#Etienne Barrel

[peashooter85]

Gold decorated and engraved double barrel flintlock pistols crafted Claude Coignet of St. Etienne, late 18th century

from Rock Island Auctions

[gunzlotzofgunz]

ST. ETIENNE UNION

32 ACP; 3 1/8'' barrel, Manufactured in France by Fabrique A St Etienne c.1930's.

[alcoholicbeveragesmarket]

Raising a Glass to Evolution: Uncorking the Dynamic Cider Market

Cider, the fermented beverage born from apples, has transcended its rustic roots to become a global phenomenon. From crisp and refreshing styles to complex and sophisticated expressions, the Cider Market is experiencing a renaissance, driven by consumer curiosity and innovative producers. Let's embark on a journey to explore this bubbly world, delving into its segments, key players, and exciting trends:

Cider Market: A Growing Thirst for Variety

With a projected CAGR of 5.1%, the global Cider Market is expected to reach USD 6.72 billion by 2030, fueled by:

Rising disposable incomes: Consumers are seeking premium experiences and exploring diverse beverage options.

Increased focus on natural and artisanal products: Cider aligns with this trend, offering a perceived healthier and authentic alternative.

Growing popularity of fruit-flavored beverages: Cider caters to this demand with a wide range of flavor profiles.

Apple Cider: Unveiling the Core

Apple Cider, the traditional cider variety, remains a significant segment. It encompasses dry, semi-dry, and sweet styles, enjoyed for their refreshingly tart and apple-forward notes. This segment sees growth in premium offerings with unique apple varieties and aging techniques.

Craft Cider Market: Where Innovation Ferments

Craft Cider is at the heart of the market's dynamism. Small-batch producers are experimenting with unique ingredients, aging methods, and barrel-fermentation, creating distinctive and flavorful ciders. This segment attracts adventurous consumers seeking new taste experiences.

Ice Cider: A Canadian Gem Goes Global

Ice Cider, a Canadian specialty, is gaining international recognition. Made from apples concentrated by freezing, it boasts intense sweetness, balanced acidity, and complex ice wine-like characteristics. This niche market exhibits significant growth potential due to its unique appeal.

Cider Market Top Players: Leading the Charge

Several industry leaders are shaping the Cider Market:

Heineken N.V.: Owns Strongbow, a leading global cider brand known for its mass-market appeal.

C&C Group plc: Boasts Magners, a popular Irish cider brand with widespread international distribution.

Groupe Lactalis: Offers the French cider brand Pommeau, recognized for its premium quality and traditional methods.

Seattle Cider Company: A leading American craft cider producer known for its innovative and award-winning ciders.

Etienne Dupont: A pioneer in Canadian Ice Cider, producing internationally acclaimed expressions.

Trends Shaping the Future: What's Next for Cider?

As the Cider Market matures, several key trends are emerging:

Premiumization: Consumers are seeking high-quality ciders with unique flavor profiles and premium ingredients.

Fruity Explorations: Experimentation with exotic fruits and flavor combinations is expanding cider's reach.

Focus on Sustainability: Eco-conscious consumers are driving demand for sustainably produced and packaged ciders.

Evolving Distribution Channels: Online sales and direct-to-consumer models are gaining traction, offering wider options and convenience.

Blurring Boundaries: Collaborations between cideries and breweries are creating exciting new hybrid beverages.

Conclusion: From Humble Beginnings to a Booming Industry

The Cider Market is experiencing a vibrant transformation. With its diverse offerings, innovative producers, and evolving trends, cider is captivating a wider audience and carving its niche in the global beverage landscape. So, the next time you gather with friends, consider raising a glass of cider – a delightful beverage with a promising future.

[darklylucid]

I miss playing Skyrim.

I built the computer I'm using right now piece by piece so I could play the game by default on 'ultra high quality' and I got lost in it for three years. Those were some of the happiest times in my life, so here's a few memories I have that might make you smile.

