see punk run

I just found James T. Kirk winking at me from between the lines of a text written more than three hundred years ago. I was reading about Bashō, a Japanese poet who lived during the Edo Period, when I came across this, from the opening paragraph of his travel journal Oku no hosomichi:

Months and days are eternal travelers, as are the years that come and go. For those who drift through their lives on a boat, or reach old age leading a horse over the earth, every day is a journey, and the journey itself is their home. Many people in the past have died on the road, but for many years, like a fragment of a cloud, I have been lured by the wind into the desire for a life of wandering.

—Bashō (1644-1694)
     translated by Stephen Addiss

Jim must have read that and recognized himself in it because, as we learn in this unfilmed scene from the 2009 Star Trek movie, he makes a reference to it in a message to Spock, a message Spock will carry with him in a locket, long after Jim is gone:

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...I know I know, it's illogical to celebrate something you had nothing to do with, but I haven't had the chance to congratulate you on your appointment to the ambassadorship so I thought I'd seize the occasion... Bravo, Spock — they tell me your first mission may take you away for awhile, so I'll be the first to wish you luck...and to say...I miss you, old friend.

I suppose I'd always imagined us…outgrowing Starfleet together. Watching life swing us into our Emeritus years...I look around at the new cadets now and can't help thinking...has it really been so long? Wasn't it only yesterday we stepped onto the Enterprise as boys? That I had to prove to the crew I deserved command...and their respect?

I know what you'd say — 'It's their turn now, Jim…' And of course you're right... but it got me thinking: Who's to say we can't go one more round? By the last tally, only twenty five percent of the galaxy's been chartered…I'd call that negligent, criminal even — an invitation. You once said being a starship captain was my first, best destiny...if that's true, then yours is to be by my side. If there's any true logic to the universe...we'll end up on that bridge again someday. Admit it, Spock. For people like us, the journey itself...is home.

Perhaps Jim was setting off on that final journey as he recorded this, just as Bashō, getting older and already in poor health, was beginning a two and a half year journey from which he might not return. Bashō made it back; Jim didn't.

I don't know if Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of that scene, were familiar with Bashō's work, but it seems an almost impossible coincidence that Jim, the captain of a boat, always pushing out into the stars, an eternal traveler, wasn't echoing the words of Bashō, a man similarly lured into a life of wandering.

{also posted to Tumblr}

I try to limit the number of tags I create on Pinboard—I don't know why: so they're easier to remember? so the autocomplete isn't overwhelmed? pure dang stubbornness? who knows—but in practice it means I'm often repurposing old tags for new fandoms. Like Stargate Atlantis's "off-world" tag works fine for Star Trek even though it doesn't make a lot of sense.

All that's to say: I just tagged a Star Trek fic where Jim's a xenobotanist "herbology" and I regret nothing.

So I'm looking something up on merriam-webster.com, and below the definition it says: What made you want to look up [~]? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

Oh, IDK, m-w.com, just reading some gay porn featuring the dudes who play Kirk and Spock. Is that what you wanted to hear? No? I didn't think so. Maybe stay out of my business then. I don't ask you what you're reading. Probably like some Al Swearengen/Doctor Who crossover nonsense.

This just in: Al Swearengen would make an amazing companion for the Doctor. Travelling through time and space would only increase the volume, creativity, and eloquence of the foul poetry that pours out of that man. It would be a pleasure to hear. Also, he just would not give a shit.

Or maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe m-w.com is totally down with the Pinto. Those guys frequently sound like they're stuck in a dictionary after all.

I can't actually remember why I first started reading Star Trek RPS. Maybe just because it was there. Because here's the part that doesn't make any sense: I started reading it without ever having seen a single gif of Chris Pine rubbing Zachary Quinto's neck, back, or shoulder (shoulder) (shoulder). Or of Quinto gazing at him adoringly.

It seems my tinhat just isn't blocking these signals very well. It may in fact be amplifying them.

