#and spock's parents are there and kirk and spock meet up and spock's mom is like

[illegalpaladin]

Could I get a cute one of McSpirk visiting bones’ family and Kirk and him help Spock learn how to ride a horse? Also a bit of Spock being surprisingly charming meeting Bones’ parents?

Thank you for the prompt! I did something a little different-- I wrote AOS McSpirk this time. I had a lot of fun writing this one! I hope you like it!

“Good god, man. It's just a horse.”

Spock stands stiffly at the edge of the corral. A bay stallion is nosing lightly at his sleeve. He is doing everything he can to ignore it.

“According to my research, a horse kick can have an impact of 8,722 Newtons.”

McCoy raises an eyebrow and his frown deepens. He's standing next to a horse of his own, holding the reins in one hand. His mother is standing behind the fence, watching them, and covering a laugh with her palm.

He rolls his eyes. “Didn't you grow up with a saber tooth tiger?”

Spock looks as offended as he ever lets himself look. “I-Chaya was a Sehlat.”

“And that's less scary than a horse?”

Spock opens his mouth to argue, but he's cut off as Jim rides up on the two of them. He’s moving too quickly and too wildly– he tugs roughly on the reins and the horse skids to a stop. “Y’know, Bones, I think I see where Spock is coming from.” His horse snorts. “Horses are intelligent animals. I'm sure it's strange for Spock to see such a smart and powerful beast being used as transportation. Right Spock?”

“No,” Spock says flatly. “It is simply that horses…”

“They freak you out,” McCoy offers.

Spock sighs, but he doesn't object.

“Don't worry about it, honey.” McCoy's mom watches Spock warmly, and McCoy can tell she's already falling for his Vulcan charms. “Not everyone's got experience with horses. We've all gotta start somewhere.”

“Yeah, don't worry, Spock. It's easy.” As if to prove a point, Jim pulls hard on the reins and leads his mare in a tight circle. “I’ve only ridden a horse one other time, and I've got it down already.”

McCoy rubs his free hand over his face. “When the hell have you ridden a horse, Jim?”

Jim shrugs. “I got drunk when I was seventeen and climbed the neighbor’s fence.”

“Did– did you ride bareback? How did you even get on the damn thing?” He makes eye contact with his mom, who has an eyebrow raised curiously.

“No idea. I don't remember.” He turns his horse back to look at Spock. Spock’s horse nibbles his sleeve. “C’Mon, Spock. It's just a trail ride. You can handle it.”

McCoy sighs. He steps over to Spock, and his horse follows dutifully behind.

He points at the stirrup. “Put your left foot in there, then swing your right leg over.”

Spock looks skeptical. His horse’s ears twitch.

McCoy and Jim stare at him expectantly.

“You can do it,” McCoy hears his mom say. “As easy as riding a bike.”

Jim leans forward on his horse, resting against her neck. “Do Vulcans ride bikes?”

Spock sighs again, but this time he tentatively steps to the side of the horse. He reaches up, and his fingers brush against its dark coat before settling on the saddle. He lifts a foot, puts it in the stirrup, and hesitates.

McCoy hands the reins of his own horse to his mom and steps closer. He puts a supportive hand on Spock’s back. “Go ahead. I've got you.”

Spock raises himself up and throws his leg over the horse. McCoy’s hand drops, and Spock settles into the saddle.

“See? You're a natural. You even have the perfect posture.” McCoy's mom smiles. McCoy steps back, and within moments he's hoisted himself into place on his own ride.

“Finally!” Jim grins wildly. “Let's get going already!”

McCoy throws one look at him and frowns. He steers his horse towards him until they're side by side, and he reaches out to move Jim’s hands. “You're holding the reins wrong, you idiot.”

“Well,” McCoy’s mom grins. “Not all of us can be naturals like Spock, now, can we?”

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

I'm convinced spock and kirk are both socially and emotionally constipated so I do think they'd have sex and get married and be absolutely convinced it's entirely platonic

Never mind I'm talking about amok time 'if kirk won he would relinquish me and I'd get to be with my side hoe' is assuming kirk wouldn't follow the laws of chivalry. Also he killed spock for this woman he's damn well gonna stay married to her

[thegeminisage]

ok tng update time. yesterday i did "haven" and just now i finished "the big goodbye."

haven: not like GOOD but definitely watchable! i think this was one largely saved from going in my garbage heap pile because nurse chapel played deanna's mom. like, if it hadn't been nurse chapel she would have been the MOST irritating annoying character but instead i was just like awww its majel barrett look at her being all quirky good for her. being ever so slightly faceblind it took me a minute to recognize her, since i just recognized her by her voice. it was also this episode or maybe the next one that i realized she was doing the computer - she uses such a different tone in tng and i hadn't been expecting to hear her voice, but the computer was starting to sound awfully familiar so i looked it up and wow sure enough. GOOD for her.

also, deanna having a truly horrible, wretched, AWFUL mother also endeared me to her more than words can say. i was JUST thinking that even though people say data is the knockoff spock it's not true - data is the inverse of spock, and DEANNA is the knockoff. like this was very much like oh she's half alien half human, it's time for her weird little alien marriage like amok time, it's time to meet her alien family like in journey of babel, etc etc, this episode could have been an email and she could have been a vulcan, etc etc etc. then she stormed out of the room and knocked that little gong thing over and i think i fell in love with her on the spot. im not sure if i wanna marry her or be her but i am now a deanna enjoyer.

my main gripes with the episode were 1. they never really explained how her intended husband and that blonde chick met...am i really supposed to believe lwaxana's bs about the current of life connecting them? and then also him saying goodbye to his parents was like...anyway bye mom and dad! not remotely believable. i didn't really care about him but it was wack.

and 2. deanna and will had an argument but then never got to reconcile at the end...this is the first time i was actually interested in their romance and then they barely got to speak two words to each other. i know tng episodes are 5min shorter than tos episodes, but this is like the 4th time i've thought they needed a bit more time at the end for that debrief scene they always had in tos...can they truly not pace this better. come on

the big goodbye: unwatchable in EVERY way. this episode was so fucking bad. dr crusher trying to make herself look Hot Like Women Do and getting mad when picard invited People Who Were Not Her to the holodeck. the data being from south america joke that is only a little better than kirk calling spock chinese in the city on the edge of forever. the fake stakes. picard walking around with lipstick on his mouth. treating data like a third wheel which should be punishable by law. the 1940s setting which is TIRED when you're not in the depths of whatever i was doing in 2014. COME ON

i will say though that i did love picard trying to learn the little insect language where the letters change their sound depending on what symbols are beside them. me trying to learn japanese on duolingo fr. also i did laugh one time when dr crusher swallowed the gum. her actress really sold that one. great job.

also, what was UP with the characters in the holodeck having their own existential crisis about not being real??? that plus any potential malfunction making the holodeck capable of killing people leads me to believe it should not be on this ship. like if i thought the fake holodeck characters were sentient enough to wonder if they were sentient and doomed to cease existing once i took my eyes off of them i would firstly never enter the holodeck again but secondly call a priest to disassemble it

anyway, tonight we are doing "datalore." can't wait for more data lore and also to meet his evil twin or whatever that's about

[trekkie-lkm-archive]

Info: Kirk/Spock AU. So, I was thinking, most Ambassadors to a place live in that place for at least part of the year. So this is a fic where Spock grows up on Earth, because his father has to spend a majority of the year on Earth. The family does often go back to Vulcan, and Spock is still pretty Vulcan and repressed and logical and scary intelligent, but he's also grew up around humans and is more expressive, if not exactly more emotional.

Anyway, so Kirk and Spock meet when they're both kids, at some boring function Spock's parents had to attend, and Kirk's mom was invited to because idk, her husband was a hero and she was a Starfleet officer herself, and against all odds, the two kids hit it off and cause immense amounts of havoc. So, Kirk and Spock remain friends over the years, though they see each other less and less often as they grow up, and Sarek is all "wtf" about the Kirk/Spock friendship because he thinks that Kirk is kind of a bad influence, because despite being a genius, Jim's also a juvenile delinquent who's way too emotional. Amanda's all, "it would be cute if I didn't have to worry about you two killing someone with your shenanigans" and Winona is all "wtf, my son is capable of pulling non-suicidal stunts when he's with this kid". So, eventually, they fall out of contact. Until. Until Kirk joins Starfleet, and one day he's at a bar, scoping the possibilities with McCoy, and Kirk's all, "I'm going home with that guy". And guess who that guy is. Guess! I bet you can't!

Specific prompt is way too specific! But I would love for someone to tackle it. (thread)

Fill: 1/1

Author: anonymous

Archive Link

[electronickingdomfox]

So I went to visit my parents last weekend, and since they were broadcasting all the TOS movies on Saturday (they’ve been doing that recently in Paramount channel over here), I thought I could watch them with them. They had never seen anything Star Trek-related, though some characters like Spock were familiar for them (as they are for most people). This is how it went: The Motion Picture

It was right after lunch, so they both fell asleep as usual. My father still had time to comment ironically on Kirk’s “cute” shirt after meeting Spock:

My mother woke up at the very end, and asked what happened. Me: “The whole film happened”.

The Wrath of Khan

My father was far more interested in this film. A special highlight for him was how Khan’s crew looked like Guns N’ Roses:

He was also particularly outraged by David wearing a jacket around his shoulders for no apparent reason (and noticed this for no apparent reason, because who even looks at that!?). And I mean very, VERY outraged.

The Search for Spock

After recovering from David’s jacket, my dad had to focus on Kirk wearing a pink shirt, of course.

Also, he found incredibly funny that Kirk wouldn’t care so much for his son’s death, but was willing to sacrifice the Enterprise, his career, and basically EVERYTHING for Spock.

Me at the end of the movie, when they’re transferring Spock’s katra: “If this goes wrong, Kirk’s gonna lose both his friend McCoy and his boyfriend Spock”.

My mother (who hasn’t paid much attention to the films), and completely casual about it: “Ah! So they’re boyfriends”.

Me, explaining how there were many hints from the producers/actors, but these are old films, so of course nothing is explicit.

My mom: “Well, their relationship seems indeed too intense to be just friends.”

The Voyage Home

My dad is still focusing on Kirk’s pink shirt.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

We didn’t watch the other two movies because it had become waaay too late. So, to recapitulate, as result for this first contact with Star Trek, my father noticed “shirts”. And that it goes: “Spock>>>>>>>>>>>Enterprise>David” for Kirk’s priorities. I think my mother didn’t pay much attention to the plots, but somehow was left under the impression that Kirk and Spock were boyfriends.

I don’t know if this was a failed watch-together, or a success...

[stubbornness-and-spite]

I’ve never tried to do this before but I’m looking for a fic and I can’t find it.

It’s a Star Trek fic. I think it was AOS but it was a canon divergent AU so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Spock and his parents spend summers in Iowa and Spock and Kirk meet as kids. They’re very close, to the point that Kirk’s stepfather wants to/tries to ban Kirk from visiting Spock because he’s uncomfortable with how close they are. (Homophobic implications)

Kirk repeatedly asks his mom and stepdad if he can go with Spock’s family back to Vulcan. At one point Spock and Kirk run away together (Kirk running and Spock following) but they’re only gone for maybe one night?

It’s long.

