Fandom anticipation & meme

[lunasariel]

This week has consisted mostly of waiting/planning/gearing up. I turned in a paper yesterday, but most of my focus has been on my Celtic Romanticism midterm, a take-home that's due next Wednesday, and our Celtic Lit group project, which is due week after next. All seven of us have yet to meet up outside of class, but now that we've split into smaller groups to work on our specific portions of the project, things should get a lot easier. I'm not exactly looking forward to the presentation, though.

Fandom-wise, it's been more of the same. Crucible of Gold is coming out on Tuesday (and has some very positive pre-release reviews, so I'm hopeful), as is the DVD of s1 of Game of Thrones, both of which I'm immensely excited for. I'm actually afraid I might be building up CoG a bit too much (and thus setting myself up for disappointment), because I haven't been this excited for a new installment of a series since A Dance With Dragons, and if ADWD taught me anything, it's to not build my expectations up so high that nothing can possibly match it. There's also supposed to be a new Young Avengers on Wednesday, but the release date has already been pushed back, like, three times (I think it was originally supposed to come out in frickin' January), so I'm trying not to hold my breath for this one. Finally, Comic-Con badges went on sale today, and wow. Just wow. I logged on literally the instant 7:59 became 8:00 (the time the badge-buying site went online), but, naturally, the server was swamped. Even so, it was only 8:03 when I got into "line" (they've instituted a "waiting room" method to try to mitigate some of the inevitable crush), and almost TWENTY THOUSAND PEOPLE were ahead of me. Yup, 180 seconds in, and I was 19,601st in line. Sadly, this means that pickings were pretty slim by the time I got to actually buy badges, so C, H, AD, and I will only be going Thursday and Sunday, which sucks because A) this means no Preview Night, B) everything good (including the Masquerade) always happens on Friday and Saturday, and C) Sunday is a half-day (and traditionally mostly dedicated to kids' programs) anyway. So, yeah, looks like we're going to have some extra time on our hands while we're in San Diego. XP

As usual 'pologies for my unusual silence. The workload has diminished to the point where I can actually do something other than eat, sleep, go to class, and do course reading, but it's still more than enough to keep me hopping. So it's a good thing that my two entertainments of choice this week, Dragaera and Babylon 5, have provided exactly the camaraderie, lighthearted swashbuckling, and ADVENTURE, HO! that I need to unwind.

I've been slowly but surely working my way through the first season of Babylon 5 that hamsterwoman set me up with when we met up a couple of weeks ago, and I'm liking it! The first thing that really leapt out at me was the special effects, which are pretty damn impressive for 1993. They look a little silly today, of course, but given the technology of the time, I can see why B5 was considered a technological revolution as well as a screenwriting one.

Speaking of screenwriting, B5's claim to fame is the introduction of the Myth Arc, and I like the comparative lack of filler episodes! One thing I don't like about the episodic nature of TV shows is that it's easy to write in an event as a catalyst for that particular episode's hijinx, and then forget about it entirely, but B5 avoids that particular trap. I just finished episode 12 (a little over halfway through the season), and they reintroduced what looked like a throwaway incident from the pilot episode. In the pilot, a planet belonging to the Centauri gets seven kinds of crap kicked out of it by the Narn. The nephew of the Centauri ambassador to Earth was on the planet, and (I think) got killed, which, understandably, pissed the Centauri ambassador off at the Narn ambassador. But Londo (Centauri) and G'Kar (Narn) have a continuous, half-joking rivalry/antagonism anyway, so I thought the nephew's death was just an incident to get the audience familiar with these two characters and why they dislike each other. But now, halfway through the season, Londo withholds a special plant that G'Kar needs to perform a vital religious ceremony. This is entirely typical behavior for Londo, but instead of doing it out of his usual "neener-neener-neener"-ness and desire to spite the Norn just because he's a Centauri and that's what he does, it turns out that he does it specifically as revenge for his nephew's death. So I liked that what would otherwise be a throwaway death actually had some serious repercussions later on.

That death aside, Babylon 5 is turning out to be surprisingly...fluffy, which is almost certainly the wrong word. What I mean is that idealists and altruists are generally rewarded for their kindness, not punished for their naïveté, as they might be in another series. It's surprising how many interpersonal and/or international and/or interplanetary crises it turns out can be fixed by an inspiring speech and a crooked smile from Da Captain. And those that can't be fixed by the inspring speech route can usually be fixed by the kindly (and timely) intervention of a previously hostile alien (who may or may not be motivated by the sentiments of the aforementioned inspiring speech).

Also, the villains are unusually easy to recognize. There are relatively few cases of "looks foul, feels fair" or vice-versa: if you're called the "Soul Stealer" and have only a fringe of grizzled, dirty hair around the mottled, grayish dome of your oddly-shaped skull, or if you're a long-lost boyfriend with suspiciously good timing and really great teeth, chances are you're the bad guy. I was actually kind of annoyed by the latter example, Malcom Biggs, Ivanova's on-again/off-again boyfriend, who was STAGGERINGLY OBVIOUSLY EVIL. Understand, I'm usually awful at guessing who the traitor is going to be, but I had him pegged as the "surprise" villain before he'd been onscreen for five minutes.

Understand, not all episodes are like this. Particularly as the season goes on, things are getting a lot more complex and murky, and I'm liking the shape of they myth arc that seems to be emerging. I really liked the consecutive episodes "Believers" and "Survivors," both of which shook up the formula I was afraid that B5 was falling into. "Believers" takes a look at the whole science/medicine vs. religion issue, and actually doesn't come up with a final answer. The basic premise is that the ship's medic performs a life-saving operation on an alien child over the parents' religious objections and, it's implied, possibly ends up destroying his soul. I liked this episode because it contains my favorite type of fictional adversaries: both sides have legitimate points; neither is specifically portrayed as the "good guy" or the "bad guy." The aliens aren't insane cultists, but genuinely love their child, and are desperate for any means of curing him that don't involve cutting into him, which violates their most deeply-held beliefs. And while Dr. Franklin's goal, that of saving an innocent life despite what he sees as superstition, is admirable, he is ultimately portrayed as having made the wrong decision. I'm not religious myself, but I like that the writer(s) avoided falling into the trap of condemning any and all religions as eeeevil, scary cults, but allows for the possibility that Dr. Franklin and his *belief* in the power of modern medicine might have actually been in the wrong here, there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy, etc.

The next episode, "Survivors," I liked for the opposite reason: it's just fun. I really like the power trio built up by the three main humans, but out of those three, Garibaldi is probably my favorite. He's a big loveable doof, he's dangerous despite his easygoing demeanor, he's highly competent at his job,  he's loyal to his nakama, and he doesn't let his many and legitimate personal demons drag him down, all of which I rather like individually, but when combined in one person, all but assure that I'm going to love him. "Survivors" really highlighted the personal demons aspect, which was interesting, but also led me to draw some major parallels between him and Sam Vimes, which was even more so. They're both recovering alcoholics who started drinking because they couldn't handle the corruption of their fellow officers, and other characters frequently comment on how they're always policemen/coppers, even when they're not in uniform. There was even something Vimes-like in Garibaldi's sort of lost/angry look when removed from duty and dogged dedication in solving the case he got kicked out for not primarily to clear his name, but because someone committed a major crime in his territory, and is now trying to cover their ass, which offends him more or less on the molecular level.

