It's ... thinky. With curls.

My god, you've just described... me!

It's so funny to me that here, it's eight in the morning and I've just gotten up for work, and there, it's midnight and you're staying up too late! ::pokes::

Oh, right. Fic. Um. Ryan/Taylor remains ridiculously pleasing to me? Booth/Brennan from Bones has stolen my heart? I'm really confused by all the het I love suddenly!

Here's my theory on that, actually: one of the classic origin of slash myths is the idea that, because the male characters were better-written and more well-developed than their female counterparts, or were more present on the screen, or had a stronger connection than they did with the female characters, the slash was more accessible in a way because of the characterization. Re-watching older television, up at least until the X-Files, say, I'm inclined to agree, at least broadly.

But recenly everyone has been batting around the phrase "golden age of television" which, looking at my weekly watchlist, is also something I'm inclined to agree with. And part of that is, writers are writing female characters like actual people instead of scene-chewers or plot foils. So suddenly, relationships I would dismiss (in canon) as boring, or lacking in chemistry or good writing, or what's the point of she's only on for one episode--they're turning into omg they are so cute together, and look at how they make each other laugh, and my GOD how many more seasons do I have to wait, JIM AND PAM.

I may be explaining this poorly. It's Friday morning and I really don't want to go to work, but I have to.

It's so funny to me that here, it's eight in the morning and I've just gotten up for work, and there, it's midnight and you're staying up too late! ::pokes::

I rewatched SPN a time or so and was trolling the flist to see who would post the first coda but sleep is likely a better use of my time this time of night.

I've been dying to read some genderswap (one or both of the boys, from birth, in an AU) that's less about sex, and more about how the family dynamic would have been different

Anne, I wrote some of that with Vanzetti a while back, although the premise was that just Sam was a girl. We couldn't justify John hitting the road with two girls--I just don't think he would be able to do it.

If you want, I can scare up a link, although it was more like snippets than any complete stories.

Short form of my actual first name! I don't ever use it as a log in, but people started calling me by it after the first F2F, as that's what I go by in person.

Oops... would that mean that anyone (me, for instance) who hasn't met you in person but calls you "Plei" rather than "P.M." would be considered presumptuous? If so, sorry.

• ***

I think part of the other obvious problem for the fic writers is the dearth of live ongoing female characters. Jess is dead. Cassie, Sarah, and Madison were in one episode each. (Who's Starla?) There are a contingent of people determined to turn Jo into Dean's one true wuv, but I personally can't buy it. Other than anonymous one night stands, the only meaningful personages in their lives really is... each other. Of course, a lot of the AU's seem to get around that by bringing in whole new female characters.

Starla was the girl in Tall Tales with whom Dean drank purple nurples.

although the premise was that just Sam was a girl. We couldn't justify John hitting the road with two girls--I just don't think he would be able to do it.

I remember that, and trying to figure out the position, and I don't agree--I mean, I see your justification for it, but story-wise, the resulting wedge it would drive between John and Sam isn't that far from a the wedge that results in her going with them. To me, the characterization would be generally the same either way, so I see it more as a story device, and to me the story device doesn't hold up.

Which, er, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy your story, because I did. I apologise in advance for confusion resulting in my under-caffeinated brain, but I'm so delighted to be talking to you folks in real-time that I can't help but say things.

I looked at beggers would ride earlier, and it turns out I did read it, or at least start it, and couldn't finish it, even though I normally like her stuff a lot, so it looks like the genderswap Wincest is not for me either.

Oh well.

Fandom seems to be all about eventually finding the various ends of mental acceptance. Beyond that lies The Squick.

It's good but less valuable than spice, so I expect no meaningful wars to break out.

I still can't believe I'm a mostly gen, casefile-type reader.

eyes widen

And a mostly gen writer with a side of tasteful het.

blinks

It's like they replaced me with someone else or something.

nods

Weird. Man. That's...weird.

