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purplespacekitty · 16 days

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Ramblings on Tora Ziyal

I think it’s well beyond a shame that they killed off Ziyal because I really would have liked to see her Cardassian-Bajoran identity more fleshed out and have her navigate the world beyond her father’s influence. She was starting to do that a bit with Kira and Garak (though I strongly feel that Garak should have been more of a mentor figure than a love interest) and it would have been really cool to see her get to hang out with Jake and Nog and just be a kid for once. It feels way too weird the way they began her character as this traumatized little girl who knew nothing but the brief time of her life she spent with her mother on Bajor and the horrors of the Breen mines and then magically turned her into this saccharine sweet, mostly well-adjusted young woman who loves her tyrant father despite his crimes (and in many ways, is seemingly unaware of them???????). Where was the therapy? Where was the rehabilitation? Where was the jaded child we saw in “Indiscretion”? What if Ziyal had been allowed to channel her anger and pain into learning about Bajor and Cardassia, into healing herself? Her dad basically plucked her out of the Breen mines after years of giving less than a Cardassian vole's asshole about her and then it turns out he originally planned to kill her when he found her? After she prayed for years that he'd come and save her? I'd be pissed.

But also, I wish they'd explored more of why she didn't appear to be all that pissed. We have almost no other context for Ziyal's childhood, certainly not any of what it was like before Dukat sent her and Naprem away. Was it simply exhaustion and desperation that led her to the conclusion that she'd rather die than not be with him once he'd found her? Was there a guise Dukat put up to portray himself as a kind father and mask the tyrant underneath before he sent Naprem and Ziyal away? Or did she even get to see Dukat at all in her early childhood? Did she simply assume he would be a loving father? Is that the image Ziyal clung to for comfort for all those years? Did she cling so tightly she could do little else but believe it?

It feels icky to kind of reduce her existence to Dukat Drama™ the way the show ultimately did with her death. Why didn’t we get to see her experiencing disillusionment about Dukat, who never actually changed for the better when she was still alive and trying to get him to stop being so horrible? Why didn’t we get any Rugal-level anger from her, the hushed-up child of a Bajoran comfort woman and the genocidal former Prefect of Bajor? Because, obviously, Dukat never actually took his fatherhood to her seriously. She tried to imagine him as someone he was not and he predictably chose to inflate his own ego by encouraging her. She wasn't much more to him than a device to garner some twisted idea of sympathy for himself. Ziyal needed more of a chance to break away from relying on Dukat for unconditional love. Because his love, as we know, was not unconditional. In fact, I hesitate to even call it love at all, given how ready he was to manipulate Ziyal, how ready he was to get rid of her. She had unconditional love from Kira, who immediately went to bat for her before she’d even met her when she found out what Dukat planned to do to his own daughter. And I totally believe Garak’s love for Ziyal could have grown into something unconditional, but they ruined it with some weird, out-of-nowhere romance with an uncomfortable age gap and then had her killed off like some tragic, helpless maiden.

DS9 was sort of the only place Ziyal could experience any sort of semblance of real safety in her life, especially considering both Bajoran and Cardassian attitudes towards biracial children. It would have been interesting to explore an arc with her making DS9 her home as a place that is conducive to the cohabitation of many different species and cultures while also wrestling with isolation and ostracization from those who share in the two most pervasively impactful facets of her identity. Maybe the writers wanted to focus on portraying her girlhood and favored it over exploring the complexities of her Cardassian-Bajoran heritage. But honestly, they failed at both. She never got to have a girlhood and she ultimately became more of a plot device than a fully-fledged character. This franchise started off with its most interesting and beloved main character being both Vulcan and human. I know Ziyal is someone else entirely, but they totally could have done more with her than they did.

I would love, love, LOVE to see her engage with different aspects of both Bajoran and Cardassian culture. I wonder if she would develop any kind of spirituality regarding the Prophets. Since Bajorans are widely a spiritual people, it's possible Naprem shared some of her spiritual practices with her daughter. If she did, does Ziyal observe those practices to feel closer to her mother? Does she seek Kira's help in learning more about Bajoran spirituality? Do they connect over the struggles their faith has gotten them through? Would delving deeper into Bajoran spirituality open a gateway to acceptance from other Bajorans? Or would it make them turn their backs on her even more? How does her Cardassian-Bajoran heritage impact the way she interacts with her own spirituality and beliefs? As far as Cardassian culture goes, Garak certainly has an eye for art and I could see her connecting with Professor Natima Lang, Hogue and Rekelen and learning about Cardassia's resistance movements.

