#that are backed up by data about vulcan

[fencesandfrogs]

i think it's funny that like. #spock biology quest exists, but also in my head vulcan years are human years and days are 24 hours long.

[sirfrogsworth]

Captain Spock?

So Spock originally started out as a Commander on TOS.

He was promoted to Captain starting in Wrath of Khan and started wearing the turtleneck uniform with the comfort flap.

Whenever they undid that flap it always looked like such a relief.

Like taking your bra off at the end of a long day.

Then Spock died, came back to life, and briefly became a monk.

And he finally elevated to Ambassador in TNG and the JJ movies where he went a bit monochromatic.

Hmm... I think TNG Ambassador Spock wearing Romulan street clothes is the closest.

Minus the pointy shoulders, of course.

He wore the clothes of the working class.

Interestingly, that storyline was about unification between Romulus and Vulcan. A race of people with a shared origin who were split apart by war. Spock refused to give up on peace despite how shitty and intractable the Romulan government was.

So, I think she got the rank wrong but inadvertently gave a great compliment to Zelenskyy.

Trump is a Pakled.

And Elon is that guy who kidnapped Data.

[anghraine]

So, femslash Spirk update: I was moved by inspiration late last night and throughout this morning and early afternoon, and wrote even more than usual in a fun haze (I think about seven pages). I only stopped because a close friend called and we talked for two hours, and then I belatedly remembered that I'm an organic lifeform that requires food, and then J and I watched TNG. So finally, I've gotten back to this longer section.

Eventually most of these scraps are going to end up in a single long fic for AO3, and the organization for that is taking shape in my mind and outline—but I also had the idea of a Tumblr-only (for now) 5-things type structure that is very much about S'paak/Jessica, but the actual uniting theme of the whole five-part thing is language (never say I'm not predictable). Also, just as a note, I’m happy to raid non-TOS sources as suits the story, but it's fundamentally fic for TOS and not beholden to anything else.

So, I'm not posting everything I wrote (later!!), but here's a longish excerpt from the first part:

On the day that Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner died, Captain Kirk dropped by S’paak’s quarters a full 2.2 hours after the alpha shift ended. “Am I interrupting you, Commander S’paak?” she asked, her face strained and the set of her shoulders tense. S’paak had no intention of ever answering the inquiry with anything but no. She shook her head, curious to hear what the captain had to say after such a sequence of events. But Kirk said almost nothing about Mitchell and Dehner themselves, instead discussing the galactic barrier and S’paak’s theories about it at length. “It seems significant that I was wholly unaffected by the phenomena,” S’paak added, "where the human ... espers, in your word, were all transformed or killed. Any rigorous theory must account for that fact.” “You’re right,” Kirk said slowly. “I’ve always thought about psionic abilities across different species as basically the same thing. I mean, some species more or less prone to it, but psi ratings are psi ratings. It can be tested, measured, in anyone. But that doesn’t make sense of today.” She didn’t sound, or look, resentful about losing a long-time, close friend while S’paak lived on. Perhaps her manner was a little muted, but when their hands brushed as Kirk paced through the main apartment of the first officer’s quarters, S’paak felt a distinct and powerful charge of thought passing from the captain’s consciousness to her own. Even that brief moment conveyed important data: Captain Kirk remembered the lost crew members with sorrow and regret, yet beyond these, her ideas circled in a kind of intrigued dissatisfaction. She wanted to understand more of what had occurred today, and one clear thought slid into S’paak’s mind: everything can be understood with enough time and information. If I could just— S’paak discreetly closed her hands behind her back and stood back while Kirk kept wandering around like a prowling sehlat, examining the various artifacts and symbols of Vulcan scattered around the quarters. Her manner still struck S’paak as curious, but in a less restless way. “True,” said S’paak. “If my abilities were of the precise nature of the human espers, logic would suggest the same result. In that case, I would now have silver eyes, limited ethics, and power over material reality.” Kirk twisted a little away from her examination of the lirpa on S’paak’s wall and gave her a quick, crooked smile. “If you’ll forgive some unproductive human emotion, I’m glad you don’t. Let’s hope you always remain exactly as you are.” Her glance darted up to S’paak’s eyes before she returned to examining the artifacts on the wall.

S’paak blinked much more rapidly than usual, secure in the knowledge that Kirk’s back was to her and no video footage operating in anyone’s personal quarters. Despite the advantages of Vulcan memory, she couldn’t recall a time when someone had found her service, or her being, entirely satisfactory. Every person she came to know had always wished for change in her, usually immense changes that would require S’paak to turn her back on the principles fundamental to her culture and character.

She couldn’t think of a single reply that would communicate appropriate gratitude for such a gift, without also conveying an altogether inappropriate degree of emotion.

“Indeed,” S’paak said at last. “The conclusion is made more difficult, however, by the fact that humans with especially strong psionic abilities do periodically come to Vulcan for relief. It’s rare, but those people learn our practices and benefit from them in the same ways that we do.”

“I hadn’t heard about that. It’s an interesting complication,” said Kirk. Her voice lifted to a lighter, softer register as she crouched down, studying the kir’shara of Surak that S’paak kept on the lowermost shelf. The smooth stone of the obelisk and Vulcan script must be incomprehensible to her, but Kirk didn’t move. “One might even say fascinating.”

S’paak suppressed a smile. “One might.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” the captain said suddenly, her eyes still fixed on the kir’shara. “Sorry, I should have asked. You don’t mind me looking at your things?”

“Not at all,” said S’paak. She was, in reality, rather gratified. She had never served anyone who ever showed half as much interest in anything specifically Vulcan, not even Pike, and Kirk couldn’t be comfortable. She was sweating a little, at least, though that might be a result of the higher temperature of S’paak’s quarters.

“Is this a song?” Kirk asked, pointing to the letters etched along the visible side of the kir’shara.

“Not as such,” said S’paak. “It’s one of our scripts, though that style is often seen as archaic.” She paused. “The form is not entirely unrelated to music, however.”

“It’s beautiful,” said the captain instantly, without any indication of a purpose beyond what she felt in the moment. S’paak had noticed that uncharacteristically guileless, impulsive quality in her before, at times when she was alone with S’paak or, now and then, around both S’paak and McCoy. S’paak had certainly noticed its utter contrast to Kirk’s general approach to her profession.

In conjunction with Captain Kirk’s close attention to the kir’shara, S’paak herself felt different from her usual self, felt more than she should. She was glad her hands were hidden behind her back.

“Thank you,” S’paak said. “We have other scripts, but I prefer this one.”

Kirk looked up at her with open curiosity, the lines of strain on her face all but dissolved. The change might be a result of nothing more than the gentler light S’paak preferred in her quarters, she knew. Captain Kirk’s only congenital illness was a propensity to migraines under stress, and bright light worsened them. Once S’paak discovered Kirk’s affliction, she had researched enough about it to learn what environmental conditions might worsen or improve the symptoms, accounting for idiosyncratic qualities. But it had been a painful day for the captain in other respects than light; any number of causes were possible. Regardless, S’paak could not regret that Kirk had come to her. They were friends.

As usual, she found the English word unsatisfactory. Friendship in one sense was not rare among Vulcans, yet she knew that the powerful, irrepressible fondness she felt as she looked down at her captain’s upturned face was forbidden. Pleasure at the captain’s preoccupation with her mingled uncomfortably with creeping shame, both worsened by an additional consideration that flickered through S’paak’s thoughts and, in some way, her body. Jess was beautiful at such moments, beyond mere prettiness, her face somehow illuminated by the delight and fascination she so transparently felt.

S’paak knew she should distance herself, retreat into the restrained, uncomplicated, professional amity she had felt with Captain Pike. Detaching herself might be difficult at this point for both of them, but the answer to what should I do? was not mysterious or ambiguous.

“I can see why you would,” said her current captain, startling S’paak until she saw Kirk’s head turning back towards the wall and the kir’shara. Kirk’s free left hand—she had splayed the right against the soothing red of the wall for balance—reached forward, then stilled. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t touch it.”

“Touching it would have no effect without the proper code,” said S’paak.

Withdraw from this conversation, she told herself sternly. Redirect her attention, or change the subject. It wouldn’t be difficult.

She looked down again; at the back of Captain Kirk’s head, her hair was twisted into a slightly curling mass, containing at least five variegated shades of color: brighter and darker golds, with traces of pale ashen browns. S’paak knew, of course, that most species that grew hair on their heads at all also grew it in a varied range of colors, especially visible in light hair. It was not rare or exceptional.

