The Tradëscan Codex

Pick up to 15 OTPs.
Describe them in 15 words or less.
Have your flist guess the OTP.

1. Pedal photography with an exhibition at the Tate; better bring a book. [RPF -- Joss/Summer -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
2. Nativity's transposition, two forked roads, meets again with money and mathematics. Jealousy ebbs, equilibrium restored. [Veronica Mars -- Mac/Madison -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
3. Sentences flow together, as do selves in bodies stripped bare to times, possibilities. Hook shop?
4. With harboring metal, OT3. Innocence heals old wounds, restores faith, likes to frak. [Firefly -- Mal/Kaylee(/Serenity) -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
5. Complements, conqueror and nurturer: all the world, save one brother, falls at their feet.
6. Omnipotence and omniscience, innocence and experience, cape and chair: both can self-destruct quite well. [DC Comics -- Supergirl/Oracle -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
7. Out of poetry fashioned she him; he remade himself; forever is a long time. [Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- Spike/Drusilla -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
8. Man and metal, not brother or sister, but still 'cesty enough for me. [Sarah Connor Chronicles -- John/Cameron -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
9. She'd do anything for her, but she's not alone. Never partner, just quirky assistant, alas. [Veronica Mars -- Veronica/Mac -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
10. A madwoman, irresistable, and her caretaker. The future underestimates their love.
11. Former hostage, employed: trusted to watch, kill on betrayal (but doesn't, out of spite). [Astonishing X-Men -- Kitty/Emma -- guessed by wisdomeagle]
12. New canon (boo!) wrecks old OTP, gives new one. No need for ursine ingestion, though.
13. Cooler than red-haired true love, but just a fling--'til David's star arrives in school?
14. Age too young for chaos, girl too young to dance; absence breeds madness.
15. School visit leads to playing hooky, and a return to brother's bed, broken. [Firefly -- Simon/River -- guessed by wisdomeagle]

(N.B.: Portions of this letter have been lifted from last year's letter.)

Thank you for signing up to write a story for me! You're one of 7 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Tom Sawyer, one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The Secret Garden musicalverse, one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Heinlein's multiverse, and/or one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and I love you for that alone.

If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me, and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like.

I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think, although not quite so much as in years past. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist.

Likewise, Laz and Lor always get the better of their elders. Mary Lennox is one of my paradigm cases of a radically autonomous female child. And what is the appeal of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn if not as part of just this type of fantasy?

This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on Heinlein or Twain; I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too.

Although, really, Laz/Lor is pretty much canon, no? But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that twincest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Tom/Mary and Laz/Lor and even Mary/Neville, the way their strongest bond is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.

( more on where on earth is carmen sandiego )

( more on tom sawyer )

( more on secret garden musicalverse )

( very little about r.a.h. )

Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!

Yours in La Mancha,

Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

This year, I got for Christmas Brilliant Beyond Brilliant, the Parent Trap fic I've been talking about wanting for so long. Annie/Hallie, with them going off the college and then getting mad at each other and then--I won't spoil the rest. But it's wonderfully evocative and feels like the writer went to the movie and kidnapped all the characters to put in her fic.

Somebody wrote incest for me! Incest! For me! *uses incest icon* Oh, Hallie and Annie, you two are so sisters in love. Squee.

And then I have A hook shop, over a pool hall, mostly dialogue--which most scenes become in canon when Laz and Lor show up; I don't think we've ever seen anything from their POV, but Laz and Lor talk enough they take over any scene they're in--in which the two women discuss their secret mission (presumably working for the Time Agency) in which they act as heterae,the occupation they always promised (threatened?) Lazarus they would take up one day. Relentlessly cheerful but with their own mischievous streak, as Laz and Lor always are.

So, two of my favorite pairs of twins, all wrapped up in a shiny (virtual) bow for me for Christmas!

Merry Christmas, flist. There really is nothing like waking up to yuletide to put one in a good mood, is there? Well, enjoy your holiday if you celebrate, and I love you all.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 

Thank you for signing up to write a story for me! You're one of 12 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for The Parent Trap, one of 7 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Heinlein's multiverse, and/or one of 9 people (one of whom was me) who offered to write for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and I love you for that alone.

If you check out my userinfo, you'll find a 'thon policy which implores that you be true first and foremost to the prompt and your muse, and to consider whether I'd like a story as, at most, a secondary concern. I stand by that, but I also recognize there is a sense that a yuletide story is explicitly a gift in a way which most 'thon fics aren't, so feel free to surf through this journal to get a feel for me (let me note that nothing to see here is my incest tag), and here's a little bit more, if you are interested, to help you understand how I relate to the specific texts and characters in the fandoms I've requested and what I might like.

