#kardassi

[searchingforserendipity25]

julian bashir arrives on cardassia speaking a very mismatch of classical high kardassi. straight up the equivalent of someone speaking like they learned english by reading anything between chaucer and sheakespeare and beowulf.

he's using thee and thou with old-fashioned class-denominating pronouns every which way. he's making grandiloquent statements as per a character in a classical cyclical epic. an expected shipment of red leaf tea is late and he recites the final tragic act of the neverending sacrifice like it's a normal oh shucks kinda thing.

no one can tell if he's messing with them or not. no one in his team wants to tell upper management or be the one to point out the guy in charge of their local federation relief aid chapter attends his patients with the traditional phrases for offering succor in ancient hebitian poetry.

does it count as dissident ancient hebitian poetry these days? no one wants to venture a guess.

for one thing, this is their weird federation aid doctor and at least he's already properly trained in cultural norms, more or less, even if he does eat rudely fast and he does keep comparing a well-done surgery to the blooming structure of the kanar bush rather floridly.

for another, his husband's in charge of the local textile warehouse and you don't want to get on the bad side of someone who is in charge of clothing the whole district and wields a pair of scissors like he does.

[amultitideofdrops]

Random AU because I love alternate character origins/childhood.

Julian grew up on Cardassia, as a ward/totally not adopted child of Kelas Parmak. Let's just say that Cardassia attacked his family's passenger ship on the way back from adigeon prime or something, with Julian being a lone survivor. Tain suspects the reason why the Bashir's took their child to the planet so gets his personal doctor to check the kid- out the secrets of true genetic enhancement are too good an opportunity for the head of the Obsidian Order to pass up.

And soft hearted Kelas obviously gets attached to this soft skinned child way too quickly, and Julian whose brain is overwhelming him and doesn't understand what happened to his parents, is equally quick to cling right back. Kelas dutifully reports back that he's just a normal child, and it was likely one of his deceased parents who was augmented. When Tain decides it's best to get rid of the last bit of evidence of their unwarranted attack on a civilian ship, Kelas manages to convince him to let the doctor keep the child.

(So Tain gets some extra bonus leverage over the person he has to show weakness around, quite a win in his opinion.)

Kelas doesn't know how to interact with children, let alone a human one. So he just tries to be kind and involve Julian in all the things that interest him. Which is just what the newly genius child needs. The two bond easily, though Kelas always has to maintain the facade of this being more a mentor relationship than anything. Keeping a distance around the few Cardassian's who ever see the child. He's taken aback each time Julian gets clingy, wrapping his arms around Kelas' waist and holding on like a barnacle, or small hands gripping near possessively into his.

Julian's nearly as lonely as Kelas is on Cardassia, but they have each other.

He goes once a month to Tain's office, at first just accompanying Kelas on his check ups, but as he gets older Tain asks he makes his own visit, and they play Kotra and Kal-Toj and near a new game every week which he always wins. He tests Julian's Kardassi, and then teaches him Romulan and Vulcan, just to keep his mind sharp he says. He presses large volumes to his hands each week and asks his opinion the next one. Kelas sees Tain's knowing smile as he sees the human off at the end of each visit and despairs.

Of course Kelas still dissents. Of course he stills gets caught. And 15 year old Julian shouts and screams and fights like a vole when they come to arrest Kelas.

Garak's interrogation with the doctor goes even quicker here, unbeknownst to him that the dead stare of his eyes are promising retribution against someone else entirely.

Kelas goes to the labour camp. And Julian, after Tain is overruled by Central Command, is sent home to Earth in a hostage exchange with the Federation.

Julian gets debriefed and counselled to shit, before living with a foster family up until he applies to Starfleet Academy because he never forgot.

(He briefly considered going into Intelligence rather than medicine, as a quicker way to find out what he needed, but if he finds Kelas again he's going to take after him, not the man who locked him away)

Cue the start of DS9- which Julian couldn't apply for fast enough. His superiors are aware of his Cardassian knowledge, but not how he got it, and everyone's just generally thankful they have someone who can deal with the systems and any diplomats that come by.

