completely random essay goes here.
Since Jaime!muse apparently came back with a vengeance this week (I don't know what brought that on), recent threads have gotten me thinking again, enough to essay. On canon and HH!canon - or more specifically, Jaime/Lola and Jaime/Traci.
Oh, spoilers for BB #21 and #23. Not major, but noticeable.
Since I apped Jaime before issue #16 and he got a date with Lola right out of the gate (Paco would be so proud), in HH canon Jaime/Traci didn't really happen. It would have been out of character for Jaime to just forget Lola when he got sent home. Hey, when I canon-updated him, Jaime and Lola had gotten farther along than Traci and Jaime have in canon as I write this.
Which brings me to the point of this essay: In actual canon (as of BB #23), Jaime/Traci haven't really gotten far at all. They haven't even managed one actual date, and Jaime hasn't mentioned her to his folks yet. She's still a "sorta-girlfriend" in canon and that's starting to bother her a bit - even Jaime realizes that he's sort of failing at the boyfriend thing, and doesn't want to only have to call her about supernatural stuff (and feels bad about it when that's how it works out anyway). He didn't even call her before taking off on his insane plan to stop the Reach.
But Jaime/Lola is a slightly different story. They've been seeing each other and probably giving the rest of the comm cavities for several months now and have gotten past a few obstacles already: first the whole issue with the canon-update and lost time and starting over, then the Halloween incident. I wondered recently if it wasn't a bit OOC for Jaime to be so much more present with Lola and not-failing as a boyfriend, but even in light of canon I don't think so.
The first difference is the environment. Back home, Jaime's always, always busy with something: catching up that missing year of school, babysitting Milagro and Brenda and Paco, working in his Dad's garage on the weekends, patrolling El Paso and dealing with the weird on a regular basis, and all the while trying to learn how to use his powers, get the Scarab to drop its old habits and figure out how to stop an alien race from taking over the world. So, "busy" is kind of an understatement. It's amazing he gets any sleep, now that I think about it.
This is not the case at Hogwarts. Since I apped Jaime, there have been precisely two classes held (and I figure he knew what a Furby was and decided not to touch the COMC signup the second time around). Most of the workload he has is independent study on his own time. Also, by now he's determined that time behaves differently at Hogwarts, and it's not moving at the same speed back home - so the urgency of outsmarting the Reach isn't really there. The superhero thing doesn't eat up as much of his time as it did back home, because there haven't been many crises at Hogwarts that actually need him to suit up (not since Halloween and I will not do that to him again).
The second big difference is distance. I think Jaime, despite his best intentions, sucks at long-distance relationships. Bad enough he's got so much on his plate already, but when your girlfriend lives halfway around the world and the last time you got to see her in person you couldn't even touch her because she only had time to astrally project herself... it's not exactly easy to invest himself in their relationship. So he mostly ends up getting reminded of Traci whenever the supernatural comes up in the things he's fighting (see: Giganta, the Spectre), and then kicks himself because once again, he's calling her "about work." Traci, I think, sees this too; I think that's part of the reason she talks idly about moving to the general area. Only part, though - I can't see her relocating just for the absent-minded boyfriend, she's just showing her awareness of the distance problem.
With Lola, it's completely different; for the most part, she's been right there at Hogwarts, in the same House, and I figure they see each other all the time. It's hard to put someone out of mind when they're not out of sight very often. There isn't that much to distract him, and Lola is right there instead of halfway around the world. Right now, she's not, but her presence is the norm for Jaime, whereas Traci's absence is the norm in canon. I think this is the first time she's been called away from Hogwarts since they started dating.
So the point of this is? I don't think the fact that Jaime/Lola has gotten farther than Jaime/Traci has in canon means that I'm being OOC. Totally different circumstances. I could be wrong, but... failing at a long-distance relationship doesn't mean he'll fail at relationships in general. Doesn't mean everything's going to be perfect he's still kind of boggling over the L-word, but I've got to give him some credit. :)
Oh, spoilers for BB #21 and #23. Not major, but noticeable.
Since I apped Jaime before issue #16 and he got a date with Lola right out of the gate (Paco would be so proud), in HH canon Jaime/Traci didn't really happen. It would have been out of character for Jaime to just forget Lola when he got sent home. Hey, when I canon-updated him, Jaime and Lola had gotten farther along than Traci and Jaime have in canon as I write this.
Which brings me to the point of this essay: In actual canon (as of BB #23), Jaime/Traci haven't really gotten far at all. They haven't even managed one actual date, and Jaime hasn't mentioned her to his folks yet. She's still a "sorta-girlfriend" in canon and that's starting to bother her a bit - even Jaime realizes that he's sort of failing at the boyfriend thing, and doesn't want to only have to call her about supernatural stuff (and feels bad about it when that's how it works out anyway). He didn't even call her before taking off on his insane plan to stop the Reach.
But Jaime/Lola is a slightly different story. They've been seeing each other and probably giving the rest of the comm cavities for several months now and have gotten past a few obstacles already: first the whole issue with the canon-update and lost time and starting over, then the Halloween incident. I wondered recently if it wasn't a bit OOC for Jaime to be so much more present with Lola and not-failing as a boyfriend, but even in light of canon I don't think so.
The first difference is the environment. Back home, Jaime's always, always busy with something: catching up that missing year of school, babysitting Milagro and Brenda and Paco, working in his Dad's garage on the weekends, patrolling El Paso and dealing with the weird on a regular basis, and all the while trying to learn how to use his powers, get the Scarab to drop its old habits and figure out how to stop an alien race from taking over the world. So, "busy" is kind of an understatement. It's amazing he gets any sleep, now that I think about it.
This is not the case at Hogwarts. Since I apped Jaime, there have been precisely two classes held (and I figure he knew what a Furby was and decided not to touch the COMC signup the second time around). Most of the workload he has is independent study on his own time. Also, by now he's determined that time behaves differently at Hogwarts, and it's not moving at the same speed back home - so the urgency of outsmarting the Reach isn't really there. The superhero thing doesn't eat up as much of his time as it did back home, because there haven't been many crises at Hogwarts that actually need him to suit up (not since Halloween and I will not do that to him again).
The second big difference is distance. I think Jaime, despite his best intentions, sucks at long-distance relationships. Bad enough he's got so much on his plate already, but when your girlfriend lives halfway around the world and the last time you got to see her in person you couldn't even touch her because she only had time to astrally project herself... it's not exactly easy to invest himself in their relationship. So he mostly ends up getting reminded of Traci whenever the supernatural comes up in the things he's fighting (see: Giganta, the Spectre), and then kicks himself because once again, he's calling her "about work." Traci, I think, sees this too; I think that's part of the reason she talks idly about moving to the general area. Only part, though - I can't see her relocating just for the absent-minded boyfriend, she's just showing her awareness of the distance problem.
With Lola, it's completely different; for the most part, she's been right there at Hogwarts, in the same House, and I figure they see each other all the time. It's hard to put someone out of mind when they're not out of sight very often. There isn't that much to distract him, and Lola is right there instead of halfway around the world. Right now, she's not, but her presence is the norm for Jaime, whereas Traci's absence is the norm in canon. I think this is the first time she's been called away from Hogwarts since they started dating.
So the point of this is? I don't think the fact that Jaime/Lola has gotten farther than Jaime/Traci has in canon means that I'm being OOC. Totally different circumstances. I could be wrong, but... failing at a long-distance relationship doesn't mean he'll fail at relationships in general. Doesn't mean everything's going to be perfect he's still kind of boggling over the L-word, but I've got to give him some credit. :)