#riker in glasses

[dustykneed]

queer friend groups meeting up for brunch (but make it ds9)

fun fact i have a version of this where julian is butt (buck) naked because i thought itd be funny to adhere to the meme and only give him a hat and boots. sadly i realized i could not release that particular rendition on tumblr. boo.....

[isa-ah]

play the our dirge demo its so goooooooooood

[mnemonicpneumaticknife]

Getting held captive and drugged by aliens is an occupational hazard for Riker. It happens to him all the time.

His primary care physician should have been considering the possibility.

thinking about that TNG episode where Riker says he never feels rested after sleeping and Dr Crusher tells him to just drink warm milk about it and then later it turns out he's been abducted by aliens 6 times and had his arm cut off. most accurate portrayal of dealing with the medical profession ever seen on screen

[theartofcollapse]

World’s Worst Detectives - Casey Novak

a/n: i'm taking requests, so feel free to dm me :) summary: you reveal your relationship with Casey to the SVU squad after 5 years. pairing: Casey Novak x female reader warning: none word count: 880

masterlist

The morning started like any other, Elliot sipping his too hot coffee, Fin scrolling through his phone, Olivia looking over case files, and Munch complaining about the copy machine. Business as usual, until Y/N walked into the precinct wearing a diamond ring the size of a small planet.

"Nice rock,” Fin said casually, before doing a double take. “Wait... damn, Y/N! What’s that about?”

“Yeah,” Olivia chimed in, narrowing her eyes. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Y/N smirked, leaning against the nearest desk. “What? This old thing?” she said, holding up her hand for dramatic effect.

“Holy crap, are you engaged?” Munch asked, adjusting his glasses like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Yep,” Y/N said breezily.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Elliot cut in, setting his coffee down. “Since when are you even dating anyone?”

“Since, like, five years ago,” Y/N said nonchalantly.

The room collectively froze. It was like Y/N had dropped a bomb in the middle of the squad.

“Five years?” Olivia echoed, her voice a mix of shock and betrayal. “You’ve been dating someone for five years and didn’t say a word?”

“We’re just private and don’t bring our personal lives to work,” Y/N replied with a shrug, clearly enjoying their stunned reactions.

“Private?!” Elliot gawked. “You’ve been in a five-year relationship and didn’t think to mention it?”

“Who’s the lucky mystery person?” Fin asked, leaning forward.

Y/N’s grin widened. “Casey.”

“Novak?!”

The room practically erupted at the revelation. And, as if summoned by their collective disbelief, Casey Novak herself walked into the precinct carrying a stack of files. She paused when she saw everyone staring at her like she’d just confessed to a major crime.

“What?” Casey asked, her brow furrowing.

“Oh, nothing,” Munch said, smirking. “We’re just learning that you and Y/N have been secretly dating for five years and are now engaged.”

Casey sighed, glancing at Y/N. “You told them?”

“They noticed the ring,” Y/N said with a shrug. “Kind of hard to miss.”

“Wait,” Olivia cut in, pointing between them. “How did you guys even get together? Like�� how did this start?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Y/N said, shooting Casey a playful grin. “She flirted with me during my deposition prep. Very professional.”

“I did not flirt,” Casey said, rolling her eyes. “I advised you. Thoroughly.”

“Uh-huh,” Y/N teased. “And that ‘thorough advice’ turned into drinks after work, then dinner, then…”

“Please don’t finish that sentence,” Elliot groaned.

“You live together?” Olivia asked, her mouth still slightly open in shock.

“For years,” Y/N replied, looking far too pleased with herself.

“For years?” Fin exclaimed. “How the hell did we miss this?”

“You’re the detectives,” Y/N said, dripping with sarcasm. “How did you not find out?”

Elliot threw up his hands. “I don’t know! You two never acted like… you know… a couple.”

Casey let out a dry laugh. “Are you serious? We’ve been dropping hints for years. You just didn’t notice.”

“What hints?” Olivia challenged, crossing her arms.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Casey said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “The time Y/N brought me lunch to court every single day during that Riker’s assault trial?”

“Or,” Y/N added, “the time we came to the precinct’s Christmas party in matching sweaters and you thought it was a ‘cute coincidence.’”

“Oh my God,” Fin muttered. “The ugly snowman sweaters. How did I miss that?”

“And don’t forget, that time Casey stayed over at my apartment during that snowstorm. Elliot, you called me to ask if she made it home safe, and I said, ‘Yeah, she’s in the kitchen making pancakes.’”

Elliot slapped his forehead. “I thought you were just being a good host!”

Munch adjusted his glasses, a suspicious look crossing his face. “What about that time we caught you two sharing a cab after that fundraiser?”

“We went home together,” Casey said bluntly.

Munch’s jaw dropped. “And I just thought… God, I don’t know what I thought.”

“Clearly, not much,” Y/N teased.

Fin leaned back in his chair, laughing. “Man, we really are slippin’. I can’t believe we didn’t piece this together.”

“Hold up,” Olivia said, narrowing her eyes at Casey. “So, when you storm out of here after Y/N gets assigned to some dangerous op, that’s not just you being a concerned ADA, is it?”

“Nope,” Casey said with a sly smile.

“And the way you glare at anyone who so much as flirts with her?” Fin added.

“Yeah, that’s me marking my territory,” Casey said dryly.

“I feel so betrayed,” Elliot muttered, shaking his head.

“Oh, come on,” Y/N said, laughing. “You didn’t really need to know all this. It’s not like it affects your jobs.”

“We’re detectives,” Olivia said, throwing her hands up. “We’re supposed to notice things like this!”

“Maybe you should take a refresher course,” Casey quipped, earning a round of laughter from everyone except Elliot, who still looked like his world had been turned upside down.

“Well,” Munch said, standing up and grabbing his coat. “Congratulations, I guess. But if you two start making out in the precinct, I’m filing a complaint.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Y/N said, shooting Casey a wink. “We save that for home.”

“Stop,” Elliot groaned, covering his ears.

Casey smirked, pulling Y/N toward the door. “Come on, babe. Let’s leave them to process.”

As the two of them left, hand in hand, Olivia let out a deep sigh. “I can’t believe we missed this.”

“Maybe next time,” Fin said, still laughing, “we should start paying attention to what’s right under our noses.”

Munch shook his head. “Or maybe we should all just retire while we still have some dignity.”

[brunetteaura]

SWIMMING POOL GLIMMERING DARLING WHITE BIKINI OFF WITH MY RED NAIL POLISH WATCH ME IN THE SWIMMING POOL BRIGHT BLUE RIPPLES YOU SITTING SIPPING ON YOUR BLACK CRISTAL OOOOOOOH YEAH LIGHT OF MY LIFE FIRE OF MY LOINS BE A GOOD BABY DO WHAT I WANT LIGHT OF MY LIFE FIRE OF MY LOINS GIMME THEM GOLD COINS GIMME THEM COINS AND IM OFF TO THE RACES CASES OF BACARDI CHASERS CHASING ME ALL OVER TOOOWN CAUSE HE KNOWS IM WASTED FACING TIME AGAIN AT RIKERS ISLAND AND I WONT GET OUTTT BECAUSE IM CRAAAZY BAAABY I NEED YOU TO COME HERE AND SAVE ME IM YOUR LITTLE SCARLET STARLET SINGING IN THE GARDEN KISS ME ON MY OPEN MOUTH READY FOR YOU … my old man is a tough man but he got a soul as sweet as blood red jam and he shows me he knows me every inch of my tar black soul.. he doesnt mind i have a flat broke down life in fact he says he thinks its what he might like about me ADMIRES ME the way i roll like a rolling stone LIKES TO WATCH ME IN THE GLASS ROOM BATHROOM CHATEAU MARMONT SLIPPING ON MY RED DRESS PUTTING ON MY MAKEUP GLASS ROOM PERFUME COGNAC LILAC FUMES SAYS IT FEELS LIKE HEAVEN TO HIM.

