Resurfacing after the Week from Hell, estrogen poisoning, Doctor Who mid-season finale, and a meme

[lunasariel]

'pologies for my lack of presence around Teh Intertubez this past week. I ended up banning myself from all the usual sites that I use to procrastinate (LJ, Tumblr, etc.) so that I could get my Three Papers of Doom done on time. Luckily, this ended up being the Two Papers of Doom, as one (the short two-page one, but still) was put off until Monday. Thank goodness for small favors, I guess. Anyway, that was pretty much what I did this week: write. One of my paper topics was actually really intriguing (the symbolism of incomplete houses in E.M. Forster's Howards End...why yes, I am a Huge Lit Nerd), but the other one was just kind of uncomfortable. It required me to Take A Position on A Social Issue, and the social issue turned out to be whether or not a novella we read, which contains an old lady monologuing for three pages about her underwear, was a respectful representation of the Holocaust. I ultimately said yes, because the author's stated purpose was something about using humor and directness to de-mystify it, and like showing a monster in a movie, take away some of the horror that our minds have already constructed around it, and I think she succeeded in doing this. But it was certainly a dark topic, and I felt very much in need of my traditional celebratory post-paper crêpe afterwards. Oh, and I'm especially annoyed with the class that assigned this reading because on Thursday, the day the paper was due, we had an in-class writing exercise where we're supposed to analyze a passage from the previous night's reading and then get up and talk about it. But, of course, pretty much nobody had done the reading, because we were all busy workng on our papers. I thought I was being all responsible and studious by reading it before class, but for some reason, I thought we were reading an entirely different book (we were just starting a new one that day), so for the first time in that class, I didn't do the reading, nor did I have the book. The one time. And, of course, that was exactly the day we needed to have done the reading and to bring out books. XP Luckily, I didn't have to get up and talk, but it was still a very FML moment.



Tuesday was HoME, and we've settled into a nice rhythm. Aside from the usual read-through, we covered Elven marriage ceremonies (about which I successfully prevented myself from being all smug about knowing this way-beyond-obscure information already) and chronology. There's no more jumping around like there was at the beginning, just a lot of really intense, and really interesting, discussion with people who don't look at you weird for wanting an in-depth discussion of whether Elves had and/or would have supported same-sex marriage (our conclusion, in short: yes) or finding it mind-blowingly cool that Galadriel was over nine thousand years old by the time Frodo met her. We worked it out in class (or, rather, the instructors worked it out and we took notes). This is one of the many, many reasons I love Tolkien: just trying to imagine a being for whom the sum total of human experience is roughly half her lifetime. Of course, this would make Círdan the Shipwright eleven thousand years old, so all of human history would be less than half of his lifetime. Just trying to imagine that kind of antiquity makes my brain hurt, but in the best way possible. We also covered my favorite chapters/era this week: crossing the Helcaraxë, the Noldor getting situated, and, of course, many instances of Fingon-related awesome: the Thangorodrim rescue that everybody knows, but also driving off Glaurung (okay, a half-grown Glaurung, but still), and ruling Mithrim. Oddly enough, the chunk we read also contained my (and, I found, a lot of other people's) least favorite bit: the geography. Oh gods, the geography! I know it's important to lay all this stuff out so that we know who rules where and why, but jeebus, that's the mother of all infodumps.



Today Yesterday I...went shopping. For clothes. And not just to replace t-shirts and/or jeans and/or socks that I'd worn out. Shock! Gasp! That estrogen poisoning that caused M and I to do each other's nails a couple of weeks ago has clearly reached my brain. Background time: I've been wearing variations on the same sneakers/jeans/t-shirt/hoodie uniform since middle school, but getting My Hat kinda lit a fire under me. I want to be the kind of person who wears not only moss-green cloche hats, but drapey blouses and lace-up boots and pencil skirts and long coats, and, and, and. My usual clothes-buying is strictly relegated to the week or so before a new semester starts, where I go to Target and/or Old Navy and replenish my stock of aforementioned items (oh, and then there are random splurges on nerdy t-shirts, which I fully intend to keep up, but that's a whole other matter). I started mixing it up a little with fun vintage places like Aubergine when I got into Berkeley, but this mostly manifested as buying t-shirts that aren't solid-colored crewnecks with a print of some kind on the front. But lately, as I walk around campus, I've really been noticing the wide variety of fashions out there, and I wanted to get me a piece of that. I especially lusted after a well-broken in pair of brown leather lace-up half-boots (more on my possibly unhealthy desire for these later), but I've been noticing so many fun kicky skirts and cool headwear, and I actually think I might be able to pull some of it off. Nothing too drastic, as my inner Stark frowns disapprovingly at anything more outré than knee-length skirts and shirts that acknowledge that I have boobs, but dammit, I want to look good! Due to the aforementioned uniform, my fashion sense is rather stunted, and I have a history of not really knowing what looks good on me, but it's a learning process. I'm leaning towards a vintage look (everything must work with My Hat, of course) that strikes a good balance between classy and fun, that I hope looks decent. Of course, my dandelion hair and the fact that I'm 5'2", a little chunky, and a complexion that tends towards the florid must be taken into account, but I'm making do.

Today Yesterday, I picked up a blouse (with some Cubist-looking frou-frou down the front, meant to go under the accidentally boobtastic shirts I bought before leaving Sebastopol), a skirt (grey wool, just about knee-length, and will hopefully look good with my black leather boots), and a light, long coat. This last one was right at the top of my wishlist, since a little experimentation earlier in the week proved that My Hat just looks silly when paired with a slate-blue zippered hoodie, so I wanted to get something that would set off My Hat nicely, but I could still wear outside of cold weather, as my only long coat (which my London friends RS and KC dubbed my "In Soviet Russia, coat wears you!" coat) is very much cold-weather-only. This new one is knitted, a nice green/grey that matches my hat, and I'm anxious to try it out once the current spate of hot weather lets up. I was also sorely tempted by a pair of lace-up leather half-boots (now that I've got my coat, lace-up leather half-boots are at the top of my wishlist), but they were $64, and after already spending a round $35 or $40 on clothes in one day and planning to go out with M tomorrow today, during which I'm hoping to pick up another skirt or two, and maybe some leggings/tights, I couldn't really countenance it. Maybe they'll be a reward for surviving my next batch of papers, if they remain in the store that long.



