Currently employed at a herps and inverts only pet store. She/her. Current pets (under "my pets" tag): Naranghul (Gonyosoma oxycephalum), Babghanouj (Pantherophis ssp.), and Nougat (Phelsuma standingi).
One of the most common complaints about Star Trek I saw growing up was “why don’t they use the holodeck more? If you were living in that time period and you could just make anything you wanted anytime you wanted and live out fantasies forever, why aren’t more people addicted to the holodeck?”
And then generative ai was created.
And now I get it. I get why nobody on Star Trek spends all their free time in the holodeck. I get why all the crew are putting on stage plays, and holding music recitals, and building models, and playing poker. I get why everyone was so skeptical and mean to the Doctor on Voyager. I get why the ONE TIME we see someone obsessed with the holodeck it infringes on people’s likeness rights and permissions.
Because fundamentally at the end of the day we are human beings and we ENJOY working with our hands and making REAL human connections. A person who learns to play an instrument is always going to be viewed as an artist over someone who asks the computer to generate music for them.
Even as recent as Lower Decks they were making fun of the fact that the crew were putting on amateurish plays and holding music recitals. But after living with Ai for so long and seeing how detrimental it’s been to the world… I’d much rather watch my friends put on a stage play than “participate” in a holodeck movie.
What’s most amazing about this is that it was completely unintentional. I do not for one second think that the writers of the time in the 90’s were really thinking about the larger issues that generative ai and chatGTP would cause. How could they? Text to speech back then was still robotic as heck. More likely they wrote that stuff in because it was cheaper to film on sets the owned than try to build, film, or rent out different locations each week.
That’s the down to earth logistical real reason Data is reciting poems about his cat or Riker is in a play put on in ten forward. It’s just cheaper to do that than to build a whole new set or move production to a new location.
Yet at the end of the day, I think that unintentionally speaks to a very human need that ai is making more and more prevalent to us day in and day out.
And that’s the fact nobody wants to deal with generative SLOP.
as someone with aragorn's kind of face framing layers i just know the front pieces are hanging in his eyes all day every day... "my path is hidden from me" you are 4 bobby pins away from utter clarity.
Someone’s probably done this before, but First Contact! AU where Jim is an astronaut who got stranded and Spock is the vulcan scientist who saved him.
Sketches and rambles under cut:
I was thinking something like The Martian where he got stranded on a planet during a mission, lost contact with the rest of his team and presumed dead, Spock is a vulcan scientist who was there on a research trip when he found jim's injured body and brought jim back to his ship despite vulcan's strict non-interference policy. Can be Mcspirk too with bones being jim's friend and a NASA scientist who refuses to believe jim is dead and tries to get a rescue mission to search for Jim despite everyone else thinking he's just griefing/in denial.
I've been turning this thing in my head for a few weeks like a microwave, but i'm not a good writer lol, so if anyone wants to make something of it feel free, please tag me so i can see it!!
Laetitia Ky is an Ivorian feminist artist who creates elaborate sculptures using her own hair, wire, and thread to convey powerful messages about feminism, body positivity, Black beauty, and African heritage. Her intricate hair art, which can take the form of animals, objects, or abstract shapes, is influenced by traditional African hairstyles and serves as a platform for her activism and advocacy for women's rights.
This is me sending another ask, giving you the stage to please ramble about your T'Pel!!
(It's like this meme but if she was smiling eagerly)
I got my compression gloves on and my documents containing my personality and life profiles on T'Pel and Tuvok open. Let's do this.
Of course, disclaimer, basically all of this is headcanon and is subject to change a little as I continue to develop her more, but I got paragraphs on her and her growing up. Now that that's out of the way, welcome to an episode of:
Chaos lose their mind about their T'Pel headcanons (because they were so kindly asked) ✨
(Chaos loses their mind about their T'Pel headcanons (because they were so kindly asked) ✨)
If you just want a personality profile with interests, it's down at the bottom. The beginning half is a condensed overview of her as a character. :)
OVERVIEW
Okay, so, T'Pel comes from a sort of traditionalist family, but not entirely in the followings of Surak kind of way, more in a "we've lost who we are because of technology" kind of way. Her father, Solkar, was raised in a much more old life, part of a group that lived on the land and off of what they could provide. When he was married, he moved a little closer to the city and overlooks housing construction. Her mother, T'Dar, was raised similarly, though her family prioritized artistic things. T'Dar did pottery, and was damn good at it too, but followed her family's tradition. She lived with her parents, then became a stay at home mom and wife to Solkar.
T'Pel is the second eldest of four children, close to her older sister in age, and helped raise the younger two due to a slightly larger age gap (fertility issues, whole other thing). She watched her mother disappear into that, becoming someone with no hobbies, no friends, very little support from her own family, someone who was quiet and did what she was told. Her family lived out of town, making it difficult for her growing up to travel for school and spend time with friends, as she had chores to do at home.
