troubled in mind, I said to my men, 'My friends, it is not right that one or two of us alone should know the prophecies that Circe has made me, I will therefore tell you about them, so that whether we live or die we may do so with our eyes open. First she said we were to keep clear of the Sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully in a field of flowers; but she said I might hear them myself so long as no one else did. Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece half way up the mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I cannot possibly break away, and lash the rope's ends to the mast itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free, then bind me more tightly still.”

“Yeah, yeah, just read me the parts about the bird women,” Sadık said and waved his hand.

Herakles closed his eyes so he wouldn’t roll them and exhaled quietly.

“I had hardly finished telling everything to the men before we reached the island of the two Sirens, for the wind had been very favourable.” Herakles went further down the page and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he felt Sadık lean closer to him. “When we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going at a good rate, the Sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began with their singing. 'Come here,' they sang, 'renowned Ulysses, honour to the Achaean name, and listen to our two voices. No one ever sailed past us without staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song- and he who listens will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser, for we know all the ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and Trojans before Troy, and can tell you everything that is going to happen over the whole world.' They sang these words most musically, and as I longed to hear them further I made by frowning to my men that they should set me free; but they quickened their stroke, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the Sirens' voices. Then my men took the wax from their ears and unbound me.”

Herakles scanned the page further and turned it, but there was no more mention of the Sirens.

“It seems like your claim holds no water,” Sadık said and Herakles furrowed his brows harder in annoyance.

“Perhaps they are described in the warning Circe gives to Odysseus,” Herakles said and turned the pages to find the passage. “First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear; but if you like you can listen yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand upright on a cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the rope's ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening. If you beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you faster. When your crew have taken you past these Sirens, I cannot give you coherent directions as to which of two courses you are to take; I will lay the two alternatives before you, and you must consider them for yourself.”

The annoyed frown did not subside, but a smirk had stolen itself onto Sadık’s face.

“And, Herakles? Any mentions of birds here? A single feather?”

“Well … no.” Sadık laughed. “But it didn’t say they’re fish either.” The laughter died in his throat. “And other ancient authors, as well as scholars like Eusthatius say –”

“Well, I only care about what this book says,” Sadık tapped the page, “and it says there aren’t any feathered women in here.” He pulled his hand back. “Why would you associate a bird with the sea, anyways?”

Herakles cocked one eyebrow. “You’ve never seen a seagull?”

“Smartass.”

“Let me ask you a question - If they are fish, then why would they be on an island? Fish may be around an island, but not on it.”

“Women may be, though, and they’re only half fish.”

Herakles decided to ignore his point at his own risk. “And did you ever hear a fish sing? Birds do. They sing beautifully.”

“You clearly never heard a seagull.” Herakles opened his mouth to clarify his point, but Sadık wouldn’t let him. “Same answer as before - Fish don’t sing, but women do. Often as beautiful as a nightingale. And they can lure somebody to a nasty fate.”

Herakles didn’t labour the point anymore, for there was no logical argument he could make without the help of other writings.

“I think they sing to Odysseus about knowledge, because that is what he would most desire,” he said instead. He paused for a moment. “In a way, and I mean no offence, but I feel like this is what happened to Omar. That something about Dilan lured him out to sea.”

“She’s not devious like this,” Sadık said with a look of displeasure that Herakles had wanted to avoid.

“I meant not to imply that she is,” he said, softly and in earnest. “Simply that Omar heard a siren call from your ship, with Dilan being clearly the thing he desired the most.”

Sadık held his gaze, but the displeasure faded only slowly.

“Also, I’m the only one who can say that she looks like a bird.” Sadık snickered to himself like a school boy. Herakles frowned in confusion, but it was ignored by Sadık as he carried on with a smile. “I rather think that it was the other way around. That Omar called to her like a siren and lured my second in command away from me, on the dry land and far from home …”

“On the dry land, famously where fish reside.” Herakles couldn’t bite back the jibe, but Sadık didn’t mind.

“Famously where women reside.”

“However. Do not call Omar devious in such a manner either.”

Sadık smiled at him with a curious look. “But in other manners?”

“I said that he and his sister know their way around people, but they wouldn’t run away from home just to play with someone’s heart.”

There was something deeper to Sadık’s gaze now as he smiled at him. Herakles dared not to break the silence, but looked down at his book.

“No, I’m sure they wouldn’t, I’ll take your word for it,” Sadık said. “ … I was thinking more along the lines that there’s a certain allure about you Greeks.”

Sadık scooted closer to Herakles and put an arm around his waist. One of many advances ever since Herakles had begun to travel with him. When he had first asked him for a place on his ship in exchange for his skills, Sadık had taken his chin between his fingers and seized up his face.

Herakles usually resisted them – sometimes he excused himself, stepped away from him or diverted the topic playfully. Sometimes, he harshly reminded Sadık in what capacity he worked on the ship and in which decidedly not or made a bitter quip.

One time he had pushed him so hard that he had fallen. Herakles had run out of the cabin and hid in the room where the ropes were stored. With his heart in his mouth, he had waited to hear him stomp across the ship and cursed himself for his hiding place. Instead, another crew member had found him and told him to help with the sail. The next time he had been alone with Sadık, he had merely told him: “You’re lucky no one saw that. You’ll do that in front of the crew or while we’re on land and I’ll leave you standing – or swimming – in that very spot.” Herakles had acknowledged it and written storage lists in silence.

He looked at the book. He had no chest to store it safely and feared that someone else might mistake it for a religious text and begin an argument over it. Not that he looked forward to sharing a crammed space under deck with a hundred other people, twice the amount of rats and an uncountable one of vermin. Loathed as he was to admit it, his best night’s sleep had probably come by him when he fell asleep at the table in the captain’s cabin.

Sadık’s bedroll, with its plush pillows, looked so much more inviting.

“You know, the sleeping quarters on this ship leave much to be desired.”

Sadık had moved to be able to rest his head on Herakles’ shoulder. He snorted and Herakles felt his breath on his skin. “They do so for all people, that is how it is on a ship. No money could buy you a better one, if you had any. That’s what you signed up for in your selfless mission.”

“Indeed.” Herakles’ eyes were fixed onto the bedroll. Aside from a good night’s sleep, which he missed almost as direly as the local cats, he hadn’t laid with a man or woman in months either. Whenever they made anchor somewhere, Herakles was too afraid to be left behind to visit a brothel.

If one put the fact aside that Sadık was Sadık, a loud, entitled, good-for-nothing corsair oaf, Herakles had little reason to object. He had often watched the ottoman officials in his city, who carried themselves with an air of dignity and gravitas, and hoped no one would notice his longing gazes. He often wondered what the beautiful brown eyes of their wives, if they weren’t from Christian nations, betrayed about the rest of their beauty.

Sadık buried his face in his neck. His beard scratched him. Both of his arms were draped around his waist, but he was almost shy about his touches. Herakles said: “But perhaps I could offer another skill, besides being a scribe and a capable young man …”

Sadık halted. Herakles wondered if he could feel how fast his heart was beating.

He dragged his mouth to Herakles’ ear. “I think your skills of being a capable young man will suit you just fine for a nicer sleeping arrangement.”

Herakles could hear his breath, could hear his own, and gasped when Sadık pressed a wet kiss to his neck.

[loveanoutcast]

ok but I read games and I am ADDICTED and I just thought I could maybe request something like-

Eren meeting the reader through a simple comment and a timeskip to them being v close until they eventually end up in a fight because reader was ranting to eren about how perfect their crush (who is actually eren) is and him just exploding and them getting into a fight until the reader eventually goes "that person is you, dumbass!" Or smth like that and from there it all just turns into a lot of kisses and smut👀

only if you're comfy/in the mood of writing smth like this tho! just had this random thought last night and thought I'd request a little erenxfembodiedreader

Anyway have a nice day, night, afternoon, morning, you're amazing :D

Oh my gosh, this is my first request ever and I am so incredibly excited to write this and I really hope I did good in writing something you would want. Thank you so much for submitting this request, please feel free to send more! I love writing fanfics of any aot character and will do my absolute best to embody them in these. Sorry for the long wait, when I say the last chapter had me all the way FUCK3D up. EreMika is canon and I haven't been able to stop saying "He loved her, oh my god he loved her" in that "and they were roommates" vine way because that's my coping mechanism and it's cheaper than therapy. Anyway, I give you-

"Assumptions."

Pairing: Eren Yeager x Fem!reader

TW: nsfw, smut, angst, jealously, swearing, yelling, a bit of fluff, unprotected intercourse, breeding kink, a bit of voyeurism, a bit of sexism, eren being denser than a rock, Levi having health issues because he's old

Other: aot world if the mess of season four never happened and eren didn't fall to sad bitch hours, reader is a regular girl with family issues, all characters are over 18, Erwin never died and Floch never went insane

It wasn't that Eren hated going into town, but he wasn't exactly used to going to town alone. He always had Mikasa and Armin flanking either side of him but since the discovery of the world outside the walls and the decreased threat of titans, scouts were needed more than ever in the recovery of the lost districts. Mikasa was the second strongest soldier alive and Armin was expected to take after Erwin. Eren was useful when it came to being the one who possessed the attack and founder titan, but lately there was no big threats that required his titan abilities.

