#like i guess the question is. what do you think wolf 359 is saying about memory and what makes a person?

[commsroom]

Happy birthday! I have a bit of a strange question but it is Eiffel-related so:

How much (if any) of his personality do you think would be intact post-memory wipe? (Not in the sense of how much would he choose to keep, I mean what parts of him would the memory wipe not get rid of, given that it didn’t wipe his muscle memory, knowledge of English, etc)

this is such a difficult question because, like... as much as i like to speculate about it, there's no real answer re: what wolf 359 defines as "memory" in the first place. like you said, he remembers so much stuff that should be tied to memory - not just his knowledge of english but like, broadly... the concepts and context and consequences for those words and the things he encounters. he understands the weight of what he did back on earth, etc. and that makes the line of "memory" and "information" kind of fuzzy, in a whole bunch of different ways that would also apply to, like... what part of "personality" is inherent, and what part is determined by things we'd classify as memory? how much of personality is flexible and relational, anyway?

and we don't have much to go on re: how he behaves post memory wipe, either, like... there's not much of the show after that; we don't see him in Situations (tm) at all. and he might have different reactions to similar things, depending on other factors, even with his memory! but, like... there's not much to compare or contrast.

with that said: so much of how eiffel communicates is filtered through pop culture - it's not even on purpose, that's just... how his brain works, how he makes connections. everything else aside, i think it's completely understandable he would seem quieter if the primary framework he communicates through is suddenly no longer accessible to him. even if he doesn't consciously know what he's missing, there has to be a gap between what he intends and what he can say, and that has to be frustrating. the context is different, but when he's feeling bad for himself around constructive criticism and doesn't make any pop culture references for a week - that's similarly "uncharacteristic" in how unusually quiet and reserved he seems. for perspective.

short version: "personality" is hard to define, but i think whatever makes eiffel "eiffel" is still intact, whatever that means. i think he still remembers how he feels about things, on some level, even if the memories those feelings are attached to are inaccessible. i think he probably either has or will develop the same values and preferences and sense of humor and annoying habits, but even if his interior world is very similar to what it was before, people might think he's different because he can't communicate those ideas the same way, and that potentially creates a feedback loop where he also feels he must be different than he was. but, over time... i mean, i do think eiffel will get his memories back at some point, but even before that... i think just being exposed to stuff will gradually lessen that gap for him anyway.

[coteriedrables]

Wolf 359 post finally

Getting back to earth, and everyone, realizing that none of them really have anywhere to go.

Eiffel was in jail before mission, Lovelace is an alien clone, who is original was killed in action… technically Minkowski could return to her husband, but who knows at this point he may have moved on thinking his wife was dead.. Hera is an AI and a super computer. She is kind of stuck in her housing.

But Jacobi still had his apartment that he shared with Maxwell… she had projects in there and there probably was a unit that they could transfer Hera to there.

Hera would probably know enough between herself and Jacobi on how to transfer her to this housing just for the time being just until they find something better she doesn’t wanna be too far from her friends

And Eiffel goes with them following like a lost puppy. He doesn’t wanna leave her he has nowhere else to be.

Yeah he could go find his ex and his child but he is in no condition still even with that long, long journey he’s re-discovering himself he doesn’t want to go somewhere where he’s expected to perform in a certain manner quite yet.

Minkowski tries to go home first see her husband they break the story on what happened up there not all of it but the parts that evil NASA minimum… and she tries to rekindle. He’s gone for a while regardless. She keeps the people in charge from bothering her people.

Lovelace maybe follows back to Jacobi’s apartment at first and then quickly realizes she is not meant to settle down she has unfinished business. She needs to go the next kin of her crew. She needs to do anything she has to keep moving. She doesn’t know how to stop.

And honestly, neither does Jacobi.

After a few months Eiffel comes out of Maxwells old room, says good morning to Hera, and realizes Jacobi is gone. He doesn’t question it up, figuring his roommate is off at the store…. or I guess going on some short trip….ooor going on a longer trip I suppose. after a month he decides Jacobi is not coming back for a long while but rents due next week he knows that. He also knows that he doesn’t have any money still… Two days later there’s a letter in the mail

“Eiffel I’m sorry here is rent,” and Eiffel is confused, which admittedly is a fairly common feeling for him, but he doesn’t worry about rent. He doesn’t worry about a lot of things but he worries about everything. But somehow Jacobi has made sure he has enough to get by and to make sure that rent is paid usually with a little extra for a treat according to him…

And Eiffel is confused

A few weeks later, he sends out a call to Minkowski, Have you seen Jacobi have you heard from him? and then to Lovelace, Have you seen Jacobi? Have you heard from him? No one has heard from Jacobi… but it’s December who knows maybe he’ll be back by Christmas

[teacup-crow]

Maybe, Maybe, Maybe

Fun bit of survivors’ guilt for @badthingshappenbingo, based pretty heavily off Don’t Poke the Bear and Variations on a Theme. Post-finale.

They take it in turns to keep watch for when he wakes up: Doug, Reneé, Isabel, first names still such a novelty. Just his luck, he opens his eyes to the impassive face of Captain Lovelace.

“Hi, dickbag. Sore head?”

“Unnnnhh…” he whines as if he’s lying under a ton of rocks rather than a cosy quilt on Renee’s living room floor. His face is a patchwork of bruising. “Aspirin?”

She takes pity, and passes him two and a glass of water. The sitting up takes longer than he thought it would.

“You look terrible. Lucky for you, Renee makes a mean chilli con carne. Never would have guessed she could cook.”

“No thanks, I should, should be going-”

“You need food in your system, that’s non-negotiable. First thing’s first, though, you’re having a shower, and you either go willingly or get dragged bodily, because you goddamn stink. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” he mumbles automatically, and he remembers the Colonel - Warren? Was it on a day he could call him Warren? - once saying something similar and his head pounds. ((“mr jacobi, of all the irresponsible, stupid shit i have seen from you this really takes the-“))

“Bathroom’s on the second floor, just past the master bedroom. Dominick put a pile of clean clothes in there before he left for work. And it’s Isabel, okay? Not sir. Not Captain. Never again.”

***

“Who did this to you?”

He grips his mug of sweet tea like it’s thousand dollar whiskey. He’s still ashen. “I did this to me.”

“You beat the shit out of yourself? Okay, yeah. Don’t buy that one.” Isabel repeats the question. “Who did this to you?”

“Just some guys I pissed off. I don’t know how many. I don’t know who. Happy now?”

The room goes silent. Isabel continues:

“And did you go provoking them deliberately?”

Not for the first time, Renee wonders whether they should have included Doug in this little intervention. He’s been through so much just like the rest of them, but he doesn’t know it, and he’s clearly freaking out at the situation.

“Why would he want something like that to happen? He looks terrible!”

“I don’t know, Doug,” Isabel says levelly. “Care to answer, Jacobi?”

He’s not on a first name basis, apparently.

“Not… I didn’t... no. No, no, no. I was too drunk and… picking fights, but suddenly there were too many of them, okay? But I got out. And if I want to drink then that’s my own problem, so thank you for the hospitality but-“

Renee cuts in there. “When you drink yourself into a stupor, get attacked by a gang in a back alley, and stumble into my doorway at 0300 hours after six months of radio silence, it becomes our problem.” Her look of pity makes his stomach churn even more than the chilli did. He breathes in, hold, out; in, hold, out; in-((alana’s breathing technique and why why why is she everywhere in everything why does he have to see her out of the corner of his eye when it’s been so long he can’t properly remember her face-))

“Fine. What do you want from me?”

“You are a good man and you saved every single one of our lives and we need to understand why you’re so intent on throwing yours away.”

Jacobi starts laughing then, guttural laughs that worsen the ache in his head and bones but he can’t seem to stop them. “...me? I’m a good man? Oh my God, Lieutenant, that’s hilarious. Give us another.”

“You need to take this seriously! This is a form of self harm! You could have died!” Isabel is pacing up and down. She and Renee do good cop, bad cop like it’s a professional sport.

“Boo fucking hoo. And the world would forever be worse off for my passing.”

Isabel stops, and turns back towards him with some heat in her gaze. “I have lost too many crew members who deserved to die far less than you do. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? Do you need me to reconfirm that you are a an asshole? Do you need to hear about how Fisher, and Hui, and Fourier, and Lambert were all far better people than you will ever, ever be? Or will you accept that you are good in there? That deep down you’re on the right-“

“We burned their letters.” He’s staring at the duvet he’s wrapped in, running his finger over the flowers on the pattern. “Okay? Still think I’m a good person?”

“...wait. What?” She laughs a little, in shock perhaps. “But you told me…”

“I told you what I needed to tell you to make you trust me. We burned your crew’s letters. Lambert’s… I remember those especially. His hands were shaking really hard when he wrote them, weren’t they.”

It’s not a question.

Isabel stops pacing, and Jacobi grins again but it doesn’t reach his bruised eyes when he looks up at her. “More than mine, even. You could tell he was sick. They didn’t make any sense. We laughed at them. The irony of a Communications Officer who can’t communicate. Are you listening to me? We read their letters and we burned them and we laughed about it-“

Renee loses her softness. “Jacobi, that is enough!”

Isabel has a hand on her chest as if something has hit her there. She counts to ten in her head, ((fisher’s technique to try and stop her fighting with sam, never worked but still stuck in her head, or this copy of her head, or whoever she is now-)) and leaves the room.

They hear her slamming drawers in the kitchen.

Doug glances at Jacobi and shakes his head, before hurrying after her.

“How could you,” Reneé says. “How could you.”

“I don’t know. Will you let me go and ruin my own life now?”

“Never,” she replies. “Because, God help me, you’re still a member of my crew.”

At that, his eyes prick with tears he can’t explain. He rolls over on the air bed, and closes them.

***

“Lovelace?” Jacobi finally makes himself walk into the kitchen, grimacing like each step is on hot sand. The words are monotone. “I’m so sorry. What I did and said is... inexcusable.”

“Nope. That’s too large a word for your vocabulary. Come back to me with an apology Renée didn’t script,” Isabel snaps, going back to scribbling in a sketchbook.

“Look, I’m not much good at this-“

“You’re telling me.”

“I’m… really used to people yelling at me and hitting me until they feel better. Or you can shoot me if you like!”

“Jesus. Well, I am not about to do that to ease your guilt. You look like you’d snap if one more person poked you. So apologise properly.”

“I’m sorry…”

“For?” Isabel prompts over the top of her book.

“I’m sorry for burning your crew’s letters.”

“You did what you were ordered to do. It is what it is. I’m not condoning it.”

There’s a moment of silence, and Jacobi realises she’s waiting for him to continue. “And… I’m sorry for bringing it up. That was… needlessly cruel. It sucked.”

“It really did,” she replies, putting the book down. “Tell you what: that sounded somewhat genuine, and Goddard brought out the shit in all of us. You look so pathetic, I’m going to forgive you. Not because you deserve it, but because I don’t bear grudges. Not anymore.”

She holds out a hand, and he shakes it. “Thank you.”

“Wow. That actually hurt for you to say.”

Jacobi nods. He sits down across from her at Renée’s huge darkwood table, and thinks about how she and Dominick must have bought this when they moved in together with plans to have people over for dinner every other night. Maybe even plans to have kids.

He wonders if Dominick ate at it alone while his wife was gone.

“So, you gone on that holiday yet?”

“No, actually. I’ve legally been dead for about seven years, so getting a passport is proving pretty tricky.”

“I can imagine.”

“Where have you been, anyway? We tried to get into contact with you. We drove down to your old apartment - got your address from the Goddard database - but it was cleaned out.”

Jacobi looks sheepish. “Yeah, well, I’d mostly been staying at Alana’s for the last few years or overnight at… yeah… so I’d not been a very good tenant and turns out they took ‘lost in space’ as the perfect opportunity to kick me out. So I’ve been sofa to sofa, on the streets a bit-”

“For heaven’s sake, Jacobi. We would have helped you, you stupid asshole! All you had to do was ask and you could have stayed here! Renee and Dominick would probably even let you have a cheese collection or whatever the fuck it was.”

“Guess the amount of drinks it takes for me to lose my pride is somewhere over eighteen?”

“How do you have a functioning liver?”

They sit in an almost comfortable silence for a few minutes, Isabel reopening her sketchbook.

“I never knew you drew.”

“You never knew me outside of a life-threatening situation.” Isabel sighs, twists the pencil between her fingers. “I don’t think I did. Before. The old ‘me’, I mean. But I was bored and I can’t get a job because of the ‘being dead’ issue, so I thought I should take up a hobby or something. Might be therapeutic. I’m not very good at it…”

“Can I see?”

“I, uh,” Isabel suddenly looks uncertain. “I drew her. Maxwell. I drew everyone, actually. Are you sure you want to look?”

“Yes.”

He leafs through the pages, at first simple doodles before branching into full portraits. Eiffel, upside down and smoking a cigarette. Hilbert, looking troubled at a shadow behind him he can’t quite see. Two ghostlike figures in lab coats staring out at the star, the man with a prophetic terror etched on his face - must be Isabel’s old crewmates. Mr Cutter smiles up at him with far too many sharp teeth in sharper lines where the pencil was pressed far too hard and he turns the page quickly. There’s Kepler, mid-whiskey speech and it almost stops his heart. He pauses. Maxwell.

In the picture, her eyes are shining as she stares at Hera’s console, fingers nothing more than a blur - the three-day stint she spent trying to get the AI online. Aside from the orange and blue of Wolf 359, elsewhere in the book Isabel has barely used colour, but here the room is bathed in a serene green light from the screens. Behind Maxwell, Jacobi sees himself, little more than a stocky, sketchy outline, waiting for her to finish.

He looks so proud of her.

He looks so… content.

After staring for a long moment, Jacobi closes the book and hands it back. “Thank you.”

“You can keep the pictures of them, if you like,” Isabel offers, but he doesn’t know whether he would like, so he says:

“Tell me about your crew.”

“What?”

“Your old crew. Tell me about them. Was Lambert the one staring at...?”

