#elnor: not me though :)

[avoicefromthestars]

Star Trek: Picard Penance

[procrastinatorproject]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: La Sirena Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Laris/Zhaban (Star Trek), Agnes Jurati/Cristobal Rios (background), Laris & the Motley Crew Characters: Laris (Star Trek), Zhaban (Star Trek), Elnor (Star Trek), Soji Asha, Cristóbal Rios, Agnes Jurati, Raffi Musiker, Seven of Nine, Jean-Luc Picard, various villagers from La Barre Additional Tags: Slice of Life, Humor, Fluff, and fluffy snow, Post-Season/Series 01, Found Family, Breakfast at Château Picard, Laris is cold, Zhaban is amused, Rios is tired, and everybody else is just extremely excited about the snow

Laris doesn't like the cold. And it doesn't help that everybody seems determined to lose their minds over a bit of snow.

Happy Star Trek Winter Gift Exchange, @midgeonsmidgeon!

Thank you for your prompt! I had an absolute blast writing this! Laris and Zhaban are such brilliant characters, and Laris and Rios are absolutely hilarious together. I think I'll have to come back to Laris and Rios quite a bit in the future, their interactions were just so much fun to write!

I hope the Momulan vibes and wintery fun can make up for the delay in getting this finsihed 😅 Sorry about that, exam season has eaten my brain 🙈

But all the better to have a bit of time away with a romp through snowy Château Picard and all the found family vibes. I hope you’ll get some joy out of it as well ✨🖖⛄

And a big thank you to @startrekwintergiftexchange for organizing this fest and being so patient with all of the various delays 😅 Seriously, this event is amazing, and I really enjoyed participating! Thank you so much!

[synthville]

“Thank you, Number One.”

“You are so very welcome, Captain.”

RAFFI MUSIKER / SEVEN OF NINE - ST: PIC - S03E10

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 8.2 K Warnings: None Prompt: It's time to get back at Severus for being a constant ass... This IS a Wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. Proofread by lovely: @aremuslupinsimp

Chapter 37: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

You had retired to one of the tables alongside Remus to explain your plan. It was simple enough to execute, and it wouldn’t cause any harm. Well, as long as Ackley’s prank treats didn’t cause any harm, since your entire plan depended on those. 

 “You think it’ll work?” you asked him. 

He bit his lip, a small frown adorning his handsome features as he thought about it, about 5 seconds later he nodded, a small smile spreading on his lips. “You’re a brilliant little witch, aren’t you?” 

You beamed at his praise, standing just a bit straighter  as he said it, and leaned in just a little closer to him, cheeks brushing against each other as you went over the plan by whispering into each other’s ear. 

“Mister Lupin, Miss (Y/LN), pleasure to see you here,” a voice said from behind. You turned to your teacher with a smile. 

“Professor Slughorn, we must thank you for the invitation.” 

He nodded, “Oh no, the gratitude is mine, such a lovely presence adorning the party,” he said. “I see you’ve made an interesting choice,” he said, now turning straight to you, “How did Mister Black take it?” 

Remus looked at you from the side, seeming weary at Slughorn’s question, you simply smiled at the teacher, “Sirius is more than okay with it,” you reassured. “In fact, he did mention he wasn’t a big fan of Christmas parties.”

Slughorn raised his eyebrows and nodded, you tightened your smile, then another wizard approached Slughorn. “Ah, Roan,” he said with a smile as he pulled the young man and placed a hand on his back, having him face the two of you, “These are some of my best students,” he said pointing at both you and Remus. “Exceptional Wizards,” he praised, “Remus is clever and strong, and this young lady here is brilliant at charms and hexes, I would know, she accidentally hexed one of my kids,” he said, hailing the way you had confringoed Evan. “Very advanced spells I tell you, they would both be brilliant additions to your department,” he said. 

The man smiled, he was slightly shorter than Remus, but held his head high with a smile and a rather prideful look, not in a bad way though, Roan, reminded you a lot of Nightshade actually, that same regal look, thought his hair was a lighter brown and his skin was a lot more tan in comparison to her. He extended his hand to Remus. “Roan Elnore,” he said, “pleasure to meet you both.” Once he shook Remus’ hand, he extended it towards you. His hand was rough and strong, on the smaller side compared to your boys’ thought. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Elnore,” you responded.

“Please, call me Roan,” he said with a laugh, “Mr. Elnore is my father.” 

“Roan,” you said with a smile, you didn’t miss the way Remus stepped closer to you after that, as if protectively, or perhaps, possessively. Roan didn’t miss it either and he took a short step back, that’s when you noticed a sharp claw mark that shone from behind his ear to almost the front of his neck, it was outside of Remus’ field of vision, and you weren’t sure if Roan had purposely moved his head in such a way that’d you’d have to notice or if you had just perceived it that way. 

But the scar almost made you lean closer, it was dreadfully similar to the ones that covered Remus’ body, and to the three –now healing– marks across your arm. You almost stepped closer to try and perceive it better but held back when you realised, again, that Remus’ shoulder was almost in front of yours, impeding you from walking any closer. 

“Your department?” Remus asked.

Slughorn smiled as if he had been waiting for one of you to ask. “Ah yes, Roan here, works for the ministry, why don’t you tell them all about it while I go greet some more guests?” Slughorn said as he patted Roan on the back and moved to talk to some other students. 

Roan laughed awkwardly, “Some things never change, do they?” he said with an awkward smile, “I work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,” he said with a smile, Remus tensed and it was you who stepped closer to him this time around. 

“Oh, really?” you said, mustering a charming smile as you attempted to divert the attention from Remus, “And what do you do?” 

“I oversee the Registry of Dangerous Creatures,” he said simply. “We basically have to make sure all creatures like goblins, giants, trolls, dragons, werewolves, etc. are identified and–” 

You could feel Remus tense even further and you casually dragged your hand to his, taping your finger over his until he wrapped it around yours, you tightened it reassuringly. “Punished?” Remus offered. 

“Salazar No!” Roan answered as he shook his head, “I know some people who despise dangerous magical creatures, yes, but while they are dangerous because it’s in their nature, it doesn’t mean they’re not either provoked or without the capacity to control themselves,” he explained. “Werewolves, for example, can be extremely dangerous, but only a few times a year.”

You smiled at that, “Yeah, I agree,” you responded. “Most ‘dangerous’ magical creatures are only such a thing because we have invaded their natural habitat and provoked them.” 

“Exactly!” Roan said as he leaned onto you, clearly happy that you understood exactly what he meant. “It’s what I’ve been trying to convince the ministry of,” he explained, “It’s a tough battle, but I don’t plan on giving up.” 

“We’d both be pleased to help,” you said with a smile, now paying a closer look to his scar, it most definitely looked werewolf-infringed. 

“Roan, darling!” you heard a familiar voice approach and were slightly taken aback when you witnessed the way Seraphina wrapped her arms around the young man and pulled him into a hug. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” 

“I wanted to surprise you,” he said with a smile, looking at her with adoration. You turned to Remus and he gave you an equally confused look. 

Roan pressed a short kiss to her lips and then turned back to you, “Do you also teach this young couple? Slughorn was giving me all sorts of praises for the two of them.” 

Remus pulled his hand away from you in an instant, feeling nervous after giving the man such an impression. 

Seraphina, who had her hands on Roan’s arm turned to you, a kind of shine in her eyes you saw only when you cast the right spell on a duel, or when you got the answer to a question correct, “They’re not a couple darling,” she explained simply. “And yes, I do teach them, in fact, I’ve talked to you about her,” she said pointing at you, “She’s my star duelist.” 

“It is her?” he asked with raised eyebrows and Seraphina smiled and nodded in return, you swallowed at that, “You’re Silas’ daughter?” he asked almost in disbelief. 

You nodded in return. “And that’s Remus Lupin,” she said, emphasising his last name. 

“Blimey, you’re the son of my boss,” he said with a gasp. Remus smiled awkwardly, he had never been the son of anyone’s boss before, and while he knew his father worked at the Ministry, he didn’t know of him having many people working directly for him at the department, but he had been working there for almost as many years his own age, so in a way, it made sense.  Regardless, Remus felt like Roan was placing him on the same level as you, as if your father’s exceptional political career was equal to his own father’s. He had never felt like that before. Always failing to understand the weight on James’ or Sirius’ shoulders after coming from pureblood families. 

“You’ve met Lyall?” you said curiously, “I’ve only ever heard from him. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet him soon.”

“He’ll be delighted by such a bright young witch, surely,” Roan replied. 

“Certainly,” agreed Seraphina. 

“You are married?” you asked, looking at the two of them with a charming smile, following along the conversation and changing the focus when you noticed Remus didn’t seem too comfortable with them speaking about his father or the registry. Remus, on the other hand, was absolutely impressed with how well you were handling the conversation. It’s not that he struggled to maintain conversations, but you managed to keep the talk flowing with a rather effortless approach. 

And it wasn’t because you were particularly outgoing, but you had been to several political events with your parents, so you had kept a lot of conversations with older people before, you were awfully used to the politics, and you had developed a way to use your charm to veer conversations in whichever way you needed them to go, in this case, away from Remus and his father’s work. 

Seraphina smiled at your boldness, “Not yet darling, we decided to wait a little bit more until things were less complicated and we could make a big party with no looming danger,” she said. “Roan here has a lot of family members, and they sure would be offended if we made a party without inviting them.” 

“She says that, but it’s her family that would be really offended,” the man reproached. “And trust me, you do not want to cross the Nightshades,” he leaned a little closer. “They can be terrifying sometimes.” 

You smiled at that, giving a small look at Nightshade before nodding in agreement, yes, she was stunning, but that didn’t take away her presence, she was delightful in a rather icy way, like an ice queen that could freeze you if you did something that could upset her, and yet, you still liked her very much.  

Nightshade jokingly shoved Roan by the shoulder, it was rather interesting to see this side of her, a lot more playful and youthful in comparison to the much more stoic ballerina vibe she gave off as a teacher, it made you wonder how she might have been when she was just a student. 

You had taken the moment Roan leaned closer to pay a little more attention to his scar, and then when he was shoved by Nightshade, you noticed there was another one peeking from his long-sleeved shirt, barely a the tail of a scar, but you had seen similar ones, on Remus’ hands. 

“Are you planning anything tomorrow?” You asked the two of them. “I mean, I know it’s the last day of class and you must be rather busy with grading and such, but we were thinking of preparing a small dinner,” you said pointing at both you and Remus, “With the rest of our friends, of course. And if you’re still around, Roan, you’re more than welcome to come.” 

Remus, whose hand had at some point travelled to your arm by crossing his behind you, squeezed as if trying to remind you what day tomorrow would be, but you being so calm with stating you would have a dinner had thrown him off guard too, since obviously you had planned no such thing. You didn’t pay much mind to it, almost completely focused on Nightshade who gave you a sharp look, almost telling you she had understood exactly what you were doing while narrowing her eyes. You gave her a soft look in return, even throwing in a bit of a tight-lipped smile. 

Roan’s breath caught in his throat for only a second before he turned to you, “Oh, thank you for the invitation, but I must get back to London with Seraphina early in the morning, we still have some business in the ministry.” 

“Of course, do not worry, I’m sure we’ll get more than enough time to meet again on a different day,” you said. “Anyway, Rem and I were just about to walk over to the food table when Slughorn came over,” you explained, “would you like us to bring you something?” 

“No darling, we just ate,” Nightshade said as she sent a courteous nod to both you and Remus and started moving towards a different place. 

“It was nice to meet you guys, if you’re ever over at the ministry, I’d love to see you,” he said as he followed his girlfriend along. 

Both you and Remus walked over to the sweets table and then towards one of the corners of the room, “What was that about the party?” 

You turned to him, almost peering through your lashes before raising your head, a small smile on your lips, Remus thought he’d never seen such an angelic look on someone with a smirk before. “You didn’t see Roan’s scars, did you?” Remus tilted his head. “He had one on his neck,” you whispered, bringing your hand up to his and tracing your finger over the same area but on his skin. Remus almost shivered at your touch, your hand was cold from the drink you had grabbed at the table, and you assumed that had been the reason for the way his breath hitched on his throat and pulled your hand back. 

You then brought your hand up and traced your finger over it too, going first over the long sleeve of your dress near your upper arm and then just for a second touching your own skin. “He had another one there.” 

“Well, he works with magical creatures, dad also has a few of those,” Remus said, missing your point, and perhaps a little annoyed at the fact that you had been paying such close attention to Roan. 

“Yeah, but they didn’t look like just any scar, think of Alastor Moody, I’m sure you’ve seen at least a few pictures of him on the paper, his scars are different.” 

“How come?” 

You let your hand hover over your arm before deciding it would be a bad idea to remind Remus of the now-scarring tissue on your shoulder and decided to grab his hand instead. “They looked like this,” you said as you let your finger brush lightly over one of his scars. “The same depth, tones, tightness.” 

“Are you implying that–”

“I thought I was imagining things, but I’ve gotten pretty used to the way they look, Remus, I’ve seen them up close,” you took a deep breath, as you moved your shoulder just slightly, almost involuntarily but Remus noticed. “They were the same.” 

“So– whatever did it must have been–” 

“Like you,” you concluded. “Roan said they were only dangerous at certain points of the year. He even said he was trying to persuade the ministry. That's a pretty solid stance on werewolves compared to the rest of the people.” 

“He didn’t have as many of them,” Remus said, remembering some of the scars on his own face and the rest of his body, some you had seen, some you hadn’t. Even some already healing you had unwittingly caused the previous moon. It was silly really, how the two of you had scarred each other when you were the last people who would willingly hurt the other. 

You nodded, “Threw me off guard too,” you admitted. “But he’s older, Remus, and some time ago Nightshade admitted she knew what you were when she got hired, that she was close to Dumbledore even before she was a teacher here, and I just thought… What if he hired her because she already knew how to deal with, well you know.” 

“But the scars, it still doesn’t–” 

“That’s why I invited them to dinner.” 

“He said he had to work,” Remus said with a shrug. “He could have been telling the truth, although…” 

“You smelled his nervousness, didn’t you? I wasn’t paying attention to their answers, but rather, to their reactions. Nightshade threw me a look I know well, a warning. I think she knows I was close to figuring it out… and then there was the way Roan was holding his breath, I mean I cannot smell nervousness, not when I’m not Vixen, but I can see it. And you? Tonight especially.” 

Remus was frowning, looking at the floor and yet nowhere in particular as he bit his lip. He’s thinking, you realised. It was a look you had seen him make more than once when he was analysing situations, then he turned to you, his brown eyes could easily let you see how worried he was, “He smelled funny.” 

“You think he’d notice the same about you?” 

Remus sighed heavily, “I don’t know,” he admitted. “There’s a lot of people, I was paying close attention because-” he trailed off as if he didn’t know what exactly to say after that. 

You looked at him, now analysing the situation at hand. The way he had stepped over you protectively, and how he had been looking at Roan rather intently. Roan was handsome. Not your type of handsome but attractive nonetheless. What if Remus was attracted to him…? You almost felt your cheeks warm at the thought crossed over your head. You couldn’t have drawn a more faulty conclusion. For someone who had identified a werewolf after one simple talk, you had, so far, been terrible at realising your friend’s feelings for you. 

“You were curious,” you offered, giving Remus an easy way out, and he nodded. It was better for you to think that, than knowing that, in reality, he had actually been smelling the way you reacted to Roan. But most of all, he was trying to make sure that you still smelled like him. He almost couldn’t live without being able to feel his scent all over you and Sirius anymore. He sometimes wondered if that was the wolf, or if he was just possessive like that. More often than not it was hard for him to draw the line where Moony ended and Remus started. 

“Yeah,” he added. 

“He seems like a convenient friend to have,” you said. 

“What if he’s evil though? What if he’s with the other werewolves, like Forrester or… Greyback?” You knew what a delicate subject Greyback was to Remus, he had told you the story of how he’d ended up being a werewolf. He had told you about Lyall and his prejudice and how Greyback had escaped and then taken revenge on him by using his child. 

You placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “He wouldn’t be with Nightshade,” you said, “She’s too sharp and perceptive. You know she was offered to work with Moody but rejected being an auror in favour of coming here?”  

“Really?” 

You nodded, “Dumbledore asked her to do it, and she was thrilled to teach DADA,” you told him. “If Roan was dodgy, she would have already sent him to Azkaban.” 

“Maybe she’s blinded by love.” 

You smiled at that, “You really think someone could be blind enough not to see a deatheater?” 

Remus thought about it, if either you or Sirius were deatheaters, he for sure wouldn’t have noticed. “Would you ever suspect Sirius to be one?” 

“Of course not,” you said honestly. 

“You’re in love,” he said with a shrug. 

“You wouldn’t suspect him either, and it’s not because you’re in love with him.” If only you knew. “It’s because you know him, because he’s your friend.” 

“Maybe we’re blinded by the love we have for our friends too.” You looked at him with a smile and pushed with your shoulder just a little. “What?” 

“I think we’re passed Pissy Moony and we have Sad Moony instead.” 

He gasped, a smile playing on his lips regardless, “You think I’m saying that because of the moon?” You shrugged, mirroring his simile and raising one of your eyebrows as you did. “How would you feel if I said the same when you’re on your period?” 

You snickered at that. “Well I do get a little pissy sometimes,” you said with a shrug. 

“You’ll admit you get pissy on your period just to maintain your argument?” 

You pretended to think about it for a second and then nodded. “You know, it’s kind of nice.” 

“Getting pissy on your period?” he teased. 

You shoved him in response, “No silly, having a friend who understands,” you said. “A male friend that understands,” you clarified. He raised an eyebrow at that and you shrugged. “You’ve always been more understanding, it’s probably why Lily had a crush on you in 3rd year.” 

