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elephant-in-the-pride-parade · 6 days

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20 Fic Writer Quesions

First, thank you @singeart and @mytardisisparked for tagging me!. I did a set of these last year and it was fun to see how my answers have changed since then!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

1.6 million and counting!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Star Trek Voyager

Star Trek Prodigy

Sailor Moon

Harry Potter

Madam Secretary

Ive debated writing SwanQueen for a long time but by the time I had the energy and time to write, I'd lost interest in the show. I might rewatch and come back to it one day...

I have thought about writing Wynonna Earp or Tamora Pierce universe fanfiction but have yet to get an idea that grabs me. I like to find things i want to fix and it's hard when the source material is perfection.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Parent Trap (305)

Sailor Moon H Order of the Phoenix (289)

Sailor Moon H Half Blood Prince (222)

Eden's Deception (167)

Out of Reach (150)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! although if I'm busy or feeling down it can take me a while. Sometimes I forget.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I still think What Even is 3 Minutes takes the cake. Or I'll be Your First if You'll be my Last

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I Heard the Comm on Christmas Morn and Parent Trap

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Unfortunately I've gotten hate on fics since I started writing them... and it's become just something I expect to happen. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it confuses me. Sometimes it makes me sad. It really depends...

The memorable haters:

There was the delightful Fanfiction.net reviewer who got pissed i was "making everybody gay" (that was funny actually). I forget if they were the same person who flamed me when Mcgonagall and Hooch kissed under some mistletoe. I digress. They thought queering up the canon was like sinful or whatever. I was delighted to disagree and make the story even queerer.

Another person cussed me out for magically restraining Sailor Plutos time travel powers so my plot would work and for making her have feelings about it. aparently mad the senshi were not all powerful deus exmachinas who never feel feelings... That one stung. That was the reason I left FFN.

Hate because in Sailor Moon H, Harry Potter was not the main character.

Hate that I made a magic bio baby for the magical lesbians. (I can't have a biobaby with my wife irl, can't I at least let the fantasy girlies have one!)

Hate for including C/7 in a story

...I wouldn't call it hate for the fic but I have had an uncomfortable amount of commenters who hate on Chakotay any time I have him involved with Seven / don't have him grovel to Kathryn / really any time I let him advocate for how he's been hurt... at first comments like this stressed me out because i worried i had not written the character sufficiently sympathetic. But then Parent Trap breached containment and I got enough comments to be able to see I had definitely written the character fine... it was just that some people were always just rooting for a "Chakotay falls over himself to apologize to Janeway for not immediately dating her" storyline that... I'm not sorry 😅 I'm never going to write that. The older I get the more I feel like both of J/C just need therapy! They've been through so much trauma. Their feelings are valid (yes, even for other people).

Parent Trap breaching containment also meant that when I hit an irl rut and couldnt get in the writing headspace for a bit, a bunch of - sincerely, well meaning - fans got into their heads to start a commenting campaign to get me to update. I heard about it and panicked (i had bad experiences that year of getting people who only commented "update soon" and those conversely stressed me out and made me not want to write - I love fic writing for the conversations and community... so it made me feel like readers thought i was just a content vending machine). so just the thought of potentially getting an avalanche of guests, well meaning or not, begging me to update made me lock commenting until the fic was done. I wound up deciding after that that since "update soon" requests were becoming a lot more frequent that I'd consider before posting whether getting them would hurt my ability to finish. So most of the time now if I know a fic is going to reach a bigger potential community, I don't start posting it until it's almost done. That has had some upsides! (Im less dependent on positive feedback for motivation now!) and some downsides (no one comments on my fics with their theories anymore) but on a whole, a good decision.

Immediately after finishing Parent Trap I wrote Fever and got this amazing guest comment from someone who said (paraphrasing cuz i'm too busy to go find it) "Youre better than this. how dare you write this filth. J/C are better than this" that one had me laughing for days. But the comment did prompt me to create a second account later when I wrote a tentacle fic. At the time I worried i'd get a ton of similar flame comments from people who were subscribed to my main for other types of fic... but I am even feeling like that's unnecessary now. I write what I write! Yes, some of it is really dirty, weird smut. I'm not sorry.