“No. No. No, that was Kuan Hui, our senior astrophysicist. He was whipsmart and funny and fearless, until the time Goddard Futuristics played around in his brain, stretched out his perception of time. He was completely alone in the dark for two weeks. His smile never really reached his eyes after that.”

Jacobi sips tea awkwardly, even though it’s cold.

“Something like that, it stays with you. At least he had Fourier, though.”

“That’s the woman behind him?”

“Junior physicist. Victoire Fourier had eyes like stars. Cleverest person I’ve ever met. She played six instruments, spoke four languages and she had the most gentle soul. She used to read to Hui when he got sick with Decima. Coughed up every organ in his body. I thought it would break her, but she was made of stern stuff. She vanished off the space station in the final days and I still don’t know what exactly happened to her-”

“I… do. If you want to know, I mean.”

Isabel shakes her head. Then pauses. Then shakes her head again. “I get the feeling whoever is to blame is long gone.”

Jacobi shrugs. “Who else?”

“Well, there was Mace Fisher. Fisher… Fisher died because of me, not Goddard Futuristics. Asteroid shower tore him from my hands. He had a boyfriend waiting at home. He was sensitive, sensible, grounding. A real older brother type. I- I didn’t deal particularly well with his death. Well, you know that much.”

((Pill popper!)) Jacobi gulps more cold tea.

“And Lambert?”

“Sam Lambert. Officer Samuel Lambert had a stick up his ass. He was whiny, and authoritarian, and he treasured his copy of Pryce and Carter more than Reneé and Kepler combined did. He drove me nearly insane, and I drove him likewise. The best second in command you could ask for. A damn good man. Sam got sick after Hui, so we knew what was coming. What it meant. He was brave, though. At first.”

((“C-Captain, please shoot me, please, it hurts, it hurts, Captain, please, I just want it to-”)

She falters.

“Lovelace?”

“Yup?”

“You know, it’s not even really about the Hephaestus. I keep… it’s insane, but I keep thinking about… I was an explosives guy for the Air Force. Before Goddard. A trigger failed and two men died. Andrews and Sullivan. I haven’t thought about them in years and suddenly-“

“They’re everywhere?”

There’s a sudden understanding between them.

“They’re everywhere. Them and Maxwell and Kepler. They’re in mirrors, in the back of my brain, around corners.”

“Flashes of them.”

“And if you just reach out far enough, maybe-“

“Maybe-“

“Maybe.”

((let’s go be monsters)), Jacobi’s brain echoes. He grits his teeth.

“Did it stop for you? When does it stop?” He finds himself asking. Isabel doesn’t answer.

[dashuisofanubis]

For some interesting asks... 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 24, and 25 (a lot, I know, I can't decide and there are a lot of good questions!)

Ooo thanks!! Just a heads up, this may get long! (And sorry this took a while I got stuck 😂)

1. What tv show that you watched as a child gives you the most nostalgia?

House of Anubis definitely, and also CBBC's Raven, which was a fantasy outdoor pursuits-type gameshow that I was desperate to be on as a kid

5. If you could marry a fictional character, who would it be?

Hm, probably Jadzia Dax from Deep Space 9

6. Who is your favorite villain (who does not have a redemption arc) and why?

Oo this is tough! I always liked Ursula as a kid because I thought she was cool and terrified me. Currently I'd probably say Marcus Cutter from Wolf 359 because I he's so well written and infuriating I'd very much like to punch him

9. Did a Disney movie come out the year you were born? Which one?

Monsters Inc.!!! Which did mean I got called Boo a lot as a kid 😂

10. If you could sit one person down and ask them an unlimited amount of questions, talk-show-style, who would it be? What would you ask?

I've been trying to think of an answer to this one for ages and my mind keeps drawing a blank. Possibly myself since that's what I do in my head 😂

15. What is your MBTI type/enneagram number?

INFP-J I'm pretty sure

17. What is your favorite musical?

Oof that's really tough, my current favourite is Frankenstein: a New Musical, but if I had to pick an overall favourite I'd probably go for Hadestown. Or War of the Worlds.

20. What fictional world do you most want to live in?

Star Trek's (which I guess is less a world and more several) I just want to work on a starship, that's the dream job

22. What is your favorite trope?

Found family!

23. Least favorite trope?

Love triangles

24. What is the classic movie that you have not seen, and constantly think about the fact that you haven’t seen?

Not sure if it counts as classic but I've never watched Narnia and I think about that a lot

25. What is the wildest dream you’ve ever had?

Oh man I have so many wild dreams. A hoa related one is we somehow discovered another set of tunnels in the attic and victor started chasing us through them, but it opened up into a tescos so we were running down food aisles. Victor was throwing stuff into a trolley as he went and we managed to lose him. But when we walked back into anubis house, there was a massive pile of shopping on the floor and Victor was stood looking at us like 'you will pay for this'

I've also had one where I went to visit my cousin and the rest of my school showed up in a double decker bus, then my friend stole a ballerina's laptop and she chased us down the motorway, as you do 😂

[podcastlimbo]

My honest honest opinion on second citadel season 3

Uhhhh... short answer? I didn’t like it much.

Okay wait before I go on to my long answer I need to say that this is all just my opinion and it’s all subjective. If you liked sc season 3 that’s awesome! I get why you do and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

But I really wasn’t a fan of where they went with it (even from episode 1), and I’m gonna go on a long rambly and repetitive rant about it.

I’m not gonna talk about the way the season ended and the setup for s4 because I haven’t fully formed my opinion about that - to form my opinion means to relisten to the season and i don’t really feel like doing that.

Anyways, these are my unfiltered 2am thoughts about the Rest Of It - maybe I’ll neaten it up later to make it more palatable but for now it’s wordy n messy and you can just. Not read it bc it’ll probably make you mad, or feel free to pick it apart and tell me I’m wrong, or unfollow me (and at least one person has already done so lmao) but like that won’t change the fact that I just wasn’t feeling s3 so uh. That said.

Long answer? I love the second citadel... at least the first two seasons

I love the world building, how the setting is such a unique, deliberate step away from eurocentric fantasy, how refreshing all that is! The Second Citadel (the place) is rich with culture and history from the brief glimpses we get of it (mostly in knight of the crown). Not to mention the monster society, with its own rules (or lack thereof) and environments and personalities.

I love the storytelling, how different mediums are woven into the way each episode is formatted. Rilla has her tape recorder, Damien his prayers, Caroline her letters, and each medium is so well suited to each character, and it truly lets us get a glimpse of what’s going on in their minds, and I find it utterly fascinating how a protagonist of one story could just as easily become an antagonist (or at least, an annoyance) in another

And the characters! Each one so compelling, with their own goals and motivations, their own intriguing backstories and potential.

Most importantly, the way these characters play off of each other is what makes second citadel amazing. Getting to see people with similar experiences but different world views clash (Caroline and Mira), people with fundamentally different beliefs reconcile and meet in the middle (rilla and arum), just, Kabert created so many interesting characters, and watching them bounce off one another is a joy.

And that’s what made season 2 so great for me. The exploration of each character, getting to see their good sides and bad, through either a medium tailored for them, or through interactions with others, as they explored a fascinating world.

The end of season 2 left me so satisfied, but still with so many questions and excitement about what was to come. I wanted to see Talfryn come into his own and step out of his brothers shadow. I wanted to see Damien, Arum and Rilla navigating their new relationship. I wanted to know more of the fate of Rilla’s parents, Damien’s past, the consequences Arum would surely face after defying the monster court. I wanted Marc to finally be recognized by his fellow knights, to watch as Caroline lead the journeymen knights, while learning to trust in others as she was beginning to do. I wanted Angelo continuing to unlearn the implicit biases that had been instilled in him as a result of his upbringing, or more details on Caroline and Quanyii’s relationship. I was also curious!! How would human and monster relations change after the events of the finale? And would we learn more of the past, when humans and monsters lived together in peace?

I was buzzing with excitement for season 3, and then.. it came, it aired, and then it went.

And I felt... meh?

Don’t get me wrong. There were moments that I liked. Some of what I hoped to see did happen (see the above paragraph lmao), getting a glimpse of the western wastes with its own culture a joy. The dynamics between Olala and some of the characters were really fun! And the direction the story took at the end was one I didn’t expect, but left me open to more.

That said,,, everything else about the season just. Didnt gel with me.

Everything I loved about second citadel pretty much wasn’t there??? Aside from Caroline, Angelo and Quanyii, all the characters they spent so much time introducing to us and fleshing out over 2 seasons were just relegated to the side??

I think my main problem with season 3 was that it felt like a completely different show. Characters introduced as part of an ensemble became side characters in (what was supposed to be) their own stories. Character arcs that got set up were dropped, and mysteries/backstories teased were forgotten. Heck, the monster court and senate wasn’t even brought up! The aftermath of the fear bugs attack ont the citadel went unexplored! It’s like nothing in the past season even happened!

And I’m sorry I gotta say this, but the problem is Olala.

I mean. Okay I don’t wanna be super mean- she’s perfectly fine as a character. We root for her, we cry when she cries, and we cheer when she wins the day.

But since all the episodes were centered around her, we didn’t get to see anyone else’s inner worlds. And like okay, yes, they did it for this season of Juno Steel too, where Juno, the previous POV a character for 2 seasons, became a part of an ensemble, and was a side character for many episodes. But this choice worked for Juno and not Second Citadel, because it was a natural progression for his story! We spent 2 seasons exploring Juno’s character, his backstory, his motivations, we saw him come to terms with his family history, grow and change as a person, and by the time he joined the Carte Blanche, we’d gotten to a point with Junos story where we’re okay to step away for a while, and see events through the lens of others.

But that just?? Doesn’t work in second citadel? Because unlike Juno, the characters introduced in s1-2 are virtually unexplored! There’s still so much about their stories we don’t know, and so many ways for them to progress.

But we didn’t get any of that! Stuff established in s1-2 barely got payoff in this season. Characters stagnated, and when previously it was amazing to watch them interact with each other? Having each episode throw different combinations of characters together and seeing how they clashed and came together? Yeah we didn’t get that, it was all the same characters bouncing off of Olala, which is fine at first, but honestly? After the first couple episodes, it got stale.

And remember how before, we would get to see the characters tell their story through a medium suited for them? Well I noticed that the format of this season was a lot moreee audio drama-y (basically a TV show but with no visuals) and while there’s nothing wrong with that, one of SC’s strengths was in using the medium in unique ways, presenting the episodes in unique formats depending on the POV character. And with the exception of a few moments, the season really lacked that!

I know there were episodes in s1-2, like caves of discord and the Janus beast which didnt follow that format, but I think it’s a fan consensus that the episodes that do (moonlit hermit, KOTC lots, lady of the lake) are favourites, because they fully embraced the advantages and limitations those framing devices offered, and were truly perfect for character exploration.

It’s like. Idk. Imagine wolf 359 s3 where the si5 were introduced, and there was like 1-2 episodes of them interacting with the rest of our cast, but then after that the rest of the season just completely focuses on Eiffel and the new characters, and everyone else just disappears n twiddles their thumbs and doesn’t even do anything during the finale. That’s what happened this season, and that’s the kinda weird vibe I’m talking about.

Since I’m already rambling, I might as well just say some more stuff. I was disappointed with the music this season. I can tell Ryan Vibert was trying to figure a way to make SC sound different from Juno, and he was getting there in s1-2! The pieces that stand out now are the soft, acoustic guitar pieces, like Rillas song, or the lone melody line of the guitar in the SC theme. I thought he was getting it with s3e1, when Marc fought the dinosaur while traditional Japanese instruments were playing!! But then for the rest of the season, it was just samey echoey ambient electric guitar, like how it is for Juno. There could’ve been so much potential to give this world its own musical identity, but in the end, that attempt was dropped (at least that’s how it come off to me), just like so many other elements introduced in s1-2!

I’ve gotten this far in my rant, and I haven’t even talked about the story. And the story is. Hmmmmm

Like. It’s completely serviceable? Kabert are good at what they do so the story is a okay I guess? But to be completely honest, the characters and story were so tied together in previous seasons, so much so that in this season, even though the plot was just fine, it stayed just that. Fine. it always felt like there was something missing because the characters were the story, and to have just. So many holes in that department meant that the story itself was fundamentally empty.

Anyways uh. All of this is to say that this all boils down to character. I had my nits to pick with other elements but the fact that Rilla, Arum, Damien, Marc and Talfryn got completely sidelined (Tal most of all) when so much of the previous seasons were spent setting them up- in favour of a completely new storyline featuring new characters and settings when there was still so! Much! Left! Unfinished! From unfulfilled arcs to dynamics left untapped, and creative potential lost, the essence of the show was watered down and it left me with the intense feeling of

:/

Idk. Season 3 felt like a completely different show. I liked s1, I loved a2, but s3 just. isnt second citadel for me. I’ll probably still listen to the next season out of loyalty, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel as passionately about the shows future as I do it’s precious seasons, especially if they continue this way.

Sorry.

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2021 | Part II

For anyone that’s new to this, this is how I keep track of all of the things I enjoy and/or create throughout the year. I have literally been doing this since I had a livejournal. I think the first one was 2011? Maybe? In which case, woohoo, ten years of scrapbooking!

It’s a nice little snippet of my life and helps to organize my brain.

A reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read 80 books (as of today, i am at 31 books, which sounds not great but goodreads assures me that it’s only 1 book behind schedule), finish five video games (at two at the moment... mostly because I keep dragging my feet on actually finishing P5R), write more than 20 fics (at... 6) or something larger than 20k (negative), and write either an original short story or start a novel (i have started plotting for the novel? does that count?)

