i apologize to the non-fandom folk on my f-list... just ignore this one, unless you want TMI

[rivendellrose]

Okay... so, I have a question. How do pairings get into people's heads? How do they become popular? Is it more about whether a pairing makes sense, or whether it titillates (clearly often a factor), or whether a good author or two pick it up out of obscurity?

I promise, I'm not actually trying to be insulting - I honestly find it interesting how people arrive at certain pairings, and how they progress to become popular. Like the infamous squidfic thing, which has become an almost universally understood joke. But I have to presume that someone, whether serious or not, started it.


Cases in point:

Draco/Hermione. You would not think this one would be a natural conclusion to arrive at. Except possibly to state that yes, I get that the hate may be the very thing that gets people so into this. But... I don't get it.

Cedric/Voldemort. Now this one totally wigged me out. I had no idea it existed until... well, about two minutes ago. And there's apparently enough of it out there for a community, albeit a small one.

Snape/Harry. Yeah, it's another case of "Jen doesn't understand this hate=love thing." But I've gotta say, it seems to be everywhere. Is it just because Snape is sexy? Because that much I can totally understand. *g*

(And before anyone says that the sexiness is purely fanon or purely movie!Snape, allow me to just say that although I'm not the best judge (I saw the movie before reading any of the books... *hides*), I really do think that purely-canon Sev is kinda sexy. What can I say - I'm a sucker for snarky, nasty British bastards, especially if they come equipped with black hair and a tragic past.)

So I guess what I'm asking is, how did you come across and come to accept the pairings that you love? How do you think the others (especially the really obscure or random ones) come into being?

For me, my favorite pairings all grew out of the games I've participated in and/or my friends' writings. I developed a passionate adoration for Lucius/Narcissa while playing first Lucius, then Narcissa in a few games (one of which misfired, creating a huge love of Snape/Narcissa...), and the first time I ever read a bit of Snape/Lupin it was with a feeling of "this soooo should not work... but it's sooooo good..." As time went on, I began to see all the lovely little (mostly delusional) moments where the pairing could fit into canon, and I was hooked. And it doesn't hurt that I find both of them extraordinarily sexy, of course.


See... stuff like that is what happens when you deprive an English major of (or release her from) required reading and essays. Left to my own devices... I ramble. Whee.

Comments

[arionrhod.livejournal.com]

Ooo, good question! :D

For me it's rather easy. I fell head over heels for Canon!Snape. Call me crazy, but when I read the books he was the only character who seemed three-dimensional to me. Like yourself, the snarky, nasty, redeemed!bad-boy Brit gets me every time. I'm also not so hung up on appearance, and dark hair-and-eyes are my weakness. Maybe I romanticized him in my head, but well... ;)

So, Severus. I actually placed him in fanfic first with females, I guess, being female myself. Then I read PoA.

REMUS. For some reason in that book it just leapt out at me, the tension between them, even before the Shack Incident was mentioned. Then with the whole mystery about the Marauders and The Prank, the only explanation I have ever been able to wrap my mind around about why Sirius would do it and why Severus would buy it was... jealousy. Thus was my OTP born.

And it was aided along its merry way by scribbulus_ink and thetreacletart. It grew to full maturity in the beyond_hogwarts RPG when I actually got to RP it opposite x_queenc_x's Severus. Writing it helped, too, exploring the myriad different possibilities of the how and why. And while I have absolutely no doubt they will not end up together in canon, in my little world they do. ;)

There aren't very many other ships I like, especially nothing in the league of Snupin. I used to ship D/Hr, but I fell so hard into the slash fandom I just can't seem to give a darn about Het anymore.

:)

I love a good romance, and will read almost any pairing if the story is good enough. Snarry and Snirius have to be pretty darned exceptional in some way, though, for me to care enough about the story to read it - I can't can't get past the whole "not in a million years" feeling on those.

There we go... bored yet? :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets massive feelings of impossibility off of Snarry and Snirius (*snerks at names, as always*) - I've read a few good Snirius fics, but they've never managed to make the pairing very believable to me.

I admit, Snupin never occurred to me when I first read the books (until OotP), but as soon as some clever fic author pointed out the jealousy that might lie behind the Shack incident, I was gone. It just works so well.

