#Andorian writing

[indignantlemur]

You’ve talked about visual art a bit, but I was wondering what other types of art/creation Andorians might be partial to (for example: writing, music, theatre, ecc.)

(For writing: I know there’s a big importance in fairytales so I was wondering if they leaned more towards short stories, rather than longer novels or poetry)

(You’re incredible and your writing is amazing btw!)

Hello! Thanks for the ask - this is a great question! (Also: aww, thank you! <3 )

Andorians are huge on music and theatre. The Andorian opera is renowned across the Federation (and beyond) for its technical excellence and emotive storytelling. All Andorians are born with perfect pitch, which gives Andorians a beautiful talent for music in all its forms. Their orchestras are slightly less well known than the operas, but no less talented - and often lauded for their technical excellence. Additionally, while Andorian vocal chords are very similar to Human vocal chords, they do have small structural differences which allow for a slightly broader range of sound on average than Humans generally can achieve. Humans can absolutely perform Andorian operas, but some pieces are extremely taxing and require exceptional range. Also, every single mistake, no matter how slight, will be as loud as a fog horn to every Andorian in the audience so... no pressure.

Theatre and opera developed hand-in-hand for Andorians as a natural development from story-telling during the worst parts of the year where it was too dangerous to venture outside for more than short durations and only if absolutely necessary. From these roots came a deep love of adapting historical and mythological events into dramatic scenes, though it admittedly took a bit longer for fictional stories to catch on as viable sources of inspiration.

(Andorian theatre kids go hard - bodily harm is frequent and expected. The band kids are weirdly militant and treat rehearsal like it's actually life or death, no matter what their instructors say. The choir kids are absolute prima donnas - but the problem is, they actually have the range and talent to back their attitudes up.)

In terms of writing, the long tradition of story-telling gives life to this as well. Andorians have long, spiralling epics that follow the lives of the heroes almost from birth until death, but they also have short stories in the form of folk tales and mythology.

As Andorians developed as a society, writing fiction really took off as a medium for self-expression and, in some cases, a means of offering scrutiny and criticism around a facet of their society. Andorian murder-mystery novels are well known for their twists and turns, often featuring no less than three or four sub-plots revolving around the central plot (at least one of which is a red herring), and they all have painfully, exactingly detailed descriptions of procedure and processing. Andorian romances are either tragic or absolutely filthy - or both. They're not quite as big on fantasy, for some reason. No one can quite get a satisfactory answer out of Andorian authors on that one. Their science fiction is actually pretty interesting, but it tends towards Orwellian themes, usually handling moral quandaries centering around private personhood in a world of ever-encroaching technology and surveillance.

As for poetry, Andorians do enjoy poetry and produce quite a lot of it, but the subject matter tends to be (a) vibrantly colourful and full of visual cues, (b) modern stories modelled on ancient sagas, or (c) enigmatic and heavily veiled in metaphors. The lattermost are considered the most personal, and generally the meaning is only known to the author and, if applicable, the intended recipient(s). Often times, these pieces are kept private even after the author's death, and only very rarely will examples of this kind of poetry make their way to the general public.

Thanks for the ask! I hope I answered everything!

[creature-of-the-stars]

WIP 🚧: Telonn and Juno (my OCs)

Lotta work to do on the hand and the details on Juno, but my babies are looking better than I had expected. This is a bit of a different style then I’m used to doing, but I finally figured out how to use my drawing apps correctly, so I’m playing around with “multiply” and “overlay” and all the other weird little things you can do to make sure the colors make sense 💙.

Posting here because it’s fic related.

[short-wooloo]

RWBY/Star Trek au: should Weiss be an Andorian or a Vulcan?

[deepspacedukat]

Not that anyone asked, but this is my Andorian OC, Celas Tyrh, from “A Blue New Year.” Obviously, he was a Cadet in that particular fic, but I figured a picrew from his future would be interesting.

[booksnotyetwritten]

"An Undisclosed Mission"

Lieutenant Zwei Uh’Beeahn sighed. It had only been two hours since they'd taken the shuttle from DS9 into the Gamma Quadrant to escort the Cardassian Adjunct Ambassador to meet with the Wadi and already the arguments had started.

Lieutenant Poq D'ghorgas leaned towards him, his hands on the flight controls. "'Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk' am I right?" Smirked the Klingon. The Betazed chuckled. "More like 'Achilles and Patroclus at Troy,'" he replied as they both started laughing.

"And another thing! Just because we were both adopted makes us nothing alike!" Shouted Lieutenant Te'yera's, her cheeks bright blue with rage.

"What are you talking about! We both grew up in vastly different cultures due to wars!" Replied the now green cheeked Ambassador. Zwei turned his chair around and sighed. He had thought an Andorian rasied by Bajorans was strange but he'd had to shelve that thought when he'd first met the "Cardassian" Adjunct Ambassador to the Federation, a Romulan war orphan raised on Cardassia Prime.

