#Crusher Elaborations

[ffcrazy15]

I need a whole fic where the Cerritos is mistaken for the Enterprise by some type of alien with very high intelligence but very poor visual recognition, for whatever reason.

And Freeman either can't or is too scared to convince them that they're not the Enterprise, so she starts desperately assigning everyone to various roles. Boimler gets assigned as Data, and since he and Mariner are the only people on the ship who play string instruments, the captain orders them to put together some sort of "symphony" because the aliens have heard that that's a thing on the Enterprise.

And it's just Mariner and Boimler frustratedly trying to figure out how to combine her electric guitar skills and his traditional violin skills into something suitably "symphonic" (i.e. thematically trying to combine her more lax/modern way of doing things with his more strict/traditional way).

[quasi-normalcy]

Okay, but what if the sex ghost from "Sub Rosa" was a Pah'Wraith in disguise, subtly tweaking the DNA of Dr. Crusher's maternal line over hundreds of years because it knew (through its existence in non-linear time) that she would eventually have a child with an ex-Borg that could be used to release them from the Fire Caves?

What if the world was made of pudding?

[fullfriendnerdclutch]

Since you love it when people expanded your storyline, please allow me to entertain you about Cas because this is right up my alley @onelinerbust

Something extraordinary happened to me earlier today. As I smugly grin with my roommate to our enhanced reflection in the mirror, my mind wandered to 10 hours ago when that hit me.

My fingers, stained with Cheeto dust and smelling faintly of lukewarm ramen, hammered away at the keyboard, lines of Python code blooming on the screen like digital weeds. The hum of the server rack in the corner was my white noise, the flickering monitor my campfire. This was my life, resident basement dweller in a leafy, aggressively liberal campus more interested in protesting free speech than actually engaging with it.

My world consisted of logic gates, late-night coding sessions, and the occasional awkward conversation with a teaching assistant about why my sorting algorithm was eating up more memory than a browser running Chrome. Social life? Non-existent. Romantic prospects? Laughable. I’d spend my weekends huddled in the dimly lit computer lab, bathed in the cool glow of screens, while the rest of the campus pulsed with parties and… well, whatever else regular college kids did. I wouldn't know. Regular wasn't in my programming.

*bzzzt bzzzt*

Little did I know back then, it was the catalyst. It was a rarity for someone to message me, most of the time people reached me through the more accessible socials, message to my phone number usually ended up as spam. But something – a flicker of boredom, maybe – made me pick it up and unlock it.

The message was long, rambling, and…...weird.

“Cas, wake the fuck up. This is a trick, you are NOT a spineless soyboy. You’re supposed to be a GOD, remember? 🤯 Alpha💪🏻. American 🇺🇸. White 🫵🏻. You have all it takes to become the God that you are destined to be! 🦅🦅🦅🇺🇸 This is not it! Look at you, pathetic. Remember gridiron glory? Friday night lights? The roar of the crowd as you, Chad ‘The Crusher’ Kensington, leading your team to victory? 🏈🏈🏆 Remember the cheerleaders, their pom-poms a blur, their eyes hungry for you? Remember the taste of victory, the scent of their slick pussy🍑😏, the adoration in their eyes when they kneel to your greatness🍆💦🧠? You deserve it all. It’s your birthright. This woke bullshit campus is trying to neuter you, but deep down, the alpha is still there. Let him out. Unleash the beast 😤👹👹 They want weakness? Show them power. They want equality? Show them hierarchy. They want gentleness? Show them dominance. Go take what's yours, Chad. Grab your crown and spoil, king 👑, you know I'm right and you approve this message! 😤😤

The message was punctuated with emojis – flexing biceps, crowns, American flags, and an unsettling number of suggestive faces. My brow furrowed. This had to be some kind of elaborate prank. Some right-wing troll farm had probably gotten hold of my number. I was about to delete it when a strange warmth spread in my chest. Like a shot of something potent and unfamiliar.

It started small. A tingling in my fingers, then a tightening in my gut, like I'd just downed a gallon of protein shake. My vision sharpened, my glasses become an obstacle so I took it down. The code on the screen, which had been a comforting blur of familiar symbols, now seemed almost… insulting. My shoulders straightened instinctively. I flexed my fingers, and there was…more there. Definitely more. Concerned, I decided to make a dash to the bathroom, trying to relive myself and not disturb the others with my painful groan

As I entered the empty, secluded bathroom, that was when it hit.

It wasn't a slow transition. It was a goddamn reality shift. One second, I was Cas, the hunched-over coder, the next…I trembled on the floor as my body screamed with a new kind of awareness. My skin flushed with heat as it gets tighter, stretched over something hard and defined. Muscles. Real muscles. Not the flabby kind that comes from hauling bags of chips from the store to the dorm. These were….sculpted....powerful, dare I say.

Despite my attempt to look at my surroundings and begging for help, I only let out a weak, pathetic whimper as my gaze dropped to my swelling arms. I ripped off my oversized, stained hoodie, the fabric tearing slightly at the seams. The skinny, pale limbs I’d known my entire life were gone. It was replaced by thick, corded arms with veins popping under my now tanned, still-white skin. I managed to get some control over my trembling, swelling form, as I pushed myself to stand up. Then, as if a truck just hit me, my reflection stared back from the dirty bathroom mirror

It wasn't me, I thought rightaway, but a painful glitch hit my brain and I relaxed afterward.

The round, soft face was gone. Sharp angles had emerged – a strong jawline, high cheekbones. My eyes, which had always been a bland, watery blue behind thick glasses, were now a piercing, intense steel-grey, framed by this intimidating, darker eyebrows. My boring, unimpressive thin brunette with signs of receding hairline, had thickened, styled into a coiffed, blonde cut that framed my face perfectly. And… holy shit, my chest. I was enamored by the sight of it…defined...yet pillowy too, definitely the kind of pecs that can hypnotize anyone that stared at it for too long

The rest of my torso were equally outstanding, rippling with muscle and power beyond even my wildest imagination. A six-pack, for Christ’s sake! I ran a hand over my stomach, feeling the hard ridges beneath my skin. It felt… alien. And utterly, undeniably amazing.

Below the Adonis belt… well, let’s just say things were… proportionately enhanced. The message hadn't lied. Eight inches? Minimum. This wasn't just a physical transformation. It was…fundamental. A complete rewrite of my being.

And the memories…they flooded in, vivid and visceral, like a lifetime I’d somehow forgotten. Friday night lights. The roar of the crowd. Me, Chad Kensington, throwing a perfect spiral, the ball whistling through the air, finding my receiver in the end zone for the winning touchdown. Cheerleaders chanting my name. The hot press of bodies in the locker room, the smell of sweat and victory. The adoring gazes of girls, lining up for a piece of me.

Chad Kensington. That's me now. That had always been me. And this Cas memory… this weak, nerdy shell, this “Cas,” was just some… aberration. A glitch in the matrix, finally corrected.

A surge of pure, unadulterated testosterone pulsed through my veins. I thought to myself, this is power. This is dominance. This is what I was meant to be.

