Ye olde pairing meme

[petronia]

I'll do the questions at the end later, if they haven't been covered yet by my extensive rambling. :P

SIX PAIRINGS I LIKE

Pretty much selected at random:

1. Ban/Ginji. CRAP I CAN'T TALK ABOUT getbacksubrosa SUBMISSIONS YET. I've been reading some of the recent fic on the regular comm, though, and finding that I agree with the approach if not necessarily the execution - which kind of blows my theory out of the water that I'm the only one who's really interested in what takes place when Ban and Ginji get it on, as opposed to just finding them unbearably cute. XD I don't mean everyone else pulls a FTB, just that what drives me in this case is taking the lid off an intimate relationship and looking at what the characters don't show other people, or each other in public. Swordspoint fic often takes this angle. As opposed to--

2. Hikaru/Akira. Not that the obsession isn't there, but you know, if you really gave them the choice between making out and playing go... And just think, it's a choice that repeats itself. EVERY NIGHT. We could do something else, or... yes. We could, in fact, play go. I can't even think of a fic in the fandom in which Hikaru and Akira have sex and nothing else in particular happens, so for the hell of it I'm going to write one. There, I've spoilered the next round of blind_go and everything.

3. Clark/Lex. I got this meme most recently off bravecows, who listed this as The Ultimate Slash Ship, and it really is - for all the reasons she stated. Honestly though I've never even watched a full episode of Smallville all the way through, I just feel like I have. I used to watch Lois & Clark pretty religiously but I don't remember much of it. XD; And every time I mention this I feel obliged to try to explain how the original Superman movie was the first foreign film I ever watched, and what I took away from it (I was three and it TOTALLY messed with my head), but it's just too much work.

4. Kurogane/Fai. DAER CLAMP if you don't mind I'll just, like, steal them for my origfic, kthx. Was talking with sub_divided about how Fai (and to an extent Shaoran and Sakura) solves Kurogane's issues, because faced with that he basically went, you know what, I am actually a well-adjusted person! Kind of lost sight of it for a while there, ha ha!

5. Dorian/Klaus. Another one I was talking about with sub_divided. It was either going to be this or Richard/Alec; there's only one real point of analogy, that being you can make a good case for both characters being total assholes. YES, DORIAN TOO. Yet despite that they're likeable, or at any rate liked, by most everyone. I sort of went on a bit confusedly about (what I saw as) the use of satire and Jungian shadow figures in the manga, and also that IMO the relationship should never be consummated, ever, that was the point that made it transcendant. Ask me for a real essay one of these days ok.

6. Ryousuke/Keisuke/Takumi, which I usually just write out like this because it's easier than listing the permutations. I was - I shouldn't admit this - I was having this weird fantasy about Ryousuke today in Operations Management class. We were doing process flowcharting of a hospital emergency room, and I was thinking, Ryousuke come audit this class with me. McGill actually has this program called MBA-MD, where you do 45 credits of the MBA programme between undergrad and med school, then you go to med school and take the remaining MBA classes on the side. And then presumably you become a big-shot hospital director. It's exactly as insane as it sounds. There are only two people in the programme this year, a guy and a girl, and the guy is 21. Other people in my class have kids who're 21. Said MBA-MDer, not!Sai, and I are doing a team business simulation for L'Oreal that's kind of like Rome: Total War, only with face creams in lieu of centurions. I live in terror that it's like Ender's Game and the team that wins the competition will turn out to have been running L'Oreal's marketing department all along. THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH INID PAIRINGS DID IT, SORRY FOR THE REAL LIFE INTRUSION. I guess at some point I had the epiphany that Ryousuke would probably be more at home doing an MBA than he would be in Med, which... means he'd be a great hospital director. SHIT.

Anyway it's not like he's my imaginary boyfriend or anything, because I think he's gay.


