#so is that how Garak is seeing this? Julian ending their relationship? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vaguely-concerned · 2 months

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UNHINGED DISTANT VOICES THOUGHTS (or: now we don't have time to unpack all of that julian but --)

this ep has such a banger concept (several banger concepts that should have had an ep all to themselves, really), even if its overall implementation is pretty mid. the idea that julian seems to readily believe that the most central voices inside him are aggression, fear/suspicion, doubt, confidence/sense of adventure, professionalism... and garak, being surprisingly, seductively good at tennis and taking care of him :}

in a doylist perspective I don't think this is well-crafted enough to read into it too deeply before it starts to fall gently apart, but through a watsonian lens and my fannish heart this is fucking fascinating fdsjka. where. where are all the positive feelings and sides of you that aren't about bickering with garak julian. are you okay julian. I like that since the augment storyline hadn't been conceived of yet at this point, you could look back and justify Julian's surge of confidence at the end as him realizing the lethean hasn't been able to get that deep in his mind to find what that whole mess must look like in his brain. 'you don't understand me half as well as you think you do' gains such depth, basically accidentally

'I'm a part of you, remember? I know what you know. Well... maybe a little more.'

'Still the man of mystery?'

'Oh, you wouldn't have me any other way.'

what. the FUCK fhdskjha. what's more gay, the lethean having picked through bashir's brains for this characterization of garak and their relationship (that Bashir easily buys and depends on through the ep), or him seeing half a minute max of julian and garak having lunch and uh. drawing his own conclusions, apparently. wild stuff)

Isn't this also the first time we see Julian actually play tennis with someone? All the other times it's been racquetball, right? Well well. Interesting. is all I'll say.

avery brooks does SUCH a good job changing his voice in this to match julian's doctor voice, I almost jumped in surprise when he was talking b/c that certainly isn't sisko's voice coming out of sisko's mouth

garak alternatingly going 'now -- what do you want me to do?' in a very... willing directable sort of way and telling julian that he's a good boy doing good and being so supportive and attentive and that's how the lethean tries to keep julian's shields down the longest. many thoughts. few of them PG.

JULIAN'S REASONING THAT THIS REALLY ISN'T GARAK -- NOT EVEN HIS MIND'S VERSION OF GARAK -- IS THAT THIS GARAK ISN'T COMPETENT ENOUGH FSDKJFHKSDJ. and he sounds so petulant about it too. 'the real garak would have this fixed for me a long time ago if I just batted my eyelashes and told him I thought cylon pareg's body of work was very interesting and layered :'( I miss him'

jazdia julian BROtp got me crying in quark's tonight, this was such a good direction to take that relationship. I know they kind of fuck it up again in s7 but y'know I'll take the good stuff while it's here haha

julian makes for such an amazing crotchety old man im love him

julian has a near-lethal stress dream about turning 30 and being bisexual. it's weird but very entertaining, and garak is there

#star trek #star trek ds9 #ds9 #julian bashir #garashir #distant voices #if this is incoherent or insane... that's exactly how this ep made me feel that checks out call it diegetic or something

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mlmshipbracket · 6 months

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ROUND ONE: POLL #14

ROUND 1 ALL POLLS [HERE]

PROPAGANDA BELOW

Noe Archiviste/Vanitas:

light spoilers for the main plot + the quotes are pretty meaningful so they count as spoilers too ig

they were made for each other, literally. When they first met, the first thing they did was fighting. hell, noe even said he didn't like vanitas as a person. they're a human and a vampire. they're almost always together, and their relationship grows gradually and in a very beautiful way, at least to me.

vanitas, who despises himself to the point of pushing away everybody, starts letting himself go with noe, who believes in him, and quite literally said he'll never leave him alone (as vanitas' concept of freedom is being alone). ah also they're doomed. since the first ever chapter, noe says that he will kill vanitas with his own hands, and the whole series is narrated by (future) noe's pov. in fact all the chapters are called "mémoire" and each have a title.

idk if it counts, but i'll leave here some quotes from both of them.

vanitas:

“I have absolutely no interest in the sort of person who would fall for me.” + "It’s revolting! The thought of someone falling for a person like me…”

“…Why… can’t I… kill… Why!? Wh… why…?” [referred to noe]

“If I— …get to choose how I die… If I can… wish, then… If I’m going to be killed I want Noé to do it.”

noe:

“That… was the beginning. This is… the tale of how I met Vanitas… and how we walked together… Of all we gained… and lost… And of how… at the end of that journey… I would kill him with my own two hands.”

“He’s bad-tempered. He always does whatever he wants, arbitrarily. He doesn’t care whether he gets hurt but he can’t abide others getting hurt for his sake. He tries to isolate himself by pushing everyone away. —I see. When he says ‘free’… does he mean ‘alone’?”

“My name is Noé!!! I am not ‘that Vampire’!!!! Listen to me, Vanitas. I refuse to be what you want me to be. I will never set you ‘free’!!!”

Elim Garak/Julian Bashir:

The actors both consider the ship to be canon and have actually preformed fanfiction with the characters as a couple before. It called "Little Achievements" and it's posted on Sid City's YouTube page.

Andrew Robinson (who played Garak) has straight up said that multiple of his lines were delivered with romantic intent.

#noe archiviste #vanitas #noe archiviste/vanitas #vanitas no carte #vanoe #elim garak #julian bashir #elim garak/julian bashir #gashir #star trek deep space nine #tumblr poll #tumblr bracket #mlm ship #mlm ship poll #mlm ship bracket #mlm ship bracket tournament #mlm ship bracket 2023 #mlm ship bracket tournament 2023 #thirdr1

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antiqua-lugar · 1 year

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What makes me feral about Our Man Bashir is Julian looking at Garak and repeating what he means to be a spy, making Garak's words his own words. I know so many people are like "our man bashir is where garak and julian start having issues" but for me that's a very meta interpretation of the episode because we know they are not gonna appear on screen often anymore but I refuse to believe it 1) because otherwise In Purgatory's Shadows/By Inferno's Light don't make sense 2) because the episode at its very core is about Julian and Garak seeing each other completely. Julian gets to see what it means for Garak to be Garak like in real life, not in anectodes or easily hand waved issues (like the founder thing) and Garak gets to see Julian's strength and determination and steel and hope when he's not being a doctor.

As I understand it right now, Garak accepts Julian by letting him take the lead and Julian accepts Garak by parroting his words to say "I heard you. I understand". It's when they deepen their relationship and become truly equals, when Garak can be open about his beliefs and for once they can have an open discussion and reach a mutual open agreement. Which is why the episode can end with them deciding to do it again but for fun. Julian is now comfortable enough to show Garak his silliest spy fantasies knowing he'll be mocked but not judged and Garak can see it simply as playing pretend with a friend. It's specifically a different kind of fun from their literally discussions because in a way it's more about them as individuals while their literary discussions are about them as individuals AND as members of their respective societies, worlds and professions.

I think.

Anyway if nothing else "Julian is now comfortable showing his James Bond hologram to all his friends" is Canon and I'm pretty sure that after reading Julian's report Jadzia spent three weeks just plotting how to get to see Garak play as a spy.

#ds9 #garashir #our man bashir #otp: especially the lies

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sapphosewrites · 19 days

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top 10 ds9 fan fics you've written, ranked?

Oooh, tough question, friend! I don't even know what the criteria for this would be, because the most AO3 popular ones are not always my favorites... Okay, you know what, here we go. I'm just going to go for it and make some decisions. I'm giving myself a rule, though, that I can only chose one from a series, so I'm not just listing everything in the Terok Nor AU. I'll also try to hit different kinds of fics I've written.

10.) After the End of the World: A Survey of Seminal Works of Cardassian Post-Apocalyptic Literature from cross-posted to tumblr. 533 words, "An examination of the Cardassian post-apocalyptic literary genre before and after the Dominion War." This isn't my most popular or my best written but it's one of my favorites; I like in-world diegetic texts and worldbuilding and I'm obsessed with the idea of post-canon Cardassia as post-apocalypse.

