#or kirk (being spock adjacent)

[croc-odette]

very real possibility that pike will at some point play baseball in strange new worlds because they refuse to give him unique traits

[dukeofriven]

A couple days ago that post was going around about that scene in TOS where Spock breaks down and cries after being hit with a virus that limits his ability to control his emotions in The Naked Time. It's a famous performance, one that I think works even better on a rewatch with a stronger understanding of Spock's character (or, rather, what his character will become). The rarity of those tears, the rawness of the performance, the power of it all makes it stand out as something really powerful. I cordially dislike many of the choices Strange New Worlds makes for a variety of reasons, but perhaps one of the most potent is how often Spock cries, how often Spock is emotional, and more than anything its unspoken belief that the human side of Spock is the only valid side. This has long been a tension in Trek: more than any other race besides the Borg, Vulcans are often presented not as different but wrong. Humans needle Vulcans to' be emotional' in a way they don't, say, needle Klingons to be pacifists, or needle Benzites to breathe oxygen. Star Trek Enterprise was really the original sinner here, especially given that—due to clumsy writing and a particular beefy American arrogance on the part of one J. Archer—the Vulcans are repeatedly shown to be completely correct that humans are not ready for space travel. And yet their entire philosophy is sneered at, treated as an aberration of values. The Abrams movies picked up this baton: Spock could only show he loved Kirk by screaming with rage and trying to beat a man to death with his bare hands. Vulcans as Vulcans, as an alexithymia-adjacent species, were always in the wrong, always assholes, the very idea of being un- or under- emotional presented as contemptuous. Freakish. Discovery continued this trend: raised-by-Vulacans Michael Burnham is unrecognizable within a few seasons as she has seemly disposed of the entirety of any Vulcan nature she once possessed. Discovery has to do this because much (not all, but much) of modern Trek relies heavily on pure, unrestrained emotional catharsis for its story beats. Many episodes lack much internal logic or clever plotting:the act breaks all lead to emotive moments and then swing to the next, so that by the end of an episode you're ready to tweet about all the emotions you and the character had—regardless of whether or not those emotions made any sense, or actively undermined the characterization. Perhaps no one is more damaged by this in modern Trek than Spock, who—like my anxious cat—is permanently a single overheard harsh syllable away from some kind of openly emotive reaction. Vulcans have emotions, Spock has emotions, but their central conceit is the way in which they are not ruled by them. In a storytelling world, however, in which being ruled by emotion is equated with being relatable to an audience, Vulcans aren't just different from humans, they're wrong. And so Spock's Vulcan side must constantly be rejected, first Discovery and then SNW: if he's not emoting, then he's not relatable, then he's being wrong, so Spock must sigh, Spock must cry, Spock must constantly wander around looking like a kicked puppy. It doesn't drain the power of Nimoy and that scene for the Naked Time. But it does fail, utterly, to comprehend it.

[sidetrek]

Hi!

If you haven't heard it today, your artwork is amazing. I love it so much!

I submitted a fill for the K/S Spring Fever event centered around City on the Edge of Forever. While I was writing, I had your Gumroad exclusive piece "trekspiece.feb" up in another window as added inspiration.

Thanks for unknowingly keeping the vintage 1930's Spirk vibes warm for me while I worked! Your work is an inspiration!

Have a fantastic weekend!

oh thank you! I really appreciate hearing this, that means a lot! 🥲😭 ooohhh cotef, beloved. I've actually been slowly, slowly chipping away at another cotef piece, and have been turning over thoughts of a longer cotef comic for a long time, not that i'm sure i'll ever get to it! I don't know if you're familiar with the OG teleplay from Harlan Ellison (they made a graphic novel of it), but there are some CHOICE lines that Spock says to Kirk. One is when Spock confronts Kirk on how close Kirk's getting to Edith Keeler and of course at the end when Spock tells Kirk they could spend some time together on Vulcan where are there silver birds that sing so sweetly. I think the revised version we got on screen is actually superior, but I feel like some of those other scenes were great to poke and challenge Kirk and Spock's relationship. I'm dying to incorporate them into a cotef comic where Edith's presence and love exposes the love Kirk knows he has for Spock but cannot act on, and the futility of the situation with Keeler plus Kirk and Spock being trapped together so closely makes Spock demand answers from Kirk. so much potential for angst omg 🤌 and eventual desperate kissing, if u know me lol anyway sorry but i LOVE cotef and cotef-adjacent thoughts, and I'm so glad that you enjoyed that piece and are also still playing in that space! Can you also please drop a link to the fic? I'd love to read it!

[theblueboxscholar]

Owen' Recommended Watching

Part 1

[I watch all of these shows regularly. I've seen most of them over a dozen times.]

Doctor Who 1963-Present

Doctor Who depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes. The Doctor often travels with companions.

Star Trek The Original Series 1966-1969

The show is set in the Milky Way, circa 2266-2269. The ship and crew are led by Captain James Kirk (William Shatner), first mate and Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Chief Medical Officer Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy (DeForrest Kelly). In the opening credits of each episode, Shatner explains the purpose of this starship: Space: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission is to explore strange new worlds, find new life and new civilizations, and boldly go to places that no one has gone before.

M*A*S*H* 1972-1983

The show is an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in the Korean War (1950–53). The "4077th MASH" was one of several surgical units in Korea.

The Golden Girls 1985 - 1992

The show, featuring an ensemble cast, revolves around four older single women (three widows and one divorcée) sharing a house in Miami. The owner of the house is a widow named Blanche Devereaux (McClanahan), who was joined by fellow widow Rose Nylund (White) and divorcée Dorothy Zbornak (Arthur) after they both responded to an ad on the bulletin board of a local grocery store a year before the start of the series. In the pilot episode, the three are joined by Dorothy's 80-year-old widowed mother, Sophia Petrillo (Getty), after the retirement home where she lived burned down.

