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cywscross · 4 years

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From @lightveils on Twitter (free to use wherever!). I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. I definitely have enough fics to fill it lol~

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A Fic You Love Without Knowing The Source Material:

I was born for this by esama (Assassin’s Creed | Altair x Desmond | M)

Juno did her best to lead him to her preferred fate, but the end is coming and Desmond has doubts.

A Fic With A Premise That Shouldn’t Work But Does:

Proposing To Strangers by moonstalker24 (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | G)

At the end of a strained relationship, crime novelist Stiles chooses to hide from the world inside a bar with far too many motorcycles outside it for comfort. Here he'll meet the man of his dreams, eat food and propose marriage, all within the first five minutes.

Peter doesn't know who this kid is, but he's cute and looks like he could use a break. So he feeds him. He's not expecting a marriage proposal, but with what comes after, he doesn't really mind.

A Fic You’ve Reread Several Times:

Hooverville by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | E)

Town to town, train to train, tent to tent.

By 1932, the dust had begun to blow and the jobs were gone.

Anonymity was a byproduct of looking for work, which made it both necessary and convenient.

Stiles had enough secrets of his own to know to look the other way when he saw something that shouldn’t be possible.

The ghost of a tail giving enough balance to disembark a moving train.

Near silent Latin whispered on the edge of a tent encampment.

A flash of burning eyes.

He had more than enough to worry about without adding the oddities of others, and besides- having unusually sharp teeth certainly didn’t make a man worse than the ones running from the wife and kids they couldn’t feed.

So Stiles kept his observations to himself. He kept his everything to himself.

Until he met a man. One with eyes so blue they seemed to glow- and then they did.

Stiles tried to look away, but for the first time he was stopped.

“Don’t be like that sweetheart. Aren’t you curious?”

A Fic You Still Remember Many Years Later:

All True-Hearted Souls by mardia (Temeraire | Laurence x Granby | G)

“For God's sake, if someone doesn't talk Laurence out of these constant heroics, I wouldn't bet a farthing on his chances; no, and not ours either.” Four times that John Granby helped save William Laurence's life. Laurence/Granby. Spoilers up to Empire of Ivory.

A Comfort Fic:

Nothing Improper by Bunnywest (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | G)

“How long since someone touched you, sweet boy?” Peter asks, his voice barely a breath in Stiles’ ear. “Days? Weeks? Months?” Stiles nods imperceptibly at that last one.

“After…after everything, after Allison,” is all Stiles manages to get out.

A Cathartic Fic:

Swing by ShippersList (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

Stiles wants to fly.

A Fic You’d Print And Put On Your Bookshelf:

Nose to the Wind by Batsutousai (HP | Tom x Harry | M)

While Harry had been content with his second chance, that didn't keep him from thinking what he could have done different, how many people could have survived if he hadn't been set on the very specific path he'd walked. Third time is the charm, though, right?

A Fic You Associate With A Song (x2):

Strange Duet by BelleAmante, thiliart (thilia) (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | M)

The past three years have been a series of shocking, or not so shocking, successes for 2018 Tony award winner and two time Grammy nominee, Stiles Stilinski. You don’t typically find classically trained opera singers singing alternative folk rock to crowds at Coachella. Nor do you find indie singer/songwriters winning best actor awards at the Tony’s for their Broadway debuts. Stilinski has made it his lifetime habit to defy and exceed all expectations.

-or-

A Steter fic loosely based on Phantom of the Opera

Full Circle by Nike Femme (FMA | Roy x Ed | T)

Edward Elric returns with amnesia. He has lived the past four years as Auric, a Gatekeeper. But there are some battles that only he can fight. Will his friends be able to awaken Ed, and what happens to Auric if they do?

A Fic That Inspires You:

Off the Line by esama (FFVII | Cloud x Vincent | T)

In which Cloud gets a Virtual Reality Dream Console – ShinRa's latest in virtual reality technology. Aaand everything pretty much goes downhill from there.

A Fic That Brought You On Board A New Ship:

Me and Mine by linndechir (Fast and the Furious | Deckard x Owen | E)

The last time they'd spoken, Deckard had told Owen that he was tired of cleaning up his messes. But the first thing he did after breaking out of prison was to take Owen to the other end of the world so they could lick their wounds and start planning their revenge.

A Fic You Wish Could Be A Movie:

Moving In (To Every Single Aspect of Danny’s Life, Including the Boring Bits like Dry-Cleaning) by westgirl (Hawaii Five-0 | Steve x Danny | T)

It felt wrong for Steve to sound unsure of his place in Danny’s life. His place in Danny’s life was at Danny’s side, driving him slowly insane. Steve should feel secure about that.

A Fic That Led To You Making Friends With The Author:

Begin and End by Rikkamaru (Log Horizon x HP | G)

This is how it begins: a boy rejected by his family, a boy reunited with his brother by his sister-in-law's intervention. A boy who found a family in an online game. But how will it end?

FREE SPACE:

Reverti Ad Praeteritum by Batsutousai (Fullmetal Alchemist | Roy x Edward | M)

Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.

A Fic You’ve Gushed About IRL:

Designation: Miracle by umisabaku (Kuroko no Basket | M)

It's been three years since seven human experiments, called "Miracles," escaped Teiko Industries, alerting the world to the presence of super-powered children. Now they're finally integrating into society-- going to normal high schools, playing basketball, falling in love-- and trying to find out if it's possible to truly escape their past.

A Fic You Associate With A Place (have to self-rec for this one):

Safe Harbour by cywscross (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles x Chris | T)

Peter didn't think he'd find a home here. He certainly didn't think he'd find a home with two other men.

Chris and Stiles prove him wrong.

A Fic That Made You Gasp Out Loud (kind of? it was suspenseful):

Sanctuary by DiscontentedWinter (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | E)

The Hale Wolf Sanctuary isn’t just for wolves.

It turns out it’s for Stilinskis as well.

A Fic You Found At The Right Time:

slow increments by Areiton (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles)

Peter is enigmatic, egotistical, sometimes barely sane. He's sharp and cutting and takes more time to care for the pack than anyone.And sometimes, John catches him watching Stiles.

A Fic That You Would Read Fic Of:

if you try to break me, you will bleed by Dialux (Game of Thrones | Jon x Sansa | T)

It had been a slash across her chest from a White Walker’s sword that finally ended her life. Sansa’d landed in a puddle of her own blood, and she’d died quickly, quietly.

And then she’d awoken with a gasp, trembling, in a bed that had burned under Theon’s betrayal.

A Fic That Made You Laugh Out Loud:

The Path towards Unwilling Godhood by Sky_King (Bleach | Kisuke x Ichigo | G)

Ichigo has never had the most normal life, and this latest chapter of it is no different.

"I'm not a god!"

A Fic With A Line (Or Two) That You’ve Memorized By Heart:

Atlas by distractedKat (Star Trek | Spock x Jim | T)

Between what was and what will be stands James Tiberius Kirk, in all his fractured patchwork glory. Because saving the Federation was only the beginning.

A Fic That Gave You Butterflies:

The Rest of Our Lives by mia6363 (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

“I don’t know, as a kid I watched a lot of movies, you know? And at first I figured like… I’d be on some great adventure that would take me away from it all, you know? Like Indiana Jones comes around and is all, ‘Hey Stiles, buddy, come with me we’ve got to go save the world.’ Then… you and… everything happened… then I just… I figured I’d die before I was eighteen.”

A Fic That Embodies Something You Value In Life:

The Boy Sleuth by Shey (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

Stiles is eight when he discovers a box of his mom’s old Nancy Drew Mysteries in the back of the guest bedroom closet.

A Favourite AU:

Love What is Behind You by KouriArashi (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | M)

Basically what it says on the label. Hunger Games type fusion. Stiles doing way better than anyone anticipates. Peter finds him intriguing. Ruthless, devious assholes working together to ruin bad guys, as the Steter ship is meant to be.

A Fic You Stayed Up Too Late To Finish Reading:

Of Dwobbits, Dragons and Dwarves by ISeeFire (The Hobbit | Fem!Bilbo x Fili | T)

Bilba has been a slave her entire life. All she knows of the outside world is what she sees from time to time outside the gates of Moria and the stories her mother used to tell her. Stories of a place called the Shire where her mother once lived and a placed called Erebor where, as far as she knows, her father still lives. Stories of dragons a thousand times larger, and more intelligent, than the beasts the orcs rode and of a strange concept called freedom where one was allowed to live as they wished with no one to tell them what they could, or could not do.

The stories meant little to Bilba. The only future she had was to live, and die, as a slave as countless number had before her.

And then the orcs dragged an injured female firedrake through the gates, her rider screaming obscenities behind her as he fought to reach her side...and everything changed.

A Fic That Made You Feel Seen (another self-rec lol):

i am addicted to death (so remind me what it’s like to live) by cywscross (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

Stiles is sixteen years old. He has already died seventy-eight times.

#Fic Rec Bingo #Bingo #Misc Fanfic Rec

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thestarkerisobvious · 4 years

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Witchesmarks, Superheroes and Tom Dylan Post

amazing art by @starker-stories snugglefic for @mrstarksbaby

Tony’s gentle examination of Peter’s body was very nice. Embarrassing, but nice. For a long time he stood naked before his friend and let Tony inspect every part of his body, his neck, his underarms, even allowing Tony to spread his asscheeks with gentle hands while he giggled and blushed. Then he turned and

allowed Tony to the same to his chest, his stomach, finally moving his awakening cock from side to side, combing fingers through his pubic hair. He kept his hands on Tony’s shoulders while Tony looked. Finally he lay down and allowed Tony to continue his search around his scrotum. He kept his eyes closed, reminding himself to breathe. Reminding himself of the dream-rules and the awake-rules, until Tony sat up, clearly disappointed.

“You have none.”

“I have no… what?” Peter said, pulling on his boxers hastily and diving under the covers.

“No witchesmark.”

“But I thought… I read a witchesmark could be anything, a mole or a freckle or a scar…”

“To an inquisitor, yes. In truth, no. The witchesmark is special. You were not born with one.”

“But you said they could be made…”

“It will hurt you, sweet Peter.”

“We’ve talked about this, Tony.”

Tony’s examination of Peter’s body was very nice. The tense argument they had for days afterward was not. Walpurgisnacht was upon them. The last day of April was a night of power for Tony. Peter had Tony search out a large stray dog and lure it to their house. Peter was feeding it on the sly, but steadfastly refused to name it, or even acknowledge to May and Ben that he had seen it. They wouldn’t miss it when it was gone. Peter had made a list of memories he was prepared to feed Tony, books and magazines, even a Star Wars movie or that thing he had gotten up at 3 in the morning to watch on the special channels, memories that Tony could take completely if it gave him enough strength.

“But it cannot do it without pain, my Master. I am an excellent dreamweaver, but I am not a skilled body-weaver. I have done it, but it is painful.”

“I’m not afraid of pain, Tony. I’ve caused pain. I’m not afraid of it.”

What Peter was afraid of, the thing that was the ultimate sacrifice, was the knowledge that the whole project would take weeks to complete, and in weeks there would be no more Tony. It was one thing to ask Tony to hurt him, it was another thing to ask Tony to commit to a task that would be his last before he left to sleep out the summer under the bed. Still, Peter was determined.

“I keep telling you Tony, every superhero in my comic books had to go through a lot of pain to get their powers. I’m willing to go through the pain to give you more powers, Tony. You will be the superhero. You could have a lot of cool superpowers, Tony. And I have to make up for the mistake I made. I have to do this.”

* * * *

When Peter awoke in Castle Dracula and found Tony standing beside him, he was certain that everything would be alright. Tony was dressed in odd clothing and old-fashioned spectacles, like a scientist in a Victorian drama. The laboratory he led Peter into certainly could have come straight from a Frankenstein movie. Still, Peter felt very brave. He was with Tony, after all.

There were two Tonys in that dream. Four, if the hunchback assistants lurching around the background were Tonys too, but Peter never looked to see. Doctor Tony didn’t look scary as he cuffed Peter’s wrists and ankles to the table. He looked very calm. But he was also very calm when Peter was screaming, and somehow that was even more unnerving.

The other Tony, Peter’s Tony, stayed very close to him, sometimes climbing right up to the other side of the table and lying down next to him, whispering in his ear, one hand firmly on his bare chest. Peter knew exactly what he was doing – he was urging Peter’s lungs to keep taking in oxygen through the excruciating pain, he was convincing Peter’s heart to continue it’s steady beat even though his body was clearly being taken apart. He kissed the side of Peter’s face and sang him songs in Portuguese.

For hours upon hours, for what seemed far longer than an actual night, Doctor Tony, who sometimes sported 3 or 4 pairs of arms, stitched into his body with long needles and white thread. Peter tried to picture himself as the Million Dollar Man on TV, suffering through the constant surgeries. He tried to remember how the newspapers said the Incredible Hulk experienced excruciating pain every time he transformed.

