#featuring my oc Beren just because i can

[stealth-black-leg]

Forcing myself out of writer's block to write some propaganda fic for my old men...

The first time they meet, Whitebeard wipes the floor with Zeff. Nothing personal — just two pirate crews that happen to bump into each other, inevitably clashing. Par for the course in their line of work.

What is unusual—and highly so—is for the defeated captain to, bruised and beaten as he is, offer to cook a meal for the other. He does it earnestly, even amidst grumbles and insults, and with such passion for his craft that Whitebeard finds himself warmed up due to something other than the delicious treat.

*

The second time they meet is at a wayward port town, the kind of place that won't mind pirates so long as they behave. Zeff's boat is already docked when the Moby Dick arrives, and the sight of its jolly roger, a cartoony duck with a crossed knife and fork behind it, makes Whitebeard crack a smile.

There's no good excuse as to why he sets out to look for him the moment he sets foot on land, other than he's curious to see him again, months after their first meeting. He didn't imagine Zeff would choose to remain in the New World after his rough start — it pleases him to find he was wrong, although he can't put his finger on why, exactly, it is so.

Zeff is sharing a drink with his first mate when Whitebeard finds him, and two pairs of eyebrows raise when they see him approach. Beren seems to tense, fingers going rigid around his tumbler, but Zeff appears much calmer. Surprised, yes, and maybe curious, but he doesn't seem to feel threatened.

Whitebeard hopes Zeff is happy to see him again, then wonders where this wish is coming from.

He joins them at their table, receiving permission in the shape of a smile under a blond mustache. They catch up over a drink, with the familiarity of old friends even though they're practically strangers, and hours fly by in the midst of laughter and friendly conversation.

Beren excuses himself at some point, saying he needs to restock on cigarettes.

“What you need to do is quit,” Zeff barks at his retreating figure, then grumbles: “Waste of a good cook, fucking up his tastebuds like that. He could be just as good as me if he just put in the effort.”

“High praise,” Whitebeard comments — and then, without much thought, he asks: “Would you cook for me again?”

Zeff gives him a Look.

It's smug, in the way a craftsman is when his job is praised, and it's surprised, perhaps taken aback by the forward request, but there's something else overall; something that Whitebeard might be inclined to call fondness, if only he could tell why such a feeling would be there.

It is something akin to fondness what fills him when, making eye contact and still through his Look, Zeff says, “Of course,” and the spark that seems to flicker somewhere in his chest will leave him puzzled for weeks.

*

The third time they meet, Roger is there.

He and Whitebeard have recently finished beating the crap out of each other for what feels like a week, and now their crews are mingling—drinking, chatting, trading—as if they hadn't just reshaped the island's landscape by means of trying to kill each other. It's not the first time this occurrence takes place, which makes Whitebeard fear it's the start of a tradition, although admittedly not one he would hate.

Zeff shows up out of nowhere, arriving—thankfully—when it's the party and not the fight at its peak. Roger's men grow alert at the arrival of a third pirate crew (the effect a tad undermined by Rayleigh chasing after a laughing, red-haired toddler that has stolen his glasses) but Whitebeard's greet them happily, and soon the atmosphere returns to its festive ambiance, with the newcomers welcome to the celebration.

“Saw the Moby Dick anchored by the shore,” Zeff says for a greeting when he approches Whitebeard. “Didn't know you had company.”

“Didn't know you had friends,” Roger cackles teasingly, and Whitebeard trips him when he passes by him to go greet Zeff with a handshake.

“Red Leg Zeff,” Whitebeard says through a long-suffering sigh, “meet Gol D. Roger. Good pirate, better moron.”

“I've heard about you,” Zeff says to Roger; and then, turning to Whitebeard: “Surely he's not that bad.”

No. Turns out, he's worse.

Whitebeard doesn't know what gear shifts in Roger after Zeff's joining them, but his rival starts getting on his nerves rather quickly.

It starts when Zeff decides that the rock he's sitting on is uncomfortable and moves to Whitebeard's knee instead. “Make room, Newgate,” he demands, to which Whitebeard only replies: “Don't fall,” reaching to support him with a hand at his back.

“Don't insult me. Ah, you have a little something—” Pulling out a handkerchief, Zeff reaches and wipes the corner of Whitebeard's mouth.