I'm drawn to what I call will-to-poweriness, the adolescent fantasy, the desire to exceed oneself that also draws me to things like superhero comics (one of my fandoms is, indeed, X-Men) and fantasy shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is my main fandom). My especial kink is children and teenagers who prove themselves to be the equals (or betters) to adults because they are just that awesome. All of this comes through in my requests, I think. There is a clear will-to-poweriness in Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, most of all in Carmen herself, of course, beyond good and evil, doing whatever she wants whenever she wants because she can, stealing things for no good reason except as an expression of her superiority, the former ACME agent engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse. But also, on one level, in Zach and Ivy, the young (!!) ACME agents who pursue her, and on another level, in Player, just as much a teenager, radically empowered within the world of the game she plays and manipulates, Carmen's eternal antagonist. And likewise in The Parent Trap with Annie and Hallie and in Heinlein's novels with Laz and Lor; both sets of twins are constantly getting the better of the adults who surround them, setting up their own "parent traps" so to speak.

This, actually, is where my interest in incest comes from: with these radically autonomized figures no real problematization of consent is possible, an argument I make more fully in this post from 2006. But don't feel like you have to write incest if you've matched up with me on Heinlein or on The Parent Trap; I'd much prefer experiencing the characters as you see them behaving in-character as you see them than twisted out of shape to force them into bed with each other. The most important thing is to preserve the canon dynamics--I have my trusty 'cest goggles for everything else. Although if you throw me a bone in making it subtexty, that's wonderful too. (Finding a way too insert gratuitous nudity or close touching into The Parent Trap shouldn't be too difficult. Getting Laz and Lor to wear any clothes at all might be.)

Although, really, Laz/Lor is pretty much canon, no? But there is a way in (my corners of, I don't know whence you hail) fandom that we use sex as a metaphor for emotional intimacy, so that twincest becomes the deepest, strongest type of interpersonal communion imaginable--and this is the dynamic I'm looking for with Annie/Hallie and Laz/Lor, the way their strongest bond is to each other, and if you feel most comfortable providing that bond in a non-sexual way that's still absolutely wonderful.

( more on the parent trap )

( more on where on earth is carmen sandiego )

( very little about r.a.h. )

Thank you again for writing a story for me. Be true to your own muse, and I'm sure I'll love the result!

Yours in La Mancha,

Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krul V, TRL
Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

1. Orson Scott Card -- Ender's Game series. This is the fandom in which the story written for me last year was written, so I'm not sure if I want to request it again. But then I loved that fic so much, and I love Peter and Val so much. But probably not (in which I'd probably go with #6?)

2. The Parent Trap (1998). So I can request Annie/Hallie, of course. Will-to-powery twincest for the win! I nominated and requested this last year as well.

3. Robert A. Heinlein -- World-as-Myth multiverse. With an eye to request Laz/Lor. Also a repeat from last year.

4. Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? Yet another repeat, this time hoping to request Carmen/Player, which was the only non-'cesty request I made last year--and depending on whether I decide to request Ender's Game again, it may be again. But, really! Carmen/Player!

5. I already forget what this one was. I think I nominated George Bernard Shaw -- Pygmalion again, maybe? Last year I nominated it thinking that I might request Eliza/Clara, but then I didn't.

6. Unable to think of anything else, I made a sixth nomination, a fandom none of you would ever be able to guess, and certainly not Ari. (Last year I think I nominated My Summer of Love in this slot?)

Consider some texts, all of which count as fannish on my flist (if nowhere else):