That didn't stop Hange from poking him, nor did it stop Captain Levi from keeping him busy with even the most minimalist of tasks. Today was no different and when the options were given to him and Jean, who was still asleep in his bunker, on shoveling horse shit or going into town to stock up on supplies and check to ensure all market suppliers weren't being capitalist pigs to the local vendors, Eren all but hauled ass through the door, hand swiping the grocery list off the table and yelling, "Good luck Jean-boy!"

Everything seemed to be going just fine, none of the local vendors had any troubles and most seemed happier with the drastic improvements of the living situations for Eldians. The fear of being eaten any day now or losing a loved one to war had seemed to be the driving force that had led to problems before. Some people recognized Eren, but no one seemed to want to approach him. He had had encounters with people who thought of him as a god, but he usually ignored them or kept a level-headed composure. Despite knowing that he had a power no one else had, outside of being a titan-shifter, Eren didn't really know what he had to offer. Armin was smart, Mikasa was strong, and he couldn't exactly claim titan-shifter seeing that Armin was also the colossal and Ymir had been the jaw.

He let out a sigh, kicking a rock in his path and silently yearning for something beyond his knowledge. Despite knowing that he was never really alone, he felt lonely a lot of the time. He had never given much thought to settling down, with the clock running out on him he often thought what was even the point? He wasn't sure if he wanted to keep being a soldier or if he wanted to go back home one day, he didn't really try to dwell on the future, content with being in the present and having Mikasa always on the verge of tears when she was reminded that he would one day die, didn't really give him room to think of much else.

You weren't oblivious to the tales and rumors that went around the town about the scouts and their secret weapon in the form of a shapeshifting man and how him and his comrades were able to plug the hole in the wall of a district your family had come from long ago. Your father had long since escaped the walls of Maria before it fell, he made an honest living being a construction man, and your mother was a nurse who happened to catch his eye when he had a roofing accident. They built a life for themselves within Wall Rose. You weren't the richest family, nor did you have a name that was well known. Nonetheless, you were all hard working. Your brothers worked for the respect they got, one being a weapon maker and the other being a bar keeper was enough for the part of town you were in. Even their wives did well for themselves in being a seamstress and bar waitress. As the youngest, you were loved and cared for. You weren't the most beautiful girl in town, but you turned heads nonetheless, well until one of your brothers decided to glare or promptly hit whoever doted on you too long for their liking.

The people who knew you, thought you were trouble. Mostly the elders spewed of you and your ways of thinking being a disgrace to everything Eldians stood for and bringing only shame to your gender, you were a woman ahead of her time and they couldn't stand it. Like your mother you had entered the medical field, but even when you were small you claimed you would be a doctor one day. You shadowed and worked under the supervision of the town's doctors. Many amused at your antics, some who didn't care about you being a girl and just grateful to leave such responsibility on someone who was genuine in the intent, and others not caring one way or another and not willing to hear your screeching pleads to observe what they did. Your mom had spoken with you more than once about settling with being a doctor's aide, today being no different and you let out a sigh as you looked to your mother's pained expression.

"I just don't understand why you insist on making your life so difficult? It was bad enough when you proudly exclaimed your goals in front of the entire church, but now this?"

You could only look away, looking towards the fields where you saw your third brother grooming the horses. You hadn't said anything bad, you were approached with a job offer that would give you the title and respect you had been desperately craving, and it would bring greater honor to your family...or so you thought before your mother reacted the opposite in which you hoped.

"I will not have any daughter of mine chasing dreams and fantasies off in some other place where no one can protect you. This is a suicide mission and I for one will not stand by and watch you march forward to your downfall."

Your father stood behind your mother, not really saying anything and not even looking at you. You felt especially bad for the commander and captain who stood on either side of you and were bearing witness to the absurd exchange between your family.

"Mrs. Y/L/N, you have to know that if Y/N were to accept this offer, she would never be in the front lines. We have bases located all throughout the walls and she would do what she did best and be our primary doctor." Commander Erwin spoke with such calm words, his demeanor kind and patient.

"So you expect me to let her run off with a bunch of men whose brains are broken from the wars they fought and not worry? She is not even married!"

You grit your teeth so hard upon hearing that, you were sick of the standards put forth on you since your birth. You were sick of the expectations you were in no hurry to reach and you were especially tired of the lack of faith your family had in you to be independent and strong. Your fists clenched and you felt a steady gaze on you.

"I'm not an expert or anything on parenting, nor will I act as if I am, but instead of yelling at her, why don't you try asking your daughter what she wants to do?" You didn't silence the gasp you released, looking at Captain Levi in confusion and admiration.

All eyes turned to you, your mother crossing her arms as if asking you to try and defy her. Erwin looked a bit expectedly and Levi looking indifferent to the entire conversation. It was your father who beat you to it before you could even open your mouth to answer.

"You have a choice, my daughter. If you choose to stay, you'll make your mother and brothers happy. You can continue to help people but you will never be acknowledged as a doctor...but you'll have your family. Or you can choose to leave and live your life to your own accord, but you will lose the respect of the town and your mother will never speak to you again. Are you willing to put yourself above your family?" You expected this from your father, always neutral and never judgmental, what he was saying was true after all. Were you willing to lose your family over your dreams? Would you be able to survive on your own with only the scouts to rely on?

Your head was hurting and your frustration only grew when your brothers decided to come home and after your mother wailing at them about your plans to leave, they were quick to overwhelm you with their own opinions. The commander and captain apologized but they had to leave and return to headquarters.

"Take your time on making your decision. We will come back in a few days for your answer." Commander Erwin told you, giving you a smile as he continued, "I know its a lot to ask you to choose us over your flesh and blood, but if you do. You have my promise that we will protect you, and we may never be able to fully replace your family in your heart, but the scouts will be a family on its own for you."

"Tch," Captain Levi shook his head, "Look brat, you will see and do things that you won't always like. People will die no matter how hard you try to save them, but call Erwin and Hange delusional--they see something in you. Don't walk into this half-assed, if you choose to be our doctor and you choose to take on the title and everything it carries with it, you have to dedicate your heart."

You only nodded. Two days had passed as you walked through the market, the small basket in your hands carried apples and some citrus fruits. Your mother still wasn't talking to you and your brothers seemingly assumed you wouldn't be leaving, only your father knew how frantic your mind was, and one morning he admitted that he would be delighted to have at least one of his children carry the family name on a military standing. So you had his support.

You even spoke to the animal doctor you had been shadowing for the past few weeks, his eyebrows had rose in an impressed matter and he promptly asked when you would be leaving.

"I haven't made a decision, yet." You said.

"You would be an idiot not to take it." Was all he replied before asking you to give the cattle their medicine.

Idiot, huh? You wondered. You knew deep down he was right. Your mind continued to play in endless loops of thought before you heard a commotion to your right. Turning your head you saw a group of men, their huddling seemed a bit more frantic and it was not until one of them yelled that you noticed one man in particular on his knees.

"Help! Someone call a doctor!"

The man on the floor was bleeding rather profusely and you didn't have time to question what happened before you quickly made way.

"Sir, let me see."

"Hey! Woman don't touch him!"

"Make yourself useful and go get a doctor! What the hell do you think you're doing!"

"I am a doctor." You calmly said, inspecting the gash on his side and seeing the edge of what appeared to be a broken pipe sticking out from the building behind them. The drips if bloods glistening in the sun only confirmed what you thought.

"We were-" The injured man rasped out, "Just horsing around."

"It's okay." You reassured, grabbing a roll of gauze and stack of medical napkins you always kept in your basket. You apologized before applying pressure to the wound, and you heard the patter of rushing feet.

"A doctor is on his way! A real one!" One of the men sneered, and you did your best not to roll your eyes and focus on stopping the bleeding. You asked the man to lie on his back and he surprisingly complied, he didn't seem to care about you being a girl and only seemed thankful to not be alone and scared.

"Do you hear that? Move before you kill him!" The first man hollered, the hand on your shoulder causing you to sharply inhale.

"Excuse me for one moment." You told the man, and you were quick as you hand shot up to grip the disrespectful ass by his wrist and twist it in one fluid motion, you wasted no time in using the building wall as leverage, quickly running up and using his weight to stabilize yourself before you roundhouse kicked him so hard it sent both of you flying back. You landed on one foot, balancing yourself before going back to the patient.

You couldn't deny how satisfying it was to hear the impact, or the groan of pain coming from him. Your eyes met the others.

"If any of you touch me, I'll do exactly what I did to your buddy there, but ten times worse. Now shut the hell up and let me save this man."

Eyes widely stared at you as you resumed caring for the injured, a few minutes passed by the time the doctor got there.

"Oh!" His eyebrows rose, "Hello Y/N, didn't expect to see you here. If I would have known, I wouldn't have left the hospital on its own."

"Hi Dr. Goodwin," You looked up, two fingers on the injured man's wrist and the other held up four fingers from your counting. You blushed slightly from his confidence in you and you noticed the men who bullied you all sport faces of confusion.

