#also settle this for me once and for all: do funko pops come out of the box or nah

[pedrospatch]

i put her next to din 💫🫧🩷

[holidaysat221b]

The 12 Days of Sherlolly 2020 Masterlist

Thank you to everyone who participated in this winter/holiday fest.  We had twenty-four submissions from eight different authors and artists.  Nine photo edits, thirteen fics, a custom Funko Pop, and a video this year!

Thank you to @mel-loves-all, @simplyshelbs16xoxo, @goodshipsherlollipop, @mizjoely, @girlysword, @englandsgray, @sundance201 and… me.

Below are the links to all twenty-four submissions.  Please pop in and leave a comment, kudo, or like.

12 Days of Sherlolly Drabbles - Written by @darnedchild A series of 200 word drabbles inspired by one word prompts. Written for the 2017 “12 Days of Sherlolly”.   (Repost from 2017′s 12 Days of Sherlolly, On Ao3, Complete in 12 Parts, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Baby, it’s cold outside   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Be Mine   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Happy Holidays   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Merry Christmas   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Sherlock loves Molly   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The 2020 12 Days of Sherlolly - Created by @mel-loves-all Sherlolly   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange - Written by @girlysword By sheer happenstance, none of the cases I covered in the main “If ACD Created Molly Hooper” storyline take place during the winter, so I thought to rewrite one of the winter cases in the ACD-Molly universe for 12 Days of Sherlolly.   (On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

The Arrangement - Written by @mizjoely When the acerbic Mr. Holmes comes to fellow university classmate Molly Hooper’s defence, it comes as quite the surprise to her! Even more surprising is his later visit to her to clarify things between them.   (On Ao3, Complete in 2 Parts, Rated G)

The Christmas Caper - Written by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock and Molly haven’t spoken in months since the phone call. Though both are aware of the other’s feelings, they’re at a standstill. Enter: Mycroft Holmes with an elaborate plan to bring them together.   (On Ao3, Complete in 7 Parts, Rated T)

Christmas During COVID - Written by @goodshipsherlollipop Molly Holmes is disappointed that the plans she had made for a lovely family Christmas had to be set aside due to the change in COVID guidelines for Christmas. But she counts her blessings as Christina turns one and Victoria excitedly awaits Father Christmas. Parentlock x 2, Sherlolly (COVID-19 sub-series, part 18) If you are interested in reading what comes before this, look me up on fanfiction.net. A continuation of my Journey series.   (On Ao3, Complete in 5 Parts, Rated T)

Christmas Plans during a Pandemic - Written by @goodshipsherlollipop With the guidelines allowing three households to mix freely for the Christmas holiday, Molly wants to have a special Christmas as well as celebrate Christina’s first birthday with family. In the midst of these plans, an important milestone occurs for Christina. Includes a “breaking the fourth wall” scene near the end. Parentlock x 2, Sherlolly (COVID-19 sub-series, part 17)   (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

A Cryptic Resolve - Written by @englandsgray Sherlock might not subscribe to the kind of giddiness Christmas seemed to bring out in others, he considered the fact that he dispensed with believing in fantastical dream-granters at an earlier age than most, as one of his greater strengths. But what he did believe in, with all of his heart - such as it was - was Molly Hooper.   (On Ao3, Complete in 9 parts, Rated T)

Fireworks for a New Year - Written by @goodshipsherlollipop After some fun family time in getting their daughters to bed, Sherlock and Molly are ready to watch the television display of the London New Year’s fireworks. But will watch it all before creating their own fireworks? Rated a light M for some of my clean, flirty, yet sensual brand of married Sherlolly love. Parentlock x 2, Sherlolly. (COVID-19 sub-series, part 19) If you want to view more of my writing, please go to fanfiction.net where I have the rest of my collection. Posted here for 2020_Twelve_Days_of_Sherlolly.   (On Ao3, Complete, Rated M)

Happy Holidays from Molly and Sherlock - Created by @darnedchild Funko Pop Molly and Sherlock wishing you Happy Holidays   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Home for the Holidays - Written by @sundance201 Despite loving her family very much, Molly is not looking forward to being at home for the holidays and enduring the jabs at her once again single status. But when Sherlock shows up as her “boyfriend,” the holidays start looking up.   (On Ao3, Complete in 4 Parts, Rated G)

Make A List, Check It Twice - Written by @mizjoely tumblr Prompt of the Day - 12/18/20 from holidaysat221b: Christmas – I would also look for England-specific things too – Christmas crackers, puddings, panto, wassail - gettingovergreta   (On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

Naked Santa and Fornicating Reindeer - Written by @darnedchild Molly and John share a love of festive Christmas jumpers. Sherlock … doesn’t. (Written for a Fandom Christmas in July thingy on Tumblr)   (Repost from 2018′s 12 Days of Sherlolly, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

Sherlollipops – Goodbye, Hello - Written by @mizjoely Two short scenes that should have been at the end of HLV, as Sherlock tells Molly good-bye…and then hello again.   (On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

