#but on the other hand garak is the dramatic one

[tokidokifish]

the thing about a literary howl's moving castle garashir au is that they are both somehow simultaneously howl

[crowfootwrites]

Finally, a fic for Julian! I feel like he doesn't get enough love in fandom unless he's paired with Garak. So, here's my attempt at remedying that!

Kinktober Masterlist

Taglist: @horta-in-charge

Day 13: Oral - Julian Bashir x GN!Reader

Warnings: This contains smut, so minors, avert thine eyes; oral sex (m receiving) | Words: ~500 | Song: Unholy - Sam Smith & Kim Petras

“Oh! Julian, you’ve saved the day!” you exclaimed dramatically, throwing your arms around Julian’s neck and placing a meaningful kiss on his cheek. Julian beamed in your arms, his ego more than a little inflated after defeating the villain in the espionage program you’d selected for the holodeck and saving you and several other computer-generated characters from a dire fate. 

A faint blush colored his cheeks in spite of his cocky smile, and you pulled away just enough to meet his eye. You bit your lip flirtatiously. You’d spent the better part of the last hour watching your boyfriend in his element - solving puzzles, strategizing, wielding weapons. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t more than a little turned on. 

Tracing your hands down the length of Julian’s arms, you tangled your fingers with his and drew him coyly toward a black leather couch in the corner of his holodeck office. His brows pinched together in slight confusion, but he followed, allowing you to deposit him onto the plush lounge. 

“Maybe you should let me thank you for saving my life,” you teased, throwing in a wink for good measure. Julian’s eyes widened almost comically, and you had to bite back a laugh as you watched him gulp. 

“Are- are you sure?” he asked, leaning forward and reaching for your hand. You clasped your fingers with his and nodded slowly, determined not to ruin the bit. You knelt before him, his knees bracketing your sides as you squeezed his thighs reassuringly. 

“Let me give you this,” you practically purred.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” 

You nodded, biting your lip again, and he hesitantly leaned back against the couch. You made quick work of his fly, carefully extracting his hardening cock from his tuxedo pants. You teased him just a little, placing soft, fleeting kisses along his shaft, then dragging your tongue from base to tip as he groaned loudly above you. His head dropped back on the couch the moment you placed your lips around him, his sharp inhale like music to your ears.

You relished in the feeling of his hot, heavy length against your tongue, bobbing your head experimentally as your hands massaged his thighs. You knew what Julian liked, of course, but you wondered if Agent Bashir had different preferences than Doctor Bashir.

Julian’s hands flew to the back of your head as you took him as deep in your throat as you could. Your name tumbled from his mouth as he lifted his head to watch you work him over. You swirled your tongue around his tip for good measure, his thighs tensing beneath your palms. Using one hand to stroke the base of Julian’s cock while you swallowed around him, you felt his hips jerking forward and you knew he was close. Putting more pressure behind your tongue, you pulled him deeper, pushed him closer to the edge. Moments later, he snapped, fisting your hair tightly as he came down the back of your throat.

[deepestturtlepielover]

((It’s that time of the month and I’m giving Julian a specific embarrassing moment that I think has happened to everyone))

((I’ll leave notes to explain my thoughts and writing))

Julian returns from a stressful mission while waiting for his ship to dock finally. He rushes off excitedly for his lunch with garak, they plan to discuss a new book garak recommended while he was away for the mission. Garak notices a smell of blood he thinks Julian is injured and is too stubborn to admit injury ((on Cardassia it’s typically signing a death warrant to admit your injured or showing any weakness because someone can exploit it)) , so he tries to pry it out of Julian by using the book ((sometimes you can say something without saying it or using an example)) They eat for an hour arguing over the books both detailing their interpretation and why the other is right. Garak suggests they get up and walk around to catch up with each other when really he’s going to walk the stubborn doctor into the infirmary. But Julian goes to get up first and notices a red mark on the chair and promptly sits back down refusing to move out of complete and utter embarrassment at forgetting to mark the calendar. He frantically attempts to let garak know while berating himself inside his head “I can’t move” then Julian grabs garak’s and his napkin off the table before putting it on his lap and sitting on the other one. But Garak misinterprets this as god dammit of course he can’t his injuries are too bad and just out right asks. Julian tries and fails miserably to explain why he’s bleeding because for fucks sake mate they are literally at the Replimat and there’s a bunch of people already staring at the commotion. He gets up and sorta plays it off like “haha I split food” before scrubbing the chair off with the napkins and garak is like what is happening and stop that before you injure yourself further. Then Julian removes his top half of the jumpsuit and sorta ties it around his waist before grabbing garaks hand and rushing out of there straight to the infirmary while garak protests and tries to slow down to talk about “hey maybe don’t go there you can come to my quarters I’ll patch you up” ((oh my god they were roommates! Palm to palm *wink wonk*)) Julian stubbornly says “no we’re going to the infirmary and then we’re going to talk I have something to tell you”

But Garak has other ideas and pulls julian to a stop and practically half carries half drags julian to his quarters instead away from prying eyes and away from the infirmary because who knows who’s listening or watching. Julian promptly has a conniption about how dare Garak just decide for him where he gets to go and “oh my god now everyone is talking about it! someone kill me please kill me” then dramatically locks himself in the bathroom ((I’ve done this the bathroom is my fortress YOU SHALL NOT PASSS)) Garak being completely unnerved by this behavior goes to try to open the door only to be met with a crying Doctor Bashir on the bathroom floor curled up into the furthest corner like the walls at any minute could swallow him. Julian is just in pieces at this point he can’t stop crying god why can’t he stop this is not how he wanted to spend his time back with Garak, they were only supposed to get lunch then maybe talk but not this. He doesn’t need to know about this part of his life how much he hates it and how much it makes him want to tear into himself for everyday he bleeds is another day of misery.

End for now I’ll post later but I have to go eat I forgot to eat (✽´ཫ`✽)

[philosopherking1887]

First lines game

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern.

Thanks for the tag, @illwynd! I think I did one of these not that long ago, but it's always fun to see how my most recent fics have changed the pattern.

1. A Match Made in Hell (Gotham, Ed/Oswald, POV Barbara) After Reunification, the mood in Gotham was jubilant. Nowhere was this truer than at the celebration being held in City Hall for the city’s defenders. Champagne, newly imported from the mainland, flowed freely, and the buffet tables offered a greater variety of ingredients and flavors than most of the attendees had enjoyed in over a year.

2. Strange Bedfellows (Gotham, endgame Ed/Oswald, temporary but substantial Jim/Oswald) Oswald Cobblepot waltzed straight through the GCPD (almost literally, with his characteristic three-count step) as if he owned the place (which, in truth, he had before, and probably would again) and barged into the captain’s office without so much as knocking, then slammed it dramatically behind him.

3. A Question of Time (Gotham, Ed/Oswald) Mayor Oswald Cobblepot and his chief of staff, Edward Nygma (who could still hardly believe that those titles applied to them), had just finished dinner at the Van Dahl mansion, mainly spent discussing policy initiatives and how they interacted with Oswald’s interests in the underworld.

4. Introductions: Take Two (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Jake/Ziyal, drabble for prompt "New Beginnings," dialogue only) “Hey, Ziyal. Can I sit?”

5. A Penguin By Any Other Name (Gotham, pre-Nygmobblepot) “Oswald Cobblepot,” Ed said thoughtfully, rolling the syllables around his mouth as if he were tasting an unfamiliar wine.

6. The Honest Man's Lie (DS9, Garak/Bashir) When Garak approached the Replimat, Bashir was already standing outside it, looking toward Garak’s shop and bouncing on the balls of his feet—with excitement rather than anxiety, judging from the grin that spread across his face when he caught sight of his lunch companion.

7. A Simple Request (DS9, Garak/Bashir, dialogue only) “Oh, I think it’s safe to say Julian Bashir, secret agent, will return. Computer, end program. Now, we need to get you to the infirmary to treat that neck wound…”

8. Never Too Late (DS9, Garak/Bashir, drabble for prompt "Late") Garak’s eyes widened with shock, quickly masked. “Doctor Bashir! It’s late for social calls…”

9. Biting Commentary (DS9, Garak/Bashir, drabble for prompt "Fruity," dialogue only) “…then the kid grabbed Garak’s hand and bit it, so hard he was millimeters away from hitting bone.”

10. Contrapasso (DS9, gen, Garak POV, drabble for prompt "Curse") In his brief stint on Bajor, Garak learned to ignore Bajoran curses, spat at him by Resistance detainees, muttered by old codgers who thought he couldn’t hear, or painted on the walls of his lodgings.

Patterns... well, either it's a short-ish line of dialogue, or a longer scene-setting sentence. Though sometimes it describes a specific event (2, 3, 6), and sometimes it's a generalization about a relevant place and time (1, 10).