Oh - and on a more personal note, I really want to apologize for being a spaz with B_H. At the time I joined, two of my previous RPs looked to be on the verge of death and pretty much immediately decided to resurrect themselves (*headdesk*) and for reasons I don't fully understand I found it a lot harder to get into character and the style of the RP than I thought I would. My apologies. It's a fabulous game, and you all are wonderful writers, I just couldn't seem to make myself and my character work properly for it, and added with time constraints at the time... My big-huge-bad, I'm sorry.

[nekokoban]

[grins] Weeeell, I'm not so much into your fandom, though I dabble occasionally at its fringes. XD Then again, I think the whole pairing phenomena is one that ALL fandoms have to deal with, regardless of how small--especially in these days, with the plethora of RPF and Mary Sues floating around; you can pair ANYone with ANYone, and you're fine.

Usually for me, I like pairings that either stem from a good friendship, or a milder rivalry. To couch it in your fandom's terms, I should, by extension, like Harry/Ron (which I don't, but that's weird, because they're the sort I normally DO); and by "milder" rivalry, I'm thinking something more along the lines of, say, Roy and Ed (who just snark and get pissed off at one another, but can and DO respect each other and work together as opposed to Snape and Black (whom I think would gleefully and cheerfully have killed each other, given the possibility).

In the case of a lot of anime fandoms, I will confess, it does depend on what sort of art I find. [wry] If I surf for too much art in my impressionable early-fandom days, and it's ALL ONE PAIRING, I form something of a bias towards it, if only because I have this wealth of images provided to me by uber-talented artists, and it's not hard to expand from that and design images of my own. [grins] Then again, after a while, I tend to just look for gen art or the pairings I prefer--ye gods and fishes know how grateful I am that most Japanese fandom search engines DO split by pairings. XD

Let's see. As for my actual pairings, that I write for? GetBackers makes it waaaaay too frigging easy--when you've got the OFFICIAL character designer for the series drawing magazine spreads that include, y'know, the two of them twined together and ONE OF THEM WITH NO PANTS, conclusions must be drawn. XD Granted, she only does that for the MAIN pairing of the series--but ALL of them (that I ship, at least) are pretty damn obvious--in one, there's literally confessions of "I'll follow you anywhere and die for you" going on between them; in the other (token hetpairing of the series!), SHE says "I love you" and HE says "I'll always protect you," which in translation means pretty much the same thing. XD

As for FMA, which you'd know--for some reason, and I have NO idea why, I pinged off Winry/Al in the third episode, when she's examining his armor for the first time. I remember watching it and remarking to my friend that it was cute, and I kind of hoped she'd end up with Al, rather than Ed, as the token hetpairing. My fondness for Roy/Ed probably grew out of my minor rivalry kink--I don't like rivalslash when I feel the parties genuinely hate each other, but I must confess an inordinate fondness for snarky, snipey, but-they-still-like-each-other! pairings. XD After that, hm--Hughes and Gracia = most freaking obvious ever and any other Hughes-pairings hurt my head when I try to comprehend them; Hawkeye/Havoc = mostly for the "I can SO kick his ass" factor, without the ambiguities of being involved with one's commanding officer.

... geh. Merryjen, I'm sorry for cluttering up so much room in your comments--and I'm not even an English major, haha. XD;

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Snuggles* Pipluv, that's why I asked! I wanted to get people's opinions!! I'm happy you wrote!

The minor rivalries do definitely make sense to me, and Roy/Ed... well, I didn't like it that much til I read your fic, but mostly only because of the age gap and because I don't really view Ed as sexual. I just have a hard time viewing the main character teenage boys in either series as sexual entities, I guess. XD

Al/Winry are so cute they could give you cavities, and I hope they end up together because damn it, she seems to like and understand him better than she does Ed. But I could also say that Ed is snarkier and more like her, and he needs somebody who can put up with him... and Winry's probably one of the few women on earth who could. If/when I think about it, though, I definitely prefer Al to end up with him.

Hughes/Gracia is wonderful. I get the Hawkeye/Havoc thing, but my mind has been interpreting unrequited Hawkeye/Roy ever since the "USELESS" episode, so.... *wibbles* I think I care about it more than she does, though - she'd just see it as a fact of life and would move on. I am not so practical.

