Bits and Bobs
Mar. 21st, 2010 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunasariel Just unloading, as the title says, all the bits and bobs that collect in my brain. They're starting to get a bit stale, and I wanted to get them out before they rot, or worse, fade entirely.
I've progressed in Forgotten Realms (I'm now about 3/4 of the way through Streams of Silver), and events have only confirmed my dual suspicions: Cattie-brie is not precisely the whinging, helpless damsel in distress that I feared, although she is definitely The Chick of the group, and Wulfgar DEFINITELY has a thing for Drizzt, a thing that Drizzt just might reciprocate. One line in particular got my brain going in this regard: it was when the Companions of the Hall were crossing the Evermoors, and got attacked by trolls, pretty much continuously. I don't have the book with me at the moment, which is a pity, because it's a doozy of a line. In the scene in question, Drizzt has been taken down, and Wulfgar leaps to his defense. I remember they specifically used the word "straddled" in regards to Wulfgar's position relative to Drizzt, and might have used the word "prostrate" to describe Drizzt's position relative to Wulfgar (and everybody else). Yeah, subtext was pretty near becoming text, at that point. Wait, maybe the scene took place when they encountered the Riders of Nesmé; I don't remember. Of course, this is in addition to the searching, soulful looks they share on what seems to be a pretty regular basis, Wulfgar's indignation and possessive rage when Drizzt is denied entry to Silverymoon, and Drizzt's absolute freak-out upon finding a troll arm trying to crush Wulfgar's leg (let it be noted that he didn't seem half so worried about a giant frickin' worm trying to crush Regis' whole body).
I've worked this theory into my own little Forgotten Realms AU. The way I'm telling it, my fanon-verse (Thalion in particular) occasionally strays into canon, especially when Canon!Drizzt and the others could use a helping hand. At first, the Companions of the Hall are a bit disturbed, to say the least, to see this weirdo elf show up out of nowhere and demonstrate alarmingly precise knowledge about their goals and personal lives. Thalion is, at first, hurt and annoyed that his friends (in my fanon-verse, Thalion joins the Companions' quest along with Drizzt) sporadically refuse to acknowledge his existence, and seem to forget entirely about these incidents the rest of the time. But eventually, Fanon!Drizzt accidentally crosses over along with Thalion, and meets his canonical counterpart. After a few wacky hijinks involving scimitars and drow magic, the whole messy business gets sorted out, and each group figures out how to contact the other at will.
Thalion's character is emerging much more clearly: he's cynical and artificially hard-hearted, and has a razor-sharp, somewhat sarcastic wit, which he isn't afraid to sharpen on those who disrespect him or Drizzt. He's very defensive about his sexuality, of course, and has an extremely short fuse when it comes to that (or to anything threatening Drizzt, for that matter), although he is fairly calm about other matters. He admires Drizzt's high moral standards and ability to see the best in everyone, two abilities he fears he has lost. He is definitely the "survivor" of the two, and occasionally clashes with Drizzt over the expediency of a proposed action versus its morality. But he's not all grimness and expediency: he has a large soft spot for the outcast and the underdog, and is always willing to help someone who has been let down or abandoned by the powers that be. He doesn't make friends easily, but once he does, they're his friends for life, and he will fight to the death for them. His word, like his friendship and his trust, is not given easily, but absolute once it is obtained.
