(no subject)

[skygiants]

lacewood asked me for my Top Five OTPs! As with everything else, this is a difficult question to narrow down and will leave out many many things I love, but I WILL DO MY BEST, etc. etc.




1. Mordion/Vierran, Hexwood

Obviously I need to have a DWJ couple represented here every time I do this, and Mordion and Vierran are currently uppermost in my thoughts thanks to this fantastic Yuletide story, Childish Things, which reminded me how much I love them all over again.

Vierran and Mordion's relationship begins in the usual way - she's just gotten her first boring desk job working for a big corporation, he works in a different area but has to stop her desk a lot, they strike up a flirtation - except of course that the corporation they both work for is composed of interdimensional evil overlords, she's a hostage, and he's a MIND-CONTROLLED ASSASSIN. None of which negates the fact that most of their flirting occurs over office paperwork.

Okay, actually, Mordion/Vierran is probably the most amazingly cracked-out, idtastic relationship DWJ has ever written. He's an angsty mind-controlled assassin and she's a spy! She's from a privileged family and he's a slave! They know each other from an emotionally significant childhood but don't recognize each other as adults, and not only that, they are linked by a telepathic soulbond! They both spend a significant part of the story dramatically mindwiped and amnesiac, and at one point there is a canonical AU where Vierran is a medieval lady and Mordion is a wizard! At another point Mordion literally turns into a dragon due to the sheer weight of backstory angst, and Vierran rides her soulbonded dragon boyfriend around while her family makes disapproving noises! They fill up a cliche_bingo card all by themselves. ALIENS ACTUALLY ATTEMPT TO MAKE THEM DO IT. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING. (Okay, evil interdimensional overlords attempt to make them do it, but I THINK THAT COUNTS.)

And because it's DWJ in the middle of all this idtastic drama is actually the story of two damaged people who have idealized each other with starry-eyed crushes actually getting to know each other for who they really are, warts and all, and all the romance is very quiet and adorable. Which should not be possible, and yet, it's DWJ.

2. Sig Curtis/Izumi Curtis, Fullmetal Alchemist



I was waffling on this one because I didn't want to include two relationships from the same canon, it didn't seem fair, but . . . on the other hand, relationships like Sig and Izumi's are so rare, and get so little attention from fandom, and INSPIRE IN ME SO MANY FEELINGS, that I feel the need to talk about it anyway.

Most fiction believes a couple of things I find to be highly problematic:
1. Women who are strong, especially physically strong, find it difficult or impossible to hold down traditional romantic relationships.
2. Older people are boring.
3. Happy married couples are boring.

Izumi Curtis is a middle-aged kickass lady alchemist and one of, if not the, most hardcore and dangerous characters in Fullmetal Alchemist. In any other canon this would doom her to being a cranky hermit. In FMA, Izumi is not just the MOST BADASS EVER, she is also in a ridiculously happy, adorable, and stable relationship with a loving, supportive and almost-as-badass husband. Sig doesn't need to compete with Izumi, or feel insecure because she is amazing; he is pretty clearly just happy to be with a lady who is that awesome, and Izumi is pretty clearly also happy to be with a dude who is that awesome!

And in pretty much any other canon this would mean that Sig was doomed to die, but - SPOILER - Sig and Izumi both survive and go on to live happy and adorably ever after. And I SHIP IT SO HARD. I'm not going to lie, if Sig or Izumi had died, I might have been even more upset than if Roy and/or Riza had - because Sig and Izumi's happy and stable marriage is the kind of thing canon never lets stand, and I was so hoping FMA would be different. And it was!

(Also, they are just so hilarious. MISS, YOU DROPPED YOUR BEAR.)

3. Roy Mustang/Riza Hawkeye, Fullmetal Alchemist



But of course it would now be remiss of me not to talk about the couple I . . . have actually written the most fic about!

Look, it is not news to anyone that I find Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye's relationship amazing. There are two major reasons for that, and one is the bedrock of absolute trust that their relationship is founded on. Whether you think they've had any kind of physical romantic interaction before the end of canon or not (and my personal mental canon is not) it almost doesn't matter, because they know each other that well, and they trust and rely on each other absolutely. And this is something that, as I get older, I find grips me more and more in fiction. Kids just figuring out that they liiiike each other are adorable, and I enjoy reading about them, but - the thing about these two is that they trust each other; they respect each other; it's a relationship of equals, and they have each other's backs. And guys, I don't know about you, but I think that trust is hotter than just about anything else.

