Have you given your thoughts on 'Riddles' before? If not, would you care to share? It's an interesting Tuvok episode 🖖🏿 (sorry if you've already been asked this!)

Hmm...I don't think so? I'm sure I've posted here and there about it. I wrote a fic about it No need to apologize~!! I don't love the episode but I like it fine (Tuvok-centric but he's not himself which is like, EVERY Tuvok-centric episode) I do like Neelix in it though~! I wish episodes like 'Riddles' and 'Rise' actually impacted Tuvok and Neelix's relationship in future episodes but the writers never let it stick v_v Neelix was very sweet and I love the little tidbits of lore and it has some funny moments...Tuvok's disney princess wake up scene, 'Species, Starship or Anomaly' game made up by the crew, "Miss me already, Commander~?", Tuvok's favorite song being monks chanting (reminds me of my grandmother playing choir music whenever you got in the car with her), the fact that Tuvok can bake really well? <- Interesting to me. Could he ALWAYS bake and just didn't feel it was necessary or did getting hit in the head somehow make him better at baking or did he just focus on learning how to bake with his free time and got really good at it? Once again I do wish we could have seen more of Tuvok & Janeway's relationship. That moment where he doesn't want to hang out with her would have hit harder if we literally EVER. SAW THEM HANGING OUT. Or if she and Neelix had a scene where she like, talked about their friendship and we could at least imagine what they used to do together. The ending where Neelix is like "I know you won't express it the same way anymore but we'll still be friends" - AGH. Got me right in the heart! Tuvok, be nicer to him!!!! Tuvok's weird love-hate relationship with Neelix is so interesting. He like, is so consistently dismissive of him and looks down on him a lot. I love Tuvok, he is so .... -waves my hands around- Anti social??? He has VERY little interest in communicating with others in a non-professional manner and is always trying to wriggle out of parties and doesn't understand (non-Vulcan) people and doesn't care about not understanding (non-Vulcan) people. I can absolutely envision him like a cat to Neelix's friendly little mouse v_v batting him around. He does seem to feel bad (for lack of a better word) when Neelix confronts him about this in "Rise" but he's just not a very sensitive person and Neelix is a bit too exuberant for him normally. Again, with his personality it makes me wonder about his and Janeway's friendship. How do they mesh casually? It also makes me wish the writers just made them slowly start to get along better (Him & Neelix) - I really do think they'd be a hilarious team together. Like in that episode where Neelix was doing investigative journaling? He's smart and persistent and he'd do well on like, an undercover mission! They can still bicker and banter though. It's so important they still do that. The ending where Tuvok's like "I thought of another answer to your riddle" - PERFECT ending. Means that Tuvok knows what Sundaes are. Means that Tuvok was really thinking about that damn riddle - sore loser <3

I am curious about how you would see the ship of Janeway and Ayala? Potential love triangle with Chakotay!

OK, but can you imagine if Janeway and Ayala were having some kind of secret relationship the entire time? Has someone written this? Because I kind of love the idea. He’s a consistent background character, but never a focal point so it can go lots of ways.

The first thing he does is go after Tuvok for betraying the Maquis so Janeway would notice and remember him (nobody attacks her Vulcan!). He’s seen as her personal security a couple times. He’s also seen drinking coffee more than once. But he barely ever speaks, leading me to assume he’s the strong, silent, stoic type who would be able and willing to keep quiet about their relationship.

It starts as a physical thing, probably after an emergency. He’s with her during some attack – the Kazon or the Vidiians or whatever – and it goes on for hours and they are cut off from the rest of the crew so Janeway is super frustrated and leading blind and kind of in that manic Janeway Destroy mood she gets into and Ayala just follows her lead and does what she needs him to. And when they get out of it all they are both gross and exhausted and starving and Janeway says something like ‘Great job lieutenant’ and squeezes his arm and he shyly says ‘Thank you’ (he’s not used to positive reinforcement and he has a crush on her like everyone) and offers to walk her to her cabin. And she’s touched, and also very tired so her guard is down, and agrees. They don’t talk about anything important on the way, small talk – when does your next shift start, I want to sleep for days, I hope Neelix has something good for breakfast, etc. When they get there she thanks him and he says ‘Anytime’ and they linger. And Janeway is so tired and they nearly died today, again, and he’s looking at her with heart eyes and gods she wants to jump him. ‘I need a shower’ she says, because someone has to say something, they can’t stand there staring at each other, someone could appear at any moment. He laughs, because this moment is pretty ridiculous and as I’ve mentioned, they are so tired, they’re giddy. And he nods ‘Me too’ and she murmurs she has some rations saved up for a water shower and leans back and her doors swish open and they don’t make any decisions they just disappear into her quarters. They stumble around in the dark, pulling off clothes as they head towards the shower, not saying a word, not really looking at each other. The water is hot, it soothes. She scrubs his body, exploring as she goes, then offers him the soap (scented, he loves her smell, lavender and coffee and the silver musk of a starship). Ayala is amazed how small is, she’s so larger than life. He can pick her up with little effort and she lets him, invites it, it’s been too long. They don’t even get to the bed.

Janeway makes it very clear that they are not in a relationship, they cannot be in a relationship, and if he wants this to continue he has to agree to tell no one and understand that nothing has changed. He does, so he does. And it goes on for years. They are very good at hiding it. Janeway flirts with everyone so any time she flirts with Ayala it’s seen as totally benign and normal. Everyone on the ship is at least a little bit in love with Janeway so anytime Ayala is watching her with open emotions is also seen as totally benign and normal. Everyone knows there is something between her and Chakotay and assumes he’d be her first call if she decided to break her no fraternization rules. Which everyone assumes she wouldn’t.

