#b2mem

[maya-tl]

Crablor Grab Prompt: Harp

Little drawing I did for this year's B2MEM! I love the carnival theme so much, all the games are so much fun. ❤️

[arofili]

Eärwen Fic Rec List

for B2MeM 2023, I’ve put together a rec list for fics about Eärwen! @spring-into-arda :)

rulers make bad lovers by Chestnut_pod; Anairë/Eärwen/Elwing, rated E, 73k — I haven’t actually finished reading this but what I’ve read so far is amazing! Chestnut has such a beautiful, nuanced take on Elwing, and that absolutely extends to Eärwen and Anairë and their political situations.

Homecoming by @grundyscribbling; Eärwen & her mother (& Olwë & Arafinwë), rated G, 2.1k — A lovely exploration of Eärwen and her unnamed mother at the end of the War of Wrath.

Cherish by inigo1220; Eärwen + Anairë, rated G, 10k — I’m biased since this is written for my art, but this is a truly gentle, tender story about Eärwen and Anairë’s developing relationship through the ages. Queerplatonic fic always has a special palce in my heart <333

First Impressions (specifically ch3) by @lithgaeril; Eärwen/Arafinwë, rated G, ~2k — A super sweet first meeting between Eärwen and her future husband!

fill our gold cups with love by @crownlessliestheking; Eärwen/Anairë, rated G, 2.6k — Anairë and Eärwen argue in the aftermath of their husbands’ abandonment...and Arafinwë’s return. So angsty!!

all of Those Who Remain by @cuarthol, but especially His Brother’s Wife and Pleasures Never Before Imagined; Anairë/Eärwen(/Arafinwë), rated M, both about 4k — Really interesting take on Anairë, Eärwen, and Arafinwë post-Darkening, and a poignant exploration of female sexuality in a repressive society.

Flowers and Silk by @ladybrooke; Anairë/Eärwen, rated G, 300 — A lovely look into Anairë and Eärwen’s lives through an analysis of gems.

The Love of Their Mothers by @imakemywings; Anairë & Eärwen, rated G, 1.2k — Short & sweet fic about Eärwen and Anairë planning the futures of their not-yet-born sons :) 

Day three: Across the A-spectrum by @ambarto; Eärwen/Arafinwë, rated G, 1.2k — Arospec love <333

Another Life by @ladybrooke; Anairë/Eärwen, rated G, 100 — A sweet drabble of devotion.

mama’s boy by @lesbianhaleth; Eärwen & Finrod, rated T, 1.5k — A complex, angst-filled, deeply nuanced analysis of Eärwen and her eldest son.

rockrose & thistle by @kilegriel; Eärwen/Nerdanel, rated T, 944 — Hurt/comfort distilled to its truest essence!

So Let Us Shine by @edgeoflight; Anairë/Eärwen/Nerdanel, rated E, 3.6k — Sweet, playful, affectionate smut between three ladies who absolutely deserve all the good things!

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Maglor Rec List

🌊What Happens at Camp Eglarest, Stays at Camp Eglarest by @polutrope

🌊Nowhere Man by lotrfan

🌊An Elf in the Woods by @admirablemonster

🌊And now each night I count the stars by @bloodwingblackbird

🌊As the Tides Flow by @kanafinwe-makalaure

🌊Consonance by @elesianne

🌊The Flowerpot Incident by @maglor-my-beloved

🌊Laughing All the Way by @polutrope

🌊A contest by @ettelene

🌊Home Through Shadows Journeying by @maglor-my-beloved

🌊Buttered Up by @polutrope (NSFW)

🌊Where no storms come by @arrivisting

🌊 Good night and good luck by @grundyscribbling

🌊 Hearken still unsated by @polutrope

This list has been brought to you by @tinnurin, @elennalore, Mel, @symbieote (please get me your handles because #team), and my own little person ❤️

(This post shall be amended in the future)

[z-h-i-e]

For my next trick...

Once upon a time, I wrote a bunch of stuff to help popularize a pairing. That was not the intention, but once that train got started, I think we figured out there were no brakes. It's been over twenty years, and I think Glorfindel and Erestor are doing just fine these days.

Ergo, time for something completely different.

Now, just as with the previous project, I can't take credit for being the first with the idea (there's two others playing in this sandbox -- so really, this pretty much identical to the whole Glorfindel/Erestor thing from a set-up perspective).

Sadly, because there's only three of us, the tag isn't common and searchable blah blah blah on AO3. Join me in changing that, people of Middle-earth!

Because Middle-earth (or Valinor) needs more Finrod/Thranduil.

Or as I fondly like to call them, Bling Kings.