To Be With You, That’s All I Want - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo ‘He didn’t want to let her go—the thought of doing so made his heart ache. The fact she didn’t seem to be in a rush to get away settled his pulse. It told him she wanted to be in his arms as much as he wanted to hold her. Sherlock breathed her in, the scent of spiced honey and wildflowers filling him with warm familiarity. It was like finding a place he belonged—like home.’ From my fic, The Christmas Caper   (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Twelve Days of (Sherlolly) Christmas - Written by @darnedchild Twelve completely (probably) unrelated Sherlolly ficlets in a text script sort of format that are only connected by the Twelve Days of Christmas in some way.   (Repost from 2016′s 12 Days of Sherlolly, On Ao3, Complete in 12 Parts, Rated G)

Wrapped In Red - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo A throwback video of mine for the 12 days of Sherlolly   (Originally posted as a companion to 2017′s “Wrapped In Red”, On Youtube, Rated G)

[ptw30]

Are you happy with Shiro settling down to get married and “leaving the battle” or whatever as his ending? Because I really thought he should’ve gone back to being a piloting instructor at the garrison and maybe staying on standby as atlas commander or something like that. He loved piloting too much to become completely disconnected from it and it feels like he never dealt with his trauma imo.

Short answer: No. 

Long Answer: Somehow, this transformed into, “Obligatory Post-Season 8 Meta: Shiro is still the Black Paladin. No, I’m not delusional. Really.”

The Black Paladin & PTSD Treatment

It’s important to know, especially for @dreamworksanimation​ and @voltron, that someone doesn’t “get over” PTSD, as Lauren Montgomery said in an interview.

I’m not trying to be harsh or “call someone out.” I’m stating fact. According to the Mayo Clinic, PTSD symptoms can be treated by opening up to others and seeking the help one needs. 

Getting timely help and support may prevent normal stress reactions from getting worse and developing into PTSD. This may mean turning to family and friends who will listen and offer comfort. It may mean seeking out a mental health professional for a brief course of therapy. Some people may also find it helpful to turn to their faith community.

This ties directly into Shiro’s story. In Seasons 1 & 2, Shiro hid the majority of his symptoms from the others. In Season 3 - 6, those symptoms were exacerbated by Haggar, and though Shiro reached out to Lance, he did not get the help he needed. Shiro then was attacked in battle by Haggar/The White Lion, and again, he suffered alone. 

In “All Good Things,” the Void scene revealed that Shiro wasn’t as close to the others as he could have been, and that ended up being the truth.

Like Allura never regained her confidence to lead, Shiro didn’t open up to the others and bridge that connection to strengthen it, which is one of the treatments for PTSD. 

Here some of the Mayo Clinic’s advice:

You don’t have to try to handle the burden of PTSD on your own.

[…]

Spend time with supportive and caring people — family, friends, faith leaders or others. You don’t have to talk about what happened if you don’t want to. Just sharing time with loved ones can offer healing and comfort.

Shiro handled his suffering alone, and he did not reach out to family and friends. We didn’t see him working out with the Atlas Crew. We didn’t see him hanging out with the paladins. He was all alone.  

This is also why “Knights of Light” is such a traumatic episode for Shiro fans and those struggling with mental illness. It completely dismissed all the suffering Shiro endured. The original paladins went insane in the Void. Shiro survived and came back stronger. 

Even then, he went through the struggles in the Void alone. The paladins went through it with each other. That two-parter episode originally - I have no doubt - was for Shiro to open up to the others, receive support for his past torture, and even receive help from Zarkon, the original Black Paladin. 

That’s why Shiro’s core fear - I’m too broken to be a paladin - focused on him returning from the Void, reconnecting with the paladins, and forming a stronger bond with the team. In this way, he would have begun to cope with his PTSD as the Black Paladin, proving he wasn’t too broken, and the story would have embraced the found family aspect, where Shiro and the paladins are truly “stronger together.” 

Instead - Shiro was alone. Even in Atlas. 

Even in Atlas/Voltron.  

The rest are all bonded to their lions. We know from “Genesis” that the White Lion isn’t in Atlas with Allura’s crystals, thus Shiro isn’t the White Paladin.  

Furthermore, the others don’t even speak to him in Voltron any longer. 

He asks, but no one answers him. (There was one time that Allura responded, but that is only once. The only other time someone actually answered Shiro, it was Coran, who is not in Voltron.)

Throughout the season, there are instances of this. Here, Shiro and Keith are on the bridge, and they don’t even look at each other. 

They don’t talk to each other. No matter how you see their relationship, they are important to each other. And yet…nothing. 

Another time, Shiro was sad to be left behind when the team went forward. You can’t tell me he’s happy here. 

But Shiro desperately doesn’t want to be alone or left behind. 

How do we know?

Shiro’s only win since Season 2 was an arm-wrestling competition, and he only won because he took strength from his one-time team. (Notice: Future hubby isn’t in the above shot.)

Shiro’s Marriage

Shiro is married, so he’s not alone, right? 

Well, yeah, but…Shiro’s story wasn’t for him to be married off to finally have a family, when Voltron was supposedly a story about found family. 

By Shiro’s happiness coming from marriage, Shiro was reduced to his sexuality. Shiro is queer and nothing else, but being queer is a part of someone’s entire person. If they would have shown Shiro “finding his happiness” on board the Atlas with no-name-dude with a tag like, “Shiro continued as the Atlas’ commander and found his happiness in space,” then fine. Do I still think it would have been random and forced, and all that? 

Yeah. It’s 2018, and it’s baby steps, and I can’t believe there hasn’t been a mlm kiss in all of American cartoons already. But putting my own shipping preferences aside - it is progress. 

