#stitch nine

[inkwell-intermission]

haha hey. you should share your droog autism headcanons :]

ALRIGHTY: DROOG AUTISM HEADCANONS.

I've previously stated that my Droog has autism and I will elaborate below. He has sensory issues and sensitivities, difficulty emoting and recognizing his feelings (alexithymia), has difficulty socializing and connecting with others, and a very monotone speech pattern. He is also DEEPLY uncute about it and reacts to difficulties by removing himself from a situation or becoming agitated or aggressive- he has very little interested in adapting or overcoming anything.

There's more to it, but overall, he has "committed to the bit" in a sense. Oh, he doesn't make eye contact? Obviously it's because he doesn't believe you're worth his time to look at or the respect it would imply. He doesn't want to talk to someone? He's too cool to have a conversation- especially about anything outside of a narrow list of interests he's interested in chatting about. Won't eat at a new restaurant? He's a loyal regular at his usual places, and nothing could be better than them, so why bother, it's not because he can't imagine trying new foods that he hasn't already decided he likes, or new people who don't already understand his particular likes and dislikes- He might have to actually explain himself instead of simply knowing he's understood. He only wears very specific clothes and adheres closely to certain fashions? That's simply the best kind of clothes to wear, nothing else!

He has a lot of texture sensitivities that come through in his clothes and the fit of them. His clothing is all tailored a specific way, possibly not even the "best" way to fit him, but the only way he can tolerate. He has very specific requirements for the clothing he wears and the fabric used and he prefers to work with a specific tailor every time who knows exactly what he wants, and has no problems with all his demands and alterations. In this case I do mean Stitch, who does usually get paid, not lavishly, but paid.

He hates bright light, although he isn't unique in this, as a good amount of Dersites find it pretty insufferable. Loud environments can also make him… itchy. There's that joke about the "insert guy doing thing here" "don't worry he's stimming", and that's kind of Droog in a nutshell but with physical violence. Break something, hit someone, destroy property, whatever it is he can do. He likes bludgeoning best in hand-to-hand combat, compared to Slick's preference for blades- although his hitcher does fine as well. Droog simply doesn't want to bother with a knife or that kind of finesse- he just wants to beat someone as badly as possible as hard as possible until he feels better, and he does.

He's pretty sensitive to certain things including dust and other particles in the air and on surfaces and takes cleaning very seriously. He's a very lazy person who doesn't buy into the idea of doing things for others much of the time, so he won't clean anything he doesn't use or touch. He has a schedule for dry cleanings, laundry, dusting, and other things, and keeps to it out of habit. He despises spontaneity and earnestly plans out his day in advance, and may take any distractions from that plan badly and violently. Although he always has time to shirk paperwork or ignore something only half-important that Slick is trying to tell him.

Droog is capable of cooking, but rarely does, because he doesn't like to cook for anyone else, and is specific enough with instructions and recipes that it gets on everyone else's nerves to watch. At least he leaves the counter surfaces clean, even if he won't do the dishes afterwards. He doesn't eat that much, to be honest, compared to what he should be, and not exactly nutritiously. Most of his meals are very heavy, and he doesn't particularly go for vegetables, although he will eat them cooked. Anything crunchy kind of makes him twitchy because the noise draws attention and he doesn't like being seen eating. Or chewing. Or enjoying food. He usually wants his food with meat involved, regardless of the other contents, and is picky about seafood, but eats it. Notably, no crustaceans. But if he gets something caught in his teeth he will literally make Slick pull over so he can step inside somewhere to get it out under penalty of property or personal damages.

He's got very specific special interests- fabrics, men's fashion- women's fashion, although he doesn't talk about it much and doesn't like talking to women particularly (although he doesn't usually talk to anyone if he can help it), he knows too much about alcohol, the process of making alcohol, cigarettes, making your own cigarettes, interior decorating, and firearms. There may be a few others, but he's essentially very into stereotypical masculine things, for the most part.

He hates explaining anything. In a perfect world, everyone around him would simply understand exactly what he wants without needing to make eye contact with him or ask him questions in any way. He's very oriented around himself- yes he is selfish, a bit vain, and somewhat self-obsessed, but those are all far less relevant details- the way he views the world is simply through a very singular lens, and he's leaned into how easy it is for him to dissociate from his empathy and compassion. He hates overwhelming feelings, and if he indulges his emotions to a certain degree they can become overwhelming, and he cannot beat his own feelings to death unfortunately. So he doesn't do that. He keeps it all inside him somewhere buried under a rock and one day he will die and that'll take care of them.

