#oh I wish that I had TUVOK'S GIRL!!!!!!!

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok is a friend. Yeah, I know he’s been a good friend of mine...

[catgirljaneway]

For the character ask game: Kes + 1, 12, 20

Thank you so much for the ask!! (Ask game in question)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Ok! So I'm a huge Kes fan, and I was initially drawn to her because she's got this little aura of joy, and you can't help but love her, which you can see in other character's interactions with her on the show. Any room she walks into instantly gets a little brighter and she's just so fundamentally kind and gentle and full of love.

So that's what initially drew me to her, but what hooked me, was that fact that the longer you watch, the more we learn about her, the more deeply strange she gets. We've got that fantastic scene in elogium where she eats all those fucking bugs with that deranged expression, and of course, my all time favorite, this one scene where the doctor tells Kes he has some autopsy reports for her to read because he knows she loves autopsies. This by the way, is NEVER brought up again which I think is a terrible loss, because what thing to say about a character and then never mention! What a fact!

So you've got this little elfish looking girl, who's still fundamentally kind and gentle, but now we also know "oh she's a bit of a freak!" and she's wicked smart, and then she learn, oh, she's got these terrifying powers at her core and actually she might not be as fundamentally gentle as we (the audience) or kes herself thought. And now Kes has to grapple with this, and she's still a deeply good and loving person at heart, but now she has to try a little harder to suppress these urges and that makes her fundamentally more interesting.

Also her relationships with Janeway and Tuvok and The Doctor all bring me so much joy. Janeway's love for her, and the way she smiles when Kes is around, the way she hugs her when she leaves just!! Rip me to pieces. And Tuvok's mentorship and quiet protection of her?? And that scene when the Doctor holds her in Twisted. Kes has 3 parents, and honestly all three of them think they're taking care of her, but they need her more than she needs them.

And what's kept me loving her, is in a way her missed potential. So much about Kes wasn't explored, so much was left unanswered, and getting to rotate her around in my head and think about all the things she could have been is so fun. I deeply wish she had been used more, because on paper she's such a fascinating, deeply weird character. And she was just starting to come into her own when we leave her. She's broken up with Neelix, she's making her own choices, and I want to imagine where that would have gone. (I have further thoughts on this, but this is already ridiculously long, so I will continue this in a different post)

Long story short, she's a lovable little weird girl, and I like weird little girls. She'd crawl around on all fours and make up weird stories at recess in fourth grade and I like that about her.

Also she reminds me of the "a little guy!" > "oh they're actually fucked up" meme.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Well I LOVE the art where people make her look a little more bug like. With weird pupils and antennae and such. I love that, I definitely headcanon her looking a bit creepier like that.

I also headcanon her as a lesbian. Her whole relationship with Neelix baffles me. I honestly LOVE them as friends, they're so great when they're just silly best friends, but I cannot stand them as a couple. She's a gay girlie.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

SEVEN!! Seven!!! GAH! The missed potential! Pretty much a weirdgirls club with Seven, B'elanna, and Kes. Kes would have been the perfect person to help Seven reintegrate into society, because she's patient and kind, and she'd get a huge kick out of Seven's deadpan humor. I mean, the EMH is her best friend, she's very good at dealing with people who others consider hard to get along with.

Kes wouldn't make Seven feel bad about the way she is, or try to pressure her to conform to what she wants from Seven. She'd take her how she was and love her for her whole being, not for what she could be. Also Seven would be Kes's scary dog ❤️ Because people meet Kes and think she's an easy target or a pushover (even though she could probably obliterate anyone if she so felt like it) but then Seven is standing behind her looking menacing and they hurry away as quick as they can, completely unaware they were scared of the wrong blonde.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. last night we watched voy's "scorpion part i" and "the gift." I HAVE FINALLY MET SEVEN OF NINE

scorpion part ii:

ABSOLUTELY loved this one. idk why i was so surprised when seven turned out to be their borg liaison like i had no idea how they encountered her...i guess i was picturing them picking her up like a lost puppy because of hugh in tng

seven hot it must be said. we haven't gotten into the meat of it yet but i do like her. i was a little worried that after all this i wouldn't!

janeway dealing with the borg was sooo fun. literally her no-nonsense take-no-shit mode

i loved also that chakotay was the one to essentially borg meld with seven since he'd had the prior experience...mwah. give him a little borg trauma as a treat

i also really enjoyed janeway and chakotay realizing that seven was right - their fighting and going against each other is why they were losing. what if our future third reminded us that we needed to renew our wedding vows and we were both lost in space?

