#anghraine's fic

[anghraine]

Back to clearing out drafts of things I'm not going to finish: this scrap is from the third of August, 2013:

-

"I think it would be for the best, my lord," Faramir said, clearly picking his words with care, "if I remain in Rohan when the rest of our people return home."

Aragorn considered him. Nothing about the other man's demeanour spoke of the besotted lover; indeed he looked very much as Aragorn imagined he had when he spoke of Gandalf to Ecthelion. His air was entirely that of a councillor about to offer disagreeable advice. 

Suppressing a sigh, Aragorn said, "I am not sure I understand you."

It was not the first time. Faramir was often clear and precise, but not always, and seemed to expect Aragorn in particular to wring meaning out of even cryptic statements.

Apart from this quirk, Aragorn understood him quite well. In fact, he'd formed a reasonable estimation of Faramir's character before he set foot in Minas Tirith, thanks to Imrahil.

As they'd made their way through the stinking battlefield, the city rising pristine before them, Aragorn had asked the Prince if he knew where the most seriously wounded might be found.

"They will be in the Houses of Healing," said Imrahil slowly. "My sister-son—"

Aragorn remembered Boromir speaking of a younger brother, his affection and concern unmistakable. And that was the brother to whom the summons to Rivendell had been sent first. He would now be Denethor's heir, playing an even greater part in Gondor's affairs than in Boromir's descriptions. There must be a reason for all this—it did not seem likely that he was another Boromir. Perhaps he favoured Denethor more than his brother had, or perhaps Finduilas and Imrahil. Aragorn could only hope for the latter. 

Belatedly, he realized that Imrahil had not simply paused mid-sentence but stopped altogether, his smooth voice breaking.

"The Lord Faramir, I believe?" Aragorn immediately saw the pain in Imrahil's stiff nod. "He is in the Houses? Has he been injured?"

"Faramir led the defence of Osgiliath and the Rammas Echor against the Witch-king of Angmar," said Imrahil.

Angmar. "What happened?"

The Prince hesitated. "He has great strength of mind, and chanced to inherit abilities from both Denethor's house and mine. Boromir was the mightier warrior, and the most admired man in Gondor, but Faramir had—has—a way with everyone he met." He shook his head, a ghost of a smile at his mouth. "To see him is to love him, and not only for his kin. Men and beasts alike will follow him anywhere." The lines of Imrahil's expression, briefly softened, drew tight and anxious once more. "Forgive me. I digress."

"With reason, I think," said Aragorn, hardly one to condemn a grieving uncle, even if he had not been the Prince of Dol Amroth, and even if he had praised his sister-son without purpose. 

Imrahil nodded, exhaling on a sigh. "His men followed him that day into the Shadow. For a time, he was able to hold his soldiers and their mounts steady, and he judged it necessary to remain with them to the end. But he was weary before he ever rode out, and it had been over a day, with little rest, when we last spoke."

"It would have been a great enough task for a man well-rested," said Aragorn, frowning. A dim picture was beginning to coalesce in his mind, but something was wrong with it. Many things were wrong with it. As they headed towards the city, he said, "It would have been great enough for an Elf-lord, against such an enemy. Why did he not rest beforehand?"

He was familiar with that kind of exertion, though that particular form was not one he favoured. He looked ahead at Minas Tirith, thinking of how many must be ill or dying. Soon he would be called upon to cast as wide a net as he could, pitting his will against the Black Breath. But it was a battle he could and would win.

"Faramir had slept a little," said Imrahil. "But five Nazgûl had pursued him and three or four others from Osgiliath; I did not see it myself, but I was told that he rode back when his companions were unhorsed, and one of the foul beasts actually stooped down on him. It was Mithrandir who saved him then."

Aragorn almost halted, more startled at this than anything else.

"This sister-son of yours confronted five Nazgûl?"

He could easily imagine Boromir doing it. Even the Denethor of Thorongil's day—but still. One was quite bad enough.

Imrahil looked at him. "Would you have done any different, lord?"

"No," said Aragorn. "Yet he was lucky to survive that alone, never mind the battle itself."

"He always has been. His men believe his life is charmed, by the Valar or—" He shrugged. "If so, his good fortune ran out in the end. He fell in the retreat across the Pelennor, when he was pierced by a Southron arrow. I carried him myself to the Houses of Healing. There he has lain in a fever ever since. I cannot think it only the wound."

"If he was contending with Ringwraiths the day before," Aragorn said, "then a stray arrow would be the least of his troubles. Yet it would leave him far more vulnerable to the Black Breath of the Nazgûl, all the more with his will spent." He looked sharply at Imrahil. "That would be enough. But there is more, I think?"

Imrahil sighed. But then he told him the whole story, as far as he knew it: told him of the always troubled relationship between Denethor and his gentle, willful younger son, turned colder with Boromir's absence and death, of Faramir's return from Osgiliath and Denethor's displeasure that Faramir had permitted strangers to pass freely through Ithilien.

Aragorn almost caught his breath. "Strangers? Of what kind?"

"Halflings, I hear," said Imrahil. "They had some foul weapon of Isildur's—forgive me—which Faramir sent away with them. Denethor agreed it should not be used, but he was furious that Faramir had allowed it to pass into the Dark Land. They quarrelled over that, and then again over the defense of the Rammas Echor. Faramir did not go of his own will but at the command of the Steward.

"I see," said Aragorn. So this man had faced the Ring as well.

[incognitajones]

A while ago I mentioned that I could use some short & sweet smutty prompts to distract me, since I’m in the middle of three longer projects that won’t see the light of day for a few months. @anghraine said they’d love to see something after pulse to pulse... this is only spicy by implication, but it is definitely set after that story!

[ read on AO3 ]

Cassian tried to focus on the holomap projection glowing in the dim room. Draven turned its brightness up another notch and he blinked, ignoring the ache pressing into his temples and tightening across his forehead from eye strain—and the fact that Jyn had been light years away for three weeks.

In the months since their Force bond had settled, they’d learned to trust in its resilience even while they were apart. But a prolonged separation could still throw them off-balance, especially when one of them was hurt.

