Erin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pride_of_erin) wrote2005-10-12 04:57 pm
pride_of_erin) wrote2005-10-12 04:57 pm
A smutty question for Smut Day
Okay, time to discuss smut in order to get my mind off the fact that I spent a half hour this afternoon cleaning shit off a three-year-old child who'd some how managed to smear it over virtually his entire body - ah, the joys of Early Childhood teaching. Why did I want this job again?
Anyhoo, on to the smut - recently, I've been pondering the very important and philosophical topic of topping. Namely, who should be doing the topping. Now this has become a question for me, in light of all the SGA fic I've read in recent months. Oz was my first ever fandom, and when it comes to smut in Oz fic, I really don't have a preference either way - Chris topping, Toby topping, it's all good. Of course I've always liked the smut scenes where the boys switch off and each have a turn the best, but either way is just fine with me. So I assumed that I would be like that with any fandom slash pairing I got obsessed with. But SGA has proved I'm not.
When it comes to SGA fic, I am a Rodney-on-top girl all the way. I have no idea why this is. Perhaps because the very first one I ever read had Rodney topping, but I don't think so. It's really quite strange, and very annoying because I can't figure out why I feel this way. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy John-on-top fics just fine, but there's always a moment when a voice in my head says, 'Oh damn, why couldn't they have put Rodney on top?' before I get too immersed in the *guh* to care.
So now I'm curious - what 'topping' do my Oz and SGA peeps prefer on their B/K and/or McShep 'desserts'? Please leave me a comment so I can satisfy my curiosity.
Anyhoo, on to the smut - recently, I've been pondering the very important and philosophical topic of topping. Namely, who should be doing the topping. Now this has become a question for me, in light of all the SGA fic I've read in recent months. Oz was my first ever fandom, and when it comes to smut in Oz fic, I really don't have a preference either way - Chris topping, Toby topping, it's all good. Of course I've always liked the smut scenes where the boys switch off and each have a turn the best, but either way is just fine with me. So I assumed that I would be like that with any fandom slash pairing I got obsessed with. But SGA has proved I'm not.
When it comes to SGA fic, I am a Rodney-on-top girl all the way. I have no idea why this is. Perhaps because the very first one I ever read had Rodney topping, but I don't think so. It's really quite strange, and very annoying because I can't figure out why I feel this way. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy John-on-top fics just fine, but there's always a moment when a voice in my head says, 'Oh damn, why couldn't they have put Rodney on top?' before I get too immersed in the *guh* to care.
So now I'm curious - what 'topping' do my Oz and SGA peeps prefer on their B/K and/or McShep 'desserts'? Please leave me a comment so I can satisfy my curiosity.
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Mmmmm...a nice thing to think about first thing in the morning. *g*
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Hee! Never thought of that perspective, but, yes that is so Rodney! Like, "Ow! Would it kill you to be considerate and remember that I also have to use my ass for sitting in the morning?" *snicker*.
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Heh heh heh...Spock on top. It sounds like something by Dr. Seuss.
Yea, Smut Day! Let's spread the
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At the beginning, all the people writing McShep were writing McKay as the bottom, but once his character began to grow and become more complex, more and more writers wrote McKay topping. And I can see the arguments for McKay, but I don't necessarily prefer him in one position or the other. As a character, personally, I prefer John to McKay, but that doesn't influence me a whole lot.
I love Power Games, and think they're even more interesting when the expected dynamic is reversed. So I really like to see the one you would think of as the more dominant partner as the bottom, just because it's not what you would expect, so it's different and more exotic. For instance, I love to see Jack as a bottom to Daniel on SG-1. But there are exceptions to that rule. I prefer to see Chris Keller as a top. And on NCIS, I definitely see Gibbs topping DiNozzo, and Gibbs is most definitely the Alpha in that relationship.
Since Ronon showed up on SGA, I've become quite a fan of his. So at the moment, my SGA OTP is John/Ronon. But despite his size and skill as a fighter, I really like seeing Ronon as the bottom in that relationship. Actually, I really like the idea of Ronon being into Power Games, and taking a sub role, and having to almost force John into the Dom role, because I can see John as having a little trouble with that role to begin with. As a matter of fact, as soon as I get through with the forty-million fic I already have promised to write, that particular fic is on my list of what to write next! (Sigh...we're talking way down the line, here...)
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Unfortunately, I can't make any judgements on Ronon, having not seen S2 of SGA yet (Grrrr!), but I can imagine John having to be coaxed into the dom role - and I will definitely be reading that fic when it evenuates! :)
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There's a scene in Gwen's "Nine Tenths of the Law" where Toby confronts Chris about the subject, saying that he loves to bottom for Chris, but it can't *always* be that way, and that rings really true for me. I think Toby would want that, and I think Keller doesn't care either way. In his past "relationships" I could see Keller as a dominant top, but with Toby, I think he plays a different role, at least some of the time, because he would know Toby would need that (hence his staying on the bottom bunk in their pod).
