The Tyranny of Socks

deslea asked for a commentary on this. I wrote it back in 2005, for a femslash exchange -- the details are lost to me, but I am pretty sure the request was for Dawn Summers/Hermione Granger, since that's what I wrote, and that it was a pinch hit. The key point about the date is that it was before the HP series ended, so I was left to imagine how it would play out, and for the purposes of this story I imagined a pretty high death toll in the final conflict. I'm pretty sure Ron Weasley died in this universe, although I think Harry is out there somewhere.

Memorial Inscriptions
Harry Potter/Buffy, Hermione Granger/Dawn Summers, 1141 words, no warnings
Numerology, demonology, ice cream and bad drama.

( on to the commentary )

So let's say that I was writing a Firefly story (well, a FF crossover, because I never write plain Firefly, and really, why would I when, between the western elements and the space show elements, it's just about the perfect crossover universe for anything that isn't set in a city, and even then you can kind of wing it if you try...) Right, let's try this again. Let's say I was writing a story about Zoe, and that a little while ago I happened on a piece of extended canon which implied that Zoe had been born and raised on a spaceship, and that I was pretty sure this wasn't something ever said on the show or the movie, and that I'm not 100% sure I'm going to use it as backstory here. BUT, all that said, let's say that I'm thinking about it.

The problem it raises for me is this -- if Zoe had grown up on spaceships, what kind of skills does she have to show for it? Wouldn't she pick up piloting, or engine work, or something related to the smooth running of a spaceship? And yet (correct me if I'm wrong), we never see her doing that kind of work. Is this just because she's the second-in-command, and if she had to, she could? Or is this a big continuity gap which I can either ignore or fill with whatever the heck I want to? Or should I just go with character-logic and stick to a background more like Mal's for her?

(To clarify -- I don't usually feel obliged to follow extended-canon, i.e. the stuff that comes up in commentaries and interviews and tie-in novels. I will if it's useful to me, though, and this is a potentially useful piece of background to me. It's just that right now it's causing me more problems than it's fixing.)

You know, I'm not sure what's going on with Angel. Or with Angel. ( but here are a few thoughts )

Not very thoughtful thoughts, maybe, but I've been busy. My brain got fried sometime in the middle of last week, and recovery seems a faraway prospect.

Spoilers under the tag.

( indeed, I enjoyed that immensely )

Here I am! I've been waking up early over the past couple of days, although it doesn't generally translate to getting a head start on my work: today because of ants in the garbage. Grr, because I can't figure out where they're coming from.

I have a long post of little complaints and worried brewing, but it seems too much trouble to type it out now.

Everyone else has said everything I would have about last night's Angel. Alas, Cordelia. How I've missed the real you. For years and years, Cordelia was the prime example of everything good about the Buffy/Angel franchise. However, I do have one small point about the ( trailers for next week )

Just at this moment, I feel like my life is under control, which is a sure sign that I'm delusional.

...or the difference between being number five and number one.

( Angel and his brothers )

See, everyone gets some character development this way. Except Gunn, who needs a plot of his own, since he doesn't have that need to belong which defines Angel, Spike and Wesley. Gunn already knows that he belongs.

I'm a regular question-answering demon tonight, apparently. Well, I expect the ceiling to start leaking any minute now, so that will distract me.

From Tarsh:
( If it'd been up to you, who would have died in the Buffy finale, and how? )

And some questions from spican ( traveling from fandom to cake )

You know, I wasn't planning on writing anything about the Buffy finale. But I think that this episode did what a lot of people were hoping--it took a season that appeared to have lost focus and pulled it all together at the end. It satisfied me on a number of fronts. Not all the i's were crossed and not all the t's were dotted (I know, I know) but they did good. In the end, the show was true to itself, and so were the characters. At least, I thought so.

Also, FX showed the first episode this evening, so I was filled with love for the whole of the show. I've watched it for seven seasons, and it was all time well-spent.

As for 24, ( one not very spoilery comment )

Of course, you can all guess what I really wanted to see in this last hour. Well, maybe next year.

Yeah, so I'm posting a lot today. So sue me.

( Angel Finale: Now, that's how it's done )

I had more to say than I thought. Oh well.