However, Shiro’s core desire was to be a paladin, to help, to explore space. Say what you want about the paladin’s guardian spirits, but Shiro’s was the cosmos. Tell me again why Keith has a dog that can teleport and is called Cosmo? Oh, right. Cuz Shiro was supposed to be able to teleport.

Shiro enjoyed being paladin. He wanted to be a paladin, and if one wants to embrace his captaincy or admiralty or commanding office of the Atlas position - all right, but even then he was someone who wouldn’t leave behind the “good fight.” The good fight was where he wanted to be. 

What’s also disturbing to me about “Shiro’s happiness” is that - it’s the ending Adam wanted. If you follow my blog, you know I wasn’t a fan of the “Shadam” pairing, mainly because Shiro and Adam wanted different things. That’s mature. That’s a good representation of an adult relationship. Each wanted something different, so they broke up and moved on. I like that DreamWorks showed that, and I wish they wouldn’t have killed Adam. It would have allowed viewers to see how relationships can have a healthy conclusion. 

But for Shiro then to do what Adam wanted years later, leave behind “the good fight” and settle down, is a complete reversal of Shiro’s character. That also says Adam wasn’t enough for Shiro, but no-name-husband is. To be honest, if Adam hadn’t died, Adam could have filled that role, which is disturbing as well because Shiro is now “cured” of the degenerative disease, supposedly. (Technically, he’s not in the context of the story, but I’m ignoring that for now.) 

So if Adam would have waited for Shiro, okay. But for Adam to want Shiro once cured, is a terrible message to those suffering from degenerative diseases. (Full disclosure - I was a caretaker of a person with a degeneration disease for sixteen years.)

Therefore, Shiro’s ending comes down to three things:

Shiro was married off because the EPs wanted him out of the story since the get-go, and if there is a sequel, Shiro is out of the fight - both the Black Lion and Atlas. 

It was tacked on to fix the BYG trope in Season 7.

It reaffirms that Shiro is “old,” which the EPs just love to say, even though the dude is younger than me. 

Shiro’s Role as the Atlas’ commander/captain/four bars 

If one wants to say Shiro’s heads the entire coalition as a disabled man, which is empowering, I get it. That is a powerful position, though he hasn’t won a fight since Season 2. (The Alteans beat him up in “The Zenith,” and Zethrid’s Olkari tech is the reason the team wins in “Genesis.” In Season 7, the Atlas doesn’t beat the Altean mech, so Shiro in Atlas hasn’t won a fight by himself.)

But my argument is - Shiro’s core fear was not being worthy of being a paladin, and his position in Atlas proves his fear true. (Even though Altas and Voltron merged at the end, Shiro was still not a paladin - as I explained above.)

Also, it’s important to note Shiro was happy as the leader of Voltron and the paladin of the Black Lion. Plus, he was the garrison’s best pilot. (Keith was the garrison’s best up-and-coming pilot.) 

Why would you ever sideline your best pilot? He’s one of your strongest fighters. He’s one of your best skilled fighters, and you take him out of the fight and put him on the bridge? That’s a terrible battle strategy. It’s like having the most winning goaltender in NHL history and taking him out to put in a no-name second-stringer. 

What happens? The franchise collapses. 

Yes, take that both ways, as I intended. After all, it’s no coincidence that Shiro was the Hot Topic exclusive Funko Pop! figurine. 

Not only did the storyline sideline one of its stronger fighters, it continuously reminds fans of this and undeservedly praises itself for doing so. 

Shiro had the strongest bond with his lion, and since the lion swap, almost none of the paladins talk to their lions. I think Keith is the only one who actually directs a comment to his lion - the “you’re back” line, in Season 8 and “I know you’re hurting,” in Season 6. The clone asked Black to trust him, but all the rest of the paladins refer to their lions and haven’t actually spoken to them in seasons. 

Even the final moments of the paladins with their lions reinforce the original line-up, which does indicate that the lions and paladins haven’t spoken to each other because the lion-paladin bonds ceased to exist following the lion swap. In fact, I would go insofar as to say the lions themselves were not happy with the swap.  

After all, Pidge and Lance never do the eye-glow thing, and Allura only did it with Voltron, not Blue. Also, Allura only used her bayard once in Voltron, in conjunction with Hunk’s. Neither Lance nor Allura ever use their bayards alone in Voltron, and also - the Blazing Sword does not return to Voltron until Zarkon is in Voltron with Keith. 

So yes, according to “Knights of Life” - Keith is not the Black Paladin. Zarkon said Keith is a leader, not the Black Paladin, and Shiro, too, never told Keith in Season 2 to fly Black, just to lead. 

Keith, Shiro & Leadership

Disclaimer: I love Keith. He’s my second favorite character, but I love Keith, not Keith acting like Shiro.

I wasn’t going to go into Keith and Shiro’s leadership dynamics, but after seeing this - 

- I felt the need to touch upon it, as Shiro now reflects Keith in Season 2. 

Keith’s leadership is based on two things - his race, as deemed by Zarkon, and two years on the back of a whale leading no one. (This is a story’s fault, not the character’s.) Keith’s connection to the Black Lion is based upon his relationship with Shiro, first asking the Black Lion to fly to save Shiro, then taking up the mantle of leadership because Shiro asked him to, and then again, flying Black to save Shiro.

