Just let me lie here on the tile

sundial_exchange really delivered a ton of goodies this year, for Guardian and Lost Tomb Reboot and smaller fandoms, and I haven't gone through half the things I bookmarked yet.

I received:

Squared Black Pots and Their Kettles by BadPennyGirl
Shen Wei wakes with the worst headache in the world. But there are bigger problems in the dark where he's trapped with Zhao Yunlan on top of him.

A gorgeous, INTENSE h/c story full of my favorite tropes: cave-ins! "Leave me and go"! Self-sacrifice! Hiding a wound! It's got it all, and some delightful post-canon worldbuilding into the bargain.
This is the author's first story in Guardian fandom and she made her way to the deadline through some major mishaps, so please check it out!

Gorgeous artwork by naye for my story Under a Cloudless Sky. Such a thrill to get a treat like this, with a great choice of headshots for Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei, full of suffering and tension (sigh, that's the good stuff).

I wrote:

A Tolerance for Pain (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, rated T, angst, h/c and Presumed Dead, 18k words) - my main gift for xparrot
Shen Wei faced the storm and let it break around him. In the center of catastrophe, he closed his eyes. He could hear no heartbeats, could feel no life around him other than his own.

Zhao Yunlan. Where are you?

I worked on this story for ages, and then in the last week before the deadline I managed two short stories as treats:

like thunder under earth (Gen, 1726 words, Chu Shuzhi & Shen Wei)
Chu Shuzhi is wounded and his Lordship can’t help him, but that’s all right. He doesn’t deserve the help, anyway.

Tailor-made (Rated G, 1905 words, Shen Wei and his tailor)
"You mean to tell me—you sit here drinking my tea and you mean to tell me that you have been visiting shops that sell leisure apparel?" Lao Xie could not have sounded more horrified if Shen Wei had confessed to being a crime boss.

Hooray, my Gimli/Legolas Big Bang story is live, with wonderful art from cybersuzy!


On the Cold Hill Side (24938 words) by marycrawford
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gimli/Legolas Greenleaf
Characters: Gimli, Legolas Greenleaf, Aragorn, Arod
Additional Tags: Dwarves, Elves, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Dwarf Courting, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Pining, Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Tourism, fangorn, orthanc - Freeform, aglarond, Hurt/Comfort, Snark, Banter, Competence Kink, gimli is a BAMF, so is Legolas, Gimli/Legolas Big Bang, Big Bang Challenge, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Secrets, Canon - Book, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Ents, Talking Trees, Tree Climbing, Walks In The Woods, Caves, Dwarf/Elf Relationship(s), Missing Scene, First Time, Canon Related, gigolas bang 2014
Summary:

In the end, Gimli thinks, Legolas will steal his heart and sail away with it, and even the wonders of the Glittering Caves are not enough consolation for that loss. But when Aragorn calls for Gimli’s help in dismantling the hidden traps of Orthanc, everything changes.

"Yay, a postcard from Far Away! Wonder who it could be fro--"

SFX: card turns over

"OMG it has Hercules and Iolaus chibis on it!"

And a tiny five-legged octopus to represent pentapus. Not that there could be any doubts. *g*

This has improved my day so much!

( Postcard from Pentapus )

The world needs more Widow Twanky icons. Or I do, anyway.

As usual, feel free to modify these in any way, and credit is lovely, but I'm not going to send you C&D letters if you forget or anything.

( 4 HtLJ icons with text )

( 8 HtLJ portrait icons: Iolaus, Hercules, Autolycus and the Widow Twanky )

I've updated my website with all the Hercules & Iolaus (& Autolycus) icons that were languishing on my harddrive.

These are shareable, and I may use a couple again myself. Feel free to modify 'em, add text to them, whatever floats your Argo; credit is appreciated, but I'm not going to internet-sue you if you forget or anything.

( 24 HtLJ icons: hugs, pigs in leather trousers, and other important moments in fandom. )