#quark's q

[loquaciousquark]

okay okay okay so the top comment on this reel is living rent free in my brain

they point out that astarion doesn't proposition you unless your approval is a certain level. hes like "oh im so manipulative, im seducing them for protection" but he literally will not sleep with you if he doesn't like you. he likes you but he is just really not getting it. he cannot differentiate liking someone and using someone. he thinks liking someone IS using them, because anyone he ever liked was also a target.

I'm freaking out over this just wanted to share ✌️

Yes, absolutely! I fully believe he's mad with freedom through Act 1; if he doesn't like the PC, I think there's an almost crazed novelty to him turning them down because for the first time in his memory, he doesn't have to do anything else.

And it's not even prompted by the player, he just brings it up on his own! (It's not you, it's me. I have standards.) He doesn't like you, he doesn't want to sleep with you, he doesn't have to sleep with you, and he really, really, really wants you to know it.

I wonder if he's more giddy or more afraid when he says that.

And then on the flip side, if he likes you, he does want to sleep with you. Want, of course, being as loaded a word as possible--but regardless, he likes you, he wants to have sex with you, and his romance literally stalls out and ends if you don't agree.

I don't think it's possible in his mind to separate the one from the other. To be safe requires obedience; his obedience is sex. Landing a target is the only way to stay alive; landing the target is getting the target into his bed.

He likes Tav. He thinks Tav can keep him safe. He must snare Tav in the only way he knows.

(This is also why I personally don't vibe with Tavs that refuse to sleep with him in Act One; I find his arc of growth so much more meaningful when it runs the full course of reverse intimacy. To force him to a more "normal" courtship where the emotions come before the sex seems the fastest way to make him feel completely off-balance and unsafe, especially in those early weeks. Even in Karlach's version of the scene, where the only reason they don't sleep together is that she will literally fry him, is fraught with his sarcasm and disdain.

So Tav, rejecting him not because he'll die but just because they don't want to? I just can't see him taking it well, no matter how excellent or personal their reasons might be. He's too afraid, he's too wounded from two hundred years' compelled torture, and he's far too tied to the idea of sex equaling safety to believe anything else is worth his time.

To undermine that is to contort his character, in my opinion, and while I'm super glad other people enjoy writing it and I hope they continue to have a great time, it's not the version of the character for me.)

[hollis-art]

sparkle sounds

[idol--hands]

[orangexmachina]

addicted to making these

[quarks-pussy]

Love an omnipotent asshole who sucks so bad

[foolpoof]

Star Trek Six Fanarts! Well. 18 Fanarts. I got carried away okay?

Two are suggestions from discords I’m in, and the third one is all my favs! If any of these in particular tickle your fancy, feel free to use it as an icon! Just tag me please!

[gracieanne]

I’m Gracie Anne <3 and I make Star Trek music. This is my Q song that’s just been released. It’s out everywhere now under the name Gracie Anne <3

I hope you like it!

[unreformablemess]

Listen, we’re all born naked in scape and the rest is drag

Lumba walked so the others could run…

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[trekkie-polls]

Ds9 really out there representing this category

[loquaciousquark]

I’ve finally caught up with your DATV streams and I am absolutely delighted to see you have been drawn into Lucanis’ romance arc. You have always been my favorite fandom author, and your fics are consistently on point with characterization and lore accuracy, so I was really hoping you would choose Lucanis. I am eagerly awaiting your future fics with your lovely Rook and their off-screen adventures.

Also: with finally being able to explore Tevinter (somewhat), it had me returning to your Magister Hawke AU and…It remains my favorite of all time. Just wanted to let you know, haha. Thank you for sharing your creative endeavors with the internet! They are keenly treasured.

Yay, I'm so glad! (And again, so very sorry for how long this took!) I'm still laughing that I'm so invested in Lucanis now for how much I really didn't like him on introduction, ahaha. I'm also super invested in his relationship with my Rook, which I didn't expect! Her character concept was something bouncy and bright to play off her Mourn Watch background, and while I liked that well enough, the deeper into the relationship with Lucanis I got, the more fun it became to really lean into that for the contrast. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Hawke & Fenris, though Hawke carries a lot more grief with her (and in her humor) than Rook does.

I do need to find a list of some prompts or something for Rookanis, though! My favorite space to play in for games like this is the post-relationship-establishment-but-before-final-battle era, and they don't...exactly have much time there, ahaha. (I also need to figure out exactly what the course of their relationship is; I don't think that kiss in the end is actually their first one, but I'm not sure! And I don't know where it would actually be, if that's the case.) But there have to be some ideas out there somewhere for me to poach!

(The first fic is away at beta, on that subject—@jadesabre301 will be polishing it up soon!)