The first time I killed the beggar Narfi in Ivarstead, I painstakingly carried his corpse to the sawmill, carefully laid him on the track and started it up just to see what would happen. His body flailed around for a moment before it was launched skyward and landed in a heap on the ground ~ 20 feet away. I laughed so hard I almost peed.

I was making my way through one of the dungeons when a 'Draugr Death Overlord' stepped around a corner and laughed at me. I didn't know they did that, and even though I had 'God Mode' on, I fucking sprinted back down the hallway.

I was exploring the frozen northern coastline for the first time when I came across a new location called 'Pilgrim's Trench'. My first thought was, "Oh...it's underwater? Well, lets see what's there." I have 'submechanophobia'. I was NOT amused.

I went after a dragon with Shadowmere and Cicero, but before I could do anything, they both started attacking it. Shadowmere was kicking it with his front hooves while Cicero was stabbing it with the Daedric Dagger I gave him, and I just stood there and watched them slay it for me.

I spent hours just wandering around various mountain tops and 'FUS-RO-DAH-ing' (yeet yell) various things off cliffs.

In the Dark Brotherhood quest 'Innocence Lost', I always let Grelod finish her hateful speech before slitting her throat from behind. The happy cheers of the gleeful children always made me smile...

I adore thunderstorms, so I would very frequently use the 'Storm Call' shout just to enjoy the ambience.

All vampires are set on fire. No exceptions.

I can't abide clutter, so I'd always 'tidy up' the thieves guild headquarters, 'The Ragged Flagon', in Riften and remove every last item not permanently affixed to a surface and dump all of it in a random barrel so I wouldn't have to see it.

CuSith the Death Hound is the goodest boy EVER.

Teldryn Sero is 'bae' and I wouldn't have it any other way, although Mirrak is a close second.

AAANNNDDD I just remembered Etienne Rarnis...I always rescued, followed and protected him so I could visit him at 'The Ragged Flagon' afterwards. I'm so soft for him...

There's nothing quite as relaxing as taking headshots with a bow and arrow in the dark from 50 yards away after a long, difficult day of customer service.

'Sanguine is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is hedonistic revelry, debauchery, and passionate indulgences of darker natures.' Yeahhhhhhh...I'd be dropping to my knees and offering to 'worship him' before he could get out word one.

"A new hand touches the beacon" NO, and FUCK YOU.

[duskhallowed]

muses as: Barbies' vs. Kenergy users

Barbies Xing: Ocean Princess Barbie !!!!!!!!! my most Barbie Barbie, perhaps... ( except she's kind of dark-sided & evil but w/e. ) Mei-ling: Ocean Magic Barbie Etienne: a Barbie that was designed in the 2000's to compete with darker-gothic themed dolls like Monster High, etc. She's a Barbie but edgier (all her accessories are vampire themed) Itzel: Beer Barbie (a Barbie who really likes Beer: a very controversial Barbie created in a brand deal with some light-beer company ajsjaj ) Evie: Drummer Barbie (a bat is included in her box-- for destroying Barbie cars, busting in the windows of exes who broke her heart, etc. ) Kat: a Barbie that's part of a superhero/Marvel-ripoff line: Black Widow/Yelena rip-off Barbie. Chiwon: Prison Queen Barbie Kens Lee: Drug Dealer Ken Kadirye: uwu e-girl Ken: was supposed to be sold as a Barbie but has such pure kenergy that she is used as and now commonly understood to be a Ken. Nico: Overly Online Ken (ONLY sold with the Antisocial Artist Barbie; Angel. a inseperable but platonic Barbie/Ken duo: they are not sold apart) Sly: Heavy Metal Guitarist Ken (matches Heavily Tattooed Barbie) Tai: a Ken that was assigned to a Barbie (Sol) who turned out kinda evil & insane and parted ways with her assigned Ken, so now the Ken has hella identity issues & other Issues to face ( is based on his vampire verse backstory sksksk ) Finlo: weird dirty indie boy Ken

he is NOT Kenenough: Gioven. tried to take over during the Kenvolution of 2023 and was exiled out of Barbie/Ken society. sent to live with the little army men and barrels of monkeys

[farehamwinecellar]

Janneau 1983 Vintage Armagnac 43%

Janneau 1983 Vintage Armagnac is a single vintage Armagnac. It will make a perfect 40th birthday gift for any one born in 1983 and celebrating in 2023. 