She wondered what Jess’s hair would look like without the pins that always held the bulk of it in place—if she shook it loose over her shoulders here, in this room, or on Vulcan, under the stars. An utterly unproductive point of curiosity.

“Of course,” said Kirk affectionately. “That’s very logical. I should have guessed.”

“It is a kir’shara of Surak,” S’paak told her.

“Kir’shara,” her captain repeated carefully. “The translator didn’t get that word. What does it mean?”

“A structure containing valuable information,” said S’paak. “In this case, it contains his teachings and philosophies.”

“Impressive,” Kirk said, sounding like she meant it.

S’paak replied, “It’s not the original, of course. Only a replica, but the wisdom of his words is not lessened by duplication.”

“Are these his exact words, as he said or wrote them?” Jess asked. “Is that why it’s in the older script? I just wondered because, with Earth philosophies, the original wording can be essential to truly understanding something. Translations of language across time are always interpretations, at least for us. Is it the same for you?”

“Yes,” said S’paak in a low voice. “With written passages, especially, translation of ideas and knowledge can be … imprecise, even when done by the most skilled linguists, though not without value. A proper kir’shara of Surak, however, will always contain every word he himself wrote, and just as he wrote them.”

“Doubly impressive,” Kirk remarked. “That’s a lot to contain in something of this size.”

S’paak looked sharply down at her, though it wasn’t as if the coil of her hair or now-relaxed set of her shoulders would reveal anything. Out of necessity, she told herself, S’paak lowered herself to the floor as well, kneeling beside the captain. This position would allow her to make out most of Kirk’s face and gain some sense of what she thought, and of the accuracy of her own communications in a conversation touching on something this important. This near, she might even gain a sense of Jessica’s—Jess’s—the captain’s thoughts, though that shouldn’t be necessary.

“You’re familiar with the extent of his work?” S’paak asked carefully.

“Of course,” said Kirk, turning to her with eyebrows raised. S’paak’s gaze briefly flicked to the shadow Jess wore beneath her brows and along her eyelids, the shades of make-up subtler than S’paak’s own until the shadowy pink turned to dramatic, near-black lines painted around her eyes and brushed onto her longer lashes. There was no missing that small indulgence from here, nor the startling contrast between the dark make-up and the hazel of her irises, the deeper shades shot through with threads and flecks of gold.

I am in control of my emotions, S’paak promised herself, banishing every distraction to the limits of her mind, and comforted by her own practiced composure.

“I had to be. I taught philosophy at the Academy awhile back,” Jess went on, blessedly oblivious to S’paak’s thoughts. “Well, it must have been five or six years ago now.”

S’paak was shocked, though on consideration, she shouldn’t have been. If Jess cared about anything, it was significance, overarching principles, the underlying meaning of information more than the information itself. 

“Apparently, I was notorious then as a harsh and terrifying teacher, one of the hardest. Can you imagine?” Kirk was saying, her eyes fixing back on the Vulcan words she couldn’t read.

“No,” said S’paak, only just containing her incredulity.

“I didn’t mean to be,” Kirk said. “But it was a required course to advance, and I wasn’t going to let cadets pass on my watch unless I could tell they were thinking about what all of this means. If not, well, that’s not what Starfleet is about, what the Federation—but I don’t need to give the speech to you.” She wrinkled her nose a little, evidently at herself rather than S’paak. “But some of the thinkers, like Surak, I had only ever read in translation, unfortunately. Didn’t keep me from terrorizing the cadets, but it’s not the same.”

“I suppose not,” said S’paak, “but you undoubtedly did the best you could with the resources you had. If your students didn’t want to think about their actions, they chose the wrong profession.”

[deepspacedukat]

The Lifeline - Part Two: The Armstrong

To be completely honest, I haven't exactly planned this fic out, so I have no idea how many chapters this will be. It'll be a surprise for everyone, myself included! 😇 And yep, i have a lot of asks and tagged posts to get around to, but I wanted to put this out first. Enjoy!

If you want to be added to or removed from my taglist, please let me know.

Part One is here.

Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

Vreenak (ST:DS9) x Reader

[A/N: Future chapters will contain smut, so 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI!!!]

Warnings: Spoilers for ST:VOY S1E7 "Eye of the Needle," references to Romulan politics, espionage, stalking, references to an interspecies relationship, pre-Romulan/Human relationship, interspecies romance, threats, angst, time travel bs, references to marriage/a mating bond, skeptical Vreenak, Romulan undercover as a Vulcan, mentions of a previous Vulcan/Human failed relationship.

~*~

After a few months aboard the USS Armstrong, we were finally going to see the Epsilon Pulsar Cluster up close! We took on new crew members at the Epsilon IX Station; four of which were engineers intended to ease the burden of repairs mid-mission, two were specially-qualified science officers, and one was simply a late addition.

It was the latter of the group that fascinated me. With keen, icy blue eyes, sharp facial features, and neatly-groomed hair, the new Vulcan Lieutenant had drawn my attention from the moment he materialized on the transporter pad in his science division blue uniform. The others were escorted to their stations and quarters by the Chief Engineer and the Science officer assigned to the Bridge, and I was assigned to Lieutenant Velek.

Tall and mildly intimidating, the stoic Vulcan stepped down from the transporter pad, and I offered him the traditional Vulcan ta'al in greeting as I introduced myself.

His eyes roamed the length of my body, seemingly sizing me up, but he did return my greeting after a pause. Undoubtedly, I was not who he expected to see when he beamed aboard.

"It is...agreeable to meet you, Lieutenant," he muttered after a moment, and assuming that was about all I was going to get out of him for the moment, I plastered on what I hoped was a welcoming smile.

"If you'll come with me, I'll show you to your quarters." Velek did so without protest. Giving him a short overview of our ship's upcoming mission to update Starfleet's data regarding the pulsar cluster, I tried to be as concise as possible. Though I kept my gaze firmly forward, I couldn't help but feel as though he was observing me.

Keying in the entry code for his quarters, I gave him a quick glance through the layout. Our ship was a little different than the standard science vessel in terms of accommodations. Starfleet meant for us to be a prototype for longer-term science missions into deep space, so there were a few more amenities than were standard.

If his expression was anything to go by - he'd lifted a single eyebrow all of twice - Velek was either impressed or turning his nose up in the most Vulcan way possible.

"If there's anything else you need, please don't hesitate to let me know. My quarters are actually just to the right of yours, so if the comms go down and you need a book or some tea or something, I won't be hard to find," I said clasping my hands behind my back as he turned to face me.

Velek's icy blue eyes gave me an appraising once over.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I will keep that in mind." Now that we were alone, I was struck by how deep and velvety his voice was.

Fuck. No way. I couldn't do this again. I was just asking to get hurt if I developed feelings for another Vulcan, so I simply wouldn't be interested in this one. Velek was a colleague, nothing more. That was all he'd ever be.

"I'll leave you in peace," I murmured with a polite smile. "Your first duty shift begins at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow morning, so take some time to rest or explore the ship, as you see fit. I'll see you in Science Lab Three."

He gave a polite nod, and I left his quarters. Taking a deep, steadying breath once I was back in the hallway, I forcibly shook my thoughts back into neutral territory. Velek was not for me.

--

Vreenak's first step aboard the Armstrong was to determine the Lieutenant's schedule - a task made easier by the proximity of her quarters to his. Next, he slipped inside and placed a few listening devices. Audio and visual in her living space, and audio-only in her bedroom.

He was careful to disturb nothing during his time in her space, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing through the few books she'd accumulated. A pair of poetry books, a copy of Surak's teachings, three assorted fictional texts, and what appeared to be a romance novel. Tucking the title away in the recesses of his brain for further research, he placed secondary sets of bugs in extremely innocuous places, pausing only when he leaned over the head of her bed.

A soft, sweet scent clung to fabric that Vreenak simply couldn't resist inhaling deep into his lungs. Something primal and dark stirred in his chest, and he just barely managed to suppress a small groan of hunger.

Horror washed over him when he realized what he'd done, and with a scowl, he left as quietly as he'd come. As he sat in his quarters testing the equipment one last time while he had the chance, he scoffed at his own behavior.

Fool of a man. If he didn't control himself, he'd end up with a Human wife whether he wanted one or not. And he most certainly did not.

Especially not one like her. She was too–

Somewhere in the midst of his thoughts, the sound of voices reached Vreenak's ears. She was back, and she had a guest. Accessing his new cameras, he watched as the Lieutenant and a Trill Ensign sat, kicking off their shoes and tucking their legs beneath them as they chatted. Raising the volume slightly, the Vice-Chairman listened in.