Tagging: @incredifishface, @kaelio, @cardassiangoodreads, @gottaread2, @thesoullessfuck (but only if you want to, of course!!)

[idonotbitemythumbatyou]

Comments by the illustrious @cardassiangoodreads

I hear you and I don’t actually disagree. It would be dumb of Tain to actually just kill Julian even though he was delivered to his doorstep with a bow.

I’ll admit I phrased this post provocatively because I’m a shit starter ¯\_(😇)_/¯ but I am also always coming from the perspective “what is the dramatically stronger choice?” And whatever you think Tain would realistically do, the fact remains that it’s not a safe or good idea for Julian go driving up to his front door and beaming into his living room. And Garak sent him there on purpose!

At the very least we’re looking at a case of “I’m sending you on a wild goose chase to get you out of the way because otherwise you won’t let me die, and also I am indifferent to your safety,” and at worst it’s “because you won’t let me die, and because you’re the one thing that gives me joy and has tempted to want to live longer in this hell, even though you represent everything I stand against, and because I love you, and hate that I love you, I’m delivering you into the hands of the other person I love and hate the most as punishment for us both.”

Maybe that’s not the worst. Maybe someone else can make it more fucked up I’d love that.

I think any option gives you a lot to play with, but the fact that I really don’t think you can ignore is that Garak sent him someplace fuckin dangerous on purpose and isn’t that just so spicy and fun and dramatic?

I promise I’ll stop talking about The Wire someday but do people realise that Garak wanted Tain to kill Julian? Like do you realise that?

He gave Julian the-terminally-curious Subatoi Bashir the name and address of the most dangerous man in the quadrant? On accident??? My guy was practically begging Tain to take care of his latest Sentiment Problem for him because he couldn’t do it himself. Do you see??

[whispsofwind]

Odo and Garak's friendship is equal parts fascinating and hilarious to me.

Fascinating because on one hand, it's based on the fact that they both understand what it means to be alienated from your own people, even if you don't necessarily agree with their values. Odo doesn't agree with Garak's attempt to try and go back to the Order, because he himself was offered that choice and refused it. But he understands it, because he wishes with all his heart that he could go home, and it's only his incredibly strong sense of justice, right and wrong that stops him.

In a way, they mirror each other, because Garak is kept from his people by external circumstances, Odo is kept from his people by internal circumstances. Odo probably feels that he could have been Garak, in a slightly different lifetime.

So this is all very dramatic and emotional and it's actually a very good basis for an unlikely friendship to blossom, even if their values are so different. They understand each other in ways others wouldn't.

But on the other hand, it's a bit funny that after Garak brutally tortured Odo, Odo really went "you look so sad and pathetic in the shop you yourself blew up, we should have breakfast together sometimes so you feel less alone even when the doctor is too busy to argue literature with you, and I'll even pretend to eat and I'll show you little shapeshifting tricks". Garak's life is so depressing that his victim genuinely thought "you know what he needs company before he blows himself up for real".

And honestly this brings me to the fact that this station really needs a counselor because every single character would benefit from therapy.

[ofhouseadama]

What’s your most unhinged Garashir headcanon?

I think that the breeding kink headcanon is probably up there in the ranking but well and truly the most unhinged?

but no uh, I'm currently working on a fic (one of many, let us be CLEAR my creative process right now is very scattershot) where there's a four day sandstorm in Cardassia City. the transporter relay goes down and so Julian has to venture out with the emergency team to get a kid who actively dying from something dramatic (I haven't decided yet) maybe a tumor ruptured on their diaphragm, or there's some kind of dissection or some such, but there's definitely a complicated procedure waiting this kid once they can get him to the hospital

so they take ground transportation, a skimmer

visibility is low, less than one yard. Garak is working in the capitol building with the other leaders of government trying to keep the wheels on, trying to keep the power grid from collapsing, trying to keep water running and people safe -- when he hears that a skimmer carrying a human surgeon, a medical team of both Federation aid workers and Cardassian personnel, and a dying kid has crashed

and that the human surgeon carried the kid the rest of the way to the hospital on a broken leg

Garak hears this and is like, oh this is absolutely my dumbass and storms down to the hospital to find out that Julian is now operating with a broken leg, and has embarked on an eight-hour procedure to keep this kid from bleeding out into his abdomen and then replace an organ and some of his vascular system because he's the only one who's done the procedure before, while an orthopedic surgeon is waiting for HIM to be able to put his leg back together once he's done

he's climbing the walls but the hospital administrator who knows him by now puts him to work like, sorting hyposprays and bandages and working on fixing the hospital's generator because it keeps getting clogged up with sand and debris from the storm

eventually Julian finishes and collapses into a wheelchair and Garak finds out that he has a compound tib-fib fracture and just! numbed his leg! for nine hours! and ignored it! Garak is seething. absolutely livid as he picks Julian up and puts him on a gurney and lovingly strokes his hands and face as the anesthesiologist dopes him up

when Julian hits him with a dopey, "anything in service of Cardassia," and an even dopier "this I vow with my life's blood, for my son, for all our sons," and Garak's blood pressure is through the roof. how dare he. he is enraged. he is incandescently angry. he has never loved Julian more. it's terrible and he hates it

anyway Garak uses Julian needing to be in traction for a little while as an excuse to kinky shit to him while he's laid up in bed because Julian deserves to be tortured for what he's done

[glorf1ndel]

@searchingforserendipity25 Thanks for the lovely answer!

I really like your thoughts on Garashir. Agreed that the success of their relationship (and whether it exists at all) depends on how willing they are to trust each other – and how willingly they accept each other's contradictions. Garak feels unknowable, with his Obsidian Order background, but in the end, he's a person like anyone else, and he wants to be seen. Julian, on the other hand, often puts himself out there, but he also longs to be immersed in mystery (must be all that James Bond he watches).

I'm an optimist, so I don't doubt that they end up together on Cardassia. You might enjoy Little Achievements if you haven't seen or read it yet. It's a lovely continuation of their story from Almaasi (and Andy and Sid)!

As for Glorestor, they are truly all about the meet-cute and its long aftermath. I like the idea that they abruptly get together after years of mutual pining, but also the idea that they develop a domestic routine with each other over many years, and only belatedly realize that they've loved one another all along. I don't think those storylines are mutually exclusive.

Regarding Erestor's background, there is so much room for creativity there. I have never contemplated the possibility that he's one of Elros' sons; that's interesting! I like the thought that he is one of the Noldor – why not make things dramatic? Or perhaps Erestor is someone Glorfindel knew back in Gondolin. Or he's an Avari elf who found his way to Imladris and who doesn't know much of Glorfindel's past deeds but comes to admire him all the same.

Glorfindel is a ray of sunshine – not only bright and beautiful, but also sharp and blinding. Although his smile lights up a room and his battle strategy is formidable, he's more than a golden retriever or the preppy jock archetype. Does he struggle to sleep at night? Often. Is his unspoken mantra "No more drama, we're overcoming trauma"? Quite possibly. Does that make him even more of a hero? Heck, yeah.

Greetings! Another bored and cheerful person here. 😂 I will submit Garak/Bashir and Glorfindel/Erestor for the ship asks!

hi fellow bored and cheerful! thank you @glorf1ndel!

ages ago, when i was obsessed with garak/bashir, i used to think a lot about what honesty is. they're a pairing that kind of demand it. they're fascinating. the things they try to be to each other and prove to themselves through each other are fascinating. i think they're very messy and very complicated, and the potential for an uncomfortable-but-worthwhile happily ever after while rebuilding cardassia is right there.

but they won't pick it. in 7 out of 10 possibilities, they won't. the thing they are underneath the thing they try to pretend not to be is not someone who trusts easily. and there are conflicting loyalties; and there is history; and there is so much prejudice; and there are enemies to face.

and there is is, always, the question of trust. these two are so desperate to be seen, and so desperate to be unknowable, so that they can bear the world a little more easily by not looking at it directly.

that said, i think they can be that. they can bear it together better together! a stitch in time makes it clear how much garak wants to share himself, make a neat narrative of it all and give bashir something of himself to read. true or false, the will is there.

(and, regardless, that book is one of the most heartbreaking concepts of anything ever. he makes a letter of himself! his whole life! elim the spy! a book like the ones they read together, and analyzed. they know the lenses through each the other sees the world! so much love in there.)

maybe. maybe. depends on the canon you go with and how much i want to suffer on any given day. they could live in the ruins together. hoyden's fics fill my heart with conviction on tha. but it's the leap of fait that is always the hard part with these two.

glorfindel/erestor

read some fics! i like it, but haven't thought much on it. my thoughts on it depend on what erestor's background is. he is of the half-elvish kin of elrond in some texts, and that's so cool, and so curious.

second age peredhel culture vs. newly reborn hero = meet cute. meet ugly? is he one of elros' sons who chose immortality? if he's elured/elurin (the name lonely brother is very intriguing), the return of one of the ancient noldor is even more complicated. glorfindel seems lovely; glorfindel seems terrifying, more eldritch than most elves, the gods' own chosen champion.

what a pair! both more-than and very alone in their singularity. the potential is excellent.

either way, they have all the makings of a great office romance! which is something tolkien does not often provide. i believe in their ability to make unwise decisions at solstice parties and spend the next several thousand years that that one night stand never happened. while being in love and pining, of course.

