#Kai Winn Strikes Again

[sokorra]

The Rewatch 231: The Homecoming Trilogy

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)Episode: 2.1 Homecoming (September 27, 1993) 2.2 The Circle (October 10, 1993), and 2.3 The Seige (October 10, 1993) Season Premiere (plus 2).Rating: 4/5Redshirt Status: 1/1/3.5 Notable Guest Stars: Frank Langella (Minister Jaro)– Langella is known for multiple mediums, winning 4 Tony Awards, and getting an Academy Award nomination.  One of my favorite…

[usaonetwothree]

I posted 1,309 times in 2022

88 posts created (7%)

1,221 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dailyteamcap

@shrinkthisviolet

@marveladdicts

@weirdostarkid

@lulamadison

I tagged 1,300 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#cobra kai - 199 posts

#text - 153 posts

#johnny lawrence - 108 posts

#chris evans - 85 posts

#steve rogers - 81 posts

#stranger things - 71 posts

#daniel larusso - 58 posts

#bucky barnes - 56 posts

#mcu - 39 posts

#steve harrington - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#but from someone who has been there arguing (politely) with tournament officials about poor reffing or inequality within the facility

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I'm on a Supergirl kick again and it's 'be mad at the writers for giving Winn these fantastic, dramatic episodes and then almost no support from his friends during them' hours.

24 notes - Posted July 21, 2022

#4

I need Cisco, Winn and Ned to all meet, because they’d be the best of friends.

30 notes - Posted January 29, 2022

#3

Jeremy Jordan's She Used to be Mine could bring me out of a Vecna trance.

39 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

#2

Since we're getting yet another Fantastic 4 movie, I am once again begging Marvel to bring back Chris Evans, with absolutely no explanation of how or why Johnny could be Steve Rogers' twin.

40 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Can we talk about Aisha in Season 4 for a second? Because that scene was executed perfectly.

Youth sports are about more than just the actual exercise (though that's a great benefit). They teach valuable life lessons like teamwork and dedication and striving for something greater than you, that are applicable long after the season is over.

Case in point: Aisha, who is about the only person this season who saw the Cobra Kai creed as something more than literal. Strike first doesn't have to mean physical contact. It can just mean being proactive. Strike hard is being determined. No mercy is fighting for what you want and never giving up. When Aisha applied those principles to her bullying situation, she avoided conflict and made a friend.

Which is why it was so hard to watch the writers insist on the dojo's principles being hard, fast laws for the rest of the season.

They had the real meaning right there with Aisha, and then missed the rest by a mile.

46 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[darkiecat]

...mkay Dukat... ( ఠ ͟ʖ ఠ)

[weerd1]

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.03: Missions Reviewed, “Blaze of Glory,” Empok Nor,” “In the Cards,” and “Call to Arms.”

“Blaze of Glory” has Sisko receive a coded message intercepted by the Klingons sent from the Badlands.  It would seem to be a last ditch effort by the Maquis. The message is meant for “Michael” whom Sisko believes to be Michael Eddington, and talks about a missile strike launched as a last ditch effort against Cardassia. Sisko goes to Eddington’s prison, and brings him along to find out the story of the missiles. 

 Eddington tells him he has no real desire to cooperate, and after all, they would need to go to the launch site to stop them. Sisko convinces them to take him there, and after some tense close calls with the Jem’Hadar, they get to the base. They find out the Dominion is already there.  Slowly infiltrating in, they initially find a group of Maquis corpses, but in the main launch room about a dozen survivors, including Eddington’s wife Rebecca. 

The entire set up was a code to allow the Maquis to escape, playing on the fact Sisko would bring Eddington along. He agrees to evacuate the survivors, but they are ambushed on the way out.  Eddington stays back holding off the Jem’Hadar so the others can escape dying a hero.

I don’t like Michael Eddington, and I’m glad he’s dead.  There I said it. I’ve been waiting for him to go since he showed up to take Odo’s job.  I didn’t like him when we were supposed to like him. Good riddance.  This does though bring some closure to the Maquis storyline.  They won’t really come up again aside from Voyager, though they missed a bet in their finally when they sidestepped the question of how their Maquis crew would be received back into the Federation.  As a larger point, it is time to let the Maquis go though, as worse things are gathering on the horizon.

“Empok Nor” has a crew visit another abandoned Cardassian station, a sister design to DS9 (Terok Nor) by that name.  O’Brien, Nog, and four victim…uh, engineers go with Garak to the station to gather parts to make some much needed repairs to DS9.  

Garak is there to deal with all the booby traps the Cardassians have doubtlessly left in place.  What no one is expecting is two Cardassian special forces operatives left in stasis, woken up by the team’s arrival.  Neither does anyone expect they are juiced on a powerful psychotropic drug to make them more violent…and Garak has been affected as well.  The Soldiers take out three Starfleet officers before Garak takes each of them out, and then he takes out another officer.  

