#time for becky to do some shipping on deck for

[cresneta]

「97」

I actually enjoyed this chapter a lot. It's nice to get confirmation that Martha and Henry had a little bit of a past together! It's a shame that it didn't work out back then.

I think this is the first time we've heard that Henderson is from a deposed noble family, so that was an interesting bit of lore. I doubt that this is going to turn into a pro-monarchy story, but given that Henderson is anti-war it does make me wonder if the recent wars would have happened had the country not gotten rid of the monarchy. Then again, power corrupts, so it may not have made much of a difference. I do wonder now just how far back Endo is willing to go when it comes to the history of Ostania.

I'll also say that it's pretty sweet that his obsession with elegance seems to have come from her, but also makes the fact that they haven't gotten together yet all the more tragic.

I do wonder if Martha is going to regret telling Becky about this as she seems like the type to not let something like this go, but maybe Becky will be the one to finally nudge them enough to finally get together. I can dream, right?

#spy x family #spy x family spoilers #sxf spoilers #spy x family manga spoilers #spoilers #spy x family chapter 97 #henry henderson #martha marriott #spy x family speculation #becky blackbell #time for becky to do some shipping on deck for

[connoisseursdecomfort]

The thin line between Waku Waku and danger - what awaits Anya after ch.94?

[Manga spoiler alert]

Anya. The baby of the story. The star of the show. The leader of the Twiyor ship (she even created the slogan "Chichi to haha icha icha".) The telepath. The gremlin. The peanut. The heh.

In SxF, we saw how she forged the Forgers, how she fortified her friendship with Becky and Damian, as well as Emile and Ewen, and how she improved academically. It all started because she found it to be waku waku to have Twilight to be her father.

Same reason for choosing Yor to be her mother:

Of course, I love her for doing that. But there is no denying that she's drawn to danger. She likes it to be exciting. She wants to be the hero. And we all do. We, like Anya, like things to be waku waku.

It is good for the audience. But is it good for Anya?

Not really. Slowly but surely, Endo is revealing to us how it would affect Anya.

She thinks it is waku waku to have a spy and an assassin as parents because she is obsessed with Spy Wars. It is totally understandable for people to be want to imitate the cool characters on TV, and it is mentioned once again in Ch.94.

But it's something more than that. Loid being the top spy and Yor being the top assassin gives us a feeling that no matter what they will save her, and more importantly, they will be able to save her.

In the first chapter, her desire to make the spy work more waku waku has got her into trouble. Twilight rescues her, all ends well. In Chapter 7 she gets into trouble again, and Yor rescues her.

We have a sense of security that the Forger parents will do anything to get their baby back. And while that's VERY true (that's not up for debate - sorry), it also gives Anya the sense of security that she could maybe play with fire a bit more. So in Short Mission 1 we see her deliberately holding onto the bad guy's clothes, trying to get Yor to help. And Yor saves her and kicks the bad guy's ass.

Nonetheless, I should specify that Anya doesn't only want waku waku only for the sake of it although she does gloat over her successes. She understands that she needs to be careful, both in the doggy crisis arc and the cruise arc. But she still runs towards danger because she wants to help.

We already know she would do anything to keep the family together because of her love for her parents and also her abandonment issue especially when it comes to Operation Strix. That includes running towards a building that is going to explode in the doggy crisis arc and heading to the front deck where Yor is fighting with other assassins in the cruise arc. She has a good reason wanting to get involved, and she always succeeds too.

But that isn't all. She actually sees how her parents work towards their goals tirelessly.

That, of course, has something to do with what Endo chooses to focus on when it comes to the jobs of spies and assassins. He doesn't actually focus on the waku waku part that much (which has been one of the most common complaints). Literally in the first chapter, Endo has already shown us what the nature of spy work is - It can be freaking boring.

Same with the assassins' work.

One could even argue that Endo is deconstructing the images of spies and assassins in popular culture. While it is still waku waku for us and for Anya to see them working as spies and assassins, most of the time it is just a job for Loid and Yor. That means we AND Anya also see how tired they are after they've finished their jobs.

But why? If their jobs are ruthless and even thankless, why did they do it? The answers have been given in the cruise arc and ch.62. And for Anya who has been with them for quite some time now, she is inspired by their goals.

Anya wants to do good. Just like her papa and mama. And I think this is probably a good time to revisit the bus arc, particularly this moment:

Other children are thinking how their parents would come and save them. When Anya thinks about her parents, what would she think about?

Is it her parents' goal(s) - to make the world a better place?

Or is it the fact that she has always been the one actively doing something in order to save people, just like how she saves her parents and keeps her family together?

Even in the movie trailer, we see Anya desperately trying to help despite being all tied up.

The bus arc is also when the adults starts to scold her for being reckless.

It is not really the first time they've seen her being reckless. In the doggy crisis arc, Anya is told not to wander off.

Twice.

And even the childcare lady told her the same thing in the cruise arc:

But before it can be brushed off as kids having a tendency to wander off. But it is becoming more and more clear to the Forger parents that it seems to be something even more serious.

