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swellwriting · 6 years

Text

Idiot

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Ron Weasley x Reader

Request : From @bluemdcnna: #8 from the 1500 follower prompt list with Ron please?? ❤️❤️

Prompt: 5. “I’m not afraid to be honest, to tell you exactly how I feel, I..I think you’re an idiot.”

Warnings: None.

A/N: I have never written for Ron before so I hope I did this sweet boy justice but it’s also really short because I lacked confidence oops

Word Count: 1k

Dumbledore's army, you had heard of it of course, your friends had begged you to join each time they were making their way to the room of requirement. You did plan on joining, but the fear of getting caught or in trouble kept you from joining just yet. You had to be sure it was safe after all.

As your friends ventured down to today's “meeting” you followed behind them from a distance, as any other student would, perhaps one with more mal intent. You watched as they carelessly opened the magical door and entered, saying the password for your wandering ear to hear.

After a few more people went in you decided to follow them, saying the password you had heard and entered the room to see many students practicing spells. You stood in the entrance as the door closed behind you.

Harry noticed you and walked over, Ron following closely behind him. “Y/N! You finally decided to join us! We could use someone like you who’s so good at charms.”

“Actually I didn’t decide anything, I was just walking down the halls when I saw some students walk into a magic door, got closer and effortlessly heard the password making it very easy to get in here.” You stated crossing your arms.

“That’s only because you knew where the room of requirement was to begin with, nobody walks down these halls otherwise.” Ron spoke up from beside Harry.

“They are hallways, that's what people do is walk down them Ron.” You argued back matching his tone.

“She has a point.” Hermione said from across the room while trying to summon her Patronus, “We need more protection and you’re looking at the Queen of protection charms herself.”

“You’re just mad we aren't beginning you to help us.” Ron countered, ignoring Hermione's words.

“I was asked to join I said no.”

“Ron she has a point stop trying to prove her wrong.” Harry was visibly confused as to why his friend was acting so abnormal.

“I'm not saying she’s wrong but she isn’t right.”

“Like that makes any sense.” You replied.

“Why are you so grumpy today Ron, she’s just trying to help, the only reason she didn't join was because she was worried about getting in trouble and now she's trying to stop us from getting in caught at all, then she would likely join.” Harry seemed annoyed at how rude Ron was being towards you.

“Ron’s just Grumpy because this morning he found out that Neville accidentally told Y/N that Ron has a crush on her.” Hermione jumped back into the conversation and then left again to keep practice.

Your cheeks heated up remembering the conversation you had with Neville this morning, it was casual like usual until he accidentally let it slip that Ron had a “huge crush” on you as he put it.

“I didn’t say I had a crush on her.” Ron grumbled mostly to himself.

“That’s what Neville said.” You replied much quieter than you were speaking before.

“Well Ron, if you do like her and now she knows that it doesn't me you get to be mean to her.” Harry said trying to talk sense into his friend.

“I’m not being mean i'm being honest.” He defended his words although he wished he could dig himself out of the Hole he was in.

“Honestly saying you think you guys don't need extra protection and that i'm not good enough to provide it?” You asked trying to hide the hurt in your voice.

“We can handle it ourselves.” Ron spat, angry at the internal conflict within him, he liked you so much but wouldn't allow that part of him to show so he showed the exact opposite.

“I’m not afraid to be honest, to tell you exactly how I feel, I..I think you’re an idiot.” You yelled and then walked out of the room in a huff.

“Ron can you please go get her and apologize and ask her to help us.” Harry said rubbing his hand over his face and smudging his glasses.

“Me? She clearly thinks I am an idiot.” He said, sounding defeated and upset with more himself than anyone else.

“She means it as a compliment, she won't say no if you go ask her trust me.” Harry asked as he pushed Ron towards the door.

“Fine.” Ron said and walked out the door to find you and fix this both for himself and the sake of the order.

You were barely halfway down the hallway when you heard footsteps behind you, quickly you turned around to see the red headed boy running to catch up with you. You weren't sure if his face was red from embarrassment or the running.

“Ron.” You said flatly just barely acknowledging his existence.

“Y/N.” He responded and then paused thinking about how to even put his words together, suddenly he was so nervous to be talking to just you, “I'm so sorry, I don't even have a way of explaining myself.”