But mostly he just remembered what he had done to Missy Lovelace. He just reminded himself how he had ordered Tony not to make reports when he returned from the Lovelace House, although Tony clearly wanted to. The idea of adults yelling had always upset Peter, but the idea of adults yelling at each other was more than he could bear. Over and over again Peter had sent Tony out to feed on Missy’s fear without listening to a word about what Missy was afraid of. That’s why he let Doctor Tony continue with the needles. That’s why he steadfastly tried to concentrate on his Tony trying to teach him to count in Portuguese.

* * * *

For the entire weekend Peter didn’t even get out of bed. But when the weekend was over he had to haul himself up and struggle through school. Staying home from school required a doctor’s visit, and Peter didn’t want to see a doctor.

He didn’t want to have to explain to the doctor, let alone Ben and May, how he had managed to grow a third nipple on the left side of his chest.

He kept it hidden under a bandaid which he hid under a larger bandage which he hid under an undershirt that protected him from his shirt. He felt every layer. It throbbed and ached on his body, radiating throughout his whole frame. Every touch against his shirt, or anywhere near his chest at all, went through his body with a painful and embarrassing electric jolt.

His only relief came after dark when Tony came out from under the bed to hold him. He feasted on the pain, holding Peter gently, laying underneath him like a warm body pillow. Tony stroked his hair and told him endless stories and taught him a song in Portuguese about chickens. Tony knew a lot of children’s songs in Portuguese. He fed gently from the vein in Peter’s neck, but never ventured to touch the witchesmark, assuring Peter it would heal in time.

Peter hoped it would. Peter couldn’t even conceive of letting Tony touch it, let alone use it to feed.

“Is this how you gave the Post family members superpowers? By a body-weaving? Is that why only did it for one generation, and then stopped?”

“No, that magic is of spells.”

“Did someone do something bad, or see something bad, and then had to spend the rest of their lives being a hero?” He was laying with his back against Tony’s chest, looking out his window as Tony played with his finger’s idly, sometimes kissing or licking the vein in his neck, sometimes suckling at the fingertips.

“That’s what heroes do. Batman watched his parents be murdered, so he had to spend the rest of his life fighting crime. All heroes have tragic backstories. Not Superman though, although I suppose having your whole planet blow up is pretty tragic. Or was it because of the Civil War? Was that why you did it?”

“I ‘did it’ because the spells tasked me to do it.”

“But it seems like it all happened at once, like all the family members of one generation got powers, and then they just stopped. What happened?”

Tony was sucking gently at Peter’s neck. Often he would feed to avoid answering questions, but when Peter insisted, he told the story.

“It was after I killed Tom Dylan Post and consumed his body. His father, Thomas Post, sought to forbid me from harming, killing or consuming the body of any post male, ever. To this end he, and his brothers, and his sons, they brought out all the German books from the hidden rooms. Books that had not been opened in many generations. One had not been opened since the death of Nehemiah Post.

“There they found many spells that they had never seen before, had never heard of. Some were written in the old German, but others were in Latin.

“They found many different protections of the body, as well as other extraordinary spells. But those tasks, I told them, took great strength. More strength than I had. More strength than I could take from cattle or swine or any other meat offering. ‘Without the infernal vapors, how can it be done?’ I argued. I tried to deceive them… I thought I could convince them to abandon their plan… but then the Post sisters sought out the seals of Evorá, and the spells from the Book of The Student, and I feasted. I could not continue to feast upon that magic and also deny that the German spells were possible…”

“Wait, you deceived them?” Peter wondered, trying to turn his head enough to see Tony’s face. “You lied to them?”

“I did not lie…”

“You exaggerated. Same thing, Mr. Spock.”

Peter moved his body away enough so he could watch Tony’s face while he spoke. Watching Tony’s face while he spoke always revealed as much, of not more, than his actual words.

“I didn’t know you could tell them things that weren’t true…”

“Ezra and Nehemiah Post sealed me to always speak the truth to them and to their sons. They died. Their sons died. After that, no one thought to repeat the spell.”

“Wait… you’re saying the Posts had… they had spell books with spells in them, that they didn’t even know were there? And they always could have… but why didn’t you want to give them superpowers?”

“It was very difficult work. Tedious. To make Cecil Wayne Post impervious to the bullets we had to spend three days and nights in each other’s arms…” The look of disgust was obvious on Tony’s face. Clearly Tony did not like Cecil Wayne.

“Alright, now go back and tell me why you killed Tom Dylan Post.”

“He tasked me to do it.”

“Oh, he committed suicide. I wondered if that’s what happened.”

“Thomas summoned me to determine what befell of his son. When I told him what I had done, he sealed me to the spot where I stood. It was in the south dining hall. For days I stood there, immobile, while they prepared the spell to compel me to speak only the truth. It was a difficult spell, it required a black cat, a black sheep, and a black duck.”

He laughed ruefully, his eyes lowered. He looked like a man talking about a recent pain, not a pain from a century ago. “A waste of their time,” he muttered. “I was never bound to conceal what I had done to him. Ada and Enid and the girls came to me and I told them true. They cried and held each other. Ada clung to my feet and begged me to take her own life as well…”

“Oh my gosh, Tony... you were… you were like a loaded gun in that house. What did you say to her?”

“I vowed to obey her. I could not deny her. She sat down at my feet in the middle of the night and wrote down the spell.”

“The spell… to kill her?”

“Yes. Should she bring me a coffin made by her uncle, a shroud stitched by her sister, and lay down in a grave dug by the youngest member of the family and read a prayer written for her by Justina Post.”

“Oh. I think I get it. One of the four of them should have been able to talk her out of it. So then… when they did do that spell with the three animals, and you told them the truth and… did they punish you?”

“They had no time. They had to release me to protect the land from the angry townsfolk.”

“And from all those people who set fire to the house that was on Chimney Hill?”

“The South House. They set it alight because they thought it was the Post House itself.”

“Oh. That was genius, Tony. But I thought… I thought that was Tom Dylan’s house.”

“It was the house where I killed him.”

“So, that makes sense, after Thomas Post finds out that you could be used as a suicide weapon, it makes sense that he disarmed you that way before any of his other kids decided to... so he found a spell to make it so you could never kill another Post...”

“That no Post could be harmed, killed, or their body consumed, by demon, angel or fae or spirit. The family disagreed on the nature of my substance, and so they put a seal on all Post descendants against demon, angel, fae or spirit.”

“The Post family thought you were fae? Or at least some of them?”

“Justina Post called me “Oberon.” Lysander Post called me “Puck.”

He nuzzled his face back into Peter’s shoulder and told him the story. About the entire family working together, the men and the women, to provide Tony with enough strength and subsistence to him, which in turn allowed him to give special powers to the family members, one by one. It was a time of great cooperation and collaboration that went on for years. For generations the women and the men had kept their books separate, even hidden. It was normal for the Post women to put wards on their books so that their brothers couldn’t even touch them. For a decade the entire family worked and studied together to the same end. Until the day the message came that Cecil Wayne had died in the war.

“Because he couldn’t withstand a cannonball?” Peter asked.

“He most certainly did withstand the cannonball!” Tony exclaimed, clearly insulted.

“But he did not withstand the second.”

“Could you do these things for me?” Peter asked finally. “You could make me impervious to bullet wounds, or snakebite, or make me able to jump out of a 20-foot tree? No of course you couldn’t,” he said before Tony even spoke. “You would have to have a whole family working together… what?”

Tony had slipped out from under him, and was now at his side, caressing his face and whispering in his ear.

“Each night, from dusk to dawn, we must needs lay intwined in each others arms. You could not sleep whilst you were with me. You would need give your body over completely to me,” he said with a grin, his hand staring and caressing Peter’s stomach. “For the whole of the time you could give me no command, nor forbid me in any way. You would need give up to me your most guarded secrets…”

“I’m listening.”

Tony sat up on one elbow and, still grinning, turned Peter’s mouth to his. “Many Post men could not succeed in the ritual,” he teased. “You could wear nothing but a white linen sheet for three days. In that time you could not invoke the holy name of God, or any saint. And you would submit yourself to the five-fold kiss…”

“What is the fivefold… you know what? Never mind,” Peter said, pushing Tony away, but just a little bit. “This sounds too complicated for now,” he said, grinning himself. “I’d have to have my own place before I can start walking around in a linen sheet for three days. Not that it matters. You said the Post Daughters had to work to create enough power for you to feed on so that you could… what?

“Let me guess…” he scolded, running his fingers over Tony’s smug grin. “You exaggerated about how much power you needed.”

Tony shrugged. “To learn a new spell is always difficult. The first time. The second and third times, it becomes no great matter.”

“Is it like your dreamwork? The first time you make it takes a lot of strength, but once it’s already made…

“Wait… Tony… I forgot to ask you. Some of those books you told me about, I found one called the Book of St. Cyprian. I mean not the book, but I found the title in the book catalog. I could order it, if I could afford it. Would it be the same book the Post daughters had?

Tony was clearly surprised. “My diligent library-pilgrim,” he said, kissing Peter’s hand with a small smile. “My master scholar. Was it copied by hand?”

“Well… no. It’s published, it’s printed just like a regular book.”

Tony’s smile faded. “The only true books of St. Cyprian are copied by hand.”

“And written in Portuguese?”

“Of course.”

“So I’m going to have to learn Portuguese,” Peter said with a heavy sigh, snuggling, as best he could, back into Tony’s arms.

“AND build a huge rabbit hutch and stock it with rabbits. And build myself a house on the Chimney Hill foundation. That’s a lot of work. I think I’ll build the house first.”

He turned his head and kissed Tony’s cheek.

“I think it’s time I moved out.”

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The Master Post (not THAT Master Post, the other one)

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AS ALWAYS please direct questions, comments, and constructive crit to @witchwayisright

#The Thing That Lives Under The Bed #Demon!Tony #But not THAT Demon!Tony #Von's Moodboards #TheWitchwayWritesStuff #Starker #Peter Parker/Tony Stark

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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January 2: The Final Frontier

Watched Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. I remember it being pretty awful but honestly... I liked it! I wouldn’t put it on the same level as I - IV as a whole, but I did like it.

First of all, this is such a good triumvirate movie. Like fully 50% of it is just Kirk, Spock, and Bones being awesome together and I’m fully committed to this concept. Especially since I read Kirk and Spock as space husbands and McCoy as their best friend who knows he’s hanging out with a couple and is totally fine with it.

They canonically go camping together on shore leave. Spock researches camping rituals for them and brings marsh melons with him. He flies around with his friends on rocket boots. They all know Morse code, but not very well. Some of the other films may have been better at showing off the rest of the crew (only Scotty really got significant time to shine here) and they might have had distinct roles for Bones to play in particular, and good Kirk & Bones and Spock & Bones moments, but no other film or episode really showed this family-friendship dynamic among the three of them so well, so consistently, and in such a front and center way, and I really, really appreciate that.

The general concept of Sybok and the quest for God... Idk I think it sounds nice enough on paper and I can’t entirely pinpoint where it doesn’t work for me in practice. I was definitely expecting a very different character before I watched the movie the first time, so I was disappointed but I basically knew why. This time... I still felt something was off, but I can’t describe what. Maybe I wanted a more charismatic Sybok? Maybe a more detailed relationship between him and Spock? I don’t know.

I’m not the biggest fan of the secret brother back story but... I also don’t think it bothers me as much as it bothers other people (including Gene Rodenberry lmao don’t tell his ghost what garbage has been put into his franchise since). I just have a different interpretation of the relationship and I don’t think mine is really contradicted by the film itself, except maybe by Spock’s line “we were raised as brothers.” I guess that’s supposed to imply they actually grew up in the same house and knew each other. But it doesn’t have to mean that. Imo “raised as brothers” could mean “were introduced to each other and knew they were brothers.”

Anyway my understanding of their relationship is that there is a BIG age gap, like 12-15 years. Half-siblings often have age gaps like that. Then Sybok was either raised by his mother or at, like, Vulcan boarding school. Also if he were 15 years older than Spock, for example, he’d be an adult by the time Spock formed any real memories. And if he was exiled at a fairly young age, he might not have seen Spock at all since Spock was a very small child. This makes sense to me implicitly because Spock gives off STRONG only child vibes. Also, Kirk is understandably incensed at never having heard about this “brother” but, as someone with a half-sibling I wasn’t raised with and rarely talk about, I can totally understand how that would happen. I often confuse people by mentioning my sister after I mention being an only child. And third, it would explain their vibes around each other--they are technically brothers, but they don’t seem especially close; Sybok still treats Spock as if he hadn’t matured since he was very young, and even though he probably has access to all of Spock’s memories (as much as he has everyone else’s), he picks the absolute earliest one he could; and when they first meet he says something like “you finally caught up to me,” which to me implies a large age gap.

(Also btw this makes more sense with Sarek’s apparent age b/c if Sybok was a Pon Farr baby, he’s probably only 18-20 years younger than Sarek, whereas Spock would be, say, 33-35 years younger, which seems appropriate.)

Parts of this movie just... didn’t give off strong Star Trek vibes to me. I think the sections on the desert planet really didn’t feel right. They felt more Star Wars than anything. This might be because I see a desert and I think Tatooine, I see a bar in the desert and I think cantina scene--but I also suspect it’s more than that. This concept of a bunch of aliens hanging out on a planet together... that’s never been Star Trek. ST has always been so focused on the ship, even through the first four films. Having these none-ship POV scenes just felt weird.

