I don't have my computer back just yet, but I think I can answer this one without notes. :)
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dhampyresa asked: Why do you ship Maria/Steve? Any other Maria pairings you like?
Why do you ship Maria/Steve?
So, I wrote a post on my favourite femmechars in fanfic back at the start of this year for the January Blogmeme.
A few days later, I wrote a post about the kind of male characters I like to write.
And then there was the post about pairings.
In short, I have a love of stoic, competent, action-oriented femmechars who don't need a man to be complete. I like giving them depth and development in directions that most people don't or won't (whether because they think all femmechars are boring, or whether they don't "connect" with the femmechars), and bringing them further into 3D than canon (or fandom) would usually bother.
I have an equally-great love of confident, capable male characters who can admire such women and respect them while still desiring them. And I like pairing them up for relationship complexity, and trope-turning.
So Maria and Steve as characters hit my buttons, and together, as a pairing, they REALLY hit my buttons. Like, complete keysmash.
Canonically, it was mostly the look Maria gave Steve the first time he was on the helicarrier. Just this one measuring look up and down as he walked by - measured, judged, condemned all in one. A woman who wouldn't fall over him for being good looking, a decent guy, or a hero - whose respect and interest would have to be earned.
And it got me thinking what Steve would think of Maria Hill as a woman in much the same place and position as Peggy - high in a paramilitary organisation, required to be a cool head in a crisis, capable of being both professional and personal, and a woman.
When I ship, I go for het pairings who are practical problem-solvers, where the man is the more romantic of the two, and the woman is more pragmatic, and usually not looking for a relationship - let alone a relationship with this man.
So, yeah, Maria/Steve fit my personal prefs, and I liked the dynamic they presented. I wrote A Woman Of Edges to determine exactly the way their relationship would work and Meeting Halfway to show a different kind of gradual relationship development, and have written over 10% of the works in the Steve/Maria tag on AO3 (48 out of 309).
Any other Maria pairings you like?
I can see Maria/Clint Barton as a past thing - fuck buddies or friends with benefits, or even just a connection thing that they once had that never got consummated due to conflicts and time. Peas in a pod, seeing things pretty much the same way - a kind of siblings-in-arms that trusts the other to back them up. (See my fic Fine Distinctions for one of my takes on Clint & Maria.)
Maria/Bucky presents an interesting dynamic. I think that Maria's careful self-possession would prompt Bucky to be as charming as he knows how (even after coming out of his Winter Soldier fugue, I'd say Bucky will still have his charming moments), and I think that Maria would like Bucky for the strength of his will to get back in the fray and make amends for what he did while brainwashed. He wouldn't let her back away, and she wouldn't let him dwell.
tl;dr: She's a cool-headed stoic with a deadly aim, he's a hero questioning his place in the world; together, THEY FIGHT CRIME!
dhampyresa asked: Why do you ship Maria/Steve? Any other Maria pairings you like?Why do you ship Maria/Steve?
So, I wrote a post on my favourite femmechars in fanfic back at the start of this year for the January Blogmeme.
A few days later, I wrote a post about the kind of male characters I like to write.
And then there was the post about pairings.
In short, I have a love of stoic, competent, action-oriented femmechars who don't need a man to be complete. I like giving them depth and development in directions that most people don't or won't (whether because they think all femmechars are boring, or whether they don't "connect" with the femmechars), and bringing them further into 3D than canon (or fandom) would usually bother.
I have an equally-great love of confident, capable male characters who can admire such women and respect them while still desiring them. And I like pairing them up for relationship complexity, and trope-turning.
So Maria and Steve as characters hit my buttons, and together, as a pairing, they REALLY hit my buttons. Like, complete keysmash.
Canonically, it was mostly the look Maria gave Steve the first time he was on the helicarrier. Just this one measuring look up and down as he walked by - measured, judged, condemned all in one. A woman who wouldn't fall over him for being good looking, a decent guy, or a hero - whose respect and interest would have to be earned.
And it got me thinking what Steve would think of Maria Hill as a woman in much the same place and position as Peggy - high in a paramilitary organisation, required to be a cool head in a crisis, capable of being both professional and personal, and a woman.
When I ship, I go for het pairings who are practical problem-solvers, where the man is the more romantic of the two, and the woman is more pragmatic, and usually not looking for a relationship - let alone a relationship with this man.
So, yeah, Maria/Steve fit my personal prefs, and I liked the dynamic they presented. I wrote A Woman Of Edges to determine exactly the way their relationship would work and Meeting Halfway to show a different kind of gradual relationship development, and have written over 10% of the works in the Steve/Maria tag on AO3 (48 out of 309).
Any other Maria pairings you like?
I can see Maria/Clint Barton as a past thing - fuck buddies or friends with benefits, or even just a connection thing that they once had that never got consummated due to conflicts and time. Peas in a pod, seeing things pretty much the same way - a kind of siblings-in-arms that trusts the other to back them up. (See my fic Fine Distinctions for one of my takes on Clint & Maria.)
Maria/Bucky presents an interesting dynamic. I think that Maria's careful self-possession would prompt Bucky to be as charming as he knows how (even after coming out of his Winter Soldier fugue, I'd say Bucky will still have his charming moments), and I think that Maria would like Bucky for the strength of his will to get back in the fray and make amends for what he did while brainwashed. He wouldn't let her back away, and she wouldn't let him dwell.
tl;dr: She's a cool-headed stoic with a deadly aim, he's a hero questioning his place in the world; together, THEY FIGHT CRIME!
no subject
Also Maria/Bucky sounds like an interesting pairing. I'll have to check that out.
no subject
I haven't really looked around for Maria/Bucky, although I asked for them in a couple of rarepairs exchanges this year. It would be a tricky one to keep in character, I think...