9.) Never Have I Ever from The Game Is Afoot, 1,294 words, T, "Julian introduces Garak to the human game never have I ever." This was fun to write and is fun to reread every time! I often spend a lot of fic space on angst and identity and all the reasons why it's a bad idea for Julian and Garak to get together, but in this one we just get to spend time seeing them be clever and enjoy each other's company.

8.) Tribbles, Togetherness, and the Great River, 1,742 words, G, "In their shared quarters, Nog and Jake discuss tribbles, pets, and telling their families about their relationship." This is my only full standalone Jake/Nog fic, and it's another that was a pleasure to write and still makes me smile. It's fun to spend a sweet moment with two young people figuring out how they fit together.

7.) Del Floria's Tailor Shop, 336 words, also known as the space tumblr one. I think this is possibly the funniest thing I've ever written.

6.) Push Me Til I Break, 4,653 words, M, also known as the one where Garak interrogates Julian, and the role play goes wrong. Maybe the most tense thing I've ever written, and really leans into the ways in which two deeply hurting people can choose to hurt or hold.

5.) Growth, 45,843 words, T, "Julian and Garak grapple with their pasts and their feelings for each other at the end of the series." My super long post-canon Cardassia fic, back when I had no idea how to string a multi-chapter idea together. There's a lot I would change if I wrote this now (I've grown as a writer in many ways, including my ability to have scene transitions), but some of the conversations and moments in here are still absolute favorites of mine, particularly around ideas of self-forgiveness, the clash between values and actions, and the importance of choice.

4.) Predetermination, 22,200 words, T, Mirror Bashir arrives at the station and suddenly the nature/nurture debate has never had higher stakes. This is one of the places I think I've been most successful in using sci fi to ask big questions that hopefully resonate in the modern day, about who we are and how we become. Also, the ending takes inspiration from one of my favorite TNG episodes, and that was cool too.

3.) Especially the Lies, 13,019 words, T, "Something is going on with Garak, and no one knows what, except for possibly Julian Bashir." This is my only archive-warning-applied fic and it was really important to me to tell a story about care, for a character who I think doesn't believe he's allowed to have any, in a real world circumstance that too often people have to go through alone.

2.) Necessary Storms, 15,149 words, T, Julian and Starfleet Spouse Garak get entangled in Trill politics. I feel like this is one of the things I've written that most feels like it could be an episode of Star Trek, and is also a fairly unsubtle (though initially unintentional) way to explore populism, demagoguery, resource distribution, and revolt at a very particular moment in national politics with the aesthetic distance that sci fi offers.

1.) Old Friends: An Enigma Tale from Terok Nor AU. I'm exceedingly proud of this whole series, which started as just "what can I do with the idea of dabo boy Julian" and has turned into a sweeping journey covering how Terok Nor becomes Deep Space 9. This most recent installment is perhaps not indicative of the series as a whole, but it was a lot of fun to write and is also a dip into my other favorite genre aside from sci fi (murder mystery).

#my writing #confess nothing is statistically my most popular fic but i don't think it's my most interesting #almost made the list are made to measure and son of tain #also none of my fairy tale things are on here but i think i have lots of interesting ideas in those as well #if you have a fic that is your personal top of what i've written i'd love to hear about it!

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comic-sans-chan · 1 year

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I really enjoy Julian's close friendships because I feel like they all say something really succinct about Julian as a genetically engineered character. Everything about them makes perfect sense.

Jadzia is because she's adventurous - the show points this out - but it's also because she's lived long enough and seen enough shit, there might actually be a chance of her accepting him as an augment, which is why Julian becomes obsessed with the idea of a relationship with her. She’s rarely judgmental. And because she is uniquely intelligent, knowledgeable and wise thanks to the symbiont, speaking to her is uniquely fulfilling for someone as unnaturally brilliant as Julian. It doesn’t hurt that she has such a soft heart, just like him. Compassion is his center, the most human thing about him that he clings to like a lifeline.

Garak is because Julian has that whole thing about spies and lying and identity crises, so he understands Garak on a core level right from the start, but they also end up being highly compatible as two cerebral, annoying, passionate people who just love analyzing and picking things (and each other) apart. They both have daddy and mommy issues. They’re both insane. Julian can be dangerous and grumpy and real with Garak and it just comes across as hot because Garak’s Cardassian. He can handle the full brunt of Julian Bashir, so he doesn’t have to edit himself so much, and when he does have to, he doesn’t have to feel guilty because Garak’s doing it, too. As an agent, Garak was also barred from meaningful attachments, just like Julian, so their attachment to each other is extra exciting and illicit. Forbidden twofold. Oh my.

O'Brien is because he's the quintessential human, an average joe in a happy marriage with a kid, which are experiences Julian can never have as an augment, so hanging out with him makes Julian feel more connected to his humanity (which he is constantly questioning the existence of). They can drink and play games and be stupid and Julian can pretend he’s normal for a while. He can listen to O’Brien talk about Keiko and his kids and his simple uncomplicated views on the world and see what a normal human life is supposed to look like. O'Brien's acceptance of him as someone with enduring human characteristics in Dr. Bashir, I Presume? is especially meaningful because of all this, though Julian has trouble accepting it. There's no one more suited to accepting Julian as human than Miles O'Brien.

I just love how neatly everything fits together.

#deep space nine #ds9 #my posts #feeling happy #thinking about julian gives me the same feeling as watching those extremely satisfying videos #it's just so tidy #i'm not sure the writers did any of it on purpose but it works and i love it #little bit random but remember when julian faked going on a winning streak at darts after o'brien lost his touch #renewing quark's hopes #and it was 100% julian just fucking with him #secret maniacal asshole #garashir #julian bashir

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rogueyami · 1 year

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Garashir Fic Rec

Hey everyone! Finally I’m posting my garashir fic rec list. This is gonna be a long one so there will be a read more. So happy to share my fav fics because omg there are so many amazing writers in this fandom. Without further ado, here we go:

Why Don't You Run from Me by BlessedAreTheFandoms E, 19k

Set after interment camp 371. Julian is self destructing and he turns to Garak. I love a fic that explores Julian mental and emotional state after camp 371 and this fic really delivers. Mind the tags and grab some tissues!

call me by the old familiar name by simplyprologue M, 40k

This fic really has you on the edge of your seat. This is set quite some time after ds9 ended. Garak is Castellan and Kira is a military minister and they find Julian’s “dead” body delivered to them. Note that there is no major character death tag. You got Julian trying to expose section 31, Garak pining and devastated over Julian’s “death”, and them finally getting together :) I really love Garak and Kira’s friendship here too!

Worth Waiting For by Syaunei E, 48k

Orb of Time shenanigans featuring a new Kai! Julian gets thrown 37 years into the past where he runs into Garak when he was an operative of the Obsidian order on a Ferengi station. Love how their dynamic is reversed here where Julian is older than Garak lmao. This fic was such a treat to read!

Especially the Lies by AlphaCygni M, 23k

We got the classic fake relationship featuring Lwaxana Troi! Julian is trying to get out of “dignitary sitting” by pretending he’s in a relationship with Garak, thinking he’s really going to fool Ambassador Troi lmao. But also it becomes so much more than that when they go to a gala and something seems to be amiss...

Standards of Care by sahiya E, 41k

A medical drama fic where Julian works on a cure for a dominion engineered plague that’s ravaging ds9. He’s working himself to the bone and Garak is there to take care of him through it all while helping in his own way. I really just adore sahiya’s works and recommend checking out their other works as well!

A Bag Full of God by Vermin_Disciple E, 35k

Garak and Bashir are married with a kid while living on Cardassia. Of course their peaceful life take a turn when they both get de-aged. They both are around 19 years old and that means that it was the time Garak was at his peak in the Obsidian Order. Super interesting to see this side of Garak where his loyalty lies with the order and Enabran Tain. He’s cunning, manipulative yet unpolished since he’s not the older Garak that we know.

