#eowyn is my girl and i WILL complain

[kashilascorner]

the way the lotr movies didn't really bother to properly close (or acknowledge) Eowyn and Faramir's story arcs and they just kind of threw them in together at the end

#just for the record yes eowyn's arc mostly closed since she was able to go to battle and got recognized by her uncle #but she needed more than that tbh. also doesn't help that her arc in ttt also heavily revolved around her attraction to aragorn #and they don't really talk abt it but ok. let's say I'm being picky because her character had a mostly satisfactory arc #fatamir is all over the place though?? because everyone around him puts so much emphasis in that 'oh but your dad actually loves you' #so he is sent to this suicide mission despite his own better judgement. and then he FAILS so he never gets #to do what he wants (get his father's approval). but then denethor never shows his so called love hor him. dude literally light the pyre #while his son was still breathing like. ok he's grieving terribly and not in his right mind but???? #and because of this faramir skips the final big battles #so does eowyn and they both juat kind of are left alone to heal. which is nice don't get me wrong truth is i do like them together but #i don't like how we got there because it was lazy as hell!!! and because for eowyn in particular it's sooooo disappointing as an ending. #because she was not typically femenine but then you throw her into this kinda romance that really came out of nowhere #also hate that her wounds just kind of disappear magically like dude. her arm was messed up what the hell #eowyn is my girl and i WILL complain #laura watches stuff

[leighmeanhoe]

making my friend watch LOTR for the first time (bc I need a comfort day & also it's Elijah's bday) & I'm so happy they like it

#they just went 'Frodo I love you but...' #we're at the beginning of Two Towers & I've been screaming about my girl (Eowyn) so much #Saya complains

[sabersandsnipers]

A Stray on the Road

Author’s Note: I work with a lot of the pediatric population as a nurse, so I thought about what Halsin and Astarion’s reactions would be to me having to protect and take care of every kid I find lol

The day was grueling. The sticky sensation of blood covers every inch of your skin. Aches and pains rattle your bones, and the road seems endless as your group searches for a good place to set up camp. The only thought keeping you going is that of curling up between Astarion and Halsin later. 

“Gods, this is hell,” Karlach complains. 

Wyll responds with some snide comment, but you’re only half listening, because you’re approaching a rather violent scene. Wagons are tipped over, and bodies litter the road. You slow as you approach, noticing a small figure sitting by a pair of bodies. 

Your gaze sharpens, and you see it’s a young girl. No older than 5. Tears stream down her cheeks as she sits by a pair of dead bodies. Your heart sinks as you realize it’s probably her parents. 

“Hang back, guys,” you say. You fear the approach of such a large group will frighten her. Attempting to wipe the blood off your face, you walk up to the girl. 

Her clothes are tattered, and you notice she has a few cuts lining her arms and legs. You crouch next to her.

“Hey,” you say softly. 

Big beautiful brown eyes meet yours. Something twists in your chest. 

“What’s your name?” you ask.

She sniffles. “Eowyn.”

“Eowyn, do you have family nearby?”

She shakes her head. “No. And I don’t know where I am.” 

Her voice trembles, and your heart breaks for her. You look back to your companions. Most won’t mind her staying with them, except for Astarion, who will be annoyed by the young presence.Your friends look back at you expectantly, wondering what your next move is. 

“Would you like to stay with me and my friends for the night?” you ask her.

She looks to the group behind you, and you half expect her to run away in fear with how harsh they look. 

But her expression doesn’t change, she simply nods her head. 

“Do you think you can walk?” you ask her.

She shakes her head. 

You smile at her. “That’s okay. Halsin?”

The elf approaches. Eowyn stares up at him, eyes wide. 

“Is it alright if my friend carries you?” you ask her. 

She nods. “He’s so tall.” Her eyes are filled with wonder.

“He is,” you say with a chuckle. You look to Halsin and he nods. He reaches down and picks up the child, placing her on his shoulder. 

“Hold on, child,” he says. There’s a slight smile on her face, but then darkness fills her eyes again. 

Your group ventures forth once more. The sun is beginning to set, casting shadows along the road. But you can’t help but admire the beautiful colors streaking across the sky. 

Astarion falls into step beside you. “Picked up another stray, I see.”

You nudge your shoulder against him. “You were a stray once too.” 

He gives a half smile. “I’m just worried you’re going to burden yourself with her safety.”

You let out a sigh, knowing he wouldn’t like her presence. “She has no one, Astarion.” 

He doesn’t say anymore, but you can feel the tenseness between you two. Your relationship is still being navigated. But even with your difference in values, you couldn’t stop yourselves from being drawn to each other. 

A giggle pulls you from your thoughts. You look back to see Eowyn playing with Halsin’s braids. He’s grinning back at her, thoroughly enjoying her laughs. The sight sparks a warmth within you, and you can’t stop the smile from growing on your lips.

“Ugh.” Astarion comments. “Does he always have to be so…Halsin?” 

You shoot him a half hearted glare. Despite him being agreeable to Halsin joining your relationship, he always seems taken aback by his general goodness and willingness to help others. 

Your trek continues, Astarion allowing your hands to brush ever so slightly as you walk the dusty road. 

The fire crackles as Karlach throws more wood onto the flames. A warm stew has been shared amongst your group, Eowyn getting a healthy portion. Conversations scatter around, commenting on the latest tavern you stopped at, or how a fight went along the way. 

You sit on a log between Eowyn and Halsin, but Astarion sits over by his tent. He’s reading one of his books, sipping on some wine. 

Every time you glance to Eowyn, you notice her watching Astarion. Her gaze is curious, and she seems completely enthralled with him. Not that you can blame her. You’re completely enthralled as well. 

“He’s so beautiful,” she suddenly comments. You smile at her and then look at your love.

“Isn’t he?” you respond. “He’s awfully nice too, to the people he likes.”

“I saw you kissing earlier. Are you married?” she asks. 

You laugh. “No, but I do love him very much.”

Confusion crosses her face, as if she can’t comprehend how you can be in love but not married. She takes another bite of her stew. Her eyes flicker back to Astarion. 

A few minutes later she taps you on the shoulder. You turn away from your conversation with Halsin as she leans over to you. 

“Do you think he would read me a bedtime story?” she asks in a whisper. 

You grin, and glance at Astarion. Although he would most definitely deny her request, he can’t deny you. 

“Yes. You should go over and ask. Tell him I sent you.” 

Her expression brightens. She gets right up and makes her way over to Astarion, who doesn’t acknowledge her until she’s standing right in front of him. He finally looks up, his expression mildly annoyed. Eowyn talks for a few moments and then he shoots a glare in your direction. 

You raise an eyebrow at him, daring him to say no. He bites the inside of his lip. The seconds pass as you wait for his response. 

Finally, his body relaxes and he nods his head. Eowyn sits down on the cushion next to him, snuggling up right close to him. Although Astarion tenses a bit, he doesn’t push her away. You watch them for a bit, admiring how adorable they look together. 

A pair of hands find their way to your shoulders. 

A familiar voice whispers in your ear. “I’m going to bathe in the river. Would you like to join me?” Halsin asks. He places a hot kiss against your neck. 

“Halsin, the day I say no to that question, I want you to push me off a cliff, because clearly I’ve gone mad,” you respond. 

A breathy laugh caresses your skin. You give him your hand and the two of you make your way to the water. 

When you return from your excursion with Halsin, skin still tingling, you’re astounded by the sight before you. Astarion and Eowyn still sit together, except Eowyn is sound asleep in his lap. Astarion looks down at her, his hand resting lightly on her hair. You can’t read his expression. 

When you approach Astarion, you crouch down and place a kiss to his temple. He smiles at you, and it makes your heart flutter just like the first time. 

“I can have Halsin take her to my tent,” you offer, brushing back a strand of his white curls. 

He hesitates, looking down at Eowyn. “I think we’ll be okay. She looks so comfortable.” 

She’s curled right up, her head resting on his chest. Her face looks so serene after all the horrors she’s experienced today. 

“Okay. I’ll go spend the night with Halsin then. Just come get me if you need me,” you tell him. 

“I think we’ll be okay, darling,” he replies. 

You smile and kiss him goodnight. As you make your way to Halsin’s tent, you take one last look over your shoulder, and allow yourself a moment to admire the two of them. And it brings you great joy to know Astarion is finding just as much comfort as she is. 

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #halsin #halsin x reader x astarion #astarion x reader x halsin #halsin x reader #astarion x reader #astarion imagine #halsin imagine

[zalrb]

more unpopular kate/kathony (kanthony?) opinions! - bridgerton 2.07 review

1. I’m watching this like, wow Edwina doesn’t get a happy ending. Hell, even in the Directors’ Cut of LOTR, Eowyn gets with Faramir!

2. Oh great, is Kate going to masturbate to the memory of her kissing Anthony the Mouse?

3. She looks so stiff in that kiss though.

4. Yes.

5. This entire situation reminds me of this part of Poor Unfortunate Souls

6. They’re so going to change the lyrics in the live action. Anyway, off-topic.

7. And Kate just looks annoyed that Edwina won’t talk to her rather than contrite.

8. I just find the Bridgerton family extremely annoying.

9. “Reputation! Reputation!” Oh my god, Anthony is a man, he’ll be FINE.

10. “I give credit to your imagination, Miss Danbury, a bigger story I cannot foresee.” Lmao, maybe don’t speak, Kate?

11. AND THEY GAZE AT EACH OTHER ACROSS THE PROMENADE BECAUSE THEY ARE IN LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE.

12. Even though Edwina is right there and all of the ton is watching because looooooooooooooooooooove.

13. I just don’t have time for Olitz-like ships.

14. This Eloise scene is long.

15.  “A ball.” Ha, Edwina’s eye roll, she deserves her own show.

16. NOW THAT ANTHONY IS NO LONGER LIVING A LIE, THE DOG FINDS HIM SUITABLE AND DOGS ARE GREAT JUDGES OF CHARACTER. TRUE LOVE WILL ALWAYS SET YOU FREE.

17. Lmao, sorry, I find this love story insufferable.

18. omg guyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys, he just can’t HELP but stare at her

19. I just feel like Edwina deserves to do the Regency version of this to Anthony

20. Their love and attraction is SO POWERFUL that they’ll have to stay on OTHER SIDES OF THE ROOM DURING THE BALL.

21. Ugh.

22. I don’t know if I can live through another Kathony dance.

23. Derry Girls Clare should just be Belle.

24. Mouse Man Mouse Man

25. HE GOT A WHIFF OF HER PERFUME AND NOW HE IS IN HEAVEN, RELISHING THE SCENT OF HER.

26. And this is the other thing too, Kate is extremely passive. Like, OK Edwina doesn’t want to talk to her but if she’s supposed to want her happiness more than anything, if this is supposed to be killing her inside, then at least try to make amends but she’s just standing around looking wooden and maybe sometimes catching Anthony’s eye.

27. Oh jesus christ are eloise and whatshisface going to kiss now that they’re arguing?

28. No. Good.

29.

I mean has it though?

30. “I am reaping the consequences of destroying it” girl, you’re masturbating in bed. Like just be HONEST.

31.  “Happy endings do not exist, Kate” well, not for you, Edwina, but they will for her.

32. Anthony is so fucking shameless.

33. “We should be ashamed of what we did” and there’s going to be a speech about how he’s not ashamed or how she’s not ashamed, a Delena “I’m not sorry” speech. I don’t care.