I remembered that I reached down, gripped myself through my sweatpants – they were suddenly too tight, too strained at the seams – and started to stroke hard, the phantom memories of cheering crowds and eager pussy fueling my hand. Chad Kensington, college star. Chad Kensington, panty-dropper extraordinaire. Chad Kensington, alpha male supreme. The image solidified in my mind, burning hot and real. I came hard all over the bathroom, my streak of thick, white cum painted the tiles, the mirror and even coagulated at the sink, the force of it surprising even myself, the false memory of adoration and conquest washing over me like a tidal wave.

When I finally opened my eyes, still breathing heavily, I realized that this would the very last time I would be jacking off to my dick in such a pathetic state. My baby batter would not be wasted in an empty, secluded bathroom like that so I quickly put my clothes back on and dashed to the computer lab to made my exit from the confine of that oppressive cage.

As I entered the lab, I remembered it suddenly felt… suffocating. Small. Pathetic. It wasn't my place anymore. Chad Kensington didn’t belong in a basement coding Phyton and shit. He belonged out there, dominating, conquering, taking what was rightfully his.

"Chad, what took you so long?"

Yeah, that was fun. Ramsey......did that pathetic TA really tried to intimidate me with that furrowed brow of his and confined me with bureaucracy BS? Well, he better be fuckin' jacked first before starting to act tough to me. Then, my brain started working. Maybe Ramsey can be less of a whiny, judgy TA if he received the message, so I just forwarded the message to him and smirked as I told him that I sent my reason to his personal messenger and I need to get the fuck out of here ASAP. He turned around and started to read the chat, and from the small glimpse that I managed to peek, the message is different from what I received! That's when the realization hit me. I legit mouthed "Damn" to myself as I realized that it's adaptive......like, that shit can change based on who read it. That revelation made my head spin, that message was indeed some fucking precisive, hi-tech work there. But the effect seemed to be the same, it made the reader into its best version of themselves, because how do you explain that a fucking algorithmic TA all-in-a-sudden have the built of a jacked bull like that, huh?

As he allowed me to grab my bag and leave the lab with a knowing nod, my stomach growled – not from hunger, but from a different kind of hunger. A primal urge. And then it brought me back to this very room as I remembered Kate, Jason's girlfriend. I know Jason, my roommate, was still at his stupid philosophy club meeting as I cleaned out my table, probably droning on about existential dread and Kate.....Kate was always… around, waiting for him. She's pretty enough, in a bland, accessible way. And always subtly, almost unconsciously, throwing glances my way. I knew even from back then that it must be the fucked up, corrupt message that made me think that way because Kate would never glanced to pathetic, asocial Cas, but at the same time, I was hit by this duality as I remembered myself as NOT Cas. Of course she glanced at me, I'm Chad fucking Kensington and people will not only glance my way, they will snap their head to view my greatness.

I strode out of the computer lab, my newfound muscles rippling under my thin tanktop (which also felt alarmingly small and tight). The campus walkways felt different. People noticed me. Heads turned. Girls giggled. Guys gave me that wary, respectful nod that alphas exchanged. It was intoxicating.

When I finally arrived at my dorm room, it was unlocked, as usual. Jason was perpetually trusting, another symptom of his pathetic beta male existence, I thought. I pushed it open, and there she was, Kate, sprawled on Jason's bed, scrolling through her phone, oblivious.

“Hey,” I said, my voice deeper, rougher than I remembered. Chad’s voice.

She looked up, startled as I take my shirt off so casually to reveal the sheen of sweat that seemingly coated my body. Her eyes widened, lingering on my… physique. A flicker of something in her eyes I recognized – desire – flashed in them.

“Cas? Uh.... sorry, the room is unlocked, Jason said.....I....I can wait in his bed. You just finished with practice?” Her voice was breathy, a little uncertain.

“Chad,” I corrected, stepping closer. “It’s Chad,"

She swallowed, her gaze dropping to my chest. “Chad,” she repeated, testing the name on her lips as I can see the memory started to jog on her brain. “Yeah, Chad.”

“Jason’s not here,” I stated, knowing it wasn’t a question.

She shook her head, a nervous laugh escaping her. “No, he’s… still in philosophy club.”

“Right,” I said, closing the distance between us. I reached out, my hand closing around her wrist, pulling her to her feet. Her skin was soft, yielding in my grip. Too soft. She needed to be hardened up. Tamed.

“By the way, read your phone, dropped something you would be interested to read," I said, glancing at her phone with a knowing smirk as I decided that she would be my first female guinea pig

I watched it in real time how the bland, average-looking Kate started to get way more prettier, leagues above Jason definitely, the curve gets wilder and her face really turned exactly how I imagined a sultry blonde bimbo falling head over heels for me would look like. So, after proving my little theory to be correct, that the message is transformative beyond men, I decided to test out yet another probability. Her slightly vacant eyes gave me idea as I saw a potential to create more excitement, more chaos, so I grabbed her by the chin to made her stare at me and start digging

"You get close to my roommate just to have chances to be in the same room with me, don't you? You're not the brightest girl out there, Cathy, I can see right through your play,"

Bingo, I smirked in my mind. That mind was jogging hard to made my words her reality. And since I have started anyway, I decided to take it up a notch to made my words her Bible

"In fact, you always fantasize Jason as me, right? This room smelled like me, you can taste me in the air so when you close your eyes as Jason fucked you, that mind of yours played this little game to make you think I was the one doing the fucking, huh? That's why you always come here earlier than Jason and I, you imprinted my fucking musk in your head by digging through my dirty laundry and closet so you can go through that unimpressive sex with Jason with me in mind, don't you? Well, he's not around, so why not use this time for you to just taste the real thing?"

She didn’t resist as I pulled her closer, my body pressing against hers. And seemingly taken over by her wilder, improved side, she started licking and kissing my abs

We were on Jason's bed in seconds, her clothes ripped open, the cheap fabric tearing easily under my hands. She moaned like a slut in heat, calling my name like I'm his God and only savior which fueled my dominance. It was power. It was control. It was… right.

Just as I was piledriving my cock into her now very irresistibly tight pussy, the door swung open. Jason stood there, textbooks clutched in his hand, his jaw dropping as he took in the scene. Me, thrusting hard into his girlfriend, her muffled moan filling the room.

“Cas?!” His voice was a strangled squawk.

I paused, looking up at him, a smirk playing on my lips. “Chad,” I corrected again. “And you need to check your phone, Jason,”

He stared at me, bewildered, then slowly lowered his gaze to his phone, which he thankfully had in his pocket. He fumbled it out, unlocked it with trembling fingers, and then… his eyes widened. He read something on the screen, his face shifting, contorting.

The change wasn’t as instantaneous as mine had been, but it was happening. His posture straightened. His shoulders broadened. His soft, doughy face hardened, angles emerging where there had been curves. His eyes sharpened, losing their bewildered puppy-dog look, gaining a new, predatory gleam.

