@chaumas-deactivated20230115 …That’s an order, Mr. Spock?

I’ve heard of Spock, McCoy, and Kirk being referred to as mind, heart, and soul, but logic, heart, and phallus is a new one.

When I started shipping it if I did: I liked it early on, to the point that it hijacked me getting into Spirk. I didn't fully commit until I watched All Our Yesterdays. There was no turning back after that.

My thoughts: There is so, SO much I could say, but then this would get WAAAY too long. But I love them. There are so many layers. There can argue, but they'll also be the first to stand by the other. They pick at their differences, but are much more alike than they'd like to admit. They are both such flawed people, but the other makes them feel so much more complete and... GDI I just love them so much~

What makes me happy about them: What doesn't? IDK, like I said I really do feel like they complete each other. After what they've both struggled through, they deserve that happiness.

What makes me sad about them: It's gonna be a bittersweet ending for them. Either McCoy dies before Spock, or Spock gets sucked into AOS and McCoy never sees him again before he dies. I try to avoid thinking that far ahead because it just makes me WAAAY too depressed.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: I can't think of anything specific.

Things I look for in fanfic: Again, nothing specific. I am fairly easy to please.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Kirk for either of them. Albiet I'm more of a McKirk fan than Spirk, but still.

My happily ever after for them: They get to retire on Vulcan or wherever, Spock pursuing his ambassador career and McCoy, though technically, retired, being a doctor as always. Also, Jim never dies in Generations cause I said so.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon: It flip-flops

[ ship meme ]

Ship It

What made you ship it?

Look, I went into this show thinking I would not ship it, because I knew it was popular and I am Contrarian. But this one is just so good. It’s so good. It’s so so good. The two things that hooked me were the banter and the way Sheppard will just gaze at McKay in the most absurdly in love kind of way?? It’s ridiculous. Thank you Joe Flanigan.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

There’s a lot, but it took me until the end of the series to make me figure out what I like so much about them. 

First off... I hc McKay as autistic, because I don’t know how there’d be an argument he isn’t tbh. And something I noticed about McKay in his relationship with Keller is that (in my opinion) he masks with her, and when he doesn’t, she gets frustrated with him. She’s not doing anything wrong. They’re just a bad match.

On the other hand, while Sheppard will bicker and tease, McKay seems much more comfortable being himself around him and Sheppard seems to like all of McKay, even the difficult bits. As someone who’s autistic, that means a lot to me.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

2. Why did you ship them? Their dynamic. Because they’re equal. Because they’re idiots who can’t communicate on a good day. Because I like exploring their relationship (platonic or romantic), which basically spans 100 years.

3. What are the some of the reasons you like Spock as a character? His relationship with Sarek~ His loyalty.

4. And McCoy? He holds his true feelings hidden and rarely reveals them, but when he decides to say something really important, it’s always the right thing and quite powerful, too.

5. Some of your fave things about liking Spones: tropes, fics, headcanons, etc? I have a very soft spot for old half-retired spones~

We share that in common – went into TOS not shipping anyone and I accidentally decided to see if people shipped them. I was curious coz their dynamic seemed like one of those “i wonder if people ship them” kind and. Welp lol Here we are!

I do love the fact that with how long they live in canon, you could explore over at least 50+ years of history in the relationship and that’s such a satisfying thing. Not all pairings get that kind of chance and it’s really one to explore, and see the changes and growth during all that time.

And that part about saying something important, it being the ‘right’ thing and powerful? I totally agree -- and sometimes ‘right’ but not necessarily mean morally right but something that forces one of the characters to think about something, so they can actually make the right decision. Sometimes you need a person to point out a viewpoint that isn’t being considered, though he does make some moral statements too.

Old, half retired spones is SO lovely, I really should work on that AU wip of mine where the two of them meet for the first time as old guys lol

Check out Leni’s fics on AO3 here!

Now, I'm obsessed with the idea that the ship was manned by humans but Sarek was inspecting it for the potential transfer of Starfleet's first all-Vulcan crew to the ship, with the added wrinkle that Sarek was doing so in the hope that Spock will be part of that transfer.

Spock and Sarek run into each other on the Starbase while the trial is happening. Spock finds out what Sarek is doing, and they have a fight about it, which is why Spock both defends his human captain so passionately during the trial, but also why he retreats so hard into cold logic (playing chess with the computer to gather evidence) after he realizes how emotional his earlier defense was.

