Some Fake Screenshots From The Deep Space Nine Dating Sim That Lives In My Brain

One thing that is very important to me about Julian Bashir is that he is genuinely pretty perceptive and emotionally intelligent, more so than he sometimes gets credit for in fandom. And this is especially true after the first season or two, when he matures and develops as a character.

There are numerous moments in which he delivers accurate insights into people’s internal states. In “Defiant,” he recognizes that Kira is lashing out because she’s overworked. In “Life Support,” he reads between the lines in his exchange with Winn and recognizes the underlying insecurity that’s guiding her actions, and calls her on it. In “Nor the Battle to the Strong,” he realizes that there’s more going on with Jake’s mood than just the stress of being in battle, and that something’s bothering Jake that he can’t bring himself to voice. In “The House of Quark,” he understands that the reason Keiko’s upset is that she misses having a career. In “Statistical Probabilities,” he realizes that Sarina has feelings for Jack, and uses that to get through to her. Etc.

Furthermore, he’s good at listening and at managing emotionally high-stakes situations. He talks Miles down from suicide in “Hard Time”; he soothes Jadzia’s nerves about going back to Trill in “Equilibrium”; he listens to Kira when she unpacks her feelings about her father’s death and about watching Ghemor die in “Ties of Blood and Water”; in “The Wire,” he gets Garak to trust him in handing over the switch to turn off the implant, and for the most part maintains his composure even with Garak lashing out while in withdrawal and actively trying to get a rise out of him. In all of those situations, he’s pretty calm and measured in his approach, and he knows what to say to these people to get through to them.

Yes, he also has trouble navigating certain social interactions. He has interpersonal habits that grate on people, particularly his mile-a-minute infodumps. And sometimes he’s too absorbed in his own stuff to pick up on the subtext of what’s happening around him - for example, the (hilarious) exchange in “His Way” when Jadzia alludes to the situation with Kira and Odo and he has literally no idea what she’s talking about. But he is capable of quieting down and going into serious mode and listening when the situation calls for it. And when he’s focused on a person or situation, he is good at putting the pieces together and intuiting what’s going on. When he doesn’t do that, and instead rushes to conclusions about what someone else feels or wants - as in the situation with Sarina, or when Ezri’s trying to confess her feelings to him and he assumes she wants to get back together with Worf - it’s often willful obliviousness borne out of emotionally self-protective impulses.

Absolutely transcendent move from Star Trek to write a shapeshifter character who's kind of bad at it. You're like, "oh so he can impersonate other characters?" and they're like no he's not very good at faces :(

I wanted to do more of these but didn’t have much time for doodlin’ today! 

ODO OH MY GOD GET IT TOGETHER

just wanted to see him on his knees, really. funny how i can just draw anything and nobody can stop me

no six sentence sunday from me today

had a bad stomach-flu like reaction to some new medication I was taking and am currently watching DS9 while in a brain fog and having feelings about how Lwaxana Troi uses romantic overtures to avoid true intimacy or vulnerability with others and how Kira is such an amazing character whose growth over even just season one is impressive to watch. And remembering how much I enjoy hating Dukat. Honestly he's such a delightful villain because he does have layers and most of them are more arrogance and genocidal condescension.

Seriously, though. Lwaxana clearly uses romantic overtures to build walls around her. We see her do it with Picard, whom she genuinely likes but cannot connect with because she probably doesn't even realize that she's subconsciously protecting herself from suffering more losses by shoving people away. But when she, quite literally, lets her hair down with Odo - whom she initially behaves towards similarly to how she does with Picard - her choice to allow herself to be vulnerable with him in order to help him be more comfortable being vulnerable around her, something he isn't getting a choice in due to their unforeseen circumstances, is actually quite lovely. I know a lot of people don't like Lwaxana or her friendship with Odo but... I actually really adore it.

crack baby, you don't know what you want

The following DS9 doodles are brought to you by: The best grandpa/aunt/cousin, gossip girls and a woman so pretty I can't think of anything funny to say about it :D

Holosuite date night except it turns into a three-hour lecture on the history of the Cardassian spy fiction genre.

Honestly I just wanted to draw Garak in his Our Man Bashir outfit, and Gracie Anne has had them on my mind lately. <3

if your girl looks at you with surprise and delight as you transform from a bird back to a human (ish) shape and you regale her with how it felt to fly, that’s not your girlfriend. that’s odo’s girlfriend