Meme: Favorite Canon Moments!

[annieadderall.livejournal.com]

Since yesterday some of us got our rage on talking about the worst canon moments, I figured maybe we'd want to go ahead and do favorite canon moments. I thought it'd make us all feel better. Also I'm going to be bored again today and we haven't done this since 2008. Don't ask me how we managed that, but we did.

So from just_add_starch:

What are your 5 favorite moments from your pup's canon? Describe them and then explain to us why you like them so well. They can be overall moments, moments involving your characters, or both! You can include video clips, quotes, anything you want!

Have at it!

Comments

[annieadderall.livejournal.com]

Not that I decided yesterday I'd be posting this today or anything. And YOU try stopping at five.

1. Remedial Chaos Theory (http://youtu.be/xsE5JtY2WiE)- My new favorite episode! Troy and Abed throw a housewarming party, and we get to see seven different timelines as a different character is selected to get the pizza and how them being gone affects that particular timeline. Super interesting as a study of what each character means to the group, and so funny. I linked Troy's cuz it's my FAVORITE. Also, TORG.

2. The bottle episode! (http://youtu.be/a-WjwgKe4uw)- Annie freaks out over a lost pen, so she makes the entire study group stay in the library till someone fesses up. She maybe goes WAY over the top with it and it gets sliiiightly out of hand, but it's my second favorite ep in the series.

3. PAINTBALL!- There are three episodes over two seasons covering the school's epic paintball battles. The first is s1's Modern (http://youtu.be/MvpT8ocp0SE) Warfare (http://youtu.be/Se-LPKxcLSQ), and then s2 gave us the two-parter A Fistful of Paintballs (http://youtu.be/t2pp59Hfzl0) and For a Few Paintballs More (http://youtu.be/9AfBHoG6T_s). The first one was so awesome they had to give us a western parody, and then a Star Wars parody. No seriously.

4. Troy meets his hero Levar Burton (http://youtu.be/UajEx7iU9-M)- A compilation of the whole thing. "YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE!"

5. Abed, Troy and Annie FAIL AT SNEAKY (http://youtu.be/K7ZcDShqCl0)- "MY WHOLE BRAIN IS CRYING!"

6. ZOMBIE EPISODE. (http://youtu.be/IXYUn5BOgHA)- Seriously, this show pulled it off. And it wasn't just a dream or something.

7. The clip show! (http://youtu.be/g0ou1RG38Pc)- Done with 100% new footage. This would be the montage of all of Jeff's speeches through the clips.

8. CLAYMATION CHRISTMAS (http://youtu.be/oJcp0hnzbw4)- Sure, all the characters are stop motion animated, but it's actually a really awesome character study of Abed.

9. "I am completely comfortable being uncomfortable with my sexuality!" (http://youtu.be/gQqcXfz1HoY)- Completely safe for work, btw, and one of my favorite Annie moments. Since she was going to have to demonstrate putting the condom on a banana for the STD fair without ever having seen a penis (not that she can say the word), Shirley and Britta sneak her in to see one. And they get caught. And lo.

10. Dungeons and Dragons! (http://youtu.be/YlQmdkyNQ90)- The study group decides to invite someone outside their group in for a D&D game. Starring Abed as the elf maiden and Annie as Hector the Well-Endowed.

Honorable mention: Annie blows everything off (http://youtu.be/6ZyUyEbL8fg)- Passive aggressiveness at is best.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Ugh, cheater. Preparing ahead of time. ;) This is going to just be me trawling the Tumblr tag because ahahaha otherwise I'll never leave the house for work.

All right, so a lot of these might be from Steph's tenures as Batgirl and Spoiler rather than as Robin, but in my defense she was both of those a lot longer than she got to be Robin.

This one's from Batgirl 14, in which Kara Zor-El comes over to hang out with Steph, and what starts out as a harmless night of touring Steph's college campus turns into Batgirl and Supergirl chasing down vampires all over Gotham. It's one of my favorite issues, partly because all the banter is like this (http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltxyhjzLRj1r4p4wco1_500.jpg).

From somewhere back in the mid-90s Robin run, Steph as Spoiler makes Barbara Gordon facepalm (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltnw8pUVF71qibb61o1_500.jpg). She's good at that.

The origin of Batman, as told by Stephanie Brown. (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltn3umhbnC1qcicbto1_500.jpg)

Stephanie Brown, (http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/11916884193/2/tumblr_ltn0u3FVz81r0np08) Harry Potter fan (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltn0u3FVz81r0np08o3_500.png) -- Okay so. In the DC-verse, at least pre-reboot, there is this place called Limbo Town, which is like this inverted Puritan village where everyone does magic and you can get burned at the stake for not being magical. In Batgirl 18, Steph ends up having to go undercover with Klarion the Witch Boy, and gets challenged to a spell duel, and, well . . . this is what she does.

Any moment of Steph's relationship with Barbara Gordon is a favorite of mine, but this rooftop conversation from Batgirl 24 is what I have on hand.