While the trial is happening, Bones meets Sarek by chance and gets along with him because of his withering assessment of the Intrepid's crew (that is, the people who were mean to Jim), and their current shared annoyance at Starfleet. He enjoys the company of the dryly sarcastic Vulcan, and their conversation is what makes him think to go find Spock engaged in the chess match.

After the events with the actually-alive Finney and the end of the trial, Bones encounters Sarek at the starbase one last time. He looks forward to one more bitchy conversation, but quickly gets concerned when he finds out about why Sarek is on the Intrepid; not because of the all-Vulcan ship Sarek is scouting, but because Sarek mentions that Spock would be an ideal choice for its first officer. Of course, Sarek has never mentioned his relationship to Spock, or even his name, to avoid the impression of impropriety.

Bones is incensed. Why would Spock transfer off the ship, just when their team is working together so well? Why would he want to leave? Sarek says, simply, that "humans do not appreciate his attributes, they mock him, just like they mock Captain Kirk. They are afraid of difference and excellence."

This gives Bones pause. He's embarrassed at his earlier anger at Spock and how he called him "cold-blooded," but he realizes for the first time that he will always appreciate Spock's unique qualities, despite their differences. He remembers defending Spock to Jim during The Menagerie, but that wasn't quite right, either. His defense was about Spock's honour, linked to Spock's Vulcan ethos, but Spock is neither honourable because he is Vulcan, or ingenious because he's part human. He's just Spock.

With this sudden thought, he finds himself giving Sarek a piece of his mind, telling him that Vulcans had historically appreciated Spock even less. After Spock's last-minute saving of them all at the trial, Bones is more sure than ever that Spock's the best first officer in the fleet and that the Enterprise is the ship that truly appreciates what he's worth.

Either Spock manages to secretly overhear this or Spock never finds out, but it doesn't matter anyway, because Bones lets his opinion be heard for real in Operation: Annihilate! Where he's feeling guilty as hell, because he may have ended Spock's career, not only by blinding him but by insisting he stay on the Enterprise in the first place, when he could have been safe on the Intrepid.

This is why Sarek likes Bones enough in Journey to Babel to excuse his teasing and trust him with the unusual surgery and procedures, why Spock and his father are still in a standoff when that episode begins, and why Bones glares at Sarek when he shows up. We don't see Bones' reaction when he realizes the man he had passionately defended Spock to the previous year was...Spock's father.

Then, the Immunity Syndrome happens. And when Bones finds out that the Vulcan-only ship Sarek helped to plan has been destroyed, losing all aboard, because they couldn't think outside the box, like the Enterprise does, like Spock...

He's devastated, thinking about what they could have lost, Spock gone for good, had he followed his father's advice.

And when Spock offers to sacrifice himself for the Enterprise anyway? That's why Bones really can't accept it. After all this, to choose "Vulcan dignity..."

"Shut up, Spock! We're rescuing you!"

Ooh, can do!

Okay, so this is kind of weird. I do genuinely like them as a ship on both the TOS and AOS side. If I had to pick which one I prefer, probably AOS. I don’t know how to explain this but while I saw bits of shipping fuel in TOS here and there and I adore their general dynamic, it just… didn’t hit me as hard as say Spones did. AOS meanwhile I felt protrayed the McKirk dynamic the best of the Triumvirate and since the Spirk and Spones dynamics were very different and downplayed respectively, it was the one I got the most attached to. Chris Pine and Karl Urban had a lot of great chemistry and especially in 2009 and in Beyond, their bond was cleary strong and did them both a lot of good. Their dynamic in TOS probably helped as well. So since I really enjoyed it and couldn’t find much else to fall back on… well I got sucked into the ship.

13. Favourite captain?

My favorite is Sisko. I tag all of the posts I make about him with best captain because it is true. He is the best. Captains are very rarely one of my favorite characters in a series, but he’s a very big exception. Two of the episodes that focus on him are some of my favorite in Star Trek, and DS9 is my favorite series.

26. The character you’d follow into battle no questions asked?

So, I’m a whole pacifist, so it’d have to be someone who’d only battle if absolutely necessary... Maybe Hugh (the ex-Borg, although Culber would probably be a good choice too).

27. Which character deserved better?