#just ds9 things

[mercuryal]

Welcome to the ✨House of Quark✨

Here’s another from my now nuked twt, reposting just in time for the Full Moon in Leo which rules the house of pleasure and play, a perfect time to celebrate a true alien super star and the space host with the most: Quark.

[mercuryal]

Julian Bashir is a genetically enhanced human augment, who’s aim is perfect, but let’s his bff Miles win at darts to make him feel good- of course he wasn’t aiming to kill the lizard spy who loves him.

I’m 1000% sure our favorite plain and simple tailor had read a whole Obsidian Order dossier on Dr. McTwinky’s secret before he even approached him in the replomat, and seeing Julian reveal his hidden skills and then have to brush it off like when Superman pretends to be Clark Kent, but Lois has a gun of blanks- seems like both Ms. Lane and Mr. Garak like to play with their food. 😏

One of the most romantic things to ever happen in cinema comes from this sleeper hit movie called RED, which is about a bunch of former spies/assassins coming out of retirement to do a job together.

One of the old spies is Helen Mirren, who has this wonderful exchange with another female character

Victoria (Helen Mirren) : You know, I was in love with an agent once.

Sarah Ross : What happened?

Victoria (Helen) : Well, I was with MI6. And the relationship wasn't... sanctioned. So when it came to light, my loyalty was questioned. And I was ordered to kill him. It was a test.

Sarah Ross : What did you do?

Victoria (Helen) : I put three bullets in his chest.

And it's like damn.

She cold as fuck? What a mommy. An ice cold assassin, who chose her career over her love.

But then.

You actually meet the guy, who shows Bruce Willis' character the 3 bullet wounds.

And then he says something so beautiful:

Ivan Simanov: [shows Frank his bullet wounds] This was done to me by the love of my life. Three bullets in the chest. When I woke alive, I knew she still loved me. Or else it would have been the head. It was big risk for her, of course, but one does crazy things for love.

And it's like....

how fucking beautiful....

Like just the set up was so good....and the payoff was magnificent.

"I was ordered to kill him...it was a test. I put three bullets in his chest."

"Three bullets to the chest....When I woke up alive, I knew she still loved me."

Like...if she wanted me dead... I'd be dead...she must love me!

If John Wick and Scott Pilgrim didn't inspire 7 Deadly Habits of the Modern Demon Summoner, then RED did.

Assassins that try to kill one another...but can't quite finish the job....their fingers twitch on the trigger, their aim is off, their aim for the chest instead of the head...

just slay me, darlings.

[bribinart]

so uh guess what i watched

(prints!)

[spocks-kaathyra]

experimenting w making little trek dolls for the STLV craft swap :))

[trashmammal-7]

Odo WIP cause I need to start posting more art on here

[havi-fart]

i am super busy but i really want to get back into drawing soon. for the meantime might i interest you in these super old fanarts i was too shy to post and/or never really finished ? (holds them out on a silver tray like a fancy snack platter)

can you tell i was having fun with this dress. is it obvious. lol.

[chitinleg]

got him off-balance!

[a-most-beloved-fool]

It's a little amusing just how similar Spock's and Garak's patterns of speech are. They're not identical, of course, and they emphasize things very differently, but they do for sure say the same type of shit sometimes. Are you an EDUCATED HOMOSEXUAL with a FACADE? Try using LARGE WORDS and DOUBLE NEGATIVES today!

[hollis-art]

just had a vision... benjamin sisko as a drag queen.... i feel like he'd have SO much fun. he'd get so into it

HIM AND JADZIA DOING A DRAG ROUTINE TOGETHER??? YEAHHH

[exasperatedoctopus]

The amount of nonsense the ds9 crew puts up with from Quark is ridiculous.

