mithen

Title: A Great Battle Won in Silence
Relationship: Thorin/Bilbo
Characters: Thorin, Bilbo, Thranduil
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: G
Word Count 2900
Summary: With Thorin and his company imprisoned, Bilbo spends difficult days invisible in the halls of the Elvenking.
Notes: Tweaking book-canon just a bit so Thorin is captured at the same time as the other dwarves.

( The stronghold of the Elvenking was a maze of twisting corridors and flickering lamplight. Bilbo Baggins hurried after the line of captured dwarves, his magic ring heavy on his hand. )

Title: Ink Will Have to Do
Relationship: Thorin/Bilbo
Characters: Bilbo, Thorin, Balin, Ori
Warnings/Spoilers: Fluff and angst in that order, references to canon character death
Rating: G
Word Count 2100
Summary: While recovering from illness in Laketown, Bilbo discovers that Thorin has an unexpected gift for drawing. (Where did Bilbo get that portrait of himself we see at the beginning of the movie in his book?)

( Thorin merely shook his head and rested a heavy hand on Bilbo's forehead, brushing back his hair. His hand was cool as living stone, and Bilbo sighed with the pleasure of it against his fevered brow. )

Title: Buttons of Diamond, Buttons of Wood
Relationship: Thorin/Bilbo
Characters: Bilbo, Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Bofur, Gloin, Ori, Dori
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: G
Word Count 1400
Summary: A quiet day in Beorn's hall, in which Thorin finds his company spending their time frivolously.

( The lazy buzzing of bees was loud in Thorin Oakenshield's ears as he organized his pack once again. Everything was there--everything but his shield, of course. He swallowed and drew the strings tight. )

Title: The Undiscovered Country (4/4)
Continuity: The Dark Knight Rises
Pairing/Characters: Jim Gordon/Bruce Wayne
Warnings: None
Summary: While Jim and Bruce weather a cold Northeastern spring, Batman returns to Gotham, and both of them are forced to consider their options.
Rating: Light PG-13
Word Count: 3600

( That evening, they turned on the late-night news to find the news anchor with a manic gleam in his eye. Before he even said anything, Jim felt Bruce's muscles tense. )

Title: Search and Rescue
Relationship: Clark/Bruce
Characters: Clark, Bruce, the League
Continuity: Justice League Unlimited
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count 3000
Summary: Batman reluctantly goes to find a missing Superman. But why would a Kryptonian need rescuing?
Notes: For the WFGE! Prompt F23: Batman and Superman have a tumultuous relationship, but when Superman goes missing off world it is Batman who goes to search for him. Clark has gone through an ordeal that has caused amnesia. He doesn't know Batman or remember his past life. Bruce finds himself re evaluating his feelings for Clark.

( I'm sure he's gotten sidetracked somewhere and is playing superhero on some worshipful planet and just forgotten to check in. They're probably building statues to him right now as he juggles mountains for their entertainment. I'll just go tell him the League can't function without him and would he pretty please hurry home, all right? )

--Yuletide this year was a lot of fun! I wrote four stories, some in delightfully tiny fandoms, and ended up very pleased with the results. Three of my stories ended up on rec lists, so I was particularly thrilled with that!

Orual and the Queen (6588 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Orual, Istra, Bardia, Arnom, The Fox
Summary: When Orual discovers her lost sister Psyche in slavery and brings her home, she expects a happy ending. But Psyche's story is not so easily rewritten...
This was the Yuletide prompt I was matched with--Till We Have Faces is a dark, haunting retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth from the viewpoint of the "ugly stepsister." It also, in my humble opinion, has the only truly believable, realized female character C.S. Lewis ever wrote (the fact that his wife apparently helped with the writing might have had something to do with that). Orual is amazing--selfish, passionate, brave, a wise ruler and a humane person, although she never quite seems to realize it about herself. I love her and was happy to have a chance to try and present her as other characters in the book might have seen her (the book is in first person POV, so we never see Orual externally except through hints and implications).