Impact by sfumatosoup E, 40k

A post canon Cardassia story where Julian goes to volunteer as a doctor while also trying to look for Garak. There he meets a Vulcan, Radak, and I just absolutely love his character. A story about people being in love and struggling to let one they love know. it’s very sweet and of course Julian meddles in someone else’s love life before he figures out his own lmao.

From Andor With Love by hingabee and PunishedPyotr E, 37k

Julian goes to another medical conference and Garak tags along because Julian’s track record with these conferences is not... great. And yes, you guessed it, shit goes down at this conference too. A fun story where we see people from both Garak and Julian’s past and Kira is there too because she’s on vacation but she doesn’t get to do much relaxing either

runner-up by meriwethersays E, 59k

Set post Far Beyond the Stars, Julias, a science fiction writer meets Elim Garak, a simple tailor and they soon get involved but of course, as we know with Garak, there is way more to him than meets the eye. Spy shenanigans ensue. Honestly when I started reading this fic I could literally not put it down.

Outside Chance by wcdarling E, 49k

What if Julian actually got kicked out when Starfleet discovered he was an augment? This fic answers this question and more! We see canon events unfold and the war starts and Julian tries to still help as much as he can from the outside.

take me closer, take my clothes off by wanderingwriter87 E, 11k

When I first started watching ds9 and shipping garashir, I thought that Garak would def have Julian for a fitting to subtly feel him up. And lo and behold someone wrote a fic about that exact scenario thank you @wanderingwriter87 for your service!

A Well-Dressed Man by TheCheerfulPornographer E, 17k

A beautiful story featuring Cardassian folklore, Garak making Julian a suit and of course Julian wearing the suit ;) you can imagine what happens next hehe

A Friend in the Dark by AuroraNova E, 26k

Starfleet finds out that Julian is genetically engineered so they want to court martial him. Julian accepts it and goes along with it but there is something very fishy going on here. Garak, experienced ex spy, tasks himself in rescuing and protecting Julian with the help of his friends. Julian and Garak are on the run, together they try to make the best out of a bad situation and do what they can to help with the war anonymously.

#ds9 #garashir #garashir fic rec #fic rec #ngl might do a part 2 bc there's so many lmaoo #love all these fics dearly

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section-69 · 2 years

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I can’t for the life of me find the article now, but when doing dissertation research I found this one paper about Julian and Miles’s homoeroticism, and about how DS9 presents heterosexual marriage as the only ending, and I’ve been rotating thoughts about it for too long not to share. Partial credit to that one academic – I’d credit you properly if I was still allowed to access university resources (graduating is rough, lads).

So. Sisko’s story begins with his wife dying, and although most of the show centers his relationship with his son, by the end his marriage to Kasidy is So Important she’s the only person he says goodbye to. We have marriage as a satisfying (your opinion may differ) ending for Leeta and Rom, and Jadzia and Worf. Keiko and Miles are steady throughout – they argue realistically but their marriage is never framed as changeable. Conversely, the final villain (Dukat) is divorced, and the main villainous group (the Dominion species) is a mix of clones (fundamentally asexual) and beings without enough individuality to have marriage as a concept. Even Odo, despite not actually being married to Kira, needs romantic love to “redeem” him from the other Changelings – canonically it’s the only reason he doesn’t go join the fascists.

All of that makes Julian really interesting, because he refuses to stick with a woman. He has chemistry with some (him and Dax have some great moments imo) but it’s primarily friendly relationships rather than romantic ones (going by very strict 90s definitions of Friend, Lover, and Partner). We’re told he Was engaged, once, but called it off before marriage. Prior to the augment reveal, his main relationships are with Garak (another single man – dangerous because we have to be hetero here), Jadzia (married woman, can’t give him the ending the narrative demands), and Miles (married man). I think part of why Julian and Garak have fewer interactions is Because of the augment reveal. Before that, one of Julian’s biggest character traits was that he was painfully Federation – here read Good and Conforming, not always successfully, but not poorly enough to matter, he was always going to settle down and marry a woman. But after we find out he’s augmented? That he’s been lying this whole time? That he’s not supposed to be here? That’s dangerous, that opens up possibilities. If Julian is Different from everyone else in an Illegal and Immoral way… you can see how, consciously or not, 90s writers would have issues continuing to pair him with a queer coded single man.

In comes Miles. I mean, he was already there, they’ve been friends for ages before season 5, but more so. Marriage in DS9 ends in two ways – death if you’re Starfleet, divorce if you’re not. And Miles is Starfleet (possibly the most Starfleet, since he’s from TNG and 100% human). Pairing Julian primarily with Miles is safe, because when they leave the bar Miles will always go home to his wife. Married men are allowed to be as homoerotic as they like in this story – divorce doesn’t happen to the good guys, and Keiko is rarely enough in the line of fire that an end to this marriage is unlikely. If Miles felt trapped in this marriage – and narratively speaking he totally is – he has a safe out for it now.

Julian and Ezri don’t need to marry to prove that he’s Good and Straight Enough – she’s already been married as Jadzia, and he is safely with the good guys with his homoerotic married friend. But ending with them as a couple solidifies it. The writers (according to the documentary) think they’ll stay together, and within the rules of this story they’re right. If Julian and Ezri are truly good, they don’t get a choice.

#sorry about that I have Thoughts #ds9 #star trek #meta #my posts #julian bashir #miles o'brien #elim garak #ezri dax

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the-last-dillpickle · 2 months

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What’s Sloan’s ideal sloanshir scenario? Is he daydreaming about unrealistic true love happily ever afters? Does he want to break Julian so that he can put the pieces back together in a pleasingly fucked up way? Does he want to perfectly manipulate Julian into wanting him, while he still only holds contempt for him? Does he want Julian to stay defiant even as he’s forced to do what Sloan wants? Something else? Any or all of these? Would love to hear your thoughts

OMG I love all of these! I'm someone who's got a very 'It's all true' take on fandom, so I would def enjoy seeing any or all of these concepts explored in fic or otherwise. Honestly tho? I think going as close to canon and writer's intent as possible while remaining Sloanshir---Sloan wants, in part, to be a Garak. He wants forgiveness/understanding from someone he sees as morally upright. He wants to be seen. But unlike Garak, he's not getting kicked out of his organization anytime soon and so he's not going to stop his BS. I think Sloan also wants Julian's gratitude. He wants Julian, the platonic ideal of a Federation idealist who Sloan does what he does to protect, to see how dark of a world Sloan must navigate in order to keep the shining utopia of the Federation going.

Sloan's ideal sloanshir is a sort of wistful romance. Their meetings are fleeting but passionate. He has Julian's respect, and though Sloan can and will betray him on occasion, Julian gets it. He forgives it. Sloan is also DEF cheating on Jessica in this scenario 😂 (what happens during spy work stays in spy work.) Maybe Sloan tells Julian about her eventually, and imaginary Julian is all, "She's a lucky woman." They don't often have moral/ethical discussions but when they do, it always ends with a draw (there are things Julian cannot condone and remain the idealist in Sloan's mind) or with Julian conceding that Sloan is right. Basically, the whole relationship is about making Sloan feel better about himself and to give him a sense of emotional closeness that he's lost with his family due to his spywork.

Of course, Julian's complete and utter disdain for Sloan ruins any possibility of this, and so Sloan is willing to settle with hatesex and indulging his sadomasochistic side by playing mindgames.

#julian is like a shiny toy to him #gotta say i really really love your idea about sloan manipulating julian into wanting him while sloan holds only contempt tho #like i will be Thinking about that 👀

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kuwdora · 6 months

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @deerna and @jawanaka !

How many works do you have on A03? 110 - but this would probably be +200 if I had been crossposting my fanvids there. I still remember when video embeds did not work on AO3 pages. But that was ages ago. And I’m terrible at crossposting. Especially when I have so many to crosspost at this point.

