#there is no way that quark doesn't find out about that

[mylittleredgirl]

i'm okay with the "quark and bashir have a competitive crush on ezri" subplot of season seven, but i do think it's weak that quark falls in love with ezri because of jadzia when it would be so much funnier if he fell in love with her because he found out her family is rich

[keferon]

Why’d monster hunter brainstorm timetravel to the specific era the story takes place?

Will the others ever see his alt mode?

The reason is the same as in canon - he wanted to save Quark.

Okay, I'll try and keep this short and sweet.

Brainstorm lives in the far future and is happy with Quark, until one day it turns out that Quark has a fatal spark disease that will kill him if nothing is done about it. They of course go to the hospital, but it turns out that only certain types of the disease are treatable and modern science still can't do anything about it.

Long story short, no one knows how to cure Quark's spark.

Brainstorm, as a true scientist and a good conjunx, naturally begins to research the subject himself and stumbles upon some strange information. All the sources, studies and records on the study of this disease go back a long fucking way. All that modern scientists have been doing for the last million years is just improving and refining the method of treatment, which was invented in absolute antiquity.

Brainstorm investigates further.

He discovers, all the original research records belonged to a mech named Perseptor, who amongst many other things was studying sparks. And it's when Brainstorm manages to get his hands on copies of these very original records that he finally realises why no one has been able to take this research any further. The records are very well structured, detailed and accurate, but half of the information is taken out of nowhere. The Perseptor specifies the types of sparks that certain substances affect in certain ways, but nowhere does he mention where he got this information from. He might, for example, write that certain types of sparks tend to develop internal micro-cracks when exposed to certain factors for long periods of time. And Brainstorm, having read that, can only stare blankly into space, because yes, micro-cracks in sparks is something that exists. But even in his time, there's no equipment that can detect them if they're INSIDE. So how the hell did an ancient mech with his primitive tools figure all this out???

His curiosity isn't satisfied. The research just cuts off in the middle, as if the mech that did it just abandoned it or died suddenly.

Brainstorm, like many scientists before him, tries to start his own research based on the information pointed out by Perseptor, but finds himself at the same dead end as all the medicine of his time. He just doesn't have the same mysterious way of collecting data that this...Perseptor had.

And Quark isn't getting any better

Eventually, Brainstorm comes up with a brilliant idea. What if, instead of trying to find a cure, he just (ha! Just.) went back in time and saved the dude who was definitely going to invent the cure but didn't have time? He decides it's genius and creates a time machine.

He goes back in time to find Perseptor and well, he gets a surprise. Turns out the dude who researched spark disease was a spark eater. And also on the verge of starvation, but Brainstorm finds a way to help him, it's all good:) It turns out that all this time, Perseptor didn't have any mysterious equipment to analyse the sparks, he was the equipment himself. In fact, he didn't specify the sources of his findings for the research, because the phrase ‘I figured it out because it tasted different’ sounds incredibly compromising and would have signed Percy's death warrant if his notes had fallen into the wrong hands.

Next, I'm not sure how it would have developed. I think as the story progresses, Perseptor and Brainstorm work together to invent a cure for Quark. And then, if you like to cry, Brainstorm goes back to the future and cures him, and Perseptor stays in the past.

If you want adventure, Brainstorm could take Percy back to the future with him. Quark would be really fucking scared and confused at first, but they'd figure it out quickly and conjunx Percy into their futuristic fluffy pairing. (Also, I have a lot of fun thinking about Brainstorm and Quark showing Percy the advances of future science, and the future world in general.

Also, I think Brainstorm would do a good job of hiding his alt mode while he was in the past, but a couple of times would use it to escape from someone. One time he'd also give Percy a ride, and I know Percy would be incredibly freaked out by the breakneck speed that jets can achieve ahahaha

——

That…wasn’t as short as I wanted…..my inner fic writer took control

[thethirdromana]

There's a question that I think lies at the heart of nearly every character on Deep Space Nine: who am I and where do I belong?

In Star Trek terms it's not a question that's unique to DS9 - TOS asks it of Spock, TNG asks it of Worf and Data, in both cases very effectively. But where DS9 differs is that, with the loveable exception of Miles O'Brien, it's something that every main character grapples with at some point, and usually in depth.

At the start of the series, Sisko thinks he knows who he is (normal human) and where he belongs (Earth, ultimately), but he discovers he's wrong about both of those things.

Bashir hides who he is, and his belonging in Starfleet, the only home he has, is fragile and threatened.

Worf's sense of who he is as a Klingon adopted by human parents is a key theme of TNG; his arc on DS9 is in part about finding a way to belong to both parts of his background.

Kira seems like she has a very strong sense of who she is and where she belongs, but 'Second Skin' throws all that into doubt. (Never mind the part of her identity that is "fighter of Cardassians").

Odo doesn't even know what his species is at the start of DS9. Even by the end of the series, the question of whether he belongs on the station or with the Changelings is an open one.

Jadzia Dax is more certain of who she is and where she belongs, but her nature as a joined Trill inherently raises questions of identity and belonging.

Ezri Dax, unprepared for joining, sometimes has literally no idea who she is when she's first introduced.

Garak knows who he is (a Cardassian) and where he belongs (Cardassia). But you could hardly describe either answer as straightforward.

Quark believes himself to be a traditional Ferengi through-and-through, and desperately tries to cling on to that belief despite all evidence to the contrary.

Nog breaks away from what's expected of him based on who he is, in order to find where he belongs.

Jake does the same, albeit with an easier journey.

Rom believes himself to be of little worth and that with his lack of business sense he could never really belong on Ferenginar, and he learns that he's wrong about both of those things.

The same question even plays out with minor characters - Eddington, Ziyal, Damar, Weyoun 6.

