#nork writes

[wanderingnork]

RIGHT I wrote a fix-it (of sorts) because I am DYING here over the ending of "Destroying a World That Doesn't Exist." Have some happy ending slimeknight.

stars in absence of the darkness: T, no archive warnings apply, 2531 words (plus 300 words of author's notes). Happy ending, but be warned of strong body horror elements.

Summary:

Derek wakes up in a hospital, having survived his merge with the King in Yellow, and in spite of the brain damage he feels pretty good. Avery is waiting to meet him.

[wanderingnork]

Posted a fourth "Searching For a World That Doesn't Exist" fic! This one's heavier on the horror than the rest, so...enjoy >:3

alone on an empty planet: T, No Archive Warnings Apply, slimeknight, 3776 words. Cosmic horror, hurt/comfort, a near-death experience, and terrifying love poetry.

The King in Yellow might be gone, but it isn't the only strange entity looming on the borders of reality. Avery is about to find out more about the eerie things that lurk just out of his sight—things that think he's very interesting. Luckily, he doesn't have to face them alone.

[wanderingnork]

New post-Destroying A World That Doesn't Exist fic...

light from infinite depths: T, no archive warnings, 2293 words. Slimeknight, some psychological horror due to the consequences of infinite knowledge, happy ending. Summary:

A year after the Crossroads, Derek's still got a head full of semi-infinite knowledge, but little by little, with Avery's help, he's healing. Time to go outside and touch some grass.

[wanderingnork]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

oh boy I have 362 fics to choose from so okay so let's see...in no particular order:

The Protector: Dishonored, Corvo/Outsider, 17,519 words, G, no archive warnings apply.

An AU I wrote concerning how Corvo, after Dishonored 2, might accidentally go about starting a religious reformation in the Isles on behalf of the Outsider. One of my favorite things I've ever written just because of how unhinged it is as a premise and how WELL it ended up working out.

overgrown: Dragon Age, Female Adaar/Solas, 16,823 words, E, creator chose not to use archive warnings.

A hanahaki disease AU with PLENTY of body horror and emotions. Takes place immediately after the events of Dragon Age Trespasser, as the Inquisitor develops a case of hanahaki disease coughing up wolfsbane...while on the other side of the continent, Solas develops his own form of hanahaki as kudzu vines grow inside him. Absolutely horrific body horror, some of my best ever, I love this fic to pieces.

we've got tonight: Wizard101, Player Character/Dasein, 2022 words, M, no archive warnings apply.

An (aged-up) wizard falls in love with a benevolent eldritch horror and they have sex about their feelings in a hotel room. I had SO much fun with this one, the room descriptions are some of the best I've done and writing Dasein for the first time was delightful.

Under One Sky: Baldur's Gate 3/Dungeons & Dragons, whole lotta pairings but especially Lae'zel/Tav, Orpheus/Tav, and Orpheus/Voss, 35,090 words, M, graphic depictions of violence.

My beloved githyanki lore longfic! I took pretty much all the githyanki research I'd done at the time of writing, including all the random githyanki npcs and bits of worldbuilding and language and lore, to construct a world of the post-BG3 githyanki rebellion...with the twist that Lae'zel arrived a bit late to the party, and had to let go of her allegiance to Vlaakith under very different circumstances. Features so many red dragons, githyanki and githzerai being feral at all times, speeches I fully translated into Tir, a sprawling cast, epic battles, and intimate moments of romance.

A Dragon's Treatise on Government: Temeraire series, Laurence/Temeraire, 10,222 words, T, no archive warnings apply.

I threw political philosophy at dragons and it was FUN. Temeraire, always interested in dragon rights and books and riding the high of meeting Chinese dragons, discovers the joys of John Locke's social contract theory, and drags his beloved Laurence along with him. It's the two of them talking philosophy and defining their mutual feelings while Temeraire plans a revolution. Chaos. Love this for them.

[wanderingnork]

Posted the first chapter of a Silmarillion fic! Featuring my extreme rarepair OTP, Lúthien/Maedhros. (There are snacks in there for Russingon shippers, too, don't worry.) Inspired by the realistic consequences of a volcanic eruption the size of Mount Tambora in 1815, the eruption that caused the Year Without a Summer. This will run to over 80,000 words and it *is* complete as of posting, so if you pick it up, buckle in for the long haul.

wind daughter, white flame: 1525 words, T, No Archive Warnings Apply, ch.1/?

Summary:

Two months after Thangorodrim erupts, Lúthien—lost in a blizzard—arrives in Himring. Maedhros, trying to keep his people alive through war and a deadly volcanic winter, has to contend with the politics of hosting a Sindarin princess as well as surviving Morgoth's onslaught. Neither of them really expect to fall in love. And neither of them expect consequences that will shake the foundations of Middle-Earth.