Past Years

MOVIES

May

Mortal Kombat

(SW: The Phantom Menace)

(SW: Attack of the Clones)

(SW: Revenge of the Sith)

(SW: Rogue One)

(SW: A New Hope)

SW: Clone Wars

Enola

Wonder Woman 1984

Dark Phoenix

(Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring)

June

(Princess Mononoke)

Sailor Moon: Eternal

In The Heights

Wish Dragon

July

Luca

(Thor: Ragnarok)

(Doctor Strange)

(Guardians of the Galaxy)

Black Widow

Space Jam 2 Electric Boogaloo

August

The Green Knight

Godzilla vs Kong

(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

BOOKS

May

These Violent Delights | Chloe Gong [Fin]

The Midnight Library | Matt Haig [Fin]

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within | Becky Chambers [Fin]

Unconquerable Sun | Kate Elliott

People We Meet On Vacation | Emily Henry [Fin]

The Soulmate Equation | Christina Lauren [Fin]

June

Unconquerable Sun | Kate Elliott [Fin]

September Love | Lang Leav [Fin]

One Last Stop | Casey McQuiston [Fin]

The Chosen and the Beautiful | Nghi Vo [Fin]

Lumberjanes, volume 2 | Noelle Stevenson [Fin]

For the Wolf | Hannah Whitten [Fin]

The Sandman | Neil Gaiman [Fin]

Mister Impossible | Maggie Stiefvater

July

Mister Impossible | Maggie Stiefvater [Fin]

TAZ: The Crystal Kingdom | The Mcelroys [Fin]

She Who Became the Sun | Shelley Parker-Chan

A Psalm for the Wild-Built | Becky Chambers

The Universe of Us | Lang Leav

August

She Who Became the Sun | Shelley Parker-Chan [Fin]

A Psalm for the Wild-Built | Becky Chambers

The Universe of Us | Lang Leav [Fin]

Lumberjanes, volume 3 | Noelle Stevenson [Fin]

Lumberjanes, volume 4 | Noelle Stevenson [Fin]

PODCASTS

May

The Penumbra Podcast, s3-END

June

The Magnus Archive - Fear Winners 1 & 2

July

Gods of Appalachia, Eps 1-6

(Wolf 359)

Janus Descending

August

(Wolf 359)

Mabel

(Zero Hours, ep 7)

Time:Bombs

TV SHOWS BY SEASON

May

Watcher Entertainment, Are You Scared?

Castlevania, s3, s4 [Fin]

Word of Honor [Fin]

Buzzfeed: Kelsey in Control?

Demon Slayer, s1

June

Demon Slayer, s1 [Fin]

Kim’s Convenience, s4

Leverage, s5 [Fin]

Watcher: Too Many Spirits, s3

Loki, s1

Lucifer, s2, s3, s4

Trese, s1

(Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime, s3, s6?)

(Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural, s1)

Sweet Tooth, s1

Love, Death & Robots

July

Loki, s1 [Fin]

Watcher: Too Many Spirits, s3 [Fin]

Watcher: Dish Granted, s3

Shark Week

Lucifer, s5

Masters of the Universe: Revelation

August

The Owl House, s2

Watcher: Dish Granted, s3

Watcher Weekly+

Buzzfeed: Ruining History

Star Trek Discovery, s1, s2, s3

What If..., s1

VIDEO GAMES

May

Monster Hunter Rise, 12 hours

Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition, 25 hours

Pokemon Go

June

Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition, ? hours

Pokemon Go

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, ??? Hours

Persona 5 Royal, ??? hours

July

Persona 5 Royal, 167 hours

Pokemon Go

August

Persona 5 Royal, 167 hours

Pokemon Go

Ori and the Blind Forest [Fin]

DELIGHTFUL FIC

May

The word is help. by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 9k | In a flash, Fett has his blaster out and pointed at Luke’s head. “You’re right,” he says. “Turnabout’s fair play. So maybe I oughta shoot you.”

Don’t be afraid. by spqr | Star Wars | Obi-Wan/Anakin | 12k | “Padawan Kenobi,” Yoda says, after a moment. “Complete your training, Master Skywalker will.”

who carried the hill by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 22k | Din’s about to head up the ramp onto the newly-repaired Razor Crest when a string pulls taut around his heart and yanks him into the sky.

Tapestry by spqr | Star Wars | Obi-Wan/Anakin | 8k | In March, Obi-Wan drags Anakin to another faculty party, where Anakin gets all sorts of wrong ideas about Quinlan Vos and decides to fellate Obi-Wan in a coat closet about it.

wonderterror by peradi | Star Wars | Leia/Han/Luke | 6k | Anakin Skywalker is the son of the Force.He’s half human and half something monumental.What does that make his children?

Xen Gardens by denimwrapped | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan & Shane | 1k | Shane Madej saves the day.A strange man comes to congratulate him.

A Series of Better Decisions by SassySnowperson | Star Wars | Padme/Obi-Wan/Anakin | 9k | "Kill him. Kill him now!" Chancellor Palpatine hissed, as Anakin held the two blades against Dooku's neck. "No," Anakin said. "It's not the Jedi way."

Futurus (-a -um) by cadesama | Star Wars | Padme/Anakin/Obi-Wan | 60k | Cracked hyperdrive? No problem. Just hold it together with the Force. Time travel? Well. That could be a bigger problem.

Comfort in Wartime by Rosbridge | Star Wars | Padme/Obi-Wan/Anakin | 4k | Obi-Wan is exhausted, drunk, and just about out of fucks to give.

spark me up, i'm a firework (i'll burst into light) by coffeeinallcaps | FATWS | Bucky/Sam | 7k | "You know how the super-soldier serum makes everything, well, super? I guess you could say that's what happened to my sex drive."

Thaw by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 6k | That’s what hope does to you, Luke remembers now. It lingers at the back of your mind, whispering maybe, maybe, so that knowing a plan is stupid isn’t enough to keep you from trying it.

Christ in Repose by spqr | Din/Luke | 8k | More on this story as it develops. Subscribe to HNN’s JEDI WATCH newsletter for instant updates on Jedi sightings throughout the galaxy.

Insufferable by perkynurples | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 3k | Wen Kexing asks a question. Zhou Zishu only hesitates to answer for a little while.

parasitic, parasocial by brawlite | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen/Xue Yang | 45k | Xue Yang stumbles upon the channel of Fuxue, a popular videogame streamer, and immediately becomes completely and utterly obsessed with him. Unfortunately, Fuxue has a boyfriend -- but that's fine: Xue Yang loves a challenge.

Aaron Burr has Hamilton's RSI and he isn't pleased about it. by DragonBandit | Hamilton | Hamilton/Aaron Burr | 3k | Aaron knows 2 things about his soulmate: The first is that they're angry about everything. The second is that they need to fucking sleep.

dinluke lawyer au by spqr | Star Wars | Din/Luke | 31k | At 1:18 a.m., just when Luke is starting to think he might’ve gotten away with something, Biggs Darklighter shows up on the other side of his desk and says, “I can’t believe you called in sick to get shotgun married to a Mando.”

like, comment, subscribe by DeHeerKonijn, Roselightfairy | Lord of the Rings | Gimli/Legolas | 90k+ | Legolas meets Gimli for lunch - unfortunately, he meets someone else, too.

a jackal; a thief by brawlite | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Ye Baiyi | 11k | This is not the first time Wen Kexing’s body has been poisoned like this.

you're the trouble that i always find by sundiscus | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 27k | “Do you know him?” Jin Wang asks.The ringing in Zhou Zishu's ears gets louder. “No, Wangye,” he says.At Zhou Zishu’s voice, the prisoner freezes.

vampire!wwx threadfic by sundiscus | The Untamed | Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji | ??? words | in which vampires exist in a modern cultivation au, lwj is investigating a string of strange deaths, and wwx is a vampire he can’t seem to kill.

Velle by DeHeerKonijn, Roselightfairy | LotR | Gimli/Legolas | 29k | Velle (Latin): to want.

June

May All My Wounds Be Mortal by hansbekhart | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 10k | Peeled out of his many robes, Wen Kexing’s body reveals itself to be mostly leg. He strips eagerly, grinning up at Zhou Zishu as if this is another joke between them. See? Wen Kexing’s body seems to say, I have no secrets from you.

drop by brawlite | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xue Yang | 4k |  Xue Yang has had this dream before.

Splenda by Tierfal | FMA | Ed/Roy | 19k | WIP | A sugar daddy AU that barely even qualifies as a sugar daddy AU, because these two can't do anything right.

From the Ashes by blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Shane/Ryan | 3k | “This doesn’t need to leave this room,” Ryan had said that first time. “Casual is my middle name.”

Whale Songs by denimwrapped | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 2k | It could be humming, he thinks. Some distant angelic humming. What it’s humming about, he’d have to find out the hard way. All he can hear in his mind’s ear is come closer. There’s so much more in the depths than you’ve ever known.

A Good Bargain by Neery | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 11k | The Window of Heaven captures the Ghost Valley's master. Zhou Zishu is put in charge of interrogating him.

So Why Not Crack Your Skull When the Mind Swells by greenteafiend | The Untamed | Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian | 13k | Or, Wei Wuxian is cursed to feel terrible pain when he and Lan Wangji aren’t touching.

the agony and the irony by arostine | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 44k | WIP |  Ryan has a lot on his plate right now. He’s one of three members of his species employed at BuzzFeed, and the only male omega, and his boss keeps asking him to do videos about being an iterant ‘to educate the humans,’ when what he really wants to do is videos about ghosts.

the rest of your life by bestliars | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane/Sara | 30k | MYSTERY DISAPPEARANCE IN THE MIDWEST! The year is 2034. Successful video producer Ryan Bergara uproots his whole life to take care of his friend’s children.

sit in my circle and hold my hand by soda_coded | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 14k | Ryan and Shane work for the metaphysical department of the LAPD, fool around and get cursed.

Idle Hands (Do the Devil's Work) by ma_malice | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 4k | In which the only upside to being a demon stuck in a seasonal Chicago snowstorm is the ability to abandon your body and possess your boyfriend in LA.

Shell Game by Giddygeek | The Magicians | Quentin/Eliot | 20k | Or, Quentin can’t believe he never thought to ask if there was a magical time in Fillory when people swapped bodies with the last person they slept with.

Contention by hollybennett123 | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu/Ye Baiyi | 3k |  The Zhou Zishu of ten minutes ago, who first agreed to the whole thing — the evening’s conversation and general bickering over drinks taking an unexpectedly filthy turn — had been thinking only about the imminent pounding on offer and not, well, everything else that might come with it.

Necrocafé by etothey | Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon/Harrow | 2k | Harrowhark Nonagesimus isn't sure which confounds her more: the new boxes of bones she is to animate, or the hot redheaded courier who brings the boxes.

simple man by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius, Loki/Loki | 6k | “Tell you what,” says Mobius, shortly after the Timekeepers have sentenced Loki to death, “why don’t I take care of this?”

(Un)disclosed desires by Springandastorm | Loki | Loki/Mobius | "That's not how I see you at all, Loki." Mobius said, unexpectedly earnest. "We all play roles sometimes."��

sources of light by brawlite | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 3k | Zhou Zishu makes a difficult choice in order to save Wen Kexing's life. The morning after is not an easy one.

warm company, cold nights by janonny | Word of Honor | Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu | 23k | He gave Zhou Zishu a lingering look from beneath his lashes. “Your virtuous wife will accompany you of course.”

July

the potential of broken things by icarusinflight | Harry Potter | Drarry | 11k | "Can you feel that? Some things want to be what they once were. The original spell is still there, and it wants to work again. All it takes is a little push and then"—Draco clicks his fingers of his free hand—"snap, everything will go back into place."

little beast by brawlite | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xue Yang | 7k | Payback's a bitch.

you, undeniable you by returnsandreturns | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Jake/Amy | 1k | “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Jake asks, for the fourth time. “Because we can just ditch that thing, toss it out a window, do it missionary like the founding fathers intended.”

Car Talk by drunkbedelia | Loki | Mobius/Loki | 1k | ‘When I pruned myself, I thought I might be able to find Loki,' Sylvie said.

one too many by sarcasticfishes | Watcher | Ryan/Shane | 1k | “Stay here,” Ryan says, just casual enough, “I’ll drive you home tomorrow.”

Tencent and Chill by quoth_the_ravenclaw | The Untamed | Nie Huaisang/Nie Mingjue | 2k | “Da-ge,” Huaisang whines, all for show, as much a performance as the actors on screen. He wiggles his toes. “My feet are so sore, you worked me too hard.”

The House at the End of the World by Hopetohell | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 1k | What will they do, now that they can do anything?

moderate the middle by ElisAttack | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 9k | People only smiled with their eyes when it was real. Unless they were a Loki. No matter the differences between the variants, their tricky grins were a constant as much as they were indiscernible.

Lost and Sound by snack_size | Loki | Loki/Thor/Sylvie | 5k | “Sylvie, did you help my brother defeat the Time Police?”

push the button (and let me know) by dinosuns | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 5k | “How about this?” hands folded on the table, he watches Loki intently. “If you tell me why, I’ll answer.” 

We're (not) all villains here by sir_not_appearing_in_this_archive | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 19k | WIP | Alone and friendless (once again), Loki has to find a way to set things right, or at least right enough he can comfortably sneak off into the sunset, which starts with one thing: saving Mobius's lost memories.

what remains by dinosuns | Loki | Loki/Mobius | “You’re no analyst.” Mobius sounds stunned. They are not aligned, they are not in tandem. But there are wistful glimmers of what is now agonisingly out of reach.

worth a shot by thereyoflight | Loki | Loki/Sylvie | 2k | When Loki and Sylvie are moments away from being cornered on the train in Lamentis, they resort to desperate measures.

Bug Problems by xorabbit | Marvel | Grandmaster/Loki | 7k |  Loki ends up on Sakaar, of course, with just that many more schemes to scheme. However, the Grandmaster is not altogether too terrible--a bit of fine luck, for once--and perhaps it's all right to have a better-natured fling while one works out what's next.

our way, no takebacks by dinosuns | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 20k | "Nice speech," Sylvie drawls, but the sarcasm doesn't land.

August

Vennen min by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 12k | The day they let Mobius out of the infirmary, Loki gets assigned to a new handler. This, Mobius is pretty sure, is where the trouble starts.

new terms by dinosuns | Loki | President Loki/Mobius | 21k | For the first time in his life, Loki triumphs. How fitting then, for the end to swiftly barge in unannounced.

Icarus by Waako | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 5k | When Mobius got pruned, he expected two different outcomes. Either eternal peace or eternal emptiness. He certainly didn’t expect a grey sky, ruins of old buildings looming over him, and a Loki variant watching him like he was a piece of fresh meat.

