martuvic

[anghraine]

It's honestly kind of funny when people in Silm fandom go on about how Tolkien's narrative is biased against Fëanor et al., and meanwhile it's like

Tolkien: his name was Curufinwë Fëanáro and he had raven hair and limpid grey eyes like tears (also like my wife, a major fucking hottie) and he was the greatest craftsman of the Elves and a brilliant linguist, he made the Silmarils and invented the tengwar and so many other things, oh and he had a great body and was an incredible warrior, and he and Galadriel were the most amazing of all the Elves in Elf heaven, and he slammed his door in Morgoth's face, and you wouldn't believe what it took to actually defeat him but it was really cool, guys, there were all these Balrogs and

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 S03E20 And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place previous episode - table of contents

It's kinda wild how much b5 is exactly to my tastes. Take this (and many other!) episode titles for example. Pretentious? Maybe. Poetic? Certainly. Full of allusion? Definitely. Makes me get shivers? Absolutely.  They even give me things to complain about. I'm well settled into complaining loudly about Londo bullshit.

Last episode's beverage (for data point purposes) was straight tequila with pepsi chaser. The hangover was vile and I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep for three hours. Today's beverage - Bitterroot Brewing Co "Dirt Church" ipa. It's alright for an IPA.

"Z MINUS 14 DAYS"

I see we've moved several letters on from "t."

Yeah!! It's another Susan Ivanova personal log episode. The telepaths they've recruited are being dispersed. Sheridan is tired, and Franklin is still pacing the halls. 

All the telepaths are being accompanied by a single Narn bodyguard. Fingers crossed for some of those bodyguards to start developing some telepathy of their own after spending a long time in close quarters with a telepath!!

Londo thinks it's time to "take care of" G'Kar?? FUCK OFF.  He wants G'Kar tricked back to Narn and executed. Thanks to the previous flashbacks, I am well aware that this plot won't play out with G'Kar's actual death. But I still want to strangle Londo. Can I isekai into B5 just long enough to goddamn murder that man?? 

Religious Theo of the religious group whatevever is being highlighted this episode. In theory I appreciate how diverse B5 is, religiously speaking. In practice....ehhh. At least when it comes to people quoting the KJV and referring to "the lord" every other sentence. 

Sheridan does look rough. And there's Delenn!!! Pretty in pink. 

"[Ivanova] said you were carrying on cranky. I looked up cranky, it said grouchy. I looked up grouchy, it said crochetly. No wonder you have such an eccentric culture. None of your words have their own meaning!" 

LOL!! Delenn is so cute. Also, very seriously, I apologize to every person who needs to learn English as an adult. It's a mess. 

Once I saw a gif of Delenn propping herself up on a elbow in bed with Sheridan and I have been FERAL to see that scene ever since. Maybe today will be the episode? Delenn climbs in bed with Sheridan to make him sleep??

Na'Toth might be alive. Or her name might simply be a trap for G'Kar. I don't think Londo's plan is going to work out. If he didn't go back to Narn for literally every other Narnuan, I'm not sure he'd go back for his aide who is probably dead. Also I 100% have more faith in Vir than this. Idk where he got them, but he has a surprisingly well-developed set of morals and empathy. 

Vir: "I won't. I won't go. I won't do it."

VIR BABY. Just say you'll do it, then go and collude and G'Kar. Londo is unhinged, threatening to have Vir's family stripped naked and whipped through the streets of Centaur's capital. What a fuck. He ought to be directing his energies towards getting back Lord Whatshisface who killed Adira on behalf of the Shadows. Refa. The show reminds me in a timely manner. 

Speaking of Refa, he's giving very desperate vibes. Trying too hard to suck up, and that puts blood in the water for the sharks to scent!!

Well. Hopefully even if Vir gives into Londo's threat and tries to trick G'Kar, his obvious nerves give away that something's wrong. 

Back to Londo and the Centauri court shenanigans. Londo is, undeniably, good at putting on the type of political front that works well on Centaur. 

Susan's blowout is so good every day I have to assume it's part of the high-tech auto-dryer when you step out of the shower...or something. Because there's no way that SUSAN IVANOVA is spending twenty minutes every day achieving the most ideal blowout that has ever been hair-dried into existence. 

OK I like the religious cabal a bit better now that I know they're smuggling up-to-date information about Earth politics into Bably 5. 

GODDANG IT. G'Kar is trying to sneak back onto Narn. Well. At least I know he lives to die another day. 

Vir, I am disappointed in. 

Centaur attack on Vir!! He lives to become Emperor another day as well. Stakes drop considerably when you know certain characters' ultimate fates. 

You know who I'd love to see again? AUNT PROPHETESS! Majel!! 

Lord Refa's eyebrows deserve their own acting credit. 

oooh, Centauri telepathy attack!! 

Poor Vir. If only he had been able to keep his position on Minbar. He looked less stressed-out when he was spending most of his time surrounded by a tranquil environment. 

The Baptist pastor is hanging out with Sheridan, who is struggling to relax enough to fall asleep while also doing paperwork. Maybe. don't do paperwork while getting ready for bed. Which the pastor is also bringing up, more delicately than I would. 

the Pastor: DELEGATE IDIOT.

OK he can stay. He is speaking common sense. 

"When youre worry tank gets full people stop coming to you, because they don't want to add to it." 

Smart. "figure out how to relax or your people will stop reading you in in an attempt to protect you." 

"Z MINUS 13 DAYS"

Zha'ha'dum minus 13 days?? 

G'Kar made it to Narn. There's climate change from the orbital bombardment. Constant wind, particulate coming down from the upper atmosphere, poor air quality. And I doubt they had recovered from the previous Centauri occupation, and possibly not even the Shadows' occupation before that! 

Emperor Cartagia is going to be traveling to B5: that seems like a significant security risk! Maybe he'll get nerfed and we'll see the glorious ascension on Emperor Londo. 

Refa's plot is to capture G'Kar instead of letting Londo do it. Fingers crossed for neither of them getting that glory. 

