Trick or Treat

[eye_of_a_cat]

I have had SUCH AN ANNOYING couple of weeks at work, where we are a) trying to organise a big event while b) going through a hugely unsettling big structural shakeup that c) means everyone's worried about their jobs while d) we are also missing a lot of staff and e) aren't allowed to hire anyone until b) is sorted out. It's now at vaguely comedic levels. On top of this, both kids have been ill, and on top of that my mother-in-law is moving house and needs oh so much help with that.

On a related note, I have been part way through writing a trickortreatex recs post for ages - a fic exchange with a lot of spooky stories - and STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED, not least because I have still hardly read any of the ones I wanted to read due to ^ that. So most of that is still to come, but since we are now at the author reveals point already here are the two written for me, which I did get around to reading!

Moments of Transition, Moments of Revelation by cahn (Babylon 5, Delenn/Neroon, T) - is an absolutely wonderful, long, plotty, AU where Sheridan stays dead at Z'Ha'Dum and it's Delenn and Neroon with an arranged marriage to preserve political stability.

Superposition by kanadka (Babylon 5, Branmer, T) - a pivotal moment in Branmer's life, which is both complex worldbuilding backstory and also Branmer backstory specifically, and fits like an absolute jigsaw piece into canon without being the shape I would have expected at all.

(These two also make a wonderful set of the two things I always felt were missing in B5 fandom when I was really active in it about 15 years ago, which were Delenn/Neroon stories (I mean! that chemistry!) and anything about Branmer. And I am so so so pleased to see things like this being written now!)

And the ones I wrote:

Haunted in small ways (Babylon 5, G), for kalirush - Vir, Lennier, and a station full of ghosts.

Some say the world will end in fire (Babylon 5, M) for cahn - Delenn/Neroon, Warrior Caste festivals and political scheming.

And things that go bump in the night (Ghosts, G) for Small_Hobbit - how do you run a haunted house event in an actual haunted house?

Comments

[cahn]

That sounds like A LOT. I feel like a lot of weeks it's hard enough to get through the week just with trying to get regular work done and regular kid-sorting things done, and that is a lot more stressors!

Also also I loved your ToT B5 fics (I did guess that the other Vir & Lennier was by you, as you probably realized from my comment on selenak's post, though not until I'd thought about it a bit) and I also loved writing Delenn/Neroon for you so much :D <3 That chemistry is really something else! <3 (Plus which, their partnership does seem to work really well in canon, except for that pesky bit where Delenn doesn't tell him that she's going to stay in the Starfire Wheel -- I mean, of course she wouldn't, but my headcanon is that if they both somehow survived he would be Very Put Out at her.)

(And that is why your post a couple weeks back about stress leading to fanfic was so relatable! This was a very fun thing to be immersed in when work was being Irritating.)

As is probably inevitable (I think I always have this problem with thoughtful recips), I had a lot of moments where I really wanted to talk to you about it and/or get you to beta it, because I was like, eye_of_a_cat would definitely know how to fix this, or have Useful Thoughts about this piece of characterization or worldbuilding! And honestly I just kind of want to talk to you about Minbar in general and Neroon in particular. Of course now I can't remember what exactly -- well, I know that my worldbuilding in that turned out a lot different than yours! Which is cool, because (as you've said) it's fun to imagine different ways the Minbari worldbuilding can go, and I really like your versions, with the way that the Warrior Caste has its own rich separate rituals and festivals and ways of doing things. And with Neroon -- I kept having to fight the urge to make him way more reasonable than Delenn (it was SO CATHARTIC, I can't even tell you, to write this thing while watching S5) and may have overcompensated a bit -- not to the degree that it's overly OOC from canon, I don't think (S1-3 Neroon is pretty cranky)... But anyway I feel like you do this balance so well; I just really love how your Neroon and Delenn are such strong and clashing characters while still being able to, occasionally, concede a point to the other.