[cowgurrrl]

Angel of Small Death

Pairing: Matt Murdock x lawyer!reader

Author’s note: this may or may not turn into a series plan accordingly

Summary: Nothing seems to go your way around your college rival, Matt Murdock [3.8k]

Warnings: June didn't go to law school so take all legal talk with a grain of salt, discussions of custody cases/child abuse charges, A shitty father, mentions of the Red Room/Widows, canonical type violence, Matt Murdock being a menace to society, set in season one of Daredevil (~2014)

You're fuming when you walk into court. The familiar smug smile at the opposing table doesn't do anything to deter your anger. You slam your briefcase down on the table and stand before Judge Harlow. 

"Good morning, Miss-"

"Your Honor, I find it highly inappropriate I was not informed of Mr. Parsons hiring new counsel. Not only that, but he hired new counsel three hours before our hearing today. There is no possible way for this proceeding to be fair without his counsel being adequately brought up to speed. For this reason, I am petitioning for another court date to be held so Mr. Murdock can be properly briefed about the case." Your words are cutting and exact, as you were trained to make them. In law school, your classmates rarely wanted to go against you in mock trial. Moments like this, when your frustration rises to the surface, make you realize why. The dark-haired man with red glasses clears his throat from the opposite table as he stands. It takes everything in you to remain professional. 

"With all due respect, your Honor, I believe opposing counsel is just stalling. I have reviewed all the necessary documentation, and it is my fault that Mr. Parsons was pressed for time in finding new representation," Matt says. "Mr. Parsons just wants to resolve this issue as soon as possible so his daughter can be brought home safely after such a… harrowing experience with her sister."

"Ms. Parsons is currently being held without bond at Riker's on an unsubstantiated charge that has no bearing on her ability to raise Bea. This judicial hurdle is a hardship I would think Mr. Murdock would be sensitive to considering his status as a defense attorney and not a family lawyer." You retort, and Matt scoffs. You whip around to face him and find him shaking his head as his fingers flex around his cane.

"Do you consider robbery an unsubstantiated charge when it's caught on video and has multiple witnesses willing to testify to what they saw?" 

"Mr. Murdock, if your father kicked you and your thirteen-year-old sister out of the house in the middle of a New York winter, how would you, at eighteen years old, handle it?"

"Order!" Judge Harlow bangs her gavel several times to get everyone's attention, and you take a deep breath. "All of your concerns have been made abundantly clear, counselors, but if Mr. Murdock says he feels prepared, I will have to believe him. However, I do apologize on behalf of Mr. Murdock's office for not properly warning you of this matter, and I trust that he and his office will not make the same mistake again. Now, can we please get on with today's matter without another outburst?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Matt says, that stupid charm dripping from his voice. You bite the inside of your cheek and summon whatever willpower you have left.

"Yes, Your Honor." You say before returning to your table and gathering the relevant documents for the day's hearing. 

Robert Parsons is not the first shitty father you've had to deal with in all your years of family law. However, he might be one of the worst. Bea and Morgan's mother, Diana, died in the 2012 attack on New York. Since then, Robert, an NYPD officer, has been able to keep his emotional and physical abuse of his daughters under the radar until this winter when he kicked the girls out after he found out Bea snuck out of the house. He said he was "teaching them a lesson about discipline." Morgan, a kid herself, panicked when Bea spiked a fever and tried to steal Tylenol and some food from a local bodega. A fight broke out between Morgan and the cashier, and the police (her dad) were called. You've been trying to help them since Megan came to you at sixteen, but the system has been working against you at every turn. It doesn't help that the NYPD doesn't protect anyone as well as they protect their own. 

So, the fact that the asshole changed counsel three hours before one of the most important custody hearings of your entire year was enough to make your blood boil. The fact that the person representing him is none other than your law school rival, Matt Murdock, made you want to scream. Matt Murdock: Columbia's golden boy, a childhood hero who sacrificed his vision to save an old man's life, Battlin' Jack's son (RE: orphan), the guy who made all the girls in your classes swoon, the guy who told you that family law was a waste of your time. "You just wanna deal with whiny kids all day?" He asked you when you got your internship at one of the top family law firms in the city. For a kid who grew up in an orphanage, you would think he'd have a little more compassion for people who deal with "whiny kids." 

It doesn't matter because that was years ago, and you've since worked your way up the ladder to become one of the state's best, most aggressive family lawyers. People come from all over just to get you to represent them against abusive ex-husbands or piss-poor foster parents. You do good work. You know you do. You also know that Matt does, too. You've kept up with him since he graduated, mainly to compare career tracks and see if the days of winning smiles and perfect dark hair would ever end, but of course, it hasn't. Being on his own time in his own law firm suits him, and you hate that it does. 

Maybe that's why you show him absolutely no mercy in the court proceedings. You pull every piece of evidence you have that shows neglect, abuse, or even just a smidgen of the mental anguish he's put those girls through. Matt quickly and impressively pivots and challenges that this is not a criminal court and you're going above and beyond what's necessary. You argue about where Bea should go for about fifteen minutes while the custody arrangement is still in the air. You contest that Bea should go upstate with her maternal grandmother, Susan, while Matt says she should go back with her father after the emotional distress of Morgan's arrest. 

"Do you honestly believe the best thing for a child undergoing such stress is to move her miles away from the only home she's ever known?" Matt asks incredulously, cocking his head in your direction. You narrow your eyes at him even though you know he can't see you and square your shoulders.

"No, but being away from the man with child abuse charges pending might."

"Mr. Parsons is ready and willing to testify in a court of law that Morgan ran off with her sister in the middle of the night, and he was deploying his squadron to help locate the missing children. However, we aren't here to talk about that. We're here to talk about the safest place for Bea, which could later unfold into where she lives permanently until she becomes a legal adult. Do you really feel comfortable enlisting an elderly woman in the care of a rowdy teenager?"

"Thank you, Mr. Murdock, for the reminder of what today's hearing is actually about. I would've worried you were too ready to treat Mr. Parsons as a defendant." You snap, and Judge Harlow calls to order again. You exhale long through your nose and turn to face her. 

"While I appreciate your passion for this case, I encourage you two to find it within yourselves to keep these proceedings as professional as possible," she says. You recognize the tone. It's legalese for "shut the fuck up before you give me a reason to kick you out of my courtroom." "Beatrice Parsons will stay in her current foster home with supervised visits from her grandmother, Susan Kelsey. Given the emotional state of the child, I will not be releasing visitation time to the father until we see an improvement." 

"And Ms. Parsons, Your Honor? Will she be allowed to visit Bea upon her release?" You ask. 

