#so he's just been going by tiberius. for a while. like that's just his name now

[sn0wbat]

sparkle on, tiberius ✨

[endursent]

- Opened doors

【 content; sunday x reader , astral express sunday , cockwarming (sunday giving) , anal sex , comforting , halovian biological headcanons , penis haver!reader , NSFW 】

【 note; this is for the penis havers and wanters out there of any gender. stay strong in the perpetual drought of reader-insert fics dedicated to you, you're stronger than any troops. can of course be enjoyed by anyone, as usual no gender nor appearance described. 】

【 word count; 2.450 | read on ao3 】

You had barely started and Sunday was already digging his fingernails into your sides—whether in protest or pleasure wasn’t clear by the action alone. He was so still and stiff you wondered if he had changed his mind. 

  “Sunday, if this is too much, we can—“ 

  “No—it’s fine, i-it’s fine,” his words aren’t very convincing, mumbled and stuttering as they are, so you try again. 

  “I can finish tending to your wings first, then we can do this,” it was slightly your own fault, you had offered him a seat while you go through his thinning wings to remove any feathers that have loosened but cling stubbornly to the ones around it… and Sunday is having a hard time already, giving him options isn’t the brightest idea right now while he’s adjusting. 

  He frowns slightly, chin on your left shoulder as his fingers stop clenching your poor skin and he instead wraps his arms around your torso, holding firmly. “No…”

  It’s impossible to read his thoughts on a normal day, and you expected it to be easier today—this isn’t your first time helping him through moulting, it takes several weeks to complete the process for adult Halovians and you’ve helped him through it once before… though it took some convincing to let you help. 

  Sunday is stubborn and reclusive, though he’s less avoidant now after so long with the Astral Express… he learned the hard way that trying to ignore or avoid certain members only makes them more persistent and determined, it’s still a great effort to get him to accept help. Not because he doesn’t want it—he does, so badly—but because he neither wants to take your time nor waste it on something he could do by himself and has always done.

  Unfortunately for him, you need to know his thoughts to help. “Hm, well, I won’t start until I know you feel well enough for it,” your own hands resting on his hips clap his skin lightly, just enough for a small smacking sound to snap in the air. 

  Instantly, he straightens as if a sudden burst of energy knocked him on the forehead, his golden eyes squint at you with the greatest offence he has shown. “What must I do—to prove it to you?”

  Almost as if defiantly, he clenches even further around you—he’s been holding on tightly already—and nearly forces a groan from your throat. He’s so damn warm, inside and out. It’s a dangerous combo, to have him warming your dick, and giving you that defiant look at the same time… you almost give in. Almost. 

  But you don’t particularly feel like having him pass out on you from the feeling of having his wings touched as thoroughly as you will as well as the intensity of cockwarming you at the same time. You prefer to have him aware and enjoying it just as much as you are. 

  “How about naming every world in the Tiberius system backwards?” 

  His wings twitch in agitation. “That—that’s not even a real star system.”

  “Yes it is,” you insist. “I read about it.”

  “Then why don’t you name them and—stop stalling?” he says, voice tinged with annoyance and impatience. 

  A smile spreads on your lips. “I’ll get started then.”

  He clicks his tongue in frustration. You didn’t want him to name anything—if Sunday had started blabbering some made-up names to get you to start and stop talking in desperation, you would have known he wasn’t in the position to do this. 

  Sometimes, you do like to use the perfectly functional brain between your ears. 

  His wings itch and ache, a dull throb that isn’t particularly bad during daytime when he’s out and about—but as soon as he takes his coat off, it intensifies until he massages for a long enough time or puts a salve between the feathers.

  As soon as your hands leave his sides—the assured hold that’s been anchoring him since he sank down onto your stiff length—he almost feels off-balance, but it’s quickly rectified once your fingers touch his wings and he whimpers at the touch. You had barely slid your thumb under the ridge of his left wing and between the first two feathers, and he was already twitching and shifting subtly, causing your touch to falter as his hips moved just little bit and you almost give in to the desire to snap your hips upwards, but rein in every single thought and willpower you can muster. 

  Maybe this is going to be harder for you than it will be for him. 

  Swallowing thickly and continuing despite your extremely distracting throbbing inside of his hole, you carefully and firmly—but gently of course—nudge and press against the sensitive feathers of his wings. You comb two out and the base of his wings appear thinner, your fingers brush by feathers that are emerging and they feel impossibly soft and delicate. 

  Halovian wings are sensitive—but they’re not necessarily stimulating, having them touched tickles at most, yet during a moulting when the flesh and feathers are so fresh and vulnerable, it somehow amplifies the feelings fivefold and can promote certain feelings of pleasure. 

  Sunday’s eyes flutter closed, eyelashes equally soft as his wings as they brush against his cheeks and he leans into your touch instinctively. “Mmh… wait, go back—there, again… just a little…” 

  You follow any instructions he gives, despite the way your heart races with every movement he makes the slightest movement, with the way his expression contorts into comfort and a focus on himself—where he can only feel the overwhelming touches and barely has room to consider your presence outside of the way you stretch him with a mild, twitching burn. 

  Releasing one wing to reach for the oils he had prepared on the bedside table next to you, Sunday peers his eyes open, but closes them again when he sees why you stopped. 

  Outside of the now two times you’ve done this, you don’t generally touch Sunday’s wings… mostly because touching them—or stroking them specifically is an intimate act that despite your relationship (that has never quite been defined, as he finds an escape at the mention of it) he’s been hesitant about letting you do. And you’re not one to be pushy if he feels uncomfortable, a step forward can quickly become two steps backwards if you push too hard. 

  But despite the difficulty of navigating this delicate companionship… you find it to be worth the hassle, after all, having his slim—though a bit boney lately, the moulting requires a lot of energy and nutrition to sustain itself, and you imagine he hasn’t taken the best care of himself that he could—body pressed to yours, his soft whimpers and breaths trembling with every press of your fingers as you carefully massage the sore appendages. Your own cock is buried deep within him, throbbing desperately for movement that takes half your focus to suppress, while his twitches stiffly between your stomachs, now leaking slightly against your skin as a feather that was half-loose detaches when you nudge it only slightly. 

  Sunday’s lips part as your finger touches the area where the feather just fell, and you feel a deep urge to kiss him, to slide your tongue between his open lips and feel the sounds he makes instead of just hearing them. But you fear that might completely overwhelm him to a point it might make him dizzy. You will have plenty of opportunities to kiss him later. 

  The oils both are both cooling and soothing, helping ease the ache that comes with the development and lowering of new feathers. It’s always a bit funny to see how his wings get shorter and thinner, like a baby bird, before they grow again into the expressive appendages that you love so much. 

  “Sometimes,” you start talking and Sunday’s eyebrow twitches, brought out of his thoughts and focus. “There’s six wings, where are the other four now?” 

  “Stop talking,” he mumbles. Half your focus is on tending to his wings and the other half on holding back from thrusting fiercely into his welcoming heat. Thus as soon as you open your mouth, your hands still. 

  “I’m curious,” you hum. “Tell me later?”

  He huffs as your hands start moving again, you’re almost finished anyway. “Fine…”

  Feeling a little mischievous, and pouty by his dismissive response, you lightly pinch the ridge of his wing where it bends—and immediately, Sunday jerks in surprise, his wing stretching fully as his eyes fly open and his entire body tenses. He hisses your name as he clenches so tightly around you, your vision nearly dots, warmth and sparks shooting through you like an electrical line and you can’t stop yourself from pushing further up into him.

  With both of you surprised and disoriented by each other, as well as you finally granting the delicious friction of movement—if accidental—Sunday grasps your shoulders tightly and inhales sharply. “C-careful…!” he blinks, the combined tingle of his wings and the pressure of your cock is a delicate balance that he’s very quickly losing hold of. 

  Your breath shakes when it leaves your lips, you feel dizzy with need, the suppressed desire you worked so hard to keep under wraps while you tended to him is very quickly slipping between your fingers. “Sunday… I’m not—sure I can…”

  He clenches his jaw, in equal trouble with himself as you are. “You got m-most of it… we can finish later,” it’s a long process of checking and preening through over a few weeks, you already found seven, that’s more than enough for one day. 

  It’s all you needed to hear, you’ll take good care of him after—now, you desperately need to move. You already prepared plenty of protein-rich snacks to promote a healthy moult, and you’re sure you’ll both be hungry after this. 

  Sunday lets out a strange sound when your hand lays on his lower back and presses him closer, you other goes around his back—and you turn the two of you around, Sunday’s halo clanks against the headboard as he finds himself on his back, he groans slightly and hits you lightly on top of the shoulder. “Y-you—don’t do that while you’re inside of me!” he chides. The feeling of so much movement and how you twisted slightly made him cringe even as it also felt slightly good—only slightly, he won’t admit to more so you don’t get any ideas of rolling him around. 

  Any thought of further scolding leaves his mind like the scattering of ash after a fire has been stomped out as soon as you drag your hips back, halfway out—and move back in. Carefully. 

  Sunday swallows thickly, he feels a throb pulse throughout his entire body, behind his eyes and prick the ends of his fingers and toes. His stomach is wet, his cock freely leaking more than he’s sure he ever has before he’s even reached a high. He breathes your name and his nails dig into your shoulders, you seem so focused—but he wants your eyes to be on his. Before, he might’ve been embarrassed to lock eyes with you, but right now, he feels that he might cry if he doesn’t see you. 

  You blink, the breathy sound of his voice carrying your name to your ears snaps you out of your focus—to not thrust wildly, to not grab his hips in a bruising grip and lick the mess off his stomach. Your eyes move before your head does, and you see the watery squint of his eyes, the slight scrunch of his eyebrows and you fear you moved too fast—perhaps you should have pulled out before flipping him down, did it hurt him? 

  “Sunday,” your hand moves from the mattress next to his head, your fingers—still slightly fatty from the oil—brush over his cheek, his lower eyelid twitches as the tip of your thumb slides below it. “Are you okay? Should I stop?”

  Surprisingly, he smiles. A small tug of his lips that feels like a rare treat to see, it’s infectious and you smile in return. “Continue?” you ask, having stilled as soon as he uttered your name. Sunday nods, not quite trusting his voice to form words in a way that won’t sound embarrassing. 

  You lean down and press your lips to the edge of his eyes, they squeeze shut the moment before you touch them, and you feel a tinge of salt from unshed tears. 

