#lotr/once crossover

[lifeimitatesmeme]

[pinetreesandtea]

WACKEST Crossover? IDK IM BORED BUT-

LOTR Characters playing ✨Minecraft✨

I’m sorry

Frodo

Has built a perfect replica of Bag End

Works together with Sam, Merry and Pippin to recreate the Shire

Very chill, has a pet dog named after Bilbo

Built a perfect replica of the Shire and the path to Bree and Rivendell

The best person to go to for maps

Just for gags, he has a secret dungeon under his Smial. You’d have to go through the pantry and through secret passages. He’s bored

Also has a Nether portal in his dungeon

Special enchanted sword named after Sting

Merry and Pippin have ‘accidentally’ killed him more then 40 times

Boromir accidentally killed him once, he didn’t really care but Boromir apologized profusely (He tapped Frodo to grab his attention and Frodo died bc he had half a heart left)

Frodo likes listening to the In Game music

Prefers to explore and build but doesn’t usually get into combat with mobs (Unless the fellowship drags him into an adventure)

Usually is working on his maps

Terraforms with Sam

Enjoys making noteblock music

On the vc, his mic is very quiet so his voice comes out as a whisper

He usually mutes himself and replies through the game chat

Gamer tag - fFr0d0_Bags

Sam

God at farming

Also is stacked in every food item there is in minecraft

Sam has his own farm with Horses, Llamas and Donkeys

Has a book and quill where he records the Horse’s family Trees

Named all his animals

Built a replica of his smial

Hardcore protector of Frodo

He’s killed Merry and Pippin double the amount of times they’ve killed Frodo

Uses eggs and occasionally snowballs as a weapon

The times that Frodo did die was whenever he wasn’t around

Beat Aragorn to death once

Oddly enough, Iron Golems love him

Usually dies protecting Frodo, falling to death or Eating poisonous potatoes

Bill the Pony has killed him once

Enjoys Terraforming with Frodo

Randomly gives cake, pumpkin pie, and cookies to everyone

Decent mic, polite on vc and is a mod on the minecraft server and discord server

Gamer Tag - S_GamGG

Bill the Pony

It’s a mystery on how exactly Bill is playing

Even Gandalf doesn’t know

It freaks everyone out

His player is a horse somehow

Has killed Sam brutally(he found out Sam named a Donkey after him. Was insulted that he was considered a donkey.)

He’s not on the discord server

Doesn’t type in the chat

Either stares,or nods/shakes head

Gamer Tag - Bill_the_Pony

Merry

Always running around, up to no good

He has the second most deaths in their Server

Likes to test fireworks on Frodo with Pippin

He tried making an underwater base with Pippin, it failed

So now their base is near Bree, a very nice cottage/mansion

Also uses eggs or fireworks as a weapon

Loves going Fishing

Collects flowers

Has four dogs, all named after Legolas, Aragorn, Boromir and Gimli

Gimli accidentally killed Legolas the Dog, Legolas thought he did it on purpose, so he shot down Gimli the dog with an enchanted bow. (Flame III)

Merry was devastated

he held a funeral for Legolas the Dog and Gimli the dog, he forced/guilt tripped everyone in the server to attend the ceremony 

Frodo was the priest 

As revenge, he planned to breed Aragorn the Dog and Boromir the Dog to make Legolas II and Gimli II

Boromir left the game

Aragorn promptly hunted Merry down before he could

he beat Merry to death with a fish, then used his mod powers to strike Merry with lightning. 

Aragorn the dog and Boromir the Dog ended up dying too, as when Aragorn killed Merry, they attacked him and he KO’ed the dogs.

Merry held another funeral for Aragorn the dog and Boromir the Dog 

Spams the crouch to dance/bop

He’s tried to follow Aragorn around (with Pippin of course)

Aragorn somehow knew they were following him, even though they were crouching and shot them dead with a trident

Constantly stealing from Sam’s gardens and farms

Good at building  but actively chooses to use the ugliest materials

Horrible at interior decorating

his mic is ok, it cuts out, sometimes sounds like he’s getting possessed

Gamer tag - MERRY_the_BESt

Pippin 

runs around with Merry

chaotic

Has been killed by everyone in the fellowship except for Legolas

Came up with the idea of testing fireworks on Frodo

has a firework bow

uses fireworks as a weapon

Also loves fishing 

Loves going Mining 

spams the crouch button

always testing mods on his own time 

for the life of him, he can’t build 

Good at redstone

Also likes to make the redstone jukebox songs

Forgets to wear armour 

During the whole ordeal with Merry’s dogs, he was actually exploring and got a bunch of pet cats 

Named all the cats Meowagorn, Meowerlas, Meowmli and Meoworomir

Frodo had to Teleport Pippin to the funeral and back to wherever he was

gets lost when he explores

Frodo has to guide him by looking through his locator maps and points him into the right direction

Pippin has the highest death count in the server

Mostly killed by Frodo, Sam, Aragorn and Gandalf

died from hunger at least 7 times

He acts as a delivery person, basically transports trades across the map 

Kills the wandering trader on sight

He has a pet donkey that he travels with during adventures, named it Treebeard 

Horrible at exterior decorating but is actually pretty decent at interior decorating

his mic is horrible

cuts out, lags, hurts everyones ears

you can hear Pippin’s family in the background (random screams, his mom shouting at his siblings, etc) 

Surprisingly, a mod on the Discord server 

Gamer Tag - Pip1INs

Aragorn

Pro 

a menace in regards to combat

a mod on their server

He’s helped Frodo with the path replica to Rivendell and built his own Rivendell

Keeps an eye on Merry and Pippin

They usually don’t know he’s watching them 

Drags the fellowship into adventure/expeditions

he takes up ‘quests’ given from the fellowship and in return they give him prizes like ores or other valuable items 

They essentially get him to do stuff such as ‘Collect A stack of glow stone for 30 gold’ or something like that

Regularly trades with Everyone

He’s only died twice

He got beaten to death by Sam with a raw fish 

The second death was by Bill the Pony, it was so brutal that Aragorn stared at the ‘You Died’ screen for five minutes straight 

Usually hanging out with Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli

Get’s his weapons + armour from Gimli

Has made a beautiful monument/statue of Arwen 

Its veryyyyyyyyyyyy far tho

He sends letters to Legolas (Delivered by Pippin) in Elvish. But it’s just silly stuff

Always exploring, he buys maps from Frodo

Collects rare items

He’s got stuff from the Nether to the Ocean Monument

Trades with Gandalf in regards of Nether wart, blaze rods, etc

He can usually find Pippin whenever he gets lost exploring

His base is at Rivendell

He also built a secret Ranger base cuz he loves his ranger homies

Has a great sense of direction (from his Ranger skills) and is able to get to everyone else’s bases with Coordinates or maps

Fills out Frodo’s maps for him

As much as I want to say he has a great mic, he doesn’t

He really gives the vibes of having the most crappiest and spotty mic.

