A Minor Variation

Day 11 - What is your dream pairing?

You know, I've thought about it but I don't really think I have one of these. Or at least, I can't think of anything that I'd really qualify as a "perfect" pairing - there are too many different kinds that I like, and even with my favorite pairings there's usually something that could have been done better.

Or maybe it's just that I'm having trouble parsing the question. Anyhow, skipping this one and moving on to the next.

Day 12 - Who had the best wedding?

( 'Would you throw yourself in front of a maxibus for me?' 'Absolutely. They don't go very fast.' )

( The questions. )

They turned around, and they saw, there by the great rock--
wings, it seemed like hundreds of wings, spreading, folding, stretching--
and eyes
how many eyes can a drive of dragons have?
and small jets of flame


Yes. Charles Wallace's drive of dragons was a single creature, although Meg was not at all surprised that Charles Wallace had confused this fierce, wild being with dragons. She had the feeling that she never saw all of it at once, and which of all the eyes could she meet? merry eyes, wise eyes, ferocious eyes, kitten eyes, dragon eyes, opening and closing, looking at her, looking at Charles Wallace and Calvin and the strange tall man. And wings, wings in constant motion, covering and uncovering the eyes. When the wings were spread out, they had a span of at least ten feet, and when they were all folded in, the creature resembled a misty, feathery sphere. Little spurts of flame and smoke spouted up between the wings; it could certainly start a grass fire if it weren't careful. Meg did not wonder that Charles Wallace had not approached it.


The Teacher said, "His name is Proginoskes."
Charles Wallace said, "He?"
"Yes."
"He's not dragons?"
"He is a cherubim."
"What!?"
"A cherubim."
Flame spurted skywards in indignation at the doubt in the atmosphere. Great wings raised and spread and the children were looked at by a great many eyes. When the wild thing spoke, it was not in vocal words, but directly into their minds."
"I suppose you think I ought to be a golden-haired baby-face with no body and two useless little wings?"
Charles Wallace stared at the great creature. "It might be simpler if you were."
Meg pulled her poncho closer about her, for protection in case the cherubim spouted fire in her direction.
"It is a constant amazement to me," the cherubim thought at them, "that so many earthling artists paint cherubim to resemble baby pigs."
Calvin made a sound which, if he had been less astonished, would have been a laugh. "But cherubim is plural."
The fire-spouting beast returned, "I am practically plural. The little boy thought I was a drive of dragons, didn't he? I am certainly not a cherub. I am a singular cherubim."


Proginoskes waved several wings slowly back and forth in thought, which would have felt very pleasant on a hot day, but which, on a cold morning, made Meg turn up the collar of her jacket. The cherubim did not notice; he continued waving and thinking. Then she could feel his words moving slowly, tentatively, within her mind. "If you've been assigned to me, I suppose you must be some kind of a Namer, too, even if a primitive one."
"A what?"
"A Namer. For instance, the last time I was with a Teacher - or at school, as you call it - my assignment was to memorize the names of the stars."
"Which stars?"
"All of them."
"You mean all the stars, in all the galaxies?"
"Yes. If he calls for one of them, someone has to know which one he means. Anyhow, they like it; there aren't many who know them all by name, and if your name isn't known, then it's a very lonely feeling."

I've recently picked up Rogue #6, the final issue of the first arc of the Rogue ongoing. It's been pretty underwhelming thus far. I am not impressed by Richards' artwork; the heavy outlines make it stiff. Worse than the art, though, is Rodi's writing and his poor characterization. The story depends mostly on everyone involved behaving as though they've been brain-damaged, and over the course of six issues not a whole lot happens... yet for all that nothing much happens, they managed to wrap up Rogue's family history so that it doesn't seem like there's much room to expand on it further - and what was established is pretty piddling after over twenty years of secrecy on the subject. Not much of a big revelation.

On the bright side, both Rodi and Richards are off the title. The new team is Tony Bedard writing and Karl Moline penciling, and judging from what Bedard has said, the outlook is a little more promising. Bedard at least seems to think of Rogue in terms of her potential as a powerhouse, and the issues he names as favorites are old classics like UXM #172 and #173, when Rogue was rampaging around Tokyo with Wolverine beating up Yakuza. His first arc is supposed to involve Rogue's history with the Brotherhood, and he's promising some new developments with her powers - of course, we've heard this before. But I am hopeful.

I'm also going to pick up X-Men #166 to check out the new writer, Peter Milligent, and the start of his arc "Golgotha." I love Salvador Larroca's art, and since Rogue and Gambit are both actually in this issue, I'd like to see how it turns out.

And, on an even brighter note, there's Quantum Leap. My brother, smart boy, gave me season two on DVD for Christmas, and I am struck once more by how excellent the series really is. I don't think I appreciated just how good it was when it was airing. I just teared up watching the episode "Jimmy," in which Sam leaps into a mentally handicapped man. Seriously teared up. It's amazing how well it holds up; it doesn't look over twenty years old. Anyone who hasn't seen it, my God, people, you have no idea what you're missing.

I also picked up X-Men Legends, which is also good stuff. Finally, an X-Men video game that's more than just two characters beating up on each other. It's not perfect, but it's very good. I had a great deal of fun tromping around the Sentinel factory as Rogue, throwing trucks around and breaking everything that would break, which was pretty much everything. When Cyclops announced, "X-Men, it looks like we're going to be putting in some overtime," I felt like the game had succeeded. My only complaints is that the enemies, aside from the bosses and the Sentinels, tended to be too generic... some characters you unlock too late to make much use of them, and though there are fourteen to choose from by the end, they're not evenly balanced. Cyclops, Storm, Jean, Wolverine, and Iceman have skills and advantages that make them almost necessary to whatever team you try to put together, while Gambit, Jubilee, and Beast wind up being pretty superfluous. And both Gambit and Colossus had terrible, terrible accents. But I'm looking forward to Legends 2 and, with luck, a few new playable characters. In the meantime, it's got at least one more play in it; I want to see how I make it through with Storm instead of Cyke for my leadership bonus and some other alternate characters.

Edit to add: Something else that is awesome is Robin McKinley's Sunshine. funwithrage was very right. McKinley has, of course, never let me down yet.