#I really think this is useful to know when making up names for Tolkien OCs

[sp-growingpains]

it's been a while since I last asked about Jean! you can skip if some of these you've answered already <3

7) Vice-Versa! If your OC is in the modern day, what fantasy class would they be? Would they be a different race? (Or more specifically, could you tell us more about Jean's TSOT alter ego?)

12) Does your OC interact with other people's OC? If so, who's their best OC friend?

Yoooooooou! You make my heart so happy! I wanna spoil you!! 💝

Hey real quick!! If I tagged you, please feel free to ignore this! Don't read it if you don't want to! Question 12 involves credit where credit is due!

7) Vice-Versa! If your OC is in modern day, what fantasy class would they be? Would they be a different race?

So when I think about TSOT stuff I honestly use D&D rules because that's what I grew up on as a kid! When I first made Jean I thought about her being a Tiefling Bard! But dude, Jimmy is the best bard in all of the kingdoms!

So I scrapped it and had a really fun idea as I was writing up my Fantasy stuff for SP. Jean is the Black Knight! I love, love Authurian legend and I couldn't resist making a nod to one of my favorite video game characters! Zelgius from Fire Emblem had the coolest armor and story! (Huge info dump ahead, I'm so sorry)

So, if they're just kids being kids: Jean loved the fact that most of the girls were the knights! Wendy with the battle maiden looking absolutely fire! But, it was kind of boring that Clyde was the only "bad guy". So she decided to dress as the mysterious black knight. Every time her friends would get together to play, she would find a reason to be like "Awh sorry guys, I got stuff to do today!" Or pretend to be sick!

Then, when everyone else was busy with their games, deep in their battles. She's show up covered head to toe in a black motorcycle helmet, a black battle vest (she probably picked up from Jimbos after begging him to help her.), black pants, and black boots. (You get the point.) She orders a sword and a cape from party city or some silly shit and just shows up.

While she wears the costume, she keeps her mouth shut. She goes out of her way to be as mysterious as possible and dramatically makes a show of fighting the others. If she's losing, she'll find a way to make the other person look cool but make a grand escape! She picks up this persona just to make everyone else look cool because she knows she looks like an edgy asswipe! Kids being kids, right?

BUT THE AU! OH THE AU!

I rambled before that I love Cowboys, but I move fantasy stuff so much!

So we still go with the black knight angle! But before that she was a royal knight to The Grand Wizard! Fought side by side with Butters the Merciful! Brothers-in-arms with Ser Clyde and Ser Tolkien! A circle of knights who swore to do right by the human kingdoms.

Then, the war happens over that damn artifact. It's power tempting both the elven and human men. Battle after battle begins to wear her down. She starts to lose the will to find good in what she does. When the ground becomes soaked with the blood of soldiers throwing themselves into her blade, and for what? For power? Power they'll never see? All because some men who already hold enough power told them to?

It breaks her.

So she comes home to that found family and gets into a fight before the Grand Wizard and her brothers. Not one of steel like she's so used to. Instead, the Grand Wizard brands her a traitor and casts her out so she's forced to leave.

Stripped of her name, her brotherhood, her honor.

Something about that sends her spiraling. The isolation sends her into one of the great forests where she's decided that's what she'll protect. She'll live there and those woods will be hers. Because at least she was good at that.

There, she protects people who want nothing to do with the war. The little people caught in the middle. If people think to bring the war into her woods, she dons the armor, the two-handed silver sword, and becomes the weapon she was so good at being.

She slowly stops being Jean Wellman and more of a weapon. Even a broken sword is at least useful. A broken human? Not so much.

Still edgy? Yes. Do I eat that shit up? Oh, absolutely.

I end it there because I like to leave it open for other characters' influence! That includes other ocs!

12) Does your OC interact with other people's OC? If so, who's their best OC friend.

Oh! Oh! I love this question!! Because that means I get to brag about others!

Real talk! I get super nervous talking to people about Jean! There's this part of me that finds it so...selfish? But I want to hear everything about other people's! And if they want to talk about how their OC would interact with mine? Oh my heart!!

@lulu24784 was the first person to interact with me when it came to our blorbos! She drew this beautiful piece of Jean and Lulu when we first started talking that is still my iPad background! It brings me so much joy when I look at it!

She drew them with the friendship bracelet and I made it canon! In every picture, where it makes sense, she's got the bracelet on. It's on that wrist forever. I have these little thoughts of Jean showing up in her flower shop and spending hours just yapping and playing soft music on her guitar while she watches her friend move around doing her day to day. Her favorite thing to do is to put on some music and try to coax Lulu into dancing with her. Seeing someone you adore be good at the thing they're good at makes her so very happy.

That leads to her maybe stepping on the poor girls feet because she's a big, clumsy idiot. Especially because of their height difference, but any chance to be close with someone who means so much to her.

That leads to some pretty confusing feelings for Jean later on, but at the end of the day, she knows she loves Lulu and wants her happy!

Another person who Jean is close to is Morgan! @tinyalcoholicwitch is my best friend irl! I met her back when I was twelve and we've been friends ever since! We've bounced from Fandom to Fandom together and she bravely tried to follow me here! So she made the gorgeous Morgan for Jean to have as a friend! Jean loves her bestie so very much!

She also drew me a beautiful piece that is my laptop background! Because my friends inspire me and it makes me want to be better!

Jean and Morgan got into piercings around the same time, so they got their face piercings together. Jean immediately made the "joke" of kissing, and they would lock together like puzzle pieces. Jean's favorite thing to do with her is to crawl into her window late at night. Yes, she could have taken the front door, but that would have woken Morgan's mom, and that's rude! So she crawls in and spends hours with her, most times spending the night. She has to be picking Morgan up or holding her every chance she can get! Morgan is a huge reason why Jean stays so fit, so she can carry her favorite princess like she deserves!

And you know she would adore Anh! We haven't talked much but from what you've posted about her, I know Jean would think she's the coolest person ever! 🫶

[ofemeraldstars]

RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS OOC , THEN TAG OTHERS YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW BETTER.

tagged by: @saudadexmses (thank you <3) tagging: @adsagsona, @blackarrcw, @nomdepen and anyone that would like to do this!!

roleplayer name: p

roleplayer pronouns: she/her

preferred communication: dm on discord is where i am the most reliable.

experience: i started writing at the age of 18 (so yeah, 15 years of experience). i created thinya here in 2013, for the tolkien verse. but initially, i started roleplaying on facebook, based on grey's anatomy. thinya is my longest commitment to an oc. i faced a lot of hate, exclusion, but i never ceased to develop her and win some people's hearts (i am so thankful for them). unfortunately, i am often taken for granted and ghosted, so i developed trust issues. but the few people i trust here make my experience greater and beautiful. i tried to be part of groups but the problem was that most of them died so now i am mostly focused on my indie oc. i don't write many canons because i prefer to be authentic with my oc and i would be afraid of not giving canons justice...!

preferred roleplay type: i am multi para/novella, i love adding extra information.

pet peeves & dealbreakers: oh i have so many... i believe people who do not read my rules and reblog my memes from me and not from the source. or people simply using me as their back up when their favorite partners aren't around. sometimes, i get easily peeved when i write a two paragraph reply and receive only two liners. i think the most heartbreaking for me is when people take thinya for granted and do not really appreciate her like they do for other people. i often felt like an outsider. it's okay, i grow to get used it (i apologise for my rants sometimes, i need to let things out).

plots or memes: both, any. whatever makes someone comfortable!

best time to write: weekends i would say? or when i have the muse. but i always communicate anyways.

are you like your muse?: truth is: thinya is 90% of me... i put a lot of my personality in my muse, which is why i am so close to her. *hides shyly*

[xalatath]

2, 5, and 8 for uinen (sometimes i call them weenie in my head)

LOL I ALSO CALL THEM WEENIE

2. How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

I wouldn't say it was that long, even though some things like their tattoos weren't finalized until 1 or 2 years later. Very early Uinen art is still recognizable as Uinen. I think it's mostly because initially I had based her appearance on my WoW character.

5. How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe?

I LOVE this question. As you may know, Uinen is a name from the Silmarillion. She's a Maia (minor deity) of the sea, and the word itself means "seaweed". At the time all my WoW characters had random names from the Silmarillion, and then when I started developing them into OCs I just didn't feel like changing the names. It's the same for Thu, although Thû is a more obscure Tolkien name that I don't think even appears in the published Silm. I figured since there are canon WoW characters with names lifted directly from Tolkien (Anduin and Tirion, for example), it was fine for me to do that too.

Her last name, Ulmondur, translates to "servant of Ulmo", and again that's just a description of Uinen in the Silmarillion. In-universe the names don't really have any meaning. HOWEVER. WoW!Uinen is canonically kin with Silm!Uinen, though they wouldn't be able to put words to it. They have dreams and visions of being a goddess of the sea and this fuels a lot of their power-hungry antics - they believe they're entitled to this power and its being denied to them by the universe.

8. What is the origin of their personality? And let's be honest - how much of it is projecting?

So my original intention with making this character was "what if there was a guy who was just genuinely fucking obnoxious." The privileged arrogant noble being thrown into the Real World is one of my favorite archetypes to write about, and i just genuinely enjoy writing/rping as bitchy unscrupulous characters.

Some of Uinen's personality is me projecting, but it's like if I had no self-awareness at all and didn't want to get any better. I'd say Uinen's personality is much more in line with how I USED to act rather than how I act now. Her sense of morality (or lack thereof) is pretty similar to mine, I'd say.

Also, I admit that once I played bg3 I was annoyed by how similar Astarion was to Uinen, so I poached some of his traits for her. But I think I'm justified because I came up with it first.

[megarywrites]

For the Writer (& Artist) Ask Game: 1, 10, and 26? ^.^

thanks! gonna put it under the cut because you know how i get lol

1 | Who was your first ever OC? Do you still "use" them? How have they evolved over time?

Zurri my love my angel my sweetheart. She's one of the 4 POV characters from the WIP I'll be returning to once I've completed both books in Seafoam, and she'll actually be the first one who will be introduced when the book starts. She has evolved.................just so much since her creation lol. She's been my best babygirl since 2012 when my sister and I were working on her story and what will be the Cycle of Dracrie (CoD) series. The story she is (technically, no I won't elaborate) introduced in will be called Visions from the Pool, and it's an extremely loose Snow White retelling, with little miss Zurri as our leading lady. At the original conception of this story, the world and magic system was so vastly different than what I'm doing now...I can't really figure out where to begin to describe her differences. What has stayed the same, though, is her feeling of being an outsider and a sense of not belonging to the place she was raised in. She feels lost in life and curious about the world beyond the borders of the encampment she grew up in. There will be a chance for her to escape and experience life for herself and find somewhere that she can truly call home, but it'll take some time.