"Please. For all of our sanity can we maybe put a pin in this... 'discussion' until our return trip?" Te'yera and Chol glared at him but took a breath and sat back in their seats.

"As long as the lieutenant stops playing debate... games with me. I will agree to be silent," replied the Adjunct Ambassador.

"No one's playing games with you," replied Lieutenant Te'yera.

"Yeah," said Poq, "Save that for the Wadi!" He shrieked before cackling like a Hyena. The two in the back looked angrier than when they were arguing as they shot the Klingon a glare. Zwei gritted his teeth in a grimaced smile as he tried desperately to stifle his laughter. He quickly swung his chair back and leaned in towards Poq.

"Shut up! Shut up! You can't say that! Stop!" He said as he shook with laughter next to the cackling Lieutenant.

[clementine-kesh]

a dream project for me would be to organize a star trek zine formatted like an academic journal of anthropology where everyone makes up lore for stuff like traditional trill farming practices or andorian marriage rites and then writes a whole paper about it

[dutchesscapybara]

This is my version of an Andorian female in the Andorian Imperial Guard. There's not a whole lot of reference images for Andorian females but I noticed that Andorians typically have very layered haircuts with short almost micro bangs. They also have triangular eyebrows and pronounced facial bones above their eyes that lead to their antenna.

Some Andorians have more pronounced facial and body plates that are a result of their partial exo-skeletons. For this reason I decided to give her a slightly hooked nose because I thought it would suit Andorians more angular features.

The symbol on the bottom is of the new Andorian Guard. Andorii is the primary spoken language of Andoria. Graalek is the written form of Graalen which is considered the root language of Andorii. There's no official chart for this but I found a very well fan made one to write Andorian going down the side.

Andorians are such a fascinating species and I want to research them further.

[sleepycat82]

So, I assign distinct scents to characters I like to write about. I’m interested in what y’all imagine your favorite Romulans or Vulcans or Andorians might smell like. For instance, I imagine my husband, Letant, smelling like Thymes Eucalyptus cologne and my other husband, Vreenak, smelling like YSL la Nuit de L’Homme. What do the rest of think about your favorites?

@bigblissandlove1 @deepspacedukat @kalennatheromulan-blog @maybeamultiverse @indignantlemur

[flippyspoon]

Chess Vignettes: #1

(Ficlet- STRANGE NEW WORLDS)

Note: Okay, I think I've found my lil tropey thing wherein I'll likely write a million versions of pretty much the same thing lol. Chess flirting! Let's do this. These will all be stand-alone ficlets- no continuing story per se (probably).

Kirk nodded his head to the music playing in the Port Galley. He missed the ambiance the band had provided, but whoever oversaw the entertainment had put on an endless playlist of recordings for the evening. That could sometimes go awry. In an effort to be equitable, often the playlist was a diverse mix of genres from widely varying eras and cultures. It was a nice idea, but the whiplash of transitioning from a twangy Andorian blues song to an atonal Vulcan theramin ballad to a Terran hip-hop dance number could be…disorienting. Tonight, however, was devoted to Terran music of the 1950s and 60s. It was not played too loud, so he could continue the meandering conversation he had going with his favorite chess partner.

“I like this song.” Kirk rested his chin in his hand, elbow propped on the table, while across from him Spock glared at the chessboard as if willing his game to improve without his having to make a move. Kirk hummed along to the song. “What song is this?” He did not expect Spock to know. But the Vulcan had been so quiet and part of the fun of playing chess with him was usually the conversation.

“‘My Baby Just Cares for Me,’” Spock replied. “Nina Simone. Nineteen fifty-seven.”

Kirk perked up. “Now why do you know that? Not that you shouldn’t.”

“They have played it before. It is a favorite of Ensign Uhura’s. She often requests it.”

“Hmm.” Kirk smiled to himself. “I’ll have to ask her for recommendations. I like listening to old Terran music. I have my own favorites. But there’s so much of it. Then I think I should explore other cultures more often. Doubly overwhelming.”

“You would need several lifetimes to catch up on the cultural contributions of every Federation planet,” Spock said. “Several hundred lifetimes.” He finally made his move, snagging Kirk’s rook and coming perilously close to putting him in check, although the path was so obvious, Kirk would have no trouble avoiding it. That was good. He didn’t want the game to be over.

“Do you like music?” Kirk said.

“I play the Vulcan lute,” Spock said.

Kirk widened his eyes, a note of astonishment caught in his throat. It was difficult to imagine Spock playing a lute. Although, once he put it into his head, it was…not an unattractive thing to imagine.

“Uh, what songs do you play?” Kirk cleared his throat.

“Vulcan songs.” Spock met his gaze over the chessboard. Kirk had not made his move yet. He was pretending not to know what to do next. “Most non-Vulcans who are not also ethnomusicologists do not enjoy them. But…I have also learned to play cover versions of some songs at the request of crew members.”

