Back in Berkeley and a meme

[lunasariel]

Well, here I am in my new (well, at least new-to-me) digs! I've put away my books, gotten to know my roommate(s), and figured out how to get along with the door, which is mostly broken but works if you shove it right. Yup, feels like home.

My mom is usually the one to help me move, but she was down in SoCal this time, so my retinue consisted of my dad and A. I had to dissuade my dad from driving us in his gigantic truck that he uses to tote two tons of grapes at a time, since A) it would never ever fit in most Berkeley parking spots, and B) I don't have that much stuff anyway. We took my little red car, Zippy, and managed to fit everything into the truck, with only a little spillover into the backseat. It was a nice drive down - not too much traffic, so we made good time, and it's not often I get a chance to have an uninterrupted conversation with him. Parking was insane once we got there, of course, but, by virtue of Zippy being small and agile, we actually managed to get a decent spot on the ground floor of the parking structure adjacent to the cluster of buildings that includes mine. The process of signing in and getting set up went about as usual; and by that, I mean that I promptly forgot my room number, confused my keys (it looks like Wada, my current building, uses the same two-key system as Towle, my previous building. Ugh.), and was glad that I had someone stronger than me to help carry everything. But we made it up to my room eventually, huzzah! I'm on the 4th floor again, and even with a vaguely similar setup! The door onto the hall opens up on a sort of abbreviated entryway, with a living room/kitchen area(!) to the left, with a double bedroom and a bathroom beyond that, and two bedrooms (one single, belonging to the RA, and a double, half of which is mine) and another bathroom to the right. My view is even worse than last year's, just the courtyard and the building across from ours, but I guess I used up all my view karma on my first, spectacular view. And, overall, I'm far from displeased - our room is, if not particularly spacious, then less cramped than my previous one, and The Roomie 3.0, who arrived only a little while after I did, is fantastic. She's basically Tina from Tam Lin, only less dramatic and more open to geekiness. She's incredibly active - volleyball, swimming, Rally Committee, and she's already made a bushel of friends - and exuberant and just generally really easy to get along with. We have similar temperaments, schedules, and tastes (save that she's not quite so geeky as I am, but doesn't seem at all opposed to geekiness in general, or even participating in watching movies and whatnot), and we've actually hung out a fair amount - she accompanied me to the comic book store once, we've run a couple of errands together, and we went looking for our classes together today (which I'll get to in a sec), and just generally, I couldn't be more pleased. We even have similar ideas of housewarming (or dormwarming, I guess) gifts - we emailed back and forth a bit, and she mentioned that she shares my love of baking, so I brought her a bag of homemade cookies, and she brought me a rainbow zebra-striped throw and pair of sock-shoes, and everything seems to have been put to good use.

Anyway, getting back to my narrative! After my dad, A, and I had dropped all my boxes off in my room and unpacked a wee bit, they had to be getting back, so I took them for beverages and pastries at The Den, the coffee place right around the corner. My dad isn't supposed to have coffee anymore (it's bad for his one remaining kidney), so he got a water, A and I got Izzies (pomegranate for me, blackberry for her), and we split one of The Den's lemon scones, the equal of which I've never been able to find. Unfortunately, while there, I had a rather unwelcome realization: for some reason, Wada counts as off-campus housing, and so doesn't come with a meal plan. This came up when I tried to buy our snacks with meal points, but no go. It was a bit of an *erk* moment, but a couple of phone calls, and a little online jiggery-pokery once my internet was set up, sorted that all out. But it made for a tenuous day or so. Anyway, my dad and A had to leave after that (A started school exactly a week ago, and already has homework to be getting on with, and harvest is just starting for my dad), so I walked them back to the car, where A presented me with the last of the kazoos she got for her birthday. I promised to handle this great power with great responsibility, but I admit I have been sorely tempted to abuse it...

After seeing them off, I headed back to my room to unpack properly, which was when I met The Roomie 3.0, who turned out to be a local girl, so her whole family was there to help her unpack. Her mom was an especially big help in setting up the kitchen, which was great, because I haven't had a kitchen of my own since London, and 3.0 is a junior transfer, so this was all new to her. We walked around for a little while with them, meeting up with a couple of her JC friends along the way. Eventually her family left and her friends had moving-in of their own to do, so we had plenty of time to find our way to the building's basement for the floor meeting. Which, TBH, I considered skipping, since I've heard it all plenty of times before, but I was actually really glad I went. As I mentioned, our RA, Jessica, lives literally right next to us, and she's turned out to be my favorite RA of the three I've had, at least so far. She's given me some great Stats advice, stocked our fridge with strawberries and ice cream, and generally seems like a lot of fun. And she managed to make the usual excruciating icebreakers less awkward than usual, and got all the requisite information across pretty briskly, so yay for that! Unusually, I already know a couple of people on my floor - a girl down the hall was in my Later 18th Century Lit class, and two of the girls across the hall were my neighbors last semester, who I promptly made an ass of myself for forgetting about entirely. XD But once they reminded me I remembered them just fine, and although I haven't hung out with them since, it's nice to know that I know at least somebody around here. The meeting for the whole building was later that evening, but 3.0 couldn't make it, so I went in her stead and filled her in later. We ended up going to bed really early, both due to a very full day of unpacking and generally running around, and because I at least had been too keyed-up to sleep the night before.

On Monday, we got up early(-ish) in order to go to Caltopia, the sort of club fair/giveaway fest. I've actually never been before, and 3.0, a lifetime Cal Bears fan, was really excited to go, so we made sure to get there early. On the way, we met up with a JC friend of 3.0's and the friend's roommate, an Peace & Conflict Studies major and mechanical engineering major respectively. (Which reminds me: 3.0 is an English major, like, me, albeit with a history minor, but that's neither here nor there.) Caltopia was PACKED, though, so we got separated after only a few minutes. There were lots of freebies to be picked up, which was great, because a lot of it was food, and due to the aforementioned meal plan situation, I hadn't eaten yet that day. But I got a slice of pizza, a grilled-cheese sandwich with some sort of herb involved, a sno-cone, a banana, and a little packet of biscotti (the latter two of which I prudently saved for later). We also both got a pair of sunglasses and about ten pounds of flyers and coupons. 3.0 wanted one of the Cal t-shirts they were giving away, but they ran out of these pretty quickly, so we made plans to come back the next day, this time hopefully early enough to snag one or two. All this took several hours in a rather hot and crowded gym so eventually we burned out, and she agreed to accompany me on a run to the comic book shop. I was a little disappointed that Quidditch Girl wasn't there, because I think that she and 3.0 would have really hit it off. But at least I got to pick up my backlog of Young Avengers, which I had been wanting to do for a long time. After that, we had definitely had enough, and headed back to our dorm, where we dropped off our day's haul. She went off to an open-court volleyball game while I got caught up on YA (and subsequently had a bit of an internal flail), took a much-needed nap, and got my internet all set up. Which I technically wasn't supposed to do yet, since we're supposed to attend an in-person seminar-type-thing on internet safety, etc., but I'd literally been there and done that, so my hunch that I could do it all myself paid off. And I'm eternally grateful that they finally got around to installing some decent wi-fi in most of the buildings last semester - I brought along my Ethernet cable, just to be safe, but either Wada is just especially blessed in this capacity, or they installed a bunch of extra routers here, too, but either way, the wi-fi has been both fast and consistent, which is GREAT, especially after three months of battling Claude the Wifi Demon back at home.