I'm doing my part (sometimes with a little help from Thranduil's wife) this Back to Middle-earth Month. Here's some samples aka drabbly things (currently corralled in Bunniverse, but you know I'm going to start thinking outside the dodecahedron at some point).

Economic Indicators An excuse to write some telepathic dirty talk with Thranduil and Finrod.

Consession & Consolation An excuse to write about sex toy discussion between them.

The Edge of Night An excuse for edging. You know Thranduil's into that for sure.

Options An excuse to remind Felagund he does still have the option to give himself a hand now and then.

And of course, sometimes Avisiel is there, too.

Behind the Curtain An excuse for the three of them to have sex at the theatre.

Custom Made An excuse to revisit the whole sex toy thing now that they have it.

Good Manners An excuse to have sex on the couch.

Waltzing An excuse to write something that didn't have anything to do with sex (directly). JK, this one is actually pretty sweet.

And if you like those samples - feel free to message me for access to the file Phoenix is in. Yes, that story is much about Fingon and Maedhros, but since that's where things start, there are full chapters yet to be posted that are full of Finrod/Thranduil.

[hhimring]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Celebrían (Tolkien), Finrod Felagund Additional Tags: Trauma, Recovery Summary:

A moment in the recovery of Celebrian in Valinor. A sequel to this ficlet: But There Was Tea

[yuzukimist]

Summary/excerpt:

He expects to open his eyes, metaphorically speaking, in the Halls of Mandos. That is where the dead go, after all, and after being killed by Morgoth he is indisputably dead. And after the unbearable weight and pain of the last few centuries, he finds himself almost looking forward to the supposed peace of it.

He is therefore moderately bewildered when he finds himself awakening in Barad Eithel.

Author's note:

This five-chapter fic is my primary contribution to Back to Middle-Earth Month (2023). I started writing this before March itself but it was begun very much with B2MEM in mind (since I wrote it out of my longstanding love of all things Silm and LOTR, and with the intent to have it ready in time for March to celebrate B2MEM), and while I didn’t originally plan for it to go along with any particular idea from the official Prompt Board it could ostensibly be considered a fill for the prompt ‘Waking Up In A Strange Place’ depending on how you squint. XD

In any case, this fic is Fingolfin-centric and features time travel, angst, many messy and emotional conversations, and the siblings of the House of Finwë being exceptionally dramatic as usual but also very awesome. Hope you like it! :D

[melkors-big-tits]

Bedtime story

A short daddy Melkor & baby Glaurung drabble I wrote for the B2ME @spring-into-arda mission

“—and that concludes the wonderful tale of Tilda the terrible.“

The dark lord gives a satisfied sigh, closing the book before regarding the plump golden dragonling, who’d made a comfy nest for himself from his favorite blankie, in his arms.

*so cute* He coos in his mind before shifting in his seat, preparing to stand up and urging his son to do the same. “Now, it’s time for you to skedaddle of to bed, Glaurung”

But the dragonling refuses to move, he makes himself even more comfortable in the warm lap before chirping up at his creator; “More!”

Melkor suppresses the chuckle from hearing that demanding tone, he really shouldn’t indulge Glaurung lest he turn into a spoiled brat --but the expectantly swishing tail is almost enough to sway the valas resolve but no! He needs to put his boot down and be a responsible paren-- “Please, dada?”

The dark lord of Arda is single-handedly defeated by a pair of huge imploring dragon eyes. His heart swells, or it would if he Had a heart -being a bunch of musical notes tied together with some anti-material string and Erus ear wax means that he’s very much lacking in the internal organs department- nevertheless, Melkor reclines back into the plush chair and flips the book around -he’s not actually reading it, just making things up as he goes along- and gets ready to tell another tall tale to his precious spoiled baby.

“Once upon a time there lived a tiny elf named Fingilgarondriel--” “Dada why does the elves names sound like they’re talking with a hot potato in their mouth?” Melkor chuckles at his sons question and kisses the top of his scaly golden head before answering “Not just their names but their whole language, it’s because they have those silly leaf eating teeth, they can’t Hiss or GROWL like proper people.” Melkor hisses through his sharp black teeth and the growl he lets out is so deep that Glaurung can feel it resonate within him. The little dragonling lets out a happy giggle when his creators words tickle him. Listening to Glaurungs happy chirping laugh once again fills Melkor with the lovely gooey feelings that he wishes would never fade~💗

But he’s the Dark Lord and so he valiantly fights off the goofy grin, which is aggressively tugging up the corners of his mouth, before his carefully crafted scary image is completely ruined.

