#dax thread.

[inkshadow]

❝ me? i could never annoy you. besides, doesn't matter who it is, you'll still be 'displeased' with them anyways. ❞ elowyn's fuse has always been short and this was no different. he could've stumbled in during broad daylight and she'd have some excuse to bash on him. ❝ i came home from a fight late, you really think i'm gonna try and tip toe around? nah, i want a shower and food and then go to bed. maybe you should learn to sleep harder. ❞

@neveraftcr

[inkshadow]

"right, you're right. i'm just pullin' this shit out of thin air." not like he's got eyes and can put two and two together. not like she definitely confessed the night before right to his face and is maybe just too hungover to remember. or hell, maybe she just wants to forget. it doesn't dawn on dax that the time they spent together could actually pass for something deeper than service level for once but at the minute, it's hard to really make sense of anything. she's mad at him, as per usual, and that's all that dax will ever get from her. nothing else is real, apparently. "who the fuck said it was all of a — you know what?" hurt slaps him right across the face and for once, it's visible. he makes it known to her that her words sting like poison in his system. there's enough scorn in her demeanor that'll last him a lifetime and he's had enough of that in his life. dax throws his hands up in the air, already backing down knowing that he can't very well talk sense into the human equivalent of a brick wall. "forget it. i just thought that maybe, maybe it was a good idea to branch out from your shitty cocaine bubble, filled with a buncha rich hoity-toity snoots and just be fuckin' for real. just this once. but hey — your life is so god damn perfect that you don't need friends, right? too scary, too unnecessary for someone with a perfect life." eyes roll and he turns around to yank the front door open, and only then does he turn around to give her a great big middle finger. "fuck you. and fuck me for thinkin' maybe we coulda had somethin'." he turns around and walks right out as she instructed, feeling no remorse that he doesn't look over his shoulder to check on her.

she doesn't even think to just go against his wishes and send the money anyway, because yeah. it's not actually about the money. his laughter only pisses her off more, repeating her shoving as though it'll work better the second time. (it doesn't.) "don't tell me what i don't know!" her frustration level is so high, anger and adrenaline licking up her spine and clouding her head, that she's willing to fight just about anything he says. "just because you've been inside me, doesn't mean you know a single goddamn thing about me." except, well, she isn't sure that's completely true. and isn't that part of the problem? "because... because you pity losers, and idiots, and people with shitty lives, and that isn't me! i have a great fucking life, dax. it's not my problem if you don't know what that's like." each critique he throws at her is more cutting than the last, and she doesn't know how to keep up with this anymore. she's just so tired. "so what, we spend one night together where we're not tearing each other's throats out, and suddenly you care about me?" scoffs harshly. "you meet my dad for five minutes and you're a fucking expert on our relationship?" for whatever reason, it's his last comment that gets her to back down. because he's right, and that hurts enough on it's own, but also who gave him the right to be the one to make her confront it? arms fall to her sides and she's unable to keep the hurt off her face, like he's just struck her. "you know what? i think you should go." just can't deal with the bullshit anymore. "i mean it. i want you to leave."

[bestiadentro]

Send my muse all your terrible puns.

@silver-blooded-synthetics said: "I think you're purrfect just as you are right meow." - from Errol to Stranger Things verse Alaire for the puns meme.

Alaire blinks, confused by the way Errol is speaking and not seeming to understand the puns. Though they're saying he's perfect as he is.. he can't help but to wonder if he's being made fun of somehow? But he also doesn't think Errol would make fun of him either.. So he's not quite sure what to think of it.

Oh. He's figured it out on his own. It's likely visible in his expression when it clicks. Though he still doesn't understand why they're doing it. "Why are you talking like that?" Alaire just comes out and asks. Why not?

[inkshadow]

short and sweet with @sunliights featuring dax and heather.

"you over your breakup yet? 'cause you're really bringin' the whole place down."

[thefvrious]

@theknifeinyou said -> ❝ wait, did YOU say you wanted the last piece of pie in the fridge? 'cause i kinda just ate it ... ❞

Dax stared at his brother. He could see the crumbs from the pie around the corners of Dodger's mouth and shook his head, irritation creeping up his spine. But wasn't that what it was like to have siblings. "You little shite." He said, leaning forward to punch his brother playfully in the shoulder. "You owe me a piece of pie, then."

[inkshadow]

"hiding? that doesn't sound like her. but fine... gotta see how this goes."

"ugh, you can't do that. she'll be hiding herself in her room for days on end, it's not like anyone will ever have to know!"

