Unthinkable Wings

I have now caught up on ST:DISCO, as I feel that - thanks to that rather ill-judged jogging wear - I now ought to call it.*

I have feels! But not many thoughts!

( I'm not sure if this merits a spoiler cut, but hey )

*Well, it's better than STD.

ETA: Why can't I find any ST: DISCO icons? Am I going to have to make my own? I've never been particularly good at that....

I thought I would have a bash at this, even though some of the questions are a bit daft, because it gives me a chance to talk about Trek!

1 - Which Star Trek is your favorite?

Deep Space Nine, without a doubt. Long plotty arcs, a brilliant ensemble cast of characters - and some wonderful recurring guests, such as Garak, Dukat, Cassidy, and above all the superlative Kai Winn, politics, people who don't necessarily love Star Fleet but aren't 'bad guys', and did I mention the characters? One of the wonderful things about Nine is the web of relationships and interactions between the main (and minor) characters, the way the backstory keeps affecting them - and I also love the fact that they took Worf and O'Brian and made them into truly memorable characters. I love the sense of friendship (especially because sometimes it gets complicated and strained) - Jadzia and Ben, Kira and Jadzia, the developing friendship between Julian and Miles, Julian's fascinated, slashy relationship with Garak.

The fact that it treats faith much more richly and intelligently than any of the other Treks, of course, makes me even more fond of it. Ben's journey, over the series, is pretty brilliantly done - the reluctant acceptance of a vocation that turns out to be something even more fundamental. Kira, whose faith and her struggles with it (and her struggles with working for the Emissary) are fundamental to what makes her Kira. And the handling of the dark side of faith is just as good - Winn is a tragic and all too believable figure, and I suspect every priest has the potential to turn into her. And then there's Dukat, who wants to instrumentalise the Pah Wraiths as he has consistently tried to instrumentalise everything to do with Bajor, and gets turned into a tool himself. But I find Winn's fall scarier, because that's the sort of corruption of the good that happens all the time, without any special effects, and sometimes without anyone noticing.

The runner up is classic Trek (and the movies), because that's where it all started, and because of the wonderful trio of characters at the centre of it: Kirk, Spock, and Bones. Or to be honest, Spock, Kirk, and Bones, because Spock was always my favourite. Also, I love the way TOS can veer wildly between the serious and the moving to the honest-to-God crack. I mean, you'd hardly believe "City on the Edge of Forever" and "Shore Leave" were the same series. And sometimes you get the same weird tension in the same story. "The Naked Time" has some exceedingly funny scenes (Sulu swashbuckling and addressing Uhura as "Fair maiden!" and Uhura's dead-pan, "Sorry, neither"!), and some heartbreak as well.

It follows that "Trials and Tribblations" is one of the best things ever and guaranteed to make me smile. (But is it my favourite episode EVAR? Watch this space).

( The rest of the questions. )

Wow. Fandom secrets brings us wildly inaccurate, classist, tea wank.

It reminded me of my headcanon about Picard, though (I always forget that I do actually have canon about Picard, though he's the only TNG character, other than Miles and Worf* that I care enough to do this for). Having been puzzled for ages as to why a supposed Frenchman is so damned British, I concluded that it's of a wider piece with his attitude to his family, and his flight from his responsibilities to the family business. I bet he cultivated raging Anglophilia as a kid, just to differentiate himself. No coffee, just tea (imported from England, not a French blend), much to his parents' irritation. Shakespeare ("classical French drama is lifeless!"). And then, of course, running away to sea to be a sailor joining Starfleet.

I bet he was a really annoying teenager, and probably a bit of a hipster.


* Who I always basically think of as DS9 people, even though this doesn't make much sense for Worf. But I never felt his colleagues on the Enterprise appreciated him properly.

Psst! If you like humourous, if slightly cracky, Star Trek fic, or knitting, you absolutely must go read Heel Turn".

Yes, I said "knitting".

I don't think my response to not having time to reply to comments by posting more, but this exchange amused me...