[the-last-dillpickle]

Ngl I’m not sure I’ve ever really seen a fic that I would consider to be fully in character for Mirror Garak. There are some that are close but more often than not, he’s ends up being portrayed closer to Order!Garak than himself. And I think to some extent that has to be a conscious, artistic choice (similar to how people alter mirror Bashir) where what they actually want is our Garak but in a mirrorverse setting which is understandable, but the fact that there’s none is kinda disappointing. 

Mirrorverse can be touch and go, but one of the gifts of it is the ability to compare and contrast characters. What stays the same about them and what’s different? What in a character is nature, what is nurture, and what qualities still exist but in bent ways?

Like, Mirror Garak is a very different person than our Garak or pre-series Order!Garak. Sure, they’ve both got an appreciation for torture but they’re not the same even in that quality. 

His defining characteristic, I think, is that he’s a loser. That he’s got as far as he has is kinda incredible, and is probably due to a lot of luck, maybe an ‘accident’ or two, and kiss assery. (Tho I have other theories how he got there.) He’s whiny, incapable of hiding emotions or lying well, and very over dramatic (which is something else he has in common with our Garak.) 

Like this guy can’t even assassinate the Intendant. Not only that, everybody knows he wants her dead. They know he’s actively coming up with plots to do it, but he’s still considered a nonthreat. 

As for torture, this Garak is very clearly a sadist. Not that OG Garak couldn’t be as well, but certainly in a different way than this one. When they capture Terrans attempting to escape, he begs the Intendant to let him torture them (ostensibly for information but that’s not why he really wants to). He pulls teeth. And later when he’s given permission to off the Ferengi, he chooses to do so in the most painful way possible by injecting them with a virus that’ll boil their insides, and is clearly gleeful about it. It’s not artful, and this guy seems to have a strong preference for physical over psychological torture.

It’s also not efficient, but efficiency doesn’t matter to this Garak. Nor does much of anything it seems other than his own power, upping the ranks, and getting his rocks off on hurting people. He’s not loyal to anyone but himself, not even Cardassia.

He’s also not the sharpest tool in the shed. He either doesn’t know when or how to play nice, such as when Rom is installing the cloak on their ship. And when Rom chastises him for handing over the wrong tool and Garak lashes out, he doesn’t have a customer service face to fall back on. He looks physically pained when forced to apologize for yelling at him.

Later when the Ferengi come up an obvious ploy to buy time by comparing him to OG Garak, he falls for it hook, line, and sinker. (It also seems during this scene like he has a bit of an ego. Mirror Garak really thinks he’s some hot shit.) He seems confounded over how our Garak could be both a tailor and an assassin, and later when the forcefield goes down, he stops to say a snappy oneliner before attempting to kill Quark which dooms him, because he also fails to notice when Ezri enters the room. 

Again, he’s impulsive, unrefined, and inefficient.

One thing he and our Garak do share in common is a love for manipulation and power through others. (They're also both professional drama queens.) Though again, while our Garak is discreet about it, Mirror Garak is not. Such are his interactions with the Regent, where he puts the blame for losing Terok Nor on the Intendant and lowkey offers to suck him off.

That all is to say, mirror Garak is a doofus and a highschool bully a la Biff Tannen. He’s a brute force kind of guy, no mystique or subtlety or enigma about him. He’s presumably spent his life in the military, never been in the Obsidian Order, and he’s a brat about not getting his way.

Thank you for coming to my presentation.

[itsclydebitches]

The Needs of the Many: A Garashir Reading of “Broken Link”

What’s the current definition of stupidity? It might be trying to write meta for a twenty-six year old show. But you know what? I’m doing it anyway. I make questionable fandom choices and regret mostly nothing.

So. I’m still watching Deep Space Nine—about halfway through season five, but with pretty much every spoiler under my belt considering I have no patience and dove straight into the fic—and I am, without a doubt, absolute garashir trash. Now this is important because as I watch I’ve been on the lookout for all the major scenes and episodes that the fans like to talk about, those that catch our attention for obvious reasons: “Past Prologue,” “The Wire,” “Our Man Bashir,” and the like. However, through my (admittedly cursory) browsing these last few months, I’ve been surprised to find no one talking about season four’s finale “Broken Link.”

On the surface it makes sense. Though Garak gets one of his all too rare episodes, we’ve past the point of no return with Berman’s homophobia and our two lovesick faves aren’t interacting as much as they once did. RIP. 

Thus, it’s easy to pass over Garak doing another Bad Thing in the name of his Cardassian devotion, especially when the Bad Thing is circumvented thanks to Worf instead of Julian. However, what’s nagged at me since watching that scene is one simple, yet significant detail.

Julian was down on that planet.

Quick re-cap for those of us who haven’t watched in a while: the Defiant is taking Odo back to the Great Link in order to cure him of the disease they saddled him with in the first place (nice, huh?). Garak realizes that this may be the one and only time they have all the Founders together and potentially vulnerable. He tries to gain control of the Defiant’s weaponry, but is ultimately discovered and stopped by Worf. Sorry, Garak. You might be surprisingly fit for just a plain, simple tailor, but you’ve got nothing on a battle-obsessed Klingon.

All caught up? Fantastic. Now, all around it’s not a terrible plan. There are just two potential issues. The first is the whole, you know, genocide thing. Some of us tend to frown at that, no matter how much good eliminating the Founders might do moving forward. Beyond that pesky little moral issue, we have the problem that Odo, Sisko, and Julian are all down on the planet’s surface, their deaths a surety if Garak manages to succeed in his plan. This is acknowledged too, so we can’t live with the happy assumption that Garak just wasn’t informed about who was accompanying Odo on this particular mission:

Worf: And what about Odo, and Captain Sisko and Doctor Bashir?

Garak: They'll die. And once the Jem'Hadar ships realize what we're doing, so will we. But what are our lives compared to saving the entire Alpha Quadrant?

From a shipping perspective it doesn’t look too good. After all, how loving is your duo if one can so easily sacrifice the other, without a moment’s hesitation or—dare we imagine it—a single tear in sight? It’s a rather grim picture, the sort of scene that jars shippers out of their lovely little pockets, carefully crafted worlds where suspension of disbelief runs wild. The show-runners may not have had the balls to make anything canon until 2017 (good god), but provided the characters in question don’t actively sabotage the relationship, thereby leaving room for imagining something more, you’re good to go. No such luck with this scene.

At least, it appears that way at first glance. It occurs to me that there are a couple of potential readings if we feel inclined to reach for them. I find it notable that Garak is already thinking to the next logical consequence. That is, Jem’Hadar ships bearing down on them, him meeting his own demise soon after Julian. There’s admittedly something romantic in that. The willingness to let your loved one go, safe in the knowledge that you’ll be quick to join them. We could even argue that Garak isn’t thinking straight in this moment. We know he’s a proud man devoted to his people, exile aside, and right before this he has a rather gutting conversation with the primary Founder:

Founder: They're dead. You're dead. Cardassia is dead. Your people were doomed the moment they attacked us. I believe that answers your question.

So, as far as Garak knows, entire fleets of his people were killed in their last battle, including his father—quite the emotional blow, even if Tain was an absolute shit dad. He’s also received confirmation of what the Federation has long suspected, that the Dominion isn’t content to keep the Alpha Quadrant out of their business, but has every intention of seizing control and, given their history, eliminating rather than assimilating it, to quote the Borg. You’re dead. Your entire species is dead. Everyone else you associate with, even those insidious humans, are dead. It’s only a matter of time. As Garak has pointed out seasons earlier, he knows when to cut his losses and that was one hell of a “resistance if futile” speech. If the rest of the quadrant has any hope of survival, now is the time to cut those losses—including Julian. 

Which I actually really love. 

