✨👌🦆

happy 10 years to witch hat atelier!!! here's a repost of some art i made this year for it ◡̈

Tuvok laying down some pure Vulcan wisdom about recovering from trauma, that I think also applies to mental illness and a lot of other life events/situations.

Small Affirmations

Worf doesn’t appear awkwardly out of touch with the humans around him because he’s a Klingon. That’s bullshit. Worf was raised on Earth, by humans, from a very young age; he didn’t encounter Klingon culture until he was a grown-ass man in Starfleet.

No, Worf appears out of touch with the humans around because Worf is surrounded by the weirdest, freakiest nerds in the entire galaxy and this is his way of coping. They’re the weird ones, not him.

Like I imagine this happening soon after he got to the Enterprise:

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Counselor Troi: Lieutenant, the rest of the command staff is gathering in the Holodeck this evening for entertainment, and we hope you’ll join us.

Worf: o O(Oh, that sounds like it could be fun. What are they doing? Football? A screening of ‘Star Wars Episode MCXVII: The Return of the Revenge of Bib Fortuna?’ Rally racing? I love rally racing.)

Worf: What sort of entertainment, Counselor?

Counselor Troi: Well, Captain Picard would like us to take part in one of his Dixon Hill mysteries…

Worf: His what now?

Counselor Troi: Dixon Hill. They’re mystery stories in the style of North American Earth cities five hundred years ago. Then there will be a performance of a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays, and then Commander Riker will demonstrate his proficiency with a 20th century musical instrument.

Worf: Will we be doing anything more… modern?

Counselor Troi: Of course! Lieutenant Commander LaForge is showing off his collection of 22nd century plasma arrays. He spent AGES working on the holographic models.

Worf: o O(Shit. Fuck. Uh… dammit. I can’t just say I don’t want to. Wait, I know! Play the Klingon card!)

Worf: I would love to attend Counselor, but I’m afraid I will be doing Klingon battle meditation exercises.

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And by battle meditation exercises, he means “watching sports and eating high-carb snacks.”

And then he gets to DS9, right? And he’s like “Maybe these people will be normal.”

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Worf: Commander, that’s an interesting desk ornament.

Commander Sisko: Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. It’s a baseball.

Worf: Some sort of Bajoran artifact?

Commander Sisko: Oh, no! It’s from Earth. Baseball is an ancient sport; it hasn’t been played professionally since the 21st century but in my opinion is the apex of human athleticism. Jake and I are huge fans. Perhaps you’ll join us in the holosuites sometime.

Worf: o O(MOTHERFUCKER.)

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And so he keeps playing the Klingon card. When Worf talks about what a fan he is of Klingon opera? He does that because he’s learned to the nerds he works with who don’t like anything that’s newer than half a millennium old, “opera” is classy and elegant and a sign of high culture. What he’s actually listening to is the latest hot pop hits from the Klingon Empire. He’s listening to Klingon Taylor Swift and Klingon Maroon Five.

- Sarek was extensively briefed on human etiquette before becoming ambassador, and one of the many things he was taught was "Do not ask a woman her age. It is considered impolite."

- Humans are aliens, and he has trouble accurately guessing their age. Oh sure, he can tell the difference between a toddler, a child, a young adolescent, etc. But from upper teens to elders is just a blur to him. "Gray hair? They must be at least 160. No, wait, they don't live that long...30? That doesn't seem right either."

- Sarek knows Amanda is an adult, due to the fact she has her own apartment and is employed full-time. He's not sure of anything beyond this. Is she 20? 40? Who knows? Definitely not Sarek.

- They marry, and the news reports it. "Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, and his new human wife, Amanda Grayson, 19.."

Sarek: 19 what?

Amanda: years of age, of course.

Sarek:... excuse me?

Romulans: Closely related to the Vulcans, but different enough to be their own subspecies. Their more fertile environment encouraged the development of a sturdy build, not as well suited for long distance travel as interpersonal conflict and resource utilization. Richer resources and a less confining society have also greatly reduced the evolutionary need for aggressive pon farr, but individuals can still vary greatly.

Cardassians: A highly social obligate carnivore species with pale gray scales and blue eyes. They have shown great aptitude in social mirroring and assimilating into groups of other intelligent aliens. Unfortunately, with this also comes a viciously territorial nature that creates a social pressure for interplanetary expansion.