“Beware the Ides of March”

[resnullius_bells]

Happy Ides! I was an Ancient Rome nerd as a child (and a little bit now, if I’m honest) and this is one of my favorite anniversaries xP

I ended up re-watching Xena’s eponymous episode about it. It’s one of my favorite ones: it has the Ides of March, a lot of Gabrielle/Xena feels, Callisto… and I love how little the show cares about anything even remotely resembling historical accuracy LOL.

I’m continuing my Star Trek re-watch, very, veeeery slowly. The other day I watched “Charlie X”; the scene in the rec-room is one of my favorite ones in the series, with Spock mingling with the crew and playing a song for Uhura to sing <3 (her very cheeky songs lol). It’s also one of those that includes Spock + Kirk chess scenes (that Kirk wins), which are one of those pieces of meta-writing I always enjoy.

And in between reading stuff to for my classes today I started re-reading Carmilla. I love that book so, so much <3. I want to re-read Dracula next (I’m in a vampire mood, I guess), but maybe I should, IDK. Try something new, for a change xD. Maybe I’ll order Gideon the Ninth, everyone keeps recommending it to me.

My current WIPs are slow going and I wanted to write something short during these days, since I can’t leave the home and don’t have much else to do but read, watch tv, and write. So, I'm taking prompts: post a comment with a pairing or character and make me choose between two settings, two tropes, two lines, etc.; or, if you’re not coming up with specific prompts, I will put my music player on shuffle and write a ficlet based on the first song that comes up.

Here's a link to a list of my fandoms & ships & some of my preferences, if you’re looking for inspiration. I also wanted to borrow this meme from @author_by_night, where I choose between popular tropes and tell you why; it might give you even more ideas.

Slow burn OR love at first sight: I have admittedly very little patience for slow burns. My absolute preference would actually be hate at first sight LOL, or some kind of animosity, where feelings run intense. Or even better: there was love at first sight once upon a time and then it turned to hate. The thing I like about love at first sight is that it gets things going quickly: here are these characters, they’re already obsessed with each other, now this is the story (another reason why I like established relationship/past relationship stories, where things get messy during/after the characters are together. Though getting together fics remain my favorite to write, if not always to read).

Fake dating OR secret dating: I have to admit I don’t really share fandom’s appreciation for fake dating. If it’s brief and because the characters are going undercover, I can find it entertaining enough, if it’s well-written. But secret dating all the way. It gives an excuse for the characters to be away in their own bubble too, which is how I like my ships.

Enemies to lovers OR best friends to lovers: I love hero/antagonist ships, though I don’t necessarily want the redemption arcs that come with some of those. I prefer them to stay enemies LOL, or for the hero to be corrupted. Best friends to lovers can be really cute to read though, and I particularly enjoy it with femslash ships. But I prefer enemies, yeah.

Fantasy au OR modern au: I avoid modern AUs like they are the plague. I do not read stuff about monsters, witches, royal conspiracies, superheroes etc. because I want them to own coffee shops.

Smut OR fluff: I don’t think I can write proper fluff beyond a few sentences xD (thanks for helping me discover this, Three Sentences Ficathon). It’d eventually turn twisted at some point.

Mutual pining OR domestic bliss: neither is my thing in particular -I like my pining uneven or not there at all, and my domestic bliss to turn to be a trick xD

Alternate universe OR future fic: by a little margin, because it ultimately depends on what type of AU we’re talking about.

One shot OR multi-chapter: if I don’t publish an story in one sitting I won’t finish it at all, period.

Kid fic OR road trip fic: kid fic is so, so not my thing. Road trips are not a trope I think about often, but they’d also allow for that “characters in their own bubble” feel I love.

Reincarnation OR character death: I don’t like reincarnations, period (I think I’ve only liked the trope in Jupiter Ascending, and that’s not a straightforward version of it, exactly). But I love angst so yeah, character death it is. Though I prefer it if it’s reversible -I love coming-back-from-the-dead (and Came Back Wrong) stories.

