Do lim and garak ever have a genuine bonding moment?
OUGHH I think he has to get a lot of his therapizing done offscreen and internally. He needs to put aside his anger and see his father and his contemporaries for the flawed-but-trying people they are. Iskra doesn't really help, but eventually 'if you'd been born into his position you would have done the same thing to protect Cardassia that he did, except worse, because he's smarter than you' settles in.
Garak has to learn to speak his mind more plainly because Lim sees his vague allusions and crafty lies as a cowardly way to hide unpleasant truths. Galactic politics necessitates that he tones his monomaniac Cardassian exceptionalism down, and eventually that may grow to reflect his genuine feelings (but if asked he will certainly lie, so who knows?) Lim needs to grow up a little, see that his parents are also just people trying their best like he is, and maybe go through the mundane trials of adult life on a stunned and recuperating planet to sand his edges off. It's very gradual.
Also tbh they need some time to develop things in common... Lim isn't very well read, doesn't like to talk for fun and is inconsistently disparaging of anything unnecessarily decorative. But eventually he develops an appreciation for creature comforts and realizes that that doesn't make him a bad person, and then he and Garak can debate about what color to paint the house siding or whether or not the azaleas will grow in full sun.
But he very much benefits from some good yadek hugs now and then...
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reasons i absolutely adore cary warleggan:
he is ready to switch his allegiances and his opinions and his direction in an instant if it’s what’s best for george and their little family. does that make him disloyal, dishonourable? no. it means he puts george ahead of everything and everyone, and will cut ties with someone he personally likes and believes in or a cause he’s backed for years if it will give george the best advantage and keep him safe. george always comes first - and rather than that turning him resentful or bitter, he seems utterly accepting of it
he never tries to push his own agenda, and never once uses george’s power, wealth, or influence for himself and his own gain. his pursuit of betterment is purely for george and his children. with the level of influence the warleggan name now yields, cary could find himself a powerful young heiress; could live lavishly and squander their money away; could be a drain on george and his resources; could push for a title of his own and his own position of power in parliament or otherwise, could make a nuisance of himself, could use george as a puppet for his own means and direct him towards decisions that will favour him, could try to unseat him and become the head of the family - but he doesn’t. he’s more than happy to wear dingy clothes and a threadbare wig that went out of fashion thirty years ago and hang around truro and waste away his own life, so long as he helps to advance george for his own future and the future of his family, for his happiness.
we never once have a scene with cary that doesn’t also include george, or which doesn’t happen in reference to george - if george doesn’t have a personal life, cary has even less of one. george is his life. before george came under his protection, cary was the second son, five years younger than his brother, unmarried and without issue, raised in a blacksmith’s hovel, never expecting to amount to anything or be someone - and he still isn’t. he isn’t expecting a knighthood or an illustrious future: all he can do is ensure that george has one, that george has something better than he started with. having george gave him purpose, gave him a mission, and he won’t stop until his nephew’s happiness and future are ensured
he’s more than happy to let george take the lead, because he recognised long ago that he’s the one with the brilliant mind. his support and guidance are still there whenever george falters and feels the need to look to him, but otherwise he utterly trusts george’s capabilities
he laughs at every single one of george’s jokes when no one else does, and whenever george needs reassurance he’ll look at cary and cary will have that big half-smile on his face. and the times that there’s obvious pride in those smiles are the best
adding on from that, whenever george glances at cary in a social situation, cary always looks back. doesn’t matter if his attention was elsewhere - if george looks his way, cary senses it and meets his gaze, whether it be to just share an understanding glance, or smile back at him, or silently laugh along with him, or offer an assurance that he’ll close ranks with him. and, really, his attention is hardly ever elsewhere because it’s always on george to start with
he instinctively offers george things like drinks on his left side, because he knows he’s left handed. everyone else, even ross, always directs things towards george’s right side. it’s just those tiny little things, those silent expressions of intimacy and understanding and affection, that kill me
that bit in season 5 where cary cracks the joke about george’s marriage to cecily hopefully being less bloody than ned’s execution and george just looks over his shoulder with this slow, reproachful “uncle” sort of look. and that bit in season 4 or w/e where cary has his wig on george’s desk at the bank and is noisily picking his teeth and george is just glowering at him with this quiet, seething rage. they’re moments that can only come from a close relationship - that ability to be annoyed with each other for stupid, petty reasons but still put up with it because you love the other person - and i adore it
cary is so often willing to make a fool of himself and paint himself as the out-of-touch blacksmith’s son of poor breeding to position george in a more positive and refined light. like that bit during geoffrey charles’ christening celebration where cary makes the loud comment about whatever it is and george reproaches him equally loudly for it not being elegant talk - they clearly know ross is standing three feet away and you cannot convince me they hadn’t planned it all before they arrived, like “okay, you say something rude and i’ll call you out on it so everyone will think i’m a cultured gentleman, especially ross” “got it”
they have this unspoken understanding of each other that outshines any close relationship in the whole show. all the looks they share with each other in every single scene they’re in together with other people. that scene in london in season 5 where cary is finishing each of george’s sentences, and they’re looking at each other with this... conniving sort of affection, like they’re enjoying this closeness just as much as they’re enjoying the prospect of what they’re envisaging? that scene in the same season, after george’s reputation has taken a tumble, when cary picks up on george’s unspoken discomfort and suggests going back to cornwall, and george looks up at him, so relieved, like there’s a physical weight off his shoulders, and goes, “today?”
despite it all, there’s still this tangible hierarchy in their relationship - not in the sense that cary has power over george, because he doesn’t (at least not after season 2 when george really begins to come into his own confidence and he no longer shrinks and submits to cary as he did in the early seasons whenever cary called him “boy” and reminded him he was still an inexperienced child however much he liked to believe otherwise), but because he’s still clearly the protector. despite everything, no matter how grand and powerful he becomes, and though he might pull a little at the reins every now and then, george still looks on cary as his guardian and both of them know that when push comes to shove, cary’s going to be the one to step up and defend his nephew. because as ill-suited as he might have been to raise a child, he did it, against all odds, and george is his boy.
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The three firebrands (and guests)- Incorrect Quotes Part 13
Avar: *has a piece of paper on her back*
The Text on the Piece of Paper: Please don’t talk to me I have no self control and will gossip with you for three hours and get no work done.
Elzar: I did a thing.
Stellan: A thing?
Elzar: Let’s not talk about the thing.
Stellan: We’ll talk about the thing later.
Stellan: I’m heading to the kitchen, do you two want anything?
Elzar: Vodka.
Avar: White wine.
Stellan: … It’s seven in the morning.
Elzar: Very well. Vodka and cereal.
Avar: Red wine then and toast.
Avar: What if the 'g' in 'gif' is silent?
Stellan: Go the fuck to sleep
Avar: What gif I don't want to?
Elzar: Fuck You I was dreaming about Unicorns
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