I mentioned the power trio set up by the three human leads, and while Garibaldi is my favorite, that's definitely not to say I dislike the others. Commander Sinclair is a little too overly-earnest and hammy for my tastes (see my comments re: inspiring speeches above), and I'm truly perplexed as to how he's managed to avoid being fired for this long, given the number of times he basically says "screw orders, I'm doing what's right!", but I like the camaraderie he seems to generate, and I'm liking the mystery of his missing memories (ain't alliteration awesome?). In fact, this mystery is looking to be exactly what Captain Jack's similar problem should have been in season 1 of Doctor Who and pretty much the entirety of Torchwood, before RTD pretty much permanently nixed any chance of it being explained.

Ivanova, on the other hand, I have a lot more fun with. Given B5's aforementioned skill re: not dropping plot threads, I'm a little surprised that a bigger deal wasn't made over her reaction to her father's death, even though it seems that the death itself isn't widely known. Aside from that quibble, though, I'm enjoying the hell out of her. I forget which episode this was in, but the point I really started to love her was a scene where, as usual, six zillion things are going on at once. Londo and G'Kar are bickering and demanding that Sinclair solve their squabble while he (Sinclair) is being yelled at by a higher-up on Earth and Blonde Reporter Lady Whose Name I Don't Remember (BRLWNIDR) is pestering him about something he's trying to keep under wraps, and he suddenly gets fed up with it all, and orders everybody not involved in the current crisis to clear the bridge/command central (I forget what they call it, but my grounding in Star Trek still leads me to think of it as the bridge), and Ivanova literally chases them off. She doesn't run at them or call security or anything, she just...advances on them, in her square-shouldered, stompy way, loudly counting down from ten, and everybody runs like hell, including Proud Warrior Race Guy G'Kar. IDK, for some reason I just found this scene really funny, and it endeared her to me immensely.

I got The Powers That Be to send me my Temeraire, and I had some vague thoughts of a re-read to get ready for Tuesday, but A) I'm afraid of getting sick of it through over-exposure, B) I'd never finish in time, and C) I've been having too much fun with Taltos, the 4th Dragaera book. After all the doom'n'gloom of Teckla, it's amazingly freeing to just watch Vlad kick ass, take names, and have immense amounts of fun while doing it. I'm a little over halfway through now, and it's vying with Jhereg for my favorite so far. I'm confident enough of my knowledge of continuity to be able to squee over seeing Vlad take some fairly big steps in becoming the man we come to know and love: finding Spellbreaker, getting his first job, meeting his friends (more on this in a mo'), and becoming proficient in sorcery as well as witchcraft.

I'm quickly finding that my favorite parts of Dragaera are the swashbuckling and the relationships between the characters, and Vlad's first fight with Morrolan was probably my favorite scene in the book (so far, at least) for precisely these reasons, plus the introduction of Spellbreaker. It had everything I love about the two of them: the magic, the swordfighting, Vlad's sneakiness and "I'm making this up as I go along" luck/pragmatism, Morrolan's sheer, unmitigated badassery (I think I might have fallen a little bit in love with him when he coolly simultaneously held off an enraged wizard and a small army of warrior-mages while also saving Vlad's ass and berating him for being a slowpoke), and the unstoppable combination thereof (not to mention the onset of the tradition of the two of them saving each other's asses on a fairly regular basis). It's kind of adorable how great of a team they make right from the get-go, even though they literally hadn't known each other for five minutes before they started to bicker.

I'm a sucker for a good nakama, and one of the other things I'm enjoying is getting to see Team Dragon form around Vlad. Morrolan is ace, of course, but I also love that Vlad is appropriately wary of Sethra, the legendary enchantress, but not so much that he can't snark at her. I gather that we're going to see Aliera restored to a human (well, Dragaeran) body by the end of the book, and I cannot wait to see her first interactions with Morrolan and Vlad, which I'm hoping will be hilarious. I originally was kind of "meh" about Loiosh, but I'm coming to get a better handle on his relationship with Vlad, oddly enough, now that I have a better picture of how it developed.

Now that I've blathered about fandom stuff, it's meme time, in which I blather a lot more about fandom stuff!

1. Mal Reynolds (Firefly)
2. Mrs. Hudson (Sherlock)
3. William Laurence (Temeraire)
4. Lara Raith (Dresden Files)
5. Jonathan of Conté (Tortall universe)
6. Margaery Tyrell (A Song of Ice and Fire)
7. Fingon (The Silmarillion)
8. Crowley (Good Omens)
9. Tiffany Aching (Discworld)
10. The 10^th Doctor (Doctor Who)
11. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)
12. Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
13. Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
14. Vladimir Taltos (Dragaera)
15. Karolina Dean (Runaways)

1) Who helps 15 (Karolina) get out of a murder investigation?
In her fandom: pretty much anyone, but probably Chase, who knows a thing or two about dodging cops, or Xavin, who would take it as an incredible offense that anyone could consider her wife guilty of such a petty Earth crime.
From this list: the Doctor. It’s his business to defend the innocent, protect Earth, and help stranded friendly aliens, and Karolina qualifies for all three.

2) What would happen is 2 (Mrs. Hudson) and 3 (Laurence) were to get drunk together?
Oh, goodness. Mrs. Hudson would want to go flying on Temeraire, but Laurence would be too busy being morose over…everything, I guess. Being kicked out of the Corps, maybe kinda causing the death of his father, Woolvey’s death, his inability to form a lasting relationship; the guy has a lot to be depressed about. Basically, it would end with Mrs. Hudson kind of snuggling with him and cooing and trying to cheer him up.

3) 5 (Jon) and 14 (Vlad) have been abducted by aliens. Which of them concocts their escape attempt?
Vlad, duh. Engineering spur-of-the-moment escapes from being held captive by scary non-humans with superior abilities isn’t precisely his job, but it’s definitely something that he should be good at. Jon would help, I’m sure, but his experiences would probably lead him to sit back and wait for Alanna, as long as he isn’t immediately being probed or tortured or anything.

4) Does 10 (The Doctor) believe in love at first sight?
Yes, unfortunately. His process for choosing Companions basically seems to consist of him meeting someone, becoming enamored of them, and whisking them off to see the universe. He usually doesn’t spend a lot of time contemplating, and his instinct is uncannily accurate, but they always leave, for one reason or another, and break his heart(s) anyway.

5) What is 9 (Tiffany)'s biggest fear?
Probably failing in her witchy duty through negligence or making a bad choice.

6) Who is more BAMF: 1 (Mal) or 11 (Hermione)?
Hermione, I think. Mal is the more traditionally/overtly badass, of course, what with his snappy dialogue, Badass Longcoat, Badass Crew, Badass Boasts, Cool Starship, and BFG, but aside from the whole “astounding magical powers” thing, Hermione is one of the three people to defeat the most evil being in history and save the world. Also, Hermione’s badassitude is of a quieter, less showy variety that isn’t immediately apparent, but becomes so on a little thought, which means that she doesn’t have to rely on her reputation as a badass to get things done, she just does them. *Also* also: magic. 'Nuff said.

