Worst. Realization. Ever.

[dira]

I just had a truly horrifying realization about the Aral/Jole in progress. No, truly horrifying. Like for a split second I was like "Oh God I can't write this pairing anymore even if their love is totally (218 words of) canon." (Yes, I counted.)

(I got over it, but honest to God, don't click the cut tag unless you think you could also get over it. It's pretty horrible, and I want someone to still read the fic when I'm done writing it.)



...I just realized that, if The Vorkosigan Saga were The West Wing, then I am writing Jed Bartlet/Charlie Young.

THERE IS NO EMOTICON FOR THAT MUCH DO NOT WANT. I AM GOING TO HAVE TO FIGURE OUT THE BLINK TAG.

D:

(THAT WAS PRETTY EASY ACTUALLY. IT'S JUST "BLINK".)

D:
D:
D:

I mean, Aral/Jole isn't really the same as Jed/Charlie. THERE ARE MANY WAYS IT'S NOT THE SAME. Cordelia is cooler than even Sorkin-era Abbey, for one thing, I am pretty sure, although on the other hand Abbey does not have a reputation for killing people who threaten her family. Um.

I AM SURE THERE ARE WAYS IT IS DIFFERENT THAT DO NOT MAKE IT WORSE. PROBABLY. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THEY ARE IF YOU THINK OF ANY.

But they really love each other and he's really not taking advantage and god dammit, Aral deserves a boyfriend, and, um, twenty-eight thousand words of talking, and I swear it all works out okay? Oh God.

/o\

Comments

[ellen_fremedon]

One, it is really not the same thing at all.

Two, HOW MUCH DO I WANT THE STORY WHERE ABBEY BRINGS JED A SEVERED HEAD IN A BAG? Not as much as I want your Aral/Jole, but still A HELL OF A LOT.

(Whose head really doesn't matter. Trying to figure out who Bothari is in this scenario is making my head spin, though.)

[dira]

Yeah--I was talking out the analogy with fox, somewhat opaquely, I imagine, as she hasn't read the books. We wound up drafting Leo as Tonton even though he doesn't really fit, and to get a Bothari you also have to, uh, give Jed a military history and make Abbey a Russian spy who defected to marry him? Or, well, you have to reach back decades into Abbey's past, anyway, or give her a very weird few years at the start of Jed's presidency. I guess logically Bothari would be a much, much crazier version of Ron Butterfield, or some other Secret Service agent.

Logically, mind you, Abbey would have to be bringing Jed the head of whoever took Zoey.


Happily, other people have now convinced me that there really are totally meaningful cultural differences and it's not the same at all. \o/