There’s a scene where I think Kirk is in Spock’s dream and he meets T’Pring but he doesn’t know who she is. I remember one scene where T’Pring and Spock are breaking off their engagement and Kirk appears in their mindscape, seemingly delusional and thinking he’s dreaming. Spock is told that he’s a product of Spock’s imagination but finds out later that Kirk was dying on Tarsus IV at the time and connected with him.

I think the fic was up to the point that they’re on the Enterprise when I last checked but I don’t remember. I also don’t remember if it was complete.

I don’t remember if it was a platonic or romantic relationship. Most of what I remember was from when they were kids, so that was platonic but I can’t remember if it stayed platonic or if it was pre-romance.

There’s another fic on AO3 with a similar concept: You, Me, and The Stars by bluejayr_32 which seems cool but isn’t the fic I’m looking for

Thanks y’all!!

[rosie-love98]

How I See Scotty And Uhura As Parents + What Their Kid(s) Would Be Like:

As Parents Together:

-Supportive.

-Would joke/bet on if the kid would be into Communications or Engineering.

-Mess with their babies and you will die.

-Choices of Godparents would’ve been Kirk and Rand, Spock and Chapel or McCoy and Chapel.

-Have their kid(s) pratice various instruments like bagpipes, the Ennanga harp, drums and even the Vulcan Lute.

Scotty As A Father:

-The more stern parent.

-Still be the ultimate Girl-Dad.

-Teach his child(ren) everything about engineering and mechanics.

-Would read technical journals to put the kids to sleep.

-If he had a daughter, Scotty would stack up on weapons once she starts dating. He trusts his little girl...just not her suitors...

-When the kid reaches 21, Scotty will treat them to their first trip to the pub.

Uhura As A Mother:

-Tries to give her children room to breathe and be more free than Uhura, herself, was growing up.

-Would teach her kid dozens of languages.

-Never afraid to sing her baby/babies a lullabye. Often encourage the more humble Scotty to do the same.

-Prevents Scotty from threatening/killing their daughter’s dates.

-Often plays “Matchmaker” as she tries to find suitable partners for her kids and make the potential meetings look like an accident.

-Probably be the type of mom who’d promote self-care by giving her babies spa days. No matter what Scotty would say.

If They Had A Son:

-Interest would’ve be communications, police work, music or therapy.

-Would want Scotty do go to rehab with his alcoholism.

-Be more critical of Scotty and Uhura over-working and tries to get them to go on Shore-Leave more often (with McCoy’s help of course).

-Thinks tribbles are cute but still got at Uhura for starting the “Trouble With Tribbles” incident.

If They Had A Daughter:

-While close with Uhura, she’s always Scotty’s little girl.

-Uses the “Puppy-Dog Eyes” to her advantage (also helps if she has Uhura’s eyes).

-Interests would’ve been engineering, or music.

-Inherited Scotty’s taste for alcohol.

-LOVES tribbles...She’s her mother’s child.

-Was scared of Spock as a toddler thanks to McCoy always calling him a “Green-Blooded Hobgoblin”. 

-Is a talented singer and dancer but was always shy about it growing up.

-That being said, she can be a jokester with her friends.

[pollyna]

Fem!verse: ace!Mickirk+ Enterprise crew edition.

• Jim full name is James Tiberia Kirk. James because George said so before he died and Tiberia because people seriously have sense of humor. She hates when people calls her with her full name and loves Jim, because Jim fits her better than anything. The only person who can call her James is Leo;

• Leo goes for Leonora Horatia Mccoy, because every single Mccoy needs to have Horatio before the surname. It's the law. Everyone calls her Leo or Nora but in the middle of a shuttle ride Jim Kirk decided she was going to be Bones and that's that;

• Leo's the best dancer of all Georgia and she ends breaking everyone heart between the steps. She met Jocelyn on the dance floor and they are sixteen, marries at 20, becomes parents at 23, divorced by 26. They kiss one last time when they are 24 and half and then they fight, fight, fight, while Leo drowns herself into work and Jocelyn in Clay's bed;

• Jim was born in space but lives all her life in Iowa with Frank and Sam, util Sam leaves them when she's 11 and he's 16. Tarsus IV is just a year later;

• Leo is 6'5 ft tall where Jim is 6' (5'9 Jim, don't bullshit yoursel). Leo hates her hair longer than ten centimeter and loves all the kind of undercuts- she actually learned to cut them herself during med school because if she didn't have time to sleep she surely didn't have time to go to the hairdressers-, where Jim always have them long and longer, forgetting her hair tie in every single room of the Academy and then on the ship, on planets and one memorable time even in a volcano;

• when they met Bones was 26, recently divorced and it was almost six month since the last time she saw her baby girl, while Jim was 22 and just met the floor of a bar;

• Leo loves Joanna. She loves her little girl and would do anything for her. But she didn't really want her at the beginning, she did it mostly because Jocelyn wanted to a baby and her mom always seemed sad when she tought about her not having a children;

• Leo comes out in the middle of a study session because a guy from her xenomed course invited her for dinner and dessert and honest to God with people are always thinking about sex. Jim looks at her for a long moment before asking for something more (first year);

• Jim comes out while she is drunk because how could she not. She says, holding her hand out, as if she was counting to not forget how many words she has to pronounce: I'm non binary, biromantic and asexual. What's your prognosis doctor? Leo orders another round of drinks and sleeps in Jim bed, holding her tight against her chest that night. The next morning she asks Jim what pronouns prefers. (she/they; secone year);

• they start dating almost at the end of their third year, after the most intense friendship both of them ever had. It's not like one of them says to the other we're together, they just kiss once before class and then the same night before going to bed and every other day from that moment on. Theoretically they have two different dorm with different roommates but they sleep in the same single bed for months. Sometimes in Leo's dormitory, sometime in Jim's;

• Leo finishes her (second) PhD during the second years and Jim is awestruck with how clever her best friend is and she gets a thank you at the end of the thesis because I wouldn't even got very far without you. It's almost a love confession;

[• Pike always looks out for them and a part of him looks at Jim and see George, almost twenty years before. He rembers how they used to spend hours in the simulator because George wanted to teach him how to fly every single ship he could find and Christopher used to follow him around. He wasn't in love with him but he could be easily been the case if it wasn't for Winona. (bi!Christopher Pike; one-side!Chris/George (was it really one-side?); George/Winona; dadmiral)];

• they end up on the Enterprise because of Nero and now she is Captain James Tiberia Kirk and her girlfriend is the CMO of a boat she hates half of the time, but she couldn't be happy anywhere else;

• between Leo and Spock is not love at the first sight and not even at the second, or a thousand, sight. It's not love at all but their frenemies relationship is the most awsome thing in her life after Joanna&Jim. Spock needs a hand but he doesn't know how to ask for it and then Geoffrey M'Benga arrives with all their knowledge on Vulcans and stuff just falls in the right place. He tells her he's trans and wants to transition but Vulcan is still not the most open place about it so he would like to be helped. Leo can tell him no;

[• Geoffrey M'Benga is 32 years old, non-binary and use they/them as pronouns. Everyone calls them GF. People really freaks out when they have to meet them because they never know who are going to meet. With him it comes Christine Chapel, the queen of lesbians and with her all the best of Starfleet Medical are together];

• Spock and Nyota become a couple when Jim/Leo are fighting and then a trouple when Gaila gets a post on the Enterprise. Leo is still angry and honestly she could care less of everyone and their lives (Nyota is bi, Gaila aromantic, Spock kisses them with his fingers and with his mouth and it's one of the best thing of the day);

• they are fighting because Jim is reackless and Leo would like to not see her in the infermery every other week and, on the last planet they visit, the prime minister flirted with her and Jim almost let herself be kissed. She doesn't know with whom begin more pissed, herself for believing they could last or herself, again, for believing they could fail so easly;

• they both miss Chehkov's freak out on the bridge because he looks at Hikaru and oh yeah, but then he looks at Leo and he got the crush for her but then there's the alien with three genders and the one after that that as none. They all make Chehkov hot hot hot. And he is 18 and wants answers and to try everything at least once. Okay, maybe it's better if he doesn't say a word about the crush he has for Dr. McCoy but for the rest;

• it takes two weeks to find the way to solve this particular fight because talking is so difficult when you never had to.

Probably will be more.

[kinetic-elaboration]

September 1: 3x06 Spectre of the Gun

Okay so, it might be a little early to declare myself a S3 apologist, since there are still a lot of eps I’ve never seen, but I feel like I’m pretty close..

This ep was so good!! Honestly I think it’s one of my faves. And perfect to usher in Spooky Season.

Honestly, this show really is my happy place. Just all the characters together on the bridge, on some kinda adventure, looking at weird space buoys and investigating stuff.

Again, this buoy looks like a Windows 98 screensaver.

Kirk keeps referring to Spock as “Science Officer.” Is he mad at him? Full of some particularly intense longing that requires him to put extra distance between them?

Excuse me, you address US as aliens? YOU’RE the aliens.

Hmmm, so it seems they’re not friendly.

It’s addressing them in different languages!!! I love it. Love the reminder that Uhura’s first language is not English,also.

“True telepaths are dangerous.” As opposed to fake telepaths like Vulcans lol?

The Melkotians withdrew immediately. They invented space travel, they saw space, and they said “not for us” and they turned around and left. McCoy would like them; they’d have a lot to gripe about together.

The welcome mat is NOT out.

“Unlike Mr. Scott’s transporter, this unit is not functioning.”

It legit looked like Spock put his hand on Kirk’s back there. Like he clearly raises it, but not far enough to be seen above Kirk, so like.. what was the point? Where did it go?

LEE CRONIN--oh no, flashbacks lol.

“We come in peace”--immediately pulls out gun.

I should have watched this when writing my Western fic.

Just bits and pieces of a Western town... and a completely red sky...

The guns are “crude but dangerous.” If only Sulu were here; he’d love this.

An announcement with a specific time and place on it--that’s a very precise detail to just pull from their minds. Must have come from Kirk’s, that nerd. Maybe Spock. But probably Kirk.

“Because my ancestors pioneered the American frontier.” I mean did they really get to the frontier? Or just... the Midwest?

Maybe it’s actually because he’s a cowboy at heart?

Aliens using his own ancestral sins as the pattern for his own death for breaking their law IS a great (possibly partially unintended) idea. Oh also, if they think that Kirk and co. are here to ‘tame’ or colonize them, then the Western setting makes even more sense--you’re no different from your ancestors, you came somewhere new and brought lawlessness and violence and death, but not this time!

Can you believe Kirk knows all of these details about the OK Corral? NERD.

Spock is so proud of himself for knowing the phrase “had it out.” Look, I used slang correctly!

These are some creative aliens.

“We know death is real here.” Or is it? They’re literally telepaths guys.

Hmmm, this building doesn’t need a roof I think. - The aliens probably

Can’t believe Scotty thinks his usual is his actual usual lol. You’re going to drink bourbon and like it!

Kirk and Spock look so good together.

They’re obviously Chekov’s disapproving parents.

“The day is still young, Ensign.” I don’t remember the exact context of this but Spock is SO judgmental.

What is Kirk doing? This guy is a hallucination; he won’t be convinced by touching some cloth. There’s nothing to convince! He’s only a Concept.

“Have you seen clothes like this?” / “Yes.” / “Where?” / “On the Claytons!” Comedy gold.

Kirk really thinks he can charm his way out of anything. Hmmm, maybe if I just talk nicely to the Earps, they won’t kill us.