They hear Roger choke on his drink, then cough, and when they look at him they find him glancing between the two of them, a half-surprised, half-delighted grin on his face. “Oh,” he says in a raspy wheeze, “so this is what it is.”

Whitebeard blinks.

“What is what?” Zeff inquiries, sounding as confused as Whitebeard feels.

Roger's grin grows wider, his eyes gleaming in pure joy. “You two—” he starts, then cracks up in a loud fit of laughter, doubling over. “You don't know!” he cackles. “By god, you don't know!”

Growing more confused by the second, Zeff glances at Whitebeard. Whitebeard returns the glance, shrugs helplessly, and returns his gaze to Roger to bark at him: “What the hell are you on?”

Roger doesn't reply, of course he doesn't. He's too busy laughing, so hard that he's on the brink of tears, and they can only watch him, unsure on whether they're being mocked or simply left out of a joke they don't get.

“This is beautiful,” Roger sobs after a full five minutes, out of breath. “Oh, this is the best day of my life.”

And then he finally deigns to address them again. With an annoyingly knowing look plastered on his face, tears of laughter escaping the corners of his eyes, and a smile of pure joy, he meets Whitebeard's stare head on and only says:

“Let me know when you figure it out.”

*

The fourth time they meet, Whitebeard figures it out.

Strictly speaking, he figures it out right after they part ways for the fourth time. As he watches Zeff's ship sail away, he puzzles over why separating from that man always leaves him feeling nostalgic over they time they've just shared. Why, when he passes by the kitchen for a snack, he smiles fondly at the memory of Zeff commandeering it, kicking Thatch out while calling him an annoying zucchini. Why the presence of Zeff seems to linger around him like the aftertaste of good liquor.

And then, when he makes it to his cabin, he's surprised to find a large jug waiting for him there. There's a note tied to the cork, and his hand trembles uneasily when he reaches for it, recognising even from afar Zeff's neat handwriting.

Newgate,

I've been experimenting with new brews. I think you'll find this one to your liking. I'll be expecting some feedback the next time we meet.

xx

Zeff

Whitebeard reads it over and over. An unexplicable warmth fills his chest as his eyes absorb Zeff's words — curt and straight to the point, but undeniably fond. There's an underlying message to his note and gift: I think of you; please, think of me — and how couldn't he, Whitebeard wonders. How couldn't he think of Zeff, when just doing that makes him feel content, brings a smile to his face, lifts him u—oh shit.

Oh. Oh, crap. Oh, motherfucker.

Oh.

Oh.

Roger, bless his soul, picks up his Den Den Mushi rather quickly.

“I'm in love with Zeff,” Whitebeard blurts out the moment the snails connect.

There's silence for a beat. Roger blinks, then smiles, then goads: “Congratulations! You figured it out! Has he?”

“Fuck if I know. You think he's in love with me?”

“I would say so, yes. And, if I may—you two make quite the lovely pair.”

“What the fuck, Roger. What the fuck.”

“Love works in mysterious ways, Whitey. Or so I've been told. What are you going to do?”

Whitebeard pauses for a moment. Isn't that a fan-fucking-tastic question? What the hell is he going to do?

“... I guess I'll talk to him the next time we meet?”

“Edward Newgate—all the time I've known you, all the things I've seen you do—and you've never sounded so terrified before,” Roger says through a fond laugh. “Do. Talk to him. It'll be alright.”

“Will it?”

“Why wouldn't it?”

“This is insane, Roger.”

“No, insane is becoming a father by finding a baby in a plundered chest. Two people falling in love? Happens every day. Talk to him. Then call me back and tell me everything.”

“I can't stand you, Gol,” Whitebeard groans.

“But you will call me, yes?”

“Depending on how well your advice works, I'll either call you or sink you.”

“Fair. I'll be waiting expectantly for either.”

*

The fifth time they meet, Whitebeard talks to Zeff.

Hours later, he calls Roger.

His rival laughs, and only says:

“I call dibs on officiating the wedding.”

One Piece Crack Ship War - Round 3 Side F

Propaganda under the cut.