“Admitting you are an idiot would suffice.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“It’s okay, I'm an idiot too, i'm an idiot for allowing myself to catch feelings for an idiot like you.” You admitted crossing your arms over your ribs and slowly letting your eyes trail up from the floor to his face which looked shocked but still as red as before so you decided to continue speaking.

“Yeah, I finally decided to join Dumbledore's army because I knew you'd be there, especially after Neville told me you liked me, but also because you guys have a shitty defense up. Good news for you is a have protection charms that can outsmart even Malfoy.” You smiled awkwardly and dropped your hands to your sides.

“We should go do that then.” He said gesturing back to the room of requirement, you both walked side by side back into the room, refusing to acknowledge the argument that just took place here and the admission in the hallway outside. Harry looked just as confused as he did before at how the two of you appeared to be just fine in a matter of minutes. He gave a questioning look towards Ron as you looked through your notebook for the charm and handed Ron your wand to hold. Ron looked at you and then back to Harry mouthing, “Shut up” at his friend.

Tag List: @sjriusblck @theboywhocriedlupin @diggorysghost @wanna-see-my-lease @fortisfiliae @moonynprongs @bluemadcnna @dracolanterns @dyngflwrs @jamcspotters @siriuslyimmoony @lonelyhufflepufff @babyplutoszx2

#ron #ron weasley x reader #ron weasley #ron weasley fanfiction #ron weasly imagine #ron x reader #ron weasley one shot #harry potter fanfiction #Harry Potter #fanfiction #writing #imagine #one shot #golden trio era

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buckysmusculararm · 7 years

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The 5 Times You See Steve Rogers Shirtless

Heavily inspired by @captainrogerss (but without the smut lol)

Here’s Tesla’s version

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: none? I thinks. Let me know if you think there should be one??

*gif not mine. Credit to owner.

The first time you see Steve shirtless is after a grueling 3 day mission, in some remote area you don’t even know the name of. He’s sitting in the med bay, shirtless and alone, and has a long, bloody gash that runs along his lower torso.

You can’t help but gravitate towards him, “need any help with that, Cap?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can turn enough to stitch it.”

You nod, reaching behind him for the medical kit. On the inside you feel like you’re about to throw up, but on the outside you look as calm as you had before you saw him. On a given day, even the most mundane of actions made you giddy inside, so when Steve steadies himself with a hand on your shoulder, you feel like you’re on fire. Your mind turns into a jumble and the only thing you can think is “holy crap, he’s touching my shoulder. Focus! Wait, why does he smell so minty?”

You mentally slap yourself a few times, knowing Steve probably thinks you’re weird for staring at him for longer than you’d like to admit. You carry on with cleaning and stitching, and soon Steve is pulling a shirt back on.

The next time you see Steve without a shirt is purely accidental. Your shower had broken before the 3 day mission, and you’ve had no time to ask about getting it fixed. Coincidentally, Steve’s room is just down the hall and you’re too tired to walk all the way to Natasha or Wanda’s rooms for theirs. Grabbing your clothes and other shower paraphernalia, you head to Steve’s room.

You knock a few times and step back, giving him some time to open the door. After a few moments you knock again.

“Hey Steve? Do you mind if I use your shower tonight? Mine’s broken and I haven’t gotten it fixed yet.”

There’s still no reply and your first instinct is to think he’s probably sleeping. “Steve? Are you alright in there?” Silence. “Alrighty, I’m coming in.”

Thankfully, you know Steve usually leaves his door unlocked, so you let yourself in. You look around to see he’s not there, and you’re about to leave when you hear a loud thump come from his bathroom. You run towards the sound and are about to yank the bathroom door open, when it suddenly swings out and hits you. For a moment, you black out and when you come to, Steve is hovering over you.

His hair is wet, obviously having just come from the shower, and he’s very much shirtless. Water droplets stream down his chest, as he leans over to assess you.

“You alright Y/N? I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

You nod, rubbing at the spot near your temple where you were hit. You sit up, and take one look at him, and sweet heavens, you’re ready to fall back down at how good he looks. Steve puts his hand on your back to support you, and the heat seeps into you, causing that familiar feeling of giddiness to come right back.

