#enterprise ordering solution

[prameethsd]

Enhancing Multi-Location Restaurant Success with Dedicated Online Ordering Systems

In today’s competitive restaurant industry, multi-location establishments face unique challenges in maintaining consistency, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Implementing a dedicated online ordering system can address these challenges and drive business growth.

Centralized Management Across Locations

A unified online ordering platform enables seamless control over menus, pricing, and promotions from a single dashboard. This centralization ensures consistent branding and simplifies updates across all outlets.

Real-Time Inventory Synchronization

Integrated inventory tracking synchronizes stock levels across locations, preventing overstocking or shortages. This real-time management reduces waste and optimizes resource allocation.

Optimized Order Fulfillment

Advanced systems assign orders to the nearest location, ensuring faster delivery and improved customer satisfaction. Dynamic delivery zones further enhance operational efficiency by streamlining logistics.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Enterprise solutions provide detailed analytics on sales performance, popular menu items, and peak order times. These insights empower better decision-making and targeted marketing campaigns, fostering business growth.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Offering branded, user-friendly mobile apps and websites ensures a seamless customer experience. Mobile-first designs enhance engagement and encourage repeat orders, while built-in loyalty programs foster customer retention.

Cost Efficiency and Scalability

Adopting a dedicated online ordering system eliminates high commissions charged by third-party platforms, leading to significant cost savings. Additionally, such systems automate repetitive tasks like order entry and tracking, boosting operational efficiency. The scalability of these platforms allows for effortless addition of new locations, adapting to market demands with ease.

Conclusion

A dedicated online ordering system is essential for multi-location restaurants aiming to streamline operations, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive profitability. By embracing this technology, restaurant chains can position themselves for sustained success in an increasingly digital marketplace.

[extremesolutions27]

XERP Cloud: Revolutionizing Wholesale & Distribution Management in Bangladesh

Advanced Cloud Technology

XERP Cloud is Bangladesh's premier cloud-based ERP solution for wholesale and distribution companies. This powerful platform delivers enterprise-grade functionality while maintaining an intuitive, user-friendly interface.

Comprehensive Distribution Features

Inventory Excellence The system provides real-time inventory tracking across multiple warehouses, with automated reordering capabilities and detailed stock analytics. Smart forecasting algorithms help maintain optimal inventory levels while preventing stockouts.Order Management XERP Cloud streamlines the entire order lifecycle with:

Automated order processing

Real-time status tracking

Multi-location fulfillment

Integrated billing systems

Industry-Specific Solutions

Wholesale Operations The platform offers specialized features for wholesale businesses, including:

Bulk order processing

Dynamic pricing management

Customer relationship tools

Advanced reporting capabilities

Supply Chain Integration XERP Cloud seamlessly connects all aspects of your supply chain:

Supplier management

Procurement automation

Distribution planning

Logistics tracking

Technical Advantages

Cloud Infrastructure

Secure data storage

Automatic backups

Scalable architecture

Multi-device accessibility

Integration Capabilities The system easily integrates with:

Accounting software

E-commerce platforms

Payment gateways

Logistics services

Business Benefits

Operational Efficiency

Reduced manual processes

Streamlined workflows

Improved accuracy

Enhanced productivity

Real-Time Analytics Monitor your business performance with:

Sales analytics

Inventory reports

Financial dashboards

Performance metrics

Implementation Support

XERP Cloud offers comprehensive support including:

Professional setup

Staff training

24/7 technical assistance

Regular updates

Transform your wholesale and distribution operations with XERP Cloud - the complete ERP solution designed for Bangladesh's growing businesses. Experience the power of integrated business management and take your company to the next level.

[eighty6tech]

E-commerce solution tailored for the Food and beverages industry. Elevate your business efficiency with Eighty6's comprehensive tools and seamless integration. We are an enterprise software solution that bridges the gap in fulfillment and communication between suppliers and buyers in the Food and Beverage sector.

[ubeb0nes]

Sevika x Fem!Bar Owner! Reader

𖢅 ------ 𖢅

𖢅 ------ 𖢅

You were new to Zaun. No one had seen you coming, nor your success as soon as you'd laid roots down. Most people who came here for opportunity and enterprise were mad inventors from Topside, or business sharks in the Chemtech and Shimmer industry.

But you? You just ran a bar.

…You were burying your past life as a smuggler in Bilgewater by moving to Zaun, but that was neither here nor there. People had come across wealth in more morally abhorrent ways.

You learned the ways of the Undercity quickly. It'd tried to teach you a swift lesson your very first week open, when a few crooks walked in and tried to threaten you into giving up what was in your cash till. Your trusty shotgun and a few thrown glasses had been an effective solution.

You were not gonna get scammed out a livelihood down here. You swore it to yourself. You were gonna make a space that was all your own, some place people could relax and be together since The Last Drop evidently wasn't that anymore.

Then she comes around.

You knew her face. You'd seen her walking around the Lanes while you were hunting for dishware and cutlery for cheap. You'd thought "smash", and then kept it moving.

You could tell she was important even then, with the way she stalked through a parting crowd. It was no different when she entered your bar for the first time.

"What's Silco's bloodhound doing here?" "God, Sevika? C'mon, let's get a corner booth in case shit goes to hell." "Uh oh, bar lady's in trouble with the higher up's." Your patrons were not helpful.

She sat at the bar, trying to talk you up. Trying to gain information, you realized. Yeah, you weren't new to this.

Sevika was intrigued, at the very least.

Silco had sent her to scope you out. Your business had been doing too well, too fast. If you had savvy, he wanted to know about it.

And you definitely did. She'd never admit it, but she was… charmed. As much as someone like her could be, at least.

You radiated quiet control behind the bar, a rag thrown over one shoulder and another hooked on your waist while you juggled multiple shouted drink orders effortlessly. All the while making banter with her.

She was still debating whether or not to report back truthfully to Silco when the bustle of a few kids walking in cut through her train of thoughts.

You talked them down from their hyperness in a swift moment, jutting your thumb to the kitchen in the back where, apparently, there was some sandwiches waiting for them.

You shrugged off the scrutinizing look she was giving you.

"Somebody's gotta feed them," is all you said. She sees somebody else's old fire, somebody she used to know, in your eyes for a moment.

"Owner's an airhead. Nothing to worry about. Definitely just a lucky break," she tells Silco later that night.

She lets you know subliminally that your bar is off limits. Some of her men patrol around your business's property, for your property. No one comes in demanding your profits anymore.

You don't need her protection, but you still appreciate it.

You start keeping cigarillos behind the bar for whenever she comes in. She's a little suspicious the first time you offer her one and a light.

"What, are you picky about the brand?" She almost laughs at that, and takes the offering.

One of your customers calls out asking how much for a cig. "Sorry my friend, they're exclusive for the pretty lady."

Sevika feels a pang of… something. What pretty lady are you talking about? She thought the cigarillos were for her- ohhhhh…

She starts smoking less. If only to make it a whole treat for herself to stop by your establishment every week, and let you hold open a lighter while she leans forward to light her smoke and talk with you for a bit.

Your establishment becomes for her what it's already become for everybody else in the city. A safe space. A comfort.

Your warmth was undeniable. And it reflected in your place of work too, polished and furnished with a care that Sevika remembers The Last Drop used to have.

This wasn't the first time she's lied to Silco, making the executive decision herself when she didn't trust his. She hoped it wouldn't come down on you.

[mariacallous]

This is a gift article

In the final week of this election season, the Republican Party is running two different campaigns. One of them is an ugly and angry but conventional political enterprise. Donald Trump and other Republicans make speeches; party operatives seek to get out the vote; money is spent in swing states; television and radio advertisements proliferate. The people running that campaign are focused on winning the election.

Last night, in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, we caught a glimpse of the other campaign. This is the campaign that is psychologically preparing Americans for an assault on the electoral system, a second January 6, if Trump doesn’t win—or else an assault on the political system and the rule of law if he does. Listen carefully to the words of Tucker Carlson, the pundit fired from Fox News partly for his role in lying about the 2020 election. Warming up the crowd for Trump, he mocked the very idea that Kamala Harris could win: “It’s going to be pretty hard to look at us and say, ‘You know what? Kamala Harris, she got 85 million votes because she’s so impressive as the first Samoan Malaysian, low-I.Q., former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.”

“Samoan Malaysian” was Carlson’s way of mocking Harris’s mixed-race background, and “low-IQ” is self-explanatory—but “85 million” is a number of votes she could in fact win. And how, Carlson suggested, could there be such a “groundswell of popular support” for a person he demeaned as a mongrel, an incompetent, an idiot? The answer was clear: There can’t be, and if anyone says it happened, then we will contest it.

All of this is part of the game: the Trump campaign’s loud confidence, despite dead-even polls; its decision, in the final days, to take the candidate outside the swing states to New York, New Mexico, and Virginia, because we’ve got this in the bag (and not, say, because filling arenas in Pennsylvania is getting harder); the hyping of Republican-early-voter numbers, even though no evidence indicates that these are new voters, just people who are no longer being discouraged from voting early. Also the multiple attempts, across the country, to remove large numbers of people from the rolls; the many claims, with no justification, that “illegal immigrants” are voting or even, as Trump implied during the September debate, that illegal immigrants are being deliberately imported into the country in order to vote; Vance’s declaration that he will accept the election results as long as “only legal American citizens” vote.

At Madison Square Garden, Trump doubled down on that rhetoric. He repeated past claims about the “invasion” of immigrants; about “Venezuelan gangs” occupying American cities, even Times Square; and he offered an instant solution: “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get these criminals out. I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail.” But he left open the question of who exactly all these “criminals” might be, because he seemed to be talking about not just immigrants but also his political opponents, “the enemy within.” The United States, he said, “is now an occupied country, but it will soon be an occupied country no longer … November 5, 2024, nine days from now, will be Liberation Day in America.”

The insults we heard from many speakers at Madison Square Garden, including the description of Puerto Rico as “garbage” or of Harris as “the anti-Christ” or of Hillary Clinton as a “sick son of a bitch”—insults that can also be heard in a thousand podcast episodes featuring Carlson, Elon Musk, J. D. Vance, and their ilk—are part of the same effort. Trump’s electorate is being primed to equate his political opposition with infection, pollution, and demonic power, and to accept violence and chaos as a legitimate, necessary response to these primal, lethal threats.