For me, I think this is a significant part of what makes DS9 such a rich series, and what makes its characters so interesting. None of them are static because in almost all cases their identities are actively being challenged and changed as the series goes on. And all of this intersects with DS9's themes of colonialism, migration, and cultural assimilation in fascinating ways.

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

My Favourite Zero Escape universe thing is the way it shows love flourish after the trauma of the various Nonary Games.

In VLR Junpei is visibly hurt that Clover doesn't trust him, even though it's been 45 years. he says himself he didn't expect it to hurt (but it does!) and despite knowing she has no idea who he is she's the one he ends up trusting most with Quark's life

and the inverse of this!Clover not giving much of a damn about Tenmeyouji or Quark untill its the timeline where he tells her his identity and suddenly her entire strategy to the AB game changes. she can't knowingly betray Quark even by association because it would be betraying Junpei and she could NEVER

Junpei in ZTD revealing to Akane that he works with Seven as a detective. that they keep up with Lotus.

Clover in VLR revealing that she and Light turned down SOIS' offer and they only accepted when Seven told them Junpei had gone missing and they needed to find him(!)

Junpei's search for Akane, in ZTD, years later in VLR, he never stops looking

Phi and Sigma's bond in VLR, the timeline where she betrays out of hurt for Sigma betraying her first. so hurt because the trust she felt was so real

Sigmas anguish in the Incinerator choice in ZTD. Phi's rage if you choose to pull the trigger regardless if Sigma dies or not(remeber they don't know what they are to each other yet)

its a small mention but in VLR Clover mentions when she and Light were recruited by Alice they were put in a room with the other 14 kids who were a part of the first Nonary game and it was 'like a reunion, everyone was so happy to see eachother'

just...love persisting through the horror. there are some things you go through with people where you can't help loving them after. The survivors went through hell together and after they would go back to hell to save each other forever

[tyrantisterror]

I think one of the things that gets lost in the big, endless internet conversation about whether or not heroes should kill their villains is the fact that killing villains off robs you of a lot of story-telling potential. The Joker died at the end of his debut story in Batman - imagine what Batman would be if he stayed dead. No Joker in Batman 66, no The Killing Joke which means no Barbara Gordon as Oracle and no The Dark Knight, no Mark Hamill Joker episodes of BTAS (so many of them were based on his comic appearances, after all - the laughing fish is a direct adaptation of a comic), which means no Harley Quinn and no Return of the Joker, on and on it goes.

Like, you can argue the morality of heroes sparing their villains till you turn blue - god knows this site does it at least a thousand times a day - but on a purely pragmatic story-telling level, the minute you kill ANY character, you kill all the story potential they had. And yeah, it's fiction, you can bring them back from the dead if you really need them, but that's a pretty hard story beat to pull off without hurting your story. You don't want to fill your tale with "Somehow, Palpatine has returned" moments.

And you can just make new villains, sure, but again you have a problem with that - a new villain has to establish themselves and has to stand out from who came before, which means you can't go directly to the storylines you could have had with a villain who stuck around AFTER their introduction. A recurring villain is capable of doing things that one-off villains can't.

I'm going to illustrate this with a character from a fandom I'm not even a part of - I never played the Ratchet and Clank series and am only vaguely aware of it, but one day I saw a supercut of scenes starring one of its recurring villains, Dr. Nefarious, on twitter, and I was like "Oh shit, that's the guy who plays Quark on Deep Space Nine, isn't? This guys a hoot, let's see if we can find more clips on youtube." Which brought me to this hefty video here from one of the more recent games in the series.

And, like, as a person who "doesn't even go here," it's obvious this goofy little fucker has a history. His opening scenes have him ranting about how much it sucks to lose repeatedly - a lampshade on the "flaw" of a recurring villain, i.e. that their threat diminishes the more they come back because, by the nature of their role in the story, it means they've suffered a lot of losses. So how cool is it that as this supercut chugs along you can clearly see this is a theme of the game - that this is a story about the virtue of losing, a story that is enriched by having an antagonist who fans of the series know has lost a LOT?

The true antagonist is an alternate version of Dr. Nefarious who's won every fight in his life so far, apparently with little effort, and I love how they differ on a design aspect. They're both technically mad scientists, but notably, Emperor Nefarious, the winner, has a more imposing and "heroic" build, but a smaller brain-dome for his robot brains. Because winning may make him look strong, but if a mad scientist's real power is their mind, well, which Nefarious is really the strong one here then?

Dr. Nefarious gets this juicy arc about realizing the virtue in his repeated failures that corresponds with the heroic characters struggling to find a way to win against a seemingly invincible opponent, as well as contrasts the true villain, Dr. Nefarious's explicit counterpart and foil Emperor Nefarious, who has never once lost and is a total piece of shit for it. Again, not my fandom, I don't go here, not an expert on Ratchet and Clank, but even as a relative stranger to it who's just watching a big supercut, I fucking love this. This is an excellent story.

And it's one you can only tell with a recurring villain. Without Dr. Nefarious, this story works significantly less. You need a villain with a history the audience has seen to really sell this.

Anyway, I made this post because, ironically enough, I saw another tweet talking about how some fans think Dr. Nefarious should have been killed off in his first appearance, and, like... that's just fucking baffling to me, as a person outside this fandom looking in. Recurring villains deserve more love, man, they give us so much.

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

Things I think would happen if Jeeves and Wooster were on DS9

Bertie is the only person on the station who has not yet clocked Garak as a spy. He spends a lot of time in Garak's shop either ordering the gaudiest clothes imaginable or asking Garak to back him up in whatever fashion argument he's having with Jeeves (which Garak is only too happy to do).

Jeeves fantasizes about murdering Garak a thousand times a day. This goddamn lizard man is his white whale. Any attempt to find blackmail material on him takes him down a hundred different rabbit holes leading to dead ends. He's met his match. There are flames. Flames on the side of his face.