10 | OC you most struggled to make?

in terms of Seafoam, I'd probably have to say Geros (the Diamo, aka who most will consider the main antagonist of the duology). I think creating villains is one of my writing weaknesses, and I hope I'm doing his charisma and gentle yet violent nature justice, but we'll see. for CoD...again, probably the main antagonist for the entire (15-book) series. I've been thinking about him a lot lately and trying to sort out his motivation (spite, mainly, but also a love of chaos) and the actual logistics of redacted plot things lol he's gonna be fascinating, hopefully tho...very puppet master-esque in terms of his role in the fate of Dracrie/Thiortha (i hope i can pull it off lol)

26 | What are your favorite books?

oh jesus uh....okay

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende - magnificent. if you've never read it, I cannot recommend it enough. It's a childhood favorite of mine and I was as wrapped up in the story as Bastian was when I first read it, and, in my opinion, it still holds up when reading it as an adult. Also, I've just always loved the use of color in the actual text, switching between green and burgundy when going between Fantasia and Bastian's real life

The Starless Sea but Erin Morgenstern - the aesthetics of this one...the non-linear story telling...the poetic prose...it's all chef's kiss. it was the first book I read in ages, because I had been going through a reading slump (depression lol) and it had been literal years since I picked anything up and I decided to give it a try and I loved it. Her prose is so beautiful and she's one of the authors I'm inspired by when it comes to learning from them with regards to my own writing.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - I mean, obviously, right? He's the father of the high fantasy genre, my dog is named after Frodo, ofc I love his work lol I try to listen to the audiobooks whenever I go on hikes just to feel included, it's great. He's another one of my inspirations when it comes to writing, because I just adore how vast his world-building is, how he writes male characters, and the earnest and authentic message of hope and fighting for what's write that so beautifully alive in this story.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins - a stunning and evocative piece of literature that has captivated me since I originally read them way back when. She, again, is one of my writing inspirations because of her masterful use of first person pov, which is something that I generally dislike to read, and her impeccable story structure (which is something I'm leaning toward using with Seafoam)

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - okay, hear me out. I know she is a controversial figure now, but no one can deny the grip that this series has had on the world since it was first released. The wizarding world was so rich and inviting that even I, who wasn't allowed to read/watch it at all when I was growing up (because of religion) wanted to be a part of it. That in and of itself is something I'd like to strive for with my world-building--creating something so tangible and fascinating that readers flock to it. Probably never to that degree of success, of course...gotta be realistic lol

and last but certainly not least

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini - aka my first introduction to the fantasy genre. I used to reread it every summer and whenever a new book in the series was coming out. Life has unfortunately gotten in the way of me reading the most recent addition to the series (a spinoff starring one of the important side characters) but it's patiently waiting for me whenever I do have the time to dedicate to a proper reread and first-read of the new book

send me author/artist asks?

[shanaraharlyah]

Please answer 2, 7, 13, 34 and 50 for the OC ask ♡

Thank yooouuuu!!! 😘😘😘

Thank you so much for the ask, my lovely! 💕 Answering these for Hellendil in the HL fandom of course!

2. Why'd you choose your OC's name?

I have answered this on my side blog, but I will add the answer here as well. 🤍 Hellendil Melinae is the name of an elf OC I created about twelve years ago, brother of my main OC, Sarovanya. Since I needed a magic user for HL I chose to base my MC on him. The name itself is derived from Tolkien's elvish language and means "lover of the sky" (which in hindsight is actually pretty apt for him).

7. What career path would your OC take?

Initially he is interested in a career as a curse-breaker because it would allow him to work alongside his brother in archaeology. However, once he heard Ranrok's tragic backstory and realized how poorly much of wizardkind treat goblins, he decides to pursue a career as a liaison at the Ministry in the hope of advocating for them.

13. What's the worst thing your OC's ever done?

Probably the devastation he caused to Rookwood and his followers when he found out that he was the one who cursed Anne. With that whisper in his ear, he made the connection and just snapped. It haunts him. He may not have used the killing curse, but it terrifies him that he was capable of such destruction and unbridled rage.

34. What's your OC's "thing"?

He's that long haired kid that doesn't wear his uniform and dresses eclectically (very Ravenclaw of him). lol While at school, at least, he's prone to wearing things that aren't exactly fashionable and look more like medieval leather armor. As an adult he's more fashionable, but still doesn't dress in typical fashion.

50. What do you love and hate most about your OC?

I love how genuinely kind and caring he is and how he will stand up against injustice whether it affects him personally or not.

What do I hate? Since he's so focused on other people, making them happy and doing whatever it is they need in the moment, he's the type of person who would cheat. 😞 Not for the sake of cheating or because he wants to, but because that person has a good reason to need it of him. I don't know if this will ever happen, but the possibility is there. Of course it would also eat him up inside afterward when he thinks about what he's done to his partner. He's such a lovely person overall that it's really a disappointing trait.

[niennawept]

Tag Game - Fandom Edition

Tagged by @somebirdortheother, thanks so much, lovely! This was fun!

Your Name: On here, Nienna or Ni, if you please. I have 4-5 names that people regularly call me outside of that (IRL nicknames) but I prefer to keep that private.

Your First Fandom: Tolkien. Before I even knew what fandom was, I was composing fanfiction in my head about being Bilbo Baggin's niece (yes, before I read LotR, I somehow knew that he would have an adopted child because he definitely wasn't marrying a woman - A+, baby Nienna). At the time, I had no concept of what fanfiction was or what a self-insert was, but here I was, doing the thing at age 8. I think it counts, lol.

Your Current Fandom: Rings of Power specifically, wider Tolkien Legendarium also. And the thing you must know about me is I have two fandoms which are special interests of mine. 1) Tolkien and 2) Star Trek. Normally, when one is dormant, the other wakes up. So we'll count Star Trek too, even though that interest is currently sleeping (shhh, she needs her rest).

How did you first get into fandom?: Um, doomed by the narrative? My dad read The Hobbit aloud to me when I was little and then proceeded to read me LotR out loud a year later. I couldn't NOT form my whole personality around that (and Trek, which he introduced when I was 10).

How long have you been engaging in fandom spaces?: I discovered fanfiction online when I was 14. I used to write a long time ago, but college and grad school got in the way. I lurked for years (reading a couple longfics a week) but I didn't have the energy to create much myself. Adar and Rings of Power brought me out of that shell. So I guess the answer is: it's complicated.

How often do you read fanfic?: I'm almost always reading at least one longfic, although I have slowed down significantly now that I'm writing a longfic. These days I squeeze in reading one-shots because I set too ambitious of an update schedule and I'm trying not to get burnt out.

Top three characters from your current fandom?: Adar (my love), Tar-Miriel (who I am so worried about going into the next season), and probably Galadriel. I really admire how they let her be nasty enough to be credibly accused of being Morgoth's successor, by someone who would know. That's brilliant and gives her character a lot of room to grow into the Galadriel we know in the Third Age.

Have you ever written a fic for a fandom and if so, shout it out!: I do not think any of my very old fic still exists (thank the stars). But I'll link a few Rings of Power fics here (use caution, all three works are 18+):

Scars of Silver and Gold: A Second Age romance/adventure (Adar/OC) that will eventually answer the question "what is the best case scenario for Adar and his uruks that still fits within the constraints of Tolkien's legendarium?"

Until the Stars Burn Out: Set in Cuiviénen, under the light of the stars. Eren, the one who will one day be known as Adar, shares a moment of tenderness with the partner he was made for, Erenyë. (Adar/OC). Based off of "Awake, Arise or Be For Ever Fall’n"  by @dwarveslikeshinythings

Mistletoe Mischief: Christmas-themed smutty Adar/Reader fic. Modern AU.

Have you ever drawn fan art for a fandom?: I have, but I am not willing to share anything yet, because I'm just not where I want to be skill-wise.

Share a personal headcanon that you feel strongly about: Mmmm. I have many headcanons. It is hard to pick one. I'll say this: the elves that went to Valinor from the Waters of Awakening knew that some of them where kidnapped and taken but they did not see any orcs/uruks until the Noldor made it back to Middle-earth. It makes the Battle-under-Stars that much more existentially terrifying. Thinking about writing a horror one-shot about this - imagine recognizing your old friend, twisted by centuries of torture among the dead. *shivers*

You’re trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. what episode, clip, or scene are you showing them?: Mmmmm. I don't think there's a clip of ROP that I can pick that doesn't have spoilers. All the parts I'm most attached to are in pretty deep.

And finally, what does fandom mean to you?: Community. Enjoying the thing you enjoy on your own is marvelous but enjoying it with other people is even better! People have such wonderful different ideas about things and that's very cool.

Tagging (no pressure, just love): @dwarveslikeshinythings, @lazymeriadoc, @bananaphanta, and anyone else to whom this looks like fun!

[scyllas-revenge]

Happy Birthday, dearest Scylla!!! 💖🥳 I hope you have had a wonderful celebration worthy of your awesomeness!

On the occasion of your 30th, I actually have an important request to make of you that I have been holding onto for a while now. 👀 I had just been too busy to get around to messaging you about it, but when I found out about your big 3-0, I figured this could be a cute good time to ask.

Would you do me the honor of naming the OC I am going to use for my Boromir fanfic series ("A Captain's Duty", originally "Breathe"), and give me your blessing to use you as the muse/inspiration/basis for the character? I know no one better to ship with Boromir other than you, honestly. I don't know if Beatrice is a self-insert in your own "Burn" series, but I definitely see a Gondorian version of RL you being perfect for Boromir. Smart, kind, brave, FUNNY, perhaps a little shy but fierce, and really loves the man.

Sorry if this is a weird request, and please feel free to decline, but I thought it didn't hurt to ask. Think of it as a mega-version of a story dedication; I dedicate all my Reader Insert one-shots to someone, but this felt like a great opportunity to honor the unquestionably biggest Boromir stan I personally know. I don't think I will find the opportunity to do this with another Tolkien character and mutual!

