30 Days of OTP for the price of one!
So, it looks like Spain has opted for the Spectacular Implosion course of action; I can't fault that, it's a tried and true method. Plus, I appear to have done the same, being so sick and exhausted this week that I couldn't concentrate on anything and ended up missing it altogether. *eyes Euro Cup with intense but patient curiosity*
I was contemplating fiddlearsing about with a meme to distract from the dreary stress of being sick; I had seen that 30 Days of OTP one going around, went lol, no, then went, wait ... maybe, then tried it for one day and went no fuck no. But I think where I went wrong is actually trying to talk about pairings I like in a sensible and analytical manner, when the truth is, there is nothing sensible or analytical about shipping. Or not the way I do it, anyway. It's all chemistry and sparks and oh, helloo sexy. I'm so obnoxiously wrong-headed sometimes, I can't even with myself. (With the memeing, that is. Not the shipping. I'm obnoxiously fine with how I ship. Perhaps just bail out now?)
Handily, I've now done enough time in Fandom where the shipping conversation goes on all the damn time that I discovered I could almost immediately answer almost all the questions, sometimes several times over. Me: \o/ SOLD! All the same, if I could average any more than a few sentences per question, it'd be a bit of a Christmas Miracle. Therefore, I've decided the time has come to find something consumable and delicious, throw on some Squirrel Nut Zippers, and swagger through this sucker in one go LIKE A BOSS. And with minimum of thinking/quibbling furiously with the migrated meaning of "OTP". (Getting an inkling of why I only lasted one day the last time I tried doing this? Yep. Well done.)
(Warning: got a leeetle media-heavy.)
Day 01 - OTP Because OTP what the fuck does this even mean okay okay nevermind I'm fine I'll deal but I mean fuck
Dewitt/Dominic (Dollhouse) - Queen/Knight? - eh, whatevs. Queen/Knight + massive mutual betrayals (+ simmering need(her)/desire(him) + intense bitterness + apocalypse + still totally on each other's wavelength)? YES PLS THAT. NOW. NOW. THKS. One of my few entirely exclusive ships which I can only assume is the intended meaning of this question.
Frank/Claire Underwood (House of Cards) - I don't care who else they fuck. I actually really like Claire/Adam. It's Francis and Claire's you-get-me-completely connection, and the partnership they deliberately constructed out of that, that I love watching. And honestly, ultimately, because he's her choice. (I check in with HoC for Claire alone at this point, and if I'd seen it before I did the Female Characters meme, she would have got, just, ~paragraphs. I haven't watched the last few eps of S2 because I'm finding everything else really hard going, I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE SCHEMING ARRGH, so don't tell me if they go bad. I don't want to know. /o\)
Day 02 - Current OTP
Maggie/Sterling (Leverage) - Yo, kids. S'up. First pairing I ever started writing (and yeah, who am I kidding, sure I did my level best to let the story be friendshippy if that's where it was going and what seemed fair to the characters, but come on:
for that instant, he’d seen Maggie. Just Maggie. Not the beautiful, poised, intelligent careerperson. Simply a woman. Alone, strong, and in pain.
And he couldn’t forget.like, as if, seriously) and we're still. going. Of course, that's just testament to how bloody slow I am more than anything. Evidence tendered: in the next installment sitting right now on my computer - until I beat the last few paragraphs into submission - they're finally kissing. FINALLY. \o/
Day 03 - OTP That Started Your Fannish Journey
John/Mary (Supernatural) - Heh. Technically? It was Spn - and, specifically, their boys - that's been responsible for most steps of online fannish involvement I've ever taken, so, they've gotta get Honourable Mention at the least.
Jayne/River (Firefly) - In terms of beginning to read fic, I think it was "Rayne" that sucked me in, in that ... wait what? No, come on. I mean. But ... uh ... oh, hey, I ... yeah, I ... I can see that, actually.... *WORLD UPTURNS* kind of way. (Ahh, youth. To go from that to instantly comprehending exactly what was meant by the term "Squidwarts" and being not at all surprised, but mildly amused and impressed - fandom, I'm remembering why I loved you, once. *single perfect tear*) It was Dyce's The Whole of the Thing that kicked it off, but her Horseshoe Nail series cemented it, with the added recommendation of reworking Serenity so that EVERYBODY FUCKING LIVES (Two Gorram Days, Kinship, Bank Job, Miranda). Also I really enjoy her writing and imagery, and her take on the characters and the setting works for me. I don't really ship Jayne/River much anymore other than for nostalgia, but I'll still happily revisit that series anytime.
Day 04 - OT3+
Don/Kathy/Cosmo (Singin' In the Rain) - I usually incline toward multishipping rather than Solve For OT3, but not this time, no, nope, nosir. This is my actual honest-to-God One True Threesome; taking any one of them out of the equation is just plain wrong. BECAUSE LOOK AT THEM:
All *holding hands* and *beaming at each other* and *collapsing in a giggly heap together*, I JUST. LOOK AT THEM.
Day 05 - OTP For Whom You Never Seem To Run Out Of Inspiration
N/A! lol. No but seriously. Ships don't hit me that way; my inspirations are weirdly monogamous. One pairing, one complete idea, and then I'm usually off to try someship else. Certain complete ideas just take more installments (and a terribly long time) to tell. Currently unfinished complete ideas still at some level of development: Maggie/Sterling (duh); Roslin/Adama Spyparents AU (I really want to give Bill a chance to explain himself ... eventually); Kenzi/Dyson; and in some ways the Nat/Clint AU, not so much because it's incomplete as I do somewhat want to explore Nat's side of things. Ideas way on the backburner: a DeWitt/Dominic five-times fic; remixing a Riley/Faith fic (very maybe); a vague idea of doing 50 Sentences for various pairings I like (super unlikely).
Day 06 - Crossover OTP
Buffy/Imhotep (BtVS/The Mummy) - Yeah, I don't know. I don't really crossover-ship? But I read Jedi Buttercup's Adventures In Rome (incomplete) years ago, and the image has lingered. I mean, to the extent that Arnold Vosloo is totally hawt and lickable and loinclothed and sympathetic-villain in those movies, and it's the only time I've actively shipped Buffy, so put it in the Win column and call it a day.
