I started this entry at two PM, yesterday, and I am just now finished and posting /o\:
+ I’ve had a rough couple of days due to things with my mom growing steadily worse (a bunch of things just accumulating that I really don’t want to get into because just thinking about it brings on this heavy, strangling feeling that’s hard to shake) and me just feeling helpless to stop it. I want to help her, but I don’t have the means and what I could do, might not end up being no help at all, so I’m just stuck sitting here feeling awful about everything. That’s why I’ve been kind of MIA from LJ, I tend to crawl back into my little hermit’s nest until I can start to feel better. I don’t feel any better about the situation (because it’s not better and we still don’t know how to fix it), but I’m trying to accept I can’t do anything and just feel better about that, rather than feeling guilty about things I can do nothing about. Which is why I’m making this post and going to work on commenting on the entries I missed (so if I spam your inbox, I’m just trying to catch up because I feel horrible and guilty about being a terrible LJ friend, too).
+ But to balance this post with happy and sad things, I bought A Song of Fire and Ice box set off of Amazon because it was under twenty-two dollars and it was all four books, when individually they’re about fifteen a copy because I was tired of waiting for my library copy to become available and I want to try and get through the first book before Game of Thrones premieres (which, yeah, I know is probably a futile attempt given its wrist-breaking size). I’m worried about loving the show, then realizing they changed a lot and not wanting to read the books because it gets confusing for me to have two alternate character interpretations (it happened with the True Blood books and the Vampire Diaries; though, granted they’re not very good and these books are supposed to be quite excellent). So I should have them today, if my UPS tracking information is correct. I’m really curious to find out if my predictions for my favorite characters are correct or completely off because I’m the type of person that goes an reads the TV Tropes page of something I’m interested in and spoil myself to high heaven, so I’m not really going in blind. But seriously, bring on the moral ambiguity \o/ (ETA: I got them! :D This is what happens when you start to write entries and then let your wife/secret girlfriend (aka my lavendergaia) drag you away to watch Doctor Who for a couple of hours.)
+ Oh, god, The Hobbit started filming on the 11th AND I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS. I LITERALLY DO NOT HAVE WORDS FOR MY FEELINGS. I’m such a Tolkien dork, but I think I differ from a lot of fans in that The Hobbit is my favorite forever and ever. It counts as one of my all-time favorite books. It is basically my book forever girl. I’ve been so deeply attached to this production since I heard about it years ago and have been there through all the production hell and have been disappointed and worried it might never be made, but it is, IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING, YOU GUYS. This behind-the-scenes video was posted today and god, I must have cried throughout the whole damn thing (I told you I was ridiculously attached), but I think I burst into tears when they showed Ian McKellan just chilling in the background of Peter Jackson talking, reading a script. And then Aidan Turner was running around with his gorgeous smile and beard and I only recognized him by his smile and I was all, “OHMYGOD, AIIIIDAAAAN” when it finally hit me. Then Richard Armitage popped up and had this amazing speech and I was just so happy because I love them and I love this book, and oh god, it’s really happening, you guys.
+ I had planned on making a Vampire Diaries episode review post of last week‘s episode, but because of all my downer feelings, it just… did not happen as I had planned, but scorpiod1 finished hers (because she‘s awesome) and pretty much said everything I was going to say anyway (because we‘re soul bonded), so I’m just linking to hers and saying “what she said” because I fail.
+ I am going to make a post of all my thinky thoughts for The Borgias, but I have a lot of thoughts and tend to get ramble-y and this post is already pretty long and I want to do the tropes meme that everyone is doing, so instead I give you Cesare and Lucrezia as kittens because it is adorable.
+ I think I ship Damon/Bonnie ridiculous amounts and I’m not sure where these feelings are coming from, but show makes them happen and I’m just going to go with them. Is Damon agreeing to her sacrificing herself wrong? Yes, absolutely. But is this her choice? Yes., yes it is. I find it interesting they find common ground because he’s the only one who agrees and respects her decision (because he wants Elena alive, of course, but so does Bonnie), so he’s the only one she can connect to on a level that she can’t with anyone else. I really loved the moment where she was just watching him be ridiculous fondly and all the moments he touched her so gently, almost reverently. And they danced. BASICALLY THEY SHOULD JUST HAVE HOT HATE!SEX THAT IS HOT BECAUSE THEY ARE HOT AND HAVE SUPER!CHEMISTRY.
But still, the OT3 is the OT3-iest! They gave her their house. THAT IS PRETTY CLOSE TO A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL. (Though, I don’t understand why John and Jeremy are not living in the safe house, too? Klaus killed Katherine’s entire family because she pissed him off, I think it’s reasonable to say he’d try to fuck with Elena’s. EVERY SHOULD JUST LIVE IN THE SALVATORE HOUSE LIKE THE BRADY BUNCH. Y’all know you want to watch Damon learn to deal with living with John, it would be most excellent entertainment.) AND THEN, AND THEN Stefan and Damon silently communicate on the dance floor and Stefan twirls Elena and Damon catches her and THAT WAS THE MOST THREESOME-Y MOMENT EVER IN A SHOW FULL OF THREESOME-Y MOMENTS, OKAY?
Matt was breaking my heart all over the place in this episode (so was Liz; when she called Caroline her baby girl, oh god) because he’s SO AWARE of what’s happening and how his friends are lying to his face and keeping secrets from him and it just hurts a lot. And I also don’t really like how Caroline pretty much has no say in the plot right now. They tell her things because she could be in danger and that’s it. I wanted SO MUCH for her to find out about Bonnie and freak out (because I’m deeply invested in their friendship and I ship them so hard and the show always denies me them /o\), I wanted epic Caroline freak outs I’ll never get because they’ll probably never tell her this information on-screen because they hate all the things I like.
I miss Tyler so much that I hallucinated him for a second, or at least came up with an AU mid-episode where he came back and everything was right with the world again. I am clearly pathetic.
And I really don’t like Klaus. At all. Klaus can GTFO of my show. I’ve hated him since his conception and will continue to hate his existence until he dies (because you know he will because that’s how these things work; we just don’t know how or what the collateral damage will be). You know it’s bad when I’m feeling all protective towards Katherine and wanting to cry because he’s terrifying her to the point of begging. I WANTED TO HOLD KATHERINE AND STROKE HER HAIR AND WHISPER SOOTHING THINGS IN HER EAR, I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to feel this way about her. I really dislike the icky implications of all their scenes because there’s so much bad touch going on there, I can’t even.
I really kind of love that Elena chose to bring back Elijah because she is PISSED OFF that people are willing to let her friend sacrifice herself for Elena, but Elena can‘t sacrifice herself for them and she does not stand for that kind of hypocrisy. She’s either going to try and play with his plan again, or she did it to get the knife: a weapon to replace how they’re weaponizing Bonnie. Have I told you that I love you today, Elena? Also, I am just glad to have Elijah because I really like him a lot and maybe he can make Klaus somewhat interesting to me by being his hateful ex-boyfriend who wants him dead.
+ And finally, That Tropes/Kinks Meme Everyone Is Doing:
Creature/Aliens: I generally don’t like sci-fi things on principle, so aliens should be a no, but I really like Doctor Who S5 and Eleven in general (and I ship him with various humans like Amy and Jeff, .etc), so saying no to aliens completely is like saying no to having him in a fic, so I guess I have to say yes, so long as they’re canon!aliens and not canon characters (or actors in RPF AUs as aliens, but I don’t think I’d read a RPF space AU anyway…) turned into aliens. So this is my long winded way of saying how aliens are okay in certain situations and if they are human-shaped /o\
As for creatures, I’m not really sure what this covers because that’s such a broad term and could cover so much, like tentacle-y creatures like Cthulhu or chupacabras to humanoid creatures like vampires or werewolves, or if this means in a sexual sense or not. If yes, then definitely no to all the non-humanoid creatures (though, I would be interested in gen fic where the characters deal with them because I’m a dork about myth and cryptozoology and have read fic like that all the time in the Supernatural fandom because that‘s pretty much its bread and butter), and yes to the humanoid creatures.