He's a customer service nightmare. If you ask him questions about what he wants its like pulling teeth. But he can ask all the questions he wants. His flat tone makes it really hard to notice when he's asking a question instead of just stating a fact, and he treats both the same way, so he's a pain in the ass to navigate around. His saving grace is that he doesn't care about the temperaments of employees. The product quality is what matters to him- although if the electric lights are too loud in the store he might leave. Or break them.

He exclusively smokes cigarettes and drinks hard liquor and is hard pressed to drink beer or anything fruity, and he's never tried any other kind of recreational or illicit substance. This is a man who has never been high. The most he's ever done is a light trip during exile thanks to accidental mushroom ingestion with the rest of the crew and he didn't like it.

He was the most miserable man alive during exile, I will be very clear. His name was Detached Derelict. He hates sand, and hates wearing wrappings, there are too many places for debris to get in. He couldn't be as lazy as he liked, felt too exposed, had inconsistent access to food and a schedule- overall, it made him very irritable and prone to violent outbursts. Killing things for food was one of the only things that helped him feel any better. If he let himself think about it, he'd probably be thankful about how accommodating the crew was to him, in dealing with his cursing, pickiness and overall downer mood. He always was very fastidious with his hygiene and grooming himself. Also, despite his propensity towards violence and relative comfort in killing other carapacians he is entirely unwilling to engage in cannibalism and would be the most likely to refuse it even as a last resort, preferring to starve, which the other three would likely cave to and partake in- and that's not really a good thing as much as it is simply a hill he would literally die on for non-moral reasons of psychological discomfort and general food preferences!

His connection with Pickle Inspector is somewhat related to both of their autism as well, and he has a really psychosexual intense fixation on PI. Both of them are reclusive, resistant to interpersonal connections have very specific interests that they prioritize over all others, think in very "singular" mindsets through the lens of their own experiences, and are both intelligent and skilled in their own ways. Droog can see that in him and little shades of himself in him. In some ways they have special interests in one another. The biggest difference is that the way Droog's autism manifests and his particular special interests are more acceptable- such as hard liquor and firearms as a man, and he feels unable to dress in a way that isn't presentable, where PI has a harder time keeping up with his own personal hygiene in a way that makes him fit the social standard a bit less. In the end both are autistic and behave in ways that ostracize them from others, outside of their professions. Last think I'll add about him is his contamination-based issues. He hates being sick more than anything and will do almost anything to avoid it. He hates insects, household pests, mold and dirt, anything like that. He's been known to walk around with disinfectant and a lighter in an effort to execute any bugs that get into the hideout or anywhere else he can find. He only tolerates spiders and cobwebs, and it's barely, because of his patron, which is one. He hates to feel dirty or scratched up and will buff scratches out of his shell within hours of getting them. If clothing he wears is sullied with someone else's blood there's a good chance he'll have Stitch make him a new suit from scratch. The blood of anyone he's close to is also tolerated, specifically the Midnight Crew and PI's, but not the Felt or the Inspector's colleagues. To be honest though Stitch is so good at getting leprechaun blood out of clothing at this point it's really hard to tell it was ever there. Overall, a very consistent man. Consistently dressed, consistently irritable and violent, consistently groomed, etc. The picture is pretty clear.

note: Deadeye Detective is also autistic, but tolerates discomfort far better and reacts with less hostility, so much of what applies to Droog applies to him, but pulled back a few notches almost universally. second note: Also it might be more than autism that he has but I only have autism so I'm not speaking outside of that much he just copes with his autism really really intensely. Could be other things too though. would not be surprised

[gillywyrt]

Following up on my last post it occurs to me I've never posted this hoop I did last year! My fave space station 💕

Edit: didn't think I would get so many notes!! This pattern is from the book Star Trek Cross Stitch by John Lohmann ✨ I got my copy from the library!

[cardassi-art]

Home, on Cardassia

This is my love letter to Elim Garak.