Jensen/Jane Eyre (The Losers/Jane Eyre) - EXCEPT for this piece of utter ridiculousness. So, you know when you mean to skip forward in the movie and don't hit the keys right and annoyingly skip to the next movie? Well, the next movie was the middle of The Losers, and Jensen was doing his little Journey elevator dance, and sometimes I just want to get Jane THE FUCK away from Rochester, and it all came together in a slip-of-the-keys lightning flash of WANT IT. Though if it could ever work (it couldn't), it could only do so with Mia!Jane; book!Jane is way too hard to wrangle.
Day 07 - Real People OTP
Hammond/Oliver (Top Gear) - Standard Answer, and also Best Answer, because by the end of the Botswana Special I was half in love with Oliver myself, and really, isn't that part of the secret of shipping? NO SHAME. I've previously recced the shippy fanvid for them (tongue-in-cheek and adorbs!), so instead, in their own words:
Daniel Craig/Judi Dench - Well, look. I don't RPS, and M/007 is DNW on so many levels, but if someone held a gun to my head and forbade options such as "a boy and his car", I'd default to these guys. Mostly on the get it, Judi! level, plus it's cracky enough that it's the equivalent of crossing your fingers behind your back. And, then:
Come on. That's just plain cute.
Day 08 - OTP That Has Put You Through The Ringer (Wringer, I take it? /tries not to make bad joke about Sarah Michelle Gellar/Jason Doring)
... pilots maybe? Except, no, because I wasn't shipping them until I hit the very end of it. The Quad o'Doom and infidelity was repellent, but I wasn't personally invested in it all. I just don't ... watch things like that. Shitty storytelling can piss me off, but not because I OMG NEEEED this ship to *blahblahblah*. Kiss, don't kiss, don't care - just do what's right/interesting for the story and characters.
Day 09 - Endgame OTP
pilots lol. (<-- original note from when I first tried plotting this meme out to see if I could actually answer it all)
Ellie/Homer (Tomorrow, When the War Began) - I don't even remember if the final book ends up leaning in this direction. I feel like ... maybe? I should read them again. Anyway. I've always liked their relationship, be it besties-who-grew-up-together, like-siblings, teenage-soldiers-brothers-in-arms, co-leaders-of-their-group, or reconnecting-after-the-war-and-falling-into-each-other-because-they-came-through-so-much-separately-and-together-and-know-each-other-on-a-level-no-one-else-can-anymore. Basically, I like their relationship super hyphenated. The movie of the first one only encouraged it, although I should also say that I like Ellie/Lee and Homer/Fi for the time that those relationships worked for the characters themselves. Ellie/Homer really is endgame in the sense that I don't see them together any time before that.
Lorelai/Christopher (Gilmore Girls) - For pretty much exactly all the reasons given in the notes for this vid, not to mention the vid itself. Don't get me wrong, I liked Luke, at least to begin with (I had No Time for anything but Logan, by the end, OMG I hated nearly everyone GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, FFS, I AM IN PERMANENT MICHEL!SNEER MODE AT EVERY ONE OF YOU), but as a character, not a love interest.
... Although, it's interesting to me that both engame ships I've listed have roots in childhood relationships when that's exactly what puts me off from other ships, like say all the canonical Harry Potter ones. I think it has something to do with whether it feels, to me, like it yields potential for depth of understanding rooted in childhood patterns versus lack of growth and change beyond those childhood patterns. In other words, reconnecting with high school sweetheart and discovering deeper compatibility based on familiarity plus mutual discovery and delight in all the ways you've both matured with life experience? OOH YES PLS. Every important babies-ever-after endgame ship growing directly, claustrophobically out of high school sweetheart? NO OMFG NO GET IT AWAY.
Day 10 - NonCanon OTP
Don Pedro/Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) - This isn't as aggressively noncanon as I can get, but it's definitely my favourite. Denzel-Emma version, of course. Mmmm, icon-y. (Although the older I get, the less I like Benedick. Also, recently discovering that Whedon cast Reed Diamond as Don Pedro means I probably am going to end up wading through that big pile of All-Star Irritating Whedon Alums cast (Sean Maher also excepted). So, bugger.... Wow, self. Talk about #firstworldproblems.)
Day 11 - Guilty Pleasure OTP Iiiiii'ma stop you right there, meme. You've been doing pretty well overall. BUT. We're gonna have to do something about that one.
Day 11 - Shameless Pleasure OTP
Kenzi/Dyson (Lost Girl) - MAY I REMIND YOU.
They are SOOO PRREEETTTYYYY. Add in the actors' off-the-charts chemistry and the black hole of suck that is Bo, aka the Most Important Person in both their lives, and, yeah. GET IT, YOU TWO. (Apparently the thing that gets me most invested is retaliatory shipping? Well ... huh.)
Draco/Hermione (Harry Potter) - Whenever I just want something to graze on, I will often hit up these two. I actually find Draco and his journey one of the more engaging in HP, and I rarely find much interesting in Hermione's characterisation except when these two are forced to confront each other and themselves and have to grow because of it; that's about the only draw of Enemies To Lovers for me (I just cannot see the appeal of hatesex, sorry everyone?).
Rumplestiltskin/Belle (Once Upon A Time) - I cannot with OUAT. Robert Carlyle aside, there is just nothing there for me. But cautiously grazing on some of the Rumple/Belle fics out there turned out okay; since I can't with OUAT's Belle, either (WHY IS SHE AUSTRALIAN WHAT), I've mentally recast her as Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre (I'd probably feel actually guilty over that if Mia!Jane had more than passingly resembled book!Jane, but as it is, I liked the movie/cast/visuals but it wasn't Jane Eyre). And mix it up between Carlyle and Michael Fassbender!Rochester for Rumplestiltskin, depending.
