things i do not get

[schmerica]

a. People who say the reason they do not like a specific slash pairing is because Character A reads to them as straight, when they read *other* slash pairings with Character A. (I can get that you might not think a certain pairing has subtext to support it or whatever, but I don't get how you can go from "OMG RAY VECCHIO IS THE STRAIGHTEST GUY EVER" as the *specific* reason you don't like F/V and still love Ray/Ray. I mean, I know RayK is a superstud, but still.)

b. People who say RPS is gross and/or wrong, but who are perfectly willing to rec stuff and make exceptions for a story that involves the characters are cult leaders or murderers. (If kissing and being bouncy and joyous with their bandmates is, you know, disrespectful or stalkerly or blah blah rps is wrong ... then, uh, how exactly does your worldview make Flesh Mechanic okay? I mean, I think it's a great story, but I'm not going around declaiming the end of the world, so whatever.)

c. Why do I keep signing up for classes that take place during dinner time? ARGH. (I actually know the answer to this one. It's because I'm stupid and don't learn from my mistakes.)

d. Why do I find the combination of first and second person so engaging and charming? First person stories, I mean, that are directed to a specific person. Obviously all epistolary fic fits into this category, and dude, do I love the genre; and there's also china_shop's I love you without knowing how, and my own favorite of my due South stories. Hmmm. (I have nothing to add in parentheses for his part.)

Comments

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Heh, no, I got that that wasn't what you, specifically were saying about F/V -- the thing above is an argument I *have* seen by people, though, and more than once. There are plenty of reasons somebody might like Ray/Ray and not Fraser/Vecchio as pairings, and lots of people who did; this is just me thinking it's bizarre to have the explanation involve Vecchio's straightness.

(I *do* like Vecchio quite a bit, particularly in s2, but I can see where you're coming from, at least.)

[norah.livejournal.com]

I like Vecchio when he carries Fraser. I like him when he beats up Zuko. I like it that he worries about Irene, and that he wants love. I like that when Louis goes down, his first thought isn't for the Riv (though the way his character's been set up to that point, I found it surprising). I like it when he pays people to come listen to Fraser (but I worry about where that money comes from.) But each time I start to like him, he does something dumb or insensitive or wrong or mean, and at this point I just resent him for being so damn hard to like. Wah.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I like it when he pays people to come listen to Fraser (but I worry about where that money comes from.)

I thought that was the insurance money from the explosion with Louis?

[norah.livejournal.com]

Ah! Perhaps I missed that. It weirds me out how often Fraser takes money from Vecchio, and how comfortable he is doing it. I don't really get that.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

It weirds me out how often Fraser takes money from Vecchio, and how comfortable he is doing it. I don't really get that.

Oh, dude, me too. Although I'm not sure how much of it is because I saw Eclipse and the whole "friends and money don't mix" thing before s1 and 2. But still. WEIRD.

[axiom_of_stripe]

as i recall, it stops cold after victoria....

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Ooh, really? That's *very* interesting.

[norah.livejournal.com]

Nope. He does it in the Edge.

[norah.livejournal.com]

Or, wait, the one with the stripper...Body Language. That one. Vecchio tries to expense it, but Fraser doesn't necessarily know that.

[axiom_of_stripe]

he borrowed money for something personal? or during the course of a case -- because that's, you know, a legitimate for fraser to expect ray to expense (although fraser's definition of a legitimate case often causes problems with that...).

[sprat.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see where you're coming from--I didn't much like Vecchio at first either. But I think if you completely disregard everything that comes out of his mouth and just look at what he does, how he lives his life...he gets easier to sympathise with.

(Though really, it wasn't until I started writing from his pov that I got to like him, I think. Which is how it works a lot of the time for me. *g*)

[norah.livejournal.com]

Maybe so. Does he ever do anything that makes him a good cop, really? A good call? (other than Zuko, which was outside the law). I mean, I'd love to see him as competent, but most of the time it seems he's making things worse or trying to pull Fraser in the wrong direction or pissing off someone they need, or... I mean, Kowalski's wrong a lot of the time, but he's right a lot of the time too. I just haven't seen that with Vecchio, and it doesn't seem like Welsh respects him either.

[sprat.livejournal.com]

Hmm. No, you're right. I think he's not a very good cop. But the reasons I like Vecchio aren't the same as the reasons I like Kowalski. I love Kowalski's competance, I love his fierceness and his ability and...uh, all that good stuff. *g* But Vecchio I love because he tries to be good and a lot of the time he fucks that up--and standing next to Mr. Red Suit of Righteousness, all those fuck-ups are going to be pretty obvious and humiliating, too. But then he just gets up the next day and tries again. And just that, his tenacity, I think is admirable. Not drop-dead kill-me-now sexy...but enough to let me into his head. :)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*nod* Yeah, I was thinking the same thing -- I'm not sure Vecchio's a very good cop, but that really has nothing to do with the reasons I love, I guess.

[norah.livejournal.com]

I can see that. I have so little patience with people who don't at least acknowledge their mistakes, let alone learn from them, that it still can't make me love canon!Vecchio. But I can see that.

[estrella30.livejournal.com]

But Vecchio I love because he tries to be good and a lot of the time he fucks that up--and standing next to Mr. Red Suit of Righteousness, all those fuck-ups are going to be pretty obvious and humiliating, too. But then he just gets up the next day and tries again. And just that, his tenacity, I think is admirable

God, yes. I do love your brain.

This, to me, is something that I think is, hmm, more apparent maybe as the series goes on. By the time you get to cotw Vecchio, its like, a new guy, to sound geeky, and THATS the guy I want to slash with RayK.