attempt at efficiency: FAILURE

[meretricula]

ugh, so much Herodotus. it isn't even that it's hard at this point. there are just too many words.

Rafa lost his quarterfinal, sadface. I was upset for a split second and then remembered that I am in this fandom for the slash, not the actual tennis. my faith in Rafa's invincibility has been a little shaken, though, I admit. ~shrug~ whatever, he's still pretty. I kind of want the Davis Cup boypiles back. nothing can be upsetting when full-grown professional tennis players are bouncing up and down singing about how much they love Rafa.

in a strange convergence of fandoms, I have been thinking about threesome dynamics. (for those of you going: uh, what is she talking about, the threesomes I have been pondering are Tharkay/Laurence/Granby from Temeraire and Rafa/Feli/Nando from tennis slash.) perhaps this is because I have never quite been able to wrap my brain around polyamory, but I see them both (and they are both very different dynamics) as starting from two people in love with the same third person. however, I would fully buy Tharkay and Granby, both of whom are sort of hopelessly in love with Laurence the epically oblivious in canon, as getting with each other independent of Laurence, and I sort of rank that scenario as more probable than either of them getting with Laurence independently, just because Laurence is so deeply bound up with Temeraire that he would probably fail to notice sizzling sexual tension if it set his coat on fire. once Tharkay and Granby are involved with each other, they gain confidence and stability (which I think neither has had in, let's see, ever) and would be more comfortable approaching Laurence from the secure position of an established couple. rejection is scary! but less scary if you already know someone loves you. (thinky thoughts on Temeraire prompted by novembersmith's deliciously hot OT3 fic, which is through no fault of its own not really compatible with my personal canon. I love it to pieces! but it's not how I see it going down.)

by contrast, I think the Spanish OT3 absolutely cannot exist without Feli Lopez. I'd buy him with either Rafa or Nando and pulling the other one in, but Rafa/Nando? absolutely not. no spark. (and I say that having seen many Davis Cup pics where Rafa and Nando are snuggling shirtless or rolling around on the ground on top of each other. really. no relationship spark.)

as I try to analyze these findings, I'm wondering if it's based on how I see the... I don't know how to describe it, the balance of effort in the relationships? Laurence is a lot of work, and dearly as I love him, he doesn't give it back. he's too invested in doing his duty. he loves Temeraire, and so much of his energy is spent on looking after Temeraire that he really doesn't do a lot of caretaking for other people. (being a responsible commander is not caretaking as I'm defining it here. I mean looking after someone because of an emotional investment in their wellbeing.) Tharkay and Granby are following him to freaking Australia. that is some serious emotional investment. and they both, throughout the books, really do spend an increasing amount of time trying to take care of Laurence. (Laurence appreciates this irregularly.) unless Laurence changes somehow during the trip to Australia, I think he would destroy a lover who was in love with him. he wouldn't understand that he was doing it and he would be very sorry afterwards, but it wouldn't change the result. which is why Jane is awesome for him: she's not down with that nonsense! but seriously, Laurence is an absolute sink for energy, affection, and worry. two people making a concerted effort and also making sure to take care of each other could manage him, but... yeah. (Laurence, I still love you, bb!)

I see Feliciano as being the caretaker for both Rafa and Nando. a fun caretaker, someone who will tease and act like a friend, not a parent, but still, he's the one making the effort. he's part of Rafa's entourage, not the other way around, and I think Verdasco needs a lot of affection and reassurance. that's maybe unfair to Rafa; I don't know. based on pictorial evidence of him hugging everyone on the planet he's very comfortable giving physical affection, and absent any work on an author's part to convince me otherwise, I see him as the caretaker in the Roger/Rafa relationship. but I don't see him as willing to be the giver with Nando, which I guess is the relevant point, and I just don't see Lopez as needing the kind of effort and energy that would require him to be.

...I think my conception of the threesome dynamic is alarmingly co-dependent. will contemplate this further.

rambling meta brought to you by procrastination! whatever, I'm not sleeping anyway.

Comments

I love that in Latin, procrastination means 'for tomorrow.'

[novembersmith.livejournal.com]

And that is virtually the sum total of everything I remember from my Latin class, heh.

(Laurence appreciates this irregularly.)

HAH! That is so true. Also, oooh, thinky thoughts on threesomes, I want in. Especially since I have been doing A LOT of thinking on them lately. I think I have an entirely different conception of the dynamics than you, which may be obvious since otherwise I'd be writing entirely different stories. I agree Laurence doesn't take very good care of himself, and that he needs several dedicated keepers, but I think that says more about how he thinks about himself. I feel like once Laurence realized something was going on, that person A or B (let us for the sake of argument call these people Thanby and Grahkay) was in love with him, he would struggle with it a lot, and ponder it, and talk it out with his dragon, who would cut through all the bullshit with a simple and profound yet horribly socially inappropriate statement, and then after a lot of wibbling and angsting, he'd come to terms with it and pounce.