  He trusts you, you take good care of him—always have, despite his tendency for doubts and isolation. You will always be there when he opens the door again. 

  The drag of your cock pulling back and pushing in again burns slightly, but with repeated movements, the feeling of pleasure overwhelms the pressure. He wraps his arms around your shoulders and tugs you into him, his thinned wings tickle your cheeks and shoulder as he presses his nose into your neck. Sunday can’t hold back his moans as you slide one hand under his thigh and lift it only slightly, managing a deeper angle without lifting his hips too much. 

  “Nghh—w-wait, that’s—“ Sunday jerks slightly as you rock into a particular spot inside of him, his entire body feels alight and his joints freeze as they are. His breath deepens as his back bows and his head tilts back, and you can’t help but press your lips to his, swallowing his moans and whines as his leg that’s not firmly in your grasp hooks around your waist. His words are muffled and clumsy against your lips as you increase your pace, he clenches around you in a rhythm that almost finishes you off instantly—but you can’t give in until he’s been satisfied. You need to hear and see him as he falls apart. 

  Sunday moves his head to the side and away from your lips, his expression pinching as the final thrust needed sends him over the edge and he cries out, and you quickly join him. 

  His head spins, Sunday feels like he’s in a whirl-winding pool—but realises the wetness he feels is just his own, and not pool water. He pants, squinting at you. “D-did you pull o-out?” he’s barely recovered enough to ask, and his body thrums so much still that he can’t feel it. 

  When you only give a sheepish smile, he pinches your ear, earning an; “ow!”. Sunday’s lips purse in a frown-pout. “You better help me clean up, then.”

  He doesn’t even need to ask.

[cookiescribble]

First Day

A/N: this has been in my head for a long time because I have random trivial star trek knowledge and whenever they show spencer talking about star trek in the show i go all heart eyes so I wrote a little blurb 🫶🏻 also I had fem!reader in mind when I wrote this but I realized I didn’t actually make any references to gender so 🤷🏻 - mod angel 