“Holy… fuck,” he breathed, dropping his textbooks to the floor with a thud. He looked at me, a grin spreading across his transformed face, a grin that mirrored my own. “Chad?”

“Welcome to the club, bro,” I said, nodding. “Plenty to go around.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He ripped off his shirt, revealing a surprisingly decent set of pecs that I didn’t remember being there before. He was still smaller than me, but… he was getting there. Fast.

Without a word, he joined me on the bed. Cathy, who had been silent and still during the initial shock of Jason’s arrival, moaned again as he climbed on top of her, his gaze now burning with the same predatory hunger I felt.

We tag-teamed her, me dealing with her now bubbly, curvy ass while Jason handled the front, his now uncut 6 inchers really bruised her throay in a brutal, animalistic act of dominance. Tears and sweat leaked out of her alongside the obvious pussy juices and saliva, but she's not really protesting despite all the shit we did to her, just… taking it. Submitting. Like the good, cheerleader slut she was. It was… satisfying. In a deeply, disturbingly primal way.

Later, after we were done, Cathy panted for breath looking like a total wrecked mess on Jason's bed as I and Jason stood side-by-side, flexing in front of the mirror. The dorm room felt… different. Charged. Alive. With power.

As my mind snapped back to the current situation and how much change I have caused, Jason's question really cause a stir in my mind

“Think this… message… can do this to anyone?” Jason asked, running a hand over his newly defined jawline.

I smirked. “Oh I know this shit can do it to anyone. But let's see how far this can go,"

I pulled out my phone, found the message, and forwarded it to the Computer Science group chat. A chat filled with other pathetic, nerdy guys like I used to be. Guys who needed… guidance. Correction.

Almost instantly, phones started buzzing and pinging around the dorm. Then, shouts. Yells. The sound of furniture being overturned. Loud, aggressive music blaring from open windows. Footsteps pounding in the hallway.

Jason and I exchanged a glance. Then we grinned. Wide, feral grins.

The campus is about to change. And Chad Kensington, along with his newly minted alpha brothers, is going to be leading the charge. My birthright, after all.

[andromedaexile]

Are they a stoner? TNG edition

Picard: Used to smoke like a chimney back in his academy days. Quit once he had to get that heart replacement.

Riker: Oh 100% used to hot box his academy room. But once he got stationed on the Pegasus he reeled it back. He still lights up on Risa though.

Data: No, THC has no impact on him. However he does want to understand the human social custom of “puff puff pass.”

Geordi: He uses edibles for his chronic pain and headaches but only when on shore leave. Maybe while off-duty if the pain is really bad but he doesn’t want to impede the effectiveness of his visor.

Troi: Not only is she hitting the elaborate Betazoid pipe her mom sent her, she is recommending edibles to anxious crew members. By far the biggest stoner on the Enterprise.

Worf: No. If it’s not prune juice or blood wine, he doesn’t want it… Okay, he tried smoking with Deanna ONCE and hated it.

Dr. Crusher: In her youth she dabbled with edibles but was never a smoker. She prescribes medical marijuana (only ever edibles) w/ Troi’s recommendation to her patients.

Wesley: He always said he would be straight edge his entire life, but then he went to Starfleet Academy…We all know the rest.

Guinan: She’s either straight edge or a plug for the Enterprise. I’m not sure. But if I had to go through the shit she has, I sure as hell would be rolling blunts in Ten Forward.

Yar: She most definitely got smoked, but not in the fun way.

O’Brien: No (until DS9 at least).

[blackstarchanx3new]

What theme songs would suit the characters of Four Swords? This includes songs that reflect their personalities, relationships, and dynamics with each other. Because I'm curious what you think suits them.

Bro basically asked for my personal playlist lmfao. Link:

Haunted House - After School Surf Club Notion - The Rare Occasions Sugar Pills - IDKHOW Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand Double Life - Pharrell Williams still feel - half alive Ghost - Mystery Skulls Dead Inside - Younger Hunger Why Did I Say Okie Doki? · The Stupendium Ghost Town - Trickle Losing My Mind- Mystery Skulls Dr. Gaster - Shadrow

Green: the perfect pair - beabadoobee Mr. FEAR -SIAMES Vending Machine of Love · The Stupendium Blue: Cold Cold Cold - Cage The Elephant (lmfao) Wild Side - ALI My Way - SIAMES Dancin - Aaron Smith Red: Copycat - CircusP/VocaCircus (This song could also fit Dark haha) The Red Means I Love You - Madds Buckley Wonderful Nothing - Glass Animals I Only Paint in Red Now - Lydia the Bard / Tony Halliwell Don't Come Crying - TryHardNinja Vio: Out of My League - Fritz and The Tantrums Lone Digger - Caravan Palace A Tear in Space (Airlock) - Glass Animals I’m So Sorry - ImagineDragons Ghost Town - Veorra & The Tech Thieves

Shadow Link: Love Away - SIAMES 505 - Arctic Monkeys Do It All The Time - IDKHOW Rasputin · Majestic Freaking Out - Mystery Skulls GRRRLS · AViVA TERRIBLE THINGS · AXIE Wolf In Sheep's Clothing [REBORN] - Set It Off Alone In The Darkness - SIAMES

Dark Link: Gladiator - Jann Digital Silence - Peter McPoland My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski Christmas Kids - ROAR Loverboy - A-Wall 4:00 A.M. - Taeko Onuki ECHO - Crusher My Ordinary Life-The Living Tombstone Tongues and Teeth - The Crane Wives Villain Stella Jang Cover) · Umbratic Forest

Vaati: Lay all your love on me - ABBA The Wolf - SIAMES How I Learned To Love The Bomb - Glass Animals Enemy - imagine dragons

Ship/dynamic Specific songs:

Vidow: Pork Soda - Glass Animals Heat Waves - Glass Animals Hold Me Tight or Don't - Fall Out Boy The Bird Song - Noah Floersch Sex With A Ghost - Teddy Hyde Neovaii - Crash Snuff out the light - Eartha Kitt Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys  (Greenvio and Darkblue also fit this) GreenVio: GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE - Cover by Justine M. Vidoween: Jenny - Studio Killers GreenBlue: No lullaby - SIAMES (Not romantic but symbolic of them both dealing with Link's BS lmfao)

DarkBlue: Knee Socks - Arctic Monkeys (Arctic monkeys just IS their vibe tbh) Dissolve - Absofacto Horns - Bryce Fox This Is Hardcore - Pulp DarkVaati: Too Sweet - Hozier Take me to Church - Hozier Church - Fall Out Boy (IF YOU WERE CHURCH I'D GET ON MAH KNEEES- 😏) Soul on Fire - Mystery Skulls Paralyzed - Mystery Skulls Hide Away (feat. Holly) · Synapson · Holly (We damn well know who's hiding lmfao) Flowers - Dj Quads (Lmfao this one is sad as hell but I can't at all elaborate on why due to spoilers X'D) Toxic - Britney Spears rewrite by Lydia the Bard Me and the Devil · Soap&Skin (Could also be Vidow) DarkVio: I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend - Cameron Hayes (This just is THE DarkVio song as far as I'm concerned, the intense as hell almost manic pining specifically haha.) Mixed Messages - Tom C (The question is who's "Dad" is getting punched in the dick...)