He kidnaps Nog and begins a game of cat and mouse with O’Brien, which O’Brien only wins by engineering a booby trap of his own. Back on DS9, Garak is recovering, but also mortified by what he has done. He and O’Brien reach an understanding that both of them have violent pasts…perhaps best left in the past.

This episode is written by Bryan Fuller who will later go on to write “Hannibal” and create the outlines for the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery.” Indeed there are similarities between this episode and the Disco episode “Context is for Kings” and Garak as he becomes more manipulative feels like a proto-Hannibal.  The whole episode is filmed, effectively, like a horror movie, and it is bold to actually have Garak, under the influence or not, actually kill one of the officers. Andrew Robinson is of course fantastic here, as is Colm Meaney.  Aron Eisenberg’s Rom has been used to great effect this season as the cadet, and continues to shine here.  Perhaps a stand alone diversion from the larger plot, but a worthwhile one.

“In the Cards” starts with the single most morose officers’ mess in the history of Star Trek. Sisko has his whole senior crew over for dinner, but negative news about the Dominion has everyone down. Worse, Sisko finds out Kai Winn is coming to the station to meet with Weyoun and discuss a non-aggression pact between Bajor and The Dominion.  Meanwhile Jake and Nog find Quark is auctioning off a bunch of crap, but among the useless items is a Willie Mays rookie card from the 1950s. Trying to buy it at auction as a gift to Sisko, the lot instead goes to a mysterious Doctor Geiger, whom they find is trying to build an immortality machine, and being chased (supposedly) by the “soulless minions of orthodoxy.”  

Though they think he’s crazy, he wants a list of things for his work which are harmless, and he is willing to trade the card. To get the items needed, Jake and Nog begin helping out the crew in trade.  Meanwhile Winn asks Sisko as Emissary what she should do and he recommends stalling the Dominion talks by referring the treaty to the Bajoran council of ministers. Weyoun hears the machine Geiger is working on and investigates, and believes Jake and Nog are involved in some plot against him.

 When he learns the truth, he let’s them take the card and listens intently to Geiger. Jake gives the card to his dad who notes the crew has cheered immensely, due to the help Jake and Nog provided for their assistance.

A fun episode, well crafted in its layering, and light hearted enough to miss the fact that Winn is basically negotiating Bajor into the Dominion’s hands.  This comes into play next episode, but here we get a good Jake/Nog buddy episode, as they work their way through the station in pursuit of their goal.  I almost wonder if Weyoun took Dr. Geiger with him into Dominion custody to continue his research?

In “Call to Arms,” the situation with the Dominion has come to a head. Reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant have been flooding into Cardassia through the wormhole, and the Federation wants it stopped. Sisko tells everyone that they can’t get new Starfleet reinforcements right now, but he wants to mine the wormhole.  O’Brien, Dax, and Rom design cloaked, self-replicating mines but it will take some time to deploy them, during which time the Defiant will be vulnerable; they know there is no way the Dominion will let them try it without an attack on the station.  Sisko advises Bajor to sign the non-aggression pact, and then starts laying mines, and evacuating Bajoran personnel.  Along the we, before she evacuates, Leeta and Rom get married under Sisko’s command. 

The Dominion fleet however is on its way, and Dukat and Damar plan to take DS9 and then Bajor; Weyoun tells them they WILL follow the Dominion’s treaty with Bajor, and first…they need to actually capture DS9. The minefield is almost in place when the fleet arrives, and DS9 and General Martok have to work to defend them. They hold off the Dominion fleet as the Defiant completes the minefield, cutting off the Gamma Quadrant. With the Dominion regrouping, Sisko bids the Bajoran crew farewell, telling them he will return to this place “where he belongs.” He also tells them that Starfleet could not send more reinforcements because while the Dominion was engaged here, a joint Federation/Klingon fleet attacked Dominion ship-building facilities in Cardassian space.  The war between the Federation and the Dominion has begun.  As the Rotarran (Martok’s BoP) and Defiant cloak and escape, Dukat lands on DS9, welcomed by Kira, Quark, and Odo.  Sisko however has booby trapped the station himself, leaving it barely functioning, much as when Cardassia handed it over five years before. 

Rom goes back to work for Quark, but to act as a spy for the Federation, and he finds Jake has stayed on the station as a correspondent for the Federation News Service. Dukat goes into Sisko’s office to find he has left the baseball on his desk. Weyoun is puzzled, but Dukat knows it is a message that Sisko plans to return. The season ends as the Defiant and Rotarran take their place among hundreds of ships in the joint Federation and Klingon fleet. The Alpha Quadrant is at war.

