Blissful Ignorance

lilac310 wrote:
whew...for a second there, I felt as though I was reading a literary analysis essay ...the ones that I loathe so much in English class esp. if the said "literature" just downright sucks (meant as somewhat of a compliment since that kind of stuff takes quite a while to write; thus, no offense intended)

I'll take it as somewhat of a compliment. It didn't require as much work as you imagined because there was a recent discussion on OCs (which I initiated) on a HP fanfiction site with most of the same points made.

I agree with you about the literary analysis essays. However, my often pedantic style springs not from reading too many literary analyses, but from generating too many reports which aren't taken seriously unless I make them sufficiently tedious. I was traumatized when my senior research thesis on photo-acoustic infrared spectroscopy (it was more fun than it sounds, I got to play with lasers) was rejected twice purely because I first entitled it "What I did on my summer vacation" and then I tried "A study in infrascarlet". I finally gave in and submitted it with an appropriately boring title.

In real life, I'm an avid punster who was once threatened with expulsion from a country after making too many bad puns to the first secretary of the US embassy during a meeting. The fact that I had also finagled the economics attache into buying six packs of Dr Pepper for me from the embassy comissary may also have influenced him even though it was the only place in the country I could find that sold Dr Pepper.

In real life, I'm an avid punster who was once threatened with expulsion from a country after making too many bad puns to the first secretary of the US embassy during a meeting. The fact that I had also finagled the economics attache into buying six packs of Dr Pepper for me from the embassy comissary may also have influenced him even though it was the only place in the country I could find that sold Dr Pepper.

So, in summary, you're like ...

option A) a 42-year-old man/woman who happens to be working in an embassy?

option B) a very politically active and outspoken university student who had some sort of a ruckus with the 1st sec of the US embassy during a student council-initiated strike?

option C) well, there really is no option C...can't think of anything else...I just put it there 'cuz ya know, it's the "typical" multiple choice format...Of course, putting option D would even be more pointless...

lilac310 wrote:So, in summary, you're like ...

option A) a 42-year-old man/woman who happens to be working in an embassy?

option B) a very politically active and outspoken university student who had some sort of a ruckus with the 1st sec of the US embassy during a student council-initiated strike?

option C) well, there really is no option C...can't think of anything else...I just put it there 'cuz ya know, it's the "typical" multiple choice format...Of course, putting option D would even be more pointless...

C) I was a grad student studying post-Soviet economic development in Eastern Europe doing an internship and research for a professor who was able to get funding to send me over. The prof and the school are sufficiently prestigious to obtain interviews with first secretaries and the like, and to impress economic attaches with access to Dr Pepper.

Um I'm not sure what yous are discussing but um there was once this tasty soft drink called DR PEPPER.
But I haven't seen it in like 10 years :-? it was very bubbly

[end of pointless input ]

C) I was a grad student studying post-Soviet economic development in Eastern Europe doing an internship and research for a professor who was able to get funding to send me over. The prof and the school are sufficiently prestigious to obtain interviews with first secretaries and the like, and to impress economic attaches with access to Dr Pepper.

Amazing! Well, I'm a struggling college student who still doesn't know what to do with her life and who is about to jump off a cliff (just like Heero did) in hopes of knocking some sense into my already soggy brain....

oh! and Dr. Pepper ROCKS!

Back to the alternative pairings we go, then!

Considering the amount of 'tension' between basically all the characters of Gundam Wing, I think just about any alt. pairing could be made plausible. Having this huge fanbase *cougharmycough* of smut and sap craving fangirls and fanboys, complete with their own hierarchy and propaganda machine *coughRight,Wicked?cough* helps too.


