Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. 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.
That scene where garak tries to set odo up on a date is perhaps one of my favorite scenes of him, simply because it’s a side of garak we hadn’t seen before (and odo being the object of that lady’s affections is sweet). here’s friendly Garak, he has actual customers and tries to play matchmaker with his buddies ! And odo has to work his way through a social interaction and think about his feeling!! Dimension! Characters!
I’ve drawn a few creepy twisty Odos before, but I really wanted to explore what it might’ve been like in the show aand I wanted to draw more Odo being twisty. So this little comic sprung out of that!
This was a fun exercise and I learned a lot while putting it together. Like how much I love drawing Quark.
“Ah, I take it you’re here to pick up Mr. Snuffles,” Garak said the moment the Bajoran woman entered his shop.
The woman narrowed her eyes at him and nodded. A little Bajoran girl, about five years old, peeked out from behind her skirt. “Is he ok?” the girl asked, looking cautiously from her mother to Garak and back.
“Well, it was somewhat touch and go at times,” Garak said before the mother could respond, “and he’s been missing you, of course, but I think,” he set the repaired stuffed tubba doll on the counter, “that he is feeling as good as new.”
The girl rushed forward, a big smile plastered across her face. “Mr. Snuffles!” she exclaimed, grabbing the stuffed tubba off the counter.
“Thank you,” her mother said cautiously. She straightened up to her full height and looked him directly in the eyes. “What do I owe you?”
“Not a thing,” Garak said with an easy smile.
The mother stiffened. “You expect me to believe that a Cardassian…?”
“Madam, I don’t expect you to believe anything,” Garak interrupted. “The facts of the matter are that the repair of the stuffed tubba –”
“Mr. Snuffles,” the girl corrected.
“Mr. Snuffles,” Garak amended, “is absolutely free. If you are intent on spending latinum in my shop, however, might I suggest one of these Vitarian wool scarves?” He gestured to a rack of scarves to his left. “Perfect for keeping out the chill.”
“Thank you, but I would prefer to take my business elsewhere,” the Bajoran woman said.
“As you wish, madam,” Garak said, apparently unfazed by the lack of business. He turned his attention to the girl. “Now, you take good care of him, young lady,” he said. “He’s been a brave, little solider throughout his recovery, and I think your mother would prefer that he not have to come back here.”
The girl nodded solemnly before rushing out the door, the stuffed tubba held high over her head. Her mother gave him another critical once-over before following her daughter out the door.
The moment they were gone, Garak slumped onto the counter and pulled out a floppy stuffed sreen. Its fin had been nearly torn off and its back had been split open. “Only five more to go,” he noted wryly as he began fashioning a new fin out of green cloth.
@spocksbeanies
I love these notes! I figured the Bajoran woman didn’t have a lot of latinum to go around and ended up going to Garak’s shop because, being the only Cardassian on a largely Bajoran station, he has to give reduced prices to get any business. She may hate him, but she loves her daughter more, and her daughter loves Mr. Snuffles.
That being said, I love the idea of Garak trading in an underground plushie market with Bajoran children. Of course, he runs it a bit like the Obsidian Order, trading repaired toys for information. However, these are Bajoran kids who have been told over and over not to trust Caradassians so the secrets are largely things like who has the best candy on the station or that a Flaxian trader came aboard this morning with a cool toy that moves and lights up. Garak nods through the secrets with the utmost seriousness and then hands over the toy with the words: “your secret is safe with me.” The Bajoran kids who dare to do this all think he must be the most idiotic Cardassian to ever have left Cardassia since they’ve all “sold” him the same information fifteen times already.
Julian does bring him plushies, largely from younger patients. They have an understanding that Julian brings the toys, Garak fixes them, and neither of them tell the Bajoran parents what happened. If any credit is given, it’s to Julian, who can truthfully admit to being decent with a needle and thread from having gone through medical school. At some point, Odo catches on and starts leaving the damaged plushies that end up in lost and found on the counter in Garak’s shop, then “discovering” them on his next routine inspection. Any child who notices that their stuffed Krelo bear has been repaired when they pick up the toy at lost and found is told that Odo “knows someone” who fixes toys and then is told to go about their business. By the time Garak leaves for Cardassia, he knows the plushies, dolls, and favorite blankets of almost every child on the station and some of his stitching can be found on each and every one.
