Austistic, genderfluid, abrosexual, panromantic, 18+ Tumblr punished my previous account for an NSFW doodle of aliens doing the Risian tango.
247 posts
Latest Posts by starfleet-xenobotanist - Page 4
jumping off again about garak and moral convictions - two of the best examples of garaks... questionable morality in the show are broken link and in the pale moonlight. we really see in those episodes the kind of fucked up things he's both willing and capable of doing. what's interesting though is that broken link was a reflexive, panic response that came from him alone. like he hears the voice of the link say that the founders plan to essentially kill all cardassians, then he rushes as soon as he can to the weapons systems, fucks up bypassing the security system, and when he's caught, instead of backing off, he tries to attack worf of all people, like he'd have any hope of winning that fight. on his own, he came up with bad plan and got caught almost immediately.
compare that to itpm where he's working under siskos directives and you can see where he really shines. he anticipates siskos needs, going above and beyond. he prepares for contingencies and gives sisko as much plausible deniability as he can. he murders cleanly and efficiently. when he has sisko holding his leash he's an incredibly effective asset.
Listen to me. Listen very carefully:
They are trying to wear you out.
They are trying to wear you out, and they own most major social media now, along with many major media outlets. The disinformation machine is cranking along. You are going to have to slow the fuck down and read things before you help them wear out other people, too.
So you just saw a post about a real scary bill, hunh? Republicans want to make it a capital offense to pet dogs and repeal The Sky Is Blue Act of 1793, declaring the new official color of the sky to be squant? Damn, that sounds scary.
Let's go look up this fictitious "Make The Sky Squant Again Act" on GovTracker* & on the official legislative tracker on congress.gov!
Well, let's see... GovTracker estimates it has a 1% chance of even getting out of committee and a 0% chance of being enacted, while congress.gov says this bill has 2 cosponsors who have been in the House and combined total of less than a month. The bill doesn't have any actual text, and it was referred to 5 different committees.
That fictitious bill and a hundred others like it are quite literally not worth your time, and more than that, continuing to wring your hands about it and tell other people about the scary scary squant sky bill only does their work for them. It scares people, it makes them spend time and energy on it, and it wears them out. It is a legislative Gish Gallop, meant to throw so many things at people that we can't keep up.
Even calling or messaging your Rep in this case means their staffer has to waste time responding to you and letting you know that Representative Buttzonheads definitely won't support making petting dogs a capital offense, a thing that will never, ever happen regardless.
Staying engaged in this environment is going to require protecting your heart and protecting your energy, yes, but also protecting the energy of others. This is why WWII propaganda posters also included ones taking people to task for spreading panicky rumors and undermining morale.
Do you know why most observant Jews don't eat chicken and dairy together, even though the ban is on red meat and dairy together bc you're not supposed to cook the calf in the milk of its mother?** It's not because we think that chicken might secretly lactate or Just Because. It's because the rabbis decided that if I'm sitting out in public and eating turkey and cheese together, someone might glance at the turkey and mistake it for red meat and think, "oh, well, I know that Spider is a good Jew, there must have been a change, or maybe I can just justify it to myself that if Spider does it, it must be permissible to bend the rules just that much." And I would then be accidentally leading my fellow Jew astray. We are responsible for being even more careful for the sake of others than we are for ourselves.
It's the same principle here. We need to really be careful about the information we are spreading and check things past reading a news site. Is it true? Is it relevant? Is it meaningful? Is the news site one I recognize? Can I find meaningful independent corroboration on another site, which is to say, if I find an article about it on a second site, is it just quoting or rephrasing this site?
Yeah, that is a lot. But that's how we keep them from using us to lead our fellows astray.
*GovTracker is an independent site. They explain their methodology in their About section.
**I cannot say enough how I am not at this time interested in going on a Jewish Side Quest About Dietary Laws on this post. Usually, I love it, but hold off this time, please, y'all. Let's stay on target this once.
hi all :) little video I made cause I wanted to play around with a new animation app.
song - slow life, by of monsters and men
this came to me in a vision
Julian Bashir
Let.them.grow.old.together. 👏
Ref
Headcanon that Cardassian skin wrinkles differently/later in life than Human skin, 'cause it's tougher/thicker. Cue: Garak being super captivated by Julian's face and how it changes. So cute. 🤲🥲
On Cardassia, advanced age is seen as a sign of power and dignity. (Im 22 now!!)
words to live by
Holosuite date night except it turns into a three-hour lecture on the history of the Cardassian spy fiction genre.
