Rare Ships Swap
Hello friend!
Thank you so much for writing for me for Rate Ships! This is my first year participating and I'm excited.
Let’s talk about things I like and dislike, generally.
Love: Getting together stories. Tropes, especially for comedy fandoms (think roadtrips, broken elevators, anything that requires characters to spend time together). Ensemble fic, even more than shippy stuff (with an exception or two). Related, but found families are my thing, and most fandoms I read reflect that love. Spy AUs: a total bulletproof fandom kink. Banter. Flirting. Friends setting up friends. Hijinx.
Loathe: Baby/pregnancy fic, or spending much time with canon children. Major OCs- I nominate fandoms because I want to spend time with the characters I love. Kinky fic, since I’m extraordinarily picky about kink!fic. Soulmates. Religion. Fluff. Incest. Rape. Character-bashing. Gross-out humor. Miracles.
Additional details: I’m fine with sexytimes, as long as it’s not PWP. Or fading to black is totally cool too. Action scenes make my eyes glaze over. I’m a big fan of dialogue and things happening over introspection. And I’m not big on alternative POVs on canon scenes.
On art: I requested art or fic on all of these. I write, and I don't make art, so I hope what I'm writing helps you either way. I'm coming at this from a fic writer's perspective, but I want you to art if you love to make art, and I hope nothing here limits you. I think fan art is divine, and I love drawings especially, from realistic to cartoon to more impressionistic things.
If you want to see my fandom story recs, click here. If you want to see what fic I’ve written, click here. If you want to see my tumblr, click here, and if you want to see an occasionally-contradictory list of fic things I love, click here.
Fandoms!
(in no particular order)
Before Trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight)
Celine/Jesse
A friend lent the first two movies to me on a whim and when I sat down to watch them, I wept. I think at that particular moment, it really spoke to where I was romantically, but that’s shifted, and I still love them. Then I saw the final movie, and it was just gorgeous.We sat in the theater, holding hands, so pleased that this movie had been made. The movies are just so entirely perfect, so good at exploring love over the years, and so wonderful to watch. Specifically, I see a lot of movies, and it’s rare that I can watch six hours of what is essentially two people just talking, with almost no plot, and yet I adore these movies.
I love Celine and Jesse. They are both so flawed as people- occasionally, one sees references to one or the other (but mostly Jesse) as being a fantastic romantic partner, but I wouldn’t want to date either of them. And yet they both feel real to me, like I could find their probably-less-attractive doubles out wandering the streets, walking and talking and falling in love. I love the way they grow (and don't) as people. For instance, Jesse's wildly impractical and romantic side; cute in their twenties, less so in their forties.
I’d prefer fic that focuses on the two of them together rather than the two of them apart, but I’m fine with flashbacks or that sort of thing, as long as the bulk of the fic has the two of them interacting. There’s almost twenty years to cover, but I’m most interested in the two of them as a couple. What’s it like for them when they first get together at the end of Before Sunset? How do they handle the bi-continental relationship, or Jesse’s divorce? Likewise, a sort of “fourth movie” would also be fantastic- what happens nine years after Before Midnight, and where are they? Do they move to the US? Do they stay in France? I love that they’re not married in BM, but do they ever decide to get hitched? It seems that might make the bi-continental relationship easier, certainly. Or, to break with my first sentence, perhaps five times between Before Sunrise and Before Sunset that Celine and Jesse thought about each other? Or, if you’re into complicated narratives, maybe something that explores all the different ways their relationship could’ve gone if they’d made different choices along the way (something like the Community episode “Remedial Chaos Theory” that explored the seven different timelines?).
(totally stolen from my Yuletide letter)
Don't Trust the B in Apt 23
June/Chloe, June/James Van Der Beek
I love this show SO MUCH. For one thing, Chloe is one of the great characters out there, period, and it's a travesty she's off the air. It's delightfully off the wall, and living RPF James Van Der Beek practically made the show for me. I also adored Luther. Mark... eh, but whatever, he was great in the ensemble.
Ship-wise, I'd take either. I love femslash, and wide-eyed-innocent/sociopath appeals to the hardcore romantic lover of chaos in me. The show always seemed about three drinks away from hooking the two of them up. But the Beek is a delight as well, and I loved the interactions between him and June. James brought out the June's wild-side, like when they went to the wedding. Hell, if you wanted to go threesome on this, go for it (but don't feel obligated!) I don't see either pairing working out in the long term (although if you think it might, convince me!)
With comedy fandoms, go nuts! I love all the tropes here- go for road trips! spin-the-bottle! AUs, if you want! I'd love to keep it light and funny, and see anything from one-sided crushes to casual hookups to drunken confessions.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick/Norah
I saw this movie back in theaters in the halcyon days of aught eight, two years after reading the book, and oh! but I loved them both. Neither was prefect, and New York is laughably easy to navigate/park, but they captured that senior year feeling so well, and I've always loved Rachel Cohn, and coming of age stories in general. Somehow, there's NO FANDOM for them, and I don't know how, since they're both precious, plus there's fake dating! I'd think this would be catnip for authors/artists.
So with this, feel free to have fun! While I hope you steer clear of super angsty breakup fic, I'd love to see whatever with these two. AUs! Dating in college! Breaking up and getting back together when they're 25! Learning to reconcile what they wanted when they were 18 with what they have when they're older! Since I identified strongly with the narrative of the two of them growing up, I'd love to see them learning age-appropriate lessons.
I've read the book and watched the movie, so feel free to pick and choose canon. The only really strong preference I have is that Norah's the one that gets off when the two of them hook up that first time, because I love that, and it's fairly rare in literature to worry about a teenage girl's orgasms.
That should be everything! If you need additional clarification, please feel free to reach out to throwingpens. She may write her answer in all caps, but she gets me, fandom-wise.
Thanks!
Diaphenia