And how useful for Julian, that the protege of Tain is exiled on the same station, so full of secrets and so willing to approach Julian straight away.

All this to say Julian hatches a plot to honey trap Garak and get information on where Kelas was sent to and how to free him. It's a brilliant plan really, and no his feelings aren't confused on the matter. He's staying up days to help Garak detox from the Wire because the man isn't going to die from hating the cold too much dammit. If he's enjoying the book club discussions it's because it reminds him of the same titles he discussed with Kelas. If he's entranced by the movement of grey hands, he's probably just remembering the blood on them.

Julian eventually plays his hand sometime prior to Improbable Cause, and Garak is both scared and horny, and mostly confused because my dear doctor, what makes you think I'd know where he went?

Idk how this goes for the rest of the middle, but there's some awkwardness in the dominion camp, even more awkwardness between the two trying to reconcile their feelings and their past, and of course post season Cardassia sees Julian and Kelas reunite.

And then the worst meet the parents dinner you can imagine happens.

[catboyelimgarak]

I wonder if Andy ever told of how he got some of his Cardassian Lore ideas like the blind moon thing and how he came up with the Kardassi term of Sleg for an animal and stuff like that.

[superblystrangephantom]

nothing prepared me for human!dukat

i am haunted

[uglysockperson]

Ok he is decidedly sweet.

Quark and his cardassian bf. Can i get a vote is he sweet or sour idk if i wanna make this the one that got away or angsty old flame.

[kraftykelpie]

Ziyal, my sweet summer child, oh how i wish she'd been given the opportunity to live out what was left of her teen years on DS9 by having fun and making friends.

And maybe not, idk, aged up to be in a very one-sided romance with the clearly gay former assassin tailor.

Could've been friends with Jake and Nog, and bonding with them! Jake could share his writings with Ziyal, she'd share her drawings with him, Nog could talk about his experience being different and struggling to fit in at the academy and-

I'm in constant pain. Anyhow, fuck Rick Berman.

Enjoy my sketch of Ziyal!

She's twirling in a dress she helped Garak design. It combines Kardassi and Bajoran fashions. And she gets short hair because I do what I want.

[peppernickel]

Language is so neat and I’m such a sucker for fics that have Julian learning Kardassi while on the station or Julian being the only one to correctly pronounce Garak’s name or, god forbid, Garak learning ARABIC-

[pollyna]

Julian and Miles bet on something stupid, like the number of shots they can drink before they can't spell their names anymore, and Julian loses it and he has to pay with a "punishment". Julian is drunk as hell but Miles is no better so he decides that Julian has to do a tattoo. A stupid small one, nothing serious like a flower or a kitten! Julian laughs for all the period he's being tattooed and Miles takes photo of the process.

The next morning, once the hungover is cured they discover that Julian doesn't have a kitten or a flower tattooed on his hip but something in karadassi and neither of them knows what it means.

It's Dukat, of all the people in the galaxy it has to be Dukat, that solve the mystery with an oh and something the ut doesn't translate but they all get, in a way or another. You got the name of that traitor on your skin! He has Garak's name on his skin. Oh. He has Elim tattoed, in kardassi, on his hip.

It takes the better part of the day to solve the- almost- diplomatic accident and, in the exact moment Julian's shift is over, he's already running for his life and he doesn't even ears Odo screaming because he is running on the Promenade. He runs and he's still running when he sees Garak and he doesn't stop running until he's jumping on Garak, in front of everyone who is still around, and bubbling about being drunk, stupid bets and a kardassi tattoo on his hip and honestly he could be still bubbling if Garak didn't kiss him once, twice and a third time.

Years later, it's Julian name on Garak's shoulder and, to Julian, that's a biggest declaration of love and intent Elim could ever give him.