ESPECIALLY BECAUSE. like on what could have been her deathbed while she was slurring her words she made chakotay promise to do the thing. and immediately he decided to do the opposite even though it broke his heart. like SO TRUE they needed the reminder mom and dad were literally fighting

i have mixed feelings about janeway sort of forcing the detransition from borg onto seven. like yeah no human person wants to be borg especially not the little girl she was when she was assimilated but it's very hard to hear and ignore her wishes NOW when she's stating them so clearly, and when she's so obviously suffering. like i don't think she could have done any different or that i would have done any different but whew! rough

i also think chakotay was SICK with jealousy that tuvok got to go into the cube with janeway and he had to stay out on voyager. i bet tuvcok was so smug about it. idk why but it brings me so much joy to imagine them hating each other and as an extent maybe also fighting over janeway's affection, be it platonic or not

also, i can't remember if this was in this episode or the next one but the bit where seven was in her cell fucking SCREAMING na janeway was behind her grabbing her...sincerely hoping the dyke energy only gets better from here cuz that was gay as hell

the gift:

rip kes...i'll miss you

ik kes left bc they were having difficulties with the actress, but it still sucks that her exit was so dumb. like oh no her powers are going out of control and even though we fixed it every other time this time we can't! anyway bye!

i do appreciate the actresses crying for what felt like...you know, for real, during the goodbye. i almost welled up with them. and ten years closer to home!!! that's 13 years down, 57 to go...

kes is such a rare person in the voyager cast because she has so many connections. she's good friends with tom, she's gort tuvok and the emh as her mentors, janeway as like her fake mom, neelix as her romantic interest...she's connected to so many people. if you name anybody from the rest of the cast you'd get 2-3 connections at most. so it's sad to see her go

and like i hated neelix when he was with kes but their goodbye conversation was so lame. i still can't believe that's all we ever got about their breakup. fucking crazy

on the other hand, seven in this episode was so good, especially with like, b'elanna - her disdain and her sarcasm are useless against b'elanna who can dish it back out just as well and does not give one shit about seven's deal so long as she gets the ship working again. also? lots of women on screen during that scene. let's lez out.

and seven at the end remembering her favorite color :( i was surprised she relented in her willingness to be aboard so quickly - but it just shows that janeway genuinely did get through to her somehow. WOMEN!!!

TONIGHT: ds9's "a time to stand" and "rocks and shoals"

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep18: Darkling

Oh no, it's this one. I'm just gonna say it, this one is straight up bad. Whoever thought: gee, let's do Jekyll and Hyde meets Lolita, starring the Doctor and Kes! What the actual hell???

We could have had a nice episode about Kes gaining more independence and having a nice little romance, that wasn't about the Doctor, or any male character, having a creepy Humbert Humbert-like obsession with her, but no. We just can't have nice things, I guess, because the entire Voyager writers room apparently had a creepy obsession with Kes. Just leave her alone, jfc!!!

It starts out normal enough- they're on another planet with a pretty matte painting, and a cool rustic bar set, and Kes is actually part of the away mission, working on transporting medical supplies with a hot young alien guy, and they clearly like each other. Kes and Neelix apparently broke up offscreen at some point before this, which is a majorly big plot point to have happen off screen! What the hell?! During the break up on the holodeck in 'Warlord', Kes was possessed, so that wasn't really her breaking up with him- the actual break up had to have happened later, when she was herself again. Ending that relationship is a huge deal for both them, and it's total cheat to not even show it, since how they handled that would be a big defining moment for both their characters. It's just plain lazy writing! Show us the breakup, you cowards!!!

But anyway, Kes is no longer wearing her little girlish jumper dresses- she's in a velour catsuit, to show us she's grown up now. It is at least cuter than said jumper dresses, and at least it doesn't include a corset and boob padding, but still, I kind of wish they'd have given her something more like the longer, looser dress she wore for a scene when she was possessed by the warlord. It felt a little much to have her clothes go from infantilized to sexualized in one go. The alien pilot Kes has been working with, Zahir, seems to like it though, and he and Kes get very close, to the point that they're staying out till 3am kissing, and that he asks her to come with him on his ship when he leaves. Kes considers it seriously, and talks it over with the Captain, who's supportive of whatever she decides. She gets nothing but crap about it from the Doctor though.

The Doctor's attitude toward Kes's relationship with her new alien boyfriend is so jealous and judgemental, even before he puts in his new personality subroutines. He basically slut shames her for liking Zahir, and tells her she needs to take a cold shower. He also guilts her for spending time with Zahir instead of him, implying that she should have been helping the Doctor with his little side project of trying to add new personality subroutines to his program, even though that's not in any way part of her job. He patronizes her with the 'I'm just looking out for you' tack, but he's clearly being very selfish and manipulative in how he's treating her. Thankfully, Kes stands up for herself, and tells him that she's a grown up, and that her relationships aren't anyone's business but hers (you go girl!!) and that she's still capable of doing her job.