In other news, I'm thinking of making this blog public again. I've been trying to scrape together the time to put in my bid for Willas Tyrell and possibly Brienne in the westerosorting character meme, so people might want to, y'know, actually learn who I am, and Godzilla is going to be published one of these days (hopefully soon, if you can believe it. I've resolved all the major issues that had been bugging me and settled on an ending; all that remains is a few scenes to get everyone from point A to point B, and then it's beta time! Squee!). But more than that, I like making LJ friends, but I always feel like such a creeper going out and stalking other people's blogs, so logically I should make it as easy as possible for others to come and stalk me. I might go private again if any IRL drama develops, but I'm not even sure whether my IRL friends even know about this blog (my family sure doesn't), which is the only reason I went to lockdown in the first place. So if my "Speak Friend and Enter" sticky disappears within the next few days, y'all will know why.



The big Nerd News this week is that the Doctor Who mid-season finale was today yesterday. Steven Moffat promised tears, and damned if he didn't get them. I know he's gotten a lot of hate lately, especially around the season premiere, but dammit, you can't say that he doesn't know what he was doing, and that he's not a Whovian to the core, not after "The Angels Take Manhattan." I first got to know the Grand Moff as someone who understood the Doctor's capacity for joy, his ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and revel in the fact that, "Just this once, Rose, everybody lives!" I always focus so much on the "everybody lives" that I forget the first part, that miracles don't come every day, and it's the frequency of death and defeat and despair that makes these impossible rescues against insurmountable odds all the more singular, and this time, he brought the death and defeat and despair in spades. Meta aside, one would go in thinking that this is just another rollicking Steven Moffat episode: Weeping Angels, River Song, o noez Rory's dead again (goddammit, Rory. Geez, someone get that guy a revolving coffin! I think Jean Grey's undertaker might be able to do one), the Doctor is being all idiosyncratic and kooky and lol he's wearing funny glasses, there's a hopeless situation from which there can be no possible escape (pssh, of course there can! He's the Doctor, he always finds a way, no matter what; that's just what he does), the day is saved, and then they're off on another adventure! Except wait, no they're not, why does the Doctor look that sad, he never looks sad when the villains have been defeated and he's cracking jokes with River and the Ponds and everything is okay again (everything is okay again, right?), something is wrong, something is so, so wrong... Steven Moffat, ladies and gentlemen: sometimes you get "The Doctor Dances" and everything is happy and beautiful, sometimes you get "Blink" and HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THAT BRB GOING TO HIDE IN MY UNDERGROUND BUNKER AND NEVER BLINK AGAIN, and sometimes you get this, where he promises tears, and tears he gets.

Of course, no matter how good the writer and/or director, a show is nothing without its actors, and this was, it must be said, a fitting send-off for the Ponds, for the Girl Who Waited who refused to wait, and for the Deathless Centurion who died. The jumping scene was punch-you-in-the-heart beautiful, with the music and Amy's hair flying and them holding each other close, not 100% sure that they had leapt to their deaths (because they run with the Doctor, who always finds a way to bring them back, even Rory who has died, like, a million times, and if anything, they have faith in the Doctor and his amazing, impossible luck), but sure enough that they had made their peace with it. And, in the end, Amy really did choose Rory. The sexual tension with the Doctor is long over, but there was always that push-and-pull of whether workaday Rory the nurse was enough to counteract the allure of the fantastic, exciting Raggedy Doctor. Once and for all, Amy proved that yes, yes he definitely is. Instead of Rory proving his love for Amy over and over again, she gave the ultimate proof that she loved him, in giving up all the possible futures she might have had, all the adventures through time and space, to grow old and die with Rory. And that was, I think, a piece of why the Doctor was so devastated: once again, someone didn't choose him. Companions come along, and he offers them both his hearts, wholly and without reserve, and they may accept them for awhile, but nobody stays forever. Some choose to leave him, some don't, but they all go in the end, and he had to learn that all over again with the Ponds he fought so fiercely to protect.

Oddly enough, though, aside from the jumping scene, it was Matt Smith's performance that really stood out to me. He can be kind of a ham sometimes, yeah, but my god, the agony in his voice, that scream when he realized that Amy was leaving him, leaving him forever (and to a man who's 1,200 years old and may never die, "forever" is a long time) to grow old and die somewhere he could never see her again...that was some grade-A Tear Jerkery right there. It was written all over him, in his face, in his voice - "no, please, not her, not Amy, please don't take my Amelia Pond from me, she's all I have, please let me save her, I've saved so many people and so many worlds, just let me be the Raggedy Doctor and save the day one more time." Because that's the crux of it. River Song said it best, just after her own death: "Everybody knows that everybody dies, but not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives." But it turned out that this wasn't one of those one-in-a-million days, it wasn't special, or blessed. The wind was wrong, the Doctor failed to save the day, and the Ponds died. But River understood about being a Companion, too, and she also said (apologies for the River quote spam): "When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it'll never end, but however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor, but I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it." Nobody knows it like the Doctor indeed, but you could see it, during the Hope Spot when the crazy chance-in-a-million gamble paid off and everything was alright again and the world was saved, the Doctor hugged them, and you could see something change on his face. He was facing their tombstones, and it's my interpretation that, the moment his smile died and his face went cold and blank and dead, he saw that Rory's name and age was still on the tombstone, that his death was still a fixed point. The sky didn't turn dark and the world didn't stop spinning, but in that moment, the Doctor accepted the death of his Ponds, and the helpless, hopeless rage in his voice when he tried to call Amy back proves that he knew, and worse, acknowledged, that he was just delaying the inevitable. Even he didn't believe himself when he promised Amy they would find another way, that he would make things alright, the way he always had done. The Doctor lost his faith and his hope, and, for me, that's the real tragedy of the episode.

But, again, this is Steven Moffat and Doctor Who we're talking about, so it wasn't a wall-to-wall angstfest. The Hope Spot had the feel of the actual end of an episode, what with the post-action banter, and washing the TARDIS (it's just one more element of tragedy that the only one who has stayed with him through it all, who will never, ever leave him, who needs him as much as he needs her, can't talk to him or hold his hand or anything he needs right now), the banter was good throughout, and Rory's "seriously? Weeping Angel babies?" face pretty accurately mirrored mine, and the book thing was just cool (although, like every other element of this episode, ultimately poignant rather than straight-up neat).



