#combining my love for cats and star trek

[shadowinthefir3]

Commander Ferret is my second in command- my Number One. He loves food, cuddles, and kisses. He is in charge when I'm gone but has a more hands off approach.

[fearfulharmony]

Thinking about cosplaying Data's cat Spot but like as a Jellicle Cat

[reallyromealone]

T'Ana x baby reader x Shaxs

Family lunch

This is my first star trek fic and I'm doing my best don't come at me ok

Reader is basically a neko

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

It was days like this where Shaxs was happy for peace, getting time to hang out with his son (name), the little bear just learning walking and was absolutely dead set on following his dad.

"Come now little bear! We have much to do!" He said loudly and laughed when his son made equally loud babbles "that's the attitude!" He was always so proud of his little babe, his little cat ears flickering as he waved at cadets "ABABABA!" He squealed when he saw the captain "my my, if it isn't the baby bear" Captain Freeman chuckled at the small babe "he's awfully energetic isn't he! Going to-- if you don't stop that I swear!" She barked at someone before returning to the two "anyways it was nice seeing you both, have a good day off!"

(Name) only new ship life and even got a baby uniform as a joke gift, both medical and security so both parents were satisfied.

(Name) was a medical marvel, a perfect combination of science and love to create him "oh? You wanna walk?" shaxs always surprised people with how gentle he was with his cub, letting him down and watching as he shakily waddled forward as members of the Cerritos cooed and waved at the tyke.

"Excellent form baby bear!" Shaxs said supportive and loving as the kit made a little growl sound, T'Ana having taught him that as the babe was learning three languages so easy sounds was simpler for him with things like affermations. "marnah(mother)!" (Name) squealed as he saw his mom walk down the hall and T'Ana glared before looking down at the tiny kitten "oh there's my little kit" she said with a slight purr before hissing at some ensigns who were running passed laughing, startling little (name) who fell on his butt "WATCH WHERE THE FUCK YOU'RE GOING YOU SHIT MONGRELS!" She yelled out before lifting the babe up "our baby bear is stronger than that" Shaxs chuckled as the three walked to the mess hall, it was almost (name)s meal time and he was getting really good with solids.

It was cute seeing their kid eat, absolutely laying waste to his meal and hissing at anyone who got too close "he's an absolute nightmare eating" T'Ana chuckled as she ate and worked "ababababa!" He said aggressively as his tiny fangs ripped apart the meat.

The three were a weird family but they were a family none the less "oh look he's excited about the stars again!" shaxs said as (name) looked out the window, shakily standing and pressing his messy hands against the window.

"Now finish your lunch kitten"

[best-tv-theme-song]

Polls will start to be posted within the next week or so.

Bracket list under the cut!

UPDATE: LIST CANCELLED

*Starred shows have multiple theme songs or I have combined shows in a franchise in an effort to include as much as possible. These will have preliminaries built-into their polls on the first round. This is how it works: 1. all of the songs will go into a poll together against one other show; 2. the COMBINED votes for those songs will determine which show wins that poll; 3. only the top voted song for that show/franchise will move on, if the show has won the poll. (If you are confused it will make more sense when we start, I promise!)

The 100

30 Rock

9-1-1*

The Addams Family

Adventure Time*

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

All That

The Amazing World of Gumball

American Dragon: Jake Long

Animaniacs

Arcane: League of Legends

Arrested Development

Arthur

Assassination Classroom*

Austin & Ally

The Backyardigans

Barney & Friends

Barry

Batman*

Bear in the Big Blue House

Ben 10*

Better Call Saul

Beverly Hills, 90210

The Big Bang Theory

Big Time Rush

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Black Sails

Bluey

Bob the Builder

Bob's Burgers

BoJack Horseman

Bones

Boy Meets World

The Brady Bunch

Breaking Bad

Bridgerton

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Buffy the Vampire Slayer*

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Charmed

Cheers

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Choo Choo Soul

Code Lyoko

Codename: Kids Next Door

Cold Case

Community

Cory in the House

Cowboy Bebop

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*

Criminal Minds

CSI*

Cyberchase

Danny Phantom

Daredevil

Dawson's Creek

Death Note*

Desperate Housewives

Detective Conan

Dexter

Dexter's Laboratory

Diff'rent Strokes

Digimon*

Doctor Who*

Dora the Explorer

Downton Abbey

Dragon Ball*

Dragon Tales

Drake & Josh

Ducktales*

ER

Ever After High

The Fairly OddParents

Firefly

The Flintstones

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Fraggle Rock

Frasier

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Friends

Fringe

Full House

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood*

Futurama

Game of Thrones

George Lopez

George of the Jungle

Gilmore Girls

Glee

The Golden Girls

Good Omens

Gravity Falls

Grey's Anatomy

H2O: Just Add Water

Hannah Montana

Hannibal

Happy Days

Hawaii Five-0*

His Dark Materials

Horrible Histories

House, M.D.

How I Met Your Mother

How It's Made

Hunter × Hunter

Huntik: Secrets & Seekers

I Dream of Jeannie

I Love Lucy

iCarly

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The Jeffersons

Jeopardy!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure*

Jonas

Justice League

Kim Possible

The Last of Us

Laverne & Shirley

Law & Order*

LazyTown

The Legend of Vox Machina

Leverage

Lilo & Stitch: The Series

Little Einsteins

Lizzie McGuire

Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies

The Love Boat

M*A*S*H

Mad Men

Madoka Magica*

The Magic School Bus

Malcolm in the Middle

The Mandalorian

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Merlin

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Mob Psycho 100

The Monkees

Monster High

The Muppet Show

Murder, She Wrote

Murdoch Mysteries

My Babysitter's a Vampire

My Hero Academia*

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

The Nanny

Naruto*

NCIS

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

New Girl

NFL (various network themes)*

Ninjago

The O.C.

The Office

One Day at a Time*

One Piece

Only Murders in the Building

Orange Is the New Black

Ouran High School Host Club

The Owl House

Parks and Recreation

The Partridge Family

Phil of the Future

Phineas and Ferb

Pinky and the Brain

Pippi Longstocking

Pokémon*

Power Rangers

The Powerpuff Girls

Pretty Little Liars

The Price Is Right

The Proud Family

Psych

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Reading Rainbow

Reba

Red Dwarf

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Riverdale

Rugrats

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat

Sailor Moon

Sanford and Son

Saturday Night Live

Schitt's Creek

Scooby-Doo*

Scrubs

Seinfeld

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Sesame Street

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Sherlock

The Simpsons

Smallville

Sofia the First

Sonny with a Chance

The Sopranos

Spider-Man

SpongeBob SquarePants

Star Trek (instrumental themes)*

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star vs. the Forces of Evil

Stargate*

Steven Universe

Stranger Things

Succession

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody*

Suits

Taskmaster

Ted Lasso

Teen Titans

Teen Wolf

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teletubbies

That '70s Show

That's So Raven

Theory of Love

Thomas & Friends

Tokyo Ghoul

Total Drama

Totally Spies!

Transformers*

True Blood

The Twilight Zone

Twin Peaks

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

VeggieTales

Veronica Mars

Victorious

Voltron: Legendary Defender

W.I.T.C.H.

The Walking Dead

WandaVision*

Welcome Back, Kotter

The West Wing

Westworld

What We Do in the Shadows

The White Lotus

Wild Kratts

Winx Club

The Wire*

The Witcher

Wizards of Waverly Place

Wonder Pets!