"–eyes like that? I mean, if someone like him looked in my direction, I'd be half-way to requesting Vulcan citizenship already," the Trill woman said with a gleeful smile. "Oh, come on. You have eyes in your head! The new guy's hot!"

The Lieutenant merely shrugged her shoulders.

"I mean...yeah, he's good-looking, but I got the feeling he's not easily impressed. He barely said two words to me. And he seems...irritable," she muttered, and her friend nudged her arm playfully.

"So he's just your type, then?" The Lieutenant looked up at her sharply, but the Trill just laughed. "You know I'm right. Every guy you've dated since the Academy has been some variation of a smart, handsome asshole. What makes Velek so different?"

Vreenak blinked. They were talking about him? The silence stretched between the women, and eventually the Ensign sighed, but less from frustration than concern.

"This is about Torek, isn't it?"

That was a new name. One that Vreenak instantly disliked, though he couldn't put his finger on the reason.

"Of course it is. When someone uses you like that, you don't forget it in a hurry," the Lieutenant wilted somewhat.

"I know, but this one's older," Vreenak bristled at that, "I bet he's got at least a modicum of tact when it comes to letting people down gently. And anyone would be more honest than Torek," the Trill said patting her friend's shoulder before moving to the replicator. "Now, I think ice cream is in order."

The rest of the evening's conversation was irrelevant, and once the Ensign headed back to her own quarters, Vreenak stretched and made to walk back to his own bedroom. Humans needed more rest than Romulans, so he fully expected that to be the end of her evening.

To his surprise, he glanced at the monitor once more, but instead of finding her heading toward her bed, he saw that she had curled up with a book - the romance novel he'd found on her shelf earlier.

After a long moment of debate, he switched his view to the camera situated behind her so he could note what page she was on.

How strange for her to be reading a romance, especially if what she'd said to her Trill friend was true. She'd been used by a Vulcan, yet she willingly sought romance? Did that not simply emphasize her loneliness to her? Was she addicted to the pain?

Vreenak's brow furrowed, and he pushed down memories of his own failed romantic endeavors. No, if he was in her position, he could never indulge in something like a romance novel. Elements, he didn't want to even in his current position.

Unfortunately, though, he would need to if he wanted a full understanding of her psychological state. He told himself it was all part of building a profile of the woman who'd claimed to be his wife.

Downloading the novel onto his personal terminal, he let his gaze linger on her for a time. She seemed so small and unassuming when she was all bunched up amongst the cushions.

But, he'd learned decades ago never to underestimate an opponent. The moment you did, that was usually when you got a knife in the back. He would not be such a fool. Not with her.

Thus, he opened the first page of the book file and began to read with a scoff, alternating his attention between her and the text of the drab little story with the childish pink hearts on the cover.

~*~

Taglist: @akamitrani @android-boyfriends @attention-bajoranworkers @bigblissandlove1 @darkmattervibes

@emilie786 @groovyqueer @horta-in-charge @live-logs-and-proper @rookietrek

@slutty-slutty-vulcans @starrynightgardens @toebeans-mcgee

[indignantlemur]

Is there some lore about Andorians you’ve been dying to tell/explore further?

THERE IS SO MUCH LORE. You have no idea. I have lore about the characters and about Andorians in general, so since y'all weren't specific - you get a little of both! ANDORIAN LORE:

Andorian men are bitey. No, really - they're very prone to biting. It's a behaviour that stems from ancient instincts, and it actually involves social communication and pheromones! Andorians have well-developed vomeronasal organs in their nasal cavities (which Humans technically also have, but it's vestigial and we have no idea if it actually does anything anymore) and additional receptors along their soft palates.

Andorian men in a serious courtship are well known to periodically, and sometimes quite randomly, nibble on their partners. It's not just foreplay and affection - they're getting a massive info dump at the same time, collecting data on their partner's health, fertility, and even social well-being from pheromone markers left by other Andorians though physical contact. As Andorians are a very touchy-feely species, this can be quite a lot of information to parse!

Andorian women generally tolerate this behaviour with good humour, but there's been many a bondmate and spouse who's been driven off for being especially irritating about it. Expectant fathers are the worst for this, and it's not an uncommon sight to see miserable fathers-to-be congregating outside of the family home or at a local eatery, glumly waiting to be let back inside the house again.

Andorian men will also bite around the neck or shoulder during sex, which stems from an equally ancient instinct to keep a mate still during the proceedings. While Andorians in general have remarkably sharp teeth, featuring slightly elongated dual canine-incisors in both the upper and lower jaws, they also come equipped with protective chitin plating in those areas and otherwise have very few vulnerable blood vessels near the skin's surface. Most of the time, the bite ends up feeling more like a firm pressure clamped over a chitinous plate rather than a painful puncture wound.

And, yes, Andorian women are also bitey, but that's just because they're notoriously aggressive and they will fight you.

CHARACTER LORE:

To date, Ambassador Anlenthoris th'Kor has fathered six children, four of whom are currently living. Ten years before the Federation formed, he lost two of his sons to a Vulcan-Andorian border skirmish, along with the team Thoris had served with for many years. The incident almost resulted in open warfare between Andoria and Vulcan, but was narrowly avoided. He visits their markers on the Wall of Heroes every day that he's on Andoria.

[gaykarstaagforever]

I just had a wild idea about Trek. And it's probably one other people have already had. But I'm antisocial so if this is an established facet of the fandom, I am not aware of it.

Humans in Trek are more progressive to an apparent biological degree, right? So things like bigotry and greed and sexual hang-ups are stuff from their ancient past. But the shows are intended for us primitive 20th / 21st century chuds. So they don't show us a lot of stuff, because even as contemporary progressives, we aren't going to be able to handle a lot of this transcendent post-WWIII Enlightenment stuff, especially as it applies to sex and romance and gender. Also, they've cured or can effectively treat most / all traditional Earth diseases. And no doubt also have virtually side effect-free, totally effective birth control, and no gendered cultural issues about both sexes using it (or people getting abortions if all else fails. Or maybe even beaming the fetal cells out of a womb and into an artificial one, if someone wants to adopt it.)

You may have already guessed where I'm going with this.

What if these people are fucking like bonobos, all the time, and we just don't see it? What if that's our unique Earth-species thing, that we're the big-brained casual sex monkeys? What if that's what we're known for, as a member of the Federation?

Like, the crew gets off shift and immediately gets naked, and everyone is doing everyone. And because they separate sex from romance, it has zero weird impact on their working relationships. Like, it's just exercise, maybe a team-building thing?

Like, Kirk is off duty at the same time as MCoy and Chekov, and they casually meet up and everyone gets everyone off. And it means basically nothing after they go back to quarters. And maybe the reason McCoy is so hostile to Spock all the time is because the Vulcans, with their repressed emotions thing and breeding cycle, don't do sex like this. So McCoy is constantly sexually tense with him, because so far, Spock won't engage with the standard crew ass-play. And Kirk is nicer about it, just quietly waiting him out, hoping some day to win him over.

Like, it's the equivalent of the poker game in TNG. Orgies are just another thing everyone does. Love and romance are separate, and they still take those seriously, and some people are straight and emotionally monogamous and bad at that aspect. But that's a totally separate thing.

Like, both Barclay and Geordi are getting laid 8 times a week on the Enterprise, they're just bad at romance and creep everyone out. Both Crusher and Troi have eagerly fucked Barclay tons of times, but would never "date" him, and he wishes they would and does the fantasy holodeck stuff.

Picard and Crusher go at it non-stop. But emotionally, they aren't sure if they want to love eachother.

Riker, perhaps a more prolific sex-haver, has had sex with literally everyone on the ship. Except maybe Worf, because Klingons are still conservative about all this? And Data, who has the same issue with free sex that he has with emotions in general. Riker only falls for the Minuet hologram specifically because she's not a usual wet hole, it's different and interesting to him at this point. But he and Troi being in love is a totally sequestered thing from all this sex. She's also fucking tons of people.

DS9 gets interesting, because so many of them are aliens who no doubt have different ways of doing sex. But the Bajorans seem very humanlike, so maybe Sisko and Kira both had sex with Winn when she first arrived. And the Trill seem pretty open, so Dax is probably like Riker and has made the rounds. The romance part is still the big thing they all have to sort out, which is all we see, which is why it comes across as 1940s morality to us.

