Four Things

[sophia_sol]

Thing one: Okay, so, Methos. Yes, yes, you're all surprised, I'm talking about Methos again. You know what Methos should have a lot of trouble with? Well, all immortals should have this problem, really. KEEPING UP WITH MODERN VOCABULARY AND SLANG. Because language changes, gradually, over time. And over the course of a mortal person's life, generally they fall behind on modern lingo too, hence why kids always laugh at their parents when they try to talk "hip". Because you lose track of the new words that come into the language.

Now, if a person were really making an effort, they could probably more or less keep up with most, but inevitably when you're tired or drunk or not paying attention, bits of older vocabulary would sneak in without you realizing, because you'd forget that, oh, right, people don't really use that word anymore.

And when you've lived through THE ENTIRETY OF THE LIFE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, that's a lot of old versions of vocabulary and grammar to have carefully and slowly shifted through over your life.

So when you think about it, it's really impressive that when Methos talks, there's nothing about his speech that pings as slightly old-fashioned. But now I really want to see drunk!Methos accidentally using bits of archaic vocabulary.


Thing Two: I was talking about Doctor/Master last night with sentientcitizen, as one does, and -- okay, the Doctor and Master are really not actually healthy for each other, and yet I ship it anyways. Why? One would think that I would want what's best for characters I like, right? But APPARENTLY NOT! Apparently I'm totally okay with the two of them being really fucked up about each other!


Thing Three: Today I saw the Buffy episode Superstar, as part of my totally-out-of-order very-occasional watching project. It was really good! It was super-weird seeing someone other than Buffy being the one that everyone looks up to and turns to for help, and to see Buffy being all unsure of herself and her abilities. I just wanted to give Buffy a hug and tell her, "No, you TOTALLY kick butt! Way more than Jonathan!"

Also, this is not just me, right? Xander was every bit as much in lust with Jonathan as Anya was, right? Does he often get bits of bisexuality on the show, or was this just a strange one-off deal? Because if this was the only episode of Buffy I'd ever seen, I'd be like, "Yup. Xander's bisexual. Case closed."


Thing Four: What's ridiculous fun: to play First Person Tetris in night mode. (hint: try playing it on non-night-mode first, so you know how this version of tetris works) For the first LONG WHILE of playing it I kept on flailing both verbally and physically because it is so disconcerting. But FUN! And now I'm actually not horrible at it, though I keep on having these moments where my instincts make me suddenly go HORRIBLY HORRIBLY WRONG

Comments

[tei]

I tend to view my own love of... weird antagonistic not-healthy ships as essentially the same kind of love as for tragedy. I don't know, humanity likes watching itself suffer? :P

[sophia_sol]

Oh, innnnteresting! Because for me it is not about the tragedy. It is about, I think, the two characters being happier together, because they're so very invested in each other, even if their happiness is not healthy. So it's actually kind of the opposite of a love for tragedy!

[aria]

Thing One: STOP GIVING ME METHOS PLOTBUNNIES, SOPHIA. You know what I'm going to be doing for the rest of the night? It's not packing! It's not Yuletide! It's not even sleeping! IT'S LOOKING UP THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH SLANG AND WRITING DRUNK METHOS. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY.

Thing Two: I spend a lot of time pondering why I love Doctor/Master (and, a lot of the time, the entire attendant ship type) so damn much. And ... hmm. It reminds me of some meta I read a while ago theorizing that incest is the new slash, which I was going to say I didn't know where to find, and then I realized that it's by dira and can be found here. The reason I bring this up is because one of her main points is that, back in the day, the mere fact of two men (or I suppose two women) being together was controversial and not assumed to be accepted in-universe, which made any slash pairing claustrophobic in a potentially appealing way, a sort of "you're the only one in the world who understands me" thing. Now, Dira's point is that slash is now accepted enough that incest is the new claustrophobic slash, but it actually made sense to me in an entirely different way -- I really do love pairings that do the "you're the only one in the world who understands me" thing, and Doctor/Master is like that to a crazy degree. I mean, it's even a bit true in old school Who, when they're two awkward renegades whom the other Time Lords don't like much, but damn, when they're the last two in the whole universe? That gets me where I live. And in a weird way, knowing that they understand each other is enough like a happy ending that I get the same sort of joy from it? Obviously that's just me, though! It might be something totally different for anyone else. :)