Again, you needed those lighter episodes leading up to this to get things going to hell here.  The war is on, Starfleet has lost DS9, Bajor is if not allied, at least in treaty with the Dominion.  Things are grim, and this is not the way one expects a Star Trek show to go.  It is incredibly compelling though, and for those who might still throw up the argument that DS9 isn’t “Star Trek” because Roddenberry’s Trek was about a bright future, I would counter that GR never truly shied away from conflict in the future (just ask Spock and McCoy) and he often had flawed humans struggling with one another in order to examine the human condition. As sad as it may be, there is no way to truly turn a magnifying glass on humanity without talking about humans at war.  Even Kirk said, “we can admit that we’re killers, but we will not kill today; that’s all it takes.” (“A Taste of Armageddon.”) Starting with TNG, Star Trek shied away from examining humankind at war except perhaps with little glimpses: “The Wounded” and “Chains of Command” on TNG.  The Klingon war that was mostly elsewhere on DS9. Now though with the Dominion War, Trek is going to look our darker nature right in the eye, pick up a mirror and hold it up to our violence. It’s going to make for some of the most compelling television ever filmed; it’s also going to make sure we get a good look at us when we don’t decide “not to kill today.”

NEXT MISSION: Season six opens with the war going poorly for the Federation allies, and Sisko decides it’s “A Time to Stand.”

[smallpressdistribution]

8 SPD Books to Cast a Spell on You...

IN THIS MONTH’S SPDCLICKHOLE by Trisha Low

This month’s #SPDHANDPICKED theme is SPELLS - Merriam Webster defines a spell as “form of words held to have magic power.” But in these times, magic spells aren’t just a way to wish ourselves away from this world, but also to amplify the absurdity of our times, perhaps even a way to point out what deserves changing for the better. Here are 8 books that can help show you how:

1. Alma Almanac by Sarah Ann Winn (Barrow Street Press)

"A lyrical scrapbook of skies, weather, stars, myths, recipes, rituals, and spells. From it, one can learn 'How to Haunt,' how 'To Preserve November,' and even find 'Instructions for Assembling a Bento Box Memorial.'... as insistent as an audio cassette of a woman's voice that 'whispers the same five words again and again. Promise me you won't forget.'"—Elaine Equi

2. Flemish School, Old Paris, & Night & Its Spells by Aloysius Bertrand (Quale Press)

"Written in the early 19th century, but mimicking life two, three and even four centuries before, the modern reader is presented with what a hall of mirrors does best: presenting both "sides" of an image--ugliness and beauty.

3. Ghostographs by Maria Romasco Moore (Rose Metal Press)

"Each of these stories is its own ghost: startling, uncanny, gone. Each one rattles its chains, smiles its terrible smile, gestures toward the others. I feel like this book was written, specifically, for me: the me that loves vintage photographs, formal constraints, hauntings, ephemera, poetry; the me that loves campfire stories; the me that's still a little scared of the dark."—Carmen Maria Machado

4. Boy into Panther and Other Stories by Margaret Benbow (New Rivers Press)

"Writing in heightened, magical prose reminiscent of Marquez and Toni Morrison, Margaret Benbow has produced the liveliest collection of tales you're likely to read this year, or in any year. BOY INTO PANTHER is bursting with incident and populated with an incredible cast of artists, priests, tailors, gypsies, new immigrants, cuckolded mushroom-hunters, and grieving widows-people of sorrow and persistence, all of them fighting for love, or lacking that, a scrap of dignity."—Lin Enger

5. Hum by Natalia Hero (Metatron)

HUM follows a young woman whose life is changed forever when, after being raped, she gives birth to a hummingbird. She must learn to cope with not only what happened to her, but with the bird’s persistent, agitating presence in her life. Natalia Hero’s debut is a beautiful and tormented magical-realist novella about surviving trauma, reclaiming oneself and what it means to heal.

6. Steel Animals by SK Dyment (Inanna Publications)

Hilarity and queer magic realism twist the throttle when Jackie, a loner with a secret bank-robbing persona, meets Vespa: sexy, sculpture-welding artist and collector of vintage motorbikes. Still planning elaborate revenge on a New York ex-lover, Jackie tests both her new relationship and the loyalties of her friends, a rag-tag gang of post-punk eccentrics, realizing how love changes hatred only after her scheme runs out of control. An innocent misstep and an encrypted mystery swings the romance into the dangerous orbit of a construction mogul intent on subverting corporate money at any cost.

7. Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom (Metonymy Press)

FIERCE FEMMES AND NOTORIOUS LIARS: A DANGEROUS TRANS GIRL'S CONFABULOUS MEMOIR is the highly sensational, ultra-exciting, sort-of true coming-of-age story of a young Asian trans girl, pathological liar, and kung-fu expert who runs away from her parents' abusive home in a rainy city called Gloom. Striking off on her own, she finds her true family in a group of larger-than-life trans femmes who live in a mysterious pleasure district known only as the Street of Miracles. Under the wings of this fierce and fabulous flock, the protagonist blossoms into the woman she has always dreamed of being, with a little help from the unscrupulous Doctor Crocodile. When one of their number is brutally murdered, she joins her sisters in forming a vigilante gang to fight back against the transphobes, violent johns, and cops that stalk the Street of Miracles. But when things go terribly wrong, she must find the truth within herself in order to stop the violence and discover what it really means to grow up and find your family.

8. Monster Portraits by Del Samatar and Sofia Samatar (Rose Metal Press)

"Fall into the wormhole of an imagination lit like fireworks. Sofia Samatar's storytelling never fails to enchant and MONSTER PORTRAITS lava-rocks Del Samatar's stunningly detailed images with the breathless depth of her vision to peek between bushes, beyond diasporas, into mirrors, and across time through the everyday monstrous grandeur—coy and aggressive, best-kept secret and plain as the second nose on a rugged face—often missed by the naked eye. Be ready to be beautifully ruined." —Samiya Bashir

All #SPDhandpicked books are 20% off all month w/ code HANDPICKED

[heroesandvillainsofmbti]

DS9 MBTI VIPs

DS9’s just bursting at the seams with memorable characters—the family, friends, and enemies that populate the corridors and make the station feel like a live, busy place. Not all of them spend enough time on board to provide material for a full profile, and most of them leave us just as they get interesting. So here’s a quick round up of some of the VIPs who have visited DS9, with my best guess as to their types.

(Note: I realized just I finished this post that all but two of these characters are dead by the end of the series. Well, two-and-a-half, depending on your perception of Opaka’s situation. DS9’s a nice place to live, but a dangerous place to visit.)

Tora Ziyal

It’s my theory that Ziyal actually changes type, because she was recast twice and reinvented just before her final arc.

Ziyal-A (Cyia Batten) is a young but tough girl who’s survived growing up in a prisoner-of-war camp, and finds herself in a weird limbo even after being rescued, thanks to her mixed heritage and the fact that her father is a monster. She’s guarded and naïve in equal measure, ready to fight but not quite steady on her feet. Kira sort of adopts her like a little sister, and I very much think she sees her younger self in Ziyal.

Ziyal-B (Tracy Middendorf) is roughly the same, observing Garak quietly from a distance before making the first move. She tells him she grew up alone and doesn’t need the company of another Cardassian, but he’s welcome to join her nonetheless.

Best guess for original Ziyal: ISFP

Ziyal-C is played by an older actress (Melanie Smith) to make her relationship with Garak less creepy (no dice), and she’s outgoing, chipper, and over-trusting. She’s a bit deluded about her father’s true nature, whereas original Ziyal understood but stuck by him because he was her only family bond. She shows great artistic talent (I really like Ziyal’s artwork, actually), but she leaves the art school on Bajor because she can sense that no one likes or accepts her. She really just wants her father and Kira to stop fighting and get along.

She is, by the writers’ own admission, an innocent puppy crafted specifically to gain the audience’s sympathy before they killed her off. A daughter-in-the-fridge, if you will.

Best guess for final Ziyal: Fe-dom, probably ENFJ

(I love original Ziyal to pieces. The actress was quiet yet intense. The next actress was okay, but was doing a weird accent. The third actress referred to her character in interviews as “Tora,” which sounds like no one explained how her character’s Bajoran name worked. She would have been fine in any other role, but lacked the interesting edge of Ziyal-A.)

Damar - ESTJ

Damar spends a lot of time in the background before rising to the occasion at the end of the saga. It’s one of DS9’s great magic tricks that he was cast early on with barely a line of dialogue in anticipation of a greater storyline down the road. Damar hangs back from the major action at first, acting moody and reserved because he’s drinking his conscience away—so I see inferior-Fi at work there.

Damar is otherwise a traditional family man and a loyal Cardassian, and once his family and his world are betrayed by their supposed allies, he puts down the bottle and leads a revolution. His leadership turns him into a legend almost overnight, but he does have a lot to learn from Kira about the new way they have to fight—rebel-style, not regular military. He eventually drives the Dominion off his planet, at the cost of his own life.Dominion off his planet, at the cost of his own life.

Bill Ross - ISTJ

Admiral Ross is a low-key, trusty old officer, one of the few higher-ups to break the “Every Admiral in Starfleet is a Crazy Person” trend. He does make a couple of dicey calls—helping a Section 31 operation and supporting the Romulans’ base near Bajor—but they’re all in service to his duty to the Federation.