Tuesday was another early day, at least for 3.0. She was gone by the time I got up, at around 8:30, off to Caltopia to get her t-shirt. We had planned to go find our classes together later that day, so I took that as an excuse to hang around our dorm, catch up on all the internetings that I'd missed, and drop by Moe's the biggest of the adjacent bookstores. This, sadly, proved unfruitful, as I was specifically hunting for Vorkosigan Saga books, I only found Diplomatic Immunity, and realized that I had probably recycled the coupon I had planned to pay for it with. I mean, I guess I could have just paid the four bucks normally, but for some reason, this annoyed me, so I returned to the dorm empty-handed, and basically sat around and read The Name of the Wind for most of the day, waiting for 3.0 to call me to come find our classes. There was only one exception to this, when I stepped out for a few minutes to pick up the books I had ordered. I did the smart thing for once and ordered about half of them from Amazon (seriously, student bookstore prices are insane - there was one Celtic Studies book they wanted $80 for, and I found it on Amazon for $20), so, for what I think is the first time in my Cal career, I managed to get them all back to my room in one trip, without straining anything. For some reason, I ended up with three extra copies of the Latin grammar sheet that I had ordered, though, so I had to go back and return those, but that didn't take too long. 3.0 took longer at Caltopia than she had expected, though, so she didn't get back until right before I left to go meet hamsterwoman for the dinner we had planned.

I had meant to get there early, since it was a school night for her, but the BART gods were not kind, and I had to wait about 15 minutes for the right train, and even then it got delayed a couple of times. This means that I didn't get into San Francisco until the time by which I had hoped to already be at Parkside Tavern, but at least MUNI was feeling fairly friendly (ain't alliteration awesome?), and got me there in decent time. It was great to see hamsterwoman face-to-face, as always, but especially so this time, because the last time I saw her, I wasn't sure that I would be able to live in Berkeley this semester, which would have made going to see her exponentially harder, if thankfully still doable. So there was the relief of disaster deferred added to the usual great time I have with her, which just made it all the better. We both got a chance to show off our geeky apparel (a Firefly t-shirt for me, a B5 one for her, Elven boots for her, and vaguely anachronistic leather boots for me, which hopefully marks an end to BootQuest '13, but we'll see), and trade prisoners, with one unexpected addition: a birthday present from her, consisting of the first Rivers of London book (which I admit I was curious about, after hearing so many people gush about it) and The Lies of Locke Lamora (ditto), so I was extra-glad I had brought my new handy-dandy collapsable bag, which is A) very brightly colored, making me unlikely to forget or otherwise lose it, and B) I suspect is related to Hermione's bag, because it can hold pretty much anything. And, of course, online geekery is lovely, but there's nothing quite like face-to-face geekery, and I was honestly surprised when I checked my watch and realized that three hours had passed. But I guess time flies when you're talking Vorkosigan Saga, B5, Dresden Files (and a comparison to Rivers of London, which only made me want to read it more), Kingkiller Chronicles, Nightrunner (with a side discussion on Swordspoint and crazy protagonists in general), our mutual love for ensemble casts and stoic nerdy types with a startling propensity for violence, the online fandom culture in general, and so on and so forth. She even let me vent about the continuing H&C Drama, which I'm thankfully away from now, but it felt really good to get it all out. Oh, and speaking of face-to-face geekery, we also discussed ikel89's incipient visit, which is an actual thing that's definitely happening, yay! We both commented on how we've actually known her for a quantitatively short period of time, but we both feel like we've known her forever, and now she's coming to visit, and squee! No, but seriously, the whole thing gave me so much heartwarmth that I'm actually having to restrain myself from writing long squishy embarrassing essays entitled things like I <3 Anna And Kay And They Are Great. Suffice to say, I'm drawing up a list of Stuff to Do in Berkeley (even if it is mostly restaurants and bookstores at this point), because I'm already planning to kidnap them for at least a day.

Getting back on topic: the food was ace, as always. We split a thing of bangers'n'mash, because it's seriously impossible to finish on one's own, and we each got an appetizer to ourselves: French onion soup for her (with what looked like a delicious cheesy layer on top) and diet-busting-but-I-don't-care-they're-delicious cheddar-bacon potato skins for me. We finished with raspberry bread pudding with Bailey's cream, which was perfect, because it was cold and foggy and very British Isles outside, so that warmed me right up. Even better, the waitress saw the wrapping paper from Anna's gift, and heard me mention that it was a delayed birthday present, so the bread pudding came with a candle in it! :D I made a wish before blowing it out, of course, although you know what they say about telling wishes. After we were done, we made the by now traditional trip up to the burrito place, where I got my traditional burrito (although I managed to get the one without the sauce that never reheats right, this time), and she waited with me for the bus. Which actually came fairly promptly, and I made decent time back. BART was unexpectedly packed in a way it never is on weekends, strangely enough, so my feet were hurting by the time I made it back. I was met with a note on the door saying that 3.0 was out for the evening, but she came in just as I was taking my sweater off - apparently she had made friends with a DJ earlier in the day and had promised to go see him do his thing at a frat party later that night, which she was just about to go to. I decided to go with, so that she would have someone to go home with, if and when she decided to leave early (both of us are reasonably sociable, but not really party people). We met up with a big group of the DJ's (and 3.0's) other friends in the courtyard, and all headed off together. There were nine of us altogether, mostly new transfers (boy, did I feel old), so it took us awhile to get into the frat house, because we had to wait for nine people to leave, since they were already at capacity. The guy minding the door was really gung-ho about the whole thing - yelling at people queuing up behind us to clear the sidewalk, checking IDs, everything. It seriously took us about 20 minutes to get in, and once there, 3.0 and I stayed for only a few minutes before deciding that we could officially check "went to frat party" off of our College Experiences checklist. I was actually kinda nervous about going, since situations like this have given me some pretty serious panic attacks in the past, but I'm pleased to report that I did okay! I almost sat in a puddle of beer, 3.0 and I watched people play beer pong for a few minutes, we said hi to her DJ friend, and then decided to leave. Which was probably a good move, since we were just about the only two people there not drinking, and it was getting pretty late anyway. But overall, I'm glad I went, if more as a test of myself than for enjoyment's sake.

Today was my official "run around and do ALL THE THINGS" day, since classes start tomorrow. And I was probably more productive than I've been in the past week put together. I went grocery shopping! (Having a teakettle on hand is all kinds of great, but we needed honey and things.) I bought school supplies (and found the kind of pencils that I love but haven't been able to find for the past few semesters)! It was new comic book say, so I picked up the latest issue of YA. I, as someone much wiser than me once said, went to the motherf*cking bank like an adult. 3.0 and I even found all our classes! Which was a real accomplishment, since some of hers are in buildings way the hell at the other end of campus that I've never even heard of before. To celebrate all the adulting, we ate raspberries in the shade on Sproul Plaza, peoplewatched, and talked about Pixar movies while we waited for her friend to show up, which is pretty much the best way to spend an afternoon. Eventually said friend did show up, and I headed back to our room, where I read more Kvothe, took an unscheduled nap, did a tiny bit more adulting in the form of picking up a Latin workbook that the bookstore didn't see fit to supply me with in the first place, and finished typing up this post, which I wanted to get out before classes start.

To counteract the unusual lack of geekiness in this post, have a meme! As usual, courtesy of hamsterwoman, my meme dealer of choice.

Give me a friendship/two characters in a hypothetical roommate situation and I’ll head canon you up with:

Who cooks:

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:

Any traditions:

What they do when the other is sick:

Any pets:

What do they fight over:

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:

I second her addendum of "crossovers welcome"!

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

A presented me with the last of the kazoos she got for her birthday. I promised to handle this great power with great responsibility, but I admit I have been sorely tempted to abuse it...