Apparently Elementary won't be coming out with any more episodes until next week (so did I watch a leaked version of the pilot, or what? Everywhere lists the airdate as Sept. 27th, but I saw it on the 7th), but upon reflection, I don't think I'll be watching them. I'm more than pressed for time as it is, so I can't really keep up with a new show that I'm only "meh" about. And from what I've heard about episodes to come, I wouldn't be particularly enthralled anyway. Upon further thought, I agree with otterdance's stance that one of Elementary's main weaknesses, especially compared to Sherlock, is that Sherlock incorporates so many little elements of ACD's original canon that Elementary just doesn't. There's no "rache", no jack-knife pinning letters to the mantel, no wandering wound for Watson, no shooting at the walls, no clever updates ("three-patch problem" and "the game is on" instead of "the game is afoot"). Also, I'm increasingly coming to agree with her that Elementary is more like House than anything else - a loose interpretation, featuring broad character types (a prickly, drug-addled antisocial genius and a kindhearted doctor) that share several easily-recognizable character traits with Holmes and Watson, rather than a strict adaption.



One final note before this week's dose of meme: R.I.P. Michael O'Hare, better known as Jeffrey Sinclair on Babylon 5. I first got the news via Twitter, and someone on there mentioned how sad it is that so many B5 stars have passed on, so I checked it out, and Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin), Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar), Jeff Conaway (Zack Allan) have apparently also died, which I wouldn't call "so many," but it's still depressing. Actually, I was surprised at how bad I felt about all this. I'm not even done with B5, and I was waaaay more relieved than I should have been every time I wiki'd an actor's name, and they were still kicking around. Like, I would have been legitimately upset if Jerry Doyle or Bill Mumy were dead, because it would feel like a bit of Garibaldi or Lennier died with them. that's what it feels like with Michael O'Hare and Captain Sinclair, anyway. I dunno, something just strikes me as really sad that there's no more Captain Sinclair getting embroiled in crazy time-travel plots and saving the world from the future. So I'm planning on watching an episode or two in his honor. This is slightly ironic, because by season 3, where I am right now, he's no longer a regularly-occurring character, but it still feels like a fitting tribute.


For this week's meme, it's back to the randomized character ones! Wooooo! Our (well, mostly) lovely and talented contestants are:

1. Robb Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire)
2. Lara Raith (Dresden Files)
3. Ron Weasley (Harry Potter)
4. Delenn (Babylon 5)
5. William Laurence (Temeraire)
6. Galadriel (Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion)
7. Steven “Captain America” Rodgers (The Avengers)
8. Lady Teldra (Dragaera)
9. Aral Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga)
10. Kaylee Frye (Firefly)
11. Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)
12. Amy Pond (Doctor Who)
13. Charles Xavier (X-Men: First Class)
14. Alanna the Lioness (Song of the Lioness)
15. Nobby Nobbes (Discworld)


1) So, 5 (Laurence) and 2 (Lara) have been dating for a few weeks. They talk about having a threesome. 2 brings home 13 (Charles) for said threesome. Turns out, 13 is no other than 5's ex (2 obviously didn't know). What are everyone's reactions to this awkward coincidence?
I’m going to extend the “[Laurence] obviously didn’t know” to the whole situation, because dating someone like Lara would be risqué enough for him without adding the idea of *gasp* more than two people in the bed at a time. Charles would be totally down for it, though, and would enthuse about Lara finding healthy (read: consensual) ways to feed, maintain a stable relationship, etc. So Lara would basically deposit Charles on her and Laurence’s bed and inform him that he would be joining them tonight. After explaining in exactly what context the “joining” would be taking place, which would take some doing, given that it’s Laurence, Charles would get shouted at for Corrupting A Lady’s Morals or something and then tossed out.
But I can’t see Laurence/Lara lasting longer than 48 hours anyway, so once they set to it and finally realize they want very, very drastically different thinks from the relationship, Lara takes off. She tracks Charles down again, who would be more than game to spend the night with her. I mean, she embodies all of his favorite things: rising above one’s baser instincts, really cool biology (I’m sure he wouldn’t pass up the chance to take a genetic sample from her), badassery, and a smokin’ hot, bisexual woman open to kinkiness.
Charles doesn't even need to be Laurence's ex for the whole situation to fall apart, but I guess the two of them had a fling either during one of Laurence's short periods on land (Charles would certainly be interested in figuring out how Laurence's mind works, and be drawn to him by that; they might even move in the same circles, since Laurence is the younger son of nobility and Charles is nominally American) or when Charles somehow wrangles a ride from Point A to Point B on a ship Laurence happened to be captaining, or just on.

2) 11 (Sherlock) has a crush on 7 (Steve) and talks to 14 (Alanna) for advice.
He’d probably be asking her if she has any spells to remove sexual attraction entirely, since the whole situation is quite frankly annoying. Alanna tries to talk to him about following one’s heart and True Love and letting things work themselves out instead, which Sherlock has zero use for.
And, lol, Steve would totally be the sort he absolutely definitely does not have a crush on, since he’s basically John, only a little shinier (which would get on Sherlock’s nerves, but still) and taller. So Sherlock’s solution would basically be to have sex with Steve ASAP, on the theory that he’s mis-categorized a crush as his libido rearing its head, as it does every couple of years or so, and once he’s fed it, it’ll thankfully go away again and he can stop bothering about it.

3) 1 (Robb) wants to have an adventurous time. What kind of adventure would they look for?
Heh, I bet Ser Roderick and Ned spent quite a bit of time dragging wee!Robb, wee!Jon, and later, wee!Theon out of the forests surrounding Winterfell after they’d spent too long listening to Old Nan or Ser Roderick himself, and decided to go off looking for bandits or White Walkers or whatever the enemy of today’s story was. Of course, this was long before Robb learned that adventures aren’t as much fun as one might expect…

4) 15 (Nobby) and 6 (Galadriel) prank war!
This would have to be a younger, Silmarillion-era Galadriel, as LotR-era Galadriel is far too grave and dignified to engage in prank wars. Also, Nobby would kind of creep her out. Of course, he would have creeped Sil!Galadriel out, too, but she would have been more likely to respond to his initial prankings in kind. Sil!Galadriel (hereinafter Siladriel) would lean towards magically-aided pranks, which would be a significant advantage, but Nobby’s sheer, slightly horrifying inventiveness with regards to what to hide, and where, would ultimately carry the day. Oh, and if he got the rest of the Watch involved, on the theory that if Siladriel gets magic, he should get something to even the playing field, it would be absolutely no contest. There would be the classic “where can we hide bits of Reg Shoe?” pranks, of course, and Cheery could probably whip up something interesting in her lab (Discworld Nair, perhaps? Siladriel did have such pretty hair…), and things like that. But I just can’t see elves (or at least Galadriel’s generation of elves) as having the particular frame of mind necessary for successful pranking.