Delenn says there's no pattern to the Shadows' attacks. The lack of pattern is probably the point - all over the place and unpredictable so the united forces are spread as thin and widely as possible. And the tactical data sorta supports that! They haven't attacked anything in the center of the sector, so refugees are going there. And Sheridan is picking this up now, too. They could nail all the refugees at once. 

"I think this is as much about terror as it is about territory." 

Yeah. 

Hm, Delenn is horrified by Sheridan saying he needs to think like them to beat them. Unless she has a really compelling argument against it, I'm going to have to disagree. How can you counter a tactic unless you understand it? 

Londo just knocked out a Centauri guard with a punch to rescue Vir. He gets no points from me, because he put Vir in that position. 

Unfortunately G'Kar won't get to kill Londo for quite a few years, but maybe he and the resistance will get to kill Refa and his goon squad instead. 

Damn it, Londo was two steps ahead of Refa this whole time. f.ucking annoying. Well. all Centauri warmongering genocidal politics are annoying. Refa being personally in charge of the bombardment of Narn is backfiring on his right now. 

Oh so this means that Vir was an unwitting stooge in the plot all along, and that's extra scummy, considering it resulted in Vir being mindraped and made to believe he'd just given up his mentor and employer. Very very cutthroat politics. No wonder Londo didn't name the embarassment he was planning to remove on behalf of the emperor to prove House Mollari's value. 

Baptist Pastor brought a gospel singer along with him, lol. That's very on brand. And super fucking amusing juxtaposition between her music and Refa being pursued and killed. "There's no hiding place down here." Refa being beaten to death. 

Buuuut as much as I dislike Londo, I am a fan of the person responsible for untold suffering and death getting a tiny fraction of that delivered back to them. So...annoyingly... *sigh* go Londo...

It's so fucking funny that Londo had the ability to slip refa the other half of the two-part poison all along but instead he had him beaten to death for political purposes. 

Vir is angry, but probably not enough to make him break from Londo entirely. 

Delenn has a surprise for Sheridan - "the White Star was never intended to be one of a kind, only the first..." and now there's a whole fleet. 

Hm. As far as first kisses on screen go, that one was pretty dated. I'm happy for them, but the "smear your face against the other person's face" is a style I'm glad has mostly gone away. It doesn't look very pleasant, hahah. 

Mrs Sheridan, I presume?

[kyliafanfiction]

Babylon 5: Born to the purple (finally having time to do this on the day)

*The whole 'G'kar is a horndog' thing gets kind of ignored after Season 1, which does make sense (it sort of comes back in Season 5, for one scene), but it was a thing earlier on, including in this line where G'kar agrees with 'all things in live females are the greatest'

*K'odath's disbelief that G'kar would be there raises questions about Narn society and G'kar's repuation back home *God, this episode hits harder in Hindsight *I love how Arcy B5 got later on, but I also like the opening to Season 1, because it lent itself to the more episodic feel of Season 1

*Oh yeah, this is the episode with Ivanova using Gold Channel

*Vir's use of the weird Gameboy like thing is hilarious. We never see that again, probably because he learns to do it back in his quarters. *B5 throws words like 'Sector' and 'Quadrant' around without much of a real sense of place and size. No clarity as to where these places are. *This episode tells us so much about Centauri society, and really drives home where Londo sits at this point. *MOON FACED ASSASSIN OF JOY *I don't think I've ever noticed the narn playing Vir's game before when I've watched this episode. *G'kar being so thrown by Londo's Mood *THIS ASSHOLE. And plot thickens. *God, it's so heartwarming though, how much he cares about her. This is not just some 'I want a pretty woman' thing. He really does love her *Londo's password is so very him at this point in his life. *I just wish Talia had been taken to dinner by Ivanova here. *cries in shipper* *Ivanova being protective of her console feels so in-character you forget... *"Figment of your demented imagination" *I do feel like Mollari's cipher should have requried a specific tone too, but I guess a voiceprint is pretty secure *Don't Give Away The Homeworld :rofl: *"get your feet moist" I love it when Londo and Vir get earth sayings wrong *Just a casual use of a tazer in public *I get that slavery is legal in Centauri space, but how is it legal on B5?

*damn that is a fancy bug. *Trakkis, when a man says "get out" in that tone, you GET OUT

*Vir walks in with such a swagger *Negotiating via subordinates is hardly unheard of G'kar. *"Don't give away the homeworld" *You know, I get it's conservation of Characters, but these Ambassadors really do need bigger diplomatic staff. And more competent ones. Ones you can actually trust to do the job *Then I hurt Him *"My good and dear friend" ah, Londo of this season. Such a decent guy, in a lot of ways. :rofl: *Londo's failure to talk the guy around is hilarious. But sinclair's deceptions *And here it is. The other key backstory element for Ivanova **cries* fuck. *Sinclair's strategem is so risky, I'm surprised there were no downsides. *"Coming from you Ambassador, that's a real compliment" *And the thing is, Talia has a point. The Psicorps rules about these things are there for a good reason. But this is one of those things where you'd think warrants could exist. But apparently there just is no room for that? *Not that they could get a warrant in this context but *I do love the 'don't think of an elephant' trick she pulls on him *G'kar saved Londo's career, and he's gotta hide that fact so much. :rofl: *I do wonder what exactly is in those Purple Files *I love that Garibaldi knows not to press her about it. Just "it won't happen again" *God, Londo... the ending.

[fallowhearth]

I love that Ep 5 took the time to let us know that G'Kar FUCKS. Not only that he fucks, but he fucks human women. Hell yeah he does. All the monsterfuckers on Earth would be fighting to fuck a Narn.

[iliiuan]

Babylon 5 liveblog

Before we begin, my history with Babylon 5 is patchy. I remember enjoying it, but not watching it regularly. So we'll treat this as a first watch because I don't remember any of it.

Season 1 Episode 1: Midnight on the Firing Lane

OMG you guys. It's *square*. <Takes a moment to bask in nostalgia>

Nice hair Ayla. And nice eyebrows, too.