. . . . and that's half of it. The other half is that - guys, call me hard-hearted, but I think 'love conquers all' is often not a healthy idea. Love is great! But I also think that in many circumstances, it can be pretty selfish or short-sighted to put that above all considerations. Which is why I have a huge bulletproof fictional kink for relationships that are driven by ideals - where it's very clear that no matter how much two people love each other, there are things they believe in that trump their feelings. Hawkeye loves Mustang, and she would shoot him if she had to do so to stop him from becoming monstrous. The dream they're working for is more important than their own happiness. (Uh, obviously I ship it and want them to be happy, don't get me wrong! But their ideals are a good part of the reason why, and why I respect them so much for it.)

4. Cha Song Joo/Lee Su Hyun, Capital Scandal



Speaking of ideals! Cha Song Joo and Lee Su Hyun combine, like, everything I love into one ridiculously angsty package. They are both passionately idealistic about their country - she's a glamorous courtesan by day and a secret freedom fighting assassin by night, he's a secret policeman - and they a.) love each other and b.) are fighting against each other a lot of the time. See that picture? That is him carefully checking on the BULLET WOUND HE GAVE HER IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE WHEN SHE WAS SECRETLY ASSASSINATING SOME DUDE AND HIS POLICE TEAM CAME ON THE SCENE. Oh yeah, true love.

See, it's not that I love enemies-in-love, exactly. It's that I love enemies in love when the things that are making them enemies are, again, their ideals, for exactly the same reasons as above. And - all right, I know I just spent a lot of time talking about trust and friendship and how important that is to me in fictional relationships, and it's true, but I'm not going to lie, I also love dangerous mind games. Not when one person is playing mind games on the other, because that's creepy. But when both parties are equally clever, and equally dangerous? That is totally one of my id-buttons. Cha Song Joo and Lee Su Hyun's relationship gets me ideals and trust and dangerous mind games, and it is basically my kryptonite.

(Also:





I, uh, guess I just really like it when people point guns at each other as a sign of true love? IN FICTION, LET ME CLARIFY.)

5. OOTORI KYOUYA/AZULA, The Ouran High School Host Club/Avatar: The Last Airbender Crossover That Does Not Exist



AND SPEAKING OF DANGEROUS MIND GAMES.

Guys, I have been wanting someone to write me this crossover fic for years. YEARS. I'm just going to keep mentioning it until someone finally gives in.

Oh my god, that was the longest I have ever talked about shipping ever. EVER. Distract me from how embarrassed I feel by telling me why you love the relationships you love the most!

Comments

[moonyazu9.livejournal.com]

I'm just now getting back into Fullmetal Alchemist, and I love Izumi/Sig SO FREAKIN' MUCH.

OOTORI KYOUYA/AZULA, The Ouran High School Host Club/Avatar: The Last Airbender Crossover That Does Not Exist
I just checked FF.net, it doesn't exist. BUT I WOULD TOTALLY LOVE IT IF SOMEONE WROTE IT SOMEDAY.

[genarti]

YOU ALREADY KNOW MY OTPS I THINK DUDE although I will try to think of something to babble about! But I have to pause and giggle over that particular selection of Hawkeye and Mustang scene. Really, my friend?

[skygiants]

SOMEDAY SOMEONE WILL. It is the dearest crossover wish of my heart!

[skygiants]

I don't know, man, I think your feelings about Hawkeye and Mustang are somewhat unclear! I FEEL YOU SHOULD ELABORATE. :P

Hey, I think my first choice of scene was perfectly valid as a representation of the things I am talking about! *dignity* AS IS MY SECOND, come to that. ALSO LOOK AT YOUR ICON, LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES, YOU ARE ONE OT TALK.

[genarti]

Your first one was awesome! BUT YOUR SECOND IS FROM THE FIRST GUN-POINTING AND NOT THE SECOND, ISN'T IT?? LOOK AT THAT FACIAL EXPRESSION. WHICH CHANGES THINGS SLIGHTLY I FEEL.

