#honestly i think pippin has thought hes the leader

[azuredragoonterra]

Alright fuckers time for the most cursed shit you've read today.

Sonic characters replacing the Berserk cast.

Its litterally just Berserk but instead the characters are Sonic dudes. Fuck my brain for coming up with this.

(Also to clarify, I'm not trying to draw meaningful parallels between the characters here, I'm just tossing them into the fiction blender and setting it to 10)

Alright so Guts=Shadow is so fucking obvious I don't even have to say it. Who the fuck else is gonna be that angsty and tragic.

This means logically we need to make Griffith=Sonic. It might hard to imagine the blue blur in such a villainous role, but like, he's pretty hard-lined about his ideals of freedom and independence. I could see him wanting to build a kingdom outta that. (Also he was voiced by Jason Griffith like c'mon this shit writes itself)

Casca=Amy is probabaly hella controversial but hear me out. She needs to idolize Sonic but still be able to form a strong emotional connection to Shadow. Take the badass leader role she took up in the IDW resistance/restoration and she fits like a glove. (Before you ask, I'm not writing this to ship shadamy, I'm just sick in the head.)

Ok so Rickert has gotta be Tails right? Like we've got our little inventor fox, idolizes Sonic, but ultimately has to find his own strength. Oh and can you imagine the slap?! Oblitetate that blue twink you funky lil fox!

Nearly forgot Puck! Initially I thought all the elves would just be Chao but then I realized... he's Chip from Sonic Unleashed. Chip as Puck is nearly 1 to 1 honestly.

E-123 Omega can be Zodd, why not. Big murder man who wants a good fight...

Shit wait maybe he should be Zavok... fuck that makes so much sense...

The Godhand are all just gonna be various eldritch super sonic bosses. Chaos, Iblis, Dark Gaia, etc. Make Void=Infinite for bonus irony points in the name.

The idea of evil is The End

Femto will be played by Neo Metal Sonic. I love the idea that Griffiths transformation made him cold, inhuman, not himself. While still obviously being who he always was underneath. Also keeps with the rest of the godhand being final bosses. Jumping forward a bit, I think when he reincarnates he oughta appear as super sonic constantly.

Ok we got the ever-green characters outta the way let's get granular.

The band of the hawk as Sonic bitches

So I don't wanna put too many iconic characters in the band and the actually relevant characters are sparce so real quick...

Corkus can be Fang/Nack. Cus he's a weasley little bitch (affectionate)

To that end let's keep team Hooligan connected and have Pippin be Bark the polar bear.

Gaston as Bean? Dude I got nothing gaston was kinda just there

Judeau however? Espio. Knife throwing.

While we're in the golden age...

Minister foss is Orbot

Charlotte's uncle, the guy Guts assassinates? Dr. Starline

Queen of Midland... Rouge? I deadass have nothing else for Rouge.

You can probabaly guess who the king and Charlotte are but they are at the bottom of the list for dramatic / comical /gross out effect.

Guts JRPG party as Sonic bozos.

Farnese shall be Blaze. They've got an affinity for fire, confidence issues, noble status, and a religious affiliation (blaze as guardian of the Sol emeralds, close enough)

Serpico is definitely Silver then. His close relationship to Farnese/Blaze as well as somewhat whimsical attitude all line up well. And Silver's telekinesis lines up well with Serpico's eventual wind powers.

Speaking of religious affiliations, Azan can be Knuckles! Hes goofy but strong and devoted to his cause.

Isidro has gotta be Charmy Bee. No not JUST because hes an annoying little shit... also cus his bee stinger subs in well for a dagger.

Shireke is gonna be Cream the Rabit. Mostly this is an in-joke on Creams high power in gameplay, and it also let's her elf Comapnion be played by Cheese the Chao.

By extension to the above. Flora ends up being Vanilia. I ALMOST decided skullknight would he vector just to continue the milf-hunter crocodile joke but came up with something better.

Ok if you've survived this far let's get into the dumb shit cus ohhh I've got some dumb shit.

SkullKnight is Big the Cat. I want all of his ominous warnings in the dopeyist voice possible. Also when he pops his helmet open to eat a Behliet (chaos emerald) it turns out it's actually just froggy in there.

Eggman is the King of Midland, SAGE is Charlotte. I'm sorry for all of the mental images this may have conjured.

Speaking of awful mental images, Gambino is Gerald Robotnik tortured over the death of his Granddaughter Maria when she caught the plague after taking in Shadow. This of all things is the one thing my brain automatically re-writes to make less weird. They ain't fucking.

That said? Gerald did make a deal... a transaction one might call it, with a certain Black Doom in sonic itself... I'm not elaborating yall can figure it out, yuck.

Elaine, aka broken Casca, is mid 2000s Amy when she had no good character traits. (Except elaine is still somehow like a million times better.)

The moonlight boy is a sonic Chao

#sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #eggman #dr starline #shadow the hedgehog #e 123 omega #cream the rabbit #big the cat #amy rose #gerald robotnik #casca berserk #guts berserk #griffith berserk #berserk #farnese #serpico #schierke #Azan berserk #judeau #alternate universe #AU #awful bad terrible posts #character swap

[rainydaymiddleearthimagines]

Destiny Calling:Chapter 3

You and Aragorn felt almost like parents to your group at times, whether that be because of the height difference or the fact that Merry and Pippin both were so hyperactive like children, always rambling on about the proper times of the day for food. Which according to what they were saying, was almost hourly. The hobbits watched you, finding you to be the most suspicious because you never removed your hood. You walked through the woods, you being the one taking lead. Aragorn was familiar with the lands and where they would take him if he wandered far enough but small trails away from roads were more your specialty. You were quicker than him, which of course, he didn't mind.  You after all, could listen to nature.

You weren't exactly excited to make your way home either, seeing as when you left Elrond was summoning all great leaders and adventurers to Rivendell. You knew dwarfs were to be in that group. You didn't hate dwarves by any means, you actually sided with their reasonings on a lot of things. But they hated elves, assuming that none of them understood their logic or way of life. The only plus was that Legolas would most likely respond. You didn't tell Aragorn but once the ring had a proper master you were leaving with the group that would take it to Mordor. Elrond was not happy with your insistence but you brought up your father's failure to see the ring to be destroyed and told him that one or two people were clearly not enough. Hell, from the sounds of it, you weren't even sure an army would succeed.

"Where are you taking us?" Frodo asked as you moved deeper into the woods. "Away from any main roads." you said, ducking under a branch as you moved. You stayed silent most of the way leading them, unsettling the rest of the group. Aragorn, whenever he'd let you choose rather than just wandering or leaving to a specific destination, took this as focus. The hobbits however, took this as plotting. "How do we know this Strider and Y/n is a friend of Gandalf's?" Sam asked quietly, assuming you wouldn't hear. Both you and Aragorn exchanged a look but said nothing, allowing them to speak in ignorance to your abilities to hear them. "We have no choice but to trust them." Frodo muttered. "But where are they leading us?" Sam asked. You stopped, turning to him. "To Rivendell, Master Gamgee...to the house of Elrond." You said. Honestly it would be so easy for you to just explain that you were an elf. But it would be far more difficult to explain your royal status than your genetics. You were so awkward and uncomfortable in this moment. If you just would've removed the hood at the inn you'd be in the clear.

You walked along a small path, now out of the trees in the open. Aragorn was walking ahead with you now. You noticed two of the hobbits stop and you turned, making Aragorn turn. "Gentlemen, we do not stop until nightfall." Aragorn sighed. "What about breakfast?" Pippin asked. "You've already had it." you said. "We've had one, yes. But what about second breakfast?" He asked. You and Aragorn looked at Pippin with a blank stare before both of you began walking again. "I don't think they know about second breakfast Pip." Merry said. "What about Elvenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, dinner...he knows about them, doesn't he?" Pippin asked. Aragorn pulled two apples out of your horse's pack. "Do not feed into this." you sighed. "Y/n, if we don't they will complain the entire time." He muttered. "Our children will be spoiled." You muttered, earning a grin from him as he tossed Merry an apple. He caught it with a surprised look but ate it. Pippin's apple smacked him in the face, earning a smile from Frodo.

After walking for a while, Merry tripped, making you stumble. You turned around, noticing his leg. "You cut yourself." You said. He frowned. "Darn roots, I didn't see it I suppose." He admitted. "Pippin. Come with me, we need to find herbs so infection doesn't set in." You said, getting up. Pippin walked with you. "We need Bailroot, sounds odd but—" "I know, Sam taught me some things." Pippin assured. "Sam knows plants?" You asked. "He's a gardener." Pippin said earning a "Ah" from you.

You walked through the forest before kneeling to a plant and cutting it. Pippin kneeled next to you, using a small dagger to cut it but it broke. You chuckled, handing him a dagger of your own. He took it with a nod as a thank you, cutting the plant. You took it and he sighed. "You haven't really said much to us... Is there a reason why?" He asked. You looked at him and sighed. "I'm going to be honest, I've been waiting for one of you to say something. I'm not usually this awkward or rude." You said. He chuckled. "We don't bite Miss Y/n." He said. You smiled and stood up. He handed you your dagger. You halted him. "Keep it. I use my swords more anyway." You said. He walked for a little bit. "Why did you keep your hood up this whole time?" He asked. You laughed nervously. "I uhm... Kind of reacted to strangers by lifting my hood and it's been too long to take it off now.." you muttered. "What are you hiding under there anyway?" He asked. You sighed and peeled back the hood, showing your ears. "YOU'RE AN—AN--" "SHHHHH!" you hushed. "Why would you hide that!?" He asked. "Because not everyone takes kindly to an elf." You muttered.

A very true statement. You actually did spend most of your time in any villages with Aragorn with your hood up the entire time. You heard many, many, MANY negative opinions on our race, mostly on how many of them had a "holier than thou" way of life. "We're not everyone. Sam has always wanted to meet an elf!" He said. "Just... Pippin please. Don't say anything it's just easier." You said softly. He looked in the direction of the group before slowly nodding. "It's alright Y/n... I won't say anything unless you want me to." He agreed. You gave an appreciative smile, nodding before lifting up your hood and walking.

You both walked back, you helping Merry with his leg. "There. Good as new." You said before  beginning the journey again. You all pushed through, crossing through the lands before ending up at Weathertop. "We will go hunting for food. Do. Not. Leave. This. Spot." you said. They nodded before you and Aragorn went off. "You seem very tense on this trip Y/n." Aragorn said. "I feel like I have to be, they think like children... They don't even know the weight of what they're carrying." You said. "Why haven't you removed your hood?" Aragorn asked. "Honestly? It was a panic response. I didn't want them to know I was a princess and my pin isn't exactly..." "Hiding your status." He nodded. "Precisely." You sighed. Aragorn kneeled to a berry bush. "Don't think I didn't notice your comment earlier." He said. "Comment? What comment?" You asked. " 'Our children will be spoiled'." He said with a chuckle, cutting berries off the bush. You shook your head with an eye roll. "Surely you've thought of this as well." You said. "We've been lovers for what most consider to be a VERY long time, yes I have thought of us having children." he said with a smile.