“Fr—o- I —— *KSHHH*—- sun——, isn’t that right?”

Frodo: 👁️👄👁️ …. Right.

Despite this, he constantly tries to still use his mic until someone tells him they can’t understand him

Ends up using the chat halfway through

But uses full on sentences with perfect grammar and everything

Gamer Tag - Str1der

Legolas

Rebuilt a new and improved Greenwood

On his father’s throne, there’s a sign in Elvish that says ‘Doodoo head’

He somehow breaks into Aragorn’s base and leaves silly insults written on a book and quills or signs

Such as “you stupid” “u ugly” “doodoohead” “yo mom” “ur musty”

Legolas absolutely loves doing it

Didn’t get Minecraft at first

When I say he was a noob in the first few hours of playing, HE WAS A NOOB NOOB

Aragorn and Pippin had to guide him through

Usually found PvP’ing with Gimli

For the life of him, he cannot keep a pet

It’s like bad luck

No matter how hard he keeps the pet safe, they’re always killed

Merry’s graveyard is filled with his previous pets

Swore to never tame another animal

A god at decorating

Whereas Merry is good at building, Merry is horrible at decor. And so, he helped out with decorating Merry and Pippin’s base (which is how Pippin learned how to decorate)

They cornered Legolas and started to do the Crouch bop and begged for him to help out

Legolas will not admit aloud but he found it endearing

He has a soft spot for the hobbits lmao

However, he has shot both Merry and Pippin with potions arrows

Hasn’t killed them tho

Legolas’s skin was made by your truly, Merry

(NOTE: I made this back in likeeee 2021 (?), wrote a huge chunk after this line, forgot to press save, only had it up to here, and I had to just put my phone down. The frustration I felt 😭 Buuut it’s been sitting in my drafts for literally years cuz I was THAT frustrated and had no motivation to try and remember/rewrite what I lost. Was just checking out my drafts and remembered I haven’t finished it. So, Voilà.)

Enjoys annoying Gimli IMMENSELY

Is absolutely helpless when it comes to mining and the Nether. Most of his deaths come from either mining (Falling from tall heights, suffocating from gravel, falling in lava) and the Nether (Again, falling in Lava, trying to kill Pigmen, trying to sleep in the Nether)

As expected, absolute god at archery

Great at parkour and makes parkour in Greenwood

Once the group defeated the Ender dragon, he was the first to use Elytra and LOVES it

Has a good mic but usually forgets to mute himself

Also writes in full sentences, proper grammar and fancy words in chat

Gamer Tag - LEG0_LAS

Gimli

Obviously he’s the miner friend

He’s a proud dwarf, so of course he’s gonna do what his people do best

Rebuilt Erebor/The Lonely Mountain, the Glittering caves/the White Mountains, and The Misty Mountains

Like he really went crazy with the builds

But it was all because he had too much blocks

Makes extremely complicated and vast mines

Even Aragorn gets turned around

They all somehow connect and Merry n’ Pippin get lost every time they try to explore his mines

He has to go retrieve them every time

In the end, he made some rails that directly connect everyone’s bases so that no one (the hobbits) gets lost

An absolute demon at Redstone

Secret doors, bases, and passages

He has A LOT of resources

Collects everything that he mines even if it’s Andesite

He made the Lonely Mountain as a base for all the materials

Literally chests upon chest filled with resources

Trades with the fellowship

The hobbits trade any enchanted books or food for building supplies

Aragorn and Boromir trade meats, wood, and dye for armour and tools

Gandalf trades enchanted books, potions, and exotic stuff he finds for potion materials (lapis, redstone, glowstone, gold, spider eye, coal, etc.) and a place to stay lmao

At the beginning, both Legolas and Gimli refused to trade with each other

Begrudgingly, Legolas began to trade other types of wood and rare items or loot like a Trident for building materials, nether materials and ores once he realized that he was hopeless with mining and the Nether

Enemies to BFFS fr

They do lots of competitions and prank wars

Dabbles in enchantment, makes high quality armour and weapons

Uses an axe for combat

Repairs any abandoned mineshafts he finds

Best builder in the fellowship

Everyone has to spam the chat in order for him to go to sleep for a quick sec

the only times he isn’t underground is when there’s a raid at one of Boromirs villages, trading with the fellowship (and even then, he’ll just send Pip to deliver it or send it in a minecart chest) or group events/quests

Otherwise, he won’t be seen for DAYS

Brings the whole squad down into the Deep Dark to fight the Warden

Has an ok mic, usually fine but occasionally cuts out

Writes in shortened words in the chat

Ur, K, gtg, brb, r, cya

It annoys Gandalf and Legolas

Gamer Tag - G1ml1_Son0f_Glo1n

Boromir

He’s the type to find villages, fix it up and improve it

Turned an Abandoned zombie village into Minas Tirith and healed the zombie villagers

He’s decent at building but not the best with creative builds

Basically only good at building Gondorian architecture and medieval style architecture

Claimed a huge chunk of land that nobody was using and named it Gondor

He looks after numerous villages and maintains them

But likes to visit everyone, tours Gimli’s mines, tries out Legolas’s parkour in Greenwood, stays at Rivendell and helps out Aragorn with whatever he’s doing, and ‘vacations’ at the Shire

(Merry and Pippin mainly drag him into whatever shenanigans they’re up to)

A duo with Aragorn when it comes to adventures

Exploring the Nether, bastions, jungle temples, desert temples, ocean monuments, the deep dark, and the End.

Amazing at combat and PVP

Uses a shield, sword, and occasionally a crossbow

Also has a soft spot for the hobbits

Merry and Pippin definitely exploit the crouch bopping to convince him

He was the one that found Frodo’s secret dungeon underneath his smial

Was secretly a bit freaked out and never said a word until everyone else found out

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” “I’m afraid Frodo might’ve sacrificed me or something along those lines”

Is constantly gifted flowers by the hobbits

He has no idea what to do with him but felt like he couldn’t refuse when even Frodo and Sam gave him flowers

might think its a bit stupid at first and Completely oblivious to the fact that hobbits like to communicate through the language of flowers

Is secretly flattered tho

Once it got boring when nothings really happened with his villages (he of course already expanded them and built fortifications like walls) he ended up claiming another chunk of unused land and recreated Rohan

He loves Rohan so he couldn’t help himself

Got into horse breeding he was finishing up Edoras

Named his best horse after Faramir

Made roads connecting everyone’s builds and bases

When he finished, that’s when he realized that Gimli already did that but underground

Boromir, exhausted and sounding defeated: “why didn’t you tell me before I started this project?”

