another day another meme format i steal from twitter to put kira on
do you think after children of time, when the dust settled, odo kept going back to the other odo’s memories of what happened?
do you think he replayed the memory of nerys holding his hands, of her kissing him, over and over in his mind, thinking of this memory that feels like it should be his own but belonged to someone else?
some of the 1 trillion kiras odos and kiraodos in my sketchbook right now. + dax julian 1ea
reading ds9 comic “fools gold” and have collected all the times the artists drew odo in the background. now for your viewing pleasure: tiny odo
star trek fans are like “this says a lot about society” and then show you two grown men in lizard prosthetics fighting
Star Trek TOS: *Stablishes that the touching of hands is incredibly intimate in Vulcan culture akin to fully making out.*
Star Trek TOS: *shows us Spock holding Jim's hand while talking about the importance of his feelings.*
The fandom: *reads it as romantic.*
The writers: oh my god, that's crazy, where did you get that from?
Star Trek DS9: *Stablishes that, in cardassian culture, flirtation is done by arguing and bickering, that is how they show interest in another person.*
Star Trek DS9: *Constantly shows Garak and Bashir arguing and bickering, including a scene where Julian shoots at him and everything.*
The fandom: *reads it as romantic.*
The writers: OH MY GOD, THAT'S CRAZY, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?
One thing that is very important to me about Julian Bashir is that he is genuinely pretty perceptive and emotionally intelligent, more so than he sometimes gets credit for in fandom. And this is especially true after the first season or two, when he matures and develops as a character.
There are numerous moments in which he delivers accurate insights into people’s internal states. In “Defiant,” he recognizes that Kira is lashing out because she’s overworked. In “Life Support,” he reads between the lines in his exchange with Winn and recognizes the underlying insecurity that’s guiding her actions, and calls her on it. In “Nor the Battle to the Strong,” he realizes that there’s more going on with Jake’s mood than just the stress of being in battle, and that something’s bothering Jake that he can’t bring himself to voice. In “The House of Quark,” he understands that the reason Keiko’s upset is that she misses having a career. In “Statistical Probabilities,” he realizes that Sarina has feelings for Jack, and uses that to get through to her. Etc.
Furthermore, he’s good at listening and at managing emotionally high-stakes situations. He talks Miles down from suicide in “Hard Time”; he soothes Jadzia’s nerves about going back to Trill in “Equilibrium”; he listens to Kira when she unpacks her feelings about her father’s death and about watching Ghemor die in “Ties of Blood and Water”; in “The Wire,” he gets Garak to trust him in handing over the switch to turn off the implant, and for the most part maintains his composure even with Garak lashing out while in withdrawal and actively trying to get a rise out of him. In all of those situations, he’s pretty calm and measured in his approach, and he knows what to say to these people to get through to them.
Yes, he also has trouble navigating certain social interactions. He has interpersonal habits that grate on people, particularly his mile-a-minute infodumps. And sometimes he’s too absorbed in his own stuff to pick up on the subtext of what’s happening around him - for example, the (hilarious) exchange in “His Way” when Jadzia alludes to the situation with Kira and Odo and he has literally no idea what she’s talking about. But he is capable of quieting down and going into serious mode and listening when the situation calls for it. And when he’s focused on a person or situation, he is good at putting the pieces together and intuiting what’s going on. When he doesn’t do that, and instead rushes to conclusions about what someone else feels or wants - as in the situation with Sarina, or when Ezri’s trying to confess her feelings to him and he assumes she wants to get back together with Worf - it’s often willful obliviousness borne out of emotionally self-protective impulses.
watching ds9 is great for many reasons, not least because sometimes i set my netflix to subtitles in my language when watching it with my family.
and as ever the translators have fascinating formal pronouns opinions. namely:
bashir and garak use the formal address (with the addendum that julian uses the formal-you directly. and garak of course says doctor a lot, which is extra-formal. interestingly, he doesn't always address him by title only! less diffident than it might have been.)
bashir and o'brien use the formal address (works very well with the development of their friendship + vr funny and tongue in cheek, it's great)
odo and kira use the formal address, up to and including during love declarations (as of season 3)
kira and o'brein do NOT use the formal address. baffling choice ngl. i think it's the only case when the ops team is informal w one another. i think the translator ships it guys.
sisko is formal all the time. except with jake i think. actually i can't remember if jake uses the informal w his dad. i'm pretty sure he does.
quark and rom use the informal!! which is quite interesting in terms of characterization. they are brothers!! it does a lot to set the tone.
quark and odo use the formal form in words but not in spirit, it's hilarious.
odo actually uses the formal with everyone.
dax and bashir use the formal.
even dax and sisko use the formal, including in private. this is the one thing i fully disagree with but it does add an interesting layer to their connection.
kira and dax use the formal. i don't even ship it that much but i will be honest, the formal-you is very gay here, as it can be. if you've been there you've been there.
i think kira and vedek bareil used the formal you! which is a normal thing to do with your boyfriend the religious figure i'm sure.
anyway i am choosing to incorporate all of this into my canon. standard has formal and informal addresses, as per my dodgy netflix translation. will update this post as it becomes funny.
I cannot over-emphasize the degree to which ive been preparing my entire life for this moment @jone-slugger