“She what?” Remus gaped. 

“You’re telling me she never told you? She said she did!” 

Remus thought back, and then remembered. Lily had said he liked him, in potions at some point when they were partners, but she had said it in such a casual way, Remus didn’t actually realise what she meant, he had been rather worried about other things he was discovering about himself back then, especially the kind of things that he couldn’t exactly talk about with other people. “I thought that was… I thought she meant it platonically.” 

You responded to that with a simple incredulous look. 

“I said thanks!” he said afterwards, you busted out into a laugh, looking at him as you bit your lip, he was slightly red, and looked adorable all flustered. You were looking at him fondly when you felt someone pushing you as they walked, forcing you to crash against his chest. You were a little stunned by such an unexpected fast movement and had grabbed onto his arms to keep yourself from falling, Remus had done the same to you, holding you just tight enough for you not to fall. 

You stayed in Remus’ familiar embrace for just a couple of seconds before turning your head to look at the person who had pushed you, half expecting them to say they were sorry when you noticed who it had been. Fucking prick, you thought as you saw Severus walk towards Barty with his head held haughtily high. 

You looked up at Remus, a determined look on your face he instantly identified as your need for payback. Severus had been a total prick all night and no matter how upset Lily had been with you, you were going to retaliate, and not with poisonous words this time around. You leaned back onto Remus, “You already know the plan.” 

Remus only nodded with a smile, he wondered if that was what you did on your dates with Sirius too, be all over each other and plan sneaky pranks. Of course, he did it unconsciously, and almost felt bad for even thinking of it, but if that was how it was, he thought it would be splendid.

You walked over to Johnny Ackley as he kept an eye on the Slytherins. Once you reached the boy, you gave him your charming smile, to which he responded with a quirked eyebrow, “May I help you?” 

“Indeed you may,” you responded, grin growing ever wider. “I’ve heard you’re an entrepreneur, great businessman too.” 

He smiled at your use of words to describe him, “You’ve come for a bargain?” 

“Indeed,” you replied with a smile. “Now I don’t want any Rumpelstiltskin tricks to be pulled under your sleeves. Tell me your exact price after I’ve made my request. How many of those trick treats do you have left in your tray.”

“I have only one safe one left,” he replied honestly. “But I’d give it to you for free.” 

You let out a breathy laugh at his smile, he wasn’t half bad at this game, from what you’d heard you’d expected him to be a little less capable as a businessman, but he clearly knew that was not the reason you had approached. “Good, because I need that one out of the tray before we make a deal.” 

He raised an eyebrow at that, “You cannot kill anyone with these,” he joked. 

You scoffed playfully in response, “Why exactly would you think I– Actually, never mind,” you said, and then proceeded, “you said one of those gives bad breath?” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, someone’s already taken that one,” he said with an apologetic look, “looking to get away from your date?” 

“What?! Not at all! Remus is great!” You weren’t sure why the thought of someone implying you’d want to get away from Remus had upset you so much, but you choked it up to the fact that he was your best friend and that you had to defend his honour because of it. “I’m looking to get back at someone who has been pushing people around since they got here.” 

“Ah, of course. Unfortunately, Severus didn’t want to have any of these,” he said as he pushed the tray up just a little, “I’ve offered a few times already.” 

You huffed a laugh. “Of course, but you haven’t tempted, not in a way that matters to him,” you said with a smirk, the kind of expression someone who had a plan would make, “what other things do they do?” 

Now it was his turn to smirk, and he pointed at one of the treats, “Makes your headache,” he turned his finger to a different one, “gives you the hiccups,” he hovered to another one, “makes you horny–”

“Wait, really?” you asked. 

“Want to give it a try?” he teased. 

You almost punched him. “That seemed like a terrible trick to play on someone. Could have some nasty uses. You sure you wouldn’t get expelled if they find you out?” 

“Not that horny, jeez,” he said. “Belby helped me develop some of these, they are safe and recreational.” He then hovered his pointed finger back on the tray. “Gives you a terrible stomach ache, you can only get rid of it by dancing or kissing someone. And this one–” he said pointing at one with what looked like grey scales on top, “twists all your words so you say the exact opposite of what you mean.” 

You smiled at that, instantly knowing which one would be useful for Severus and his nasty little mouth, “Green is the only one that’s good, right?” Ackley nodded in response. “And the price?” 

“A piece of your hair.” 

You frowned at that. You knew what people could do with hair, you did not want anyone going around with your face. “Hell no!” 

“Do you even know how precious it could be? I know people who would pay so much for it!” he tried to reason. “We could even split the profits.” 

“For my hair?” 

“Hey! A lot of people have a crush on the new quidditch player,” he stated. “I’m sure they’d have a kick with polyjuice and someone willing to help.”

“Ugh, gross!” You said, honestly horrified at that. 

“And people also like Sirius,” he said thoughtfully, “would you consider it cheating if someone had polyjuiced themselves onto you?” 

You looked positively scandalized by the idea, “Well of fucking course it would be!” 

Ackley shook his head as he tsked, “It’s a million-dollar idea, I’m telling you! You lack vision!” 

“You wouldn’t sell your hair if you knew they were gonna use it to satisfy some weird as fuck kink!” He gave you the kind of look that clearly said he would and you scoffed. 

“Okay, I assume Remus, Sirius and James’ hair is also off the question? What about Lily’s? Or Tom’s?” 

“Ackley, I’m not giving you the hair of any of my friends.” 

“Your loss,” he said with a shrug. In truth, Ackley did not expect you to agree to either of those requests, but he also knew he wouldn’t lose anything by trying, especially not when you had come to him for help, “If it’s not hair then… would you be willing to brew a potion for me?” 

“What potion?” 

“I overheard you talking with McGonagall after the game, I reckon she’ll give you the recipe for a contraceptive potion. Think you’ll be able to brew it?” 

Fucking hell, now it wasn’t only McGonagall who thought you and Sirius were nothing but horny teenagers. “Yeah, of course, I can brew a batch.” 

“Fantastic, they sell incredibly well,” he said with a smile. “But I lost my dealer last year.” 

“It will only be one batch though!” you added, a little more vocalised this time around, trying to make it clear. 

“Of course, of course. That’s fine though, the scarcity will make it more expensive. I’m terrible at brewing, but I’ll get you all the ingredients you need once you send me an owl with the list, does that sound fair?” 

You smiled, “Looks like you’ve got yourself a deal, Johnny.” 

He gave you a short wink and nodded at that, “And a good one indeed.” He then looked over your shoulder, at the Slytherin boys. “What’s the plan?” 

“Just show up near us and offer some treats in a few minutes, play along if necessary. Remus and I will do the heavy lifting.” 

“Easy enough,” he said with a nod and disappeared in the crowd. 

You smiled and walked back to Remus, he was a lot closer to the boys and you started a casual conversation with him, telling him about some of the homework you were supposed to do over the break and asking, subtly –according to you– what he’d like to get on Christmas. Now it’s not that Remus realised you were asking him for your own sake either, he was rather enthralled by your talking to pay much attention to your not-so-subtle questions. 

“What did you ask Father Christmas to bring over?” you asked him. He quirked an eyebrow giving you an incredulous look, “Aw come on! You cannot tell me you’re too old for presents.” 

He shrugged in response. “I’m not sure, back in the house my parents always got me rather practical things, well except for mom, she always got me muggle toys.” 

“Really? Were they fun?” 

“Some of them, for sure. I once got a small broom horse that my father enchanted so I could use it to fly! It only allowed me to go up a few feet, but it was incredible!”

You gasped at that. “Really?” 

He nodded, “And at some point, they even got me a muggle hamster, he was horrified of me though, had to give the poor thing away.” 

You gave him a pitiful look. “At least our children like us both equally,” you said, thinking of Pyro and Nummie. You and Remus had already developed a whole system that would keep them fed while you were out on vacation, they had already gotten wide enough to be dangerous when transporting them home. Remus chuckled at that, letting his mind wander just for a second, he could never have children, not with his condition. What if his child ended up like him? The fantasy was nice, though. You looked to the side, Ackley still wasn’t close. “But… what would you like to get now?”

He shrugged, “I’m not sure, to be honest. Maybe a jumper or something. You keep stealing those.” 

You gasped at that, swatting him playfully on the shoulder. “For the scent thing.” 

“Nah, you’ve been stealing them even before the scent thing,” he said, and it was true, not that he minded it much, he loved it when he got them back and they smelled like you and Sirius. You shook your head in response. 

“But what do you actually want, though?” and then you gave him a look. “Don’t think practical, be delusional about it if you need to.”  

Delusional? I’d like to have you and Sirius… at the same time, he thought. “Haven’t really thought about it, maybe something comforting? Or a cool band T, like the ones Sirius has…” alternatively one from him. “What about you? What do you want to get for Christmas?” 

It was your turn to shrug now, “Not sure either,” you answered sincerely. “I was thinking of getting a muggle gaming console, but I highly doubt it will work with the magical fields here in Hogwarts, so getting it on the summer break might be better.” Remus agreed with a simple humm. “If I do get something muggle it will be like Sirius’ cube.”

“He hates it,” he told you. “He’s been struggling to solve the puzzle since he got it. I think he’ll end up transfigurating it or something.” 

You giggled, the image of Sirius struggling with the cube diverting you more than it should. Sirius was always very capable, so thinking that a muggle puzzle would frustrate him, was rather amusing. You could almost picture him throwing the cube to the wall in a very child-like tantrum after trying for very long and not achieving much with it. Perhaps that’s why he was already rather cranky back when you had worn Minho’s sweater. “I feel like Dromeda gave it to him on purpose.” 

“Oh, she must definitely did,” Remus agreed with a smile. “We should write her a letter, telling her that her gift was an absolute success.” 

“You think she wouldn’t mind? I mean, us writing her even though I don’t actually know her personally?”

“I’m sure she’s heard lots about you, bet she’d be more than thrilled to hear from her new cousin.”  

You pushed Remus lightly after that, he knew Andromeda had heard about you already, she had sent him a letter a little after Sirius sent her one mentioning you were now in Hogwarts too. She wanted to know every single thing about you. Of course, Remus, who already considered you wonderful, ended up sending her a rather short and concise story telling her just that, but that if she needed any more information she was to ask Sirius instead because he was not about to meddle in his best friend’s business anymore. 

“Treats?” Johnny said as he approached, offering them to some other students but moving rather fast before they even got to dig their hands inside the platter. He passed by you and moved towards the Slytherins. 

“Hold up, wait!” you said as he looked your way, the platter on display right in front of the Slytherins. You turned to Remus and called his attention by tapping the back of your hand softly on his chest, “I tried the pink one earlier,” you said. “It was delicious, you should try it,” you said then as you approached Johnny. 

Severus gave you a look, at both you and Remus approaching and then turned to the platter, there was one pink one left. So, naturally, and with the intention to piss you off, he took a hold of it and plopped it onto his mouth. 

Jonathan Ackley turned to him shocked, but managed to keep it together and hold the snigger threatening to leave his mouth. He had tried to get Severus to eat one of his trick treats so many times and it wasn’t until you and Remus intervened that he managed to do it. 

“Oh, you wanted that one?” he asked with a clearly fake concerned expression. “I’m very sorry, I’m sure there are many others you could take instead.” 

You looked at him with an annoyed expression, of course, he had just done exactly what you wanted him to do, but the way he had responded, the fact that he really thought he had taken the treat you wanted, it made your bIood boil. If there was anyone that could make the worst side of you flare up, it was Severus Snape. Exactly like it had happened earlier and with equally disastrous results –Lily was probably still angry at you.  

“Well, that’s all right, Severus,” you said with the most neutral tone you could have mustered, “I can still take the purple one, I heard Imogen say it was good,” you said simply. 

“Which one?” Barty said as he turned. “This one?” he asked as he plopped it into his mouth. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Ackley said, pretending to move the tray to the side, but Evan intervened and grabbed him by the arm. Softly, but firmly. 

“What? Do you only give treats to the Gryffindors? I’m sure Slughorn wouldn’t be too happy you’re neglecting his own house,” he said as he grabbed onto one of the leftover treats and popped it into his mouth. 

“Reggie, would you like one?” he asked, Regulus, who was a few steps behind, and talking to someone else, turned around, slightly oblivious to the situation at hand and nodded. You gave him a warning look and sneezed when he hovered his hand over some of the treats. He gave you a pointed look and hovered his hand over a different one, you sneezed again. 

“Bless you,” Ackley said as he turned to you, eventually Regulus took hold of the one with the green mousse on top. 

You breathed out calmly and then turned to him, “Thank you, Johnny.” 

While Regulus savoured his treat, you realised Barty blinked a few times and left to the other side of the room. The headache treat he had taken, had been of fast action apparently. 

Then James approached, placed an arm over Ackley’s shoulder and leaned over the tray. The Slytherins could not know of the involvement of either you or Remus in the little prank, so it’s not like you could actually stop James from taking one of the treats, but he already had one on his hands. 

Fuck it’s that one, you thought as you looked, there was still one on the tray. It’s the stomach ache one, well getting a kiss will not be that hard for James, will it? Besides, it was a lot better than the alternative… You moved quickly, taking hold of the one that was left on the tray and turning to James. “Switch with me?” You asked politely. “I really want to try that one, yeah?” 

“I don’t know, Vix,” James teased, Did he have no idea? He probably didn’t. 

“James mate,” Remus intervened. “Be a gentleman, would you?” James gave him a look. “Follow the Marauder’s code.” 

James narrowed his eyes at Remus but nodded, you quickly switched with him and James left with the treat on his hand. 

You gave the small cookie one last look before plopping it in your mouth. Downing it all before Remus even got the idea of eating it instead of you, which you knew he would, but you also knew he’d be in a lot more trouble than you would be if he did take that particular treat. 

“Delicious,” you said honestly.

“Of course it would be, you sensible girl,” Severus said. 

You gave him an amused look, “I’m sorry, what?” 

“I said you, sensible girl! What the heaven?” Severus looked genuinely confused. “BIood loyalist! What in the Godric Gryffindor have you not done to me?” 

“Me?” you asked confused, “Whatever could I have done to you, Severus? I was just getting my own treat.” 

Evan started to hiccup on the back, he looked uncomfortable more than anything, so he left to search for Barty a little later. Regulus was still standing there, looking like he was just understanding what was happening. 

He gave you a complicit smile and turned to Severus with a rather confused stance, “I ate a treat too, and nothing’s happened to me.” He then proceeded to place his hand on Severus’ head, as if to check for temperature. Who would have thought Reggie could be so brazen?

Should have known, he’s Sirius’ little brother, after all. 

“Put your hands on me, Regulus,” Severus spat, desperately, although his words didn’t match his tone.

Regulus pulled back with a frown, instantly recoiling after hearing Severus’ words, not because his tone had been imperious –that was always the case–  but because of what he had demanded. 

“Sev–” he asked cautiously, but he was interrupted by the boy whose name was uttered. 

“It was that angel! She did not do this to me. Godric cherished heaves! This is exactly what I’m trying to say!” 

You broke into a giggle then, “Well, Sev, I never thought you’d be giving me so many compliments in one go, but thank you very much.” 

“You and you’re clever –cherished–”“ he looked genuinely frustrated, “–cherished heavens– your handsome fiend.”

“My handsome fiend?” you asked as if surprised. “I have no such thing,” you added with a devious smile. “You are my only fiend, Severus.”

Ackley had already bolted, but Remus and Regulus were still standing there, Remus looked like he was about to break into a laugh. Severus had turned red, “You stunning lady!” 

“Woah, Severus, I have a boyfriend,” you teased further, just to spite him. It was almost funny that he was saying such nice things now, it really put into perspective how nasty he was on a daily basis. 

“Sev, perhaps we should take you to the infirmary, you don’t look all right,” Regulus intervened again. 

“Yes! I mean YES! Godric bless it! Cherished heavens, this is exhilarating.” 

“Regulus is not wrong,” Remus said, in his always conciliating tone, “You should probably go to the infirmary.” 

“You WILL go unharmed after this,” Severus said as he turned to you with a threatening finger. 

You waved him a polite goodbye as Regulus took him away and got him to sit down at a nearby table while trying to calm him down. 

“Didn’t you mention there was only one good treat left?” Remus asked once the two of you managed to catch your breath. You nodded in response, “Who took it? James? Reggie?” 

“Could have been the one I ate…” you said defensively. 

“Yeah sure, like I didn’t see you sneezing so Reg didn’t take the one that James took and you ended up chowing down in the end.” 

“Reggie took the good one,” you admitted. “Saved James by giving one that wouldn’t affect him much.” Remus frowned when he saw James dancing next to Lily, he had been dancing before he went for the treats too, he probably wouldn’t even feel the effects of the potion. “Johnny said that one gave you a stomachache that could only be cured by dancing or kissing someone, I figured James would have obliged either one without giving it a second thought. Especially if he got yet another excuse to kiss Lily.

Remus gave you a long look and wondered what would have happened if you had taken that one. Would she have asked me to dance? To kiss her? Of course not, she has Sirius. 

But what if Sirius wasn’t around, what if I was the last resort… would she kiss me then? “And the one you saved him from?” 

You took a deep breath at that, thinking of the treat you had taken, red, the colour of lust, you thought, Ackley must have thought things through when he asked Kless for help. 

“Nothing to worry about,” you said with a shrug, you weren’t sure how exactly the red treat would affect you, but you knew it would 100% be a lot worse on a man. “Trust me, I’d be worried if I was a boy.” 

Remus frowned at that, “What do you mean you would be worried if– What on earth did you eat?!?!”