Currently any time I post a Threshold AU fic an anon drops into my comments section in order to call me "Sick" and "Deranged"... they make me so sad I don't even make a quippy reply. I just delete them. I write that universe for my own wish fulfillment... Someday (soon, hopefully) I'm gonna have kids. And I am going to have to have conversations with them about who their biological dad is. Why they look like one mom and not the other, whether their non bio family love them even if theyre not blood related. I might have a kid who feels different from everyone else because they're queer or they're neurodivergent or they're some new alienating feeling I am totally unprepared for. and I'll need to help them navigate that.. Writing about hybrid salamander kids getting raised in a blended family is FUN. But more importantly... it helps me practice those situations. It comforts me to know that if the characters can figure this out in the AU then I can figure this out in real life! What the hell is sick and deranged about that!?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I write all sorts of smut. I post the stuff that doesn't totally mortify me once i've gotten out of whatever mood had me writing the smut in the first place.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have exactly two crossovers to my name: Sailor Delta and Sailor Moon H. I think on the basis of word count alone Sailor Moon H (>500,000) is definitely the craziest.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I consider the unlicensed use of the AO3 archive for ChatGPT and similar LLMs theft. (and there are several court cases pending that are also seeking to address whether it is legally theft as it pertains to published fiction and newspapers). The canon creators of the fandoms I write for aren't allowed to make money by using uncredited ideas pulled from my fanfiction (just like I am not allowed to make money from writing fic with their copyrighted settings and characters) and i continue to be apalled that ChatGPT and other LLMs think they can get away with using others copyrighted ideas without permission. Especially that they can take advantage of people who cant profit off their own work.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but i would be open to it!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Once with @magdalenejaneway, once with @jellybeansarecool and once with @trekflower and all three were fantastic!

Most of what I write for Threshold AU is also increasingly collaborated on a great deal by the AU creators and a few other folks. It's been going for over 2 years now and doing that more and more has enabled us all to drop more references to previous fics and to create a more cohesive body of fic for the AU. in general its just been so fun and fulfilling to make these stories with other people who are as invested in the characters as me and it just fills me with joy. I'm really grateful for you guys.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

On the one hand J/C have inspired over 50 fics, But on the other I have also been loving Sailor Moon and those ships since before I knew what fandom or shipping were. And really the only reason J/C inspire more fic is that all the sailor moon characters got a happy ending.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I never want to give up on a WIP...

but I am in knots about what all to do with Out of Reach.

Out of Reach is a St:Prodigy S1 AU where Chakotay has amnesia and doesn't remember anything from his time on Voyager, all the while he and Kathryn are in a situationship with a baby.

There's two questions I never figured out how to answer: 1. Does he get his memories back. If so, how much and what enables it. and 2: Do he and Kathryn stay together?

On the memories front. saying he never recovers seems unfair to the character. But saying he magically does thanks to 24th century science feels cheap and disrespectful - to the reality of real memory loss and to the plot that built up so much tension around this. Saying he gets back some or more over time is more realistic, but left me uncertain of where exactly to end the story. Tying his retrieval of memories to Kathryn also tied me up in knots. On the one hand they're in love and thats romantic. on the other hand the optics of his recovery totally dependent on one person is icky.

I also found the baby really annoying to have there by the end - I still think he's cuteeee i really do!!! - it's just... he makes the "we should stay together and try to figure this out" answer a bit too convenient 😅. and he complicates Kathryns reluctance to restart their relationship. The more she resists, the more callous she seems (deliberately not trying to patch things up with her kid's father) when i really just want to focus on her fears that Chakotay would be happier without her and that even if they restart their romance, she might lose him again on a future mission. It's ironic because i originally created the baby to ensure she wouldnt just run away from her fears. And now hes contributing to my difficulty ending the fic...

Actually the more I think on it, my real problem is I could write my way out of this, but I cant do it in only one or two chapters and that makes me feel tired. i was sorta hoping to wrap that fic up. 😅🙈

16. What are your writing strengths?

Imagery has always been a strength for me. But i think I'm also getting really good at action scenes too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Oneshots.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Only if it was information i wanted the reader to understand but not the POV character.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

W.I.T.C.H way back when I was 15.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Universe to Mend - I even have a few sequel or companion novel ideas to come after it.

This has gone on a while... 😅 - thank you for tagging me and letting me ramble! i'll tag anyone else who wants to answer! have at it.