As far as McKay/Sheppard... I have to admit, I was a little surprised to see so much McKay-topping in the fandom. Rodney, to me, is definitely a "topping-from-the-bottom" kind of guy. But when a writer can make Rodney-topping work within the context of her story, it's even hotter because of the surprise, so I'm all for it. *g*
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I also wasn't expecting Rodney-toppage in SGA fics, since John's so stereotypically 'alpha male', but I love him as a top. I think he can be a 'topping-from-the-bottom' guy too (that scenario has made for some lovely fics, *g*), but I actually tend to see John more along those lines! :D
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Ooh, I like those fics too - I love the idea of Keller's obsession giving Toby the power to bring him to his knees (er...figuratively speaking) the way no-one else has ever done before. Chris may have been Schillinger's prag, but he never really 'bent over' for anybody until he fell for Toby.
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One of the key Keller moments for me is when he tells Sister Pete he 'let' Vern take the power part of sex, back at Lardner. Key, because it was clear as day he was spinning that, had to spin it in his head so he wasn't a prag, wasn't a bitch. (The ultra buff, ultra butch *persona* is all part of that too, IMO; something he's worked at ever since Lardner so he would never wind up in that situation again.)
So Chris taking the more submissive role ranks as a very powerful moment, I think, especially there in Oz. And he only does it because it's Toby, who he loves and trusts (although in my head, that very first time is wrought with major angst).
And Toby, man, think about it: Schillinger raped him, repeatedly, so at that point all taking it up the ass means to him is pain and degradation. That's amazing too -- and something I always held onto whenever I was fretting about him not loving Chris enough -- that he is willing, ready, and *eager* ("I was hoping you'd say I looked fuckable.") to literally put his ass on the line with Chris.
For me, their relationship isn't about power; it's about love and trust, and learning to give, and that all being a two-way street.
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But I must say that I rather go for fanfiction that actually doesn't completely ignore (and a lot of fic writers tend to do this) the fact that, at the end of the day, Beecher is straight and Keller...well, he's Keller. This particular element - the fact that Beecher is heterosexual and a NOT very well behaved prag - should matter to any fanfic writer, because I'm convinced it *matters* to Keller. I mean, why the hell does Keller go after Beecher in the first place, what drives him and makes him NOT perceive Beecher the way he apparently perceives other guys he's had sex with, the way he even perceives himself? This aspect of the relationship - the manner in which Keller sees Beecher within whatever it is they have - constitutes for me an important element that shouldn't be overlooked by fic writers just because Keller gives the impression he's "stronger" or more "aggressive". As it's easy to notice in the show, half the shit Keller says are lies and what he *shows* about himself is nothing more than a facade.
Then again, one has to consider the fact that the whole of Em City knows what they're doing, and who's doing what to whom, right? And I don't see neither Keller nor Beecher happily playing the *prag-part*.
I guess the best way to describe the relationship between Beecher and Keller is as a give-and-take partnership, just like a marriage. Of course there's gonna be frictions, there definitely ARE frictions, but it's only normal - there's too much bad shit between them and they're both a couple of *very* egotistical, self-centered and stubborn individuals. They're very much alike as they're different, and they deserve each other from this point of view.
And to answer your question Erin, there's way too much Keller-top-macho-"I'll take care of you baby, now roll over"/Beecher-bottom-"Oh, I love you sooo much, honey"-bullshit fanfic out there. And I definitely DO NOT see Toby doing Keller's laundry (who's laundry did he used to do?!...) while worrying about his girlish figure and looking good for his man...
Keller wouldn't look twice at Beecher if the guy would simply roll on his belly like a puppy. That's the catch with both of them, if you ask me.
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Very true. And you're right, the top/bottom question doesn't really matter as long as the fic's well-written - but hey, sometimes I'm just shallow and wanna think about the hot sex, LOL.
And YAY! You got an LJ! I'm gonna go visit and add you to my friends list.
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And, BTW, I totally agree with that Keller-top-macho stuff... ugh!
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That being said, I lean towards Keller on top with Beecher insecure about topping, pretty much like he is in your "New Loves, Old Tricks". What's more, I tend to think that maybe Beecher even wanted it that way sometimes, despite his past experience. I think Star wrote something of the sort in "Advocacy", a scene where Keller was fucking Beecher against a wall and he was taking command, and Toby found that sometimes he enjoyed, needed to give control to Chris. That it felt good to not be the one in charge. Given that he's pretty much the type to run from a problem rather than face (take his drinking problem), I find that credible.
I think I mentioned to you already, but I really get a jolly big kick out of the boys and a wall. The vertical fuck, you know. No bottom or top, in the actual sense, and neither should feel as vulnerable as in a horizontal position, the more typical position and one that both have a seriously disturbing past with. Or maybe I'm just kinky that way!*g*
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