THREE SHIPS I'VE ABANDONED

7. Naoe/Kagetora. BOLD STATEMENT AMIRITE. The thing with my so-called abandoned ships is I usually feel like XYZ could never be relevant to my interests again, ever, but when push comes to shove it always comes back full force. You could find me a, a, I dunno, a really great Kurama x Hiei fic right now and I'd still sit there and read it. (Actually, hell yeah if you could find me a KxH fic that's really great by today's exalted standards.) So this column is more like INTENTIONALLY ON ICE, because I value my sanity.

8. Tezuka/Fuji. I had to think for a second before I remembered there was such a thing as the PoT fandom in my life once. XD This was a weird one anyway, I couldn't fathom why I liked it even when I was writing it. I never want to read fic for it anymore but I still get these weird flashes of wanting to write it, or AUs of it, whereas it's usually the other way around.

9. Sirius/Remus. One of those cases where you can't tell what happened to you until you see it in the rear view mirror. I'd been a hardcore lurker in HP but after book 5 I stopped reading the fic, cold turkey, and it took me ages even to get around to seeing the third movie. I got back into the saddle with book 6 but the whole thing had sort of reconfigured itself in my head in the interim.


THREE FOUR A NUMBER OF SHIPS I'VE NEVER LIKED

10. Sydney/Hardin. This is not like #11 where I honestly feel like the people who ship it have a vastly different interpretation of canon than what I see happening, it's more like... he screws him over so badly, people. SO BADLY. Sydney's got his reasons but it's not a stellar manifestation of humanity's potential for goodness and light. If you have the gumption to explore that then more power to you. Historically I've waffled back and forth on liking the characters to begin with; it's one of those where articulating what rubs me wrong goes a good way toward defusing the sentiment (cf. 58). But still.

* Gojyo/Hakkai has been taken off this list as I have revised my feelings regarding it. Some of you know the low-down, if not, feel free to ask.

11. Aizen/Momo. I DUNNO DO YOU SEE A PATTERN. It really is about the power dynamic and not the stabbity, I have nothing against Drace/Gabranth for instance (fandom writes that one exactly as I like reading it, i.e. as if it were an AU of Motoko/Batou). I even like Aizen/Gin. But Gin knows exactly what is up, and therein lies the difference.

12. Aya/Ken. I'm sorry, this is coming out of nowhere and dumping on something (some of) you don't even remember was there to be dumped on, but I've always found the idea so desperately boring. XD;

** Tsuzuki/Hisoka. That just puts it over, the defriending queue starts to the left. Probably this will be taken off the list as well once I figure out what my beef is (at a guess: a total inability to identify with Hisoka's emotional responses, which I think is the selling point for people who do ship the pairing).

*** I think I could actually go on listing. I never do this and it's sort of freeing. XD Roy/Lisa? No, I'll stop.


TWO SHIPS THAT HAVE PIQUED MY INTEREST

This is harder than all the rest put together, because I cursorily read a metric ton of pairings.

13. Ed/Al, but not really as a pairing ship, like all my other brotherly ships. Fuji/Yuuta etc. Thing is I don't read Ed/Al fic, but I read Supernatural fic (because I read everything), and it just comes across as a re-build of Ed/Al. XD;;; Does anyone else get this, or am I a special snowflake?

14. Owen Pallett/Zach Condon, ahahaha omg. Just because subterrain writes it - I only need one person to write any pairing well. I wouldn't be able to deliver it the way she does, though, at any rate not naturalistically (though I've done bits of RPS on request before). Metaphorically, perhaps. By which I mean a high school AU. In the mode of Scott Pilgrim. I'm seriously considering this for SSBB - I mean, given what else people turn in by way of thinly-disguised etc. - but I can't figure out what else to name them.

Comments

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

Gojyo/Hakkai?! I do not know the low-down here. DO TELL. :O

[prototypical]

I won't defriend you over not liking Tsuzuki/Hisoka. The problem is that it's rarely done well enough in fic for me to be happy, which is why I avoid YnM fandom for the most part. The other reason I avoid it is the obsession with Muraki/Tsuzuki.

And Sanzo/Hakkai all the way, baby!

