brightknightie | Entries tagged with character:highlander:duncan

The annual Highlander fanfic exchange,

hlh_shortcuts, author reveals came early this week. Check out the collection. A trend this year was longer stories. I'm not yet done reading all I want to, so I'm not yet making a general recommendations post.

But the story written for my prompt, "Metaphorically Speaking," which I gushed over during the anonymous period, turns out to be by

argentum_ls. Thank you, Argentum!

And the story I wrote, for Merriman's prompt, is "Hackobore" (G, gen; 5.6K words).

batdina, thank you for beta-reading! The title is the Japanese word for a nick in the sharp edge of a blade that is deep enough to threaten its structural integrity. Merriman expressed interest in sword repair, and I therefore damaged Duncan's katana and sent him to an expert to learn what could and couldn't be done. This gave me an opportunity to learn a lot about traditional Japanese swords, pivotally that it is not the smith who sharpens them, but a separate specialty craft, the togishi, the sharpener/polisher. ( Read more... )

Thank you for reading!

hlh_shortcuts has de-anonymized! Find all 15 stories with their authors on the AO3.

Now that the guessing game is complete, I can share which new Highlander story I wrote:
"Would you leave" (G, gen, ~3K words).
Richie, Angie, Anne, Duncan. Richie and Anne talk after Mac flees an argument he can't win; Angie learns of the crash at the motorcycle track.

Essentially, it's a missing scene from "Testimony," introduced by a missing scene from "Take Back the Night," with a referenced missing scene from "The Darkness," landing on what I intend as a turn into canon divergence, from which Richie and Angie will get to step out of canon's camera frame and build a better fate for themselves, together, whether as friends or lovers — either way, as partners. Its inspiration spark was very much in a "here, have some prompts" post on my recipient's journal (thank you,

argentum_ls!).

Apparently, the story has "Brightknightie" written all over it, even without endnotes, because 6 players guessed me as its author, and no one guessed me as the author of anything else. Um. Well, let's see: rigorous canonicity, mortal characters, surviving loss... the same 3-part missing-scene-and-a-twist structure I wrote last year... compulsive "end" written at the end... yep, sounds like me.

I will now go put on its endnotes (thank you for beta-reading,

skieswideopen!). Then I'll return with recommendations for the rest of the exchange. Lots of great stories!

Do you happen to know, off the top of your head, whether the scene in HL's "The Darkness," where Richie presses Duncan on why he'd proposed to Tessa, was a Eurominute? (That is, broadcast in Europe but cut in North America to fit in more commercials.) Just curious.

I first saw "The Darkness" on a 5-inch black-and-white TV. I watched it (in color) on recorded-from-TV VHS many, many times after, but hardly ever on DVD or streaming. When I bumped into this scene today, it wasn't new to me, but it was significantly less familiar than the rest:

"But sometimes I feel even older. I've done so many things. I've fought so many battles.

"People become part of your life, and then then they— they just die. It all stays with you, Rich. You live with it. Their hopes, their dreams, their pain, their love.

"Tessa makes me feel so young. Every time I see her, it's like the first time. Every time I touch her, I..."

Aside: Do you happen to know of any fanfic bringing back the Greta-the-psychic character for a good story purpose...? Duncan promised to tell her how it all ended. (But when you watch that scene on a much, much bigger TV screen today than when it first aired, you may perhaps notice that the look on her face when he turns away is perhaps for a second more predatory than altruistic.)

The 2017

hlh_shortcuts Highlander fanfic exchange has unveiled 12 stories so far, with at least 7 more to go. (See the AO3 collection.)

Because they're still anonymous, I can't say whether the one I wrote has yet appeared.

I can point you to the one written for my request! "In Between" (G, gen, ~2K words) (post-Endgame) (Duncan; Amanda; memories of Connor, Fitz, Tessa, and more). It's a Duncan character study, but not static; there's action and interaction as well as reflection. The author has kindly indulged my fondness for tales of carrying on from bereavement.

I wrote "When Everything was New" for hl_flashfic's "Second Banana" event, to the prompt: "Alexa meets Tessa at an art show." I'd written HL in multi-fandom games before, and just because, but this was my first attempt in an HL-specific venue.

Thanks to sholio and skieswideopen for beta-reading!