Aw, poor Ayla. And here I was looking forward to admiring your eyebrows.

Ok yeah I love the Centauris.

Second in command doesn't like the telepath. Interesting. And she's fat phobic. Sigh.

See, it's shows like this that had me thinking the views in space would be great instead of empty.

Snake dude just said "The wheel turns" and I yelped.

So the Centauris are Russian analogs?

Ooh, we get prophecy in this show, too? I'm a sucker for prophecy narratives.

That wasn't ominous at all. "We should let them pass." The glowy orb is a dick.

Ooh, now some casual ableism. Fancy.

Londo is not taking the probable death of his nephew well at all.

How does a telepath not know how to deal with a reluctant commander?

Did I just witness the worst come-on ever, or is that a pre-established relationship?

Evoking Pearl Harbor is an interesting choice. It ties the audience (Americans in 1994) to the future world portrayed, even though it is unlikely that Pearl Harbor will have any particular significance in 200 years.

They're definitely setting up Earth as a parallel to Team USA: World Police. We humans are so self-obsessed. We always have to be the heroes.

Snake guy did NOT like being called a coward.

Loving the special effects. Who says 90s special effects don't age well? Oh, that's right. It's cgi that's trash. I love that there are little model Babylon 5 fighter planes out there collecting dust in someone's collection.

The parallels to the current conflict in Palestine keep hitting. "Ragesh III was a Narn colony until the Centauris invaded and began their 100 year reign of terror. Now that we are free of the invaders, it is our right to reclaim it." Sounds an awful lot like what Israel is trying to accomplish. "We recognize the prior claim. We appreciate that, but reality is that Ragesh III has been Centauri property for over a century. To start a war over blood spilled so long ago... Where does it end? You kill them and take their land. They kill you and take the land back. On and on and on. A cycle of hatred." Sounds an awful lot like the people supporting Israel.

Snake guy totally out played Centauri guy. I still think that Carn gave his message under coercion.

Secret gun disguised as religious artefacts. Very nice.

Wait, does she have to touch people for the telepathy to work? (Turns out it was the intensity. Good to know.)

I ship second in command and the telepath so hard.

Daffy Duck is dude's second favorite thing in the entire universe? What is he, a fucking history major?

[eusuchia]

I’m rotating a story about na’toth in my head rn so I’m just thinking a lot about her and I really think so much about that ep where sinclair came to g’kar’s apartment looking for him and she was sitting at his desk like. he’s not available. and moments later three women and g’kar in the Fuck Robe emerge from his bedroom which is two feet away and separated by a curtain if at all. and she’s just like. ah. he is available.

she’s just been sitting there doing their joint taxes for the narn embassy while he has an orgy and I know everyone reads this as like ‘average male boss moment’ but since we never see na’toth in her own room I prefer to think the arrangement is more mutual, like they live together, and when he’s not fucking three women, she is. whenever either of them have a date over it’s like ‘um... are they just going to sit there while we have sex?’ and they’re like ‘yeah they live here??????????’ and afterwards they file each others claws and share the bed and lay there kicking their feet and talking about their day

[pankracy]

I have soooo many thoughts and I'll definitely write a minuscule portion of them.

b5 spoilers, unsurprisingly

first of all, I reconsidered kosh's vision to g'kar. obviously it was still manipulative as all fuck and designed to get g'kar exactly to the place where he could be useful to the cause -- and yeah, I see (and have seen before) the narrative tragedy and conflict of 'for the greater good' thing. but after kosh's death, right before which he appeared to sheridan as sheridan's father to apologize to him and admit that he was afraid, after lyta saying that in his strange way, kosh cared for the other races, I do see what kosh did to g'kar in a different light too. I think that it did also come from a place of caring towards g'kar. though it did not center or was really about neither him nor his people, but more about it later.

the volrons were removed from everybody else, thought themselves above them and expected to be obeyed. kosh was different, kosh did get more personal, and I think he did genuinely also want to guide g'kar on a path that'd be best for him in the only way he knew how. I thought it especially manipulative of him to appear to g'kar as g'kar's father, and it was, but considering he also chose sheridan's father as his form for sheridan's vision, and he allowed himself to be vulnerable then, I also think this is a way in which he tried to relate.

and I love it that the show allows for this retrospection, that after seeing more of it the past scenes take on a new or additional meaning. neat!

further...

Unfortunately, I love g'kar.

I know that scifi really likes to make humans super special. which is fair; I mean we as humans make scifi and the other aliens are not real and they're there in these stories for us to reflect on ourselves. humans in contrast are real and that means they're messy. I cannot count how many times I've seen a scene of some alien saying "oh I'll never understand humans, so incomprehensible, unlike every other alien civilization I've seen which is apparently much simpler to grasp, and unlike my own people that are also always totally reasonable unless we're talking about ~ females~, ~females~ of any species are a mystery whatcanyado". it's always humans that cause such bafflement!

and with that comes the natural follow-up of humans being special. oh without them how boring it'd be. oh they have just that something in themselves. I don't exactly mind it -- we want to be special! that's okay. at this point I do find it kind of trite, maybe unfairly; it's not like I've seen so much scifi to say it's everywhere or anything, I'm mostly speaking star trek here. but I do understand why it's there, I do also find the tumblr posts being like "can you imagine how we'd explain this to the aliens" fun occasionally. it's funny that we can so easily imagine the existence of other species, but not the fact that they could also be confusing, absurd and internally contradictory.

but then back to g'kar. who is not human. whose people suffered terrible losses. who got support from our human protagonists (but oh their hands were so terribly tied so the support was at times so minuscule as to make him crylaugh at having been offered it), who was so often considered a bother and an annoyance and unreasonable even while he was begging them for help for his people. who eventually reached a conclusion that for narn to gain any sort of support he'd have to make himself and his people useful to the humans' cause. and that it was... proper. that it was how it should be. I'd like to read it as him believing in mutual aid, and it is there, but all the talk about the narn having to sacrifice themselves absolutely overshadows it at some point in the story.