5) What kind of evil things does 4 (Delenn) want to do to 10 (Kaylee)?
Nope, sorry. Not only are “evil” and “Delenn” mutually incompatible, but I think she and Kaylee would make really good friends. They’re both The Heart for their respective circles of friends, Delenn would be charmed by Kaylee’s transparent and whole-hearted goodwill and enthusiasm for life, and Kaylee would be in awe of glamorous mystical Space Elf Delenn.
I guess the closest Delenn could come to “evil” is to try and matchmake between Kaylee and Simon, but she would even handle that deftly, since she already has experience with Simon’s type in Lennier, since the two of them are basically the same person.

6) All the even numbers (Lara, Delenn, Galadriel, Lady Teldra, Kaylee, Amy, Alanna) make up the crew of a spaceship - how does that go down?
Hello, Amazon Brigade! There’s initially a three-way struggle for power – Lara can’t really not have a position of power in anything she’s involved in, Galadriel is older than the sum total of human experience, and Amy is the only one who’s actually piloted (well, helped to pilot, anyway) a spaceship before. But Galadriel ends up as captain (hey, she didn’t spend all that time listening to Fëanor with picking up a leadership tactic or two, albeit mostly in a “what not to do” kind of way), with Lara as her Number One.
Kaylee is the easiest out of all of these –she’s the ship’s engineer/mechanic, of course! So, no problems there.
Alanna is Chief of Security, although the concept of “space” does take some explaining to her, and it takes her a while to stop looking out the windows and expecting to see Faithful.
Amy works under Alanna as some sort of security officer/space cop, although hopefully red hair doesn’t equal redshirt, since the Security department is not only entirely comprised of redheads, but contains every redhead aboard.
With so many leaderly types jockeying for position/power, Lady Teldra would be perfectly happy as a Yeoman. Hey, somebody has to follow the orders everyone else is already yelling!

7) 12 (Amy), 9 (Aral), and 3 (Ron) are in the same movie. What genre is it? What's the title?
It’s called something along the lines of Sidekicks, or possibly just Red, and it’s a sci-fi/fantasy magitek comedy-thriller where all of Earth’s designated Chosen Ones, heroes, geniuses, etc. have been prudently captured and put out of commission by the Forces of Evil *before* said Forces begin their now-all-but-unopposed reign of terror over the earth. Amy, Ron, and Cordelia, all previously relegated to the role of sidekick, set out to rescue the Doctor, Harry, and Miles, and end up leading a rebellion against the Forces of Evil. Aral is Cordelia’s love interest, of course, and may or may not end up making a tragic sacrifice, since that seems to be his style.

8) Under what circumstances might 8 (Teldra) and 15 (Nobby) fall in love?
You know, it really says something about Teldra that I don’t dismiss this possibility out of hand – if anyone were able to fall in love with Nobby, it would be her. But still, she would have to see him on a really, really good day. Maybe Morrolan wanted him to stop by Castle Black to be the guinea pig for a super-strength cleaning spell? We see in Guards! Guards! that people like Sibyl (and Teldra and Sibyl do share quite a few qualities) inexplicably find Nobby roguishly charming instead of repulsive, so maybe that’s how it starts out.

9) Under what circumstances might 10 (Kaylee) and 8 (Teldra) be roommates?
Oh, easily. If Serenity were smuggling Team Dragon and associates somewhere, Kaylee and Teldra, both cheerful, polite people-pleasers would naturally run into each other a lot –Kaylee would help Teldra set up what guest space they have, Teldra would help Kaylee cook, and they might just decide to make a girl’s night of it. You know that Teldra would give excellent advice, especially re: Simon, and for once Teldra would be able to do some of the talking, as Kaylee would be just as active and enthusiastic listener as Teldra herself.

10) 7 (Steve) and 5 (Laurence) are paired up as temporary foster parents. How does that go down?
Kind of hilariously badly. They’re basically the same person – both heroic, self-sacrificing, justice-minded Fish Out of Water blondes who are good at both taking orders and inspiring incredible loyalty in others, so it’s not like one’s strengths could balance out the other’s weaknesses.
I guess their success would depend on the age of the kid: if it’s an infant or toddler, they stare at each other in horror for a moment, shrug helplessly, and then pass it off to Peggy, Catherine, or either of the Rolands, since they both come from times where babies were a strictly female responsibility.
If it’s an older kid, they fare a little better. They’re both still most likely to leave him/her with someone they know has a lesser chance of getting shot at, but if that wasn’t an option, they would be a pretty damn good pair of protectors. Steve would be far more likely to actually try to engage with the kid and have some fun, as Laurence would freeze up and get all wooden-faced, but, hey, your choice is between the Avengers and dragons: what kid wouldn’t have fun anyway?

11) 1 (Robb) and 13 (Charles) are stuck in a burning building. Who saves who, if anybody?
Mutual saving occurs, although Robb is slightly more likely to do so. Being heroic and rescuing people in peril is just kind of a Stark thing to do, so of course Robb would insist on helping Charles. Charles, on the other hand, has been shown to be a little more self-serving, but given his background, he would never let a child (and, yes, he still considers fifteen a child), especially an unusually talented child like possible warg Robb, to just die, especially if he could summon help telepathically.

12) You are going to watch Toy Story 3, Iron Man 2, and Eclipse. Who would take with you to each one?
Toy Story 3: My first instinct was to say Amy, since her whole story arc throughout s6 was about growing up and taking on a grownup worldview without repudiating that which formed one’s childhood, but given the way things turned out, this would just be cruel. So I guess Kaylee and/or Charles, since neither of them would be afraid to cry at the end, Charles probably spent more time alone with his toys than with actual people as a child, and Kaylee strikes me as the type who still has at least one doll and/or stuffed animal sitting on her pillow.
Iron Man 2: Steve, of course! Not only would he get a kick out of seeing Tony in his pre-Avengers days, but it would certainly be, er, a revelation to see his shield being used to help construct the big science doodad towards the end, and he might even get a little misty-eyed at Coulson’s unflappability.
Eclipse: Lara. Because she would invite Thomas, Harry, and a few of their crew over, and we would have the best sporking ever.

13) Would 3 (Ron) rather eat 14 (Alanna), 9 (Aral), or 2 (Lara)'s cooking?
Lara’s, because at least he could be distracted by staring at her. Alanna and Aral are surprisingly similar characters, in that they’re old campaigners who could probably throw together a fry-up or something if needs must, but they’re more used to cooking the day’s catch of game on an open campfire while evading enemy pursuit than any actual culinary achievement. Lara wouldn’t have any idea how to cook either, of course, but like I said, Ron would probably be too distracted by her, um, personal assets to notice what he’s eating.

