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spockat · 6 years

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Fave Fandom and Ships

in answer to an ask from weeks ago, sorry

Fave Fandom and Ships

001 Fandom Discovery

Least favorite character – when MU Lorca fully revealed himself a villainous villainous man [stomping that guy’s face – really?! Diatribe against alien races? Ugh]. I HATED what the writers did with Lorca. Emperor Georgiou also hits the stereotypical notes, since she doesn’t have a mustache she twirls cooked ganglia instead, and she’s also been given the Villain Trope of being bisexual – because [gasp!] “what could be worse” [this trope is on display in many shows and movies]. Yeah, we get it, she uses every. body.

5 Fave Ships – Prime Lorca/Cornwell; MU Lorca/PU Burnham; Stamets/Culber; Tilly/Tyler, I really don’t have any others. While Tyler/Burnham was well-acted, I didn’t really feel it except in the moment at the end of “Into the Forest I Go”

Character I find most attractive – ummm GABRIEL LORCA

Character I would marry – Prime Lorca [In my headcanon he’s a really decent guy – as I write in my BlackQat Katriel fics. [Although he can be stubborn as fuck, and when captaining his ship he’s pretty much like MU Lorca in temperament, using a tad bit of sarcasm here and there. He’s a little salty, but damned good and his crew would follow him through hell because he’s loyal to them.]

Character I would be best friends with – Katrina Cornwell. I hope I’d be good friends with her, she is so levelheaded and [headcanon] kind and compassionate, and probably encourages her friends. [You don’t become a psychiatrist because you’re unsympathetic toward, or uninterested in, people.] Runners-up, Sylvia Tilly, because she’s effervescent and a good friend to people.

A random thought – I so want Cornwell to find and rescue Prime Lorca. [Headcanon] Prime’s been busting his ass trying to help the rebels in the MU, and succeeding in large part since the Emperor’s departure. Maybe Cornwell has to make a devil’s bargain with Section 31 to get over there … [story in progress, grin]

An unpopular opinion – Burnham was RIGHT and Georgiou was wrong. The Shenzhou should’ve given the Klingons “The Vulcan Hello.” It might have shocked the Klingons and sent them to regroup. OTOH it may have just resulted in …The Battle at the Binary Stars … anyway. So either a win/lose or a lose/lose, and since the latter happened, it would’ve been worth a try for result #1.

My Canon OTP – Prime Lorca and Cornwell. Though it’s not REALLY established in canon as a romance. I hope it will be. I’d love to see them on Risa or somewhere together and get into an adventure while Discovery’s on a subplot adventure. Or they could be the subplot adventure. I DON’T CARE I JUST WISH I COULD SEE THEM TOGETHER

My non-canon OTP – MU Lorca and Burnham. If only he’d been fighting a just revolution for the rights of all races. Michael may even have joined him, for a time, and returned to the Prime Universe, say, after helping MU Lorca institute a better government after the Emperor’s death. OH WELL.

Most badass character – Tossup between Michael Burnham and Kat Cornwell on the female side both BAFs, and Lorca is a BAF.

Most epic villain - Emperor Georgiou. Farming and eating Kelpiens, honest to god. Killing how many, like 10 people in her throne room because she couldn’t trust them to remain quiet? Blowing up the rebel base, well yuh, I guess that’s to be expected. Quite the opposite of her kind Prime counterpart.

Runner-Up: Kol. He’s a mean Klingon, even by Klingon standards!

Pairing I am not a fan of – Tyler and Burnham, not so much. Something about it seemed a lit-tle forced, and I can’t say what. The actors did a lovely job, but I didn’t see the chemistry that was so obvious between Lorca and Burnham and Lorca and Cornwell.

And this is totally personal and y’all knock yourselves out and enjoy them, but I’m not a big fan of slash pairings in general, i.e., “making a gay couple out of a sisterly or brotherly canon pair of friends.” It’s just not my thing and I know people love to do this because of many personal or fannish reasons, like more representation, and y’all have fun with it. It is a really big thing now. But … I ship Prime Cornwell/Lorca and it isn’t yet established as canon (any more than Kirk/Spock) that they’re a canon OTP, so …

… take my “slash” statement with a grain of salt. What you want is what you want and what I want is what I want, and in fandom we can have All The Things.

I love Stamets and Culber and I love that they are a canon gay OTP. [Stamets is great because he’s a salty scientist and a BAF (“as I’ve explained to you, Captain”)(injecting himself with tardigrade DNA to save “Ripper” and get the spore drive on line, and Culber is a warm fuzzy person with medical brilliance and compassion, kind of like Dr Crusher in TNG. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating him.]

Character I feel the writers screwed up one way or another – Tyler got it the worst. Couldn’t he have just been a human with Voq’s memories implanted? Jesus, they had to CHOP UP VOQ? At least give me a reason for that. Maybe because L’Rell’s beliefs said Voq would die if his body died? But noooo, no reason is given, and gratuitous bloody surgery scenes are there just [it seems to me] for shock value.

Lorca got fucked over [by the writers] the second he killed that guy outside the Agony Booth – he might could have been redeemed by leading a revolution for just causes.

Also Prime Georgiou. See elsewhere.

And Culber. What could be a worse screwup than killing a character for shock value?

Fave friendship - Burnham and Tilly

Character I most identify with – I am a lot like Tilly in the sense that I can be insecure and unsure and talk wayyy too much. As an older woman I also identify with Cornwell [and love her age-appropriate relationship with (Prime) Lorca, and I hope they’re more than just occasional fuck buddies.] In temperament I also identify with Salty!Lorca or CompassionateCulber or SaltyStamets.

Character I wish I could be – Cornwell or Burnham. Cornwell because she’s brilliant and capable, a psychiatrist, and a BAF Starfleet Admiral … being defiant and fighting L’Rell; with its attendant risks; Burnham because she’s also incredibly brilliant and capable and a BAF herself. Beaming onto the Sarcophagus to plant the sensors? Fighting Kol? I mean dayum.