And yeah... you've shown me some of the GetBackers stuff, and it makes me laugh with its over-blown THESE PEOPLE ARE TOGETHER!!!!! message. No subtle ambiguities there. XD

Thanks, Pip! I hope your summer's going well!

[nekokoban]

Hee, well--as long as you don't mind, I guess I won't apologize any more. ^_~

See, the thing with minor rivalries (especially ones where both parties are responding to it)--if you want to look at it from a bizarre sort of twist, they're based on mutual respect of the other, which I've always found very important. [grins] If it's a genuine outright HATE rivalry, such as Snape and Black, or Snape with Harry OR James--I just don't see it. (I don't think Snape hates Harry for Harry, but I think he has the same problem Sirius did, seeing too much of James in him for it to work.) Hate rivalries are bitter and sharp and I don't see any viable pairings from those--minor rivalries, though, where it's just a case of "I am SO gonna kick your ass and SHOW THAT I AM BETTER!" are possible, for me. [grins]

And once again, I blame Japanese fanart for my Roy/Ed bias--in context of the series, no, I don't see Ed as sexual at all; he's too driven and angry and single-minded about his goal. Then I saw bunches upon bunches of Japanese fanart and that softened me up--and in a way, I guess one could argue that no one Ed's age level is mature enough for him, whereas with Roy, no one HIS age level is IMMATURE enough for him. XD (Episode 37 has, at least temporarily, completely destroyed my ability to take him seriously. XD)

I think one of my big things is that--well, if there are two main guy characters and only one chick, I always seem to prefer it when the chick ends up with the NOT main-main character--thus, in this case, Al. (Because he and Ed are both 'stars,' but one must admit that Ed does take the spotlight more.) All things considered, though, I DO think Ed and Winry may eventually move towards something (more from the manga than the anime), and I think Winry is the ONLY girl Ed would think of in such a sense--she's the only one who's been there from the beginning, who knew his mother and how much he loved her, who's always cared even when they were separate--but, I think if Al showed any hints of being intersted in Winry, Ed would immediately back up, simply because of the sense of entitlement he gives his brother. On top of that, I think that Ed's just NOT the sort to settle down or stick to one place--and he'd rather die than become someone like his father, abandoning wife and kids, so I can't really see him settling with any girl, and *especially* Winry--who, I think, DOES want to recapture the feeling of a family, given what she says to Hughes about wishing the brothers would confide in her more, and how much she very obviously misses what they had as kids.

Hawkeye ... intersetingly, I see her relationship with Roy as being a LOT like Sam and Frodo, from LotR--this all-encompassing determined love and fierce desire to protect someone who, in the eyes of the world, is "higher" than you, but has never treated you as worthless or low because of it. I think she certainly loves Roy, and she could LOVE Roy--but they're both too practical and military-minded to entertain the notion. Which is unfortunate, since I DO like Hawkeye/Roy, I just can't ever see it. [grins]

And one more thing about GetBackers--there's a scene where one character is being introduced, for the first time, to the prettyboy of the series and mistakes him for a girl. He, naturally, gets TOTALLY beaten down by said prettyboy's "doctor" (and bodyguard, coffcoff), and asks his friend, who introduced them, "Ehhh? Is he gay? T_T" and his friend says "Ah, that's not good, you shouldn't touch Juubei-han's sweetheart~" (Juubei, natch, being the bodyguard of the prettyboy. It's the only pairing they make fun of in-series, but OMGWTF EVERYONE IS SO PAIRED UP. Except for Himiko, who alternately pines for and hates Ban, and Akabane, who probably wants into Ginji's pants and then to kill him. Er.)

My summer is going well; I just miss the Seattle gang. XD Hope yours is going spiffy, too~~~~~ :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're right... in a weird way, Hawkeye's relationship to Roy really is a lot like Sam's to Frodo. *Ponders this* I don't think they'd ever get together, either, but I definitely sense that sort of feeling from her. Roy, however, I suspect to be totally clueless.