He can't even take Garak to task for his garbage opinions on Earth literature because he knows full well how that would be taken.

Garak actually quite likes Jeeves, because game recognizes game and he respects a fellow manipulative bastard when he sees one. However, since he is, at the end of the day, a little shit, he takes great pleasure in dressing Bertie in louder and louder outfits just to watch Jeeves grind his teeth.

(He's also admittedly fond of Bertie, who's too nice and trusting to treat him with the same suspicion and contempt that nearly every other person on the station does. And if Bertie vaguely reminds him of a certain doctor, what of it?)

Quark quickly figures out that Bertie is absurdly easy to scam. Jeeves spends so much time foiling him that he's practically an informal member of the station security team. Odo drops by his table at the replimat every morning to swap Quark-related intel.

Jeeves also won't stop winning at the Dabo table, infuriating Quark even further. There's an ongoing arms race between Quark trying to find excuses to ban Jeeves from the bar and Jeeves finding ways to blackmail Quark into letting him back in.

Jadzia is the first person to notice the weird requited-unrequited thing J&W have going on and finds it endlessly entertaining. She makes a game of chatting to Bertie about Jeeves as if they're already an established couple (I hear it's Valentine's Day on Earth, are you and Jeeves doing anything special? Worf and I had an amazing romantic date last week at that new Bolian place, you should try it!) Her amusement gradually fades into astonishment the longer Bertie doesn't get it.

Jeeves sees Jadzia's increasingly unsubtle encouraging glances and wishes he could incinerate her with his mind.

Worf knows Jeeves does illegal shit in the course of protecting Bertie or extricating him from accidental alien wedding rituals. He knows it. He just can't prove it. And Odo is no help, because Jeeves keeps himself too unobtrusive and is too invaluable to the cause of keeping Quark in check for Odo to want to look into him that closely.

In the absence of hard evidence to pin him down, Worf's relationship with Jeeves remains tersely cordial. He grudgingly supposes that nobody who has such an amazing depth of knowledge about Klingon opera and poetry could be that bad.

You can't let Bertie and Morn in a room together. Once they get going they NEVER shut up.

Part 1.5 Part 2

[simpletailoring]

caveat: all trek is beautiful, this is in no way a better/worse thing

i joke that one of the biggest problems I have with tng characterization is the 'we need to give a character the Bad Opinion' phenomena.

an episode wants to explore a moral quandry through plot, but for that to work, they usually need to Give A Character The Bad Opinion– it's often Geordi, or Riker, or Worf who take a stance that's less generous, more defensive, or just plain wrong-through-misunderstanding. now this does give the episode narrative structure, where the character with the Better Opinion and the Bad Opinion can have interpersonal conflict, and then this can resolve in a nuanced understanding. I get it. it's basic plot construction. but this also gives these Bad Opinion prone characters some wildly uneven characterization over the show's run.

I've been rewatching some ds9 episodes (I only just finished my first watchthrough last month) and I've realized that ds9 avoids this issue by simply having so many more characters who are not good people.

It's weird when they write Geordi being unnecessarily stubborn and easily-annoyed towards Scotty, or Riker being a shouty hard-ass to Barkley– because both of these characters are fundamentally good people who we need to root for. It's weird to see them being complete dickbags above and beyond what seems congruous to their characterization, when the whole point of the show is that the crew of the Enterprise is flawed but fundamentally equipped to carry out their mission.

By contrast, it makes perfect sense that Garak would be the one to try and exterminate the Founders instead of finding an ethical peace. It makes perfect sense for Quark to position himself on the side of whatever benefits his business most, even if it's horrific. None of this feels incongruous with who they are throughout the rest of the show– because their function as characters simply doesn't depend on you rooting for them the way you want to root for tng characters.

just thinking a lot of thoughts about this horrible satellite zoo of freaks and bad people who still deserve community. thinking a lot about how you don't have to be good to have a home.

[ineffablecabbage]

I wish you’d write a fic where… Jadzia finds out about Bashir and Garak’s relationship

Jadzia likes to pride herself on knowing all the station's gossip. She also likes to pride herself on being up to date on being a good friend; she's had enough lifetimes to figure it out, after all.

So she's somewhat miffed to realize that something has slipped her notice, both in the station gossip sector, and as Julian's friend.

In fairness, it had been a busy week. (When wasn't it around here?)

And she's perfectly willing to give Julian the benefit of the doubt that he's also been having a very busy week when he brushes them off, quite rudely on the way to the morning meal.

But then Leeta says, "Oh, poor Dr. Bashir. He's really been in such a mood all week."

And then Kira rolls her eyes. "Going on a week trip with Garak will do that with you, but I wish he'd get over it. Whatever 'it' is."

Leeta grins. "Well, that is the running question at the bar."

Kira snorts derisvely. "If by question you mean illegal gamblilng operation."

Leeta shrugs. "I mean, Quark would like the question to remain up for debate for at least five more days. For maximum… suspense potential."

And then Jadzia realizes that she has missed an entire week's worth of gossip somehow.

A meal and some catchup later, she makes her way to the infirmary. She is able to observe Julian snapping at people and sulking in equal turns for far longer than she normally would have been able to, before she takes pity on him.

"So I'm figuring it was either really great sex, or a grisly murder," she says abruptly. She doesn't say, with Garak, both are probably likely.

She watches his face, and all of her lifetimes knows that admission of guilt. It's not the kind that comes with murder, so she leans back and waits patiently for the story to unfold.

It has been a busy week. But for now, at least, they have some time.

[walkingstackofbooks]

I know this is cursed but. Please rank DS9 characters in order of how Dominant or submissive they’d be during kink scenes? I feel like we could write whole essays analysing what those guys do in bed tbh.