Opaka - INFJ

I hate to go with the stereotype here, but Bajor’s great religious leader is a very obvious Ni-dom. The Kai sees everything though a spiritual lens, and bases her decisions on what she believes is her destiny—or Sisko’s. She makes a tough call for the greater good of the Bajoran people, sacrificing the life of her son in order to save many more, and she gives up her life on Bajor to help a planet of people she’s just met find peace.

(And I promise I’ll stop geeking out about the technically-non-canon post-TV novels, but her given name in them is Sulan, which I think is perfect and lovely.)

Bareil Antos - INFJ

Another spiritual stereotype, but it fits. Bareil takes a calm, spiritually-minded approach to life, and tries to help the anxious ISFP Kira calm down and see the bigger picture of her existence. Of course, he happily indulges in the sensual side of their relationship, too. He’s willing to take the fall for Opaka’s sacrifice of her son to avoid tarnishing her legendary reputation, and then he ends up sacrificing his own life by working himself to death helping Winn complete peace negotiations with the Cardassians.

Gowron - ESTP

The Chancellor of the Klingon Empire lives with a very damaged version of Se-dom. He’s more reactive than pro-active, constantly striking out at those that insult and threaten him (tertiary-Fe). He plunges his people into war based on a vaguely defined paranoia about Changelings (inferior-Ni), and seems to forget that Picard helped him gain his throne as soon as he has power, making up a whole new mythology about his ascent to leadership.

When Martok’s popularity starts to overshadow his own, Gowron takes over the fleet in the middle of the Dominion War and assigns Martok to dangerous missions in an effort to get him killed (tertiary-Fe again). He’s nowhere near the strategist or commander that Martok is (disorganized, damaged Ti-aux, probably not even in use since he’s most likely looping through his Extraverted functions), and the Klingons start losing badly.

Any parallels to real-life leadership are purely coincidental, but uncanny.

Gowron won’t acknowledge the reality of the situation, so Worf—who basically handed Gowron the throne many years ago by taking out his rival—takes Gowron down and hands the mantle to Martok.

Kurn – ESTP

Kurn is action-driven and wily, a hot-headed younger brother to the stoic Worf who’s nonetheless a strong commander in his own right. He boards the Enterprise under a pretense, provoking Worf until he’s sure he can reveal their family connection. The two brothers fight for their family’s honor, and Kurn reluctantly obeys Worf’s wishes to turn his back on him and pretend they’re not related in order to protect himself. Once they clear their father’s name and get to fight together, Kurn’s overjoyed and wishes they had been able to be brothers from the start.

He’s farsighted enough to see the dangers Gowron poses to the Empire, impetuous enough to want to kill him right away, but cautious enough to follow his older brother’s guidance and wait the situation out. Unfortunately, once Gowron dissolves their house, Kurn loses all hope for the future and tries to kill himself. Trying to start a new life under Starfleet/Bajoran military discipline does not suit him at all.

So (*ugh*) Worf wipes his memory and sends him off with a new family. Shortly before their house’s honor is restored again.

Sorry, Kurn. You put up a good fight.

Luther Sloane – INTJ

It’s hard to tell if the Sloane we meet in the Section 31 episodes is the real Luther Sloane, or some sort of crazy person who managed to put up an organized façade to carry out his nefarious schemes. Despite an arresting performance by William Sadler, he’s pretty much a standard INTJ villain, with plans worked out hundreds of steps in advance, with far-reaching objectives only he comprehends. His morality extends only to keeping the Federation safe and secure, by any means necessary.

Enabran Tain – INTJ

As the leader of the Obsidian Order, Tain’s another INTJ supervillain, but with mastermind chops that would have put Sloane to shame if they ever met. He sees the impending threat of the Dominion and comes out of retirement to put together a combined Cardassian-Romulan task force to pre-emptively strike at the Founders. He has a handful of old colleagues assassinated so that they won’t interfere, and is willing to kill Garak, too. He’ll never admit that Garak was his son, because a man like him can’t have that kind of emotional liability. When his secret task force is ambushed by an overwhelming Jem’Hadar fleet, Tain has a meltdown over his failure to foresee this outcome.

Vic Fontaine – ESFJ

He’s just an old-fashioned lounge singer, baby, with a hundred stories to tell about the glory days of Vegas. He’s always there with a listening ear and simple advice when someone walks in with a broken heart. Vic somehow understands that he’s a hologram, and transcends his programming to hop holosuites and manipulate Kira and Odo together in spite of themselves. He’s excited by the new, round-the-clock life Nog offers him, though it tires him out quite a bit. Raise a glass, and try to figure out how he exists as an actual human in the Mirror Universe.

Morn

He’s an Extravert, don’t you know? You can’t shut this guy up.

[erule]

Masterlist

Fandom writing challenge

1) Can you see it?