I’ll admit it: I probably have a supernatural kink, which I’m pretty sure stems from my original vampire kink that evolved to include a wide array of creatures. I just like the use of a character’s natural creature tendency, like being feral, rough, frantic and needy, basically the animalistic natures being presented in sex with vampires and a werewolves because they’re instincts are to be a predator, first and foremost. I especially love it when the two natures of werewolves and vampires are combined and played off each other (probably why I adore and write so much vampire!Jeremy/werewolf!Tyler /o\) and I have a bit of thing for when characters play!hunt each other and that leads to frantic!sex. I especially love the physicality that can come out of playing with the creature aspect of a character’s personality: flirty playfulness, sniffing, nuzzling, overly-affectionate, nipping, etc. And I guess you could consider witches “creatures” to an extent and magic!sex is a thing for me. I like the idea of the witch's power being so intrinsic in a way that it just... comes out in sex and makes itself know, that it's kind of a power that's usually based from nature and sex is, at its base, a natural act. And just the combination of nature in the form of power brought out from sex is intriguing and hot.
I don’t really like the idea of sex with creatures like a succubus/incubus because that leads into uncomfortable dub-con/non-con-y places that aren’t fun. And usually, I’m not okay with angels and demons the way Supernatural presents them because they have to possess humans and there’s even more skeevy rape issues. Though, I’m okay with it in the case of Ruby 2.0 because of her vacant host, or Anna because she has her own body.
Mpreg: I can’t say I understand it as a genre or seek it out as normal reading fare, but I did read one fic in Supernatural fandom (because I’m the type of person that’ll read things out of curiosity or because I can’t write anything off until I give it a fair shake; I’m like that with pairings, too, I’ll read a fic with a pairing I’m not sure I like or don’t like just to see if I could like it because I hate disliking things) and I liked it because it treated it like horror and came out of a fucked up, crapsack world and really emotionally ruined Sam and it just treated the subject with a certain real gravity that I always appreciated because other fics of the genre just… don’t.
Kid!fic/Curtain!fic/Domestic!fic: I added this because domestic!fic not being in this meme is a travesty of the highest degree and I will not stand for it because it’s my favorite trope forever and ever and I know that probably makes me lame, but I don’t care. And I added kid!fic because it’s a subject so many people have a lot of feelings on and I’m just curious about how other people feel about it in a social experiment sort of way.
I’m probably going to get so much side-eye for this, but I actually really like kid!fic, but only if it’s well-written kid!fic. I don’t like kid!fic that treats kids as cute little plot devices that are too adorable for words and never throw a tantrum, who are just precocious and probably play match-maker. I like fics that treat kids like kids, all the messy, gory parts of raising the little monsters who can be equal parts the sweetest things in the world and the worst. I find kids fascinating in that they’re tiny humans without all our inhibitions and walls up, they are literally us at our purest forms and they bring a special quality to a narrative because they see the world in such a simple yet intuitive way and just are openly affectionate and openly emotional. I really like how kids can bring out a different side to a character by simply being a kid and being inquisitive and annoying and delicate and showing maybe a softer side to a formally gruff character (so maybe I’m a fan of the morality pet trope, sue me). And I like exploring the logistics of parenting and how different characters would react to being a parent, what makes a good parent and what makes a bad parent, and all the complicated feelings and events that happen when someone becomes a parent because they’re suddenly completely responsible for this tiny life force (I’m such a sucker for the “guy has a bad dad growing up and is freaked he’ll be a bad dad, too, and does his damnedest not to be” trope). And simply rough and tumble men and babies, holding them and falling asleep with them, the contrasts of someone so hardened against something so new and soft is interesting (you can achieve this same effect for me with men and kittens, though). And maybe there’s my whole protective kink at play here, but I also like men simply being competent at taking care of babies and kids (though, adorably clueless and scared out their mind is a good trope, too) because I like how it subverts gender roles so much and I just like good dads in my media simply because media tends to abuse daddy issues to extremes and place mothers on pedestals.
And domestic!fic is probably my crack. I revel in the mundane aspects of living in fic and I think this probably stems from the fact most of my fandoms are fantasy/supernatural oriented and we get so little of that in canon that I really need it in fic. I love the whole act of finding some place and settling in, decorating and/or fixing up an old house. I like that being domestic is at its core about the dynamics of a relationship and how characters maintain that through the day-to-day. I love when characters do domestic chores together, like washing dishes or doing laundry or cooking (especially if it’s a guy cooking and their partner/s just watching). I like stories that about getting a pet (because I love animals), bonus points if it’s guys getting a cat because I’m biased and I like subverting gender expectations. I like how in domestic!fic, you can explore gender roles and subvert them all over the place (I’m probably obsessed with subverting gender roles to an unhealthy degree) and how when you live with someone, you have to build and manage an equal partnership and keep that running smoothly. I like fights over stupid things that end in makeup sex in odd places all over the house. How there’s all kinds of casual intimacy that comes with living with someone, how you end up constantly touching each other and coming together like magnets. I simply like the calm moments where characters lay together in bed when it’s raining outside or when a characters aloud to another character, or takes care of them when they’re sick (I adore fics about people taking care of each other). And all of this is probably better with supernatural creatures involved because as much as I love exploring the creature aspect, I really adore exploring the humanity aspect in them and the way the compliments or creates friction with the supernatural aspect of a character.
Slave!fic: I’ve never been really interested in reading it because I have power imbalance issues and tend to prefer characters who, even if society doesn’t see them as such, that look at and treat each other like equals and partners. That aspect in any relationship is really important to me, which is seems kind of against the point to most slave!fic, so I’m pretty sure it’ll never be my thing.
Pain/BDSM: I’m not really into anything hardcore (anything falling under the header of hitting or beating or causing a lot of damage is a no for me), but mild pain that pretty much falls under the header of rough sex works, with a lot of wall-slamming and hair-pulling and wrestling is hot. I like bondage and gun/knife!play, but I think that falls under the header of my huge trust kink. I like the idea of putting yourself in someone else’s hands and trusting them to do something dangerous to you and trusting that they’ll take care of you, and vice versa. I like what that says about the relationship between those two characters that they just implicitly trust them to keep them safe, despite what they are doing to them or the situation they’re putting them in. And bondage opens things up for teasing and orgasm denial and those are definitely my kinks.
Violence/torture: A big no to torture and abuse, but as I stated above in my creature ramble, I’m quite okay with violence if it’s part of their nature, as something they can or can’t control. I really like the idea of a character reigning in their violent natures until their partner says it’s okay, or even pushes it out of them because they want every part of them, even what could be considered bad (I‘m probably a sucker for unhealthy, codependent relationships that still function, too). I’m all for intentional button-pushing that leads to manhandling, aggressiveness (growling, biting, scratching) and rough sex, or fighting that leads to sex (man, this could basically be my, “And this is why I ship Jeremy/Tyler \o/” argument).
Humiliation/shaming: This is a big no for me, any form of humiliation pretty much squicks me out and makes me massively uncomfortable.