In my fanon-verse, he has, as I said, chosen to join the Companions of the Hall, mostly to watch out for Drizzt, but also for a chance to get out of Icewind Dale, a place he hates, considering it a frozen, desolate wasteland, populated almost entirely by vicious, ungrateful thieves and murderers. (Which, actually, it is.) He respects Bruenor both as a warrior and an honorable person, although his temper and the dwarf's often clash. He's alright with Regis socially, although they don't trust each other, Thalion considering Regis a coward, and Regis having come to the conclusion that the elf's loyalties lie to Drizzt first, and all else second. He considers Wulfgar a bit of a lummox, but secretly admires the young barbarian's zest for life. He is usually exasperated by Cattie-brie, who he sees as Bruenor's whiny kid tagging along where she isn't wanted. Having known such famous fighters as Princess Imani and freakin' Meilikki, he also considers her a substandard warrior, not allowing her to use her gender as a crutch and an excuse, as many other males seem to allow her to. I've built up a little love quadrangle(?) in this regard: Wulfgar and Cattie-brie are both interested in Drizzt, and resent his closeness with Thalion. Drizzt immediately nixes all ideas of a relationship involving him and Cattie-brie, as she is more or less his niece, and he has known her since she was about 11 years old. And while he acknowledges that Wulfgar is attractive (much to Thalion's dismay), he thinks of the barbarian as a fighting companion and an apprentice, seeing him as almost entirely asexual. Both Thalion and Fanon!Drizzt are shocked and a bit alarmed to see a relationship developing between Canon!Drizzt and Canon!Wulfgar. When the two Drizzts get a spare minute to sit down and sort things out, they come to a single conclusion: both Drizzts can clearly see that Wulfgar is a sexy hunk o' human, but Fanon!Drizzt, having returned briefly to the Underdark, simply doesn't trust Wulfgar not to die the next time the Do'Urdens get bored. In addition, their opinions vary widely with regard to Thalion himself: Fanon!Drizzt is charmed by his loyalty and impressed by his determination to follow his own code instead of one imposed upon him (read: ability to think for himself, and to see the world clearly for what it is, not what he or others wish it to be), while Canon!Drizzt thinks that's he's a cynical smartass, albeit a smokin' hot one.
On another note, I've been working my way through the Sookie Stackhouse series. I know, it's a bit of a step down, to say the least, from Harry Dresden or (at least the concept of) Anita Blake, but I like it for it's un-preposessiveness. It pretends to be nothing other than exactly what it is: a campy, often silly supernatural romance about a bunch of sexy magic people and their various entanglements. At least, that's the way it used to be. Now, and I blame True Blood (the TV series spawned from SS) for this, it has started to take itself *way* too seriously, and has thus lost most of its humble, quirky charm. Sookie herself has gone from a friendly, down-home, oddball barmaid with a strange talent to a haughty, holier-than-thou ultra-über-special telepath. In the second-to-latest book, From Dead to Worse, especially, she's lost the sweet, humble, yet determined and practical air that made me like her in the first place. Anybody who's not a dues-paying member of the Official Sookie Stackhouse Fan Club is depicted as Public Enemy Number One, and her taste in men has gone from sensible and pleasantly discerning to downright snooty.
I was truly shocked at he treatment of Quinn, the latest in a surprisingly long succession of sweeties. Her reason(s) for dumping her first few guys made at least some sort of sense, but by now she's just being a bitch. Her first love, Bill, cheated on her and lied to her in a major way, both excellent reasons to show someone the door. The next guy, Alcide, also had a good reason for it not to work out: Sookie killed Alcide's psycho stalker off-again on-again kinda-girlfriend, although it was in self-defense. Again, that's the kind of thing that sort of drives a wedge between two people. But the latest, Quinn, just got the short end of the stick, plain and simple. Sookie decided that she didn't want a guy who seemingly put his unstable sister and elderly, mentally ill, rape victim mother before her. The cad! How dare he choose to save his own family from ravening vampires rather than check in with his (very recent) girlfriend? Seriously, as far as I can tell, that's the reason she broke up with him: he didn't call. Oh, sure, calling her would put his family's life in jeopardy, as well as draw said ravening vampires straight to Sookie, but what does that matter? Sookie's feelings were hurt! Of course, it also doesn't matter that he's funny, sweet, charming, good-looking, has saved her life several times, definitely likes her a lot, maybe even loves her, and was devastated when she cut him loose.