You felt a change in the air and your head snapped back in the direction of weathertop. "Aragorn." You said, noticing the small fire those idiots made. "Shit." He muttered before you heard the shriek. You both sprinted, running as fast as you could as Aragorn was trying to make a torch. You drew both of your swords, charging into battle as Aragorn held his sword and a torch. You fought one away from Sam, handling another by Pippin before Aragorn handled the final one. You let out a small breath, before seeing Sam kneeled next to Frodo. Both you and Aragorn kneeled by his side, you examining the wounds as Aragorn lifted the blade. "He's been stabbed by a Morgul blade." Aragorn said, tossing it to the side as the blade dissolved to dust. "Do something!" Sam begged. "This is beyond my skill to heal, he needs Elvish medicine." Aragorn said calmly. You shook your head. "We have to wait for it to be near daylight." You said. "why!?" Merry asked. "Do you want those things to come back, or should we light another fire to encourage them!?" you snapped. He went silent and you sighed.

You reached the woods, the light slowly climbing as you looked for herbs. Frodo groaned and you turned to him shaking your head. "Is he going to die?" Pippin asked. "No. He is passing into the shadow world, he will soon become a wraith like them." You answered. You heard the shriek and you sighed. "Sam, do you know the Athelas plant?" You asked, recalling a brief comment on him being a gardener. "Athelas?" Sam asked. Aragorn paused, remembering its common name. "Kingsfoil." He said. Sam recognized it then. "Kingsfoil. Aye. It's a weed." He recalled. "It may slow the poison." you said. "Hurry!" Aragorn urged. You three rushed through the woods, Aragorn and you running in the same direction. "Over here!" You said, Aragorn kneeling to the plant and getting it. You ran back, looking at Frodo as he groaned in pain. "Strider, he will not make it." You muttered, Sam running back. He frowned. "Y/n, What can we do? We're doing what we can right now." He said.

"We're six days from Rivendell. We'd never make it unless..." you sighed, closing your eyes. "No." He sighed. "Aragorn, emme don't have limbe -o a cilme símen. (Aragorn, we don't have much of a choice here.) " The hobbits looked at you confused. "What are they saying?" Merry asked. "No clue." Pippin muttered. "Ni cannot let tye linne- on your her-, vamme yare I wraiths are still eth tar.(I cannot let you go on your own, not while the wraiths are still out there.)" he said. "Aragorn. Please. Estel i ni pole- care- sina. Ni pole- at least get him ana Arwen. (Aragorn. Please. Estel i ni pole- care- sina. I can at least get him to Arwen.)" You pleaded. He knew there was no stopping you and he sighed, looking at your horse and then you. "Ride hard, do not look back." He said. "Ni mel tye." You said, Sam noticing the look in your eyes when you said that. "Ni mel tye too." He said to you, his hand lingering over yours as you held Frodo close. You sighed before riding off. "What are you doing, those wraiths are still out there!?" Sam asked, ignorant to Aragorn's pain of sending you off on your own.

You raced through the woods, the sun finally becoming noticeable before you heard another shriek. "Fuck." you whispered, terrified to even look around you as you held Frodo close, riding at full speed. Arwen lended you her horse, telling you it was faster. You decided to put that to the test, racing through the woods, bobbing and weaving through the trees. You raced to the creek, the group clearly gaining on you. You halted, as did they because of the water. "Give up the halfling, she-elf." The witch king demanded. You drew your sword. "You want him, come and claim him." You hissed, noticing someone had rode in behind you. The wraiths attempted to cross but you heard your sister's voice, using water magic behind you. You crossed the creek, pulling yourself away from becoming collateral damage as as water washed them out. "Thank you." you breathed before Frodo winced.

You frowned. You could feel him dying. "No, no...Frodo, no! Frodo, don't give  in...not now!" you breathed. Arwen dismounted as you brought him off the horse, kneeling to the ground with him. Arwen put her hand to his forehead. "What grace is given me, let it pass to him. Let him be spared. Save him." You prayed. You felt some sort of energy leave you as you said this, Arwen raising a brow. "Arwen he-he's dying." You breathed. "We will make it Y/n, do not fear." She assured. You both got on your horses, riding as fast as possible to Rivendell.

You handed him off to the medics, you leaning on the base of the fountain in the courtyard as you finally let yourself breathe. "He should be fine." Arwen said, walking over. You let out a breath of relief. "Good...Good." You said. "He however, is not the only patient we've had." She said. "Who was the other?" You asked. "Gandalf." she said. You closed your eyes. "Saruaman has betrayed us." you said. "Yes, he woke up saying that." she said. She sighed, pulling your hood back for you. She noticed how your hair looked, noticing the lack of leaves that tended to... Show up in your hair. "...You didn't take off your hood the entire time around them, did you?" She asked. "No, I did not." you admitted. "So they have no idea you're an elf?" She asked. "No." you admitted. "...Or that you're—" "A princess? No. They do not know." You admitted. Arwen sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You need to get ready." She said. "I am not getting ready, Aragorn and the others are still out there!" you said. "Elladan spotted them two hours ago, they will be here soon." She said. You sighed. "This is ridiculous." You muttered. "Having to fight you into a dress is ridiculous." She said, pushing you in the direction of your room. You mocked her sentence and she smacked you. "Ow!" "You survived countless attacks, I assure you a small slap does nothing." She huffed. "Speak for yourself- a small smack my ass!" you whined as she dragged you off.

#aragorn x reader #aragorn imagine #aragorn

[strangeradventuresofp]

second thoughts (legolas x reader)

The Fellowship of the Ring - Part 5

masterlist

warnings: character death, fighting

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5

a/n: hi my lovelies! first of all im so sorry about how long this has taken me, ive been struggling with writers block since the last chapter so i apologise if this chapter is a bit crap but i actually really like it? im proud of myself lol a n y w a y it might be a little while before the chapters regarding the events of the two towers comes out as i need to plan etc etc but anyway i hope you guys enjoy this chapter! i love you guys so much, thanks for sticking with me<3

It had been days since you had set out from Lothlorien and no one’s spirits were above average. Frodo seemed wary; Sam worried for his master. Boromir did not speak much, even to you, which was very odd. Legolas kept to himself, more than usual. Gimli was particularly talkative, probably to fill the dreaded silence. Aragorn had nothing of importance to say. Merry and Pippin chatted back and forth quietly. And you, you did not know a single way to heighten their – and your – spirits, so you stayed silent instead.

You journeyed from Lothlorien on boats down the Great River, Anduin. Sam and Frodo rode with Aragorn, Merry and Pippin with Boromir and you with Legolas and Gimli. Honestly, you could not remember how long it had been since you had left, only that it seemed like a lifetime.

At one point, whilst sailing down the river, the sound of marching caught your attention, your head whipping to the left, finding nothing but trees and foliage. “What’s wrong, lassie?” Gimli asked, noticing that something that captured your focus.

“I thought I heard something beyond the trees.” You declared, shrugging when no one else heard anything. Suddenly though, Legolas faced the same trees, and the two you of shared an inquisitive look.

Eventually, the nine of you reached a place that you certainly recognised. You sat up in the boat, gently calling Aragorn’s name to the boat beside you, before pointing. His eyes lit up as they met the huge stone statues. He tapped Frodo on the shoulder gently.

“The Argonath. Long have I desired the look upon the Kings of old: my kin.” His lips turned up at the sides. You turned around to catch Boromir’s eye, a smile on your face, one which he returned incredulously.

It was not long after that that you reached your destination, a small rocky piece of land that led into a forest, not far north of a waterfall. Legolas docked the boat, hopping out and offering you a hand to help you out which you gladly took with a smile. The two of you turned to help out Gimli, but your eyes wondered as you began to heave the dwarf from your boat. Looking at Boromir, you could easily tell that something was wrong. Despite the sun shining and the elven cloaks, he shivered and closed his eyes, a regrettable look on his face. He hesitated to get out of the boat. You made your way over to him, offering him your hand just as Legolas had done for you a minute before. He looked up at you, flashing a very weak smile before he took your hand. Although he took your hand, he used his own weight to help himself out of the boat, landing in front of you. He seemed pale and gaunt, traits that were unusual to say about him. Casually looking around his frame to catch his eye, you could tell that his face was angled to gaze upon Frodo. A treacherous thought crossed your mind and your heart ached in your chest for a quick moment.

Not knowing how long you were going to be there; Aragorn built a fire with the help of Merry and Pippin. After an hour or so, you were reaching the camp again with Merry, placing down the wood that you had just collected. You scanned the area, your eyes widening in horror. Merry seemed to notice the very same thing that you did, the two of your turning to Aragorn.

“Where’s Frodo?” Merry asked. A wave of horror seemed to wash over the remainder of the members of the Fellowship, save one, for Boromir was not at the camp either.

“Oh, no.”

“What? Y/N, what is it?” Aragorn questioned, coming closer to you, urgent for information.

“Boromir was acting strange when we docked. He was pale. He—He wouldn’t take his eyes from Frodo. I didn’t think anything of it; I thought maybe the boat had made him ill. Forgive me, I—I should have said something.” You sniffled, a few tears pooling in your eyes and Aragorn shook his head, squeezing your hand gently.

“No, you did not know. Everyone split up; we must find them. Save from Y/N, come with me.” Nodding quickly at Aragorn’s words, you plucked your knives from the ground and ran with him.

It was difficult to tell how long you had been running to find them, for the adrenaline had consumed your entire body. You could hear the thudding of your feet on the floor, but you could no longer feel them. The beating of your heart seemed to resonate in your ears and fill your senses, and your breath heaved in your chest.

You stopped for a moment, Aragorn following your lead. Faintly, you heard a thump and a grunt, as if someone had fell. You led Aragorn towards the sound, the two of you coming to a stone structure. You walked around it, his feet seeming to echo as the sole of his boot came into contact with a rock wedged into the ground.

“Frodo?” He called out. The hobbit lay on the floor frantically turned around, his eyes scanning the two of you.

“It has taken Boromir.” Frodo declared, the statement drawing a gasp from your throat, a tear or two streaming down your face.

“Where is the Ring?” Aragorn moved towards the terrified hobbit.

“Stay away!” He yelled, running away from him.

“Frodo.” Aragorn opened his arms in submission. “I swore to protect you.”

“Can you protect me from yourself?” Frodo opened his hand, the Ring sitting on his palm. “Would you destroy it?” Aragorn moved closer to him, kneeling in front of him. You stayed a few steps behind. He closed Frodo’s hand around the Ring, pushing it to his chest.

“I would have gone with you to the end.” You joined Aragorn, kneeling before Frodo, an apologetic look on your face. He looked between the two of you. “Into the very fires of Mordor.”

“I know.” He nodded gently, turning to you. “Look after the others, especially Sam. He will not understand.”

You nodded, a soft smile on your lips. “I promise.” You leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. As you pulled back, you looked behind, your eyes widening as the sound of treading feet filled your ears. You looked at Aragorn.

“Go, Frodo.” He unsheathed his sword, and you your knives. Frodo pulled on the hilt of his sword, his eyes growing wider as it glowed blue. “Run, run!”

“Now, Frodo!” You urged, eyes hardening as you turned away from him, walking with Aragorn to meet the fast-approaching, large group of Orcs. He raised his sword. Your knuckles whitened as you firmed your grip on the hilts of your knives. The two of you shared a subtle smirk as they approached.

An Orc swung towards you, but you skilfully dodged before plunging one of your knives into its fleshy side. Another moved towards you before you sliced its throat, driving your free weapon into its chest before kicking it away from you. You saw another making its way towards Aragorn from behind, and so you reached forward to cut its throat and push it into the ground. A sword was swung over a head, but you caught it, countering it before sticking each of your weapons into each of its eyes.

The sound of colliding swords filled your senses as you and Aragorn continued to fight the mass number of Orcs. The leader, whose face was stained with the white hand of Saruman, was grunting in displeasure before he yelled with an angry, gruff voice.