[astralfms]

sms 📩 dax

@wandererfms

ronnie: if i asked you to tattoo my fingers right now would you do it ronnie: serious question ronnie: thinking about getting DOPE AS FUCK across all my knuckles even the thumbs

[frcmbelow]

location: javawocky cafe & bakery

closed starter for: @midncghtmosaic (dax)

meg lived her life with her head down most of the time. she had never been good at making friends, and while it didn't stop her from trying, it did make her feel discouraged every now and again. there had only ever been one person she'd connected with beyond a face-value greeting, and he had up and disappeared from her life. maybe that's why meg was so hesitant to get close to anyone else. she missed dax, and she wished that things had been different, and that she could've convinced him to stay.

all of these thoughts had flooded back to her on her walk to the cafe. the air was cold and sharp, her hands buried deep in her pockets to keep them at least a little warm. but as she pulled open the door to the cafe, meg stopped dead in her tracks. was she seeing a ghost? were ghosts even real? they had to be if dax was standing in front of her. from behind, a few people brushed past her, gently shoving her closer to him until their gazes finally met. meg's heart was thumping loudly in her chest, lips parting but no words coming out. how was she even supposed to start this conversation?

"you're here," she breathed, hands balling into fists in her pockets, nails digging into her palms as if it would wake her up from this dream. "what are you doing here?"

[gypsybelladonna]

tag drop for dax holtz

[inkshadow]

❝ i really hate how sexy that sounded. ❞ even with his lighthearted tone, the flush in his cheeks is obvious. so much so that he doesn't even realize how much she's affected him until he notices the way he's chewing softly at his lower lip. ❝ bet that's how you always end up getting grown men or ladies to fall to their knees, huh? does every one-night stand start with a smile? ❞

" i'm just setting realistic expectations. " and ones she didn't think she had to worry too much about anyway. she wasn't exactly in a rush to meet him, and honestly, if she were dax, she wouldn't be a hurry to introduce her. " hmm, yeah, that's right. it's easier this way, and it's fun to bring the world to it's knees with a smile. " and she let her smile stay. it was an easy smile, one far from the forced smile she'd worn during their little trip to visit their downstairs neighbour.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

Something I love about DS9’s framing of Jake Sisko is how he’s consistently positioned as someone worthy of protection, whose survival and flourishing and emotional well-being are of tantamount importance, and whose innocence and vulnerability are precious.

It’s present from all directions in The Visitor. Everybody protectively closes ranks around Jake upon Ben’s disappearance, with those little moments of Dax and Kira and Bashir giving him physical affection and reassurance and Quark going out of his way to be nice to him. Jake’s older self’s protective impulses towards his younger self, as well as his desire to save his father, are the basis for the timeline reset. And then after the spacetime continuum gets wrenched back in line purely to save Jake from the emotional trauma of losing his father, the episode ends with Ben, who’s borne witness to everything and is the only one who remembers it all, continuing that work of shielding Jake from that knowledge.

And then Nor the Battle to the Strong carries on the thread of protectiveness towards Jake, in that case as part of the episode’s deconstruction of military heroism. As he’s marinating in shame over bailing on the mission to retrieve the generator, Bashir apologizes to him and says he was wrong to put Jake in harm’s way in the first place. And then at the end, he wakes up after sealing the cave entranceway and both Bashir and his father are tenderly looking after him, with similar imagery to The Visitor in terms of him being symbolically cradled by the other cast members’ concern for him. He never needs to toughen up or grow out of that need to be rescued - in fact, his fear and panic and feelings of being out of his depth prove to be immensely valuable, as his last conversation with his father emphasizes, because he’s able to bear witness to the experience of the soldiers through his writing.

That comes through in a really interesting way in Valiant as well, with Jake’s emphatic concern for his own survival in the midst of all the culty militaristic weirdness of the Valiant crew:

Nog: You don’t understand, because you’ve never put on one of these uniforms. You don’t know anything about sacrifice, or honor, or duty, or any other things that make up a soldier’s life. I’m part of something larger than myself. All you care about is you.

Jake: That’s right. All I care about is Jake Sisko and whether or not he’s going to be killed by a bunch of delusional fanatics looking for martyrdom.

And I love that exchange not only because it’s a rare articulation of how I would actually feel in a situation like that in a franchise full of characters who are all prepared to sacrifice themselves in the line of duty, but also because in the context of the episode, Jake’s position is actually the heroic one! It’s his sense of self-preservation, and the fact that he hasn’t romanticized the notion of heroic sacrifice, that enables him to see through the dogmatic ideology of the Valiant cadets and recognize how dangerously out of their depth they are. And it’s just a nice articulation of his own worth.

(And of course the Defiant rescues them at the end, because Jake’s grown up now, but he hasn’t outgrown needing his father to save him. And that’s never a shameful thing, but a really beautiful thing, and necessary to the fabric of the show.)

[inkshadow]

closed starter for @remaineds

left hook. right block. left jab at the ribcage. the ebb and flow of dax's movements feel like second nature against this opponent, his confidence brimming with just a few more minutes left on the clock. the crowds, illegal as they are, continue to cheer for him with several recognizable voices in the crowd. one from his 'cheerleader' for the night, known to be his arm candy at times and the other.... well, the other wasn't for him. in fact, the name that spills from her lips happens to be the name of his opponent, only fueling him to beat the shit out of the guy even harder.

