Tuvok is no doubt the best off amongst the main crew when it comes to his life post-Voyager. His wife and children are still there, he won’t have any personally complicated feelings to sort out about Starfleet (other than its treatment of the Maquis he served with and Seven of Nine but again he seems to be very loyal to Starfleet as a baseline and generally willing to give them the benefit of the doubt) and he’s got that Vulcan emotional control.
However, I do wonder what being seen as the one who’s got it all together would have on him. I can easily imagine other members of Voyager’s crew casually asserting that Tuvok is doing well, better, the best compared to all of them. He’s got nothing to complain about, does he? Now that his illness has been cured.
I can imagine this was also the case on Voyager. Tuvok’s gonna be fine in the end, he’s Vulcan and he never seems to be affected by all the weird and disturbing shit that happens to us. Tuvok himself likely adds to this perception of himself because I imagine it’s easier to lean into the idea that you’re above any potential damage you might’ve sustained when there’s so much of it. If you assert hard enough that you’re fine, you’re mature, you’re Vulcan, and everyone around you seems to affirm that then maybe you don’t have to work through everything. Especially when there’s so much, more than you’ve ever experienced in your life, and time is so limited.
Vulcans have very volatile emotions and have to process them carefully in order to function. I can’t imagine that Voyager, the horrorship with ten disasters a day, (all of which concern you as its inhabitant and security officer) is conducive to being able to completely internalize and accept your emotions especially when you’ve just lost essentially your entire support network (immediately after being undercover) and are surrounded by aliens who you’re not allowed (culturally and also because you’re sort of stubborn and reclusive) to be fully honest with and lean on for that support. (It would be a weakness, you might think. Not for them, they’re humans but you are not human. You can handle things on your own.) It’s just you and you alone really. No one to turn to, no one who you think might understand and help you the (Vulcan) way you need.
But also again I don’t think Tuvok would dwell on this much on Voyager because there’s nothing he can change about it so it’d be illogical and very unhelpful. Also because the idea that he’s unaffected is ‘good’ for him (better than the alternative which wounds his self-image and also to an extent ship morale <- latter is somewhat of an excuse, in his nightmares he can hear people gossiping that even the Vulcan’s losing it.) and his general personality is one that is obviously prideful to the point of others calling him arrogant or holier-than-thou. Tuvok would definitely take being seen as unfaltering and unflappable (undamaged) to anything else. Anything less. He can do a bit of unintentional self-mythologizing as a treat instead of therapy. It would help him feel like he’s still himself, still Vulcan, still whole.
However, when he’s back in the alpha quadrant and amongst other Vulcans, people who are allowed to and do know him intimately (or even strangers who are just the same species as him and thus are not encumbered by preconceived alien notions of Vulcans) I bet this facade of being unaffected by everything would come crumbling down fairly quickly.
19 notes
·
View notes
I asked you bc you always seem to know what's up :)
"Why would you ask me??? Fin would give you a better answer" *Proceeds to give the exact page number and context for the scene*
Hearing about all this stuff is making me realise Kenric is like. Lowkey Toxic. I was under the impression that he was Sweet Innocent UwU bean Councillor but everyday that passes and the more that I learn it's actually sounding like Bronte is the sweet innocent UwU bean. Oralie is in a league of her own
-Heathen
grumble grumble I GUESS you have a point. I walked into that one, i'm just too knowledgeable and helpful for my own good and also really really cute on top of all that
I'm not the most councillor oriented person, so I don't have very intimate familiarity with Kenric, but I'd say he's less a toxic person and more a human one. We meet him through Sophie's young eyes, and Kenric treats her like she's her age; he understands there's more going on, but he also remembers she's young. And so we learn a version of him that isn't completely true. Because with kids you're indulgent, you're animated, you're putting on the nicest, most comforting persona you have (obviously not applicable to every single situation in the world).
And then he dies, and Sophie gets older, and she sees memories of him that don't have that child filter. Memories between adults, and we see that he has more to him, and nuance, and complications, and imperfections. He has secrets, sometimes does things for selfish reasons, and is doing way more than he ever let on when he was alive. He has complicated relationships he can't fulfill, and he makes mistakes, and tries to make it up, but most of all is trying.
That's a very brief overview, but I'd personally hesitate to call Kenric toxic. I think he was a person with an invisible burden on his shoulders, and that's becoming more and more obvious the more we learn, especially contrasted with the idealized memory of him. But those are just my thoughts!
18 notes
·
View notes
you know what it makes perfect sense that raymond is not as fucked up as he should be
like yea life sucks and you work like 12 hour days and you have no one and nobody, yea you're getting old and have spent your life committing atrocities against your will, keeping secrets you wish you never had, sure no one likes you, and yea the addiction/family trauma/demons pretty much run your life
but you live near the ocean and can see her whenever you want literally just a fucking. 5 minute drive. maybe not even!!!!! Like you know what??? I'd be willing and ready to forgive people and rationalize their stupid-ass decisions too if I could just. Sit on the beach afterwards.
2 notes
·
View notes