"That is a matter we can revisit upon Ms. Parsons' release from Riker's. Until then, the only allowed contact with the child is her grandmother and the legal teams. We'll reconvene next Monday morning. Court is adjourned." With that, she bangs her gavel, and you're left reeling. Matt and Robert whisper to each other as you gather your paperwork and pack it away again. Your phone buzzes in your jacket, reminding you that you have to meet with another family regarding another custody agreement in two hours. You sigh and quickly make for the door when Matt and Robert start standing from their table. 

You're halfway to the elevator when you hear your name and reluctantly turn around. "Shit," you mumble as Matt taps his cane down the hallway. Thank God Robert is nowhere in sight, and you plaster on a fake smile for potential onlookers. "Mr. Murdock, how can I help you?"

"Well, I was hoping you could hold the elevator for me," he says. "And maybe we could strike a deal on our way down." You chuckle at his confidence and white knuckle the handles of your briefcase. 

"I don't think we could agree on anything within a thirty-second elevator ride, but I appreciate your enthusiasm."

"Really? Not even where I can buy you a coffee?" He asks as the elevator dings down the hallway. 

"Unfortunately not. I have another client meeting soon. I would've expected a man with his own practice to have similar meetings today, but I guess I was mistaken?" You say as you walk to the elevator. Matt follows suit, laughing at the dig. You press the button for the lobby, and the doors shut, and for a second, it's silent in the elevator. Years of competition and hate linger in the air.

"I've gotta say, I'm impressed with you." He says in a low voice like it's a secret, and you turn to look at him. "Yeah. It's really hard in this line of work to make quite as many enemies as you have." 

"It's not that hard to piss people off when you say they shouldn't have custody of their kids. Just like I'm sure people get pissed at you when you defend murderers."

"I don't defend murderers."

"Oh, Karen Page wasn't a murderer?" The name makes him still next to you as the doors finally open. "See you next Monday, Murdock." You say as you step out of the elevator, leaving Matt in the dust.

For the next week, you bounce between client meetings, hearings, mediations, visits to Morgan in Riker's, and late nights in the office, trying to find a way to take down Parsons and get Morgan out of jail. You would think being the daughter of a cop would be better in this kind of situation. You try to pull every string you can find, milk every connection, and almost beg any defense attorney you can corner for long enough. Still, Morgan remains in Riker's the night before the next hearing, and you're exhausted. 

Your phone rings that night, and you try not to make a habit of answering work calls outside of your normal hours, but the unrecognized number is too tempting to not pick up. "Let's make a deal," Matt says before you can even get out a proper greeting. You scoff and tuck your phone between your ear and shoulder as you close your curtains. 

"Make it worth my time, Murdock. I answered your call on a Sunday night before court." 

"I'm willing to defend Morgan in court and get her out of Riker's by the end of the week," he says. You're about to argue that it's a conflict of interest, that if he'd paid attention in the first semester classes of law school, he would've known that, but he beats you to it. "If you agree to drop this case and get Bea home."

"You're asking me to drop charges of child abuse and reckless endangerment of a minor."

"No, I'm asking you to drop the custody portion for now. The child abuse and endangerment charges will move onto criminal court, but that trial will be a waste of time if you don't have a witness like Morgan." He says. It's true. Even though Morgan is beyond the statute of limitations, Bea isn't. Jurors will be sympathetic to a victim but not a criminal. "No one else is gonna help her, and I'd much rather defend her than her father." 

"So, what happens if Bea goes back and he beats the shit out of her?" You ask as your phone beeps with another notification. Matt starts a long ramble, but you're not fully listening. "Matt, I have another call coming in. Can we talk about this later?" You don't wait for a response. You just end the call and quickly press the red notification, a crackly voice coming in on the other end. 

"And you're sure that's the right amount?" Parsons asks, oblivious to your listening, and someone chuckles in response. 

"That is typically the starting payment," you recognize the accent and glance around your apartment, trying to come up with a plan. "Now, if you keep up the flow, we can discuss upping the payment."

"That shouldn't be a problem. It'll be smooth sailing once I get my kids out of the way. You can tell Mr. Dreykov that."

It's cold. Even under all your layers and your gear, it's cold. The city moves like a living beast all around you, its inhabitants oblivious to you hiding on a rooftop with a gun. It's been two hours since that phone call, and Parsons still isn't home. The call ended within a minute of the notification buzzing on your phone, but they didn't make any plans to meet up anywhere. And why would they if their business together is riding on the results of this custody case? You sigh, your mask pushing the air right back at you, as you sit back on your heels and glance at the night sky.

It's rare that you can ever see stars in New York, but sometimes, if you squint, you can catch little glimpses. You struggle to focus on constellations with the screeching of subway brakes and loud horns penetrating the otherwise peaceful night. You've been doing this for a long enough time that you no longer stress yourself out about things like this. It's work. It's what you're supposed to do, and you get away with it. With all the other masked idiots running around the city— not limited to The Masked Idiots that moved upstate after Stark Tower was destroyed— and the gangs, police are never able to track where bullets are coming from. If they happen to, it's just another job to finish. Not a big deal.

You look to Parson's apartment again and find it still dark and empty. It isn't until you go to adjust the scope that something shuffles behind you, and by that point, it's too late to stop the arms from wrapping around your shoulders and pulling you backward. You throw your head back until you hit something hard, and the grip on you falters enough for you to slip out. There's a mess of punches, kicks, and elbows thrown as you try to get away from your attacker, but with every movement, they seem to anticipate it before you do. It isn't long before you're pinned to a brick wall, too far from your gun, with a gloved hand wrapped around your throat.

"Why are you targeting him?" A deep voice asks above you, and you kick your feet under you, trying to get the upper hand, but he's too strong. His grip on your throat tightens, and you gasp for air. "Last chance." He threatens, and your head swims with no oxygen. 

"The recording," you croak. His hand loosens around your windpipe just enough for you to get more information out. "Listen to the recording. On the phone." He drops you as fast as he grabbed you, and you collapse to the ground in a heap of heavy breaths and gasps. You can hear an old, familiar voice in your head calling you pathetic and weak, but you ignore it to focus on getting breath in your lungs. 

"This is your phone?" The voice asks as he holds up your burner flip phone from 2007, and you scoff.

"Didn't realize I'd be interrogated for my choices in cellphones," you manage, and you imagine the eye roll rather than see it through the red of his mask. You've seen pictures of him before. You've read the articles calling him a vigilante, a wanna-be Avenger, a menace to society. You know him. He stares at you (through you?) carefully as he puts the phone to his ear and listens to the most recent recording from Parson's phone call. You wait for the muscle in his jaw to clench and unclench before pulling yourself to your feet and walking over to him. You take it as a good sign that he doesn't try to throw you off the building for moving and get close enough to him to make out the faint stubble on his square jaw.

"Parson's trafficking girls?" He asks, more to himself than anything, and you nod. "How'd you know about this?" 

"Parson's been receiving huge payouts from off-shore accounts for a few years. All it took was tapping the big mouth's phone to figure out who he was talking to and about what," you explain as you open your hand to ask for your phone back. He obliges, but not without a dramatic sigh. "Y'know, I thought you would've had a better idea of what goes on in the city, Devil Boy." 

"How has this not been flagged by anyone else?" He ignores your jab, much to your dismay.

"The Red Room has informants and Widows in almost every functional part of society. If they want something to stay quiet, they'll find a way."

"I thought Romanoff exposed them."