Janneau is one of the top Armagnac houses. Not only  is it one of the oldest of the great houses but  it is also the world’s leading brand of Armagnac, available in 80 countries worldwide. The company was founded by Pierre Etienne Janneau in 1851 and it is located in the heart of the Armagnac region in the town of Condom. Janneau Armagnac has been through some ownership changes since then: it was bought by Cognac Martell in the 1974, which was eventually bought out by Seagram, before the Giovinetti family bought it in 1993 with the intention of returning the business to a family-run concern. The company was last sold in 2014 to the French spirit specialist The Spirit France Group. Uniquely, Janneau are the only major house that distils, blends and ages its own stocks under its own roof.  Having access to their own distillery gives Janneau complete control over the quality and personality of their Armagnac.

Janneau’s fame comes partly from its unique mastery of both distillation methods allowed by the appellation decree: continuous distillation with Armagnac alembic and double distillation with Charente pot stills. Only the heart of the distillation, the best part left after the heads and tails are discarded, are used to produce this brandy which gives it great finesse with concentrated, fruity flavours. After distillation the vintage Armagnac is carefully aged in French Limousine oak barrels until it is ready to be bottled.  In barrel, the Armagnac leaches vanillins and tannins from the toasted oak which lend the spirit colour and flavours – without barrel ageing the spirit is just a colourless liquid. The depth of colour and complexity of flavours increase all the time the spirit is aged in cask and the colour becomes darker with age ranging from pale straw to rich amber. As well as becoming darker in colour as Armagnac ages it also becomes softer,  smoother and more elegant on the palate whilst aromas and flavours of prunes, violets, fig, honey, butterscotch and rancio develop.

Janneau 1983 Vintage Armagnac is made from grapes grown on sandy soils in the Armagnac region. 

Presented in a branded wooden gift box with metal clasp.

Also in 1983

1st March –  The compact disc (CD) goes on sale in the United Kingdom

16th May – Wheel clamps are first used to combat illegal parking in London

29th August – Blockbusters, a gameshow hosted by Bob Holness, is launched on ITV

The post Janneau 1983 Vintage Armagnac 43% appeared first on Fareham Wine Cellar.

source https://www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk/product/janneau-1983-vintage-armagnac/

[whatfinemmmarble]

what dreams may come (ffxiv)

Summary: A short-ish drabble with my midlander inventor and charlatan, the Great Garrett Brimble, and his long lost half-elezen friend(?)... Set in Lydra Lhan. Mostly SFW but gets a little weird at the end. Sorry. Art by me! Story under the cut! 

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

It had been a loooooong day in the pixie dreamworld; Brimble, tuckered out from running around, doing manic pixie bidding, settled into a macaron cushion at a peppermint table, letting out a sigh. He picked up a daffodil teacup to peer into it. He wanted a cup of tea, but whatever was in this was likely sugar water.

 At his side, a few of the pixies had followed; they took to Brimble as naturally as they did to children, and treated him no differently. It was likely that they viewed him as a child still... albeit, a tall one. He had played here in his youth, after all, and though the pixies were hardly ones for sentimentality, they had grown accustomed to his presence, and he had to theirs. It had been a while since he had just sat in the dreamscape and... dreamt. 

"Haven't you got any fun dreams these days, Bumble?" A pixie chirped, hovering near his head. "It's all books, paperwork, inkwells with you-- and even worse...!" The pixie fixed little hands on their hips. "--money!" 

There was a reactive groan throughout the fluttering peanut gallery-- the collective struggle to understand what mortals found so appealing about dirty, yucky gil. Why not trade in candy instead? Much more fun. They posited this to him and amongst each other, for maybe the hundredth time... However, he did not have the energy today to explain economy to them, and so he sighed, relenting and taking a sip of the daffodil teacup-- which proved indeed to just be sugar water filled. He set it down afterwards, running a white-gloved hand back through his black and graying, slicked hair, then adjusting his monocle. 