In a way, the movies have been moving ever farther from the mood of TOS, and I can’t quite put my finger on how just at this middle-of-the-night moment. I still like them, but there’s something more.. general sci fi about them. Even the ship design and the uniforms just feel less unique. It’s the og cast and characters keeping it together--which is probably why I’ve never cared to watch any other series and fail to see any other crew as “real Star Trek.”

Scotty/Uhura was super fucking cute. They are canon and, I’m just going to say it, it would have been interesting to see AOS go that route, too.

This was also a great film for Captain Kirk characterization because honestly, say what you want about Shatner, but he KNOWS this character (setting aside his erroneous opinions about the bisexuality he himself acted into the guy in the first place lol). I love this mature, confident, leader Captain. (I’d be interested to see a non-T/arantino AOS film that shows off this characterization of Kirk. CPine has the range.)

Some great K/S moments: “Would you like to join me in the shower, Spock?” “Worse [than betraying the ship/crew], I betrayed you.” Spock giving Kirk his hand in the brig. And of course, “Not in front of the Klingons, Captain.”

Also a fan of the moment at the end when Chekov and Sulu are definitely checking out the lady Klingon, and the implication (I think??) that the Federation rep who looked like David Thewlis and the Romulan who didn’t look like any Romulan I’ve ever seen hooked up off screen.

It’s not a masterpiece but this movie doesn’t deserve the hate it gets and it didn’t deserve to bomb commercially either. Perhaps people were just more interested in TNG. But I would absolutely rather watch ST V than any episode of TNG lol.

#the year 2021 #2021: fandom thoughts #2021: star trek tos #star trek tos #this is a t/n/g hate blog #not entirely but actually a little bit #but it's definitely a disc/overy hate blog so i will block you if you respond to me with talk of any other children of sarek #2021: star trek

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tonystarkreactor · 6 years

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Peter Parker's Step-By-Step Guide to Get These Two Dumbasses to Kiss Already

They were pathetic.

Adorable, but absolutely fucking pathetic.

Peter realized this one afternoon as he was sitting in the kitchen, doing his homework. Colonel Rhodes was practicing with his braces. Mr. Stark was walking right beside him, acting as his spotter.

Peter looked up, across the island that separated the kitchen from the living room, a question about his math homework on the tip of his tongue. However, as soon as his eyes landed on Mr. Stark and Rhodes, any previous thought left his mind.

Rhodes was on the floor, his legs pulled up beside him, and Mr. Stark was kneeling down beside him, asking questions and checking if he was okay.

With the biggest heart-eyes he’d ever seen.

Peter’s jaw dropped as he stared, his eyes turning to Rhodes, only to realize that he had the doe eyes, too. Not quite as bad and obvious, but holy shit.

Holy shit.

Peter wasn’t sure how he hadn’t seen this before. These two grown adults were looking at the other like he was the light of his life. Peter resisted a gag. Oh, this was getting gross. They were still staring! Even as they were talking, they looked disgustingly infatuated.

Peter sighed before flipping the page in his notebook. He was not going to sit to the side and do nothing about this revelation.

Step 1: Confirm that they have romantic feelings for each other.

Peter didn’t want to waste his time, so his first step, obviously, was to make sure he wasn’t.

Step one wasn’t difficult. That didn’t mean it wasn’t painful. Peter didn’t anticipate how frustrating it’d be to watch as they stared at each other longingly while the other remained completely oblivious.

Mr. Stark’s proof came when they were all sitting in the workshop. Peter was unwillingly working on his homework, because Mr. McCall was a dick who assigned an essay over spring break. Colonel Rhodes was helping Tony tweak the design of his braces, and the two were rambling about Star Trek. Peter didn’t really know what they were talking about, because he’d never seen Star Trek, but he knew that Ned was confident that Spock and Kirk were gay for each other. He remembered that Ned mentioned that there was a phrase– T’hy’la?– that apparently was some pretty significant evidence.

“Hey, what does T’hy’la mean?” Peter asked, glancing up from his homework because following this train of thought was more interesting than analyzing Gatsby.

Colonel Rhodes barely looked up, but Mr. Stark immediately looked at Colonel Rhodes. “It’s a Vulcan term that means ‘friend, brother, lover.’” He frowned, looking up. “Why?”

Oh. Yeah, that was proof. By the way Mr. Stark was staring at the colonel, Peter got the feeling that T’hy’la perfectly summed up the genius’s feelings.

Shrugging, Peter looked back at his paper. “Nothing. Ned just mentioned it one time when he was gushing about Spirk.”

“You heathen,” Mr. Stark said, snapping out of his Rhodes TranceTM. “It’s not Spirk. It’s just Kirk-slash-Spock. We didn’t combine names like you kids. If it wasn’t Kirk-slash-Spock, it was just K-slash-S.”

“Personally, I like Kock,” Colonel Rhodes said, grinning, and Peter rolled his eyes.

“We know you do,” he said, and he was rewarded with Mr. Stark’s laughter and a snort from the colonel.

Colonel Rhodes’s proof came when they were all sitting in the living room and watching The Force Awakens. Peter was apparently the only one who’d seen it, as the colonel had been on duty when it came out and Mr. Stark had been preparing for some gala, and they’d both just never gotten around to it.

The pure excitement on Mr. Stark’s face when Peter suggested watching it was kind of priceless. He had immediately grabbed Colonel Rhodes and Vision (who was very amused by the excitement in the room), and they had all piled onto the couch.

When Han and Chewbacca appeared on the screen, Mr. Stark shot up and grabbed his best friend’s arm. Peter snickered, Vison hid a smile, and Colonel Rhodes pulled his gaze away from the screen only to give Mr. Stark the most besotted expression Peter had ever seen.

It was absolutely adorable.

They continued to be cute as Mr. Stark began smacking Colonel Rhodes excitedly in the arm, whispering, “ Rhodey, Rhodey, Rhodey,” and Rhodes just grinned at him like a lovesick idiot until it became sickening.

Step 2: Now that you know for sure these dumbasses are infatuated with each other, get them alone.

Peter had been hiding in the kitchen for twenty minutes, peering into the living room and making sure that Colonel Rhodes wasn’t going to get up anytime soon. When he changed the channel to a show on HGTV, Peter did a little fist pump and pulled out his phone, shooting a quick text to Mr. Stark, asking him to come upstairs to help out with some math homework.

Seconds later, he got a reply. Didn’t you say you didn’t have any homework this weekend?

Oh. He had, hadn’t he? Ugh, screw Peter from the past. He made up a lie about simply forgetting and sent that.

Could you come down here? Can’t really walk away from this project.

Peter glowered at the phone. Was it so fucking hard to take an elevator upstairs. Was it? He texted, But I’m lazyyyy.

How is it that you complain about taking an elevator down a few floors, when just three days ago I saw you on the news scaling a skyscraper.

Peter groaned and threw down his phone, storming through the living room to the elevator, ignoring Colonel Rhodes’s surprised “Wait, have you been in there the whole time?”

The next day, he tried the reverse. Mr. Stark was making a sandwich in the kitchen, and Peter was hiding behind the couch in the living room. He texted Colonel Rhodes, asking him to teach him to make that chili everyone loves, because he’d like to make it for Aunt May for her birthday (which wasn’t even technically a lie, even if her birthday was a month away).

Colonel Rhodes texted back, I dunno. It’s a family recipe. Not sure if you’re worthy.

Peter’s fists clenched. Did he have to be so difficult? Come on, rhodes, pleeeeaaase.

Luckily, Colonel Rhodes textes back fine , and Peter did a fist pump, before darting into the bathroom and hiding.

After a few minutes, the elevator’s doors opened, and Peter peeked around the bathroom doorway. From here, he could not only see into the living room, but he could see into the kitchen as well. He watched Colonel Rhodes walk out slowly; he was making lots of progress, and Mr. Stark’s braces helped a lot.

Peter watched as Mr. Stark looked over, and the way he perked up was both endearing and ridiculously pathetic.

“Hey, sourpatch, you’re doing great!” he said, grinning as Colonel Rhodes joined him in the kitchen.

“Thanks, Tones…” Rhodes said distractedly, looking around the room with his eyebrows furrowed. “Where’s Peter?” he asked, and said teenager quickly ducked behind the doorway.

“He… was here a minute ago,” Mr. Stark said, walking into the living room, sandwich forgotten. Finally, he shrugged. “I don’t know. Teenagers,” he huffed, and Colonel Rhodes rolled his eyes affectionately.

“Alright,” he said, letting out a grunt before shoving himself off the counter and heading towards the elevator.

No, Peter thought, glaring daggers at Rhodes. Don’t you dare go into that elevator. Stay and confess your feelings, you stupid, emotionally constipated–

The elevator’s doors closed, and Peter threw his head back in frustration.

Colonel Rhodes was reading the news on a tablet, and Mr. Stark was working again. Peter glared at both of them, going completely unnoticed, before he blurted, “You two should go see a movie together.”

They both looked up, confused expressions on their face. “Or something,” Peter added, and refused to back down when the men looked at him like he was insane.

“What?” Mr. Stark said finally, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked concerned for Peter’s mental being.

“You two. Should go see a movie together. Or something,” Peter said. “When’s the last time you guys just chilled together?”

“Chill,” Mr. Stark repeated, narrowing his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Peter, are you okay?” Colonel Rhodes asked, setting the tablet down. “You’ve been acting weird.”

“No, you’ve been acting weird. You guys are too stressed. Just, like, go see a movie. Relax.”

Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Stark shared a careful look, before looking back at Peter. “Pete, we watch movies all the time.”

“Yeah, old ones. With me. You should go see a new movie. Uh. He thought about what was in theaters, and he said, “You guys could see, like… Beauty and the Beast . That has really good reviews.”

“Kid, if you want to see a movie, just ask. You don’t have to be weird about it,” Colonel Rhodes said, and Peter facepalmed.

“No! I’m not– just– fucking go see a movie together! Is that so difficult?” he snaps, and the two men gape at him, looking completely lost and very worried.

“Aren’t you supposed to be past the whole… mood swing stage of puberty?” Mr. Stark asked slowly.

Peter threw his hands up. “I’m not– it’s not puberty! Just– God, you guys are so annoying.”

Peter looked at his handiwork. The kitchen table had a fancy tablecloth that he might have stolen from Aunt May, with plates set up with all the necessary silverware that Google says is required. He’d plopped some takeout Italian onto each of the plates, even served the salad he ordered onto the tiny salad plates. He’d poured grape juice into two wine glasses, because Mr. Stark had gotten rid of all the alcohol in the tower months ago. Peter even looked up how to fold those cloth napkins.

Not bad. He looked around, though, frowning, because something was missing. Oh, he forgot to light the candles. He turned around, dug through a drawer for a lighter, before spinning back around. He flicked the lighter, and carefully lit each of the candles, before setting the lighter aside. Huh. Something still wasn’t right.

“FRIDAY, can you dim the lights? Fifty percent?”

Perfect.

He grinned, pulling out his phone and texted both Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Stark to go to the kitchen.

He heard a notification sound right outside the kitchen, and he jumped, whipping around to see Mr. Stark watching him. “Uh–”

Mr. Stark gave him a disappointed, exasperated look. “What are you doing?” he asked, before pulling out his phone to check the notification. He frowned, looking up at Peter, eyes wide with realization. “Wait. Is this for me and Rhodey?”

“Uh.”

Peter bolted.

Step 3: Gather recruitments.

“Peter!”

Peter’s footsteps stopped halfway through the door into his apartment. He carefully took a few steps forward, finding Aunt May leaning against the couch with her arms crossed.

He paused. “… Yes?”

“I got a call from Tony.”

“… Okay.”

She raises an eyebrow. “He says that you’ve been trying to set them up. On dates.”

“That’s… he’s lying. Obviously, he’s lying, why– why would I do that? That’d be… weird. I wasn’t. Didn’t. I didn’t do that, clearly.”

“Peter, why are you messing with two grown men’s love lives?”

“No! I’m messing with their lack thereof! So they actually have love lives. Because they could.” He mutters to himself, “If they just get their heads out of their asses.”

Wait.

He brightened, looking at Aunt May with wide eyes. He pointed to her. “I need your help.”

She opens her mouth, looking at him exasperatedly. “What? Peter, I am not going to help you interfere–”

“C’mon, Aunt May! They have known each other for thirty years, and they still haven’t confessed their feelings for each other. If we don’t interfere, they’ll never say anything! Please?” he begged.

She raised her eyebrow skeptically.

“Please, Aunt May. I just want them to be happy,” he said, smiling innocently.

She huffed, side-eyeing him reluctantly. “I did think they were dating the first time I saw them together.”

Peter grinned hopefully. “So?”

She huffed, rolling her eyes. “Fine.” She began to walk away, before she stopped and pointed at him. “But you have got to learn to be more subtle.”

He gave her a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Ms. Potts!”