Oh my god, cackling, is this really what you all think of me? :P (Yeah, no, that's fair 🤣)

This was actually so interesting to think about! I was finding it very hard difficult to decide on an order on initial vibes alone, so I wrote up my headcanons for them all first - and a few of them are surprising even to me! Also there are so many switches/not really into it so the middle is really very fuzzy.

1 - Ezri Yeah, definitely a surprise to find her at the top of my list, but I so really think she'd get a kick out of the dom scene (and mostly dislike subbing). She's just got that quiet powerful energy that makes you want to be in her thrall, and being joined and having Jadzia's memories alongisde her own just makes her more confident that she's good at what she does. She wouldn't dom for brats though. (Also partly why she's so nervous at asking Julian out, she doesn't feel she's got a good read on his dom/sub energy...)

2 - Sisko If he was into it, I can only see him as a dom. He made captain because he's good at commanding, and he likes it, and I think that would carry through into the bedroom. But honestly, he probably wouldn't be interested in power play in the first place.

3 - Jadzia She's a great dom for sure, but I think she enjoys exploring new things way too much not to be a switch? Plus, Worf like to think he's a dom, and she's happy to humour him from time to time. More dom than not, though, and she's definitely a brat when she subs.

4 - Worf I've definitely said this before, but Worf thinks he's a dom. He's a Klingon warrior, etc etc etc, "obviously" if anyone's domming, it's him. I don't think he's that good at it, but Jadzia finds it endearing, so it's fine. And I think he likes it when Jadzia takes charge, but he never actually refers to that as "subbing" in his head... Idk, I just don't think he'd be able to relax enough to really let himself be submissive, even though I think he'd enjoy it if he were able to. (I also don't think he's particularly into power play, either, tbh)

5 - Garak Ohh, another difficult one... I think subbing would be really good for him, if he could let his guard down enough for it. And he'd have to be in the right mood to dom - at times, he'd really enjoy it, at others, it would hit too close to home and he'd be holding off a breakdown until whenever his partner left. I think he'd *want* to dom, though, even if he knows it'll trigger him, because he does enjoy breaking the other person down and hurting them. (Not that he'd think of it as "triggering" to himself, of course.)

6 - Odo I really cannot see him being into it. No rating. [Edit: I came back to re-evaluate after writing Kira but no. Even for her, it's really not something he wants to try.] [Edit: Fuck, he would dom for Quark though.]

7 - Miles Again, not sure he'd be into power play for itself, but he enjoys playing his role for a partner who's into it. Keiko, I think is a switch with a slight preference for domming, so he's been a sub more often than not. I think his favourite part of it is giving aftercare when he's been a dom :3 (something something good-cop-Miles-bad-cop-Keiko domming the hell out of a dazed Julian)

8 - Julian Disclaimer - I exclusively read sub!Julian, so I'm biased XD But trying to think about it objectively... I think he's a switch. Like Jadzia, he enjoys exploring new things too much to really stick to one or the other. I do think he'd have hangups over how much he enjoys domming though, what with his secret fear of going bad... And being a sub allows him to relax and not have to think and just relish in all the sensations and I think he'd love being slowly taken apart bit by bit...

9 - Kira Sure, she screams dom at first but I pegged her as a sub a few weeks back and now I've really talked myself into it. I think she could dom, but unlike Sisko, while she's very good at being in command, I don't think she intrinsically enjoys it, and letting someone else be in control would give her the chance to relax. It would take her a while to allow herself to explore it, but once she got there, she'd find a space where she can be soft and gentle and cherished - and hurt, and soothed.

10 - Quark Oh my god he's such a sub, right? Not that he'd ever tell anyone but he LOVES being told what to do and ordered around. In theory he's a brat, but it never lasts for long - he becomes a pliant submissive wreck too quickly. (Okay now I'm considering if Odo would break his definitely not rule for Quark and... Yeah, actually 😅 Why would their dynamic change just because they're having sex?)

[notcisko]

Rewatching "The Adversary" and after this, I genuinely think the Federation should have hired Quark to consult on finding the Changelings. They consult with Odo, who IS a Changeling (albiet not a very good one), but Odo doesn't know SHIT about FINDING Changelings. Quark has been trying to stop Odo from spying on him every day of his life for literal years. He constantly gets crimes and schemes past Odo throughout the shows run, so he MUST have some way of figuring out when he's in the room. Starfleet has a superweapon when it comes to locating spies, all for a couple bars of latinum probably, but they never utilise him. Wasted.

[quasi-normalcy]

Why Deep Space Nine wasn't as popular as the other 90s Star Treks when it aired

So I keep seeing this one kind of conspiratorial text post circulating around which asserts that Deep Space Nine wasn't as popular as the other Star Trek series from the 90s because Rick Berman hated it and deliberately sabotaged it, and also (somehow) marginalized references to it in canon even decades after he stopped having absolutely anything to do with the franchise and just...no. Like, I have no idea how Rick Berman personally felt about Deep Space Nine, but what I do know is that he co-created it and executive produced it and basically ran the entire Star Trek franchise during the 90s, so if he *really* hated what it was doing, he could have just put his foot down and stopped it. Moreover, he didn't marginalize references to Deep Space Nine in canon; Voyager getting into contact with the Alpha Quadrant and learning that the Maquis had been exterminated by the Dominion (something that happened on Deep Space Nine) was one of the very few plot points on that series to have repercussions for more than an episode; First Contact featured the Defiant; both Insurrection and Nemesis have references to the Dominion War. The post is reacting against a problem that doesn't really exist.

