The Question, Answer Game

[Distracted]

Thankee kindly, Eian , but I was looking for something new, so my question still stands. What would you guys have liked to see happen with RU Hoshi?

[leslina]

Thankee kindly, Eian , but I was looking for something new, so my question still stands. What would you guys have liked to see happen with RU Hoshi?

A: First of all, some sort of damn commendation for what she did in the Xindi Conflict as a translator, code breaker and engineer (she did improve the UT). Second, a damn promotion after accomplishing all things previously mentioned (I guess SF was still sore about the poker ring in the dorms). Perhaps a romance with someone on ship, not part of the core cast (I'm not Mal/Hoshi shipper ::shrug::), but in her chain of command to add some tension, maybe someone a little younger, who sees her as a rival or aims to surpass her, and then he bites the dust in typical boring sci-fi fashion on an away mission. There. That satisfy ya Dis?

And again I'm tapped for questions. I've been dealing with migraines the past couple of days. I pass.

[Elessar]

I always liked the idea of Archer & Hoshi, myself... I thought there was potential there for a dramatic love triangle in the Archer-Hoshi-Hernandez category. Like, suppose that the real reason Archer stopped seeing Hernandez was b/c he left her for Hoshi, who left Starfleet because she wanted to be with him, but then he got his Warp 5 posting (a few years before the actual launch) and, newly enthused by his career, Archer didn't go see her as much and they drifted apart... Shit! I just gave away a story idea for the Bridge!

[Alelou]

I think Archer/Hoshi has potential too.

Leslina, my Nurse Practitioner suffers weekly migraines (gah, I'd kill myself), and she gave me a sample of a new drug for migraines that combines two other ones. When I got an aura in the car on the way to work yesterday after hardly sleeping all night thinking about my employment situation I was thankfully able to grab my water and open the damn container while driving 65 miles per hour on the highway and get the stuff in without killing anybody. And it worked! It's called Treximet.

I need to find the prescription she gave me and go fill it because the sample is done now, and I think maybe there's something about the light coming off an LCD screen that isn't very good for a tired, migraine-prone brain.

[Distracted]

Before you buy Treximet, you may want to price generic sumatriptan 100 mg and generic naproxen 500 mg. Treximet is just 85 mg of sumatriptan (Imitrex) and 500 mg of naproxen (Naprosyn or Aleve) together in the same pill. It might be cheaper just to take one generic Imitrex (comes in 25mg, 50 mg, and 100 mg) and two OTC generic Aleve (with food).

Good ideas for Hoshi, BTW...although the idea of Archer/Sato has always creeped me out a little. Makes him sound like a dirty old man. I suppose it could work if she was a civilian at the time of the relationship, she pursued him, and they broke things off after she enlisted.

So...EVERYBODY'S out of questions?

Sigh. Okay.

Q: Same question. What about Malcolm?

[Alelou]

Good idea, except that I already have the prescription for the one and no prescription for the other... I'll ask for one next time I'm in to a doctor, though. I didn't know that was what Aleve was. My friend's godmother died from stomach bleeding brought on by that, which pretty much spooked me off it. I'd actually never even used imitrex before. My regular doctor had suggested Excedrin Migraine, which didn't work as well for me as a couple of Advil and deep breathing. However, deep breathing looks pretty damned weird when you're at work.

I've forgotten the original question to answer about Malcolm, but I think I'll leave that to one of the Malcolm-philes.

[Eian Flannagan]

So...EVERYBODY'S out of questions?

Sigh. Okay.

Q: Same question. What about Malcolm?

A:Well, unless I missed it, we never had a truly Malcolm-centric episode where he was captured (alone) and had to use his Intelligence and security skills to solve a mystery and escape. As I'm not a Malcolm enthusiast, I'm not sure how many fanfiction stories have already been written along those lines. But I would have loved a season 5 to have fleshed his character out some. I think DK was under-utilized.

Q: Sticking with canon up to the end of season 2, without Trip's issues in the Expanse and T'Pol's issues with Trellium-D, does anyone really see a build-up to a Harbinger-type episode? If so, how?