"Deykov made it impossible to cut ties with the Red Room and other Widows for years. Somehow, Romanoff got out. Barely, but she made it out. There's no way she'd do anything to piss them off now. Not when she's gotten this far," you say. "As far as the public knows, Black Widow is an Avenger and nothing more."

"You got out." 

"I'm not a Widow."

"No?" He asks, and you shake your head. "So, you just had a military-grade weapon and tactical gear lying around?"

"Can't a girl take herself on a shopping spree?" You ask, not willing to justify him with a real answer. The rooftop goes quiet as you think about what the next step is. 

"You don't have to kill him." He says softly, like he's anticipating your reaction. You bite the inside of your cheek and turn to him, annoyance building in your stomach.

"What did you just say to me?"

"I know you want him to suffer, and trust me, he will, but if you want things to change, you need to get information from him. To get information from him, he needs to stay alive."

"What are you? A fucking altar boy?"

"Those girls don't get justice if you kill him."

"Justice," you laugh. "He gets to kidnap, torture, and brainwash little girls, and I'm supposed to just let him rot in prison? Is that justice to you, Red?" He's silent, and you shake your head. "Yeah, I didn't think so." You're about to turn back to your gun and find a way to make him leave you alone when three police cars go speeding down the street behind an FDNY truck. They're speeding and more urgent in their driving than you've seen in a long time. A rogue thought pricks at the corner of your brain, and you mumble a curse. 

Quickly, you open your phone and jam a few buttons until the sound of a police scanner comes through the shitty speakers. "Explosion reported at the corner of Ninth Ave and West 42nd. Multiple casualties have already been reported by people at the scene," a voice reports on the other line, and you hold your breath. "Officer Robert Parsons was reportedly inside the bar when the gas line blew, and he is assumed dead." 

The first thing you do when you get to the office in the morning is file an emergency petition to assign temporary custody of Bea to her grandmother. You're almost positive it'll get approved, considering how there's no one else involved in this custody case. Now free from his obligation to Robert, Matt sent you an email early this morning saying he would defend Morgan in court. You didn't respond. There are too many moving parts to focus on to care about responding to a pity representation in court.

Robert was talking to somebody from the Red Room not even four hours before he died in a fiery explosion. FDNY ruled it as an accident, but you know better. Did he blabber to someone on the force about the off-shore accounts? Did Dreykov's men just finally decide he wasn't worth all the trouble anymore? Did they find out you tapped his phone? If they did, it's only a matter of time before someone finds you. All the hairs on the back of your neck stand up as you stare at the blinking cursor on your computer screen. Your secretary, Margaret, saying your name makes you jump harder than it should've.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She says in all her midwestern politeness, and you shake your head.

"I'm just a little jumpy this morning. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night." You wave her off, and she raises her eyebrows at you sympathetically.

"D'you want me to go get you a coffee?"

"No, thank you. I probably need to lay off coffee for a few hours," you sigh. "Did you need something from me?"

"Oh, yes. Someone called and left you a message... A Matt Murdock?" She says like she's hoping you'll recognize the name, and you nod.

"What'd he say?"

"He wanted to meet with you for lunch to discuss something. He didn't say what." Fucking Matt Murdock, you think. Finding a way to wiggle back into your life just because of one stupid case. "I can tell him no if you want me to."

"No, it's okay. I'll meet with him. We have some unfinished business together." You say, and she leaves to confirm lunch plans with Matt's office. You take a sip of your water, and your throat screams in pain from Devil Boy nearly choking you to death. The reminder that he knew about Parson's involvement with the Red Room before disappearing into the night makes your skin crawl. Another loose end to tie up at another time. Still, your head pounds with all the swirling information and the knowledge that there's no way you'll be getting rid of Matt Murdock anytime soon. "Shit."

[worflesbian]

Sorry for the long post i just wanted to have all my trek sketchbook pages collated in the one place anyway-

1. misc sketches: a dax that went wrong, ds9 promo pic worf, dodgy b'elanna, bowlcut tuvok, off duty kira, and glasses chain worf sandwiched between will and deanna 2. misc sketches: b'elanna in between two worfs, jadzia, grilka, gowron, martok and sirella 3. two garashir sketches i probably did for @section-69 some years ago 4. scenes from a dream oz had plus one from a dream i had (cillian murphy as t'pol) 5. lineup of the sluttiest characters from each trek (kirk, riker, dax, bashir, and tom paris - caveat that i'd only just started voyager at the time, in retrospect it probably shouldve been harry) 6. martok and worf 7. martok and sirella as tennant&tate beatrice and benedick 8. old man worf, two regular worfs and erased worf that went wrong 9. charcoal sketches: two worfs and a martok 10. page of six worfs

[three-drink-amy]

Thank you for the tag @orchidscript and @dumbpeachjuice!!

“Sorry for the late notice,” Henry says with an apologetic smile.

Alex shakes his head at Henry in confusion. “Why are you sorry?”

Henry falters for a moment, his brow furrowed. “Well… I… er…”

“Your former guard got pissed if you sprung something on him, didn’t he?” Alex asks, the answer coming to him so suddenly. The only confirmation he gets is a small nod. “Well, don’t worry about that with me. Jesus. If you want to go see your friend, let’s go fucking see your friend.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have anything else to be doing?” Henry asks, still a bit tense and small.

Alex reaches out and lays a hand at Henry’s shoulder, unsure if it follows protocol or not. “Henry, I’m serious. I have nothing else to be doing. I have nowhere else to be. I know fucking no one in this entire country. I can’t think of what else I’d be doing. If you wanna go, let’s go.”

A small smile crosses Henry’s face. “Thank you.”

He’s quiet as they walk down toward the car. Begrudgingly, Alex lets Henry drive, sitting in the front seat. He knows that the royals are able to drive, but they really drilled into him in his training that it should be him behind the wheel.

“It’s been quite a while since I was able to go see Pez,” Henry tells him once they’re on their way. “I mean, he’s stopped by the palace, so it’s not like I haven’t seen him. But once Riker left…” He sighs, mostly to himself. “I couldn’t go anywhere, really. Not until they had new security in place.”

“Fuck,” Alex breathes. “Why have you not wanted to go a million different places this week?”

Henry laughs. Alex hates that he really likes hearing Henry laugh. “I thought about it, honestly,” Henry admits. “But it seemed like trial by fire for you if I said let’s go here, let’s go there, let’s do this, let’s do that. Seemed a bit unfair.”

“I think I could handle it,” Alex says easily.

Glancing away from the road, Henry watches him for a split second, an expression on his face that Alex can’t readily name.

No pressure tagging: @everwitch-magiks @clottedcreamfudge @indomitable-love @rmd-writes @athousandrooms @welcometololaland @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @strandnreyes @liminalmemories21 @alrightbuckaroo @bonheur-cafe @cricketnationrise @inexplicablymine @catanisspicy

[101-android-luvr-010]

Spot Tales pt1

Data's POV:

Second officer's personal log supplemental:

Stardate: 44250.0

This is the 1,339th day sense the Enterprise was first commissioned. The Enterprise has entered orbit around the planet Risa. The crew, including Lt. Barkley, Commander Riker, Captain Picard, and my best friend, Geordi LaForge, have taken shore leave for the next 72 hours. Today also marks 7 birthdays, a Klingon celebration of the Q'onoS Festival, 1 staff transfer, and 13 weekend school assignment of the 6 though 9 grade.