The woman turned her head, her hair flipping over her shoulder. “Peter,” she said, sounding surprised. “What are you doing down here?” It wasn’t often Peter was in the office levels of Stark Tower.

Peter hurried to a stop beside her, his backpack jostling behind him. “I need your help,” he said, looking at her pleadingly.

Her eyebrows raised. “With what? What’s wrong?”

Peter shifted, realizing suddenly that this might’ve been an awkward request, asking her to help him set up her ex with his best friend. He tried anyway. “Have you noticed that Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes are pining over each other?”

Ms. Potts stared at him for a moment before snorting. He blinked in surprise. Was this a good reaction or a bad reaction?

“Uh,” he said.

“Peter, I have known that those two have been in love with each other since the first time I saw them together.”

Peter blinked. “But…”

She sighed, shaking her head. “Tony did love me when we were dating, I’ve never doubted that. He’s always loved Rhodey, too, though. That, of course, had nothing to do with us breaking up. That was just–” She cut herself off, shaking her head again and widening her eyes. Peter understood that expression, felt it enough when Mr. Stark was feeling particularly self-destructive. (Which, luckily, was a state that was occurring less and less often.) She also probably didn’t want to get into her dating history with a sixteen-year-old.

“Point is,” she said, “Trust me, I know he’s pining. I’m assuming you want to do something about it?”

Peter nodded.

“Well,” she said, sighing. “Good luck. Tony is the worst with expressing feelings. Especially deep, deep feelings that have been buried for decades. But,” she said, giving him a calculating look, “you may be able to do it. Maybe. You can’t talk to Tony directly about it.”

“Of course,” Peter said, mentally taking notes.

“You might not be able to talk to Rhodes about it either, because he’s probably pressed down his feelings for a while too. He’s not as bad at expressing his emotions as Tony is, but he’s not exactly great. Being in the military probably hasn’t helped.” She flicked her eyes toward the ceiling, before looking at Peter again and asking, “What have you tried so far?”

“I keep trying to get them alone, but one of them always leaves and they never actually talk. They just talk about movies and the suits and the leg braces, but they don’t talk about their feelings. Also, Aunt May says I’m really bad at being subtle.”

“Wait,” Ms. Potts said, her eyes wide. “Rhodey told me he found candles in the garbage. What did you do?”

“Listen! I needed them to actually stay in the same place, so I tried to set up, y’know, a little date–”

“With candles? Like that wouldn’t send Tony running for the hills?” Ms. Potts demanded, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Peter said glumly. “But I didn’t know what to do. What should I do?”

Ms. Potts looked contemplative, placing her clipboard against her hip. Finally, she said, “You can’t push them toward something new.”

“But–”

“Ah,” she said, cutting him off with a flick of her hand. “We have to use what we’ve already got. They’re both very protective of each other. Rhodey loves Tony when he’s happy and soft. His levels of affection seriously skyrocket when Tony’s sleep-deprived and cuddly.”

“So I need to make Mr. Stark sleep-deprived?” Peter asked, confused.

“Not necessarily. He gets sleep-deprived on his own all the time, though he’s getting better. Thank you, by the way.” Peter didn’t really know how he helped in that respect, but okay. “You just need to make sure Rhodey catches him in that state. Maybe lead him into the workshop when you know he’s getting tired.”

“But then I’ll be there, and they won’t do anything if I’m there,” Peter countered.

“You’re right,” Ms. Potts conceded, tilting her head. After a moment, she nodded. “Recruit FRIDAY. And the bots, especially Dum-E. He’s been around since MIT, he’s experienced the pining longer than anyone.”

“Okay,” Peter said, nodding. He went through his mental checklist, before nodding again. “Okay. I’ve got this.”

“You’ve got this,” Ms. Potts repeated, looking amused.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind Peter, he said, “FRIDAY, I need your help.”

“Is this about your matchmaking endeavors?” FRIDAY asked, and Peter nodded.

“Yes, and I need your help. And the bots’.”

There’s a pause, before FRIDAY says, somewhat hesitantly, “How can I help?”

Peter grinned.

Step 4: Follow Pepper’s plan.

Peter watched the display of his phone (courtesy of Mr. Stark) from his room, his eyes narrowed and focused. This had to work. It was a plan by none other than Virginia Potts. Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Stark may be infuriating, but Ms. Potts is Ms. Potts.

There was a knock on his door, and Aunt May stepped in, her mouth open to ask something, but it fell shut when she saw the holographic display. “Peter! Are you spying?” she demanded, looking at the footage FRIDAY was feeding to him of Mr. Stark conked out on the sofa.

“It’s part of the mission,” Peter objected. “I need to see if this works.”

“Peter,” she says, exasperated.

“C’mon, Aunt May! Oh, shut up, it’s Rhodes!” he said, looking at the screen excitedly as the colonel entered the room onscreen.

Aunt May rolled her eyes. “Now you’re sounding like Tony,” she said.

“Thanks,” Peter said absently, obviously not catching what she meant, but she couldn’t help but smile at his automatic response.

Then she focused on what exactly her nephew was up to, and she forced her expression to be stern. “Peter, you can’t–”

“Shuuuuhhh–” he shushed, waving his hand in her face. Aunt May rolled her eyes, looking at the screen and crossing her arms.

Rhodes looked around the workshop until he spotted Tony, fast asleep on the couch, his mushed against the arm. Jim sighed, but he smiled fondly. Of course , Tony had passed out down here. He’d been hoping to get the man to bed first, but he’d take what he could get.

He jumped as he felt something prod his back. He turned to find Dum-E, and he squinted at him, about to question him, but the bot simply nudged him again. “Dum-E, what the hell are you–”

But Dum-E just kept pushing him until he fell onto the couch right next to Tony. Jim looked at Dum-E incredulously. “What is going on?” he asked, but Dum-E simply picked up Jim’s arm, much to his bemusement, and gently dropped it onto his creator’s leg.

“Wha–?”

“Rhodes?”

Jim jumped, looking at Tony who was squinting blearily at Jim’s hand. On his leg. His thigh. Jim snatched up his hand like he’d been burned, an apology already on his tongue, but Tony seemed to shrug it off as he sluggishly sat up.

“No, Tones, go back to sleep.”

“Your hand was on my leg,” he said, looking at him in confusion. Or maybe he didn’t shrug it off.

“No, I just– Dum-E was–”

Tony interrupted him with a sigh. “Did Peter put you up to this?” he asked, rubbing his brow with his thumb and forefinger.

Jim’s eyebrows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Tony sighed again, slumping back against the couch. “Peter seems to think I need romance in my life. Or something. I caught him trying to–” A yawn cut him off, and Jim’s insides did a little twist at the way his faces scrunched up. “–I caught him trying to set me up. On a date.”

“On a date?” Jim repeated, squinting.

Tony nodded. “Yeah. With you. Like, candles and everything. I don’t even know. You know, I knew I was taking on a lot when I brought him in, but like, Jesus, I didn’t think I would have to deal with matchmaking. And terrible matchmaking apparently, because we’ve known each other for thirty years, if there was going to be any dating, we’d have done it already, it’s not like–”

An uncomfortable feeling settled in Jim’s gut. “Oh, so no secret pining I should know about?” he joked, grinning, trying to push the feeling away with pure will.

Tony let out a startled laugh, and Jim’s gaze flashed to Tony’s eyes, because that was Tony’s nervous laugh. He hadn’t heard it in a long time, but there was no doubt in his mind. Tony… Tony was nervous.

“You wish, honeybear,” Tony said, smirking. “Any secret pining I should worry about?” he asked.

Jim stared at Tony for a moment, eyeing him carefully. Finally, with his heart racing so fast he could feel it in his toes, he said, “Now, I never said worry.”

Tony tilted his head, squinting at Jim, now much more awake. “What?”

“I asked if there was any pining I should know about. I never said ‘worry,’” Jim repeated, mentally praying that he was right. Please, please let him be right.

After a moment of more staring and confusion, Tony said, “I don’t think I–”

“Tony, if I’m misreading this situation at all, tell me, but–”

“Wait, are you–?”

“Tony, listen, I’ve kind of–”

“Am I reading this right? You–?”

“ Yes, Tony, I really–”

“But you’re– we’ve never–”

“For the love of God, Tony, shut up,” Jim said, grabbing Tony’s face and kissing him.

Kissing him.

Holy shit.

By the way Tony went rigid, Jim could tell the genius was short-circuiting. He gently pulled away, eyeing him carefully. “Was that okay?” he asked quietly, letting his hands slip to Tony’s shoulders instead.

“I…” Tony muttered, looking lost.

“Tones, I just want to know. Was that okay?”

After a moment, Tony shuddered a sigh, shut his eyes, then opened them again and said, “I don’t know.”

Jim’s heart fumbled as he looked down, dropping his hands. Of course, he shouldn’t have–

“I might need you to try again.”

Jim looked up so fast, he could’ve gotten whiplash. “What?”

Tony smiled slowly, nervous but sly as well. “I might need you to try again. Just to make sure.”

A grin gradually formed on Jim’s lips as he repeated, “Just to make sure.”

“Just to make sure,” Tony said, nodding.

“You’re an idiot,” Jim said fondly, leaning in again, and fifteen miles away, Peter Parker cheered victoriously.

#iron husbands #james rhodes #tony stark #peter parker #i love them #pepper potts #may parker #dum-e #my writing

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Star Trek: Enterprise – An Oral History of Starfleet’s First Adventure

https://ift.tt/3C98oDS

Before Discovery or Strange New Worlds, the early days of the future as postulated by Star Trek were explored in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. Celebrating its 20th anniversary at the end of the month, it was set roughly 75 years prior to The Original Series, during the fledgling days of Starfleet, when humanity was first venturing out into the cosmos.

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer captained the first starship given the name Enterprise, leading a team consisting of humans, a Vulcan, and a Denobulan. The voyage wasn’t always a smooth one, but certainly an important part of the canon. What follows, presented in oral history format, is a look back at the show’s formative days.

BRANNON BRAGA (executive producer/co-creator): Star Trek always needs fresh blood. I left the franchise before Enterprise; I just said, “I can’t do this anymore.” I remember where I was and what I was working on and where I was standing and at what point in time when I officially burnt out on Star Trek. I decided not to do the seventh season of Voyager and then I was asked to create Enterprise. Rick Berman had a really cool idea for it and I said, “You know what? I’m going to do this one more time.” One could argue maybe I shouldn’t have. Rick was a really good overlord, but even he needed fresh writers. One could argue maybe we both should have left earlier.

RICK BERMAN (executive producer/co-creator): As Voyager was ending, the studio came and said, “Let’s get another one up and going.” I begged them to let the franchise have a few years’ rest. In fact, they wanted it to start before Voyager ended and I managed to get them to at least wait until Voyager went off the air. The question was, what could we do that was different? I’d been working a great deal with Brannon, and so I asked him to work with me on creating a new series. Our decision, and I still think it was a good one, was to change the time period. We had done three shows that took place in the 24th century, and I thought it was time to go to another century. To go forward meant spacesuits that were a little sleeker and ships that were a little shinier, but it wasn’t that much to invent what had come before.

Star Trek Just Dropped a Huge Clue About Kirk & Spock’s “Missing” Year

By Ryan Britt

Star Trek: Upcoming TV Show Release Dates on Paramount+

By Kayti Burt

BRANNON BRAGA: Rick called me and said, “What do you think about setting it between the film First Contact and Kirk’s time?” And I said I thought that was a great idea. We started talking about it and considered what it would give us, and it evolved from there. We never considered another concept. We thought that First Contact seemed to be more of a relatable film somehow, because it had characters from the near future versus the distant future, and it allowed a more non–Star Trek audience to embrace Star Trek. You didn’t really have to know much to enjoy that movie.

RICK BERMAN: There was no Star Trek canon to respond to how Earth got from being in this post-apocalyptic nightmare to being in the world of Kirk and Spock with Starfleet Academy. So our feeling was to pick a time somewhere within that, when the first humans are going into space on warp-capable vessels, and they’re not as sure of themselves as Kirk or Picard were. They’re taking baby steps. We knew, with Enterprise, that we wanted to turn the ship [the franchise] around. We were dealing with the time when the first warp-drive ship was being developed for a crew of humans. There were no holodecks and people didn’t beam themselves anywhere, they just beamed cargo. It just seemed to be the right idea, so it’s the one we pursued.

BRANNON BRAGA: The biggest challenge was that the studio wanted something, but they were dubious about the prequel idea when we went in to pitch it. I don’t think they liked it very much. They thought Star Trek should be about moving forward and not moving backward. We were asking questions like, “How did we end up building the first warp ship? What was it like to meet a Klingon for the first time?” People had ball caps and walked dogs and wore tennis shoes and are more identifiable as people than, say, a Captain Picard, who is more of an idyllic man of the future that you probably wouldn’t recognize as a person that you could ever meet today.

RICK BERMAN: From the point of view of some fans, there’s the great sense of continuity that the shows have had, and they’re very, very particular about that. A lot of them were not happy about things that they felt were outside the canon of Star Trek. A lot of them felt that Brannon and I ignored that, which we absolutely didn’t. We tried to pay great attention to it and we had people who knew Star Trek backward and forward that helped us, but obviously there were things that had to be dealt with and adjusted.