This OC will be considered "canon" in my SotWK AU, so she will probably crossover to other stories/series I write and would be "officially" Boromir's one true love in the AU. That's the plan in my head anyway. I say this to clarify that she will not be a "throwaway" one-time use character, even though Breathe started out as a Reader Insert.

Please let me know if it's a "Yay" or "Nay" either by answering this or DMing me-- whatever you're comfortable with! Again, no pressure! My feelings will not be hurt if you don't like the idea of being shipped with a fictional character. 😉

Once again, Happy 30th! I know you have a fun and exciting decade ahead of you! 😁

!!! @sotwk you're so sweet!! I'd love to help out with your series however I can, and I'll definitely message you about name ideas (I'm pretty bad at coming up with names, but I might be able to come up with something)! And as for being the inspiration for your OC, I'm so flattered- you'll have to make her a lot more exciting than I am, for sure, but once again I'd be happy to help however I can :D My own OC Beatrice kind of started out as a self-insert, or at least something close to one, mostly in a write-what-you-know kind of way, at least. I hope that she's evolved into her own being at this point, but we do still have a few traits in common!

Thank you for the birthday wishes and for including me in your series!!

[sparklecryptid]

Right now I am arguing uselessly with my OC. The Isakai'd one, not the Thranduilion one. That's Colfileg (tentative name, trying to find the best way to name him 'little golden bird' could also be Glorfileg maybe? There are a bunch of words that mean Gold in Sindarin. *grumbles* No canon word for 'purple' but there's like six sindarin words that mean gold/golden? Really Tolkien?), he's older than Legolas and has been in the Trauma and Trouble long enough he's presumed dead when isekai'd OC and Celeg get dropped in. (Also Celeg is trans bc I have yet to read a trans!Celegorm story. And bc he said so.)

Me: Okay we are NOT doing HP, that route is closed off. No vampires, and I haven't touched any Shadowrun books in years. Same for the Percy Jackson novels. As cool as a Nephil OC might be, no Supernatural. I'd have to watch it again.

OC: *nods*

Me: Naruto? That could be neat, but like, too OP once things start moving...

OC: Oh yeah, no, not Naruto.

Me: and I don't know enough about One Piece really, also I don't think I feel like the worlds are a bit too oil and water, at least for me.

Me: MDZS maybe? A modern cultivation AU so you could have read Tolkien? Also, possibility of immortality to match lovely new elves you are definitely going to end up in SOME kind of relationship with? *squints* But I don't think you're central asian, so... If it's a modern cultivation AU, there could be multicultural Cultivators? Maybe?

OC: *tugs on red hair the ONLY feature we've agreed on* I mean- there ARE central asian people with red hair. But YOU don't know anything about them culturally. And I'm probably gonna be american just bc that's what you know best, right? *pauses* I guess I don't HAVE to have red hair-

Me: No, no we both agreed that having Celeg and Thranduils son fall in love with a redhead is funny. How about Star Wars? You could be a jedi and wouldn't have to have any earth race really?

OC: A jedi could be fun! But then I wouldn't get to know anything about Tolkien.

Me: Ah, heck. I forgot. Might be worth it tho. We could cook up a Modern dnd AU maybe? Cup of Shadowrun, cup of modern cultivation, double handful of all the neat DnD character races there are now?

OC: could be neat, I'd still have to look mostly human tho or elven? I don't think an aasimar or a tiefling would do well in Arda. Also, do you want to worldbuild that much for a world I'm not gonna be in again?

Hahaha I’m afraid I’m going to be no help here because all the worlds my ocs come from have a More Backstory than is Needed. Usually I take a world like ours and adjust a Few Things to make things sad for OC dearest before yeeting them into someplace.

ALSO TRANS CELEGORM MY BELOVED. I have never seen a trans!celeg story before but I’m just !!!! About it.

Us: okay there’s a bunch of words for gold but like. Can we have a purple?

Tolkien: no.

Us: but purple is nice!

Tolkien: -dumps a bunch of words for gold and silver on us-

Us: ok :(

[valandhirwriter]

@do-androids-dream-ao3acc - How can I not be greedy when you write so well? I would have offered the same for you, but I too will answer all of your questions.

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

That's a bit of a weird story. In the late 90ies I had just re-read Dumas Musketier Saga (The three Musketiers / Twenty Years After / The Vicomte de Bragelonne) and right at the end of the last book was a moment that annoyed me. It was the accusation against Louise, that her failing to love Raoul had caused his death. I honestly disliked that assertion, the boy had gotten himself killed in my opinion. And I wanted someone in that scene, to actually say it, but all canon characters possible for it were already dead. And then my mind jumped back to the first book, to d'Artagnans ill-fated little affair amoureuse with Mylady de Winter. And suddenly a firework ignited in my brain, connecting the idea of a son of that affair, to a story, that would end up with him being there, and speaking up. It was my first full flung fanfic (about 100k) and it was bad. I recently found it again and it wasn't any good. Though I got some praise for it, weirdly. And that whole thing started me, continuing to a few BG2 stories, Star Wars Snippets, and other smaller stuff until a number of years later the big stories came along.

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

@regis-favorite-raven because I will need an alibi and she's close enough to give one, you, because I will need some fun and gruesome idea of how to get rid of the body.

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?

I don't really do reader inserts, it's one thing I have tried and cannot really do.

I love OCs though, because they allow us to cast light into corners of the fictional world, we do not get to see with the canon MCs. I also believe that taking some minor minor canon char and writing him much bigger is often a good way to have an OC that people do not recognize as an OC, because at least the name was invented by the Author.

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

I am convinced that Emhyr is quietly jelaous, knowing that Eskel and Geralt were lovers in the past. This head canon can easily apply to Emralt and to Emhyr/Eskel. In both scenarious there would be that significant other from the past and Emhyr's drive to prove that he is the much superior choice.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

I still think Ciri was a coward, leaving her people to Nilfgaard's tender mercies, instead of at least trying to use her position, and Nilfgaard's wish to legitimize the conquest, to negotiate for either vassal status, or for becoming a province under her leadership. She could have spared her people a lot of suffering. The fact that she doesn't even care or make the effort, is highly selfish and cowardly to me.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

The different type of Hammermills (Hammerwerk), for refining and creating sheet metal. Along with other details of old mining techniques, that I needed to describe dwarven settlements.

Second would be researching the odd ends and details what Tolkien had said about the nature of the Silmaril.

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I have a mile of AUs in my head that I would love to read. But one that I always wanted, was a good Aragorn/Boromir romantic story running parallel to LotR events, and NOT going for the Boromir dies/vanishes in Amon Hen, but actually has him continue as a character on, through the rest of the Ring War. Bonus Points for their romance not being doomed from the start. Good character exploration between them would give more bonus points. (A certain amount of Boromir whump would also be okay). Authors - those I'd love it from left writing/fandom a long time ago, so I'd take it from whomever does write well enough.

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

I rarely hate characters but I have a strong dislike for some of them. Some I do despise. Let's take one of those.

Cersei Lanister from Game of Thrones: 1. She loves her children truly and would do anything to protect them.

2. She has the guts to preservere in a male dominated society.

3. She is not at least intimidated by Daenerys Targaryen.

For the record: Cersei and Dany sit in the same bucket with me, I dislike them both.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

Ser Arthur didn’t deign to rush or try to prevent him from running. “I shall believe what you did was your last desperate attempt to save your liege lord,” he observed, speaking in the lilting accent of the South. “The ill deed of a man willing to sacrifice his own honour so that another may live.”

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

Valandhir and Cardhwion both are names coming from stories or games´. Cardhwion was my Bhaalspawn in BG2, and Valandhir was a Numenorán character, erroneously believed in later history of having been the living man who later became the Witch King of Angmar. He's from a story I began writing, which actually played around with the alleged backgrounds of Nazgul and historical errors in the records.

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

. Why do I like it? Because looking at it sparks an entire story in my brain.

Quelle: sin-vraal.deviantart.com

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Stories starting with dialogue, or starting without giving me a sense where the story is set, or what the heck is going on. I don't mind having to read to get all the context, but a story where the first scene starts confusing and somehow like a few parts before are missing, make me click away.

Stories that have almost only dialogue will make me hit the return button.

Stories with too short chapters , where I can see the chapter end, while still being at the beginning, have a chance that I won't even start reading.

Genderbenders have a hard time with me. I almost never read them.

I love this truth or dare ask game, but having learned my lesson, I will ask the authors I like directly. :)

Tag whomever you like or are curious about.

I am curious so here are my questions. My "dare" in case you dislike answering will be a story for one of my favourite pairings. ;)

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help? 🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings 🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character 🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? ❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best? 🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate 🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here ☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username? 🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it 🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Writing your favorite pairings? Don't get greedy girl, I basically just gave you romantic garden sex! (Also you KNOW I will answer anything because I love that and I love procrastinating) 😂

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

Just like that. I don't remember how I got into it back in the 90s, but in 2020, I got into it because I liked some Emralt stories so much, I thought, "Hey, maybe I can do that, too."

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

Probably @deagle. She'll know what to do because she's seen it in a movie with Sabin Tambrea 😂

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?

Weeeeeell. Might be one of my OCs is a tiny bit like myself. But in general, I don't do reader inserts a lot.

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

I'm convinced Buck didn't tell Tommy about the sperm donor thingy yet, and it will become a major issue between them for whatever reason.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

I still think his bachelor party behavior was absolutely out of character for Eddie. I know the fandom theories, but I disagree.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Maybe the kind of injuries you get from either falling of a certain height and from being shot with a .45

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I will fail you... still obsessed with the song, so I'd love to see the topic of the seemingly infallible fail to rescue their loved one. Not necessarily resulting in MCD, though. Don't care which pairing, don't care who'd write it. It's juicy.

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

Listen, I don't hate characters. That's stupid, they're not real. I admire writers of any kind if they make me feel things about a character, even if it's repulsion. But wait, we have Gerrard in the coming season. Nobody likes Gerrard... are there 3 good things about him? Let's see. He's old, so he might just die soon. He screams at Buck, that might get him in trouble. He's jealous, so he might make a mistake. I think those are good things 😂

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

Yes, ma'am! Not edited.

“Who killed my father, Pablo? Was that you?”

Carlos pushed himself away from the car’s wreckage and fixed Pablo with his gaze. 