"His pulse is stable. I wrapped the wound tightly, but he needs stitches."

"Thank you, miss." The injured man grabbed your hand and you smiled in return.

"Don't mention it."

"Actually, it's Dr. Y/L/N." Dr. Goodwin said, seeing your eyes widen and the smile he gave only made your heart swell that much more.

The doctor nodded, thanking you before asking his helpers to load him to the small gurney they brought. He could only thank you briefly before you waved them off. The other guys had stayed back, eyes wide in disbelief that the doctor not only recognized you, but acknowledged your work.

"Are you a nurse or something?"

"Are you morons deaf? Did you not hear Dr. Goodwin? I'm a doctor too."

The leader seemed to recover from the kick you gave him earlier as his lip curled in an ugly matter, "What kind of sick joke is that? No such thing as a woman doctor."

"Obviously there is if I'm standing right in front of you. Or did my kick knock a few more scews loose?"

Eren was walking buy, noticing the commotion from afar and as a soldier, his instincts to provide help in dire situations kicked in. He elbowed his way to the front. Seeing you standing defiantly in front of five tall muscular men. He stepped forward as the main leader got in your face, but when you shifted your foot, he seemed to coil back. Eren noticed a giant welt on one side of his face and wondered how the hell he got such an ugly bruise. It didn't stop their onslaught.

"Who the hell do you think you are? What makes you think you could do whatever the fuck you want?"

"Because in this world, I'm free to do whatever the fuck I please." Eren watched as your eyes narrowed in further defiance, the smile on your face sickeningly sweet and all he could think about was how he had never seen such a woman.

You hadn't even noticed the audience that gathered, you side stepped the group of men, going as far as waving a goodbye with a breathy giggle, you picked up your basket. You had a small hop to your step and despite not caring to even spare a glance to the onlookers, your eyes met a pair of pretty green ones. The prominent bone structure made you think, "Wow."

However, the tall muscular body you did a once over on had you follow that thought with, "Oh damn."

Eren seemed dumbfounded, your obviousness in checking him out made him flush. He had never felt self-conscious over his body. He knew even before he hit puberty that he would do well to grow muscles and abs, the necessary type of figure to have if one were to be a soldier of the scouts. He knew it was also something some females found attractive in the opposite sex but it's not like he ever had time to date much less dwell on what girls liked. Seeing the way you looked at him though, he couldn't deny that he silently hoped for your approval.

When you finally met his eyes once more, you had him floored when he saw you drop a wink at him.

The crowd murmuring as they watched you go made his own eyebrows furrow in confusion. He stepped to one of the members and demanded an explanation.

"Honestly, the little lady was crazy! She came in here claiming to be a doctor and helped patch up a guy who got cut by the pipe over there. Instead of waiting for a real doctor, she made a whole fuss."

"Where's the guy?"

"Dr. Goodwin picked him up. That doctor is mad too, he also said she was a doctor, but that's ridiculous. No woman can be a doctor. That's so many levels of wrong."

Eren felt the urge to punch the man in the mouth, but one glance at the ugly bruise his friend sported reminded him,

"What happened to your face?"

The leader grumbled a bunch of profanities, "That little bitch. I tried to get her off before she messed the guy up anymore and she kicked me."

"In your face?" Eren sounded impressed, and he was when he received a nod of confirmation.

He looked to the direction which you disappeared in and said fine words to the group, "Whether you men like it or not. The world is changing, everyone is free to be who they want. If women can join the military no problem, they can be doctors too."

He saluted before rushing off, not hearing the mutters of annoyance from the men. In all honestly, Eren had no clue on what he was doing.

You were scrubbing off the blood from under your fingernails near a fountain when you hear the shuffle of feet from behind you. You silently hoped it wasn't any of those morons asking for more trouble, but you were pleasantly surprised when your eyes met a pair of green ones from before.

"I'm Eren." You smiled at him, nodding and your smile turned quirked when he stuttered in, "Yeager. Eren Yeager."

Hmm, you had thought, His name suits him. You studied his demeanor, not missing the gear strapped to either sides of his hips or the green hood covering his shoulders. You knew immediately that he was a scout and you wondered if he knew Captain Levi. Before you got the courage to ask him, he beat you to it.

"What did you mean by what you said earlier? Do you really think that? That we're all free to do anything we want here?"

You smiled as you nodded, walking towards a vendors stand and Eren fell into step beside you, you felt nervous around him, but also safe with his company. He watched you as you picked up another apple to inspect.

"We have laws and rules though...so we're not technically all the way free?"

"I'm free to be me, just as you are free to be you...Eren...Yeager."

It was the way the sun hit your face in that moment, highlighting your strong cheekbones and giving a special glint in your eyes that made Eren want to hear your thoughts more. He spent the rest of the day asking you questions, never satisfied with the small responses you gave him and he even walked you home. The mean glare from your mother confused him beyond belief and it was your father's words that made you gasp in surprise that night.

"He's the titan shifter, the one who helped plug up wall Rose."

Your face had turned red in embarrassment, you were talking so casually to a literal titan and you even flirted with him. He even held your basket the entire trip to your house and you didn't even consider how informal you acted with your skirt. You had hitched one of them up your thigh to get better footing and hadn't missed the way Eren blushed at seeing so much skin. You knew the girls in the scouts wore pants, but even then they kept covered.

You were certain Eren wanted nothing else to do with a girl who held little to no morals, but you were caught by pleasant surprise when you saw him with Erwin and Levi the next day in town.

His eyes had immediately found yours and you didn't miss the blush on his cheeks as he gave you a small wave. You couldn't but laugh when Captain Levi suddenly kicked him.

"Who's got you turning red brat?"

"Uh-it's nothing, captain."

He didn't look convinced as you gathered the courage to approach. Erwin acknowledged your presence which Eren was grateful for, but his eyebrows still came down in confusion on how the commander knew your name.

"Y/N!" Erwin gave a polite smile which you returned, "So great to see you. We were actually just about to stop by your house."

"Really? What a coincidence, I was hoping to stop by headquarters today as well." Your smile was bright, and by the way the air around you seemed cheerful, Erwin returned your energy.

"Bearing good news I hope?" He still hesitantly asked.

You nodded as you laughed, "I would love to accept the offer if it still stands."

"Of course it does," Captain Levi scoffed, his arms were folded across his chest. You noted for the first time the soft grey color of his eyes and despite the deep scowl he was currently showing, he had chubby cheeks that made you want to squish, "We wouldn't be coming all this way for nothing."

"I thought we were coming to collect a new scout, Captain Levi." Eren asked, you felt yourself blush in realization that he had no clue it was actually you they were referring to.

"We are," Levi grabbed you by your arm and yanked you towards him as he pointed at you while looking at Eren like he was an idiot, "Meet the scout's new doctor. Dr. Y/L/N meet Eren-"

"Yeager." You finished, smiling towards Eren, "We've met."

Erwin and Levi exchanged looks as they watched you and Eren smiled at each other like a pair of idiots, the realization dawning over them and Erwin couldn't fight the smirk that crossed his face. Small world, he thought.

Six months had passed since the first fateful encounter you had with Eren. You had long since moved out of your home and besides the occasional secret letter from your father, you hadn't heard nor seen the rest of your family since your decision to become a doctor for the scouts.

It was a transition to go through as you lost one family and gained a new one, but everyone was so accepting and welcoming. The girls welcomed you with open arms, most notably was Sasha whose habit of eating everything and anything brought her to the infirmary on more than one occasion, Connie usually followed right behind her with a minor injury resulting from his carelessness. You had met Floch when he brought Jean in from a sparring session gone wrong and he immediately took a liking to you. Your level-headedness was like a breath of fresh air to him as he was constantly sorrounded by people he thought were idiots. Jean liked your confidence (The fact that you were easy on the eyes, didn't hurt either), Mikasa respected the way you didn't hesitate to put people in their place, and Armin admired that despite your obvious toughness, you were a kind and patient doctor who never turned anyone away. You were diligent and hard-working, yet your smile was always able to uplift any sour mood and you always put your best foot forward. The one time he had puked all over your hospital floor from eating too much undercooked meat was embarrassing for him, he thought for sure you were going to be angry and call him an idiot. Instead, you took his temperature, put a cold cloth on his head (despite his titan status guaranteeing a speedy recovery), and started a healthier diet plan for him. Armin was scheduled a weekly checkup with you, partly to ensure he was listening and partly for you to study him a bit more. Your research on the titan's ability to regenerate and recover from even the worst injuries was fascinating for you, you hoped to isolate the genes and figure out a way to maybe trigger it in regular Eldians without setting off the titan ability, the fact that Eren made it a habit to accompany Armin didn't hurt either.

Eren had grown attached to you, whenever he wasn't busy or in need of a place to hide from Captain Levi's wrath or Hange's insistence to poke and prod him, he would be hanging out around you or in your office. At one point you had to hide him under your desk when Commander Erwin stopped by to hold a meeting with you about providing first aid training to the scouts for excursions. You were always welcomed to accompany them outside the walls, but your work was enough to make you stay. You recalled the way Eren was pressed against your legs, the feel of his hands steadying himself on your calves and when your skirt had shifted up when you reached for one of the records, you felt Eren brush his fingertips along the muscle. You had stammered the rest of the meeting through and smacked him afterwards for putting you in such a compromising position. You were blushing furiously at the way he gave such a boyish grin and even that night while he walked you to your small cottage, he had a satisfied smile in place.