As I wrote earlier this month, this kind of language, imported from the 1930s, has never before been part of mainstream American presidential politics, because no other political candidate in modern history has used an election to undermine the legal basis of the American political system. But if we are an occupied country, then Joe Biden is not the legitimately elected president of the United States. If we are an occupied country, then the American government is not a set of institutions established over centuries by Congress, but rather a sinister cabal that must be dismantled at any price. If we are an occupied country, then of course the Trump administration can break the law, commit acts of violence, or even trash the Constitution in order to “liberate” Americans, either after Trump has lost the election or after he has won it.

This kind of language is not being used accidentally or incidentally. It is not a joke, even when used by professional comedians. These insults are central to Trump’s message, which is why they were featured at a venue he reveres. They are also classic authoritarian tactics that have worked before, not only in the 1930s but also in places such as modern Venezuela and modern Russia, countries where the public was also prepared over many years to accept lawlessness and violence from the state. The same tactics are working in the United States right now. Election workers, whose job is to carry out the will of the voters, are already the subject of violent threats and harassment. At least two ballot boxes have been attacked.

The natural human instinct is to dismiss, ignore, or downplay these kinds of threats. But that’s the point: You are meant to accept this language and behavior, to consider this kind of rhetoric “baked in” to any Trump campaign. You are supposed to just get used to the idea that Trump wishes he had “Hitler’s generals” or that he uses the Stalinist phrase “enemies of the people” to describe his opponents. Because once you think that’s normal, then you’ll accept the next step. Even when that next step is an assault on democracy and the rule of law.

[lightyaoigami]

☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ how to resume ⋆｡ﾟ☾｡⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ

after 10 years & 6 jobs in corporate america, i would like to share how to game the system. we all want the biggest payoff for the least amount of work, right?

know thine enemy: beating the robots

i see a lot of misinformation about how AI is used to scrape resumes. i can't speak for every company but most corporations use what is called applicant tracking software (ATS).

no respectable company is using chatgpt to sort applications. i don't know how you'd even write the prompt to get a consumer-facing product to do this. i guarantee that target, walmart, bank of america, whatever, they are all using B2B SaaS enterprise solutions. there is not one hiring manager plinking away at at a large language model.

ATS scans your resume in comparison to the job posting, parses which resumes contain key words, and presents the recruiter and/or hiring manager with resumes with a high "score." the goal of writing your resume is to get your "score" as high as possible.

but tumblr user lightyaoigami, how do i beat the robots?

great question, y/n. you will want to seek out an ATS resume checker. i have personally found success with jobscan, which is not free, but works extremely well. there is a free trial period, and other ATS scanners are in fact free. some of these tools are so sophisticated that they can actually help build your resume from scratch with your input. i wrote my own resume and used jobscan to compare it to the applications i was finishing.

do not use chatgpt to write your resume or cover letter. it is painfully obvious. here is a tutorial on how to use jobscan. for the zillionth time i do not work for jobscan nor am i a #jobscanpartner i am just a person who used this tool to land a job at a challenging time.

the resume checkers will tell you what words and/or phrases you need to shoehorn into your bullet points - i.e., if you are applying for a job that requires you to be a strong collaborator, the resume checker might suggest you include the phrase "cross-functional teams." you can easily re-word your bullets to include this with a little noodling.

don't i need a cover letter?

it depends on the job. after you have about 5 years of experience, i would say that they are largely unnecessary. while i was laid off, i applied to about 100 jobs in a three-month period (#blessed to have been hired quickly). i did not submit a cover letter for any of them, and i had a solid rate of phone screens/interviews after submission despite not having a cover letter. if you are absolutely required to write one, do not have chatgpt do it for you. use a guide from a human being who knows what they are talking about, like ask a manager or betterup.

but i don't even know where to start!

i know it's hard, but you have to have a bit of entrepreneurial spirit here. google duckduckgo is your friend. don't pull any bean soup what-about-me-isms. if you truly don't know where to start, look for an ATS-optimized resume template.

a word about neurodivergence and job applications

i, like many of you, am autistic. i am intimately familiar with how painful it is to expend limited energy on this demoralizing task only to have your "reward" be an equally, if not more so, demoralizing work experience. i don't have a lot of advice for this beyond craft your worksona like you're making a d&d character (or a fursona or a sim or an OC or whatever made up blorbo generator you personally enjoy).

and, remember, while a lot of office work is really uncomfortable and involves stuff like "talking in meetings" and "answering the phone," these things are not an inherent risk. discomfort is not tantamount to danger, and we all have to do uncomfortable things in order to thrive. there are a lot of ways to do this and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. not everyone can mask for extended periods, so be your own judge of what you can or can't do.

i like to think of work as a drag show where i perform this other personality in exchange for money. it is much easier to do this than to fight tooth and nail to be unmasked at work, which can be a risk to your livelihood and peace of mind. i don't think it's a good thing that we have to mask at work, but it's an important survival skill.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ good luck ⋆｡ﾟ☾｡⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ｡⋆

[anothermonikan]

Played TF2, I stand by this tenfold

Why is Paula Miner DDLC+ Miss Pauling TF2 coded

like Paula doesn't have a canon design but. yeah. same character

[bish-plz-haha]

Do you ever have those fanfics that consume every tab in your brain? And you can't stop thinking about them?

Let me share some of my favourite ones (not in any particular order):

Ps. A lot of these are by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels. Not sorry!

PPS. Some are restricted. So... I'll mention which.

PPPS. Probably will be adding to this list as I read more. 🤷‍♂️

(fics below cut)

• Your Fingerprints Smeared on My Heart (Lead Me Back to You) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Restricted)

- In 1880, Evan Buckley of the arriviste set is sent out west to oversee his family's railroad and recover from a broken heart - and meets Eddie Diaz, cowboy. When fate tears them apart, they make a promise: find each other again. In 2018, Buck walks into his fire station in Los Angeles - and meets Eddie Diaz, new recruit.

• What's love got to do with it? by ColorMeParanoid

- After Buck’s and Eddie’s dates both end with disasters – proving once again that maybe dating just wasn’t meant for them – they decide to simply settle for each other. If there was one person in the world they'd ever trust with their hearts, it was each other. And who was a better person to date other than your very own best friend?

• A little nudge or a giant shove by Never_x_Better

- Chris gets involved in Eddie's dating life. What follows is a story of them falling deeper in love, and maybe finally realising it

• Held Up a Lightning Rod (Wonder Why I'm Struck) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Restricted)

- When Eddie Diaz stumbles his way into money, he finds himself one of the most eligible bachelors in Los Angeles - to his dismay. He needs a way to get people off his back without confessing his messy marital situation, and Shannon's still not answering his calls, so he caves to a friend's suggestion: hire someone to pretend to be his partner.

Enter Evan "Buck" Buckley: sugar baby, fire fighter, and the man about to turn Eddie's world upside down.

• Courtship Behaviors of the Southern Coastal Husbro by Mad_Lori

- Buck and Eddie decide to become platonic domestic partners and co-parents. They are 100% super normal about it and absolutely nothing is awakened in them, except a mutual annoyance at being referred to as "husbros."

• Stuck on Fast Forward (Throw Away the Blueprint) by extasiswings (Restricted)

- Frank gives Eddie therapy homework, Eddie misunderstands the assignment, and Buck is just a really supportive friend...right?

• Leading with the Left by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Restricted)

- When Buck said he was a "bartender" in "South America" what he actually meant was "stripper" in "Mexico."

And when Eddie said, "What's your problem?" what he actually meant was, "Is this about the time you gave me a lap dance?"

In other words, there's a few things the 118 doesn't know about Buck. Or Eddie. Or Buck and Eddie's relationship.

• The Best Lie is a Truth (My Best Mask is My Face) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Restricted)

- The Buckley's are celebrating their 50th Anniversary, and Maddie and Buck are both expected to come. To take the heat off Maddie, Buck impulsively blurts out that he's seeing someone new.

Obviously, there's only one solution: bring Eddie as his fake boyfriend, pretend to be in love with him, and survive the weekend with minimal bloodshed. No problem, except for the, uh. "Pretend" part.

Oops.

• come love, by colonoscopys

- Broody, arrogant, and rude, Evan Buckley has made a name for himself at Buckley Enterprises—as the grandson of the founders and one of the most powerful businessmen in the country. He's determined to be at the top and stay at the top, even if certain distractions get in the way.

Enter distraction: Strong-willed, charming, and brilliant, Eddie Diaz has been hired to protect Evan Buckley from the threats made against him—although the biggest threat seems to be himself. He's determined to do his job, even if his gorgeous, snobby boss is deadset against it.

Can the two of them get what they want without getting in each other's way?

• Tread Lightly by an_alternate_world

- Healing after a truck bombing, breakup, pulmonary embolism, tsunami and lawsuit is a slow process when you're afraid to talk to your team when it feels like the world is crumbling in on you. Finding your way out of the crippling darkness is a lonely process when you're afraid you'll get benched again for something beyond your control. Learning to love again is a terrifying process when you're not sure your best friend will ever truly forgive you.

• I Hit the Accelerator (But the Car was in Reverse) by extasiswings, letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Restricted)

- When Buck is forced to confront the truth about his breakup with Abby, having casual sex with his hot new coworker seems like the best rebound idea.

Unfortunately, that hot new coworker turns into his best friend. But best friends can keep having sex with each other, right?

There's no way this could possibly go wrong.

• you can tell everybody this is your song (series) by

woodchoc_magnum

- Story of Eddie and Buck and how their relationship progresses over time

• the dream you wish will come true by woodchoc_magnum

- In which Christopher Diaz cannot understand why his father would want to date his former teacher when Evan Buckley is right there.

• I hope i can see you again (so I can finally kiss u) by KilledbyKarlJacobs

- On a mission gone wrong, Buck finds himself in captivity together with someone named Eddie Diaz? What happends if they get seperated and only meet again years later?

• Drowning in Dreams (You're My Raft) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Restricted)

- In which Buck sleeps his way into a relationship with Eddie, but not in the way you'd think.