34. WHY is Colin a character? WHAT DOES HE DO.

35. He gives sooooooooooo much more than she does. He carries them, honestly.

35. Oh yes, sniping and arguing, which is just their foreplay. I’m bored. We’ve done this already.

36. Yes, yes, consume

I feel like the only time I’ve ever been like I get it, they didn’t even use the world consume

37. Oh they do make him do the “Do you think I want to be in this position” McDreamy “DO YOU THINK I WANT TO LOOK AT YOU”  the more they drag this out, the more impatient I become and not in the way they want.  I feel like Garrett from Superstore but instead of affair it’s get together

38. Anthony: I’ve lived my life for my family. Kate: OMG SAME. Me

I had to see it. All I’ve seen is both of you complain.

39. I don’t think a stylized sex scene worked here but that’s just a personal preference, if they’re all like “YOU CONSUME ME” “I CAN’T ESCAPE YOU” “I LIVE FOR MY FAMILY LET’S LIVE FOR OURSELVES” and they kiss and he fingers her then he’s all i’ll stop and she’s like don’t, I want to see/hear the frenzy, the heavy breathing, I want it to seem as organic as possible, like I would want a Shameless sex scene at least at first and then they can do the stylistic one during round 2 or something

40. KATE. I’M SICK OF THIS.

You fucked him. OWN IT. Because I don’t find the “journey” to her just allowing herself to be happy well executed at all because they don’t delve into Kate (or any of the characters) enough for this to be anything other than by-the-numbers and superficial so this just comes across as disingenuous and that’s the other problem with stylized sex scenes, they’re deliberate and don’t give off the impression of impulsivity or the heat of the moment so I’m just like IT’S TOO LATE FOR THIS.

41. This is why I like Cersei-like characters they just fucking own it.

42. AND ANTHONY IS SUCH. A DICK.

43. OH NO, SHE’S GALLOPING IN THE RAIN.

44. Lmao, I am not watching anything Bridgerton EVER again.

45. It’s done.

[vera-dauriac]

3, 55, 62 & 75.

Thanks so much for asking!!!

3 a stand-alone that you wish was part of a series

Jo Nesbo’s most recent novel, The Kingdom, I think is meant to be a standalone, but it could totally be the start of a new series. If it turns out to be the latter, I will be very pleased.

55 a book with a satisfying ending

The best Jane Austen novels have the such satisfying endings, not merely because the heroine gets married, but because the fact she is getting married at that moment to that man is the only possible correct ending. See: Emma, P&P, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey

62 a book with a forgettable plot but amazing characters

What exactly even happens in Notes from Underground? Dude complains about stuff then tells a story and running (literally) into people and meeting a prostitute. But Underground Man is pretty fucking memorable. “I am a sick man…I am a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts.” Who needs plot?

75 a book featuring the I’m not like other girls trope

Um…honestly, when this is done intentionally, it annoys me. When it’s elegantly integrated into the story (Eowyn in LOTR, for instance), it’s excellent, but at that point, I’m not sure if it still counts as a trope.

I’m still open to more questions from this list!

#ask me stuff #book recs #reading #literature

[fizzingwizard]

I love the part in Two Towers, when the Fellowship of the Ring breaks up, Aragorn is just like, "Who needs them, let’s be our own boy band. Our new name is The Three Hunters.”

Then in Rohan he’s quick to land them a gig: "We’re part screamo part folk metal and all awesome. Gimli’s vocals, Legolas, keyboard, and I’m lead guitar.” and Eomer says, “Cool, well there’s an opening at Isengard Square at 9, beer’s on tap.”

And later, when Eowyn complains about there being no girls allowed in boy bands. Aragorn’s so supportive. “Just go get your own boy band.” Then Eowyn and Merry get themselves signed to Theoden’s label through a loophole and perform the hit “I Am No Man” to world-wide renown. Later Pippin puts out a sole single, “Gondor’s a Gonner,” which makes him an instant superstar in the Shire. All thanks to feminist!Aragorn.

Then The Three Hunters have to break up too because Aragorn gets married, but Gimli and Legolas continue to tour together as a duo whenever they have the time. Their set lists always include “It Doesn’t Matter If You Can’t Hold Your Liquor, I’ll Hold You,” “My Count Was 43,” and “Little Hairy Women.”

That was my favorite part

#lord of the rings #aragorn #legolas #gimli

[castellankurze]

FSF: Someone (or multiple someones?) takes a bubble bath.

fanfic for Completely Normal RPG, run by @lordcaliginous.  Also tagging @mystictheurge and @tamsynspeaks as per what is now standard procedure.

Takes place sometime in the month of December.

A Completely Normal Week

Monday

The motorcycle’s engine throbbed as its rider took the final turn into the driveway and slowed to a stop.  Shouko dismounted and unlocked the carport before walking the bike inside, pulling her helmet and hanging it off one of the handlebars.  The interior of the carport was a disaster, with her mom’s car tucked snugly up against the left side where it had accumulated a fine layer of dust while the rest of the available area was full of tools and spare parts.  Some had been left behind by her father, and Shouko had added to the motley collection over the years until the back wall of the carport was hardly accessible, but it wasn’t like they ever used the decorations stored back there.

“Hi mom, I’m home,” she announced as she stepped through the front door, tossing her keys into the nearby basket with a jingle.  The Kogawa household was a snug, two-story place with a pair of bedrooms and a bathroom on the upper level with everything else downstairs, and the only response to the girl’s voice was the slow churning of the ceiling fan she’d left on last night.

Once she’d stripped off her riding leathers, Shouko settled down at the table in the family room to do her homework.  This consisted of a block of time lasting no more than one solid hour, subjects broken up by use of an egg timer.  Over the years she’d gotten pretty good at judging how to mostly finish any given piece of homework in the time allotted, and if she was off, well, partial credit was better than none.  She answered questions as fast as she drove her bike, though with considerably more guesswork.  'You could be an A-rank student if you wanted it,’ more than one of her teachers had groused at her.  Shouko had come up with any number of excuses over time, but by and large as long as she maintained a D most had learned to live and let live.

At the conclusion of her hour, Shouko packed away her school stuff and left it by the door, there to be grabbed tomorrow morning.  That done, she ran upstairs to change her clothes into a set of gym shorts and a plain white shirt, stuffing her earbuds in her ears before heading off to the treadmill.

Most of Shouko’s teachers had guessed at her athletic ability, but those who dismissed the girl as a slacker would have been shocked to see the utter concentration on her face as she sprinted at top speed on her mother’s treadmill, a dumbbell clutched in each hand, stopping only for the occasional drink of water.  There once was a time when she would have been soaked with sweat at the end of the workout, but an hour’s run nowadays was little more than maintenance.

When all was said and done Shouko retired to her bedroom, a cavern of rebellious rock music and video game posters from both Japan and America and a battlestation that looked like something that might have been ripped from a NASA installation.  Shouko spent her stipends on two things: her bike, and her computer.  Lately Saika had been a third, but both longstanding habits were things that that she’d dove into headfirst until she could take apart either and put them both back together blindfolded.

“Oh great, a Genji,” someone complained almost as soon as she’d locked her Overwatch character in.  "Nice match everyone, better luck next time.“  Thirty-nine kills and two deaths later Shouko wished everyone a nice day.  Quickplay was so damn stupid, and on the next match she chose Roadhog just to mix it up.  Someone else whined about multiple tanks and Shouko rolled her eyes.  60% of team damage taken.  It wasn’t her fault nobody else could find the point.

"I’m going back to TF2,” she growled aloud, grabbing for her pack of cigs.  Of late she’d taped a warning to the front in black capital letters: TWO A DAY.  Miyumi always got squirrely when she lit up and Saika always winced.  Since she couldn’t avoid the former and felt bad about the latter she’d been cutting down.  Given her life lately, it wasn’t like she was gonna live long enough to die of cancer.

She showered and collapsed in bed, lit by the soft red glow of her electronics.

Tuesday

The motorcycle thrummed and growled as she cut the engine and stowed it.

“Hi mom, I’m home.”  The keys jingled as they landed in the basket.

An hour for homework.  She finished all of it this time.

Today was arm day, and Shouko spent her workout hour doing curls and lifts while Netflix ran some anime she barely payed attention to.

“Hey Eowyn,” someone said as soon as she logged into FFXIV.  "Can you craft me a thing?“

"Sure.”

Ten mintues later.  "hey are you up for a Castrum Abania run"

“Patch is in like three weeks,” she said with a bit of a sigh in meatspace.

“ya but I really want that sword for glamour plate its ok if you dont wanna go”

“It’s fine I can blow it up with you.”

“thx youre the best blm”

“Hey, Eowyn.”  She blinked.  That last one had been a whisper instead of guild chat.

“What’s up?”

“I just wanted to say, you don’t seem yourself lately,” her guildmaster said.  "Just wanted to check and make sure you’re alright.“

"Yeah I’m good.  Just been super busy with all the schoolwork lately.”

“I know the feeling.  Are you gonna be full-time again in January?”

Shouko frowned.  "I’ll try.“

"Just take care of yourself.  Game comes after real life.”

“:) I will.”

She showered and slept a little fitfully that night.

Wednesday

A series of whispers alerted her to the attention of several classmates glancing her way.  "Hey, Shouko, can you…“ one of them asked with a blush, curling one arm.

With a grin, she pulled up her sleeve and flexed, to a flutter of giggles.  Shouko was never gonna be as strong as Erika, but her daily regimen was having noticeable effects, like leaving her look cut as hell.  She was probably down to 15% body fat by now, looking lean and mean.

"Hey, Shouko?” Saika asked at the end of the day.  "Would you like to do something Saturday?“

"Sure,” she said, hefting her bike helmet and making sure Saika clipped the spare’s chinstrap in place.  "What did you have in mind?“

"Nothing much, just…dinner somewhere?”

Shouko turned the ignition and revved the throttle.  "Sounds great.“

After she dropped Saika off she made for the gym, where she could get the type of workout that wasn’t so easy at home.  Balance beam, rings, parallel bars - it all came back as easily as breathing.  Shouko could spin rings around any of the other girls there.  When she wanted to, she could sprint down the balance beam and leap to the vault and from there catch herself on the rings in a split-second one-two-three move that sometimes provoked gasps from newbies.

As little as three years ago, Shouko had been doing this kind of thing pretty much daily.  She wondered, sometimes, what her old teammates were up to these days.  She didn’t wonder enough to come in on any day but Wednesday, thought sometimes it was extremely tempting to show up jsut to show the lot of them what she could pull off nowadays.  She’d never been a Simone Biles, and probably never would be - in fact now that it crossed her mind she wondered if Simone had had an awakening of her own? - but she could have thrashed the regionals nowadays.  Funny how things worked out.

She swam a few laps in the pool to cool down and showered before heading home.

"Hi mom.”  Jingle.

An hour for homework.

She played a little Mortal Kombat and crushed some jackass who made fun of her tag.

Thursday

The Honda thrummed as she pulled into the drive.

“Hi mom.”  Jingle.

Her phone buzzed while she was doing her homework and she didn’t bother looking up until she was done.

“Hi Shouko, they asked me to visit our office in Melbourne while I’m down here, so I’ll be hopping a plane tomorrow.  I’ll be a few more days.  Have my phone if you need me.  Love you!” read her mom’s text.

Shouko stared at it for a minute and texted back “k lu2

Her feet slapped hard against the treadmill.  She needed to replace the damn thing when nobody was looking.  She was getting to the point where she really needed a higher top speed.

Her Star Wars RPG group canceled again, so instead of playing her Jedi she just spent some more time in CoD blowing holes in people while Fullmetal Alchemist played in the background.

“How are you even watching that,” someone complained in voice chat at one point.

“Listen,” she growled around a cigarette, “don’t hate because Olivier Mira Armstrong has my back.”

He responded with an insinuation that technically wasn’t wrong, but still got him blown to smithereens several times before he finally ragequit.

Shouko stayed up until almost three in the morning before she slumped into bed.

Friday

“A 99.  Excellent as always, Ms. Aratani,” the teacher said as she handed out papers.  Shouko could see the way Miyumi’s lip trembled as she took the proffered test like it was about to bite her hand off.