THIS SCENE OMFG. (http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls9py7Zn6H1qcnmfpo1_500.jpg) From Red Robin, issue I can't be bothered to remember. Steph's ex-boyfriend Tim Drake, who just came back from a trip around the world to try and find Bruce because he refuses to believe Bruce is dead, was none too pleased to return home and discover Steph "playing dressup," as he put it, because Tim can be a smug superior prick when it comes to Steph. This assassin he was working with (WTF getting into the League of Assassins, Timothy) comes after them and pulls a gun on Steph, and Tim has this whole EMO ANGSTY INNER MONOLOGUE OF MANPAIN about how Steph's going to die now, and it's HIS FAULT and OH GOD WHAT HAS HE DONE -- and then this happens. It's one of my favorites ever.

I can't do this without including Stephanie Brown slapping Bruce Wayne in the face (http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrhyafQsaY1qa0gybo1_500.jpg) from the Batgirl issue of Bruce Wayne: The Road Home. That's just necessary. I love the rant she gives him afterward, too, about how she hit him because she was afraid he'd tell her to stop being Batgirl (like he fired her as Robin, and kept telling her to stop being Spoiler), and then getting really mad about that "because you don't get to take that away from me." It's a big moment for Steph, when she realizes she doesn't need or even want his approval to validate her self-worth any more. (http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsi4dvrqRp1qmavteo1_500.png)

[exactlyaverage.livejournal.com]

God, I so loved Stephanie as Batgirl. That series was so well written and was something I looked forward to reading every month.

And Steph explaining the whole bat family history to Wendy is one of my all time favorite moments in comics.

I can't even read Gail Simone's Batgirl without comparing her to Steph.

[lockestheway]

I'm going to skip over Ender's Game, since Peter's only shown from Valentine and Ender's perspective in it, and hence mostly (though not completely) functions as the Big Bad. Skip forward instead to the Shadow Series, or How I Gave In And Learned To Love The Psychopath.

1. Peter's first appearance.

Shadow of the Hegemon, second book in the Shadow series. After some drama with Bean setting up the kidnapping of various Battle School students, we switch to Peter, who, being POV character for the first time, gives a long (long) internal monologue criticizing his own abilities, reflecting upon the message he just got from Graff, analyzing his chances for the future, agonizing because he's just not a military strategist, sublimating his very real pain over Valentine and Ender leaving him through anger and hurt pride, terrifying himself with the image of a life spent worrying about things like bills and women, and finally regrouping to tell himself: I can do this.

This... was not the Peter of Ender's Game, whose every show of insecurity was cynically judged by Valentine.

"That's me. I can manipulate the press. I can paint public opinion, nudge and pull and poke and inject things into it, but when it comes to war -- and it will come to war -- I'm going to look about as clever as the French when the blitzkrieg rolled through."

2. Peter's first meeting with Bean

Which is about as disastrous and awesome as the first meeting between 'the two most arrogant boys on Earth' (tm Sister Carlotta) would realistically be. First, Bean meets Peter for point five seconds and decides he dislikes him. Then he goes to Peter's house. We get a scene of WTF-and-sort-of-awesome, where Bean and Peter's mom talk about Ender and Peter and Bean logically deduces that the Wiggins have been playing their children all along, both to keep themselves safe and to encourage Peter's ambitions. In the process, however, their kids grew up in a home where no one was honest with each other, to predictably rotten results.

Peter comes home, pretty much the only one in the room who doesn't both know that Peter is Locke and that everyone else in the room knows he's Locke, and attempts to play the innocent son when all he really wants to do is throttle everyone in the room. Especially Bean. Smug bastard.

It's both amusing and heartbreaking, and this scene cemented my sympathy for Peter very effectively.

""Do what you want," said Father. "It's not like you're a minor. We can't stop you."

"We could never stop him from doing what he wanted even when he was a minor," said Mother.

Damn right, thought Peter.

"The curse of having children who are smarter than you," said Father, "is that they think their superior rational process is enough to compensate for their lack of experience."

If I were a little brat like Bean, that comment would have been the last straw. I would have walked away and not come home for a week, if ever. But I'm not a child and I can control my personal resentments and do what's expedient. I'm not going to throw off my camouflage out of pique.

At the same time, I can't be faulted, can I, for wondering if there's any chance that my father might have a stroke and go permanently mute."

(And now I run off for a meeting, but I have TOO MUCH MORE.)

[dollpocalypse]

So my canon is cracky as hell and it has its moments of quality, but mostly I just love Topher. That may become clear in this list.

5. Topher and Adelle high. THIS IS WHERE I GET ALL MY CANON ABOUT HIS JUNK FOOD. Not to mention the basis of a certain scene with Ramona the other day.

4. The scene in "Vows" where Whiskey calls him "her God" (see, Len, just like alt!Peter!) and tries to crawl into bed with him (not like alt!Peter) and is generally acting crazy, and she asks him why he would program him to hate her and just asidghpaoisgphasip omg my bb genius, omg.

3. "Belonging," which has my kid finally growing a pair and taking a lesson from all the white hats he knows here and saving an Active from being basically bought by a guy who made her crazy, literally. Incidentally it's where all my bloodied icons of him come from, so, yeah. IT'S INTENSE.