What makes it work is that Ayala has a lot of baggage – he left his sons to join the Maquis, to do what he thought was necessary to take a stand and build a better world for them, and he ended up lost in the DQ, unable to complete that mission, and afraid he’ll never see them again. He’s not looking for the kind of stability a Chakotay wants in a relationship with Janeway, nor does he feel indebted to her the way a Paris or a Seven does. He’s attracted to her, and he wants to protect her. He doesn’t take it personally when she goes weeks without seeking him out. He gives her what she needs when she needs it and he feels great that he can do that for her, and doesn’t want more. He can’t handle more.  An outside observer (and Kathryn herself, in one of her moods) might think he’s being used but he’s happy, so what right do they have to judge it?

I can see this going on through the entire series, and is never quite a romance, though it’s not purely physical – they do things like chat over coffee, too. They are a particular kind of friends, and none of it would have happened without Voyager’s special circumstances, but they are what each other needs to get through it.

(In this scenario, it wouldn’t work as a love triangle with Chakotay, but I can see where that has potential, too, if Ayala and Janeway had a more traditional romance, and especally if Chakotay and Ayala had a fling while on the Val Jean.)

Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it and/or write a scenario/give you a series rundown of my headcanons

Not sure it this has been mentioned (and if it has link me to the post please?) Janeway X Tom Paris I can't be the only one that read some flirty UST there, at least in the beginning on Toms part.

I know you’ve found my post, so here is my series rundown.Ima start with my steadfast headcanon that Academy Kate had a crush on Owen Paris. She has Daddy Issues™ and he’s a good daddy. She definitely knows who Tom is, she definitely believes she owes something to Owen, and she definitely has sympathy for Tom because she, too, grew up with the Expectations™ of a Starfleet Legacy. All of that is before they even meet. And then he becomes her ‘personal reclamation project’. He is important to her, that’s a given. But I’m sorry, there is also an attraction. On both sides. Even just reading canon for canon, there has to be a REASON he kidnaps her to be his lizard mate.

“Caretaker” - she gets him out of prison and into a Starfleet uniform, he’s the first to answer her on the bridge after the initial crash into the DQ, she protects him from Chakotay, he volunteers for the away team, she promotes him into her motley crew

“Time and Again” - I hate this episode because they are in love and it doesn’t count

“The Cloud” - he’s afraid to invite her to his holo party but when she shows up it becomes clear she is his equal in the ability to party – which I LOVE. Picard would never, the end of “All Good Things” is about that. Even Kirk maintains a line when it comes to fun with the crew but Janeway? I’m gonna challenge my conscripted helmsman to a pool game in his speakeasy holosim and also I’m gonna WIN.

“Ex Post Facto” - this episode is the worst but she is so concerned about her Tom

“The 37s” - they land the ship for the first time together and it is a metaphor/code for sex I don’t make the rules

“Resistance” - he reaches out in comfort when she’s weeping over the dead UGH MY HEART

(also Neelix and Tuvok and Torres are there but it’s Tom who does this)

“Threshold” - we all know this episode is epic, but there is so much more than lizard babies! Janeway goes back and forth on allowing Tom to do it, showing she cares more about HIM than the mission (which is getting home), but then that means she has to let him go because it’s what he wants. Then there’s how upset she is when he is mutating. Then he snatches her away to mate on a swamp planet. And finally, that scene in sickbay kills me because he’s embarrassed and she is delighted. She teases him, to show him that she still cares more about HIM than any of this nonsense. And they smile at each other and I can’t. I just can’t AT ALL.

“Investigations” - so they’ve been meeting in secret for months. This is ALSO code for sex I don’t make the rules.

“Basics” - hi I saved the ship for you

“Worst Case Scenario” - proves that Tuvok knows there is something special/specific about Janeway’s relationship to Tom

Then we enter into the Paris/Torres years. Janeway is relieved. And happy for them (honestly, she loves them both). But “Scientific Method” has her extra annoyed by their shenanigans and “Night”’s depression can be read in many ways.

“Thirty Days” - every time I watch this scene I expect them to kiss

“Bride of Chaotica!” - Remember, you’re the queen!

“Pathfinder” - I have written the missing scene at the end of this where he comes to her quarters to talk about the hurricane of emotions felt on the bridge hearing his father’s voice

So, I say they had a secret relationship in the early years. There is an attraction and he is devoted to her. It starts up circa “The Cloud” as a flirtation. By “The 37s” it’s a casually sexual relationship. “Threshold” outs it as a problem. Affecting their judgement. They start having “we should stop” conversations. Their last night together is just before he leaves the ship in “Investigations”. When he returns he shows up on her doorstep but she says no. He spends some time trying to convince her it’s okay, but it doesn’t work. He moves on and falls in love with B’Elanna. But he will always be devoted to Janeway and it has a non-platonic, non-familial shade to it.

And you asked for fic recs, which I am terrible at (I’m trying to get better because I know some amazing writers) but here are the ones I have saved.

When Tommy Met Katie - I’m a sucker for “they met each other pre-series” (90% of my own J/P stories include it) and this is sweet as can be.

Miscalculated by @missmil - delightful away team gone bad

Wretched True by @missparker - post “Thirty Days” regaining equilibrium

Reclamation by @mia-cooper - again, starts as kids, and kinda sorta follows my scenario above. Excellent and apparently I’d never even kudos-ed – I’m so sorry, Mia, I love it!!!!!

Absumption - “Timeless” AU. Literally my favorite fanfiction for any pairing in any fandom ever. 

Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it and/or write a scenario /give you a series rundown of my headcanons