This story is a kind-of narrative experiment that was inspired by a prompt on the old STXI Kink Meme: STXI Kink Meme (Part 14): The five times that Kirk touched Spock with out really thinking, and the one time Spock touched Kirk without thinking. I reversed the clauses and didn't really manage the 5/1 story structure, which is why this is an "inspired by" response to the prompt, as opposed to an actual response. (Apologies to the original requestor for not actually filling their request.) The epigraph, cut-text, and bolded section dividers of the fic are dialogue from STXI.


Title: The Merits of Emotion
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom/Spoilers: STXI/Reboot
Summary: What Spock understands and what he thinks he understands are two different things.
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairing: Spock, Kirk, McCoy (Gen)
Wordcount: 3,396
Disclaimer: Star Trek is owned by many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: November 28, 2009


( I will not allow you to lecture me about the merits of emotion. )

If I have one deep, desperate wish for STXII, it's for some of the TOS character backstory, especially Tarsus, to be canon and somehow important in the movie. There have been several stories posted recently that have really brought this longing of mine home to me.

One of those stories is what I'm recc'ing today.

If you've read mijan's Redshirt, then you know how amazing her writing is, how moving and real her depiction of these characters and their relationships can be.

I was shattered and shaking after reading Redshirt, but that was a small reaction compared to where I ended up after reading her Star Trek BigBang fic, And All the King's Men.

This fic cracked my heart open.

It was beautiful, true, profound, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at once.

Go read this one too.

By accident I deleted the original entry. This is essentially what it said:

Last week, I was privileged and lucky enough to spend most of one night reading captanddeastar's Star Trek BigBang story, So Wise We Grow,

It is 81,000 words of brilliant characterization, brilliant pacing, brilliant plotting. It is funny, charming, heartwrenching, painful, emotionally satisfying. Practically every chapter had me laughing, chuckling, smiling, tensing, tearing up a little (and more than once, tearing up *a lot*).

The story moved me in more ways than I expected, and not just because I have little ones of my own. It was about more than Spock and Jim's coming together, although it was gloriously about that and no mistake. It was about how people find ways to each other, despite everything they think they are and everything they try to be and everything they try not to be and where they were raised and what happened to them, and just everything.

captanddeastar's story is miraculous and true and so thoughtfully written and generously characterized, that I'm still, even four days after reading the story in one long sitting, mostly speechless.

Here is the story's epitaph, because it's lovely. And true.

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow.
Our wiser sons, no doubt will think us so.

Go. Read.

This story is a response to a request on the STXI Kink Meme (Part 13): "Kirk, while bored and stuck in sickbay, or just those long dull stretches getting from point A to B, decides to start writing about his early years. (Anon is NOT requested to write the novel, though a few 'quotes' from the book would be nice)..."


Title: Contact
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom/Spoilers: STXI/Reboot
Summary: The only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gen (or maybe pre-slash)
Wordcount: 3,570
Disclaimer: Star Trek is owned by many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: September 18, 2009 (small edits 11.24.09)


( The only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other. )

I haven't written anything in over a year, and didn't expect to write a "five times" story when I finally re-found my inspiration. Oh well.


Title: The Things You See and The Way You See Them
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom/Spoilers: STXI/Reboot
Summary: The art of observation
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gen or Kirk/Spock (depends on which goggles you prefer)
Wordcount: 5,994
Disclaimer: Star Trek is owned by many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: July 23, 2009 (small edits 9.2.09)

Author's Note #1: Heartfelt thanks to dreamlittleyo, who kindly allowed me to run with these snippets inspired by her wise and beautiful stories, All That We Can Be, Not Just What We Are and Who Am I To Say?.

Author's Note #2: Written for the ST FlashFic Five Things Challenge, Five Times You Wrote For ST Flashfic -- The Five Things Challenge. (Unfortunately I don’t have a Dreamwidth account, so I can’t post there.) [UPDATE: Now I do, thanks to argentdragon -- Thanks again!]


( The Things You See and The Way You See Them )

Found this via unfitforsociety and was unbearably moved: iterative development by amonitrate. Absolutely brilliant.

Speaking of brilliant: "THE KIDS AREN'T ALL RIGHT" by CHRISTINE EVERHART (VANITYFAIR.COM)" by samdonne. Left me speechless and reeling. Redefined what fanfic can be. Extraordinary.

This story is a companion/sequel to my story, Fewer Than You Think. Although it is not necessary to have read that story to understand this one, it may help to know that in the previous story John was shot and hospitalized.

I thought I should post this story before it’s Joss’d by Season 2.



Title: Fall Through the Night
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom: TSCC
Spoilers: S1
Pairing (if any): Gen, slightly Derek/Sarah.
Rating: PG
Length: 2,473
Disclaimer: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) is owned by Fox and many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: 7/14/08 (rev 8/6/08)

Summary: ( He is dreaming that he sees them standing under the tree, Derek and his mother – Sarah – standing so close that they don’t look like two people but like some new creature that he’s never seen before. )

Fic entry for svmadelyn's Fourth Annual Kink/Cliché Challenge (see details here). My prompt was the Crush / Unrequited Love cliché. The master list can be found here. Thanks to svmadelyn for the deadline extension!