A non-exhaustive list of Quark’s crimes as of s2:ep12:

1. He directly let in a bunch of criminals into the station that proceeded to kidnap the worm-portion of Dax

2. He blackmailed Julian and O’Brien into having a public tennis match, then tried to drug Julien to fix said match

3. He has been caught actively consorting with arms dealers on multiple occasions

4. He literally broke into someone’s private quarters to steal a secret box and summarily kicked off a cold case murder investigation when he got chumped for it

Nobody’s even surprised by it at this point. The earth is round, DS9 is a miserable, shambling wreck of Cardassian engineering, and Quark commits Crimes

[thresholdbb]

Odo, you ain't slick

[vaguely-concerned]

sometimes I like to imagine julian bringing tennis to post-war cardassia and it ending up a popular passtime there. and this idea fills me with a great sense of peace and happiness.

[youngpettyqueen]

The Wire is really such a thesis statement for Julian as a doctor. he doesnt care what Garak did, he wants to help. he's a doctor, Garak's his patient, and its that simple. we see this with Julian, over and over, it doesnt matter what somebody or even what an entire species did, he will still always try his best to help

also, this episode really shows off what a good doctor Julian is when a patient is in crisis. Julian spends a good portion of this episode being upset with Garak and taking it personally that Garak won't come to the infirmary, but the second Garak is in crisis, he's no longer taking anything Garak says or does personally. he's listening, and letting Garak vent. Garak is lying to him, and being outright nasty telling him how much he hates him, and Julian stands there and takes it and lets him get it out. Garak attacks him and takes him to the floor and Julian doesnt fight back. he's trying to hold Garak down and stop him, yes, but he's doing it because he doesnt want to hurt Garak, and he doesnt want Garak to hurt himself

like yes The Wire is great for the Garashir insanity they are fucking insane in this one and the rituals are intricate but it also is truly such a fantastic Julian episode

[isthereintruthnobeauty1968]

ds9-adjacent poll

[hyperiionvii]

in purgatory's shadow/by inferno's light

[walkingstackofbooks]

"Are you happier? Now that the war is over?"

It had been meant as a serious question, but from the look on Kira's face, she hadn't caught onto that. "What sort of question is that, 'am I happier'?" she asked, laughing a little as she spoke. "Of course I am! Who isn't?"

Shrugging, Julian forced himself to smile back at her. "No, of course," he agreed. "Silly question."

His smile clearly hadn't been convincing: Kira's own smile had faded as she looked at him more closely, her eyebrows creasing into a frown.

"Have I done something to make you think I'm not?" she asked sharply. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"No-- no, nothing like that," Julian said hurriedly. "I mean, obviously Odo's gone now, and Keiko and the Chief, and Worf, and... and the Captain... But that-- That's different, isn't it, I guess. You can be sad and happy at the same time, right?"

He cringed, knowing that he hadn't quite managed to make sense there: years of practice had made him very good at recognising Kira's 'baffled' expression.

"All these years," said Kira, slowly shaking here head, "and I still don't understand you, sometimes. Of course I miss Odo, and the others -- and while we're at it, of course I'm still angry and-- and upset about the things that happened during the war..." She made a face, banging her fist lightly against the table. "Damn you, you know I'm no good with feelings, that's... there's a lot more there, besides," she added. "And I'm sure as hell not going into that right now...

"But if you're asking whether I'd rather be here, now, living without the threat of the Dominion or the Cardassians, knowing my friends are alive and safe -- and if they're not, at least being able to mourn them in peace, not having to make decisions that could get us all killed if it goes even slightly wrong... or if I'd rather be back there, in the war -- well. It's no contest, is it?"

"In theory, no, of course--"

"In theory?" Kira asked incredulously. "Julian, are you saying you were happier in the war?"

"No!" he exclaimed: that hadn't been what he'd meant at all. "The war was-- it was... Well, you couldn't be happy during the war, could you? Everything was too awful, it was impossible."

"A lot of the time, yeah," Kira said softly. "And that's gonna stick with us for a long time -- but they're only memories, now. We made it."

"We did," Julian said quietly, his eyes fixed on the table. "I just... I thought I'd be happier, I guess. Now that it's all over."

Kira reached forward, brushing her hand over his. "That's what this is all about?" she asked. "You aren't happy?"

"I never said I'm not," Julian objected hotly, looking back up at her -- but a sigh slipped out of him as he realised he didn't actually have an argument, and he shook his head, slumping back into his chair. Kira watched him, not saying anything.