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 4.200+  

Warnings: romantic, fluff, angst, teen!reader, time travel   

Summary: The reader dies and Dean asks Rowena help to bring her back, but it’s not that easy. He’ll have to come back in time and make her remember him.

2) The surrender

Pairing: Kai x Reader

Word Count: 4.3K+  

Warnings: romantic, fluff, angst, OOC!Kai

Summary: The reader is gonna marry Kai, but someone from his past comes to make him pay his debts.

3) The other side

Pairing: Karamel (Kara x Mon-El)

Word Count: around 4.8K+  

Warnings: AU, OOC!Kara, OOC!Mon-El, romantic, angst    

Summary: Kara bumps into a guy at the park, while she’s helping Winn on a date night. The day later, she doesn’t remember a thing about the past night with that guy. So, asking herself what has happened and who he was, she looks for answers. And what she finds out leaves her breathless.  

4) Six feet under

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 3.3K+  

Warnings: angst, romantic, OOC Dean, daddy!Dean, daughter, AU    

Summary: Dean’s divorcing from his wife for a lie he told, but they’re still in love with each other and their daughter is the only one who can save this marriage.

5) In the oblivion

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 3.5k+    

Warnings: angst, fluff, romantic, married!life, husband!Dean, daddy!Dean, memory lost        

Summary: A witch took away the reader’s memory. Will Dean make her remember that she’s his wife or not? 

Avengers

1) Bad people don’t die

Pairing: Pietro and the reader are siblings

Word Count: 1.7K+  

Warnings: Overprotective!Pietro, OOC!Pietro, siblings’ love, Avengers Age of Ultron  

Summary: The reader is Pietro’s sibling and he’s been overprotective since the reader got hurt in a mission with the Avengers. When Ultron strikes again, they will face their problems once and for all.

Supernatural

1) The only light

Pairing: Dean x OC (original character)  

Word Count: 6.4K+    

Warnings: angst, fluff, romantic, action, funny

Summary: Someone opened the doors of Hell and all the rumours bring to Lucifer. They have to find him and stop him, but how? In the meantime, Dean and his girlfriend think about the future.  

2) Across the memory lane

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2.840 

Warnings: romantic, (a little bit) fluff, (a little bit) angst 

Summary: Three braided moments (Purgatory!Dean, s11!Dean, after s11!Dean) in which the reader and Dean find themselves talking about their feelings to each other. Will they end up together or not? 

3) Soul survivor

Summary: Dean (demon Dean) meets a girl in Purgatory that doesn't remember anything. They start to understand each other and keep going during their trip together.

All the chapters can be found on Wattpad:

https://www.wattpad.com/305746744-soul-survivor-chapter-1-painted-in-red

Chapter 5: 

http://erule.tumblr.com/post/150043484536/soul-survivor

Chapter 7:

http://erule.tumblr.com/post/151561541201/soul-survivor-chapter-7-knockin-on-heavens-doors

4) Bury my love

Summary: Imagine you get to tell goodbye to Dean before he goes to Amara, not knowing how to confess your feelings for him (11x23).

5) Dark star 

Summary: Imagine you died years ago instead of Dean and ended up in Purgatory. Dean comes to know it by Crowley and begins to look for you there. Also, the two of you had a daughter.

6) Atlantis

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: around 2.370

Warnings: angst, (a little) romantic

Summary: Dean gets cursed by the mermaids. The reader tries to save him in every way possible. 

7) Mercy

 Summary: Imagine you need to tell Dean how you feel about him.

8) The things we carry 

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2.8K+    

Warnings: angst, romantic, reader’s sadness, cheering up!Dean, daddy!Bobby      

Summary: The reader’s not feeling enough, so Dean tries to cheer her up, taking her out for a drive. They discover that there’s something more between them, but it’s hard to say the words out loud. Maybe, they just need a push.  

[sokorra]

The Rewatch 229: In the Hands of the Prophets

Series: Star Trek: DS9Episode: 1.20 In the Hands of the Prophets (Season 1 Finale; June 21, 1993)Rating: 5/5Redshirt Status: 1/3.5 Content/Trigger Warning: Religious violence. Notable Guest Stars:Louise Fletcher ( Vedek Winn Adami) – Louise Fletcher plays the rule of Winn for several seasons on this show, and is one of the most rememberable side characters on the show. She is also known for…

[weerd1]

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.26: Missions Reviewed, “Strange Bedfellows,” “The Changing Face of Evil,” “When it Rains,” and “Tacking into the Wind.”

(Note: as we are in the last nine episodes which run as a continuous storyline, these four will be summarized together.)