Power exchange, dominance and submission: I’m funny about this: I like it, but I don’t like when someone is completely dominant and someone is completely submissive. I like power play, but I generally like it in a subversive way. For example, someone is submitting, but they’re on top and in control of the situation or if they’re submitting to something, but also being aggressive and pushy and taunting the dominant partner. I really like fighting for dominance and no one ever really winning, but still getting off in the process. I like it tangled and messy and really unclear who is who. I think this is why I’m not into the who toppy top thing and much prefer when the characters are switches, it just feels more balanced that way and I’m kind of obsessed with balance.
Age difference: This actually doesn’t bother me in the ways it seriously bothers most people. I’m okay with any number of age gaps so long as the characters are on the same emotional maturity level and have an even power balance. For example, I ship Buffy/Giles because Buffy grew up so fast with the weight of the world on her shoulders and in a way, Giles understands that because he grew up the same way, he’s her mentor, but there are times she teaches him so much about the world and they’re partners and equals because that’s how they see each other and the age difference doesn’t really matter to me. And I ship humans with beings who have lived a very long time (any vampire/human pairings, Amy/Eleven, etc.). The only time it gets squicky for me is when there’s a clear imbalance of power or even an abuse of that power or their relationship reads to me as parental in tone (i.e. Alaric/Elena: I can’t get behind it because he’s her teacher, plus at home he’s almost like a step-father, so it gives off this sketchy step-father preying on the teenage step-daughter vibes and it’s just squicks me out. Also, he was married to her mother, is sleeping with her guardian!aunt, which is bad and complicated enough, and I just don’t think Alaric is the type of person to act like that, it just doesn’t seem in-line with his characterization).
Underage: Okay, so I do not want to read about pre-pubescent children, or even pre-teens having sex because that is just no, but I think it’s silly to portray teenagers as chaste, pure, virginal beings who would never ever have sex. And since The Vampire Diaries and a lot of my other fandoms are about high school students, it’s safe to say I’m okay with teenagers having sex with teenagers and I like it best if it‘s realistic, awkward fumblings rather than perfect sex. Adults having sex with teenagers is a bit of an iffy spot for me, it really depends on the case-by-case situation (re: see my ramble about age differences) and really how old the teenager is compared to the adult (like, I don’t see the fuss is about a seventeen-year-old sleeping with a 22-year-old, for instance).
Bloodplay: Bloodplay and I have a long history together that started at a very tender age because I was exposed to vampire fiction so young and probably forever warped my brain. I found it hot when it was between Sam and Ruby in Supernatural, but mostly the power imbalance threw me off on that one, so I don’t like it as much in retrospect. But I did like it at the time, how she was providing something for him that only she could provide and I like how it involved either a lot of gentleness with hair stroking and coaxing him through it, or a rough, neediness that Ruby controlled despite being manhandled around (and I don’t even ship it /o\). But mostly, this kind is reserved for vampires. I like the submissiveness required for the act of a vampire biting someone, but I like it better when permission is given and the submissive party wants it as much or just the same as the vampire. I like the act of giving and receiving, of providing and taking that it involves. I like how the act of feeding on someone is a circular act that’s really all about life: blood is a life source, taking it skirts the edge of death, and the act itself is inherently sexual and it just goes round and round. There’s just something lovely and all-consuming about an act where someone gives their blood, which is like giving bits of their life and how someone else takes that in and it’s all incredibly intimate and hot.
Watersports: I’m going to keep this short and sweet: not my kink.
Crossdressing/Genderbender: Maybe my massive interest in gender and how it affects us and how subverting gender roles is fun, but I love both of these pretty equally (though, genderswapping probably moreso simply because you can explore so much with that). I just find crossdressing hot and I can probably thank watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show at an early age for that (whatever, Tim Curry was hot and I was young and impressionable, this does not dispute his hotness, however). I like boys in dresses and lingerie just as much as I like girls in suits. I especially like it when one girl is in a suit and another girl is all dolled up and there is roleplaying sex (though, this does not work for me with guys, probably because of all the unfortunate implications of the whole thing).
But I really, really adore genderswap to probably an unhealthy degree (but it has to of the born-as AU variety). I like taking a character and flipping their gender and exploring how that affects them based on who they were before and what their personality was and translating that under a new guise based on how they would be raised and what society would expect of them and how people would react depending on their opposite gender. And it’s a lot about subverting gender roles, especially if you take a very masculine character and make him a girl and explore how that effects who he is and what he does. For example, I swapped Tyler Lockwood and his entire life changes because being born female makes him less valuable in the mind of his father who’s whole world-view is skewed heavily towards a time long-since passed and continues to think in old-fashioned (and sexist) notions of having a male heir (because I’ll forever look at the founding families construct in Mystic Falls as an allegory for nobility in modern times) and girl!Tyler would end up having a more loved younger brother. Girl!Tyler wouldn’t be popular (because she wouldn’t be golden boy material and Elena already fills the golden girl role) and would probably be very self-isolated and bitter, very untrusting and self-reliant and I think girl!Tyler would be much more rebellious and turn to art as a major outlet for all her issues of feeling unwanted (and given what canon showed us of Richard Lockwood, probably her feelings about being abused) and just simply not fitting. I have a lot of thoughts about girl!Tyler /o\
Though, as much as I like genderswap, I sometimes don’t like it if it doesn’t change much or if it creates clichés or unfortunate implications. Genderswapping girls, for me, depends on the character and what the swap creates out of them.
Crossovers: I like them quite a lot, actually! I think it’s simply just fun to mix-n-match your favorite characters and put them together and see how they interact (like, Tyler Lockwood and Logan Echolls desperately need to sit down and have a drink while they discuss how sucky their lives are and how their dads are assholes or how Caroline Forbes and Jessica Hamby need to run away together). I’m ridiculous and have a ton of crossover ships /o\ I think crossover shipping is what makes crossovers half the fun. I SHOULD HAVE SRS BZNS THOUGHTS, BUT I DO NOT HAVE THEM ON THIS MATTER.
Bodyswap: Mostly I only like this trope as a means to make a pair of characters understand the other character’s POV (i.e. Sam and Dean body swapping and Dean learning to better accept what Sam goes through with her visions, powers, having demon blood, etc.) rather than anything sexual, though it’s interesting when they swap back and learn the other person’s likes and dislikes and uses it to their advantage. But I mostly like this as a visual, on my screen thing because it’s hard to picture in text-form for me and I constantly have to remind myself they’re in a different body, which probably throws me out of the fic and plus, I just think it’s fun to watch the actors playing opposite roles (I will forever hate Swap Meat for being the most horrible episode ever for denying me an on-screen Sam/Dean bodyswap.)
Dubcon: I have an interesting relationship with dub-con because I like Katherine pairings like Jeremy/Katherine and Elena/Katherine (and I wrote the most dubcon-iest Tyler/Katherine ever) and those lead to very dubcon-y places because I don’t see either of them coming to her willingly and it’s just how Katherine is in general. Katherine likes to play mind games and break people because that’s what happened to her. Jeremy and Elena are two very different varieties of Katherine-breakage: she’s attracted to Jeremy because he’s good and brave and looks like an innocent creature and she wants to ruin that whereas Katherine wants to break Elena and re-create her in her image (my Tyler/Katherine is more about button-pushing and rough sex and breaking points and Katherine finding similarities between the two of them and trying to exploit them). I think this is all very Katherine-specific because it just feels in-character for her (because this is what she did to Stefan and Damon in canon, took them and broke them and re-created them, or well, Damon re-created himself) and I know I’ve never liked it in any other fandom before this one. In a way, it almost serves as a tool to shine a light on the kind of fucked up person Katherine is and maybe that’s why I like it because it’s so character specific and I only like it in-forms where it brings something new and different out in the character she’s messing with (or maybe I’m just a bad, bad person who likes emotionally wrecking her favorite characters /o\).