On the other hand, if I am wrong about this I will crack up at myself forever. But I am 90-odd percent sure I am right.

And hahaha, you're right. I HAVE BEEN VERY REMISS IN MAKING MY FONDNESS FOR THEM CLEAR. IT'S A SHAME REALLY.

PS. I was going to add one from Inda, but a) haven't gotten to book 4 yet, and b) WHICH ONE. I HAVE SEVERAL MUTUALLY INCOMPATIBLE ONES, SOME OF WHICH ARE ALSO INCOMPATIBLE WITH CHARACTERS' SEXUALITIES.

[skygiants]

No, you are right, of course. *giggling* BUT IT ALSO SAYS SOMETHING DOES IT NOT? Insta-recognition etc.? Anyway the internets did not provide me one with anything like such hilarious parallelism (and proper sizing.) *DIGNITY FOREVER*

What would happen if my gmail crashed and I didn't have a encyclopedia's worth of emails to document it anymore, Gen? WHAT THEN?

PS. a.) You are still on book 2, right? and b.) hahaha A DIFFICULT QUESTION. I briefly considered Tau/Jeje myself, but there are SO MANY COMPLICATED POLYGON OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM.

[genarti]

WELL YES OF COURSE IT DOES, but in context it makes it look like you're setting up a slightly different OTP... *giggling* Uh, to anyone who knows, in which case they know better anyway, but I still laugh a lot.

IT'S TRUE. But what if LJ crashed too?? Then NO ONE WOULD KNOW. Except anyone who's ever listened to me on the subject.

PS. I am yes! In rereading terms, anyway. And YES EXACTLY. Also every single character is in a committed lifelong OTP with badassery anyway...

[skygiants]

I was going to say, I think anyone who knows well enough to pick out exactly what scenes I am and am not referencing there will understand what I am getting at . . .

BUT IN CASE ANYONE IS CURIOUS, I am not actually shipping anyone with hypothetical shapeshifters.

The WORLD should know, Gen! And the journal too.

PS. Well, you know my main Inda OTP anyway is Tanrid/A Long And Healthy Life. ;____;

[moonyazu9.livejournal.com]

Kyoya agrees. He is very intrigued by Azula.

[genarti]

*obligatory* Tanriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid. ;__;

I am trying to think of others! Umm. Nanoha/Fate, I suppose, in that I just want to pinch their baby cheeks in the first two seasons. (I am still working through the third, but nothing has yet made me ship them less. I just sort of assume they're essentially married at this point.)

Utena/Anthy? They're on my mind because someone on my flist was posting about magical girl deconstruction. Wash and Zoe? The problem is that there aren't all that many OTPs I have ~shipper feelings~ about; mostly I am just like, WELL DUH THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY AWESOME. If it's not an explicitly canonical pairing, I am usually like WELL DUH THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY AWESOME FRIENDS, AND I AM TOTALLY OKAY WITH POSITING THAT THEY ARE ~IN A RELATIONSHIP~ TOO.

*tinhats* Alex Armstrong/Buccaneer

[skygiants]

Nanoha/Fate is entirely fair and reasonable! I haven't even seen season 3 and I sort of assume they're essentially married.

You know, I ship Utena/Anthy obviously in that way you talk about - the dude, it's canon and they're obviously awesome - but I don't have any kind of tinhatty feelings about them! Like, I don't feel the urge to write or even seek out Utena/Anthy fic or anything, I am pretty cool with canon being canon. (On the other hand, I could watch 'If I Was a Prince' a million times over, so . . .)

*tinhats likewise* Jerso/Zampano!

[genarti]

Yeah, exactly! And the Utenaverse is so fraught with sexual politics and metaphor anyway that insofar as I'm interested in fic, I will gleefully read any permutation anyone wants to write, with the automatic understanding that obviously it ends up Utena/Anthy because, well, CANON. END OF CANON SO AWESOME.

Haha, well, yours is not semi-disproven by end-of-canon reaction shots. OH WELL. I continue to ship it.

[sour-idealist.livejournal.com]

KYOUYA/AZUALA?

...I would give a fortune to be able to write mind games right now.

[skygiants]

I KNOW RIGHT. I would write it myself if I thought I had a chance in hell of doing it justice! As it is I will just make Tamaki-esque puppy-dog eyes at the rest of the world until someone gives in.

