teratornis

Friday Five Questions: Current Stuff

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 04:50:43 GMT

This week's Friday Five.

Wow, two Friday Fives in a row I wanna do. How exciting. And I'm actually doing it on friday, too.
( Read more... )

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Friday Five Questions: Music and Earworms

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 19:51:58 GMT

This week's Friday Five.

I do love talking about music, and to be honest I'd never really analyzed the stuff that gets stuck in my head most often, so this seems like a fun one to dive into.( Read more... )

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TV Show: Burn Notice

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:25:30 GMT

With some frequency I think to myself that I'd really like to talk more about various shows/movies/books/music here, and then I don't do that, so in light of a recent Burn Notice rewatch, I figured I'd write some stuff down.

So. Burn Notice.

I started watching this show while it was still airing, in its. . . third or fourth season, I believe. Just in time for the absolute doozy of the fourth season's mid-season cliffhanger, naturally. I remember, at the time, really enjoying the first few seasons, and then not enjoying the latter seasons as much. Since then I've rewatched the first couple seasons a time or two, but never got past the fourth season again because of that vague memory of not enjoying the show so much past that point. This time, I watched the whole series through for I think the first time since my initial viewing.

And I am really glad I did.( Read more... )

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Matthew McCormick Project: Small Town Mentality

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 07:01:07 GMT

LS and I have finished posting another of our Matthew McCormick main stories, and this one was a bit of a milestone for a couple of different reasons.

Small Town Mentality (30614 words) by argentum_ls, Teratornis
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Matthew McCormick, Original Characters, Gregor Powers
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, TV Logic, Minor Character Death
Series: Part 12 of Highlander: The Agent
Summary: With Talbot on leave, Matthew travels on his own to assist with a months-old serial case in a small, insular town. As he digs deeper and the murderer accelerates, he's forced to confront his assumptions about who is a friend, and who is a foe.

( Read more... )

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Highlander Holiday Shortcuts 2025

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 22:49:57 GMT

hlh_shortcuts has concluded for the year, and everyone's stories are live and no longer anonymous. This is my third time participating, and it was, as has been the case for me the past couple of years, a ton of fun. It's always exciting to see what people request, and what people come up with to write.( Read more... )

Had an excellent time with this event this year. As always, looking forward to the next one. ❤️

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Book Meme

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 04:48:19 GMT

Seen done by both rhi and argentum_ls.

01. Grab the nearest book.
02. Turn to page 126
03. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

I'll be honest I mostly did this because I knew my D&D books were the closest to me. So from D&D 3rd Edition's Complete Arcane: A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for All Classes:

"However, if the subject gains at least as many negative levels as it has Hit Dice, it dies."

. . . Cheery.

(From the lvl 7 spell Sword of Darkness.)

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Matthew McCormick Project: Come to Light

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 19:33:31 GMT

argentum_ls and I wrapped up another one of our Highlander: The Agent stories last night! This is the fifth in the series, which puts us at the halfway mark for what we've got planned. We've been posting these stories for almost a year now, and working on them for almost two, which is wild to think about.

Come to Light (31757 words) by argentum_ls, Teratornis
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Matthew McCormick & Original Character(s)
Characters: Matthew McCormick, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, TV Logic, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, secrecy
Series: Part 10 of Highlander: The Agent
Summary: A killer Matthew failed to stop decades ago resurfaces, and his secrecy regarding the depths of his connection to the investigation threatens his partnership with Talbot.

As usual, some stuff about the process of this story:( Read more... )

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Crossworks 2025

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 23:29:33 GMT

Back on the exchange rounds, I participated in this year's Crossworks exchange, and had a great time with it.

I don't believe it happened last year, so I was unfamiliar with it until this year, but I was excited to learn about it. Crossovers and fusions allow for such cool possibilities. Especially when it comes to the sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural sort of stuff I tend to enjoy, the worldbuilding alone is great to explore. And there's always the fun that comes with throwing characters from separate canons at each other and seeing where that goes, both in terms of character interactions and how each reacts to the problems inherent in other settings. There's a lot of great stuff to be explored with crossovers.

I went. . . a little over the top with signups. I requested somewhere around maybe 30 fandoms, in various potential configurations, and offered on around that many again. I don't know the actual count, it's a lot.

I was pretty thrilled with the assignment I ended up getting, and with the gift.

( Read more... )

Even outside of these two stories, it was a lot of fun to see what sort of crossovers people were requesting, and what people ended up posting. There are so many creative combinations to see, even among fandoms I'm not a part of.

Over all a super fun exchange experience, and definitely one I'd like to participate in again in the future.