And through all this, there have been two guys who have also had their eye on fair Sookie, although she hasn't had an actual "relationship" with either of them: Eric Northman and Sam Merlotte. Sam is living proof that good guys finish last, and Eric that chicks digbad boys pissy blonde Viking vampiric badasses. Sam, a shapeshifter, is her boss, good friend, and frequent literal life-saver. He's listened to her problems, come to her rescue on several occasions (usually at considerable personal risk), and helped her out with mundane and supernatural issues galore. Unfortunately, he is also sweet, caring, friendly, sensitive, and willing to take a step back to make her more comfortable, putting him in the very back of the potential boyfriend race. On the other hand, Eric is an amoral, undead killing machine with control issues. Oddly enough, he can also be incredibly sweet...when he's had his memory completely erased by an evil shapeshifting witch.
In other news, I've also been working on my own little Authority not-quite-AU. I say "not-quite-AU" instead of plain ol' "AU" because it is a canonical fact that nobody, including the two in question, knows the slightest detail about Apollo's or the Midnighter's pre-Stormwatch lives, as Bendix surgically removed all their memories. The keyword for this not-quite-AU is "quirky." I needed something lighthearted and fun after some of the more recent issues of the series, where sometimes it seems like the best possible thing that can happen to you is to die swiftly and heroically, before you can watch your own well-intentioned mistakes cause the death of millions, and before your friends become psychotic monsters and/or betray you and/or die horribly.
Anyway, as I said, this is just Apollo's and the Midnighter's story from before they were Apollo and the Midnighter. Apollo used to be known as Dr. Paul Andersen, the Dean of English at UC Berkley. The Midnighter was once Maj. Matt McGuiness, a decorated veteran recovering from a combat wound while teaching at the nearby Army base.
They meet when one of the soldiers under Matt's command, a raging homophobe, goes off on an angry rant in a class taught by the openly gay Paul. The student becomes violent when Paul tries to reason with him, striking several other students and the teacher before Paul manages to subdue him. Disciplinary action is taken against the student, and a mortified Matt (who is *very* deep in the closet, btw) takes the soldier for whose actions he considers himself responsible to personally apologize to the professor he punched.
After seeing to it that his charge apologizes (sort of), Matt sends his charge back to the Army base and stays to talk with Paul, who is also the faculty sponsor of UC Berkley's chapter of the GSA. Matt truly is mortified that one of his men is doing so much to reinforce the negative stereotypes many people have of the Army, and wanted Paul's input on a program he and some other commanding officers have been devising, that will hopefully make some of the Army's more...problematic individuals less sexist/racist/homophobic/etc.
Even after the program has been completely designed, the two still find reasons to spend time together. It becomes increasingly obvious to both of them that Matt fears being outed to his distinctly unsympathetic fellows, and possibly even losing his job, to initiate things. Paul initially (and highly unwillingly, but still) decides to give up his chance with the gruff redhead, but his secretary, Amy Pierce, is tired of seeing her boss moping and Matt, who she nicknames "G.I. Joe," on tenterhooks, so she summarily sets them up.
Matt fakes a relationship with Amy to cover up his relationship with Paul, and things proceed from there quite happily. After a while, Matt spends a Thanksgiving with Paul and his family: Katie, his gregarious and sometimes alarmingly cheerful sister, Stephen and Miranda, his parents, both retired teachers themselves (Stephen taught history, and Miranda taught sociology), and Scooter, their ancient Scottie.
To make a long story short, Matt is readily accepted into Paul's family, which comes as something of a surprise to him, given that the only family he's ever known is his authoritative, hardass, not-particularly-loving father. He continues to fake a relationship with Amy in order to be able to talk to Paul after he's shipped out. After he returns, he's on shore leave for a while, during which time he is accidentally outed. After being discharged from the Army, he goes to work for the CIA, where he becomes ungodly good at kicking ass.
I have a couple of ways things can go from here, as far as getting them into Bendix's hands. In one scenario, I just go with Occam's Razor and have Bendix nab both boys for their exemplary genes. In another, Bendix really wants Matt for the aforementioned ungodly ass-kicking abilities, but, also because of said abilities, can't just snatch him up. Instead he arranges for Paul to suffer a "carjacking" that leaves him in a vegetative state. Bendix poses as a doctor and claims to be able to cure Paul with an experimental procedure he's been working on. Matt is grief-stricken enough to agree, and so isn't really in a position to fight when Bendix reveals his true motives.