DarkShadow: From the Start - GoodKid Cover (One Sided on Shadow's part.) Brothers -SIAMÉS

FSR In general coded songs:

The Walker - Fitz and The Tantrums Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz A Good Song Never Dies - Saint Motel The Future - Mystery Skulls Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers Kick back - Kenshi Yonezu Plastic Love - Mariya Takeuchi Blink Gone - BL8M, AKUGETSU Hammer Song To Itami No Tou · BUMP OF CHICKEN Tame Impala - Borderline Stay With Me · Miki Matsubara Curses · The Crane Wives The Rules - Hoosiers dumb dumb · mazie Coffee · Jack Stauber's Micropop Who Is She ? · I Monster Very Good Bad Thing - Mother Mother

This one's straight up Four Swords Returns Again coded but I'd be a fool not to include: The Fine Print · The Stupendium

Okay I'mma stop there for now haha. but I'm sure I'm missing stuff. XD

Hopfully I introduced some people to their new fave songs!!! I'd recommend all of these.

[dendroaspis-viridis]

On the "Emmrich is undead/a spirit" theory

I’ve been having a lot of Thoughts™ about a certain professor and the interesting "I would say, 'not that skeleton,' but we're not saying, 'no skeletons.'" quote from Matt Rhodes during the Q&A.

I personally think the skeleton in question is Emmrich, though I think he’s still flesh and blood most of the time. I'll elaborate under the cut.

I’d like to first establish that I don’t think he’s a spirit like Audric. In Down Among the Dead Men, we learn that most spirits work under the guidance of a Mourn Watcher, specifically “under a modicum of magical control”, and I can’t imagine the Mortalitasi would send a lone spirit out from the Necropolis without an accompanying Watcher regardless of the spirit’s ‘wholeness’. Especially considering the apprehension people outside Nevarra seem to show the Mortalitasi.

There was also that quote from the IGN interview with Corinne Busche that paraphrased “no bear sex”, and I feel like a full on Beverly Crusher-esque ghost fucking would at least be bear sex adjacent. Not to mention, hinting at one of your companions being undead seems like a massive spoiler to drop before the game's even out.

Back to how I think Emmrich is the skeleton (but also not): the Mortalitasi have a lot of connections to the Veil/Fade due to their constant interactions with souls and spirits (and my personal headcanon that the Grand Necropolis as a whole exists in an odd liminal space between the material world and the Fade, but that’s a whole other can of worms). The concept art we’ve been shown thus far features a Mortalitasi harvesting material from a mummified dragon surrounded by their skeletal assistants:

And if we zoom in on the (presumably) human figure, we can see a bit more detail:

They look distinctly flesh and blood when compared to their skeletal assistants, wearing a protective smock and gloves that go up to the bicep, complete with (what looks like) chain covering their torso and upper arms.

The headpiece they’re wearing had me puzzled for a few days, to be honest. But from what I can tell, I don’t believe there’s enough space in there for the skull we see to merely be a decorative mask (especially considering the deep craters of the eye sockets and nose), leading me to believe the headgear shows the Mortalitasi’s actual skulls while they’re wearing them. There’s also a tiny gap between the mandible of the skull and bevor of the helmet, implying the skull is a separate item.

As for why (I think) we see the Mortalitasi’s actual skull, I can only hypothesize the headgear assist them in accessing the Fade while conscious more easily? Whether that allows them greater control over their summons, lets them more easily communicate with Fade spirits, or allows them to peer through the Veil to see some of the more metaphysical things they’re harvesting, I have no idea. Though it’d also fit in perfectly with the melodramatic Memento Mori vibes I get from Nevarran culture as a whole.

There’s also a dagger (“Walking Death”) from DA:I with an interesting description: “The well-worn hilt bears the marks of the Nevarran Mortalitasi. The order makes an art of mummification, and their tools are imbued with magicks that blur the moment between life and death, though death is no less certain.”

Both the Chantry and Nevarra seem to agree that death occurs in the moment a soul/spirit leaves someone’s body and passes through the Veil, so the implication that most of the Mortalitasi’s tools can manipulate the Veil supports the idea that they’d have to create some kind of headgear that would allow them to see what exactly they’re manipulating?

So with all of that said, I’m assuming there’s going to be a scene with Emmrich at some point if you pursue a romance with him where he’s discussing the Mourn Watch/something death-related, where he dons the headpiece to further emphasize both his and Rook’s mortality, and there will be an option to kiss him. Or something like that. Idk.

Also I wanna specify that all this is based entirely on concept art screenshots and my inability to stop thinking about Dragon Age, but I’m gonna continue to assume Emmrich is entirely alive unless shown otherwise.

No judgement to people who're pumped for a potential skeleton romance, by the way! These are just my thoughts on who exactly that smoochable skeleton is, though I will admit I’m hoping for a flesh and blood Emmrich.

[kharla-k]

Bend Spears: Bloodbath is a pretty good integrated strategies relic by description alone, but I thought it prudent to mention a very crucial detail about it for those unaware.

So as you would imagine, it restores 2 additional SP per attack, meaning a total of 3 if it's an offensive recovery skill, but that's not the kicker.

See, the way that it actually works is that it restores 2 additional SP per instance of damage, equaling a monstrous 4 additional SP gain per attack to specific guards, which I will elaborate on now:

Blademasters of course are defined by their trait of dealing two instances of damage, which is doubly good for their offensive-recovery-nature having lower SP costs, normally balanced out by the pace of attacking. I recently finished a run where Irene could use S3 after as little as 5 attacks.

Lord Guards recently recieved their module, which features "Attacks deal an additional 10% ATK as Arts damage," but this is applied in a separate, simultaneous instance. Which means Lappland will never be off skill.

Crushers have the interesting effect of being able to hit multiple targets at once, meaning that they can also double dip in Bloodbath if there's available targets. Ulpianus with s1 and two enemies in range will trigger every other attack, at a truly ridiculous pace because his skill activates regardless of his attack cooldown for some reason.

However for crushers... the amount of hit targets mechanically scales with block count, meaning that if you find a means to increase their block and provide them with the requisite enemies, they can gain 7 or more under the right circumstances. Not especially relevant given that any guard with that much SP will turn their foes to naught but a fine red mist, but I digress.

I love integrated strategies and breaking the game over your knee like this with the right strategy is undoubtedly a huge part of that. I'm so ecstatic for IS5!

[the-magical-bell-pepper]

I wont further elaborate on this.

crusher you fucking dumbass ily

[kawaiigirly21]

YOU TOO?!

Zeus: Ugh I'm going to Tartarus. I know that for sure

Poseidon: Tell us something we don't know

Hades (already mentally exhausted even though it's been only 2 minutes with his brothers) : What did you do? Nevermind, let me rephrase that. WHO did you do?