[searchingforserendipity25]

hypothesis of care

afterwards, julian washes garak's hair.

standard procedure, after brain surgery. most saurian bodies tend to be too fragile for sonic washing after being operated upon, and he doesn't know enough about cardassian anatomy to be sure, only to avoid any shifts in body temperatur.

warm water, nearly scalding. there are clusters of blood where garak had pulled strands by the root in his agony on the third day of in internment, older spots and crusts, from different fits of pain - some scarring, where his claws had dug and pulled.

he doesn't heal any of it. garak had resisted medication and care and sedation and pain relief as much as he could stand, every step of the way; he wouldn't appreciate it.

he leaves it be, the same way he leaves a small, fine scar, though it would be the easiest thing in the world to pass the dermal regenerator over the line where he cut upon his friend's skull.

if garak wants to remove it later, he can - well, he may not be able to ask for it, but julian is fairly certain he has a regenerator of his own hidden away. he won't take the choice from him. he wouldn't have, even if he hadn't met enabran tain.

he didn't need to be an expert in cardassian physiognomy to note the similar width of the aural ridges, the same tilt of the chin when speaking in mockery. and the mannerisms, the grooming-tells, the affable malice.

garak wore it better, julian had thought at once, a sharp proprietary surge in the part of him that was not noting his odds of success, odds of survival, noting the vile pride and disdain tain held for garak, as a master to a favored slave fallen to disfavor.

he has rarely hated a person more, with such a clean and potent loathing. it is always easier to hate other people's cruel fathers.

julian bashir could talk anyone's ears off on biology and tennis and medicine, and often did; it could be very convenient, being remembered for that, and not much else.

months and years tending to mostly bajoran patients, working with mostly bajoran professionals most days. he had lunch with the only cardassian on the station once, twice a week, visited him, oh, an unsuspicious amount of times in his shop.

pity wouldn't be tolerated. it wasn't generally; no one wanted that from a federaji doctor. the truth of the matter was that the rot was dug deep, too depth to unroot.

the truth of the thing is that he read the old kardassi classics, and he could see the beauty, the shadow, the shadow of the idea that had once been cardassia, before it sickened to a rot that made sons into owned claims and all the wide sky's horizon too.

garak's medical readings had suffered, in his absence, a little worse than he had expected. not for any lack in the care given by nurse jabara, as much by what julian hypothesizes is a - an awareness of skinship, to some degree.

first, a careful rinsing, then a sterilization soap. careful, careful. he wore no gloves, didn't trust the material not to snag.

garak's hair is much thicker than it seems, not feather-like at all but thick and slick and only slightly more malleable when damp.

careful, with care, he pressed the edge of a soft cloth to the sides of his face to catch the last dampness, and pulled up a thick blanket, folded beneath his chin.

his shallow breathing gains a new ease and a new dimension, not quite a humming sound. even his vital signs improve by small increments, as julian goes about his ministrations - most species do benefit of some baseline level of touch, some level of trust.

now that julian has given him a forgiving grasp, it may be instinct to seek it out again. he doesn't doubt garak will seek to stifle it ruthlessly, when he's awake.

but for now, julian contents himself with a prickling pride, a pet hypothesis proven correct. sits himself down by the familiar bedside chair. close enough to leave a hand near the blanket, not quite touching, only giving heat. that will be a choice, too, though he's not holding his breath on that account.

he doesn't need to, to have lunch with him twice or thrice a week, a smug and sanctimonious and provoking presence across their small feasting table.

'alright,' doctor bashir says, peering down at his tablet left waiting in the same place it had been, before his brief sojourn.

an eye and two ears attentive to every reading animating his medical machines, but not unduly alarmed. the end of the vigil, and there is no reason to believe it would last longer than this night.

'where were we? i can't even tell with these repetitive pieces. alright, so it's the fifth generation of the bedrin family, and shockingly, not a one of them has yet sacrificed their loves and aspirations for the state, they'll get there eventually but i have a good feeling at least one of these witty cousins from lakar will be subversive about it -"

julian doesn't move away, doesn't press, doesn't impose. garak turns towards the warmth. even in sleep, he does that.