“In small amounts, it [bourbon] was considered medicinal.” Lol.

Scotty is becoming a bourbon guy!

“Mr. Chekov is inVOLVed” lol. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

“A lot of people and things have tried to kill me.” No need to brag.

THAT’S how you make a city limits sign. Put a dead animal skull on top. I live quite close to a city limits sign and I think it could use a cow skull.

Western Cossacks!!

Poisonous snakes and cactus plants. That really distills the Aesthetic down to its core.

This is a good Kirk episode. He’s really being a good Captain: coming up with different ideas, being creative, pushing his crew to brainstorm.

Bones and his tranqs again.

Bones meets his old nemesis: Old Timey Medicine.

Why was Doc Holiday just...chilling in his own dentist chair? (My mom suggested: power nap. Let’s go with that. Power nap + ability for optimally dramatic entrance.)

Also I can’t believe McCoy just goes into this guy’s practice and starts helping himself to all the serious drugs.

Chekov definitely isn’t the marrying kind.

RIP Chekov.

Bones does not sound very sympathetic here. Jim, get over it, he just died, whatever.

And then two seconds later he turns around and tells Spock he’s not sad enough! You can’t win.

“We all knew the risk when we joined the service.”

“My feelings are not a subject for discussion.” !!!!!!! This line!!

“You worked closely with him.” Yes! Chekov is his protege!

“Bones, Scotty, stop bullying Spock.” <-- not an actual quote but it might as well be.

If this were AOS, Spock would already be choking Bones out.

Whoops, no one told Chekov he wasn’t supposed to die!

“Let’s organize! Let’s form an anti-Earp union!”

“I can’t kill them!” he says in a mad rage.

I mean, it is important, though. That’s not what he does.

Kirk is /disgusted/ by lawlessness and frontier justice. What a Rebel TM.

I feel like Bones was waiting for the gotcha moment when Spock compliments him. “Saying nice things about me? That’s not how this relationship works!”

“Nothing can go wrong.” / “Up to now, everything has gone wrong.” He has a point.

That pause before Spock admitted it hasn’t been tested lol--they don’t want to admit it.

“[The bourbon’s] for the pain.” / “But this is painless.” / “You should have told me that before.” The unexpected comedy stylings of Scotty and Spock.

It doesn’t work--guess Spock’s got to take back that compliment now.

“Captain, you don’t understand--they’ve been telepaths the whole time which we already knew!”

“We’re not going to move from the spot.” * is immediately in a different spot * Well I mean at least he’s trying. He’s doing his best!

Love the OK Corral sign also. Weirdly creepy. With its accompanying horse.

Spock doesn’t have any hips for the holster to rest on.

“What did Chekov die of?” / “A piece of lead in his body.” That would do it.

If the tranquilizer should have been effective, does that mean Scotty is actually passed out right now?

Honestly, this is all so spooky. TRUE Western Horror Ghost Vibes.

Also very trippy. If you don’t believe it... it’s not real... some kinda weird chicken and the egg argument regarding our belief in the truth of physical laws idk but it sounds good. Spock brings it home.

Even with the wind whipping around him, Kirk is SO in love. His absolutely adoring expression... So soft...

“Very well, Sir, I’ll meld with you again. Not that I particularly want to. It will be a sacrifice. But I’ll manage. Even though you’re such a dynamic individual haha ha I’m fine I’m cool.”

I feel like Scotty is NOT into the mind meld. He looks terrified. Maybe he should have saved the bourbon for this occasion.

I know the mind meld is supposed to be a replacement for on screen hypnotism...but is this not hypnotism? Like even more than past uses? In this case, Spock is leaving them with suggestions that he wants to continue AFTER the meld, as opposed to, like, efficiently sharing information or giving immediate suggestions. And the scenes themselves are very creepy and...hypnotic.

Kirk’s patented move: WHOLE BODY ATTACK.

Well, we wrapped that up right quick.

Did they... never actually leave the bridge? Or even navigate past the buoy? This actually brings up a lot of questions as to when the aliens started the hallucinations, what their bodies looked like to the rest of the crew, and how they woke up--since there’s obviously been a bit of a time skip, as Bones is already examining Chekov.

Lol at Chekov, saved by horniness. “Nothing but the girl was real to him.”

“A vast alliance of fellow creatures who all believe in the same thing...”

Kirk’s vision of the utopian future is so powerful, he’s effectively gotten the welcome mat put back out.

A personal question? Kirk is intrigued.

Ah, but it’s just another excuse for Spock to be a hypocrite--how did humans survive? How did VULCANS survive? And for the show to remind us of its utopian vision of the future... we will move past violence, we will prove ourselves attractive to and worth of new alien friends.

Then McCoy walks out so Kirk and Spock can have their Moment. He undoubtedly knows what’s up.

So this ep was shown one day before the anniversary of the shootout at the OK Corral AND on Halloween week. It is very much a spooky season episode. So surreal and strange. Ghostly.

I know using sets rather than on location shoots, and not even building whole sets, was a budgetary issue but tbqh I think it worked in the ep’s favor. It added to the alien feeling of it and was an accidentally creative way of showing that these images were pulled from Kirk’s mind.

This felt like a very Classic S1-ish ep to me. I think it’s because Kirk was foregrounded as the Captain/hero and we get to see not just his intelligence and creativity and leadership but also his compassion and his moral core. He IS the values of the series, personified, and that was clear here.

But we also got to see lots of him and Spock, casually working as a pair, and the use of the rest of the landing party crew was very deft also. I loved that there was time to mock Chekov’s horniness, to talk about Spock and Chekov’s professional relationship, to joke around with Scotty, to show more of the Spock and Bones dynamic.

Again, great sci fi concept. I think this would have been another possible inspo for my Pirate AU if I’d seen it in time (although I think I picked a good mission-concept ultimately). I’m fascinated by the Melkotians: who are they? What do they really look like? Do they communicate any other way but telepathically? Are they corporeal? What is their planet like? And most importantly, what experience lead them to be so isolationist? They specifically refer to the aliens as “disease” coming into their home. And it’s when Kirk shows himself to be fundamentally nonviolent even in the face of his own death, they let the Enterprise through.

Basically, I always enjoy hints of alien societies that bring up more questions for me than answers. I love speculating about it.

The next two eps I’ve seen and remember well and I know they’re classics. I’m really looking forward to them!

[calliecat93]

Star Trek 2009... so... very mixed.

Let’s do the good first. The cinematography is really good. It FEELS like a futuristic time period moreso than TOS, but tbf the films have the advantage of being closer to modern day and being able to match the evolved times. Still, it’s very much a movie that wanted to look good and did. The acting for most pf the cast was good and I don’t have an issue with any of the reboot cast. No Chris Pine isn’t Shatner (and that’s a good thing) nor is Zachary Quinto Leonard Nimoy. But they and the others did their jobs well and I’m glad they all did their own thing and not just copy their predecessors. Simon Pegg as Scotty I really enjoyed amd I like his new friend XD And while I’m... mixed about the direction taken if only because it makes me sad, Leonard Nimoy returning as the Spock we’ve known or so long was lovely, especially when he and Quinto!Spock meet.

Some moments were good. I actually almost teared up when Kirk’s dad died because the actors just put so much emotion into it. I can’t say that there was no effort put into this. They tried to add emotion and meaning and depth. They tried to give Kirk and Spock (and yes, Bones being even MORE of a third wheel than normal REALLY pisses me off) depth and connect the audiences to them and form that connection with each other that we’re so familiar with. I respect that. I respect the effort. I’ve seen reboots that don’t give a damn, but it didn’t feel that way to me here especially with Nimoy!Spock showing that this may be different, but the original very much still exists.

That being said... I have some big issues, especially with Kirk. This is NOT James Tibirius Kirk. This is the pop culture depiction of Kirk that the filmmakers decided was better to go with than the actual character. And no, this being an alternate timeline and him being younger than in canon is NOT a valid excuse. I got told that the death of Kirk’s dad changed the course of history... but I fail to understand how THAT caused Kirk to be an arrogant, cocky, reckless idiot. Might be because his parents NEVER came up in the show so how can any TOS fans get that point if the show never went into it? I know I joke about Kirk doing something dumb, but TOS!Kirk was a perfectly smart, optimistic, level-headed individual who yeah WOULD go against Starfleet at times, but usually did so with good reason. Hell didn’t TOS say that he was overly serious int he academy amd lightened up as he got older? How did the timeline changes change that? Anyways! It felt like they wanted this Kirk to just be a standard action hero and didn’t bother to check if it fit the characterization, or do anything to justify the change aside from ‘different reality’. Like woth the Kobayashi Maru, it’s to emphasize Kirk’s cockiness here...when in WoK it emphasized Kirk’s optimism and hope. How he NEVER believed that there was a true no-win scenario. There was LWAYS a way. Don’t get me wrong, Kirk isn’t horrible and has the ability to become more like his TOS self, but first impressions are everything, and they failed here. Chris Pine was good though, I could actually picture how he played Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman fitting a Reboot Kirk pretty well but alas. Also his captaincy wasn’t earned nor is he mature enough to hold the position. It got handed to him because canon says so, and that is bullshit.

Spock was... fine. Far as characterization goes I don’t really have any issues. He’s not TOS Spock but again he shouldn’t be. It’s hard for me to find the words on how he’s different aside from being younger and seeming a little more resentful about the half-human, half-Vulcan thing, but it still works well enough. He and Sarek also seem on better terms in this continuity, and that I do like since it’s different, but consideirng the circumstances he needs that kind of solace and it allows exploration of their relationship in a more supportive light. Didn’t like Spock marooning Kirk like he did, but it does connect to his arc showing how emotional repression is affecting him, so ah well. I DO have issues with some of the directions taken though. His relationship with Uhura has no establishment nor development and comes across as being there for the sake of having a romance in there without the work. And no I’m not just saying that as a Spones/Spirk/McSpirk shipper. It WOULD have been fine if they actually WORKED ON DEVELOPING IT ON-SCREEN. And how did the timeline changes cause that when Uhura and him flirted like... once in TOS and it was one-sided on Uhura’s part anyways?! It sucks especially since I really like Reboot Uhura. I also don’t like them destroying Vulcan cause that feels like overkill on the angst, but at least they have an explanation for it. I DO however despise them killing Amanda and ESPECIALLY how they did it. Amanda is relegated tot he standard ‘pure hearted mom who we have to kill to hurt this character’ and considering how she died via a crumbling cliff just as transport started, the ‘changed timeline’ explanation is bull. Again I appreciate them trying to add more character stuff, but I very much disagree with the choices. But as far as the character himself is concerned, I was good with Spock andI did genuinely care for and feel bad for him.

Bones... oh baby you deserved so, SO much better. Characterization wise,he was the most like his TOS self. He comes across as more gruff than cranky,but that’s mainly due to Karl Urban being younger than DeForest Kelley. Otherwise he was funny, endearing, loyal to Jim, and Urban did a lovely job making the character his own but honoring his predecessor. Will also give them credit as Bones has a damn good reason to dislike Spock after he marooned Jim like he did. The film didnt give a damn about McCoy tbh, but we’ll get to that in a bit. But to put it short, I really liked Bones, but he REALLY needed more screentime which from what I can tell, isn’t gonna happen until Beyond. But as far as the character goes, I felt like they got his best though the lack of focus reason may very well be why that is. Very least I got fanon to satisfy my needs.

