Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
“Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I’m a very good tailor.”
This just strikes me… so much.
Because in some respects, tailoring is on the other end of the spectrum from being a spy.
Rather than serving the powers, Garak now serves the people. He’s not working in the shadows anymore- to sew you have to have light.
And instead of taking things (and people apart), Garak now creates and mends. He no longer bares secrets, he clothes them.
And he is very good at it.
He also seems to have an interest in matchmaking as well, another way to bring people together.
Garak was so willing to go back to Tain- but was it because espionage is his passion, his true self, or was it because he was desperate for approval and going home?
[committed set of individuals- were constantly saying things like “Great job!” and “Stunning” and “Castellan, you are unique!” and had a vexing habit of using slang that made him feel old. Commentators on the ‘casts sometimes muttered phrases like “new Golden Age imminent,” and his popularity was high. And sometimes, sometimes Kelas Parmak said, “That was well done, Elim,” and Garak would smile and be content.]
Yes, we are told she is his housekeeper and it’s implied Mila keeps his secrets and possibly has dispatched a few people or done Obsidian Order dirty work. But that doesn’t mean only one of these things is true.
Is the implication of her being a bad cook and not cleaning the basement that she isn’t a domestic worker? Or is it an indication of both her and Tain’s status? Tain is the head of one if 3 branches of government. His housekeeper is probably the boss of a bunch of other servants- not the one doing the cleaning, the one keeping track of the affairs of the house, hiring and firing servants, maybe personally waiting on his needs and his alone, things like that. A man like that probably has a separate cooking staff. Tolan probably isn’t his head gardener and might not even work for Tain much at all, Tolan is a government contracted worker that takes charge of the upkeep of a specific section of Kardasi'or, including grounds management and sanitation.
Isn’t it more interesting that Garak’s class dynamic is, yes, service class, but specifically the kind of servants privileged enough to be in charge of other servants? To live in close proximity to the man they work for? Is it not a parallel to Garak himself as an Order agent of his background- of and above the people, with more in common than them than many other Order members in some ways but no ability to connect to them? Does it not tie into his early Season 7 breakdown- he is doing something for the good of Cardassia, but must harm other Cardassians to achieve it- how long has that guilt eaten at him? Was it the fact that he was doing it again after years of civilian life and on behalf of the Federation that finally made that break within him? Is it not characteristic of his alienation and how he loves Cardassia but we almost never see him in the show get along with other Cardassians? Its a position that privileges him- he never went hungry except as a punishment, he always had a place to sleep and clean clothes because otherwise it would reflect badly on his parents employer, he literally got into a prestigious school his class would otherwise bar him from- and it also is easily a position of isolation and harm long before he goes to Bamarren. Tain gets access to abuse him because of the positionality of his mother being such a close servant- and if she wasn’t the housekeeper before, Tain would have put her in this position specifically to have access to Garak without it arousing suspicion. Garak himself never questions why Tain is allowed to punish him before he knows the true nature of their relationship. And I’m not even bringing up my favorite subject of Cardassian racial/ethnic politics.
And for personal extrapolation and yes more ASIT stuff; what would it say about Mila’s determination for Garak to submit to his fate if she occupied the role officially as Tain’s servant, but also did the work off the books of handling certain things for the Order? Induction into the Order is explicitly an opportunity for service class people to attain status, power, and wealth. Doing the work of that on top of the legitimately very difficult work of maintaining a household- possibly MULTIPLE HOUSEHOLDS, Tain has three residences mentioned in the show, and not having the opportunity to rise above anything more than a favored servant, for a woman like Mila, is an open wound.
like not ONLY does he accuse o'brien of fucking his boyfriend behind his back he casually suggests the man is a cold blooded murderer in his heart, which is absolutely absurd on its face, but the exact kind of accusation that would deal o'brien the exact right amount of psychic damage
like less than a year ago he almost killed himself because he thought, god, maybe i’m a killer? but he’s sensitive about this even BEFORE that, back in TNG days it eats him up. Garak went for the jugular and Miles is going to think about what he said when he tries to fall asleep at night…
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