*snerk*

Glad that it sounds like the meal plan thing has been sorted out, although eep for the scare (but yay for goodies to sustain you while you were working out the bugs). Also, your RA sounds awesome, and strawberries + ice cream is a great dorm-warming gesture :D

That is so funny that you ended up going to a frat party right after we'd mentioned frat parties at the burrito place. I've never been to one myself, but 5 minutes sounds like about the right amount of time to spend at one of them XD

I'm actually having to restrain myself from writing long squishy embarrassing essays entitled things like I <3 Anna And Kay And They Are Great

AWWW <3! There should hopefully be much opportunity for in-person squishiness shortly! :D

The French onion soup at Parkside is really good, if French onion soup is a thing that you like -- the cheese is just the perfect consistency (IMO) and the bread and onions and broth are ace, too. Glad you liked the potato skins (I think they added something since the last time I tried them that adds a little kick and makes them taste even better), and that the raspberry bread pudding lived up to the expectations (I was quite cuted out by our waitress taking the initiative on the candle, too :) -- it's a swell place!)

How weird about BART being randomly packed on a weeknight, unless it's due to an influx of people who've come to the Bay Area to start studying in the fall, don't have cars, and are busily exploring the area while they have no responsibilities... Sorry that this meant you had to stand though... :/

Oh, "adulting" is a really great word! I shall adopt this verb/gerund from here on, because adulting is hard and deserves recognition/celebration when one manages to adult successfully.

I hope you have as much fun with Locke Lamora and Peter Grant as I did, and I cannot wait to see what you think of the books (as well as the rest of Kvothe and Miles) :D

And, meme! As ever, feel free to do as many or as few of these as appeal.

- because we were talking about them at dinner -- Azula and Lara Raith
- Londo and G'Kar :D Or Lennier and Garibaldi (there are just so many great potential roommate situations on that show XD)
- Nanny Ogg and Willow Rosenberg
- Tyrion Lannister and Miles Vorkosigan

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

strawberries + ice cream is a great dorm-warming gesture :D
They really were! Unfortunately, the strawberries went bad before we could get around to them, but we're still happily grazing off of the ice cream.

That is so funny that you ended up going to a frat party right after we'd mentioned frat parties at the burrito place.
Haha, yeah, that thought definitely crossed my mind! And yep, after 5 minutes at one, I think I'm just about set for life. XD

I've actually never had French onion soup before, but it always smells/looks delicious, especially on foggy nights like Tuesday, so I'll probably get it next time I'm there. And maybe the Secret Ingredient in the potato skins was green onion? I definitely noticed some, which was both unusual and tasty. But then again, my love for green onion borders on the unhealthy, so it could very well have been something else, and I was just getting a false positive.

Oh, "adulting" is a really great word!
Thanks! :D And, of course, I'm thrilled to see it get adopted more widely - "to adult" is definitely a verb, and deserves to be treated as such.

Memes to come, because all of these deserve careful consideration (and also time to recover from the thought of Tyrion and Miles on vacation together XD).

[hamsterwoman]

Aww, sorry to hear about the untimely demise of the strawberries :/ Ice cream alone is not too bad, though :P

And I was thinking the green onions may have been the new addition/secret ingredient. I love them too, and I feel like I would've remembered if they'd been there before.

"to adult" is definitely a verb, and deserves to be treated as such

Too true!

Azula and Lara

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Who cooks:
They have a caterer come by three times a day, of course. Azula doesn't do anything but flambé (and even that is more for entertainment than sustenance), and for Lara, cooking is something that happens to other people. 'Course, Lara needs more than just food, which I'm sure Azula would be fascinated by, and promptly make plans to make the Hunger benefit the Fire Nation somehow.

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
Again, menial labor is something that happens to other people. Katara or Thomas might drop by on occasion to help or make snarky comments, as their personalities and moods dictate, but either they have a cleaning staff, or, if that's too much of a security risk, Lara cuts a deal with Toot-toot or a brownie or something.

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
Girls' night in! Doing each other's nails (which Azula would initially be kind of ??? about, but she would eventually come to love rocking elaborate red Dragon Lady fingernails, as long as they didn't get in the way of her bending), watching trash tv, and generally feeling much superior to, and more gorgeous than, the rest of the world. Also, intermittent complaining about their various dumbass rebel brothers and the trouble they get into, with Lara kind of trying to subtly slip Azula some advice on dealing with Zuko, but not a bit of it sinking in.

Any traditions:
Getting all glammed up for a fancy dinner at least once a month, and Azula may go help Lara hunt afterwards. Azula and Harry getting into literal firefights whenever they meet. Zuko having a ginormous crush on Lara (that he gets over decently quickly, of course, but is still an embarrassing memory). That kind of stuff.

What they do when the other is sick:
Lara calls Katara or Uncle Iroh or someone (although she deeply unsettles Iroh, who refuses to get anywhere near her), because Azula won't let any Dresdenverse magical healers anywhere near her, since their magic seems waaaaay too close to the Avatar's powers for comfort. I don't remember if White Court vamps can even get sick, but if they can (and I mean regular cold/flu-type sick, not poisoned or magical plague or something), Azula would probably sniff and tell Lara to not get snot all over her clothes.

Any pets:
...I don't think I would really trust Azula around most pets. Maybe something exotic and predatory, like a tiger or a boa/python something, but definitely not most conventional pets.

What do they fight over:
During the initial adjustment period, there's a lot of sniping and maneuvering as they try to figure each other out. But once the initial fireworks (or, y'know, lightning strikes) settle down, then they maintain a sort of half-wary truce, where they're not really friends, but recognize that each is the least stupid person the other is likely to encounter on a daily basis, so they both guess they could do worse. But moments of contention still do crop up - Azula "accidentally" lights something of Lara's on fire when she feels like Lara is getting too uppity, and Lara is perpetually frustrated by Azula's unwillingness to take any kind of advice re: Zuko and her family situation in general.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
Hmm...probably not. They probably get along well enough to live together, but being who they are, they're both permanently on-edge and watching each other out of the corner of their eyes. Also, Lara would have a sneaking suspicion that the Raiths are out of Azula's league, but wouldn't ever say so, because *that* would cause a fight.

Re: Azula and Lara

[hamsterwoman]

Haha, love your depiction of life in the Raith-Fire Royal household :DDD And I hadn't thought about the dumbass rebel brothers commonality, but you're totally right! And Lara would try to subtly give advice on keeping said brother somewhat-loyal and also out of trouble -- Azula could definitely benefit from that. (Also, flashing back to "The Beach", which suggests to me that Azula would be hilariously awful as a wingwoman/sous-chef for a White Court vamp. Lara might try to help her finesse her flirting, too, but I bet it wouldn't help.)

Azula "accidentally" lights something of Lara's on fire when she feels like Lara is getting too uppity

Ahaha, totally!

Also greatly enjoying the Bones + Simon and Janet + Sansa roommate situations (as, naturally, I'm petyring about all over the place ;)

Re: Azula and Lara

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Azula would be hilariously awful as a wingwoman/sous-chef for a White Court vamp.
Oh man, how did I forget about that? LOL, yeah, I'm not sure anything Lara could say or do would help there... Maybe she makes Lara look that much less scary better in comparison? XD

By all means, please do petyr away! I think, for once, everybody is familiar with at least the majority of everybody else's choices, so petyring is much encouraged.