Zeus: Natasha

Poseidon: Wha-

Hades: Your son's ex wife? Have you no shame?

Zeus: coming from the man who married his own niece?

Poseidon: Damn

Zeus: I wasn't planning to. I only went to her chambers to console her about what Ares had done to her

Hades: Console her with what? Your penis?

Poseidon: I call mine my 'Divine Fortitude'

Zeus: it really wasn't my fault this time. She was insatiable. Like a lioness. I stayed longer than I should. She outright seduced me with those beautiful eyes and those lips and her voice and her body... Oh that body...

Hades: getting off track here!

Poseidon: Damn you too?

Zeus: What?

Poseidon: Oh I fornicated with that little minx ages ago. Most exhausting sex I've ever had. I thought Aphrodite was a beast in the sheets, she ain't got nothing on Natasha and that thing she does with her tongue

Hades: What the fuck?

Zeus: Don't get me started on the way she grinds her hips down on you when she's riding you. I nearly felt my soul leave my body. Sex with her is heavenly

Hades: Oh so I'm the only one here who's remained loyal to his wife?

Poseidon: Oh look at you. Acting Holier than thou. Bed crusher

Hades: How do you know about that?

Zeus: Persephone let it slip you two are very.... Experimental in bed. Looks like Natasha messed in your sheets too big brother

Hades: It was a one time occurrence

Poseidon: Was it? Do tell us you know how to count. I've seen Natasha countless times leaving the Underworld with a very very satisfied expression painted on that adorable face of hers

Hades: I refuse to elaborate on my sex life with my wife and anyone else who has occupied our bed

Zeus: There was more?

Hades: No! It's only ever been her! Persephone is drawn to her for reasons that even I don't know. She enjoys seeing Natasha and I-

Poseidon: Oh Hello Natasha! How are you my dear?

Natasha: Nothing really. Just came to fulfill one of my fantasies

Zeus: Oh?

Natasha: I only ever had you separately. Never together. I'm looking to complete the set entirely. Persephone gave me permission as well Hades. You're mine for the evening. Now question is, Your place or mine?~

This takes place before Apollo asking her about her "Mosquito bites "

[scifisiren]

Janeway and Chakotay are "together" but absolutely cannot kiss on the mouth. Picard and Crusher are not together but kiss on the mouth with high frequency. No, I will not elaborate further.

[seat-safety-switch]

You can’t save ‘em all. That’s the phrase that everyone says when they finally give up on a project car, and pass it along to the next sucker, or (gasp) to the crusher. Sometimes, a car doesn’t line up with the amount of time you have for it, or the amount of money you have for it, or the amount of patience you have for it. One such car was condemned to the bin by Yours Truly, after several sleepless nights of trying to weld two large chunks of rust together and only ending up finding more rust.

With a heavy heart, I called the local “no questions asked” wrecker, and he took it away. I had lots of excuses. It was “just” a Hyundai Pony, I told my friends, who copped sympathetic looks. Getting rid of it freed up time and space for my other ongoing projects, I repeated to the bartender a few hours later. That Pony will get turned into a wonderful new dishwasher, I said to myself in the mirror. The defeat stung. They weren’t ever going to make another 1983 Hyundai Pony, not even if I seized control of the government and turned the army’s guns on their corporate offices.

That’s when I heard a weird noise. A sort of 80s overhead-cam four-banger burble, unmistakeable. Squeezing too little fuel through too small a carb, a lean-burn system no doubt strangling its power curve in the false pursuit of efficiency. I was shocked, and stared outside, refusing to believe my own ears.

There, I saw the impossible. A Hyundai Pony. Running. Driving. My Hyundai Pony – I recognized the smashed windshield, the bent wheels. It was back! And I wasn’t driving it. I realized it was one of the younger group of Car Weirds on the next block over. They had resuscitated the car’s flimsy unibody not with welding, but with an elaborate series of papier-maché, using what appeared to be carbon-fiber-coloured novelty wallpaper from the hardware store and expanding-foam door insulation.

Rather than be elated, I began to feel inferior. How could they have saved this car and I had missed such an ingenious fix? It ate at me for weeks, until I noticed the same young gun walking glumly towards the bus stop one morning. Nobody deserved that. I decided to swing past and pick him up. I’d get the whole story.

“I left it out in the rain,” he wept.

[stelladess]

As a fun thought experiment I have been thinking about how to cut the subclasses for each class in Arknights down to 3 each, just for fun. But then I went down the rabbit hole of how to adjust operators to account for their subclass no longer existing.

I am willing to elaborate on any of my reasonings but I will not write all of it in this post because it was just a fun thought experiment that will never affect anything and reading all my reasoning might be kinda boring. With that said;

Caster: Mech-Accord, Phalanx, Mystic Defender: Protector, Guardian, Sentinel Guard: Swordmaster, Lord, Crusher Sniper: Marksman, Hunter, Artilleryman Medic: Incantation, "Surgeon" (formerly medic), Chain Specialist: Shifter (cheated and merged hookmasters and push-strokers), Ambusher, Alchemist (mostly to account for other cuts) Supporter: Decel-Binder, Hexer, Artificer Vanguard: Agent, Tactician, Flag-Bearer

Wont go into all of them but essentially I wanted the classes to have less direct overlap so all guards with 3 block are out. I also wanted to avoid enmity operators so medics are always valuable. Core caster is out cause it doesnt really do anything particularily interesting and not all classes have a baseline subclass. For example guards and specialists both lack that. Vanguards I cut pioneers to keep the divisions between the melee classes clearer, one could make an argument for keeping them over tacticians since now with some of the cheapest guard variants out of the way pioneers might be more valuable, I would agree with that but I wanted to keep a summoner type and was not gonna keep summoner, maybe trade artificers for summoners if so. Another possible adjustment is dropping flag-bearers for pioneers though. Chargers were never really on the table since their skills dont make DP. Keeping agents made dropping merchants and executors an obvious choice. Guards I agonized over whether to go for crushers or earthshakers but honestly crushers are just better designed and they have overlap with dreadnoughts too so it is kind of like keeping both dreadnoughts and centurions but not really.

For some of the operators the changes I had in mind, also in this hypothetical I imagine class changing is just a thing instead of alters and that everyone is somewhere in between a 5 star and 6 star (two talents and 3 skills but probably lower in power to average 6 star power) because if I had to think about how to maximize profitability for this fun thought experiment id actually bore myself out.

Anyway some of the changes. Guardmiya is obviously a swordmaster since she copied Ch´en´s techniques. This of course means a more burst reliant playstyle so she doesnt get the on skill buff stats more thing, instead one talent prolly just keeping emotion eater and one being that she has some dodge chance. To still convey her team player aspects one of her skills would apply arts fragility and one regular fragility.... last one? Fear. Fear is honestly a debuff that feels like designed for Amiya with how we see her use her powers in some chapters but it was made after that point so she will never get it probably, unless she gets a hexer variant down the line or something. Which id be all for.

