Pencil. Writer irl. Your friendly neighborhood camp counselor. Fandoms: Tolkien, Star Wars, Rogue One, Stranger Things, Watcher, Newsies, Les Mis.
And other fandoms, in assorted shapes and sizes. I can be found on ao3, insta, and threads under the same name
You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about stories, and how they are meant to go. How certain things must happen, in order for the story to go right. You see, in some versions of the story, Thorin Oakenshield goes to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor and both succeeds and fails; he wins back the mountain at the cost of his life, he gains a room full of treasure but loses the greatest treasure he’s ever known in the heart of a homely Hobbit. Certain stories have to happen certain ways.
But not every story goes the same.
In this story, Thorin Oakenshield arrives in the Shire early.
(and I've come back changed, I can feel it in my bones.)
“The thing is,” Frodo says, looking quite pale, “the treatment might not even work, and September seems an awfully long time from now and. Well, I don’t want to—that is, I want to see things. I want to go out into the world and—” he tosses a hand in the air and lets it drop, suddenly choked up. Beside him, Sam leans stoutly into his side and squeezes his hand.
~
Legolas smiles back, looking at the way the morning sun halos behind Gimli’s head.
Sam slides the door shut. “Wait, I need to take a picture!” He whips out his camera and snaps a picture, getting the men in the front to lean in.
“Buckle up!” Aragorn calls.
The van turns out of Legolas’ parking lot and into the street.
((i finished the video in an unhealthily short amount of time lmao but i hope you all like it! wearing headphones is probably the best. please let me know what you think <3))
Do you own multiple copies of the same book? What's the largest number of copies you have of any one book?
I don't own any books
I only own 1 copy of all the books I own
I own 2 copies of a book
I own 3–4 copies of a book
I own 5–7 copies of a book
I own 8–10 copies of a book
I own 11+ copies of a book
I'm not sure/it's complicated
Voting ended onAug 27, 2025
Count reprints, later editions of the same book, etc. If you have a copy that includes multiple books in one volume, you can count that, but do not count sequels/etc on their own. You can count ebooks and audiobooks if you possess the files in a permanent way (borrowed and streamed don't count).
–
We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.
i love the lavender marriage idea in newsies. jack and sarah getting married, and katherine and davey getting married, because people don’t like gays?? give me more. i love love love it.
so random hcs about it (it gets long so beware):
kathy and sarah would talk about marriage a lot in their relationship. they romanticize everything having to do with being a married couple; their wedding, a honeymoon, having an apartment together, etc.
sarah came up with the idea of fake marriage after facing some pressure from her parents and SOCIETY to settle down. she suggested it to jack, and he LOVED it. they both gushed about the idea for like, an hour
sarah and jack brought it up to katherine and davey, and they were skeptical at first. katherine and davey weren’t as close as sarah and jack, and were slightly uncomfortable with the idea of being legally married to each other.
katherine came around to the idea first, after talking with sarah more about it. she and davey started talking and hanging out more, which definitely helped. davey got on board with it not long after kathy, and soon he became OBSESSED with the idea.
davey and sarah both casually mention to their parents that they’re dating katherine and jack, respectively. les is standing there like ‘bro wtf are they talking about, my brother is gay as hell for jack’ meanwhile davey is STARING les down like ‘if you say anything, i will kill you’
sarah and jack get married first, it’s a small wedding with just sarah’s family, plus kath, and jack invites crutchie and race, who are laughing at the whole ordeal. jack and sarah really act up the whole ‘in love’ thing, the kiss and first dance looks very realistic and everyone is convinced they’re in love.
katherine and davey get married later the same year, and it’s a slightly larger wedding. kath invited her father just to get him off her back (she goes non contact soon after) and a few of her work friends. they are both incredibly awkward though, and can barely hold hands without looking disgusted or laughing. nobody really notices, they just assume they’re nervous.
as for their private weddings, for the REAL couples, they considered having a joint wedding, but ultimately decided to have two separate weddings, because nobody could agree on any of the planning.
