#the empath

[trek-tracks]

(105)

<3 Bones <3

Happy 100th birthday, De (January 20, 1920).

[chaos-whatever]

Don't worry about them :)

[starberry-cupcake]

they just did all these little things to each other throughout decades and new versions need to get on this level of being weird with each other (affectionately)

[possumtion]

I am normal about the empath (lie)

(Prompt fill for the @mcspirkevents bingo card: “Final Moments)

[forecast0ctopus]

noooo they gave him the worst crop top of all time……..sick and twisted

[major-comet]

the biggest problem with tos’ episodic format is that the episode usually ends pretty quickly after the conflict resolves and then they never really talk about it again - no matter how intense or harrowing it was

which means that we don’t get to actually *see* the interpersonal fallout of bones being diagnosed with and cured from a previously-incurable terminal illness (that he didn’t even want to tell jim and spock he had), and then just four episodes later drugging them so that he can go be tortured (and likely die) instead of spock, and so jim doesn’t have to make the choice between them.

did they talk about it? beyond just a standard debrief and a ��never fucking do that again bones i swear to god i mean it this time”? did they make it the captains’ quarters for the debrief, only for mccoy to be pulled into a crushing, trembling hug as soon as the door shut while jim tried to assure himself that bones was still here, was still breathing? spock hovering nearby - a hand gently coming to rest on his shoulder?

why didn’t mccoy want to tell them about the xenopolycythemia, anyways? to try and hold onto a few more normal-ish months before every time they looked at him their eyes would be filled with grief - mourning a man they hadn’t yet lost? the same reason he ran away; to spare them what he went through with his father?

only for him to immediately turn around and throw himself back to the wolves to (almost) die right in front of them anyways

i don’t really know how they handled it. whether they talked about it and attempted to soothe the hurt, or just resolutely tried to bottle it up.

but i do know this: spock eventually came back from gol because jim simply (though accidentally) called out for him in a moment of need. bones only came back because jim personally drafted him back into starfleet

[thymelessink]

There are so many episodes of Kirk getting hurt, Spock getting hurt and Kirk getting hurt again...

But actually I need more episodes of this man getting hurt

I need him to look pained and pretty, to strongly endure whatever alien torture one can come up with but I also need him to be rescued like a damsel in distress and to be comforted by his two boyfriends

[kyanitedragon]

Me: I mean sure Spock and McCoy would be interesting together but idk I don't really ship it ship it

S3 Spock @ McCoy:

Me: Oh. Oh.

[electronickingdomfox]

Reddit asking the real questions.

And then the correct answers:

The tragedy is that they DID film a shot of half-naked McCoy, and then never got to use it in the final episode!

[iamenits]

[maid-of-the-golden-deer]

found a book (10 in a series that goes over the whole show i presume) that adapts episodes into short stories and this is from the empath and its KILLING me

not only does it explicitly call what spock feels for his friends Love by the most reliable expressor of emotions in the series, a literal empath, but posits that bones didnt only volunteer to undergo the vian's tortue bc hes so noble of spirit, but bc gem reveals to him that spock himself tries to volunteer out of that same love

im gonna cry. scream. biting and thrashing none of them can properly express themself but they love each other so much anyway

[trek-tracks]

Ending the 2025 edition right.

Starfleet Science/Medical’s version of the Kobayashi Maru is the Hypospray Maru. You’re left in a room containing just a random hypospray, told its use has the potential to stop someone’s suffering but it’s never been tried before, and if you inject it into yourself to see what it does, you’re officially crazy enough to lead a department.

[muirmarie]

the empath au where spock's like. hmm. 93% of insanity. interesting. what if i just.....backed myself up somewhere??? to be restored later??? and he manages to catch mccoy before he can hypo him, and just uploads his katra right on up into mccoy without so much as a by your leave per usual, and they have to go on mr. toad's wild ride back to vulcan in season 3 - and the vulcan healer looks at kirk like??? is this a joke??? where's his katra???

and kirk's like. hmm. i wonder if this has anything to do with why my chief medical officer is being fully unhinged. i thought it was just survivor's guilt, but now i WONDER.

anyway yeah spock and mccoy post-katra (beta canon linked) bestie brains from season 3 on, is what i'm saying

[starberry-cupcake]

the empath started well for jim, as usual

in a reversal of the immunity syndrome, bones got to be the one to sacrifice himself in this one

which means there's a lot of domestic mcspirk in this one

[hvezdnastreka]

I watched the empath!

The second time posting this, as tumblr hid it for some reason from dashboard and tags. I hope it was because of the long rant about the episode and not because of the art. Please don't hide this tumblr, thank youuu