Kirk had noticed that Spock liked to put on a pretense of disinterest sometimes, or at least that was how he read it.

Then he’d go and throw out chum like this and Kirk was only too happy to take a bite like the hungry little tuna he was. At least he was aware of it. He tried not to look too eager, shifting slightly in his seat and covering the giddy smile on his face with his hand.

“What- uh what songs have you played for the crew?”

“Captain Pike is partial to ‘A Boy Named Sue’ by Johnny Cash.”

Kirk had been taking a sip of his drink and started to choke. He knew the song. His grandfather had been a Johnny Cash fan. The thought of Pike singing ‘A Boy Named Sue’...

“Are you well?” Spock asked.

Kirk nodded, slowly wiping a few drops of Scotch from his lip with two fingers while pretending not to notice that Spock followed the motion with heavy lidded eyes.

“Pike sings?” Kirk said. “I mean, Pike sings when an anomaly is not forcing him to?”

The corner of Spock’s mouth turned up just enough that Kirk considered it a victory. “I do not know if what he does could accurately be described as singing.”

Kirk blurted a laugh, the unexpectedness of the joke making him guffaw right from his gut, a tear coming to his eye. Spock looked away, but Kirk could see it. He was pleased with himself. Kirk saw him breathe in, that almost-smile growing just a tick. 

Another song started and Kirk sighed, pleasantly warmed by nostalgia. He stroked his chin and thought of his mother playing the song–’I Only Have Eyes for You’ by The Flamingos–as she danced around the kitchen, on furlough in Iowa, making cupcakes for Jim and Sam. Jim had not remembered how sultry and haunting the song was. He leaned a little further to one side in his chair, as the chessboard slightly blocked his view of Spock, but glancing away he noticed that people were leaving their seats in the Port Galley in a rush to look out the windows.

The neutron stars, Kirk realized. Pilo and Aero. The Enterprise had been watching them for weeks.

He looked across the table, anticipating that Spock would want to leave the game and watch a significant celestial event.

Spock was staring at Kirk, fixed to his seat.

..But I can’t see… a thing in the sky…

Ortegas walked by them, and thwacked Kirk on the shoulder. “C’mon, guys! Pile and Aero are merging finally! Don’t you wanna see?”

Kirk kept his eyes on Spock. He had a strange stinging feeling in his wrists and his palms were sweating.

I only have eyes for you…

“I’m good,” Kirk murmured, but Ortegas had already passed them by.

The people at the windows oohed and aahed at the merging stars and the music continued to play as Spock and Kirk stared into each other’s eyes for so long, he could not think of what excuse he could possibly make that would not sound nonsensical. 

Do I need one? He wondered.

Spock opened his mouth, and just that slight movement made Kirk inhale, he gripped the arms of his chair.

“Your move,” Spock said.

...Sha bop sha bop..

[indignantlemur]

Let's talk about Andorian foods!

Without at doubt, one of the most enjoyable things about creating Émigré has been creating Andorian foods. We know so much about Vulcan and Klingon food, but Andorians are horribly overlooked beyond a few basic descriptions of beetles, blue meat, and a kind of flatbread. That's like, a meal. Tops. Even if you include drinks, which are ice-tea, hot coffee, and booze, you're not really moving beyond a single meal's worth of food types. And here's the thing - food is a central point in almost every culture there is. How we prepare food, what we consider food, how we present and share it, when and where and with what utensils - all of that is a huge part of most cultures. We have foods that are only eaten on special days, or only for certain meals. We have foods that have special meanings when given as gifts, and things that are traditional to give as part of social customs around weddings and funerals. We have comfort food, junk food, traditional food, fusion food, I'm-too-tired-to-cook food, and so many more kinds. We have entire branches of culinary expertise dedicated to JUST sweet foods. We have specialists who brew, pickle, and blend. We have random folks who make their own mead, or brew their own beer or wine. We have dozens of different kinds of salt for different kinds of finishing touches, for goodness' sake!

So yeah. I have a problem with the whole Andorians-only-eat-like-four-things-maybe approach. It's lazy. I hate lazy writing. So let's talk about some of my ideas, maybe? If anyone's still reading? (hello?)

Andorians are group-oriented people who put their society and their clans before themselves. Group meals therefore feels like a natural continuation of this trend, things like hotpots and fondues, and those fun little sushi bars where the tasty things go 'round and round on a little belt and you just pick up what you like and try not to fuck it up and fumble some painstakingly assembled sushi in front of the guy who made it.

One of the first ideas I came up with following this logic was the idea of a multi-layer lazy-Susan kind of dining table, with concentric rings that allowed for people to rotate each ring independently to pass around different bowls and plates of food, which a central spot for a pot of hot oil to cook your selections with. The utensils by necessity would have to be long-necked and pronged to spear food effectively and not lose their tasty bounty to the boiling oil. The seating around this table would be low, with cushions on the ground in an inset kind of pit in the floor because my Andorians are big on cuddles and sharing warmth. They're a social species, after all, and their home planet is far from a picnic - sharing is surviving.