002

Ships – Cornwell/Lorca [my OTP]; Burnham/Lorca

When I started shipping them – I think when she said, “Gabriel, why don’t you fix your damn eyes.”

[And Burnham/Lorca, when I read LadyFangs’ stories including “Human Nature,” then co-wrote “Human Nature II” with her.]

My thoughts – Headcanon: they didn’t meet till after Lorca graduated the Academy; Cornwell is four years older than he, and is a fully certified M.D. Psychiatrist [12 years] and comes to the Academy Officer Candidate School, which teaches candidates about the service and its history; Federation history as it relates to Starfleet; what it is to be an officer, not a civilian, and basic SERE training, working out, leadership. Kat graduates with a commission as a Lieutenant. My headcanon is that she and Gabriel actually meet when they each come to SFA for Command Training School. Kat has decided she wants to enter the command track after serving as counselor for a year or so on a Starbase. She’s heard from patients how bad upper leadership leads to a lot of poor decisions in the field, and she feels she can make a positive contribution in this area. More thoughts in my fanfiction at BlackQat on AO3.

What makes me happy about them – They are an age-appropriate couple!! This is pret-ty rare in TV and movies. I note that some actors do seek to have age-appropriate co-stars Cornwell is beautiful, but not a fresh-faced 25-y/o, and sexy Lorca finds her sexy, and yay, there’s hope for women my age, I’m so glad, and that’s why I ship them and write them.

What makes me sad about them – that MU Lorca fucked Cornwell in more than one sense of the word. Bastard! And, that now she feels “my Gabriel is dead.” I really started shipping pretty hard when she said that, and I really hope Season 2 brings us some canon Katriel “more than fuckbuddies” subplots or references.

Things done in fanfic that annoy me – Please, writers, I’m beggin’ ya, PLEASE proofread or have a Beta proof your story. I don’t spend much time on things that aren’t proofed and beta’d. I get too distracted from the story because I’m an editor.

If you love slash don’t read this paragraph which is strictly my opinion – It really annoys me when slash shippers tag their stories as het, then turn it into slash. This is stealthy and uncalled for. When slash shippers try to get hits on their stories by, say, tagging it as Spock/Uhura and then having Uhura “generously step out of the way because she realizes Spock has never really been into her, he’s really into Kirk,” blah blah blah, just so the author’s real OTP [not tagged], K/S, can be the OTP in the story. Feh! Just be honest and tag it as slash.

Things I look for in a fanfic – QUALITY WRITING, good proofreading, and BELIEVABLE CHARACTER PSYCHOLOGY. Also staying fairly true to the characters, maybe pushing the limits, but not too much. [I like to write angsty private Lorca—and the character, so far, is pretty much not so angsty [that was MU Lorca]—yet I still write him as an efficient, sometimes salty captain on the job. [In his private reflections and relationships, though, sometimes, angst.]

I also really love it when an author writes a Trek-like plot, with exploration, a little world-building, or a battle scenario, or alien interactions [something I don’t manage to do that often]. I love romance and angst, occasional fluff, and always, always, a good happy ending or at least a believable and decent resolution for the characters. I don’t like downer endings, but sometimes they’re realistic.

My wishlist – A canon romance for Cornwell and Prime Lorca! But first, FIND PRIME LORCA. He’s fighting alongside the rebels in the MU. He comes back to Prime Uni with Acute Stress Disorder or PTSD. Kat recommends a counselor and checks in with Gabriel to see how it’s going, but not poke her nose into his actual therapy, because that’s not the done thing. Slowly they progress to resume their romance.

Also let’s have another CBSAA series about Pike’s Enterprise. [I know that’s not what you asked.]

Who I’d be comfortable with [my OTP] ending up with, if not each other – Lorca, with Burnham. Cornwell, with … hmmm … unless we go over into cross-over country I just don’t know. Dr. McCoy of AU Trek maybe?

My happily ever after for my OTP – a long-distance romance, occasional meetings on Starbases or Risa or other planets; passionate discussions about Starfleet policy over coffee; passionate other moments [wink-wink-nudge-nudge], shirtless Lorca ;^), followed eventually by retirement somewhere where they can have fun outdoors. I think they’d be hikers and sailors and really dig nature and space travel to many planets.

003. Character

[Ask: Philippa Georgiou]

How I feel about her – the writers gave her a raw deal at the Binary Stars, though she fought like a boss when she fought with T’Kuvma. If only Burnham’s entire subsequent story arc hadn’t depended on her mutiny against a fairly reasonable captain. If only Georgiou had opened with the Vulcan Hello per Burnham’s suggestion and opened negotiations from there. Or discovered the Klingons didn’t want to negotiate, and left the system to regroup with a group of Starfleet ships. OH WELL. Now she’s dead, and that’s really too bad, because she was a good nurturer to Michael. She did let Burnham and Saru bitch at each other too much; I’d have told those two to take it off the Bridge. They were being unprofessional.

Any/all people I ship romantically with her Hmmm. She was a bit of a cipher so far as that went. I feel like she has an old friend / lover she goes on shore leave with. Hetero or bi/pan? IDK. Not sure if she’d have a long-term fully committed relationship; I think she is mother to her crew and that takes much of her emotional energy, but she could’ve been like I hope Gabriel will be and have had a long-distance romance. We have not met a lot of people her age in Discovery except Lorca, Cornwell, and the admirals at Headquarters, and sadly, Georgiou is no more, so the point seems moot.

My fave non-romantic rel for this character – other than “mothering” Michael Burnham, we don’t see a lot of this either. Some fanfic writers have Philippa as Gabriel and Katrina’s Academy classmate, an idea that I really like, although in my fic, she and Katrina are the same age and Gabriel’s a bit younger. [In my headcanon Philippa’s an Academy grad and proceeds straight from there; Kat’s a practicing psychiatrist who goes to Officer Candidate School, getting her commission as a Lieutenant, then straight on to Command Training School – where she meets Lorca and they fall in love.]

