Oh, what the heck

[hedda62]

Comment with the name of a ship and I will explain why I ship it/don't ship it. Or, you know, am completely indifferent to its existence.


Person of Interest
Lost
Lewis
Vorkosigan Saga
Sherlock
White Collar
Castle
New Who
Firefly
Slings and Arrows, if I can remember enough
Buffy ditto
Orphan Black maybe
Cabin Pressure
Aubrey/Maturin series
anything else you know I missed...
ETA: The Good Wife (hadn't had caffeine yet)

Comments

[philomytha]

I can't decide between Miles/Gregor and Alicia/Kalinda, so take your pick :-)

[hedda62]

Oh, I can do both, why not.

Miles/Gregor I just have never seen the point of, though it's not like "get that away from me!" and I will read the fic. But Gregor is deeply pragmatic, and Miles, while prone to quixotic fits, would tend to shy violently away from a) anything that put him closer to the throne, b) anything that made his already-obvious vulnerabilities more subject to condemnation, and Barrayar is a seriously homophobic society - which, no, neither of them really buys into completely, having been educated by Cordelia after all, but they understand how most Barrayarans feel. Okay, if they were really truly hopelessly in love, then they'd both buck convention, but I don't see that either; they grew up practically as brothers and that's the relationship they have, at their best though not always. They range from fond of each other to ready to throw themselves in front of a nerve disruptor for each other (with frequent bouts of mutual irritation) but... well, obviously I'm blind to what some others see, but there it is.

Alicia/Kalinda: I think I ship this more in a theoretical sense than a real one, but it appeals to me in several ways. First, I think it's utterly cool that a femslash ship is the most popular in the fandom. Second, it fits very nicely into their character arcs because of the estrangement and the way they moved beyond it. Third, Kalinda is already canonically queer, and Alicia is... reluctantly adventurous, so it's not difficult to imagine something happening between them. And God knows Peter deserves it.

[philomytha]

I feel the same way about Miles/Gregor, but I thought I'd try you on it because I've seen more almost-UST between them in your fic than anywhere else ;-). Oddly, while Miles/Ivan would seem impossibly incestuous to me (not that that stops fandom, but it would bother me), Miles/Gregor doesn't feel quite like that even though they are foster-brothers and raised together.

Alicia/Kalinda - well, I feel that Kalinda has quite a crush on Alicia, but the extent to which Alicia reciprocates that ... well, she's good at keeping her cards close to her chest.

And for all that he deserves it, I can't help liking Peter a lot more than Will.

[hedda62]

I can make it work in my head that Miles and Gregor had a brief... thing, of the holy-shit-oops variety, when they were young (although when exactly is hard, because by the time Miles was old enough Gregor was old enough to know better), and that's what I'm playing with in the UST moments, I think. I almost wrote it into the Gregor/Ekaterin story, but I just can't quite go there.

I can't help liking Peter a lot more than Will

Me too. See below. :)

[pendrecarc]

Is it cheating to ask you to compare and contrast Alicia/Peter and Alicia/Will?

[hedda62]

Not cheating at all - I just hope I can say something coherent. :) I tend to just enjoy this show as it smashes people into each other repeatedly, and not ship anything too hard, but that said, I'm really not that fond of Will most of the time, and I don't think he deserves Alicia, and their relationship keeps causing trouble. Which isn't a bad thing for the show, of course, and probably not a bad thing for Alicia either, but I don't see Will as someone she should end up with. Peter totally deserved his comeuppance, and I'm not sure he should end up with Alicia either, but there are moments I kind of really like him, and... okay, this is weird, but what I'd love is the AU where Peter and Alicia are successful criminals, because she is totally cool under pressure and he is really good at manipulating people, and they are the most hot together when what they're doing seems wrong. And Will can be the cop who has an affair with Alicia but never manages to arrest her. And stop me before I turn it into "White Collar," okay, because I like the show as it is. :)

[pendrecarc]

I am intrigued by that AU potential! Alicia'd need a pretty compelling backstory to get her into criminal activity, but you're right that they'd be fantastic at it. Which reminds me that I'd seriously love to see more of Alicia and Peter solving problems together outside their relationship - I'm fascinated by their attitudes towards each other's careers.