"Me? Oh boy, I don't cross the border so easily these days, you know? And certainly not to get some old guy out of the way. I've got my men for that.“

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

I love Dick. Philip K. Dick, that is 😂

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

There are so many, you know I love all the fanart I ever commissioned or got as a present. But today, I'd like to say this piece by @johix (sorry, if you don't want me to put it directly in a post please tell me!) I just love it.

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Usually, two breaks after a paragraph throughout the whole fic. Or when the fic turns out differently than expected, because I often don't read tags and I rarely read things like MPREG and stuff.

THANK YOU! This was fun. I'll throw the same questions right back at you.

[legolasbadass]

Office Hours, Part 16

Summary: Lorelei Browning has just secured a job as an assistant professor at Exeter College in Oxford. Naturally, she is eager to prove herself and meet every challenge sent her way, but what she does not expect is the tall, handsome stranger who will quickly become much more than a colleague…

Relationship: Richard Armitage x OC (Professor AU)

Word Count: 4k

Rating: E

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my darling @linasofia. Thanks for all your help and support, I don’t know what I would do without you ❤️

Read on AO3

The rain drumming against the windows of Blackwell’s distorts the view of the Sheldonian Theatre and the dozens of people running or biking through the street in search of shelter. Though the cold dampness still clings to me, inside the bookshop, it’s calm and cozy. After chatting with the shop manager to plan a visit with some students for my upcoming Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in Oxford course, I make my way upstairs to the third floor for the secondhand books. Browsing through used and antique books has always been a passion of mine, and I feel at peace as I step into the quiet corner of the bookshop and run my fingers over the discoloured and sometimes cracked covers and flick through yellowed pages, some with notes and names inked into them.

I spent most of the time between Christmas and New Year’s at my parents, trying to figure out when I should call Richard, only to realize that I certainly couldn’t have such a meaningful conversation with him on the phone, so after much deliberating, I’ve resolved to go to his house tonight. Hopefully, he’ll be there, otherwise, I just have to pray that we’ll bump into each other soon. After all, Oxford is rather a small town.

With a pile of books in my arms, I step toward the next bookshelf containing more volumes on Old English. I always find very special books here, and it doesn’t take long before I spot something interesting. As soon as I reach for it, however, someone else grabs it, and I jump, having thought myself alone in this alley. To my surprise, the culprit is none other than Dave, one of the librarians working in Duke Humphrey’s Reading Room at the Bod.

“Professor Browning,” he greets me with a smirk.

“Oh, hi, Dave,” I say hesitantly. “How are you?”

“Good, good. I haven’t seen you at the Bod lately.”

“Well, it was the holidays, so you know.” I shrug. “Plus I actually finished the book I was working on, so I’m taking a short break from research.”

“Finished your book, eh? That’s great!” he says, but his mind seems elsewhere. “Hey, listen—can I call you Lorelei?”

“Er, yeah—of course,” I answer, somewhat startled by the flow of the conversation.

He smiles. “Good.”

I nod, wondering when I will be able to end this awkward small talk and return to the books all around me. “So you’re interested in the role of women in Old English literature?”

“What?”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “The book you’re holding. Woman as Hero in Old English Literature.”

“Oh.” He takes a look at the book cover, frowning. “No, that’s not really my thing. I’m more into modernism, actually.”

“Right. So can I take a look at it then?”

He smirks. “I’ll tell you what—I’ll give this book back to you if you agree to go on a date with me.”

“What?”  I reply with an incredulous chuckle but quickly realize he’s serious. I suddenly recall that time Richard and I spent the afternoon at the Bod and how he had voiced his suspicion about Dave’s feelings toward me. I hadn’t believed him at the time.  “Listen … I’m flattered, but I’m not interested.”

“You have a boyfriend.”

It’s not a question, but the fact that he refuses to accept my disinterest forces me to answer him. “It’s complicated. My boyfriend and I broke up recently, but I don’t want it to remain that way.”

Dave shakes his head slowly. “You know, getting back with your ex is rarely a good idea.”

This time I don’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Well, thanks for the advice, but I think I know what’s right for me.”

“What if your boyfriend doesn’t want to get back together with you? Would you consider my offer then?”

I sigh in annoyance. “Dave—”

“Come on, it’s just one date.”

“She’s not interested, mate,” a familiar, rumbling voice suddenly asserts from behind me, and my heart leaps in my chest. “She made that perfectly clear.”

“This is none of your business,” Dave retorts.

“I think you’d better leave,” Richard says, his voice calm, but the threat underlying his words doesn’t escape Dave’s notice, and soon enough, he drops the book back onto the bookshelf and tells me, “Call me if you change your mind,” before heading out toward the stairs.

Before I can say anything, Richard hastens to stand before me and asks, “Are you okay?” his voice laced with concern. It takes everything in me not to jump into his arms.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.”

An awkward silence settles between us, and I find myself watching him intently, filled with nearly overwhelming longing. The collar of his trenchcoat is raised, and combined with his damp, unruly hair, I can tell that the rain has only intensified since I took refuge in the bookshop. I know him well enough to recognize the softness in the depth of his blue eyes, and it sparks hope in me, but despite having imagined this moment hundreds of times since we broke up, I can’t seem to find the right words.

“How are you?” I begin hesitantly, my fingers fiddling with the edges of the pages in my hands.

He looks at me for a moment, then gulps. “I’m alright. You?”

“I’ve been better,” I answer with a shrug. Then, without really thinking, I add, “I finished my book.”

Richard’s face lights up, and he smiles. “You did? Lorelei, that’s amazing—I’m so proud of you.”

We share a tender smile, gazing into each other’s eyes. Then, as though suddenly realizing that such intimacy is far beyond what we should be sharing with one another given the circumstances, we both look away, and heat rises up my cheeks.

He clears his throat. “I should go.”

“No—wait!”

He halts, eyeing me curiously, and with a hint of longing, if I’m not mistaken.

“We need to talk,” I blurt out before I lose my courage again. “I want us to talk, please.”

With a sigh, he scratches his beard with one of his large hands. I suddenly realize that his beard is slightly longer and more unkempt than I remember. “I guess you wouldn’t want to talk here, though, right? Too public. Anyone could see us.”

My heart tightens in my chest at his bitter tone. I hate myself so much for hurting him.

“I don’t care if anyone sees us,” I reply, my voice trembling slightly. “I don’t care if Professor Bennett or even the Rector sees us.” Richard’s face softens as I pause, and though I don’t want to have such an important discussion in a public place, I can’t stop the words from pouring out of me. “I never should have asked you to keep our relationship a secret so long, much less lie to my parents about us being colleagues. I’m so sorry for asking that of you. The truth is I was scared! I worked practically my whole life to get to this point—to become a professor—but being at Oxford is more than I ever could have dreamed of. I don’t want to make excuses; I just mean that—I knew I had to prove myself, because I know I can lose this position. My plan was to dedicate myself wholeheartedly to my courses and my research so that I could prove I earned my place. And then I met you and you turned my whole life upside down so quickly.”

“Lorelei—”

“No please—let me say this. In just a few months, you’ve come to mean the world to me. And that was scary because suddenly I found myself daydreaming about you in class and during meetings, and spending time I should have been focusing on my research with you. And then I thought—what will people think if they find out? It might give them a reason to undermine me—they might think I’m not so dedicated to this job, and because my place at Exeter isn’t assured, I thought it would be best if no one knew about us. But what I didn’t understand is that, no, my job at Exeter isn’t assured, but I could still do everything right and not be offered a permanent position in a few years. I can do my job to the best of my abilities, but I don’t have a say in the college’s final decision. I do, however, have a say in this—in us . I can’t sacrifice my career for you, but I certainly don’t want to sacrifice what we have for my career. I want to be with you no matter what. If teaching at Oxford doesn’t work out for me in the end, there’s other jobs out there—but there’s only one of you, and nothing is worth giving you up. I’m just sorry I didn’t realize it sooner.”

My heart hammering in my chest, I hold my breath as I wait for him to say something— anything , but he merely looks back at me with a frown. A few moments go by, that gnawing silence lingering between us, and a small voice at the back of my mind begins to sow doubt in my heart.

What if he doesn’t want me back?

“Look, I know I don’t deserve a second chance. And I certainly don’t expect you to forgive me in a heartbeat. But I hope that maybe … maybe in the future, we can at least be friends if this doesn’t work out.” My voice falters over the word friends , and I have to bite my lips and look away to stop myself from crying.

Another moment of silence ensues, but then Richard takes a careful step toward me. I would only have to raise my hand to touch him; the thought makes my heart flutter, and when I take a chance and look up at him, I find him gazing back at me with such raw tenderness that I feel the whole room spinning around us, and those three words I have longed to speak come to mind. But then he kisses me. His lips are slow and somewhat hesitant against mine, reminding me of the gentleness I thought I would never feel again. I had not forgotten what it felt like to be kissed by him, but I had thought we had shared our last kiss, and to be in his arms once more and feel his beard scratching my cheeks as his tongue tangles with mine reminds me of what I almost lost.

As though sensing my thoughts, Richard pulls away and rests his forehead against mine, his deep blue eyes filling my vision. “Lorelei…” he whispers, his voice heavy with emotion as he rubs his nose against mine.

“I’m so sorry,” I say, my voice breaking.

Richard shakes his head and silences me with a kiss. “I know. And I’m sorry for what I said that night.”

“You have nothing to apologize for!” I hasten to say, recalling his tear-stained cheeks as he held onto my hand in the car. “I was totally selfish and inconsiderate!”

“Maybe, but you were also concerned about your career, and I knew from the beginning that was your priority.”

“My career is important to me, yes, but so are you,” I say earnestly, causing him to smile. Then, not knowing how else to express the myriad of emotions swirling through me, I drop the books I’m holding onto the nearest shelf and wrap my arms around his neck to pull him toward me for another kiss. We forget all about our surroundings as we lose ourselves in this embrace, our lips perfectly in sync as though not a minute passed by since we last tasted each other, but in the end, we’re forced to pull away to breathe, and that’s when I notice that we have attracted the attention of other people in the bookshop.

“We’re putting on a show,” I chuckle as he kisses the top of my head.

“I’d invite you over but I walked to get here.”

“You walked?” I asked incredulously, thinking of the unrelenting rain crashing over the city today.

“Yeah, it helps me clear my head….”

