#I can’t help it I love baseball I love Sisko

[dilfsisko]

Of course you’re a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fan who likes baseball.

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

Can I have Siskarak fanfic recs, please? I've only read a few (can't remember too well at 3AM; one on the Defiant comes to mind), and I was surprised by how well the vibe worked!

Oh absolutely. 😈 Fair warning that I’m gonna rec a LOT of my own fics bc I’m shameless like that, but also because I’ve written like 25% of the Siskarak fics that exist. 😂 Of course in addition to my little ramblings, please check all the tags and summaries on these and just read the ones that speak to you! 💖 And now, in no particular order:

so, I lied, I cheated by me - My beloved siskarak novella!! 🥰 It’s an In the Pale Moonlight AU where Sisko and Garak fake an affair to explain why they are meeting together secretly all the time now, so that no one will realize it’s actually bc they’re conspiring to bring the Romulans into the war. It’s a VERY cracky premise, and I then treat the implications of that premise with the utmost severity haha. It’s a big clusterfuck of them making each other worse and ruining each other’s lives but I did aim for a hopeful ending for them and for their healthier relationships (siskasidy and garashir). I’m so proud of it, I have some planted some insane character insights into there that I truly can’t figure out other simpler ways to express/convince people of than by writing them into a complicated angsty porny ITPM-but-way-worse fic.

And Scene by Flazéda (peternurphy) - Obsessed with this one. Sisko and Garak have to go undercover at a sex club, and I am just such a sucked for fake relationship scenarios. I’m also never not thinking about the moment in this fic where Sisko muses internally on how spanking Garak’s ass with a paddle is satisfying in the same way as swinging a baseball bat.

Moonlight Still Casts Shadows by Warpcorps @spocksbeanies - This one is SO HOT. It’s post-ITPM and Sisko is continuing to compromise his morals in delicious, sexy ways to accomplish his goals. 😈 (He’s having sex with Garak to keep him happy and working for him.)

Decadence: In His Service by JA Chapman is soooo good and sooo insane and I want to read approximately 10k more words about the messy, messy scenario described. Siskarak is only a secondary ship, the main one shown is Sloan/Sisko. I don’t particularly buy into it as realistic, but this fic ask all kinds of questions and offers NO answers, and I am driven insane by it every day, I do still recommend. XD

Exaltation by @hellostuffedtiger is another good one involving Sloan and it is much closer to canon than the above hahaha. Sisko and Garak have casual sex, then discuss S31 and Sloan and how to protect Bashir.

going up, going down by me - Crackfic to the max, haha! Garak gives Sisko a blowjob in the turbolift and they get caught.

Plausible Deniability by katiemariie is really interesting and reading it helped kick off my interest in the ship! I do have some small quibbles with it bc I don’t really buy that Garak isn’t interested in Bashir or that Siskarak could actually become a sustainable romantic ship, but oh man other than that the dynamic is great here!

Captain’s Whore by @the-last-dillpickle - Garak pettily making sure everyone knows he’s Sisko’s mistress is just so fun and delightful 😂

partners in crime by anonymous surprise, it was me lmao - A tasty little post-ITPM PWP where Sisko does a bit of introspection about himself and Garak’s effect on him.

you’re a criminal as long as you’re mine by me - This might be the one on the Defiant you’re thinking of. It’s set during Second Skin. I wanted to write a lower stakes, chiller, flirtier Siskarak dynamic here and I really really like how it turned out 🥰

A few more very short fics by me:

me and the devil walking side by side

lying down with dogs

dirty little secret

never loved nobody fully (alternate Siskarak ending) (there’s also a podfic of this drabble by klb and blackglass and horchatapods… I know at least one of you is on tumblr and I can’t remember which rn)

Not super shippy but def have some fun and somewhat charged Sisko and Garak interactions:

Farce of the Prophets by @cardassiangoodreads - This one involves Garak messing with Sisko a little bit haha. It’s got those fake relationship elements I love so dearly 🥰

Dance of Fools by stuffedtiger - More Siskarak fake relationship stuff 😈 They dance 🥰

redacted by me - Garak and Sisko figuring out how to work together when they are both stationed on Starbase 375 at the beginning of s6.

This was so fun to put together, thanks for this ask, I love gushing about my fave siskarak fics 💖

[purplespacekitty]

Magnifying Glass: "Explorers"

Episode: "Explorers"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 22

Original Air Date: May 8, 1995

Teleplay Writer: René Echevarria

Screenwriter: Hilary J. Bader

Director: Cliff Bole

“Explorers” provides a window into which we, the audience, peer and see dimensions of Sisko’s character and his relationship with Jake that he is not often allowed to nurture. He’s the captain of a space station; he’s busy at all times of the day with the demands of his crew, of the governments of Bajor and Cardassia and with the imminent threat of invasion from the elusive yet brutal Dominion. In this episode, Sisko gets the time to spend doing something he is purely passionate about, exercising his creativity and the side of him that’s a big history nerd (”Why [build an ancient Bajoran lightship by hand]? Because it’ll be fun!”). We also get to see him spend some quality time with his son, Jake.

For a project of mine exploring Afrofuturism and Black masculinity, I chose this episode as one of three to study and analyze under Sisko’s importance as a character not just within the Star Trek franchise but in the broader world of television.

Benjamin Sisko’s role as a Black father is particularly pertinent to the plot of “Explorers”. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine first aired in 1993, not far removed from the hell that was the Reagan Administration. Reagan contributed grossly during his presidency to the denigration and humiliation of popular notions of the Black family and the framing of Black Americans as criminals. Mainstream films and television during and before the era, if they include Black characters at all, portray Black men as aggressive, violent and insolent, an image very much in line with Reagan’s manipulative message. Avery Brooks’ casting in Deep Space Nine as it’s Starfleet commander was an historic first for the Star Trek franchise and a step against the popular stereotypes of “welfare queens” and “absent Black fathers.” Ben Sisko - whose most defining characteristic aside from being the commander and later, captain of a space station is being a father to his son Jake - completely demolishes the “absent Black father” stereotype and all the others, firstly, by just existing. Sisko is very present in Jake’s life. Even with his duties keeping him at the station’s beck and call, he makes the time he spends with his son an unconditional priority and is quick to assure Jake of that fact. The two of them share common interests in cooking and baseball, threads that bind them to each other and to Jake’s grandfather, Joseph, who owns and runs the family restaurant back on Earth. Sisko is diligent in his care of Jake as he is for all that he loves. He is an actively loving, caring, protective and supportive father every step of the way. Sisko’s strong sense of justice means that Jake can’t really get away with his and Nog’s various shenanigans, but he is lenient and fair and always there to comfort Jake when anything goes wrong. There are multiple moments throughout the series in which they both learn from each other (this episode being one of them): a quality of their relationship that Sisko warmly welcomes. It is Jake’s care for and faith in his Ferengi friend that helps Nog earn Sisko’s respect. Their closeness allows them to have difficult conversations, to resolve arguments in a place of understanding and compassion, to be vulnerable with one another unconditionally. While initially disappointed when Jake tells him he’d rather be a writer than follow in his father’s footsteps by enrolling in Starfleet Academy, Sisko is ultimately supportive of his son’s interests because all he wants is for Jake to be safe and happy. Which is where this episode picks up from the last time the two of them discussed Jake’s future.

At this point in the series, Jake is ready to apply to college and has been hard at work writing pieces to submit to schools he’s interested in. Yet, even with his father’s enthusiastic blessing to pursue what brings him joy, Jake is hesitant to share his acceptance to Pennington back on Earth. Not because he thinks his father will be angry with him about going behind his back but because he doesn’t want his dad to be alone. By no means would they be losing each other to this new stage of Jake’s life. However, it would be the longest time they’ve spent truly apart from each other and they wouldn’t even be in the same region of space. They certainly won’t be able to go off on impromptu trips in ancient space ships on a whim or watch historical baseball games in the holosuites together as often as they do on DS9. And above all, what this episode most emphasizes is their father-son relationship, this relationship in which they are each other’s security in a turbulent, violent world that placed them at the threshold of a wormhole in the middle of a war-torn sector of the galaxy directly after losing Jake’s mother and Ben’s wife, Jennifer. Whether or not either of them are ready for it, Jake going off to Pennington means that that security in each other will change. Hence Jake’s ultimate decision to defer admission for a year to spend more time with his father and gather more experiences to write about.

This episode showcases our hero doing exactly what Starfleet is all about: exploring the cultures of other worlds and engaging with their ways of knowledge. At the same time, he is beginning an exploration of what life will be like with Jake off at school (and what life will be like with a beard) and he is also getting an insight into his son’s inner world. Both are journeys the two of them embark on together, even if one must be undertaken across many lightyears of space.