Mac/Dick (Veronica Mars) - Once more with the couldn't-care-less about the souce material, and man does this one have vast squick potential; working through that and finding the commonality of woundedness-because-Cassidy is what draws me to the rare instances when they've been written well. Except this apocalypse fic barely acknowledges that, and I love it, although to be fair it's not overtly shippy. This one and its sequel is all about it, and also isn't overtly shippy. WHATEVER. If shipping was about the kissing for me, I wouldn't even be here.
Day 12 - Out Of Your Comfort Zone OTP
Cesare/Lucrezia (The Borgias) - So, incest in itself has not traditionally held any interest for me (although the dynamic itself isn't the problem, it's how it interacts with the characters realistically, and that's a case-by-case thing, but it's almost always done squickily, intentionally or not, and, no, man; when you've seen the results enough in RL, the aspect of taboo-transgression is not kinky). Then recently I started watching this, and two seconds into them being on the screen together, whoops. Totally ship it. And their ending shot? DAMN. It's so messed up and so perfectly where their story was always going, I can't help but love it. Way to follow through, everybody. *slow clap*
Al/Alma (Deadwood) - You'd think it would be the baggage of their relationship, like, oh, say, him having had her first husband killed and attempting to rip off her fantastically wealthy literal gold mine, and her still being hung up on Bullock, his polar opposite, etc etc. Nope, not a problem, and often goes in the feature-not-bug pile. It's just everything's just so icky and muddy and yuk. Frontier town hygiene, man. COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone. Probably why I don't look to ship anyone on The Walking Dead, too. Just. Ewwwww. Nopenopenopenope.
Day 13 - Star Crossed OTP
James Bond/Vesper Green (Casino Royale) - Is there really such a thing as truly star-crossed in fandom? We can work nearly anything around, surely? I mean, that's the challenge. But this one is perfect as is. I'm good. See also: this bit of commentary, and this, and, like, probably a bunch more. Werds werds werds. (Damnit, another thing I should get around to finishing.)
Day 14 - Childhood OTP (Before You Knew What Shipping Was)
Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel) - He LOVED HER SO MUCH YOU GUISE. I don't know, I was all ooooh when I was young, but at the same time, kiiiind of *headtilty* about how she was supposed to be the most brilliant woman in Europe and could not ever seem to put two and two together. Or was he just that good? *plotcakes!*
Tirla/Sascha (Pegasus In Flight) - Oh man. This probably really was Baby Me's protoship, in terms of vibing off the relationship rather than just passively following what I was being given (ie, Anne/Gilbert). And, okay, just like incest, an age gap in itself isn't a problem (and unlike incest-kink, is something I can see the appeal in), it's how the various dynamics embedded in it are dealt with. Which is why I regret going back and reading it again last year, for the first time since ... probably high school. Weirdly, it wasn't how McCaffrey wrote either of them or their relationship that was a problem at all - it was when, at the end, all the other "good" adults who see things the right way (there is literally no mistaking them, her characters may as well be wearing white and black hats) and are all in a position of caretaking/authority over this girl are all just OH YES WONDERFUL GOOD about the potential relationship, not one of them going, um, in fact I do have a few concerns actually, if you don't mind. Granted, they're all psychic or whatever, but nope, sorry, not good enough. It was those power dynamics that came out skeezy as hell. Ugh. DNW.
Day 15 - Fluffy OTP
Kathleen Kelly/Joe Fox (You've Got Mail) - "F-O-X." Pure, pure fluff, it's like a big soft blanket made of chocolate. Plus, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Parker Posey, Greg Kinnear, comeon. Also, I don't care, that moment where he puts his hand on her lips to keep her from being rude and regretting it later is hot. Come at me, bro.
Day 16 - Angstiest OTP
Broken Sword/Flying Snow (Hero) - OH GOD MAKE IT STOP. There's angsty, and then there's these two. Please stop hurting my heart, OMG, please. (They're so beautiful, though. And SO TORN. I can't. *dies of hearthurt*)
Day 17 - Hardcore/Kickass OTP
Ripley/Hicks (Aliens) - THE SERIES ENDS WITH ALIENS THEY ADOPT NEWT AND LIVE NIGHTMARE-HAUNTEDLY HAPPILY EVER AFTER LALALALALACAN'THEARYOU.
I mean come the fuck on. M. F. E. A, y'all.
Lol, Hicks. Did not waste any time, although the powerloader sealed the deal of tap-thatability. Everything that came after just confirmed she was the woman of his dreams. He's seriously got little hearts in his eyes when he looks at her. And for her, his wholehearted respect and support was not only unique but incredibly hot, and if it weren't for those pesky xenomorphs running around killing everybody, they'd have been climbing each other like a tree by two-thirds through. Nuke the site from orbit? Foreplay, baby.
Day 18 - Sexiest OTP
Annie/Jack (SPEED) - I can't ... is there any real argument against this choice? They're so damn sexy every second they're on the screen separately, let alone together. The flirting just bounces so naturally back and forth, just. Damn. Her smile. HIS ARMS. YES THIS TOO PLS, A LOT, RIGHT NOW. (And oh, look, another one that HAS NO SEQUEL, wow, imagine that.)
Day 19 - Not Necessarily Romantic OTP
Stephen/Bang Bang (The Brothers Bloom) - Yeah, look, I don't care, these guys can be anything and everything they want to be. I am there.
Yes, that about sums it up.
Day 20 - Best Kiss/Best Kissers
Hannah/Jacob (Crazy Stupid Love) - Pretty much my *mic drop* answer. (Yes, I know, surprise!Josh Groban, but let it run. It builds.)
Yeah, I find the majority of onscreen intimacy awkward to watch, so I don't have a huge pool to have to narrow down, and yeah I adore the Margaret/Thornton kiss at the end of N&S (spoiler!), but this one is just hot and adorable in perfect measure. The dialogue at the end just ... UNF.
Day 21 - Movie OTP
Ingrid/Paul (White Oleander) - In the book, I liked the pairing but could take it or leave it. In the movie they were so sweet and sad together. When they run off for a day it's, ugh, like if someone reached into all my teenagerhood and constructed the perfect teenage kinda!date. The sense of peace is palpable (the only interlude of peace in the whole movie, and the movie score just nails it). STICK TOGETHER ALWAYS HURT BROKEN ART!KIDS. *smushes them*
Harry/Luna (Harry Potter) - I've been watching the movies for the first time this last week while I've been sick, although with these guys' unofficial commentary over the top because just, nope, couldn't, especially the early ones, and when Luna showed up in ... what, OotP? and started interacting with Harry, I was just, oh, yep, sold. (I find the lines of connection she has with Harry more interesting than the ones he has with Ginny, which frankly wouldn't be hard, but then pair Neville and Ginny and I'm suddenly much more interested too.)
Anne/Morgan Harris (Anne of Green Gables, The Sequel) - ... It's true. And, I want to emphasize, only in The Sequel. Not in the original mini-series, in which Gilbert was perfect. Maybe even more than Anne (GASP I know, I know, sorry, but heresy is just how I roll sometimes, and I promise, I love Megan Fellows, but ... it's a different *Anne*, that's all). And then suddenly in The Sequel he went off the rails. "I hope he breaks your heart, whoever he is." "You don't unders -" "Then maybe you'll come to your senses." O HAI NOT!GILBERT, SAYING THINGS GILBERT WOULD NEVER EVER SAY. Kindly take your terribly OOC bitter recriminations, and fuck right off. Meanwhile, Morgan Harris is just as flawed (okay fine, maybe more, but at least he's not just blandly perfect like Roy Gardner), but he is also all kinds of foine. And while there are one or two misunderstandings, nothing he says is on the shithead level that Not!Gilbert manages there.
Day 22 - Book OTP
Rhett/Melanie (Gone With the Wind) - I don't know. I just want it. Something about the respect they genuinely have for one another. Mutual respect is way way high on my list.
Day 23 - OTP That You Grew To Love
Buttercup/Westley (The Princess Bride) - As with pretty much everyone else, I found the basic uselessness of Buttercup pretty offputting. But writing through The Princess Bride Job really changed my opinion. Once she *gets* it, she is fiercely faithful. She does not waver for a second, in either belief or courage to act on it. She didn't have the most lauded job - to just get dragged around and be rescued - but it was what she had, and she owned it and made every moment she had count for everything it was worth. I am so down with Buttercup, and by extension Buttercup/Westley, now.
Day 24 - You're Standing Alone With This OTP (You Don't Care)
Charlie Bradbury/Dick Roman (Supernatural) - Yeah. This might be the most aggressively noncanon I can go. Our most exalted (almost only) lesbian introduced with spunky Major Issues With Authority, and a megalomaniac King of Eldritch Horrors bent on world domination (except maybe Canada) named Dick? Yeah ... I'll be over here.
Day 25 - Bad Timing OTP
Carolyn Fry/Riddick (Pitch Black) - Seriously people. I know that few to none other circumstances would reveal the core of ruthless similarity and potential for redemption in your characters, but in the end monster-filled hell planets just do not leave you a lot of options to get your OTP on. Sort yourselves out.
Day 26 - OTP That You Relate To The Most
Dean/Baby (Supernatural) - ... D'you think this is why Hammond/Oliver was my RPS? Seriously, though, I don't have a thing for cars. Like, I ... don't care. They go vroomvroom and are handy; occasionally they look pretty (the Impala is gorgeous); that's usually about the extent of it. There is no car in my life that I'm in any way emotionally attached to. No; it's that about the only time I've ever felt anything like a sense of *home* is when I'm travelling - near or far, that alone-unmoored-limbo time, when there's nothing required but to sit and be while you get to the destination. (Planes are okay; I love trains.) Or at least what I imagine people mean by *home*. We moved around some when I was a kid, I'm comfortable moving. I mean, I've enjoyed every place I've ever been - I like places, I love places, and there are even a few I want to return to - but when it's time to leave, it's time to leave. I've never felt torn; I've never felt homesick. So Dean/Baby? Yep, totally get that. (Besides, I don't relate to 99.999999% of characters, and now you want me to relate to a relationship between two characters? That's flatly unreasonable.) Plus:
I think I can say, without reservation or fear of contradiction, DAT ASS.
(For purposes of comparison. HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC COMPARISON. SCIENCE.)
Day 27 - OTP That You Always Forget To Talk About
Megan/Colby (Numb3rs) - I like their chemistry anyway, but I love the way they so often, so casually mirror each other's body language. AND THEN, Colby turned out to be (spoiler!) a triple agent right under Megan's nose for two years and she, the behavioral psychologist, never had a clue, that's gotta shake up the "dumb jock" box she had him in. Not to mention her thing for dangerous/bad boys, which her pursuit of Larry was a valiant effort to demonstrate was firmly in the past, but ultimately (unsurprisingly) quietly fizzled out, and then she's off doing all classified things for the DOJ (?- it's been a while) that clearly included interrogation stuff that she's really struggling with, and which Colby had to come to terms with his own experience with. Plus you know he always had a slight half-awed half-crush on her. Plus if we retcon the triple agent thing in, probably studied her the closest of the team as the most likely threat to detect his cover. There are just a bunch of reasons they're both comfortable and challenging together, which I maaaay have thought about a little bit too much. But also, HOT. - THERE, TALKED ABOUT.
Day 28 - OTP With The Best Canon Story
Margaret/Thornton (North & South) - Learning respect and humility and to listen and maturing and honesty and courage and determination and cotton, oh my! It's, look, it's all there, okay? I'm getting a bit tired of werds here.
Day 29 - OTP For Whom You Have The Most Head Canon
... Same old boring answer, Maggie/Sterling, because anything I write, I have to have a coherent backstory informing it, but that's all housekeeping/backstage stuff. If I wanted to talk about it in public, instead of in uncounted emails with amazing flisters helping me hammer it all out, I would put it front and centre in a story. Other than that, I guess ... Sgt James/IEDs? (Which, now that I think about it, is totally an OTP I ship, and, much more obliquely, might kind of rank as a second choice for relating to? Hah, never thought about it that way before.)
Day 30 - OTP of OTP's
... Wha? I don't.... Huh? Srsly tho. What?... Fuck. Taken at the last hurdle. I FAAIILLLLED. Quick, pick something. UM, UM, STEPHEN/BANG BANG. FOR ... SHEER AWESOMENESS. *panicked flail*
Oh man. It's definitely past my bedtime.