But it does raise the question: why *wasn't* Deep Space Nine popular when it aired? And I think that the answer might be difficult for people who weren't alive and conscious during the 1990s to understand, so I'm going to try to lay out the reasons:

Serialization was only just becoming a thing on adult American television: I know that this might sound a bit difficult to believe now, but there was a time when networks really hated serialization and, with context, it's not too hard to understand why. In the 1990s, there was no streaming; there weren't even any DVD sets. Any given episode aired once at a designated time. If you missed that time, then your options were to wait until it was rerun a few weeks later, or again during the summer (and the networks would often air reruns out of order, so good fucking luck with that), or to hope that one of your friends had recorded it on a VHS tape. Otherwise, you just couldn't see it. Even worse than that, networks could arbitrarily pre-empt their own programming. Like, "Oh, you wanted to watch Star Trek? Well a baseball game just went into overtime and it brings in ten times as many viewers. Hopefully you won't find it too jarring if we just begin half an hour into the episode." So you can understand why this would have a knock-on effect on serialised storytelling; if you've missed one episode, and the subsequent stories depend on plot points from the episode, then you're just going to be confused. But even beyond that, if you're not used to serialization as an audience, then you're not going to be on the look-out for context clues. "Oh, that alien just told Quark about something called 'the Dominion'? Oh that sounds important--oh, wait, no, they got to the end of the episode and nothing happened with it. I guess it wasn't important after all."

The Star Trek name: This one seems a bit counterintuitive, because of course the name should be a draw to fans of the other series, but you have to remember that, at the time in question, the franchise consisted only of the original series and movies and the first six and a half seasons of TNG. Now, these differed in several ways, but what they had in common is that they were all about a bunch of moral paragons who flew around in space in shiny starships, having episodic adventures. That was what Star Trek was. And then you got a new series about a bunch of morally compromised characters who sat still in space on a gungy old space station having serialised adventures. It's not the same thing, and so a lot of people who wanted the first thing tuned out (which was, in fact, why Voyager had to be created), whereas a lot of people who wanted the second thing might not have tuned in because they figured it would be the first thing. And this of course brings us to the third reason:

Babylon 5: So stop me if you've heard this one before: it's a serialized drama from the 1990s all about a bunch of humans and aliens having to coexist on a space station as they navigate diplomatic crises and gradually become enmeshed in an elaborate space opera story arc. It features a race of aliens who can be called "highly spiritual", a race of aliens who have recently overthrown a decades-long brutal occupation of their homeworld by a crumbling and overstretched empire, a race of aliens who are often mistaken for gods (and who cultivate this misconception), and a mysterious new threat emerging onto the galactic scene, eventually culminating in a seasons-long war arc. I am of course describing J. Michael Straczynski's science fiction masterpiece Bablyon 5, which he, and a great many of his fans, regarded (and not without reason) as having been ripped off and pre-empted by Paramount in the form of Deep Space Nine. Now, looking at the evidence, I personally think that most of the similarities between these series are a sort of convergent evolution; but, whatever your opinion on the matter, the fact remains that these two fandoms hated each other during the 1990s. And the net effect of this was that a bunch of SF nerds who would probably have really liked DS9 if they had gotten to see it never watched it at all as a matter of principle because as far as they were concerned, its very existence was a corporate ploy to bully an upstart rival out of business.

Anyways, for all of these reasons, it's not remarkable to me that Deep Space Nine never became as popular as TNG and Voyager; and because it wasn't as popular, it makes sense that Paramount would be more circumspect about greenlighting Picard-style sequels or Lower Decks or Prodigy-style spinoffs to it (and indeed, I'm not convinced that all of the writers have even seen it). But I think that it is a testament to just how good DS9 was that it still managed to get the same seven seasons, even if it never drew in the same audience

[loquaciousquark]

quark plays bg3 again [10/?]

I didn't discover until my fourth playthrough that you can return to Last Light after freeing Aylin, and all the people remaining there (including His Majesty) have little lines about a bright light streaking through the sky. Jaheira deferring to Tav's leadership here is a pivotal point in her relationship with adventuring, as well as trying to persuade Ketheric down & realizing that the Prism has become perhaps too important to her.

I love the rapier Wyll gets in the oubliette, and I love puzzles like this brain puzzle so much; I wish there was a way to randomize it and do it over again. This last runthrough I solved it in less than 45 seconds, and I bet I could do it faster if I wasn't limited by camera movement. I do find the minds sequence incredibly disturbing; good job on that, Larian.

The one-two-three punch of actually defeating Myrkul, realizing that her brother is truly not her brother, and discovering that the Emperor both imprisons another for his profit & also thinks nothing of eating criminals' brains marks the final moment Tav is willing to engage with him. From this moment on, she consumes no more tadpoles, and her aim recenters on freeing Orpheus as soon as possible, regardless of the cost to herself.

I love every animal in Rivington. They didn't have to go so hard with those pigeons, but they did, and knowing the lieutenant is voiced by Cazador makes it even more hilarious. Tara is intimidating AF to Tav.

Once again, Tav barely survives Chult. Thanks, Warding Bond ring! However, she gets to have a nice moment with Astarion afterwards at the love test, and even though she hasn't told him to his face that she loves him yet, I think it's an important moment in their relationship. Astarion's face during the "seeing these streets in sunlight" gets me every time, as does Lakrissa admiring Alfira.

Visiting Selune in the tabernacle and visiting Karlach's parents' graves are interesting moments for Tav personally. She spent her adolescence and young adulthood in Twin Songs in the Outer City, where there's a ton of interfaith presence, so seeing all these gods together in one place comfortingly reminds her of that. (Robbing the tabernacle blind also reminds her of that time in a different way.) Karlach's graves, however, poignantly remind Tav that she has no idea where her parents' bodies are. She suspects they were burned with the other fever victims, but doesn't know for sure, and has no idea how to find out.