Shiro, on the other hand, had the strongest bond with his lion, died to save the universe, was saved by his lion, existed in an environment that drove the original paladins insane, and came back to take leadership of an entire coalition.

Yeah, he’s just going to give up? And he’s not going to be the one talking miracles and getting up and moving again?

One can say, “But Keith has developed into the leader Shiro is/was,” which… okay, but then one has to also acknowledge, “Shiro has regressed after all he’d been through”

If one is discussing endgames for characters, this is a terrible place for us to say good-bye to Shiro.

Also, despite Keith’s insistence - 

- it wasn’t. How do we know?

Allura died, saving the universe. In a universe where Voltron wins, it’s because the team is stronger together, and the team wins together. The paladins wouldn’t allow the universe’s survival to hinge upon only one of their shoulders. If Allura went to sacrifice herself, the other paladins would find a way to save her. They would talk her out of it. They would find another solution. 

The Season 8 Voltron line-up cannot save the universe, let alone each other. 

But with Shiro in Black, Allura in Atlas/the White Lion, Keith in Red, Lance in Blue, Pidge in Green, and Hunk in Yellow - we have a team that has saved the universe and a team that won’t let each other die. 

We’d have a true found family that together, would win.

And Shiro would have found his happiness, in Black and in his family.  

TL;DR: 

[per-ineptia-ad-astra]

This isn’t the kind of thing I normally do around here, but it seemed like it might be a bit of fun. I’ve absolutely no idea if it’s something you all would be interested in, though, so let me know if you like it or not—if not, I’ll just leave it as a one-off and go back to the regular memes to fill the time while I’m working on Space Seed.

Recently I’ve been playing resource management/base building type games a lot, which I suspect stems from the fact that managing resources in my real life is going rather less well, the latest of these being Stonehearth, a cute voxel game where you guide a group of beady-eyed little people into building a village for them to live in. I’d played a fair bit of it over the past winter but hadn’t touched it in several months, enough time for there to be a couple of updates to the content*, so I decided to see what had been added in the interim.

*Technically the officially-approved-but-player-created-mod-expansion.

But once I got around to selecting my starting villagers, I ran into the same problem I always have at these moments in games—what to name everybody? I’m a massive overthinker about this sort of thing, you see, the sort who will spend ages scouring Wikipedia to find the most thematically appropriate set of things to name all the characters after. On this occasion, though, as I stared aimlessly around my desk trying to come up with something, inspiration struck in the shape of the copy of Star Trek: The Classic Episodes that I still hadn’t put away. Or possibly it was the Data Funko Pop. Either way, I thought, well, why not…?

[ID: A screenshot of the ‘Customize your party’ screen in the video game Stonehearth. On the left are five miniature profiles for cartoonish voxel versions of Kirk, Sulu, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura. Their Mind, Body and Spirit stats are, respectively,  4/5/4,  3/2/6, 4/3/4,  6/2/5, and 3/4/6. On the right is an appearance customization screen with Uhura selected.]

And thus was born a quest to see the crew of the Enterprise through their colonization of wherever the hell it is they’ve ended up this time. Or at least, some of the crew of the Enterprise. I don’t think my computer could handle simulating the full four hundred and thirty of them.

Stonehearth villagers (or ‘hearthlings) have three stats—Mind, Body and Spirit-- as well as up to two traits that influence their behavior. In the starting roster, you can’t directly alter their stats or traits, but you can randomly generate villagers individually or as a group for as long as you want until you get something you like, and can change their names and appearances freely. By default, all the villagers are workers, but with the right items they can be promoted into special classes, such as warriors who defend the village, crafters who make necessary items, or resource-suppliers like farmers and trappers. My starting selection of characters was based on the roles that I judged most important to the getting this colony off the ground. (It may be helpful to keep in mind throughout this, though, that I am not very good at Stonehearth.) The traits I just kind of took where I could get them, since it would have taken an enormously long time to roll for the absolute most character-appropriate ones.

Kirk has the traits ‘Night Owl’ (he’ll stay up later at night and sleep more in the day) and ‘Jokester’ (he likes to tell jokes to the others, which has a chance to increase their moods). I was unsure what to do with him at first, since there’s not really any kind of leadership position for hearthlings. In the end I decided he would make a good Knight, a heavy armor combat class. After all, protecting everyone else in the group at the risk of his own life is a pretty Kirk-ish thing to do. He’ll have to spend some time as a Footman, the basic combat class, before he can promote to Knight, though.

Sulu has the traits ‘Green Thumb’ (he gets a happiness boost from being around plants) and ‘Pack Mule’ which means he can carry more than usual. This is a good combo of traits for a farmer, and since Sulu likes plants he seemed like the most natural choice for that role.

McCoy has the trait ‘Pessimistic’ which makes him more affected by things that cause negative mood modifiers, because of course he does. His class was far and way the easiest to pick: he’ll spend some time as a Herbalist, a crafting class that can make bandages and medicines, until he can promote to Cleric, a combat class that can heal.

Scotty has the traits ‘Gregarious’ (he enjoys talking to other villagers more) and ‘Animal Companion’ (he spawns with a pet, in this case a raccoon named Cactus). Alright, perhaps not the most Scotty-ish of traits, but hey, he had good stats. Scotty’s going to be a Carpenter, the staple crafting class for the Ascendency faction, who use wood as their primary resource. (There actually is an Engineer class, but it doesn’t come into play until much later and the Carpenter is considerably more important for the early game.)