What's your total A03 word count? 280,783

What fandoms do you write for? In the past it was Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, Heroes and Sanctuary and a lovely romp with Being Human UK. Star Trek. These days I’m still on The Witcher, with the occasional fleeting non-witcher stuff I manage to finish.

What are your top five fics by kudos? I can see through you, The Witcher Netflix. My Geralt and Jaskier role reversal thing. More like a role inversion.

Surface Tension, The Witcher Netflix. soft very established relationship Geralt/Yen/Jaskier smut.

Papa’s Got a Brand New Suit, Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Julian/Garak PWP. From ye olde porn battle days. Learning Curve, The Witcher Netflix. Yen/Jaskier, post-season 2 soft feelings and sex with an emphasis on all of Yennefer's pain.

Heart Tap, The Witcher Netflix. Leshen Eskel(/Geralt). My first story about what it could be like for Eskel to live with his transformation into a monster. I'm actually surprised this is in my top 5 kudos considering how niche it is but man I love my tree boyfriend and have so many more thoughts about him that I haven't gotten out yet...

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! I try to respond to comments when I can. Sometimes it takes forever and sometimes I do forget to respond to comments but man I love rolling around in them.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? My angstiest endings are for fic that I haven’t finished or posted on AO3 yet for more of my witcher fixations. But for posted things?? Hmm. I do have an old Heroes fic called Code of Hammurabi that is Peter/Sylar time travel AU that’s particularly angsty and gave me the chance to rummage around in the way Peter would endure in a very very messy situation.

Oh, my Doctor Sleep ficlet is also pretty angsty. Danny reflecting on his time with Billy when Billy's ghost shows up. I'm smiling upside down is the name of that ficlet.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh that’s probably my smutty fluffy thing for Being Human. PWP. Moon Mambo, Hal/Tom.

Do you get hate on fics? No, but I sense that’s only a matter of time before someone directs their hate at me.

Do you write smut? Yup.

Do you write crossovers? Yes, but not for a very long time. I have a “Ciri collects all the young girl protagonists from sci-fi/fantasy books for a group project” crossover idea but my focus is too scattered to get that going. I did start it with a Nona-meets-Ciri Locked Tomb/witcher crossover here: Call to Adventure.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of. I think my stuff is far too niche and self-indulgent for that kind of thing but who knows. The internet is a smaller place these days but people seem to find new ways to steal. Alternatively: I did learn that someone submitted one of my Stargate SG-1 vids to a Creation Con fanvid contest that had prize money in it. That was very upsetting to learn well after the fact.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, not co-written. But I do love rolling around with my beta and workshopping my fic into better shape and a lot of my stuff ends up way better as a result of my betas. And I also love doing the same with folks who ask me for beta. It’s a fun kind of collaboration.

What's your all-time favourite ship? Agh this one is so hard. Don’t make me pick just one. Aeryn/John from Farscape. Fraser/Ray(s) from due South. I don’t write a lot of book Yennefer/Geralt but they also are It for me.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh my god, definitely my TWN Leshkel canonical divergence AU thing. I have something like a whole season 2 (not a fix-it) outlined, with lots of stuff focusing on Ciri and Leshy Eskel, and Leshy Eskel with Triss. With more stuff about witcher-and-leshen biology and Wolf School disappearing, Kaer Morhen becoming a magical greenhouse where a mythical Swallow is rumored to visit every 6 years.

What are your writing strengths? Description, maybe characterizations. Theme and tone.

What are your writing weaknesses? Too much description, comma splices. Slow pacing.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I think it’s fun to do but it can be a lot to read and I definitely will overthink the writing and both the reading. If it suits the characterization and context clues within the text, I think that’s cool. But I think it’s fine to go without con-lang or other languages in fic. It’s just a matter of texture and color that adds to the scene, you know?

First fandom you wrote for? Stargate SG-1.

Favourite fic you've ever written? Ever??? It’s so hard to pick just one. Hang on, I got several of those ‘rec 5 of your favorite fics’ asks in my inbox. Lemme see if I can pick 5 for that.

#whewwww i have been ill this month but i finally have energy to pick up one of my tag games! yayayayay #i must have at least another 100k of fic i've written in the last 14 months that's not finished. i really ought to do a wip amnesty thing #but i don't wanna let go #hmmmm #tag game #writing meme #meme #fic meme #ao3 meme #textpost

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sshbpodcast · 21 days

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Character Spotlight: Garak

By Ames

No one here but us plain, simple tailors this week on A Star to Steer Her By. We’re finally scrutinizing fan-favorite recurring character Garak, who’s definitely more complex and nuanced than even some main characters we’ve discussed before. As we assembled our classic Best and Worst Moments lists, we found that Garak has the most moments that somehow end up in both. That’s how morally (and physically) grey this guy is.

So let’s get our measurements taken as we spotlight DS9’s resident Cardassian spy, played so stunningly by Andrew Robinson (have you read his book yet? It’s amazing). Scroll on below or decode some ciphers with us on this week’s podcast discussion (jump over to 48:23). Of all the moments we’re spotlighting, which are the best and which are the worst? My dear reader, they’re all best moments. Even the worst moments? Especially the worst moments.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Let us haggle Our very first introduction to Garak in “Past Prologue” sets him up as mysterious, sneaky, and downright sassy. It’s always nebulous just how far his covert information extends versus how much he’s ever just toying with Julian, but in this early episode, he helps the doctor uncover some shady dealings that the Bajoran terrorist Tahna Los has been engaging in. And it’s delightful.

Schemes within schemes Garak and Bashir team up again in the season two “Cardassians,” in which Garak sees through decades’ worth of Cardassian scheming (the best kind of scheming) to expose Dukat’s war orphan plot. The details are convoluted and Rube Goldbergy, but the tailor puts together all the pieces and concludes that Dukat is looking to undermine Gul Pa'Dar, some-freakin’-how.

Personally, I find this style a bit too radical Listening to Garak’s smoothtalking is always extra fun because he’s always saying more than is just on the surface. Even when he doesn’t have to! In his own way, he warns Quark that Natima Lang is in danger in “Profit and Loss.” By the end of the episode, he goes so far as to shoot Toran, saving Quark’s lady love and her students before they go “out of fashion.”

My best friend, Elim The first episode to appear on both lists is “The Wire” because it’s just so Garak. While he never tells Bashir the truth once, he’s at his most vulnerable when he’s telling his various Elim stories. In his own Cardassian way, he connects with his dear doctor and expresses things about himself that, though not empirically true, are him at his most real. And the shippers rejoice.

Major, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you looking so ravishing We give Major Kira major props for her role in the stunning “Second Skin,” but Garak plays a large part as well. When Kira and Ghemor’s backs are up against the wall, Garak comes through for the DS9 crew. And like when he killed Toran in “Profit and Loss,” he’s able to put his Cardassian patriotism aside to kill the hell out of Entek and quip about it at the same time.

The spy who loved me It’s no wonder people ship Bashir and Garak so much when there are episodes like “Our Man Bashir” to fan the fires. And when things go awry in the holodeck, Garak is able to quip his way through the Bond-style holoprogram that they find themselves trapped in, all the while mocking what Julian seems to think the spy world is actually like. And he pulls off a tux pretty well too!

Excuse me, my dungeon awaits So many times that Garak saved the day have seemed to just be convenient for the character, but he’s especially heroic in “By Inferno’s Light.” He fights through his fears to go into the claustrophobia closet in the Jem’Hadar prison and remote into the waiting shuttle. Without Garak doing what needed to be done, surely the Jem’Hadar would have killed them all.

I promise you I will come back While the relationship between Garak and Ziyal always seemed kind of one-sided to us, we must admit that it was good for both characters to have someone whom they could relate to on the station. We see between “In Purgatory’s Shadow” and “By Inferno’s Light” that they care about each other, though sadly Garak never understands why before her untimely death.