“Yeah yeah I’m fine,” you babble. “I was just coming in to ask if I could please borrow your shower? Mine’s broken.”

“Of course. You gonna be alright in there? I think I hit you pretty hard with the door.”

“Yeaaah I told you I’m fine,” you wave him off and stand up. You thank him quickly, before getting up to grab your stuff. On your way into the bathroom, you steal one last glance at him, and end up bumping into the door.

“Oh oops, um, clumsy me,” you mumble, before retreating into the safety of the bathroom.

It’s been a few weeks since your last shirtless encounter, and you’ve all but forgotten the image of Steve dripping wet over you.

The third time you see him without his shirt almost kills you. You aren’t technically a part of the team per se, but you are one of the nurses that works in the med bay, so seeing Steve is a common occurrence. Over time, you guys have grown to become friends, and after the multitude of missions the team has been on, you eventually became well acquainted with the rest of them too. And when you’re invited to join them at the park for a day off, you’re more than happy to accept.

You’re sitting in the shade under a large leafy tree, with a book in hand and a sandwich at your side. The weather is a little warm, and despite the shade, you’re getting a little uncomfortable from the sweat building up on your back.

The rest of the team runs around in the sun, playing flag football or something of the sort. You look up from your book briefly, and catch sight of Steve running with the ball in hand. He’s once again shirtless, and you can’t help but ogle him. He’s glistening with sweat, and you’re not sure whether or not to be thankful for the warm weather today.

“Hey Y/N! You wanna join us?!” You look up to see Bucky running towards you, his hand already outstretched to pull you up. You give him your hand, mumbling about how you don’t know how to play.

“Don’t worry doll. Steve here is an expert, he’ll help you.” He gives you a little push in Steve’s direction before calling out, “hey Steve! Mind teaching Y/N how to play?”

You quickly jibber out, ”no no, it’s okay. I can sit out. I’m not really the athletic type anyways.” But it’s too late. Steve’s already jogging over and before you know it, he’s pulling you aside to teach you how to play.

The rules are pretty simple and you get the hang of it in no time. You’re on the opposite team of Steve, and somehow the ball found its way into your hands. You’re running and running, and you see Steve coming towards you in all his glistening glory. You easily dodge him, and make your way to the makeshift goal they had made, before screaming “touchdown!!!”

You throw the ball down and do a little happy dance, a bright smile on your face. Before you know it, you’re being picked up and thrown over someone’s shoulder. You freak out at first before looking down. Oh. I recognize that ass.

You’re almost embarrassed at how you know it’s Steve’s, and turn bright red when you realize how much you’re touching him. His hands are holding your thighs, keeping you from falling over his shoulder, and your hands are on his upper back to hold yourself up.

“Steve! Put me down!”

You playfully slap his back, causing his grip on your thighs to tighten. You swear you’ve died and gone to heaven, because in all honesty, you really don’t mind the view. Steve’s back is just pure muscle. From the dimples at the bottom of his spine to his firm shoulder blades, this man was seemingly built by Greek gods.

Eventually he sets you down and you can’t help but smile as he grins at you.

“Gee you’re a quick learner Y/N. I might just pick you for my team next time.”

You smile even wider and laugh when he throws you over his shoulder again, and runs to join the rest of the team.

—

The fourth time you get to see Steve shirtless is no accident. Well, sort of. During that day at the park, Bucky had noticed the way you stared at his best friend. Bucky’s no fool, and wastes no time in tricking you into meeting up with Steve.

You enter the common hang out area, having just received a text from Bucky saying he wanted to hang out. When you get there, the only person there is Steve. He’s shirtless again, the AC units being upgraded, as Tony had declared that they weren’t meeting his “standards.”

You awkwardly shuffle around a bit, before Steve beckons you over. He’s watching a movie you’ve never seen, and despite having missed the first part, you find yourself watching it beside him.

A bowl of buttery popcorn sits in his lap and he holds it out to you, with a small smile. You grab a handful and pause, “wait, where’s Bucky?”

“He said he had to go run an errand. He left about 20 minutes ago. Why?”

“Just curious,” you shrug, but deep down you knew he had set you up.