The door slides with a slight hesitation and Data walks out of his quarters, his brows furl in thought and he tilts his head at the door as it shuts. He begins to walk down the corridors of the Enterprise to engineering.

Data's POV:

However, I have noticed several minor anomalies within the ship's systems. Including environmental controls, the replicators and slight delays in the diagnostics system.... I plan to run a Level 2 diagnostics to ensure no underlying issues are present. This should take approximately 1 hour and 19 minutes to complete.

Data enters engineering, his strides long and deliberate. passing lt.s and other crew members under his, and Lt. Comm. LaForge's command. Back at his quarters, Spot lays on his desk grooming herself, when the door suddenly jitters open. The orange feline's ears perk up, stopping mid-lick. The door is frozen open, and Spot stretches her furry back and jumps down to the floor. The cat prowls curiously towards the opening, and walks out...

Data types away at the central control panel, approximately 11 feet straight away from the Warp coils. He then picks up his PADD that lays to the right of him, and glances down at the controls and continues to tap away on them with his lift hand. Showing the slightest glimpse of satisfaction, he puts his phone-like device into his pocket and starts to walk. His fingers momentarily lingering in the glass of the table.

Data's POV:

The anomaly in the ship's systems has been resolved. However, the resolution requires a complete systems restart to fully stabilize all effected systems. This process should take to all intents and perposes 25 minutes if it runs through optiomaily. In the meantime, I will return to my quarters and have some downtime... Perhaps play my violin and give Spot one of her feline supliments.

He walks to his quarters, but slowly stops as he sees his door wide open. He slowly approaches. His lips part slightly and he steps inside, having to manually close his door. He looks around, on his chair, by the plant she likes to try and eat and under his bed.

"Spot...?''

[goodwhump-temp]

William Riker Whump | Star Trek: The Next Generation

His rizz is too good for his own good

SEASON 1 1x01 Encounter at Farpoint pt2 - Briefly unconscious, evaporated 1x02 The Naked Now - Knees buckle, becoming infected with the silly virus 1x04 The Last Outpost - Stunned, electrocuted unconscious, punched, threatened 1x06 Lonely AMONGUS - Betrayed, stunned/blinded 1x08 The Battle - Worried for Picard 1x09 Hide and Q - Forced to play Qs game, tempted, makes Picard worry 1x14 11001001 - Seduced/distracted, heartbroken 1x18 Coming of Age - Interrogated 1x20 The Arsenal of Freedom - Trapped in stasis, weak 1x21 Symbiosis - Electrocuted hostage, collapses 1x22 The Skin of Evil - Dragged, drowning 1x24 Conspiracy - Restrained, pain, pushed, kicked to the ground, punched multiple times, falls on glass table, unconscious, held, mind controlled, nerve pinched

SEASON 2 2x02 Where Silence Has Lease - Being hunted, trapped, aggravated 2x08 A Matter of Honor - Bullied by Klingon crewmates, bitch slapped/trips 2x12 The Royale - Trapped 2x13 Time Squared - Talks about depressing childhood 2x14 The Icarus Factor - Sees dad for the first time in 15 years, depressed, avoiding, fighting his dad, knocked down multiple times 2x18 Up the Long Ladder - Injected, memory loss, missing cells, cloned 2x21 Peak Performance - Badass, battle simulation turned into a real attack 2x22 Shades of Gray - Calf punctured, nervous system being attacked, passes out, brain stabbed/stimulated, induced sadness and pain (all in one whump episode)

SEASON 3 3x01 Evolution - Inhales toxic nitrogen oxide 3x03 The Survivors - Caught in a trap, hanging upside-down 3x09 The Vengeance Factor - Rizzler, heartbroken/sad 3x14 A Matter of Perspective - Thought dead, acting strange, arrested, guilty until proved innocent, punched multiple times 3x16 The Offspring - Sexually harassed/flustered 3x17 Sins of the Father - Confrontation, annoyed 3x18 Allegiance - Worried, confrontation, gaslighted 3x20 Tin Man - Annoyed 3x21 Hollow Pursuits - Confronts Mad Murdock (🤓), choked, feels insulted 3x23 Sarek - Punched, intense argument 3x24 Menage a Troi - Captured, unconscious, imprisoned, held at gunpoint 3x26 The Best of Both Worlds pt.1 - Annoyed (same), undermined/insulted, knocked down, unconscious

SEASON 4 4x01 The Best of Both Worlds Pt.2 - Sad the whole episode 4x03 Brothers - Trapped 4x08 Future Imperfect - Inhaling toxic fumes, coughing/choking, passes out, wakes from coma, aggravated, captured, imprisoned 4x10 The Loss - Worried 4x14 Clues - Stunned unconscious twice 4x15 First Contact - Hospitalized, severely injured, unconscious, punched multiple times/beaten unconscious, internal bleeding, injected dangerous drugs, weak, forced to kill, passes out, dying 4x17 Night Terrors - Aggravated, paranoid, tired/insomnia, scary hallucination 4x23 The Host - Shuttle shot at, awake during symbiote implantation surgery, erratic vital signs/blood pressure, slowly passing out, dizzy/stumbles/caught, weak, lightheaded, overwhelming pain, symbiote being rejected, sickness/pain worsening, collapses

SEASON 5 5x04 Silicon Avatar - Caught in storm, watches friend die, glum 5x06 The Game - Mind controlled 5x10 New Ground - Smoke inhalation, coughing 5x12 Violations - Paralyzed, traumatic flashback, passes out, noticed missing, comatose 5x14 Conundrum - Amnesia/identity erased, rizzler at maximum potential 5x15 Power Play - Shuttle crash landed, struck by lightning, unconscious, pain, broken arm, punched, shot/stunned 5x16 Ethics - Emotional 5x17 The Outcast - RIZZ ALL DAY ALL NIGHT BROTHER, emotional, brutally heartbroken 5x18 Cause and Effect - Falls to the ground, dies multiple times 5x20 Cost of Living - Life support failing, difficulty breathing, sweating profusely, passes out 5x21 The Perfect Mate - Rizz noticed, victim of rizz 5x24 The Next Phase - Thinks friends are dead 5x25 The Inner Light - Worried

SEASON 6 6x01 Time's Arrow Pt.2 - Worried 6x03 Man of the people - Forced on, scratched/pain, bleeding, worried 6x05 Schisms - Insomnia, agitated, dazed, felt trapped, abducted, restrained 6x07 Rascals - Held at fazerpoint, held hostage, threatened 6x09 The Quality of Life - Beard insulted 6x10 Chain of Command, Pt.1 - Stressed 6x11 Chain of Command, Pt.2 - Angry, confronts commanding officer twice 6x15 Tapestry - Forehead laceration 6x18 Starship Mine - Hostage, punched to the ground, almost passes out, mouth and nose bleeding, knocked out from loud noise 6x19 Lessons - Weak 6x21 Frame of Mind - Forehead sliced, (some of these are repeated multiple times), shaking, anxious, reoccuring head pain, paranoid, hallucinating, memory loss, stitutionalized, injection, increasingly agitated, intense stress/fatigue, scared, captured, parietal lobe damaged, 'neuroshock,' reoccuring bleeding, 'shoots' himself, surgery 6x24 Second Chances - Nervous, copied, twin heartbroken, hanging 6x25 Timescape - Clawed forehead, knocked down, frozen 6x26 Descent - Shot at