“87.  Good step up, Shouko,” the teacher said when she reached her.

“Thanks,” she said as she took the paper.

“I mean it,” the woman said, leaning closer.  "When you put your mind to a subject you really show your potential.“

Shouko was silent as the teacher moved on.  "Thanks,” she grumbled under her breath.  The paper crinkled as her hand crushed it.

“Um…excuse me, Kogawa?” the voice caught her as she was walking to her bike.

“Yo?” she said, turning with a blink of her eyes to see a semi-familiar face.  One of the girls who’d been looking at her the other day.

“Do you mind if I ask you for a piece of advice?”

Shouko blinked again.  "Uh?“

"It’s just…you and Saika…”  The girl was blushing hard.  "How did you.  Um?“

Shouko couldn’t help a chuckle, and she pulled out her customary after-school cig and lit it with a snap of flame from her dagger.  The girl didn’t even double-take.  Normal people saw what they expected to see.  Shouko didn’t even bother carrying her lighter anymore.  "Look.  You want my advice?  Just go talk to her,” she said as she straddled her bike and pulled out her favorite wraparound shades.  "Life’s too fucking short and we gotta make time with the people we got before we get left in the dust, you know what I mean?“

"Um…I guess?” the other girl said, rubbing her cheek.

“Trust me.  Jump on it,” she said before she revved the throttle.

“Hi mom.”  Jingle.

She did her homework so fast her handwriting looked like the fevered sprinting of a deranged chicken.

Her fingertips ached with so many push-ups.

She ended up mostly just browsing the net that night and went to bed.

Saturday

She came out of the bathroom that morning to the sound of her phone buzzing insistently.

“Saika?!” she asked sharply, heart racing.

In the little mirror on the opposite wall, she could see the way her own face dropped.

“Oh.  Hi dad.”

She did the math.  It was eight in Hitachinaka, which meant it was ten in Ontario.  PM.

“It’s super late.  You should get some sleep.  The plant won’t want their engineer showing up super tired.  No, not her, I haven’t seen her in months.  Saika’s nice.  Yeah, bike’s running great.  School’s fine.  Mom’s in Australia now, they called her down from Jakarta.  I’m fine.  Dad, I dropped gymnastics like two years ago.  Yeah, tell Karen I said hi.  Maybe in a year.  Yeah.  Bye.  …love you too.”She threw the phone against the pillow and did her daily run outdoors.  It was cold as hell and overcast besides, but sweatpants and a sweatshirt were all she needed with the way her heart was pumping.

She was gone two hours.  When she got back she had a missed call and another text.  Saika.

“Hi Shouko, I’m sorry but I don’t think I can go out tonight.   I think I must have eaten something bad. x.X  I feel like crap.  Call me when you can.”

“Want me to bring over some soup?” she asked when the phone picked up.

“No,” said a mewling voice.  "I just want to curl up under ten blankets.“

"I’m sorry,” Shouko said.

“No, I’m sorry.  I don’t want to leave you hanging.  Promise we’ll make it up, k?”

“You know it.  Get some rest.  L-  …later.”

She looked at herself in the mirror.

The flame daggers hissed as they glanced off Shizuka’s katana.  Shouko was fast, but the Eventide rep was more experienced and fast as hell for her own part.  The open field was about the only place where the pair of them - any of the girls - could really throw down and get a workout in the most important manner.  Dojo masters tended to take it bad if you blew up a wall.

“Your concentration is bad today,” Shizuka observed when they finally broke in the late afternoon.

“Yeah.  Hey, Shizuka, got a question for you,” she said around the butt of a cigarette.  Typical for her, Shizuka didn’t reply verbally, but only raised an eyebrow.  “You ever heard of anyone who stayed friends if one went Eventide and one went Radiant?”

Shizuka glowered.

“Didn’t think so." 

The Honda chugged as she parked it in one of the narrow bike-only, and she didn’t bother taking off her leathers since it wasn’t like she was going mallratting.  She stopped off at the pharmacy and bought some soda, some beer, some chocolate, and some soap.

"Rough day?” the attendant asked in a sympathetic tone.  She barely even glanced at Shouko’s ID.

“Uh huh,” she confirmed.  In the parking lot, she slid the candy bar she’d palmed out of her jacket sleeve and munched it.

Once home, she dumped the soap in the tub and ran hot water until the foam threatened to spill over.  Then she lit a cigarette and slipped in, groaning slightly as it almost scalded her.  She let her phone play American synthwave until the battery ran low and the water was cold and she was prune-fingered.

She looked at the battlestation and threw herself into bed, wrapped around her spare pillow.  The wind blew hard that night.

Sunday

Two hours for homework instead of one.  Weekends.

There was no meeting of the study group this week and so the day was uneventful, except for one instant when she was flipping channels and there was a news report on the ongoing decommissioning of Fukushima which caused her to mash the power button.  Natural disasters were not something she wanted to think about right now.

She ordered pizza and spent the evening playing Brutal Doom and listening to Rage Against the Machine.

Tomorrow was a brand new week.

#kurze writes #asked and answered #fanservice friday #Shouko #completely normal RPG #:) #starcunning

[arofili]

legolas or celebrimbor??

celebrimbor doesn’t have a tumblr, he made that shit. he and narvi are @staff.

(well. they were @staff…)

leg …. pre fellowship

their blog url

green-leaves-in-a-green-forest

(or something equally long and horrendously hyphenated and fake poetic)

the kind of posts they reblog

random shit he finds amusing

like, cat pictures and social justice posts from 2013

no theme at all

i would never follow him

the first person they followed

tauriel

she convinced him to get a tumblr because of the memes

a year later, she regrets this immensely

she matured and has a better blog that she doesn’t even use much

legolas is the exact same.

what kind of theme they’d have

tumblr default theme

what kind of text posts they make at 2am

he will wake up in the middle of the night and post about the dreams he just had, but without any context

“made some chocolate milk with the lady who pulls the sun. tasted like weed. also, that one girl who i thought i had a crush on in 3rd grade was there. awkward.”

“sweating so much!! just ran a marathon with my dad while we were being chased by oliophaunts. the racetrack turned into a river halfway through. we won!!”

he thinks he’s funny

(he’s not.)

leg …… during fellowship

their blog url

he privated his blog for the first part of the journey because he thought it would be safer

after a few weeks he gets bored and starts liveblogging this shit

at that point his url becomes “fellowshipoftheleg”

his blog title is “Eight Idiots And A Gorgeous Elf Save The World”

“Hello! My name is Legolas Greenleaf. I am currently on a quest to save the world. The details are ~secret~ but I needed a place to vent so here we go. My companions are all idiots, except for me. My interests include….”

you know the type of subtitle i’m talking about.

the kind of posts they reblog

he basically stops reblogging and only makes original posts during this period of time

the liveblog

legolas had >300 followers before this, but his posts about his journey start to gain traction

his liveblog is pretty much petty complaints at first

he talks shit about gimli

he cracks “jokes” about boromir

(again. he’s not funny)

he reports on the weird stuff gandalf does

he gushes over the adorable hobbits

(until one day he accidentally bumps into frodo and sam tries to jump him.

he’s a little afraid of them after that.)

he quotes aragorn like there’s no tomorrow

some of these are like, actually deep

most of them sound like stuff from inspirobot

or they’re stupid inside jokes

everyone gets code names, cuz legolas isn’t that stupid

gandalf is “old man”

aragorn is “the bro”

boromir is “angstlord”

the hobbits go through tons of nicknames

“itty bitties”

“curly boys”

tiny monsters

eventually they get their own, but by that point the fellowship has split

gimli is “asshole dwarf”

after a few weeks… he becomes weirdly popular.

his story reads like a trollfic, with stupid plot twists and bizarre anecdotes

this mostly is anecdotes, not the full scope of the quest

he mostly makes text posts, with a few pictures here and there

every now and then he’ll post a snapshot of the fellowship roasting marshmallows

or a selfie of him in lothlorien

or a sneaky pic of him drawing dicks on boromir’s face while he’s asleep

he used to be low-profile, but shit’s gone whack.

he’s gaining hundreds of followers a day

his top post has half a million notes.

he’s a tumblr “cewebrity”

everyone on tumblr thinks this is just a story, not real life

people dig through his old posts looking for clues and foreshadowing

they’re baffled by the dedication the mod of the blog has to building up this “legolas” character

or they’re puzzled by the mod’s decision to turn this shit blog into a dedicated storytelling platform

legolas is bombarded with asks and @ mentions

but like…this bitch don’t actually know how to use this website.

he can make a post and reblog one

but that’s literally it

he’s the kind of blogger who leaves stupid captions on popular posts

he can’t figure out how tags work

he’s never heard of xkit

all his asks go unanswered

he’s only sort of aware of what’s going on

he’s blogging 100% from mobile, which makes it even worse

the Legolas Fandom goes buckwild

there is not enough time in the day to over it all

ship wars.

fan theories.

headcanon drama.

it’s a mess.

and again, legolas has no clue that this is going on.

when he catches feelings for gimli…things get insane.

he writes gushy, cringy, angsty posts about gimli

he posts pics of gimli with flower crowns

he composes bad poetry about gimli

the fan base is infuriated.

they’d all been shipping him with aragorn.

and like, no one in the fellowship has a fucking clue this is happening.

at least, not until they get to 

it’s ironic that Isolated Horseblr User eowyn is the first one to recognize legolas

she finally gets up the courage to ask him about it

“has someone been stealing your selfies, or…?”

he is astonished.

if Leg could, he’d shut down the whole thing

even if eowyn had wanted to help him do that, he’s just in too deep

he’s in this for the long haul.

now, Legolas starts to make shit up.

that’s when his popularity tanks.

he’s getting callouts

he’s everyone’s “problematic fav”

people dig through his blog to find dirt instead of clues

Legolas is more aware of this now, and he pouts for days

then gimli, a Twitter-Only lad, finally sees a masterpost explaining everything

he connects the dots way quicker than anyone else did

and oh fuck.

he’s frantically tweeting–

“wtf do i do??”

“i think i’m the asshole dwarf??”

“but he’s like in love with the asshole dwarf now??”

“oh my god, my crush likes me back??”

“has he been liveblogging EVERYTHING??”

eventually he deletes it all and decides to confront legolas

the leg boy caves under pressure and spills the beans.

they figure their personal shit out

of course, aragorn knew everything all along.

at least, that’s what he says

gimli takes over the liveblog for a day and everyone goes nuts.

together, he and leg decide that they’ve got to end this fake-ish story

even though they don’t know the ending of the real one.

for someone who’s never used it before, gimli picks up tumblr etiquette quickly

and on mobile. that’s a whole nother level of perseverance.

he starts streamlining shit, collecting information, making use of fan masterposts

he ties all the loose ends together

with a little bit of help from legolas to make it suitably weird, they close the story strong with a bang and a kiss.

aragorn finds their version of events…amusing.

after the real dust settles and the news stories about the Real Quest hit the press…

now legolas is a Real Actual Celebrity

his fans new and old start to see…similarities between the two stories

plagiarism?

insider info?

conspiracy?

coincidence?

no one can decide.

leg ………… post fellowship

their blog url

Legolas has three blogs now.