I guess what I love so much about Laurence is that he's such a dynamic character--he really has gone through such dramatic changes in the course of the series. I don't know if I even actually liked Laurence very much at the beginning of His Majesty's Dragon, and now you can pry him from my cold dead fingers. I think you're definitely right, though, about him being entirely wrapped up in Temeraire in the first two books--first in the "HOLY SHIT I HAVE A DRAGON" rush and then the "WTF GTFO CHINA AAHHHH" bit. But I do think we see him becoming more aware in all the books, of the people he's with and of the ideas he'd taken for granted his whole life. And I think as a result of having gone through what he did in the end of EoI and VoE, and having survived--I don't think HMD-era Laurence could ever have conceived surviving that, you know?--I feel like, as a person, that's an enormous change, that he's re-evaulating a lot of things.

Grant you, I am a crazed Laurence fan! I am not at all impartial. And I definitely think it's important that regardless of what happens, Temeraire is naturally the first person (Er, dragon... dragons are people, right? Right.) in Laurence's life. Actually, that's sort of true for all dragons and their captains, isn't it? Jane and Excidium, and now Granby and Iskierka, who requires, if anything, more attention than the average dragon. In this scenario, Tharkay is the one that I tend to worry about being left out--luckily, I think once he gets his bearings, he's not the type to just loll around bemoaning his neglect. He's more likely to thwack people with a newspaper, or turn up in eyeliner and strike people dead with the hot. But yeah, that's part of why I love Laurence/Granby--Granby, like Roland, would know exactly what sort of level of investment to expect from a captain with a dragon, and as for Tharkay, I think he's cautious enough that by the time he got involved in a relationship he would have sussed that out for himself.

Obviously, YMMV. I am not here to be like "OMG YOUR IDEA OF THREESOMES IS WRONG." But here is my take on their personal threesome dynamics as I tend to see and write them? ALSOTHANKYOU. I'm glad you thought it was hot.

...now you've got me eyeing tennis slash with interest. DAMN YOU. I don't even know anything about tennis. Other that it involves terms like thirty-love. And rackets.

Here I come fashionably late, sleep-deprived, and rambly. UH-OH.

[t-lyrical.livejournal.com]

Eee, you make a lot of good points in this. I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the concept of OT3s either. I’ve always had one character left out, or not working as well with other half the pair. It turns out that I just haven’t been presented with the right character dynamics and relationships. Speaking strictly about T/L/G, I do agree that Laurence is the “central” person in the relationship, the one that starts it off, and I see where you are coming from with Tharkay/Granby. I also think they are more the more plausible pair (if they ever get over Laurence, romantically) for the same reasons.

A part of me still sees Laurence as totally straight, or forever unaware of the idea that he might be bisexual, and, let’s face it, not even looking for a romantic relationship/marriage. Jane was a good fling for him, yes, being both a friend and someone who could burn off any sexual energy he has, lol. I am of the same mind when you say that Laurence is too invested in duty (and Temeraire as a life-companion). The poor boy already has a lot on his mind, I think. He’s better off focusing on himself for a bit until Tharkay and Granby come around with a 2x4 and whack some sense into him. Also, I have an issue with Temeraire still not getting it. (And if you want me to elaborate here, I will try my best if asked, but imma go back to warbling about the ot3.)

I admit, I must have been wearing the thickest tin hat ever the first time I read the books. I did not pick up on Laurence/Granby until the fourth book, and even then, I had to read FIC first to actually SEE that there was potential. (LAURENCE IS JUST THAT STRAIGHT TO ME, I GUESS.) I was thoroughly more engrossed with the Laurence-Temeraire relationship (and sort of calmly accepting that I rather like Laurence/Temeraire to a certain extent). For all we know, Granby could be the only gay one, lol. Initially, I saw him as, like… the helpful little brother and REALLY good friend Laurence never had. IDK how to explain it; erm, Granby is adorable, yes. :x If they were a couple, mutually in love and all that, I think it would create the least emotional conflict in comparison to Tharkay/Laurence. They’re both aviators, so they can understand that their dragons and England come first. They are my sunshiny-couple, so to speak. But here’s the thing: I GO NUTS FOR ANGST AND EMOTIONAL CONFLICT.

Which brings me to Tharkay… When he came in, I DID see the pairing, and they were my first real fanon!ship, but I am actually a big fan of unrequited love, so I was really seeing Tharkay -> Laurence. And it’s so painfully obvious to me that Tharkay is heads over heels in love with him. Otherwise, the literary critic in me looks at Tharkay and mutters, deus ex machina, especially in the third book, and, if I put my hands over my ears singing “LALALA” over the subtext, the fifth book as well. Luckily, he did get some development over time and he become too full of win and awesome for my argumentive critic to say anything more. Long story short, my personal canon is Tharkay -> Laurence.

So, with Tharkay being the head-thwacker, and Granby being somewhat sweeter and understanding (but no less forceful when he has to be), the threesome works quite well in my head, granted that Laurence doesn’t freak.


... Long post is long. Sorry. .__.

[lime-disconnect.livejournal.com]

do you have a weird sex life?