I loved that the reason delenn was so reluctant into bringing him in to the know when it comes to the shadows was because she'd have to tell him she & kosh knew all along what was going on and basically watched passively as his people were being destroyed. I love how ashamed she was of it, that it was narratively acknowledged, and that g'kar was hit so hard by this truth. but then...

but then next we see them truly interact he gives her his support, he tells her she & sheridan are not alone, specifically when it comes to earth's problems!!! and we don't really see him struggling with this at all, with the unfairness of it. there's all this talk about how special humans are and mostly we see londo & g'kar & delenn as mouthpieces for this. the minbari are a big part of the show, naturally, but delenn turns half human and it turns out that valen was human turned part minbari the same way; their souls get reborn into humans. valen is the most important figure for minbari and he was human. the... human-centrism of it is slightly bothersome to me in light of the narn struggle, parts of g'kar's story, the way the only other most prominent alien race in the show is so intrinsically tied to the human race.

coming back to my "Unfortunatley I love g'kar"; I care so much about his story and I'm super biased I realize, so I maybe overnotice (?) this tendency of the show to create and stick with this human mythos as leading and primary even in the struggle of the entire people to survive. it's grating at times!

it's fun to ponder all this and I don't have some Big Conclusions here, just... thoughts and observations and feelings. also I've been writing all this on and off for like three days, each day after some wine had been had so it's probably totally incomprehensible.

[hildorien]

Yeah and I think Morwen’s trauma prior to the beginning of the Narn is often overlooked too. She is literally one of the only surviving members of the house of Bëor and after Rían vanishes and Beren’s been gone, she’s the only one.

-@outofangband

Morwen’s life fucking sucks. I wish people in general understood how much her life has sucked, how much all of the family of Hurin’s life has sucked and stopped character assassinating them for 10 seconds to make them into jokes and just think about how much was taken from them, how much was taken from all of them (like them being the edain in general).

Morwen already lost one family, she made it her mission not to loose another and did anyway.

Hell is empty and the devil is here…

[bug13underscore]

Bookstore!au with trope exes and prompt “sometimes, i sit in bed and wonder what would happen if things were different.” For Alex/Wille

Not sure if you wanted them to get a happy ending, but that’s what I went with. 

Did I want to push my own bookstore-cafe-barista experience into this? Absolutely. Did I know how I wanted to go about that at first? Absolutely not, but I managed it. <3 I hope you enjoy this Anon!! <3 

“Hi! Welcome to Narne and Bobles, is there anything we can help you find today?” Willie’s voice drifted to the café from where he stood greeting people from his position in the front of the store, and Alex resisted everything in him that urged him to look across the floor, instead focusing on pressing the right buttons on the espresso machine. 

Forcing himself to focus on the three drinks to make in front of him, rather than relying on his muscle memory as usual, was harder today. It also didn’t help that he knew he was due for a break soon and would have to leave the sanctity of his café counter. He passed the three vanilla lattes over the counter to their recipients, just as his café counterpart came back from her break. 

“Hey, Jules.” He smiled as she pulled open the door to their kitchen. “Hair looks a little out of place, wanna pull it back again?” He teased, watching as she pulled her black apron over her head and yellow sweater. 

“Oh my god.” The girl groaned, quickly pulling her scrunchie out of her hair and adjusting it. “Remind me to kill Luke later, yeah?” 

“Tsk, tsk, Molina, kissing and murder on the job?” He gave a sharp laugh, beginning to make a drink for himself. 

“Shut up!” Julie bristled, picking up the nearest sharpie and tossing it at him. “Go on your break and leave me to complain.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” He huffed, dipping over to their bake case and grabbing a croissant, drink already in hand. “I’ll pay for this after my shift, promise.” 

“Sure, sure.” She gave him a wink as he finally pulled off his apron, giving her a final wave before making his way through the store to clock out before heading to their break room. 

After entering the code to get into the back, he gave his (favorite but don’t tell the others) manager, Ray, a slight wave before he went back to their cluster of fold-out tables. Alex usually spent his breaks zoned out, allowing himself to process his day up to that point and he was beginning to do just that, when he’s sadly interrupted by another person coming onto break. 

The last person he wanted to see, to be honest. 

“Hey, Alex.” The other boy offered him a nervous smile, taking a seat at the opposite end of the table. 

“Hey, Willie.” He replied with an awkward smile, quickly taking a bite of his croissant. 

They say in the silent room for a while, he thinks, though when Alex checks the time on his phone it’s barely been five minutes. He has to hold back a groan, knowing that the next twenty-so minutes would be worse. 

Alex uses the knowledge that Ray is within earshot to comfort him. He wouldn’t know why he’d need Ray if anything did happen, but just knowing he was there was a comfort. 

Until he hears the telltale sound of the door to their employees-only area slams shut and no one new comes back here. Meaning that Ray left and it truly was just Alex and Willie back here. 

Fuck. 

“Can I be honest?” Willie’s voice is quiet, which almost feels like a punch in Alex’s gut, as he’d only known the boy to be so loud, volume wise and by personality. 

“About what?” Alex’s voice came out just as quiet, it felt like they were sharing secrets or talking after lights-out at that weird summer camp he used to go to. 

“Everything,” He paused, only continuing when Alex gave a curt nod. “Sometimes, I just sit in bed and wonder, y’know, what would happen if things were different.” 

Alex sits for a moment, processing the words that Willie said. ‘What would happen if things were different.’

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought those same words, some nights not sleeping because his brain was too busy coming up with alternate outcomes. 

“Me too.” He swallows, lunch long forgotten. “But things aren’t different, so we have to deal with them how they are now.” 

“What if we made them different?” Willie offered, his stare earnest and solid, voice more confident than it had been since this conversation started. 

Alex felt like he’d been thrown into a completely different world, with the option to change things being placed in front of him. He blinked a couple times, mind reeling. The feeling of anxiety in his stomach wasn’t new, it had been living with him near constantly his whole life, but with it came a sense of warmth, of excitement. 

“Yeah.” He heard himself say, although his voice sounded foreign in his ears. “How do we start?” 