“fellowshipoftheleg” is kept as an archive. he doesn’t post there anymore.

he has a secret personal blog, “greenwood-gossip”, that he just posts random shit on like before.

and finally he has a Real Life Famous Person Tumblr Blog, “legolasgreenleaf”

the kind of posts they reblog

with the help of gimli and tauriel, he figures out how to actually use this website.

like most celeb blogs this one doesn’t post much

but he does reblog edits of himself and of his friends

every time he’s asked about fellowshipoftheleg he answers that he is not responsible for it and has no idea about it and would you all please stop asking about it.

the first person they followed

aragorn’s new Famous Person account.

this blog is deactivated after two months because he never uses it.

what kind of theme they’d have

something that should be really classy but with awkward shades of green

like, it had potential but again…legolas has a terrible eye for design

what kind of text posts they make at 2am

he doesn’t usually make original posts

but sometimes he’ll complain about gimli’s weird habits

and once - just once - he confessed that he was the one who ran that liveblog all those years ago

he deleted the post an hour later, but there were screenshots.

legolas is the Ultimate Troll.

#leg #legolas #tolkiensquad #cirth ithil #tefain nin #my writing #this got OUT OF CONTROL #this is why ive been taking so long to answer these lol #answers #ask games #celebrimbor #LONG POST #id put it under a cut but it would mess up the format #also it would get less notes that way rip #my fic #beyond the battles

[grundyscribbling]

Eowyn

Because it’s me and one thing leads to another, that post about the movie version Helm’s Deep has gotten me thinking about Eowyn.

On one hand, I love that she’s a badass who ends up killing the Witch King in a Birnam Wood moment. She does that while also bringing Merry along, because she understands not wanting to be left behind. And she’s basically the only traditional hero we girls get. Galadriel’s nice, but she’s more a hostess/wise-woman/gift-giver than a hero, and we only see Arwen a couple minutes in Imladris, and then at the end when she shows up to get married and give Frodo her place on the ship. Aside from Ioreth, and a handful of hobbit ladies back in the Shire, that’s pretty much it for women in LotR. (Unless we’re counting Shelob, but we’re not, right?)

On the other hand, can we talk about how Eowyn was 100% in the wrong to run away to battle? Yes, it worked out, but in the fine glow of victory, it never gets addressed that she went AWOL because she didn’t like the duty assigned to her. (She’d appealed for permission to ride to battle multiple times, both to her uncle and to Aragorn. Theoden denied her permission; Aragorn had no standing to give or withhold permission and told her so.)

And she absolutely did have a duty. Take a look at the text:

“Behold! I go forth, and it seems like to be my last riding," said Theoden. "I have no child. Theodred my son is slain. I name Eomer my sister-son to be my heir. If neither of us return, then choose a new lord as you will. But to some one I must now entrust my people that I leave behind, to rule them in my place. Which of you will stay?" No man spoke. "Is there none whom you would name? In whom do my people trust?" "In the House of Eorl," answered Hama. "But Eomer I cannot spare, nor would he stay," said the king, "and he is the last of that House." "I said not Eomer," answered Hama. "And he is not the last. There is Eowyn, daughter of Eomund, his sister. She is fearless and high-hearted. All love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone." "It shall be so," said Theoden. "Let the heralds announce to the folk that the Lady Eowyn will lead them!"

Then the king sat upon a seat before his doors, and Eowyn knelt before him and received from him a sword and a fair corslet.

-The Two Towers, Chapter 6 “The King of the Golden Hall”

With her uncle the king and her older brother the heir to the king both riding to war in Gondor, Eowyn was the ranking member - indeed, the only member - of the House of Eorl left in Rohan. She was the person the people had expressed their trust in as a leader, and her uncle charged her to rule in his absence. She was responsible for the care and defense of the Rohirrim. And she ran out on them, with no mention of having made any arrangement for who would be in charge in her absence.

Far from being given ‘women’s work’ as she complained to Aragorn, Eowyn was in fact being accorded an honor in being named her uncle’s regent - when Theoden looked around for a lord to leave in charge, he was told it was not a man, but Eowyn who the people trusted. As ignoble as her role might have seemed to her up to that point, the Rohirrim recognized her worth.

If Eowyn had a younger sister to deputize, or had her mother still been living, her decision to sneak out to the war would not have been so problematic. (At least, not from an objective point of view- I imagine her brother and likely her uncle would have strongly objected. She also would still have been going for dubious reasons, either glory-seeking or death-seeking.) In fact, had Eowyn’s mother Theodwyn been alive, she arguably might have been the more appropriate choice to act in Theoden’s place in his absence by virtue of her age/experience, so Eowyn wouldn’t have needed to desert her post in the first place.

This seems like an odd choice or oversight on Tolkien’s part. Eowyn would still have ridden to war had there been someone else of the House of Eorl, be it a mother or a sister to take her place in Rohan, but her action would not have been wrong in and of itself. And given how many dead or absent mothers* there are in Lord of the Rings, it would have been nice to see one living and contributing more than just her offspring to events. (Even Galadriel gets reduced to little more than the fruit of her womb - when thanking her for her parting gifts, Aragorn can think of no higher praise than to describe her as being she ‘of whom were sprung Celebrian and Arwen Evenstar.’)

It’s even odder that we never see this aspect of Eowyn’s actions mentioned in the story, particularly when Beregond’s far more minor dereliction of duty with the express purpose of saving a life is addressed publicly. Was Eomer so happy his sister survived that he never got around to chewing her out for dereliction of duty? Did he assume that she somehow talked their uncle into allowing her to ride with them? Did he wait and address it ‘off-screen’, maybe at some point once Theoden had been buried in Rohan? Or did he decide that the best thing to do under the circumstances was to let it slide?

*Major characters whose mothers are known to be dead/departed to the West: Frodo, Arwen & Elladan & Elrohir, Aragorn, Boromir & Faramir, Theodred, Eomer & Eowyn, Elrond

Major characters whose mother is never mentioned at all, not even a name: Legolas, Gimli

Major characters whose mother is only a name in the Appendices: Sam, Pippin, Merry.

I omitted any character whose mother might reasonably be expected to be dead of old age in the normal course of events, such as Bilbo. (I’m also omitting Galadriel, since she’s an exile by her own choice, so it seems unfair to add Eärwen to the dead/absent mothers list.)

#tolkien #women in tolkien #dead mothers #eowyn #duty

[necropxlis]

4, ,7, 8, 14, 17, 19, 21 sorry not sorry this is a lot

And for 21 I want you to do the music shuffle thing I did for my number 21!

Ya know what I’m not even gonna complain 🤣 only cause it comes from you 🤍

4. Are you likely to blush when a sex scene comes up or can you read/watch it with a straight face?

LOLOL NO. Okay lemme put it this way: depending on the fic I can more than likely read it with a straight face. Unless I get super into it and I’m just like OOP OOOOOPPP NOPE. Like that one time I was at work reading an actual book and the girl and guy were getting into it and I was like IDWDJQLDBQLS and constantly looking around to see if anyone saw me blushing. But watching a sex scene? AHAHAHAHAHA NO. I could be alone or with other people I get FLUSTERED and will look away or look at my phone one. I can barely even handle HEAVY make out in movies and shows because I just get FLUSTERED so badly. Considering there’s no intimacy in my life that’s probably a main factor and cause of how I was raised. My mama would always cover my eyes so I’m always like uhhh where’s my cover???

7. Name a character you wouldn’t mind naming someone after.

I’m actually dying at this because the first name that popped into my head was Sephiroth 😂😂 but I would not name my kid that. However if we are talking about naming children after characters: I wouldn’t mind naming my son Levi, Alistair, Eren, or even Rin. For a daughter: I would probably name them after Eowyn or Arwen because I love those names so much and they come from strong characters. This is funny because I actually have a list of names I want to name my kids and majority of them are from movies, games, books, and anime.

8. Do you prefer happy, bittersweet, or sad endings?

It depends actually. I’m not the biggest fan of a lot of happy endings, if it’s written or plays out well then I’m okay with it. Most of the time I like bittersweet or sad endings, mainly because I’m always into the sad stuff and I don’t know why. I know when I’m reading a book if it ends with like a fairy tail happily ever after I’m like meh about it. The only time I was okay with that was the ending for the Tigers Curse series, and the only reason I was okay with it was because of Kishan’s letter at the end. I went on a whole tangent but ya it really just depends on the story to be honest, but I do see myself leaning towards the bittersweet more than the others.

14. Name a fandom, ship, or character that you love that others would send you hate mail for liking.

This is really hard because I have to sit here and actually go through my list of characters I actually like.

Boromir: I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people. They really don’t see Boromir as victim and just as a power hungry, daddy pleasing, idiot who wanted the ring. Like he has more to his character than that plus he made up for it in the end.

Connor Kenway: 🤣 people hate on Connor so much but I love him. I love his character even tho the amount of times I heard “Where is Charles Lee” is enough for one lifetime. He’s interesting and his story is a little on the sad side.

Ravus Nox Fluret: I’ve stayed away from a lot of stuff FFXV because of the lack of love for Ravus. I don’t think I would get literal hate mail, but I see people arguing about this.

Adam (Nier Automata): I love Adam because he’s so intelligent but the things he did to 9S was inexcusable. I tend to overlook it because it was good character development and made me feel things for him and for 9S that I needed.

Overhaul: I guess this can be one because I really stayed away from everything Overhaul for a long time. So I’m mainly putting him here because my friends hate him and I don’t.

ACTUALLY I KNOW A REALLY GOOD ONE.

Soowoon (Yona of the Dawn): HAHA I have no reason for this one other than 🤷🏻‍♀️ hes cool I like him.

As far as ships? I don’t really think I have any ships that people would come at me for?? And fandoms?? I mean I’ve had some people come at me cause I like Dragon Age before. I used to be in the Voltron fandom so I think that’s about the biggest issue I got 😂

17. Are there any tropes you wished were used less often?

Umm honestly I’m not sure if I can pinpoint one trope cause I know I see flaws in a lot of them. I know the whole “weak but gains crazy power” thing is getting a little old. I don’t mean that in a bad way if it’s written well, but a lot of it just feels repetitive. I also am not a fan of overly loud main characters or overly loud characters in general. Don’t get me wrong I still love them but like I wouldn’t be complaining if they were never there to begin with. That’s just my opinion. I’m sure I have more tropes I could throw out there but my brain is fried from all this thinking ☠️

19. If you could be a part of any story, which story would you want to tag along in?

OH SO MANY!!

If I wanted pure adventure for sure Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. If you don’t think I wouldn’t try and save Thorin’s life you’re wrong 😤 Other ones I would be interested in is the Modern Day story for Assassins Creed. Again, gonna try my best to save Desmond. Final Fantasy 7 & 15. Okay now here’s the struggle. I honestly feel like I wouldn’t stop Sephiroth..but I feel like I would be beside him. BUT DANG IT IF I WOULDNT TRY MY BEST TO SAVE ZACK!! Same thing with 15, I would do my best to make sure Iggy didn’t loose his eyesight, Ravus didn’t die, and save Luna and Noctis. 😤 I also would wanna be in Seraph of the End to see what my demon weapon would be and so I can be friends with Shinya 😂 and Haikyuu so I could replay volleyball.

What I was trying to get at was basically I just wanna save some people who didn’t need to die...and have fun 🤣

21. Bonus+Create your own question.

But you told me to do “Choose a song at random, what ship does it remind you of?”

I cheated a bit and I’m doing two songs cause I can’t decide between the two.

Fingertips by OneRepublic for Luna and Noctis

And August is Over for 9S and 2B

#I spent waaaayy too long on this #but my brain was hurting from thinking so hard #you got me really good #I could have went on for days #good questions #thank you for this it made me happy #the oikawa to my iwaizumi

[blatterpussbunnyfromhell]

Tagged by Clem @a-random-fandom-friend

rules: tag 20 people to see their differences/similarities for 2018!

Questions:

- Favourite food: Raviolis, sushis, or anything cooked by my father 

- Foods i’d rather avoid: COURGETTES, for the life of me I can’t eat those shits.

- Favourite things to learn about : Literally everything. I want to absorb all of Earth’s knowledge and regularly get panick attacks when I realise that’s not possible.