Star Trek The Next Generation 1987 - 1994

Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant and Beta quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy.

Roseanne 1988 - 1997

The series centers on the Connor family, a working-class American family struggling to make ends meet on a limited family income. Dan, Roseanne, and their three young children, Becky, Darlene, and D.J., live at 714 Delaware Street in the monotonous fictional Mid-State suburb of Kane County, Illinois.

Family Matters 1989 - 1998

The show centers on the Winslow family, an African-American middle-class family living in Chicago, Illinois, and halfway through the first season, the Winslow family's nerdy Steve Ukkel (Jaryl White) is introduced, who originally appeared as a one-off character in the script. However, he soon became a breakthrough character in the show (and eventually the main character), joining the main cast.

Star Trek DS9 1993 - 1999

Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, its narrative is centered on the eponymous space station Deep Space Nine, located adjacent to a wormhole connecting Federation territory to the Gamma Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.

7th Heaven 1996-2007

The series follows Reverend Eric Camden, a Protestant minister living in the fictional town of Glen Oak, California, and his wife Annie as they deal with the drama of raising 7 children (twins Sam and David come later in the series) ranging in age from babies to adults with families of their own.

George Lopez 2002 - 2007

The comedy revolves around a fictionalized portrayal of Lopez who works at the Powers Brothers aviation factory. George raises daughter Carmen and dyslexic son Max with his wife Angie, after surviving a miserable, dysfunctional childhood at the hands of his neglectful alcoholic mother Benny. The show stars the titular comedian George Lopez, who plays a fictionalized version of himself, featuring his life at work and his family life in Los Angeles, California.

[drarreckyninja]

Star Trek, in the Big Bang Theory 'Verse

Jim Kirk and Leonard "Bones" McCoy are two intelligent young physicists who have a combined IQ of 360 and claim to have "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works. However, they are socially awkward, especially around strangers. After fleeing a visit to a sperm bank for high-IQ donors, they return home and meet Spock, an aspiring astronaut who has moved into the apartment adjacent to the one they share. Jim is immediately infatuated and hopes to date Spock, which Bones considers unlikely to happen. Jim persists in at least forming a friendship with him and awkwardly invites him into their apartment to have lunch with them.

Bones is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon-language Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow geeks Nyota Uhura, a wannabe ladies woman, and Christine Chapel, who has selective mutism in front of strangers. However, Jim is so infatuated with Spock that after letting him use their shower on account of his being broken, Jim agrees to try to retrieve Spock’s TV from his macho ex-girlfriend, T'Pring. However, T'Pring de-pants Jim and Bones, and they are unable to retrieve the TV. Feeling bad, Spock offers to buy the guys dinner; Bones realizes that Jim will continue pursuing him.

[rainbowresurrection]

Yeah I agree with this. While I am happy that this venture has brought a sense of closure to people who need it, that is the only good I see in it.

it just unsettled me more than anything. There are so many more ways that K/S can be celebrated and even canonized that doesn't resort to using Leonard Nimoy's image post-mortem (bizarre & disrespectful), or revitalizing William Shatner (eerie).

Additionally, while I get that it attempts to canonize Kirk and Spock being together forever, was there ever a question of that *not* happening? Sure there's Generations, but that's one movie out of a very long series that sets to fuck or un-fuck any plot point that stands in the way of the next story.

And finally, I feel like reviving any live action or live-action-adjacent K/S material is treading seriously treacherous waters. Like I get it, handholding and looking lovingly into each other's eyes is their thing, that's what they do. But after a certain point, I just feel like they're still holding back after 60 years, it's the tone of a distant bell I've heard a thousand times before, it's the same tip-toeing I'd come to expect from a company that is too pussy to just say that they're gay. If this media is being primarily viewed on this platform from a M/M standpoint, that is what I'll be seriously judging it from- we've had to lick scraps off the floor long enough that my patience in this realm is less than infinite. It's not about them kissing or not kissing, it's not about that at all, it's so much more.

And like, that's your fix-it? They're together for a few moments while Spock dies? Absolutely not. I reject that canon out of hand and am not going to treat the release of some corporate puppet show like a national holiday. We have such an incredibly rich history of fandom to draw on, that imagines better and richer lives for Kirk and Spock. I will not care about this pittance that Paramount has decided to rubberstamp.

[badwolfrunning]

Imagine tho

If David and Savvik had been more solidly together in canon

And imagine tho if they hadn't needlessly killed off David

And if Spirk was canon and married in Wrath of Khan

Imagine if you came to learn that your dad was married to your kind-of-girlfriend's, kind-of-foster-dad, who she slept with when his body was mindless/souless and undergoing pon farr due to rapid aging after being brought back to life on a planet that exploded into existance from technology you built.....

There is no sane way to explain Search For Spock

But would that be weird enough to actually pull any Spirk shipper far enough out of the story they would stop reading?

Asking for a friend

[mccoythirsthoneybee]

As a completely biased entomologist in training, Star Trek should include more entomology or at least entomology adjacent fields. Can you imagine the crazy shit from those fields entering sci-fi level???

