More Bunny and Raffles
Oct. 12th, 2009 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyMore Bunny and Raffles squee! Incidentally, fandom, is the normal idiom "Bunny and Raffles" or "Raffles and Bunny"? For some reason, the first one easily presented itself, but, as "Watson and Holmes" sounds very strange to my ears, I wanted to ask.
I've read more. These two just never get old.
I've decided that Raffles and Bunny are to Holmes and Watson as BBC's Merlin is to Doctor Who. That is, I can enjoy the former of each - no matter what takes place - without worrying too much about my heart getting broken, and for this I sacrifice a measure of quality. I can't say exactly why I feel like this, without going into extreme detail and thinking more than I care to at the moment, but that's how I feel about Bunny and Raffles.
Today I finished "The Amateur Cracksman," which ends with Raffles apparently drowned and Bunny getting hauled off to prison. This was, strangely enough, less horrible than FINA because Bunny knew what was about to happen, because he kind of saw Raffles swim away and therefore had hope, and because it was slashy as all get-out. Bunny's livid jealousy at Raffles's association with the Australian girl was wonderful and hilarious (not to mention unmistakable) and the story was filled with wonderful lines like "Climb into my bunk, Bunny, and you shall see." *sporfle* They are also just... oh, the pressing of hands and the squeezing of shoulders and the liberal application of "my" in front of each other's names, and bwagh. They're so adorable.
I'm trying to character-analyze them like I've done with Holmes and Watson (in spite of the arguably lesser quality of the characterizations) because this is the kind of thing I do for fun *is dork* Bunny is considerably easier, so far. I've read one or two stories after Raffles's miraculous return, and Bunny has developed a little, which is really awesome. His character, in my first-read-through assessment, consists of two major facets:
1: Bunny is enamoured of Raffles.
2: Bunny feels morally conflicted about his life of crime.
It's important that #1 never fails to trump #2, no matter how much Bunny protests. In the early stories (I'm trying not to refer to them as pre-Hiatus... "the double-life era" works, though, since in the later ones they don't have high-class personas) Bunny secretly enjoys the thrill of burglary, but he's wracked with guilt and feels very virtuous whenever they stop for a while. He's conflicted about his relationship with Raffles, too, even though he gets used to the fact that he's always kept in the dark. One of the things I like about Bunny is that he's not afraid to get really angry at Raffles, yell at him and act sanctimonious, even though he knows that Raffles will get his way no matter what. Bunny gets pissy with him, and I think it's adorable. After Raffles returns, though, he just kind of surrenders both to the crime and to Raffles's persuasion (it need not be said that the two intersect XD). He certainly doesn't have any qualms about stealing things anymore, and he's just so happy to have Raffles back that Raffles's masterfulness doesn't bother him as much anymore.
Raffles is harder for me to get a handle on. Apart from all the superficial similarities to Holmes, Raffles isn't really like him at all, not when you get down to it. Raffles doesn't get depressed, which is hugely important. He's freer with his emotions, much quicker to apologize when he's hurt Bunny's feelings, and I get the impression that he doesn't really think about what he does. Where Holmes is hyper-aware, even if he doesn't know how to deal with what he perceives, I think Raffles just gets blindsided by things (like how he feels about Bunny). Whenever he does something terribly earnest, it seems like it's taken him by surprise, but he doesn't hide it or wonder at it. He just does it. He's very cautious in everything except, I think, how he acts to Bunny, especially when they're alone.
So, they're cute. Lord, they're cute. They don't have the capability to rip my heart to bits the way Holmes and Watson do, which is in some ways a relief.
What am I going to do for icons for these two?
I've read more. These two just never get old.
I've decided that Raffles and Bunny are to Holmes and Watson as BBC's Merlin is to Doctor Who. That is, I can enjoy the former of each - no matter what takes place - without worrying too much about my heart getting broken, and for this I sacrifice a measure of quality. I can't say exactly why I feel like this, without going into extreme detail and thinking more than I care to at the moment, but that's how I feel about Bunny and Raffles.
Today I finished "The Amateur Cracksman," which ends with Raffles apparently drowned and Bunny getting hauled off to prison. This was, strangely enough, less horrible than FINA because Bunny knew what was about to happen, because he kind of saw Raffles swim away and therefore had hope, and because it was slashy as all get-out. Bunny's livid jealousy at Raffles's association with the Australian girl was wonderful and hilarious (not to mention unmistakable) and the story was filled with wonderful lines like "Climb into my bunk, Bunny, and you shall see." *sporfle* They are also just... oh, the pressing of hands and the squeezing of shoulders and the liberal application of "my" in front of each other's names, and bwagh. They're so adorable.
I'm trying to character-analyze them like I've done with Holmes and Watson (in spite of the arguably lesser quality of the characterizations) because this is the kind of thing I do for fun *is dork* Bunny is considerably easier, so far. I've read one or two stories after Raffles's miraculous return, and Bunny has developed a little, which is really awesome. His character, in my first-read-through assessment, consists of two major facets:
1: Bunny is enamoured of Raffles.
2: Bunny feels morally conflicted about his life of crime.
It's important that #1 never fails to trump #2, no matter how much Bunny protests. In the early stories (I'm trying not to refer to them as pre-Hiatus... "the double-life era" works, though, since in the later ones they don't have high-class personas) Bunny secretly enjoys the thrill of burglary, but he's wracked with guilt and feels very virtuous whenever they stop for a while. He's conflicted about his relationship with Raffles, too, even though he gets used to the fact that he's always kept in the dark. One of the things I like about Bunny is that he's not afraid to get really angry at Raffles, yell at him and act sanctimonious, even though he knows that Raffles will get his way no matter what. Bunny gets pissy with him, and I think it's adorable. After Raffles returns, though, he just kind of surrenders both to the crime and to Raffles's persuasion (it need not be said that the two intersect XD). He certainly doesn't have any qualms about stealing things anymore, and he's just so happy to have Raffles back that Raffles's masterfulness doesn't bother him as much anymore.
Raffles is harder for me to get a handle on. Apart from all the superficial similarities to Holmes, Raffles isn't really like him at all, not when you get down to it. Raffles doesn't get depressed, which is hugely important. He's freer with his emotions, much quicker to apologize when he's hurt Bunny's feelings, and I get the impression that he doesn't really think about what he does. Where Holmes is hyper-aware, even if he doesn't know how to deal with what he perceives, I think Raffles just gets blindsided by things (like how he feels about Bunny). Whenever he does something terribly earnest, it seems like it's taken him by surprise, but he doesn't hide it or wonder at it. He just does it. He's very cautious in everything except, I think, how he acts to Bunny, especially when they're alone.
So, they're cute. Lord, they're cute. They don't have the capability to rip my heart to bits the way Holmes and Watson do, which is in some ways a relief.
What am I going to do for icons for these two?