...Obviously the Ferengi are sexist, so they're probably pretty repressed. Or maybe their "men" just pay eachother for sex all the time? They don't show us this, so it's possible.

OBVIOUSLY CHILDREN ARE NOT INVOLVED IN THIS. And they have careful moral rules about emotional age differences. So Wesley and Nog and Jake are out of this loop, unless it's with people their own age, or they turn 22 and can handle this. And that's why Jake's dating situation that time was exceptional.

This is fun to think about, how these people may inhabit a day-to-day world we have never seen, just like how they apparently interact with crazy non-humanoid aliens all the time that the shows largely haven't shown us

...And what kind of sex toys and techniques do these people have, given their technology? The kinky things you can do with transporters and replicators and holograms... It gives Quark's holosuites a dimension we cannot even fathom.

I naturally assume the Cardassians are basically 1950s humans about sex. That genocidal imperial impulse probably partly comes from them not being allowed to have crazy skull-faced monster men sex with their bros.

I don't know about Klingons. Their sex is physically dangerous. They're probably a bit more picky about who they let break their ribs. But the pain of that is also probably necessary to them getting off, and maybe a Klingon blood-brother is a guy you have been inside / has been inside you. A good bonding experience.

[talshiargirlfriend]

Day Twenty-One of the 30 Day Writing Challenge

I decided that writing a post fic scene for spy-ay-ay-ay doesn’t count as a spoiler because well, we know they’re going to end up together - like that’s kind of the whole point right?? And also my self-imposed rule was that I would follow whatever inspiration presented itself and that nothing needed to fit into an existing fic or universe, not that it couldn’t fit into an existing AU. So here goes! @candiedsumire

The moment they fell in love

T’Pol was peering at the data on a screen in the lab, with her jumpsuit sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a subtle frown on her face. So much for a day off. Maybe he was supposed to find her more beautiful when she was relaxed, but the intensity of her focus and the clever workings of her mind always impressed him.

“Hey,” Trip greeted her with two fingers raised.

She turned her full attention to him and pressed her fingers against his, sending an electric buzz of affection jolting through him. Lizzie would tease him that he looked like a sunflower who’d been noticed by the sun and that was honestly a pretty accurate description of how he felt.

“I noticed the date when I submitted the updated sensor tweaks and guess what? It’s the anniversary of our first date next week,” Trip smiled.

T’Pol looked at him curiously. “You are referring to the gala as our first date, but we were not actually romantically involved then.”

“Oh, come on, it definitely started that night. We just didn’t know it at the time.”

She considered that with a tilt of her head.

“Okay, then what would you consider our first date?” he asked.

T’Pol didn’t deliberate long, “The night before I told my mother you would be accompanying me to Vulcan.”

“That’s when we--! That’s… that wasn’t a date,” he said, scandalised.

She gave him the singular raised brow and half shrug she used when she found him puzzlingly human. He couldn’t help but grin back.

“Okay, forget agreeing on a first date. What about when we fell in love?”

She frowned, “Is falling in love not considered a gradual process rather than something one can note as having happened in a single moment?”

He gave her a look. He could sense her underlying amusement at annoying him with her commitment to accuracy. “Well, yeah, but I mean when did you know?”

T’Pol looked down. “I didn’t actually consider the possibility until you directly asked me to. I simply thought we shared a friendship heightened by proximity and danger and shared goals.” Her lips ticked up slightly as she added, “and that you were very attractive.”

Trip grinned, “Very attractive, huh?”

“Sometimes distractingly so,” she admitted.

He laughed, feeling a little puffed up. “I remember when you walked in: you were so pretty and your sleeves were too long and you moved like a dancer, and in the back of my mind I thought ‘uh oh…’”

“Did you really not even have an inkling before we talked about it?” Trip asked curiously.

“In hindsight, it should have been clear to me on a number of occasions, particularly when your sister asked me why I was drawn to you and I answered honestly and without exaggeration.”

“What’d she actually say?”

“I believe she asked me what on earth I saw in that lunkhead brother of hers.”

Trip smirked. Her impression of Lizzie was pretty damn good. “And what did you say?”

“I told her…” T’Pol paused and took his hand, looking him in the eye, “you have a brilliant mind, you are brave and determined, you combine logic with compassion, and I am honoured to be your partner.”

“Wow…” Trip found himself a little choked up. “I can’t believe you said all that back then.” Since no one was around - hell, they weren’t even supposed to be here right now - he leaned in and kissed her.

When they pulled apart a spark of mischief lit within him. “No really, I can’t believe you said all that and left out how handsome and funny I am. Hmmph.”

She half rolled her eyes. “Your playfulness may yet ‘grow on me.’” She looked back at his face, “When did you know?”

He smiled softly and intertwined their fingers. “Come take a break. I’ll make you a cup of tea and tell you all about it.”

[flippyspoon]

The Drunk Dial

Note: SNW Spirk ficlet :D (about 1k words)

Jim Kirk could not quite believe what he had just seen.

From the less than cozy chair behind his desk, he sat stunned.

This couldn’t be real, he thought. 

Unless?

But he tapped his comm. Due diligence and all.

“Commander Kirk to Lieutenant Boyer. Hey Jerry, I received a video message from the Enterprise. Can you verify authenticity for me? I’m sending over the data signature now.”

“Hi, Jim. Sure. Lemme just give it a looksee… Uh, yep. Authenticated. USS Enterprise. From Lieutenant Spock. Oh cool. He’s that half Vulcan science division wizard, right?”

“Yyyyep. Huh. So there’s no…interference on that? Nothing suspicious?”

“You have reason to suspect something, Jim?”

“Um… Well, no. I was just surprised by the content of the message. Thought maybe someone was trying to have some fun with me.”

“Looks good to me. Just an ordinary comm.”

“Cool cool. Okay. Thanks, Jerry.”

Kirk sat back and rubbed a hand over his face. On his computer screen, the message sat paused, having looped to the very beginning after he’d played it twice over already.

Lieutenant Spock was frozen, staring back at him with a crooked little smile on his face, one eyebrow raised. But his eyes were just a little two heavy lidded. His hair just a little tousled and not the immaculate Vulcan coiffure Kirk had gotten used to seeing while visiting the Enterprise.

He was also out of his science blues. Spock was wearing a tight black t-shirt instead, stretched over his broad chest.

In short, Spock looked extraordinarily hot. Even for Spock.

He also looked drunk as hell.

The message was not coming from his quarters. Kirk recognized the tables behind Spock from the Port Galley.

Kirk licked his lips and tapped play for the third time.

“Commander Kirk,” Spock said slowly. “Greetings. Hello. Hi. I am sending you this message due to…a… having lost a wager. With Lieutenant Ortegas. Whose birthday it is.” From offscreen, Jim heard Erica Ortegas hoot and a hand blurred by the edge of the screen. “Today,” Spock continued. “Is her birthday. Which we are celebrating. Which is the reason for… That is…” Spock swallowed and held up a half-empty box of chocolates. “Cause for celebration chocolate. Which is inebriating for Vulcans. Such as myself.”

“Tell him about the bet!” Nurse Chapel’s face appeared onscreen as she leaned down to Spock, giggling, until Erica wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her away again and she shrieked a laugh.

“The bet. Yes.” Spock nodded as if his head were on a spring. “The bet concerned whether or not I could…what is it called-”

“Deepthroat!” Erica yelled from offscreen.

“Deepthroat a Terran banana,” Spock said, nodding again. “Which I am able to do.”

Kirk chewed on his lip.

“You’re supposed to tell him about the bet you lost, genius. But also yes, good job telling him that. Good info to have.” Chapel had appeared again, breathless and pushing her sweaty hair back. She looked into the camera and rolled her eyes before disappearing.

“Yes. The bet I lost concerned whether I could fit sixty Terran marshmallows in my mouth while reciting the words ‘chubby bunny.’ A most inane and illogical test of stamina.”

Erica returned, this time crouching behind Spock and throwing an arm around him. She looked just as inebriated as he was, though far more obviously gleeful. She was also wearing a neon green feather boa around her neck.

“But it was so cute to watch!” Erica said. She looked into the camera, meeting Jim’s eyes. “I’m sure you would have agreed, Commander Kirk. You think Spock’s cute, right?” She smirked at him and he winced.

He had, in fact, told Erica Ortegas all his thoughts on Spock when they had bumped into each other on shore leave.

He’d told her at length.