Non-con: While I don’t begrudge its place in fandom, it’s not my thing and I don’t read it.
Incest/Selfcest: I used to be one of those people that didn’t begrudge people their incest shipping, but it just wasn’t my thing: clearly, fandom broke me a lot. I still am highly squicked by parental incest or really any incest where one is an adult in a position of power and the other is not, so I mostly stick to shipping consensual siblings and I feel very happy that I still have some moral lines I have not yet crossed. Mostly, my incest shipping comes from a narrative that usually involves dark, abnormal, twisted situations that create an intense closeness between siblings that simply manifests wrongly: incest, to me, is usually a symptom of a bigger, more fucked-up problem, but not the problem itself. I tend to favor relationships that have a codependent, can’t-live-without-you, will-die-for-you, will-kill-for-you, soulmate-y quality (maybe it was specifically Supernatural that broke me) that borders on an obsessive madness (with a lot of possessiveness and extreme protectiveness thrown in) because it’s a fucked up relationship that should be fucked up (Stefan/Damon has a special quality of being vampires and constantly remembering who the they were before and having so much anger and bitterness between them, mixing intriguingly with all my usual kinks). I also like the idea of the relationship being a comfort to them, making them happy and feel safe despite all that‘s ever happened to them, where sweetness and intimacy happens with a lot of unconscious touching and affection, but I don’t ever see it as a casual thing. For example, I ship Jeremy/Elena, but I can’t see it in the current canon; potentially pre-series when their parents’ death messed them up, but mostly in an AU world where they get thrust into something horrible and irrevocably change, like a zombie apocalypse or something along those lines.
As for selfcest, I’m really peculiar about it: I don’t like it when the character is the same gender, not even if it involves time-travel, it does absolutely nothing for me, but make the character the opposite gender and I’m extremely interested. I’m not sure I can even articulate why this is, but it’s possibly because it almost feels like two halves of one person meeting for the first time and they just… fit together, they feel complete (and the character gains a whole new perspective of who they are as a person, exploring what could have been in such a visceral way) whereas when it’s a character meeting themselves in the same gender, it’s kind of like mirror!sex; there’s a whole lot of reflecting, but it’s not creating anything and it’s not really producing anything new and interesting for the narrative beyond aesthetic shallowness, which is perfectly okay and acceptable (probably way more acceptable than my genderswap!selfcest fascination), I just can’t find it interesting /o\
Threesome/moresome/gangbang: I LOVE THREESOMES IN A REALLY HIGHLY RIDICULOUS WAY. I’ve come around to the way of thinking that no one should ever have a ship war ever again when a threesome is always a viable option. I’m not exactly picky in what I’ll ship in a threesome (I’m pretty open to most combinations, but some just do not work at all or are really squicky and give off unfortunate implications and should never exist in my happy threesome world), but I’m pretty picky about the dynamics; I don’t necessarily like it when all three parties aren’t all involved with each other (it feels super-unbalanced when all three (or more!) people aren’t in love with or at least care about everyone in the group; if I can’t mix’n’match pairings, it just feels not right at all) because I come from a poly-established relationship school of thought and I like it even less when a girl is thrown in the middle to make two guys realize they have feelings for each other and really want a piece of that and the girl is simply a plot device or a placeholder. Threesomes and moresomes, for me, are about people coming together and completing each other, usually in a Freudian Trio shape with each person filling the Ego, Superego, and the Id roles. It’s about how a relationship dynamic shifts when you add more people to the mix and how you make that kind of relationship work (or not work, as much as I love happy threesomes that overcome all odds and stay together, I have a fondness for the broken ones like my tragic Jeremy/Vicki/Tyler that’s ridiculously volatile and highly combustible).
And moresomes are fun (I‘m crazy and OT4 the fuck out of Jeremy/Tyler/girl!Jeremy/girl!Tyler), but not so fun to write… or so I’ve heard: too many limbs, WHERE DO THEY ALL GO?
I’m not really interested in gangbangs, sorry /o\
Death: I have an interesting stance on death!fic: I don’t seek it out, but I find it intriguing if done right and I will read it if it‘s recced to me. Mostly it’s used as a plot device for cheap angst and tears and I don’t like that. But I can’t say I’d never read it because I have and I can’t say I’ll never write it because I am, but I think it’s all a situational thing. I think death!fic has it’s place if you’re writing a horror fic or if you’re trying to realistically trying to portray some horrible event or even just as a natural end to a long life (I’m honestly endlessly fascinated with the idea of a human/vampire relationship where the human stays human and the vampire stays with them throughout their lives until their death). I think something real and honest and true can be said in death!fic and I may sound extremely pretensions for saying this, but it can be really beautiful in a heartbreakingly bittersweet way.
Unhappy/wide-open endings: I pretty much prefer happy endings, especially if it’s a long fic I’ve spent a lot of time reading and am really invested in, but I’m a big believer in having the ending feel right for the story and not forcing a happy ending just to please an audience or have it end happy. I’d rather have a sad ending that fit the story than a happy one that felt forced and left me unsatisfied, or an ending that told me everything that happened and just felt tacked-on because the author couldn’t let go.
Established Relationship: I LOVE THIS LIKE A LOVING THING THAT LOVES. I feel bad this ramble won’t be quite as long as the others, but I feel like I’ve already said what I need to say about established relationships in my domestic!fic ramble. Basically, I love established because of how comfortable the people are with each other and how much trust they have build up and how that can lead to hot, kinky sex (because I’ll never understand why fandom thinks total strangers or people who hate/don’t trust each other have all the kinky sexy while the comfortable, trusting couples are always vanilla: THIS IS HIGHLY BACKWARDS THINKING SINCE A LOT OF KINK REQUIRES AN ELEMENT OF TRUST, OKAY). But mostly, I just love the comfortable, well-worn feeling that can come from an established relationship.
First Time: I’m also adding this BECAUSE IT SHOULD BE HERE. I love first times almost as much as I love established relationships, even if they are completely different stages of a relationship. I really adore build-up and a slow-burn because I like seeing how these people connect and come together (probably why I ship so many friends-turned-lovers pairings), I enjoy the anticipation and the excitement of something new starting. I like awkward start-stops of two people trying to figure each other out and how they’re working on being together, from the first touches to the first kiss to the first time they sleep together. I love the nervous, terrifying feeling of jumping into something that comes with first time fics, how everything is new and jarring and they’re not sure what to make of it just yet. Basically, I really love beginnings.
RPF: I have a horrible time writing it myself because I feel weird making up characterization for real people and inferring characterization for them is ridiculously hard and I just don’t have the confidence to pull it off because whenever I attempt to write it, I am constantly hand-wringing and feeling unsure of myself because I don’t have a clear idea of who these people should be (probably, the possible exception being historical RPF based on a TV show or a movie or a book series like The Borgias, but even then I’m more comfortable in AU-land over the land of canon because feel pressured to be historically accurate there). But I’ll read the hell out of it and merrily do so if it’s well-written and a pairing I ship.