Ahh, thank you so much for the kind note on the fic! I'm still really proud of that one, especially the Fenris work, and I'm so glad you're still enjoying it. I was really pleased that VG's Minrathous felt so close to how I'd imagined it (and so close to Kirkwall), and it was really satisfying to see some of the things I'd guessed right! (0 for 2 on magical neon and floating buildings, though. Definitely missed those!)

Thank you so much! <3 <3

[nocturnelullabiez]

Quark & Quilvia

[blobaglob]

Whenever one of my ships is on screen together (usually fighting), I picture myself in the background yelling "FUCK NASTY ABOUT IT!"

[purplespacekitty]

Ramblings on Tora Ziyal

I think it’s well beyond a shame that they killed off Ziyal because I really would have liked to see her Cardassian-Bajoran identity more fleshed out and have her navigate the world beyond her father’s influence. She was starting to do that a bit with Kira and Garak (though I strongly feel that Garak should have been more of a mentor figure than a love interest) and it would have been really cool to see her get to hang out with Jake and Nog and just be a kid for once. It feels way too weird the way they began her character as this traumatized little girl who knew nothing but the brief time of her life she spent with her mother on Bajor and the horrors of the Breen mines and then magically turned her into this saccharine sweet, mostly well-adjusted young woman who loves her tyrant father despite his crimes (and in many ways, is seemingly unaware of them???????). Where was the therapy? Where was the rehabilitation? Where was the jaded child we saw in “Indiscretion”? What if Ziyal had been allowed to channel her anger and pain into learning about Bajor and Cardassia, into healing herself? Her dad basically plucked her out of the Breen mines after years of giving less than a Cardassian vole's asshole about her and then it turns out he originally planned to kill her when he found her? After she prayed for years that he'd come and save her? I'd be pissed.

But also, I wish they'd explored more of why she didn't appear to be all that pissed. We have almost no other context for Ziyal's childhood, certainly not any of what it was like before Dukat sent her and Naprem away. Was it simply exhaustion and desperation that led her to the conclusion that she'd rather die than not be with him once he'd found her? Was there a guise Dukat put up to portray himself as a kind father and mask the tyrant underneath before he sent Naprem and Ziyal away? Or did she even get to see Dukat at all in her early childhood? Did she simply assume he would be a loving father? Is that the image Ziyal clung to for comfort for all those years? Did she cling so tightly she could do little else but believe it?

It feels icky to kind of reduce her existence to Dukat Drama™ the way the show ultimately did with her death. Why didn’t we get to see her experiencing disillusionment about Dukat, who never actually changed for the better when she was still alive and trying to get him to stop being so horrible? Why didn’t we get any Rugal-level anger from her, the hushed-up child of a Bajoran comfort woman and the genocidal former Prefect of Bajor? Because, obviously, Dukat never actually took his fatherhood to her seriously. She tried to imagine him as someone he was not and he predictably chose to inflate his own ego by encouraging her. She wasn't much more to him than a device to garner some twisted idea of sympathy for himself. Ziyal needed more of a chance to break away from relying on Dukat for unconditional love. Because his love, as we know, was not unconditional. In fact, I hesitate to even call it love at all, given how ready he was to manipulate Ziyal, how ready he was to get rid of her. She had unconditional love from Kira, who immediately went to bat for her before she’d even met her when she found out what Dukat planned to do to his own daughter. And I totally believe Garak’s love for Ziyal could have grown into something unconditional, but they ruined it with some weird, out-of-nowhere romance with an uncomfortable age gap and then had her killed off like some tragic, helpless maiden.

DS9 was sort of the only place Ziyal could experience any sort of semblance of real safety in her life, especially considering both Bajoran and Cardassian attitudes towards biracial children. It would have been interesting to explore an arc with her making DS9 her home as a place that is conducive to the cohabitation of many different species and cultures while also wrestling with isolation and ostracization from those who share in the two most pervasively impactful facets of her identity. Maybe the writers wanted to focus on portraying her girlhood and favored it over exploring the complexities of her Cardassian-Bajoran heritage. But honestly, they failed at both. She never got to have a girlhood and she ultimately became more of a plot device than a fully-fledged character. This franchise started off with its most interesting and beloved main character being both Vulcan and human. I know Ziyal is someone else entirely, but they totally could have done more with her than they did.

I would love, love, LOVE to see her engage with different aspects of both Bajoran and Cardassian culture. I wonder if she would develop any kind of spirituality regarding the Prophets. Since Bajorans are widely a spiritual people, it's possible Naprem shared some of her spiritual practices with her daughter. If she did, does Ziyal observe those practices to feel closer to her mother? Does she seek Kira's help in learning more about Bajoran spirituality? Do they connect over the struggles their faith has gotten them through? Would delving deeper into Bajoran spirituality open a gateway to acceptance from other Bajorans? Or would it make them turn their backs on her even more? How does her Cardassian-Bajoran heritage impact the way she interacts with her own spirituality and beliefs? As far as Cardassian culture goes, Garak certainly has an eye for art and I could see her connecting with Professor Natima Lang, Hogue and Rekelen and learning about Cardassia's resistance movements.