Pairing: Spencer Reid x GN!Reader

Summary: Spencer bonds with his new coworker over Star Trek. 

~~~

It was my first day at the BAU, and I was a little… intimidated being here. I had been mostly keeping my head down and staying quiet, since social interaction wasn’t something I was great at. I was okay just watching the others interact with each other for now. 

“Hey, kid,” Derek called out, beckoning Spencer. “I need your help with the crossword.”

Spencer walked over to Derek’s desk, which was next to mine. “What’s up?” he asked. 

Derek pointed to the newspaper with his pencil. “7 across: James _ Kirk (Star Trek). 8 letters.”

Tiberius, I thought instinctively. I considered saying it out loud, but he hadn’t asked me, so I decided to stay quiet. 

“Tiberius,” Spencer said, almost as fast as I had thought it. 

I smiled to myself. I was always the only one who knew about geeky stuff. Until now, I guess. 

Derek finished filling in the crossword. “Thanks. I knew it was always James T. Kirk, but I didn’t know what it stood for.”

Without thinking, I spoke up. “Actually, in the third episode of The Original Series, someone who’s fighting Kirk prepares a gravestone for him and it says James H. Kirk.”

Everyone turned to look at me, staring at me with open mouths. I blushed. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. But now I felt uncomfortable sitting in this silence. 

I cleared my throat. “Um. So. Yeah. It wasn’t always James T. Kirk, as you said. They didn’t mention his full initials until-“

“Episode 13: The Conscience of the King.” Spencer cut me off, his eyes lighting up like he had been dying to talk about this. He walked over to my desk and leaned on the front of it. “The first time they mention it is when Spock is checking his background and speaks it into the computer.”

I nodded, smiling. “Yeah, and they don’t mention the name Tiberius until the 6th movie, The Undiscovered Country.”

“Oh my god, there are two of them,” I heard Emily say. 

Either Spencer didn’t hear her or he was purposefully ignoring her. “Actually…” he started, sitting on my desk. He was bouncing a little. “The first time the name Tiberius is mention is in The Animated Series episode BEM.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” I admitted. “I’ve never actually seen The Animated Series. Actually, I’ve only ever seen part of The Original Series…”

That only made him sit up straighter. “Do you want to watch it? I have every episode on DVD. I’d be happy to show it to you sometime.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that. I’ve always wanted to finish watching it, and watch the other shows too. If you don’t mind me imposing…”

He shook his head. “I don’t mind at all. Not a lot of people I know are interested in Star Trek, so I’m happy to show it to you if you’re interested. You can come by my apartment sometime and we can watch it.”

I nodded. “That sounds great. I appreciate it.”

I heard people whispering in the distance. 

“Did he just-“

“Shh, don’t say anything, you’ll jinx it. I think this is the first time in history that this has ever worked.”

“And probably the last time it will ever work. This is definitely a unique circumstance.”

I blushed a little as I heard everyone talking about us, but I continued chatting comfortably with Spencer for a while before everyone was interrupted by the news that we had a case. But I was really relieved that, despite feeling so overwhelmed about starting this job, I had been able to make a friend on my first day.

[burr-ell]

Putting Terms on the High Shelf: Main Character Syndrome

As I'm watching C2, one thing I've noticed about Caleb's various sidebars to talk to different people is that he's still very much involving them—the conversations reveal various different priorities not just for Caleb, but for the people he's talking with. Liam's RP is often geared toward encouraging character work out of the other players at the table; it's something you see with Vax early on, and it's very present with Caleb.

So I find the accusations and warnings of Liam having Main Character Syndrome, which started during C1 but really ramped up in C2, to be rather shallow. Look at the contrast between the tables during this:

and this:

In C1x27, Orion adds pressure to the cast's already-frayed nerves with him, compounded from previous incidents of bad behavior, by taking up several minutes of time purely to himself—his only interaction with anyone else at the table is to ask Keyleth for help with alchemy mechanics (fun fact, early Keyleth was into alchemy!). This included:

An attempt to buy 1500 mirrors to build a light array;

A request to his father to send in his home country's army to Whitestone; and

An attempt to combine a fog spell and a sleep spell after being told point blank that it was mechanically impossible

This was all very obviously an attempt to make himself the hero in what is clearly set up to be a Percy-centric arc. (Worth noting, for the record, is that up to this point Percy had actually had very little focus and largely kept himself in the background, while Tiberius had been in focus for most of the show's run up to that point.) Laura snarks that he's like the giant eagles in Lord of the Rings and can just do everything, and if you actually watch the clip that I've giffed above, Travis's tone is genuinely aggravated. This, by the way, is all after Tiberius was notably not present for Percy revealing his backstory to the rest of the party in episode 24; while everyone else voiced concerns for him and went down to his workshop to check on him, Tiberius largely ignored this and went off to do his own business.

That is a selfish player. That is selfish behavior and a clear example of someone who thinks the story should revolve around them. There are several reasons Orion was asked to leave, not just because he fudged his dice rolls.

C2x62 is a completely different story. None of the conversations Caleb has within that episode are just a way for Caleb to gain information; he's engaging with what the other people are doing. When he asks Nott and Jester about the letter they wrote to Astrid, he reveals a little about himself—something he is particularly reluctant to do with Jester—and they are given an opportunity to respond. His conversation with Beau gives time for both of them to check in on each other and where they're at and lets Beau give her own perspective on the politics of the Empire, the Cobalt Soul, and Xhorhas. The discussion with Fjord lets them both level with each other a little and does more work for Fjord's character, letting him open up about his insecurities and issues, than it does for Caleb's. Caleb is still initiating these conversations and he still gets something out of them, but both the players and the audience still get the benefit of the other characters pushing and pulling against that in response.

Like many terms that get thrown around in this circle ("player agency", "manipulating", "metagaming", "going dark", to name a few), Main Character Syndrome has been so misconstrued and warped to fit a heavily biased perspective as to be almost meaningless. Main Character Syndrome is not when a character initiates a lot of conversations, even if you personally don't like the conversations for whatever reason. Main Character Syndrome is not when a character chooses to take a risk or push a big red button, even if you personally don't like the choice for whatever reason. Main Character Syndrome is not when a character has an arc or aspect of lore heavily focused on them, even if you personally don't like the character for whatever reason. (Particularly considering that arc focus is entirely out of the player's control; Taliesin, Liam, and Laura did not in fact force Matt to focus a significant portion of each campaign's lore on Percy, Caleb, or Imogen's backstories respectively.)

Main Character Syndrome is specifically about player selfishness—it's a player inserting their character into scenes or roles where they do not logically belong in order to make them the center of the story, as we see with the example of Tiberius. The camaraderie at the current table versus what was going on back in 2015 does not suggest that anyone currently sees anyone else like that; everyone is laughing at the jokes made at someone's expense, and everyone is getting something to do. Your favorite character may not always be flashy or in focus all the time, but then again, you wouldn't want them to have Main Character Syndrome, would you?

[hunterwritesstuff]

General headcanons about shedletsky?

Sure!!! Love him a lot!!! Literally giggle anytime I see him!!!(I'm not a simp, he's literally just a HUGE comfort character for me lol)

(Divider made by me using this site lol)

🍗 He went to the same college as Builderman and they ran into each other again at university. Completely by chance!! What're the odds??

🍗 He takes dogs and cats off of the streets. His house is almost full, but he'll say it's full of love. You won't be able to get him to let any go. He loves all of them.

🍗 He just. Has a habit of calling people by their full names?? With a straight face???(EG. "David Baszuki, I know you stole my leftovers last night.", "Bradley Tiberius Thaniyel, go talk to your father.", "Orion Morningstar, we know your sins, but Heaven may not be so merciful as we have been.", stuff like that.)

🍗 Pretty much never swears.

🍗 His tongue sticks out when he focuses REALLY REALLY HARD!!

🍗 He has a toothgap from a fight he got in when he was younger.

🍗 Sleeps in jack shit NUFFIN.

🍗 He can definitely hold his own in a fight.(Red and Blue or whoever attacked him caught him off-guard)

🍗 Definitely eats ice cream while watching telenovelas when he's sad.

🍗 He made the swords himself! Not by like. summoning them. He blacksmithed that shit.

🍗 Which means he's strong as SHIT.

🍗 You cannot catch him dead sleeping without some form of stuffed animal. You simply never will. He needs something to snuggle with!!(also something to rub his face against, it's a soothing thing for him lol)

🍗 Literally hates wearing shoes and socks. It's a whole sensory thing with him. His feet get too hot if he wears either or both of those.

🍗 Fried Chicken is a comfort food to him <3

🍗 Sorta freaked out when he found out Builderman went missing???

🍗 The spot where he got beat up??

🍗 THAT was where he and Builderman typically met up to head to work together.

🍗 He went to go see if he was there :(

🍗 He knew he probably wasn't, but like. it didn't hurt to check, right?

🍗 His love languages are: Touch, words of affirmation, cooking for his partner, and gift giving :3

🍗 He likes taking naps, feels like they make his day better!

🍗 he is forklift certified. run.

🍗 He has. definitely jousted forklifts with Builderman on more than one occasion. #justbestiethings

🍗 "What? Who's Telamon? Never heard of him!"

🍗 Fun thing!!! UH!!! HATRED. WASN'T THE ORIGINAL GHOSTWALKER GUARDIAN???

🍗 JOHN FORGOT TO TELL THE ORIGINAL GUY TO NOT TOUCH THE SWORD??? SAID GUY GOT PULLED IN AND SORTA KINDA MAYBE EATEN BY HATRED??? NOBODY EVER NOTICED??? RIP THAT GUY I GUESS

🍗 He never really stops smiling, but when he does, the air in the room just...changes.

🍗 All in all, a goofy guy but he isn't afraid to get serious if needed!

[callmebrycelee]

9-1-1 REACTION

These are my confessions, just when I thought that I was starting to fall in love, my boyfriend unceremoniously decided to dump me.

After a week off and a presidential election that felt like a season of American Horror Story, we finally got a new episode of the gay firefighter show. Unfortunately I was spoiled by the episode's ending courtesy of Tumblr but nothing could've ever prepared me for how infuriating things would get. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning. This reaction is for the season 8, sixth episode "Confessions" which originally aired November 7th, 2024. The episode was written by Andrew Meyers and directed by Life Goes On and Pretty Little Liars actor, Chad Lowe! Spoilers ahead!

Best plot?

This week's episode focuses on a handful of our main characters. We finally get some time with Eddie and we get a bonkers storyline involving Buck and Tommy. However, it is Maddie and Chimney's plot that is my favorite. A few episodes ago, Hen and Karen regained custody of Mara which means Jee-Yun is back to being an only child. Maddie laments that Jee-Yun is having trouble adjusting to a life where Mara isn't her big sister anymore even though the two see quite a bit of each other. She suggests having a second child but Chimney has some trepidation about having another kid.  During an emergency involving a little kid getting stuck in a drain pipe a la "Eddie Begins", Chimney consoles his older brother who blames himself for his little brother wandering off and winding up in a dangerous situation. The little boy (played by Tiberius Byrd) volunteers himself to be lowered down in the pipe so he can pull his absolutely adorable baby brother out of the drain. Afterwards, Chimney warms to the idea of having a little brother or sister for Jee-Yun.

In their final scene, Chimney and Maddie have a raw and open conversation regarding their concerns about having another child. Chimney tearfully tells Maddie that if she is ever feeling sad or overwhelmed, she needs to come to him. She doesn't get to leave or try to figure it out on her own. He asks for total and complete transparency. Wow! I think we sometimes forget that while Maddie is a trauma magnet, Chimney has been right there since the beginning experiencing those tragedies with her. He went through the Doug situation with her. He spent six months raising Jee-Yun on his own while looking for Maddie. For him, having another child could send Maddie back down that same dark path again.

Now Maddie has some conditions of her own. She tells Chimney that they can't go into her pregnancy acting like she's broken. Oh, and yes you read that correctly. Maddie is pregnant! Yay!!! This is the best thing to come out of the episode and it makes me excited for this couple. Hopefully this time around, things will be much better for them.

