thinlizzy2

I had a fandomesque discussion turn kinda angry today. It's been a while since that happened; I can't say I've missed it. But at least it was familiar territory!

There's a new American English teacher at work (he's going to cover for me when I go on mat leave). He's sort of ... dudebro-y, if you know what I mean. So besides "here's the job, please don't leave it in a fucking mess for me when I get back" we haven't had a lot to talk about. But today he mentioned that he likes the Big Bang Theory. So I thought we could go with that for a while.

I said how much Amy's character cracks me up. He was just "meh", which is fine. We don't all have to like the same characters. Then he said that he thought Sheldon should be with Penny. I'd never thought of that as a possible pairing, so I asked why.

Dudebro: Well... she's hot, you know.
Me: Yeah, but Sheldon doesn't care about stuff like that.
D: Yeah, but if he had a hotter girl it'd be better for him. Plus she'd be good for him because she could teach him about social stuff.
M: Well, what does she get out of the relationship?
D: What do you mean?
M: Well, leaving aside the fact that Penny's a pretty sexual person and Sheldon thinks sex is gross, he drives her up the wall a lot of the time and doesn't like any of the stuff she likes. What does she get out of dating him?
D: A really smart guy.
M: She's got one. Leonard has a Ph.D in physics.
D: Yeah, but Leonard's not as cool as Sheldon.
M: From Penny's perspective? I don't think she considers either of them cool. That's not a thing she's looking for in this relationship.
D: Whatever. Sheldon's cooler and he should have the hotter girl.

Yeah. Let's just use attractive women as rewards for characters we like. Never mind the fact that, intentionally or not, he routinely insults and offends her. And while we're at it, let's write off a really funny and original character as a love interest because this guy doesn't want to bang her. How fun.

I've spent the evening happily devouring the Yuletide offerings in my favourite fandoms, and I'm sure I'll come back with a much bigger rec post in about a week or so. But this particular story COULD NOT WAIT. It's just one of the very best things I've ever read.

If you're familiar at all with X-Factor (comic book, not singing talent show) you'll be stunned by how brilliantly in character this is. The voices, the motivations, the relationships, THE TEAM DYNAMIC - if reveals show that this fic was written by Peter David himself I won't be even slightly surprised. It's that spot-on perfect. The mix of action, mysticism, friendship, romance and humour are all why this is my favourite comic ever, and it's all done so very very well.

It's no secret that I ship Theresa/Monet like FedEx, and this fic turns the currently hopeless state of that relationship on it's head and provides a wonderful (and so believable!) solution. And this is probably the only Moneterry (no idea if that's the actual shipname or I just made that up, but I think I'm keeping it) that I've ever read in which Monet's past with Theresa's father is called into play. The scene with Sean Cassidy (one of my favourite characters in the history of characters) honestly brought tears to my eyes. And it's just one of a million things I could point to that shows how very well this author knows these characters.

So if you like X-Factor, please read this. If you like femslash, please read this. If you just feel like a well-written, clever, spooky romance, you should be reading this right now!

It's called Heartlines and it's here:
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2012/works/597842

My "engagement" ring came yesterday (I've been married for years, but never got around to getting a ring before.) It's lovely! We settled on a ruby surrounded by black diamond chips and I love it loads!

So, feeling romantic and insomnia-ic, I've put together a little OTP post with links to all my favourite canon love affairs!

I'd also love to hear about other people's favourite romances, so feel free to rhapsodize in the comments if you have a couple you love and also cannot sleep at all!

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No idea if anyone is going to get all the way through that, but if you do you can have a shiny gold star from me and, of course, loads of love!