What can T'pol say to trip that is special

[Silverbullet]

Just because I am irritable over a foot that hurts like Hell:

Suppose T'pol wants to say something to Trip that means he is special and indicates how she feels about him.

"I have feelings for you" Well, Trip might reply "Ihave feeling for mhy Mother, Farther, Sister, dog. " Feelings doesn't really do it.

She says "I care for you" Trip answers, same thing, I care for all of those things nad more."

"I f I say I love you?"

"Again, I love my Mother, Father, sister, dog, Hobby."

"Then all that is left which would mean you are special to me is 'My Mate'

Trip replies, "Yup, that would be very special and for no one else."

Anyone know of anything else she could say to him that woulld indicate he is the one and only? Need it for a story I have in mind.

[Alelou]

I think it would send Trip over the moon to hear ANY of those things from T'Pol. Quibbling about it just isn't like him.

Hope your foot feels better soon, SB. Have you taken your poor foot to a doc?

[WarpGirl]

I agree with Alelou. Trip is the type of person who appreciates any effort. Despite his screwing with T'Pol in Bound, (ie not telling her he's coming back and "no big deal') he's not the type to demand grand gestures or things that are "Special."

Personally I just have her express herself they way her people do. In Vulcan culture saying "I cherish thee" is the equivilant of declaring love through a Shakespere love sonnet. And in order for TnT to build a successful life together, they both need to allow the other person to do what is most comfortable for them. A good relationship doesn't try to push partners into an ideal mold. Trip would let T'Pol be herself however she decided to express affection.

[Silverbullet]

Alelou, WG, Trip probably would like any expression from T'Pol. But I am supposing that T'Pol really wants him to know that he is the ONE and ONLY and that she wants to express that in a way that says so. Those other three things are general. Never liked that "I have feelings for you" What in Hell does Feelings mean? I can have feelings of Hatred for something or feelings of amusement. A true expression of Love.

RE Foot. have seen Doctor, had X-Ray abnd yesterday a CAT Scan. won't know the results of CAT until wednesday. Doctor doesn't know what is wrong and I am not sure I WANT to know. At my age surprises healthwise are usualy not good.


Thanks for you rreplies

SB

[WarpGirl]

Okay so here's my question... Why isn't being in a relationship enough? Despite the mess that was season 3 Vulcans do not have multiple relationships. She might have told Trip that it was a fling, but she didn't have any others either. There is no "you might be the one" to a Vulcan. You either have a committed relationship or you don't. You are either with "the one" or you aren't. Just by agreeing to have a relationship at all she committed herself for life. Which is why I don't think they had sex again until after Bound. It doesn't add up with her assertions that she didn't agree to have a romantic relationship until he came back. After that kiss she was committed on her side. But I doubt she knew that he was.

[Alelou]

She could say "my mate" but judging from his reaction in "Bound" his associations for that word are not so positive. But if, by then, he understands the Vulcan deal, he'd probably be good with it.

Hopefully the foot pain will turn out to be something common and harmless. I sometimes get weird cramps in my feet that hurt like hell in the middle of the night, usually when I've managed to get dehydrated or low in salts or something. Calf stretching and Gatorade help.

[WarpGirl]

Okay now please correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the line go "we didn't mate" referring to the act of sex. That is very different that objecting to the word in the context of being a mate. He might not like the word in context of sex, but I don't think he would object to it in terms of defining the relationship.

[Alelou]

Maybe not, but it can have a sort of scientific/biological connotation in either case. Animals mate. Some animals have mates. Humans sometimes prefer to call it something else a little more romantic. Since Trip objected to the one form of the word, I think he might also be less than enthused about the other.

It's not a biggie for me, personally, however.

[Kotik]

Okay now please correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the line go "we didn't mate" referring to the act of sex. That is very different that objecting to the word in the context of being a mate. He might not like the word in context of sex, but I don't think he would object to it in terms of defining the relationship.

Yes, Trip said "we didn't ... mate" in "Bound" because the verb 'mate' describes the senseless rutting of animals. In fact the use of the word in English language is somewhat ambigous to me. In british English, which I'm leaning towards instead of the american variety, the noun 'mate' has the meaning of 'friend'. Guys going out for a curry and a beer or twelve call each other mates. So in that sense Trip and Malcolm would me mates, rather than T'Pol and Trip. I think it boils down to a problem finding an english word for the Vulcan counterpart

[enterprikayak]

The word 'mating' also suggests that you are talking about reproduction and offspring, rather than just romance, etc.

[WarpGirl]

All I was trying to bring out is that there are many different contexts to words. What doesn't work in one context, (talking about a sexual relationship) might not be offensive when used in another context.

[Silverbullet]

When T'Pol used the word in Bound she ssaid "It has long be thought that when a Vulcan MATES there is a physic bond formed." In hat sense she seems to mean a lifelong mate, a spouse without the legality of a ceremony. So she is saying that she considers them life Mates. Trip is saying that is not so (at first) but when he says "Okay so we are Bonded" he accepts her interpretation that they have Mated and are life long mates. Neverheless he later says "this thing between us is no big deal" again implying that they are mated but he doesn't consider it the same way she does.

I still contend that in Demons and Terra Prime they are in a intimate relationship. The reference to what he says "she might have gotten Pregnant and not told me about it" and later she says "Trip, you think that I may have gotten Pregnant without your knowledge" that says to me a ongoing intimate relationship. Too much time would have passed since the night in the expanse. NO way could she have been Pregnant on Enterprise that long and it not be obvious.

Yes, they were "Mates" in the sense of a life long spousel relationship.

[WarpGirl]

Direct Quote:

T'POL: There's a long-held belief that when a Vulcan mates, there's a shared psychic bond.
TUCKER: We didn't mate. Okay, what do you mean by psychic bond?

Looking at it I think T'Pol could mean this in the context of a lifemate but Trip does not. He doesn't say we aren't mates. He says we didn't mate. Totally different thing.

[Silverbullet]

WG, depends on how Trip means it. Does he mean that they did not make a lifelong commitment that night in the expanse. Or "we just has Sex we didn't Mate."

T'Pol is clear on her meaning. She is saying that they have a lifelong commitment and are MATES in the sense of being spouses without an official ceremony.

Problem is that the writers seemed to deliberately left it that way to keep up with "will they, won't they" junk. By having Trip saying to T'Pol that what they hhave is no big deal.

[WarpGirl]

Honestly, I think you can look at it from a number of different viewpoints... None of which are "right" or "wrong" you can take T'Pol to mean that she considers him her lifemate. Or you could assume since she knows very little if anything about what a mating bond is, she could assume that a psychic connection forms between people when they have sex. Or she could just be falling back on something clinical to describe the human equivilant of falling in love. Any of these are perfectly valid interpitations.

Personally, I believe T'Pol was saying that Vulcans as far as she knows Vulcans have the ability to form psychic connections through sex. How it works and why she has no clue.

Trip on the other hand obviously thinks she's referring to sex. And since he said "we didn't mate" it's clear he disapproves to the term in order to describe a sexual relationship. Although I don't like his statement because of ambiguity. If they had an ongoing sexual relationship we have never mated would have been clearer. "We didn't mate", gives a sense of a singular action.