Because it’s true to Garak’s character. He’s a complicated, morally gray guy, just the sort to blow himself and his shop up in the hopes of saving his life. Or justify killing the entirety of one species to ensure the survival of many. As much as we (or at least I) would have loved a dramatic declaration of love, the realization that he can’t target the Founders no matter how necessary it may seem because his Julian would be caught in the crossfire… that’s just not Garak. Just as importantly, it’s not Julian either. See, I think this scene pairs rather well with “Our Man Bashir.” We can come up with the same sort of potential readings for why Julian was willing to shoot someone he—from the shipper’s perspective—is already head over heels in love with: he’s a doctor and had every confidence in his ability to keep Garak alive until they get out of the holosuite. He’s genetically enhanced and has superb aim, knowing he’ll only create a flesh wound. He was really trying to hit the wall and fucked that one up badly whoops, etc. Regardless of those headcanons though, canonically speaking Julian did shoot him and that’s all there is to it. More specifically, he shot Garak to make sure that Sisko, Kira, Worf, O’Brien, and Jadzia survived, a sacrificing the one to save the many situation, much like Garak’s plan. Or, to put it another way: 

Spirk is the ultimate standard for all other Star Trek ships, if not, for many, shipping in general. Lots of fans have already pointed out the similarities between the sickbay hand clasp in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Julian’s moment of forgiveness in “The Wire,” 

but there’s another parallel between Spock’s iconic sacrifice and the choices made in DS9. “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” to which Kirk answers, “Or the one.” This is the same logic that our new duo is abiding by. 

Though a notorious liar, we’re left with nothing else that challenges Garak’s words—he truly seems to believe that the Alpha Quadrant’s safety is worth sacrificing those on the Defiant for. Though a doctor through and through, we’re left with Julian’s steady hand and blood on Garak’s neck—he truly seems to believe that potentially losing one friend is worth assuredly saving five. Neither one is willing to compromise their morals for the other and I personally think that speaks to a healthy amount of respect, both for themselves and each other. In the same way that Garak embraces Julian’s Federation-style optimism and Julian comes to understand that lies are how Garak communicates, they simply and completely accept one another. That includes saying through actions if not words, “I love you, but I’m not going to let that love compromise my core beliefs.” Neither is the type to let love interfere with what they perceive as their duty, but that doesn’t mean the love doesn’t exist. 

Of course, if we follow the spirk parallel, that devotion to the many is later challenged. In The Search for Spock Kirk reverses the logic and justifies his journey with, “Because the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.” Anyone who reads any of my metas knows that Context Is a Thing and in this case the context for both films is personal sacrifice. Spock chooses to sacrifice himself to save the Enterprise. Kirk and the others choose to risk their lives and their careers to get Spock back. These are markedly different situations from what Julian and Garak shoulder: sacrificing one another for the many. If you love someone, then giving up your life for them is easy. Having that action save a whole bunch of other people along the way? Icing on the cake. You die knowing that you’ve done the heroic deed and your better half lives on. But can you harm your other half to uphold your oath as a doctor? Can you kill them to save millions of others? I’d argue that Julian and Garak have the far more difficult choice and both of them managed to answer, “Yes.” It’s a testament to their characterization and, given their strong ethics, precisely how well they fit together. They know where the other stands, what they mean to one another…and when they can’t afford to prioritize that love over everyone else. 

In the end, neither even knew that their sacrifice would pay off. If Garak had succeeded in gaining control of the Defiant’s weaponry he might have found that the Founders had another trick up their sleeve to ensure their survival, leaving him with a dead Julian and an unharmed foe. Julian doesn’t know if he and Garak will be able to survive the holosuite program—or what might happen to the others if they perish. He might end up losing everyone, himself included. Neither has any assurances when they make their decision and that to me makes it that much more meaningful. They’re both acts of determination and faith. And from a narrative standpoint (with help from a healthy dose of Plot Armor) they’re both rewarded for that faith. Garak isn’t forced to kill Julian. Julian’s shot harmlessly skims Garak’s neck. They made the hard call, lost little, and in the case of “Our Man Bashir,” gained a healthy dose of respect for what the other was capable of. 

I think that’s pretty damn neat. 

Right. Thank you for coming to my decades late TED Talk. Peace ✌️

Image Credit

#1: https://boldly-yo.tumblr.com/post/183708405938

GIF: http://kuma-la-la.tumblr.com/post/36694488334/the-needs-of-the-many-outweigh-the-needs-of

#2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk/Spock

#3: https://edosianorchids901.tumblr.com/post/181806580405/garak-and-julian-in-222-the-wire

[edosianorchids901]

For the prompts I love 2. Poor lizards are cold all the time. Fluff not angst ripp

Thanks so much for the prompt! You can also find it here on AO3

“Hallo, Elim!” Julian slammed the door shut and shuddered. “You always said Cardassia would be too hot for me, but it’s really not. It’s damn cold out there right now, lots of winds coming off the mountains. You all right? I know this isn’t your favorite weather.”

The pile of blankets—Elim—glared at him from the couch. Oh dear.

“Do you think I’d be intentionally suffocating myself if I was all right?” Elim snapped.

Just another day on Cardassia. Julian dropped his medkit on the table. “You can turn up the heat, you know.”

“Actually, I can’t.”

Why was that? Maybe the damned heating system malfunctioned again, Julian thought. Where’s Miles when you need him? “You can’t?”

“No. Didn’t you notice the lack of light?”

Julian glanced around the shadowed living room. “Not really, I just assumed you had a headache. Did something happen?”

“No, as I said, I’m sitting here willingly in the dark and suffocating myself!” Elim’s voice rose in pitch, eyes shimmering with accusation.

“I can’t help if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.” Julian sat on the couch, unwrapped a royal blue scarf from around Elim’s face, and touched his cheek. “God, you’re freezing.”

“The power seems to have gone out,” Elim said, huddling towards Julian’s warmth. “It’s been an unpleasant day.”

“Day? When did this happen?”

“Around lunch, regrettably. Right as I was replicating my meal. Have you ever seen what a replicator does to food when it malfunctions?”He shuddered. “Well. Suffice it to say, not a pleasant smell.”

Julian stared at him. Was he trying to give himself hypothermia? This was so typical. “Since lunch? You should have called me!”

“On what? The power’s out, my dear.”

“We have communicators that aren’t tied to the main power grid.” Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. And from someone who liked to brag about his survival instincts… “Plus there’s the skimmer.”

“As if I wanted to venture out into the frigid nightmare that is the outdoors.” Elim rose, pulled the blankets tighter around his shoulders, and crept to the window.

Groaning, Julian covered his eyes with one hand. Such was life with Elim Garak. “How are you aside from half-frozen?”

“Oh, a bit tense. Things have been rather busy of late, you know.”

Well, at least he was still behaving like himself. That was a blatant lie. It wasn’t Garak’s schedule that was the problem, at least not right now—it was the prolonged cold spell.

Elim was fussy on the best of days, albeit less so when comfortably settled into a routine of working, reading, gardening, andlate-night conversation. But winter storms hurled all that into disarray.

Most Cardassians isolated themselves during winter storms. They worked from home, unwilling to risk transit into the still-unstable cities. The cold compromised Elim’s focus, which suspended most of his leisure activities. His plants huddled under protective domes, awaiting warmer days.

By contrast, Julian had never been busier. He raced from home to home, building to building. Cardassians and cold weather didn’t mix.

“Get back here,” he said, thumping the couch cushion. “It wouldn’t look too good for me if I let my partner freeze to death. No one on Cardassia would ever trust my medical expertise again.”

Elim huffed but did as ordered. “There’s no need to fuss. I’m sure you’re quite busy with other matters.”

“I know, I know. Sorry I’ve been gone so much.” Julian ran a tricorder scan and sighed with relief. He’d certainly seen Elim in much worse conditions. “No hypothermia.”

“Death won’t rescue me from this misery anytime soon, then?”

A smile broke out across Julian’s face. If Elim was still being his usual dramatic self, everything would be fine. “I’m afraid not.”

Elim shivered and huddled tighter under the blankets. “I do believe I quite misinformed you about Cardassia’s climate. Years of freezing on the station must have dulled my memory of how effectively I could freeze here.”

Actually, he’d often complained that DS9 was “as cold as the worst Cardassian winters.” At least the station had power and temperature controls, which was more than could be said for their house now.

Julian laid back on the couch and opened his arms. “Come here. I’ll keep you warm.”

With another shudder, Elim curled against his side. “Ah, that’s quite nice. Do you do this for all your patients, Doctor?”

“I only prescribe snuggles for the most dire cases.” Julian adjusted the blankets so he was also covered, then tucked the excess around Elim’s head. My poor, freezing Cardassian.

Settling in, he closed his eyes and rubbed Elim’s shoulder. That earned him a contented hum, and he smiled. Moving to Cardassia had undoubtedly been the right decision. Between the choice of safe, lonely quarters on DS9 andlife in the partially rebuilt ruins of Cardassia, he’d chose Cardassia everytime. More to the point, he’d chose Elim every time.

“What are you thinking about?” Elim murmured. He nuzzled against Julian’s neck, and Julian shivered from the chilly contact.

How empty and meaningless my life on DS9 was without you. How relieved I am to be at your side again.

“Oh, you know. That your skin still feels like ice.” He kissed Elim’s cheek and drew him closer.

