Otter's Rock

In addition to writing for Yuletide, I also wrote a treat for startrekholidays! Because DesertVixen asked for Ro Laren and Benjamin Maxwell, and it really caught my attention. (Maxwell is the captain whose family was killed by Cardassians during the war, and so he goes rogue and takes his ship into Cardassian space to prove that they're rebuilding, and Picard et al have to go round him up and bring him back to Federation space under arrest, despite knowing that Maxwell is right.) It's a great episode, and DesertVixen is right that they have some interesting commonalities. However, when I looked at the ways she suggested they might meet, I realized that the obvious way was none of those, but rather in prison, because "The Wounded" (Maxwell's ep) takes place a couple of years before "Ensign Ro," where Ro is introduced.


Title: The Prisoner
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: TNG
Characters: Ro Laren, Ben Maxwell
Written for: DesertVixen in Star Trek Holiday Exchange 2024

They didn't get many new prisoners, so each one was big news.

Laren heard there was a shuttle scheduled while she was in the gardens. It was her turn to turn the compost pile.

"Olwen said it was an admiral, someone really high up," Sime said. Sime was an engineer who'd somehow managed to hide a gambling addiction until he'd gotten in hock to the Orion Syndicate—and then, instead of coming clean to his superiors and asking for help, tried to clear his debts by selling information that had led to the deaths of half-a-dozen Starfleet officers, and the enslavement of four civilians. Laren despised him, but then, she didn't like many people.

( Read more... )

crossworks is live, and the authors will be revealed tomorrow; I wrote one story and received not one but TWO great fics! Go read them all, there are a lot of great fics, but here are my recommendations.

( Crossover Recs )

 

startrekholidays just revealed! I wrote two fics, one assignment and one pinch hit. This fic, we matched on Guinan/Picard. I really thought hard about writing an AU of Time's Arrow where Picard ends up stuck in the past with Guinan instead of going back to the future/his present. So far, my first impulse for Guinan/Picard is very strongly towards writing episode related fic, far more than for other characters and pairings; I think it may be because there's so little Guinan fic that it feels like there are a lot of canon possibilities yet to be explored in a way that most characters and pairings really don't have. This is a short fic, but I'm pleased with it.

Title: A Grief Shared
Author: beatrice_otter 
Fandom: Star Trek TNG
Pairing: Guinan/Jean-Luc Picard
Length: 2363 words
Written For: peasina in Star Trek Holidays 2022
Betaed by: sixbeforelunch 

Summary: During the episode Family, Guinan comes to visit Jean-Luc at the vineyard.

At AO3. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.


Jean-Luc had been out wandering around the vineyard, soaking in the sun and indulging in a bit of nostalgia. That one cathartic mud fight with Robert hadn't cured all that was wrong with him, but that plus his decision to return to Enterprise and Starfleet had loosened up a bit of what had been locked tight within him. He could be more present in the moment than he had been, those first days home. There was still a good deal of work to do, putting himself back together from the ruin the Borg had left of his psyche; but he felt better up to it than he had before his leave.

(  Counselor Troi was right when she said that talking about it, instead of ignoring it, was an effective tool toward healing. Much as he would have preferred differently. )

This is a quick treat I tossed off close to the deadline. I've always been intrigued by the idea of Worf and Deanna together, and I enjoyed puzzling through "how they might have gotten together."

Title: Sweet Beginnings
Fandom: Star Trek: the Next Generation
Pairing: Deanna Troi/Worf
Rating: gen
Length: 1630 words
Written for: Spacecadet72 for Rare Pairs 2021
Summary: Worf has noticed Deanna in a whole new way. Deanna has noticed him noticing.

At AO3. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.



Even when he was conflicted and unsure, Worf was decisive and forthright; that was one of the things Deanna liked about him. It could occasionally get him into trouble, but Deanna had enough patients come to her who needed to be coaxed into admitting their feelings and thoughts, and then into taking appropriate actions to deal with their problems, that it was good to have friends who were more straightforward.

Which was why, when his attention started turning to her when they were both on the bridge during quiet shifts, she noticed. There was a bit more attraction in it than she was used to, from him, and also a bit of hesitance that was deeply uncharacteristic. It kept drawing her attention to him, but Deanna was a professional, and used to managing her response to others' feelings. Especially their feelings about her.

( Still. It did make her wonder. )

blackisbeautifulex was a lot of fun, and I am SO glad I did it! I ended up starting not one, not two, but THREE stories for it and only got one completed to show for it. I started off by looking at my recip's Benjamin Sisko prompts (I LOVE Sisko and it is a CRIME that he does not get more fic), and I started one about Starfleet's response to him being the Emissary. Then I read their list of likes (they didn't have any prompts :( but at least they had likes) and they like soulmark stories, so then I went "ooooooooooh, what if it's a deconstruction of the soulmate trope because Sisko's soulmark is from the Prophets, not about any mortal soulmate relationship, and what would that say about his relationships with Jennifer and Kassidy?" I started that one, but then realized that if they like soulmate stories, they may not like the trope being deconstructed, and so that would probably not be a great gift, so went back to the first story. It was almost done, I had one scene left, and then I went back to double-check their DNWs and realized that while my fic didn't cross them, it was getting pretty darn close to one. (The DNW was depression, and part of the fic was talking about Sisko's deep grief for Jennifer and how he only really and truly emerged from the fog of grief during that first encounter with the Prophets. Grief is not depression, but a long-term deep grief has a LOT of similarities, and if they DNW'd depression they probably wouldn't want something where deep grief was that important to the story.)