You turn and bring your feet up onto the couch, facing Steve. You quickly glance at him and see he’s completely immersed into the movie. He’s slouching back a bit, but this does nothing to undermine how good he looks. You watch as his arms flex a little at a jump scare, the muscles becoming taut and firm.

Steve notices you looking, but pretends he doesn’t notice. He’s liked you for quite some time, falling for how kind you’ve always been when you had to patch him up after missions. But Steve isn’t quite sure how to pursue anything with you, so he keeps quiet, happily accepting whatever time he gets to spend with you.

—

The next time you seen Steve without cotton to hinder your view of him, is when he’s right in front of you. He’s got you pinned to a wall, his lips on yours and his hands intertwined with your own. You’re melting into his touch, wondering how you even got into this position in the first place.

Oh wait, that’s right. It all started when Bucky had come back from his so called “errand.” You questioned him, thinking it was just you two in the hall. Boy were you wrong. Steve had heard everything and the next thing you know, you were back in his room, stuck between him and a wall.

His hands wander along your hips, pushing you harder into the wall. Your hands snake into his hair, tugging lightly as his lips continue to move against yours. Surely, by now you would’ve been used to the sight of Steve shirtless, but for right now, it just took your breath away.

He soon began to leave small kisses around your face as you spoke. “Gee. No date first?”

He pulls away to grin at you. “Friday. Dinner. I’m cooking.” You smirk back at him before you peck his lips and pull away. Guess Steve’s gotta wait til Friday to see you shirtless.

Tags!

@wordsturnintostories @the-silver-iris

#buckysmusculararmfic #buckysmusculararm #steve x reader #steve rogers fic #steve rogers #marvel fic

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neth-dugan · 7 years

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Nine Worlds 2017

This is a slightly lengthy report but meh. Tumblr has a ‘skip to next post’ function so what the heck.

I managed to get a pre-con cold rather than the traditional post-con one, which I’ve managed to give to @knittedace as well, oops. I did have hand gel on me and tissues to minimise the spread. If I gave anybody else my cold I’m sorry!

I met up with @knittedace on the Thursday. We were meant to go to the Natural History Museum but I’d been off work sick the previous day and just couldn’t do it. No energy. Instead we met up at the hotel itself and as soon as we could get into the room we unpacked and I took a nice and much needed nap.

We went to the ‘Cheese and Cheese’ evening event, one of two events to welcome people to the convention. There was cheese of both the literal and literary variety to be enjoyed. I read out a riveting and very cheesy Power Rangers VHS tape description, but the best was a very cracky, rather explicit Doctor Who one that had the entire room in hysterics. I was laughing so much I was coughing up a lung.

FRIDAY

I was initiated into the Order of the Dalek! Learnt how to put on @knittedace‘s knitted Dalek costume - something I got better at as the weekend went on. I also came across some great cosplays, and @knittedace got to pose with a Missy and Thirteenth Doctor. She’ll post the pic if she wants to.

In the morning I decided to go for something different from what I usually go to. We’d met the woman running some of the kids panels and she invited us along. So I went. It was pretty cute, gave the parents some adults to be around too and just played some simple games. Don’t really get to do that ever. And then there was a fun story that was like some kind of Dinosaur version of Planet of the Apes but about environmental issues and written a few decades back.

Then I went to a crafty thing in which we all made hair bands! Met some great teens, two of whom had made their own cosplays. For one it was her fourteenth birthday and she ended up having to help me out because I’m rubbish at this stuff. We had some good talks fandom but also human orientations and labels and just being happy with who you are. Oddly we all also ended up in the next thing which was basically free tea and cake with tables to chat at.

I came across this same group of teens at this con, all through the weekend. They’re all smart and for all that they’re still growing up and maturing they’re great people already.

I was given the green tea left ofter after. Yay free tea!

Toxicity in Fandom was my next stop. Nothing particularly surprising but still a good talk that had someone who had once been a part of those hostile groups though they’ve grown up and are better now. It also touched on how the toxicity doesn’t just come from the traditional bigots and gamergate type folk, but also people from those who use the language of social justice to bully rather than for good. The folk who live up to all the bad things people throw at the ‘sjw’ name.