14) If 11 (Sherlock) were a hero of any kind, who on this list would be his/her arch-nemesis?
*inserts precisely the “heroes don’t exist” quote you’re all thinking of* Hmm…Laurence or Aral could provide Inspector Javert- type nemeses, but for a true arch-nemesis, it would probably be either Lara or Charles. Like Sherlock, both are arrogant, brilliant and willing to break the rules, and they’re also quite capable of going darkside in a way Laurence and (probably) Aral aren’t.

15) How does 6 (Galadriel) react to 12 (Amy) killing a family member/close friend?
Depends on the family member. If it’s A Certain Uncle (or even a couple of her more betrayal-inclined cousins) then she would probably agree that it was for the best, as Amy was probably doing so to prevent future tragedy, and I don’t know how early Galadriel’s foresight manifested. In fact, it might even lead to an interesting discussion on metaphysics/causality/the nature of time.
Of course, if it’s not A Certain Uncle or a few of his sons, she might require more of an explanation than “history required it,” and might even get a little, er, Fëanor-y herself in retribution.

16) 4 (Delenn) is a superhero and 5 (Laurence) is his/her sidekick. After accidentally revealing their secret identities to 15 (Nobby), how does 15 react?
Delenn would be some sort of psychic Messiah type sent from a distant world to save Earth, and Laurence would have been the first to stumble across her, Green Lantern-style, and he seemed like a nice guy so she picked him to help her out. Assuming that this is pre-Temeraire Laurence, so his superpower isn’t just automatically “I have a dragon,” I could see him with the standard Superman array – strength, speed, flight, maybe laser vision. I’ve always found Supes’ ice breath/breath weapons in general to be kinda silly, but I’ll leave them in for Laurence, if only for the Temeraire connection.
As to Nobby’s reaction: hmm…I can’t really see him blackmailing them, but god knows he wouldn’t exactly be volunteering to help them. I don’t know, maybe he tells Sam Vimes and then lets him deal with it? Sam would be far more qualified to handle something like this, anyway.

17) 8 (Teldra) is roommates with 9 (Aral) and 6 (Galadriel). When 8 buys groceries with their own money, 6 and 9 always eat them without contributing at all. How does 8 handle this?
If they’re actually roommates, she politely and delicately mentions that they might want to chip in next time. Aral and Galadriel are both used to having servants just bring them stuff anyway, so they probably just didn’t think of it, and once Teldra mentions it to them, they happily split the bill, and even pay her what they owe for what they've already unwittingly eaten.
This is assuming that they are, in fact, actual, roommates, and not just that Teldra is occupying her usual position of housekeeper/seneschal to aristocrats Aral and Galadriel, in which case she would tactfully remind them that they neglected to put funds at her disposal for supplying the household. The basic outcome – both of them being embarrassed about forgetting something so basic and putting Teldra in an uncomfortable position and then doing their financial duty afterwards – would be the same, just the dynamic in which it occurs would be different.

18) You've turned on the kettle to make hot drinks for 13 (Charles), 14 (Alanna), and 4 (Delenn). What do they all want, and how do they take it?
Charles wants tea, duh. Let’s make it Earl Grey, hot, for the cross-fandom Actor Allusion lulz. He takes it with a wedge of lemon, maybe a little sugar, and a shot of whiskey if nobody’s watching too closely.
I could see Alanna being a coffee-drinker, if it exists in her ‘verse. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I read the Lioness quartet, but maybe the Bazhir introduced it to her? She takes hers black and strong enough to stand a spoon up in.
If the Minbari have no equivalent soothing brewed beverage, I’m going to put Delenn down for mint-chamomile tea with honey and maybe just a splash of milk. Or maybe green tea, if it’s in the morning, but I can totally imagine her having a cup of mint-chamomile tea, or just plain ol’ chamomile, before bed, as an aid to her meditation, or just because it’s so damn calming.

19) Do 3 (Ron) and 2 (Lara)'s mothers get along?
Initially no, but later yes. Mrs. Weasley can get along with just about anyone if she wants to, but she can also take a set against anyone. I don’t think we ever knew the late Mrs. Raith, but given what her life would have been like, I imagine Molly would initially write her off as a haughty hussy, but once she found out about Papa Raith and his, er, habits, she would be much more sympathetic, and even offer sanctuary to Mama Raith and any little Raiths she wanted to take with her.

20) 1 (Robb) has gone to their favorite place in the world(s) - how do they feel when they find out that 10 (Kaylee) and 12 (Amy) are there, too?
I guess Robb’s favorite place would be the godswood at Winterfell. He would initially feel a little invaded upon seeing two strange women there, but Amy, with her red hair, could easily be mistaken for some Tully relative, and Kaylee loves everyone and everyone eventually loves her back, so Robb would be relatively okay with it. And both women would be enthusiastic about listening to all the stories he would have to tell about the godswood and the heart tree, both from his own memories about wee!Stark shenanigans/Ned’s meditations and from legends about the Old Gods in general, so that would definitely help.

21) If 7 (Steve), 11 (Sherlock), 15 (Nobby), and 10 (Kaylee) were tossed together to save the world what kind of story would it make? (ex. Humor romance, tragedy, parody, action-adventure, lots of bickering, bad science, etc.)
Screwball comedy/sci-fi blend. And when I say “sci-fi,” I mean 80s sci-fi, like Back to the Future or Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Steve is the comically Fish Out of Water WWII super-soldier brought forward into the future, Sherlock is the comically anal-retentive scientist to defrost him, Nobby is the comically incompetent detective to order him to do so to help solve some crime or other, and Kaylee is the comically unflappable and cheerful gadgeteer genius who builds the time machine and/or handles the defrosting. Kaylee is hopelessly in love with oblivious!Sherlock and gets hit on by repulsive-but-sympathetic-to-the-audience!Nobby, and ends up with courtly!Steve. Sherlock and Nobby form the mother of all odd couples when Lestrade and/or Sam Vimes orders them to work together.

Comments

[julian-griffith.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the Doneness of Papers! I'm cranking along on the story I want to submit to an anthology -- two weeks to bang out 15K, and it has to stand alone from my novel even though I've set it about four weeks after the novel's end.

I hear you on the clothes. I want to dress with more style, too, and I wouldn't even have to go shopping to do it... but since I'm unemployed, have an involuntary semester off, and barely leave the house except to go grocery shopping or to the library, it's hard to summon the will to wear anything fancier than jeans/t-shirt/hoodie. Some days it seems pointless to get out of pajama pants. Vacuuming the house in skirts and pearls and heels may have worked for Donna Reed, but not for me. Not to mention that my housemate is genderqueer and looks at me funny if I wear femme clothes anyway, since she never does. Clearly, I need to get out of the house more.