#writing asks #elephantwrites

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trek-tracks · 4 years

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Thoughts on Picard S1

I’m glad to have been able to watch Picard. Stewart’s great. I’m happy the show exists. The Troi-Rikers, Hugh, and Seven were wonderful to see. As a caveat, a) my expectations were sky-high, and b) I wound up watching it online with people who liked to snark, and two or three of them were serious haters, so this perhaps coloured my watching experience.

I just...I wanted to care more.

I like the new characters enough, and Elnor in particular is very sweet, but I still don't know enough about them because the show had no room to breathe. We needed more silly/serious, in-between episodes to develop the characters, when it's not just trying to serve an overarching giant plot. A lot of the character development (Jurati and Maddox, Rios and his captain) felt like it existed mainly because it could move the plot along, which leads to a tighter season, but a somewhat emptier one. We did get “filler,” but it was filler where characters repeated things we already knew to other characters, so the filler was mostly plot-based, not character-based.

The problem with doing that, especially when we have a small number of characters that are known quantities, is that we SO disproportionately care about the TNG/VOY characters that the others seem like...not filler, but distractions from those we really care about. I’ve talked about this before in my review of a TOS book, which had a one-off romance character attached to one of the Triumvirate. We tend not to care about those romances much, focusing on the friendships that have been built up over years. This isn’t because the new character is bad, but because of the Character Fondness Power Differential (a term I made up).

(serious spoilers below the cut)

That’s why the scene with Picard agreeing to shut Data off hits right in the gut, because we care about these characters equally, and we care about their pain equally.

It’s not that we don’t care about Raffi, Rios, Agnes…it’s that we care SO much about Picard, that when he dies (and we pretty much know that, with Picard Season 2 greenlit, we can’t fully give over to grief because something’s going to happen to cause him to be able to participate) we’re focusing on our own grief, not the grief of these characters who are still pretty new in our hearts. (Okay, Babey Elnor crying was pretty sad.) Why do they get to have the grief, we wonder, since we feel we’ve known him longer than they have? It’s like having the UberEats guy give your aunt’s eulogy because she ordered in a lot in her last month.

I did feel those big feelings I was looking for in the episode with the Troi-Rikers, and when Picard and "Data" were interacting (I really enjoyed Nepenthe, and Kestra, and I’ve made my peace with all that added semi-necessary angst). Seeing Riker in the Captain’s chair was awesome, though we really could have used a “Riker sit” of him getting into it.

Despite the beauty of Picard and Data’s final conversation, though, I really don't think we needed to experience Data's death again, "but for real this time." It's like, it already hurts! He was already dead! It was emotional, and sweet, and fine, but ouch. I know Spiner doesn't want to play him anymore, which I absolutely get and appreciate, but it sort of felt like stomping on the fans so nobody would ask him to do it again. I still love Data forever. I kind of wish he’d gotten to talk to Hugh or Elnor. There was no scene of Elnor getting to meet Spot II. I wanted to riot.

I’m glad they didn’t fridge her, but it was less than impressive that nobody even mentions Bev, Picard's best friend and confidante on the Enterprise - not even Troi, Bev’s other best friend. Yes, that could have easily changed over decades, but I’d like to know why - I can’t tell if they’re saving her for next season, or if they just really don’t care about her, and I’m scared it’s the latter. I did, for a moment, think that if they really were going to kill Picard, technically in at least one future there’s a Captain Beverly Picard…so she could have taken over and the title would still work.

I do like what they did with Seven, and I’m thankful they gave her a complex role and are letting her be happy enough. Her grief over Icheb felt real; it hurt less for me, due to his actor’s phenomenal crappiness, but man, did it have to be so graphic? The brief second of a budding Seven and Raffi romance was cool - wlw Seven! To build up to that, they could really have showed them together grieving first, rather than splitting them up for those scenes. That way, they could have at least one more interaction that would support a flirtation. (It still makes more fucking sense than Seven and Chakotay.) It’s great that we got such a range of female characters, and (almost) none of them died to create manpain. (Sorry, Dahj. Alas.)