Re: Azula and Lara

[hamsterwoman]

Maybe she makes Lara look that much less scary better in comparison? XD

A good -- and useful! - point! I'm sure Lara would not hesitate to take advantage of that XD

Londo and G'Kar

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Who cooks:
Vir. Definitely Vir. I seem to recall Londo being able to do some fancy presentation dishes, and G'Kar can probably get along well enough, but I have a definite feeling that Centauri cooking wouldn't exactly be to the taste of a Narn, and vice-versa. After all, the only thing they have in common is Breen/Roopo balls/Swedish meatballs, and I'm sure they would even argue about how to prepare *that* correctly. So either they eat out all the time, or Vir has to learn to cook a lot of both Centauri- and Narn-compatible dishes pretty quickly.

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
Londo, of course, has to have everything dry-cleaned, but leaves it to Vir to handle the details. I imagine this would make G'Kar sort of aggressively proud of doing his own laundry, cleaning up after himself, etc. Of course, they probably have two very different standards of what "clean" is, so I imagine one of the many ways they develop to snipe at each other is the old "oops, I thought that was trash, not a religious figurine/important document/personal decoration."

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
At first, they do everything possible to avoid spending their downtime together, but eventually they settle into a routine of low-grade bickering and heckling each other's TV choices (you just know that G'Kar loves Rebo and Zooty), but super-secretly kinda enjoying it.

Any traditions:
You mean aside from near-constant arguing? XD They might invite Delenn and the EarthForce gang over for a meal every so often, just to dilute the atmosphere. Oh, and fairly frequent drinking contests.

What they do when the other is sick:
Mostly make snide remarks and loudly hope it's something fatal, probably.

Any pets:
Nothing in-universe comes to mind, but I kind of want to give Londo one of those cat-blankets from Brothers in Arms. It's exactly the kind of thing he would like - opulent, soft, and likely to unnerve G'Kar.

What do they fight over:
Um, everything? But they *do* have to live together after all, so it's mostly just reflexive bickering at this point. For a serious fight, one of them would have to mention the Centauri conquest of the Narn homeworld, or that thing where Londo's nephew was killed by the Narn. If G'Kar wanted to get really nasty he could take a dig at Adira, and that might actually lead to a fistfight.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
Ahahaha, no. They both visit their homeworlds fairly frequently (political climate permitting, of course), and neither Londo nor G'Kar is likely to want to spend their free time on Narn or Centauri Prime, respectively. Delenn might make them visit Minbar with her on occasion, and they go, because saying no to Delenn just isn't something one does, but this would really be the only time they vacation together.

Re: Londo and G'Kar

[hamsterwoman]

Heh, I was wondering, when I started reading your answer to the cooking question, if the Swedish meatballs thing would make an appearance XD

Totally agree that Vir would do most of the food prep, although G'Kar seems to enjoy cooking in the first (or maybe second?) season -- at least, he is singing as he does it, so presumably he is having fun. Although considering his dinner crawls away, I'm not sure "cooking" is precisely the term. Anyway, I'm sure Londo would have a lot of fun mocking him for that, and possibly even attempt to hunt down G'Kar's stray dinner with his sword, like he did with the cockroach.

Londo, of course, has to have everything dry-cleaned,

*snerk* I bet it takes Vir half an hour just to remove all the bling so the clothese *can* be dry-cleaned XD

the old "oops, I thought that was trash, not a religious figurine/important document/personal decoration."

Ahaha, this is so completely perfect for them! XD XD (I bet there was a time or two when G'Kar succeeded in conveniently but oh-so-accidentally breaking off a couple of tentacles off the goddess of love statue, too XD)

Londo and G'Kar attempting to drink each other under the table would be hilarious, if a bit hard on poor Vir.

but I kind of want to give Londo one of those cat-blankets from Brothers in Arms. It's exactly the kind of thing he would like - opulent, soft, and likely to unnerve G'Kar

Heh, Londo would love that thing! Although possibly less after G'Kar borrows it when he has female company over :P

This one was so much fun, I was basically giggling throughout! :DDD

Re: Londo and G'Kar

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

the Swedish meatballs thing would make an appearance XD
But of course! I actually like Swedish meatballs, so it's always nice to imagine others enjoying them (or, in Londo and G'Kar's case, more like argue over who invented them, how they should be seasoned/presented/eaten/etc.).

Hahaha, I'd forgotten all about both G'Kar's crawling dinner and Londo's bug hunt! See, this is why I love the combination of these two as roomies so much - I'm sure they would both attempt to prepare (or just demand that Vir prepare) the dishes they know their opposite number would most hate and/or be horrified by. And, yeah, I get the feeling that plenty of their meals would involve swords in some capacity or other...

(I bet there was a time or two when G'Kar succeeded in conveniently but oh-so-accidentally breaking off a couple of tentacles off the goddess of love statue, too XD)
Oh, I'm sure. And then "helpfully" trying to stick them back on in the most obscene places possible.

if a bit hard on poor Vir.
Haha, I'm getting the feeling that the main upshot of this roommate situation would be a much more interesting life for poor Vir. XD Of course, he would have plenty of stories to tell Lennier when they get together in the Zocalo, but still, when your average day involves sword fights, still-wriggling food, defacement of religious icons, arguments over who had sex with who on the cat blanket and how many times, *plus* Londo and G'Kar in close proximity to each other, then...yeah. XD

Although possibly less after G'Kar borrows it when he has female company over :P
LOL, he so totally would! I mean, we already know it impresses the ladies, and I'm sure G'Kar wouldn't at all be shy about loudly announcing, in Londo's presence, that Vir might want to spend a little extra time cleaning it, if you know what I mean. ;)

This one was so much fun, I was basically giggling throughout! :DDD
Ditto! These two are just waaaay too much fun, both to write about and to read about.

Re: Londo and G'Kar

[hamsterwoman]

And, yeah, I get the feeling that plenty of their meals would involve swords in some capacity or other...

LOL! But a fairly safe bet nevertheless XD

And then "helpfully" trying to stick them back on in the most obscene places possible

Also yes XD

arguments over who had sex with who on the cat blanket and how many times [...] G'Kar wouldn't at all be shy about loudly announcing, in Londo's presence, that Vir might want to spend a little extra time cleaning it, if you know what I mean.

This roommate scenario just keeps me laughing and laughing... XD

Lennier and Garibaldi (yay, thanks! :D)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

(You're right, there are a lot of great roommate pairs to be found here!)

Who cooks:
Garibaldi, duh. Maybe Lennier on special occasions, but Minbari cooking sounds pretty effort-intensive, while Garibaldi cooks for both fun and sustenance. Actually, it would be really cute if Garibaldi took it upon himself to teach Lennier to cook, especially bagna cauda.

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
Lennier, mostly, I would think. Garibaldi tries to do his share, but A) he's used to living a bachelor's life, so as long as the floor is under there somewhere, he's probably okay, and B) he works about fifty hours a day anyway. He would be responsible for kitchen maintenance and dishes, though, since that's kind of his domain. Lennier would probably handle the laundry and general cleaning, since he's used to doing that kind of thing for Delenn anyway. And this would actually make a surprising, but pleasant, change for Garibaldi, since he's not used to coming home to find things cleaner than he left them.

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
Cartoons! Lennier would be initially confused as hell by Loony Tunes, but would eventually come to love them almost as much as Garibaldi does (although he still believes the "household gods" theory that G'Kar took up, so is slightly confused about some aspects, such as the theological implications of dynamite, Acme anvils, and popcorn). Geeking out about their various cultures, too - I'm sure Garibaldi wouldn't be adverse to learning a little more about the Minbari, and we've seen that Lennier has a surprising affinity for old Earth stuff. Actually, come to think of it, they're both total homebodies, so an average evening for them would probably be Lennier meditating while Garibaldi cooks, and the radio or cartoons are on in the background. Lennier might even take it upon himself to teach Garibaldi to meditate, since he could sure use it.