- Favourite colour: I’d say green

- Best friends irl: Oddly enough, they’re people I met online.

- Favourite games to play: SUPER PAPER MARIO ON WII, South Park Stick of Truth, Black & White 2, irl Hide and Seek

- When I have free time, i like to: Sleep. Scrolling on the Internet, read, and draw.

- Favourite books : On the same level : Au Bonheur des Dames by Emile Zola, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, and Wuthering Heights by Emilie Brontë. The Pearl that broke its Shell by Nadia Hashimi (a beautiful fictional novel that shows women’s and young girls’ condition in Afghanistan while talking about gender roles) comes in second. I also loved The Emerged World trilogies, the Twilight saga and Les Carnets de Théo (I forgot the author’s name, but it’s about an antisocial teenage butch girl who spends a lot of time drawing and complaining, it’s funny as heck).

- Favourite movies: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Origins : Spirit of the Past, Pride (2014), Les Dissociés, The Day of the Doctor

- Favourite tv shows: DOCTOR WHO!!! sorry. So DW, South Park, Brooklyn-Nine-Nine, Game Of Thrones, Black Sails, Kaamelott, Le Visiteur du Futur, the entire Balls trilogy, they are not necessarily in order.

- Favourite holiday: Dunno. I’m gonna say Eid day and New Year’s eve. Same thing, not the same calendar.

- Things i do well : Putting myself in embarassing situations

- Things i need to practice more: How not to put myself in embarassing situations

- Favourite song : Usually I would have said someting by Debout Sur Le Zinc (like for example their new versions of La Déclaration and Les mots d’amour, two songs that came out +10 years ago and they re-recorded them with a new arragement and sang with other artists like Boulevard des Airs and Mamani Keita, or the album De Charybde en Scylla which I still don’t understand wtf it’s about but is so gooooood), but I’m very much into Paddy and the Rats, Mika and Dub Inc at the moment, so it’ll have to be Lonely Hearts Boulevard, No Place in Heaven and Don’t be a Victim (or Triste Epoque. They’re both awesome).

- Places i want to visit: Japan, Scandinavia, Ireland, Scotland, Québec, New-Zealand, and Kabylie, but there’s little to no chance that I’ll ever be able to go in Algeria (being LGBT+ is illegal there) so fuck it.

-Favourite part of last year : I wrote a pretty huge thing so I’m just going to shorten it : Every moment spent with friends, in Paris, Rouen, Troissereux (btw you can come here whenever you can/want buddies) or Amiens and having came out as trans, feeling much better in my life.

- Something sad that happened last year : 2017 was as good as it was shit, so... There’s a lot to say here too, but the worst would probably be the failed suicide attempt in may, and not even a month after that, coming across an episode I didn’t know from a show I love where the main character tries to kill himself. Also I didn’t graduate from high school.

- When i get up in the morning i like to: GOBACKTOSLEEP. I like to have the time to take a breakfast and also not feeling ill.

- Favourite drink: Orangina, Lipton Ice Tea, and regular tea.

- Something new i’d like to learn this year : How to write a dissertation, to play at least one song on piano and saxophone, how to get a job without a diploma, and how to adult, basically

Tagging : @depth-of-loyalty-and-love, @spooky-scary-endoskeleton, @vislorturlough, @spoonietimelordy, @dramatic-koala, @dramaticmari, @trashmel, @trashlord-watson, @somethinglikecats/@somethinglikekittens, @eslamy, @eowyn-of-gallifrey, @chonaku-things, @plasticngrapes, @itsbaelas, @letempsdulilas, @one-thousand-splendid-stars, @milord-p0t-au-feu, @pantheremina, @i-wish-i-was-a-film-director, @corentinlp1d

[girl-next-door-writes]

Work For Free - Part 9

Characters: Reader, Fili, Bilbo, Bard, Faramir, Smaug, Eowyn, Tauriel, Eomer… anyone else I fancy just throwing in.

Summary: Here is the tale of a day, just one day, confined within the four walls of a small but perfectly formed Tea Room.  There is drama and romance and probably a bit of slapstick thrown in to break it up a bit but I’m not promising anything.    

Word Count: 3590 words

Prompt: Coffee Shop AU (I may have taken a little bit of a liberty with this.) and Neglected Characters from the Tolkeinverse.

A/N: There are some ideas that just take hold and won’t let you go until you have captured them on the page.  This is one of those ideas.  This is the LAST part and I want to thank you all for reading and all the lovely little messages, tags and reblogs and thank you @littlered83 for coming up with such an inspirational challenge for me.

Part 1 Part 2  Part 3  Part 4 Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8

Through a door in a wall there was a tea room.  Not a nasty, sticky, damp tea room filled with incontinent old ladies complaining and the faint smell of wee, nor yet a minimalist, ironic hipster take on a tea room with beanbags you can’t get out of and strange ergonomic chairs that dig into your spine: it was Bilbo Baggins tea room, and that means comfort.

He had been working for Bilbo for a little over five years now.  It had been his uncle's idea, trying to keep him and his brother out of trouble, but he had fallen in love with the place, with the customers, with a certain co-worker.  And so he had stayed, even when Kili moved on to ‘better’ things he had remained sweeping the floors and brewing the tea in his happy, contented little bubble.

The brass bell above the door jingled and the beautiful cadence of your voice met his ears causing him to turn and watch as you made your way into the shop.  A soft smile grew on his face as he watched you exchange pleasantries with Bilbo who was his usual ‘happy’ self.  Your eyes met his own and for a brief moment he felt his heart stop and the world around you became kinda misty, as if you were the only thing in clear focus.  Rolling his eyes dramatically in response to Bilbo’s demeanor he was rewarded by that beautiful, stomach flipping smile of yours and he had to remind himself to breath.  “Morning Fi.” you nodded as you removed your coat and headed behind the counter.  He watched you pass by, the scent of your perfume mingled with your shampoo filled the air for a split second and he paused in his task of removing the chairs from the tables, a goofy grin spreading across his face.

“Are you going to stand there day dreaming all day Master Fili?” Bilbo’s voice cut through his reverie and as his eyes met his bosses he knew he had been caught out.  For a brief moment he panicked, wondered if Bilbo would drop him in it, and then you reappeared.

“Awww, come on Bilbo, cut the poor boy some slack, he had a hot date last night. Right Fi?” His heart sank as once again you seemed completely unaffected by the thought of him dating someone who wasn’t you.  He caught Bilbo looking at him in a mixture of disapproval and surprise which caused Fili to concentrate intently on the chair in his hands.

“Yeah, yeah that…that didn’t really… erm… it didn’t work out.”  Rubbing the back of his neck he just prayed you would drop the subject but when your hand touched his shoulder he felt a shudder of nerves flow through him and his eyes shot up to yours.

“You’ll find her Fi.  She’s probably out there right now just waiting for you to show up.” You smiled that sweet, bright, encouraging smile of yours that momentarily made him think he could do anything and then you turned away leaving him with so many unspoken words on the end of his tongue.  The bell tinkled, indicating the first customer of the day and he smiled as Faramir scurried in, some things never changed.

His morning so far had been taken up with serving customers and sneaking glances at you, wishing he could just get his shit together and ask you out.  It was mid-morning when his friend Bard stumbled through the door, obviously suffering from the night before, his head coming to rest on the counter.  He heard you promise to send him over with the order and the way his name fell from your lips caused his heart to race and before you had even looked over he was standing by the cake case ready and waiting.  

Taking the tray over to the sofa where Bard was definitely not snoozing, Fili tentatively reached out and patted his arm.  Smiling when his friends eyes opened he offered up the steaming brew. “Thanks man.” Bard mumbled as he sat up and Fili took up the space next to him, sinking into the cushions.  

“This can’t be good for you.  I mean, you know I will always provide the hangover cure but I worry about you.” Fili rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced over at Bard.

“Have you ever wanted something so badly but you just haven’t got the balls to just put yourself out there and do it? I can’t even remember half of last nights set but I do know it went down really well.  What if I can’t do that sober?”  Fili’s eyes darted across to the counter where you were busy stacking cups, your hair falling into your face, and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards for a moment.

“What if you can do even better sober?” Fi murmured, bringing his thoughts back to Bards situation but his words only caused his friend to groan and lean back on the sofa.

“That’s the thing though isn’t it. Maybe it will be the most amazing experience of my life but maybe I will fail so catastrophically that it will forever alter the path of my life.”  Fili’s eyes fell on you again as you smiled sweetly at an elderly customer.  You were always so kind and lovely and so far out of his league.  Bards words were all too true and he nodded in agreement. “You know exactly what I’m talking about though.  It’s hard putting yourself out there man.”

“Yeah, I know where you’re coming from.” Fili sighed and turned back to his friend.  “I had a date last night.”

“Really?”  Choosing to ignore the obvious surprise on his friends face Fi pressed on.

“Kili has been getting on at me about getting out there.  Figures I need to get over this and move on.”  He realised this was the first time he had actually acknowledged his feelings for you to anyone and his cheeks flushed a little as he noticed Bards grin.  He suddenly wondered if his friend knew, if maybe everyone already knew.

“And?”  The memory of last night flitted across his mind and he winced.

“It was a huge disaster from the moment I met her.  I got the feeling my brother had bigged me up somewhat and in person I was somewhat of a let down.  Not her type. To be honest I think she was kinda into Kili anyway.” Fi sighed and his shoulders slumped.

“That’s gotta be a bit of a dent to the ego.”  He opened his mouth to reply but the kick he received had Fi looking at his friend in confusion until he felt you in close proximity.  He could always sense where you were in the room and he turned to look at you expectantly.

“Just going on my break.  Gonna eat in the back today, got a hot date with a book.”  It was difficult for him to focus on what you were actually saying when you smiled at him like that.  He just nodded and watched you go, partly aware that Bard was watching him.  

“Maybe we should both be a little braver.”  Fili turned back to him, eyes wide in panic.  There was no way he could just tell you.  “I only said ‘maybe’, you know as well as I do I’ll be back here tomorrow smelling of whatever alcohol I’ve had to boost me up tonight.  I’m gonna head home and get some sleep before I go through all this again but you, my friend, maybe consider telling her how you feel before someone else gets in there.”  As Bard patted him on the shoulder he let the words sink in.  He was right, there was no way some hot guy wasn’t going to wander into your life and sweep you off her feet but he just couldn’t fight the fear that you would laugh in his face and then never talk to him again.  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed your interactions with a certain muscular blond who came in several times a week and if that guy realised then maybe he would lose you sooner rather than later.

A few minutes before 4pm Fili got that sinking feeling in his stomach that had started to appear each day and when the bell jingled to announce the arrival of more customers he stiffened as he saw your face light up.  His heart sank as he realised he had no chance, the guy who held your attention was brooding and mysterious, a far cry from the shy and awkward figure he was. It seemed like there was some tension between this guy and his companion and Fili felt the need to stay close to the counter, not quite sure why but he wanted to be near.  He had half an ear on the conversation and with each comment he felt his blood beginning to boil.

“It’s her job.  She gets paid to make tea.”

“She doesn’t get paid to deal with men with no manners.”

“Actually, she does.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Faramir get to his feet and instinctively took a step forward behind the counter.  

“Why can’t you be more like her?  She knows her place is behind a counter making people drinks.  It’s not rocket science, hardly taxing work but she’s not trying to compete with the big boys just to prove a point.”  Fili stiffened.  Hardly taxing work?

