so Jim doesnt do romance with his crew. Do you reckon that if he had encountered Spock earlier in his Starfleet career, he would have made a move, realized how compatible they are? How long do you think Jim and Spock need to... latch onto each other?
Sadly I think he probably wouldn't have, but for nerd reasons instead of ethical reasons. As for the second question: not long at all, it's getting them to communicate that's the difficulty!
There's this whole fanon about him having this ladykiller reputation at the Academy and after, but there is nothing to support it and I actually think TOS-the-show suggests young Kirk wasn't only ... not that but back then, was someone who could easily just fail to notice when someone was into him. Arguably this obliviousness extends even to early S1, when Spock and Bones sometimes are the ones to clue him in until "Dagger of the Mind"—which, unfortunately, is quite easy to believe could be a turning point in him deciding to at least take control of his own sexual objectification.
One of the first things we find out about Kirk is that a lab technician had fallen in love with Kirk in the past, and a young Gary Mitchell orchestrated an entire campaign in order for her crush to catch stack-of-books-with-legs Academy teacher Lt. Kirk's attention at all. Even though she was enough Kirk's type that he not only dated her as a result of Gary's machinations, but nearly married her. Kirk had been teaching long enough to have built up a reputation among upperclassmen as a notoriously difficult instructor by the time Gary showed up as a first-year cadet (Gary helped her out in hopes that it would get Kirk to lighten up in class), so we don't know how long she was pining after the oblivious 20-something Jim Kirk. We know Kirk had likely been teaching for at least a year or two by the time Gary helped her, so this could easily have gone on quite awhile without Kirk noticing.
And in TOS, we're only given reason to think he had a few relationships (all serious, romantic, and long-term) between Ruth leaving when he was 18 and him gaining command of the Enterprise at age 32. Those known relationships are invariably with a very specific type of person: sophisticated, cerebral, professional women, most of them in Starfleet, all near his age and attractive in a cute glossy way, and all very driven and decisive people who pursued him as much as the other way around.
Janice Rand is doing this in her own way; he admires and loves Areel all the more because his guile and silver tongue have never slightly worked on her, and she takes the initiative yet is respectful of his boundaries, allowing him to be soft-eyed and affectionately romantic with her (he does things like kissing her hands); Edith is blatantly if decorously courting him as much as the reverse if not more so; and there was clearly a mutual give and take between him and Jan Wallace, even in their break-up (my personal headcanon is that Jan was the blonde lab technician but even if not, this holds).
Even Janice Lester probably seemed like this type to begin with: certainly physically, and she was driven, focused, and ambitious (and in a warped way still is). She's in the sciences like most people he's into; and pretty clearly was the dominant force in their relationship even before it turned into an abusive situation (the relationship lasted a year, so the timeline allows for it). She idealizes a domineering, aggressive masculinity that he evidently fell short of, and she's contemptuous of him for not fitting that ideal, even though in terms of physical strength, he could have easily overpowered and attacked her. She's half-convinced herself he wanted to but never had the spirit to do it ("you were afraid. you were always afraid") but is also outraged that he managed to get away from her control—she's basically the worst-case scenario of his type, not a completely different one.
Contextually I think the year they were together likely occurred during his 2-3 years as an Academy student, before he got immediately transferred to space service without the usual teaching gap that people like Finney had to go through (probably only reinforcing her projection of resentment onto Kirk). So they would have been no more than 19 or 20 when they got together, very young.
Aside from these, Kirk has no unforced romantic encounters in S2, only femme fatale situations, and in S3, the amnesiac Kirk readily goes along with marriage to a woman he barely knows because she seems nice and people tell him he should. Odona deliberately pursues him, and once it seems they're going to be stranded alone together, he's receptive; even in the weak "Requiem for Methuselah," Rayna does the classic gentlemanly flirtation of guiding his movements at pool and defiantly broadcasting her interest.
