Oh, shiny. My very own controversy! Well ... sorta... close enough, I guess. If this is how people react to a non-conversation, I can't wait to see the response to ... no ... better hold onto that little secret.
Alelou wrote:However, he's drawing out the TnT dynamics here so painfully
With all due respect, I've got to really disagree with you here. They are a
lot closer at this point than in canon (season TWO) and might actually be closer than they ever were on the show. What you may not really be taking into account - and this must be due to a failing on the part of that idiot author and his prose - is that T'Pol is riding Trip pretty hard (get your mind out of the gutter!) when it comes to the various training she's putting him through, so they actually haven't had a lot of time to discuss the nature of their relationship (since T'Pol very probably changes the subject whenever their conversation starts to inch toward something emotional.) And, as a Vulcan, T'Pol has a completely different view on all matters: with her considerably longer life expectancy, she usually isn't in any hurry to make a decision (ala a space elf.)
Why is it acceptable for TnT to go through the various 'will-they-won't-they' nonsense they did in season 3 and 4 without an actual resolution (and, if you go by
canon, they probably spent another 5 years dancing around one another), but the fact they haven't started having wild monkey sex
4 and a half months into this AU season
two seems to be drawn out? Color me confused. (And the bold was just for emphasis - I realize that it might seem longer since so much time has passed between updates - I'm not trying to sound angry or defensive.)
I guess to me, the fact that these guys are sleeping in each other's arms (just to keep warm) and STILL haven't had even an attempt at an honest conversation about their relationship is a sign that maybe they really aren't good for each other.
I'm going to say something that probably
will be controversial around these parts: based on what I saw on the actual show, Trip and T'Pol probably
weren't good for each other. Honest conversations about things other than work simply aren't very TnT-like unless one or both of them have been backed into a corner (e.g., Trip backed into a corner about his sister issues in "The Forgotten," T'Pol backed into a corner about her emotional issues in "Countdown," T'Pol backed into a corner about the nature of their relationship in "Bound," and so on.) T'Pol, as written, is categorically incapable of being truly honest with anyone,
including herself (maybe
especially herself), when it comes to emotional matters, and she seems to almost insist on being self-destructive. As a Vulcan, she is further unwilling to readily discuss deeply emotional issues with anyone (and any feelings she has toward Tucker are assuredly emotional.) She's spent 60-some years being indoctrinated into believing that emotion -
any emotion - is Very Bad (thanks to the High Command & its corrupt, almost fascist teachings), so presuming that she'd be willing to have a conversation about this sort of thing is simply out of character for T'Pol in my opinion.
Trip is frankly not much better and seems to thrive on being there for everyone else but insisting on trying to work through difficult matters himself, without accepting any help unless (again) he's backed into a corner (Dinah's excellent "The Thorn and the Rose" shows that very nicely, although the show itself has numerous instances of this very thing, particularly season 3.) Despite being more experienced when it comes to relationships (although 3 in 34+ years isn't much of an improvement), he's very much a reactive personality in regards to women: every single female who he was vaguely involved in - Ah'len, that Oasis chick who died on 24 recently, Fishstick, Amanda Cole, and even T'Pol herself - instigated it, so presuming that Trip is going to push T'Pol simply doesn't track with his characterization.
And to complicate matters even more you have T'Pol's terminal neurological condition. She's dying and knows it. Now Trip knows it. They're in a camp, filled with angry, terrified natives who are already on the brink of imploding into violence. How exactly
is Trip supposed to react to the news that (basically) T'Pol was raped and given a STD (MTD?) that is going to kill her? Especially in a way that doesn't involve his reaction (which would likely be quite emotional) causing more problems for them in the middle of this refugee camp? Yes, he's a lot more controlled at this point, but he's
still Trip so an emotional reaction has to be expected, something he'd know that T'Pol wouldn't want.
Thus, you have two brilliant but extremely flawed individuals, both more than willing (some might say
eager) to play the martyr, both more than willing (again, some might say eager) to internalize their personal problems, and both so desperately afraid of being hurt (emotionally) that they just do their best to ignore the issues at hand until it reaches critical mass and they can no longer pretend it isn't an issue. Will they have to face them? Yes. Very much so. It is nearing critical mass now. Whether you approve of that resolution, well, I can't say. That's up to you. But the ... mitigating circumstances are certainly going to make avoiding a conversation impossible for them.
But to assume that they didn't talk about the Pa'nar at all? Give me some credit, please.
panyasan wrote:It doesn't have to be deep or long, maybe only 5 sentences, more like T'Pol tells about her illness and how she got it. Trip stays, but says something how hard this must be.
That's not a short conversation, nor an easy one. I'd compare it to finding out a close friend was date-raped and then later learned that she was infected with HIV. How exactly does one react to that sort of revelation? But as I said above, please give me the benefit of the doubt.
He asked her if Archer knows, she says something like "it's a private matter" and then makes clear Archer and her aren't privatly involved.
With all respect, they're in the process of discussing the fact that she has a terminal disease. Asking about the specifics of her relationship with Archer would seem ... I dunno ... crass. He's already seen how she reacted when he asked if Archer knew about the Fullara (ch38), when he misunderstood her annoyance at him questioning her revelation at having never told anyone about that event, so it stands that he would once more keep his mouth shut over Archer.