kath and sarah had an outdoor wedding, at some small garden or smth. it was very ‘cottagecore lesbian’ vibes. sarah’s best man was david (with les, spot, and someone else idk as bridesmen) and kath’s was darcy (with bill, race and jack as bridesmen). sarah wore a white dress, the kind that you would run across a field of flowers in. katherine wore a white dress too, and also wore a tiny white top hat. their bouquets were pink and purple, respectively. most of the newsies were there, too.
jack and davey decided to have their ceremony at medda’s theater. so basically the audience was packed with newsies. jack’s best man was crutchie (with race, kath, and albert as bridesmen) and davey’s was sarah (with les, elmer, and SOMEONE IDK). medda walked jack down the isle btw. they both wore suits, but jack’s was unbuttoned and less formal. davey wore a blue tie and flower on his suit, and jack wore a red bow tie and flower.
((side note: of course there would be jewish wedding traditions probably included since the jacobs are jewish. i’m not educated enough to write them, so please add if you want <3))
they don’t typically wear their wedding rings from the ‘fake’ weddings, if asked they just say they don’t want to lose it, or they couldn’t afford it. instead they have ‘promise jewelry’; kathy and sarah have bracelets, and jack and davey have necklaces.
i most definitely have more hcs surrounding this idea, but i’ve been procrastinating posting this all day lolll
"You're mentally strong like a foundation of a house" and you think aw cute yeah then you look up the meaning of foundation being the strongest thing underneath a house that the building is set on then you think aw that's an interesting comparison because these guys go to haunted houses for a living that are sometimes ruins but the foundations of those houses remain and then you think "oh wow Ryan and Shane would build a house together" and it occurs to you that they already did and that house is metaphorically watcher. And it all circles back to how Ryan believes in Shane and Shane was seen as someone who doesnt show his feelings very much but then again like the foundations being underground a house you dont see it but they are there.
✭ brushing your thumb over their knuckles while you're both not saying a word, just existing quietly in the same space like it's the most sacred thing.
✭ them absentmindedly playing with the hem of your sleeve because they want to touch you but aren’t ready to say it yet.
✭ “can i kiss you?” whispered like they’re afraid the moment might shatter if they speak too loud.
✭ their voice cracking just a little when they say your name for the first time in a long time.
✭ them resting their forehead against yours and just… staying there. No words. No movement. Just breath. Just nearness.
✭ sharing headphones and they keep looking at you during the best part of the song. you don’t even know what the song means to them but suddenly it means everything to you.
✭ "stay the night?" said so soft it might’ve been a wish.
✭ dragging their fingers gently down your back like they’re trying to memorize the map of your spine.
✭ tracing your features with their fingertip like you're a sculpture in a museum and they were not supposed to touch you, but god, they can’t help it.
✭ “don’t leave yet.” not because you’re going somewhere. but because being with you is the safest they’ve felt all day.
✭ their voice in the dark. low. quiet. like the night is just for you two.
✭ "this reminded me of you" and it’s just a stupid rock or a weird leaf but you hold onto it like it's a diamond because it's you to them.
✭ laying in bed, face smushed into the pillow, sleep-drunk and murmuring, “you make me feel like i’m home.”
✭ them looking at you like you're not just a person, but their favorite story. one they’ve been rereading since forever and still keep finding new parts to fall in love with.
my dream as a fanfic writer is for one day, one of my fics to be someones comfort fic. like the fic that they reread when they don't feel good and want to be happy. i want my words to comfort someone one day
listen shyan drives me insane because i know in my mind they aren't literally actually together romantically, but the way they interact and the amount of videos WHOLE SERIES that are framed as. dates?? weird wonderful world? food files? like i need this shit to stop being controversial so that i can openly ask someone to make a compilation of their blatant flirting because i just know that that video would be like, an hour+ long
You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about stories, and how they are meant to go. How certain things must happen, in order for the story to go right. You see, in some versions of the story, Thorin Oakenshield goes to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor and both succeeds and fails; he wins back the mountain at the cost of his life, he gains a room full of treasure but loses the greatest treasure he’s ever known in the heart of a homely Hobbit. Certain stories have to happen certain ways.