Yeah, I miss everybody, too. But we'll all be back here in a few months, and we'll have plenty of stories to tell! *Snugs*

[lennaofmidearth.livejournal.com]

Okay, let me take a shot at this. I apologize in advance for any babbling that makes no sense. *g*

For me, I seem to get attached to one pairing, and that's the only pairing I'll go out of my way to read. I'll read other stuff if it's by friends, but when I'm looking for fic, it's my "OTP" and nothing else. As for the pairings themselves...

Well, let's put it this way, in LoTR it's Frodo/Sam and in HP it's Harry/Ron. It's all about the friendship I guess. I think for me, to really believe a pairing, it has to make complete sense to me. So why does this type of pairing make more sense to me than others? Because there's already a bond between them. Strong emotion is already there. So it's easy for me to see it go that extra step to another emotional level. They've been through so much together, and they need each other. And there's an innocent quality to these pairings that I really enjoy.

Most other pairings I don't have an opinion about. Except the ones I strongly dislike. And I've always been one to say "to each his/her own", so I have nothing against anyone who does like these pairings. But like you, Snape/Harry...I just don't get it. At all. Personally, I find it creepy and disgusting. And as popular as it is, I can not stand Harry/Draco. I don't understand it, it makes no sense to me, and that's all I'm saying about that.

As for obscure pairings...hm, that's an interesting question. I think different reasons really. Challenges, jokes, wanting to do something totally different, a conversation with a friend, wanting to shock, or hell maybe someone just got a random plot bunny one day *g*. I guess what I'm saying is, I feel they could come from anywhere.

Okay, I think I may have answered some of your questions somewhere in there. Who knows, when do I make sense? But great discussion topic none the less!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That's interesting that you look only for the specific pairings you're interested in - I do that to some extent, as well, although I branch out and read anything that seems reasonable to me if I'm in the mood, and will try pretty much anything if it's by a writer I like.

Frodo/Sam is so terrifically cute. I don't really ship it, but... it's impossible to be a LotR fan without a deep love of their relationship on whatever level you believe it is. And it's an ambiguous relationship, definitely... lots of openings for interpretation, there.

I'm a bit... conservative in my LotR interpretations, so I don't actually think there was much physically going on there. Before the quest, the intimacy wasn't there yet. During, there wasn't time or, I think, interest in that sort of thing. After, Frodo was too broken, and Sam had Rosie, who (whether influenced by the movie or my desire to believe in the power of the few women who actually are shown in the books) I cannot believe he just married out of convenience. On the whole, though, I take LotR too seriously for the fandom and shipping stuff that I happily involve myself in with HP. Canon really is gospel in my mind (in anything, sometimes, but to a greater extent there) and I can't bring myself to contravene what happens in the books. Aragorn marries Arwen, much as I would rather have had him marry Eowyn. *Sigh*

On the obscure pairings, I think you are definitely right. For god's sake, my fic was originally meant to've followed the plot of My Fair Lady loyally and would have been Snape/Tonks (!!) if I hadn't gotten distracted by my OTP along the way. *g*

You made perfect sense, and thanks for putting in your thoughts!

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

Marry Eowyn? The blasphemy! Why on earth does nobody properly appreciate Faramir? ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I do appreciate Faramir - I love the guy! It's more about me bristling at movie!Arwen than anything else... I can't stand the girl, most of the time, and I adore Eowyn. And worship Aragorn.

In the books I'm cool with the way things turn out, to the extent that I recognize and accept that Arwen is the traditional noblewoman and proper wife for Aragorn. I can't really bitch about her since I know that, in the same situation, I'd be the one stitching the pretty banner, not the one toting a sword into battle. ;)

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

Ah. I have avoided the movies just about entirely . . .

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

They were well-done, I think, and honestly quite impressive. But some things... well, let's just say I disagree vehemently with the casting for Arwen. *shakes head sadly* Otherwise, it was fabulous.

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, from everything I've heard it was pretty good; but it just wasn't going to match my own mental images, and with Tolkien that's very important to me :)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I totally get how you feel on that one. My friends all learned after the movies came out that it was a really bad idea to say something like "boy, that could have been cut down a lot more, the ending really dragged..."

I get a little... protective.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know. I try and rationalize my pairings (especially my insane ones, such as Lucius/Remus) and it just comes to 'I see chemistry between these characters'. But I will admit, RPs have a lot to do with it.