I don't have much to say about your Doctor Who commentary or your character meme, except that I liked them!

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

two weeks to bang out 15K, and it has to stand alone from my novel even though I've set it about four weeks after the novel's end.
Yikes. Good luck with that; here's hoping you're still at least marginally sane at the end of it!

barely leave the house except to go grocery shopping or to the library, it's hard to summon the will to wear anything fancier than jeans/t-shirt/hoodie.
Ugh, I know that feeling. XP There's always the flip side, when getting all gussied up without any reason to do so can be a real downer. And dressing takes effort and money (*unemployed fistbump*), so sometimes it really does more harm than good. This was actually why I adopted the jean/t-shirt/hoodie uniform in the first place, because dressing up was becoming way more effort than it was worth, and just became depressing after a while.

Sorry this post was relatively AoS/Regency-free, but in the interest of full disclosure, I've been banging on about it (http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/101087.html#cutid1) quite a bit recently, and your fic and related headcanons may have come up once (http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/100337.html#cutid3) or twice (http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/99618.html#cutid1). (Assuming, of course, that I'm not wrong in remembering you as VelveteenThestral; my memory is a little on the flakey side. XD)

[julian-griffith.livejournal.com]

yup, I'm VelveteenThestral, though I'm trying not to link that EXCESSIVELY with the pen name, because, um, heavy fandom inspiration for the novel, yup.

Have opened your links in other tabs, will get to them soon.

And I don't mind reading about your mundane life or other fandoms at all! I like seeing multiple sides of a person. I hope you do too.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I'm VelveteenThestral, though I'm trying not to link that EXCESSIVELY with the pen name
Ah, duly noted! I can see how that might not be such a great move, professionally speaking.

I like seeing multiple sides of a person. I hope you do too.
Glee! And, yes, getting to know a person outside of "Oh, you like [fandom/character/pairing], too" is one of my favorite parts of fandom in general. :)

[hamsterwoman]

I've apparently entirely forgotten everything about Elven marriage ceremonies, though I do remember reading about them.

in-depth discussion of whether Elves had and/or would have supported same-sex marriage (our conclusion, in short: yes)

Ooh, interesting! That's my gut feel, too, but I'm curious how y'all reached that conclusion.

(which my London friends RS and KC dubbed my "In Soviet Russia, coat wears you!" coat)

LOL!

Fall weather being back, I've resumed my desultory search for boots I really love. Still no joy on finding something that I love the look of, would be comfortable, and practical to wear. So I say, if you've found a pair you love, grab'em :)

The f-locking thing is something I sort of waffle on, too. On the one hand, LJ has done enough dodgy things like the Facebook linking that I want to make really sure my LJ life and RL aren't linked. On the other hand, I hate going to someone's LJ after seeing their neat comments in a community or a friend's LJ and finding nothing but a "friends only" post... :/ This is why I try to keep at least my reading stuff unlocked

I'd heard about Michael O'Hare's death on LJ the other day, but hadn't realized that Jeff Conaway had also passed on. And I know it's a pretty old show at this point, but it still feels like "so many" to me. Especially as Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas were quite young when they died.

[hamsterwoman]

Yay, a meme cast where I know all but one person by more than osmosis! :D

Charles would get shouted at for Corrupting A Lady’s Morals or something and then tossed out.

Haha, I can readily envisoun this!

Sherlock with a crush was a great scenario, too.

There would be the classic “where can we hide bits of Reg Shoe?” pranks, of course, and Cheery could probably whip up something interesting in her lab (Discworld Nair, perhaps? Siladriel did have such pretty hair…)

That's terrible, and it's making me laugh really hard XD

The Amazon Spaceship turned out pretty neat, too! (Though, I think I'm not seeing Delenn in the answer?) But I think Teldra's duty is more likely to be, uh, whatever Uhura's role in Star Trek is -- communications officer or something? Delenn, of course, would be good at the diplomacy stuff, too, but Teldra is even better, I think.

You know, it really says something about Teldra that I don’t dismiss this possibility out of hand – if anyone were able to fall in love with Nobby, it would be her.

That was my first thought, too, upon seeing that questions. She's just that good at seeing the good in someone... XD

Steve and Laurence are really very similar. I do think both of them would make a go of taking care of even an infant if they felt it was their duty -- they are, after all, pretty good at adapting to new circumstances, and Laurence even has dragon-hatchling-raising experience, which might help. Although having to deal with a baby who can't explain what he wants would be definitely frustrating.

Iron Man 2: Steve, of course!

Of course! :D And equally hee at taking the Raiths to Eclipse.

I'd actually love to see Sherlock and Lara as arch-nemesises. Charles is probably more his match in the brains department (and, Sherlock's "superpower" being all in his mind, it would be interesting to see him going up against a telepath), but Lara is sort of like a darker Irene, and that's a dynamic that would be very interesting to explore, especially given that even the regular Irene, without White Court powers, could short-circuit Sherlock's brain and manipulate him quite effectively.

15) How does 6 (Galadriel) react to 12 (Amy) killing a family member/close friend?
Depends on the family member. If it’s A Certain Uncle

This is actually a very interesting scenario! I'm sure Galadriel would agree it would be for the best, especially if she had the foresight at that point, but I do wonder if she would take kindly to it even then... Family relations around the Sil are so... fraught.

I don't remember if coffee exists in the Tortall-verse either, but I would definitely see Alanna as a coffee-drinker, yep.

20) 1 (Robb) has gone to their favorite place in the world(s) - how do they feel when they find out that 10 (Kaylee) and 12 (Amy) are there, too?

NGL, my first thought was the Winterfell hot pools for some reason, in which case I figured Robb, as a red-blooded teenage male, would not mind at all ;)

Ahaha, the sci-fi screwball comedy at the end was just genius! Kaylee would so have a crush on Sherlock he'd be oblivious to -- that's so in character from the canon Kaylee/Simon and Molly/Sherlock dynamics, and she and Steve would be the cutest, shiniest couple, and Sherlock and Nobby working together would be HI-larious. I really, really want to see this in theaters now!

