Hi so I just found out about Rom and Leeta's wonderful daughter Bena and I already love her so much

Also they named her after Ben Sisko/the Bajoran word for joy, but also they accidentally named her subflooring in Ferengi which. Is making me picture like

Leeta, very excited: "Babe we should name our kid joy! It's such a pretty word in Bajoran and we can honour the emissary" :)

Rom, very happy for his lovely wife: "Aw that sounds great! How do you say that in Bajoran?"

Leeta: "Bena" <3

Rom: is wondering how to tell his wonderful wife who he loves very much that that means subflooring on his planet, the place where they live where this kid is gonna grow up (he never figures out how to tell her bc he is too shy and sweet)

Hey can anybody tell me Why the Ferengi have two sets of lungs? Bc I am very curious

Also I would just. I would love a Star Trek medical show where it's like a normal medical drama except the tools are better bc Star Trek and also most of the patients are aliens so they all have vastly different biology. Bc every time someone gets medical attention on DS9 I'm always sitting there wondering what's going on in there

💖🥺 MAYBE FRIENDS WERE THE TRUE ASSETS WE GAINED ALONG THE WAY 😭💖

Also just. I'm still thinkin about DS9 ok so

I watched the episode Body Parts and?? It made me more emotional than I thought it would?? Like. Y'all know how I won't shut up about Nog and Rom and Quark (I just think they're neat. They're an interesting little family and they're all fascinating characters). Usually I give less of a shit about Quark than about Rom or Nog. But like. The way his character got broken down in that episode is so INTERESTING

Because like. Rom and Nog are both clearly quite content to buck tradition, to leave their homeworld and way of life behind to some extent, in order to carve out a new lifestyle for themselves; they looked at how their society was failing them and went "Lmao NAH" and did their own thing. Quark, on the other hand, also does not fit in. But because of who he is, he can't just let go; instead he doubled down, tried to become better in the eyes of his society, tried to succeed. And it's not working. The best he can do is run a bar on a space station (as he puts it, "I'm a joke! Starfleet's favourite bartender!"). Nobody back home is impressed by him, and many don't like him (his cousin Gaila even kinda tried to kill him with that ship. Things seem to be better with his Moogie, but of course she's like Rom and Nog, quite happy to buck tradition in her own way. And despite them getting on better terms in Family Business, I think deep down Quark and Moogie both still know that Rom is the favoured brother).

So when he has to face his mortality, when he questions what his life has amounted to, it's honestly just. Really sad? Bc arguably, Quark is a success! He runs a pretty popular bar, and his family is one of the first to begin bridging the gap between the Federation and Ferenginar in a non-threatening, chilled out way (of course there's Nog joining Starfleet and Rom working on the station, but Quark also has a role in this: his bar. It unites Ferenginar and Bajor and the Federation, due to its spot on DS9, its customers, and himself and his Ferengi employees). It's a bridging on a civilian level as opposed to diplomatic, which is pretty important. But he doesn't see it that way! He sees it purely the way his society sees it: he's a half-rate businessman, he's too generous, his whole family is weird, he's too cozy with the Federation, he's a failure.

It's honestly such an interesting glimpse into his character... especially the fact that for a while, he'd literally rather die than go back on the rules of his society. Like he seriously considers it. He hires Garak to kill him and everything. Literally the only thing that stops him is that bonkers fear dream/religious vision combo. Just...man. Really, really interesting character study.

Heard y'all like Quank. I happen to have an assortment

So I'm thinkin about star trek but specifically trying to come up with interesting alien health problems for a fic I'm writing, which means speculative biology time, which means my headcanons again

Human food is probably NOTORIOUS for causing everyone else indigestion bc some of us are lactose tolerant, which. I mean irl that's stupid rare in adulthood, and some of these aliens are likely not even close to being mammals anyways, so it probably causes problems. I'll bet Vulcan food also sometimes has a reputation of causing discomfort, but because they like to eat REALLY spicy food (since their sense of taste isn't as strong).