[nekokoban]

Ban/Ginji! \o/ I feel kind of ashamed that I left them off my list when I did the meme myself, but -- it's like. That's one of those "OTPs" that I just don't even THINK about, but ship as a sort of kneejerk reaction. Everything else just doesn't seem to work!

On the other hand, of all the pairings I've followed or been interested in -- even the ones that I will never confess to the light of day -- they seem to be the least sexualized? Somehow? I am wholeheartedly behind the idea that they're getting it on, but it's like ... in many ways, they're sort of like the cutely bickering old married couple who're still head over heels about each other, but don't need (or even want) the sex to be crazy in love? As long as they're together, honestly, Ban and Ginji make me happy. XD

... also I would totally read your original fic that has thinly-disguised Fay and Kurogane, because that's another pairing whose dynamic I really enjoy, though it didn't make it onto my list. XD

[gisho.livejournal.com]

... also I would totally read your original fic that has thinly-disguised Fay and Kurogane, because that's another pairing whose dynamic I really enjoy, though it didn't make it onto my list. XD

SECONDED. They're a fun couple if done well, and I imagine you, Sabina, could do them VERY well.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Ban and Ginji: yeah, therein lies the diff I've always suspected - they're one of the pairings in my head that are the most sexualized, if not #1 period. I can't think of any other series where, if I sat down and was like, "okay, now I need to write a fic in the next five hours," it would be 1000+ words of the main characters having sex. XD;

The bit about Fai and Kurogane is an expression of despair really - I can't come up with an actual fic to write about them, even though I desperately want to. I've never been able to write CLAMP fic!

[nekokoban]

[laughs] I remember I think I had this conversation (sort of) with calintz, back in my GB days -- she didn't actually ship Ban/Ginji at all, and her bewilderment was along the same lines of "BUT I DON'T SEE THEM MAKING OUT IN MY HEAD. :("

Which, to be fair, I don't either! But somehow they're always together in my opinion anyway.

Also: I am totally serious about reading your take on Fay and Kurogane. For serious, I'm a fan of that pairing, but it's difficult to sift through all the stuff coming out to find anything fun and readable. :|b

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

I am intrigued! One of my own top six (actual all-time top whatever, etc.) is on your do not want list, yet one of the others on said list has never done anything for me, and two other pairings I like a whole bunch are in your list of liked pairings. (Although one of them would definitely not appear in my top six, and the other I'm unsure about.)

(Also I like Gojou/Hakkai, which should surprise basically no one, and I am quite curious to hear the low-down because I had no idea.)

And yeah, you're probably right about Tsuzuki and Hisoka, since the reason why I like it so much is that I heartmark furiously at Hisoka. Although, really, it depends partly on what you're examining in your never-having-liked-ness -- if it's the actual canon, or the shipping fandom as it exists in your own backyard, that's one thing, but if it's the broader YnM fandom's take on the two of them? *holds up burning cross to ward off bad yaoi crack*

...I should do this meme. Except I kind of want to wait until I forget the questions a little more.

[flyby311.livejournal.com]

*happy flail* I totally like all of the pairings you put down (yes, even the Ryousuke/Kyousuke/Takumi one, because, hello, it just makes them all happy and squishy in my opinion). For the ships you've never liked...

I'm so with you on the last three (or is it four? Does the Roy/Lisa one count *coughhack*) I don't know about the first and I'm very neutral on the second. :3 Aya/Ken just... completely bores me. I just don't see it and the fandom is rampant with them. D: Totally agree with you on Tsuzuki/Hisoka because... well. I don't like Hisoka. >.> <.< *goes into hiding*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The idea of Roy/Lisa bothers me more than the execution, I think - the manga is generally well-executed and tends not to step on toes that way. XD And I think it's because it's het, which saying that makes me sound like some kind of unreasonable yaoi fangirl, except I'm just really tired of the meme that a female subordinate cannot be professional all the way through, she has to have some kind of SEKKRIT EMOTIONAL THANG for her boss that manifests itself in prim remarks on his dissolute behaviour. Because why else would she be loyal to him otherwise. Bah. If Hawkeye were a guy there just wouldn't be that baggage, regardless of whether there was a sekkrit emotional thang or not. XD

In comparison I'm not bothered by Shunsui/Nanao because IMO Nanao would be professional all the way through, even if she were actually sleeping with him.