Things I've Learned From Reading Star Trek RPS, A Short List:

• Zach has a dog named Noah, a cat named Harold, and a brother named Joe.
• Zach and Chris met at their personal trainer's house.
• Chris studied English literature at Berkeley.
• J.J. drinks a lot of Diet Coke and almost frowned once.

And here, here is the best Chris/Zach story I've found: A Passage That Sings, by Rave. It's got angry befuddled Zach, Chris being relaxed and patient and reading worn paperbacks, sexual tension, flirting, Zach and Chris being friends, amazing writing, hot sex, and Leonard Nimoy in a hot tub. I mean, what, this story gives you everything. Read it.

I just saw the pairing John/Sherlock and had a weird John Sheppard/Sherlock Holmes moment.

Sherlock would be fascinated by Sheppard; there's so much surface to him, all of it obvious and uninteresting, but something strange is going on underneath that metre and a half of facade, something prickly and foreign. Sherlock can't resist peeling away the layers:

Gay, of course, but career military, so closeted by necessity. Daddy issues, no surprise. Wears black because he thinks it's slimming and is just vain enough to worry about that stomach of his. Getting older but still runs every morning and practices some form of martial art. (Sherlock files that away because he can't immediately tell which one and John is looking bored, so he continues:) Secretly in love with his best friend! Comes from money, but never spends it. Hates being in a position of authority. Hates not being in a position of authority. Prefers baths to showers but pretends the opposite. (Sherlock is getting desperate now, none of this is what he's after, but he chases after it all the same, powerless to turn away, any piece of this could lead him to the larger mystery:) Spent at least one summer in Paris during his adolescence. Does not own a single pair of gloves.

Sheppard exits the police station just in time for the finale. Sherlock points at him with a flourish.

And you sleep on the right side of the bed!

John and John both raise an eyebrow at that, one because it's expected of him, the other because he recently moved into one of the north tower suites and his bed is now round.

Your hair, Sherlock says in explanation, and sweeps off in a tangle of scarf and coat, petulant, because he knows he's missing something, something big, something to do with the fact that Sheppard smells like a strange ocean, like salt and sunshine and ozone, and why that arrogant physicist of his is nearly quivering with excitement as he runs up to Sheppard flapping a brochure for the British Museum and shouting about -- Morgan le Fay?

Sherlock heads back to the flat to brood upside down on the sofa, possibly while kicking a hole into the wall.

Because Sheppard's biggest secret is one Sherlock couldn't possibly deduce. At least, not in five minutes, and that would make him irresistible.


ETA: Aaaaah, check out the manips goss made in the comments!

kormantic has decided I need to write an XF/SGA crossover and flambeau independently (or so she claims) suggested the same thing in that Tell me what to create meme.

I'm not really feeling it, so I probably won't write the fic in any formal way, but thinking about it's free. This was the response I posted over at the meme, but I'm putting it here for posterity, and for you, dear internets, in case you decide you must write this fic, or maybe you just want to leave a comment about your thoughts on XF/SGA fusion.

Quoted text:

I have a hard time seeing Mulder as military. He's more brains than brawn, and he did have an unfortunate habit of losing his gun. He's also got a big problem with authority, and one John Sheppard's enough for any intergalactic team of explorers. I'm thinking maybe Mulder's a parapsychologist (along with being an actual psychologist), sent along to help people deal with their fear of weird things, and aliens. Everyone thinks he's sort of nuts, but he's funny and mostly harmless and he's got the best porn collection on Atlantis. Rodney considers him to be fairly intelligent, tragically so considering his line of work, and has been known to eat lunch with him.

Scully's probably military. (She'd look super hot in cammies with her hair pulled back.) She's a doctor. She knows her way around a gun. She's still highly skeptical about this alien business, and no one's been able to explain the workings of a wormhole to her satisfaction, but she specializes in trauma medicine and, bizarrely, pathology. Scully's frequently up to her elbows in alien guts. She's on a gate team with Krycek, who's Russian military and smarter than he lets on. He seems to have some history with McKay. Rodney avoids him if at all possible. Sheppard doesn't like him either. He's only there because the IOA made it a condition of some agreement they had with Weir. Mulder refers to Woolsey as "Partially Balding Man."

