one more thing about ray/ray, PLUS stuff that is aweomse!

[schmerica]

Dudes, there is SUCH good fic being posted over at vecchiofest! All of you who like him at all owe it to yourselves to go check it out, because HEART. There's gen, het, F/V, F/V/K, Ray/Ray -- all sorts of flavors. The Ray/Ray is good enough it makes me wish I liked the pairing so I could appreciate it fully.

Earlier I was talking to justbreathe80 and she was making sad noises over her inability to convert me to Ray/Ray (never mind that brooklinegirl has been trying for almost three years now with no progress). And seriously, it DOES make me sad! So many of my friends get so much joy out of it and it makes me feel like a cranky evil person!

Here's part of an email I sent to her.

Hee, okay, seriously? I have, like, 5 different issues with Ray/Ray fic. And they're all stuff that I can take and still love a story with it in it, just, you know. NOT ALL AT ONCE.

a) f/k otp omg. (obviously, i like a LOT of pairings that don't follow this, but still, it's definitely part of it.)

b) okay, this is even schmoopier than the otp, but the f-v friendship is SACRED, okay? IT JUST IS. and since i can't really imagine there not ever being any attraction either way between f and k? i can't picture how v would be able to get involved with k without it feeling like a betrayal of f, and frankly, i think v would kill himself before he did that.

c) FRASER ALL ALONE AND SAD WHILE HIS FRIENDS GO OFF AND FUCK AND BE HAPPY WHILE HE IS ALL ALONE IN CANADA OMG. (again, i do enjoy broken f on occasion? but that's when it's about HIM. if you wrote me a story where v and k were in a relationship but the story was f pov, either angsty or just hidden-loss-omg-they-all-leave-him-but-he-doesn't-show-it? i would probably enjoy that in a woobie sadist sort of way. stories where he's just in the background like that, especially if the others get to be happy? SOB.

d) my ideal vecchio is s2 vecchio. most v/k has him post-cotw broken, and while i'm sure it's very realistic to have him fucked up over vegas, i don't find it that interesting. i think i just have a really narrow window of v characterization, and most v/k is too far one way or the other to make me happy. (like, honestly? there is a significant amount of ray/ray i have read and enjoyed, but all of it is for either the k portrayal or just general writing quality. i think the only exception is tracey's one with all his canon het relationships first, before the k part at the end.)

e) i don't think v and k ever met prior to cotw, because otherwise k's response when v is opening the door doesn't make any sense at all. i have to *already* like a pairing before i care about aus for it.

f) ...I think that's all!

So, okay! Tara, if you write a ray/ray story that manages to solve each and every one of these problems for me, i am sure that my conversion to ray/ray would be successful!

Heh. So, uh, that's that! Obviously after writing that, I need to balance this post out with POSITIVITY, right? RIGHT.

Things That Both Me and Lots of Other People Really Should Write More of:

1) RayK/Frannie. They have so much chemistry, dude! And they're both in love with Fraser! And they make sense! They're a little like Ray/Ray would be if they were together for more than five minutes of canon!

2) RayK/Maggie. I don't know why I have a secret fondness for this, but I totally do. I think it's the Fraser woobie thing I mentioned above.

3) The Mountie and His Boyfriends. I like F/V/K a lot, but mostly I like it in this configuration -- even if it does end up being an equal threesome, I like it to get there from a F/V and F/K place.

4) RayV het. ALL OF IT. *GRABBY HANDS*

4a) Vecchiocest. STOP JUDGING ME.

5) Backstory. I am such a sucker for any of them as kids or teenagers or even just in their 20s. Heart. Fraser's early experiment with sexuality = my favorite thing in the world.

6) I still want someone to write a Fraser/Newbie crossover. I don't remember whose idea this originally was, but I still think it is BRILLIANT. Especially if was during Planet of the Cats.

7) Fraser-has-always-been-a-girl fic! I think girl!Fraser and Vecchio would date for like two episodes worth, and then fall into a really easy natural brother-and-sister like relationship. And with Fraser and Kowalski all the tensions of their partnership would be, like, quadrupled by the fact that RayK is a total ass around women.

8) Frannie/Maggie! Frannie/Thatcher! go femslash go!

9) Fraser/Thatcher that evokes the awesomeness of their sexual tension during s2. I don't know it's possible to actually get them to fuck without ruining that beyond repair, but it would certainly be cool.

10) There is no 10.