[skygiants]

Yes! I will read pretty much any Utena pairing, because . . . well. (Although I still sorrow at the lack of Saionji/Nanami. There is my Utena tinhat, if you like! I would add Juri/Kozue, except I think I actually found one for that, it just wasn't much good. ;_;) END OF CANON THE AWESOMEST.

I would add my Team Scarcoh tinhat here except it was disrupted by the fact that I now ship Scar/Marcoh and Scar/Olivier pretty much equally! Damn end of canon and Olivier's hilarious hairflips.

[sour-idealist.livejournal.com]

There are eight thousand reasons that crossover needs to happen, really. I mean, obviously, the meeting of the geniuses, but I need to see Mai shut down Tamaki epically, and the Aang + Hunny + Ty Lee + Tamaki apocalypse meeting, and Mai and Haruhi and Katara bonding over their dorky boyfriends and snarking together, and Toph meeting the twins and starting the most epic prank war ever, and everyone being extraordinarily nice to Zuko who maybe isn't quite sure how to react to that, and... I could go on, but I won't.

[skygiants]

I sort of figure that Mai and Mori will inevitably get into a silent deadpan sparring fight, while Ty Lee and Honey sit on the sides and chatter cheerfully about how Azula and Kyouya are really very nice people when you get to know them!

Toph would pwn the twins SO HARD. And it would be HILARIOUS. (I think Zuko would get on well with Kasanoda. WHY ARE THEY SO BAD AT BEING GOOD?)

[gramarye1971]

The problem is that there aren't all that many OTPs I have ~shipper feelings~ about; mostly I am just like, WELL DUH THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY AWESOME. If it's not an explicitly canonical pairing, I am usually like WELL DUH THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY AWESOME FRIENDS, AND I AM TOTALLY OKAY WITH POSITING THAT THEY ARE ~IN A RELATIONSHIP~ TOO.

I just want to put glitter all over this statement. That is all.

[sour-idealist.livejournal.com]

Zuko + Kasanoda = perfection. They'd totally bond! (Although I don't think Zuko is as bad at being good as he thinks.) And watching Mai face off against everyone would be fantastic.

I am up for... pretty much anything combining Hunny and Ty Lee, now that I think about it. You'd have to drag them away from each other.

Would Toph pwn the twins or team up with them? Probably both, in that order, actually.

And Iroh would be the chaperone for all this and just be so hugely entertained the whole time.

[skygiants]

(Zuko is way better at being good than he thinks. But he's stubborn and hard to convince of these things!) Kasanoda and Zuko and Tamaki and Sokka and Aang could play KICK THE CAN. Aang, alas, would cheat.

Admittedly, I am sort of terrified by the idea of Ty Lee on as much of a sugar high as she would inevitably get, while hanging out with Honey . . .

hahahaha Iroh would reign supreme over the Host Club tea parties. And every so often beat Kyouya in a game of pai sho, to everyone's shock.

[genarti]

Although I would read good post-canon fic A LOT. I have not found much. ;_; Although some! Also, uh, my wariness at searching for SKU fic may be relevant to my not having come across much.

I have it easy here! :D I see the appeal of Scar/Olivier, but nonetheless do not particularly care about it. So it does not interfere! Anyway as we have discussed I totally friend-ship Team Scarcoh but do not care if it's entirely platonic or (AFTER A GOOD LONG WHILE OF GETTING PAST ISSUES) otherwise.

[jothra]

I approve this message.

[hafl.livejournal.com]

I guess I should take this as a signal to take a look at Full Metal Alchemist, but both the manga and the anime are just so long. I have gathered that the first anime is not very good, is the second anime any better or should I just give up on the anime and look for the manga?

[hafl.livejournal.com]

Nanoha/Fate probably could have afforded separate beds. They just did not want to.

[zumie-ashlen.livejournal.com]

Hawkeye loves Mustang, and she would shoot him if she had to do so to stop him from becoming monstrous. The dream they're working for is more important than their own happiness.

Oh my gosh that is such a kink of mine too AND I NEVER REALIZED IT UNTIL YOU PUT INTO WORDS YOU WONDERFUL PERSON YOU. Um. I THINK I SHIP THEM MORE FERVENTLY NOW.