“Let’s get back to the story, shall we?” At Glaurungs enthusiastic nod Melkor clears his throat and continues to ‘read’ the ‘storybook’ to his sweet little son who after just a short while ends up falling into a comfortable sleep right there in his lap and Melkor sees no reason to rush Glaurung to his own bed, instead he sits there, in their favorite chair just holding his precious baby, whispering sweet endearments and promising to forever protect and love him no matter what.

[spring-into-arda]

Back to Middle-Earth Month is back for its 18th edition!

This year, the Spring into Arda team is hosting 3 events during March to celebrate B2MEM.

Spies in the Shadows

Middle-Earth’s heroes need you! Do you have what it takes to become a top spy and support the forces of good in their battle against the darkness?

Want to find out?

Then join us this March for Spies in the Shadows!

This espionage extravaganza comes in two forms:

A Middle-earth Mystery is a team-based event where participants are assigned to spy guilds. During March you will be given missions to complete either together or individually to score points.

The best guild will be honoured at a very special event in April!

Don’t want to join a team, but still want to participate? Then check out The Rogue Spy!

From March 1 to April 15, you can once again score points by completing missions. The spy with the most points will be awarded!

Sign-ups for Spies in the Shadows are open!

You have until February 15 to sign up to A Middle-earth Mystery, and until March 31 for The Rogue Spy, though we recommend joining by February 25 to ensure communication goes smoothly.

Please note that Discord will be used for A Middle-earth Mystery.

More details will follow soon.

B2MEM prompt board

Don’t want to do anything fancy to celebrate Back-to-Middle-Earth Month? Never worry, the Spring into Arda team has you covered. We will also release a board with 100 prompts to celebrate all things Middle-earth in late February and invite you to post any works created for it to our AO3 collection, or to tag this blog when you post them on tumblr!

[varda-delle-stelle]

Hello, for the events of Back to Middle-Earth month here is my list of fic rec for the character of Maeglin

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43728310 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41336703 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28763673 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/35126518 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29642916/chapters/72878724 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33089218 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42422313 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36099724 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26840734 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41544732/chapters/104197512 this is part of the aure entuluva series

https://archiveofourown.org/works/44859700 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37729903/chapters/94195165 

@spring-into-arda

[elentarial]

Outfoxed

Outfoxed (1666 words) by BaccaratBlack Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Elenwë/Turgon of Gondolin, Aredhel & Celegorm | Turcafinwë Characters: Celegorm | Turcafinwë, Aredhel (Tolkien), Elenwë (Tolkien), Turgon of Gondolin, Original Female Maiar Additional Tags: Mischief, First Love, Celegorm is a Warning, Brother-Sister Relationships, Snipe Hunt, Orome’s Woods, Feanorians being Feanorians, Not Beta Read, Back to Middle-Earth Month, B2MEM 2023, Back to Middle Earth Month 2023 Summary: “The prey that you seek is elusive. It can camouflage itself to become one with the surroundings. It would be easiest to sneak up on one and capture them in the bag. Then you may bring it back and show your lovely lady.” Turno stared down at the bag and stick. “I thought we would be hunting something grand or dangerous. What do I do with the stick?”   Aredhel and Celegorm take Turgon hunting.

[spring-into-arda]

Another great event happening this March! Remember, B2MEM allows for ANYTHING, so you can participate in another event and post to the B2MEM collection or use the B2MEM tag on Tumblr.

March of the Noldor

What is it?

A month-long event to commiserate the grueling walk the Noldor took, across the Helcaraxe, from Aman to Beleriand.

When is it?

March 1 - March 31

How do I participate?

Post something regarding the march and mention @march-of-the-noldor. Everything made will be reblogged here.

Go forth and create something New!

But this is also a great time to reblog older works relating to the march too!

What is allowed?

EVERYTHING!

Art, fic, meta, moodboards, poems! It's all welcome!

Want to do a character study? Awesome!

Make a collage of the kind of wild life the Noldor might encounter? Amazing!

Talk about the different types of ice the Noldor walked across? Fantastic!

Record a list of new traditions that developed during the walk? Bring it on!

We shall depart on this voyage together!

If you have any questions please ask them! <3

header by Adam Excell - unsplash

[arofili]

Robin Smallburrow helps to tear down the New Mill.

A ficlet about the Scouring of the Shire for B2MeM! @spring-into-arda​

[sweetteaanddragons]

Prompt: Opening a Door

@spring-into-arda

He had hoped, for the first few days that he had been back here, that he was not alone. That someone, anyone, had been sent hurtling back to the beginning with him.

His wife. His children. His brother. His half-brother. Anyone.

He’d had particular hope for Feanor, actually, because he had a sneaking suspicion that his getting sent back in time had something to do with Feanor’s mysterious project in the Halls of Mandos.