Arranged marriage OR accidental marriage: in theory, Arranged Marriage has a lot going for it that I’d love: it’s technically an abduction (and I love Abduction by seduction), for two people even! It forces two characters close together, it’s good ground for darkfic, to explore power imbalances and psychological horror tropes… but I have yet to find a fic about it that I truly like. One day I’ll end up doing it myself, just to see how I’d do it.

Time travel OR isolated together: you could also get isolated together when traveling in time, so you could have both xD. But like I’ve mentioned, “isolated together” is my preference across any trope, ever.

Neighbors OR roommates: I’ve never given it much thought but I guess roommates contributes to the “isolated together” part?

Sci-fi au OR magic au: both. Both are good.

Angst OR crackfic: I love angst. A truly good crackfic is a treasure (most people can’t pull it off, IMO. Certainly I can’t), but I’m a glutton for angst.

Apocalyptic OR mundane: apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories aren’t my favorite ones, though I’ve liked a few (Snowpiercer, the two first seasons I watched from The 100 -more the setting than how it was written in itself, but I might go back to the show after it’s over, there are a few ships and characters I’d love to reunite with: Murven, Memori, Octavia), but I haaaaaate mundane.

High school romance or middle aged romance: though if you look at my favorite ships you’re gonna see a lot of younger woman/older woman as my main type LOL. With any gender variations too, but mostly femslash.

BDSM or vanilla: kinkfic is my catnip.

Redemption or corruption: looooove it. To pieces. It’s the main appeal of hero/villain ships to me.

Vampires or werewolves: immortal characters are of particular interest to me, but a lot of the time it’d depend on how each species is written (the werewolf curse has A LOT of potential, IMO).

Soulmates or second chances: I don’t really like Soulmate AUs (the very idea of designated soulmates makes me vaguely uncomfortable). And second chances stories, whether they go right or wrong, are always fun to watch, at least from where I’m sitting.

Hurt/comfort or romance: I mean… most of the time they come together, so I don’t see why I’d have to choose xD. Though I guess I love romance most of all, whether or not it includes H/C (or whether the hurt comes with comfort).

Rescue fic or working together to defeat X: the other one can be good too, but rescue fic can be so satisfying.

Comments

[author_by_night]

Or even better: there was love at first sight once upon a time and then it turned to hate.

Ooh, that's crunchy indeed.

I prefer them to stay enemies LOL

So it would be more about hatesex? Or would they be enemies on the sidelines, and in a complicated situation? (So kind of like Buffy and Spike.) Just curious.

[resnullius_bells]

I was mostly indifferent towards Spuffy, but yeah, complicated situations (I'm not into "just sex" ships TBH): Two people on different sides in love but not quite willing to compromise their principles for it (and angsting over it), heroes and villains fixated on each other, two former enemies that must work towards at all but can't get over their past, etc. etc.

[lee_bella]

I love Carmilla too; I re-read it from time to time. I read Dracula once a long time ago, and recently I've picked up the book again.

[resnullius_bells]

It's one of my favorite books and it's pretty short, so I tend to feel the urge to re-read it every couple of years or so. But I haven't re-read Dracula since the first time I read almost a decade ago, so I'm looking forward to that ^^

[lee_bella]

Have fun! Also, may I borrow this meme as well?

[resnullius_bells]

Of course ^^

[greghousesgf]

ever watch I, Claudius? the acting in it is AMAZING and if you like stuff about ancient Romans it's hard to go wrong there.

[resnullius_bells]

Nope, I haven't! I'll add it to the list ^^

[singedsun]

I recently listened to Carmilla on audiobook through Audible, which was lovely. I've read it many times, but listening to the audio version was a good experience. The Audible version includes a full voice cast with both Rose Leslie and David Tennant.

[resnullius_bells]

It's a pity I can't handle audiobooks -or podcasts or anything like that; my attention drifts and I have to rewind, and then I take an eternity in finishing anything-, because I love Rose Leslie's voice (this is the moment I admit I've only seen Tennant in a few Jessica Jones episodes all the way back in season one and I can't remember how he sounds xD. I want to watch his Much Ado About Nothing version, though).