Sirius/Remus for example. I'd wandered away from that pairing because I found it overdone and cliched. And I wasn't happy with how people were writing Sirius for the most part. After OotP, he sort of became Super-Bastard. I don't see him as that, but I do see him as...not the most considerate, stable, or mature of people. Enter lovelies and her amazing and spot on portrayal of Sirius. I found myself drawn back into the pairing.

Dolph/Bella. I was really turned off of that pairing for a while, but thanks to zinjadu and her Bella, I'm back happily into that pairing. And dalhessian is a huge part of the reason I like Dolph/Bast. (His Bast is the only Bast I can really accept, at this point.)

As for Severus/Remus, that was my first pairing in the fandom. It was the first slash pairing I ever read for HP, and I just went 'hey, this could work'. Then I was discussing the book with a friend, and we read far too much into Remus' stuttering and flushing when he spoke about Severus in POA. And I think they balance each other out. Severus needs someone who can put up with him, Remus can put up with him. There's much more to it than that, but I'm not going to bore you with what you've heard me go on about before.

Lucius/Remus....I don't know. I don't see them in a romantic situation, but I see them in a heavily sexual situation. Lucius is a predator, I think Remus could find himself attracted to that. And vice versa. Whenever I write them it's usually a bit dark, it's usually dubious consent, or it's hot and violent wild sex.

Other pairings...it really does depends on the portrayal of the characters. I've read some Ron/Pansy that I loved, and some Ron/Pansy that I hated.

Snape/Harry...I just don't see. Same with Draco/Hermione (he would rather stab himself in the eye than be involved with a mudblood) and Draco/Harry, I don't see any chemistry. Phew. Long winded much! *snuggles*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I totally get what you mean about Sirius/Remus. I had gotten to the point where I sort of growled whenever people mentioned them as a pairing (due, in part, to the idea that what caused the Shack incident was jealousy between Sev and Sirius), and then had just plain gotten to the point of not liking Sirius much at all for a while. Thanks to lovelies and other good portrayals of him, I've gotten over the bitterness and love him once again.

zinjadu was able to make me see not only Dolph and Bella as an interesting pairing, but to see new levels and tangles in her relationship with Narcissa as well. *love*

I actually get kind of weirded out when I run into Bast in other fiction or games. I'd never noticed him as a character before I saw the way dalhessian writes him at IB and ADV, and my mind refuses to accept other interpretations. *Laughs* Hopefully Rowling won't do anything with him in the books - it's always awkward to feel "That's wrong!" toward the real author.

Draco/Hermione is totally unbelievable to me. From what I've seen, it comes out of the redeemed!Draco concept, but I just can't accept it. Redeemed or not, he'd still be a prat, and Hermione has no patience for that sort of behavior. She doesn't put up with shit from her best friends, for crying out loud, she's not going to put up with it from her former enemy. At least that's my take. Draco/Harry I can vaguely understand, but not as a real "theirloveissowonderful" type thing. Nope... not happening, in my mind.

I don't go for the "They hate each other because they love each other!" theory, in any pairing except Lupin/Snape. And there... it's different. *g* There is background, there is the knowledge that Snape is bitter to everyone because of the way his life turned out, and that Remus regrets not stepping in and stopping the others, and that he always tries to be kind and polite to Snape, now. Sirius/Remus is more canon-based, sure, but there's a lot there for Severus/Remus, too.

...And I'll get off the soapbox, now. *Snugs*

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Gah, you two are gonna make me conceited. Bad you guys. I gotta say, Jen you do a wonderful Cissa and she's making me realize how much Bella can care about things. Fey, Dolph's just fun. Bella won't let me say more than that. ^_^ *Luff to you both*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks! *Snugs*

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

hehe, you English majors do like to ramble. We history majors do it too, but it typically involves a few more dates. ;D

Anywho, I definitely agree about Draco/Hermione and Snape/Harry. Snarry does seem to be everywhere nowadays, and it just does not make sense to me. I know Snape is teh hot, but I don't see him getting together with his enemy's son. especially because he belongs with Remus

I don't really read too much fic that revolves around shipping the younger generation. Hermione is my absolute favorite character, because I really identify with her, but I don't read fics that are purposely Ron/Hermione fluff and especially not Harry/Hermione, because I don't see that at all. And I HATE Draco/Hermione with the fire of a thousand suns. HATE.