However, killing Hugh, the show’s ray of hope, was a really cheap shot for shock value; I spent at least two episodes hoping that he would be brought back, somehow. They seem to have developed something potentially meaningful between him and Elnor, both patron saints of lost causes, but it seems like 90% of those scenes hit the cutting room floor, so it was unclear what was going on in the finished product, and how and why they bonded. Hugh was the hope of rebuilding, and I feel like he was meaninglessly sacrificed for evil when he could have been used symbolically for good. Even if his story in relation to Picard ends in Season 1 - let him continue his work. Because that’s what Star Trek is all about, right? Continuing the Great Work. Seven, Hugh and Elnor could have been the most adorable family. Raffi could come too.

The Romulans seemed to backslide into more cartoonish villains, when the show could have been used for development and depth. The Romulannister incest overtones were unpleasant. What the hell happened to Narek at the end of the last episode? The writers just seemed to forget about him. Is he still on Coppelius (I still can’t get over that symbolic name, and “A.I” Soong)? Did they let him go on a ship? Is he in jail? Did they let him wander off, because they forgot he existed? Did he start a new career as a Disco Spock impersonator? We also didn’t see Narissa’s body, so who knows if she’ll be back again. If she comes back instead of Hugh…sigh.

It will be interesting to see how they deal with Picard as a synth. I hope that they don’t just totally let it fade into the background, treating it as a “first season problem” solution, and actually give it practical or philosophical implications. (Someone in my chat, seeing Picard and Data in the “quantum simulation,” said that it looked like we were about to get a Trek version of The Good Place, and I was so into that idea I almost gasped.)

In short, I had a bunch of issues with the season, I’m still feeling warm overall, and looking forward to boldly going into season two - but maybe at a slower pace. Warp 2 instead of Warp 9?

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hannah-deserved-better · 4 years

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Multi Fandom Extravaganza Ch. 1

This multi fandom fic is going to be a little different than my other fics in the past in that it’s not really a plot. It’s more of a collection of one shots. Each chapter will contain a collection of small drabbles which with move the story along. These are all of my favorite characters in all of my favorite fandoms. Here are the timelines from each series.

Supernatural: Season 15, they are battling Chuck. Pairing is Castiel/Hannah/Meg.

The Legends of Drizzt: takes place after the events of the novel Exile by R. A Salvatore. Pairing is going to be Drizzt Do’Urdon/Ellifain Tuuserail

Rurounni Kenshin: Takes place sometime in season one of the anime. No romantic pairings, just a platonic bromance between Kenshin and Sanosuke.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Takes place in season seven. Pairing is Picard/Crusher

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Takes place in season six. Pairing is Kira/Odo

Star Trek Voyager: Takes place in season seven. Pairing is Janeway/Chakotay

X-files: takes place some time in season seven. Pairing is Mulder/Scully

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Takes place sometime in season four. Pairing will be Willow Rosenburg/Charlie Bradbury from Supernatural

Hobbit: Takes place during the battle of the five armies pairings will be Fili/Original Gnome character from the Forgotten Realms series, and Kili/Original Hobbit character

Lord of the Rings: Takes place during the battle of Helm’s Deep. No pairings, just Faramir, Legolas, and Aragorn bromancing together. There may be a Faramir/Aragorn thing but we’ll see.

Note: This story is not canon in anyway. It falls somewhere between canon divergence and AU.

Note Two: I don’t own any of these characters (except Asphodel and Brenna, they come from my novel so they are mine, but I adapted them to fit into the Tolkien and Forgotten Realms verse and changed their backgrounds to fit. Everyone else belongs to their associated creators.

Note 3: No haters. This is a collection of rare-pairs for the most part. If you don’t like them, or their fandoms, then don’t read it.

Note 4: there is no real plot, I’m kinda writing as I go, letting my muse do the writing. I would love to have an idea beta, or two, or three for this so let me know if you are interested.

Warnings: There will be plenty of violence, survival themes, struggles, etc. Some of the characters have trauma, some of them start out as enemies. Some of them have violent backgrounds.

The first chapter is kinda boring, there are a lot of characters and I wanted to quickly introduce them all.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217501/chapters/66485341

FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13729681/1/Around-the-World

Chapter One: Introductions

Part One: On the shores of unknown

When Castiel woke up, his head throbbed with pain. But the sun beat down on him. As he opened his eyes, he found himself on the shores of a strange ocean; its sea-green waves crashed onto the sand as two suns hung in the air.

