As seen on my flist, sort of

[sholio]

There's this meme going around, which goes: Name a character I've written about, and I will tell you three things that I think are essential to keep in mind when writing that character.

But when I thought about doing the meme, and what I might say about some of the characters that I write, I realized that I don't exactly operate that way. I tend to think about characters in combination with other characters; I don't really go around thinking about Rodney, for example, but instead I think about Rodney + Teyla, or Rodney + Sam, or whatever. I don't have just one set interpretation of the character; instead I have different ways of writing them depending on the kind of situation and who they're interacting with.

So here's what we'll do instead!

Give me a character relationship -- i.e. name two characters from a show/book/movie who have some kind of relationship in canon (friendship, coworkers, enemies, sexual relationship, blood relationship, whatever) -- and I'll tell you three things I believe about the relationship between those characters.

You can name characters from anything I'm into -- SGA, Avatar, Dresden Files, Sanctuary or Artemis Fowl would probably work best at the moment, since those are the ones that are most currently in my head, but you can also pull characters out of anything else I've fanned on, whether or not I've written for it. You can name more than two characters if there is a clearly defined relationship between all of them as a unit, like a group of siblings, a family, a group of people who work together, etc. I'm perfectly fine with people posting more than once, BUT wait 'til I answer before you go and give me another pair to write about. :)

ETA: Comments may contain spoilers for the canons being discussed. I'm trying to steer clear of HUGE spoilers but it's impossible to discuss some of these characters without spoiling things.

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/313290.html with comments.

Comments

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. You've now made me think about it, and on thinking about it have come to realize that I'm kind of the opposite. I tend to get very focused on a single character - specifically their past, or possible past. For me, when I think about a character, a lot of times it's their pasts/possible pasts I tend to dwell on. I never really realized this before, but it's true. I'm a back story junky.

Anyway, on to the request. Hmmmm... So hard to choose!

I can't decide between Tesla and Henry, Sheppard and McKay or Harry and Murphy.

Surprise me ;)

[sinaida.livejournal.com]

Rodney and Elizabeth, please. :)

Harry and Murphy

[sholio]

Just based on reading meta and fic and such, I'm pretty sure that it's quite common in fandom to be primarily focused on a favorite character or characters. But, though I do love and fixate on individual characters also, I've always been more about the relationships between characters (which actually is one of the things that's stopped me from fanning very hard on Sanctuary; there are individual characters I love, but no character relationship that really does it for me, hence no strong fannish bond).

Someone else is bound to ask about Sheppard and McKay (and if not, you can always request it again *g*), so I'll do Harry and Murphy!

1. They're each the other's best friend. Maybe that's too obvious to mention, but it was something that struck me on the re-read in a way that it really hadn't when I read the series the first time: how throughout the series, without anyone being so sappy as to actually utter the words "best friend", they are such obvious BFFs 4evah. *g*

2. This is something of a rarity for me, but I will be equally okay if the two of them get together or if they don't. Frankly I think it's almost inevitable that they will end up together eventually, but the series has surprised me before, and that may not be what Butcher's heading for at all. But, assuming that things don't go horribly south on them, I will be okay with it either way. I can totally see them as a couple, but I can also totally see them continuing to bicker and share confidences and insult each other's taste in girlfriends/boyfriends until they're 90.

3. And one reason why I'm okay with the idea of the romance turning out either way is because I do believe that what they have between them is deep and complex enough that it would survive a love affair going bad. I could even see them spending a book or two at odds -- not necessarily because of romance gone wrong, but because of a betrayal or something even worse, who knows what nasty turns Butcher has up his sleeve for his poor characters *g* -- and eventually finding their way back to the same depth of trust and love that they had before.

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

Wellll, I really don't know who to pick. I love Zuko, so maybe Zuko and Toph, or Zuko and Katara, Zuko and Aang, Zuko and Mai, Zuko and Sokka, Zuko and Iroh, Zuko and Azula, Zuko and Ozai? Any of them really.

Or Rodney and Teyla, Rodney and John, Rodney and Ronon, Rodney and Carson or Rodney and Keller?

Any of these would be awesome!

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

Also, er, this is a little off topic, but I've been looking for one of your fics and I can't remember the name. It's the one where John is somewhere in a beach (I think it was a beach, and maybe a cabin?) and he's waiting, and one by one the rest of the team come and join him. At the end, they leave through the gate. And I would say more but I don't want to spoil it in case anyone hasn't read it yet and the ending is a surprise. Can you tell me the name?

[sholio]

Ah! That story is Spaces Between. :)

And for the meme question, can you narrow it down a leeeeetle bit? Is there any that you would specially like me to talk about?

Rodney and Elizabeth

[sholio]

Ooh, that's an interesting one! :)

1. He respected her from the beginning, which is a really extraordinary thing because this is Rodney we're talking about here -- he doesn't respect anyone, particularly not in the immediate post-SG1 era. And yet his relationship with Elizabeth has always been one of mutual respect and liking, and seldom became combative; it might actually be the only one of his close friendships that isn't a highly combative battle of snark most of the time. In fact, after she's gone, that's one of the things that's hardest for him to take. There haven't been very many people who just liked him.

2. They aren't confidantes; their friendship doesn't really seem to work that way. They don't have the sort of relationship where one of them would go to the other to confide or be counseled. For that sort of thing, they'd be much more likely to go to Carson or Kate or, in Rodney's case, John -- but not each other. And yet they've gotten to know each other pretty well regardless, though probably neither of them would be able to figure out how it happened; through the day-to-day business of running Atlantis, it just ... did.