My unpopular opinion about this character – she should have listened to Michael and prevented the Battle at the Binary Stars. But could The Vulcan Hello have prevented it? Who knows. The writers had their plans. Alas Philippa paid the price :^( … she need not have died; the fallout from Burnham’s mutiny could have made for some sparks between them before Burnham went off for sentencing, and Michael could have been equally heartbroken that she had sundered her friendship for a battle prevention tactic.

One thing I wish had happened with the chac in canon – That she had listened to Michael. The Klingons might still have fought, but I feel Burnham was right with the Vulcan Hello and would have set the Klingons back a bit. [Shrug] But then there would have been no Lorca rescuing Burnham, no episodes 3 – 15, so … there we are. As I said above, she could have lived.

Favorite friendship for this character – Her friendship with Michael was not one of equals exactly, seeing as their ranks differ greatly. But I like the idea in some fics that she, Lorca and Cornwell are friendly.

My crossover ship – Haha, again, I’ve no idea, I don’t tend to think in those terms. Romantically? Matt Decker, before he lost his crew, got ASD and gave his life heroically to stop the Doomsday Machine, maybe. Or a stellar cartographer.

#fandom and ships #admiral katrina cornwell #captain gabriel lorca #captain philippa georgiou #star trek discovery

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myndopeus · 7 years

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you give me something to think about (chapter 10

Read on ao3

Summary: Trini’s never been good at making friends, which only makes being stuck in the same school for seven years even more miserable. But when she finally does meet someone nice, she ends up with a whole lot more than she bargained for.

It’s gonna be one hell of a year.

The Slowburn Hogwarts AU that no one asked for.

Note: I’m not sure if i should continue to post the full chapters on tumblr, or if I should just post the links to ao3. i’m thinking just the links might be better/more convenient.

The team freezes, all of them gaping at Jen. Practice had finished, but Jen had held them back for a second for an announcement, and it clearly hadn’t gone over well.

Kat steps forward. “Hold up. We have practice tomorrow morning?” She has a dangerous look in her eyes, less as if she’s asking for confirmation and more as if she’s giving Jen a chance to change her mind.

“Was I not clear enough?” Jen says. As much of a presences as Kat has, Jen is undoubtedly the scarier one in this interaction. Nevertheless, the rest of team still hasn’t been cowed into submission.

“But tomorrow is the Hogsmeade trip,” Koda protests. Some of the others chime in their agreement.

“Ah, Jen,” Ernie mutters, stepping closer to her. “I was, uh, not informed about this?”

“That’s because I didn’t tell you.” There’s a quiet “ooh” from the back that’s quickly shushed. Jen turns her focus back to the whole team. “Look, I get it, weekend practices suck, morning practices doubly so. But, and this is not going on record,” she intones, and the team quickly nods, “I… I have faith in you guys. I think we truly do stand a chance against the Ravenclaw team, even though they’re more experienced overall. That’s why I’m pushing each and every one of you; if I thought we were going to lose, I wouldn’t bother.”

The team quiets, shocked by Jen’s confession. Coming from her, that was equivalent to standing on the roof of the castle screaming her love for her house. Jen looks to the side and coughs, a little embarrassed by her show of emotion, and Trini smiles to herself.

“Ok.” She surprises herself by speaking up in front of the whole team. She shrugs at their glances. “If Jen says we can do it, then we’ll do it. Besides, it’s a morning practice, so we’ll still be able to go out.”

“But… Hogsmeade…” Koda meekly says, and Trini reaches up to pat him on the shoulder.

“Me too, buddy,” she says sympathetically. Koda pouts at the ground before reluctantly nodding. The rest of the team sighs in resignation.

Jen looks surprised at the sudden change in attitude, and Ernie is looking at Trini with an intrigued expression. To be fair, she’s surprised as well; she didn’t think that she’d have this much sway over the opinions of her teammates.

Ernie is the one who notices that they’re all still standing on the pitch. “Well, uh, that’s it for practice. Unless our captain has any more unexpected announcements to make,” he sarcastically adds, and Jen rolls her eyes at him.

“Oh piss off, I can make decisions on my own just fine.” Ernie’s eyes narrow as he turns to face Jen, and in a flash they’re both bickering about a variety of incidents that are at best tangentially related to quidditch captaincy. The rest of the team watches them uncertainly for a few seconds before they all quickly rush off to the locker rooms, leaving their captain(s) to argue.

* * *

“There you are.” She smells lavender, and she slightly off-guard for a second as the voice comes up beside her. She quickly falls back into her usual mask and turns to face Kimberly, who offers her a friendly smile.

“You weren’t at the library today.” Trini shrugs off-handedly at that.

“Yeah, Jen somehow managed to find the time to squeeze in extra practices, so…” Kim winces sympathetically

“Surprise quidditch practice, every girl’s dream,” Kim says sarcastically, and Trini smirks.

“I hope the boys weren’t too much to deal with,” she remarks, shifting her bag to her other shoulder. She can already tell that her arm is going to be incredibly sore by the end of practice tomorrow.

Kim shakes her head with a small smile. “Trust me, I’ve put up with them in far crazier situations. Although you should have heard Zack’s whining.” She pretends to puff out her chest and deepens her voice. “Guys, where’s Trini? Why isn’t Trini here? How am I going to justify blowing off my homework now? You guys are boring, I wish Trini was here.”

It’s somehow egregiously exaggerated and incredibly accurate, and they both end up laughing at it. Trini is reaching up to comb stray hair out of her face before she stops, groaning in annoyance.

“Damn it, I left my hat in the locker room again,” she sighs. It’s definitely not worth the effort of going back, but it’s still incredibly inconvenient, and she feels a little weird without it. “Whatever, I’ll just get it tomorrow.”

Kim perks up at that. “Oh! Speaking of tomorrow, are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow? The boys and I were going to head down together, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us.”