Endo is definitely dropping hints here, no?

It reminds me of what Loid told Bond:

This applies to everyone in the Forger family. Yor in the cruise arc. Loid in the mole arc. And Anya in the bus arc.

Anya has learned so many things in the process. Her grades have improved. She has learnt to read the clock. She has to try to write something that is readable so she can eat the gifts from Damian. But it seems she hasn't learned the most important thing yet.

PS Meanwhile, Bond went from not knowing how to play in the dog park

to suggesting an alternative game to Anya in Ch.94

Bond is best boi \o/

#spy x family #sxf #spyxfamily #loid forger #anya forger #yor forger #spy family #agent twilight #spy x family manga #bond forger

[discotreque]

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #lwd spoilers #amy's episode notes

[agent-troi]

Lower decks s2 ep5

I wonder what Dooplers are

Oh we’re starting with the credits this time that’s new

Aww they’re purple duplicating aliens

That voice sounds familiar

DOOPLERCATING

When they mentioned Titan I got really excited for a second bc I though we would see them😔

I wonder what happens to the dooplercates afterwards

“Nobody wears skants anymore”

“Chaos on the bridge means no one’s going to notice one little transporter override”

Insurrection dress uniforms!!

BECKY MARINER

DATA BUBBLE BATH

“A couple might be Lores”

“There’s no need to be embarrassed” “that’s exactly what someone says when there IS a reason to be embarrassed!” I mean he’s totally right

Pike chair sighting

Antedeans! “Fish people!” “Hey, we’re not people!”

“Ex-cape”?

I just had a random thought that all of Rutherford’s notes are clues in a National Treasure-type scenario or else they lead to some kind of romantic surprise for Tendi

Pfft avian domesticity

DATA FLOTATION DEVICES

WTF WAS THAT BOOTHBY

Wait so who okayed the in-universe Data merchandise after his death? Does he have an estate? I can’t remember if Juliana Tainer is still alive in canon but in the books she’s dead by now, but she’s technically his mother so she’d probably be in charge of that, otherwise I think Picard might do it

“I didn’t put on underwear for nothing”.... so she normally doesn’t wear underwear?

SHELBY

I need a social deflector dish

Lmao the ship’s computer has a squeaky voice

Prune juice spritz

Awww they’re so cute together

Oooh so that’s what happens to the dooplercates

Ok that Kirk/Spock thing is cute and all but by the time they knew each other Kirk was already a captain so I don’t think he’d get kicked out of the fancy party (unless disco has retconned canon in some way that I don’t know about, keeping in mind that I’ve never seen it)

OKONA IS A DJ

T’ana really has a dirty mouth lol

DOOPLERCATION

“Now he has to grow a beard!”

MARINER + BOIMLER

#star trek lower decks #lower decks spoilers #Mariner + Boimler

[d-l-dare]

“A Feud in Space”

Riding around in a space ship was supposed to be fun, but right now I wished so badly I could be with someone else. I'd been trapped for several weeks on a crowded space shuttle with my partner that our sector had assigned to me. I'm sure with her list of expertise, she'd say I was assigned to her. However, the one thing she'd never take into account, and the thing that swarmed her in absolute jealousy was that it was my name one the top of the list for the mission, not hers.

I can hear her complaining now about how nobody back on Earth even cared I was gone, not even my girlfriend. I had to stop myself from punching her when she had the audacity to tell me that my girlfriend I'd been with for seven years, and had plans to get married once I got back, would leave me. She said she'd leave me because she dislikes the idea of being alone for a few months. Right now, there was no way I'd let anymore of her annoying words get to me. Soon, we would be back home and I could finally get married and start the family that my girlfriend and I had always dreamed of. For now, I needed to rest.

***

The one thing I never expected to wake up to was actually happening. It seemed every alert system we had was going off at once. The sirens blared in my ears as my partner, Becky, tried shaking me awake. She was yelling for me to wake up, screaming some profanity while she was at it. I got up from the bed, shaking her off me. She signaled for me to follow her to the boarding deck. On our way there, she stopped at a panel on the side of the wall, took off the cover, and typed a code onto the keypad. She slammed the door back shut and the sirens turned off, making everything seem normal again.

When we finally made it to the boarding deck, I asked her what we were doing there, to which she replied she saw something outside, perhaps it might've been an alien or a UFO. Either way, we crept closer to investigate.

I looked out the window to find that there was what seemed to be an average sided UFO, like you'd see in the science fiction comics. I went to take a closer look, but saw a white beam of light coming from the front of the ship that blinded me. When the light eventually faded, I was in a white room, standing next to Becky. We were both still wearing out space suits, though they appeared to be torn almost to shreds. How did we get here?

We found a control panel not too far from where we were at and made our way to it. We looked out the front window and saw we were back on Earth. Had we crash landed? There appeared to be a bunch of dirt surrounding the ship.

I went to press the button to open the hatch to let us out, but she must've had the same idea. She and I pressed separate buttons that seemed to do nothing. She glared at me, telling me to leave the panel alone, as I had no idea what I was pressing. In a fit of rage, we began pressing random buttons on the board. 