“Find the halfling!” He repeated, almost seeming like a chant, and many of the Orcs fled in the same direction that Frodo had gone, and suddenly your heart filled anxiety. You had scarce noticed Aragorn’s disappearance until he appeared again, jumping from the top of the stone structure into a group of Orcs, shouting ‘Elendil’ as he made contact with him. You let out a small laugh whilst you continued to slay the Orcs coming forth. Aragorn still had not been given the chance to stand, countering attacks while he was lay flat on his back. When you tried to get close to him to allow him to get up, much to your surprise, Legolas and Gimli emerged through the stone.

“Aragorn, go!” Legolas shouted, stabbing an Orc in the face with an arrow before using it to shoot the one behind. Aragorn noticed that you were busy and ran. Gimli hacked at the forthcoming Orcs with his axe, swinging it brutally over his shoulders to slash off limbs and pieces of flesh. You continued to cut and stab expertly through the thick skin of your enemies, eventually making your way towards Aragorn.

A certain Orc took you by complete surprise, swinging with a closed fist which you merely dodged. Overwhelmed by the shock, the delay caused you to barely counter the Orcs attack, pushing the blade of your knife against the ragged blade of the sword. It let out a growl and you a yell, forcing it back with all of your strength. As you blinked, you felt a small rush of wind pass by your face. You looked back to the Orc, an arrow protruding out from its face as it fell lifelessly to the floor. You took a sharp breath, giving Legolas a thankful nod and smile as Aragorn pushed the final body to the floor.

Suddenly from the distance, a horn blew, very familiar. In that moment, your heart sank. A bubbling filled your stomach, an urge coursing through your veins. Aragorn looked at you, as did Gimli and Legolas.

“The Horn of Gondor.” Legolas confirmed and you swallowed thickly, sprinting to the sound with all of your might. Aragorn followed close behind, cutting down the Orcs that managed to pass you. The urge was so strong in overtaking your body, that any Orc you saw filled you with an unexplainable rage. They would be lucky to be killed by Aragorn instead. You slaughtered all that came close to you, your vision turning red when the horn sounded again. With a roar, you lunged and jabbed and thrusted your knives at as many Orcs as you could. Your breath heaved from your chest.

You looked back at the others. “Hurry!” It was impossible to miss the terrified urgency that wrapped itself around your words and suffocated them. Even you heard it. And it was true; you were terrified. Terrified that you would not get to him in time. Terrified that he had called for your help and you would not show. Terrified that after everything he had done for you, that you would not be able to save him. You ran.

You ran over a little hill and your heart stung, as if you had been stabbed right in it with a morgul-blade. There was Boromir on his knees, arrows wedged into his body with the Orc leader standing over him, drawing an arrow that pointing right into his face.

“NO!” You cried with an intense vigour. Tears pooled and poured down your face as you ran toward the Orc, tackling him into the dirt. As you both stood, you used both of your knives to counter his blade. Your eyes were dark though they were streaming with wetness. It rumbled menacingly in your face and you kicked it away from your body, cutting through many pieces of flesh before it threw its shield, winding you. As you caught your breath, it stepped towards you and you yelled, driving your knives deep into its shoulder and thigh. It kicked you to the ground with an annoyed grunt, swinging its sword over its head to crash into the ground beside you, for you rolled out of the way. You crawled through its legs, grabbing it from behind and slitting its throat deeply, slowly. It pushed you back to the floor, once again raising its sword. But as it did so, a blade stuck out through its neck and its head rolled off its shoulders into the dirt. Behind the body was Aragorn, who helped you up quickly. You had no time to thank him before you ran towards Boromir, falling to your knees by his side.

“They took the little ones.” Boromir struggled, his breath getting sharper in his throat.

“Hush, now. Do not move.” You sniffled, your lip quivering at the sight of his paled face and bleeding body.

“Frodo. Where is Frodo?”

“I let Frodo go.” Aragorn admitted, his own voice trembling as it exited his mouth.

“Then you did what I could not. I tried to take the Ring from him.”

“No, that was not you.” Boromir cupped your face as you spoke. A series of sobs forced their way from your chest. You took his glove from his hand, placing it back against your cheek and placing your hand over the top of his.

“Forgive me. I did not see. I have failed you all.” You shook your head at his words, tears pouring from your eyes like a monsoon, so much so that you could not even speak.

“No, Boromir. You fought bravely. You have kept your honour.” Aragorn moved to remove an arrow from his chest, but Boromir grabbed his hand.

“Leave it! It is over. The world of Men will fall, and all will come to darkness, and my city to ruin.”

“No. No, I’m going to fix you. You’ll be okay, you’ll see. It will be like you said, the tower guard will—will take up the call.” He closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again slightly. He gave you a knowing look and you shook your head, hugging his body, sobbing heavily into his shoulder.

“I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you, I will not let the White City fall. Nor our people fail.” Aragorn put his arm around you.

“Our people.” Boromir smiled.

“Our people.” You repeated, sniffling. Boromir stretched out his hand, and you gently placed his sword in it. He held it to his chest for a moment before pushing it to yours.

“I want you to have it, if you would take it. Something to remember me by.”

“How could I ever forget you?” You cupped his cheek, his eyes filling with tears when he looked at you.

“You—You make me so proud - the daughter I never had. Look after her” He turned his gaze to Aragorn. “I would have followed you, my brother. My captain. My King.” He managed a small smile before he let out a breath. His final breath.

Your head shook in disbelief, your eyes filling persistently with tears, your heart aching profusely. Every time you blinked multiple new streams of salt water trickled themselves down your face. You could hear the pat of every tear falling onto the leather of his shirt, pierced by the arrows that were wedged deep into his chest. Aragorn held you as you wailed, your chest heaving up and down as sobs forced themselves from your throat and chest. His arms were strong but comforting. Tears fell from his own eyes as he held you, rocking gently with you in his arms whilst you cried into his shoulder.

Legolas watched from a little while away, his brows turned upwards in sorrow, his own heart hurting at the sight of you. When his eyes fell on Boromir, he swallowed dryly, hardly knowing what to do or say. He decided to stay silent, ears filled with the sounds of your tears and sniffles, paired with Aragorn’s low, reassuring mutters into your ear. Amongst your cries he could hear soft shushing and a sniffle that did not come from your frame.

You had no idea what to do. It was not easy to comprehend that your companion, the man who took up the role to raise you was now gone from the world. Your heart hardly hurt anymore, instead just throbbing with an incredible numbness, emptiness being the only thing to fill the void that you felt in your chest. Cold spread throughout your body as you looked upon his paled face, fiercely bubbling in your stomach in a way that made you feel as though you could spit fire, consumed by rage and sorrow – fighting to the death inside you. But you could not think about that right now. Not with Aragorn cupping your face, firm but gentle, moving you to look at him.

“Look at me. Look at me, Y/N.” You took his instruction. “He died with honour. That is what matters. He is at peace.” You merely managed to nod your head, since a stabbing sensation radiated through it when you moved. A hand on your shoulder. You looked up with a sniffle, to find Gimli kneeling beside the two of you on the ground, his own eyes teary from the scene. You placed one of your hands over his, and he cupped your joined hands in his other, squeezing gently before letting go and rubbing your shoulder. He did not have to say anything.

Aragorn helped you stand, stepping back to allow you to take a breath, before returning to the task at hand. You knew it was more important, and the others knew that you knew that, too. You turned, facing the three that you had been with since Rivendell, ridding your face of all tears with the back of your hand, sniffing.

“I do not want to leave him here; I would very much like to send him down the river if there is time.” You offered, not getting your hopes up as time was growing shorter. It would not be long before the Orcs found nothing on Merry and Pippin’s bodies and discarded of them, the only way they knew how.

“Of course, there is time, mellon nin.” Aragorn reassured.

“Anything you need, lassie.” A small smile grew on Gimli’s face and you returned it as best as you could. Aragorn noticed the conflicted look on Legolas’ face, and asked Gimli to help him move Boromir’s body back to the shore, where you had left the boats. Once the two had moved away from you and Legolas, you looked up at him, not missing the look that was present on his face either.