SCOTT BAKULA (actor, “Captain Jonathan Archer”): Enterprise is The Right Stuff. That kind of energy of being the first ones out there and being a little scared sometimes and being a little overwhelmed by the experience, which I think is a great emotion to have to play with. Americans have explored our planet in a variety of different ways. Some successfully, some not. We have a wide history of exploration in this country. Certainly different experiences in Vietnam and places like that where we tried to impose our ideas or philosophies on different cultures, and still are in many places around this planet. Making it more about the experience and less about planting the flag. In other words, enjoying the experience and learning from it, rather than saying, “Now we’re here and we’re going to tell you how to do it. We’ve got good ideas and can do things better than you.” So if you’re someone out there looking to do good, and looking to explore in a healthy way, there’s a great responsibility to that. As well as a great temptation to change and alter and fix. Which became this very wonderful kind of play within the show, which is, how are we all going to deal with not only being out there, but the choices we make?

BRANNON BRAGA: Archer is something between Chuck Yeager and Kirk. He’s anything but the fully enlightened man that Picard is.

RICK BERMAN: It was very important for us to have a captain who was not necessarily that sure of himself, because we wanted him to be different from all the other captains. The other captains got on a spaceship at warp five or warp seven, they never thought twice about it. They ran into aliens every week and they never thought twice about it. We wanted a captain who was taking those first steps out into the galaxy; we wanted him to be a little green, a leader of men and at the same time, somebody who was in awe of everything he saw. With Scott, it just seemed like the perfect fit.

JAMES L. CONWAY (director, Enterprise pilot): Scott Bakula was the only actor ever discussed for Archer. Problem was, his deal wasn’t closed until the table read of the script three days before production began. In fact, there were rumors he was going to a CBS comedy pilot and we got very worried. We had never met him, talked to him, or heard him do the material. All during the casting process the casting director was the only one to read Archer’s dialogue. So it was a relief and pleasure to hear Scott brilliantly bring Archer to life at the table read.

SCOTT BAKULA: I responded to the idea of it and this character, and then I got the script for the pilot and everything just fell into place. I liked the character and it was really a return, in many ways, to what the original Star Trek was all about.

JAMES L. CONWAY: Scott brought a humanity to Archer that’s hard to put on the printed page. Also, as an actor and star of the show, Scott brought a top-notch work ethic and professionalism to the production. As star of the show, he set a great example for everyone.

BRANNON BRAGA: The funny thing about Scott’s take on the character was he spoke in kind of an unusual cadence when he was Archer and I could never figure it out. Someone told me he was a huge John Wayne fan. I’ve never talked to Scott about it, but I think he may have been doing a little bit of a John Wayne thing. He was our only choice.

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is an “Encounter at Farpoint” Sequel

By Ryan Britt

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Reveals Unexpected Khan Connection

By Kayti Burt

SCOTT BAKULA: We had a different dynamic on our show, and I’ve thought about it since then, because basically I was the older captain compared to the younger guys on the crew. John Billingsley’s in the middle there somewhere. That’s why I think the stuff between him and me was always special, even though he was nonhuman. There was a different kind of distance between characters created by the casting. We were building those relationships, but it was still from a different place.

RICK BERMAN: John Billingsley is a character actor and somebody else who’s in tremendous demand. He’s just a wonderful guy. We wanted sort of a wise, quirky alien to play that role of Phlox. Somebody who would be our doctor, and he did a marvelous job. He’s another actor I would do anything to work with again.

JAMES L. CONWAY: We were having trouble finding an actress for T’Pol. We read a lot of actresses, looked at a lot of names on a wish list, but couldn’t find anyone we liked. The role was critical, because she was a Vulcan and had to be able to “be” a Vulcan, yet still have sex appeal. Thankfully we saw a demo of Jolene’s work, loved it, and then met and read and loved her.

JOLENE BLALOCK (actress, “T’Pol”): I grew up on Star Trek. My favorite was Spock. I would sit there with my dad and my brother just watching the show, watching the relationship between Captain Kirk, Bones, and Spock. My favorite relationship was between Bones and Spock, because it was just this animosity and this love-hate relationship. But overall there was such utter loyalty between all three of them. I love the way they worked together, just the way Bones would be, like, “You green-blooded fool.” Somewhere in The Next Generation, I got lost.

BRANNON BRAGA: We wanted a Vulcan babe like Saavik, and wanted a Vulcan on board because the Vulcans were very antagonistic toward humans and she was essentially a chaperone, which really rankled Archer. Their relationship worked kind of nicely, and we saw T’Pol, Archer, and Trip as our triumvirate of characters.

JOLENE BLALOCK: I personally believed that T’Pol should have more of her Vulcan culture. I didn’t believe she should be so desperate to be like everyone else, because the original Star Trek, which I grew up with, had a very simple message that I took from it, and that is that not everyone is like me, and I’m not perfect, and nobody’s perfect, and that’s okay. That really helped me.

RICK BERMAN: Connor was the only actor in four television series that I had to fight for. I just love this guy. I think he’s a remarkable actor, and I saw four pieces of tape on various things that he had done, and there was just something about him; that this character, Trip, that we had written, he was just made for.

CONNOR TRINNEER (actor, “Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker III”): I wanted this job a lot. It was a good, time-tested franchise with a good audience. It had so many different things happening in it and it gave me the opportunity to play kind of a space cowboy—it was a dream job. Plus, you got to use your imagination as you’re meeting new species and races. Since this was our first time out, everything was new and we weren’t used to anything. You, as the actor, got to take in something as the audience did for the very first time, which was my experience as both an actor and a character.

ANTHONY MONTGOMERY: It was incredible. There was an electricity that just ran to my core, and it was because I was sitting at the helm of a show, being a part of a franchise that I grew up with and knew about. I’m not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination, but I still understand enough about the franchise that it made me say, “Wow, this is real!” That was even more exciting and intense than when I got the call saying I got the part.

RICK BERMAN: We were looking for an African American actor. We wanted someone young—we wanted this whole cast to be a lot more approachable, in a way; we wanted the audience to be able to relate to them more than they could other shows. Anthony was gorgeous, a terrific actor, and pretty much talked himself into the role the first day we saw him. We also wanted an Asian actor to play the role of communications officer and go back to a little listening device like Uhura had had in The Original Series. We also wanted her to be a translator of almost magical abilities. And Linda nailed it. We wanted somebody very vulnerable and someone who was not into flying on spaceships. In the first audition she completely got it and did very well.

LINDA PARK (actor, “Hoshi Sato”): There’s a lot of growth that happened for me, not only as an actor in front of the camera, but as a businesswoman. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that part of being an actor is that you are your own business, especially when you become successful at any level; you see how you work as a business and you can’t say, “I’m just an artist, and I don’t need to concern myself with the practical,” because it’s just as important to keep your artistic tools as sharp as your business tool. That’s the biggest thing I learned. In the end, it is my career and my life that these decisions are being made about.

RICK BERMAN: I had met Dominic on the first day of the last season of Voyager. He had the role of an English character. We were still a year away from going into production on the new series, but we were already starting to write it. He came in and I said to him, “We’ve got a role for you in a series that we’re creating that’s not going to be going on the air for eight or nine months, whatever it is, but I don’t want to use you up here.” This guy looked at me and said, “You’re right.”

DOMINIC KEATING: I had a chat with Brannon and Rick where I said, “I’m quite excited, and honestly, I’ll say whatever you put in front of me, but I would like it that he isn’t just the talking head Brit on an American spaceship.” Brannon said, “You won’t be saying lines like ‘My dear old mum.’” When I read the breakdown, he’s described as “buttoned-down, by the book, wry, dry, shy around women.” I’m like, “Oh, crap, I’ve got to act this.”

Star Trek’s Most Underserved Characters Will Be Back in Strange New Worlds

By Kayti Burt

Star Trek Doctors, Ranked By Crankiness

By Ryan Britt

JAMES L. CONWAY: The pilot of Enterprise was terrific. But then the first season was very repetitive and it felt like it was written by people who were burned out. And Brannon copped to this, saying he had made some bad choices in hiring staff and he was burned out from finishing up on Voyager. So I think that first season suffered and it took him awhile to re-steer that ship.

BRANNON BRAGA: When we were shooting the pilot and it was time for me to start writing episodes, I had a lot of things that I wanted to do. But once the ship officially set sail, I felt constrained. I felt, “Here we go again,” and I felt very challenged. Also, it was the first time I wasn’t working with people I’d worked with before. It was a large staff of ten people, and Star Trek was notoriously difficult to find writers for, because it was a hard show to write. I don’t even want to say hard; it’s unique. It just had a specific voice, and I had this writing staff that was new to the genre. Out of ten people, I think just a couple survived that first year.

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The post Star Trek: Enterprise – An Oral History of Starfleet’s First Adventure appeared first on Den of Geek.

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spacerainbows · 6 years

Text

Pick 10 ships before reading/answering the questions

chronologically ordered

I found this posted on someone’s blog and even though I want tagged I decided to do it anyway

1. Destiel (Supernatural)

2. Sabriel (Supernatural)

3. Drarry (Harry Potter)

4. Spirk(Star Trek TOS/AOS)

5. Johnlock (Sherlock BBC)

6. Merthur (Merlin)

7. Cockles (Supernatural actors{Misha and Jensen )

8. Jim/Pam(The Office)

9. Stony(Marvel)

10. Spideypool (Marvel)

1 - Do you remember the episode/scene/ chapter that you first started shipping 6?

Merlin was recommended to me by a friend that already shipped Merthur, so I ended up walking into it expecting to ship it. I already shipped it by the end of the first season because they are so reliant on each other and “two sides of the same coin” I call soulmates

2 - Have you ever read a fic about 2?

Yes I have. I actually started shipping it because of fan fiction because there isn’t a ton of fule for it in the show. Way to go random destiel works for getting into a new ship*distant sounds of applause*

3 - Has a picture of 4 ever been your screensaver/ profile pic / tumblr?

Yes it actually is my phone screensaver currently. I’m rewatching TOS and it’s wonderful. My name is based around an inside joke with my brother regarding spirk and the enterprise so I guess that counts for something I found a shirt with the enterprise that had a rainbow trail behind it and my brother said “You know it’s because Kirk and Spock are getting it on” and I said “It’s just the spacerainbows having some fun”. Yeah that probably didn’t need to be said. Anyway…

4 - If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

I’d cry. Cockles is beautiful. The conventions would fall and it would be sad. They are wonderful together and they know it. I would never let this happen. Even if they aren’t actually together*for all that we know* so much could happen if it stopped. Also a good section of tumblr would probably be crying and rage posting.

5 - Why is 1 so important?

I don’t know if this question means important to me or the fandom so I’ll explain my thoughts on both. For me it seems so important because Dean has been alone for most of his life constantly worrying about protecting his little brother. He always needed to be strong enough to protect because there was no one really there to protect him. Then enters Castiel, a celestial being capable of killing thousands in seconds. He’s an angel of the lord who “gripped Dean right and raised him from perdition” He has the capability to protect Dean, but Dean needs to be able to let him. I feel like this took many seasons for him to finally admit and he still doesn’t but through all of it while Castiel looses and regains his mojo Dean is always there for as much as he can. They protect one another. Dean can finally have the comfort he needs. And then there’s Cas. He’s an angel. They appear as emotionless beings that could care less about the world but Castiel isn’t, and right at the beginning in season 4 you could tell that he knew this. He was scared to admit to himself that he could and did feel. The first person he confides in is Dean. Throughout the show he embraces these feelings and grows new ones and learns the meaning of love and family*cried over season 12 episode 12* They’re always there for each other,and even if the show never shows them as anything other than platonic, their still friendship means so much. As for the fandom as a whole, I feel as though it’s provided a focus point and feeling to build. I feel like all good shows have two characters that fit so perfectly, either as friends or lovers, together; just watching the relationship solidify and grow is just showing how amazing character development can be. Then there is the fandom uniting over it. I don’t really care if you ship destiel or not or you ship wincest or samstiel or nothing at all, you still know that it exists and is something that is talked about in the show. The fact that it has come up as a topic in the show itself shows how much it has affected the Supernatural fandom as a whole.

6 - Which one has the strongest bond?

I’d have to say Spirk. Throughout both aos and tos they would do anything for each other. They would stand by each other during death and fight to save each other. Not to mention the Vulcan bonding or honds. #t’hy’la

7 - Which ship has lasted the longest

Spirk. Probably. I mean it’s know as one of the first slash pairings in existence and one of the first to actually start the spread of a fandom gathering and forming around one thing. It’s sometimes called the flagship or the mothership. I’ve shipped it since I was a little kid because I grew up watching tos and the movies. My dad said would say that they were secretly gay for one another as a joke and my small young mind believed him so I got mad whenever they were ever with anyone else and they shipped caried over to when I took to watching it again on my own. And small me also noticed how similar their actions were to straight couples and I asked my dad if they were dating and that’s what led to the secretly gay thing that my dad started saying

8 - How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up I mean.