So, there you have it. Of course, that's just the bare bones. There are other elements, such as Paul's involvement with the SCA and Matt's increasing difficulty with hiding his relationship with Paul from the Army, but those are largely superfluous, and this story has taken long enough to tell as it is. And yeah, I know, not exactly literature for the ages, but it's fun and, as I said, quirky, which is exactly what I need post-Revolutions.
I've progressed in Forgotten Realms (I'm now about 3/4 of the way through Streams of Silver), and events have only confirmed my dual suspicions: Cattie-brie is not precisely the whinging, helpless damsel in distress that I feared, although she is definitely The Chick of the group, and Wulfgar DEFINITELY has a thing for Drizzt, a thing that Drizzt just might reciprocate. One line in particular got my brain going in this regard: it was when the Companions of the Hall were crossing the Evermoors, and got attacked by trolls, pretty much continuously. I don't have the book with me at the moment, which is a pity, because it's a doozy of a line. In the scene in question, Drizzt has been taken down, and Wulfgar leaps to his defense. I remember they specifically used the word "straddled" in regards to Wulfgar's position relative to Drizzt, and might have used the word "prostrate" to describe Drizzt's position relative to Wulfgar (and everybody else). Yeah, subtext was pretty near becoming text, at that point. Wait, maybe the scene took place when they encountered the Riders of Nesmé; I don't remember. Of course, this is in addition to the searching, soulful looks they share on what seems to be a pretty regular basis, Wulfgar's indignation and possessive rage when Drizzt is denied entry to Silverymoon, and Drizzt's absolute freak-out upon finding a troll arm trying to crush Wulfgar's leg (let it be noted that he didn't seem half so worried about a giant frickin' worm trying to crush Regis' whole body).
I've worked this theory into my own little Forgotten Realms AU. The way I'm telling it, my fanon-verse (Thalion in particular) occasionally strays into canon, especially when Canon!Drizzt and the others could use a helping hand. At first, the Companions of the Hall are a bit disturbed, to say the least, to see this weirdo elf show up out of nowhere and demonstrate alarmingly precise knowledge about their goals and personal lives. Thalion is, at first, hurt and annoyed that his friends (in my fanon-verse, Thalion joins the Companions' quest along with Drizzt) sporadically refuse to acknowledge his existence, and seem to forget entirely about these incidents the rest of the time. But eventually, Fanon!Drizzt accidentally crosses over along with Thalion, and meets his canonical counterpart. After a few wacky hijinks involving scimitars and drow magic, the whole messy business gets sorted out, and each group figures out how to contact the other at will.
Thalion's character is emerging much more clearly: he's cynical and artificially hard-hearted, and has a razor-sharp, somewhat sarcastic wit, which he isn't afraid to sharpen on those who disrespect him or Drizzt. He's very defensive about his sexuality, of course, and has an extremely short fuse when it comes to that (or to anything threatening Drizzt, for that matter), although he is fairly calm about other matters. He admires Drizzt's high moral standards and ability to see the best in everyone, two abilities he fears he has lost. He is definitely the "survivor" of the two, and occasionally clashes with Drizzt over the expediency of a proposed action versus its morality. But he's not all grimness and expediency: he has a large soft spot for the outcast and the underdog, and is always willing to help someone who has been let down or abandoned by the powers that be. He doesn't make friends easily, but once he does, they're his friends for life, and he will fight to the death for them. His word, like his friendship and his trust, is not given easily, but absolute once it is obtained.