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

IAWTC. It occurs to me this one of the reasons I hate Gyousou/Risai. A very minor reason when compared to the obvious & gargantuan other reason -_- but it's there. I really, really do not want female subordinates to have things for their male superiors--and it is because it's het. Same config in m/m or f/f is okay (but why? FUSHIGI).

[flyby311.livejournal.com]

Ugh, sometimes I wonder if I hate pairings just because it's het and how unreasonable is that since I'm female and, well, straight? But then I remind myself that I adore Hughes with this fiery passion, but I absolutely hate the thought of him and Roy together (as some people are prone to like), because, heck, I can't ever see Hughes without him gushing about his wife and daughter. Hrm.

Also, ditto ditto ditto on the professional female subordinate thing. There always has to be some omfgohsosekrit! passion and of course she has to be long suffering and threaten to whack him with a fist/fan... shoot him. I like Lisa, but not the thought of her and Roy getting together. Bleh.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

I feel compelled to point out that in none of the ships you like will the characters, placed alone on a romantic beach at sunset, spontaneously start getting it on. (Well, maybe Banji and Gin, if you take the view that they're in an established relationship.) Either their Issues will need to be resolved first, or the physical takes a back seat to other features of the relationship, or they simply won't let themselves since it would be a Bad Idea.

So in other words, if you were writing it, you'd have to work for it.

I used to watch Lois & Clark too! All I remember is that Clark could read Chinese (proving there was a brain to go with the muscles) and that they replaced Jimmy's actor with no warning somewhere around the third season. Also, when Lois&Clark got married it completely killed the chemistry and the show ended soon afterward.

We talked about Jungian shadow figures? ...oh right, those two characters you said were pale imitations of the main characters. I never made it that far in the manga, and I don't like Dorian/Klaus, because Dorian and Klaus are total jerks.

I'm ambivalent about Goyjo/Hakkai even though I like both characters because Goyjo is a womanizer and Hakkai is in love with his sister. They clearly mean something to each other but I guess I just can't get past the apparent heterosexuality of the characters. But I do read fic for it (a lot of it is really good) and I'm starting to come around.

Tsuzuki/Hisoka: say it isn't so! Well, I like them. XD The thing about Tzusuki/Hisoka is that you can write it in about a hundred different ways since each character has ten (if not more) different facets to their personality, all important (to the plot) and none integrated. You really can't point to one interpretation and say "this is it" because the exact opposite interpretation could just as well also be it.

Personally I like to read fic set faaaar in the future that puts Hisoka on top. (If you've ever seen the author's note that says that Hisoka would have been over six feet, taller even than Tatsumi, if he'd reached his full growth...well, it explains a lot. XD) But I'll settle for pairing fic that prominently features empathy, either in a positive or an unsettling way, because it's an easy button to push. I like Tsuzuki as well -- one of those pathetically-eager-to-please types, except that he can hard-hearted when he needs to be. (Maybe it's just an author mistake that when Hisoka moves in to take over the "callous" role, Tzusuki becomes dramatically more squishy, but it's interesting, anyway.)

...I have to stop this, or I'll be here writing this comment all night. XD I think I imprinted on Tsuzuki/Hisoka before I was old enough to know any better (Tatsumi/Tsuzuki, shinigami/Tsuzuki, even Muraki/Tsuzuki makes more sense), but once you're there, there are plenty of interesting directions to take it.

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

Almost every YnM author I can stand to read either writes Hisoka as seme, or doesn't write porn and the dynamic reads the same way to me, or something along those lines. (This is mainly because Tsuzuki really IS that much of an uke, and I'm not sure what those people who think that he would magically become a seme instead when faced with Hisoka -- of all people! -- are smoking. Also, despite the fact that my Hisoka does not have any penetration issues (blowjob issues yes! ...poor guy), I do not think that he and Tsuzuki would navigate through Tsuzuki topping well at ALL.)