A very messy, very bloody business Another episode that belongs on both lists is “In the Pale Moonlight.” We already gave Sisko some guff for this one, so let’s start off by being impressed by the layers of Cardassian scheming Garak does. Sure, it’s unethical and kind of monstrous, but it’s also a thing of beauty watching all the pieces of Garak’s plan come together to trick the Romulans into getting into the war. Not only can he live with it, but he sleeps like a baby.

Alan Turing, eat your heart out Garak uses some of his Obsidian Order talents to do some code breaking for the Federation in “Afterimage.” His arc in the final season of DS9 is a hell of a journey because he knows the work he’s doing for Sisko and crew will hurt the Cardassia he loves, but he also knows it’ll be for the best in the end to rid the quadrant of the Dominion so they can start rebuilding.

We might have a revolution on our hands Speaking of the Cardassia that Garak loves, he joins Damar and Kira’s little resistance in “The Dogs of War” and goes down to the planet to incite a revolution against the Dominion. When even Damar has opened his eyes to the atrocities the Founders are commiting in the Alpha Quadrant, then you know that it’s got to be something worth fighting for.

The last Weyoun In the siege of Cardassia Prime in “What You Leave Behind,” Garak gets to be the one to shoot Weyoun 8 after the two chirp at each other first. Turns out this is the last of the Weyoun clones, which Garak has firmly put to rest as the Federation ousts the Dominion forces from Cardassia. Garak’s story finally complete, his exile has ended in time to return to the ashes.

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Worst moments

Nothing to look forward to but having lunch with you We’ll also see later in the series that Garak isn’t one to prioritize his mental health, so his abuse of his feel-good wire in the titular “The Wire” portrays how bad he is at taking care of himself or getting help when he is at his lowest points. When he attacks his friend and doctor when he’s going through withdrawal, you just wanna see him get better because this isn’t healthy, Garak.

Initiating counterinsurgency program level four Though Garak apparently has access codes that no doubt Sisko revoked after “Civil Defense,” he still utterly fails to stop the station’s counterinsurgency program from locking out the Starfleet personnel. In fact, per the “Attention Bajoran Workers” protocol, he’s made things that much worse by insisting they have to shut down life support only for a laser ball to replicate in Ops.

You can’t waterboard a goo It’s hardest for us to forgive Garak from ruthlessly torturing Odo in “The Die Is Cast” just to get back in the good graces of Daddy Tain… but we’ll probably do so anyway. We see just what Garak is capable of with these glimpses into his Obsidian Order past. We can absolutely easily picture how he could torment someone with just his unblinking stare. His eyes. HIS EYES!

But have you considered… murder? I may have found it adorable for Garak and Bashir to play spies in “Our Man Bashir,” but he has no idea how holoprograms work. Garak is so fast to jump to the conclusion that they kill everyone that it leaves one’s head spinning. This isn’t real-life spying, Garak. This is Julian’s sexy adventure, so of course the answer is seduction, not murder, and you should’ve known that.

Is this a date or an assassination? Ziyal is looking for company and invites Garak to sunbathe on rocks like the lizards they are… and Garak spends the whole of “For the Cause” caught up in highschool drama of what Ziyal’s inventions are. Does she like him or LIKE him? Or does she just want to lure him in to present his head to her father later? It’s all below Garak, frankly, when he could just, I dunno, talk to her.

Something swift and painless and preferably bloodless I gave Quark most of the stink for this one, but I can’t let Garak off the hook either. It’s a complete missed opportunity for “Body Parts” to necessitate Quark asking Garak to assassinate him when instead he could have enrolled Garak into some even more nefarious scheme. Garak himself should have suggested faking Quark’s death and it would have been excellent.

They’re dead. You’re dead. Cardassia is dead. I always found Garak’s plan in “Broken Link” to be tenuous at best and contrived at worst. He tags along to the Gamma Quadrant for seemingly no reason, then it turns out he wants to ask the Founders if any of the Cardassians from “The Die Is Cast” are still alive (a possibility never alluded to before), then he straight up tries to destroy the Founders’ planet until Worf beats him into submission. Huh?

It looks like I’ve captured your last piece, Chief The pretty decent horror episode “Empok Nor” has got a lot going for it, but every single time they made the kotra metaphor more and more blatant, I started checking out. Dear writers, your metaphor stood on its own without you announcing it twenty-five times. Have a little confidence that your themes are working because it was a good one… until it wasn’t.

Do you feel lucky? Do ya, Chief? But that is far from the worst thing Garak does in “Empok Nor.” The psychotropic drug is mostly at fault here, but that doesn’t mean Garak feels completely innocent. He straight up murders the Cardassian sleeper guards AND crewman Amaro in cold blood, and then kidnaps and threatens Nog so he can get at the Chief, taunting him like a serial killer the whole time.

Star-crossed lizards The sweet friendship Garak strikes up with Ziyal belongs on our good list for sure, but frankly the romance between them never quite gelled for us. We see in “Call to Arms” that they kiss goodbye when she flees the station before the Dominion swoops in, and it just feels… unearned? Garak admits in “Sacrifice of Angels” that he doesn’t know what that was all about, and neither do we.

When the devil asks you to dance, you say yes I may have marveled at Garak’s precarious plan in “In the Pale Moonlight,” but that doesn’t mean I condone any of it. Even the writers make it clear in Sisko’s actions that he finds it reprehensible how many casualties there were to pull it off: the cold-blooded murder of Vreenak (and his innocent guards!), the assassination of Grathon Tolar, the deaths of literally all of Garak’s contacts. This one’s on Sisko’s list too of course, but he at least knows it’s wrong.

You’re not worthy of the name Dax One final episode that’s on both lists. Classic Garak, playing both sides. In this case, it’s more evidence that Garak does not seem to value his mental health because, when he’s suffering panic attacks and more claustrophobia in “Afterimage,” the first thing he does is lash out at his therapist, Ezri Dax, who certainly doesn’t deserve it! The poor thing.

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Well I hope we got in some cutting remarks about the good tailor of Deep Space Nine. Next week we’ve got another frequent guest star of the station to spotlight: Keiko O’Brien! Stay tuned for that while also tuning in every week as we venture through Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast. You can also quip with us over on Facebook and Twitter, and remember: the truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination.

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youngpettyqueen · 2 months

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alright as promised- Julian and Garak and Garashir thoughts on A Stitch in Time!

also, I am going to note before I even begin. yes, I ship Garashir, but im also going to focus on not viewing their dynamic entirely through a shipping lens. Garashir as a ship will be brought up, yes, but im making a concentrated effort to also discuss their relationship as presented because them as a duo compels me even without my shipping goggles on

without further ado, lets get into it-

I think the most important thing to take from how Julian and Garak are presented in A Stitch in Time is that Garak cares about Julian very, very deeply. whether you interpret that as romantic or not is up to you, but its at least made very clear that Garak cares about Julian. a lot. which, yes, we know from the show that Garak cares, but the depth of his care is truly revealed in this book

I think its safe to say that this book is the most open we see Garak be with Julian. and im not just saying in their scenes together- this entire book was written by Garak, for Julian to read. a chronicle of his history, entries made during their time on DS9, and letters written about what he's doing now on Cardassia, all written for Julian to read. this book is, quite literally, Garak showing everything he is to Julian. which is fucking incredible. we know Garak is a closed-off person and very defensive of himself, we see exactly WHY he's that way, and we're seeing that only because he's spelling it all out to give to Julian. this is an openness that Garak hasn't ever afforded himself in a relationship. and I think its for good reason that the first time he is this open and this honest, its with Julian