Honestly I just wanted to draw Garak in his Our Man Bashir outfit, and Gracie Anne has had them on my mind lately. <3
☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。I believe in you ! we’re getting out of this internment camp no matter what ! .:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆
julian bashir stutters !!!
which yknow he was kinda upset about because he felt so dumb to people. he knew he was intelligent, but he just couldn’t articulate it in a way that other people could understand. he always paused during his sentences, letting his words catch up to his thoughts. tripped over words, tongue going to the next syllable before he even got to the first.
and when people hear those pauses and breaks, it’s like they forget about everything else. screw theoretical hyperbolic geometry applications to worldly development, it wouldn’t fucking matter if he mixed the words up.
but, it does hide him. hides him well. because no matter how smart you are, how enhanced or augmented, it doesn’t matter if you have a stutter.
When Quark and Grilka went to the infirmary, Grilka was perfectly fine while Quark had a compound fracture of the right radius, two fractured ribs, torn ligaments, strained tendons, numerous contusions, bruises and scratches, and when Worf and Jadzia showed up they were both fucked up bad (with Worf maybe a little worse off). When Worf describes Klingon mating rituals in TNG, he describes it like "the woman throws things. The man reads poetry", but clearly when he and Jadzia have sex they're both playing the violent role, but they're doing it in a Klingon way.
What I'm saying is they're having lesbian sex. I've said this before, but they're having lesbian Klingon sex. Jadzia's a little better at Klingon lesbian sex than Worf is, but Worf is still trying.
Another reason I like to write Garak as gentle is I don't think he or Bashir has had a lot of gentleness in their lives.
Part of it is just me projecting my sensory issues onto Bashir, but because of the heavy autism coding you get the feel that Bashir has spent a lot of his life in performance. He doesn't get to have boundaries with his parents. His parents probably wouldn't let him avoid things that trigger sensory issues or physical touch, so he learns that the world is something harsh that he doesn't get to flinch away from and neither do others.
So he spends a lot of his adult life bashing into others boundaries because that's what he's been taught is normal. And they react angrily, rightfully so, but the result is that the only contact Bashir has with people for a long time is them mistreating him and disliking him because of the abuse he's been taught is love. Combine that with all the toxic masculinity you get coming off him, it paints a picture of a man who isn't treated gently. He knuckles down and when human contact is finally given, he takes what's offered desperately.
There are no soft touches for a starving man, no gentle caresses or kind words - just the desperation of a person who wants to feel grounded and human. So I like to give him what he seems to have been denied.
So I had a hysterectomy today (hooray!) and I brought along my stuffed orca, Shamu, as a comfort object. And everyone i interacted with during my pre-op was like "Oh! Who's this?" so I was telling them all about him, how he's been with me since I was 9 and gone on every single vacation and road trip, and they were telling me about their own stuffed buddies (one lady said she still has hers after 40 years!) and all of this while I was signing consent forms and providing a list of the things I'd brought with me, you know, small talk.
So then a nurse comes over and goes "Okay, I've got some stickers I'll put on your things so we know they're yours" and I'm like "OK cool" so she puts a sticker on my coat and stickers on my bags of clothes and then she turns to Shamu and I'm like "oh I guess he gets a sticker too"
But no. She pulls out a hospital bracelet that's an exact copy of mine and slaps it on his tail, like so:
And i was delighted by this, so I took a picture to send to my friends, who were equally delighted, and were cracking me up with their reactions (like so:)
Anyway, they take me back and put me under, and when I awake groggily a few hours later it takes me a minute to get my bearings, so I don't notice Shamu at first. But then I realize he's tucked up next to me in the gurney, so I grab him, and my hand touches gauze.
And I'm like "huh?" so I look at him and I realize
They gave my fucking orca a hysterectomy
He is a tailor, plain and simple
can this be considered an attempt at seduction? a successful attempt?
на столе стоит бутылка
а в бутылке лилия
что ты смотришь на меня
рожа крокодилия
You’ve NEVER considered this VACATION HOTSPOT!