“Legolas, you need not say—” Your words were interrupted by strong arms scooping you up, pulling you gently against a warm chest. He engulfed you into a hug, your body fitting so perfectly against his own. All you could do was wrap your hands around his built torso, sighing as you pressed your cheek against his chest, matching your breathing with his heartbeat. The two of you stayed there for a while in each other’s arms, an intimate gesture between a pair of friends for comfort and reassurance.

~~~

It had not been long when you and Aragorn pushed the boat containing Boromir’s body down the river. His shield was above his head, his hands laying on his stomach, gripping his sword. In the end, you decided that you would not take it. You did not need anything to remember him by, only the memories that you had shared over the years. Also, the balance was never right for you, a fact that he also knew. There was no way that you would be able to keep a long sword simply as a memento. He knew it as well as you did. If anyone ever found him, you wanted them to know that he died with honour – Captain of the White Tower of Gondor. On his chest, latched to his clothing, was a brooch; a gift that he had given to you one day. You pressed a kiss to his forehead before you grabbed one side of the boat, hauling and pushing it down stream with the help of Aragorn. Your eyes wetted at the sight of the boat nearing the river, but with a side hug from Aragorn, a smile from Gimli and Legolas’ presence, you knew you were going to be okay.

Suddenly, Legolas grabbed a spare boat, rushing it toward the water. “Hurry! Frodo and Sam have reached the Eastern Shore.” He looked back, eyes flickering between you and Aragorn, and then Gimli. Aragorn sighed, before both of you looked over to the Eastern Shore, where you could barely make out the shape of two hobbits beyond the trees and moving further. The four of you shared a knowing look. “You mean not to follow them.”

“Frodo’s fate is no longer in our hands.” Aragorn said plainly. A look crossed Legolas’ face that you could not quite distinguish.

“Then it has all been in vain. The Fellowship has failed.”

“No, Gimli.” You denied, a small smile creeping across your face when Aragorn stood up beside you, reaching over to grasp the shoulders of the dwarf and the elf.

“Not if we hold true to each other.” Gimli placed his hand over the ranger’s arm, nodding slightly. You gave Legolas a smile, squeezing his hand gently. “We will not Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Not while we have strength left.” He abruptly turned tail, beginning to walk away into the forest.

“Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light. Let’s hunt some Orc.” As Aragorn continued to stride through the sparse foliage, you, Gimli and Legolas shared a look. A smirk grew on all of your faces, Gimli shouting in approval before running to Aragorn. Legolas took your hand in his with a smile, his bow in the other. You gripped at his hand in response. The two of you ran with each other, joining with the others before you begun to trek what would be a chase that would be counted a marvel among the three kindreds.

taglist: @falcor-thee-luck-dragon​ @entishramblings​ @beakami​ @biscuit-buddy​ @flowphi​ @moffatspawn​ @tdntu0​ 

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#lord of the rings #lotr #lotr fic #lord of the rings fic #legolas #legolas greenleaf #legolas x reader #legolas x you #legolas x oc #my writing #reader insert #the hobbit #lotr legolas #legolas thranduilion #lotr frodo #lotr aragorn #aragorn x reader #lotr gimli #frodo baggins #legolas oneshot #legolas imagine #second thoughts fic #second thoughts legolas x reader fic #legolas x reader fic

[the-great-middle-earth-read]

FotR Book Two: Chapter Ten - The Breaking of the Fellowship

The fellowship halt as they try to decide on which path they should take - to Gondor or to Mordor. The choice is left for Frodo to decide who chooses to take a walk to try and clear his head. While away from the rest of the group Boromir approaches Frodo and when Frodo refuses to go to Gondor Boromir becomes aggressive, the rings lure growing too much for him. Frodo escapes and decides to go to Mordor alone. Orcs attack and the fellowship is scattered.

Chapter Notes

Honestly, Aragorn introducing Parth Galen as a fair place where he hopes no evil has come yet was just tempting fate. Maybe evil hadn’t come there yet but it certainly followed them quickly.

Boromir’s thoughts become a lot clearer to us in this chapter. He clearly wants the ring for the sake of Minas Tirith. That has been his priority this whole time. Interestingly he does say at one point that Aragorn should take the ring as the leader but he says after that that if Aragorn doesn’t want it he, Boromir could take it. This does look like that Boromir is still putting Minas Tirith first - even if it means Aragorn is the one to wield the ring. Late on he says something about how the ring should belong to the Men of Numenor and that somehow makes it Boromir’s - even thought that would actually make it Aragorn’s. His arguments are sliding all over the place.

Frodo wasn’t aware of Boromir’s growing interest in the ring - his heart goes cold as Boromir talks. This is kind of surprising as we see Sam has become aware that something is wrong. After listening to Boromir Frodo comes to a decision - to avoid the city of men and go right to Mordor. He clearly is losing his trust in others and has decided to leave the others behind. Of course, his decision to leave them behind isn’t solely based on a lack of trust - he wants to protect them, too - but I do think this reveal of Boromir’s desire for the ring has made Frodo more wary of having others around.

‘Terror and grief shook him.’ Frodo is really shaken by Boromir’s attack and there’s a line where he says that he saw madness in Boromir’s eyes. It made me wonder how much Bilbo ever told him about the dragon-sickness that Thorin suffered from. Both of them have had to see a companion succumb to madness and have been the one attacked by said companion. I do think Bilbo’s was more personal - he appeared closer to Thorin then what Frodo is shown to be with Boromir - but it has clearly shaken Frodo to see how the ring has corrupted one of his companions.

While on the high seat Frodo looks around the world and sees the signs of war that have taken over the land. This reminds me of what he saw in Galadriel’s mirror. Just like then he sees the bigger picture - the world literally at war. And also like the mirror, he feels the presence of the Eye.

Coming off that last point, Frodo is torn in two as he feels the Eye - he both wants to refuse but also considers yielding. He isn’t sure what he is even saying until suddenly another power interferes and tells him to take the ring off. This both hints at the fact that the ring is wearing on Frodo (torn in two like Bilbo was at the start) and also hints that there is a power out there that is watching Frodo.

We get a really good show of loyalty from the fellowship while Frodo is away. Each member is determined to stay with Frodo. I especially love how Aragorn tries to split them up, saying he, Sam and Gimli will go with Frodo while the others should go to Gondor. He relents though, saying Legolas will probably come with them, which would leave Merry and Pippin with Boromir, much to their displeasure. None of them want to leave Frodo. Legolas repeats Gimli’s quote from earlier, stating it would be faithless to leave now.

Sam, however, understands Frodo far better than I think any of the others realise. He alone figured out Frodo’s thoughts and his plan on leaving them all behind. Sam being the only one who ends up following Frodo makes sense - the others are loyal, certainly, but Sam has followed Frodo out of the Shire and is devoted to him above all else. It had to be Sam who went with him.

#the great middle earth read #lord of the rings #fellowship of the ring #aragorn #boromir #frodo baggins #samwise gamgee #bilbo baggins #chapter notes

[silver-snow-writes]

The thing with Jaytim and a lot of cats

This is a not! fic campfire I did on a discord server that I’m porting over here, I hope y’all enjoy the fluff. @inkyubus and @salazarastark helped a bit towards the end

———————————————————————

Okay. Tim is canonically a cat person and it has annoyed the hell out of me that Tim never got pets but Damian gets a menagerie, so I always give him a cat when given the opportunity by plot

Tim finds a pregnant kitty on his fire escape, and takes her in. He’s calling on Selina and googling everything he can after processing that oh right this is going to be a big change, and goes out to the pet store incognito to grab supplies

But he’s at the Crime Alley theater house apartment so Jason is out doing an early evening patrol, spots him, and gets curious. What’s he doing around here in civvies?

Jason tails him to the nearest pet shop, and back to his house, where he spots him playing with soon-to-be mama cat. He wants to be mad that Tim’s in *his* territory, clearly living here, but it’s hard to get too pissed when he’s giving a happy kitty belly rubs and smiling like that.

Jason’s seen him do confident Robin grin, dangerous “I’m gonna fuck you up” battle smirk, calming civilians smile, even polite Wayne heir curve of the lips. But smiling joyfully like this, eyes uncovered, clearly laughing a little as the cat demands treats? Something goes warm in his chest

Meanwhile Tim is feeling tired and stressed bc his life is a busy exhausting and traumatizing mess lately but it’s hard to think about the bad stuff when he has mama cat and her litter to think about. She’s clearly been a pet before and is so friendly and cuddly that it breaks his heart to think someone abandoned her. He gets her to the vet to check for a chip and get her looked over, and when there’s no chip that cements his decision that fuck it, he’s keeping her

He totally names her Arwen bc there is no way in hell a kid that was a DM for DC’s D&D equivalent isn’t a fan of LoTR. Arwen has to get mites and fleas removed but once she’s flea free she’s sharing his bed

Jason. Is still keeping an eye on him, subtly. Staying out of range of Tim’s security systems and Babs’s cameras and telling himself it’s all because he can’t just let the Pretender go unsupervised in his turf. And sure that’s part of it. But Tim’s actually pretty good about sticking to patrolling his own territory and that helps somewhat

And well. Jason regrets what went down during that mess after Bruce died. Was kinda shitty of him to repay Tim letting him out of jail by stabbing him in the chest and all. He’s a big awkward goober dealing with some guilt now that he’s more settled, so he has trouble figuring out how he should approach Tim and let him know that Jason is aware that he’s holing up in Crime Alley

He’s gotta do something eventually, right? Ah well. Can’t hurt to just. Watch him, every now and then. See him through the windows being a goofy new cat dad and a disaster of a teenage vigilante

(Jason, honey, things really have come full circle)

Eventually things get set in motion. LoS assassins attack Tim’s apartment, Arwen runs away bc scared kitty, Jason jumps in to help fight the assassins and then they go track down the poor baby. And some bonding and pining bc Jason is developing such a crush and also hot damn Tim fighting and winning is a sight to see

Tim is understandably wary about Jason but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he’s being helpful and even offering to assist him in finding Arwen. She’s due to give birth soon!

(It’s been about a month now and she was already about midway through when Tim first found her. Domestic cats are pregnant around 57-65 days, so around two months)

They end up running around asking the ladies of the night and various others if they’ve seen a pregnant long-haired tabby cat. Eventually they go back to Tim’s apartment as dawn is breaking, only to find Arwen is on his fire escape again and in labor

They get her inside, clean up, and Tim sets her down in his bathtub, petting her soothingly and fussing over her. Jason is still helping out and he just goes with it, gratefully accepting a can of Zesti and medical supplies

I foster cats irl so I know how this tends to go pretty well. Within an hour of labor starting Arwen will finish pushing out kitten #1 and each of the rest will come around 15-20 minutes apart. She’ll clean them up and eat the placentas, which is gross but perfectly healthy, and soon enough they’ll be nursing from her while she purrs and rests

Tim looked into it and well. He’s been around human deliveries before and this was honestly so much quicker that it was a relief

(He was there when Steph gave birth and has likely helped deliver babies as Robin bc pregnant women can and will go into labor when shocked, like being held hostage or getting hurt in an accident)

He sits back with a sigh and pays his full attention to Jason now. He hasn’t been fully ignoring him persay, still keeping an eye and an ear on him just in case, but he’s been. Surprisingly nice and nothing but helpful, Tim isn’t sure what to think of it. Jason’s staring at the kittens but turns to look at Tim when he notices that the younger vigilante is assessing him

There’s a long moment of increasingly awkward silence as they stare at each other while the newborn kittens are mewling and Arwen’s drifting off to sleep. Jason is the one that finally breaks the tension, rubbing the back of his neck and looking back at the kitties.

“So. Pretty cute cats you got here”

Jay immediately cringes inside because yeah, it’s true that the cats are cute as heck, but c’mon Todd address the scenario

Here’s inky’s contributions:

"yeah real cute when they're covered in blood and placenta" tim retorts and then wants to smack himself.

"it's ok. they're still adorable through the bodily fluids," jason's smile is so fond when he looks down at the kittens tucked tight into the curve of arwen's body that tim thinks he must be dreaming