Title: The Collapsed Girl
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom: TSCC
Spoilers: S1
Pairing (if any): Gen
Rating: PG (some language)
Length: 1,305
Disclaimer: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) is owned by Fox and many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: May 27, 2008 (Rev. 6/6/08)

Summary: ( When (If) Cameron Knew )

This fic was inspired by svmadelyn's Kink/Cliché Challenge (see details here). (Btw, this isn't my official entry for the challenge; that one will be posted on May 26 in keeping with the challenge's rules.)


Title: Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom: TSCC
Spoilers: S1
Pairing (if any): Gen
Rating: PG (some language)
Length: 776
Disclaimer: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) is owned by Fox and many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: May 22, 2008 (Rev. 6/6/08)

Summary: ( Sarah lost John )

This fic is an entry in the Sarah Connor Chronicles Flash Fiction and Art Challenge (SCCFF), organized by svmadelyn. See the Master List here.

Title: Fewer Than You Think
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom: TSCC
Spoilers: S1
Pairing (if any): Gen
Rating: PG (some language)
Length: 4,830
Disclaimer: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) is owned by Fox and many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: April 21, 2008 (Rev. 6/6/08)

Summary: ( He now owns 127 pieces of Confucian advice, none of which will help him save the world from the machines. )

This story has had a difficult birth. There are parts that still bother me, but if I don't post it now, I may never post it. And with my hard drive in its death throes, that could be a problem.

Here goes.


Title: The Last Time I Saw Malcolm Reynolds
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Fandom: Firefly
Summary: You know the definition of a hero? Someone who gets other people killed. You can look it up later.
Spoilers and Attributions: Post-Serenity (BDM). Story summary paraphrased from BDM. Epigraph from "Safe" by Drew Z. Greenberg. References/dialogue from "War Stories" by Tim Minear in (II). References to BDM cut scenes and dialogue from "Serenity I & II" by Joss Whedon in (III). References to dialogue from BDM in (X).
Rating/Pairing: PG (Gen)
Length: 2,389
Disclaimer: Firefly/Serenity is owned by Joss Whedon and many people who are not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: 1.28.2008



( The Last Time I Saw Malcolm Reynolds )

Once again, months have passed since my last update. I am not very good at this journal thing. That's clear.

Hello, again, to long lost friends!

It was wonderful to see your replies to my last post...

emluv, I miss chatting with you too, very much. Happy belated birthday, btw! I loved the link you included in your reply to my last post -- it brought back fond memories and a wave of good nostalgia. I hope you're well? (And I hope you're not going to have to pick yourself up off the floor again)...

rheanna27, it's always a delight to hear from you. I was thinking of you recently because I stumbled on to a fabulous story that was inspired by your "Pick a Companion" ficathon from a while back. An amazing, beautiful story (Moments of Revelation by handful_of_sky) that wouldn't exist without you. Thank you for putting that challenge out there; for that story alone it was worth it. As always, you're an inspiration!

ancarett, I have to tell you that I love reading your posts about your life and your wardrobe. :-) About DH, I loved it too. There were some parts I was less fond of, and some parts I thought heartbreakingly beautiful, and in general I thought it a satisfying end to the series. I would love to read any fics you've found that are wonderful. Recommendations, please?

lage_nom_ai, it was lovely to see your reply as well. I hope you're well?

I have not posted in this journal since January 06. That's a long time. But I'm tired of seeing that last, self-pitying, miserable journal entry every time I click the link to LJ, so...

Hello to long lost friends. How are you?

All's well in this corner of the world. Small children have started kindergarten and preschool. My working from home is working well, my sweetie's no-longer-new job is still challenging and exciting to him, and our cat is still a (well-loved) bastard.

What I'm reading in RL right now: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie

What I'm reading to the girls: Finding Nemo, lots and lots of little fish tales...

What I'm reading in fandom right now: Post DH fic, especially gen fic. Some favourites:
- Seven Photographs by casirafics
- What To Do With Time by biggrstaffbunch
- Summer Holidays by penknife

What I'm amazed by: Marta's Art Dungeon website

What I'm watching on TV: Top Chef tonight but little else... I watch TV vicariously through EW and my friendslist...

What I'm working on, fic-wise: The same FF/Serenity fic that I was working on 18 months ago (pathetically, yes)

What's up next: More Agatha Christie (pleasantly mindless and fun reading), the new Jim Sheperd book (Like You'd Understand, Anyway), some stuff about MBTI for work

Also cleaning. That figures in the near-future as well.

1. I'm tired of being pregnant. My OB said that I can go into labour any day now, but "any day now" is frankly not soon enough. I'm tired of swollen ankles and swollen feet and sore legs and back pain and not being able to bend over and not being able to sleep and... The list is long. I just want this baby out at this point.