7) 7 (Fingon) and 12 (Dean) fall in love but are pulled apart by a tragedy related to both their identities. What is it?
Well, there’s always the fact that both of these are textbook tragic heroes, and so any love they have is star-crossed by definition, and star-crossed squared or something when there’s two of them. But relating to their identities? Fingolfin probably wouldn’t be overjoyed that his son and heir chose to marry A) a human and B) someone he’s unable to reproduce with.

8) 8 (Crowley) is deathly allergic to...
Probably Queen, after all this time. Or maybe bad suits.

9) 13 (Tara), 6 (Margaery), and 4 (Lara) are traveling together and their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere creepyville. Who loses their composure first, and what do the others do in response?
Tara would probably freak out first. Lara and Margaery are both “death before showing discomposure” types, and if it’s an actual, Silent Hill-type creepyville, Tara, who’s extremely psychically sensitive, would probably pick up on it first and worst. Lara would also be aware of any magical creepiness, of course, but she would rest assured that she’s scarier than anything they might meet. And while Margaery is definitely the least equipped of the three to handle a supernatural threat, I can really see her just sucking it up and dealing with it, because this is the way things are, and shrieking about it certainly won’t help anyone. She’s her grandmother’s granddaughter that way.

10) 9 (Tiffany) and 10 (The Doctor) get married. As best man/woman/whatever, 11 (Hermione) has to make the toast. What does he/she/it say?
She’d start out with the story of how they met (something oddball and accidental while they happened to be saving the same world) and went on to travel in the TARDIS together, as the Doctor could bring Tiffany to everywhere that needs a witch and doesn’t have on. She (Hermione, that is) might slip in a slightly fatalistic/cynical note about how she hopes their mutual heroism doesn’t get one or both of them killed, but then she’d end on a happy note. Or she would, if Rob Anybody didn’t start yelling for her to sit down so they can start the party.

11) 15 (Karolina), 4 (Lara), and 1 (Mal) are stuck on a deserted island. Do they survive long enough to be rescued? Do they rescue themselves?
Karolina can survive off of sunlight and fly, so I think she’ll be okay for a good long while. With two sexy people there to feed off of, Lara should also do alright. And I guess they could help Mal gather food and stuff, since he’s the only one who actually needs it. So yes, they would definitely survive long enough to be rescued, but if they trust Karolina enough, she could fly off and go get help. Of course, this is assuming that River doesn’t just…dream of their location, or something, and lead Serenity right to them.

12) 7 (Fingon) and 3 (Laurence) are chemistry lab partners. Do they make A's? Do they blow up the lab?
Hmm…no, I can’t really see them being at the top of the class, but they would definitely get all their work done, fill out their lab sheets neatly, and clean up after themselves. They’re both the quiet and dutiful (but entirely capable of being pushed to extremes) types, so I can see them getting their own work done quickly, and then helping other students in the extra time.
Of course, in this ‘verse, Fëanor and Perscitia are the chemistry teachers, and they definitely would blow up the lab. And then do it again, to figure out how they did it the first time.

13) The Odds (Mal, Laurence, Jon, Fingon, Tiffany, Hermione, Tara, Karolina) and Evens (Mrs. Hudson, Lara, Margaery, Crowley, The Doctor, Dean, Vlad) are the two deadliest gangs in Glasgow, but then, 5 (Jon) and 8 (Crowley) fall in love. Is this enough to unite the Odds and Evens, or will 5 and 8's love be everyone's downfall?
Unite, I think. Jon would be in charge of his gang, but Crowley would be fairly low-ranking (but only because he doesn’t give a crap, and is secretly hoping to get kicked out so he can go back to London). Jon tries to get Crowley to join his gang, but Crowley wants the two of them to run away together, hopefully somewhere warm and not bloody cold rainy Glasgow (which is freezing. Believe me, this is the voice of experience). However, Jon sways Crowley to his side by pointing out that his gang has a member who can generate sunlight, a member who is sunlight, and a member who’s friends with a giant fire-breathing dragon. The two of them engineer a meet-up between their respective sides, and after some initial chest-thumping (Mal and Vlad would have a snark-off, while Fingon and The Doctor would try to out-angst and out-noble each other), but there are enough smart people on both sides to realize that they could get more done together than apart.

14) 2 (Mrs. Hudson) is a realtor on a show on HGTV. 14 (Vlad) and 6 (Margaery) are a newly married couple looking for their first place. Do their appointments make good television?
Yeah, I think so. She’d try go get them interested in 221C at first, and while Vlad would like the relatively few access points, space for witchcraft and/or sparring, and general defensibility, Maragaery would take one look at a basement flat covered in black mold that hasn’t been lived in for 20 years (not to mention the upstairs neighbors that are always blowing things up and fending off assassins) and leave. Mrs. Hudson would get a little grumbly after that, after they’d impugned the honor of her house and all, but eventually she’d find them an extremely expensive penthouse somewhere, where Loiosh can fly in and out of the windows and Margaery can decorate it tastefully in green and gold.

15) 12 (Dean), 13 (Tara), and 14 (Vlad) compete in a dance-off. Who wins?
Dean, probably. Tara would be much too shy unless she were allowed to use magic (which I’m pretty sure counts as an unfair advantage, and so would be prohibited by the rules) or Willow were there to dance with (I’m assuming this is a solo event), and so would either refuse to go onstage or just shuffle a little bit until she was allowed to leave. Vlad would be…enthusiastic, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who would be a particularly good dancer. I mean, he’s graceful and coordinated, but that’s sort of a byproduct of his job, and being able to dodge thrown knives probably wouldn’t translate all that well to dancing. Dean, on the other hand, is confident enough to know that he looks damn sexy, physical enough to make it look good, and self-confident enough to have fun with it. So with the confidence that Tara lacks, and the skill that Vlad lacks, he could definitely pull off a win.

16) 9 (Tiffany) and 13 (Tara) wake up naked in bed together with no memory of how they got there. What do they do next? Bonus: how did they end up there in the first place?
Assuming that Tiffany is of an age for neither of them to freak out immediately, Tara is instantly contrite and runs back to Willow, although not before taking a moment to secretly congratulate herself on a job well done. Tiffany hopes that neither Granny Weatherwax nor Nanny Ogg get wind of all this, but eventually resigns herself to a lot of leering and nudging (and maybe some loud questions and comments on how young men aren’t the only thing in the world) from Nanny, and some pointed comments from Granny about how witches should behave, and how she might be going through a Phase, which young people seem to find fashionable these days, but Granny won’t be having with any of that under her roof, thank you very much, but if she insists on continuing carrying on like this, that Tara girl will be coming to supper tomorrow night so Granny can get a good look at the girl who thinks she’s good enough for a witch (and then finds out that Tara is a witch herself, and decides that Tiffany could have done an awful lot worse)…and this sentence has official gone on too long.
As to how they got there: Tara does have a thing for no-nonsense fellow witches, and I guess that Tiffany would find Tara intriguing, if a little lacking in spirit. I guess that one night, they got into the scumble while talking shop, and one thing led to another.