[girlsinthestars]

There was Probably a Better Solution

Pairing: Elim Garak/Julian Bashir

Word count: 1493

Warnings: None

Read on AO3

It was ridiculous, this whole plan was insane and for the third time that night Julian wondered how Garak convinced Sisko to let them go. They were on a cardassian planet, in cardassian space, searching for some kind of new weapon Sisko had sworn Garak to secrecy about, based on a hunch Garak had that it was here. He didn’t even know why Garak had picked him for the mission. That being said, sneaking into a cardassian settlement that was potentially hiding some top secret military base was everything Julian had been dreaming about ever since he befriended the cardassian spy- sorry, plain, simple, Garak.

Julian would have stuck out like a sore thumb as they walked through the settlement if it weren’t for the empty streets owing to the fact that it was midnight. They hadn’t bothered with cosmetics to blend in because it was supposed to be a quick mission, transported down well after sunset, four hours to search the colony, then they would be picked up from the rendezvous point.

“We’re turning right up ahead, I’m getting some strange readings from just outside the city.” Julian said, altering the tricorder’s settings slightly. “I can’t get any indication on what it is exactly.”

“That does sound like-” Garak cut himself off, pushing Julian back against a wall.

“Who’s there?” A voice called from a little ways ahead.

“I’m sorry about this.” Garak hissed, then he pressed his lips to Julian’s and slipped a thigh between his legs.

Julian barely had time to gasp as Garak’s mouth opened against his own. It was like a dream come true, in fact Julian had almost certainly fantasised about this scenario at some point. Garak’s hands tugged his body closer, before pressing him harder against the wall, Julian pressed closer easily, his hands finding their way into Garak’s hair and tugging slightly, revelling in the gasp Garak let out against his mouth. And if, just for a second, Julian forgot they were doing this to hide, well, Garak didn’t have to know.

“I apologise, Doctor,” Garak said, smoothing his hair and adjusting his clothes, as footsteps faded into the distance behind them, the person having walked past and left them to their business, “There was probably a better solution to that situation, however, that was the best I could come up with in the time given.”

“No, no, its-” Julian coughed, and attempted to make his voice slightly less breathy. “I didn’t mind- I mean, that is to say, it was a perfectly reasonable solution.”

“Thank you, shall we?”

The rest of the mission went as planned, they located the base and Garak took detailed readings of the new weapon, muttering under his breath about how it was exactly as he suspected, then they were collected before the sun rose.

It had been weeks, but Julian couldn’t get the kiss out of his mind. There were thousands of other ways they could have avoided detection, they could have hidden in the alley they had passed, they could have just stood pressed together against the wall, it was dark enough that the person probably would have assumed they were making out. It just didn’t make sense, Garak was an ex-spy, making out with your associate to hide while on a mission wasn’t a professional tactic, it only really happened in Julian’s spy holo-programs. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. Julian desperately wanted the kiss to have meant something to Garak, it didn’t even have to mean the same thing it did to him, as long as it was more than just a necessity.

He tried to force himself to forget about it, Garak clearly had, sitting across from him at their sixth lunch since the mission, talking about some cardassian book he was sure Julian would love. But Julian couldn’t get himself to focus on what Garak was saying. His mind replaying the kiss over and over again, imagining Garak turning up at his quarters in the middle of the night saying he couldn’t stop thinking about him and-

“Doctor?” Garak asked, Julian glanced up, Garak was clearly waiting for an answer to a question Julian hadn’t heard.

“I’m sorry, Garak, I must admit I haven’t been listening.”

“Is everything alright? You’ve seemed distracted the past few weeks.”

“Yes, yes of course, I’m just busy.” Garak looked doubtful. “Speaking of, I really must be going, thank you for lunch, same time next week?”

He barely gave Garak a chance to reply, jumping up and making his way to the infirmary. He really had to do something about this situation, Garak was noticing his odd behaviour and there was no way he could keep using the busy excuse. Maybe he just needed some space, give himself some time to get over this infatuation before it ruined their friendship.

So the next week he dropped into Garak’s shop to tell him he wouldn’t be able to make their lunches this week, making up something about a big report being due, and while Garak seemed suspicious and even a little disappointed, he didn’t ask any extra questions.

He did, however, ask questions when Julian cancelled their next six lunches, excuses varying from ‘I have a patient I have to deal with’ at the time to ‘I have a staff meeting’ the day before.

“I’m beginning to think you’re avoiding me.” He said, when Julian finally ran out of excuses.

“No, I- I’ve just been busy, I told you.”

“You can’t lie to a liar.”

Julian sighed. “It’s silly.”

“Then it shouldn’t matter to tell me.”

“You’ll laugh.”

“Try me.”

“It’s going to change how you think of me.”

“Really, my dear, you are being awfully cryptic, I don’t like competition.”

“Okay, here’s the thing…” Julian lowered his voice, looking around them. “I can’t stop thinking about the kiss.”

“What kiss?” Garak leaned in and lowered his voice dramatically, Julian could tell he was taking the piss.

“The Kiss, between you and me.”

“On the mission?” Garak leaned back again, brows furrowing. “I didn’t know you were so uncomfortable with it.”

“Well, that’s the thing… I’m not uncomfortable with it.”

The corners of Garak’s mouth twitched up. “I see.”

Julian stared at him, waiting for him to say something else, but he didn’t say anything, just watched Julian with that tiny smug smirk.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Well… what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking this food is rather dry, you must talk to Chief O’Brien about these replicators.”

“Garak! You know what I mean.”

Garak sighed and put down his fork. “I am not a relationship person.”

Julian’s heart sank, Garak was rejecting him, their friendship would become awkward, they would both start making excuses to get out of coming to lunches and soon enough it would be as if they had never been friends.

But then Garak continued. “That is to say, I am not good at them, I lie just as much, I do not turn into a warm, loving person.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.” Julian said quickly, his eyes lighting up again.

“You must understand what you are getting into.”

“I do, come on Garak, who on this station knows you better than me?”

“That may be true, my dear, but surely you know even you barely know me.”

“I do. Come on Garak, I know you felt it too, there’s something here.”

“Do you use that line often?”

Julian didn’t bother replying, putting on his best pleading eyes.

Garak sighed. “You are incredibly persistent, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

Months later, they were lying in Julian’s bed, it was late in the morning but Julian was on an ordered rest day (apparently working for 48 hours straight was unacceptable and displayed a level of stress that could only be solved with a break), and Julian was lying on Garak’s shoulder, tracing patterns on his chest. And it was then that he finally got up the courage to ask.

“Did you deliberately kiss me on that mission?”

Garak laughed. “You didn’t really think that was actually the only method of hiding I could think of?"

“I guess not, I was just never sure, you seemed so reluctant when I asked you out.”

Garak sighed, moving so he was face to face with Julian. “That wasn’t because I wasn’t sure, I wanted to make sure you were sure, that you knew what you were getting into.”

“So you liked me before that?” Now that he had gotten started Julian wasn’t stopping now.

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

“Since I laid eyes on you that first day in the replimat.”

Julian grinned. “You old romantic!”

“Says the man who used ‘I know you felt it too’ on me, like we had walked right out of one of your ridiculous holo-programs.”

Not much had really changed, not in the way they talked to each other at least, except now their light arguments ended in making out.

[cyrelia-j]

[fic] Wired (Garak/Bashir/Parmak)

Catching up on a few prompt requests from @1billsookie I decided to do some of these as a continuation of the First Contact universe (where both Garak and Parmak were exiled to DS9). That can be read HERE but isn’t necessary.

Summary: This was one an OT3 version of The Wire. A comedic take on another way that Garak’s implant may have malfunctioned ;)

Warnings: some crack, language, and adult situations but nothing explicit

           “You did what?!” Julian coughs, looking around at the raised eyebrows lowering his voice. Next to him, Parmak takes his glasses off before polishing them absently.

           “It’s ahh… one of those things in Elim’s past that he doesn’t like to talk about,” Parmak murmurs, hinting that the conversation would be better continued in private. Julian isn’t quite sure how they’re going to pull off that feat when Garak is apparently there lying in bed from what Parmak described with a cough and a mumble and an unfortunate accident that he wasn’t quite sure how to correct without Julian’s assistance. Julian had had to drag the information out of his lover - and god, what a wild ride that’s been so far! - which meant that it was likely especially bad since Parmak wasn’t usually the one to obfuscate.

 Apparently Garak has some sort of mysterious “spy implant” and apparently he and Parmak had gotten carried away the last time they were playing with it in Julian’s absence. And now it’s “not working properly.”

             Julian finds Garak lying on the couch back in their shared quarters grimacing in what appears to be pain as he clicks his tongue at the both of them and kneels down next to Garak. It doesn’t look good from the outset, he thinks, pulling his tricorder out running an initial diagnostic.The sweat concerns him, Cardassians usually not perspiring unless the conditions are extreme...