Basically, I think Kirk could easily fall like a ton of bricks for Spock at any time, and would fall quickly. He uses sex appeal a lot, especially in S2; he is more straightforward and emphatic about his desires and lack of them in S3 and the "femme fatale" scenarios shift towards much more overtly violating territory in S3 as a result, but, when he's not using his desirability as a tool to navigate some desperate crisis, he doesn't fall in love often, just quickly and in a very swept-off-his-feet way that markedly contrasts with the other scenarios. That's definitely what would happen with Spock IMO.
However, I don't think younger Spock would be at all clear about his feelings, and I think he's very unlikely to pursue Kirk in anything like the way that Kirk's canonical old flames and those he uncomplicatedly falls for in TOS do. I feel like Spock's emotional baggage, if anything, would only be worse at the time.
—FWIW, I am not remotely convinced by the SNW apologetics about how he would be expressive and emotional in his younger years because he's trying out his human side and we don't bear in mind that it's earlier and he hasn't evolved into his final form of TOS Spock!! And so on. IMO S1 TOS Spock is very obviously taking his first baby steps towards the rootedness and sense of belonging and commitment he shows in S3, and every indication is that he had been profoundly isolated and deeply unhappy prior to that, and never really experienced anything like Kirk's icily outraged defense of him in "Balance of Terror" before that moment. The way he's treated in "The Galileo Seven" is a much more typical Day in the Life of Spock; there's a reason that Amanda is so pleased to discover Spock has a friend when Kirk indignantly sticks up for him wrt Sarek.
Anyway, the point is, young (basically married and deeply repressed) Spock is absolutely not in a place where he would take any kind of initiative in any kind of ... anything with Kirk (I do not get where the "he's not yet gay slutty Spock of TOS" is coming from, early TOS Spock would rather die than reveal a desire). Even befriending Spock would be a challenge in their younger days, I suspect.
And moreover, while I think Spock would also fall hard and fast, even if he were constitutionally capable of being receptive at that point and was letting on à la S3 Spock, young Kirk is himself not really in a place where he'd likely even notice. Especially if he knows Spock is married/betrothed (which he might very well not know, Spock being Spock—but if he did, I think the ethical issues would come screaming back into relevance).
However. All of this isn't to say there is no scenario where I could believe that a romance could happen between early career Kirk and slightly older Spock, just that I think there'd need to be more to the AU than their paths crossing early.
Maybe Spock is involved in the initial investigation into the tragedy of the Farragut, and the XO canonically on record as saying don't listen to what Lt. Kirk tells you, he did nothing wrong and nothing he might have done would have changed a thing draws Spock's attention to 23-year-old James Kirk, traumatized by mass slaughter again.
Or maybe Spock is the lab technician, rather than the unknown blonde, when Gary Mitchell plays matchmaker vs Kirk as the terror of PHIL101 (I don't think I've yet seen teacher!Kirk K/S scenarios where Kirk's subject isn't some hyper military thing or STEM, but I can more easily imagine super intense sharp-edged Lt. Cmdr. Spock who is almost entirely withdrawn into his turtle shell and super intense sharp-edged hyper-scholarly humanities guy Lt. Kirk hitting it off).
Maybe it's an even more off-the-beaten-path-of-TOS-canon AU scenario as a result of some other change that involves T'Pring eloping with Stonn (or whomever) when Spock ran off to Starfleet, and a year later, 20-year-old Spock is stepping in on behalf of bullied 17-year-old brand new cadet Jim Kirk (then a mere four years out from surviving starvation and genocide). That would shift to a primarily epistolary romance after Spock ships out and maybe it's easier for Spock to be a bit clearer and Jim a bit less oblivious in writing (I fully believe Spock would find Ensign Kirk's conduct wrt Finney's mistake 110% correct and his support might well slow Kirk's tendency towards isolating himself while projecting composure and charm, while Kirk would intentionally and unintentionally drag young Spock out of being mired in his own head for so long).