Yeah, I--honestly don't see what Alicia sees in Will? Presumably it's a combination of their long-ago history, sexual attraction, and her need for an outlet outside Peter. (Who is a terrible human being but so much more compelling than Will, in my opinion, and though I'm not saying I'd want a happily ever after for them even if it were possible, I'm far more invested in the push-and-pull of their marriage than I could ever be in her affair with Will.) I was so, so pleased with the fakeout they pulled at the end of S2, mostly because I was so worried they were going in a different direction. I should have known to trust them.

I do love watching Will, on the other hand, whenever he's interacting with Diane. Speaking of the push-and-pull of relationships with a great mix of trust and betrayal. Love them together--though not romantically.

[pendrecarc]

Ack, that was the S4 finale. I'd forgotten how long that show has been on the air!

[philomytha]

Oh, Will and Diane, yes, that is a fantastic relationship. It's not often you see a business friendship on the screen between a man and a woman that has no hint of romance in it at all. It's almost weird to me that he should have so much depth and interest when he's with Diane, and so little with Alicia. I know it's a writing cliché, but in this case I do actually think the show told us about Will/Alicia rather than showing it.

Also, completely agreed about the fakeout. Perfectly done, and so much more satisfying than the other would have been.

[hedda62]

Totally agree with both of you, and... I think Will/Alicia is boring because it's just about sex and denial and repression, like they are being reduced to cliches and body parts, whereas with Diane, Will can be entirely himself, with all the passion and guile that make him an interesting lawyer. And I'm wondering if Alicia and Cary will end up with the same kind of relationship that Will and Diane have. Because that would be excellent.

[enemyofperfect]

Because I missed out on Firefly fandom the first time around and am curious about people's opinions, Mal/Inara and Kaylee/Simon?

[hedda62]

I don't have a strong pro or con reaction to Mal/Inara - it's part of canon, and along with I'm sure the entire crew I often wish they'd just screw and get it over with, and they'd probably have fun together and then realize they weren't made for long-term romance. it would certainly be better than pining, which neither of them is very good at. What they are both good at, unfortunately, is putting up barriers that make things worse.

Kaylee is probably my favorite character, and I have a strong knee-jerk "he doesn't deserve her" reaction to Simon/Kaylee, though really I think it's more that unless she manages to change him (and why would I want that; Simon is adorable) it just isn't ever going to work, and he'll do something really awkward and cutting at the end of it, and she'll be hurt. But not for long. So it's okay.

[enemyofperfect]

Yeah, neither pairing strikes me as likely to be particularly stable. I realized after I saw your comment that I didn't even think of asking about Zoe/Wash, and I think it's because they don't frustrate me the way these guys do, heh.

[hedda62]

Oh, and I adore Zoe and Wash, together and separately, but especially together. It's one of the cases where "opposites attract" really works.

(Now I want to sit down and watch the whole series over again, thank you very much.)

[enemyofperfect]

Hee, anytime!

[emef]

Harold/Nathan?

[hedda62]

Ooh, Harold and Nathan. The show has given us such an amazingly well-portrayed picture of their friendship - considering that it's all been through flashback! - and the shadows and ramifications and possibilities are so intriguing, that frankly I don't care whether they had any kind of sexual relationship. It would add an interesting nuance, but it's frosting on the cake. And if it happened, I suspect it was at MIT and then Harold froze it out when they started working together. What there is between them, no matter what, is a real understanding (which turns painful at the end) and a dedication that lasts after death, and that's about as romantic as you can get. (Well, maybe Harold and John end up topping it, but it's easier when both parties are still alive, for whatever value of the word.)

And heh, I didn't like Nathan at all when we first met him, but now... *arpeggio on the heartstrings*