Cimorene

I've gone through AO3's whole store of this fandom now, not reading everything, but reading every header at least. I've also definitely established that some of the stories I remember are not online anymore, which is a shame - there seem to be quite a few authors who haven't transferred all their old writing, and only have more recent fandoms on AO3. I can sympathize. Actually I never put my popslash on AO3 for presumably the same reason, and I definitely have had my moments of doubt with other, more popular early works. Anyway, I may not be able to find much more Highlander to read (or rec) now, but I've been thinking I should perhaps try to collect examples which feel specifically the opposite of old school: like definitely contemporary, or modern, or recent, in their style. That might not be so easy though, since it would require rereading large bodies of things that I've already read fairly recently (not something I normally do).

Anyway, here are 10 more examples and my observations about them and what aspect of old slash style they seem to reflect. Background: Old Slash Scrapbook: 25 snippets from Highlander fic that are emblematic of the Old Slash aesthetic (from a couple weeks ago) and Rereading Highlander in the modern world from May 10th (contains a longer discussion of the idea of slash style in the comments).

1. "Tell me you aren't simply toying with my affections."

A classic romance genre move here. The phrase 'toying with [] affections' alone is a venerable one with traditions going back perhaps hundreds of years, I think?


2. passion that burned with the intensity of an entire city aflame,

Another romance-genre phrasing: passion in general, passion "burning" specifically, things doing something else "with the intensity of [melodramatic and epic comparison]", and then this phrase 'of an entire city aflame' is also, I think, one that I've seen a number of times. It all feels a bit Antony and Cleopatra.


3. retreating to feast on hot, sensual lips,

"feasting on" [bodyparts] + "hot, sensual lips" (why are they so hot? or do we just mean attractive?), two more romance-genre classics


4. a low moan evidence of his near-instant desire.

This one feels more slash-genre specific than romance genre to me, but I could be wrong. Of course, the "low moan" isn't all that distinctive, but noting down "evidence" of desire and also this interesting idea of instant desire, those feel familiar to me specifically from the slash genre. There's a construction of desire as being commensurate, physically or emotionaly, with the power/purity/intensity/whatever of the emotional connection behind it, so like in my previous post where I mentioned the idea that true love could remove the refractory period - that one is a little more extreme, but the idea is often suggested or alluded to in the genre of sex being inherently better, even incomprehensibly greater, in duration or intensity or in its psychological healing effects or even in how physically deeply the penetration is able to reach (which, of course, at its deepest point touches the soul - physically located beyond the prostate in the colon!). This thing about sex being better when it's true love is, of course, a romance genre staple; it's just the colon being the site of the soul, true love affecting sperm/semen production and sensitivity, etc. And I think this idea of desire being instant or near-instant is connected to this trope: desire that is less purely emotional, we are led to conclude, will be less overpowering; the object of true love is also the object of a desire so potent that the male character is literally unable to diminish his erection, or stop himself from touching, or focus on the task at hand even if his life is at risk, or whatever. And similarly, desire that is not meant to be or true love or whatever will take longer to produce arousal, because the eyes and the mind and the body take all that boring time to send messages between neurons, whereas awareness of one's true love produces an automatic and instantaneous boner that has managed to short-circuit all of that stuff, not requiring any thought or conscious awareness or whatever.


5. how to play another's body like a fine instrument.

Playing something that's not an instrument like an instrument - not just an instrument, but a fine instrument - is also a classic. Actually this is just a sort of general cliché phrase, not, I think, necessarily specific to the romance genre, except inasmuch as playing bodies like instruments is more likely to occur in writing that is concerned with romance and sexual contact.


6. They melded together, tongues stroking and teasing,

Both parts of this separately feel very old school to me, although not to the extent that they've disappeared from the genre. "Melded" being used in this way is probably less common now though, I think?


7. tongue weaving an intoxicating pattern through Mac's mouth.

"intoxicating" here feels familiar from romance genre tropes, but maybe the "tongue weaving...pattern" part is more slash-specific? It feels familiar to me too, but I can't recall it in romance.


8. But what if it was just friendship that the older Immortal felt for him?

This preoccupation with explicitly agreeing on the seriousness of the emotions/relationship before sexual contact, like I mentioned in the previous post, is starting to be noticeably less common in contemporary slash genre, where it used to be almost compulsory. Characters often felt unable to tempt themselves with sex or even kissing if they weren't sure their partner was equally is an love and committed as them; or conversely, the issue would come up, but they would decide that the short-term satisfaction might be worth the long-term (but explicitly anticipated) pain of knowing the partner didn't care as much for them. Feeling 'only friendship' or 'loving X, but not being in love with X' were phrases that came up in these conversations a lot. The notion of mutual and commensurate emotional engagement is still central, of course, and these themes are also still very popular in fandom, but the frequency of addressing them verbally before the first sexual encounter is much lower; they tend to angst about them, perhaps figuring them out or negotiating them later.


9. He'd known, from the emotions simmering in Methos' eyes, but hearing… hearing it was him… the words left him breathless, unable to respond.

Establishing their mutual commitment/emotional engagement without specifically using the word "love" or the phrase "in love" is also a great deal more common now, where those two terms were previously almost fetishized (this also came from the romance genre). In this quote, Duncan as POV character has just reflected that he already knows his established partner is committed long-term and he already knows how his partner feels about him, but when he hears the words, he is still breathless (and surprised to find himself so).


10. He'd been aware for a while of the growing attraction--the emotions--he had for the other man; he'd fought against it for a long time before admitting defeat and just going with it.

'Having [emotions] for [the other man]' - this feels old school, not only like old school slash, but even sort of sounds like society at large (90s, 80s, early 00s maybe?). Also just the phrase "growing attraction" - a workhorse in the genre.