He doesn’t need to say anything more for me to understand, and another wave of guilt takes hold of me, but Richard reassures me with another kiss, this time on my cheek.

“My car is parked right around the corner,” I say in sudden realization, eager to escape the curious eyes of other customers in the bookshop.

“My place?” Richard suggests.

“Okay,” I reply shyly and let him lead me away.

***

I can hardly believe I’m standing in Richard’s house.

An awkward silence reigns over us as we take off our coats and boots, as though we have forgotten how to act around each other, but being here reminds me of all the happy memories we shared, and I feel the cracks in my heart start to heal. I’m here. Richard is here. Everything is slowly returning to how it should be.

The house is messier than I’m accustomed to; dirty dishes fill the sink, and a few bottles of wine and whiskey litter the counter. In the sitting room, cushions and throws lie haphazardly on the sofa while various glasses, books, and a half-eaten bag of crisps cover the coffee table.

“Sorry about the mess,” Richard says sheepishly, scratching the back of his head before rushing to clean up a little in a desperate attempt to cover the evidence of his heartbreak.

“It’s okay,” I reassure him with a shy smile. Messes like this stress me out, as Richard very well knows, but right now, I couldn’t care less. I only have eyes for him. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever come here again,” I admit in a low voice, my fingers digging into the flesh of my arms.

Hesitantly, he steps toward me, his eyes boring into my own as he says, “Let’s put it all behind us, okay?”

I nod and blink to chase away the tears clouding my vision. “And no more secrets.”

Richard smiles, his own eyes shining with unshed tears. “No more secrets.”

Nothing else needs to be said. With that promise, all the tension leaves our bodies, and when I smile in return, he pulls me into his arms. My body moulds itself to his, and wrapped in his most reassuring embrace, I feel at home. My eyes flutter close as I bury my head in his chest and breathe him in; I had almost forgotten what he smelled like, and now I simply can’t get enough of him. I can’t seem to be close enough to him even though no air remains between us, and I can hear his heart beating as though it’s my own. Slowly, I pull away just enough to meet his gaze, and understanding my intentions, Richard leans in to kiss me softly, his lips slowly melting with mine and his tongue lazily tangling with mine as he buries his hands in my hair. But the kiss soon becomes more heated, filled with barely contained longing and lust as neither of us can ignore our need for one another.

I clumsily move backwards, trying to pull him toward the stairs, but Richard has other plans. Without ever breaking the kiss, he stirs me toward the sitting room instead and lowers me onto the sofa, making sure that my head is comfortably propped against a cushion before he begins to explore my curves. His large hands rest on my waist, squeezing my skin through my jumper before moving higher until they rest just below my breasts, setting my skin on fire. Though we were only apart for two weeks, it feels like an eternity has passed since we were last intimate—since I last felt alive—and my body responds eagerly to his caresses. Already, I burn for him, and I can feel my arousal pooling between my thighs, begging for his attention.

After countless ardent kisses, Richard breaks the kiss to pull my cable knit jumper over my head. The cool air stains my skin with goosebumps, but the heat in his eyes warms me instantly, and when he presses a wet kiss on the exposed skin of my breasts just above my bra, I let out a desperate whimper that causes him to hold onto me more tightly. The rest of our clothes soon lie forgotten on the floor, and when he presses his naked body against mine, allowing me to feel the intensity of his desire against my upper thighs, sparks erupt along my spine.

“Oh, my darling girl,” Richard whispers hoarsely as he caresses every inch of my breasts before closing in on one tip, sending a wave of heat down to my core. “I was beginning to wonder if I had exaggerated your beauty in my mind.”

The tenderness with which he speaks these words speaks to feelings far beyond lust, and my heart swells with the depth of my love for him.

“Richard,” I whimper, but words are beyond my reach when he worships my body like this.

Burying my fingers in his hair, I hold him against me, encouraging him to continue his careful exploration of my body. He sucks on one of my beaded nipples with every hint of enjoyment and teases the other with his fingers until I can barely breathe, my longing for him reaching new heights. Then his kisses dip lower, along the inner curve of my breasts, then down my belly until he reaches my navel. He pauses to meet my gaze, and in his eyes, I see all my feelings reflected. Almost unconsciously, I reach out to hold his hand, intertwining our fingers and burying my other hand in his hair just as he scatters more kisses on my skin, and more heat spills from me.

Never tearing his eyes from mine, he spreads my legs further apart and buries his head between my thighs to press a kiss against my core. My responding moan echoes through the room, hanging in the air above us as a testament to our shared passion. Then his tongue caresses me, tracing the length of my opening before reaching my clit. His beard is already soaked with the proof of my arousal when he pulls away slightly to say, “God, I missed your taste,” his rumbling voice laced with lust, before he returns to feast on me.

Arching under him, I rock my hips to heighten the pleasure he offers me so willingly and passionately, but as delightful as his tongue is against me, I crave more. I try to tell him as such between breathless moans, but Richard doesn’t need words to know exactly what I want—what I need . With one last swirl of his tongue against the most sensitive part of my body, he crawls back up so that we are eye to eye and cradles my face. As I trail my hands across his broad chest and caress the soft curls between his pectorals, I kiss him, tasting myself on his lips. Into the kiss, I pour everything I’m feeling; my remorse, my need, and most of all, my love, desperate to offer him the reassurance I failed to give him before.

Richard continues to kiss me as he reaches between our bodies to guide himself to me, and when his hardness meets my core, we both moan in relief. But then he stills.

“Ah, shit,” he groans, and I whine in frustration. “Wait here—condoms are upstairs.”

“No, it’s fine,” I hasten to say, slightly breathless as my whole body hums in anticipation. Richard frowns in confusion, so I add, “Timing wise it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, looking deep into my eyes.

“I’m absolutely sure,” I reassure him.

He hesitates for a moment more, but eventually, his ardent need takes over, and he meets me once more, and I wrap my legs around him as he enters me, filling me deliciously. With nothing separating us, I feel more connected to him than ever before, and by the raw, tender look in his eyes, I know he feels the same. When he is all the way in, he stills, letting me adjust to him and soak him in as he shelters me with his strong body. His lips hover over mine as we share our breath, savouring the feeling of being one once more, and only when I tentatively roll my hips does he give in to the temptation.

No more words are needed as our bodies speak for us. Richard thrusts once, twice, almost instantly finding the perfect angle, but his movements remain sensually slow, prolonging the pleasure we missed during our separation. Sighing and moaning into his neck, I follow his movements, abandoning myself to all the delicious sensations he stirs within me as I cling to him, my arms and legs wrapped around him. Nothing stands between us, and our hearts beat in unison as our bodies move as one. Our mutual sounds of passion fill the room, and as he groans my name in my ears while slamming his hips against mine, I feel overwhelmed by all the sensations filling my heart.

This is what I was afraid I had lost. Not just this blissful pleasure only he can give me, but the intimacy between us and the comfort that comes with it. In his arms, I’m home, and I know now that he is worth more to me than anything. And with that reassuring realization, I let myself go completely, my back arching as wave after wave of scalding pleasure consumes me. A few more thrusts, and he follows me over the edge, leaving us panting and clinging to each other.

After a while, our breathing slows down, but we remain wrapped in each other’s arms, savouring our closeness. No words are spoken, and now that the spontaneity of our passionate moment is over, I can sense a small uncertainty lingering between us, a certain shyness that hasn’t been there since our very first date. Richard presses a few lingering kisses on my cheeks before pulling away, then he stands to retrieve his briefs, offering me a glimpse at his muscular back and perfect bum. Desire stirs within me at the sight, but then he turns around and offers me a sweet smile.

“Do you want some tea?” he asks as he tucks my hair behind my ear, and the gentleness of his touch brings a smile to my lips.

“Sure.”

He doesn’t bother to put on the rest of his clothes before stepping into the kitchen to fill the kettle. I stay on the sofa, watching him intently, imprinting in my mind every single one of his movements; the way the muscles of his shoulders flex as he opens the cupboard to grab two cups, the way he scratches his beard as he waits for the water to boil. It’s such a simple, almost insignificant moment, yet I have never loved him as much as I do now.

Reaching for his discarded shirt, I pull it over my head and make my way toward him. He seems completely absorbed by his thoughts and doesn’t notice me until I wrap my arms around him from behind and squeeze him tight, pressing a kiss onto his spine. I hear him chuckle, then he spins around to return my embrace, one of his large hands holding the back of my head. We remain like this for a while, and I close my eyes as I listen to the steady beating of his heart. How I had missed that sound.

“Richard?”

“Hm.”

I hesitate slightly, but when I look up to meet his tender gaze, the words come to me easily. “I love you.”

Richard simply stares back at me, his mouth hanging open slightly. Then he smiles, and the look in his eyes shares his answer even before he manages to speak, his voice somewhat breathless as he cradles my face. “I love you, too.”

Our lips meet halfway in a soft kiss, and soon he lifts me into his arms and carries me to his bedroom, our tea completely forgotten on the counter as we lose ourselves in each other once more.

Tag list: @lathalea @linasofia @mcchiberry @fizzyxcustard @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @i-did-not-mean-to @xxbyimm @middleearthpixie @enchantzz @myselfandfantasy @notlostgnome @laurfilijames @swoopswishsward @quiall321 @dianakc​

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future chapters or added to my tag list!

[ariminiria]

When will bootlickers understand that alot people have no problem with diversity in RoP. The actual problem is the fact that Amazon disrespected Tolkien's legacy and tried to change alot of character's backstories and personalities. Not to mention making a cash grab out of it.

Fair warning, this is going to be a bit long simply because I have a lot to say on this.

I don't know how many people I've blocked over them calling everyone who hates RoP a racist. It's ridiculous. I don't know how this started.

But Hollywood has tricked people into defending the worst possible media in the world, tooth and nail, fighting for it like their life depends on it... simply dependent on if it has POC or women even mildly featured.

Instead of making good media, they tokenize minorities like a shield against all criticism. And I'm sad to see it actually working on so many people.

The thing specifically about RoP, is that there is some valid criticisms regarding the specific way the casting was handled, but Amazon has the easy out of calling everyone a racist in order to ignore the nuance. If they lump the genuine criticism in with the people who are just mad that there are POC, then that's how I get ignorant asshats in my notes calling me a white supremacist and telling me how I support Harvey Weinsten (tf?) all because I said that the show is bad.