2. The end the end oh god the end, in both the "Epitaph" episodes. *hugs Topher*

1. Topher and Sierra in "Haunted." That episode is actually one of the most hated ones in fandom, possibly second only to the one where Echo is a backup dancer, but this is the only episode I can rewatch without being bored to tears. Basically you have Topher imprinting an Active for what he calls "diagnostics," except really he programs her to be his friend for the day and play laser tag with him and talk about nerdy movies and at the end she brings him a birthday cake and aisoasdgiaohspighpasidg I cry every time. Shut up. I may have had oddly sniffly moments in the past thinking about how I'm gonna adapt it.

[lockestheway]

3. Bean and Peter finally see eye to eye, in a way, at the end of Shadow of the Hegemon

The dialogue says everything:

"Yes, Bean. I'm arrogant. I think I'm the only person who understands what to do and has what it takes to do it. I think the world needs me. In fact, I'm even more arrogant than you. Is that what this comes down to? I should have been humbler? Only you are allowed to assess your own abilities candidly and decide that you're the best man for a particular job?"

"I don't want the job."

"I don't want this job, either," said Peter. "What I want is the job where the Hegemon speaks, and wars stop, where the Hegemon can redraw borders and strike down bad laws and break up international cartels and bring all of humanity a chance for a decent life in peace and whatever freedom their culture will allow. And I'm going to get that job, by creating it step by step. Not only that, I'm going to do it with your help, because you want somebody to do that job, and you know, just as surely as I do, that I'm the only one who can do it."

Bean nodded, saying nothing.

"You know all that, and you're still angry with me."

"I'm angry with Achilles," said Bean. "I'm angry with the stupidity of those who refused to listen to me. But you're here, and they're not."

"It's more than that," said Peter. "If that's all it was, you would have talked yourself out of your wrath long before we had this conversation."

"I know," said Bean. "But you don't want to hear it."

"Because it will hurt my feelings? Let me make a stab at it, then. You're angry because every word from my mouth, every gesture, every expression on my face reminds you of Ender Wiggin. Only I'm not Ender, I'll never be Ender, you think Ender should be doing what I'm doing, and you hate me for being the one who made sure Ender got sent away."

"It's irrational," said Bean. "I know that. I know that by sending him away you saved his life. The people who helped Achilles try to kill me would have worked day and night to kill Ender without any prompting from Achilles at all. They would have feared him far more than they feared you or me. I know that. But you look and talk so much like him. And I keep thinking, if Ender had been here, he wouldn't have botched things the way I did."

"The way I read it, it's the other way around. If you hadn't been there with Ender, he would have botched it at the end. No, don't argue, it doesn't matter. What does matter is, the world's the way it is right now, and we're in a position where, if we move carefully, if we think through and plan everything just right, we can fix this. We can make it better. No regrets. No wishing we could undo the past. We just look to the future and work our zhupas off."

"I'll look to the future," said Bean, "and I'll help you all I can. But I'll regret whatever I want to regret."

"Fair enough," said Peter. "Now that we've agreed on that, I think you should know. I've decided to revive the office of Strategos."

Bean gave one hoot of derision. "You're putting that title on the commander of a force of two hundred soldiers, a couple of planes, a couple of boats, and an overheated company of strategic planners?"

"Hey, if I can be called Hegemon, you can take on a title like that."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

I thought about just linking you guys to songs. But I won't. Because I am a nice person.

5. The first half of the movie when everyone seems to realize for the first time ever that Miley is an enormous brat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=q5c-vsPcI7k#t=60s). She gets into a shoe fight with Tyra Banks (no, seriously, watch) and this is her dad's first and only clue that she needs to take a "Hannah detox." True story.

4. It is RIDICULOUS and ends in THE WEIRDEST ROMANTIC REALIZATION EVER, but there's an episode with Miley breaking up a teenage wedding between her celebrity BFF and her celebrity ex-boyfriend, and if I wasn't dying on the floor laughing through most of it, it would have no place on this list. Mainly I just like it because WTF, DISNEY, WTF.

3. All the completely random costumes Miley wears over the course of the show. THE GIRL IS A MASTER OF DISGUISE. I have icons of her as: Indiana Joannie, a carrot, a moose, a different moose, a pirate, a salad, a chicken, and some Renaissance lady with weird hair. And oh god there are so many more. And the best part is that THEY ALL HAVE CANON JUSTIFICATIONS.

2. Almost every scene with Miley and Jackson fighting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt3MVLP-tEc). I sort of love their dynamic way too much.

1. I know I'm a total hypocrite because I completely bitched about this episode yesterday, but the scene where she comes out as Hannah Montana is actually all kinds of awesome, and she sings "Wherever I Go (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihr7uY6PJYo)," which is my favorite song from the show by leaps and bounds, and IDK IT'S AN EMOTIONAL MOMENT. Shut up.

[solo_sword]

I am totally doing as much as I want now, because I've gotten through a buncha canon now and am about to get to more so. FREE REIGN, I SAY. Though I'm trying to stick to Jaina-related or Jaina-adjacent stuff. So maybe not so free.

