Director's Commentary On Underneath The Tree? I Saw You Reblogged The Post So Here We Go:) UTT Is My

Director's commentary on Underneath The Tree? I saw you reblogged the post so here we go:) UTT is my favourite work of yours :3

thank you so much, anon!! i'm so glad you enjoyed UtT, i had an amazing time writing it so im delighted you enjoyed it <3

Underneath the Tree very much started as the baby of myself and @exit-pursued-by-a-lesbian . we started it in november last year, just based on the fact that they were mad that every single thing i wrote (and tbh, most of the time still is) was angst, so we thought, hey, it's nearly christmas, we'll figure out something related to that.

as i have a long-standing rep for torturing b'elanna in my fic, she of course had to get some joy, and it escalated from there. i wouldn't describe either of us as die-hard b7 shippers, but we both definitely ship b'elanna with seven more than anybody else, and we both love kes, too, and think so much more could have been done with her, especially with a potential friendship with seven, so she got a big role as well. kes comes with the doctor, so he got something to do, too, and as we were introduced to vines by a voyager vines video (yes, we do unfortunately spend our free time watching things like that. it's a great use of our time!) so it seemed natural for their arc to involve a vine. neelix sort of just... showed up. i don't remember adding him to the story. he was just there. janeway was similar, except more wanted, and i firmly believe that all the best b7 has kathryn manically encouraging them all the way. tom and harry are another ship that we both ship together more than we ship either of them with anybody else, so they got to make a few appearances, and the voyager betting pool spiralled from that. you need a few more stakes than the general emotional torture of b7 being hopelessly in love with each other, so the betting pool, vine, and christmas party worked out nicely, as well as bringing me extreme amounts of joy.

our original plan was to both write a version, and then pick the best chunks from both and combine them, so we spent a lot of time in mid december wandering around our local town centre looking at clothes and christmas decorations brainstorming. hence, tuvok.

all the shops near us tend to go slightly insane in terms of the types of clothes they stock near christmas (pretty much every item of clothing described in the story is something we've actual found within twenty minutes of our houses, aside from tuvok's heels) so as we were brainstorming the logical idea seemed to be to point at clothes and go, "x character wears that (hopefully to the voyager christmas party)". it's funny to do regardless of what character you pick, but tuvok makes it infinitely funnier. like, seriously, i recommend it: wander around your local shops going "tuvok would wear that." it fuckign SLAPS.

anyway.

that lead us to picking out every part of the voyager christmas party scene. who doesn't love a good christmas party with your alien coworker who you're homoerotically in love with? once we'd figured out the stakes, we just had to weave the story together and, y'know, actually write it. this is the point where it became much more of a me effort than an us effort, bc deadlines are HARD, y'all.

i think i wrote the first chunk up until kes realises seven's in love with b'elanna by the third of december or so, and then i wrote the entire rest on the twenty-first, when my adhd brain went oh SHIT i have to write this we no longer have infinite time. my favourite scene to write was definitely the mess hall scene where janeway drinks a bathtub of coffee, b'elanna punches kes, and kes drinks an inordinate amount of hot chocolate. it was such a fun little moment of realisation, tbh, and it gave my beloved kathryn her second in the spotlight, too.

after that, all that was left was for @exit-pursued-by-a-lesbian to beta it, and then i posted it! (yes, all the christmas songs are real. yes, they're all on a star trek-named christmas-themed playlist on my spotify. no, i will not provide a link bc none of you need to be able to find the other playlists on my spotify, which include a thirty-six hour worm-themed playlist featuring the whole hamilton soundtrack)

once again, thank you so much, anon! i'm glad you enjoyed the story, and i'm sorry that this post is almost as long as the story

@exit-pursued-by-a-lesbian

THE PART ABT UNA BEING SCARED ABOUT BEING LEFT AT A GARBAGE DUMP HURT MY HEART

thank you so much for the insight!! i love this story <3

for the director's cut thing, i would LOVE to hear you talk about the light before dawn! (sorry if you've already done it lol) it's one of my absolute all time favourite pikeuna fics <3

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Thank you so much, @belannaswlonkderfulworm!! ❤️ That’s so kind of you and deeply meaningful for me. 🥹

To explain: The Light Before Dawn lives in my heart. I started writing that multi-chap during Strange New Worlds’ first season and I think about it often with so much affection. I know fandom wisdom is people don’t like modern AUs, but I wanted to write it anyway. Something about that story just needed to be told.

I began by trying to figure out Una’s secret. I would have liked to have made her in the United States illegally, but then marriage could fix her problem and I didn’t want that pressure on her and Chris’ relationship. I also considered making Una trans, but I don’t feel qualified to write that experience. There was the option of making her a religious or ethnic minority, but then she would hopefully have a community and not be so alone. The idea of genetic engineering correlating to medical device implantation and ableism finally hit me and really resonated.

For Chris, my first idea was that he could be an equine therapist. But that didn’t work out geographically and, once I figured out Una’s secret, I also decided I didn’t want Chris in any kind of medical profession. (That’s why Joseph and Christine are barely in the story.) Making Chris a modern-day peacemaker seemed right.