There was another blinding light. Had I just been beamed to the escape hatch? It appeared so, as I could see the world outside. Yet I wasn't alone. Becky was there too. But she wasn't behind me, she was fused with me. She and I had been beamed to the escape hatch at the same spot at the same time.

"HELP US!" was the only thing we could cry out before losing our balance and falling to the ground.

#horror #short horror story #scary story #frightnight #writing challenge

[amusedmuralist]

tma and tgwdlm/black friday crossover; specifically, jon reading/taking somebody's statement on, well you know, that whole end of the world business. which apocalypse do you think he'd get a statement about, and from who? and which season's jon do you think would be funniest/most interesting

First off, Anon, I love you? I love this prompt so much as you can probably tell by the length of it

Okay SO, 

Most interesting? Jon hears Black Friday first. It’s a bunch of people murdering each other and showing strange personality changes focussed around hunting themselves down a doll/hurting each other. Jon gets this statement from Lex: She got out, lives with Hannah in Tom, Tim, and Becky’s place because they needed to get as far away from Hatchetfield as possible. She mentions her having had addiction problems, and Jon chalks it up to that. 

Is PEIP a better organised and funded solution to the Section 31′d officers? I like it for the crossover purposes. Maybe they all did a Basira, left the force, and pooled resources. 

PEIP pulled some strings with their British equivalent to get them moved over there. Statement taken maybe.... season one is funniest? I like it as a season 2 though, over in the US and is just given this statement. 

In season three, when he’s still figuring it out, he scares the SHIT out of “Kelly Graham” by calling her Emma offhand. She can’t do shit all about it, she’s been moved in with “Peter” and “Grace” and their son and adopted daughters since the infection took Hatchetfield out completely. 

In season Four, when he’s actively hunting statements at times, he finds “Kelly Graham”, who threatens to deck him with a piping hot pot of coffee. He asks for her statement, knows her name is Emma Perkins, and it records. Elias wants to know what the FUCK is UP with Hatchetfield. 

Now he knows what the fears are. 

The Apotheosis sounds like the Corruption: it’s all about love, using connections against each other, and the thing with Pal (An avatar of the Corruption now probably?) trying to take Emma with him, of Hidgens’s love for the Boys getting him killed, Charlotte, Sam, and Ted’s whole Thing, that’s textbook corruption. 

But is this the Extinction?????? because it has elements of the Stranger, I do Not Know You, “it hurt sasha....”, all the showman ship and the weird insistence that someone is having a good times. 

Jon cross-references Lex’s statement, heart beating far too quickly, and it’s the same thing. Hunting. Hurting. Needing the target. Hurting and music like the Slaughter. But there’s BIG TIME SPIRAL-ISH ENERGY. in not trusting your own senses, and in the space ‘between’ dimensions, like the corridors??? and this “Webby” character the younger sister hears. Is that the Web? It could be, but it doesn’t make any sense. 

TL:DR season one jon hears Black Friday from Lex . 

Season 4 jon hears The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals from Emma 

He has no idea how their manifestations work. He is terrified that he can’t dismiss it as fake. 

#tma #tgwdlm #Black Friday #THANK YOU SO MUCH #Anonymous

[brinshannara]

Matters of the Heart (Sanvers Star Trek AU, PG)

Idea from this tweet from Becky and oh man it was not supposed to get this long but oops it did:

https://twitter.com/dayecarter/status/1176268713588342784

Commander Alex Danvers frowned as, for the third time, she caught someone staring at her in the mess hall. Something was up. She generally had a good relationship with the crew, but it was one rooted in respect and even a bit of fear, rather than camaraderie or friendship. As first officer, it was her job to liaise with the crew on behalf of the captain, but she always made sure she stayed on the appropriate side of the thin line between professional and personal.

So what was going on?

She narrowed her eyes at the lieutenant who was looking at her and made sure to keep her poker face when his eyes went wide, having realized he had her attention. He scurried away.

Alex finished her lunch, then brought her dishes to the replicator and let them be disintegrated by the machine. She nodded to a couple of young ensigns as she walked out and headed up to the bridge.

Lieutenant Commander Maggie Sawyer was sitting in the captain's chair when she arrived. It wasn't exactly a rare happening, but Alex was always a little surprised not to see Captain Picard in the chair.

"Commander," Sawyer said, standing.

"Thank you, Sawyer," she said, taking the seat from the woman who had quickly become her best friend. She was a little surprised when Sawyer sat down in the first officer's seat next to her.

"The captain's in her ready room," she said, quietly, so as not to attract the attention of the others on the bridge.

Alex raised an eyebrow before she realized why Sawyer was being discreet. "Situation with the admiral?" she asked, just as quietly.

Sawyer nodded rapidly.

"Ah," she said. "Thanks for letting me know." The captain and her husband, Admiral Picard, had been having some difficulties, as the captain had informed her.

Sawyer nodded. "Of course." She considered. "Holodeck tonight? Maybe we can pick up where we left off last night?"

"That'd be fun," she said, smiling.

"Captain Picard to Commander Danvers."