Jyn was injured—not severely, but bad enough that her pain had woken Cassian up six hours ago, in the middle of Hoth’s long night—and it was distracting. He thought she was on her way back now; something about her presence within the bond felt closer. But she was also deliberately holding herself apart, shielding him from the full sensation of what had happened.

“Did you hear me, Andor?” Draven asked.

Cassian opened his mouth to offer a well-rehearsed argument for taking more time to gather intelligence, but Draven cut him off. “You’ve been staring at the screen without seeing anything for ten minutes,” he pronounced. “And frankly, you look like shit. There’s no point in you continuing this work until Erso gets back. I can analyze the data myself.”

Instead of taking the out immediately, Cassian hesitated. Yes, he should quit, based on the migraine throbbing behind his eyeballs, but he had to have something to do other than pace around Echo Base and wait for Jyn.

The pain dissolved and the tension in his muscles washed away. Cassian took a deep breath, able to hold his shoulders straight for the first time in hours. “She’s back, sir.”

“Go.” Draven sighed and dismissed him with the flick of a hand. “I don’t want to see you for the next two hours.”

Cassian nodded and went. Without having to think about which direction to go in, he set out for the north hangar, hurrying through the low-ceilinged corridors and around tight corners, dodging the flow of pilots and droids with ease. His headache had vanished. Only the nagging sense that Jyn was hurt worse than she’d let on was still disturbing him.

The shield doors were open and a frigid wind from the glacier scoured his face. He pulled up his hood and scanned the cavern until his eyes locked onto a small figure in a dark green parka talking to the deck officer. He headed unerringly toward her, though there were several others who could have been Jyn—he knew which was her.

When he was three metres away she turned to face him, scowling. “I could feel you being cranky at me all the way from Pantora.”

But when he came to a stop in front of her, she took the last step forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. Their bond surged, flooding him with a rush of calm contentment and filling places he hadn’t realized were empty. Jyn sighed and rested her forehead against his chest. The core-deep rightness that locked into place between them erased the last of his own pain, but he could still feel a faint itch of hers.

Cassian looked down at her left foot, noting the walking cast on it. “I’d be less cranky if you weren’t trying to hide things from me,” he pointed out.

“It’s not that bad,” Jyn argued.

Cassian didn’t know whether he was more annoyed with her stubbornness, or relieved that she was at least in one piece, or—

He bent his head and pressed his lips to the crown of her head. To anyone who might be watching, it was only a swift, light gesture. But he let every atom of what he was feeling pour through the bond, all of the pent-up longing and want that had risen while they were apart, everything he remembered of her taste and scent and the feel of her in his hands...

Jyn’s arms tightened around him and her fists clenched at the small of his back. She blinked up at him, her cheeks flushed and her lips parted. “I missed you too.” And the bond flowed back, carrying a rush of her own desire, redoubling his need. “Can we skip the medbay and go straight to our quarters?”

“It’s on the way,” Cassian said inexorably. “Come on.”

She sighed and went with him, letting herself lean on his arm wrapped around her—another tell that she hurt more than she wanted to admit. “That’s not playing fair,” she muttered.

He couldn’t keep the corner of his mouth from lifting. “Does that mean I should stop?”

“No.” She looked sidelong up at him and her fingers slipped under his parka, tracing an arc around his hipbone. “Just be prepared to take some of your own medicine.”

[veliseraptor]

Fic Writer Interview

I was tagged by @anghraine - thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

under my main pseudonym that I actually use these days, 610. total, across pseuds, we're looking at 1,013.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

4,930,564, which is so close to 5 million!!! we'll see if I hit that threshold this year, I might if all goes well with big bang fic

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I thought I could do this from memory and I was so close, only missed two.

Life in Reverse (13,990)

With Absolute Splendor (10,436)

some good mistakes (6,551)

The Villain Wrangler (4,445)

half a league onward (4,437)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do not, because I don't know what to say, get overwhelmed, fall behind, get more overwhelmed, and ultimately end up with a backlog I don't feel capable of dealing with so I just don't. I feel bad about this periodically (often) but I don't do anything with that feeling. Just kinda feel bad.

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I've written a lot of fics with angsty endings but I might have to give this one to Mercy, because that was a very mean fic on the whole. arguably even meaner than my other murder/suicide fic.

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I have a hard time with this question because I feel like most times my happy endings are at least touched with some kind of bitterness or loss or at least underlying open door that could be a problem down the line, or, like, lingering trauma.

but on the other hand I'm sure I have written generally happy endings in my backlog of fics, there's just a lot of fic in there so it's hard for me to pull them out, because they're probably also the ones that I find less memorable.

in some ways I think With Absolute Splendor might get this one, because it feels like it has ones of the strongest sense of earned catharsis, even if everything isn't all the way fixed. there's probably happier endings in terms of world state, but that's one where the ending feels happier because it doesn't start that way. but how this grace thing works is also one of the fics where I feel like it's on the whole softer/tenderer than my usual work.

7. Do you write crossovers?

not really! I wrote a few once upon a time, and a couple pastiches (one fandom in the style of another fandom), but those are years behind me and I'm not generally a crossover person as a rule.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

oh yes. most of it more entertaining than truly upsetting, but there are a few exceptions. my favorite remains the person who was really bothered by the fact that my Black Jewels Trilogy fic wasn't High School Musical fic. still no idea what was going on there.

9. Do you write smut?

sure do. I haven't been writing as much these days (but then, I haven't been writing as much these days, full stop) and I've never been all that much of a pwp writer but it's still very much a part of my writing.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

once, some time ago - I think it was Life in Reverse got posted on Wattpad. oh, though there was also another MCU fic that got reposted on AO3, but the person deleted it pretty quickly when I commented to inform them I didn't appreciate their doing so.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! into a few languages and it's always super cool and flattering to me.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have the one in progress but never anything I've finished/posted. I've done a lot of RP over the years but I always kept it pretty squarely separate from my fic writing.