And this was, like, a day before the upload deadline.

Cue panic. I went back and forth on things for a while, and realized that while the last scene (which I was in the midst of writing) was the one that got closest to the DNW, and the story would work as a complete whole without it (even if the last scene would make the story better). So I uploaded a bus-pass version of the story without the final scene (i.e. one that would fulfill the requirements if I got hit by a bus between then and reveals, even if it wasn't as polished as I would like). But I was still fretting about things, so I went back to their letter to see if anything else they'd requested grabbed me.

Lo and behold, there in the TNG section was Geordi/Data. Now, I enjoy both characters separately and together, but I'm fairly meh about them--there are other TNG pairings I find more compelling. But! the idea of a Geordi/Data soulmate fic was interesting. Could an android have a soulmate? What would it be like to be an android's soulmate? And the whole idea blossomed from there, and I wrote over 8k in a week and uploaded it in place of the Sisko fic the day before it was due. Despite the rush and not having a beta, I really like how it turned out.

Title: open your heart knowing
Author: Beatrice_otter
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Characters: Geordi LaForge/Data
Written for: eafay70 in Black Is Beautiful 2021
AN: Yes, I know that the show implies that Data had never played poker before he played it with the senior officers, but given how common poker is in Starfleet, I am disregarding that.

Summary: Geordi had no idea what his soulmark meant, until he saw Data's manual.

At AO3. On tumblr.

Geordi had always known his soulmark was a little unusual. For one thing, it was on his back, and most humans had their soulmark in a place where they could see it themselves without a mirror. For another, it wasn't a word or symbol anyone recognized. Instead, it was a semi-regular pattern of dots.

( Read more... )

Lovely author, here is my theory about letters: how much detail people want in a letter is HIGHLY variable. Some people (such as myself) prefer if their recip gives LOTS of guidance on their wishes. Some prefer as little as possible so they can be free as a bird. Most are somewhere in between. So! Here's everything including the kitchen sink if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am just not inspired that way."

I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am very rarely disappointed with my gifts. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

Please no incest or darkfic.

( General likes and dislikes )

( Star Wars: Original Trilogy )

( Star Trek: TOS )

( Battlestar Galactica )

( Star Trek: Deep Space 9 )

Lovely author, here is my theory about letters: how much detail people want in a letter is HIGHLY variable. Some people (such as myself) prefer if their recip gives LOTS of guidance on their wishes. Some prefer as little as possible so they can be free as a bird. Most are somewhere in between. So! Here's everything including the kitchen sink if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am just not inspired that way."

I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am very rarely disappointed with my gifts. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

Please no incest.

( Other likes and dislikes )


Fandoms:

( The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison )

( Imperial Radch Series )

( Lord of the Rings )

( Rivers of London )

( Star Trek: TOS )

( Babylon 5 )

( Doctor Who )

( TNG )

( Deep Space 9 )

( Star Wars: Movies & Animated )

Lovely author, here is my theory about letters: how much detail people want in a letter is HIGHLY variable. Some people (such as myself) prefer if their recip gives LOTS of guidance on their wishes. Some prefer as little as possible so they can be free as a bird. Most are somewhere in between. So! Here's everything including the kitchen sink if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am just not inspired that way."

I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am very rarely disappointed with my gifts. I write long and detailed Dear Author letters because I find such things helpful when I'm writing for other people; if you are like me, here you go! If your style is different and a detailed letter makes you feel hemmed-in, feel free to do what works for you.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks just don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

One thing: I do have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

Please no incest.

( General likes/dislikes )

( Babylon 5 )

( BSG )

( Star Trek TNG )

( DS9 )

( Stargate: SG-1 )
( Sarah Connor Chronicles )

( Enterprise )

( Guess Who's Coming To Dinner )

( BSG/Voyager )

( Voyager )

All Our Broken Plans (5440 words) by sixbeforelunch
Fandom: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sam Lavelle, Taurik (Star Trek)
Additional Tags: Space Stations, Slice of Life, Friendship, Alcohol
Summary:  Sam had a plan. It involved a low-key away mission. Taurik had a plan. It involved his brother. Neither of them get what they wanted.

Lovely characterization and worldbuilding.

Lydia, still (2719 words) by tree
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lydia Bennet, Data (Star Trek), Jean-Luc Picard
Additional Tags: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Epistolary, Holodecks/Holosuites, I Don't Even Know
Summary:

Rocks fall. Everyone dies.

Except Lydia.

Interesting crossover, I really liked it.