“Shhhhh,” you said, a little stressed. “It’s okay, Remus. Don’t stress about it, I won’t stress about it, and things will be alright,” you said as you turned to him, you hadn’t quite noticed how broad Remus’ shoulders were until they were right in front of your face. Actually, you might have noticed how broad they were before but you had never found them so attractive, had you? 

Fuck, it’s taking effect, you thought as you looked at your friend and bit your lip, fucking hell. At least you could use curse words without them getting all twisted. 

“You can’t just ignore feelings until they disappear,” he said, hypocrite, his own inner dialogue shouted back at him. 

“Remus,” you whined, dragging out “e” from his name. “Please, please, let’s not talk about the potion I took and do something else instead?” 

“Like what?” 

Kissing in a broom closet, your brain shouted at you, you shoved the thought to the back of your head, “Dance?” you offered. 

“Do the effects also go away with dancing?” 

You looked to the side and thought about it. You guessed, in a way, they could. “Yes.”

The rest of the night went in an instant, between dancing and trying to focus on anything other than the fact that Remus looked damn good that day. From the moment he took off his suit coat and kept only his navy shirt, that was just the right amount of tight on him. Or the way the pants were also a little too tight and let you see his toned legs. 

Warmth crept up your cheeks each time your gaze lingered a second too long on Remus, the guilt gnawing at you whenever your head started objectifying him, and the potion wasn’t half as bad as it could be, you weren’t needy or anything like that, but fucking hell did it make you insanely aware of how attractive your best friend was. It wasn’t torturous, except for the fact that you kept thinking that: that night, you’d be sleeping with him and Sirius. 

That sounds terrible, you thought as you winced. Vixen and Padfoot would be sleeping with Remus because of the moon– yeah, that’s better. 

“You all right?” Remus asked concerned as he saw the expressions you weren’t quite managing to hide appear on your face, winces, smiles, frowns, whatever was going on in your head, including a rather large inner monologue. Perhaps the potions were making you overthink stuff? 

And boy were you most definitely overthinking stuff, way too much stuff, and all at the same time. If anything, you’d say the potion had made your mind work 10,000 kilometres an hour –you were doing that on your own– rather than making you exceptionally sensitive to teenage hormones –that was the actual potion’s work. 

In fact, the potion wasn’t some frivolous “horny” concoction, like Ackley had described. Kless had tried to describe it to Ackley, to narrow down exactly what would be going on –chemically– on the person that took the potion, but Johnny had given up about halfway through and decided to call it a horny potion. That was nothing close to what the potion actually was. If anything, it was meant to reveal truths obscured by your own defences, a lot closer to what love potions did than it was to aphrodisiacs. In Kless’ own words, it was more “akin to a mirror for the soul rather than an instigator of base desires.”

The potion was a carefully elaborated brew that Kless had designed with slightly selfish purposes, he wanted to use it on himself. Now that sounds terrible when you think of it as a horny potion, but it was never that. In fact, Kless’ intention was just to make himself a little more sensible to his very own feelings. You see, what we know of love, is actually a series of rather complex chemical processes that happen in our brain, things involving neurotransmitters: dopamine –involves pleasure, rewards and motivation–, serotonin –which regulates the mood–, oxytocin –also known as the love hormone–, Norepinephrine –yeah, the same one that’s related to adrenaline–, endorphins and a myriad of other chemicals that would take much more dedication to explore, but Kless did it anyway. 

Now his investigation had a reason –no he did not want to make a love potion– he wanted to know if he really liked someone in particular, and he knew that, while there were probably easier ways to tell if you liked someone (like those quizzes on Witch Weekly, and doing a bit of introspection) he also knew that a potion that allowed you see your own true feelings for someone could be really useful. So he gathered some interesting ingredients, that according to his research would help: Moonlit Petals (to enhance receptivity), Tears of a Siren (to increase the sensibility to pheromones), Crystalized Honeydew and a few other things that he thought would make an effective potion. He was about ready to present it to Slughron when he discovered his werewolf obsession and forgot about it altogether. That was until Johny had gone to him and revised his notes. 

On the top page, he had written “HARNi” (Heightened Awareness Recreational Brew –Ni was a stand-in for things he didn’t have a proper name for yet), but Kless didn’t have the best handwriting and Johny read horny instead. And we already know how the story goes, Kless tried to explain and Johnny decided to keep the other name instead, he thought the results were similar enough to the meaning of the word anyway. So no, you had never taken a horny potion, what the potion was doing was only letting you see some things you had never been quite aware of before –or not as aware as you were in that particular moment, at least–. Not that you knew any of it, the potion had been presented to you as a “horny” potion and you had eaten the treat as if it had been just that. And whatever it was you were feeling for Remus at that moment, you had –as anyone would– set it down to the potion.

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A/N: Well, did Sev get what he deserved? Honestly, he brought it onto himself... Upon some requests, we have a DISCORD server now and you can all join in and chat about marauders and/or GC with other lovely people. If you wanna discuss a new oneshot or even the new chapters of GC this is your place to go. Lastly, you guys were asking for a new Q&A so I'm working on it at the moment, send all the questions you may want to be added here, or directly on asks. Love, Lils xx

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[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

Picard S1 Transcripts

for all Star Trek Picard fans out there (or at least fans of s1) – i was tired of having to go back to rewatch full episodes or rely on my memory when writing fanfic (or using incomplete transcripts) so i made my own!

dropbox link is here!

there will probably be a few errors/typos and i claim full responsibility.

feel free to use them however you like though be careful about where you post them for copyright reasons. lmk if the link ever goes dead and i can reupload them somewhere. i'm also planning on making transcripts for s2 and s3 though it'll probably take me a few weeks to get them up.

(also some stats for fellow nerds. in the whole season, Picard has 716 lines, Raffi has 293 lines, Soji has 281 lines, Rios has 251 lines, Jurati has 222 lines, Narek has 173 lines, Seven has 79 lines, Elnor has 78 lines, Narissa has 78 lines, Laris has 68 lines, Riker has 61 lines, Hugh has 52 lines, Troi has 37 lines, and Zhaban has 30 lines.)

[ovenproofowl]

a lot of people have said it, but I’m throwing in my two cents just to get it off my chest.

Picard season 3 was . Bad . For a LOT of reasons . It felt like - as many before me have expressed - a self-insert fanfic with the dullest self-insert in history.

Jack Crusher wasn’t much of a character but he could have had some promise if they hadn’t spent an aggravating amount of time having him decree how different he always felt, you guys. Did you get that part? He’d always felt different. That sort of dialogue might have flown if we were dealing with Picard’s adolescent son, but instead we’re dealing with a 24 year old played by a 35 year old who looks every bit his age. (It was a hard 24 years, we must assume.)

The reason that Jack Crusher didn’t work for me personally, though, wasn’t because of how cliché his character was. I would have let that pass much easier if it wasn’t for the big ol’ elephant in the room. And that is simply that :

JACK CRUSHER WAS NEVER NECESSARY

Jack may have served a purpose to the storyline that was presented if only because he was the sole reason there was a Big Bad to be defeated in the first place. Everyone wanted to kidnap him, he brought the old gang back together just to protect him and then later save him from said Big Bad which was also actually .. him. Everything Was About Jack. But I’m not talking about the main plot. I Really Don’t Want to Talk About the Main Plot. Ever. What I want to talk about is what Jack represented that made him so unnecessary:

He was intended to represent Jean-Luc Picard’s only reason to start living.

Personally, that really, really offended me. Picard didn’t need to have a biological kid to have a purpose. In fact, it’s been established time and time again that he wasn’t ever really dad material. More of a... weirdly intense uncle. For a while, he wasn’t a fan of kids at all. Eventually, though, Picard is seen to warm to the idea of letting children within his general vicinity. This starts in TNG and continues on in season 1 of Picard. The Only Categorically Good Season of this whole. show.

In season 1, we see flashbacks of Jean-Luc’s relationship with a young Elnor, how he would read him stories and have sword fights with him. He was an absent father to an adopted child he hadn’t even realised he’d adopted and yet Elnor still fought for his hopeless cause. In much the same way, Picard meets Dahj and then later, Soji. He feels a kinship with these androids because of their connection to Data. He wants to protect Soji becase he couldn’t protect Dahj and Soji even canonically questions whether she should allow Picard to act as her father figure before she begins to remember where she came from. Both of these dynamics were infinitely more interesting and a lot deeper rooted. Soji and Elnor were both young twenty-somethings without parental guidance but found that guidance through Picard. Soji had her connection to Jurati, too, and Elnor had his with Seven and Raffi and that’s what made the whole group so intriguing to follow. They all had interesting connections to each other that had so many avenues to explore.

Unfortunately, the show decided to more or less write Soji and Elnor out of the story come season 2. Elnor was killed off for the majority of the season and only brought back by Q intervention in the last episode. Soji wasn’t even a part of the story at all. And do you know what’s sad about that? What’s really sad? Season 2 was trying to sell us the exact same message as season 3. That Picard needed a reason to live. But, like, not that reason. Not the reasons he’d already been given in the form of his found family with his Romulan and android adopted children, or even the rest of the La Sirena crew. No no no, we can’t have that, better get rid of them. This time, Laris is the focal point. Picard had been avoiding a romantic relationship with her because of a never before mentioned dark history surrounding his mother’s suicide. Because, sure, at this point, why not? While we’re at it, let’s also kill off Rios in the most slap-in-the-face out of character way possible and fling Jurati at the Borg for good measure just so she won’t be around for season 3. Her character development into the Borg Queen was pretty intriguing, but we’ll totally ignore that they even exist post her departure, just for funsies. Oh, and Soji and Elnor? Best not mention them at all come that third and final season. Otherwise, people might get the crazy notion that Picard already had a reason not to hunker down and die at the vinyard at the tender age of 104.

Season 3 picks up where season 2 leaves off in that Picard is now in that aforementioned romantic relationship with Laris. Except, no he isn’t because he immediately gets an emergency call from his ex and literally never sees or talks to Laris ever again. There wasn’t even a throw-away line or implied reference to her, but by now I’m sure you know the reason for that.

That’s right, folks. Because if we were allowed to remember Laris and what she meant to Picard, then we might just remember that other thing. Say it with me now!!

JACK CRUSHER WAS NEVER NECESSARY!!

In summary, there were so many brilliant options to give Picard for signficant found family dynamics, but the show just wasn’t interested in any of them. Season 3 wanted a Picard who had given it all up, who was ready to die because he’d never had a family to pass on his legacy. They wanted him at his lowest so that we’d all rejoice to see him return to the TNG crew. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive TNG fan and I could rave about the fan service and nostalgia porn for hours on end. If season 3 had stood alone as a singular unconnected event, it might even have been passable as a warm hug from old and beloved characters with some fun new spins to their stories along the way, juust so long as you didn’t squint too hard at the actual attempt at plot writing going on in the background.

But the fact of the matter is, Picard season 3 came far too late into the game. Season 1 held the building blocks to something new and interesting. By the end of season 2, it was becoming clear we were never going to see those blocks stand. By season 3, those blocks were just scattered headstones in a graveyard.

They teased us with the potential new show of Captain Seven and her Number One Raffi Musiker and that might have just been okay. . .

. . .If the La Sirena Crew had been allowed to be a part of that future.

In closing: Picard season 3? Too little, too late, mate. 👎🏻

[trillscienceofficer]

A long time ago @nebulouscoffee asked me to write the DVD commentary of “Best Left” (which is a Raffi/Seven/B'Elanna fic set between Picard S1 and 2) and now I'm finally doing that.

This is inevitably going to get long because the fic itself is much longer than anything else I've ever posted, and I still have so many feelings for a story I put a lot of effort and heart into! But first things first, here's chapter one.

Cris, I know you’re really busy these days on the Stargazer, so I’ll keep this short.

As I was coming up with ideas for “Best Left”, my main goal was to have Raffi (which I knew would be the POV character) in a very different place than where we see her first on Star Trek: Picard. I wanted her, by this point established, long-distance relationship with Seven be a part of the network in which Raffi is now deeply enmeshed (ie La Sirena's crew). That said though, both canon events (by this time Rios has been made captain) and my plot ideas were not very accommodating of having literally everyone on board the ship. It would've been too unwieldy for a project that was already shaping up to be very ambitious for my standards. But while Jurati and Picard's absence is, I think, not that big of a deal, I still very much wanted to underline Raffi and Cris' friendship, which I think is essential in order to understand Raffi and one of the few relationships she's had that didn't go sour on her. I obviated to his physical absence with both real and imaginary correspondence, from which Raffi could draw strength in difficult moments. The fic both begins and closes with Raffi writing a message to him.

Raffi hits send on the message and looks up only to find Elnor at her side, looking just as morose as he’d been a few days earlier, when she’d told him first about the road trip idea. She sighs internally; the queue to transporter hub number four advances. It’s a busy day on the new Betazed spacedock, but luckily no one among the crowd seems the wiser to a Romulan young adult carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He holds the straps of his bag and his staff with a white-knuckle grip. Raffi hooks her left arm into the crook of Elnor’s right. “What’s the matter?”

Rereading this I remembered how fun it was to write Raffi and Elnor interact. My intention here (and throughout the fic) was to have Raffi obviously care for him while also not losing her somewhat world-weary attitude because of her affection. Raffi is still a woman who analyzes everything around her, and acts accordingly—not to mention all the unacknowledged guilt she carries wrt her son Gabe. I didn't want to have Raffi be straightforwardly ‘maternal’, it didn't feel right and I think older women in fiction should be allowed to have mixed feelings about this role more often. Plus, like Raffi herself realizes later in the fic, Elnor has already had plenty of other women bossing him around all his life, he doesn't need one more.

Soji is at the navigation console, smiling and waving a little awkwardly. And finally, Seven watching them from the captain’s chair, which she occupies with ease, leaning on one armrest. The very image of the roguish pirate captain; Cris wishes he could pull it off this well. “Welcome aboard,” Seven says, the hint of a smirk on her lips, as if she’d just heard every single one of Raffi’s thoughts.

I honestly think Raffi is constantly roasting Cris in her head. Also when rereading I was surprised about this reprise of the idea of mind-reading from the previous dialogue between Raffi and Elnor, that was cool and I can't remember if I even wrote it entirely on purpose. In any case, I wanted to have both Soji and Elnor along for this story because (1) they could offer an interesting outsider perspective on the older women drama about to unfold and (2) I wanted to have them interact with each other and have an adventure that had nothing to do with their specific backstories. Writing Soji in this story was so much fun! It was a nice challenge to balance her characterization between the right amounts of deadpan honesty and genuine care, and making it obvious that she's still figuring out how she wants to live her life.

“I don’t think Cris would forgive me if I tried to take La Sirena into another Borg transwarp conduit,” Soji says. “And honestly I’m not sure the ship can take it.” “It wasn’t particularly pleasant on a Borg cube either,” Seven adds. “As I’m sure Elnor remembers.” “Crashing on the surface was worse,” he replies, and some of the gloom lifts from his face. The effect Seven has on people sometimes—but Raffi should be the last to judge, shouldn’t she? It’s not as if seeing Seven again, sitting on that chair so lazily and yet still projecting intent, isn’t reminding Raffi of the few weeks they’d spent on board La Sirena before. But it’s probably best if she revisits that particular recap reel in private.

I based this little Seven-Elnor interaction from my own feelings about my Cool Aunt, which I think are fitting lmao (ie especially as kid, if she was speaking to me I would immediately feel better no matter what)

Also while rereading I was like, damn I made this first half of the chapter so horny... but I've been in a ldr myself and this is pretty true to my own experience. Reuniting always means a mixture of attraction and awkwardness, and it's what I wanted to convey about Raffi and Seven here, especially since they both have a hard time trusting in people or believing that they're capable of being around people without fucking it up. The following misunderstanding about room assignments is part of this pattern.

She’s re-learning restraint, in the hardest way possible, in other facets of her life.

So here comes the part of this fic I agonized over the most... Raffi's history of substance abuse and her current commitment to sobriety. I thought the latter is what fit better with Raffi's actions on the second half of S1 (ie locking herself out of the replicator) and some scenes of S2—imho those are clues that she (wants to) simply quit. Now, a commitment to complete sobriety (including weed snakeleaf, like in a 12-step program) is not necessarily an effective way to treat addiction long term—actually quite the opposite, from what I could learn from the research I did, even if still the most popular recommended form of treatment today. I'm not entirely sure it would be at all recommended in the 24th century. So how to reconcile this with the hints about Raffi quitting cold-turkey? Is it even something I would want to depict in a good light? What I eventually tried to do is treat the matter strictly from a character perspective. I hinted that Raffi is seeing a counselor, and now feeling part of a network of people, and is now restored to her place in society via Starfleet (from her perspective). Sobriety is something she thinks she should do and can do now, so that's what Raffi did; it's all part of her wider commitment to live a different life. If this also has a whiff of self-punishment... I don't think you'd be entirely wrong. I tried to hint that Raffi has her own thoughts on her addiction but I don't necessarily share them myself (see the disclaimer on top of chapter 4), and those thoughts might be another way in which she's denying herself (because no one else grants it to her either) the compassion I think she deserves. It's a really complex topic and I don't know if I did it justice here. I welcome feedback if you have any.

She’d thought she’d lost any interest in making out, over the years—she was surprised to find out how much Seven enjoys it, and how much of that enjoyment is infectious.

I have this headcanon that Seven really enjoys making out (it's appeared in other fic of mine too, eg “Doing the Unstuck”) and her partners never expect this of her. I think I like the idea that Seven's approach to sex and intimacy is still about the sudden thrill of closeness she displayed when she twirled Chakotay around in order to kiss him lol. I especially like the idea it's one of the things about Seven that's not changed despite all that happened to her since said kiss, and that she could bring Raffi to enjoy making out again as well.