They never canonically got together and one of them is kinda dead now until further notice. If you want to count when and before Arthur dies because of the fight and his death than sure, but there were other times when they would get with other people and Arthur was kinda married to Gwen by the end of the show so…

9 - If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive? 2 or 8?

2. Sorry Jim and Pam but you’re being pinned against a hunter who deals with zombies on a daily basis-one of the actually less crazy things he’s seen- and an arch angel capable of snapping his fingers and changing things to fit his desires. I think they would be pretty good. Also angels can heal and not die unless killed by an angel blade or in Gabriel’s case an arch angel blade, so unless a zombie can find one and stab Gabe I think they’d make it out pretty unscathed. 10 - Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reasons? I mean, this could be canon, but for all I know it isn’t, soooo i don’t really know the answer but for all we know they could secretly be hiding it right now.

11 - Is 4 still together?

I mean, is you take into account the new information brought from aos you know they’ve known and been friends with each other until Jim’s death. So I can only imagine that if it truly were canon they would still be together because they’d be able to go against time as they’ve done it before for each other.

12 - Is 10 canon?

Na, the only canon thing on my list is Jim and Pam. They are adorable and great btw. I shipped them by the end of the very short first season and all their interactions are adorable and all the stuff they go through to finally be happy together and when the start a family, aaaaaaaaa, it’s just too great.

13 - If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

If I had to answer honestly I’d say it come down between 1 and 2 because of the healing capabilities, and then it would be a 4 way suicide. Sam and Dean would never be able to kill each other and I doubt Cas and Gabe would want to kill each other either, so it would either be a battle that would never end or a suicide. Also DON’T THROW MY CHILDREN INTO A PIT OF DEATH i cry

14 - Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5?

Mary Watson… you know how she ended up. She’s actually great though.

15 - Do you spend hours a day going though 3’s tag

Not as much as I used to but if I get a sudden urge.

16 - If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all up, which ship would you SINK?!

Stony. Sorry, but civil war kinda happened. If that fight doesn’t count as a break up as is for their not canon pairings I don’t really know what does.

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starlitsea · 6 years

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I’m shit at live-blogging TV/movies apparently. I pretty much gave up on doing Star Trek though I do still have that second ENT episode and drafts of 1.5 episodes of TOS that I haven’t posted. On the other hand, I did binge-watch Star Trek movies 2-9 before they expired on Hulu (I’ve watched 1 like 3 times and the only thing I can remember about it is that it’s deathly boring, and 10 is only available through Cinemax, WTF) and lemme tell you, Insurrection is waaaaaay shittier than I remember. It’s like two terrible episodes of TNG were somehow made into a movie for the big screen. Like, I don’t care about your random romance at all, Picard? Why are we spending all this time on this random kid when crew members like Riker, Troi (autocorrect changed it to Trip lololol), Crusher, and LaForge could actually be getting screentime? Why does Worf get to randomly be there and not O’Brien too? Why is Starfleet suddenly Super Evil(TM)? (The villains are also cartoonishly bad???) Also, you’re gonna spend nearly a year of leave on the youth rejuvenating planet, Picard? 🤔 Why don’t they just build a resort on the other side of the planet away from the 600 inhabitants, WTF, c’mon.

Also, when are they going to talk about Sybok in DSC? That must’ve been reaalllly awkward for everyone involved with the three kids growing up together? Like, Sarek, your first kid is a revolutionary, your second kid is a mutineer, and your third kid is Spock (which, yeah, Spock), but . . . his soul is the “most human.” 🤷🏻‍♀️

I also have -ugh- ~feelings~ about the newest Star Wars (but understand that I grew up with the EU so TLJ Luke was never gonna be the way I saw oldman!Luke). I do love the new trio but everyone was a dumbass in this movie, okay? Except for Leia, but I also have :/ feelings about that. Okay, actually, Paige is not a dumbass. And the fish nuns. Ugh, don’t wanna blog about it but prolly will end up doing it somewhere down the line. I also have no strong feelings pro or anti porgs if that’s where y’all are drawing your lines in the sand.

Other things I watched recently:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula too. It was really terrible. Like, wow, terrible? Man, could not stop thinking about Hideyuki Kikuchi during the vampire brides scene though? In Vampire Hunter D that exact scene would happen but then it would turn out that you’re turning into a dream at the same time. Dracula’s hair was also the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Mina, why are you and Dracula secret sex friends? He took you to a porno on the first date - you should’be known this was something you couldn’t sweep under the rug. You can’t have sexy times with Gary Oldman channeling Johnny Depp then run off to marry Keanu who is recovering from a BRAIN FEVER only to regret doing so immediately??? Also WHY do you have a copy of the Kama Sutra for light reading? (Okay, we know why.)

Valerian: thought it would be much worse from the reviews. Yes, the romance is super cringeworthy, and it is also concerning that almost everyone involved with our two main characters dies and they seem to feel very little remorse, but the CGI is pretty good and it gave me the alien worlds feeling I was craving from Star Wars that TFA and TLJ failed to deliver on. Also lots of cool alien designs! Extra bonus, Cara does the best wide eyes shocked face look, I need a gif. 7/10.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (Full disclosure, watched this because Redbox spit out the wrong movie and immediately stopped working afterwards): Woooow, this was terrible. My brother and I actually skipped over the controversial scene because my mom was watching with us (so I can’t comment as to exactly how bad it was but I’m sure it was baaad), but as to the rest of the movie . . . WTF. My mom laughed her ass off though because she was like OMG, Mr. Darcy! So stupid! Hahahaha! Also Elton John’s part was so big???? The villains and plot and everything were so bad I can’t. I say this as someone who enjoyed the first one, JUST SAY NO.

Batman vs. Two Face: why does Burt Ward sound EXACTLY THE SAME? I actually slept through most of this because we started watching it around 11 PM and I’m old now and can’t stay up, but nice to see Harley Quinn (couldn’t they have her sound more professional as a doctor) in 60s Batman. William Shatner was also Two Face? (IT ALL COMES FULL CIRCLE.)

The only other thing I’ve been doing is binge watching Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy which is a show about three idiots, their idiot fathers, and the awesome women and terrible men that surround them? I might talk more about it once I’m through the family banquet from hell episodes. 😒

#star trek dsc #star trek dsc spoilers #star trek #dracula #tribes and empires: storm of prophecy #star wars #valerian #kingsman 2 #batman vs two face

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brokenmusicboxwolfe · 7 years

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I was tagged by @tiny-teapot-stuck-in-a-burrow AND @aconitum-napellus !! Thank you both!!!!!! I added both your new question. Sorry if I write too much.....

rules: answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions.

1. coke or pepsi: Coke, though I really don’t drink colas much. When I do drink sodas I prefer a root beer or ginger ale/beer.

2. disney or dreamworks: Disney I guess, considering their entire body of work and owning Pixar.

3. coffee or tea: I drink more coffee but prefer tea. Go figure! LOL

4. books or movies: No, don’t make me choose!!!! Technically I prefer books, but I get so little time to read anymore. Movies are much quicker to take in. Actually, both are art, just different kinds, and it depends what medium best suits the individual story.

5. windows or mac: windows, sort of.

6. dc or marvel: In comics-DC, not that I read many superhero ones anymore. And if you count my entire life, when I adored the mutants, Marvel. In movies- Marvel

7. x-box or playstation: neither, I don’t have the money for gaming

8. dragon age or mass effect: Dunno. Back when I used to visit my brother I got to play both a bit, but mostly I was stuck watching him play the, NOTHING is more boring than watching someone else play a game! LOL I can’t remember having a preference.

9. night owl or early riser: Night owl!! Early mornings make me feel ill. Seriously!

10. cards or chess: I LOVED playing chess but I had no one to play with (parents had no time and my brother wouldn’t play things he lost! LOL) So, cards. At least you can build a house of cards or play solitaire with them!

11. chocolate or vanilla: for candy- chocolate, for milk shakes- vanilla, for ice cream- anything else

12. vans or converse: Neither. Since my feet and ankles are so messed up, I long ago gave up worrying about shoe fashion. If it is big enough for my giant feet and ankle brace, and it supports my bad ankles, I get it no matter how hideous. That’s harder than you think....

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: I think this is a gaming thing I’m not qualified to answer.

14. fluff or angst: Both! Gotta keep a balanced fictional diet. Really, I just want to put characters through the wringer AND have them happy, so mixing the two in one story is a thing I do. Not that any of you have read any of my stories! LOL

15. beach or forest: Both!!!!!! I grew up spending my weekends at the beach and a lot of the rest of the time in woods, so it’s too hard to choose.

16. dogs or cats: BOTH! I wouldn’t want to offend half the non human part of my family by picking favorites!

17. clear skies or rain: Rain, with a special fondness for hurricanes (before the boat respinsiblities got so overwhelming). Besides, I burn too easily in the sun.

18. cooking or eating out: Take out from some really good place, so I don’t have to eat in public or do as many dishes. I REALLY hate washing dishes! Though cooking is nice when I have a nice recipe to work with...

19. spicy food or mild food: Mildly spicy. The sort of level where those that like spicy mock you for being a wimp and those that like mild (looking at you Mom) find your cooking too strong.

20. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: ACK! BOTH! Those are my favorite times of year, or at least they were until last year got so melencholy at Christmas.

21. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: Cold. I have lived both (thank you lack of heating and unreliable air conditioner). Cold you can just wear more, bundle up, and even get down right cozy for sleeping that way. But hot is miserable and keeps you from sleeping. Plus, I’m unfortunately someone that sweats easily, and society really, really hates that.

22. if you could have a superpower, what would it be: Immortality! Life is far, far too short to see and do even a fraction of the things I want. Heck, I won’t even live ling enough to read all the books I own! Plus you get the facinating chance to watch the world change, to get to see things playout, and gain the perspective to know that impermanence of it all...well, except for you.

23. animation or live action: Animation. It allows so much freedom of apperance, so many individual styles, embracing the surreal, strange and dreamlike on a regular basis.

24. paragon or renegade: depends on what this is refering to. I have seen it used in a game somewhere, so in that case I don’t have an opinion. As a general term, renegade.

25. baths or showers: Shower, though not based on preference so much as neccesity. When I was tiny they cut a notch out of the bathtub here so my grandmother could step into it, but the patch Pop put in after she died has broken loose. So, more than a couple inches of water you flood the floor!

26. team cap or team iron man: Cap

27. fantasy or sci-fi: BOTH! Sometimes the line between the two is very thin anyway.

28. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they: Not really. I find them interesting but never memorize them. I horrified my teachers when I refused the quote book for my graduation speech. I like what others say, but I prefer to speak for myself. Now if you wanted me to recite Jabberwocky or favorite dialog I have memorized.....

29. youtube or netflix: youtube I have a poor internet connection and no money, so netflix is out.

30. harry potter or percy jackson: Harry Potter, though since I haven’t read any Percy Jackson or seen the movie, maybe I should abstain.

31. when you feel accomplished: When I get to the end of the day and I have something completed, like a bit of sculpting, but this is usually immediately followed by absolute dissatisfaction with the results and questioning whether I should have done something else instead!

32. star wars or star trek: Aww, now you are talking about my childhood. I suppose it depends on what section of these universes. Both have areas I hate (see everthing about the SW prequels or that smug lot in the Next Gen and my desire to take a lead pipe to Kirk) and aspects I have just skipped. The orginal Star Wars trilogy has a special place in my heart, but don’t tell my beloved Spock!

33. paperback books or hardback books: Hardback, which might be one of the reasons my floor first collapsed under one of my bookcases! LOL

34. fantastic beasts or cursed child: No opinion. I haven’t seen the first or read the second.

35. evans, pratt, hemsworth, or pine: Um, Chris Evans as in the guy playing Captain America. Maybe? I mean, it depends on what part they are playing since I don’t know anything about the actors as people.

36. tangled, frozen, or moana: I don’t know. I liked Tangled, I was generally underwhelmed by Frozen but loved the redefinition of true love to not be romantic, but I haven’t had a chance to see Moana yet.

37. opera or ballet: depends on my mood, but generally ballet. Maybe. At least then the language barrier doesn’t get in the way of comprehension.

38. perfume or incense: Perfume. My fragile lungs hate smoke, even nice smelling stuff.

39. Voldemort or Sauron: Sauron He feels more like a force of nature, rather than someone that keeps having his evil plans messed with by a bunch of a kids.

New question: Would you rather time travel to the past or future?

I cannot possibly tag 39 people!!!

Most of you will not want to do this, so don’t. It REALLY is ok!

I’ll tag some of you, but please do NOT feel you have to do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@omegadalek @theramblingrogue @whitexblackrose @orcface @takethekeyandlockherup @kimikokat @awesome-beatles-fan @antonnightwatch @arsenalofmerit @aigooylgaifyllina @jamisings @kleurenblind @pupsik11 @runningbarefootthroughtheforest @camerawakened @woodsong @nakila-rimmer-bear @aeqvat-omnes-cinis @imagetornwing @invisibleme59 @javiroa226 @dendroica @lzbarnabas @eleonoraalva

Anyone that wants to do it just pretend I tagged you!

