There's been a bit of discussion on list lately about the variety of factions that exist—or not—and this prompted me to go back and do final tweaks on a couple of icons that I made a few weeks ago.

The curious existence of the UnSuiteds (or Unsuiteds, since internal capitalization is quite idiosyncratic where faction names are concerned) was brought up by Brenda B. Of course, there is something inherently improbable about slashing LaCroix and Schanke, of all people. It's not surprising that the affiliation was apparently described by Karen T. as "the faction that REALLY, REALLY never dares say its name. (2 REALLYS required.)"

The history of the UnSuiteds is recounted on their website, which is now in the Forever Knight Website Archive. When Nigel Bennett and John Kapelos attended Bridging the Knight in 1997, a Coke can from which Nigel had drunk was put up as an item in the charity auction, and he was asked to bite it to add "fang" marks. The tale goes on:

Upon noting by someone that there were now traces of Nigel's DNA in the saliva on the can, it was supposed that the DNA could be used via genetic engineering to create a "love child", which of course upped the value of the can yet again.

As soon as John got involved in the hawking of the Can, things turned DECIDEDLY Unsuited! John Kapelos, the dear man, of course had to bite the can as well, adding traces of *his* DNA, which could potentially be used with Nigel's to create the Child of the Unsuited Pair.

Quoting John Kapelos: "Can't wait to see our child!"

And so a new faction was born, quickly popularized by an UnSuiteds Challenge that produced quite a collection of fiction, mostly slash, and mostly (as you might expect) of the crack variety.

The faction symbol was deemed to be a dented Coke can. So, bearing that in mind, I can reveal the icon:



It is quite remarkable what Google can turn up for you! Biting Coke cans seems to be quite the pastime with...certain juvenile types...especially when the cans are full so the contents spray all over the place. (At least Nigel bit an empty can!) To fill out the other side of the background, I used a close-up of a glass of Coke, being sure to pick a well-bubbled specimen.

After that, it was a question of deciding how large to make the figures, and how close to each other they should be. There is only episode in which LaCroix and Schanke actually meet, "Close Call"; and the screen capture I used is from that scene. In the end, I separated them a bit more than they were on screen—which will no doubt disappoint aficionados of the UnSuited.





Tequila Fiends:

Since I've had this icon around for a while, I toss it in for good measure. The Tequila Fiends are another highly specialized faction—for FK fans who love tequila! They have a small website whose index page is adorned with a delightful bottle of "FK" brand tequila:



Naturally, I couldn't resist using it in the icon. However, I did add, behind the bottle, a picture of the agave plant from which tequila is brewed. The tint of the leaves is echoed in the colours of the logo.