It’s still the same suitcase-shaped contraption that she cobbled together months earlier with Borg parts from the Artifact, as far as Raffi can tell. Some other parts Seven had replicated on La Sirena, and then had proceeded to build the device with surprising ease. She’d explained that it was a modular design she and other friends had come up with over the years. It hadn’t been the first time she’d found herself needing a regenerator without having one handy. Raffi had admired her resourcefulness then, and still does now.

I ranted a lot about Seven's regeneration last summer, and all my thoughts and headcanons ended up in this fic. Regeneration for Seven is now a bit different than what it used to be on Voyager; still a necessity but quicker, and something that doesn't tie her down to bulky machinery any longer. Something that ultimately Seven has more control over. However, it's also a necessity that now needs to be articulated explicitly to the people she's close to, and that other people have to learn to take into account about her. I also wanted Seven to determine clear boundaries around regeneration—eg, here she doesn't want other people around when she regenerates—but boundaries that she is still constantly renegotiating, as it happens in chapter two when she invites Raffi to stay. Seven isn't used to be around people much anymore, so she's still adapting to new realities (like her relationship with Raffi) and rethinking what is comfortable for her.

“I hope your other stops were less frustrating than Trill,” Raffi offers, making her presence known. Soji looks up at her, and her face breaks into a smile. “Oh hey, I didn’t realize you were here, Raffi. But yes, I can honestly say it was the worst one so far. I think, and Agnes agrees, that their academic institutions really opposed the lifting of the synth ban for some reason.”

This little piece of Trill worldbuilding came to be because in “Second Self” Una McCormack wrote that Raffi has taken part in the zhian'tara of a colleague. Which is absolutely bonkers to me!! I couldn't help myself and expand on it a bit, all the while maintaining my stance on Trill being very conservative when it comes to decide on people's personhood. I know it's maybe controversial but I really don't think Trill institutions are that enlightened on the topic. They might think they are, but in presence of someone like Soji the appearance would crumble immediately. I honestly loved revisiting my Trill feelings through Raffi and Soji, I haven't written Dax fic in a very long time, so this was a nice way for me to scratch that itch.

Raffi crosses her legs, raises an eyebrow. She’s reminded all too well of when Soji had first come aboard, the confusion of a young woman whose entire life as she knew it had been a deception. She can recall how Soji described her relationship with Narek, and how Raffi had been the one to name his behavior for what it was. Maybe some pointing out of the obvious is needed here too.

This is one of the things that caught my attention the most when I rewatched S1—Raffi has been looking out for Soji practically from the start, calling out Narek's presence for what it was (abusive). I wanted to let Raffi speak her mind here as well, about the kind of interactions Soji has had while on tour.

A scratchy, stuttering audio signal starts playing from La Sirena’s bridge speakers. ‘—damage. Propulsion systems offline. Atmospheric controls—’ More digital artifacting of the signal. ‘—predict where the subspace eddies will take the ship. I don’t know how long I still have—’ The audio signal cuts off, then the message repeats once again. ‘—damage. Propulsion systems offline. Atmospheric controls—’ “I think that’s all of it,” Soji says, soberly. “Damn,” Raffi says, at a loss. “She’s dying, if not already dead,” Elnor says, voicing what everyone is thinking. He turns to Raffi. “What do we do?”

When she read this chapter, my partner asked me about the use of pronouns for the yet unknown person in distress—here Elnor assumes it's a she, while Raffi and Soji don't. It was actually on purpose, I wanted to hint at the fact that Elnor's default assumption is that the people that do stuff out there in space are women because the Qowat Milat usually speaks in these terms as well. Maybe it's silly, I don't know, but I wrote it in anyway as a subtle wordlbuilding detail. Maybe too subtle if it leads to pronoun confusion.

“I’m not sure I could live with myself if we didn’t try to save the crew of that ship. There’s a chance they might still be alive.” “Then let’s do it,” Raffi says with a curt nod. “You’re in command of La Sirena now.”

In the rescue scene I tried very hard to let Raffi do tactical evaluation in a way that didn't come off as callous as it sometimes does for Worf on TNG or Tuvok on Voyager—she's honestly trying to give Soji, now in command, a good overview of the situation.

Raffi takes a long look at Elnor, and to his credit he looks genuinely curious, hands folded together, leaning with his elbows on his knees. She knows better than to doubt his intentions, but—when he wants, he knows exactly when and how to ask one of his blunt questions for maximum effect, doesn’t he? In this case, distraction. She idly wonders if this is a skill that everyone in the Qowat Milat picks up, along with the assassin training. Using the truth as a finely honed blade, rather than the cudgel it’s always reminded her of.

That the absolute candor tenet of the Qowat Milat may be used in more than one way and for more than one goal is something I already written about before (ie in “Policy of Truth”). I think Raffi has her own different ideas about telling the truth because she's trained in intelligence gathering and also because pursuing the truth has always been painful for her—see her quest to find out who was behind the Mars attack. So here she's surprised to find out that Elnor's honesty is not at all a weakness, which she's assumed so far, but rather a very well-honed skill.

“It is the ship we’re looking for,” Soji confirms, going through the readings with, once again, an ease that belies her actual experiences. “It is still transmitting the distress call, though it’s extremely garbled. The hull is pressurized, somehow, at least partially. Life signs—one, I think. Humanoid. Very faint” She looks at Raffi, eyes wide, and Raffi braces herself. “We have to beam them over. The subspace tug might breach the hull at any time. I know that we have no idea who we’ll find, but they’re dying.” Goddammit. They really should’ve woken Seven up before getting here. Then again, at this point it’s probably best to ask for forgiveness than permission. If they’re all still alive to do so. But they will; a boy assassin, an android with super strength, and Raffi. Risk assessment used to be her job in Starfleet, long ago.

I still really like Raffi thinking 'oh well, too late to go back now, but at least I have backup'. I thought about her characterization a lot while writing this fic, and tried to convey her dry humor at best I can. She's really funny in canon! I really enjoyed writing her constant quips, even if they're just in her head.

Down the stairs, she hears Emil grumble. “I can’t deliver proper emergency care if you rush me.” “You’ll replicate what you need, as you need it,” Soji retorts impatiently. “Just initiate the transport.”

All EMHs are the same.

She’s older now, and out of uniform, looking much worse for wear after what she just went through. But there’d been a time more than twenty years prior when her face had been on every Federation newsfeed, along with the rest of the crew of the USS Voyager. “You know her?” Raffi turns to Soji, frozen in bemusement beside Emil. “I’ve never met her but yes, I know who she is,” Raffi says. “You two stay here and keep an eye on things. Seven needs to see this.”

I really like the way this chapter ends (so much so that it's the quote I chose for the fic summary on AO3). I thought about the idea of generational difference a lot when coming up with this fic, and how Raffi has witnessed so many momentous events, like the return of Voyager, that Elnor and even Soji really have no context for. It's an interesting aspect of having older characters that weren't around in previous shows, and an opportunity for a different perspective that unfortunately I think Star Trek: Picard squandered completely (Una McCormack was more attentive in her novels, luckily). Regardless, Raffi's experience turns out to be an asset more than once in this fic—no one aboard La Sirena at this point is as intimately aware of the events of the Dominion War as she is.

[stellarred]

HAUNTED

"And tomorrow we can go to that small marketplace you like, Jean-Luc," said Laris pulling the covers over herself.

"For what?"

"You know, that herb bread you like so much, of course."

Picard pulled down the covers on his side of the bed and crawled in next to her.

"I'm sure Harvey can get the recipe and make it for us."

Laris shifted to prop herself up on an elbow.

"What's wrong?" she asked, placing a hand on Picard's shoulder.

"Nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?" Picard replied.

Laris shrugged.

"Well, you've seemed...distracted lately."

Picard furrowed his brow and sighed.

"Have I?"

"Yes."

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm fine."

Picard reached over and turned off the bedside table lamp. With a sigh, he lay his head down on the pillow. Laris lay her head down next to his, and turned her face to just faintly make out in the darkness, Picard staring blankly up at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

Picard grimaced in irritation.

"Nothing. That's the third time you've asked me that since dinner."

"I just...feel as though we're on different wave lengths, you and I. As if...there's something between us."

Picard rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I hardly see you anymore. You're so quiet at dinner. We haven't made love in months."

"Let it go, Laris," he thought.

"If you ever need to talk--"

"I will certainly let you know."

Without a word, Laris rolled over on her side away from him and yanked the covers over her.

Picard shook his head and rolled away from her to face towards the large bedroom window. He could see through the dark grey clouds inking across the night sky, stars twinkling overhead. He could hear the sound of branches rustling outside in the blustery night wind.

Picard loved nights such as these. The chilled air and howling winds usually soothed him into deep sleep, but tonight, they did not.

Tonight felt different. He'd been feeling sensations in his chest lately, almost like an anxiety. An unnamed sense of a need to find something. There was another sensation, too. Something almost anticipatory.

Picard clenched his eyes shut and exhaled sharply upon suddenly realizing that he had first felt this sensation a few days after Q had died.

He missed him. It was all so crazy to even contemplate for Picard.

After all, it was Q.

But, during the five seconds while Q cradled his face and gazed into his eyes, he saw himself lying down in the entity's arms feeling indescribable passion and pure love. For that brief moment as he saw Q penetrating deeply into both his body and mind, Picard saw endless possibilities of existence with him. He saw a glimpse of eternity bound as one with Q. A marriage.

For that fraction of a second, Q bared his very essence and his soul, for lack of a better word, to him.

"I have one more surprise in store," Q said.

What surprise could possibly match what Q had just shared with him?

While Picard felt tremendous gratitude to Q for Elnor, he realized that he also longed for more from Q.

Picard's eyes filled with tears.

"I was...I wanted him to know, to...give him more," he thought.

But even then, he held back. At that moment, a hug was all that he felt brave enough to give Q.

He still wasn't ready then.

He settled...

***A few hours later, Picard stirred awake. He knew that at most he'd dozed, but hadn't fully fallen asleep.

"I don't need this," he grumbled. Picard lifted his head to glance at the computer clock on his bedside table. It read as 3:10.

Rubbing his eyes, Picard rolled onto his back. He lay there staring at the ceiling.

He felt a sensation coursing through his body. It was a sense of needing to go somewhere.

Picard lifted his head and gazed at the closed bedroom door across from the foot of the bed. He suddenly thought, "I must go downstairs."

The feeling of needing to get out of bed and go downstairs tugged in his heart. It was a need to find something.

"Yes," Picard thought. "There's something I need to find. I must go--"

He caught his breath.

"Someone. Someone is watching."

Picard got up and threw on a robe. He opened the door and stepped into the corridor.

Picard held his breath. Apart from a ticking grandfather clock in an alcove and the howling wind outside, there was only silence.

Picard shivered and walked downstairs into his study.

His heart beginning to beat faster, he entered the room half expecting to find Q there.

Instead he was greeted only by shadows, moonlight peeking through long drapes, and a ticking clock on the mantle.

Picard closed his eyes and exhaled sharply.

"Why did I think he'd be here?" Picard thought.

A wave of melancholy washed over him as he sat down on the sofa.

His heart ached.

Picard turned and looked out the large window at the night sky.

Again, a strange feeling of being watched churned in his insides.

Picard suddenly realized that this was what he'd been feeling over the past two months that was distracting him.

Every time he dined with Laris, every time he strolled around the estate, every time he did anything, Picard felt this persistent sense of not being alone.

"Q," he whispered in the dark, "is it you?"

[starlight-edith]

Welcome to my blog!

About:

• Edith / Esther / אֶסְתֵּר

• 20 (10/04)

• Abrosexual & Abrogender but functionally cishet lol

• Physically disabled - cerebral palsy (prof dx)

• LDS but still also Jewish (it’s complicated)

• “Evil Zionist” but avoiding the war as much as possible for my own sanity

• Fandoms: Star Trek but only the ones up to Enterprise, the new ones can die (except Elnor my beloved), Stargate but not universe (need to rewatch that one I don’t remember anything about it), Redwall, The Wheel of Time

-

Boundaries:

• Hugs - Ask

• Flirting - Not unless you’re like super serious about it

• Petnames - No

• DMs - Be nice you heathens!! But sure

• Asks - Yes

• Tags - Yes (though I may not reply if it’s a tag game and I’m low on spoons.)

DNI: Transphobes, people that think gooding isn’t a good uhura because they’re “ugly” (aka colorism and transphobia), antisemites, do not sexualize me even as a joke or I will block you

Bookmarks:

Resources

My Art

My Writing

Tarot Readings (Pricing tbd, will do upon request at whatever price for now)

Commissions (coming soon)

Common Tags:

#Edith Rambles - My original posts

#Star Trek Posting - Posts about Star Trek

#Worm Enthusiasm - posts about worm farming or other worm stuff

#vocaloid posting - posts about vocaloid

#stargate posting - posts about Stargate

#Clockwork Queue - my Queue tag — if you see a lot of this I’ve left tumblr again lol

#On the war - anything related to I/P

Miscellaneous:

Discord - starlight_edith

On the War:

My family lives in Israel. I love my family. They do not deserve to die. Most Israelis do not support Netanyahu unequivocally. I support a two state solution. I do not support the protests on college campuses as they are actively endangering not only Jewish students but everyone else too (at UNM they destroyed property, threatened and harassed innocent people, and committed public indecency. On other campuses they did all this AND were physically violent.) You do any of this stuff and the cause goes out the window. These protests are actively harming Palestinians by supporting Hamas and preventing peace.

[deepspacedukat]

Coitarche

I wish to issue a very sincere apology. I know that I had Elnor (ST:PIC) listed for this prompt, but I have been trying for several days, and I just can't seem to capture his voice. (Usually my fics are late because I'm rly bad at time management, but today, it's because he is Incredibly Difficult™ for me to write.) I know there are often small typos in my works despite my attempts to edit them out, but typos are one thing. Low-quality, shitty work is another beast entirely. I always go back and re-edit my works for typos/quick fixes, but I cannot in good conscience allow myself to put out work that makes me cringe as much as my attempts at writing Elnor have. I want to do right by you all, and as it stands currently, I refuse to curse your eyes with my horrendous failed attempts.

That being said: today's fic will feature my Romulan OC, Major Denak (mentioned in "Praetor's Pride" chapter 3). This fic is a side commentary to "Praetor's Pride," but you don't need to have read that first to understand this little drabble. I will, once I have had more time to find Elnor's voice in my writing, release a sort of "make-up fic" about him. I don't like not being able to deliver on something when I've given my word that I will. It probably won't come out until after the SoC challenge is over, but Elnor fans, I will learn your man's voice if I have to listen to clips of him for hours on end!

For anyone who is curious, "coitarche" is defined here. Anyway, enjoy!

Day 29: Loss Of Virginity

SoC prompt list here. SoC Masterlist here. Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

Denak (OC) x Unnamed Romulan OFC, mention of Hiren (ST:Nemesis) x Reader (from "Praetor's Pride")

[A/N: This is smut, so 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI!!!]

Warnings: Mild angst, lost love, arranged marriages, sexual memories, sexual dreams, loss of virginity, mention of masturbation, woman on top, biting.

(Picrew used to make ^this^ can be found here.)

~*~

"Why are you alone after all this time, Major Denak?" The calm, curious voice of Praetor Hiren called out from the balcony railing, and the man in question lifted an eyebrow.

"Sir?" Denak was far from the only guard on duty tonight, but when the Praetor took his nightly walk around the grounds, he preferred that he only have one guard with him. The palace was safe enough, he claimed, and he didn't enjoy feeling as though he was a child who required a large escort even in his own home.

"I have seen many of my guards with their partners, or I've at minimum heard them discussing their various conquests, but you..." Hiren trailed off, pausing as he turned to face the youngest member of his Rei’karansu. "Have you no romantic prospects?"

Denak knew precisely why Hiren was so curious. The pretty Federation Ambassador whom the Praetor had been chatting with tonight had put him in a good mood - a better one than he'd been in since his official appointment.

"None at present, my lord Praetor." The older man seemed disappointed, so, not wishing to sour his mood, Denak allowed a memory to tug at him. "However, there was someone several years ago."

The guard noted a small smile upon the other man's lips, and he continued.

"She was the first woman I ever truly loved. I dare not reveal her identity, though. She is a nobleman's wife, now, and I doubt she would appreciate her name being associated with that of a mere guard," he murmured taking a few steps closer to the Praetor's position and gazing out across the palace gardens. "She was sweet...just as inexperienced and nervous as I was."

Denak could recall every moment he'd spent with her in perfect detail. She'd been carved into his heart as deeply as only a first love ever could. They'd both been so overcome by their passions that despite the awkwardness that was invariably present in a first sexual encounter, both Denak and his lover had overcome their nerves and enjoyed themselves immensely.

"Ah, young love. There is nothing else quite like it in this universe," Hiren muttered as he leaned against the railing. "Were you together long?"

The Major let out a quiet, wistful sigh.

"Five years. Longer than I deserved, but...not nearly long enough," he stated, trying not to sound too much like he was pouting. "Her family arranged her betrothal, and she was forced to break off our relationship. From what I understand, her husband treats her well, but...I can't help but wonder what might have happened if...well..."

He couldn't put into words the thoughts he'd mulled over so often in the dark solitude of his empty bed over the years.

What if she'd chosen to ignore her family's wishes? What if she'd chosen him instead? What if Denak had been her husband instead of that stuffy dignitary?

He knew it was no use dwelling on hypothetical situations, but he still had moments where he couldn't control that nagging little voice in his head.