[inkshadow]

truthfully, dax doesn't look to willow for flaws. he's got enough of his own and can see enough of the world's that he'd be damned to see her in a poor light. there's already enough strife in her eyes, in the way that she carries herself, that dax won't dare to put any more on her shoulders. it's why, during the entirety of their relationship, he'd sworn to worship her body and person in ways he knows those scumbags at the club can't, tries to adore her and remind her of why she's special — not just to him but to the general populous. because he still loves her too and why the ache in his chest returns every time she takes a step out the front door to her job. "to be honest, i don't know either but not for the reason you think —" he makes sure to follow up quickly enough, letting her hand drop because he feels he has no right to really grab it back. "i don't know what you want to be in my life, willow. i've been trying to give us a bit of space because we were fighting all the time but now that we're not fighting, the space feels... weird. but what the fuck am i supposed to do? text you all the time tellin' you i miss you? that i want you back? what's that gonna change? we still don't like what the other person does." that's not to say he doesn't appreciate her efforts; the fact that she even suggested coming to watch him in the first place means more to him than he could ever really express but does she really have to force herself to do it in the name of love? to prove that to him? he doesn't think so. she's enough. just wished she thought the same of herself. a heavy sigh falls between them and dax reaches up to scratch the back of his neck, needing somewhere to put his hands that aren't on her. "if we're talking about wishes, i wished i was rich. so you didn't have to do what you do and i can give you that cottage you want. we could get away from all this, just enjoy each other again without worryin' about how to fuckin' make rent."

" yeah . . . it's not bad, but if you really look closely — " what is she even going on about ? gaze flitters in his direction, jaw slacked. " don't ! i don't want you to notice. " raises her arm, trying to obscure his line of sight with her hand. it's almost as if he hasn't seen her naked a thousand times over. willow's always most vulnerable when she's naked for him, though. prying hands and overbearing comments seldom take away from the way he makes her feel. always mentally somewhere else when it isn't with him. thinks about what she's going to have for dinner or when she should make time to look through the mail piling up on her coffee table. can't imagine it's something dax would've understood when they were together. it couldn't be emotionally easy on him to share her — her body. apologies always sit on the tip of her tongue when she thinks about it. things would be different if she'd just walk away from it all, lead a normal life. wouldn't buy her the pretty cottage, but it might allot her just enough self - respect to feel worth something again. " see ? i know internet lingo too, " teases playfully. smile lingers on her lips, slightly fading at the thought of the probable online hate. " i won't. i don't think i'll have the time anyway. " because she'll be busy working up the courage to go to dax's matches instead. " yeah. " friend. the word leaves a sour taste in her mouth. that can't be all they are now. not when she spends days sulking over him, still thinks about how much she misses every single part of what they were. " honestly ? i don't know what i am in your life anymore. " friend feels like the safest placeholder, but he has to know that she doesn't really feel that way. " oh. " manages a smile, shaking her head. " i wanted to do that. it's no big deal. " pulls her hand away from his, suddenly worrying about what he might mean. you've been a good enough friend already. is that dax - code for, ' i don't want to see you anymore ? ' swallows down the painful lump in her throat. " i didn't mean friend in like a . . . i don't love you anymore kind of way. " frowns, suddenly feeling uncomfortably hot all over. leave it to willow to thoughtlessly toss those three words around. feels second - nature, though. willow made peace with the fact that she'll never get over beckham. " i just don't really know how to describe this. " waves her hand in the small space between them. " us. it's like . . . i just don't know. " pouts sadly.

[thefvrious]

@leschanceux said -> ❝It was self-defense.❞

As Dax surveys the bloody scene in front of him and the lifeless corpse on the floor, he lets his gaze lift to meet the other's. He's the portrait of calmness, as if this isn't terrifying him straight to his core. "Doesn't look like self-defense." He says, scratching at his jaw before setting both hands on his hips. "So, what do we do now?"

[astralfms]

sms 📩 daxton montgomery ( @wandererfms )

ronnie: yoooo ronnie: is the shop busy today? ronnie: my 6 pm just cancelled on me 🙏

[inkshadow]

❝ that's wishful thinking and you know it. ❞ his words are dry as sandpaper, looking at her with an expression that screams 'give me a break'. babies can't choose the life they were born into; he has a good feeling she understands that well enough. ❝ hey, long as you don't have any doubts that's good with me. ❞ dax scoffs and rolls his eyes, dismissing her rules with a wave of his hand. ❝ i don't let the girls i smash meet anyone. no point. in and out, that's how it should be. and we might not make it back to the place anyways. i won't let them meet. i'm not that dumb. ❞

"WELL, THAT'S NOT NORMAL. EVERYONE deserves a good home." Not that it was possible in the real world. She knew that not everyone could afford a good one. "Or at least, a decent one." Her brows furrowed at the words that followed. Dax sleeping with anyone was none of her business but she couldn't help the displeased quirk of her lips. "I'm sure she'd appreciate the feminine touch I'd add to the place. And I have no doubts about performance," she riposted flatly. "Listen, your flings are none of my business but you can't introduce any of them to Louis unless you decided to get serious. I don't want him to get attached to anyone temporary in your life. It's a rule I've established for him."