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I've had a lot of all-time favorite ships, and there are plenty for fandoms I'm no longer really in that stick around in my head for longer than I'm really participating in the fandom (Celegorm/Aredhel is notable for this), but I think I will say that Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen occupies a very particular kind of sort of insane place in my brain that feels relatively unique. so I'll give this one to them.

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

oh lord, so many of them. mostly various MCU wips I'll probably never finish but where I'm like "this was a good idea and I like what I have of it so far, too bad the MCU killed my caring about the MCU." outside of those...I'm so loathe to accept that things will or might remain unfinished, so I'll go with one of those and say the "Hela is around when Thor and Loki are growing up" one, which would've been so good and I still sometimes toy with the idea of returning to, only, you know. aforementioned "caring about the original canon" issue making it hard to actually do the writing thing.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I've been slowly filling out this meme for a while and I left this question conspicuously blank almost to the last. I think my strongest area is probably dialogue, though I worry that I'm giving myself too much credit there. I think I'm pretty good at writing it, though. it certainly is one of the pieces of writing that comes most easily to me.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

description and action, for sure. I tend to skimp on description in a way that probably weakens much of my writing (I have so much respect for writers with good descriptive language), and I loathe writing action scenes the way that I loathe writing few things - it always feels like wrestling a bear. I usually know what I want to have happen as a result but getting there is just. very hard.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

something you gotta be very careful with. I was going to say I almost never do it, but the one exception to that is Lymond Chronicles where I do it a lot, but that's because it's a fairly important part of the style of canon and I'm just. following that lead. otherwise, I tend to shy away from it personally, partly because I write from pretty deep in a character's head and if they don't understand what's being said in another language then that's what I want to convey in the story, rather than giving the reader privileged access to what's being said that the character doesn't have.

does that sound really pretentious? probably.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

technically I wrote a cracky Harry Potter fic first, but I consider my first actual fandom to be Wheel of Time.

19. What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

either bingjiu or beefleaf are two pairings that I love and have a lot of strong feelings about but haven't actually managed to write anything for, and both are on my list as like...just #waiting for the right idea.

also hua cheng/mu qing, which is a tiny pairing of my heart that Needs Me (or whatever) and I know the kind of fic I want to write for it but actually executing it is, as usual, proving harder.

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

it fluctuates wildly depending on mood, but I'll give this one for now to the backyard is full of bones - it was the first project I bound into a book, which I feel like says something for it.

tagging @gloriousmonsters, @curiosity-killed, @mikkeneko, @brawlite, and @feralkwe; not actually sure how many people I'm "supposed" to tag on this one so if you want to do it consider yourself tagged as well.

[chocolatepot]

16, 24, 42 for fic writer asks!

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

😬um well ... In Ellipsus (cloud-hosted doc service I switched to a few months back) alone, I have 8 in-progress fics. In Google Docs, there are ten more and counting. Whenever I have an idea for a fic, I start a new doc for it.

One that I was intending to write for AUpril but probably don't have the time to do by the 21st (it's not even started) is a kind of reversal of the one I did where Ed's an Edwardian female impersonator. It's a genderbend, and Ed is a suffragist who's respected by the other very serious suffragists. Stede is a reasonably successful male impersonator, going on the vaudeville stage in trousers and singing love songs about girls. The other activists find her offensive because the general public basically thinks that that's what they are (women who want to wear trousers and "be men"), but Ed is fascinated. She meets up with Stede and Stede puts her in pants, which she loves.

This came about because I wanted to do the original fic but with a genderbend, made Stede the impersonator so it's not a retread, and then realized I could explore an aspect of the bent gender stuff I haven't gotten into so much: Stede as the more GNC one.

Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

Not given to me directly, but the idea that you should write every single day, and if you're not feeling it you just need to dig deep and have discipline. There are some days when I simply cannot write, whether from an emotional issue or because of executive dysfunction, and forcing myself is just upsetting and/or a waste of time, because it generally prolongs the non-writing mood. If I chill out and recharge, in a day or two I can usually write again.

What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

The last fic I was reading is Love, Pride & Delicacy by @anghraine, an exploration of Pride and Prejudice if Darcy were a woman. It's fascinating and so well-written - I very much recommend it!

The last fic I read to completion is The Philadelphia Chicken Man by @lookinglass-fic. Ed eats a rotisserie chicken every day to rediscover himself. I also recommend it!

ask me questions!

[andorerso]

Hello! I was wondering if you know of any fics where Cassian interacts with Leia? I love the idea of them meeting, but can't seem to find many.

Hey! Sorry for the late reply, work was kinda hectic this week.

so Cassian & Leia is one of my favorite friendships as well, but racking my brain, I couldn't really think of too many stories that feature it more than just in the background? still, I tried to scrape up some fics for you so here we go

I don't know if you're into them romantically as well, or just want to see platonic stuff, but I would strongly recommend checking out Pontmercyingtilthecowscomehome if you haven't yet. Most of their fics are romantic CassLeia, but you can find ones that are only platonic, for example:

Letters Unread

yesterday's beginnings

And ofc, if you want to see romantic CassLeia, then definitely check out their other stories!

some other fics I found:

Fulcrum by imsfire

in tongues and quiet sighs by Elizabeth (anghraine)

the duty of Rebellion by storiesmadeofstars

touches of ice (breaths of fire) by cassandor

hope you enjoy them!

[child-of-hurin]

Fic author interview meme - tagged by @anghraine!

Apologies if you've already done this and I missed it, but tagging @squirrelwrangler @undercat-overdog @chthonic-cassandra @hoeratius @outofangband @seagodofmagic and everyone else who sees this and feels like doing it :)

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

58, more than I thought

2- What's your total AO3 word count?

146,888

3- What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Surrender, 615 words, The Mirror Visitor, 149 kudos 2. Locked, forgotten, 1,6k words, ASOIAF , 91 kudos 3. With imperious hand, Fate turns the wheel,  8,8k words, Queen’s Thief, 85 kudos 4. Simple fix, 2,8k words, Supernatural, 77 kudos 5. Tied: Cupid and Psyche, 742 words, Queen’s Thief, 66 kudos A flower trampled underfoot, 1,9k words, Silmarillion, 66 kudos

I have a couple of anonymous/orphaned works that I can recall that have way more than any of this: one Azula/Zuko that has over 350 kudos and a Wincest fic that’s currently on 289! They’re both pure E-rated kink, so I think it figures hahaah.

4- Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, but sometimes I get a little stumped between a desire to respond in depth vs the conscience that ao3 comments are not really the place for fandom conversation…

5- What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

IMO, either my most recent Vinland Saga fic “Ordeal,” or my first posted fic ever, “Barren”, about Míriel and Pharazôn.

6- What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I’m thinking it’s probably “Washed Ashore”, a short fic that ends with Gil-Galad telling Círdan that Ëarendil is alive and returned with an army in tow.

7- Do you write crossovers?

no

8- Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I know I did but it was in an orphaned work and I can’t recall which, or what fandom it was for? But I think that’s why I switched to just publishing anonymously instead of orphaning it altogether, so I can still delete comments and stuff. Haven't had to, though.

9- Do you write smut?

Occasionally :) 

10- Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No

11- Have you ever had a fic translated?

I THINK so, because I remember someone asking me about it, but I can’t recall which fic or what language…

12- Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I wanna do that with Kate!!! Maybe one day

13- What's your all-time favorite ship?

The ship I’ve written the most for on ao3 is Irene/Gen from Queen’s Thief, and it’s definitely one of my top favorites!

14- What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I don’t usually post fics unless they’re finished or very close to. So the answer is something in my fic folder tentatively called "A Mirror, Cracking", which is an AU of Niënor in Brethil, if she remembered who she was! I'm suuuper fond of it and likely never finishing it, I plan to post it unfinished at some point, amnesty-style.

15- What are your writing strengths?

I think I’m good at creating a dramatic scene! Or let’s put it this way: it’s what I enjoy the most when I write

16- What are your writing weaknesses?

I’d like to write longer, more committed stuff sometimes, but I find it very hard! I also think my prose is very commonplace, but it doesn't actually bother me.

17- What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I avoid doing that at all costs. I either put a descriptive indicating they’re speaking another language, or I say the POV character can’t make it out. I don’t think it’s tacky and I don’t judge it in writing, I just don’t like doing it myself.

18- What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Tolkien <3

19- What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

My dream is to write a Mediana/Ophélie fic for The Mirror Visitor, simply I think this ship is insanely hot and there was just one meager 155 word ficlet for it last time I checked! I have some notes for a fic but lost steam; maybe reading the English translation of those books will do the trick.

20- What's your favorite fic you've written?

I’m super fond of “A haunting”, one of my fics with the least amount of kudos... which I understand, because it really is one of those “I wrote this for myself but you can read it if you want to” cases—in terms of themes, characterization, style and format, corny quote at the beginning, etc, super indulgent. I really just had a lot of fun with it and it still touches me whenever I reread it, and I think the language and characterization are pretty solid! I like it a lot and I'm super proud of it :)

[heckofabecca]

Fic Author Interview (meme)

I was tagged by the wonderful @anghraine, whom I adore. Thank you so much!

For the purposes of this interview, I will be including my MCU stuff.

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

53 total, but at least one of those is a collection of ficlets that should really be a collection rather than a single fic.

2- What's your total AO3 word count?

A respectable 343,495.

3- What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All of these are (unsurprisingly) Bucky Barnes/f!Reader, which you can find via my sideblog @beckzorz as well as on AO3.

Dressed To Kill (18+ nsfw): the first part of a porn-with-plot assassin!reader series, which involves a lot of banter and a LOT of sex.

Old Habits (18+ nsfw): Angsty; set after a mission with civilian casualties.

Patched Up (18+ nsfw): Porn without plot.

Sugarplum (cute): Based on a prompt re: leaving little gifts for your crush.

PREMONITIONS, or, Adventures Adjacent to a Six-Year-Old Seer (adorable): On Halloween, your clairvoyant niece leads you straight into Bucky Barnes. It could not have gone worse.

4- Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I love comments! It's really wonderful to know my work is engaging enough to prompt someone to leave their thoughts, and I want to honor that by being excited back at them!

5- What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

There's one ficlet where the POV character just had their chest exploded and is bleeding out, but I can't find it T.T

6- What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I like my stories that end with the happy couple! So... a lot haha! But let's share a few beyond Marvel:

Second Time Lucky: When Lothíriel makes a hasty promise to a lady in distress, she must use all her wits to keep her footing. But there's more than one type of falling...

Mistrust: Stuck under her uncle Denethor's care in Minas Tirith two years before the Enemy's final defeat, Lothíriel of Dol Amroth spies on a marshal from Rohan on her father's behalf. But nothing ever goes quite according to plan when you're eighteen and foolhardy.

7- Do you write crossovers?

I have not! I have seen some I thoroughly enjoy, even if just the idea of them delights me. There's been a bunch of Danny Phantom x Batman across my dash lately that brings me joy (though I don't know either canon very well).

8- Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I can recall!

9- Do you write smut?

Yes, I've written quite a bit.

10- Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, someone was going through a bunch of Bucky x Reader stuff and posting them on one of those story sites... It was a number of years ago, so I forget the details.

11- Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

12- Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of—a friend wrote a part of my series Across The Fords, about a Dunlending who visits Rohan.

13- What's your all-time favorite ship?

I do not have a favorite ship! I think some relationships are really wonderful but I don't have a favorite-favorite. If I had to pick, I'd pick Elizabeth/Darcy, to honor my friend Elizabeth :P

14- What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Far From The Swan-road* (which I lovingly refer to as my longfic) is complete on its own, I have future parts planned out that I doubt will ever fully see the light of day. It makes me sad, because I'm inordinately fond of it.

* Lothíriel wants her funeral to as grand as her father's will be. Is that so much to ask? A story about female ambition, companionate love, and the difficulty of knitting a world back together.

15- What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, smut, imagery.

16- What are your writing weaknesses?

Actually getting it done.

17- What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

In small amounts, sure. In large amounts, no.

18- What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter.