As the years passed, his feelings for her had dimmed, as was expected, but there were still lonely nights in which his dreams featured the ghost of her lips on his neck and awoke with the sensation of her fingers gripping his shoulders as she rode him. He'd take his length in hand and allow the memories to burn through him until he spilled over his stomach.

Denak still remembered the adoration in her eyes when he brought her to orgasm for the first time. She'd been his first in every respect, just as he had been hers. Elements, she was the reason he knew he enjoyed having his ears bitten!

"I have been with others since her, but none to whom I've formed a serious connection," the Major said, and Hiren nodded his head.

"I know what you mean. I've had a few encounters since my wife passed, but all of them were casual. We all need release, but...being open with someone...being truly committed after a love like that...it's difficult," the Praetor commiserated before turning to look at his guard. "I suppose we're both waiting for the one who will pick up the pieces, aren't we?"

"Yes, my lord Praetor," Denak replied dutifully, but given the sparkle in the older man's eyes, he suspected that one of them had already found what he was looking for.

~*~*~

Taglist:

@akamitrani @android-boyfriends @attention-bajoranworkers @bigblissandlove1 @darkmattervibes @emilie786 @horta-in-charge @live-logs-and-proper @slutty-slutty-vulcans @starrynightgardens @toebeans-mcgee

[kotoprotranslations]

ESSENCE 10 SIDE STORY - Sister Sister

Our story begins with a single man who came from the church. He wove his words with the dexterity and care of an artisan, and his speech lulled the younger generation of a certain village into a dreamlike state.

And there was also one who felt out of place in that village thanks to her contrary personality, a young girl by the name of Elnora. She was also drawn in by the man’s words, but one person kept her curiosity at bay – her one and only older sister, Mia.

Elnora stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a silver ponytail swaying in the shade beneath a tree.

Magnificent though that shade of silver was, the tall silhouette standing at its full height it belonged to was no old man. Only his back was visible, but it was clear this person was still young.

I don’t recognize this guy... I wonder what he’s staring so hard at? Elnora wondered. She followed his gaze, but there was just the tiny forest, and beyond that was just her village, Amedeva. The man’s high-quality deer leather boots stuck out like a sore thumb on the bridge extending over the brook.

“Cutting class, are we?”

Just as Elnora passed by him in the middle of the bridge, he suddenly spoke up, startling her terribly. She turned to look at him, but he was still staring off in the direction of the forest. His face, or at least what little of it she could see in profile, was almost supernaturally well-proportioned. She glanced around doubtfully. No one else was around. So... he was talking to her, then. A tiny crease appeared between her brows.

Ugh, he did NOT just make me remember that stupid annoying argument at school!!

And how outrageous, to tell a lady she was skipping school like that without even a hello or a how do you do...! Not that she actually said that to him. She was, in fact, currently skipping school, after all. Still, not something you just casually toss at someone you don’t know instead of a normal greeting. Elnora decided to ignore the rude man and continued on across the bridge with an irritated sniff.

He didn’t say another word to her, though.

... Was I hearing things? She strained to listen, but only birdsong and the bubbling brook greeted her ears. Aside from that, everything was quiet.

She walked on for a while, then glanced back over her shoulder, only to find that the man under the tree was gone.

■■■■■■■■■

The wind roars.

Pillars of flame twist and roil in the sky above, dancing in time with the screams echoing in the blistering air from people scrambling to flee. Some of those screams are drowned out by the cacophonous crashing of collapsing buildings.

All I can do is stand and watch, the shock and horror freezing my legs to the ground, as my village burns to ash before my eyes.

“... nora... Elnor....”

Who’s that? I can’t hear them clearly. But... that grief-stricken voice, screaming my name so desperately... I know that voice. That’s my beloved –

The walls around me crumple under the onslaught of flame. A pale hand suddenly looms in front of me.

“ELLA, RUN!!”

SLAM!

I’m shoved away. My eyes lock on that hand, too dazed to do anything else as I slowly, oh so slowly, fall backwards. I can’t even speak.

I just have to watch as that hand vanishes under the rubble of our house.

“... MIA!!!”

Elnora woke with a horrible start, her scream still dying on her lips. One hand fisted on her chest, right over her pounding heart.

“Yeees?♡” came the carefree reply from behind her. A young woman walked into view, then paused and squinted at Elnora, taking in the younger girl’s heaving breaths and sweaty brow. “Oh, dear, did you have a nightmare or something?”

The young woman’s hair was the color of flax, her eyes framed by long lashes a brilliant emerald, the exact same as Elnora. Unlike Elnora, however, her eyes were constantly crinkled in a smile, so she gave off a much gentler impression.

“... M-Mia...?”

Indeed, this young woman was Mia, Elnora’s elder sister by six years.

As Mia ran her fingers through Elnora’s sweaty bangs with a worried murmur, Elnora’s heartbeat began to slow. A dream? But it sure felt real.... I can still feel that hand pushing me away... and the sounds and smells of everything burning....

The dream practically oozed fear and hatred. However, now that she was awake, the memories were already dissipating, leaving only a vague, blurry impression in their wake.

“You were late, so I came to get you! I heard you went to school but left straight after, so I thought, ‘hm, well maybe she’s here?’ And it looks like I was right,” Mia giggled.

Elnora’s gaze slowly roved around. She was by the spring. Tiny fish danced in the water before her. The scent of grass hung heavy on the breeze that danced across her face. The sky above her was already turning red. It was sunset.

In order to get to the spring, one had to veer off the one road leading from the school to the village and head down a half-hidden side path. To Elnora, it was a admirable safe haven. There was nothing here to really entertain her, but it was cool in the shades of the trees, the breeze rippling across the water felt nice, and most importantly, she could pass the time without having to hear the instructor’s annoying lectures.

As the village’s resident problem child, Elnora’s day-to-day life was the opposite of quiet. It seemed like every day the instructor or one of the other villagers took umbrage with her.

The trouble on this particular day started when she brought a flyer with her to school about some play in the city that was all the rage, about a bold heroine traveling to far-flung Egypt all by herself in search of her missing lover. It sounded amazing.

But Elnora did not care for the leading actress’ dress in the slightest, a stifling head to toe number that was completely inappropriate for a desert adventure. “What were they even thinking?” she complained to her classmates. “Like, could they have picked anything more tacky? You can’t even see her figure properly! Not to mention that awful fluttery lace cap! Plus there’s no way she could ride a camel with an ankle-length heavy skirt like that, that’d be uncouth! Something lighter and just down to her knees, or even just some shorts, would’ve been way more stylish and functional!”

That was around when the instructor found her.

“A respectable young lady astride a camel in p-pants? With her bare legs freely exposed?! How utterly absurd, Miss Elnora! It is scandalous to genuinely admire such stories at your age! Ten years old and still entertaining such fantasies!”

That, of course, had led to a full-blown argument.

“Your chair privileges have been revoked!” the instructor screamed with her eyes bugged out and her face an ugly scarlet. “You will attend your lessons today standing!”

So Elnora had gotten out of there right quick, but instead of going home right away she’d wandered around for a bit, which was how she met that strange man by the brook earlier.

... All I did was talk about the things I like! Why does everyone get so mad at me for that?! I hate them!

To Elnora, the sleepy lifestyle of the village was boredom incarnate. She wanted to wear dresses with more interesting designs, have a fairytale romance, go traveling, have adventures... she wanted excitement! That was all!

A wave of embarrassment suddenly rolled over her, thinking about how she’d gone off to sulk at a lonely little spring like this and fallen asleep, but still, the conversation she’d had with the instructor that afternoon roiled in her head. Tentatively, she asked Mia, “If... if you saw a woman who went on adventures and wore pants, a really stylish woman like that... what would you think?”

Mia clapped her hands. “Oh, well, that would just be lovely, wouldn’t it! Adventures are so exciting, after all.”

Elnora pouted. “... Only you would say that, Mia.”

“You look so cute all puffed up like a balloon, Ella....” Mia gently reached out and pressed against Elnora’s cheeks, squeezing until the air puffed out and the pout was gone. “There we are!~ Your normal face is still much cuter. I’ll let you in on something – did you know there’s a legend about a goddess who went on a grand adventure by herself to search for her husband after he got swept away by a river?”

“Really...?!  How’s it go?”

“Well, once upon a time there were the gods of the earth and the sky....”

It was only with Mia that Elnora was a regular ten-year-old girl instead of the infamous village troublemaker. She was Elnora’s pride and joy, her gorgeous older sister who could make even the simple dark gray dresses and aprons she wore look as beautiful as ball gowns.

Elnora took her sister’s hand and stood, brushing off the grass that clung to her skirt. Finally, she felt ready to go home.

■■■■■■■■■

The first signs of change began to appear in boring old Amedeva about two months later.

A young man suddenly appeared in the village with pale green eyes and long gray hair, wearing the sort of fine furs that people out in the sticks generally wouldn’t see even once in their entire lives and a lavish coat with roses embroidered on the cuffs, gold and silver thread decorating the cloth. This man, never to be seen without a gentle smile, was called Dio.

Dio brought with him various items and goods from the city the likes of which the good country people of Amedeva rarely laid eyes on. Among them was beautiful cloth and other such sundries spun by machines instead of human hands.

“These machines can produce a lot of goods like this at low costs,” he told the younger crowd. “Right now there’s a lot of new jobs opening up in the city thanks to all this industrialization. Common folks are even getting their hands on things that are usually reserved for the nobility. I believe that soon enough the city will become a place where everyone can live freely regardless of social class!

“And on the other side of these revolutionary changes in society is the Gefinesse Faith. I’ve been going around to all the villages I can to spread their magnificent teachings. Plus... I’m sure you’re aware of that dreadful Black Rose Disease. Our glorious organization is saving those unfortunate souls who have fallen under the influence of those Demons through the grace of God. We provide those afflicted with treatment where else they would only be waiting for death, and we create jobs for those who have lost employment elsewhere. Thanks to that, we have been receiving overwhelming support from the public!”

A wave of murmuring rose from the crowd at the mention of the Black Rose Disease. Everyone knew it was incurable, after all, so for him to be claiming something like that....

“... Now that he mentions it, I did hear a rumor about some religion lately out there performing miracles.”

“I don’t buy it. Some of our relatives died from that disease, and it didn’t look like anything that could be fixed to us.”

“But I heard something about this from a peddler –”

“Furthermore!” Dio pointed at the leader of Amadeva’s younger crowd, a young man by the name of Prower. “This does not just apply to those who have the Black Rose Disease! This is an age where all young people  in the future can utilize the power afforded by the Gefinesse Faith’s revolutionary changes. How does it sound to freely choose where you can make the most of your youth, your talent, your abilities?”

An audible gulp emanated from Prower’s burly throat, his eyes fixated on the extravagant ring flashing on Dio’s finger. “I-Is that... is that possible?” he mumbled.

Dio fixed every person in attendance with a piercing gaze –

“Of course it is. The Gefinesse Faith saves those ensnared by the Black Rose Disease and grants them the freedom to follow their desires.”

– and his ever-present smile widened just a touch.

■■■■■■■■■

In the six months since Dio first visited, Gefinism quickly spread throughout the town.

All the younger folk jumped on it immediately, of course. The older generation all cautioned against it at first, but once they heard about how a neighboring village rife with Black Rose Disease was completely cured after converting to the faith, even the village chief Chapman became more amenable to hearing Dio out.

After all, there were several historical accounts of Amedevan children Demonizing into creatures that craved blood, and the many victims in their wake. This wasn’t some distant threat on the horizon they could pretend wasn’t there; this was real, tangible, and always poised to strike.

Elnora was deeply curious about the Gefinesse Faith as well, but even though her family usually paid attention to her wishes and never denied her anything, for some reason they forbade her from attending any of Dio’s congregations.

... Of course, a measly little order like that didn’t actually stop her from sneaking into the meetings and eavesdropping. Honestly, she didn’t care one bit about the faith itself, she was just completely enamored by all the fresh, exciting tales from the flourishing big city.

“... And guess what else!~ I heard the Gefinesse Faith is gonna build a big church in the city soon, with real white marble and sculptures and everything! How come we don’t have stuff like that here, huh? It’s so laaame!” “Good question.~ We really don’t have big buildings or fancy sculptures around here, do we?”

“Hey, Mia, aren’t you interested at all? About the Gefinesse Faith? Mother and Father are both all like, ‘Oh, Elnora, everyone believes in something different.’”

“Ella, our family is full of storytellers for old myths and legends, right? We don’t care about anything that’s tangible. Our role is to recite stories of the gods to people in need, or people who’ve had bad or sad things happen to them. We can teach those troubled souls valuable life lessons with all these myths we know, and we know a lot. More than there are stars in the sky, I bet!”

“... Like that story about the goddess who went on an adventure?”

“Exactly. Her bravery resonated with you, right?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess....”

Mia giggled as she squeezed a sulky Elnora tight, their cheeks squished together. However, Elnora suddenly felt her sister still, and when she glanced up, she saw that Mia was staring out the window.

“Mia?”

“... Out there, just now....”

“What is it? Is someone there?”

“Hm... every so often I see a very pretty person on the other side of the hedges, and I feel like they’re looking over at us, but maybe I’m just imagining things?... Ah! Oh, no, look at the time, I have to bring Mr. Dio his meal!”

The preacher was apparently in the midst of soliciting help from seemingly all over to build the church and planned to stay in Amadeva for a short while. The village didn’t have an inn, though, so he’d taken up lodging in a detached building belonging to the family of storytellers – that is, Elnora’s family.

With a tray carrying a jacket potato topped with boiled beans and mushrooms plus some slices of rye bread, Mia knocked on the door leading to Dio’s lodgings. “Come in,” he called from within.

As she entered, he raised his head from whatever document he was writing at his desk and offered her a pasted-on smile. “Thank you,” he said. “You and your family, Miss Mia, you’re called ‘storytellers,’ are you not? I’d be delighted if you came to the congregation to listen to one of my speeches sometime, in the interest of sharing our respective knowledge, of course. You could come with Elnora – she secretly listens in sometimes.”

There were some aspects of this man that Mia just couldn’t get a read on for the life of her. Whenever he talked about the Gefinesse Faith with burning passion, or whenever he spoke to the villagers in dizzingly high spirits, she almost felt like she was losing sight of the man called “Dio.” On the surface he was perfectly friendly and kind, and he sincerely believed in his faith... but speaking to him one-on-one felt like she was talking to a formless cloud of mist rather than a person, and it set her on edge. She couldn’t sense a hint of real emotion behind his words.

Today, though, when she brought him his meal, she swept aside any lingering uneasiness in her heart and tentatively asked him a question while he was fervently expounding upon his church.

“Is there anything in particular you like to eat, Mr. Dio? If there is, I’d be happy to make it for you.”

For how fast Dio could ramble on without even pausing for breath, he snapped his jaw shut equally quickly. His eyes met hers, almost dazed, as though he was seeing her properly for the very first time.

Mia waited for a little while, but Dio stayed just like that, completely silent, head tilted ever so slightly, so eventually she left.

After that, Mia would ask him a question with every meal she brought.

“What’s your favorite time of day?”

“What do you think of autumn in Amedeva?”

“What did you think of the mince pie yesterday?”

Every day she came up with some new, meaningless query, and as she continued to talk about things she thought or felt, Dio’s painted on fake smile slowly stopped making an appearance. His horrendous gift for gab when it came to the Gefinesse Faith never vanished, of course, but anytime she posed one of her questions he would stare off into space, expression perfectly blank.

Only in those moments, when he was somehow too bewildered to even speak, did Mia finally feel like the man called Dio was truly present.

A day passed, then two... then, after one week, the time came for Dio to set off for another village.

Nowadays more and more villagers were declaring themselves part of the Gefinesse Faithful. Some of them even offered all of their money and earthly possessions to help build the church and were planning on following Dio on his travels. Only half a year had passed since the preacher blew into town, and yet Amedeva had gone through quite the transformation.

“Good morning. The next village is a ways away, so it’s a good thing the weather’s so nice. Today is porridge for breakfast, made with some fresh milk I got from the neighbor....”

“... tato.”

Blinking, Mia glanced over to Dio. She hadn’t quite caught that. Dio’s face pinched oddly. He opened his mouth again slowly, as though every action caused him great strain.

“... The potato. With, the filling.”

“Huh?” Where was this coming from? Mia had no idea.

Dio’s gaze flicked up to meet hers, his voice barely above a whisper. “Before... you asked, about foods I liked.”

... Is he... answering the first question I asked him? Mia brightened considerably. “That was a jacket potato.”

“... Jacket?”

“Because when you leave the skin on like that, it kind of looks like the potato’s wearing a jacket, right?”

“I see....” A smile rose to Dio’s face, awkward and painfully human. “I guess I didn’t even know that.”

Just then, a gust of wind came in through the window that blew Dio’s notebook right off his desk. Mia immediately went to pick them up, but when she saw what was inside her eyes went wide. “... Did you do this?” she asked.

The page held a marvelous pen sketch of the scenery outside the window. The trees, the herbs in the garden, even the bird were captured in painstaking detail, almost as though they could jump out of the page at any second.

“Um, th-that’s...! It’s nothing, just something I do on a whim, when I have some free time...!”

Mia turned the page as if she couldn’t hear him. “Oh, my,” she murmured, her eyes roving across the detailed recreation of the jacket potato on the tray.

Dio lunged for the notebook in a panic. “Don’t look!” he yelped. “This is just idle doodling, nothing more! It’s meaningless, it doesn’t help me with my role any, so....”

Mia considered him for a moment as he continued stuttering out panicked explanations. Finally, she handed him back his notebook and declared, “I think you ought to take a page out of my little sister’s book.”