Nine at Nine Worlds: Nine Tropes which was about, well, tropes in fan fic. Nine of us presenting five minutes on our favourite trope. It had the return of Nina - Lady of the Puppets - and then I did mine on ‘Time Travel Fix It Fics’. Went well. People laughed. Someone the next day pulled me aside to have a chat about it. Apparently I accidentally made them read loads of fic with the trope. Oooops. There was also a dramatic 007/Q power point fic reading that I helped out with, to lots of laughter.

There was also a late night game of Slash, with my home made deck, with other members of that panel including Tanya who had lead it. Tanya, for those who don’t know, was co-head of the Fan Fiction track back when tracks were organised differently and there was a specific Fan Fiction track. She’s still a big part of the fan works type stuff and is pretty damn awesome. She’s been there to help me out when I needed it and is pretty brilliant. There were also others who just came and joined in and that’s the beauty of these things. But then it was time for bed.

SATURDAY

Before any panels started, me and @knittedace met up with the person who’d be our third in Sunday’s Redemption round table to have a real world chat over breakfast which was fun. I’ve no idea if he has a tumblr ID to tag him in however. I’d wanted to have someone who knew about anime on there because neither me or @knittedace know anything about it. I know about Yuri on Ice but not much else. And though it’s mostly a workshop it is a bit panel so yeah. We had a great talk. And food.

We found the infamous ‘TARDIS full of Bras’ cosplayer. For those who don’t know there was a comment on a British newspaper site that is our version of Fox saying that the new Doctor couldn’t be a woman because then the TARDIS would be full of bras. So some brilliant soul went and turned this into a cosplay and just…. love. Again the pic I have is of Helen too so it’s up to her to post it. But seriously, OMG LOVE.

Time Travel and Film was our first panel of the day. We both got there in time for the hall to be mostly empty. I had on my TNG uniform hoodie thing with my comms badge pin so we get this photo:

The talk itself was also fun. Presented by an actual university lecturer on Philosophy, and turns out she was also the woman on a panel I’d be running later in the day. I looked at her name on the power point, down at the names I had for the panel and up again and went ‘huh’. Seriously though, good lecture about time travel from the perspective of philosophy rather than physics and its different possible models.

I was talking to some folk and the lecturer after, @knittedace having already left when I got a text from her saying there was a Londo cosplayer outside. I sped out there as fast as I could to find this fantastic person:

I have no idea their name or anything other than they were determined to remain in character and had a wife who sounded a bit bemused and long suffering of it all. Kinda reminded me of my mom trying to deal with my dad actually. He was really fun though. (ETA: I am told that he is @TheWarLlama on twitter) (ETA2: Apparently the woman wasn’t his wife. I just assumed because the dynamic going on reminded me of my mom lol. Oops. )

Queer Coding in Disney was my next stop. The person doing it did a good job. Made sure they explained what queer coding was in the first place for those who didn’t know and then went through Disney. Talked about films I didn’t know much about, and there was some talk about how some of this also intersected with other minorities and representation of various people.

After that I went upstairs for a nap. I was tired, still had that damnable cold, and wanted to be my best for my panel. I missed a panel slot with content but self care is important so up I went.

But then I was back! With my Hufflepuff scarf and wand! And still in my Starfleet uniform hoodie!

I think on the way into the panel hall someone said something like ‘hello Commander’ and I was a bit confused. Mostly because I didn’t have any pips so couldn’t be an officer but that’s a small thing and I think I smiled back?

In any case, next up was my panel. Which upon arriving at the convention I discovered was to be held in the largest room at the convention. Eeeep!

Dumbledore: Good or Evil? Went pretty well. At least one member of my panel was surprised it was ever even a debate, but she none the less stood up and argued for good. She was the above mentioned philosophy lecturer so debating is kind of her thing. She comes at it very much from a philosophical theory perspective though which I think caught out one or two people in the audience going from twitter. A person took a picture and stuck it on their twitter. You can find that here. I’m in the middle.

There was a lot of talk about how Dumbles does or doesn’t use his power for people, abandoning Harry, the things that go on in his school under his responsibility, and at one point he was compared to Boris Johnson. How he seems to be about consequences more than the actions themselves. Is it intent or your actions that make you good or evil? Does the era that the man grew up in excuse things? Does the fact that there was a war coming/going on excuse things or not?

