#▲ arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ future’s end!

[delta-queerdrant]

useless desires (Persistence of Vision, s2 e8)

I just realized I posted my drafts out of order! And skipped Persistence of Vision!! So sorry, but also what is time, etc.

"Persistence of Vision" could also be titled “kisses no one wanted to see on television.” There are so many of them! Voyager is a show that is fundamentally bad at romantic subplots, and this episode in particular seems determined to deliver awkward makeout scenes that literally no one asked for.

Truthfully I’m inclined to like this episode - it’s gothic, and it's about feelings, and those are both good things! (Season Two as a whole is strong in the area of feelings-forward episodes, even as it struggles with such matters as “plot.”)

We open with Janeway, modern career woman, losing her cool due to the pressures of command. The Doctor orders her to blow off some steam with a holo-novel, so we’re back to Victorian governess cosplay. 

This show’s conception of self-care is so very nineties - Janeway is a leader, but she’s also a woman, which means that an essential layer in her Maslow’s Pyramid is “putting on a corset and getting snogged by a bargain-basement aristocrat.” The problem with the governess holonovel is that it invokes universalized cliches of gendered desire (bodice-ripper tropes) instead of drilling into what this character, specifically, would look for in a holonovel (my money is on lady doctor/cowboy romance, but I will also accept steampunk adventure, or pirates). Some women dig feeling feminine, but they also want to feel like themselves.

Soon Janeway’s repressed lady psyche, pushed to the brink, begins to spill out into ordinary life. When she dares to enjoy a coffee ice cream (instead of one of her inexplicable cups of soup), she begins to hallucinate. Mark shows up!! A ghostly dog barks!!!

I am usually one to try to get behind a canonical love interest - even if my shippy preferences lie elsewhere, canon relationships shed light on character. But man, I hate this jerk. No doubt real!Mark has many pleasant qualities that phantom!Mark lacks, but let's be real, dude has all the charisma of a bin full of pencil shavings.

Mark (and Mollie) have been on Janeway's mind; we know this because she gave their photo a long, plaintive look before trotting off to the holodeck. Now phantom!Mark declares that, quote, SOMEONE ELSE IS IN YOUR THOUGHTS NOW(!!!) As further evidence of her guilt, a hallucinatory Mrs. Templeton appears and jumps her.

Who the heck is someone else?? One is inclined to assume that we're being setting up for a Janeway/Chakotay romance arc - but it’s hard to feel certain this show isn’t fucking with us, making shippy promises it has no intention of keeping. It seems equally possible that Lord Burleigh is someone else and the writers truly believe that Janeway feels guilty for kissing holograms behind her fiance’s back.

At any rate, atmospherically backlit aliens have shown up; the rest of the crew starts hallucinating, seeing loved ones or, in B’Elanna’s case, a torrid romance with Chakotay?? (I am actually okay with these two as fwb, but their relationship is so fundamentally platonic that, again, it feels like the writers are just messing with us.) Mark shows up and kisses Janeway (gosh, two Janeway kisses in one episode, each one profoundly disappointing).

Only Kes is strong enough to resist these bankrupt conjurings of female desire. Her siren is a Tom Paris who needs to be rescued, which is actually a pretty funny and on the nose interpretation of what Kes is into. Overcoming her urge to engage in some hurt/comfort roleplay, Kes rescues the ship, Medusa-like, by using her telepathic powers to return the awkward to sender.

I enjoy this episode because it’s about women’s personal lives, even though the script seems extremely confused about what those personal lives consist of. Janeway and Torres share a very sweet “welp, that was awkward” scene at the end in which they resolve to be a little less repressed in the future.

Of curse, we can't possibly expect either of them to follow through with their vow; when it comes to nineties television, the richest texts are usually those below the surface. 3/5 surreptitious coffee ice creams.

[storiescrafted2]

MUSE INFO   —   B’ELANNA L’NAAN* TORRES.

formerly found at:  inheritedattitude.

all information outlined below is based in the latest possible canon information,  and can vary by verse.  some of it is headcanon based,  and has developed over the last several years of me writing b’elanna.  anything with a * is based on personal headcanons.