Alex tapped her commbadge. "Danvers here, captain."

"Would you please report to my ready room?"

"Of course, captain," Alex said, standing. "You have the bridge, Sawyer."

"Aye, sir," Sawyer said, sitting back down in the captain's chair.

Alex rang the chime and entered at the captain's command. The captain gestured to the sofa, not one of the seats by the desk.

"Tea, Earl Grey, hot," she said to the replicator. "Can I get you something, Alex?"

Alex was confused. She didn't know why she was in the captain's ready room. Was it official business? If so, why was she now sitting on the sofa? Why had the captain called her Alex instead of Danvers?

"I'm fine, captain, thank you," she said.

The captain nodded and took her tea with her to the couch and set it gently on the nearby coffee table. She sat down next to Alex.

"Alex, you know I think very highly of you, don't you?"

"Uh, yes, ma'am, I guess so?"

The older woman chuckled. "I wouldn't have requested you as my first officer on my first command if I didn't."

"Yes, ma'am."

Picard took a sip of her tea. "Alex, what you do on your own time is your own business."

She blinked. "Yes, ma'am."

"However," she continued, "would you not agree that, as first officer of the USS Pasteur, you must set the example for the rest of the crew?"

"Of course, captain," Alex said, still confused.

"I'm glad we're in agreement," the captain said, taking another sip of tea. "Now, then, what's this I hear about a turbolift incident?"

Alex frowned. "Captain?"

"Danvers, I'm getting reports from all over the ship about your recent behaviour."

"What behaviour, ma'am?" Alex was legitimately confused, having no idea whatsoever as to what her captain was talking about.

Picard picked up a PADD and tapped at it. "Stardate 59772, Ensign Taylor reported that you and Lieutenant Commander Sawyer were trapped in Turbolift 3 for over an hour and, when Engineering got you out, you were both in a state of, well, undress."

"Captain, the environmental controls had gone offline with the turbolift controls! It was over 32 degrees Celsius in there. Of course we removed our uniform jackets."

Unconvinced, she scrolled down her list.

"Stardate 59807, Lieutenant Black reported that you and Lieutenant Commander Sawyer were, once again, late exiting Holodeck 2."

Alex laughed. "We were literally two minutes late, captain, and that was because Chief Parker was running late with his time in the holodeck before us."

"Stardate 59823, just last night," Picard continued, "Engineering reports that the holodeck safety protocols were disabled while you and Lieutenant Commander Sawyer were running a program. Further, once you exited the holodeck, Crewman Cooper said you both appeared to be in a state of intoxication." She let the PADD drop and looked up at Alex. "Really, Alex? You overrode the safeties so you and Sawyer could get drunk?"

"In my defense, captain, it was Sawyer's idea, and it was just a couple of beers while we were playing pool. It wasn't like we were in any danger."

"So I should call in Sawyer and discipline her, is that it?"

"No, ma'am," Alex said, realizing her error. "I was the ranking officer, I'll take the blame."

Picard sipped at her tea. "Don't do it, Alex."

"Do what?"

"Don't fall in love with your best friend," she sighed, putting the tea down. "It doesn't work out."

"I'm sorry?"

The captain turned back to face her. "I think it's lovely that you and Maggie are so close," she said, "really, I do. But, speaking from experience, don't fall in love with her. Do you really want your friendship to turn into what the admiral and I have?"

Alex sputtered. "We're not in love with each other!"

The captain tsked. "Honestly, Alex, I would have thought you knew that you could confide in me." She took her tea and stood, heading back to her desk. "Shift change is about to happen. For my part, I'd recommend you tell Maggie that it's not a good idea." She sat down. "Whatever you do decide, Alex, please be more discreet. The crew is starting to notice."

Alex was still sitting on the sofa, completely and totally baffled.

"You're dismissed, Danvers."

She leapt up from her seat. "Yes, ma'am." She said. "Thank you, ma'am." And with that, she left the ready room, still dazed from the conversation. As she left the room, she saw Sawyer stand from the captain's chair, giving it up to the beta shift commander. Lieutenant Commander Trana Soren looked over at Alex enquiringly.

"You have the bridge, Commander Trana," she nodded to the Bajoran.

"Aye, sir," she said, taking her seat as the rest of beta shift took over from their alpha shift counterparts.

Alex walked up to the turbolift, followed by Maggie.

"Deck 12," Maggie said. It was the deck where both of their quarters were located. "So, pool and drinks tonight?"

Alex shook her head. "Uh, no, I, uh... I have stuff."

"Bad meeting with the captain?" Maggie asked, concerned.

"No, uh... just... no, it was fine." The captain's warning rang in her ears. "Maybe tomorrow."

The turbolift came to a halt and the two of them exited and turned left towards their respective quarters. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, her mind whirring.

"Okay. I'll be in my quarters or in Holodeck 1 after 1900 hours, if you want to talk," Maggie said.

Alex nodded. "Thanks." With that, she turned down the hallway to her quarters. She needed time to think.