AUs: I think AUs might be my crack of the fanfic world. I’m constantly coming up with them (because I’m arrogant and have a horrible need to fix things that, according to me, went wrong and make it better) and writing them and I’m not really sure how to stop. Though, as much as I love them, I’m pretty picky when it comes to them. I really hate all-human AUs when it comes to vampire fiction because I feel like that defeats the whole point of what canon was trying to do and the vampires are always characterized as they are in canon, but if they were human, they would be like their human characterization considering they never went through all the shit that impacted their personalities (same goes for non-related Sam/Dean, it just doesn’t work because anyone whoever writes it never realizes their personalities would change, as would their relationship by not being brothers). Usually, I like event-changing AUs, something that comes out of a different choice being made or an event happening in a different way (i.e. Mary or Jess living, Jeremy turning in a vampire at the beginning of S2, etc.), basically exploring the what if of something are my favorite kind of AUs when it comes to things like TV , movie, or book fandoms. I sometimes like historical AUs simply because I’m a dork about history and find shifting a setting of something to a different time period pretty intriguing in how that effects characters and how events turn out. But anything goes for RPF since there’s no set canon holding it back, I’m willing to accept anything, even serial killer AUs \o/
+ But to balance this post with happy and sad things, I bought A Song of Fire and Ice box set off of Amazon because it was under twenty-two dollars and it was all four books, when individually they’re about fifteen a copy because I was tired of waiting for my library copy to become available and I want to try and get through the first book before Game of Thrones premieres (which, yeah, I know is probably a futile attempt given its wrist-breaking size). I’m worried about loving the show, then realizing they changed a lot and not wanting to read the books because it gets confusing for me to have two alternate character interpretations (it happened with the True Blood books and the Vampire Diaries; though, granted they’re not very good and these books are supposed to be quite excellent). So I should have them today, if my UPS tracking information is correct. I’m really curious to find out if my predictions for my favorite characters are correct or completely off because I’m the type of person that goes an reads the TV Tropes page of something I’m interested in and spoil myself to high heaven, so I’m not really going in blind. But seriously, bring on the moral ambiguity \o/ (ETA: I got them! :D This is what happens when you start to write entries and then let your wife/secret girlfriend (aka my lavendergaia) drag you away to watch Doctor Who for a couple of hours.)
+ Oh, god, The Hobbit started filming on the 11th AND I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS. I LITERALLY DO NOT HAVE WORDS FOR MY FEELINGS. I’m such a Tolkien dork, but I think I differ from a lot of fans in that The Hobbit is my favorite forever and ever. It counts as one of my all-time favorite books. It is basically my book forever girl. I’ve been so deeply attached to this production since I heard about it years ago and have been there through all the production hell and have been disappointed and worried it might never be made, but it is, IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING, YOU GUYS. This behind-the-scenes video was posted today and god, I must have cried throughout the whole damn thing (I told you I was ridiculously attached), but I think I burst into tears when they showed Ian McKellan just chilling in the background of Peter Jackson talking, reading a script. And then Aidan Turner was running around with his gorgeous smile and beard and I only recognized him by his smile and I was all, “OHMYGOD, AIIIIDAAAAN” when it finally hit me. Then Richard Armitage popped up and had this amazing speech and I was just so happy because I love them and I love this book, and oh god, it’s really happening, you guys.
+ I had planned on making a Vampire Diaries episode review post of last week‘s episode, but because of all my downer feelings, it just… did not happen as I had planned, but scorpiod1 finished hers (because she‘s awesome) and pretty much said everything I was going to say anyway (because we‘re soul bonded), so I’m just linking to hers and saying “what she said” because I fail.
+ I am going to make a post of all my thinky thoughts for The Borgias, but I have a lot of thoughts and tend to get ramble-y and this post is already pretty long and I want to do the tropes meme that everyone is doing, so instead I give you Cesare and Lucrezia as kittens because it is adorable.
+ I think I ship Damon/Bonnie ridiculous amounts and I’m not sure where these feelings are coming from, but show makes them happen and I’m just going to go with them. Is Damon agreeing to her sacrificing herself wrong? Yes, absolutely. But is this her choice? Yes., yes it is. I find it interesting they find common ground because he’s the only one who agrees and respects her decision (because he wants Elena alive, of course, but so does Bonnie), so he’s the only one she can connect to on a level that she can’t with anyone else. I really loved the moment where she was just watching him be ridiculous fondly and all the moments he touched her so gently, almost reverently. And they danced. BASICALLY THEY SHOULD JUST HAVE HOT HATE!SEX THAT IS HOT BECAUSE THEY ARE HOT AND HAVE SUPER!CHEMISTRY.
But still, the OT3 is the OT3-iest! They gave her their house. THAT IS PRETTY CLOSE TO A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL. (Though, I don’t understand why John and Jeremy are not living in the safe house, too? Klaus killed Katherine’s entire family because she pissed him off, I think it’s reasonable to say he’d try to fuck with Elena’s. EVERY SHOULD JUST LIVE IN THE SALVATORE HOUSE LIKE THE BRADY BUNCH. Y’all know you want to watch Damon learn to deal with living with John, it would be most excellent entertainment.) AND THEN, AND THEN Stefan and Damon silently communicate on the dance floor and Stefan twirls Elena and Damon catches her and THAT WAS THE MOST THREESOME-Y MOMENT EVER IN A SHOW FULL OF THREESOME-Y MOMENTS, OKAY?
Matt was breaking my heart all over the place in this episode (so was Liz; when she called Caroline her baby girl, oh god) because he’s SO AWARE of what’s happening and how his friends are lying to his face and keeping secrets from him and it just hurts a lot. And I also don’t really like how Caroline pretty much has no say in the plot right now. They tell her things because she could be in danger and that’s it. I wanted SO MUCH for her to find out about Bonnie and freak out (because I’m deeply invested in their friendship and I ship them so hard and the show always denies me them /o\), I wanted epic Caroline freak outs I’ll never get because they’ll probably never tell her this information on-screen because they hate all the things I like.
I miss Tyler so much that I hallucinated him for a second, or at least came up with an AU mid-episode where he came back and everything was right with the world again. I am clearly pathetic.
And I really don’t like Klaus. At all. Klaus can GTFO of my show. I’ve hated him since his conception and will continue to hate his existence until he dies (because you know he will because that’s how these things work; we just don’t know how or what the collateral damage will be). You know it’s bad when I’m feeling all protective towards Katherine and wanting to cry because he’s terrifying her to the point of begging. I WANTED TO HOLD KATHERINE AND STROKE HER HAIR AND WHISPER SOOTHING THINGS IN HER EAR, I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to feel this way about her. I really dislike the icky implications of all their scenes because there’s so much bad touch going on there, I can’t even.
I really kind of love that Elena chose to bring back Elijah because she is PISSED OFF that people are willing to let her friend sacrifice herself for Elena, but Elena can‘t sacrifice herself for them and she does not stand for that kind of hypocrisy. She’s either going to try and play with his plan again, or she did it to get the knife: a weapon to replace how they’re weaponizing Bonnie. Have I told you that I love you today, Elena? Also, I am just glad to have Elijah because I really like him a lot and maybe he can make Klaus somewhat interesting to me by being his hateful ex-boyfriend who wants him dead.
+ And finally, That Tropes/Kinks Meme Everyone Is Doing:
Creature/Aliens: I generally don’t like sci-fi things on principle, so aliens should be a no, but I really like Doctor Who S5 and Eleven in general (and I ship him with various humans like Amy and Jeff, .etc), so saying no to aliens completely is like saying no to having him in a fic, so I guess I have to say yes, so long as they’re canon!aliens and not canon characters (or actors in RPF AUs as aliens, but I don’t think I’d read a RPF space AU anyway…) turned into aliens. So this is my long winded way of saying how aliens are okay in certain situations and if they are human-shaped /o\
As for creatures, I’m not really sure what this covers because that’s such a broad term and could cover so much, like tentacle-y creatures like Cthulhu or chupacabras to humanoid creatures like vampires or werewolves, or if this means in a sexual sense or not. If yes, then definitely no to all the non-humanoid creatures (though, I would be interested in gen fic where the characters deal with them because I’m a dork about myth and cryptozoology and have read fic like that all the time in the Supernatural fandom because that‘s pretty much its bread and butter), and yes to the humanoid creatures.