In her youth, T'Pel followed how she was raised. She was discouraged from following her interest in medicine, and was supposed to be a quiet housewife subservient to her husband. She did not mind housework, and does genuinely enjoy homemaking, but did not want to become her mother, and it caused tension within the house. While she did not have outward emotional issues and did not require some kind of treatment, she is still a good Vulcan after all, she found it difficult to not talk back.
When she was in her mid-twenties, against her parents' wishes, she went off to study medicine. She became a nurse this way, working specifically in essentially mental wellness clinics. Here, she develops her telepathic abilities to fend off against the way dying minds reach out. It took time, and a lot of dedication, but she was determined.
Her marriage to Tuvok was tumultuous at first. Her parents no longer fully approved of Tuvok after his emotional difficulties in his youth and his stint at Starfleet, but she was partially healing her relationship with them due to them reflecting on their relationship and disliking not having their daughter in their life. It causes for tension later on, as they extra don't like Tuvok when he joins Starfleet again.
Beyond that, T'Pel and Tuvok did not get along at first. It took years for them to develop their relationship, that's why they had kids later in life. They argued and debated and clashed. They were both still unpacking issues from their parents and it was effecting how they saw each other. However, they, of course, figure things out, and deeply adore each other once they get over themselves.
T'Pel's relationship with Tuvok's family is.. difficult. She does not like them very much, mostly for how they treat Tuvok, and mostly for how they criticize her and their parenting. Tuvok's parents are highly critical old school Vulcans with an inflated sense of self and logic about them, which is just about everything T'Pel dislikes. Plus, they hurt her husband, someone she cares for very deeply.
I could do an entire separate post on T'Pel and Tuvok's relationship in particular and another one on their parenting styles and another one on each of their relationships with their in-laws, but that's for another time (or future fics) and also not why you're here.
T'Pel wanted to be the mother she did not have and the parent children deserved. She would be engaged, and not relegate her children tasks unfitting of them, and be kind. It takes a bit, she's actually more stubborn and harder than Tuvok at times, but they make it work. She never wanted her children to feel a need to hide, as not only does that defy logic, but it also damages children. She is knowledgeable in the mind, she wouldn't want to be the purposeful cause of any undue stress.
She keeps her job in medicine as much as she can, finding a place when they go to Earth. She takes leave when Tuvok goes missing, but she does eventually go back. She likes being able to care for people, it's an integral part of who she is. She just did not enjoy having it forced upon her.
PERSONALITY
T'Pel is a slightly odd Vulcan, but nothing abnormal. She does not struggle with emotional control and believes it necessary, but she holds no animosity towards those that have issues. She understands, especially after her education, what can happen to a Vulcan to make them behave that way. It isn't their fault, generally, and it is something to work with, not against. It's best to herd the sheep, not pull them along the grass.
She is solid in her beliefs, and enjoys tradition in the sense of understanding its importance, but not letting it take over their lives. She is a calm person, often serving as a rock to people and allowing them balance from her. She finds fulfillment in creating and repairing, an intelligent woman and well skilled.
However, she does find traditions ridiculous in some points. She finds the formality they have boring, and the lack of allowance between spouses and family to show affection ridiculous. Emotions are not something to be afraid of, they are something to learn from and keep quiet. They are as much a part of you as your logic is. She does not appreciate the way there is a superiority in intelligence, specifically scientific intelligence, and the way that so many Vulcans are intolerant to other cultures despite preaching IDIC. Xenophobia is incredibly illogical, as are all forms of discrimination. Creatures will be different, and that is the beauty in living.
INTERESTS
This is just a small section that I wanted to include. T'Pel's biggest interest is, genuinely, healing. She loves learning about all the different medical advancements going on around the galaxy. It was one of the good things when moving to Earth, she learned more about alien culture. She has interest in psychology as well as someone that's worked in mind healing, and thinks it really needs to be more widely implicated into Vulcan medicine.
T'Pel enjoys exploring with Tuvok, but she much prefers calmer walks while he likes the challenge. While Tuvok is the gardener between them, she has an herb garden she keeps for herself, as well as goes on walks and hikes to forage naturally. She is a skilled forager, and has an eye for plant identification anywhere she goes.
Also, T'Pel is an artist. She enjoys pastels and charcoal, mostly, but works in sculpting and pottery, something she learned from her mother. She has a plant book she made entirely from scratch. She adds pages from every planet her and Tuvok went to.
She is more social, and finds spending time with others pleasant. It's something she encouraged in her children since she was deprived of many close friendships as a kid, and she does find humor in dragging Tuvok to gatherings he very clearly does not want to go to.
On a side note, something T'Pel cannot really do is cook. Tuvok cooks between them. She can handle it, of course, she isn't incompetent, but she doesn't have a skill for it like Tuvok does. She also, to be quite honest, doesn't actually like Vulcan teas that much.