• Speak Now by datleggy

- Fake Dating AU idea from a tumblr post that got out of hand the minute I started writing.

Eddie lies to Shannon about being in a serious relationship when she wants to re-enter his and Christopher's lives, and of course the person he asks to be his pretend significant other is none other than Evan Buckley, because what are bros for?

• I Didn't Know I Was Lonely 'Til I Saw Your Face by HMSLusitania 

- After the ladder truck and the blood clot and the tsunami, Bobby makes Buck go to therapy before he does something stupid (like sue the city). Buck's not totally comfortable being alone with a therapist, but fortunately he makes a friend and ally who's willing to help him out - Eddie Diaz from the 136 who's just been caught in an illegal fight club.

OR

Total strangers Buck and Eddie go to couple's therapy together to get out of the therapy requirements their captains have placed on them.

• Those Two Firefighters by DarkFairytale

- #thosetwofirefighters starts to gather a following on social media, as everyone tries to figure out if those two cute firefighters from the 118 in LA are a thing or not.

• translate the magic (show me) by extasiswings (Restricted)

- “I think I might be bad in bed.”

Eddie rolls that thought around in his head, trying to decide the best way to respond, weighing the options of what Buck needs to hear versus how to say it. It’s not a conversation he wants to be having, is part of the problem. Thinking about Buck desperately seeking connection through fleeting sexual encounters with strangers already makes him swallow back a wave of petty jealousy and possessiveness. But there’s an added level of insult to injury to the idea that Buck wasn’t even having good sex. Which maybe explains why despite his initial commitment to delicacy and tact, what comes out of Eddie’s mouth is—

“You probably were. Bad at it.”

Buck’s eyes widen, a strangled noise sounding from his throat.

“Don’t pull any punches,” he shoots back as he hunches in the chair and drains the last dregs of his beer.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

[Or: the one where Buck has a crisis and Eddie teaches him what good sex really is]

• Bonds of Respect and Joy by Bythia

- After the tsunami, Eddie has to deal with his parents, who for some reason think he and Buck are responsible for a natural disaster and Christopher being caught up in that. Buck, meanwhile, has to deal with Maddie's overbearing worry about him that has only been amplified by the tsunami. Along the way, Buck, Eddie, and Christopher start to become a family without even noticing

[cantsayidont]

Despite its protestations of progressive values, STAR TREK media has always explicitly presented (and, with only fleeting exceptions, consistently celebrated) the Federation as an expansionist imperial power, engaged in a large-scale project of colonialism.

The usual apologia/rationalization for this, both from the franchise itself and from its fans, is that the Federation is also a post-scarcity socialist utopia. However, that is expressly not the case in TOS, despite the attempts of the later series to insist otherwise.

Indeed, the plots of some of the most famous and acclaimed episodes of TOS are specifically about resource extraction and ensuring the Federation's access to crucial resources, including lithium (in "Mudd's Women"), pergium (in "The Devil in the Dark"), and dilithium (in "Mirror, Mirror," et al). We are told repeatedly that the Enterprise has a mandate to use force to secure these resources if gentler methods fail. Moreover, while the Federation has a strategic interest in these resources, it's clear at various points in TOS that their extraction and exploitation are, to a significant extent if not exclusively, overseen by private interests for profit. For instance, in "Mudd's Women," Harry Mudd remarks:

Well, girls, lithium miners. Don't you understand? Lonely, isolated, overworked, rich lithium miners! Girls, do you still want husbands, hmm? Evie, you won't be satisfied with a mere ship's captain. I'll get you a man who can buy you a whole planet. Maggie, you're going to be a countess. Ruth, I'll make you a duchess. And I, I'll be running this starship. Captain James Kirk, the next orders you're taking will be given by Harcourt Fenton Mudd!

In "The Devil in the Dark," Kirk ultimately takes a regulatory position — he will not permit the pergium miners to kill the Horta or continue to destroy her eggs — but at no point does he suggest that stopping the pergium production that threatens the Horta is a viable or even acceptable alternative. The accord he proposes is contingent on the Horta's agreement that she and her children will support the mining efforts on her planet, since Kirk emphasizes that "a dozen planets" are depending on the miners to supply needed pergium. (What would have happened to her if she hadn't agreed is not stated, but the episode strongly suggests that she would have been severely punished for noncompliance with Kirk's mediated solution: forcibly relocated to some kind of Horta reservation away from the main mining operations, perhaps.) When the Horta does agree to this proposal, Kirk assures Vanderberg, "you people are going to be embarrassingly rich," which once again suggests that while the miners may have contractual agreements to delivery pergium to Federation worlds, they are still a private, for-profit business, not a Federation department or nationalized entity.

Profit is also Ron Tracey's motivation for breaking the Prime Directive in "The Omega Glory": He believes that he's discovered a "fountain of youth" that he can own, monopolize, and exploit, and that the value of that resource will be enough to buy his way out of legal trouble for his regulatory violations.

We mostly don't see the Enterprise crew handle money except on away missions in other cultures or times, but there are a number of indications that the Federation in this era has not abandoned money: For instance, Harry Mudd's list of past offenses includes purchasing a space vessel "with counterfeit currency," while in "The Apple," Kirk rhetorically asks if Spock knows how much Starfleet has invested in him, which Spock begins to answer, "One hundred twenty-two thousand two hundred …" before Kirk cuts him off. More tellingly, in "I, Mudd," we have the following exchange:

KIRK: All right, Harry, explain. How did you get here? We left you in custody after that affair on the Rigel mining planet. MUDD: Yes, well, I organized a technical information service bringing modern industrial techniques to backward planets, making available certain valuable patents to struggling young civilizations throughout the galaxy. KIRK: Did you pay royalties to the owners of those patents? MUDD: Well, actually, Kirk, as a defender of the free enterprise system, I found myself in a rather ambiguous conflict as a matter of principle. SPOCK: He did not pay royalties. MUDD: Knowledge, sir, should be free to all. KIRK: Who caught you? MUDD: That, sir, is an outrageous assumption. KIRK: Yes. Who caught you? MUDD: I sold the Denebians all the rights to a Vulcan fuel synthesizer. KIRK: And the Denebians contacted the Vulcans.

Whether Deneb is a member of the Federation at this time is unclear, but Vulcan certainly is, and so we may assume that Vulcan and presumably the Federation itself are also part of "the free enterprise system."

The first indication that the Federation does not use money is in STAR TREK IV, and it's not obvious there if Kirk's remark that "They're still using money" is talking about money more broadly or just physical currency, which the Federation may have phased out even if it still uses credit or electronic transfers of monetary value. (Certainly, McCoy's attempt in STAR TREK III to charter a starship indicates that he had some means of paying for passage, since the captain of the ship specifically demands more money upon learning of the intended destination.)

If we accept at face value the assertion of TNG and DS9 that the Federation has genuinely abandoned the use of money, rather than simply going cashless, the most reasonable Watsonian explanation is that this has been a relatively recent development during the 70–80 years between the TOS cast movies and TNG, most likely related to the development of replication technology (which the Federation did not yet have in Kirk's time).

Of course, from a Doylist standpoint, we could chalk up some of this incidental dialogue to the franchise's evolving construction of its own setting, in the same manner as anomalous references to Vulcans as "Vulcanians." Roddenberry and his apologists might also insist that he always meant to depict a socialist utopia, but was prevented by the nattering nabobs of negativity (i.e., the network's BS&P); I'm very skeptical of such claims, but the writers were acutely aware that depicting what Earth is like in Kirk's time would be opening a can of worms, which is why we didn't actually see 23rd century Earth (even briefly) until the movies.

However, the focus on resource extraction and its ramifications is such a load-bearing story element in TOS that the revisionist assertion that the Federation was already a post-scarcity socialist utopia in Kirk's time (as both DISCOVERY and STRANGE NEW WORLDS have attempted to claim) would require really substantial retcons of the original show, perhaps to the extent of insisting that some of those events never took place at all, or happened radically differently than what's in the TOS episodes most STAR TREK fans have seen. For me, anyway, that crosses a line from willing suspension of disbelief to "don't trust your lying eyes," and suggests a frustrating and somewhat disturbing determination to insist that TOS is something much purer and nobler than it is rather than grapple with its actual conceptual flaws and ideological shortcomings.

[trickstermiraculous]

Miraculous Court Revived Au

This au is based off the idea of Marinette revving the guardians through her classmates.

Basic Facts:

Lila has been found out but the staff still believe her

Ladybug and Chat Noir has revealed their identities after Master Fu passed over guardianship

Miracle queen didn’t happen (Chloe gets a redemption)

Adrien and Marinette had a big conversation on boundaries (with Chat Noir constant confessions/refusal to listen to Ladybug and Marinette borderline stalking, it was desperately needed) and decided on friendship for now so their relationship is healthy

Think only s1 s2 s3

Story:

Both Marinette and Adrien agreed to lend out the miraculous permanently but they did it slowly over a year

Not every hero shows up to an akuma at first but most do now as hawkmoth keeps getting stronger the longer they have the miraculous

Which ironically is something happening to the heroes with them gaining effects outside their suits such as animal traits, super strength/speed and small amount of their powers

The Kwamis explained that this is not unusual and many past users who last longer ended up being tightly bonded to their miraculous which made them into demigods (the class being all true holders just made this happen sooner in the development unlike others who had this happen when they were adults)

Over time the class got more feral but not something that was insanely noticeable until another heroes day incident which ended up with class (plus Kagami and Luka) revealing their identities to each other in order to have a stronger support systems as shit was getting worse and worse with the akumas becoming more deadly and horrific

This cause the class to basically become feral in an actual noticeable manner (think Feralnette au vibes but with the whole class)

They also focused way more on the hero jobs, learning martial arts, weapons training, gymnastics, dance, first aid, civilian control tactics

It was Chloe who brought up the idea because while these classes were great, it was too public so why not get a secret base? Like other heroes do

Between her money and her dad’s complete refusal to go against her and never looking into what she was doing, it was a perfect way to hide a secret base and there are a lot of old warehouses/old buildings needing to be bought up so no would really notice

Even so Max and Alix pointed out that even if that was the case wouldn’t it look odd for a bunch of teenagers to keep visiting a random building/warehouse

It took a lot of brain storming but eventually it was surprisingly Kim that had a solution even if it would be complicated as fuck to accomplish

BUILD A BUSINESS

Confused at first, Adrien asked for an elaboration

Well Marinette wants her own fashion brand, Alya wants to be reporter, Nino wants a music/movie career, Kitty Section has started a career already and just needs to be sign to a label but also has their own job wants outside like Myleen/Ivan/Rose’s charity work and Julaka Modelling career, Marc/Nathaniel wants to make comics, Alix wants to expand her art career/sports career, he wants his own sports career as well, Max wants to build more inventions to improve technology for the world, Adrien wants to also work in science (if not work in food) and Chloe/Sabrina like business in general

so why not just combine all their talents and build a jack of all trades enterprise like other big corporations tend to do

It would also be a good cover to build up the Miraculous Guardians again like Marinette and Adrien wants because you can’t really build something like that out in open anymore without it sounding like a cult.