Wonder Woman

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

The X-Files

Xena: Warrior Princess

Yellowjackets

Yu-Gi-Oh!*

Yuri on Ice

Zoboomafoo

Zoey 101

[spoofymcgee]

star trek fic recs:

(i've never done this before so bear with me)

TOS:

- Spoctoria series by @waldorph and @screamlet

WC: 78k / Rating: Explicit / Status: Complete / Relationship: Spirk, Spock & Sybok, Spock & T'pring / Genre: Longform Plot, Falling in Love, Royalty AU

Summary: "Spock is heir to the Federation throne, Jim is Prince of America because his fucking brother abdicated, and the Klingons are on the verge of blowing shit up--a love story."

(listen. listen. literally anything by these two authors will be the best thing you've ever read. but this series? blew my fucking mind with how good it was. something about the the way jim and spock are written, combined with the setting they're in and various bits about the universe is just so delightful. it's been three months and i still think about this series every day)

- The Longest Year series by A_Noone and Hinya_O_Elena

WC: 140k / Rating: Explicit / Status: WIP / Relationship: McSpirk / Genre: Longform Plot, TOS Structure, Self-discovery

Summary: "Leonard McCoy has been through some shit. A terrible divorce, losing his kid, and terrifying life-long spooky weirdness due to having his psionic potential catalyzed by God-Knows-What in high school. When his best friend, James Kirk, finally took command of the Enterprise, things seemed to be looking up -- right up until that damnable green blooded hobgoblin got involved.

This is the Second Year of the Five Year Mission as it could have gone, with angsty romance, harrowing adventures, metaphysical revelations, and McCoy discovering that James Kirk and Spock care more about him that he'll ever know."

(this is one of my favorite hidden gems. it manages to pull of first person pov so excellently, it's dry and witty and funny, the plot is constructed really well)

- To Catch a Fish by Darksknight

WC: 15k / Rating: Mature / Status: Complete / Relationship: Spirk / Genre: Crack, Humor, Fluff

Summary: "Spock’s realized that while he treasures his deep friendship with Jim, he’s come to desire more. He sets out to tell Jim of his feelings, but finds the task... considerably more difficult than he'd first imagined it to be."

(spock is in love with jim. all that's left is to tell him. unfortunately, jim's having a little bit of trouble getting that through his head, so spock has to figure out how to say it in human terms. it's. it's great, go read it. spock catches him two fish and literally sweeps him off his feet, sarek quotes spice girls, and. just read it, please. i promise you won't regret it)

- love is an affliction by WerewolvesAreReal

WC: 5k / Rating: Teen / Status: Complete / Relationship: Spirk, McSpirk / Genre: Crack, Humor

Summary: "“A condition – you're sick? With spontaneous flowers? How do I get rid of them?”

“You do not."

(Or: Hanahaki disease is not fatal, but it is exclusive to Vulcans. Honestly, death would be more dignified.)"

(DROP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND GO READ THIS RIGHT NOW. it's the funniest fucking fic on the entire internet, and i love it with a passion. all of the author's stuff is excellent, especially their fic Ni'Var, but this one lives rent free in my head and i love it beyond words)

- Compromises (The Bridge Between) by purpleeyesandbowties

WC: 30k / Rating: Teen / Status: Complete / Relationship: Spock & OC, Spirk / Genre: Character Study, Coming of Age, Self-discovery

Summary: "There were only three Vulcans at Starfleet Academy. One was a professor. The other was a third year science student, finishing up two credits before a mid-year graduation. The last was T'rin. There had been other Vulcans in the past, but all had graduated before T'rin enrolled. They were all Science track. T'rin was Command track. Her advisor, S'chn T’gai Spock, recommended she enroll in Introduction to Vulcan: Language, History, and Culture, co-taught by himself and a Professor James Kirk.

In which there are cats, classes, compromises, and an unacceptable number of highly emotional conversations.

(i have a fuckin huge soft spot for old married spirk, but that aside, t'rin is the best y'all. i love her so much. she's so cool)

AOS:

- Graduate Vulcan For Fun And Profit by @lazulisong

WC: 15k / Rating: Teen / Status: Complete / Relationship: Jim & and OC, Spirk / Genre: Humor, Character Study

Summary: "It really does take a village to raise a Jim.

The members of the Kelvin's crew watch over Jim as much as he lets them."

(hhhhh this fic made me feel so many things. the characters are written so well and the structure of the writing is so cool. everything by lazulisong is excellent but this fic in particular is my favorite)

- Sacra Familiae series by Joules Mer

WC: 22k / Rating: Teen / Status: Complete / Relationship: McKirk, Pike/Boyce / Genre: Character Study, Relationship Study, Slice of Life, Recovery

Summary: "It makes the skin on the back of his neck prickle— the strangeness of it. There’s a lassitude in his limbs and a tightness in his chest and as a confused shock of jumbled memories and pain come back Chris hears a heart monitor give a little blip of alarm and can’t help but wonder, Am I dead?"

(this series contains some of my favorite pile fics ever. it manages to capture his character so well and the relationships in it feel so fleshed out despite the fact that it's fairly short as a series. it's sweet and a little sad and it made me cry a bit)

- hexagons impromptu trek week 2k21 series by @hexagon

WC: 23k / Rating: Teen / Status: Complete / Relationship: Pike & Kirk, QPL McKirk / Genre: Character Study, Slice of Life

Summary: “"You’ve been so brave, James,” he whispers, and Jim lets out the slightest exhale of shock, his mouth falling open.

or: captaincies and self-doubts and chris finally getting to tell jim he's proud of him"

(this is, hands down, my favorite st slice of life fic. no contest. the dynamic between pike and jim is. indescribable, but it did make me cry quite a bit. the relationship between mccoy and kirk is happy dance worthy, and i don't say that lightly)

- Everything That Disappears by @sagesiren

WC: 20k / Rating: M / Status: Complete / Relationship: McSpirk / Genre: Character Study, Relationship Study, Slice of Life, Falling in Love

Summary: "Jim dropped his duffel and grinned at him. “You’re still calling me ‘kid,’ even though you have a kid now? I love the hair, by the way,” he said, coming over and running a hand through it before turning, smiling down at Jo in the high chair. “This her?”

“No, she’s the decoy kid. I’m hiding the other toddler somewhere else,” Leonard said, rolling his eyes at him.

Or, the one where Leonard is fresh out of gender affirmation surgery, given custody of the daughter he didn't know he had, and in an open relationship with Jim where they don't tell each other anything about their partners."

(ahhhh!!! this fic. just. all of it. jo is such a realistic baby, which is a weird holdup, but i hate when kids are talking dolls instead of the tiny little dumpster fires they are in real life. bones is written delightfully well, the twist at the end is so good and all around an excellent fic)

- VaYehi series by @trekkele

WC: 10k / Rating: Gen / Status: Complete / Relationship: Jim & the bridge crew, Jim & Spock / Genre: Character Study, Slice of Life

Summary: "Every starship Captain has their quirks.

This is less about Kirks, and more about what lies at the heart of it.

In which Jim has his secrets, McCoy is overprotective, the crew learns something new, and Spock is curious. Of course he is."

(these are my absolute favorite jewish trek fics ever. the bridge scene in the first one lives rent free in my head and i actually spent all of wednesday afternoon drawing it instead of studying for midterms. i love the examination of jim's relationship with his judiasm–how he's proud of it but scared of people knowing. it really touched a thread in my heart)

[u2fangirlie-blog]

I made a thing! First real attempt at sharing a meme with a group.