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Another Fanfic Meme

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 07:07:16 GMT

Well, I'm always a sucker for a good meme, and this one asks some fun questions. Grabbed from rhi.

1. Under what rating do you write most?
Definitely Gen, at 71.

2. What are your top 3 fandoms?
Highlander (41), Original Work (25), Guild Wars 2 (9).

3. What character do you write about the most?
Single character is Methos (28), but Original Characters has the highest listed count (32). Obviously that's multiple original characters, though, so don't know if I should count that or not.

4. What are the top 3 pairings you've written?
I only have one single romantic pairing that I've written more than once, Ladyhawke's Isabeau d'Anjou/Etienne Navarre, with 3 stories. I only have ten fics total with romantic ships at all, and the rest are a scattering of single stories.

If we include friendships as well, though, it's Methos & Richie Ryan (8), Duncan MacLeod & Methos (4), and. . . several others at a 3 count, but we'll go with Matthew McCormick & Original Characters (3).

5. What are the top 3 additional tags?
Episode Related (11), Post-Canon (10), and Superheroes (9).

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Alphabet Meme

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 06:20:44 GMT

Saw mentioned by a few people, actually grabbed from argentum_ls. I do love a good writing meme.

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A - Another Kind of Monster - Sanctuary (2008) - Helen Magnus, James Watson, Nigel Griffin
B - Better Than Flying - Ladyhawke (1985) - Isabeau d'Anjou/Etienne Navarre
C - Cry Defiance - Tale of the Shadow, by Sail North - The Captain & The Shadow
D - Die, And Live Again - Person of Interest (2011) - Harold Finch, John Reese
E - Echoed Voices - Original Work - Original Characters (interplanetary research vessel crew)
F - Few - Marvel Cinematic Universe/Stargate SG1 - Tok'ra
G - Grief like an Old Friend - Highlander the Series (1992) - Methos, Duncan MacLeod
H - Hours and Hands and Eyes - Saint of Steel, by T. Kingfisher - Bishop Beartongue
I - Interference - Highlander the Series (1992) - Matthew McCormick & Original Characters
J - Just a Little Trouble - Highlander the Series (1992) - Cory Raines/Gregor Powers, Anne Lindsey
K -
L - Last Breath, New Breath - Dungeons & Dragons (TTRPG)/Original Work - Original Characters (shipwrecked sailor, pirates)
M - My Purpose and Yours - Dungeons & Dragons (TTRPG)/Original Work - Original Characters (lizardfolk death cleric, grave robber)
N - Not Like Before - Ladyhawke (1985) - Isabeau d'Anjou/Etienne Navarre
O - Our Bodies an Atlas - Around the World in 80 Days (2021) - Phileas Fogg & Abigail "Fix" Fortescue & Jean Passepartout
P - People Like Us - Highlander the Series (1992) - Matthew McCormick, Original Characters, Reverend Bell, Derek Worth
Q -
R - Run, Run - Guild Wars 2 (Video Game) - Charr Player Character, Original Characters
S - Survivors - Original Work - Original Characters (superhero, retired superhero)
T - Tend the Flame - Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) - Xenk Yendar & Original Character, Edgin Darvis
U - An Unexpected Success - Original Work - Original Characters (superheroes)
V - Voices of the Past - Original Work - Original Characters (first contact ambassador)
W - The Wake of the Flood - Highlander the Series (1992)/Horizon Zero Dawn (Video Game) - Aloy, Methos, Duncan MacLeod
X -
Y - A Year and a Day - Highlander the Series (1992) - Cassandra & Duncan MacLeod
Z -

22/26, out of 93 total fics. Not surprised I'm missing Q, X, and Z, but K is a little unexpected. Also discovered I have a lot of fic titles that start with C. Tried to get a good sampling of my less-populated fandoms, though I did miss a couple.

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Writer Meme

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 07:26:02 GMT

Saw this on annavere's page and thought it looked like fun, so here is a writer meme. I may have gotten a little verbose with this.

What else is new.

( Read more... )

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Matthew McCormick Project: Interference

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 19:54:40 GMT

argentum_ls and I have just finished up the fourth main story in our Highlander: The Agent series, which is wild to me. I don't think either of us completely expected this series to get so extensive when we started it, but we're still having a great time with it.

Interference (27311 words) by argentum_ls, Teratornis
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Matthew McCormick & Original Characters
Characters: Matthew McCormick, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Case Fic, TV Logic, Kidnapping, Implied/Referenced Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death
Series: Part 8 of Highlander: The Agent
Summary: Matthew and Talbot take on a case investigating a serial killer whose victims were all carrying swords at the times of their deaths. It should be the kind of case they're well prepared to handle, until an unexpected encounter proves just how dangerous this killer can be, even to an Immortal.