I’m just saying, there should be an episode where they can’t repair the engines or warp core or some other object they need to access but there’s something up stopping them from using nonbiological materials, like a force field or some shit. And of course the solution is that you have to send someone in but they’ll die if they go in ohhh noooooo. And bursting out of the deepest darkest level of the science labs where starfleet shoves all the entomologists, arachnologists, mycologists etc (all those fields of science where we’re absolutely batshit and batshit insane with enthusiasm for our subjects and it takes a special kind of person to even deal with our asses (affectionate)) to prevent us from being bad influences on the rest of the crew, a savior arrives. WOLF SPIDER NECROBOTS REPAIR OR ACCESS THE PLOT DEVICE AND SAVE THE DAY

Tldr: Spock (or Kirk depending on tos or Aos) wouldn’t have died if they used wolf spider necrobots

[dixxiemaegraphics]

Anyone else remember that time in like 2009ish on Livejournal (specifically the ONTDStarTrek adjacent communities) where there was a lot of Spock/Kirk (Spirk?) AU’s where one was a greaser and one was a soc/square... Or maybe it was them at a Starfleet gala dancing to big band music? It didn’t matter if it was Quinto/Pine or Nimoy/Shatner, the vibe just kinda went either way... (An LJ fic that stands out is called “Raspberries” I think and it’s saved on my old hard drive somewhere... It captures the vibe.) Lot of big band music like Glenn Miller, but also ABBA... Any of the songs used in those now memorable YouTube videos, like “Party Hard” or “Tick Tock”... There was an emphasis on Chekov being a polite young man and everyone doted on him a lot. And with all this came a lot of admiration for Twilight Zone, and this more romantic old timey big band music... And there was also watching that back to back with TOS and the newer seasons of Heroes that honed in on Sylar a lot more because he was Spock now. And with those episodes we got “Runaway” and “Sleepwalk” and thus more of that 40’s-50’s music romanticization... And more Quinto in suits and horn-rimmed glasses... So more slow-dancing, black tie Spirk AU fics... And something about the classy, old-timey-ness of it had the aesthetic of the Tower of Terror lobby. Art Decco. George Gershwin. “Blue Moon.” Old Hollywood. Something about all that made sense.

[lucycola]

The Lone Survivor: Part 5

TOS!Spock x Fem!Reader

Spock saves the reader from an icy starship crash, only to accidentally form a bond with them in the process. They are called to investigate a happening in the morgue, seemingly to face the unseen enemy that caused the crash in the first place.

PART(S) ONE TWO THREE FOUR

WARNINGS: Blood, violence, death, corpses, language, and sexual implications. The body eating gets vivid so if you can’t ride, please don’t. 

I’m so so so so sorry this took so long to come out. I’m not good at actions scenes so I did my best! Part 6 will be out soon. If I missed you on the tagged list I’m so sorry! 

Part 5: Isn’t is lovely? All alone. My heart made of glass, my mind of stone.

Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy tried to shield you from the carnage, but you broke through their human shield to see Commander Craft surveying the morgue with a grim expression.

Only a portion of the crew were brought aboard-the rest were still being recovered by multiple teams below. Along with Craft came other starships to help with the recovery. The tundra below was harsh and made recovery an even more difficult process. Bodies that were still intact were brought aboard the Enterprise to be identified. The others well were left in makeshift morgues below waiting to be put together with their other pieces.

What you hadn’t known before yesterday was that some of your crew had been devoured.

More had been devoured now. Bodies were littered about the morgue, torn from their bags. Some were only half eaten at the limbs and thighs. Heads and torsos were still left in contact where it was less meat and more viscera and soupy organs. The poor morgue workers were left alone.

“Blunt force trauma,” McCoy noted into his recorder. “Why didn’t it eat them?”

“It appears...it only ate the Calvary crew. The ones that had been on ice,” Kirk murmured, fist pressing into his teeth.

“It likes its food served cold,” you said, absent mindedly.

“Fascinating,” Spock said.

You glanced over the logs last input by the crewman, “He listed finding my father. Right here! Doctor L/N. My father’s dead. It must have kept his form.”

“Which must be why the creature could not be detected on our scanners. It perfectly mimicked the dead,” Spock said, bouncing ideas off of you, “It may be possible to feign the absence of a pulse or temperature-or perhaps it can alter its physical state enough to where it appears to be a lack of both.”

“Why did it take so long to recognize Doctor L/N, then? The man’s been dead for years.”

“The bodies were beamed up in droves, Jim,” Bones answered, “Then picked through. After were found the Calvary’s lone survivor we stopped bringing up one by one.”

“How...” Commander Craft said slowly, through ground teeth, “Could you be the only one?”

“I don’t know,” you answered.

“Four hundred men dead and you...still alive having wrecked in an escape pod,” the commander snarled, seemingly refusing to even look at you. He still surveyed the frozen dead.

“What?” you asked in disbelief, “I was in an escape pod?”

“Don’t play cute with me,” he jerked to look at you finally, eyes blazing, “You launched the pod right before the ship went down. My crew scouted out the area you were recovered from. Only a single pod launched with only you in it. Or did your husband not tell you that’s where he found you?”

“Spock, is this true?” Kirk asked.

“It seems I may have accidentally omitted such a finding...as I was not aware of it.”

“You’re a Vulcan-you don’t miss things,” Craft spat.

“One forgets my human half-although I have never found myself so personal with you, Commander, to share such a fact.”

Craft looked to you and back to Spock and then back to you again.

“You were both with one another the whole evening?” Commander Craft asked.

“I had two guards posted out side their quarters,” Kirk said, his temper flaring, “I doubt she’s in cahoots with the damn thing. Spock looked into her mind and it seems she’s nothing but a scapegoat for a monster to get its next meal! Now you can stop targeting my officers and start cooperating.”

