My ships and why - your ships and your whys?

[misscam]

I've started shipping Bill Adama/Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galactica.

Yeah, yeah, what can I say. It just hooked me. Come to think of it, what can I actually say? Why do I ship what I ship?

Hereby follows various ships I like and my best guesses as to why I've picked just those. My subconscious my disagree on some, but bollocks to it until it decides to get loud.



Grissom/Sara (CSI)
People with ghosts. She's got a fucked up past, he's got issues and reserve and now and then I enjoy a somewhat May/December romance. They have a job that requires some much emotional control, which makes it interesting how they deal with emotion outside of it. It was an ideal couple to write angst with. Plus, I always felt the show hinted at it - though her emotion was made more obvious, his reserve made for all sorts of interesting speculation.

Catherine/Warrick (CSI)
Eyecandy. Hoo yeah. But also an understanding between them, a friendship with easy sexuality in it and people who've done mistakes in their lives, but keep on fighting.
Also a nice contrast to Grissom and Sara, which made me like writing both, because love doesn't come in just one shape.

Doctor/Rose (Doctor Who)
He's fucked up and old, playing through the universe like a child and a judge at the same time. She's young and still finding what life is, wanting something more and perhaps not understanding what she has. It's on one hand rather fucked-up, but it's also cute and twee and self-involved, somehow managing to appeal to both my cynical and starry-eyed side. I entertain illusions love is simple. I know it is not. This ship lets me play with both.

Doctor/Martha (Doctor Who)
I must admit, I like this more for the potential in it than for how it played out in the end. She is smart, fast, confident and a mender. He needs some mending - and a kick in the pants, too. Perhaps it was just not the right time. Come to think of it, I would have loved to see her with Three or Five. Fic, Y/Y?

Mulder/Scully (The X-Files)
My firstest ever TV ship. Made simpler by them being the two leads of the show, sharing lots of scenes, being them against some large conspiracy. Angsty, but also moments of huge cute. Things I like in equal measure. Also hot. And now returning to big screen - which makes me wonder if I'll still enjoy it now?

Lynley/Havers (The Inspector Lynley Mysteries)
They're partners. I really like the partner dynamic of crime shows (see Mulder/Scully, Tony/Carol), the teamwork involved in solving crimes and dealing with the worst of humanity. This has the additional interesting of being across class lines in a country where that can still matter, across very different lives and across hierarchy. All which makes for delicious contrasts and conflicts. And they're cute and funny.

Legolas/Gimli (Lord of the Rings)
I don't need this to be romantic, even if I enjoy a good fic with it now and then. Just the friendship in itself is fab. From two people who've had so much conflict, it's got lovely reconcilliation and hope and learning to enjoy differences in each other. And Legolas took Gimli across the sea. There's love for you, regardless of it being romantic or not.
Sadly, the movie version of this mostly sucked ass. Boo!

Faramir/Éowyn (Lord of the Rings)
Healing. That's really what this pair represents to me. Éowyn from feeling of dimminished pride, being caged and probably so many unfulfilled desires. Faramir from a father who had too much pride and not enough love for two sons. And their Ithilien, from Sauron's shadow. Just goes to show, you can endure a lot and still live on to something like happiness.

John Sheridan/Delenn (Babylon 5)
Human and Minbari, from two species who had a devestating war. Both people in charge, both people who suffer for their choices. Also, like Legolas and Gimli, it's reconscilliation with love and making a new future. And they were cute, even if Minbari have some seriously voyeristic ideas.

Bill Adama/Laura Roslin (Battlestar Galactica)
It's a fucked up world of war, survival and dirty fights, and they're people who've lived, loved and lost. They make mistakes. They fight. They have huge tasks and burdens and might both die, yet are adorably cute at times. I likes.

Minor ships, in summary:
Tony/Carol (Wire in the Blood) - partnership, fucked-upness things.
Janeway/Chakotay (Star Trek Voyager) - I wish I remember.
Barbara/Ian (Doctor Who) - thrown together into a world where even time shifts.
Rachel/Frank (Water Rats) - that partnership thing again, Aussie-ness.
Rita/Chris - partners, twee, tragedy. (WAH)

In conclusion: I like some fucked-upness. I like some cute. I like partnerships. I like complicated. I like ships I can write.

(I should get me a layout with 'Complicated is the whole point' and various ships, Y/N?)

So, what do you ship and what's your whys?

Rec me some Adama/Roslin fic - and icons! - that is good, yes?

Comments

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

Re: Lynley/Havers - amen. I'm re-reading the books right now, and it's even more evident how much they've changed, as people and partners and personality, and how wonderfully natural it's been.

I don't know if you remember the fic I wrote a couple of months back, but that's how it see them in ten years - even if there's no romantic element to it, just together and being and fitting. They're one of the few pairings where I actually can admit that.