Finally, Uhura has the ‘Empathetic’ trait (she gets a negative mood modifier from being around other villagers who have negative mood modifiers) and is going to be a Trapper, a class that traps animals for meat and fur and can promote to the Shepherd, who raises livestock animals. A bit of a stretch, I know, but hey, there’s no communications-based class, and someone had to be a Trapper. Plus, Trappers have a chance of bringing animals home as pets, which is what started The Trouble With Tribbles, so, hey.

With the starting roster confirmed, all that remains is to first pick a starting resource package—I’ve gone with the Merchant Caravan, which will give us some starting food and gold as well as the promotion items for a Trapper, Footman and Herbalist—and then roll a map. Eventually—after spending far too long generating and re-generating maps—I’ve settled on a nice location by a lake, with plenty of trees, and mountains nearby to dig for ore and stone in. The only downside is it’s a bit exposed, so hopefully nothing too big attacks before we’re able to build some walls.

[ID: A screenshot showing a zoomed-out grassy landscape near a lake, with a message box reading “Click the banner to choose your settlement’s location.” At the bottom of the screen is a blue banner that reads “Click me to place your town banner.”]

Soon after selecting our starting location, a messenger bird arrives with a letter.

[ID: A screenshot showing a message box with a voxel bird displayed above it, titled ‘A Bird...Messenger?’ The box reads “An odd bird arrives with a letter in its beak, stamped with the official seal of the Ascendency.” In smaller text: “The bird also carries a nametag, which reads ‘Harold’. Below the box are two options: ‘Open the letter’ and ‘[skip] We know what banner we want.’]

The letter reads:

Dear Expedition 142,

I hope this letter finds you well. By my guess, you’ve likely set up camp by now.

As your Capital Liaison, it is my honor to preside, remotely, over the official Founding of your Outpost! I trust that you had ample time to choose a name on your journey.

As you know, every new settlement must choose a Banner.

This Banner reflects your spirit and vision, the uniting factor which brought the Expedition together!

What future did you foresee when you embarked on your quest for Township?

Hold in your mind a vision of what your Town will one day be. Your Banner will set that course, but it is up to you to finish it.

Choose well, my friends. I eagerly await your reply.

Yours,

Mer Burlyhands

We could choose a banner of Vitality, which plants to grow faster and trees to drop more wood; Strength, which increases the amount of ore you get from mining and makes hearthlings not mind living in cramped spaces; or Cunning, which makes traders visit more frequently and traded items sell for more.

I choose the Banner of Vitality. The name of the town, of course, is Enterprise.

[ID: A message box titled ‘Outpost Established!’ which reads: “Proclamation of Outpost: By Unanimous agreement of the citizens, we declare Enterprise to be an outpost striving to be at one with the environment. Trees produce 25% more wood. Plants and crops both grow 25% faster. Plants have 2x their normal Appeal.”]

The messenger bird drops off some extra starting food supplies before leaving. Now it’s time to get to the business of actually building this town. Colony. Whatever.

First off, promotions for everyone! Except Sulu. It’ll be a bit before we can promote Sulu. Sorry, Sulu.

[ID: Four cropped shots of message boxes which read “Promote to [Carpenter/Herbalist/Trapper/Footman]. In honor of steadfast efforts and resilience, we hereby advance [Montgomery Scott/Leonard McCoy/Nyota Uhura/James Kirk]. 4th Day of Bittermun 1000.” Below the text is a stamp icon which reads ‘click to approve.’]

Then we establish a stockpile—a designated location for items to go—and cut down some trees. We’re going to need wood to make buildings and furniture, as well as for fuel.

After a bit of consideration, I decide to move the hearth closer to the lake, near to where our first building is going to go up. For the moment, however, night is falling, and everyone gathers to rest around the fire.

[ID: A screenshot showing voxel-McCoy, Uhura, Sulu and Scotty sitting around a campfire on the shores on a lake.]

...everyone except Kirk, who, for reasons best known only to himself, has fallen asleep in the stockpile.

[ID: 1. A screenshot showing voxel-Kirk laying asleep on the ground in a stockpile full of logs and food supplies. 2. A zoomed-out screenshot showing how far away Kirk is from everyone else around the campfire.]

Thus was founded the town/settlement/colony/localized disaster area known as Enterprise. What could possibly go wrong?

[dragonydreams]

The Reading Perch - Captain Canary

Title: The Reading Perch Fandom: DC's Legends of Tomorrow Rating: Teen Pairings/Characters: Sara Lance/Leonard Snart Summary: Bookstore AU. Sparks fly when literary agent Leonard finally meets bookstore owner Sara for the first time. Timeline: n/a Word Count: 3,422 Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television. Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie for looking this over for me. Author's Note: Happy Birthday @stillthewordgirl!

Or read at AO3

  Leonard sighed as he drove past the "Welcome to Starling City" sign.

It wasn't that this was his least favorite place to be, but after being on the road for nearly a month, he'd give just about anything for that sign to say Central City instead.

"Lucky twenty-one," Mick said from the passenger seat.

Leonard smirked at his oldest friend and client. "You say that about every new town we go to."