Also, multiple Bajoran and Cardassian drinks, confections and meals are shown throughout the series and especially with respect to its main character, DS9 frequently places food in an important cultural, community-building role. As someone whose strongest connection to their own heritage comes from food, I would have loved to see Ziyal engage with both Bajoran and Cardassian culture through food.

Obviously, we were robbed of heaps and heaps of space station shenanigans:

Nog sharing what he learns from starfleet academy with Ziyal, Ziyal trying tube grubs and actually liking them.

Ziyal illustrating Jake’s stories into comic books or murals and the two of them creating stuff together and maybe some nerdy pop culture history discussions on the side. I feel like Jake, Nog and Ziyal would totally have weekly movie nights.

Odo looking out for her, giving her advice about handling bullies, the two of them bonding over being generally considered the odd ones out and Ziyal making paintings to add to his quarters.

Kira giving her lots of hugs, teaching her to fight, protecting her from bigots and helping her embrace her Bajoran background, teaching her Bajoran culture. Ziyal stealing clothes from Kira's closet occasionally ("You hardly ever wear anything other than your uniform, anyway! And they fit, see?"). Ziyal sneakily tagging along on Kira and Dax's trips to the holosuites, eventually convincing them to just invite her to them regularly, anyway. She knows how to use her cuteness as a force for good, but more importantly, she knows how to use it as a force for capers and hijinks.

Garak making her clothes, teaching her the art of cunning deceit and helping her embrace her Cardassian background, teaching her Cardassian culture. More hangouts in the holosuites basking on steaming rocks. And the two of them giggling in tasteful mirth at Bashir because he finds Cardassian literature boring.

Gossiping with Bashir and Jadzia, learning to treat wounds and carry a bat’leth, never growing tired of Dax’s many tales of woe, romance and adventure.

Sisko teaching her how to cook and inviting her to play baseball with him and Jake.

Quark occasionally letting her have a drink on the house because she can be more devious than him if she wants to be (“Listen, kid, if you’ll get rid of all this root beer for me, you can have as many free glasses as you want”).

Leeta and Rom being the cool aunt and uncle who buy her all the jumja sticks she wants.

Babysitting Molly and Kirayoshi and learning about plants, science and Earth history from Keiko. I wish Keiko had gotten more screen time - in general, but also of her in her element, studying plants and playing music. It's criminal that we never see Keiko play her clarinet in DS9, so I definitely would love to see the two of them playing music together if Ziyal felt so inclined.

Leaving O’Brien in the dust at darts for reasons he simply cannot fathom.

Listening to Klingon opera with Worf over glasses of prune juice.

Becoming an accidental stowaway on Kasidy’s freighter one day and Kasidy taking her with on missions to Bajor. Kasidy, Keiko and Ziyal hanging out together is a trio dynamic that never happened and definitely should have.

Talking stuff out with Ezri, the two of them commiserating over their respective identity crises.

Dressing up for nights at Vic’s.

Learning about Klingon music from that Klingon chef (I believe his name is Kaga) on the Promenade.

Punching each successive version of Weyoun in the fucking face (maybe even Weyoun 6, accidentally or intentionally, doesn't matter, it would just be funny).

Rebel strategies with Damar (I think he’d come around if he didn’t have it out for her and got over Cardassian bureaucracy), Kira and Garak.

Helping around the house whenever she and Garak visit Mila, long talks with Mila about her Obsidian Order days.

Weekly dinners with everybody.

I want to see her making friends and being supported by all the loving, caring people around her who love her (collectively and individually) more than her actual-piece-of-shit dad. I want her to grapple with the fact that certain people hate the mere existence of her enough to want her dead but also decide to go “hell with it” and fucking live for herself. She deserves to be more than the tragedy that made Dukat finally snap and descend into pure insanity. She deserves to laugh and cry and stomp her feet and dance and shout and sing and love and play and paint to her heart’s content. She deserves to be angry. She deserves to have a childhood, an adolescence, an adulthood and an elderhood. She deserves to live. And maybe to be the perpetrator of a few political assassinations as a treat.

So………....................suffice to say, I have a LOT of thoughts about Ziyal. I love her and I wish the show runners had loved her more, too.

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funnywormz · 8 months

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MILA!!!!!! 💥💥💥

#mila garak #mila ds9 #star trek #ds9 #elim garak #garak #my art #z art

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ectogeo-rebubbles · 2 years

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Headcanon that Mila was not a housekeeper in the usual sense, but rather a housekeeper in the John le Carré spy jargon sense.