17) 10 (The Doctor) and 12 (Dean) found a baby together, but 4 (Lara) wants it. They must both agree to either keep the baby together or give it to 4. What happens?
Oh, they would definitely keep it! The Doctor would take one look at Lara and decide that the baby would be better off with him, Daleks and all. And it’s canon that, while he might complain the entire time, Dean is good with babies and children, so he probably wouldn't be too bummed. Of course, the baby would have to ride around in the TARDIS, because aside from the frequency with which it’s attacked, Dean would be deadly afraid of the baby throwing up on the Impala’s seats. This would give the Doctor someone to talk to and take care of between Companions, though, as well as give Sam a chance to go inside the TARDIS (of course Sam is a Whovian!), so it all works out.

18) 6 (Margaery) and 3 (Laurence) are competitors in a cooking competition. What do they cook, and who wins?
I don’t know what they would cook, since Margaery has almost definitely never been around food that wasn’t ready to eat, and Laurence’s only experience with cooking is…I don’t know, actually. He certainly wouldn’t have had to cook in the Navy, and he’s roughed it enough times (the trek back from China, gruella fighting during the invasion, Australia) so that he’s probably actually seen food being prepared, which gives him one up on Margaery, but as the dignified Captain, he’s probably never had to actually prepare any himself.
So Laurence would probably win, but only by default, because Margaery has servants to do this kind of thing for her, so it’s doubtful if she can even light a fire on her own. And if it’s anything that requires roasting, boiling, etc., he might be able to call on Iskierka for help. Actually, if they can call on people to help them cook, then Margaery could just send for her cooks, and Laurence for Gong Su, so that renders the point kind of moot.

19) 7 (Fingon) and 2 (Mrs. Hudson) have to team up to capture 11 (Hermione), who is on the run from the law. What is their plan and does it work?
Hermione is probably on the run because she somehow thinks that the Wizarding government is still under Voldemort’s control, so Fingon would be able to physically subdue her (he’s not quite the magic-user she is, but if we’re operating under the assumption that everyone who was born in or lived in the Undying Lands has some degree of magical ability, he should be able to handle himself at least enough to dodge or resist her spells until he gets in arm’s reach), and Mrs. Hudson, in the running for the Sweet Little Old Lady Championship, makes her a cup of tea, pats her on the arm, and the three of them have a nice little chat about politics. Once Hermione sees that Fingon, who is definitely not a (human) wizard, and Mrs. Hudson, who is a Muggle, are both safe, unharmed, and not coerced, apologizes for and/or undoes whatever she did in the first place, which she thought was striking a blow against the Death Eaters, but what turns out to just be random mayhem.

20) 1 (Mal) and 8 (Crowley) are having a tickle fight, who wins?
That depends on what you mean by “wins.” With the two of them, there would probably have to be a referee of some sort watching fairly closely to ensure that they know, and observe, the difference between “tickle fight” and “real fight,” because with the two of them, it could devolve pretty quickly.
But assuming that they don’t, y’know, kill each other, my money is on Crowley. Mal has an A-1 coach in Kaylee (who is, of course, the Tickle Champion), but tickling seems like something fairly demonic in origin, so if Crowley didn’t have a hand in actually inventing it, he’d probably be pretty damn good at it.

21) 15 (Karolina), 5 (Jon), and 7 (Fingon) are roommates. How does everyone get along?
Very well, actually! Fingon is notable for his ability to get along with anyone, and after Fëanor and his various offspring, an alien girl made of light and a magic king are a piece of cake. He and Jon would be sort of distantly polite and formal to each other, what with them both being royalty, and so this technically being a diplomatic situation, but eventually they would be able to bond over sparring and trying to figure out each other’s magic systems.
Fingon and Karolina would also hit it off, albeit much quicker. I don’t know whether Karolina technically counts as royalty, since Majesdane has been destroyed and it’s unclear whether she’s actually married to Xavin, but Fingon would probably try to be all courtly with her, which would kind of weird her out, but also remind her of the aforementioned Xavin. But Fingon would probably be his tragically noble self, and when Karolina saw that he was bummed out, she would make it her job to cheer him up by baking him brownies and introducing him to beanbag chairs and whatnot. He would initially be perplexed, but once he got that she was just being a nice person and trying to help him out, he’d start to reciprocate by singing for her (or better yet, getting Maglor to sing for her) and teaching her to play the harp and/or shoot.
Jon and Karolina would be a bit more rocky. Assuming that Jon is unattached, and thus young and a bit stupid, he wouldn’t waste any time in making a pass at her, which she would just as quickly reject. He would take this as her playing hard-to-get and/or an affront to his hotness, but once she got the idea of incompatible sexual orientations through his head, he’d be fascinated by her powers, which do look damn impressive, and she by the whole “magic king of a magic country” thing.
So eventually, they’d all be pretty good friends, although not quite BFFs, and invite each other back to their various places of origin to ooh and aah at everything and/or impress their friends.

22) Out of the others on the list, who does 3 (Laurence) have a crush on?
Either Hermione or Fingon, I think. A suitably aged-up Hermione would be confident, capable, powerful, and unwilling to take any of his crap, which he seems to like. Laurence does have some rather Ron-like traits (loyalty, human fallibility, inferiority complex), so Hermione might not be totally closed to this idea. Of course, she and Temeraire could geek out about books and dragons, which would just be a bonus to both of them.
Fingon, on the other hand, has the whole “melancholy hero” thing that Laurence also seems to find attractive. In this case, though, Temeraire might actually be a deal-breaker, at least until Laurence manages to convince Fingon that Glaurung and his type of dragon don’t exist in the Temeraire-verse. Fingon and Laurence both have experience with both the pleasant and unpleasant consequences that come from charging into a situation heroically and blindly, but I’m not sure whether this would be a plus, in that they would be able to understand what the other is going through, or a minus, in that they see their mistakes in the other.
Ultimately, I think Laurence would do better with Hermione. Like I said, she wouldn’t let him do anything cataclysmically stupid, but she’d also be there for him when he’s angsting about this, that, and the other. Also, she and the dragons, especially Temeraire, would get along great, which is a big factor.

