Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
Richard Bashir would absolutely loathe Garak and Garak would get the best fucking of his life from Julian about it.
OP WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE THIS IN THE TAGS:
i disagree with the premise bc i think garak can and will play richard like a fiddle and win his approval very quickly but this concept is so fucking funny
Now I’m picturing Richard hanging out in Garak’s shop, all disapproving of this man his son is with because he’s Cardassian, and just a tailor to boot, but wanting to see what’s so great about him. Garak is in full impress mode, being super nice, telling some tall tales about Julian (most of them even true) to subtly rub in the fact he knows what’s going on in Julian’s life while Richard doesn’t, and in walks Martok.
And Garak’s like “Ah, General Martok, or should I say Chancellor now?”
And Martok kinda grimaces, grumbles about all the paperwork, and the two have a happy quick catch up while Richard watches in awe.
Then Richard gets introduced to Martok, Martok says his son is very brave and makes a reference about being in prison together, which Richard doesn’t know about, then turns to Garak and says they only got out of that prison because of Garak’s bravery.
And Richard is standing there like, but aren’t you just a tailor? And Garak is like “Oh yes, I’m a plain and simple tailor.”
Martok laughs, and says goodbye and leaves, and Garak just doesn’t elaborate about anything said.
Years down the track, Julian and Garak are married, and Richard asks when they’re going to meet Garak’s parents.
And Garak just casually drops that his father died in a prison camp, and the only reason he got to say goodbye is because Julian looked after him so well. And again refuses to elaborate.
what is the opposite of a blorbo. like a character you hate so fucking much for no reason really you just cannot stand them and seeing them triggers rage. you want them dead. what’s the silly goofy word for that
actually yeah. barfo sounds right.
i would like to know everyone’s barfos please tell me
This scene from Firefly of Mal trapping Jayne in the airlock, but it’s Garak with Richard Bashir (maybe Amsha too) and/or Zimmerman. Just bc I think Garak would enjoy torturing them into admitting what awful people they are. And it would be highly satisfying to watch.
my late night thots no one asked for are that richard and amsha bashir truly loved julian and did what they did out of a deeply fearful, anxious love born from living in a technotopia where people who get to do the coolest things have to be super smart and brainy in a very narrowly defined way. furthermore the fact that they wanted to enhance his genes speaks to a deep sense of shame and self-hate within both of them (and we can speculate how this shows up but, for one thing, it’s clear there’s a class difference between amsha and richard and that richard is constantly trying to measure up to his perceived lack and hurting people in the process) that deserves more nuancing in fic, especially when we consider how the “eugenics wars” were concentrated in the global south and therefore most likely impacted the regions richard and amsha hailed from.
and finally, if we factor in richard’s inferiority complex about his class and race and masculinity with amsha’s pained grace and regretful acquiescence we can see why julian dons a mantle of snobbery and hauteur in order to project self-assuredness (like richard) while keenly aware that he’s wrong/imperfect/guilty (like amsha), and how all of that is also tangled up with the shame he feels about not being good enough without his augmentations, while also resenting the fact that his parents both gifted and cursed him with these talents.
tldr; the bashir family story is often contextualized through ableism and parental homo/transphobia but, imho, only fully makes sense with an intersecting racial and class framework. ableism and homophobia can’t be decoupled from race (the history of european race science is the easiest example of how race was long used as a shorthand for intellectual deficiency) and, in the case of these three characters, what we see unfold onscreen is just as much a story of immigrant/model minority transgenerational trauma as it is a story of how ableism and homophobia damages parent/child relationships. richard and amsha are also, in their own way, responding to ableism, is what i’m suggesting. and their love for julian is always shot through with their own self-loathing and anxieties around failing societal expectations.
I would pay actual latinum to watch Amanda Grayson verbally shred Richard Bashir into tiny insignificant pieces