So I love Snape/Lupin (especially as theladyfeylene writes them) and I'm getting back into Sirius/Remus (although I try to avoid the fangirls, because a lot of them are crazy). And my OTP is Lucius/Narcissa, because I think they have a really fascinating relationship. I just like stories about the Black sisters in general, because I think their family is cool. Ooh, and I love Percy/Penelope fics, because despite Percy being an ass in OotP, I still <3 him. Can't forget Snape/Sinistra either, although I like that more in comedy fic than in anything serious. I read Diaries of a Dungeon Dwelling Moron and Lamentations of a Starry Eyed Twit and thought they were cute.

LOTR, I'm pretty much just shipping canon stuff. I never really liked Arwen all that much, so I don't read any Aragorn/Arwen stuff, but I adore Eowyn and Faramir, so I read fic about them. One of my favorite het fics is Warrior Queen, which is just a short, fluffy Eomer/Lothiriel fic. I like that pairing because 1. I love Eomer and 2. Lothiriel isn't a very developed character, so you can go in a lot of directions with her. Ummm...LOTR slash, I don't read too much. I've read some good Aragorn/Boromir fic and also some good Theodred/Boromir, but not too much else. I'm developing this mostly irrational hatred of Legolas, so I try to avoid most fics involving him paired with anyone.

I don't read fic in any of my other fandoms, so I really can't comment. Although, I suppose Star Wars novels could technically count as fanfic.....in which case I don't buy Luke/Mara. I love Mara Jade, but I don't know about her and Luke. Besides, I kind of liked Callista.

heh, I think that's enough rambling from me. :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, history majors - the only group whose writing makes me go "gah, I so cannot handle this!" My experience in history classes can basically be summed up by this conversation which I once had with a history dept writing center aide:

Her: You have a funny problem with your analysis - it's like you're analyzing your sources as though this were a literature essay.

Me: Hello? English major...

Her: Ohhh.


I can see Snape/Draco in very specific situations, but it usually casts Snape in a bad light, I find. Whether because he's taking advantage of this student who's under his protection, or because he's getting involved with him because Draco reminds him of what he once had with his father, when they were young. Which, when you think about it, is a bit squicky.

Lucius/Narcissa has really come to tie with Snape/Lupin for my OTP. I adore them. There are just so many levels, there, so many directions in which their relationship can be taken and interpreted. So much fun.

I'm going to have to go hunting for Snape/Sinistra fics, I think - that sounds just too cute to miss, especially if there are good humor fics in that pairing.

I really don't read much LotR fic, but that Eomer/Lothiriel fic sounds wonderful. I adore Eomer, and have always been so damned pleased that his wife is just a name - so nice to have freedom of imagination. Arwen... pisses me off, but that's mostly because of the movie. And because other than the movie there's not much to go on. I really enjoy Baylor's genfic about the hobbits - "The Care and Feeding of Hobbits," if I'm remembering the title correctly, is probably my favorite LotR fic ever. She's soooooo book!canon, and sooooo wonderfully IC.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Definitely look on the Pit for drama-princess, gedia kacela and she's a star. They are the authors of Family Matters, Lamentations and Diaries, respectively. (ok, I can't really remember who wrote Diaries and who wrote Lamentations, but both are quite funny). I love the way they write Sinistra, because she's such a geek. In an endearing, Bridget Jones-esque way.

Ahhh, history majors - the only group whose writing makes me go "gah, I so cannot handle this!"

lol, funnily, I say the same thing about English class. I called my mother at least twice second semester having a nervous breakdown while trying to write a psychological criticism paper about Robert Louis Stevenson's Markheim. Lord knows how I got an A- in that class. But yeah, my English essays tend to focus heavy on the historical and I'm very literal about things.

Me: Hello? English major...

*snerk* I've totally used that excuse too. I was trying to add up our scores at Putt-Putt the other night and my brother was heckling me for taking so long. I just looked at him like "History Major! Not math!". hehehe, that's the best part about flexible core requirements. No math. ;D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Great, thank you!

You wouldn't think that the systems would be so different, but they really are. I love history, and I do fairly well (A-, usually) in history classes, but the papers... bleck. So hard to write.