TL;DR: I always think of them when I hear the word "propinquity". It seems fitting.

Re: Rachel/Frank - I still get misty-eyed. Still!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I am not done with all the books yet, but yeah, there's a wonderful changing feel to it all, without being forced or weird. It's just how we all change and adapt to time and people, and them to each other.

I got that in my memories as the one good Lynley fic I know of. So yeah, I remember. It was very well done - and hitting so much as to why I like them too.

Should have known you'd know that show, being Australian. And yeah, WAH. Was even her last word :(

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to the new book coming out, as it covers the time after Helen's death. I don't think the show showed that badly, I just think it was a bit flubbed over, and I'd like to see more of the two of them reacting to that, together.

Rachel had a theme, which is big and campy and soppy and very late 1990's - but I still love it. Song Zu - Goldie's Theme

[misscam.livejournal.com]

And also the show was cancelled :( So only books left now. But yeah, I'm curious how the grief will play out.

I used to have the Water Rats soundtrack. And a cap. I am sad, ain't I?

[denorios.livejournal.com]

Forgive me for butting in - do you have a link for said Lynely fic? I'm always on the lookout for more, there's so little Lynley fanfic around...

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

Yup - here it is! (it was friends-locked for some odd reason.)

"Salvation by Ordinary Objects"

[falena]

I tracked it down too and was all sadface because it was flocked.

Thanks for unlocking it! :)

[20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com]

I've realised I have a massive, massive thing for relationships that go along the lines of "cynical, militaristic woman's heart is melted by adoring, genius guy," which covers a surprising number of 'ships: Mulder/Scully, John/Aeryn from Farscape, and Zoe/Wash from Firefly, just off the top of my head. Come to think of it, most of my favourite slash pairings adhere to this formula too. (Even Q/Picard, in a loose and bizarre way.)

Starry-eyed, Romeo and Juliet-style romance does nothing for me: there must be snark, and equality, and getting over personal stuff! This I decree. *nods*

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'm scared the coming XF movie will not make me relove Mulder/Scully, because the last few series made me very wary :(

I don't require snark, but on the getting over personal stuff, I follow your decree v. v. much. And equality, though in the sense of respect and personal worth and so on. I don't mind a bit of love across ranks and classes and being at diffrent places in life. That can just make it interesting.

We all have our kinks - I can sort of see the shape of mine, but I'm not sure I've got it defined as clearly as you.

[longtimegone]

I've realised I have a massive, massive thing for relationships that go along the lines of "cynical, militaristic woman's heart is melted by adoring, genius guy," which covers a surprising number of 'ships: Mulder/Scully, John/Aeryn from Farscape, and Zoe/Wash from Firefly, just off the top of my head. Come to think of it, most of my favourite slash pairings adhere to this formula too. (Even Q/Picard, in a loose and bizarre way.)


oooo, this is totally true! I posted my comment below, but approached it more from the "we are the only ones who understand each other" path, but your description really works for me too.

[b2wm.livejournal.com]

I feel you on that shipping theme. For me, it seems like a fair amount of my ships feature a woman who knows what she wants, at least outside of where the romance comes in, and the guy who will put taking over the world on hold until he can assure her that he loves her. And then they fight crime, or something. Because romance is so much cooler when there are a bunch of goals and subplots and tough decisions that need making. (And fluffy moments. Fluff is good.) See for instance Wash/Zoe, Roy/Riza, Hermione/Ron, Cher/Hubb, and even Sam and Sybil Vimes, to a certain extent. (And even my main slash ship kind of works that way...)

The other half of my ships seem to approach the multiple and occasionally clashing goals thing from the other side: the wife tends to be retiring, distant and/or dead for most of the fic, (hello, angst-magnet!) but she's doing what she can to further her husband's goals, even if it does mean that she's had to sacrifice a lot for him. These aren't quite as high on my list, usually, but Denethor/Finduilas definitely fits.

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

I'm not an Adama/Roslin shipper, but this fic (AU after BSG season 1) does contain some A/R elements, and it's really good, albeit pretty much depressing.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

*bookmarks*

Depressing can be nice to read sometimes, in a cleansing sort of way.

[the-wanlorn.livejournal.com]

Sadly, 99.99999% of my ships come down to "They're BFFs!" or "They're totally codependent!".

I fear what this says about my psyche.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

What we look for in fantasy isn't always what we look for in real life, you know :P

[longtimegone]

Oh man, SHIPS!