he's never seen jason with an expression even close to fond or happy since he came back. jason is stroking arwen's tail with just the tip of a finger, smoothing down the crooked fur.

(Back to me again)

He hasn’t seen him look so happy since he was. Since he was Robin, and Tim was just a fanboy with a camera

(Inky)

"you like cats?" the question breaks jason out of his reverie.

"they were just always around. alley cats are cranky fucks, but city strays are never that afraid of humans. they'd come around and beg for scraps until someone chased them off."

tim hummed, scritching arwen between the ears. "you were pretty good with her just now."

there was a tiny flush on jason's cheeks. "might have invited one in for a few days when no one was home. chased her off before she could get too attached."

(Me)

“I always wanted a cat, but my parents hated them and Alfred said no. I found Arwen on my fire escape hiding from a stray dog and I just had to take her inside”

Eventually Tim offers Jason a cup of tea and Jason asks about the cats more. Arwen’s name comes up and leads into a talk about Lord of the Rings, bc they both read the series and loved it. And a debate comes up over something they saw differently but it’s still friendly

Maybe Tim liked the movies’ take better than Jason did and they argue the merits vs flaws of the adaption. But they both agree that the Hobbit movies are way less faithful to the book

By the time they’re done with the tea and their conversation the sun is up and Jason ducks out to go home, feeling butterflies in his stomach at the memory of Tim smiling and laughing at him. Tim is reminded why he used to have a crush, but still very watchful bc he thought things were getting better before BftC happened

He goes to sleep and wakes up to Arwen balefully glaring at him bc her breakfast is late

Tim got injured during the LoS fight and aggravated it while looking for his poor kitty, so in the end he’s not really up for patrol that night. He stays in his apartment and alternates between looking over case files on his laptop and checking on Arwen and her babies. He lets Oracle know he’s off rotation for the night and to let Cass patrol his territory bc she’s visiting, and settles in to do some hacking to find out why Ra’s sent the assassins last night and talking with Lonnie about Unternet developments

He’s in the middle of hacking a phone’s datastream to find footage taken by a teenager that noticed skulking shadows outside the windows when there’s a knock on his window, and he checks his security system expecting one of the Bats to have gotten past his sensors. It’s Jason out on the fire escape with a couple of bags in hand. Tim is confused, but decides to roll with it again. He’s just hoping that the duffle isn’t full of heads

Turns out Jason went looking and found the League’s newest base in Gotham, liberating some paper files, a couple choice weapons, several USB drives, and a laptop that had belonged to the squad leader. He offers to let Tim work with him on this because he wants “those sycophantic assassins out of my territory dammit” and obviously Tim’s involved anyway

They both check on the kittens every now and then. They’re still too little to be doing much but nursing, sleeping, and crying, but god are they precious. And Arwen is a tired but proud mama cat

Now let’s see...Arwen’s a long-haired brown tabby with green eyes (not at all based on my baby Zelda, of course *shhh*). The kittens will be named after the Hobbits—Frodo the black kitten with big blue eyes, Sam the ginger tabby, Merry is white with golden patches, and Pippin is the tiny little tabby runt that mewls loudest

At one point Jason picks them all up and makes a joke while carrying the four of them that they're taking the hobbits to Isengard. It makes Tim snort and then wince bc the injury that kept him in was to his ribs

Tim gets sick. Not like immediately but a couple days to a week or two in, and Jason ends up playing rough but sweet nurse while Tim tries to hide that he’s ill from the Bats. Maybe the ribs issue leads to him getting a cold that nearly turns nasty bc no spleen plus two incidents of death plague and numerous other things mean his immune system’s wonky

Tim’s a stubborn little shit who won’t stay in bed unless Jason picks up Arwen and the babies to put them on the bed with him. He’s not cruel enough to move the babies when they’re sleeping on him, is he? But he can still glare at Jason

Jason might sneak a few pictures. For blackmail, he tells himself. Sure Jason, we believe you. It’s certainly not because it’s adorable and makes you get the warm fuzzies

It feels significantly less adorable when Tim pukes in the trash can and drips snot everywhere but the bedhead and flushed face and some semi-coherent feverish babbling about Star Trek and ornithology helps

Jason remembers Alfred’s cooking lessons and puts them to use, Tim lets out an obscene moan when he starts eating the soup that makes Jason choke on his own spit like a dork

“Did you get this from Alfred? It tastes just like his!”

“Yeah, he taught me how to cook, before...y’know.” Jason is very proud of himself for remembering it correctly, if a bit sad that he hasn’t spoken to Alfred since before he died

“Oh.” Tim blinks owlishly at him, unsure how to respond. “Well. You did a way better job than I would have.”

Arwen chooses that moment to demand attention, meowing stridently and rubbing her face against his hand until he goes along with it and scratches lightly under her chin

———

And that’s all, folks. Will eventually turn this into a proper fic and give it an ending, but I hope y’all enjoy it as is for the moment

#Tim Drake #Jason Todd #Red Robin #Red Hood #Jaytim #slowburn #catfic #fluff #cats #DC comics #Batfamily #my writing #not!fic #fanfiction

[beautifuldisastr]

As season 3 closes, ‘Madam Secretary’ creators, cast reflect on real-world events, show’s future

Politics are notoriously unpredictable. So, perhaps, it’s little wonder that the creators of “Madam Secretary” on CBS have a hard time conjuring storylines that are more dramatic than current events.

“We shoot three or four weeks out, and by the time they got on the air, some of these things have happened” in real life, Barbara Hall, the show’s creator and executive producer, told The Washington Times during recent filming along the National Mall.

On a particularly bright spring day, series star Tea Leoni jogged with a dog and two fictional Secret Service agents trailing her near the Lincoln Memorial. A sign not far off informed passersby that they were tacitly giving permission to use their likeness in the background of certain shots. Here and there, onlookers recognized Miss Leoni, using their phones to snap photos of the star.

“We try to take anything that’s happening right now and then ‘game it out’ in the future to the most dramatic conclusion,” said Ms. Hall, a veteran producer of “Homeland,” “Joan of Arcadia” and “Judging Amy” in between takes of Miss Leoni jogging with her entourage next to the Reflecting Pool.

Viewers have tuned in for the exploits of Secretary of State Dr. Elizabeth McCord (Miss Leoni) since 2014. The show, already renewed for a fourth year, airs its third-season finale this Sunday.

“The first time we were here was the pilot episode, so this is a little nostalgic for us,” said executive producer Lori McCreary of location filming in the nation’s capital. (The bulk of the series films on soundstages in New York.)

“We had no idea if the show would ever get picked up, or if people were going to like it,” Ms. McCreary told The Times of the political show’s beginnings. “So being here at the end of the third season is really satisfying because we know we have a great audience.

“And I love being here. There’s nothing like shooting in D.C.”

Season 3 has seen McCord working to end a hostage crisis in Sudan, fighting worldwide human trafficking and even in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize. All the while she balances geopolitics with a home life that includes her husband, Henry, (Tim Daly) and the couple’s young-adult daughters, Stephanie (Wallis Currie-Wood) and Alison (Kathrine Herzer).

Both Ms. McCreary and Ms. Hall are proud of the fact that their show not only features a strong woman in the title role, but is run by women and has a writing room staffed by several more — somewhat of a rarity in the often male-centric television industry.

“The networks are really focusing on” gender parity, Ms. Hall said. “We’re certainly doing our part. I just think it’s a matter of awareness and everybody being committed to improving that situation.”

“Girls especially being able to see women in those positions will make the biggest difference,” concurred Ms. McCreary. “I think mentoring programs are great,” she said, adding the crew has many women on staff as well.

Such sentiments are echoed by actress Patina Miller, who portrays press coordinator Daisy Grant on “Madam Secretary.” Miss Miller, who came up through the milieus of soap operas and Broadway plays, believes it’s crucial to continue to support entertainment created and shepherded by women.

“It’s been great to work in an environment where we’re getting to tell smart, interesting stories that are written by females and performed by females,” she told The Times. “It’s a really great place to be in, and I hope we continue to move in that direction.”

Art not imitating life

“What I like about the show is that we portray a government that is aspirational,” said actor Erich Bergen, who portrays McCord’s assistant, Blake Moran. “Very similar to what was going on in ‘The West Wing,’ we’re trying to [show] a government that works for everyone and attempts to do the right thing.”

Mr. Bergen, who cut his teeth on stage as Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio in the stage and film version of “Jersey Boys,” said “Madam Secretary” viewers need only click “a few channels over” to witness the current chaos of the Trump administration and the nonstop criticisms emanating from its political enemies.

“I think our show holds an important place on television just because of [what] we’re watching our real government go through,” he said.

On “Madam Secretary,” the McCords marriage is depicted as stable and the fictional administration is largely scandal-free.

“The drama that is dealt with between Elizabeth and Henry is obviously very high-stakes given their jobs, but they work through it as a strong couple and a strong family would,” Mr. Bergen said. “I think that’s something we don’t see a lot on television.”

Like Mr. Bergen, Miss Miller is a veteran of the New York stage, having starred in the Broadway and London versions of “Sister Act” and assayed the lead in “Pippin.” But reciting the same lines night after night on the Great White Way is a far different animal than learning and filming a new mini-film every eight days on “Madam Secretary.”

“There kind of is no rehearsal process in TV and film,” she said. “We have blocking and marking, and then we shoot.”

Furthermore, she said 40 to 50 crew members don’t provide the instant performance feedback that a packed theater of 1,000 audience members can.

“Coming from the theatre, you feed off that energy every night. It helps your performance in a way,” Miss Miller said. “With TV, because there is no audience, you don’t get the satisfaction of knowing if what you did during the scene played well. You find out later whenever you see it.”

The piecemeal nature of TV and film work means that actors aren’t as “in charge” of their performance as stagecraft allows, Miss Miller believes. Rather, it’s “everyone telling the story,” including the editors who construct the show from shards of different takes.

The brisk nature of TV work also requires the rapid memorization of scripts — as well as sudden, and constant, rewrites. Miss Miller credits her time on “All My Children” with helping her to develop the ability to briskly learn new dialogue. (She calls “AMC” legend Susan Lucci “one of the most amazing, talented actresses.”)

“Honestly, you just get used to it,” said Miss Miller.

Mr. Bergen said that while people do approach him on the street to discuss real-life politics, more often they wish to inquire after aspects of the show’s characters.

“I hear the classic line: ‘Boy, I wish you guys were in the White House’ a lot,” he said.

Mr. Bergen was in fact invited to the Executive Mansion during the show’s first season. He dined with former President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Mr. Abe, it turned out, not only recognized Mr. Bergen but informed him that “Jersey Boys” was his favorite film.

“So I was there as a ‘Jersey boy,’ but then I was also starting to get known for this fictional government show,” Mr. Bergen said, adding that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also approached him at the event to discuss the show, which he describes as a “meta moment.”

On the set of “Jersey Boys,” Mr. Bergen said he experienced another such surreal incident sitting next to director Clint Eastwood on the first day of filming in Burbank, California. Mr. Bergen pondered if perhaps “Jersey Boys” would be the octogenarian’s final film, but while entertaining the thought, he received an alert on his phone announcing Mr. Eastwood’s next project, “American Sniper.”

“He’s very inspirational to me,” Mr. Bergen said of Mr. Eastwood, who, at 86, continues to make films.

“It’s the same thing with Frankie” Valli, the Four Seasons frontman who still tours the country night after night singing “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and other classics, Mr. Bergen said. “If you love what you do and it’s what you know how to do best, there’s no reason to stop.”

Incumbency

The cast and crew of “Madam Secretary” are mum on the details of Sunday’s season finale, but all involved are proud of the season 3 arc, including the May 7 episode, “Seventh Floor,” which Mr. Bergen describes as “our strongest yet.”