Vulcans who are about to start Pon Farr tend to first load up on food and then start eating way less frequently (like. About a week before it maybe they get insanely hungry and get a bunch of weird cravings and stuff, and then a day or two before it starts their appetite gets really reduced)

Klingons and Ferengi are both polyphyodonts (teeth are continuously being replaced), but different. For Klingons, I think their teeth sort of reach a size limit and stop growing, but if a tooth gets knocked out a new one grows back into its place (mostly this is bc they have relatively straight, uncrowded looking teeth). For Ferengi, I think their teeth are always growing at least a little bit (they seem to be able to eat stuff like snail shells without discomfort, and have to sharpen their teeth, so their teeth probably grow considerably. I think this constant growth and wear is also why so many of them have really uneven and crooked teeth; they probably often have teeth that are all in different growth stages and might have a few that get sort of crowded in there like wisdom teeth)

It's a pretty popular headcanon (or is it canon? I'm honestly not sure) that Vulcans can purr; I think Romulans should be able to do that too

Hi I'm thinking about this quote about Ferengi costumes lmao rip to Armin Shimerman

"They were truly, truly wonderful. They were gorgeous to look at. They were funny, they were outrageous and they were truly a marvel. The only problem was wearing them! They were great for everybody but me. They were made out of couch material and they were very hot." (Armin Shimerman for Star Trek Explorer, Vol. 4, No. 4, p. 11)

I have some thoughts on the Ferengi again! I just saw Business As Usual and am like halfway through Ferengi Love Songs (had to pause it bc folks were getting up, will finish it later), and those episodes got me thinkin about gestures.

While I get pretty annoyed with how "Planet of hats"-y a lot of star trek worldbuilding is, one thing I think consistently gets nailed is gestures/physical presence. I've been noticing Ferengi gestures in particular, and I'd like to just sorta. Compile a list of ones I think are fun. I don't have pictures for em all but if I have a picture I'll stick it in

Obviously the wrist thing is iconic.

A very versatile gesture, and really easy to make; idk if it's inspired by an irl gesture or just made up, but I like it. It's so versatile, too! I like how it covers anything from begging for your life to welcoming someone into your home to making a bit of an apology after saying something catty when gossiping with friends. Really good shit

The little like. Crouchy walk/run they do through doorways is just fucking excellent. Absolutely wonderful

Also love to see that the urge to smack the tops of doorways is universal (also I just realised I could actually smack the tops of doorways on Ferenginar...that's a very novel concept for me bc I am 5'1" lmao). Also, an interesting thing: a lot of Ferengi seem to crouch or bow around a bit more than Quark, Rom, or Nog do; I wonder if it comes with them being around tall aliens in a structure built for tall aliens all the time. Also, I love the running joke of Quark being off-world for so long that he keeps forgetting to pay for shit (every time he stands there awkwardly and then goes "Oh yeah" and fishes out a bit of latinum from his pocket it cracks me up)

The nose pressing thing they tend to do when hugging is so good (and I'm VERY happy that's an irl gesture!! It's so cute!!! Huzzah for its existence)

Their handshakes are pretty fun. There's a couple versions I saw; Quark and Gaila did one that was a bit simpler (Quark extended his left hand, Gaila extended his right hand and pressed the back of it to the palm of Quark's hand, and they both quickly pulled their hands away to their respective lefts).

For the handshake between Quark and Brunt, they each put up their right hand back to back, then each pulls his hand back quickly to land on his left shoulder.

Whatever the fuck that dancing is (looks like Nog got everyone doing it, good for him lol)

And I don't have a picture for this one but. When Quark says something stupid Ishka smacks him on the top of his head and it's so fucken funny

Anyways. Gestures and physical presence in general are really fun and I think they're something to consider in worldbuilding more often (in books and other written media, but ESPECIALLY in visual media like tv).