19- What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

The Silmarillion... But not the Fëanoreans lol

20- What's your favorite fic you've written?

There are two tied in my heart:

Far From The Swan-road, Lothíriel-focused

Out of Nowhere, Bucky Barnes x OFC

These both feel so SO tailored to my interests that I truly love rereading them—and then wanting to write future installments, which never goes quite how I'd like them to. Alas, but yay for having what I do.

Tagging: @jobean12-blog @kareenvorbarra @alliluyevas @marvelgirl7 @theemightypen @themoonlily

[kareenvorbarra]

fic meme: first and last lines

Rules: go through your last 5 fics and share the first and last line. provide no context.

tagged by @anghraine! I'm going to copy her and only count completed fics for this.

Affinity (Star Wars: Rebels)

First line: Zeb mutters to himself in Lasat sometimes, when he’s feeling particularly trapped in his own head. Last line: It hits him later: he too knows how it feels to lose yourself in memories of a world that no longer exists.

You Know Where To Find Me (Queen's Thief)

First line: The front room of my master’s apartment was dark beyond the glow of my lamp. Last line: “Greatly wise cloaked in wisdom was Immakuk, greatly strong clothed in strength was his true friend Ennikar, great was their love and greatly did it sustain them in their journeys together…”

Aftershock (Queen's Thief)

First line: “Dirnes, give me a hand with these,” Ochto called. Last line: They turned and walked back toward the barracks together.

In the House of Hanaktos (Queen's Thief)

First line: “I knew there was something strange about him from the beginning."  Last line: She crossed her arms, but she was smiling.

Old News (Queen's Thief)

First line: It was winter in northern Medea, which mostly meant rain. Last line: May my own heart never betray me like that, Sevan prayed, then turned her attention back to the others.

i am too lazy to tag anyone else rn - if you see this and feel like doing it yourself, please consider this an invitation!

[actual-bill-potts]

I've been tagged by @sallysavestheday to give the first lines of my 10 most recent fics! Tyvm for the tag, I am honored <3 everyone go read her fic Thy Brothers' Keeper, it is a fantastic character study of Finarfin!

...actually just go read everything by her, it'll take you a hot minute but it'll be TOTALLY worth it.

When Beren is escorted into the presence of the King of Nargothrond, his first impression is of the dawn.

Nóm arrives with the dawn, shining gold and smiling. (both this and the above from my ongoing three-part series, which will be posted on AO3 eventually...)

FINROD: Andreth, I am so grieved at Boron’s death, and so sorry for your loss. (from Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth: A Reading, which I consider...creative writing, at least, if not exactly fic.)

The sound of a fire crackling is heard. (from a WIP...can u guess which one?)

By the time he reached Himring, Finrod was weary to his bones. (The Hunt)

That morning, Arafinwë’s eldest son does not so much walk into the dining room as swim. (On Vanyarin Fashion)

Angaráto and Aikanáro did not come to find Findekáno until the hosts had settled in to rest beside the stolen ships. (Alqualondë)

Turgon had once loved the Eagles of Beleriand: the hope they represented, the promise that the Noldor were not completely abandoned by the Valar. (The Eagles)

Finrod always enters a room in stages, or so it seems to Celebrimbor. (The Perils of Dandelions)

Celegorm could not stop thinking. (and all his towers cast down)

No-pressure tagging @anghraine, @arrivisting, @theghostinthemargins, @thelordofgifs, @skull-bearer, @pearlescentpearl and anyone else who would like to do this!!

[squirrelwrangler]

Ao3 Stat meme

Tagged by @anghraine and since she tagged several mutuals who also write and post on AO3, I leave this open-ended to any mutual or follower not already tagged to count me if they wish to answer this. Get really to be amazed by small numbers, y’all, because I’m in the niche fandom writing the unpopular stuff (the only way I’d be more niche was if I really wrote f/f) aka mostly gen one-shots of minor or unpopular canon characters and OCs.

Rules: Give us the links to your fics with the most hits, most kudos, most comments, most bookmarks, most words, and least words.

Most hits: Whatcha Gonna Call It? aka the Aegnor/Andreth Baby AU that is probably going to dominate with 2,919 hits

Most kudos: Whatcha Gonna Call It? again with 255, and for context only two other fics have breached the 100 mark

Most comments: In Need of a Cold Shower, the multi-chaptered early Second Age fic about two horny OCs taking Elrond on road trip quest to investigate the far north, the only fic that got the higher rating for the d/s bondage-flavored sexual imagery, with 49 comments. As for individual comment threads, that actually goes to Of Ingwë Ingweron.

Most bookmarks: Whatcha Gonna Call It? wins again with 50

Most words: Release from Bondage, the slow-burn romance of two elven thralls in Angband, OCs based off of secondary ASoIaF characters, that reaches from the Fall of Nargothrond to the end of the First Age with cameos from canon characters and world-building galore, wins this at 40,709 words. It beats out the other two long multi-chaptered fics, “Cold Shower” and “Of Ingwë”- but as OII is halfway done while the other two complete, eventually third place will be first.

Least words: Pearl, the bit of Finarfin/Eärwen fluff, is shortest at 175 words. Have five fics posted on AO3 under 500 words and eight more in the 500-600 range.    

[anghraine]

I'm sleepy and bored, so I went back to thinning out my drafts folder. The furthest back is a longer scrap of fic, which apparently I was working on back on July 22nd, 2013:

-

When Éomer was a small boy and Éowyn still toddling about Aldburg, a stranger came through the Eastfold. At first, Éomer thought him a woman, for his long tunic could almost have been a gown, and then thought that he must be one of the Men of Gondor, for he was taller than Éomund and his unbraided hair was black and thick and very long. But it was not so. He was a merchant out of Harad.

To Éomer's bewilderment, his mother and father welcomed the merchant as warmly as if he had been the finest Rider in the Mark, and offered him provisions for the next leg of his journey. It was Éomund who explained to Éomer that the Southerner must have been a great warrior, and with his permission, showed Éomer the signs of it: the faded scars, the swordsman's calluses, the economical grace of his movements, the horseman's stride. The warrior-merchant explained that he had grown weary of war without end, and the strange demands and cults of Sauron, and as he knew something of metalsmithing, hoped to make a life for himself in the northern reaches of Eriador.