Gimli: “how was I supposed to know! I thought you knew the railways were all connected to every base”

Decent mic, you can hear him grumbling in the background as he’s doing whatever

Idk why but he seems to be the type of guy to sneeze like a dad

Temporarily deafens everyone’s ears when he sneezes with his mic on

Doesn’t use the chat

Gamer Tag - B0r0m1r

Gandalf

To be honest, I don’t really see him playing

If he did, it would be on rare occasions and make surprise appearances

Does not have a base

Instead he’ll randomly crash at other people’s bases

The hobbits, Gimli and Aragorn don’t mind

Legolas and Boromir are like 🤨

Collects enchantments and makes looooots of potions

Also makes a ton of potions

Hasn’t died yet

Travels in the Nether like he’s enjoying a stroll in a park

Supplies Merry and Pippin with fireworks

Explores A LOT

Doesn’t really bother with building

Likes to enjoy some good scenery while listening to the peaceful in game music of Minecraft

Has collected all the music discs

He creates a lot of traps/pranks and chuckles to himself as he goes off to find another spot to lay a trap

Because he isn’t on the server often, everyone won’t even think it’s him

Merry and Pippin will often get blamed for Gandalf’s traps and it started a war

As everyone’s fighting it out, Gandalf is watching with a small smile on his face

Doesn’t use a mic

writes the same as Legolas and Aragorn (full sentences, proper grammar and fancy words), but also rhymes his words for fun

Gamer Tag - Gandal_The_Grey

[unanswered-stars]

Thank you so much for tagging me @jules-writes-stories @highlordofkrypton @achaotichuman

1. How many works do you have on AO3? I'm a but a wee babe in the ao3 world so just 7 but I have several WIP's that are on pause currently. I had originally had a fic planned for each day of Eris week but haven't been able to write in awhile so might be some time before those are published but once I start posting again you can expect Eris chaos to reign.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 36,487 I struggle to write long chapters and most of my works end up being around 2,500.

3. What fandoms do you write for? A Court of Thorns and Roses

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Shadows of Regret and Redemption| Azris - My first published work. A oneshot that grew legs and started to run. I am not completely happy with it thus far but I have the end plotted and I'm excited to eventually bring that to life.

Daughter of Autumn | Azris - Now this one absolutely shocked me with its popularity. Started as a fun little drabble for Gwyn Week 2024 and of course turned into Azris central.

The Beginning and End of Friendship | Azris - So many people screaming in the comments at me on this one. More screaming to come when I post part two I’m sure.

Two Souls Entangled| Azris - A tiny part of my soul via a short poem for Azris Week 2024.

Heaven Help the Fool Who Falls In Love: The End | Azris - This is the first piece I wrote for fanfiction and it is my precious baby. Only one chapter posted but I have several in need of editing before I publish the remainder. It's very heavy and I haven't had the mental space to read through it again.

5. Do you respond to comments? Every single one! They bring me so much joy. I have currently stayed away from my comment section for my own mental health but when I start posting again I will get back to everyone's comments, promise.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? All of my works are fairly heavy on the angst. TBaEoF comes to mind but I think for published works I’ll go with The Ending of Darkness which is a short little piece about @jules-writes-stories OC Mithras x Sylvan which I have a part 2 almost completed which is equally as angsty (sorry). Unpublished works definitely The Burning of Leaves and The Death of Shadows which are two fics I had planned for Eris week but are currently on pause (poor Eris I was really putting him through the wringer for Eris Week).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Daughter of Autumn. Mostly because Cassian has the closing line and he just always says the darndest things.

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have not, nor do I plan on it. Please don’t hate me 😅 Just not my writing jam. I love finding unique ways to explore a relationship and conveying those same emotions and feelings without the smut. That being said some of my favourite stories and authors use smut as such a wonderful exploratory storytelling device and it is delightful. I love reading others contributions to the smutsphere. So so many talented writers out there giving us all our smuttiest dreams. I truly do not think that my smut contribution is even necessary when you have things like To Become a Vanssera by @acourtofladydeath and Why Not Me by @thomasisaslut both absolutely rife with smut and use it beautifully to convey their story (albiet in very different ways).

9. Do you write crossovers? Not yet, and probably not ever because I can hardly keep up with writing ideas I have for one fandom.

10. Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but it sounds delightful.

12. What is your all-time favorite ship? Azris most definitely for writing. I definitely have a big soft spot for Samwise and Rosie from LOTR (my husband is Samwise reincarnated and I am irrevocably in love with him). I have a WIP for Thesan and his lover and that dynamic and storyline has been so incredibly fun to explore as well.

13. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I started writing a Tarquin UTM oneshot that is incomplete and while I am still in love with the story I really struggled with writing the voice of Tarquin. This one will only ever get finished if I can finally figure out the right tone for this man’s internal dialogues.

14. What are your writing strengths? I have been told my writing reads like poetry which is one of the biggest compliments you could ever give me. I also love writing parallels but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement there.

15. What are your writing weaknesses?  Editing haha. But actually, I find that my characters voices don’t feel very distinct and that there is a lot of overlap in the way they speak and think and it can be hard to distinguish who’s talking/thinking. I feel like my characters resemble a cookie cutter suburban neighborhood where the walls and trim might be a different colour but they’re all built exactly the same. If anyone has some tips please feel free to comment or message me!

16. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I absolutely love reading it but unfortunately the only other language I know isn’t really a language at all. Pidgin, which is basically just native slang. I was playing around with it in my Tarquin fic a bit but seemed a tad too niche.

17. First fandom you wrote for? LOTR in middle school. I have a printed multi chapter booklet that is a rewrite of Sam and Frodo’s journey through Mordor that I made for my English class one year.

18. Favorite fic you’ve written? My favourite multi chapter by another author is undoubtedly A Court of Shadows and Ashes by @futurehunt Mother Save Us From Your Twisted fate by @chunkypossum which got a stunning part 2 for Eris Week this year! My favorite of my own published works is either HHtFWFiL:TE or The Ending of Darkness. Of my unpublished works honesty The Burning of Leave or The Death of Shadows are both strong contenders. For non Azris I have a Beron fic WIP for @sjmvillainweek day 1 that will probably get prioritized over the other two.

No pressure tags (and sorry if you've already been tagged): @the-darkestminds @born-to-riot @chairofchaos @thomasisaslut @chunkypossum @acourtofladydeath @shadowsandlint

[mastererestor]

Just when you thought I was gone, here I am... and right in time for Hallowe'en. What better day to resurface than today? After returning from the land of penguins, I was not too well for a while. Now I am better, and I come bearing gifts.

First: during my recent move I found an old USB stick (yes, THAT old!) and on it was something my three remaining readers from ye olden days in the PotC / RotC fandom will hopefully like: the original draft for my alter ego Joyful Molly´s

"Bell, Book and Pigtail", the modern day / Age of Sail cross-over which was first published, I think, for Hallowe'en 2011 Yuletide 2006. Yes, 18 years ago, and I will post the whole thing these next days. Norrington/Gillette, they will always be my OTP. And I just love my version of Will there.