Of course, I am the contrary type when it comes to pairing order an awful lot of the time (Ginji is seme; so is Dorian -- or, more to the point, 'my' POV characters in those pairings are Ban and Klaus, and Ban likes Ginji on top (though he's also happy to switch), and Klaus needs to be topped more than anyone in the history of the universe).

Arggg!

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

It's Ban and Ginji, not Banji and Gin. I knew that, I swear I did.

Yami no Matsuei is technically a "shoujo" series but there's no denying that the author deliberately messes with BL seme/uke roles -- or at least, *I* think it's obvious that she did. ^^; It's hard to make sense of Hisoka until you think: seme trapped in an uke body! And not just any body, but an underage, short, frail, low-alcohol-tolerance one. Meanwhile Tsuzuki is older AND taller AND stronger AND has stronger magic. It's like Matsushita Yoko was going down a checklist.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

So in other words, if you were writing it, you'd have to work for it.

Oh yeah, totally. XD What fun is it to think about if it's simple? And Ban/Ginji is not so much an exception as a platonic ideal, because they've managed to successfully negotiate a relationship that by the standards of their universe is as nuts as Clex or Naoe/Kagetora. I mean, what exactly are we slashing - because if I understood the manga ending correctly, it looks a lot like Free Will and Predeterminism.

(Also I just like deliberate restraint. XD In real life too, which is where the complications come in.)

Yeah, L&C totally jumped it when they got together! Isn't that always the way. I'll answer the rest when it's not 5AM - I guess I shouldn't be surprise everyone wants the expanded version. XD;

[saturnoolaa.livejournal.com]

...

Gojyo/Hakkai is the one couple I have liked for... maybe six years? without my love for it ever waning. But I'm willing to accept that it is not for everyone. Low-down plz?

[oneill]

Wait, wait. You've given up on Naoe/Kagetora? I must've missed that somehow, and am now wondering just what it took. XD

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I hadn't thought of reading Wincest as Ed/Al. That sounds quite genius!

Real essay on Dorian/Klaus plz! An I too want the low-down on Gojyo/Hakkai.

I've always loathed Aizen/Momo; I really should have put it on my list, come to think of it, because I can actually see why people would ship Chlex or Fraser/Kowalski or Legolas/Aragorn, but I don't understand how people can ship Aizen/Momo. It just veers too close in feeling to what I've read of abusive relationships IRL.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Aizen/Momo: oh, I can see why. I just don't agree that it's anything like SxS. XD I think there's also this idea that Aizen's domination of her spirit is an expression of attachment, of sorts, and I don't agree with that either - IOW I don't even think it deserves to be called an abusive relationship. I think he liked her, actually, in the most neutral sense of the word, and that she fulfilled his expectations exactly, and he has nothing but contempt for her - because anyone who gives herself in trust without reciprocity deserves only contempt, and because she did not surprise him.

I'll write the other ones when I have time, everyone's asking for them. XD;

[incandescens]

I can see Aizen liking Momo in the way that one likes a favourite desk, or chair, or pen, or a piece of craft that took some time and effort to produce, or a hamster in a cage. I can even see him quite honestly and sincerely saying to someone else what a nice girl she was, and how hard-working, and what a competent shinigami.

I could go into a lot of muttering about Aizen, but I think that one of the interesting things about him is how he can hold several different thoughts/views simultaneously. Yes, Momo is a good girl: yes, she's going to have to die: yes, he'll be neat and tidy about it and let her die happy: no, he doesn't in the least bit have his judgment affected by any sort of emotion: yes, he can see her as a real person in order to plot how to psychologically mould her and what to say to her and how to pull her strings: no, he doesn't see her as anything more than one more factor in his plan: yes, she's a very nice girl, and of course he likes her, why do you ask?