           “God, your temperature is at least two degrees higher than it ought to be,” he says, remember Parmak’s continuing instruction on Cardassian. “So tell me again what exactly the two of you were doing?”

             Silence greets him from Garak (surprisingly) followed a look passing between the two of them. Julian really doesn’t understand what all the fuss is when they’ve already had the “I used to be a nefarious spy- Parmak? Guls and Ancients Parmak couldn’t spy on a retired and blind Legate” talk. Probably Garak and more secrets and more nonsense, so Julian just sighs and wonders if perhaps he ought to just never leave the station again. Right, Sorry, Commander, I know you need your Chief Medical Officer with you but I’m afraid my lovers who are certainly old enough to know better can’t seem to be trusted alone.

             “Really… I don’t even understand how the two of you have been living here all this time without an earlier incident the way you carry on,” Julian grumbles when Parmak elbows Garak in the side and finally explains that the cerebral implant is provided to certain operatives and is only intended to be used in instances of torture to release a flood of endorphins and perhaps well after being there a while not supposing it would ever be used again (“I said, ‘Elim, we should take this as a sign that a change of profession is warranted even once we do return home’”) and bored and a bit tipsy, they got the idea to start fooling around with it.

             “It’s really quite fascinating,” Parmak explains while Garak continues breathing like he’s going into labor. “We had found a way to ahh… modify the device so that it could control a slightly more varied array of functions and be activated remotely-”

           “Remotely,” Julian says flatly as his cursory scans are thankfully showing nothing beyond the increased respirations, temperature, blood pressure, but nothing beyond that and it doesn’t seem like anything that Parmak should need emergency assistance with.

           “Right, Ah and so we’re getting to the problem now. See the device was engineered by an old acquaintance of ours-” (translation- one of their other lovers) “-and it’s worked so effectively until now that-”

             Julian jumps as Parmak is cut off by a pained hiss, a yowl that sounds something akin to two cats in an alley all emanating from Garak’s throat. Garak, who Julian realizes stupidly as he looks closer is fully everted beneath the robe, scales flushed drak, swollen, hot not with fever but Julian is beginning to get a sneaking suspicion that Garak’s brain is not under duress, that his leukocytes are perfectly fine, and that this is all a matter of-

           “So you see, we’re not quite certain how to get it open and I assure you I’ve tried every driver, every key, every seal popper that we have and it’s been nothing but a fool’s errand.”

             And that’s when Julian takes a second look to Parmak now and realizes, that while he may be standing there in his professional lab coat, a look down reveals bare legs and his slippers, and Julian realizes that both of them have only thrown on the most careless layer of clothing. Garak moans again. Parmak hisses at him to stop being so dramatic. Julian feels his eye twitching as he looks back and forth between his two older (but certainly no more mature!) lovers.

 “So let me get this straight. You called me here, postponing a delicate surgery on Morn’s hernia, because you broke the remote to your sex toy?”

             Garak looks about to say something smart but instead flops inelegantly on his stomach starting to rub against the couch cushion sounding pained.

           Parmak at least has the decency to look embarrassed as he explains that he thinks it may be the battery which normally recharges with a quick shake (that he demonstrates with an obscene jerking motion- because of course, Julian why wouldn’t the battery recharge that way?) but notes that nothing is happening except Garak groaning louder and Parmak giving his ass a good swat and…

             And if Julian is being honest, pique, the humidity, Garak’s robe riding up, is starting to make it difficult to stay angry exactly, that emotion starting to twist to something a bit more primitive as he starts examining the dubious looking device (a twenty three centimeter long grey cylinder that’s suspiciously ribbed) realizing that this is honest to God beyond the supplemental engineering courses that he’d taken at Starfleet. Julian’s already turned the thing over a million ways and realizes it may have very well been sealed not to open which begs the question of how is he supposed to repair it or even get a new one. Julian sighs.

 Which means he’s going to have to talk to Miles.

 God help him.

 ---

             “Alright, once more. Yer asking me to take a look at-”

           “The remote control,” Julian answers looking away, rubbing the back of his neck.

           “Right, for a device that you’d rather not say what it’s for…”

           “Right again.”

           “And you don’t know where it came from or who made it…”

           “Right?” Julian answers with an embarrassed cough. “But I...ah left my COM badge there so Kelas can let me know if it’s er… successful,” Julian mumbles pretending not the notice the look that Miles is giving him.

           “Should I be wearing gloves for this?” Miles asks taking a second look at the gray cylindrical device. Julian feels his face heating up having counted on one hand the number of times in his life he’s ever pulled off a visible blush.

 He’s positive that he’s bright red right now as one of the ensigns under Miles raises an eyebrow.

             “It’s a medical device!” Julian yells to a series of softly concealed snickers. Maybe he should’ve caught Miles at home or in private but it really is an emergency so…

           “So the first problem is that the device is Romulan and they used one of their damn smelt sealers. So right away it’s gonna need to be popped, probably break the case but I can replicate something should hold the parts well enough. Problem is the caps the Romulans use are hard to come by if that’s even what it is-” Miles continues as Julian just nods nods, unable to picture much else except that he’d left Garak moaning like an Algorian Mammoth in a biannual heat with Parmak clinically informing them both that they might need to perform an emergency operation if he remained everted longer than a few hours so Julian finds himself tapping his foot much to Miles’ poorly concealed annoyance.

             “Sure sure, whatever you have to do,” Julian rushes out to more irritated mumbling, his damn enhanced hearing catching every whisper of entitled CMO and how it probably is a sex toy and it’s ludicrous that an officer’s sex life is more important than the food replicators which Julian bears all gamely as Miles tells him that is definitely is one of the capacitors and he’s probably gonna have to talk to Quark and just how hard was Julian (it wasn’t me!) jerking the thing any way? “Like I said before,” Julian says with his most pleasant gritted teeth smile, “it’s not a-”

           “Yeah yeah but you see, it charges here by shaking it, which is amazing considerin’ it’s old tech or a mod of some old Earth tech they used to use with copper wire but yeah, Quark probably can get you something-”

             Julian hears him shouting “Yer welcome!” after him, already off and running.

 ---

             “So needless to say,” Julian finishes as Parmak curiously turns the [somehow even more phallic looking] remote around in his hands looking at some of the extra buttons that weren’t there before like the vibrate that Julian swears wasn’t necessary to which Miles just snorted and said “yah sure it’s not”, along with the rotation of the upper half (Boq’ta’s contribution, Julian was cheerfully informed as he just nodded and graciously accepted the repaired device). Still, the transmitter was undamaged so once it was recharged, it was a simple matter to shut it off and lecture both his lovers on the dangers of messing around with such delicate things like the brain.

             Garak had merely answered as he sat rehydrating himself with a tall glass of water and an ice pack on his lap, that a life in exile was no life at all and there were stories of those who’d turned to far worse substance abuses than a little “harmless brain stimulation”. Parmak seemed to take exception to the “no life at all” comment but of course sided with Garak saying that Garak was under a doctor’s care after all, to which Julian snipped that he was a doctor who couldn’t even fix his own remote and that if anyone ought to know better that it was him.

             “You really scared me, you know,” Julian tells them both later, his head on Parmak’s lap enjoying strong fingers massaging his temples. “Please tell me you’re going to just deactivate the thing or at the very least stop using it for recreation.” He looks over at Garak’s who’s examining the remote speculatively, still toggling the different vibrate functions. He doesn’t miss the look that passes between his two Cardassian lovers as they both solicitously vow that they absolutely will not be indulging in any more reckless implant play.

 Well, at least the new remote opens with a few small screws.

[startrekdescribed]

[Image description: a series of text post based memes placed upon characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Image one shows Garak looking surprised at Bashir, Bashir is leaning over behind Garak and smiling at him. A post by ajjiwannabeyourdog2 says, "apologist? not necessary. explainer? perhaps. understander? intimately. enjoyer? greatly. sexualiser? frequently.

Image two Jadzia pressing a hand to her chest looking to be dramatic, Quark sitting next to her and listening closely. A post by nostalgia-tblr says, "look I don't know how many times I need to repeat this but miles and Julian are (caps) GOOD FRIENDS and their adulterous gay sex is (caps) PLATONIC."

Image three shows Garak lying on the floor with a wound on his cheek, a post by greyduckgreygoose says, "I'm not 'lazy' I'm just a fragile victorian maiden. I can only handle 1-2 mildly taxing activities a day before I have to put myself down for a nap until dinner."

Image four shows Dukat hovering above Sisko, a post by watchriverdale says, "pride and prejudice is a comedy because mr darcy thinks tension comes from ust and meanwhile lizzie just genuinely hates his guts."

Image five shows Quark sat at the table talking intently with Morn, a post by techslander says, "the best part about looking for deep space nine merch on etsy is every 3 rows seeing garak and julian passionately making out on a mug or tasteful bookmark, keep it up guys, at this rate we can make it every other listing by fall."