Nami x Koala: Koala was enslaved by humans and saved by fishmen. now, she spends her life fighting for other people’s freedom. nami was enslaved by fishmen and saved by humans, and spends her life fighting for her own freedom. they’ve never interacted but i think they’d get along great- they’re both the level headed one for an asl brother too! at the very least they can bond over all of the stupid shit they’ve had to shut down.

Braidbeard: OKAY LISTEN TO ME. These two old men? Met in their youth and got together with the sole purpose of adopting every single daddy-issues brat in the Grand Line. Zeff beats the shit out of Whitebeard every time they have a meal because of his piss-poor table manners, but then he also brews WB's favourite sake. They love each other very much but suck at showing it, except when it's time to embarrass their children, at which point they have a whole arsenal of sappy pet names. Also Roger officiated their wedding.

[an-eldritch-peredhel]

Afterlife therapy can't fix everything, golden cages, and unreturned all sound neat!

@thalion71, for the WIP ask game!

Afterlife therapy can't fix everything: The very rough title for an OC centric fic, focusing on Urusalirë with their family after she's reembodied from going off to fight and dying in the War of Wrath. Fun highlights include: backstory trauma because their family who's deaths she feels responsible for weren't in Mandos, Nerdanel with a little Trauma By Proxy because almost everyone she cares for has died horribly in Beleriand, Mahtan trying to keep his family together while ignoring the bitter and hurt parts of himself to help his partner, and of course my headcanons on Mandos and reembodiment.

He deliberately holds himself back from touching her- something she is pathetically grateful for but simultaneously infuriates her. They want to hold and be held by their friend and partner and husband and they couldn’t in death and now they can’t in life because they tried and they had, for hours they had held their partner and their daughter as closely and tightly as any of them could bear, but even the thought of someone touching their skin now pins their ears back and makes them want to cry.

Golden Cages: Magic puberty with parents who are fundamentally, cosmically incapable of understanding you and a sibling who is both a lifeline and a threat is a great time! It's basically me working through Luthien's relationships with her parents and with her childhood while forced into a place and form that she can't fit out of love. Also an excuse for lots of purple-prose magic description, which I'm always a fan of. I'm not terribly happy with the bones of it anymore, and it's hard to reconcile normal mental reactions with Eldritchly-Inhuman Maia instincts without leaning too hard one way or another and feeling wrong, but I still love some parts and the premise so it will probably end up reworked in the future.

When she finally stopped Singing (she didn’t run out of air) she had wings large enough to half-span the throne room, and skin that glinted like metal and iridized like the inside of a shell, and eyes brighter than the forest-frozen stars, and hair that spiraled like clouds (like her mother’s) and, and, and. She didn’t speak for a month, until it all (mostly) went away, leaving her stretched and straining at her body’s seams with the knowledge of her new potential. The forest's bird-song didn’t come back for another week.

Unreturned: An AU where Luthien is able to return to life as a mortal(ish) because of her nature, but Beren can't because of his. She agrees to go back and live her life for as long as she can bear (very reluctantly, in no small part because in this AU she's already pregnant), and resolves that since she doesn't have Beren to settle down with, she is going to fuck shit up and leave as terrifyingly awesome a legacy as she can. Beren is her impulse control. Would love to do more with this but it's 90% undefined break-it-less vibes in my head which with the Silm means so much planning to get pieces to fall into place without making things worse. I do know that the major canon divergence would only start after the Nirnaeth was lost. Also featuring Maedhros and Luthien becoming really weird, terrifying, and vaguely codependent besties (a relationship I care so much about with less than 0 basis), and Daeron trying to coparent Dior while keeping his sister even halfway sane (paralleling Maglor with Maedhros- and possibly Gil-Galad?)

Luthien begs. She pours her heart and soul out into her Song, all her rage and grief at the unjustice of the world. Namo, the great judge, grim and unrelenting and always, always just, he cries. He sits, silently listening to her, as tears drip down his stony face. He is not unmoved. But there are laws greater than he to be upheld, and mortals do not return from death. Elves do. And Maiar do not die.

[mag-lore]

I recently posted about Amazon not having the rights to call Celebrimbor Tyelpë in Rings of Power, and I started thinking about what else the fandom takes for granted about the Second Age, but Amazon can't touch. I essentially just took my existing SA knowledge and looked through LotR to see what I could find. You'll notice that most of this is elven related, as most of my knowledge is about them. Please add anymore you can think of!