You reached for Kirk’s arm desperately, “Captain, I didn’t put myself in that pod. Captain, I didn’t do this-you’ve got to believe me still.”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe. What see is your crew in bits and pieces down here and that thing is going to do the same to my men,” Kirk said, patience wheedling thin. “Bridge, this is the captain. Issue a red alert. Lockdown all decks.”

“But captain,” a woman’s voice replied, “You just issued a command stating that the ship take a landing and to disregard any other orders.”

“Lieutenant, where was I when I gave such orders?”

“On deck three.”

x

The red alert beacon seemed like it would never fade into the background but it was eventually drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in your ears. Kirk had ordered you all to stay together after a trip to the armory and that you were all going to the third deck, whether the commander liked it or not.

The assent to the third deck was painful as the commander and Kirk had it out with one another. The lift felt extremely cramped, but the tension in the air made it worse.

Splitting up the party had perhaps been briefly suggested by your husband to cover more ground, to which the commander argued, “Don’t let Spock take her anywhere. I don’t trust those two!”

“No ones going anywhere unless it’s with me,” Kirk retorted, “Set your phasers to stun. We don’t know who the real crewmen will be apart from this thing. We don’t want to kill anyone else.”

“Then how to do we know you’re not the imposter then? How do we know the real you isn’t already on the third deck or even the bridge by now?” the commander asked, nearly spitting.

“I wouldn’t have asked to land. I’m getting really tired of you,” Kirk said.

The doors to the lift finally opened, showing and eerily empty third deck washed in the red light.

“Daddy?”

A small voice, a woman’s voice in fact so far away you could barely hear it.

The doctor stepped passed you eyes bugging out of his skull, “Didja hear that?” He whirled back around to you, “Did ya’ll hear that?”

“Indeed, doctor,” Spock replied, “It seemed to be coming from that corridor.”

“Daddy!” came the woman’s voice again, now sobbing and strangled.

“Joanna?” the doctor asked, immediately breaking away with full stride.

You seized him around the waist, trying to prevent him from going, “Wait-doctor-!”

“Simon!” came a wavering moan from the adjacent hall.

Commander Craft was less vocal than Bones and bolted immediately with a tailing Kirk who was then seized up by Spock, “Captain, don’t-”

“Daddy!” Joanna’s wail was blood curdling and McCoy broke free from your hold like a frenzied horse. You bolted after him immediately.

“T’hy’la!” Spock began to which in the confusion Kirk said, “Go after them-I’ll get Craft!”

x

Could it possible the creature could multiply? You hadn’t seen it for yourself, but fear blazoned in your body and drove your legs to pump themselves as far as they could go. You were younger than Bones, but your weak leg gave out. Spock was faster than you anticipated and with thundering footfalls you felt him upon you.

He swept you up quickly, “That was foolish.”

“It’ll kill him, Spock!”

“I do not think it can be many places at once or it would have acted upon the crew sooner.”

“It’s just throwing its voice?”

“Possibly.”

He was moving at a light sprint, cradling you up like a baby.

“If it likes its food cold it will go for the bridge. It’ll wreck the ship to the snow below,” you breathed, clutching onto Spock’s uniform.

“I suspect the same thing-” his running faltered a bit, “-it will pursue the captain in attempt to control the ship.”

“Fuck.”

x

“Jim!”

“Sam?”

Long ago had Kirk lost sight of Craft, now lurking beyond every corner. It seemed the third deck was empty and he found out quickly why it was so quiet, save the bells. He came upon the mangled bodies of his crew, not eaten, but twisted like rag dolls in their heaps.

Now it was mimicking his brother. The bastard of a thing-whatever it was.

“Jim, help!”

“I’m coming, Sam!” Kirk called, moving carefully down the hall, phaser in hand. It was leading to him to his own cabin. He knew his brother was dead, but it was almost like he couldn’t stop himself. It was a painful desperation and it burned like fire in his chest.

He opened the door and stepped inside. His room was the same as it had always been. Bed in one area, dress and mirror in the other. His antique weapon collection of old era muskets, sabers, and spears freckled his walls but were hard to be seen as the lights were oddly set dim.

“Captain!” a distressed voice cried from the corner. A female voice.

“Y/N?” Kirk asked, moving closer, “Kitty, is that you?”

The person moved from the corner and into the light and indeed to the captain it appeared to be you. But how? Kirk questioned.

Your face was beaten and your body was bloodied. Your dress which once was white was almost completely dyed scarlet and it was ripped all the way down, revealing your right shoulder and breasts.

Kirk snatched the blanket off the bed and brought it to cover you. “How did you get here so fast? Did it do this to you?”

“It ran as soon as it heard you. It was a man. He looked just like you. I thought it was you,” you cried.

He skimmed the tears off your face with his thumb, “There, there. I’m here now.”

“You’ve got to help me. Spock tricked me, Jim,” you said, moving closer. “I need you.”

x

The third deck was so confusing you (the real you) thought you and Spock would get lost but you honed in on the doctor’s desperate cries of “Joanna!” like breadcrumbs.

You both came to a dead end to see the doctor there, bumbling at the wall, clearly confused.

“Doctor!” you cried in relief.

“I heard Jo one second and the next-I’m at a loss!” he attempted to explain, scratching the back of his head.

The doctor stared at the bare wall as if his daughter was apart of its making. She was there in his ears and the next she wasn’t.

“She was never there,” you sighed, still cradled in Spock’s clutch.

“It was a trick, Doctor,” Spock concurred.

“Lemme down,” you reached for Bones almost desperately.

You felt like you had to touch him to truly know he was alright. His face looked alright as well as the rest of his body, but his eyes were still large with bewilderment and grief. Joanna had not been there, but she had sounded so real and seemed to be in so much pain as the ghost of your own father had been.