Years later, looking at the Steward of Gondor, Éomer was reminded forcibly of the man he had watched disappear into Fangorn all those years ago.

Lord Faramir was certainly every inch a man of Gondor—not, as his brother Boromir had been, one who might have been a Rider but for size and colouring. Faramir wore the robes of a pampered lord, his hair long and loose, and no beard had ever sprouted from his chin. Nor did he carry a weapon, unless one were to consider the white rod of his office as one.

Éomer did not. But in a single glance, he saw absent weapons in the other man's hands: the marks, unmistakable to a true warrior, of many years wielding sword or spear or bow. When the Steward rose and walked over to greet him, expression guarded, Éomer could see also that he must have spent a good deal of his life on horseback. He had few scars, which spoke well of his prowess. And yet—

And yet.

"My lord of Rohan," said Lord Faramir, bowing politely, but no more: not as king's servant to another king, but as one great lord to another. Éomer considered this and decided it pleased him.

It did not please him to be called lord of Rohan, true though it was. Even after so many days, he could not hear the title without expecting to find Théoden behind him, tall and hale as he had been in his last days. Éomer-King was a little better: but only a little.

"Lord Steward," he replied. Less shrewd sight would not have caught Faramir's start, less a wince than a hint of one.

Two pairs of keen grey eyes studied each other. As with Aragorn, Éomer met Faramir's eyes by looking straight ahead, not tilting his head down as he usually had to do.

"My sister tells me she intends to wed you," said Éomer.

Faramir, with a suspicious twitch of his lips, replied, "She has said much the same to me."

Despite himself, Éomer chuckled. "I do not doubt it."

"The day has been long. Would you care to sit down?" Faramir gestured at a cushioned bench not far away. By happy chance it was considerably higher than his chair, to which he returned. Éomer preferred standing to sitting, but nevertheless sat down.

"While I am no longer the Lord of Gondor's heir," Faramir began directly, "you may be assured that—"

Éomer waved this aside. "I know your lineage, lord. And I know well that Éowyn will receive more honour in Gondor, should you be wed, than she ever did in all her faithful service to Théoden-King."

"Lady Éowyn slew the king of the Nazgûl before the gates of our city," said Faramir. "For that alone she will always be accounted among the great in Gondor."

Éomer smiled. It would have been a fine death, but it was better still to live in renown and glory. And that would be the greater here, for though all in Edoras loved her and would sing of her deeds, it was to Mundburg that she had ridden, and the enemy of Gondor that she had slain. And were she also the Steward's lady, and princess over the second greatest fief in Gondor: yes, she would have fame enough.

"That is well," he said. "I know Éowyn my sister. I do not believe she would be content with less."

"Nor do I," said Faramir amicably. Though he seemed more like to Aragorn than Boromir in all things, he was clearly very much meeker. It was difficult to believe that Aragorn's place in her heart could be taken by this pleasant, tame shadow of him.

Éomer sprang to his feet. 

"Understand that this marriage is welcome and more to the Riddermark." He strode back and forth, Faramir's mild expression unwavering. "I know well that the Lord Denethor would not have chosen it. I speak now not as lord of Éowyn's house and people but as her elder brother."

Faramir inclined his head. "As would I speak, if you wished for the hand of a lady of my own kin." Suddenly, he smiled. "Speak freely, Éomer son of Éomund! For whether I gain my heart's desire or no, I foresee that we shall often have reason to counsel together. It will be Lord Aragorn who renews Cirion's gift upon Amon Anwar, but we are the heirs of Cirion and Eorl, you and I, and there should be unhindered speech between us."

"So we are," said Éomer, approving despite himself. He had not thought of it that way: not, in particular, thought of it at all. He looked on the Steward with a more kindly gaze. Mayhap, he thought, Eorl himself had not quite known what to think of Cirion. "Very well. Éowyn my sister was named, joy-in-horses, but little joy has been hers: less even than I feared. I wish for her happiness."

Faramir, rather to his surprise, did not hasten to assure him that he, or his land, would be that happiness. He only listened, expression attentive.

"What can she know of you, or you of her? I have seen many a marriage formed under the anxieties of war, and afterwards they are as strangers. I do not desire such a life for my sister, far from her home. I would not have her plight herself in"—despair and spite, Éomer thought, but could not quite bring himself to say—"in a strange mood. And I do not know you."

"You do not," Faramir agreed. "But your sister does. And your great friend, the Prince of Dol Amroth, will vouch for my character, if he has not done so already."

The Prince had, in fact, only spoken of the new Steward in the most glowing terms. The two men were, as Éomer recalled, kin of some kind.

[incognitajones]

Fic author interview

Thanks to @sesamestreep and @glorious-spoon for tagging me in this one over the holidays! But between starting the new job and the holidays and the RCSS, it totally slipped my mind until now 😬

No-pressure tagging: @anghraine, @ladytharen, @luciechat, and anyone else who feels like it.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

An even 200 if I include both accounts.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Just under 650K words altogether.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Last Train 

I fought the war (but the war won) 

left-handed kisses 

Fixer Upper 

Chain Reaction 

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I want to let commenters know they're appreciated, and I enjoy talking about little details or plot turns. Lately I haven't had the time or energy for much more than a quick thank you, but I'm still trying to respond.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

At one point it would've been the bad ending of I fought the war, but now I think this Whumptober piece takes the crown.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Considering canon, most of them have an unrealistically happy ending! Especially inside the vastness of the galaxy, the "Naomi & Filip get a happy reunion" story.

7. Do you write crossovers?

No. I enjoy writing & reading some fusions (i.e. characters from one canon in the setting of another) but traditional crossovers in which characters from two different canons meet don't generally appeal to me.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not on AO3, but I've been sent anon hate on Tumblr about my writing a couple of times (find a Reylo writer who hasn't challenge).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeah, a fair bit - in fact it's hard to remember sometimes that I never wrote anything explicit before 2016! It's all pretty vanilla, though, minus a few attempts at kinkier stuff which are deservedly anonymous.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Kind of; someone commented on one of my stories on AO3 to tell me that another story had copied significant parts of it. (They'd already commented on and reported the other fic, so I didn't take any additional action. The plagiarizing story was eventually deleted.)

