Friday Five

[mamajoan]

Taken from musesfool

1. A pairing that you enjoy reading but will never write, and why.

I try to never say never, especially when it's "I'll never write ____", but probably any West Wing pairing would qualify, esp. Josh/Sam. Why? Because Sorkin-esque dialogue is so hard to emulate accurately.

2. The pairing that you think has spurred the most really awful fan fiction.

I'm gonna have to go with Buffy/Angel, and also Mulder/Scully.

3. A pairing that you just don't get.

Willow/Spike. I'm sorry, but just, no.

4. A pairing that you think is difficult to write believably, and an example of it done well.

Giles/Buffy, and I remember reading one that was decent but I can't remember what it was called or who wrote it.

5. A pairing that you have written or have thought about writing, despite your own surprise that you would consider it.

I've done a lot of odd pairings, but I guess Spike/Xander. Because really I have trouble seeing it, but I got that one plot bunny and had to go with it. (Aftershocks) It was only the second Buffyfic that I ever wrote, so it's not all that great.

Comments

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

I actually would have bought Willow/Spike in season 4, post-Oz but pre-Tara, and was awfully entertained by the idea of Spike "wooing" Willow, who would have been beyond terrified... Considering how much Spike doted on Dru, and the chemistry he had with Willow (in a totally fucked up, bizarre way) in "Lover's Walk" and "The Initiative" and the fact that he is the only person who actually sees how messed up Will actually is after Oz left, I could see him getting a crush. Because say what you will for William; he's always been the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to reading people, cutting through the bullshit, and actually being *observant* and honest about things.

As for Giles/Buffy, I was utterly squicked by even the concept, but Yahtzee almost totally turned me with Destination Unknown. I still have residual squick, btu she's the first person I've ever seen come clsoe to making it work for me.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

It's true that the whole Spike trying to bite Willow scene in "The Initiative," with its anvilicious sexual-impotency metaphor, could be used as fodder for the pairing. But it just doesn't work for me. I can see how Spike might be attracted to her in that lecherous "innocent virgin" way (okay, she wasn't actually a virgin but you know what I mean) but I can't see Willow being attracted to him at all.

But you're 100% right about Spike being observant. That's a common theme since the very beginning -- Spike understands pretty much all the other characters (except maybe Dru) very well. It's why he had such success sowing discord between the Scoobies in late S4, and it's why he became Buffy's confidant in late S5 and early S6. And it's part of why so many of us are rabid Spike-o-philes. :)

As for Giles/Buffy, I was utterly squicked by even the concept, but Yahtzee almost totally turned me with Destination Unknown.

Well, the story was good, but the romance part didn't work for me. I thought it would have been fabulous as a friendship fic.

I found the one I was thinking of -- it's Electra by Kate. The only reason it works for me is that it's not a happy schmoopy story. It's dark and angsty and ugly, and that's the only way the pairing can work for me, apparently. (Same for Buffy/Spike, incidentally. It has to be dark and unhealthy; it can't be fluffy kittens and flowers, unless it's in the "Something Blue"-verse.)