Recently, I started watching Star Trek: Lower Decks. I unashamedly love it. As a lapsed Star Trek fan, it helped bring me back into the fold. I started following the Facebook "gronp" Star Trek Shitposting. I had an idea to make a meme about the Caitian characters M'Ress, from Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Doctor T'Ana, from Lower Decks. Here's the original post and photo.

I made a thing. New OC. What would Caitians think about Earth cats? Are polydactyl cats from outer space?

22 Sept. 2023 on Facebook group Star Trek Shitposting

Within the first hour, it had 100 likes and 75 comments. This went on for hours! I felt endorphins and happiness! I liked and replied directly to comments to encourage participation and show my appreciation for people interacting with my meme. I wrote a lot of comments! Lost track of how many comments are mine. So here's what I wrote on my timeline:

OMG GUYS! In an hour, it got over 100 likes and the discussion has 75 comments. I'm a Star Trek Shitite! Everybody wants to talk about Star Trek and cats! All the science nerds and weirdoes are commenting! Look, Mom! I'm not the only damn weirdo!

22 Sept. 2023 on Facebook.

Then the next morning I realized I needed to create an alternate text description of the image for people using text-to-speech readers, so I wrote one.

Image description: Two pictures. Right Panel is M'Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series at her communications station on the bridge of the Enterprise. Left panel is Doctor T'Ana from Star Trek: Lower Decks in sickbay treating a patient on the Cerritos. Caption across the top. "Xenobiology Report on Caitian Anatomy: Polydactyl Traits." Caption above left panel: "Communications Officer Lieutenant M'Ress: 3 fingers, 1 thumb." Caption above right panel: "Chief Medical Officer Commander Doctor T'Ana: 4 fingers, 1 thumb."

23 Sept. 2023 on Facebook group Star Trek Shitposting

After 24 hours of trying to keep up with responses and comments, and boring my parents with talking excitedly about how freaking cool it is to find a group weirdoes who think about the same stuff, I made another post on my timeline.

STSP meme 24 Hours - 235 likes. 214 comments. My favorite comment so far. "Y'all are WAY overthinking this." No, my dude, we are not way over thinking it. My response: "Nonsense! I've been thinking about this for years. It's about time people started talking about cartoon science fiction feline species' fingers. LOL!" Everyone is having a good time. No one is fighting. So far people shared photos of their polydactyl cats.

The nerds have dug into deep lore in what is or is not canon for felinid species in Star Trek and depictions of Caitains and Kzinti in other ST books and media. We've discussed seafaring history of 6-toed Earth cats, and the frequency of polydactylism in big cats and domestic cats. Based on sex characteristics of lions, does that make M'Ress trans because she has a male lion's mane? That's valid headcanon! What advantages do extra toes provide for cats? Are they more stable and agile?

Are the differences between M'Ress's and T'Ana's fingers an oversight by the artist (working on 2 different shows 50 years apart) or was it a deliberate choice by the Lower Decks artist? A lot of people are talking about different animation styles depicitng people with 3 fingers and a thumb (as seen in Disney cartoons and The Simpson and Futurama) as opposed to 4 fingers and a thumb, which is artistically messy. The nerds confirmed that all the main characters in Star Trek: The Animated series, where M'Ress originated, are drawn with 4 fingers and a thumb. So the Caitian hand with 3 fingers and a thumb was an artistic choice. What explains the anatomical differences among Caitians? Living on different continents? Alternate universes? Or natural diversity within a species? Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

Other differences between M'Ress and T'Ana people pointed out: Their feet. As one person wrote "digitigrade caitians vs. plantigrade caitians and their use of shoes." M'Ress walks on her toes and does not wear shoes. T'Ana walks flat-footed and wears shoes. Someone else pointed out that footwear would be a requirement for a medical officer. Their pupils: Someone pointed out that M'Ress's pupils are vertical slits, where T'Ana's pupils are round but can change into vertical slits. My final thought of the night is on the evolution of Caitain hands and whether or not the fingers and palms have hairless textured skin to better manipulate tools or if they adapted tools for hairy fingers. I need to know!

Next time we'll talk about the number and position of Caitian mammary glands. Stay tuned for future content!

23 Sept. 2023 on Facebook

[purlturtle]

2, 4, 9 for the soft asks? :)

Thanks for the asks! (list of questions)

2. what’s your feel-good movie?

I don't have one, per se - there are different things that I watch, depending on what I'm in the mood for. There's Much Ado About Nothing (although I haven't seen that one in a while, and only ever in the German dub 😅), or any of the original three Indiana Jones movies, or Austin Powers (again, haven't watched that in a long time), or Romancing The Stone, or a Star Trek movie (Undiscovered Country being my favorite but sometimes I just want something in the background and then it's Motion Picture time). More often than not, though, it's shows not movies, for example Murder She Wrote, or an English murder cozy.

4. what flower would you like to be given?

Anything non-toxic to cats, first off, and then things that smell good - I love how peonies look, for example, but I cannot stand their smell. Same for hyacinths. I love the scent of (most) roses! Right now it's tulip time and that's lovely too. I also like a nice bouquet with different colors and textures that combine well! But please don't give me potted plants; I'm not good at keeping them alive! 😅

9. what calms you down?

Unexpected answer, maybe, but: warmth. Warmth (especially close to my skin, like hot water bottles, hot showers, heating pads, heated seats in cars) has absolutely become a trigger for relaxation and de-stressing for me. I even have a heated bed! It's the next best thing to an embrace!

Also, Kopfkino/daydreaming. Sometimes I find my thoughts spiraling into unwanted directions, and then I tell my brain "if you *have* to imagine stuff, let's imagine *nice* stuff!" I have a few stories and scenarios ready for that, and it works pretty well - not always, but often enough that it is a real, solid solution. Not necessarily with the goal to write those stories, but with the express goal to feel better, get my brain to calm down, get my body to relax, all that.

Snuggles are also a good thing, as is Kraulen - there isn't really an English word for this AFAIK; it's when your partner runs their fingertips over the skin of your back, just barely this side of ticklish. The way it makes my muscles shudder and relax is also very calming. Same on my scalp! Love when someone runs their fingers through my hair.

And lastly, music. There are a few songs and classical pieces that serve to calm me down - slow, nice lyrics, nice instrumentation/arrangements, that kind of thing. Music ALWAYS makes me feel something, and some music makes me feel calm! Here's one that never fails to calm me down:

Again, thank you for asking! That was lovely!

[fundiscrimination]

To make up for missing yesterday as a treat here are all the Star Trek characters who are ace:

(dang maybe a some point they should branch out from STEM huh?)

Seven of Nine-Voyager (Not Picard)

also winning the coveted A4 spot (asexual, aromantic, agender, autistic) Seven could not catch a break, just 4 seasons people constantly telling them she's doing humanity wrong and pressuring him to conform. It could not be a more relatable character tbh.

My favorite character, always iconic

Billups-Lower Decks

Come on. seriously. we all know this man is asexual. just watch the show it's not subtle. If you disagree you're just wrong.

Odo-Deep Space Nine

Another A4, if there's one thing you can rely on Star Trek for it's the A rep (in infinite combination). (btw I also support trans masc readings of Odo, also whatever's going on between him and Quark)

Yes he has canonical romances and relationships, yes I am ignoring them they're weren't good. Odo started the show just completely baffled and a bit judgey about sex, romance, and gender roles and he should have stayed that way.