“I think we’re really about to start hitting our best stuff” in season 4, he said. “I’m very proud of the work we’ve done.”

Miss Miller said her character Daisy’s pregnancy will play a major part in future storylines.

“We’re going to keep giving you a fantastic show,” she said.

Ms. Hall, the show’s creator, echoed the sentiments, saying the showrunners’ goal remains to continue to expand the universe of “Madam Secretary” moving forward.

“We want to [give] everybody a better understanding of our characters,” she said as the crew called for Miss Leoni and his entourage to do another jogging take by the Reflecting Pool.

The season finale of “Madam Secretary” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.

- Washington Times

#Madam Secretary

[garden-ghoul]

return of the blog, part 2

“...”

THE PASSING OF THE GREY COMPANY

Merry is hanging out with the tracking party, feeling a bit lost and very useless-baggage-y. What’s going to happen, Aragorn? Well, Aragorn is being very dramatic, bless him. “Do not look for mirth at the ending. It will be long, I fear, ere Théoden sits at ease again in Meduseld. Many hopes will wither in this bitter Spring.” Oh, Aragorn.

Four riders are trying to catch up to the Rohirrim; everyone is, of course, very suspicious, but it turns out the leader is Aragorn’s good old friend Halbarad, a ranger and Dunadan! And Elrond’s cool sons are with him! They brought thirty dudes to help in the war effort. Like I’m sure they’re very skilled and all but. Thirty dudes. You take what you can I guess. Apparently they received a summons from Galadriel after Gandalf was resurrected. Everyone is back at Helm’s Deep now (I missed them actually going there), mainly I mention this because there now exists a place called THE DEATH DOWN, where the huorns killed just massive amounts of people.

Theoden is holding one last feast before they all go to war; he tells Merry he shall ride with him!

‘May I?’ said Merry, surprised and delighted. ‘That would be splendid!’ He had never felt more grateful for any kindness in words. ‘I am afraid I am only in everybody’s way,’ he stammered; ‘but I should like to do anything I could, you know.’

He’s such a good kid. Theoden says he’s going to be king’s squire! Not sure why, the eve of a colossal war is not really the best time to be sparing people’s feelings of uselessness. Or maybe he’s trying to free up whoever is his current squire to kill some people? You don’t do that sort of thing for no reason is all I’m saying. Anyway, in a stupendously clear parallel to last chapter, Merry lays his sword at Theoden’s feet and swears fealty. I loove the contrast between Pippin swearing fealty to a lord he doesn’t really like out of obligation and gratitude; and then Merry swearing fealty to a lord he very much admires out of a desperation to somehow be useful. Pippin’s rather awe-filled reception at Minas Tirith contrasts with Merry’s anxieties about being a burden. Then there’s this:

‘As a father you shall be to me,’ said Merry.

‘For a little while,’ said Théoden.

AWKWARD. Merry why must you. Anyway Aragorn comes up and tells Theoden he’s going to take the Paths of the Dead (everyone in earshot shivers) despite having said a couple paragraphs ago that he would have to be REALLY DESPERATE to do that. Theoden’s company rides off; Aragorn is like “wow I love Merry so much, he’s such a good and important person.” And everyone else agrees: “hobbits are super important and I love them.” I think it’s supposed to stand in contrast to Merry’s own poor opinion of himself, but I’m not really sure why they have such a high opinion of him. Just because he’s brave? Shrug. Aragorn also says he looked into the palantir and had a staring contest with Sauron to wig him out. “I’m the heir of Elendil,” he said. “Here’s Narsil! Right here! Remember her, motherfucker?” And Sauron, reportedly, went “Oh fuck.”

Then Aragorn explains why he’s going thru the Paths of the Dead. You probably know already, so I won’t relate it here. There is a seer involved though, which is pretty cool. Some oathbreaking. Very Numenorean honestly, these dead Men of the Mountains remind me of the Faithless, in that the reason for their oathbreaking is a new unexpected allegiance to Sauron. And with that exposition, the “greay company” is off! For some reason they make it to Edoras long before Theoden does, and Aragorn comes to say hi to Eowyn. 

When she heard of the battle in Helm’s Deep and the great slaughter of their foes, and of the charge of Théoden and his knights, then her eyes shone.

I see what gogol means. Eowyn is gay for Deeds. She also conceptualizes being the ruler of Edoras and sorta Rohan as “exile,” because WHY would you want to rule anything when you could be killing people??? The next time we hear a description of Eowyn it’s that “her eyes were on fire.” Why did baby ghoul relate so much to Eowyn? Up until now I thought it was because she was the only TV lady who had freckles like me, but actually maybe it was her nebulous gender dysphoria and frustration. She is SO frustrated. First she offers to ride with Aragorn on his death errand. He refuses her; she’s the ruler of the Mark. BITTER. BITTER BITTER BITTER. WHY DOES EOWYN ALWAYS GET LEFT BEHIND? IS SHE NOT A SHIELD-MAIDEN? This is a good exchange:

‘A time may come soon,’ said he, ‘when none will return. Then there will be need of valour without renown, for none shall remember the deeds that are done in the last defence of your homes. Yet the deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.’

And she answered: ‘All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more.’

Get him, Eowyn. I mean, it IS essential to make sure non-combatants in Rohan stay safe and such, but Eowyn is right that she shouldn’t be forced into the unpraised deeds just because she’s a woman. Before you say such things, Aragorn, maybe start a culture of praising valiant deeds that don’t involve killing anyone?? Then we’ll talk.

Once again as Aragorn’s company rides away we get the same exact image of Eowyn standing and watching them go... this time filled with tension and anger, her fists clenched and tears in her eyes. Aragorn is sad about it. Whatever, dude. We timeskip to the entrance of the Path of the Dead, where the Dunedain are gentlly coaxing their horses in through the awful doorway. Legolas has to enchant his horse to get it to go in. Gimli is left alone outside, possibly the only one who feels so viscerally how wrong this underground passage is compared to what it should be. I think his fear is greater for the fact that he has never felt uneasy underground before; it’s like home, perverted into something dreadful. As they go forward Aragorn calls the dead. No-one answers, but Legolas can see them riding behind. As they ride through Morthond Vale I am getting the impression that there are living humans there? And they are afraid because, like, the king of the dead. Aragorn and co ride hell for leather for the Stone of Erech.

The Stone of Erech is an enormous black sphere, half buried in the ground, that for some reason was brought out of Numenor. Like... you didn’t have anything better to bring on your ships than an enormous black sphere of stone? Anyway this is the site of the oath that was broken, and now the dead are ready to fulfill it and have peace after like 3000 years. “When all this land is clean of the servants of Sauron, I will hold the oath fulfilled,” he says. Which is pretty harsh. Like, what if a hundred years from now there’s just one servant of Sauron remaining? That would just suck for everyone. Also he unfurls a banner Arwen made for him, which is apparently black on black. Love it. Very stylish. So that’s the muster of the dead. What about

THE MUSTER OF ROHAN?

This bit is confusing because I thought it was going to be Pippin POV but then as soon as they mentioned the Rohirrim had made it to Gondor it turned into Merry POV. I never have a good intuition for what things Tolkien will think it’s reasonable to skip... Wait no they didn’t make it to Gondor. They just about made it to Edoras. This is very confusing and I have poor reading comprehension. The point is Merry is sad and lonely because everyone’s speaking Rohir or whatever and he misses all his friends and absolutely everyone he knows. The party reaches Harrowdale and climbs up a super steep path for some reason; it’s lined with Pukel Men, monoliths carved into a human shape. Ahhhh I love standing stones, Heck I love standing stones. They’re from the “dark years” (when Numenor was still going on and thus Real People weren’t in Middle Earth ::P) and some unknown people made this place, Dunharrow. OH. Here’s Eowyn! The reason they’re here is because Edoras has been evacuated, and Theoden wanted to check on his people.

While Theoden and his peeps are having dinner a messenger from Gondor comes in and Merry is like BOROMIR??? WTF. But no, he just can’t tell Gondorians apart haha. Also what was the point of the beacons if Denethor was just going to send a messenger straight to Theoden. Theoden promises 6000 guys (not bad! that’s twice the entire Gondor) in one week, though the messenger says a week will probably be too late. Still, he says sarcastically, maybe you can disturb the orcs feasting on our corpses.

Merry wakes up the next day in the darkness; the sun will not rise today. Or if it does nobody will see it, because Sauron has sent a great wave of black clouds across the sky to embolden his troops. Dreamy. Theoden is releasing Merry from his service (yes, after three days, what a copout) to serve Eowyn here while she rules the noncombatant Rohirrim. Merry is. Sad. He wants to help! Even if he has to be tied to a horse! But no dice. Eowyn takes him off to arm himself anyway. Thanks Eowyn you are a true bro. As Theoden’s company leaves, they sing a song that is clearly based on Anglo Saxon epic poetry, and also I believe was not meant to be sung. So. Minus points, Johnald. It doesn’t sound like a song, it doesn’t scan like a song. It’s a nice poem, though. A nice lad called Dernhelm offers to bear Merry on his horse and hide him since Theoden won’t take him. Thanks for showing us Eowyn’s exact transition goals, it’s good.

#blog of the rings

[smackins]

so you've read up the eclipse arc, what do you think of the manga so far? Who are your fave characters? Why did Griffith do no wrong whatsoever?

I’ve got a lot of opinions and theories and ideas, but this is also my first read-through, I’m thinking when I go back and re-read it I’ll catch onto things I didn’t notice before and maybe get an even better grasp of things. Because I can’t help but feel like there’s a lot going over my head this time around.  This is gonna be long-winded because I don’t know how to shut up, so it’s all under the cut.

My experience with it thus far can be summed up in one sentence: 

Holy shit, dude. 

Honestly it’s been years since I’ve gotten this into a new story. I’ve heard things about it and seen things about it for a long time but when it actually got down to reading it, Berserk is NOTHING that I was expecting. And I sure as hell was not expecting to get this emotionally invested. Most of the characters are really complex and feel real. Like. Aside from a lot of the side villains like the pedo kings and such it’s like I find it REALLY HARD to hate anyone they feel so genuinely human. All people ever tell you is how graphic and messed up it is but they never tell you about the actual narrative and characters. Some parts were definitely hard to read for one reason or another, but it was worth it to push through (and it was really hard to stop reading anyway, like a binged through it). Some things I’m not a fan of, like I felt like the stuff with Wyald and the Black Dogs felt... unnecessary? I dunno I feel like it didn’t really add anything, it just felt out of place. Overall though this is the best manga I’ve read in a long, long time. The writer ties in different parts of the story really well, and things that happen seem to stay relevant in some way or another, especially in symbolism. It honestly gets my kinda pumped and inspired to put more work into my own original stories because you can tell this dude worked really hard.

Okay so characters: 

Casca is my favorite. I absolutely love her as a character. Like in the beginning I thought she was gonna be that really stupid “I’m a girl that can do what the boys do!” “I’m not like other girls!” kind of character (and I absolutely fucking HATE that trope like it irritates the fuck out of me) but she isn’t that at all, honestly. I think there are areas where she definitely could have been written better, I’m not gonna lie, but I can look past all that. She loves her team so much like goddamn. She’s such a good leader and she’s a friend to the whole Band, the way she looks out for everybody. They call her “Big Sis” and she definitely has that vibe to her, even out in combat her number one concern is her team and it’s great. I feel like a big chunk of that strong feeling of camaraderie with the Band of Hawk and Guts and Griffith came from her (I mean they all had a hand in making it that way, especially Guts and Griffith but bleh words idk what I’m saying) and the way she’s big sister to everyone. I liked seeing her grow into her own leader without Griffith being in charge because seeing what her and the Band of Hawk could do without Griffith to depend on was a really interesting development. Part of me wonders what would have happened if the Band survived and continued without him with like new goals or whatever. I’d love to see what Casca and Guts would have turned them into. Also props to her for riding into combat during shark week and cramping like a motherfucker because if that were me I’d probably just fall off my horse and lay there crying like a little bitch. But yeah I felt like I really connected with her as a character, and that’s what made the eclipse and the aftermath of it the most painful for me. Just damn. :/ There’s a lot more I could and want to say about her but I’m getting really long winded here. 