Ezri and Worf are transferred from the Breen to the Jem’Hadar, and the Founder herself comes out to welcome the Breen into the Dominion. Damar wants to know why he wasn’t consulted, and why the Dominion/Breen treaty allows concessions of Cardassian space to the Breen. Weyoun’s answer makes it clear that Cardassia and Damar need to stop thinking of themselves as anything other than servants of the Founders. When they interrogate Ezri and Worf, Weyoun brings up Ezri’s feelings for Bashir, immediately leading to Worf snapping his neck. 

Damar kneels next to the fallen Vorta and laughs. On DS9, Sisko is getting used to married life, but Kasidy is also confronted with some new realities; being the wife of the Emissary means something to her Bajoran crew, and that’s a responsibility she’s not ready for.  Dukat continues to manipulate (and by that I mean romance) Kai Winn, until she has another vision of what she believes to be the Prophets.  This time, they reveal their true nature as the Pah-Wraiths to her, and she is horrified, sending Dukat to get her ever more frustrated assistant Solbor to bring her an actual Orb so she may meet the real Prophets. Damar is amused to meet the new Weyoun but finds out the Breen have access to all Cardassian classified files, and that the Dominion has just sacrificed half a million Cardassian soldiers in a feint to draw out the Federation. He goes back to drink it off, but can’t look at himself in the mirror, throwing the glass of canar out…forever this time.

 Winn, unable to get a response from the Prophets or the Orb calls Kira to her quarters for advice, admitting she has let her ambition come between her and her gods. Kira tells her no one is above redemption, and there is a way to find forgiveness and get back on the proper path: Simply step down as Kai, give up power so power cannot corrupt. Winn can’t accept this however, saying she has learned her lesson and Bajor will need her when the Prophets see she’s repented. Kira leaves, and Winn realizes the Prophets will never accept her. She tells the still disguised Dukat she is ready to give her allegiance to the Pah-Wraiths. Ezri and Worf come to an understanding about their friendship, and the mistake they made hooking up, just as they are about to be executed. Damar walks them out, then shoots the two Jem’Hadar guards.  He gives Worf and Ezri their weapons, tells them where to find a shuttle, and asks them to tell the Federation, “they have a friend on Cardassia.”

Ezri and Worf return to DS9, but the happiness around their return is short lived: The Breen strike at Earth, killing thousands at Starfleet Headquarters. Sisko decides to keep Kasidy from going on her supply run as they increase station security. She’s having none of that though. Damar is not impressed with the Breen attack, but is also sober, which Weyoun notices. Weyoun assumes it’s newfound confidence with the new set of Dominion assaults, and Damar lets him believe that while having his comrade Gul Rusot begin recruiting officers to a Resistance. Winn, Dukat, and Solbor return to Cardassia where Dukat convinces her to pull the Kai-only book of Kosst Amojan from the archives, to find how to release the Pah-Wraiths from the fire caves. Solbor is resistance to all these ancient, evil books, but Winn must keep researching. The Kosst Amojan is blank. Ezri decides she has to talk to Julian, and Worf agrees, though watching Bashir and O’Brien plan battles around a scale model of the Alamo, he also thinks Bashir is a “child who plays with toys.” (No funny Worf, I’m like right here.)

 Kasidy is about to resume her supply runs when Admiral Ross says the Dominon is about to assault the Chin’Toka system again, this time with the Breen. The Defiant leads the joint fleet, only to find the Breen have a new weapon capable of knocking out a starship’s power.  The Defiant is hit, and unable to defend itself, Sisko orders the ship abandoned.

 The Founder tells Weyoun to allow all the escape pods to go- they will carry back news of what happened. On Bajor, Solbor has become suspicious of Dukat, and testing his DNA finds his true identity. Winn is again horrified, but rather than siding with Solbor when he chooses to reveal this to the authorities she stabs him. His blood gets on the pages of the book of Kosst Amojan, and the ancient spells appear. On DS9, they find Starfleet and Romulan ships are susceptible to the Breen weapon, but Klingon ships can be adapted to resist it. Now realizing the Klingon fleet will have to protect them all, Kira tells them there is an important broadcast. Damar is announcing that he will lead Cardassia against the Dominion. His resistance destroys the cloning facility responsible for the Weyouns, which the current Weyoun knows is on purpose. Sisko realizes they have to help Damar; he just might save the Quadrant.

Kira is chosen to lead a team to help Damar’s nascent resistance organize. Garak who will also help mentions that having a Bajoran colonel there may be an issue, so Kira is given a commission into Starfleet as a Commander. 

Before Odo goes with her, Bashir asks him for a tissue sample, as he thinks he can create injectable organ transplants using the morphogenic matrix.  Given all the Klingon action, Chancellor Gowron comes to the station to give Martok a prestigious award, but also assumes command of the Klingon fleets himself. He begins sending Martok on unwinnable missions, and Worf believes he is trying to break Martok’s reputation.