Further breakdown under the cut, criticism of how Amazon the racist megacorp handled diversity in RoP.

I'm not an expert in Tolkien by any means. I'd say I know a bit more than most casual fans, only because I obsessively research the lore for my fanfiction, but I'm no Tolkien scholar.

That being said... I know that Tolkien already has built in diversity to his world. So right off the bat, it's inherently problematic to racebend characters and claim that you're "adding diversity" as if there never was any. You're flat out ignoring nonwhite nations, which... seems pretty racist to me.

The main issue of the specific way that diversity was handled for RoP is just another indicator that nobody involved in this manure pile has ever actually picked up a Tolkien book because...

There are tan/brown-skinned Hobbits mentioned. There are two proto-Hobbits as the main characters in RoP. Why weren't one or both of them POC? It would be canonical.

Or did they think that making the two filthy, hungry, idiot, moron buffoon characters POC would be too offensive? Though they had no problem making them stereotypically Irish... really makes ya think.

The showrunners are crowing about adding diversity that Tolkien supposedly "never did", yet they ignore the people groups and lore of entire POC nations he created in favor of poorly created OCs, and "representation" in the form of sloppy seconds by taking an originally white character, casting a POC actor/actress, and calling it representation. Maybe it's just me, but I think POC deserve original characters... and ones that are better written than the ones in RoP.

Not to mention that there is less known about these other nations, so less lore to screw up. Of course, making a series about the tragic story of how the Haradrim, the badass people group who tamed freaking Oliphants, eventually fell under the will of Sauron would mean they didn't get to use the names of characters that Everybody Knows. They'd actually have to be creative 🤪

Another huge thing is the specific implementation of "diversity" in RoP: It isn't diversity. It's tokenism.

The way the now-POC characters and OCs are treated is very odd. For some reason, the xenophobia/interspecies tension between Men and Elves is apparently all directed at the singular black elf?

And that's another thing.

One. Singular. Character.

Of each race.

Realistically, unless it's a coastal trade town or a large international city, the region will homogenize in about 3 or so generations. So either these characters are colonizers/the result of colonization in-lore, or... the more likely explanation... they're being used as mascots by Amazon. Because let's say that the "adding diversity that never was" argument actually made sense, despite the fact that we've established Tolkien already has diversity written into his wolrdbuilding...

Is it really adding diversity if it isn't reflected in the whole culture?

Why aren't a portion of the elves caucasian, then some are black, some are east asian, some south asian, some indigenous? Maybe the diversity is even based on the subcategories of elves, like the Silvan vs Sindar divide. Why not commit fully, use some creativity, and implement it in a way that is both interesting and complements the worldbuilding?

Because Amazon doesn't care about diversity beyond tokenism. As long as they check off their boxes ("make sure we get one dwarf, one elf, and one of the race of Men, the ladies can be royalty!"), they don't care about exploring what that would actually look like in the lore and worldbuilding.

And just a final note, but the Tolkien fandom has battled racists claiming that "orcs are black people" for so long. Only for Amazon to essentially canonize it (as much as this manure pile can be called "canon") because they couldn't be assed to know the barest bones of the lore.

(Or even watch the PJ movies apparently, because the Orcs coming from dark magic-twisted elves is explained by Saruman in Two Towers.)

I understand that some of this is extremely specific lore based stuff, but I suppose I'm used to adapted works of Tolkien having actual passion behind them, enough to care about the small details like the patterns on armor or the specific fabric of costumes. Even the notoriously awful Hobbit trilogy had more passion behind it than dollar signs.

The diversity itself is by no means problematic, and thats not what I or (most, I would hope) other critics are saying. But the ignorant implementation utilized in RoP winds up actually being offensive, and it's because everyone making this Product™️ went into it not with the mentality of passionately expanding what Tolkien had already created, but instead arrogantly thinking that they were surely making something better than the original.

[aipilosse]

Feeling bold, so I'm finally going to do a pinned post of my writing.

The main 'verse

These absolutely don't need to be read in order — each is standalone. I also reserve the right to decide something I wrote at an earlier point was stupid at any time and contradict myself. Nonetheless, these do all have recurring OCs, locations, headcanons, and pretty persistent characterizations. Listing them in chronological order, more or less.

Fair They Wrought Us

Multi-chap, Teen, Gen

The story of Celebrimbor in Gondolin, snatching some joy and friendship between fallen cities. Making weird UT lore work, so I can have Celebrimbor live in Gondolin, reignite his friendship with Idril, become friends with Coroniel, and craft the Elessar.

What Joy Here is Left

A collection of ficlets done for tumblr requests, Teen, mostly gen although some Silvergifting slipped in. Most take place in the Second Age, although there are a few Fourth Age pieces.

The Evil Ex-Boyfriends Club

Multi-chap, Explicit, Celebrimbor/Fingon.

YES. You read that right. The first fic I ever wrote was Celebrimbor/Fingon, and I still think they work as friends with benefits - maybe I should revisit this pairing. After returning from Mandos years after everyone else in his family, Fingon has a difficult time coming to terms with his past. Aredhel thinks a change of scenery will help. Elsewhere in Aman, Celebrimbor is also trying to cope.

Feanorian Week One Shots

I wrote a collection of one shots around each of the sons of Fëanor leaving Mandos. Most are G, one is Teen.

What Brings Us Together

WIP, Mature, Silvergifting

My attempt at making post-canon Celebrimbor/Sauron work. Featuring a cat named Miaulë, a hotly anticipated wedding, and Galadriel losing her goddamned mind.

Other One Shots

Works I didn't really envision as being part of the main 'verse. Most were written for exchanges and events.

Goldilocks and the White Bird

G, Gen

Written for TRSB '21 and comes with beautiful art! When a strange white crebain shows up at Bag End, Goldilocks and her brothers are determined to find out everything they can about their visitor. Their discovery brings about a summer full of magic, machines, and trying not to let their parents find out what they're up to as they try to help the bird.

Greetings, O Favored One

Teen, Gen

Written for the B2ME Mini-Spring Bang and this *also* comes with beautiful art! Six encounters Celebrimbor has with the Maiar and the perils and blessings of the Holy Ones favor.

Darkness Inescapable

Teen, Gen

A pinch hit for TSS '20. Elrond dreams of Númenor.

You are the New Day

G, Silvergifting

Written for TSS '20. I love a good torture fic as much as the next person, but sometimes you need soft, holiday silvergifting too.

The Yawning Grave

Teen, Gen

Eluréd knew there were rules. He chose to break them. A dark fairy tale re-telling of the Second Kinslaying.

Prophetic Tears

Teen, Gen

Idril Celebrindal’s life with a Cassandra twist

The Porn

Listen, we all love gen, and the Tolkien fandom is full of it. But sometimes you need some smut.

You can stop at any time

Silvergifting

Annatar really only has himself to blame. That just makes things worse. Featuring orgasm delay/denial and cock rings.

Brim/Gil stuff

Three one shots featuring Celebrimbor/Gil-galad. Indulging my need to write slutty Celebrimbor. That's all you really need to know.

The Nature of Stone

Galadriel/Melian

Written for MSV '21. Melian is an excellent teacher, and Galadriel is eager to learn everything she is willing to share. Featuring object insertion and the chillest Thingol you will ever meet.

Alas, I don't think I'm going to succeed in finishing the Season of Kink bingo. But here are the three fics I managed to write:

Tools of the Trade

Silvergifting featuring pervertables and light bondage. Perhaps the most Red-Flag-Annatar I've ever written.

Disastrous Expense

Reincarnated Feanor/Nerdanel featuring breath play and soul bonds.

Submission

Sauron/Ar-Pharazôn featuring a submissive Sauron. He's also throwing red flags left and right, but Ar-Pharazôn is a bit too conceited to detect them.

Getting Along

Galadriel/Celebrimbor/Sauron written for undercat. I cannot believe this trio didn't exist already.

[elis-corner]

When I’m not in the mood for writing requests, I’ll often turn to my OCs. They’re such a great way to escape from reality and get into a mindset that I love.

If you somehow have no clue what an OC is, it stands for “original character”. It’s a character you create from the ground up, and are usually made by writers and artists.

My friends and I use our OCs to roleplay and escape from the world around us, whether it be because of things going on in our lives or just for fun, sometimes even to experience things in a different light.

Some of the ways I prefer using my OCs are to construct a life I could never have, let out my frustration, and practice my writing.

I started off writing with a struggle to write each paragraph as a continuation from the previous ones, and my description was always repetitive and bland, more of a “they do this and then walked here” than a “they did this, these senses came into play, and then they walked over here is this manner with this purpose”. Writing for OCs really helped develop that. I’m honestly embarrassed of how bad my writing even just last year was, but I assure you my OCs have really helped.

In terms of constructing a life and world I could never have, I find that every OC has some element of me or someone I know in them, which means I can feel happy for these people, and they can live a life I never could have. This OC falls in love with an OC based on the person I like, and this OC has parents who they feel can always support them. It’s a feeling that brings me a lot of joy.

Releasing frustration is a main factor too. I can make an OC have controlling, hateful parents (mine aren’t, but when my parents and I disagree I can write something about said OCs parents). I can make an OC be gorgeous despite never seeing it. I can make an OC accidentally kidnap their sister’s daughter by accident (totally not because I think my sister would be capable of doing something that stupid, totally). I can threaten the life of or injure an OC so that they can have comfort from someone they know will never shut them down who will always be there for them. OCs are such a good stress reliever, and I cannot tell you how much it helps me feel more positive and good about my life. Either that or wondering when someone is going to compliment me lol /hj .

If you don’t want to try making an OC, it’s not like that’s illegal. It’s just me trying to share something I find helpful and sometimes therapeutic while also offering advice.

A bit of advice I have is controversial, but copy things you’ve seen before. Seriously. Let’s say that you saw an ad on YouTube about abuse; you go ahead and make yourself feel bad for that OC by writing it. It gives you a basis of what to write and expect. What I do to avoid it becoming a carbon copy of the original idea is I think about it for a while, usually overnight when trying to sleep, so that your mind has a fresh view on what to do.

