Grey Fire

Thingol ❤️Feanor

After popular demands (1) I shall post the pic separately for all to suffer!

I ship them.

We where robbed of the true enemy to lover long fic with angst and healing.

The original idea came from @serregon !

“My thesis is that at many levels of human interaction there is the opportunity to conflate discomfort with threat, to mistake internal anxiety for exterior danger, and in turn to escalate rather than resolve.” (from Conflict Is Not Abuse by Sarah Schulman. highly recommend it if you’re interested in having better dialogues and feeling less defensive in your life)

In the New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, John Seymour - who pretty much defined the principles of “self-sufficiency” as a modern political movement - goes into detail about conflict and community-building. So far from today’s interpretation of self-sufficiency as an American prepper-homesteader isolated from their neighbors - self-sufficient in the sense of “alone” - he envisioned self-sufficient in the sense of “not needing to buy things,” whether that was buying things for pure survival or buying things just to feel good. Seymour felt strongly that a community of close friends, preferably meeting frequently in pubs with wood-burning fires and live music, was a hallmark of being especially practical and self-sufficient; and if you think about it, you’ll see that it makes sense.

After all, if you want to buy absolutely nothing - if you want to create a way to live separate from society - you cannot do it like Thoreau; even Thoreau wasn’t doing it like Thoreau; you have to create an separate society, a self-sufficient community, and live in that.

And interestingly Seymour put his finger on “why communes fail.”

In his experience, which was deep and broad, experiments in self-sufficient communities/communes virtually always failed. And not because the idealistic fools weren’t capable of growing crops, or chopping wood, or whatever. It isn’t even the founders were stupid or ignorant or inexperienced, or because self-sufficiency only attracts dramatic personalities. No, the communities he observed consistently failed because they had no ability to resolve conflict. Every group of people will have to come to a tricky decision, resolve a sticky situation, have an awkward conversation or even just get along with unideal situations. They didn’t fall apart because a sheep fell in a ditch; anyone can get a sheep out of a ditch; they fell apart over the arguments about ideology, ditches, sheep and blame. It was always some issue of conflict or communication that broke these well-meaning, well-intentioned, well-educated people apart.

Step back from that and think: people frequently try to live outside capitalism even in this modern world, people frequently try to live in the most environmentally-friendly way, people frequently try to envision an alternative to a hostile state, even in this world where it is difficult or impossible to do so. For every utopia you might picture, people (being people) will have already made a decent attempt at building and living it, in the hope of showing it or even giving it to you. And those utopias aren’t here at the moment for you to have, because it’s terrifically difficult to make communities out of nothing. And that’s largely because it’s very hard to have communication skills about anything at all, let alone something that gets you mad.

So it’s worth having communication skills. As a matter of self-sufficiency.

If you have ever worked with the public, remember: the public will be part of your politically utopic community.

All the mommy bloggers, all the brosephs, all the every single customer or client or other person you have dealt with who you wanted to fucking strangle, or at least wanted to be allowed one of those amazing moments of Put Down that viral reddit posts are made of, every single frustrating as fuck human: they will be part of your post-capitalist utopia.

They will not wake up, the morning of the revolution, and suddenly become different people. Your choices will be to line them all up against a wall and shoot them . . . .or figure out how to live with them in your community. (And multiple revolutions in the past hundred years have tried that whole "line them up and shoot them" thing, tried it REAL HARD, and it didn't work out great for them either.)

The more de-industrial, de-urbanized, de-impersonal, whatever, your ideal society is? The more it will involve having to work, and work well, and work effectively and without interpersonal violence (physical or social) against people who irritate the fuck out of you.

And no, we never really had any Neat Trick to make that easier in the past. What we most often had was survival pressure so intense that the threat of being ostracized (or having the group turn on you) was enough to force resolutions that nobody was really happy with, or that left an unspoken wound to fester for generations, or to offer up a scapegoat to vent the community's violence on and then pretend to move on, or . . . .

Etc.

If you want a cooperative, non-violent, non-coercive community, and especially if you want that to be the norm, you end up having to learn to work collaboratively and productively with the person who irritates and frustrates and upsets you most in the ENTIRE world. And if you can't picture doing that, then maybe it's time for some self-reflection about how you really want the world to work, and what you're capable of contributing to that.

Reposting this quote from The New Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency just because I find it extremely funny:

“Do not be put off if you find some of the people irritating or bizarre in some way. You have to remember that several of these people are likely to become very good friends as time goes by.”

Do not be put off if you find some of the people irritating or or bizarre in some way. You have to remember that several of these people are likely to become very good friends as time goes by.