Any traditions:
Special meals, of course - Lennier cooks elaborate ritual meals for Minbari holidays, while Garibaldi whips up big Italian feasts for birthdays and Earth holidays. Lennier would develop an ongoing but probably ultimately fruitless plan of teaching Garibaldi to meditate. They also probably develop a lot of silly random traditions, like always having a bowl of jelly beans on hand (Lennier on a sugar high would be HILARIOUS), tinkering with random bits of old Earth technology, and complaining about Londo (and G'Kar, but mostly Londo). Oh, and they might work out together, or at least spar.

What they do when the other is sick:
Lennier does some sort of mystical Minbari healing ritual, probably, which Garibaldi is initially kind of weirded out by, but, hey, if it works it works. And I'm sure Garibaldi is full of old wives' tricks to get rid of illnesses ("feed a cold, starve a fever" being first and foremost, of course), but I'm not sure how well they would apply to Minbari physiology.

Re: Lennier and Garibaldi (yay, thanks! :D)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Any pets:
I could see Garibaldi with a big friendly dog to romp around with, but A) I'm not sure if pets are permitted on B5, and B) he probably wouldn't have time to take care of it anyway. And I'm not sure what kind of animals they have on Minbar, but I could see the two of them getting a tank of fish or something - low-maintenance and calming.

What do they fight over:
Hmm...not much, actually. Garibaldi might make a thoughtless comment or two to begin with, but once he realized what he was doing, and that it really pissed Lennier off, he would cut it out. And I'm sure the Minbari don't have capital punishment, so Garibaldi's rather hardass attitude towards criminals, death of personality, etc. might bother Lennier, but it doesn't come up all that often in conversation.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
Oh, definitely! Garibaldi might be a little bored by Minbar (until he saw the monks fighting, of course), and Lennier might get a little overstimulated by Earth and the extremely loud and boisterous Garibaldi clan, but I'm sure they could find a happy medium. For example, Lennier would love the chance to get his history geek on all over Greece and Italy, while Garibaldi would be there mostly for the food (and gladiators and hilarious mythology, because gladiators and hilarious mythology are cool), but the would have fun touring ruins and restaurants together.

Re: Lennier and Garibaldi (yay, thanks! :D)

[hamsterwoman]

Happy to oblige! :D They really do make a great pair of roommates :D

Actually, it would be really cute if Garibaldi took it upon himself to teach Lennier to cook, especially bagna cauda

It would! And I could see Lennier getting progressively more and more surprised that cooking as presented by Mr Garibaldi does not involve fasting or meditation or starting everything from scratch if one thinks the wrong thought. He'd find it more unnerving than liberating, I think, to Garibaldi's sort of resigned facepalming.

although he still believes the "household gods" theory that G'Kar took up, so is slightly confused about some aspects, such as the theological implications of dynamite, Acme anvils, and popcorn

Haha, perfect! He would be very earnestly trying to understand all this, of course, and then do the background research, and keep quoting bits of scholarly articles about comedic timing and spirit of the times at Garibaldi, who really just wants to watch Looney Tunes in peace.

Lennier would develop an ongoing but probably ultimately fruitless plan of teaching Garibaldi to meditate

Heh, I could definitely see that, and Garibaldi's continued failure at it, too. And Lennier on a sugar high *would* be funny as hell (and/but it also occurs to me that as they're both teetotallers, that would be a good roommate arrangement for them).

And I'm sure Garibaldi is full of old wives' tricks to get rid of illnesses ("feed a cold, starve a fever" being first and foremost, of course), but I'm not sure how well they would apply to Minbari physiology.

Oh, yeah, I bet he knows all kinds of old Italian home remedies for stuff, passed down through the generations, which Lennier probably does react to in interesting ways given the whole alien thing.

Lennier is so very much a tropical fish kind of guy! Like, they are pretty and fancy and require a lot of meticulous care and don't return any affection, but he would have the patience for it and it wouldn't bother him that they are not at all cuddly. Garibaldi is definitely a dog person, yep, but I think you're right that pets would not be allowed on B5 -- even personal plants don't seem to be allowed, since Ivanova's little coffee plantation is contraband.

Lennier would love the chance to get his history geek on all over Greece and Italy, while Garibaldi would be there mostly for the food (and gladiators and hilarious mythology, because gladiators and hilarious mythology are cool), but the would have fun touring ruins and restaurants together.

Aww! You're right, Earth would be a good destination for them. I think all of Garibaldi's family (and I don't remember if he has any surviving family actually?) is on Mars, but I'm sure he would enjoy seeing the ancestral homeland on Earth, since, as you say, FOOD.

Re: Lennier and Garibaldi (yay, thanks! :D)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm sure I owe you plenty of comments, replies, etc., (*shakefist at RL*), but this seems as good a place to start as any...

He'd find it more unnerving than liberating, I think, to Garibaldi's sort of resigned facepalming.
Yeah, he totally would. Because for Garibaldi, cooking is a loud, social, *fun* activity, and if he's anything like the cooks I know, he tends to swear a lot while cooking. So, yeah, slightly incompatible styles of cooking right here... (I imagine the results taste more than alright, though.)

He would be very earnestly trying to understand all this, of course, and then do the background research, and keep quoting bits of scholarly articles about comedic timing and spirit of the times
I have decided that one of my favorite things about B5 is the combination of Lennier and various silly Earth customs/items/etc. Because he totally would do his homework, very diligently, poor little nerdling. ...And now I'm imagining him presenting some sort of scholarly article about "human household gods and religious traditions: an observational report," and interpreting Garibaldi's "For fuck's sake, Lennier, just shut up and watch the damn cartoon!" as possibly related to the pancultural tradition of silence as a mark of reverence, especially in religious situations, buildings, or other areas, with a side discussion on the previously unknown human deity Fuck, and why he/she/it would be invoked in a plea for silence and attentiveness. (Ivanova or somebody would eventually fill him in, of course, but still...)

(and/but it also occurs to me that as they're both teetotalers, that would be a good roommate arrangement for them)
This occurred to me, too, but sadly, I couldn't find a way to fit it in. But, yeah, I have a sneaking suspicion Garibaldi might come to enjoy Minbari tea, and they would both find it restful to have a roommate who wasn't always trying to get them to drink. (Because, when you think about it, both of their reactions to alcohol are surprisingly similar.)

Lennier probably does react to in interesting ways given the whole alien thing.
Haha, I'm sure the Minbari would be violently allergic to...mint, or cinnamon, or some other common Earth food. Or, y'know, it could just make them psychotic (or manic-depressive, or just manic - alien physiology is fun!), or something like that.

Oops, I forgot that Garibaldi's family was Martian. I mean, I remembered that *he* was from Mars, of course (which I just now saw the symbolism of!), and that his grandmother was from Boston, but I totally forgot about the rest of them. And I do have a sneaking suspicion that he doesn't have any family left (or, at least, none that he's on visiting terms with), given that G'Kar seemed to be the only one looking for him when he disappeared from B5. But, yeah, I'm sure he would enjoy visiting Italy anyway. (Plus, he could always bring back some oranges for Sheridan.)

Re: Lennier and Garibaldi (yay, thanks! :D)

[hamsterwoman]

Because he totally would do his homework, very diligently, poor little nerdling

Totally (and LOL at the article and the deity Fuck XP, and also, unrelatedly, at the Sheridan/oranges OTP nod :D)

I couldn't remember when his family would've come to Mars, either... Possibly the Boston cop grandmother, to raise a family there? Or his parents seeking fortunes, that sort of thing? But in general, yes, I feel like he doesn't have surviving family he's on speaking terms with...