"My friends," He started, spritely, "I've spent so much time here, eventually I'll dream of Lydha Lran and make another dreamscape entirely, within a dreamscape. How do you like that? You'll all make friends with your dream selves-- my dream yourselves, that is." This caused quite a buzz.  "Not possible! Is it?" "Well, I'd like to meet your dream myself, if I do say so! And I do! Me, this dreamself!" "What if we're already someone's dreamself? What then?"  Buzz, buzz. He leaned back, hands folded on his lap, successfully evading a deeper probe into what dreams he might be having, closing his eyes. Truthfully, he didn't really dream lately. He did, once. It was dangerous to dream here-- dangerously embarrassing, that is, but at the present moment, he didn't see any harm in just trying to remember what it was he used to dream about. Such thoughts had a nasty habit of appearing in Lydha Lran, however. His eyes shot open when he remembered just what had plagued him all those years ago-- but as two slender hands slid over his shoulders, he knew it was too late to recall it. The voice behind him was that of an achingly familiar half-elezen, a pretty swordsman he had befriended once upon a time-- the voice was reserved, serious, dignified: "Thinking of me, are you?" Arms slid around his neck, latching on, chin poised on top of his head. "I was wondering when you might." Brimble stiffened, looking up at the figure the dreamscape had conjured. "Ah! Captain! Yes-- though, I find I might be thinking of-- you specifically, the dreamself of the real you, and not the-- you that-- er, that is, I think--" He scrambled to clarify. Then, more softly: “Etienne, it’s good to see you.” Simple. Etienne let go, crossing over to sit down on a licorice bench just across from the inventor. He was wearing his Captain's uniform casually, collar undone, coat draped over his shoulders rather than on properly. He simply smiled and rolled his eyes at Brimble, and continued for him, "The me that lives in your head, as I imagine the real me might have some choice words for you. But-- I have some choice words as well." He levied a brow raise at him. Brimble sighed, resigned again, lifting his hands up in defeat. "Oh, peachy. Even my fantasies have criticisms to lob at me. Well, isn't that grand." "It could speak to what your fantasy is really about." Etienne said, tilting his head. His hair was golden in the light of the dreamscape, and he looked as young and radiant as the day he and Brimble had first met. Fair, freckled, doll-like in his perfection, as his elezen ilk tended to be. "Unless you want me to dress down in front of all these pixies." Playfully. "And children." Thoughtfully. "No--" Brimble said, sitting up, clearing his throat. "No, no, this is fine, no need to... do any dressing down.” He got up, after a moment, crossing to sit beside Etienne. He had no qualms about indulging; at least, as far as he wanted to, for the moment. Brimble could see the use in sorting out how he felt, from a psychological level, that made sense. And, this wasn't the real Etienne, so who really cared. He laid his arm behind him, along the back of the bench, and smiled. "This is fine enough for me. You know, I never got to see you in such a light! It's too bad that you and I hardly ventured out from Coerthas in those days. It would have been a treat to accompany you in some nicer weather." "I suppose. I didn't think of it much." Came the dry response. Garrett laughed and looked away. "That is... a very Etienne thing to say about it, that's for sure..." He trailed off, and picked back up after a pause. "... but, there were worse ways to get trapped in a cave, on a mountain expedition, certainly." "You had it easy. I daresay you liked the cold that day."