• Veronica Mars: A sixteen-year-old girl defies parental authority in many ways including, but not limited to, having sexual relations with three different individuals. (Admittedly this behavior led to her death, but the show consistently portrayed Lilly Kane in a mostly positive light.) After her death, her best friend defies parental and civil authorities by engaging in a series of investigations bringing many things to light. Ultimately, these authorities learn that the best course of action is to let Veronica run her course: upon finding his daughter in a coat closet, Keith remarks, "Yep, that's mine," and upon her graduation Van Clemens admits that he doesn't know if her absence will make his life easier or harder.
• Matilda: A six-year-old (in bookverse) girl defies parental authority by playing a series of practical jokes on her parents and, when they are forced to flee the country, convincing them to sign over guardianship to a Miss Jennifer Honey, with whom in movieverse Matilda has a relationship of equals.
• The Secret Garden: Defying the parental authority of her uncle and guardian Archibald Craven, as well as his surrogates Mrs. Medlock and Dr. Craven, Mary Lennox enters a forbidden girl garden and carries on a secret relationship with her cousin Colin, effecting his cure in the process.
• A Little Princess: Even before Sarah Crewe is forced to withstand the authority of Miss Minchin, the text takes pains to underscore the girl's adult nature and the egalitarian character of her relationship with her father, who treats her as a miniature adult. It also uses the word "queer" a lot.
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Four children defy the authority of the parental surrogates by hiding in a wardrobe, where they wage a war against the evil witch Jadis and save a magical world, becoming Kings and Queens in the process.
• The Parent Trap: Two twin eleven-year-old girls defy parental authority by secretly switching places and living each others' lives. In the process, they manipulate their parents into meeting and falling in love again.
• As You Like It: Two cousins defy parental and civil authority when they enter the forest to escape the rule of the evil Duke Frederick.
• Harry Potter: Not that I've ever read the books, but a twelve-year-old boy defies the parental authority of his aunt and uncle by becoming a wizard. At the school of wizardry, three children operate outside of the school authority, continually disobeying the explicit directives of their professors, and in the process triumph again and again, presumably culminating in the defeat of the Dark Lord. While what the professors were thinking is debated, one theory is that it was their plan from the beginning to let these children run loose, recognizing they would be able to succeed where adults would fail. In any event, the disobedience of these children is celebrated by the professors as the children win the House Cup year after year.
• Robert A. Heinlein: Where to begin? From Podkayne to Peewee to Laz and Lor, this is a multiverse chock full of supercompetent teenagers who either operate outside the bounds of, or are forced to defy, parental authority.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Another case of "Do I really need to say anything here?"

All of these texts act out a specific type of wish-fulfillment fantasy: the usurpation of parental authority by a child who is revealed to be more intellectually mature than her adult counterparts. It is a fantasy that pings powerfully for me (as well as many others), even now that I am no longer quite a teenager. It is an especially potent expression of the will to power, being beyond all authorities because one is just that good, ubermensch.

It is no coincidence that Sunnydale and Neptune each has one good parent, Joyce Summers and Keith Mars respectively. (Actually Neptune, while including a huge number of bad parents, isn't quite so bad as Sunnydale. Both Wallace and Jackie have parents who all, in the whole, good parents, and the Mackenzies and Sinclairs are not really bad parents despite their inability to meaningfully engage their respective [adopted] daughters.) Parents in this type of fantasy are like governments: King Log is to be preferred to King Stork, and the parent who parents least parents best.

This is the context in which fictional incest thrives. While "in the real world" (how I loathe that phrase!) incest, cross-gen, and mentor/teacher relationships all are problematic due to issues of consent, these difficulties disappear in the face of the radically autonomous children of the adolescent fantasy. Of course Lilly, Veronica, Matilda, Mary, Sara, Susan, Annie, Hallie, Rosalind, Celia, Hermione, Podkayne, Peewee, Laz, Lor, Dawn, and all the rest are capable of consent--the very nature of the fantastic world in which they exist assures they are capable of anything.

Keith/Veronica, Matilda/Jenny, Mary/Neville, Crewecest, Peter/Susan, Annie/Hallie, Rosalind/Celia, Hermione/McGonagall, Laz/Lor, Dawn/Giles: these are not pairings that Ari and I invented in our minds. For me (I won't speak for anyone else), the sexualization of these relationships is a response to--and a reaffirmation of--the fantastic element which attracted me to these texts in the first place: the radical autonomy of the pre/teen characters.

*

And I really should finish that "Buffy as Nietzschean Ubermensch" essay.

If you happen to be working on some creative writing project, fanfiction or NaNoWriMo or what have you, post exactly one sentence (or more) from each of your current work(s) in progress in your journal. It should probably be your favourite or most intriguing sentence so far, but what you choose is entirely your discretion. Mention the title (and genre) if you like, but don't mention anything else -- this is merelyto whet the general appetite for your forthcoming work(s).

( Captains Courageous )

( To Live in Hearts )

( Africana Seductrix )

( Untitled Sequel to 'Permutations' )

( Untitled Narnia RPF/BtVS crossover )

Gakked from likeadeuce (who actually dreamt it up, if I'm not mistaken, because she felt evil and wanted to mislead) and then from buffyannotater (whose poll this one resembles more), see if you can guess the following.

