AIM convo

[bubosquared]

Posted mostly for my own reference:

Melle: And lksqjfdsjd will NOT get a Draco/Harry, Marcus/Oliver bunny!
Zarya: Ooooh?
Melle: Just. They're really similar in a lot of ways, but Harry is the Boy Who Lived (and oh, look, there's THAT bunny again), and Draco is the son of a high-up Death Eater, whereas Marcus and Oliver are just a Slytherin and a Gryffinfor, and in the end, how much does that school rivalry really mean?
Zarya: it's definitely a really lovely idea, anyway. Um. My brain is GONE! But someone, someone we know, I think Silvia but I could be totally wrong, recently wrote, like. Ron/Harry/Draco, Percy/Oliver/Marcus, sort of, just drawing the parallells between the two situations.
Melle: *nod* There's been a story featuring Marcus/Oliver and Draco/Harry, too. But. I kinda want to draw it out;
Zarya: Yeah, exactly. I've seen a couple things with the general idea, but it really needs to be explored fully, I think.
Melle: And for some reason, in my head, Draco&Harry have more of a chance to a happy ending because they're important.
Zarya: *nod* I think you're right, actually.
Melle: In my head, it always ends the same way, with Marcus dying.
Melle: <= has issues
Zarya: *wibble* Poor Marcus. Poor Oliver. But, um, yeah.
Zarya: It does sort of. Make sense.
Melle: Because Marcus is. Stubborn, I guess. He picks his loyalties and sticks with them, and even love can't sway him. Whereas Draco ... he's loyal, sure, but I can't see him choosing Voldemort in the first place. If he'd become a DE, it'd be for his father, and that loyalty could be broken, by Lucius' death, or betrayal (of Draco), or whatnot.
Zarya: Yeah, exactly. I think it'll be Marcus' rigidity that kills him, in the end. He just. He doesn't have a higher purpose, so all he's got is house loyalty, and he isn't going to let go of that for the world.
Melle: And because Harry IS the BWL, and Draco's Lucius' son, it' be a much more important decision, to stay or to go, whereas Marcus would be inert, and rationalise it away by saying it doesn't matter, THEY don't matter, they can love each other even from opposite sides, but it just doesn't work that way.
Melle: *nod* Exactly. His loyalty's his lifeline, and letting go of that and making something as fragile as love his lifeline ... he can't do that.
Zarya: Yes. He can trust in things to stay the way they've always been and still be okay, and not realize that what used to be house loyalty is now opposing sides of a war, because it's a gradual change, not a decision he's actively made.
Melle: Yes, yes, YES! That's it, exactly. He's loyal to some vague idea, whereas I think Draco's loyalty is more with PEOPLE. And people can betray you, and cause you to shift your loyalties, wheras ideas ... don't. And shifting his loyalty from his fther to Harry (or, you know, Snape, albeit in another way) would be a lot easier for Draco than shifting his loyalty from a vague idea to Oliver would be for Marcus.
Zarya: Yes, exactly. Because that's not even shifting, that's deciding to be loyal to something you've never been loyal to before, in a whole lot of different ways -- to love, to another person, to a Gryffindor in particular, to Oliver in particular. He's never had to have loyalties to solid things like those before, and it's just too much easier to keep it the way it's always been, because that way's never required anything active on his part.
Melle: Yes, exactly. It's not just redirecting a feeling, it's killing one feeling and trusting an almost completely different feeling!
Zarya: Yes. Exactly.
Zarya: Gah.
Zarya: You really should write this, yo.
Melle: It's not really a bunny yet just. General characterisation ideas.
Melle: I think, also, that, with Marcus' loyalties being all he has, he's much more a servant that Draco. I mean, he defines himself by what and whom he serves, whereas Draco ... I can't see him as a loyal servant.
Zarya: Gah. Hate my computer. And, yes, exactly. *attempts not to draw Marcus/Percy parallells in the servant thing*
Melle: Oooh? No, hey, please do. I don't like Percy, but I do want to understand him.
Melle: And I'm trying, now, to see the similarities between Oliver and Harry, ...
Zarya: Well, um. I think I brought this up on hpbackslash at one point, and I think I might have discussed it with you, too -- just, like, the way Draco wasn't made to be anyone's servant, Percy very clearly was, because he gets off on following orders and so forth, being told what to do, and there's evidence of him having very strong house loyalty in the books (the only time we ever actually see him show a lot of emotion is over things like the Quidditch cup, which is totally random because you wouldn't expect it to be his, y'know, thing).... and, yeah. Gah.
Zarya: Actually, Percy's house loyalty has never really been explored in fic, and I really want to do something with that at some point, because it does intrigue me that it's one of the few things that can apparently get him really excited.
Melle: Hmmm, good point. Yeah, I can see Percy being similar to Marcus in a lot of ways.
Melle: And it'd be a VERY interesting thing to explore, how people end up on certain "sides" without it really having much to do with who they are, but with ... chance, really.
Zarya: Well, Percy and Marcus also both tend to have a bit of the... I don't know, unintentional martyr complex. They don't actually mean to get themselves into these situations that end up causing them massive amounts of pain, but they always do it, on a subconscious level, or something.
Melle: How so?
Zarya: And, yes, that definitely would be very, very interesting to take a look at. Gah. One of the things I like so much about HPdom is that there's so much opportunity for really, really good genfic, with stuff like this. And not much of it ever gets written, but still.
Melle: See, even my genfic is all about relationships, and technically almost pre-slash.
Melle: But, yes. Because the reason I love slash is the relationships, and that seems to be what almost never gets explored in H/D slash.
Zarya: But still, like. I mean, this stuff would be very much about relationships, but I mean -- just the principles that can be explored in the fic, I guess. Doesn't matter if it's gen or slash or pre-slash, there are just some really cool social dynamics to explore with all of it.
Zarya: Yes. Exactly.
Melle: I don't want to read the 666th H/D PWP, or fluff, or badly characterised whatever, I want to read about Harry, and Draco, and their relationship dynamics.
Zarya: See, like. I don't like H/D. At all. Never have. In fact, I don't even like them as characters, I don't like the pairing in principle or in practice, none of it. But you point me towards a H/D story that does some serious character exposition and plays with their relationship dynamics, and I will be all over it.
Melle: Heh. dude, I'd have to FIND one.
Melle: I like H/D, like, in theory. Because I can see the possibilities. But I've not really come across good H/D.
Zarya: Well, you have to WRITE one. :P That's what I meant. I don't think they exist, but they really should.

Comments

[dramaturgy.livejournal.com]

Those were some deep thoughts. Ow. My brain.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I know, man. And they came out of MY brian, which, ow. Pain.

Re:

[dramaturgy.livejournal.com]

Is that your brain leaking out your ears or is that just me?

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Probable both.