There are any number of other possibilities, too. Maybe Spock has a transitional period between missions when he's ~27 and decides he might as well get Academy credits for his PhD while on leave. Given that TOS only ever indicates that Kirk was a teacher (and a straitlaced, demanding one, not the "I'm the Cool Mom" type of prof), not Spock, and it's just one of the many Kirk qualities grafted onto Spock in the various ST movies, it could be fun to have a scenario where Spock is the genius student who thinks he's too advanced for the required philosophy course, and Kirk is the strict regulation-loving nerd at 24, teaching his class for only the second time, still processing [insert horrors] and in extra think-or-sink mode. What happens after the course? Did Kirk destroy Spock's perfect GPA? Lots of fun ways that could go, too, where they're more mutually challenging than the usual.
But basically, all of this is to say that I can't see it happening given where they were at emotionally and circumstantially at earlier ages (according to TOS) with no change other than their paths happening to cross. There needs to be a bigger change baked into the premise to make it plausible for me that Spock is going to be proactive enough and reveal enough of his own feelings, and the two of them thrown together enough, for young Kirk to "make a move."
(For me, as someone who feels the original movies are pretty transparently a reboot in all but name and many of the characters irreconcilably different as written from the versions in TOS, I think what's most probable in terms of what we see in TOS is Kirk and Spock quietly getting together after the five-year mission when, at least for awhile, Kirk is no longer his CO. Kirk is visibly getting ground down in S3 and Spock is if anything only more insane about him and indifferent to higher considerations than Kirk's welfare as S3 goes on. Kirk said Spock was closer to him than anyone in the universe in the series finale, Spock mind-melded with him without a single word or moment of difficulty, and they immediately tried to run away together hand-in-hand, and the court martial as well is just ... they seem closer and more devoted than ever, this doesn't feel like an impending estrangement, it feels like the second to last chapter of a will-they-won't-they romance. I can see Spock having a bunch of Very Logical reasons that Kirk —known T'Pau stan who thinks Vulcan is "lovely"—should rest on Vulcan after the mission wraps up and see the silver birds and put his off-duty phone on starship mode and have proper coffee for reasons other than staying conscious etc. And knowing the clock is ticking until the chain of command snaps back on, it's Spock who sets out to (very logically) court Kirk rather than Kirk having to do all the emotional heavy lifting.)
N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?
Oh, probably one of my Rebels time-travel fics, namely Ezra and Fulcrum's Wacky Adventure (what it says on the tin) or Tooka Out of the Bag (Kanan and Ezra time-travel from Malachor), both of which I think of often, but do not have nearly enough of a grasp on Rebels characters to actually write.
O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?
I'm not sure how to answer this because the question itself feels a bit... off? For fanfic, I mean. The characters are already there.
P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)
Depends on the fic in question, but generally I plan out a decent amount of the fic (especially if there is time travel or other order-of-operations events that have to happen in a certain way or the next step won't make sense or I'll have to retcon something), and then let characters and dynamics develop as they will. I don't usually end up with a whole lot of new plot points, but I do tend to end up with a decent number of unexpected character dynamics.
What's the deal with Jayce Giapora? Is he neuro-divergent? Is that a popular headcanon? Is he a jerk with a heart of gold? Is he golden with the heart of jerk? What's his LoL relationship to Viktor? What makes Giapora Giapora and Talis Talis? This is an invitation to rant if you're up for it. From: An Arcane Fan with a lot of curiosity.
So! Giopara isnt, canonically neurodivergent in a “this is explicitly said” sense, HOWEVER, after reading all of his bio, his short stories/comics, and playing him and hearing his funny lines in the games, I heavily heavily read him as being both autistic and having NPD (which is a neurological disorder! Also isn’t bad! Just means he has a lot of self confidence and a shame affects him wayyyy worse than it would affect a normal person) mainly because of the way he acts AND the way he personally thinks! (Which thank you League bio and a quick fix)
Giopara is, a jerk! And also doesn’t have a heart of gold deep down, he kinda sucks, and I say that in the most loving way I can, He doesn’t really like people, like at all, because no one is as smart as him so he finds it hard to talk to them and relate to them and people can’t tend to stand him due to his elevated ego, which is fine by him really! He doesn’t like people, people don’t like him, it works out well. In League lore, Viktor and Jayce met at a Party, and both bonded over not wanting to be there (which is super funny to me) and then eventually start working together because they can vaguely stand the other (U have to do a lot of cross referencing whilst reading their bio’s because Jayce and Viktor lie a lot to make their side of things seem better) but the general gist was Jayce thought they were friends, and apparently Viktor hated Jayce.