23) All of them are stuck in a freight elevator for hours, what happens?
Upon realizing that he’s going to be stuck with these people for quite a while, Dean takes a swig from his hip flask as he tries to decide whether Lara is too scary to hit on. Seeing that he has booze, Crowley, Mal, and Vlad join him, and are collectively amazed at Crowley’s ability to make Dean’s flask refill itself. However, at some point, Crowley’s sunglasses slip and Dean has an epic freak-out over being trapped in an elevator with a high-ranking demon, and has to be physically restrained until he calms down enough to not go for any of his weapons. Crowley, on the other hand, is pleasantly buzzed and laughing his ass off at Dean’s flailing.
Lara and Margaery size each other up from opposite corners for a little while before formally introducing themselves. They get to talking, and realize that they’re kindred spirits in their awareness of their own attractiveness (and the uses it can be put to) and fond exasperation with dramatic, lovelorn siblings. They alternate between trading funny stories and covertly hammering out the basis of a Raith-Tyrell treaty under which the Raiths send, er, vamps to bodyguard and/or spy for the Tyrells as needed, and in return get the run of Flea Bottom, Highgarden, and Dorne.
Laurence recognizes fellow military men in Fingon and Jon (who wants to join the Dean/Crowley/Mal/Vlad party, but realizes that kings can’t really be seen hanging out with space pirates, thieves, demons, assassins, and peasants [or whatever the Tortallan equivalent of Hunters is]). Although Laurence is curious about Elven ships, talking about them obviously distresses Fingon, so he avoids the topic. Dragons do come up, though, and both Laurence and Jon convince Fingon that not all dragons need to be slain, although this does take some time. That leads Jon to describe some of the other supernatural inhabitants of his world, and Laurence mentions the legend of the pearl that can turn a dragon human and vice-versa, and before you know it, they’re friends. Fingon, a diplomatic polyglot who’s violently devoted to his family, both real and created, reminds Laurence strongly of Temeraire, and he says so, and resolves to introduce the two of them once they get out of the elevator, although the whole “do not slay” thing bears repeating once or twice.
Hermione and Tiffany sense the magic in one another and start talking shop, in their no-nonsense way. Tara was intentionally masking her magic (either out of fear of Dean and/or Crowley or out of innate shyness, it’s hard to tell), but once she hears Hermione and Tiffany going at it, she wants in and lets her veils slip enough for them to sense her, and they invite her into the conversation. The three of them then enter into a whispered-but-heated conversation as to what, exactly Karolina is, and whether or not she’s a witch, too. ‘Lina overhears, of course, and, while she can’t reveal her true form in the confines of an elevator, she starts explaining what she knows of Majesdanian culture and physiology, gets grilled by the other three, and they proceed to geek out.
Mrs. Hudson notices that The Doctor hasn’t really joined any of the groups, but is just leaning against the wall, smiling benevolently but a little sadly at everyone, and goes over to see if she can’t cheer him up. It turns out that he’s between Companions (and consequently going through one of his "I deserve to be alone/don't deserve friends" phases) as well as jittery from being stuck in an elevator, so she slowly draws him out by talking about Sherlock and John, both of whom intrigue him. Eventually, she gets him to talk about his own friends and adventures, calls him “dear,” and makes him promise to come to tea after they get out. He leaves immensely cheered.

24) 2 (Mrs. Hudson) and 4 (Lara) had a secret affair, but it ended abruptly. Why couldn't they make it work?
Hmm…prosaically, I’m thinking something like Mrs. Hudson physically couldn’t handle the demands of how much sex Lara needs. Of course, it could also be something a lot more fun, like Sherlock deduced that Mrs. Hudson is shagging a lust vampire just by glancing at her, and blurts it out in front of everyone, causing them both to break it off, Mrs. Hudson from sheer embarrassment, and Lara from a desire to protect Mrs. Hudson now that the secret is out.

25) 14 (Vlad), 13 (Tara), and 15 (Karolina) went on a cross-country road trip together. Where did they go? What did they see? What was the high (or low) point of trip?
I guess they went from California (where both Tara and Karolina live) to New York so that Karolina can visit her friends in the Young Avengers and Tara can talk witchy magic with Billy. Vlad was either hired by Xavin to provide protection because he/she couldn’t go him/herself or also needs to get to New York because a rip in the time-space continuum dropped him in Cali, but Morrolan, Sethra, and Aliera in New York.
I don’t know if Karolina even knows how to drive, and Vlad certainly doesn’t, so it would probably fall to Tara to take the wheel. Vlad initially just wants to get back to his friends, and thus back home, but ends up demanding that they stop at as many different kinds and qualities of restaurants as possible. The girls have to physically drag him away from San Francisco and New Orleans, with their wide variety of food that he’s never tried before, and once he gets to New York, he’s in foodie heaven. (Also, people are a lot less likely to stare at Loiosh in big cities, and he [Loiosh] was getting tired of waiting in the car or being glamoured all the time). Karolina is okay with taking a little extra time, although she wants to stop at places like the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, the redwoods, and pretty much every national park or wildlife preserve they pass. Tara, in her easygoing way, says yes to everything, and so consequently their trip takes forever.
The high point of the trip Tara and Karolina having a frank to (to Vlad) surprisingly mature discussion of what it means to be a gay, superpowered teenager/young adult, thus making them both a minority of a minority of a minority. Vlad is able to empathize on the whole “superpowered teenager” thing, given his early proficiency with witchcraft and Eastern fencing, and is at least interested by the discussion of how gay people are perceived/treated in late 20^th/early 21^st century American society, given that homosexuality, and maybe evens sexuality in general, is something that I can’t really see Easterners admitting to or Dragaerans feeling the need to talk about much.

26) 6 (Margaery) and 1 (Mal): Why do they hate each other?
Mal hates both sneaky people and high society, and Margaery combines both of these into one person. She also reminds him uncomfortably of Inara in her prosaic treatment of sex and willingness to play the socio-political game for her own advancement by smiling politely at stupid people, and then stabbing them in the back later.

27) 8 (Crowley) and 11 (Hermione) are sitting together in business class on a transatlantic flight for 9 hours... they can't sleep, what do they talk about (or do)?
Hermione has, of course, brought plenty of work with her. When she pulls out her S.P.E.W. stuff, Crowley bursts out laughing. Hermione gets all indignant and starts giving her usual spiel about the oppressed house-elves. This just makes Crowley laugh harder, and make all the arguments Ron usually makes about them liking it, their culture being based on servitude, etc., but he doesn’t have the advantage of Hermione being attracted to him, so he just annoys her. She sticks to her guns, though, which annoys him in turn, and it eventually devolves into them having a sort of surreptitious wizards’ duel where they try to irritate each other as much as physically possible without their mundane neighbors noticing. However, as previously mentioned, Crowley, via his arguments, does bear some similarity to Ron, and Hermione’s starry-eyed idealism and belief in the underlying goodness and equality of all sentient beings begins to remind Crowley of Aziraphale, so once they’ve exhausted each other, they can actually be pretty good friends and engage in spirited debate *without* trying to hex one another under their tray-tables.

28) You need to install a new garbage disposal, who should you ask to help?
Probably the Doctor. He certainly has the technological know-how, and his sonic screwdriver would come in handy one way or another. The problem would be in limiting him to *just* a garbage disposal, without him routing it to the Landfill Planet or installing a matter converter that repurposes garbage into a Star Trek-like replicator. Plus, of course, I could talk to him while he works, and the conversation alone would be worth it.

