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Adrift - by meanderinsoul (ao3) - some HC when you're both hurt and both need comfort but still don't really want to talk about it

Tom didn't usually cling in his sleep.

He didn’t cling or kick or steal the blankets. He flopped down limp as a dead ghotI' and just stayed there. She was the one who went to sleep facing one way and would wake up with her head at the foot of the bed and a leg under his arm. If it woke him up he would have complained by now, so she had to assume he just slept through it.

Their bed was usually all tangled sheets and a crooked blanket and Toby half under a pillow. Sometimes one of them tucked in a data PADD when they bothered to make the bed at all. She didn’t see the point and Tom didn’t care and Voyager was a long ways off from the kind of cadet cruise that had room inspections.

(read the rest)

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people telling you they reread your fic is the biggest compliment you could ever receive. there are thousands of stories out there begging to be found, to be explored, but your story meant so much to someone that they came back to it eagerly, they went over every word again. to love is to return and loving a fic is rereading it. thank you to all readers and rereaders <3333

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Babies girl

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One Month To Go!

Hello all of you darkness lovers! 😈😈😈

There's one month to go in our countdown to Cohen Fest! We've had many days with multiple sign ups so far (And will accept sign ups until the end of April). I can't wait to see what all of our participants have in store! Our Sign-Ups So Far!

Our AO3 collection for 2024 is also officially up and running!

Make sure to bookmark this if you decide you would like to post your work to the AO3 collection. (Here's AO3s instructions for doing that.)

Finally, if you're one of our eight participants who is still debating which Trek(s) to create fanwork for - there is still time update your sign up info! You can let me know up until the event begins on May 1. (That will help me chose the right Trek fandom tags when promoting the fest entries!)

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Star Trek: Voyager S4E24 "Demon" (2374)

Bros together til the end. Even in gooey clones silver stuff.

I like how everyone is like, cool, I don't mind leaving behing a clone.

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i really wish there was more acknowledgement of worf being made ambassador at the end of ds9 cause like. that was basically kehleyr's job and now it's his. and before he met jadzia he knew of curzon dax because he did the same job. and losing his parents was the reason he grew up among humans and has the experience needed to do this job. all the losses in his life have led him here and do you think he's thinking of them? and trying to make it worth something? trying to make them proud?

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Y'know, I like to think that the top brass at starfleet HQ were sat around after Sisko disappeared going "damn, what are we gonna do without a battle hardened loose cannon captain as adept at diplomacy, battle, and subterfuge who can get things done while we look the other way and claim our hands are tied" only for a portal open up with Voyager emerging from the exploding corpse of the Borg empire

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I love how she's in her uniform in this family photo 🤣

I can imagine Mark being like, "Kath... do you think you could wear something else for this? Like, literally anything else? You're not at work right now..."

And she's like, "no Mark. I want both of my two true loves in this photo... my dog and my career."

Also... do u think she cropped Mark out of this photo when he assumed she was dead and married someone else? I would have 🤣🤣

The next episode starts and you just see this:

.... i should go to bed lmao

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Maybe it's just coming from being a Sailor Moon fan. but I dont get the big deal about Prodigy coming out in France first.

You have tools to avoid spoilers... unless your friends are being dicks and not tagging their shit or something. You have every reasonable expectation of the English version airing on Netflix within the year.

...

Sailor Stars aired in Japan in 1996

...

It was TWENTY YEARS before i could watch it legally in my own language.

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Star Trek: Voyager 2x11 “Maneuvers” // 3x17 “Unity”

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Star Trek Voyager 7x01 - Unimatrix Zero | Star Trek: Picard 3x06 - Bounty How the Turn Tables or Klingons mortify Seven of Nine (with an unfortunate Raffi caught in the crossfire) about her love life.

Star Trek Voyager 5x22 - Someone to Watch Over Me

Seven: "I have been observing you as part of my research on Human mating behavior."

AKA How B'Elanna called down Kahless and enacted galactic karma on Seven in revenge for all the times Seven mortified B'Elanna about her love life.