There was a question at the end about him being a slave owner due to house elves. That…. I had red sirens screaming in my head there. Thankfully it was with hardly any time to go. It’s a very good question. Something worth looking at. But nobody on the panel had any real place speaking on it. The philosopher took it, but she took it from literally a philosophical perspective rather than a moral one which probably came off wrong to some. Because yeah, that wasn’t a moral stance. I didn’t really know what to do there other than internally panic a bit and try to move on as fast as I could with a ‘this could be a whole other panel and should be’ thing.

I was so worried about not being neutral that I didn’t step in to point things out or ask things when looking back I wish I had. There are things about that I’d have liked to improve but largely the response seemed to be good. I learnt from it. We had a vote at the end on of the audience thought Dumbledore was ‘good, ‘evil or bad leaning’ or ‘it’s complicated guys leave us alone’. The result was a mixed bag with lots of complicated so I guess that wins. People did come up to chat to us when we were still on stage after it ended to thank us for this or that. I’d warded off a comment from team Evil that was about cheating but could also have come across as anti-poly and so someone thanked me for that.

Druids, Deities and Daemons: Archeological Horrors in ‘Doctor Who’ was my next thing. It wasn’t particularly exciting but it was an interesting look at how the show portrays archeology from an Egyptologist who had a delightful manner of presentation. You can tell he’s upper middle or upper class but he isn’t snooty and he’s just really cheerful and into his thing. Which is always a joy to see. He wasn’t fond of Ten saying that as a time traveller he laughed at archaeologists. Fair.

Ageism in fanworks/fandom was a panel Tanya had asked me to be on last minute when playing Slash the night before. So I had no prep time and possibly a few people were confused as to why an extra person was sat up there. I was probably the youngest person on there, no worries. But interestingly also the only person who had actually grown up in fandom rather than finding it as an adult. It was interesting, throwing up different experiences with fandom and how it sees age, how it changes. But also how media sees us. How it expects women to age out of fandom but for male fans to be the sad lonely people in the basement forever.

Space Opera! SF&F in Musicals was a unique panel, for me anyway. Held in the lower levels with half the room covered by bean bags. By this point I could barely walk. I don’t know why, something happened to my legs and I found it increasingly hard to walk through the day. @knittedace said I should grab a priority access sticker but I’d have felt like a fraud even as I slowly limped my way around the place so i didn’t. But I managed to get a chair anyway so yay!

The person presenting it was drunk. I thought they were just mellow. It had originally been designed as an academic thing but given when it was scheduled it became a kind of guided tour of musical SF/F complete with YouTube clips, sarcastic comments from the audience and much fun. Also singing along sometimes. I lost the key to my room. It later turned out I’d left it there when I awoke from my nap but I couldn’t find @knittedace so I got reception to invalidate the old ones and issue new ones. With slightly disturbing ease come to think of it. And that was that.

SUNDAY

Marvel v DC Fanworks was the first panel of the morning. Chaired by a very very very tired Tanya who was having a hard time of it I think. It was a good conversation but you could tell she didn’t have the energy to chair it as she might want to. I was sat next to the birthday girl from Friday who is smart and knows her stuff and was very very excited. So excited she frequently interrupted and spoke over others. I don’t blame her. She was excited and we’ve all been there. I’ve been there. And ideally it is the chair’s job to gently deal with that but as I said, tired. In the end a person left the room when they got talked over once too often. I don’t blame either. It sucks to be talked over, especially for some people who find that really hard. And though I’m sad she left I understand it.

But I’ve been a very excited teenager, in fandom at that, before. It’s also hard to pull that in when you don’t have the experience and you’re having so much fun and you have so so so many things you want to say and nobody is telling you no. I’ve been her as I said. The things she wanted to say were all good things. Just a convergence of multiple things that didn’t mix well is all. I think she noticed too as she got a sad look with the woman left the room. Felt bad for both of them really. All three of them.

Queer Dax was my next panel, and one I was running. I’d decided that there was no way joined Trill weren’t queer, and wanted to talk about that, so here we are. I’d made sure that the panel had people on it who were queer in various ways and though one person couldn’t make it due to passport issues we held on.