Also, multiple Bajoran and Cardassian drinks, confections and meals are shown throughout the series and especially with respect to its main character, DS9 frequently places food in an important cultural, community-building role. As someone whose strongest connection to their own heritage comes from food, I would have loved to see Ziyal engage with both Bajoran and Cardassian culture through food.

Obviously, we were robbed of heaps and heaps of space station shenanigans:

Nog sharing what he learns from Starfleet Academy with Ziyal, Ziyal trying tube grubs and actually liking them.

Ziyal illustrating Jake’s stories into comic books or murals and the two of them creating stuff together and maybe some nerdy pop culture history discussions on the side. I feel like Jake, Nog and Ziyal would totally have weekly movie nights.

Odo looking out for her, giving her advice about handling bullies, the two of them bonding over being generally considered the odd ones out and Ziyal making paintings to add to his quarters.

Kira giving her lots of hugs, teaching her to fight, protecting her from bigots and helping her embrace her Bajoran background, teaching her Bajoran culture. Ziyal stealing clothes from Kira's closet occasionally ("You hardly ever wear anything other than your uniform, anyway! And they fit, see?"). Ziyal sneakily tagging along on Kira and Dax's trips to the holosuites, eventually convincing them to just invite her to them regularly, anyway. She knows how to use her cuteness as a force for good, but more importantly, she knows how to use it as a force for capers and hijinks.

Garak making her clothes, teaching her the art of cunning deceit and helping her embrace her Cardassian background, teaching her Cardassian culture. More hangouts in the holosuites basking on steaming rocks. And the two of them giggling in tasteful mirth at Bashir because he finds Cardassian literature boring.

Gossiping with Bashir and Jadzia, learning to treat wounds and carry a bat’leth, never growing tired of Dax’s many tales of woe, romance and adventure.

Sisko teaching her how to cook and inviting her to play baseball with him and Jake.

Quark occasionally letting her have a drink on the house because she can be more devious than him if she wants to be (“Listen, kid, if you’ll get rid of all this root beer for me, you can have as many free glasses as you want”).

Leeta and Rom being the cool aunt and uncle who buy her all the jumja sticks she wants.

Babysitting Molly and Kirayoshi and learning about plants, science and Earth history from Keiko. I wish Keiko had gotten more screen time - in general, but also of her in her element, studying plants and playing music. It's criminal that we never see Keiko play her clarinet in DS9, so I definitely would love to see the two of them playing music together if Ziyal felt so inclined.

Leaving O’Brien in the dust at darts for reasons he simply cannot fathom.

Listening to Klingon opera with Worf over glasses of prune juice.

Becoming an accidental stowaway on Kasidy’s freighter one day and Kasidy taking her with on missions to Bajor. Kasidy, Keiko and Ziyal hanging out together is a trio dynamic that never happened and definitely should have.

Talking stuff out with Ezri, the two of them commiserating over their respective identity crises.

Dressing up for nights at Vic’s.

Learning about Klingon music from that Klingon chef (I believe his name is Kaga) on the Promenade.

Punching each successive version of Weyoun in the fucking face (maybe even Weyoun 6, accidentally or intentionally, doesn't matter, it would just be funny).

Rebel strategies with Damar (I think he’d come around if he didn’t have it out for her and got over Cardassian bureaucracy), Kira and Garak.

Helping around the house whenever she and Garak visit Mila, long talks with Mila about her Obsidian Order days.

Weekly dinners with everybody.

I want to see her making friends and being supported by all the loving, caring people around her who love her (collectively and individually) more than her actual-piece-of-shit dad. I want her to grapple with the fact that certain people hate the mere existence of her enough to want her dead but also decide to go “hell with it” and fucking live for herself. She deserves to be more than the tragedy that made Dukat finally snap and descend into pure insanity. She deserves to laugh and cry and stomp her feet and dance and shout and sing and love and play and paint to her heart’s content. She deserves to be angry. She deserves to have a childhood, an adolescence, an adulthood and an elderhood. She deserves to live. And maybe to be the perpetrator of a few political assassinations as a treat.

So………....................suffice to say, I have a LOT of thoughts about Ziyal. I love her and I wish the show runners had loved her more, too.

[defconprime]

[fairyfactorymarisa]

who trekking they stars rn?

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k d e e p s p a c e n i n e created by rick berman, michael piller [q-less, s1ep7]

'Three thousand bars of latinum. My final offer.' - kolos

'Three thousand bars.' - quark

'A million.' - q

'A million bars of gold press latinum?' - quark