SEASON 7 7x03 Interface - Talks about mothers death 7x04 Gambit Pt.1 - Close friend dies, denial/avoidant, angry, emotional pain, physically aggressive, knocked down, captured, nervous system painfully electrocuted multiple times, slapped, kicked 7x05 Gambit Pt.2 - Shot unconscious, presumed dead 7x06 Phantasms - Tube sticking out of head (datas nightmare), attacked, infected 7x12 The Pegasus - Worsening guilt, stressed, broken rib, badly bruised, past revealed, confronted, part of large conspiracy, job threatened, confrontation, arrested 7x15 Lower Decks - Tired 7x18 Eye of the Beholder - Watches somebody die, guilt 7x19 Genesis - Spikes stabbed on his back, pain, worsening memory loss, transformed to beast, agitated, shot unconscious 7x24 Preemptive Strike - Held at fazerpoint, betrayed

[vorta-vortex]

Riker: Whenever Dianna is mad at me, I go and tighten the lids on all of our jars so she has to get help from me.

*The sound of glass breaking in the background*

Riker: It hasn't worked yet, but it'll happen.

[codylambertdanafoster]

My favorite final fantasy characters" aerith tifa cid cloud sephiroth barret vincent red yuffie noctis ignis prompto gladio aranea iris luna hopes yiuu love thems hims gorgeous beautiful handsome thighs pretty rugged realistic photorealistic anime tenga toppa gurren lagen bikini boy idol girl

In the style of rembrandt caravaggio famous dutch weather painters ocean van gogh gulf bay renaissance andy warhol woodcut van dyck holbein michaelangelo raphael da vinci river creek city italian

figure skating sailor moon porcelain robot corporate office tech worker female glasses male happy friendly professional productive plastic bottles africa child cleopatra audrey hepburn caesar bible samurai warrior dnd waifu wizard

figure skating sailor moon porcelain robot corporate office tech worker female glasses male happy friendly professional productive plastic bottles africa cleopatra audrey hepburn caesar bible samurai warrior dnd waifu wizard

motorcycle pokemon long hair porcelain robot cleopatra audrey hepburn architecture brutalist renaissance midcentury gothic romanesque byzantine modern dream k-pop man makeup babe hottie

beautiful forest dryad playing card dnd skeleton warrior war battle epic mage wizard gandalf sauron frodo aragorn fairy elf tank dwarf barbarian dragon dungeon fantasy barret balthier ashe penelo red xii cait sith vincent cid yuffie mog chocobo garnet zidane vivi celes rosa cecil midgar laguna seifer squall rinoa irvine selphie zell quistis summon ifrit titan bahamut pheonix rem machina ace sice nine eight cinque bartz gladio gilgamesh secretary administrative assistant harassment picard crusher worf la forge troi riker apostle disciple finance smiling woman sorceror mancer raptor stylized rex

[theshejen]

Casey Novak Enimies to Lovers Chapter 2

Casey had called you into her office right after you got nearly enough information on El Fuego to act on it.

“What?” You asked, winded from walking so fast into her office. The sooner you arrived, the sooner you could leave.

“Need you to sign some paperwork for me,”

She was being really pleasant for someone who just outed you. Part of you felt conflicted at giving her ice so you quickly signed the form before turning to leave.

“Was that your first time at a club like that?”

“What does that have to do with the Case?” You ask, trying to be gentle. “It doesn't, I am just curious, ya know.”

Casey has pinged for you but she did seem…inexperienced. “It's a nice event every month or so. Dancing, a few performances, and drinks.”

“Cool,” she hesitated. “That'll be all, Detective,”

That afternoon, Liv and you had gotten to El Fuegos ex employee. Someone who used to sell her drugs and knew about her people. You had gotten to him and now all that was needed was El Fuegos house, which he claimed he didn't know. “A night in Rikers might change his mind,” Liv commented, looking through the glass at the loser.

The pair of you were walking out of the building when Novak called you, requesting your presence. You gave Liv an eye roll before you got off the phone. The two of you said goodbye before you mentally prepared yourself to deal with the annoying redhead.

You strode in, all cockily. “You asked to see me, councilor.” “Yeah,” she said with a smile, gestured for you to sit and leaned against her desk.

“You were there when they arrested Mark Gibbon, correct?”

“Yeah, that was like four months ago, why?”

“It would be a big help if you testify. He claims I have a bias against him and I'd like for you to testify that he doesn't and that he was difficult with all involved in his investigation.”

You threw your head back and laughed. The redhead gave you a quizzical look. “You want me to help you after you outed me?” You laughed again.

“Screw you, Novak,” you went back to writing on your notepad when she sat on the chair next to you.

“I need your help with this Detective. To show that I have integrity,” Casey pleaded, almost softly. “First off, I've only known you a few months, secondly you have other people here who know you better who you hopefully didn't out too,”

Casey stood up, “That's the point, you don't know me well enough to cover for me since we aren't friends and haven't had a chance to be,”

“Maybe I'll be your rock…I'll think about it.”

………………………………..

You wanted to tease the woman and it had worked. You barged into her office two days before she needed you and the look on her face….you figured this would be a fun time in court.

“Detective, have you experienced ADA Novak being unprofessional?”

“She's a pain but I don't hate her. Novak is good at her job which is a lot more than I can say about skeevy cops.”

“Do you know why her integrity is being questioned?”

“Because Mark Gibbon wants to get off by saying Novak hates him. When I was in the army, I helped disciple people. Someone like Ms. Novak may get a talking to but she's one of the good guys, always does the right thing, I have no issues with her and have never seen her behave unprofessionally or out of line, even at after work functions.”

“What makes her so difficult, Detective?”

You licked her lips, instead of giving you that look in her office, the redhead was glaring at you. “She's a crusader for the truth, desperate to do the right thing, like a Jedi.”

A few of the gallery laughed.

“She's a pain but good at her job, great even,”

After the win court all of you celebrated at the local bar. You were sitting in the corner sipping your third lager beer when she came up to you. “Thanks for helping me out today,” Novak offered.

“You didn't seem to like said help at the time,” you said, sipping at the last quarter of the beer, stumbling a bit in the chair to look at her.

“I was about to head out, join me?” You nodded and chugged the last bit of beer. The two of you wandered outside. You couldn't help but notice her beauty.

“You're a virgin aren't you, councilor?” She gave you a confused look, “How can you tell?” “I don't know, just can,” you laughed a bit. She glared at you. “I think you need to learn to be nice,” “I am to most everyone…except you,” you laughed again. “You know what, you can find your own way home.” She says shoving you a bit. You felt bad suddenly, ruining her win, “Case, love come back, I'm sorry.” But she was already away.

After a morning of delivered breakfast you did some work and thought about what you had said to her. Sunday afternoon you had been called in and stayed until Monday 5pm. Being a hair younger than everyone, except Novak, you didn't mind as long as you got Chinese food.

“Can I talk to you?” A familiar voice grumbled behind you. You felt drunk again, this time from the lack of sleep.

“I need you to research this guy for me tomorrow. I think he is our link between this case and the one from four years ago.”