(I do have a personal theory about whether it's Aizen or Kyouka Suigetsu running the show, but that's another story.)

[autophanous.livejournal.com]

I feel very alone and scared venturing into a thread of haters, but I do love the aizen-or-kyouka-suigetsu theory. I miss prattling about it.

[incandescens]

Then come prattle! Or I will use an English accent on you.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, don't be! It's not a feel-good proposition to see one's fave pairings dumped on, and 10x worse if it's one's friends doing the dumping, but every once in a LONG while I'm afflicted with a bout of honesty. XD It's no reflection on people, only opinions.

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Personally, I thought the MBA intrusion was win, and I want to play the L'Oreal marketing department game now. Or watch the film version. XDD (Not!Sai?)

(It's weird when you have to justify likes and dislikes, isn't it? Illuminating in a certain way--oh, hey, so that's what makes me tick!--but in another way... why should one have to explain it anyway? Hrm.

Alas, even Ryousuke was not enough to actually propel me through acquiring and reading volumes and volumes of Initial D, so unless I get copies of more episodes one way or another.... But extremely competent people make for interesting characters, I think.)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Alas, signup period is over! Also, you have to be a team of three, and affiliated with a business school, I think. ^^; But it could definitely be fun on its own, I agree.

I did the meme as a way of compiling notes I've had knocking around in my head for a while but never got around to writing down. XD

You are in need of more Initial D episodes? :0 Like... starting where?

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

I only got through a few episodes of the 4th season, since I was in Japan at the time. (Well, pay per view special channel, right?) I have to go back through my backups and see what else I've seen, because I'm not completely sure I saw all of one of the earlier seasons either, but not sure which one.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, let me know! Tis the season for Mail, after all. XD

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Am curious about the downlow on Gojyo/Hakkai.

Hmm, as for Tsuzuki/Hisoka, I had no idea people were DEFRIENDS U over it. I guess I don't hate it, but it's not really interesting I was really interested in exploring, probably cause it's sorta therish in canon. Am a bit confused though as to why experience such a disidentification with Hisoka, tho.

Ahaha, I think if I did this meme I would totally be defriended, plus it would be like... five bajillion pairings I don't like (what does "don't like" mean, though? Don't read fanfic of? Don't care about? Think is completely impossible? Am offended by?)

[maeran.livejournal.com]

...You abandoned Tezuka/Fuji. *wails of despaaaaaaaaaaair* My life is over, whatever shall I do?

Have to confess, I'm with you on both Aizen/Momo and Aya/Ken. Seriously. ~__~

Tsuzuki/Hisoka...eh. I'm no good with any SANE pairings, so that one went straight over the cataracts right after my FIRST YnM FIC EVER.

...Yeah. On second thoughts, I think I'll stick to my disturbing AUs. It preserves my sanity. Or at least my happiness. ♥

[pantswarrior]

You know, at first glance I saw #10 and went :O because darnit, it's my pet pairing of choice. But yeah - what you say is absolutely true, Sydney was absolutely terrible in that regard. (The worst part is, as I noted in my beta journal awhile back - Hardin would have understood if he'd explained. If anyone understands doing crazy stuff for one's family, it's Hardin.) And I can think of several instances of pairings I personally hate because they're rather painful for those involved, so wheeee, I can't be too bothered by this. I'd honestly be more disturbed if someone actually thought that what Sydney did was no big deal. I'd wonder if they were the same fans who prevent me from ever looking for anything related to Yami no Matsuei...

I will use a more friendly shipping icon on this comment, however. :D Naturally, I'd be quite curious to hear what you wanted to say about the getbacksubrosa submissions. Silly anonymity. I've been shipping Ban and Ginji for ages, and it seems like I just keep finding new ways in which they are complicated and messed up and EVEN MORE AWESOME together. Part of that undoubtedly has to do with the fact that I can't read Japanese, and thus am only now finding out what was going on in certain parts of the manga. And they're just ... well, even more complicated in the manga.