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

That's my gut feel, too, but I'm curious how y'all reached that conclusion.
We started out with the agreement that Elves, in general, were sex-positive and generally didn't seem to be much into governing each other's sex lives. Their only taboo seems to have been against incest of first cousins or closer (and, to the delight of my shipper's heart, cousins where the connecting parents are half-siblings don't count as first cousins). Sex = marriage when needs must, divorce seems nonexistant, and whether or not rape had ever occurred is a matter of which version of the text one subscribes to. And the only times we've seen Elves actually objecting to/trying to prevent a marriage is human/elven unions, and that's for the practical reason that these rarely turn out well. But then again, it's also stated that the first purpose, although not the only purpose, of Elven marriage is procreation. Of course Tolkien himself never said anything one way or the other (although he did apparently write down a list of Elven names for one's naughty bits), so it'll always be open for debate, but the conclusion we came to was that Elves generally took the stance of "You're not first cousins and both A) willing and B) Eldar? Congratulations, when's the wedding?"

Still no joy on finding something that I love the look of, would be comfortable, and practical to wear.
Perfect boots are surprisingly hard to find, aren't they? I did end up buying that pair I was salivating over, and walked around in them all day. They're not as absolutely perfect as I'd first imagined, but my feet didn't hurt after, like, three hours of walking and standing, and they look pretty damn spiffy, so I call it a win.

I hate going to someone's LJ after seeing their neat comments in a community or a friend's LJ and finding nothing but a "friends only" post... :/
Well do I know that feeling! :/ is exactly what I'm trying to avoid, while at the same time avoiding O.o in any IRL acquaintances that may stumble across it.

That's terrible, and it's making me laugh really hard XD
But it's the terribleness that makes it so hilarious! Now I really, really want fic involving the Watch and pranking. Like, inter-departmental prank war, prank war with some of the younger wizards, whatever. Carrot would be too high-minded to participate, of course, and Vimes would consider it his job as Commander to abstain (that doesn't mean he keeps abreast of the news and occasionally lends a hand, though), but contributes something pretty epic towards the end.

Though, I think I'm not seeing Delenn in the answer?
Oops, I completely forgot her. XD Sorry, Delenn! Her job would be a mix between Inara (provides legitimacy/status, general diplomacy/smoothing-of-the-way stuff) and that psychic lady from ST:TNG. Hmm, maybe Teldra can be kind of her attaché?

I do think both of them would make a go of taking care of even an infant if they felt it was their duty
Oh, definitely, if they were ordered to do so and/or had no alternatives, they would give it their best shot (and, hey, growing up in a tenement, I bet Steve at least knows what childcare is supposed to look like). But a combination of cultural mores and the fact that neither of them would fully trust themselves with a baby (Steve would, as always, be worried about hurting it with his super-strength, and Laurence would just be at sea, if you'll pardon the pun) leads me to think that both of their first instincts would be to look for someone they considered qualified to care for children before having a go themselves.

Also: lol, the image of Laurence attempting to translate his experiences with wee!Temeraire to a human of compareable age is all kinds of hilarious.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Lara is sort of like a darker Irene, and that's a dynamic that would be very interesting to explore
Strangely, I didn't think of this, but you're right, the way they interact/relate to one another would be fascinating! As you say, she's basically Irene Adler turned up to 11, so In addition to being able to short out Sherlock's brain the usual way, the revelation that Lara was a supernatural being, and all that implies, would be a serious mind-screw for über-scientific/rational Sherlock. Hmm...

I do wonder if she would take kindly to it even then... Family relations around the Sil are so... fraught.
Heh, "fraught" is such a good word to describe Noldor relations! She would certainly, on some level, resent anybody killing any member of her family, so it would all hinge on where in the timeline it occurred. Like, I imagine a younger and more impetuous Galadriel would be an odd mixture of outraged and relieved if it was Fëanor who got killed, if it was after the Kinslaying (which probably involved the death of at least some of her matrilineal relatives) and the Helcaraxë mess, and might even outright approve if it was Celegorm and Curufin after they'd gotten Finrod killed (since I have a feeling she didn't really consider them family anymore after that point), but, yeah, anyone else, and there might be a problem.

my first thought was the Winterfell hot pools for some reason, in which case I figured Robb, as a red-blooded teenage male, would not mind at all ;)
LOL! I'm sure Robb enjoyed the hot pools, too, and he certainly wouldn't object at all to sharing the space with a couple of good-looking ladies, especially ones like Kaylee and Amy, who are both disposed to, shall we say, a lack of shyness when it comes to sex.

she and Steve would be the cutest, shiniest couple, and Sherlock and Nobby working together would be HI-larious.
100% agreed on both of these! Steve would be all stuttery and "aw, shucks" like he always is, and he and Kaylee would both be shy, so a third party would have to set them up, and one can only imagine the memetic quotable-ness of Sherlock's and Nobby's banter.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Augh! I forgot to add that Tolkien's list of Elvish words for naughty bits, included in a rather insightful essay on Elves and sex in general, can be found here (http://www.ansereg.com/what_tolkien_officially_said_abo.htm), and makes for some interesting reading.

[hamsterwoman]

Ooh, thank you for that link at the end -- I was just about to ask about the naughty bits terms XD Only apparently my firewall won't allow it -- apparently Elf sex is considered pornography by Company XD Could I prevail on you to C&P the relevant bits or something, if it's not too much trouble?

Congratulations on your new boots! I think feet not hurting after wearing new shoes for so long definitely counts as a win, even if they are not as perfect as initially thought.

Like, inter-departmental prank war, prank war with some of the younger wizards,

Oh, that would be fabulous! Of course, this also gives me the mental image of Vetinari walking into a room completely booby-trapped by said prank war, possibly by both sides, and gracefully avoiding all of the precariously balanced buckets, tacks on chairs, trip-wires, and magical equivalents while pretending to not notice any of them.

Hmm, maybe Teldra can be kind of her attaché?

This makes perfect sense! YES.