“Doctor, are you well enough to care for my wife? It seems she has reinjured her leg to some extent,” Spock inquired, allowing you to bear weight on your good limb.

Bones reached for you immediately and then asked Spock, “Where the hell are you going?”

“I must relocate the captain and Commander Craft for their safety,” Spock explained, already having turned promptly to leave.

He broke out into another sprint, which looked faster than it had while you were being carried. Vulcans were faster, stronger than humans naturally, it seemed.

Bones fussed over you and you shushed him, “It’s just a limp-I’m fine-no, we are not going to sickbay!”

“Where do you suggest we go then? We might as well be sitting ducks.”

“We’re going to catch up with, Spock,” you said in a definite tone.

“In your condition and mine? it’ll take this old man two weeks to get you there,” he said, shaking his head.

“Hey,” you grinned, “It’s not the first time you’ve walked a pretty girl down the aisle.”

Bones face heated up with a large grin.

x

The door shifted open and Spock was greeted with the sight of his nude wife fondling his captain. Except you were had been left in Bones’ care behind him. Something white hot and broiling ignited in his very being.

You could feel it from down the hall.

He’s mad-why is he so mad? you questioned internally, limping as fast as you could.

Kirk fired his phaser immediately into the creature’s belly, after letting it draw itself close. The mirror version of you somehow enclosed its hand around the firing phaser, crushing it completely.

Kirk shook his hand free, screaming. The creature seized Kirk by the shoulders and flung him effortlessly into the wall. He hit part of his antique weapon collection, spears and swords clattering to the ground with him.

“Captain-!”

“I’m alright.”

The imposter whirled around and grinned like a Cheshire, “Well the infamous Mister Spock! I can read the crew’s thoughts y’know. Plenty of gals seem to like you. But you only like this one, don’t you?”

The imposter ran her hand down her naked form, taunting him.

“Too bad your captain got the upper hand on your wife first. Didn’t even stop himself when given the opportunity.”

“That’s a lie, Spock,” Kirk choked.

Spock shot at the creature, phaser still set the stun. The creature was knocked back only a little, seemingly unfazed. Spock shot multiple times only with the same result.

“I like it rough,” the creature laughed, “Keep on.”

“Why did you place Lieutenant Y/L/N in the escape pod when you could have devoured her?” Spock inquired.

“I seek the weakest link of all that visit my land. I seek their fears, their sorrows and hers was most adequate for my use,” it said, “The other ships that follow after every crash always tend to stay longer when there’s someone to blame. Everyone likes someone to blame.”

“How many other starships have you sabotaged?” Kirk asked, moving slowly about the weapons on the floor.

“Enough to feed me my due.”

Kirk launched one of the old spears at the imposter and it grazed its belly, spurting purple blood.

“Run, Captain!” Spock ordered.

The creature seized the spear and thrust it a Kirk as he ran to the door. Spock was faster and quickly moved in front of Kirk, catching the spear deafly with one hand. The blade was merely inches from his nose. The phaser clattered to the ground.

“Fascinating,” the creature said mockingly and changed it form from you to Spock himself.

x

Eventually you and Bones were able follow the trail of downed crewman to the captain’s cabin. Upon opening the door you were gifted with the sight of two of your husbands wrestling with one other over some ancient spear.

Where the hell did that thing come from?

Long forgone on the floor was Spock’s phaser and you knelt to grab it.

“Jim!” Bones exclaimed.

Kirk was once again a heap on the floor, already having been assaulted twice by the imposter and saved by Spock. He was bleeding from his right flank.

Bones quickly moved to him, dragging you long with him.

“We’ve got--got to kill it--” Kirk stuttered, staggering upward. You caught him under the arm, supporting him. “The phaser doesn’t seem to work on stun. You have to set it to kill.”

Bones caught the other, “But how can we? Which one is it?”

You shakenly pointed the phaser even though it seemed it had no effect.

“Alright you two!” Kirk yelled, ‘Stop or we’ll be forced to shoot the both of you!”

The wrestling came to a still and the spear was tossed aside, rolling to your feet.

They were identical, completely. Fuck.

“T’hy’la, it is I,” said the one on the left.

“No, that is incorrect,” said the one on the left.

Down to the nose, the hair, the faint hue of green in their cheeks and lips. The familiar warmth pulled you at the back of your mind.

“Kitty, what are you doing?” Kirk began.

You moved forward, with two fingers extended, “Husband, attend.”

The one of the left immediately came forward and you felt the warmth surge closer at is it, enveloping your mind as your fingers touched.

“Fools!”

The one of the right’s entire mouth opened up as if it was a venous fly trap, launching itself at you and Spock. You fired the phaser, blasting a hole on its left side but it still came.

Kirk was faster on the draw, and launched the spear into the creature’s mouth, splattering purple liquid everywhere. Its lifeless body hit the ground with a wet thud.

The spear had ripped through its body and pierced itself into the wall behind it.

“Good shot, captain,” Spock said. “And you as well, wife.”

“Second time’s the charm,” Kirk said, holding his injured side.

You let out a dry sob, mixed in with a laugh. Bones patted your shoulder, letting out a large sigh.