[shidoburrito]

To anyone who is like "there's no mermaid in this", I ask you to go and watch the wonderful 1984 movie "Splash".  Now come with me on this "Splash"-inspired AU: So Bashir is found wandering around Cardassia naked as a jaybird with no memories and doesn't seem to know how to talk. All he knows is how to write the name "Elim" in Kardassi. They contact all the local Elim's and one Elim Garak, Castellan of Cardassia, comes to pick up this mysterious, human stranger (modestly clothed in a borrowed souvenir tunic that says I <3 Cardassia on it). He takes this human back to his apartment, charmed by the child-like wonder he has with everything: 'Cast screens, replicators, a kotra board, etc.

How does this tie in to Mermay? Well Julian's augmentations have made it so anytime he's submerged in water, he turns into a merman! Perhaps he escaped the hospital during these augmentations and somehow made it to Cardassia? Medically-induced amnesia? Just go with it! I totally want to do Julian learning Kardassi in a Cardassian department store next, watching the 'casts or something! Hopefully I can crank out more comics for this before life happens or my creativity decides to shrivel up again.

[vortahoney]

i dont rlly know what questions to ask but uhmmm idk tell me something neat about some of ur characters <3 if one of my characters (assuming you know them) and one of your characters met who would get along and who wouldnt :]

Okay so I’ve been thinking about this and I think that the majority of the spider people would be huge fans of your Cardassian jazz band. I got sleep deprived and decided that their main source of food (some giant ass flies) sounds something like trumpets and Cardassian music was already super popular on Hysa anyway bc I headcanon that Kardassi is a click and hiss based language (very similar to Hysari).

I think Nah’Lei would really get along with Dren Aillel because they both have times where they black out and commit violence about it.

As for neat stuff...

Lierza Xed (the Scottish Katrian) is afraid of the warp core. Her quarters are very close to it and she hides under the covers if it ever makes noise.

Nah’Lei had never met a Cardassian before moving to ds9 and constantly bugged Garak about speaking Kardassi at her so she could learn it.

The Vorta Revolutionary is VERY bad at negotiating, but they are very good at making people feel comfortable around them. They are also good at punching and kicking and biting.

The Jem’Hadar Revolutionary, in contrast, is pretty damn good at negotiating, and is a hopeless romantic.

Gosha is a total nerd for opera and musical theater from all over the universe (her favorite Earth musical is Waitress, she relates to Dawn)

The most common interspecies relationship in my little fan universe is a Klingon + a Hysari. Klingons generally like the venom and Hysarai are a fan of the ridges.

Thank you for your time!

[catboyelimgarak]

Trying to use the English to Kardassi pdf to make a new pet-man for Elim to use for Julian and the word I want isn’t made yet but more importantly. I don’t know English grammar 😭 like damn don’t come at me if it’s funny

[met-photos]

Wady Kardassy, Nubia by Francis Frith, Metropolitan Museum of Art: Photography

David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1966 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/271097

[unicorn-and-bluebells]

I just took the funniest fucken pictures of myself in my Bajoran makeup test and if it weren't for my love of privacy I'd drop em on y'all right fucking now

I might draw some pictures based on em tho

Needless to say. The first picture is like pov you're chillin in the replimat having your lunch, Bashir and Garak are sitting at a table nearby. You hear them speaking a little bit of Kardassi (it isn't translating for whatever reason probably bc they're using such obtuse metaphors that it broke the translator idk), but you're not paying much attention. Second picture is Realisation of what they're saying (it is filthy)

Basically what if you're a background character in this fic lol

[soong-type-husband]

just got onto duolingo to learn klingon

itd be cool if they did kardassi too but thats still very baby conlang atm

[cma-prints]

Egypt and Nubia, Volume I: Temple of Wady Kardassy in Nubia, Louis Haghe, 1846, Cleveland Museum of Art: Prints

Size: Sheet: 36.1 x 42.8 cm (14 3/16 x 16 7/8 in.); Image: 25.1 x 34.9 cm (9 7/8 x 13 3/4 in.) Medium: color lithograph

https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.206