Memeage
I found myself curious about this one; I found it on the LJ of one of more recently found friends.
Comment here if you want to play, and I will give you three-six couples that I associate with you, and you make an entry in your journal talking about those couples and fics that you wish the universe would write for you.
My couples - Duncan/Methos, Joe/Methos and Jack/Ianto.
Babble is behind the cut .
Duncan/Methos
Oh where to start? Probably with the fact that at the time of broadcast I really REALLY disliked D/M as a romantic pairing. I felt that Methos, though obviously fascinated with Duncan for whatever reason, would essentially find him too two-dimensional to have any sort of lasting relationship with him. I didn't like that innate staidness of Duncan's, not when in comparison to Methos' multiple facets (and before a certain book came out I would have described Methos as very much a shades of grey character and Duncan as black and white). Add to that dislike of the pairing the fact that there was virtually NO Methos slash to be read in the 90s unless it was D/M - I'm all for choice, so that bothered me. Once Kronos et al came along we got to have a bit of variety and there was one person who even made Methos/Richie believable. ONE person, that I had to search for in amongst goodness only knows how many execrable Duncan/Methos fics.
Having said that, I ADORE Duncan and Methos friendship fics and have even come to like Methos almost being the male equivalent of 'bad habit' Amanda - someone who drifts in and out of Duncan's life and livens things up a bit, but doesn't necessarily stay. There is obviously a connection between Duncan and Methos, I can't argue with that as it's right there in front of me on screen, but I was never comfortable with the whole "Duncan and Methos, true love always" vibe.
Of course the best way to get Duncan and Methos together in my head, is just to add Amanda. An explosive combination, maybe, but it would never be boring! There aren't enough Methos/Duncan/Amanda fics out there.
Joe/Methos
This is the pairing that sneaked up and bit me on the arse. It was always obvious to me that Methos loved and respected Joe, and that Joe likewise cared a great deal for his ancient pain in the ass friend, but that never really took a serious romantic turn for me until relatively recently - 2009 ish, I think. I stumbled across a Methos/Joe fic that made the most ridiculous amount of sense to my brain. I've been a Methos/Joe shipper ever since. That fic has since spawned a series, Adam And Joe by Genny and it's one that is well worth reading. Any and all Methos/Joe fic that I find is at least glanced at, as there isn't enough of it.
Jack/Ianto
I love Ianto as a character. I love Jack as a character. I love Jack and Ianto together. The one thing I've always HATED about Jack/Ianto fic (or more accurately to my head Janto fic as it was generally written by those who would always use the - very much disliked from my pov - portmanteau name) is that a lot of it what was being written at the time Torchwood s1-3 was broadcast turned Ianto into a whiny, teenager incapable of making decisions without Jack to hold his hand. I didn't see that person on my screen - I saw a person who had been through a ridiculous amount at a fairly young age, was intelligent enough to manage to get his cyber-girlfriend into the Torchwood base, and then hide her for however long it was until she was discovered and not let himself be beaten down or subsumed by a person with the personality of a Force 9 gale. Ianto in S1 was an unknown entity to a greater or lesser extent but he was consistently and wrongly depicted IMO in fic as weak and unable to function without Jack's say so. Woobie Ianto, I think we called him.
I also didn't really like the mischaracterisation of Jack as this great mushy marshmallow romantic. Jack could be a bastard. He was a con man, someone who wasn't a stranger to torturing people and someone with HUGE abandonment issues. I don't think he ever gave himself completely to anyone heart and soul after being abandoned by Nine and Rose (yes, I'm a Nine/Jack/Rose shipper) but he was a sucker for falling in love, albeit not always for the long term. I think there was something about Ianto's determination, his damaged soul, his resourcefulness and yes, the fact he was good looking and had nice arse, that attracted Jack. I also think that Ianto pushed him away initially and for Jack, that made Ianto even more attractive as a romantic conquest.
That Ianto would fall for Jack was a given, I think. I also think he retained a degree of scepticism about the whole relationship, about what he meant to Jack which meant that he was uncomfortable about the whole thing at times, even though just the thought of Jack could short circuit his brain. From Jack's pov, I think the unthinkable happened - Ianto got far more under his skin than he ever intended. Star crossed and tragic lovers they might have been, but there was nothing weak about either of them except perhaps with regards to each other.
The people who seem to be still writing Jack and Ianto fic now as a whole are not in the woobie Ianto camp. This means that when I have the time to read, I have more choice than I thought I would have at one point. This pleases me.
I sill wish more people would pair Jack and Ianto with Methos though. I know I've written it but it would be nice to read something about them that I haven't written!