The specific wording surprises Trini somewhat. She’s sure that the rest of the group wants her there, no doubt, but Kimberly seems to be emphasizing the invitation as coming from her, personally. That’s… interesting.

Then she remembers Jen’s earlier announcement, and she grimaces slightly. “I mean, I’m going to be heading down, sure, but I can’t join you guys. Jen also called a morning practice tomorrow, so I’ll be stuck at the castle for a bit.”

“Morning practice, on a Hogsmeade day? That’s hardcore.”

“Tell me about it,” Trini grumbles. “Assuming quidditch doesn’t kill me, I’d still like to meet up with you guys.”

“Totally!” Kimberly seems to brighten at that. “We’ll probably run into you at some point during the day, but if not, we’ll just meet at the Three Broomsticks again.”

“Sounds good,” Trini nods.

“Great, I’ll let the boys know.”

When they reach the stairway, Trini notices that Kimberly doesn’t head towards the dungeons, turning to the next ascending flight of stairs instead. “Where are you going?” she blurts out before she can stop herself.

Kimberly freezes, then slowly turns to Trini with a… guilty expression on her face?

“I was heading to the seventh floor.” She tries to pass it off as nonchalant, but Trini quickly catches on to what that means.

“Oh. My bad, sorry for being nosy.” For some reason, Trini doesn’t move. They both end up standing there staring at each other in the quickly emptying stairway.

“If that’s alright with you,” Kim says suddenly, startling Trini (and herself, it looks like). “I mean, I know you… you brought me there the first time, but I realize that that doesn’t count as giving me your permission to use that room, and I shouldn’t have assumed, so if you’re not comfortable with that, I can just go somewhere else-”

“It’s fine.” Trini cuts her off decisively. “It’s not my room, anyways. I mean, it doesn’t belong to me. You can use it.”

“…really?” Kim is hesitant, and Trini just nods. She turns away, intending to leave Kim to her own business, when she’s stopped.

“Trini?” Her name sounds different when Kim says it, and the feeling is so unusual that she almost doesn’t remember that it’s her name. Shaking it off, she turns back.

“Yeah?”

Kim seems to have changed once again. It’s a familiar look, as if she’s looking for something, but not quite. It’s not quite anticipation, but… it almost feels like Kim is waiting for something from her. Trini is used to people scrutinizing her, trying to peel back her exterior and find out what’s under her skin, but Kim’s stare feels nowhere near as invasive.

Trini doesn’t know how to feel about that.

Kimberly seems to realize that she’s staring, and she suddenly blinks, looking away. “It’s nothing, nevermind. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Uh, sure. Goodnight.” Trini waits until her back is to Kimberly before she frowns, her feet automatically following the path back to the dorm.

Of course she had expected things with Kim to be different after the Room of Requirement. Truth be told, she’d expected Kim to start avoiding her and pretending that the whole thing never happened. Instead, Kim seems to have become more open, their conversations becoming less small talk and more friendly banter. It was almost like they were becoming close friends.

Which wasn’t a problem in and of itself. The issue was that while Trini did want to be friends with Kim, she realized that she was also interested in the other girl in a more… physical capacity. It’s no secret that Kimberly Hart is beautiful—you don’t even need to be into girls to understand that—but fantasizing about kissing her is something completely new and unexpected for Trini. It’s not that she has anything against being gay,—although, again, it’s not something that she ever expected for herself— but these feelings are just… confusing. It doesn’t help that Kimberly is probably the first close female friend she’s had. I’m not even sure if I’m actually interested in Kimberly like that, anyways, she thinks to herself.

As she’s getting ready for bed, her eyes land on the open parchment lying on her desk, mostly empty except for one line written near the top:

Dear Papi,

It’s still relatively early, so she forces herself to sit down and try to continue the letter. But try as she might, she can’t manage to gather all of her thoughts into anything remotely organized or polite enough to write down. What am I supposed to say? ‘I’m staying at Hogwarts whether you like it or not?’ ‘I’m still mad at you and Mami for pushing me away?’ ‘I’m not even sure if I want to go back home?’ Faint memories surface: her father’s smile, her mother’s gentle humming as she cooks, the sound of her brother’s laughter in the background, the smell of the flower garden wafting in.

Eventually she muster the strength to pick up the quill and write. She scribbles down a few words.

Dear Papi,

I’m sorry

It’s a long time before she can write any more, and when she finally goes to bed, her cheeks are significantly damper than before.

* * *

On the bright side, she’d been so tired last night that she’d actually managed to fall asleep on time. The only other comfort she has is the knowledge that everyone else on the pitch is feeling just as shitty as she is.

“Good to see you all showed up.” Jen still has an aura of authority, but her intimidating presence is diminished by the fact that she had to yawn her way through that quick sentence.

“Bet you regret scheduling morning practice now,” Ernie half-mumbles, rubbing at their eyes. Jen reaches over and tugs on one of the locks of hair falling out of their messy bun.

“At least we’re suffering as a team. Alright, we’ll have a few laps and exercises to warm up, and then we’ll start running the plays from yesterday. Let’s see how well you guys remember them.”

Needless to say, practice starts out as a complete disaster. There are several near-collisions, and Koda actually drops his beater’s bat on someone’s head. Fortunately, the resulting adrenaline rush seems to wake everyone up somewhat, and after working out a few gaps, they manage to run through the plays quite smoothly.

Unfortunately, the more awake she gets, the more Trini’s mind seems to wander back to all of her usual concerns. She thinks about the now-finished letter sitting on her desk; she still needs to read over it and make sure everything is… appropriately worded for her father. She’s not sure whether she wants to send a reply, but she is one-hundred percent sure that radio silence would just make her parents more upset. All the same, she might need some more time to think over what she wants to say before-

“TRINI! WATCH OUT-”

THWACK!

* * *

“…-cussion. It’s a good thing you didn’t hit that bludger at full strength, otherwise we might be in a very different situation.”