FACECLAIM:  roxann dawson.  PLACE OF BIRTH:  kessik iv. DATE OF BIRTH:  2349;  age  —  29 when voyager returns to earth. SPECIES:  klingon-human hybrid. HEIGHT: 5′4″. EYE COLOR: brown. HAIR COLOR: brown. PARENTS:   john torres (father, estranged).   miral  (mother,  assumed deceased).   SPOUSE:  tom paris. CHILDREN:   miral kathryn* paris. EDUCATION:   starfleet academy (incomplete). PAST OCCUPATIONS:  first officer,  chief engineer:  maquis raider val jean. CURRENT OCCUPATION:  chief engineer,  uss voyager. NOTABLE KLINGON FEATURES: ridged forehead, bushier eyebrows, short temper. KLINGON ANATOMY: eight-chambered heart, two stomachs, two livers, three lungs, twenty-three ribs, sturdy antibodies. HUMAN ANATOMY: tear ducts, human teeth, small stature. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: demisexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: bi-romantic.

IMPORTANT CANON RELATIONSHIPS:  tom paris (husband),  chakotay (best friend),  miral paris (daughter),  john torres (father),  miral (mother),  carl torres (uncle),  elizabeth torres (cousin),  dean torres (cousin),  michael torres (cousin),  kathryn janeway (captain, friend, surrogate maternal figure),  tuvok (friend, emotional coach),  emergency medical hologram,  ‘the doctor’ (friend, godfather to miral),  harry kim (friend),  neelix (friend),  seven of nine (tense sometimes friends, idk b’elanna never really comes around to her),  owen paris (father-in-law),  seska (former best friend,  enemy),  idk there are probably more but my brain stopped cooperating.

IMPORTANT PORTRAYAL BASED RELATIONSHIPS:  none :// tragic ://

born on the colony kessik iv,  to human father;  john torres,  and klingon mother;  miral.

b’elanna and her mother were the only klingons on the colony.

at the age of 4,  john left,  leaving b’elanna believing it was because of her klingon half  ---  prompting her to try hiding her heritage.

following john leaving,  miral pulled her daughter from the federation school and returned to qo’nos (the klingon homeworld).*

being with her mother’s family led to further disconnect,  hatred of herself,  as b’elanna felt she wasn’t klingon enough for klingons,  and she wasn’t human enough for humans.

at 17,  left for earth,  having been accepted to starfleet academy where she began to study engineering.

participated in track and field events,  was noted as being one of the best athletes of the time due to her klingon heritage  (third lung,  eight chambered heart).

due to regularly butting heads with teachers,  at the age of 19 b’elanna left the academy after three semesters.

not soon after,  was saved by chakotay which prompted her to join the maquis.

was quickly given the unofficial first officers spot aboard chakotay’s ship*,  as well as being unofficial chief engineer.

in 2371,  while fleeing a cardassian ship in an area known as the badlands,  the val jean was pulled to the delta quadrant by an entity known as ‘the caretaker’,  where b’elanna and the rest of the maquis crew were probed,  and b’elanna was held captive until she was rescued in a joint effort by the maquis crew and the crew of the federation starship voyager,  which was also pulled to the delta quadrant.

after starfleet captain kathryn janeway destroyed the caretaker’s array,  the maquis crew joined forces with the federation crew in a joint attempt to traverse the 70,000 lightyear gap between the delta quadrant and federation space.  

due to the death of voyager’s chief engineer,  b’elanna was (after some deliberation) given the provisional rank of lieutenant jr. grade and named voyager’s new chief engineer.

suffers from post traumatic stress disorder,  anxiety,  and chronic depression.

gifted engineer,  skilled athlete,  skilled at holographic programing,  excellent survival skills.

guess what i got tired here and wanted to get into a better headspace before i started just recapping the entire show,  so i’ll finish these later,  onto verses!

VERSES UNDER THE CUT!

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ canon!

a verse ranging from seasons 1 - 7 of voyager. there’s an arc for each season as well as a few ‘longer’ episodes listed below. ▲  arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ future’s end! ▲  arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ year of hell! ▲  arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ the killing game! ▲  arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ course: oblivion! ▲  arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ workforce!

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ academy!

2366 - 2367. encompasses b’elanna’s three semesters at starfleet academy before dropping out.

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ maquis!

2368 - 2371

after chakotay saved her life, b’elanna joined the maquis to help fight the cardassians aboard his ship, the 'val jean'.

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ warship voyager!

verse description in progress. based on the voyager episode 'living witness'.

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ alternate endgame timeline!

2371 - 2404 before admiral janeway went back to get voyager home after only seven years, the crew spent a total of twenty-three years journeying through the delta quadrant to get home. after the return, b'elanna becomes a diplomatic liasion to the klingon empire. this is a verse following those events.