“You’re off tonight?” Willie’s grin is blinding, his question is empty though. Alex knows that he knows he’s off tonight, neither of them usually worked Thursday evenings, but he nods anyway. “I’ll meet you here after your shift then, yeah?” Alex gives another nod before checking his phone. 

“Well, I better clock back in. I’ll see you later?” Alex feels giddy all of a sudden as he collects his stuff and cleans up. 

“I’ll see you later.” Willie looks as giddy as he feels, which comforts him a bit. He gives a wave and goes to clock back in before rejoining Julie in the cafe. 

“Hey, Jules.” Alex smiles, pulling his apron over his head. 

“Someone seems happy.” She walks past him with a couple dirty plates, hip-bumping him as she heads to their dish-pit. 

“I am.” He laughs, occupying himself with checking their ice station. “We talked.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Her voice was higher and Alex knew without looking at her that her eyebrows were cinched together and full of her usual sisterly concern. 

“Yeah.” He grinned, angling his body towards her. “I think we’re gonna be okay.” 

“That's good.” Julie laughed, coming to draw him into a hug. “I won’t have to have my dad fire him now.” 

“Jules, we talked about this, you can’t have him fire people just because they upset one of us.” 

“Okay, but to be fair, Mikey totally deserved it.” 

“Amendment, you can’t have Ray fire people for upsetting me or Luke. If they upset Reggie, it’s fair game.” 

“I think I like this amendment, this amendment is good. Speaking of which, I think Rodney from receiving is giving him shit again.” 

“Jesus fucking Christ, that guy again?” 

As they raddled into their usual work gossip for the next couple hours, Alex felt more at ease than he had in awhile. If he happens to grin across the store at Willie anytime they lock eyes and Julie notices, she doesn’t mention it. She certainly doesn’t mention it when Willie comes up and joins in their gossip for the first time in weeks and Alex can’t be more overjoyed at how the day had turned out.

[relictraveler]

hmmmmmm. thinking about b5 today. i think its like the closest to My Tastes Exactly a tv show will likely ever get but heres some points i think it couldve stood to improve. under the cut because its long as hell and so i dont spoil my friend whos watching it with me still lol. feel free to come and yell with me in the notes

love all the characters but i feel like jms had too many to fulfill too many specific plot functions. he really should have combined some and it wouldve fixed the issue of so many characters having to choose between complex inner psyche development and actually contributing to the plot. specifically i feel like marcus’ plot/dev could have been given to lennier and explained away as something he simply hid or was under oath to hide from everyone else. it wouldve cut down too the time jms needed to introduce marcus and used it to flesh out lennier and potentially other characters. love the british bastard to death but it was the best option i think. also ivanova should have been given the “telepathic equivalent of a nuke” plot after talia left. some kinda hand wave excuse where she gives her the ironheart powers. lyta i think has the issue of having literally no relationship with any main character at all besides zack which gives her the impression of being totally seperate from the rest of the show except when they need her to do telepath things. ivanova getting the plot instead fixes this issue. giving it to ivanova would have given her more depth to explore beyond her traumatic past relationships and more to do in the plot beyond being the commander when sheridans away

franklin got some amazing fucking development in season 3 but god with the s4 compression he got to do fuck all for the main plot beyond being an errand boy with marcus. i think the easiest solution would have been to let his dad be a major contender on earth’s side of the war. it doesnt need to be a huge facet i get that they were pressed for airtime trying to fit two seasons into one. even just a few scenes where franklin struggles with it wouldve been a huge boost for his character

i havent seen this part of s5 in like 6 years but god. garibaldi’s ending in s5 fucking sucks. i feel like jms accidentally wrote himself into a corner giving garibaldi a visible family in sleeping in light, operating under the assumption it was a quick character wrap up and he wouldnt have to develop it more, but then whoops s5 happens and now he was to write in how garibaldi famous rebel and wildcard somehow settles down into a nuclear family. in my perfect world his ending would have wrapped up either one of his two biggest plot threads, neither of which the edgars industry ending really addresses: his relationship with sinclair or his relationship with the psycorps. i am more inclined toward the sinclair one because its simply a huge facet of his character jms never addresses and we never let garibaldi deal with the on-screen grief of having his best friend, the reason hes even on b5, the one who gave him a second chance at life, abandon him without a proper goodbye. this might get into fanfic territory but god i would have loved to see a subplot where as hes going through the trauma of bester’s influence he throws himself into figuring out how to go back in time with sinclair. ending with him finally reconciling with that trauma and going into the time rift with a tearful goodbye to everyone else. other option here also would just be to resolve the psycorps issue instead. i havent thought about this one too much but i imagine it would just be a mercenary arc where he systemically destroys the psycorps from the inside out and it ends with him inflicting some ironic fate worse than death onto bester as revenge fro the internal block preventing garibaldi from killing him outright

s5 main plot in general was shit i genuinely dont think any part of it was good enough to justify its presence beyond maybe like one or two episodes. telepaths got enough development and moral quandry episodes throughout the 4 seasons we did not need byron’s vampire diaries ass. also dont care for the centauri arc there we already know the ending and londo is literally already the most developed bitch on the show he didnt need a whole half season arc seeing unnecessary build up to the character ending we've already known about since war without end. i appreciate what s5 is trying to do because so few stories deal with the aftermath of the main plot like b5 does here but we couldve gone a different route. im not claiming to know what the correct answer here was but personally i think the bureau 13 thread would have been interesting. u know that thing sheridan brings up randomly in s2 and its such an interesting thing to his character and we literally never see it again. yeah i think bringing up a secret evil society within earth gov/psycorps after we dissolve the current gov would have been a really interesting plot. a narn arc independent of the centauri also would have been interesting. idk i know jms was burnt out as hell and i appreciate the character dev we did get in s5 so im not too cranky about it but god the potential

[toliveanddieinstarlight]

Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22

Comes the Inquisitor

In high school we thought the idea that Sebastian was Jack the Ripper was cool as hell. It got me deeply into the stories and myths around Jack the Ripper for a grip. And honestly I never thought too deeply about it, but at this point, knowing what I know, the idea of a violent murderer being preserved through time and then used as an arbiter of purity of motivation is uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh REAL BAD Y'ALL. 