In my fanon-verse, he has, as I said, chosen to join the Companions of the Hall, mostly to watch out for Drizzt, but also for a chance to get out of Icewind Dale, a place he hates, considering it a frozen, desolate wasteland, populated almost entirely by vicious, ungrateful thieves and murderers. (Which, actually, it is.) He respects Bruenor both as a warrior and an honorable person, although his temper and the dwarf's often clash. He's alright with Regis socially, although they don't trust each other, Thalion considering Regis a coward, and Regis having come to the conclusion that the elf's loyalties lie to Drizzt first, and all else second. He considers Wulfgar a bit of a lummox, but secretly admires the young barbarian's zest for life. He is usually exasperated by Cattie-brie, who he sees as Bruenor's whiny kid tagging along where she isn't wanted. Having known such famous fighters as Princess Imani and freakin' Meilikki, he also considers her a substandard warrior, not allowing her to use her gender as a crutch and an excuse, as many other males seem to allow her to. I've built up a little love quadrangle(?) in this regard: Wulfgar and Cattie-brie are both interested in Drizzt, and resent his closeness with Thalion. Drizzt immediately nixes all ideas of a relationship involving him and Cattie-brie, as she is more or less his niece, and he has known her since she was about 11 years old. And while he acknowledges that Wulfgar is attractive (much to Thalion's dismay), he thinks of the barbarian as a fighting companion and an apprentice, seeing him as almost entirely asexual. Both Thalion and Fanon!Drizzt are shocked and a bit alarmed to see a relationship developing between Canon!Drizzt and Canon!Wulfgar. When the two Drizzts get a spare minute to sit down and sort things out, they come to a single conclusion: both Drizzts can clearly see that Wulfgar is a sexy hunk o' human, but Fanon!Drizzt, having returned briefly to the Underdark, simply doesn't trust Wulfgar not to die the next time the Do'Urdens get bored. In addition, their opinions vary widely with regard to Thalion himself: Fanon!Drizzt is charmed by his loyalty and impressed by his determination to follow his own code instead of one imposed upon him (read: ability to think for himself, and to see the world clearly for what it is, not what he or others wish it to be), while Canon!Drizzt thinks that's he's a cynical smartass, albeit a smokin' hot one.
On another note, I've been working my way through the Sookie Stackhouse series. I know, it's a bit of a step down, to say the least, from Harry Dresden or (at least the concept of) Anita Blake, but I like it for it's un-preposessiveness. It pretends to be nothing other than exactly what it is: a campy, often silly supernatural romance about a bunch of sexy magic people and their various entanglements. At least, that's the way it used to be. Now, and I blame True Blood (the TV series spawned from SS) for this, it has started to take itself *way* too seriously, and has thus lost most of its humble, quirky charm. Sookie herself has gone from a friendly, down-home, oddball barmaid with a strange talent to a haughty, holier-than-thou ultra-über-special telepath. In the second-to-latest book, From Dead to Worse, especially, she's lost the sweet, humble, yet determined and practical air that made me like her in the first place. Anybody who's not a dues-paying member of the Official Sookie Stackhouse Fan Club is depicted as Public Enemy Number One, and her taste in men has gone from sensible and pleasantly discerning to downright snooty.
I was truly shocked at he treatment of Quinn, the latest in a surprisingly long succession of sweeties. Her reason(s) for dumping her first few guys made at least some sort of sense, but by now she's just being a bitch. Her first love, Bill, cheated on her and lied to her in a major way, both excellent reasons to show someone the door. The next guy, Alcide, also had a good reason for it not to work out: Sookie killed Alcide's psycho stalker off-again on-again kinda-girlfriend, although it was in self-defense. Again, that's the kind of thing that sort of drives a wedge between two people. But the latest, Quinn, just got the short end of the stick, plain and simple. Sookie decided that she didn't want a guy who seemingly put his unstable sister and elderly, mentally ill, rape victim mother before her. The cad! How dare he choose to save his own family from ravening vampires rather than check in with his (very recent) girlfriend? Seriously, as far as I can tell, that's the reason she broke up with him: he didn't call. Oh, sure, calling her would put his family's life in jeopardy, as well as draw said ravening vampires straight to Sookie, but what does that matter? Sookie's feelings were hurt! Of course, it also doesn't matter that he's funny, sweet, charming, good-looking, has saved her life several times, definitely likes her a lot, maybe even loves her, and was devastated when she cut him loose.