I was deeply compelled by Garak's point of view on his and Julian's relationship in the entries that took place during DS9. I love how distant they became from each other, and how strained things got. I never would've read it that way with just the show, and now I cant wait to do a rewatch with this new information in mind. Garak thinks Julian has ended their relationship, he thinks Julian doesnt want to learn any more from him, and he doesnt understand why. he's upset about it- he's mad! his feelings are hurt! but he cant let go. and that ties in with the sentimentality we see in Garak throughout the rest of the book. Garak could no more let go of his connection with Julian than he could his connection with Paladine when he was still on Cardassia. he still answers when Julian calls. he still calls Julian himself. even drifted apart, theyre still connected. they still care. and thats why they come back together before the end of the series- they still love each other. platonically, romantically, however you want to interpret it, you cannot deny that these two love each other

as for Julian's side of this rift. I dont think Julian sees their relationship as over, but I think he can tell something's off. Julian is very awkward in many of his scenes with Garak, and doesnt seem to know how to approach him, or even how to talk to him sometimes. whatever Julian believes is going on here, he knows something's wrong. so, in true Julian fashion, even though he doesnt know what to do or say, he reaches out. he keeps reaching out. he goes out of his way to get Garak's favourite food hand-made. he answers when Garak calls. he calls Garak. he tries to apologize. he tries, he tries, he tries. because he knows, whatever's going on, that he wants to be there for Garak. he wants to help. such is the nature of Julian Bashir- he always just wants to help

I love that his attempts to help are clumsy. the argument Julian and Garak have about Federation vs Cardassian politics is great! because we know Julian is trying to help, but Julian has a habit of being a bit condescending and even arrogant in assuming his way is the right way, and I love that Garak actually gets mad about it here. this argument really highlights just how different Julian and Garak are, but it also serves to point out just how strained Garak is with everything going on with the Dominion and Cardassia at this point. Garak is surprised at his own outburst, and I think part of it is because he's typically better at hiding his feelings, but I also think part of it is that he's this mad towards Julian. I dont think its a stretch to say that this might be reminding Garak of the events of Our Man Bashir. that episode comes up multiple times throughout the DS9 entries, and is an event that Garak associates with him and Julian drifting apart. its also the episode where we see Garak get mad at Julian about these same things- namely his arrogance, in assuming he can save everyone and that things will work out. while at first it surprised me that Garak saw these events as driving a wedge between him and Julian, in hindsight, I think it makes total sense

the idea of Julian pulling away from Garak after Our Man Bashir is what makes it make complete sense. Julian trying to apologize in the last entry for DS9 is what really makes it- he feels bad for hurting Garak. and he avoids talking about it, but he pointedly doesnt deny that he would've killed Garak if he had to, to save the others. of course the guilt of that's been eating him. of course he pulled away. because after Our Man Bashir, as we get into s5 and beyond, we see Julian start to go down a darker path. we see Julian kill. we see him lie, and manipulate, and do harm. we see him forced to compromise his morals, or compromise them by his own choice. so, yeah, it makes sense that he's pulling away from Garak

on the topic of episodes that get brought up- I love that Julian only pulls away further after the events of Doctor Bashir, I Presume? I'd wondered how that episode might've impacted his relationship with Garak, since we dont see it at all in the show besides Garak starting to make cracks at Julian about being augmented. I love that Julian being outed as being augmented played a part in him and Garak drifting apart. if theres one thing I wish would've been included in the DS9 entries, I wish we could've seen if Garak and Julian talked either during or right after the events of that episode. I think it'd be interesting, though, if they didnt. I think it'd be interesting if they never talked about it. I honestly think that could track with how they've drifted apart at this point. it'll be left up to me to wonder, I think, but its all very fascinating

I love that despite everything, Garak's respect and admiration for Julian is always clear- especially when it comes to traits like his kindness. its nice to see that, despite how Garak always gets on Julian's case about his naivety and optimism, he actually does love these so-called "soft things" about Julian. he loves his kindness. he loves his selflessness. he loves that desire Julian has to just help everybody around him. I think this kindness is what really helps pull their relationship back together, in more ways than one

for one thing, I think if Julian wasn't his kind and loving and open self, I dont think Garak would be able to be as open as he is with him. Garak is very much used to people having multiple agendas, and Julian is just not like that. Julian is open and honest to a fault, with his only big secret being that he was augmented, and once thats out in the open, he doesnt have anything left to hide. Julian and Garak's relationship might've started with Julian clumsily trying to be a spy, but it quickly became just... a friendship. Julian doesnt want anything from Garak besides a relationship. he just wants Garak. and its this honest, open approach to that that reminds Garak that this is Julian, who he can trust, and thats what lets them mend this thing between them

I also think its crucial that Garak's respect and admiration for Julian's kindness ultimately overpowers his desire to teach Julian his ways. Garak sees their relationship as over because he believes that Julian doesnt want to learn from him. the hurdle that Garak has to overcome here is that he needs to see that Julian can still learn from him, but not in the way he thinks. Garak has to learn that Julian doesnt need to learn how to be a hardened spy from him. he doesnt need to learn how to close himself off, or be more cynical- what he gets from Garak, what he learns from Garak, is how to be challenged. Garak challenges Julian constantly, forces him to think about things from different perspectives he otherwise wouldnt have considered. Julian gets caught up in believing his way is the right way, he cant always see the other side of things, and Garak is the one who will make him see it. thats why their relationship, even when its distanced, is never over- because Julian is still learning from Garak as he continues to challenge him, and Garak is still learning from Julian as he learns that sentimentality isnt a weakness after all

the last entry set in DS9 means the entire world to me. Garak immediately calling Julian after a nightmare. Julian going to him. the discussion they have. Garak realizing what he has to do. the apologies Julian tries to make, and how Garak won't let him. the way they come together again at last, and you know theyre going to be ok. Garak calling him Julian... you have to wonder if this is the first time Garak has actually called him by his name, because to my memory he doesnt do so at any point in the show. and of course its Julian who makes Garak see what he needs to do, and where he needs to be. just, that entire scene. its so important to me. you can feel the love, and it feels like a sigh of relief, because they've finally bridged this gap between them

to me, though, the most loving bit is the very end of the novel. Garak inviting Julian to come to his home, and see what he's done. Garak has just documented pretty much his entire life and sent it to Julian so that Julian will know every part of him, and he's ended it by inviting Julian to his home. holy shit. this is where the shipping goggles go on cause oh my god. Garak has just gone "here's my heart. here's my soul. here's my core. here's everything that's made me into me. here's what I was thinking when we weren't talking. here's how much I missed you. here's everything youve ever done for me. nothing would make me happier than you coming to see me. come see my home. come see what ive done. I love you. come to my home." this entire novel is such a massive display of vulnerability and trust, of an openness Garak has never allowed himself to express, and it end it by inviting Julian to come to his home? im going to fucking explode.

Garak wasn't this open with Palandine. he wasn't this open with Pythas. he wasn't this open with Tolan, with Mila, with Tain- there's been nobody he's been this open with. his relationship with Julian is so much different than any other relationship he's had, just for the fact that he can be truly, openly himself. and he knows he can be, because he knows Julian. this novel really highlights how well Garak knows Julian, and understands him- he knows Julian will accept him for who he is, because Julian always has. Julian would never be as harsh on Garak as Garak is on himself, Julian is the kind voice in his head, and its exactly BECAUSE he sees Garak for who he is: a man who's trying his best. nobody else has ever seen that in Garak- I dont think even Palandine saw it. I think she probably got the closest to seeing it, and I think Pythas too might've gotten close had they not been separated for so long, but nobody ever got close to Garak like Julian managed to

I think however you interpret the Julian and Garak dynamic, you can read this book and understand that these two love each other. deeply. whether that means platonically or romantically you can interpret yourself, but however you define it, the love is still undeniably there. do I think its romantic? hell yeah. they make me fucking insane and every interaction between them in this book made me scream out loud. but I think its a testament to how theyre written that the love is there no matter how you read it, and that their relationship is just incredibly solid all around. Andrew Robinson clearly put a lot of work and love and thought into how he portrayed these two, and it shows in every scene, every line where Garak even thinks about Julian

alright gonna wrap up because this is getting. so long. I love that this book wasn't about their relationship, but it also was. because this book is, of course, about Garak. but it was written by Garak, for Julian. and it ends perfectly, with Garak holding a hand out and going "you're always welcome, doctor." so, yeah, this is Garak's story, but it's also Garak's story for Julian, and that makes me, personally, feel a little insane