“... From Miss Elnora? Why?”

“Because she has the courage to proudly declare what she likes. That’s how she can keep herself in such high spirits, how she takes care of herself. It’s one of the many reasons I’m so proud of her.” Mia’s lips curled in a fond smile. “I’m sure she’d say your drawings are wonderful, just the same as me.”

■■■■■■■■■

Thanks to the preacher and his traveling, the Gefinesse Faith he touted slowly began to spread out of the small country villages to other areas. Progress on the magnificent church in the city also continued apace. There was even talk in the newspapers of designating it as the national religion.

By this point, over eighty percent of Amedevans counted themselves among the Gefinesse Faithful. The most notable new adherent, and perhaps the one that spurred the most conversions, was Chapman the village chief. However, Amedeva had held to the old myths and legends since time immemorial; not everyone could jump ship to a new religion so easily. Slowly but surely, cracks began to form between those who converted and those who clung to the old gods, and the two camps rarely interacted with each other anymore.

As storytellers tasked with passing down tales of the old gods, Elnora’s family had a sort of church-like role themselves, in a way. They served as a bedrock for people, offering advice about their woes and holding recitations of their stories – sermons, in a sense – in the prayer room on the first floor of their home. Elnora’s mother, father, and sister all took pride in what they did, and consequently kept a watchful eye on the Gefinesse Faith’s movements and progression.

Elnora herself, however, was another story. “Hey, Mia! There’s gonna be a huge celebration in the city when the church is all done! Can I pleeease go with everyone else? I can, right?!”

“... Elnora, come sit over here for a minute.”

“Everyone’s gonna be wearing these matching robes with roses on them and it’ll be –” Elnora paused, registering what her sister said. Mia sounded... unusually serious. She trotted over to the table and sat down across from Mia. “What is it?”

“Ella, I don’t want you going this time. Mother and Father both agree.”

It was as though Mia had just dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. Her sister had never, not once, ever said no to her so firmly before! Her voice instantly rose to a shout. “But why –”

Mia smoothly interrupted her. “First of all, do you even want to join that church, Elnora? If you do, of course we want to support you in that, but you’re still young. We’d prefer it if you waited until you were an adult... no, even until you were fourteen, at least, to make such an important decision.”

Elnora didn’t know what to say to that. Mia was right, she didn’t want to join the Gefinesse Faith itself, but she really wanted to support the others, and she really wanted to see that resplendent new church building in all its glory. She wanted it more than anything, in fact. “... But they’re saving people from the Black Rose Disease,” she pointed out. “And Mr. Dio said it was a waste for me to stay cooped up in the village. He said I had the potential to spread their teachings to all sorts of important people across the country.”

That right there was the big reason Gefinism resonated so strongly with the younger crowd. A person could dream about how they wanted to live their life all they wanted, but most of the time those dreams would never become reality. The vast majority of the townsfolk simply took over their family’s business and lived the same sort of life as their parents. And they never even questioned it. Why would they? It’s not like they knew of any other options.

Faced with the dazzling new possibilities opened up by the Gefinesse Faith, it was no wonder the Amedevan youth wavered.

Mia wasn’t done yet, though. “You know, Elnora... I love seeing you talk about the things you like. Your whole face lights up like the sun, and you always put all of yourself into whatever strikes your fancy. It’s so cute, I could just squeeze you and hold you forever! But that’s when you really, truly feel that way. Do you think you can love the Gefinesse Faith with your whole heart like that?”

Elnora’s jaw tightened. How was she supposed to respond to that? “But why? Why would it be so bad if I went?” she challenged. “Just attending the celebration would be fine, not the whole church bit, right...? I’ve been patient for so long!”

“Be patient for just a little longer... and once you’re all grown up, I’m sure you’ll have another chance to visit the city.”

“... Fine! Whatever! Stupid Mia!”

Elnora leaped out of her chair and dashed down the stairs and out of the house. Mia called her name behind her. She ignored it. Further and further she ran, until her sister’s cries were lost amid the rustling of the leaves in the dark, dark forest.

Words couldn’t describe how shocking it was that Mia didn’t consider Elnora’s feelings on something for the first time, but the tears streaming down her face spoke a thousand words on their own. All she could do, really, was tear her way through the pitch-black trees and sob.

The inky darkness, so deep she couldn’t even see her feet in front of her, was enough to frighten most anyone, but Elnora had never been afraid of the night. Rather, to her, the darkness always seemed to glow with pale light, as though the air itself teemed with bioluminescent sea life. The stars and the moon illuminated the path through the tree branches above, and coupled with the faintly glowing creatures around her it made for quite the beautiful sight indeed.

Mia always got mad at her when she had to come looking for her in there, but to the fearless Elnora, the forest at night was a veritable playground.

Elnora, you can’t go wandering into the forest alone at night. Promise me –

She stumbled to a halt, her energy spent. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she tried to get her breathing and thunderous heart rate under control –

“Quite the capricious sisters you are, taking a stroll at this hour.”

Elnora’s head whipped up. There in front of her was a rocky outcrop... and there on top of the outcrop was the person who’d just spoken.

“... It’s you....”

The clouds shifted, allowing a beam of moonlight to reveal the silhouette of a man sitting atop the rocks. Elnora had seen this guy before – it was the man she’d encountered on the bridge before, with the silver ponytail. He had a broadcloth coat in his hands, and he had a distinct air of nobility about him. Whether he actually was nobility was anyone’s guess, but the imperious smile he directed down at her certainly gave that impression.

He was, in short, a weirdo... but strangely, Elnora didn’t get the sense he meant her any harm. She studied his lovely features.

Said features twisted in irritation as he flicked on hand in the air dismissively. “Children need to leave. Your night vision may be impeccable, but the forest still holds many dangers at night.”

“And you need to learn some manners!” Elnora immediately snapped back. “I know this forest like the back of my hand, and I’ve never seen a bear or a wolf or anything in here! Unless you’re trying to tell me there’s ghosts or monsters or something?”

The man fixed the full force of his gaze upon her. Golden eyes flashed in the moonlight. “Well now, who’s to say?” he hummed with blatantly affected ignorance. “But I am certain, at least, that this is when those who are not human walk the earth.”

Elnora stiffened. “Who... are you?” she asked. “Why are you hanging around here...? And why did you say I –”

“Have good night vision? Oh, I can tell. Most people couldn’t find their way through here at night, with no path and no light to see with, while bawling their eyes out in the most unseemly manner as you just did. Quite expertly done, I must say.” The man chuckled. “And to answer your other question, in a fashion, I’m not obligated to tell you what I’m doing here.”

Every word this man spoke irritated Elnora like no other... yet she couldn’t help but be intrigued as well. For him to tell that she could see well in the dark, he had to be able to see well in the dark, too.

“Hold on, you said something weird just now. You said capricious sisters. Sisters, plural.”

The man’s smile widened a touch, seemingly pleased. “And I did not misspeak. I’ve seen your older sister come in here a number of times in the middle of the night.”

“Mia did what?! That’s just ridiculous. Mia’s not that kind of person.”

“There’s only one reason a young lady would delve into the forest at night away from prying eyes, no? She was with that missionary with the Gefinesse Faith, though I’m afraid I don’t know what it was they spoke about.”

A tremor wracked Elnora’s frame. Mia knew everything about Elnora, and Elnora knew everything about Mia in turn... or so she thought. Mia’s expression earlier swam through Elnora’s mind, that pinched, almost desperate look in her eyes. Elnora had never seen that before. Why had Mia been so adamant about not letting her go to the city? Why did she have to wait until she was an adult? And now, hearing that she was meeting with Dio in the forest...?

“Oh? You’ve gone rather quiet, there. Why don’t you scurry on home, maybe have a nice cup of hot milk, and go to bed?”

The man’s voice sliced through her chaotic thoughts, enough for her to fumble through a biting response. “Wh-What do you know?! Don’t treat me like a child! Ugh, you’re so rude.”

The man raised his head, staring in the direction of the village and ignoring Elnora entirely. “So long as you continue to accept what people say blindly and refuse to think for yourself, you’re a child. Though by that definition, hardly anyone in that village could be classified as an adult. No one over there can fathom how the community will fare after it’s so gratefully accepted the teachings of Gefinism as gospel. To think they so blindly extol the faith as saviors based solely on rumors, when none have seen proof of these so-called Heaven-sent miracles saving people from the Black Rose Disease.... Ha! There is no salvation in that.”

The man suddenly turned his attention back down to Elnora. “Well, now, what is the Gefinesse Faith to you, hm? Are they angels who will open a new door to life for you? Or a terrible threat to society?”

“What are you...?”

The sudden swerve of topic to the Gefinesse Faith left Elnora scrambling to reorganize her thoughts. Not that it mattered – a gust of wind suddenly rocked the forest, shaking the trees and drowning everything out with the overlapping rustling of leaves. She screwed her eyes shut.

“You had best warn your sister. Stay away from that man. He is... dangerous.”

Elnora’s head jerked up, but just like before, the man had disappeared without a trace.

■■■■■■■■■

Listen well, my darling little one

In time, all time comes slowly to a close

The time of old, decrepit shades is done

So let them drift away into repose

Since I am on this earth to make Them shine

And you, my dear, are here to serve as mine

Elnora’s relationship with Mia remained strained for a while after their argument.

One night, Chief Chapman came to the house. Her family told her to go upstairs, so naturally the second she hit the landing she turned right back around and crept down to eavesdrop on everyone gathered in the prayer room. She hated being treated like a child, but now wasn’t the time to get all up in arms about that.

She had an inkling about why the chief had decided to pay them a visit. Her family had a difficult decision in front of them, after all – to join the Gefinesse Faith, or be forced out of Amedeva entirely. Everyone else in the village had converted. Elnora and her family were the last ones left. And now the village chief had come calling to deliver an ultimatum.

Pressing her ear to the door, Elnora heard Chief Chapman prattling on and on. He sounded different from how he used to be, more coercive, more intimidating. “The village has decided to lean on the Gefinesse Faith for support from here on out, and in order to prove our dedication to the cause we intend on participating in the ceremony celebrating the completion of the church building, as a whole village, you know, but because you’re here....” And so on and so forth. Elnora couldn’t quite hear everything he said through the door, but she could hear enough to get the gist.

“You must have heard about how the neighboring village was completely wiped out by the Black Rose Disease. All those Demons turned on each other in cold blood, it seems. What can ancient storytellers do against that in this day and age? We have no choice but to throw our lot in with Gefinism.”

In short, he wanted to avoid facing the horrific reality brought on by the gruesome disease, and chose to lash out at a convenient target close by instead... a depressingly common occurrence. As the only family in Amedeva still passing down the old legends, they made for the perfect public enemy.

Yet even in the face of their entire town’s ire, Elnora’s family remained cool and collected, responding with gentle kindness.

And suddenly, Elnora was downright furious.

The storyteller’s tales had been part of her life since she was a child – in fact, the village had been sharing them around and taking solace in them for generations. Chief Chapman himself had come begging her father to pray for his wife after she died, for goodness’ sake! And now he was in their home and treating them like this?!

Enough was enough.

Elnora burst into the room before she could think about it any further. “Why’s it so bad to not be part of the Gefinesse Faith?!” she screamed. “The storytellers have been helping everyone for ages!”

“... Elnora!”

Mia leaped forward to scoop her sister into her arms, but Elnora was far from done. “Even you, Chief! When you heard the legend of the man who couldn’t save his wife from the underworld, and when you understood that what set him free was the the beauty of the sky and the feel of the wind on his skin, you said you felt saved...!”

Chief Chapman went silent. He struggled for a while to come up with something, anything to counter her, but eventually his head drooped, like a puppet with its strings cut... or like a man with a demon on his shoulders.

“The Gefinesse Faith only believes in one god, and it does not recognize any faith in anything beyond the Heavenly Being. Failing to adhere to that is a punishable offense.”

“But if you just don’t say anything....”

“It doesn’t work like that,” he replied tiredly. “Everyone is watching each other. After Sir Dio told them that abandoning all their other faiths was a ‘good deed,’ there’s simply no chance that all the young folk will ever doubt him or the Gefinesse Faith.”

Elnora’s father placed a gentle hand on the chief’s slumped shoulders. “You’ve been put in a difficult position, Chapman. We’re storytellers; we can’t change our way of life. Please don’t worry about us... our ancestors were refugees anyway, we can eke out a living anywhere.”

“You’re going to leave, then...? And you’re okay with that?”

Her father nodded.

The chief sighed. All the fire in his belly that he came into their house with was gone, burned to sad, quiet embers. “I’m sorry it came to this,” he told them. His gaze flashed over to Elnora for a brief instant. “You should know, I’m not the only one who knows about that. I would clear out as soon as possible....”

Knows about “that”? About what?

Suspicious, Elnora opened her mouth to ask, but she didn’t get the chance. An unexpected clamor rose from outside, a resounding mishmash of raised voices, clattering footsteps, and clanging metal. By the sounds of it, there was a whole crowd on their doorstep.

“What in the world...?” murmured Elnora’s father, peering out the window at the countless torches flickering on the other side. “Did something happen?” He turned to the door –

BAM! The door burst open before he could reach for it, and an imposing shadow stepped over the threshold, bearing a torch and glaring at everyone. It was Prower, the leader of the young crowd. More of the younger folk were visible behind him holding rakes and spades.

“Wh-What are you doing?!” yelped the chief. “I told you I was going to take responsibility for talking to the storytellers, didn’t I?!”

Prower ignored him. “Apparently some infected people from the next village over managed to survive,” he announced. “We heard reports that they were coming in our direction, so everyone’s out looking for them right now, and we figured, maybe you guys were sheltering them.”

Mia clutched Elnora even tighter without a word.

The chief sputtered, “What are you talking about? I’ve been here the whole time and no one has been by except you. Just leave this to me and go back outside!”

Prower shoved Chapman aside, glaring daggers at Elnora and her family. “There’s no point hiding it. We heard all about these guys from the old geezers, y’know? We know their whole lineage is full of ‘atavists’ – those who evolve backwards, the freaks.” For a brief instant, Prower’s disgust-filled eyes flicked to Chapman. “You knew, and you didn’t say anything, which makes you just as untrustworthy as them, old man. Sir Dio’s close by; he’s coming this way. We’ll deal with you after he gets here. We’re instating a watch outside to make sure you don’t leave the building.”

“Prower... what do you intend to do?”

“Chief. We all stand with Sir Dio.... Now why don’t you tell us everything you know about this ‘atavism’ business, Mr. and Mrs. Storyteller?”

Prower grabbed Elnora’s parents and dragged them both out the door before clapping a padlock on the door and boards over the windows, locking the others inside.

“MOTHER! FATHER!”

Elnora kicked and screamed and raged for what felt like forever, but her parents didn’t return, and the door didn’t magically open. She slumped and tilted her face up to her dear sister, utterly dumbfounded. “... Mia....”

She hadn’t looked Mia in the eye since their fight the other day. It felt like a lifetime ago.

“What do we do? He took Mother and Father away, Mia.”

“....”

“Hey, why is everyone saying all that stuff? Please, Mia... what’s that ‘atavist’ stuff he was talking about...?”

“Elnora... that’s....”

“I’ve been wondering for a long time, you know. About why you weren’t understanding me, really seeing me, anymore. Ever since the Gefinesse Faith came... no, it’s been longer than that. For a long, long time, you and Mother and Father have kept something from me, haven’t you? And after I figured that out, it suddenly felt like I was being left out, and there was this big ball of stress in my heart, and I couldn’t say anything.

“... But someone told me that if I didn’t want to be treated like a child, I had to think for myself... so I did. But no matter how hard I thought about it, there was only one answer I could come up with; there’s just no way my family would do something like that for no reason.”

■■■■■■■■■

Elnora didn’t sleep a wink that night, in the end, but the next morning when she washed her face and came downstairs she found that Mia had made tea. It had been a while since they’d had any sort of interaction one-on-one, so she was rather uncharacteristically hesitant about taking any, but eventually she steeled her nerves and grabbed a mug. The steaming honey herb tea burned away some of her lingering tension.

“Our ancestors came to this country from a place across the sea. Did we ever tell you that, Ella?”

Elnora almost choked on her drink from the sudden question. Still, she got the sense that Mia might be trying to answer her question from last night, so she just nodded and replied, “Yeah, but I don’t know much else.”

“A certain legend about them remains.” Mia cleared her throat and began, “‘Once upon a time, there was a small kingdom. A war broke out between them and a neighboring country, and much blood was spilled on both sides. For many long years the fighting continued, until one day, when the kingdom seemed poised to fall, the king offered up his own body to a Demon of blood and gained tremendous power. Armed with his newfound strength, the king took up his blade and cleaved through swathes of enemies until the tides turned and his kingdom stood victorious.’”

“Are you serious? A Demon...?”

“This is nothing more than a fairy tale, of course. There are other versions of this story where one of the king’s retainers forms a contract with the Demon instead.”

“Oh, come on,” Elnora scoffed.

Mia giggled a little. “‘After the war was over, though,’” she continued, “‘the king’s people grew fearful of their liege’s demonic power and ousted him from the throne and the land. Driven from his own home, the king set out on a long journey... and at the end of his travels, he met a beautiful young woman. She knew that the king harbored a Demon within him, yet she accepted him anyway, and the two were wed.’”

Here, Mia paused for a moment, but seeing how Elnora was hanging onto her every word, she took a deep breath and took the plunge.

“His descendants scraped by for generations, and those descendants include us. Our bloodline has a peculiar trait – it’s extremely rare, but occasionally a child is born in our family with certain strange abilities built to conquer the night, inherited from the Demon of blood. Those abilities always show themselves before the child’s fourteenth birthday.”