1. Anakin Solo's death (New Jedi Order: Star By Star)/Jacen's death (Legacy of the Force: Invincible)- How much does it have to suck to have to be there when both your brothers die? Sigh. I put these both together because, basically, I CANNOT READ EITHER OF THEM WITHOUT CRYING. Anakin's death is self-sacrificial and and heartwrenching and the big turning point of the Vong War and the series, and also made me put the book in the freezer.

Meanwhile Invincible was completely cruel and has these flashbacks throughout the book to when the twins were younger and There For Each Other, and each chapter starts with one of Jacen's old (horrible) jokes, so you have THAT STUFF right after he dies, and Jaina's reaction just kills me every time, and SERIOUSLY. TEARS.

2. Protecting the Jedi Academy (Legacy of the Force: Inferno)- Troy Denning writes badass!Jaina the best (which is why I can't wait till Apocalypse- Jaina vs. a bunch of Sith? YES PLEASE). So when she's hanging at the Jedi Academy while it's under occupation by the Galactic Alliance Guard under Jacen's orders, and the GAG starts coma gassing the adults and rounding the kids up, Jaina definitely breaks out the badass. Like we're talking taking out guards, completely without a lightsaber, sending a shiv into a dude's throat with the Force from another room...

3. Jag yelling at Jaina (Legacy of the Force: Fury)- Which might sound weird, but. Up till this point, Jaina had been focusing on hunting down Jacen and the Sith and therefore she was being a closed-off bitch about everything, and Jag was the first person to finally call her on it. In book SEVEN. And it turned out he knew her well enough to do it in a way that she'd actually listen. I'd more or less just disliked him (and the ship) until this point, and this completely won me over.

4. The proposal (Fate of the Jedi: Omen)- I wouldn't think I'd say any marriage proposal that's spoken like a business proposal would be on my favorites list, but it's so perfectly J/J and it's nice to see them both happy for once. (KEEP IT THAT WAY, CANON.)

5. Jaina's characterization from Invincible through Fate of the Jedi- (Mostly.) Jaina and Tahiri both got completely screwed in what they did to their characters in LOTF, and canon finally pulled it together with both of them. Thank god. And while I'm not going to get into too much detail about Tahiri except for the Thank godding, my girl got largely ignored for most of LOTF or shoved to the side in the stupid love triangle thing, and then when they finally decided to use her, they did a pretty good job of it. And maybe it's because I've been looking specifically for this stuff, but by Invincible she's the only person with a calm head through everything who does what needs to be done, and the fact that she came out of what seems like some pretty horrible aftermath well-adjusted and happy is amazing and awesome. Plus they've finally decided to let her be kinda kickass with her powers and giving her credit for her piloting skills again and I'm pretty sure she's the only character in FOTJ to be even peripherally involved in every real plot in the series. Sure, she got stuck on the BACK cover of the last book and she has to share it while LUKE GOT THREE, but... shut up.

And let's ignore any handling of the idiot ball in Ascension, because they were all playing hot potato with it. NO, THE SITH DID NOT JUST GO HOME, JAINA, GOD.

[solo_sword]

6. The Jaina and Lando Show (Fate of the Jedi: Allies, Vortex)- I don't know why, I just LOVED Jaina and Lando teaming up for a couple books. These are two characters who haven't been in the same scene since the NJO iirc, and I don't think they've ever had one on one dialogue throughout the 20 years of them publishing these books. So seeing them being awesome and snarky and Jaina worrying him unnecessarily was just so much fun for me. And she called him Uncle Lando! Come on!

7. Traitor (New Jedi Order)- Matthew Stover is, imo, the best SW author out there, and this is a great book. Like even outside of just being a great Star Wars book, it's great, period. It's the book that made me love Jacen Solo again (temporarily, SIGH, Jacen), and as it takes place during that time when Jaina was being dark sidey and bitchy, Stover did more to make her scary on two pages than Elaine Cunningham did in an entire book.

8. The opening of Outcast (Fate of the Jedi)- So remember the beginning of Return of the Jedi, when the Emperor shows up on the Death Star and Vader goes to meet him and all the stormtroopers are around? Take away the context and put Jag and Jaina in it instead and you have their first meeting of the series. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

9. THE EMPIRE OF THE FREAKING HAND (Fate of the Jedi: Ascension)- I said Jaina-adjacent, didn't I? While Jag has been GROSSLY underused in Fate of the Jedi, throwing him in the political arena has made him tons more interesting because it turns out he's kind of a devious bastard when he needs to be. Like when he finally really goes toe to toe with Daala and it turns out that he's been hiding the long-lost Empire of the Hand for who knows how long and was able to call them for help in the most perfect, badass way in the middle of battle. This moment may have made me like this book even though the first half was terrible. GOD, I CAN'T WAIT TILL HE'S EMPEROR.