PART SIX

tagged: @groovyfluxie @dontgivedeath @lumar014 @pringtella @moonchildlonan @superninjapervert420 @love-wanderlust15 @ischysiaclark@imyourspacegirlfriend @hiddlestonme @fandoms4ever97 @mywellspringoflife @rebelchild93 @nilalunis16

[croc-odette]

akiva goldsman did an interview about the snw season 2 finale where he was like yeah the gorn just represent pure evil monsters because sure there's kindness in the world but there's also monsters :) because declaring an entire species to be so 'monstrous' and evil that we are free to slaughter their children without remorse is sooo much better of a story than the one TOS did with the gorn, right? -_-

it's also like we know you think the gorn are evil violent monsters that must be destroyed despite the starfleet's chickenshit policy that living beings should be 'understood'.... because you've done this episode like 4 times already! we get it! it was boring the first time. the people who are like 'well maybe it's building up to the eventual conclusion that the gorn are kind-of sort-of intelligent sentient beings and we shouldn't just gleefully kill off their babies' and i'm like.... at this rate they will establish the plot of an already-existing 50 min episode over several episodes over 4 YEARS!

Darren Mooney excerpts:

“I’d appreciate another chance to study them up close,” Sam Kirk tells Pike in the mission briefing. “With a phaser?” Noonien-Singh inquires. “How else will we determine how best to kill them?” answers Kirk, who is the ship’s xenoanthropologist. “I would like to aid in that study,” adds Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), the ships’ doctor. Pike then instructs the crew to arm themselves, as Nami Melumad’s score hits the classic Star Trek fanfare.

There is no discomfort or unease here, as the crew load up with what Lieutenant Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) describes as “super cool toys.” There is no hesitation when Noonien-Singh ambushes “a Gorn youngling” in the street, effectively executing a child. It’s all played as thrilling spectacle. After all, the sequence of Ortegas piloting the shuttle into the atmosphere of Parnassus Beta, dipping below the treeline before recovering, was the big opening beat in the season’s trailer. It’s visceral and exciting.

Despite its obvious nostalgia for the Star Trek of the 1990s, the pop culture of “the end of history,” and “the unipolar moment,” “Hegemony” suggests that Strange New Worlds is still a product of the War on Terror that has shaped every Star Trek since Enterprise. It might hide that sensibility beneath a polished nostalgic exterior, but it is still there. Indeed, Spock’s (Ethan Peck) flight through the debris field consciously evokes a similar sequence in the War-on-Terror-adjacent Star Trek Into Darkness.

[female-malice]

Spock the TEHM, loooove it! Would Kirk be a SuperStraight sympathizer or a panphobic bisexual? Hm, gendies would have to DNI Chekov for being a minor. No one minds DNI'ing Wesley, least of all Dr. Crusher, bless.

SuperStraight Kirk? First of all, Kock is real so jot that down. Kirk would be panphobic bi. But his blog would be super dry and all about historical art and literature.

Bones also has a TEHM blog like Spock. But he and Spock are constantly long-post arguing about things like veganism and anarcho-primitivism. It's absolutely unbearable to follow either of them.

Chapel's blog is red on shinigami eyes for being radblr adjacent. But most of her blog is just gossiping about coworkers and reblogging cat gifs.

T'Pring has a misandry blog.

Uhura has a multilingual linguistics and computer science studyblr. Her custom HTML blog theme is gorgeous.

Scottie's blog is lifestyle pics of hot babes on old vintage motorcycles and whisky and ancient blood sports (boxing).

Sulu has a cottagecore gardening inspo blog where he also reblogs Scottie's motorcycle babes and ancient blood sports.

Chekov is a popular tumblr funnyman with 50,000 followers. But irl he claims he doesn't have a tumblr.

[ichayalovesyou]

The Omega Glory is Secretly a Great Episode & Here’s Why (Meta)

This is another episode kinda like This Side of Paradise, where I think most people take at face value without reading into it enough and just slap outdated patriotism anti-communist rhetoric we associate with the era onto it.

The Omega Glory is anything but patriotic, and considering the way Gene Roddenberry set TNG in a post-consumerism socialism-adjacent future and WROTE this episode. I think it’s safe to say it’s not wholesale black & white anti-communist propaganda either.

It’s extremely, extremely anti-War and anti-colonialism.

They’re hiding all the real messages under the pretense of patriotism and anti-communist sentiment. If you strip away what is said obnoxiously in dialogue and other propaganda crap, and the era-based micro aggressions, the story pieces are

It’s Anti-War:

The Cold War was evil and bad (Yangs & Kohns)

Vietnam war evil and bad (Captain Tracey arming Kohns with phasers for personal gain)

Biological warfare horrible evil and bad (the apocalyptic evolution of both sects on the planet)

Presumably this planet is from a parallel timeline Earth where the US lost the cold/Vietnam war but not before royally fucking the planet with nukes and bioweapons that sets mankind back a thousand or more years. But yeah it’s definitely about how the American way is better than Communism 🙄

Anti-Racism/Imperialism:

Americans (Yangs) got as good as we gave to the Native Americans when we deliberately obliterated their cultures. It’s like it’s saying “Look at this horrible fucked up thing we did, we think we’re so strong and right but it could easily be us, we are not superior and what we did was wrong. It doesn’t give anybody the right to treat anyone as savage.”

Captain Tracey deliberately exploits and aggravates the race-hatred between Kohns & Yangs in a way that benefits himself and his intentions. A white, warmongering, greedy man is the antagonist of this story.

Do not mystify or commodify cultures you don’t understand, Captain Tracey assumed some dumb racist bullshit about a Fountain of Youth in this China-proxy culture. Europeans literally did that (and still do) with real cultures alllllll the time. It’s portrayed as a bad thing in this episode, because Tracey is an asshole and what he believed wasn’t true or beneficial!

Anti-Religious/National Fanaticism:

This also kinda doubles back to the anti-racism message, still. Assuming Spock is the Devil because of a picture in a book that they don’t understand the meaning of the contents of is very much “do not use religion to justify race hatred” contextually.