Besides, I've already written the scene where T'Pol finds out about Trip's presumption re: AinT, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
In Div. Paths. I love the fact that the relationship is different, it shows the potential they have and I would be very disappointed if it would no develop in a good, healty, stormy relationship. So have that talk!
Well, if this stupid war would let up, and these damned Ekosians would stop trying to kill each other (and TnT too), they might.
this is AU! Why stick to canon!
I'm
not sticking to canon after "Dead Stop." But everything
before that episode happened, so a lot of that has to be dealt with in some fashion, particularly the fact that the writers of the show pretty clearly started trying the AinT dynamic midway through season 1.
Pitseleh wrote:Well, I was surprised that he skipped the serious conversation thing, but I cannot say I am disappointed in any way. Having read most of Rigil's stories, he rarely leaves serious issues unattended, and maybe he is just waiting for a Trip POV to let us know his state of mind regarding this issue.
Heh. That'd be a good guess, I think...
Now, regarding the frustration about TnT not being together yet, he's just building up to it, and unlike the actual show, I'm pretty sure this writer has a satisfying resolution for TnT fans in mind.
Oh ... so you don't want me to have them dance around each other for 10 years, resolve nothing, and then have arguably one of the smartest characters on the show spontaneously lose 100 IQ so he can die stupidly? Well, crap. There goes Plan A.
On his NCIS fic, he made us wait, what? 46 chapters for TIVA (Tony/Ziva), but it eventually got there and it was great.
Before the Dark Days, Before Season 7 killed that Muse with a USAS-12, a flamethrower and a MOAB. Thanks, NCIS showrunners!
Now, regarding how slowly things are developing, I can kind of see where he's coming from: He is coming from S2, where TnT were not that close. Sure, they developed some great rapport during S1, but it was not that deep. As viewers, we were plunged into S3 and NP and all the intimacy it created basically because of how intimate it was, and suddenly, TnT were very much involved. And while I enjoyed it, it was not realistic. In this story, he is building a relationship almost from the ground up, and it has been great to read. As for them sleeping together every night and still... well, Trip does react, but he is a gentleman (a super human one, probably...). But it reminds me of soldiers sleeping together on their trenches during hard winter in WWII.
And that is exactly what I'm shooting for. They became casual acquaintances and co-workers in season 1 which began to develop into an actual friendship, Trip realized he was attracted to T'Pol right about the same point when she started hanging all over Archer (mid-season 1 and into 2) for whatever reasons, and then they crashed on this planet.
pdsldl wrote:And the whole Archer misunderstanding seems like a pretty big issue for Trip. Can't see him even thinking of moving forward with that hanging out there.
Which is entirely the point. Trip still has an idealized view of Archer (since this is pre-Cogenitor hypocrisy and season 3 wackiness) because he (Trip) still believes he owes the man a debt for having saved his life several times ("Desert Crossing," and I seem to recall them also mentioning Archer saving his life before "Broken Bow.") So, no, he isn't going to make a move on T'Pol until ... wait. This is Trip. He's
not going to make a move on T'Pol, even when he knows the truth. She'll have to jump him instead.
WarpGirl wrote:Like I suspected I now live in fear he won't finish it.
Imagine how
I feel.
With this story it's still early to say how I feel about it, however I do have a question... What the bloody heck are they doing going down to a prewarp planet like this anyway.
Uh ... they crashed. It's spelled out pretty clearly in the first chapter - TnT were in a shuttlepod testing out a new stealth system so they could get closer to the planet in question to observe, and things went south. I specifically referenced the Paragaan colony mess and the crew did nothing wrong.
the mission where Malcolm left a communicator was a disaster
Believe it or not, that episode was actually the inspiration for this story. I greatly disliked "The Communicator" because it had a silly (borderline cowardly) resolution - if people showed up in Miami immediately before the Bay of Pigs fiasco, armed with frighteningly advanced technology and claiming to be Russians (which is pretty much what Archer did), then I can almost guarantee you that nukes would have flown. They missed a fantastic opportunity to truly explain why the Prime Directive was established with that episode.
And Panyasan is also right, if this is a radical AU, then TnT should be able to have meaningful conversations about the really important things that matter.
But it's
not a "radical AU," it's simply an AU. The thing I strive for more than anything else is accurate characterization, so TnT having trouble discussing emotional matters? Still there.
Although I'm not sure I trust him to finish.
Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence. This is something I do for fun, not for profit, and I can't say when or if the Muse strikes.
I'm almost tempted to read the Tiva stuff too, although at this point I am absolutely certain the only two people that even have a prayer at making a relationship work are Abby and McGee.
One, that fic isn't complete because the jackasses in charge of the show have ruined it so thoroughly that the Muse is mostly dead (although I did make sure that the final posted chapter is at least partially "end" like), and two, I don't think
any of the characters on NCIS are capable of making a relationship work, and three, those two couldn't make a relationship work before (probably because Abby is an immature genius with boatloads of daddy issues.)
.
Just teasing, they did a lot of stuff like that. 
Brilliant work... I will make you see we have enough in common. 
However, I fully admit I would take the same ideas and do them differently IDIC. But the concept is pretty much the same. If you ever cave to Polly-Farr I will lose all respect for you. Stay strong. You have a new fan as meaningless as it is.