It's going to bother me now that I don't have ten.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

That book is the entire reason I have a pull list, because my comic shop would sell out of it every month by the time I made it there on Wednesday evenings otherwise. I miss it a lot. I might also have had an overly emotional, embarrasingly gushy moment at Bryan Q. Miller about it in San Diego back in July. *cough*

[weetuskenraider]

Aw, see, I was hoping you'd put Operation Caranak on this list, because Jag and Jaina on a mission (even if it is a "can we get these annoying paparazzi to leave us the hell alone" kind of mission) with Tahiri around to be a smartass getaway driver is kind of awesome. ;)

[bitten_notshy]

I have to start by linking everyone to the first story from Jack's canon, because it is just that awesome.

1. Sebastien is in trouble. Jack gets to be a badass.
Sebastien, still blinking tears from his eyes, couldn't see it. But he could imagine quite plainly that Jack paused, turned—slowly—and balled his hands into fists before pursing his lips into the most condescending consideration imaginable. He would stare the captain in the eye until Hoak flushed and dropped his gaze, and then he would drawl—
"Oh, I think not."
It was as well that Sebastien's face hurt too much for smiling, as he heard the hesitancy in the captain's voice as he said, "Lad?"
"I'm of age," Jack said. "Eighteen in December, before you ask, and also before you ask, I know everything I need to know about Sebastien de Ulloa. He saved my life, and you'll have to kill me to take me away from him." He lifted his chin, arms crossed, the smallest man in the room—shorter than two of the women, in fact—and though Sebastien couldn't see it, he knew Jack glowered.
Sebastien swallowed a ridiculous, hurtful pride, feeling like a man watching his terrier stare down a room full of mastiffs. "Jack—"
"Shut up, Sebastien," Jack said. "Let me handle this. Captain, Germany's laws against vampirism were repealed in the eighteenth century, along with the witchcraft laws. Sebastien has done nothing wrong."

2. Jack tells Sebastien to shut up and let him make his own choices.

Mulishly, Sebastien plowed ahead. "I can't give you a life. Life is for the living, not the undead."
Jack dropped his hand and stared at Sebastien, chin tilted up. "Don't be an idiot."
"Jack?"
Shaking his head, Jack lifted himself up on tiptoe and kissed Sebastien quickly on the mouth. Sebastien closed his eyes for a moment, to savor the passing warmth, and so happened not to see when Jack turned on the balls of his feet and strode away. He'd gone three steps by the time Sebastien stirred himself to movement and caught up. Without looking at him, Jack coughed and ran one frail-seeming hand through his hair. "I don't need you to give me a life, you old fool. Or haven't you noticed that I've got my own?"
Sebastien blinked. Slowed his steps, so that Jack slowed to stay alongside him. "There's no such thing as forever."
"That's all right. I haven't got forever. So if you leave me like Lillian got left, I shall be quite cross. Promise."
It was harder than it should have been, so he knew he wasn't lying.
Sebastien touched Jack's arm, and said, "I promise."

[bitten_notshy]

3. Jack and Abby Irene have dinner.

"You're of Sebastien's court," Mr. Priest said, with a fine display of unconcern. "It would be easier on him if we didn't throw fits and jealous squabbles." And then he smiled up at her through his lashes, a beautiful golden child.
"I'm difficult," he finished, as if he shared a great secret.
The coquettish flirtation left her uneasy, even as she laughed. But she didn't think of herself as a vampire's courtier. Surely the power in their relationship was shared, not taken. "I'm Sebastien's friend," Garrett corrected.
"Yes. Sebastien is considered something of an eccentric."
"How old is he?"
Mr. Priest stopped, and stared. "He doesn't know."
And that was kind. He could have toyed with her, gloated over knowledge she did not share. Oh? He never told you?
"Roughly?"
"He remembers the Black Death," Mr. Priest said. "He remembers the millennium. He saw Vladimir the Great baptized a Christian in Kyiv. And Evie had already left him, by then, and he says they were together forty years or so—"
"Evie."
The blond boy tipped his head. "The one who gave him his first. . .
taste."
"He's a thousand years old, Mr. Priest?"
"My best guess? I make it about eleven hundred. He sometimes mutters to himself in a particularly incomprehensible dialect of medieval vulgar Latin when he's not pretending to that ridiculous Spanish accent. It might be Galicean. He's Galicean. Or Asturian, rather, if I have the dates right."
"But you're not sure?"
Mr. Priest shrugged. "He says he doesn't remember. He says he starved, during the plague, and forgot a great deal."
"And you believe that?"
He tilted his head. His smile slid from cherublike to conspiratorial. For a moment, they were allies. "I think he wishes to believe it."

4. Jack helps Sebastien with some unconventional travel plans.

"Jack, do you think both David and I can fit in that coffin?"
"Coffin?"
"Grant Nelson's coffin. If there's revolution in the streets, I shan't suffer us to be parted. And the mails may not be reliable." The morning post had not arrived, and neither had the forenoon one.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Good God. How. . .cliché."
"Indeed. But if the Governor's darling son is murdering his lovers, then Chouchou must be warned."
"Oh darling," David answered, laughing hopelessly, "do you think for an instant she doesn't know?"
"Nevertheless," Sebastien said. "Nevertheless."
* * *
Sebastien was moderately tall, but slender, and David was a small man by anyone's standard. They fit, face-to-face, lying in one another's arms, although Jack gave them a doubtful glance before he settled the lid. "Breathe shallowly," he joked, hefting the hammer.
"I shan't breathe at all," Sebastien reminded.
"Right. This is insane, you realize."