Now we get to my biggest criticism: The Triumvirate is non-existent here, nor does it form within the film. Again, I blame pop culture depiction as I imagine they went ‘we need Kirk and Spock to be close together and Bones is that guy who is Jim’s other best friend who has witty lines but ain’t Kirk and Spock so who cares?’. Which especially baffles me sonce the arguments Kirk and Spock have regaridng emotion? That’s MCCOY’S role. They got the Kirk and Spock relationship completely and utterly wrong. Nor do I feel like the film dod enough to form the relationship between the two. It just feels like they became friends because the plot said so, not out of genuine understanding and care. Kirk was one of, if not the first to accept Spock for who he was and respect him. That’s what made the relationship special. But their edforts to establish it here just fall flat because they made Kirk Spock’s opposite, aka McCoy’s role. McCoy is the one who challenges Spock. The one who pushes him to consider the emotional. He can be harsh, but it is a dynamic that worked. Kirk os their balance. The one who keeps the two in check and they in turn represented the two sides (mind and heart) that he (the body/soul) needed to make the proper decisions. But because of the choices made with Kirk and Bones, the balance is theown off. Spock is more or less fine but Bones loses his importance while Kirk has his character skewed to make it work. General audiences may not be able to tell, but as someone who just watched all of TOS and those films two weeks ago? I could, and it hurt the film significantly imo. Also kind of wish they emphasized that Spock ALSO needs Bones and the rest of the crew, not just Jim because emphasis on just one relationship ALWAYS annoys me, especially since again, they didn’t do well to form it here to begin with. So yeah they missed the aspect that made me love TOS, so needless to say I am displeased. I plan to do a full film review in the future so I won’t say how I’d improve it, especially since hindsight is 20/20, but yeah not happy.

Otherwise, the film is fine. Uhura, Scotty, Sulu,and Chekov are fine, the former two I especially enjoyed. The plot is fone. Nero is a boring villain but for a start, it’s okay. I didn’t like Vulcan’s destruction at alla nd what that means for Spock, but we’ll see how the other two films continue this. I don’t know how I feel about Prime Spock because it just makes me... depressed that he has to accept never going home (even if Bones and the others are dead it just feels... wrong) but I DO appreciate that they included Nimoy and he was just as fantastic as he had been all those years ago. I have so many problems with characterization and plot points, but tbf that’s from someone who just went through TOS. As far as a general audience goes, they likely won’t have that filter and some may be more of the ‘timeline changed so this stuff changed’ explanation than I, a media consumer who has seen this happen over and over again to varying degrees of success’, may be. Otherwise the film was fine. If you like action and want a blockbuster, this one is for you. But I’m in it for characterization and story and while the latter worked well enough in the general sense,t he former was severely lacking. So while it was okay and it got me excited/to laugh a few tomes, overall I didn’t care for the film. Will Into Darkness be any better? Well... from what I can tell no. But I also need to make my own judgements, so onward we go.

[goldenworldsabound]

I know I already sent one in but 💫 for Star Trek too!!!

I'mma do this one first :D For those who don't know, Star Trek: The Original Series is my jam

You may have seen me go off about my various SIs before but that's what I want to do again kjfashfkjs

ALTHOUGH FIRST I do wanna talk about Spock

because I love him. I also love Kirk. BUT SPOCK IS REALLY SPECIAL and he's a main for a whole rainbow of reasons.

Spock is such a complex character and I think that's why so many people are really drawn to him. He's ostracized by Vulcans because he's half human, and he's ostracized by humans because he's half Vulcan. He acts as Vulcan as he can. He has a terrible relationship with his father. And he doesn't really quite fit in anywhere. He does the best that he can, always, and always strives to do good (and to be logical, but that logic is employed by Vulcans to do good in general imo, until you get into your extremist Vulcans who I've forgotten the name of now but anyway fuck those dudes). Even when other people are downright rude to him, he still helps them and does the right thing.

I feel like a lot of us can relate to not feeling like we belong anywhere.

And then of course his career choice ALSO further ostracizes him from his father. It's just! Man it hurts a lot how much he suffers. And he does feel very deeply (most Vulcans do) as much as he wishes he doesn't.

Anyway though, I'm sure these are some of the reasons I latched onto him in high school when my family sat down every night after dinner to watch Star Trek TOS.

At that time, my self inserting was a huge secret, and I wrote about it in my diary and told no one about it. I wrote pages and pages. I still have it - I started typing it up one time and got like 15 pages in? And we were still like. I mean. There was a lot left. I still wanna finish typing it up. That SI was intended to be the Literal Me. There would be time travel shenanigans (Star Trek has a lot of these) which landed me into the future, on the Enterprise, which it turned out was real despite being the subject of a tv show (don't worry about the details).

And of course, I already had a crush on Spock. So you can imagine the fic was largely him being aware of it and kind of ? about it while also teaching me about modern tech and science so I could adjust. Bones stepped in as a familial role as did Kirk at that time. I'm still very fond of this self insert and her story, even though it's no longer what I need. I really needed it back then. And it served it's purpose admirably. And I'm very glad I had it. And, frankly, some of the ideas from it? Stealing those for my new SI to use too.

For example, before I move onto the more current SIs, one thing I really loved about my first SI is she gets left on Vulcan for two ish years? She's got a baseline of knowledge now but no proper training in either science equipment (Spock did his best but you know) or like, Starfleet procedure or anything so she's really quite a liability. She gets to take classes at the Vulcan Academy, bond with Spock's parents, learn more about Vulcan culture, and make friends (with my OCs). I have a sort of comparable situation for the new main SI because like...I just really loved this.

So I actually have two more SIs! The main SI that I use now grew up traveling around the universe with her parents, and spent some of her formative years on Vulcan with Spock, where they accidentally formed a weak bond while playing. There was an accident, she was in cryostasis for a while, her parents died, by the time she meets him again he's the lead science officer on the Enterprise and she's just graduated Starfleet Academy and is joining up as his subordinate. Spock is betrothed (which I really didn't address in my super indulgent fic because that wasn't what I needed then) and also a superior officer, and he's faced with the weird realization of this sort of weak bond we have that is totally inappropriate. Long story short, it's more emotionally complex and tackles more difficult issues. Because it turns out we both fall in love. And that's difficult.

In this setting Bones and are I besties (kinda like him and Kirk!) and I date Kirk on and off. That stops once Spock and I get together of course, but eventually we become the happy space polycule 🥰

And as far as the specific situation, I was thinking she gets seriously injured and they drop her off at Vulcan where she does a semester or two teaching at the Vulcan Academy, again while bonding with Spock's parents and refreshing herself on Vulcan culture. And also trying not to kill T'Pring (the woman Spock was betrothed to who was an absolute bitch to him since it was an arranged marriage and she hated him) I guess but um ignore that. I just think it's a really great formative experience and I also want to include my lesbian Vulcan OCs again. Vulcan culture is really interesting to me! And some of it incorporates things from Judaism, which is a lesser known fact, but also true. :) Also Spock's mom is canonically Jewish so Spock is also Jewish so SPOCK AND I GET TO BE JEWISH TOGETHER. It's REALLY EXCITING TO ME OKAY???

The other SI I haven't talked about much she's the angry!SI variant. She's a security officer and also has a special ability, aka my SI shield power. But I was going to make it more Star Trek, so it comes from being exposed to something funky as a child (maybe something with dilithium crystals? idk I didn't get that far). Anyway, the shields make her an amazing person to bring on landing parties as it's not a weapon that can be disabled and no one really expects it. It's a nice ace up the sleeve. She's super in love with Spock, it's super obvious, and she acts really pissy about it all the time jsahfkjsahfkjdsa but uh you know. It's fine. She also bickers with Bones constantly over nothing, but if you ask either of them, they'd say they're great friends. They enjoy it.

angry!Star Trek SI was going to have a big culminating event where in an emergency her weirdness that results from dilithium crystals in some way would allow her to help the ship escape an emergency situation (the ship is powered by dilithium crystals) but at serious personal cost. So Spock would have to grapple with this being the logical choice but also like. With not wanting it!!!

Anyway I have rambled a lot now I hope you enjoyed this!!!

[transxfiles]

Love Like You by two_drama_nerds_in_a_boat | @homeworkforpigeons

“Jane Kirk is sixteen, a sophomore at the Riverside public high school, and she’s never left Iowa. Not really. Visits to Starfleet California with her mom when she was a toddler don’t count, and   she doesn’t let herself think about Tarsus at all. To be honest, she’s rather blocked out most of Tarsus - they tell her it’s the Human brain’s reaction to stress, fight-or-flight scenarios. But even though some of her memories might not be great, she knows she’s never met a Vulcan before.

Right now, there’s a Vulcan standing right next to her on the sidewalk.

And God, she’s pretty.”

Word Count: 4210

Find this fic on AO3

The alarm’s ringing again. Loud enough to wake her up.

She doesn't want to wake up. She never wants to wake up.

“Fuck,” she mutters, kicking her covers away and rolling out of bed. She doesn’t really have any reason to be upset, other than being woken up early - but she’s the one who set the alarm, so really, she shouldn’t be that frustrated at all.

“Stupid past me,” she mutters. “Jane Tiberius Kirk of last night, what were you thinking?”

Jane Kirk is sixteen years old. Practically an adult, she thinks, as most teenagers often do. Of course, Jane’s thoughts are a bit more justified, in this department. Raising yourself will do that to you. After your Dad dies on the day of your birth, and your Mom remarries an asshole and then abandons you, and then your brother ditches you on top of it all, you start to make your own breakfast and fold your own socks and make your own deadlines and shit. It happens.

Every day during the school year she wakes up like this, to the pinging of her alarm

She didn’t used to be like this; preferred sleeping in, getting to school an hour or two late. Sometimes not going at all. But a shitty report card gave Frank yet another excuse to call her a waste of space, and was the final tipping point for shipping her away for good.

(Tarsus… wasn’t great. To put it very, very vaguely. She was sent there at fourteen by a stepfather desperate to get rid of her, and she’s determined to never, ever go back. She knows it’s over, now, knows it can’t hurt her. That’s what the therapist told her. But it’s still there.)

It’s not the first day of school today, thank God. Just another mid-year one. A day of no importance. It’s almost insignificant enough that Jane might just consider skipping, except she knows she can’t skip, not after what happened on Tarsus two years ago. So she opens one of her dresser drawers and fishes around for clothes.

Jane Kirk is sixteen. She cuts her own hair with her mom’s bad kitchen scissors (she wouldn’t use Winona’s good ones, wouldn’t do that to her) cuts it short short short like she likes it, and she wears shitty t-shirts old enough to be considered precious artifacts if they weren’t so goddamn ratty. They say things like ‘Beastie Boys’ and ‘Talking Heads' and she even has one that says ‘Nine Inch Nails’. Old bands, from the 20th century or so, that are loud or angry enough to suit her just right, but old enough to be free online.

She gets dressed, grabs her backpack and her school PADD, running out the door and letting it slam behind her. She could technically be driving to school (she’s old enough by now - technically she won’t be able to get her real license until she’s seventeen, but sixteen is old enough for a permit, which could get her to and from school no problem) but Frank told her to fuck off after she kinda sorta drove his precious sports care off a cliff.