I love Guts but I think that’s a given. Most people love Guts, I’m assuming. He’s pretty complex and again, not the character I was expecting when I started reading. I can definitely get some ideas of how he went from the person he was in the Golden Age to the person he is in the beginning chapters in the manga, and I’m really eager to see how he evolves as a person from there, for better or worse. I’m not a real shippy kind of person but I enjoyed watching him and Casca’s relationship develop, that’s some OTP shit right there, if you ask me. I loved his friendship with Griffith, too, like he didn’t worship him, that was genuine care and friendship he had for Griffith. Watching him find his “place” and “family” with the Hawks was a big hook for me too because I’m a sucker for that kind of shit. Again a lot more I can say but yeah. I look forward to seeing how this all ends and who Guts ultimately becomes. 

Put your grasses on. Griffith did nothing wong. 

In all seriousness, though: 

Griffith is confusing as a character and it’s hard to understand him as a person, definitely. One part of me wants to see him as a selfish bastard that just uses people but another part of me sees somebody that genuinely cares for others, and is just extremely delusional. Like Guts IS his friend, he genuinely cares for Guts without a doubt in my mind. He loves Guts so much, Guts is all he thinks about when he’s fucking bitches. idk I don’t wanna look all fake-deep and fruedian getting into it or anything like that, but he’s really that complex like goddamn. I’m eager to see how things pan out now that he’s become Batman Femto. What he did was downright atrocious and unforgivable but I cannot bring myself to hate him. He’s really, really, really, really well written, and I can tell he’s gonna be an interesting villain as things progress.

Pippin and Judeau  and Rickert. Love them all to pieces. The deaths of the former two crushed me. Massive sweethearts and just god damn. I’m glad little Rickert lived though, because this series clearly has no qualms about showing tragic things happening to kids. A lot.  ;____; 

Zodd is fuzzy as hell. Not just furry looking. He looks FUZZY. Like the way he’s drawn he looks like a big fuzzy throw blanket. I wanna pet him I don’t give a fuck if he rips me in half. All the other Apostles are all freaky and slimy but NOPE Zodd is this big, fuzzy cat. 

So yeah. 

#thanks for asking! #god I hope I don't sound cringey #I apologize in advance if I do #just berserk has got me really invested #there is a lot #and I mean A LOT #more I could say and there are a lot of characters I could touch on #but yeah #renamon

[mvsicinthedvrk]

hw task 04: the one with the letter writing!! (from this post on the main 1 year ago)

i’m aware that this is so old, but as i didn’t join the rp until october, i missed out on this task before! so i’m doing it now, late. and to be fair, it DOES say there’s “no set time limit” 😂

not everyone would have taken the opportunity to do this, so my characters NOT writing letters and why: 

wei wuxian has no memories of anyone outside of D.C., so he wouldn’t write to anyone. same with kaz brekker. everyone patroclus knows is dead, so... he wouldn’t write a letter, either. pippin thinks it’s probably be better if he explains everything to his family in person whenever he gets back, and he’s got terrible handwriting anyway, so he’d skip out on the opportunity. peter pettigrew would rather not anyone know he was here in the first place, so no letter from him. and the only person yu ri cares about is rang, and he’s here, so no letter needed there. 

and then below are my other characters’ letters! i should have put these alphabetically but i started writing them in order of when i picked up the characters and it’s too much work to copy/paste everything around at this point.

martin blackwood: letter to jon sims (the only people left at the Institute martin could have talked to are: jon, basira, and daisy. he doesn’t much like daisy and between jon & basira he’s known jon for longer, so that’s why he’d choose him as letter-recipient.)

Jon, It’s Martin. It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, by now! Nearly a year. I hope you’re well. I promise I didn’t mean to abandon the Institute, and if I knew of a way to leave, I swear I would have told you so you could leave too. But-- I ended up here in America accidentally, severed from the Eye (as far as I can tell). I REALLY mean accidentally. I don’t even know how I got here, honestly. Anyway. Melanie’s here! And from a few years ago! (Yeah, time travel’s a thing.) The good news is that she’s got her eyes and everything, so that’s a definite benefit. She never even worked for the Institute, where she came from, still doing her YouTube thing. We don’t talk much, since she doesn’t remember me. I should tell you-- I was working with Peter Lukas on purpose, at the end there, before I ended up here. It’s too complicated to put in a letter but do know that I was trying to help, although I realize now that I approached it all wrong. We should have communicated better, all of us, especially after the thing with the Unknowing. Speaking of communicating, this might be the only time you hear from me. But rest assured, I’m okay! Not devoured by worms, or stalked by fears. I’ve got a normal desk job now, and I’m doing alright. I don’t think the Extinction’s much of an immediate threat, so I hope you’re not worried about that too much. I think about Sasha and Tim every so often, and you as well. Please be safe, and get out when you can, but not by doing anything drastic. You’re so clever, you always have been, and I know you’ll be alright. Don’t trust Peter. Sincerely, Martin Blackwood. 

holland vosijk: a letter to kell in red london (kell is the only other known Antari, and although holland has an antagonistic relationship with him and they’re from two parallel realities, he’s the only one he would trust with this information)

Kell-- I hope this letter finds you, though you know me better than to think I’d wish it finds you “well.” Regardless, I must admit that even your face would be a welcome one. I’ve found myself in the world below yours, the one sans-magic, a few hundred years in the future and on the other side of the sea. I am aware that sounds impossible, but I assure you that it’s true. My magic works as usual except for Travelling, which is what keeps me from returning. Should you find yourself once again in the world you always referred to as “Grey London,” do ask around about rumors of a capital city in America called Washington, D.C. I would appreciate any information you might find out regarding it’s magical status, though I’ve no idea if you’ll have a way to return this correspondence. I will also take the liberty of warning you that I have been here for months and the Danes are surely sore about my absence from their command. Should you find yourself in Makt, you would do well to avoid them, as they may be looking for a new pet by now. I tell you this not out of kindness or concern for your well-being but because I fear what they may do if they have control over a new Antari’s power in their disgruntled state. Do both of our worlds a favor and avoid travelling for the time being. Holland. 

yuri plisetsky: a letter to his coach (even if he’d want to write to his family, his skating comes first. this letter would be written in russian, but I don’t actually know russian, so.)

It’s Yuri. I have been trying to call you but my phone does not go through. I can’t leave this place in America. It’s partway your fault since you sent me here. Tell my sponsors I am NOT DEAD, only stuck in a weird magic town. Have you heard of a skater named Victor Nikiforov? He says he knows me but I do NOT remember him. He promised to choreograph a program for me. Don’t get mad, he’s very good. I will try to get out of this city by the next round of prelim competitions for the grand prix. I’m still practicing every day and I will definitely WIN!

orpheus: a letter to eurydice (he loves & misses her so much; his letter would be short but sweet and would include pressed flowers, just in case there aren’t flowers down there and she needs to remember what they look like)

Eurydice: I hope letters can travel to where you are. It’s me! The wind may have changed on us, but you’re still my sun and my north. I’m coming after you, it’s only that I got caught up on the way. I’ve never wanted anything more than to hold your hand and bring you back to the world above, and I swear that I'll be there as soon as I can. Wherever you go, I go. I love you now and forever. Your Orpheus~

melanie king: a letter to andy caine (her former youtube channel co-host; her parents are both gone or she’d write to them, so she figures-- why not at least let one person know where she is, even if they’d fought the last time they spoke in person)

Hey Andy, I know we’re not on the best of terms but I thought I’d let you know I’m in America for the foreseeable. I’ve been publishing videos on my channel-- though no idea if they show up anywhere other than here-- it’s a long story. I’m still alive, and if any of my extended relatives come looking for me just let them know I’m “abroad.” One of my cameras is still at your place. Don’t sell it-- I’ll be back for it at some point or you’ll owe me £800. -Mels

henry strauss: a letter to his parents (he packed up and left NYC without really telling anyone where he was going, so. time to rectify that poor decision)

Mom and Dad, I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye. I can’t face goodbyes without getting emotional, you both know that. (If it helps, I didn’t tell any of my friends goodbye either, so I hope you didn’t give them a hard time when you realized I’d gone.) I’ve had to keep secrets from you that I genuinely regret, but please know that I never wanted to hurt you. My whole life I always tried to be a good son, and I’m trying to the kind of person here that you always taught me to be. You might not hear from me again, and that’s alright. I hope you can accept that, and know that wherever I am, I love you. Henry

wen kexing: a letter to gu xiang (wen kexing has trust issues. he wouldn’t want any correspondence to get intercepted by the five lakes alliance or with reference to his status in ghost valley, so this isn’t technically a letter with any specific information: it’s a classical Du Fu poem about travelling. he’s super pretentious about quoting literature, so he would have picked something fancy like this to code his message in to prove that it’s actually him. and to code it, he’d have written certain characters in dark purple ink instead of black to send to a’xiang, his maid who’s essentially his younger sister/adopted daughter, to try and explain where he is. even if someone noticed the change in coloring, the message wouldn’t mean much to anyone but a’xiang. he’d also include a brief coda at the end in his own words. and each line would be written in a vertical column but that’s too annoying to format for tumblr)

寺忆曾游处 (purple last two characters for ”travel” and “place”) 桥伶再渡时 (purple last two characters for “crossing” and “time”) 江山如有待 (purple last character that means “stay”/“await” so she knows to wait for him to return) 花柳更无私 野润烟光薄 (purple second-to-last character for “light” to indicate he’s not in the ghosts’ world anymore; she’ll know what that means) 沙暄日色迟 客愁全为减 (purple last four characters of this line-- in the context of the poem, this phrase basically means “sorrow fades away” but read on their own it’s just, like, “don’t worry so much”) 舍此复何之

当好姑娘 (“be a good girl”)

給阿舒我的爱 (”give my love to A’Xu”)

哥 (just “ge” for brother)

noah czerny: a letter to gansey (gansey’s the leader, after all, so it makes sense to send him the letter.)

Dear Gansey: surprise! Blue & I are stuck in Washington D.C. She’s been here for much longer than I have, she said. Time’s weird here. I hope you & Adam & Ronan are alright. I don’t know if you will have noticed that I’m gone, but if you do, don’t worry: we’ll both come back when we can. Tell the others hello from me, keep looking for Glendower (good luck!) and don’t crash the Pig! :P -Noah

#hwtask04 #;; mb ;; #;; hv ;; #;; yp ;; #;; oh ;; #;; mk ;; #;; hs ;; #;; wkx ;; #;; nc ;; #long post tw #death tw #worms tw #stalking mention tw

[garden-ghoul]

fellowship of the bloggening, part.......

“five maybe?”

THE RING GOES SOUTH

When Frodo, Sam, and Bilbo come back from the council Merry and Pippin are indignant that Sam and Frodo get to go and they don’t. Everyone argues cutely for a bit, it’s very heartwarming. Frodo tries to be anxious, but he can’t for long; Rivendell has an air of carefree-ness, because elves are experts at ignoring stuff they don’t like. But it’s looking like our heroes will have to set out during the winter, which everyone is disgruntled about.

Elrond has decided that nine walkers will go to counter the nine riders. Very poetic, I guess. He wants representatives from every “nice” race, it’s very, I dunno, Star Trek or something. Also this:

'Strider!' said Frodo.

'Yes,' he said with a smile. `I ask leave once again to be your companion, Frodo.'

'I would have begged you to come,' said Frodo, 'only I thought you were going to Minas Tirith with Boromir.'

I made the mistake of going into the ao3 tag of frodo/aragorn last night and let me tell you, I am never going to ship anything ever again until I die. The entire concept of romance was a mistake, and I don’t trust anyone on the internet with it. Still, they are cute friends and they love each other. Merry and Pippin argue with Elrond until he sighs and lets them go (they’ll sneak out anyway!) So with that the company is decided; Aragorn’s sword is reforged (Anduril < Narsil). One wonders why he didn’t have that done a long time ago; I can only supposed Elrond kept saying it wasn’t the right time, in his prophetic way. I am digging how elvish leaders seem to end up with the gift of precognition kind of only after they have ruled for a while. I like to think it’s something that happens, you find yourself becoming more and clairvoyant the longer you rule. Speaking of swords, Bilbo gives Frodo his sword Sting and a coat of mithril mail as a parting present. Boromir has a longsword “of less lineage” than Anduril, hahaha. Boromir blows his horn as a setting-out tradition, and everyone in the entire valley jumps. Elrond tsks at him. And Gandalf has Glamdring, “the mate of Orcrist” which Thorin used to use. It seems weird that a dwarf and a human-shaped wizard would wield swords that were the same...