[bitten_notshy]

5. Sebastien is having a bit of trouble adjusting to speaking English. Jack kindly helps him out over breakfast. Ends with my favorite single Jack quote, and that's saying something.

"Werewolves?" Jack said, glancing up from his breakfast with wide eyes and lifted brows, as if he couldn't believe Sebastien hadn't considered it.
"There's no such thing as a werewolf," Sebastien said, pushing his
tiny glass of orange juice across the small table in their room so Jack could reach it easily. They ordered two meals, and Jack consumed both. Young men were always hungry, and it didn't hurt Sebastien's charade if he seemed to be dining.
Jack finished his own orange juice before reaching for Sebastien's. "You know," he said, "every time a vampire says he doesn't believe in lycanthropes, a werewolf bursts into flames."
Sebastien eyed him for a moment, trying to decide if his reciprocal sarcasm extended to slow clapping, and instead contented himself drawing on the tablecloth with a finger dipped in water. "I didn't say there were no such thing as lycanthropes. I said there were no such thing as werewolves. There are plenty of other were-things in the world."
"Aren't werewolves the iconic lycanthrope?"
"Ironic, isn't it? They were never common, and they were hunted to extinction by the Inquisitio—"
"English, John," Jack reminded, gently.
"That was Latin," Sebastien answered, hurt. "In Spanish, la Inquisición. Or el Santo Oficio."
"Neither of which is English. Which is what we are supposed to be."
"Don Sebastien de Ulloa is probably safer in Paris than Mr. John Nast, under the current circumstances."
Jack, plying his butter knife, did not answer. Sebastien took advantage of the silence to watch him, the dim light through the shades dull in his pale curls. Sebastien had never seen Jack's hair in the sunlight.
He never would.
He put his hand over his mouth, and muttered into his palm. "'Eh bien, cria Satan, soit! Je puis encor voir! Il aura le ciel bleu, moi j'aurai le ciel noir.'"
"Beg pardon? Still not English, sir."
"Will you permit me French in France, mother?" Sebastien repeated it, and translated, though he knew Jack did not need him to. "'Very well,' cried Satan. 'So be it! I can still see! He will have the blue sky, and I will have the black!'"
"'Et déjà le soleil n'était plus qu'une étoile,'" Jack answered, skipping ahead in the poem. And already the sun was no more than a star. "Victor Hugo. 'La fin de Satan.' Pray God, tell me you're not succumbing to vampire Angst."

[solo_sword]

I SERIOUSLY thought about it, along with Darkmeld as a whole, but I worried my list was too FOTJ-heavy. Which I shouldn't, as I am really loving the series despite some flaws, but yeah.

Because seriously, when you form an awesome group of badasses that happens to only include one guy so you can get away with stuff that needs to be done without the psycho in charge of the GA knowing about it, that's kind of awesome. And when you use it for a date, well. :D

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I CAN SIT HERE AND DO THIS? A long time. Srsly. Again I will limit myself to Angel stuff, and I will probably be editing to add more all day unless someone shuts me up by commenting.

8. All the sneaky little mentions throughout the series about how sincerely fucked up Wes is. There are just these teensy mentions of him getting locked in the closet as a kid, and there's a phone call where he tells his dad how he's leading Angel Investigations and his dad is just not impressed, and at one point a demon calls him paranoid. And then in "Lineage" you actually meet his dad and wow, there you go. Kid's got issues.

7. "A Hole In The World," AKA That Time Wesley Got The Love of His Life For Five Seconds And Then She Tragically Died. I actually bawl all the way through that episode. I mean, I'm okay on Fred, but oh god the acting in that episode is fucking amazing and tearjerky and one look at Wes' face at any given moment (and he goes from, like, determined to fix the situation to being less sure of himself but STILL DETERMINED to being determined to just make her happy once, and then finally he's grieving) -- omg. Just so many emotions.

6. Building off of that -- the rest of S5, wherein Wes is half-crazy and sort of lost in grief and scotch, but he still clings to the shell of the girl he loved and tries to introduce Illyria to the world, and adigphasdighpa I love this man. And in "Origin" he remembers everything that happened with Connor and realizes that all of that, that his mistake there had led to Fred's death, and he has to grieve her ALL OVER AGAIN, and then Illyria is trying to blur the lines between her and Fred and it's so much for him to deal with. And then in "The Girl in Question" he talks to Fred's parents, and you can see in his face he's kind of running through the fact that they could've been his in-laws, and meanwhile he's standing there with this primordial being that isn't their daughter or the girl he loved but he has to pretend that it is and for the love of god, Wesley. I'M SORRY, I WARNED YOU I WOULD GET RANTY.