“I am still at a loss,” Spock said, his brows turning down comically and his lips forming a pout, “as to the purpose of this communication.” He frowned at the box of chocolates and picked out a truffle topped with a mocha mousse.

“The purpose,” Erica said, grinning lasciviously, “was for you to tell Commander Kirk that you enjoyed playing chess with him.”

“That is true,” Spock mumbled. He was doing the nodding thing again as he held the uneaten chocolate in his hand.

 She stage whispered to Kirk, “He talks about you all the tiiiime.” She cleared her throat and went on, “And that you very much look forward to next week when the Enterprise and Farragut dock at Starbase Seven.”

“That is also true,” Spock said. 

Spock took a bite of the chocolate. He chewed and swallowed and when he looked into the camera at Jim and wrapped his lips around his chocolatey fingers to suck off the slightly melted dregs, Jim groaned.

“It occurs to me,” Spock said, licking his lips, “that this is not an appropriate message to-”

“SSSSHHHH!” Erica squeezed his shoulder. “Jim’s cool! We got hammered on Risa a couple months ago! I know all his secrets!”

“Erica! Karaoke time!” Chapel shouted offscreen. “We’re gonna do ‘Love Shack!’”

Erica leapt up and Spock blinked into the camera. “I am told I must not miss ‘Love Shack.’ So uh… I will see you at Starbase Seven, Commander Kirk. These chocolates are excellent. Spock out.”

Kirk had been smiling so hard his mouth ached. 

He stood up, took off his shirt, and headed to his bed to jerk off.

***

Spock woke up fully clothed atop his bed, his booted feet hanging off the end.

Immediately, he recalled everything.

“Oh,” Spock muttered. “No.”

With a groan, he pushed himself up to his feet, rubbing his temples. He could not deny that Erica’s birthday parties somehow always ended up engaging him more than most social events on the Enterprise.

And somehow, he always ended up doing something terribly embarrassing.

But this was certainly his first drunken dial.

And to Commander Kirk!

His computer kept pinging. 

He trudged to the synthesizer and made himself a cup of tea, very strong and very hot.

In the privacy of his own quarters, he slumped in the chair at his desk, glowering at the computer screen and the blinking notification next to the name: CMDR. JAMES T. KIRK.

It was true, he had so far been friendly with Kirk. But this…

Egregiously unprofessional. Inappropriate.

Spock shut his eyes, mouth collapsing into a crooked grimace.

“Ugh.”

Nothing to do but, as Pike liked to say, “face the music.”

Which would probably be The B-52s if Erica and Christine had anything to say about it.

Spock clicked the message and pressed play.

Kirk looked utterly poised and dashing like he always did.

“Hi there, Mr. Spock.” A sly smile spread across Kirk’s face. “Ah, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your message.” His gaze glittered, fixed on Spock as if actually seeing him live, and also as if he were physically stripping Spock of his clothes. “And I too am truly looking forward to the Enterprise and the Farragut both docking at Starbase Seven next week. So…” Kirk bit his lip and his voice dropped a few octaves when he said, “I guess I’ll see you then. Kirk out.”

The message ended and Spock just stared.

Somehow, Jim Kirk’s brief and completely professional message sounded to Spock like an impressively erotic performance and Spock was certain that had been the intent.

Alright. He was clearly not in trouble-trouble. He was in a whole different kind of trouble.

Spock stood, stripped off his shirt, and headed back to bed to jerk off.

[sincerelylancelot]

27. things you said through a closed door - liam/franco

find the prompt list here!

“Tell me about Mars.”

The words crackle through the speaker by Franco’s ear, pulling his attention. He turns his head, frowning. Treasure Planet lies open on the data pad in his lap, where he’s been reading out loud for the past hour. The unexpected request gives him pause.

Life on the Mars colony had always been shrouded in secrecy for centuries, ever since its colonization in the late 22nd century. He can almost hear his mother’s scolding voice warning him against even thinking about discussing it in the open corridors of the ship.

“Perhaps…” The voice belongs to George, his hand pressed against the data terminal. “You could humour Ensign Lawson. The oxygen levels are depleting faster than expected. Keeping him calm would be… optimal.”

George doesn’t phrase it like a direct order, but Franco hears the unspoken urgency beneath the words.

As if to give them privacy, the commander closes his eyes and focuses entirely on the terminal. His body remains still, except for the cables linking the data center to the ports at the back of his neck. George’s sole attention is on unraveling the virus that’s infiltrated the Apex’s systems, trapping Liam on the other side of the airlock door, where the air is slowly draining away, counting down to jettison.

“What…” Franco licks his lips, suddenly nervous. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to Mars. All the old Terran books say it’s big… and red.”

Franco laughs despite himself. He wishes he could see Liam then—to see the pull of concentration between his brows and the way his ignorance would make his pale green cheeks darken. 

“They’re not wrong. But it’s so much more,” Franco begins, switching off his datapad. He shifts, glancing up at the video feed in the corner. Lining up the press of his cheek to the metal, he mirrors Liam on the other side.

“My people colonized Mars centuries ago, after the Terrans struggled to grow plant life in the harsh soil. We helped them—brought advanced technologies from other planets and terraformed what we could…” He chuckles softly. “It’s still big and red, but the trees we’ve grown are purple and flourishing. They make the air breathable. But it’s thin—you’d probably hate it, chiquito.”

Especially after this. The oxygen levels in the chamber are down to 67%, just a little lower than Mars’s surface. Liam has always hated the lightness of thin air—whether on other planets or in the void of space itself.

“Your people,” Liam’s voice is breathy, and Franco’s chest tightens. He can't panic, can't let Liam hear the anxiety threatening to claw its way out. “They change themselves, right? I always thought that was… kind of cool. Being whoever you want to be—like it’s normal. On Botschok, they wanted us to be who they designated our worth as. I wasn’t there for long, but… Illyrians sound… better.”

There’s a wistful tone to his words. They’ve only served together on the Apex for a few weeks, and Liam has always been guarded about himself. Hearing this yearning for acceptance stirs something in Franco. He wants to let Liam know he understands more than he lets on.

Instead, Franco presses his head harder into the door, letting his breath bounce against the cold surface.

“We augment,” he says softly. “Adapt to where we live. It’s not…” He hesitates, struggling to find the words. “It’s like… standardization. Everyone made the same. No differences. When I was a kid, they wanted to shave my ears down.”

A long pause follows, static buzzing faintly in the background.

“Your ears?” Liam sounds offended on his behalf, making Franco laugh.

“They’re too Vulcan for Mars. I stood out. The governors didn’t like it, but my mother…” His voice softens. “She stopped them. The points got to stay.”

“Good.” The reply is immediate, firm. It makes Franco’s chest feel warm. “I like your ears—” The comms crackle, and Franco thinks he hears the faint echo of ‘cute’ before the connection cuts off entirely.

His heart ricochets into his throat. Scrambling to his feet, Franco rushes to George, who’s begun typing at the datapad with a speed not possible for his humanoid fingers.

“What’s happening?” Franco demands.

George’s expression darkens.

“The virus has infiltrated more of our systems,” he says. His tone is calm, almost irritatingly so. Franco feels a sudden, inappropriate urge to yank the cable from George’s neck and throttle him with it.

“I am sorry, Ensign,” George continues, oblivious to Franco’s rising frustration. “It appears Lawson is on his own now.”

[thethirdromana]

Trektober day 25: How the Captain Got His Shirt

(prompt: redshirts)

“OK, but do you know why Command Division started wearing red shirts?” Ensign Carmichael asked, loud even over the din of Ten-Forward.

Picard glanced over towards the lively group of ensigns. Ensign Carmichael, the one telling the joke, was a young man, talking a little too fast, clearly trying to make his mark in his first few weeks aboard the Enterprise. Picard knew the type. He had been the type, once upon a time. 

“No, go on.” That was a Trill woman Picard recognised as Ensign Malir, from a longstanding Starfleet family. She had surely heard the joke before, but she was humouring Carmichael.

“So it’s like this,” Carmichael said, getting into his stride. “Captain Picard is in the Neutral Zone, right, and there’s a Romulan warbird approaching. He’s wearing a yellow shirt, but he calls to his Number One to get him a red shirt instead. He puts it on, there’s a shootout, and the Romulans leave with their tail between their legs.”

Picard chuckled quietly into his Aldebaran whiskey. He had heard many variations on the joke, but not with himself as the main character before. 

“This story is of dubious veracity –” began their companion, a Vulcan called T’Hoth, but Malir shushed her.

