And now for something completely different...
In light of speculation about fanfic where Garac tortures Avon or Avon tortures Garak, I was wondering, what is it about Hurt/Comfort fiction that fans seem to pick certain characters most often to be tormented, tortured and hurt? Why Avon rather than Blake? And if you say "he suffers beautifully", that isn't an answer. What makes Avon's suffering more appealing than Blake's? The scenario in hurt/comfort is that one character is hurt and the other one comforts him. And it's usually Avon and Blake.
I thought, perhaps it's because Avon needs to be tormented in order to Admit That He Cares, or for him to Accept Comfort, since he's so stoic and unexpressive that he wouldn't admit it otherwise. Certainly Blake doesn't need any extraordinary events for *him* to say that he cares (he's very quick to call them his friends).
But then I considered the popular victims in other universes, and that pattern doesn't fit. In The Sentinel, it's Blair (the non-stoic emoting caring one) who gets tormented and Jim (the stoic, non-emoting one) who is the comforter, and who is forced to Admit That He Cares. In Stargate, the victim is Daniel (again, not a stoic) and the comforter is Jack (more stoic than Daniel is at any rate).
Then I realized the common denominator of all three victims; they're all intellectuals, geeks. Not that Blake isn't a philosopher, but you've got to admit that Avon is more geeky than Blake. And with the others the difference is even more obvious.
So why is it that the H/C writers have it in for geeks?
Kathryn Andersen -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "If you don't cause an electrical failure, you're not an alien." -- Paul Michael Agapow during "The Abyss" at the Valhalla 24-hour SF marathon (9-2-91)