Even though the Doctor is supposed to be the Dr. Jekyll version in this story, his behavior toward Kes is already messed up and icky before his Mr. Hyde counterpart even shows up. Especially comparing it to Janeway and Tuvok, who also have a protective, parental relationship with Kes, the difference is clear- they're interested in Kes's wellbeing, but that includes respecting her choices and realizing they have to let go and let her make her own decisions, even if it means leaving them. The Doctor does not, and I feel like the whole plot of accidentally adding evil subroutines to his program is just a cover to make the regular Doctor's behavior seem not so bad by comparison. (It' s still bad, though.)

The Doctor's new subroutines make him act truly heinous to B'Elanna when she comes in with a food allergy, and she's rightfully pissed that he's been messing with his program without even consulting her. She's incredibly lenient with him, and says she'll come back to fix his program when she gets done in engineering later. (Tbh I think B'Elanna should and would have given him a lecture and fixed it right then and there- having the only Doctor on board sexually harassing patients is a 100% unacceptable situation, for any length of time, and no woman would be like 'that's fine for a few hours!' Like, honestly, what the hell?!)

So, of course, in that time, the evil subroutines take hold, and the Doctor literally transforms into Mr. Hyde- his eyes suddenly have dark contacts (of evil), messed up hair (of evil), he holds his jaw in an underbite (of evil), and speaks low and hoarsely (in the voice of evil). There's a lot of teeth nashing and growling and handwringing, and it's very, very over the top. Maybe the director told him to act it that way, but it's just plain bad. He goes on a rampage (of evil) and pushes Kes's boyfriend over a cliff (he's okay though!), and attacks B'Elanna. He knocks her out and paralyzes her with hyposprays, and threatens to torture her if she doesn't help him get rid of the Doctor's original personality, which she tells him is impossible, and refuses to help, even if she could. (The Doctor's terrible overacting is the only thing that keeps the scene from being even more disturbing than it already is, why is it even here?? Why did we need that?? A scene like that with an actual villainous character is one thing, since it reveals some kind of character info, but with a character who's one of our heroes?!? It's just gross, and very much undermines the trust and affection the audience has built up for him, regardless of the excuse. It just feels weird and violence fetishy, honestly.)

When B'Elanna won't help him, the Doctor decides to go to the holodeck to ask his little holo characters he based his new subroutines on for help, because that makes sense! (It does not.) We get a scene of him stalking through the halls looking hunched over and underbite-y, and clearly evil, with none of the passing crewmembers noticing anything amiss. (Really??) We get yet another needlessly creepy scene of him following an unsuspecting ensign into a turbolift, eyeing her with evil intent, and I found myself wondering why all the crewmembers he's turned on so far have to be women. Then Tom enters the turbolift, and the Doctor backs off from whatever evil plan he had, and turns away from Tom, deflecting as Tom chats to him, and we get the picture that yes, indeed, the Doctor's evil plans seem to be reserved for women, and only include men who come between him and a woman he desires. Holy misogyny Batman!!! Major yikes!!! Why would they write that?! Why would they do that to his character?! Idek.

So Kes comes to see the Doctor, and the computer tells her he's on the holodeck. When she gets there, she finds all of his historical figure characters glitching, having been tampered with by the Doctor, which, for some reason, she finds super scary- she looks like she's going to puke, but it's not even that scary?? They're just holo characters, and he didn't program them to look like they've been killed like real people, they're just like, reapeating motions over and over- why is that so disturbing?? It's not even half as bad as what he did to B'Elanna, idk why this is supposed to horrify us after that.

The Doctor kidnaps Kes, and takes her to the planet, where he's trying to get a ship to take her away. He spouts a lot of edgelord crap about how evil is the most essential thing in the universe, but Kes tries to reason with him, and explain that nothing could work without kindness and cooperation. Evil!Doctor is pretty easily confused by Kes's argument, but he gets angry again when the guy he was gonna get the shuttle from tells him that Voyager realized what he'd done, and is blocking ships from leaving the planet. He takes Kes out to the cliffside, where the Voyager crew track them down. Kes makes an impassioned appeal to the Doctor, telling him all his craziness has really been an attempt to protect her (still yikes!!!) and so he really must still be good at heart. Evil!Doctor realizes he has no way out, with everyone on his tail, so he jumps off the cliff with Kes, in classic 'if I can't have you, no one will!' fashion. Luckily, Voyager manages to beam them up mid-fall, and the Doctor's evil subroutines somehow magically disappear when he rematerializes on Voyager! (WHAT?!?!?)

