(Untitled)

[eilandesq]

NO LONGER UNSPOKEN (OUT OF THE SILVER SEA: THE CARETAKER'S REMIX)

Author: M. Scott Eiland
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Star Trek 2009
Rating: PG-13, for themes
Time Frame: Post-”Into Darkness”
Original Story: “Out of the Silver Sea,”https://archiveofourown.org/works/308140 by Jedi Buttercup

Comments

[jedibuttercup]

Ooh, I like what you did with this. Exploring the setup a little more while cutting some of the angst out of it. The ending was especially fun. :)

[eilandesq]

It's no secret that I'm fond of happy endings (though I've written plenty of stories that don't grant them). Seeing a three century old Buffy paired with Leonard McCoy--who had his own share of angst over the years in TOS canon--definitely set off that impulse, and the revised timeline (which granted Spock the insight to realize that Uhura was both awesome and interested in him) set it off even harder. Why shouldn't he find happiness in a way that benefited someone who was greatly in need of an end to her own loneliness?

Cheers,

Scott

[aadler]

A different take, with its own insights. Inserting the Caretaker into the narrative served to personify the issue at the core of the original story: the two former lovers had encountered what they believed to be fantasy versions of each other (doubtless created by the planet’s provision of ‘whatever the customer wants’); would either of them - or both - choose to use what they had learned of themselves in future decisions?

An entirely respectable variant of, and supplement to, jedibuttercup’s original.

[eilandesq]

Aside from Jedi Buttercup's story, another inspiration for this story was remembering an obscure passage from Alan Dean Foster's Star Trek Log version of the animated sequel to "Shore Leave," which mentioned with little elaboration that during the Enterprise's second visit to the planet, one of the crew of the Enterprise had walked into the midst of another crewmember's fantasy--which turned out to feature her. The brief mention of the incident concluded by noting that their mutual friends were betting on which one of them would stop blushing first. Both McCoy and Buffy are undoubtedly made of sterner stuff and will only blush briefly. :-)

Cheers,

Scott

[aadler]

I remember reading and enjoying that story. It would appear that you and I grew from some of the same roots.