“OK, so the next day, two Romulan warbirds come up on the scanners, and Picard says, ‘fetch me my red shirt!’ And Riker does, and again the battle goes well.”

“And on the third day?” Malir asked, laughing.

“Well, at some point Data asks, ‘Captain, why is it that you always require your red shirt ahead of a battle?’ And Picard says, ‘it’s so that if I’m injured, it won’t be visible to the crew, and they won’t lose heart when they’re fighting.’ On the third day –”

“The conventions of this form of fiction require that there be three Romulan ships approaching,” T’Hoth said, one eyebrow raised.

Picard quietly got to his feet and made his way across Ten-Forward. 

“No!” Carmichael said, clearly enjoying himself. “A long-range scan reveals not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Romulan ships approaching. And so Captain Picard says –”

From directly behind Carmichael, Picard proclaimed, “Fetch me my brown trousers!”

Malir and the other ensigns burst out laughing. Even T’Hoth had an expression that verged on amusement. Carmichael had the look of someone who might have wanted some brown trousers himself, or failing that, for a localised wormhole to open up in Ten-Forward and eat him.

Picard clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s an excellent joke, well told.” 

Carmichael gaped, and said nothing, while the rest of the group wiped their eyes. Feeling his work was done, Picard strode back to his seat at the bar.

Guinan wandered over to him, a wry smile on her face. “Some would say that was unkind.”

“Nonsense,” Picard said. “He’ll dine out on that for years, and in the meantime, he’s learned a valuable lesson about when an ensign should be heard, and when he should keep his voice down.”

Near the group of ensigns, they heard a single young Bolian ask, “but what is the significance of the brown trousers?”

Picard and Guinan burst out laughing all over again.

~

(on AO3 here if you'd like to add kudos or comments)

[fipindustries]

8, 11, and 24 for your OCs!

[OC ask meme]

8. Talk about three of your newest OCs.

so first let me let me explain from the get go what we get its probably going to be very shallow and sketched out, like i explained in my previous ask, my characters accumulate personality and backstory and themes much like an old ship accumulates barnacles in its hull. its a process that takes years as i slowly rotate them in my head and keep coming up with ideas and inspiration for them.

with that said i'll check my OC tag on my art blog to see which were the latest three...

Lyssette Oil, the great granddaughter of Olive Oil and [redacted]

she was inspired by a drawing i saw of Crona from soul eater. i drew an androginous looking motherfucker and i asked myself "what would be the funniest gender to give this person" and i concluded that cis girl who is kind of insecure about it was hilarious. i like the idea of a girl who just straight up looks like a boy without any trans thing going on, that is just how they look, if i wanted to be even funnier id make them straight but they are probably just bi, i dont know i havent figured it out yet. that is all they got going on so far, had i come up with them earlier they might have been a character in a jennyffer episode.

Zeke, old fox teacher.

not a lot to this character honestly, i just drew a series of interlocking triangles and i was like "that looks like a fox!" so i added more details and i was like "that looks like an old fox!"

is just the trope of the old asian master played straight. he is old, he is fat, he likes alcohol, he is wise and slow to talk and act but when he does so it really counts. i dont see myself doing something with this guy, i just liked how he looked

bird alien

inspired by the secretary bird character in the movie flow. i like xenofiction and i like when this xenofiction is about the logistic and the social challenges of aliens and humans living side by side. in my mind this species would something like the vulcans from star trek, or perhaps data from stark trek. matter of fact, highly logical, but also very reserved and of few words. they mostly just stand around looking sligthly intimidating and, well, properly alien, not just like a human with green skin.

i like the idea of humans having to figure out how to coexist with creatures that are so unreadable and much taller than us, but eventually finding the way.

11. Which OCs do you feel like you know the best?

what a great question! also really hard, im having difficulty quantifying it. the first and most obvious answer is jenny, given that she lived for 4 years in my head and i got to explore her character pretty thoroughly through her show.

i think i have a pretty good understanding of who the foremost citizn is, from my story There is a crack in the world.

he is a very awkward man who was given absurd ammounts of power ever since he was a little child and he never got a chance to properly grow up or develop a real sense of right and wrong.

and also of course emil, mark and susan from my webcomic disregarding reality

i dare say i know these people better than jenny because even though i wrote their comic for three years with jenny it was me working on an episode for a few weeks and then not thinking about it until the next episode. with these three it was three pages a week every week for three years, i was thinking about them and what would they do at ny given situation constantly every single day.

i love them a lot

24.Do you have any OCs who are inspired by/based off a particular person or thing?

all of them. not a single one that isnt.

i have this superpower where for every single character ive created i can trace back exactly what were the main influences and ideas i had in my head when i came up with them. i can recall with perfect accuracy what specific neural pathways and bit of cultural detritus went into every character ive made. they are all inspired by something, usually a piece of fanart i saw or a character in a tv show.

[thewomancallednova]

Conspiracy

Oki so that went as hard as i expected

first of all i didnt remember admiral quinn survived, so I'm super happy about that

the scene where data talked to himself was super cute <3

this episode has some very interesting implications about how much freedom a starship captain has. Like Picard can just say let's fly to Earth and the admiralty will just go "ok i guess". Like, they're basically autonomous. And like, maybe that's just the aliens playing along, but I think the real admirals would have reacted similarly, as Picard doesn't find their reaction particularly suspicious.

It's kind of crass how much death happens in this one episode compared to the rest of the season. Like discounting "set-up deaths" (like finding a ship full of people who have died of a mysterious illness, or Data's homeworld having been attacked many years ago), only five starfleet officers, one Ligonian, three renegade Klingons and one outpost scientist die in this show. And then this episode, we loose a whole six Starfleet officers, and a whole lot of aliens died too.

I like how they don't know what exactly is wrong and how suspicious of the tea Picard is.

Also really nice that Rixx got a special greeting gesture, so it's not just Vulcans and Humans dominating the greetings landscape.

I kinda wish the posessed Starfleet officers had longer hair. Like, surely with the stinger being at that position on the back, people are bound to notice and getting some longer hair would really help with that. Imagine if the Enterprise returned to Earth and Starlfeet command all looked like hippies. I think that'd have been fun

Also I loved Riker's expression when Picard told him to stay with the posessed Quinn. Like he clearly did not want too ^^

Crusher standing in the hallway with a phaser is all kinds of awesome *dreamy sigh*

Also I get Crusher telling Picard to set his phaser to kill and all, but like, she was able to defeat Quinn with a phaser set to stun, right? It took her more shots, and in such an outnumbered situation obviously that would be a massive disadvantage, but I feel like she should have at least told Picard that it was an option.

The Riker twist was soooo well done, with the jump-scare in sickbay and then him beaming down and pretending like he's gonna eat the worms

Also the scene where Remmick eats the parasite is just fucking great. His neck going all bloaty is just perfect

If you can't tell I'm super into all of this stuff

That said, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Picard and Riker killing the parasite mother. Like, I get killing the infected admiralty, it's an "us or them" situation, Picard and Riker were in direct peril. But the parasite mother wasn't actively a threat to their lives, and I don't like them killing people when it isn't absolutely unavoidable.

Of course they also didn't exactly know a lot about the situation. Maybe the parasite mother had some defense mechanism, and maybe she'd have send the parasites after them (although they seem to hardly pose a threat without a host)

The scene at the end where Data tells the bridge crew that the aliens activated a homing beacon is wonderfully chilling. And the scene that follows, where we just focus on this red nebula in the background with the signal repeating, I love it so much

I really hate that this plot was never followed up on. I'm aware of the STO and DS9 relaunch stuff, but (at least from playing/reading those over a decade ago), the parasites never seemed as interesting there, as they were here. The whole having a flair for the theatrical, showing their hand by giving Picard worms to eat, it's such non-efficient villainy, I enjoy that. And I'd have loved for TNG to explore that further, but alas we got the Borg instead.

I'll say that the Remmick head explosion and mother parasite stuff looks strange in a Star Trek context. Like it just straight up doesn't feel like it belongs in a Trek episode

And maybe that's why I like it, because it's just a little bit of a weird outlier

And I'd probably like it less if this just became the norm for TNG

But this was a wonderful ride for sure

[aquamonstra]

Suddenly feeling very indignant that the Voyager crew had to get flung into the Delta quadrant so they don't get to ever properly rendezvous with the Enterprise because I feel in my heart that THEY DESERVE TO SO MUCH, THESE PRECIOUS SPACE CHICKEN NUGGETS

Like you KNOW Janeway would have jumped on Riker. That 5 min preview Q gave her was NOT ENOUGH 😂

And B'Elanna already has SUCH heart eyes for Data and she and Geordi might butt head for 2 seconds before having that same kind of engineering bonding moment she had with Janeway.