“When did Earth get a second sun?” the angel wondered as he got slowly to his feet, glancing around him. As he did, he noticed three other figures lying prone on the beach. Quickly, he hurried to the first one. An agile looking creature with the darkest skin Castiel had ever seen, and his long hair was a stark white color as it spread out on the sand around him.

Castiel knelt, touching the man, trying to see if he was alive. His touch provoked an immediate response, and the man, or creature, whatever he might be, was suddenly sitting up, brandishing a curved scimitar sword so quickly that Castiel nearly stumbled backward in an attempt to back away and avoid having his arm chopped off.

“Who are you!” the man demanded as he got to his feet. “Where am I?” He blinked as he gazed around at his surroundings, and Castiel was perplexed by his strange purple eyes and his pointed ears.

“I could ask those same questions,” Castiel told him as he stood in front of the man. “My name is Castiel, but I just woke up here, like you.”

“I’m Drizzt Do’Urdon,” the man stammered, as he put a hand to his head and looked around, trying to get his bearings.

“I believe we are all in the same predicament,” came another voice. Castiel glanced at the other two men. One appeared to be an Asian man with slightly feminine features. He was short and slim. He wore a burgundy men’s kimono with white hakama pants. His red hair was pulled into a ponytail.

The other man almost looked artificial. He looked as though his face had been sculpted out of clay. He wore a strange tan and yellow uniform jumpsuit.

“I gather that we aren’t on Earth,” Castiel surmised as he glanced around at the strange faces. Of course, he was wearing his usual beige trench coat and blue tie, but he doubted any of them suspected he wasn’t human.

The clueless looks on all of their faces most likely mirrored his own. Castiel wondered if maybe this might be one of Chuck’s other worlds. It concerned him, considering that Chuck was busy destroying all of his worlds one by one. This one didn’t seem to be in any danger at the moment.

“I believe we should introduce ourselves,” Castiel told his companions. “And then we can try to find out where we came from and how to get back.”

“Where I am makes no difference, I suppose,” The samurai responded. “I’m only a wanderer, after all. I do have friends I would like to get back to, however. You can call me Kenshin.”

“I’m Constable Odo,” said their last companion. Castiel turned his attention to Odo. He glanced at him curiously, and he explained. “I am a shapeshifter. I’m afraid I don’t do faces very well.”

“Shapeshifter,” Castiel pondered that. He had no reason to doubt that these people were who they said they were even if he had no idea what sort of beings they were. They all seemed to be from different worlds, perhaps even other realms altogether. “Well, you should all be aware that I am an angel, although I’m afraid I don’t have my wings.”

“I’m only a samurai,” Kenshin replied. “Just a wandering swordsman.”

“I am a drow,” Drizzt explained as he put his blade away. Castiel noted that Drizzt and Kenshin were both armed with swords. Kenshin wore a long katana on his waist while Drizzt wore two scimitars, one on each side of his belt.

Drizzt wore his thick white hair long and flowing. As the wind picked up, his hair danced around him. He wore a thick green cloak, high boots, and a unicorn bone carving around his neck.

With the introductions concluded, Castiel looked towards the treeline of what looked like a forest. A small stream appeared to be flowing across the sand towards the waves.

“I think if we follow this stream, we may find some clues,” he suggested.

“I could just fly out and see if I can see anything,” Odo suggested. Castiel nodded, feeling envious. He missed his wings.

Odo quickly morphed into a bird and took off soaring high above the trees. Castiel glanced at the others as they all waited for Odo to return. He could tell that these two both had stories to tell, and he thought maybe their being here was no coincidence. Perhaps he was connected to them somehow. He hoped he would find out soon.

Part Two: A desolate town

Hannah found herself lying in the middle of what appeared to be some sort of convenience store. It seemed to be abandoned, the rows of paper products and candy had been scattered about the floor, and the glass refrigerating walls containing various beverages were all smashed in. Hannah thought maybe there had been a struggle here, and the eerie quiet kept her on her guard.

She’d spend so long in the endless darkness that was the empty. She had endured the moans and cries of dead angels and demons as they called out into the darkness. Their sorrows, their regrets, she wished they could all be silent.

But in an instant, she was dropped from the empty and left here on Earth. She had no idea why or how, only that she was an angel again. Glancing around her, she heard what sounded like voices outside. Carefully, she walked through the glass and debris towards the door.

