Fic: 30-Day Cheesy Tropes Challenge [12/30]

[feltelures]

Title: 30-Day Cheesy Tropes Challenge - 12. Arranged Marriage AU
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Pre-slash
Rating & Warnings: G
Words: This part 2415, ?? overall
Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Summary: After the business with the Maquis, Cardassia’s Central Command suggests a grand gesture to demonstrate the renewed commitment to peace between the governments of the Federation and the Union. They also know exactly who will be making that gesture.
Author’s Notes: So from about this point on, things started getting away from me. :D;; My fics started getting longer and longer, and a few of them spawned their own AUs for me to follow up on later.

This would be one of them. Normally, “arranged marriage” is a trope I’m rather tired of—before learning how to find good romance novels as a teenager, I read anything I could get my hands on and that rather burned me out. But this, however, is another of my very favourite pieces in the entire series. I’ve even written a follow-up, with one more planned (although when I’ll get to it is anyone’s guess). So, uh, there you go.

Crossposted to AO3 and my writing journal.

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[the-chalk-dust-riddle]

"You know, out there right now someone is saying the three most important words in the universe. Know what they are? ‘Please. Help me."

Man was not meant to be alone.

[quitebrilliantindeed]

oh looky!

Here’s that finished doodle of Garak from the other day!

[sarahmckayart]

“Dirty Trekking" [?]"
Oh my god, I dont think I’ve slept in like..two days doing this silly thing.

What few people actually notice my work, I have a question: Is this mashup “gettable”, Deepspace 9 trekkies? Or is it one of those ideas where I probably should have gone to sleep instead?

[Inked with micron, colored completely in Photoshop CS6.]

Also, if it generates any interest I’ll put it up for sale as a print on my redbubble.

[startrekds9]

"The joke was that the Ferengi were the worst ball players, but, in fact, we were the ones who really could play. I had to play left-handed, because that made it easier for me to look bad."

- Max „Rom“Grodénchik about the Ferengi actors acutally being quite good at playing Baseball

[brain-food]

Women of Star Trek drawn on Post-It’s by Katie Rice

There’s this amazing photo set on Flickr that I stumbled upon one day called "The Galactically Hot Women of Star Trek", and it inspired a ton of post-it drawings. Here’s most of them, in no order.

[laurelhach]

Klingon redesign

Klingons as a species are larger than humans, males and females both averaging 6’-6’2”. They have heavy bones, thick muscle, and often have a layer of fat over the muscle that is considered healthy and desirable. Overall, their body is thick but flexible.

Much of the Klingon body is covered with hair, from very short (pob)—on the thighs, arms, and torso, to very long (jIb), as around the crown. Klingon hair varies in texture and color. Females may have finer hair, but it is not a rule (and one unfamiliar with Klingons would not likely know the difference.) The distinctive odor associated with Klingons comes from the sebaceous secretion that protects and cleans the hair. How the jIb is worn varies based on culture, class, and trend, but its upkeep is a sign of health and pride.

Klingons have heavy skulls, supported by a thick neck and shoulders. Their jaws are large, their bite strong. The Ho”elthDu’ protruding from the lower jaw are on average 3-4.5 inches long, and there is no significant difference between the tusks of males and those of females.

Klingons are highly omnivorous, and diet, like the jIb, is subject to cultural differences. Other species should be aware that even though a Klingon can probably have whatever you’re eating, you might not be able to have what they’re having. Not comfortably, at least.

Klingons have acute senses of sight and smell. Their eyes are protected by heavy brows and deep sockets, and though they are small relative to their body size, they function equal-to or better than the average humans’ due to a high photoreceptor-to-ganglia ratio. Klingon eyes have a relfective layer of tissue behind the retina (as the tapetum lucidem in many Terran animals). Klingons can detect light into the infrared (though they cannot sense heat, as the Cardassians can), and cannot see blue.

I’m going to write up a separate section on their reproduction, since just doing this has taken far too long to put up. Also, the picture have captions, so click those babies.

[frankenfraulein]

Fanart of Ziyal I did… - actually not that long ago considering some the other stuff that’s on my artblog is literally years old at this point. I’m guessing this is about a few months old, I’m pretty sure it was still school time when I started this and then got distracted by something else (as always).