You know "The Magnificent Ferengi" really is just a phenomenal episode all in all, but this scene in particular lives rent free in my head. I've watched this clip like 6 times just now

Like there's so much going on...the ways they all get up when they hear Gaila screaming (my favourites are how Brunt is fighting for his life to get out of that blanket and Leck already has a knife ready), the way Gaila screams, Quark fuckin BOOKING IT for the ship (the way he runs is so funny to me and I don't know why), the way he jumps neatly over the container and everyone else either goes around it or falls over it, "TO THE INFIRMARYYYY", everyone falling over the containers on the way back...poetic cinema. I want this framed

Just saw Carbon Creek and. I'm a big sucker for "First contact happened earlier and off the books" storylines and I like Vulcans so you already know I liked this one lol

Also with Quark and Stron and everyone else it looks like aliens doing an inventory of the features of 1950s America are just like

Baseball

Alcohol

Frozen fish sticks

Root beer

Cute humans to engage in romantic and/or sexual acts with (depending on individual taste; Rom, Nog, and Mestral seem to like us well enough, Quark is less pleased, and Stron and T'Mir don't seem impressed)

Atom bombs/the constant threat of nuclear annihilation

Also. If Mestral still had 100-150 years in his lifespan in the 50s that means hypothetically he could be bopping around today and he'd only be like 100 something today, that's middle aged for a Vulcan. I wonder if he'd wanna go home seeing where we are now

I'm going nuts thinking about Deep Space 9 season 4 episode 25 "Body Parts" yet again, lads

Like. I really dig the whole "Uhhh so we had to transplant the baby. Kira now has the baby" b plot, but honestly it feels (to me at least) like it happened in a different episode, I'm going nuts about the a plot rn

Btw, content warning for brief discussion of fictional suicidal ideation. I won't go in detail but if thinking about a fictional character considering killing himself is not good for you, please don't read this post. Now, with that:

Just. The strange horror that comes from combining money and both health care and mortuary services. I think about that as it happens irl all the time, so I really like digging into this episode through that lens. I honestly generally like the vacuum dessication process for dealing with remains (and the idea of keeping a person's remains with you, not just hidden in an urn, but proudly displayed in a clear disc, small enough that you can keep them with you if you wish or leave them on a shelf or something). But there is such a weirdly surreal thing there, to me, about Quark (assuming he will be dead very soon) literally auctioning off parts of himself. Not only is he stressed and just in a bad place because he thinks he's about to fucking die, he also has to manage his mortuary situation (which. Since the tradition he follows involves auctioning parts of the remains, as opposed to being left in a place as a burial or spread ashes or sky burial or something, it really can't be planned in advance. Unless you auction off your future remains well before death, I suppose. In any case it's harder to do that stuff ahead of time). THEN the fact that he doesn't even HAVE Dorek syndrome, and the revelation that Brunt has bought the rights to Quark's remains (and apparently in some beta canon he bribed Dr. Orpax to lie and say Quark had Dorek syndrome, which. I generally don't pay heed to beta canon but fuck, dude. That makes so much sense. Not only because that makes Brunt's knowledge of the situation even more believable, but also because there it is again, that intertwining of medicine and money and how it never comes to any good except to those in power, namely Brunt. Also Dr. Orpax to some degree, in that he has power over Quark as a wealthy doctor, but also Brunt has power over Dr. Orpax bc he's fucking Brunt, FCA. How do you refuse a bribe from a determined FCA liquidator without putting your own life on the line? So I don't and do blame Dr. Orpax for this, but mostly this is Brunt being a twisted shithead).

AND THEN you have the relationship specifically between Quark and Brunt! The way they're both so toxic to each other yet so invested. It's genuinely fascinating. The extreme power imbalance, too; Brunt is a man who has a LOT of power. He has financial power in his wealth and as an agent of financial law, he has political power, he has physical power because he can afford Nausicaan bodyguards. Quark is, in comparison, just like, some guy. I think Brunt's role in this episode can also be read as somewhat of a metaphor for Ferenginar and the society Quark is trying hard to succeed in. It's a system that's built to fail for basically everyone, something Ishka, Rom, and Nog have all realised in their own ways, causing them to break from various traditions and find fulfilment in other ways of life (social reform, living in Bajoran/Federation society, and joining Starfleet, respectively). Quark, however, is determined to make this work (which, ultimately, is why DS9 feels a bit like a tragedy for his character), but Brunt, and the society that acts through him, literally have him in a stranglehold (well, literally as in a dream, but y'know), and no matter what Quark does, he loses. If he honours his contract and kills himself, he loses, because. Well, because he's forced to commit suicide. But if he does what he ended up doing, not honouring the contract, he loses again, because he loses his standing in his society, utterly, along with a lot of his livelihood and personal possessions (literally including the shirt off his back). He manages to keep going because of the support of friends and family outside the system, but. Fuck dude, that's still so rough