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ aos!

daughter of john torres, a human; and miral daughter of l'naan, a klingon; b'elanna torres was never what anybody would consider ‘normal’. to most, klingons were a mysterious, warlike race that had a tendency to get along with no one —- and they weren’t wrong. in 2234 a klingon shuttle crashed on the outskirts of the federation colony where john torres and his brother, carl, lived. onboard was a single klingon woman, miral, who the two men took in and nursed back to health. at first, the woman was curious, claiming that there was nothing honorable about her situation, though she came to realize that returning to the homeworld with her tale would hold more dishonor than accepting her situation. before long, john and miral were married, and b'elanna was born almost a year later (near the end of 2235), though her childhood was far from easy. growing up with a klingon for a mother was nothing anybody she knew could relate to —– they were all human, or members of species with which the federation was on more friendly terms. as a child, b'elanna struggled immensely with her temper, and accepting the fact that she was so different from everyone around her, though she was incredibly bright. at 16 she decided to apply for starfleet academy with an emphasis in engineering. though she continued to struggle with her temper, she found that starfleet principles aided with her self discipline and she graduated. in most interactions, for ease, she will be stationed as an engineering lieutenant jr grade on the enterprise.

▲  verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ post voyager; novel based!

POST VOYAGER BIO HERE.

[ralfmaximus]

How Voyager Should Have Been

- Tom Paris and Kes experience a tragic transporter accident merging them together into Kes Paris late in Season One

- Neelix loses his mind and kidnaps Kes Paris as the S1 finale, howling in ancient Talaxian over subspace radio as his ship disappears at high warp

- Janeway goes “huh”

- Exchanges a look with Chakotay and both shrug

- Kim is promoted to Lieutenant and given all of Tom’s stuff

- Instead of the dicking around with the dirty space Kazons, Season Two starts with Seven of Nine’s rescue and the whole Borg Space arc

- Season Three:  B'Elanna Torres and Seven explore “human relationships” and fall deeply in love. It’s a perfect match because B’Elanna can keep Seven’s hardware running

- The EMH looks on from afar, seething with rage

- Janeway & Chakotay’s torrid affair continues. It becomes hard to ignore when Chakotay is found frequently naked in Janeway’s ready room

- B’Elanna & Seven get married, and Janeway officiates, when SURPRISE

- The EMH explodes Neelix and Kes Paris return, declare they have worked things out and wish ALSO to be married. It’s now a double ceremony!

- Inspired by all the love around them, Janeway & Chakotay decide WHAT THE HELL and get married too... a triple ceremony!

- For unexplained reasons Chakotay observes Betazoid custom and is married in the nude. Nobody cares

- S3 ends with Janeway wistfully jettisoning the photo of her husband & dog into space then phasering it into ashes.

- Season Four opens with Discovery spore-warping itself into the Delta quadrant

- Stamets: “Heyyyyyyy, wassup guys.. my dudes.. my... future dudes...”

- Starfleet Office of Temporal Affairs show up and fuck right off again because their jurisdiction ends at retconning

- Discovery (the series) and Voyager (the series) merge into one awesome show and continues to be on the air 19 years later

- Harry Kim is now in charge of Voyager.

[moonreflected-a]

MUSE INFO   —   B’ELANNA L’NAAN* TORRES.

formerly found at: inheritedattitude.

all information outlined below is based in the latest possible canon information,  and can vary by verse.  some of it is headcanon based,  and has developed over the last several years of me writing b’elanna.  anything with a * is based on personal headcanons.

FACECLAIM:  roxann dawson. PLACE OF BIRTH:  kessik iv. DATE OF BIRTH:  2349;  age  —  29 when voyager returns to earth. SPECIES:  klingon-human hybrid. HEIGHT: 5′4″. EYE COLOR: brown. HAIR COLOR: brown. PARENTS:   john torres (father, estranged).   miral  (mother,  assumed deceased).   SPOUSE:  tom paris. CHILDREN:   miral kathryn* paris. EDUCATION:   starfleet academy (incomplete). PAST OCCUPATIONS:  first officer,  chief engineer:  maquis raider val jean. CURRENT OCCUPATION:  chief engineer,  uss voyager. NOTABLE KLINGON FEATURES: ridged forehead, bushier eyebrows, short temper. KLINGON ANATOMY: eight-chambered heart, two stomachs, two livers, three lungs, twenty-three ribs, sturdy antibodies. HUMAN ANATOMY: tear ducts, human teeth, small stature. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: demisexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: bi-romantic.

IMPORTANT CANON RELATIONSHIPS: tom paris (husband),  chakotay (best friend),  miral paris (daughter),  john torres (father),  miral (mother),  carl torres (uncle),  elizabeth torres (cousin),  dean torres (cousin),  michael torres (cousin),  kathryn janeway (captain, friend, surrogate maternal figure),  tuvok (friend, emotional coach), ��emergency medical hologram,  ‘the doctor’ (friend, godfather to miral),  harry kim (friend),  neelix (friend),  seven of nine (tense sometimes friends, idk b’elanna never really comes around to her),  owen paris (father-in-law),  seska (former best friend,  enemy),  idk there are probably more but my brain stopped cooperating.