You always knew you liked Eren, you were also hopeful that the feeling was mutual. The both of you had grown close over the course of your stay, as the head doctor you were given your own living quarters, not too far from headquarters but not so close to the city that you would be given a hard time. Your cottage was fair in size and with the amount of income you were receiving, you were quick to furnish and decorate it to your liking. Eren had even helped by adding his own touches to the interior. The times you would go to the city with him was always met with many curious stares. Your age and gender made many turn heads when you walked in, the fact that you were the youngest and by far prettiest doctor the scouts had ever had made people naturally gravitate to you. Your ability to make friends quickly also made it that almost every weekend you were entertaining guests at your house. Sometimes it would be dinner with Sasha, Niccolo, and Connie. Other times you would be knitting and embroidering with Mikasa and Armin, there was even game nights with everyone until Jean and Eren became too competitive with one another. Other times when the higher ups had meetings (All of which you had to attend since you technically held an officer position within the military branch) you would offer your house where you all shared cups of tea and your famous baked goods. You had even seen Captain Levi grab seconds on your sugar cookies.

It was the times when Eren would swing by alone that caused your heart to flutter, he would walk you home almost every night now. At first he would find the poorest excuses to see you like needing a bandaid for his wrist from the biting (even though by the time you gave him the gauze it would be healed over completely) or try to "casually" be around the area when you would get out at three in the morning. Eventually your amusement turned to you asking him to walk you home every night under the guise that you were afraid of being targeted or hurt, even though everyone had seen you body-slam Reiner the one time he tried to hit on you when you were stitching up his eyebrow from an ugly gash. Nonetheless, Eren accepted. You would invite him in for tea every time and he would even bring you lunch on days he failed to see you in the cafeteria. It seemed like everyone under the sun knew about you and Eren's crushes on one another, so it was also a pain in the ass that neither of you had yet to make a move on one another. Even Erwin had assumed you two were together the one morning he stopped by your house on your day off to ask for your aid for a soldier who had broken their arm from a training exercise, his eyes had grown wide upon seeing you open the door in only your nightgown, you were rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you invited him in for breakfast.

Upon walking in, he immediately saw Eren exiting your bathroom in his casual jeans, his hair was wet and sticking up from the steam of the shower. Eren wasn't wearing a shirt and before Erwin could excuse himself completely you quickly explained how you hadn't wanted him to walk outside so late so he slept on your couch. You were washing his clothes and had left them out to dry and Erwin could only nod and stop himself from suggesting for Eren to bring spare clothes to yours, remembering that it wasn't his place to push or even encourage his team's doctor and titan-shifter to date even though by the way he saw you put jelly on Eren's toast while he made your cup of tea with three sugars was enough for him to almost just order the two of you to date. Instead, he gave a long rant to Levi, wondering aloud whether Eren was either oblivious to your affections or just an idiot, Levi only replied with, "Did you happen to bring any of the toast she made?"...he did and Levi later on answered, "He's just an idiot." while licking the excess jelly off his fingers.

It was another day at headquarters, the mid-summer day was hot and since the flow of traffic had been slow inside the infirmary, you found yourself mostly in the officer's lounge. You had opted to wear a long sleeve empire waist dress, the top had ruffles along your collar and the soft pink of the dress complimented your skin tone. It fell around mid-thigh and the black shoes you wore with them completed your overall look. Eren had stared at your bare legs for a while until he noted your haircut. You had only cut off the ends but your heart did a flip as you blushed from him noticing. You had been chatting with Hange about your research while Moblit spoke to Eren about the new set of routes to be taken during their next trip beyond the walls when Captain Levi walked in. Hange waved him over and he fell easily beside you.

"Hey." His arm brushing against yours and you hummed in response, leaning a bit towards him which didn't go unnoticed by Eren.

"Levi, did you take your medicine this morning?" About two weeks ago you had caught the captain asleep at his desk for the fourth time. You knew he overworked himself and refused to sleep in his bed no matter how many therapeutic pillows you got him, but while he was out like a light you decided to check his blood pressure, only to find it alarmingly high. You figured the amount of stress and cups of caffeinated tea were to blame. Levi kept in good shape, but considering his age and the fact that he never even considers laughing, you prescribed him medications to be take every morning and cut him off from his usual tea leaves. The former was easier to push as the calcium and magnesium capsules were easy to swallow, it was getting rid of all the tins in his desk that made him a bit unbearable to the new recruits.

He let out an annoyed grunt as he nodded. Your smile was soft as you put an encouraging hand on his arm and Eren was officially not listening to Moblit anymore.

"Thanks for sticking to your diet, Captain Levi. As a token of my appreciation, I got you these." You didn't let him reply, quick to act as always as you reached into the small basket you had brought and grabbed his hand to put the gray tin of loose leaves that you took out in his palm.

As usual, the captain was unfazed by your lack of appreciation for personal space. The past few weeks had done well to teach him how despite being yelled at, threatened, and even outright ignored at times, your cheeriness was impossible to diminish and you did whatever the heck you wanted even when it was at times impulsive.

"What is it?" He looked between you and the tin, the slight sneer on his upper lip making you release a giggle before you tapped the bow you tied on it.

"It's tea leaves." He raised a slim eyebrow which made you roll your eyes, "Decaffeinated tea."

"Let me guess, it tastes like shit." His eyes flickered to the purple bow, "Or it'll make me shit."

You laughed, you upper body leaning on his as you attempted to catch your breath. The joke wasn't that funny but the face he made was. You giggled as you shook your head and Hange watched in bemusement as you elaborated,

"It's the tea I always serve and judging by the three cups you had last time, I'm positive you'll like it."

Levi let out a nod, he hadn't even noticed that the tea you served had no caffeine but the heavy notes of honey in it probably explained its sweetness. He gave a quiet thank you before his scowl returned,

"So that's why I was on the crapper all night after the last meeting."

"With a potty mouth like that, it's not wonder you don't have a girlfriend." You deadpanned.

"I feel bad for the poor bastard who falls in love with you."

You let out a small tsk, smiling at him and hoping Eren heard as you said, "Well that depends if he admits he feels the same way."

Captain Levi quirked an eyebrow at you, his eyes knowing and you blushed under his stare. Your fingers fiddling behind your back and Eren hated the way Levi suddenly chuckled at you. His smile was a rarity and to have him giving it to you only meant one thing to Eren; the captain liked you.

"So there is someone you like? Who's the poor brat?"

When you were about to make another snide remark, Hange cut in and excused herself and Moblit.

"As fascinating as this is, there's a captured titan waiting my arrival and if I don't get to use this research Dr. Y/L/N just gave me before nightfall, I will lose my mind."

"I hadn't heard of us ever finding it to begin with." Levi sighed, taking a lock of your hair between his fingers and letting the curl bounce back before he excused himself to tag along with them.

"Someone's got to make sure four eyes doesn't get killed."

"That's why Moblit is going with her." You noted.

"And who do you think will make sure Moblit doesn't get killed?" He smiled once more, "Laters doc."

You waved goodbye to the three, the door clicking behind them and you turned to see Eren with his arms crossed. He was pouting like a child and you wondered what his deal was. You figured with your earlier comment, he would be over the moon to hear you hinting at liking him. You skipped up to him, getting on the tips of your toes as you poked his cheek.

"What's the matter? You look like a scolded child."

"Nothing." He muttered, looking away as his jaw clenched and you only poked him once more.

"Liar." You called him out, "Talk to me."

"You didn't answer Captain Levi's question."

You were sure that there was a giant question mark on top of your head, the gear in your mind shifting as you tried to recall what the captain asked before your mouth opened in realization. You couldn't help but smile as you looked down at Eren's shoes and he only seemed to grow angrier as he watched you blush.

"About my crush? Oh! Well I wouldn't call him a brat, but I guess his attitude could often warrant that title. He's got this sort of this determined mentality that I guess some people can find...overbearing." You played with the cuff of your dress, "But I personally find it charming."

"So he's charming?"

You hummed as you smiled, "He's a bit rough around the edges, but he always means well. He's easy on the eyes too. Got really nice hair and pretty colored eyes that makes me swoon around him. Not to mention his body looks like Zeus could be his father." To add emphasis, your body leaned side to side as you laughed.

Eren snorted, his eyes rolling as he thought of any guy he knew that was like you described. All he could think of was Captain Levi and Erwin. He hated to think of Levi as charming, but he was rough all around. Erwin had eyes that Historia had once described as pretty, but to think of you being attracted to someone as old as him made his stomach flip.