***

Three days went by without hanging out with Maggie and Alex missed her friend. She wasn't entirely certain the captain was right, so Alex had decided some distance might help her figure out what was going on. Over the last couple of days, she'd come to the conclusion that she'd never felt this way about anyone before, not even her one serious boyfriend back at the Academy.

She was about to start another evening of deep introspection, seated on her sofa and staring out the windows into the deep vastness of space, when the door chimed.

"Come in," she said, knowing it could only be one person.

"Danvers, what gives?" Maggie asked, walking into her quarters, wearing a civilian outfit, consisting of a black button-up shirt with its sleeves rolled up, and some dark blue slacks that reminded Alex of the fashion from the 20th and 21st centuries.

"What?"

"I mean," she said, walking up to the sofa by the window, "you've been avoiding me." She folded her arms across her chest. "What's going on? You've been weird ever since the captain talked to you."

Alex opened her mouth to argue.

"And don't you even think about denying it!" she added.

She sighed and gestured for Maggie to sit down. "You're right," she said. "And I'm sorry."

Maggie blinked and sat down. "Are you okay?"

"I think so?" she laughed, weakly.

"What did the captain say?" she demanded.

Alex looked over at Maggie. They'd become fast friends. Maggie had transferred aboard just six months ago, but already, Alex knew that Maggie would be in her life forever. At least, she hoped she would be.

"What did she say, Alex?" Maggie asked. "Come on, do I need to go commit mutiny or something?"

She laughed. "No, no," she said. She composed herself and exhaled, slowly. "So you remember she and the admiral were having issues?"

Maggie nodded.

"Well, she called me in there to tell me not to follow in her footsteps, so to speak."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Maggie asked, furrowing her brow.

"It means that she wants me to tell you that..." She blew out a breath. "That this," she indicated the space between them, "that this isn't a good idea."

"That's bullshit, the captain can't tell you who you can be friends with when you're off-duty!"

"No, no, I mean... She meant... She was trying to give me advice not to... fall in love with my best friend." She looked at Maggie.

After a long silence, Maggie finally said two words: "Excuse me?"

"The captain told me not--"

"Yeah, no, I heard that." She looked back at Alex. "And are you?" she asked. "Falling in love with your best friend?"

Alex bit her lower lip as she gazed at Maggie. "I, uh..." She exhaled. "I think maybe I might be."

Maggie nodded. "So, what, you've been holed up in here... thinking...?"

She nodded.

"For three days?"

Another nod.

"And this is the conclusion you've drawn?"

Alex swallowed. "Yes."

Maggie smiled. "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I came to that conclusion after the turbolift incident."

She blinked rapidly. Her brain wasn't functioning. "Wait, what?"

She was grinning widely now, her dimples on display. "Uh, no disrespect meant here, given you're my commanding officer and all, but you're gorgeous, Danvers. I swear, if they hadn't gotten us out of that turbolift, I was going to launch myself at you."

Her brain started moving again. "Wait. So if I... and you... wait, the captain was right?"

Maggie moved closer to her on the couch. "I think she was, yeah. Smart lady, that captain."

She was close enough that Alex could see her freckles, could smell her shampoo, could see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes. And she knew that Maggie was waiting for her, waiting for her to confirm things, for herself.

"Can I...?" Alex whispered.

"Please."

Gently, Alex reached out and cupped Maggie's face in her hands before leaning in and softly, so carefully, so deliberately, pressed her lips to Maggie's.

There was a pause and then Maggie started to kiss her back.

It was better than piloting a shuttlecraft through an asteroid belt.

The last coherent thought Alex had that evening was something along the lines of never listening to Captain Beverly Picard again, not when it came to matters of the heart.

#sanvers #star trek #captain beverly picard #admiral jean-luc picard #friends to lovers #st:tng #all good things...

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Nine – The lost and the found

It was too early to properly call this morning yet and enjoy the already beaming sunlight. The bright rays just stung the eyes, the eyes of most at least. It was also still a bit chilly. There was a wind blowing in from the sea. Seagulls were riding it, before diving down looking for fish. Fish that was gone or at least behaved more and more strange, even unusual. Unusual to a degree that both seagulls and humans did not have time yet to realize the change and get used to it. It were strange times even after the horrible summer was coming to an end.