Jean Luc Picard-The Next Generation

Remember when Riker tricked him into getting a I-wanna-fuck statute on the sex planet and instead Picard went on an archeological scavenger hunt while dealing with multiple scammers and thieves?

I love him for his genuine hatred of/discomfort with children, his various hobbies, and his lack of time or interest in relationships.

I apologize for finding Q's stalking and sexual harassment of him funny.

Data-The Next Generation

Honestly I'm just going to point In Theory (4.25). The most annoying thing is the show trying to act like it proves Data doesn't have human feelings. When we all know he has friends he cares about. He's close with various members of the crew including Troi and Geordi. He gave Keiko away at her wedding. And look at that picture, that's Spot and Data loves her very much.

In summary, Data doesn't need to want sex or romance to "be human" or "have feelings". He's fine with friends, and his cat, and his autisum.

Tendi-Lower Decks

Because I want her to be.

Ok, I do think it'd be fun to explore an asexual Orion and validate her close relationship with Rutherford as important AND platonic. And we need more femme-presenting/assumed ace (coded) characters on Star Trek. And it'd be really cool to have 2 ace characters on a show.

Also cause I want her to be.

Spock-Star Trek

Did you think I forgot him? The original? The blueprint?

Now, obvious sidenote, I believe in the premise and it's very embarrassing of Star Trek to keep avoiding confirming it, and also I just think Kirk/Spock/McCoy is the ideal dynamic and basically what's already going on. And maybe in either of this ships mentioned, they fucking nasty (or whatever)

However, none of that prevents Spock from being asexual. Which he is.

Please feel free to share your other Star Trek Ace headcannons with me

If you disagree or feel offended by anything on this list please feel free keep that shit to yourself I don't care

[passionat3]

hi everyone! i haven't made an introduction in a decade. here we go!

arjun (23 he/they dk en/da/fr/mr/eo). party-dedicated communist and carpentry apprentice.

things I like:

- communism. I'm not just saying it when I mean that I believe with all my heart in solidarity bringing a better world.

- star wars, esp prequel/tcw and original trilogy. i like most of it other than the sequels though! bo-katan and obikin are my favourites <3

- star trek, tos/tng/ds9 especially. but i love all of it! enterprise apologist, julian bashir, miles o'brien, kira nerys and jadzia dax lover. all combinations of mcspirk also shipped here!

- babylon 5, ivanova saving my life every day

- big stardew valley player, especially modded! huge east scarp fan. would die for eloise

- also a huge magic the gathering player (unfortunately). will look at your edh decks any time

- not a huge fallout player right this moment but i would die for dogmeat

- reading! I love star wars books and comics but also love sci-fi fantasy literary fiction and occasional nonfiction! some books i've read lately that I loved were becky chambers' wayfarers series, this is how you lose the time war, and uprooted. one of my favourite comics in the world is buuza!!! by shazleen khan (can be found on tapas!)

- writing as well, I write a bit (ao3 ilnyarienici) but most of it is poetry in the notes app of my phone. I love poetry in general as well <3

- art, drawing, painting, building. I love drawing buildings in school and fanart and cute animal paintings, literally all art keeps me alive. art reflecting the human soul and also just nice art. and to me building a home that will last more lifetimes than I can imagine is art too :)

- animals and nature, I love nature and animals especially my two cats and sweet cows running onto the grass in the spring and elephants thriving in the wild jungle and sweet bunnies in sanctuaries :)

[beammeupbroadway]

Getting to know y’all

Tagged by the lovely @fereldanwench , thank you!! ❤️

Nickname: Ra, Rae, Rarby

Sign: Cancer

Last Google Search: Sims 4 Secret Cave because I’m in too deep right now and sims is like crack

Song stuck in my head: K.Flay - Blood in the Cut

Sleep: 5/6 AM - 1/2 PM because I’m a gremlin that functions on EST

Wearing: Fox Pajamas for the second day in a row because im sick and perishing

Favourite Song: changes all the time, currently vibing to Franz Ferdinand - Love and Destroy, but all time favourite is Rufus Wainwright’s Hallelujah

Favourite Instrument: it’s gotta be the cello, but I’ll always have a soft spot for the violin and piano

Aesthetic: ideal aesthetic? A combination of long flowing dresses and sparkly headbands, and knee high boots and leather skirt and jacket, somewhere in the middle. Realistically? More often than not sweats and a cropped hoodie or just an oversized T-shirt, gremlin mode

Favourite Authors: I don’t read books much anymore because OCD got me in a chokehold, but Terry Pratchett is probably my all time favourite. But if we’re going off what I actually read, then I get to name drop my favourite AO3 authors because y’all work harder than most published authors. Ruruie (my beloved), Setaflow, Heartofsnark, SeraphFighter, Glitchinginthegarden, Nightcxty, Silkspectre, and a pile more I would probably never stop listing, that’s basically my fandom essentials list and I love y’all

Favourite Colour: pink, sage green, soft blues

Favourite animal sound: owls hooting, and my cat chirping at me sounding like she’s dying because she hasn’t had attention for five seconds

Last Song: Peaches - Search and Destroy (I love Iggy but this cover is the best version)

Last Series: I’m always in the middle of a series of Star Trek, currently watching the new Picard which is surprisingly really fun, before that probably House of the Dragon

Random: overhead lights are cursed and I would personally remove every single one if I could, I need multiple gentler light sources around the room, preferably with a theme (currently have a Star Trek rock that lights up, star fairy lights, and vine lights)

Tagging @skippygiraffee @setaflow @trashcatsnark @ctrl-altiera-delete @clusterfxckedbysirens and anyone else who wants to ❤️

[ideasatemynights]

15 Questions for 15 Mutuals

I was tagged by the wonderful @dakotawritesif (check out their games!!) and forgot to check the notification until now because it’s been one of those weeks

1. Are you named after anyone?

No, my parents just happened to find my name in a book of old Welsh baby names, but I was almost named Nerys after Kira Nerys from Star Trek: Deep Space 9!

2. When was the last time you cried?

I don't cry very much, so I think the last time was a couple months ago?? My emotions were feeling really pent up, so to purposefully make myself cry, I put on the Smiths, laid face down on my bed, and sobbed. I honestly felt really really good afterwards, so I wish I could cry more often!

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, though I do regularly confuse people by referring to my cats as my twin sons. I do want to adopt kids from foster care someday though!

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Oh yeah definitely. Combine that with the fact that I tend to be very deadpan about most things and my regular voice sounds very sarcastic and I've uhhhhh accidentally mislead people a lot before.

5. What sports have you played?

I've played pick up games of most things, but formally I've done archery, horseback riding, and fencing, all of which I'm good at it, and cross country and swimming, both of which I was exceptionally slow at. I also almost joined varsity bowling in HS, but I couldn't make the time commitment because of marching band.

6. What's the first thing you notice about someone?

Probably just their general vibes?? Like do they seem kind, approachable, etc. Physically though, I definitely notice people's hair first.

7. Eye color?

Gray!

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Probably a mix of both? My favorite stories are ones where things get really dark and kind of fucked up, but because people care about each other and are willing to put in the effort to make things better, they manage to earn their happy ending.

9. Any special talents?

I'm not really sure what qualifies as a special talent, but I can fit my entire fist in my mouth?? I've also been told I have an unusually good memory, though I'm not sure that's really a talent.