I was contemplating fiddlearsing about with a meme to distract from the dreary stress of being sick; I had seen that 30 Days of OTP one going around, went lol, no, then went, wait ... maybe, then tried it for one day and went no fuck no. But I think where I went wrong is actually trying to talk about pairings I like in a sensible and analytical manner, when the truth is, there is nothing sensible or analytical about shipping. Or not the way I do it, anyway. It's all chemistry and sparks and oh, helloo sexy. I'm so obnoxiously wrong-headed sometimes, I can't even with myself. (With the memeing, that is. Not the shipping. I'm obnoxiously fine with how I ship. Perhaps just bail out now?)
Handily, I've now done enough time in Fandom where the shipping conversation goes on all the damn time that I discovered I could almost immediately answer almost all the questions, sometimes several times over. Me: \o/ SOLD! All the same, if I could average any more than a few sentences per question, it'd be a bit of a Christmas Miracle. Therefore, I've decided the time has come to find something consumable and delicious, throw on some Squirrel Nut Zippers, and swagger through this sucker in one go LIKE A BOSS. And with minimum of thinking/quibbling furiously with the migrated meaning of "OTP". (Getting an inkling of why I only lasted one day the last time I tried doing this? Yep. Well done.)
(Warning: got a leeetle media-heavy.)
Day 01 - OTP Because OTP what the fuck does this even mean okay okay nevermind I'm fine I'll deal but I mean fuck
Dewitt/Dominic (Dollhouse) - Queen/Knight? - eh, whatevs. Queen/Knight + massive mutual betrayals (+ simmering need(her)/desire(him) + intense bitterness + apocalypse + still totally on each other's wavelength)? YES PLS THAT. NOW. NOW. THKS. One of my few entirely exclusive ships which I can only assume is the intended meaning of this question.
Frank/Claire Underwood (House of Cards) - I don't care who else they fuck. I actually really like Claire/Adam. It's Francis and Claire's you-get-me-completely connection, and the partnership they deliberately constructed out of that, that I love watching. And honestly, ultimately, because he's her choice. (I check in with HoC for Claire alone at this point, and if I'd seen it before I did the Female Characters meme, she would have got, just, ~paragraphs. I haven't watched the last few eps of S2 because I'm finding everything else really hard going, I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE SCHEMING ARRGH, so don't tell me if they go bad. I don't want to know. /o\)
Day 02 - Current OTP
Maggie/Sterling (Leverage) - Yo, kids. S'up. First pairing I ever started writing (and yeah, who am I kidding, sure I did my level best to let the story be friendshippy if that's where it was going and what seemed fair to the characters, but come on:
for that instant, he’d seen Maggie. Just Maggie. Not the beautiful, poised, intelligent careerperson. Simply a woman. Alone, strong, and in pain.
And he couldn’t forget.like, as if, seriously) and we're still. going. Of course, that's just testament to how bloody slow I am more than anything. Evidence tendered: in the next installment sitting right now on my computer - until I beat the last few paragraphs into submission - they're finally kissing. FINALLY. \o/
Day 03 - OTP That Started Your Fannish Journey
John/Mary (Supernatural) - Heh. Technically? It was Spn - and, specifically, their boys - that's been responsible for most steps of online fannish involvement I've ever taken, so, they've gotta get Honourable Mention at the least.
Jayne/River (Firefly) - In terms of beginning to read fic, I think it was "Rayne" that sucked me in, in that ... wait what? No, come on. I mean. But ... uh ... oh, hey, I ... yeah, I ... I can see that, actually.... *WORLD UPTURNS* kind of way. (Ahh, youth. To go from that to instantly comprehending exactly what was meant by the term "Squidwarts" and being not at all surprised, but mildly amused and impressed - fandom, I'm remembering why I loved you, once. *single perfect tear*) It was Dyce's The Whole of the Thing that kicked it off, but her Horseshoe Nail series cemented it, with the added recommendation of reworking Serenity so that EVERYBODY FUCKING LIVES (Two Gorram Days, Kinship, Bank Job, Miranda). Also I really enjoy her writing and imagery, and her take on the characters and the setting works for me. I don't really ship Jayne/River much anymore other than for nostalgia, but I'll still happily revisit that series anytime.
Day 04 - OT3+
Don/Kathy/Cosmo (Singin' In the Rain) - I usually incline toward multishipping rather than Solve For OT3, but not this time, no, nope, nosir. This is my actual honest-to-God One True Threesome; taking any one of them out of the equation is just plain wrong. BECAUSE LOOK AT THEM:
Click to viewAll *holding hands* and *beaming at each other* and *collapsing in a giggly heap together*, I JUST. LOOK AT THEM.
Day 05 - OTP For Whom You Never Seem To Run Out Of Inspiration
N/A! lol. No but seriously. Ships don't hit me that way; my inspirations are weirdly monogamous. One pairing, one complete idea, and then I'm usually off to try someship else. Certain complete ideas just take more installments (and a terribly long time) to tell. Currently unfinished complete ideas still at some level of development: Maggie/Sterling (duh); Roslin/Adama Spyparents AU (I really want to give Bill a chance to explain himself ... eventually); Kenzi/Dyson; and in some ways the Nat/Clint AU, not so much because it's incomplete as I do somewhat want to explore Nat's side of things. Ideas way on the backburner: a DeWitt/Dominic five-times fic; remixing a Riley/Faith fic (very maybe); a vague idea of doing 50 Sentences for various pairings I like (super unlikely).
Day 06 - Crossover OTP
Buffy/Imhotep (BtVS/The Mummy) - Yeah, I don't know. I don't really crossover-ship? But I read Jedi Buttercup's Adventures In Rome (incomplete) years ago, and the image has lingered. I mean, to the extent that Arnold Vosloo is totally hawt and lickable and loinclothed and sympathetic-villain in those movies, and it's the only time I've actively shipped Buffy, so put it in the Win column and call it a day.
Jensen/Jane Eyre (The Losers/Jane Eyre) - EXCEPT for this piece of utter ridiculousness. So, you know when you mean to skip forward in the movie and don't hit the keys right and annoyingly skip to the next movie? Well, the next movie was the middle of The Losers, and Jensen was doing his little Journey elevator dance, and sometimes I just want to get Jane THE FUCK away from Rochester, and it all came together in a slip-of-the-keys lightning flash of WANT IT. Though if it could ever work (it couldn't), it could only do so with Mia!Jane; book!Jane is way too hard to wrangle.
Day 07 - Real People OTP
Hammond/Oliver (Top Gear) - Standard Answer, and also Best Answer, because by the end of the Botswana Special I was half in love with Oliver myself, and really, isn't that part of the secret of shipping? NO SHAME. I've previously recced the shippy fanvid for them (tongue-in-cheek and adorbs!), so instead, in their own words:
Daniel Craig/Judi Dench - Well, look. I don't RPS, and M/007 is DNW on so many levels, but if someone held a gun to my head and forbade options such as "a boy and his car", I'd default to these guys. Mostly on the get it, Judi! level, plus it's cracky enough that it's the equivalent of crossing your fingers behind your back. And, then:
Come on. That's just plain cute.
Day 08 - OTP That Has Put You Through The Ringer (Wringer, I take it? /tries not to make bad joke about Sarah Michelle Gellar/Jason Doring)
... pilots maybe? Except, no, because I wasn't shipping them until I hit the very end of it. The Quad o'Doom and infidelity was repellent, but I wasn't personally invested in it all. I just don't ... watch things like that. Shitty storytelling can piss me off, but not because I OMG NEEEED this ship to *blahblahblah*. Kiss, don't kiss, don't care - just do what's right/interesting for the story and characters.
Day 09 - Endgame OTP
pilots lol. (<-- original note from when I first tried plotting this meme out to see if I could actually answer it all)
Ellie/Homer (Tomorrow, When the War Began) - I don't even remember if the final book ends up leaning in this direction. I feel like ... maybe? I should read them again. Anyway. I've always liked their relationship, be it besties-who-grew-up-together, like-siblings, teenage-soldiers-brothers-in-arms, co-leaders-of-their-group, or reconnecting-after-the-war-and-falling-into-each-other-because-they-came-through-so-much-separately-and-together-and-know-each-other-on-a-level-no-one-else-can-anymore. Basically, I like their relationship super hyphenated. The movie of the first one only encouraged it, although I should also say that I like Ellie/Lee and Homer/Fi for the time that those relationships worked for the characters themselves. Ellie/Homer really is endgame in the sense that I don't see them together any time before that.
Lorelai/Christopher (Gilmore Girls) - For pretty much exactly all the reasons given in the notes for this vid, not to mention the vid itself. Don't get me wrong, I liked Luke, at least to begin with (I had No Time for anything but Logan, by the end, OMG I hated nearly everyone GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, FFS, I AM IN PERMANENT MICHEL!SNEER MODE AT EVERY ONE OF YOU), but as a character, not a love interest.
... Although, it's interesting to me that both engame ships I've listed have roots in childhood relationships when that's exactly what puts me off from other ships, like say all the canonical Harry Potter ones. I think it has something to do with whether it feels, to me, like it yields potential for depth of understanding rooted in childhood patterns versus lack of growth and change beyond those childhood patterns. In other words, reconnecting with high school sweetheart and discovering deeper compatibility based on familiarity plus mutual discovery and delight in all the ways you've both matured with life experience? OOH YES PLS. Every important babies-ever-after endgame ship growing directly, claustrophobically out of high school sweetheart? NO OMFG NO GET IT AWAY.
Day 10 - NonCanon OTP
Don Pedro/Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) - This isn't as aggressively noncanon as I can get, but it's definitely my favourite. Denzel-Emma version, of course. Mmmm, icon-y. (Although the older I get, the less I like Benedick. Also, recently discovering that Whedon cast Reed Diamond as Don Pedro means I probably am going to end up wading through that big pile of All-Star Irritating Whedon Alums cast (Sean Maher also excepted). So, bugger.... Wow, self. Talk about #firstworldproblems.)
Day 11 - Guilty Pleasure OTP Iiiiii'ma stop you right there, meme. You've been doing pretty well overall. BUT. We're gonna have to do something about that one.
Day 11 - Shameless Pleasure OTP
Kenzi/Dyson (Lost Girl) - MAY I REMIND YOU.
They are SOOO PRREEETTTYYYY. Add in the actors' off-the-charts chemistry and the black hole of suck that is Bo, aka the Most Important Person in both their lives, and, yeah. GET IT, YOU TWO. (Apparently the thing that gets me most invested is retaliatory shipping? Well ... huh.)
Draco/Hermione (Harry Potter) - Whenever I just want something to graze on, I will often hit up these two. I actually find Draco and his journey one of the more engaging in HP, and I rarely find much interesting in Hermione's characterisation except when these two are forced to confront each other and themselves and have to grow because of it; that's about the only draw of Enemies To Lovers for me (I just cannot see the appeal of hatesex, sorry everyone?).
Rumplestiltskin/Belle (Once Upon A Time) - I cannot with OUAT. Robert Carlyle aside, there is just nothing there for me. But cautiously grazing on some of the Rumple/Belle fics out there turned out okay; since I can't with OUAT's Belle, either (WHY IS SHE AUSTRALIAN WHAT), I've mentally recast her as Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre (I'd probably feel actually guilty over that if Mia!Jane had more than passingly resembled book!Jane, but as it is, I liked the movie/cast/visuals but it wasn't Jane Eyre). And mix it up between Carlyle and Michael Fassbender!Rochester for Rumplestiltskin, depending.
Mac/Dick (Veronica Mars) - Once more with the couldn't-care-less about the souce material, and man does this one have vast squick potential; working through that and finding the commonality of woundedness-because-Cassidy is what draws me to the rare instances when they've been written well. Except this apocalypse fic barely acknowledges that, and I love it, although to be fair it's not overtly shippy. This one and its sequel is all about it, and also isn't overtly shippy. WHATEVER. If shipping was about the kissing for me, I wouldn't even be here.
Day 12 - Out Of Your Comfort Zone OTP
Cesare/Lucrezia (The Borgias) - So, incest in itself has not traditionally held any interest for me (although the dynamic itself isn't the problem, it's how it interacts with the characters realistically, and that's a case-by-case thing, but it's almost always done squickily, intentionally or not, and, no, man; when you've seen the results enough in RL, the aspect of taboo-transgression is not kinky). Then recently I started watching this, and two seconds into them being on the screen together, whoops. Totally ship it. And their ending shot? DAMN. It's so messed up and so perfectly where their story was always going, I can't help but love it. Way to follow through, everybody. *slow clap*
Al/Alma (Deadwood) - You'd think it would be the baggage of their relationship, like, oh, say, him having had her first husband killed and attempting to rip off her fantastically wealthy literal gold mine, and her still being hung up on Bullock, his polar opposite, etc etc. Nope, not a problem, and often goes in the feature-not-bug pile. It's just everything's just so icky and muddy and yuk. Frontier town hygiene, man. COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone. Probably why I don't look to ship anyone on The Walking Dead, too. Just. Ewwwww. Nopenopenopenope.
Day 13 - Star Crossed OTP
James Bond/Vesper Green (Casino Royale) - Is there really such a thing as truly star-crossed in fandom? We can work nearly anything around, surely? I mean, that's the challenge. But this one is perfect as is. I'm good. See also: this bit of commentary, and this, and, like, probably a bunch more. Werds werds werds. (Damnit, another thing I should get around to finishing.)
Day 14 - Childhood OTP (Before You Knew What Shipping Was)
Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel) - He LOVED HER SO MUCH YOU GUISE. I don't know, I was all ooooh when I was young, but at the same time, kiiiind of *headtilty* about how she was supposed to be the most brilliant woman in Europe and could not ever seem to put two and two together. Or was he just that good? *plotcakes!*
Tirla/Sascha (Pegasus In Flight) - Oh man. This probably really was Baby Me's protoship, in terms of vibing off the relationship rather than just passively following what I was being given (ie, Anne/Gilbert). And, okay, just like incest, an age gap in itself isn't a problem (and unlike incest-kink, is something I can see the appeal in), it's how the various dynamics embedded in it are dealt with. Which is why I regret going back and reading it again last year, for the first time since ... probably high school. Weirdly, it wasn't how McCaffrey wrote either of them or their relationship that was a problem at all - it was when, at the end, all the other "good" adults who see things the right way (there is literally no mistaking them, her characters may as well be wearing white and black hats) and are all in a position of caretaking/authority over this girl are all just OH YES WONDERFUL GOOD about the potential relationship, not one of them going, um, in fact I do have a few concerns actually, if you don't mind. Granted, they're all psychic or whatever, but nope, sorry, not good enough. It was those power dynamics that came out skeezy as hell. Ugh. DNW.
Day 15 - Fluffy OTP
Kathleen Kelly/Joe Fox (You've Got Mail) - "F-O-X." Pure, pure fluff, it's like a big soft blanket made of chocolate. Plus, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Parker Posey, Greg Kinnear, comeon. Also, I don't care, that moment where he puts his hand on her lips to keep her from being rude and regretting it later is hot. Come at me, bro.
Day 16 - Angstiest OTP
Broken Sword/Flying Snow (Hero) - OH GOD MAKE IT STOP. There's angsty, and then there's these two. Please stop hurting my heart, OMG, please. (They're so beautiful, though. And SO TORN. I can't. *dies of hearthurt*)
Day 17 - Hardcore/Kickass OTP
Ripley/Hicks (Aliens) - THE SERIES ENDS WITH ALIENS THEY ADOPT NEWT AND LIVE NIGHTMARE-HAUNTEDLY HAPPILY EVER AFTER LALALALALACAN'THEARYOU.
I mean come the fuck on. M. F. E. A, y'all.
Lol, Hicks. Did not waste any time, although the powerloader sealed the deal of tap-thatability. Everything that came after just confirmed she was the woman of his dreams. He's seriously got little hearts in his eyes when he looks at her. And for her, his wholehearted respect and support was not only unique but incredibly hot, and if it weren't for those pesky xenomorphs running around killing everybody, they'd have been climbing each other like a tree by two-thirds through. Nuke the site from orbit? Foreplay, baby.
Day 18 - Sexiest OTP
Annie/Jack (SPEED) - I can't ... is there any real argument against this choice? They're so damn sexy every second they're on the screen separately, let alone together. The flirting just bounces so naturally back and forth, just. Damn. Her smile. HIS ARMS. YES THIS TOO PLS, A LOT, RIGHT NOW. (And oh, look, another one that HAS NO SEQUEL, wow, imagine that.)
Day 19 - Not Necessarily Romantic OTP
Stephen/Bang Bang (The Brothers Bloom) - Yeah, look, I don't care, these guys can be anything and everything they want to be. I am there.
Yes, that about sums it up.
Day 20 - Best Kiss/Best Kissers
Hannah/Jacob (Crazy Stupid Love) - Pretty much my *mic drop* answer. (Yes, I know, surprise!Josh Groban, but let it run. It builds.)
Yeah, I find the majority of onscreen intimacy awkward to watch, so I don't have a huge pool to have to narrow down, and yeah I adore the Margaret/Thornton kiss at the end of N&S (spoiler!), but this one is just hot and adorable in perfect measure. The dialogue at the end just ... UNF.
Day 21 - Movie OTP
Ingrid/Paul (White Oleander) - In the book, I liked the pairing but could take it or leave it. In the movie they were so sweet and sad together. When they run off for a day it's, ugh, like if someone reached into all my teenagerhood and constructed the perfect teenage kinda!date. The sense of peace is palpable (the only interlude of peace in the whole movie, and the movie score just nails it). STICK TOGETHER ALWAYS HURT BROKEN ART!KIDS. *smushes them*
Harry/Luna (Harry Potter) - I've been watching the movies for the first time this last week while I've been sick, although with these guys' unofficial commentary over the top because just, nope, couldn't, especially the early ones, and when Luna showed up in ... what, OotP? and started interacting with Harry, I was just, oh, yep, sold. (I find the lines of connection she has with Harry more interesting than the ones he has with Ginny, which frankly wouldn't be hard, but then pair Neville and Ginny and I'm suddenly much more interested too.)