(I am going to lie awake worrying I offended some of you by tagging. )

#tag game #tag games

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itsclydebitches · 7 years

Link

Summary:

“He likes this song.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

In which Cisco is given seven months to fall in love with Barry Allen. It’s admittedly a little weird - what with Barry being unconscious and all - but since when was anything normal nowadays?

Fandom: The Flash (TV show)

Words: Through Chapter Three: 8,213 (will be around 12k total)

Warnings: None

Pairings: Barry/Cisco

Where to Read it: Below the cut or on AO3 (AO3 recommended for formatting)

~~~

Worth the Wait: Chapter Three

Could you know someone you’d never spoken to? Really get them based purely on their presence and a public profile? Cisco was starting to wonder.

It was freaking him out just a bit. Because the longer Barry just lay there the longer Cisco searched for him online, and the more he searched the more he felt like they’d known each other for years. Barry posted update statuses filled with enough science jargon that all his friends sent exasperated emojis and his former teachers liked the posts with pride. There were silly Vine attempts and one memorable home video, basically laying out for the world that Barry Allen would never be an actor. Barry posted more selfies than the stereotypical teenage girl (all of them stunning), wept about his food, glorified his job (which he didn’t need, he was a goddamn hero in Cisco’s eyes), comforted anyone about anything, sent heartfelt messages on everyone’s birthday, and accompanied those tear-jerkers with presents—despite his slightly iffy bank account.

He was like a ray of sunlight personified.

Cisco knew, intellectually, that a digital footprint was just one small part of a person’s whole. That they were never truly what they posted online. That, really, Barry couldn’t be this sunny, smart, gracious, and heroic in real life. Constructs like this just didn’t exist.

Except then he’d look over at the guy’s still form and think, maybe.

What cinched it for him was another real life person suddenly appearing in, what had become, his otherwise digitalized world. Cisco came into the Lab Thursday morning with bedhead and a packet of chocolate donuts, thinking about how he wanted to test the Suit’s resistance to acid and read more about whether coma patients experienced smell as well as sound. Cisco was lost enough in his thoughts that he nearly ran into Caitlin as she rounded the corner out of the Cortex. They exchanged a silent, rapid-fire conversation—Donut? No, already ate. You okay? Yeah. Sure? There’s a Thing. A Thing??—and Cisco was still trying to decipher what kind of a Thing that hand gesture meant when he spotted the woman sitting at Barry’s bedside.

Oh. That kind of a Thing.

Cisco recognized her. He’d seen her name on the Labs’ entrance logs a few times before and he had vague memories of her standing on the periphery of the action the day they’d moved Barry here. Mostly Cisco knew her from Barry’s pictures though. She was in nearly all of them.

“Hi, Iris,” he said and she turned to smile at him, the both of them totally ignoring the fact that they’d never technically met before. That was refreshing.

“Hey, Cisco.”

“Donut?”

“God yes. Chai latte?”

“Not worried about my cooties?”

“Nah. Go for it.”

She passed over her drink and he set the box on Barry’s blankets, kind of liking how some of the sprinkles spilled over. It gave him a less sterile look. Like a dude who’d actually been munching rather than just...lying there.

The chai was spicy on Cisco’s tongue. He could see the smears of Iris’ lipstick around the cup’s edge.

It was kind of amazing how put together she looked in the face of this ongoing tragedy, and Cisco had to give her points for style. He had his own sort of look going on, sure, but he also know that if his bestie/brother got struck by freaking lightning and refused to wake up he’d be sporting nothing but comfort PJs and tear stains. Cisco tried uselessly to untangle his hair.

“He loves these, you know,” Iris said, holding up one of the donuts. She tilted it so Barry could see. “He always eats the icing first though, scooping it off like—” she demonstrated, scattering more crumbs across the bed.

Cisco pulled a face. “Okay. That’s wrong.”

“Right? You need to see him eat a cupcake. He pulls it apart and like, makes a sandwich out of it. Or nachos! Jesus, he’s always complaining about not getting all the toppings in one bite. I told him to just lift, but he claims the weight is too much for a single chip, and... ”

Iris trailed off, shaking her head. Maybe she was thinking about the implications: that hopefully someday Cisco would get to see Barry and his ridiculous eating habits.

“Food is priority #1,” Cisco said. “He’s a guy after my own heart.”

As soon as he said it Cisco ducked his head, realizing the implications of that, but Iris didn’t even bat an eye.

She just took another donut.Cisco let her.

“You know I’ve started talking to him,” he shared after a few moments of silence. Iris’ smile begged him to continue. “Uh huh. I must look like a real nut on all the security footage. But I read that coma patients can, you know, hear and stuff. Sometimes. So I figured why not? Might as well give Barry something to focus on other than this insistent beeping.” It actually wasn’t even that bad--Caitlin had removed most of the equipment on the third day, growling that it wasn’t doing enough for Barry anyway—but the point remained the same.

Iris snatched her drink back. “What do you talk about?”

“Oh, you know... stuff. Gossip mostly. I complain a lot. Just... things.”

Iris was still smiling. “He likes movies,” she said. “Put Star Wars on sometime.”

“...right.” Cisco very much didn’t voice that the Star Wars franchise was his be-all and end-all fave.

Iris stood then, reaching over to smooth the hair out of Barry’s face. “You gotta wake up,” she whispered and Cisco had to turn away, recognizing the private moment. He didn’t comment on how long it took her to speak again, or the thick quality of Iris’ voice when she did.

Cisco did clasp her arm though as she took up her purse. “Work,” she explained. “I’ll come back tonight?”

“I’m sure not stopping you.” Cisco spread his arms in a welcoming gesture.

Iris seemed to consider him then. One of those cataloguing looks that made Cisco wish he’d actually used a comb this morning. Or worn something other than his Homestuck t-shirt. Whatever Iris found though didn’t seem to be too bad.

“He’ll like you,” she said and it felt like a promise.

Cisco nodded, slowly. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. He definitely will.”

They both appreciated the future tense.

Iris left him then with too many thoughts and just the right amount of donuts. Cisco sighed, taking the place she’d vacated (no, it wasn’t his spot, no matter what Caitlin was starting to say) and booted up his laptop, enjoying this new routine.

Cisco pulled up Chrome in one window and a stream of A New Hope in the other. He wafted a donut under Barry’s nose as the story’s scroll began.

“Smell that, dude? Glazed glory, right here. Gonna wake up for it?”

Barry breathed even and deep. His eyes moved briefly beneath his lids. That was all.

“Your loss.”

Cisco was nothing if not gracious though. He patted Barry’s knee while taking a massive bite.

“I’ll buy you more when you do get your lazy ass out of bed,” he garbled. “Promise.”

***

Taking care of a coma patient was, sadly, not all movies and one-sided conversations. Cisco was endlessly glad that Barry gave them all something to focus on (Caitlin in particular, gushing daily now about the ever growing changes in Barry’s DNA. “It’s fascinating, Cisco!” “Uh huh. Sure, Spock.”) but there were some things that just shouldn’t have been a part of the job. Or at least, not part of Cisco’s job.

He so didn’t sign up for this when he applied to STAR Labs.

“You want me to what now?”

Dr. Wells gave him a Look. It was the particular one that was a combination of “I expected more of you” and “please leave your immaturity outside of my facility.” The last time Cisco had gotten the Look he’d accidentally set Level 8’s workroom on fire trying to create goggles that replicated heat vision.

Emphasis on ‘accidentally.’

“I have a meeting with Larson—yes, yes, of rheology fame.” Dr. Wells shook his head. “Please wipe that look off your face, Dr. Snow. She’s not nearly as impressive in person as her autobiography suggests.”

“You read her autobiography?” Caitlin teased, but she did school her features. Dr. Wells waved her off like an errant fly.

“Look, I would honestly like nothing better than to skip this lunch and remain here, but Larson is insistent that we discuss the work our two labs were conducting prior to the explosion. I have… admittedly been putting it off.” Dr. Wells took of his glasses to rub at his eyes. Cisco felt a pang. “I fear you’re the only one available for this shift.”

Cisco looked imploringly at Caitlin.

“Grandpa’s birthday,” she said, apologetic. “It’s literally the one family gathering I can’t miss.”

“Joe?” Cisco suggested, remembering the strong, fatherly man who had accompanied Iris on numerous visits.

“Working.”

“Iris?”

“Also working.”

“And look who else is in his place of employment, on the clock no less,” Dr. Wells gave him another pointed look.

Cisco felt something like panic inching its way up his throat. “And this can’t wait?”

“Don’t be cruel. You’ll be fine,” and with that utterly useless bit of confidence they just abandoned him, like two totally awful, abandoning people.

“I will have my revenge,” Cisco whispered, because really, he was not cut out for this.

Clipping toe and fingernails was one thing. Swapping out full catheter bags was ew, gross, but doable. Turning the guy to avoid bed soars was a piece of cake. But sponge baths?

Cisco looked at Barry. Barry (he imagined) was looking back, with his eyes closed. Judging. Cisco thought about how he’d feel if he was stuck in bed for months without access to a shower.

He shivered. Fine.

Getting the supplies took longer than he’d anticipated, though it gave Cisco time to calm down a bit and, as Caitlin might say, stop being such a big baby about it. He got two tubs of water ready—one for washing, one for rinsing—and made sure that the bath water was nice and hot. It wasn’t like the Cortex was freezing, but who the hell wanted a lukewarm bath?

Easy to wash away soap. Baby shampoo that smelled liked lavenders. Lots of washcloths; even more towels. It took Cisco ten goddamn minutes to find the special basin for washing hair because who the hell had put it with the old microscopes?

By the time he was ready the bath water was no longer scalding and Cisco’s heart wasn’t a freaking jackrabbit anymore. Progress.

“I hope you know,” he intoned, “that this completely solidifies our friendship. I expect best man-level status when you wake up, dude. Got it?”

Barry breathed.

“Damn straight. C’mon now...”

He’d moved Barry before, and despite the muscle developing he was still surprisingly light. Cisco got him on his side pretty easily and slid a couple of towels underneath, really not wanting to change the sheets yet if he could help it. Barry had been going shirtless most of the time anyway, so all he really had to do clothes-wise was tug the pajama pants carefully off his legs.

Cisco definitely did not look at the toned thighs as he did.

“Don’t be a perv about this,” he muttered. “Do not be a perv...”

And for the most part he wasn’t, because he was an adult, and a decent person, okay? Cisco had always viewed his nerd status as at least preferable to the Nice Guy douches, and he was perfectly capable of separating romantic situations from professional ones.

This was definitely the latter.

Even if Barry did have the most fantastic abs. Ever.

Cisco clucked, soaping up a washcloth to run over Barry’s arms and chest. “I should really hate you, you know? I should be jealous here, Mr. Lays in Bed All Day and Somehow Gets Buff. But I am the bigger man here. Even if you’re a freaking giraffe. I’m still bigger. Metaphorically. Okay?”

Talking to Barry had gotten easy over the last few weeks. It was sort of worrying Cisco a bit. He didn’t know if the guy was that good a conversationalist even while comatose, or if he was just that lonely (ha). But sometime between not startling every time he caught sight of the new edition and donuts with Iris, Cisco had let his talking get a little more... personal. Less Jitters gossip and more family drama. Then less family drama and more, ‘Hey, could we actually be buds when you finally decide to wake up?’

Part of Cisco was terrified that Barry would remember all this someday. Another part worried that he wouldn’t be nearly as cool in real life as he was on paper.

The realistic part said he would, but would also 100% not give a shit about Cisco.

“And why should you, man?” he said, carefully going over Barry’s stomach, then his back. “I mean, we just sort of got landed with you. Not that I’m complaining. But it means you got landed with us too. You didn’t ask to get struck by lightning, or delve into an extended nap, or become Dr. Wells’ charity case. You’ve got every right to ditch our asses once you’re up and about.” Cisco regarded the soapy washcloth. “Not gonna hang with your nurse, right? How lame is that.”

He was nearly done with Barry’s upper body now. “But... if you did want to hang...well. I’d be cool with that. Just so you know.”

Cisco stopped. Shook his head. He spent another ten minutes changing the water.

He paused again before removing the blankets around Barry’s legs. “Don’t make this weird,” he admonished.

In the list of things Cisco had planned and expected to do with his life, cleaning another man’s genitals wasn’t anywhere on the list. Outside of sexy-shower fantasies at least. He really shouldn’t have worried though. Barry might have been gorgeous, but there wasn’t anything sexy about a non-consenting partner that made you think more about necrophilia than second dates.

It didn’t stop Cisco from taking his time though. He didn’t like what he was doing—it wasn’t what he was starting to want it to be—but he’d sure as hell do it right.

“There,” he announced, patting Barry dry and pulling the blankets back up. “I’ve saved the best for last. Can’t promise not to get soap in your eyes though.”

It was sort of soothing, washing someone else’s hair. Cisco liked the texture of it beneath his fingers and he tried to get all fancy, like the women did in salons with their massages. He wondered if Barry was in there somewhere, appreciating it. He hoped so.

Cisco found himself smiling as he made little tufts of his hair stick up. “Aww. Look at you. Take note: you would make an excellent penguin. Feels good, huh?”

Barry drew in a slightly longer breath—

—and promptly began seizing.

“Holy—!”