Many ladies here mentioned that they have no problem with pairing Relena with any of the guys, but want Heero to stay exclusively dedicated to Relena. Of course; we're the feminine party, we identify with Relena. We don't want 'our' guy to run off with someone else. This limits our fun when reading alt. pairings, though, because Any Male x Relena is only a fraction of the Any Male x Any Female pairings possible in Gundam Wing.
I don't really have that 'problem'. I think of it this way: it's not Heero I pair up with another girl, it's Hilde/Catherine/Middie/Dorothy/Lady Une/Noin/Sylvia/Sally/Meiran I pair up with Heero. See the difference? Though I (by far) identify with Relena the best of all the GW women, this enables me to get a full perspective of Gundam Wing pairings. Full appreciation of all the characters, and their romantic possibilities. No limit to the madness, whahaha! *cough*


My personal favorites - as of yet - are:

Relena x Duo. I see Relena as apt to supress, or forget about, her fun loving, spontaneous side, and Duo would really help keep that part of her alive, while she would provide stability and unconditional love when he needs it.

Heero x Catherine. While I'm not sure about long term commitment between the two, I really think there could be some form of attraction between them. Cathy is so full of life, so free, she'd be like a butterfly to him, and the little boy in him would be lured out of the Perfect Soldier shell to chase it. (I?m writing a fic at this very moment with his theme, please don?t steal it! Not until I?ve posted it, anyway. ;-p )

Trowa x Lady Une Because they cater to some... slight fetishes/kinks of mine:
1) The uniforms;
2) The hair;
3) The presence of guns (...don?t ask)
4) They look good together.

Treize x Noin would make for great angsty lemons. Because Zechs can be an inconsiderate bastard that should be chained to Noin?s bedpost and whipped into submission.

Quatre x Noin. My new favorite. Quatre?s crush on the older woman, oh yeah... I so have to try that one out!


I never read GW Chara x OC, because I simply can?t relate the product of another fanfiction author?s imagination with the GW canon (despite the fact that I'm co-writing a story that has just about every single GW character paired up with an OC by one of the five authors... heh). Looking for the few masterpieces among all the junk is too much trouble. Crossover pairings are cool, though. They can give a whole new dimension to the characters, that you?d never be able to achieve with the other GW characters.

As for threesomes... no prob whatsoever. I don?t mind smut, as long as it?s well written. There?s one thing I?m curious about, though; I can?t decide whether I like the thought of Male x Female x Male better, or Female x Male x Female. What you think about this, everyone?

Eienvine wrote:It's not a very common one, but I think it's really nice, especially in post-EW fics- not that there's many war fics floating about.

Now there is!

But yeah, 1xR fo evah, although I agree with Eienvine; Quatre and Relena seem like the people who would attract sometimes.

As an avid fan of alt pairings, this discussion appeals to me. I love a 4xR fic because I think it's the most realistic pairing. Still, I can't see Heero with anyone but Relena. I guess Dorothy would work. She is crazy attracted to Heero, so I could picture her as the seductress, ya know? And if Heero's all alone, and actually has hormones like normal human beings, he's gonna give in. Unless Relena gets to him first. Anyone ever write a fic like that?

I like 5xR stories too because they're unusual. When you think about it though it kinda makes sense. Wufei after the war might feel a need to get back to his humanity and find a new place in the world without a soldier identity. Who better than Relena to heal his war wounds? (other than Sally, that is...) I dunno. I saw earlier in the thread that someone could never picture Wufei with Relena. But Aeris_Eithne has a story posted in the alt forum that I think is pretty realistic. I'd like to see more like that, and more about Relena and Quatre too.

As for pairings that are just completely out there... I like your idea of Heero and Catherine, Omnicat. Trowa and Hilde would be hilarious I think. I can't picture anyone but Zechs with Noin because anyone else would be weird. Not to mention Zechs would have the infiltrator castrated.

My fav alt pairing is 2xR, even though I am a devoted 1xr fanatic. I guess the reason I like Duo with Relena is because the personalities ofthe two pilots are so vastliy different. It makes for a new dynamic in the relationship. I read so many serious 1xR fics that a humorous 2xR fic is a welcome respite every once in a while. I do although have the same quirk as Sphinx. I can't seem to be able to picture anybody with Heero other than Relena. It just doesn't seem like he would be able to open up to anyone other than her. So, if she ends up with someone else, he inevitably and unfortunatly ends up alone. That's my take on alt pairings.