The Plan/Effects:

So that was the plan, it helped keep their parents off their case, could work on it during school because basically everyone there expect for Lula or Kagami (both helping on music and security branches)

It was a slow build as buying a hood building took a while so did all the legal issues but Chloe, Sabrina, Kagami, Adrien and Marinette helped due to the rich kid background, police father and Marinette’s small business that had been set up with the help of Jagged.

The business didn’t really come first though at least they were not openly promoting it.

First they worked on their hero reputation/brands by increased public interactions with more patrols (more heroes means easier ways to spread out patrols), working with the police for normal crimes like how many other heroes in America do (I’m thinking dc crossover not the canon ones), social media presence for better alerts/info to public/a way to see more down to Earth and relate to people (since come what teenager type hero is not going to shit post/meme about their lives)

And it worked more people support them, helping bring more hope as the new need for more heroes got people worried that hawkmoth was winning, the government was starting to help out more (double edged sword thou as that meant a bigger work load for other crimes) which made them express that even when hawkmoth was defeated they wouldn’t minds them sticking around to help Paris since most hero’s tend to stick to America

The main cover business started to become popular after making themselves more known openly with Ladyblog being officially under the company banner, Marc/Nathaniel’s comics also coming under the brand, Max’s new hero endorsed akuma alert app and Hero Website also coming under the company, Kitty Section joining with the start of company’s music records, famous jagged stone endorsed designer known as MDC also joining.

All these popular thing helped it grow quite fast and with the fact most of them being young teens helped make the media especially interested in how fast they were raising in popularity because it wasn’t everyday you see a group of teenagers build such a big company at their age.

That’s all I got so far to be honest.

Notes:

Adrien has to sneak around his father still but with the business he had chloe help him to threaten Gabriel to back off (threaten to go to the press about how he’s unfairly treated)

Kagami and Lula while out of the class have ended up close with most of them over time before the reveal

Parents are just happy their kids are having fun and building up their future careers

Kwamis are protective as hell with class while also are all really happy with being out after being stored into the box for so long

Teachers and the rest of the school tend to avoid or be more harsh on the akuma class (Lila being the cause for the staff issues)

They are now around the age of 16-17

The hero team is now known as the Miraculous Court due to how the public has heard them use their old titles that the guardians used to use such as Lady Of Luck, Duke of Destruction, Seers of Time, Knight Of The Elements, etc.

If you guys have an idea on what the Business should be comment below (currently only idea is Lucky Enterprise)

[ourlordapollo]

Problem 1: I want to write the kinds of books I like to read, and these are often driven heavily by the relationships between characters, not the Looming Threat of Some Bad Guy, and I wasn't sure how to translate that

Problem 2: All the plotting advice ever written seems to assume you're either an aspiring romance novelist or that you want to write the next Star Wars

Problem 3: In pursuit of my goal, I have encountered many, many plotting methods that I only sort of grasped

Solution: I sat down with a guide to Dan Harmon's Story Circle, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, and K.M. Weiland's various blog entries, and synthesized them into a comprehensive plot wheel that I understand perfectly and makes NO MENTION of The Looming Threat of Some Bad Guy. It's color coded. Multiple people tried to armchair diagnose me with autism when I posted about this elsewhere. Can't imagine why.

Now I ramble:

I started with the Story Circle because I really thought I was gonna be doomed to writing Sherlock Holmes-esque short stories for the rest of my life, so I wanted to study TV format. It's fine, but it's a little vague. However, the way it talks about CHAOS vs ORDER and LIES vs TRUTH specifically, I found extremely helpful. The Story Circle's biggest influence on my wheel is all that highlighter and the words in boxes, as well as the words in all caps.

The other thing about the Story Circle is that it implies, by virtue of splitting up the Circle into perfect 8ths, that each section (YOU, NEED, GO, etc) takes up the exact same amount of story, which is not true

By contrast, Weiland divides stories into (roughly) 9 equal parts, thus assigning them all a spoke on the wheel (with the very first and very last part sharing a spoke, hence 9). That's why the wheel is divided evenly and the Story Circle sections are scattered unevenly across the circumference.

I called on Save the Cat the least for this enterprise because, after study, I found it the least helpful. I was able to marry each of its "beats" to one of Weiland's sections, and I used those descriptions to inform how I filled in that information. (For example, under 'renewed push,' Weiland is somewhat vague about what should happen, but STC includes suggestions for contrasting how the preceding plot point ended.

And there we have it! I can't say exactly how long this took me because I did most of it while on the clock at work. Maybe 8-12 hours? Not too bad at all because I already had comprehensive notes on everything.

[innitmarvellous]

@flashfictionfridayofficial

I think this is my longest prompt story so far, haha.