Comment here if you want to play, and I will give you three-six couples that I associate with you, and you make an entry in your journal talking about those couples and fics that you wish the universe would write for you.
My couples - Duncan/Methos, Joe/Methos and Jack/Ianto.
Babble is behind the cut .
Duncan/Methos
Oh where to start? Probably with the fact that at the time of broadcast I really REALLY disliked D/M as a romantic pairing. I felt that Methos, though obviously fascinated with Duncan for whatever reason, would essentially find him too two-dimensional to have any sort of lasting relationship with him. I didn't like that innate staidness of Duncan's, not when in comparison to Methos' multiple facets (and before a certain book came out I would have described Methos as very much a shades of grey character and Duncan as black and white). Add to that dislike of the pairing the fact that there was virtually NO Methos slash to be read in the 90s unless it was D/M - I'm all for choice, so that bothered me. Once Kronos et al came along we got to have a bit of variety and there was one person who even made Methos/Richie believable. ONE person, that I had to search for in amongst goodness only knows how many execrable Duncan/Methos fics.
Having said that, I ADORE Duncan and Methos friendship fics and have even come to like Methos almost being the male equivalent of 'bad habit' Amanda - someone who drifts in and out of Duncan's life and livens things up a bit, but doesn't necessarily stay. There is obviously a connection between Duncan and Methos, I can't argue with that as it's right there in front of me on screen, but I was never comfortable with the whole "Duncan and Methos, true love always" vibe.
Of course the best way to get Duncan and Methos together in my head, is just to add Amanda. An explosive combination, maybe, but it would never be boring! There aren't enough Methos/Duncan/Amanda fics out there.
Joe/Methos
This is the pairing that sneaked up and bit me on the arse. It was always obvious to me that Methos loved and respected Joe, and that Joe likewise cared a great deal for his ancient pain in the ass friend, but that never really took a serious romantic turn for me until relatively recently - 2009 ish, I think. I stumbled across a Methos/Joe fic that made the most ridiculous amount of sense to my brain. I've been a Methos/Joe shipper ever since. That fic has since spawned a series, Adam And Joe by Genny and it's one that is well worth reading. Any and all Methos/Joe fic that I find is at least glanced at, as there isn't enough of it.
Jack/Ianto
I love Ianto as a character. I love Jack as a character. I love Jack and Ianto together. The one thing I've always HATED about Jack/Ianto fic (or more accurately to my head Janto fic as it was generally written by those who would always use the - very much disliked from my pov - portmanteau name) is that a lot of it what was being written at the time Torchwood s1-3 was broadcast turned Ianto into a whiny, teenager incapable of making decisions without Jack to hold his hand. I didn't see that person on my screen - I saw a person who had been through a ridiculous amount at a fairly young age, was intelligent enough to manage to get his cyber-girlfriend into the Torchwood base, and then hide her for however long it was until she was discovered and not let himself be beaten down or subsumed by a person with the personality of a Force 9 gale. Ianto in S1 was an unknown entity to a greater or lesser extent but he was consistently and wrongly depicted IMO in fic as weak and unable to function without Jack's say so. Woobie Ianto, I think we called him.
I also didn't really like the mischaracterisation of Jack as this great mushy marshmallow romantic. Jack could be a bastard. He was a con man, someone who wasn't a stranger to torturing people and someone with HUGE abandonment issues. I don't think he ever gave himself completely to anyone heart and soul after being abandoned by Nine and Rose (yes, I'm a Nine/Jack/Rose shipper) but he was a sucker for falling in love, albeit not always for the long term. I think there was something about Ianto's determination, his damaged soul, his resourcefulness and yes, the fact he was good looking and had nice arse, that attracted Jack. I also think that Ianto pushed him away initially and for Jack, that made Ianto even more attractive as a romantic conquest.
That Ianto would fall for Jack was a given, I think. I also think he retained a degree of scepticism about the whole relationship, about what he meant to Jack which meant that he was uncomfortable about the whole thing at times, even though just the thought of Jack could short circuit his brain. From Jack's pov, I think the unthinkable happened - Ianto got far more under his skin than he ever intended. Star crossed and tragic lovers they might have been, but there was nothing weak about either of them except perhaps with regards to each other.
The people who seem to be still writing Jack and Ianto fic now as a whole are not in the woobie Ianto camp. This means that when I have the time to read, I have more choice than I thought I would have at one point. This pleases me.
I sill wish more people would pair Jack and Ianto with Methos though. I know I've written it but it would be nice to read something about them that I haven't written!