If you're going to comment on this post just to say you hate ray/ray and it is stupid and makes no sense, don't, okay? I try really hard to keep this about my issues as a reader and why it doesn't work for me in particular, and not make it slagging on the pairing itself, or the people it does work for. Slagging on pairings = no fun for anyone! Unless it's McKay/Sheppard.

Oh! Also! Check out the new icon I got from troyswann. The keywords here are "ds: oh god i love these boys", for obvious reasons. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH IT MAKES MY HEART HURT, PEOPLE.

(I originally typed that last sentence without the comma, so it sounded like my love made my heart go around, like, punching people in the face. So I changed it.)

Comments

[perian.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why I've never thought of Frannie/Maggie before but YES! I want to read that very, very much.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Omigosh, they are so CUTE in Hunting Season, are they not? There is not much of that pairing at all, but there is a little bit, if you look! This one (http://community.livejournal.com/ds_flashfiction/86966.html) of cmshaw's is my favorite, for all that it is only 400 words long. I know there's more in her memories, as well.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Mountie: A Love Story In Three Parts (http://community.livejournal.com/ds_flashfiction/463494.html?format=light) by ignazwisdom. She's also written a longer story that has some similarities with this, but I prefer this short-n-sweet (and G-rated) one.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Is there actually Vecchiocest? I read one story long ago by Cara Chapel, before incest was the new black, when I still felt pretty scandalous for enjoying it, but I've never read anything else. (I'm assuming you're talking Ray/Frannie, yes?)

And damn, even though I'm mostly F/K OTP, I'd kill to read a really hot Fraser/Thatcher story.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I know EXACTLY what story you are talking about, because I have read it like eight million times. Hee.

The only other RayV/Frannie story I know about is the one I wrote last year. Having to write it yourself is so much less fun.

[soundslikej.livejournal.com]

OMG yes, all of these things need to happen.

And man. I keep trying and trying to write Vecchiocest, and it Just Won't Happen. *pokes Vecchios*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*siiiiiiigh* VECCHIOS. PLEASE TO PAY ATTENTION AND BE GOOD FOR LORDESS, HELLO.

Man, you would think they didn't WANT to have hot but completely traumatizing and wrong sex with their siblings!

[aerye.livejournal.com]

This is going to make you laugh and laugh, but I think I actually have a certain investment in you remaining deeply suspicious about Ray/Ray. You keep me honest to a certain degree or something. Not that I don't make choices that violate your list of criteria, but you make me think about the choices I make.

Also--yeah, I don't like a really broken Vecchio. I mean, my favorite Vecchio is post-CotW but only in the sense that it gives him a certain gravitas, not because it makes him mean or broken.

In conclusion--OTP icon!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*grins* It does make me laugh, but it is also somewhat comforting! I would much rather be interesting devil's advocate than boring hater, you know?

(Your icon = also gorgeous! LOVE.)

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

I think my favorite Vecchio is Season 2 Vecchio, too. And there TOTALLY needs to be more RayK/Frannie.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Man, it's not like I don't love him in The Deal and the hotel room hugging Benny in CotW, but yeah, my platonic ideal of the guy? Total s2, loyal and tough and soft and funny but not totally goofy. Also, just aesthetically, he looks most handsome there.

[china_shop]

I think it's cute and entirely understandable that you don't like Ray/Ray. It's like: PEARL + FRASER = OTP! THEIRLOVEISSOPURE!

That said, all the het you're proposing makes me want to write hot, dirty Ray/Ray, so um... possibly unintended consequences there? *tries to look apologetic*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Curses! I am foiled again!

(Man, I totally don't know why the list is so het-tilted. I guess because most of the slash I'm interested in is F/K or F/V, and people are, you know, ALREADY writing that?)

Your icon is adorable. HOPE YAYS.

[karabou.livejournal.com]

Fraser/Newbie ftw! I really wish this fandom would produce more crossovers, they're so much fun. That being said, I don't have Fraser/Newbie fic, or fic at all, really, but my friend writes Newbie in an RP game and he is dsjkdskj adorable. There's a great thread with him talking to Leoben here (http://community.livejournal.com/the_blank_slate/839674.html?thread=50509818#t50509818), which eventually leads to this fantastic post (http://community.livejournal.com/the_blank_slate/915842.html). Sadly as someone who can't write fic this is all I have to offer. ♥

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee, neat!

[carla-scribbles.livejournal.com]

askghiuahfk TR!Newbie. I have been following that game for forever, and I have two half-finished apps on my desktop RIGHT NOW. Kindly tell your friend that s/he is awesome.

