Related to nothing in particular

[snick_backup]

Mutual respect in a ship is sexy.

Corollary: a balanced power dynamic in a ship is sexy.

The couples I ship, I ship because the individuals involved function as equals, even if the equality doesn't take conventional forms (hello, age disparities). It's why I ship Willow/Oz but not Willow/Tara, Xander/Cordy but not Xander/Anya, post-series Faith/Giles but not F/G during S3. I ship Dawn/Ethan just a wee bit not because I want Dawn to be dominated by an icky old man, but because watching an author demonstrate an even balance of power between them is almost more interesting to me than anything else that might happen.

Comments

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Ooooooh. I like this post. This is exactly how I feel, right down to the Dawn/Ethan bit.

[snickfic]

*nods*

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this (well...Dawn/Ethan would take some seriously good writing on the author's part). And I can't wait to find a few minutes to read through all of your VMars thoughts!

[snickfic]

I believe there are exactly two Dawn/Ethan fics in existence; both, it so happens, by quite decent writers. I've read one (Kindred Spirits, by nwhepcat) and keep meaning to read the other (Fenrisulf, by Antennapedia).

Yay! I have been anxious to hear your thoughts in response to my thoughts!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Except for the Faith/Giles I'm with you. The right author might make me consider Dawn/Ethan; he's just so much fun I might be convincible.

[snickfic]

Like I told someone above, I know of exactly two Dawn/Ethan fics. I can get you links if you like. :)

[antennapedia.livejournal.com]

The nwhepcat fic you mention is fascinating to me because it flips the balance of power entirely, and most interestingly. It's a highly-recommended read for anybody who's into those two characters. (Well, so is almost everything Hepcat has written.)

I wrote my Dawn/Ethan fic in response to a ficathon prompt that asked for them, so making it work for myself was my first challenge there. I think of it as a dark-shading fic, with a fairly grim promise about where Dawn wants to go with herself, but it's less obviously a power flip. More about coming into power. Er. Shouldn't say too much.

I love stuff about Dawn that deals with her Key-ness, really, seriously. Where did she come from? How did she come to be? What does it mean to bind all that power up into a human being?What/who is she, really? What happens when she finds out?

[snickfic]

Hepcat is pretty amazing. I'm quite a bit less interested in Xander than she is, but even her Xander fic I find enthralling.

I'm going to go read your Dawn/Ethan thing soon! I look forward to it.

I love stuff about Dawn that deals with her Key-ness, really, seriously.

Oh, yes. There's so much possibility there, and the show did so little with it. I think Kindred Spirits might be my favorite serious Dawn-exploration fic, but then again I haven't seen very many. She doesn't seem to get as much fannish attention as I would like, although perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places. I have noticed an abundance of crossover fics in which she gets paired off with the author's character of choice, but those have much less to do with the Key side of Dawn, at least as far as I've seen.