The Ships Of Inception

[fae_boleyn]

So, this comm pretty much went dead and as the mod I take full responsibility. No real excuse except lack of Internet time and focus turning to other fandoms, and for that I apologize. But, at any rate, I'm going to try and get it running again, so here's a new discussion topic.

Shipping.

Yeah, not the safest of things to discuss, but it's an

Comments

[chn_breathmint]

This is just my opinion here as shipping is so personal. I currently ship A/A/E and Arthur/Mal, and I'll explain how I got there over time.

I sort of occupy a weird/interesting place with regards to shipping, especially because I lean so heavily on gen fic as a rule. That is, I do have characters have feelings for each other, but it serves the plot rather than is the plot.

As for my ship of choice, it started off as Arthur/Eames and Arthur/Ariadne. I chose to write Arthur/Eames fic mostly because I was actually very pleased to see a character who could be construed as gay or bisexual (Eames) who was not a flaming stereotype, but not Virtually Straight in behavior, who was also a complete and utter badass.

At the same time I also noticed a certain tendency to just assume Arthur and Eames were already banging, when the movie's subtext really does not imply it. Snarky flirting, yes. Actually already in a relationship? Not as solid.

So when I wrote my First Big Gen Fic I had Arthur politely turn Eames down for professionalism's sake. And Eames took it fairly well. They're adults. They can come out and say "You know, I'm attracted to you too, but it's a bad idea."

Doesn't mean events can't change in the future, mind - the second series wound up giving me some justification for Eames/Ariadne simply because of the way they reacted to each other in the story, and that sort of sparked off my A/A/E threesome ship.

I also had a "I know you're hot and I'm attracted to you but sex would be a really bad idea" moment in the fic where I sort of slide A/A/E, but then it's also because it's what Ariadne would have said then. Whether that changes in the near future depends on what the heck happens during Ginormous Gen Fic Number Three, but it's funny that Eames' OC ex in that fic ships E/E/A and Holmes/Watson.

(At least, he's been snarking at Eames about the possibility of E/E/A, and the Holmes/Watson thing is mostly Eames' comeback to said snark.)

As for Arthur/Mal, the wistfulness in his expression when he said "She was lovely," made me wonder about how well he knew her - he definitely has known Cobb for a long time - and when I kept working on my headcanon version of his background it eventually popped up that they had once been dating, but things hadn't worked out. He had been too married to the Air Force, and they both were more compatible as friends than as anything romantic, and she eventually married Cobb.

He's wistful about it, but not bitter, and it lets me explore Mal's characterization from more than just a "shanking Ariadne with a kitchen knife" would. Also, on a writerly level this makes the scene where she shoots Arthur carry way more psychological punch.

- Mel

PS: Also, I'm an idiot. I meant to reply to the post, not your specific comment.

[londongirl27]

No worries - I've often made the same mistake. :)