Paperclips

[deird_lj]

penknife has an interesting post about paperclip sorting.
Specifically, which characters would sort their paperclips by colour, and which would think that this was ridiculous.

I decided as follows:

Buffy would carefully sort them, but not let anyone see that she was, because she'd think it made her a big freak.

Fred would deliberately not sort them, so that she could analyse the pattern they ended up with and use it as a miniature study of chaos theory.


Any thoughts?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/woman_of_/]

Willow would sort them into colour, then take one of each, cast a floating spell to see which colour went highest!

[snowpuppies]

I think Willow could be incredibly obsessive about this, perhaps even only using paper clips of a certain color, or according to a color-coding system...

Tara would use the color Willow liked the least because she wouldn't want them feeling left out.

Spike would say 'sod the paperclips' and go have a drink. :P

Xander wouldn't notice they were different colors.

Dawn would either a) use a paperclip of each color on every set of papers or b) rotate the colors she uses like clockwork: blue, yellow, green, red, pink, orange (repeat).

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

x-posting (sorry)

Dawn would make a paperclip necklace.

Xander would drop all the paperclips all over the floor and have to pick them up before he could even start sorting them.

Willow would, of course, use magic to sort them.

Tara wouldn't even consider sorting them; they're in their natural order already.

Anya would sort them and then sell them to the highest bidder.

Spike would try sorting them if he thought it's what Buffy (or Drusilla) wanted. He would also not sort them if he thought it's what Angel (or Harmony) wanted.

Harmony would only see the pink ones anyway.

Riley would order them to sort themselves. Then he'd freak out if they did, which of course is a distinct possibility in a magical 'verse.

Faith wouldn't sort hers, but she would steal Buffy's.

Angel would brood over the past actions that led him to a point where he had to sort paperclips. And complain that back in his day, they made do with a piece of string.

[elisi]

Oh god you just *completely* cracked me up!

I know that 'LOL' is a bit overused, but seriously, I *am* laughing out loud - loudly!

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, so true! In a paperclips-are-a-big-metaphor way.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

As far as Willow goes, I think this quote from 'Triangle' says it all:

WILLOW: Usually I use that time to copy over my class notes with a system of different colored pens ... but it's been pointed out to me that that's, you know, insane.
TARA: I said "quirky."


Spike would sort through and separate out the black ones, use them and throw away the other ones. He'd do this in secret and deny point-blank that he did anything of the sort if challenged.

Giles thinks coloured paperclips are frivolous. Plain metal is good enough for him. Wesley, on the other hand, started using coloured paper clips as a means of secretly defying his father. He also amuses himself by researching obscure demonic numerology and divination spells that involve putting different coloured paperclips on specific numbered pages of a book.

Buffy would start sorting them, then get distracted by trying to unbend a paperclip and get the piece of wire perfectly straight. She has also tried to kill a demon using a bent paperclip. It didn't work very well, but the pain at least distracted the demon long enough for her to find a real weapon.

As for the Potentials/Newbie Slayers:
Vi: would sort them meticulously.
Rona: would sort them, moaning and sulking all the time.
Kennedy: Would make sarcastic comments about people who wasted their lives sorting paperclips.
Annabelle: would sort them if Buffy told her to.
Amanda: Wouldn't see the point of sorting them.
Chao-An: 什么是回形针？
Renee: Would watch to see what Xander did, then do the same.
Satsu: would use a quirky non-paperclip paper-fastening system of her own.

[parcae-lj.livejournal.com]

Xander's paperclips are meticulously sorted. This is because he stole them from Willow.

Anya's are also meticulously sorted. This is because they are still in the box. She owns paperclips because humans do, but she still hasn't quite worked out what they're for.

Spike's paperclips are meticulously sorted as well. He stole them from Xander.

Giles' paperclips are meticulously sorted too, because he confiscated them from Spike after he found him straightening them out and sticking them into a voodoo doll of Angel.

Willow's paperclips are meticulously sorted because she imitates Giles.

[shapinglight]

I'm not sure about Buffy sorting paper clips. Maybe.

I'm pretty sure that Angel would have his paper clips all sorted by colour and size, though, and Spike would come along and not only unsort them but open all the paper clips out or make a big long chain of them, just to annoy Angel.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I found myself seeing Angel clipping them all together, moodily, and then being annoyed when he wanted to use one. The long chain in his desk tray would not be his fault of course - he would feel that the urge to do it had been inflicted on him by outside forces just so that he would be frustrated at this precise moment...

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

I kind of rebel against the idea that all of these characters have these big collections of paperclips, anyways - what would, say, Spike do with them, anyways?

But it makes for very interesting meta, don't it?