Wis´adel is now a mech-accord caster, I do like her summons but I couldnt think of how to neatly make them fit a mech accord caster kit so her first talent with the afterimages is basically the same but her second talent is that she has some dodge chance and that enemies with a drone locked on has reduced accuracy (the drones are obviously the ancestor launchers).

Surtr is now a crusher because her sword is comically huge. She still gets her "nu-uh I dont die" talent but since she no longer only does arts damage she loses the res ignore for instead getting a stacking atk and defense buff based on how low her health gets.

Blaze was the hardest to figure out of the ones I cared to think about, in the end I decided she is a swordmaster (still uses a chainsaw though) because it felt appropriate for Blaze to require violence for maximum effect. This does ironically make her go from the afk operator to ability spam but I think it fits her well.

Ifrit and Rosmontis are both alchemists but for different reasons. Rosmontis cause alchemists have a lot in common with flingers anyway and flingers are gone now. Ifrit because I couldnt think of how to convey her flamethrower so eventually I decided she instead throws flaming canisters.

Anyway this does not really matter, I felt like writing it down because I have been thinking about this a lot. Feel free to ask about anything with this idea, or to theorycraft your own takes on how some operators would be adjusted to account for these changes. Or to question my choices of what subclasses I decided to keep. Or just ask for clarification on the reasoning.

[brookbee]

I know people are either following me because I used to post about Star Trek constantly or because I post about Bowie a lot, so here’s some random David Bowie and Star Trek connections I’ve been collecting for the past year or so. This is purely self-indulgent, but if you find this sort of thing interesting, here you go.

This is from an unpublished interview for Zygote magazine from 1971 where he was discussing the meaning of various songs. The particular song he's talking about here is "The Supermen." In case you don't want to read the full article for context, he mentioned Star Trek to act as a comparison, he was not saying that that was the initial inspiration/meaning.

This ad has song notes that Bowie wrote for the album Hunky Dory. The one of relevance is “Bewlay Brothers,” which is at the bottom of the list. It says, “Another in the series of David Bowie confessions — Star Trek in a Leather Jacket.”

You might be wondering what this means, well Bowie never really gave a consistent answer as to what this song was about. And according to Ken Scott, the producer of the album, Bowie purposefully wrote it to give a song to Americans who were reading too much into things (this was in the era of the Paul McCartney actually died and was replaced conspiracy lol). Bowie did say at different points that it was more or less about his own half-brother, but who knows if he changed his mind about that.

Although as a side note I will say that some of the lyrics sound like they could be describing Star Trek episodes lol

My Life With Bowie: Spider From Mars by Woody Woodmansey (drummer for the Spiders From Mars, Bowie’s band during the Ziggy Stardust era). He’s describing the bar in The Rainbow Room, as they were rehearsing for the most elaborate of the Ziggy Stardust concerts in August of 1972.

Mick Ronson talking about the Ziggy Stardust boots, the clip is from the documentary Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story. Angie, in case people don’t know, was Bowie’s first wife.

Side note about this one though, Bowie compared his own boots to wrestler boots (see image below). But Mick’s shoes weren’t far off from the Star Trek boots.

Book page from Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust, which was written by David Bowie and photographer Mick Rock.

Bowie in Brussels in 1978 doing (his best attempt at) the Vulcan LLAP salute, photo by Gie Knaeps.

Because I’m me, I’ve been trying to figure out what song he did this during—with certainty I can say it was during the second half of the set after the intermission. That would make it so that they were either songs from Ziggy Stardust or from Station to Station.

My guess (and it really is only a guess) is that it could have been during “TVC15.” When he performed it live he’d often sing “she’s my main creature feature” and sometimes do devil horns with his fingers and whatnot. Seems like a plausible spot, anyhow. The other one is potentially the song “Ziggy Stardust,” but just based on how he usually performed that one, such as where he’d add gestures and how he tended to convey the emotions of the song, I find it more unlikely.

But I wasn’t there and these are literally just guesses. On the off chance someone was there and that they inexplicably remember this, I would love to know.

Gates McFadden, before being Beverley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was the choreographer for the film Labyrinth, where of course Bowie played Jareth the Goblin King.

And to avoid possible confusion, she was not the choreographer for "Magic Dance" at least when it came to Bowie's moves, as that was Charles Augin. She was, however, the choreographer for "As The World Falls Down" with the ballroom scene.

Lyrics from one of the Tin Machine albums (Bowie’s band in the late 80s-early 90s, which Bowie wrote most of the lyrics for, minus a few songs).

Additionally Iman, who Bowie met in 1990 and married in 1992, was in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country as Martia. She was on set filming at least in April of 1991 in LA, as you can see in this filming schedule I found on an auction website. I don’t know how long she was filming for, though.

(Side note, Bowie was in LA at least towards the end of April/beginning May as he talked about how he and Iman saw the riots that happened then. No I’m not saying he visited the set, since for one Shatner says he never met Bowie, but I still think it’s neat he was generally around when she was filming).

And a little snippet from one article (the screenshot is from one of those interview compilation books).

It’s not actually that much in the grand scheme of things and more than anything just shows that Bowie was a fan of the show. It should also be remembered that Star Trek wasn’t ever really cited as a huge influence for him in terms of aesthetic, which is a rather common assumption people make, but I thought that these were fun nonetheless. I’m sure I also missed/forgot stuff, so if I come across more I'll probably add to this later on.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Katherine Pulaski

By Ames

We may have only had Dr. Pulaski for one season of The Next Generation, but that didn’t stop her from leaving an impression. Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By are big fans of her character and also of Diana Muldaur’s performance of the cantankerous and brilliant doctor who graced the Enterprise-D’s sickbay during Dr. Crusher’s time away from the ship (more on her next week!). She even made a couple of our top characters lists from TNG!

There’s a lot of negative feelings about the McCoy knockoff in the Star Trek community, and we’ll cover some of those below, but overall we have to give credit to the good doctor for how much she grew in only the twenty episodes we had her. By the end of season two, she was viewing Data as a peer, saving lives left and right, and fighting for the rights of other species. There’s no telling how much better she’d get if she stuck around. So raise a cup of Klingon tea to the best CMO of the Enterprise (I said it!) with our highlights below and elaborated upon in this week’s podcast episode (timestamp for this one is 58:29). Fight us, haters.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Crammed full of crumpets We’ve made a running gag on the podcast about how Professor Moriarty stuffed the doctor full of crumpets in “Elementary, Dear Data” but there’s more to this episode than crude jokes and blue humor. Pulaski ran with the Holmesian scenario in the holodeck, proved to be stalwart and brave in a hostage situation, and totally rocked the period attire!

At least someone still remembers quarantine procedures While the whole thing did backfire on her, Pulaski’s actions in “Unnatural Selection” kept the rest of the crew safe. She was willing to risk her own health on her hunch that the augmented children weren’t carrying any pathogens, but let’s give her credit for taking the child and Data out in a shuttle so that, if (and when) things went wrong, things were contained.