“Excuse me?”  He heard the words come out of his mouth but the firm tone was unfamiliar.  As if with a mind of its own his mouth kept spewing out words with a bravado that inner Fili wasn’t entirely sure he felt but he’d be damned if he was going to stand by and hear anyone speak to his sweet, beautiful girl like that.  “You come in here quite often and have you ever once even bothered to ask her name?  You say this job is hardly taxing and you may be right but it turns out she’s pretty damned good at it and there is far more to it than simply making rude customers tea and not spitting in it.  As for ‘knowing her place’ how do you know she’s not currently studying to be an engineer or a doctor or something and works here to help her pay for school?  Maybe she’s an incredible artist and works here just because she enjoys meeting people?  I think you owe her an apology and probably your sister too because ever since you came through that door today you’ve been rude and a poor example of a man.”  His body was shaking with adrenaline as silence rang out and he glared icily at Eomer, not daring to look at you incase you were horrified at his intervention. He stayed close, his eyes following the pair to the table by the window, making sure you were okay but not able to actually say anything after his embarrassing outburst he shuffled around the shop cleaning things away and generally straightening up.

The light had begun to fade through the window and as it came up to closing the streetlights illuminated as if by magic casting a warm glow on the sidewalk as people hurried through the increasingly chilly air on their way home and as Fili glanced through the window he saw a familiar flash of red hair.  With a shake of his head he saw his brothers girl friend rush into the shop and sidle up to the counter.  He knew it wasn’t going to be long before she would come bounding over wanting to know all about last night and he really didn’t feel like it.

“Fili!  Come and sit with me, tell me things.”  Kicking out a chair for him, Tauriel looked up and he sat warily, wondering just how much his brother had already told her.  

“I take it you’ve seen Kili today then.” His brow furrowed and she attempted to hide her smirk by taking a bite of muffin.

“Yep.” She said through her mouthful.

“And he told you about last night?” Fili’s tone was hesitant wondering just how badly he had come across in that tale.

“Yep.” She confirmed, to which he let out a large sigh.

“Well, if you want details I think you’ve probably got them all by now so…” he made to get up but she the sound of her nearly choking on her muffin made him pause.  Surely there couldn’t be anything more he could tell her about the epic car crash that was his love life.

“I don’t care about last night, that’s old news.  I want to know how long you’ve been crushing on my best friend.”  There was a moment of silence as Fili slowly returned to his seat, obviously there was more humiliation for him to endure but at least he could keep it confined to this corner and, hopefully, quiet enough that nobody else could hear.

“What?” He asked as if he hadn’t heard her but he had paused too long for that to be true.

“Oh my god I’m right aren’t I!” Tauriels eyes widened and he knew he had just fallen into a trap. His cheeks flushed and he felt a heat rush through his entire body.  

“No I…” He began to protest but there was no going back now.

“You totally like her! I mean, when she told me you stood up to green tea guy for her I began to suspect but your face says I’m right on the money with this one!” Tauriel leaned forward and the force of her stare caused him to look up in defeat.  Bard knew and Tauriel knew and soon Kili would know and you probably knew… this was hopeless.  

“We’re just friends. Nothing going on there.  She likes green tea guy anyway so even if I did like her like that, which I don’t, she wouldn’t be interested would she?” It was intended as a rhetorical question but he couldn’t help the small spark of hope within his chest as he asked.  Maybe you had said something to Tauriel.

“I don’t know Fi, she did just say you were her knight in shining armor.” She shrugged and took another bite of her muffin.

“Well…she what?” Fili felt confused and glanced over in your direction in wonder, a knight in shining armor?  That was a good thing right?  

“Yeah, had this goofy grin on her face when she told me how you defended her honor.” Tauriel continued and the small spark inside him began to grow.

“Really?” A wide smile broke across his face as he continued to watch you cleaning the counter.

“Yeah, a little like the one on your face right now.” Fili felt the heat rising in his cheeks knowing he had been caught out again, flushing from a pink to a deep red.  “So, you do like her then.”

“Taur, what do I do? I am hopeless at all this and we both know I’d only stuff this up so maybe I should just not do anything.” His voice was laced with desperation and now that he had finally said it out loud it was all far too real.

“And how’s that working out for you so far?  What if green tea guy asked her out?  How would you feel then?” He looked at her in horror as she glared at him earnestly.  “Fili, how long have you liked her?”

“How long has she worked her now?” He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

“That long!  And you’ve never said anything to anyone! FILI!” he winced as she exploded, glancing around he just hoped nobody was paying attention to them.

“Look, we’re not you and Kili are we.  Not everyone can find the love of their life working here and we both know she isn’t into me, wouldn’t even look at me twice.” His voice was small, any confidence he might have had evaporated leaving just the defeated husk of a guy.

“Why not?” her voice was quiet and he refused to look at her, she mostly likely just trying to be kind.

“Come on Tauriel.” Shaking his head, he huffed out a sarcastic laugh at the idea.

“No, seriously, why not?  Why not you?” she insisted and he could feel the pity rolling off her.  There were a million reasons why not him and all of them were glaringly obvious but if she needed a list…

“She could have any guy she wants.  She’s clever and funny and kind and beautiful and… way out of my league.” His eyes lingered on your form as you wiped down a table and he sighed.

“Fili, maybe tell her how clever and beautiful she is.  You never know, you might be the guy she wants.”  Tauriel slid her empty place across to him and he automatically picked it up.  “Faint heart never won fair lady.”  She got to her feet and although he knew where she was coming from he had been a coward about this for too long.  He only hoped Tauriel wouldn’t say anything to you.

Fili locked it behind Tauriel and let out a huge sigh.  “Long day?” you call over as you wipe down the counter top and his heart skipped.  

“Something like that.” He shrugged as he began to place chairs on top of tables preparing to sweep the floor for a final time.  This could be the last time you were both together without everything getting weird.  He was fairly certain Tauriel would land him in it either directly or by blabbing to his brother and he steeled himself, figured he might as well tell you.

“I’m gonna put the cash in the safe then I’m gonna head off.” Your words cut his sudden call to bravery in half and he simply nodded at you a little downhearted.

“Oh. Okay.” It was a stupid idea anyway.  He should just get over it, let you be. 

Fili was busy doing the final checks, sweeping up and generally muttering to himself about what a loser he was when you wandered back into the room, pulling your coat on.  “I’m going, see you tomorrow.  Oh, and Fi,” His eyes met yours and there was something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, something a little different in your gaze.  There was a very pregnant pause as they both stood there, inches from each other staring into each other’s eyes. “Thank you, for earlier, that was really very sweet of you.” You murmured and he froze as you leaned forward and he felt your lips graze over his cheek in a gentle but brief kiss.  He watched you turning and heading to the door to leave and his heart was so conflicted.  “See you tomorrow Fi.” You called as you unhooked the bolt, turned the brass handle and walked out into the chilly evening air and he could do nothing more than watch you go.

Fili leaned on the broom in his hand, his cheeks a little flushed and a dopey grin on his face.  “Well Master Fili, if that doesn’t stir you to move then maybe you don’t deserve her.”  

“What?”  Fili nearly fell over his own feet, startled by the voice and then a little confusion at the statement. He’d totally forgotten that Bilbo was still here.

“The girl thanks you and gives you a kiss on the cheek and you just let her walk away?  Favor fortunes the brave my boy.  Go after her because you may never get the chance again.”  He was still staring at Bilbo as the broom was taken from his hand and his brain caught up with the situation.  They were right.  Everyone today had been telling him to go for it, that this was his moment and as he grabbed his jacket he shot Bilbo a thankful look and darted out of the door into the cold evening air.  

Pausing for a moment on the sidewalk he looked around desperately, catching a glimpse of you turning a corner.  Yelling your name, he sprinted after you, skidding around the corner to see you standing there with an amused confusion written across your face.  “Fi?” you smiled and he knew he needed to do this quick before his nerve gave out.  He knew that there were no words, he’d played over a million different scenario and he could never find the right words.  Coming to a halt right in front of you his eyes held a certainty, a self-confidence and taking a deep breath he cupped your face and pressed his lips to yours. He was taken by how soft your lips were against his and it took him a moment to realise you were in fact kissing him back and his hands slid down to your hips, pulling you closer as he felt your fingers winding through his hair.  Breaking the kiss breathlessly he rested his forehead against yours and huffed out a chuckle.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” His eyes searched yours affectionately.

“I’m not sure we got it quite right, maybe we should try again.” As you grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him in for a passionate kiss a thought flitted across his mind that he was so damned glad he worked in that tearoom, that cozy, magical, crazy place that was Bagend Tea Emporium.

Tag: @deanxfuckingadorablexwinchester@nea90sweetie@knittingknerdy@feelmyroarrrr@vintagevalentinexx@cojootromuelle@sdavid09@luckynumber1213@zombi3gyrl07@neeadinghugs@hobbithorse19@fromthedeskoftheraven@everyjourneylove  @rosa-kirk @palaiasaurus64 @like-a-bag-of-potatoes@luckynumber1213 @littleblue5mcdork

#myfic #something I wrote #nomoreneglectedcharacters #middleearthcoffee

[robynqueenofstuff]

Something I’ve Always Wanted To Say To Those Who Complain About A Lack Of Good Female Characters.

Yes we are just SHORT on good female characters, aren't we?

‘Takes a ginormous breath’

