Lalwen is one of these mysterious Silm ladies I have an inexplicable fondness for and I'm sad we don't know more about her.
But I do like the fanon that she was the "cool aunt" to her more than a dozen nephews and nieces.
Generally cheerful and quick to laugh, she was always ready to goof around with the kids and would frequently sneak them candy and other treats. (And later, they all came to her when they wanted to discuss their problems and worries with an adult who was not a parent.)
Anyway, here she is with Fingon after she brought him back some cakes from a boring banquet she escaped from.
Not that she plays favourites, Lalwen loves all her nephews and nieces equally, but Fingon, being the firstborn son of her closest sibling might have a special place in her heart. (And I've already drawn Turgon and Finrod, as well as Maedhros and Maglor a little while ago, so Fingon seemed like the obvious choice when I needed an elfling for this one.)
For day 2 of @finweanladiesweek - Lalwen
Things that run in the House of Finwe:
Good hair
Being dramatic
Fits of craft-related madness
A love of jewelry
Choosing violence
Impressively good hair, even by elvish standards
The willingness to fight a Vala
Stubbornness
Heroic deaths
Being infuriatingly good at things
Hair that is suspiciously perfect even after crossing the Helcaraxe, hanging from Thangorodrim for thirty years, thousands of years of being a beach hermit, etc.
Unexplained, vaguely mystical powers
Autism
I'm neurodivergent as well as disabled and "10 minute blocking" has changed my life.
I find completing tasks really challenging because I either get super overwhelmed, distracted, or my pain/fatigue levels rise too much and I get defeated.
So I recently introduced the 10 Minute Block rule. It's super simple. I simply pick one thing I need to do, set a timer usually for 10 mins (+/- 5 mins depending on fatigue/pain levels) and then go go go! And I try and do as much of that one thing as I can within the time limit. The rule is that I have to stop after 10 minutes.
If I feel spurred on after the 10 mins is up, then I'm free to start another 10 minute block (either to carry on with the same task or start a new one) and do this repeatedly for as long as I wish, but I absolutely must stop after each block and assess how my body is doing and finish blocking when my body tells me to.
If I am feeling defeated or tired or whatever after 10 mins, even if the task isn't finished, I stop. I rest, congratulate myself on doing those 10 minutes, and then find something fun/restorative to do instead without feeling guilty.
It's really improved my perceived perception of productivity as well as taught me how to pace my body better.
I don't know if this will be helpful to any of you, but it's something that I wish I'd known about sooner and has helped me so I thought I'd share it.
looks like ao3 is down again and i was in the middle of a multi chapter fic when it died on me.
and if that happens to you, this is what you can do to download the fic:
copy paste https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/00000000/fic.html in your browser url
replace the pink bit with the number right after /works (that's the work id)
for instance, in https://archiveofourown.org/works/44970790/chapters/113154673 the highlighted bit (44970790) would be the number you swap for the 0s
the download link will look like https://download.archiveofourown.org/downloads/44970790/fic.html
if you want the fic to be downloaded as an epub instead, use .epub at the end of that link
it should start downloading on your device
i'm sure a bunch of people know this and use it but in case you don't, hope this helps
'old bright songs of their childhood' - aka Maedhros and Maglor (Tiny Edition)
Inspired by a little moment in @thelordofgifs' the fairest stars where Maglor sings childhood songs to Maedhros and Maedhros believes himself to be back in Valinor for a moment.
@tolkiengenweek - another one for 'family' since their relationship is one of my favorite sibling relationships in Tolkien's legendarium 💗
Bonus sparkly 'Song' version that I wasn't really sure about under the cut: