One of the reasons I hate the LRC:

I have just accidentally managed to turn off someone else's PC. The problem? A good three-quarters of the PCs in this place are 'stack' style. Sat on a desk next to one another, it's not always easy to tell which stack belongs to which PC. It doesn't help that they are all black, or that the cunning design of these things makes it hard (read: near impossible) to tell if the bloody things are actually on or not if the computer screen is blank. Is this thing working? Is it on standby? is it shut down? You just can't tell. Long story short: I try to turn on what I think is a free PC and succeed in shutting down the PC of the girl sat next to it.

Need I even mention that this is one of the few occasions where a PC has shut down immediately on me, without my having to press and hold the button for at least ten seconds? I apologized, naturally, but the woman appeared to have an attitude on her the size of new Mexico and wasn't entirely inclined to accept it. Look, madam: I'm sorry I shut down your PC, but I made a mistake and sometimes mistakes do happen.

Now back to my scheduled update.

For, with the general election in full swing and voting well underway, my thoughts have turned lightly to a serious topic of extreme seriousness. This is an issue dear to my heart, and one which never fails to energize me.

Weiss Kreuz Counterpart Slash.

Counterpart slash, for the three of you who are not in the know, involves writing yaoi/slash fanfiction in which the main pairing is one of the Weiss members and their Schwartz counterpart - or, to be more accurate, vice versa (anyone familiar with yaoi/slash conventions, which I guess will be most of the people who read this thing, will know what this implies). yes, they have counterparts. Or - again with the accuracy - more precisely they have People They Usually Fight. Ken, to use the predictable and most downright bloody disturbing example, will usually face off against Farfarello.

Predictable Consequence #1: Really Bloody Disturbing (to say nothing of literally bloody) Farfarello x Ken yaoi fanfics.
Predictable Consequence #2: I accidentally read said fanfic, go completely insane and tear out my own eyes.

Now don't get me wrong - this isn't to say that I think absolutely all the stories revolving around this pairing are immediately Wrong with a capital wrong. I've read some pretty good fics that take this as a starting point, actually (one by kay_cricketed immediately springs to mind, which I think I forgot to review. Blast! I must remember to do so). As a study in pathology it could actually prove kind of interesting. But that's about as far as i'm prepared to take it: a study in pathology. Abnormal pathology at that. What I am not about to buy is the idea that Farfarello and Ken make a good couple when they don't, or that any resulting sex scene (sex scene?) would be anything other than a wholly disturbing and mind-fucking experience.

Which reminds me how much I goddamn hate the fanfic convention of the 'almost rape' (but not quite, mind!) scene. If you've read any fanfic at all you'll have come across at least one of these things. I've been told that this is a popular way to go about writing Farfarello x Ken yaoi. Someone hide the children's eyes. Hell, someone hide my eyes.

So I'm not saying that all of these fanfics are immediately godawful, but - and this for me is a bloody big but - why does this imply that said pair would make a good couple who are not even slightly dysfunctional? Who, for example, decided that they thought Crawford x Aya could possibly be at all Cute and Romantic when out together? I've seen a good number of fluffy fics centered on these two, many of which are no doubt intended to generate huge amounts of Warm and Fuzzy Feelings in their readers, and yet they just leave me wondering what led these guys to stop trying to kill one another for long enough to get it on.

(And who, when one looks at Youji and Schuldich - Youji and Schuldich? - the only thing I find myself thinking is, who's the seme?)

I've been in the WK fandom a while. Years, actually, though it's only recently I actually started getting involved in any real way (I blame Ken, but of course I do). I guess fandoms are like everything else - trends develop for, in this particular case, certain pairings. The scariest thing about Counterpart Slash for me is not that the resultant pairings are almost completely nonsensical given that both partners canonically keep trying to kill one another, but that these pairings have become so scarily prevalent. Even, God help us all, popular. I never used to see Schuldich x Youji or whatever way round this pairing goes at all. Now I seem to see it all the damn time, and in WAFF-y romance fics as well as explorations of how everyone in Weiss Kreuz is fucked up on some level. Now those fics I can enjoy and almost understand, but not the cute, romantic ones. Where is the cute or romantic in Youji x Schuldich? Or any Counterpart Slash pairing for that matter?

Where did this trend originate, who do we have to blame for it, and why can't we make it stop? These guys want to kill one another! They do not want to have crazy lemonsex!

Okay, so that was pretty daft but what the hell. I'm tired, having a very boring day - I swear I covered all this public health stuff in first year, are threy actually going to tell us anything new today or should i just give up and try and write my fanfic in this next lecture? - and my elbow has started hurting, as if I've bruised it. besides, what on earth is the point of this Livejournal thingy if I can't use it to Indulge my Fangirlishness on a regular basis?

(Hey, angstchan... bet you really think I need help now.)