#star trek: ds9 #a stitch in time #elim garak #julian bashir #otp: I need to know that someone forgives me #be impressed I managed to keep myself coherent cause im vibrating as I type #the ending of the book does fuel my hc that Julian goes to Cardassia #stays for a bit and then goes back to DS9 #and then returns a few days later with all his stuff cause he sees the work that needs to be done #and the nature of Julian Bashir is that he's always going to help #no matter what #and he stays on Cardassia and he stays with Garak and they kiss about it <3 #god these two rot my brain #anyways there 2 huge posts about A Stitch in Time #what a fucking book #shoutout to Andrew Robinson #will be sending him the bill for my therapy

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thegeminisage · 2 months

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STAR TREK UPDATE TIME quick fast. last night we watched tng's "gambit part ii" and ds9's "cardassians"

gambit part ii (tng):

well, this continued to be underwhelming and frustrating for reasons outlined in my previous post

i will cop to maybe not following the plot as closely as i could have been but i thought the artifact turning out to be a weapon was fucking stupid, especially considering it was a Mind Weapon. girl what on earth. we didn't even get to visit vulcan properly

i DID however call that vulcan racefaking as romulan which i was quite thrilled about

vulcan race purity extremists right as we're having bajoran race purity extremists in ds9...girl what is in the water out there. everybody calm down. globalization (galaxization?) is not the end of the world

i did perk up a little when riker was forced to play his literal charade with other people, such as worf and beverly, but it was so brief as to be nearly insulting

this is the only time i think i have not sided with data in an argument...i don't think there was any reason to take poor worf to the woodshed like that :( i'm glad they're still friends though

cardassians (ds9):

oh i had STARS in my eyes this entire episode. i have been COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS until we see garak again and he did NOT disappoint

from what i saw of gifs i never expected his and julian's relationship to be like this...i expected julian to be mister stammery and for garak to enjoy making him squirm. which would have been great and i would not object to it in future content but what we got was a welcome surprise in that it was way more complex!!

like, julian as the garak whisperer...sisko didn't summon garak to his office directly he told julian to have garak there at a certain time. "he never tells me what he's actually thinking i just sort of deduce it"etcetc. i also like julian instinctively knowing when to let garak come to him and when to be firm with him ie stop the whole fucking shuttlecraft until his ass gets some real answers. we havent seen much of his bedside manner yet so to speak but he actually CAN be good with people! or maybe just good with garak

i can't wait to find out more about garak. the worst part of a garak episode is knowing now you have to wait a long time until the next garak episode. i love that he deliberately keeps us out of the loop even though i am DYING to know everything about him. you get the idea that he's really been through something

side bar how and why is he able to get into julians room in the middle of the night???? did julian give him the door code jic 👀other side bar i love this mans little silk pajamas. actually everybodys pj game was on point

cardassian war orphans FUCKED UP. no one is coming to take them back to cardassia, except the one who doesn't want to go. i am SO relieved they didn't pull a tng here by the way. going in i was almost sure they wouldn't but still

bonus points for obrien being fantasy racist in front of his japanese wife. she used her teacher voice to set him straight and not another word of that came out of his mouth for the entire episode. one that man knows about happy wife happy life. two it's a good callback to him also having a card in the cardassian-hating game. pretty sure we said "that was a very ugly thing you just said i dont need to hear it twice" about 1000 times to each other during the rest of the episode

my only gripe with this episode is that i would have liked to hear where kira comes down on this...this episode was very full and not really About her, but the absence of her felt very weird, especially when most of the cardassian stuff involves her so heavily. you can sort of guess where she'd stand ("if they don't like the way we parent they shouldn't have left them here and also we're being way nicer to them than they ever were to bajoran children") but i'd still like to hear it FROM HER. a shame we just didn't seem to have room

of course, i cannot possibly end this post without a shoutout to my very best friend sisko. my favorite sisko moment in this episode was his increasing incredulity when bashir interrupted his MEETING WITH A CARDASSIAN POLITICIAN to interrogate him without warning and then said "it was the highlight of my day. don't do it again." and then bashir did it again. my second favorite part was when bashir woke him up at fuck o clock and said he needed a runabout and sisko was like girl why and julian was like im sorry i have no idea and sisko was like well by all means. will one runabout do. like. he's so wry and sarcastic and at the same time so chill with breaking the rules when it matters - he trusts julian enough to know he wouldn't ask for a shuttle without a good reason and julian trusts him enough not to get mad at the request even when it comes at fuck o clock in the morning. like, he's so GOOD with his people and they respect him so much. im anxiously waiting for more sisko-centric content almost as much as i am for more garak content!!!

TONIGHT: tng's "phantasms" and ds9's "melora."

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #ds9 lb

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ectogeo-art · 2 months

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^_^ okay so I am sure I'm not the first to think of it but basically:

instead of their conversation getting interrupted, after the "Mr. Garak, I never knew we thought so much alike." "Life is full of surprises, Commander." exchange, they hook up, and only after that we hit unpause on the plot. (Plot~~ Sim!Garak seems to betray them, saves them, dies, Sisko sees Bashir's reaction to Garak dying, the rest of the simulation happens and they wake up in the cave). Now only Sisko (and the founders) knows he slept with Garak and he is going to pretend that never happened, especially because he realizes that Julian has deep feelings for Garak. But Sisko can't help but look at real Garak differently after that, there is probably some awkwardness or tension and Garak notices and tries to figure out the source for that, maybe he ramps up the flirting and Sisko tries to forget even more how good sim!Garak was. (Garashir are probably in the pining idiots stage of the relationship or in a friends with benefits while pining for each other situation). Sisko may try to be supportive to Julian and make sure Garak isn't just playing with Julian's feelings. I am not sure where to go from here, I think Jadzia may also notice Sisko is acting off and try to talk to him about it. There is also the question of how the founders knew to simulate sex with Garak and the options I thought of are 1) Julian's memories 2) your idea about pre-canon on Romulus siskarak 3) changelings already did some hands-on research on ds9 and that included sex with Garak

Another question is if Garak finds out, how would he feel about it? I figured he would be delighted at first, but I'm not sure about his reaction further

Sorry if I rambled too much this ask was shorter in my head 😅

Haha, omg, this is INSANE, thank you for sharing, I LOVE it! ^_^ Especially Sisko seeing Julian holding Garak as he died and feeling extra weird about his hookup with Garak after that. Peak comedy!! <3 (Though it would work well with an angsty tone too haha)

Hmmm, if the simulation's pulling stuff from ALL of their minds then maybe the simulation saw memories of Garak flirting with Sisko in Profit and Loss and just extrapolated from there hehe ("Oh, and if you'd like, stop by the shop one day. I have a number of suits that would look quite flattering on you." - like, we all know what THAT means!!! lol). Or maybe the Dominion just assigned the simulated Garak to be the confidant/honeypot of the simulation, the character meant to draw information out of the actual people and observe their reactions. Maybe they picked him based on his reputation as a spy and/or as a flirt, or maybe it was just at random lolll.