In the last scene, B'Elanna says she's erased all traces of his evil version, and once again, she lets him off way too easily. She should and would have ordered him to ask her before messing with his program in the future, and he should have apologized to her, and assured her he would never do it again, since doing so literally just caused him to try to kill several people, including her! But all we get is a cutesy little scene where B'Elanna and Kes both just let him off the hook with barely more than a finger wag- in fact, he ends up being rewarded for his bad behavior with the outcome he wanted: Kes staying with him. He recites the Hippocratic Oath, as if to reassure us he's really good, but it feels like a weird tacked on ending for an episode that wanted to play with being dark and edgy, without actually taking responsibility for it. Either the bad Doctor was entirely a separate entity from the real Doctor, so there was no character revealing element to this useless episode, or the evil was coming from his real personality, which is even more disturbing, because it's saying that he actually is a terrible person underneath.

There was absolutely no good outcome for this storyline, and it totally streamrolled Kes's story to boot. All the build up of her romance, and her questioning if she should go with him, was waved away at the end, where she just says, yeah, I'm gonna stay here with my friends where it's safe! Despite the fact that one of her so-called friends just treated her like crap, and then tried to kill her! What?! I actually think the idea they had earlier, of her going on a short mission with him and then coming back to Voyager again before they got too far away, was actually a good idea, and it would have been more interesting if she'd done that, since they seemed to have a connection, and Kes loves to explore, and she's already lived a third of her life on Voyager by now. But no, she doesn't even get a scene to say goodbye to this guy, because clearly, her growing and maturing and forming new relationships is so much less important than a story about a middle aged white man being a possessive jerk. Arg!!!

Tl;dr: A poorly thought out story that ignored Kes's development in favor of making the Doctor a creepy asshole, for no reason. Probably the episode that finally made me really dislike the Doctor. Not a successful effort.

[coffeeblack75]

Holding Course by @amoderngirl​

A Star Trek Voyager fic. This week, the @voyager-book-club​ brings you to a lake, an evening, a bottle of spirits, and the kind of conversation between Janeway and Chakotay that we can only wish they’d given us on the show. So sit back, make yourself comfortable, and dig into some enormously satisfying feels!  

Brought to you by Strokin’, a weekly fic rec where the Voyager Bookclub community celebrates a writer so they can drown in sweet, sweet love, affection and ego strokin’. Because they deserve it.

—— 

Some comments from @voyager-book-club​ ​ members for @amoderngirl​:

@carter-sg-1​

“I need to tell you how much this fic ‘hits all the right spots’. Both of them are so beautifully in Character. You nearly effortlessly convey the intricacies, the depth of their ‘dance’. The give and take, the yearning that makes them so much more than just 2D characters in a ‘girl yearns for a boy she can’t have just because’ scenario.”

@coffeeblack75​

“I would like to comment on is the amazing handle you have on ship’s business ... It’s never an afterthought but woven throughout. It lends this incredibly realistic feel and really anchors your stories to the show ... it also really gets across the fact that, of course, this is what KJ and Chakotay – and the others – live ... Your understanding of these two – of people in general I think – and the way relationships work and play out – is very well developed ... And of course, he and KJ both are just thoroughly in character ... I think your passion for writing and attention to the craft of writing shine through in this story.”

@traccigaryn​

“I love the way you weave their roles and duties in with each other, even when a shoreleave and a party are happening: faithful Tuvok on the ship, Chakotay taking care of everyone, and KJ actually taking a night off for once. Then, of course, you give them — and us — a chance to see what Chakotay and Kathryn might be together if only everything didn’t stand in their way. The way you trade those roles and expectations back and forth between them — Janeway swearing and wanting to put down roots, Chakotay saying his expected lines — is so skillfully done, and a delightful play on how it usually goes.”

BlackVelvet

"What a happy fic this was! The opening image alone was so lovely. The whole crew on shore leave together, no alien species to deal with, just an opportunity to relax and enjoy. Love that Tuvok and Chakotay insisted KJ take some time off, she would have been stubborn, lol, but wouldn’t fight both of them. I have a not-so-secret thing for a drunk KJ, especially a drunk & swearing KJ so this was quite the treat. Besides, KJ is so happy is this and i always love reading her happy ... This was wonderful. I can’t believe it’s one of your first stories!"