Anyway, Artist’s Note: As there were a number of actresses that portrayed Ziyal on DS9 I really wanted to find a good mix of both to use as a base - also I really wanted to add some of Dukat’s features into the mix to show his parentage, along with some of the Bajorn features of her mother to “smooth out" some of Dukat’s harsher characteristics. Not the easiest of tasks I’ll admit, as they are both sort of in contradiction to each other.

I’m not sure I accomplished what I initially intended to do because I got caught up with painting all her pretty scales. lol Ahh, I love drawing Cardassians~

[laurelhach]

Jem’Hadar redesign

Less funky than the Vorta, but a wee bit tougher.

 As the genetically-engineered foot soldiers of the Dominion, Jem’Hadar are designed for combat. They have dense, sturdy bones that support powerful muscles. Their skin is thick and leathery, tough enough to render them impervious to weaker energy beam attacks and bladed weapons. They are surprisingly fast, given their weight, about as fast as a human or Cardassian, and have excellent stamina. Their reflexes are extremely fast, and they hit hard. In hand-to-hand combat, they are nearly unmatched. Even seasoned Klingon warriors would find a Jem’Hadar soldier a difficult opponent to best.

They have superb eyesight, able to see movement clearly as well as a broad spectrum of colors. Their sense of smell is not good, however—that neither Jem’Hadar nor Vorta have an acute sense of smell may indicate an overlook in their design by the Changelings, which do not have a sense of smell themselves. The Jem’Hadar’s hearing, however, is sharp. The aural openings are located just behind the frill [so you can’t really see them].

The ‘shroud’ is a sort of personal cloaking device, provided by the Jem’Hadar’s armor itself and controlled via an implant at the base of the skull that connects with the brain stem [this prevents enemies from being able to use it, and makes shrouding fast and easy. Plus, the control can’t be taken away or damaged during combat]. If a Jem’Hadar is white-deprived, it loses the focus needed to activate the control.

White intake is through a port device on the chest, and delivers the enzyme directly to the bloodstream. The skin is thick enough to support the device without it puncturing the muscle. Both the shroud control and the port are surgically installed in adolescents.

There are several differences between the Gamma-bred Jem’Hadar and those bred in the Alpha quadrant, which reflect a change the Dominion’s centuries old-military tactics. Gammas are resilient, able to take enormous punishment and hold their ground, and though their reflexes are quick, they are more suited to slow fighting. The Federation (and its allies) challenged the Dominion with faster combat, and the Jem-Hadar’s design was changed accordingly. Though they are less heavily armored [uniforms can cover that], Alphas have longer legs, slimmer bodies, and move faster than Gammas, allowing them to keep up with the Federation defense. Internally, they are ‘programmed’ to lose several digestive organs as they age, making them more reliant on Ketracel-white than the Gammas, which could, theoretically, overcome the addiction and revert to a more normal humanoid diet. Like the Vorta, Jem’Hadar are sexless [not an all-male species], and are produced in ‘hatcheries,’ which are really just birthing-chamber facilities. They are not clones—each is a unique combination of genes, and each has a distinct personality. Far from being mindless drones, they are intelligent and often inquisitive, though they are prone to violence. They have a code of honor, but it differs from most other species’, revolving around the execution of orders and the serving of the Founders alone.

[The EU books make it sound like Jem’Hadar have claws, but these don’t because the original species was not predatory. Some of the most aggressive animals I’ve had to deal with were ungulates, so that’s where I got a lot of my inspiration. These Jem’Hadar would deal a lot more blunt-force damage than the canon ones—more smashed skulls and fewer torn throats.

Questions, comments, song lyrics, insults, chemical formulas, whatever, drop me an ask! There’s always stuff I’ve left out of the description or not even thought about.

Pose references: CathleenTarawhiti ]

[vulcanlanguage]

I wrote a Vulcan nursery rhyme!

Manan Heya Seleya
Na’dorli savensu
Su’us-ek’tal heh kohl’es 
Ek’tal heh olozhika
Nam-tor etek zamiku 
Hi dungi katau etek rom na’wehku

Climbing Mount Seleya
To meet the honorable teacher
Mathematics and meditation
Science and logic
We are few
But we will bring good to the many

- T’Laina

[survivor-trek]

this makes me think of vulcan children chanting this rhyme while they play complex handclapping rhythm games designed to improve pattern memory and coordination…