29) 12 (Dean) and 10 (The Doctor): where was their first kiss, their last kiss, and their favorite kiss?
Wow, Dean and the Doctor: now that’s a tragedy waiting to happen if I ever saw one! They’re totally each other’s type, too: Dean is a lost soul who is increasingly having trouble seeing good in the world and slowly having his good nature ground down by harsh reality and loneliness, and the Doctor is a remote, messianic archetype who is secretly depressed by his status as Earth’s lonely protector.
Their technical first kiss would be when Dean is drunk off his ass after a job went bad, and the Doctor is trying to cheer him up. This doesn’t go so well, since the Doctor knows Dean isn’t thinking straight and can’t bring himself to take advantage. But the next morning (after he’s taken care of the inevitable hangover and morning breath, of course), Dean kisses the Doctor again, to prove that he was serious, and this time, the Doctor reciprocates.
Their last kiss would be shortly before one or both of their tragic, heroic, self-sacrificing deaths, and would involve at least one pithy, blackly humorous, final one-liner.
Their favorite kiss would be when the Doctor temporarily leaves Dean, fearful of dragging another human into his life, thus potentially getting him killed and/or turning him into (more of) a weapon, and Dean chases him down and snogs him silly to convince him that being together, and thus staving off the crippling loneliness that so terrifies both of them, outweighs the potential danger of getting involved in each other’s lives and/or inevitable heartbreak.

30) 5 (Jon) asks 9 (Tiffany) for help with an event. Should it be preparing a 'special' dinner for a 'special' someone or planning a 'surprise' party?
Maybe a private surprise party for Thayet’s or one of the kids’ birthdays? The Nac Mac Feegle would certainly be a big help in getting things set up quietly and quickly, as long as they could be persuaded to leave afterward. As for Tiffany herself, they probably need her less for her witchcraft than her ability to make really good cheese, and possibly also keep the birthday girl/boy busy while setup is completed.

31) 3 (Laurence) and 10 (The Doctor) have an unrequited love, but 6 (Margaery) is always in the way. Describe the scenario in which 3 and 10 might finally work things out.
Margaery quite rightly realizes that both Laurence and the Doctor are too noble and dutiful and self-sacrificing and honor-bound and whatever to make a relationship work without spectacular self-destruction, and so makes it her (slightly reluctant) duty to keep them apart for their own good. Of course, this works only as long as they’re in her area of influence, which is easily got around, given Temeraire and the TARDIS, so if they were really serious about it, they could run away together back to one of their own ‘verses once they were done with whatever thrilling heroics they needed to take care of in Westeros.

32) 15 (Karolina) is immortal, and 4 (Lara) is not. What happens when 4 finds out about this?
Hmm, interesting question! I don’t know whether Majesdanians or White Court vampires are immortal or not (although it’s implied that both their lifespans are longer than the human average), but if it turns out that Karolina is immortal but Lara isn’t, I could see Lara being jealous in a kind of theoretical way, and definitely trying to attain immortality herself, but not being overly fussed about Karolina’s immortality, because it’s simple biology, not any kind of personal choice. (This is, of course, assuming that the two of them are allies. If they’re enemies, Lara will be out to disprove Karolina’s immortality.)

33) 2 (Mrs. Hudson) and 5 (Jon) are roommates studying for their college finals (last semester). Kind of. What is their evening like?
Assuming this is Jon at an age where he would realistically be in college, he would probably be out partying to blow off steam because, hello, pressure. Mrs. Hudson, on the other hand, is making herself and her study group endless cups of tea, although she grumbles about them making their own damn tea, because what is she, their housekeeper?

34) 9 (Tiffany) and 1 (Mal) meet for the first time. What are their first impressions of each other? What do they do about it?
Mal and Co. are in Lancre to acquire some scumble to sell elsewhere, where it’s A) in high demand and B) highly illegal, and Tiffany is drawn to River’s particular brand of weirdness. The Feegle find River uncanny, though, and attempt to “persuade” the crew to leave Lancre sooner rather than later. Mal is understandably annoyed about this, and, working under the supposition that the Feegle are under Tiffany’s control, squares off with her about it. He feels kind of weird having this big, chest-thumping argument with a little girl, and this manifests itself in a certain awkwardness of manner, which, combined with his surprise at Tiffany’s forthrightness/common sense/plainness of speech, leads her to initially assume that he’s not very smart. This impression lasts only until she sees him interacting with the rest of his crew, at which point she realizes that he’s just oddly courtly about this kind of thing. She manages to convince the Feegle to get drunk with Jayne, and introduces Zoe and River to Granny Weatherwax, which leaves her free to talk to Mal a bit more, who she eventually finds her intriguingly complex. He, in return, is eventually put at ease by the aforementioned forthrightness et al.

35) 8 (Crowley) is babysitting for 14 (Vlad).
Wow, Crowley would be the worst babysitter ever! Assuming that he doesn’t try to corrupt the child to the ways of evil or something, he probably just passes it off to Aziraphale, because he really can’t be bothered with something tiny that yells all the time and gets various solids and fluids all over his fancy house, or worse, the Bentley.

36) 11 (Hermione) and 13 (Tara) are undercover...what are they doing and what is their cover?
Investigating the use of black magic, possibly by the Death Eaters. Tara probably wouldn’t make a very convincing evildoer, but we’ve seen that Hermione definitely does, so I could see Hermione taking Tara in as her “prisoner,” springing her later so that they can sneak around the Death Eaters’ base and gather intel.

37) 12 (Dean) and 3 (Laurence) wake up in Vegas. What happened last night?
This actually isn’t that unusual a morning for Dean. Crappy motel, hangover, unknown but attractive person in his bed, a dragon sticking its head in through the window…XD Laurence and Temeraire got lost while flying patrol and somehow ended up in modern-day Vegas, and are both understandably confused. Dean finds Laurence wandering around, trying to figure out any of the many, many weird things to be found there, and assumes that he’s a lost/confused angel by his long coat, old-fashioned speech, slightly embarrassing honesty, and, of course, the culture shock. This reminds him endearingly, and depending on the timeframe, also sadly, of Cas, so he takes Laurence back to his motel, where he hopefully won’t get into any trouble. The room has only a single bed, though, and Laurence insists Dean take it. Dean makes what he thinks is a futile effort to get the “angel” drunk, because drunk!angels are fun, and is surprised as hell when it actually works, and they both end up crashing on the same bed. Temeraire gets worried about Laurence’s absence, though, and goes looking for him, thus the dragon sticking its head through the window. Cue flailing from all involved.

38) 15 (Karolina) and 7 (Fingon) need to plan a surprise baby shower for 4 (Lara). They enlist the help of 5 (Jon) and 6 (Margaery), but forget to invite 2 (Mrs. Hudson) who's actually the other parent. What happens?
Fingon’s only experience with baby showers (depending on where one stands on the issue of Gil-galad’s parentage) is with his various siblings and cousins (both full and half) in the Undying Lands, so anything he plans will probably be full of symbolic gifts, prophecies about the child’s life, and elaborate naming ceremonies.
Knowing this, Karolina rolls her eyes, shoves him out of the way, and tells him to start blowing up balloons while she puts up streamers, which he does, since he’s kind of at sea on the whole concept anyway.
Jon is with Fingon on the “elaborate formal ceremony” idea, while Margaery has some fun putting together party games with Karolina, so the eventual result is…odd. Lara is appalled at the profusion of pink and powder-blue streamers/balloons/cake, as well as when Fingon and Jon start asking about patronymics.
When Mrs. Hudson finds out that the planners got too involved with arguing with each other to let her know about it, she facepalms, because out of all the people on this list, she’s the best at actually planning stuff like this.