And through all this, there have been two guys who have also had their eye on fair Sookie, although she hasn't had an actual "relationship" with either of them: Eric Northman and Sam Merlotte. Sam is living proof that good guys finish last, and Eric that chicks dig
In other news, I've also been working on my own little Authority not-quite-AU. I say "not-quite-AU" instead of plain ol' "AU" because it is a canonical fact that nobody, including the two in question, knows the slightest detail about Apollo's or the Midnighter's pre-Stormwatch lives, as Bendix surgically removed all their memories. The keyword for this not-quite-AU is "quirky." I needed something lighthearted and fun after some of the more recent issues of the series, where sometimes it seems like the best possible thing that can happen to you is to die swiftly and heroically, before you can watch your own well-intentioned mistakes cause the death of millions, and before your friends become psychotic monsters and/or betray you and/or die horribly.
Anyway, as I said, this is just Apollo's and the Midnighter's story from before they were Apollo and the Midnighter. Apollo used to be known as Dr. Paul Andersen, the Dean of English at UC Berkley. The Midnighter was once Maj. Matt McGuiness, a decorated veteran recovering from a combat wound while teaching at the nearby Army base.
They meet when one of the soldiers under Matt's command, a raging homophobe, goes off on an angry rant in a class taught by the openly gay Paul. The student becomes violent when Paul tries to reason with him, striking several other students and the teacher before Paul manages to subdue him. Disciplinary action is taken against the student, and a mortified Matt (who is *very* deep in the closet, btw) takes the soldier for whose actions he considers himself responsible to personally apologize to the professor he punched.
After seeing to it that his charge apologizes (sort of), Matt sends his charge back to the Army base and stays to talk with Paul, who is also the faculty sponsor of UC Berkley's chapter of the GSA. Matt truly is mortified that one of his men is doing so much to reinforce the negative stereotypes many people have of the Army, and wanted Paul's input on a program he and some other commanding officers have been devising, that will hopefully make some of the Army's more...problematic individuals less sexist/racist/homophobic/etc.
Even after the program has been completely designed, the two still find reasons to spend time together. It becomes increasingly obvious to both of them that Matt fears being outed to his distinctly unsympathetic fellows, and possibly even losing his job, to initiate things. Paul initially (and highly unwillingly, but still) decides to give up his chance with the gruff redhead, but his secretary, Amy Pierce, is tired of seeing her boss moping and Matt, who she nicknames "G.I. Joe," on tenterhooks, so she summarily sets them up.
Matt fakes a relationship with Amy to cover up his relationship with Paul, and things proceed from there quite happily. After a while, Matt spends a Thanksgiving with Paul and his family: Katie, his gregarious and sometimes alarmingly cheerful sister, Stephen and Miranda, his parents, both retired teachers themselves (Stephen taught history, and Miranda taught sociology), and Scooter, their ancient Scottie.
To make a long story short, Matt is readily accepted into Paul's family, which comes as something of a surprise to him, given that the only family he's ever known is his authoritative, hardass, not-particularly-loving father. He continues to fake a relationship with Amy in order to be able to talk to Paul after he's shipped out. After he returns, he's on shore leave for a while, during which time he is accidentally outed. After being discharged from the Army, he goes to work for the CIA, where he becomes ungodly good at kicking ass.
I have a couple of ways things can go from here, as far as getting them into Bendix's hands. In one scenario, I just go with Occam's Razor and have Bendix nab both boys for their exemplary genes. In another, Bendix really wants Matt for the aforementioned ungodly ass-kicking abilities, but, also because of said abilities, can't just snatch him up. Instead he arranges for Paul to suffer a "carjacking" that leaves him in a vegetative state. Bendix poses as a doctor and claims to be able to cure Paul with an experimental procedure he's been working on. Matt is grief-stricken enough to agree, and so isn't really in a position to fight when Bendix reveals his true motives.
So, there you have it. Of course, that's just the bare bones. There are other elements, such as Paul's involvement with the SCA and Matt's increasing difficulty with hiding his relationship with Paul from the Army, but those are largely superfluous, and this story has taken long enough to tell as it is. And yeah, I know, not exactly literature for the ages, but it's fun and, as I said, quirky, which is exactly what I need post-Revolutions.
