Updating from work.

[aruan]

The Internet in Sledd has been wacky and random, and since there's an uncharacteristic lull in the action, I figured I'd squeeze this in.

Saturday night saw Miranda and I running into afropuff once again at Bento Cafe. A brief chat and a lovely dinner later, we caught the 9:55 showing of Love Actually.

Such a fantastic film. Seriously, every one of you who hasn't should make it while it's still in the theater, because this film is not only superbly written and shot, it also has the most delightful and talented casts ever - Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Kiera Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson and many others. Even the lesser-known actors were fantastic. We were laughing at the end of virtually every scene - the film was warm, funny, and utterly charming.

An absolute must-see.

Sunday we lounged around some more, then went on one of our two hour+ shopping excursions to Publix. I got to buy two boxes of cereal, a spiffy new hot pink toothbrush, and am working on kicking the Lean Pockets habit. Whoo!

Craving a chicken fajita salad for, I made the executive decision to head to Chili's for dinner, where we discussed my falling out with TrickyFish.

Now, understand that my love knew no breadth or depth when it came to said pairing when I first got into the fandom. Starting out with Rhys and assorted recs will do that, but more than that, I liked the snark, the banter, the "dancing" that characterizes the pairing.

In the past few months, however, I've come to read less and less, and have gotten to the point of actively not reading the pairing at all.

This is unfortunate for many reasons, as some of the best authors in this fandom hold TrickyFish close to their hearts for one. But I have mine, and they are these:

(Disclaimer: This, of course, is only as valid as you find my opinions and extensive as my reading, which I'd venture to call fairly so and encompassing many authors. But as always, there are exceptions, caveats, my own memory and the fact that I haven't read any recent fic in that genre. Anyway, onward.)

-Lance is different when written with Chris and Chris is different when written with Lance. In TrickyFish, more than any other pairing, Lance tends to be the aggressor, with Chris being somehow wounded in the past and letting that show in his reluctance to start anything with him. Lance tends to be very sure and together in TrickyFish and almost tolerant to a fault. But that goes to the fact that Chris tends to be more childish in this pairing than any other, as if he were putting a sort of test to Lance, seeing how much Lance will put up with before throwing up his hands and walking away or trying everything to convince him that he doesn't really want Chris. All of which I understand as a point of characterization given the hurt-in-the-past backstory, but which I nonetheless find bothersome. Which brings me to...

-Chris makes Lance jump through hoops. After walking across precarious rope bridges. And taming tigers with a whip and chair. He questions Lance at every turn, makes Lance put up with things no human being, no matter how infinite in his capacity for patience and love should be capable of tolerating, all in some twisted attempt to test Lance's limits, to make him question if this is what he really wants. I mean, there is making someone work for something, but there's always an element of risk, and no amount of tests and promises is going to eliminate it. And it doesn't really solve anything - by Lance putting up with him, he just knows he can keep doing it. Also, this unconditional acceptance on Lance's part does nothing for his credibility in really affecting Chris' self-esteem. Lance seems to be the designated party to put Chris back together, a character who really shows his weakness when it comes to Lance, and when he does that weakness seems to be self-perpetuating and ineradicable.

-TrickyFish tends to be a matter of forever. There's no spontaneity (unless there is alcohol involved, and then it leads to nothing but apologies). There's no 'let's see if this works' or 'let's do it because we want to.' Chris needs to inspect the foundation, blueprints, floorplans, wiring, roof, and have it homeowner's insured for three times its value before even considering signing on the dotted line. And maybe this says something about me, but I'm not into the whole guaranteed thing, because I don't think it really exists. There's no sure way to know if two people will work out for any length of time, let alone forever. Especially not two people who aren't even in a relationship to begin with (and no, living on top of each other for seven years doesn't equate.)

-I get frustrated that Chris' affection isn't readily apparent to anyone who doesn't speak Chris. This is a personal nit, hence the 'I' statement, but not only is Chris not prone to showing much emotion at all in TrickyFish, what he does show is coded to near undecipherability, and that grates on me. Sometimes, I like it laid out in plain English - not shouted from rooftops or expressed in grand gestures, but just a few little direct, not overly sappy words will do.

I woke up at seven o'clock again this morning and forced myself to go back to sleep twice, both times waking because I was crying too hard to breathe. Bad, bad dreams, yo. Let's work on that.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_dragon_/]

Touching on the matter of Trickyfish, you would probably like my Trickyfish, if I can ever write anything decent. And actually, by reading your squick list, I've actually thought of some vague ideas for a Trickyfish... and if I ever get around to writing it, you may test its waters if you like ^_^.