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Bless the fandom translators, for they are amazing.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nothing posted publically.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I couldn't possibly choose a single favourite! In terms of longevity, it's either Han/Leia or Eowyn/Faramir. And Star Wars ships in general seem to have a strong hold on me 😁

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The OT3 whumpfic. It's nearly done, but it's far outside my usual wheelhouse so without a beta reader, I can't tell whether it's worth finishing or beyond help.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I think I write decent dialogue, and I'm genuinely proud of the ideas behind I fought the war and pulse to pulse. I can also write a pretty good pastiche of 19C style, although you wouldn't know it from this account.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting. Falling back on boring/clichéd beats to flesh out dialogue-heavy scenes.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

A sentence or so? Sure. Can't think of a reason to do much more than that.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

It would be either Buffy or Lord of the Rings - I honestly don't remember - not counting the terrible Shannara-fic I wrote as a pre-teen.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Someday I'd really like to write a Children of Men story telling what happened to Kee and [spoiler] after the movie, plus fixing [spoiler].

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Subject to change by the moment, of course, but looking back at some older stories recently reminded me that I've always been pretty fond of don't go home without me.

[brynnmclean]

@anghraine, you’ve caught me on a day when I actually am writing!  So here is my answer for the "share the last line of fic you wrote" meme:

Mairon sucks in air that tastes of smoke and metal and sweat, overwhelmed by the flickering firelight and the dancing shadows, the cacophony of sounds—a Noldo sings to the silver he pours into a mold, a Maia grinds steel into sharpness, and like a thunderous heartbeat, the Great Smith beats crimson, glowing tilkal into shape.

I’m tagging @aadmelioraa @monroesimons @allatariel and of course my partner in this Uncorrupted Mairon AU Madness @rain-sleet-snow, if you folks feel like sharing!

[ncfan-1]

I was tagged by @anghraine for this meme. The rules of the meme are as follows: Post the first lines of your ten most recent fanfics and then tag ten people. If you’ve written less then ten, just go for what you have written.

Obviously, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to: @chidorinnnnn, @qserasera, @bailesu, @sean-gaffney, @sunlitroom, and anyone else who’d like to do this.

1. An Arrow Piercing the Heart’s Eye, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Linhardt/Marianne, Flayn as the third POV character, Azure Moon, still in-progress.

“Umm, Hilda?”

It had been such a sunny day, but a day which had determined to make mockery of Marianne’s hope that she might be able to go about her business without her winter cloak secured about her shoulders. A cold wind blew with tongues as sharp as knives, and every time it touched her, she shivered, burying her hands deeper into the folds of her skirt and wishing fervently that she had time to return to her room and fetch her cloak.

Even when Marianne is willing to adopt a sense of optimism, her optimism is still fragile and easily dashed apart, though considering her circumstances, that’s to be expected. It’s still gonna be pretty cold by the time this fic is over, sadly, though the hope of spring will finally have taken root by then.

2. Drinking Power, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Lamine, Nemesis, OC, complete.

Once upon a time, there was a witch who lived alone in the woods.

She had not always lived alone. Neither had she always lived in the woods. There is a strange inclination among people to believe that witches spring up fully-formed in their huts in the woods, brewing potions and weaving hexes not twelve hours after their birth. No one ever questions where it is that witches came from. They were always in the forest. They were always witches. They were never young. They were never children. They were never anything but this.

I enjoyed writing Lamine as a deeply, deeply embittered woman, the kind of woman who would grasp at power for herself without understanding what it was she was grasping, and what the consequences of grasping it might prove to be.

3. Dressing the Part, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Linhardt/Dorothea, post-Silver Snow, complete.

Dorothea sighed as she contorted her arms to do up the last button on her gown. That was starting to hurt—she was going to have to see about gowns with fewer buttons, or perhaps a gown she could just pull over her head or get on some other way that didn’t involve buttons, or too many laces.

I know Linhardt and Dorothea together isn’t everyone’s favorite ship, but of his canonical paired endings, it’s my second-favorite for Linhardt behind Marianne’s. I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t have more fics on AO3.

4. We Made These Ruins Ourselves, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Linhardt/Dorothea, Silver Snow, complete.

When she had been a little girl, Dorothea had dreamed of one day standing inside of the Imperial palace. When she had been very young, she had still had the spun-sugar dreams her mother would weave for her about the lives of the nobility and the Imperial family. Even to work inside of the Imperial palace as a scullery maid would have afforded them with more riches than Dorothea could even imagine, when they were living inside of their draughty hovel in the slums and every rainstorm in the summer turned the floor into a quagmire. Even scullery maids inside of the Imperial palace were assured of meals at daybreak and nightfall. Even scullery maids were assured of somewhere dry and warm to sleep once their duties for the day were done. And it wasn’t like the work would have been any more difficult than what Dorothea and her mother were already doing out in the streets of Enbarr. It might have actually been easier, since neither of them would have to be learning new things every morning, and there would have been actual rules about what they were doing.

Dorothea is still one of my favorite characters from Three Houses. I’ve got a set of favorites—Byleth, Edelgard, Dorothea, Ingrid, Linhardt, Marianne—and these are probably the ones I will revisit the most in the years to come. This fic was kind of hard to write, honestly. It’s one of the ones I wrote for Fictober, and it wound up being less shippy than I had hoped for, thanks to the mood of it being quite so bleak.

5. Dead Skin, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Edelgard/Marianne, Crimson Flower, complete.

“Have you noticed?” Mercedes asked her one morning, when the camp was quiet and sunlight shot through the boulevards between their tents as if with the deliberate intent of burning away all the shadows in which aught ill could have concealed itself.