And the fact that Quark feels so trapped by convention and honour and contract that he really, actually considers killing himself, too. And the ways he ponders it, testing Garak's methods on holograms. I mean, fuck! He watches himself die over and over and over again! I'm sure too that as he watched, with each hypothetical death he began to feel less and less sure of what he was doing, if the contract was right, if this was all worth his life...then his dream. Wow dude. And the way he stands up to Brunt the next day, knowing that no matter what he does, he is about to lose so much.

In short "Body Parts" is a wonderfully surreal homoerotic horror about the evils of capitalism, particularly in medicine and mortuary services, AND it's somehow also very funny (seriously how did they pull that off??? Like I'm out here being like "This is horror" but also laughing my ass off bc. "I GET TO SUE DR. ORPAX FOR MALPRACTICE!!! and I'm gonna live!" and "When you see how much your body is worth, you're gonna wish you died years ago" and "*snap* I'm dead!" and "I'd rather be naked" this episode is so weirdly funny considering how depressed it makes me get about money and such) AND it has a b plot involving a baby transplant

Hi I'm just obsessed with this picture it's so funny on so many levels

Like

The fact that Quark is being like "Square up bitch you talking shit about my nephew" to an Actual Child

Nog's about-to-hiss-at-someone face

Quark being shorter than this literal child

Quark talking MAD shit for someone who's defending the guy who started all this (Lest We Forget, Nog and this other kid are fighting bc Nog dumped something stinky on the other kid)

Nog using Quark as a living shield, as he continues to do basically every opportunity he gets throughout the entire series

So is it just me or are the little wrinkles on Ferengi noses kind of adorable

Like I've mentioned their wrinkly Sphinx noses before (usually when I'm thinkin about em bc I'm drawing them) but like. They have such nice noses. Idk what you want from me

Ah man. I was just thinking about this one scene where Julian and Quark were hanging out at Vic's, and Vic made this whole dumb speech with like a horse metaphor (and not even using the word horse, but rather fully or stallion), but like. That scene is HILARIOUS to me for one reason: when Vic is done, Quark turns to Julian and is like, "Did you understand any of that?" And I realised: Quark doesn't know what a horse is. He especially doesn't know what a filly or a stallion are because he doesn't know what a horse is because Ferenginar has been in contact with the Federation for such a short time that a few years ago they didn't know what dogs were and thought they had a dog language. Quark was sitting here vibin with Julian, sipping his drink and listening to this hologram guy sing, and then this hologram guy talks to them in an extended metaphor about Absolute Gibberish and Quark is like K and dips out with his drink. Amazing

So I haven't watched Star Trek Lower Decks but. I was reading about it and

Quimp my man 🤝

Y'know I recall Odo accusing Quark of being a member of the Orion syndicate, and Quark said, "I'm not a member, I just know some people who know some people who know some other people" (also I mostly remember that line bc of hooved's ytp) but like. I watched DS9 before any other trek so I had no clue what the Orion syndicate actually was, but if what I saw on Enterprise is any indication they are WAY more fucked up than I thought

Which tbh makes me wonder just why Quark knows some people who know some people who know some other people. Also I kinda wanna rewatch The Ascent bc basically the entire reason Odo suspected Quark went right tf over my head (I was too busy being like "!!!Nog!!!" And being FUCKIN PISSED at Odo bc that shit? That's called entrapment!)