Stress Relief by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 3.5k |  “Let me read you something,” Loki says. He rifles through the pages, clears his throat, and Mobius puts a hand over his eyes because he knows what’s coming before Loki even reads the first word—“Pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō—“

just like the weather by sarcasticfishes | BFU | Shane/Ryan/Sara | 6k | “Y’know,” Ryan shrugs. “Friends have kids together sometimes. Like if a same-sex couple has a friend surrogate for them. Or sometimes people just co-parent.”

Woodash and iron and leather by iffervescent | The Witcher | 9k | Jaskier is the only person Geralt's ever been around who doesn't smell of fear

Food of Love by tanktrilby | The Witcher | Geralt/Jaskier | 22k | I brought a dead princess back to life through the power of song is the kind of thing that would have got an eyebrow raise even from the stone-faced Geralt of Rivia, so it's a good thing he and Geralt will probably never see each other again.

If The Morning Light Sets In by nagia | Castlevania | Sypha/Trevor/Alucard | 45k | Save the Belmonts, save the world.

halfway by ivelostmyspectacles | Castlevania | Sypha/Alucard/Trevor | 12k | Vampire attacks are happening again. Unprovoked, strange, humans and vampires dying alike. A disease. Alucard assures them that he isn't susceptible.

lonely lonely heart by spqr | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 7k |  Mobius looks down at the paperwork, gets a sort of flustered farmboy look on his face, looks back up at Loki and says, “You offered to give a cop fellatio in the middle of Central Park.”

Bedrest by Lise | The Untamed | Xiao Xingchen& Xue Yang | 3k | Xiao Xingchen's newest patient is causing him problems. He just won't stay put.

too little, too late. by raisesomehale | Miraculous Ladybug | Adrien/Marinette | 6k | WIP |  “Ladybug.” Chat’s voice cuts in like molten steel.

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

May

Jesper Fahey | 99 Problems

Jesper Fahey | OLD TOWN ROAD

Kaz & Inej | I Can't Pretend

human | kaz brekker

bucky barnes || humble

The Mandalorian || Warriors

The Mandalorian | I'll See You Again

Hope is the light.

►Zhou Zishu & Wen Kexing | Beautiful mess

Kaz & Inej | I Can't Pretend

versailles at night | alina & the darkling

look what you made me do | the darkling

Bucky Barnes | Rasputin

Obi-Wan || dirty work

Blood in the water [the Witcher]

MARVEL || Astronaut in the Ocean

Enola Holmes || Unstoppable

Shadow & Bone || Fire Meets Fate

Mo Dao Zu Shi Season 3 AMV/Trailer - Teeth

Kylo Ren | STAR WARS

June

MARVEL || Rasputin

MARVEL || Astronaut in the Ocean

i dont enjoy hurting people | Loki [1x01]

loki laufeyson • unsteady [⚠ 1x01]

MARVEL || Levitating

Shadow & Bone | Paint It Black

Glitter & Gold | Jesper Fahey

Shadow and Bone | Levitating

wen kexing ✘ zhou zishu | put your lips on mine

Erik Lensherr - Magneto

The Crows || Circus

The Crows | Thrift Shop (Shadow & Bone)

Zemo & Bucky — RASPUTIN [tfatws]

Cruella | Feeling good

Percy Jackson || Watch Me

THE KILLING KIND || The Magnus Archives Animatic

LOKI || Glorious Purpose

The Darkling | Black Heretic

Sam x Bucky || Handclap [HUMOR]

Loki || Lovely

Doctor Strange || Dystopia

Loki & Sylvie || I’m not your friend

Loki || Hate Me

MARVEL || River

Loki & Bucky || Paint It Black

Wanda Maximoff || The Scarlet Witch (WandaVision)

Play With Fire || MARVEL || Loki Doctor Strange Scarlet Witch

MARVEL || Warriors

Loki || God of Mischief || You Do You

(Marvel) Loki | You Will Never Be A God

Marvel's Horror Cinematic Universe

community gardens || the magnus archives PMV

July

Thor || Rise

Loki & Sylvie - Demons in my head [ep.3]

//HUMANS// THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Loki | Lost

A Quiet Place

Loki & Sylvie || Strange Birds

Loki & Sylvie "I won't let you down" | (+1x05)

♚ Loki & Sylvie | If You Love Me (1x04)

Loki & Sylvie | If our love is wrong [Loki +1x04]

Loki and Mobius | Hold On [Loki +1x05]

loki laufeyson • in the end [+ 1x04]

Loki and Sylvie || Feeling Good

Marvel || Black Widow - Counting Stars || Natasha Romanoff 

Cruella || Little Wicked

MARVEL || This is My Time || Shang-Chi Trailer Music

Sylvie | Unstoppable (Loki +1x03)

Loki and Sylvie (Lady Loki) || Play With Fire

Wanda and Vision || Dancing With Your Ghost

Wanda Maximoff and Loki || You Should See Me In A Crown

Loki and his Variants ⚔ King of Space [ep.5]

Loki & Sylvie ❤ This world is slowing down [ep.5]

Sylvie || Confident (+1x04)

•Loki x Sylvie ⱠΞⴼ King and Queens•

Loki - In The End | Marvel

Loki & Sylvie ❤ Out of Control [ep.4]

Loki & Mobius | Dynasty [LOKI/+1x04]

Loki & Sylvie ❤ Love War [ep.6]

(Marvel) Loki | Glorious Purpose

(MARVEL) Loki | Chaos

Loki | In The End [+1X06]

Loki x Sylvie | Another Love

Loki & Sylvie | Arcade [ Loki +1x06]

MARVEL || The Assembled Universe (c/w ASTrix UI)

August

Natasha & Yelena || Do It Like A Dude

Black Widow || Smells Like Teen Spirit

MARVEL || Uptown Funk

MARVEL || 1 in a Million

MARVEL/DC || Dies Irae

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness TRAILER #1

MARVEL || Loki 

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

May

The Wild One - Suzi Quatro

What’s So Funny ‘Bout - Sharon Van Etten

Levitating - Dua Lipa

The Underground - Meg Myers

You Won’t Find Me - Narrow Skies

Elixir of Life - Leah

Salt and the Sea - The Lumineers

ERROR - Niki, Kradness

Runaway - AURORA

Butterfly Water - Pastelle

Close to the Sun - Porcelain Pill

Selkie-boy - The Lost Words

Good Riddance - Annapantsu

Die Anywhere Else - Julia Henderson

Heat Waves - Glass Animals

Down - St Vincent

Word of Honor OST

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Shy Away - Twenty One Pilots

Follow You - Imagine Dragons

I’m Not That Girl - Kerry Ellis

Meant to be Yours - Ryan McCartan

Ex Wives - Six

Euphoria - BTS

Walls - Cher

96,000 - In the Heights

Sun Goes Down - Lil Nas X

Enough For You - Olivia Rodrigo

Brutal - Olivia Rodrigo

Ziti E Buoni - Maneskin

Shum - Go_A

Loco Loco - Hurricane

Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Glass Animals

The Horror and the Wild (whole album - The Amazing Devil

Chant - Hadestown

Titans - Major Lazer, Sia

Bones - Galantis

Golden Dandelions - Barns Courtney

Le Nozze di Figaro - Hybrid

Save Your Tears - The Weeknd

Psycho - Post Malone

Gold Lion - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Close to Me - Ellie Goulding

And So It Went - The Pretty Reckless

help herself - bbno$

Fire For You - Cannons

Twist the Knife - Chromatics

He Said She Said - Chvrches

Face Down - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Campus - Vampire Weekend

Your Power - Billie Eilish

Reach - Eternal Eclipse

1 Last Cigarette - The Band Camino

Insertion - Hans Zimmer

from the edge - fictionjunction

The Devil Is a Gentleman - Merci Raines

Meet Me In The Woods - Amarante

Fire - Saint Mesa

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Saint Mesa

Appetite - Casey Edwards

All Things Devour - aeseaes

Throne - Saint Mesa

Witchcraft - Vian Izak

June

The Shrine / An Argument - Fleet Foxes

It’s Tricky - Run

Darjeeling - Barrie

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings - Father John Misty

Picture Me Better - Weyes Blood

Loch Lomond - Mackenzi Tolk

Punta - Matzzy

Touch It Clean - DJ Raulito

Oh No - Kreepa

Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land - Marina

Sofia - Askjell

The Boy - Shannon & the Clams

First Steps - Lena Raine

The Power of Balance Rearranged - Rush Garcia

And So My Heart Became a Void - Ursine Vulpine

Paper Mache - Iris Lune

Catch Me If You Can - Desert Belle

Darkroom Double - Moon & Pollution

Serotonin - girl in red

In the Air Tonight - Natalie Taylor

When Your Heart Is a Stranger - Friends In Paris

Moon Effect - Sailor Moon Eternal OST

In A Black Out - Hamilton Leithauser

Forever - CHVRCHES

Way Less Sad - AJR

Helter Skelter - Detention

The Devil You Know - X Ambassadors

TVA - Natalie Holt

Honeybee-The Head and the Heart

Home All Summer - Anthony Ramos

In the Shadows - Amy Stroup

My Way - Lucifer Cast

In the Air Tonight - Jon Howard

The Beast - Old Caltone

The Beast - Delta Rae

Freak Like Me - Adina Howard

Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel

Winds of Change - Scorpions

good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

If I Could See The World - Patsy Cline

Ends of the Earth - Lord Huron 

The Killing Kind - Marianas Trench

Bones - Wens

Kiss Me More - Doja Cat

How Not to Drown - CHVRCHES

July

Dark Moon - Bonnie Guitar

Free Smiles - Tia Ray

Sundown Blues - Joanna Levine

Citta Vuoto - Mina

If You Love Me - Brenda Lee

Very Full - Tom Hiddleston

Loki Green Theme - Natalie Holt

Wrecked - Imagine Dragons

The Wolves - Cyrus Reynolds

Cure For Me - Aurora

Theory of Light - Eternal Eclipse

Fate of the Clockmaker - Eternal Eclipse

Potential Breakup Son - Aly and AJ

transparent soul - travis barker

My Love Will Never DSie - AG, Claire Wyndham

Happy Together - King Princess

Atomise - Temple

Darkside - Oshins

Someone to Watch Over Me - Lucifer Cast

This is Ours - Peter Sivo

Love and War - Fleurie

Take Me To Church - MILCK

Devil I Know - Allie X

East of Eden - Zella Day

Shadow Preachers - Zella Day

Losing My Religion - BELLSAINT

Hard to Kill - Beth Crowley

Dark Side - Blind Channel

Tanz Mit Mir - Faun

My Jolly Sailor Bold - Ashley Serena

Stuttering - Fefe Dobson

August

Monsters and Fairies - Savannah

Chosen - SVRCINA

IAN HA 3BYK - GO A

Freya - Verdandi

Sick on Seventh Strett - Sarah and the Safe Word

Tarah - Sae Sae Norris

Suspicion - Sherwood Roberts

Fjorgyn - Osi and the Jupiter

Fight to Make It Up - Takenobu

The Edge of Dawn - Rozen

Innocence - Cannon Diviision

A Stray Child - .Hack//Sign

The Kiss - Luigi Rubino

Any Kind of Dead Person - Ghost Quartet

The Great Unknown - Dominique Gilbert

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Saint Mesa

over the rainbow - misterwives

Fireflies - Cullen Vance

My mother Told Me - Nati Dreddd

Athetosis - Crywolf

Major Tom - Shiny Toy Guns

Novacaine - 10 Years

Right Here Right Now - Jesus Jones

NDA - Billie Eilish

Trouble’s Coming - Royal Blood

Completing the Circle - Gareth Coker

There’ll Always Be Another Monster - Brian D’Oliveira

POSTED FIC

May

take my hand and i'll drown you with me | Star Wars | Rey & Ben Solo | 2,157 words |  “You brought this upon yourself,” the creature told her, its voice serene.

June

keeping me restless and whole | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 1,584 words | Mobius was very young when he encountered his first Loki.

July

feed me lies until i'm dead | Loki | Thor/Loki | 3,476 words | “Don’t you think we should talk about it?” Thor asks.

the ghost of us can linger here | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 4,432 words | “So, how do you crazy kids want to do this?” Mobius asks them in a stage whisper, mouth twitching. At her back, Loki laughs, burying the sound against the curve of her neck.

there's a whisper in my bones | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 2,794 words |  “All right,” she says. “Fine. Let’s make things more interesting. Take off your clothes.”

east of eden | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 2,202 words |  “How long have you been fucking him?”  Mobius asks, stroking his fingers against the place where leather meets skin.

Triptych in C Minor | Loki | Loki/Mobius/Sylvie | 1,647 words | Pt 1 | There is a house at the end of time, past the last storm, pushed up against the very edge of the unknown. It is a castle, a manor, a fortress - all depending on who inhabits it. But one thing that it never is, is a home.

August

N/A

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

May

2k of Reylo mermay fic

June

N/A

July

1k+ of Xue Yang being a slut for Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen

300 words of vampire Song Lan

7k of Green Knight AU

August

10k of Green Knight AU

1.5k of hair dye shenanigans

FANMIXES/GRAPHICS

May

yearning: a playlist for the heart

June

the chosen and the beautiful: a mix for jordan baker

July 

kings & queens of the ruckus: a mix for loki and sylvie

August

N/A

[nellied-reviews]

Box 953 Re-listen

Well, I got a bit side-tracked by life (seriously, I had to take an impromptu trip to a consulate!) but I am back, and just in time for episode 8 of Wolf 359:

Box 953

In which Eiffel finds a mysterious box, Hilbert really wants to avoid the quarterly talent show and Minkowski is the very model of a modern major general.

Sometimes I'm surprised by these episodes when I get back round to them. This one? Not so much. I think I actually remembered pretty much everything relevant about this episode, going into it: Eiffel is avoiding Minkowski, finds a mysterious box, the mysterious box gets blown up before we see what’s inside it.