The sun was bright and hot as she stepped out onto what appeared to be the concrete surface, which seemed to be a gas station. It looked so much like the many way-stations she and Castiel had visited that she almost expected to see him standing there, or perhaps leaning on his vehicle.

But he wasn’t there. Instead, Hannah found three women standing in front of the gas pumps, chattering to one another. They all glanced over, and one of them quickly produced what Hannah assumed was a weapon.

“Who are you?” the woman wearing a red jumpsuit and pointing a strange weapon at Hannah demanded. She wore short red hair, and as Hannah came closer, she noticed the strange markings on her nose.

“I’m an angel,” Hannah replied softly, holding her hands up as the three of them walked up to her. One of them appeared to be a child, being of much shorter stature, but as she got closer, Hannah could see she wasn’t a child at all, though she appeared young. She had thick curly red hair, large pointed ears, and she was barefoot.

“An angel?” the third woman was a petite red-haired woman wearing a business suit and a long dark trench coat. Hannah seemed to fit in the most with her, as she wore her grey blazer, dark blue shirt, and jeans. “Even Mulder wouldn’t believe that.”

Hannah felt confused. “I don’t know who Mulder is, but I assure you, I am telling the truth,” she insisted. “My name is Hannah; I am an angel of the lord.”

“Prove it,” the woman insisted, crossing her arms across her chest and raising a brow. Hannah frowned as she realized her powers were weakened. The return from the empty must have drained her. But she gathered what strength she had and focused on a newspaper stand, and suddenly, it burst into flames.

Hannah was quick to put the fire out, and when she turned to the women, they all looked impressed and bewildered. “Is that enough for your approval?” she asked. The red-haired woman nodded.

“I’m special agent Dana Scully,” the woman introduced herself, coming forward, her eyes wide as she looked Hannah over. “I can’t believe I am meeting an angel.”

“My powers are weakened,” Hannah explained, and she glanced at the others. “I assume you all have names as well?”

The taller of the two nodded. “Kira Nerys,” Kira introduced. “I’m a Bajoran. I don’t exactly have any powers.”

“And I’m Asphodel Breeswillow. I’m a Hobbit of the shire,” said the short young woman. “This world is so strange. I knew I shouldn’t have wandered too far from home.”

“We will find our way back to where we belong,” Hannah assured her. “If we work together.” Hannah wasn’t sure of her own words. She didn’t know where they were or where they had all come from. And she wasn’t all that familiar with Earth anyway. But she sensed all these women were reasonable, and maybe with their help, they would all be able to find familiarity.

Part three: Cave of Wonders

Beverly Crusher had thought she had gone to bed in her own quarters on the Enterprise last night, but when she woke up, she was anywhere but.

It didn’t take her long to learn that she was in a cave and that her companions were as lost as she was. Faramir, captain of Gondor, Meg, a demon, and Ellifain, a pretty black-haired elf, had all been close by when she opened her eyes.

The mouth of the cave they were in was wide, and it provided adequate shelter for the insufferable heat. But as the four of them ventured outside into the vast grassy plains, which seemed to stretch on forever, they had little protection. The suns above them were relentless.

“This seems to be a binary system,” Beverly commented as she walked through the tall grass. “Whoever transported us must be nearby.”

“I will be returned to the Moonwoods so I can complete my quest,” Ellifain demanded as she gripped her longbow.

“What kind of quest are you on, Milady?” Faramir asked as they all walked close to one another. They were all strangers, but every Starfleet survival training course she’d ever taken had always emphasized the importance of working with others.

And in her travels, Beverly had encountered so many different species; these beings and their diverse cultures didn’t feel too strange to her. Though given Faramir and Ellifain’s clothing and attire, Beverly worried that she had stumbled upon a pre-warp society.

“I’m on a quest for vengeance,” Ellifain explained angrily. “I was hunting him before I was brought him; I must find his trail again.”

“Ooh vengeance, eh?” Meg, the demon lifted a brow. “Sounds sexy. Do tell more.”

“It is not anyone’s concern but my own,” Ellifain retorted as she stormed ahead of them. “And I do not need anyone’s help.”

“I don’t think we should go too far from the cave,” Beverly spoke up as she came to a stop in the grass and turned back towards the direction they had come. A line of towering mountains loomed before them in that direction; the cave had been carved into the rock. “We might need the shelter. The heat can be dangerous.”