SA - Bones/Brennan? Really? I've only seen Season 2 up to the episode in Las Vegas (oh, man, and how I squeeled in the Little Miss Beauty Pageant corpse episode when Boreanaz said the pageant had been held in the Hyperion Hotel!!!) but I'm really enjoying the friends thing with them. Whereas I've been all over Angela/Hodgins like a flaming rash. Loved the fact that they gave those two supporting actors such nice material to work with, and had Brennan hooking up with his ex (who has tits! and ass! and seems like a normal person!) and with Cam, rather than just milking the potential het dynamic of the main dynamic duo...which is, actually, another way of agreeing that this is another case of the kind of heterosexual canon relationship that is being written the way that guy/guy buddy relationships always were, but m/f relationships never were. Not to get into the 'hetslash' thing, but - yeah. I totally do get it. Aeryn/John, Mulder/Scully, Kara/Lee (back in the day)...some nice writing there.

even though I normally like her stuff a lot, so it looks like the genderswap Wincest is not for me either.

I did finish it, and the characterisation was great, and she did a great treatment of Sam as a girl. And the attendant problems Dean would have if Sam was a girl. The girl/boy squick barrier there was much more subtle, and I think it was in part because of how tight the lens was on Dean's perspective, and how guilty and wrong Dean felt through the whole thing; so as a result, as a reader, I felt kind of guilty and wrong too. So it's possible that the POV could be the origin of my vague squickedness, but perhaps not.

SA - Bones/Brennan? Really? I've only seen Season 2 up to the episode in Las Vegas (oh, man, and how I squeeled in the Little Miss Beauty Pageant corpse episode when Boreanaz said the pageant had been held in the Hyperion Hotel!!!) but I'm really enjoying the friends thing with them.

Okay, see, this is something I'm encountering with the fandom too. Don't get me wrong, I *love* their friendship. I think it's awesome, I think it's a great give and take and it's funny and they care about each other and obviously they've deepened their relaitonship with all they've been through.

And I'm not all flamey OTP about it--like, it doesn't pain my soul or anything to see them with other people. But I mainlined the 30 episodes that have aired in like six days, and you really see from the beginning to the end the progression of their relationship towards something more. DB and ED have some mad chemistry, and the way Booth stands just a little too close, the ways he leads Brennan around, the way he protectly her physically and mentally, the way he gives up sex dates with hot women to sit and eat donuts with her; the way she trusts him, implicitly, the way she trusts very few people and how difficult that must be for her to trust a dude *at all*, so how important that trust she places in Booth, that he will figure it out (when she is buried alive, when she's drugged by voudon and a murder suspect in New Orleans, when she's kidnapped and nearly killed by Adam Baldwin, etc ad nauseam); the way she needles his catholic guilt but with genuine curiosity, the way she lets her squints be his squints, the way she lets him into her house and onto her couch, arguable the more intimate part of her life, and she lets no one else there. Yeah, I'm into the ship. But I love it because of its maturity, and part of that is being okay with letting us take awhile to get there. I'm not even sure we'll get B/B by the end of this season, though there are some markers in this season that indicate we might do. If not, then probably next season, which is just fine with me. I do think it's inevitable. But I think if/when they do it, it'll be with consideration for a larger storyline and characterisation.

I kind of think of it as Mulder/Scully without the Issues and Secrecy. Like, if they had just acknowledged that M&S were adults with a thing and let them do it. With more funny. And more bones.

Whereas I've been all over Angela/Hodgins like a flaming rash.

Insert many heart symbols here! I love them too. I love that they're geeky and funny and so into each other and into doing each other and the quiet certainty to their relationship. Heart!

Loved the fact that they gave those two supporting actors such nice material to work with, and had Brennan hooking up with his ex (who has tits! and ass! and seems like a normal person!) and with Cam, rather than just milking the potential het dynamic of the main dynamic duo

Yes! yes yes yes! It's *why* I love the OTP, because we've seen them with other people, and know that they can be good with other people. But that they make each other better. /shiptastic

which is, actually, another way of agreeing that this is another case of the kind of heterosexual canon relationship that is being written the way that guy/guy buddy relationships always were, but m/f relationships never were.

Word.