God, no - no math!!! I have many friends who are math and science majors, but math is not my friend. We have "quantitative and science reasoning" requirements - which I filled with basic astronomy classes and a biological anthropology class. Hooray for not much math!

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

heehee, I'm taking astronomy too. Except I need two science credits. Fortunately, there are two different astronomy classes. :D We have the quantitative reasoning too, but fortunately Music Theory counts for that.

Math is teh evil. *nods*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here - I had astronomy of the planets, and then basic astronomy. Ooo, music theory... another thing my poor little mind cannot comprehend.

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

I like . . . really bizarre pairings. More precisely, I like romances between characters who are strong-willed, cheerful, interact as equals, and whose angst is either rare or could be completely resolved by not being idiots.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

So... examples? I mean, a well-written Ron/Hermione would fit into that description, but they aren't really bizarre, so I assume you mena something a bit more off in left-field than that. Believe me - I've heard of just about everything at this point.

*g* Although having said that I'm sure someone will now surprise me horribly.

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ron/ Hermione is the right dynamic in theory, though I don't see any reason to bother looking for it when I'm certain JKR will get around to it eventually . . .

Pairings I have actually written: Hermione/ Snape (relationship unsuccessful), Hermione/ Hagrid (successful), Myrtle/ franzeska's RPG character Judy, Hermione/ Twins, Harry/ Ron, Percy/ Snape, Filch/ Squid (weirdly sweet), Harry/ Draco (as an excuse for Lucius/ Voldemort and Voldemort/ Narcissa), Luna/ Parvati, Narcissa/ Hagrid (also weirdly sweet)

Challenge pairings: Percy/ Terence, Ron/ T. Nott, Percy/ Ginny (not one I actually care for, and dealt with by having a rather insane Percy with shades of Percy/ Penelope and Percy/ OFC)

Of these the Myrtle/ Judy and Hermione/ Twins are probably closest to the ideal I described. Of the standard slash pairings, I like Harry/ Ron and the more comic versions of Snape/ Black.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Boggles* Okay, as I said... as soon as I say "this fandom can't surprise me anymore" something will immediately come along that shocks the living daylights out of me.

I'd heard of Filch/Squid, but Percy/Snape and Narcissa/Hagrid both are totally knew to me. Now those are some creative and bizarre pairings! I don't suppose you have links to where those are, do you? Particularly the Narcissa/Hagrid... my curiosity won't drop that one.

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

Percy/ Snape has its own little set of enthusiasts; I know either prillalar or isiscolo has written some. So far as I know, Narcissa/ Hagrid is all mine, and requires a rather unusual characterization of Narcissa. The title is Blackgrave Manor; I don't want to link directly (since I'm stuck using a public computer) but you can find all my fic by going through the links at http://www.doomchicken.net/evilfic/ , or by looking under Ursula at FA.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you!

[ursulakohl.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Viktor/ Ron, which is probably the perfect example.

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

I really like pairings that can provide amusement. Honestly, I can only stand so much drama, and if the characters can interact in such a way to undercut the drama or provide amusement when nothing is going on I will become crazy obsessed with the pairing.

That's kinda why I like the way the ADV's Bella and Dolph are turning out. ^_^

I blame a wonderful person who goes by the name of Hayseed for my interest in the Snape/Hermione pairing. Shameless pimpage here. Trust me, just go and check it out and then you'll hate me. ^_^

Snape/Tonks is another favorite, if only for the humor it can create.

Merry/Pippin can be pretty funny and sweet if you can find something good.

Then there's the canon relationships that I dare not mess with like Faramir/Eowyn and Aragorn/Arwen. Anyone touches those and they feel my wrath.

Sometimes though, there are canon relationships that I just don't like. I don't have any off the top of my head, mainly cause I think I refuse to recognize their existance, but sometimes the relationships in canon just feel wrong.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Amusement is definitely important, although you know I'm a bit of a romance and angst whore. I might have to try writing Snape/Tonks, someday, but in general I've discovered I have a hard time seeing them putting up with each other.

ADV Bella and Dolph are just so cute - I'm very amused by them. Especially since they're the diametric opposites of Narcissa and Lucius in so many ways. So fun.