The other thing I find people don’t often do is changing up what happens after you’ve written something, and to that I say “Why the hell not”. An example I like to use is that Tolkien spent from the time he was in school to the day he died writing the one universe, and he changed things time and time again, whether they be the spelling of a name or how someone dies, or even entire family trees. If Gil-Galad went through five fathers, multiple names and physical descriptions, I think you can change the order of a few events. Yes, it’s daunting, and you’re scared to ruin what you wrote, but trust me. It’s better to have a complete story than having to explain to people the changes and therefore confusing them instead of them just reading it as it should be.

I’m bad at ending long posts, so I’m just saying bye, I guess.

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Hi! I’m a big fan of your work!! I am looking for more but unfortunately I feel like I have read all yhe good Harry Potter docs on Ao3. Do you have any recs?

Sorry for the delay, I just know that whenever I make rec list it usually ends up taking a while.

With that, Harry Potter fics are a big genre. Just saying Harry Potter in general really isn’t that specific to me so this is across genres/character focuses/you name it.

Also, as usual, I’ve been on fanfiction longer and have amassed more favorites there. Some of these are cross posted to Ao3. Similarly, a lot are unfinished, this personally doesn’t bother me but if it bothers you take heed.

Also, you’ll see my embarrassing obsession with Tom Riddle. So, heads up for that.

Stepbrother (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, period piece, in which the two remind me a lot of Nabokov)

Cat Among the Pigeons (Tom Riddle/Lily Evans, Psycho-Pass Detective AU, in which I am a beta actually so my promoting this goes without saying)

Til Death Do Us Part (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Voldemort wins AU, which for me does very well with the concept of immortality and what exactly Tom is supposed to do after he wins)

This Tangle of Thorns (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, modern AH AU, a full on Nabokov inspired fic which I enjoy because Lolita)

Delusional (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, sort of. Harry wins the war, goes crazy, checks into a mental hospital. Or he’s not crazy and Voldemort is as unkillable as Palpatine.)

Harry Potter and the Natural 20 (OC insert, D&D inspired, shameless crack. I mostly enjoy the beginning of this but it makes me laugh enough to recommend.)

A Hairy Business (AU, Harry is a deer, he is literally a deer, that’s it. It’s funny.)

Animus, Anima (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry travels back in time, gets stuck in Tom Riddle’s brain, and it turns out Harry’s responsible for every terrible thing that ever happened. This one was squicky even for me, very well done, but strap in.)

Addendum, He is Also a Liar (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, Tom has an inexplicable ability to travel to the future, but only to this random little girl Hermione Granger)

Framed & Fractured (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry gets stuck in an evil painting back in time. Tom is creepy as usual.)

Trying for Eden (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry travels back in time to lecture Tom into morality. It doesn’t work.)

Magical Mirrors (Luna Lovegood and Severus Snape, Luna and Snape stumble on the Mirror of Erised at the same time and strike up a conversation)

Aphelion (Hermione Granger/Loki, MCU crossover, Hermione and Loki strike up the world’s weirdest toxic friendship when Hermione’s young and attending Hogwarts, this leads terrible places as Loki slides into madness and despair)

Wandering Souls (Luna Lovegood and The Undertaker, Black Butler crossover, Luna meets and strikes up a conversation with the Undertaker)

Of Lies Most Beautiful (Tom Riddle, Hunger Games crossover, Tom wins the Hunger Games becaues that’s what he does bitch)

In Wonderland (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry ends up back in the past and decides to raise Tom Riddle. This goes so poorly that the pair almost get eaten by eldritch gods multiple times.)

Rumpelstiltskin, Guess My Name (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Female Harry travels back in time and offers to save Merope’s life/get her Tom Riddle Sr. the non rapey way in return for her firstborn son. Merope thought Harry was joking. She wasn’t joking. In the sequel, also linked, Harry kills Morfin.)

The Eyes (Harry Potter, AU, turns out “the power he knows not” is the power humanity knows not, Harry’s ability to see eldritch abominations and cosmic gods and thus bring them far enough into our reality that they eat everything. And I mean everything.)

Mirror Mirror (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Harry makes a huge mistake and stops Hulk in the middle of a rampage. This gets him abducted by octopus nazis.)

I See the Moon (Harry Potter and Bruce Banner, MCU crossover, Harry got brain damage from the war and wanders around the middle of nowhere. He runs into Bruce. He’s now Bruce’s only friend.)

You Will Be the Death of Me (Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Despicable Me inspired, through a series of convoluted events Tom as the world’s worst father figure ends up raising Harry the sad adorable orphan.)

In Death, Standby (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter (sort of, the authro claims), Tom raises Harry, the only Tom raises Harry that I’ve seen done well because Tom is the world’s worst father. Harry thinks he’s a deformed snake until the age of three.)

Little Harry’s Mirkwood Adventure (Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley, Hobbit Crossover, one of the most Tolkien style crossovers I’ve actually seen and is very good)

A (Self-Imposed) Trap for a Fool (Ginny Weasley, turns out Harry Potter never existed, as in he’s a collective hallucination made up by the entire wizarding world)

McLaggen and From McLaggen with Love (McLaggen, a detective AU then a James Bond style adventure starring McLaggen, the greatest wizard who ever wizarded)

Tom Riddle’s Diary: on keeping devils in the summer (Tom Riddle, Tom Riddle’s antichrist orphan adventures involving exorcism and burning people alive)

and the fates sing (hold on, son) (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Harry is the son of Loki and like all children of Loki he is a wretched and cursed thing)

A Faulty Master (Harry Potter and Itachi Uchiha, Naruto crossover, Itachi after the massacre of his family has a run in with a master of death Harry, who is a creepy creepy man)

Eye of Reason (Harry Potter/Jack Frost, Rise of the Guardians crossover, due to the mythos surrounding his life Harry ceases to be a man and becomes akin to a god)

Flowers for a Ghost (Luna Lovegood and Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Crossover, Luna befriends a blind ghost)

Third Time’s the Charm (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Bruce Banner keeps trying to kill himself and MoD Harry is there to have himself a real good day)

Blind Faith (Bellatrix LeStrange/Tom Riddle, canon compliant, an in depth look at Bellatrix from the escape of Azkaban onward)

Cocktail Time (Rita Skeeter and Gilderoy Lockhart, Rita does an expose and autobiography detailing the descent of Gilderoy Lockhart and how he became what he became)

Fantastic Elves and Where to Find Them (Harry Potter, canon divergent AU, Harry thinks he’s an elf. That’s it.)

The Twine Bracelet (Colin Creevy, a look at Colin’s death) 

Legal Alien (Harry Potter, MCU crossover, Harry visits New York and an alien invasion breaks out. Culminates with the best, dumb, joke.)

The Root of Desire (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, Hermione travels back in time and tries to influence Tom. All this does is inspire his sexual awakening.)

Deadheads (Harry Potter/Godric Gryffindor, a romantic comedy of a kind, culminating in the best dumbest joke)

Give and Take (Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger, Hermione tries to outwit Tom, it ends in despair)

The Road to Somewhere (Harry Potter, Spirited Away crossover, Harry as MoD is in the realm of the spirits)

Absolute (Harry Potter, Harry picks up a death note, he kills everyone)

Fortunate Son (Dudley Dursleys, years afterwards Dudley looks back and writes a memoir and expose about the abuse inflicted on his cousin)

Elective Affinities (Severus Snape/Harry Potter, Harry travels back in time to discover his parents are assholes and things are more complicated than he imagined)

Juxtaposed (Bod, Graveyard Book crossover, Bod attends Hogwarts)

The Fire Omens (Tom Riddle and a look at WWII)

Broken Toys (Tom Riddle and his useless broken toys)

The Fine Art of Poisoning (Madame Zabini)

A Marriage of Convenience (Pansy and Theo get married)

Reparabilis (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Tom becomes a professor, he still destroys Harry Potter)

The Unforgivable Curses (Draco Malfoy, a look at the 4th year unforgivable lecture with Moody and the Slytherins)

Ugly (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy one sided Dudley/Harry Potter, Dudley’s fat, ugly, and creeps on his cousin)

Three Can Keep a Secret (Harry Potter, on secrets and secret keeping)

Caveat Incimici (Hermione Granger, on Hermione and her terrifying wrath)

Babylon (Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Harry never gets rid of Tom)

Wonderful Tragic Mysterious (Luna Lovegood and Albus Dumbledore, Luna Lovegood time travels and becomes a young Albus’ neighbor)

In the Clockface, Weighted and Weary (Harry Potter/Ariana Dumbledore, Harry after DH ends up back in time in Dumbledore’s childhood and witnesses the beautiful Dumbledore family dysfunction)

Eternal Return (Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, Harry is reincarnated as Tom Riddle and as a result becomes Voldemort so that a Voldemort exists)

Like Pale Fire (Harry Potter/Godric Gryffindor, the Founders are resurrected and it turns out Harry had travelled to the past and become Salazar Slytherin, turns out the Founders were more complicated than people expected.)

12 Moves Sideways (Harry Potter and Light Yagami, Death Note crossover, Light becomes the Defense Professor, for once Harry does not figure out the mystery.)