Sisko stands out as an intentionally Black character against the backdrop of the undeniably important if, comparatively, rather flat representation in Lt. Nyota Uhura and Lt. Geordi LaForge. Deep Space Nine’s writers and Avery Brooks made a conscious effort to ensure that Benjamin Sisko’s Blackness was not simply seasoning sprinkled sparsely on top of his character, but instead the essential binding factor that brought all the elements of the Captain’s personality together. Not only do we know he has his family’s Creole restaurant to thank for his cooking skills, but we get to see him be at home and with family more than once in this series. And aside from what is clearly directly tied to his Blackness, he has other interests and hobbies, like baseball, building, art and studying ancient technologies. He uses his experience as a Black man and father and his deep knowledge of Black Earth history to inform his actions multiple times throughout the series (i.e. “Far Beyond the Stars”, “Past Tense“, “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang”, “The Abandoned”, “By Inferno’s Light”, “Waltz” and “The Maquis”, to name a few). In this episode, we even see him wearing a top inspired by West African dashiki patterns.

Commissioned on Deep Space Nine, his identity as a Black man, even in the supposedly utopian Federation, positions him as someone able to sympathize with the Bajorans in a way that none of his contemporaries Kirk, Picard, Archer, Pike, Lorca or Janeway ever could: both his people and theirs have histories of violent systemic oppression and persecution, as well as continuously developing histories of liberation. He understands their need to reclaim their land, knowledge and ways of life because that is what his ancestors began and saw through. And it is what he, Jake, Joseph and Kasidy, their descendants, carry on and embody in the 24th century. He builds the Bajoran lightship in order to prove that the ancient Bajorans were capable of such technological prowess as to get all the way to Cardassia without a warp drive despite dubiety from both his coworkers and the Cardassians themselves. So not only does he connect with the Bajorans’ struggles in a way that a white human captain cannot, but he actively participates in bolstering the repatriation of their culture and history. Little wonder why the Prophets chose him as their Emissary.

[fancy-a-dance-brigadier]

BEN SISKO PLS

Benjamin Sisko? More like Beloved Sisko 😌

One aspect about them I love: I love the capital P Presence he brings to every scene. He’s such a force of nature! Of course there are the obvious examples like ‘In the Pale Moonlight’ and ‘Far Beyond the Stars’, where his presence is literally jaw dropping, but I think he brings such a monumental force to even the softer scenes. Force might be the wrong word, but I’m thinking about all his quiet moments with Jake, his tender moments with Kasidy, his grief when he’s in New Orleans after Jadzia’s death. You can feel every inch of what he’s feeling, all the love and passion and rage. This is more of a comment on Avery Brooks than Sisko I suppose, but he’s easily the actor that impresses me the most in any Star Trek show. He’s such a privilege to watch.

One aspect I wish more people understood about them: That he likes to have fun! I often see him cast in fandom as the stern father figure to his crew (which is a whole other kettle of fish) or people exclusively highlighting his actions in the Dominion War. But Ben is capable of goofing off just as much as anyone else! His delightful love of baseball is the obvious example, but there’s also the episode where he built the Bajoran lightship and flew it with Jake, or all the crazy stories of his youth with Curzon, or when we see him interacting with Jennifer for the first time. And while he opposed the Vic Fontaine holosuite (for very valid reasons), I got the impression that he did end up enjoying himself a teensy bit during that casino heist.

One or more headcanons I have about this character: His favourite musician is Nat King Cole. Joseph would always have his music playing while cooking, so Ben has a lot of fond memories growing up and listening to those songs. And he probably started learning to play the piano by trying to play them by ear.

One character I love seeing them interact with: This is so hard to choose! His interactions with pretty much everyone on the show are so rich, but I think I’ll have to say Kira for this one. The captain and first officer dynamic is always an interesting one (unless it’s TNG sorry not sorry), but the fact of Sisko being the Emissary adds so many layers. Of course there are the jokes about Kira’s boss being space Jesus, but I really do think they have one of the best relationships in the show. Two scenes in particular come to mind - in the episode ‘Starship Down’ when Ben’s injured and Kira’s trying to see him through it, and I can’t remember the episode, but the scene where Ben invites her to a baseball game. Very different scenes, but I think they do a lot to convey how much they care for each other no matter the situation. But then they’re also trying to work through the complex web of worship and every day interactions and station hierarchy and friendship and ugh it’s just so good!! It’s so good.

One character I wish they would interact with more: Jennifer Sisko. I don’t mean interact as in bringing her back from the dead, or having mirror!Jennifer play a bigger role (which would be kinda cool honestly), but rather I wish we’d got to hear more stories about their past interactions. Ben’s grief over her death is literally what kicks off the entire show, and I feel like we should really know more about her since she had such a strong connection to the main character of the show. I find it very difficult to believe that Ben wouldn’t talk about her more to keep her memory alive. I want to know what kind of dates she and Ben would go on, the little idiosyncrasies Ben loved most about her, the things she’d do that would annoy and charm him all at once, and the moments where he was most proud to love her.

One or more headcanons I have that involve them and one other character: He’s in love with Julian Bashir ❤️💙 I’m sorry, I can’t help it - Siskoshir is just too powerful of a ship to go without at least mentioning. I saw that one scene in ‘Past Tense’ when Ben brings Julian breakfast and that was it, no thoughts only Siskoshir. I think I find that ship so compelling because, even though they appear outwardly quite different, on the inside they’re birds of a feather. They’re both so passionate about the people around them, they’re both dedicated to their careers, and they’re both strong enough to survive immense the trauma that’s impacted them throughout their lives. But then there’s also what they can give to each other - Julian can help bring Ben out of his grief with his relentless brightness and optimism, and Ben can offer Julian the warmth of familial love that he felt like he’d lost once he discovered his augments. Basically, they’re the best I think they should kiss 😌

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Having now seen the last season of DS9, I can blab about it, in no particular order: 

Take me out to the Holosuite - this was just stupid fun.  Sometimes you need stupid fun episodes, and this was delightful.  Really loved Worf yelling “Death to the opposition” while everyone else was shit-talking the batter.  Also, somehow Quark is a better baseball player than Rom, and that’s hilarious.

Chrysalis - I made a joke halfway through the episode that Sarina was going mute again to avoid Bashir’s flirting, but that’s exactly what happened? What the absolute hell is Bashir doing trying to date a patient who has been in a cataonic state most of her life?  And he’s moving so fast?  Suddenly he’s in love and he’s talking about taking her to Risa, what the hell?  I’ll give him credit - when he realized what he was doing, he backed off immediately and felt bad about it.  I can understand him being attracted and feeling a kinship to the only other genetically engineered person he knows who seems moderately “normal,” but he went so far overboard here.  They had to downplay Ezri in this episode, otherwise the actual trained counselor would have come in with a sanity check and possibly a slap in the face for Julian.

Faith, Treachery, and the Great River - I love Nog.  I love how he fits into Starfleet as a Ferengi who has chosen to embrace Starfleet ideals, but is still a Ferengi and will sometimes do things the Ferengi way.  I love how Sisko will sometimes quote the Rules of Acquisition to him, because he’s studied up and he respects that it’s part of Nog’s culture.  Also, alas, poor Weyoun.  The Vorta really are quite interesting.  They do horrific things with no remorse, but they are literally bred to obey the Founders without question.  They are kind of tragic figures.

Also really love how we have the “Klingons die with honor!” rah-rah battle episode right before the “War is hell, Starfleet officers die and Nog gets maimed for no good reason” episode.  It’s a nice juxtaposition.  Suddenly, we’re reminded that a LOT of people are dying horribly in the Dominion War, and sometimes it all seems pointless.

(Why did Quark not immediately get beamed out when Sisko decided they would stay to help defend the outpost?  I know he was there to be part of the story, and give commentary on human behavior, and kill a Jem Hadar for the very first time, but logically, the non-combatant civilian should not have been there.)

Covenant - Gul Dukat leading a Bajoran cult worshiping the Pah Wraiths was already hilarious, but then that woman gives birth to an obviously half-Cardassian baby and he tries to spin it as a “miracle.”  God, what a sleazy asshole, I love to hate him.

It’s Only a Paper Moon - okay show, I like Vic now.  He’s okay.  Another episode where O’Brien needs to be sidelined, because O’Brien, who lived on the Enterprise during “Hollow Pursuits” would hear about someone literally living in a holosuite and be like, “Uh, guys?  That’s....not gonna work out very well.”  It actually does eventually work out for Nog, because Vic is aware enough to help him, and Ezri steps in to give advice where needed.  Nog mostly just needed a break from Starfleet life, and a distraction.  Not a “perfect holosuite fantasy” distraction, but a challenge completely unrelated to Starfleet to pull Nog out of his own head and get him going again.  Then, of course, he needed to leave the holosuite and come back into the real world.