The differences between Talis and Giopara are pretty simple actually, people don’t really like to admit they’re way more similar than they first seem, but I am also an autistic idiot that has watched arcane 10 times, I know the show inside out at this point so. But the main difference between them is that Giopara is Jaded, Hes tired, Hes an asshole for reasons it’s kinda hard to understand. Talis is obviously! Quite sweet, though a lot of that Giopara arrogance and stuff is in there too! Talis Means Well, he wants to help people and cares about a Lot of people, but he’s still not a people person and doesn’t like being around them (literally forcing a smile during that speech on progress day godbless) Hes just naturally good at faking being a people person, so good that he got onto the council.
Basically, tldr; Giopara is like sucky but Hes my beloved babygirl who I am so overly emotionally attatched to, and reads as having neurological disorders, him and viktor have weird consistency issues due to them lying but the general consensus is that they were buddies before their argument, and Talis is like when you get a new golden retriever puppy, and Giopara is like when you adopt an elderly crusty white dog.
I REALLY LIKE IT AND I THINK ITS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE SEEN A FIC USE THE READER!DESMOND FOR THE TIME-TRAVEL-DESMOND-LIVES NARRATIVE RATHER THAN THE EYE DIRECTLY. I REALLY LIKE THIS VERSION. I REALLY LIKE LAYLA BEING THE SPARK THAT INSPIRES DESMOND. THANK YOU FOR WRITING AN AC FIC.
Nfjxjcjdososnd THANK YOU! I honestly didn't know about Reader!Desmond until like right after I got inspired to write the story. I had HEARD he showed up in Valhalla but I haven't finished Valhalla yet so I went "argh fuck it" and watched that specific scene and did a slight spoil on Basim for myself because I wanted to use that.
Anger issues, violent lashing out, powerful, and actively trying to become darker, even to the point of killing his own father, that’s a damn good start for a villain.
Also, I actually like that he was actively rejecting the light so intensely. With other Sith in Star Wars, they focus on getting more powerful in the dark, rejecting the light almost feels like an integral byproduct rather than a main focus. But a Sith who is actively focused on rejecting the light? A Sith who is actively focused on becoming a worse person? Sign me up for hating this guy!
A villain should be someone you can hate. And Kylo does have time as someone who is the right kind of hateable.
I am so sorry you-know-who found you. I want you to know that I find all your takes very reasonable and well argumented, and that its quite a shame you-know-who is twisting your words. That's what you-know-who does.
Please receive my support and affection.
I was mostly pissed because I was preoccupied with some other stuff tbh. She doesn't upset me, she irritates me x) I'm fine. It's not harassment, since I'm not personally targeted but my arguments are - it's just exceedingly annoying (btw, nobody should go to her blog to send *her* anon asks either, just getting that out of the way. It's pointless, it's mean, and it reinforces this stupid narrative that anyone who disagrees with her is a bully.)
Mon my beloved, I just…kiss the very ground you walk on? Because you are coming at me with so much goodness and kindness as usual and I’m just ready to explode with joy 💚💙
CHARTREUSE = You’re my homie
BURGUNDY = I get excited when I see posts from you
TIMBERWOLF = I trust you
TANGERINE = I love your aesthetic
BLUSH = Seeing you on my dash makes my day a little better.
GREEN = I think you’re cute.
BLACK = I would date you.
And the feelings mutual 😍😘🤗you may definitely take me on that date, let me grab my things! 😎
(i think i should at least try this)
BLACK = I would date you.
GREEN = I think you’re cute.
BLUE = You are my tumblr crush.
GREY = I wish yo
