Do you think you’ll ever finish your DS9 fic Interpersonal Studies?
It has to be the best fic on ao3 and the cliffhanger has been killing me the last year!
I do actually want to! I am hoping when I cycle back to my next phase of being really into DS9 it will carry me through.
Interpersonal Studies is currently about a ways into its Part II?
So that’s all about Julian and Garak on DS9 at the moment where Julian is currently coming to certain realisations about Cardassian culture and Garak is coming to a few himself, and it’s all about getting the war orphans to their homes rather than being stranded on Bajor.
Part III is gonna be When It All Comes Out and is going to be about leaving the Federation and the ramifications thereof with the Dominion War, but also for Garak and Julian in Kardasi space.
It is all planned out, my focus is just currently elsewhere!
In the midst of rereading interpersonal studies; you show very well Garak's tendency to swing between longing/desire/contentment and rage for himself, externalized to others in response to tgose feelings, very well, particularly with his need for social interaction. In Chapter 8, the admonishment internally of the Federation for sending such a young person out into the world and his agonies at how frightened of Garak the man is, and then later, with Keiko and Molly- someone is giving him what he desired more in the case with the ensign, but he can't accept it, and internally is treating both situations as resulting from the naivety of the other party. I think it adds an additional layer of context to his interactions with Ezri in canon too- not only is he forthcoming about his claustrophobia because he's kind of accepted that he works with starfleet (though he's struggling with what that entails), and rejecting her because he despises someone else telling him aspects of his childhood are traumatic, it's a variation on the theme from Empok Nor. He wants to be liked, or perhaps it's more that he wants to be accepted, but he can't allow that because he /shouldn't/ be accepted and if he doesn't remind people, something else will. The chapter 8 scene is also a really good way of showing his double think- at first he's thinking about coming home after being assaulted and his mother's reaction, then later criticizes the Federation because the engineer sent to collect him is too young, when he was younger than him when that occurred.
YESSSS, I really love when we see those windows of Garak’s like, not just hypocrisy, but just the layers of doublethink between what he SHOULD think as a Cardassian, and what he can actually DO as a Cardassian, and also his own abuse, and also what’s now possible within the Federation?
Like especially because he’ll judge people on their OWN cultural values and how well they adhere to them too, and it makes me so,,,,, pained,,,, when it’s about stuff like the well-being of children, which he tries so hard to pretend he doesn’t care about!
Achieved ego death reading interpersonal studies last night i wanted to thank u personally for the indepth characterization and how much world building u put together for that fic, best night i had in a while i wanna reimburse u financially for all ur work but itll have to wait 2 weeks
Hi! I don’t have an ao3 account so can’t post comments but I just wanted to tell you that I absolutely adored how you described Garak’s appreciation for Julian learning to walk beside him. It’s such a warm and wholesome aspect of their relationship.
Hi! I’m really loving Interpersonal Studies so far. It’s so complex and witty and interesting and just amazing. I was wondering if you had a particular favorite chapter or scene or even just detail that you’re particularly proud of?
Thank you so much, I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!
Interpersonal Studies has been extremely satisfying to work on from all angles I think, and in general I’m proud of the whole thing as a body, but I think the moments I’m proudest of are often the moments where I’m able to showcase Bashir and Garak’s similarities to one another - they’re such different people, but like…
They have such similar lives, when viewed in parallel, just in terms of their abusive families, their uncanny ability to excel in their studies, the need to keep secret the extent of their abilities, all the insecurities that that implies and comes with, and also the fact that like… Both of them are genuinely sweet and sentimental and loving men who crave to be gentle, but they’re also extremely overcomplicated overthinkers who are ultimately always terrified the absolute worst will happen, and that it will be their fault.
And the way they both respond to that, which instincts they respectively try to repress and embrace, which they try to encourage or tamp down in each other? It’s fascinating.
This one for example:
“He’s a sort of sleeper agent, isn’t he?” asked Julian, turning his head and looking at Prang. “Adopt the boy out to Bajorans who teach him to hate what he is, and once he returns to Cardassia, what embarrassment he’ll cause. It’s not about Rugal getting killed once he gets back to Cardassia Prime, although I’m sure that’s a pleasant benefit. It’s about the humiliation he’ll bring to his father when he criticises Cardassia, when he doesn’t assimilate – and doesn’t just assimilate, but actively resists. What better a tool to ruin a man’s reputation, and undermine his loyalty to the state?”
Prang was smiling, his eyes sparkling. “It is no surprise to me,” he said softly, “that you and Elim are so well-matched.”
“I’m right, then?”
“No, you’re quite wrong,” said Prang. “You have the same flaw Elim did, when he was your age – your intelligence blinds you to the simplicity of reality, Doctor Bashir. This scheme was not thought out by an intelligence agent or a politician, nor executed by them – were that the case, I have no doubt that the end result you imagine would have been the intention.”
“You’ve got quite a bit of scorn for whoever thought this up, haven’t you?” asked Julian, hearing the slight stiffness in Prang’s quiet tones, and he wondered if the man was quite so quiet, much of the time, because of how much his voice could reveal. Prang’s lips quirked up at their edges. “But what sort of idiot would think up another end? What, the point is to reveal Rugal’s existence before killing him dead again?”
“Not quite that simple, Doctor,” said Prang. “Cardassians value family, after all.”
Moments like these are SO fun to write because it’s all about people doing all the correct analysis but being ignorant of some of the most important details because of their own biases, and Garak and Julian are both SO SMART, but they both do that ALL THE TIME.