Let's move onto other kinds of meals! Some of the canon lore indicates that Andorians eat a kind of flatbread and shredded meat, but very little in the way of dairy. So, from that we can conclude that they have at least some kind of flour. From there we can suppose that if they have a basic type of flour they might also have baking beyond flatbreads, even if they don't go in for fluffy yeast-based breads. That leaves quite a few options, really, but I liked the idea of their flour stemming from a starchy tuber like taro-root, or even potato-like spuds. Fried potato flat-bread sounds pretty great, right?

Now for the meats! Andorians are omnivores with a heavy carnivorous leaning, to my mind, because protein gives us the most bang per buck out of the basic food groups. Meat by itself is a solid food choice, but it gets boring after a while so we, and presumably Andorians as well, come of with different ways to dress it up and make it taste different. Salt would be abundant given the expansive oceans on Andoria and in the lore salty things register as spicy to Andorians, so that's practically a new lease on life food-wise! From there, sauces and marinades are a natural evolution, and I really like the idea that each keth has their own unique recipes that they hoard like gourmet dragons. No one knows what all goes into Clan Tha'an's mustard sauce, but by the Spirits is it good! Still, they can't afford to be too reliant on meat as a food source. Andoria is, as we've discussed, a harsh planet. Hunting for meat is a viable survival strategy, especially in large groups, but hunts fall through or go badly. When that happens, it's imperative that a population has something else to live off of: in this case, tubers! Savoury tubers, sweet tubers, starchy tubers, stringy tubers, every kind of tuber! Tubers are quite a resilient kind of plant and they can grow most places as long as the conditions are mostly right. Deep underground, away from the freezing surface temperatures, tubers would grow quite well - especially near a hotspring!

So, we've got tubers, we've got flour, we've got meat - and you know what, if we've got tubers that means we've got space sweet potatoes. Space sweet potatoes could be refined into a kind of sugar substitute! And that means we have BAKING.

After realizing that, I remembered finding a word in an Andorian-English dictionary which references an endearment and also a sweet treat: shev'tak. Quite a troublesome word, if you've read Émigré!

Humans call each other food-related endearments all the time; honey-bun, sweetie-pie, sugar-boo, dumpling, etc. Why not Andorians too, right? But Andoria is a very harsh planet, and things like sugary treats would be quite unusual, and probably very expensive to grow the base materials for and then refine. Given that their diet is probably heavily meat- and tuber-based, given their biology and the conditions of their homeworld, sugary treats would be a very rare, special-occasion-only thing for the majority of their history. They'd probably end up being made in very small portions, too. When I initially thought about shev'tak, I was tempted to make it some kind of sweet bun, but that seemed a little too boring when I sat down to actually describe them. Eventually, I hit upon the idea of these impossibly delicate little pastries, folded in on themselves and shaped like sixteen-pointed stars (or other multiples of four, which is deeply symbolic in Andorian culture) and filled with a creamy custard. Something plausible and demonstrating the artistry for which Andorians are known, but nothing excessively complicated in terms of ingredients. All the work goes into the presentation, and as a gift shev'tak would be a sign of regard at the least and certainly of affection. It would be the equivalent of a fancy box of chocolates, if each chocolate was hand-made specially for you. In the modern era, much of the craftmanship would be subsidized by advanced machinery and more efficient techniques, much like today on our world, but there would still be a strong association of luxury, of hand-made sweets on a frozen ice planet where very little grows and none of it above ground.

And being called shev'tak, in light of that, may be a little more than just an endearment, I think. It's being called something special, something worth burning time and resources for. Precious, even.

But, of course, Andorians are very stoic. They leave a lot of their social norms unsaid, and trust that these things are simply understood. Even when they aren't.

... Are we having Dagmar/Shral feels yet?

[creature-of-the-stars]

Amber Waves: Chapter 1 -> read

Andorian OC/Human OC

🔪 = some violence/gore (but it has to do with a shuttle crash)

Maggie was enjoying a summer's evening when something fiery and strange rocketed across the sky over her country home. Running to investigate, she stumbles upon an incredibly strange find - a blue man with antennae like an insect. Lt. Oran (who was, as it turns out, not a bug) tries to make sense of how he could have crashed through time to land in a cornfield over a hundred years in the past. Will he be stuck in the 21st century with a pink farmer for company? Or will he make it back to his own time, to serve Starfleet and see his family once more?

Tag list (let me know if you want on/off this list): @deepspacedukat @wafflingchemist @bigblissandlove1 @horta-in-charge @romulanhorsegirl @starrynightgardens @darkmattervibes

**this is not a third installment for SoC prompt event**

[deadheaddaisy]

🩷💛

???

🩷 Pink: Do you find a certain character (or characters) easy to write? More difficult -- and if so, do you avoid writing that character (or those characters) when possible?