Prodigal Daughter - nice to know more about Ezri and her family.  My favorite part was O’Brien and Ezri constantly interrupting each other’s storylines until the two storylines intersected.

Mirror episode - Holy shit, Mirror Ezri kissed Mirror Kira, why can’t we have this in the Prime universe?  Why are characters only allowed to be gay in the “evil” universe?  I somehow blame Rick Berman.

Field of Fire - unfortunately, this episode was just bad, and didn’t do Ezri any favors.  The actors did their best, but it was just corny and badly written.  From the first Joran episode, I got the impression that he killed mostly out of anger or hatred (he killed the doctor that recommended he be removed from the program), but now he’s some Hannibal Lecter type, talking about the mind of the killer and selecting prey, etc.  Also, the killer is a traumatized Vulcan who can’t stand the sight of people smiling?  Give me a fucking break.  An interesting idea that should have been better written.

Holosuite heist episode - they wanted a heist episode, and by god they found an excuse to have a heist episode!  Another fun one, and even Cassidy got in on the act.  I liked Sisko getting to say his piece about how Vic’s program is a romanticized version of this time period on Earth, completely removing the racism that existed back then, and that he would not have been welcome in nightclubs as a black man back then.

The rest of it:

That one episode with O’Brien and Bashir going into Sloan’s mind was like the last buddy episode for them, and an absolute gift to shippers.  Personally, I don’t ship it, but these two guys both admitted that they like each other “just a little bit better” than the women that they love?  Yeah, I see it.  I love their friendship.  And also, fuck Sloan.

Don’t really care about Ezri’s romances, but it was nice to see her and Worf bury the hatchet and make peace with each other.  And if she wants Bashir, why not?  Ezri can have a little sexy doctor, as a treat.  Wish we’d gotten more than one season of Ezri, to get to know her better. 

Loved Kira and Garak helping liberate Cardassia.  I still hate Damar for Ziyal, but he had an understandable semi-redemption, fighting for Cardassia against the Dominion.  It worked for him.

Speaking of redemption, I’m glad Gul Dukat didn’t get one.  He didn’t seem like a character who should get a redemption.  That may be hypocritical of me, as there are other horrible dictator characters whose redemption I fully support, like the Diamonds in Steven Universe.  (Although I would also argue that Steven Universe is a kids show, I’m not expecting the Diamonds to burn with the Pah Wraiths.)  But Dukat was just not a character I could ever like, despite the actor doing an excellent job making him nuanced and complex.  He’s just so slimy and smug - if anything, he’s the villain I love to hate.  He never showed any actual remorse for his actions, just kept pushing Kira (who grew up in Cardassian labor camps and lost both parents to the occupation) to not only accept, but exonerate him.  He wanted her to “admit” that his actions running the occupation where millions of Bajorans died were somehow “not that bad” because he occasionally tried to be kind.  Even understanding that his hands may have been tied in some matters, other Cardassians who weren’t responsible for atrocities showed far greater remorse for the occupation.  I can see Dukat as an aborted redemption - he started to show a better side of himself with Ziyal, but losing her drove him back into selfish destructiveness.  He’s a piece of shit, and the actor did a fantastic job portraying him as such.  I understand, though, if people who liked Dukat, or saw more potential in him, were disappointed and wanted his redemption to continue.  Personally, though, I’m glad he went down hard.

Kai Winn was also completely awful, but I felt worse for her than for Dukat.  Imagine constantly praying to your gods and never getting a response, even though other people do.  And then when she finally gets a vision, it’s the wrong gods.  Even when she starts to realize her error and turns to Kira for guidance, the prophets won’t speak to her.  She’s a horrible woman, but slightly better than Dukat, in my opinion.

Loved that Kira and Quark were the ones who got the last goodbyes to Odo.  “That man loves me.  It’s written all over his back.”

Kira and Odo - I could never fully get behind them as a couple, but I still love their relationship, and hope that they see each other again.

O’Brien finally does right by his family and goes back to Earth.

Sisko goes to live with the Prophets, and that’s a bold choice that comes right up to killing him off without actually killing him off.  I can’t say it comes out of nowhere, though, his connection to the wormhole aliens has been a thing through the whole series.  I’m glad that he claims he’ll be back at some point, given that he’s leaving a son and pregnant wife behind.

Overall, a good ending for my favorite Trek series.

[discotreque]

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water�� which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

[wlwkiranerys]

Kira! for the character ask game

 i love how my first two asks were people asking kira, i make it clear who i love <3 and because I always have more Kira thoughts, more random headcanons because i restrained myself with two

I enjoy the concept of Kira who absolutely understands battle tactics, who attends every baseball game that Sisko sets up, is confused by it even years after season seven. she tries hard but they will never understand it, it’s just confusing for them. its kind of canon but i just like to think when she’s old, they still can’t tell you anything about the sport

I like the idea that years after the show ends she sets up a sort of memorial for the friends she lost, the friends who helped fight in the resistance and history forgot. It becomes a spot where people who lost friends, family and partners, go to just remember them, a spot full of graves marked with stones, but there is also maybe a nearby historical center, a place to remember and honor the past

Kira is actually a pretty good storyteller, not in the sense where she is good at making her own stories because in canon they don’t have much of an imagination (given that she wasn’t ever allowed to be a kid and have one), but she is good at telling history, they can recite Bajoran myths and religious text that she has memorized with ease. And I like to think that if you ask Kira for the same story twice, each time she tells it with a unique spin on it. 

They absolutely can’t cook, they try but she can’t cook at all even when they are following a simple recipe. I think the replicators one of the first things she grows to love about the station at the start of the show due to that reason. They don’t have to learn how to cook because she does not enjoy it :)

[tribbleclefs]

Jadzia and/or Sisko for the character ask!

Jadzia

1) sexuality headcanon: bisexual worm my beloved

2) otp: for me jadzia and lenara were one of the most compelling couples in all of trek, right up there with TOS spirk. I have a big soft spot for kiradax as well!

3) brotp: jadzia and julian are such a fun duo when the writers aren’t awkwardly trying to force them into a relationship >:/ also sisko and jadzia are amazing bros, I love their friendship and the mutual respect they have for each other across multiple lifetimes 

4) notp: I haven’t really watched enough of the show to hate any specific relationships

5) first headcanon that pops into my head: (shamelessly projecting) this character is a she/he/they that says ‘gender is what you make it’ while doing cool skateboarding tricks on the promenade

6) favourite line(s) from this character: man. literally all of rejoined especially her speech when she’s confessing to sisko about her feelings for lenara and also when she’s like “aha! this is a slab of stone with some writing on it.” I love her so much it’s unreal

7) one way in which I relate to this character: she has this sort of gentle and wry sense of humour about her that I’ve been told is somewhat similar to mine <3

8) thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: nothing I can think of that isn’t entirely the fault of the writers/producers. fuck rick b*rman

9) cinnamon roll or problematic fave: jadzia is one of my fav characters EVER I could go on and on about how cool she is for an embarrassing amount of time. yes I may also have a huge cr*sh on her what about it

Sisko

1) sexuality headcanon: straight but like the Coolest kind of straight

2) otp: so far I’ve only seen them together in the baseball episode but sisko and kasidy yates are super lovely together and very underrated!! sisko x tossing dukat into a trash fire (figuratively or literally) takes 2nd place

3) brotp: sisko and jadzia ftw (it’s so fun that he calls her old man)

4) notp: I honestly can’t see him being romantically involved with anyone else besides kasidy (and jennifer sisko in flashbacks) at this point

5) first headcanon that pops into my head: you can’t tell me he and the senior crew wouldn’t have a super strong familial bond after so many years knowing each other. He would definitely invite them over for big family dinners whenever possible (though I can imagine a select few of the participants are banned from doing any of the actual cooking)

6) favourite line from this character: his big personal log at the end of “in the pale moonlight” (which I have still not seen yet whoops) and also when he sings “no no you can’t take that away from me” in this one really cute scene with odo

7) one way in which I relate to this character: we both visibly brighten the second you bring up our interests in conversation and will happily talk about said interests with you extensively

8) thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character: the first few seasons where he wasn’t allowed to have facial hair for some weird reason?? I don’t know the full story behind that but I’m glad they changed it later on, the bald + goatee look suits him perfectly

9) cinnamon roll or problematic fave: sisko is a great leader and he has this innate warmth and integrity to him that you can’t help but admire. definitely one of the best if not the best star trek captain imo

[ace-aro-fandroid]

I wrote a (parody) Star Trek episode

I guess this counts as my first fanfic. I wrote a Deep Space Nine Lwaxana Troi parody episode. It’s too long, it’s pure fucking genius, you should read it, and I’d like it to be performed, thank you.