To all appearances, though, he truly was the only one in all of Tirion that would see Feanaro and think Feanor instead.

So he would have to do this alone.

It was an uncomfortable thought. He had not worked alone, as a general rule; he could not, for the projects he undertook. Politics were not smithwork where a lone genius could emerge from seclusion with a new masterpiece; they were collaborative by nature.

There had been one exception, of course, and it was tempting to have a repeat performance every time he saw Melkor swanning about the streets.

It was probably a bad idea though. Certainly a bad idea.

It was a bad idea that was getting more tempting by the second the longer he waited without any idea how he was going to change the entire course of his people’s history on his own.

Which was why he was here, standing outside the door of the house Feanor kept in Tirion . . . and why he had been here for the last half hour as the light of the Trees faded from silver to gold.

It would not be the first time he had talked to Feanor since he had been unceremoniously thrown back in time, but the first time had been a brief thing; a polite conversation with their father present wherein Fingolfin had (with many quiet mental apologies to the woman in question) insulted Feanor’s mother in Sindarin and watched his face carefully for any reaction.

Since Feanor had immediately demanded to know more about whatever strange twisting of Quenya was being popularized in Tirion now and not punched him in the face, Fingolfin had fairly conclusively proven that Feanor was indeed Feanaro and not his future self.

He did not have to talk to Feanor now. He could go to his father. He could go to Arafinwe. He could go to - oh, anyone. Anyone else.

But if he was truly going to change things, he suspected he was going to have to start here.

He raised his hand to knock.

Before he could, the door was yanked open.

“You can’t knock for at least another five minutes,” a tiny Carnistir informed him. “We have bets going, and if you knock now, no one will win.”

“Ah,” Fingolfin said, blinking rapidly.

It was the first time he had seen his brother’s children since . . . everything.

It was strange to see Maitimo standing behind Carnistir looking so openly and exasperatedly mortified by his brother’s antics.

“Of course you can come in, uncle,” he said. “Atar is very curious to hear the reason for your visit.”

Very curious. Not hostile. Not suspicious. Just - curious.

He had forgotten what things had been like before they got so very bad.

“I will be happy to satisfy him on that point,” he said and finally took advantage of the open door to come in.

[elennalore]

Like a moth to a flame

It was meant to be a triptych of Andreth and Aegnor, so why did it leave Celebrimbor with a brooding sense of unease?

For @spring-into-arda Eregion Art-a-thon

My art, pencil and water colour on paper. Silmarillion Artist Bingo prompt: Diptych or triptych

[z-h-i-e]

Tagged by @jhelenivarsimae

Here we go:

“Safe journey to you,” offered Eärwen as Vingilot lifted back up into the night sky. 

This is from the spy story that I'm writing as B2MEM goes along this year; it's all based on what the players decide and who they suspect as being the spy, so I couldn't pre-write in advance. It's a story that won't be posted out until after B2MEM wraps up, if at all, since it's mostly going to make sense in the context of B2MEM.

However, if you want to hang out on the Discord, read the updates on the attempt to retro-save Celebrimbor, guess the spy, and locate the lost lady (and my self-indulgent Thranduil/Finrod side story)... we do have an infiltrator role for those who are just interested in being present (and, a one-off drabbling and making art week that anyone there can participate in, not just those playing the Spies in the Shadows game). Hit me up if you want an invite.

(Because I like breaking rules, here's the last bit from the self-indulgency, because sharing Finrod's awkward attempts at pick-up lines is my jam now I guess:

Eventually, only Thranduil and Finrod remained at the table.  “So…”  Finrod rested his chin on his fist, elbow on the table.  “I heard you like shiny things.”

Thranduil lifted a brow.)

Instead of tagging, I open it up to anyone who wants to do this, since I tend to be slow at tagging and I need to get back to encoding some diary pages written by Celebrimbor. As one does.

Rules: In a new post, show the last line you wrote and tag as many people as there are words.

Tagged by @thedaughterofshadows sksksks. Well, this is the last line I wrote recently so uh.

“Sleep, cousin. The wine has gone to your brain.”

It's from the B2mem side mission, Write A Little Tale.

Tagging: @jaz-the-bard @thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny @werian-wintertid @z-h-i-e @admirablemonster and who ever else wants to participate

[cilil]

♞ Race #1: All Around Andrath » Here (63 chapters) ♞ Race #2: Escape from Eryn Vorn » Here (25 chapters) ♞ Race #3: Gallop Along Greyflood » Here (30 chapters)

Let's go, Team Birdemic! @i-did-not-mean-to @maironite

Written for @spring-into-arda