Patch 7 finally restored spawn!Astarion's dialogue/break-up reaction if you sleep with Mizora. It's very sad and tragic & I had to immediately kiss him once I was done playing through the options. Seeing Petras in the flophouse is nervewracking for everyone, and while Tav backs Astarion's play, she's increasingly fearful of what he'll choose when it comes to Ascension. Oddly, she's not afraid of Cazador at this point, not the way Astarion is; she's more afraid of losing Astarion to something worse than death. She knows people can be brought back from the dead, but if he ascends, she's sure to her bones that she'll lose him in a way that can never be undone.

This fear, and her somewhat-hypocritical driving need to get the power she needs to save herself in hand immediately, she'll deal with the consequences tomorrow, are what lead her to signing the contract with Raphael. Lae'zel needs the hammer now. Orpheus needs to be freed now. Her upbringing has taught her that contractual rewards will always be broken once they have what they need from you; far better to get what you want first, and then fulfill the job. Besides, punishment only promised is punishment that can be avoided, and while she doesn't have any idea what this contractual cage of Raphael's looks like, she's pretty sure she can get herself out of it somehow. Karlach's immediate disapproval bites, as always, but the way everyone rallies around to emphatically promise they'll also help Tav break free is a breakthrough moment for her.

This playthrough, some innocent pickpocketing accidentally somehow got Gale sent to jail. (The guard locked onto him instead of Tav, there was no dialogue option besides "attack," it was a whole thing.) One Galebreak later (and Florrickbreak, since this was hilariously how Tav discovered her in there this run), I finally discovered after six playthroughs that you can get up to the very tippy top of Wyrm's Rock, multiple levels above Gortash's office. Even after 1500 hours in BG3, I'm astounded at how big this game is.

[enigmatist17]

Odo stared.

The small creature on the floor of the Promenade stared back, the collar adorned with the Starfleet insignia around its neck jingling as it shook its head.

"What are you?"

It continues to stare, before letting out a strange noise and sitting on the floor as if in defiance. Scowling, Odo keeps the...thing within view as he taps on his com badge, running through who to contact before deciding on one.

"Odo to Lieutenant Commander Dax."

"Dax here. How can I help?" She replied within a few seconds, something the security chief always respected.

"There is a strange creature on the Promenade that appears to belong to someone in Starfleet. I would appreciate it if you came down here to help me find its errant owner." He can just about picture the amused smile that would have crossed Dax's face by now, the creature seeming unaffected by the chirping of his badge.

"I'll be down right away." Odo remains in place as he waits, the creature starting to lick its side for a purpose he is unsure of without much regard for the environment around it.

"You are very strange."

"Aw, kitty!" Dax gushed when she caught sight of the small creature, kneeling down when she got close enough within reach. "Hey there little guy!"

"What is a...kitty?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise when the creature sat up suddenly, little teeth flashing when Dax reached out to pet it.

"Cat, it's a pet normally found on Earth or some colonies." Dax pouted as she stood, angling to get a look at the collar. "Spot, what a cute name."

"I'll look through recent arrival records; animals have to be logged before they come aboard the station." Odo huffed, watching Dax suddenly reach down and scoop the cat up off the ground, the creature letting out a very displeased noise. "It does not sound very happy."

"I'm not just going to leave them here, so let's make this quick, hm?"

As expected the cat had indeed been logged with a new arrival, a Lieutenant Barclay having arrived in regards to studying the wormhole. His quarters were one lift ride and a twenty-minute walk from the security station, Odo pressing the door controls as Dax tried to get the cat to play nice.

She had been unsuccessful the entire journey.

"H-Hello?" The man who answered the door seemed the most removed Starfleet officer Odo had ever seen, clearly nervous to find two people outside of his door. While every officer Odo had ever met stood tall and had an air of confidence in their position, this Barclay looked sorely out of place as he slightly hunched over, trying to appear much shorter than he was. He and Dax can see two large boards set up against the far wall covered with equations behind him in the room, data pads and electronics scattered all over every available surface, save the bedstand that appeared to hold a small bed for the cat.

"We found your cat, Lieutenant." Dax held Spot up with a slight grin, hazel eyes going wide in alarm. "He was on the Promenade."

"Spot! I-I've been looking all over for you!" Barclay shot the cat a frown, the cat letting out a small purr when it registered the other officer. "Naughty girl."

"She's a gorgeous cat, shame she's not the friendliest thing." Dax held out Spot towards Barclay, who was able to scoop up the cat with no resistance. "Escape artist too it seems."

"S-Spot does like e-exploring." Barclay gave them an embarrassed smile, Spot nestling into his arm with more of the purring noise she had made a moment ago. "Sorry, she's enjoying the space station, w-we haven't been off-planet enough for her liking."

"Please ensure Spot doesn't make her way free again; we don't need injuries to occur to those living at the station." Odo gave a slight nod, the Starfleet officer looking even more embarrassed as he hissed something to Spot the changeling couldn't catch. "I wouldn't want to find Quark serving a limited item on his menu."

"What?!" Barclay held Spot closer in alarm, his shoulders relaxing a fraction of a centimeter when he heard Dax giggle behind the security officer. "T-That's a joke, right?"

"Goodnight, lieutenant." Clasping his hands behind his back, Odo headed off down the hallway with a smirk, as the human and Trill watched him leave.

"I-Is he always like that?" Spot purred as her human began to pet her, staring daggers at Jadzia, who pouted in return.

"That's Odo in a good mood, if anything I think he's just curious about your cat."

"Spot does have that effect on people." Spot purred once more in response, before wriggling free of his arms and dropping down, disappearing into Barclay's quarters.

"Well, you and Spot have a good rest of your night, lieutenant; it was nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Barclay watched the Trill head off for the evening for a few moments before closing the door, turning to look at the cat now curled up on his bed without a care in the world.

