Meme: Rate-A-Ship

[extrapenguin]

I have descended upon family, and will spend the rest of December descending upon other branches of family. Expect radio silence on posting until maybe the 7th of January, save for the traditional Yuletide rec post. I'll try to comment on others' posts, and reply to comments on mine, but I don't have the brainspace to formulate a post topic by myself. In the meanwhile, waiting for Yuletide reveals, I'm drinking tea and reading armadda's Coraline AU for Guardian. It's very nice to be in the same fandom as one's best beta, again; I look forward to chatting with her about my outlines. (I have two, for Ye Zun being redeemed, though one is more AU premise with a Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei get-together that segues into a Ye Zun redemption than straightforward fic about Ye Zun being redeemed. Perhaps I'll write the praise kink sex pollen Ye Zun redemption first, that one seems shorter.)

Let's do a meme I can reply to! From journalmemes, slightly modified. Feel free to drop in crossover ships and utter and complete crackships, in addition to the "expected" ones.

Comment with a ship and I will rate it on the following scale:

absolute squick / no way / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / ship forever

And then I will explain why.

Meme provided by journalmemes.

(Fandoms include: A:tLA, A:LoK, Guardian (镇魂), Honor Harrington, Imperial Radch, Modao Zushi, Nirvana in Fire, Revelation Space, Rivers of London, KOTOR, KOTOR II, Vorkosigan)

Comments

[naye]

Ahh, I actually have the same feelings about Peter/Bev? Which is weird, because they're canon and it's A Thing, but I just. Don't get it? (I discussed it a while back in sholio's journal, and I think while some people liked it the general consensus is that Ben Aaronovitch isn't great at writing romance.) But again, it's canon, so it's extra weird to get the Don't Ship vibes from it!

The rest of these are so interesting to read, too - I wanted some Mu Nihuang/Xiao Dong so badly! And then like you said, it's not a thing that canon does. But it could have been so perfect...

I still don't know what I feel about Xiao Guo/Lao Chu? Just. It's weird? But cute? But weird?? And I am too invested in the gen relationships in NiF (as in many other things) to want to ship Mei Changsu with anyone, really, but it's fascinating to hear why you like it!

[extrapenguin]

Aaronovitch isn't great at writing romance, 'tis true. I've heard a lot discussed (eg via sixthlight) that it's "a romance in which they have obviously had the large relationship discussions offpage". I recognize some might like the fact that the romance isn't a source of conflict, but I'm unconvinced. I don't even get any NOPE reaction, like for a bunch of other canon het.

I understand Mu Nihuang was part of the "uhh let's sort of add a female lead and make it more het" adaptation choice, and there are people who enjoy Nie Feng returning and Xia Dong being rewarded for her patience, but I am not one of those people. I'd rather Xia Dong have remained a widow – let Xie Yu's one kindness of bringing back Nie Feng's ashes be a real kindness – and rided out to war with Mu Nihuang. Ah well, it seems ficwriters will have to deal.