Is Delenn's suffering here meant to further endear her to the audience? This is probably a significant point in the Hero's Journey. I really need to get around to reading The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

We were so obsessed with Wayne Alexander's delivery of the line here. I still find it weirdly captivating.

This entire scene is so powerful. I ache for them both. I can't help but wonder if this is the moment that started Vir using his behind-the-curtain connections to issue visas to Narns to get them out of harm's way, which we find out sometime in the next season. [EDIT: I’m watching that episode at the moment, and it appears my speculation here was incorrect. He really starts working on this once he gets stationed on Minbar. Still, this is probably still a crucial moment for him.] He cannot apologize to the Narn who have died, but he can prevent more death. And he does, the only way he can, because as he says repeatedly: nobody listens to him. 

So then this happened:

And then this...

And I’m not saying it had an impact on me, but it usually takes me a few dozen loops of the gif for me to remember that I didn’t grab these gifs without captions, sooooooo...

The Fall of Night:

So good.

In the previous episode, G'Kar is seen apparently ranting to people in the Zocalo about how the Centauri will eventually turn their aggression towards the rest of the galaxy. It's framed as a rant then, but of course, one episode later, we see that he was not wrong. And EarthGov has already recognized that fact and is moving to cover its own ass while leaving the rest of the galaxy on its own.

"One day I'll get there and I'll do it honestly. My hands are clean." Fuck yeah Ivanova. You already have to sacrifice so much before you end up commanding a starship. 

This Night Watch scene just makes your skin crawl, doesn't it. How fitting that it should come right after Ivanova takes her stand with Mr. Lance. 

"Maybe 2260 is the year we redefine it. Make it mean something." Ivanova, for once, is optimistic. Too bad that didn't work out so well. 

In going through my notes for these last few posts, I’m struck by just how much of the MCU’s Steve Rogers that I see in Captain Sheridan. Like, they have such similar vibes. Cap has a whole lot more Fight Me in him than Sheridan, but there are moments Sheridan has with Delenn that feel now like they were just primers for getting me on board the Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers train (I LOVE Peggy Goddamn Carter, y’all). 

Oh, Keffer. You had exactly one purpose and then you died, but at least you got a hug from Ken Foree.

THE REVEAL. And now we know that Vorlons are angels but ALSO deeply manipulative! How funny would it have been, though, if the image Sheridan had seen wasn't a popular culture version of an angel but a biblical description of an angel. 

The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands." ��� Ezekiel 1: 4-8

Let’s get a Vorlon like THIS

(artist credit: https://www.deviantart.com/daimera/art/Cherub-Speedpaint-354206813) 

And yet Londo saw nothing. The Centauri have oodles of gods, and the Vorlons manipulated their race as well (because telepaths), so what gives? Is it his cold, empty heart? Is it the influence of the Shadows? 

Which brings us to the end of Season 2. 

[anghraine]

I’m not even a CoH blog, but ... “She was not conquered” might be my favourite line that Tolkien ever wrote in anything.

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 S03E17 War Without End: Part Two previous episode - table of contents

Emperor Londo of the Great Victim Complex. 

And so the fall of Babylon 5 begins, with two idiots deciding to take on Ivanova! 

DUDE sick fight moves by Susan Ivanova. And Marcus  must be internally fist-pumping that he pulle off a drop-out-of-the-ceiling attack. Style points: 1 Marcus, 100 Susan.

Zathras sees all. Zathras knows all. Poor Zathras. 

Oooooooo. Future John and Delenn have a baby! How exciting. Delenn calls Sheridan's time "so many years ago" and references the "terrible, terrible price," That's something for me to chew on. I wonder if it will be revealed this episode or is foretelling for the season 3 finale or even later. I am really not sure how the pacing on B5 goes or if they'll still be fighting the Shadows into season 5. 

The Shadows are only visible when they sleep? That's cool and unsettling information, but I'm not sure how that tracks with Londo's next reveal, which is that he is also possessed? So perhaps Londo tries to turn on the Shadows at some point and is leashed instead. 

G'Kar!! Down an eye and plus a sick leather patch. Must be time for Londo's death vision! I hope G'Kar gets to live to enjoy it. Londo caused a lot of death for the universe and the Narnuan people. Aww and then he didn't. I am a bit bummed that G'Kar's end appears to be with Londo, dying together as the Shadow possessing Londo kills G'Kar back. It is pretty punk rock of G'Kar, though. Who else has choked a shadow-possessed Centauri emperor before?? No one except G'Kar of Narn.

Right before Sheridan is pulled away, she tells him not to go to Zha'dum, but all these prophecies seem to be self-fulfilling and an inescapable part of the paradox. 

Uh-oh, why's that spacesuit doin' stuff. Ah. Never mind, it's a "yeah, Sheridan's back!" Someone slap a time stabilizer on him before he gets yote into the timestream again. 

And there goes the theft of Babylon 4!! Time heist! 

There goes Sheridan. Shoulda put a time anchor on him! 

Revised Sinclair prediction: his aging as they move towards their own time aging him is the/a reason why he gets the ole Minbari physical transformation since Minbari live so much longer, to extend his lifespan. 

Oop, Sheridan's back again. Or the space suit he was wearing is, at least. 

Yeah Susan Ivanova. she can do anything. Ivanova has B4's command station. 

Delenn in the blue spacesuit?? Plot twist!!

Hmmm, so some of what I thought Sheridan was going to do (fight 1000 years in the past) is actually Sinclair's plot. That makes more sense, actually. 

Zathras makes it all very clear: "You (Sinclair) are the one who was. You (Delenn) are the one who is. You (Sheridan) are the one who will be." 

Babylon 4, A Thousand Years Ago

Valen?? Sinclair has always been the prophet Valen!! I did not see that coming. What an entrance! Appearing to Minbar flanked by two Vorlons, arriving in a vast space station in a flash of tachyons...Sinclair is Valen. fuck, that's cool. 