Once I had the facts straight, the story had one rule — nothing bad could happen during the course of the narrative. This would be a story about emotional recovery from trauma. Even misunderstandings (like the one Una and La’an had) would be in the service of recovery. I feel like that came through, in part because one of the story bookmarks has the note “comfort in words.” I’ll tell you right now that there are times when I’ve had a shitty day, I look at or think about that bookmark and it helps me feel better that my words were able to comfort someone.

All that being said, there was so much I wanted to fit into that story and couldn’t:

I had this idea in my head that when Chris and Vina got divorced, Chris wore brown loafers with tassels to Family Court because he knew Vina hated those shoes … and he felt guilty at doing something so petty, but also free from trying to please her. As Chris made his way down the front steps of the court after the divorce was finalized, he nearly danced on the concrete with the shoes his wife — ex-wife — hated.

Speaking of Vina … there are songs on my fic playlist for Vina, a character who doesn’t even appear except for Chris mentioning her. But I have so many thoughts about Vina’s frustration with Chris, her pain at him pulling away from a life she thought was good. Vina, a financial planner, helps money make more money. She shops at chic stores and pays too much for haircuts. She moved to SoHo after the divorce and doesn’t really enjoy sex with her dates but does it to reassure herself that she’s “normal” and “fun” and “cool” because all of that is so desperately important to her. I hope she snaps out of her need to impress others, I really do, because Vina’s life could be better if she just lived it for herself.

I considered including that in the mornings when Chris’ light didn’t go on that he was at Judge Batel’s place feeling like absolute garbage. But then who discriminated against Una and cost Una her dream? It got too messy so I just left Batel out and I’m glad I did.

I was going to have the kitchen renovation company belong to Hemmer but when the show killed him, I nixed that.

At the last minute, I edited out a part where Una told Chris that when she was little and her parents would drive past the garbage dump, she would get scared they would drop her off there and leave her. But that was just too sad, even in the past.

In the universe of the story, Rukiya 100% lives to be an adult. There is no cygnokemia in New York City. After they read and run around at the park, Joseph and Rukiya go home to Debra and the family plays board games until it’s time for dinner.

In terms of good stuff, I’m really pleased with some of the details in that story — Una’s nail polish bottles, Chris’ Eagle Scout award (the highest award in Boy Scouts), those two discussing leaky scaffolding (a relatable New York City experience), the reveal of what happened to Gabriel Lorca. Also, I know I’m biased, but when Una set the stars at the planetarium to Mojave, California, so she could see what the sky looked like for Chris when he was a child at night, I think that’s so goddamn romantic of her.

I’m less pleased with my decision to have Una’s quick conversation in the mail room be with a nameless neighbor. My original thought was the neighbor could be any one of the Discovery women — Kat Cornwell, Michael Burnham, Phillipa Georgiou, etc. Meh. Then I wrote and deleted a whole section that made clear the neighbor was Christine Chapel. Maybe I should have kept that and removed the fleeting Chapel reference later. I’m not sure.

I stand by the Spirk joke at the end, though.

I also stand by Una not being a model patient. She’s mostly good about things, but she doesn’t always carry her card with her … just like a real person. And I am gleeful that Eagle Scout Mr. Moral Compass Christopher Pike uses the work printer for personal documents because, come on, we all do it.

Oof, I could keep talking about this story but I should stop. Thank you for this absolutely lovely opportunity, @belannaswlonkderfulworm, I’ve enjoyed every second of babbling about my beloved The Light Before Dawn. ❤️

Want more information about a fic I wrote? Send me an ask.

honestly can't stop thinking of babygirl *but like literal little girl* La'an needing to be looked after by Una (with a lot of help from Chris) and all the different shenanigans that would go on on the Enterprise with little La'an

The tantrums - Una's very no nonsense, but La'an is very stubborn, Chris often has to be the mediator.

The cuddles - nobody expected La'an to be a cuddly kid but she will not get out of Una's arms (or Chris' if Una isn't around)

Erica taking a picture of La'an sat on Chris' lap on the captain's chair and Chris literally treasuring that photo.

La'an kissing Chris good night in front of the rest of the crew and they all good naturally ribbing him for how much little La'an likes him

Sleepy La'an playing with Chris' hair

Chris making cookies with sous-chef La'an in his kitchen

La'an falling over and making Chris kiss her boo boo better

Una chastising Chris for letting her babygirl get hurt

Una going absolutely Mama Bear when she finds out La'an is still missing 3 hours after starting a game of hide and seek with some Ensigns. Uhura eventually finds her passed out in a Jeffries Tube.

La'an sleepily saying 'goodnight Mommy' as Una puts her to bed and Una finding herself in tears

Chris helping little La'an make Una a Mother's Day card and Chris getting Una a necklace with La'an's name on it for La'an to give her

La'an nonchalantly letting slip to Erica that Una and Chris slept with her in bed last night and fueling Enterprise wide gossip on the Captain's relationship with Number One. A red-faced Number One has to specify they were not a couple (Erica coughs loudly "yet")

Erica scheming with little La'an to get Chris and Una together

Christine babysitting La'an whilst Una and Chris go on a date "work" - lots of glitter is involved, leading to Number One banning any and all glitter from the entire ship.

Chris and Una talking about how they'd never wanted kids, but little La'an might have changed their stances on the matter. Both admit they're glad they got to do this (look after/co-parent La'an) together

@exit-pursued-by-a-lesbian FR US

てとて

I made,,,, ds9 gingerbread cookies