“Four years ago you were in diapers,” you lent to her. “What's in it for me? You out me, I help you, I help you again….” “You were a bastard to me at my celebration, “I get why you walked away, but if you didn't I would have apologized,”

She huffed. “Well please start research on this,” “Novak, I'm happy to help tomorrow but I'm tired and I'm not your bitch. I'll do this tomorrow, I promise.”

“ Fine,” she gritted through her teeth. “Don't know why you're such a dick about everything.” “Because I don't work for you,” “Actually you do,” she claimed before turning and walking away. Why was every conversation and interaction with this woman difficult?

[ask-the-becile-boys]

Story. Inferno

Previous | Next

[ID: 9 digitally sketched panels in greyscale.]

[Panel 1: Becile Manor's windows and smokestacks are blown violently out with fire, SFX: (all caps) Boom! The linework is slightly doubled to indicate the house shakes with the force of the explosion.]

[Panel 2: Locksmith and The Jack flinch from the explosion. The Jack lifts an arm to cover his eyes while Locksmith grabs his hat to keep it on and puts his face in the crook of his other elbow. Locksmith's coat tails flutter with the rush of air. All panels from here out have stark shadows]

[Panel 3: Dee in profile, eye visible beneath her bangs. She screams in despair, "(all caps) No!"]

[Panel 4: Riker, still sitting in the van's driver seat, and Hare standing by the van next to him. Both stare silently in horror at the burning house. No text.]

[Panel 5: Shot of Locksmith, back to the viewer, as he turns to face the burning windows. No text.]

[Panel 6: Locksmith in profile, seriously regarding the flames as embers drift by. (This calls back to The Jack's burning of the straitjacket.) Locksmith says, "(ellipses) It is done. We are free of this place and its shadow."]

[Panel 7: The Jack, facing the viewer (Locksmith), staring in horror as Locksmith says, "I will regret leaving you behind. But I can no longer tarry."]

[Panel 8: Locksmith turns to look at the viewer (The Jack) and somberly starts to say, "Goodbye, The Ja (em-dash)"]

[Panel 9: SFX: (all caps) Bang! Locksmith's head jerks backward as he is shot in the eye, the glass of his lens shattering. End ID]

[noyoucantdonteventry]

theres a dude on campus rn to watch the eclipse that looks lowkey like riker and is wearing a steely dan shirt and he doesnt seem to have eclipse glasses. 4 trillion notes and i go shoot my shot

[purplespacekitty]

Magnifying Glass: "The Outcast"

Episode: "The Outcast"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 5, Episode 17

Original Air Date: March 16, 1992

Screenwriter: Jeri Taylor

Director: Robert Scheerer

I feel like Star Trek as a fandom doesn’t really talk about this episode enough. I find this episode extremely fascinating and have a lot of thoughts about it, but I don’t want to subject anyone who isn’t willing to my (VERY LONG) ramblings, so please, keep reading at your own discretion.

First, a quick synopsis: an alien planet called J'naii enlists the Enterprise-D to help them find a lost shuttlecraft in their star system. First Officer Commander Riker is paired up with Soren, a member of the J'naii, to devise a rescue mission for this shuttlecraft and along the way, the two catch romantic feelings for one another. However, the J'naii are a majority androgynous, aromantic and asexual race and those who deviate from this norm are persecuted and forced to undergo a kind of conversion therapy to "cure" their "condition". Soren confides in Riker her feelings towards him and her identity as a woman, things she could not share with her own people for fear of the violence she has seen others like her face. Understanding the risks, the two pursue a relationship with one another, but eventually the other J'naii find out and Soren is put on trial, where she makes an impassioned speech to stand up for herself and others like her. After the trial, Riker tries to fight for Soren's right to seek asylum with the Federation, but his support and efforts are in vain. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, Soren has been subjected to psychological treatment and no longer feels any attraction to Riker. The Enterprise leaves, having finished their business with the J'naii and Riker is left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

I could go on and on about the "bury your gays"/"queer and trans people must suffer" trope this episode and others like it within the franchise fall into (i.e. DS9's "Rejoined" and ENT's "Cogenitor"). And while I will be criticizing the casting and writing decisions this episode's creators made, I think it's important to recognize the ways in which this episode does achieve some level of success with Star Trek's most favored format for addressing social and political issues; allegorical storytelling. However, I will be dragging this episode before I compliment it, so bear with me.

I’ll be honest…I’m not super jazzed about the way they handled sexuality in this episode. The J’naii reproduce asexually and it is not socially acceptable to have sex or procreate sexually in J’naii society. Which is in an of itself mostly fine, except that the writers portray the agender, aromantic and asexual J’naii as largely dispassionate, cold and close-minded, unable to connect with each other or other beings in meaningful ways which, hey, right off the bat, not a great depiction of aspec folks. The J’naii are supposed to be an antithesis of (‘90s) Earth conventions of gender and sexuality, but in their creation as one of the very few sets of characters up until this point that are generally androgynous, aromantic and asexual, they fall in line with a kind of alienation not uncommon in Star Trek: ‘look at this species, they do things differently from the majority of humans! isn’t that neat? but it’s just unique to them, so what sets us apart from them must be what makes us fundamentally human’. Take Spock, Data, Seven of Nine and Odo for instance, all characters who on some level struggle with human/humanoid conceptions of sexuality and all characters who have a complicated relationship to humanity as they themselves are not (just) human. Each of them are generally received by human characters as cold, calculating and are purposely shown to have difficulty connecting with others intimately because they are not (just) human. The often-used trope is that if only they were human, they would understand what love is (queue Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is”). This more broadly implies that romance and sex are essential to humanity and human intimacy, which they are not. Creating a species that is predominantly agender, aromantic and asexual and because of this, predominantly operates in cold a and stagnant way creates a monolith of aromantic and asexual people and ignores the complexities of the aromantic and asexual spectrums, especially against the backdrop of a central star-crossed lovers plot.

Riker's actor Jonathan Frakes insisted that it would have been more impactful to cast Soren with a male actor rather than a cisgender actress. Indeed, because this episode originally was made to challenge viewer attitudes towards homosexuality, such a decision surely would have shaken people’s foundations a bit more and would have actually better-achieved what the writers were going for. Maybe this episode would have been as beloved as “Rejoined” if it had featured Star Trek’s first kiss between two men. However, if they had had Soren still identify as a woman when played by a male actor, we would still have someone who does not live our stories telling our stories for us. A truly meaningful representation of trans people would have seen Soren cast with a trans actress. But as I mentioned, an allegory for trans people wasn’t really what the writers were going for and they probably didn’t see hiring actual trans people as a viable option in the first place. If you look on Memory Alpha, you will see that none of the writers in the room for “The Outcast” were trans or queer themselves. Jeri Taylor herself says that while she is not gay, she wanted to do this story because homosexuality is such a controversial issue and "as a woman [she does] consider [herself] in a particular minority; [she knows] what it feels like to be disenfranchised – not in that precise way – and [she] felt like [she] had a touchstone to some of the feelings that must be involved" (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 240). I think it's admirable that she wanted to head a project like this and to give the issue a great deal more compassion than others would have in her place, but the fact still remains that she herself is not queer or trans, meaning that, again, people who do not live our stories and were mostly just fishing for clout were trying to tell our stories for us.