[swimmingbabe05]

After starting A stitch in time, it’s crazy to me how buck wild Cardassians are. Like they are psychologically torturing their youth and for what? No wonder all cardassians are like That

[ladyylavenderrr]

I moved to her to hold her, and she didn't resist. She didn't move. She let me put my arms around her and draw her vibrating body to mine. The touch, the feel of her against my body was something I had never expected to experience outside my imagination. For the first time since Bamarren, I wanted to expand my presence, to feel everything that was coming through this moment and joining us. Inexplicably, I had a sudden vision of the Guide, the woman from the meeting.

"This is our secret, Elim," Palandine whispered.

"Yes," I answered. "Our secret." Another one. But it didn't feel like it would poison me.

———

Quick and crappy doodle of our favorite doomed couple. I always imagined Palandine’s hair being half up and half down in this stage of her life to show the conflict she’s going through, one side of her playing the perfect spouse and the other being free with Garak. Something like that

[master-of-the-game]

Young Garak (first missions in the Obsidian Order) sketch.

[yardistard]

Do you remember when Julian had a massive crush on Jadzia so he sent her his old diary in the hopes that she would read it and understand him better?

anyways, let me introduce you to A Stitch in Time, where Garak records his entire life history, laying bare all of his darkest secrets, and sends it to Julian in the hope that he may listen to it and understand him better

[justlemmesignin]

Garak in the doorway of the shed waiting for the Doctor

[one-odd-ood]

One of my greatest cross stitching achievements. If you watch Deep Space Nine, you know what’s up.

@jeffreycombs @jeffreycombseverything @jeffreycombsfanclub @jeffreycombsxiv @deepspaceniners @startrekstuff-blog

[inkwell-intermission]

Are there any crackships/rarepairs you really like?

I'm going to answer this one with rarepairs which I call different than crackships bc rarepairs make more sense but just aren't common, historically I've answered this notably with pi09 and 0207 and I stand by those but I'm going to expand to others

AD13 and AD12 are fun to me in a specific context: Biscuits likes Ace, and has some light Clovers feelings for him, and Eggs consequently carries Diamonds for Ace out of jealousy. Ace is very emotionally. Brickish. Belligerent. Oblivious. And he doesn't pick up on this well, but finds Biscuits more tolerable than Eggs (because Eggs has the egg timer and the egg timer is really annoying), so he's more amenable to hanging out with Biscuits, which makes Eggs jealous. This jealousy is a bit unfounded and silly because Eggs and Biscuits have an untenable amount of charms together that's usually considered unhealthy- ie: more than three- and are definitely not breaking up over Ace. It ends up very soap opera-esque and dramatic while Ace kind of stands there looking confused

Trace and Broad is also an interesting one. They have Horseshoes feelings- Trace finds her pretty good company and skilled at table stickball- y'know. for a bird. I can see them even reaching Horseshoes with benefits, but he finds her elegant and witty and she finds him somewhat charming and accidentally quite earnest and eager to impress.

Final one is Stitch and snowman, who have a Pot o' Gold and some light one sided Stars from Stitch's end. He makes her all the clothes she asks and in exchange he gets the chance to make them and spend time in her presence. He appreciates the opportunity to work off of a figure and fashion like hers, compared to his usual uniforms and nothing else. He finds her admirable and is happy to exist in silence with her, which she appreciates in his professionalism. He is very aware that she is likely far too much woman for him to handle and considers her out of his league in any other charm. (Note: he also has this charm with Droog, whom he does all tailoring for free of charge and only slightly under duress)

[spocks-kaathyra]

Nal in Ming Dynasty hanfu!! just wanted to put my pretty girl in a pretty outfit

closeups below the cut :))

[cardassi-art]

This is a piece I’m super proud of. I love them so much. And with the recent Garashir revelations, lol, I thought now was a great time to share.

They deserve to feel soft and loved. As do we all :3

[1960z]

so I’m listening to a stitch in time

[ladyylavenderrr]

Priorities, people

[rogueyami]

I love how in ASIT, Garak recieves messages from Julian, asking about how he's doing, and Garak is like, you know what, time to tell him my full life story in the form of a "modest chronicle."

And then Julian opens the message, expecting a response, and he just gets a 400 page novel in return.

[master-of-the-game]

Continuing the thread with @elemental-queen-writes about morning Garak. Even in Bamarren days Garak was definitely not a morning person...

reference used