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Tom Paris is if like Riker if the narrative never, not for one second, believed he was cool. Tom Paris is a sentient dad joke. Tom Paris has been framed for murder on two separate planets. Tom Paris lost out in a love triangle to Neelix. Tom Paris daddy-issued so hard he turned himself and Janeway into lizards. Tom Paris told his girlfriend he wanted to commit an ecoterrorism, and his girlfriend was like, "You gotta do what you gotta do." Tom Paris was once ordered by a superior officer to have sex with the girl he liked (he declined). Tom Paris refused to let his child's heritage be erased. Tom Paris got brainwashed by a car.

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Voyager was SO real for how many times they had crew women filthy as hell drenched in sweat wearing tanks fighting tooth and claw for survival

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YES. So many I know have been negatively affected by this and no other explanation makes any sense. Thank goodness we Trek fanfic/fandom types are much bigger and way more supportive of each other than this bot knows. Hang in there. We got this.

That Troll Accusing P/T fics and Trek Fic Writers Blogs (Including me) of Racism is likely a Right-Wing Bot.

At first I thought I was paranoid post-2016 and 2020, but now I've been hit a couple times and seen comments on more of the affected fics. And I'm seeing concerning themes.

I make a couple of assumptions here: 1. My anon (whom I will refer to throughout as "The Anon") is the same each time. 2. The Anon is the same actor or belongs to the same group as The Anon troll commenting on P/T and some J/C fics.

The Anon as a Bot Evidence:

1. The Anon accusations are sweeping, but generic. They do not use in-fic textual evidence to justify their comments. You write P/T: You're a Tom apologist. You think Belanna is his exotic wife. You justify your blatant anti-latina racism by casting her anger as an inherent a Klingon trait. You write J/C: You think Chakotay is a noble savage and fetishize him. You write Harry Kim: You're infantilizing him.

These tropes and stereotypes are legitimate concerns that fic writers should care about and should be mindful of. These accusations on the other hand are not legitimate. They are left as guest comments or anonymous asks on fics heedless of the fic content or writer's background or track record. The AO3 comments do not reference fic content. They are repeated across all impacted writers. They target new and veteran writers alike. They target fics regardless of rating.

2. Comments that appear to reference fic specifics go no farther fic tags.

This was harder to catch. But a P/T fic tipped me off last month. It was tagged "Tom & Belanna & Miral". The Anon's first comment on that fic dove in accusing the fic of incest. This showed both that the anon had not read the fic content - they also didn't understand the difference between a / tag and an & tag. (Which also means the programmer of the tag-reading bot or human actor creating tag-based comments is not literate in how fandom ship tags are structured - they may not be a fan at all!)

3. The Anon never replies. Not on AO3 or on Tumblr. (All AO3 comments from "The Anon" seem to stick to the automatically assigned Anon name or use a generic, short first name like "Sam").

Exceptions to this - the rare ocasions where someone sympathetic to the anon replies break from the distinctive patterns of The Anon. Replies come from either burner accounts or guests with more unique names. And these replies are both A - fewer and far between - suggesting they are a different actor - and B - by and large quite serious and thoughtful. I take them to be real people, legitimate fans concerned about racism, caught up in the crossfire.

4. The Anon uses language intended to engender right-wing sympathies and white-moderate anger.

The Anon sent this in their message to me the other day. I will bold the relevant passages.

"You’re the perfect example of the kind of white person who ruins fandom for everyone else, a nasty racist bitch who cares more about their shitty fanfiction than the feelings of actual people of color. Keep using your precious freedom of speech to fetishize brown men I guess

"The kind of white person": This anon has no proof of my race and proof doesn't matter to them. (They have targeted writers of color and white writers alike) They are indiscriminant because they are hoping some of their targets are white women. They are also attempting to out-group white women from the rest of fandom - trying to engender in me feelings of being alienated from my community.