With the news of a supernova threatening the Romulan homeworld, the Romulan Star Empire has started to open up its borders in a way that was previously unthinkable. With the planet’s days numbered, this is a vacation opportunity you don’t want to miss! However, let’s not pretend that a trip behind the neutral zone is now a holiday on Risa. The economy is collapsing in the face of armageddon and Romulans do not let their guard down easily. So we checked out the planet to see what you can expect from a holiday to this grey world.
Where to Stay
We were met planetside by our guides, Caidee and Kyuvok, who followed us everywhere during our stay. We stayed in the only hotel open to non-Romulans, situated in the capital inside a walled compound under heavy guard. Starfleet had told us to expect that our rooms would be bugged but hanging from the ceiling were very obvious surveillance devices that followed us around as we moved. We took this in our stride and began greeting them each morning.
Inside the hotel, we enjoyed a single Romulan restaurant. It was vast, but mostly empty aside from a handful of Starfleet personnel working on evacuation preparations. The restaurant’s single fixed menu (starring a grey-looking soup) got a little repetitive after a week but any visits to restaurants in the city proper were deemed unnecessary. Our guides explained that this restaurant was clearly the best that Romulan cuisine had to offer and mingling with the locals would be distracting to us. They also said that their food demonstrates Romulan ingenuity and self-reliance; they proudly don’t import a single grain and certainly don’t dabble in non-Romulan cuisines.
Tomb to the Glorious Dead
Caidee and Kyuvok ensured we had a full itinerary for our trip, starting with paying homage to the military dead; many of whom we were told died gloriously in battles with the Federation, Klingon Empire and various barbarian worlds. Kyuvok provided us with a bouquet of flowers to leave at the base.
The monument itself is a group of Romulan centurions in 23rd century uniforms carrying an imperial banner. The figures are besieged by rather barbarous and demonic-looking figures I was told represented Federation corruption. It was a little hard to make out the details as the monument is around half a kilometre high and we were viewing it from the base but I’m told the detail on the faces is the most intricate in the galaxy and carved entirely by Reman “volunteers” (note: the guides do not understand the use of air quotes for sarcasm so feel free to use them liberally in conversation).
Imperial Theatre
After that, we saw a play at the Imperial Theatre about how the Romulan Senate bravely defeated the rebel Shinzon and his Federation allies. I queried Caidee on the accuracy of these events but she assured us that Romulans would have a far better understanding of these events considering how oppressed Federation subjects are only fed propaganda by Vulcans.
It was interesting to note that many of the people in the audience looked very similar to each other and moved to clap in perfect synchronicity. Kyuvok dismissed the idea that the seats were padded out with holograms and it merely demonstrated how Romulans were in perfect sync as a single, perfect society.
Caidee offered a recording of the play to take home. I suggested we could trade holonovels; her eyes lit up at our description of Captain Proton. Alas, after a glare from Kyuvok she explained that Romulans have no need for corrupt Federation stories. It’s at this point we realised why we had two guides for such a small group.
The Firefalls
On the third day, we asked Caidee to take us to see the firefalls at Gal Gath'thong. After a loud “debate” with the Tal Shiar officers stationed outside our rooms, Caidee announced gleefully that they’d love to show us. The shuttle had its windows blacked out and seemed to make so many course corrections we could have sworn we’d circled the entire planet before arriving at our destination.
The falls indeed were magnificent, even if we had to view them through a chainlink fence in a small supply compound a kilometre away. We wish we could show you, but all our holo-imagers were confiscated on arrival along with all our communicators. We did however catch a glimpse of someone outside the fence being chased by uniformed officers.
We were told by Caidee, as she hurried us back into the shuttle, that it was a Vulcan spy. Vulcan spies appear to be everywhere in Romulan society and are responsible for everything that goes wrong; Caidee says it’s common knowledge that the supernova is a Vulcan plot against the Romulan people because of their deep-seated jealousy ever since Romulans left Vulcan.
The Tal Shiar Museum
The following day it looked like Caidee had been replaced by a different Romulan, but Kyuvok assured us Caidee was still Caidee and had just changed her hair to one of the alternate state-sanctioned looks. There are 5 haircuts allowed on Romulus and anyone deviating from them is usually suspected of being a Vulcan spy.