  Dukat tries to read the Kosst Amojan without Winn, and is struck blind.  She sends him out on the streets as a beggar to “learn humility” before they move forward with freeing the Pah-Wraiths. Ezri goes to tell Julian how she feels, but they are interrupted when Julian discovers that Odo IS in fact suffering from the same disease the Founders have. He contacts Kira’s mission, but Odo insists they move forward.  There is immediate tension with the Cardassians, but Kira has a lot to teach them. Odo covers up that he is starting to show signs of the illness. Bashir reaches out to Starfleet medical to get copies of Odo’s records from his visit to Earth back in season 4, and finds they are classified. Getting Sisko to get a hold of them, Bashir immediately notices they have been faked. He regresses the virus in Odo’s tissue back and discovers Odo was NOT infected by contact with the Founders. He was infected while he was on Earth. The virus is a biogenic weapon put in Odo to carry to the Founders by someone in Starfleet. Bashir realizes this was an attempt at Genocide, and O’Brien suggests it was Section 31.

Bashir keeps working on a cure while Odo is progressively worse. He is assuming more shapes on this mission and it is taking a toll. Garak finds out how sick Odo is, but Odo swears him to secrecy. Eventually, Garak tells Kira anyway, but she already knows. Gowron sends Martok on a veritable suicide mission, and though he survives, Gowron is quick to blame Martok for the loss. Ezri discusses the Klingon Empire with Worf, and she tells him it is dying, because for all their talk of honor, too much corruption is allowed at the upper levels, especially Gowron. Kira and Gul Rusot, fight, with Kira getting the upper hand, and Garak warns her she will have to kill him. They have a mission though; there is an opportunity to steal a Dominion ship with the energy dampening weapon and take it back to the Federation. Bashir is stymied in his attempts to cure Odo’s virus, but O’Brien suggests they tell people there is a cure, so when Section 31 comes to destroy it, then can capture that person and get the real cure. When Martok recovers, Gowron announces an even riskier mission, which Martok is ready to do, when Worf has had enough and challenges Gowron to a duel. They fight and Worf prevails, killing Gowron and giving him the Klingon death ritual. 

Martok names Worf leader of the Empire, but Worf refuses and tells them Martok should be leader. The council hails Chancellor Martok. Kira, Rusot, Damar, Odo, and Garak head out to steal a ship, when Damar receives word his family has been executed by the Dominion. He asks what kind of people could do that, and Kira gives him the single most perfect response she could possibly give (see GIF below).  

They sneak onto the Jem’Hadar ship, using Odo shifting into the form of the female shapeshifter, but find they Breen weapon is still being installed. They have to hold for 30 minutes.  Tensions increase when Odo can’t hold form anymore and collapses into a parched mess. Rusot wants to kill them and escape, but Garak pulls his gun on Rusot, then Damar on Garak.  Rusot pleads with Damar to fire, to kill the traitor Garak and the Bajoran terrorist, and Damar fires, killing Rusot. Damar declares the Cardassia Rusot represented must be allowed to die, and he will build a new Cardassia. They take the ship back to the Federation for analysis.

Obviously quite a bit going on here!  I found the Kai Winn story really interesting here because you watch her character keep hitting these checkpoints for how evil what she is doing is, and you watch her almost stop…and then barrel through. Her ambition keeps her moving forward, and she has by this point given up her faith, her Gods, her friends, and literally slept with the enemy for the Pah-Wraiths.  She at least has enough Bajoran spark to screw with Dukat a bit. It did seem a little odd to me in the rewatch, given how unique Dukat is as a character, that more people didn’t recognize his voice, despite his face. The Damar storyline here is stunning.  Once just a background Cardassian bridge officer, we have seen him become a toady, then a murderer, and even when he starts his rebellion against the Dominion, it is for “greater Cardassia.” Here though, losing his family, seeing for the first time the Cardassians through Kira’s Bajoran eyes, he has truly become the hero Cardassia needs, not just to liberate them from the Dominion, but from their own history. And speaking of government misconduct, how about that Section 31? Attack on Earth or no, they have decided on genocide. This is specifically the path the Picard rejected against the Borg back in “I, Borg” on TNG, but the path Future Janeway seems happy to follow in the season finale of “Voyager.” A fascinating setup for the Bashir’s last tango with Sloan. The destruction of the Defiant was wholly unexpected, but definitely tells you what the stakes are. Almost makes me wish they aren’t going to issue them another one in the next couple of episodes. And Worf.  Worf and the shenanigans around the Empire always make me say, “F-ing Klingons.” I have to wonder how the Empire would be with him in charge; perhaps something a future “Picard” series can look into.  

Along with Kai Kira.

NEXT VOYAGE: Part 7 of the finale has Section 31 return to the station along with a dying Odo with “Extreme Measures.”