From That Rubble - Chapter Four

May. 22nd, 2026 11:24 am
starspray: maglor with a harp, his head tilted down and to the left (maglor)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective. 

First Chapter / Previous Chapter

Heart,
I implore you,
it’s time to come back
from the dark

Let the world
have its way with you,
luminous as it is

with mystery
and pain—
graced as it is
with the ordinary.
- “Summer Morning” by Mary Oliver

.
 

 


Reading Wednesday

May. 20th, 2026 03:48 pm
starspray: Frodo reading beneath a tree (Frodo Reading)
[personal profile] starspray
I finished another book!

Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe – How Charlemagne's Dynasty Fell and Why It Matters for Understanding Political Collapse
, by Matthew Gabriele & David M Perry

 For all my interest in medieval European history, I know very little about the Carolingeans, so this was really fascinating, especially coming off of reading The Dark Queens, which was about the Merovingians a few generations before Charlemagne. I enjoyed it a lot. 

Add Another Stone - Chapter Five

May. 19th, 2026 03:13 pm
starspray: a white rose bloom with raindrops on the petals (white rose)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence 
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm. 

First Chapter / Previous Chapter

 

 

It's a birthday!

May. 19th, 2026 07:36 am
shirebound: (Default)
[personal profile] shirebound
Happy Birthday, [personal profile] grav_ity! And three cheers for our long friendship. ♥

the plot bunnies are breeding

May. 18th, 2026 09:54 pm
starspray: luthien heraldric symbol, white flowerse on dark background (luthien heraldry)
[personal profile] starspray
Highs in the 90s today and tomorrow, whyyyyy. It's been cooler than usual up to now, so why did we just skip ahead to the middle of an August heatwave? I hate it. 

The township also repaved our road today, so that smelled great whenever I stepped outside. BUT my peonies are starting to bloom!!

A friend of mine is expecting a baby come fall, so I found some nice cotton/acrylic yarn that's a very pretty shade of purple that I can't remember when or why I bought, and started a baby blanket for her. It's very nice to work with, and it's helping me out of my reading slump--I finished an audiobook I'd stalled out on months ago, and started another. And in looking for the yarn I found where I put the sock yarn I got ages ago with a vague aspiration of learning to knit those, so maybe there are badly-knit socks in my future? We'll see how confident I feel. 

After over a year of having a very hard time focusing on anything except one single story, I'm finding myself being smacked in the face with new ideas with shocking frequency. There's the silly Crablorandom crossover I've been poking at, as well as From that Rubbles and The Fire of Life--both of which I had hoped to focus on once I was finished with Desert--but also Finrod showed up in my head and wouldn't leave until I wrote Add Another Stone, which was originally "if I could make Celegorm/Finrod work, how would I do it?" and turned into, well, that plus a character study of Finrod. Also part of it is set by Ekkaia, because I wrote it so of course it is. 

And now Celegorm won't leave my head, and this fic is going to be much longer and I'm not even sure how to describe the idea, which came to me with shocking clarity while I was shampooing my hair last week--and then stayed in my head until I could get out of the shower and to a place where I could write it down. Canon-divergence AU where Celegorm survives Doriath but massively injured, and also with amnesia due to a combination of a curse from Dior and a head injury, and then somehow we get to Kidnap-Fam-But-Slightly-To-The-Left when Daeron ends up having a very weird day, and also the Els 1.0 are there (and no one's actually kidnapped* but you get the vibe, right?). I'm not really sure where it'll go from there, which is of course most of the fun, but I had hoped to be focusing on a very different Feanorian.

*an argument can be made that Celegorm is the kidnappee in this scenario

did, I think, fix the problems I was having in getting Plot Things moving in The Fire of Life, so there's that. At least I've gotten Maedhros out of Rivendell and it doesn't feel as forced as the last three times I tried. I am also again struggling with foreshadowing things on purpose because, uh. I know everything so it's hard to tell if I'm being more obvious than I want to be or not. I don't mind at all people guessing or seeing where things are going, but I do also like to have some reveals be surprising, you know? I somehow threaded that needle exactly how I wanted to in Desert, but I don't want to get overconfident here.

There are a couple of other much vaguer ideas that need to simmer on the back burner of my brain for a while, which is honestly a relief. I don't think I mean to complain about having so many ideas, but it remains as I said very weird after being so hyper-focused on one story for so long.

I'm also thinking I probably won't claim anything for TRSB. The gallery is incredible, as it always is, but there's nothing that really leaps out at me--or at least nothing that I'm immediately confident that I could write 5000 words for. I might write a couple of treats for some artists that I recognized, but we'll see.

Add Another Stone - Chapter Four

May. 18th, 2026 11:27 am
starspray: a white rose bloom with raindrops on the petals (white rose)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence 
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm. 

First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Last Chapter

 

Read more... )

 

It's a birthday!

May. 18th, 2026 07:21 am
shirebound: (Default)
[personal profile] shirebound
Happy Birthday, [personal profile] mrowe! Let nothing keep you from having a wonderful day.

Add Another Stone - Chapter Three

May. 17th, 2026 11:20 pm
starspray: a white rose bloom with raindrops on the petals (white rose)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence 
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm. 

First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

 

Read more... )

 

Add Another Stone - Chapter Two

May. 15th, 2026 11:50 pm
starspray: a white rose bloom with raindrops on the petals (white rose)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence 
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm. 

First Chapter / Next Chapter

 

Read more... )

 

From That Rubble - Chapter Three

May. 15th, 2026 04:34 pm
starspray: maglor with a harp, his head tilted down and to the left (maglor)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective. 

First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

One need not be a chamber—to be haunted—
One need not be a House—
The Brain—has Corridors surpassing
Material Place—

Far safer, of a Midnight—meeting
External Ghost—
Than an Interior—confronting—
That cooler—Host—
- “One need not be a chamber—to be haunted—” by Emily Dickinson

.
 

 

Read more... )

 

It's a birthday!

May. 15th, 2026 06:33 am
shirebound: (Default)
[personal profile] shirebound
Happy Birthday, [personal profile] windemere! I hope you feel celebrated today.

Add Another Stone - Chapter One

May. 13th, 2026 06:59 pm
starspray: Vingilot sailing (Vingilot)
[personal profile] starspray
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence 
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm. 

AO3 / SWG

Next Chapter



Hello, my old heart

It’s been so long
Since I’ve given you away

And every day
I add another stone
To the walls I built around you
To keep you safe
- “Hello My Old Heart” - The Oh Hellos

.
 

 

Read more... )

 

It's a birthday!

May. 11th, 2026 06:35 am
shirebound: (Default)
[personal profile] shirebound
It's [profile] erullissedances's birthday! I know how hard you're working, my friend, and I hope today can bring a window of peace, joy, and feeling all our loving hugs. ♥



Rena says Relax....

Rena sleeping.jpeg

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