The room started to fill up well before the start time. So we were chatting at everything from pets in the different series with someone insisting that Neelix was the pet on Voyager. Gasp! To how Mourn maybe talks a lot in ways we don’t get to Garak/Bashir slash to anything. The place was pretty full by the time we started.

It was a good discussion. I later found out that the person who’d manned the convention’s front desk really wanted to go but couldn’t and so was following a person’s live tweet of it as it went on.

We talked about the identity of the symbionts themselves, what it may be like to suddenly be flooded with all these humanoid identities. How maybe they’re like drag (at the start anyway). How we never hear them talk for themselves, as themselves, just the hosts. We’ve even had former hosts separated from the whole and able to talk in the singular. But never a symbiont. We asked how memory worked, to what degree were the hosts individuals or now and how that may work. How there were ‘very special episode’ moments but how they kinda also played out like every other Dax romance and was pretty good for the era. How Trek at least had a framework where this discussion was possible.

I framed lots of things as ‘for Paramount in the 90s’ or similar because yeah. The studios. Boy. And the times.

There was also a good deal of talk about the parallels between the way joined Trill are treated, and how Trill are screened to trans gatekeeping and queer separatism. How Dax seems to get away with literally everything and does Jadzia Dax at least have privilege? Lots of stuff I haven’t mentioned.

Someone in the audience asked about things within Trek that called to us as queer people and I got to go on about my asexual headcanon for Seven of Nine.

A Study in Redemption: Character Arcs in our Fandoms aka ‘Redemption’. And oh boy this has a long history. Originally this was a proper panel but stuff happened behind the scenes, messages got mixed and instead of it being a panel full of fandomy meta people it was proper Named authors and I got anxious and didn’t know what the hell to do and internally screamed some. I reached out to Tanya for help, and she and a person above her in the Nine Worlds team really did help. I am so thankful to the both of them. We ended up splitting it into two with the authors keeping the proper panel thing and doing it from their perspective and I’d do a kind of panel/round table discussion thing. Mostly round table. I heard some not so great things about the ‘Redemption in Sci-FI’ panel aka the parent one. I couldn’t be there so I don’t know the details.

This one was awesome though. @knittedace was on it with me, as well as our third the anime guy. Who did have things to contribute even to western stuff that coming from another perspective and tradition was pretty cool.

Again it filled up fast. We were chatting about various stuff before the panel time started. And by the official start time arrived we had to put a sign on the door outside saying we were full except for a couple priority access seats. And it truly was only two priority access seats. One woman came in, and then left as she didn’t have a priority access sticker when there was still a ‘open to all’ seat left. Oh well.

In this one I brought all of my experience charing over the weekend. What I’d seen and liked, seen and didn’t like, as well as stuff I knew already. I knew this could be a tricky topic for some so I made sure rules were set out first.

Like, obviously we are talking about characters who have done bad things. And this will be mentioned. We can talk about Anakin Skywalker but not go into graphic detail over what he did. Use trigger warnings. If someone is talking about something you find hard raise both hands or otherwise make yourself known in a way other than ‘I want to talk next’ and we will stop. Let you get out. And send someone to let you in again. That people know the protocol for spoiler warnings in their own media types and fandoms and to use them. And again if you need to stop someone because you’re behind the bell curve in catching up, let us know and leave and we’ll bring you back in after. Someone did take advantage of this which was awesome.

I also made sure people knew talking over others wasn’t what I wanted, that they were to respect others and let them finish and that sometimes the three of us on the mini panel thing would pull things back to us to raise new points or add new questions etc.

It went really well. Orderly. One person had to leave for a minute and did so, no fuss was made, and came back in after, People respected others, good discussion was had, the topics moved forward rather than spiral deeper and deeper on things, nothing got graphic. Somehow there was humour even given the topic but not inappropriate humour.

Lots of good points including how some characters are seeking redemption even if probably they don’t need it. How for many people who had either been raised in a toxic/evil environment or who had been through crap otherwise, redemption was also often a story of gaining or regaining agency. How doing a good thing and then dying to save a person for selfish reasons wasn’t really redemption. Or how someone forcing you to be good by putting a soul in your body or other magic or something making you good is also not really redemption. Redemption, proper redemption, required choice and consequences and owning what you had did and overcoming. How sometimes there is an aspect of white saviour going on.