"Want to head back to my office?" You suggested, not wanting to leave Eren's side until he figured it out but also not wanting to stick around in case other officers walked in. You got a stiff nod and wanted to giggle when Eren still opened the door for you. As the both of you walked through the large building, you added a hop to your step as you continued,

"He's also such a gentleman. He respects me, he's never intimidated by my sharp wit, always opens doors for me, waits until I'm sitting before he starts eating, and he almost seems proud of me being a doctor. He's just so understanding and sure of himself as a man that I guess the idea of having a girlfriend in my position would never make him feel inferior." You turned to look at Eren sideways and noticed his shoulders hunched, you knew it was cruel how you kept teasing him but were hopeful that it would click for him soon, so you went on.

"Wow, sounds like a real keeper." He grumbled, now thinking of Jean or even Connie. Armin was too occupied with Annie and Reiner was too obsessed with Historia to hang around you. There was no way Beruto/Borrito/Bertoto would catch your eye as you had made it a point to always get his name wrong, but Connie made you laugh and Jean was always extra nice to you.

"I'm telling you, I think he's perfect. He's dependable, strong, and we share so many of the same ideas. I could talk to him for hours and never be bored and when I'm not with him, I feel...sad. I just constantly want to be by his side and if I'm not I want him to be thinking about me because that's exactly what I do."

You both entered your office, you walked up to your desk as you spoke, turning around and leaning against it to look at Eren. He had closed your door a little harder than necessary, the wood shaking against the frame as he crossed his arms and leaned his back on the door. He looked downright irritated and you bit your lip to keep from laughing.

"So why haven't you told him?"

You shrugged, "I think I've been pretty obvious about it, I'm always smiling when he's in the room, I always want to be with him, there's never a day where we don't walk together. I even wore this dress for him today."

You waved down at your figure, Eren's eyes looked over you twice and you jumped up on your desk, your thighs parting as you let the short skirt cover your panties and barely cover the tops of your thighs.

"I'm sure he'll love it." Eren spit out.

"I don't know..." You tilted your head, "Do you?"

Eren pushed himself off the door, going to your bookcase and letting his fingers brush the spines of the books, "It doesn't matter what I think. I'm not Mr. Pretty eyes. Sounds like a simpleton to me."

You let out an actual deep sigh and Eren met you with furrowed brows.

"What?"

"You're so fucking dense, Eren."

"What did I say?" He threw his hands up, "Just because I called him simple? I'm so sorry I don't care to hear you go on and on about this guy. I never thought I'd see you bend over backwards for some guy who opens doors for you. I thought you would have higher standards than that."

You let out a snort, "Keep talking Yeager, and I just might higher them."

"I mean I never thought looks would be so important to you. It's so-"

"So what?" Your tongue had a sharp edge that did not go unnoticed by Eren. He stood only a few feet from your desk, but you saw the awkward shift in his posture.

"Shallow." He spit out.

"Excuse me?" You gave him a look that said if he wouldn't apologize in the next ten seconds, he would surely live to regret it.

"What I mean is...what guy could possibly have this head over heels and you're just now telling me? I thought...I thought we-" He stopped, looking to the side and you relaxed before saying,

"We what, Eren?"

"I thought we had something special." He muttered. He looked to see your mouth opened in a small gasp and he began to turn to exit when you quietly beckoned him over.

"Eren...come here."

"No, I should g-"

"Please." You begged and the look in your eyes brought him to stand in front of you. Your hands reached for his shirt, yanking him forward and you hooked your legs around his calves. Eren gaped at you, not knowing what to do and say as you put one hand on his shoulder and the other cupped his cheek.

"You are such a dumbass." You laughed, "The person I've been going on and on about, that simpleton you bashed, is you. It's always been you, Eren."

It was like watching a light flicker on very very slowly, but once it was on you watched as embarrassment flooded Eren. His smile was sheepish and stupid as he stuttered over his words. His hands rested on your hips and you stroked his face from his temple to jaw as you asked,

"Do you maybe feel the same way?"

You didn't get a verbal answer, the sudden kiss Eren laid on you was an answer enough. His lips were soft and warm as they moved against your own, his tongue enveloped yours and you felt him lean more onto you. The moan that slipped out his mouth when you bit his bottom lip made something tighten in your stomach.

When you two finally broke apart you didn't miss the trail of saliva that connected the two of you and you whimpered for more. The second kiss was heavier, a clash of teeth and tongues as Eren feverishly wrestled to touch you everywhere his hands could reach. You felt him press against your core, the loud gasp you let out made him look at you in concern.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll stop if you want me to."

You shook your head as you met those green eyes that held you captive since day one, "More. I want more."

The smirk was something you had never seen, his eyes became half-lidded as Eren kissed your nose. Then your chin, then your neck. When he reached your collar, his finger hooked onto the top of your dress, pulling the fabric down as he kissed just above your breast.

"She wants more." He said to himself, the soft rasp in his voice made you attempt to close your legs. His hands pushed what little that had covered your legs up and Eren's fingers brushed your core.

The jump you gave made his smirk grow, "I haven't even touched you yet."

He saw the small patch of dampness on your panties, and before you could ask him what he was doing, you let out a sharp gasp when his fingers pushed the fabric to the side and he plunged two fingers into your pussy.

The moan he ripped from you was like music to his ears and as he began to slowly pump his fingers in and out he watched as your face became hot and red. It was uncomfortable as first, you could even say it hurt but that didn't stop you from rocking your hips up to meet his eager hands. You weren't entirely prepared as you felt a bit tense as Eren kissed your neck, the suckling on your flesh making small breathy whimpers leave your mouth. His other hand's fingers hovered over the buttons on the back of your dress and his eyes asked for permission as he glanced up at you.

A small tentative nod was all he received before he took out his hand from between your legs, his tongue skillfully licking the digits cleaned and you didn't think you would find such an act so erotic. You arm hooked around his neck as you brought him down to a kiss, you could taste yourself on his lips as he kissed you back eagerly, his fingers skillfully working the buttons on your dress and you wondered for a brief moment if he had ever done such an act before. You pushed the thoughts away, not wanting to lose focus or confidence while in the middle of being with Eren by letting unnecessary insecure creep into your heart. As if being able to read your mind, Eren said-

"Stop being in your head," A hard kiss against your lips, "Be here with me."

His nose rubbed sweetly against yours, fingers tilting your head up as you gave a hesitant nod. Your eyes wanted to focus anywhere but his eyes and you could felt warmth spread across your cheeks when the sleeves of your dress fell down your arms. The idea of letting Eren see all of you was as exciting as it was nerve-wrecking, the most he ever saw was your legs and back from that one time you walked out of the bath in only a towel. Seeing him shirtless was not new but you still felt your breath catch in your throat as you watched him yank the material off. Your hands explored the newly exposed skin, fingers dipping in every curve of muscle and your hand rested just above the waistband of his jeans. You noticed his breathing grow heavy, Eren's head falling forward on your exposed shoulder where you felt him nip and suck on the soft flesh. You returned the favor by kissing him on the chest, your eyes still casted downwards as you fumbled with the buckle on his belt, you let out a small curse from how hard your hands were shaking and Eren placed a gentle hand on top of yours, his eyes alight with amusement as his lips curved into a soft smile.

"Baby, relax." He murmured, he pushed your hands aside as he took over the task. You let out a deep breath as you heard the sound of his zipper being tugged down and you decided to be bold. You lowered the upper half of your dress, the cotton falling off your arms with ease and you blushed furiously once you remembered that you hardly ever wore bras and today was no different.

Your nipples were taut as you shivered from the cold air in your office and Eren stared at you in wonder his eyes raking your body as you looked to the side and brought your bottom lip in between your teeth.

"Fuck, can I touch you?" Eren blurted, his hands still near his trousers and you giggled when he added a last second, "Please."

Nodding, you figured it was time to stop feeling so shy. You had been dreaming about this moment for months, yet as the man you loved stood before you, eager to be with you, all you could think about was how scared you were that you wouldn't be enough to satisfy him.

One more glance at the way he watched you was enough for you to think, If he really didn't, he wouldn't be looking at me as if I put all the stars in the sky.

You felt the second wind of confidence hit you and you took Eren by surprise as you hooked your fingers on his belt loops and tugged the fabric down. You palmed him through the thin material of his briefs and his hips jerked from the contact before he melted against you. Lowering the elastic, your small hand wrapped itself around his shaft and you took a moment to admire his dick. It was something new and foreign to you, for a moment you wondered if all male penises looked like that but you pushed that thought aside as you found yourself not really wanting to ever know, as long as Eren's would be the only one you saw. You hand moved up and down, your thumb brushing across his tip as you swiped some of the liquid leaking out to use as lube.

You knew he was a few inches above average, the thickness was also enough to make you worry for a moment whether he would be able to fit in you as his fingers struggling to push inside of you were of any indication of how tight your body was. Either way you were determined to satisfy the both of you, the idea of him using you and watching his face come apart as he milked himself dry using only your pussy had your head feeling fuzzy with want. He rested his head on you, causing your body to lean back and you pressed one palm on your desk behind you and the other jerked him off a bit sloppily. His moans filled the space of your office, you secretly prayed to the gods that the scouts could be smart enough for once to not be injured or to be able to at least handle it themselves and your eyes flickered to the door for a moment.

"Eren," You murmured to the shell of his ear, his heavy breaths fanning across the span of your chest and you felt both your bodies getting hot. "The door, we need to lock the door."