All this to say, I do think this episode has some things going for it that I would like to outline below. Because regardless of the casting decisions and the way the writers actually ended up handling conventions of gender and sexuality, Soren is a trans woman: she identifies as a gender different from the gender she was assigned at birth. And Riker falls for her and gives her his love with an open ease that Soren’s own people do not.

When I watched “The Outcast” for the first time, I hadn’t come out yet and I hadn’t even begun to delve into the world of my own gender or sexuality. So it wasn’t my trans awakening or anything, but it certainly is one of the things I ruminate on when I think back to, as we LGBTQIA+ people are wont to do, all the times when perhaps I could have realized it.

Yeah, I know this episode gives us just another of many Riker romances, but it is not at all flippant or without depth in the way it unfolds. The focal romance of this episode is part of what makes it all the more heartbreaking. Riker falls fast and hard for Soren in an era of American TV where trans characters were routinely played for laughs (I’m looking at you, Frasier). Popular cis male characters of the 1990s are vastly insecure about their masculinity and sexuality in interactions with trans people, particularly with trans women. If TNG teaches us nothing else, it certainly teaches us that Riker is admirably comfortable in both his masculinity and sexuality. Of course, Star Trek takes place lightyears ahead of the eras it’s filmed in. This episode was written in the 1990s and is therefore restrained in its exploration of gender by mainstream, Western ‘90s understandings of gender. But by the 24th century, humanity is supposed to have addressed and healed the wounds of its prejudices. So by the time the Enterprise sidles up to J’naii, humanity has had plenty of time to learn about and understand the multitudes of gender, not just in their own cultures but in those of other species (I’m thinking here of Star Trek’s tendency to favor Western cultural values over others). There are no mentions in this episode of the many genders that have been recognized by various Earth cultures throughout history and the writers did not anticipate the way in which gender identities and definitions have now been recovered and expanded, a process one might assume will only continue as we move forward.

"The Outcast" aired in 1992, when the term “nonbinary” had not yet made its way into mainstream English vernacular. But as pointed out above, it is not unaccompanied by other episodes in the franchise addressing gender politics: “The Offspring” showcases Data’s relationship to gender and his determination to let his android child decide their own gender; DS9 has an entire character whose gender and sexuality are fluid depending on their host and the symbiont Dax’s gender is never confirmed; the wormhole Prophets’ genders are never confirmed; there are many episodes in both TNG and DS9 which examine Ferengi gender politics; one episode shows us Sisko and Bashir excitedly discussing a male lieutenant’s pregnancy and upcoming baby shower; etc. However, while it's easy to argue that it would have been plausible for the human officers aboard Enterprise-D to easily grasp the concept of a species where androgyny is the norm, it is precisely the incongruity of a mainstream Western '90s understanding of gender paired with the supposed utopian Earth of the 24th century that makes this episode resonate with me (as I'm sure it has with others) in particular. Science fiction is more about the past than the future, after all. “The Outcast” approaches genderqueerness and pronouns with the compassion and curiosity expected of Starfleet. And because of this, we get to see multiple characters grow in this episode, particularly Riker and Worf, both of whom initially struggle with the idea of gender neutrality.

Now, getting into the romantic plot. Riker’s love for Soren is unconditional, a hopeful light in the face of two different worlds (Earth from our side of the screen and J’naii from the other) that constantly deny trans people our right to exist, which paint us as sick, demented, perverted, monstrous and disgusting. When Soren confides in Riker about her identity, he is not deterred. He is curious and kind, glad to have been shown this part of her truth, even as he struggles to understand J’naii’s general attitude towards gender. Furthermore, there are no reservations on Riker’s part about Soren’s appearance. Although Soren is played by a cisgender actress, binarism in our society pressures many trans people to transition medically in a way that Soren has not, an issue that is of no concern to Riker who is simply in love with her as she is. Which is cool, considering that the majority of Riker’s romantic interests are hyper-feminine. What this shows us is that Riker is not so shallow as to be concerned solely with a person’s appearance when it comes to who he's attracted to and does not so deeply equate gender presentation with gender identity that he is unable to see Soren as the woman she is. He is already attracted to Soren before she confides her gender identity to him.

Soren does not mention anyone who has felt similar feelings for her or for whom she has felt similar feelings and explains that the concept of gender is highly “offensive” to the J’naii. She has spent the majority of her life in fear of her truth being exposed, but in Riker’s company, feels safe to share it with him as he is an outsider who has shown an honest interest in learning. He comes to understand her in a way that she has not been allowed to let others understand her before, in a way that has not been safe before, which is the door that opens them both to their care and love for one another. Though we don’t get to see them learn all that much about each other personally, they do learn that they share an interest in exobotany and get to spent some truly heart-melting moments together.

Back on the Enterprise, Riker has a significant conversation with Deanna about Soren, expressing his deep love for her and letting Deanna know that he wants to continue to pursue a relationship with Soren. Again, this demonstrates that Riker is not only head over heels for Soren but also that he is secure in his masculinity and sexuality, nowhere near ashamed of the feelings he feels for Soren, but simply concerned for the stability of his friendship with his ex. We love a respectful, communicative guy.

We don’t get to see Soren express her feelings for Riker or any potential shame she might harbor about them to anyone but him, which we know would lead to her persecution if she tried to share it with another J’naii. Which leads us to the end of this episode.

The tragedy, of course, is that the other J’naii do find out and do not respond with compassion or respect. Even after Soren has given everything to valiantly make her case, to stand up for herself and others who share her experiences of gender-based oppression, Riker and Worf return to J’naii one last time to rescue her only to find out that they are too late; Soren has already been forced to undergo psychotectic treatment (i.e. conversion therapy). Riker makes one last desperate attempt to get Soren to recall her true self but…she doesn’t. She can’t. And that clipped connection, that final tear in the string that bound them together in an inextricable truth, is what haunts Riker as Ensign Gates takes the Enterprise-D out of J’naii’s orbit.

Obviously, I would have loved to see Riker and Worf succeed in their rescue attempt, have our intrepid heroes break the Prime Directive to save Soren and help forge the first steps to liberating the trans people of J’naii. Unfortunately, for this episode to work, for it to resonate with its viewers as a meaningful commentary on the way our society treats queer and trans people, the screenwriters obviously felt that the tragedy of losing Soren in the end would garner more sympathy. We see a similar take with episodes like DS9's aforementioned “Rejoined”, where Jadzia Dax’s resolve to live the rest of her life with Lenara Kahn is ultimately in vain. She can only watch helplessly from the balcony above the Promenade as Kahn leaves, having chosen instead to favor the life of her symbiont and its future hosts over spending what time she can with the love of her life. Homophobia and transphobia tear people apart - real, living, breathing, loving, caring people. To deny someone their right to stand in their own truth is to deny them their existence. The screenwriters for “The Outcast” made the conscious decision to have us witness this violence, to make us sit with it and understand that Soren's experience represents the real experiences of real people. That the violence committed against queer and trans people harms both them and those who love them. Because Soren was loved. Is loved. She was held and shown a humility she for so long had no access to. And for a brief moment, she felt that love.

Absolutely, this episode could have been done better and I really, really wish they had hired actual trans people to tell Soren’s story or at least cast an actual trans actress to play her. But I do think there is something to be said for the episode’s fundamental, albeit accidental message which is that trans people are not broken or sick in the head. We are whole, vibrant beings entirely deserving of love, respect, support, happiness, care and, above all, life.