A Very Young Girl’s Record of Her Own Impressions (Ariana Dumbledore’s diary)

Night Comes Early (Moody on war)

Little Witches (The Black family women and how it all falls apart)

Paved with Good Intentions (Petunia on finding a baby on her doorstep)

Emerald Serpent for Vanity (Draco and Nagini introspective)

Blue (Tom Riddle/Bellatrix LeStrange, Voldemort wins dystopia, Tom visits Bellatrix’s grave and is very crazy)

Eighteen (Hermione Granger, on Hermione’s betrayal of her parents)

Ouroboros (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, on what they’ve made of each other)

Not so Different (Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird Crossover, Scout reflects on the wizarding world’s raicsm)

Traitor (Hermione Granger, Hermione is captured by the Death Eaters and commits unspeakable acts to free herself)

Smashing Mirrors (Tom Riddle, introspective)

Twelve Dark Moons (Luna Lovegood/Tom Riddle, Luna becomes a captive of the dark lord)

Full Circle (Harry Potter, Harry wins and is miserable)

The Web of a Thousand Spiders (Luna Lovegood on the diary)

The Metronome (The fall of Lucius’ entire generation)

Understand (Hermione Granger and her betrayal of her parents)

Tea with the Headmaster (Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, the pair have tea)

This Grief Feeling (Hermione Granger and Severus Snape after the end)

After Innocence (The trio after the end)

Of Great Turmoil and Excess Stupidity (Sesshomaru and Hagrid, Inuyasha crossover, Hagrid decides to capture a demon for class)

What’s Left of Hope (Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore, on preserving hope)

In His Keep (Severus Snape and Luna Lovegood, Snape informs Luna her father has died)

Wednesday (Petunia Evans, introspective)

In the Presence of Angels (Moody in WWII)

What He Grows to Be (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry Potter raises Tom Riddle in the past and it goes horribly wrong)

Being Cassandra (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Tom, and their strange AU friendship)

The Girl (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, a fem Harry Potter keeps accidentally appearing in Tom’s childhood)

Corruption (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Tom wins AU and female Harry slowly becomes corrupted)

One Night Stand (Tom Riddle/Lily Evans, a wonderful look on the first war, Tom Riddle, Lily Evans, the Order of the Phoenix, and terrorism)

The Voldemort Principle (Severus Snape, turns out Snape was Voldemort the whole time and Harry is a lying liar who lies)

Harry Potter and the mountain of pure diamond (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Harry has become an ageless god who travels worlds and decides to raise Tom Riddle. He’s disturbed when he realizes Tom is more of a person than he is)

A Road Less Travelled By (Harry Potter/Lucius Malfoy, Harry’s a veela, just read it, it’s amazing, I know I sound crazy but it is)

Transformation (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, Draco gets eaten by the Forbidden Forest and then Harry gets eaten too)

Rock Bottom (Tom Riddle/Harry Potter, Tom gets trapped being defense professor and has a miserable time)

[spiced-wine-fic]

Fic Writer Review

Tagged by@effervescentdragon Thank you, that’s so sweet 😘

How many works do you have on AO3? 39

What’s your total AO3 word count?

2576954

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I’m monofandom. Tolkien only.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1) A Far, Fierce Sky, which is a sequel to A Light in The East and unfinished!

2) Magnificat of the Damned III.

3) Fragments of Fate and Fire (Basically art, kudos to the artists!)

4)Dark Prince

5) Magnificat of the Damned IV.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

In the last couple of weeks I’ve turned them of for several reasons, (not to do with hate comments).

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Magnificat of the Damned IV: Anvil. Dagor Dagorath and the end of the universe.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

No.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, oddly considering what I write. When I began on LORFF.com and then Faerie most people seemed far more interested in just reading and writing and willing to give the stories a chance. (No filters!) There was a sock on Fragments last year. Fairly certain it is a sock as the person I believe it to be has a long, long history of sock puppets and his writing and terminology were the same.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I write sex scenes if the story calls for it. M/M or multi. Not really into PWP for the sake of it. I need a bit of a run-up 😂

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Someone’s translated Dark Prince into German on Wattpad and used some art I commissioned for the cover, cheeky bastard 😂 I have given permission to some people to translate fics but they all sent me the link to the site’s the fics are uploaded onto (Which in itself is funny as I couldn’t possibly understand anything, and might have been reading War and Peace in Chinese or something!) But they are all sites hosted in those countries. Wattpad is not one.

I’ve had ‘in ‘verse’ specific (as in they make no sense outside my ‘verse) ideas claimed by someone else, except that it’s so obviously a lie (as the ideas were posted years before I was unlucky enough to know this person). But apart from the Wattpad one, I’m not aware of it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, Russian, German, Romanian, I think, and Chinese.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I wrote Dark Lands and part of Dark Blood with Anwyn. She was lovely to write with. @naryaflame and I do write in a shared multiverse but that is case of checking things with each other rather than co-writing.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Fëanor/Fingolfin.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don’t want to finish a Far Fierce Sky but I feel I ought to. It almost is finished really, but it and the prequel were a gift fic based on Anestel by Esteliel and I tried to write Legolas like her own vision of him. The trouble is I can’t stand timid, shy characters. I enjoy reading them but I get so bored writing them. That’s a whole other ball game. (Elgalad (an OC) comes across like that in my fic, although not as intensely, but I could write that as I know Elgalad’s not really like that). ‘Sky’ has the most kudos of anything I’ve written just because it has Legolas in it, (typical) which irks me as I’m not that interested in him as a character 🤷 So I really doubt I’ll finish it. Still, I enjoyed writing in Khand in that fic exploring a little of their culture, and the young Variags who became Khadakhir, I loved writing Sauron. It was the first fic I really delved into his relationship with Vanimörë, which is exceedingly complex. Also that was the first story my OC Bainlaph appeared in. He’s a sub minx and I do like writing him. So the fic wasn’t a waste, or not to me.

What are your writing strengths?

Perseverance, I think. Although there are a couple of fics that are incomplete and abandoned, I mostly do finish.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I dwell far too much on the gorgeous flowing hair, the beautiful eyes, the tall bodies…okay stop 😅 I just enjoy imagining that, and not in a lustful way, not at my age! It’s more like the way I appreciate art, or Michaelangelo’s ‘David’ or ‘The Charioteer’ of Delphi.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve done that once in a fic I took down, which was just bits of French, I asked Narya to check it as she speaks French, which she kindly did. Usually, I don’t write dialogue in another language because I’m only monolingual and aware that Google Translate is hilarious. One curse word might be fine, try a sentence and people who do speak the language will laugh.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Tolkien.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Summerland, which was a gift for @naryaflame an AU crossover of her wonderful The Ways of Paradox and my ‘verse.

It was 2018 and a gorgeous long, hot summer and I was absolutely in the ‘zone’ when I wrote it; it just flowed. It was set on the Devon coast and I could just smell the air, see the characters as if I was watching them and every scene built itself. It felt effortless. That doesn’t usually happen — or only for certain chapters. Most fic is work (to a greater or lesser degree). Tagging: @keiliss, @lucifers-cuvette @awesome-bluehair-universe @naryaflame @lumeriel-666, @skyeventide @cycas @thisshadowprevails @idrilsscribe @nuredhel @formerlyknownasredacted @thisshadowprevails @melkors-4th-silmaril If anyone has a separate name for their AO3 or SWG account and wants to do this, please do, the name differences just confuse me sometimes and I’m not sure who’s an author and who isn’t.

[zargsnake]

My crime lord OC, Glagret, a.k.a. Knightkiller

Usually, the “secondary evil name” trope is a Sith trick (or tradition?), as with Vader, Sidious, and Tyranus. But some Sith only use one name (Maul), some Sith use a secondary good name (Revan), and sometimes non-Sith partake, too (Kylo). The titular Knightkiller is not a Sith, but her dual identity is still the core of the drama and mystery of the story.

I wanted her to be an interesting and unique woman villain, and I wanted to write about a character who is inhumanly old, and the weird, incomprehensible pain that such a long life would bring. Many other fantasy worlds have dwelled on this topic (it’s like the main theme of The Silmarillion), but I wondered if I could make it work in the human-centric, family-tragedy-oriented world of Star Wars. Hopefully her relationships with Willo, Tila, and the Jedi Order express that eerie struggle.

Though her moral parallel to Vader is obvious, her main inspiration, and really the whole story’s, was Count Dooku. Spoilers if you haven’t read the latest chapter:

I was thinking about how twisted and backwards Dooku’s behavior is (if you follow my other blogs you’ll know that trying to understand the confusing and relatively unpopular narrative of Attack of the Clones is my main purpose in life). They don’t really explain his motivation in the movie, though they do set it up as a mystery or a trick (“He’s a political idealist, not a murderer,” so the Jedi believe).

You can definitely work backwards from the fact that he’s Christopher Lee, and a similar character to Saruman, and therefore indirectly granted the extremely thorough lore of Tolkien. Why should any other writer have to work so hard again, anyway? To horribly paraphrase, Saruman was trying to stop the rise of evil by learning more about it, but he read too many bad books and that turned him evil, too. In the movies, this is simplified a bit into a character who is ruled by logic, who sees with his prophetic orb that Sauron’s victory is inevitable, and chooses the winning side. I can see the cursed scholar and hopeless pragmatist in Dooku, too.

But the far more twisted aspect of Dooku’s descent, the one which inspired Glagret, is Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon was Dooku’s student and a fellow iconoclast; they seemed to have far more in common with each other than, say, Anakin and Obi-Wan do. Dooku invokes Qui-Gon when he’s trying to win over Obi-Wan, and his words show grief and yearning (“I wish he were still alive. I could use his help right now”).

But Qui-Gon was killed by the Sith. And Dooku joins the Sith. He replaces Maul as Palpatine’s apprentice, and steps into the role that murdered his own beloved friend and son-figure. How could he do this?

You could say that Palpatine tricked Dooku. But the more sickening and heart-breaking explanation, in my opinion, is that Dooku knew exactly what happened. The Sith, the objects of all the scary fairytales from his Jedi childhood, are back, and they’ve taken away the person he cared about most in the world. But instead of fear or anger, instead of wanting revenge, he takes the exact opposite reaction. Unnatural, indeed.

I tried to explain this backwards “logic” through Glagret’s conversation with Tila. From her strange spiritual and philosophical point of view, since the death match killed her Willo, then the death match is the most powerful and worthy thing in the world, the thing most in tune to the Jedi’s own mighty Force, which she will always believe in. I think Dooku felt the same -- since the Sith killed his Qui-Gon, they are clearly the more powerful side (nevermind that Maul lost the next one). And if might makes right, a lesson his cruel galaxy and strict upbringing has taught him, then his choice is clear.

The other aspect of their fall, of course, is that the wicked side has money. I think Dooku comes from a wealthy family, and Glagret works her butt off to get the sponsorship of Senator Dinv. The cynical reading is that all their morbid “logic” is a smokescreen for their real, though perhaps unconscious motivation, simple greed. I like this reading quite a lot. I also gave Glagret this dry obsession with “fun” to echo Star Wars’ raison d’être, to make money out of entertainment. (“Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy” is one of my favorite song lyrics because of its mournful, bitter attitude toward something meant to be light. Glagret has the same attitude but the opposite view.)

Anyway I think the Dooku stuff is more interesting and unique, but once that has been revealed then Glagret turns into yet another Vader parallel (I just can’t help myself!) with the “From her position of such great evil, she can do good, it is never too late, blah blah blah.” My only note about that part is another name origin, since “Glagret” of course comes from “regret.” She seems to want to move forward, but regret will always drag her unhelpfully into the past.

In the waning days of the Republic, can we trust a person like Glagret?

(Btw I haven’t thought of a name for her species, so if you’ve read this far and have an idea please hit me up!)