Worf and Tuvok would be best friends. Hands down. Immediate respect. They would sit in stern silence and hardly every speak other than to stoically debate the best martial arts styles and the merits of Klingon vs Vulcan opera, but still. Best friends.

Tom and Harry would end up forming a lil friend gang with Geordi, Data, and Barclay and combine forces to design the most insane holodeck adventures. Shit that makes your your favorite PS5 games feel like Pong.

Chakotay and Picard would totally bond over discussing archaeology and anthropology. You can find them in the lab analyzing pottery or going over tribal musical pieces that Picard is trying to learn on his flute.

The Doctor would just get totally fawned over by Barclay, and he'd probably rub Bev the wrong way at first but then earn her respect hard and fast the more they get to know each other. Also the Doctor absolutely developes a crush on Deanna.

And speaking of Deanna, she would LOVE the hell outta both Kes and Neelix. She'd bond with Kes over the similarities of their abilities and go nuts consulting with Neelix about different crew morale activities she could incorporate aboard the Enterprise.

And on that note, Neelix and Guinan would totally team up to throw the BEST Ten Forward parties 🙌🙌🙌

**i promise this is not Seven of Nine erasure i'm just only in season 2 of Voyager and haven't met her yet pls don't get mad at me i promise i'll come back and update this as soon as i get to know her character**

[ai-art-ocs]

OC- Lyra/T’Lyra

As a human: she’s raised in a mixed community on earth where she is influenced by many earth and alien cultures that have settled in the big city she grew up in. She attended inner city public schools for her entire education which gave her a quick eye for social cues and how to avoid a fight and tread carefully. Despite not going to the most prestigious schools as a child, the education system overall in the world has improved in the 2300s allowing for personalized courses and access to higher learning methods with better ease. It many not be on the same level as the Vulcan learning pods, but Lyra advances through courses and finds her way through math and science much faster than her peers, somewhat of a prodigy. She begins computer science and engineering courses as soon as they are available to her and finds her niche in theoretical transwarp physics as a junior in high school. She begins to research and learn all she can about the subject and explore all she can. Eventually, this curiosity leads to questions about the impact of warp on life and her interests turn back to the blue sciences rather than the reds of engineering. By the time she enters Starfleet to conduct further research (because every one of the best papers she’s read has come either from the VSA or a tenured Starfleet officer) she is ready to do whatever it takes to find the answers to all her burning questions about space travel. How to improve it, how it changes humanity, what it means to be human, what it means to be alien, what it means to be from somewhere at all. She wants to expand the known universe and her mind - to confront the stars and herself among them as she ventures into the great unknown.

As a Vulcan/Human hybrid: she’s raised on Vulcan until it is destroyed when she is six. She remembers the day clearly with her eidetic memory. Her family was together in a park in ShiKahr when the attack started and when the evacuation began, they were able to board a shuttle and get off planet safely. They became some of the only surviving Vulcans. Post-destruction of Vulcan, T’Lyra and her family moved to earth, her father’s home world (her mother being her Vulcan parent). Despite growing up mostly on earth, her family lives nearby the Vulcan embassy and her mother is very devoted to retaining her Vulcan roots, especially in light of the destruction of Vulcan. T’Lyra does her best to emulate her mother in every way, including being as Vulcan as she can be, despite her red blood and how tempting it is to smile or blush or tuck her hair behind her ear and respond to the social cues of the human boys around her as she ages. Her mother has less difficulty conceiving a human child than Amanda did conceiving a Vulcan child, and T’Lyra has a younger brother, V’Luk who was born after the family arrived on earth. Her brother is much more human in his tendencies than she is, though she does all she can to encourage him to act in the Vulcan way. They are both more biologically human than Vulcan, somewhere around 60% Vulcan in large part due to their blood being human rather than the green of a Vulcan, though their hearts are still located where they would be on a Vulcan. It seems that though there are now more Vulcan/human hybrids, the data does not help cross-case. Even the siblings are dissimilar to each other in their biology in some ways that make their health distinctive. As T’Lyra gets older, she goes to school with the other Vulcan children who stay on earth at the embassy. She spends her life looking up to Commander Spock who was part of the command team to save the Vulcan high council and Earth from its destruction and who is notably one of the only other Vulcan/human hybrids. Inspired by his efforts in Starfleet, she makes strides to follow his path and join Starfleet someday.

Process/Results:

I started initially just wanting to do a Starfleet officer, hence Lyra. Then I decided to see how the ai could handle a Vulcan with the ears and all. It did not do well with prompts to copy Spock’s facial pattern or Vulcan ears. It struggled with the idea of Vulcan eyebrows and I gave up. I eventually had to use a prompt with elf ears instead, which is why the shape is off - not quite to my liking but close enough when given context. I realized halfway through that Vulcans have green blood and Lyra had a red blush so I tried some prompts to see if I could get a green tinge to the skin instead and…. AI was super confused and only did like one slightly correct generation of the prompt. AI still struggles with fantastical ideas. It can do normal skin tones, but not odd ones. Maybe it doesn’t have any samples of that? Makes sense if it doesn’t have access to that kind of imaginative art to sample.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME!!! thursday we watched tng's "emergence" and ds9's "crossover" (honorific)

emergence (tng):

I HATE HOLODECK EPISODES. i wanted season 7 to go out on a high note. nostalgia and time would have made me forget so many of tng's sins if it had gone out on a high note

girl, the enterprise CAME TO LIFE, had a baby, and then died, and nobody had anything to say about that except "ok let the baby fly into space hope it has a good life!"

the enterprise and moya from farscape could have raised their children together communally. like feral cats.

if kirk had been captain when the enterprise came to life he would NOT have let that baby fly into space. he would have gotten one of those little toddler leashes. he would have paid child support. he's not the step dad he's the dad who stepped up

i honestly don't remember what else happened here because the following episode blew my tits clean off

oh yeah wait i think it was racist to make worf shovel the coal. shame on them. data's way stronger than worf he should have been doing it he would have been like yay i love a novel experience :) i can add this to my file on coal shoveling :)

crossover (ds9):

WORLD'S LONGEST YEAH BOY

no, i'm just going to abandon my bullet points. where do i even begin...you know, actually, let's begin at the beginning, which is the tos mirrorverse episode. i have a wider meta on this in me somewhre i bet but it wasn't always this way! i like, initially watched this, went, "huh! that was neat," and thought no more about it until i read a fanfic (don't ask for it i'm not telling, it was more like 2-3 fanfics honestly) and then i was like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND. see, my fascination with mirrorverse comes primarily from the following hypothesis:

everyone always says that bones in mirrorverse and bones in the prime universe are the same guy and that makes him god's specialest princess, which i don't disagree with! but i think, deep down, EVERYONE is the same. i think mirrorverse (quite accidentally) provides a pretty compelling commentary on both nature vs nurture and the cycle of violence. kirk, who undoubtedly went to a much worse version of tarsus iv in the mirrorverse, becomes a guy slaughtering colonists by the thousands, because in his mind that's what power looks like and being powerful means being safe. spock, who is brought up to believe violence is logical instead of pacifism, follows that doctrine just as strictly as he sticks to his morals in the prime universe, and indulges in his emotions just as rarely, because in either case he is punished just as much, if not more, for going against vulcan and human social norms.

put the same guys in the opposite situation (ie a mirror) and they will turn out as their own twisted reflections every time. mirror kirk is just as driven to succeed, just at a different game. he has just as much of a temper, but without the apologies that come afterward. he's just and dangerous and as handy in a fight as prime kirk, but without the moral compass that has him pulling punches instead of a knife. he has that same desire for power, though it's to protect himself rather than to protect other people. mirror spock is just as sharp and calculating, he's just running different numbers, after different results. he's just as good at sussing out emotional motives because of his forced distance from them, but he has spent a lifetime being rewarded for exploiting the emotions of others instead of trying to understand them. he even shares the same preference for being the first officer instead of in command, though the two spocks have differing reasons for this. you could even argue that he has the same capacity for loyalty, inasmuch as it's safe or possible to be loyal in the mirrorverse; he avoids trying to kill kirk as much as he possibly can, and when he finds out "his" kirk is gone, immediately does everything in his power to see to getting him back where he belongs. the mirror characters aren't opposites; they're reflections, inversions. they started out as the same base thing. they were made ugly and evil by their circumstances.

