Fannish Glee (and some car thing)

Theoretically, I should be in a bad mood. My car may be dead. Again. The last time that my car went bad on me, I was miserable for days. It was a major upset.

No, wait, let me tell you everything that happened.
( car story )

That's been my day and night thus far. Tiring, filled with more walking than I'm used to, but ultimately very dealable.

But, really, none of that matters. Right now, all that matters is that I am filled with giddy, fannish glee.

Why? Because I am all signed up to write a Benton Fraser character study for idol_reflection. Now, I wasn't sure if I should sign up. I have three half-written relationship manifestos (due in October, and I'm having so much fun writing them that I may end up doing 'unofficial' write-ups of all of my favorite couples). But the chance to write about my own personal hero? I could not pass that up.

I have loved many characters, but when I read spren_cious's post and saw the words "One True Character", there was only one that popped into my head. Fraser's more than a character to me. Throughout all the many and varied fandoms I have loved, no one can rip me so close to the bone. Fraser can break my heart in stories that he doesn't appear in. More than love him, I feel sometimes as if I bleed him.

He's both my hero and this flawed yet beautiful man. I don't... talk about Fraser as much as I do some of my more... broken favorites, but the truth of the matter is that I spent the first five minutes after I got back my confirmation email just whispering, "I got Ben," to myself. I keep checking the community to make sure that my name is still there (and each time I see it, a bolt of joy hits my heart -- the way Cordy looks in that mood icon? 100% accurate.). Even now, I'm breaking up into delighted giggles every few minutes.

I got Ben.

Life is wonderful.

(no subject)

I haven't watched The Sentinel, but I was wondering if that's the show that does have a bellowing cop boss. Because Harding Welsh (due South) is not the bellowing type on the show and since there's a great deal of fan crossover between the shows, I was thinking maybe that the idea of the very loud cop boss originated on TS. Because Welsh shouts a lot in fanfic.

Do black screens really appeal to people? So many websites have black screens with light type and it hurts my eyes and I do not understand how people enjoy it. Is it some sort of test? See if the person is willing to risk eyestrain in order to read your stories? (Mostly, I'm not.)

And why is it that there are so few Bashir/O'Brien fics? This is a tragedy. I mean, he likes Julian more than he likes his wife. And it can't be the wife thing, because people ship adulterous pairings in many many other fandoms. Is it the age thing? Are people just not attracted to O'Brien? How is he less attractive than Garak? He has an accent, people. They both have such wonderful accents. And... they have this mutual respect and caring.

Also, I want BoB porn. This is sadly thin on the ground. I mean, yeah, I could go read Daniel/Jack porn or Fraser/Kowalski porn or Buffy/Xander porn, but damnit, I want to read Bashir and O'Brien.

Though now that I'm thinking about it, I could go for some good Ray and Ben smut. They're pretty hot together.

Hmm.

Deep Space Nine 1x13 -- Battle Lines; 1x14 -- The Storyteller

( Battle Lines; spoilers for various episodes throughout the seasons and for Doctor Bashir, I Presume, specifically )

( The Storyteller (the first big B&O'B episode) )