Fic: Orpheus Descending

[ravenclaw42]

Look, it's the sequel I said I'd write! And it's completely AU now because last night's episode Jossed the hell out of it! (Kripked the hell out of it?) Oh well. I swear I wrote all but the last little section of this, like, two weeks ago. I guess I was seeing a more strung-out, desperate and exhausted Ruby in season 4, product of some fresh,

Comments

[ravenclaw42]

I respectfully disagree. There has been overwhelming evidence from a dozen other demon characters that no aspect of the host body's mind or personality can penetrate the wall of possession. Witness!Meg from earlier this season was very clear about what it felt like to be a living mind inside a possessed body, and she was very clear that there was no way out and no way to express herself. In other cases when a demon has swapped bodies, the performance has been so similar as for any differences to be negligible. MegDemon possessing Sam behaving in much the same way as Meg in season 1, just a little more vindictive after her newly-spent time in hell.

Ruby has almost exactly the same situation as Meg, where she gets tossed back into hell and climbs out again. The inconsistency of her character could be attributed to poor acting or poor writing, but personally I think that it can be narrowed down to the action-level of each individual scene. Ruby 1.5 was running on high, having just escaped Lilith's cohorts and rejoined Sam. She was thinking on her feet to get him to keep her around. And Ruby 2.5, the maid, was in a rush and saying exactly what she needed to say quickly and efficiently. Ruby's sass, not the sass of the hosts, comes out in both of those situations. Katie!Ruby was almost always seen in situations like this and that's why she was always snarky. Gen!Ruby, until this most recent ep, was almost always seen in private conversations with Sam, not action scenes. So yeah, her snark has retreated and we see her uncertainty, exhaustion and her fondness for Sam (which I still think is because she has some ulterior motive and she wants to be on the side of Sam & his power when the shit hits the fan). Gen!Ruby is Ruby with her guard down, just a little bit.

So the actors playing her are inconsistent, but that inconsistency works out with the intention of the scene -- or at least it has done so far. I retain my doubts. But no, I absolutely don't believe that anything of the host comes through. The character of Ruby is answerable only to herself, the actors playing her and the writers giving her dialogue.

As for the wet towel thing, I thought about changing that to "wet paper towel" as soon as I'd written it and I kind of wish I had, because that was more what I had in mind. But for the sake of carrying a metaphor far too long and too literally, even a wet towel has to be weilded by someone else in order to hurt. On its own it's just a soggy wad of nothing. And Gen's acting, to me, is borderline baaaad -- but I'm choosing to ignore the acting in favor of my interest in the character, for the moment.

Anyway, long comment is long! Wow. :) I have pretty strong opinions about this season and I love a good debate. No offense intended.

ETA: Did you read the story? Just wondering. I mean, I do post them to be read.

[cantatedomino]

Ha! Well you have successfully swayed me, my friend. I like to play the devil's advocate, but I will admit it if I am wrong!

I do still believe that a wet towel (albeit weilded by someone) HURTS! :)

I did not read the story, simply because I have yet to read its prequel. I have every intention of reading them both :)