So far I've really only written Malcolm and Hoshi, and I find them incredibly easy to write since I'm taking their canon characters and what I perceive as said character dynamics, and then just - tweaking. Based on interactions in the show.

More difficult? That'll probably be when I get to T'Pol and Archer, particularly the latter. I have a WIP that includes them and Trip, and I think I've done fairly well, but I'll need others who know them better to advise me (yay beta readers!). I guess Trip might also be a bit difficult, at least unless I focus on him as Malcolm's friend. I may also be riffing off fanfics I've read where I really like their iteration of Trip. So no, I don't necessarily avoid writing characters - I just haven't needed them in my fics as yet.

💛 Yellow: Do you ever alter, highlight, or de-emphasize certain canonical traits in a character? If so, why and describe how.

As I said above, I take canon Hoshi and Malcolm and tweak them slightly based on interactions during the show. There was also a great conversation on a Discord server recently that articulated what I could not, which is that they recognise kindred spirits in each other because both grew up somewhat isolated - him with a disapproving father, her as a language prodigy who was tutored instead of schooled.

Hoshi is also often mischaracterised as being afraid throughout the series, which is patently not true. You try being thrown out of Starfleet after breaking your Commander's arm, becoming a professor where you have some autonomy, returning to Starfleet to go into space when you were never planning to, and relying on this spaceship that is constantly under attack to keep you safe from the vastness of space?

She overcomes her fear in Fight and Flight and saves the ship; steps up in Sleeping Dogs (and impresses Malcolm with her determination about the torpedoes), she insists that she can handle being left with Tarquin in Exile - and uses her wits to outsmart him; she tries to get back to the bridge when she's clearly injured in Minefield.

Plus Hoshi was a sass machine from day one, particularly with T'Pol. She's mischievous, and funny, and she wants to learn, and Malcolm knows that. She's not out to waste his time, and he appreciates that about her. And she soaks up his lessons and his insights, even after the incident in the mess hall. She understands that he's not always great at social skills, and doesn't let the incident put her off befriending him.

And Malcolm is a very encouraging person. He'd be a good teacher (and he is, to the extent that by Season 3, Hoshi is taking over phase rifle training for the villagers from Marauders). He encourages Travis, he encourages Hoshi, he's not afraid to admit that he's a little worried about using the transporter in The Andorian Incident but he encourages his staff member who expresses concern. He very likely took the flack for the snowman so Travis would have a fun first experience with snow, and he is, of course, already friends with Travis from Broken Bow.

He's also far more in touch with his emotions than people think - how he dealt with Shuttlepod One and imminent death was pragmatic and aimed at helping those left behind - hence the letters - not being pessimistic and railing against the unfairness of it like Trip. Also I don't understand why people think he's the difficult one when Trip can't handle his own emotions. But that's a rant for another day.

Yes, he loses his rag with Hayes, but after over two years of having your security and tactical concerns dismissed, wouldn't you be angry that someone from a lower rank is suddenly being listened to instead of you? By your own captain?

ANYWAY. That's my long-winded way of saying that I write those two from a somewhat different perspective than is shown on the screen, and also in a lot of fanfic. They're not the stiff-upper-lip Brit and the shy and frightened ensign they're made out to be. They're good at what they do, they strive to be better, they're in touch with their emotions (and use their words like adults), they're friends and confidants (including with Travis) and - in my fics at least, and in deleted scenes - there was a little spark between them. So that's how I write them. Competent adults who learn and grow throughout the series.

Thanks for the ask!

[deepspacedukat]

I need someone who understands and I feel you will- I just finished enterprise and ugh I am down soooo bad for Soval and Shran. Like that Vulcan and Andorian could do literally ANYTHING to me and I’d say thank you daddy- your fics are helping me survive at the moment after that finale.

Omg, anon, I do feel you. I am literally the same way. Like, there are a lot of pretty people in Enterprise, but Shran and Soval??? The hottest to me. No contest. They could literally scowl in my direction and I'd be all giggly and stupid about it and thinking things like "omg they noticed meeeeee!" Agree. Big agree. Like, thank you for looking in my direction, daddy! 🫶

Imho (and in the opinion of a lot of Enterprise fans) the finale just doesn't exist, so I'm firmly onboard with the Soval-and-Shran-join-the-crew's-voyage headcanon instead of the finale happening.

Don't you worry, Nonny, I'll be writing a lot more fics about those gorgeous alien bois! I mean, look at them:

How could I not?????

[unknownfacelessfanfictions]

Part 7: Ace of hearts

Commander Tysess x Ophelia Zubira (OFC) Words: 2K Summary: Tysess has been fighting with something over the last weeks and can't hold it in anymore Warnings: Talk about sexual activities (nothing graphic or so, just talk), coming to terms with identity A/N: This was kind of inspired by this post from @zierzim. I have wanted to write something along those lines for quite some time and finally got the needed inspiration, so thanks for that

Body Language Masterlist

Lost in thought, Ophelia sat on the small armchair she had pulled in front of the ship's porthole to watch the stars go by. Two weeks. For two weeks she had been trying to convince Tysess to ask the Admiral for a transfer of quarters so that they could move in together.