[wanderingnork]

6, 17 and 29 for AO3 wrapped?

6. Favorite title you used

metamorphic

The process of metamorphism in geology describes how one type of rock is changed via mechanisms of heat and pressure (and occasionally the presence of chemically-active fluids, like water carrying certain minerals) into another type of rock, with a different mineral composition and texture. The source of heat/pressure can be the movement of a faultline, the impact of a meteorite, or something else. Limestone may become marble, sandstone may become quartzite, granite may become gneiss, kyanite becomes andalusite becomes sillimanite.

In context of my fic, I chose the title very deliberately. Our favorite tragic antihero of the Silmarillion is suffering at the hands of Morgoth and Sauron in the depths of the volcanic fortress of Angband. He's enduring the impossible, undergoing a spiritually metamorphic process changing him from Maitimo to Maedhros. A prince born under the holy light of the Two Trees is becoming a king-in-all-but-title who will wage wars that will reshape an entire continent.

I'm very fond of this fic and of its title!

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

OH THIS IS HARD. I've handled a lot of fun characters. But man...I gotta say Sauron. (If I'm being appropriately Feanorian about it, Þauron.) He is, with all the love in my heart, such a bitch. He's polite, courteous, witty, and loves to get his hands bloody. He calls Maedhros "your highness" and means it in all sincerity while vivisecting him. In my yet-unpublished longfic, he shows up for exactly one scene to chew the scenery to shreds, wear the fanciest armor possible, and grow anglerfish teeth just to upset everyone. He wears gemstones in his hair, collects cool rocks, and desperately wants to lecture about all the cool things he knows to anyone who will listen. He unironically considers torture victims to be fellow researchers in matters of science and would 100% credit them as co-authors if anyone in Valinor would let him publish a paper. He's lonely, cruel, pitiable, and steals the show just by walking through the door.

Expect more Maedhros-in-Angband next year because Sauron wants more screentime and what Sauron wants, he gets.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Unpublished longfic sneak peek: my response to the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, through Caranthir speaking to his unexpected foster son Handir of the Haladin.

“I made Haleth a promise, when we wed,” Caranthir says. He looks out the window. “Her people would be my people. Finrod thought I was insane. He saw nothing but tragedy in our future. He had already lived through the death of his beloved Bëor and many others of the short-lived Secondborn. He thought—and told me to my face—that I should have a fair yet unfinished memory of Haleth, rather than a life beside her until her death. Later, Finrod counseled his brother Aegnor and the wise-woman Andreth to give up a life together. He thought there would be naught for any marriage of Edain and Eldar but grief and pity and anguish.” “You didn't listen to him,” Handir says, when Caranthir pauses. “You married her.” Caranthir stares at the window. Handir doesn't think he's seeing the view, though. “Of course I did. We lived through her youth and her middle years and one day I rode into Brethil to find an old woman waiting for me. I did not care. I never pitied Haleth for her age. She felt no shame in it. I grieve her—I always will—but I feel no despair at her passing. We loved each other in the time we had. There is no tragedy in that.” Handir thinks of the stories of Caranthir traveling alone along the border of Nan Dungortheb, under the edge of Doriath’s trees in defiance of King Greycloak, to reach Haleth. Of how Caranthir lived eight years among the Haladin when Haleth grew old, only departing when Haleth died. Of how, over and over, he came back, a friend and guardian when the Haladin were in need. Caranthir looks at Handir. “This is the lesson I can give you that is more important than any lesson in mathematics or literature or swordplay,” Caranthir says. “You carry the Gift of Men. One day—may that day be a hundred years away—you will die. So take these years you have and live. Go into old age knowing more joy and love than pain.”

[wanderingnork]

🌈 for the WIP game ✨

soft and fluffy eh? how about this romantic scene from late in my fic with an established relationship :3

-

“They love you,” Lúthien says, apropos of nothing. A few locks of her hair, damp from the rain, stick to her forehead and cheeks.

“What?”

“Your people,” she says. She smiles. Her elbows are propped on the table and her chin rests on her folded hands. “Do you not see how they look at you? I think I have dashed the hopes of several young people by marrying you first.”

Maedhros offers Lúthien a skeptical expression.

“They do not see a grim terror on the mountain,” Lúthien says. “They see the liege-lord who has ruled them in prosperity and safety since before their parents were born. And he is a handsome liege-lord, too.”

Instead of arguing or agreeing, neither of which are likely to work here, Maedhros kisses Lúthien. She makes a soft sound of amusement, but doesn't object. Her palms settle on his chest, warm and steady. Maedhros closes his eyes. For a little while, let there be nothing but Lúthien’s touch and the sound of the rain.

[wanderingnork]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

T, No Archive Warnings, Dasein/Divine Paradox

Summary: After Wallaru, after the Dreaming, after the Doom Moon…the Divine Paradox and the Nothing come home.