I mean besides Ellen Ripley, The Bride, Katniss Everdeen, Imperator Furiosa, Rey, [insert surname here] Princess Leia, [One of the greatest fucking characters ever] Sarah Connor to just name the most well-known few. We only have Hermione Granger [obviously], Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Minerva Mcgonagoll, Molly Weasley, Lily Potter, Bellatrix Lestrange, Jyn Erso, Padme Amidala, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Mara Jade, Jaina Solo, Tahiri Veila, Jan Ors, Nomi Sunrider, Lumiya, Juno Eclipse, Bastila Shan, Satele Shan, Ahsoka Tano, Barriss Offee, Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, Shaak Ti, Jaden Korr [Optionally female], Asajj Ventress, Aurra Sing, Zam Wesell, Steela Gerrara, The Seventh Sister, Satine Kryze, Shmi Skywalker, Darth Zannah, Mother Talzin, [The fucking Hapes Consortium places women higher over men] Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Tiana, Jane, Rapunzel, Ariel, Cinderella, Megara, Lilo, Nani, Nala, Vanellope, Lady, Merida, Jessie, Dory, Helen/Elastigirl, EVA, Edna Mode, Joy, Sadness, Anna, Elsa, [Yes i think she's a good character but for different reasons than others do] Kida, Wendy, Alice, Judy Hopps, Kanga, Kala, Captain Amelia, Moana, Esmeralda, Flora, Fauna, Merryweather, Rita, Miss Bianca, Mary Poppins, Eglantine Price, Sally, Audrey Ramirez, Mittens, Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella De Vil, Queen Grimhilde, Yzma, Lady Tremaine, Queen Of Hearts, Madame Medusa, Mother Gothel, Honey Lemon, Go-Go, Chel, Marina, Eris, Tigress, Ginormica, Roxanne, Astrid, Valka, Ginger, Fiona, Fairy Godmother, Tzipporah and Miriam. Chihiro, San, Moro, Lady Eboshi  Sophie, Kiki, Shizuku, Arrietty, Ponyo, Nausicaa, Princess Kushana, Kaguya, Sheeta,  Marnie, Annie, Coraline, Anastasia, Mrs Brisby, Elle Woods, Dorothy, Matilda, Alicia Huberman, Violet, Corky, Alice Creed, Clarice Starling, Mrs Danvers, Janine Melnitz. Kylie Griffin, Junior Ghostbuster Catherine, [yeah there were already female Ghostbusters before that crappy movie] Lisbeth Salander, Mathilda Lando, Marge Gunderson, Judge Cassandra Anderson, Ma-Ma, [Madeline Madrigal] Regina George, Cady Heron, Clementine Kruczynski, M, [the one played by Judi Dench] Moneypenny,, Elle Driver, O-Ren Ishii, Julie Kohler, Yuki Kashima, Amelie Poulain, Lucy, Rose Dewitt Bukater, Joy ‘Ma’ Newsome, Grace Howard, Philomena Lee, Ofelia, Kara, [From Dragonheart] Sarah Williams, Maria von Trapp, Marion Ravenwood, Dr. Elsa Schneider, Evelyn Carnahan, Officer Anne Lewis, Dr Ellie Sattler, Paikea Apirana, Motoko Kusanagi, Carrie White, Arwyn, Eowyn, Galadriel, Yu Shu Lien, Jen Yu, Jackie Brown, Nefretiri,  All the girls from St Trinians, Bliss Cavendar, The girls on the Roller Derby Team, [Maggie Mayhem, Bloody Holly, Rosa Sparks, Smashley Simpson] Sally Albright, Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch, Claire Standish. Allison Reynolds, Kim Possible, She-Ra, [Plus the female characters in She-Ra and He-Man] Jem, Synergy, The Holograms, The Misfits, Penny Gadget, Jessica Jones, Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Anya Jenkins, Faith, Cordelia Chase, Drusilla, Emma Swan, Carol Peletier, River Tam, Xena, Lady Penelope, Roseanne, Dana Scully, Morticia Addams, Wednesday Addams, Lily Munster, Vastra and Jenny, Jessica Fletcher, Olivia Benson, Lilly Rush, Korra, Asami Sato, Lin Beifong, Opal Beifong, Suyin Beifong, Kya, Daria Morgendoffer, Jane Lane, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright, Jo Grant, Donna Noble, River Song, Ace, Nyssa, Romana, Sarah Jane, Clara Oswald, [the majority of the Doctor Who companions are female] Madame Vastra, Jenny, Zoe Washburne, Kaywinnet Lee ‘Kaylee’ Frye, Lagertha Lothbrok, Claire Underwood, Uhura, Nurse Chappell, Nurse Abby, Captain Katherine Janeway,  B’elanna Torres, Seven Of Nine, Kira Nerys, Jadzia Dax,  Deanna Troi,  Penelope Garcia, Kima Greggs, Evelyn Salt, Starbuck, Lois Lane, Katara, Toph, Mai, Azula, Suki, Ty-Lee, June, Serras Victoria, Sir Integra Hellsing, Dr. Girlfriend, Elektra Nachios, Alex Drake, Cameron, [Even if she's a cyborg she counts] Veronica Mars, ALL THREE CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, The female rangers in Power Rangers,  Sabrina Spellman, The majority of characters from My Little Pony, Mabel Pines, Wendy Corduroy, The Crystal Gems, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline The Vampire Queen, Flame Princess, Princess Allura, Katie ‘Pidge’ Holt, Violet Baudelaire, Lucy Pevensie, Alice, [again] Nancy Drew, Annabeth Chase, Clarisse La Rue, Sally Jackson, Thalia Grace, Piper Mclean, Hazel Levesque, [I AM GOING TO GET SO MUCH SHIT FROM PERCY JACKSON FANS BECAUSE THESE ARE THE ONLY ONES I CAN THINK OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD]  Daenerys, Arya, Margaery, Catelyn, Brienne, Olenna, Sansa, Susan Sto Helit, Liessa Dragonlady, Tiffany Aching, Hannah Wolfe, The female characters in Malazan Book Of The Fallen, Harriet The Spy, Althea Vestrit, Aerin, Sorcha, Daine, Sabriel, Maka Albarn, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Liz and Patty Thompson, Meryl Strife, Milly Thompson, Winry Rockbell, Izumi Curtis, Riza Hawkeye,  Mikasa Ackerman, Pepper Potts, Gwen Stacy, Black Cat, Wonder Woman [That’s a fucking no brainer], Batgirl, Batwoman, Supergirl, Raven, Starfire, Huntress, Black Canary, Zatanna, Catwoman, Hawkgirl, Mera, Katana, Talia Al Ghul, Enchantress, Poison Ivy, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Natasha Irons, Storm, Rogue, Ms Marvel, Emma Frost, The Wasp, Invisible Woman, She-Hulk, Gamora, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Valkyrie. Mystique, the female Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, Not to mention the girls from Fables, Rayne, Clementine, Amanda Ripley, Coco Bandicoot, Bayonetta, Ms Pacman, Valna, Yuko, Amu, Lena, Alex, Etna, Flonne, Jennifer, Raspberyl, Vulcanas, Usalia, Maya Amano, Ulala Serizawa, Yukari Takeba, Fuuku Yamagashi, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, Rise Kujikawa, Naoto Shirogane, Ann Takamaki, Haru Okumura, Kyoko Kirigiri, Sakura Ogami, Aoi Asahina, Chiaki Nanami, Sonia Nevermind, Akane Owari, Fiora, Melia, Sharla, BB Hood, Morrigan, Felicia, Q-Bee, Lara Croft, Samus Arran, Aya Brea, Elizabeth Comstock, Ellie, Faith, Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, Yuffie Kisaragi, Rydia, Rosa Joanna Farrell, Celes Chere, Terra Branford, Relm Arrowny, Rinoa Heartilly, Quistis Trepe, Selphie Tilmitt, Ultimecia, Ashe, Fran, Freya Crecent, Eiko Carol, Yuna, Rikku, Lulu, Aqua, Zelda, Midna, Alice from Mcgee, Odessa Silverburg plus all the females in Fire Emblem, Vocaloid, Touhou  and Sid Meir’s Civilization. Not to mention the option to play as female characters in most of the LEGO games plus the option to play as a female in Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Elder Scrolls, World of Warcraft, Fallout, Saints Row, Fable, Terraria, Borderlands, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights, Rock Band 2, Tardew Valley, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Fate, Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Town, Guilty Gear, Overwatch,  Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Dynasty and Samurai Warriors plus the enormous roster in League Of Legends, Every last female in Skullgirls, All the female Pokemon trainers, All the females from Magic The Gathering, Hit-Girl, Powergirl, Tigra, Lady Sif, Spider-Woman, Vixen, Witchblade, Lady Death, Stephanie Brown, Jem, Aeon Flux, Gwen, Morgana, Morgause, Nimueh, Maid Marian, Djaq, Lady Isabella Of Gisborne,  Irene Adler, Carolyn Berek, Serena Stevens, Megan Wheeler, Kate Beckett, Nikki Heat, The girls from Women’s Murder Club, Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, Temperance Daesee Bradley, Brenda Leigh Johnson, Joanne Kilbourn, Josephina ‘Jo’ Lupo, Catherine Willows, Alex Rovias, Alicia Claus, Jennifer Tate, Sarah Kerrigan, Joanna Dark, Catherine 'Ann’ Archer, April Ryan, Claire Redfield, Alis Landale, Alyx Vance, Heather Mason, Elena Fisher, Amaterasu, Shantae, Rosalina, Chrodechild, Chris Lightfellow, Ellen from Folklore, Jade from Beyond Good And Evil, Maya from Septerra Core, Miriam from The Guardian Legend, The female characters from Dead Or Alive, And even if you choose to play as a male character in games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age there are still a number of female characters to choose from such as Liara T,Soni, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Ashley Williams, Miranda Lawson, Kahlee Sanders, Samara, Morinth, Dr Kelly Chambers, Samantha Traynor, Morrigan, Leliana, Wynne, Shale, Flenneth, Cassandra, Even older games have ones like Jill Of The Jungle, Debra Dare, Lady Bug, Kangaroo, The heroine from Secret Of Mana, The female ninja from Ninja Warriors, Princess Rosella from King’s Quest IV. Even Princess Peach and Daisy can count as they kick total amounts of ass in the racing and fighting games Nintendo puts out. Aunt Entity, Sergeant Rita Vrataski, Polgara The Sorceress, Cutie Honey, Vicki Barr, The girls from The Babysitters Club, The ladies from The Sleepover Club, Princess Cimorene, Egwene al Vere, Elizabeth Swann, Tia Dalma, Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, Kyra/Jack, Carolyn Fry, Mimi Kirogoe, Hana, [The mother from Wolf Children who is now one of my favorite characters ever] The girl from The Fox And The Child, Annalise Keating, Lady Macbeth, Cherry Darling, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel, Cybersix, Elphaba, Samantha Barker, Karen Silkwood, [who was a real person] Meg Altman, Thelma Dickinson, Louise Sawyer, Shoshanna Dreyfus, Trinity, The girls from Charmed, Emma Swan, Regina Mills, Mina Harker from The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Pauline Hargraves, Max Caufield, Jodie Holmes, Samantha Greenbriar, Thea Queen, Squirrel Girl, Beatrix De Costa [Fire], Tora Olafsdotter [Ice], Wondergirl, Dazzler, Black Alice, Dove, Gypsy, Jade Canary, Cassandra Cain, Big Barda, Darna, The Boss, Meryl Silverburgh, Mei-Ling, Naomi Hunter, Sunny Gurlukovich, Olga Gurlukovich, Fortune, Quiet, GLADOS, SHODAN, Velma, Daphne, Miss Ernst/Grand High Witch, Sailor Moon and the Sailor Soldiers, [Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Pluto,] Bulma, the majority of the characters in Orange Is The New Black, Leslie Knope, Ann Perkins, April Ludgate, Asuka Langley Soryu, Haruko Haruhara, Nana Komatsu, Nana Osaki, Lucrezia Noin, Lady Une, Dorothy Catalonia, Sally Po, Reyna, Zoe Nightshade, Meg McCaffery, Calypso, The females from The 100, Alicia Melchiott, Isara Gunther, Cosette Coalhearth, Miku Hinasaki, Leah, [from Diablo]  Melody Farklight, The Totally Spies!, Mia Dolan, Kathy Selden,  Vianne Rocher, Princess Ann, [Ann ‘Smitty’ Smith] Margaret Hale, Lauren Olamina, Sara Crewe, Mary Lennox, Jennifer Simpson, Christine Collins, [Who was also a real person] Turanga Leela, Tauriel, The ladies from Steel Magnolias, All the female Transformers, Farah, Annie Sawyer, Nina Pickering, Gabrielle, Saturn Girl, Sage, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, She-Thing, Scorpion, Songbird, Silk Spectre II, Spider Girl, Silver Sable, The ladies of the Wildstorm universe, Fault Zone, Solara, The Wink, Paragon, Lady Deathstrike, Madame Masque, Cheetah, Emerald Empress, All 20 superheroines before Wonder Woman, Alanna of Trebond, The ladies of The Lunar Chronicles, Catti-Brie, Alyx, [From the Adventures Of Alyx books] The ladies from Marvel's Runaways series, Veronica Layton, Marguerite Krux, Mako Mori, Blaze The Cat, Toby 'Kissy' Masuyo, April Ryan, Mona Sax, Fox,  Ninja Princess, Papri, Lady Master Of Kung Fu, Reika Kirishima, The ladies from the Tales series, Noel Vermilian, Shield Knight, Petra from Emerald City Confidential, The ladies from Elsword, Anna Leonowens.[another lady from real-life but perhaps best known from The King And 1] Eliza Doolittle, Ree Dolly, Hushpuppy, Unicorn/Lady Amalthea,  Aeryn Sun, Chiana, Mallory Kane, Pauline Hargraves, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Samantha Carter, The Tiger Woman, Barbara Meredith/The Black Whip, Hana Tsu-Vachel, Tessa Alvarado, Jo March, Liesel Meminger, Betty Barrett, Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug, Shelby Woo, Jaime Sommers, Molly Moon, Torchy Blane, Eliza Maza, Angela, Demona, Fox Xanatos, The girls from W.I.T.C.H, Mona The Vampire, The Worst Witch, Ms Frizzle, Carmen Sandiego, Leslie and Joni from Cluefinders, Ren Stevens, Jules Paxton and Jess Bhamra, [from Bend It Like Beckham] Hazel Grace Lancaster, Mara Of The Acoma, Aerin Dragon-Killer/Firehair, Angharad 'Harry' Crewe, The three sisters from Ballet Shoes, Anne Shirley, Lyra Belacqua, Kerowyn, Dashti, Sadie Kane, Zia Rashid, Samirah-Al-Abbas, Lydia Deetz, Juniper Lee, Gretchen, Spinelli, Alex Mack. Or female characters for really young kids such as Lizzie Mcguire, Andi Mack, Dora, Peppa Pig, Lola, Charlie, Looby Loo, Ramona Quimby, Pippi Longstocking, Star Butterfly,  Meg Murray, Madeline, Angelina Ballerina, The lovely ladies of Balamory, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. Or females from Greek mythology like Gaia, Hestia, Demeter, Nemesis, Medusa, Nyx, Ananke, Rhea, Athena, Demeter, Persephone, Artemis or their Roman counterparts. Or the ladies from Norse, Finnish or Egyptian Mythology. Or historical female figures to look up to such as Elizabeth the 1st, Joan Of Arc, Queen Cordelia, Queen Gwendolen, Ethelfreda, Boudicca, Florence Nightingale, Amelia Earhart, Marie Curie, Catherine The Great and Audrey Hepburn. You play as a female Avatar in Cooking Mama and all of the Imagine series, The Jurassic Park dinosaurs were all female, Minecraft allows female appearance through customized character skins EVEN BARBIE! THERE! I SAID IT!