And in general, I do like the episode a lot. It's funny, after all, and it does that thing that I'm noticing a lot on the re-listen where the show throws out a big weird mystery, then ends up dropping it with a theatrical shrug of the shoulders. It's a smart thing to do, because all of the unanswered questions ("Do those transmissions really come from Earth?", "There's a plant monster on the loose!", "What's with that weird voice?", "What's in the box?") could be answered in the future, but could just as easily not be. Sure, some of them are super important and interesting in hindsight. But burying the plot-relevant questions under a heap of less relevant but equally intriguing questions disguises them, and means that we're surprised when something like, say, that weird ghost voice comes back later on. Plus it creates the impression that the Hephaestus itself is a setting full of mysteries and weird things. Which is fun.

As we begin, though, all we know is that Eiffel, for whatever reason, is hiding from Minkowski in a store room. Why? Turns out, Minkowski is worryingly invested in their quarterly talent show, while Eiffel is... less than enthusiastic.

And look, I am easily pleased. The idea of the four crew members being forced to participate in a mandatory talent show is very funny to me. The fact that this is quarterly - and so they have, presumably, already suffered through several of them - makes me smile a lot. Eiffel and Hilbert being united in their dread of it? Awesome. I love it. Honestly, it makes me want to consume and/or write fanfic about the Hephaestus' previous talent shows, and the shenanigans that I just know must have been involved.

An another level, though, can we also stop to appreciate how seriously Minkowski takes it all? It's played for laughs throughout, sure, but I do like the fact that Minkowski is the sort of person to go all out and just unselfconsciously embrace the talent show. Her love of musical theatre is so joyful and pure, and I really appreciate it. I think, on some level, it even makes her a more interesting character; instead of going down the well-trodden "I'm a badass with a secret love of something cheesy, which I'm horribly embarrassed of" route, she goes for "I'm a badass with totally non-secret love of something cheesy, which I am totally open and unashamed of." It's a sign of self-confidence, I think, plus a reassuring reminder that Commander Minkowski, badass extraordinaire, nerds out just as hard as the rest of us. (Plus, you really can't be a fan of G&S and take yourself all that seriously, because come on...)

Anyway, the conversation Minkowski and Eiffel then have, and Eiffel's ensuing log entry is just enough to give some tantalising hints of what past talent shows have involved (smoke rings? poetry readings?) before Hilbert calls Eiffel, desperate to avoid the talent show. And his solution? Knock Minkowski out. Because it's Hilbert, so of course that's the answer. *Sighs*.

While Hilbert gets going with that, then, all that remains is for Eiffel to explore the store room. And while this isn’t super relevant, it is a great excuse for a Night Vale-style list of Improbable Weird Things. And seriously, pretty much every single object here is worthy of mention. We have eyeless Russian dolls straight out of a horror movie. We have letters to Santa, a revelation whose implications are both hilarious and baffling. We have Chekhov's cannon, which totally won't be relevant later in the episode.

And in among all this, Eiffel mentions Goddard Futuristics by name for the very first time, which actually surprised me. I thought they'd already come up, since in hindsight, they really do have their fingers in everything going on up on the Hephaestus, even in the first few episodes. But I guess this is their first official mention? And to be fair, I do remember assuming, early on, that this was a military mission. So this is probably the point where we are aware, for the first time, of the corporate context of it all, and the fact that it's Goddard who are basically running a for-profit private army here. Which is... fun.

The dystopian side of that is brushed aside here, though, in favour of just revelling in the out-there weirdness of all the stuff that Goddard have stored up on the Hephaestus. L-shaped Lego pieces? 3 suits of armour? The partial skull of megafauna specimen 58 "to be handled with a vague feeling of existential dread"? It's Warehouse 13, in space! 

It's also kind of heartening to see how excited Eiffel is by all this. Like, I know that he essentially got forced to go to space, but he really does have the sense of adventure for it. There's something very sweet about how not-jaded and enthusiastic Eiffel gets, as soon as he encounters something new. And then the plot thickens when he discovers the titular Box 953, which is reserved for Douglas Eiffel. What could possibly be in it? Eiffel, ever curious, is clearly desperate to know.

Before we find out, of course, we're interrupted by Hilbert, whose plan to knock Minkowski out has hone horribly wrong - he's just gotten her drunk. Even better, we get Minkowski's drunken rendition of "I am the very model of a modern major general" in the background during all of this, and kudos to Emma Sherr-Ziarko, because every single thing drunk!Minkowski says from here on out is amazing. From making pirate costumes, to nearly shooting Hilbert over ice cream, to the little hiccup she does, everything about Minkowski here is perfect and wonderful.

It doesn't distract Eiffel for long, though, and soon he's asking Hera what's in the box. She doesn't know, though, and actually can't access those files at all. Instead, she gets the message "Error, inappropriate security clearance", which is pretty creepy. It's the second time in as many episodes, after all, that we hear somebody who isn't Hera speaking through the Hephaestus, and it's a reminder of just how many secrets the station potentially holds. And so all we learn, in the end, is that Box 953 is weird. It's huge, and bolted in place, and it's cold to the touch. Plus it's making a heart beat kind of sound? It's at this point, I noticed, that the background music also cuts away, and we’re left with a weird crackling noise as Eiffel goes to open it. Spooky.

Every part of me was expecting this to be a Pandora's box-type scenario where Eiffel's opening the box would unleash something terrible and all hell would break loose. So when we hear something explode, it seems like confirmation of this... except when we cut back to Eiffel, several in-universe hours later, we learn that the problem wasn't Eiffel opening the box. In fact, Eiffel didn't manage to open the box; the explosion was from Minkowski setting off the cannon. It seems like a lot happened in the three hour gap in the recording (not least, Minkowski ended with burns and frostbite?) and as a result, Box 953 was lost to the vacuum of space. Bummer.

And then that's it. Episode over. Everyone is safe and well, and the station is fine. But we don't learn what was in the box, and I don't think it really come up again? I googled it, and I think I saw a suggestion that it's the simulation-y machine from Change of Mind? But I don't remember the connection really being commented on, and even then it doesn't explain why it's specifically Eiffel's name on the box now. Like... what situation would Command have been expecting him to use it in? Why? How? So many questions, all of them unanswered!

And I suppose that's fine, at the end of the day. I enjoyed this episode, I loved the talent show idea, and I didn't mind the weird storeroom bits. I can imagine that some people probably felt cheated by the lack of answers we got here - and Eiffel's own anger and frustration as the episode ends maybe feels like a concession to those people. But personally, I'm more than willing to leave it as a riddle for the ages. If this had developed into something more later on, that would have been fun. As it is, I didn't mind it one bit, though. As long as you don't overdo it, weirdness for weirdness' sake can be plenty entertaining. 

Plus, drunk Minkowski is a gift to us all :)

Miscellaneous thoughts:

So I checked out the poem that got name-dropped in this episode, Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus, and holy smokes, disturbing much? In an interesting kind of way, sure, but still disturbing...

"You can't solve all your problems by knocking them out." "You know, people keep saying that, and yet my problems keep going away."  

D'awww Hilbert is enjoying this, isn't he?

I bet your alcohol tolerance goes way down in space. Hmm...

"Eiffel, you do not understand, there is singing."

"Swashes and buckles, Hilbert, swashes and buckles."

Also, it sounds like Hera has absolutely no objections to the talent show, and is just busy practicing her lines? What a cutie ^-^

"I don't know if it was a warning shot or if she just missed." Scared Hilbert is 100% not what I'm used to.. Is this the most frightened we ever hear him?

Don't think I missed Eiffel finding Dr. Fourier's diary :'( (another thing linking this episode to Change of Mind?)

[sapphorrific]

@moonwich thank you for tagging me!! <3

rules: answer the questions and tag people you’d like to get to know better

when is your birthday: 25. 9. 

where do you live: Czech republic

three things you are doing right now: checking my e-mails, drinking tea, writing this post

four fandoms that have piqued your interest: danganronpa, wolf 359, penumbra podcast, night in the woods

how has the pandemic been treating you: i guess that its bearable; when im living with my partner its really easy and when im at home its a little bit worse but i can still deal with it

a song you can’t stop listening to right now: any song by ricky montgomery tbh

recommend a movie: uhh i havent seen a movie in ages but Kiki’s Delivery Service still lives in my heart rent free and it’s really calming and fun 

how old are you: 20 

school, university, occupation, other: uni

do you prefer heat or cold: i generally dont like extreme weather but i think i enjoy colder temperatures more 

name one fact others may not know about you: i could not tell right from left up until third or second grade of elementary school when i started wearing a ring on my left hand 

are you shy: yea quite a lot actually

pronouns: she/her

biggest pet peeves: people who make fun of others for things that they can’t change or just straight up don’t hurt anyone (like having an accent, or having an ‘annoying’ voice, body hair etc.) and people who keep being friends with assholes just bc they’re ‘fun to be around’ and oh god people who shit on the pets their friends have (im sorry i have like tons of pet peeves xdd)

what’s your favourite “dere” type: tsundere is fun 

rate your life from 1 to 10 (1 being crappy and 10 being the best it could be): i would say about 7-8??

what’s your main blog: this one

list your sideblogs and what theyre used for: i only have one sideblog @gentileschiii for dark academia/studyblr pictures and thats it 

is there something people need to know about you before becoming friends: i need a lot of time to really warm up to somebody and i really suck at small talk and just keeping the conversation going

i tag @hello-jon-apologies-for @greatdonkeyskeletonsuitcase @lynxs-shitposting-inc @kapitapitalismus @knihu-cte-knihu @fly-out-of-window-hand-in-hand

[the-delta-42]

To the Final Frontier 3

To the Final Frontier 3

Chapter 3: Wolf 359

Marinette flinched as the panel behind her exploded.

“The Bonestell and Saratoga have been destroyed, Captain,” Reported Theo Barbot, a different Theo to the one she knew in the Academy, “The Tolstoy and Melbourne are moving in to intercept the Borg Cube.”

“Casualties on all decks,” Marinette reported, before a different klaxon went off, “We have Borg on decks 8 through 12.”

A sound that resembled a transporter made Marinette stiffen, a sharp pain pierced her neck. There was a sudden cutting sound and the Borg fell to the ground. Va’Kel Shon, an Ensign Academy mate of Marinette’s stood over the Borg with a pair of Ushaan-tors in his hands.

Marinette felt fire racing through her veins, she was vaguely aware of something protruding out of her skin across her body.

“You are Borg. You will assimilate any non-Borg. Resistance is Futile.”

‘No.’

“If you do not comply, you will be terminated.”

‘No.’

“Your culture will adapt to service us.”

Marinette was made aware of a hypo-spray being placed against her neck and then everything went black.

When Marinette woke up, everything was dark, Marinette let out a small moan, before trying to stand up.

“Easy.” Said Shon, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I don’t know what the Doctor injected you with, but it was able to prevent you from becoming like the Borg.”

“A very high dose of adrenaline, with some supplements to mimic a Bijani pain trance.” Said Fu, an elderly commander who was the Chief Medical Officer, “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to prevent some assimilation, but you will still need some of them removed before you’re put on active duty again.”

“That’s if Earth is still around long enough.” Muttered another Ensign.

Marinette looked around, before spotting the bodies of most of the Bridge Crew placed off to the side.

“The ship is unsalvageable, another ship passed through, but other than that, it’s been all quiet.” Said Shon, looking down at Marinette, “Out of 490, only 16 are still alive. It turns out that the Borg aren’t shielded against melee weapons.”

“Remind me to pick up a sword when we get back.” Muttered Marinette, her throat sore.

“If we get back.” Muttered the Ensign from earlier.

TtFF

Adrien tried not to groan when he ran into his father as soon as he got off the transport, the older man glared at him, his arms folded.

“Excuse me, Sir,” Said Adrien, “I need to get to the Assignment Officer.”

Adrien brushed past his father and made his way over to Commander Mendeleiev, the chief science officer of the area.

“Ah, Ensign Agreste,” Said Mendeleiev, as Adrien approached, “surprising to see you without your other half.”

“Marinette’s on the Buran.” Said Adrien, as Mendeleiev looked down at her padd.

“Standard posting, you’ll be helping teach the recruits that are based here.” Said Mendeleiev, looking back up at Adrien, “I understand you were hoping to get the same posting as Marinette.”

“Yeah, but things don’t usually go as we hope.” Said Adrien, wincing slightly.

“I’ll see about her being moved here once her posting on the Buran is up.” Said Mendeleiev, dismissing Adrien.

Over the course of the next week, Adrien had been reunited with Chloe, who was studying to be an Operations Officer, met Nino, Alya and the rest of their class and ran into Lila. Lila was given a wide berth by everyone; Adrien was later told about how she lied to the extent she almost ruined another one of their friend’s life.

“And you all just believed her?” Asked Adrien, looking up from the science report he was writing.

“Yeah, I guess,” Said Alya, her gaze on the ground, “It all seemed so good and, well, we got carried away in being hopeful.”

“And it all came out after Marinette left.” Said Nino, making Adrien’s head snap up to stare at him.

“Marinette?” Asked Adrien, getting to his feet, “As in Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“Yeah, wait,” Gasped Nino, “you know her?”

“Know her?” Said Adrien, “I’m dating her!”

Everyone was silent, before Adrien was bombarded with questions, the only one that Adrien heard was what her posting was.

“She’s on the USS Buran,” Said Adrien, getting everyone to silence, “she’s going to be gone a few months and then she’s coming back to Earth.”

Everyone was happy, Marinette was in Starfleet, they could still find her.

The happiness was broken another week later, when the news about the Fleet at Wolf 359 was broken.

“Out of a task force of 40-star ships,” Said Lt. Commander Bustier, her voice choked, “only one was deemed salvageable. The remains of the unsalvageable ships will remain at Wolf 359 to serve as a memorial, a full list of those lost at Wolf 359 will be posted tomorrow.”

Adrien was numb, he remembered Marinette saying the Buran was part of a task force headed for Wolf 359. Adrien was forced off duty when he saw Marinette’s name on the list.

It wasn’t even a week later that people started flirting with him. Adrien had made friends with a Cadet named Kagami Tsurugi and a fellow Ensign Luka Couffaine. Kagami had almost received a black eye when she tried to drag Adrien out of his quarters.

Adrien would remain quiet for little over a month.