we didn't get to see much of mirror kirk and none of mirror bones (to my eternal woe), but knowing mirror spock DID ultimately take action towards pacifism and reform is extremely damning evidence for this hypothesis, at least in my mind palace. our own spock is defined by his compassion and selflessness; he gave his life in the warp core because the needs of the many outweighed his own needs. mirror spock is running the calculation in the other direction; he is thinking of his own needs. yet he comes to the SAME CONCLUSION - it is important for people to be safe, because logically nothing else can hold.

i notice that they carefully avoided saying whether or not spock ACTUALLY killed kirk, and i love that, because i loved the open-ended nature of the original mirrorverse episode - i loved that we could imagine anything happening. kirk dying or becoming a better person or becoming a worse person. i'm a little sad to have finally lost that, but i love that we can still just as gleefully imagine spock shoving a pole through kirk's ribs (in the horny way) or them being little rebels with bones and fighting the system together. ooooh and you better BELIEVE i had to pause the episode and cover my face and take a moment to have my hysterics when they implied mirror spock may have killed mirror kirk bc our kirk asking mirror spock to kill his other self was one of the horniest things tos ever did, up there with amok time and that stupid bondage harness.

speaking of horny, let's get into the actual episode. this episode was so abjectly fucking horny it's ASTOUNDING. it's mind-blowing. i think lesbian kira-on-kira was ABSOLUTELY the way to go as far as introductions. and kira-on-kira PROVES MY HYPOTHESIS!!! mirror kira has the same sympathy for her human laborers (the downtrodden), just not extended further than she extends sympathy for herself. she is also, like our kira, into girls. AND she is seduced by the idea of giving power to a weak bajor. kira's love affair with herself was probably the best part of this episode, number one because women and number two because they understood each other SO well except mirror kira was just unstable enough to be scary. and kira being like a little scared of her and them still being gay was really problematic and horny of them. fun. god. like, BATH SCENE?? HELLO??? i hope nana visitor had the time of her fucking life

mirror garak is also basically the same guy. this is just pre-exile garak. he's so conniving and gay. he didn't even do any of that seductive shit to our kira. why? he's not into girls!

i'm so sorry odo and quark didn't get a better lot in this verse. they don't come back either i checked :( odo was kind of boring, unfortunately, except for3 points: firstly, him slapping julian like 3 times was also problematic but horny. secondly, the goop he exploded into. rip king. (and kira moruning him!! otp.) thirdly, this is odo's disdain and lack of understanding for humanity (humanoidanity?) multiplied by 1000x. this is not an odo who was forced to get to know us and saw that some of us needed the protection he had to live without and now had the power to give, this is an odo who was experimented on and probably killed dr mora on his way out of the facility, and is looking to dish some out instead of take it. FUN. our odo makes hands to touch people with. this odo makes hands to slap people with. rip to that guy and i was absolutely shocked that a do-no-harm DOCTOR killed him but honestly there's probably a net good in that for our julian.

quark running the metaphorical underground railroad out here also seems to echo him selling food to bajorans...also, his, outfit? it made him look like a good person. it's a wonder it took them so long to catch him. our quark is selfish because he sees it as a path to a good life. their quark is selfLESS for the same reason, see? also SCREAM that our kira was like yes we're BESTIES on the other side when she often tells him how much she despises him lmao

o'brien!!! god i wish we had seen more of him but i LOVED him and julian being besties here too. he was like youre NOT my friend and then 20 minutes later helping him escape. it's like he was a sleeper agent, he got one whiff or someone who could afford to have a moral compass and instantly he was like actually yeah humans deserve better than this! i love that julian was just gonna take him back and have two obrien besties and fuck starfleet if they didn't like it lol. obrien secretly also the same, and i'm really glad he got to at least escape w sisko to become a pirate or whatever.

HEY. BY THE WAY. PIRATE SISKO. SO FUN AND EDGY. he was really unhinged and kind of like a lunatic. cw for discussion of rape the rest of this paragraph. so i think there was a light implication via his body language and also "you charmed your way out of the mines" that he was NOT enjoying/consenting to the sex he was having with mirror kira, but very much enjoyed the opportunity to menace her counterpart, and other people, like obrien. again, like odo, he is tired of taking it and itching to dish soem out. UNLIKE odo, we see that he has people he loves! he says "i made the best of a bad life for my crew" and even shakes his head at one of his crew members who is about to do something that will get them hurt - he's also happy enough to take obrien, former target, under his wing on the way out, when he sees something worthy there. JUST LIKE OUR SISKO, he IS protective and he DOES value his people! i loved seeing that core of him, even though his outside was deranged in a fun evil way.

ok, to finally wrap this up, bashir giving away his plate of mush at mealtime because he's gonna get to go back to a nice cozy universe soon (or die) and these people won't is soooo. god. he's SO COMPASSIONATE......like i knew that objectively but we haven't really seen it in action much up until now. it fucking kills me. his compassion, inherent Good Universe vibes, has such a profound impact on mirror obrien in such a short time, but ultimately you CAN'T change this universe. you can affect single people in it, the way kirk got mirror spock, but the point of the mirrorverse is to be evil and edgy (and horny), so no matter WHAT the characters in it do, it is a LAW OF THAT UNIVERSE that powers beyond their comprehension will always reset the status quo to STAY evil and edgy (and horny). like at first i was like oh shit kirk really stepped in it nice job breaking it hero but like it simply CAN'T be fixed. if you try, you will fail. determinism in star trek. wild.

also, wait, sorry, julian coming back filthy head to toe and kira coming back in a ballgown when our sisko has been having kittens trying to locate his people.....iconic. mister privileged having to process ore like kira used to do and kira former ore processor wearing a fancy luxurious evening gown. talk about swapping places.

TONIGHT: tng's "preemptive strike" and ds9's "the collaborator." last non-finale episode of tng!!!

[zaycheese]

seeing star trek tos stuff on my dash and then realizing it’s from you is TRIPPING me OUT but like in a good way sobs

anyhoo how r you liking it so far!!!!!!! favourite episode/character? :D

You don't understand I'm losing it, hyperfixation hitting HARD.

Also I absolutely cannot pick a favorite episode, but The Menagerie episodes were a personal favorite, it was really interesting to see characters react to this side of Spock and get a deeper look at him as a character. Balance of Terror, Galileo Seven, and The City on the edge of Forever, were other favorites from season one story wise This Side of Paradise made me laugh my ass off. (Shore leave originally had me kinda rolling my eyes at first in the "Ah star trek" sort of way but I really enjoyed Bones in that episode.)

I'm only like halfway (?) through season two so far

Amok time goes without saying I feel, I also really enjoy all the evil computers we get in this season. MIRROR MIRROR WAS SO GOOD!! I always loved the episodes where they end up in Evil Star Trek (It's funny cause it happens in like every series they end up in the same evil universe and theres never any reports for them to reference back to??)

I actually really enjoyed Metamorphosis, that man and his formless alien wife are queer somehow I won't be elaborating.

Journey to Babel, I love Spock's parents, they are so funny to me, my ass hole rebellious son who i hate and it's Spock.

Obsession was great fun, watching Kirk lose his shit was really cool from a character perspective.

The implications Wolf in the Fold had were really funny to me, every serial killer ever was just a TMA style fear entity actually lol don't worry about it.

TRIBBLES!!! THE SOUNDS THEY MAKE IN TOS ARE SO MUCH SADDER/CUTER THAN IN TNG AND I DUNNO HOW TO FEEL ABOUT IT

A Piece of the Action is probably my favorite episode at the moment, Kirk and Spock trying their best to blend in by using shitty gangster lingo that none of the others know what the fuck they are saying, even the gangsters will never not be funny to me.

I'm only on season 2 episode 21 RN but I plan on doing a binge tonight cause it will be good for my soul.

SORRY THIS BASICALLY BECAME A REVIEW FOR EVERY EPISODE MY BAD

Also my favorite character has always been whatever Vulcan is in that particular series, and when there is none the most serious unserious guy I can find (Data, Odo, Tuvok, The Doctor )

So yeah it's Spock, Scotty is a close second, Uhura dosent get a whole lot in this series but as a Strange New Worlds enjoyer she has to be up on this list, and then Bones and Kirk are tied in third, Checkov and Sulu are awesome too, every one is great I just :grabs:

Anyways sorry for going insane I'm response to your ask, 🙏