2. I'm tired of my job. I don't want to write a summary of best practices in succession planning. I don't want to outline key questions to kick off a discussion about succession planning. I don't care about leadership lessons. I don't want to make a list of items that I need to handoff. I don't want to go to tonight's awards ceremony.

3. I'm tired of 70,000 emails from the __ system spamming my inbox hour after hour. I understand that this is regression testing and important, but it's still annoying.

4. I'm tired of bad customer service, particularly Honda's inability to give me a straight answer on how to reset the oil usage indicator. I don't want to talk to a dealer, dammit.

5. I tired of being cranky. And weepy. And hormonal. And pregnant -- did I mention pregnant? I'm really tired of being pregnant.

6. I'm tired of people making false sympathetic noises about my relative lack of maternity leave. Yes, I live in the States. Yes, that means I don't live in Canada or any other civilized country that allows more than a small circumscribed number of months of unpaid leave after giving birth. Yes, my situation sucks. Can we not talk about it anymore?

7. I'm tired of my sisters not calling me back. What's the time difference from here to Dubai, anyway?

8. I'm tired of this story that I've been writing since September that I can't make work no matter what I do. A breakthrough would be nice.

9. I'm tired of the mess in my office, at home, in the car, pick your location. Messes irk me. Especially now.

10. I'm tired of being pregnant. Really I am. In case it wasn't obvious or anything.


Apologies for cluttering flists with self-pitying drivel, but I did find the braindump somewhat therapeutic.

So even though I haven't been updating my journal, I haven't abandoned fandom altogether. I have to admit that I'm feeling a little out-of-touch with the BSG fandom, but I suspect I'm not alone in that sentiment given things I've been reading in others' journals.

My current fannish passion is Firefly, thanks to Serenity. I'm even trying my hand at fic-writing in the FF 'verse.... With little success at the moment. But nonetheless.

If only my schoolteacher would tell me why she wants to be part of this story!

Sigh.

I haven't posted since July apparently, something I didn't realize until I changed the format on my LJ and saw the calendar in the sidebar. Meh.

I read my flist daily but seem to have little time or interest in updating my own journal. Is it too early to have a New Year's Resolution to do better next year?

This is for norah, toronto_kid, and leadensky, who put the idea in my head for a sequel/epilogue/continuation to Tales from the Reconstruction, even though I was pretty sure I was done with that story. (Guess I wasn’t.) Thank you all for the nudge.

This is also for rheanna27, whose musings about Commander Adama helped me get a grip on his character. Rheanna, you keep inspiring me -- thank you.


Title: What Needs to be Said
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Spoilers: S1, spec for S2. (Note that you don’t need to have read Tales from the Reconstruction to understand this one.)
Rating: PG
Length: 3,528
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica (2003) is owned by NBC/Universal, SciFi, SkyOne, Ron Moore, David Eick, and many people who are decidedly not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: July 5, 2005 (Rev. 8/31/05)


( Lee is bothered by the way Vargas touches his father, as if he were a chair or a holy artifact )

I finally was able to log into Livejournal after almost two weeks away and found lovely, lovely comments on my last fics waiting for me, and my day was wonderful. And then I went browsing my flist, and I found this--

I'm incredibly honoured and humbled to have had two stories rec'd by rheanna27, a writer whose work I worship. Wow.

Not even all-day morning sickness can get me down today. *g*

So, heeding the order polite request in yesterday's galacticanews, I finally finished my Ficathon fic. Almost two weeks late, very problematic and challenging (for me), but it's done. Finally.

This is my BSG Ficathon fic for leadensky, who wanted Starbuck and Apollo (not Starbuck/Apollo), futurefic/S2 spec, plot, (military) life in space, people doing their jobs, good characterization, no sweet-tempered Tigh, and no happy ending. Some requests I managed better than others. Hope this isn't too disappointing!


Title: Tales from the Reconstruction
Author: Danahid (danahid)
Spoilers: S1, spec for S2.
Rating: PG
Length: 4,559
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica (2003) is owned by NBC/Universal, SciFi, SkyOne, Ron Moore, David Eick, and many people who are decidedly not me. No profit being made. No infringement intended.
Archive/Distribution: Please ask.
Date: May 27, 2005 (Rev 6/10/05)


( Kara thinks about talking, but Lee isn't in the mood to listen )

Since I'm supposed to be working, today's recs will be brief:

New fic recs:

Follow the Leader by pashoshi
Lovely, thoughtful coda to "Bastille Day." Fabulously well-written second-person narration.

Reason by myalchod (aka Charis M)
Charis quotes Pascal at the beginning of this fic: "The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing," which guaranteed that I would love this fic. I also love its dreamy, earthy tone (can a fic be both things at once?). Roslin/Adama; not set specifically within the series timeline.

An Offering to Hestia by butterflykiki (aka Christina K)
Another fic for the Common People challenge. Love how real Cynthia is, how through her eyes this massive tragedy is somehow more immediate, more ordered, more grasp-able, though no less heartwrenching. Spoilers up to "Water."

Since I'm now making up words, I'll stop here.


ETA: Edited because I know why now.