[estrella30.livejournal.com]

you loving fraser is a CONSTANT in my life, baby. dont ever change!!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

So you're saying if I suddenly switch fandoms someday, your world will FALL APART?

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

Wow, I ... really love the idea of Fraser coming upon Newbie pocketing a package of snack cakes in a store, but, rather than arresting him, as he hadn't actually attempted to leave the store with the item in question, lecturing him at great length. Newbie just nods along for a bit, but sort of gets into the rhythm and flow of Fraser's narrative, and grabs some chips off the shelf to munch on while Fraser -- given apparent free reign to talk as long and in as much detail as he likes -- goes on and on and on about the Importance of Law Enforcement and Civic Duty.

Newbie kind of glazes over after a while, but it's still pretty entertaining watching Fraser's mouth, and the way his face is gradually getting more and more animated. Passionate, even. Newbie licks his lips after noticing that Fraser's been doing the same, and at one point reaches into the refrigerator case and hands him a carton of milk, which Fraser thanks him for and gulps down all at once.

(And we all know to what glorious effect doing that sets off Fraser's throat.)

So, needless to say, Fraser pays for their various snacks and Newbie follows him back to the station, where Fraser introduces him to the colleague he's in town to visit and gives him some pamphlets on good citizenship and crime prevention.

They go eat lunch at the diner on the corner, and then Newbie follows Fraser back to his hotel room, where they fuck up against the door, so Newbie has to be careful not to let his face get smashed up against the plastic-encased emergency instructions. Then Fraser thanks him. That makes Newbie feel kind of special.

(Curtis complains about it, but Newbie still manages to get him to play The Mountie Mounted Me twice that weekend, although he has to sit through My Dentist, My Pimp in return.)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD, Lynn. Does it not HURT to be that awesome! Lectures! Eating the snacks! Fucking against the emergency instructions! Newbie feeling special! The Mountie Mounted Me! I adore you MADLY.

[brooklinegirl.livejournal.com]

LYNN OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERY *BIT* OF THIS WHOLE THING.

I am in awe. Can I hire you to write this? Please?

[carla-scribbles.livejournal.com]

ALL OF THOSE THINGS MUST BE WRITTEN. And now you've actually got me wondering what girl!Fraser's Traumatic First Love would've been like.

*buzzes off to check out vecchiofest*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I hadn't even thought of Victoria. *goes off dreamy eyed*

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

If you're going to comment on this post just to say you hate ray/ray and it is stupid and makes no sense, don't, okay? I try really hard to keep this about my issues as a reader and why it doesn't work for me in particular, and not make it slagging on the pairing itself, or the people it does work for. Slagging on pairings = no fun for anyone!

Wait, so, if you talk about your problems with Ray/Ray, that's you talking about your issues as a reader, but if other people do it, that's pairing-bashing and no fun for anyone? I think I'm failing to grasp a subtle distinction here.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no, that's not quite what I meant! Other people talking about why Ray/Ray doesn't work for them is totally fine, and interesting to me! It's just that when I've made posts about Ray/Ray in the past, I've gotten comments along the lines of "Oh, I agree, Ray/Ray sucks and is such a stupid and nonsensical pairing and BOOOOOOOOO" which makes it um, kind of mean and personal? And which I'm trying to avoid. Does that make sense? Like, talking about why it works or doesn't = great. Slagging = bad. I don't know if I manage to make that a distinction, but I do make an effort!

[shoemaster.livejournal.com]

OMG, w00bie Fraser is what kills me, too. In the recent dsrecsredeux post, BLG was all "Saftey net for Ray if he and Fraser break up!" and I was all BUT WHAT ABOUT FRASER LIVING ALONE IN THE SNOW WITH DIEF WHO'S GOING TO DIE IN A FEW YEARS ANYWAY BECAUSE HE'S A CANINE AND *SOB*

But yeah, OTP kills me on the K/V front. But wow, Fraser/Newbie would be awesome, as would girl!Fraser.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*SOBS WITH YOU*

Of course, all alone in Canada, Fraser is enough of an idiot that he might well predecease Dief anyway. HI I'M DEPRESSING.

[fenlings]

It's the Fraser all alone that I can't stand. Because he's alone! Like in the pilot! Like all those Chicago years made no difference, or worse, just offered him companionship and then SNATCHED IT AWAY AGAIN WAH.

But dude, all those things involving Frannie and Thatcher and sex? Totally need to happen. (Especially the Vecchiocest.)