"And so far, they've all been lucky," Mick said. "We've sold out at almost every book signing on this tour. Don't want to jinx us now by not calling a new city lucky."

"I'll give you that," Leonard conceded.

Sometimes he couldn't believe how lucky they'd been - and how much the tables had turned for them.

Leonard and Mick had met as kids in juvie. Mick had saved his life when a group of older boys had gone after the scrawny newbie. They'd been close ever since.

They had made a good life for themselves as criminals. Leonard was the brains and Mick was the brawn. They kept each other balanced.

What Mick had never told Leonard, was that he enjoyed writing science fiction.

Leonard knew that Mick enjoyed reading the genre - they both did - but it's quite the leap from reading to writing.

Not until one day when Mick almost shyly approached Leonard to say that he wanted out of the life. He'd written a book and it was going to be published.

Once he'd gotten over his shock, Leonard had insisted on seeing the contract to make sure that his friend wasn't getting screwed over. Then he asked to read the book.

And just like that, Leonard became Mick's agent and assistant, fully supporting this turn in their lives.

Now they were on stop twenty-one of a very successful book signing tour. Independent bookstores only, per Mick's insistence.

They checked into their hotel and, feeling a bit restless after being in the car for so long, Leonard decided to go check out the bookstore the event would be held at the next day.

The Reading Perch was an eclectic blend of cozy bookstore and pop culture mecca. While they had good sized sections for all of the genres you'd expect to see in a small bookstore, there was also an impressive graphic novel section of the store.

Interspersed with the books were displays of literary tee-shirts, bags, pillows, figurines, and even those oddly popular Funko Pop dolls.

Leonard wandered around until he found himself in front of a large display of Mick's book. He picked one up and opened to the back cover to read Mick's bio. It was as much a work of fiction as the rest of what he was holding, but thanks to a hacker he knew, no one would know about their criminal pasts.

He stood there long enough for a pretty blonde young woman to approach him.

"If you're interested in that book, the author's actually going to be here for a signing tomorrow," she said, gesturing to the poster with Mick's face on it beside the display.

Leonard looked up at her, smirk in place. He noticed her name tag and asked, "Are you Sara Lance?"

The woman looked surprised, then a little wary. "How did you know my last name?"

Leonard gestured to her name tag that bore her name and Manager beneath it before holding out his hand to her.

"I should probably introduce myself. Leonard Snart. I'm Mick Rory's agent."

Recognition filled Sara's eyes and she immediately shook his hand. "Of course! I should have recognized your voice from our calls. I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow."

"We made good time getting into town so I decided to check out the venue. I hope you don't mind."

"Not all. I can give you the two cent tour now, if you'd like," Sara offered.

Leonard carefully set down the book he'd been holding. "I'd like that very much, thank you."

For once, Leonard wasn't just putting on the act he usually had to perform when meeting the store managers at these events. He and Sara had spoken frequently over the past several months while he had been scheduling the tour. They'd had an immediate repartee from their first call and he always enjoyed checking in with her.

She was much younger than he'd imagined. He knew he was stereotyping her based on her appearance, but she gave the aura of someone who would prefer to be hiking through mountains or white water rafting rather than a person who enjoyed spending their days indoors with books.

"And this is where Mick will be," Sara said, pulling Leonard out of his thoughts.

She had led him to a nook about halfway through the store. There was a small desk with a comfortable leather desk chair for the author, and a couple of smaller desk chairs pushed against the wall, presumably for the author's entourage.

Leonard walked behind the desk and experimentally pulled on one of the drawers. Sara pulled a set of keys from a pocket and opened first that one and then the others. Inside were different colored Sharpies as well as some granola bars and gum.

"Gotta keep them locked or else the contents would keep disappearing. Learned that lesson the hard way," Sara apologized, locking the drawers again once Leonard's curiosity was satisfied.

"I like that you're so well prepared," Leonard said.

"We try to host a lot of these events to engage readers with the authors. We've learned that being prepared always comes in handy."

"As the person who would be running around to find this stuff, it is much appreciated," Leonard said.

At that moment, Leonard's stomach gave a loud rumble, reminding him that it had been a long time since they had stopped for lunch.

"Have you had dinner yet, Sara?" he asked. "Perhaps we could continue discussing the plans for tomorrow over a meal?"

Sara bit her bottom lip and glanced towards the front of the store. "I'm supposed to help with closing and get everything set up for tomorrow after that."

"What time do you close?" Leonard pressed.

"Nine o'clock," Sara said.

Leonard glanced at his watch. "It's only seven now. How is the pizza place that I passed on my way here? That should give us plenty of time to eat and have you back in time to close."

Sara whimpered. Actually whimpered. "You had to go tempting me with the best pizza in Starling," she groaned, dropping her forehead onto his chest.

"Is that a yes?" Leonard asked, knowing he'd won.

"That's a yes," Sara agreed. "Let me tell Nate that I'm leaving."

Leonard slowly walked to the front of the store, allowing himself to be distracted by the various displays on his way. Sara was waiting for him when he got there, a grin on her face.

"Enjoy what you see?" she asked, teasingly.

Leonard ran his eyes over her body and smirked. "Very much."

Sara's cheeks flushed and she quickly turned away to open the door and hurry out.