His groan was the only response you got as he trailed kisses up your neck and shoulder, and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes, he was such a guy sometimes. You began to lower yourself from the desk before his hand on your leg suddenly halted your movements and he gave you a lazy smile, his half lidded eyes softly rolling as he let out an obnoxious groan of annoyance.

"I'll do it." He didn't even bother to tuck himself back into his briefs, his dick fully erect as he made way to your door. You felt your hand falling to your side and you bit your lip as you thought about what you wanted to do twice before letting your own hand push the fabric of your underwear to the side once more. You rubbed at your clit lazily as you softly moaned, your eyes closing at the sensation and you smiled when you heard the soft, "Shit." coming from a few feet ahead of you. Eren's eyes were transfixed on you, the way your head rolled back as your moans became louder and higher pitched was making him painfully hard and he wanted-no needed to be inside of you before he was sure he would come right then and there.

Your eyes were still closed when you felt him settle between your legs once more, eyes hazy and smile lazy as you felt him tug your panties down your legs. Your ass lifted briefly to help and you giggled when he grunted in annoyance from having to shuffle backwards to slip them off completely. He laughed with you as his hand cupped you by your jaw, lips finding yours in a tender kiss and the hand that had been rubbing at your clit was used to steady yourself by his shoulder. His muscles flexed under your touch and your breaths intermingled as he stared at you with such an intensity that you felt your stomach flip. You looked down to where he rubbed his length along your folds and gulped.

"I-I'm nervous." You admitted, cheeks blushing and Eren kissed your temple.

"It's okay, I'll take care of you. Do you trust me?" You gasped at the intensity in his eyes, Eren Yeager was one who never beat around the bush and you felt tears pool around your eyes as you nodded. Everything leading up to this moment overwhelmed you suddenly, losing your family, gaining your dream job, becoming independent so quickly, and falling in love with a man who turned into what so many feared but who let you place` flower crowns on his head during tea parties. He continued to maintain eye contact with you, your lips parting and eyes partly closing as he began to push past your labia. It all felt too much, but you wouldn't want to be anywhere else in that exact moment Eren pressed his tip into your passageway. There was a bit of resistance and the guttural moan he released made your eyes widen in an audible gasp, he looked ethereal with reddened cheeks, a slacked opened jaw, eyes that looked close to tears, and thin layer of sweat making his dark brown locks stick to his forehead.

He pushed another inch in, trying his best to not act too quickly or too harshly. All he wanted to do was fucking ruin you. Mark you as his by impregnating you and watching as you took every drop of his semen. It seemed you wanted it too as your hips jerked forward and took in another inch.

"Eren, please." You had no idea what you were asking for, he was being slow and gentle and as much as you appreciated his mindfulness, it had been six long months and if you had to go through another night of humping your pillow or rubbing one out with only fantasies of Eren touching you (Sometimes even Levi, depending on how much alcohol you had consumed) you were gong to scream.

Another inch and a deep chuckle was his response. Your eyes were set ablaze as the realization that he was teasing you.

"Please what baby?"

"Give it to me." You whispered, your hand tugging at his hair harshly and the hiss of pain he released was simultaneous when he completely thrusted his entire length into you. Your thighs jerked at the sudden intrusion and the cry you let out was loud enough that if anybody were nearby, the would have assumed someone struck you. Your hand smacked against his chest, your breath ragged as you attempted to give Eren an angry glance but your pussy betrayed you as it clenched hard around him.

You both released a gasp when Eren fully bottomed out inside you. His hips flush against your parted thighs and your foreheads pressed against one another, lips brushing but not kissing yet as you two came to terms of what was being done. You and Eren were one, there was no going back from what was about to transpire and you silently prayed that he wouldn't regret it later.

"Stop being in your head," He murmured against your mouth, eyes looking into yours, "Be here..."

He gave a heavenly thrust and you felt his arms wrap themselves around your waist as he forced you to fall back onto your desk with a small uff and your hands fell onto his shoulders. Your legs locked around his waist and the new angle caused him to be deeper inside you, but he continued to stare at your with that same admiration from that day he had met you.

"With me."

You nodded slowly, kissing Eren for what felt like the first time. A bit shyly and unsure as your mouth moved against his slowly, you savored the taste of tea and something sweet from his tongue and you let one of your hands hold him by his face as the other found solace in his hair.

Eren began to thrust into you, the rhythm a bit off at first as you two tried to find what worked and when he dipped his hips a little and heard the string of filthy words leaving your mouth, he gave a knowing smirk.

"Hmm, right there princess?"

You panted, your tongue lolling out as his began to go faster. One of your hands shot out to the side to brace yourself on something when Eren began to fuck you harder and instead you turned to see you hand knocked your bottle of ink over, the deep blue liquid was spilling everywhere but before you could let your brain process the mess, Eren began to suck on the flesh of your neck that you exposed when you moved your head. You moaned as you closed your eyes at the overwhelming sensations of it all, your hands grabbing at the muscles in his back and you arched your own and pressed your chest into him.

"Oh fuck," Eren moaned out, "This pussy is so good. You're taking me so well, princess."

"Yeah?" You panted out, "Going to cum in me, baby?"

Eren picked himself up on his forearms, too preoccupied with how pretty your tits looks bouncing with each thrust to notice the your hair was sprawled all over and the upper part of his arm was touching something wet, he figured it was the sweat you two were producing with your coupling.

"I'm gonna get you pregnant, make you mine forever."

"I'm yours!" You screamed as his hips slammed particularly harder down onto your own.

"Choke me, make me a mommy, cum in me, just please don't stop fucking me." You cried out, and a new sort of excitement showed in his eyes, his hand cupped just below your jaw and the light pressure he put on you made you moan louder.

The sounds of skin smacking, panting breaths, and heavy moans filled the air. Eren coaxing you to come all over his dick as you begged him to not pull out of you echoed of the walls of your office. You went on like that for a good while and you giggled in realization that your silent wish for everyone to leave the two of you alone for a while had come true.

Unbeknownst to you two, there had almost been three interruptions. The first being Captain Levi who wanted to ask if mixing his blood pressure medicine with wine would be too dangerous, but when he heard you scream he almost barged in before the unmistakable moan that followed made him fully come to a halt. He didn't even think twice about what was transpiring, briefly remembering that Eren was in fact with you this morning before quickly turning around and hauled ass as far from the hallway as he could. He wasn't sure where he was heading before he stumbled into Erwin's office, the commander looking up to see his captain look like he just ran a marathon.

"Levi? You look like you just saw a ghost?" His eyebrows creased, "Are you okay?"

"Yeager isn't as dense as we thought."

Eren stood to his full height, grabbing at your ankles and moving your legs onto his shoulders to they were fully parallel to his body. You let out another giggle at how your ankles were now on either side of his head, but the small kiss he gave your right one made you let out a noise of adoration. He gripped your hips, smiling as he noted the streaks of something blue all over your chest and neck but decided against telling you as your pussy began to pulsate around him. There was no way in hell he was going to stop you from orgasming.

The second time was Sasha and Connie as they wanted to ask if eating candies with the wrapper still on was anything they needed to worry about, but the sounds of your desk scraping across the floor with Eren commending you for being a good girl and taking him so well made the both of them stare at each other with wide eyes. The "Huh?"'s they exchanged were amusing to anyone else and Sasha grabbed Connie by the collar before they hightailed out of there. Connie wanting to see if Eren had really been capable of pulling you and Sasha calling it bullshit and stating that the real reason was that he wanted to see you naked.

His thrusts became wild and sloppy, the slushing sounds you two were making was the hottest sounds you ever heard. You held onto his wrists, your smile wide and beautiful and Eren knew he wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer.

"I'm not gonna last long," He let you know, you nodded as you reached down to rub your clit in circles.

"Fuck, you look so hot." He blurted, his cheeks a deeper red and you gave him another soft smile.

"Thanks, baby. You too." His abs were going to be the death of you and you hoped you would get the chance to suck him off later to lick them one by one in foreplay.

You felt him begin to twitch in you and you knew you were so close, your rubbing speeding up as Eren's thrusts were becoming more sporadic. The way his eyes began to roll upwards had you chanting,

"I'm-I'm cumming!" Your moan was breathy and high as you felt your release overwhelm your senses, you felt euphoria as you moaned so loud that Jean and Floch who didn't believe Connie when he said that Eren had managed to bed you stared at each other with wide eyes and gaped mouths as they stood outside your door. Their cheeks red as they rushed down the hallway as if their asses were on fire, not even halfway down the stairs when they felt their collars yanked at so harshly they almost trampled down, Captain Levi's glare knowing as he began to reprimand them for being nosy pricks.

Eren's cock dove into you hard and you felt him pulsate as he shot long ropes of cum into you, his essence overflowing as he filled you to the brim and painted your insides white.

His moan was unbelievably loud and low, the "I love you." That followed didn't go unnoticed by you and the smile he gave, made you realize how much he meant it.

"I love you." Your answered back, he pushed your thighs to your chest when he lowered himself to kiss you. His cock softening inside you and he slowed his thrusts down and milked himself dry. He tapped his tip on your sensitive clit, making sure he was empty before tucking himself back into his boxers and jeans. The creampie in you was beginning to ooze out and he used his two fingers to push it back in, your hips bucking at the intrusion and you whined about your sensitivity.