I’ll admit it: I probably have a supernatural kink, which I’m pretty sure stems from my original vampire kink that evolved to include a wide array of creatures. I just like the use of a character’s natural creature tendency, like being feral, rough, frantic and needy, basically the animalistic natures being presented in sex with vampires and a werewolves because they’re instincts are to be a predator, first and foremost. I especially love it when the two natures of werewolves and vampires are combined and played off each other (probably why I adore and write so much vampire!Jeremy/werewolf!Tyler /o\) and I have a bit of thing for when characters play!hunt each other and that leads to frantic!sex. I especially love the physicality that can come out of playing with the creature aspect of a character’s personality: flirty playfulness, sniffing, nuzzling, overly-affectionate, nipping, etc. And I guess you could consider witches “creatures” to an extent and magic!sex is a thing for me. I like the idea of the witch's power being so intrinsic in a way that it just... comes out in sex and makes itself know, that it's kind of a power that's usually based from nature and sex is, at its base, a natural act. And just the combination of nature in the form of power brought out from sex is intriguing and hot.
I don’t really like the idea of sex with creatures like a succubus/incubus because that leads into uncomfortable dub-con/non-con-y places that aren’t fun. And usually, I’m not okay with angels and demons the way Supernatural presents them because they have to possess humans and there’s even more skeevy rape issues. Though, I’m okay with it in the case of Ruby 2.0 because of her vacant host, or Anna because she has her own body.
Mpreg: I can’t say I understand it as a genre or seek it out as normal reading fare, but I did read one fic in Supernatural fandom (because I’m the type of person that’ll read things out of curiosity or because I can’t write anything off until I give it a fair shake; I’m like that with pairings, too, I’ll read a fic with a pairing I’m not sure I like or don’t like just to see if I could like it because I hate disliking things) and I liked it because it treated it like horror and came out of a fucked up, crapsack world and really emotionally ruined Sam and it just treated the subject with a certain real gravity that I always appreciated because other fics of the genre just… don’t.
Kid!fic/Curtain!fic/Domestic!fic: I added this because domestic!fic not being in this meme is a travesty of the highest degree and I will not stand for it because it’s my favorite trope forever and ever and I know that probably makes me lame, but I don’t care. And I added kid!fic because it’s a subject so many people have a lot of feelings on and I’m just curious about how other people feel about it in a social experiment sort of way.
I’m probably going to get so much side-eye for this, but I actually really like kid!fic, but only if it’s well-written kid!fic. I don’t like kid!fic that treats kids as cute little plot devices that are too adorable for words and never throw a tantrum, who are just precocious and probably play match-maker. I like fics that treat kids like kids, all the messy, gory parts of raising the little monsters who can be equal parts the sweetest things in the world and the worst. I find kids fascinating in that they’re tiny humans without all our inhibitions and walls up, they are literally us at our purest forms and they bring a special quality to a narrative because they see the world in such a simple yet intuitive way and just are openly affectionate and openly emotional. I really like how kids can bring out a different side to a character by simply being a kid and being inquisitive and annoying and delicate and showing maybe a softer side to a formally gruff character (so maybe I’m a fan of the morality pet trope, sue me). And I like exploring the logistics of parenting and how different characters would react to being a parent, what makes a good parent and what makes a bad parent, and all the complicated feelings and events that happen when someone becomes a parent because they’re suddenly completely responsible for this tiny life force (I’m such a sucker for the “guy has a bad dad growing up and is freaked he’ll be a bad dad, too, and does his damnedest not to be” trope). And simply rough and tumble men and babies, holding them and falling asleep with them, the contrasts of someone so hardened against something so new and soft is interesting (you can achieve this same effect for me with men and kittens, though). And maybe there’s my whole protective kink at play here, but I also like men simply being competent at taking care of babies and kids (though, adorably clueless and scared out their mind is a good trope, too) because I like how it subverts gender roles so much and I just like good dads in my media simply because media tends to abuse daddy issues to extremes and place mothers on pedestals.
And domestic!fic is probably my crack. I revel in the mundane aspects of living in fic and I think this probably stems from the fact most of my fandoms are fantasy/supernatural oriented and we get so little of that in canon that I really need it in fic. I love the whole act of finding some place and settling in, decorating and/or fixing up an old house. I like that being domestic is at its core about the dynamics of a relationship and how characters maintain that through the day-to-day. I love when characters do domestic chores together, like washing dishes or doing laundry or cooking (especially if it’s a guy cooking and their partner/s just watching). I like stories that about getting a pet (because I love animals), bonus points if it’s guys getting a cat because I’m biased and I like subverting gender expectations. I like how in domestic!fic, you can explore gender roles and subvert them all over the place (I’m probably obsessed with subverting gender roles to an unhealthy degree) and how when you live with someone, you have to build and manage an equal partnership and keep that running smoothly. I like fights over stupid things that end in makeup sex in odd places all over the house. How there’s all kinds of casual intimacy that comes with living with someone, how you end up constantly touching each other and coming together like magnets. I simply like the calm moments where characters lay together in bed when it’s raining outside or when a characters aloud to another character, or takes care of them when they’re sick (I adore fics about people taking care of each other). And all of this is probably better with supernatural creatures involved because as much as I love exploring the creature aspect, I really adore exploring the humanity aspect in them and the way the compliments or creates friction with the supernatural aspect of a character.
Slave!fic: I’ve never been really interested in reading it because I have power imbalance issues and tend to prefer characters who, even if society doesn’t see them as such, that look at and treat each other like equals and partners. That aspect in any relationship is really important to me, which is seems kind of against the point to most slave!fic, so I’m pretty sure it’ll never be my thing.
Pain/BDSM: I’m not really into anything hardcore (anything falling under the header of hitting or beating or causing a lot of damage is a no for me), but mild pain that pretty much falls under the header of rough sex works, with a lot of wall-slamming and hair-pulling and wrestling is hot. I like bondage and gun/knife!play, but I think that falls under the header of my huge trust kink. I like the idea of putting yourself in someone else’s hands and trusting them to do something dangerous to you and trusting that they’ll take care of you, and vice versa. I like what that says about the relationship between those two characters that they just implicitly trust them to keep them safe, despite what they are doing to them or the situation they’re putting them in. And bondage opens things up for teasing and orgasm denial and those are definitely my kinks.
Violence/torture: A big no to torture and abuse, but as I stated above in my creature ramble, I’m quite okay with violence if it’s part of their nature, as something they can or can’t control. I really like the idea of a character reigning in their violent natures until their partner says it’s okay, or even pushes it out of them because they want every part of them, even what could be considered bad (I‘m probably a sucker for unhealthy, codependent relationships that still function, too). I’m all for intentional button-pushing that leads to manhandling, aggressiveness (growling, biting, scratching) and rough sex, or fighting that leads to sex (man, this could basically be my, “And this is why I ship Jeremy/Tyler \o/” argument).
Humiliation/shaming: This is a big no for me, any form of humiliation pretty much squicks me out and makes me massively uncomfortable.
Power exchange, dominance and submission: I’m funny about this: I like it, but I don’t like when someone is completely dominant and someone is completely submissive. I like power play, but I generally like it in a subversive way. For example, someone is submitting, but they’re on top and in control of the situation or if they’re submitting to something, but also being aggressive and pushy and taunting the dominant partner. I really like fighting for dominance and no one ever really winning, but still getting off in the process. I like it tangled and messy and really unclear who is who. I think this is why I’m not into the who toppy top thing and much prefer when the characters are switches, it just feels more balanced that way and I’m kind of obsessed with balance.
