Look at this hair, regular Julian would DIE if his hair every looked like this.
ok but like garak meeting mirror verse julian….discuss….
OMG so like, last night I was having a p terrifying tachycardia episode (instead of a Star Trek episode like I wanted) so, I couldn’t tell you, that we had several Thoughts about mJulian and I am basically a mess about this man and his ridiculous wonderful hair, because, including but not limited to:
* he is Not a doctor, and DEFINITELY not genetically enhanced because does that shit exist in the alternate universe, at least for Terrans? uM NO
* HIS NAME IS JULES, THEREFORE, he would have no reason to rename himself. HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT QUITE FRANKLY
* This kind of confirms what I always suspected - there wasn’t actually anything seriously “”“wrong”“” with Julian as a child. He just wasn’t developing *fast enough* for his parents. Holy freaking - just step on my heart and grind it into the dirt, why not.
* If he ever *met* Julian - oh my gosh. THIS HURTS THE SYLVER - because. He would kind of, hate ‘himself?’ This shiny, sanitized, ‘enhanced’ (he says like a dirty word) version of himself, that everybody loves - that his parents made, because they thought he wasn’t good enough, at seven years old? WHAT, LIKE THE REST OF HIS UNIVERSE SHITTING ON HIM BECAUSE HE’S TERRAN REBEL TRASH WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH, HE GETS TO AN ENTIRELY *NEW* UNIVERSE, WHERE EVERYTHING’S SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER AND EQUAL AND HE’S *STILL* NOT GOOD ENOUGH, THEY HAVE A NEW, IMPROVED *BETTER* VERSION OF HIM? JULES CAN’T WIN. HE CAN’T EVER, *EVER* WIN.
* He would have such. An overcompensating “fuck you, I’m Dangerous, stay away” (that we see) attitude in his original universe, and it is absolutely out of survival. Because yeah, he did have challenges as a kid, physical illnesses, neurodivergent stuff, maybe undiagnosed ADHD (he can’t sit still, focus, he has to be moving and accomplishing stuff - which is great if you’re fighting a rebellion, ok, good outlet - always DOING THINGS and moving FORWARD, let’s go let’s do this, the Alliance isn’t going to destroy itself) - and people still do look down on him not just because he’s a Terran but because of these issues, that weren’t “fixed” with the enhancements. So he works and fights so freaking hard, ALWAYS, for everything he gets and keeps the walls up and guns out. And this INCREASES BY LIKE x10 when he sees his “Enhanced” self - holy crap this is such a slap in the face? Because he’s been trying to prove himself his whole life - NOW HE NEEDS TO PROVE THAT HE’S EVERY BIT AS GOOD AND VALID ON HIS OWN, he’s his own person, he’s just a different person not a worse one. And Julian always wanted to know who he’d have been, he never had the chance to find out, he was 7 years old - Just. Shit. He is not the “substandard, fail Bashir,” and Julian is not the ideal one. (Julian doesn’t think this and never would, bc look at his own issues up the wazoo with all this - but Jules would pick this up from other people REAL QUICK, and set them STRAIGHT.)
* I do think (and need to think tbh) that he and Julian would be okay but it would take a *while.* Because there is so much baggage, and they are so freakin different - but they are also the same, both overcompensating constantly, just about different things/for opposite reasons, and once they figure this out they *would* get each other really hard.
* All of these issues - and living in an actual freakin dystopia - mean Jules is just. So. Freaking. Driven and intense and passionate and determined as hell to SURVIVE and fight back against this terrible looming institution against impossible odds, he holds *NOTHING* back (where Julian is holding EVERYTHING back in an attempt to hide who he is, hide his enhancements and a LOT of his fears and anxieties and vulnerabilities), he lets his emotions go, he picks fights he shouldn’t, he is expressive and impulsive and he is made of fire and rebellion and LIFE -
* Jules Bashir is punk rock incarnate. (or at least my headcanon interpretation from the 4 minutes of screentime we see.) And I am a little in love.
* … Shit u asked about Garak LMAO. now I’m exhausted bc of that explosion of feels - HONESTLY, I THINK HE MIGHT TRY TO FIGHT GARAK ON SIGHT. Because of what a monster mirror Garak is, and like, he just sees Garak here, does not think this through (how did his Garak get here? Doesn’t matter, this man is responsible for so many horrors, he is not waiting to find out, he’s going down NOW) and like launches himself at him, because this always goes well. Garak is so fuckin surprised, and then ???!??!, and this is why Jules isn’t immediately dead. (“Two Doctors. I believe I’ve had this fantasy before. Except there, everything was a bit less… homicidal.” “I’M A REBEL, NOT A DOCTOR.” “And I’m… confused, but very intrigued.”)