TtFF

“I’m glad we were able to get the replicators working.” Said Shon, as he bit down on the food he was given, “I don’t think the Captain would appreciate it if we ate her.”

Marinette gave a small smile, before tearing a chuck of chicken off the leg she was given. The replicators and life support were the only things working, which gave a small comfort.

There was a sudden transporter sound, making everyone jump to their feet. A pair of Klingons stood, looking over them.

“qatlh naDev?” (Why are you here?) Asked one Klingon, “nuq Davang naDev?” (What are you doing here?)

Marinette let out a small sigh of relief, they weren’t there to kill them.

“DuDwI' maH naDev qaSchoH may', lam HoS wIghaj.” (We've been stuck here since the battle, we have not much power.) Said Marinette, getting the Klingon’s attention.

“SoHvaD lon 'ejyo'?” (Starfleet has abandoned you?) Asked a Klingon, looking over the group.

“No.” Said the other Klingon, “They would not abandon their own, they must’ve been shielded.”

“Yes, our Chief engineer created a shield that blocked out our life signs,” Said Fu, walking forwards, “Unfortunately, he was killed before he could deactivate it and none of us were briefed on how it worked.”

“It obviously doesn’t work as well as you thought, if we could detect you.” Retorted the first Klingon, folding his arms.

“J’mpok, at ease.” Said the second Klingon, “They are not our enemies.”

“Very well, Martok.” Said J’mpok, not looking pleased, “I suppose you want a lift home?”

“That would be appreciated, yes.” Replied Fu, before Martok called for a transport of 18 people.

As soon as Marinette was on the Klingon ship, Fu took the liberty of sedating her and requesting the use of their sick bay.

“So, one of your own was turned into one of them.” Said J’mpok, as he led them to the sick bay.

“Almost, we were able to prevent it by tricking her body into a pain trance.” Said Fu, “Thankfully it worked.”

Shon gently placed Marinette on the berth, before Fu started removing the implants that had grown inside her.

TtFF

Adrien was supervising the Cadets on Earth Space Dock, when a Klingon ship suddenly decloaked and a group of Klingons beamed onto the station.

“We have some of your people, Starfleet,” Said the lead Klingon, as another group of people were beamed onto the station.

Adrien froze as soon as he caught sight of Marinette, pale and with implants sticking out of her body.

Adrien didn’t think as he ran past the lead Klingon and grabbed hold of Marinette. There was a tense silence, before Medical staff started rushing over to the survivors, while the Medical Officer of the Buran took himself to security.

Lt. Commander Bustier was standing nearby when Fu walked up to the Security officer.

“I assume you are the Chief of Security here?” Asked Fu, looking up at the Vulcan.

“I am.” Came the response.

“I’m here to turn myself in for genetically modifying a Starfleet Officer.” Said Fu, getting stunned looks from the Vulcan and Bustier.

Across the room, Adrien had to be pried off Marinette, so the Medical Staff could attend to her. He compromised by holding onto her hand.

“I thought I lost you.” Murmured Adrien, as Marinette was scanned by a frowning Medical Officer.

“You almost did.” Said Marinette, as Adrien’s thumb ran over her knuckle.

“Yes, I suppose it was your Bijani heritage that saved you.” Said the Medical Officer, getting Marinette’s attention.

“I’m sorry, sir?” Asked Marinette, looking up at them.

“Your scans are coming back as Human/Bijani,” Said the Officer, “Someone probably put you in a pain trance to prevent you being Assimilated, since you would’ve been seen as ‘dead’.”

“Sir, there aren’t any Bijani in my family, we’re all Human.” Said Marinette, getting the Officer to look at her.

The Officer was silent, before he placed his tricorder down and tapped his com-badge.

“Lt. Bashir to Security,” Said the Doctor, “One of my patients has been genetically modified without her knowledge, I would like a high-level search for the culprit.”

“No need,” Came the response “They turned themselves in as soon as they got back.”

Bashir blinked, “Well, that was anti-climactic.”

“Am I free to go?” Marinette asked quietly.

“Ah, yes, there seems to be nothing else wrong with you, Lieutenant.” Said Bashir, before moving off to another patient.

Adrien slowly helped Marinette to her feet and helped her walk away from the growing crowd.

“I met some of your old friends,” Said Adrien, “They want to get back in touch with you.”

Marinette quietly groaned, as they approached the group of Cadets from Paris.

“Alright, Class,” Said Adrien, quickly getting everyone’s attention, “This is Lt. JG. Dupain-Cheng, The Junior Medical Officer assigned to the Bridge of the USS Buran.”

Everyone stared at Marinette, who was swaying slightly. Marinette was almost bowled over by an entire class of Cadets rushing her.

“Oh yeah, most of your school friends are Cadets.” Said Adrien, as Marinette struggled under the dog pile.

“Thanks for telling me.” Came the muffled response.

TtFF

Marinette tugged on her Uniform, as she looked at her reflection. There were still a couple implants visible, one on her left temple and another just below her ear. Today was the day Starfleet and the Federation would hold a service for everyone lost during the Borg incursion, the sixteen names of Marinette and her fellow survivors had been removed from the list of the dead.

Marinette’s door chimed.

“Come in.” Said Marinette, after a moment of silence.

The door opened, admitting Adrien into the room.

“The Service is about to begin, Admiral Paris sent me to get you.” Said Adrien, coming up behind Marinette.

“I heard the USS Ahwahnee has been moved to Utopia Planitia to be restored.” Said Marinette, her eyes not moving from her reflection.

“Yeah, apparently there was a whole fleet of ships that were being designed to fight the Borg were being stored there,” Said Adrien, carefully watching Marinette, “You feeling okay?”

Marinette was quiet for a moment, before answering, “I don’t know.”

Adrien wrapped his arm around Marinette’s shoulders, “Mari, we’re with you, I’m with you. You don’t have to bottle anything up, you and fifteen others went through an incredibly traumatic event and you have your genes altered without your consent.”

“It’s funny,” Said Marinette, her voice hollow, “I remember all the times we were spat at during our academy years, every time we were treated unfairly, and now, everyone is calling me and the other survivors heroes. Adrien,” Marinette turned to him, “the only reason I’m alive now, is because of the alterations and part of me just wishes I’d died on the bridge of the Buran.”

Adrien pulled Marinette close, as she started to breakdown.

Elsewhere, A red skinned Starfleet Captain was looking over Adrien and Marinette’s Starfleet profiles. She narrowed her eyes, before leaning back and looking at her First Officer.

“Perhaps we should keep a closer eye on them in future?” Suggested Plagg, his pitch-black skin highlighting his vivid green sclera and cat-like pupil slits.

“Maybe,” Mused Tikki, before looking at Fu’s file, “It seems the Guardian saw the Lieutenant important enough to genetically modify to ensure her survival.”

“Are we going to do anything for Fu?” Asked Plagg, leaning forwards.

“No,” Said Tikki, shaking her head, her antenna raising through her hair, “He’s managed to hide from Section 31 a century ago, he’ll just disappear into thin air again.”

Tikki narrowed her eyes at Marinette’s file, silently deciding to keep an eye on her.

[qhasbpdandthatsokay]

Just read your latest Qsical quotes and I love it. But reading the last quote I couldn't help but feel bad for Q. I mean Picard would say it, especially if Q hit a nerve. But there are easier ways to let down the Judge of Humanity, who threw you to the borgs for rejecting his offer to join the crew. And having the guy you offered to make a God tell you they couldn't imagine anything worse than your company must really hurt someone's feelings and ego.

First of all thank you! Second of all, get ready for a bit of a rant, because oh boy. Don’t worry, there will be a TL;DR at the end.

In my first draft of the Qsical, I actually hadn’t finished the song in which Picard says that he “can’t think of anything worse” than being a Q with Q (”Hey Q”). In my first draft, I would definitely say Picard was more understanding to Q.

Then I had a sort of realization of the gravity of the situation. Q has put Picard through a lot, and by introducing him to the Borg, I think Picard has a bit of blame for Q that he was assimilated (temporarily at least) and became Locutus. That was arguably the most traumatic experience we’ve seen Picard go through in all of TNG. I imagine he sometimes thinks, if Q never introduced us to the Borg, would I have become Locutus? Would Wolf 359 have actually happened? Would all those deaths have been prevented?

And I realized, you know what? I can’t have Picard being this nice to Q. He’s responsible for a lot of pain and annoyance in Picard’s life, and Picard should treat him like the being responsible for that pain and annoyance. Someone who he resents and can’t imagine ever not resenting.

Spoiler alert for the Qsical: Picard does eventually come around on Q a bit. The song that I pulled yesterday’s quote from (”Hey Q”) is literally a song about how Picard feels about Q (and it’s not looking good for Q). It takes place in the first act, before the two of them (spoiler alert) attempt to make peace. In this song, he’s basically venting about how much he hates Q, which is a foil to the song “Jean-Luc”, which takes place in the second act, in which Q talks about how much he loves Picard. 

Q’s feelings are definitely very hurt by “Hey Q”. He’s offering Picard the greatest gift he can give him, and he just blatantly throws it back in his face? Q just doesn’t understand. He’s known that Picard harbors ill will for him, but to hear Picard just lay it all out really hurts him, and he doesn’t hesitate to say it. He carries this hurt all the way to the end of the musical, and it mingles with his love for Picard, such as in the song “I Can’t Die (And You Can’t Live With Me)” where he talks about how much he loves Picard, and how much Picard resents him.

Eventually, they both do their part to try to treat each other with respect, and we end on a positive note (spoiler alert, I guess, lol).

TL;DR- Q is definitely very hurt by Picard’s words, and it makes him have to re-think a lot of stuff, but eventually, there is a resolution. :)

Thank you for the ask! If anyone else has any questions/comments about the Qsical, please don’t hesitate to send in an ask. As you can see, I really like answering them, haha.

[dementedgnomicwizard]

celestriakle replied to your post “oh my god i fucking HATE the wolf 359 finale no podcast has ever made...”

Man I feel you. Personally I didn’t see a tpk coming and for me that probably woulda been too dark, but I remember feeling so weird about the ending as is, it was just, uncomfortable? It felt like they were trying for a happy ending and def did not get there, there was for sure a balance off. (Keeping in mind I listened like 2 or 3 years ago probably)

yeah i think it was maybe me being used to/having a preference for slightly darker fiction generally gfdhsjkhf i like stuff that’s humorous and doesn’t emotionally fatigue you but the stakes are high as hell and you know that none of the characters are ever 100% safe regardless of how much of a main character they are yk

ok i just started writing and then it got Long so i’m putting this under a readmore, ALSO HUUUGE SPOILERS UP AHEAD OBV FOR ANYONE WONDERING

what put that idea in my head initially was when eiffel almost got sent back to earth and turned back—in my head i was like ah, okay, so that’s the moment where he makes his Choice to come back no matter the cost, they’re gearing up for an Ultimate Sacrifice ending. (now looking back i’m like.... well. i Guess that’s still what was going on but.... lol.)

i assumed that for most of the episode the plan would be “stop goddard+kill cutter pryce and young, get home,” and that towards the end it would become clear that there wasn’t enough time/options/whatever to accomplish all of the above (either that they would succeed in killing cutter+price+young but in order to finish it they’d have to stay on the station as it crossed the red line or something like that, or that they would realize there were no options left besides destroying the station with everyone on board) and they’d have some touching moment as a crew where they reflect on all the development they’d undergone as people throughout the journey and all things considered are pretty gung-ho about accepting what has to happen.

it just feels (to me) like the logical and satisfying conclusion for their arcs! they finally have ALL the answers they’ve been looking for, they’ve succeeded in stopping goddard, etc. for lovelace it would’ve been a pretty kick-ass “the captain always goes down with the ship” moment and honestly a well-deserved /rest/ after everything she’s been through and all the loss she’s witnessed (because... um... can she die? now? of anything? bc it doesn’t seem likely, and ‘going back to earth so i can settle into a normal life again and then watch everyone i know get old and die around me while i stay alive because i’m not fully me anymore’ feels like ... kind of a really cold and sad ending for her, considering everything). 

for hera it would’ve been a chance to (once again) reaffirm her humanity and just how much she’s progressed beyond what goddard tried to make her be; a really excellent final fuck-you, ESPECIALLY if the nature of the TPK in question was like “hera has to initiate the self-destruct and pryce is alive to witness this but powerless to stop her for once.” 

for jacobi... i mean... like am i forgetting something or did they just not really bother establishing much information about like, what jacobi has to return to on earth? bc it seems like blowing the station could’ve been a way for him to 1) let go of a lot of his guilt/grief over maxwell and 2) a salute to kepler for his efforts (assuming that by the time the TPK happens kepler has already been revealed as a double-double agent + swooced out the airlock)

for eiffel it would’ve been a good conclusion to the Massive amounts of development he had; he spent the entirety of the show slowly and painfully learning how NOT to be an asshole/selfish/basically everything that he Was that contributed to destroying his life on earth care about, and how TO Show Up For the people around him despite getting off on the wrong foot initially. he arrived on the hephaestus as a (mostly) well-meaning but self-absorbed jackass with virtually no concept of boundaries or self-restraint, and by the end of the show he’d Realized this about himself and put in a colossal amount of hard work in order to Be Better... and then at the very peak of that arc, which the audience and the characters themselves have invested so much time and energy into, the decision is just to... throw all of it away? IT’S JUST GDFKSJGHFDK SOOO MUCH MORE FRUSTRATING TO ME THAN IF THEY’D JUST STRAIGHT-UP KILLED HIM because they try to dance around it like “Ahhh but IS he the same person anymore... who can never be sure.... maybe it’s a second chance....” but that logic just doesn’t WORK given the questions+answers about what makes up one’s humanity/personality as established AT LENGTH by like everything else in the show!! according to everything we’ve learned so far from hera/maxwell/pryce etc as they address these questions through the lens of the AI system, the answer to “are you still the same person if you’re physically unchanged but every single one of your memories is altered or removed?” is a resounding “NO.” i hate it when writers spend their entire story establishing certain rules/information/logic and then suddenly make decisions that completely fly in the face of all of it and think it’s a “subversion” when really what that’s called is “a bad writing decision.” i genuinely think they were just too hesitant to actually kill him so they tried to do “the next best thing” but it just... didn’t work the way they wanted it to. i’ll elaborate more on why i think they would’ve been afraid to kill him (beyond just “he is the beloved main character”) in a second 

for minkowski... i mean... from a character/writing standpoint, if lovelace, hera, or eiffel (not including jacobi here only bc i don’t think they were QUITE close enough by the end for his death to have caused her As Much guilt as the other three would have) died during the finale then minkowski would almost definitely have to die as well, bc her primary motivation as we’re all very aware is to ensure the safety of her crew above all else; i don’t think there’s a universe where minkowski is okay with leaving herself if all three aren’t with her. BUT i think this became a corner that they wrote themselves into with her by the end, because then (i assume) the dilemma became “well, as much as we might like to, we basically can’t kill off any one single other character, because it will cut minkowski’s strings” WHIIICH is why i think they couldn’t go through with killing eiffel. 