Age difference: This actually doesn’t bother me in the ways it seriously bothers most people. I’m okay with any number of age gaps so long as the characters are on the same emotional maturity level and have an even power balance. For example, I ship Buffy/Giles because Buffy grew up so fast with the weight of the world on her shoulders and in a way, Giles understands that because he grew up the same way, he’s her mentor, but there are times she teaches him so much about the world and they’re partners and equals because that’s how they see each other and the age difference doesn’t really matter to me. And I ship humans with beings who have lived a very long time (any vampire/human pairings, Amy/Eleven, etc.). The only time it gets squicky for me is when there’s a clear imbalance of power or even an abuse of that power or their relationship reads to me as parental in tone (i.e. Alaric/Elena: I can’t get behind it because he’s her teacher, plus at home he’s almost like a step-father, so it gives off this sketchy step-father preying on the teenage step-daughter vibes and it’s just squicks me out. Also, he was married to her mother, is sleeping with her guardian!aunt, which is bad and complicated enough, and I just don’t think Alaric is the type of person to act like that, it just doesn’t seem in-line with his characterization).
Underage: Okay, so I do not want to read about pre-pubescent children, or even pre-teens having sex because that is just no, but I think it’s silly to portray teenagers as chaste, pure, virginal beings who would never ever have sex. And since The Vampire Diaries and a lot of my other fandoms are about high school students, it’s safe to say I’m okay with teenagers having sex with teenagers and I like it best if it‘s realistic, awkward fumblings rather than perfect sex. Adults having sex with teenagers is a bit of an iffy spot for me, it really depends on the case-by-case situation (re: see my ramble about age differences) and really how old the teenager is compared to the adult (like, I don’t see the fuss is about a seventeen-year-old sleeping with a 22-year-old, for instance).
Bloodplay: Bloodplay and I have a long history together that started at a very tender age because I was exposed to vampire fiction so young and probably forever warped my brain. I found it hot when it was between Sam and Ruby in Supernatural, but mostly the power imbalance threw me off on that one, so I don’t like it as much in retrospect. But I did like it at the time, how she was providing something for him that only she could provide and I like how it involved either a lot of gentleness with hair stroking and coaxing him through it, or a rough, neediness that Ruby controlled despite being manhandled around (and I don’t even ship it /o\). But mostly, this kind is reserved for vampires. I like the submissiveness required for the act of a vampire biting someone, but I like it better when permission is given and the submissive party wants it as much or just the same as the vampire. I like the act of giving and receiving, of providing and taking that it involves. I like how the act of feeding on someone is a circular act that’s really all about life: blood is a life source, taking it skirts the edge of death, and the act itself is inherently sexual and it just goes round and round. There’s just something lovely and all-consuming about an act where someone gives their blood, which is like giving bits of their life and how someone else takes that in and it’s all incredibly intimate and hot.
Watersports: I’m going to keep this short and sweet: not my kink.
Crossdressing/Genderbender: Maybe my massive interest in gender and how it affects us and how subverting gender roles is fun, but I love both of these pretty equally (though, genderswapping probably moreso simply because you can explore so much with that). I just find crossdressing hot and I can probably thank watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show at an early age for that (whatever, Tim Curry was hot and I was young and impressionable, this does not dispute his hotness, however). I like boys in dresses and lingerie just as much as I like girls in suits. I especially like it when one girl is in a suit and another girl is all dolled up and there is roleplaying sex (though, this does not work for me with guys, probably because of all the unfortunate implications of the whole thing).
But I really, really adore genderswap to probably an unhealthy degree (but it has to of the born-as AU variety). I like taking a character and flipping their gender and exploring how that affects them based on who they were before and what their personality was and translating that under a new guise based on how they would be raised and what society would expect of them and how people would react depending on their opposite gender. And it’s a lot about subverting gender roles, especially if you take a very masculine character and make him a girl and explore how that effects who he is and what he does. For example, I swapped Tyler Lockwood and his entire life changes because being born female makes him less valuable in the mind of his father who’s whole world-view is skewed heavily towards a time long-since passed and continues to think in old-fashioned (and sexist) notions of having a male heir (because I’ll forever look at the founding families construct in Mystic Falls as an allegory for nobility in modern times) and girl!Tyler would end up having a more loved younger brother. Girl!Tyler wouldn’t be popular (because she wouldn’t be golden boy material and Elena already fills the golden girl role) and would probably be very self-isolated and bitter, very untrusting and self-reliant and I think girl!Tyler would be much more rebellious and turn to art as a major outlet for all her issues of feeling unwanted (and given what canon showed us of Richard Lockwood, probably her feelings about being abused) and just simply not fitting. I have a lot of thoughts about girl!Tyler /o\
Though, as much as I like genderswap, I sometimes don’t like it if it doesn’t change much or if it creates clichés or unfortunate implications. Genderswapping girls, for me, depends on the character and what the swap creates out of them.
Crossovers: I like them quite a lot, actually! I think it’s simply just fun to mix-n-match your favorite characters and put them together and see how they interact (like, Tyler Lockwood and Logan Echolls desperately need to sit down and have a drink while they discuss how sucky their lives are and how their dads are assholes or how Caroline Forbes and Jessica Hamby need to run away together). I’m ridiculous and have a ton of crossover ships /o\ I think crossover shipping is what makes crossovers half the fun. I SHOULD HAVE SRS BZNS THOUGHTS, BUT I DO NOT HAVE THEM ON THIS MATTER.
Bodyswap: Mostly I only like this trope as a means to make a pair of characters understand the other character’s POV (i.e. Sam and Dean body swapping and Dean learning to better accept what Sam goes through with her visions, powers, having demon blood, etc.) rather than anything sexual, though it’s interesting when they swap back and learn the other person’s likes and dislikes and uses it to their advantage. But I mostly like this as a visual, on my screen thing because it’s hard to picture in text-form for me and I constantly have to remind myself they’re in a different body, which probably throws me out of the fic and plus, I just think it’s fun to watch the actors playing opposite roles (I will forever hate Swap Meat for being the most horrible episode ever for denying me an on-screen Sam/Dean bodyswap.)
Dubcon: I have an interesting relationship with dub-con because I like Katherine pairings like Jeremy/Katherine and Elena/Katherine (and I wrote the most dubcon-iest Tyler/Katherine ever) and those lead to very dubcon-y places because I don’t see either of them coming to her willingly and it’s just how Katherine is in general. Katherine likes to play mind games and break people because that’s what happened to her. Jeremy and Elena are two very different varieties of Katherine-breakage: she’s attracted to Jeremy because he’s good and brave and looks like an innocent creature and she wants to ruin that whereas Katherine wants to break Elena and re-create her in her image (my Tyler/Katherine is more about button-pushing and rough sex and breaking points and Katherine finding similarities between the two of them and trying to exploit them). I think this is all very Katherine-specific because it just feels in-character for her (because this is what she did to Stefan and Damon in canon, took them and broke them and re-created them, or well, Damon re-created himself) and I know I’ve never liked it in any other fandom before this one. In a way, it almost serves as a tool to shine a light on the kind of fucked up person Katherine is and maybe that’s why I like it because it’s so character specific and I only like it in-forms where it brings something new and different out in the character she’s messing with (or maybe I’m just a bad, bad person who likes emotionally wrecking her favorite characters /o\).
Non-con: While I don’t begrudge its place in fandom, it’s not my thing and I don’t read it.