(The station is bustling. The Klingon Parade is happening today and people are arriving from everywhere. At Quark's, Quark is trying to sell vaping devices to some Klingon children.)

QUARK: Will news articles come out in a few months about how these are mysteriously killing people? Maybe. But right here, in the glorious now, you can look like an Luranian mist-breather! Capitalism reigns!

KLINGON BOY 1: Get out of our faces, Ferengi petaQ! My father says you're nothing more than a peddler of flim-flam! You have no honor!

(The children beat him to death, but Odo is here. Odo pulls the blood-drenched Klingons off of Quark, who has five broken arms. But he is saved.)

QUARK: Oh, what a relief to see you, Constable! I was beginning to think I'd never -

ODO: HHHHRMPH!

(Odo ignores him and walks slowly towards the camera, past Quark, who trails off. Quark shrugs and heads back to the bar. Odo s t a r e s i n t o t h e d i s t a n c e.)

(O'Brien is drinking alone. Kira and Jadzia talk nearby. Jadzia is vaping.)

KIRA: I can't believe you bought one of those.

JADZIA: I like it.

KIRA: Haha. You know, It might be deadly.

JADZIA: Deadly can be fun.

KIRA: Ferengi are terrible.

JADZIA: Terrible can be fun.

KIRA: Haha. Aren't you a woman?

JADZIA: Aren't I?

O'BRIEN (in the middle of a drink, spitting synthale all over the table): Well, Quark certainly owes you one, doesn't he?

ODO (shaken out of some reverie): What?

O'BRIEN: You alright, Constable?

ODO: I am extremely edgy on principle, but... recently I've found myself being... even edgier...

O'BRIEN: I can't say I blame you. I'd feel the same way in your shoes.

ODO: Is that some sort of joke, Chief? I thought I told you these aren't REAL SHOES.

O'BRIEN: No, I just mean... Oh, no one's told you...

ODO (curmudgeonly): Told me WHAT.

(Lwaxana enters the Promenade. It's Lwaxana time. Patrons begin to flee.)

LWAXANA: I HAVE ARRIVED AND I AM LWAXANA TROI, (daughter of the Fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed). NEW WIG. SPARKLES. I'M HERE TO READ MINDS AND FUCK CURMUDGEONS AND I'M ALL DONE READING MINDS

(Odo stares at Lwaxana in horror, long musical sting, opening credits play)

(Back in the Promenade, Lwaxana has wrapped herself around Odo)

LWAXANA: You are sad, aren't you? Sad man. Tell me why you're sad.

ODO: Madam Ambassador -

LWAXANA: No worries. You don't have to speak for the next three days. I will interrupt everything you say.

O'BRIEN: Um, I've just remembered I have to go take Molly to therapy. Keiko and I tried to decide on a family movie last night and they say the damage may last for a lifetime.

KIRA and JADZIA: Haha we should go too.

ODO: But -

KIRA and JADZIA: Hahahahahahahahaha

(they and their significant glances exit)

(Quark has approached.)

QUARK: Madam ambassador, aren't you looking lovely tonight?

LWAXANA: Yes, I am but you are ugly.

QUARK: Haha, brilliant. Do you want to buy this?

LWAXANA: No.

QUARK: I promise you. You'll love it.

(His earnestness is irritating, but intriguing.)

LWAXANA: Okay fine what is it?

(Odo has one second to be relieved as Quark leads Lwaxana over to the bar.)

SISKO (over commbadge): Sisko to Odo.

ODO: Go ahead, Commander.

SISKO: You're needed in the infirmary.

ODO: On my way.

(In the Infirmary, everyone is dying of Vape Fever.)

BASHIR: I don't have an explanation for it. Except that I know all the symptoms and exactly what could have caused it.

SISKO: What could have caused it?

BASHIR: These vaping devices are made of some kind of weird metal. It has traces of xyphilonium, a Cardassian material.

SISKO: You mean everyone has been vaping xyphilonium?

BASHIR: It appears so.

SISKO: Good thing I told Jake not to vape and he certainly listened to me. Who could have done this?

ODO: Well my sources gave me information that hasn't made sense until now. It seems someone has been ripping parts out of the station's hull. Quark must be using the station's hull to make vaping devices.

SISKO: Go tell him that is very dangerous, but don't arrest him or anything.

(Back in Quark's)

LWAXANA: I KNEW YOU'D COME BACK. Look what I bought from Quark.

(She clamps something around Odo's arm)

LWAXANA: It's a manacle that works on changelings! Now you can never escape me! This is charming! I am well-balanced!

ODO: Wait... this is made of xyphilonium too. QUARK!

QUARK: Yes?

ODO: Exactly how much of your merchandise is made out of the hull of the station??

QUARK: Well, all of it, of course! I didn't think it would be a problem.

(An explosion rocks the station. The lights go out.)

(In Ops)

KIRA: I'm getting reports that 3,000 people have been blown out into space. The hull integrity of the station is at negative 5 percent. If we don't do something soon, we'll all be torn to shreds!

SISKO: I need answers, people!

JADZIA: I have an answer. It's science-y and it takes longer to say than to do.

KIRA: That won't work. This station is Cardassian and it sucks!

JADZIA: Well what about this?

O'BRIEN: Yes and if we add something else it will work. I can help. I have to open this dangerous computer panel to do it. Don't tell Keiko.

BASHIR: Keiko is unhappy.

O'BRIEN: Shut up!

SISKO: Let's get to work!

(In Quark's. The lights are out. Quark is rushing drinks around to weeping customers.)

ROM: Brother, we don't have enough synthale without the replicators. Maybe we should suggest other drinks to our customers?

(Quark lights Rom on fire.)

LWAXANA: Tell me about your problems. You are edgier than usual.

ODO: I am not.

LWAXANA: But of course you are! I can always tell.

ODO: Yes I am sad.

LWAXANA: You know, Odo, in retrospect, I should not have manacled you to me.

ODO: I agree.

LWAXANA: And the real reason I came here is that I am also having a crisis. Good thing you were here.

(an emotional moment (?))

SISKO: Sisko to Odo.

ODO: Go ahead Commander.

SISKO: The station is about to explode. Evacuate everyone. You have five seconds.

(They begin the evacuation. It is the third one this week.)

(In Ops)

JADZIA: It's not working.

O'BRIEN: Dammit!

KIRA: 200 more people have suffocated without life support!

(Garak has appeared)

KIRA: Garak! What are you doing here?

GARAK: Well I thought this thing I knew might be of some help. I could have offered it sooner but I was.......

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...hemming some pants.

SISKO: And you think this thing will work.

GARAK: Commander, if it didn't, I wouldn't be much of a...

GARAK: ...

GARAK: ...

BASHIR: Garak!

GARAK: ... tailor, would I?

SISKO: Well, do it!

GARAK: Right away!

(Outside shot of the station. Sisko voice-over)

SISKO: Thankfully everything is fine now, just in time for the Klingon Parade. Good thing, too, because I have to throw the opening pitch in the Klingon baseball game. Next time there's an inside shot of the station everything will look exactly as it always does.

(Inside shot of the station. He's right!)

(At Airlock 3.)

ODO: Well, you are leaving.

LWAXANA: I am, but you will always love me. I'll be back.

(It is a threat. She will be back.)

ODO: Thank you for telling me about your crisis, Madam Ambassador.

LWAXANA: Of course! That's what I'm here for!

(she winks, then kisses Odo, winks again, and leaves. Odo looks bewildered)

QUARK: Well, good thing everything turned out alright!

ODO: You almost murdered everyone on the station!!

QUARK: Almost.

(Everyone in the Promenade chuckles. Oh, Quark. You scamp. Everything is fine and Quark is not arrested.)

♫ BUH BUH BUH BUUUUUUH BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH BUH BUH BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH ♫

[kaesaaurelia]

balder12 replied to your post

“me, watching DS9 when I was 13-14: I like Kira, she’s angry and tired...”

Kira somehow manages to make all her casual space elf looks seem hot. You didn’t say much about the s1 finale so I have to ask - any thoughts on Vedek Winn?

Honestly the finale was kind of rough going for me?  Like, not as much as the labor camp filing clerk one (which hit way too close to home in a few ways, not least of which is that growing up, I had a neighbor who grew up in a Nazi labor camp and man I was so fucking pissed at the character who helped run the Cardassian labor camp) but there was a lot going on and I was having trouble saying anything, really?