ANYWAY. YEAH. ALL THIS TO SAY for me personally an ending where the characters all have to sacrifice themselves, but it’s a choice they arrive at together easily + something they welcome and accept without much sadness/regret because they’ve done everything they could (and, in the case of those crewmembers w active ties to earth, successfully ensured the safety of their loved ones on earth) would’ve made a lot of sense and been satisfying. i’d be sad, definitely, but in an “this story and characters were excellent and i’m sad it’s over” way more than a “wait i’m so frustrated by this ending that can’t possibly just be It” way

[commsroom]

Dear listener, happy birthday!

Your writing is always a joy and seeing you on my dash always means smiling and also bracing for excellent angsty emotion (and the occasional necessary horny posting for eiffel, high five).

Here is your present, a silly little eiffel question I’ve been mulling over. Do you think he’d be a social media guy? I mean, he’s hilarious and loves an audience but while he seems slightly tech adept its always very tactile clunky retro tech in vibe, and i guess the baseline shame and guilt he feels could tip him either ways vis a vis having a large online following . I’ve always liked how ambiguous time on wolf359 felt because i guess making it more pointedly feel like our time (even though it is set in our time) didn’t feel like the energy they were going for, but as a result i just do not know how to feel about eiffel on twitter or something. Thoughts?

aw, thank you! that's sweet of you. i love everything about wolf 359, but i post first and foremost for people who want to know eiffel carnally. well. and people who see hera as a trans woman, also.

and this is a great question! i love to think about eiffel and social media. he is absolutely, 100% an analog guy; i think he resents how much has been digitized. which isn't to say he sticks to his principles about it. eiffel is a creature of comfort above all else; he's going to use whatever service is most convenient. but he's going to complain.

eiffel has a huge collection of physical media. eiffel still has his blockbuster card in his wallet as a point of pride. eiffel listens to the radio, and complains about what they play on the radio (90s music on classic rock stations? blasphemy), while people are constantly telling him to just listen to his own music. he likes doing this! i honestly think eiffel is relatively offline - his star wars opinions are too normal for him not to be. social media for eiffel is, like... a couple of pop culture news accounts he follows. his youtube recommendations are mostly just music, simpsons clips, the livestreams of radio guys with call-in shows, and, like, old tech repair stuff.

maybe eiffel still posts on some forums that he's been occasionally posting on for the last decade, but he's not in tune with modern social media or internet culture. if eiffel wants to show you a Funny Internet Video, it's going to be, like, star wars bad lip reading. he absolutely wants to have an online radio call-in show, but he can't commit to being consistent enough to build an audience. eiffel might listen to podcasts sometimes, but he thinks 'podcasts' are just guys chatting about movies. he also thinks he could do that, but there's nobody who wants to make a podcast with him. if he did manage to convince someone, he would post like five episodes at once, forget about it for six months, post one or two more, and then get bored and move onto something else.

[taggedmemes]

SENTENCE MEME ⟶ WOLF 359 / 04 - Cataracts and Hurricanoes & 05 - Cigarette Candy always feel free to tweak the sentence to fit your muse.

‘today i am not unlike the gods.’

‘you will forever walk with your eyes turned skyward.’

‘sorry, didn’t mean to enjoy the majesty.’

‘when i agreed to lend that to you there was a strict ‘no tomfoolery’ clause.’

‘remind me again why we’re doing this?’

‘he’d probably get bored and turn my consoles into a nuclear bomb, then forget to tell me about it.’

‘i actually think that made it worse.’

‘you’re not exactly trained for this.’

‘would you quit clowning around and get back inside?’

‘okay, okay, got it. class dismissed.’

‘it sounds like i’m about to get a free round of shock therapy.’

‘what’s about to go kablooey?’

‘man overboard, or whatever the space version of that is!’

‘are we talking light showers, or cataracts and hurricanoes?’

‘there’s too much interference.’

‘oh, god! my eyes!’

‘there are those rough seas i was promised.’

‘none of us have time to figure out what that means.’

‘for once in your life, just speak plain english.’

‘things are awful out here.’

‘[cheerfully] aaaand we’ve got a new problem! what’s going horribly wrong now?’

‘son of a bitch!’

‘if anyone has any brilliant ideas, now would be––’

‘i think my right arm might be dislocated.’

‘i mentioned the arm, right?’

‘i’m going to DROWN? in OUTER SPACE? what kind of sense does that even make?!’

‘i’ve had enough dramatic irony for one day, thank you.’

‘not to alarm anyone or anything, but things are getting kind of touch and go in here.’

‘easy, easy, easy. you’re alright.’

‘deep breaths. you’re okay.’

‘you’re not in any medical danger.’

‘they did have to resuscitate you, so you may now qualify as undead.’

‘don’t make me laugh. my lungs are barely holding together as it is.’

‘promise me you won’t push our luck like that again any time soon.’

‘hey, baby. did you miss me?’

‘...because you missed me?’

‘is everything as it should be in your life?’

‘[sarcastically] i feel great.’

‘you know, this will come as a shock, but i’ve been known to, on rare occasion, be a tiny bit of a downer.’

‘the new me is a changed man. a man who’s ready to look on the bright, sunshiney side.’

‘i’ve got this stupid skin rash that’s driving me nuts.’

‘your cough has gotten worse since yesterday.’

‘it’s important to address these health concerns right away.’

‘oh, you know me. everything in moderation and all that.’

‘i gotta slow down.’

‘i’m not feeling so great today.’

‘that’s not how things work on a spaceship.’

‘i’ve had a headache all day.’

‘english is such an elegant cudgel of a language.’

‘besides, you’re a doctor. you’re like, morally opposed to doing anything like that. do no harm and so on.’

‘i always saw the hippocratic oath as leaving one with a very limited scope.’

‘also, follow-up question: why am i tied to the bed?!’

‘no buts, just bed rest.’

‘she was very enthusiastic at the idea of your absence.’

‘don’t worry, you’re in extremely capable hands.’

‘i may be in slightly more dire straits than i previously thought.’

‘we’ll see how he likes it when someone’s messing around with /his/ internal organs.’

‘the fifth amendment says i don’t have to answer that question.’

‘the only experiment here is the one that you’re conducting on my patience.’

‘you’re smuggling drugs into me?!’

‘all i did was take necessary measures for your health.’

‘when patient does not trust doctor, doctor cannot trust patient.’

‘stop wasting your energy.’

‘i need to get out of here. i need your help.’

‘go to sleep. we have a big day tomorrow.’

‘i always thought i’d die at a science fair.’

‘what are you doing with that knife?’

‘oh. i guess that makes sense.’

‘i’m sorry i thought you were running some kind of evil experiment on me.’

‘just because i’m a scientist doesn’t mean i’m a mad, ingenious supervillain.’ 

‘you’ve really got to work on your bedside manner.’

‘bedside manner is like anaesthetic: it just gets in the way of what needs to be done.’

‘i feel like there’s a lesson to be had here, but it’s kind of lost in all the hallucinations right now.’

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Author Meme! tagged by @purplepencilshades, thank you!!

Author name: Swift~ Ao3 link is on my blog already but im SwiftIsHere there (and p much everywhere) 

Fandoms you write for: whatever im hyperfixating on atm! which is mystery skulls rn and hopefully for a good while longer. the one wolf 359 fic i have up is leftover from.... That

Where I post: Ao3! i usually crosspost to here too, either as a link or the full fic. 

Most popular one-shot: uhhhh, lemme check... in terms of hits, that would be for all the friends that we have lost. only one for me is technically more popular, but I don’t count that and I’m p sure it’s just bc it’s been up longer. 

Most popular multi-chap story: only got the one! it’s Little Magenta Lies. i’d like to post more multichap stuff but none of it is... done per se...

Favorite story you wrote: ah geez... published, i think i’d probably say The Darkest Place. it’s so soft and i really like the characterization. as for unpublished, i really like the royalty au that i keep talking about and am working on in theory 

Story you were nervous to post: ooh, this is a good one. magenta lies makes me nervous every time i update it lmao, but Step in the Right Direction might actually be the one i was most nervous about initially posting. it’s so small and i didnt know if it would. count?? i guess?? it’s barely even a story and more of a retelling of canon events?? i really like it but?? 

How do you choose your titles: i dont choose the titles the titles choose me. seriously tho? i dont know i just kinda go with whatever string of words comes to mind. i like to follow what i call the “world of goo” naming theme, which is “just throw some word spaghetti at the canvas it’s fine just go with it” (this is a DIRECT call out for world of goo, whose names i love so much for being completely inane) 

Do you outline: i try to? i don’t as much for oneshots, but id never be able to continue anything long if i didnt. i just can’t think the story through in my head. i dont know how some people do it. 

Complete: i dont know that word sorry

In progres: yeah

Coming soon: i have over 40 wips in my msa writing folder. does that answer your question. more specifically: 

-some writing prompts i’d really like to finish

-aforementioned royalty au which has the most in-depth plot i think ive ever written? its VERY good i really want to share it but unfortunately i have to actually write it first

-some more drabbles, including but not limited to: another “first time something goes very wrong” fic along the lines of darkest place, some self indulgent “rsd is a Grade A Bitch” arthur stuff, a sickfic bc this fandom doesnt have nearly enough, some post-canon stuff about lewis and arthur making up, the list goes on

-a longer post-hellbent thing about lewis killing art, coming back to the rest of the group, and erasing vivi’s memories of arthur (i think ive either posted about that or talked abt it w/ someone? i dont remember exactly tho, anyway its ANGSTY)

Do you accept prompts: yes!! whether i will finish them is another question entirely

Upcoming story you are most excited for: royalty au again. also i forgot to mention for “in progress” but im also writing a very canon divergent fic where after the cave, lewis knows what happened as soon as he wakes up and he goes home and doesnt blame art at all... its good

i’m tagging @doodletrashcan, @ghostly-business, and @yepiamthesmileyface! (sorry if any of yall have been tagged already, & you dont have to do it if you dont want to!) 

[sharpnothashtag]

The Good Ship CrushWay, Chapter 14

Scene: Conference Room, Picard, KJ, Bev, Geordi, Data, Worf, and DeAnna are all there.

KJ: In the basement, where we can only assume Mayble was hiding when she sent the distress signal, we found extremely concentrated levels of Lyantrium. Picard: Can you be more specific?  What do you mean by “extremely high”? Data: A normal concentration of Lyantirum in well-traveled space is about 100 parts per million.  What we found in that basement was 10,000 parts per million.  It is relatively surprising Commander Janeway and Dr. Crusher were not staring into the face of a Lyantirum wormhole. Picard: I’m grateful they weren’t.  What would cause that kind of Lyantirum buildup? KJ: My theory is a weapon of sorts--one harvests the Lyantirum, calculates the exact coordinates to place the Lyantirum, and then shoots.   Geordi: But the Borg have to know that Lyantirum is a very unstable way of traveling. KJ: My guess is they don’t care.  They must use the Lyantirum wormhole as a means to travel TO somewhere.  Since the Borg never retreat, they do not need an escape route.  The wormhole does not have to be stable for any longer than it takes for them to get from Point A to Point B. Worf: Is there any way to predict where they are going to use it next so that we may have a tactical advantage against them? Geordi: If I am looking at these schematics correctly, no.  We can try to build that weapon ourselves by cleaning up the mess that they left here, but that’s about it. Worf: Why did they come to that basement? Bev: The family would put up the least amount of a struggle if they caught them off guard, but the Borg don’t really care about that, do they? KJ: My crew member, Seven, is the biggest stickler for efficiency and time management I have ever seen.  If there were a way save time, the Borg would take it. Picard: If they came directly to the basement, how did Mayble send the distress signal? KJ: I think she was out playing.  I think they all were outside, and then the Borg came from inside their houses. Worf: The family room was torn apart, but it did not look like a struggle.  It looked like there were intruders that sabotaged everything important to the family. KJ: That brings me to the next point: this is the Borg, but there is something wrong.  These Borg are angry.  Picard: Why do you say that? KJ: I have seen Borg destruction before.  It’s cold...empty.  It served a purpose.  This did not.  The faces of all the families in the pictures were slashed: the portraits torn apart with bare hands. Picard: Data, will you do a bit of research on the families?  Maybe we can find some connection between them and the Borg...maybe find an enemy that could have been assimilated. Data: I have already checked.  The families were all human, and they have a common ancestry. Picard: And that is? Data: They are all French, Captain. DeAnna: Why go after the French, Data? Data: I do not know, Counselor.   DeAnna: What was the purpose of the colony? Data: They were there for archaeological study.  The ruins on Jouret IV have fascinated many for some time now, but this group was the first to decide to actually study them in great detail. Picard: I was looking forward to getting to see them while we were in the vicinity.  These are all confusing findings, but I know we can piece something together.  Commander, you and Data should study all the known Borg attacks--see if there was any other time when the Borg displayed such anger.  Geordi, you should prepare more advanced schematics of this Lyantirum weapon--see if you can find a way to predict where they are going to strike next by digging deeper into how to build this weapon.  Divert any of the necessary crew from Engineering.  Dismissed. (everyone gets up to go except Worf and DeAnna, who exchange glances, nod, and approach Picard.) Worf: Captain, DeAnna and I would like to have a word with you. Picard: Certainly. DeAnna: Don’t you think it’s odd that they HAPPEN to be going after French archaeologists? Picard: I was trying to believe that was a coincidence. Worf: Do not be a fool, Captain.  You are an important man, and the Borg would have a great advantage on the Federation if you were to be assimilated. DeAnna: What Worf really means is...well...we’re worried.  And we want to protect you in the best way we know how. Picard: And that is? Worf: Please allow me to be your personal security detail.  I can stand watch over you at all times. Picard: Worf, you will need to rest occasionally. Worf: I can sleep in your quarters when you sleep. Picard: I certainly appreciate the gesture, but just posting someone at my door is plenty. Worf: Their weapon is precise enough to get into someone’s room; how can we be sure they will not get to you while we are standing watch outside? Picard: Mr. Worf, you may accompany me every second of every day until we have cleared up this mess, but I will not allow you to sleep with me.  That is the end of this discussion. DeAnna: (grabbing Worf’s arm and trying to reassure him that he did try) Thank you, Captain. Picard: Now.  Is there anything else? DeAnna: I did want to ask you one more thing. Picard: Yes? DeAnna: Would you preside over our wedding? Picard: (smiling) Of course. DeAnna: We are still working out the details...I’m not sure there’s ever been a Klingon-Betazoid wedding. Picard: Nor will there ever be again. Worf: What is important is that my heart beats only for this woman (looks lovingly at DeAnna).  And I want the whole universe to know it. Picard: And know it they shall.  Now, I have some studying of my own to do.  DeAnna, go help Kathryn and Data research the Borg attacks.  Worf, I suppose you’re going to stay here with me? Worf: Yes, sir. Picard: DeAnna, you’re dismissed.