You sat up, your hand going to fix your hair, only groaning slightly when you felt the ink on some strands already drying. You huffed before jumping down and fixing your dress. Eren was putting his shirt back on, his back slightly turned to you and your eyes widened in embarrassment at seeing the blue ink in what was obviously your finger prints streaked all over. You looked down and saw that it had well faded from your hands, transferring to your lover who put on his jacket. You shrugged, figuring no one would see it and you could wash your hands later. Your hair would be a bit tricky to explain but you would be home to shower soon anyway, which reminded you-

"Do you want to stay over tonight?" You blurted, scaring Eren as his eyes widened, you bit the inside of your cheek and fumbled with your fingers.

He smiled, walking up to you and kissing you on the lips before replying, "I would love to. I have to do some work today, and pack an overnight bag but I'll be home by dinner." His eyes looked you over, stifling a laugh when he saw the marks of blue ink on your neck, debating on telling you but not being able to deny how cute they looked on you, a gentle reminder of what happened just moments ago and an odd turn on for him to think of it as him marking you as his, the lovebite also on the side making him watch you with love.

You nodded before giving a follow-up question, "Chicken or fish?"

"Fish." He nodded, you grabbed a few papers from your desk drawer and Eren asked if you were all set before taking your hand into his as the two of you began to walk out the office, you mentioned having to speak to Erwin about the cadet recovering from a broken limb and Eren listened patiently, your hands swinging in between the two of you and you both relished at how easy it felt to transition into a life of domestication together. He walked you to Erwin's office, his knuckles knocking on the door before a loud, "One minute!" replied.

You both shared a look of confusion before shrugging and stepping to the side. You fixing his hair and Eren's hand resting on top of your hips when the office door opened. You both turned to see Jean and Floch who sported sullen faces, their arms swinging in front of them as if they were children just denied a cone of ice cream.

"Boys?" You called, your free hand interlocking with Eren who stood in place as you took a step toward the pair. "Everything alright?"

They looked between you and Eren, Jean seeing the ink marks on your neck and seeing Eren's hair haphazard was enough to make him look to the floor, his cheeks reddening and Eren could only smirk. Floch was the opposite, he couldn't take his eyes off you as his face held a permanent grimace and you wondered if he was constipated.

"Baby," Eren called, tugging you back to him and Jean scoffed, Possessive ass is already showing her off. He thought to himself.

"They just got yelled at by Erwin, whatever they did was obviously bad, just leave them be."

You nodded in understanding, giving them a comforting smile and Floch didn't miss the knowing look in Eren's eyes.

"Sorry to hear about that. If you two ever need anything, you know where my office is."

"Yeah, that's the problem." Captain Levi's voice came from the doorway. Jean and Floch mumbled a quick goodbye before scurrying away and you couldn't help but fall into deeper confusion.

The captain and Eren exchanged looks before Eren bent to kiss your cheek.

"I got to go. I'll see you later, princess." You blushed at the nickname and public display, murmuring a soft okay in reply as your boyfriend? walked away from you.

You gave Levi a smile which he didn't return, you didn't miss the small blush on his cheeks and you figured it was from seeing such intimacy from Eren. You were almost positive Levi was still a virgin. Walking into Erwin's office, you all but skipped the man's desk, falling beside him and giving him a bright smile which he returned.

"Hey Erwin, just wanted to update you on the cadet's recovery plan. He should be back in training in a few months if he listens to my instructions, think you can help me?"

"Sure what do you need?"

"Well, I'd need you to sign these release forms first." You shrugged putting the papers in front of him, you looked at his desk and grabbed the pen, "Where's your ink?"

The chuckle the two men gave you made your eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"What?"

"Seems like you're wearing it, Doc." Levi's eyes flickered to your neck.

You let out a gasp and your hands slapped to cover you and the laughs that followed only made you blush furiously.

Dammit, You thought, Eren you idiot.

[iamthemain-character]

Hey, I just saw you were taking requests. I was wondering if you could write something about Leonard mccoy being in love with gn!reader who is medical scientist but also an Orion afab person and when they get together, Spock and Kirk are a little afraid that they could be using their advantages (the pheromones female Orions have) over him. Thank you very much 💙

hello! this was an interesting idea, thanks for requesting! i hope you like it :)

The Science Of Love

leonard “bones” mccoy x orion! reader

gender neutral pronouns, afab

TW: just spock and kirk being kinda overprotective which leads to them making assumptions about reader, it has a happy ending tho

requested by @jeromevaleska-zemo-s-bitch

so i tried to do some more in depth research on pheromones and the orion species, but considering this is set in a fictional futuristic space age i kinda made some assumptions/ made things up. i hope it all is okay!

Star Trek Masterlist

Dr. McCoy and Y/n were not a very public couple; PDA was almost nonexistent, and they it would be best to keep their romance a secret since they did work together, at least for a while. Y/n was head medical scientist on the starship Enterprise, and with Leonard McCoy being both head doctor and best friend to the captain, a low key relationship seemed best.

As time went on, however, Bones started to feel guilty lying to his friends about his free-time activities. While his schedule used to be wide open, he now spent much of his free time with the person he loved, but for secrecy’s sake he couldn’t tell them that. Bones wasn’t really a good liar to start with, so most conversations found himself tripping over his words and sticking his foot in his mouth.

Even Y/n began to notice it, so they decided to confront Leonard about it.

“Leo?”

“Yes my dear?”

“I think it’s time you tell your friends about us.”

Bones looked up from the tablet his was reading and looked at his SO. “Are you sure?”

“I am. I think we’ve proven we can keep work at work, and things are still going well for us. And besides, your lies aren’t very convincing, so it’s better you tell them before they figure it out.”

———————————————————————

All three men were sat down at the ships bar in the recreational room; Spock, Leonard McCoy, and Jim Kirk. Their conversation topics were fairly light, joking with each other and laughing lots. At a lull, however, Bones decided it was time to break the news.

“Well boys, I gotta tell y’all something.”

Both men turned with raised eyebrows, curious to see what their friend was going to say.

“I’m seeing someone. Y/n, specifically. Don’t worry Jim, we keep it professional at work, but at the end of the day, we both like each other. I love them.” With that Bones gave a quick nod and tossed back his drink.

Spock blinked a few times as he tried to process what he was hearing, and Jim poured them both another drink.

“Leonard, you know that Jim and I hold you high regard, but are you sure? This all seems rather sudden.”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything Spock; I’m in love with Y/n, and I feel like the luckiest man in the universe that they put up with me. You both should meet them, see just how incredible they are.” McCoy’s communicator blinked, signifying that he had received a message. “Ah, speaking of, we are supposed to have dinner. I’ll see you guys later!”

Kirk and Spock watched as their friend walked away, a slight smile on his face. Neither had ever seen Bones this happy before or emotional. In fact, the only emotion they ever saw from him was grumpy, so everything about him was just very unusual.

“Jim?”

“Spock?”

“Is it just me or was the doctor….”

“Unusually cheery? Yeah, I noticed it too.”

Spock’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought, waiting for Jim to finish his drink before he spoke. “I cannot help but wonder, Y/n is an Orion, assigned female at birth. The Orion people are known to have strong pheromones which cause strong attraction in the opposite gender. I cannot help but wonder if the reason for his sudden change is do to the affect Y/n might have on him.”

Jim’s jaw dropped as the meaning of what Spock was saying hit him. “Are you saying that Y/n might be using their abilities to get Bones to love them?”

“Do not be hasty Captain; I am unsure of whether or not this is being done intentionally, but i would be a good explanation for everything.”

Slipping off his stool, Kirk rushed to the doors. Spock was quick to follow, on the heels of Jim as they navigated the ship. The pair came up upon Bone’s quarters, and Jim didn’t even take time to knock before he opened the door.

Inside, Bones and Y/n were sitting next to each other at the table, laughing over something that had been said. Both suddenly looked up at the intrusion, surprised to see their captain and commander rushing in.

“Jim, what the he-“

“You’re not in love with Y/n, they’re using their pheromones over you.”

Bones stood up from the table and came face to face with his friend. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, stop.”

“No Bones, listen to me. Spock told me, Orion have strong pheromones, and Y/n has those same ones that make you attracted to them, so it’s not real. You gotta stay away from them.”

“Spock, did you really say that?”

Spock looked very uncomfortable, awkwardly standing a little ways behind Jim. “I simply related my concerns to Jim that because Y/n is an afab Orion, their natural evolutionary features may have played a part in your attraction to them. McCoy, you must understand, you’ve been acting very uncharacteristically. You’ve been more jovial and dare I say, romantic. You can understand Jim’s and my concern.”

Quietly Y/n came up to stand beside Leonard. “I can understand your concern Captain, Commander, but I assure you; Orion pheromones have no affect whatsoever on the human species. It has been proven in many medical studies, including some I have participated in. If Leo has shown attraction to me, it is because I have tried to love him as he deserves. And I do, I love him. But I don’t want to be the reason you three argue; Leonard, I think we should take some time apart, slow down a bit.”

