- love for the elegantly homicidal -

[reenka]

It's funny to read two Harry-- er, and-- Draco fics dealing with the theme of spying and intrigue in the same night-- one angst, one fluff. One of them worked for me like a 4th of July firework, and that's cupiscent's `Firebrand', which is inventive, fast-paced, gritty and gripping. The thing is, it doesn't matter how far-fetched the scenario is if one develops one's core idea to the max, and Dee really does that with gorgeous rigor in a tight, effective short story.

I really love it when I read something different in H/D which avoids sacrificing characterization for ease of realization of the scenario and realistic character dynamics for romance, as well as having a fascinating plot. I can't help but love a story which features strong characters, less than nice characters-- and not ones who're 'nice' or 'not nice' divided along their roles in the story (i.e., the 'good guys' are nice while the 'bad guys' suck). It's just so tempting to make your favorite character into a beautiful misunderstood martyr, I know, but if you buck that impulse and write people as they honestly are, the result is often a thing of true beauty.

Dee's fic is vivid, unapologetic, fierce and meaty. It makes me happy to be a shipper-- someone who wants to see these two make it together because they need each other, against all odds, rather than is willing to believe in some easy fix-- much more than any shmoopy lovey-dovey romance with remorseful Draco and charitable Harry (who make sweet & passionate boylurve at first opportunity) ever could. Because while this scenario isn't necessarily any more likely than the one where Draco 'repents', one -could- project our boys as they are into it, without much need for a lobotomy. Always a good thing.

...Let's just say that the idea of Draco Malfoy in Vladivostok, wearing a grey sweater and holding an AK-47 isn't one I'll want to forget anytime soon. There's just something oddly fitting about renegade!Draco in Siberia. There is!! Also, this greeting by said sweater-wearing person--

"Hello, Potter," Draco Malfoy says. "Fancy meeting you here."

-- made me clap my hands in glee, which is a first. I just really love Draco sometimes. I just do. But especially when he's going for elegantly homicidal. <333 And I love them together, not even in a romantic sense, but in terms of bringing them into contact because they -matter- to each other-- whatever happens, whether they'd admit it or not, whether they realize it or not, they matter. This whole story is a vodka shot-- smooth and harsh and it burns all the way to your heart with seemingly effortless precision.

I do want to see 'what happens' later on, but I don't need to. The fic is more of an image-- a feeling-- a taste at the back of my tongue. Bitter, smooth, gleaming hard like steel and glitter-dry like dust in the sun.

EDIT - Incidentally, cupiscent's post on writing angstfic was rather helpful and inspiring, but I especially loved the bit about the writer not intending angst to make the reader cry but rather to strand them in helplessness or render them incapable of expressing an excess of seething emotion. That is rather what I've noticed about great tragedy, as well. Ahahaha, resolution is for wimps!! ;D

Comments

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

Like, I'm not 'antisocial' or anything, but just...it takes me a long time to get to believe in anything or anyone and so...I get where you're coming from. I'm just more jaded and bitchy and stuff, I guess. Or so some would say. Heh. :)

Get it out of my system...like, I just meant that I wanted that particular fic to be serious and it wasn't and...maybe I should just follow your advice, cause obviously my muse is yelling 'PORN, YOU SLAPPER!' at the top of her lungs. She's such a slut, I swear. ;) Ahaha. Um, I'll totally send you...er...something porny (maybe not the one I was talking about earlier, cause it needs work and all). Like, I'm going to start on this other one that's been wandering round in my head all day...but if I send you anything, promise you won't mock me? *is paranoid* Heee.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hehehe but the not believing in things is what helps-- if you don't believe the bullshit, the Man can't have you. It's the gullible public that should be worried :> I'm jaded enough, just... zen. Yeah, that's it, I'm ZEN :D :D :D AHAHAHAH. *coughs*

I should get an icon. "Talk to the muse"-- it'd be like 'talk to the hand', except like, for writers. Because we all need a slogan, clearly :D
Also, I wouldn't(!) mock you. I would... chuckle appropriately, and also on cue :D ...I don't know where these typos keep coming from, I swear.

IT'S MY EVIL HAND, OMG!!1

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm always on entirely too much caffeine to be zen, lol. But yeah, I think the whole 'jaded' thing is why I don't get drawn into things just because of the hype or whatever. Although I can still be naive and all. (It's the dichotomy at work, aghhh.)

OMG - "Talk to the muse"!! I love it!

See, though, it is supposed to be Serious Porn and so there might not be much chuckling. Alas and woe. (I can totally write serious stuff, I promise...although I know there hasn't been much evidence of that in the stuff I've posted so far, ahaha.)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Serious porn is good too! Angry porn... sad porn... well, okay, I admit, with the H/D it's all about the angry and the frustrated porn ahahah. Oh, and I wasn't meaning you couldn't write seriously, that was just me & my need to make bad jokes. Er. I can't help it!! It's my muse~!