Best emergency sequence?

We got three emergency sequences this episode but the best by far is the one involving veteran actor Jonathan Silverman. The Weekend at Bernie's and more recently Goosebumps actor plays a man named Walter Schaffer who is in the middle of a nasty divorce. His soon-to-be ex-wife, Liza Schaffer (played by Silverman's real-life wife Jennifer Finnigan) points out that Walter sneezes when he's lying and Walter has been sneezing a LOT! As things reach a boiling point between the two, Walter lets out one last sneeze which causes his stomach to split open and his guts to fall out. I really wish I could've taken a picture of my mom when this happened, She hasn't been this horrified by a 9-1-1 show since Owen Strand decided to perform CPR on a man frozen solid by his cryotherapy chamber. 

This whole scene is mostly played for laughs even though Walter has been eviscerated. After last episode's gut-wrenching accident involving Denny Wilson, it was nice to have a low stakes emergency. Also, it was good to see Jonathan Silverman. I love when they bring veteran actors in to have them perform these small roles. It's one of the reasons I like Ryan Murphy shows so much. He always pays homage to the legends. Oh, and Walter is okay. Even though he spilled his guts, he's still a creep! You made the right decision, Liza!

Episode MVP?

This was a tough one. None of our main characters did anything particularly outstanding this week. This episode is giving filler but I still enjoyed it. However, since I do need to pick someone to be this week's MVP, I'm going to choose everyone's favorite dispatcher - Josh Russo. Josh mostly serves as comic relief in this series but I thought what he had to say to Buck was particularly noteworthy. As someone who is part of the pre-Glee world. I relate so hard to what people like Josh and Tommy have gone through as gay men. I graduated in the early-2000s and even though life was much improved for LGBTQ+ people than let's say the 70s, 80s, and 90s, I still didn't feel comfortable coming out until my late-20's. Buck's coming out was so simple and much of that is due in part to the queer people that came before him. I'm sure someone like Josh had a difficult time prior to coming out and Tommy went as far as getting into a serious relationship with a woman before he finally made the decision to come out. Had the end of this episode gone a lot differently, I think Josh's monologue would be even better. I also love that he called Buck in instead of calling him out. I wish we got more scenes with Josh and Buck because as of right now they are the only two queer male characters on the show. 

 BuckTommy Corner

I've been dreading writing this part of the reaction mostly because it might be the last BuckTommy Corner we ever get. A lot of fellow shippers online seem to think that we may see Buck and Tommy reunite but the ending of this episode has me convinced that we aren't getting the BuckTommy endgame many of you have been asking for since the two first touched lips. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself again.

After last episode's stellar development of Buck and Tommy's relationship, this episode's writer decided to burn it all down. Our first scene between Buck and Tommy finds them back where it all began. It's their six-month anniversary and Tommy has gotten Buck basketball tickets. Things seem to be going swimmingly between the two of them until some hot blonde comes over and asks Buck to take a picture of her and her friends. Buck seems very awkward by the situation but Tommy assures him it's okay for him to find other women attractive. Whew! Crisis averted! I was so sure this was going to be the conflict of the episode.

Then we get Tommy admitting to Buck that he is a Kinsey scale six which means he's g-g-gay ... even though once upon a time he was engaged to a 9-1-1 dispatcher with the most amazing hair. Yes, folks, Tommy Kinard was engaged to Abby Clark. Tommy mentions that after he ended things, Abby went on to date a himbo. Buck is completely shooketh by this revelation and goes to his sister for advice. This is where we get the fantastic monologue from Josh. Buck decides to come clean to Tommy and figures that this changes nothing about their relationship.

Tommy apologizes for calling Buck a himbo and the latter asks Tommy to move in with him. Then everything goes to absolute shit. Tommy spouts some bullshit about being Buck's first (male) relationship but he will not be his last. Tommy says he doesn't want to get his heart broken again and then throws up the deuces to a very confused Buck. I'm sorry, y'all! What in the absolute hell just happened! I don't know who that man was. I know he looked like Lou Ferrigno Jr. playing Tommy Kinard but it's like some alien took over Tommy's body during this scene. This is not the same man we have gotten to know over the few seasons. Yes, Tommy did have some reservations about getting into a relationship with Buck so soon after his coming out but they squashed all of that way back in 7x05. Since then, these two have been building something amazing only to have it blown up so unceremoniously at the end of this episode.

Now, as I mentioned prior, the ending to this episode was spoiled. After learning about the breakup, I immediately went to the BuckTommy Reddit and learned that others were as similarly confused as I was. To make matters worse, it appears that Lou Ferrigno Jr, is as equally flummoxed by the decision to end things as the viewers, which is not a good look for the show. Why give us all that development in "Masks" only for Tommy to exit stage left. Thankfully, Lou announced that he will be returning to S.W.A.T. so I'm comforted that I will get to see him again in a skin-tight black T-shirt. One thing I will say about Lou is the man stays working. Check out his IMDb. He may not be the series lead but he stays working and he will continue to work because he seems to be an extremely competent and professional actor. 

The end of this episode left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm not just saying that because of the BuckTommy breakup. I've somewhat suspected that things have not been good with this show for a very long time but as long as I got scenes with Buck and Tommy, I was willing to keep going. This show is in its eighth season and we keep putting these characters through the same paces. Eddie's still trying to figure out how to be a good dad to Christopher seven seasons later. Maybe the show is getting a bit stale? I dunno. This episode just felt less fun for some reason. Perhaps I need to watch it again.

With that said, I will continue to watch 9-1-1 because I do love the characters on this show and the actors that play them. Oh, and by the way, please do not give Lou or Oliver any hate for simply playing what was written for them. Also, a lot of you are upset with Oliver and calling him biphobic. Now, do I think he said some problematic things in the last interview he did? Yes. Do I think he needs to be nailed to the cross for it? Absolutely not! I think we as viewers and members of the LGBTQ+ community need to take a page out of the Book of Josh and start calling people in instead of calling people out. We are very reactionary people and I totally get it. Being part of a marginalized group (or two, or three) especially here in America is rough and we find ways to protect ourselves to prevent harm from being inflicted on us. With that said, I believe it is quite possible to take an ally to task without potentially alienating them. As an elder, millennial gay, I think that's something we can all get better at! Until next time ...

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Spirk

Name: Jim Kirk x Spock 

Ship Name: Spirk 

Original Content: Star Trek: The Original Series (And its 60 years of following history)

Ship info: The original ship of the modern era, this was the ship and fandom that kick started fandom and shipping as we know it! 

James Tiberius Kirk is the cocky and suave blonde Iowan captain of an exploratory spaceship (The U.S.S Enterprise)  in the 23rd century and Spock is his alien first officer and science officer, recognisable by his elf-like pointed ears, black bowl cut and famous pointy Vulcan eyebrows. 

Dedicated to their mission alongside each other, Spock and Kirk have had 60 years of homoerotic moments, from worrying after each other, to Kirk defending Spock from bigots. Quite possibly the most prominent and famous moment is the goodbye between Spock and Kirk as Spock is dying during the second Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan. Kirk stays by Spock’s side as he dies after sacrificing himself for their ship, crew and friends, giving a heart-wrenching goodbye that has echoed throughout pop culture and Star Trek, to even be replicated in the less than faithful and not very well liked reboots, where it is Kirk that sacrifices his life. The death of Spock is followed by Kirk spending an entire movie trying, and succeeding, to bring him back to life and return him home to the Enterprise. 

Type of ship: Queer Read

At the end of the day, this was the 60s. While Star Trek has always been progressive, always preaching equality and peace, having the first interracial kiss, featured female characters with proper roles and often combatted social issues, it was still the 60s and homosexuality was almost definitely a step too far for the producers and showrunners. The interracial kiss only succeeding in going through to air because William Shatner kept on intentionally messing up the other takes that didn’t contain the kiss. 

In my opinion, Spirk has held so strong as a ship for so long because they were too men who truly did care for each other, while maybe never in a labelled homosexual way, they very often showed their care, their worry, their love (platonic)  for one another. 

“I have been and always will be, your friend.” That’s what Spock says as he is dying. DYING! No final words to anyone else, no regrets for not telling someone he loved them, just speaking to Kirk and confirming how much he cared for him.

Speaking of anyone else, neither Kirk or Spock have long term female partners in the original series. While Kirk is a bit of a flirt with any female he comes across, and Spock’s meant to be wife, T’Pring, was brought up for plot once and them summarily disappeared from the story and Spock never went through with it. In the show there is no one who means more to these men as each other. 

Admin🦉

[call-me-double-trouble]

What if Bow and Double Trouble had kids?

Introducing, Tiberius and Duchess Trouble-Arrow! (Yes, I've decided Bow's full name is Bow N. Arrow, regardless of what it actually is in canon).

It's so funny that you thought I was done posting about DoubleBow. This is an AU where Bow and Glimmer break up, deciding they're better off as friends. This improves their relationship and solves some of the problems they were having and brings them closer together in a platonic sense. Now that Bow is single, he starts to mingle, and mingle he does with a certain shapeshifting mercenary.

It's just a fling, at first. They're cute and all, but he doesn't see anything long-term in their future. DT is fun to spend time with, and they're really, really pretty, and yeah, they've changed a bit in the years since the war and learned to prioritize friends better and--Okay. So maybe he is starting to fall for them. There's something so alluring and irresistible about them, from the excitement of breaking a few rules here and there with them, to the way they tease and toy with him and keep him wanting more, and especially the vulnerability they finally show when they realize they've fallen just as hard for him.

They didn't plan on giving their heart to anyone, but no one understood them quite like Bow did. He knew how to listen, how to encourage them to be better without it coming off as forceful or shaming them for the things they'd done in the past, giving them room to grow and the benefit of the doubt.

He made them feel safe, above all else. Safe to try new things, safe to share more about themselves, safe to show emotions they normally locked away. Despite their every attempt not to, they trusted him. They trusted him more than they'd ever trusted anyone. The idea of losing him was like swallowing broken glass. They confessed their love one night, afraid that he'd reject them and end the most perfect thing they had in their life, but he didn't. He smiled, dark eyes glistening with tears of happiness. He loved them, too.

After a few years of happily dating, they got married, and all was swell and right in the world.

And then they had a little "accident." DT was unsure of themselves, worried they couldn't be a good parent, but Bow assured them they'd work together and do what they could to prepare for their new responsibilities. DT agreed to go through with it and laid the egg, which later hatched and ushered in a little baby boy, a reptilian with patches on his scales the same color as his father's skin. DT liked the name Tiberius--it was elegant, regal, and could be shortened to something cute, like Ti-Ti.

Ti-Ti was a handful, but adorable enough to make up for it, and he loved being held by DT most of all. Glimmer stepped up a lot to help the two, still very important in Bow's life, and Bow made her the godmother of little Ti.

They found their rhythm as parents and started having an easier time. When Ti was three, Bow suggested having another baby. DT mulled it over, but eventually agreed, and thus, baby Duchess came into the world. Tiberius, upon seeing the baby with much more green than he had, dubbed her, "The Booger," much to DT's dismay and insistence that sweet little Duchess was NOT a booger.

Duchess' name started out as a pet name; a placeholder while they brainstormed. Nothing was coming to mind, and they'd both been using "Duchess" so long that it stuck. It suits her, though, and she became determined to become a princess so she can be "Princess Duchess" and have a silly name.