They had both talked about it before and her partner had seemed willing to take the next step, but something seemed to have happened. She didn't know if Tysess had changed his mind or not, but for the past fortnight he had been avoiding the subject whenever she dared mention it.

In general, Tysess seemed to be withdrawing lately and Ophelia didn't know how to react. On the one hand, she was convinced that it would be best to give him his freedom and the peace and quiet he seemed to need. On the other hand, she feared that he might fall back into old patterns, something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Sighing, she rose and wandered to her little kitchenette, hoping a cup of coffee would help her, when all at once her doors slid aside to reveal a rather stiff-looking Andorian. "Tysess!"

A warm smile graced her lips as he entered her quarters, his hands clasped behind his back, standing tall with a nod of acknowledgment. "Ophelia," he greeted softly.

Stepping forward, she enveloped him in a tight embrace, though she sensed him tense at her touch. After a moment, she released him, concern furrowing her brow. "Are you alright?" she inquired gently. Tysess avoided meeting her gaze, sidestepping her to approach the porthole she had occupied just moments before.

 "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" His voice sounded pressed, and his antennae seemed a little too much to the rear for her taste.

Noticing his unease, she cautiously reached out to touch his shoulder, causing him to flinch reflexively. Pulling back, she regarded him with growing worry, stepping around to meet his eyes. Tysess averted his gaze, his expression tinged with something akin to shame.

"I don't want to be a pain," she murmured in a calm voice, hoping to put him at ease as well. "And if you just need some you-time, that's totally fine. But I'm beginning to worry about you, Tysess. I'm truly concerned."

Tysess remained silent, his gaze unwaveringly fixed on the scene outside. After a few moments of heavy silence, Ophelia turned away with a resigned sigh. "We can just keep quiet, if you prefer, mi amor. Just let me get my tea quickly, then-"

"Are you expecting us to have sex?" The question sliced through the air, causing Ophelia to spin around to face him, her expression a mixture of confusion and surprise. "I beg your pardon?" Taking a deep breath, Tysess turned to squarely meet her gaze, his eyes piercing. In that moment, Ophelia felt as if she were staring not at her boyfriend, but at her stern commanding officer. "Do you expect us to participate in sexual activities?"

His tone was matter-of-fact, professional, reminiscent of a Vulcan's demeanor, leaving Ophelia unsure how to react. "What ... what makes you think that?"

"It’s irrelevant." Ophelia, caught off guard by the abrupt question and the sudden shift in his demeanor, found herself fumbling with her words and her arms. "I... no idea. Maybe I do? I don't know how-"

"Do you think our relationship will fail should we not be able to be sexually intimate with each other?" The question hung heavy in the air, leaving Ophelia speechless as she gaped at him, her silence seemingly confirming something to Tysess. With a palpable sense of disappointment, he turned away, his expression etched with resignation."I knew it."

"Woah, give me a break," Ophelia interjected, running her hands over her face in bewilderment. "No one's breaking up with anyone here, alright? Just take a breath, Tysess. I'm struggling to keep up here."

"It was a simple question,“ Tysess countered.

" That came out of nowhere," she argued, reaching for his arm. "Please, Tysess, where the hell do you come up with this now? And why does it seem so important? We are not even at that step yet."

"And perhaps we never will be," Tysess wheeled around and stared down at her. With any other person, she would have flinched, maybe even taken a few steps back, but not with him. Not with her Tysess. All she saw in his eyes was fear, exhaustion and frustration.

"Mi amor," she murmured and tentatively tugging on his hand to pull him onto the sofa next to her. "Breathe in and out and start again. Please, I can't follow you."

Tysess sat down on the sofa and ran her fingers wildly through her hair so that the white strands were sticking out in all directions. Under other circumstances, it would have looked pretty cute.

"I... I'm not able to feel these things, to give you these things. These... sexual urges," he spat out the words in disgust, "are beyond my understanding. I... I don't know what exactly is broken with me, but I... I just can't. I'm... I'm sorry, my love, please forgive me." Ashamed, he buried his face in his hands, and to her shock, she realized his shoulders were shaking with sobs after a few moments.

"Hey, hey, Tysess, mi amor," she said softly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and drawing closer to him. "That's no reason to cry. And certainly no reason to leave you. What makes you think that?" He mumbled something she didn't understand and when she asked him to repeat himself, he just spat out a "Nada". Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and an uneasy, foreboding feeling spread through her stomach. "Lieutenant Nada? What's he got to do with it?"