Her mouth somehow feels grossly sticky and desert dry at the same time; she’s also aware of a throbbing pain in the side of her head, as well as something cold and wet trickling down the side of her neck.

She opens her eyes, but instantly squeezes them shut with a groan, raising a hand to shield them from the light. She hears some scuffling around.

“Trini! Trini, I’m so sorry.” Koda’s voice is somewhere off to the left, but her headache intensifies when she tries to turn her head, so she resigns herself to leaning back.

“S’fine, I’m alright,” she mumbles through chapped lips. Her hand reaches up to wipe the moisture off her neck, and her hand brushes what she thinks is an ice pack resting under her head.

“You’re in the hospital wing, my dear. While it’s nothing serious, I doubt anyone would describe your current situation as ‘alright’.”

She gingerly opens her eyes into a squint, and she makes out the form of Madam Pomfrey standing at her bedside, holding a glass in one hand. She leans down to help Trini slowly sit up, handing her the glass. Trini is so thirsty that she drinks it all in one go. It takes a second for her to realize that the liquid was not water, and she gags once the taste registers.

“Easy now, it’s just something to help you get back on your feet. Your injury isn’t necessarily bad enough to demand the aid of a potion, but I presume you still plan on going to Hogsmeade later, yes?”

“That was the plan,” Trini rasps out, and she checks that the refilled glass she’s handed is indeed water before drinking it. “What exactly happened?”

Koda looks practically devastated. “I was trying to pass you the bludger for a play, but it hit you in the head. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have aimed that high, and I should have waited until you were looking before I passed.”

“It’s fine, Koda, it happens. It was my fault anyways, I wasn’t paying attention.” She touches the side of her head, and sure enough, there’s a small lump of a bruise. “I hope Jen wasn’t too hard on you. Shit, is practice still on?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to go back. Me, on the other hand…” Trini would feel more sympathetic if her head didn’t feel the size of a melon.

Eventually, Madam Pomfrey dismisses them both, with firm instructions for Trini to “avoid going wild, if at all possible”. She’s not all that upset at the injury; the potion she drank is already starting to kick in and make her feel less shitty. Plus, she got to skip quidditch practice. It was almost like poor Koda (who had to do extra drills with Jen after practice) had done her a favor. After sending him off, she heads back in the direction of the dorms to rest and clean up before meeting her friends in Hogsmeade.

That’s when it hits her.

It happens without warning sometimes. She hasn’t had an attack like this in a while, probably since things have improved since… well, since she got to Hogwarts, so she’d almost forgotten that it could happen. Maybe it has something to do with her concussion. But suddenly, her chest starts to feel like it’s constricting, and when she stops walking to catch her breath, the walls feel like they’re still moving, and it’s like every minute sound, real or imagined, has been amplified. She begins to feel dizzy, swaying on her feet slightly.

Deep breaths, Trini, the small, rational part of her brain that’s still active tells her, trying to regulate the situation. She manages to suck in a breath, and then another one, and the corridor becomes a little less fuzzy. She leans against the wall and slowly slides to the floor. Curling her knees up to her chest, she squeezes her eyes closed, she leans her head against solid stone and focuses on her own breathing. In for 3, hold, exhale…

Eventually, her breathing calms enough for her to try and open her eyes again. She stands gingerly, feeling relieved when the room doesn’t spin. The worst of the attack has passed, but now she feels exhausted and worn out and tired all at once. Every muscle in her body is screaming for her to lie down.

Apparently her brain is lagging two steps behind, because by the time she’s recovered enough to properly think, her feet are already in motion. She’s just barely focused on a single priority: getting somewhere with a vaguely comfortable horizontal surface and passing the fuck out. Her eyelids are already quite droopy, and it’s a miracle that she hasn’t run into anyone or anything yet, or worse, fallen off the stairs.

Everything is hazy for an undetermined amount of time, but Trini suddenly finds herself standing in a very familiar corridor. The math definitely doesn’t add up (the Hufflepuff dorm is much, much closer to the hospital wing), but she honestly couldn’t care less at this point. She drags herself through the requisite three passes before shoving the door open.

The couch has been replaced by a sofa bed, and Trini wastes no time in (carefully) flopping down on it and closing her eyes.

* * *

This time, she doesn’t wake up feeling like a train collided with her skull. She stretches a little before gently feeling the side of her head. To her delight, the bruise is almost completely gone, and there’s no longer a pounding in her head. It’ll be a true shame the day Madam Pomfrey retires.

She sits blearily for a few moments, taking her time to wake up. True to its name, the Room has a tendency to modify itself for whatever dilemma Trini is having when she arrives. Today it’s taken on a very soothing and calming aesthetic, with lots of warm, dark tones and soft textures. If she concentrates, she can tell that some of the candles are probably enchanted to cycle through scents that are comforting to her. She catches a whiff of grass and fresh air, the smell of a rainy night, and for some reason, lavender and spices…

She frowns, and the scent is replaced by the smell of cookies in an oven.

Suddenly, her short-term memory returns, and she bolts upright, looking around for the nearest clock.

Fuck. She’d accidentally slept well into the afternoon. She immediately wills the room to deposit her at the Hufflepuff dorm so she can get cleaned up and changed. She’s grateful to see that someone had brought her bag back from the locker rooms, but her hat was unfortunately still missing. However, there is a folded piece of parchment on the bed next to her bag. She reads the message inside:

Know how shit the walk to Hogsmeade is. For shortcut, go to Gunhilda statue on 3rd floor. Tap w/ wand “Dissendium”.

- Jen

Curious, she gathers what she needs before heading to the third floor. It takes her a bit to find the statue—History of Magic wasn’t really her favorite subject—but it pays off when Jen’s information turns out to be reliable. Working up her courage, she conjures a small light from her wand before throwing herself down the dark tunnel.