Fact 1: Mila can’t cook.

Evidence: She says herself that she is not much of a cook in ‘The Dogs of War.’ Also, Garak wouldn’t eat her food in ‘What You Leave Behind.’

Fact 2: Mila doesn’t clean.

Evidence: Of the messy basement in Tain’s house where she lives, she says “This place hasn't been cleaned in years” (’The Dogs of War’) rather than something more like “I haven’t cleaned this place in years.”

Fact 3: Mila is consistently referred to as Tain’s housekeeper (and confidant) in ‘Improbable Cause,’ ‘The Die is Cast,’ and ‘The Dogs of War.’ So she is definitely a housekeeper - unless, of course, that is just her preferred cover story and she’s really the Obsidian Order’s top sniper or something. Which is also a VERY good headcanon, but for the moment let’s just go for the simplest explanation.

In le Carré’s novels, the housekeepers are a department of the British intelligence service, and they are in charge of the financial aspects of espionage as well as internal affairs within the service. (I’m going off of the definition given on the jargon section of the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy wikipedia article, as well as my memories of a handful of his works, but feel free to correct me on this definition if you think I’ve missed some nuance.)

So basically, Mila doesn’t clean... except for organizing and orchestrating all of the OO's cleanup and coverup operations. She can’t cook... but she can cook the books when money has to flow clandestinely from one shady source to another. She can’t sew either (Garak definitely doesn’t get it from her)... unless it is to sew someone's lips shut with blackmail material or to patch holes in an agent's cover stories.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk! ^_^

#Mila Garak #mila ds9 #ds9 #ds9 meta #star trek ds9

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stopthatbluecat · 2 years

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We got Mila, bitches!

#ds9 mila #mila ds9 #the dogs of war #ds9 #deep space nine

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vaguely-concerned · 2 months

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So much of Garak as a person starts to make sense once you know his childhood was a fucking gothic novel. His main playground was a graveyard and he'd play pretend by perfoming improv eulogies to an imagined audience. For a long time his main touchstone for most important figures from recent history is 'oh yeah I know about that guy my dad buried him. great flower arrangements for that one'. He finds out later his 'parents' are actually a brother and sister who had to get married to avoid the utter shame and social devastation of having a child born out of wedlock, and they live in the basement of his biological father's house. (the madwoman in the attic vs. the tiny elim in the basement.) His biological father calls himself his uncle and locks him in a closet whenever he fails to live up to his insane and unpredictable expectations and everyone just has to act like that's normal and expected, and his will hangs over everything at all times, unseen but always felt keener than anything else. The father who actually raised him grows the world's most beautiful (and as it turns out, most poisonous) orchids and keeps the mask of a god hidden in a box in his work shed. Everyone in the house is choking down secrets like it's the only air they know how to breathe anymore.

What I'm saying is that right from the get-go this guy never had the faintest shot at turning out normal, so I'm glad that by middle age he's found a way to get a bit silly with it as he continues to be deeply deeply not normal about anything ever <3

#guess who's reading a stitch in time!#star trek ds9 #elim garak #a stitch in time #star trek #ds9 #I will make a monster post of asit thoughts eventually but just. jesus christ!!! what a start in life lmao #tolan and tain seem to have been... well not exactly friends probably but to have had some connection beforehand #did tain know him or mila first??? how was mila and tolan's sibling status presumably not known publicly?#at what point during all of that did tain start to have sex with tolan's sister. the more you think about it the more fucked it gets lol #under the circumstances... shoutout to tolan and mila for not leaving him somehow even more fucked up interpersonally than he is #and no thanks to tain for anything ever I hate him so much

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garaks-padded-bra · 4 months

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I had a dream paramount released a bunch of deleted scenes from ds9 and one of them was garak finding Milas body and it was cut because garak said “dude…”

#ds9 #star trek #elim garak #mila garak

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trillscienceofficer · 10 months

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the funny part of “Tacking Into The Wind” to me is Garak, at first, thinking that Kira doesn't know about the true extent of Odo's illness when in reality Kira has noticed for a while that Odo's not being honest with her but she is basically protecting his pride by pretending to not notice. And you can see Garak in the rest of the episode being o_o at everything she does, probably thinking 'I was already not messing with Kira Nerys but now I'm messing with her even less', and assuming the role of her cheerleader because it's evidently the safest course of action

#also momentary convergence of goals for cardassia #i go back and forth on whether they grucked (grief fucked) in mila's basement but honestly? they prob have #like if worf and ezri did. garak and kira can as well #ds9