Tiberius takes after both his parents pretty well. Inventing new arrows with Bow is one of his favorite bonding activities with his dad, and he's got the penchant for mischief and chaos of his moddy. He's obviously taken some fashion inspiration from Bow, and when looking through Granpa and Grandad's photo albums, he liked Bow's old hairstyle and decided to try it out for himself with his own little spin on it. Ti still mostly goes for DT when he needs comfort or cuddles.

Duchess is much more of a daddy's girl. She's not good with inventing, but she's learning archery. She's bubbly and energetic, always bouncy and happy to be near her dad. She adores DT and Glimmer, too, of course, and loves dressing up and doing makeovers with them.

Both kids can shapeshift. Ti already has it down, but Duchess still struggles to maintain a form for too long. Ti is asexual, and Duchess is pan. They have a pretty standard "siblings that get along but also get on each other's nerves" relationship, and they adore Glimmer and their Aunt Adora and Auntie Catra.

One of my ideas with this is that, in this alternate reality, these are the children DT had instead of Charlatan and Masquerade, or basically who Char and Quera would've been if born to a different set of parents. So, although they are different entities, I wanted there to be some overlap, such as keeping the older brother-younger sister dynamic, giving Duchess twin buns as an answer to Quera's braided pigtails, and giving them patches on their skin like how Charlatan's skin fades from green chameleon to gila monster.

I hope you like my silly little kiddos! Of the two, I like Ti's design better, but I love Duchess' hair. If I draw them again, I may simplify their skin to make it easier to repeat, but I do think they both turned out pretty, even if Ti does look a little like a topographical map. XD

[tadfools]

bee hello!! <3 <3 do you have any hcs for astarion's birth family? supposedly if they're elves they could still be alive...

This is longer than I meant it to be but you said my name so I love you anon and have unlocked an info dump that I've been sitting on for 2.5 years. This got away from me but the tldr is his mama's are named Aneirin and Juliana

I actually have a fic cooking right now about after the game's epilogue with his parents in it. Not to get too sidetracked, but my Tav is a necromancer, their son is dead and yet apparently saved all of the gate so... they come a knocking under the pretence that necromancer brought their dead son back as a thrall, pain comedy ensues (it'll be great i promise)

Astarion's only about 240 years old if we're taking the time he's been dead into account (high elves reach full maturity around 100 if you go by 5e rules and can live up to an average of 750)

I think his birth mother is on the soft side of 500 and with him being a magistrate, the Ancunín's come from money. Despite him having a grave in Baldur's Gate, I think his family resides in Evereska (its a big elven city) I've seen a few people ruminate over the possibility of him being a moon elf but... I don't know, there's something about him being ripped from the sun in every possible way that means so much to me. There's a part with the dark urge where he talks about not giving up freedom for all the gems in Evereska (i'm paraphrasing from memory here) I used that as an excuse to have him be from that city

Aneirin is the name I'm using for her in the fic and I think before he was taken from the sun and put under so much stress that his hair greyed, that he looked just like her.

Beautiful brown eyes that shine like copper under the sun but meld into a rich earth in the night. Her suntan skin is covered in freckles head to toe, her long curly hair is always kept within a neat braid which is coiled into a bun at the base of her neck. There’s a streak of grey woven through the curls

She has always been a kind woman, born into the higher echelons of society, she married an older elven man quite young named Tiberius at her parent’s behest to secure a business merger. Aneirin refused to take his last name. While they were always cordial to one another, there was no love shared between her and Tiberius but the son they had, Astarion, was the light of her life. There was no greater joy than hearing that of her son’s laughter. He loved her dearly and had promised to answer the sending spells she would toss his way after leaving Evereska – until he abruptly stopped

I think the Ancunín’s are skilled wizards, though Astarion falls into the arcane trickster category for me. If during the game his last name was ever mentioned, I fully think Gale would have had a wash of dread flow through him. The family keep to themselves yes, but that name is known through higher arcane circles

Tiberius died when Astarion was just a boy, there were never any memories to solidify him as Astarion’s father. But there was a wood elf woman named Juliana who always had a mischievous smile that kept close to the side of his mother. She was the one who taught Astarion on how to pick a lock, to balance on the heel of his foot as to not be noticed. She was the one who showed him how to wield a bow – much to his mother’s chagrin

Juliana has wine dark hair and is hardly ever seen without a ring on each finger. Tall and lithe, she glides through the room as if she were a shadow. Mischief incarnate, little Astarion took to her like a duck in water

Juliana and Aneirin met in their twenties at a ball - or a banquet (the two can never remember) Juliana’s family ran a renowned winery, Aneirin always fancied wine. And while Aneirin’s title forced her to marry Tiberius, the two women were never far from each other. After his death, she became a patron of the winery

I have a story beat where at the Last Light Astarion picks up an old bottle of red wine absentmindly and in gilded font it reads ‘Aneirin Red: dagger sheathed bow no longer notched; may the sunlight guide you home’ It *failed skilled check* strikes no chord in his mind

[stevetonyweekly]

SteveTony Weekly - October 8th

Hey all! I’m back from my vacation and omg it was so relaxing and lovely and I read SO SO MUCH! I finished a book series I started in August (GAY. WEREWOLVES!) and then read about a million words of fic. If you read anything--give them a comment/kudo! 

~*~ 

No Greater Punishment by KandiSheek

Tony asks Steve out on a date, and Steve – thinking it's just one of Tony's flings – refuses. Then Tony gets a boyfriend. The relationship lasts a week, a month, two months, and Steve slowly realizes... that could've been him.

When Emma Falls in Love by iam93percentstardust 

She waits and takes her time

'Cause Little Miss Sunshine always thinks it's gonna rain

When Emma falls in love, I know

That boy will never be the same

~

“Nice?” Kamala exclaims. “It’s way past nice! It’s the cutest thing ever because his bracelet had his phone number on it! He was hoping to ask you out!”

Tony blinks. Steve Rogers, All-American good boy and quarterback extraordinaire, wants to throw his hat in the ring? He wouldn’t be the first person to toss his name out there, but most of them have just tried to DM him or tag him in their posts. No one’s shown the kind of thought and effort that Steve apparently put into his declaration. It’s a level of understanding and appreciation of who Tony is and everything he’s cultivated in his career that no one else has put in.

It is, to use Kamala’s word, cute.

Restless Gravity by AvengersNewB 

Omega Tony Stark gets bonded to a human-hating space warlord, to get his people a new home after the destruction of their planet.

Warlord - Arranged marriage AU, with a bit of a twist.

we'll live in spaces between walls by soliloquent

"Steve looks furious and defeated, and he's breathing like he just ran a marathon. He glances at the door over Tony's shoulder, slightly shivering, looking for an escape like he's on a battlefield. Perhaps he is.

This is not about the laundry anymore."

—⎊—

or: In the heat of a tense discussion in a cramped utility room at the Avengers Tower, Steve's deep-seated insecurities come to the surface. Tony witnesses a new and vulnerable side of him and realizes he has more in common with Steve than he thought. 🧺

Do Not Reply by FestiveFerret

When Tony starts replying to a "daily deals" donotreply email address from some random security supply company, he finds shouting into the void soothingly cathartic.

Less so when the void answers back.

ad astra by Areiton

The first time he kissed Tony Stark, the stars danced overhead.

Cardigan by Gayspacesprinkles, iam93percentstardust

When Tony is fourteen, his father announces that he’s going to marry Tiberius Stone, and he stops believing in Prince Charming.

August by Gayspacesprinkles, iam93percentstardust

August goes by slowly and altogether too quickly at the same time. He spends his days at practice in the morning while keeping his afternoons open in case Tony calls. The days smell like salt, despite being far away from the ocean, and the air is sticky in the Texas humidity. Sometimes, it gets too hot to do anything with Tony in the heat of the day, and it feels like a waste of the limited time they have together even though they spend all their nights together as well.

Sharing The Drink They Call Loneliness by KandiSheek

Tony has always thought that the pianist in his local bar, Steve, is way too good for this place. Tony wants to know more about him. And as it turns out, Steve wants the exact same thing.

Tony knows that he's playing with fire. But he's sworn off his old ways long ago. There's no way he will let himself fall for Steve. Right?

honey from your hive by meidui

"Whoa, hey, you okay?" Tony asks, hands flying out to steady him, so warm, the skin contact making him shiver. Steve tries to focus on Tony's face. "Cap?"

"You smell so good," Steve tells him honestly, sinking into Tony's arms because he can't hold himself up anymore. This should be okay because Tony is letting him do it: he presses his face into Tony's neck and sniffs, his tongue darting out just in time to feel Tony's pulse jump against it, and he licks—

"Steve, stop that," Tony says, sounding strangled as his grip tightens and Steve stops, letting Tony grab his face and tilt him up. "You're kind of scaring the crap out of me. What is it? What's going on with you?"

"We blew up the lab," Steve manages, and something dawns on Tony's face. "Everyone had a reaction 'cept me. Think 'm having it now."

Unbroken by justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday)

Destiny looks a lot like Captain America when it walks through his door, and even at ten, Tony knows that Steve is something wonderful. He's a protector, a friend, someone to turn to when his father is angry and his mother is lost in a haze of pills, someone who loves Tony unconditionally and would do anything for him.

When he's 15 that faith is put to the test by a car crash, and then, something worse.

What begins as a friendship blossoms into something deeper, something nuanced--a bond, unshakeable.

Unbreakable

the body i hold and whisper my darling by deathsweetqueen

Tony Stark is nineteen when he takes a seat at a bar, orders a shot of tequila, and twists his head to look at the man sitting beside him.

He’s older, in his thirties, early to mid-thirties, if he’s guessing correctly, maybe even just slightly less than twice his age, with dark blonde hair and a beard covering half of his face, and his eyes fixed on his beer.

“You look like shit,” he ends up saying, bluntly.

The man looks up, and he has these blue eyes, blue eyes like a summer storm, and Tony finds himself stunned, a little turned on, by how beautiful this man is.

He has the perfect ratio, Tony realises, the eyes and the hair and the jawline and the cheekbones.

His eyes drag lower, and the man is built, like seriously built, with wide, muscled biceps, and a tapered-in waist, and those long, strong legs.

“I feel like shit,” the man says, after a while.

Teenage Dream by shinkonokokoro

This was written for this prompt:

A battle with Loki leaves Tony de-aged physically and mentally to the time he was in college.

young!Tony takes it all in stride. He is duly impressed by his armor, confused and excited by all the superhumans (Thor and Hulk) around and then is smacked by the realization that the boring blond hovering around is actually his MAJOR childhood hero / crush / source of adolescent fantasies Captain America! Cue teen!Tony trying his best (and maybe succeeding?) to get into an increasingly flustered and blushy Captain America.

Bonus if teen!Tony is still way way more experienced than virgin!Steve and is *delighted* to get to top (and deflower) Captain America.

(Um, extra bonus for including a little bit of Rhodey and Pepper interacting with Tony. Also super bonus for Steve unearthing Tony's daddy issues by the dozen.)

touch me gently, like a summer evening breeze by quidhitch 

What is this, Tony’s brain screams. There are alarm bells going off in his head, but also, like, romantic violins. It’s very confusing. He focuses on the freckle beneath Steve’s eye instead.

Two in Fourteen Million by slimandalittlebitfoxy

“You wanna hear something stupid?” He took Steve’s silence as a confirmation, but didn’t think he could stop if he tried. “I carried around that phone the whole damn time. Since the day you sent it to me, I carried it. Just in case the world needed you.”

“I didn’t give it to you to let me know if the world needed me.” Steve looked up. Tony was frightened to see how much older he looked—maybe not in body, but in spirit. His jaw was set. He was angry too, though Tony would have bet money it was directed more at himself than anyone. “I gave it to you so you could call me if you needed me.”

“That’s the thing, Cap,” Tony said. “I always needed you.”

(The one where everyone lives.)

The Dotted Line by purpleicedteas 

Film trailblazer Steve Rogers was in need of a relationship to cover up his embarrassingly non-existent love life.

Tony Stark needed a relationship to slow down the playboy rumors.