"Y-You're such a pest." With a smile, the engineer gives Spot a small scratch before returning to his work, pausing when he's about to pick up a data pad. "Computer, p-please inform me if Spot leaves these quarters."

"Acknowledged."

[in-the-airducts]

Hey guys super wholesome Brainstorm and Chromedome friendship story idea

It starts off after the events of the Overlord arc but sometime before the Brainstorm time-traveling arc. Chromedome is still kind of depressed despite having Rewind 2.0, so he unexpectedly seeks out Brainstorm's company. Brainstorm is almost done with his suitcase. He's obsessively working on it since completion is so near. Thus, he's tired and doesn't take the correct precautions to lock his hab suite door, and Chromedome finds him working on the suitcase. Bewildered, he asks Brainstorm about it. Brainstorm's been caught by his best friend and is a terrible liar (his "eccentric" personality covers most of the mistakes he makes which is the only way he's made it so far), so he tells Chromedome the truth...or at least part of it. He tells Chromedome that he is building a time machine to go back and save Quark. He does NOT tell Chromedome about being a Decepticon or the REAL plan of going back to stop the war, which would also erase Brainstorm's existence. Chromedome asks Brainstorm if they can go back to save the original Rewind. He seems like he's willing to give up Rewind 2.0 for this endeavor.

Brainstorm, feeling guilty that his REAL plan will likely end up in Chromedome and Rewind never meeting, agrees. He says he'll go back to the day that Rewind dies, but he secretly plans to stop the war anyways. This will make the entire Rewind-saving thing a moot point, but it'll give Chromedome some closure at least (and Brainstorm less guilt). Brainstorm finishes the case, and they go back in time. However, the case malfunctions and takes them to the wrong point. Instead of going back to the beginning of the Overlord day, they go back to the place where Overlord's just escaped and Chromedome is still in the time chamber. Brainstorm realizes this and tries to go back to the correct time. However, the case is not responding, and Brainstorm discovers there's been a malfunction. While Brainstorm is trying to fix the malfunction, Chromedome is trying to save Rewind. He fails and watches Rewind die again. Then it starts again. Brainstorm and Chromedome realize they're caught in a time loop that restarts with Rewind's death. All physical conditions are reset. Brainstorm and Chromedome hold only the memories of the time loop. It seems like they have 2 options to stop the loop: they can save Rewind, or they can fix the briefcase. They attempt to save Rewind first. Cue the angst: over and over and over again, Chromedome watches Rewind and the Lost Light crew die. Every loop, his hopes are raised and then crushed, just like Rewind's tiny body. Over and over and over again, Brainstorm also watches Chromedome fall into a cycle of despair. A bunch of things happen during the time loops. The first time Chromedome doesn't immediately try to save Rewind. The first time they realize that even their own deaths (guess how that happens) are reset with the time loops. The first time Chromedome thinks about leaving Rewind. There's a lot of unpleasant first times, despite the time loop.

Chromedome can't take it, so he wipes his memories of the last 2,375,499 loops. He only remembers that he and Brainstorm had time traveled to save Rewind.

Brainstorm is infuriated. Chromedome's left him to suffer under the weight of 2,375,499 loops alone. He barely talks to Chromedome for the next 3,200 loops.

Chromedome is mostly distraught about rewatching Rewind's death, which is a novelty to him since he erased his memories of the previous loops. Thus, he notices Brainstorm's tenseness but attributes it to Overlord's slaughtering of the crew.

After Chromedome wipes his memory, Brainstorm starts working on fixing the briefcase. This is very difficult, as all research is restarted with every time loop. It's impossible to run any long tests. It's also difficult to set up the lab and find the correct components for conducting research as materials always return back their original places at the beginning of each time loop.

In a moment of frustration (it's loop 2,430,567 for Brainstorm, loop 55,068 for Chromedome), Brainstorm tells Chromedome about the memory-wipe. He confesses that he's looking for a new way to stop the time loop that doesn't involve saving Rewind.

This is a breaking point for Chromedome, who wipes his memories the next loop. However, he goes back even FURTHER–to the point BEFORE he learns about the time-traveling and Quark at all. This effectively leaves Brainstorm alone in the time loop, as Chromedome is now unaware like the rest of the Lost Light.

Over the next few million loops it takes to repair the briefcase, Brainstorm has essentially explored the entire ship. In his exploration, he stumbles upon 3 unusual drives. They're Rewind's old drives, but they've been wiped. The first contains ALL of Chromedome's memories from the first 2,375,499 loops. The second contains the memories from loop 2,375,500 to loop 2,430,567. The third contains a message from Chromedome. He expresses his guilt, regret, and apologies for abandoning Brainstorm. At the end of the message, he asks Brainstorm for forgiveness and to make Chromedome download his memories again. Brainstorm realizes that these drives are the only things that can change. Despite the time loop, they haven't reset the information Chromedome put on there. He uses the drives to store research, and progress moves along much faster after that.

Brainstorm doesn't know what to do with the memories left on the drives. He ends up leaving them alone for now.

On loop 2,786,777, Brainstorm fixes the briefcase. Rewind dies and plot happens like normal. Chromedome is devastated, but in a normal way. He's about to erase his memories of Rewind, like canon.

Brainstorm enters the room, seething and hurt. He tells Chromedome that he doesn't deserve ignorance because ignorance is bliss. He's not allowed to forget Rewind after all that had happened. He then tells Chromedome about the time-traveling loops. Chromedome hardly believes him at first. However, his friend is so different and changed that he begins to possibly consider that there may be truth to the story.

Then, Brainstorm offers him a choice. He pulls out the drives and plays the third drive's message. Then, he says that Chromedome can choose to download the his memories from the time loop and suffer in knowledge with him for the rest of his life. Or, he can not look at the loops or delete his memory after looking at the loops. If he does this, Brainstorm will never acknowledge at him again.