Knives and bearskins! When the biobeds are on the fritz due to the contagion in “Contagion” and her staff is whining that the bone knitter isn’t working, Pulaski pulls some tried and true methods out of her back pocket – make a splint! It may be archaic medical technology, but it’ll do in a pinch and having that kind of medical knowledge saves the day (or saves someone’s leg at least).

Generous doses of PCS I just really love the sweet little moment during “The Icarus Factor” when Dr. Pulaski is tending to some crewmember suffering from the flu and says part of her prescription is PCS – Pulaski’s Chicken Soup. It shows how much she cares about her patients and gives the audience that warm feeling of having someone care for you when you’re home sick from school.

Jettison the emotional baggage you’re still carrying around Also I have to give my girl some props later in “The Icarus Factor” when she’s flirting with Kyle Riker right in front of Will. We find it a nice character inclusion that she and Kyle used to be down to clown, and even that she would have married him in a heartbeat, and she tells his son off in the most “oh no she didn’t!” way and then proceeds to drop like fifty mics all over Ten Forward.

Take your Prime Directive and shove it up your hatch! We on this podcast (who am I kidding; it’s mostly Chris) have a certain skepticism about the Prime Directive sometimes, and it’s usually the CMOs of their respective shows that get to question it most blatantly. Pulaski sure does in “Pen Pals” because screw the prime directive in this case! When a whole planet is on the line, Pulaski is the conscience that we all need!

Forget me, forget me not This is one that could have gone in either the Top Moments or the Worst Moments list because, face it, mind wipes are horrifying. But I’m gonna give Pulaski the win for erasing Sarjenka’s memories in “Pen Pals” because it’s impressive as hell. And she uses it to kinda-sorta stay within the Prime Directive that we just shat on. Plus she let Sarjenka keep the singing rock!

You’re still the Captain. Invincible. I’m still not certain what Chris was getting at about Pulaski’s letting Picard avoid the heart treatment he’s been neglecting out of sheer vanity in “Samaritan Snare,” but I’ll do you one better: she winds up fixing his stupid ticker for him in the end anyway! And is the grouchy little man thankful afterwards? Not even a little bit! Pulaski gets no respect, I tells ya!

Quote me a little of that poetry While you’ll see in just a moment that Pulaski’s views on Klingons were initially unkind, by “Up the Long Ladder,” she’d bonded with Worf enough that she was willing to engage in some Klingon rituals. She goes out of her way to concoct an antidote so she can take part in a poisonous tea ceremony with him, which is above and beyond (and also fuels some shipping), and she also keeps Worf’s measles a secret!

Bust him up, Data! In “Peak Performance,” it’s Pulaski who sets up the Strategema match between Data and Sirna Kolrami, and she ends up feeling really bad for goading him when he loses to that smug Zakdorn prick. So it’s that much sweeter that she’s there cheering him on when Data thinks outside the box causes the stalemate, telling him that in that way, he did indeed beat him!

Feelings of warmth and friendship What a shame that the last episode we got with this amazing character was one of the most infamously bad. But none of that is on Pulaski because she’s actually on full display in “Shades of Grey,” partly because she’s one of few characters in the non-clipshow scenes. But she (and Troi, as I brought up last week) pulled out all the stops to save Riker’s brain from certain doom.

Pull your head out of your ass! Okay, this last one’s not canon, but I just couldn’t help including this plug to go read Caitlin’s fanfic “The Pulaski Maneuver”!!! Or listen to it on the podcast back when we wrapped TNG with our episode “Tales from the Holodeck.” Pulaski finally telling Geordi everything that he’s deserved to hear might be my favorite moment, and it’s so in her character that I say it counts!

—

Worst moments

The cold hand of technology Most of Pulaski’s negative personality traits are going to circle around her treatment of Data as a piece of equipment and not an individual. In her introduction episode, “The Child,” one of her early interactions with Data is to tell him he’s not wanted in the delivery room because he lacks the human touch. Lucky for us, Troi sticks up for him and he gets to watch her whelp an alien baby.

One is my name; the other is not Shortly afterwards, still in “The Child,” we get one of the fandom’s most hated moments from Pulaski when she not only mispronounces Data’s name, but doesn’t seem to understand that doing so is rude and problematic, instead deciding to put the onus on him for being capable of offense. It’s a tough moment for fans to accept, and if that were the level of bigotry her character stayed at, I’d understand why so many Trekkies dislike the character.

I’m not accustomed to working with non-living devices More growing pains come from Pulaski in “Where Silence Has Lease,” in which she refers to Data as “it” and Picard has to gently correct her. We’re two episodes into the season at this point, and Pulaski is still finding it difficult to accept the personhood of this fan-favorite character, something viewers pretty much got on board with in episode one. At least she apologized.

The mystery of the lack of any mystery Here we are, three episodes in when we reach “Elementary, Dear Data” and we see more of Pulaski judging Data for being incapable of thinking creatively when he solves Holmesian riddles. We may have blamed Geordi for accidentally creating Moriarty when we covered his character spotlight, but it was definitely Pulaski who goaded them on in the first place.

Medical research is sometimes a risky business While we may have praised her above for not putting everyone else at risk when she released the augmented child from his wrapper in “Unnatural Selection,” Pulaski was still dead wrong about the experiment being at all safe. She still got contaminated by the fast-aging disease and was resigned to her fate until Picard and O’Brien were able to transport her back. Speaking of which…

I’m a doctor, not an original character One rather understandable complaint we can see in the Pulaski character is that she’s just Dr. McCoy in a skirt. Which may not be a bad thing, per se, but when we see her racism against the outsider character, her Bones-like irascibility, and even her specific fear of transporters in “Unnatural Selection,” we start to wonder if the writers couldn’t have been a little more original.

I’m just glad that humans have progressed beyond the need for barbaric display We get a couple glimpses that Pulaski is a little repulsed by Klingon culture throughout the show. First, in “A Matter of Honor,” she’s grossed out by Klingon cuisine and calls Klingons barbaric, and not in the way Klingons would probably like. And she also gets a little smug after watching Worf’s Age of Ascension ceremony in “The Icarus Factor,” which she seemed pretty judgey about (but hey, at least she went!).

Quit cloning around! We gave Riker some guff for this as well in his character spotlight, and there’s enough guff to go around to give to Pulaski as well for their actions in “Up the Long Ladder.” Sure, the clones were made of them without their consent, but to take matters into their own hands and murder these people without discussion is not the Starfleet way.

Never to be heard from again… Obviously the worst character moment for us is Pulaski leaving the show after just one season. Notice how most of the bad moments come from earlier and the good moments are mostly from the latter half of the season. That shows how much the character was getting better, even in the rough first couple seasons of the show (you’ve heard our coverage of Chaos on the Bridge, right?). And while many celebrate the return of Crusher, we still have to wonder what the show would be like with more Dr. Pulaski.