Nanny and Willow

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Who cooks:
Nanny, of course. Or, rather, the small army of daughters-in-law that Nanny orders to come by twice a day and cook for her, poor old lady that she is. Willow is at first appalled by this, but eventually comes to actually kinda enjoy not having to live off of student food or ramen. (She could always conjure up a banquet, of course, but magic is bad, m'kay.)

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
Again, either the daughters-in-law or magic. Nanny will be the first person to tell you that she deserves some looking-after at her time of life, but Willow's use of magic might seem a bit, er, wizardly to her.

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
Gleefully gossip about their friends, mostly - Nanny would definitely agree that Buffy is probably bi, and Willow would want constant updates on Magrat and Verence. Maybe a little bit of spellwork (especially with herbs and headology), but that's more Magrat's department. Oh, and playing with Greebo and Miss Kitty Fantastico (who would be well up to putting Greebo in his place).

Any traditions:
Horrifying Giles, first and foremost, which Nanny would start early and continue often. Both of them steadfastly asserting that Greebo is really just a fluffy little kitten, even while he's hanging off of Spike's face. Helping each other face their respective Big Bads with cunning and guile and more than a little headology. And I'm sure that, after a little while, Willow would find Nanny a very good listener for Willow's various romantic troubles.

What they do when the other is sick:
Various magically-aided (and mostly foul-smelling) teas, of course. I'm sure Nanny would liberally spike hers with scumble, and maybe Willow's, too, which would be *hilarious* (for everybody who's not Willow). But Nanny has decades of experience in getting people to drink her concoctions, and Willow would be eager to test out various healing brews(/spells) she's found. Oh, and both of them would invite both their and each other's friends to keep the sick person company.

Any pets:
As mentioned above, theirs is not a feline-allergic-friendly household. Tiffany and/or Granny might bring You over for catsitting whenever they're out of town, but mostly, whoever enters their house will have to make peace with Greebo and Miss Kitty sooner or later.

What do they fight over:
Willow's use of magic, mostly, which, as I said before, might seem a bit un-witch-like to Nanny. Willow would also probably side with Magrat on all matters magical, especially re: wearing flowers in one's hair and self-empowerment and crystals and things, because all those actually work in the Buffyverse.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
Oh, man, Nanny would be both the best and worse travel companion. She would want to go to ALL THE PLACES and do ALL THE THINGS, but Willow couldn't really leave her duties in Sunnydale. A little further from where you are, though, she gets to travel a little more, so I imagine Nanny would want to drag her to see everything, everywhere. And I'm sure that Willow would love to vacation in Lancre, too, although The Long Man might give her a bit of a start.

Re: Nanny and Willow

[hamsterwoman]

LOL, I had forgotten all about Miss Kitty Fantastico XD Very curious how she and Greebo would split u the turf / what sort of feline arrangements they would make XD

Very interesting point about Willow's witchery being rather wizard-like for Discworld -- and you're totally right that Willow and Magrat would get along splendidly.

Horrifying Giles, first and foremost, which Nanny would start early and continue often

Ahaha, totally! XD

Tyrion and Miles

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

(Sorry about the wait on this one - I had to nerve myself up to give it its due!)

Who cooks:
They both come from aristocratic families, and warrior aristocrats at that, so neither of them if they can help it. But if they were forced to cook for themselves, I imagine it would fall to Tyrion more often. Miles is okay with living on rat bars and such, A) because he's used to it, and B) he has more interesting things to do anyway. Speaking of which, he would be way too impatient to let things actually, y'know, cook, and would keep on trying all kinds of, erm, interesting flavor combinations and other culinary adventures. Tyrion, on the other hand, strikes me as someone who would have picked up at least a little basic cooking, just because it's a handy thing to know.

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
Again, this would fall mostly to servants. But Miles would at least be able to put his clothes in the hamper, because military neatness, and would insist on taking care of his own weapons and armor, of course. Everything else is organized by what looks like total chaos, but he knows exactly where everything is, and if he doesn't have a batman or someone to pick up after him, he would get on okay (given that "okay" encompasses a certain amount of bachelor filth). Tyrion, on the other hand, would have a TERRIBLE time picking up after himself. As far as arms and armor go, he pretty much just forgets about them and leaves them for his squire to stash in a closet somewhere. As for everything else, he may have been emotionally and psychologically neglected, but I'm sure that a lion of the Rock never had to deal with a load of dirty dishes or laundry in his life. So there would be half-drunk cups of wine, mostly-finished sandwiches, and underwear (quite possibly of feminine origin) everywhere, much to Miles' frustration (the food and wine) and admiration (the underwear).

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
I'm stealing your answer and saying board games! Because the image of Miles playing an insanely complicated version of, like, Risk or Battleship or something is not something to be wasted, and I'm sure that, once the premise was explained to him, Tyrion would be all over that. All the fun of strategy, but without the danger of people trying to hack off important body parts! If they're in the mood for something more classic, chess/cyvasse may be substituted. Oh, and telling increasingly improbable tales of their daring exploits (which may or may not be true) may also feature prominently.

Alternately, bouts of intensive studying as they prepare for this caper or that, and the other lends them a hand. They both pick up plenty of interesting info, and Tyrion is FASCINATED by computers.

Re: Tyrion and Miles

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Any traditions:
Miles tries to invite Tyrion to a bunch of big Vorkosigan shindigs, but these are ultimately melancholy events for Tyrion - they show him what his life could have been like if Joanna had lived and/or Tywin wasn't so...Tywin, or if Joffrey wasn't nuts, or if Robert wasn't a colossal douche...basically, Barrayar is where all of ASOIAF's happy endings go to hide, and Tyrion would eventually realize this and be depressed by it, even if he does enjoy talking to Gregor and partying with Ivan (who would remind him of Jaime in more than one way).

What they do when the other is sick:
Tyrion wouldn't have the faintest clue how to handle Miles' slew of futuristic medical issues, so he would probably just summon any of the slew of on-call doctors that have been hovering around Miles his entire life. As for Tyrion, Miles would do pretty much what he does whenever Gregor or Ivan or Elena was sick, which is to keep them entertained with crazy stories/board games/holovids, and get out of the way whenever a doctor or Cordelia stops by to take over.

Any pets:
I like your idea of Miles with a yappy little wire-haired terrier that everybody else hates. Tyrion would lobby for a lion or some other feline, of course, but after a stern lecture from Cordelia on exotic pets and animal cruelty, he compromises with Miles and they name the dog Lion, much to the hilarity of everybody who knows him.

What do they fight over:
Tyrion's libertinism, probably - Miles would be okay with the drinking, of course, but he would insist that Tyrion at least clean up after himself (which wouldn't go over all that well when Tyrion was already hungover). Also, Miles' particular brand of FORWARD MOMENTUM! involves a certain amount of disregard for his physical safety; this, plus the whole Vor thing, would mean that he would more than likely consider some of Tyrion's actions cowardly or un-noble-like, while Tyrion would be frustrated with Miles' typical knightly attitude. Oh, and Tyrion would definitely (but probably subconsciously) envy Miles his stable childhood and loving family, and might get a little mean as a consequence.

TBH, I can honestly see Tyrion getting on better with Mark, as they have similar issues (bodily deformities without Aral and Cordelia to soften the blow, a socially-unacceptable desire for information/knowledge over combat, lurking psychosis that manifests rarely but violently, rather severe daddy issues, and, of course, all the usual extreme body/identity issues and inferiority complexes) and more similar personalities. They could complain to each other about Miles when he gets all knight errant, commiserate over their various cultures' frankly idiotic ideas of masculinity, and help each other out on research projects/intelligence-gathering missions.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
Not really, actually. Westeros would just horrify Miles on so many levels, while Barrayar and the Vorkosigans would just make Tyrion jealous. Tyrion might like to visit Beta Colony, though, with its interesting hermaphrodites and LPSTs and much more permissive attitudes towards both Tyrion's body and his intelligence.