Leonard caught up to her easily. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"You didn't, not really," Sara said. "I guess I kind of deserved it. You didn't see me giving you pretty much the same look before I approached you. I wasn't expecting you to be so--"

"Old? Tall?" Leonard guessed.

"Ruggedly handsome," Sara finished.

It didn't take them long to reach the pizza place. After ordering at the counter, they found a booth and settled in to wait.

"I don't want to offend you, but I've gotta ask," Leonard started, earning him a raised eyebrow from Sara. "How did you end up working at a bookstore? You don't seem the type, and I've met a lot of bookstore managers over the past month."

Sara laughed and settled against the back of her seat. "I get that a lot. I guess you could say that it's in my genes. The bookstore was my grandmother's. When I was little, my mom used to drop me off there to hang out instead of getting a babysitter. The books were my babysitters. I found myself studying literature in school and after bumming around Europe for a while after graduation, I found myself back at the Perch. With all of Europe at my disposal, I kept finding myself in bookstores so I figured that I may as well as go home to mine."

"It's yours?" Leonard asked, surprised. Her name tag said Manager, not Owner.

"Yeah," Sara confirmed. "My grandma left it to me in her will."

"I'm sorry," Leonard said, automatically.

"I'm not," Sara said. "I mean, I'm sorry that she's gone, of course. I miss her every day; but being in that store is like having her there with me every day, too. I always expect to find her around the next bookshelf or coming out of the stockroom."

"So I should complement her on the fantastic wordplay in the store's name?" Leonard asked.

Sara's face lit up. "You get that? Most people don't. I wouldn't have pegged you for an ornithologist."

"I read the encyclopedia a lot as a child," Leonard said. No need for her to know that it was in juvie. The reading selection hadn't been all that bountiful, but there was a full encyclopedia set that someone had donated. "Starlings are perching birds."

"Guess we're both full of surprises," Sara said.

"It appears so," he agreed. He raised his bottle of water in a toast, "To many more happy surprises."

Sara tapped her bottle against his. "I certainly hope so."

Their pizza arrived and they hungrily dug in, barely talking as they devoured their first slices.

"So how did you become a literary agent?" Sara asked, once they'd satisfied their initial hunger. "I tried looking you up online, but you're practically a ghost."

"I like my privacy," Leonard said.

This was something that Hartley had warned him about. He'd asked if Leonard wanted him to create new pasts for him and Mick after wiping their records, but Leonard had said no. He didn't want to have to remember some fake history. He'd always been able to BS his way out of situations when people started asking personal questions and assumed he could do the same now. It wasn't like he usually got chatty on these stops. Usually.

"There's privacy and there's living in the dark ages," Sara said. "No Facebook, no Twitter, no LinkedIn, even."

"Cyberstalk much?" Leonard teased.

"I may have gotten a little curious after our fifth call," Sara admitted, picking at the cheese on the half-eaten slice of pizza on her plate. "I don't usually click so well with someone just on the phone."

Reluctantly, Leonard admitted, "I do have a Twitter account so that I can follow what people are saying about Mick's book. It's just not under my name."

"Is he why you became an agent?" Sara asked.

"He is," Leonard acknowledged. "We've been friends for almost as long as I can remember. He had my back growing up and since I have a better head for business, when he got a publishing contract, I became his agent. It's my turn to watch his back, now."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Sara said.

"I'm not sweet," Leonard insisted, scowling.

"You keep telling yourself that, but I now know better," Sara said, grinning.

"Don't you have a bookstore to get back to?" Leonard said, grumpily.

Glancing at her phone, Sara's eyes widened. "Shit, yes I do."

She took several bites of her pizza, polishing off the slice on her plate in seconds, causing Leonard to stare in awe. She certainly could pack it away for such a tiny woman.

"I was only joking," he finally said.

"I wasn't," Sara said, while chewing. "It's after 8:30. I really need to get back to the store."

"I hadn't realized it was getting so late," Leonard said.

"Time flies, and all that," Sara agreed, wiping her mouth and hands on several paper napkins before standing. "Walk me back?"

"It would be my pleasure," Leonard said, standing.

Leonard would have liked to have walked slowly back to the store, to extend their time together, but Sara kept a brisk pace. She was on the clock, after all.

"Are you coming in?" Sara asked, when they reached the door.

"I should probably go check on Mick," Leonard said.

The wind was blowing a lock of hair across Sara's face, and he slowly reached out to brush it off her forehead and behind her ear. The brief touch was electric and he had to force himself to step away from her.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said. "Have a good night, Sara."

"G'night, Leonard," Sara said, hurrying into the store.

He could hear her apologizing for being late, and the teasing tone of her co-worker in response.

The next day couldn't come soon enough.

~~*~~

Leonard's alarm woke him the next morning from tantalizing dreams of a certain blonde bookstore owner.

If he found himself shaving a bit more closely today, he told himself it had nothing to do with the beautiful woman he'd be seeing very soon.

Looking through his suitcase, he chose a blue dress shirt to wear with his black jeans. A gray sport coat finished off the look. He knew that Mick would be similarly dressed in blue jeans and a white dress shirt. Some variation of these outfits had become their costumes for these events.

"How's the space?" Mick asked as they settled at their table after having visited the breakfast buffet.

"It's eclectic," Leonard said. "I like it."

"This is the one with the girl you like, right?" Mick asked, causing Leonard to choke on the bite he'd just taken.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Leonard said, coughing.