She doesn’t even regret it, not really, not even as she finds herself walking alongside the dusty Riverside highway.

It was damn fun to drive that car off a cliff. Fuck Frank.

-

Jane Kirk is sixteen, a sophomore at the Riverside public high school, and she’s never left Iowa. Not really. Visits to Starfleet California with her mom when she was a toddler don’t count, and   she doesn’t let herself think about Tarsus at all. To be honest, she’s rather blocked out most of Tarsus - they tell her it’s the Human brain’s reaction to stress, fight-or-flight scenarios. But even though some of her memories might not be great, she knows she’s never met a Vulcan before.

Right now, there’s a Vulcan standing right next to her on the sidewalk.

And God, she’s pretty.

“‘M Jane,” she says. Trying to make conversation. “You waiting for the bus?”

The Vulcan’s eyes are intelligent, scanning her up and down, noting her backpack and the PADD in her hand, but no response comes. Jane realizes, for the first time, that she might not understand Standard. Which would be a bit odd - most people understand Standard, especially if they plan on visiting some middle-of-nowhere Terran dump like Riverside. But Jane’s never met a Vulcan, doesn’t know much about them. Their culture, their customs. It’s quite possible this girl never learned Standard at all, has never heard it before now (however unlikely that may be).

So Jane tries again.

“You going on the bus?” She asks, again, pointing to the little scrap of metal that’s a lousy excuse for a sign, the only indicator of there being a bus stop here.

The Vulcan girl looks at her. Barely nods - though the nod is there, that small sign of understanding, and Jane’s grateful for that.

“Neat,” says Jane. “I’m, uh, catching a ride to school.”

The girl says something in response, but it comes out awkward and quiet. Jane can’t tell what language it was meant to be, though she has some hunch it was an attempt at Standard. She’s really wishing she’d stolen some translator tech from school, now. She’d thought about it, before, but never had much use for it.

“I’m Jane,” Jane says, again, trying to salvage whatever it is that currently feels like it’s crashing straight into the ground right now. “Dunno if you caught that, before.”

She seems to understand what Jane’s saying, now, at least enough to know the name.

“I am Spock,” she says, Standard broken and heavily accented, pointing to herself.

“Nice to meet you Spock,” Jane says, for some reason unable to stop herself from grinning. “Welcome to hell.”

-

Spock seems to be around her age, though can’t say for sure - Jane has a hard time understanding specifics through the language barrier problem, and she’s never met a Vulcan before. She doesn’t know how the whole aging thing works with them.

Spock’s tall and wiry and absolutely stunning. She wears too-big sweaters, probably hand-knit by a parent, and bright purplish-blue eye makeup that Jane’s pretty sure doesn’t really fit the Vulcan norm. She seems clever, incredibly clever, which would make sense; Jane’s heard that Vulcans are insanely smart, eidetic memory or something like that. She’s sure it’s true; she can see it in Spock’s eyes. She’s intelligent.

Of course Jane wants to know everything about her.

But Spock doesn’t seem to speak much Standard, and Jane doesn’t know any Vulcan.

She doesn’t understand a word she says.

-

The bus arrives, they get on it, and when Jane sits down, Spock takes the seat beside her, back completely straight, hands folded neatly in her lap. Jane takes it as a good sign, and spends the bus ride to school rambling on and on about new research that’s come out in transporter tech, how they haven’t quite figured out the way to transport people long distances yet but they’re getting better, how she thinks she might know where they’re going wrong and how to fix it, and she tells Spock, and Spock listens, and no one’s listened to Jane in a long, long time.

They get off the bus and they go to school and it turns out that Spock’s in all the advanced classes, which is great, because Jane’s in the advanced classes, too. She wonders what the fuck Spock’s doing here, how she can manage in school when she barely knows the language, why anyone would even want to come to Riverside in the first place. But she doesn’t ask, because she’s not sure how well Spock would understand, anyway, and then it’s evening and Jane’s taking the bus home and she’s on her bed and on her PADD and stealing textbooks off the Internet. It’s not that hard, really; most of the time she doesn’t even have to hack the stuff herself. Someone else has done it for her, a similarly desperate student with no cash and no way to keep up in class without a textbook. Finding one that’ll assist her in this specific area of study proves a bit harder, but eventually she finds a website (passcode protected, membership required) and she gets past all that shit with ease, and she downloads what she’s looking for.

Jane Kirk is sixteen, and she’s smart, damn smart, and she considers herself pretty good with languages. But Vulcan is fucking hard. And for her, it shouldn’t be. She conquered most of Earth’s predominant languages within the span of a year, and she picked up SSL (Standard Sign Language) within a week. She can do Orion (quite a few dialects), Tellaran, even a bit of Klingon (which means she can introduce herself and say dick and fuck off and other such choice phrases). But Vulcan?

Vulcan’s a bitch.

(She means this in the nicest way, of course.)

She picks up her PADD, new textbook just downloaded, and she finds it almost impossible to get through. She can’t even really explain why. Maybe it’s just the general syntax that’s fucking her up. That’s happened before. Could be that the language is just nearly impossible for Human vocal chords to manage, in which case this would all be yet another lost cause. But she digs a bit deeper and finds out that, though broken, she might be able to get out something understandable.

She skips all lessons on written Vulcan; she won’t need that. She’s looking for the more practical uses. Conversational type stuff. She looks into phonetics, watching videos of spoken Vulcan.

She’s up until maybe 3AM, and she realizes she ought to get at least a bit of sleep before the sun rises again. She didn’t even realize the time until she looked to the top of her PADD. She’s never been good at noticing time passing when she’s caught up in something like this. But once she realizes she only has four hours at most to get some sleep in, she turns of her light and tucks her PADD away.

Jane’s sixteen. She’s tired, but she can’t seem to fall asleep. She thinks she’s in love with Spock. She realizes, for the first time, that she has no idea what love is.

-

They see each other all the time, thanks to school. It’s great. Before Spock, Jane really had no one. If they were down a person in Chem, she’d go without a lab partner. She worked by herself on History presentations, never went to study groups. Arguably never needed study groups, based on some of her recent test scores, but still, the socialization would have been nice. When she really wanted company, she stopped by the local bar. She was technically a minor, yeah, but the town was small and no one cared. It was unhealthy and far from safe, she knows that, but it was where she could go.

But now, she’s got Spock, and she doesn’t really do any of that anymore.

They stick to each other, through the school day, then before and after it. Hanging out under trees or in the wide open spaces between farms that no one really goes anymore. They’re walking through one of the empty fields right now, and Jane has her eyes on a gnarled old tree to climb. Spock doesn’t climb trees, so Jane’ll probably have to go on by herself, but she knows that Spock will be happy to stand and watch, talk maybe. It’s been a few weeks, now; they’ve both been getting better at communicating.

Jane points at the tree in the distance, question in her eyes.

Spock nods, and they begin to walk towards it. As soon as they reach the base of the tree Jane’s climbing, one branch, then another, up and up, glancing down every once and awhile to check that Spock’s still there.

Jane notices that Spock’s wearing one of those sweaters again. Spock’s always wearing sweaters.

“Ko-mekh?” Asks Jane, pointing at the sweater. Mother? She’s been meaning to ask about it, and hopes Spock’s able to understand; Jane’s Vulcan isn’t perfect, but she just finished up the chapter on family and interpersonal relations last night, and she’s feeling pretty good in that area.

Spock nods. “Gift,” she says, in Standard. “Hanukkah.”

“Oh! You’re Jewish!” Jane smiles. “Me too. My family's not really practicing though...” ...because my dad died and my mom's never home, she thinks, but doesn't say it out loud. She reaches for another branch just above her, only to find it the slightest bit out of reach. With a grunt, she jumps, grabbing at it with both hands and swinging herself around until she’s successfully made it up another level. Jane’s grinning, looking down at Spock who’s looking a bit smaller now. “Taller than you,” she says.

The Vulcan’s raising her eyebrow again. “Riyeht.” Incorrect.

“Not when I’m in a tree.”

Spock sighs, says something in Vulcan that probably translates to ‘Silly Human.’ Jane makes a mental note to look that up when she gets back to her house tonight. Figures it’ll be useful to know.

-

Jane’s sixteen, and tall enough for her age, and strong from working in the fields every summer. Strong enough to hold her own against Frank, even if she can’t really fight back.  It’s fine, thought; Frank doesn’t hit her so much, anymore. She doesn’t know why. Might have something to do with Tarsus, or something to do with her getting older. She tries not to think about it. She still keeps her door locked at night.

When she sneaks back into the house this evening, she finds him passed out on the couch. He smells like shit - she plugs her nose as she walks past him, resigning herself to a shower as soon as she gets upstairs, just to get rid of the lingering stench. Done with the shower, she collapses onto her bed wearing the first clean clothes she can find (which in this case is a pair of jeans and a tank top), weary, eyes closed as she fishes around blindly for her PADD. As soon as she finds it, she opens her eyes, and flips through one of the Standard-Vulcan dictionaries she’s been using for reference.

If she’s reading it right, ‘Silly Human’ would be Duh-komihn. She flips a few more pages, but she can’t find a term for ‘Silly Vulcan’. She wants to call Spock now, but Frank could hear; the walls are thinner than they seem. She doesn't want to risk that. She’ll have to bring it up with Spock later. They're doing some project or another together in Chem, and they're meeting up for it tomorrow. She'll ask her about it then.

-

They’re getting better at communicating with each other.

It's useful for a variety of reasons - for one, Jane can understand Vulcan, and she knows for a fact that Spock isn't making fun of her all the time, which is a bit of a relief. And now Spock knows how much Jane swears, which is probably for the better, because hey, that's important shit to know. Jane asks her what the Vulcan word is for 'Silly Vulcan' after explaining her 'Silly Human' research. Spock tells her that they don't say 'Silly Vulcan' because Vulcans are incapable of being silly (or at least, that's what Jane thinks Spock tells her - she's still not the best at Vulcan, after all). Jane says that she doesn't think that's true, and Spock struggles to maintain her cold Vulcan facade, so so tempted to stick her tongue out at the duh-komihn.

"Vulcans do not lie," Spock mutters.

Jane keeps a list of the new things she’s learned about Spock. Right now, it looks something like this:

Good at chess.

Jewish

Human mother?

(Maybe) exchange student

Could theoretically climb trees but won’t because of ‘Surak’s Teachings’ or something like that.

Meditates

Enjoys ‘Narat do-toh’? NOTE: Vulcan game, like hide-and-seek

Can't lie - but that's obviously a lie. Yeah.

“What you writing?” Spock asks, after catching Jane adding something to the ever-growing list in her school notebook.

“Nirsh apc’koik du,” she says. No business you. She cringes at herself; she definitely butchered that. She was trying to say something along the lines of Not your business but she’s pretty sure she just completely screwed up.

Spock grabs the notebook, eyes skimming the page with superhuman speed. She raises an eyebrow, passing it back to Jane.

“List?”

“Oh quiet you.”

The corner of the Vulcan's mouth twitches in that way that's basically her version of a smirk. "A me list."

-

Jane's sixteen. She's smart, smarter than most sixteen-year-olds are, though she couldn't explain why. She likes coding (specifically hacking, though she's been told by multiple people that that's not technically legal) and learning languages and even the rare History lesson here or there. But she absolutely despises studying.