Then I finished my really strange (no, really, I am serious) LotR/Silm/BG3 crossover where I will send Glorfindel and Astarion on a quest while the rest of the companions "borrow" Erestor because what is better than a rogue? A better rogue. Grumpy Glorfindel and a snarky vampire, it just had to be written. But I will put that one online once the edits are finished. No more waiting times for the readers, promised. The picture above is part of my BG3 Auntie Ethel cosplay last May, btw. If I am not the perfect hag, who is.

[skywalking-through-life]

🍄❄️📚

Loving that y'all have so many things that you'd like to ask me 🥹

🍄 - share a headcanon for one of your favorite ships or pairings

Y'all know I've gotta do percabeth, lol. Honestly though, it's hard to pick something I haven't already shared here, or written about in fic! A lot of my headcanons for them make their way, subtly and/or overtly, into my writing. 🤷‍♀️ But here's one I maybe haven't gone into yet: I think that once they settle somewhere, they both kind of become homebodies. They've done SO MUCH traveling as a result of terrifying, life-threatening quests over the years that I think it's lost some of its luster, and that staying home usually sounds infinitely more appealing to them! I don't mean to say that they don't even go on vacations, but I would imagine they are typically pretty chill vacations, with only a few bigger or more significant trips - they'd rather go to Montauk with Percy's family, visit Annabeth's in San Fran, see friends across the country, rent a cabin in the mountains to have a little more privacy, etc. I think international travel in particular makes them wary and a little anxious, and they probably only go if their kids/other friends and family want to go somewhere. I think they view travel as a means to an end - seeing loved ones, relaxing, etc - and don't find the idea of travel JUST for travels sake very exciting. Too many bad memories, too many times when a fun trip has been co-opted by monsters and peril and world-ending nonsense.

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

Hmm, this is such an interesting question! Like anybody and everybody I have favorite tropes, but I'm not sure I've ever had one particular dream theme/plot that I've held above all the others that I haven't been willing to try writing myself? I love love love historical AUs as a general category, and often wish there were more of them, but because I wish that, I'm trying to write one! 💀 I'm a big believer in people writing what makes them excited and happy, so I feel a little odd about asking someone to write what I want them to write, rather than what they want to write? That being said, I think @campercabeth could write a damn good LotR×PJO percabeth as Arwen and Aragorn crossover AU. 👀

📚 - what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?

Hilariously, this poll. Not going to give context, but vote for whatever you like best! 💀

[sagittariusdarkarrow]

👀 I don’t know if I show this to Vince or if I try to hide this from him... (But I admit I also want more).

As thanks for a favour, Wu Xie is given an ancient foreign artifact. (He's convinced it's cursed from the moment he lays eyes on it.) (It's a Palantír.)

Waves of smoke, ash and fire unfurled within the translucent sphere, in glow and shadow remaking an unclear image, which tried to take shape and move among the jumbled sounds that overlapped - the screams and clash of thousands of swords, the tear apart mountains and seas.

Wu Xie saw many cursed things during his lifetime, but that 'gift for a favor' - an ancient crystal ball that displayed a long crack on its surface, as if the vision inside it could escape, - was certainly something he had seriously considered just not touching.

The destruction of an age far older than the world he knew seemed an illusion, - a trick of that artifact to draw the horror that, again, the world would be consumed in the same way, - but if the vision was true, the fallen ruins where he, strangely, could read 'Minas Tirith' carved into the stones, somewhere must exist to be found.

(Oh gods, Fixa, thank you so much for this prompt! And I'm sorry for the overuse of commas to keep this in 3 sentences kjsskjs. Now this will live in my head for a while...)

[sexhaver]

I played mtg from highschool through the end of college, and only stopped once they started introducing popular IP crossovers (lotr, stranger things etc) it broke immersion, I went from being an immortal wizard to just, recalling content I had seen.. Have I missed much? Should I have been less of a hater and genuinely been okay with playing against someone maining gandalf as their edh commander. Against my animar soul of the elements.

oh my sweet sweet summer child

[ashfae]

A03 meme

A03 meme time, except I've been writing and posting fanfic to the internet since before A03. And before fanfiction.net. And before Geocities. And before the World Wide Web. There's fic of mine with ASCII doodle illustrations somewhere out there where the wild BBSes once roamed…I was tagged by @moveslikebucky; thanks Buckie, here goes. <3

how many works do you have on Ao3? 54. (and yes if we added in all the fanfic outside of A03 it'd be a larger number but I can't be bothered to consolidate it all)

what’s your total Ao3 word count? 341,744, which is better than I was expecting, yay.

what fandoms do you write for? At the moment it's just Good Omens, but there's been a lot of Dragon Age, some Lord of the Rings, and way back in the day there was Harry Potter and a lot of anime. I am toying with dipping my toe back in LotR, there's a thing I wrote ages ago that's entirely finished and just needs editing and I've been meaning to get it out there for ages. It's long though, so that'd be a commitment.

what are your top five fics by kudos? What Custom Strictly Divided (507) Like an Echo Far Away (415) (this one wasn't in the top five last week when I first started writing this post! So I think @mielpetite gets all the credit for boosting it with amazing fanart) What Comes From Your Hand (402) Give Me Your Illusions (346) Nightswimming (307)

do you respond to comments? Yep! Sometimes just with "Thanks!" or hearts but I try to. Though they get away from me sometimes and then I do a bunch all at once.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Definitely Warmaiden, which is my "What if Éowyn got the One Ring?" fic, from an idea that occurred to me one day and wouldn't leave. Clearly that doesn't end well for her, or anyone. From GO fandom it's probably Silent Night, which I still want to expand into a larger fic to be a set with Give Me Your Illusions. Someday, someday.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of them! But for the happiest I'd say Swan Lake Revised, cowritten with @mostlyjustgoose. And if we ever get part three up it'll be even more happy. And smutty. Very smutty.

Do you get hate on fics? Very rarely. I've been lucky there.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh here's the irony. I used to do a lot a lot a LOT of online roleplaying and mygod I wrote smut. So much. So. Much. I don't do as much rp these days but even so the threads I have going are still frequently pure filth. But in fic, much less so, even though I want to. Why it all gets channeled into rp and not as much into my fanfic I do not know. Honestly I want to write a lot more of it. Smut forever!!

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Sometimes, when I have a good idea. But the craziest one I ever wrote, ages ago, was a pure crackfic for my 21st birthday, where I imagined a bizarre party for myself in which LOADS of fictional characters (mostly from anime) showed up so I could make them interact in wacky ways. It was utterly ridiculous but amused me. Making all the characters voiced by Megumi "She's Everywhere!!" Hayashabara meet up and wonder why they all sound alike, for example. Also I wish I'd written an Artemis Fowl breaks into Gringotts to rob it fic before I became so disillusioned with both Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter. Heigh ho.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yep. It was impressive how lazy the person was about it too, they stole all the html as well. Someone brought it to my attention pretty quickly.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Twice, yes. Into Portuguese, as I remember.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Hi @mostlyjustgoose, I adore you, please co-write things with me forever. <3 Our baby is Unusual Strings, a reverse omens AU love story, and it's SO. CLOSE. to being done. So close. Aughhhh. I love our angel!Crowley and demon!Aziraphale so, so much.