There are also strong overtones of how religion and government should never mix between “freedom” and other words that get spewed by politicians all the time being holy words. The Bible and American flag iconography and how the Yangs don’t understand either of them. There’s no difference between the two things for the Yangs (aka Yankees/Americans). They are slaves to ideas that they never understood and have to try and understand if they’re gonna crawl out of the hole their ancestors made.

Kirk gets all “patriotic” at the end yes, but he says some really valid things. You can’t believe in words you don’t understand, that freedom and the messages behind that piece of paper are for everyone, not just Yangs, they shouldn’t assume they’re better than everyone. That’s what got the Yangs & Kohns where they are in the first place.

This story screams “GOD BLESS AMERICA” with its dialogue on a superficial level, but speaks in code and whispers all of these other, great messages with its plot.

It honestly reminds me a lot of the Nacirema experiment, describing Americans from an objective anthropologist POV who assumes the Nacirema/American’s tribe is inferior to their culture.

This episode aired while America was still involved in the Vietnam War.

There was no way they could’ve gotten away with what was actually said in this episode if they didn’t finagle it to look like a superficial “America good, communism bad” hokey looking episode

It would never have aired.

So, The Omega Glory is actually a great episode, it’s flawed and dated sure, but it gets some amazing messages across if you read into it as I hope Roddenberry intended.

[philippageorgiou]

jim kirk’s “why, mr spock,” and hannibal’s “tell me, will,” aren’t the same but they have some kind of adjacent energy. maybe there’s just something about gay people being extra. love it

[trillgutterbug]

Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus 😊 thanks friend!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

64! only five more to the magic number ayyyyy and then i’m legally obligated to never post another one.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

289,575 apparently??? which seems way way way higher than i ever would have guessed, wow. who knew!

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

31 on ao3, although that’s lumping, eg, all marvel subfandoms together. but i have a ridiculous amount of wips in all kinds of other fandoms that i haven’t/won’t post, soooo.... more than that! and i don’t want to list them all bc that’d be a long boring read!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it serenely disdains to destroy us, a magnus archives fic that, i somewhat vainly note, has been orbiting in the top few top kudosed fics in the tag since i posted it womp womp.

concerning flight, because we all thirsty for thor/loki+gender and i for one support us.

untitled porny snippet (yes that’s actually what it’s called), because same as above. (i see u, kudos-to-comment ratio and i aint mad but.... i see u. all you dirty birds out there shamefully yet silently jerking it. kudos to YOU.)

an experiment in posthumous subsistence, a batman/joker zombie au i wrote fucking TEN YEARS AGO ALMOST. why???? why is this fic so popular?? i’m barely a good writer now and i sure as shit wasn’t one a decade ago! the terrible title alone should disqualify it from being read, but i guess the people want what they want. and what they want is batman and joker handcuffed together, trying to escape the zombie apocalypse  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

all good things, some stucky hydra trash party-adjacent smut regarding piercings. i stand by this one 100%, it deserves every kudo(s?) tbh.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i do, depending on the comment! i don’t think comments like “loved this!” / “thanks for writing!” are written with the intent to receive a response (or at least, when i write them on other people’s fics, i certainly don’t expect one). they’re like an extra kudo(s?), and i appreciate them a lot, but they’re not really an invitation to Discuss. whereas if someone clearly has put a lot of thought into a comment, or asked a question, or made some observations that i jive with, or just seems like they want to engage, then hell yeah i jump in there. love that shit. 

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i guess arguably thine own self, which is some hydra husbands abo. laugh all you want, it’s one of my fave of all my fics lmao. probably specifically bc of the unpleasant/open ending.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

probably moderation is a memory! since it, unlike 99% of all my other stuff, isn’t just total smut, and the whole point of writing it was to wallow as deep as possible in the sauce of giddy teenage infatuation, it got the opportunity to have an actual emotional arc (more or less). furthermore i could not possibly bring myself to break johnny lawrence’s tender little heart ever, that would hurt me far more than it would hurt him.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i only realised while answering this question that apparently.... no i don’t write crossovers! which is not at all a deliberate choice, i guess a compelling enough one just hasn’t occurred to me yet! 

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

shockingly no! by some accidental miracle i’ve managed to fly under the radar so far, despite some of the really buckwild stuff i’ve posted. however, considering some of the stuff i’m probably ABOUT to post.... that clean track record might soon come to an end lmao.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

lmao. uhhhh. almost exclusively, and i guess??? all kinds? this is clearly a question composed by someone who does not write smut.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and i wouldn’t really care if i did. 

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah i think a few....? a number of people have asked anyway and i always say yes, so probably there’s at least one floating around out there somewhere.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have! just once, and we really made it count. it’s called a reptile dysfunction, which should tell you all you need to know. 

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

thorki, probably. i always have and always will come back to it, no matter what. it’s got such a ferociously timeless staying power and so much potential variation, i don’t think i could ever get bored of it, regardless of what level of marvel-exhaustion i might feel at a given time, or what tropes, kinks, or stage of literary pretension i’m at. truly the oh tee pee. 

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

ohhhhh all 836575927 of them, but. there’s this one thorki fic i started almost ten years ago as an experiment with a new-to-me style, which turned out over the intervening years to become my main style, and looking back on that fic, which for many years was a touchstone of writing-to-aspire to for me, it’s actually Not Very Good lol. but i still love the core concept, which is a canon divergence berserker thor au, but not only is it a somewhat inaccessible (admittedly less so since the deadpool movies came out, which was a hilarious pipe dream back when i started writing it) x-force comics crossover, but i wrote myself into a bunch of corners and have yet to dig up the energy to write myself back out of them! i go and reread it every year or so and think “hmm... maybe now...” but tbh it’s just not really good enough to bother! perhaps someday i’ll repurpose the best elements of it into something new.