Tree: Apparently this theatre company's doing a Klingon version of "A Christmas Carol". Scrooge is a warrior who's lost his honour... I wonder what the Ferengi version's like?

Lawyer: Oh, that's easy, it's a tale of how a business man who has fallen into destructive habits of altruism is reminded that profit's what counts.

Tree:... You mean it's Atlas Shrugged?

And very soon we will be off to Edinburgh. The worst National Rail Enquiries* is predicting is half hour delays, but some trains have been cancelled, so wish us luck...


*Not Inquiries, spellchecker, thankyouverymuch.

For the record, my somewhat less than satisfactory femgenficathon fic (and can I again urge you to take a look at the comm? There's some great stuff up there.

Title: Silence Beyond Words
Author: tree_and_leaf
Fandom: Star Trek (AOS)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No
Prompt: 12. Could I write all, the world would turn to stone. -- Caterina Sforza (early 1463-1509), Italian warrior-ruler of Imola and Forli.
Summary: Nyota Uhura is a communications officer, which means she’s good with words. So why can’t she find the right words to talk about what’s happened?
Author's Notes: Capt. Robbins isn’t really an OFC; it’s one of the names used in some of the spin-off material for Number One (while I normally have a great deal of respect for DC Fontana, I hate the idea that Number One really is her name; and wouldn’t that get confusing once you get promoted past XO anyway?) At any rate, Number One is awesome, despite how little we see of her in canon.
I have taken the prompt rather loosely; I wanted to write about things that can and can't be said. Alas, I struggled with it a bit, and I'm not entirely satisfied with the results. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

I do not own Star Trek, in any of its forms, nor am I making any profits.

( Robbins bought her whisky, the Scottish kind, with a reek of smoke on the nose. Uhura winced, and thought of burning circuits. )

Further signs that tree_and_leaf is, indeed, possibly on the stressed side...

Went round to a friends for dinner, and finally remembered that I needed to put a wash on before I went. Except - having got back very late, the evening having turned into slightly worrying fangirling of the general attractiveness of the Obama administration serious political debate - I discovered that I'd omitted to turn the bloody washer on. Which I discovered by taking half the clothes out of the washer and thinking, Mm, these are very dry, the spin cycle's not normally that efficient, although they still look a bit grubby... Ah. Yes.

And instead of going to bed like a sensible person, I ended up writing rather pointless Sarek/ Amanda fic. *headdesk*

Title: Mother Tongue
Words: 1059
Warnings: None, unless you really dislike fics with babies in them. Could be either TOS or AOS. However, in my head, Sarek is played by Mark Lenard.
Rating: PG, if not U.
Spoilers: Spock has parents, you know - the story that he was generated by a computer algorhythm is just Doctor McCoy's idea of a joke...
Characters: Sarek/ Amanda, OCs, infant! non-speaking! Spock.
Summary: He's a child of two worlds, and some people don't entirely approve...

( I am endeavouring to improve my grasp of Standard idioms )

I love it when fic makes you realise the greatness of things you didn't know would work!

For instance, Gaila-Spock friendship fic. There's been a number of good Gaila gen-fic, but this one, by igrockspock is particularly good. In which Gaila attempts to work why she keeps getting human sexual mores wrong, with a bit of help from Spock, who admits that he doesn't know much about the matter, but is confident that the matter can be clarified with the application of the scientific method and a proper research plan (no, not like that, it's a gen fic†), and from Nyota, who realises that there's more to her room-mate than meets the eye.

It could have stood a beta, as there are a very few typos, but they don't detract from the fic. It's funny and moving, and a nice exploration of the challenges of culture clashes - and what you can learn from them, if you're willing to try.

† I mean, it's an R, and there's a lot of discussion of sex, because it's about Gaila, but it's not porn (unless social anthropology turns you on, of course...)

Double drabble, total fluff. I blame having to read a lot of mediaeval religious literature...

Title: Nigra sum, sed formosa.
Spock/ Uhura, PG (though non-compliant with the Hayes Code); no spoilers (unless you count the ship itself...); come to think of it, it's not specifically movie-canon.

( Vulcans always claimed to need less sleep than humans )