But Picard and Q talk too damn much, often about absolutely nothing, for a PWP to work or even a story where *most* of it is about sex... you *have* to see the characters interrelating in ways that are not in bed to feel that they are in fact the same people.

That. If being verbose is such a quintessential character trait, taking the conversations away means the characters become unrecognizable. Thanks for the links, I'll check these out.

(BTW, I loved the last of your seventeen things...)