“I think she is correct, Milady,” Faramir said politely as he reached out and brushed a hand on Ellifain’s shoulder. The intense glare told Beverly that the elf didn’t approve of the touch. “We don’t know where we are. You may have to put your vengeance on hold for now.”

Ellifain seemed to think about that for a moment and then reluctantly agreed. Beverly was relieved. The cave was much cooler.

Part Four: Forest brook

Kathryn Janeway found the babbling of the brook comforting as she and her three companions sat on its banks, trying to decide on their course of actions.

It didn’t take long for them to understand that they weren’t where they ended up. They all seemed to have similar stories. They were minding their own business, going about their lives, when they’d all woken up here on this strange planet. Their only belongings had been what had been on them at the time.

Janeway was in her uniform, but as she had been off duty at the time and in her quarters, she was unarmed, and she wished she had a tricorder. She did have her communicator, but it seemed to have been damaged.

As she sat on a rock, trying to fix her communicator, the women around her tried to figure out their next course of action.

“My phone isn’t getting any reception,” Charlie Bradbury said as she turned the device over in her hand, flipping her red hair over her shoulder. Willow Rosenberg, who had claimed she was a college student from California, sat beside her, trying to operate her own phone. The two of them seemed to be from the same world- or same time perhaps, as their sense of fashion seemed similar. They both wore jeans and t-shirts. They had also revealed something significant. That they were from Earth… but not the Earth Janeway had been hoping for. 300 years ago.

The fourth woman had been a very short-statured young woman with a brazen attitude. Brenna was a gnome from the north, at least that is what she had told them all. But she was quick to bark orders at everyone; her sharp tongue seemed to make up for her short stature tenfold.

“If we follow the river, it might lead us to a village,” she explained as she perched on a rock and put her hands in her lap. “They could at least tell us where we are.”

“If there are other people on this planet, we don’t want to startle them,” Janeway explained calmly. “And some of my crew may have ended up here; I want to get my communicator fixed. They’d at least be able to pick up my signal.

“I don’t care for strange human devices,” Brenna sneered. “I was about to lead my people on a caribou hunt; I must return.”

“Oh, poor Rudolph,” Willow commented quickly as she glanced up from her phone. “Caribou are so cute.”

Brenna shrugged. “My people have lived off of them for as long as we have lived in the north,” she replied. And Janeway noted that she was wearing thick animal hides and furs, no doubt to keep her warm in the cold climate which she had described.

It was then that as Janeway used a long hair clip to manipulate the controls in her communicator, everyone heard the familiar chirp. Eagerly, Janeway opened the comm, knowing it was a long shot.

“This is Captain Kathryn Janeway to anyone who is in range,” she spoke into the communicator as Willow and Charlie watcher her curiously. “Does anyone read my signal?”

“Kathryn?” came a familiar voice through the communicator. Janeway smiled with relief at the sound of Chakotay’s voice.

“Chakotay, where are you?” she asked, “I don’t know how I ended up on this planet, but I’m not alone.”

“Neither am I, Captain,” came Chakotay’s static-filled answer. “We’re in some sort of farmhouse in the middle of a pasture. We all just woke up here.”

Janeway frowned. Did Chakotay end up stranded on this planet too? They had to find each other. “I’m in a forest, near a stream,” she reported. “Stay where you are; we’ll try to make it out of here and try to find you. You must not be far.”

“We’ll do what we can, Chakotay out.” The comm disconnected, but Janeway felt a whole lot better knowing there was at least someone she was familiar with on this planet, and the comm signal told her that they weren’t too far away.

“How are you even getting service?” Charlie asked as she held her phone in her hand. “I’m not getting anything.”

Janeway didn’t know how to explain. The archaic-looking device looked primitive compared to her comm. “Futuristic technology,” she explained as she got to her feet. “Come on, we have to find Chakotay, and with any luck, we will be able to find Voyager.”

With that, the four of them headed along the river. None of them knew where they were going, and Janeway hoped that they were heading in the right direction and not further away from Chakotay.

Part Five: Desolate plains

Fili was glad that when he had woken up, his brother had been there—seeing Kili there beside him looking as confused and lost as he had made him feel better about their situation, precarious though it was.

But now, they were in real trouble. The two of them and their two companions- a human named Fox Mulder and a human named Sagara Sanosuke- had found themselves in the middle of a prairie, and it seemed to go on forever.