This was another fic for Fictober, and one I had had ruminating in the back of my head for a long time, ever since I noticed that Aymr has the Crest Stone of Maurice set into it. Given the way Marianne talks about Edelgard in Crimson Flower, I thought it would be interesting to explore the parallels of ‘beastliness’ between them.

6. what to do with all those years, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Leandra (Flayn’s mother), Flayn, Macuil, complete.

Since she had first come to Enbarr as a woman grown, Leandra’s life had been little else but an endless series of challenges, all of which had been of a singular, unified purpose: how was she to contend with it, when confronted with something which tore apart the world as she knew it, and stitched it back together in forms increasingly strange to the eye and mind?

The figure of Flayn’s mother is an interesting one to me, not least because she’s such a murky, indirect figure. We never meet her, of course, and Seteth and Flayn provide us with so little information about her that I’m left largely with Flayn’s exclamations of how much like her Judith is as a clue for her characterization. But I doubt she was exactly like Judith, not least because she would have had a very different set of challenges to contend with.

7. Little Queen of All Things Forsaken, Triangle Strategy, Cordelia Glenbrook, a bunch of OCs, Avlora, post-Morality ending, complete.

Glenbrook had had ruling queens before, but only rarely, and the last had taken her throne some three hundred years ago. It was Queen Laudine’s coronet which was placed upon Cordelia’s head now, a spindly thing of interwoven gold and electrum, studded with seed pearls and tiny diamonds which glittered like flakes of frost. The coronet which Cordelia’s mother had worn when she had been crowned Queen Consort was much richer. Queen Irene’s coronet remained in Whiteholm castle, untouched by the Aesfrosti during the occupation. There had been no true looting of the castle at all, which did still surprise Cordelia to this day, in spite of everything else that she had seen. Her mother’s coronet was rich, shimmering gold so heavily crusted with sapphires that you would be forgiven for not noticing the gold at all. But it was heavy upon Cordelia’s head, too heavy to be practical for daily wear. And much as Cordelia loved her late mother, it was the crown of a consort, the crown of a queen who had never ruled, but who had been valued most for the heirs she could provide her royal husband. Though Queen Laudine’s coronet was plainer, though its plainness was out of step with current fashions, out of step with what the people might expect, it was more appropriate for a queen who would rule.

This was kind of tricky to write, since until Avlora comes in, it’s just Cordelia surrounded by a bunch of original characters whom I wove up from scratch. I hope I did justice to them; Lydia Argyris is definitely my favorite.

8. The Mist Clears, Star Wars: Visions, Misa/Tsubaki, Masago, post-Akakiri, complete.

It was, Misa recognized, generally considered a flaw in her character that she had so little patience for the noise associated with the court in celebration. Any sort of celebration, even that of a dinner which had grown especially raucous, such as this one had done. It could not be helped, she supposed; they had gotten to the very last of the spring wine, and her father had given instructions that it all be served with supper this night. It wasn’t the sort of wine that aged well. Well, it made excellent vinegar, but if you wanted something you could actually drink, it was better to capitalize on what you had while you still could and drink of it swiftly.

Oh, God, this was such a beast to write. I feel like barely anyone even noticed it, but I’m still proud of it. The powers that be over at Lucasfilms will probably never touch Akakiri instead, but I wrote myself the only ending to that story I’m ever going to need, so it’s fine. (Actually, I’d like to see them explore it some more, but only if they don’t take the story in a grimdark direction. A lot of people have compared this to what happened with Anakin and Padmé in RoTS and are using it as a reason for why obviously everything will be horrible forever, but this is automatically a more hopeful love story than every other love story in Star Wars because both of the participants are alive at the end. Misa’s resurrection is such a ray of hope that I can’t believe that everything will be horrible forever.)

9. All Your Maybes, Batman: The Long Halloween (2021 movies), Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne, post-movie, complete.

“Are you alright?” Bruce asked her.

It… it was a fair question, Selina guessed. She had been staring into the fire for… she didn’t know how long. Something about the flames was soothing. She wasn’t certain wha—

Watching Selina interact with her half-siblings was pain incarnate. That is all.

10. the holy ghost shall sup, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Robin/Libra, complete.

There was a hollow spot in Libra’s heart which had been carved long ago, the wet, bloody emptiness where the love of his mother and father should have bloomed but had instead been ripped up by its roots and trampled into the dust of the road as they left him behind. It had been a home for many things since, the hollow, but it was anger which knew its walls the best. It was anger which had picked the lock so many times, anger which had turned to mist or ooze and seeped in through the gap between the door and the doorframe when he had tried, in vain, to keep it out, anger which had painted the walls of the hollow spot with its colors.

Is it really Libra if he’s not capable of furious anger and deeply self-destructive behavior, alongside his kindness? Don’t forget how we were introduced to this man in the game.

[hoidn]

@anghraine kindly tagged me (back in january, *cough*) in the last line of fic game and, in spite of

the fact that i haven’t written anything in months aside from random notes and what i think of as sketches, where i write my way through how i imagine a scene or an idea just to kind of give it shape in my head; and

the fact that i’ve got absolutely no idea what document i last worked on let alone the last thing i wrote in it; 

we’re doing this thing!

Rules: share the last written line of one WIP and tag as many people as there are words.

His hand hurts where she bit him and he wishes she'd broken the skin, wishes he'd have a scar to carry to show how she's marked him indelibly.

(it isn’t from a WIP but it is a sentence and it is the last line, therefore i say it counts.)

since i don’t even know 28 people, let alone 28 people who write, please consider yourself tagged if you’d like to be.

[child-of-hurin]

1k words, Mature No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eugenides/Irene Characters: Eugenides Additional Tags: Dreams and Nightmares, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Book 2: The Queen of Attolia (Queen's Thief), Angst, Whump Summary:

Eugenides has never dreamed as much as he does in the aftermath of his ruin.

Notes:

He shook his head, perhaps in self-contempt, and shrugged. “I dream about her at night.” —Queen of Attolia, chapter 11

This work was inspired by my dear friend @anghraine, who observed the sad lack of fic based on this passage! (& here's hoping one day we'll read her own exploration of that too, eventually :D)