Anne/Morgan Harris (Anne of Green Gables, The Sequel) - ... It's true. And, I want to emphasize, only in The Sequel. Not in the original mini-series, in which Gilbert was perfect. Maybe even more than Anne (GASP I know, I know, sorry, but heresy is just how I roll sometimes, and I promise, I love Megan Fellows, but ... it's a different *Anne*, that's all). And then suddenly in The Sequel he went off the rails. "I hope he breaks your heart, whoever he is." "You don't unders -" "Then maybe you'll come to your senses." O HAI NOT!GILBERT, SAYING THINGS GILBERT WOULD NEVER EVER SAY. Kindly take your terribly OOC bitter recriminations, and fuck right off. Meanwhile, Morgan Harris is just as flawed (okay fine, maybe more, but at least he's not just blandly perfect like Roy Gardner), but he is also all kinds of foine. And while there are one or two misunderstandings, nothing he says is on the shithead level that Not!Gilbert manages there.
Day 22 - Book OTP
Rhett/Melanie (Gone With the Wind) - I don't know. I just want it. Something about the respect they genuinely have for one another. Mutual respect is way way high on my list.
Day 23 - OTP That You Grew To Love
Buttercup/Westley (The Princess Bride) - As with pretty much everyone else, I found the basic uselessness of Buttercup pretty offputting. But writing through The Princess Bride Job really changed my opinion. Once she *gets* it, she is fiercely faithful. She does not waver for a second, in either belief or courage to act on it. She didn't have the most lauded job - to just get dragged around and be rescued - but it was what she had, and she owned it and made every moment she had count for everything it was worth. I am so down with Buttercup, and by extension Buttercup/Westley, now.
Day 24 - You're Standing Alone With This OTP (You Don't Care)
Charlie Bradbury/Dick Roman (Supernatural) - Yeah. This might be the most aggressively noncanon I can go. Our most exalted (almost only) lesbian introduced with spunky Major Issues With Authority, and a megalomaniac King of Eldritch Horrors bent on world domination (except maybe Canada) named Dick? Yeah ... I'll be over here.
Day 25 - Bad Timing OTP
Carolyn Fry/Riddick (Pitch Black) - Seriously people. I know that few to none other circumstances would reveal the core of ruthless similarity and potential for redemption in your characters, but in the end monster-filled hell planets just do not leave you a lot of options to get your OTP on. Sort yourselves out.
Day 26 - OTP That You Relate To The Most
Dean/Baby (Supernatural) - ... D'you think this is why Hammond/Oliver was my RPS? Seriously, though, I don't have a thing for cars. Like, I ... don't care. They go vroomvroom and are handy; occasionally they look pretty (the Impala is gorgeous); that's usually about the extent of it. There is no car in my life that I'm in any way emotionally attached to. No; it's that about the only time I've ever felt anything like a sense of *home* is when I'm travelling - near or far, that alone-unmoored-limbo time, when there's nothing required but to sit and be while you get to the destination. (Planes are okay; I love trains.) Or at least what I imagine people mean by *home*. We moved around some when I was a kid, I'm comfortable moving. I mean, I've enjoyed every place I've ever been - I like places, I love places, and there are even a few I want to return to - but when it's time to leave, it's time to leave. I've never felt torn; I've never felt homesick. So Dean/Baby? Yep, totally get that. (Besides, I don't relate to 99.999999% of characters, and now you want me to relate to a relationship between two characters? That's flatly unreasonable.) Plus:
I think I can say, without reservation or fear of contradiction, DAT ASS.
(For purposes of comparison. HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC COMPARISON. SCIENCE.)
Day 27 - OTP That You Always Forget To Talk About
Megan/Colby (Numb3rs) - I like their chemistry anyway, but I love the way they so often, so casually mirror each other's body language. AND THEN, Colby turned out to be (spoiler!) a triple agent right under Megan's nose for two years and she, the behavioral psychologist, never had a clue, that's gotta shake up the "dumb jock" box she had him in. Not to mention her thing for dangerous/bad boys, which her pursuit of Larry was a valiant effort to demonstrate was firmly in the past, but ultimately (unsurprisingly) quietly fizzled out, and then she's off doing all classified things for the DOJ (?- it's been a while) that clearly included interrogation stuff that she's really struggling with, and which Colby had to come to terms with his own experience with. Plus you know he always had a slight half-awed half-crush on her. Plus if we retcon the triple agent thing in, probably studied her the closest of the team as the most likely threat to detect his cover. There are just a bunch of reasons they're both comfortable and challenging together, which I maaaay have thought about a little bit too much. But also, HOT. - THERE, TALKED ABOUT.
Day 28 - OTP With The Best Canon Story
Margaret/Thornton (North & South) - Learning respect and humility and to listen and maturing and honesty and courage and determination and cotton, oh my! It's, look, it's all there, okay? I'm getting a bit tired of werds here.
Day 29 - OTP For Whom You Have The Most Head Canon
... Same old boring answer, Maggie/Sterling, because anything I write, I have to have a coherent backstory informing it, but that's all housekeeping/backstage stuff. If I wanted to talk about it in public, instead of in uncounted emails with amazing flisters helping me hammer it all out, I would put it front and centre in a story. Other than that, I guess ... Sgt James/IEDs? (Which, now that I think about it, is totally an OTP I ship, and, much more obliquely, might kind of rank as a second choice for relating to? Hah, never thought about it that way before.)
Day 30 - OTP of OTP's
... Wha? I don't.... Huh? Srsly tho. What?... Fuck. Taken at the last hurdle. I FAAIILLLLED. Quick, pick something. UM, UM, STEPHEN/BANG BANG. FOR ... SHEER AWESOMENESS. *panicked flail*
Oh man. It's definitely past my bedtime.