The suns were becoming dangerous. Fili was so thirsty, and beads of sweat trickled down his face as he pressed on. They had to keep going, he told himself. There had to be relief for them somewhere.

“Brother,” Kili groaned as he stumbled along. “I… I can’t.” Fili turned and grabbed him before he fell. Kili gasped as he gazed up at his brother.

“Come on, brother, we have to keep going,” Fili insisted as Mulder and Sanosuke turned toward them. “We’ll find something soon.”

“Hey, I think I see something,” Sanosuke spoke up as he turned to gaze out towards the horizon. “It might be a town.”

Fili groaned. “It’s probably a mirage,” he suggested as he pulled Kili to his feet, and the four of them started walking again. “I am sure this prairie must go on forever.”

“We should head in that direction anyway,” Mulder said as he draped his trenchcoat over his head, shielding his head from the relentless suns.

Fili let out a breath as he complied. His legs felt like lead as he concentrated on stumbling along as Kili followed him. He worried about the battle that the two of them had left behind.

“Do you think Uncle held the mountain against Azog?” Kili stammered, voicing Fili’s thoughts. Fili couldn’t be sure. And he wasn’t even sure this wasn’t the afterlife. He remembered Azog grabbing him; he remembered the fiery pain as he felt the orc’s blade enter his body. He was prepared to die; he thought he was going to die.

And then… he woke up here in the middle of this field with Kili and two strangers who were dressed very strangely.

“I don’t know, Kili,” Fili said after a pause. “I hope so.”

All Fili knew is that no matter what happened, he had to look after his brother. He didn’t know if he could trust Sanosuke with his strange spikey hair or Mulder with his strange black coat, but they seemed as lost as the dwarves were and Fili felt compelled to follow them towards the horizon.

Part Six: desolate farm

Chakotay finished inspecting the farmhouse he had woken up in. It felt as though it had been there for ages. There were no signs of life except for the three he had woken up close to—two men from Middle Earth, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard whom Chakotay only knew by reputation.

“We found human remains,” Chakotay glanced up from his communicator after he ended his conversation with Janeway. He felt so relieved to hear Kathryn’s voice, and to know that she was here somewhere on this planet made him feel a lot better.

But when he turned to see Picard, he focused on the tasks at hand. “Remains?” he repeated as he followed the captain along. He found Legolas and Aragorn out behind the house in the rocky pasture field; they seemed to be examining the bodies.

“They have been dead for far too long,” the blonde-haired elf explained as Chakotay looked at the skeletons lying in the dirt. “Perhaps years.”

“They must have been the previous inhabitants of this place,” Chakotay surmised as he turned to look at the farmhouse. They had examined the interior already. It was a large house in an advanced state of decay. The wood was rotting, the furniture inside and the rugs had all turned to mold and dust. The glass windows were broken in. The wood had been in such bad shape that none of them would risk venturing upstairs to inspect the rooms. At the ground level, they had found an old antique kitchen with a wood-burning stove and furnishing that looked as though they belonged in the 19th century.

Chakotay was curious to explore this place, being that he enjoyed archaeology. He had learned quickly that Picard shared that particular interest with him, and the two had set about trying to determine what kind of people these long-gone inhabitants were and how they lived.

“They may have died of old age,” Chakotay suggested. Legolas and Aragorn knew one another from whatever world they had come from; they claimed they had been in a battle before they arrived here. And their simple hide leather outfits seemed to fit the part.

“I got ahold of Captain Janeway,” Chakotay reported to Picard. “She’s on this planet, in a forest somewhere. I suggest we wait here for her.”

“There seemed to be little else to do in any case,” Picard agreed. “Except look for more clues about the people who lived here.” As Chakotay watched, Picard pulled out his tricorder, scanning for any clue to where they are. Chakotay felt relieved that at least one of them had been equipped with a tricorder before being brought here.

“I am reading other life forms,” Picard explained. “More than a dozen humanoid life signs within a 10-mile radius. It’s hard to get a clear reading here, and I am picking up a faint federation signature coming from north of here; it's heading in our direction.”

“That has to be Captain Janeway,” Chakotay said. He didn’t know who these other life forms could be; they were all too far away for anyone to see. But many of them were heading in their direction, so Chakotay could only hope that they will be friendly.

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