The passageway ends in a musty basement-looking room that, judging by the noise coming from behind the door, belongs to one of the Hogsmeade shops. She snoops around a little, checking out the labels on the boxes. Most of them are for various types of candies. This is probably the Honeydukes storeroom. She pauses, a thought infiltrating. I mean, morally speaking, stealing is bad, but…

The doorknob creaks as it turns, light beginning to spill through the widening gap in the doorframe. In an adrenaline-infused rush, Trini somehow manages to make it to a decent hiding spot without knocking anything over. She holds her breath as the door opens and a gray-haired woman walks in. Humming to herself, she purposefully goes through the stack of boxes with the assurance of someone who’s been using that storeroom for years. Trini watches as she uses her wand to levitate a small crate that is emitting a faint buzzing noise. Do I even want to know what that is?

Trini recognizes an opportunity as the lady heads back into the shop. Right as the woman passes her hiding spot, Trini rises and, as quietly as she can, slips through the door behind her. She heads straight for the exit, hoping that she didn’t look too suspicious as she left.

The weather is starting to get colder as fall continues, which Trini is definitely pleased with; she’s always enjoyed cold weather more than the heat. However, on this particular day, it becomes irritating when the wind starts to pick up. Without a hat to keep it down, her hair ends up being blown about more than she would like.

She doesn’t really have a particular destination in mind. Instead, she wanders about the village, visiting whichever shops strike her fancy. Her stomach abruptly reminds her that she hasn’t eaten yet, so she buys a sandwich from a random café and eats on the go. She even nabs a few sweets from Honeydukes on her second pass round.

A sudden squall of squawking makes her jump as she passes the post office, where it seems a barn owl has gone rogue and is trying to escape. She’s suddenly reminded of the letter she’d been writing. Even though she finished it last night, she’s still not sure whether she should send it yet, if she should read through it again, or just rewrite the whole thing. She can feel her anxiety starting to buzz the more she worries about it. Taking a deep breath, she forces herself to walk into the post office. If you don’t do it now, you’ll just never send it, she tells herself.

Sending the letter from the post office turns out to be a good idea; all she has to do is drop it off at the desk and pay for it, and then the whole matter is out of her hands. Almost unconsciously, her hands drift towards her head to adjust a hat that is no longer there.

“I gotta say, finding you was a lot harder than I thought it’d be.” Maybe she’d severely spaced out, or maybe her head injury was still messing with her, but somehow, Trini is now face to face with none other than Kimberly Hart. She blinks hard for a few seconds, which makes Kimberly giggle a little.

“You touched down on Earth yet, space cadet?” Trini glares at her, but it just makes Kimberly’s grin grow wider.

“Shuddup,” she says. She looks around a little. “Are you on your own? Where are the boys at?”

Kim points down the street. “They wanted to check out some stuff in the bookshop, so I figured I’d let them have their fun there while I picked up some stuff I need.”

Trini snorts a little. “It’s kind of like babysitting a bunch of children, isn’t it.”

“Oh God, tell me about it.” Kim rolls her eyes. “You’d think Zack would be the worst one, but it’s actually Billy. He gets so caught up in things sometimes that he’ll walk into the craziest situations without a second thought. You have no idea how many heart attacks he’s given me and Jason.”

“I can only imagine.” It’s strange to be talking about the boys like this with Kimberly. She’s reminded that Kimberly has known them for years, whereas Trini just met them this year. Nevertheless, Kim is treating her as if she’s been a part of the group for just as long. Even now, it still feels weird to think that these people have actually accepted her as one of their own.

When she tunes back in, she notices Kim’s eyes are twinkling a little. It’s the same look as when she’s about to do something impulsive like throw a quill at Jason or kick Zack under the table.

“What?” Kim notices Trini watching her warily.

“I know that look.” Trini’s eyes narrow as Kimberly tilts her head, looking far too innocent. “That never means anything good. I’ve got my eye on you, Hart, I’m warning you.”

“Who? Me?” Trini is nonplussed at Kimberly’s act, and eventually the other girl just laughs. Shaking her head, she reaches out and grabs Trini’s wrist. “Come on,” she says as she starts walking.

If it had been anyone else, even one of the boys, things would’ve probably been thrown to halt by either a swift hex or a well-placed punch. As it is, Trini is too busy staring at Kim’s hand around her wrist and trying not to blush. Caught off-guard, she’s powerless as Kim drags her into what she vaguely recognizes as a clothing shop.

After several attempts, she finally finds her voice. “Uh, why are we here?” she asks.

“You’ll see.” Kimberly seems to have the layout of the whole store memorizes as she weaves through aisles and racks. Trini ends up following her around like a lost puppy, lest she be lost to the vortex of bright colors and overwhelming scents.

A small voice pipes up in Trini’s head. You’re only letting her drag you around like this because she’s pretty. “Whatever,” she grumbles quietly to herself.

“Hm?” Kimberly pauses, looking over her shoulder. “Did you say something?”

Trini shakes her head, twisting out of the way of what appear to be a whole pack of fourth years barreling in their direction. She ends up shoulder to shoulder with Kimberly, with very little space between them.

“Sorry.” She moves to disengage, but she freezes as soon as Kimberly’s fingers tangle with hers. She looks up, the surprise evident on her face. Kimberly smiles at her, giving her hand a little squeeze.

“Wouldn’t want you to get lost,” she says breezily as she tugs Trini along with her. “You’re so short that I’d never find you. I’d probably have to put out a missing child alert or something.”

“Short jokes. Very original.” It’s the best retort she can come up with, seeing as her brain has inconveniently ceased all function. It isn’t that crowded, so there’s really no reason for them to be holding hands. Don’t get carried away, she reminds herself. This is normal. Probably. I guess? I don’t know what normal friendships are like. She shakes her head a little to control her train of thought.

She’s so focused on keeping herself from overanalyzing that she nearly bumps into Kim when they come to a stop. She’s embarrassed by the disappointment she feels when Kim lets go of her hand to reach for something hanging on the wall. She does a good job of hiding it from Trini’s view, which is tragically easy for her given their height difference.