Next!

[fuck-customers]

The Lord was testing me today.

A museum three-in-one. Hella long, tl;dr at the end.

My coworker and I were looking at something on the computer, trying to figure some plans out (which was frustrating me a little) when a customer came up and said "yall seem to be watching YouTube videos with how you're staring at that computer."

"Just figuring some things out." I sorta flatly replied and rang up his car decal. I handed it to my coworker to bag and told the man the price.

He grunted before he said "You look hellaciously ugly like that. Smile more."

Now I hate it. Hate. It. When people tell me to smile. Hate it like you wouldn't believe. Especially when someone prefaces the demand with how "ugly" I look. So I curled my lip and kept on with the transaction.

"You ugly thing you. Smile when you're told."

Again. I hate being told to smile. So I frowned further and the guys wife piped up "Why you looking so nasty?!"

I finally snapped "I dont smile when some man tells me too." Unwarranted statement from me? Most likely, yeah. Could have said something else. I was seeing red at this point.

The couple get pissed. His wife goes "Now you're just an ugly and rude little jackass. You're in customer service young lady. Act like an adult. I'm in customer service and I know how to behave."

I just stared and kept my lip curled because in my mind if they were gonna keep calling me ugly and rude then, hey, no smiling was gonna fix it now. I offered the guy his receipt and he snapped "I dont want it."

"Alrighty," and like I do with most receipts I ripped it in half and threw it in the trash. as the couple were walking out they kept on loudly going on about how rude and ugly I was. I even heard them at the box office complaining to the MOD about me. I couldn't hear them fully, but my coworker overheard the guy apparently making a sort of "myeh myehmyeh" voice when he was telling the MOD what I supposedly said.

I was shaken up a bit after that and the next few customers that came in I thought it was the couple coming back to bitch some more. I half expected the MOD to say something to me about it - long story short she never even brought it up to me for the rest of the day, so I'm assuming she dismissed it entirely as soon as they stormed out the door.

I'm going to take a moment to remind y'all that the museum I work for focuses on a Native American tribe because it kinda plays in for the next one.

An hour later a lady comes up asking about the shirts. I walk out onto the floor to help her and she's asking about a shirt we have in the sale section. She wanted the particular print in a different color and size, which we didnt have because all we had was all that was on the shelf.

I help her look at some other options and and one point she goes "Is there a discount I can get if I buy like three or more?"

"I'm sorry, no, we don't have anything like that. If you're a museum member or if you're enrolled with a federally recognized tribe." Now I said this because it's not something we publicly advertise but will talk about if asked.

The lady hooked onto the word "tribe" and went "you mean ENROLLED? With a TRIBE?! W-well my grandmother was a Cherokee! Her name was [whatever she said her grandmothers name was...] and-and-"

I pretty much cut her off and said that she herself had to be enrolled to get that sort of discount. She again tried to insist she had the ancestry, and I offered to get her set up with our genealogist so she could "investigate" her grandmother further - I get stories like that at least twice a week.

She dismissed the genealogist offer and asked "Well, how quickly can I sign up to be a member?"

"To become a member of our museum, we offer yearly plans starting at -"

"No no, I mean to be a member of [this tribe]?"

I started to give her the brief explanation of enrollment for the tribe our museum focuses on - pretty much saying she COULDNT enroll with the tribe. At this point I was wondering why I even mentioned the discount at all - she didnt seem like she was going to be as crazy as she ended up being.

In the middle of my explanation she waved me off and started asking about the shirt colors again. Her husband came around and they started bickering about what to get their grandkids or whoever. It was obvious the husband was ready to go as he kept on saying "You've been in here for two hours and you'e picked over every little thing. It's not gonna matter, they're teenagers. Just get them keychains and let's go."

But the lady INSISTED on getting matching shirts for her and her daughter as well as a bracelet to go with some earrings she purchased at another store. She started asking me if we had leather bracelets similar to one she was wearing at the time.

I explained I had sinew bracelets: kinda similar but a little different front what she wanted. I showed her where they were and she spent 10 minutes digging through them, trying to find ones that looked like they matched whatever damn earrings she bought and kept on complaining that she couldnt remember what they looked like.

"Ma'am, I can hold your items here if you'd like and you can go to your car to get them. Or you can return the bracelets or exchange them if they don't match."

"No no, we live too far away to do all that." She then asked her husband to go get the earrings, to which he loudly sighed and shoved keys in her hands and basically told her to get them herself. She got quiet and acted all dejected while she grabbed out two and asked me to ring her up.

(I would go on about people who come in to our store looking for jewelry that "matches" what they found elsewhere but that's for another time).

Right as she left -literally as she was walking away - I got a phone call from a woman asking if she could send a group visiting from a university in for a guided tour at 1:15 (she called at 12:15, so like an hours notice). Guided tours normally needed to be scheduled weeks in advance, but one of the coworkers who normally does tours was working and didnt have anything so I said I would check with him. Turns out he was on lunch and didnt respond to my messages, so I had to call the woman back and tell her there wouldn't be anyone available to give a tour.

"What about later on in the day?" Nope, sorry. MOD said she would handle the group whenever I told her about them.

Turns out the group didnt arrive until 1:45 and they ended up going through for free - but they didnt spend more than 30 minutes in the museum before they were all in the store. And the guy who does tours? he didn't get back to me until I was coming back off of my break, which was around 2:40.

And one more small one: a lady asked my coworker if she could take some books into the lobby and read them there. without paying for them. when my coworker told her no she asked if there was anywhere in the store she could sit and read, and my coworker again told her no. Our maintenance/"security" guy, Dan, walked by ten minutes later saying she was sitting in the corner of the book section reading. I would have gone back there and gently "coaxed" her into stopping by asking her questions and encouraging her to actually BUY the books, but I had to help with a rush at the counter and Dan ended up going and telling her she couldn't read the books for free. I saw her storming out of the shop with nothing in her hands and he came and told me that he took care of it for us which I'm thankful for. Knowing my luck she probably would have been the third difficult customer I had that day.

so TL;DR I'm called an ugly rude jackass for not smiling and clapping back when some old fuck demanded me to, I had a woman get a little wild over a discount on shirts, someone else wanted a group to get a spontaneous guided tour for free, and another woman thought our store was a Narnes and Boble all in one day and basically I'm tired of people.