Fandom: Star Trek The Original Series Pairing: Kirk/Spock Words: 940

~~~

Spock's shuttle was drifting helplessly through the vastness of open space.

Oh, if only.

In fact there was a meteorite field all around the little spacecraft. So far the outer hull was holding out, but ever since the engine had failed and Spock had drifted into the field he could hear the constant noise of a barrage of rocks hitting the shuttle.

And that wasn't all. A brief analytical scan had showed that these meteorites contained a rare metal that made it impossible to get a fix on anyone with the transporter. It also severely influenced the communications equipment.

Seriously, how wrong could a mission possibly go? Spock knew that most humans in his situation would panic, but he was a Vulcan. He wouldn't steep so low. (He decided to conveniently forget his half-human heritage. Everything was allowed, as long as it helped him to keep his composure.)

Suddenly a beep from the console alerted him. 'Warning! The life-support system has failed. Remaining oxygen supply will last for approximately ten minutes,' came the emotionless voice from the computer.

Alright, things could always get worse. He sat down and pressed a few buttons on the console. Now there was only one thing he could still do.

---

'I don't want to hear any more excuses, Scotty! We have to rescue Mr Spock!' exclaimed Kirk sternly. 'I'm doing my best, captain, but...' 'Then you need to do more than your best, Mr Scott! Work on it!'

Kirk knew he was being a bit unfair, but after all he was beside himself with worry, so Scotty would probably understand him.

'Captain? We've got an incoming transmission from the shuttle,' said Uhura suddenly. 'What?! Put it on the main screen,' demanded Kirk.

And there he was, his first officer. The picture on the screen was grainy and the sound was crackling, but there he was. 'Mr Spock! How did you get through the jamming and-' 'There is no time to explain, captain. I did some minor adjustments to the instruments. It will cause them to be destroyed in a few minutes, but I decided that it doesn't matter. Not when the whole shuttle will soon be destroyed.' 'About that, Spock...Scotty is working on a solution. We will have you out of there very soon.' 'I fear I must object, captain. One of the meteorites hit an important part of the shuttle. The life support system failed, and the oxygen supply will run out in,' he checked the screen, 'in three more minutes.' 'What?! But Mr Spock, surely there is-' 'There is nothing you or me or Mr Scott can do, captain. I only called the Enterprise to tell you a last goodbye. Please allow me this kind of sentimentality in my final moments.' He said all of that in an entirely matter-of-factly tone, as if it didn't concern him at all. Before Kirk could get a word in, he added: 'I am aware that making a final call home to talk to one's friends and loved ones is a very human trait, or at least I heard about it. However, having seen you for one last time, captain...it makes it easier. Goodbye, captain.' 'What do you mean, goodbye? Mr Spock, I order you to return to the Enterprise! To your home...to where you belong! Is that clear?' Then the connection seemed to fade away. The picture got worse, and even though Kirk still saw Spock's lips move, he couldn't hear him anymore. 'Mr Spock! No!' He whirled around. 'Do something! Anyone! There must be something...' 'There isn't, Jim. You heard him,' said Bones. 'It's too late. The three minutes he mentioned are already over.' 'But this is just-'

In that moment the console beeped again and he heard Scotty's voice. 'Captain? Please come to the transporter room, would you? I've got a-'

He didn't even wait until the chief engineer had finished speaking, because he was out of the door in a heartbeat.

-

'I surpassed myself, if I dare say so,' said a voice with a Scottish accent. 'I rerouted the entire transporter system in mere minutes. Means I will have to do a lot of repair work since a lot of relays burned through, but it made the transporter beam strong enough to penetrate the meteorite field.' 'Very good, Scotty. Very good,' said another voice. It was warm and full of relief...then Spock finally realised that it was the captain's voice. But how was that possible?

He slowly opened his eyes and saw the faces of Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy hovering over him. 'Look, he's waking up!' said Kirk and took his hand. 'Spock, are you alright?' 'I think so.' He slowly sat up and looked around. This was clearly the Enterprise's transporter room. So they must have found a way to save him. 'You brought me home, captain.' 'Well, technically it was me, but I'll let it slide just that one time,' commented Scotty with a brief laugh. Kirk smiled at him. 'Welcome home, Spock. Welcome home, my dear friend.'

Just as Spock was about to say something, the doctor shoved Kirk aside. 'Now that you welcomed him you should finally let me examine him.' 'Of course, Bones. But you surely won't mind if I stayed with him while you do that?' Kirk grabbed Spock's hand tighter and Bones sighed.

He knew these two. No force in the entire universe would get the captain to let go of his first officer's - and T'hy'la's - hand if he was like that.

'Oh, sure, go ahead. I'm used to it, after all. By god, am I used to it,' he muttered.

[nazrigar]

All-Sparks: Members of the United States Government.

Because a Transformers story isn't complete without exploring human governments and how the Transformers deal with 'em! These are just the most important folks in the context of the AU of course!

Senator Lonzo R. Wilkinson of Michigan: A reformed criminal during his youth, he uses the experiences he learned growing up as well as his time in G.I. Joe to lead to him to go for public office. A native of Detroit Michigan, one can say that he had a hand in turning it from "Motor City" to "Robo City", as he was responsible for helping build the legislative foundations that allowed Sumdac and his technology to flourish. Also the chair of the Senate's intelligence committee. A member of the original Adventure Team, alongside Colton. He's still friends with Colton, but definitely concerned about Colton's inner rage, and doubly concerned about Colton's obsession with Scarlett and the reasons for her asking for a discharge all those years ago.

Senator Henry Masterson Sr. of Michigan.: a man who'd take a bribe with a smile. Supposedly under Blackshore's payroll, but in reality Masterson has no "real" paymaster. He'll appeal to any lobby if it interests him, and he'll switch positions (flippantly or gradually) depending on the "client". He considers himself first and foremost however, a survivor, and his "true" paymaster, in his eyes, is power. Has a son with wild ideas on robots. Based off the Inhumanoids character.

President Alexander Holt: Colton's Puppet President, knows it, and resents it.

An opportunistic politician who came into office in order to further his business ambitions, this in turn led him to be dependent on Colton to give him the image of a "strong American man who wants to keep America strong", and no one helps project strength like Joseph Colton himself. Being an energy mogul, his main motivation for seeking office was, in an act of extreme personal pettiness, was to try and get a leg up against Blackrock, to make sure that Blackrock's alternative energy solutions was as expensive as possible. He riles up the populace with bluster and theatrics, making people think he cares, when he actually doesn't.

He's really trying to find ways to undermine Colton's iron grip on the government, he's the President damn it. He should be the most powerful person on the planet, not Colton.

Based off an obscure character from IDW's Transformers run.

Secretary of Defense John Keller: Technically the only person below President in the chain of command within the United States military… and came into the office expecting such, but quickly realized many of the officers within the military have more respect and loyalty to one man, and it's certainly not the President. A man that truly believes in the rule of law and the use of appropriate force against whatever danger is presented to him, the concept of internal division of loyalties within the United States is a terrifying prospect for him. His strongest ally is Sector 7, insulated from Colton's influence only because it has remained a secret for so long within government, and its members are quite insular and cagey. The advent of Cobra however changed all that, and now Colton even has paws on them, if only in a limited capacity. With Cobra's defeat, John Keller has even more incentive to try have at least ONE government branch with firepower that operates independently from the Original Joe.

Senator Barbara Larkin of Oregon: Perhaps one of the rarest kinds of politician: born to wealth and status, but completely and utterly dedicated to public service for the greater good, much to the horror and disgust of her own parents. What Wilksinson is to Detroit and Sumdac Systems, she is to Portland and Blackrock Enterprises, because she is fully commited to the dream that energy shouldn't be expensive and energy is a basic need for a country like the United States. A vehement opponent of President Holt.

Is Col. Clayton "Hawk" Abernathy's lady wife. There are times when she wished Clayton would retire, not simply because she worries about him as we hunts whatever enemy still lurks in the world… but also because she doesn't want him to end up a jaded man who only sees the worst in the world. She believes Clayton has so much more to give to the world based on his experiences.

Based off Barbara Larkin from the Marvel comics continuity of Transformers.

Gabriella Constanza: The Woman of the Big Words. Literally, she's infamous for sparsing her words with material that one would need a dictionary AND a thesaurus to decipher.

Picked by Holt to be a completely nothing Secretary of State beholden only to him. After all, she's just some nothing teacher from a nothing town called Jasper with no other credentials besides running for Mayor of the nothing town, and she's easy on the eyes.

To the shock of everyone, she's actually really good at her job. She can talk to people well, is personable and pleasant to others, and can whip up a story on-the-spot. She's just occasionally confusing through the use of said Big Words(tm).

Based off Gabriella Constanza of the Unicron Trilogy.

[cloakedsparrow]

Thomas Lives! Bat-Family AU

Batfamily AU where Thomas Wayne moves to protect his son by shielding him rather than rushing the gunman after Martha is killed. Joe Chill was a mugger who didn’t expect to become a murderer that evening and he flees as soon as Thomas’ back is turned. Now both Thomas and Bruce survive and go home to Alfred.

Does Thomas become Batman and Bruce becomes the first Robin? Is Thomas (and later, Bruce) cool with lethal means when necessary but usually holds back because a) most street level crimes don’t require a lethal solution and b) he doesn’t want to traumatize his child any more than he already is?

Or does Thomas go all in with philanthropy to try to save Gotham and Bruce eventually becomes Batman because he sees there’s a missing piece? He figures between his father’s free clinic and all the money he puts into public transit, shelters, food banks, medical care, and education, Gordon fighting to clean up the dirty CGPD, and his efforts to take down organized crime as Batman, Gotham will be better off. Does he have to wait until he’s an adult to even start training for Batman because Thomas won’t let him go off to study the way of the blade until he’s graduated high school?

Do Thomas and Bruce trade off Batman for years once Bruce grows up and no one knows which one they’re gonna get? Most people don’t even know there are two so any theories on his identity is widely off? Neither one needs much of a cover since they’re both seen when the Batman is active plenty of times. Thomas continues on a surgeon. Bruce gets a business degree and works at Wayne Enterprises. Alfred continues to be the world’s most badass valet. They build the Martha Wayne Foundation together and are all active within it. Instead of Bruce and Leslie starting the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic, Thomas and Leslie build and run the Martha Wayne Memorial Clinic.

Does Bruce end up being less of a control freak because he never had full control in a world where his father was still around? With Thomas there to take care of things after Martha died, does Bruce even feel the need to control everything around him? Does he end up with more emotional intelligence and better communication skills in a world where he’s raised by both Alfred and Thomas? Is he just little quicker to trust people? Is he less likely to date criminals and tell them his secret? Is he a little quicker to smile?

In the OG timeline, 18/19 year old Dick wanted to adopt newly orphaned Jason Todd and Bruce stopped him and stated that he would adopt the kid while Dick went to school and started his life. Would the same thing happen between 22/23 year old Bruce and Thomas with newly orphaned Dick in this universe? With a healthier father figure and Bruce as a brother rather than father, would Dick and Bruce ever have the falling out they eventually did in canon? If they still fought when Dick outgrew Robin, would Thomas be able to be a better mediator than Alfred, since he doesn’t have any constraints in his relationship with them? If Bruce had been Robin himself, and eventually became Batman after his father stepped away from the role, would Bruce even blink at Dick moving on?