Looking at Trini with a smirk, she backs away, hiding whatever it is behind her back. “Stay there,” she says before she disappears.

Trini sighs and crosses her arms as she waits for the other girl to come back. She feels a little awkward just standing in the middle of the store, but most of the people around are too preoccupied with their own lives to notice her. Nevertheless, she’s still relieved when Kimberly reappears.

“You gonna tell me what you dragged me all the way here for yet?” she says, raising an eyebrow. In response, Kimberly hands over the object.

It’s a bright red beanie. Trini looks back up at Kimberly. “Uh, what?”

She shrugs. “I owe you a new hat. You know, after your other one got lost in the lake.”

Trini’s mind flashes back to the day that she, Billy, and Kimberly had detention together. It seems like ages ago. “Huh. I didn’t think you’d remember,” she admits.

At that, Kimberly smiles and laughs a little. “Oh come on, it was a pretty memorable day! Who could possibly forget being chased by doxies and tackling a cute girl off a cliff?”

Trini is almost convinced that she completely misheard, so she tries to keep a neutral expression. There’s a beat, and suddenly Trini wonders if Kim expected her to react. But before she can say anything, the other girl is already turning away.

“Come on, it’s too crowded in here,” she says. Trini can’t help but notice that Kim doesn’t take her hand this time. Her brow furrows in confusion: Wait. Did I get something wrong? Or am I just overthinking this? What the hell is happening right now, I’m so confused.

As they push their way out the exit, another gust of wind blows by, tussling their hair. Kim’s short bob is only gracefully ruffled, but Trini ends up with half of her hair thrown across her face. Quickly combing it out of the way with a huff, she tries to put her new hat on to keep her hair out of the way, but she stops halfway there.

“Wait, what?” She could have sworn that the hat wasn’t green when Kim handed it to her. As she watches, the color slowly shimmers, and a deep purple bleeds in instead.

“Oh yeah, it changes color,” Kim adds, almost as an afterthought. Trini pulls out her wand, trying to decide what color she wants. Eventually, she settles on yellow with a tap of her wand, tugging the hat on at last. It’s a bit tighter than she’s used to, but that’s probably because it’s new.

She meets Kimberly’s eyes. “Thanks. I mean, you didn’t have to, but thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” The way Kim says it is a little weird, a little fast, and Trini’s eyebrow rises. Kim quickly looks away. “We should probably find the boys,” she says, changing the subject. Trini just nods slowly, and they start walking down the High Street.

Just as they reach the bookshop, Trini hears a commotion inside, and she can just barely see a flurry of movement through the misted windows. Suddenly, the doors burst open, and Zack stumbles out, falling on his face in the snow. Jason hurries out next, dodging a flurry of what look like ink projectiles and hiding behind the door for protection. Billy walks through the open doorway, holding a pile of books.

“Thank you for helping us! And I hope you get those books back under control!” he yells back into the store before Jason lets the door swing closed with a thud.

With a groan, Zack rolls onto his back. Brushing the snow from his face with one hand, he squints at the sun. Noticing Trini and Kim, his face spreads into a lopsided grin. “Hello, ladies,” he says with a flirtatious wink.

“Hello yourself.” Trini reaches down and offers her hand to help Zack up, nearly getting pulled down in the process. “Geez, you’re heavy.”

“Nah, you’re just-”

“Watch yourself, Taylor,” she warns playfully.

“All right,” he concedes, and she’s immediately suspicious of how he backs off so easily. “You doing ok?” he asks.

“I’m fine… are you ok?”

“Just checking in,” he replies, his hands stuffed into his pockets. His usually untidy black hair is hidden under a gray skullcap. “Ran into Kat and she mentioned that you got knocked the fuck out during practice this morning.”

She’s surprised by his genuine concern, but she conceals it by rolling her eyes. “I’m fine, it was just a little bump. Madam Pomfrey did her thing, I’m all good.”

“Suuure,” he drawls. “And I suppose you just randomly decided to be fashionably late and hang around the castle for a few hours.”

“I was taking a nap, dude. And don’t you dare say anything, because I’ve seen you during your post-practice naps, so you have no right to judge.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” Zack smirks. “Well, now that you’ve had your beauty rest-” She elbows him at that, and when he whaps the back of her head, they get preoccupied with a brief tussle.

“As I was saying,” he continues later, using his longer wingspan to keep Trini at a Zack-sized arms length (which is unfortunately larger than a Trini-sized arms length), “now we can get the party started.” His eyes flicker above her head, where her hat is, and he lets out a quick snort.

She glares at him. “Something funny to you?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

“There you guys are,” Jason says as he approaches. For some reason, his eyes widen a little when he sees Trini. “Hey. Uh… nice hat?” he says uncertainly.

Trini looks between Jason and Zack suspiciously. She turns to Kimberly for an explanation, but her face remains neutral. “Anyone want to clue me in on the elephant in the room? Because I don’t know what you guys are seeing, or if you’re on something, or-”

“Trini!” Billy cries out enthusiastically when he sees her. “I like your hat! I didn’t know you like the color pink, but I think it suits you.”

“Pink?!” She rips the hat off her head, staring down incredulously at the bright pink color. “What the-”

Suddenly, Kim bursts out in laughter, collapsing on the ground. Jason and Zack are both bent double as well. Trini gives them all a deadpan stare.

“Haha, very funny,” she monotones. “And I suppose you were behind this, huh?” She turns to Kimberly, who manages to stop her giggling just long enough to give Trini a helpless expression.

“It- ahaha, it was s-so easy,” she manages to wheeze out. Trini sighs, shaking her head.

Billy stands in the background looking more than a little confused. “Wait… so the pink wasn’t intentional?” When Trini shakes her head, he simply looks more lost. “I don’t get the joke.”

“Neither do I, buddy.” She changes the color back to yellow before putting the beanie back on, making sure not to turn her back to anyone except Billy. “So, where to now?”