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ofhouseadama · 9 months

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sometimes i like to toy with the concept of garak's biological mother being the lost scion of a prestigious political family (ie an iliana ghemor type, just fifty years in the past) and just rotate that in my mind along with the idea of post-war cardassia being out of legitimate living heirs for these late, great houses and deciding to mandate (or heavily suggest) that the population all contribute to one big open cardassianancestryDNA. garak is huffy but does it so he can hit back to his opponents in the press that he is a bastard AND an orphan, thank you very much, but then his mom comes up as essentially the grand duchess anastasia who disappeared mysteriously on cardassia iii six months before he was theoretically born

#emily watches ds9 #mila is obviously also his mom #i just like to ping pong back and forth on if she is his biological mother

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comic-sans-chan · 1 year

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Teenage Garashir is really something special. You know Julian was a crazy son of a bitch as a teen and Garak was a sarcastic stuffy little shit with his nose glued in a book. Julian obsessing over tennis and racquetball with a perpetual middle finger pointed towards his parents and Garak weeping over Cardassian Stephanie Meyer alone in his tiny bedroom while Tain throws knives at his door and Mila shouts at him to do the dishes. Julian's drooling over five different people at once and Garak's thinking hauntedly about that cute guy he had to kill last week while he mows the lawn. They both crave death, but sparks fly the second they lay eyes on each other. Garak's trying to figure out the logistics of balancing a secret agent career and an alien husband while Julian's just daydreaming about stuffing his face in his chest and suffocating. It's a shitshow and it's magnificent.

#my posts #garashir #awkward idiot teen garashir #garak sees julian and is like ''we will wed at dawn''#julian's just thinking about smashing and dashing #until they rly get to know each other and julian realizes garak is a special princess spy guy and deserves diamonds and love ballads #and garak realizes tain's gonna be Big Pissed and starts trying to push julian away to no avail #julian's throwing pebbles at garak's window and tain's tossing grenades #garak pulling julian into clandestine meeting places just to dramatically proclaim ''we mustn't'' and cry a single crystalline tear #knowing full well julian's just gonna use it as an opportunity to snog him #and he loves it #garak grumbling to tain ''you and mila are together i don't see what the problem is'' and tain goes full mother gothel on his ass #literally just romeo and juliet but stupider and more than likely ends not with poetic death but them responsibly parting ways #only to stumble across each other again on ds9 #''but comicsans the age differe-'' sorry i seem to have misplaced my ears #''but the wars-'' oh my ears where did they go

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bestdeadbeatmilf · 2 months

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Round One, Bracket Six

Propaganda under the cut!

Mila Garak:

While she's definitely not a deadbeat mom in the lazy sense, she did kind of, proverbially speaking, leave her son out in the cold... She lied about who his real father was well into his adult life, while also imposing said father's wishes on him. She wanted what she thought would be a better life for him, a chance at upward mobility, but placed him under the thumb of an abusive man to get there and then didn't stand up for him. She roped her brother into helping raise the kid as a cover story. She retired alongside the father and didn't really do much during or after her son facing exile at his mercy. I don't think she's an unsympathetic character and I find her extremely compelling, but I also don't think anyone can claim she was a great mom 😭

Extra notes: Diversity win this ruthless woman is an alien scalie with cool hair and big boobs

Martha Wayne:

she died ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and that's enough for this fandom to render the loml janet drake abusive so... failmom martha is therefore hilarious to me. martha wayne failed at being bruces mom by dying and that's why hes batman. and they're literally rich so she was probably an absent mother too (SILLY i stand by it tho if janets a bad mom so is martha). but its ok because shes hot

Extra notes: this is mostly for the bit but you should still include her in the polls its not like she's going to win im just being petty 😭

#mila garak #deep space nine #ds9 #martha wayne #batman #dc comics #side note i cant say i have any strong feelings on janet drake but i do like dunking on blatantly incorrect fanon lets gooooooo

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stopthatbluecat · 1 year

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Oh Mila, you were taken too soon

#mila ds9 #ds9 #deep space nine #what you leave behind

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vaguely-concerned · 1 month

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garak would never judge julian for having an emotional support teddy bear because when garak was fifteen he had an emotional support pet lizard (which he named after his mum despite it being a boy lizard. still not over that) and talking to it like a crazy person was loadbearing to his sanity. I feel that maybe even more so than anyone else, he'd Get It. and I just think that's beautiful

#just thinking about that part in asit where garak is like 'oh mila the regnar we're really in it now' again. im love him so much??#star trek #star trek ds9 #ds9 #elim garak #garashir #julian bashir

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