A lot of my ships are based on "But no one else could ever really understand me!" What that says about me? I don't know. :))

Mulder/Scully - This was my first fandom as probably the closest thing I have have to a TRUE OMG OTP 4EVA. I though Mulder and Scully were the most unlikely two people to be thrown together. They are both brilliant and heroic and compassionate, and he was a little crazy, but she balanced that and they believed in each other. In the end, I felt that no one would ever be able to compete with that. Who would ever understand Mulder like Scully did? And vice versa? After all they went through together and the levels to which they had to trust, understand and believe in each other... I just couldn't ever see why they wouldn't be together in the end, or how they could ever really give that bond up to bring someone else in. Their love is great big epic love. <3

More recently, in SGA... John Sheppard and Rodney McKay. This is another pairing of unlikely people thrown together. I call them my Gay Mulder/Scully, and I'm only half kidding. I can read other pairings and enjoy them, but McKay/Sheppard is pretty much my SGA OTP. For SG1 I'm all about some Jack O'Neill/Sam Carter (I get the Mulder/Scully vibe from them) and maybe a little Jack/Daniel on the side.

Doctor Who...I don't really have an OTP in Who. I enjoy almost all Doctor/Companion pairings and there is, of course, Doctor/Master. Which is weird because I'm generally not into that kind of hate!sex thing, but with Doctor/Master it's a little bit more about "the ties that bind".

I think I really enjoy the explorations of trust and the shared experience of extreme situations. That kind of created family thing. With a little codependency thrown in. :))

[manicr.livejournal.com]

Oo, but Doctor/Master is so much crazy fun!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

My one and only OTP was Rita/Chris, I think. But I was very young then. All my ships then have had a much more... Hmm, how do I put this... It's like I believe people can be right for each other in that time and space without being OTP regardless of all circumstances, if that makes sense.

Mulder/Scully would be very close to, though. Their story really was one of such a close bond I'd find it hard to picture them with someone else.

All these different approaches to it makes me kinda gleeful, because it just goes to show how preception of love and romance is just such a deeply avrying and fascinating thing.

[longtimegone]

It's like I believe people can be right for each other in that time and space without being OTP regardless of all circumstances, if that makes sense.

Oh absolutely. This is VERY true for me in the way I approach Doctor Who ships. To a lesser degree in other fandoms now, but that "right person for right now" sensibility does color the way I look at pairings these days.

I discovered the XF when I was 16 and was "in the fandom" until I was about 22, and my idea of love was a lot different then than now, and definitely evolved over the 6 years I was in the fandom. A large part of my OMG OTP-ness about Mulder/Scully was the fact that they were the first couple that made me feel all "<33333333!" about them.

[manicr.livejournal.com]

I like complicated and fucked-upedness, it's a very amusing combo and added with a bit of cute pretty awesome.

I enjoy parings that aren't static, rather the opposite, a constant challenge bordering on violence but never quite. The kind that is addicting, perhaps a bit harmful, but always moving forward. I want them to learn to trust, to break and renew that trust as life twists and turns. I'm not good with a strictly dom/sub relationship both parties have to have their moments and one breaks the other patches them up best they can.

This formula goes for most of my amusing parings but I'm not one to cling to specific parings but rather a bit of a swap and shift depending on the setting. Every relationship has a certain fuck-up level and when it gets high enough I get interested. Unstable characters are the most fun though, their relationships are on a permanent rollercoster and that just makes me happy.

But ever now and then I want sweet, safe and funny, then I usually read a bit of crack fic and go back to my usual self.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I guess I'm more a sticker for what I know - I do like change in relationships, but I tend to hang on to what I know. Maybe I'm just boring ;)

[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

My del.icio.us rec tag for Adama/Roslin

I do heart Adama/Roslin, but my love has been tainted in the recent weeks with the collective maturity of the A/R fandom on LJ seeming to drop alarmingly. But yay for sharing fandoms with you again!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Yay recs. I'll check them out later. And must get myself more icons.

I haven't checked out too much of the fandom yet, but my first exposure to BSG at all was through shipping wank featured on f_w, and yeah... But then again, after DW shipping wank, I'm used to a lot.

*is shamefaced-ly writing ficlet already*

[gabz33.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm gonna epic-write this and make it cool.

...and that would be lame. But that's just me.

(Cam, this can be any fandom, yes? Plus, I owe you a ficlet. =\)

-Mackenzie

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh, feel free to write what you want, though I'm not sure exactly what you're refering to. But yes, any fandom.

[gabz33.livejournal.com]

The list of who I ship and why. Some of the explanations might not make so much sense. I blame Toey.

=]

[ilingeron.livejournal.com]

I have a thing for pairings that take a long, long time to develop, or where one of the characters is somewhat repressed: John/Rodney from Stargate Atlantis, Fraser/Kowalski from Due South, maybe even Jack/Ianto.

But on the other hand I love the totally crazy emotional fucked up-ness of pairings like Starbuck/Leoben and Doctor/Jack, so I think I'm a bit of a masochist. =/