Becky and the others assembled at the quickly hammered together jetty that was almost big enough to give the new and improvised ferry a proper point to dock in Wolf´s Cove, a port of call. This ferry was the replacement for the old bridge. The temporary replacement for the bridge, as it had been repeatedly stressed. So temporary that it was made of some wooden planks and relied on empty barrels for buoyancy. Most of the material had been salvaged from an abandoned construction site in the town center as well as some old houses that were in disrepair and had no owner who could interfere. Becky and her friends knew to trust the jetty despite all that. They had tried it repeatedly in the past few week, because it was their way to the main land. “How are you guys?”, Becky asked when John and Neil arrived. Rose stood already next to her. Becky was, meanwhile, the only one still enjoying the sunlight on her face. “Tired.”, John said and yawned. But then he smiled. He had clearly not planned to and struggled at first a bit to control his expression, but could not help himself, when he saw Becky and Rose. Rose snickered. “I said the same this morning at the breakfast table.” John nodded and bowed towards her a little as an act of agreement and re-affirmed solidarity. “Dreams are heavy and rest is scarce.”, John mused and this time, it was Rose who nodded. “And how are you, Neil?”, Becky wondered. “Unsure.”, Neil answered in an uncertain voice. “Both short-term and long-term, I think. Not to mention the recent past.” “I also do not like how the last few weeks tasted.”, John agreed, then was silent for a moment, pondering. He smacked his lips as if testing the taste of the air, sampling the salt in the breeze. “They were better than the monster week, but still.”, he clarified. “Yeah, haven´t seen you two much over the last days.” Becky blinked. “Did you also get interviewed about what happened?” “Yes. The sheriff had many questions about monsters.”, Neil said. “Substantially more now than he had when the figurative shit was hitting the fan.” “And now that the monster that had disappeared. Without a trace. In an ocean.”, Rose added. They all nodded and were quiet for a moment. The ferry was coming closer, tugging along the shore line before turning in to the small bay. It was an elderly ship, a former fishing boat. Still, it had proven itself a reliable connection to the outside world so far. “They did not ask about Pips or Smith or Sullyvan or Tula.”, Becky stated in a matter-of-fact manner, but a shadow crawled over ever her face. “The sheriff did not ask me about them either.”, John replied and looked to Rose and Neil. Both shook their heads. “I bet you still told him about Pips, Smith, Sullyvan, and Tula.”, John said with a smile that he shot towards Becky. She smiled back and winked. “Of course, I did. I told the sheriff about how Pips once helped us collecting drift wood for a diorama on Mob Dick. He even polished the wood and carved a whale and a ship out of two niece pieces.”, Becky remembered the remembering and reminding. “That moment in time I remember.” John nodded. “We gave whale and ship back to him afterwards. I always assumed they stood somewhere in his apartment or wherever he lived.” The ferry had now reached the jetty. “I also told the sheriff something about Pipps.”, John admitted and looked once again at Rose and Neil. Both nodded. “Guess we all did.”, Neil summarized. “Still.”, Becky said and put a lot of sadness in this one word. She looked down at her feet. Soon, these feet got into motion again as the kids boarded the ferry. As usual, they stood on deck, surveying the sea that surrounded their home town sitting on these ragged rocks. All of them looked at the scenery at this moment, but Becky. “So today is mostly orientation again? An introduction to the last year of school?”, Neil wondered, but all knew that he was aware of the answer. “Oh, there is something I need to tell you.”, Becky said, taking her eyes off the floor, to then look at John and then at Neil. “I won’t be in our school all days of the week anymore. Twice a week, I´ll take classes at Hollow Tree County High. They have school psychologist there and they said I could see her when I take a minimum of classes at their school. Music and something else, possible more astronomy. This way the school covers the expenses. Which is good when you have an issue but no insurance.” The others were silent for a minute. Rose opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but then just did not. John did almost the same. He did not find the right words either. Neil let the tip of his right shoe scratch over the deck. Then he finally nodded and said: “This makes sense. Good for you. Hopefully, it´ll be good for you.” After another short pause, he added: “And if you need a ride, just say the word. It´ll be in your old car anyway.” Neil smiled. “Oh, and after the bridge is restored I guess.” “Thanks, Neil.”, Becky replied with a warm smile of her own. “You should take him up on that.”, Rose said. A seagull flew by, accompanied the boat for a while and then broke off the pursuit when it had probably realized that there would be no fish falling off the ferry any time soon. Neil waved to the bird.   “It is so good to see you.”, John remarked and the others nodded. This was a blue planet, he remembered. And there was life here as well. Maybe he had remembered all wrong, he sometimes thought. Maybe it did not need his memories. Oh, and there was a fish. A friendly little fish. What would it bring?

#horror #spooky #fiction

[beckywarrencapehorn2020]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020 — AT SEA IN THE CHILEAN FJORDS. No, that's not a volcano erupting. It's just a cloud over an island off the southwest coast of Chile. But the big wave and choppy waters are real. I took the photo this morning, and had a very difficult time even standing up in the wind out on the deck. (With a way, hey, blow the man down!) It will be rough sailing all day and most of the night. The captain said we are experiencing swells of 12-15 feet. That sounds alarming, but it really doesn't look that bad out there. It does make walking around the ship pretty wobbly (and pretty comical).

So, what do we do all day when there's no port stop, and even walking around is not much fun? Well, I'm doing some reading. Becky is doing some laundry. We sat in on a trivia contest. (Don't ask.) A nap (or two) is a certainty. It's actually a pretty relaxing day.

So I'm posting this blog entry early. I don't think I'll have much more to tell today, nor any more photos to show. But you can check back later if you feel like it, just to see if anything exciting happens later in the day.

[mathewingram]

A cruise to Grand Cayman, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao

Last year, Becky and I and a group of friends rented a fantastic villa on the Amalfi Coast (which you can read about here) and this year our big group trip was a cruise — eleven of us on the Celebrity Silhouette, which sailed out of Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman, and then to the so-called “Dutch Antilles” islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. So I thought I would write up a post about it, partly (as usual) so that I can remember what happened when I look back on it in the future 🙂 I’ve included some photos here, but if you want to see all of them, as well as a few short videos, you can check out this Google Photo album I created for the trip.