And touching on the matter of bad dreams, ::HUGGLES YOU TIGHT::

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

It's not a squick list so much as a peeve of the nature of TrickyFish, ironically when it's written by good authors. I can't say whether I expressly disagree with the characterization like I could say of some people's incarnations of JC or Joey - I just don't like it. I'm not a hurt/comfort kind of girl, it would seem.

Thanks. Childhood paranoia, man.

[halimede.livejournal.com]

If you miss the snark and the banter, I think I remember a couple of stories that have that without falling into the characterization you describe. If you like I can hunt up some links. :)

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I know there's plenty of non-shippy and even shippy snarktastic and bantery good fun to be had in the TrickyFish end of the pool, and would love some recs to that effect.

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Okay, off the top of my head:

Fragile (http://yearningvoid.net/insanity/fragile.php) by Julad, which is very funny and suspenseful at the same time.

The very hot Trip The Second (http://www.livejournal.com/users/giddygeek/62516.html) by Giddygeek. It's not the story of hers that I was looking for, but I can't seem to find the one I wanted (only posted to LJ, I guess, and can't find it), but it's lovely. If I find the other one I'll be back to let you know.

nopseud's Post-Apocalyptic WIP (just ask to be friended, it's only locked as long as it's not finished) has a tiny little bit of Trickyfish, but it's definitely unlike the stuff you describe.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm blanking on titles and authors. I wrote one for sesa this year that probably fits the anti-profile pretty well. Being the author I have no idea if it's any good, but it's here (http://www.juppy.org/santa/stories.php?ForAuthorID=68&Year=2003) if you're curious.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Fragile was one of, if not the first story I ever read in the fandom. Remains one of my favorites. *g* Along with Stick Shift Reverse.

I don't read WIPs as a general policy - much too frustrating, and there's no guarantee that they'll be finished, no matter how reliable the author. But I'll keep an eye out for it when she posts that it's done.

And I haven't made it through all the SeSas yet, but I'm working through and will definitely check out your contribution. :)

Thanks!

[trixiesfic.livejournal.com]

Huh. Interesting. I think you're right that there's a trend towards a lot of these things in Trickyfish stories lately. I enjoy them in most incarnations, but I like them best when neither of them is very fucked up. Personally, I don't think Chris is any where near as messed up as a lot of people write him (not just in Trickyfish, but very often in TrickC and Choey too. It's actually interesting that the most normal, well-adjusted Chris tends to show up more often in Timbertrick.). I think I very often write him as the more together one, though I don't think I ever write either of them very messed up.

*shrug* It's an odd trend, for sure.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

See, and the thing is this side of Chris only seems to emerge when relationship issues arise. In other-pairing-centered fic, Lance and Chris banter and plot delightfully, but throw them in a room together and Chris becomes this wounded child and Lance becomes the tolerant father figure, none of which does anything for me.

I don't think Chris is as messed up as people write him, either. I think he may have issues, but he also has survival skills. He seems like a strong, self-sufficient mofo who, if there were problems in the past, has exorcised its demons. He's stubborn and not in a defense mechanism sort of way - I'd even venture to call it an offense mechanism.

I can't speak for Choey as I don't read it, and I find TrickC to be a matter of a meeting of equals, which makes sense but is nonetheless interesting. And you're right, it's fascinating that the most well-adjusted Chris tends to be the one in TimberTrick stories - but in those, more than any of the other pairings, Justin tends to be written as the broken/needy/wounded one somehow. That and whatwith being the baby of the group, not to mention Chris' best friend, it'd be logical to assume Chris wouldn't go into anything with him without knowing for sure that he could handle it, be good for Justin.

As far as being messed up, I think they all have their own problems and deal with them in their own ways, but none of them strike me as particularly in need of coddling or being put back together.

[geminigirl38.livejournal.com]

Interesting points! I like reading people's analysis of fic almost as much as I like reading the fic. I read literally everything...no pairing turns me off. (Of course, there are some that I like more than others, but I'm generally an equal-opportunity consumer.) I have to agree with you, that Lance and Chris are characterized much differently in stories where they aren't the focused pairing, and they are more fun in those, generally speaking.

And Love Actually! I loved it. And I want to take that little boy home with me...he's so adorable!!

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I like reading people's analyses, too, which is why the whole Director's Commentary thing going on with fic is so interesting. But I haven't really seen any dissection or analysis of pairings like this, and I wonder why that is.

I'm all about Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman, baby. Older man crushes! *g*

[geminigirl38.livejournal.com]

I was involved in an internal battle with Alan Rickman through the whole movie. I'm going, "Snape, you bastard!!" Hee. I'm not so good with separating fact from fiction. ;)