Re: Tyrion and Miles

[hamsterwoman]

No worries at all -- your answer was worth the wait! :D

much to Miles' frustration (the food and wine) and admiration (the underwear).

Heh.

even if he does enjoy talking to Gregor

A phrase that I bet Tyrion never thought he would ever think, before he met Miles :D

he compromises with Miles and they name the dog Lion, much to the hilarity of everybody who knows him

Ahaha, perfect! And, yeah, Miles and the terrible yappy terrier dog that everyone hates has totally become an ironclad part of my AU Miles headcanons, so I'm very pleased to see his appearance here :D

TBH, I can honestly see Tyrion getting on better with Mark

Yeah, actually, I see it that way, too. For all that I love to "sell" Miles as Tyrion IN SPACE, I totally think Miles is a Targaryen (one reason he and River Tam would make such a great couple ;), but Mark I think is a Lannister, and Tyrion would have a much easier time dealing with him.

Tyrion might like to visit Beta Colony, though, with its interesting hermaphrodites and LPSTs and much more permissive attitudes towards both Tyrion's body and his intelligence

Oh yeah! He would definitely be all over the chance to visit the Orb -- but I think there would be rather a lot of interviews and evaluations required before anyone on Beta would let him, given his murder of Shae and sundry other Issues around "whores".

And if Miles were to go to Westeros, it would definitely not be for vacation -- he'd probably attempt to Rescue Everyone there a la Dagoola IV, whatever the reason he ended up there in the first place.

Re: Tyrion and Miles

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

your answer was worth the wait! :D
Aww, thanks! :) These two are just so much fun to write about.

A phrase that I bet Tyrion never thought he would ever think, before he met Miles :D
Oh, man, I completely forgot about this aspect! Yeah, I'm sure both Tyrion and Gregor would be sufficiently weirded out by the association... Oh, and another reason he would feel melancholy about visiting Barrayar is that he would see Ned and Cat in Aral and Cordelia, and feel bad about both their deaths (as well as be kind of worried about what would happen if Cordelia were revived by a Red Priest). And then there's the whole Stanis vs. Stannis thing...

Mark I think is a Lannister, and Tyrion would have a much easier time dealing with him.
I've actually been having some trouble deciding where to put Mark (Martell, for the scattered family issues and playing the long game? Stark, for having been convinced that he doesn't need anybody before being convinced that he kinda does?) Lannister fits the bill perfectly, though, both from what I've seen and what you've said about his future money-making schemes/interest in blondes.

I think there would be rather a lot of interviews and evaluations required before anyone on Beta would let him
Ooh, yeah, that would be a definite concern for them. I mean, they're accepting of other cultural mores and whatnot, but they'd probably only let him in if he agreed to a course of intensive therapy, and maybe medication as well.

he'd probably attempt to Rescue Everyone there a la Dagoola IV
Haha, if anyone were to conceive of rescuing an entire continent (or two, because why not rescue Essos while you're in the neighborhood), it would totally be Miles. XD On one hand, my faith in his ability to pull off Daring Rescues armed with literally nothing but, like, a toothbrush and a paper clip rises every time I see him, so if any one were able to pull it off, in addition to conceiving it, it would be him. But on the other hand, Westeros is sort of the anti-Barrayar 'verse in terms of how happy Our Heroes are allowed to be/what they're allowed to achieve, so I guess it'll be a sort of irresistible force/immovable object clash when Miles' Thrillin' Heroics comes up again the innate Crapsack World-ness of ASOIAF.

Re: Tyrion and Miles

[hamsterwoman]

Yeah, I'm sure both Tyrion and Gregor would be sufficiently weirded out by the association...

Gregor probably even more so than Tyrion! (Although the Stan(n)ises, whom I forgot about, would be less of an intense divergence.)

as well as be kind of worried about what would happen if Cordelia were revived by a Red Priest

That is a very creepy notion!

Back when I was doing Vorkosigan sorting, I wibbled for a while over having Miles and Mark in different houses, since they are essentially the same person with different upbringing, but ultimately I can't see Miles anywhere BUT in Targaryen -- he's too much of a megalomaniac even for Lannister, and his big endeavors all tend to be altruistic, and Mark fits in Lannister so much better.

an entire continent (or two, because why not rescue Essos while you're in the neighborhood),

Heh, yes, can't leave Essos out of a Daring Rescue! True about irresistible force/immovable object, though -- I don't think there's yet been such a thing as a successful Daring Rescue in ASOIAF...

[mauvais-pli.livejournal.com]

Your college things updates make me full of squee!

we could officially check "went to frat party" off of our College Experiences checklist.
Good on you :) I both sympathize and envy you there, since american frat parties never happened to me, but anyway, I'm a firm believes one should at least walk into one once!

Glad to hear you're reading Kvothe! I will patiently await your report. Meanwhile, I'm reading this book with a protagonist that is sort of like Tina, with extra jock cred, and grown-up. I'm sort of excited to see where that goes and what I'll have to say after.

Speaking of K's visit, I thought you'd probably be the person to ask, and since you mention bookstores: basically I want comic bookstore recs either in Berkeley or in the city? I really want a thing, and I'm going to request Kay bring it for me, but I gotta provide directions, and I got weirdly derailed looking for comic bookstores online.

Appropriate meme is appropriate :D Hm, I want to come up with some ~difficult~ roommates, but let's have Sansa Stark and Janet Carter.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Your college things updates make me full of squee!
And I feel full of squee, so happy to pass it on! :D

I'm a firm believes one should at least walk into one once!
Yeah, I definitely feel like I've had some sort of rite of passage.

I want comic bookstore recs either in Berkeley or in the city?
My local store is Fantastic Comics (http://fantasticcomics.net/), which suits my dilettante's needs just fine, but I've never had them special order anything, so IDK how they are with more specialized stuff. What are you looking for? (Also, here's (http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/top-lists/san-francisco%E2%80%99s-5-best-comic-book-stores/) a list of good places in SF, but I haven't been to any of them, so I can't vouch for or against.)

For the meme:
Who cooks:
Hmm... if it had to be one of them, I would say Janet, because Sansa is a ~lady~, and thus is more about consuming lemoncakes than producing them. And Janet seems to be mostly good at beverages and confectionary, so at least they're covered on the tea and lemoncakes front, but for anything more substantial, they probably just go to any of the Blackstock dining halls.

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
At first Sansa would have a lot to get used to, since she doesn't have servants to do things for her, but Janet would strike a good balance between not letting Sansa sit around on her duff and being a gentle teacher. So it would start out with Janet doing everything, because she's the only one who knows how. This would progress to Sansa starting to take over some chores, first under Janet's tutelage/supervision and then on her own, and eventually they're pretty much equal. Janet is still more willing to get her hands dirty, though, so I imagine she would be the one to do laundry, clean the bathroom, etc., while Sansa would do dishes and vacuum and stuff.

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
I imagine Sansa would really like Janet's whole gang of friends, so they would all hang around various people's apartments a lot. But she *does* run with a pretty literary bunch, so I imagine that any evenings when they're not with the group, Janet recommends various reading materials to Sansa, The Wind in the Willows first and foremost. In return, Janet gets some Westerosi songs and tales from Sansa. Oh, and they both do quiet domestic stuff, like sewing.