Thing Three: re: Xander being bi, apparently Joss Whedon wanted either Willow or Xander ... eurgh, I don't want to say "be gay" because I have massive issues with Willow constantly telling us that she's "Gay now!" but, y'know, he was planning to have one of them turn out to not be straight. So the first three seasons are actually full of hints for both of them. There's a lovely little arc in which the kids discover there's a werewolf in town, and Xander suspects that it's Larry, one of the bullying jocks in school. He asks him about it in really roundabout language, and Larry misinterprets it as Xander confessing to being gay and telling Larry it's okay too, which leads to Larry's coming out and being generally a nicer guy, and also leads to Xander flailing with massive confusion and being adorable. (Deep in my heart I'm really bitter that Xander didn't turn out to be canon bi also, but that's a whole other can of worms.)

[sophia_sol]

Thing One: \o/ YES I'M HAPPY.

Thing Two: Hmm, interesting! See, for me, I don't actually have many other ships of the same type; the majority of my OTPs are more of the "best friends" variety. I totally get the "you're the only one in the world who understands me" thing, so I can really see where you're coming from. But I don't think that's it for me. I think it has to do with my more usual ship type, actually, so it's more about how these two characters are so deeply invested in each other that they can't imagine a world without each other -- so I don't want them to have to. The two characters are happier with each other in their lives, so I want them to have that happiness, even when it isn't good for them. Which does still make it a happy ending of sorts!

Thing Three: Wow, I never knew that! I am now...really bitter too that Xander didn't turn out to be canonically acknowledged as bi. And I hear you, too, on the problems with "Gay now!" *sigh* (also, I would NEVER EVER be able to watch that scene with Larry, because oh god, times where two people are talking and in fact are having two different conversations? Those are the WORST for my embarrassment squick.)

[china_shop]

Xander had a huge crush on Riley too. :-)

[sophia_sol]

Ooh, really? That's so adorable!

[justice_turtle]

I read a fic somewhere, I don’t know where (I lack your excellent bookmarking habits), where every time Methos starts a new identity he goes back to high school or college and like really thoroughly immerses himself in the current youth culture, and that’s why he seems so modern in his habits. Which now I think of it really only works for the past couple hundred years at most, but I like the concept anyway — I think Methos must have gotten, why do I always want to say “turned” like he was a werewolf or vampire, I think he must’ve become immortal in his late teens, because he has that sort of gangly adorable look to him, like a German shepherd puppy that hasn’t grown into its ears yet. I saw a picture of Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in high school that looked startlingly like Methos, at least to my prosopagnosic eye, which cemented that headcanon for me.

(...uh, hi. Not sure how I got here, but I don’t object to being here. ^_^ *waves*)

(...goddammit, now I’m imagining medieval!Methos going to medieval college and being EXCEEDINGLY GAY at it, per that one tumblr post I’m pretty sure I saw from you about medieval college being a hotbed of gay and the slang term “he doesn’t speak Latin” for “he is not gay like us”, because that’s where my brain goes apparently! I think that had to be you because I associate it with Les Mis and you’re the only person I follow who reblogs those in-depth Brick-adjacent history posts.)

(Also, Methos-era Peter Wingfield would look pretty damn fine in a cassock, god DAMN. :D Hell, perhaps he was seen in one and I’m just spacing...)

[sophia_sol]

I can't help but think that Methos would get awfully bored going back to high school or college so regularly. And like, the modern slang changes so very fast - I'm pretty sure the Young People in high school these days are using language differently than me, and I'm only a decade removed from high school - that I still don't really feel like it would be an effective method on constantly keeping up with modern slang.

He does look gangly and adorable, but...apparently I'm all about disagreeing with you in this comment, sorry! -- I really think he looks significantly older than teenaged. And since I'm pretty sure the idea is that immortals' bodies don't age further past their first death, I am of the opinion that Methos was at the very least mid-20's and probably older than that.

Anyway now I can come round to agreeing with you on something, because I absolutely agree that Methos would be Exceedingly Gay at medieval college and it's a delightful thought. (and yes I'm pretty sure you would have seen that post from me, because I am familiar with the post you are talking about!)