And some stuff about the process below the cut:( Read more... )

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Friday Five Questions: Travel

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 06:41:43 GMT

From this week's thefridayfive. These looked like fun questions, this time.

( Read more... )

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Matthew McCormick Project: People Like Us

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 04:25:24 GMT

So argentum_ls and I have been continuing to work on and post our Highlander: The Agent series, a collection of stories focusing on Matthew McCormick, post-canon. We've been posting weekly for more than six months now (closer to seven, really), and we just wrapped up the third main story last night:

People Like Us (30641 words) by argentum_ls, Teratornis
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Matthew McCormick, Original Characters, Reverend Bell, Derek Worth
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Canon-Typical Violence, Beheading, Minor Character Death, TV Logic
Series: Part 6 of Highlander: The Agent
Summary: While investigating a string of murders in Louisiana, Matthew gets an unexpected opportunity to reconcile some more of the mistakes of his own past.

So I wanted to talk about the process a little bit.( Read more... )

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Bite-Sized Fandoms Exchange 2025

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:52:08 GMT

I wanted to write this before but I was out of town during author reveals. Home now, though, and still highly entertained by this particular exchange experience.

Bite-Sized is only in its second year. It's an exchange for anything that takes fewer than eight hours to complete, so movies, miniseries, stand-alone books, short games. And, most notably in this case, songs.

See, I nominated a couple of songs for the fandom pool for this exchange. Specifically, I nominated a song called Tale of the Shadow, an original shanty by the artist Sail North. It was then one of my requests for the exchange, and I wasn't the only one requesting it, which was pretty cool.

When assignments went out, I got assigned to the other person requesting Tale of the Shadow. That was pretty exciting, I had some ideas, I got it written and posted fairly thoroughly ahead of the deadline.

I was also excited when my own gift appeared, and went to check on which of my requested fandoms it was for.

Tale of the Shadow.

That made me laugh, since it was also what I had written (and yes, it turned out the other Tale of the Shadow requester and I had indeed written for each other).

However, then I got a second gift. This was also very exciting. I haven't been participating in exchanges all that long, and this was the first treat I had ever gotten. All eager to learn some details, I went to check the fandom.

Tale of the Shadow.

I was incredulous but delighted. What a fun thing to happen.

Then I got a third gift, and might have been holding my breath when I went to look at the fandom.

Tale of the Shadow.

By this point, between what I'd written and the gifts I'd received, we'd tripled the number of fics for this song on ao3. There had been two, prior to this exchange.

(To my excitement and delight, I stunningly received a fourth gift, but it broke the streak, and was instead written for the book A Sorceress Comes to Call.)

Anyway, it was a hilarious and wonderful exchange experience, and I had a lot of fun with it this year. The gifts I received were all really excellent: ( Read more... )

In addition to my own official assignment for Tale of the Shadow, I also ended up writing one treat for this exchange this year, for the movie Ladyhawke. ( Read more... )

I've really enjoyed this exchange both years I've participated in it. Will definitely be keeping an eye out for it next year as well.

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Friday Five Questions: Some Favorites

Mon, 05 May 2025 05:56:13 GMT

Seen in annavere's post, originally from thefridayfive. It's definitely not friday anymore, but this looked like fun, and who doesn't like talking about their favorites some?

( Read more... )

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Music to Write To

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 06:39:58 GMT

I am procrastinating on editing something (a perpetual state of existence; the writing is excellent, the editing trips me up sometimes), and some time back when I mentioned some piece of music or another, argentum_ls suggested I list some of the stuff I listened to while working on our Highlander: The Agent project.

So. Why the hell not. Except I'm expanding the scope to music I commonly return to for just about any writing, listed in no particular order:
( Read more... )

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Fanfic Writer Asks Meme

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:15:15 GMT

Okay well I was thinking about posting this anyway, but argentum_ls also prodded me about doing it last night (this morning? It was like 2am), so here it is. :P

Pick a number and I'll answer!

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Matthew McCormick Project: Close to Home

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 00:41:48 GMT

So for about the last year, argentum_ls and I have been working on a collaborative series featuring Highlander character Matthew McCormick. We got to chatting one day a while back about the supposed spin-off series that character might have featured in, and what that might have looked like. I ended up writing a scene that got stuck in my head, and. . .