Enter a PR relationship contract.

the long and short of it (stevetony games 2022 fills) by starvels (dinosaur) 

The challenge of whipping a nice pattern into Steve’s back, is that his healing rate really only gives about a 15 minute window in which to finish all of the strokes before the earliest lines begin to disappear.

The thought accosts Tony in the middle of team poker, the night before him and Steve are set to have a heavy session.

- latest fill: 616+established relationship+whipping kink negotiation

The Long Road Home by ladyshadowdrake 

Maria Stark told her son that the Mark on his wrist meant there was a special someone out there just for him. Sarah Rogers told her son that his soulmate was waiting for him, and he needed to be strong for them.

Neither of them ever mentioned what to do if that soulmate just doesn’t want them.

this is how you fall in love by complicationstoo 

Steve wants to have sex at least once before he graduates from college. He’s twenty one, never really dated anyone, and doesn’t see the point in waiting any longer.

He plans for just a simple one night stand with no strings attached, but his plan doesn't account for falling in love with Tony Stark.

It's Only Half Past (The Point of Oblivion) by LadyHabren (equalopportunityobsessor)

"I think it's generally agreed that all of Steve's senses are powered up by the serum? He can hear people whispering on the other side of the room, probably sees a hell of a lot further, etc.

But there are definite downsides. How does Steve control this side effect of the serum?"

Captain America is more than a man - he is a hero, he is an ideal, he is pure muscle held together by patriotism and moral fibre... And not even Captain America can fight it when his own brain turns against him.

I'm gonna be honest, by the time I got to the end of this story and went back to look at the prompt, I realized my fill was so different that I intitially thought I was looking at the wrong prompt... But I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless.

seven years in heaven by meidui

Tony gave Steve everything in the divorce. Their beautiful Brooklyn brownstone and everything in it, Tony's beloved Audi, their private garden upstate. Tony even offered him the lakehouse, but Steve had looked up at him with red eyes and begged softly for him to stop.

Tony gave Steve everything, every last piece of himself. He didn't take much with him when he flew out to his mansion in Malibu, but he took every last piece of Steve, too.

love me naked by meidui

What kind of man wears makeup? Steve thinks to himself.

Love Calls You By Your Name by laireshi for MassiveSpaceWren 

Steve's boyfriend, Tony Stark, doesn't come home after Iron Man gets hurt when protecting Steve.

Look at my eyes, Don't even know who I am. by Perlmutt 

Deciding to take a break from the bustling city life, Tony found himself on a deserted island somewhere near the South American coast. Only JARVIS and DUM-E accompanied him here. This was the perfect place for him to clear his head and focus on his studies. The sun was warm, the sea beautiful and the animals peaceful. But in the jungle around him waited an adventure for him that he couldn't have dreamt of.

Because he was not alone. Blue eyes watched him.

A man as wild and untamed as the jungle around them...

Wait & Sea by Lenalena

In which Tony and Steve get sent on an undercover mission aboard a cruise ship to make contact with Hydra. In this AU the military has kept the discovery and defrosting of Captain America a secret, so Steve and Tony have never met before. Yet they are to pose as newlyweds....

Devil with an Easy Grin by ladyshadowdrake 

Steve meets a charismatic stranger at a club for a one night stand, and expects to never see him again.

[echidna-enquiries]

You all actually seem to get along as a family… have any of you ever dealt with toxic family members? Surely your large family isn’t all perfect..

The group that had gathered looked solemn... no one knew where to start speaking. Salem: (he let out a sigh, deciding to be the one to speak up first) Unfortunately yes... I had married and was unfortunate to expose my son to such a person. My ex-wife, she... was not the person I thought she was. She turned out to be very... abusive. More in a way of her behavior and words. But I put up with it... but then I found out she had treated our son far worse... All because he 'didn't turn out like she wanted'. (he places a hand on his head) I still feel so much regret for Lance having to be in such a situation. The moment I found out, I had never felt so-... so angry. (he sighs, collecting himself) I divorced that wretched woman as soon as I could and made it clear she was not welcome near me or my family ever again ... (he looks off with a scowl) I don't know where she is, and I don't care to... she could be rotting in a ditch for all I care... after everything she put Lance through behind my back, and made him keep silent over it.

Morgan: My own ex-wife... I'd rather not get into her entirely, but she was unfaithful I found her with another...one of our close friends in fact. (she adjusts her glasses, holding back a shaky breathe) I hadn't been in a long term relationship since... at least until Arcana.

Seth: I'm not sure if my case counts towards myself, but towards Sorrel, I'd say it was very... ugh. (he shakes his head, thinking back) For a time, I... wasn't sure who Sorrel's mother was. I was very reckless about my sexual activities in my younger years. I got no call or letter, or anything from the mother. Just found the child dumped on my doorstep out of nowhere, not even a note or a birth certificate. I had to handle all of that myself... (he scowls darkly, his nails digging into his arm as he crossed his arms) What makes me the most disgusted, is that I found out who it was eventually. No need to mention her by name, but this bitch... she had the nerve, the GAUL, that once Sorrel was old enough. She just so happened to try and reconnect with her 'lost baby' just as he had began training to become the next Guardian... let's just say it didn't go as she liked. Tiberius: Eheh, does my stupid ass count? (the others give him a look, mix of annoyance and concern) Sorry, that sounded funny in my head. Okay (scratches head, letting out a breathe)... my choices in exes were not... great. In my youth, I had pretty bad taste in women... my ex-fiance was likely the worst, according to the family. They had made it clear they didn't think she was right for me. Not even for the same reasons as the others, she was a bitch or nothing but... man she was really irresponsible, reckless, didn't think about anything long term. if she had stayed with me. She would've been a bad influence, either on me or my daughter. (he looks off, a solemn look in his eyes). At first, I was stubborn... I really thought that despite everything that it could work... then she got pregnant. I thought that it was a bad idea but she didn't listen... and then Journey came along. I tried to do better for her, and she... well. It shouldn't have been much of a surprise that she quickly left, just... poof. Gone. (he crosses his arms) It fucked me up for a while, but I tried to do right by Journey... sometimes it really bugged her that her mum walked out. It made her feel she wasn't good enough as a kid... I hate her for that the most. Jojo didn't need that. Rhett: If this counts, my in-laws were... well. Lets just say they were a bunch of pompous pricks. I knew they weren't fans of me and my wive's apparent 'outlandish' lifestyle compared to theirs of 'class and high-society' (he scoffs) The amount of times I wanted to smash whatever was closest to me over their heads I lost count of. They were full of shitty comments towards my wife, me, our friends... but they learnt very closely not to dare make any comments about our kids. I made it very clear that I did not like them back either, my names for them got very. (he darkly chuckles) Creative. I wont' repeat them. Seth: What a killjoy... this is such a downer topic. We could use a compilation of curses.

Marcello: Um-if we're talking about in-laws. I guess I got one more. Not mine but my dad's... or well my mum's parents. I had never met them and for a good chunk of my childhood I never knew why. I'd ask but Dad would just say something quick to end the topic while Mum would get so sad... Wasn't till I got older that Dad filled me in. My grandparents were apparently REALLY awful people... they abused mum bad. Mistreated her horribly, verbal, sometimes even physical stuff. He never said anything specific but, that it was just bad. It had gotten to a point that dad threatened them, saying that if they came towards her or anyone in our family again. They'd have to deal with him. So I never met them. Or my other grandparents, but dad doesn't talk about them a lot. Only 'grandparents' I had were my great Aunt Cordelia and Uncle Bertram. They had told me a bit about my grandma's but Shepherd didn't like talking about them Morgan:...Really? Not once? Not anything beyond what history shit tells us? Marcello: Nope. I always tried asking if his mum was bad or something but no, she wasn't. Dad just... didn't like talking about her. Tiberius:...wait did you say grandma's? As in... plural? Marcello: Don't you remember, Evangeline was a lesbian. Had an unofficial wife. But my other grandma uh... Serenity I think her name was, she died when dad was really young.

Tiberius:...Well it'd be nice if he you know-told us these things.

Rhett: C'mon, you know that ain't happening...

Salem: (clears his throat again) Anyway um... to summarise. We all try to be good to eachother, at the end of the day we're kinda all we have. Immortality does that to us... but we haven't been immune to coming across and unfortunately bringing people into our family that were indeed very toxic.

[thefleetsfinest]

✧˖° → Luna The Emotional Support Corgi

When Leonard first joined Starfleet it had been his every intention to get an assignment in a starfleet hospital because it provided a new start for him but also there was a good chunk of hospitals that were not in space. Of course that all went right out the window when he met one James Tiberius Kirk. It was becoming friends with Jim that Leonard decided to follow that idiot into space to keep him alive so he could accomplish his dreams. There had always just been something about the way Jim babbled on about the wonders of Space that almost made it seem less scary than the damn thing actually was. 

So it wasn’t long before the man who was terrified of Space found himself on Starfleet’s newest ship as it’s Chief Medical Officer. However his fear of space and everything in it never went away. So Leonard began to look for ways to help himself cop with his phobia. He tried a number of different techniques, experimenting and finding what did and didn’t work. 

Eventually it was suggested by Chapel that Leonard look into a service animal, one with training in emotional support. At first Leonard turned down the idea, not wanting to subject a poor innocent animal to the horrors of life in space. 

However as the months began to pass his other methods he used to cope weren’t working as well as he would have liked, not to mention he had become rather lonely. As it turned out being in charge of medbay didn’t leave him with a whole love of time to socialize, not to mention his best friend was the Captain who was almost always busy with one thing or another. 

So he finally decided to look into a support animal, Leonard put a lot of time and thought into it all. He even made sure to do a fair amount of research, finding every bit of information he could possibly get his hands on because he wanted to make sure he made the right decision and picked out an animal that would actually help him. Eventually he decided on a dog, a corgi to be exact. 

When he got his service animal she was fresh out of training. The corgi was one year old and honestly one of the sweetest dogs Leonard has ever met. Leonard even got to rename her to a name of his choice. The name the foster family had given her was Lulu, so he decided to rename her to Luna. His reasoning being that if she had a space related name then it would help him associate one good and happy thing to Space instead of seeing everything involved with it as a giant death trap filled with disease. 

From the moment Leonard got Luna the two became downright inseparable. Luna went everywhere she possibly could with Leonard. She even had her own special doggy bed in Leonard’s office. Luna is trained to always stay in his officer during any and all major medical emergencies, or if there is just too much going on to have a small dog hovering around. The only time Luna isn’t at Leonard’s side is when he goes on any away mission, mostly because Leonard just doesn’t want to risk Luna’s life since more often than not they never know what exactly they are getting into when they go down onto a new planet. 

Though more often than not Luna can always be found tailing after Leonard while on the ship. Luna in turn has done wonders to help Leonard with his phobia. The corgi is honestly one of the best things that ever happened to Leonard after joining Starfleet. 

Thankfully when the Enterprise had stopped in Yorktown to resupply, Leonard had left his dog in the hands of Sulu’s daughter to help cheer her up since her father had to quickly run off on a rescue mission with the rest of the Enterprise Crew.

Of course it ended up being a great decision to leave his dog in the care of the little girl, because if he hadn’t there would have been a very good chance that Luna would probably not have survived the crash of the Enterprise. Luna did however survive Krall’s attack on Yorktown and was reunited with Leonard after all the danger had passed. Now with the ship rebuilt the corgi is once again happily at Leonard’s side.

[thewiddershinsme]

Reading The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart #2) by Stephanie Garber, finished Words of Warning and Part I: A Cruelty of Curses:

