ABD, y'all.

[hradzka]

I had the oral portion of my quals today. I am now ABD.

To celebrate, the meme that I was planning to do last weekend before I got busy: Post a comment about a story that I have never written ("Hey, I loved that AU where Babs was an assassin!" "Man. It doesn't get better than Rex the Wonder Dog as the new Robin."). I'll do my best to give you

Comments

[hradzka]

"I want more wine," said Londo.

"There is no more."

Londo Mollari, Emperor of Centauri Prime, passed a hand over his eyes. On his shoulder, the Keeper quivered. He felt its presence sometimes, in his thoughts, but didn't know whether it had hangovers. He hoped it did.

"G'kar," he said. "There is more wine. There is always -- "

"No," said G'kar. "We drank it. We drank it all."

He was naked, Londo realized. Both of them were. G'kar had curled up on his own clothes, making a little bed of the garments on the floor of the throne room; Londo had no idea where his own robes were. He remembered, faintly, bellowing that he wouldn't hide the keeper, he wouldn't let it hide, he'd make it seen, make it show itself -- "You haven't got one, have you, G'kar, have you? You would tell me? Tell me, yes? There isn't -- it's not --"

He had ordered G'kar to undress. He must have. He'd been paranoid about keepers, keepers everywhere.

G'kar dressed slowly. He turned away from Londo as he did, as if he were embarrassed, as if there were something Londo had not seen. No, Londo realized. G'kar did not worry about being seen. He didn't want to see Londo.

Londo didn't want to see himself.

He'd stopped looking into mirrors long ago.

[beatrice_otter]

Oh, oh my. That packs an awful lot of punch for something so short.

[hradzka]

Thank you.

That was always my favorite of Londo's lines from the show: "There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. Then you accept it. Or you kill yourself. ...or you stop looking into mirrors."

[rubynye]

Oh my. That's not funny. What it is is brilliantly heartbreaking.

[hradzka]

Thank you, Ruby.

[selenak]

Oh, Londo. Heartbreaking in just the right way.

[kangeiko]

Oh, beautifully done. And I love that line ("or you stop looking into mirrors"), it breaks my heart every time.