Available:	The Ficathon \| My Fansite \| The AO3
Length:	~4,800 words
Date:	HL_FlashFic 08/12/11
Rating:	PG
Characters:	Tessa, Duncan, Alexa, Martin Sorrel, uncredited cameos
Summary:	Tessa exhibits in the juried division of the 1986 Seacouver Art & Wine festival.
Quotation:	"Tessa hesitated. Pressing for public reaction was rarely wise; and, usually, she was content with her own assessment and Duncan’s, other critics be hanged. But she remained unsure where her efforts fit at this festival, if they fit at all."

Crosspost http://brightknightie.livejournal.com/106812.html

I don't talk about it as often, but I am very much a Highlander fan, too. These days, I read HL mostly via the

hl_flash bulletin. Here are some gen pieces from there that I've enjoyed recently:

"Fight Another Day" by sholio (PG, ~1K words, Duncan and Methos and Amanda). Duncan loses a hand (as Xavier St. Cloud did) and holds on to his honor.

"Watcher" by elistaire (G, 320 words, Joe, implied Duncan/Tessa). It's the '80s. As Joe watches Duncan, he also gets to know Tessa.

"Next Time, Buy a Ferrari" by medie (PG, ~2K words, Methos and Connor and Heather, implied Connor/Heather). What if Methos, rather than Ramirez, had taught Connor?

"Convent Mouse" by elistaire (G, ~2K words, original character, Methos, implied Methos/Alexa). This predator and this prey... are both survivors.

"Spring" by devohoneybee (G, 69 words, Methos). A poem.

Crosspost http://brightknightie.livejournal.com/97989.html

This is the Highlander story that I wrote for the Summer 2010 oldschoolfic event. My thanks to karrenia_rune for the prompt, and to batdina for the beta-reading. (As always, constructive criticism is welcome.)

I'd never written Charlie DeSalvo before, and I'm not sure that I'd ever read a story from Charlie's perspective, either. When I looked for screenshots from which to make an icon to go with this story on the ficathon, I found only half a dozen unique images of Charlie on the entire Internet. It's curious. He really is a significant character, if not as significant as some.

•	Title:	"Present Company" (also on AO3)
•	Length:	~2,900 words
•	Date:	July 2010
•	Rating:	PG
•	Characters:	Starring Charlie. Also with Richie, Randi, Duncan and Joe.
•	Summary:	Charlie has a lot on his mind when Duncan finally returns to Seacouver.
•	Quotation:	"Charlie thought again about legitimate reasons that a stranger might have popped up like this -- and about how very little he wanted to end up charged with assault -- but the weight in the man's right hand inside his pocket skewed the odds."

Crosspost http://brightknightie.livejournal.com/77884.html

[Back-posted]

This is the Highlander story I contributed to the December 2008 oldschoolfic ficathon. My thanks to Dragonsinger for her prompt of "Richie never expected that his first Christmas with Duncan and Tessa would involve a swordfight," and to Batdina and Wiliqueen for beta-reading.

•	Title:	"So This is Home" (also on AO3)
•	Length:	~5,400 words
•	Date:	December 2008
•	Rating:	G (gen plot, m/f subplot)
•	Summary:	A first-season Christmas season, with a theft at the shelter where Angie works.
•	Setting:	December 1992 Seacouver
•	Characters:	Starring Richie. Also with Duncan, Tessa, Angie, Randi, Powell and many more.

Crosspost http://brightknightie.livejournal.com/66588.html

I wrote these Highlander snippets in my notebook back when I used to take the train to work. There are two ripped-out pages between them; I don't remember why I ripped them out.

•	Title:	"Conversational Snippets"
•	Length:	~200 words
•	Date:	February 2005
•	Rating:	G
•	Summary:	Just two unrelated snatches of dialogue.
•	Setting:	Unspecified, after third-season
•	Characters:	Duncan, Methos and Joe

Crosspost http://brightknightie.livejournal.com/67211.html

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Entries tagged with character:highlander:duncan

My HLH_Shortcuts '25 story: "Hackobore" (G, gen; ~6K words; Duncan, Methos; sword repair)

What I wrote for HLH_Shortcuts '22

Was this a Eurominute?

the HL exchange story written for my prompt has released

HL Fanfic: "When Everything was New"

Enjoying Recent HL Gen

HL Fanfic: "Present Company"

HL Fanfic: "So This is Home"

HL Fanfic: "Conversational Snippets"

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