“Ah… Three Broomsticks?” Jason suggests as he helps Kim to her feet. Trini feels her eyebrow twitch a little when Kimberly takes his hand.

“But we always go to the Sticks,” Zack complains. “Maybe a change of pace is in order… how about Hog’s Head?”

Trini frowns a little. “I heard that place is kinda shady.”

“Nah, it’s fine, people like to exaggerate. And even if it is kinda shady, there’s bound to be something interesting happening.”

Both Trini and Billy seem uncertain, but Kimberly seems to be getting more excited the longer Zack talks about it. “I’m in. Sounds like fun.”

“I wouldn’t trust that. You two have pretty weird definitions of fun,” Jason says. “But you two are probably gonna sneak off anyways, so it might be better if we all go together. You two good with that?”

Billy nods thoughtfully. “Yeah. I mean, I haven’t been there yet, but it’s probably quieter than the Three Broomsticks, so that’ll be nice. But we don’t have to go if not everyone wants. Trini?”

They all watch her expectantly, waiting for an answer. Wow, no pressure or anything. Trini bites her lip hesitantly before finally nodding slowly.

“Knew I could count on you,” Kim says, her hand landing on Trini’s shoulder and giving it a little squeeze. She starts walking down the street, beckoning to the rest of the gang. “It’s this way, guys.”

As they follow her, Trini notices Zack falling in step with her, trying and failing to look subtle. She spares a quick glance ahead; Kim is at the front, and Jason is unsuccessfully trying to convince Billy to let him carry some of his books. She makes eye contact with Zack, who gives her a worrying smirk. After a few moments of silent staring, he rolls his eyes at her.

“Are you going to tell me, or do I have to spell it out?”

“Spell what out, Zack?”

He leans in conspiratorially. “Come on, you walk in behind Hart with a new hat, looking shook as hell. Clearly, something happened, and I want deets.”

Trini gapes at him, affronted. “First of all, I most definitely wasn’t, quote ‘shook as hell’. I have a reputation to maintain. Second, nothing. Happened.” Zack seems entirely unconvinced. “I mean it. Apparently she thought she owed me a new hat, and who am I to turn down free stuff?”

“Why did she think she owed you a hat?”

“I lost mine in the lake when she threw me off that cliff.”

“WHAT?” he exclaims, causing several people nearby to stare and Billy to jump and drop a few of his books. “Sorry,” Zack whisper-shouts in his direction, before turning back to Trini. “What?!” he mouths.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you that? Yeah, we had detention a while back, and a bunch of doxies were chasing us, and she tackled me off a cliff and I lost my hat.” She says it as nonchalantly as possible, taking her time to enjoy the incredulous face journey Zack is experiencing as he processes the story.

“Oh what, don’t pretend like you don’t know what that means. What kind of baby gay-”

“Shut up,” she snaps at him harshly, startling him into silence. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see his shocked expression, but she can’t make herself meet his eyes. Instead, rather than continuing to face him, she speeds up her pace to walk closer to Billy and Jason, leaving Zack behind.

The buildings get sparser as they walk, the streets get quieter, and by the time they get to their destination it feels like a completely different village. Trini’s first thought is that the Hog’s Head looks disgusting. The chipped paint on the sign is barely visible, and the building itself looks like without magic, it would have fallen apart long ago. Kimberly and Zack march straight through the doors. The others follow with mild trepidation.

The interior looks better than the outside, but not by much. Trini settles at a table with Billy and his books as the others go to grab drinks. She watches as Billy sets about restacking and rearranging his new purchases.

“That’s a lot of books,” she comments.

“They were having a sale, so I took advantage of the opportunity,” he says. He seemed stacking the books alphabetically by author, but he hesitates for a second before shaking his head and rearranging them again.

“May I?” At Billy’s nod, she picks up a random book. “The Complete Herbfinder’s Guide to Medicinal Plants, Both Wild and Domestic. That’s… a lot of information.”

“It’s pretty comprehensive, although it might not be up to date; I hear they might be releasing a new edition in the next few years or so. But it’s not for me, anyhow, I got it for Zack. It’s supposed to be a surprise though, so don’t tell him.”

Trini’s eyebrows rise. “Seriously? I didn’t know Zack was into herbfinding.”

“I don’t know if it’s the herbfinding part so much as the medicinal aspect. He’s been really interested in medicine recently, I guess.” Billy’s eyes flick to the side. In a flash, he seizes the book from her hands and stuffs it inside his bag, right as the others approach with drinks.

“Sorry,” he whispers, but Trini smiles at him understandingly as Zack sits next to her.

After a round or two, Trini can start to see the appeal of the Hog’s Head. Despite the frightening appearance, it’s actually a quite comfortable place. It also isn’t as cramped and overwhelming as the Three Broomsticks. Trini was actually considering coming back. Definitely not alone, though. Not to judge by appearances, but it didn’t seem like the pub attracted the most upstanding clientele.

They sat there chatting for a while. Trini was forced to tell them how she got knocked out during practice, and Kim ended up having to recount the whole doxy incident to explain Trini’s new hat. Speaking of, Trini was starting to think that Kimberly had jinxed the hat somehow; no matter how many times she set it to yellow, it would slowly creep to a pink color.

Trini lost track of how long they sat there, sharing stories and laughing together. It was only when the bartender rang the bell for last call that she realized how late it was getting.

Jason lets out a heavy sigh. “I guess that means we have to head back to the castle now.”

A devilish grin starts to spread on Zack’s face, and Trini instinctively scoots closer to Billy. “Or do we?” Zack says mysteriously before standing and striding towards the bar. The whole table seems equally confused. A minute later, Zack comes back holding two bottles of firewhisky, which he tucks into his robes.

“That can’t be good,” Jason mutters. With a grin, Zack beckons them to follow him out the doors.

#trimberly fic #trimberly fanfic #trimberly #kimberly hart #trini kwan #power rangers 2017 #my fic #hp!au

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