Any traditions:
Fancy meals to commemorate special occasions, such as birthdays or finals, naturally. A cookie jar kept consistently full of lemoncakes. (OK, now I really want a lemon scone.) Nick, Robin, and Thomas teasing Sansa about her steadfast refusal to read Shakespeare's tragedies, to varying degrees depending on their personalities. Janet also periodically either leaves discreet pamphlets lying around, or slips hints about women's self-defense classes into conversation, but it never really takes.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

What they do when the other is sick:
Janet makes plenty of tea with honey and consults Nick re: remedies if it looks like anything more serious than a cold, but she really isn't up to much cooing, so after a few days of Sansa's drama, she spends most of her time in the library (but still returns every few hours to check on her and make more tea). Sansa calls Nick.

Any pets:
Hmm...probably not. Sansa certainly wouldn't want another canine after Lady, and The Meeb wouldn't get along well AT ALL with the other Starks' direwolves. Maybe a bird or something, but Janet would get fed up with the poop and feathers and smell pretty quickly.

What do they fight over:
They try to avoid face-to-face fighting (they *do* have to live together, after all), but they complain to their separate circles about a few things. Sansa's overall helplessness with practical tasks annoyed Janet initially, but now she knows how to do them (although the instinct to wash a dirty dish, run a load of laundry when the hamper is full, etc. instead of leaving it for someone else to deal with is a long time in coming), so that's marginally better. Janet agrees that Loras is hot, but spotted him and Renly a mile away, and Sansa gets mad when Janet just bursts out laughing smiles disconcertingly whenever Sansa enters fangirl mode. Sansa also thinks (quite rightly) that Janet sometimes gets fed up with her occasional histrionics.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
Oh, yes, all the time! For some reason, I imagine these two would make really good traveling companions. So they would go to visit Winterfell for a little while over winter break, and have epic snowball fights and play with the direwolves. Theon eventually gets a little handsy, but then Janet punches him, much to his surprise, and he treats her with a sort of wary respect after that. There are plenty of Sunday dinners over at the Carters' house, where Sansa gets along GREAT with Lily and is eventually conscripted into babysitting Andrew when the occasion calls for it. They also go visit Janet's various far-flung friends sometimes during the summer, when Janet can get the time off of work, because Sansa loves seeing the world.

[mauvais-pli.livejournal.com]

Nick, Robin, and Thomas teasing Sansa about her steadfast refusal to read Shakespeare's tragedies, to varying degrees depending on their personalities. Janet also periodically either leaves discreet pamphlets lying around, or slips hints about women's self-defense classes into conversation, but it never really takes
Ahahahaha, those are two of my favourite bits XD Closely followed by 'Sansa calls Nick'.

Sorry it took to so long! I actually reread your answers a few times, they're great.

And thanks for the comic bookstore recs! None of them seem to have any online catalogues or whatever so I'll just arm Kay with a list and if it happens, it happens. I'm not really after any of the popular stuff, I want the True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys which is a sequel to a concept album, essentially, or another one by the same writer, The Umbrella Academy. Any of this list is cool, because it's totally a fangirl quest.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Sorry about my lateness, in return! The catching-up game is a slow one, but I'm a-getting there.

Yay, I'm thrilled they warranted a re-read! :D This was a great pair, both as roomies and for interactions in general.

I remember seeing the music video(s?) for True Lives, being intrigued, and doing a little wiki-ing. And I've heard very good things about The Umbrella Academy, so if some of it comes back to you slightly pre-read, hope you won't mind. ;) Kay will probably have to order the Mass Effect one, since it was for FCBD, but I'm hopeful of finding the rest - the Bay Area is great for little niche/indie comic book shops!

[mauvais-pli.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there were two videos for Danger Days, Na Na Na for the setting, and Sing for the resolution.

D'aw, you're making me all self-conscious. Honestly, the Mass Effect one is the last thing on my mind, really, and I wasn't even thinking of all, more like, whatever happens to be at hand so I could paw at it, essentially. (Pawing rights extended to associates, naturally :D) Of course, I wouldn't say no to all, but, um, as mentioned, shy nao.

Speaking of videos, though, they also did a sweet collab with deadmau5 in the same post-apocalyptic vein, but with kawaii robot cage fights.

[lady-peony.livejournal.com]

Your roommates sound super-cool, which is definitely a plus. Also you mentioned so much Berkeley food that I'm vaguely hungry now.

ALSO A++ on all the adulting you mentioned. HAVE A GOLD STAR. HAVE A WHOLE SHOWER OF SHINY GLITTERY STARS THAT STICK ON STUFF.

Also for the meme: In some jellity-jiggly place where universes merged, let's have Bones and Simon Tam as roommates.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

you mentioned so much Berkeley food that I'm vaguely hungry now.
BWAHAHAHA my evil plan is succeeding! No, but seriously, Berkeley has SO MUCH GOOD FOOD that I've had to budget myself very sternly to stop myself from eating out every night. XD

Yay, shiny glittery gold stars! :D This should totally be the reward for adulting in any and all situations.

For the meme: Best Med School Roommates Evar!
Who cooks:
Both of them, but not very often or well. They can both handle anything involving microwaves or toasters, and Bones occasionally gets the Southern urge to grill/barbecue/deep-fry something, but mostly, it's ramen and take-out and stuff. Hey, they're in med school, who has time to cook? They both take the stocking of their drinks cabinet very seriously, though - Bones handles everything whiskey- and bourbon-related (and keeps a stock of vodka and silly fruity drinks that Jim likes on hand too), while Simon gets a bunch of port and wine and fancy liqueurs. Oh, and sake, of course.

How do they split up the laundry and other chores:
Bones does laundry and various other cleaning-type-stuff, as he's used to being The Responsible One (and most of the mess is usually his, or at least his friend's, anyway). Simon turns out to be unexpectedly handy with tools, and repairs things as necessary. They strictly split the dishes (not that they have that many, anyway).

Their favorite thing to do together on a night in:
You mean besides frantically study for upcoming exams? :P Jim is a bad influence on both of them, and they love editing WebMD and other wikis to create hilarious and improbable diseases, the only symptoms of which are itchiness and a headache.

Any traditions:
Massive study session for finals, of course, in which they drill each other and tape up flashcards on every flat surface in the place, followed by a massive hedonistic binge when finals get out. A running competition of weird things Jim and River do. Whipping up hangover cures and ulcer medication, as needed.

What they do when the other is sick:
Well, they're both doctors(-in-training), so they can definitely handle the technical side of whatever ails the other. As far as non-medicine-related matters go, though, Simon is all patient and affectionate and puts up with Bones' increased bitching and maybe slips about three doses of NyQuil (or whatever they have in the future) into his tea. When Simon is sick, though, is the one time Bones cooks. He makes his grandmother's chicken noodle soup, which is AMAZING and possibly involves some sort of voodoo, because it can handle pretty much any illness. Other than that, though, he goes about his day pretty much as usual, sticking his head into Simon's room once in a while to check that he's still alive, but secretly worrying about him.

Any pets:
Neither of them really has time or energy to take care of animals, but Bones once gets talked into pet-sitting a friend's cat, which was a hit all around, except for Simon. Said cat insisted on rubbing all over the aforesaid Simon (who A) wears black and B) hates cats), played with Jim, and charmed Bones into giving him all kinds of treats.

What do they fight over:
Jim, mostly, because he LOVES making fun of Simon. And maybe Simon's snootiness a little, since he sometimes (probably unintentionally) makes Bones feel like a bit of a hick.

Do they go on vacations together, if so where:
To the Tam mansion, of course, where River and Bones hit it off in a weird kind of way and Tam Sr. secretly wonders if Bones is Simon's boyfriend. They might take a couple of road trips to the South in general (especially New Orleans and other historical-ish places like that), but never back to Bones' hometown, because of Bad Memories.