you'd think that klingon horror movies are gorefests, but it's actually quite the opposite: gore is honorable, and nothing is scarier than dishonor. they often show a person whose life falls apart despite their own valiance and virtues: like an earth tragedy but with someone who clearly doesn't deserve it. at the end, there's often an operatic number where the protagonist exclaims that there's nothing they could have done to prevent their abysmal fate.

Geordi was at the bar. He waved Wesley over as he entered, and relieved for some company, the boy joined him.

“Look who's back on his feet,” the chief engineer remarked, sipping his drink. “I hear you had a pretty close call earlier.”

Wesley shrugged, sitting with him. “All in a day's work...”

“Yeah, I hear that,” Geordi laughed. “Just another day on The Enterprise, right?”

His lighthearted tone put Wesley at ease, and the dim lights of a lounge made it process what was going on around him.

“Are the Captain and Commander acting strange to you?” He asked.

Geordi thought a second and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so, why?”

“I slept through my alarm, and was late to shift, and Captain Picard didn’t make a big deal out of it...” Wesley explained.

“He’s probably just glad you felt good enough to show up,” his friend replied nonchalantly, gesturing for Guinan down the bar for a refill. “A shuttle crash can be pretty bad.”

“Yeah, but he knows I wasn’t hurt that badly, so why shouldn’t he expect me to be on time?”

Geordi thanked Guinan, who had also brought a glass of juice for Wes, and turned back to him. “Are you complaining that you didn’t get yelled at by the captain?”

“No,” he replied, taking his juice. “I just don’t know why everyone’s acting like it was a big deal. It’s not like I was seriously hurt. I can still do everything I can normally do.”

“Look, I’m probably not the best to tell you what Captain Picard is thinking,” Geordi said. “He’s probably worried you aren’t ready to get back on your feet.”

“But he doesn’t act like that when one of the others return to work after a minor injury.”

“Look, I don’t know,” Geordi admitted. “The captain is an enigma, all I know is that if I was put in charge of someone’s kid, and then that kid got in a shuttle crash, I’d be worried.”

do not separate the second officer and the chief engineer please!

Guys, it’s been really crazy. The only things keeping me sane is playing ACNH, rewatching TNG for the billionth time and drawing cute stuff.