10. Where were you born?

I was born in Ohio in the US (yes, I am corn boy 😔)

11. What are your hobbies?

I like reading and writing a lot, I play video games with my sister, I draw pretty regularly even though I'm not any good at it, and I really like going down random research rabbit holes!

12. Do you have any pets?

Yep, I have my two cats, Bingo and Bongo! They're a bonded pair from the same litter and absolutely act like human terrible twins. I also live with my sister and she has a cat too!

13. How tall are you?

5′4″!

14. Favorite subject in school?

It really depended on the year because despite loving learning, I hated school so much. I consistently liked band though and I had some good years in English and History! I also really liked my forensic science and neuropsychology classes even if the uhhhh teachers weren't amazing.

15. Dream job?

My dream job is becoming a xeno-anthropologist, but given that that's literally only possible in dreams, I would love to become some kind of storyteller (author, scriptwriter, game dev, etc) eventually!

[acertainmoshke]

Hello, your w.i.p.s all sound interesting! Hope you don't mind questions! I love worldbuilding and To Die Among the Stars has really caught my attention. It sounds like a sci fi/found family type of story. Do you know why the first FTL test was a disaster? I'm hoping they tested it remotely/without humans before testing it with humans. Judging by your use of “mental wellness centers” I'm guessing this isn't a particularly nice future for some people. So probably not. Was the new crew briefed on why the first one failed, to try and avoid the same mistakes? Have they tested FTL on sentient androids yet or are they like Data from Star Trek, rare and highly experimental? Why did they choose to combine cat and human DNA to get Peppermint? (Not judging, I'd love to read something with a catgirl in space!) Have they tried merging other species with humans before? Oh noo, have they tried bringing back dinosaurs and mammoths? XD Has Space Jurassic Park happened? Sorry for all of the questions, your story blurb there just really intrigued me! I couldn't help myself.

Please please please don’t be sorry!! I love questions and talking about worldbuilding. So, in order:

1. The first test was a decade before the story and it was a huge disaster in the news because it was manned. It wasn’t technically the first test, though. They knew the technology worked and had run small scale tests around the solar system in tiny unmanned crafts. However, putting it together into a system that would work long-distance was too expensive at the time to plan for very many tests. They tested each part but not everything working together. Several trained astronauts and scientists were killed. It has been a while, so things are less expensive now and have been improved. However, this one is manned so they have the data on how people physically and psychologically react to FTL. I don’t want to be too spoilery but…it’s still not perfect.

2. The new crew did have a few weeks of training, much of it on the reports they’re expected to prepare, but also some cursory knowledge of ship upkeep and planetary life should they get that far—for liability reasons, mostly.

3. Both Void and Peppermint are dubiously legal experiments. Void is arguably the first provably sentient android and was kept quiet because they were unable to repeat their success. Also, important to note, unlike Data it doesn’t look human at all. It was like the 30th test and they were running short on funds, so it’s housed in a clunky metal body and honestly is a bit goofy looking.

4. Peppermint is…ok, meta explanation is I wanted an excuse to have a catgirl in space. But this type of genetic experimentation is banned because of eugenics (cruel, futuristic society still has some standards). So January, the scientist who designed both of them, had to keep them quiet too. Nominally, the point was to create a human enhanced with animal abilities, and they tried a bunch of different types. Peppermint was the only one to survive past infancy, and while they are basically a person with cat traits, there are downsides that make it currently unmarketable, either for military or private sector uses. January doesn’t care, she is kind of a mad scientist who does things to see if she can. Technically Void and Peppermint belong to her, so she brought them along to space. They’re the only ones who didn’t actually volunteer.

5. Ok space Jurassic Park has definitely happened NOW. I honestly didn’t consider a lot of the worldbuilding for this story outside of technology and living conditions (I did the least planning for it yet somehow I’m a third of the way through and have barely started the others). But yes this is a world where the justice system is like now but worse, same with healthcare and other factors of life for regular people. But if billionaires in real life can fund random space travel, rich people in my story have definitely funded extinct genetic experiments (which are legal because they aren’t on people). There have definitely been incidents, both with exotic extinct pets and with extinction zoo experiences, but on a less centralized scale than in Jurassic Park.

Thank you so much for this ask and feel free to send more if you have thoughts or questions! I love being made to actually think about the logic of my world!

[unculturedmamoswine]

I posted 2,753 times in 2022

That's 55 more posts than 2021!

33 posts created (1%)

2,720 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@athgalla

@tazmiilly

@lttrsfrmlnrrgby

@rum-and-shattered-dreams

@gaytoddanderson

I tagged 2,100 of my posts in 2022

Only 24% of my posts had no tags

#gravity falls - 1,017 posts

#pokémon - 128 posts

#fiddauthor - 103 posts

#warrior cats - 93 posts

#animorphs - 55 posts

#aww - 54 posts

#star trek - 43 posts

#pokemon - 41 posts

#my post - 27 posts

#i love this - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#au where everything is the same except stan and ford compress their entire life story into like 12 years so stan takes fords identity at

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Gravity falls would be 10x funnier if both stan and ford had really strong jersey accents

7 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

#4

Geographical Fancast: Lake Gravity Falls

I've been meaning to make a post about where exactly in Oregon I HC Gravity Falls to be, and while I haven't done that yet, I did decide on a good spot to 'play' the part of Lake Gravity Falls.

Let's start out with Lake GF's canonical appearance, shall we?

Towering cliffs, big waterfall, coniferous trees out the wazoo.

Two big problems with finding a real-life Oregon lake like this: we don't have a lot of cliffy lakes, and we don't have much in the way of lakes with waterfalls thundering down into them. (Distinct lack of known lake monsters as well.) Lake Billy Chinook could work, cliffs-wise. It also has an island! But it's too arid, in my opinion, to work as being believably in the thick forest that surrounds Gravity Falls.

Since I prefer to believe that Gravity Falls is more firmly ensconced in the Cascades, my pick, though somewhat imperfect, is Detroit Lake. It's much larger than LGF, and in some parts there's some pretty burned-out forest from the 2020 fires, but I think it looks pretty good!

See the full post

8 notes - Posted August 13, 2022

#3

Tonight my team won trivia because the tiebreaker was 'how many words are in moby dick?' I started to put 250k and changed it to 300k. I went the wrong way, but that didn't matter. Apparently not everybody has been trained to know how long things are by fanfiction, because the other person put 10k

10 notes - Posted April 26, 2022

#2

Hey I actually wrote something for Forduary. It's a little late, but here's week 1: FordxSleep. In my case, guest starring some Fiddauthor!

Ford pressed his mouth and nose against the soft cotton covering his borrowed pillow. It smelled pleasantly like cupboard- a warm, clean, cozy smell that he hadn’t had occasion to smell much in the last few decades. Strange how all pillowcases kept in cupboards smelled different but fell unmistakably into a pattern of satisfyingly comfy scent profiles. Eyes closed, Ford reached his hand up to scratch at his nose and run his hand through his hair. He rubbed the pads of his fingers gently against his scalp. There might, he thought, be nothing as lovely or indulgent as napping with the light of a summer evening lingering outside. He stretched, toes clenching, hip popping, and relaxed even more against the nubbly texture of the old sleeping bag loosely hugging him, tucking one arm up under his pillow.

The acute comfort of his bedding and the heat in Ford’s small tent combined to bring him swirling down into sleep, dark and rich and, anymore, hardly ever plagued by nightmares. Ford drifted peacefully in that satisfying too-warm state that can only be achieved (or enjoyed) in a nap.