IMPORTANT PORTRAYAL BASED RELATIONSHIPS: none :// tragic ://

born on the colony kessik iv,  to human father;  john torres,  and klingon mother;  miral.

b’elanna and her mother were the only klingons on the colony.

at the age of 4,  john left,  leaving b’elanna believing it was because of her klingon half  —  prompting her to try hiding her heritage.

following john leaving,  miral pulled her daughter from the federation school and returned to qo’nos (the klingon homeworld).*

being with her mother’s family led to further disconnect,  hatred of herself,  as b’elanna felt she wasn’t klingon enough for klingons,  and she wasn’t human enough for humans.

at 17,  left for earth,  having been accepted to starfleet academy where she began to study engineering.

participated in track and field events,  was noted as being one of the best athletes of the time due to her klingon heritage  (third lung,  eight chambered heart).

due to regularly butting heads with teachers,  at the age of 19 b’elanna left the academy after three semesters.

not soon after,  was saved by chakotay which prompted her to join the maquis.

was quickly given the unofficial first officers spot aboard chakotay’s ship*,  as well as being unofficial chief engineer.

in 2371,  while fleeing a cardassian ship in an area known as the badlands,  the val jean was pulled to the delta quadrant by an entity known as ‘the caretaker’,  where b’elanna and the rest of the maquis crew were probed,  and b’elanna was held captive until she was rescued in a joint effort by the maquis crew and the crew of the federation starship voyager,  which was also pulled to the delta quadrant.

after starfleet captain kathryn janeway destroyed the caretaker’s array,  the maquis crew joined forces with the federation crew in a joint attempt to traverse the 70,000 lightyear gap between the delta quadrant and federation space.  

due to the death of voyager’s chief engineer,  b’elanna was (after some deliberation) given the provisional rank of lieutenant jr. grade and named voyager’s new chief engineer.

following the death of the maquis in the alpha quadrant via the dominion, b’elanna fell into a deep depression and began behaving recklessly for roughly 6 months.

married tom paris in early 2378,  and gave birth to a daughter named for her mother as voyager returned home.

suffers from post traumatic stress disorder,  anxiety,  and chronic depression.

gifted engineer,  skilled athlete,  skilled at holographic programing,  excellent survival skills.

VERSES UNDER THE CUT!

canon!

a verse ranging from seasons 1 - 7 of voyager. there’s an arc for each season as well as a few ‘longer’ episodes listed below. 

future’s end! year of hell! the killing game! course: oblivion! workforce!

academy!

2366 - 2367. encompasses b’elanna’s three semesters at starfleet academy before dropping out.

maquis!

2368 - 2371

after chakotay saved her life, b’elanna joined the maquis to help fight the cardassians aboard his ship, the ‘val jean’.

warship voyager!

verse description in progress. based on the voyager episode 'living witness’.

alternate endgame timeline!

2371 - 2404 before admiral janeway went back to get voyager home after only seven years, the crew spent a total of twenty-three years journeying through the delta quadrant to get home. after the return, b'elanna becomes a diplomatic liasion to the klingon empire. this is a verse following those events.

aos!

daughter of john torres, a human; and miral daughter of l'naan, a klingon; b'elanna torres was never what anybody would consider ‘normal’. to most, klingons were a mysterious, warlike race that had a tendency to get along with no one —- and they weren’t wrong. in 2234 a klingon shuttle crashed on the outskirts of the federation colony where john torres and his brother, carl, lived. onboard was a single klingon woman, miral, who the two men took in and nursed back to health. at first, the woman was curious, claiming that there was nothing honorable about her situation, though she came to realize that returning to the homeworld with her tale would hold more dishonor than accepting her situation. before long, john and miral were married, and b'elanna was born almost a year later (near the end of 2235), though her childhood was far from easy. growing up with a klingon for a mother was nothing anybody she knew could relate to —– they were all human, or members of species with which the federation was on more friendly terms. as a child, b'elanna struggled immensely with her temper, and accepting the fact that she was so different from everyone around her, though she was incredibly bright. at 16 she decided to apply for starfleet academy with an emphasis in engineering. though she continued to struggle with her temper, she found that starfleet principles aided with her self discipline and she graduated. in most interactions, for ease, she will be stationed as an engineering lieutenant jr grade on the enterprise.

post voyager; novel based!

bio found HERE!