Elnora could feel all the blood draining from her face. “So ‘atavism’ is...?”

Mia reached out to her with trembling hands and held her close, but it did nothing to ease her dread. In fact, her sister’s reaction only confirmed her worst suspicions. “... When we saw how fearless you were in the face of darkness, even at such a young age, we decided to never speak of this to you.”

Suddenly, a vivid memory flashed in Elnora’s mind of the first time she stepped foot into the forest at night. “It was so pretty, Mia! It sparkled like the jewelry box I saw in the picture book,” she’d gushed. Mia had looked so sad, then, and she’d knelt down and made Elnora swear to never tell anyone outside their family.

“The people of the Gefinesse Faith say they’re saving the infected people by the ‘grace of God,’ but we don’t know what they’re actually doing to them,” Mia explained. “I thought you’d be in danger if you got too close to them, Ella. The Black Rose Disease isn’t quite the same thing as our lineage’s bloodline reversion, but if the power of the Demon appears in you, I’m sure they’ll detain you like any other afflicted person. I even tried asking Mr. Dio what they’re doing to treat those people, but he said even he didn’t know any details....”

“Ah!” Elnora’s eyes widened a bit. The silver-haired man in the forest had mentioned something about this! “Right! Mia, you and Mr. Dio had meetings in the forest at night!”

She was going to ask what they talked about... but then she stopped and took in the sudden flush of color along Mia’s cheeks. “... Mia?”

She had never, ever seen her sister like this before. Elnora consciously held her tongue, eyes wide, as Mia pressed her hands to her reddened face almost as if in a daze, utterly flustered. “E-Eh? Er, how did you... were you watching us, Elnora? That was just – well, Mr. Dio said he wanted to know where the river was so he could see the fireflies, so, um....”

It took her a little time to recover, but once Mia laid eyes on Elnora again she took a deep breath and calmed herself, serious once more. “... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have met with him alone....” She reached out and tugged Elnora into a tight embrace. “But I promise I’ll protect you, Elnora, with everything I have. Mother and Father will as well. I swear it.”

Several days passed.

The sisters kept waiting and watching for their chance to escape their confinement, but the villagers kept up a never-ending stream of guards around their house, determined to keep the two contained. Their parents never returned; apparently, they were being held elsewhere. Or at least, that’s what they both assumed, since no word from them ever came.

With nothing else to do, Elnora spent much of her time listlessly zoning out. And whenever she let her thoughts wander like that, she would inevitably end up stewing over that whole “atavism” thing again. A single word was outright tormenting her, and it was only growing worse the longer she brooded over it.

If the Demon ends up possessing me, what’ll happen to me? she wondered. Her imagination provided no answers that weren’t depressing, horrifying, or both.

Asking Mia didn’t lead anywhere, either. All she said was, “It’s been several decades since the last time the Demon’s powers appeared in our bloodline....”

Elnora had a sneaking suspicion that there was still something her sister wasn’t telling her – or maybe something she couldn’t tell her.

Mia probably noticed Elnora was in low spirits, because after dinner she said, “Let’s have our dessert by the hearth tonight.” She grabbed some apples they still had lying around, stuffed some filling in them, then lined them up neatly on the skillet in the hearth with some butter and spices. It wasn’t long before a pleasant aroma began to fill the house.

“Ooh, that smells good!” A spark of excitement flashed in Elnora’s eyes. “You’ve been making this a lot lately,” she remarked.

When Mia didn’t immediately respond, she glanced up with furrowed brows only to find that a spot of color was once again blooming on her sister’s cheeks. “... Have I?” she mumbled.

... Oh. Elnora got it. She started cooking a lot more easy-to-make baked stuff after Mr. Dio came.

She grinned. “Yeah, I guess you like baked goods more nowadays, huh, Mia? Like those jacket potatoes. You know, if you keep making those you’re gonna get fat.~”

Mia blinked. Her eyes lit up. “Oh, I see. I guess I’ll just have to eat all of these, then.” She reached for the skillet.

“Hey, no, no fair! I want my share!”

For one brief, shining moment, the two girls managed to forget their current dreadful reality, and scuffled and laughed and made merry. For one brief, shining moment, it was a normal, peaceful night again.

If I’d known about Mr. Dio just a bit earlier, then I wouldn’t feel like this... I would’ve just smiled and joked and asked, “And just what kind of person do you think I am? ‘Cause you know I’m definitely not the serious type....”

Those peaceful, ordinary times seemed so precious, now.

■■■■■■■■■

“CAPTURE THE POSSESSED –”

Dio left for Amedeva in a tizzy after receiving that telegram. Although he was unfamiliar with horseback riding, he borrowed one and spurred it to a breakneck pace. All the while, though, he wondered to himself why he was acting so absurd, why these foolish emotions were urging him onward.

... It had to be because that person had given the order.

Because robbing every last speck of faith in the old gods from the storytellers still living in Amedeva...

... that was Dio’s assigned role.

The whole family of storytellers was meant to be a sacrifice from the start. The youngest daughter with the blood of the old vampire flowing through her veins was going to be the centerpiece of the scheme, inciting terror in the other villagers, with arrangements for the other family members to be admitted to a Gefinesse facility afterwards.

He hadn’t gone through with that plan only because the outbreak of the Black Rose Disease in the neighboring village caused the Amedevans to convert en masse, ultimately rendering the entire family irrelevant.

“The hearts of man are fragile things.

What would they do if their neighbor were to suddenly transform into a hideous abomination and attack them?

And what if that abomination had the power to tear man asunder?

All those frightened, trembling humans can do is reach out to the Gefinesse Faith.”

And what they said came to pass. The Gefinesse Faith grew strong, nourished by the despair of their Faithful. Dio traveled from place to place, eradicating the old gods’ tales as he went.

That is my duty. That is the duty they deigned to assign me. That is my reason for being.

... Which made his current actions even more befuddling, then. Surely if they saw him now, there would be consequences.

So why am I....

Around and around his thoughts went, reaching no conclusion. Dio snapped the reins and urged his horse to gallop even faster.

Elnora was drowsing when she suddenly snapped wide awake.

It was the middle of the night, yet she thought she heard something outside. She strained to listen... and yes, there was indeed a faint sound out there, like someone was rubbing something metal.

Did someone come to see us? One of the villagers, maybe?

Elnora carefully opened her door. Mia was already at the top of the stairs, a lamp in her hand. The two nodded to each other and tiptoed down the steps, sticking as close to each other as possible... but no one was there. The younger pressed a hand to her chest and sighed in relief, but Mia remained on high alert. “... Stick close to me,” she whispered, holding her arm out. Elnora nodded and grabbed it –

Ka-clank went the padlock opening, followed by the high-pitched creeeak of the front door.

A shaft of moonlight illuminated a murky figure standing in the doorway....

“WAAAHHH!!”

“AH! I-I won’t let you lay a hand on my big sister!!”

... frightening the sisters enough for them to unconsciously scream.

“Wha – shh! It’s me!” hissed a familiar voice. Keep your voices down, the guards out front will hear you!!”

“... Huh?”

The figure swiped their arm across their face, wiping some of the accumulated dirt and grime from their skin, to reveal... Dio, the person who’d caused all this mess in the first place. He reached out blindly behind him to shut the door.

Mia immediately tugged Elnora behind her. “What are you...” she uttered, low yet demanding.

Dio interrupted her, though, somehow as laid back as anything. “I apologize for visiting you at this hour... or perhaps I should say, in this state?” He glanced down at the mud caked to his legs. “I asked the people of the village I was staying at to lend me the fastest horse they had, and its temperament was unexpectedly wild. I slipped right off its back into a puddle on the way here.... If I may, could I possibly trouble you for something to dry myself with...?”

As he trailed off into silence, the tension in Mia’s frame slowly slipped away.

Mia offered Dio a washbasin. After he’d cleaned himself up and finally looked like a human being again, he was summarily shuffled into the kitchen, placed in a seat at the table, and given a cup of tea. He drained the whole thing in one go. Only then did he face the sisters and speak again. “I’m afraid I can’t afford to be seen around here, so I’ll be frank.”

The tale he wove was nothing less than earthshattering.

He made it clear first thing that he intended to save Elnora and her family before diving into the nitty gritty of the Gefinesse Faith’s creed. “I assume you’ve heard of the neighboring village? Gefinesse exorcists went there to transport the surviving Demons elsewhere in order to cleanse their souls.”

“Cleanse?” Mia echoed hopefully. “And that would neutralize the illness... and the Demon with it?”

“No,” he replied. “As I understand it, any human that Demonizes forms a ‘core’ somewhere in their body, and once that core has been formed, reverting back into a human is impossible. There are rare cases where one regains one’s sanity, but that’s not something we can replicate – it appears that particular feat comes down to the individual’s disposition, no more, no less.

“The Black Rose Disease feeds on a person’s desires to form that core, and once it nears completion, the person is robbed of their very humanity. At that point, the only recourse left is a purification ritual.”

Mia had gone stark white about halfway through his explanation. At her side, Elnora muttered, “A ritual....” She had an awful feeling about all this, but she couldn’t just tune him out, not when his information was so important.

“Praying to Heaven and removing the core, in other words,” Dio continued. “Only when the core is eradicated can the person ascend to Heaven as a proper human. In any event, though, once someone has been fully Demonized, the core continues to grow, and the faith siphons energy off of it until it eventually crumbles to dust.”

“But surely there must be some way for them to survive after those cores are destroyed...?” Mia all but pleaded.

Dio shook his head. “Unfortunately not. Once it’s been formed, it alters the body with itself as the new heart of operations, almost as though it has a life of its own. Removing it is the same as removing the beating heart of any human.”

Darkness swam in Elnora’s vision. Cores remove someone’s humanity? Then... the “Demon of blood”... is something like that really inside me...?

When she opened her eyes again (and when did she close them?), Mia was clutching her to her side. She was also shaking rather profusely. Maybe that was why. “Elnora doesn’t have the Black Rose Disease!” her older sister was insisting above her. “I will never hand her over to the Gefinesse Faith!”

“I know that,” Dio assured her, “but your village is horribly riled up. You’ll have a witch hunt on your hands soon enough... so this is what we’ll do. Tomorrow I’ll tell them to call the Gefinesse exorcists here, and if they can cleanse you in front of everyone that ought to persuade them. You would have to pretend to undergo the ritual, of course, but after that, you’d be released from this strict guard rotation they have set up for you. I’ll prepare a horse-drawn wagon for you and leave it in the woods, so afterwards, once it’s nighttime, you and your whole family can flee. Preferably as far as you can. I’ll stay behind to buy you some time and ward off any pursuers.”

Mia stared at Dio, too stunned to even comprehend at this point. He never spoke with any inflection or even facial expression, and now was no different... yet she and Elnora both could sense a definite note of kindness lurking under his monotone speech. “Why...?” she whispered. “You’re with the Gefinesse Faith, why would you take such a risk for us...?

He hesitated. “... To be honest, I don’t quite know myself,” he admitted. “I understand how illogical my own actions are, but when I heard what had happened to you all, I simply blinked and found myself rushing here on horseback.” Dio took a breath. “I am a mere tool meant to carry out my purpose, and yet my emotions spurred me to save you.”

“Ugh, what’s that supposed to mean?” Elnora spat, too angry to hold her tongue for a brief instant.

There were certain immutable facts in this world. Like Elnora, poeple couldn’t choose what blood flowed through their veins. They couldn’t change their race, or the sex they were born with.

But this man sitting in front of her was different. If he decided he hated it, he could choose to stop being a “tool” with a “purpose.” Yet when he looked at her, he seemed so bewildered and lost... more of an unreliable little brother than their savior.

Elnora let out a long sigh, then planted her hands on her hips and faced Dio. She was starting to see where Mia was coming from. The guy had really messed Amedeva up, but he was also really, really hard to hate. Just like Mia towards her, someone had probably just given him some positive reinforcement in a world where no one tolerated him otherwise.

“Fine. I’ll believe you. But I’ll warn you now, if you don’t get your act together there’s no way I’ll entrust my dear sister to you.”

“E-Elnora! What are you –?!”

“Huh? Wait, entrust Miss Mia to me...?! Wha – uh – wh-what are you saying?!”

“And also, I refuse to acknowledge a guy who can’t even dance in the village festival as a proper brother-in-law.~ You’d better give it your all.”

Elnora grabbed a flustered Dio by the hands and pulled him up to lead him in a dance. He made it one step before falling flat on his backside. That, she reasoned, was revenge enough for everything he’d put them through.

■■■■■■■■■

Everything proceeded as planned the next day.

That morning, Dio went to meet with the chief pretending he’d just arrived and discussed calling the Gefinesse exorcists to Amedeva for Elnora’s family.

It had been a while since he’d been here last, and the little town had changed so drastically it was barely recognizable. Countless banners fluttered in the air above bearing rose motifs and other unfamiliar symbols.

Dio had also visited Elnora’s parents, locked away in the detached house, and explained the plan. They agreed to have the whole family undergo the purification ritual.

The guards left them alone for the day, since with the family still split apart as they were they couldn’t very well flee anyway. Everyone packed whatever belongings they could and waited for nightfall. Full of restless energy and with no other outlet, Elnora took to checking the map and going over every last step of the plan ad nauseum.

After midnight, they would head for the river where the fireflies gathered, where the wagon would be waiting for them. They wouldn’t head to any of the nearby villages – too conspicuous, they’d stand out like sore thumbs – and they obviously couldn’t head for the city where the Gefinesse Faith’s main headquarters were. They’d aim for Sphillington. It was on the larger side, and Dio was familiar with the area. The plan was to hunker down in a guesthouse there called the White Horse Pavilion.

Elnora could tell at a glance that Dio held Mia in very high regard. And as much as it pained her to admit it, that regard went both ways.

So, in the brief window of time before he returned from the meeting hall, Elnora went out and picked some of Mia’s favorite flowers and wove them into both of their hair. A small gift, for her and for him... one that contained all the hopes and wishes she entrusted to him.

“I believe in you, dear brother-in-law.”

Yes, Mia and Elnora both wholeheartedly believed everything was going quite swimmingly.

As the sky grew dark, Elnora’s eyelids slipped shut and she fell into a light doze.

Until she became aware of an orangish light flickering in her narrow line of sight.

She was already shouting as she woke up. She leaped up to the window to find a column of flame engulfing the detached house. The walls were brick, but the roof was only made out of wood, and the fire had already greedily consumed it all, belching out thick clouds of dark smoke.

Elnora clung to the window. She couldn’t move. Her legs were shaking. Her mind refused to accept what she was seeing. “Mother... Father...!”

“Elnora!” Mia rushed into the room and grabbed her hand. “The house is on fire, we have to run!”

Mia tugged her out of her room. The fire was here, too, and was swiftly consuming the whole building. This isn’t right, she thought. Fire shouldn’t spread this fast. It’s like someone doused everything in oil....

They went downstairs, but the entire first floor was already a sea of flame. They couldn’t get out this way. “... The prayer room’s made of stone, so it might still be standing,” Mia said. “Come on!”

The ceiling beams creaked ominously above them. Mia and Elnora jumped out of the way with twin screams just in time to avoid the burning debris falling on their heads. The two dashed into the prayer room and slammed the door shut behind them.

They had to take a minute to catch their breaths after that. The scorching heat of the house left them deprived of oxygen, but the prayer room was a little cooler, a little more removed from the flames, enough to refill their lungs.

What on Earth is going on? Mia wondered. When I looked out from the second floor, it seemed like the whole village was ablaze. This isn’t normal. This isn’t right.

She surveyed the prayer room, biting her lip. They had nowhere else to run. The prayer room didn’t have any doors that led directly outside. The window was too narrow for either of them to climb through, and it was still boarded up besides. How will we get out of this? How can I make sure Elnora makes it out of this?

“Mr. Dio will come for us,” Elnora assured her sister as she peered out the window as best as she could. “He’ll be here to save you.”

Mia hesitated. She had no response to that.

Outside, bellowing began to reverberate through the crackling air.

“I told you we should’ve kept them locked up!”

“Those Demons started the fires!”

“They’re hiding in there! Show your faces!”

“You Demons are destroying our home!”

More and more shouts of rage rose from beyond their walls. “We started the fires...?!” Mia repeated shrilly. “But that’s absurd!”

The temperature continued to rise. Embers began to lick at the ceiling above. Elnora had borne the situation so far quite bravely, but her courage had run dry. All-consuming terror wracked her soul. “Mia, were we tricked?!” she cried. “Mr. Dio said he’d save us, but maybe this was his plan all along....”

Mia held her sister tight.

Dio’s face from yesterday flashed in her mind. “I’ll save you,” he’d promised.

Dio was a different man now from the one she’d first met. His eyes still betrayed no emotion, but his interest in simple things, his ability to understand joy, those were things he hadn’t had before.

He’d been happy when she’d asked him to give her pointers on sketching like he did.

He’d stared at the fireflies with childlike wonder as he murmured, “I’ve never seen these before.”

He’d looked so bashful the first time he enjoyed eating her food.

To Mia, Dio was nothing more than a pure soul feeling feelings, taking joy in feeling feelings, for the first time in his life.

“... I believe in Mr. Dio. Something must have happened to him. But more importantly, we need to get....”

SLAM!

Suddenly, Elnora was being shoved away from her sister.

Her eyes locked on that pale hand.

... She’d seen this somewhere before.

Slowly, oh so slowly, she fell backwards, too shocked to even speak.

“ELLA, RUN!!