What’s your all time favorite ship? Aziraphale and Crowley, Faramir and Éowyn, Hiccup and Astrid. Don't make me choose between those three, my head will explode.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Shut up shut up I will finish all of them ALL OF THEM I SAY…sigh. Beauty and the Battousai. Though I should probably mention A Demon in the Dreaming and The Queen Bee. (they're plotted and outlined and parts are written aaahhh come on ADHD meds help me out here)

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, definitely. I'm good at putting humour into things. Got compared to Patricia Wrede once and honestly, life goal achieved there. I can do memorable phrases and descriptions and edit well.

What are your writing weaknesses? What is plot. Why does it hate me. Why are my original characters one-dimensional cardboard. What is worldbuilding and how do I do it without getting stalled into paralysis. Baaaah. This is why my original novel will never be finished and I keep running back to fanfic instead.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Hoo boy contentious subject! I love reading it so long as it's translated somewhere in the footnotes, I'd be happy to write it if I knew other languages, the question of whether it should be italicized or not has apparently Officially been settled by The Publishing Industry on the side of Not.

First fandom you wrote for? Oh gosh I think it was the Dragonlance books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The first that ever got shown to other people was Ranma 1/2 though.

Favorite fic you’ve written? It's still What Custom Strictly Divided. Though Unusual Strings comes very close.

Gaaah I'm always worried I'll tag people who don't want to be tagged so, erk, um...if they're willing, @racketghost, @indieninja92, and @holycatsandrabbits! And you, if you're reading and want to do this, please say I tagged you. I meant to really, honest. ;)

[togglesbloggle]

Is it just me, or is there a pretty under-explored niche for a massive D&D fantasy franchise along the lines of Star Wars and Marvel? The sort of missing third genre leg beside science fiction and comics, so to speak.

They've clearly tried this with Tolkien, at least as far as extending the LotR movies to the Hobbit trilogy and the Amazon show which is kinda-sorta in the same lineage. And those things had more than none traction. But the Tolkien estate isn't making it easy with rights licensing, and there's an awkward founder effect they have to contend with- the Jackson LotR trilogy gave the entire franchise a very distinct 'vibe' in the popular imagination, and in practice it seems to be hard to recapture given current production constraints. It seems like it's really hard to make a Tolkien movie or show that 'feels like' the Jackson movies unless you sink a lot in to costuming and practical effects, but the current trends are in the opposite direction, with elaborate greenscreening and digital everything.

But in any case, Middle-Earth really isn't the brand you want for a mass-media culture juggernaut, is it? It's literary when it needs to be pulpy, mournful when it needs to be exciting, pensive when it needs to be strident. The world is vast, but delicate, and written by a single author exploring a narrow, coherent set of themes and styles.

Surely D&D- which is to say, the Forgotten Realms, realistically- is better for this all-around. It has a truly massive baked-in fanbase that's clearly (through 'actual play' podcasts etc.) already chomping at the bit for high production value experiences, a vast backlog of source material to draw on owned by corporate entities rather than a single brittle family estate, a wide variety of scenarios allowing for multiple sub-genres and directoral styles all under the same umbrella. It's just as popular but less sacred, meaning the audience will be more tolerant of failures. It has merchandising options for days, already has beautiful examples of video game and multimedia tie-ins, and has established and successful writing patterns for epic-scale crossover movies, long-running multi-season campaigns, one-shots, and everything in between.

There's one weakness, which is that compared to Star Wars and Marvel, individual characters are less central in the existing property. D&D has some, such as Drizzt, that rose to prominence in the novel spin-offs, so of course this isn't totally wrecked. However, the brand was originally built fundamentally as a game system and as a set of places, with the heroes to be assembled by the consumers themselves; it must be said that iconic characters are somewhat sparse, and awkwardly spread across multiple settings and continuities. But I think if you got the thing really roaring, this might give it longevity that Star Wars and Marvel ultimately lack- Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man, Mark Hammil is Luke, and notwithstanding AI representations, once those actors are gone, the franchises themselves flounder awkwardly. But if audiences come to identify their enthusiasm for D&D franchise movies with the world and brand itself, then the turnover in the cast is much less damaging to that brand, because the whole thing is already built from the ground up without overly relying on a specific group of 8-10 actors as a lynchpin of the whole operation. Even the leveling mechanic allows for franchise tentpole actors to grow in prominence as they emerge as audience favorites, then conveniently transition in to CG apotheosis or some other suitable end as the actors age out and new favorites are found.

I mean, far be it from me to give advice to the goliaths of culture, but I'm genuinely puzzled about why Disney hasn't bought D&D yet, or why Hasbro hasn't made some kind of big push to do this outside the single (pretty good!) movie. I think I'd even kind of enjoy it.

[sulkybender]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thank you to @hot-flippin-mess and @spacecasehobbit for the tags!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 109

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? …. afraid to look

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Only ATLA/LOK :)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Every night my teeth are falling out

2. Black eyes always watch the clock

3. wasn’t my body rescued, wasn’t it safe

4. Candles and honey

5. Beloved of the sun

5. Do you respond to comments? Always, unless they’re mean 😂

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhh. It’s hard to say. I write a lot about disability and so I can see arguments for those stories being angsty in the way they end because no one gets “better”—that’s not how disability works—but I don’t find those endings angsty. It’s about being supported and affirmed and loved. I don’t know, life is really hard and all we can do in the face of that hardness is love each other.

I would say possibly “like petals on your skin” is the saddest but the ending is more bittersweet.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh gosh. Most of them? I think the ending of the “pretty burn” series is especially euphoric.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I got a comment once on how my depiction of Azula losing her bending was not “psychologically accurate” or something, and two of my favorite commenters went off on them 😂

Apart from that, I got a comment once on one of my favorite stories saying I write “trauma porn,” which was very hurtful. That still hurts. That’s not what I do.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeah! Ummmm smutty smut, that’s the kind of smut I write 😂

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Someone asked to translate one into German—I think that’s still a work in progress? But I was very honored, it’s a beautiful thing.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I’ve brainstormed/shared brainworms that have led to fics! And I wrote a fic for my friend Cat which she recorded, so we’re listed as co-authors on the podfic.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? Zukkaaaaaaaaaa

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I’ve kind of learned to never say never. “I used to invent love when necessary,” one of my current multi chapters? I’d been trying to think of ways to write it for like a year. And then a couple weeks ago I started sharing ideas with friends and that gave me the boost to actually do it.