A group of us spent a couple of days in Fort Lauderdale before we sailed (others came in closer to sailing) and it was fun to walk along the strip near where we stayed, which was a low-rise hotel complex called North Beach Village. It turns out this complex is part of a group of about 12 properties — including hotels, restaurants and shops — that a Swedish couple own in North Beach, about a block west of the beach itself. I only know that because we talked to the proprietor of the nearby food truck, Lenita (also Swedish). If you happen to be in that part of Fort Lauderdale, I would highly recommend the food truck, which is called The Plaza Bistro. We were there on Wednesday, which is live jazz night, featuring a very talented saxophone player.

I had to work, but a group rented what are called Scoot Coupes to see a bit more of Fort Lauderdale — three-wheeled buggies with open tops and a top speed of about 35 kph. I got to spend a little time in one, which was fun, but if you ever do this I will note that they have a much larger turning radius than you might expect given how small they are. Let’s just say some scratches were left (but the damage was fairly minimal and the owner was very understanding). As usual, I blame my brother-in-law Dave. On a whim, I also downloaded the Bird and Lime scooter apps and rented a Bird scooter briefly, which was quite fun once I figured out how to get the damn thing going — you scan the bar code with the app and then off you go, and when you are done you just leave it on the sidewalk (San Francisco is littered with them, which has become a problem).

Anyway, Friday February 22 was sailing day and we boarded the ship and hung out near the pool until our rooms were ready, and then job number one was getting our room attendant Ronaldo to remove the barriers between our five rooms, which we managed to get all in a row on the port side of the 10th deck (our friend Sandra, who was travelling solo, was by herself in an interior room). Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the large poles supporting the pool deck intruded somewhat on our balconies, so there was a bit of an obstruction between two of the rooms, but we soldiered on regardless and people just hopped over the pole when they had to. It was great to have a virtually private deck all to ourselves for breakfast and coffee in the morning and late-night get-togethers.

First stop was Grand Cayman, where we booked a tour (not through the ship) that took us out to Stingray City, a sandbar about half an hour away from the island where boats congregate and you can see (and feed) relatively docile stingrays. It was a fantastic day weather-wise, and the rays were very friendly, and then after seeing them we moved a little distance away and snorkeled along a coral reef, where we saw some great schools of wildly coloured fish (none of which I managed to get a photo of unfortunately). We moved a second location and did some more snorkeling, and saw a stingray that apparently likes to be by itself and never comes to Stingray City. She — the large rays are all female, and the males are about half the size — was hiding in the sand, no doubt hoping very much to be left alone, so that’s what we did.

The rest of the tour involved a bus trip with our friend Tim, a Rastafarian originally from Queens, who took us to Hell — a small tourist trap that consists mostly of a T-shirt and gift shop and a post office where you can send a postcard from Hell — and then to the Turtle Centre, where we saw pools and tanks with giant turtles in them. As with most of these kinds of things, including Marineland and even Stingray City, it’s hard to feel totally comfortable watching wild animals move around a small, penned-in area, but the turtle centre is also a sanctuary that has bred turtles in captivity and released tens of thousands of them back into the wild, so that made us feel a little better. Then it was a quick lunch on the beach of fish and chicken from a local restaurant (I enjoyed feeding the chickens on the beach pieces of their relatives, because I am perverse that way), and then it was back to the “tender” and back on the ship.

We spent the next day at sea, which some spent playing bingo or going to various events on the ship, and I spent reading my Kindle and mostly sitting on our balcony watching the ocean go by, which I have to say is one of the things I like most about a cruise. An unexpected highlight was the flying fish (which we first saw during an even on the helipad on deck 3) which I wrote more about here. The following day we woke up in Aruba, where we had arranged to rent several UTVs — all-terrain vehicles — so that we could explore the island. We got three with two seats and one with six, and off we went, armed with a map that the owner had kindly annotated with all the different landmarks and places we could stop or visit. Luckily, our friend Brenda had brought kerchiefs or “buffs” (as they call them on Survivor), because I was unaware of how much of a desert most of Aruba is, and therefore very dusty when you are driving at high speed in an open-air vehicle.

We made our way up the west side of the island, all the way to the lighthouse at the northern tip, and then from there on a sand-dune road along the eastern coast, which consisted of vast stretches of majestic rock that had been carved away by the crashing surf, and not a whole lot else. We stopped to pile some rocks (as one does) and then we stopped for lunch near an old gold mine, which was apparently built to resemble a castle so as not to give away its true purpose to pirates and thieves. Nearby, luckily, was a food truck that served delicious chicken alfredo subs (I was skeptical, but they were excellent) and then a short distance down the beach we found a spot where you could climb down a wooden ladder and into a small cave that had been formed by the water, where there was a natural pool you could swim in — as long as you avoided the current that really wanted to slam you into the coral, that is. I made the trip, but was the only one to swim, and then it was back on the road.