But not every story goes the same.
In this story, Thorin Oakenshield arrives in the Shire early.
Legolas pretty quickly gets in the habit of venting about his travelling companions in Elvish, so long as Gandalf & Aragorn aren’t in earshot they’ll never know right?
Then about a week into their journey like
Legolas: *in Elvish, for approximately the 20th time* ugh fucking hobbits, so annoying
Frodo: *also in Elvish, deadpan* yeah we’re the worst
i mean, honestly it’s amazing the Elves had as many languages and dialects as they did, considering Galadriel (for example) is over seven thousand years old.
english would probably have changed less since Chaucer’s time, if a lot of our cultural leaders from the thirteenth century were still alive and running things.
they’ve had like. seven generations since the sun happened, max. frodo’s books are old to him, but outside any very old poetry copied down exactly, the dialect represented in them isn’t likely to be older than the Second Age, wherein Aragorn’s foster-father Elrond started out as a very young adult and grew into himself, and Legolas’ father was born.
so like, three to six thousand years old, maybe, which is probably a drop in the bucket of Elvish history judging by all the ethnic differentiation that had time to develop before Ungoliant came along, even if we can’t really tell because there weren’t years to count, before the Trees were destroyed.
plus a lot of Bilbo’s materials were probably directly from Elrond, whose library dates largely from the Third Age, probably, because he didn’t establish Imladris until after the Last Alliance. and Elrond isn’t the type to intentionally help Bilbo learn the wrong dialect and sound sillier than can be helped, even if everyone was humoring him more than a little.
so Frodo might sound hilariously formal for conversational use (though considering how most Elves use Westron he’s probably safe there) and kind of old-fashioned, but he’s not in any danger of being incomprehensible, because elves live on such a ridiculous timescale.
to over-analyse this awesome and hilarious post even more, legolas’ grandfather was from linguistically stubborn Doriath and their family is actually from a somewhat different, higher-status ethnic background than their subjects.
so depending on how much of a role Thranduil took in his upbringing (and Oropher in his), Legolas may have some weird stilted old-fashioned speaking tics in his Sindarin that reflect a more purely Doriathrin dialect rather than the Doriathrin-influenced Western Sindarin that became the most widely spoken Sindarin long before he was born, or he might have a School Voice from having been taught how to Speak Proper and then lapse into really obscure colloquial Avari dialect when he’s being casual. or both!
considering legolas’ moderately complicated political position, i expect he can code-switch.
…it’s also fairly likely considering the linguistic politics involved that Legolas is reasonably articulate in Sindarin, though with some level of accent, but knows approximately zero Quenya outside of loanwords into Sindarin, and even those he mostly didn’t learn as a kid.
which would be extra hilarious when he and gimli fetch up in Valinor in his little homemade skiff, if the first elves he meets have never been to Middle Earth and they’re just standing there on the beach reduced to miming about what is the short beard person, and who are you, and why.
this is elvish dialects and tolkien, okay. there’s a lot of canon material! he actually initially developed the history of middle-earth specifically to ground the linguistic development of the various Elvish languages!
Frodo: *frantically scribbling* Hang on which language are you even speaking right now
Pippin, confused: Is he not speaking Elvish?
Frodo, sarcastically: I dunno, are you speaking Hobbit?
Boromir, who has been lowkey pissed-off at the Hobbits’ weird dialect this whole time: That’s what it sounds like to me.
Merry, who actually knows some shit about Hobbit background: We are actually speaking multiple variants of the Shire dialect of Westron, you ignorant fuck.
Sam, a mere working-class country boy: Honestly y'all could be talkin Dwarvish half the time for all I know.
