Last weekend, a friend and I watched Two Towers and the accompanying extra interviews, many of which I hadn’t seen. I was so taken by the bit where all Three Hunters actors were injured during the scenes they were trying to run across Rohan that I had to write a fic about it. I had vague thoughts about trying to make it a coherent story with other little bits of the plot, but the vignette ran itself out and then refused to go any further. Maybe one day I’ll add more or clean it up for an archive, but everything is Too Much right now, so I'm posting it informally on fan social media instead of an archive.

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Returning to my roots as a writer of fanfic-turned-therapy-session-turned-fanfic-again, haha. Perhaps another small way to chip away at the personal creative malaise that's been hitting me so hard the last month? Make a fictional character feel it, and then discover that they're feeling it for a totally different reason, but it still brings up an issue worth exploring? Just me?

Anyway, Loose Ends

Summary: When Gimli visits Ithilien in late spring, the elves are glowing, rejoicing in the length of the days and the thrill of their work. It should be a joy to see Legolas this happy, but Gimli does not quite know what to do with himself.

Luckily, Legolas understands.

Full Moon

Summary: Set in the same secret-relationship universe as Words Unspoken. In the North, Erebor, Mirkwood, and Dale navigate a tense pre-war environment while Legolas and Gimli struggle to balance their own political positions with a relationship they don’t dare talk about. They meet every month at the full moon, holding one another close as the world darkens around them.

...

Once upon a time, I wrote a secret relationship AU (or, only sort of AU, since you could actually fit it with the canon text if you wanted). A year later, after getting re-obsessed with one of that story's inspirations, I decided I needed to write a prequel. (Of course, the prequel is still not the get-together, since I avoid those storylines as much as possible, but it contains a whole bunch of things I love to play with, all compiled together into a semi-coherent disaster of a fic!)

Not to be a narcissist, but sometimes I have to wallow in my own cleverness, and I'm so proud of these lines I wrote.

“I have finished meeting with Éomer and Imrahil and Gandalf,” Aragorn said, after a moment of quiet. “We have made plans for the days to come, and I would speak to you of them.”

“Speak, then,” said Legolas. “But it matters not what you say. You know already that I am beside you, even if you decided to storm the Black Gate itself.”

“Ah.” Aragorn seemed a bit taken aback. “Well, that is… particularly good to hear."

(it's because Aragorn's going to tell him that the plan is to storm the Black Gate)

(The lines are from this fic if you happen to be interested, but be warned that it's a longish Hurt No Comfort fic about rejection and despair, so...yanno.)

Love in a Time of Politics

Summary: Gimli son of Glóin has been living with an aggravating secret – a bed-partner who no longer wants to share his bed. At an annual diplomatic council, he decides that things have gone far enough and initiates a confrontation – but takes a wrong turn and storms into someone else’s tent instead. Legolas, on the other hand, is taken aback when a strange dwarf surprises him in his tent and berates him for toying with him. But the more time they spend together, the more overwhelmed he becomes by his feelings for this startling new friend . . .

No War AU, written for the Unconventional Courtship challenge.

(I highly recommend checking out the challenge; I've had so much fun and I'd love to see more fic (for my ship, specifically, heh)!

I stole this idea from elwinfortuna - list your most recent 20 fanfic titles.

Velle
Not Unchanged
On the Devil's Back
Unhurried
Small Comfort
Ripples in the long, long stream
Ever Changing, Ever Climbing
I Feel the Earth Move (Under My Feet)
Nowhere Else
No Greater Love
Well Lived
Beneath the Sun
Rapid
Muse
Words Unspoken
The Right Tree
A Tangled Web
The Best of Both
Bane
Lovesick Blues

1. How many are you happy with? Hmm... I would say there are about 9 of them that don't cause at least a little bit of embarrassed cringing. Then six more that I'm mostly fine with.
2. How many are ... not great? Honestly, I don't love my titling skill. Even the good ones aren't great. But I would say Ripples, Nowhere Else, Well Lived, and Rapid don't thrill me.
3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute? ...most of them, to be honest. Well, I guess only ten, now that I've gone through, which is half rather than most. Generally the longer ones gottitles before it was time to post, but the shorter ones did not.
4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning? I think just two: Ripples and Beneath the Sun. Both of which are collections of minifics, so it was more about picking a title for a category - and those titles are both drawn directly from the text of Lord of the Rings.
5. How many are quotes from songs or poems? JUST CALL ME OUT, WHY DON'T YOU. Only four!! ("Only," pfft.)
6. How many are other quotes? Well, as I said above, Ripples and Beneath the Sun are both from the text of LOTR; five of the other titles are from within the text of the stories (not counting the one-word ones because I think that is cheating); and A Tangled Web is an aphorism. So...eight? Unless I'm misremembering?
7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork? Probably Muse, Bane, or Lovesick Blues - and honestly I couldn't tell you which one of those does it best.
8. Which best reflects the theme of the story? My automatic answer is Velle, though I think The Best of Both comes in second?
9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/POV of the fanwork? This was a hard one! Probably Not Unchanged or I Feel the Earth Move, since those are both a direct reflection of the narrator's POV? Though Ever Changing, Ever Climbing might also be a contender since the story follows a character's life journey...
10. Which is your favourite title? This is a hard one!! Probably Beneath the Sun or No Greater Love, actually... or maybe Bane, even. Or Lovesick Blues, for the sake of being tongue-in-cheek... No, I'm going to say one of the first two.

This was fun! I love doing (unprompted) challenges like this; if you see this, please feel free to do it as well!

In honor of the fact that I posted the last chapter of Ever Changing, Ever Climbing today, I went back through and scrolled the tag for the story, because . . . navel gazing, I guess?

Anyway, it's been a really wonderful journey and I am very proud of myself. :)

I have completed a line on my bingo card! To see all the fills compiled, check out this post! :)

An entry for my bingo card! I have now completed a row, but I don't feel like compiling them all right now so I'll do that another time. For now, I just want to post this one, because I wrote it today and I'm very happy with it.

Takes place within my usual LOTR universe. Legolas has returned to Mirkwood after visiting Gimli's family post-Ring-War, and it will be his last extended stretch at home before he leaves for Ithilien. Contains: discussion of/aftermath of traumatic burn wounds; platonic bed-sharing; old, old friendships.

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Well Lived

Summary: Legolas is called to Erebor to help Gimli through the death of his father. But even as he does all he can to support his husband in his grief, he cannot help dwelling on the difference between mortal and immortal death - and the loss that awaits him in the years to come.

Behold! a fic I started in summer 2018 and have finally managed to finish!