I'm pretty resistant to hype too (...didn't read HP until a year into the fandom-- shouldn't be proud, but hey, what the hell, that was partly the reason-- the idea that I -should-). I guess it's a delicate balance between skeptical and open-minded. Hahah, much better than 'jaded' and 'naive', no? It's best to just be... balanced. I'm not really zen. I'm a complete emotional basketcase-- but at least I play at zen when cornered....? heh

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

...What about unsexy porn? Cause that's totally what mine is going to be like. Really.

I know it was just you and the jokes, but I just feel this...like...obsessive need to justify everything. And especially about my writing, man. I'm usually just saying it to convince myself, too, y'know? Which is sad, cause I'm all 'I can write serious!' to convince myself that I can and yet I don't even believe it. Argh. It's frustrating.

'Complete emotional basketcase' pretty much sums me up most of the time. And it's like, I've found that most people are shocked to learn that cause they think I'm completely together. I mean, I try and all, and I guess it must be working somehow, lol.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I read aff.net and veela!Draco fic where he magically turns on Harry with his SUPER MIND RAYS OMG, my standards are really low ;)))!! Er. That was meant to be encouraging :>

But that implies that 'serious' is somehow better. Think of the children people who can -only- write serious! Imagine having no life no sense of humor! HOW MUST THEY FEEL??! THERE ARE HUMORLESS PEOPLE IN AFRICA, DUDE!!! :D

You totally come off as like, together. You say I do, too, which is so hilarious, seriously. People online think I'm sane, which is pretty funny, 'cause very very few people in real life think that. Except my mother, but that's what your mother's supposed to think, right? "Oh baby, you're so sane, hey baby".... er. Or, you know, not. SANITY IS FOR WIMPS!!1

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHA! OMFG, fabulous. Super mind rays...man, why can't I think up shit like that? Or not, but y'know. ;) Don't worry, I took it in the encouraging manner in which it was intended. I feel as though...I could maybe be alright at the porn...except it's really actually going to be rubbish. I'm just telling you, haha.

No, I totally don't think serious is better, though. I don't subscribe to that 'X is better than Y' business - well, not usually, I don't think? Um.

See, yeah, even my very best friends think I'm 'together' so maybe I am? I don't know, I mean...hm...maybe someone can be together but still wacky, cause that's totally me. I'm just oddball and eccentric (my friends admit that much, at least!) cause I embrace that, heee. And my mom totally thinks I'm sane, too; my dad as well, really - but that's only cause I inherited their wacky humor so obviously they think it's 'normal', or whatever. My family's so chill, man, I love them.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Yeah, oddball and eccentric. I like that. If there was a t-shirt, I'd definitely wear it proudly :D Well on the other hand, they wouldn't be one's best friends if they thought you were some scary freak who'll bite them in the night (...man, my Harry made ONE 'shadow that flaps in the night' joke and now it Wont. Leave. My BRAIN.) er... where was I? My family's a bunch of freaks anyway-- but like, in a funny cute way. Mostly ^^;; Though my mum's got a cross between mortician and insane librarian humor :> I dunno if I do~:)) MAYBE I DO :>

...You know, now that I've made that up about the mind-rays.......
I kinda wanna read a fic like that. I mean. IT WOULD BE TOO GREAT, wouldn't it???? TOO. GREAT. :D

...love potions, shlove potions. EVIL MIND POWERS IS WHERE IT'S AT :D

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

Hah, my family's totally like that too. I wouldn't have it any other way! But especially my parents...they're just so clever and witty and that's so awesome to me. We're all just dorks, really, but hey.

I think your humor is like...witty and like, heee, maybe 'insane librarian' cause you just go off, sort of. Not in a ranty way, but just, I dunno, a very Chandler (from 'Friends', my favorite show, OMG) way. Y'know? I love your humor, Reena, but you already knew that. :)

Lol, the super mind rays fic...I'm totally seeing it.
"No, you wanker, I hate you! Yet I want you. But hate you. WHY?!"
"It's my MIND RAYS! Mwahahaha!! I shall dominate you, bitch!"
Or...okay, not as lame as that, but. Hahaha.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

...You just compared me to Chandler. o_0
...My life is complete >:D

OMG I'm totally cracking up!! THE MIND-RAY FIC HAS TO BE WRITTEN!!1 >:O! (<--emoticon of power!!) Name your price, man~:)) Ahahah... lame is not a problem. I mean. Dude. MIND-RAYS. It's already a little... fishy if you know what I mean :D :D

Also, just found fuck_arabs & this post (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fuck_arabs/62034.html) in particular. Oh, it's cracking me up big time, man~:))

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

Haha, was comparing you to Chandler a bad thing? (Not that I'm, like, comparing you to a guy or anything, y'know, lol.) I think he's hysterical. And Ross. OMG, ROSS!!! <333 But...er. Anyway.

