Cut sentence as things got shuffled and moving a whole lot faster than intended: Uhura agrees, and then at McCoy’s incredulous eyebrow she adds, “That’s a...future version of Spock, I think? From a timeline that no longer exists. He didn’t share too many of the details.”
Main Points:( 'hard to get' )
“I was...assigned female at birth, Klavier, so, um, if you have a problem with that, I guess we’re breaking up?” He wants to sound more sure of himself, but it comes out as more of a question than anything.
His boyfriend appears frozen for a moment longer before letting out a short laugh. “If I needed any more proof you have seen none of my photoshoots, it was this,” he replies, nonsensical, and then begins taking off his shirt.
“Klavier?” He’s probably turning as red as his vest.
“Just proving to you, Apollo, you have nothing to worry about.” And then—
Oh. Those are some pretty familiar surgery scars, yeah.
I’m going to try to have a chapter out every other week.
Main Points:( the call to adventure )
“You’re the best partner.”
“No, you are. I’m a Pretender to the title.”
*snort*
“What?”
“Pretender.”
“You have got to be joking.”
“I am.”
“...I walked straight into that one.”
( sometimes that's all you need )
( on keeping secrets )
( i'm a doctor, not a psychiatrist )
This will be...a long time in the future. But. One of the reasons I definitely ship Shaun and Desmond is, well, first tsundere characters are, like, my jam, but. In AC3 specifically Shaun mellowed. A lot. Still snarky, but he softened a lot and actually made time for Desmond and was quietly supportive about Bill.
The moment I knew The Secret Histories wasn’t going to stay 100% gen was when Shaun got really soft to Desmond, and Desmond was doing it back with a little teasing. (I probably should’ve known before, maybe when Desmond was having his panic attack and probably when Desmond was thinking ‘you know what sounds nice being back in London with Shaun buying me a sandwich’, but, uh, I can be dense about crushes in real life too, so.)
Also I feel like Asura/Taisha is the unhinged version of Ukitake/Shunsui? Like, don’t get me wrong, Ukitake and Shunsui are both capable of being feral murder machines, but Asura and Taisha take it to the next level (and sometimes pointing it at each other). But their dynamics are very, very similar.
I am actually kind of really fond of this one. Protesting is good, but it shouldn’t just end there. The population of Sunnydale should be much more diverse than we saw and I worked my speculations as to why it’s not into the story. And Xander’s reasoning for choosing Blake came out as I was writing and it actually makes a lot of sense; he’s always been one of the Scoobies with the most knowledge about the real world, for better or worse. The underbelly of things. Blake is aspirational in that he thinks he can make a difference, while Xander didn’t (and still, to some extent, doesn’t). It also...maybe wasn’t an effort to shut Buffy out, sadly, but a ‘I’d really like to be her and know I can’t be, so here’s the next best thing’ deal. And then they just get to be domestic, more, which I really liked from At the End of All Things. (...also there's some interesting thematic things that happen when you put this opposite to the Initiative....)
Main Points:( endless red tape to keep the truth confined )
AAAAAAA Mashita saying “I’m not your priest” and then offering a bit of comfort, actually picking up on the fact that he’s having a vision, and then going “handy” and validating his powers when even Yashiki isn’t believing in himself or his powers—
usually I try not to make specific kinds of jokes about things like word count numbers but in this case given what’s implied I think it’s pretty appropriate, actually
happy Echoes anniversary!
This is just a nebulous fluff thing that wouldn't leave me alone the week before until I wrote it, and then when I was done I stared at it and went 'uh, this actually works really well as a 'special' because it doesn't really spoil anything and probably doesn't 100% fit in with the story anyway'. So it may someday be somewhat AU whenever I get to that part, but isn't as much as, say, A Tad Too Inviting. Also I'll note I'm sick, keep writing chapters out of order that I'm probably going to have to heavily revise whenever I actually get there, and have been watching The Bourne Identity a lot all because of a) being sick and b) a one-off joke that's going to happen in the next interlude-esque volume? That being said I actually kinda like this a lot and hope you do too, thanks for sticking with this story!
( what it says on the tin )
….and it was only Mashita that actually got him to properly consider suspects.
( no more getting in my own way (that's a lie) )
( Commitments )
Thank goodness for libreoffice automatic saves. I’m good at physically saving but sometimes I try to open too many things on this computer. I got the same vibe in the last paragraph, but no idea if it’s better or worse than the original because that’s gone.
( Revelations )
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