McKay has a terrible crush on Scully and somehow gets his hands on her undergraduate thesis ("Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation") and is just terribly confused about why she went the guns and ammo route rather than the academic one. He and Mulder fight for her affections. Mulder, of course, wins. It's entirely possible that in this fusion universe, Walter Skinner captains the Daedalus, as this requires absolutely no stretch of the imagination. Though Sheppard will be displeased to learn that Skinner is way more of a hard ass than Caldwell ever was. Sheppard's ass is frequently at risk of Skinner having it in a sling. Sheppard doesn't know what that means, but he's really tired of Rodney snickering every time Skinner says it.

God, that last sentence sort of makes my brain break. Rodney McKay and Walter Skinner in the same universe? Rodney McKay and Walter Skinner in the same room? Skinner would have a stroke.

It's happening again.

This time Rodney's infecting this Sentinel thing I'm still trying to finish. He's got Blair all sarcastic and pissy:

"Oh, please," Blair said. "If anything's scaring the fish, it's you and that hot pink vibrating rubber worm you're using as bait. I don't even want to eat the fish that actually mistakes that thing for food."

I love it, but it's not even remotely Blair. The part about not wanting to eat nutritionally challenged fish, yeah, but the way he's expressing that desire? That's all Rodney. Rodney's not going to be happy about the rubber worm or the fish, but he'll eat anything if he's hungry enough.

Like say, the team's stranded and John's forced to fish for dinner. Rodney, having eaten all his power bars within fifteen minutes of learning they were stuck, is standing behind Sheppard, looking over his shoulder and complaining about having to eat alien trout but also badgering him to fish faster.

"Fish faster? McKay, have you ever dealt with fish outside of an Apple II?"

"Shut up! I'm hungry and it's your job to feed me!"

"My job?"

"You're the one that got us lost. I'd still have my scanner, and -- pay attention, this is the important part -- the ability to point us back to the stargate if you hadn't pushed me off that cliff and made me drop it!"

"It was a dry creek bed, not a cliff, and I was trying to save you from getting gored by the pig-elephant. Next time I won't be in such a rush."

"Oh." And Rodney gets kind of misty-eyed and plops down next to John. "I miss bacon."

Yeah, I'm totally procrastinating. It's just that Jim and Blair aren't having NEAR as much fun as the imaginary John and Rodney in my head.

liviapenn did this thing where she alphabetized the characters in her icons, then paired them off.

Billy Tallent/Chloe Sullivan - This could be brilliant. Chloe's making a documentary about Hard Core Logo ten years later. Billy's bitter and grouchy. So's Chloe.

Clark Kent/Benton Fraser - Duh. They're basically the same person.

Lex Luthor/Fox Mulder - Mulder is way too paranoid to voluntarily sleep with Lex, but he'd totally go for Clark because Clark is an alien, and, like Lex, Mulder has a history of picking up trashy brunettes with big mouths. In order to distract Mulder from Clark's secrets, Lex gets him drunk and has sex with him. Or, he locks him up in an underground lab. One of those.

Ray Kowalski/Ritchie Tenenbaum - Yeah, I got nuthin'.

Dana Scully/Starbuck -  I'm sure they'd have a lot to talk about. For example, their experiences being abducted by shady intergalactic conspirators who stole their [spoiler]! They even share the same nickname.

Superman/Tom Welling - Pretty. Very, very pretty.

I'm having the bizarre problem of trying to write Chloe and Clark and having them sound exactly like Kowalski and Fraser. Chloe's making a godawful mess of the English language and Clark's all but rubbing his eyebrow and wearing red serge. I've already had to stop him from saying, "Not that I am aware of."

Clearly, it's a sign I've been watching too much due South and am probably now qualified to write dS fic, but I'm trying to write Smallville fic. Everyone needs to wait their turn. I know Kowalski doesn't want to be reincarnated as a blonde teenaged girl, no matter how hot, and Fraser wouldn't make it an hour as Clark Kent without exposing his alien origins.