"No, you're right," he admitted, pulling his arms across himself, almost too tight. "I know I'm supposed to be-- I know, after everything, it's so stupid... But, Nerys, I don't-- I don't think I am?"

Stopping to swallow the lump that had risen in his throat, he noticed he eyes had grown wet, which for some reason made him chuckle. "Isn't that silly?" he asked, leaning forward again. "We won the war, but I'm still not happy."

"No, Julian," Kira replied slowly. "I don't think that's silly at all. It's just... It's just very, very sad." She took a breath, reaching out to hold both his hands this time. "I'm sorry," she continued. "I didn't know."

"It's not your fault," he said, squeezing her hands tightly. "For a while, I just thought everyone else was pretending, too, so I just went along with it... And then I started to realise that no, you were all actually at least a little bit okay, and so I had to keep pretending, because happiness is so fragile and I didn't, you know, want to make anyone else feel bad just because I..."

He trailed off, shrugging a little. "I don't know, Nerys. I guess I just wanted to check that it wasn't just me, but it is just me, and now I've told you, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad--"

"Julian, no," Kira interrupted. "Thank you for sharing this with me -- I'm glad you told me, okay?"

Ears growing hot, Julian ducked his head, not quite sure to do with the wave of emotion spilling over him. Now that he'd told her some of it, he kind of wanted to let everything out. Distractedly, he started tracing patterns on her hands, pushing into them with increasing intensity.

"It's just-- I'm just..." He stumbled over his words, struggling to give voice to the one thought that he'd been trying to ignore for months. "What if this is it for me? What if I'm like this forever? It's been years, Nerys--"

To his horror, his voice cracked, and he covered his mouth, trying to hold back the sobs that were threatening to burst out. Hoping that no-one else had noticed, he looked around the replimat; thankfully the other diners seemed more interested in their own conversations than in him and Kira.

"Would you like to go somewhere less public?" Kira asked. Not quite trusting himself to speak, he nodded, and together they left the replimat.

As they walked down the promenade and up to the habitat ring, Kira steered clear of their previous conversation, chatting about the station, her week, her latest grievance with Quark, and Julian was grateful for the respite. But as soon as they were sat down in her quarters, she turned to him with a most serious expression.

"It isn't right, you feeling like that, you know," she said. "I don't have the answers, I don't know how it gets better -- but we both know someone who would. You haven't tried telling Ezri any of this, have you?"

Julian's stomach tightened: Ezri was the last person he wanted to have this particular conversation with. "Oh, yes, because that would go so well," he retorted sarcastically. "Hi Ezri, I love you, but you don't make me happy. Don't worry, it's not you, I'm just unhappy most of the time. Most of the time? Yeah, it gets better when I'm around you, because then I just kind of feel... nothing. What an improvement!"

"Julian..." whispered Kira, but it was all coming out now and Julian couldn't make it stop. He rose from the sofa, starting to pace as he spoke.

"Did you ever make me happy? Maybe, sweetheart, but I'm not even certain of that. I might have been so desperate for anything even resembling happiness that I just deluded myself into thinking I was in love... Do I even love you? Who the fuck knows, Ezri. Is love even real, or did it die in the war along with every-fucking-thing else?"

His voice had risen louder than he'd intended, condemning him with every word it pushed forcefully into the air. He'd made Kira cry, he thought, but he couldn't quite be sure, his vision being clouded by his own mess of tears.

"How could I possibly tell her that?" he asked, sitting back down heavily, his voice dropping to a hollow whisper. "Kira, how the hell do I tell her that?"

"Come here," she said in way of a response, pulling him against her and holding him tightly, so that he could feel her lips move against his hair as she answered him. "I don't know," she was saying, "but you have to, Julian. I can be there with you if you want but, Prophets, Julian, you have to. How could you not?"

How could he not?

Julian closed his eyes and let himself fall apart against his friend, not even bothering to try to answer her. It was terrifying, after all this time, to finally allow someone to see how broken he really was, but he was far, far too tired to keep it in any longer.