39) Every single person on the list is trying to kill 10 (The Doctor). What the hell is going on?
I guess they found out about the destruction of Gallifrey. They must have done via the Master, Rassilon, the Daleks (although why anybody would take the Daleks’ word over the Doctor’s I have no idea), so it looks like the Doctor purposefully wiped out two sentient races, one of which was his own, just because they annoyed him. Those who aren’t after the Doctor merely for justice are probably creeped out by the fact that he could even *do* something like that, physically as well as morally.
Alternately, every person on the list has lost a loved one, or at least has some form of major tragedy in their past, or at least the past of someone they care about, so maybe someone (again, the Master/Rassilon/etc.) convinced them that the Doctor caused said tragedies and/or deaths in order to forge people into the weapons they needed to be later in life, which sounds like something he would actually do, although he wouldn’t.

40) All of the even-numbered characters (Mrs. Hudson, Lara, Margaery, Crowley, The Doctor, Dean, Vlad) are marooned on an island. Which three get into a love triangle?
I guess I could see Lara/Dean/Doctor. Margaery is too smart to get into a love triangle, nobody on the list is Vlad’s type (with the possible exception of Lara, whose vampiric nature would probably creep him out anyway), and Mrs. Hudson and Crowley flat-out don’t care. Dean/Doctor has already come up, and I could see Lara being attracted to Dean’s, er, sluttiness, as well as the fact that he can take care of himself in a supernatural firefight.

41) 14 (Vlad) and 1 (Mal) get caught under a mistletoe, while 8 (Crowley) is looking on. How does this play out?
Crowley hoots and draws a lot of attention if Cawti and/or Inara are looking on, but if not, he’d be more interested in loudly pointing out that mistletoe is technically a pre-Christian winter solstice tradition to repel evil spirits, so not only does it not have anything to do with Christmas, the fact that it’s poisonous to humans means that kissing under it is a little weird.
As for Vlad and Mal, Mal probably doesn’t know what it is, since I doubt that the tradition of kissing under mistletoe, let alone the plant itself, survived the destruction of Earth-That-Was. Vlad would be similarly disinterested in the kissing tradition, but much more into the potential magical applications of mistletoe.

42) 11 (Hermione) and 12 (Dean) had a baby. Why did they name 9 (Tiffany) godparent and why is 7 (Fingon) so jealous?
Practical Hermione and defense-oriented Dean probably figure that Tiffany is not only a good, steady, level-headed person to have as a second choice for raising their child should anything happen to them (which it probably will), but she’ll be able to teach it magic, and her horde of tiny blue warriors will provide an excellent second line of defense. And Fingon is jealous because Sam put him up as a candidate for godparent, and he's secretly a little miffed that a small human girl and a bunch of little blue people are considered scarier than him.

43) 13 (Tara), 11 (Hermione), 1 (Mal), and 8 (Crowley) are at Hogwarts! What house do each of them go to? Why does 13 keep hooking up with 4 (Lara) and why is 1 so MAD? 11 holds the record for what? Also, why does 8 keep getting lost?
Tara is definitely a Hufflepuff, and keeps hooking up with oh-so-Slytherin Lara because Lara is magically powerful as well as sexy as all get-out, and if Tara is of Hogwarts age, her hormones are probably running high, although the two of them would be awful for each other, the sex is good enough for a series of one-night stands before Tara musters up the determination to quit Lara for good.
Mal (textbook Gryffindor) is mad about this because Tara reminds him of Kaylee (another Hufflepuff), and he doesn’t like seeing her get repeatedly hurt by Lara’s cheating.
Hermione (canon Gryffindor, although not without some Ravenclaw traits) holds the record for highest OWLs or most time spent studying or something, or maybe just being “the cleverest witch of her year.”
Crowley (Slytherin, duh, but with some deeply-buried Gryffindor that he’d rather not admit to) keeps getting lost because he hides in his room and/or the Slytherin common room as much as possible, to avoid any of the teachers detecting his true nature.

44) 3 (Laurence), 10 (The Doctor), 7 (Fingon), and 12 (Dean) form a band. 14 (Vlad) is their manager. Who on the list is their biggest fan? Who hates them (and why)? Also, tell a story about them being on tour.
Laurence is the bassist, I guess. He’s the steady one, the glue that holds the band together, and thus is okay with a less glamorous position as long as he gets to contribute to the success of the band as a whole.
The Doctor is the lead guitarist and also does some singing. Known for being a hell of a dancer, as well as being the band woobie. He also plays a strange and eclectic variety of other instruments, so if they ever need a tambourine or, say a didgeridoo for a song, he’s got it covered.
Fingon plays the harp and sings, although as time goes on, he ends up sticking to the harp and letting the more energetic Doctor do most of the singing, as Fingon specializes in melancholy ballads about days of yore. His singing also tends to summon giant eagles, which wasn’t doing them any favors when they played outdoors (or indoors, for that matter, given the number of potential smashed roofs).
Dean is most definitely the drummer, and likes making as much noise as possible, often going for energy and volume over accuracy. Gives great solos.
Vlad as the band’s manager would be a wee bit scary, given his normal job, but he certainly has experience in a management position and could manage the band’s money effectively, as well as ensure their safety from rival bands.
Karolina would be their biggest fan, since their music would be generally loud and upbeat, but she could also get misty-eyed over Fingon’s acoustic pieces about love and loss.
Mrs. Hudson would probably like them the least, since, with an ensemble like that, their music would be a little…schizophrenic, shall we say, and I can see Mrs. Hudson being a fan of a smoother, big band type of music.

45) 5 (Jon) and 9 (Tiffany) have a long-standing bet. What's it about, what are the prizes, and most importantly, why is 15 (Karolina) involved?
Jon and Tiffany, neither of whom know what an alien actually is, are betting on Karolina’s species and/or origin. Jon thinks that she’s just a magic-user, albeit with an unusually-colored Gift, and that her coloring is intentional and meant to impress. Tiffany thinks that the lightshow and manic-depressive personality indicate either Faerie blood (not pure, otherwise she would have a much higher body count by now) or an Eskarina-brand female wizard. Tiffany ends up winning, since neither of them were exactly right, but her guess of a non-human origin came the closest.

46) 6 (Margaery) is in love with someone on the list. How does 6 confess their love?
Actually, she probably wouldn’t. She’s politically savvy enough to know that genuinely being in love is a huge handicap, and definitely smart enough to know that it’s not something one should just blurt out. But if she did fall for someone (I don’t know who, as there aren’t any indications of what her type is, aside from “not Joffrey”) and could be reasonably sure of them not betraying her, she would probably give them a position of some importance, but would necessitate them moving somewhere far away, to avoid potential politically damaging intrigue.