Eian

[Alelou]

If you wanted Malcolm-centric stories, ff.net is full of them. Volley writes good Malcolm. Sita does too, but they tend to be a bit heavy on the suffering and sometimes get a little too M/T for my personal taste. I agree Malcolm could use more development -- I think the Section 31 stuff was an attempt at that, but it mostly annoyed me. Prety often their idea of development for Malcolm annoyed me. Like the freaking pineapple cake.

I think T and T had enough chemistry that it could easily pitch over into a ship at any moment -- but they'd need an excuse. Being alone in a dangerous situation ... T'Pol's everpresent jealousy getting out of hand ... having to share a difficult command long enough when Archer's out of the picture ... a little sponge bath (that's a shameless plug for No Lasting Effects).

Blalock plays T'Pol as interested but bewildered by Trip all along. And Trinneer plays Trip as both appreciating and infuriated by T'Pol -- but his Trip has no reason to think that appreciation would ever be reciprocated and no reason to think it was a smart move to get involved even if it was. So really all they need is any excuse to forget themselves and all the reasons why it's a bad idea. It's like their lizard brains already know the score but their higher brain functions just keep getting in the way.

Question: I've been enjoying Lieuten Keen's Rennaistre over at ff.net. (Alas, it's not TnT in any signficant way.) She has managed to get the whole crew off Enterprise and now stranded and camping out on a potentially dangerous planet with very little hope of getting off it. How do YOU think our senior officers would react to this situation?

[Distracted]

So, what you're basically asking is whether it's possible that TnT would have become physically intimate without neuropressure or Trellium D. Hmmmm. I would have to say no. Not without something else to bring them together. The whole sexual relationship was so out of character for both of them. Not to say that they wouldn't have developed feelings for each other. I can see the attraction of a smart, physically appealing coworker who's off limits. What I really can't see is either of them acting on those feelings without an outside influence. Now, the viral "Ponfarr" might have been useful in that regard if they were trapped together on the planet when it happened. Then, if a mating bond occurred, it would draw them together, forcing them to develop a true relationship...theoretically. Of course, according to the writers of the series the bond doesn't work that way.

Either way, I think the trellium D storyline was gratuitous. Neuropressure and the development of a gradual relationship would have been more believable, IMO. If mating bonds are initiated by close proximity and cemented by physical intimacy, it would have worked without the drugs.

Question: I've been enjoying Lieuten Keen's Rennaistre over at ff.net. (Alas, it's not TnT in any signficant way.) She has managed to get the whole crew off Enterprise and now stranded and camping out on a potentially dangerous planet with very little hope of getting off it. How do YOU think our senior officers would react to this situation?

The WHOLE crew? Aren't there over 100 of them? Sounds like a landlocked E2. I guess they'd all pair off and have babies and form a colony, don't you think? Sounds like an interesting story. Can you post a link?

I'll leave the question open for a more original response.

[Alelou]

I was thinking more of the immediate reactions -- she's a little hard on Archer, IMO, but I'd like to know how other people imagine our guys coping with the immediate loss of Enterprise and the realization that they're in "a tight spot," to quote George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou? (Great movie.)

Here's the story. There's an original character who is central to this story, but I think you can follow it anyway. You might mistakenly conclude it's a Trip/OC story, but it ain't. It takes place after Kir'Shara so TnT are in tense stand-off mode.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4246411/1/Renaisterre

[leslina]

Alelou, Distracted thanks for the advice. I've been on a regiment of magnesium supplements and birth control for the past four years since my neurologist determined my migraines are in part due to a nutritional deficiency (triggered by my cycle) and hormones (also triggered by my cycle), sorry for the TMI folks. But it hasn't been a perfect cure by any means, although the migraines have lessened in frequency since I was in my early teens. Last year one hit me as I was headed home from work and I was in the middle of the free way. I don't know how I ever made it home, I was in so much pain, sick to my stomach and could NOT see straight. Watching all the recent Olympic coverage and fanfic reading on the laptop haven't helped either, so I've been curbing both. ::sigh:: It's just as well, back to work in another week. D'oh.

[Lady Rainbow]

Malcolm's character has a lot of potential, I think. Thing is, I though he needed to be more "hardened" personality-wise to be a Section 31 agent. I mean, he could, but I guess I was thinking more James-Bond-ish. Actually, I was planning on expanding on his security/tactical experience in one of my future stories, titled "Absolute Power". Malcolm finds himself single-handedly revising security policy in the Colonies as well as stopping a Boomer smuggling ring.