Anyway this got long; sort of a ramble under the cut about religion and politics and metaphors.

Basically they brought up so many real life issues in that episode (offhand I can name evolution vs. creationism in schools, school segregation, a whole lot of different aspects of colonialism, orthodox vs reform religious teachings, and terrorism) and through it all -- well, obviously I wasn’t supposed to like Vedek Winn but I could not separate my distaste for her from my actual very squidgy embarrassed awful feelings in real life when people I want to be on good terms with assume I’m Christian, and then I have to decide whether to say I’m not and what kind of a conversation about Judaism and Jewishness I’m comfortable with, and then I run the risk of them trying to convert me; even if not, they might still try and fit me into the idea they have of Judaism as Diet Christianity, Now With Less Jesus.  (And the thing is, these people are almost always much better-intentioned than Vedek Winn, and they’re never extremists or anything.  They just want to get along with me, and they just want to think that I’m a good person, and that’s what they think good people are.  But they still make me very uncomfortable and they’ll never realize it.)

On the other hand I wonder a little bit if people who don’t have those feelings normally experienced them while watching that episode?  I kind of hope so, but also I feel like a lot of people who are culturally Christian and relatively socially liberal will be reading the Bajoran religion primarily as a stand-in for Islam in that episode, and secondarily as a stand-in for (specifically) Creationism and other aspects of fundamentalist Christianity.  (To be VERY CLEAR, I don’t want to equate this fictional alien sci fi religion with any real religions, I’m just thinking about how people might have interpreted it.)  They’re in a place where they can say, “what a strange backwards planet, glad I don’t live there, they remind me of this group I don’t understand at all, hopefully Sisko can show them the error of their ways by the end.”

And I feel more like, “Wow, this is where I have always lived, surrounded by people who can’t imagine I don’t share their culture and philosophy,” and then I have to ask, but wait, why are the Federation officers so surprised, why do they argue and get mad?  Can’t they just say “yeah, sure, the prophets, actually that’s not my thing but it’s totally okay if it’s yours but just, it’s not mine, I must have missed the prophets memo, ha ha, that’s on me, I really don’t want confrontation here, anyway, gosh, lovely weather on the promenade today, hope we don’t get rain, how ‘bout them holographic baseball teams.”  Because that’s what I do!  (Man, you don’t even know how many awkward conversations I’ve had about the Cubs trying to avoid making someone feel bad about my lack of their religion.  I don’t even like the Cubs.)

And then I realize, well, of course that’s what I do, I’m not part of a massive, well-armed empire that’s trying to absorb the people who talk to me like this into my culture.  They’re the ones trying to absorb my culture, in fact.  

And then Sisko makes his big rousing speech that assumes that, really, deep down, everyone kind of wants to be like the Federation, that the Federation being good is self-evident, and I’m like, “oh no, they ALSO can’t imagine people don’t think like them!  That is going to alienate the Bajorans as much as Vedek Winn is alienating the O’Briens and Sisko, and it’s all going to be a big mess, you can really only have one group of smug everyone’s-like-me-deep-down-assumers or it all breaks down because no one knows when to change the subject and talk about the space weather.”  And then it was fine?  I don’t know.  It was off-putting.

(I realize “it was fine” is a funny way to say “there was an explosion and an assassination attempt but fortunately no one died.”  In the end O’Brien was betrayed by a non-regular and Kira was sad but like, none of the main cast’s relationship was really in peril in the end, so... it was fine.)

I think also I was a bit taken aback that Kira identified so much with Vedek Winn’s interpretation and cause initially?  I think that would sit better with me if I understood more about Winn’s ideas than “wormhole science bad, it’s a celestial temple.”  Like, is there some kind of philosophy Winn puts forward that Kira found a lot of strength in?  Did she write beautiful religious poetry?  Was she willing to stand up to the Cardassians when most of Bajor’s religious leaders capitulated too easily for Kira’s taste?  I don’t know!  We don’t get any discussion of that, she’s just Misguided for siding with Winn, and then she changes her mind because she has eyes and Winn is obviously evil.

Also, actually, on a worldbuilding note I’m very skeptical about the sheer... organizedness and unity of Bajor’s religion.  You can’t tell me there wouldn’t be sects and splinter groups and a rival religion that decries the orbs and the so-called Prophets as some sort of evil force, and at least a few religions that don’t have orbs in them at all, and well-known temples with orbs that turned out to be like, quartz with LEDs and part of the very important temple ritual experience is eating shrooms so you still have weird hallucinations.

Anyway, back to Vedek Winn.  In the end, she was awful and I didn’t like her and I’m sure she’ll be back to be an asshole but, yeah, it was hard for me to parse my reaction to S1 as a separate thing from my own feelings about religion and politics, and it’s difficult to talk about some of that stuff for me anyway.  I have a lot of feelings and I’m not good at them.  I don’t really know if any of this was coherent but you did ask.

[sleepingdogs]

ever since I started playing timelines I can't stop thinking about sisko and t'pol interacting (bc they are both at the top of my list on my crew).

like, somehow t'pol is on ds9 to help the federation and she meets sisko. I don't really have a headcanon on how that works lol but I love to think about how sisko would react to her. based on how he acted on the pilot with kira (y'know, respecting her and her anger bc he knew what she's gone through) I think he would really respect t'pol and wouldn't try to make her act like a human. but he's also so warm and kind, and he likes baseball and cooking so much that t'pol would find him illogical! but not in an overwhelming way, so she would eventually get used to it and grow to respect him as well.

and sisko would absolutely call her out when she starts being judgmental about humans and how bad we are, but never in a mean way

idk I just really like the idea of these two interacting, and I think it would be super interesting!

[weerd1]

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.22: Missions Reviewed, “Afterimage,” “Take Me Out to the Holosuite,” and “Chrysalis.”

(Review notes: While watching these three episodes yesterday, I saw the news that Aron Eisenberg, Nog, passed away unexpectedly.  Nog has been in integral part of this story, and I know he has some very deep and dark episodes coming up in this rewatch.  The heart that shows through Nog though is certainly the product of Aron Eisenberg’s performance. He was actively involved with fandom, even liking a couple of my tweets in the past.  By all accounts he was quite a person, and this is certainly a hard loss for the community of Niners, and Star Trek fans in general.  Condolences to his family and friends.)

“Afterimage” shows Ezri Dax having a hard time adapting to life on the station, and planning instead to resume Ezri Tigen (pre-joined Ezri’s) duties on the USS Destiny. Sisko wants her to stay, Quark considers this to be the chance he lost out on with Jadzia, and slowly convinces Bashir of the same. Worf meanwhile refuses to even be in the same room with her.  When Worf sees her spending time with Bashir however, he threatens the Doctor, saying that accepting Ezri dishonors the memory of Jadzia. Garak, who has been codebreaking the Cardassians for Starfleet Intelligence starts having claustrophobic attacks even in spacious areas, and Sisko asks Ezri, a counselor, to talk to him.  

She ties his claustrophobia to the fact his father would lock him in a closet for a punishment and moves on, but his attacks get worse, causing them to have to let him spend time in a holosuite.  When she tries to treat him again, he becomes belligerent, and convinces her she should leave Starfleet. Sisko seems to support that. O’Brien goes to Worf, and talks to him about the fact that this is a tough situation, but would Jadzia want him to treat Ezri this way? Ezri is preparing to leave the station, and yet goes to say goodbye to Garak, mentioning his successes codebreaking. When he gets uncomfortable, she pushes, and Garak breaks down, and the two of them realize he is punishing himself as a traitor to Cardassia, knowing the Dominion must be stopped, but knowing also that his people will likely be destroyed in the process.  He accepts treatment, and Ezri decides she will stay if Worf can handle it.  Worf mentions it will still be hard for him, but knows he cannot punish Ezri for what has happened.  As she accepts the DS9 position and a promotion, knowing Sisko pushed her buttons earlier to motivate her, she moves through the crowd more comfortable.  Worf does not speak to her, but toasts her from across the room.

It is fascinating to watch these writers who now have more than six years working together under their belts get to develop a new character, when there is so much great material sitting around to call on. Garak’s feelings on Cardassia are a great moment for his character too, but I think the thing that I find most compelling here is the Sisko/Dax relationship.  We know Curzon Dax was Benjamin’s mentor, then Jadzia his friend and peer.  Here we see Benjamin get to step into the mentor role, and that’s a really lovely piece of character development only a Science Fiction setting can give you. Worf’s confusion over all of this is very heartfelt, as who wouldn’t want to bring their love back in some form…but particularly since he just allowed Jadzia soul to enter Sto-Vo-Kor, how does a Klingon deal with her being in this new, timid and unsure person?  All of this is well-played.