There’s an LOK-era Zukka fic I really want to write but I think it needs to sit longer. I’m tired!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oh God. Um. I get anxious thinking about this lol. I asked a friend and they said “compassion,” compassion for the characters <3

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Action scenes are challenging.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I haven’t really felt the need for it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? LOTR 🥲

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Completely impossible to answer ahaha

I’ll tag: @anarchycox, @anodymalion, @queendollophead-ao3, and @lovelyelbowleech! Just if it’s fun for you :)

[aegor-bamfsteel]

nsfw-ish

not sure how to ask this but have you considered san(sandor)san(sans undertale)? I don’t know why this ship is getting so much hatred? sans is juggling multiple jobs and if pegging sandor gives him happiness, then I’m happy for him.

I haven’t been that much into shipping, so I couldn’t tell you directly. If I had to guess, despite being “morally gray” (if you’re okay with child murder, which it doesn’t seem Sans is based on his interactions with the player character) characters with a sarcastic streak, even within the shipping community (itself mocked by the wider fandom; the shipping aspect of Undertale has been mocked by critics, and of course in ASOIAF some Great Fandom Minds(TM) have told readers to “come to their senses” regarded shipping) crossover ships are seen as missing the point of the intellectual exercise of shipping (how two characters from the same setting would interact in a romantic context) and by default have fewer fans than non crossover ships. The overlap between ASOIAF/GOT fans are necessarily smaller with the fantasy video game Undertale than, say, LOTR. There’s also the fact that Sans is a hoodie wearing skeleton with 1 eye (1 eyed characters are often negative in ASOIAF), and Sandor is a human man (humans being the enemies of the Undertale monsters) with one good leg, so people might not think Sans can be happy with him.

But if I’m not mistaken, the pairing you’re referring to would be SanSans, which is a little different than Sànsàn (an honest mistake; I had to correct a person that the appropriate ship name for Sandor/Salladhor Saan would be SanSaan). Judging by the ASOIAF names and ship naming conventions, as well as opportunity to interact for years on roughly equal footing, I’m guessing the ship that has people concerned is Sandor Clegane/Aron Santagar. Considering they’re both around the same age (as mature adult men) and spent plenty of time with each other (Clegane as Joffrey’s sworn shield and Santagar as the Red keep’s master of arms), are sort of outsiders (Sandor refuses to be a knight and deserts the Lannisters pretty quickly, and Aron is one of the few Dornishmen at court and is notably gloomy once Joffrey takes the throne), and have common interests in fighting, it makes sense; and after Clegane emotionally recounts Aron’s death and trying to save his life: “Four men held him down and took turns bashing at his head with a cobblestone. I gutted one, not that it did Ser Aron much good.” (ACOK Tyrion IX) I can see why the “doomed pairing” shippers would be invested (considering the high death count in ASOIAF, pairings where one/both characters are dead are more accepted than in other fandoms). On the other hand, Clegane doesn’t like knights and their finery, whereas Santagar is considered a “vain man but an honest one” implying he does take knighthood trappings seriously; there’s also Clegane hacking a child to death to the point of Mycah being unrecognizable, which obviously parallels Gregor Clegane’s murder of Aegon, son of Elia of Dorne (Santagar’s countrywoman). If I had to guess, it’s the child murder people have an issue with.

[siriouslytired]

Feedback fest 2024 🌻

Well RIP to my bookmarks because I just noticed that so many of my favourite fics have been deleted or made anonymous/put in a collection. Thought it would be fun to do this anyway.

Also apparently I managed to post this when it wasn't done (can you tell technology doesn't like me?) And for some reason I couldn't edit the original post (and what's up with that??). So uh, if anyone had liked the first post I deleted it because I got annoyed.

All fics on the list can be found on AO3

A Year In Toussaint by astolat

The Witcher; Rated E; Geralt of Rivia/Emhyr var Emreis

"[...] - and found himself spilling the whole sob story of his success to Emhyr, who actually broke and laughed out loud when Geralt got to the racehorses."

One of my comfort fics, will read it for a multitude of reasons but mostly just because it's so well-written and engaging (which is just all of astolat's fics really)

Hunger and Appetite by thegoodbutter

Shadow & Bone; Rated E; Aleksander Morozova/Alina Starkov; Modern AU

I couldn't actually tell you how many times I've read this, it's just SO GOOD. And the food descriptions are just fantastic, makes me want to cook up a storm/start baking something even though I hate doing the dishes afterwards.

The Stars Don’t Shine, They Burn by Sarcasmismydefaultmode

Shadow & Bone/The Witcher; Rated E; Alina Starkov/Emhyr var Emreis; Second Best AU

Read it. Do it. It's so fucking good. I usually don't read crossovers anymore but I couldn’t resist this one and it was so worth it. It blends the two worlds so well while making sure that the edges are obvious enough that you can still tell which parts came from what canon.

Amazing Grace (series) by Druid Moon

Marvel Cinematic Universe; Darcy Lewis/Clint Barton; Many references to different forms of crafts

A relic from when I mostly read MCU fics that I return to again and again and again. Super cosy, slightly sad, incredibly well-written, one of those fics that just draws you in once you start reading it.

coronas of wolf-teeth and rivers by Dialux

A Song of Ice and Fire; Not Rated; Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark; AU; Robert dies at the Trident, Ned dies at the Tower of Joy, Catelyn becomes Queen of Westeros

I remember reading the summary and basically attacking my phone screen to open the fic. It ties itself together so neatly from the premise and the way Catelyn is written is just fantastic.

Diplomatic Relations by KrazzeeAJ1701

Star Trek; Rated M; James T Kirk/Sybok; AU, Female James T. Kirk

Listen, I had a phase where I mostly read gender swap and I found some real gems - this being one of them. I don't re-read it as often as I should but every time I do I remember how much I like it and how fantastic the writing is. The set-up just makes sense and the progression of the story makes you want to keep reading forever.

the ghosts won't matter because we'll hide in sin by soapboxblues

A Song of Ice and Fire; Jaime Lannister/Lyanna Stark; AU

A cute little AU where Lyanna survives the Tower of Joy and is subsequently turned into a political pawn etc etc. Incredibly well-written and the pieces just fit together so well.

The Debt of Time by ShayaLonnie

Harry Potter; Rated E; Sirius Black/Hermione Granger; AU, Time Travel, Soul Bond

I must have read this at least 15 times by now. It just works so well, you know?

For One Last Day by fideliant

The Hobbit; General Audience; Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield; AU

"The things we don't do for love." It's so bittersweet and lovely and all those wonderful things that make me want to smile and cry at the same time. Sort of chances-not-taken and now we're old wrapped up in this little moment that fits so well into the canon of LOTR.

Eurybia by Annerb

Pirates of the Caribbean; Rated T; Elizabeth Swan/Will Turner; Jack Sparrow/Elizabeth Swan; AU

"A love story. Elizabeth Swan and the sea." Read it. Just do it. It's so so so good. And it's barely 1200 words so you can read it and then spend an hour contemplating what you just read and still have time to do other things.