The deep, silent nothing was less shattered and more gently ruffled as the air mattress under Ford wobbled and swayed him into… something. Not wakefulness, but a distant relative.

“Hmngh.” Stanford rolled toward the new weight that had come to rest, as always, on the right side of the mattress. Instead of blindly reaching out, he shifted and squirmed, inching gracelessly toward the man next to him. A hand fell on his shoulder.

“Out like a light, huh?” Fiddleford’s hand moved to Ford’s cheek, warm, warm, arguably too much so but, averaged out across the entirety of Ford’s already overwarm body, hardly a change at all.

“How long?” Ford asked, turning his face toward the hand on his cheek, sliding his own hand down Fiddleford’s thigh, feeling the rough-soft denim over Fidds’s thin leg.

“Only took me about twenty minutes to get outta the kitchen after you ditched me. Sherman’s a nice feller, but maybe just a bit too interested in makin’ it clear to me that he ain’t bothered we’re shackin’ up on his lawn.”

“Mmm.” Fiddleford slunk down against the now-somewhat-overinflated-feeling mattress.

“Think he feels like he shouldn’t make us two old kooks sleep outside like a coupla smelly old dogs, but I told him he’s keepin’ plenty of guests inside the house and I’m less likely to blow it to kingdom come if I’m on the outside of it.” Fiddleford cackled, shifting under Ford’s hand until Ford could grab ahold and tug Fiddleford in.

“Y’always get so handsy when you’re sleepin’. Tell you what, it’s how I knew you were sweet on me in college.” Ford knew that already. He’s known that since Fiddleford brought it up about two weeks after their fumbling, furtive first kiss.

He drew Fiddleford back into the open sleeping bag like a colossal squid drawing a young sperm whale into the deep. His arms tightened around his prey, sighing at the feeling of Fiddleford’s bony shoulder blades against his arms, his bald head under Ford’s chin. His knees pressed against Ford’s thighs- it wasn’t objectively comfortable; more theoretically comfortable. Comforting, perhaps, to have Fidds there and real with him, to be within shouting distance of many people who cared for Ford or who, at the very least, had no reason to want him dead. Summer in his home dimension. Safe. Warm.

“Anyway,” Fidds continued, murmuring into Ford’s shirt. Ford tried to reel his mind back in, to listen to whatever it was Fiddleford was talking about. “I pointed out that we both spent thirty years without no good place to sleep and you’ve been livin’ on a boat for a year on top of that. But if I was wantin’ to convince him that we’re not too good for an air mattress I should’a just come in here and snapped a picture of you, huh? Ya looked like an ad for air mattresses all snuggly in here.” Ford floundered slightly, trying to grasp hold of a response to whatever it was Fiddleford was saying. “...Mm? What?”

Fidds laughed again. He kept talking, something teasing and lighthearted. Typical Fiddleford. Then: “You’re no use.” He patted Ford’s side. “Don’t worry yourself over it.”

Ford sighed in time with the soft shhh of a car creeping by on Shermie’s street. A scrub jay called out obnoxiously from somewhere nearby. Other, gentler sounds- a leaf drifting against the tent’s roof, a cricket’s chirp, a heavily muffled peal of laughter from inside the house- filtered into Ford’s mind and out again, fading gradually into nothingness.

34 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay @gravitasfalls's great post about Ford and Filbrick has got me wanting to make a post about how Ford's alienation from his family is a key part of how Stan was able to take over Ford's life. Stan mentions that he lied to Dipper and Mabel's parents about his identity, and we know he must have also fooled Shermie, since he and Stan were both present at Dipper and Mabel's birth. And like... there's no way that works at all unless Ford was already so divorced from his family that they basically didn't even know him.

In Journal 3, Ford mentions Stan more than he mentions his parents, and hasn't even seen Stan in over a decade. There's no mention of talking to Caryn and Filbrick recently, no particular implication that they know what he's researching or how they feel about it. I think their general lack of interest in Ford's interests, plus Filbrick's obvious belief that money=success, plus Ford's 'independence at all costs' mentality combined to make Ford into one of those adults who has little to no relationship with his parents. Doesn't call, doesn't write, and neither do they.

(It makes me wonder what it must have been like for Stan to assume the role of Ford. Did he expect that he'd suddenly be called upon to play the favorite child and field calls from his parents? What did he think when that never happened? Did he even ever see them again? Did they even call to check up on him after "Stanley" "died"? Did he have to be the one to call and tell them?)

As far as Shermie is concerned, while I love older brother Shermie, I really think we're supposed to read Shermie as being the baby. So with that reading, it wouldn't surprise me if Ford and Shermie barely ever even met until Stan-as-Ford re-entered his life. And it's possible that the only interaction Stan and Shermie had before that was when Shermie was a baby before Stan got kicked out, so Stan didn't even have to try to pretend to be Ford, personality-wise, because Shermie didn't even know what his dead brother Stan was like, or what his weird scientist(?) brother Ford was like.

Dipper and Mabel's dad would have not been born yet when Ford went through the portal, so Ford never met him, that's an easy one to make sense of.

It's just so weird and sad that Ford was so totally alone in the world that he could disappear and be replaced by a guy who, let's face it, doesn't try that hard to impersonate him. All Stan does is go by Ford's name, he doesn't pretend to be into science (as evidenced by the fact that neither Dipper nor Mabel ever mentions knowing that 'Stan' went to college and used to be a scientist), he doesn't do a Ford voice, he doesn't have six fingers (and nobody thinks that's weird)... I know that part of that is the whole point of Ford's character (he doesn't value his family or other relationships and he's self-obsessed) but it's just so creepy and sad to imagine a person being so replaceable and pulling so far away from his family that they don't recognize him or miss him when he's gone.

38 notes - Posted April 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[moonmoonthecrabking]

Each member of the choirs favourite movie and why

hi thank you for this ask lovely!!!!

i know that some of them were mentioned in the text, so i'll be giving them an extra one. also i personally watch and know of more lighthearted stuff, so that's why they might sorta skew that way :)

mischa: obligatory "saw v" (saw vi) mention, but beyond he also likes zombieland and shaun of the dead. i see him really enjoying action horror comedies that have some heart behind them. has everything.

constance: she loves non-traditional animation and designs, the creativity that flows through that and the honesty behind that storytelling that isn't really the same in a disney movie (sure, she loves disney and pixar, but they aren't her top tier). she says "she's a lyrics person, not a melody person", so i imagine her preferring expression through beautiful visuals over story. think the vincent van gogh movie made through oil paintings, the book of life, coraline. coraline is the total package for her. while terrifying for her, it grounds her in that sure, she can get angry at her family, but she is so so lucky that they aren't spiders that want to eat her.

noel: a silent movie bitch, as we know from canon, who loves lola (1961). but if the choir forces him to go with something in english, he opts for ratatouille (i'm really sad i can't use this as a virgil joke btw). the core message of "anyone can cook" is so inspiring to him. of course, he adapts it to "anyone can be that fucked up girl". he can exist in that dingy world, he can make his way there and pick up men in alleyways behind the restaurant. the french setting and the distance between child and parent resonate with him (sure, his mother loves him, but he never feels understood by her).

ocean: my mind simply manifested the black cauldron. mischa's adoptive parents had a bunch of old disney vhs tapes (bc they were expecting someone 15 years younger), and she watched all of them. eilonwy is a decisive and knowledgable character ocean can project onto, and when she wants (or is forced) to unwind, high fantasy is a great genre for that which doesn't remind her of all the stuff she has to do. she does hate the kissing part, but finds comfort in the fact that eilonwy can find another princess to fall in love with later on down the track.

ricky: definitely a star trek fan, leading to heated discussions with noel about star wars vs star trek over google docs. but their favourite of all time? the rocky horror picture show. it's chaotic and sexy and scifi and this messy combination of genres that they absolutely fall in love with. i think that they do love music and musicals, and the horror comedy aspect just enhances it for them and every time they watch it, they feel like they're levelling up. that being said, 9/10 not enough cats.

penny/jane: i really want to channel menace!penny and say sausage party, but i do have the slighest amount of dignity remaining. she seems like a monty python and the holy grail fan, going back to the classics for her comedy and one that's decently unhinged. she likes some newer stuff, naturally, but i think a lot of other things can't give her the balance of making her cry with laughter while not trying too hard.

again, thank you for the ask, i had a blast considering this!!!