“Spock,” Jane whines, throwing herself across the desk. “When’re we gonna go?”

They’ve been cooped up in one of the far corners of the school’s (very, very, small) library for hours now. She’s honestly amazed it hasn’t closed on them yet, especially taking into account the annoyed looks the librarian won't stop shooting them. After her latest stink-eye, Jane thinks that they’re a minutes away from being forcefully booted. Not that it’ll deter Spock; whatever it is she’s currently researching, the Vulcan seems keen to continue until midnight if she must.

“Come on, look at me.” Jane tapped Spock’s shoulder.

Spock’s head snaps up, eyes locking on hers. Vulcans aren’t meant to show emotion, Jane’s heard, but the frustration in Spock’s eyes is clear.

“Listen. The librarian’s gonna kick us out any second now.” Jane’s gaze strays back to the angry woman at the front of the library, and she suddenly remembers every sin she’s committed in its vicinity (pre-Tarsus, of course, but still) and she gets a bit more anxious. “We really should go soon. Soon as in now. And don’t play dumb or anything because I know you’re smart and can read body language and understand at least a tenth of what I’m saying because we’re good at understanding each other.”

Spock runs a hand through her uncharacteristically mussed black hair.

“Ashal-veh…” she sighs, obviously tired. Spock mutters some other words in Vulcan, too, with the odd Standard phrase thrown in (she’s picked up a few of those - full immersion will do that to you). Jane opts not to listen; sleep-deprived ramblings tend not to be the most coherent, and it’s not really worth her trouble, anyway, since she barely speaks the language.

Jane raises an eyebrow. She’s been practicing, working on it in front of a mirror, trying to do it the way Spock can. She knows she’s not nearly as good as Spock, yet, but she’s sure that once she finally gets it down it’ll be hilarious. “You must be more exhausted than I thought. You don’t normally slip into Vulcan when we’re at school.” Jane paused. “Didja get enough sleep last night?”

Spock gives her that look of Stop questioning me or I will kill you.

“So that’s a no.”

Spock mutters something else, but Jane doesn’t catch it.

“Y’know, I’m pretty sure killing people is against Surak’s teachings,” Jane says, hands falling to the pockets of her jeans.

At this, Spock lifts the corner of her mouth ever-so-slightly - the closest Vulcans seemed to get to a smile.

“Now come on, you,” Jane says, tugging at the sleeve of Spock’s sweater. “School’s over. Come on now. Out of the library, we’re getting you home.”

“But-” Spock says, switching back to her accented Standard.

“I.” Says Jane, Vulcan sharp in her mouth as the librarian glares at them once again. Now.

-

Jane's house is empty today. Frank's gone out somewhere, work, she thinks, not investigating further. So she brings Spock over, because she can, because she wants to.

Jane's sixteen. She's bored. She's in love with her best friend, and and she wants to invite her over.

They go in through the back door, the one with the tattered old screen over it to keep bugs away. It squeaks when it opens, but they never oil the hinges. Jane doesn't have the time and Frank doesn't give a shit, and Winona's never home to hear it, so they leave it be. Jane walks into the kitchen, tile cool beneath her feet (a relief after the outside heat) and Spock follows her silently. Spock's very quiet in the way she moves - almost cat-like, though Jane's never really spent time with cats before. She thinks this is what they're like. She thinks it's a bit funny.

They hurry up the stairs to Jane's room, not wanting to spend time in the rest of the house. Even when Frank's not home something about being in any of the main rooms just feels a bit off. Jane's room is better; cleaner (though the bar for that is so low, it may as well be on the ground) and it smells a bit nicer than the rest of the house, especially when she opens the window, and she has a little old-fashioned radio that she turns on when they walk in the room. She gets a few stations in, up here, mostly the local ones that play mediocre music and report on news and sports and things. She turns the dial until she finds a station that doesn't sound like it's being eaten by static. There's a song playing on the radio, quiet and sweet, the lyrics about love or something like that. Jane's not listening to it too much.

“You ever been dancing, Spock?”

She raises an eyebrow, mutters something in Vulcan, feigns annoyance. But Jane knows her well enough, now, and she knows that Spock's just avoiding the question.

"Okay," Jane says, thinking. "Well, would you like to dance with me?"

Spock considers this for a moment, the same way she thinks through difficult test questions, or how she acts after she's just learned another odd Terran phrase. After a moment's thought, she nods. Jane reaches out to grab her shoulders, and Spock puts her hands on Jane's waste. They don't hold hands; Jane doesn't really know why, yet, but she knows it's not something Spock's too keen on. And then they're dancing, just a little, slowly and a bit awkwardly, the music coming from the radio washing over them, floating out the open window on a breeze.

“Ashel-veh?” Jane whispers, knowing that Spock can hear her.

“You looked up the meaning?” Spock asks. Her Standard’s gotten better, just like Jane’s Vulcan isn’t so bad anymore.

“It was a bit harder to find, I’ll give you that.” Jane’s voice holds amusement, soft and warm and happy. “Not in my textbook, or anything. But eventually I found it in a dictionary.”

“Hm.”

“You called me darling,” Jane says.

��Yes. And you just returned the favor.”

“Yes.”

They're quiet. They listen to the music, soft and sweet in the background. The air is warm and muggy around them. Jane's holding on to Spock, resting her head on her shoulder, and she never ever ever wants to let go.

-

The grass is soft beneath them, if a bit damp, and the field is wide and open and empty and the sky feels vast and endless. Technically, it is. But it's not something you notice too often, with the tall structures constantly on the horizon and people crowding up every space known to man. Right now, it's just them. They're laying down in the middle of the field. They're young and naive and untouchable. They're looking at the stars.

"Do you have constellations on Vulcan?" Jane asks.

Spock says something about how drawing pictures based on lights in the sky is illogical, even if one does not know that they are simply burning balls of gas in space. Jane laughs, and immediately starts to show Spock all of the constellations she knows, spinning the stories that go with them. Ursa Major and Minor, Leo, The Seven Sisters, Orion...

"Illogical," Spock says once more. It's becoming her favorite word in Standard.

(Jane's favorite Vulcan phrase is 'bath-paik' meaning 'damn you'. She thinks it's funny.)

The stars are bright and stunning out here, where the light pollution can’t touch them. Jane finds herself reaching for Spock’s hand. She’s surprised when Spock offers two fingers to her - her index and middle - and Jane mimics the movement, unsure of what it means, and they’re touching their fingers together.

“I’m gonna be a Captain someday,” she says, quietly. "Like my dad."

It’s the first time she’s ever said it out loud, and it sounds like a promise she’ll forget to keep. But Spock’s here with her, holding her hand, and she feels calm. Calm in a way she can’t quite explain.

Jane’s sixteen, Spock maybe a bit older, though not much. They spend the night watching the sky as stars and starships dance in the darkness. Jane sneaks back into her house later that evening, after she and Spock both realized they had to go home. She falls asleep quickly, feeling content. For the first time in a long time, she looks forward to waking up.

[creativitycache]

ngl asking for people who self-identify as "antis" is already biasing your results because the term originated from fans being defensive over getting called out (eg the types who sincerely think fandom culture is ""puritan""). fair number of people started to use the term ironically and it might be evening out but overall the post calling for responses on the survey still comes off as something written in bad faith?

I wrote a rather long and involved response and then tumblr ate it. Goshdarn.

Fair warning, this is a hyperfixation and I’m coming off of a migraine so this may not be very cogent. Please read this in the over excited tones of someone infodumping about emulsifiers, with no animosity intended.

So, tl;dr and with a lot fewer links, I’m incredibly interested by your perspective that “anti” originated as a derogatory term.

As far as I am aware, the etymological history of the word “anti” being used pejoratively is coming from some very new debates.

I’m also noting that you had no feedback regarding the content of the questions themselves, which I would be interested in hearing as I am genuinely coming from a place without censure.

The term “anti” actually is a self-descriptor that arose in the Livejournal days, where you’d tag something as “Anti ___” for other like minded people to find. (For example, my cursory google search pulled up 10 Anti Amy Lee communities on LJ).

I’m a self-confessed old. I was back in fandom before Livejournal, aaaall the way back in the Angelfire days. Webrings children! We had webrings! And guest books for you to sign!

I’m going to take a swing for the fences here Anon, so if I’m wrong please let me know, but I’m going to guess you became active as a fan in the past 5-8 years based of your use of the term puritan.

There’s actually a HUGELY new debate in fandom spaces! Previously, it was assumed that:

a) All fandom spaces are created and used by adults only.

b) If you were seeing something, it’s because you dug for it.

These assumptions were predicated upon what spaces fandoms grew in. First you had Star Trek TOS fandom, which grew in 1970s housewives kitchens. They were all friends irl, and everyone was an adult, and you actively had to reach out to other adults to talk about things. (By the way- a woman lost custody of her children in the divorce when her ex husband brought up to the judge she kept a Kirk/Spock zine under her bed. The judge ruled this as obvious signs of moral deficiency. That was in the 80s! Everyone is still alive and the parents are younger than my coworkers!)

Time: 1967-1980s. Is Anti a term? No. Who is the term used by? N/A Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

Then, when the internet came about, it was almost exclusively used by adults until The Eternal September. 1993 was the year that changed the internet for good, but even years after that the internet was a majority adult space. Most kids and teens didn’t have unlimited access if their parents even had a home computer in the 90s.

This is the rise of Angelfire, which were fansites all connected to each other in “rings”. You had to hunt for content. If you found something you didn’t like, well, you clicked out and went on with your day because you’d never see it again unless you really dug. This was truly the wild west, tagging did not exist and you could go from fluff to vore in the blink of an eye with nothing warning you before hand. All fannish spaces were marked “here be dragons” and attempts were made to at least adopt the “R/NC-17″ ratings on works to some limited success, depending on webmaster.

Time: 1990-1999. Is Anti a term? No. Who is the term used by? N/A Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

In 1999 LiveJournal arose like a leviathan, and here is where the term Anti emerges as a self descriptor. Larger communities began to form, and with them, divisions. Now, you could reach so many fans you could reach a critical mass of them for enough of them to dislike a ship. The phrase “Anti” became a self-used tag, as people tagged their works, communities, and blogs with “anti” (NB: this is at far, far smaller rates than today). Anti was first and foremost a tagging tool used and created by the people who were vehemently against something.

You could find content more easily than in the past, but you still had to put some serious elbow grease into it.

In 2007, Livejournal bans users for art "depicting minors in explicit sexual situations”. The Livejournal community explodes in anger- towards Livejournal staff. The account holders/fans view this as corporate puritanical meddling. The outrage continues as it is revealed these bans were part of a pre-sale operation to SUP Services. SUP Services, upon taking over Livejournal in 2008, proceeds to filter the topics “bisexuality, depression, faeries, girls, boys, and fanfiction”.

The Great LiveJournal Migration begins, as fans leave the site in droves.

Time: 1999-2009. Is Anti a term? Yes. Who is the term used by? People self describing, seeking to create communities based off a dislike of something. Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

Where do fans go? Well, in the last decade, they migrated to Tumblr and Twitter (sorry Pillowfort- you gave it a good try!)

What’s different about all of these sites? Individuals are able to create and access content streams. These are hugely impactful in how communities are formed! Because now:

a) finding content is easier

b) finding content you dislike by accident is easier

c) content you dislike requires active curation to avoid

d) truly anonymous outreach is possible and easy (for example, you anon! Isn’t it much easier to go on anon to bring up awkward or sensitive topics? I’m happy you did by the way, and that’s why I keep my anons open. It’s an important contextual tool in the online communications world!)