[bell]

Remind me again why I'd defriend you just because of your shipping preferences? XD

And, yeah, I hear you on Ed/Al being like the reincarnation of Sam/Dean, only I'm the opposite. I used to gobble up Tragic Ed/Al pairing fic and Wincest squicks me. Go figure. >_>

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't read Ed/Al because of inertia, mostly; the fandom's passed me by and I'm too lazy to look up old recs and stuff. XD I dunno that I would read tragic fic though! Isn't the canon enough? XD;;

Well, not you in particular, but I expect there were quite a few people on my flist who just found out from this that I don't like their favorite pairings, due to how I never bother to talk about it usually. XD

[bell]

Isn't the canon enough? XD;;

I dunno. :X Fluff with them is okay, I guess, but it'd be ruined by the fact that I couldn't believe it. The fic I liked best were these epic And They Couldn't Possibly Live Happily Ever After. XDXD

I meant more that defriending over shipping preferences (that aren't often stated!) is pretty sad. IMO. But what do I know? XD

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

Man, Aya/Ken always made me want to stab myself in the eye, but after some thought, uh, Weiss Kreuz in general made me want to do that, too, so maybe I'm being too hard on The Memories, and all. *g*

[absenceofmind.livejournal.com]

so glad 58 has been taken off your list. ;_; it would pain me if you did not like them, as they are one of my oldest OTPs and as such still dear to my heart.

not but what you are free to dislike anything you choose except for akame which you are only allowed to be at most disinterested in!! i would love you anyway <3 and your bschool tales crack me up. ENDER'S WAR WITH FACE CREAM LOL.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I am trying to find the old conversation with Chrissie where I talked about Hakkai etc. but it's not turning up. :P And I don't know anything about Akame besides what you've written about them, so.

Since the last time we spoke I've become VP Communications for the Marketing Club and Yearbook Editor-in-Chief (stick with the pain you know XD;). Also, consulting for a corporate storytelling firm in Vancouver and drafting a proposal for this cultural festival thing I probably shouldn't talk about yet. Apart from actual learning this degree is grebt for putting backbone into one, it's odd - like you have the right to call up these people and make your pitch because hey, you're an MBA! That's what you do!

[absenceofmind.livejournal.com]

SABINA YOU HAVE NO LACK OF BACKBONE. nor did you ever -_-

at least now i know why you are not to be found online XD

why do your 10293840945 commitments NOT SURPRISE ME IN THE LEAST, oh i don't know =D

i love 58 not for hakkai but for gojyo XD oh, gojyo. i never knew i had a softspot for the hangdog grungy types until him. the seekritly romantic types slay me.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Chrissie accused me of enjoying myself. XD I said I just wanted to do all the stuff I didn't do in undergrad due to ignorance, inertia, and incompetence. Like the fantasy of returning to high school as one of the popular kids.

I am often on Gmail chat, though! Easy to find there.

I really like Gojyo too, Hakkai was the hangup - he scared the crap out of me. I had to bother to work through the whole series in my head and reconcile it, Gaiden and all.

[subterrain.livejournal.com]

I WANT YOUR HIGHSCHOOL AU ASAP. Because really, what else do you have to do besides write for our own tiny fandom?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

What indeed! I need to come up with a nominal plot, though. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Like, for instance, in a high school AU there should be antagonists. Who are the antagonists? XD

[subterrain.livejournal.com]

Evil girls who want to tear them apart! Mean insecure cockrockers! Well-meaning but condescending and wrongful guidance counsellors! All of the above! Anything you can think of! Highschool is so full of angggsssttt!

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

I live in terror that it's like Ender's Game and the team that wins the competition will turn out to have been running L'Oreal's marketing department all along.

This is a winning entry for this line alone. XD

I would like to know the lowdown re: 58, I think?  And since I got into hxh fairly recently and it's been on my mind and I think I've seen you mention it before (if only to say how some arc was dragging ^^;;) do any hxh pairings fall anywhere on here, or do you mostly not care?