'That animal can nearly talk,' said Sam, ‘and would talk, if he stayed here much longer. He gave me a look as plain as Mr. Pippin could speak it: if you don't let me go with you, Sam, I'll follow on my own.’ So Bill was going as the beast of burden, yet he was the only member of the Company that did not seem depressed.

But as they’re about to set out:

'Bill, my lad,' he said, `you oughtn't to have took up with us. You could have stayed here and et the best hay till the new grass comes.' Bill swished his tail and said nothing.

Sam!!! And Bilbo tells Frodo “don’t be too long.” Yeah, Frodo, don’t take like 2 months destroying the most powerful magical artifact in the world while being hunted. That’d just be rude.

Anyway, after setting out, everyone is absolutely miserable. Even with Elrond’s nice furs they are always cold, and can’t risk fires, and it sounds like they have to walk by night. They pause by the ancient border of Eregion to listen to Gimli listing all the mountains he recognizes (cute!). Also Legolas says that the elves who lived here were “of a race strange to us silvan folk.” Dude... you’re not a Silvan elf. Isn’t Legolas Sindarin? Anyway, Gandalf declares a rest day because once a land has elves in it, it is slightly safer forever. What. 

HOWEVER Sam and Aragorn spot a bunch of sneaky spy crows, so the party has to go off in the night. They make for the Redhorn Pass on Caradhras, but he (Gimli personifies the mountain as Caradhras the Cruel, I love it) flings snow and boulders at them until they eventually give in and decide to go back down the way they came. Boromir and Aragorn go to clear a path, and Legolas runs around on top of the snow cheerleading them (he is such a jokester, extremely annoying how he’s not depressed; if he were in my party I’d want to punch him by now). They find out that the snow was honestly JUST falling on their party; Caradhras really did have it out for them.

Hardly had Frodo touched the ground when with a deep rumble there rolled down a fall of stones and slithering snow. When the air cleared again they saw that the path was blocked behind them.

'Enough, enough!' cried Gimli. 'We are departing as quickly as we may!' And indeed with that last stroke the malice of the mountain seemed to be expended, as if Caradhras was satisfied that the invaders had been beaten off and would not dare to return. The threat of snow lifted; the clouds began to break and the light grew broader.

So they go back down the mountain--those nasty birds are back--and prepare for

A JOURNEY IN THE DARK

We’re goin through Moria, kids. Gandalf has been there, and come out alive; Gimli is raring to go look for his lost cousins; Aragorn has been there too, and has a great deal of anxiety about it. He also warns Gandalf, specifically, that if he passes the doors of Moria he must beware. Where does he get his info?? Is he a prophet now like Faramir? Pippin, who has been trying to look tough, is scared and dispirited, wishing he had stayed in Rivendell. Unexpectedly it’s Sam who brings the optimism; he trusts in their company to keep them safe. Dear boy.

During the night we are assaulted by wolves, but Gandalf scares off most of them with a super fire spell, very cool. Not sure what the point of this bit is. We then go looking for the entrance to Moria, and find that the river that used to show where the gate was has dried to a trickle; it was dammed to create a lake. Listen, Mr Rolkien, I don’t believe you know how dams work. Unless it was dammed very recently and is still filling up, you get the same outflow as inflow. You fool. You horrible fool. Well, anyway, they make it to the door (which does indeed have NARVI <3 CELEBRIMBOR carved into it). Gandalf spends a good fifteen minutes muttering at it, trying to guess the password, while everyone else gets edgier and more impatient. Boromir, who is apparently twelve, sullenly throws a rock into the lake. This, naturally, awakes a tentacle monster and a bunch of snakes, and our heroes flee into the mines; the tentacle monster shuts the doors behind them and barricades them with trees and rocks. Goodness! Gandalf leads the way forward, although sometimes he has to stop to consult Gimli on the way to go. Everyone is a little doubtful; Aragorn reassures them by saying that “He is surer of finding the way home in a blind night than the cats of Queen Berúthiel.” EXCUSE ME? TOLKIEN YOU’VE BEEN HOLDING OUT ON ME. TELL ME ABOUT QUEEN BERUTHIEL AND HER CATS. Please, please, if anyone reading this knows more you’ve got to tell me.

Ooh, Frodo also has superpowers now from getting stabbed by an evil knife; he can see “unseen things,” and he can see in the dark. In the end, Gandalf mostly navigates by smell and wizard-sense. They make it to a huge hall with black glassy walls, which Gandalf thinks might actually be right next to the outside; Gimli loudly sings a song about Durin, which seems a little foolish to me since I know they’re about to get attacked by orcs. Also, we learn that the mithril coat Bilbo gave to Frodo is worth the entire Shire. Which is just... wow. Mithril has really appreciated in value since Sauron took all of it, huh? Ah, and we find Balin’s tomb. Rest in pieces, son of Fundin.

#blog of the rings

[garden-ghoul]

fellowship of the bloggening part 2

“I am out of my mind impatient to get to rohan and it’s probably going to take MONTHS I hate this”

Chapter THREE IS COMPANY

Frodo has been dragging his feet, but what’s a couple months after seventeen years? He’s trying to figure out how to leave non-suspiciously, how to not leave at all, where to go, he is all over the place. He’s REALLY excited to go to Rivendell. So he buys a house in Buckland and sells Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses (ugh!). Everyone thinks he’s downgrading to save money, even Merry, who helped him buy the new house. I think it’s very sweet that in his internal monologue he considers Merry & Pippin & co “his young friends.” Because honestly they are probably about half his age.

‘Whatever happens to the rest of my stuff, when the S.-B.s get their claws on it, at any rate I have found a good home for this!’ said Frodo, as he drained his glass. It was the last drop of Old Winyards. ...

‘Our last meal at Bag End!’ said Frodo, pushing back his chair. They left the washing up for Lobelia.

Sorry I love Frodo being petty to the Sackville-Bagginses (ugh!). So Frodo, Sam, and Pippin set out at sunset, because they like walking in the dark. Cute? As they leave they hear Some Creep asking where Frodo has gone. Secretly a Nazgul, I’m sure. They sleep under a tree and immediately upon waking Pippin starts loudly telling Sam to get water ready for a bath?? Okay is he just your servant, Mr Took? Don’t be an asshole. Anyway the next day the Nazgul passes them on the road; everyone is stirred up. Here we get a lot of loving description of the English Shire countryside and a travelling song Bilbo made up. It’s the one Pippin sings for Denethor in the movies, but it’s rather less serious, I think, than they made it seem by picking the most serious bits.

Then world behind and home ahead, We’ll wander back to home and bed. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade! Fire and lamp, and meat and bread, And then to bed! And then to bed!

ALSO he always pluralizes hoof as hoofs, not hooves. argh. So the Nazgul comes back, but is almost immediately chased away by a bunch of elves singing about Elbereth Gilthoniel (presumably it is Song, in the magic sense, because the hobbits can all understand them; I think it’s funny that they’re using Song to amuse themselves while travelling). From this Frodo concludes that they are high elves... but isn’t that Eldar? Elbereth is her Sindarin name, and like... literally all the elves speak Sindarin now...

In any case, he happens to be right, because the leader of the elves is Gildor ben Finrod (hahaha that naming convention sounds dumb with elf names). I didn’t even know Finrod had kids... as I recall his heir was his nephew, Orodreth. Yes I’m just here to pick apart continuity snarls that Tolkien didn’t manage to fix. ANYWAY the elves are kind of jerks, they think hobbits are too dull to associate with... until Pippin asks them who the black riders are, at which point they get scared and invite our heroes to stay the night with them. Only after the hobbits have started to fall asleep do the elves eat. Frodo tries to soak up as much Sindarin as possible (the elves think he’s adorably precocious, I don’t like them); Sam afterward remembers it as “one of the chief events of his life,” despite the fact that he is going to save the world later. Sorry what

A SHORTCUT TO MUSHROOMS

The perfect title for a chapter that starts right after Gildor gives Frodo some truly scary and cryptic warnings!

‘Did you ask about the sniffing?’ said Pippin.

‘We didn’t discuss it,’ said Frodo with his mouth full.

‘You should have. I am sure it is very important.’

‘In that case I am sure Gildor would have refused to explain it,’ said Frodo sharply.

Good old Gildor! I think Pippin’s right, though. Probably the fact that Nazgul can smell the Ring bodes p ill. We also get a bit of a glimpse at why the elf party is one of the main events in Sam’s life; it has totally changed his views on elves, and on the world, in a way he can’t quite put into words yet. It’s so jarring, the way Tolkien treats Sam like a dog one moment and the next “It did not sound like the voice of the old Sam Gamgee that he thought he knew. But it looked like the old Sam Gamgee sitting there, except that his face was unusually thoughtful.” Make up your mind, Johnald. Are servants people, or not?

Our heroes decide (after much arguing) to go overland to Bucklebury rather than by the road, to be harder for the Nazgul to find. Amusingly, one finds them almost immediately but is, I guess, unwilling to get off its horse to follow them down the bank. Maybe the horses evaporate if you get off them, it would be so inconvenient. He’d have to call Mordor for another one, and Sauron gets so mad if you ask him for a new horse.

Our heroes have a talk and some dinner with Pippin’s old friend, Mr Maggot, who unintentionally terrorized Frodo as a lad for stealing his mushrooms. It turns out the Nazgul have been asking around here, too, but Maggot saw them off. He graciously drives our heroes to the ferry, where they find Merry waiting for them, and gives them a parting gift, a large basket of mushrooms. And so the shortcut to mushrooms was being polite and friendly! A shame they cut that from the movie, it’s a nice morel.

A CONSPIRACY UNMASKED

Our heroes make it to Frodo’s house at Crickhollow, where Merry and their other friend Fredegar ‘Fatty’ Bolger have drawn three baths! And they have dinner, including the enormous amount of mushrooms they received as a gift. As an aside, Tolkien notes that hobbits love mushrooms more than anything else. Puts me in mind of badgers or pigs or some other woodland creature that loves to snuffle.

Merry reveals the fact that they all knew all along that Frodo was leaving the Shire, because he’s really not a very good actor. Unexpectedly, they all want to come with! Well, they are young, and they seem to thirst for adventure. Unlike Frodo, who is terrified, they seem to think it’s pretty fun. And yet...

‘But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,’ said Frodo. Sam looked at him unhappily. 

‘It all depends on what you want,’ put in Merry. ‘You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo.’

Aww.

So they plan to be away into the Old Forest by first light. Fredegar is afraid, but Merry assures him it’s pretty safe during the day “when the trees are sleepy and fairly quiet.” Woo! Ominous! Are there ents in the Shire? Fredegar promises to wait for Gandalf, while our heroes go into

THE OLD FOREST

I wasn’t gonna do another chapter but this transition was too good to pass up. Merry tells our heroes a little of the history of the Old Forest: at one point it tried to attack the Hedge that marks the border of the Shire, but hobbits made war on it and cut down and burned a great many trees. Since then it has been even less friendly, but during daylight Brandybucks, at least, are pretty safe there. Frodo tries to sing a song, and the forest gets mad at him. Merry is apparently still cheerful, or a good actor.

They gradually realize that the forest is shunting them toward the Withywindle, the “center of all queerness.” Every time they try to veer north toward the road, they encounter great difficulty. Eventually they are forced to go right down into the river valley and walk along the river. But they begin to get very sleepy. I LOVE how Faerie this is. Sam is the only one who realizes something fishy is up, and has to rescue Frodo from being drowned by the tree. They realize it’s eating Merry and Pippin, and when they try to scare it by lighting a fire it threatens to kill them. Hostages! Frodo runs along the path, crying for help, and hears my favorite song in the entire entire:

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

Sorry these are just such merry sounds, I love them. I’ve heard some very strange things about Tom Bombadil, though. He sings to the willow tree and it releases Merry and Pippin, and then offers to let them eat at his house as thanks. Y’ALL DON’T DO IT. NOTHING GOOD COMES OF EATING FAERIE FOOD.

#blog of the rings