Now the term Anti gets sprightly. Previously, if you didn’t like content, there was nothing you could really do about it. For example, I, at the tender age of way-too-young, opened up a page of my favorite Star Trek Deep Space 9 fansite and pixel by pixel with all the loading speed of a stoned turtle a very anatomically incorrect orgy appeared.

I backed out.

1. Who could I contact? There was no “message me here” button, no way to summon any mods on Angelfire sites.

2. If I did manage to find a contact button, I would have had to admit I went onto a site that wasn’t designed to keep me safe. I knew this was a site for adults, I knew there wasn’t a way to stop it from showing something. There was no such thing as tags. I knew all of this before going in. So the assumption was, it was on me for looking. (Some may have argued it was on my parents for not supervising me- all I can say is thank GOD no one else was in the living room and my mom was around the corner in the kitchen.)

But now? On Tumblr? On Twitter? In a decade in which tagging is so easy and ubiquitous it’s expected?

Now people who describe themselves as antis start to have actual tools and social conventions to utilize.

Which leads to immediate backlash! Content creators are confused and upset- fandom spaces have been the wild west for decades, and there’s still no sherriff in town. So the immediate go-to argument is that these people who are messaging them are “puritans”.

And that’s actually an interesting argument! A huge factor in shaping the internet’s social mores in the latest decades is cleanliness for stockbrokers. Websites can become toxic to investors and to sales if they contain sexual content. Over time, corporations perfected a mechanism for “cleaning” a site for sale.

Please note there is no personal opinion or judgement in this next list, it is simply a description of corporate strategies you can read during the minute meetings of shareholders for Tumblr, Twitter, Paypal, Venmo, Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo Answers, and Livejournal.

1. Remove sex workers. Ban any sex work of any kind, deplatform, keep any money you may have been holding.

2. Remove pedophilia. This is where the jump begins between content depicting real people vs content depicting fictional characters begins.

3. Remove all sexual image content, including artwork of fictional characters.

4. Remove all sexual content, including written works. If needed, loop back to step 2 as a justification, and claim you do not have the moderators to prevent written works depicting children.

I would like to reiterate these are actual gameplans, so much so that they’ve made their way into business textbooks. (Or at least they did for my Modern Marketing & App Design classes back in the early 2010s. Venmo, of course, wasn’t mentioned, but I did read the shareholder’s speeches when they banned sex workers from the platform so I added them in the list above because it seems they’re following the same pattern.)

So you have two groups who are actively seeking to remove NSFW content from the site.

A) Corporate shareholders

B) People are upset they’re seeing NSFW content they didn’t seek out and squicks them

Now, why does this matter for the debates using the term “puritan” as an insult? 

Because the reasons corporate shareholders hate NSFW material is founded in American puritanism. It’s a really interesting conflation of private sector values! And if Wall Street were in another cultural context, it would be a completely different discussion which I find fascinating!

But here’s the rub- that second group? They're not doing this for money. If there are any puritanical drives, it’s personal, not a widespread cohesive ideology driving them. HOWEVER! The section of that group that spent the early 2010s on tumblr did pick up some of the same rhetoric as puritanical talking points (which is an entirely separate discussion involving radfems, 4chan raids, fourth wave feminism, and a huge very nuanced set of influences I would love to talk about at a later time!)

These are largely fans who have “grown up” in the modern sites- no matter how old they actually are, their fandom habits and expectations have been shaped by the algorithms of these modern sites.

Now HERE‘s the fascinating bit that’s new to me! This is the interpretation of the data I’m getting, and so I’m out on a limb but I think this is a valid premise!

The major conflict in fandom at this time is a struggle over personal space online.

Content creators are getting messages telling them to stop, degrading them, following them from platform to platform.

They say “Hey! What gives- we were here first. The cardinal rule of fandom is don’t like, don’t read. Fandom space has always been understood to be adult- it’s been this way for decades! To find our content, you had to come to us! This is our space! This is my space, this is my blog! If you don’t like it, you’re not obligated to look!”

Meanwhile, at the exact same time, antis are saying “Hey! What gives- this content is appearing on my screen! That’s my space!  I didn’t agree to this, I don’t like this! I want it to be as far away from me as possible! I will actively drive it away.”

This is a major cultural shift! This is a huge change and a huge source of friction! And I directly credit it to the concept of “content stream” and algorithms driving similar-content to users despite them not wanting it!

Curating your online space used to be much simpler, because there wasn’t much of it! Now with millions of users spread out over a wide age range, all feeding in to the same 4-5 websites, we are seeing people be cramped in a technically limitless space!

Now people feel that they have to go on the offense to defend themselves against content they don’t like, which is predicated upon not only the algorithms of modern websites but ALSO talking points fed from the top down of what is and what is not acceptable on various platforms.

Time: 2010-2020. Is Anti a term? Yes. Who is the term used by? People self describing,and people using it to describe others. Is fandom space considered Puritanical? Depends!

So I, a fandom ancient, a creaky thing of old HTML codes and broken tags, am watching this transformation and am wildly curious for data.

Also...I uh....I can’t believe this is the short version. My ADHD is how you say “buckwild” tonight.

Anyways...um...if anyone has read to the bottom, give me data?

[sparrowjaywrites]

                                              My Little Blue Star

Jim Kirk x Kat Sparrow (Original Female Character): Soulmate AU - Identical tattoos or birthmarks

           Kat sighs staring down at the blue star on her wrist. She was almost thirty years old and hadn’t met her soulmate yet… which normally would mean she never would. Hell for all she knew they could be dead or already happily married with kids. The soulmate tattoos caused a lot of controversy. Many people used to have their kids soulmate tattoos removed when they were babies or children. That was until it was forbidden for a soulmate tattoo to be removed until a person was twenty-one years old. This was to prevent parents from forcing their children’s removed and to keep teens who thought they were in love from having it done.

           Many people would fall in love and get married only to later end up in a horrible situation when they met their soulmate. They would have to choose between their spouse and the person they were destined for. Most couples who weren’t soulmates got their tattoos removed at their ten year anniversary, others when they first got married, or when their kids were born. If one soulmate removed their tattoo the others would disappear, the same would happen if someone altered their tattoo; their soulmates would change as well; whether this was by adding to the tattoo, removing part of it, or having a scar change it.

           Some people had multiple tattoos, meaning either they were destined for a polyamorous relationship or they simply had multiple chances at finding a soulmate, or one of their soulmates was destined to die… something no one ever wanted to think about. But Kat simply had one. Her blue star had never changed… at least not as long as she could remember. It sat right over her pulse point on her left wrist. A simple light blue star with a black border… it looked almost like a sketch, with the multiple lines making up each edge. The star was faded, like someone had tried to wash it away… Pictures of her when she was born show the star being much more vibrant.

           “Kat, are you coming to dinner?” Kat looks up as her best friend pulls her from her thoughts.

           “Yeah, I’m coming, Nyota.” She closes down her station following her friend to the mess hall. Kat was head of computer sciences aboard the USS Enterprise. She had worked on the ship since the Nero incident a little over five years before. Nyota had already found her soulmate in her boyfriend Spock. At first the only friend Kat had on the Enterprise was Nyota. Then she’d introduced her to the rest of the head crew. Kat had instantly clicked with Hikaru and Pavel, the two instantly earning themselves a place as her best friends. Hikaru had also found his soulmate in his husband Ben. The two had a daughter now.

           “Hey, Kat” She smiles as Pavel waves her and Nyota over to them. Nyota sits down next to Spock, who is talking with Bones, another of Kat’s best friends. The doctor was yelling at him as usual while Spock simply raised an eyebrow in concern? At least that’s what she thought that face meant; the half-vulcan was very hard to read at times. Hikaru and Pavel seemed to be in the middle of some type of challenge, they each had houses built of forks in front of them and were adding more. Scotty and Keenzer were cheering them on. Jim, the captain of the ship was watching all this in amusement. That was their little family.

           “What exactly are you doing?” Kat asks as she sets her tray down.

           “I bet Pasha here that I could build a taller tower then him.” Hikaru says smirking. Kat shakes her head sitting down and eating her food. She pulls her blue sleeve back from her wrist to look at her tattoo again, letting her mind wander as she eats, absentmindedly listening to her friends argue and talk excitedly.

           “Are you worrying about that again?” She looks up as Bones addresses her. Kat quickly covers her tattoo with her sleeve. She wasn’t one to display her soulmate tattoo; many people didn’t, wearing black bands on their wrists to cover it. Normally Kat wore one as well, but hers had broken that morning. This made it a lot harder to find your soulmate, but kept you from finding them while in the middle of situation that was inappropriate, such as at work, or during a negotiation of some sort. The only other person in their friend group who had ever worn one was Jim. But Kat had noticed he’d stopped wearing his when it became legal for Captains to date their crew; so long as they disclosed the relationship to the admiralty, their first officer, and their head of medical.

           “Worrying about what?” Kat asks playing dumb, as she pushes her glasses up her face, a nervous habit she’d picked up as a kid. She was allergic to the medicine that fixed eyesight and so was one of the few people in the federation who needed them, something she had once been very subconscious about.

           “Your soulmate, you normally move your band to look at it or fiddle with the band when you’re thinking about it.” Nyota says. Kat scowls.

           “You people are too damn observant.”

           “You shouldn’t vorry; you’ll find zhem when iz’s time.” Pavel says placing another fork on his tower.

           “Not everyone does, Pavel. With my luck they’re either dead or already married.” Kat shakes her head.

           “Well you’ll never find them if you keep the tattoo covered like you do? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it?” Bones points out.

           “I thought you didn’t believe in the soulmate tattoos?” Kat counters crossing her arms. Bones had been married when his wife had found her soulmate and divorced him. He’d been very cynical about it since. It didn’t help his soulmate had removed their tattoo when he was around sixteen.

           “I believe in them, just don’t like em.” Bones counters.

           “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it either?” Hikaru points out.

           “I normally wear my band; it broke this morning though…” Kat shrugs.

           “But why hide it if you want to find yours, Lass?” Scotty asks. Kat looks away.

           “We weren’t allowed to show them in the orphanage or during the war…” She explains. “If we did we’d be beaten, arrested, or killed… It’s become a habit I guess…” Kat had grown up on the none federation planet of Arulan in an orphanage. A war had raged on the planet for most of her life. She had left the planet at nineteen to join the federation and a year later once she was a citizen of earth, to join Starfleet.

           “Oh…” The table falls silent. Kat stands up.

           “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

                                            ---Line Break---

           A week had passed since the day in the mess hall. Nyota had been pushing her to show her tattoo off ever since. She wasn’t being overly pushy about it, more reassuring than anything. Kat hadn’t bothered getting a new band. She figured her sleeve would be enough for most situations and figured Nyota and the others were right, if she wanted any chance of finding her soulmate she had to show it. They were on Shore leave on Yorktown that day as the ship needed repairs from a fight with a few Klingon war birds earlier that month.

“Okay, so the purpose of this trip is to show your tattoo to as many people as possible.” Nyota says as she drags Kat into a club where they would be meeting the rest of the head crew for drinks.