"Nasty racist bitch" "Nasty woman" incidentally is what Trump famously called Hilary Clinton during a 2016 debate. Calling me a racist is there to put me on the defensive (and to alienate me from my coalition) Im meant to feel shocked and disheartened by this accusation. And in a way, keeping this generic serves a purpose. A lack of specificity makes it harder for me to defend myself. "Bitch" is there to trigger my fear/anger response. It is also assuming my gender - again. The anon doesnt care if they accidentally sent this hate to a man or nonbinary person or a person of color. they are betting that at least a plurality of targets will be their key white woman demographic.

"people of color" - while it is correct terminology - is also terminology of the US left/democratic wing. By using this term the Anon is in-grouping themselves with the left - trying again to make me feel like an outsider.

Finally, the kicker is the Freedom of Speech part of this ask.

The Anon is using the concept of free speech here in the same way that the MAGA crowd does, to mean that I ought to be able to say whatever I want regardless of how it hurts others, rather than the legal term's actual definition - the right to critique one's government without being jailed or killed.

By accusing me of caring about Freedom of Speech this way they're not trying to make me feel guilt - theyre trying to hurt me, make me angry, and guide me to sympathize with Republicans. They are using the term this way to push me to think of my fanfic in terms of free speech and thus to agree with Republican freedom of speech talking points. Or if I reject the accusation - to feel torn between Left and Right.

The Anon is trying to sow discord. Theyre employing the same tactics that broke the Womens March movement in 2021, and that pervaded so many Facebook groups and twitter in the last two US election cycles. They are using tactics honed to cleave apart progressives and moderates.

My only question after all those realizations was: why the fuck are they doing this to such a niche group as star trek fanfiction writers.

And then it hit me.

The Anon's Motive: Trek Fic Writers are a Target Election Demographic.

By and large, US fan writers of ships from 90s star trek are women, often millenial and gen x women, many likely to be suburban. And yes - more likely to be white. In short we are part of the same demographic Trump lost in 2020 and needs to either win back this year, or try keep from going to the polls.

You can tell me I sound ridiculous - I think this whole stinking situation is ridiculous. I'm not unaware of how fringe a theory this is. I've been taught to always assume incompetence before malice. And for a while I considered that maybe The Anon was genuine. Maybe they had good intentions and poor execution. I'm sure I could write characters of color better (I am not afraid to admit that I'm still learning. Being wrong isnt something to be afraid of). I wanted this to be the case actually, but I have too much evidence and motive in favor of malicious bot tactics to ignore.

I have tried so hard to think of a reason I'm wrong. Except that all the pieces make sense. No fic / writer specific grievances have been aired by The Anon. They hit the same points every time, again, without textual evidence. They never reply. They chose words that wound and inflame but that never say anything specific about the fic or writer.

And wouldn't it be damn convenient for the Trump camp if a bunch of progressive and moderate US star trek fans decided not to vote because they were disheartened by being accused of racism and felt alienated from the democratic coalition.

This is a niche community. But we likely arent the only targets. And as a friend reminded me tonight, it doesnt take much to move the needle.

#paris/torres #star trek fandom #the troll anon #star trek fanfiction #spam bots

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You’re the perfect example of the kind of white person who ruins fandom for everyone else, a nasty racist bitch who cares more about their shitty fanfiction than the feelings of actual people of color. Keep using your precious freedom of speech to fetishize brown men I guess

Well this was a lovely message to wake up to.

Look, my goal when I write fanfiction is to write about my blorbos and where needed to give them more depth than canon (and where it relates to star trek, avoid including racist content from old cringy canon)

When I write smut about said blorbos my primary goal is to objectify everybody equally because i like their on screen chemistry and their gray streaks and their pretty butts and their nerdy starfleet uniforms. My goal when I write anything, frankly, is to describe appearance and movement without exotifying or fetishizing incidental things like race. So I'll reiterate what i've said in the past: tell me where i screwed up, and i'll edit the fic. Editing is something well within my ability to do. it's easy. it takes a day tops to line edit a scene. I am very invested in writing smut that doesnt fetishize race. Ive put significant time and revision into prioritizing that goal. I would prefer to know how i can do better.

I have repeatedly asked for examples to fix and have recieved none. Come off anon and show me receipts or this will be the last time I engage with this.

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