(note- I don't know how ip rights work, I'm just going off my belief that if it's not stated in LotR or The Hobbit, but it is mentioned elsewhere, Amazon can't use it. Please correct me if this is wrong, that's just my understanding of it!)

Things about the Second Age and related characters that is not explicitly stated in LotR-

- Gil-galad son of... Anyone. LotR doesn't say anything about his father. Fingon is mentioned in the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, Orodreth is in Peoples of ME, and the others (Finrod, Fëanorian) are in other HoME. So Amazon can't take a stance on that issue

- Sauron is not called Annatar anywhere in LotR. So ... I don't really know what the hell they're going to do with that. It is said that he seduced the instructs the elves, but he's not called Annatar.

- Finarfin is refered to as Finarphir, not really that big of a change, but Galadriel can't be called the daughter of Finarfin, instead she is "of the royal house of Finarphir"

- Finrod gets like three mentions overall? We're told he's Galadriel's brother, he was King of Nargothrond, he saved Beren's life, and he's somehow related to Gildor. Tolkien clearly thought of Finrod as being in Finarfin's place while writing LotR, as there are a couple mentions of the golden house of Finrod being the only Noldor with blonde hair. That's it. That's all the details we get.

- On a similar note, Galadriel's other brothers are not mentioned. So if the rumors are true and this "Adar" character is her brother, he's either Finrod or an oc

- Celebrimbor is refered to as a descent of Fëanor, Curufin is not named. This doesn't like affect the current timeline, but it would affect any backstory/flashback they plan to add.

- The Elessar stories are all in Unfinished Tales. The version with Celebrimbor and Galadriel could have a great place in a show set in the Second Age. They're both given dialogue and characterization. Celebrimbor making the Elessar could have been a great plot line, but no. That's not in LotR so it can't be used.

- Sauron's amazing dialogue given to Ar-Pharazon while attempting to seduce him is all in the Silm. In my opinion that is some of the best dialogue Tolkien wrote and could have been amazing to hear on screen. But alas

- I know there were rumors that the first episode would feature the First Age and the crossing of the Helcaraxë, but... In my findings, the Helcaraxë isn't talked about in LotR, at all. I couldn't find a single mention to it. The First Age info isn't really any better, we're mainly told that Morgoth was defeated and Thangorodrim was broken. There are mentions of other things in the First Age, but not enough for a story.

- Important First Age characters that could play a role in Galadriel/Elrond/Celebrimbor/Gil-galad flashbacks but cannot appear because they are not named in LotR- Fingolfin, Fingon, Aegnor, Andreth, Angrod, Orodreth, Turgon, Elenwë, all the sons of Fëanor... Probably more and probably some places/battles too

- Another First Age note- if they are going to show the Helcaraxë, they're going to have to explain why they're all there in the first place, but the darkening, the rebellion, the first Kinslaying, and the burning of the ships are not talked about in LotR (at least, not in any detail)

- Celebrimbor's death is not detailed in LotR. There is nothing about the torture for the knowledge of the rings. Also no banner :(

- Miriel is nowhere to be found, so I'm not sure how they're going to handle Pharazon claiming the throne and all that.

I'm sure there's much more, especially relating to Numenor, but this is just what I found on a quick glance

[kareenvorbarra]

can you do "Seeing Beren grimace at his suggestion" to the end, from your Beren at the ruin of Doriath tumblr fic?

this is from the fic dvd commentary meme that i reblogged like a month and a half ago. andie was the only person to send a prompt and then i went to brazil and never responded gkjhaldskjghg so here you go, thank u for your patience my friend

the fic in question is a WIP excerpt that I posted on tumblr here. its working title on my computer is “Last Fight” (‘This ford the Dwarves must pass ere they reached the mountain passes that led unto their homes; and there Beren fought his last fight, warned of their approach by Melian’). I started this story back in ye olde wankier days of 2013, and haven’t added significantly to it since then, though i would theoretically like to finish it someday x_x I’d been stanning Beren for a while by then, in response to some fan interpretations that i found unfair. In late 2013, me and a couple of my friends were low-key feuding with another small group of fans about various topics (Feanorians vs. literally anyone else, Noldor vs. Sindar, King’s Men vs. Faithful, you name it) and somehow the cool new debate became Dwarves vs. Doriathrim. For a while there was some arguing back and forth in meta and reblogs about who exactly was more at fault in the whole Thingol-Dwarves-First Sack of Doriath fiasco. 