And real!Garak flirting with Sisko to try to find out why he's acting weird post-The Search is great! XD Like, I imagine Sisko is just like. Being extra nice to him or something but in a weird awkward way, bc he feels bad both for mistaking a simulation for the real him and for almost maybe accidentally being a homewrecker and breaking up garashir/preventing them from getting together. But Garak finds his aimless vague niceness disconcerting because he is used to Sisko being clear and firm with what he wants from him and where they stand. So maybe Garak is like hmmm I'm gonna drop innuendos until he either bends me over his desk or tells me what's really going on (win-win). lol

And I think it should end with Garak and Sisko hooking up for real. Like, Garak finally wears Sisko down and gets him to spill the beans about the simulation. He tells him about sleeping with simulated!Garak and also about his observations about Julian's obvious feelings for Garak. And Garak's just standing there with his mouth hanging open because he's shocked to learn that he's desired by either one of them, let alone both of them. Sisko expects Garak to feel used or disgusted, but Garak just steps into his personal space and kisses him with tongue, so grateful to learn he has a chance with Julian... and he's also not uninterested in the fact that Sisko's clearly into him too. And then!!! Well, then he and Sisko fuck, obviously. <3 Just once. <3 Garak initiates this by saying that it's only fair that, since Sisko has been with Garak, Garak should get to be with Sisko. And then afterwards Garak just leaves, armed with a new understanding of Julian's feelings... and Sisko is just left in a daze thinking like, "Man. That was hot but what the fuck WAS that." But luckily a lot of the tension was released between them, in such a way that they can maybe (MAYBE) be normal about each other for a few years. The end! I hope you like my thoughts on how your AU would play out, and thank you for letting me share my vision. XD

As for your followup ask:

wait the thought "what if /no/ garashir" just went through my mind for the first time ever, what if in this au they really are just good friends (with benefits) and Sisko was reading too much into it, maybe something makes Julian try to play matchmaker for them (hopefully the first ask reaches you before this one so there is context)

Okay I gotta admit, I'm such a Garashir=endgame girlie that I'm not really interested in thinking through/brainstorming a true no Garashir scenario, it just doesn't compute for me, sorry (but that of course def doesn't mean you can't explore it!). That said, I can buy something like Garashir not yet realizing/acknowledging their feelings at that point, or them trying to distance themselves from their feelings for each other or thinking it's unrequited. Like, it makes more sense to me if Garashir just hasn't happened yet, than if it actually is just platonic/FWB between Garak and Bashir.

#asks #Anonymous #siskarak

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ectogeo-rebubbles · 1 year

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🫐??

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

Hehehe obviously my favorite underrated thing is siskarak! >:3 I'm so obsessed with their dynamic! I like it especially as a messy, doomed, disaster ship where they bring out the worst in each other, or as a short-lived fling just to break the simmering tension between them, but I like Sisko&Garak interacting platonically too. I like their conversational dynamic in "In the Pale Moonlight" especially, Garak's playful teasing while Sisko is just SO DONE, rolling his eyes. I like the ways that they use each other to get what they want, and I like the way that their dynamic is contentious but they are still appreciative of each other's skills. Like, they don't agree about much but they do respect each other, though in Sisko's case it's more of a begrudging respect. I like that they are similar (and Sisko knows it! “Mr. Garak, I never knew we thought so much alike.” -The Search Part 2), and especially love the way that it drives Sisko a little crazy to see himself reflected in Garak (In the Pale Moonlight).

Another thing that makes it ripe for fanfictioning it up is all of the things that happen offscreen, or are implied by dialogue but never explored. We know Garak has been decoding Dominion transmissions for some time by Afterimage, and it makes me wonder when that started, and what the trajectory of that was, and how involved was Sisko. I tend to think Garak began his decoding work at the end of s5/beginning of s6 when Garak was on the Defiant (was Starfleet debriefing him that one time bc they were in the process of recruiting him to work for them/solidifying his working relationship with them?). And he and Sisko were both staying behind on the starbase for some of that time, so maybe that’s when he started working directly with Sisko more regularly. But, I mean, Garak’s been working with Sisko all along too, sometimes not directly (e.g. Past Prologue, where he relays info to Sisko via Julian), sometimes not completely voluntarily (e.g., Second Skin, where Sisko has to threaten him with eviction to get him to help, which I LOVE. also love that Garak is kinda into it, hahaha). I assume that he kind of has to occasionally make himself useful to Starfleet/Bajor in order to be allowed to stay on the station. I’m just rambling now, these thoughts are rattling around my brain 26/7 (and so I’m offering an open invitation for anyone talk to me about siskarak or sisko&garak whenever).

Anyway, fandom is sleeping on this! There's only 16 works in the sisko/garak tag on ao3 right now, and only 15 in the sisko&garak tag.

Some episodes to rewatch for good siskarak scenes:

Profit and Loss

The Search, Part 2 (not real Garak, but it is real Sisko)

Second Skin

The Way of the Warrior

Broken Link

In the Pale Moonlight

(for this ask game)

#ask games #fruit emoji ask game for writers #siskarak #sisko #garak

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sapphosewrites · 8 months

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For the ask game:

✦ what was your easiest fic to write & your hardest?

✿ did anything major change when you started writing [fic] to when you finished? - For 'Terok Nor AU'

▵ pick a fic and I’ll tell you my favorite line - choosing 'An Influx of Bashirs'

↻ pick a fic and a different ship and I’ll tell you how I’d rewrite it - 'Necessary Storms' for Kira/Ezri!

Thank you, friend! You know I love an ask game <3

✦ what was your easiest fic to write & your hardest?

The easiest fic for me to write was Whisper a Dangerous Secret, because all I did was come up with a silly little ficlet, and then ectogeo did all the work of turning it into a whole real story with feelings and stakes! My tendency historically has been to say that whatever multichapter fic I finished most recently was the hardest, but I think the award is still held by I Will Choose Free Will, because it cut deep to my own fears about mortality and what it means to make a meaningful life.

✿ did anything major change when you started writing [fic] to when you finished? - For 'Terok Nor AU'

For the whole series? So so much! It was supposed to end with the arrival of the Federation, but everyone kept leaving such delicious comments and giving me more and more ideas about how to keep it going. Julian and Garak were also supposed to have successfully gotten together already, but every time I sat down to write the scene where it was meant to happen (and it was meant to have happened multiple times by now), I found myself reveling in the tension and angst instead. Originally, I hadn't even decided if it was Section 31 specifically that Julian was running from, and now I've got Sloan running around in season 1! It keeps surprising me, but that's become part of the fun.

▵ pick a fic and I’ll tell you my favorite line - choosing 'An Influx of Bashirs'

Ooh, I haven't thought about this fic in a little while, thank you for inviting me to return to it. I'm going to go with...

Once he could have withstood it, but that was before Tain sent an assassin after him and Mila thought that Tain was the one who needed saving, before Tain dangled redemption in front of him along with Mila’s life, before Tain died finally and forever and Garak realized he would never return home and Mila’s face on a viewscreen was the only family he had left.

Which is really angsty, but I like the rhythm of that sentence for reasons I can't articulate.

I'm also delighted to be reminded of this fic in tandem with the Terok Nor AU series, because you reminded me that I had once intended to add a one-shot of canon Julian meeting his Terok Nor AU self!

↻ pick a fic and a different ship and I’ll tell you how I’d rewrite it - 'Necessary Storms' for Kira/Ezri!

Now this is interesting! Kira wasn't in that fic, so the first big question is how to get her there. It's possible she and Ezri are married, and she's become a Starfleet Spouse in parallel to Garak, but I don't see her easily agreeing to leave Bajor to join a starship. Unless, again parallel to Garak, something has forced her to leave Bajor, maybe a political push she couldn't agree with? Like a return to d'jarra? Or maybe her past ties to Odo or something have made her unpalatable to the masses, or maybe there's another isolationist movement and she's too close to the Federation... It's an interesting question to consider, but for these purposes let's keep her with Bajor and have something bring her to Trill. I could see her as already in a relationship with Ezri before the story starts, joining to investigate maybe because Ezri has gone incommunicado and she's worried? Or she also gets kidnapped like Julian because she was close to Dax and knows about the symbiosis commission's secret. Then she and Ezri are in captivity together, and maybe that could provide the space and push for them to admit feelings for each other... Or, if I were really going to restructure the story, maybe what I'd do is have the crew request Kira's help as an expert in resistance movements, to infiltrate or otherwise interact with the uprising, to help rescue Julian and Ezri. And then Garak and Kira have to team up to save their partners.

This is a really fun question to consider, thanks for asking it!

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