[patternwelded-quill]

Myka's (New) Intro!

I'm going to make me a fresh 

Writblr Intro

Just like revising a story!

I kinda-sorta did before, but not really, so here's a new one. I'll also be rolling the status updates for my fanfics in here for those of you following me for my apparent obsession with Ranma and elves...

My name is Myka, she/her. Nice to meet you!

I'm a trans swordsmith, armorer, jeweler, and watchmaker. I'm also an artist and author, and like all creatives, I have my days where I love my works and days where I hate them and think they're trash. For example, I did the trans flag colors on the rank pips of my PFP, but they're too tiny to see, so I'm planning to redo it out of frustration!

I'm here to build friendships and community. So feel free to send me a message or an ask about metalwork if you're looking for answers or curious. Tag games are great, too, I try to get to them within a day or so of the notif.

Original Works:

Red Angel Saga (Irae, Interitus, Impere): The story of Relarial, an elven mercenary warlord and grandmother, as she attempts to avenge the death of her family, recover from that terrible loss, and return to some semblance of a life she understands. Rated R (for Relarial, hah!) for ultraviolence and the fact that she can't avoid constant profanities.

-Status: Book 1 is being revised/rewritten, book 2 is rough drafted, and book 3 is outlined and halfway drafted.

Blades of Fate (Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove): Captain Malekah Thaynn was a divisive figure, known to some as a hero and others as the 'Butcher of Borderwatch.' The latter helped get her tossed into a dark hole for years until someone thought she'd be useful to their ambitions. But you don't pick up the epithet of a butcher of anything by playing nice with assholes.

-Status: Book 1 is a rough drafted hot mess, but it's my hot mess, I guess.

Fanfiction:

Wet Behind the (Long) Ears: What if Ranma was knocked into the 'Spring of Drowned *Elf* Girl'?

-Status: Part 1 is complete, and I am contemplating continuation!

The Stone Will Sing: Thematic companion to WB(L)E. Maybe Ranma's so short as a girl is because it was a young dwarf girl who drowned in Nyannichuan. Or perhaps the Khazad didn't die out, but vanished as a distinct race. Worldbuilding crossover with LoTR.

-Status: Up to chapter nine, linked above. Have yet to be accused of blasphemy against Tolkien.

Twice the Curse? Double the Fun!: Ranma discovers that P-chan is actually his old frenemy Ryoga. But somehow the Lost Boy managed to get himself *two* Jusenkyo curses. ...or, did he? One-shot for muffinmoonn.

-Status: Drafting, using as a nice palate cleanser when I get stressed with other writing.

Child of Sin: Soun and Genma end up in debt to an old-school fae, but one of them (nobody is surprised) reneges on the deal. Amusement at his suffering ensues.

-Status: Drafting

Big Wish in a Small Pond: What happens when you mix video games, wishing swords, and a damn fool? More trouble for Saotome Ranma, that's what.

-Status: Up to chapter 10!

Once We Were Warriors: OC Relarial is isekai'd into a 1996 Tokyo shared by Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon. This was prompted by a convo w/ a friend about our OCs as Senshi.

-Status: Book 1 is posted on A03, book 2 is rough drafted, and book 3 is being outlined.

[sadlvrgrrl]

𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒 (.𝐬𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐭)

a kili durin love story

when a young princess meets a dwarf without a home— she becomes his home.

・❥・ 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬

The pale light of the moon illuminated the city of King’s Landing, a dense blanket of snow covering the cobbled streets, tattered rooftops, and darkened alleyways underneath the crisp, starry sky. It was on this cold night that the Realm’s Delight was giving birth to her third child.

Her piercing cries of agony blended with the howling wind, creating a ghostly wail that flooded the halls of the Red Keep. At long last, the Realm’s Delight held her newborn in her arms with a gentle grasp, a beautiful princess, born at the stroke of midnight amidst a raging white storm. The child was a beacon of hope, a shining addition to the Targaryen dynasty.

Rhaenyra smiled softly as her finger caressed the soft cheeks of her daughter. The slight movement triggered a bubbly laugh to pour out the young child and a gummy smile to appear upon her face. Her tiny hands chased after her mother’s finger, eager to hold it, causing Rhaenyra to chuckle lightly to herself.

It was indeed a heartwarming scene of a mother and her daughter.

Her daughter. The daughter she longed for her whole life. Her beautiful, precious Valaerys.

(𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅...)

a/n: hello friends! this is a snippet of yet another hotd x lotr (the hobbit) crossover :) i jus' wanted to give ya'll a little snippet of a short story i've been working on between paragraphs of 'hidden' chapter three and i hope you guys enjoyed it and is hooked enough to come back and read the rest once it is posted <3 also, for my oc, valaerys, i pictured princess yue from the 2010 live action avatar: the last airbender as her faceclaim.

comments and feedbacks are very much welcome and appreciated !!

[liminal-zone]

courage, dear heart

i wrote a thing! 

AO3 fic link: atomic blonde

fandom: Narnia/LOTR crossover | ship: Susan Pevensie/Éowyn, background Haladriel

rated: mature | tagged: crossover, canon compliant, pining, Gender Politics with Clive Staples and John Ronald Reuel, post The Horse and His Boy, bittersweet

Summary: It’s not the first time a power beyond understanding ripped Susan away from her home to fight in another world’s war. And in this strange country, she will find her courage.

Set as Frodo becomes the ringbearer, set after Susan returns from Tashbaan and the Battle of Anvard is won.

a/n: Written for @thenarniaficexchange 2023 for @syrena-of-the-lake. Is this fic just a string of references from all seven narnia books, at least five lotr books, various narnia and lotr films, a lotr tv show, Churchill’s “we shall fight on the beaches”, and Shakespeare? Maybe so.

Two canons in a blender, my favorite scene in this is when the Dark Lord Sauron comes to Queen Susan in her dreams to take her apart and finds something he didn’t expect. And my heart aches to answer an unanswered question in the fic about magicked memory loss and the Problem of Susan, perhaps in a sequel. 

Excerpt:

Her hands are dirty from drawing the circle, fingers burned from the blue fire.

The bright magic ring she wears is cold, very cold; cold as the bottom of the sea. And it sings of power, not of the flesh, but over flesh. The power of the Unseen World.

In her mouth is the language spoken before the dawn of time. Before the Deep Magic was written. Before the Sun and the Moon were made. “Call her up.”

*

It’s quite sudden – the searing sound in her ears and then a great pop – and she’s no longer riding alongside her sister in the wilds of Galma but in a strange, alien land.

She stills her horse, and is surprised to find it not the dumb Galman beast who was a pleasure to ride along the sands of the ocean, but a great stallion fit for a warrior of renown. The shabby islander saddle is now richly ornate, covered in symbols she does not recognize. The windswept sea of grass smells sweet; rich earth beneath and a warm yellow sun in the endless blue sky above. Massive forests and towering mountains in the distance, and far off to the south, clouds of smoke. No recognizable landmark of any kind.