That proved to be a suitable segway as Kyuvok and new-hair Caidee decided we should see The Tal Shiar Museum. This exhibition outlined the work the Tal Shiar does to ensure the safety of every Romulan against galactic threats. Displays condemned traitors and spies who the Tal Shiar have executed to keep the people safe, including M’ret, Toreth, Jean-Luc Picard and Spock. We asked Kyuvok about how Picard could have been killed when he made a speech to the Romulan Senate recently. This, apparently, is a Federation lie because Picard was killed by the Tal Shiar in 2365, 2369 and 2379.
Conclusion
Romulus is still fairly closed and sadly we couldn’t talk our guides into a trip to the palatial Senate building or anywhere else exciting. But when they returned our equipment to us as we left we found they had filled our holo-imagers with picturesque landscapes and historic buildings we didn’t even know existed. So they were at least gracious enough to give us a slideshow to share!
We did of course hand all our gear to a Starfleet liaison to remove the tracking software that had been installed.
It may not be Casperia Prime, but it looks like Romulus is only around for a few more years so best book your trip today! After all, the rate at which they put Federation visitors on trial for espionage has dropped 13% in the last year so you're safer than ever.
Remember when Picard kept asking Data follow up questions at dinner because he was trying to cock block Lwaxana and when they cut back Data has opened a PowerPoint presentation.
He was truly living the infodump dream in this episode.
Based on Cardassian views on the medical profession (female dominated) and arguing (whore behavior), I think Dukat should have been scandalized to have an alien twink doctor get snippy with him in order to get a blood screening from him.
"And I find you offensive." Okay, here's my arm, man. Whatever you say, beautiful. But I have a wife.
they should've let the nice lizard guy stay with O'brien and Keiko
Post DS9, Garak does one last spy mission for Cardassia, just doing some reconaissance at some big event where he's expected to retrieve a cache of intel Cardassia has decided it needs.
As he approaches the intelligence cache he becomes aware he's not alone - other agencies are there and closing in on him.
He ends up face to face with Julian and Miles. Miles is there for Starfleet Intelligence, Julian is there against his will for Section 31. They didn't know either of the other two were going to be there too. They're all pointing phasers at each other. Then they're arguing. Then they're bickering. Then they decide "fuck it, in the spirit of co-operation let's share the intel between the Federation and the new Cardassia".
Garak has never been so turned on in his life.
A memory of hope
I just wanna say I am LIVID with Andrew Robinson and Alexander Siddig for this 😤
I'm one of those lesbian who had a yaoi/mlm obsession as a teenager (embarassing, but also both hilarious and validating that this is a whole thing?), and y'know I thought I got over that and could try to be a half-normal person?
Y'know I went into Star Trek fully aware of it's gay communist tendencies, but y'know I thought I'd be safe (I watched Voyager when I was a kid and I'm convinced it's at least 30% why I'm as gay as I am). After re-watching Voyager and watching the Next Generation (I know weird order), I decide to naturally give Deep Space Nine a try.
And then HERE COMES THESE TWO.
I'm on AO3 again.
I made a playlist.
I HATE how obsessed I am with them.
They're so perfect 😭💖
And then Lower Decks (with Andy and Sid of course) basically says "their love transcends the boundaries of space and time."
Obviously congratulations to the OG shippers of this pair.
But I'm still pissed
"Riled Up" - Julian/Garak. Because we all know how the Infirmary scene in "A Time to Stand" ended 😏
DS9 as a show dares to ask the important questions, like for example “would Star Trek still be good if it was set at the food court at the mall??” and the answer to that is “yes, and actually it will somehow be better”
I just watched Civil Defense, in which Garak has some trousers of Bashir's for mending.
Now I'm watching Improbable Cause, 13 episodes later, in which Garak has some trousers of Bashir’s for mending.
Conclusion: Bashir either has a remarkable need for trousers or he's been fabricating excuses to go to Garak's shop.
Or Garak is incredibly slow at mending trousers.
inspired by this post
my sewing machine broke so my glittery-holographic julian bashir racquetball outfit costume is sexier than originally intended
when you just woke up and your bad mean boyfriend is leaving you all alone so he can go to work instead of being your personal hot water bottle :(