Jason’s adoption would probably go much the same, but afterwards, things would probably change.

Because if Dick and Bruce aren’t butting heads, and they’re both always welcome in their dad’s Manor (possibly even both reside there), does Dick -now the cool, young uncle- end up spending more time with Jason? Bruce can’t teach a lot of what Dick can do (no one but Dick probably can) once he melds his circus training with his fight training, so Jason had to become a brawler/bruiser in order to do the same job in canon. This meant his violence looked like violence, whereas Dick’s violence looked like cute acrobatic tricks pulling the criminals’ attention away from Batman. If Jason gets the chance to learn more from Dick, or if Dick is able to go to bat for him without triggering any bigger fights with Bruce (plus Thomas there for Bruce to turn to with dad questions/rants), does Bruce ever think Jason is crossing a line?

Even if he does, Jason isn’t in quite the same place in this universe. Even if Dick is still incommunicado when he overhears Bruce talking to Alfred and misunderstands, he now has someone else he can turn to: Grandpa Tom. Does Thomas tell Bruce that he’s not too big for a scolding and he needs to go apologize to his son? Does Bruce take that advice and explain everything to his kid so Jason never returns to his old neighborhood to learn that his mom wasn’t his biological mother?

Batman doesn’t take off in the Bat-Jet every time a Gothamite gets into trouble somewhere. It’s reasonable to assume that if Tim isn’t his emotional support child -and therefore standing right next to him when they learn his parents have been taken captive- Bruce wouldn’t leave Gotham to go save the Drakes. Obeah Man always planned to kill Jack and Janet, so they’d both die in that incident.

Does Bruce step in to adopt Tim when he realizes the orphaned boy has no family left and is worth millions of dollars (which will lead to all kinds of trouble in Gotham)? Under what circumstances does the rest of the family learn that Tim knows their secret? Does he just take pity on them when they’re trying to explain away an absence or injury one day and gently tells them that he’s known who they were for years already? Does he step in to help when they’re in trouble at some point, and is like ‘by the way, I’ve known since I was nine but that’s not important right now’ similar to canon? Does he stop Jason from running into trouble without backup one day and in the middle of arguing that he has to go, Jason realizes that the little shit knows? Do they decide to tell him one day and he overdoes his ‘shocked’ reaction? Or does he sell it perfectly and it’s years before they learn he already knew?

How does Jason take to being a big brother? Does he jump into the role with enthusiasm? Is he unsure about it? Is he determined that his little brother will know no further heartache and ends up bullying their dad (Bruce) into better self care as a result? Does he just kind of ignore Tim while he tries to figure out how he feels about all the changes until he sees some kid bullying his little brother at school and hears Kill Bill sirens going off in his head? Do they become an unstoppable team both at home and in the field? Do they geek out about books together even though they have different tastes in them? Do Bruce and Thomas just check the library any time they can’t find the boys?

Or does Jason die anyway? And Tim still steps in to help, but with another person watching with a different perspective from the others?

Everyone else is focused on the fact that Tim is already a skilled detective who knows their secret, has been studying martial arts and acrobatics enough to have a solid foundation and some decent skill already, and can recognize that Bruce needs help and therefore, should totally be the new Robin. Thomas, however, stops to ponder why it is that Tim was able to recognize Bruce and Batman’s heavily hidden depression. Instead of questioning how Tim knew where Dick lived and worked and all that, he questions how the hell a kid that young just fucked off to another state without anyone noticing. Yeah, he’s worried about Bruce getting stabbed and just going back into a fight, but he’s already got Alfred and Dick on his ass about that, so he can take a moment to feel the horror at the fact that a child witnessed that and didn’t respond as though it were the worst thing they’d ever seen. While no one else questions that Tim just had his boarding school start forwarding his mail to Wayne Manor without issue, does Thomas stop to go ‘WTF? Why is no one questioning what the Drake boy is doing here?’

Does Thomas decide that while helping Bruce, they can also help this kid who is clearly in dire need of competent adult supervision?

Who, then, adopts Tim? Thomas or Bruce? Or does Alfred adopt him out from under them, so they each get a little boy wonder? Do most people who encounter the family have a period where they try to figure out which black-haired, blue-eyed kid is which black-haired, blue-eyed man’s child before giving up with a headache? Does Bruce sometimes refer to Alfred as his mom the way Dick has a few times in canon? Are outsiders utterly confused about the whole lot? Do they all just live in the Manor together as one happy and less-dysfunctional-then-they-could-have-been family?

When Cass enters the picture and Bruce is focused on the whole assassin-turned-vigilante bit, is Thomas in the background going ‘Yes, a granddaughter! Have you met your new little brothers, yet? Oh, you don’t know how to speak? You know they have teachers for that, right, Brucie? We can afford one that will keep their mouth shut if she lets anything slip during lessons. You go help Barbie research that while I introduce her to the alphabet. See? Wasn’t that easier than making the poor girl point at everything until we caught on to what she wanted?’

‘This is your Uncle Dick, he’s going to teach you how to use the trapeze! What’s that, you like ballet? I’ll build a studio in the Manor and get you private lessons! You like roses? Alfred, want to help us build Cassie a rose garden!? Of course she broke those men’s arms, Brucie, he was harming her little brothers! I seem to recall you breaking more than a few arms when someone hurt Dickie!’

Instead of coming to Gotham with his quiet, emotionally stunted father to meet an uncertain and grieving adopted brother and very professional Alfred, does Damian end up hearing all about his new family and asked after his interests by his more mature father? Does he exit the Batmobile to be gathered up in a big bear hug by the unit of a man that is Thomas Wayne? Is he then introduced to his uncle, sister, brother, and whatever Tim ended up being in this universe? Does that make the introduction go better? Either because there are just too many variables in play for his planned takeover or because he’s too stunned at everyone being genuinely happy to meet him that he forgets he could be cursing and trowing a tantrum when they talk about helping him unpack and get ready for bed after his long trip?

Does Damian still try to kill Tim (the current Robin) off? Does he try, but this much more cohesive and connected version of the family keeps stopping him? Do they talk him through his issues better? Does he learn what it means to be part of a family much sooner? Does he end up with an art studio and a pair of kittens by the end of the first week? Does Thomas call up Talia to arrange for Goliath to be sneaked into Gotham to live in the Bat Cave once he learns that his grandson is missing his dragon bat over hot chocolate one night?

Or does Batman/Previous-Batman/Sometimes-Batman, Thomas Wayne, just raze the League the first time Ra’s messes with his son? Does Bruce get to stay with Talia to raise Damian from the beginning in his family’s ancestral home with his father, honorary second parent, little brother, daughter, son, and whatever Tim is to him in universe? Does Talia go off to become CEO or COO of another company on her own after her father’s demise? Does she work for Wayne Enterprises? Do she and Bruce get together under different circumstances? Do they not get together at all and Damian is never born? Or are things much the same between them, except she realizes that Bruce can give Damian a real family in this universe and hands him over sooner?

If Jason died and came back, how would Thomas’ presence alter his actions afterwards?

Would Thomas have killed the Joker once the threat of starting an international incident was taken off the table? Would any member of the family give a shit if Jason used guns or killed the occasional murderer/pedophile/human trafficker in this universe? Even when Jason saw there was a new Robin, he wouldn't be able to say who brought Tim into the fold, so that wouldn’t make him feel as replaced. He’d have a moment to step back and question it in a way he never did in canon. Even if he was still hurt and pissed at Bruce, would knowing Thomas, Alfred, and Dick were all there be enough to bring Jason home anyway? Would his grandpa and new little siblings ever let him leave again once he did?

Would Bruce have reacted better to Clark confessing to killing some of his rogues in a world where he was raised by Thomas? Would they never have their falling out and end up even better friends without that interruption in their relationship? Between that and having less overall issues, would Bruce be willing to call his friend sooner when he needs help? Would that extend to more members of the Justice League? Is he laid up with a broken leg and calls in Barry when Mr Freeze breaks out of Arkham because he has experience with ice-themed villains? Does Killer Croc get bitch-slapped back into Arkham by Wonder Woman one day because Bruce and his kids all had the flu and he asked for her help?

Does Jean Paul Valley ever become Batman? Or does Thomas just step into the suit while Bruce is recovering so Jean Paul gets more training time? With another adult around, does Tim still have to babysit Jean Paul all by himself? Are they able to catch the fact that Jean Paul is losing it sooner?

Does Bane have any idea what hit him when Thomas-Batman comes for him after he hurt his son?

/|^;-;^/| ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ /|^;-;^/| ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ /|^;-;^/|

Just some questions that came to me while I was feeding my goats this morning…

[spirk-trek]

Maybe if you can and are inspired something showing how smart Jim is? I live for genius!kirk!!! Please and thank you!

i hope you're still around to see this anon. i struggled with it SO much even though it's one of my favorite tropes ever. i'm quite happy with the way it turned out in the end :)

disclaimers: blood & injury, fake-real-science

read here on ao3!!!!

~*~*~*~*~

Spock.

The syllable drifted into his consciousness like an echo. Faint. Indistinct.

“Spock?”

He attempted to clear a path for rational thought, cataloging each sense as it returned to him. Pain. Disregard. Touch. The ground was warm beneath him, conforming to his body. Sand, he speculated. Pain. Disregard. Sight. None. Scent. Rotting vegetation. Sulfide. The metallic tang of blood.

“Spock! Acknowledge!”

Sound. Clearer than before. Familiar. Jim. 

He swallowed with some amount of difficulty. There was movement. Footsteps slipping over loose stone.

“I… am here,” he finally managed to rasp. 

The movement stilled. An expulsion of breath. 

“Stay with me, Spock.” 

Jim's voice, bounding off unseen walls, was imbued with a relief that was as illogical as the order it carried. Spock would not leave his Captain except in death.

“Stay with me,” he repeated the words nonetheless, though they did not carry as effectively as the first iteration. As though they were not intended to reach him. Upon consideration, perhaps his death had been the very thing Jim feared. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll get us out of here. Don’t…”

Spock wanted to deny his ability to do something so emotional as to worry, but moreso he wished to ask where ‘here’ was, precisely. He had the sense that he should know. Unconsciousness pulled at him again as he searched for an answer, a tide he struggled to resist, eroding the shoreline of his mind. He began to lose his body, sinking back toward wherever he had been before.

“Tell me- about- sodium chlorate.”

Spock’s brows pulled together. Surely Jim knew the properties of such a basic structure. 

“Sodium chlorate, Spock!”

This information was easier to access than where they had found themselves, or why his head was throbbing with each beat of his heart, so he forced a response from the back of his throat. 

“Formula… NaClO₃… Melting point… 521.01 kelvin… When heated… produces sodium chloride and…”

Oxygen. Yes. It became more apparent with each breath that it did not feel like enough. His mind opened, details of their predicament beginning to filter back to him.

Sodium chlorate. An elegant solution. 

“And?” Jim probed.

Spock did not finish his thought, aware now that the query was no more than an attempt to keep him alert. It had worked, for now, and it would be illogical to waste further breath providing Jim with information he already knew.

“Etherbane gas, Captain-”

“No-”