           “I know; you’ve gone over this ten times, Ny.” Kat shakes her head rolling her eyes. She was wearing a blue sundress, her tattoo completely uncovered for anyone to see for the first time in her life. Her long wavy brown hair was pulled back in a braid, courtesy of Nyota’s hair styling skills. Nyota drags her over to the others. Hikaru was dancing with Ben not far from the table, Pavel flirting with a girl nearby. Spock, Bones, and Jim sit sipping drinks. Scotty was playing pool with some guys from engineering.

           “Hello, Nyota, Kat.” Spock greets them as the two slide into the booth. Nyota next to Spock, Kat across from her beside Jim.

           “So I see you’re not wearing a bracelet. Decided to show off your tattoo?” Bones asks clearly a bit drunk already.

           “Yes, she has. Our goal tonight is to show it to as many people as possible, see if anyone recognizes it as their own or someone they knows.” Nyota says.

           “Well then, let’s see it.” Bones says leaning around Jim to see. Kat laughs shaking her head.

           “You’re nosy when your drunk, Bones.” She holds out her wrist hesitantly. Before Bones can get a good look, a waitress comes over to them asking for their drink order, Kat turns back ordering herself a scotch. Bones now distracted by his drink doesn’t ask again and the group falls into their usual conversations. After a while Nyota drags Spock onto the dance floor, Bones heading to the bar to get another drink.

           “So, your actively looking for your soulmate now?” Jim asks sipping his own scotch.

           “More or less… Nyota’s idea…” She shrugs.

           “You don’t seem too happy about it?”

           “It’s not that… I’m just not very comfortable showing it… I feel like I’m going to be arrested or attacked for it any minute… I know I won’t be but…” She looks down at her wrist running a finger over her star.

           “But fear isn’t logical.” Jim finishes. “I had to keep mine covered before… I didn’t want to find my soulmate on the ship, knowing I couldn’t be with them…” He says pulling the sleeve on his right arm up.

           “Makes sense” Kat nods. She runs her finger over her star once more before turning to look at him fully.

           “Have you ever imagined what your soulmate will be like?” Jim asks.

           “Yeah… I hope their nice, a good person ya know? But I don’t know what to think… my tattoo is still here but it’s faded… I would have thought it was supposed to be, but pictures of me as a baby show it being a lot more vibrant… I can’t help but wonder if my soulmate attempted to remove the tattoo and failed…” She explains a worried look clear on her face.

           “It could have been an accident or their parents? My mom tried to remove mine with a home remedy when I was a toddler, I only know because my older brother told me… She didn’t want me having one after my father died… something about not wanting me to go through that pain… she tried the same on my brothers… it didn’t work. Now mine’s all faded.”

           “That’s horrible…” Kat shakes her head.

           “Yeah… But I still like mine… my little star.” He smiles looking down at his wrist, Kat tries to make out his tattoo but is just at the wrong angle to see it.

           “A star?” She asks, glancing down at her own little blue star.

           “Yeah, it fits, with me loving the stars as much as I do… I hope she likes them as much as I do…”

           “She?”

           “Yeah, I mean, I’d be fine if it were a he or whatever they are… but I feel like they’re a she…”

           “What else do you feel they’re like?” Kat asks with a small smile.

           “Their favorite color is blue, and they love the stars and the ocean… They’re a cat person, but like dogs too.” He says with a thoughtful look. “They are a huge nerd.”

           “All that from one little tattoo?” She laughs.

           “Well, yes and no… I’ve daydreamed about them, whoever they are my entire life… got me through some of my worst moments.” He downs his drink.

           “I guess that makes sense… I was too busy trying to survive to get a chance to dream of stuff like that… I love my little blue star though… It fits me perfectly.” Kat says laying her left wrist on the table to show him her tattoo. Jim leans over to look at it, his eyes slowly widening.

           “Holy crap.” He mutters as he slowly looks up at her. Kat raises an eyebrow.

           “What?” Jim lays his right wrist beside hers. Right on his pulse point is a little blue sketch like star… her little blue star. Kat stares openly at the tattoos for a minute before she slowly looks up at him.

           “You’re my soulmate?” Jim asks, looking completely shocked. “All these years… we were right there… and we never knew?”

           Kat stares at him, her heart racing in her ears. She slowly and almost fearfully brings her right hand to trace the star on his wrist. As soon as she touches it a small shock shoots through her, not a bad shock like static electricity but an amazing one. The shock is like a bucket of cold water being poured over your head on a warm day, the satisfaction when you put the final piece of a puzzle together, like the first bite of your favorite desert, or hearing the chorus to your absolute favorite song. It’s like the first snow of winter, or first bud of spring. Absolute belonging, like the world finally making sense. Something Kat had never known. Like for the first time in her life, she was truly home.

           Kat looks up at him her brown eyes wide, made even wider by her glasses, locking with his bright shocked blue. Blue… just like her… no their little blue stars.

           “Oh my god…” She mutters out, she covers her mouth with her right hand her eyes flickering from his eyes back to their wrists then back to his eyes again.

           “Is… is that a good ‘oh my god’… or a bad one?” He asks slowly, looking at her nervously now. Kat blinks at him not getting his meaning for a moment. She moves her hand pushing her glasses up her nose.

           “A shocked one… I… oh wow… I never thought… that my soulmate could be… someone like you.” Kat says her eyes locking with his again.

           “I know… you probably expected someone better… Someone who deserves someone as amazing as you…” Jim says looking away, clearly misunderstanding her. “We don’t have to be together… I understand if you don’t want to be.” Jim says his voice breaking.

           “What? NO!” Kat shakes her head quickly, grabbing his right hand in her left frantically. “That is not what I meant!” Jim looks down at their hand then up at her confused.

           “Then what did you mean?”

           “I meant I never expected my soulmate could be someone as absolutely amazing and wonderful as you!” Kat says looking up at him desperately, worry clear on her face.

           “You… you think I’m wonderful?” Jim asks, a large grin slowly stretching across his face, happiness, wonder, and love replacing the hurt and pain. Kat nods slowly, her face turning red.

           “Well… yeah.” She looks down at their hands. Jim uses his free hand to lift her chin softly so their eyes a locked again.

           “I think you’re an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, strong, and sometimes a bit scary, woman. I couldn’t have been given a better soulmate.” He says sincerely. Kat stares at him tears starting to form in her eyes.

           “You… really think that?” Jim nods a large grin splitting his face tears sparkling in his own eyes.

           “That and so much more… I’ve liked you for a long time… hell much more than liked, but I didn’t want to make a move knowing you still had your tattoo meaning you were probably waiting for your soulmate…”

           “I was doing the same thing… we really are idiots.” Kat laughs a large grin splitting her face as a few tears leave a trail down it. Jim brushes the tears away.

           “May I… kiss you?” He asks after a moment. Kat nods her smile turning nervous again. Jim slowly leans in, kissing her softly. Kat kisses him back, her heart leaping with joy. After twenty-nine years, she was finally home. ---Line Break--- This is a repost of a story from 2016 originally posted on my main account that I have cleaned up and updated. I really like the little AU and figured it was time to clean it up a bit and move it here, I hope you all enjoy!

[denerims-archive]

Joy/Bones and/or Claire/Joel???

MCFARROW TIME LADS!

General:

Rate the Ship -   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - Till the end of their lives these two are MARRIED!

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - SLOWLY! It took them three damn years to finally hook up. That kinda confirmed that they were in love with each other but then it took another half a year for Joy to stop being weird and flightly and finally fess up!

How was their first kiss? - Really...really sweet actually considering they immediately go back to Bones’ place and smash. It’s right after they’re celebrating Kirk’s birthday and the two of them finally find themselves outside by themselves and Joy is the one who tugs him down a little and gives him a tender kiss. (Bones would never initiate just because....power dynamic could be icky).

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Bones!

Who is the best man/men? - KIRK! He also has Joy’s brothers and some of the crew as his best men.

Who is the bride’s maid(s)? -  Her baby sister is her maid of honor! Same with Bones she has some of the crew as her bridesmaids too.

Who did the most planning? - Joy! She was very excited.

Who stressed the most? - Joy lmao! Taking on all that planning and being an award-winning neurologist and researcher is a lot. They also have to organizing everyone being on Earth the same time for the ceremony which is an Adventure considering one of her younger brothers is also an engineer doing working for Starfleet.

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - They don’t really have any specific people they super dislike (Bones just...mildly dislikes people). He did joke about not inviting Spock and Kirk said >:|

Sex:

Who is on top? - Bones! Joy loves to be enveloped by him and let him take the reins. 

Who is the one to instigate things? - Joy! Needs to go to horney jail. Bones does it on occasion but his signals are a little more subtle. Joy just stands on her toes and whispers smth nasty she wants Bones to do to her in his ear.

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Pretty long actually! Bones has some stamina. Which is good because Joy has got Libido. Once they’re done, Bones is out like a light though. No multiple rounds for them lmao.

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Yeah! Joy actually wants to give Bones multiple ones which he’s fine with but he has to tell her to give him a minute before she does it again lmao. Those nights he sleeps REALLLY well. Joy is insatiable and Bones is here to please and is pretty talented at getting Joy off. That and Joy lets him know exactly what he needs to do.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - Three!!

How many children will they adopt? - None!

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Bones!

Who is the stricter parent? - Bones definitely. Joy is much more understanding and lenient with the kids but Bones is a lil grumpy as a dad sometimes. It comes from a place of caring though and he has Joy to temper him. (Not that he’s super angry he just is very protective and wants them to be their best!)

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - Bones!

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Joy!

Who is the more loved parent? - Joy!

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - Joy!

Who cried the most at graduation? - Joy! 

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - Bones! Lmao. The kids don’t wanna disappoint their mom because she’ll give them the sad and disappointed look. Bones is just like....don’t ever do that again. 

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Bones!

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Bones!

Who does the grocery shopping? - Joy!

How often do they bake desserts? - Lots! Joy is an excellent baker and also happens to bake when she’s stressed so lots of cookies. Bones gains like 15lbs when they start dating lmao.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Joy loves some salads and you know Bones loves some chicken wings or a good steak.

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Bones!

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Bones!

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - Joy!

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Bones!

Who is really against chores? - Joy!

Who cleans up after the pets? - Bones!

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Joy!

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Joy! She wants everything to be nice.

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Joy! Hell yeah~ She puts it in their little jar of money saved for vacations.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - Bones...he loves to be pampered.

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Bones! He loves that dog so much.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Both of them love the holidays! 

What are their goals for the relationship? - To support each other in their careers, to get married and have a family! Basically just to offer support to each other and build a life together. SOFT.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - Bones!

Who plays the most pranks? - Joy but she’s bad at it lmao. It usually ends with Bones kissing her, endeared, and getting her back by tickling her. (Until Joy accidentally smacks him because she’s flailing about.)

[nonbinarysaavik]

spock meeting kirks parents

spock: [internally] i must conduct myself in a manner suiting of my captain’s family and his home. i musn’t do anything to embarrass him or myself.

winona kirk: *claps him on the back* look at this picture of little jimmy sticking bugs up his nose, oh! and this one here from when we took him to see bambi and he cried so hard when the mom died the manager told us to leave...oh lord and heres him streaking naked across the neighbors field. never could keep clothes on that kid. i know! i’ll dig out his birth video -- that’s always fun! have a seat on the couch mr spock

spock: *shaking*