[wolffyluna]

Was I planning to be working on the Celebrimbor/Maeglin fic? Yes. Am I instead planning the Tar-Miriel/King’s Man OFC fic? Also yes.

Original Kings Man Do Not Steal

The OFC is starting to get character traits and a backstory. Only daughter of a-- not necessarily noble (and definitely not of the line of Elros), but relatively high ranking due to pretty consistently showing up to Fight For King and Country. She is a King’s Man both in philosophical sense and the fact that she’s is loyal to Ar-Pharazon is particular-- which is why she’s picked to be Tar-Miriel’s bodyguard. Like, she is meant to guard her, but she was picked because Ar-Pharazon wanted to have someone he could trust follow Miriel around and spy on her.

She’s loyal, and cares about justice and fairness and protecting people to a fault. (and goddamnit. that’s Utena. I am describing Utena. fUCK). And she cares. She cares deeply and intensely and passionately. ...and that care and passion for justice and fairness is what brings her around (somewhat) to Miriel’s side. It’s why she falls in love with Miriel (who while much less... showstoppingly obvious about it, cares about those things, and what is faith if not another kind of loyalty.) (The OFC never stops being a King’s Man, never starts being Faithful-- but her opinions of the Valar evolve. They’re not the embodiments of Evil Incarnate, their people. Powerful and flawed people-- but people.)

I have some ideas for her name, but their either ‘Unfortunately, translation’ or ‘Unfortunately, confusing.’

Unfortunately, translation: I remember reading a headcanon that the Narn i Chin Húrin is big in Númenor, and yep. Especially Túrin, a guy with a canonically low opinion of the Valar. So it’s totally plausible her parents would name her Master of Fate/Whatever Túrambar is in Adunaic. ...guess what language Tolkien never gave words for Doom or Fate? Yeah. And this girl needs an Adunaic name. Definitely not Sindarin, definitely not Quenya.

Unfortunately, confusing: This girl, in contrast to Miriel, is very comfortable with an Adunaic name. It’s not something forced on her, it’s the best language for her. So why not give her a name that contrasts with Miriel’s Adunaic name that was forced on her... by giving her a similar one. I’m thinking ‘Zimrazagar’ (’jewel-sword’) It’s cool! It suits her! It fits the theme of the story! Unfortunately the way it fits the theme is by being very similar to the name of another character!

What do you do with a problem like Ar-Pharazon (and Annatar)?

This section is a statement of intent. I don’t know how to deliver on this intent, but I want to write it down.

I don’t necessarily want this story to be sympathetic to Ar-Pharazon. I want it to be fair to him. I don’t want him to be cackling evilly because I need an antagonist to drive the plot. He will be the antagonist! He will drive some of the plot in an antagonistic manner! But I want what he does to make sense from his perspective. I want the readers to go ‘I don’t like what he did, but I can see why he wanted what he wanted, I see why he tried to get it that way.. even if I hate what he’s done, I can see why he did it.’

(I don’t think I’ve done this well in my previous fics. I want to do better.)

(While Sauron being-evil-for-the-sake-of-evil is less of a problem-- I still want to be fair to him. I still want what he does to make sense. If nothing else, I want what he says and does to make some sense, so that the people agreeing with him don’t come across like morons.)

[iliiuan]

Babylon 5 S1E7 The War Prayer

In which we run into one of my favorite actors and enjoy some very cliche plotlines.

That's an intense episode name.

Delenn is giving homoerotic vibes with this performance artist. (Actually, Delenn gives erotic vibes with quite a few characters, doesn't she? Sinclair, her religious assistant, this performance artist...)

She got branded with the male/female sign. That's just weird. I hope she has an excellent plastic surgeon.

.....did Garibaldi destroy Susan's coffee plant?

A little Centauri family drama. Nice.

Digging into Susan's romantic past, I see. Eight years, eh?

Sounds like the Centauri elite are inbred assholes. Haha Londo hates his wife. Classic "I'm miserable, so you young people should be miserable, too."

OHMYGOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?! Fucking Luitenant Tao. I love you.

Visiting the glowing orb again, I see. What is Kosh watching? Studying humanity, it looks like.

The doctor has seen the Vorlon neked. Very intriguing.

You're a bitter old man, Londo. And super gross.

Home Guard is so accurate.

Susan, crying herself to sleep? I'm not buying it.

I don't think she wants to be with you, dude. You're giving big stalker vibes.

Ah, young love. Deadly as always.

G'Kar, Narns aren't even being targeted. Are you behind the attacks, by chance? Wouldn't put it past you.

Oof. My boy took a beating there.

Malcolm is creepy.

Men always have to be assholes to women for dressing nice and having good hygiene. Maybe take a note and improve yourselves assholes.

Centauri Minbari philosophical face-off. I think the Minbari win that round.

Oh yeah. Malcolm is a bigot. Sorry, Ivonova.

Sinclair's going to take on the gang single-handed again, I see. Didn't he promise to stop doing that?

Londo, you were dancing two episodes ago. Stop lying to yourself.

Delenn sees through you, Sinclair.

Earth First. We'll strip-mine the other planets later.

Pinche Londo. You're way too excited about this. It was sweet of you to find a workaround for the young lovers, though.

Good luck with that. Assassinating those four takes more than some stealth suits and a half-baked plan. (If you were serious about assassinating them, you wouldn't have pre played your hand. You would have killed them first.)

What a horribly choreographed fight scene. I'm in love.

You should check for more cloaked people. They could have an observer ready to report back if anything goes wrong. (This is why I can't do crime. I'm too aware of all the things that can go wrong, but I don't have the resources to prevent said things from going wrong. Plus anxiety. Bad, bad anxiety.)