Been pondering To Partake now Gil's been reintroduced to the narrative and wondering if you've ever considered doing a larger exploration of the dynamic he had with Celebrimbor before the events of the fic? Super intrigued by how Partake!Gil would function opposite somebody he actually respects(?) and who is more able to advocate for themselves - is he just a dick and Celebrimbor just rolled with it until he saw how damaging it was for Elrond, or does he just save his bastard energy for Elrond?

What a question!

Man, where to even start -- because to be honest the differences in how Gil-Galad responds to Celebrimbor and how he responds to Elrond are like, the crux of the fic, in a way.

Here's the thing: Showgalad throughout S1 really strikes me as a deeply entitled and ruthless person, and by ruthless I mean that in the pure sense of the word. He sees he's at point A. He sees point B. He seeks the most efficient/convenient/reliable path to get to point B based off of his understanding of the world, and he takes that path. He makes consistently shitty decisions based off consistently surface-level altruistic motives (usually for 'peace' or 'the good of middle earth' etc. etc.), with underlying selfish motives (let's be honest: shipping Galadriel off to Valinor can be construed as getting rid of a volatile political rival), and that's a character archetype that I love to play with. Every decision Showgalad makes, like sending Galadriel to Valinor, or leaving Elrond out of crucial information regarding the mithril arc, etc. etc. is Showgalad saying over and over I know what's best for the situation, and if I have to manipulate someone to get the best outcome, then so be it. He's very very ends-justify-the-means and he's very "wisest person in the room syndrome". He doesn't consider a lot of subtext or angles.

And the key here for me as a writer when trying to think about Showgalad and how he translates into someone with personal relationships...it's that he isn't irredeemable. That's what makes him so frustrating for me. Partake!Gil also makes consistently shitty decisions or goes about things in horrible ways for consistently surface-level good/reasonable reasons, but underlying selfish ones. He introduced Elrond & Brimby to each other because he saw the chemistry there and thought they'd hit it off (and thought it'd be enjoyable/a good time), when he has sex with Elrond he's not consciously being a dick about it -- so the thought process goes: "Elrond had never once looked unhappy. He had never once protested. He had never once refused...[Gil-Galad] genuinely thought that he would."

Partake!Gil's fatal flaw is arrogance, entitlement, and the refusal to see himself as anything but a good person. Ironically, integrity and communication are important to him. The reason he was able to maintain a healthy relationship with Celebrimbor all those years is that Celebrimbor has the clout and the emotional strength and maturity to be able to communicate. This shows up in its most basic form right at chapter one, when Celebrimbor gets overstimulated and taps out with a brief "enough". And I mean, later when Celebrimbor confronts him about his treatment of Elrond -- once Gil-Galad is cornered about it and has to face facts, he does listen. The problem here is that he's a pragmatist and he doesn't really ever make the time to think deeply about subtext or examine himsef too closely. He's busy and not interested in forming deep attachments because it's not his thing. He expects his partners to communicate clearly, and he is used to partners who communicate clearly.

And yeah, this works GREAT when it comes to his relationship with Brimby, because Brimby has no problem voicing his needs and clearly communicating.

This becomes a HUGE problem when suddenly we throw Elrond into the mix, who has a hero-worship problem, his self-esteem is in the gutter, and he has no idea how to communicate. He's like exhibit a explaining why the absence of 'no' is not the same thing as an enthusiastic 'yes'. Now we've got a situation that just breeds dysfunction. They enable the worst of each other. Gil-Galad doesn't want to take the time to read subtext, think critically, or guide an inexperienced partner. He wants to get his dick wet with a person he enjoys. Elrond is a (very) inexperienced partner who's just happy that the person he adores is giving him the time of day and has no concept of how to communicate the fact that he has needs Gil isn't fulfilling (and even if he did know how to voice them, he wouldn't because his self esteem is in the gutter alskdgh).

And then like you said: there's the issue of respect which is HUGE. Unfortunately showGalad strikes me as the kind of person where you have to clearly demand respect and show why he needs to respect you -- if you don't, well...then he's not going to. Hence the whole situation where in the backstory of the fic, when Elrond & Gil were just getting started, Elrond went "boundaries??? don't know her" and instead of doing the reasonable thing that Celebrimbor did of "hey maybe we should set some," Gil went: "SWEET. No boundaries!"

All that to say I'm really excited for the future chapters of Partake as we transition back to Mithlond. Right now what we're experiencing with Gil is pretty much the knee-jerk reaction to there being boundaries when he's used to having none and he's being a pissbaby about it, but I promise I am strongarming him into doing some Thinking, and I have a lot of communication and more boundary setting between him and Elrond in the future. And also a lot of dysfunction aklsdgh because look, if we're being honest there is just way too much history here for them to be levelheaded and normal when around each other. But as I keep promising: the fic will have a good ending. But unfortunately healing is a non-linear process though and relapses happen often so I won't say there won't be angst & pain & more mistakes made along the way. But another key part of Gil's character is that he does care about Elrond. He is fond of him. Elrond does matter to him. We see that with Showgalad in the finale when Elrond essentially says "do it for me", and Gil does relent and give them that extra bit of time they need to finish the rings. So...I keep holding on to that to inform the final Mithlond arc of Partake. I'm hoping it'll come in handy and I can use the fact that he's actually very fond of Elrond to my advantage!

To be honest in the future I think I'm more likely to write a fic exploring early!Elrond x partake!Gil because I already have ideas about how that whole thing got started, but I can't say that I don't enjoy the dynamic Gil and Brimby have. This probably (definitely) will get worse as we get more seasons of the show! I'm sure I'll end up writing more fic for all of them eventually!

UGH this got huge. tysm for giving me a chance to ramble. This was probably way more than you wanted aldksgh