 "We were talking, please don't ask me how it came about, I don't know myself, and he asked me if we were both ... one step closer. He was drunk, which is probably why he dared to do it in the first place. When I said no, he said..." Tysess's voice broke off, but Ophelia didn't let up and urged her to keep talking in a stern voice. "He said that if I wasn't able to satisfy your ... needs, you'd find me inadequate and seek someone else."

"Oh that motherfucker!" Ophelia shot up from her seat, her anger boiling within her like a cauldron. "I'm going to kill him!" The mere thought of the Cardassian planting such poisonous ideas in Tysess's mind made her blood boil. How dare he meddle in their relationship? How dare he speak about it in such a disrespectful manner? He had absolutely no right to interfere.

As she made her determined stride toward the door, a firm grip seized her wrist, halting her in her tracks. Still seething with fury, she spun around to find Tysess, still seated, his expression a mix of confusion and exhaustion.

"Let go of me! That bastard has no right to talk to you like that! Who does he think I am anyway? A fucking broodmare?!“  "Ophelia..." Tysess attempted to interject, but she cut him off. "No!" Kneeling down next to him on the sofa, ensuring they were at eye level, she gently took his face in her hands, forcing him to meet er gaze.

"He has no right to talk like that! Absolutely no right! Especially because he couldn't be more wrong, mi amor." She gently ran her thumb over his prominent cheekbones, watching as a glimmer of reassurance returned to Tysess's eyes.

"You don't think I..."

 "Tysess," she murmured, feeling like her heart was breaking into a thousand tiny splinters. He didn't deserve to be put to the test over and over again, to doubt himself until it drove him to ruin. He might be grumpy and his aura was usually not really inviting, but she knew the man beneath that layer.

A man who was kind and loving and possessed a heart of gold that had been broken and betrayed far too often.

She gently stroked a few white strands from his face, her fingers brushing against his courtship ring. "I'm not interested in such things." Her fingers lovingly caressed his cheek until he closed his eyes and surrendered to the feeling. Ophelia felt him slowly relax beneath her.

"I don't need anything like that. Then we won't have sex, who cares? If you can't feel sexual feelings, mi amor, I'm hardly going to force you to. Do I really seem like someone who judges you for the way you are?" Tysess opened his eyes slowly, ashamed, and shook his head

"Ah, ah, ah!" She tapped him lightly on the chin. "Let's not even start with that. Blaming ourselves accomplishes nothing. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault for anything here because it's a normal thing. There are a lot of people who don't feel sexual feelings. My best friend at school wasn't just asexual, she was also aromantic and it never posed any issue. The only person to blame for anything is Lieutenant Nada."

Tysess frowned and his eyes darted back and forth, as if he was looking for an answer to a question he didn't yet know himself.

"But..." he hesitated and his gaze dropped. Ophelia placed her fingers under his chin and lifted his head, an encouraging smile on her lips. "Yes?"

 "What if you want to have children later?" This question surprised her almost more than his question about sex, and somewhat taken aback, she dropped onto her bum. Meanwhile, Tysess's cheeks turned a delightful shade of lilac. "I know, I know, it's way too soon, but... it's still something to consider." His tone seemed firm and now it was he who looked her firmly in the eye.

"Ophelia, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the situation is that we're both ready to take this relationship a step further." She nodded tentatively, indicating for him to continue talking. "

We've been together for over a year and a half, been through quite a bit and made it through and both decided that living together permanently is something desirable." He took her hand and squeezed it gently before beginning to draw patterns on the back of her hand with his finger.

"I don't want to put pressure on you, nothing is further from my mind than that. However, it is something to keep in mind. Especially now that we're both ready to enter into a more committed, serious relationship."

Ophelia mulled over his words for a moment before offering a nod of agreement. As always, he wasn't wrong. "I understand you, Tysess. Your concern is valid, though it's unnecessary. Even if you were able to feel sexual feelings, that wouldn't guarantee children. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be against children, but we have to keep in mind, mi amor: We are not the same species. Andorian and human physiology differ significantly, if memory serves from my Academy biology classes. The chances of our species producing offspring... well, they're virtually non-existent."

She pressed her forehead against his. "I love you, Tysess. That's something that can't be changed. Whether you're asexual or not, whether children are possible or not —it doesn't matter to me. All I want is to be with you, right here, right now. It's okay to think about the future, it's even necessary. But please don't let it spoil the present, mi amor." A tranquil silence settled between them, not uncomfortable, but rather a moment in which everyone could sort out their thoughts.

"All right." Ophelia smiled and leaned in to give him a brief, tender kiss. Tysess smiled narrowly and, in an unguarded moment on her part, he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"By the way," he murmured, "didn't you mention speaking to the Admiral about our quarters arrangements?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@akamitrani

@bigblissandlove1

@indignantlemur

[vexingvorta]

I present you with this ten minute doodle of a baby andorian i made last night

I will do a better one later maybe. i just needed to put this down on paper, ignore my chickenscratch writing

[clementine-kesh]

It's such a struggle to be a Phlox fucker, I'm not even kidding. It's not the lack of hot Phlox appreciation or the other people thinking it's a bit or even the hypocrisy of Quark and Garak being treated as sex symbols (I mean yes they're hot too but you know what I mean) while Phlox is just treated as some funny guy. All of that sucks but it's not what's hardest for me. No, it's the shipping.