47) 2 (Mrs. Hudson) and 13 (Tara): What's their song and where do they dance to it?
I can see them dancing to something classy and croony from the 40s/50s/early 60s, but I’m not all that familiar with music from those eras, so I can’t really pick one. As to where…probably Mrs. Hudson’s flat? I don’t really see her as the clubbing type.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Yay, I'm so glad you're enjoying both B5 and Taltos! (I confess I've been remiss in watching Sherlock yet, as my with-rodents TV watching time has been spent on Avatar and my post-rodents time has been spent on trying to spam valyrian_forged 'cos it's the end of the game and I ought to do something to contribute to my house. But I plan to reward myself with Sherlock episodes once I get done with my current project for V_F :)

It's interesting what you say about the fluffiness of B5. I think part of it is, again, the age of the show -- it's pre-new Battlestar Galactica, pre-Firefly, even, and it's a big epic, so I think it takes off from the tradition of good guys saving the day and stuff. But, it does get darker and murkier in S2 and beyond. There are still vicotires via rousing speeches, though. You kind of have to roll with it, kinda like in LotR :)

I totally see Garibaldi as B5's Sam Vimes and vice versa. I'm glad I'm not alone in that! :D And Ivanova has a lot of badass scenes. She has tons of devoted fans, and I'm not a crazy fangirl for her but I still enjoy the hell out of her character -- she is fun.

Morrolan's sheer, unmitigated badassery (I think I might have fallen a little bit in love with him when he coolly simultaneously held off an enraged wizard and a small army of warrior-mages while also saving Vlad's ass and berating him for being a slowpoke

It's one of my favorite scenes, too, as you might imagine; I also love the interaction between the two of them on the stairs at Dzur Mountain, because Vlad just can't help antagonizing someone who would (normally) not think twice about killing him, and yet manages to walk that edge and not get himself skewered by Blackwand.

but I'm coming to get a better handle on his relationship with Vlad, oddly enough, now that I have a better picture of how it developed.

I think it worked for me like that, too. Taltos is just a great book for setting up the various relationships... I'm still not sure whether it's better to start the series with Jhereg or with Taltos -- maybe you can tell me once you finish this one :)

8) 8 (Crowley) is deathly allergic to...
Probably Queen, after all this time

LOL. Also LOLing at his tickle fight with Mal XD

Or she would, if Rob Anybody didn’t start yelling for her to sit down so they can start the party.

Heh. I can only imagine the havoc Feegles would wreak at any wedding of Tiffany's XD (Also, them getting drunk with Jayne is something I would pay money to see XD)

Of course, in this ‘verse, Fëanor and Perscitia are the chemistry teachers, and they definitely would blow up the lab. And then do it again, to figure out how they did it the first time.

Excellent addition to this question, I must say! XD (And they so totally would.)

Also, kinda liking Vlad/Margaery as a couple! She is sweet but no pushover (and wouldn't be squeamish about his work, I think). Laurence/Hermione would be pretty sweet, and healthy, too.

Oh, and speaking of Margaery relationships -- I don't know everyone on the list, but if Margaery likes men, I suspect Jon might be her type. He's sort of Renly-ish, and not that Margaery needs to have the same taste as her brother, but I think he's got the combination of good looks/good PR and is also someone who can respect a powerful woman and make use of her strengths. Plus, king. That seems to be an argument in favor for Margaery ;)

They alternate between trading funny stories and covertly hammering out the basis of a Raith-Tyrell treaty under which the Raiths send, er, vamps to bodyguard and/or spy for the Tyrells as needed, and in return get the run of Flea Bottom, Highgarden, and Dorne.

Totally want to see this! And completely agree that Tyrells and Raiths would get along great.

Vlad totally would demand a roadtrip be planned from interesting restaurant to interesting restaurant (I hope he got them to stop in Gilroy as they were starting out).

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I confess I've been remiss in watching Sherlock yet, as my with-rodents TV watching time has been spent on Avatar and my post-rodents time has been spent on trying to spam valyrian_forged 'cos it's the end of the game
Heh, don't worry about it! V_F is serious business, yo.

There are still vicotires via rousing speeches, though. You kind of have to roll with it, kinda like in LotR :)
Good comparison! I hadn't really thought about it like that; I guess I'm just used to a darker, Firefly-esque view of sci-fi, whereas I rather look forward to the rousing speeches in fantasy, especially straight-up epic fantasty like LotR. I'm finding that looking at B5 in terms of where it stands in the history of sci-fi is rather interesting, as it's definitely post-Star Trek "wagon train to the stars" idealism, but before the big boom of gritty deconstructions heralded by Firefly et al.

she is fun.
YES! My headcanon quote for her is "tiny but fierce!", spoken by the Russian guy (Sanya, I think?) from the Dresden Files. And yay for Garibaldi = Vimes! There's less of a darkness to Garibaldi than Vimes (that I've seen yet, anyway), and Garibaldi is definitely a lot goofier than someone called "Stoneface," but for this verse, and this character, I'm glad that he is the way he is, especially when the series takes a darker turn next season, when I expect we're going to need some levity.

Also, them getting drunk with Jayne is something I would pay money to see XD
Me, too, albeit from a distance! Although I would mostly just feel sorry for Tiffany's new husband, given the devastating combination Feegle + Jayne + Nanny.

And they so totally would.
This was probably my favorite result! The image of them sitting among the smoking wreckage, excitedly babbling at each other about unstable compounds and volatile chemicals (feel free to shoot me for my lack of knowledge of proper chemistry terminology! XD), while deploying fire extinguishers with the ease of long practice makes me lol.

He's sort of Renly-ish, and not that Margaery needs to have the same taste as her brother, but I think he's got the combination of good looks/good PR and is also someone who can respect a powerful woman and make use of her strengths. Plus, king.
Yeah, I can see her just wanting someone who will respect her and let her do her own thing at this point, after the whole Lannister debacle, but being sexy, royal, and having a good reputation would certainly be plusses. And Margaery probably didn't have exactly the same tastes as Loras, but I think she respected Renly as a politician, so hopefully some of that would transfer to Jon. Hmm, now you've got me thinking about Jon/Margaery...

And completely agree that Tyrells and Raiths would get along great.
Hell, the Tyrells basically *are* the Raiths! (Well, the Raiths under Lara, not her father.)

[hamsterwoman]

I'm finding that looking at B5 in terms of where it stands in the history of sci-fi is rather interesting, as it's definitely post-Star Trek "wagon train to the stars" idealism, but before the big boom of gritty deconstructions heralded by Firefly et al.

Yep -- it was pretty gritty for its time. Even in season 1 you see bits of it, like in Ivanova's conversation w/ Talia about the PsiCorps, politics influencing what's right, and so on. But rewatching it, it's certainly a lot shinier and more idealistic than even Firefly.

Good comparison! I hadn't really thought about it like that; I guess I'm just used to a darker, Firefly-esque view of sci-fi

I often fall back on LotR comparisons with B5, because it's very much like an epic quest sort of thing, just a stationary one, with the various encounters coming to B5 rather than vice versa. And I'm not sure if you've seen enough of the Minbari yet, but they are totally Space Elves.

spoken by the Russian guy (Sanya, I think?) from the Dresden Files

Yep, Sanya. (Come to think of it, Sanya/Ivanova would be a pretty fun ship XD)

The image of them sitting among the smoking wreckage, excitedly babbling at each other about unstable compounds and volatile chemicals (feel free to shoot me for my lack of knowledge of proper chemistry terminology! XD), while deploying fire extinguishers with the ease of long practice makes me lol

The chemical babble is actually quite spot on, no worries! :) And the image is, indeed, priceless. XD