1) Shakespeare Play
2) Non-Shakespeare Play
3) Playwright
4) TV show
5) Novel
6) Musical
7) Movie
8) Screenwriter
9) Actress
10) Season of Angel

Also, ask me for top five lists, and I will provide you with the top things in the category you requested. Gakked from inlovewithnight.

Changed my journal name from "Postmodern Crisis" to "The Tradescan Codex" in honor of my favourite leitmotif/macguffin, that prophetic text that seems to affect every aspect of the Scoobies' lives in my Watcher!verse (and even some of my non-Watcher!verse fics). I love it, for the damned book brings them all so much pain, yet none of them can bring themselves to stop reading, knowing they need to prepare for the next tragedy. Hopefuly my journal won't be like that for you.

iluvmycaptain seems to be in business *knock on wood*, steady but surely. I know there's not a huge output of Mal/Kaylee or a huge number of Mal/Kaylee shippers, but those who existed seem to know about and be using the comm as a resource, and that makes me happy. Mal/Kaylee now has an entrenched position on the web and, if I may be egotistical for a second, it's all because of me.

I've certainly been busy this weekend. For those who didn't notice, I've joined fanfic100 with Lydia from Buffy as my character. I love seeing her name up there next to the main characters and the major recurring characters, as if she had been in more than two episodes. Anyway, I've reclassified Shopping on Oxford Street and Watcher's Burden as part of what I've already begun to call The Watcher's Diary of Lydia Chalmers.

I've already begun to cannibalize my Drusilla WIP Windows of My Soul to create a couple of Lydia ficlets: The End of an Age and Critique of Judgment I. The former of these made it onto su_herald without my self-pimping it; I don't know what that means (probably nothing), but it made me smile.

Speaking of cannibalizing Windows of My Soul (it'll be stronger for it in the end, I promise!) I also posted A History of Violence, a Spike/Dru piece set in 1942 Germany, after Spike leaves the submarine from "Why We Fight." The fic seems to have been very warmly received--who could complain about these especially warm reviews over at the Slayer's Fanfic Archive?

I feel better for "wasting" my weekend online. I've been feeling listless lately, overcome by paralyzing fear as regards both my academic work and even more so my graduate applications. So I haven't been able to write fic, but somehow I now feel even more directionless without fanfiction. You guys might just be keeping me sane right now, and I joined fanfic100 with that in mind. Hopefully the next round of femslash_minis will center on a character I can actually write.

And I didn't spend my entire weekend online, I went to see 12 Monkeys with the campus philosophy club. It took me almost an hour afterwards to explain why there is no logical error involved in the concept of a causality loop (the "T1" scenario). The causality loop itself is uncaused (or rather caused by itself), but all of its component elements are causally co-determined; it's a feature of the universe. And I'm sure I don't need to explain my reasoning to y'all, many of whom are hardly science fiction neophytes, but it annoyed me that we ended up getting so caught up in what to me seems so elementary. I've revised my notion that discussion of causal loops isn't "real" philosophy--there are a lot of metaphysical assumptions that inevitably come into play--but still, there were other philosophical places we could have went, like the epistemological issues. (It's difficult for a movie to raise real metaphysical issues. Movies like The Matrix and The Truman Show gesture in the direction, but they can't really problematize reality itself--because one cannot cinematically show non-reality. What they can do, however, and do well is problematize our knowledge of reality, without ever really managing to challenge our conviction that some type of noumenal or "objective" reality undergirds it all.) Or I could throw out some real temporal paradoxes, instead of the pseudoparadox presented by a causality loop. Equally, there's no reason "why" temporal paradoxes don't exist--why we don't kill our grandparents--but we can tell from the fact that we exist that they don't. It's simply a feature of the universe.

And speaking of causality loops, if any of my flisters haven't read Robert A. Heinlein's "--All You Zombies--" do so. Now. There's an online version at the link. Not exactly easy on the eyes, but it's so worth it. All hail the dean of science fiction.

Trust me. And if one needs it, or even if one doesn't (it's cool) there's an explanatory graphic "timeline" here.

ETA: Okay, whoever transcribed that story? Really needs to learn how to use quotation marks. *shudder* This story is just as good as the second time I read it (nothing ever competes with the first), but reading it through slash goggles is amusing. I mean, come on, it's time-travelling mpreg! (Well, not really.)

But this line?: He had a lethal style of infighting, like a female cop - reason I wanted him. Not the only one. Slashtastic.

Yeah. He has the hots for ( spoiler )