Meme

[calliopes_pen]

Taken from lost_spook:

Comment to this post with a fic title (a word, phrase or quotation), a fandom and, if desired, a character or pairing. I'll reply with a summary of the fic I won't write for that title, in this way generating plot-bunnies, gaiety of nations and perhaps even actual fic by other people.

Comments

[rebecca_selene]

Sold my kingdom for a war with you, Merlin

[calliopes_pen]

Through unforeseen consequences involving a map that was cursed and thereby improperly drawn decades ago, it turns out that Uther's kingdom was not as large as he believed it was. Following his death, Arthur is drawn into a land war after he can't prove the castle is on the correct side of a border. Merlin, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen are forced to defend the castle from trolls, at one point shouting they weren't destined to live under a bridge. Merlin magically convinces the trolls to sell it back to them, so they can stay there.

(I stopped watching Merlin so long before the series ended, but hey--I did try with this summary)

[damzel]

United We Fall, Merlin

[calliopes_pen]

Merlin and Arthur are trapped by magical fog. Everyone falls over themselves and crashes into everything, as it even penetrates the castle. Can Arthur and Merlin find their way and undo the curse when they can't even see five feet in front of them? United, they fall downstairs before they find what will undo the curse.

[damzel]

This meme is both fun and frustrating - there's now soooo much non existent fic that I want to read!

[sallymn]

Malice in Blunderland... Sherlock :)

[calliopes_pen]

Because of lack of sleep as a result of an overly long case, Sherlock begins hallucinating. John must convince him that the Queen of Hearts is not really Mycroft's new codename, and he doesn't want his head. And, no, Moriarty isn't behind it all, Sherlock. No, he is not calling himself either Malice or Alice.

[thisbluespirit]

The Man in the Antique Shop, Dracula 1968.

[calliopes_pen]

It's the origin story of Van Helsing's little antique thing (I still don't know what it was called) that he uses to mesmerise Jonathan. Van Helsing picks out the most unique item that will both fascinate and confuse Seward, so that he can test out his newfound skills on him first. It was also a haunted antique, and his research into how to cleanse it of that little issue led to his interest in more matters than just mesmerism.

[thisbluespirit]

Ooh, very nice! It could even fit with some of my bingo squares... (Although then I would have to find out what that thing is. It looks kind of familiar, like I didn't even think about it being unusual, but I don't know what it actually is, either. A mysterious thingumy, obviously. I must ask my flist sometime; they know nearly everything between them)

[calliopes_pen]

To me, it was almost like someone took a piece of a pocket watch chain, and possibly a coin and glued them together (and maybe with something else thrown in, I've never been sure).

Yeah, I just dubbed it The Fabulous Doohickey of Mesmerism.

(And something I thought about at one point: It might have been helpful if Jonathan had stolen it and run off with it, while he hid the thing under a convenient shrub for the sake of his Master. There might have been more than a glance at the thing then.)

[thisbluespirit]

I have a screencap! It's not the clearest, but I've posted it and asked the flist. It is a bit weird, although I still feel like it's something I've seen before. But not in any helpful way that tells us what it might be! (If nobody knows, it's just a really mysterious artefact, which is fair enough. But I suspect it is a thing; the costumes and props in that one seem quite carefully thought out.)

[calliopes_pen]

I know. It just looks weirdly familiar to me, too. Like I've seen it on another show.

(I just know that Jonathan's getting some mesmerism done to him at the end of the fanfic I'm doing, and if nobody can figure it out, mysterious artifact on a chain sounds as good as anything else.

Edit: Oh! It looks a little like a large coin with a hole in the middle that I've seen before, with a watch chain put on it, doesn't it? I don't know what particular origin that sort of coin would be.

Edit 2: These look very close They’re from around 1820-1850, Chinese, from (according to the link) “the reign of the Dao Guang emperor,” so Van Helsing would be likely to have picked up one in his travels if that’s what it is.

[thisbluespirit]

My cap of it isn't very good, but I'm pretty certain it doesn't have a hole in it and that the pattern is different to that kind of thing. I think John's suggestion of a seal ring that's been put onto a watch chain is a much closer match than that, but I don't know if that's it, either.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm pretty sure my flist has it: it's some kind of seal fobwatch ornament - none of these examples look exactly like it (or each other), but you can see a couple have exactly that kind of arch, and if you also Google image seal rings, that looks like the sort of moulding or engraving on the 'coin', too. And it fits with the watch chain & why it seems kind of normal. (Probably other people have had some kind of fobwatch ornament included in a costume - it just wouldn't usually be pulled out and used.)

ETA: And if you put in "spinner watch fob", these are all a pretty good match (if, again, all very individual) here. So it's definitely an ornamental watch fob, probably using a coin or seal, and I think the most correct term is just "watch fob" or "ornamental watch fob" or "spinner watch fob". (I said my flist knows everything! Heh. :-D)

[calliopes_pen]

That does look like it. Thank you!

(I said my flist knows everything! Heh. :-D)

I was pretty sure they would know in this instance, too, yes.

[phoenixfire12.livejournal.com]

"Your Ink is My Blood: Tales from a haunted fountain pen"

Dark Shadows Resurrected

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard

[calliopes_pen]

A haunted fountain pen makes the rounds of Collinwood. It's laced with Angelique's blood, and will destroy the will of anyone who comes into contact with it, or allow Angelique to control them easier. Elizabeth learns Barnabas' secret, and the spirit of Angelique wants her to be ruined so nobody will believe her.

It causes Elizabeth to be worn down by haunting visions, until she connects the dots on her own...but Elizabeth is stubborn enough to keep her will and sanity and fight back with class, actively teaming up with Barnabas to end the madness.

(I think in the 60's version of Dark Shadows, in one of the earlier episodes from the time before Barnabas was let out of the coffin, a pen kept getting passed around, but it wasn't cursed--it had something to do with a murder.)

[phoenixfire12.livejournal.com]

I love it! Thank you. There's so little storylines in either series that lets Elizabeth shine.

The fountain pen in the original series belonged to Burke Devlin who gave it to Carolyn. They were special in that he had only 8 of them made so he could give them to his friends. (His lawyer has one) When Roger found out about it and who it belonged to he told her she couldn't except such an expensive gift and that he would return it to he confiscated it from her. That night Bill Malloy came to Collinwood to inform Roger he had called a meeting in Roger's office at the cannery at 11 (pm) to tell them he finally found out who was really responsible for the death of the man Burke was falsely accused of hitting with the car 10 years ago. Later on his way to the meeting at the cannery he lost the pen while he was walking along the beach trying to figure out how much Malloy really knew. It was about the same time Bill was murdered. At that time Roger hadn't realized he'd lost the pen. The next morning Victoria was walking along the beach and found the pen. When Roger sees the pen in Vicki's possession while she is tutoring David he waits until no one is in the room and takes the pen back, finally burring it behind a headstone at Eagle Hill Cemetery.

Not a nice thing to do to a beautiful silver filigree fountain pen.