I loved that panel. I really really did.

What gets me most is that at the end of the night, someone who I really respect (not Tanya to be clear) came up and told me that my Dax and Redemption panels had been her two favourite of the entire convention. I was so so touched, and honoured and it meant a lot. I had a couple other people say they’d loved Dax but this one person was… it blew me away.

Geeky Cupcake Decorating was just pure fun. Me and @knittedace went to this just as a fun thing to do. Also being asexual we figured it was our duty. Speaking of, I made this lovely delight:

I had to mix the grey fondant myself. I think it’s fondant? Terms confuse me. @knittedace Made this brilliant set of Doctor Who cakes that she can show off later but where much admired. And the table near by made a truly adorable set of Yuri on Ice cakes. Some seriously talented folks. Also plenty of kids having a lot of fun. One little girl was running around showing off the cake she’d made and that her dad had made with real pride. So cute.

We went for dinner after that, sad that things were ending, and came back in time to go to the end of convention quiz.

End of the Con Quiz is hosed by Ash every year. And much to my delight we were once again visited by the infamous No Face. This isn’t a cosplay, this is like a visitation from the real thing. Last year they were slowly chasing Ash all over the place. This time they were menacing him from the corner whilst people gave it tribute (and it ate the dire wolf) to making Ash dance.

I knew almost none of the answers. I never do. But they did ask a question about my panel!

Our team decided to call ourselves ‘Quiz Master Ash/No Face OTP’. Not much of a reaction from Ash to that when he read it out. We came fourth. There was joint last which mean they had to battle it out to get (or not get if they so chose) the last place prize.

Never have you seen such a tense and dramatic game of Jenga. There was Star Trek fight music (Kirk edition) on repeat several times, there was the Benny Hill chase music, there was the Crystal Maze music, there was the Tetris theme. There were people at the back standing up to watch, everyone was tense. Even No Face got in on the action intimidating people/paying attention.

No Face got way closer than that. Scary.

I mean seriously. Though it has since been revealed, nobody knew who the person doing No Face was for two years. And they were fantastically in character. It was genius. And people treat them with the respect and caution as though they were actually a malevolent spirit. So this was fun for everyone up there lol.

Eventually that ended and we retreated to the mini bar in the games rom. Played more Slash for a bit until we all had to leave.

And then it was the end of the con. And all is sad.

Me and @knittedace had to share a bed as the room was one large bed rather than two singles. And I was joking that if we were inside a fan fic this would so be the ‘forced to share a bed’ trope. Followed by some joking about waking up to bumps in unexpected places. Like lower legs. Or something. But we got to sleep eventually.

I’m sad to be home. I have ideas for panels next year already. I miss it. @knittedace described getting home sick when she got home and I hadn’t framed it that way before but it is. We both grew up in fandom. Spending time here, talking here, learning here. Fandom is a culture we spent our formative years in and are still a part of. And conventions are like temporary pop up real world manifestations of that. So it kinda makes sense. But what makes them so special, in many ways, is that they are temporary. Even if it’s always sad to leave.

Also, and importantly, at the bottom of the back page of the program was this very touching easter egg that will make you feel the feels if you decode it:

–. -. ..- / - . .-. .-. -.– / .–. .-. .- - -.-. …. . - -

Nine Worlds Staff and Volunteers

They are brilliant. They work tirelessly before, during, and after the con to make things work. From the techies making sure all the equipment works to those running the front desk and twitter so people know what is going on to those making sure things go to plan or even have a plan, to everyone else who makes everything work. To those who do the nitty gritty stuff like finances and talking to hotels or sponsors to get stuff done to those who organise tracks and content to those who book entertainment to everyone who volunteers for a few hours.

They work so hard. And need so much thanks. None of this would work if not for them. It doesn’t matter how many of us are willing to sit at behind a mic and babble at you for an hour, if none of them are there nothing would happen at all.

So thanks to them for all they have done, and all they continue to do.

#nine worlds #nine worlds 2017 #star trek #harry potter #fandom

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