#i Know i wrote dax with they/them pronouns in the fic

[lilolilyr]

Just thinking about Nerys/Jadzia/Lenara in my college AU rn... So many feelings...

Submitting this rant to @discoveryfemslashfortnight under the 'Free Choice' prompt!

spoilers for the fic below the cut!

~

Dax and Lena would invite Kira into their relationships with open arms, of course their marriage is open but it's not just that, Jadzia has been pining after Kira for ages and didn't know that Kira felt the same because in some ways they are such opposites in how they act, Kira is watching from the shadows trying to catch her eye while Jadzia is in the middle of everything trying to catch her attention, and for ages neither spoke to the other, always in each other's orbit but never within arm's reach, and as soon as they finally talk sparks fly... And Lenara sees how much Kira means to Dax and resolves to get to know her better, and she quickly grows to appreciate Kira and her dry wit that comes out when she isn't so in awe of finally being around Jadzia anymore or when she's just around Lenara, they don't really have much in common when it comes to jobs or hobbies but they both have strong opinions about a lot of things and while Jadzia often likes to pull a discussion back to safer shores to see the funny side of things, Nerys and Lena can get lost in political discussions and arguments, typical leftist infighting that can get quite heated at times, but neither of them minds, as they can both tell they agree on the topics that matter... Jadzia still half lives on campus in her small dorm room that she shares with a roommate and pays for herself instead of completely moving in with Lenara both because it's more practical (she doesn't need to get up so early on days with morning classes when she's already on campus) and because she's someone who needs her own space, but Kira gradually moves into the city flat, and two semesters later she doesn't renew her lease on her own dorm and instead officially moves in... It's Dax who suggests in, and Lenara immediately agrees, and that's when Nerys finally believes that she's a real part of this relationship, not just casually dating the married couple but in love and loved by them... She tells Lenara to go to sleep when she stays up too late working, Lena makes her breakfast in bed some mornings, or sometimes Dax surprises them both with breakfast (more likely because she's Still awake than because she's awake Already, of course), Nerys lets Jadzia drag her into wild adventures, and she introduces the both of them to her friends especially to Michael, Jadzia finally gets some close friends who aren't just college and party friends but people she can actually talk to, and Lenara lets them drag her away from her studies and to gettogethers (sometimes, at least)... They have so many similarities and so many differences as well, and they are good for each other, both because they just fit together and because they're actively trying for just that, they want to be good together, want it to work out, and their love never stops growing <3

Tl,Dr: I'm feelin lonely and I wish I had two gfs or a wife and a girlfriend and I'm projecting heavily onto those three <3 rly shouldn't write university AUs I know how that always ends for me xDxD

[ameerawritesstuff]

What is your opinion on fleshing out characters who've only ever been mentioned once or twice in canon with essentially no defining canonical characterization for fic?

*cracks knuckles*

This is MY JAM but I want to preface it with something: supporting characters are meant to be SUPPORTING. Yes, have their backstories and stuff in mind, but don’t cloud the narrative with their life story if it’s not meant to be about them.

If someone wants to take a side character and make them main in a story and really explore that hypothetical GO FOR IT but I’m gonna talk about them in a supporting context because that is what I feel is often done a bit sloppy (but we’re all growing as writers! No one, no matter how successful, should feel complete as a writer!)

I’m going to use Vixil'Pran from DS9 as my example here. Here we have a character that is NEVER seen on screen but man oh man does he give me feelings. He is spoken about with masculine pronouns, he reproduces asexually, he is in Starfleet and goes from being an Ensign to a Lieutenant, his species is winged, hatchlings use something called a “hatchling pond”, with each budding he can have anywhere from 2-12 hatchlings.

That is all we know about him. Not even the name of his species!

In “Keyword Search” I think my favorite thing I wrote was Julian’s entry about Vixil'Pran’s pregnancy. I had to give the species a name, it would be weird for the CMO to mention so few specifics, so I ended up researching what our father to be could possibly be. This meant it was research time~

So, first off, sex? He reproduces asexually but he has gendered pronouns (we know Sisko and Julian are good about proper pronouns because of Dax). DOESN’T MEAN HE HAS THEM “MAN PARTS” THO. So it wasn’t necessary for me to dig into that aspect of his biology. However, the Hydra, a microscopic and fascinating lifeform that reproduces through budding that I used for a lot of my research actually does have two different possible sex organs. They do reproduce sexually if there are too few resources and that’s the only way to continue their species. They die after breeding. That was really fascinating to me and I wanted to talk about it in my fic. It worked for Garak to be like “okay, but if he’s from an asexual species, why does he have testicles?” But “why does he have ovaries?” Would be WAY more invasive and unlikely for him to know (he’s a tailor, there’s a bulge, so that’s less weird then), so Vixil'Pran was decidedly cis for my fic.

I named the species “Hydratera” for simple reasons. The Hydra, and then “ptera” means “winged” and when put together we get Hydratera. Because, hey, how do you think we’ll name aliens? Science-y terms, that’s how.

Now that we got all of those details out of the way, how to work our lovely boy into the story? Well, in this particular fic, it’s all told through personal logs that have been filtered so we see what comes up in the keyword search: “Garak.” So I know that whatever I do, it has to make sense for Julian to actually choose to mention it, and Garak needs to also be mentioned.

Julian is the CMO so it makes perfect sense for him to mention his patient's pregnancy, and I have him say that it will be his first time delivering Hydratera, so I got the name drop in. We also know Julian commissioned Garak for some baby clothes (pure!) to give at the baby shower he and Miles are throwing (HOW IS THIS SHOW SO PURE???) so BAM easy way to bring Garak into the narrative.

So then it just became a question of how that dialogue would go:

Julian: “Hey, lizard man who I am low-key in love with! Want to make some baby clothes for Vixil'Pran?”

Garak: “He’s expecting?”

Julian: “Darn tootin.”

Garak: “Coolio. I gotta ask… and since we’re already on the subject, you’re a doctor, and I’m nosey af… tf is up with asexual reproduction?”

Julian: *vomits information like a nerd*

^That’s all well and good, but kinda self-serving, don’t ya think? This fic is supposed to be about Garak and Bashir’s relationship, but I just made them the mouthpieces for my own headcanons! Sure, it was in character, but why should the reader care?

So I threw in some innuendos of when Garak learns that the Hydratera die afterward if they mate sexually, he says that a night with Julian would be a good way to go. Bringing it all back to Julian trying to discern whether or not the sweet scaly man is flirting with him or just being a troll. So we’re back on track and my headcanon spewing had a purpose because that line wouldn’t have happened without it! :D

TL;DR (because lordy, I can go on): FLESH THOSE BABIES OUT! But do so with purpose or intention. The fic should only revolve around that character and your original choices if it's meant to, not just because you think it’s cool.