“Etherbane gas,” he insisted, and Jim fell silent, understanding his efforts were no longer necessary, “is currently filling the space... we inhabit. Estimated time… remaining with breathable air…” Spock thought back to prior calculations, existing on another plane. He considered the tightness in his lungs, Jim’s own struggle for breath, the echoes of sound around them. “Twenty three point seven… standard minutes.”

Jim did not answer immediately. When he did, his voice was quiet. Flat.

“Thank you, Mr. Spock.”

Following his words, for the first time since regaining consciousness, Spock saw. A flash of red accompanied by the sound of phaser fire.

“Captain-” 

“Increasing oxygen levels could displace it, dilute it even…” 

He was muttering to himself, seemingly unharmed, although the crackle of rocks tumbling over themselves continued.

“Captain,” he tried again. “I fail to see… how we will  produce oxygen without-” 

“A catalyst, yes,” Jim completed the thought, though provided no further insight. “Kirk to enterprise, do you read? Kirk to Enterprise. Acknowledge.” 

His communicator flipped closed when he received no answer. 

“There’s got to be a way. ”

“Perhaps… not one available to us.”

Jim did not answer. Spock could once again make out the sound of labored breathing, though it remained some distance away. His fingers twitched, irrationally thinking of reaching across the space between them. He forced them to still.

“Captain… It would be wise to conserve… your energy.”

“What for?” Jim pushed the question out with some degree of bitterness, jaw locked. More shuffling. More rocks. Spock pulled an unbalanced breath into his lungs.

“Longevity.”

“There won’t be any use for longevity if…”

He trailed off, coughing lightly. Spock did not have a satisfactory response to this, so he did not offer one, instead moving on. 

“If your intention is to burn… sodium chlorate… as a source of oxygen, it should be noted-”

“Etherbane is combustible,” Jim answered tightly. “It could burn up, suffocate us in the process.”

“Quite correct.”

“I’m aware of the risks.”

“I am unaware of the benefits.”

“I’m getting to that, I just need… What do I need? What do I need?”

“You are exhausting yourself.”

“How to control the burn, how…”

Spock was unprepared for the swell of unconsciousness that gripped him again, unable to fight it back this time, nor to utter another word before reality escaped him. With one last breath he attempted to form Jim’s name, then faded away.

*  *  *

When Spock next awoke, he could see. Swaths of deep orange contrasted with black shadows high above him, flickering and shifting over rough rock, giving the illusion that the cave itself was swaying. Once more he disregarded the pain that jolted through his skull. Concussion. Severe, but not life threatening. He blinked several times, grunting with the effort it took to turn his head toward the source of light.

A vaguely cylindrical object was protruding from the sand beside him, yellow flame emanating from its tip. He squinted, attempting to bring his vision into focus. Several strips of gold were wrapped around the object’s base, visible between messily gathered clumps of clay.

Gold. Sleeves of a command uniform. 

A pulse of clarity jolted through him. Spock pushed himself into a sitting position, noting distantly that the task of breathing appeared easier than it had previously. He scanned the perimeter of the cave and found nothing. 

“Captain?”

No reply came. Alarm pulled him the rest of the way to his feet, a wave of dizziness causing him to stumble until he found a wall of stone to lean against. Again he looked around for any sign of his Captain, seconds of silence passing until, finally, he identified a disturbance in the otherwise smooth sand. Sinking, dragging trenches, the stride of which undeniably belonged to Jim. 

He followed the trail deeper into the dark, throat itching as the air grew thin again. Broken flakes of slate-like rock cracked under his feet as he staggered, pushed through shadow, stumbled-

Finally, a boot. Half buried. Completely still. Jim. 

More of his prone form was revealed as Spock rushed to his side, lying flat on his stomach, one arm outstretched. His uniform was torn messily from one arm. The hand it led to was slack. Unmoving. 

Dread, frigid and alive, writhed into Spock's stomach. He gripped Jim’s shoulders, pulling them away from the ground. His head pitched forward, unresponsive.

“Jim,” he spoke urgently, rolling the man onto his back. He brushed grains of deep purple sand from his face before grasping it firmly between both hands. No movement stirred behind closed lids. No spark of familiar energy surfaced at Spock’s touch. No thoughts. No emotion. No steady beat of his heart.

The flame at Spock’s back flickered, momentarily casting their corner in a wash of yellow, and his gaze was drawn up to a partially covered gap in the cave’s wall. Details began sorting themselves into place again, breaking through disordered bouts of control and lack thereof. 

The etherbane gas. Jim had been attempting to stifle the flow. 

He threw himself forward, deft hands making quick work of what Jim had begun before returning to his side and immediately gathering him in his arms. How long had he been breathing this concentrated flow? Could it be too late? 

No. He will not perish. 

It was an irrational promise, but it took root in him nonetheless before he could stop it. He carried his Captain back to where he himself had been laying before, all but collapsing to his knees beside the light. Before they had even settled he was covering Jim’s parted lips with his own, breathing what little he had into his lungs, cradling the back of his neck to open the airway. He straightened to press the heels of his hands down over his chest, timing each beat perfectly. One two three…

“Jim,” he groaned as he came up after yet another breath. More heartbeats. Ten. Twenty. Thirty.

Just as he was about to repeat the process for a third time, Jim gasped. His eyes flew open before slipping halfway shut, the spasm of his muscles fading as he went limp once more. Spock watched as his chest stuttered upward on its own. His lips as they moved ever so slightly until a word could finally form.

“Spock?”

He released the hands which had fisted into Jim’s torn tunic, pressing both palms flat to his own thighs instead. He sat back over his heels and made a futile attempt at taming the panic still chasing itself within him.

“I am here.”

Jim's arm shifted clumsily in the sand, nudging against Spock’s knee, and he peered down at it for a beat before realizing it was reaching for him. He reached back, the touch delicate, opting not to raise his shields with perhaps some amount of greed. The sensation of Jim’s still mind, vacant and dark, prickled unpleasantly in recent memory, but as they touched now he could feel Jim’s emotions there again. Faint, but unmistakable. Spock shut his eyes. 

“You’re alive,” Jim breathed. Relief. Contentment. Joy.

Spock blinked his eyes open again as Jim’s fingers attempted to fill the spaces between his own. Eventually, he settled for simply hooking one around his thumb. 

“Indeed.”

“Good.” 

Spock reached forward with his free hand to gently catch Jim’s head when it began to roll to the side, turning it back toward him. Hazel eyes, appearing deep brown in the dim light, finally opened and found his, though they didn’t quite focus. Long lashes fluttered with the effort of remaining open.

“Good,” he repeated, quieter. The weight of his head fully leaned into Spock’s palm now. Whether consciously or from weakness, it was impossible to tell. 

“Thought I lost you.”

Spock felt a sudden, irrational flare of agitation. Jim’s pleasant expression fell, the finger hooked around his thumb curling a little tighter.

“S’ wrong?”

Spock quickly pulled both hands back into his lap, feeling foolish. He turned away.

“Despite us both being revived, we remain trapped here.”

It was not the answer Jim had sought, and Spock did not expect him to accept it.

“Not what I…”

He trailed off, head falling once more to the side. Spock caught it again, shields in place this time, though they shivered dangerously as his fingertips brushed over Jim’s qui’lari.

“Jim.”

Dim golden eyes blinked open again.

“...meant.”

Spock did not provide a different answer, instead simply shifting to sit beside him with his legs crossed neatly. He tilted Jim’s head further toward him, not removing his hand until he was certain it was no longer needed for support. 

“Your head,” Jim mumbled. He lifted his gaze to look for some sign of damage in the dark.

“I shall recover.”

Jim hummed, one corner of his mouth quirking. 

“Gas can’t be pushed out yet,” he patted the sand beside him. “Lie down.”

Spock looked up instead, noticing the faint twinkle of stars through the sinkhole which had swallowed them. The gap was slightly wider than it had been. Spock recalled the sound of Jim’s phaser, of rocks tumbling down around them. This is how the etherbane was being ventilated, but given the density of its particles, how that was possible was still unclear. When Spock looked down again, Jim was watching him with a small grin.

“Haven’t worked it out?”

Spock’s eyes shifted back to the cylindrical object, opting for the distraction of considering its nature rather than the restlessness continuing to press in on his chest.

“I have had little opportunity to formulate a theory.” 

He hadn’t meant to convey such bitterness, but if Jim noticed he gave no indication. He chuckled anyway.

“Oxygen candle.”

Spock blinked. Jim coughed slightly and took an unsteady breath before launching into explanation.

“They used to have them- on naval ships. Submarines too, in case of depleted oxygen levels. Uses sodium chlorate and…”

“A catalyst,” Spock repeated his earlier sentiment. “There are none present.”

“Aren’t there?”

A gleam had returned to his Captain’s eye that softened Spock’s concern slightly. He raised a brow. 

“The stalagmites.”

Spock looked down into the sand, noticing the shards of slate scattered throughout it again, deep black in pigment and matching the pillars of stone rising from the ground around them. After a moment of thought, his face ironed out in realization.

“Magnesium dioxide,” he said quietly before turning his head quickly to regard Jim. “Its presence would have been masked by the etherbane gas to our instrumentation without manual adjustment. ” He cocked his head, brows drawing together. “How did you detect it?”

Jim’s smile was stronger now, his voice wavering less. He nudged his chin upward, looking off in a direction past Spock. “Our phasers. They have a magnetic component, for recharging the banks.”

Spock blinked. “And magnesium dioxide has magnetic properties. Of course.”

Jim hummed again. “Found enough to make a core for the candle, used the phaser I didn’t pull apart to ignite it, bound it tight enough to control the burn, clay for ventilation.” He smiled again, looking up at Spock and blinking slowly. “Simple.”

Spock stared at him in wonder for several seconds, astounded.

“That solution would not have occurred to me.”

Jim let out a huff. “I appreciate the flattery.”

“The likelihood of the necessary components being present are several million to one.”

“Several million, hm?”

“If you will forgive my lack of precision, Captain.”

“Forgiven.” 

He paused then, and Spock could feel his observance on the side of his face. 

“Would you please lie down?”

The same sensation from before crawled beneath his skin again. He could feel the edges of his control continue to fray, pulling loose like threads of an old garment marked by constant wear. He looked toward the now filled gap in the wall. The disturbed sand where Jim’s body had collapsed without the necessary oxygen.

"You constructed this… as you were actively suffocating?"

"Seemed like the logical thing to do at the time."

Spock’s jaw tightened. He averted his gaze from the disturbed sand. 

"Come here, Spock.”

Spock remained resolutely still, back straight. 

“You need to breathe-"

"No, Captain." 

"Spock-"

“It was unnecessary for you to risk your life in this way.”

Jim winced as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, but Spock stood abruptly before he could reach out, pacing swiftly away from their spot on the ground.

“Spock, wait- I had to reduce the risk of ignition-”

“You could have allowed yourself to breathe-”

“There isn’t much use in breathing if the whole place goes up in flame, is there?” Another pause. “I had no choice.”

“There is always a choice." He snapped the words, speech pressured, their voices overlapping. He shut his eyes and fought for control. “If I had not woken when I did, you would not have survived. That is the choice you made.”

To die. The words remained unspoken, heavy, suspended in the space between them.

When he breathed this far from the candle his lungs felt tight again. Logically, he knew it was due to the gas, but the residual tightness he had felt in his chest when he first saw Jim on the ground also continued to constrict him. He curled his body toward the darkest remaining corner of the cave where he was unable to tell where dark sand met the perimeter, arms hung loosely at his side, fingers unfurled and shaking. He hoped that Jim could not see them. 

"It was illogical,” he found himself saying. “Reckless."

Distantly, he registered the sounds of Jim pulling himself to his feet, of clumsy footfalls approaching him until a gentle touch came around his upper arm. Spock shut his eyes uselessly, able to feel the heat of Jim's body along his back, remaining perfectly still until the touch slid down and fell away. 