Part of the purpose of getting the UTVs was to drive into Arikok National Park, so we could visit another natural pool deep in the heart of its rocky terrain, but when we got to the park (after visiting a local giant-rock garden called the Ayo Rocks) we found out that the pool was not open for swimming because the surf was too high. Then we toured a small cave with ancient paintings and symbols drawn by the Arawak people who are native to the area, as well as some from missionaries in the 1800s. From there we headed down to the southern tip of the island and past the giant windmills they have there to Baby Beach, a well-known coral inlet with a fantastic beach. After a swim to get all the sand of our trip off, we headed back up to return the UTVs near the port, where a member of the group who shall remain nameless (not me!) had a small altercation with a car while filling the UTVs with gas. Luckily it was nothing major, and both the driver of the car and the owner of the UTV rental place were extremely understanding and there was no charge (thank you Luis of Road Runner ATVs). After a quick photo by the giant Aruba sign and dinner at a local restaurant right by the port, it was back on board.

The following day we woke up in Curaçao, which is the next closest island (it would have been much nicer if they had put them in alphabetical order, but I don’t make the rules unfortunately). It is much larger and more developed than Aruba, with a capital city — Willemstad — of about 150,000 people, and the same brightly-coloured buildings you will find in both Aruba and Bonaire, which give them a very Dutch flavour. Here a few of us rented a car and drove around to swim with turtles etc., and another group including Becky and I went on a catamaran snorkel-and-sailing tour up the coast with our hilarious captain Fritz, a former seaman in the Dutch navy. It was a fantastic day for snorkeling and sailing, and we saw some amazing fish and coral beneath a pier and nearby — unfortunately, a very large oil-and-gas drilling ship happened to be anchored at the pier, which changed the bucolic nature of the trip somewhat, but it was still a great tour. We had an excellent lunch on board, got roasted in the sun, saw some more flying fish and then it was back to town, where we found a great bar right next to the famous floating bridge in Willemstad. Unlike most bridges that move to let ships pass, this one moves horizontally on floats, like a door, and it happened to open and close while we were sitting there, which was great.

The next day it was Bonaire, the smallest and least-developed of the three islands. We got up ridiculously early, in part because it was a short day and we wanted to make the most of it. We had rented scooters, so we met the scooter company lady in a van and we went to pick them up (I almost crashed one into the side of the parking lot while we were test-driving them, but let’s not talk about that right now), and then it was off on a tour of Bonaire. We stopped at a few of the snorkeling and diving beaches that are all up the western coast, including one near the tiny slave huts (barely bigger than a large tent) that housed the slaves who used to mine the salt. We snorkeled and saw some fantastic fish who didn’t seem interested in our presence at all, and drove by the massive piles of salt from the nearby salt ponds, which are owned by Cargill. We saw a couple of flamingos, and mile after mile of barren rock beaches with crashing surf, and then made our way to a lagoon that is famous for windsurfing, where we ate at a local surf shack called Jibe City and watched people race their surfboards.

From there it was off through the heart of Bonaire to the opposite coast, where we found what is known as Thousand-Step Beach, even though the main staircase only has about 230 steps to it (I guess calling it 230-Step Beach just doesn’t have the same ring to it). We hauled our swim fins and snorkels down to the beach, which was composed almost entirely of “finger” coral, which tinkles musically when you walk on it, and saw some great fish and even a turtle. And then it was back on the scooters — which were tremendous fun, if a little nerve-wracking for some of us novices as we had to negotiate traffic circles in heavy traffic. And then back to the port and onto the ship.

What followed was two at-sea days, which were very relaxing after a go-go series of three days filled with excursions. I played a lot of ping-pong (or table tennis, as my Kiwi opponent Steve prefers to call it) and read my books on the balcony and watched the flying fish — and even saw a couple of dolphins leaping through the waves created by our passing. When we got back to Fort Lauderdale, we had a couple of days at North Beach Village again, which was somewhat different than our first visit because we arrived back during March Break, and the hotel was filled with twenty-somethings and a seemingly never-ending supply of beer. They were actually pretty well-behaved for the most part, even if they did occasionally commandeer the pool. We spent some time on the beach, and some of the group visited a local park on rented bikes (I had to work) and Becky and I and Sandra also toured Bonnet House — the former home of Frederic Bartlett, whose third wife gave the property and its 35 acres to the state conservation authority, which turned it into a museum. Bartlett designed the house plantation-style, and then he and his wives (mostly the third one, Evelyn) filled it with a mind-boggling collection of fascinating and in some cases bizarre art and collectibles.

And that’s about it — kind of a whirlwind tour in a lot of ways, with three islands in the space of three days, but with some quiet and relaxing at-sea time at the beginning and the end, and some time in Fort Lauderdale as well as a kind of buffer. All in all, a great vacation with a great group of friends. If you weren’t on this trip and are not related to me and you somehow made it through this entire thing, congratulations! You are one of a select few.

A cruise to Grand Cayman, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao was originally published on mathewingram.com/work