5. Okay, here, have a lighter one: Early S1, where he is just craving Angel's approval badly and he sort of grovels all over the place and offers to grind squished coffee beans and apologizes for getting kidnapped. This kid, I swear.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

4. Every single thing about the episode "Spin the Bottle." It starts out all super srs with Wes and Gunn's little face-off over Fred, which is when we get Wesley's "I had my throat cut and all my friends abandoned me." And then they all do this spell to try to get Cordy's memories back (whatever, I can justify the absurdity of the whole damn thing because this episode is too amazing), and it ends up regressing them all to their teenage selves (http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=4943), with stoner!Fred and bitchy!S1!Cordy and pompous!Wes (W: "I happen to be Head Boy." / C: "Wonder how you got that nickname." DYING.) and thug!Gunn and Liam!Angel. EXCEPT LIAM HAS NO DREADFUL IRISH ACCENT, AND THE FANS REJOICED FOREVER.

And it's all set up with this neat little framing device of Lorne talking to no one, and if nobody's guessed from my twitter handle, I freaking love Lorne. Also, Alexis and Joss' commentary on this episode is A THING OF BEAUTY. I die laughing every. Single. Time. If you ask, I will send it to you, and then you too can experience the hilarity.

Oh, and then there's Angel and Cordelia with some kind of romance subplot. Whatever.

3. Pylea arc. Mmmm, strategizing!general!Wes. HE REALLY CAN DO IT, I SWEAR. He's too awkward to figure this stuff out quite yet, but he will.

2. And: Gun skills. Impractical as it is, the fact that he can shoot two guns while flying through the air is one of my faaaaavorite Wes points. Plus it just adds to how significant it is that a man who can aim that well needed to shoot his father (or a cyborg who looks just like his father) NINE TIMES for threatening his girl. Oh, Wes.

1. The kidnapping-Connor arc. Wes is just so lost and isolated and rejected because he loves this girl and she doesn't see him, and so he's miserable and alone and hurt and he makes a mistake, sure. But then no one gives him two seconds to explain himself once it all goes to hell, and it's his fault and he accepts that, but meanwhile he had his throat cut and Angel tried to kill him and he's just so -- lost. He's so lost that he sees Lilah as someone who might even be able to understand him. Lilah. Oh god, Wes. MY CREYS.

[smartestone]

1. NEVILLE IS A BADASS (The Deathly Hallows)- The movie actually unbadassed him a bit here. In the book, Voldemort puts the Sorting Hat on Neville's head, sets it on fire, and that's how he gets the sword of Gryffindor. Which he then uses to cut off the head of a giant snake. I'll wait for willbethenight to link the quote that he loves so much about it, but god I love this moment.

2. Order of the Phoenix- All of it. I know, I know, Harry was a capslocky bitch. He was also 15 and his life really did suck and I thought being a capslocky bitch was appropriate for that. It's also the first book I read as it came out, so it holds a special place in my heart, but the DA, and that bitch Umbridge, and the Weasley twins leaving school in a literal blaze of glory and Sirius and and and...

3. The Yule Ball dramaz (Goblet of Fire)- I love the plot of HP, but I love when the kids act like kids, dammit. I like the stupid little drama over who's going to the dance with who and Hermione getting upset that Ron was being a brat and it was all so HIGH SCHOOL. (Do I also love how Hermione dated a guy just to piss Ron off because he was with Lavender? Yes, yes, I do.)

4. Hermione showing Rita Skeeter who's boss (Goblet of Fire/Order of the Phoenix)- So at the end of GOF, Hermione traps a beetle. Which happens to be reporter Rita Skeeter in her Animagus form. AND SHE KEEPS HER LIKE THAT till she's good and ready and then ends up getting Rita to write a positive piece on Harry in the middle of a ton of bad press. Look who just let a 16-year-old make her her bitch!

5. Dumbledore's death (Half-Blood Prince)- This would be when it got real. I don't think it got me emotionally like say, Sirius or some of the deaths in book seven, but I thought it was a really well-done way to have the mentor in the story die that had consequences and fallout for soooo many people, not just Harry.

[weetuskenraider]

I think I'll mostly stick to later canon for this, because I got my rage out over NJO and LotF yesterday and I'm in love with FotJ Tahiri.

"Say 'too young,' and I'll kick you where you don't want to be kicked." (New Jedi Order: Star by Star) - I mentioned this one in yesterday's meme, and it's still one of my favorite bits ever. When Anakin Solo's putting together the mission to Myrkr in Star by Star (OH GOD), and Tahiri realizes he's trying not to put her on the team, she gets mad about it and confronts him in front of the entire room. He starts to protest, and that's her response. I love that this is Anakin Solo, media darling, Jedi hero, part of the most famous family in the galaxy, but to Tahiri he's still the frustrating kid who's been her best friend for years and she has no qualms about treating him that way in front of everyone.