3. One of the more interesting things to me about Rodney and Elizabeth is that they seem to relate to each other differently one-on-one than in a group. Elizabeth, especially when she's around John and Rodney, falls very easily into the "den mom" role (which makes sense for someone who's spent her life settling disputes as her job). But while her one-on-one interactions with John do retain overtones of that -- the constant awareness of the discrepancy in their relative positions of power; the sense that they're always testing each other -- I really don't get that impression off Rodney and Elizabeth. Unfortunately we don't see them by themselves very often, so there isn't much canon to go off here, but they relate much more as peers and equals when they're by themselves than when they're in a room with other people.

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

Heh, thanks for the link. Er, I would really like Zuko with someone. His character has always fascinated me and this is the first time I have thought of it in relation to someone else so I'm even more interested. Zuko with any of the Gaang or his family. Is that okay or do you want me to be more specific?

[sholio]

Nope, that'll work fine. :) It might take me a little while to get around to answering because I'm half asleep and should probably go to bed, but I can definitely work with that! :D

Zuko and Toph

[sholio]

Okay, so apparently I had one more in me before bed. *g*

1. Unlike the rest of Aang's group, Toph doesn't have any reason to hate Zuko (well, except for burning her feet, but that was an accident). So even though she understands, on a purely intellectual level, why the rest of the team are so resistant to the idea of Zuko joining their group, she doesn't really feel it. He betrayed them in Ba Sing Se, but Toph, who spent most of her life forcing herself to be someone she wasn't in order to please her parents, can understand how family makes you do completely messed-up things sometimes. Not that she trusts him, of course -- that would be silly. But there's no practical reason not to let him join them for the time being. (Seriously, even if he did try something, it'd be 7 to one, on a cliff, with a flying bison on their side. He wouldn't stand a chance.)

2. Toph and Zuko are friends in a very stereotypical teenage-boy sort of way. There's a lot of random arm-punching and scuffling, and absolutely no talking about feelings or anything of that nature. Zuko can never quite figure out if this makes her easier to be around than most of his other friends, or immeasurably harder, because, being terminally insecure, he can never quite figure out if the entire "friendship" is actually one big joke at his expense. (The others are a lot more inclined to humor Zuko and reassure him when he gets in these sorts of moods. Well, at least Aang and Katara are. Sokka doesn't notice and Mai thinks that a little insecurity keeps him honest. Toph, having learned by experience that Zuko is perfectly capable of getting out of his own funks, just leaves him to it.)

3. Toph thinks that Zuko is a very good Firelord, as these things go, and she's proud of him. Not that she'd ever tell him that, of course.

[saphirablue]

Um, may I too?

I would really love to hear your thoughts on the relationship between Jos Musley and Niko or Jos and Captain Arzacon.

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

How about Teyla and Elizabeth?

[tieleen.livejournal.com]

My brain somehow made enemies, sexual relationship into sexual enemies, and I had just enough time to think 'oh, fandom' before realizing that no, this time it was just me.

In a very sharp turn from that, I'd love to hear your thoughts about Teyla and Ronon.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds interesting. Hope I'm not too late to the party, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Rodney + Sam.

Re: Rodney and Elizabeth

[leesa_perrie]

I've always wondered how Elizabeth won his respect pre-SGA! It's probably why I devour the occasional fic that turns up set pre-SGA with Rodney and her!!

We don't get a lot of Rodney and Elizabeth interaction, though Tao of Rodney springs to my mind atm. I love how she handles him throughout this, encouraging him to try for ascension. I also love how he, in my opinion, teases her at the end about the 'loving him' statement she'd made when he was dying!!

I'll shut up now, as this isn't my request. It's just, you know, Rodney!!

Re: Rodney and Elizabeth

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

I like this about Rodney and Elizabeth. :) I loved their relationship on the show.

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

I tend to think about characters in combination with other characters;

I'm the same way generally. :) There's a few exceptions, but usually I'm more focused on relationships than individual characters.

As for the question....er. I suppose I'll go for the obvious. :) John and Rodney.

Rodney & Jeannie

[leesa_perrie]

I was going to ask for Rodney + Sam ('cos this fascinates me for some reason!), but astridv has beaten me to it!!

So, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Rodney and Jeannie - a brother/sister relationship that is deeply entertaining and of much interest to me! I wish we'd seen more of it!!

[cynonymous.livejournal.com]

Radek and Lorne. What we got in The Game was hilarious, and I'd have loved to see more of the two of them working together as the seconds to Rodney and Sheppard.

[trobadora]

Aleksander and Seyonne? :D

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Helen Magnus and Kate Freelander (or, if you're like me and really struggling with figuring out where Kate fits and why Helen let her into the Sanctuary so easily, despite everything, Nikola Tesla and Henry Foss)

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I'll play...........in order
Sheppard
Ronon

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Harry and Thomas! Or else Sokka and Zuko.

[fitzwiggity.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...so many choices!

I'll pick something from Sg1 since no one's done that yet-Vala and Teal'c, because their interactions are quite amusing, the way Vala's always calling him 'muscles' and teasing him. Though Vala and Daniel would be pretty good too, I might add. I think I'd much rather have Vala and Daniel now that I think about it, because the two of them together have been seen a lot more often on the show and there's a lot more interaction between the two.

[writerjc.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I'll play, how about Sheppard & Radek?