A Vulcan starship the T’Kumbra docks at DS9 and an old rival of Sisko challenges him to a baseball game in “Take Me Out to the Holosuite.” Since an Academy quarrel, Captain Solok has taken every opportunity to show his Vulcan superiority to Sisko, including citing Sisko’s Academy behavior in about a dozen papers. Now, he has trained members of his crew in baseball, and is ready to show Sisko he is superior there as well. 

 Sisko assembles his staff and starts training them to play, and asks Odo to be umpire. The crew is eager, but also untalented. Sisko begins to take this all very seriously and kicks Rom off the team for being so bad at it.  The rest threaten to quit, but Rom asks them all to stay. When the game day arrives, the Vulcans are pulling way ahead, and tensions are high. When Odo calls a strike on Worf and Sisko protests, tapping Odo on the chest, Odo ejects him.  Sisko, now in the stands watches O’Brien take over as coach and sees his crew together as a team, losing or not. He grabs Rom (who has been in the stands watching) and suits him up. O’Brien puts him on the plate with Nog on third at the top of the ninth.  They signal for Rom to bunt, and when he leans in to try and figure out what they are talking about, the ball hits his bat. Nog makes it to home and the Niners score their first run. The team goes out praising Rom and celebrating, carrying him off the field. Solok complains to the umpire that the game isn’t finished and when Odo turns, the Vulcan grabs his shoulder to pull him back.  Odo smiles and says, “YOU’RE GONE!” 

Later at Quark’s, the Niners are celebrating their non-shut out with Jake beating himself up over giving up 12 runs.  Ben reminds him Vulcans are at least three times stronger and faster than humans, and in the circumstances they all did great. Solok comes in to gloat, but finds himself heckled when he sees they Niners enjoying themselves, and they begin to point out how emotional he seems to be over that fact. The Logisticians have more points, but the Niners enjoyed the game, and the team all sign a baseball to go on Sisko’s desk.

Given the serious nature of the show, having a break like this one where you can catch your breath and enjoy some fish-out-of-water moments is pretty welcome. (Worf’s version of “hey-batter-batter” is actually “Death to the Opposition!) I had more of a problem with this episode 20 years ago feeling the Vulcans were mis-portrayed, and indeed, I think THIS is where we first see the Vulcans of “Star Trek: Enterprise” with their superiority complex. Having reconciled that watching ENT this worked much better for me. Perhaps an analysis of the Vulcans in canon and fanon should be the subject of another essay…oh lord, do I need to rewatch and review Enterprise? Interestingly,  Rom is shown here batting left handed because Max Grodénchik was an accomplished player, having actually played semi-pro.  They couldn’t get him to otherwise appear unskilled enough.  

In “Chrysalis,” Bashir is feeling a bit lonely but has the Jack Pack, the group of genetically enhanced humans who are institutionalized, come to the station because they know he is working on something to help Serina (the non-verbal woman among them) control her sensory stimuli and normalize. 

After Sisko smooths over the fact that three of them impersonated Starfleet Officers to get there, Bashir tries to design the machine he needs to work on Serina’s brain, but O’Brien tells him it can’t be done.  The Jack Pack take on the issue and manage a fine substitute.  Bashir performs the operation and indeed Serina seems fine, yet she has the benefits of her genetic engineering as well.  She seems unable to integrate back into the group of her friends though, and starts spending more time with Bashir and his friends. He develops feelings for her, asking if she wants to stay on the station. He is quite happy to have someone who can think and act as well as he can with his augmentations. 

 She seems to suffer a setback however and becomes cataleptic again. They come to realize it is only a defense mechanism as she does not want to hurt Bashir, but is not ready to make a decision to be with him either; Bashir derides himself for smothering her.  Jack, Patrick, and Lauren go back to their hospital, while Bashir finds Serina a research position where she can sort out her new life. As she leaves, he promises to never forget her, and standing alone, he watches her ship leave.

I have to wonder if intentionally or not, this episode puts Bashir’s insufferable horndog days from the early seasons into context.  He is indeed separated from everyone around him by his abilities, and though he does love his friends, he is seeking some form of deeper connection on par with his level of thinking. There’s not a lot of time left for the show to revisit Serina, and we won’t see her again before the show ends, but it would be neat if some future show could give us a hint of where a second genetically enhanced human whom it seems the Federation is going to allow out in the world, ends up.

NEXT VOYAGE: Star Trek gives me one of my dearest beliefs about the inner workings of the universe in “Treachery, Faith, and The Great River.”

[randomnessunicorn-imagine]

the prompt A donates a kitten to B and puts the cat in B’s lap. maybe reader's cat gave birth kittens and now reader is donating kittens to all their friends to the station. maybe with Sisko, Odo, and Jul?

{ Pussycat pussycat Ilove you, yes I do~

You and your pussycatnose ~

You and your pussycateyes ~ }

🐱 BENJAMIN SISKO 🐱

Who doesn’t lovecats? They are fabulous and beautiful animals.

And who does not lovethe Captain Sisko? He’s also a fabulous and wonderful man.

What if you unitethese two things, you will obtain something extraordinary and you are going todo it.

It took a whilebefore you managed to convince him to keep a cat. Yes, he is not your fatherand you are an adult but you still needed his permission because you were notsure if it was possible to keep a pet in the station. Someone keeps pets in theEnterprise and other space ships and so you thought it was the same here. Thisstation is more like a city than a space station, so keeping a cat should not be a big problem, it was totally right and then you love cats and youneeded company.

Well, maybe you werenot the only one who owned a cat in DS9 because one day, you found your catpregnant and you had no idea who have might done it, you didn’t know othercats.

You left your catwalking through the station freely and she has never caused trouble and now youknow why, she had friends and she had a lot fun, too. She was pregnant now, cutelittle kittens surrounded you, but you could not keep them all, and you couldnot even throw them away because they were not toys. Then you decided to giveone kitten to your favourite Captain.  

You were sure, butyou knew, Jake would be enthusiastic about it and you decided to speak with himfirst. You know Sisko is unable to say no to Jake and Jake finds the kitten soadorable, he already loves it. It’s impossible to resist to its charm.

Of course, Sisko isconfused and amused, he looks at the kitten with a surprised and ironical look buthe’s not going to take care of a cat, his life is already full of job andduties, he could not deal with a cat. With a little cat.

Sisko is not alone,then Jake decides to take care of the little cat, even Nog seems enthusiast tohelp his friend, and so the kitten has already found three new friends.

Yes, Sisko becomesreally attached to the little cat and sometimes he even brings the cat to hisoffice and likes observing it playing with his baseball. It’s the funniest andprettiest show of the existence.

🐱 ODO 🐱

He has never seen acat before and he’s curious about this soft, furry and chaotic creature.

Of course, Odo knowscats, he saw some pictures of them but it’s the first time he sees a cat inreal life. He never became a cat and maybe being a cat could be interesting butyou are not here to give him new ideas of his transformation but you want todonate to him a kitten.

Then Odo can’tbelieve your words, he can’t take care of a cat… Are you serious? He’s unableto do it and he does not want to get attached to some feline, it’sinappropriate and unprofessional. He has a lot of job to do and no time towaste. It’s impossible! His answer is no… For now.

Actually, Odo canlearn a lot from this little cat, he could really turn into a cat and live likea cat. Then cats are too cute to deny, Odo does not understand how this ball offur could be cute but he knows some humans find pets very pretty and adorableand some of them consider the little animals as their true friends.

Maybe a dog would bemore suitable to Odo but you have no dog and this cat needs a new family and soOdo can’t refuse your adorable offer.

After a while, whenOdo gets used to the kitten and he learnt more about it, Odo understands it’snot hard to take care of a kitten because cats are very independent animals,they are noble, clean and silent and so Odo does not have to clean them. Well,he has to take a litter but a cat is surely cleaner than a dog. The kitten won’tbe a big bother for him.

Then Odo could trainthe kitten to jump and scratch Quark or even use Quark’s bar as a litter and soOdo would have the excuse to put Quark out of business. It’s a good reason tokeep the cat.

Odo and the kittenplay together in his quarters. He truly turns into a kitten and play with it,they jump, climb and fight together like two brothers. Odo didn’t imagine beinga cat could be such an amusing experience.

Odo will never admitit and he will never confess the funny times he spends with his new felinefriend but you are glad Odo adopted the kitten and you know the little catfound the perfect home and Odo will be the perfect owner for it.