At the end of this offer, Brainstorm pulls out a fourth drive, which is Rewind's message. After listening to Rewind's message, Chromedome decides to not delete his memories about Rewind and to take up Brainstorm's offer on downloading the time loop memories.

This ends in crushing depression, but Chromedome finds it within himself to not delete the time loop memories. Brainstorm and Chromedome live out their days in burdened memory, but they do it together. Yay wholesomeness!

[groundzer0s-art]

One of two OC pages I'm working on, and it coincides with my call for RPers on my personal blog.

Keeda, counselor and hobbyist artist. Full desc. below the cut.

Full Name: Keedama zh'Irikras

Shortened Name (If Applicable): None

Nickname: Keeda

Race: Andorian, Aenar

DOB: May 26th,2343 (Stardate 20398.8)

Birthplace: Andoria

Loyalty: Andorian Empire, United Federation of Planets, Starfleet

Rank (If Applicable): Ensign (Starfleet) / Lieutenant (Starfleet, post-2372)

Occupation: Counselor

Hobby: Drawing

Favorite Foods: Andorian ale, Kanar, most sweet or tart fruits

Disliked Foods: Andorian redbat, Gagh, most meats

Favorite Color: Light green

Talents (If Applicable): Knowing whether someone is lying or not, singing

Personality: Proud, compassionate, determined

Biography: Keeda was born to a mixed family, with her grandfather and mother being Andorian while her grandmother was Aenar and father Andorian/Aenar. Due to her Aenar descent, her eyesight is quite limited, but she has mild telepathic abilities. She is able to sense emotions in others and project her own onto others, though she can only do the latter if she is in physical contact with the other person. She cannot read minds, but has figured out how to detect when someone is lying about something. Due to her poor eyesight, she was unable to join the Andorian Imperial Guard, leading to her instead joining Starfleet. While Aenar can make up for their blindness with their antennae, Keeda does not quite have the genetics for the same level of detail. She can see normally at a distance of 2 feet and can generally sense the shapes of things further away, but cannot make out things like color or texture. Her artwork reflects the way she sees the world in odd shapes, leading to her artwork being regarded as some of the finest abstract works done by a Starfleet officer. Keeda is greatly interested in other cultures and found a deep fascination in Bajoran religion while working aboard Deep Space Nine as well as Cardassian culture. She doesn't handle hot weather very well, but can tolerate about the same temperatures the average Human can. Being that she is from a very cold planet, she keeps her personal quarters at a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). During the Dominion occupation of Deep Space Nine, she stayed behind on the station as a spy for Starfleet, her telepathic abilities coming to her aid when gathering intel. Because she was already friends with an employee at Quark's, she was able to find employment as a waitress easily as a cover for her spying. Keeda has participated twice in the Andorian tradition of Ushaan, once because she volunteered in place of her father, and another time because she had unintentionally angered her cousin to the point of her demanding they duel. She won both times. Keeda keeps the same Ushaan-tor she used in both fights, one she has had since childhood, on her person any time she is out of her quarters and not in uniform.

[leohtttbriar]

hiiiii i recently watched ball of fire and the whole time i was thinking about your posts where you say worf/jadzia is like a screwball comedy. i am not a worfzia warrior but i do always love when jadzia is so flirty and cute. i love her sooooo much my beautiful worm wife

oh my gosh yes!! the screwball comedy dynamic that is worfzia is sooo! i just love screwball comedies--i find them more romantic than just about any other genre of romance. the dialogue, the hijinks, the absurdity, the understated affection: it's all there to expose precisely how much two characters are each other's equals in every way that matters.

when i wrote that post, i was thinking a lot about bringing up baby and it happened one night--maybe biggest ones of the genre? lol im so original--and how the story in both ends up being about the girl pursuing the guy single-mindedly, despite their superficial mismatch. colbert jumping into the ocean and sneaking onto a night-bus and flashing her leg to hitchhike after making fun of gable's ""know-how"" is all very flirty and liberated dax--and gable demanding only $39.60 from her father for keeping her safe and then saying "yes i love her but don't hold that against me im a little screwy myself" is Worf. he'd never demand a giant reward--he would demand precisely $39.60.

and hepburn in bringing up baby is so Jadzia Dax: A Menace. and the upright cary grant with all his poorly concealed social anxieties is very Worf: Do Not Tease Me and it works really well!

it's all very dependent on jadzia dax's character who i thought was screwball-comedy perfection even before worf came on the scene (i mean, it was in relation to kiradax but kira is very similar to worf in her character archetype and her normal role in ensemble scenes so i was delighted when worfzia ended up being the way it was). and not to get too into the lit crit regarding dax's flirty cuteness but i think one of the reasons jadzia isn't taken as seriously as she should by fans and critics and whatnot is not only the women-aren't-people bias but also the comedy-isn't-that-deep bias. jadzia is definitely a comic-relief character but she's not funny like quark is funny or worf is funny--she's deliberately wise-cracking and ironic and is even called out a few times for not taking things seriously. but the thing about humor is that it equalizes hierarchies and sets contradictions next to each other and forces serious-genre tropes to collapse under their own weight and exposes the construction of anything we might think natural. and all of that is the point of jadzia dax's character, whether it's a humorous or sincere scene/plot. and also why worfzia works as well as it does--imagine worf with someone who doesn't tease him.

im figuring out now that one of the reasons i love dax so much is also why i prefer austen to most other romance novels---she is teasing. romance is funny. dax is like mr. bennet saying of mr. collins that he think he's ridiculous and that's why he loves the guy: "for what do we live but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?"

anyway sorry for rambling on and on!! the point is: i love love flirty and cute dax too!!!!