i’ll spare you the details of the wider debate, but Beren inevitably got drawn into the arguments because of his role in ambushing the dwarven army on their way back to Nogrod, where he and some Green-elves killed nearly everyone who had participated in the attack on Doriath. the specific issue that prompted me to write this snippet of fic was the question of whether or not Beren, having killed all these Dwarves who were not working for Morgoth or coming to attack him personally, should have been able to hold a Silmaril without getting burned. by that point I was pretty tired of trying to argue that attacking multiple civilian settlements because someone took your dad’s jewelry is not morally equivalent to ambushing an army that just came from attacking a civilian settlement, and instead decided to write a fic that solved the question by simply not having Beren touch the Silmaril because it freaks him out (which has been my headcanon for a while since he’s canonically the only person who keeps getting a Silmaril and immediately handing it off to someone else). He just picks the Nauglamir up by the necklace part and brings it home and gives it to Luthien. It seems a bit silly now but that was my initial motivation. 

i was also intrigued by the way the Green-elves, or at least the ones who associate closely with Beren and Luthien, seem to have no interest in the Silmaril for either magical or political reasons - they simply bring it to Dior when B&L die. I wanted to emphasize the fact that the Green-elves have different priorities than pretty much everyone else when it comes to material possessions; their lifestyle and culture doesn’t particularly value treasure or physical permanence (i think there’s a line in the Silm about how their settlements can be to quickly and thoroughly hidden that the Beorians don’t even notice that there are people living there when they first enter Ossiriand). Also I believe there’s a line in the Silm or somewhere about all the treasure (except the Silmaril) getting thrown into the river, and maybe also about it being cursed. The Green-elves don’t seem like people who would take any chances with stuff like that, and they’re not super into shiny things regardless, so it would be an easy call for them i think. 

Almwë is an OC i originally created for the fic Inheritance, which features flashbacks to Dior’s childhood in Ossiriand. In my headcanon, Nimloth’s father is from Doriath and her mother is from Ossiriand. Though she grew up in Doriath, Nimloth often visited her mother’s family and has a strong connection to that part of her heritage. Almwë is Nimloth’s mother’s older brother, and a chieftain of sorts among the elves of southern Ossiriand, where Beren and Luthien live (i know you’ve already read this Andie but if anyone else is curious, I wrote a bunch of headcanons about the political and social structure of Ossiriand here). I wanted to further explore Beren and Luthien’s connection to the Green-elves with this fic, and Beren’s relationship with Almwë was one way to do that. 

The last full paragraph, where Beren thinks about his relatives....well, i’m weak for Beren thinking about his relatives. that’s always been one of fandom’s weakness when it comes to writing/discussing Beren, i think - his story is one of overcoming tremendous obstacles and immense trauma and building a future for himself despite losing everyone and everything he cared about, and his memories of his family are just as important to his story as his relationship with Luthien. i don’t think the profound emptiness and grief that comes from losing his entire culture every fully leave him. 

and there aren’t a lot of depictions of old Beren, not even in the Legendarium - the battle at Sarn Athrad is one of the only real stories we have about him after he and Luthien go to Tol Galen. I think Beren loves living there, and that he fits in pretty well with the Green-elves and has friends among them, but it’s still a weird feeling to grow old among all these elves with only his own sort-of mortal family members for company. i think aging would make him think about his family even more, and remember the things they told him about growing older (since he has no one around now who’s gone through those experiences before him), and i think it would make him miss them in a new way. but i also think he’s able to remember them with happiness, and that even though there is bitterness and regret in him still, he knows his family would rather he survive and be happy than die with them or out of grief for them. there was also plenty of criticism of B/L going around in those days about how they didn’t “deserve” their “happy” ending (lmao) and while i think that’s garbage obviously, their ending is ultimately pretty bittersweet, and i wanted to convey that too, with old Beren being dragged back into war when he’d hoped to live the rest of his days in peace, and always living with the horrors of his past.