Image six shows Bashir looking up and leaning into Garak, Garak stands by the door carrying a bag over his shoulder. A post by oluransom-deactivated20201026 says, "You're laughing. I told you a joke and you're laughing. I love you."

Image seven shows Bashir and Garak with their hands out, looking as if to stop something happening between each other. A post by pruane2 says, "divorce court judge ruling a couple has to just stay together cause they both suck so bad they shouldn't be allowed to subject anyone else to their behaviours."

Image eight shows Quark and Odo staring at each other intently, a post by r0zeclawz says, "I said goo girl! Slop me like the slimy feel."

Image nine shows Garak staring widely at Weyoun, a post by unverifiedmessiah says, "'Have you considered that you, too, could be a bimbo, and that it might be fun?" tragically I am way too shredded, financially independent and adept in general to pull it off."

Image ten show Ezri looking up with an awkward smile, a post by bedupolker says, "Eternal life is a curse' idk maybe you're just boring. Meanwhile I'm going to listen to every song ever, finish reading wikipedia, and then finally learn how to snowboard."

/end image description]

ds9 text posts

[adigeon]

Here’s a post I’ve been thinking about for awhile: Julian Bashir’s canonical character arc, including his...questionable romantic choices, is entirely congruent with maladaptive behaviors adopted by adult survivors of abuse. For this post, I’m taking a hard Daystrom Institute approach, i.e. everything has to be explained canonically, no ‘Well the writers for that episode probably just sucked’ or ‘well that’s what happens when you do such a dramatic retcon of a character later in a series’. That is true for virtually every episode I’ll be discussing. My intent is definitely not to claim that the DS9 writers deliberately across seven seasons wrote Bashir in this way -- obvs not. Anyhow from here on out hard Daystrom approach. Etc. Behind the readmore:

Bashir is desperate to be well-liked. Being an overachiever is part of this -- graduating second in his class at the Academy is clearly a pretty big deal; the whole thing with sports [having been captain of the racquetball team, beating a Vulcan despite the mismatched physical strength between your average human and your average Vulcan]. The sports thing is really interesting to me because presumably Bashir has been living since 15 years old with a real dread of having his augmentations discovered -- and yet he was willing to risk people noticing his, well, superhuman reflexes and hand-eye coordination for sports? Maybe being a natural athlete put him socially in a place for one of the first times where he was wanted and praised and well-liked and it proved too tempting to buck away from. Most maladaptive adult survivor behaviors can be easily understood as extensions of behaviors that, when you were a child, kept you safe. We know that when Julian was *seven* and unable to tell a cat from a dog that he had figured out pretty firmly that his parents were disappointed in him. And based on his parents in Dr. Bashir I Presume, his father at least is blatantly manipulative -- (“You've got a lot at stake? Well what about us? We could go to prison, Jules. Have you ever thought about that?...Oh, so now we're not taking it seriously. We're not as bright as he is. We don't have your gifted intellect so we can't see the perfectly obvious.”) He’s still desperately trying to please people/avoid being criticized or scolded.

Deriving self-worth from achievements more than anything else (constantly mentioning he was salutatorian; the stuff with the Carrington award; his (understandable) obsession with the Teplan blight)

Bashir is strongly inclined towards codependent relationships where he’s in a provider/caretaker role and protecting the other person. There’s Melora, who he’s obsessed with ‘curing’/helping her function in a high-grav environment. Sarina fits the *exact* same dynamic. One of his first significant on-screen interactions with Ezri is him gently stepping in and ordering a drink for her, which she’s relieved by; Ezri is clearly profoundly destabilized and struggling to adapt to being joined, and Bashir is there to offer, what else, support and comfort. The codependent dynamic also fits Garak, though to a bit of a lesser extent. Bashir is fixated on figuring him out and sometimes, as in The Wire, protecting him. There’s a couple ways emotional abuse ties into codependency: the child learning to obsessively attune themselves to the emotional cues and needs of the parent; internalizing the dynamic of always needing to please someone; also, if the codependent partner may believe that making extreme sacrifices for their partner and going out of their way to do everything perfectly for them will confer security in the relationship. “If I do all these things for my partner, they’ll never leave me.”

Having a distorted sense of self and transient obsessive interests is congruent with the suite of borderline symptoms (borderline also often occuring in adult survivors of abuse). When attempting to get Kira to warm up to him (again nearly vibrating with desperation to be liked), he talks extensively about meditative techniques and Bajoran composers. Hyperfixating on people is also a borderline thing, and when Bashir is interested in someone, he...doesn’t have the best judgement. See: Jadzia, Miles, Garak, Sarina...

A small thing, but “excessive self-disclosure” can be part of the hyper-social coping mechanism adopted by some abuse survivors. Especially in the early seasons, Bashir is prone to this -- being in professional situations and offering interjections about his life or time at the Academy to people who didn’t ask and don’t know how to respond. Also, almost all of Bashir’s dialogue when he and Miles are trapped together during Armageddon Game.

His late-show swing into being obsessed with Jadzia/Ezri makes sense under this framing as well, per this post 

Idk there’s more I’ll probably remember later

But I have work tomorrow and its late

[gplusbfics]

1994 Interview All About Garak & Andrew Robinson

I’ve seen this great interview posted a bunch of times online, but it’s alway seems to be as graphic scans, which I have a hard time reading, so when I actually got my hands on DS9 magazine Vol. 9, 1994, I was psyched. I could read it AND I could scan it! So here it is, with all the text, plus photos. I’ll be posting the photos all separately afterward, including a few that don’t fit. Enjoy!

I love Garak and Andy so much. Also, I love that this interview is all after Season 2 (and I believe before Season 3 aired), so you have Robinson saying things like “I wish I’d get to do more plots with Rene and Avery!” and “It’s going to really interesting when Garak’s secrets come out!” He he. It’s really zero surprise he wound up writing a book. Or that the book would be well written -- he uses great words in the interview, just popping in stuff like “apotheosis.” 

-Wendy 

According to his former superior in the Obsidian Order, Garak has a "rare talent for obfuscation." The same, fortunately, cannot be said of the man who plays him, Andrew Robinson. Given the chance, he willingly expounds upon the delights of playing this charming, yet devious, Cardassian. 

"This role has been quite surprising and wonderful," Robinson says. "The way the character is progressing is a delight for me. When I auditioned and got the part, I had no idea that it was going to be a recurring character. They've been writing really interesting things for Garak; each time that he appears, there's something more to play." 

What first attracted him to the role was "the mystery about the character. At the same time, there was also this wonderfully refined and urbane intelligence about Garak. Not only did he have a secret, but his secrets were very deep and potentially very interesting. I don't know where it's going from here, but I look forward to the day --- if the day ever does come -- when the truth about Garak emerges. I have a feeling that the secrets he has are going to be a great deal of fun to play." 

Because he didn't receive any back ground from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers or producers, "I just created my own, so I had something to work from," says Robinson. "I went for the approach of something that was reptilian, someone with cold blood, who would have that same deliberate, measured style. In terms of mystery, I played 'I've got a secret.' The writers and producers have been taking what I'm doing and building from that, as well as whatever they have in mind for Garak, which really is the best. Very few shows do this. Very few."

Not surprisingly, Robinson's least favorite aspect of this role is enduring the makeup. "That's the worst part of it. Garak is a three-and-a-half hour makeup job. Sometimes I'll have a 2 or 3 a.m. call! There are seven prosthetic appliances that they put on, including the neck. It teaches you a lot of patience," he admits. "Once I'm in it -- and these are long days I put in on the set, 14 to 16-hour days sometimes --- I just have to 'Zen' out. Otherwise, if I start getting cranky, then I'm done; I can't act or do anything. I really have to move into an almost beatific state. I have lost weight, though; that's one good thing!" he adds, laughing, before relating a more serious makeup-related tale.

"When the earthquake hit in January, it was 4:30 a.m. in Los Angeles, and I was already in the makeup chair, along with Armin Shimerman [Quark] and a couple other actors. It was pretty bizarre: this earthquake hits, all the power goes out, and all these aliens in varying stages of makeup are milling about in the darkness! People like Armin and Ed Wiley, who was playing this Cardassian, couldn't get through on the phone to their families, so they just jumped into their cars -- Armin in his Quark makeup and Ed with his Cardassian makeup on -- and drove through the pre-dawn streets of Los Angeles. I can only imagine what the other motorists saw -- I think that would be more bracing than a cup of coffee!"

Robinson made his Deep Space Nine debut in the series' second-to-air episode, "Past Prologue." There, "plain and simple Garak" made first contact with Dr. Bashir (who immediately suspected him of being a Cardassian spy) and helped foil a fanatical Bajoran terrorist's plot. Interacting with the Klingon sisters Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh) proved to be some of Robinson's favorite moments. "That was just a gas!" he exclaims. "We had a great time doing those scenes; I hope we can do that again." 