16) What are your writing strengths?

man, it’s so hard to say. in much the same way that you can spend hours every day staring at yourself in a mirror, yet be utterly incapable of picking yourself out of a lineup, i spend a lot of time eyeballing my writing, but stepping back it seems like a chaotic mass of nonsense with few cohesive throughlines. i’m good at writing smut, i know that much! and in that vein, i think i am good at smut bc i am very good at committing to the bit, as it were. getting into the nitty gritty of experience and sensation (physical or emotional) and rendering largely abstract internal concepts in fairly comprehensible ways. i think my prose is quite decent on a sentence level too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

utterly incapable of finishing anything! or plotting anything! can’t mange a cohesive emotional arc! write myself into overly structured corners or out onto a vast plain with no structure in sight! all the macro elements of storytelling totally elude me, which is very frustrating when i have all this tasty fleshed out micro-level character stuff, but no narrative skeleton upon which to drape it.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?   don’t! unless you are very sure you know what you’re doing, and the other language bits are a) very few, b) easily contextually understood, and c) actually adding something other than a weird flex that you know google translate exists.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

11yo me wrote spock/kirk/janice rand and thought she invented the concept of a threesome. brand been stronk since day one 🤘. (the vulcan salute is right next to the devil horns in my emoji list, so....)

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

i love the (ongoing) better with you series very much, not least because i’m still absolutely flabbergasted that i wrote something that long. i think it’s actually pretty good all things considered and it’s very dear to me on many many levels. but the fic that i just viscerally adore, that i love the style of, and that i had such a transcendent, invigorating, organic Experience writing, is temper its strength, adding honey until quite cold, which is a terror fic with the inexplicable pairing of edward little/hartnell, featuring crossdressing and gender stuff. it just burst out of me fully formed one day and i don’t think i’ve managed to top it yet! 

lowkey tagging @lingua-mortua @pitcherplant @kaasknot @froggy-babyy @deputychairman @nomercyonlytears @clockheartedcrocodile

[kaydeefalls]

Aaaaand I'm back. Ok less random more fandom! What do you consider the defining characteristic or dynamic of each of the following ships:

Joe X Nicky

Kirk X Spock (TOS)

Kirk X Spock (AOS)

Finn X Poe

Jack X Ianto <- this is a stab in the dark, replace if you don't ship them

Ooooh, this I need to give thinky-thoughts to. (Also, seriously, to @fadagaski and everyone else who has been sending me random asks, this has been EXACTLY what I needed to distract myself tonight so thank you all so much.)

1. Joe/Nicky - caring. They just care so much, about each other and the rest of their family and the world at large, it spills over into everything they do and say. We so rarely see fictional couples presented as so openly kind and loving toward their partner, at all times; it’s a breath of fresh air to watch. And it’s both of them! Joe gets the Van Speech, of course, and it’s gorgeous in every way, but Nicky drops the “love of my life” line so matter-of-factly, and they both show so much kindness to all the other immortals as well, from the very beginning. UGH I LOVE THEM.

2. Kirk/Spock (TOS) - okay. So. Here’s the thing. I am Trekkie-adjacent; I’m not a true Trekkie. I am vastly more interested in the fandom than in the source material, and Star Trek is the ONLY fandom for which this is true for me, I can’t explain it. So, I. Uh. Have only seen a handful of TOS (episodes or movies), and mostly absorb info via fannish osmosis. (I’ve also seen a full season and change of TNG and a couple of those movies, scattered episodes of DS9, and the first season of Disco though I intend to watch the rest of it eventually. And all the AOS movies.) So my impressions of TOS Kirk/Spock are mostly of mutual respect and admiration based on long years of growing familiarity. And the occasional sex pollen or Pon Farr, obvs.

3. Kirk/Spock (AOS) - this one I can comment intelligently on! For me, this ship is about undeniable chemistry, the kind where if you put these two in a room together, sparks WILL fly, and not always the good kind. They just...spark off each other in unpredictable ways, and have this weird magnetic attraction/repulsion effect, because they’re both just so SHARP and deeply intelligent but express it in polar opposite ways, and envy/admire/hate the aspects of the other that reflect themselves. Spock can’t stand the way Kirk just follows his gut in every situation, partly because he so badly wishes he could let loose like that; Kirk finds Spock’s emotional reserve both off-putting and extremely calming/appealing. It’s a mess. They’re great.

4. Finn/Poe -  camaraderie and just this rush of instantaneous you, you’re my person, I didn’t even know I could have one but now it’s absolutely you. Which I do think also works as a platonic friendship, but come on, why would you NOT want to add the romantic element? It’s just pure comfort and ease in each other’s company, which is why the parts of TROS when they’re snippier feel so very wrong (not actually a criticism of TROS, for once; to me, it’s a good way to show how fucked up the external circumstances are, that they’re both being thrown off their natural rhythms so badly).

5. Jack/Ianto - I love that you think this is a stab in the dark for me, this is one of my past primary OTPs and I’ve written many thousands of words of fic for them. Defining characteristic...hmmm. Second chances. Unexpected love, the kind that catches you off guard. The lust was always a given -- come on, it’s Jack Harkness -- but that it slowly evolved and shifted into something softer, something more genuine, took both of them by surprise. And neither of them trusted that feeling for a very long time (probably too long), and buried their feelings in sex and banter, but...yeah. That was there. That was real.