Incest/Selfcest: I used to be one of those people that didn’t begrudge people their incest shipping, but it just wasn’t my thing: clearly, fandom broke me a lot. I still am highly squicked by parental incest or really any incest where one is an adult in a position of power and the other is not, so I mostly stick to shipping consensual siblings and I feel very happy that I still have some moral lines I have not yet crossed. Mostly, my incest shipping comes from a narrative that usually involves dark, abnormal, twisted situations that create an intense closeness between siblings that simply manifests wrongly: incest, to me, is usually a symptom of a bigger, more fucked-up problem, but not the problem itself. I tend to favor relationships that have a codependent, can’t-live-without-you, will-die-for-you, will-kill-for-you, soulmate-y quality (maybe it was specifically Supernatural that broke me) that borders on an obsessive madness (with a lot of possessiveness and extreme protectiveness thrown in) because it’s a fucked up relationship that should be fucked up (Stefan/Damon has a special quality of being vampires and constantly remembering who the they were before and having so much anger and bitterness between them, mixing intriguingly with all my usual kinks). I also like the idea of the relationship being a comfort to them, making them happy and feel safe despite all that‘s ever happened to them, where sweetness and intimacy happens with a lot of unconscious touching and affection, but I don’t ever see it as a casual thing. For example, I ship Jeremy/Elena, but I can’t see it in the current canon; potentially pre-series when their parents’ death messed them up, but mostly in an AU world where they get thrust into something horrible and irrevocably change, like a zombie apocalypse or something along those lines.
As for selfcest, I’m really peculiar about it: I don’t like it when the character is the same gender, not even if it involves time-travel, it does absolutely nothing for me, but make the character the opposite gender and I’m extremely interested. I’m not sure I can even articulate why this is, but it’s possibly because it almost feels like two halves of one person meeting for the first time and they just… fit together, they feel complete (and the character gains a whole new perspective of who they are as a person, exploring what could have been in such a visceral way) whereas when it’s a character meeting themselves in the same gender, it’s kind of like mirror!sex; there’s a whole lot of reflecting, but it’s not creating anything and it’s not really producing anything new and interesting for the narrative beyond aesthetic shallowness, which is perfectly okay and acceptable (probably way more acceptable than my genderswap!selfcest fascination), I just can’t find it interesting /o\
Threesome/moresome/gangbang: I LOVE THREESOMES IN A REALLY HIGHLY RIDICULOUS WAY. I’ve come around to the way of thinking that no one should ever have a ship war ever again when a threesome is always a viable option. I’m not exactly picky in what I’ll ship in a threesome (I’m pretty open to most combinations, but some just do not work at all or are really squicky and give off unfortunate implications and should never exist in my happy threesome world), but I’m pretty picky about the dynamics; I don’t necessarily like it when all three parties aren’t all involved with each other (it feels super-unbalanced when all three (or more!) people aren’t in love with or at least care about everyone in the group; if I can’t mix’n’match pairings, it just feels not right at all) because I come from a poly-established relationship school of thought and I like it even less when a girl is thrown in the middle to make two guys realize they have feelings for each other and really want a piece of that and the girl is simply a plot device or a placeholder. Threesomes and moresomes, for me, are about people coming together and completing each other, usually in a Freudian Trio shape with each person filling the Ego, Superego, and the Id roles. It’s about how a relationship dynamic shifts when you add more people to the mix and how you make that kind of relationship work (or not work, as much as I love happy threesomes that overcome all odds and stay together, I have a fondness for the broken ones like my tragic Jeremy/Vicki/Tyler that’s ridiculously volatile and highly combustible).
And moresomes are fun (I‘m crazy and OT4 the fuck out of Jeremy/Tyler/girl!Jeremy/girl!Tyler), but not so fun to write… or so I’ve heard: too many limbs, WHERE DO THEY ALL GO?
I’m not really interested in gangbangs, sorry /o\
Death: I have an interesting stance on death!fic: I don’t seek it out, but I find it intriguing if done right and I will read it if it‘s recced to me. Mostly it’s used as a plot device for cheap angst and tears and I don’t like that. But I can’t say I’d never read it because I have and I can’t say I’ll never write it because I am, but I think it’s all a situational thing. I think death!fic has it’s place if you’re writing a horror fic or if you’re trying to realistically trying to portray some horrible event or even just as a natural end to a long life (I’m honestly endlessly fascinated with the idea of a human/vampire relationship where the human stays human and the vampire stays with them throughout their lives until their death). I think something real and honest and true can be said in death!fic and I may sound extremely pretensions for saying this, but it can be really beautiful in a heartbreakingly bittersweet way.
Unhappy/wide-open endings: I pretty much prefer happy endings, especially if it’s a long fic I’ve spent a lot of time reading and am really invested in, but I’m a big believer in having the ending feel right for the story and not forcing a happy ending just to please an audience or have it end happy. I’d rather have a sad ending that fit the story than a happy one that felt forced and left me unsatisfied, or an ending that told me everything that happened and just felt tacked-on because the author couldn’t let go.
Established Relationship: I LOVE THIS LIKE A LOVING THING THAT LOVES. I feel bad this ramble won’t be quite as long as the others, but I feel like I’ve already said what I need to say about established relationships in my domestic!fic ramble. Basically, I love established because of how comfortable the people are with each other and how much trust they have build up and how that can lead to hot, kinky sex (because I’ll never understand why fandom thinks total strangers or people who hate/don’t trust each other have all the kinky sexy while the comfortable, trusting couples are always vanilla: THIS IS HIGHLY BACKWARDS THINKING SINCE A LOT OF KINK REQUIRES AN ELEMENT OF TRUST, OKAY). But mostly, I just love the comfortable, well-worn feeling that can come from an established relationship.
First Time: I’m also adding this BECAUSE IT SHOULD BE HERE. I love first times almost as much as I love established relationships, even if they are completely different stages of a relationship. I really adore build-up and a slow-burn because I like seeing how these people connect and come together (probably why I ship so many friends-turned-lovers pairings), I enjoy the anticipation and the excitement of something new starting. I like awkward start-stops of two people trying to figure each other out and how they’re working on being together, from the first touches to the first kiss to the first time they sleep together. I love the nervous, terrifying feeling of jumping into something that comes with first time fics, how everything is new and jarring and they’re not sure what to make of it just yet. Basically, I really love beginnings.
RPF: I have a horrible time writing it myself because I feel weird making up characterization for real people and inferring characterization for them is ridiculously hard and I just don’t have the confidence to pull it off because whenever I attempt to write it, I am constantly hand-wringing and feeling unsure of myself because I don’t have a clear idea of who these people should be (probably, the possible exception being historical RPF based on a TV show or a movie or a book series like The Borgias, but even then I’m more comfortable in AU-land over the land of canon because feel pressured to be historically accurate there). But I’ll read the hell out of it and merrily do so if it’s well-written and a pairing I ship.
AUs: I think AUs might be my crack of the fanfic world. I’m constantly coming up with them (because I’m arrogant and have a horrible need to fix things that, according to me, went wrong and make it better) and writing them and I’m not really sure how to stop. Though, as much as I love them, I’m pretty picky when it comes to them. I really hate all-human AUs when it comes to vampire fiction because I feel like that defeats the whole point of what canon was trying to do and the vampires are always characterized as they are in canon, but if they were human, they would be like their human characterization considering they never went through all the shit that impacted their personalities (same goes for non-related Sam/Dean, it just doesn’t work because anyone whoever writes it never realizes their personalities would change, as would their relationship by not being brothers). Usually, I like event-changing AUs, something that comes out of a different choice being made or an event happening in a different way (i.e. Mary or Jess living, Jeremy turning in a vampire at the beginning of S2, etc.), basically exploring the what if of something are my favorite kind of AUs when it comes to things like TV , movie, or book fandoms. I sometimes like historical AUs simply because I’m a dork about history and find shifting a setting of something to a different time period pretty intriguing in how that effects characters and how events turn out. But anything goes for RPF since there’s no set canon holding it back, I’m willing to accept anything, even serial killer AUs \o/