Abide With Me (2901 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Songcatcher (2000)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Eleanor "Elna" Penlaric/Harriet Tolliver
Characters: Eleanor "Elna" Penlaric, Harriet Tolliver
Summary: Eleanor Penlaric fell in love with Harriet Tolliver's words before she ever met her.
When I went to look at my Yuletide recipient's letter, I noticed she'd asked for fic about this movie for nearly every exchange ever. I didn't know the movie, but surely such dedication should go rewarded at some point! So I found the movie and got to write this little story about two of the characters--teachers and lovers in Appalachia at the turn of the 20th century. I wanted to write a story about how they met, which led to some wonderfully fun research about the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the early feminist movement. I had a blast with this story.

Finding the Right Words (1181 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Demon Knights, DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Exoristos/Shining Knight
Characters: Exoristos, Shining Knight
Summary: Exoristos is an Amazon. Amazons do not love men. Shining Knight is a man. One of these propositions must be wrong. Ex used to think she knew which one, but now she's not so sure.

A Seat at the Round Table (1583 words) by mithen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Demon Knights, DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Shining Knight, Arthur Pendragon
Summary: In which Sir Ystin arrives in Camelot and, after long travails, proves himself to King Arthur and the court.
I'd been really looking forward to getting to read some Demon Knights fic for Yuletide, so imagine my disappointment when two different prompts showed up on the pinch hit list! Obviously the only way to ensure Demon Knights got the attention it deserved was to write it myself--so I did. :)

--In other fannish news, I went to see The Hobbit before Christmas and enjoyed it very much, but was completely blindsided by what they've done with the Thorin Oakenshield character. Still promotional photos don't do him justice--this guy is angsty smouldering sex on wheels, and I left the movie completely and totally smitten. Martin Freeman is utterly adorable as Bilbo and inhabits the character wonderfully, capturing all sorts of Hobbity mannerisms and non-verbals that make him totally memorable.

Hm, a brooding, angsty Prince who witnessed the death of his parents at an early age, then wandered the world preparing for the day when he will return to his home and reclaim it...a peaceful, apparently-simple guy from a bucolic rural town who may have more inner strength than he seems to... Uh oh.

Yeah, I'm afraid you're going to have to brace yourself for some (God, I hope) understated Thorin/Bilbo on your flist soon. It's really the first fannish thing from which I've emerged saying "I MUST WRITE SOMETHING" in...ages...so I've decided it's no use fighting it.

(Can anyone point me to some good Hobbity icons, maybe?)

Title: Cold Iron
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Word Count 3900
Summary: On a Solstice night, under a full moon, Batman is drawn into a world of beauty and danger.
Notes: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange! Prompt F8, "Clark/Kal is one of the Fey and Bruce is only human, how could it possibly work out?"

( Between the pale trunks of the yellow beech trees he saw them coming, a retinue of white horses carrying figures in full plate armor that glimmered like moonlight on water. Most were silver, but a few were a pale steel-blue, and they were led by a knight wearing armor that seemed to be carved from pure sapphire. )

Title: Lifeline
Pairing: Clark/Bruce, Dick Grayson
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Rating: G
Word Count 1400
Summary: Dick Grayson is in a San Francisco hospital bed and Bruce Wayne isn't taking it very well.
Notes: Written for the World's Finest Gift Exchange! Prompt F16, "Early in their careers, Clark and Bruce fell in love and raised Dick together as their son. When a teenaged Dick is seriously hurt during a Teen Titans mission, they maintain a vigil at his bedside, reminiscing about their lives together as a family."

( Just come to his room now. You haven't been there once, Bruce. Come see our son. )

Title: The Undiscovered Country (2/4)
Continuity:  The Dark Knight Rises
Pairing/Characters: Jim Gordon/Bruce Wayne
Warnings: None
Summary: Jim and Bruce arrive at a cabin on the lake and start to re-orient themselves.
Rating:  G this chapter, up to light PG-13 overall
Word Count: 2300



( The morning was cool. Winter was still in the air, little piles of snow lingering in sheltered spots. The air smelled of lake water and pine needles. )