Renaisterre link: htp://www.fanfiction.net/s/4246411/1/Renaisterre

As for Renaisterre, Archer would rally the troops and try to make the best of the situation. Trip would try to find a technological means off the planet (probably with T'Pol's and Mal's help). Travis would try to be the resident morale officer w/o trying to go nuts being stuck planet-side for so long. Phlox (if he was there) would have tried to catalogue half the planet (w/T'Pol) and Hoshi would try to learn the natives' language (via transmissions) just in case they need it. Otherwise, she'd hold language classes for the stranded crew so SHE wouldn't go nuts.

Q: The senior staff and crew are transformed into manga-like animals. They can still talk and they still have their memories and personalities. What kind of animals would they be? For example, I see Mal as a panther, jaguar or cat-like animal.

[Alelou]

Alelou, Distracted thanks for the advice. I've been on a regiment of magnesium supplements and birth control for the past four years since my neurologist determined my migraines are in part due to a nutritional deficiency (triggered by my cycle) and hormones (also triggered by my cycle), sorry for the TMI folks. But it hasn't been a perfect cure by any means, although the migraines have lessened in frequency since I was in my early teens. Last year one hit me as I was headed home from work and I was in the middle of the free way. I don't know how I ever made it home, I was in so much pain, sick to my stomach and could NOT see straight. Watching all the recent Olympic coverage and fanfic reading on the laptop haven't helped either, so I've been curbing both. ::sigh:: It's just as well, back to work in another week. D'oh.

Ugh, I've been there. It's a horror. Really, in that situation, try breathing really deeply then slowly releasing your breath. The idea is to get as much oxygen as possible into you. It can really help reduce the pain. But I'd also start carrying around water and meds!

That magnesium thing is interesting. I ordered some of that and potassium and something else because lately I've been having palpitations and a friend with a.fib tells me that's a common nutritional solution. (I'll do anything to avoid therapy, hah!) Then I looked at how honking big the pills were and have somehow avoided getting into the habit. Intriguing. That might explain the sudden uptick in the number of migraines too. I'm going to have to buckle down and start trying those pills.

Maybe it's a good thing I'm about to get laid off. This gig hasn't been too good for my nerves. Maybe I'd be happier working at Target. Or maybe we should just sell this lovely house and move into something where we can afford the freaking local taxes that are so much higher than our freaking mortgage. Sigh. Breathe deeply and stop thinking, A.

[mjimeyg]

Q: The senior staff and crew are transformed into manga-like animals. They can still talk and they still have their memories and personalities. What kind of animals would they be? For example, I see Mal as a panther, jaguar or cat-like animal.

Not sure what a manga-animal is, but I would say this:

Archer - Some form of canine, probably standard Labrador, good at looking after things... possibly a sheep dog.

Trip - Is it to obvious to say monkey... can't really see Trip without a tool in hand.

T'Pol - I would say some sort of reptile... like a snake... very versatile under the right conditions but limited in certain environments.

Hoshi - Some form of bird... not necessarily a parrot, but one of them intelligent ones.

Mal - Could there be anything other than what you suggested? Panther seems best.

Phlox - I would say either a kitten or puppy, I noticed that they are very social and curious and like to try and take of their owners.

Travis - Eagle or other bird of prey... lives to fly and be free in the skies but always keeping a watchful eye out.

I realise I may have completely messed up the premise of "manga-animal" so I don't mind if people skip my question to give a more accurate answer.

Question: (Hope it hasn't been done.)

What costume or character would the command staff wear to a fancy dress or Halloween party.

[leslina]

Q: The senior staff and crew are transformed into manga-like animals. They can still talk and they still have their memories and personalities. What kind of animals would they be? For example, I see Mal as a panther, jaguar or cat-like animal.

Uh... not sure what you mean with this question. Do you mean, magical kind of animal, perhaps? For example, the fox like trickster kitsune (fox), tanuki (raccoon), or kappa (a water sprite with a turtle's body, but duck-like beak and webbed feat)? There are examples of mystical beings who take on animal and human forms in Japanese mythology that are sometimes used as characters in manga, but I'm not sure what you mean by manga animal. What you asked brought to mind Thunder Cats, human like animal characters.