@servalan​

“Oh I love this story. If we had gotten this scene around season 4 I would have been content with them continuing as was, not getting together but with the acknowledgment that something was there, that it was real. ... I love the second to the last paragraph where she waits for him to digest the information and then when he looks up at her she smiles sweetly back but is slightly sad. You NAILED it. It just sums up everything about their relationship in one quick moment.”

[mia-cooper]

Aight. I’ll ask the obvious. Kathryn Janeway. And the bonus character is... Tuvok.

Kathryn Janeway (also requested by @rikerssexblouse)

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How I feel about Kathryn:

My queen, I pledge thee my undying devotion and beg your forgiveness for indulging in a multitude of sordid sexual fantasies about you and then writing about them in detail.

All the people I ship romantically with Kathryn:

How long have you got? My motto is "Janeway x anyone who can get her off", so basically everyone, but I'll focus on my main ships. Buckle in, this could be lengthy.

1. Chakotay. Obvious. Married. Dessert. J/C comprises 84% of my fics. Enough said.

2. Tom Paris. It's just a little bit wrong and that's what makes it so right. They definitely fucked at some point, and I don't mean in salamander form.

3. Kashyk. Because sometimes a girl fancies a snake-hipped, leather-clad xenophobe with a fetish for dominating her.

4. B'Elanna Torres. If you're going to science the science, science it with a scientist who sciences scientifically. Also, warp cores are hot.

5. Mark Johnson. Oh, Mark. The steady, kindhearted nerd who loves her beyond reason. It could've been so beautiful.

6. Ayala. He's Chakotay without the complications, and he doesn't talk. What's not to like?

7. Justin Tighe. First love always cuts deepest, right? And what a noble, tragic figure this man is. This relationship just begs for exploration, and yes, I plan to.

8. Seven of Nine. It took me awhile to come around to this pairing, but I'm convinced. I don't see them having a lasting romantic relationship, but a fling with feels? Yes ma'am.

9. Owen Paris. Obscene, dirty, filthy, immoral. You rang?

10. Honourable mention goes to a tie between Gabriel Lorca (either version) and Christopher Pike, because you know our lady of the temporal headache would have tapped that given the chance.

Because one is never enough, let's talk about my favourite OT3s for Kathryn.

11a. Janeway x Chakotay x Paris. Oh, the uneasy sexual dynamics here. The mix of love/lust/jealousy/antipathy/competitiveness - who's the top? do they all switch? why aren't there more J/C/P fics?

11b. Janeway x Chakotay x Seven. Hell yes, I need more of this too. Are J/C teaming up to initiate 7 in the arts of the bedchamber? Is J a semi-willing intruder into the C/7 marriage bed? Have J/7 invited C to watch them and perchance to join in? I want all these scenarios and more.

My BroTP for Kathryn:

Tuvok, no contest. I love them. But B'Elanna comes in a close second.

My unpopular opinion about Kathryn:

She can't resist temptation... until she meets Chakotay. By which I mean Alpha quadrant Kathryn liked to fuck around because sex is fun and she's all about exploring, and I have various headcanons on how cool Mark was (or wasn't) with this. Delta quadrant Kathryn, though, can't risk it, at least not with Chakotay, because feelings are dangerous and also she doesn't think she deserves fun anymore. I could seriously go on about this for hours but it would probably turn into a treatise on how going from a varied and enthusiastic sex life to complete celibacy messes with her mind so much she almost loses it or possibly how she ties pain and self-denial and submission and control up in a lovely guilt cocktail but I'm pretty sure I've already done that a whole lot so I'll spare you.

One thing I wish had happened with Kathryn in canon:

A J/C KISS. Fuck's sake. I wouldn't even care if it turned out to be a temporal anomaly or an alternate universe or memory loss or alien possession or whateverthefuck. JUST LET THEM KISS.

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Tuvok

How I feel about Tuvok:

Ah yes, the salty grandpa with a soft heart for his captaindaughterbuddy and eyebrows that express the emotions he claims not to have. I love him and his stoicism and his sarcasm and his bluntness.

All the people I ship romantically with Tuvok:

T'Pel. That's it. They're perfection. Don't fuck with it.

My BroTP for Tuvok:

See above re: Janeway & Tuvok.

My unpopular opinion about Tuvok:

I think he secretly enjoyed Neelix's buffoonery. To a point, anyway. When he wasn't mind melding with serial killers and simulating various creative ways to murder the kitchen rat.

One thing I wish had happened with Tuvok in canon:

Can I switch this to one thing I wish hadn't happened? Because Kes kissing him should never have happened. I know she was possessed, but that was a thing I never needed to see.

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Thanks, @tri42! I’ll get to more of these later.