Tahiri and Corran (New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory, The Final Prophecy) - Corran Horn (former Corellian Security agent, crack pilot, generally awesome Jedi who just happens to be the worst telekinetic ever and it runs in the family) first starts working with Tahiri when she wheedles her way into a supply-running mission with him and Anakin. This being Anakin and Tahiri, of course, it can't stay an ordinary supply run, and ends up with them trying to save an entire planet from invasion and Corran facepalming at both of them a lot. (Kam Solusar, upon finding out where they ended up: "He took Anakin and Tahiri, together? No, I doubt he has any idea whatsoever what he's doing.") After Anakin's death and toward the end of the war, Corran insists on accompanying Tahiri on a mission (to infiltrate the galactic capital, as you do; I swear she does this like three times in NJO) because he doesn't trust her after her personality merge. They clash a lot, but he ends up agreeing to take her on as an apprentice and they get a lot of really snappy banter. I hate that they basically dropped this relationship like a hot potato after NJO.

DARKMELD (Fate of the Jedi) - So when Jaina forms a covert team to undermine the government (SERIOUSLY WITH THE POLITICAL GAMES, SW), it consists of her, Tahiri, Mirax Horn, Cilghal, Winter Celchu, and Jag Fel as the lone token guy. I mean, sure, by this point Tahiri's a Force-sensitive bounty hunter and social pariah (funny how being a fallen Jedi/former Sith apprentice will do that to you) and everything, but I love that Jaina still trusts her enough to be part of the group. And they get to do fun things like break into high-security prisons and steal speeders and go on high-speed pursuits through the Coruscant airways. I love it.

Tahiri Veila, Smartass Defendant (Fate of the Jedi: Abyss) - So of course by FotJ, my girl's a convicted political assassin and on trial for her life, partly because Daala wants to scapegoat all Force-users for the recent civil war (you know, as opposed to all those other ones), and she's out for blood. Does this stop Tahiri from mouthing off to the judge at her arraignment? NOT AT ALL.

"I understand that," [Judge] Lorteli said. "But in your capacity as a Jedi Knight, you were privy to a great many secrets that the Jedi Order might not want revealed in open court, were you not?"

"Oh, we all know where the Emperor buried his treasure, if that's what you're asking," Tahiri said, slumping back in her chair. "I'll be glad to draw you a map, if it will get these charges--"

The rest of her offer was lost to the din of guffaws and chuckles that rolled through the courtroom, and even Daala snorted in amusement.

"That one has guts," she said. "I have to give her that."

"What does she have to lose?" Jag asked. "A blind Gungan could see that you've had this court rigged from the start."

Also, I love that Jag has her back.

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri and Jaina in Fate of the Jedi, in general - As much as I love to joke about the slashy subtext with those two, I genuinely just love the relationship they have in FotJ; for a long time, Jaina's the only one who will stick up for her, and is willing to risk getting dirty looks from the Jedi for walking into the Jedi Temple dining hall with her. (Okay, I can't not joke about the subtext, because that scene has a bit that mentions them having just gotten a sanisteam between the mission they were on and walking into the Temple, and DID THEY TAKE ONE TOGETHER? THE NARRATIVE COULD BE READ EITHER WAY. Bless you, Aaron Allston.) And Jaina being at Tahiri's trial and glaring daggers at the judge. And yes.

Actually, just Tahiri's whole relationship with the Solo family in FotJ - Okay, so there's a bit where Luke and Ben go to the Lake of Apparitions and talk to Force manifestations of Mara Jade Skywalker and Anakin Solo; I'll leave that to momslilassassin to detail if desired, but Anakin's "ghost" asks Ben to tell Tahiri he still loves her. Then there is this wonderful heartbreaking scene where Han and Leia go to visit Tahiri in prison, and Leia busts out with the badass to intimidate the prison guards into letting them into Tahiri's cell, Force-flashes the security cam, and relays Anakin's message to her, and Tahiri just breaks down crying on them when she hears it. (Which, okay, I'm still not a huge fan of how much they're tying her psychological well-being to a dead boy years down the line, but THIS SCENE.) Keep in mind, two years ago Tahiri tried to arrest them on Jacen's orders and got into a huge brutal fight with Leia in the process, and now they've been at her trial every day they can manage to spare and are being this supportive of her.

Look, Tahiri in FotJ in general is just love.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

Regarding Neville: 8 nerds who will utterly kick your ass (http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/12/8_nerds_who_will_utterly_kick_your_ass.php)

While the smell of his burning skin and hair filled his nose, he pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the hat and beheaded Voldemort's giant pet snake in one motion, making it possible for Harry Potter to save the world. Then he went and kicked a werewolf's ass. That's not goofy hyperbole for the sake of making a humorous aside - he actually followed having his skull set on fire by killing a giant snake and then beating the fuck out of a werewolf.

[weetuskenraider]

The movie actually unbadassed him a bit here. -- ARGH, YES. That made me kinda sad.

[solo_sword]

I LOVE FOTJ!TAHIRI SO MUCH. And it makes me so happy that they let her go back to being snarky and badass (THE PRISON YARD SCENE!) and be herself again. And for as much as I hate what they did to her in LOTF, I honestly do like the way she's taking responsibility for it and why. Like she's back to being one of my favorites again.

And seriously, if she's not the first IK I WILL BE MAD.

[smartestone]

THAT WOULD BE IT.

[smartestone]

Yeah. Though I can sort of see why they might not want the visual of setting Neville's head on fire...