🐱 JULIAN BASHIR 🐱

One day, when he’staking a break and he’s so distracted to look around, you just appear in frontof him and give him the cat. You put the kitten on Julian’s lap and observe hisreaction.

The doctor thinks it isa joke but the kitten is so cute and Julian falls in love with it instantly, hestarts playing and speaking with it. Such a cute kitty!

Then you say toJulian that this kitten is your gift, it’s for him and you are sure he will bea perfect father for it… And then Julian freaks out and his eyes just say “Whatthe hell!”

He didn’t imagine youwere going to donate this kitten to him. WTF! He’s confused.

The kitten startslicking his face and Julian laughs. You know he can’t say no to this adorablecreature. Julian is too gentle and nice to refuse, maybe you are taking advantageof this thing but this little cat needs a home and you know it will be happywith Julian.

Oh, god. Julian isunable to say no. He can’t stop playing with it and then even Jadzia comes andsays how a kitten would be the perfect company for Julian. Julian takes thejoke and says that this kitten would be a better company than so many people heknows and he decided to adopt it.

Julian wonders ifthere is a vet in the space station because now he has a lot of questions aboutthe cat. He’s a doctor and not a vet but he’s still worried about his cathealth. He does not want his cat to be ill, it must be vaccinated, exanimatedand sterilized and Julian has to get informed. He acts like an apprehensive momand he already loves his child.

Sometimes, Julianvisits O’Brian and let the kitten play with Molly and she just adoresthe little cat.

The kitten becomes very famous in the stationand Julian is so proud and talks about it all the time with everyone. Yes,Julian behaves like a proud and content father

[cute-ds9-headcanons-anyone]

Guess what??? It’s time for some

Ice skating headcanons!

I couldn’t help myself and wanted to imagine/write headcanons for what each character would be like on the ice!

Captain Sisko: Every year for a long time, Joseph Sisko took his son ice skating (until Ben left for Starfleet) and Ben continued that tradition by teaching Jake how to skate, and even though Ben doesn’t do it often, he’s fairly skilled on an ice rink. He tends to lean in a bit toward the center, but he can tell if he’s going to fall and go for a wall before it happens. He never really learned how to stop that well, so he often continues going until he can’t go anymore.

Kira Nerys: Like baseball, until Captain Sisko showed her ice skating, she didn’t really know what it was. Being able to balance fairly well, she can do quite well on figure skates but hockey skates, which are built more for speed, have proven to be a bit of a challenge. However, she likes a challenge and loves to experiment with both speed and figure.

Odo: Isn’t really sure what’s going on, isn’t really coordinated. He tends to cling to the wall and kind of do that awkward clunky walk you do when you’re just trying not to slip. Kind of has the footing movement down and can kind of push himself off from the wall, but when he feels like he’s going too fast, he kind of slips to a stop and often ends up falling on his arse.

Jadzia: Um, this gay worm has had lifetimes of practice ice skating, especially with Emony. With the improved stability, she’s excellent at both speed and figure skating. She’s not very nice on the ice, and likes to rush ahead of people wherever she happens to be while she’s speeding along (much to the dismay of the wall clingers).

Worf: Face it, he’d be the most excellent speed skater. With those large clunky skates, he’d nyoom right onto the ice and while he’d be aggressive, he’d at least bellow a warning before nearly plowing right into somebody. When he’s not going fast, he’s actually a bit clumsy on the ice and tends to nearly slip, but no one has any idea how they haven’t seen him fall even once.

Julian: He wouldn’t be remarkably good, but he wouldn’t be remarkably bad either. He also kind of clings to the wall, except he’s more confident when he builds up speed. Sometimes he gets a bit overconfident and slips and falls and while it happens fairly often, he doesn’t get that frustrated and just goes back to the wall and starts again.

Miles: Oof, the poor man would try to skate without holding onto the wall, but he’d slip and fall, probably managing to dislocate his shoulder or chip his elbow. Julian is getting tired of having to fix his broken arm bones. He and Odo have collided more than once.

Garak: While he doesn’t show up on the rink very often because of the cold, he’s surprisingly excellent at skating. He can match Jadzia’s speed and while he can’t quite meet her elegance, he looks very graceful on the ice. He likes to pull people away from the wall and get them to skate with him in the middle (Julian more than Odo, but he’s managed to coax even Odo away) and he sometimes acts like he’ll let go, but he doesn’t want to be responsible for them getting injured.

Quark: What is he even doing there? Seriously, all he’s doing is slipping and falling and screeching and insisting there HAS to be something wrong with the ice. Eventually, he gets frustrated and ends up leaving the rink and sitting on the sidelines (until Jadzia taunts him, then he’s back).

Weyoun: While he’s a tad awkward at first and clings to the wall for a bit, he soon learns to skate without any assistance and is very graceful on the ice. He doesn’t really understand why the slower skaters stay to the wall and the faster skaters in the middle, so he kind of switches without meaning to, but he doesn’t really tend to plow into people. He did bump into Captain Sisko once, and I can assure you, it never happened again.

[sshbpodcast]

Tales from the Holodeck: DS9 Fanfic: Caitlin’s Teleplay

In celebration of A Star to Steer Her By’s fourth anniversary, we did what pretty much all theaters are doing right now and put together a little Zoom reading. This time around, our latest fanfics in our “Tales from the Holodeck” series are all Deep Space Nine teleplays that you can listen to us cold read here (this one starts at 2:51), complete with really dodgy attempts at accents! Follow along with Caitlin’s teleplay below or read with your friends with your own dodgy accents!

[images © Paramount/CBS]

“Constable Odo Day!”

By Caitlin

Random pick: Odo

Scene 1 - the promenade. Odo enters to see, to his surprise, that garish decorations had bloomed there overnight, proclaiming “Happy Constable Odo Day!’ 

ODO: (displeased Odo sound – you know the one, Jake)

SISKO: Constable! I see you’ve found our surprise – isn’t it wonderful? Happy Constable Odo Day!

ODO: (uncomfortable) Yes, wonderful… But I don’t approve of all of these fire hazards on my promenade... 

SISKO: (chuckling) I assure you, all necessary precautions have been taken. Besides, it’s a station-wide holiday – we’re giving you the day off, and we have lots of surprises in store for you!

ODO: (annoyed Odo sound)

KEIKO enters, walks quickly to ODO and SISKO, grabbing the Constable’s arm.

KEIKO: Odo, I’m glad I got to you fir- … well, second! Come see what the children have done for Constable Odo day!

ODO: (incredulous) How is it possible, with ALL of my contacts, that I didn’t hear ANYTHING about this?

SISKO: I don’t know if this will make you feel better, or worse – but it required a little help from Morn.

ODO: I’m impressed – I wouldn’t expect Morn of all people to be able to keep a secret!

Scene 2 - KEIKO’s classroom. The students have been busy with Odo-themed art projects. DAX awaits within, holding a small, mostly featureless doll in a security uniform, made in ODO’s image.

DAX: (laughing) There’s the guest of honor! Happy Constable Odo Day, Odo.

ODO: I’m glad you are amused by this, Lieutenant.

DAX: Odo, don’t be such a grump! For one day, cut loose a little and have fun.

ODO: This may be hard to believe, but for me, my work IS fun, not all this being the center of attention…

KEIKO: (gushing) Surely even the Constable isn’t immune to the charms of all the student projects! Nalas created a beautiful portrait, Antos carved this wooden figurine... and Jake even wrote you this wonderful short story where you’re a 20th century private investigator – what they used to call a “private eye”...

ODO accepts the tablet containing Jake Sisko’s story.

ODO: (under his breath) Well, this, at least may have some merit… I uh, think I’ll return to my quarters so I can read this immediately. Thank you, Keiko, and all my thanks to your students as well. 

Before anyone can object, ODO exits. The rest follow behind, puzzled. After everyone has left, the little ODO doll springs to life, comically looking one way, then the next, before disappearing from our view.

Scene 3 - ODO’s chambers. Thinking he has escaped, briefly, ODO sits down and breathes a sigh of relief.

The doorbell rings.

ODO: (annoyed) ENTER.

KIRA enters. ODO leaps to his feet to greet her.

ODO: Major, what a pleasant surprise. Have you heard about this Constable Odo Day utter non-

KIRA: Of course I heard, that’s why I’m here. I know in spite of my d’jarra, my work isn’t much, but I made this to commemorate the day.

KIRA produces a small sculpture from behind her back; it looks like a melting popsicle. ODO accepts it, bemused.

ODO: Major, I don’t think I’ve ever been more touched. What… what is it?

KIRA: (blushing) Why, it’s you, Odo – at the time between humanoid Odo becoming… something else. It doesn’t look like much, but I put my heart into it.