This curious little girl from Finchley has experienced travel between worlds before, but she does not quite remember the first time. Something about a mother who loved her and a great stairwell and the numbing horror of nonstop destruction; all faded in memory and deemed unimportant, lost. She is now queen of a great country; taller than her brother, the High King, and a remarkable beauty sought by highborns across the known world. Her raven-colored hair and red lips, haunting the dreams of many. Her gracious kindness, a balm to her loving subjects once subjugated by winter and a witch.

More importantly, she still remains curious.

For she is Susan, by the gift of Aslan, by election, by prescription, and by conquest, Queen over Narnia under the High King Peter, the Lady of Cair Paravel and Protector of the River Rush, Blessed by the Radiant Southern Sun, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, Daughter of Eve, the Gentle.

And this strange country, unknown to her, is Middle Earth.

*

Her magical horn came with her, tied to her belt. There is no hesitation as she raises it to her lips. Father Christmas had said “–wherever you are–,” so she blows it, calling for help in this alien place.

The full velvety sound rings out across the grassy plains, ringing up through the nearby mountains and reaching forests unknown and reaching foreign ears in their towers of stone. (Perhaps even reaching the power that brought her here.)

A rider appears in the distance. Susan narrows her eyes, considering if this is friend or foe. She only has a dagger and her wits, which may be enough.

It is a warrior with a shield on his arm. He rides a white steed and golden horse hair flows out of his helmet. He shines bright like the famed white stag and Susan feels an intense urge to chase this rider at once, to put an arrow in his heart and drag him to the ground.

To demand wishes? Perhaps. The urge is unknowable.

But no: this is no white stag, nor a magical creature of any sort.

And Susan does not yet know that this is no man.

Susan called for help, and help has arrived in the form of Éowyn, the Lady of Rohan.

*

It is a cautious meeting and neither dismount.

The rider’s gaze is appraising, obviously noting Susan’s foreign dress. There’s the uncommon length of her raven hair, adorned with the lush island flowers of Galma. The dagger and white horn at her side, and the ease in which Susan is managing a stallion. The queenly posture; a regal confidence undoubted. (This is learned behavior. Pevensies can trace their lineage to poor fishermen in East Sussex and poorer soldiers from Normandy.)

Susan’s assessment is this: the young rider is a dangerous warrior, lithe and well-knit in frame, made all the more queer with his open courtesy to a stranger.

“What country, friend, is this?” Susan asks.

The rider tilts his head. “This is Rohan, my lady.” His voice ringing out clear.

And what shall I do in Rohan? Susan thinks, miserably.

“Are you in need some assistance, my lady?” the rider continues, a look of concern in his gray eyes. A pause. “I am Dernhelm, at your service.”

*

Dernhelm listens to her tale and “strange sorcery” is his response. He thinks a moment before: “Have you experience with witches?”

Susan gives a smile, but it is a bitter one. She knows more than some about witches.

After Susan explains, Dernhelm nods. “The way I see it is this: you have appeared here through magic, for what reason, I cannot say. And you have appeared in Rohan, for what reason, I cannot say. You are no servant of the Dark Lord, there is something true and honorable about you.” He stops there for a moment before a continuing in a most peculiar tone. “The wizards have no interest in queens; what is a woman to the affairs of air and earth? So, the Lady of the Golden Wood, she must be behind this and her reasons could have promise in them.”

“The Lady?” Susan echoes quietly. There are hags that called Her “the White Lady.”

“She is a great sorceress. An elf-witch of terrible power who dwells in Dwimordene.” Dernhelm looks grave. “It is said that all who look upon her shall fall under her spell and are never seen again.”

Susan shivers, thinking of the horror of Jadis’ castle. Of Tumnus’ look of terror, frozen in stone.

Dernhelm continues. “My brother believes she is a myth, and–” he pauses as if pained by a memory unspoken. “My king’s advisor says webs of deceit were ever woven in Dwimordene.” He raises his chin, and his eyes are shining bright. “But I believe differently. There is an old, old tale of this elf-witch helping my annointed forebear, the first of our kings. I choose to believe that tale. I choose to believe that in our time of need, the Lady came to our aid. High honor to protect the king and his men, and dread magic too. And perhaps, perhaps if she is behind this, she can be reasoned with and you can return home. Should you have the courage, you seek her out.”

“Then I shall go to find this Lady of the Golden Wood,” Susan says. “If you will take me there, sir. For I do not know the way.”

The man sucks in air and holds it a moment before: “For this journey, you have my sword, your grace.”

[hypnotisedfireflies]

Fic Writery Thing

I haven't done this one in awhile. Thanks for tagging me, @adhdprincess!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 22! 2. What's your total AO3 word count? 967,602 3. What fandoms do you write for? These days, just TLOU, but I used to write a lot of LOTR, DW, SW ... there used to be variety. 4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Drifter's Dawn Snowqueen of Texas Drifter's Dusk If On a Clear Day A Door Once Opened 5. Do you respond to comments? Yep, always! 6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably Dawn, I guess? 7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? ... The Legend of Charro? 8. Do you get hate on fics? I don't get hateful comments, no. 9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeah, I write smut, but it's usually plot-driven. I'm not writing smutty one-shots these days. 10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? No, not my jam. 11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yeah, and it was a fic I'd taken down, and the person had only posted as many chapters as they'd saved and swapped the fandoms. That was pretty hurtful, because they'd obviously liked my fic enough to save it, and it was in a very obscure fandom so I guess they thought nobody would see it and tell me. Also, readers really liked the story and were heaping praise on this person for it. Ouch. I contacted AO3. 12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No. 13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yeah, I love collaborative fic writing. 14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I don't deal in absolutes, okay. :p 15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? If On a Clear Day, but that's only because I lost all my notes and I have no idea where that story was going anymore. 16. What are your writing strengths? I'm persistent. 17. What are your writing weaknesses? I'm persistent. 18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Big yes! Thank you @bignosebushybrows who translates my Spanish dialogue in Snowqueen and makes the story so much richer for it, and to @flckrsoflight who translates into French for IO. With their help, I can add a layer of detail and authenticity I cannot achieve myself. xx (Can I also point out the work they actually put into it? Neither just blindly translates, they check with me for context and make sure it has the right flow and meaning, and say things like, 'okay but it would make more sense if...' etc. So like, major effort and care goes into it.) 19. First fandom you wrote for? I want to say Star Wars? By it honestly may have been Police Rescue. 20. Favourite fic you’ve written? That absolutes thing again! I really don't know. I try to challenge myself in a different way in each, so I feel they've each got favourite components for me?

Tagging @march-flowerr @seethesunny @ameerawrites@oliviassunrise