The holodeck, Bev and KJ’s nightly walk.

KJ: (jogging, carrying coats) I’m here!   Bev: It took you long enough. KJ: I’m sorry!  I got caught up--Wolf 359 took a lot of debate on the anger issue. Bev: Fair enough.  What’ll it be tonight, m’lady? KJ: There’s a spot in Finland we haven’t tried yet.  I brought coats so we won’t get too cold. Bev: Great idea.  (pushes the buttons. door opens, Bev gestures.) After you. KJ: (smiles, nods) Thank you. (KJ enters, Bev follows.  The room is transformed into a mountain in Finland where the Northern Lights are out and in full force.  Both are silenced immediately as this natural miracle dances around them. They walk in silence for a moment.) KJ: There’s something about this that just makes everything make sense. Bev: Yeah?  Why are the Borg so angry, then? KJ: (rolls her eyes) That’s not what I mean.  I mean...everything is in its place. Bev: I know what you mean.  These programs are how I survived after Jack died. KJ: How long ago was that? Bev: 11 years.  It was an away mission...Jean-Luc had to tell Wesley that his dad died a hero, but all Wesley heard was that his hero was dead.  He’s 16 now, and he still struggles with it some days. KJ: I lost my father at a young age, too.  Growing up without a father figure is very difficult, and I can understand what he’s going through. Bev: Jack used to say if something ever happened to him that I shouldn’t feel guilty when I moved on. KJ: And how do you feel?  When you do date, that is. Bev: I haven’t dated anyone.  It’s been 11 years, and I am just now getting to the point where I might be able to. (They stop and sit on a rock near the top of the mountain.) You mean the world to me, Kate.  You’re my best friend. KJ: You’re mine, too, Bev. Bev: If you got assimilated, I’m not sure how long I would last. KJ: ...Bev, you’re not talking about-- Bev: I’ve lost a lot in my life, Kate.  My parents, my husband...I couldn’t live if I lost you, too.  (KJ hugs her close.) My grandmother gave me that copy of Frankenstein after my parents died.  I read it then, and I realized that everyone questions why they’re here, and that it’s okay to do that. KJ: You know, when I first read it, I realized that there’s no hurt that can’t be overcome. Bev: How exactly did you come to that? KJ: At the end of the book when the narrator meets the monster for the first time, he is definitely startled at first, but after a minute or two, he collects himself and invites the monster in. In life, I’ve found that if I sit with my demons, they aren’t as scary, and they don’t have as much control over my life. And, sometimes my demons are just as misunderstood as I am. Bev: Promise me something, Kate. KJ: Yeah? Bev: Promise me you’re going to do all you can to help me sit down with my demons.  I’m not usually open about my depression...only Jean-Luc and DeAnna really know. KJ: I’m not going anywhere, Bev.  Nothing can take me away from you.  I love you. (looks at Bev and wipes away a tear from her eye)

Bev takes KJ’s face in her hands and kisses her.  Bev’s tongue strokes the roof of KJ’s mouth slowly.  KJ returns the favor. Bev lays her down on the rock and unbuttons her coat.

KJ: Beverly, are you sure you want this? Bev: (stroking KJ’s hair) More than anything in the entire universe. (Bev unbuttons the coat, and then unbuttons her own.  She lays down with KJ and uses her coat as a blanket.  They hold each other for a while.) KJ: I’m getting kind of cold.  Do you want to take this back to my place? Bev: That’s enough for now.  We both need some rest. KJ: I guess so.  I just thought-- Bev: I know.  And I do want that...just not tonight. (KJ nods, and they share their last kiss for the evening.) I’ll see you tomorrow morning? KJ: Of course.  Sleep well, Bev. Bev: Sleep well, Kate.

[katcadecascade]

A Wolf 359/The Bright Sessions/Time Bombs crossover oneshot

Title: Patient #15-C-10

Summary:  Session 1 with Tatiana Sobrero, an unexpected walk-in and implied to never come back. Much like an old friend, she saw the advertisement for the 'strange and unusual' and thought it was perfect for her. Plus, plans for New Year's Eve, a fake name if you wish, and a split personality named Bob.

When Joan took a small detour to her main office to collect her stash of expensive wine, she didn’t expect someone to knock on the door the moment she stepped in. Honestly, she jumped, key in hand ready to defend herself from anyone as dangerous as Damien.

Instead standing right outside the half open door is a tall woman, her knuckles still against the door and staring back at Joan with the same wide eyed surprise.

She slowly raised both her hands in surrender but her tall stature and large biceps point the obvious on who can over power the other. The woman schools the tension out of her face and in a soft and careful tone says, “Hi, is this the therapy for the strange and unusual?”

“Oh, yes it is,” Joan, key still in hand, lets the woman enter the room. “I wasn’t expecting anyone today.”

“Uh yeah, my bad,” she said and has the decency to look a little bit embarrassed but there’s more regret and hesitance in her voice. “I thought I’d at least ask for a walk-in before I psych myself out.” Before Joan could prompt for more of an explanation, the woman blurted, “I really don’t want therapy but after everything that happened to me, I know I need it. And like, your ad said ‘strange and unusual’ and that is just perfect for me!”

Jovial cheer aside, there’s a pain and darkness in her eyes. Joan knows there’s a big story there.

Like any good therapist Joan pockets her key and holds out her hand, “If so then I am Dr. Bright. We can do a quick session now before you ‘psyched’ out if you want.”

Shaking hands, the woman says, “I’m Tatiana Sobrero and yeah, now wouldn’t be a bad time.”

Joan got her office ready, asked Tatiana if she minded to be recorded, she froze up and said ‘hard pass’ and set the recorder aside.

“I think this may be one time thing,” Tatiana said, observing the room like it was a second nature to know her surroundings and find all the threats.

“Are you just visiting town?”

Nodding, she quirked up her lips into a smirk, “I’m doing an interview and tagging along with a bomb squad tonight.”

That’s not quite the strange or unusual Joan expected. “On New Year’s Eve?” That is the main reason why she’s even here right now, to bring back the wine to celebrate with Sam.

Tatiana shrugged, “One of them is a, um, an acquaintance of mine. Just gonna check up on him.”

“I see. Is shadowing a bomb squad part of the reason why you think you need therapy?”

“No but,” Tatiana hesitated with a laugh, “yeah let’s just get into how strange and unusual I am.” She rubbed her palms on her knees and looks to Joan with the most focused eyes, “A very long story short, I got some sort of split personality that gave me incredible healing recovery. They’re name is Bob.”

“Bob,” Joan repeated neutrally. She let herself smile only after Tatiana grinned.

“I didn’t name them.” There’s a hint of sadness as Tatiana explained, “My friend did.”

“So, tell me about Bob and your healing abilities.”

Tatiana slowly chooses her words, “I got serious hurt and almost died but suddenly I popped right back up with my brain rebooting. I was reliving an old memory.” She took a deep breath to refocus, “And when I was A-Okay, Bob came out of nowhere. They only took over me a handful of times.” She even counted on her fingers, “The first time was to, I don’t know, make their selves known and talk to my friend. Actually that’s it. All of their… surfacing was only to my friend.”

“Why do you think that? Is this friend important to you or to Bob?” Joan took in how very hesitant Tatiana is with explaining her story. It was better to be patience, there’s a lot of distrust radiating off of her. She’s more willing to talk about the split personality rather than further explain her healing capabilities. It’s probably for the best since she has to risk her life for it to kick in.

Finally Tatiana pursed an answer with a soft smile and bafflement, “Music, Bob liked the music from my friend’s radio. And they choose my friend to learn from. At one point, my friend,” again there was hesitance.

“You can say a fake name if you wish,” Joan offered, sensing a protective nature from her.

She tilted her head, side to side, debating for only three seconds and decided, “Zach.”

“Zach,” she repeated, “He caught Bob’s attention.”

“Right, yes, at one point Zach got the bright,” Joan instantly noticed a slight giggle from Tatiana on her pun, “idea to intentionally hurt himself to summon up Bob.” There’s a hard edge to her voice, nostrils flaring. “It worked and Bob got super mad at him. Then when I was back in control, I was super, super mad at him.”

She calmed down, wilted more like it, and stared off into space.

Joan asked, “Does Zach need therapy?”

A cold laugh is her response, “Yeah probably because not too long ago, Zach got hurt really bad, like amnesia bad. Around the same time, Bob got hurt too and ever since then, I thought Bob was really gone, but nope.”

“Bob came back to check on Zach to see for their selves,” Joan guessed correctly.

“It was a long while between Zach getting help and me visiting him in person. The moment I stepped into the room, Bob took over. It was brief. All Bob said was ‘You don’t remember me?’ and ‘I’m sadden and sorry’.”

While Tatiana was busy staring at her hands, Joan had to ask some questions.

“How are you able to differentiate yourself and Bob?”

“Um, it’s not an out of body or mind experience, I’m still there. Like I’m sudden in a passenger seat and I can only observe Bob driving my body.”

It wasn’t the same reasons but it was the same metaphor Sam used to describe Mark time traveling them. Joan can work with this.

“Are you unable to feel what Bob’s feeling?”

Biting her lip, Tatiana took her time to really think. “Vaguely but it was always my own emotions. Like Bob was reading me and was learning my emotions to understand that they were also sad. Also, I’m only able feel them when they make their presence known.”

“Learning something appears to be Bob’s main trigger, aside from Zach. Has Bob ever appeared before you met Zach or at least before your adulthood?”

Tatiana blinked and clicked her tongue, “That is something I literally cannot answer. But to the best of my understanding, they genuinely care about him.”

“And how is he doing?”

“Eh,” she began, “possibly has an identity crisis with the whole amnesia thing and him now being a completely different person. Oh right!” Tatiana clapped her hands happily, “The look on everyone’s faces when Bob came back was hilarious. Especially with Doug since he didn’t know that my hands and eyes glow right before Bob takes over.”

Her laugher filled Joan’s office and Joan ignored Tatiana’s small slip up.

So far keeping this session off the record has been a great idea. Who knows what the AM would do with someone with practically resurrecting self-healing along with glowing body parts and a curious split personality.

Once her giddiness died down Joan had one last thing to say, “I don’t think you’re here for advice to coexist with Bob. From the sounds of it, they’re the least of your problems. You implied a lot of traumatic experiences involving friends. For you, peaceful times equal unguarded people and so you’re checking up on your friends.” Tatiana has a harden expression, not angry but more annoyed and impressed by Joan. “When Bob came out of dormancy and took control, you felt like the past is going to repeat.”

“All the disasters that my friends and I faced,” Tatiana said lowly, sad and, as she hugged her arms, probably scared, “it was all because some people wanted to learn from Bob.”

“Learn what?” Tatiana pressed her lips together and shrugged again. Joan asked carefully. “Bob doesn’t have your memories?”

“Oh they do,” she said casually, annoyed. “It’s just that they have their own ways of thinking, beyond my comprehension but did their best to teach it to,” she clicked her tongue, “Zach.”

Joan rubbed her chin, “The last time Bob came, when checking on Zach, were they sad about him forgetting their lessons?”

“I think, well, I know the information was important,” she admitted, “but that wasn’t their priority when they checked in. They probably learned from my emotions to feel grief over the Zach they met.”

If she just first started this session with just talking about her atypical healing abilities and near death experiences, Joan may had have a better understanding.

Instead, the more Tatiana explains about Bob, the less Joan is sure. The split personality having its own identity, yes that makes sense, having certain information blocked from Tatiana, yes that too, but her knowing that none of the information originated from Tatiana is a lot more puzzling.

Bob sounded a lot like an entity rather than a personality disorder.

Joan stopped that train of thought, the less she knew, the less aware the AM will be of Tatiana Sobrero.

“Tatiana, there will be things out of your control that you can’t fault yourself. Also being paranoid about the future can be one of those things.” It looked like she hit the nail as Tatiana nodded. “As for being prepared, checking with your friends is a good plan to ease your mind.” Joan remembered and admitted, “Although, I am a bit wary about your bomb squad friend.”

That got a proud smile from her patient, “I’m not.” She finally relaxed her shoulders, “I think I got everything I need from this. Thanks Dr. Bright.”

A glance from the clock told them that the sun starting to sink, turning blue skies to orange and pink. One last handshake and a promise to be careful had Tatiana Sobrero walking out the door.

As for Joan, she grabbed her wine from under the office desk and headed out, ready for the New Year.

Thanks for reading!