"Sure you don't," Mick said, dryly. "Because you always choke when I talk about girls."

"How'd you even know about her?" Leonard asked.

Mick rolled his eyes. "Because every time you talked or got a text from her, you'd get this silly expression on your face. It doesn't take a genius to see that you're smitten."

"Since when have you used words like 'smitten'?" Leonard deflected.

"Since I became a successful, published author," Mick retorted. "She that hot?"

"Yes," Leonard reluctantly admitted, "but it's more than just her looks. I really like her."

"Mazel Tov," Mick said, taking a bite of bacon. After several bites he noticed the pained look on Leonard's face. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that she owns a bookstore in Starling City and we live in Central City; when we're not traveling for book signings," Leonard said.

Mick waved him off. "Who said we have to live in Central? More specifically, who said you have to live in Central?"

"Because Central City is our home," Leonard said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "My sister's in Central."

"Lisa travels for work almost as much as we do," Mick objected. "I don't see why we can't work from here instead of Central."

"You want to move to Starling City so that I can date a girl that you haven't even met yet?" Leonard asked, dumbfounded.

"It's not like we have office jobs or anything," Mick said with a shrug. "If you like the girl, I can support that. It's what we do. You'd do the same for me."

Leonard nodded absently. He would drop everything for Mick if he asked him to. And he wasn't even asking; Mick was offering.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Leonard said. "Sara and I haven't even been on a date."

"Didn't you have dinner last night? I'd call that a date," Mick commented.

"How did you even know that?" Leonard asked.

"You're wearing the blue shirt. The one that matches your eyes," Mick pointed out.

"What does the color of my shirt have to do with anything?" Leonard asked, taking a vicious bite of his toast.

"That's the shirt you wear when you want to impress someone," Mick said.

Leonard threw up his hands, knowing there was no way he was going to win this argument, and finished his breakfast in sullen silence. Much to Mick's amusement.

~~*~~

The signing event went off brilliantly. There was already a long line of people when they arrived at the store and Sara was there to greet them.

Mick gave Leonard a wink as he noticed how closely Sara stayed to Leonard's side; her hands fluttering around her as if she wanted to reach out and touch him, and then would have to force herself not to.

Leonard wasn't much better. Seeing Sara again had him wanting to pull her against his side and wrap an arm around her waist to hold her close. It was strange for him to crave casual, physical touch so strongly.

Sara helped Leonard keep Mick fed and hydrated, insisting on breaks once an hour for him to rest his hand.

As the event wrapped up, Mick announced that he was going back to the hotel to rest.

"Need to go soak my hand in some ice," he said, by way of explanation.

"Thanks again for choosing the Perch for your stop in Starling," Sara said, shaking his hand.

"It's been our pleasure," Mick said. "I hope to see you again soon."

"Me, too," Sara agreed, her eyes straying to Leonard.

"I'm going to stick around here and help Sara clean all this up," Leonard said, his eyes never leaving Sara.

Mick huffed out a laugh. "You got it, boss. Remember what I said."

"Go ice yourself," Leonard retorted.

After Mick left, Sara asked, "What was that about?"

"Nothing. We'd been talking about how nice it was to spend time together in person, you and me. And what the future could hold."

Sara nearly dropped the pens she'd been putting away. "Even though we live in different cities?"

"What if we didn't have to?" Leonard hesitantly asked.

Sara's face scrunched up in confusion. "But we do. You live in Central and I live here."

"What if I didn't live in Central?" Leonard pressed. "What if I lived here?"

"I can't ask you to move here for me," Sara objected. "We haven't even been on a real date!"

"That's what I told Mick when he suggested that we move here," Leonard said. "You don't want some guy you barely know to descend on your life, no matter how fun the flirtation is."

Sara reached out to grab Leonard's hand as he turned his back to her. "No, that's not it at all. Talking to you is always the highlight of my day. Meeting you yesterday was one of the best days of my life."

"Mine, too," Leonard admitted, entwining his fingers with Sara's. "So, if I stayed, you'd want to see where this flirtation can go?"

"What about the book tour?" Sara asked. "How do I know you don't have some shop owner waiting to fall madly in love with you in every city?"

"Are you saying that you've fallen madly in love with me?" Leonard teased.

"I would have to be mad to have fallen in love so quickly, wouldn't I?" Sara responded.

Leonard's breath caught. "I-- I--"

"Looks like I've rendered you speechless," Sara said, smirking.

Leonard could only nod, not wanting to ruin what was happening by putting his foot in his mouth.

"Bet I know a better way," Sara said, stepping closer to him. She rose on her toes and reaching up with her free hand, drew his face down to meet her lips.

The kiss was as perfect as Leonard could have hoped for. Kissing Sara felt like coming home.

Sara released his hand and wrapped both arms around his neck, pressing her body against his as the kiss deepened. Leonard held her against him, one hand around her waist as the other slid into her hair.

It was the catcalls from Sara's employees that finally broke them apart.

"I'll take that as a yes," Leonard said, playing with the ends of her hair.

"Yes," Sara said against his lips, drawing him into another lingering kiss.

Mick was going to spend the rest of the tour gloating about this; but as Sara snaked her tongue into his mouth, Leonard found that he didn't care. To have Sara in his arms like this would be worth all the teasing he was going to get from Mick.

He couldn't wait.

 The End