[discotreque]

Disco 4.07: ...But to Connect

Well, that was a terrible episode... JUST KIDDING LOL, I LOVED THIS ONE TOO.

Look, there’s plenty of bad-faith criticism of Discovery out there, and sadly too many good-faith bad takes, and way too much boring pissbaby whining—but there are also plenty of valid complaints to make about this show, and I’ve been making plenty of them myself, on this very blog, for three-and-a-half seasons.

The—let’s say “uneven”—quality to date isn’t exactly a surprise, given its clusterfuck of a production history; the well-documented turmoil and turnover in the writer’s room has had an obvious and undeniable impact on the quality of the narrative. (You could even say they’ve had a long road, getting from there to here.)

Everything about this show—the direction, production design, performances, editing, VFX, music—has always been better than the scripts, but it’s not like the scripts were entirely without potential. In fact, the sheer amount of unrealized potential has always been the most frustrating thing to me about Star Trek: Discovery.

Well, I guess I have to find a new most-frustrating thing (and experto credite, I will), because holy fucking shit, y’all… this is what I’ve been saying Disco could be. It’s still not flawless—and they’ve apparently ditched subtlety as thoroughly as they ditched the 23rd century—but I do. not. care. I’m getting one thousand percent more of what I want from this season than I got from the last three seasons combined, and don’t get me wrong—I liked Season 2, and I really liked Season 3—but Season 4 feels like a completely different show. A much, much, much better show.

Buckle up for mid-season spoilers:

Sorry Michael, but my cat Nora wouldn’t fuck with that little holo-toy either—based on her reaction to laser pointers, she needs something she can sink her teeth into—literally—once she catches it. If she can’t pretend to sever its spinal cord, my picky little princess is not interested.

I guess “The Measure of a Woman” would have been too on-the-nose as a title for this episode? Jokes aside, I like how they seem to be positioning Zora as a Data-esque character: the AI who’s a sweet, well-meaning nerd, who’s also still learning organic social graces. Also, the problem with her attaining sentience isn’t that she’ll turn malicious, or pursue her own inscrutable cyber-agenda, but that she loves the crew so much she’s making irrational choices to protect them? AAAAAAAAA 😭😭😭

It figures that Dr. Kovich—who wears glasses and a tie in the 32nd century like a full-time Ren Faire weirdo—also uses a QWERTY-ass-looking keyboard on his holo-computer.

And then he dropped his whole CV in that scene like Michelle Paradise is literally reading this blog? (Ha ha, but also… 🥺👉👈)

Cleveland Booker, I love you like only a lesbian can love a fictional man created by another lesbian, but could you please at least skim The Art of War like, once? If Species 10-C can harness the power of hypergiant stars to—I’m guessing here, based on the themes of this season—accidentally slap entire planets to pieces, there probably isn’t much you can accomplish against them with sheer brute force, my guy. I’m also thinking about the wasp nest on my garage 15 years ago that I was going to ignore until winter (out of laziness), and then one of them stung me on the ear while I was putting my bike away and those fuckers were gone by the weekend. If it’s really a five-minute solution, what’s to lose by asking “Why did you blow up my planet” real quick before trying to kick them in the nuts through subspace?

A real delight to have Phumzile Sitole back as Adira’s old boss, General Ndoye, and in a nifty little hat too! Jonathan Frakes, who directed her previous episode, said in an interview that she’d been planning to quit acting when she booked the gig, but she had such a great time on Disco that she decided to stick with it. So it’s extra wholesome to see her again! I especially loved every time someone proposed violence at the forum and the camera just cut to Ndoye silently nodding like “fuck yeah, blow stuff up.” 😂

President Rillak evaded my expectations once again when Michael suggested she had a personal stake in Earth rejoining the Federation, and instead of hiding behind a bland talking point, Rillak said quite candidly that she was both personally and politically invested. (And it turns out she’s got mommy issues too—take a drink!)

I frickin’ loved how Kovich insisted on… uh-oh, here it comes again… absolute candor when sorting out the issues between Zora and the crew. Emotional honesty: it’s not just a good idea, it’s an overarching narrative theme! (Plus: “We always mean well to ourselves, Captain. The problem is what that means for others.” Ooooof.)

I’m pretty sure that they mentioned Control more times in this episode than in the entirety of Season 3.

Gray and Adira standing up for Zora made me cry happy tears. Say what you will, but I think we’re in good hands with Gen ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha here.

The writers are lucky I don’t mind a little massive amount of didactic speechifying in my science fiction, because for real, I’ve read Peter Watts books that were less transparent about giving every single character an entire TED Talk about every relevant philosophical viewpoint on the table. (Blindsight is still my favourite vampire novel, btw.)

I’m glad nobody except Stamets in full Writer’s Devil’s Advocate mode really entertained Zora’s failsafe solution. “If you stop trusting me, just go ahead and summarily execute me” is uhhhh not really how we treat each other around here, Zora!

Just as I was starting to get sick of Tarka’s shit, he dropped his motive for attacking the DMA—stealing its power source to leave this universe entirely and find his “““friend”””—and Jesus did I ever pivot fast from “this chaotic-neutral mad scientist isn’t quite as endearing as he thinks he is” to just, like, sobbing in my kitchen. I’d say it hit me out of nowhere, but (a) the score reminded me of Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek: First Contact theme, one of my favourite pieces of Star Trek music, and (b) I’ve been 1,000 miles from the love of my life for 18 months now because of this fucking pandemic. Tarka might be the most relatable character on this show for me right now. If he’s telling the truth, I hope he gets what he wants—and if he was lying to manipulate Book, I hope Grudge eats his eyeballs.

Speaking of music, I’m pretty sure the theme that played during Paul and Michael’s overlapping speeches has appeared in this season already—I remember finding it unusual to hear so much non-diagetic piano in Star Trek—and maybe even where it changes into the main Disco theme and the woodwinds come in—but combined with the dialogue (or double monologue or whatever) this time around, it really, really hit me.

I did feel like Michael (and/or Rillak?) could have leaned harder on the point that, if first contact with Species 10-C did go awry, they could immediately deploy Tarka’s destructive solution anyway. I’m sure a lot of the pro-violence faction would have agreed that approaching 10-C with a carrot and a stick that big in their back pocket would be a logical move, right? (I know, I know, that’s not what this episode is about, but it was nagging at me the entire time.)

I guess the conflict over leaving Felix at the prison the other week was foreshadowing for Michael and Book being on opposite sides of the vote here. And once again, I’m pretty firmly on one of the sides—Michael’s, this time—but I also feel like I understand the other side, and how they got to their position both intellectually and emotionally, and even though I don’t agree with those conclusions, even though they make my heart feel heavy and sad… I can’t not respect it.

