Timestamp Meme: Prompt Me!

[jedibuttercup]

All right. Because of the hectic nature of my immediate schedule, and the fact that I'm also trying to revive crossover_news, I've decided not to run a crossover LFFWS ficathon this summer. Especially considering I had more people offering art than saying they'd participate (love all of you, by the way). It would be a schedule-dependent, time-consuming project that I'm afraid I'd drop the ball on. So. Bookmark that thought for fall, k?

In the meantime: I'm about 380 words into empressvesica's reward story but need to do some research into Major Disaster Davis before I can continue it; the Lesser Men update is flowing like treacle; there are no ficathons I'm all that interested in; and I'm afraid the creative wheels will lock up again if I don't keep producing something. Therefore, to change things up a bit, I'm going to run the Timestamp Meme!

Give me one of my own stories, and a timestamp sometime in the future after the end of the story, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll tell you what happened then, whether it's five minutes before the story started or ten years in the future.

(LIMITATIONS: You may pick from ANY of the stories that have been put up on my website-- see my fic index here-- whether long or short, EXCEPT for any fic story or series there marked WIP. Obviously, I'm already/still working on those).

I'll take the first TEN prompts, just like with the drabble requests I've taken before. (And like the drabble requests, while I promise to get them all done-- it may take a few months, depending on available time and stress on my part).
~

Comments

[maevebran.livejournal.com]

Knower of Names - a month later.=)

[emony2.livejournal.com]

Bookmark that thought for fall, k? - *grins* I keep seeing ficathons that make me want to write them and then they're for this summer... or before the end of September at the least. Considering that my MA dissertation is due at the end of September I've banned myself from participating in any of them. So I look forward to something I will be able to participate in :D

The Independent Groom - one year and three months on. ;)

[wnnb-darklord.livejournal.com]

Am sad to see that the LFFWS thing won't be turning up soon, but I think I'll live ;) My offer will still stand whenever you decide to go through with it!

As for the Meme...um...Brave New World. Year 3018 of the Third Age should do it :)

[jedibuttercup]

Just so you know, this prompt of yours has been nagging at me for months now, though it's been long enough since I last read or watched LotR that I can't seem to make the proper mental shift to write it. I'll have to set aside a weekend sometime this fall to do so. But in the meantime—is this plot bunny the sort of thing you were looking for?

---

The sequel will begin seventy-odd years after Aragon got the ring, when the War of the Ring would have occurred in canon. But—the backstory to get there:

Estel was strong enough as a ten year old, having not yet contaminated himself by using it, to hide the One Ring under his bed rather than on his person and mostly forget about it. While it remained inert Elrond could not directly sense it, though he was often wary, especially after Gandalf worried to him about Bilbo's ring's appearance and absence. All the same, by the time Aragorn found out about his heritage a decade or so later, it had managed to sink dark roots enough that though he still went out to learn about other Men as in canon, it was with the subconscious aim of taking up the power due him, rather than merely shepherding his flock as best he could from the shadows. Though he did meet Arwen before leaving as in the books, he was already too distracted by other concerns to fall into the "love at first sight" relationship that dominated his canon life.

This Aragorn first used the Ring in Rohan, after first meeting and parting from a vaguely disquieted Gandalf, probably in the service of some military engagement against marauding Orc or dark men in the hills, and could not stop using it thereafter. His cult of personality grew swiftly; and once he left there for Gondor, he thrived under the approval of the Steward-- fully accepting Ecthelion's preferential treatment of him rather than maintaining his distance and running North as soon as his military leadership was no longer necessary. When Ecthelion made the connection between his appearance, origins, and manner and the lost royal blood of the North, he admitted it, accepted the hand of Finduilas (daughter of a Prince!) in Denethor's place, and settled in, delegating his obligations as chieftain of the Dunedain of the North to his cousin Halbarad.

After the birth of an heir and a spare to the Crown, Ecthelion, rapidly fading, announced Aragorn's lineage rather than turn the country over to his own son-- and events spiraled out of control from there. Aragorn was beautiful, and terrible, to the people; they were awed by the tales of his exploits in the war, but also secretly disquieted by the dark hints already visible in his nature. When Denethor schemed against him after Ecthelion's death, the Steward's displaced son found enough supporters, and at his coronation, struck. Aragorn escaped the city, but Denethor, left in charge of Aragorn's minor sons, publicly decried the anonymous assassins who had taken the life of their almost-King's wife and took up the mantle of regent "until the King return".

Meanwhile, the informed Nine searched out Aragorn in the wilderness-- tracking him by the Ring he'd naturally used in his escape. He was found, and captured, despite his efforts. Sauron, laughing for joy, took up the Ring and began crushing all who lived in Middle-earth, one land at a time.

By 3018, virtually all the Elves have fled, the Hobbits are slain, the surviving Dwarves have closed themselves up in their caverns, and the remaining Human resistance has withdrawn North into hastily rebuilt fastnesses in erstwhile Arnor. Of the Elder Days' heroes, very few have stayed behind, one being Elrond-- who remade Narsil and put it into the hand of Aragorn's heir, Boromir.

The story is told in Boromir's brother Faramir's hand, in a journal entry, as his attempt to set down the terrible trainwreck of his father's legacy before the brothers head out in a futile attempt to finish what Isildur had started so many years before.

[wnnb-darklord.livejournal.com]

First off, sorry for the slightly late reply. I went on a trip and only returned yesterday.
Now as for your plot bunny - OMG! This is more than I was looking for. It's bloody brilliant! I love it and I will (im)patiently look forward to the fic! *squee*

[treppie.livejournal.com]

Cages of Their Own Making - 6 months earlier

[kerravonsen]

20 minutes after Crackpot Theories.

[lt-kitty.livejournal.com]

What Has To Be Done

Future, after Jack's retirement. Number of months or years not important.

[avamclean.livejournal.com]

Goddess of Prophecy: One year and six months in the future.

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Please forgive my rampant vacillation here, you've got entirely too many stories of which would dearly love to see more. I have to go with "Pending Acquisition", six months later. Lilah is so not going to be a happy camper.

Final answer. *sheepish grin*

[jedibuttercup]

Got to yours first. Hope you like it:

Something Ventured, Nothing Gained

http://jedibuttercup.livejournal.com/215942.html

[beatrice_otter]

A choice:

The Road More Travelled: 18+ years later

A day after A Wizard for Mary

Immediately after Knower of Names

After Song and Dance: Wesley's first mission

Mistaken Identity, Lorne's POV

Immediately after Uncareful What She Wished For (Ten Slayers That Were Never Called)