-that is indeed quite a lot of cruel curses happening to Apollo. Love spell -> poisoned -> suspended animation -> mirror curse -> curse of the Archer. Not sure how much of his mind is intact at this point, but feeling a bit sorry for the dude (and a bit funny how Jacks excuses all this misfortune by saying how Apollo’s a Northern prince, he’d be disappointed if he was never cursed)

-pretty suspicious how Jacks is so uninterested in who is casting these curses once he got Evangeline to agree to opening the Arch (and I think there are two culprits, mirror curse culprit and Archer curse culprit). My guess is Havelock for mirror curse culprit, he just disappeared, and maybe it was to incentivize her to work harder at undoing the spell. As for Archer curse culprit, that feels Big Bad work right there.

-so I figured out that the wolf doorway was actually the Valory Arch maybe a minute before Evangeline did. I literally said “Oh crap” out loud and nervous giggled, cause I can know that feeling of “oh nonono” while you desperately try to fix the thing you just accidentally broke.

-ugh Luc is back and he’s Lucien. Was it confirmed that this was Jacks/Chaos’s doing? Evangeline suspected it might be, but Jacks seems to lowkey hate Luc and weird he’d want him to get anymore involved so can’t remember if it was confirmed that was them manipulating her again. Luc feels less like a threat and more of a potentially disastrous menace.

-LaLa’s engagement made me feel sad cause you know it is always doomed :(

-don’t worry Evangeline, I was also surprised to discover you are not the one and only key and there have been those before you. I like it, makes sense as some factions are trying to make the prophecy come true, and removes Evangeline’s prophecy invulnerability.

-gotta hand it to Tiberius for sticking to his principles. Willing to give up his own brother whom he loves if it means keeping the rest of the North safe. He honestly would’ve made a good king.

-I read the jumping off the cliff part twice. That whole segment of what Jacks would be willing to do to save Evangeline’s life gahhh perfect. Love “would burn the world for you” characters. Also read the part where Evangeline was infected with vampire venom twice, that was intense and loved Jacks’s reactions, he was not having a good time.

-so this Merrywood Three….Theory time: Jacks is the original Archer. I got the slightest suspicion there was a real-life Archer when Evangeline made a comment about Apollo being the Archer, and Jacks responded quickly “He’s not the Archer, he just has the curse”. So let’s say Jacks is the Archer and killed his Fox-girl, and somehow after that he became a Fate that is cursed to kiss and kill girls until he finds his one true love. His One True Love that ended up being Tella who decided she (understandably) did not want to be the true love of the Prince of Hearts. So some possibilities:

-Jacks’s determination to open the Valory Arch has nothing to do with Tella as I originally thought, but to do with Fox-girl. But I still think time travel is involved somewhere, maybe a way to save Fox-girl?

-it makes Jacks’s sheer refusal to allow Evangeline to be killed by Apollo have an even deeper meaning as he is trying to prevent history repeating itself. Buuuuut…..I do think it kinda taints his nickname for her. The Little Fox nickname is sweet and their thing (she even signed her name that way in the letter to him) and I think it’s a bit ruined if he calls her that not because of her surname, but because he is projecting his first love onto her.

-there might be a reincarnation thing going on where Evangeline is Fox-girl? But reincarnation had never been mentioned so far.

-Slaughterwood is gonna be the house that wanted Fox-girl dead. Also, weren’t one of the Valor kids mentioned to be a shapeshifter? Maybe that one is Fox-girl, and the whole Ballad was the start of the coup that overthrew the Valors.

-after this section I’ve been wanting to listen to The Archer by Taylor Swift. Not my favorite song but can’t deny it fits

[cigarettemother]

Hey here's my GW2 characters that I leveled and then never touched again

It's a real problem I just want to make creatures but then I have to level them to unlock specs and then I have to make them look pretty and then I probably delete them because I don't actually vibe with them anyway here are the ones that survived (so far)

It's all very rambly I've never written any lore down and I don't know how to structure things.

Meemie Grimsnarl

I forgot Pokémon existed fuck you I like the name it fits. She's named after a spicy bobcat on TikTok who I love and I love her so much Meemie my beloved. Grim-Warband, she snarls when eating.

Ariana Grounde

I love the gays and the gays love me shoutout to my brother Frankie who is gay!

Tealin Briar

I DIDN'T KNOW OK? I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT SCARLET. Anyway

Old main, semi-dropped just because I couldn't really get into her as a character again. I like her, I'm just struggling to make her personality fit with everything going on around her as commander. So she's no longer commander and in the middle of a full rewrite so uh this will be fragmented I don't know how to make the pieces fit anymore.

Grew up as an orphan in Divinity's Reach, has always been a bit "prickly" so the other kids called her Briar (see I had a reason) a name she officially adopted as an adult.

Really wanted to get into the mesmer collective her whole life, she's been motivated to "prove them wrong" despite not really knowing who she's proving wrong. Was accepted into the collective after HoT and quickly discovered it was kind of shit and not her kind of thing at all. But she's a shining blade now?? I haven't figured out the how yet but y'know she's one of those schemers with unresolved anger.

Due to the rework I have no idea how she lost her eye, it was originally during PoF but idk anymore.

She's just a prickly bitch that fought her way up the social ladder only to realize it was boring at the top.

Nora Fischer

The new and improved commander. Norn adopted by a human shipwright-family, grew up comfortably in Divinity's Reach, was the biggest girl in the guard. She's a big believer in both the spirits and the human gods. Have some headcanons about Norns being more bestial so I'm thinking she has a faint snow leopard pattern on her back/arms/legs and scared a lot of drunkards on her night patrols with her night-time laser eyes.

We joked about Nora attending a lot of social gatherings with her parents where they served itty bitty portions of food and how as soon as they got home her parents would release her like a dog and she would bolt down to the basement to feast in the dark. So she's a prim and proper lady but with a silly goofy feral side to her which they've had to adapt to as she grew up.

We also talked about how she attended her first Norn moot with her father and how she would have so much fun while her father was sidelined with a giant fur coat feeling very out of place but also reassured that his daughter would do well in life if she could excel in a chaotic situation like this.

She's also lesbian I don't really give my characters a sexuality but idk playing her she's just lesbian she just is that's just Nora over there crushing on the pretty girls the big femme top looking at the girls.

Idk I have more of a vibe for her I like her a lot she's a goofy gal from a family that loves and supports her. She's a goof because she's not a goof which makes her a goofball I like her a lot she looks like any prettygirl norns but in my head that's what makes her a goof. Again, I don't write down lore I am very much a vibe-based person.

Tiberius Marrowfed

One of the cooks in the Fed-Warband a warband all about supplying the front lines with nurturing slop. He's an alright cook but his specialty is drawing out every bit of flavor from bones. Permanent broth-duty.

Pirietta

@hookhound and I made "leafbians" for HoT. One day we'll do it but for now I'm having fun rolling on the ground with Deadeye. Pale Reaver? idk she's a bubbly girly assassin.

Mjollfrid

Bro I was like 15 now I'm just keeping the name to spite people who are weird about Norns.

Bruh Brofist

It's technically a valid name. I play him when I get knocked on my ass too much and I want to experience the highs and lows of flamethrower stability. He's all about building people up and yelling.

He's also canonically had straight sex with Orelius Hingejaw (because Bruh only has straight sex because he's straight)

Fhlizz

She's a freak a wildling a menace a creature in the truest sense. She has no loyalty to anyone but herself and her "friends" she has liberated from pet owners (they didn't feed them junk so they're better off with her because she let's them eat whatever they want). She has standing bounties in every major city but because of her destructive impact she and her friends have on whatever annoys her most cities (not black citadel) will simply send out scouts to observe her. She did a lot of accidental interference during Zhaitan's invasion just from being a roaming lethal anomaly.

She stole Tomme's dog. Chaotic Neutral. Uneducated.

Peasant Paul

He is just a normal dude. Does not fight.

Tusplha

Newest girl who knows how long I'll keep her. Tusplha is a schoolyard bully, a mean girl, a real stuck up self-centered brat. She's stolen credit for several projects and knows how to shut people up.

Etta Ashtender

She's in the danger zone. idk she tends ash?? I like the name.

Alice Volkhart

The reason I have decades devotion. I hate her name but also it's a good memory of being excited for the release of GW2, I would read the devlog every week up until release. Simpler times has exactly ZERO lore.

[sshbpodcast]

Star Trek Parents Just Don’t Understand (Part 2)

By Ames

Last week, you’ll remember we covered a whole lot of parents from the classic Star Trek series and just how much they tended to ruin their kids’ lives. Well, this week A Star to Steer Her By is finishing out the topic with parental units from currently running Trek series and the Kelvin movies. Expect this one to not be nearly as far reaching, partly because SPOILERS WILL ABOUND below the cut and partly because we’ve not covered much of this on the podcast yet, so frankly I don’t remember a good deal of it.

But some of our major players have or are noteworthy parents to talk about in this period of wide-screen Trek (seriously, everything looks like a movie now and it’s impacting my screengrab game). Give your parents a hug for us as you see them listed below and also in probably the most spoilery episode of the podcast we’ve ever recorded (discussion starts at 59:37). They only raised you from tadpoles.

(Again, some mega spoilers for Star Trek 2009, Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and especially [seriously!] Picard are below.)

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Kelvin George Kirk

George Kirk was a parent to literally newborn James for all of thirty seconds before saving his life, Winona’s life, and the lives of the crewmembers of the USS Kelvin. While we have no idea if he’d have been any good at raising the youngster had he lived (apparently so since this alternate Kirk ended up being quite the ruffian compared to that walking stack of books from The Original Series), we know what he valued by his actions, his sacrifice, and his refusal to name him Tiberius.

Kelvin Sarek

In pretty much all timelines, Sarek is a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to raising a half-Vulcan, half-human son like Spock. Why he can’t get it through that Vulcan bowlcut of his that having a child with a human will dilute that cherished green blood of theirs is absolutely beyond me. I thought you hobgoblins were supposed to be logical, after all. Maybe if Amanda hadn’t blown up, things would have gone better for Quinto-Spock.

Discovery Sarek

Speaking of Sarek, in Discovery we actually see that he very much seems to prefer raising his ward Michael Burnham to raising either of his natural sons. Go figure. Apparently all his progenies had to do was follow in his footsteps, join the Vulcan Academy, and literally have a chunk of his katra from a past mindmerge-thing for daddy to love them.

Gabrielle Burnham

Michael’s relationship with her birth parents is something much more complicated. This is Discovery, after all; “It’s complicated” is the subtitle of the series! When we learn that Gabrielle is still alive, having saved Michael by becoming the Red Angel, it’s a bittersweet reunion that can only be made stranger by their second reunion in the 32nd century when momma has become a space nun of some kind. As if Michael didn’t have enough of this Vulcan stuff growing up!

Voq and L’Rell

On the subject of space nuns, we learn that Voq and L’Rell’s child Tenavik got to be raised by some time monks in the Boreth Monastery. Which, frankly, is probably the best that kid could ask for! The combative Klingon Empire was no place to raise a baby, and good on his parents for finding a child-rearing solution that, at the very least, kept him alive. Ya know, after just a little bit of faking his death. Q'apla, I guess!

Stamets and Culber

What is sweeter and purer than two gay space dads mentoring a nonbinary sorta-Trill sorta-not adolescent? I didn’t realize that Adira is supposed to be 16 when we meet them (probably because the actor was like 23), but regardless of age, they are struggling with their identity in enough ways to make a Vulcan weep, and having the support of a nurturing queer family is just what they need.

Ephaim

An easy example of a good parent from the Discovery era comes in one of the Short Treks, “Ephaim and DOT.” Sure, she’s a tardigrade and mostly just following that biological impulse to keep one’s seed alive, but she does better than a lot of other Trek parents. Go, tardigrades, go!

Raffi Musiker