Well, now we're like a dozen stories deep and that first scene I wrote is buried somewhere in story six or some craziness like that. That sixth story was originally going to be the first one, I think, but we didn't even know we were going to do a series at that point, much less such an extensive one. We're both very much the sort of people who start writing something just to see what happens and roll with it from there, chasing the inspiration. The inspiration just. . . went a lot further than initially anticipated.

So I wrote that story, and then I wrote another story, and then we just sort of kept going, until it became apparent those two stories - and some of the stories Argentum had started hammering out as well - weren't destined to be the first in the series.

At that point I started Close to Home.( Read more... )

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Fic Stats Meme

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 07:31:20 GMT

Gotten from argentum_ls. Looked like fun. Gonna be Highlander all the way down.

Rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

1. The Wake of the Flood - Highlander/Horizon Zero Dawn
While exploring a bunker that's been sealed since the time of the Old Ones, Aloy discovers an unnaturally well-preserved body that, to her shock, returns to life.
Now unexpectedly accompanied by an immortal man from the distant past, Aloy strives to learn about him and about a history she's only glimpsed before, while introducing him to a world that bears little resemblance to the one he remembers. 43,000 words. 5,228 hits.

2. We Move Forward - Highlander
Richie follows an illusion to the racetrack, and MacLeod follows Richie. Methos and Joe arrive in time to avert one disaster, but find themselves faced with more than they ever could have bargained for.
Or, Yet Another Archangel Reinterpretation. 104,857 words. 189 kudos.

3. Someplace New and Someplace Old - Highlander
Methos has taken an unexpected trip to Utah. MacLeod and Joe decide to see what he's up to. 7,216 words. 30 comments.

4. Magnetic - Highlander
MacLeod is introduced to a surprising new side-effect of a recent quickening. 1,490 words. 10 bookmarks.

5. We Move Forward Postlude: Conversations with Joe - Highlander
In the wake of the events of We Move Forward, Joe finally has a chance to really talk with his immortals. 8,173 words.

6. Grief Like Drowning - Highlander
How do you live with watching someone you love die? 296 words.

My fanfic obsessions are very obvious with this one.

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Holiday Exchanges part 2!

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:03:42 GMT

Well it's been a couple of days (or a week, for yuletide), but both HLH Shortcuts and Yuletide have de-anonymized, so I can talk a bit about what all I wrote now.

I had an interesting time for my pieces for both these exchanges, both did a couple things that were a little outside my usual comfort zone, but I had a really good time.

( Read more... )

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Yuletide Recs!

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 07:24:23 GMT

I've spent some time over the last few days reading through select fandoms in this year's yuletide collection. Fascinating to see what fandoms pop up for this exchange, and there are some really excellent works out there.

Another shoutout to my gift, first of all, it's really lovely and has some really excellent worldbuilding.

The Stars Remember (1550 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Under This Luminous Sky (Short Film)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Skylar, Aries
Additional Tags: Worldbuilding, Post-Canon, In-Universe Documents, Ambiguous Relationships, Unreliable Sources
Summary: Being some Fragments and Memorials from the reign of King Aries the Seventh, pertaining to the time the stars remembered.

And then some other favorites from this year:
( Read more... )

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Holiday Exchanges 2024

Sun, 29 Dec 2024 08:06:03 GMT

This year I participated in Highlander Holiday Shortcuts, for the second year running, and in Yuletide, for my first year. I've been dipping my toes into the waters of several fic events, over the last year, and I was pretty excited to participate in these.

That being said, when I sign up for exchanges I frequently sort of forget that I'm going to be receiving a gift, as well as writing one. I mostly just really enjoy the writing, and then I remember I get a gift too, and it's such an exciting treat.

And holy shit, my gifts for these two exchanges have blown me away.

( Read more... )

Gradually working my way through reading the other stories in these exchange collections (or at least the ones for fandoms I'm into, for yuletide, because wow there's so many), and there's some really excellent stuff. I'm really enjoying the chance to read so many great stories.

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TV Question Meme

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 05:18:43 GMT

Seen from argentum_ls and annavere, and thought it looked fun. I was pretty clear on what to use for the first four, but I struggled with which to put for five. Can't promise it wouldn't be something different next week, but that's not really a bad thing.

TV questions: pick your five favourite TV shows (in no particular order) and answer the following questions. Don’t cheat!

Leverage
Person of Interest
Highlander
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Sanctuary

( 19 Questions )

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HLH Shortcuts AO3 Submission Guide!

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:15:35 GMT

Assignments are out! A lot of the process from here is probably familiar, but there are some specific details of ao3 assignments that do like to hide in awkward places, sometimes.

( Read more... )

Hopefully this is helpful, I'm really looking forward to the rest of this event!

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