I have been trying really hard to find someone to consistently pair him up with in my mind - I have already given up on finding a ship there's actually considerable content for, if you go to Phlox' ao3 tag and go to filter by relationship literally none of the options even involve him which is fucked up if you ask me - but there's always some kind of snag.

(Note from future me when I was finishing writing the rest of this message: I don't touch on every possibility, only ones I think could evolve into any kind of relationship rather than a quick one off shag (thinking of Trip here) so there's not even that many but I wrote way too much, especially on candidate #3)

The first I saw suggested was Archer which, fair enough I guess, but at that point I had not yet met Shran or knew about Shrancher and now that I do it's not like I stopped with the Phlox x Archer but it's just no longer a priority. And yes, you can totally make Archer having two alien boyfriends work, especially since both Denobulans and Andorians are poly by default, but while I haven't seen Shran and Phlox interact yet (and thus could be totally off) I just don't feel like they'd vibe enough to even hang out casually tbh. Again, I do still ship this but pretty low key.

The next option I wanna talk about is T'Pol and I think that at least initially, she's the most "realistic" option and if the show had been twice as long they probably would've been at least teased at some point (in part ofc since it was the 00s and so heterosexuality was the only option but y'know) and the whole "only two non-human crew members" thing adds something that vibes with me, too, but there's just no way you could ever make them work in the long run because Vulcans are just PAINFULLY monogamous and I simply don't think she's willing to break with that. Phlox would off-handedly mention one of his wives and T'Pol would be absolutely seething. This is not a long term ship.

Then possibly my favourite so far is Tobin Dax. Technically it's only beta canon that Tobin was around during Ent (in the alpha timeline Lela died in 2226 (thus presumably when Tobin was joined) which is over 60 years after the end of Ent and there's no alpha info on what he was doing before but in the beta timeline Tobin was definitely already joined by the 2160s and probably quite a bit before) so unless you wanna go with unjoined Tobin (whom we have zero alpha info and as far as I can tell little to no beta info on) you gotta go beta timeline which I know so little about that it's hard for me to daydream about. But at least Phlox and Tobin are said to have met in beta canon tho I don't know if there's scenes of their interactions. I can probably forget about any non me made content too since beta Tobin is already "commonly" (considering it's all beta) shipped with Iloja of Prim who, fun fact, is actually given as Jadzia's favourite Cardassian writer in alpha canon. Anyway, point is I just don't know enough about (beta) Tobin or beta canon in general to generate anything here.

(And I would consider other Dax hosts as well but unless you count the (alpha timeline) three years between Lela's joining and Ent ending there's not much opportunity for this without time travel. I should mention two things here, one: I don't think Lela is one of the Daxes that I'd ship with Phlox and two: I am not strictly opposed to time travel for the sole purpose of PhloxDax and I can defo imagine him with Jadzia, Curzon, maybe Torias and possibly Emony, but it's an extra level of complication that I frankly can't be bothered with if I'm the only one doing it.)

(Also, just for completeness' sake: in the beta timeline we know Phlox was alive at least until the 2260s which would put him parallel with Dax until at least Audrid tho it's very feasible he made it until after her death in 2284, the two subsequent hosts (who as you know didn't make it long) and Curzon's 2285 (again, beta timeline, it's '86 in alpha) joining. There's different lifespans given for Denobulans (about 300y in beta tho, according to memory beta) but even by the shortest I found (which said 170 to 280) it's very much possible since Phlox was born in the 2080s (beta)/generally sometime late 21st century (alpha). But that's just additional info.)

In summary, I may have to read Uncertain Logic (last Rise of the Federation novel to feature Tobin and the one that, based on my research, is most likely to show him interact with Phlox) but it would be difficult as I can no longer read long texts after getting off my ADD meds (which mess with my antidepressants) and thus literally haven't finished even half of a book in about a decade. As I said, the struggle is real. I swear to you I don't set out with the intention of writing a dissertation in your askbox each time, it just happens. I'm sorry.

Oh, also, if you have more suggestions (or better yet: content) for Phlox ships I'd be very eager to listen! Thank you so much for your time!

-Levi

i respect the grindset so much more people should be phloxfuckers tbh. he’s got that jovial mad scientist vibe and is in an open marriage with his three wives like?? the best phlox ship i have for you is ages ago i made a post that included a joke about neelix using a temporal anomaly to moonlight as the chef on the nx-01 and beginning a torrid love affair with phlox which i still stand by. it happened to me. also i know next to nothing about beta canon but conceptually the idea of pairing phlox with one of the dax hosts is very fun