There is nothing that will make me enjoy a fanfic Subaru more than someone who manages to pull him out of the badly characterized stereotypical "ANGST oh my god ANGST IT HURTS" mentality. Yes, he's a damn angsty character. But he's also damn QUIET about it. So many fics portray him as weepy or helpless, while in fact he's very far from both these things.
RackhamRose, luckily, doesn't have this problem.
She pulls off a wonderful Subaru. She gives him beautiful depth and meaning, and she gives him something that most authors I've read cannot. Three dimensions to his personality.
This fic also contains an excellent portrayal of Kamui. He's not gushing, he's not weepy, he's not fanon helpless whiny little uke-bitch. (But that's a review for another day.)
And also? Rose's Subaru plays the violin.
Very well, in fact. It's keeping Kamui up at night, and it seems that he's the only one who can actually hear it.
"He didn't know why Subaru chose to play this late--maybe it was the desire for privacy, or maybe he just got inspired by the mix of streetlights and moonlight that poured in through the mansion windows on a clear night. Either way, it always felt a bit like eavesdropping on an intimate conversation each time Kamui heard the bow touch the strings. Maybe it was because his playing was so full of emotion, and so evocative: one night the notes had been so slow and so sweet that Kamui had found himself thinking of the careful, patient way Kotori used to weave daisy chains for him and for her brother, and the thought had made him cry himself to sleep."
I love this idea. I love the way she writes the dynamic of Subaru and Kamui's relationship. It's not love. It's friendship. Kamui may well want it to be more, but this fic doesn't allow that. That's another reason I like it so much. So many Subaru/Kamui fans like to toss the entire presence of Seishirou right out the window. Rose picks him up and plops him right in the middle of things, more or less where he belongs.
So Kamui gets up and goes down the hall, debating with himself the entire time as to what he's going to say to Subaru. And then he gets to the door and has a bit of a look inside... and I'm not going to say any more because it's far, far better just to read the fic and let Rose tell you her dark, bittersweet story.
Authors who can pull off the Subaru and Kamui relationship without making them gush all over each other deserve a frickin' medal. Rose, this one's for you.
New Year's Pai Long ran with foreshadowing at 01:01 p.m., Monday, January 6, 2003
PAI LONG
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Mission Statement
We tell the truth about fanfiction.
The Bitchy One
Forte: Fanfic and Fanart
Pet Peeves: Bad lemon, stupid pairings, OOC, Wuss!Subaru
Characters: Subaru and Kamui
E-mail: pai long at outgun dot com
THORN
The Cute One
Forte: Fanfic and Media Manipulation
Pet Peeves: misuse of Japanese, the "this idea is crack, so of COURSE it must be good" mentality, 1D!Seishirou
Characters: Seishirou and Kanoe
E-mail: thorn at outgun dot com
"Anything else we wanna say about ourselves, Thorn?"
"...I like swords."
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And the truth is that some of it is really good. Some it it is really bad. Some of it's overrated and some of it's underread. And that's what we're here to fix. It's time for the unrecognized to be recognized, for the overrecognized to hear some real criticism.
We're not going to bitch to the high heavens about bad spelling or faulty coding. That's not the point.
What we are going to bitch about are the important things. Good characterization. Well carried plots. Clear language. Well-chosen words. Convincing interactions.
That's why we came to the fandom in the first place.
Yes, we will bitch about OOC. Yes, we will bitch about stupid metaphor. And, yes, we will bitch about crack ideas in a fic if they don't make sense.
But we're not going to be all about bitching, either.
No, we're here to bring your attention to the good side of fanfiction, as well. It's easy to complain about what's wrong with X fanfiction. But we want to show everybody what's well-written and satisfying, what's right with it--at least what we think is right.
So sit back, relax, and let us show you the way.
Oh, and by the way, neither of us is one-eyed. That's a line from Elvira Kurt. "Kitten With A Wit". Good stuff.
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