...Are you asking me to write the mind ray fic? Because currently I have...let's see...the porn, the other porn, and a (hopefully) funny fic, of which the first line is: 'There is no way around it, Draco Malfoy is a sexpot.' And so, like. Heh. But, y'know, I could try...and fail. But trying is the important thing, right, and when it comes out totally lame you could just be like: 'I don't know that girl. I think she's on crack.' Hahaha.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Nah, it was just a rather weird thing~:)) Awww, Ross. *sigh* I'm this total dork when it comes to tv shows, man. Any couple I see first, I imprint on, so I totally ship them even when everyone else starts to think it's the lamest thing ever. Like, even when I forget their names, I'm like, 'oh, him and that girl he liked first' :> :> Oh, so, yeah, Ross&Rachel = OTP :> *laughs*

......Well, not, y'know... er... I don't want to like, beg or anything, except I know I couldn't do it justice like you can :D :D Butttt... I don't want to like... add on to your burdens. *looks shifty* But yeah, I'd love it if it you did, and was also offering you... er... something(??) in return, as in, name your price ;)) Ahahah. Though I don't want to interfere with your muse :D If anything, it sounds like something you'd write :>

...I come up with these killer lines I just can't use all the time, y'know. I still mourn, what with that "One day, Harry Potter woke up gay." Damn, that one just begs for a fic doesn't it ;))

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

Well, I meant it in the best way possible, I swear! Haha. My love for Chandler is deep and unyielding, man. And yet, I feel as though I love Ross even more. Ross and Rachel, OTP for sure. I'm such a sap. ;) Heee.

No, it's alright, cause see, I totally have a title for it now, so, like, it must be written. Or something. I shall deem it 'Draco Malfoy and the Super Sexy Supersonic Mind-Rays of DESTINY' (or, How Potter Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mind-Rays). Because, as we all know, serious literature such at this much have not one but two pretentious titles. Um...riiight. And now I have something to keep me from writing the evil shower sex. *procrastinates* Wheee! And when I post it, I shall demand to be Taken Seriously as an Artist, Goddammit. Heh. :) But what does it say about my writing that only a few posts ago we were like "OMG! So LAME!" and now you're all "You would TOTALLY write something like this." Ahahahaha!! I mean, I suppose it says that I am lame, which I already knew, but anyway.

I would totally demand something in return, but I can't think of anything...like, no fic ideas or anything. Bummer. I know, I totally come up with random one-line things too. I never get to use them all, so they just swim around in my head. Sad. Haha. "One day, Harry Potter woke up gay." LMAO! Heee, that would be hysterical, y'know.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Deep -and- unyielding :D :D Man. You talk my language~:))
"Harry," Draco said seriously, gazing into the other's eyes. He would've taken Harry's hand, except he was squirming away. Draco preferred not to focus on that, however. He cleared his throat. "My love for you is deep and unyielding." He paused. "Like the mountains are unyielding. Like the ocean is deep. Like the sky is blue, I am blue because you won't love me. And why won't you love me, Harry?? Am I not lovable?" He started getting into his subject now, his eyes burning with zeal. "When you prick me, do I not bleed? When you hex me, do I not ooze?? I ooze, Harry!! I ooze just like you would! Believe me, I ooze!!"


...I don't know where that came from, but I do know it's All Your Fault ~;)))

I love your title. In fact, I could -lick- it, it is so grand. And stunningly... grand. Fitting for Draco, really. In its... grandiosity. Yes.

No, well, see, some of the best things in life are... grand and yet, you know, lame. And it's like... someone has to be their messenger, and why not you??? It is not your only power, but it is one of!! It's like a single mind-ray from your grand(!) arsenal of, well, mind-rays!!! GO FORTH AND SHOOT!!! *cackles*

The problem with those one-liners (for me), y'know, is that when I try to write a fic, it's too easy to try and explain them away. The sheer process of making up a context takes away a little something, methinks ^^;; So sad. So... grandly sad. Alas.

[stellabelle.livejournal.com]

OMG! REENA! AHAHAHAHA I just died laughing OMG. ZEAL!! OOZE!! Heeee. Wheee, that was fun. <333 It makes me gleeful. Duuude.

All right, I suppose it's good to know that I can be grand in my lameness. Hah, no, I'm just kidding. :) I know what you mean. And, I'm like, I just posted a serious fic in my lj like last week, and so I convince myself that it's okay that most of the stuff I write is...um...dorky. See, but I don't mind! :)

I know what you mean about the one-liners. Usually they just come out in my writing, I think, cause my sense of humor tends to be kinda one-linerish. Or...something - ? Anyway. The good ones I think of I can never use, cause they just don't fit anywhere, and so. Alas indeed.