But Jim did not leave. They stood there, and Spock could practically feel indecision encasing them just as the gas had, as it still did, until the touch returned to his shoulder. Before long it was joined by a second hand, and both arms slid around Spock’s thin frame slowly, joining over his stomach, forming a firm loop. 

A hug, Spock realized.

A human gesture, intended for physical comfort. The touch had no purpose beyond this, but Spock found he had no desire for it to end. He quickly suppressed the warmth he began to feel in response, but he knew the name. Pleasure. Sun on his face. The sound of oasis birds. Jim. 

They stayed like until Spock felt the pressure around him loosen somewhat, enough for him to turn. When he did, he found the Captain looking up at him openly. His hands slid to Spock's lower back, a question in his eyes, searching for the answer in his face. Regardless of whether or not he found it, Spock was spared the burden of explaining himself any further. Jim simply nodded back toward the light. 

“C'mon."

He began to move before Spock did, but he followed as always, watching as the human dropped heavily back to the ground. Spock lowered himself wordlessly and stretched out flat on his back, parallel to Jim, both of their heads positioned near the flame. Only a few breaths later he felt his head begin to clear again, but Jim sighed beside him before he could submit to inner turmoil over his lapse. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Spock swallowed. The apology was unnecessary, but he found himself unable to voice his repudiation.

“I thought I had more time."

Spock did not answer this either. Not for several seconds. The regret that had half formed released now, broken apart into small enough pieces to flow through his bloodstream and touch every part of him. He knew that it would coalesce again. That they had only delayed the inevitable.

“I believe I understand the feeling, Captain.”

Jim turned his head at the same time Spock did, and their faces were suddenly so close Spock could feel the other’s breath touch the tip of his nose. The longing to reach out and touch multiplied exponentially in an instant, but he resisted, even as Jim’s gaze dropped to his lips and he was reminded that they had touched just minutes before. A memory of how the contact had felt pushed into his mind. If he tried now, if he allowed it, he could even recall the taste despite not devoting thought to it at the time, concerned only with sparing his Captain’s life. 

“Spock.”

His name pulled him back to the present, but when he brought his gaze back up he found Jim’s no longer on him. Instead he was looking somewhere beyond, head coming away from the warm sand and craning upward.

“Spock, look.”

And so he did. Above them, around them, shifting over the walls and glinting in the faint light, were what he estimated to be several hundred small, fast moving creatures comparable to insects. Their wings shone like jewels when the light from the candle touched them, revealing striking blue abdomens topped by twisting red antennae. A prickle of defensive vigilance wrapped around the back of Spock’s neck, making his hair stand on end, but he suppressed it just as he had everything else. The creatures did not attack, nor did they seem interested in doing so.

"Incredible,” Jim whispered, eyes darting all around the space to watch them, having risen into a fully seated position.

Spock pushed himself up to join him, their shoulders brushing together. In an effort to remain close to their halo of oxygen, he told himself. 

“Fascinating.”

Jim was blinking upward, wide eyed, an open mouthed grin unyielding on his face. Without looking away he grasped Spock’s shoulder.

"You don’t think we’re hurting them, do you?” he asked, reverent. Quiet. He leveled his head and met Spock’s eye. “The oxygen?”

Spock considered the creatures again and shook his head. “They do not appear to be fleeing.”

A cluster of them began to stretch their wings, revealing intricate, vibrant patterns indicative of flora. He frowned in thought. This directly contradicted the lack of living vegetation they had observed or detected on the planet before falling into its depths, as well as the known history of this world. 

Jim was curling his knees and getting to his feet, reaching down to dislodge the oxygen candle before offering his hand to Spock. He took it, despite perhaps not needing to, and leaned into the flame just as Jim did. They paced further into what had previously been only darkness. 

“Spock. Could it be the light?”

The Vulcan considered this as Jim shifted the candle slightly, presumably to test his hypothesis. The insects who’s light it touched began to open their wings while those who were consequently cast into shadow shuttered theirs. He raised the candle higher, over his head, taking a few steps ahead. Spock watched as several of the creatures arranged themselves into the unmistakable shape of a flower, each pair of wings another petal. A trail of them formed as if blooming wherever the light touched, following Jim’s progression further into the cave.

Jim was beaming up at them. Spock found he could not look away, though wished he had when Jim spun to find him again, seeing he was already being watched. Instead of confusion, aversion, his smile only grew. Spock’s heart missed a beat in his side. 

“Thoughts?”

Spock looked up again and placed his hands at the small of his back. 

“These lifeforms must have evolved prior to the stellar death of their sun," he began. "Likely, the generation we are seeing now have not seen light in their lifetimes, yet the vestigial instinct to attract pollinators for prey appears to have survived.” When he leveled his gaze again, he found Jim’s eyes stuck to him, listening intently. “It is reasonable to assume they are mimicking flora which have since gone extinct. Perhaps nyctinastic ones.”

He took a few slow steps toward the cave wall, so he could observe one of them up close, having to crane his neck to do so. Jim was at his side again, lowering the candle between them, and they shared a breath of fresh oxygen. Light danced over the lines of Jim’s face, catching at the corners of his mouth, the lower lashes surrounding his eyes.

 “Preserved in memory alone,” he murmured after a moment, then sighed again. He turned to watch the insects crawl over one another in an effort to chase the light in his hand.

“A little sad, isn’t it?” 

“It simply is, Captain.”

After a beat of silence, in a move that surprised Spock to his very core, Jim reached for his hand again. Spock allowed their fingers to touch, not knowing precisely why. For Jim’s to curl into his. For his thumb to swipe an arch over the back of his knuckles.

“Yeah,” he said softly, looking down at their hands just as Spock did. “Simple.”

Spock dared to lower his shields then, and immediately something unknown passed over the contact. A shadow. Not quite sadness, but not unlike it either. He found he did not have a word at his disposal to describe it.

“However,” he attempted to entertain Jim’s emotional assessment, hoping to alleviate whatever the emotion was. Jim lifted his head to watch him with an air of amusement, but Spock didn’t miss the spark of hope that accompanied it. “One could, perhaps, view it as a testament to the resilience of life, and find value in the fact that we now know the beauty of at least one species of flower which once thrived here.” 

Jim’s smile had returned. Spock’s stomach clenched at the sight of it.

“Life finds a way,” he murmured.

“Indeed.”

They remained like this, hand in hand, long enough for Spock’s heart to beat eleven times and for Jim’s to beat six, until the harsh sound of a communicator ultimately severed the moment. They jerked away from each other, candlelight wobbling as the flame tilted in Jim’s hand.

“Keptin? Keptin, are you there?”

Jim passed the candle to Spock almost carelessly and dove into the dark, digging through sand until Chekov’s voice became less muffled. He dangled the device from his fingers once it was extracted, shaking it several times before flipping it open.

“Kirk here,” he answered breathlessly. Spock approached and squatted down, holding the flame out toward him.

“Keptin! Is Meester Spock-?”

“We’re both here. Are you alright?”

“Back aboard the ship, sir. We’ve been trying to find you.”

“Well done, then.” Jim clutched the communicator in both hands, propping it against his chest. “Can you get a lock on us?”

“Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. The interference has cleared now.”

“Have Doctor McCoy on standby. Spock needs treatment.” Once again amber eyes lifted to scan the side of Spock’s head where evidence of his injury was most pronounced, frowning slightly at whatever he found. 

“Delay transport for the moment, Ensign. Won’t be long.” 

“Aye aye, Keptin. On your order.”

He flipped the communicator shut and turned to Spock, grinning, both brows arched toward the curl of blond lying against his forehead.

“Well? Shall we?”

Spock looked around them at the creatures once again, wishing for his tricorder which was left abandoned back on the surface high above. 

“I know,” Jim said quietly. “It’s a shame we can’t study them further, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

As they both stood, Jim touched his arm in sympathy before leaning forward and blowing the candle out, casting them into complete darkness. The touch dropped away and Spock straightened, preparing for the transporter beam to take them at any moment. The soft sound of a thousand wings folding around them was the last thing he heard before Jim’s voice drowned it out.

“Two to beam up, Mr. Scott. Energize.”

[downtofragglerock]

Alright here's another

A Makuta who served as the falconer of the Brotherhood, creating numerous birds of prey for both combat and messaging capabilities. Slain during the Brotherhood-Dark Hunter war.

A Makuta who grew overly attached to the primal element of fire, to the point of embedding it into everything they did, from fire-attuned rahi to fire-based experiments. This eventually evolved into serial arson which got them exiled by the brotherhood. Unlike say, Spiriah's banishment, this Makuta was still considered a member of the Brotherhood, as their results were quite useful to their goals. they were sent to the bottom of a pit in the middle of nowhere that, due to gas ruptures in the environment domes, was constantly on fire. This suited the Makuta, and they resumed their usual tasks, creating infernal rahi that occasionally escaped to wreak havoc on neighboring lands. No one has heard word from them in a while, but they may still be down there.

During the Brotherhood's halcyon days, when all that concerned them was the creation and development of new rahi to inhabit the young universe, this Makuta became enamored with metamorphosis and transformation, how rahi could shift their form into something completely different in their natural life cycle. They poured all their research and development into this phenomenon, creating species that changed their shape in such wonderful ways. They even began to body this philosophy physically, becoming fluid in form, a decision only aided by the Brotherhood's evolution. They would eventually pass the threshold and create rahi capable of willful and fluid shapeshifting, their magnum opus being a species the Onu-Matoran of Metru Nui would later rather generically dub the "Archives Beast". Eventually, when the Brotherhood gave into their darker natures, the need for a proper conquering legion arose. Rahkshi, due to the costly nature of their creation, wouldn't cut it, despite their effectiveness. Hagah teams were also out, thanks to the limited number of Toa and their far more rigid moral compasses. So it was decided that this legion would be a species of rahi, and several members of the Brotherhood attempted to be the one to create such a force, this Makuta included. The species they created was truly ingenious, not only capable of perfectly mimicking the shape of other rahi and beings, but their abilities as well, and could even take on hybrid forms, mishmashing the features and abilities needed for any situation. They seemed to be perfect, and test runs indicated so, but then a problem arose. When this species shifted into other forms, they also acquired those beings' intelligence, which lead them to rather suddenly gain true sapience. This presented a problem for the Brotherhood, after all, it's quite troublesome if your mindless attack legion start questioning orders, and getting rid of them would also be a query, given their strength. Then an enterprising Makuta by the name of Chirox presented a twofold solution: His creation, the Visorak, would be used for the legions, and in one of their first test runs, they'd wipe out their competition. Teridax approved of this, and the Visorak were sent to exterminate their rival species. Said species creator was horrified by this, viewing the sudden sapience of their creations as a true mark of mastery, and tried to stop this. They failed, and the Brotherhood had them killed, and the Visorak laid waste the shifters, the mutagenic venom reacting to the shapeshifting in quite fatal ways. What survivors that do exist are scant and mostly rumors, the only truly known one later taking the name "Krahka". Though in private, members of the Dark Hunters who both know of this species and the operative Triglax strongly suspect a connection.