Cisco stumbled back, knocking the basin as he went and sending water everywhere. The motion knocked Barry’s head as well, causing it to loll as the rest of his body jerked horrendously. The blanket he’d so carefully tucked in slipped off to the side. Bits of soap began decorating Cisco’s shirt.

He just stood there, useless.

It was Barry’s right arm flying off the bed (limp, pale like a dead fish) that finally sent him into motion. Cisco’s first instinct was to throw himself atop Barry and stop that godawful movement, but a vague, oddly calm voice in the back of his mind reminded him that you didn’t do that. No. That was bad. But what did you do instead?

“Dr. Wells!”

That’s what he did. He got help; got his mentor. Cisco scrambled over to the Lab’s sound system and slammed his hand over the button with enough force to leave an outline on his palm. “Dr. Wells get up here!” He must have shouted it more than he’d thought, because by the time Cisco remembered that Dr. Wells had left his voice was feeling terribly raw.

Dr. Wells was gone. He was out, for the first time in ages. Because of course this happens. Cisco pulled at his hair, trying to get his useless brain to function for two goddamn seconds. He couldn’t call Dr. Wells. He didn’t know his number. The three of them had practically been living together for four months and he didn’t know the man’s goddamn cell number.

“Oh my god, oh fuck—fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck—”

Cisco whirled on the monitors, trying to get all his training in engineering to somehow translate into medical knowledge. He was halfway through a muddled translation of the meds Caitlin had been feeding into Barry this week when one piece of equipment finally made sense.

The steady beat of Barry’s heart—a sound that had become a necessary part of Cisco’s world—suddenly stopped. Rapid beeps became a long whine that sounded like a scream.

“No,” Cisco whispered.

In the same moment he thought, Call Caitlin.

Because he did have her number. They’d swapped months ago. He was her emergency contact, now that Ronnie was gone.

Barry’s not Ronnie, Cisco insisted and dove for his cell. He had it ringing while he grabbed for his Macbook too, screaming as Siri to find him tutorials on CPR.

“Why the fuck didn’t I take that summer class?” Cisco shrieked, trying to get the bed to go flat.

“Why didn’t you what?”

And there it was, Caitlin’s voice, a godsend that cut straight through Cisco’s panic. Even so, he couldn’t recall exactly what he said to her then, only that his breathy ramblings seemed to make some sort of sense, because he was able to toss Siri aside (useless) and follow Caitlin’s instructions instead. He had the phone wedged between his ear and shoulder, Barry’s heart directly beneath his hands.

Cisco spotted a drop of water. It might have been from the bath. It was probably because he was crying.

“It’s not—he’s not—” he kept gulping, feeling like he was about to pass out. There were actual spots in Cisco’s vision when he was suddenly wrenched off the bed, hard enough that he fell straight onto his ass.

Caitlin was here, impossibly. She looked calm and doctor-y and Cisco sucked in a massive breath.

“How?” he managed and she said something about her and her mother getting into a fight. She’d come back here and, oh Jesus, Cisco was so glad she had.

The relief was sort lived though. Barry was still coding.

Which made Caitlin’s next action all the more shocking. She just...stopped. She even stepped back, regarding Barry while every machine attached to him screamed that he was dying.

“What are you doing?” Cisco hissed.

Caitlin looked up. Her expression was awe. It was the first and only time Cisco had seen the true definition of the word: reverence mixed with fear.

“He heart hasn’t stopped,” she whispered. “It’s... tachycardia. It’s beating so fast the machine can’t pick it up.”

Barry stopped.

Instantly. Like the conclusion of a puzzle when you’d finally found the answer, he just stopped. From 60 back to 0 they had their sleepy, peaceful looking guy again.

The monitor began a steady rhythm. Beep, beep, beep.

“God,” Cisco said. Still on the floor he crawled the last few inches to the bed, heedless of how soaked his jeans were getting. He reached up and took Barry’s hand in his. Unbidden, Caitlin did the same.

That’s how Dr. Wells found them twenty minutes later—still wet, still holding onto Barry. Caitlin told him in a shell-shocked voice about the impossible heart rate; how the ‘seizing’ Cisco had seen was actually vibration, Barry’s body moving at a frequency she just couldn’t explain. When Dr. Wells reached them Cisco expected a thorough questioning on this phenomenon. He expected the scientist.

Instead Dr. Wells raised a hand of his own. He hesitated only a moment before laying it on Barry’s arm.

“But he’s okay?” he asked. Dr. Wells raised his gaze, taking in the three of them at once. “You’re okay?”

“Mmm hmm,” Caitlin agreed, a little watery. Cisco nodded.

“Good... good. Let’s get this place cleaned up.”

It was while Dr. Wells was bundling Barry’s soaked sheets that Cisco stopped him, daring to lay his on hand on his mentor’s shoulder. When Dr. Wells didn't brush him off—didn’t even flinch—Cisco mustered up a smile.

“Hey. So I really need your number.”

#Flash #The Flash #Barry/Cisco #Barry Allen #Cisco Ramon #flashfic

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Do You Feel Like I Do? Review: Peter Frampton Lets Loose With a Killer Solo Memoir

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Just to count it off, Peter Frampton’s Do You Feel Like I Do? A Memoir is as much fun as hearing a talking box guitar solo for the first time. Live and with an audience, of course. Each of Frampton’s best-known albums, either with his bands like Humble Pie or in his solo career, are live records. He may also love the studio albums he made, but just like The Who, whose studio albums he loves, those records are a different breed from a live show. Frampton should know, one of the first gigs he ever got was touring as an opening act for The Who.

And, as much fun as they were to see on stage, even their live shows paled when compared to ducking bottle rockets Keith Moon and John Entwistle aimed into his motel windows between shows. Frampton had fun, and it comes across on the pages of Do You Feel Like I Do?

While still in the school era of the book, Frampton talks about going nuts when he first got to jump on a trampoline. He was the first in his class to do a somersault, and then a backwards somersault. It got him shoved into a crate, but it sounds like a blast. Almost as exciting as meeting a young David Jones at school. No, not the Monkee, the one who had to change his name because of the Monkees: David Bowie, who remembered seeing Frampton in a band on TV before he had a hit.

Bowie was a few years older than Frampton and his recollection of seeing the young guitarist he jammed with outside his favorite teacher’s office was “what’s he doing on TV? He should be in school.” Frampton’s father, the teacher Bowie loitered with, initially agreed. Frampton left school early to go pro as a musician. Years later, when Frampton brought his parents backstage to a Bowie concert, his father disappeared with the Thin White Duke. The stories make you grin. They are exactly the kind of rock and roll parables we want to hear from musicians.

That’s not to say Frampton doesn’t foist some stories we would never have expected. Like one about his father in the war, the details of which you have to read to believe. It’s not the kind of thing you want to know happens in reality. But you won’t stop reading it, not even if you’re just looking for the rock and roll gossip. There are a few of these stories thrown in, and Frampton is upfront about his drinking and drugging. He even explains why it took him so long to take his first toke. The very smell of some of the shit Steve Marriott smoked made him want to throw up. That didn’t stop him from getting high though. Nonetheless, the book doesn’t dwell in sadness.

It dwells on guitars, and jubilantly. Frampton’s favorite guitar, the Phenix, a modified 1954 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty with the same three-humbucking-pickup configuration as the guitarist in Smokey Robinson’s Miracles, gets a book in itself. The ode of the Phenix could be a miniseries. Guitarists would watch. But that’s not the only guitar that the mostly monogamous Frampton fingered. He talks about seeing the set list still taped on the back of John Lennon’s red Rickenbacker when he played for Harry Nilsson. He was the first person to touch the guitar since whatever show the set list fit.

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Frampton’s journey through the guitar is as interesting as his trek through life. Oh, and just hearing how everyone in Humble Pie was a Star Trek fan is a giggle, especially as they discuss Spock’s ears. But Frampton’s mission to seek out new sounds led him through from The Shadows to Django Reinhardt, through George Benson, and back to Kenny Burrell, giving him an arsenal of tonalities Eric Clapton didn’t touch. Everyone wanted to be Clapton, except Frampton who makes it clear he wanted his guitar sound to be uniquely his. He also talks about drums and filling in for drummers who don’t show. He talks about the balls of covering Stevie Wonder songs. He makes it all sound like a dream.

Great musicians refer to respected peers as motherfuckers, and the one thing anyone who’s ever pushed a beat or a melody out of their fingers or throat will agree on is Peter Frampton was one lucky motherfucker. He could play, he took in everything he heard so that he could do whatever it was he wasn’t hearing from other guitarists and made it his own. But he had the good fortune to play with the best, and at the earliest of ages. Before he could even get into clubs he was playing them. Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones asked Frampton’s mother permission so he could play. He didn’t ask permission to get Frampton laid though, but when the teenaged guitar wiz came home with crabs, his mother took it in stride. Musicians, it’s an occupational hazard.

Frampton released Frampton Comes Alive! nearly 45 years ago. It’s always been thought that the album made him a pinup. He’s fought this all his career, since he was named the “Face of 1968” as an 18-year old guitarist/singer for the rock-poppy band the Herd. Sure, he got laughed at a few times for one-sleeved shirts with frills on the crotch, long before he put on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band uniforms for an ill-advised movie where the Bee Gees also carried that weight. Frampton didn’t want to be Vivien Leigh, so beautiful you forget what a phenomenal actress she is.

Peter is a musician, and a lot of artists owe him a big debt, not only because of his fretwork influence. He gleefully recounts Dr. John telling him how he got out of jail on a drug charge with the money he earned when Frampton recorded his song “I Walk on Gilded Splinters.” Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones thanked Frampton for including “Jumping Jack Flash” on the gazillion-seller Frampton Comes Alive! He bought a house with the royalties.

As sad as the circumstances, it is a joy to hear how other rock stars come to collect. Frampton recalls when his career was in a slump and he got a phone call from Pete Townshend. The Who’s guitarist and songwriter was sick of touring and asked Frampton to take his place, before even consulting Roger Daltrey. Frampton says he told Townshend he couldn’t fill his shoes, but think of the fun Frampton had on the trampoline. Townshend was known as “Bouncy” in the “Meaty,” “Beaty” “Big” and “Bouncy” quartet. He jumped higher than Daltrey’s shoulders, often in self-defense to get away from the swinging mic, but still. Frampton could have made the leap.

The era of Humble Pie, which also included ex-Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley, is also where producer Frampton really gets to work with Glyn Johns. They’d had a happy history, and it continues through the Humble Pie albums Rock On and Rockin’ the Fillmore, which made them huge when it came out in the fall of 1971. So big, Frampton had to jump ship onto a solo career before he’d never be able to get out.

Frampton keeps the telling light, but is absolutely candid. He never thought he could be as good a singer as Steve Marriott, who had been in the Small Faces, but at least he’d know enough not to balk at opening Jimi Hendrix on his first American tour. Frampton also explains how he went from one Johns brother to another as he embarked on his solo career.

Oh, and the book’s got mob stories. Not quite as heavy as the ones surrounding Led Zeppelin, who Frampton credits with a sonic boom as great as the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, but suspenseful nonetheless. His manager Dee Anthony has a meeting with Genovese family soldier Joey Pagano in front of Frampton, and when the rock star became a pop idol, he was kept high, happy and distracted. Frampton had no idea he was totally bankrupt until the movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band bombed at the box office. The only reason Frampton did Sgt Pepper was because his manager said Paul McCartney would be in it.

Frampton can’t quite say enough about his school chum Bowie. Not only did Frampton credit the older musician with a few needed pushes, gigs, and music store jobs when he was coming up, but Bowie reenergized Frampton when he was running out of steam. In 1987 Frampton played guitar on Bowie’s Glass Spider world tour. Two years later, Frampton comes back with a vengeance, which happens, as he says, on the album title When All the Pieces Fit.

Many will see this book as an example of rock stardom gone wrong. But as a reader, it really is what we want to hear, except for the inflammatory muscle disease, Inclusion-Body Myositis, which threatens to end his career as a live performer.

Frampton’s still working, and the book, co-written with Alan Light, is as happy to say it as fans will be to read it. But more than fans, most musicians should read this, not because of any cautionary tale titillation. Because of his explanation of how he found his sound, the horns Frampton listens to, the piano parts he plays and appreciates in others. Yes, the most fun are stories like having a Beatle (Ringo Starr), an honorary Beatle (Billy Preston), and a long-time Beatle artist and an alternative bassist (Klaus Vorman) backing him at a music pitch; or being told by George Harrison he’d like to hear him on every track. But for musicians, Do You Feel Like I Do? rocks loudest when he speaks about what he’s playing. Imagine it coming out of a talk box. It’s that enjoyable.

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Do You Feel Like I Do? hits bookshelves on Oct. 20, from Hachette Books.

The post Do You Feel Like I Do? Review: Peter Frampton Lets Loose With a Killer Solo Memoir appeared first on Den of Geek.

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