But besides that entire fucking catalog, I find myself and the rest of the female population well under-represented.....Except of course for the huge fucking roster of female characters available.

#female characters #tv #film #video games #i haven't named a chunk of the female characters available in Star Wars Lore #the frigging female portraits in Harry Potter have stories behind them #Please tell me who i've missed out #feminism #when feminists whine #female representation #mic drop

[dalish-butts]

Ahhh I forgot to do this. I was tagged by @ineffablewitch who is the actual best <3

Rules: Answer these 10 questions and tag 10 blogs

1. Last Movie you Watched: The Two Towers (extended) I just really love when Eowyn sings and the Boromir cutscene kills me every time.

2. Last song you listened to: Spotify says it’s ‘Magma’ by Gojira but I think I was listening to the radio on my way home and the last song was ‘pour Some Sugar On Me’ by Def Leppard (who am I to complain it’s my favorite band).

3. Last show you watched: Gilmore Girls~

4. Last Book you read: Ahhhh the last one I read all the way through was the Nightvale Book but the last one I sat down to put time into was Asunder because I’m a glutton for Dragon Age.

5. Last thing you ate: PIZZA

6. If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be? *tries not to make a joke about the grave* But I mean I’d really love to be in a small cottage drinking hot chocolate and watching the snow.

7. When would you time travel to? It surly would be interesting to go back and have the chance to talk to J.R.R. Tolkien but then again I’m a woman so.

8. First thing you would do with lottery money? Ah well I’d quit my stupid job. Then pay off mine and Scott’s debts. Then give my dad the money to pay off their house. And then after I set up a nice place in Maine for us I’d like to do some good in the world. I would really like to invest money in writing my novels.

9. Character you would hang out with for a day? God there are so many. For thirst reasons it would be Boromir. But to have a wonderful conversation I think Minerva McGonagall.

10: Time Right Now: 2:50 in the afternoon. Scotty is leaving for work in a few minutes and I’m chilling with the cat.

tagging: Fuck idk @mad-mod and anyone else who wants to do this because I wanna see answers

#thanks for tagging me babe

[unfortunatelyimaginary]

thank you to @thatfangirlbecky for the tag… I’m not sure why anyone would want to hear me talk about myself for any length of time but here goes!

Nickname: I have several siblings, so if you yell just about anything loud enough I’ll probably respond. For Internet-y stuff, I’ve used Muriel and Aeliana as alternate names before.

Gender: I’m a girl

Star Sign: Scorpio AND I’M NOT GOING TO STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS IT’S A TERRIBLE JOKE (long story short the scorpion killed one of my favorite greek mythology characters and i’m still not over it)

Height: About five-and-a-half feet

Sexual Orientation: i’m an alien who can’t even convince my silly brain to properly ship fictional characters (kid you are a college student i’m pretty sure humans are supposed to understand this stuff)

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw (have not yet read the books yet though hang on I’m deep in to Tolkien stuff and college… get to it eventually)

SSBB: dunno

Favorite band/singer: probably doesn’t count but I really like movie soundtracks + Hans Zimmer is awesome.

Favorite color: Very dark purple

Favorite animal: Tyrannosaurus Rex since I was seven.

Time right now: 1:27

Average hours of sleep: 7-8, sometimes 2 or 12

Cat or dog person: um… not really either? cat I guess.

Favorite Fictional Character: Only one? Yikes… John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Irene Norton (mysteries), 11th Doctor, Gabriel/Trickster, both Winchester brothers, The Witch King, Melkor, Faramir, Eowyn, Fingolfin, Maedhros, etc.

Number of Blankets I sleep with: as many as I can find

Dream trip: fictional or historical? Beleriand (yeah I’m dead but yay) or Civil War battlefields.

Dream job: Sit in a museum or library and tell people about all the amazing things…. or maybe be a judge/lawyer, I’m not sure.

 When did you make this blog: a while ago, but I didn’t do anything with it because it was easier to just find fandom things on pinterest and I was lazy.

Current number of followers: 43, with 6 on my History side blog and 13 on my Tolkien one (which makes me very happy, thank you all)

When did your blog reach it’s peak: I don’t know, I mean I liked a lot of the stuff I posted when I had zero followers so…

What made you decide to get tumblr: My little sister had one, plus I got tired of seeing everything a few months late on pinterest.

Character I’d date: ehhhh *15 year old me* “The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.” - Sherlock Holmes *bit older college student me* Yeah that, except that now I’m hopefully less stuck up about it. Can I be their friend? So many fictional characters need more friends. (I'd like to be friends with Sherlock Holmes, Eowyn, Maedhros, Fingolfin, Luthien, The Doctor, etc.)

How many blogs do I follow: 173

What do I post about: mostly fandoms

Do I get asks regularly: perhaps? eh, maybe not, but asks are fun.

Aesthetic: I am… unsure what exactly this is… but I really like turn-of-the-century dresses, dresses with pockets, stark contrasts, the way cliffs and mountains look at night (as if black swaths have been taken out of an otherwise starry sky), long dramatic poems about battles or shipwrecks that somehow rhyme perfectly, the feeling of… power? alertness? being alive? generated by breathing in frigid air on a below-zero day… is this what is meant? I think it’s what’s meant.

Anyways, tagging… you know, I already tagged like 8 people today. If you see this post and want to write out all the things, consider yourself tagged.

#me #my life

[dalleyan]

Resilience (LoTR story, ch 1 posted, 6-16-21)

An unexpected event and a chance encounter bring Lothiriel of Dol Amroth and the King of Rohan together. Now, neither of their lives will ever be the same as they were.  [Complete in 24 chapters]

 Chapter 5

(26 May 3019 III)

“Thank you, Blidhe.” Lothiriel was glad she had learned the maid’s name before leaving for Edoras.  The girl had shown up at her door before first light, with a satchel in hand to pack up the few dresses.  Betersel had found leggings for her the previous evening, to wear under her dress when riding.

With little to pack, it only took a couple of minutes.  Blidhe did the packing while she readied herself and then the two went downstairs together.  The girl smiled and bobbed a curtsy at her before leaving her in the entry hall. Lothiriel could hear sounds from the dining area, and found that a light breakfast had been set out for all to partake. Eomer and Eothain were already seated and eating.  She joined them, filling her plate with bread, fruit and cheese.  Eomer poured her a cup of table ale, a drink she not only had gotten used to, but rather liked.

The three of them ate in silence, though occasionally a servant would enter to check all was in order, or one of Eomer’s men would come to report on preparations, take food and then leave again.  When it was clear that the three of them were finished with their meal, Eomer rose, ready to set their departure in motion.

Betersel was waiting in the entry hall to farewell them, and Lothiriel was glad that Eomer did not hide his affection for the housekeeper, giving her a hug as he had when he arrived. Once he released her, the woman turned to Lothiriel and smiled warmly.  “We will miss you, my dear.  It has been a pleasure having you with us.”

Lothiriel laughed. “All the more pleasant for its brevity?” she suggested teasingly.  With a scoffing look, Betersel swept her into a hug and she returned it with fervor. “Thank you so very much for all your kindnesses.  You will never know just how greatly they were valued,” she said quietly. Betersel’s embrace tightened briefly, but then she straightened and stepped away.

That was the signal for those who were leaving to make their way into the yard.  Horses were already there for the three of them, and the men were quietly milling about as they waited.  The sun was low on the horizon when they finally rode out the gates and turned onto the Great West Road.  A light fog hovering just above the grasses to the side of the road was slowly burning off as the sun sent forth more warmth to the day, but Lothiriel was glad of the cloak that Eowyn had left behind.

For the first hour of their journey, there was only occasional conversation.  After a break to rest the horses, though, Eothain fell in beside Lothiriel.  “How do you fare?”

“I am well,” she assured him.  “How long will it take to reach Edoras?”

“We will go for another hour and half, then have an early dinner.  That will give the horses their longest rest.  We should reach Meduseld in early afternoon.  Perhap around 1:30.”

“I had anticipated that Eomer would stay at Aldburg longer than he did.”

“In other circumstances, he might have, but with all that must be done he cannot be at ease just now. I hope that next year at this time he will be more settled as king, and the Riddermark will have recovered enough to relieve his mind.”

They rode farther in silence until she asked, “How did you and Eomer become such close friends?  He told me that you did not grow up together.”

The big man chuckled. “No, but we met in boyhood.  After his parents died, Theoden King brought Eomer and Eowyn to Edoras to live with him.  I met him on the street one day, and made a remark that he took exception to. The meeting ended in a tussle on the ground, both of us swinging our fists for all we were worth.”

“And still you became friends?” she asked, surprise lighting her countenance.

“Yes.  I was big and strong by then – I never feared getting into fights.  But there was a fury in Eomer’s anger that took me unaware, and I merely protected myself. Eowyn intervened and got him to stop the attack.  I misjudged him, and looking back on it now, perhaps I was being a bit of a bully then myself.”  He paused, scowling at the thought, realizing again that he occasionally became what he despised in others.

Turning his mind from that unpleasant idea, he added, “And, do you know, he apologized, when I had been the one to start it.  I knew my taunt would not sit well when I made it, but, as I said, I was not afraid of a fight.  I suppose it was his apology that caught my notice.  After that, the matter was put to rest and we never truly fought one another again.  Argued, yes, and often disagreed, but never again came to blows.”

“I notice that many of your encounters with others involve violence.  Are you not tired of fighting?”

“I…yes, I suppose I am. It just is what comes most natural to me.”

“Not that I have any reason to complain, certainly,” she hastened to amend.  “I am greatly in your debt for your willingness to fight in my defense.  I just wondered if you were tired of that always being the answer.  In war, you could not avoid it, but hopefully now we see a brighter day?”

“I am not sure that I know another way of managing my anger with others,” he said, frowning, though he wasn’t sure if his reaction was to her question or to his answer.

“Perhaps not know, but could learn?” she persisted, and he looked away, uncomfortable with her estimation of his behavior, but honest enough to recognize truth in it.

“Perhaps.  Eventually,” he finally said, unwilling to commit to more. Wisely, she let the subject drop.

 continue reading on AO3:

              https://archiveofourown.org/works/31701830/chapters/79241428

#Eomer #Lothiriel #eothiriel #Lord of the Rings #LOTR #Eothain #Eowyn #Original Female Characters #Original Male Characters