Ink: Diamine Schubert

i think everyone deserves a large rock a short distance from their home. i dont like that discussions about walkable cities never include plans to allow wider access to large rocks. the people need large rock

the best fanfic is the one the author had fun writing actually.

the second best is the one the author used to work through some issues.

Snippets Someday

I was tagged by @welcomingdisaster, @thescrapwitch and @polutrope to share a WIP snippet. Here's a little moment from an upcoming chapter of homefic (something a bit happier than the current arc!):

“We need your help,” Elros announced, tugging on Maglor’s hand: he had been staring wistfully out at the snow, and took a moment to blink himself awake and catch up to what Elros was saying. “Go and get your coat, we’re going outside.”

“What on earth for?” Maglor asked, stumbling into the hall after him. (Elros would yank your arm quite hard if he wanted you to follow him.)

“You’ll find out, won’t you? Come on!”

Elros found Maglor’s boots while I stretched on tiptoe to wrap a scarf around his neck. Maglor, nonplussed, allowed us to wrap him in woollens and lead him outside. 

Opening the front door we found a mountain of snow piled on the doorstep, most of which fell in a powdery mess across the doormat. Elros, ignoring the mess, ran straight outside and jumped into the snow: with a crunch it swallowed him almost to his knees. The sound pleased him, and he jumped down each step until he reached the path. Here the snow was shallower, and he could run unencumbered. Maglor and I followed through the deep-cut tracks of his footsteps. 

“What did you need me for, exactly?” Maglor asked warily, as Elros ran in circles about the snowy lawn.

I'm late to the challenge, so not going to tag anyone - play along if you want to share a snippet :)

Seven (only six in my case lol) sentences game

well well well. I actually have a wip this time!

thanks for tagging me @starsuncounted <3

tagging (shouldst thou desire): @kanskje-kaffe @polutrope @swanmaids @sauron-kraut @thecoolblackwaves

Translate me unfaithfully. Translate me adulterously. Translate me and leave a stray hair or a forgotten lipstick stain to tell the audience you have been here.

i find it so interesting how people act like "critically examining a piece of media" is the opposite of "enjoying that piece of media." rip to you but i actually find it really enjoyable and compelling to dissect and think through the art i engage with

the gold and the rust

Daeron/Maglor

summary:

GEN, No Archive Warnings Apply, 50k (9 Chapters)

Chapter 2 !

An experiment in mark-making. (For Daeron, new letterforms; for me, creating tone and texture with only the dip pen brush.)

Maglor inspired moodboard

As the year draws to a close, we gather with friends and share memories and gifts and, of course, a good meal. And there’s nothing like a potluck to make sure there’s something for everyone! For our last challenge of 2024, we’re offering Potluck Bingo. We hope to have a smorgasbord of bingo cards made by you prompting a delectable spread of fanworks, with something to suit all tastes. (The mods will contribute a few boards to get things started. But as with any potluck, the more, the merrier!)

Board Making & Submission (Begins November 1)

Templates are available to make it as simple as possible to create a board - see the challenge page on the site.

You may submit as many boards as you choose, and there is no deadline aside from the challenge deadline of January 15. There is no restriction on board themes.

If you don’t have time to make a board, we also have a form open from November 1 - 8 to submit prompts that someone else can turn into a board. Form submissions are limited to 1 per person. (You are also free to team up and collaborate with other SWG members directly.) The window to submit prompts through the form isn’t very long, but that’s to give the boardmakers sufficient time to work their magic.

Bingo Play begins November 15, when all boards received up to that date will be available on the challenge page. After November 15, we will continue to add boards as they are submitted. You are free to play any board—you are not required to play your own. You may also play as many boards as you want. And of course, you’re free to combine prompts from different boards.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 January 2025. For full details on Potluck Bingo and complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Bingo play begins!

The boards the mods made plus any submitted so far are available on the challenge page. Further boards will be added as they are submitted.

We will not be pulling numbers—there is no daily prompt. Pick your board, and see what prompt(s) on the board spark something.

As there will be many different boards in play, both creators and commenters will need to notify the mods when stamps are needed for bingo (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or card blackout). You can reach us here on Tumblr, DW, Discord, or using the contact form. We will have a special stamp for anyone who plays multiple boards. There will NOT be a stamp for playing all boards, as past experience suggests there could be quite a few...

Maglor, one of the many tortured souls of the Silmarillion

Maglor

- xoxo Balrog "can never be normal about Elrond and Arwen even for a single minute" Balls

have you guys ever heard of fan fics? your faves are getting railed to death in there lol awesome