ODO: I have never been so pleased by any gift. Thank you, Major.

ODO and KIRA gaze into each other’s eyes, until… the doorbell rings.

ODO: (actually really fucking annoyed) ENTER!

SISKO enters.

SISKO: There you are, Odo! Oh, Nerys, I didn’t know you’d be here – I hope I’m not interrupting anything.

ODO: (quickly) No, Captain, Major Kira was just bringing me this, uh, beautiful sculpture she made for me. For Constable Odo Day.

KIRA: (laughing) A Kira Nerys original, Captain.

SISKO: (also laughing) Another fine piece of work, Major. (Serious) Odo, I’m sure right now you must feel pretty overwhelmed with all of this – 

ODO: Yes sir, it has been most irregular and has really disturbed my schedule –

SISKO: Good, good! We really wanted you to enjoy the day!

Odo: (flat) Oh yes. It has been most... enjoyable.

SISKO: Well, we saved the best for last! 

KIRA: Second-best, I think you mean...

SISKO: ...yes, second-best, Major. I’m going to take you to a baseball game in the holosuites!

ODO: A baseball game in – (stops, defeated, seeing the excitement in Sisko’s eyes). Yes, sir, I can’t imagine anything I’d… enjoy more…

SISKO: I hoped you’d feel that way! 

SISKO hands ODO a London Kings baseball jersey.

SISKO: Here, get changed into this, and meet me at Holosuite 8 in 15 minutes! I have to go change!

Exit KIRA and SISKO. ODO studies the jersey Sisko has given him, concentrates for a moment, and shapeshifts so it looks like he’s wearing the jersey. He steps in front of a mirror to check his work.

ODO: Well, I certainly am getting better at clo-

BZZT! ODO is stunned with electricity from behind; we can see the taser-style weapon, but not who holds it. ODO falls unconscious, becomes ODO goo.

A hand reaches into shot to pick up the jersey; we hear a laugh as the scene fades.

Scene 4 - Quark’s 

Some time later…

ODO runs into Quark’s bar, looking a little wild. He is approached by O’BRIEN and BASHIR.

BASHIR: There’s the man of the hour – Happy Constable Odo Day!

ODO: Thank you, but I’m here on urg-

BASHIR: No urgent business today, Constable – come and have a pint with Miles and I, have a round of darts…

O’BRIEN: Yes, Constable, join us for one round of daerts! Who knows – you might like it?

ODO: No, I can’t right now – I really have to –

BASHIR: Constable, lighten up – we won’t keep you long – just a half-hour or so?

O’BRIEN: Aye, we just want a small chunk of your time…

ODO: You don’t understand – I have more important –

Enter: SISKO and… ODO?! Both wearing baseball caps, jerseys, holding pennants, and laughing gaily together.

SISKO: Somehow I just KNEW you would love baseball, Odo…

ODO 2: (A little too happily) Captain, I cannot think of anything I have ever enjoyed more... 

O’BRIEN notices the second ODO, does a spit take from his pint.

O’BRIEN: Jaysus! Odo – there’s two of you! 

BASHIR: Oh, dear. But which one is the real Odo?

O’BRIEN: (panic stricken) ‘Ow are we gonna tell ‘em apaert?

Quark enters, whistling, strips of latinum sticking out of his pockets, and carrying a tray laden with tiny buckets, full of shimmering golden liquid; approaches ODO 2.

QUARK: There you are, constable! You simply must try one of my limited-edition-commemorative-Constable-Odo-Day-Odo-bucket cocktails – just 1 strip of lat… Well, for you, I guess it’s on the house... But don’t get used to it.

ODO 2: How generous, Quark – thank you! (accepts drink, shoots it)

SISKO: (puzzled) Odo, I’ve seen your coffee trick, but I didn’t think you’d moved on to actually… ingesting food and drink? Perhaps I should have planned that banquet after all...

ODO: (enraged/bemused) I think if everything else wrong with this picture hasn’t clued you in, Doctor, that should answer your question – this impostor did an all right job of impersonating me, apparently enough to fool the Captain, but – can you imagine me being so pleasant to Quark, quaffing down one of his cheap gimmicks – or enjoying baseball?!

BASHIR: … Now that you mention it, no. 

FOUNDER 48Σπ7 (nee ODO 2): (transforms into other, oddly shaped humanoid Founder) Who would have thought, on a station so large, we would bump into each other like this?! Grah! (transports away. To where? Who cares!)

ODO: That’s what I was trying to tell you, while you two fools wouldn’t stop yammering about darts – there was another Founder on the station, wreaking who knows what kind of havoc and now they’ve escaped! (turning to Quark, rage building) And you! Using my… image… to make money? On Constable Odo Day?!

QUARK: (backing away, nervous) You know, Odo, you really should be thanking me – after all, it was my limited-edition-commemorative-Constable-Odo-Day-Odo-bucket mini cocktails that tipped everyone off that you weren’t… quite yourself today....

ODO: (frustrated) QUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!

-FIN-

—

Check out Ames, Jake, and Chris’s stories for more Tales from the Holodeck! Also, be sure to keep listening on SoundCloud, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and pick up your own limited-edition-commemorative-Constable-Odo-Day-Odo-bucket mini cocktail at Quark’s, on us!

[theillestmann24-blog]

Laugh out loud what is realize what I do like a format minute video on Tumblr I've never used before-and was funny is like I put my heart and souls is video and 6:08 p.m. on a Wednesday at closing or and was funnier is that all you of a you know what about anyone that thinks anything about me whether negative positive because I found they had respect for myself in the most highest level to know that I'm not judged by my deeds even though if I was it Would-be despite the fact I don't have the riches or the success or the notoriety yet and should I OK with his actually now that I'm so young still knowing that I've done a lifetime that monkey will never do-and only 24 years you can Sam are over but you fell to say that you're guilty of your own issues in secrets that I don't have I don't have a secret anyone I do am I have a few now that are only like BS stuff meaning like none of the is bad and is gonna hurt myself which is more the point of like programs like those and honors programs to help you with things out I don't need an improvement to myself mainly it's not about proving it anyone else than approving into light sosiety or what proving it to God it I would say that has now I see a lobby will not believe in God and that's OK I mean as long as you don't think killing Americans anyone's gonna get 70 virgins in heaven I'm going to you you can display know that you can be an atheist agnostic I'm not here to be about religion or 90,000 stuff that I know the truth about now because when I you know the truth no got to the point actually all that matters to me I say it because of serve God for the whole-life of mine and serve everyone else and apparently people are saying everywhere but the conical me it down now because my group in my family blood or non blood has decided as you want to take the pressure off me and no longer say thank you will love you I can't believe all the great things about you the regency before-and like yeah you know what it was kind of fun for like a minute and then those lego just makes it more more and more like harder to see and hear without the money being paid to me that his old in contract or by its handshake or by a verbal because I appeal this time for me and our family group will have to have those contracts it's a good enough to say I'm gonna do the work for you and you pay me but in this situation people have defaulted so I feel like at the minimum though people have at-least decided to not put me out there for something stupid and at no I hope you will say I've saved the world of saved the country-and I mean everyone rich in the Bay area and San Jose Ives I made California the best stay in the world-and I really if I did I'd be like a multi billionaire at this age before I even would glass my dreams and goals I will not let the worry about 9:00 hours and if I do a daily basis I would have things in other things that people have that would save the country if I really did and ice actually made downtown president since we know what happened on Twitter and what I agreed to do-and Megan Kelly if you can say my name which she would rather not because she could do with a stick up for me in a manner of reminding on trump on live national world TV on the 3rd to base after I held among the 1st to because the technology that was now clipped and as the all in August and happy about is what was destroying my life every 2nd every day-of my life since birth and prefer to the planned out by people in our group and a family that I don't know if they're better in our family group anymore of the keep tower on suspension and OK I know that were that is like this I'm in the same city in the same like beside San Jose and San Jose is a city that I bince's 1988 and I never live that long so in California the 1st place and it's the great thing is that people that are really honest and real and actually matter to me and easy they're successful people and every way or most ways are the ones us acknoledge that there's no war between the Bay area or no the California anymore there was a time where people wanting to fight over that and actually got so bad I remember a giants fan and and LA dodger game got beat-up so badly that he was in a wheelchair for a while and like it also a to a dodger fan of some to a giant scam in 7 sisko had the same thing happen him like a retaliation like this is baseball guys versus baseball personnel were California we run the world to in a cocula I'll say we're on the world because we have the technology and we built the Internet with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and a lot of people like Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook and then on top of that we got Hollywood and 7 California