I think that covers most bases? If you've got more questions or want to know more, please let me know, I am way more than happy to keep talking and I am so sorry if this is way longer than you expected. Hope you got something from it!
Also I wanted to say, I checked out your art, fucking gorgeous. Genuinely. I absolutely cannot wait to see what you do.
I LOVE HEEEEER...............I'm sorry this took so long but I had to draw her a bunch bc your response was everything I wanted and more!! Imagine you're arguing with your wife and her little medic antenna is bobbing in the air. You are Tuvok LastName, 30 something.
Design Elements: Her wearing all green as a medic seems a bit ghoulish since it's the color of Vulcan blood but apparently there's an all red medic uniform on DS9 and in TAS there's a Vulcan healer wearing all green so that's fine. Children's Hospital Color Theory Joke. I envision the antenna being both symbolic and practical - symbolically as a healer you're reaching out to the universe and practically it's easier to see a big antenna. It's also easy to spot green amongst the Vulcan desert scenery.
I gave her scars because I thought about her and Tuvok both being in professions that scar them in certain ways - working with people that their more traditional parents wouldn't approve of...it made me picture them tending to each other's scars too. Especially Tuvok doing that for T'Pel far before she begins doing it for him since he wasn't in Starfleet until a long time into their marriage, but she's been a medic since before they were married.
I also ultimately decided to give her longer hair (but not as long as it once was) to signify that she's not in such a reactionary 'figuring herself out' mindset as he was in her youth. It's like how T'Pel likes homemaking but didn't want that to be expected of her, as if it was ALL she was/could be. I can imagine 'long hair = wife' being a traditional Vulcan thing so she keeps her hair short for a long while before deciding she wants to see if she'd like it grown out and she does so she keeps it. I don't think ALL Vulcans see long hair as wifely but T'Pel grew up in a VERY traditional home it seems so it's a personal background thing.
I'M HERE FOR EVERYTHING.........I LOVE YOUR IDEAS!!!! But if you're planning future fics I shall just have to wait~ But if you wanted to make a separate post...👀
I really love how different interpretations of the same character can be when canon lets you fill in so many blanks so I drew my interpretation of your'pel and my most default T'Pel together!
I. I don’t even know how to react to this. I’m like. Oh my fucking hell. I was grinning wildly reading everything. I can’t believe I inspired you this much?? Also do not apologize for taking *checks notes* like four days to draw these masterpieces. THESE ARE SO PRETTY.
I’m just like in absolute awe. All the details are so cute. Her stupid little bobble is amazing, TeleT’Pel is adorable. Imagine the kids finding out about Teletubbies while they’re on earth and calling her Dipsy.
THE LITTLE SLIDES AT THE START. SO GOOD. YES. A MILLION TIMES.
HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SCARS?? I am fully convinced Tuvok and T’Pel run their hands over each others scars and sigh together remembering each circumstance that led to them, feeling the raises and divots of each other’s skin and appreciating the dangers of a life well lived. It’s so important and symbolic to me that T’Pel is a medic who ends up specializing in mental wellness as a way to become her own person, and is married to Dangerous Vulcan #1 who’s whole job is how can I protect and efficiently kill people while harnessing his intrusive thoughts.
Fuck now I want to write an argument between them. Probably about Tuvok’s parents.
T’Pel has a lot of healing to do from her youth, I love the hair symbolism! Might possibly steal that. Your entire paragraph on that is so accurate, she likes homemaking, she just can’t handle it being what she’s supposed to do. She likes taking care of people, she just doesn’t want it expected. It’s something she has to work through.
I was cackling at “Climbs Kills You Mountain” so hard. T’Pel puts up with it because she made Tuvok talk to people the day before and this is their compromise. She’s debating on if she should leave him in the car at the next social event.
Also T’Pel angrily being like “no no my parents have gotten better, yours suck ass DO NOT talk to them” is my favorite thing ever, actually.
ALSO IN THE TAGS. YOU GOT THE BIT ABOUT HOW T’PEL’S SIBLINGS LEAVING LET’S HER MOM FIND HERSELF AGAIN. YEAHHHH.
T’Pel and Tuvok’s siblings both have complex backstories already, as do their parents. Help me I have too many ideas and not enough time to write.
If people wanted more information on how their relationships, parenting, any of that works I am way more than happy to talk about it. There’s only a few things I want to reveal in fics rather than through a Tumblr post, plus in the format I write in and the way Vulcans work I can’t get all emotional about them. I have plans to continue the series so don’t you worry, there’ll be more of them. :D
Your interpretation is actually killing me. I can’t stop staring at it. I am generally fairly good with my words but I am just at a loss to explain to you how full my chest feels at seeing someone so beautifully put my little fic into art. I’m just like, vibrating with joy. Thank you so so so so so so so so much for this. <33