(Steve would, as always, be worried about hurting it with his super-strength, and Laurence would just be at sea, if you'll pardon the pun

*snerk* And, yes, good points both.

the revelation that Lara was a supernatural being, and all that implies, would be a serious mind-screw for über-scientific/rational Sherlock

Ooh! I hadn't thought of that aspect, but you're completely right. So, in that way, she would be super-Irene + the Hound of the Baskervilles in one, which would totally screw with Sherlock's brain like no other. Now I really, really want to see this crossover! (Especially as John's interactions with Lara are also bound to be hilarious.)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Here are the bits that touch on (*snerk*, because I am twelve) terms for naughty bits:
First, huch, "cunnus", and móna, "womb", are for the elf-women; vië, "membrum vir.", is for the elf-men. Everybody has hacca, "hams/buttocks", and everybody can get helda, that is, unclothed/naked. This accomplished, provided the elf-couple are appropriately married, it is time to attend to the marital duty of puhta, "coitus" (noun), though hopefully the pair's activity can be referred to with the verb púcë, a slightly gentler term that refers to that activity with a "poetic or archaic" meaning. (Parma Eldalamberion, Issue #13) All of these body parts and activities were given an erotic frisson by yérë, a noun which, based on the Quenya word-root YER, probably means "sexual desire". (Vinyar Tengwar, Issue #46).
Another term is Quenya nosta / Sindarin onna, beget. The source for this is Treebeard's farewell to Galadriel and Celeborn in "Many Partings," ROTK. This farewell includes the Quenya phrase "O vanimar, vanimalion nostari", translated in The End of the Third Age, in the chapter discussing Many Partings, footnote 16, as "fair ones begetters of fair ones." There is a related early Quenya noun, ontâro, meaning begetter/masculine parent. The early Quenya word wegê, meaning manhood or vigor, may be open to a variety of interpretations, and is indeed etymologically linked to the Quenya term vie. There was also a Quenya word meaning virgin, rod, as in Rodwen, "High Virgin Noble (female)." (Maeglin, The War of the Jewels, HME)

And a couple of other things I found interesting:
Elves do not remember and celebrate the day that they were born as the day they came into existence. Instead, they celebrate the day their parents begat them. That's the day their parents had the sex that conceived them. (LACE) Apparently, there was some parental will involved in the act of begetting. Either that, or they were having so little sex that it was easy to remember. "Pregnant? How did that happen? Oh, that Thursday three turns of the seasons ago. Oh yeah…" This seems like a good moment to mention that Tolkien was Catholic, so this was compatible with his religion and belief system.
Tolkien in LACE says that elves normally married young, in their early adulthood, which would have been at 50 to 100 years old. He says that this is normal for elves and that elves who did otherwise had "strange fates." (LACE) He then goes on to present us with large amounts of elf characters who marry late in life (Galadriel, Elrond, Idril, Lúthien, Aredhel, Eöl, Thingol) or not at all (Legolas, Finrod, half the sons of Fëanor) or whose marital status is vague and unknown (Glorfindel, Gil-Galad). Fëanor is the best example of this happy early marriage. But then, he had an exceptional amount of kids (seven). And his wife left him. (Shibboleth of Fëanor, Peoples of Middle-Earth, HME) Possibly the elvish upper classes, who Tolkien wrote about almost exclusively, delayed marriage for sociopolitical reasons.
"All the Eldar had beautiful hair (and were especially attracted by hair of exceptional loveliness)." (The Shibboleth of Fëanor, The Peoples of Middle-Earth, HME) An odd little throwaway, remarkable because it's one of our only hints about what turns elves on. Beautiful voices are also implied to be attractive. The most ravishing elf ever, Lúthien, used enchantment to grow her hair extremely long. This may have been the elves' erotic equivalent of being able to tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue.

There's lots more, so feel free to take a look once you get out from under Company's watchful eye!

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

the mental image of Vetinari walking into a room completely booby-trapped by said prank war, possibly by both sides, and gracefully avoiding all of the precariously balanced buckets, tacks on chairs, trip-wires, and magical equivalents while pretending to not notice any of them.
OMG, I would love to see this! But, of course, both the Watch and the wizards know better than to booby-trap the Patrician, in case he gets all sarcastic at them (or whatever Colon's line was; I forget exactly). Or, at least, Sam would sure know better, and make sure that all his coppers know the same.

<>Especially as John's interactions with Lara are also bound to be hilarious.
So need this! Heh, if John's interactiongs with Irene were awkward, I can't imagine what he would be like with Lara. He would probably just go hide in the morgue with Butters. And Harry would have great fun hexing Sherlock's phone every time Sherlock insists that magic isn't real, and Molly and Molly would commisserate over being ignored by the objects of their affection, and Marcone and Moriarty could hammer out some sort of deal (or they would start, and Marcone would break things off when he found out that Moriarty used a kid as one of his suicide bombers during "The Great Game")...okay, now I'm thinking about this crossover way, way too much. XD

[hamsterwoman]

This may have been the elves' erotic equivalent of being able to tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue

LOL XD Thank you very much for the C&P :D I will definitely try to access this link from a non-firewalled computer to read the rest.

But, of course, both the Watch and the wizards know better than to booby-trap the Patrician, in case he gets all sarcastic at them

Of course -- this would have to be along the lines of a surprise visit/inspection to the Watch headquarters or the University in the middle of the prank war, that sort of thing.

And Harry would have great fun hexing Sherlock's phone every time Sherlock insists that magic isn't real

Haha, this would be quite wonderful! XD

I was thinking John and Butters would hit it off, too :) And the Mollys could commiserate, yeah. And Murphy and Lestrade could sit down for coffee and bemoan the weirdos (but very effective weirdos) they have to work with. And I agree that Marcone would very quickly want nothing to do with Moriarty, who is way too Chaotic Evil for him.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

this would have to be along the lines of a surprise visit/inspection to the Watch headquarters or the University
Ah! This makes a lot more sense than what I was imagining, as both Sam and Ridcully wouldn't allow anybody dumb and/or suicidal enough to try to prank the Patrician into their respective institutions. And, lol, the image of the Watchmen flailing around, trying to de-trap the room before anything happens, especially as Vetinari would secretly find their not-at-all-subtle efforts hilarious.

Marcone would very quickly want nothing to do with Moriarty, who is way too Chaotic Evil for him.
Yup, he would ping the evil-o-meter of pretty much everyone in the Dresdenverse, if not right away, then as soon as they saw him without any of his various masks on.

And, heh, Murphy & Lestrade coffee break would be something I sure wouldn't object to being a fly on the wall for. They could trade stories, not to mention tips on how to dress up their various specialists', er, antics in their official reports to sound a little less crazy. And Murphy doesn't even have anyone like John to cushion the full effect of the sheer weirdness of Harry's life (although, granted, the Murphy&Harry dynamic is already quite different from the Lestrade&Sherlock one).

[hamsterwoman]

the image of the Watchmen flailing around, trying to de-trap the room before anything happens, especially as Vetinari would secretly find their not-at-all-subtle efforts hilarious

Yep, that was exactly what I was envisioning :D

tips on how to dress up their various specialists', er, antics in their official reports to sound a little less crazy

Haha, yes. After all, Sherlock's far-fetched (though accurate) deductions and "a wizard did it" kind of explanations would both be pretty much equivalently odd to the police desk jockeys.