Garak next appeared in "Cardassians," where he was instrumental in uncovering a scandal concerning the abandonment of Cardassian orphans on Bajor after the war. "The best thing about that was the scene where he and Bashir go to Bajor and run into the orphans. We learned a little more about their culture, that children without parents have no status in Cardassian society, so they just abandoned them. The fact that Garak was faced with this, and realized that there is something very basically wrong about it, was great."

Although both Bashir and viewers alike still wonder which side (if any) Garak owes his allegiances to, Robinson thinks that "Garak's a good guy," and cites the second season episode "Profit & Loss" as "the turning point. When I got that script, I thought, 'Oh, I guess this is the end of Garak,' as I was reading. Then, I got to the end and he decides, no, he's not going to kill Professor Lang and her student dissidents, nor turn them in. He has the change of heart and lets them go. He was faced with that moral dilemma, and for most Cardassians, there would have been no dilemma; they would have just done what they were expected to do." The actor hastens to add, however, "That's not to say that the man doesn't have an... ambiguous past. He's very complicated, very ambiguous, and there's no doubt that there are things in his past that aren't very nice. He is, after all, Cardassian!" 

One of Robinson's greatest pleasures on Deep Space Nine, he says, has been working with Siddig El Fadil, who plays Dr. Bashir. "Siddig and I get along so well, and we have become very good friends from this show. The chemistry works out beautifully, where you have this older, reptilian mystery man who isn't what he seems to be, and this young innocent. It's easy to see what Bashir's getting from Garak: a political education. He's learning about the byzantine, labyrinthine subtleties and intricacies that go on in the station. 

"It's less clear, but equally strong, to see what Garak is getting from Bashir," he continues. "Bashir is a very decent person, a veru moral man, a responsible scientist with a soul. I think Garak is learning some of this, becoming socialized. I don't mean 'humanized,' because that would be a 'specist' thing to say. He's gaining a certain sense of compassion, a certain morality and that's very touching-that's what I love about the relationship." 

That being said, Robinson would also like to see Garak interact more with the rest of the Deep Space Nine crew. "It's a great company! I would love to do more with Rene Auberjonois; he and I have known each other forever. I think they'll have me do more with Quark this season, because we had some really nice scenes together in 'Profit & Loss.' Armin and I worked together just before DS9, in a production of Richard II. Also, I would love to do much more with Avery Brooks. He's a very powerful actor who has a lot of wonderful inner strength."

Garak's next two appearances, "Crossover" and "The Wire," showed two very different sides of the Cardassian. In the Mirror Universe, lntendent Kira Nerys rules Deep Space Nine, with Garak as her menacing second in command. "That wasn't hard to do," Robin.son says, "but that was interesting because I found the negative image to Garak: that Nazi, that typical Cardassian persona of the oppressor, the fascist, the totalitarian. There are no secrets to this man -- and no hiding any from him; he's just into sheer power. [The real] Garak is not into pure power at all; that's not his agenda! Now when I come back to Garak, I have more information about him, and he will be a deeper character as a result." 

Robinson's favorite episode to date, "The Wire" raised many questions about Garak's past and provided very few concrete answers. When an endorphin-releasing implant in Garak's brain begins malfunctioning, Dr. Bashir goes to great lengths to save his friend, ultimately discovering that Garak, among other things, used to be part of the Obsidian Order, a secret information-gathering Cardassian police force renowned for their brutal tactics. "'The Wire' was a dream," Robinson notes, "the type of episode I would like to do -- well, not all the time, because I would die! -- but frequently. That's the kind of episode that does indeed stretch my 'acting muscles,' because it demanded that I go inside myself and pull things out that perhaps didn't want to come willingly."

Originally a New England native, this "man behind the mask" recalls that "as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an actor. Not necessarily as a profession, but I always wanted to act. When I was 10, I went to this school in Rhode Island that had a wonderful drama program. It was run by a man who became my mentor. He was very supportive and helpful, and I just did plays and plays and plays." 

Robinson describes his college days similarly. "I had an art history teacher who encouraged me to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship to study acting in London. I did, and I got it against all odds," he explains. "When I was studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, I was doing a student production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull; I was playing Constantine, this young man with a lot of troubles, and I had -- I can only call it an apotheosis -- this very deep emotional experience. That's when I decided I would act for a living." 

This led to several years of stage acting until Robinson landed his first movie role as the Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry. "I liked Clint Eastwood," he says, "but for me, the excitement was working with the director, Don Siegel. He was an amazing man, the best director I've ever worked with. Basically, he taught me whatever I now know about filmmaking. The character I played was very underwritten and very under-realized in the original script; it was only because Don Siegel was the kind of director he was that he hired me and said, 'OK, give me the character.' At the time, I had no idea the kind of chance he was taking. It just blows my mind!"

With his film career established, Robinson appeared in all manner of movies, TV shows and plays. One of his most visible roles came in an ABC TV movie, Liberace. Portraying the flamboyant entertainer, Robinson says, "was a great experience. It ended up being one of the best things I've ever done. You see, the art of acting, for me, is quite liberating. There's a lot of freedom have when you're behaving in the skin of another person, so to speak. That, to me, is the most interesting thing about being an actor . Also, I never wanted a nine-to-five job, and I'm grateful for the fact that I've been able to fashion a career where I work at jobs and a job doesn't work me." 

Robinson first attracted the notice of SF and horror aficionados with his work in Clive Barker's debut film, Hellraiser. "That was a wonderful experience," he says fondly. "For one thing, the character chance to play two characters, basically, the good and evil sides of the same person, was a thrill. The good brother, Larry, was quite repressed, and behind that repression was his evil brother Frank. 

"Also, working with Clive Barker -- who's a genuinely mad, eccentric genius ---was a lot of fun. It was his first film; he really didn't know much about filmmaking, so he really had to rely on people around him who had more experience, and he was open to that. It became a genuinely collaborative experience, and there was a lot of creativity flowing on the set, which doesn’t always happen.” 

His next genre appearance came in Child's Play 3, in which the evil doll Chucky arrives at a military school and terrorizes the cadets. Robinson played the sadistic barber, Sergeant Botnick, who gets a fatal shave from the diminutive killer. "A friend of mine, Jack Bender, was directing it and asked me to come in and do this character," Robinson remembers. "Jack's a very bright guy, and he saw something that I couldn't see at first reading. Then, we got working on it, and what happened was one of those fortuitous occasions when I made something really interesting, a character who was like nothing I had ever seen or done before. Sergeant Botnick the barber usually goes totally unnoticed, but it’s a piece of work that I'm very proud of." 

Similar circumstances led him to Trancers Ill as Colonel Daddy Muther . "Again, it was a friend of mine, Courtney Joyner, who wrote and directed it. I did it because he asked me to. He had written the part for me, and because he was a friend, we were able to create the character as we were shooting it. Unfortunately, the shooting circumstances were very pressured because resources were very limited. It was an extremely low-budget film, and also Courtney's first ." Robinson got along very well with his fellow cast, however. "Tim Thomerson, who played the lead, is terrific, a very funny, lovely guy. I enjoyed working with him a lot." 

While lately he has been appearing in projects with a definite SF slant, Robinson says he doesn’t have any one favorite genre of acting . "One of the things I appreciate about myself -- if I may say that -- is the range I have. It's something I've developed consciously, because I really love playing different kinds of characters. For example, in this British farce by Alan Bennett called Habeas Corpus, I played a guy who sells and adjusts false breasts! It was a funny, crazy role, just knock-down British humor. And in the middle of it, I went back to Rhode Island to do my one-man show, which is a very serious meditation based on if Jesus had kept a diary. This person/actor finds the diary, shares it with the audience, and ends up portraying different aspects of Jesus and His life. It's that kind of contrast that turns me on as an actor." 

To Robinson, the most enjoyable aspect of playing a recurring character like Garak is the chance "to explore the character from various angles, so that you go from 'plain and simple Garak' to an episode like 'The Wire,' which goes into a very deep, personal story about the man. You get the kind of information about a character that you rarely ever get in a single episode, or indeed a single film. The writers don't sit down with us and say, 'OK, this is where your character is going,' and I rather like that . It's a surprise every time I get a script!" 

In future episodes of Deep Space Nine, Andrew Robinson feels that viewers will eventually learn the truth about Garak. "Right now, all we do know is that he's in exile and he misses his homeland very much," he notes. "I know the producers have really become attached to the character, which means more and more of a commitment to me. For instance, this season I will be on the show several times. I think eventually, by the time the show ends, we will know where Garak is coming from. Perhaps we won't understand him completely in terms of his motives, or the 'why' of Garak, but I certainly think we will understand the 'what' of Garak, what he's doing on the station."

Was this not an awesome article and interview, or what??? -Wendy