ezri dax brings out such knowingness in worf. he is so aware of how he over-relies on the word "honor" around her. she does not let him away with the klingon mythologizing he likes. there's one other person in the galaxy who can play him like this + it’s jean-luc picard.

kai winn and gul dukat in that final arc is just - like how can you have crack pairings when THAT is CANON?

"You tied me up and threatened to kill me."

"There were extenuating circumstances."

- Nog and Garak, 'Rocks and Shoals' (s6ep2)

'empok nor' - a chance to explore o'brien's hostility towards cardassians via garak gone psychotropic-drug-influenced-killer, or two men fighting over their fave boytoy? "why DO you and doctor bashir spend so much time in the holosuites..."

21st Century History (1217 words) by tornyourdress Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Benjamin Sisko, Gabriel Bell Additional Tags: Episode: s03e11-12 Past Tense, 21st Century, Episode Related Summary: The early 21st century: the lead-up to 'Past Tense'. Vignettes from some of the 2024 characters (the cops, the 'residents' of the Sanctuary District).

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, Julian Bashir & Elim Garak Characters: Elim Garak, Julian Bashir Additional Tags: Episode Related, Quark's Bar (Star Trek), POV Second Person, POV Elim Garak, Episode: s05e16 Doctor Bashir I Presume, Post-Episode: s05e16 Doctor Bashir I Presume Summary:

Julian & Garak's first conversation after his genetic enhancements have been discovered.

"Comphet Nog" is not a canonical tag on a03 - YET - but omg he is so very that in 'Life Support'. We see Quark and other "typical" Ferengi men around women throughout the series + they are obnoxious but not the same way Nog is. They're dismissive of women but always clearly attracted. They LEER. Nog is just a jerk. He doesn't know what he's doing, he's trying so hard to act like he does, it is epic teenage bravado.

(He has so clearly never kissed a girl. Meanwhile he's giving advice to Jake, who by this point has had a whole relationship with a hot, smart Dabo girl.)

And then in the very next episode ('Heart of Stone') we find out he's decided to join Starfleet. Because he doesn't want to end up like his father. But he can't be like his uncle, either - he's tried that and it's just got him into trouble with his best friend.

And once Nog is in Starfleet, he stops talking about "females" that way. The most significant exchange he has with a woman his own age is picking a fight with Jake's date ('It’s Only A Paper Moon'), which is to do with his PTSD (but could be read as slashy if you squint, esp as Jake really doesn't seem to get it, which is sad-making). Ezri is young + attractive enough for him to be into (Jake notes she's cute) but there's no trace of that there.

Nog's interest in feee-males is just not there. It's performative. Maybe he's gay, maybe he's ace, maybe he is something more complicated because alien sexuality, but as soon as he realizes it's okay to not be A Typical Ferengi Male, he eases up on it.

(He does ask that q about if the Earth guidebook will give him advice about women, 'Little Green Men', but that too feels like he's performing for other men + he drops it pretty quickly.)

(Anyway I wrote fic)

normal things to say to your lunch buddy

"I want you to take that rod... and eat it." - Garak, 'Improbable Cause'

totally normal way to talk about the local bartender

"I usually make it a point to drop by Quark's three or four times a day at random intervals, just to let him know that I'm thinking about him." - Odo, 'Fascination' (s3)

few things illustrate the magic of the star trek universe of how parents want their kids to be musicians (o'brien) and tennis players (bashir) but it's okay i guess if they end up in their stable vaguely-military jobs

i love that we get these tiny moments (i guess you used to make these creatures your pets? no, we used to eat them!) between kira and dax that really reinforce that kira has been through some serious shit and dax is quite privileged (part of her society's elite) - they are friends and colleagues and probably made out at least once, but even though now they are on a par socially, there's still that class divide that creeps in

(why do i suddenly want a high school AU about these two)

jake sisko teaching nog how to read is an underrated moment of adorable/gay

(in retrospect maybe it is also a damning indictment of what happens when you get a botanist to play schoolteacher)

important to remember that miles o'brien had his own let's-bicker-flirt cardassian

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Jadzia Dax, Ezri Dax Additional Tags: Trills Summary:

At Ezri's zhian'tara, she is most nervous about meeting the most recent former host of the Dax symbiont.