A thunderous BOOM shook the air, followed by the ominous creaking of a thick tree near the house slowly tipping over. Mia’s hand vanished from view, pinned beneath the stones of the now-demolished prayer room. The spot where Elnora had been standing not two seconds before was now nothing but flaming rubble.

“NOOO! MIA!” Elnora scrambled forward, fruitlessly clawing at the stones. “MIA, ANSWER ME!”

The blazing flames continued their conquest, charring the boards over the windows and even the bricks until they collapsed. And as they crumbled, the gaps were filled with the faces of Amedevan men.

“Looks like she got squashed! Serves her right!”

“The house over there was completely made of wood. Their parents are probably toast, with how strong the flames are.”

“... They both dead?”

“Just Mia, looks like. Elnora’s alive!”

... Mia... My sister....

The world shifted on its axis.

In the space of a breath, everything went black. Silent. Still.

Her fingers, reddened from exertion, each vein standing out in stark contrast to her pale skin, dug into one of the broken and burning pillars of her home, and she flung it at the villagers as if it weighed nothing more than a feather. They screamed and scattered.

None of these vile creatures deserve to live.

“I’ll tear you all to shreds.”

A hoarse voice echoed in her ears. Elnora was too far gone to realize it was hers.

The emerald in her eyes leeched away, replaced with the bright crimson of fresh blood. Her flesh stretched, her bones cracked, her body transforming –

“Calm yourself, Elnora. You can still turn back to how you were.”

– and then everything in front of her went dark.

Not because she fell unconscious or anything, no, someone was just suddenly standing right in front of her. Not only that, they were holding her, long arms wrapping around her form, hands gently but firmly cradling her head. She writhed in their grip, but they held fast.

Shut up! SHUT UP! Get out of my WAY!

She could sense the vast strength lying just under her skin, and she wanted nothing more than to let it loose. What a glorious feeling it must be, to give into those desires... if only this person weren’t impeding her. She tilted her head up, hatred burning in her scarlet eyes.

Golden eyes stared right back.

She knew that shade of gold.

How long was it since she first sensed a presence watching their house from afar?

Sometimes she caught those golden eyes staring at Mia with such a gentle, lonely smile... and maybe that was why she was never scared, even then.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make it here in time. They may be gone, but you have to live. That’s what Mia wanted, is it not?”

“Mia? She... wanted...?”

“She gave her life to try and save you... so she must have wanted you to escape, and live. As a person, a human.”

In that instant, every last kernel of strength fled Elnora’s body.

The black... something or other propping her body up peeled away and scattered like flower petals, whipping away on the blistering breeze.

Like flowers for the dead, Elnora thought. Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I can’t,” she sobbed. “They’re all gone. I can’t live in a world without my sister. Not on my own.”

Silver hair swayed before her eyes. “Then I will stand by your side in Mia’s place.”

“You’re weird. You’re super weird.... Are you the Demon of blood from the story?”

“Well, now. Who’s to say?”

Strong fingers reached out and wiped her tears away. The silver-haired man held his palm out to her.

“Come with me, Elnora.”

“... I can’t give up here,” Elnora decided. “I have to hear the truth from him... no matter what it takes.”

“Indeed. And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure this tale reaches a conclusion.”

“Promise me. Promise you won’t leave me until then.”

“Understood. My name is Clemens, and I swear on that name that I will always be by your side.”

Time passed.

A long time ago, there was a village here, but one day it burned to the ground, and its inhabitants scattered to the winds, leaving barely a trace of the tragedy that occurred.

But there’s still an old police file about that mysterious event, containing some eyewitness testimonies from those villagers.

FILE: A25069

“According to witness reports, a lone young girl vanished from Amedeva that day. She was never seen again. One witness stated seeing an unfamiliar man draping a cloak over the girl and disappearing in the blink of an eye.”

Their bodies were never found.

The file name is listed as simply “The Amedeva Case.”

[ofsmokenandgold]

Star Trek and Families

I'm rewatching Picard again, and I noticed something that has always slightly disturbed me about all the incarnations of Star Trek. For a technologically advanced society, the Federation seems to have a very low life expectancy. What do I mean by that? Surprisingly few of our main characters have surviving family members that aren't on their respective ships/stations.

I understand that "found family" or "chosen family" has always been an important theme in Star Trek, but if you do that by regularly killing off parents/grandparents/siblings then you give a lie to the idea that this is a better society.

Take ST:Picard as an example:

Picard himself - for the vast majority of his Starfleet career he has minimal to no meaningful family relationships. They even kill off his brother and nephew, in a particularly horrible way, to emphasize that he is alone, with only his crew as family. His parents and grandparents are all dead. We know how his mother died - but his Dad? During TNG, if we assume Picard was in his mid-40s then his father would probably have been in his mid-80s to 90s at the most.

Raffi - no meaningful family connections, other than an ex husband and an estranged son - no parents, no grandparents, no siblings.

Seven - no siblings, dead parents, no mention of grandparents

Agnes - no siblings, no parents, no grandparents. At least none that seem to hold any tie for her.

Rios - absent father, dead mother, no siblings, no grandparents - he outright says in S1 that he has no family.

Elnor - fair enough, he was born into chaos in the Romulan evacuation.

Beverly Crusher - dead husband, dead parents, dead grandparents, no siblings, one estranged son and one son that she is close to

Riker - no siblings (no Tom doesn't count); mother dead when he was very young; father now also dead, no grandparents; only gets a wife and children of his own after the main series is over and even then, one child is dead.

Troi - father dies sometime during TNG, only sibling died before she was born; no mention of grandparents.

Strange New Worlds is doing the same thing, Uhura's immediate family all died in a shuttle crash, Pike's father is dead, even though he would have been barely older than middle aged by 24th century standards.

I could continue but you get the point.

Life expectancy is strongly hinted to be around 120 by the time of TNG; so there should be surviving parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, for all of these people; even if they are all only children.

Again, I know this ties into the idea of found family, but it bothers me because in some ways it seems like the writers are just writing 20th (and early 21st) century family relationships, where you wouldn't necessarily expect an adult to have living parents or grandparents and ignoring that life expectancy will have changed 200-300 years from now. And it will change, even if we have an upper limit to the human body - more people will be reaching that limit as we deal with things like cancer more effectively.

Anyway, just rambling...

[the-qalankhais-sweetheart]

CatBoyElim here! I’m really honestly curious about your opinions of Mátalas! I dont think I’ve really seen anything bad from him in the last Picard season, and the actors just absolutely go ga-ga talking about him (Gates had him on her podcast too), but of course I am so open to hear what everyone else sees! Anything can happen and change too, like with everyone spilling things about Berman after their shows were over.

So my biggest issues with Matalas stem from two major things:

1) his claims that they just didn't have the money to keep and pay "any other new characters" aside from Raffi in order to bring in the TNG actors for Season 3, yet somehow magically had the money to make new young crew members and Shaw and Jack and bring in those actors, and many of them (though admittedly not all) were generally of the white persuasion whereas aside from Allison Pill, the rest of the Motley Crew actors were either Latin or AAPI (not counting Michelle Hurd, who is Black but was included). It looks kind of fishy. Perhaps he just dreamed too big; perhaps he honestly overshot and had to cut back. But it seems hella fishy.

2) how he takes criticism from fans online, specifically femmes and/or LGBTQIA folks. He tends to respond with a snarky remark, if that, and then blocks them. No real dialogue, and tends to post memes saying "build up what you love instead of tearing down what you hate", while still rubbing elbows with more TrekBro/RLM types who shit on most NuTrek and criticize the newer characters and storylines as being "woke" . It's eyebrow-raising how easy it is to get blocked by him, according to many accounts I have followed and even friends of mine. Not to accuse, and perhaps he is indeed a fine dude who's just getting used to being in the spotlight, but it's kind of reminiscent of Joss Whedon and how he interacted with fans - and as a Browncoat who is well aware of what that looked like and what Whedon turned out to be....it is cause for concern.

I also just really don't like his storylines, his new characters, how he handled the concept of Picard having a child (to his credit, he did initially think of it being Vash and it was Sir Patrick Stewart who suggested it would be more likely for it to have been Beverly Crusher as the mother, but the storyline still seems so awkwardly shoehorned in and doesn't make a ton of sense to me), and his choice to yeet the characters of Rios, Elnor, Soji, and Agnes in favor of, well, having a TNG reunion + making a bigot like Shaw and, well, making Jack.

I have a bunch of reasons I don't like Jack, but that's another post.

I hope this helps! Thanks for the ask! 😁

[procrastinatorproject]

Tonight, we continue with some sunny adventure that has gone neglected for far too long: We're checking in with Gemma, the hover-cow.

Context: The crew of La Sirena are stranded on a bucolic planet mostly inhabited by very large, very round, very fluffy cows that have a tendency to push off the ground, float in a gentle arc for several meters, and then crash into you to show their affection. Somewhat against his will, Rios has adopted one of these specimens, a calf about the size of a draft horse, whom he has decided to call Gemma. Right now, our intrepid heroes are trying to find a way to cross a very deadly river.

(For the first two chapters see here, the third one is almost finished, and this would be the beginning of the fourth one, I think.)

---

“No.”

“I’m sure I could do it.”

“Absolutely not!”

“You have failed to come up with any other options, so what’s the alternative?”

“It sure as hell isn’t that!”

Cris took a long drag from his cigar, trying to calm down. He wasn’t having much success.

“Elnor has a point.”

Cris shot Seven an angry look. “I don’t care if he has a point, we’re not doing this.”

The xB was utterly unimpressed by his temper. “Would you rather we turn around? Walk all the way back and abandon our best chance to get off this damn rock?”

“There has to be another way,” Cris insisted, though he could tell that he was losing the argument.

“I’ll tie a rope around my waist and Soji can pull me back if I fall into the river,” Elnor suggested eagerly.

“I’m not worried about you falling in the river,” Cris snarled around his cigar, “I’m worried you’ll bash your head open on a rock. Or… get trampled. Or god knows what else could go wrong!”

“I don’t think the cows have enough mass to trample a Romulan in peak physical condition,” Agnes said, looking Elnor up and down with a pensive expression.

Cris wanted to be angry at her for this betrayal, but it was very difficult when she scrunched up her face in this adorable way she had.

He shook his head, trying to focus on the problem at hand. “You’re all ignoring the most basic problem.”

Soji tilted her head. “Which problem?”

Cris put his hands on his hips and fixed Elnor in a glare. “Go on, tell them what happened yesterday.”

Everyone turned to look at the young Romulan, but, of course, trying to embarrass a practitioner of Absolute Candour, even one as green as Elnor, was a doomed endeavour. “I made an attempt at riding one of the hover-cows yesterday morning,” Elnor said without a hint of apprehension, “but I couldn’t get her to stand still for long enough to climb on her back.”

Raffi groaned. “You might have mentioned that before.”

“I didn’t think it was relevant,” Elnor said. “I only tried it three or four times, and I didn’t have a reason to put much effort into the attempt. Now I do.” He shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Besides,” Soji put in, “I don’t think we’ll have much trouble keeping the hover-cow still in this case.” She gave Cris a smile that made hairs stand on end, then she nodded her head down river

Cris turned around with a frown to see what she was pointing at.

There, maybe a hundred meters away, hiding bashfully behind a boulder that barely came up to her belly, was Gemma, watching him with her ever-hopeful eyes.

“Concha su —”

“Really, Cris,” Raffi scolded him with a wide grin. “Watch your mouth in front of that poor child.” She was clearly enjoying this way too fucking much.

“Is that your new girlfriend?” Agnes shielded her eyes against the sunlight.

“She’s not—”

“Yes, you can see the distinct patch of lighter fur on her left shoulder,” Seven mused.

“Oh yes,” Elnor said happily, “she’ll be perfect.”

Now that she had their full attention, Gemma apparently decided there was no point in hiding anymore. She trotted out from behind the rock and started heading towards them.

“Absolutely not,” Cris insisted. “You’re not going to try and ride her across the river!”

“Why not?” Elnor asked. “She’s small enough that I’ll have a much easier time climbing on her back, but she should still be able to cross the river in one jump.”

As if to demonstrate her prowess, Gemma accelerated her approach and broke into a loping run, that could only end one way.

“Oh, no, no-no, don’t —” Cris took a stumbling step backwards and dropped his cigar, as the others all scrambled to safety. He yanked up his arms and yelled: “Gemma, stop!”

To his unending surprise, she actually listened.

Instead of pushing off the ground to bound into him with an overjoyed gurgle, Gemma started scrambling against the soft grass, trying to slow herself down. She had built up too much momentum to come to a full stop, but instead of crashing into Cris with enough force to bowl him over, she merely knocked him a few steps backward. As soon as he had found his feet again, Cris leaned into the onslaught of hot breath and soft fur, bringing them both to a halt. Somehow, Gemma’s head had ended up under his arm, and now she was nuzzling at his side, making quiet happy noises, apparently quite proud of herself.

Cris sighed deeply, but he patted her broad neck. “Yes, well done. That was a good stop.”

He tried to untangle himself from the mountain of fur and looked around Gemma’s mass to where the others had taken refuge from her approach. Agnes was peering at him over the top of a boulder. She kept herself low enough that he could only see her eyes, but they were clearly brimming with laughter. Raffi had no such compunction. She was grinning so wide it was a wonder her head didn’t split in two.

Next to her, Seven dusted some grass off her shirt. When she noticed Rios’s look, she arched a delicate eyebrow. “Did you just call her ‘Gemma’?”

Cris could feel heat rising in his cheeks as, hidden behind their boulder, Agnes and Soji broke out in snorts and giggles. “Piss off!”

[curator-on-ao3]

Prompt request: "Am I not good enough?" for Hugh Borg/Elnor, please?

Thank you so much, @northstarfan, for this fantastic prompt! 💕 I promise to get to others in my inbox (and please keep ’em coming, folks), but this was just too purr-fect for a little Hughnor fluff (that’s a pun).

For those who prefer AO3:

For those who prefer to read here:

The Ginger Cat

The tile floor is cold under Hugh’s bare feet, his pyjamas soft as he steps into their bedroom from the bathroom.

Elnor is in the same position he’s been in for most of the day — stomach on the floor, head peeking under the bed.

“Elnor,” Hugh moves carefully around his prone love, “cats are shy at first. Give her time. She’ll come out from under the bed when she’s ready.”

“I’m helping her get ready.” Elnor’s gaze doesn’t lift from the circle of ginger-colored fluff they chose that morning. “By talking to her, she can become used to my voice. And I’ve told her many times that she’s a pretty cat and a good cat because Data used to have a cat named Spot and that’s what Data told Spot.”

Gratitude for Elnor fills Hugh’s belly — Elnor’s kindness, Elnor’s deep capacity to love, Elnor’s childhood wish they were able to make come true.

But Hugh is still recovering from the wound Narissa caused, and fatigue is heavy in his arms, his legs, his chest. Hugh eases into bed, clean sheets, and Elnor straightens from the floor, climbs into the other side of the bed.

“How long do you think it will take her to understand that we love her and she’s safe here?” Elnor props himself on an elbow, faces Hugh.

“Different cats are different.” This is true. Hugh had a feeling about this cat, though, a flash of intuition when he suggested the name they chose to honor someone who means so much to him. “You’re doing your best to help her feel welcome, though, and that’s good.”

There’s a kiss goodnight, dreamless sleep, then a gentle weight on Hugh’s chest.

Hugh’s eyes flutter open. He reaches over, nudges Elnor.

Elnor’s gasp is quiet, reverent. “She came out from under the bed to sleep on you. She likes you.”

And Hugh could burst with joy, with love for the sleeping cat curled up on his chest, but he didn’t spend most of yesterday talking to her and Elnor has wanted a cat for so long. “She loves you, too. She just hasn’t shown you yet.”

The cat stays near Hugh for the rest of the day, though. And the next day. And the day after that, her head tilting as she watches him work, his injury recovery complicated by his xB biology, and it’s as Hugh and Elnor settle into bed after the first day Hugh has finally felt fully himself that Elnor stares at the ceiling to ask, "Am I not good enough? Is that why she doesn’t like me the way she likes you?”

Before Hugh can answer, there’s an arc of ginger through the air, as if she sensed Elnor’s hurt feelings — she did, Hugh is sure she did — and the cat, for the first time, settles onto Elnor’s chest and curls into a ball to sleep.

Under the covers, Elnor’s hand reaches for Hugh’s — and Hugh knows Elnor is afraid to speak, afraid to disturb the ball of fluff on his chest, so Hugh whispers the truth they both now know.

“She’s living up to her namesake, a person who will do her best to help anyone who’s hurt, no matter what.” Hugh squeezes Elnor’s hand, and speaks to the cat. “Isn’t that right, Beverly?”

On Elnor’s chest, the ginger cat purrs in agreement.

———

Send me an ask with character(s) and a prompt and I’ll do my best to write you a little fluff (or angst or whatever happens that day). ❤️

✨ All prompted Picard ficlets are also available on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43315549/chapters/108880510 ✨

[raffaelamusiker]

seven of nine

(send me a character)

First impression: I was so very confused by her character because I watched Picard before Voyager 😂 so I literally knew nothing about her beforehand. Got excited about the gay though.

Impression now: Sweet baby <3 Commander mom <3 Deserves to live a peaceful and untraumatic life. Deserves more than Starfleet. Literally just leave her alone omg.

Favourite moment: I’ll just stick with a Picard moment but when she connects with the cube and also her and Elnor’s hug.

Idea for a story: So many Voyager polycule ideas!!

Unpopular opinion: People need to stop infantilising her on Voyager.

Favourite relationship: Again does it need to be said? Platonically it would have to be with either Naomi or Elnor.

Favourite headcanon: That she has a Raffi file in her head where she stores all her information about her in one place.