Also, shoutout to the realism of finding yourself on the other side of that kind of ideological gulf from someone you love. There are no good solutions there; the best you can do, I think, is be completely honest with each other and yourselves. And the worst part about Michael and Book’s situation is that they’re already doing that, and I think it’s already done everything it can. 💔 Additional shoutout to the face journeys of both Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala for making me feel like my heart got kicked in the stomach.

Anyway. It cracked me up when they established Zora’s personhood by locating her inner clip show device—so we know she’s at least as sentient as Riker, that’s a start. AND SHE’S JOINING STARFLEET??? THIS IS LIT-ER-AL-LY EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED, OMFGGGG 😭😭😭😭😭😭

…though I guess that means Zora doesn’t need Gray as a permanent therapist, awwww. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, and it’s a storyline that makes sense for him and Adira, but ohhhhh, that goodbye scene was bittersweet. (I’m glad they’ve figured out a way to write queer characters off this show without killing them, lmao.) And Adira knowing, before Gray even had to break it to them, what he wanted to do, and being whole-heartedly supportive and encouraging, was just unspeakably sweet. I’m like twice Adira’s age; how are they such a role model for me?

Another thing I wanted, never thought I’d get, and appear to be actually getting in spades? A genuine romance storyline with T’Rina and Saru! And according to his Ready Room interview, it was Doug Jones’s own idea? He picked up on some Sa’Rina ~vibes~ when he read the script—vibes that the writers apparently hadn’t put there on purpose—and mentioned them to Tara Rosling, who saw them too, and they played a little bit of tension in their Season 3 scenes… and then the writers picked it up for Season 4! I love that so, so much.

I seriously can’t stop laughing at the parallels between Book’s decision to go off with Tarka to destroy the DMA and—spoilers for the Netflix reboot of She-Ra, I guess?—Glimmer choosing to activate the Heart of Etheria at the end of that show’s Season 4. In both cases you have a good-hearted but impulsive character who’s suffered a profound loss and feels a responsibility to stop that from happening again… and tries to do so by unleashing a horrific and destructive power that they don’t understand and can’t control, endangering everyone’s lives and alienating their loved ones. (Also, in both cases, you have me yelling at my TV at 6:30 in the morning.)

Honestly, continuing to parallel Glimmer might be the best outcome for Book: spending the first half of Season 5 in a redemption arc apologizing to Michael (and Grudge) would be better than what feels much more likely for him right now: getting swatted out of space by Species 10-C like—well, like a wasp.

Sparkly princess feelings aside, the “installation” of the spore drive into Book’s programmable-matter interface was by far one of the coolest “oh shit, we’re in the future-future” moments that Disco 2.0 has done yet. More of that too, please. (Finally, my last @ for Book: if you don’t want people calling your ship a “floating bachelor pad,” the very least you could do is give it a NAME they could use instead.)

I wrote this about last year’s finale:

A lot of people were worried Vance was going to turn out to be evil, but I was more worried he was going to end up making a heroic sacrifice for (and/or inspired by) the Disco crew—and he sort of does, but it’s not his life he sacrifices, it’s peace with the Emerald Chain. If the only path to “survival” is as the fraudulently legitimizing façade of benevolence over a corrupt, capitalistic criminal empire, well… that’s the destruction of everything the Federation has ever stood for anyway.

And that’s, by my count, Star Trek: Discovery’s third consecutive season-ending reminder that our principles and ideals, our better natures, must inform every decision we make—every single one, in war and in peace—because a victory that costs you the ability to look at yourself in the mirror isn’t going to feel like a victory at all.

Well. Not only do they seem to be going 4-for-4 on this (profoundly important and perennially relevant) theme, this year they didn’t even wait for the season finale to have Michael Burnham make a big speech about it.

Does that put the back half of this season in uncharted thematic territory? I guess we have to wait five weeks (ughhhhh) to find out. But according to the trailer I saw after the credits, we’ll at least get to see Michael Burnham in some kind of civilian setting tossing around gambling chips like a total fucking badass… so who knows, it might even be worth the wait.

[bearsinpotatosacks]

I saw a post about the star trek crew all living together and I took that idea, as well as my multishipping heart, to make an AU where the crew all live in a polyamorous household so here we go:

In the beginning, there were only 3 couples...

McKirk, Spuhura and Benkaru

Ben and Hikaru live in a house of their own but visit a lot

And Sulu has a place in their futuristic fold out sofa if he ever needs space from Ben, which he probably does since he went from being light years away to living in the same house which must be difficult to adjust to

I'm not sure how they'd get to all living together but I think it would be after the 5 year mission but if they don't go out on any other missions straight away

There are 5 bedrooms, 2 offices in the attic, a kitchen-diner, a living room, 3 bathrooms, a garage and a greenhouse-shed in the backyard

There's Jim and Bones' room, where Spock or possibly Christine if they're feeling adventurous, sleep

There's Uhura and Spock's room where Christine or Scotty might sleep when Spock's not there

There's Scotty's room where Bones or Uhura sometimes sleep

There's Christine's room where Uhura or Bones may sleep

And Chekov's room, where only his causal flings or one night stands stay because this boy is a horny aromantic guy who is not shamed for this fact

Bones just makes sure to stock him up on protection

They also have their own spaces which, because I managed to land on the healthy relationships education side of tiktok, is very important just so a person can maintain their autonomy and have some time to themselves (doesn't matter if it's a room or a shelf the person said)

Spock has the greenhouse where he meditates surrounded by flowers that Sulu is always donating more to and helping with

Scotty has the garage where he's always tinkering and blasting weird calming sea shanties or space shanties, just a weird combination of choirs, shanties and prog rock

Uhura has her room and/or one of the offices, she likes to have a place to watch her shows in all the languages she knows and to just be herself away from everything

Jim has the living room and/or his and Bones' bedroom. This is mainly a place to workout, in barely anything but he routinely reminds everyone to be grateful he's at least wearing clothes

Chekov has his bedroom where he has a whole gaming and programming set up. The crew make sure to pull him away if it's been a few hours without a break, and bring him drinks and snacks

Bones as the kitchen where he cooks up a storm and becomes a full on Southern Belle housewife, cooking and baking and making sweet tea and singing with a "Kiss the Cook Apron" on that Jim got him

He complains but he loves it

Christine also has her room where she often becomes a cat and lazes in the sun of her window with a face mask on sound asleep

They have certain nights for people to cook, they don't trust Jim though, not since he tried to make a casserole that Pike showed him and he almost burnt the house down

Luckily there are sprinkler systems in future houses

Bones becomes a full on dad and grills whenever there's sun out

Has a bad Hawaiian shirt too, something directly out of Karl Urban's wardrobe probably

They take holiday cards as a family and celebrate all their holidays, Christian based ones, Jewish based ones, Muslim based ones, Vulcan ones and general nom denominational ones too like Federation Day and United Earth Day

They also take care around each other on sad days too

Scotty leaves a mug outside the greenhouse when it's the anniversary of Amanda's death, Uhura makes breakfast on David McCoy's death instead of Bones, Chekov works out with Jim on Pike's Death Day

If the couples have kids the house may get bigger or they might just have smaller houses that are connected so they still live pretty much together anyway

This ended sad, I didn't want it to but can you see the family stuff I want so much? Them being close and together and even more of a family. I hope you enjoyed these!