Julian spends some one-on-one time with Mila, discovers some unspoken truths, and after Garak faces off with Tain, he reunites with an old school friend.
“Do you miss him?” asked Julian, because he had to say something.
Mila rolled her eyes, and moved away from him, which he would like to think meant “yes”, but he couldn’t be certain of that, either.
“I hate him, at times,” said Julian.
“That’s only natural,” said Mila.
“Because that’s how Cardassians do romance,” muttered Julian, and Mila laughed. It was a sharp, brittle sound.
“No, child,” Mila said – no modifier for his alien status, and when he beamed, she wagged a finger at him – and shook her head. “Because it’s Elim.”
“He lies to me,” said Julian, feeling like a weight was off his chest as he said it. “Constantly, he lies to me – and I’d love to say I hated it, that I didn’t like it, that it drives me mad, but I’ve come to expect it from him. To love it. The times when he tells me even a fraction of the truth feel like… victories. More than that, they feel so… intimate.”
“Yes,” said Mila. “It’s a dangerous love. Take care you don’t cut yourself with it.”
“How could Garak be anything but agonisingly in love with a man so desperate to walk beside him, just so he could do it right – not do it comfortably, not do it by his Human standards of efficiency, but by Cardassian standards of aesthetic, of appearance?” [x]
This interaction happens in Chapter 23 of one of my favorite Garashir fics, Interpersonal Studies by @johannestevans . Their prose is gorgeous and the plot is beautifully composed - please check it out!
This update is 14k - I’m going to be at the Destination: Star Trek convention in London this weekend, and I wanted to get this update out early so that I’m not worrying over it on Friday. Next update will be the Friday after next, back to the Friday updates!
Please remember to comment and let me know what you think - I’d especially love to hear what people think of the Prang and Tain dynamics, the Kira and Bashir ones, and also the general Cardassian culture stuff built up in this chapter. I’d also love to hear, of course, what people think is going to happen next. :)
“Good morning,” said Julian.
“Good morning,” said Garak crisply. Julian heard the sound of him taking off his shoes, and he was surprised when he turned to look that Garak was still in his robe and pyjamas. “We’ll discuss your conversations yesterday over breakfast, Doctor,” no affectionate addition, modifier for student status but not for youth, so that it felt strangely cold. “You’re not on shift until late this afternoon?”
“No, I’m on the late evening shift,” said Julian softly. “I’ve got research to work on, I’m hoping it’ll be a quiet night.”
“It’s good to enter the day with an intention in mind.”
“Are you feeling better?”
“Much. We’ll eat in the Replimat,” said Garak, and gave Julian a severe look, a smile curling his lips. “I want you to go to the replication unit downstairs and replicate an implement for your punishment. Choose your own specifications for it – but, Doctor, I do expect it to be an implement appropriate for the discipline you’ve earned. If I find you have replicated an item with the intention of making things easy on yourself, I will not be pleased, and that will be reflected in the punishment I give you. Do I make myself clear?”
Every word was cool, calculated, and deliberate, and when Julian shivered, heat rising in his neck and up to his cheeks, Garak smiled a little wider, showing his teeth, his head tilting to one side.
it’s gonna be a Long update to Interpersonal Studies on Friday as a celebration of the star trek convention i’m going to be going wild at all weekend and
lmfao
“Enjoin doesn’t have the connotations in English it
does in Kardasi, you know,” said Julian. “To enjoin on someone is to
tell them they have something they must do, a responsibility, but legally, an
enjoinment is a… it’s a ban, an injunction.”
“How are the connotations different?” asked Damar.
“I— Well,” said Julian. “Being legally bound to
someone through marriage or engagement is a commitment of the, the self. It’s
not signing up for a list of prescribed responsibilities.”
“I thought your people said vows?”
“Well, we do, of course. To love the other person, to
stand by them in sickness or in health, in wealth or poverty, in—”
“Isn’t all of that obvious?” interrupted
Damar, looking at Julian with something that resembled horror now. “What about
your duty to your children, to your respective families, your people, your
Federation?”
“What does that have to do with it? A marriage is two
people sharing their lives together, not a merging of government departments.”
“What’s the difference?” asked Varda. He didn’t ask
it as urgently as Damar did, but the question seemed just as genuine.
“I, well,” said Julian. “Love? And it’s personal,
they’re personal vows, they’re between two individuals. You’re not marrying
someone’s family or their job or where they were born, you’re
marrying them.”
“You cast these things off, then, upon marriage to
another?” asked Damar. “You’re no longer the product of your birthplace or your
family, you abandon your workplace and abdicate your responsibilities?”
“Well, no,” said Julian, aware that he was in
too deep here, and that trying to argue your way out of Cardassian bureaucracy
was a bit like trying to wrestle your way out of quicksand. All you could do
was give in and carefully extract yourself. “What about… children? Your
children, they’re not the product of your workplace, are they? Or your parents?”
“Of course they are,” replied Damar. “My children and
my wife live with my parents.”
“Right,” said Julian. “Well, I live across the
universe from my parents, so if I had children, they’d live with me.
They might see me as a doctor, might even visit my workplace, but they wouldn’t
be the product of my workplace. I suppose we almost think of a
relationship between two people in love, a marriage, as a child of its own. Its
own product, between just those two people.”
Damar narrowed his eyes, and took a sip of his kanar.
“That’s depraved,” he said.
Julian couldn’t help how he started laughing, Damar
said it so bluntly, and when Damar looked offended, he shook his head. “Sorry,
sorry, Damar, I just… I’m not laughing at you. Just at cultural differences.”