Moving on to Star Trek: Picard, we see another negligent parent in the conspiracy theory–obsessed Raffi Musiker. She might rival Worf as a parent whose absence has screwed up their kid the most, as we see that Gabriel is downright hostile to her when she tries to reconnect. And then in season 3, she yet again chooses Starfleet over her family. Perhaps we’re lucky we haven’t seen Alexander in Picard, since he and Gabriel could have some stories to tell.

Troi and Riker

Say what you will about the Troi-Riker relationship, but they seem to be doing pretty okay raising their daughter Kestra. She’s a nifty kid with her head on straight, so they must be doing something right. Also, it’s very clear throughout their appearances in Picard that these parents did everything they could to save their son Thaddeus from his mendaxic neurosclerosis, and his loss affected them in the way only losing a beloved child could.

Maurice and Yvette Picard

We were teased a bit in TNG with just enough information about Jean-Luc’s upbringing to let us know his relationship with his father was strained and that with his mother was loving, but then the second season of Picard had to go spelling things out for us in ways we didn’t really need. Maurice becomes that much more terrible because he evidently did nothing when Yvette was going down a dark path. And Yvette… what the hell were the writers trying to say about Yvette? Freakin’ yikes. 

Adam Soong

Also in season two of Picard, we get YET ANOTHER Soong ancestor for Brent Spiner to play, ya know, for reasons. Evidently all the Soongs except Data (see last week’s inclusion!) are just terrible parents because they’re effectively just trying to prolong their own legacy instead of actually caring for the needs and wants of the child. Kore, in this case, lives a life so sheltered she can’t even go outside without bursting into flames. Much like that whole damn season…

Teresa Ramirez

We do, however, get one solid parent in season two of Picard, and that’s Teresa Ramirez, the divorced mother who Rios is totally thirsty for. Actually, we don’t see a lot of children of divorce in Star Trek, do we? As we established last week, it’s far more likely to have one parent get killed off than it is to have people amicably separate because, of course, that makes for more drama. There’s Torres’s parents, and Rom and Prinadora but that’s just their Ferengi contract, and that might just be about it? Anyway, Teresa’s cool.

Jean-Luc Picard and Bev Crusher

Season three, however, is just a straight up family reunion show with lots more literal family members that get introduced to boot! Somewhere after Nemesis, evidently Bev and JL got down to clown and then Bev ran away and hid the pregnancy from him for however many years this boy is old. Sure, we all agree Picard would make a father that might rival Worf’s awkward sense of child neglect, but is Bev any better never telling him? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Geordi La Forge

Geordi’s been busy too, cranking out at least two daughters. Like Sarek’s relationship with his various kids, it seems much easier for Geordi to play favorites. Alandra is the favored daughter because she followed in his footsteps and seems like she was generally passive, while Sidney is the black sheep of the family and La Forge has trouble connecting with her because she can’t just be controlled like certain holoprograms I could name.

Carol Freeman

Let’s get out of Picard and into some animated stuff. The relationship between Captain Freeman and her daughter Beckett Mariner is at the core of Lower Decks, so much so that it’s kept secret from the rest of the crew for the drama of it all. Most of the show treats their relationship like ones we’ve seen before in which the child lashes out because they don’t want to follow in their parent’s footsteps. There is love there, but their failure to communicate does dominate.

The Diviner

In our other animated Trek, The Diviner definitely falls into that category of just the worst kind of parent because he will sacrifice Gwyn a hundred times over to get his way. He never listens to what she wants, chooses the Protostar over her, and leaves her to nearly get killed on vine planet. All this and the only reason he created her in the first place was to continue his work. Rude, bro.

Joseph M’Benga

Finally, we have Dr. M’Benga in Strange New Worlds, whose dedication to caring for his sick daughter Rukiya is admirable and incredibly sweet. Every time he reads fairy tales to her in sickbay is a beautiful little scene, and the end of “The Elysian Kingdom” is a tear jerker that we were honestly surprised to get so early in the run of the show. I kinda hope we see more from Rukiya in future, but who knows what’s written in these fantastical pages?

— We’re ducking out from this family reunion before someone whips out the photo album. Catch us next time for more, and definitely keep listening to our watchthrough of Voyager over on SoundCloud or wherever you get podcasts. You can also post family in-jokes on our Facebook and Twitter, and would it hurt to call once in a while?

[systemadministratorclu]

Lyle T. Rourke

Tag: His RP posts will be tagged "muse: lyle rourke" and will include the verse in parentheses.

Full name: Lyle Tiberius Rourke. However, only Milo calls him Lyle. He prefers to be called Rourke by everyone else.

Age: Differs depending on verse/thread, but he always appears 54 (his age in the movie)

Species: Human (also known as Terran)

Gender: Male

Hair color: Gray, with a white streak on either side of his head.

Eye color: Brown

Appearance: He's 6' 4" and full of muscles. He's huge and definitely looks like someone you don't want to mess with. He wears a glowing light blue crystal pendant like everyone else in Atlantis wears. He also has a tattoo of a star (just like Milo's) on his right shoulder.

Sexuality: Gay

Interests/Hobbies: He's actually pretty handy with machines and engineering stuff. He did a ton of mods on his spaceship, the Zeleya Maru, and he enjoys working on/building machines and vehicles (restoring classic cars or creating things that look like they belong in Mad Max: Fury Road. He's also trying his hand at kinetic sculpture.

He's also a closet musician/singer, but doesn't think he's very good (he's wrong, look up anything with James Garner singing). You may catch him singing while he works on a machine if he thinks no one is around.

Bio/Verses:

Canon-ish verse:

His father was a very militaristic man and raised his son in the same way. He was taught to keep his feelings inside and not let them show, and he got better at doing so as he got older, though he struggled in school (leading to teachers often immediately deciding he's an idiot) and often took out his frustration on the more successful students. He was expelled for fighting on more than one occasion, and decided to join the military as a teenager, where he found more success and respect, but still not what he was hoping for: acknowledgement of his efforts and ANY praise for what he did right.

He has been in multiple battles while in the military and was wounded multiple times.

He married once, but it only lasted four months because of his aggressiveness (according to the ex, though a lack of chemistry/connection may also be to blame. Basically, they were never really in love)

As a result of the way he was treated in school and even in the military (everyone deciding he's just a big, muscled moron), he greatly disliked 'academics', though he will admit he had respect for Professor Thaddeus Thatch because Thatch didn't act like a know-it-all and was actually resourceful in a crisis. This was, oddly enough, when he began to think he might be attracted to men.

Upon meeting Milo, Rourke felt a strong urge to protect him and keep him safe. Along the way, through several instances of helping Milo and just watching him be.....Milo, Rourke found himself having feelings for Milo, though he only got up the courage to say something when Milo lay dying in his arms after being fatally injured in the effort to return the Heart of Atlantis.

After Milo was healed by the Heart, he decided to stay in Atlantis to be with Milo, who he learned was in love with him, too.

Heart of Atlantis verse:

This is pretty similar to Canon-ish, but it's based on an idea running through several of my fanfics. In this verse, Milo's grandfather was actually Prince Talos, the younger brother of Atlantis' king. Not much is different from the previous verse (except that Rourke has confessed love for Milo, and Milo revealed his love for Rourke the night before they arrived in Atlantis) until they visit the Heart of Atlantis. Here, Milo is chosen as the Crystal's host instead of Kida. Rourke tries to convince Helga not to go through with her plan, but only succeeds in turning the other team members to his side, and only after Helga's goon kicks his leg where one of his old war wounds is, sending Rourke to the ground, where Helga kicks him in the face before leaving and stranding everyone in Atlantis. The dying king, with Kida's help, explains how the crystal chooses its host and how Milo is in fact Atlantean royal blood, a prince. The king gives his crystal to Rourke, telling him to take Kida with him and return the Heart in order to save Atlantis and Milo, which Rourke does. Milo is returned by the Heart and Rourke tells him about his heritage.

Future-verse:

Currently just with @the-haunted-office but this version of him is kinda fun and could be used in other threads. He's 9022 years old (subject to change depending on plots/threads). While not a genius like Milo, he is competent when it comes to technology, especially the things Milo builds/invents. He knows enough science/tech/engineering to be able to help Milo with something if Milo asks him to. He also speaks fluent Atlantean as well as English, and can read/write it fluently also. He would be considered an expert on Atlantis.......if people knew Atlantis existed. Which they don't.

Space verse (because why not):

Takes place after Canon-ish and Heart of Atlantis verses. Either one can be used as his background. A Star Trek-ish deal that kinda crosses with my Rovarians universe with Rourke as Commander/First Officer of the vessel RSS Ulysses and the rest of the Atlantis cast as his senior crew (Milo as captain). Ulysses is a multipurpose Saturn-class heavy cruiser (think the Enterprise D from Trek) whose design is actually based on the submarine of the same name that started the trip to Atlantis (the space vessel is a lot bigger, though, as it has a lot more lab facilities and crew quarters and such on board). It has the standard warp speed drive, a high speed drive known as quantum slipstream, and the basically instantaneous transwarp drive (transwarp is only used when absolutely necessary, as it uses a lot of fuel and needs to cool down and recharge before it can be used to "jump" again. The further you travel with it, the longer the time before it can be used again. This is why transwarp is reserved only for times when even quantum slipstream isn't fast enough). I can give you more details should we decide to do something in this AU

*Rourke also has his own smaller vessel, the Zeleya Maru, that he gained on some mission after he and an away-team stole it from a gang of pirate-like thieves (who had likely stolen it from elsewhere) that they were escaping. Since then, Rourke took up a position as primary caretaker for the Maru, and often uses it to make himself and away teams appear to be rogues/smugglers/whatever they need to be in order to gather intel/resources from places where affiliation with the Rovarians is not well received (Rourke sometimes uses the alias "Teir Aurelan" when necessary for undercover work.). Maru is normally kept in the hangar bay of the RSS Ulysses when she's not in use.

**The following are the same for all verses**

Personality: He appears very stern and stoic on the outside (Tron fans, think Uprising Tron), a product of his upbringing and time in the military. He's very good at not showing what he's feeling, and at forcing his own feelings aside. Since staying in Atlantis, he's trying to get better about letting himself feel things and remembering it's okay to not be okay. He admits he doesn't really like the person he became before the Atlantis trip and wants to become a better version of himself. It takes some effort on his part to open up and trust people, especially after Helga, as he blames himself for not recognizing her as a threat sooner. He can get fiercely protective of those he cares about. It takes a lot to get under his skin or make him cry, but there are things that will do it.

In a relationship: He's loyal and dependable, but he can seem cold and unfeeling at first, as he tries to assess whether or not someone is a threat to him or others. Once he does open up, though, he's very caring and loving toward his partner, being (sometimes overly) conscious of how he acts and speaks around them. He doesn't want to be the one to hurt them, as he feels it would be a betrayal of their trust in him. He will often take on the role of being the 'strong one' being sort of a rock for his partner, though he will feel for them or with them.

*I mainly ship him with Milo, but as with all my characters, I'm open to anything else if it happens. Please talk to me in DM first, though.

Trauma: He does have some from the battles he was in, but it's not nearly as bad as the Leviathan attack or the battle for the Heart of Atlantis. In addition, he also has childhood trauma, as his military father was also an alcoholic and very abusive toward Lyle and his mother, even when Lyle was as young as three. He also witnessed his father's beating on his mother (she stayed around so she could protect little Lyle).

Other: He and Milo occasionally visit the surface world to keep tabs on it and make sure there are no threats to Atlantis. They use whatever knowledge they gain to make sure Atlantis is able to protect itself in the even someone else finds their way down there. After all, the two of them and their group did. Because of their greatly extended lives, no matter what time they appear in, they do not appear to age at all. These surface trips are great opportunities for them to meet other muses.