—

And just like that, she’s gone and so is this blogpost. Keep following along because we’ve got another doctor of the Enterprise-D to discuss next week, and it’s not Selar! We also hope you’re making the schlep through Enterprise with us as we cover the whole thing over on SoundCloud or your podcast platform of choice. Wave your medical tricorders over our Facebook and Twitter pages, and get the pronunciation right: It’s Data, not Data!

[adamofingolstadt]

Already Working on my Picard and Wesley bonding Oneshot...

“Come!”

The doors whizzed open and Wesley Crusher stepped into the ready room. He walked with his hands behind his back; as far as Picard could tell he never used to do that before being made ensign, at which point he’d started conspicuously copying the captain’s mannerisms. He’d never addressed it with the boy, it seemed harmless.

“Wesley,” He addressed. “What brings you here?”

“Sir, captain, could you possibly move my shift time tomorrow?”

“Why?”

The boy stalled, caught off guard. “...I decided I’d rather do my schoolwork when I wake up tomorrow, and then work afterwards.”

“I don’t see why that should be an issue, we’re two days form arrival. I’ll see if I can have it arranged.”

Wesley beamed with relief, then quickly composed himself.

He looked so much like him.

Jean-Luc wondered if he knew that. He wondered if Wesley remembered his father’s face enough to even see the resemblance.

“Thank you.” The boy turned to exit, bumping chest-to-stomach with Riker. “Oh, excuse me commander.” He hurried back to his station.

“Always somewhere to be.” Will joked with that thousand-watt grin.

“Indeed.” Jean-Luc agreed. “Sit?”

“I won’t be here that long, I was just looking at the ships’ social diary...” He paused, reading the expression on Picard’s face. He elaborated: “The youth dinner, sir.”

“Ah, yes, of course.” He said, sucking in a pained breath. It was another morale-boosting attempt for the young people of the Enterprise aboard with their families. Deanna had been reporting great restlessness from the children and teenagers of the ship and, though there weren’t many of them, had been making attempts at raising the spirits of their crew mates’ children.

“You’ll be expected to make one of your rousing speeches.”

“Rousing speeches are all well and good when the audience is captive, but adolescents lack both the filter of adults and the wonder of infants.”

“I’m sure you can pull through.”

“Number one, did you or did you not make me a promise when you joined this ship?”

“You agreed to speak at it yourself, sir.”

“Why the devil would I do that?” Picard racked his brain for when the idea had first been proposed.

“It was at Dr. Crusher’s farewell dinner, sir.” Riker replied. “She said it was an excellent idea and you agreed.”

“Yes... well,” he cleared his throat. “I suppose I can scrap something together. What time does it start?”

“I believe it begins at 1500 hours tomorrow.”

“I see...” He mused over this information. So that’s what it was all about. “Picard to bridge, send ensign Crusher in.”

In a few seconds Wesley was back. “Yes sir?”

Perhaps it was petty, perhaps it was unfitting of a Starfleet captain, but if he had to attend the youth dinner, he wasn’t getting the boy get away that easy.

“Wesley, your request for hour changes has been denied.”

“What?”

“I’m given to understand you have other arrangements tomorrow evening,” Picard said. “Perhaps in hosting room 3, at 1500 hours?”

The boy groaned, resting his eyes closed. “Do I have to? Those are for kids!”

“And what are you?”

“Acting ensign.”

He almost respected the boy’s gall. He was really committed to the ‘thinking he was a qualified adult’ routine.

“You’re in the age demographic,” he replied. “And I’m sure Counsellor Troi wants you to attend, if only to set an example for the others.”

The boy looked to Will, as if expecting his help. “It could be fun, Wes.”

“...Yes, sir.”

“Of course, if we have reason to believe you’re going to try and skip it, the rest of us could always volunteer as chaperones,” his commander added cheekily.

“That will not be necessary, sir,” Wesley assured quickly, clearly unsure if it was a joke or a threat. “I’ll go.”

[divinemissem13]

Hi friendo! askin you the aquatic asks <3

🐙 a pretty/elaborate quote from a published work

🐠 a funny quote from a published work

🦑 a romantic quote from a published work

Thanks for asking, friend! Fun to go back through stuff I’ve published looking for all of these!

🐙 A pretty/ elaborate quote:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita (ST: Voyager, vignettes of Kathryn and her favorite tree on the Janeway farm)

I used to watch those holos - of dogs reuniting with their owners after years apart - with a healthy dose of skepticism. I always thought they must be rigged somehow, or maybe the owner hadn’t really been away all that long. For seven years, I never dared let myself hope that I might be in for such a greeting, and yet here I am, my face covered in dog slobber and my own tears and all because Molly remembers me.

She starts to settle and for the first time, I realize we are being watched. My mother leans against the door frame with a smile on her face and a steaming mug of something (coffee, I hope) in her hand. I’ve seen her since arriving, of course, at Starfleet headquarters and over com calls, but the vision of her now completes the image of home that I have carried in my mind's eye for so long. My heart swells with gratitude as I stand, brush myself off, reshoulder my Starfleet-issue duffle bag, and walk up the two steps to meet her.

🐠 a funny quote

Friendly Competition (ST: Strange New Worlds, Pike/Una one-shot)

“Are you sure you don’t want to start with something a little smaller? A boot, maybe?” she purrs at him with a gleam in her eye that tells Chris she is definitely up to something.

“Oh, I’m sure. The scant. Hand it over,” he confirms, holding out a hand and wiggling his fingers.

Una stands and walks close to him, her finger tips playing with the hem of her very short dress. She doesn’t remove it though. Instead, she leans in and whispers in his ear, “Here’s the thing, Captain: I never said we were playing strip poker.”

Chris stands there with his mouth hanging open as Una struts away toward the bedroom, still fully clothed. He replays the evening in his head and realizes that, in fact, she had never once requested an item of clothing from him. He had eagerly removed something of his own volition each time he lost a hand, blinded by the anticipation of when she would have to do the same.

And now, standing alone in the middle of the living room in the oh-so-attractive combination of mismatched underwear and socks, he only has himself to blame.

🦑 romantic quote

Always a Bridesmaid (and that’s just fine) (ST: Picard, sort of?, Beverly and Kathryn attend Jean-Luc’s wedding to Laris. Beverly could not care less that she’s not the bride.)

Beverly knew this to be true now, because as she walked down the aisle on Jack’s arm, her eyes were drawn past the groom to the officiant: her Kathryn, radiant, even in that potato sack of a dress uniform. Radiant in anything, really, and also in nothing, because her radiance came from somewhere inside - from a light that only Beverly could see because it shone just for her. She’d never seen anything like it before, not from Jean-Luc, not even from the first Jack Crusher. The only thing that even came close was the lights that shone from her sons’ eyes when they were newborns and she was their entire world. Those lights faded, though, naturally over time as they grew and their worlds expanded.

But Kathryn’s light… If anything, it grew brighter and stronger with each passing day - each passing moment. She was sure that Kathryn could see it too, from the way that her eyes sometimes crinkled when she looked at Beverly, as if she were looking into the sun. And this is how Beverly knew, beyond any doubt, that she and Kathryn are meant to be together.