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Hehe, thank you for the plug! But I don't think this particular fic fits into the category to which Aresbitch objects, since Xena is still Ares' primary love interest.

I'm the only one who voted "Depends on the type of story, characterization, etc."

I'm definitely interested in Ares and his character development arc, though that development obviously has a lot to do with his feelings for Xena. But I do think there's more to Ares than his love for the Warrior Princess.

I think a couple of Ares-centric episodes in Season 6 dealing with mortal Ares on his own would have been great. And I definitely would be interested in fanfiction exploring his journeys alone.

I also think that H:TLJ could have done much more with the character of Ares if they hadn't turned him into a buffoon. I liked Ares in the Hind arc and Two Men and a Baby -- I think it could have been quite interesting if Ares developed more paternal feelings for his and Nemesis' son, Evander, than he ever expected to (and I did get a hint of that in the ep). Actually, I think it would have been quite fascinating to have Ares run into grown-up Evander in S6. The theme of the sibling rivalry between Herc and Ares, and of Ares craving the love of his father and being embittered by the rejection, also had some potential. Except then you get episodes like Stranger and Stranger where Ares is just a cartoon villain. There are, however, some H:TLJ episodes that I'll definitely watch for Ares (like Redemption, the one where Dahak possesses Iolaus).

As for other love interests ... hmm. It all depends. What really puts me off is stories where Ares "gets over Xena" -- either because he realizes that she doesn't reciprocate (the nice version) or because he realizes she's an ungrateful b*tch who doesn't appreciate his sacrifice (the not-so-nice version ) -- and "moves on" with someone else, usually a Mary Sue. I did, however, read an interesting pair of stories by Taleen, Maybe Later/Not Soon Enough, where mortal Ares, hurt and frustrated at Xena's rejection after Coming Home, tries to find happiness with a village girl who falls in love with him not knowing who he is. I could deal with it because, throughout all that, Ares still loves Xena, if he's trying to get over her.

I can also deal with other love interests in non-canonical stories where Xena isn't really in the picture. I remember that when I first got interested in fanfic, I read a bunch of stories by Kendaa (on the City of the Amazons site) in which Ares is in a relationship with an Amazon named Kendaa (which is also the pen name of the author -- yeah, okay, that right there spells Mary Sue just a bit ). It's actually a somewhat X/A-ish dynamic, right down to the fact that he falls in love with her when he's mortal in a Ten Little Warlord-like situation (due to a conspiracy by other gods -- this happens in the "prequel" to Kendaa's series, by another author, Bastet) and to the fact that, while she yields to her attraction to him, she continues to resist him mentally because she doesn't want to become one of his acolytes. As I recall (having skimmed the stories just now) Ares starts out trying to dominate her and being reluctant to admit how much he cares about her, but later evolves. Anyway, I was okay with that when I read it (6 or 7 years ago) because Kendaa wasn't really a rival to Xena -- Xena wasn't in the picture. I think she may have been mentioned once or twice, but ... hmm, it's more or less like the author took the character of Ares from H:TLJ, humanized him somewhat and added Kendaa and the Amazons (with whom, in this fic series Ares has a major relationship as a patron god). I will also add that at the time there wasn't nearly as much quality shipperfic as there is now, so I was a bit starved for stuff to read. Sort of along the same lines, the Ares/Merinara series by Taleen (who has also written X/A fic), which is no longer online. Basically, it's Ares in a relationship with an original female character in a pretty much Xena-less world. I'd much rather read X/A, but I can deal with that kind of thing if it's well-written and in character for Ares (and if the relationship is credible).

Oh, there's also a pretty amusing series by JinXavier called "The Brass Jar," which takes place in the present and basically takes Ares from H:TLJ (except with the premise that Ares was seriously maligned by Hercules posing as Kevin Sorbo -- the premise of the Herc ubers -- who fed the stories to the writers) and mixes in some mythology, specifically the story about Ares being trapped in a brass jar by two giants. Except in this version he doesn't wake up until the present time, and (needless to say) has a romance with the heroine, a beautiful archeologist. The romance was actually the least interesting part of it, but the "Ares (and Strife) in the late 20th Century" part was very cute. Oh, and also the premise of the story was that everything on Xena was completely invented and Xena never existed, but Ares doesn't mind it nearly as much as he minds being slandered on H:TLJ.

Anyway, sorry for the overly long post. I guess my point is that I will read Ares-without-Xena fanfic, even with another love interest, if it has something else to hook me (including the characterization of Ares, of course!). But not if Xena is actively supplanted by another love interest.