the delphic expanse

I am partial to love triangles - so I will open the A/T discussion with the following recommendations:

Best Man by The Cursor


Desperation by our own Honeybee (Naughty, Naughty)

Oddly enough, I've always considered both those fics to technically be TnT. While T'Pol ends up with Archer in "Best Man," the subject is clearly all the woulda, coulda, shoulda..."things never said", that Trip feels for T'Pol. And in "Desperation," I got the impression that T'Pol's first choice would've been Trip.

So for my purposes/definition, I don't think I've ever read an empirically pure T'Pol/Archer fic.

Aquarius wrote:So for my purposes/definition, I don't think I've ever read an empirically pure T'Pol/Archer fic.

As for me personally, I can't bring myself to read an A/T story at all. I find the two such an "unlikley" pair. I don't think they would look good together ( Scott looks like he could be Jolene's father), the story lines would seem forced to me. I tried to read an A/T fic once but couldn't get past the second chapter, and it was very well written. If I ever did try to read one through, I would need to stay really close to a bathroom.

To each their own. No one has to read something if they don't like it. The idea behind this forum is for people to be able to celebrate what they *do* like without feeling like others are getting freaked out and judgemental on them. With that in mind, let's please keep editorial comments about how other 'ships make one "need a bathroom" out of what would otherwise be a meaningful and thought-provoking discussion. That's how shipper wars start and we're NOT having that here, regardless of who's saying what about which 'ship.

We've only been open a couple of days. Let's play nice!

Understood.

My style contains sarcasm, always has, always will and I'm a little too old to change. I guess it's a product of my New York City upbringing; and actually, I think it's one of my more endearing qualities.

Seriously though, I am critical of and sarcastic to "the ship" (and this "ship" in particular) but never to "the shipper". However if that's not acceptable here, then I will respect the site owner's wishes. Having said that, I find the prospect of being lectured about my posts and opinions a bit unappealing (nothing personal, as I really like you guys) so my participation here is going to be pretty limited going forward.

Middleman, it's unfortunate you feel that way. You are as welcome here as anyone. However, we started this place as a flame war free zone, with the idea that people of different ships would have different forums in which to discuss their ships as well as general areas where everyone can mix it up.

So, I'd love to see you participating in the TnT forums, it's just we want any A/T shippers that join to feel comfortable in their own forum, that's all. Stick the the TnT forum and the general forums, and you'll be fine. If you want to say your piece here in the A/T forum fine because this is a place where people are not expected to think the same, but we don't want to give the impression to any new members that they will find this a hostile environment. We'll probably be able to relax a little once the tone of the site is well-established, but for now we're erring on the side of caution.[/i]

So the question remains: who knows of some good Archer & T'Pol fics?

Well, since I am in the unique position of shipping both TnT and A/T, I shall recommend the following story:

Olive Branch by Gumdrop

It's quite charming.

I will say that as a dual shipper or a three way shipper, I tend to be irritated with TnT fics that portray Archer as some kind of a monster or A/T fics that portray Trip as some sort of stupid hick. Neither of those readings fits with canon, and it misses the opportunity to portray a complex triangle between three people. Not everyone need embrace my solution, however, I firmly believe all three people are good, if flawed, people and portraying them otherwise doesn't ring true.

Mistress Euclid wrote:I will say that as a dual shipper or a three way shipper, I tend to be irritated with TnT fics that portray Archer as some kind of a monster or A/T fics that portray Trip as some sort of stupid hick. Neither of those readings fits with canon, and it misses the opportunity to portray a complex triangle between three people. Not everyone need embrace my solution, however, I firmly believe all three people are good, if flawed, people and portraying them otherwise doesn't ring true.

You know, that's true. That goes along with what they say about not making yourself look better by making someone else look bad...or in this case making your preferred male to 'ship T'Pol with look good by trying to make the other one look bad. Just because you like one, why would you have to trash on the other?

Will definitely check that story out!

On the TnT side, I tend to enjoy fics by Stub and Joe (as well as your B&K chapters, Aquarius) because Archer's feelings for T'Pol are addressed, and he's not portrayed as a bad guy - just heartbroken.

As I'm opening my mind to A/T fics, I'm starting to look at ones that have Trip paired with Hoshi or someone else - so I know that writer doesn't have it in for a character that I really adore.