“No, Y/n-“

“It’s for the best okay? Thank you for dinner, but I have to go.” With tears glistening in Y/n’s eyes, they excused themself from the room.

When Bones turned to face his friends again, his expression had completely changed. “So you too decided that my relationship was a sham, and so you should come interrupt my personal evening to humiliate my SO and me? You didn’t even stop to think that maybe you could talk to me in private? You two are supposed to be my best friends, you’re supposed to be there for me! And yet when I’m finally happy you decide it’s not okay?! I think I deserve to be happy, I deserve to be romantic, it’s not a crime! AND IF I WANT TO LOVE Y/N, THEN I THINK I HAVE THAT RIGHT.”

“Bones, we just-“

“GET OUT! Get out of my home, leave me be, so I can try to fix the mess you both have made!”

Their cheeks burning with shame, Spock and Kirk quickly left the room. As they walked back to their quarters, neither said a word; both understood the consequences of their actions, and they felt horrible. But the damage had been done, and they had no way to fix it.

Things were tense for the week to come; Y/n spoke to none of them, instead electing to work any position that would prevent contact. Bones also was not speaking to Jim or Spock, giving them a freezing shoulder and only speaking in terse words when necessary. The whole ship felt the cold air between them, but despite the best efforts of mutual friends, nothing broke the ice. It was killing Kirk and Spock to watch everyone suffer from their mistakes, and so at the next ship stop they decided to hatch a plan to at least apologize.

Y/n was taken aback one morning as they walked into their office; every where to be seen there was flora from their home planet. The blossoms were vibrant hughes, and plants carefully cared for. Set in beautiful pottery, it was like stepping back home. What surprised Y/n even more, was the two men standing in the middle of it.

“What can I do for you Captain? Commander?”

Kirk nodded to Spock before starting to speak.

“We wanted to apologize, for everything that happened the other day. What I said was out of line, and incredibly rude of me. I shouldn’t have said any of it; you’ve never given us reason to doubt your integrity, and we should’ve been happy that you and Bones were happy.”

“Indeed, I share the Captain’s lament. I should not have made such bold assumptions, indeed, I know better than anyone that what we are does not define who we are. I am deeply and truly sorry Y/n.”

“We both are, from the bottom of our hearts. If there’s anything we can do to make it better, we want to do it.”

For a few seconds, Y/n’s face didn’t change; then, slowly a sly smile spread. “I think I have an idea.”

———————————————————————

“Alright I’m here! What’s the emergency? Who’s in danger?” Bones burst through the door of the recreation center, panic etched into his face. He had received a call that someone was in medical need, but now as he looked around, he only saw Kirk and Y/n.

Y/n was seated at a table towards the back, candlelight casting a soft glow on them. Jim was dressed up in a suit and had a linen thrown over his arm.

“Excuse me sir, are you here for your dinner reservation?”

“I-I don’t have a reservation?”

“Are you Leonard McCoy?”

“……Yes?”

“Then follow me please.”

Kirk led Leonard over to the table with Y/n, pulling out the chair across from them and gesturing for him to sit. Bones did as told, confused as could be. Then Spock came out in a matching suit to Kirk, but he instead held a tray with two silver dishes on it. These he placed in front of the two people dining while Kirk filled their glasses with some bubbly drink. After both men had finished, as a final touch, they pulled rose petals out of their pockets and dramatically threw them around. Y/n burst into giggles, while Leonard just watched in amazement.

As Kirk and Spock left, Leonard turned his attention back to Y/n; they looked absolutely gorgeous, and his heart swelled at the sight of their smile.

“Hey there Darlin.”

Finally Y/n couldn’t restrain themselves anymore, getting up, they threw their arms around Bones’ shoulders and pulled him close. He wrapped his arms around them too, and for a moment they just sat there and enjoyed being together again.

“What is happening?”

“Jim and Spock felt bad and wanted to apologize, so they helped set up this date for us.”

“Really? So that’s why they were in that funky getup.”

Y/n laughed and cupped Leonard’s face. “Yes, they said it was customary on earth. As are the rose petals.”

“I see, a nice touch to be sure.” Laughing, Leonard touched his forehead to Y/n’s. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“And I you.”

“Promise you’ll never leave, no matter how rude my friends are?”

Y/n smiled and placed a sweet kiss on Leonard’s lips. “Always and forever my love.”

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Okay, so, a lot of your opinions on modern day feminism are kind of “interesting” but you seem like a genuinely nice guy that’s willing to learn when people point things out to you so I’m just going to say my piece on them.

A few days back you said something about how modern day feminism is “propping women up as amazing and perfect, while treating men like garbage” and it’s just… not really true.

For one thing that sounds like some of the old arguments misogynistic men did during first and second wave feminism to downplay what they were doing. “Feminists don’t have valid points, they just hate men!”

But anyways.

We aren’t trying to say that women are perfect, just that women shouldn’t be treated worse than men based solely on the fact that they’re women. It seems like a given. Except it’s not. I recently changed my name from a distinctly feminine one to a more androgynous one and suddenly customers online aren’t fighting me as much on things I know more about. There’s still a lot of minor ways that women are put down. That’s what feminists want to get rid of. We just want the same benefit of the doubt that white men have. But when a power structure has existed for long enough equality begins to feel imbalanced.

(And, when you hit an actual “women can do no wrong” mindset, it’s usually a younger person or a guy that is overcompensating for misogyny. I actually think this is why Astruc writes his show the way he does. But that’s a rant for another time.)

And when people say that “men are trash” it’s not really saying that all men are evil or anything it’s just saying that men often uphold the patriarchy because they benefit from it. Mediocre men get upheld for doing the bare minimum (“he doesn’t help me with any chores or anything but at least he doesn’t hit me!”, “hey look praise this guy because he’s a 50year old dating another 50year old!”, etc). Good men often stay silent when they’re around misogynists.

It also has to do with trauma when women say that. It’s a safe assumption, thinking all men are awful. It’s difficult to tell early on whether someone is going to do something to you. Most sa is done by a close friend or family member. Someone you trust can be a monster. Sometimes it’s just safest not to trust anyone, y’know?

Anyways, those are my two cents on that subject — actually this is pretty long so, like, ten cents — on the subject. I like most of your content but it just bothers me sometimes how you talk about feminism as a whole.

No, don’t worry, I get what I said was stupid, and I’m sorry. I understand I can’t really understand the struggles women go through today.

I should have phrased that better, but I was referring mainly to more modern pieces of media that tend to prop up female heroes as incredible and market them based solely on their gender while making guys seem weak in comparison, like the Ghostbusters reboot, Captain Marvel, Supergirl, and Batwoman.

I think Miraculous Ladybug tends to do this at times by portraying Ladybug as hypercompetent in a fight while Cat Noir has been more of a hinderance lately as opposed to how he helped out more in earlier seasons.

I do get what you’re trying to say, and I get that there are struggles I wasn’t aware of. I want to say once again that I’m sorry for ignoring this aspect of feminism.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Hello! I hope you’re well. I was wondering if you had any information on Inuit, Yup’ik, or Inupiaq boating or fishing vessels? I love to learn how different cultures approach seafaring differently and you seem like you may know. Thanks!

The umiaq is the most common one. A lot of resources say that the umiaq is a "women's boat" but that's kind of a bullshit translation that encourages one to make assumptions about the gender roles of a culture they don't know much about. An umiaq is a boat used for all kinds of purposes. It's a large, wide, and open boat that can seat many people and still have room for animal carcasses, hunting equipment (such as spears and harpoons), household items, goods for trade, all kinds of things. It can be used for travel (like the King Islanders' yearly migrations to Nome and back until the BIA made us settle there permanently) or for hunting on the ice or even whaling. The captain of the whaling crew is called the Umialik (literally: "supplied with an umiaq") and in costal communities has historically served the role of a patriarch to the tribe. The umiaq can also be leaned on its side to make a very temporary shelter from the elements. Sometimes they had sails, but more commonly they were propelled by rowing oars or paddles. In the winter, when the ground is too fozen to dig, one may cover dead bodies with an umiaq to protect them from animals while they wait for a proper burial. Umiaqpaq, or umiapaq depending on the dialect, technically just means "big umiaq" but has been used to mean ship.

In stark contrast, we also have the qayaq (in English it's spelled kayak, in Inupiatun the q is pronounced differently from the k and we pronounce it qayaq). The qayaq is a usually one person boat (King Islanders were unique in making two people qayaqs because we're special) much narrower and shorter than an umiaq and while an umiaq was open, a qayaq was closed around the person riding it. While the agility of an umiaq is nothing to sneeze at, it was a key feature of the qayaq. Sometimes, but not in all cases, an umiaq may be guided and guarded by men in qayaqs. The Selawik Inupiaq hero, Qayaq, often has his named shortened to this from a much longer name meaning "one who is typically and leisurely in their qayaq" which references his long solo journey in search of his lost brothers.

Also, on the subject of fishing, the sort of fishing poles Inupiaq and Yup'ik peoples traditionally used looked nothing like Sokka's fishing pole, but I think that deserves its own post at a later date