#silver lining tag

[scary-grace]

9. share 4 out of context images that you feel represent a wip

the barduil band AU...

thanks for the ask!

wip ask game

[scary-grace]

🧭 What was the key choice or decision you had to make for this story? If you had chosen differently, what would the story have turned into?

for show a little faith and/or seeking a friend please! because I know you did a lot of rewriting on seeking a friend and I am mildly feral about how it might have gone if you didn't, and because I love show a little faith SO DAMN MUCH <3333333

🧭 What was the key choice or decision you had to make for this story? If you had chosen differently, what would the story have turned into?

I'll try to answer this for both fics, because I think it's a great question!

'show a little faith' - I think the main choice I had to make was how deep to go into Thranduil's backstory. Prior to starting 'show a little faith', I'd already completely written the first two installments of the band AU (in Thorin's and Bilbo's perspectives), and in those fics, Thranduil was a character but also a caricature. Which would make sense, from Bagginshield's perspective, but from Bard's - Thranduil's backstory was going to play a huge role, and I had to decide how much of the complexity I wanted to show. I will give huge credit to @greatestkindofcourage here -- my conversations with him really convinced me that I needed to include all of it. And I'm really glad I did! I think 'show a little faith' would have been a much less vibrant, dynamic story without Thranduil's full story...or most of Thranduil's story.

'seeking a friend' -- I think the key decision I had to make was whether to keep the original second half of the story or to scrap it and try again. Unfortunately, I found myself trying to make that decision while already posting the first half of the fic. I think if I had kept the original back half, I would never have finished the fic. Trying to progress the story on the original back half of the fic was making me miserable and dispirited. I was trying to juggle too many extra characters and I'd way overdone the mutation plotline. Deciding to redo the back half, get rid of the extra characters, and pare back some of the focus on the mutations is really what made 'seeking a friend' into a fic that was possible to actually finish and be proud of.

Thank you for the ask!

fic ask game

[scary-grace]

🌹

Hi! For your ask I borrowed a sentence from the next chapter of Searching for a Heart of Gold:

Bilbo is not exactly pleased that the band was using him as Thorin bait, but he’s more than a little gratified that it worked.

Thank you for the ask!

[scary-grace]

What’s heart of gold?

The full name of the fic is Searching For A Heart Of Gold, and it’s a Bagginshield fic that I wrote back in 2019, consisting of Bilbo’s POV for the band AU (Show Me My Silver Lining) in Thorin’s POV. It updates very infrequently — when I remember it, basically. I’m hoping to get an update done this week!

Thanks for the ask!

[that-last-alliance-fan]

three down, ten to go (1/3)

[untatted version under the cut]

[ @scary-grace ]

[scary-grace]

Not a question, just wanted to tell you that I absolutely love your hobbit band au and all the different pov's!!

I'm so glad you enjoy them! After I finished writing Silver Lining (Thorin's POV), I found that I wasn't ready to abandon that AU, and writing Bilbo's perspective gave me a chance to spend a little more time with the band and write a few more song lyrics. I should also say that this ask inspired me to edit and post the next chapter of Searching for a Heart of Gold, so I thank you for that as well. <3

[scary-grace]

bilbo baggins

Only in Seattle [laugh emoji]. I'm pretty sure I outed my geographic location with that scene in Silver Lining (I think we're a few chapters away from that in Heart of Gold) but I couldn't resist the joke. I couldn't think of anybody, real or fictional, who would enjoy the existence of Dick's Drive-In more than Kili and Fili would.

Thank you for the ask!

[scary-grace]

Thorin’s thoughts in silver lining: abstract ideas about unbuttoning Bilbo's pajama shirt, going red in the face at Bilbo post-yoga, thinking about his hair all the time etc, etc

Bilbo's thoughts in heart of gold: Thorin’s got a great ass. If he's gay he'd better be checking me out right now.

I've been wheezing over this ask since I got it, holy shit. This is the only piece of Silver Lining/Heart of Gold analysis ever. 100/10, no notes, thank you for absolutely making my day.

see under the cut for semi-serious meta that this ask made me think of

In some ways I think this really reflects the ratio of trauma to resilience for Bilbo and Thorin in this AU -- Bilbo has had a rough time, but it occurred in adulthood, and he came to it from a loving, supportive foundation. He has the confidence to look at what he wants and say it directly. Thorin, on the other hand, has had a rough time from childhood, with minimal support, and has either implicitly or explicitly been punished for voicing any desires, let alone sexual desire. He has to talk around it to avoid the punishment or shame that he's been taught to expect.

I do think that Thorin, songwriter that he is, will always express himself more poetically than Bilbo will, because that's how he views the world. Bilbo eventually has to adjust to the fact that Thorin complimenting his hair when they're out and about is the equivalent of anybody else suggesting getting a room.