"Nooope, no, I definitely think things may have still gone on smoother if it wasn't miserable out. You’d be hard-pressed to convince me that getting stranded with you would not have been remarkably improved by a day as beautiful as this.” Etienne smirked. "What would you have done differently?" He asked, watching Brimble, intently, tucking his hair behind one subtly pointed ear. "That day?" Brimble feigned being in deep thought, stroking his chin. "I might not have let you catch me so off-guard."  "As in...?" "Well, this is still my fantasy, isn't it?" He looked over at Etienne. "It is." The halfborn was remarkably proficient with his responses. Without another word, the inventor slid his arm around him, and leaned in for a kiss, taking his jaw in his palm, guiding. Etienne kissed back, long lashes fluttering shut, and though he was just Brimble's fantasy, he reacted much the same way his real world counterpart had, accepting the midlander's affection eagerly, a near desperation in him. He had loved him, and he had so wished to love a man that would not have chosen his career over him once more; an innocent wish that Brimble had not loved him in return enough to fulfill. Brimble knew this, and so, it was easy to picture this dream Etienne doing as he asked, submissive, lovesick, and he had no trouble at all lowering the half-elezen back against the length of the bench, and began to pull away at his tie.   ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ A/N: Thanks for reading! (btw i’m on balmung if any ff peeps are lookin for rp!)

[jennigettinghaught]

It’s Katurday, and I wanna see Kat in hats.

[barbucomedie]

Double-Barrelled Blunderbuss from Saint-Etienne, France dated to 1850 on display at the Army Museum in Toledo

Photographs taken by myself 2019

[weaponvault]

Czechoslovak experimental machine gun Jelen I

The beginnings of the Czechoslovak design school in the field of automatic weapons were marked by several experimental designs, the first one undoubtedly belonging to Rudolf Jelen (27 January 1876 - 10 March 1938). The attention of the ambitious designer was not only attracted by automatic weapons, he also left his mark by improving the repeating rifles that the military administration was testing at the time. Major Josef Ottomanský, then a lieutenant in the reserve, was brought to the Prague Zbrojovka Praga in Vršovice in October 1920 on the initiative of the organisational department of the MNO headquarters. The reason behind Jelen's recommendation to the then promising factory was the effort of the French manufacturer Regis Darne from St. Etienne to promote the production of his machine guns in the Vršovice armoury. Naturally, the MNO was interested in the development of domestic designs and therefore convinced the factory management to implement Rudolf Jelen's designs.

The first sample of the Jelen machine gun, produced at Zbrojovka Praga, had an air-cooled barrel and operated on the principle of a locked breech with a short recoil of the barrel. The barrel was housed in a 588 mm long steel casing with an outer diameter of 66.5 mm and a full-length rifled surface. Six locking teeth in the front of the bolt served to securely connect the barrel to the breech, but unlike other designs, the breech was unlocked and locked by a pivoting barrel. Belt feeding was provided by a five-arm rotary feed spool, the operation of which was linked to the axial movement of the bolt. The percussion mechanism consisted of a straight-action firing pin sprung by a recoil spring of the breech and the gun was designed to fire from a locked breech.

However, the intensive work on the weapon's design did not result in success, as later recalled by the then workshop manager of Zbrojovka Praga, Václav Holek, the creator of the famous ZB 26 light machine gun and many other weapons. During the tests, premature initiation of cartridge primers occurred and reliable weapon function could not be achieved. Rudolf Jelen was even injured during the test firing. However, even this did not deter the agile designer of the weapon, and he pushed through Holka's protests to the factory management to develop another model, but his career was not dazzling either.

Today, we no longer know under what contract with the factory the samples produced at Zbrojovka Praga remained Jelen's property, but it is undeniable that he offered both weapons to the then Military Museum in mid-1929 "in order to at least partially compensate me for the material damage caused, since I did not receive anything from the factory after exhausting my knowledge, since machine gun No. 3 was produced behind my back." It is not very clear what the designer expected from the armaments factory, since the weapons of his system ultimately proved unviable. However, the undisputed fact remains that the Jelen machine gun, although functionally problematic, can be considered the first ever automatic weapon constructed on the territory of Czechoslovakia.

The first experimental Jelen machine gun was acquired by the Military Museum in September 1929 from the designer Rudolf Jelen.

Calibre: 7.92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 855 mm

Barrel length: 668 mm

Weight of the weapon: 8310 g

[jabbers-wild-world]

;; Don’t mind this post, guys. Just keeping track of my muse count below the cut, lol

Aaarrrghh (Tales of Arcadia)

Aaravos (The Dragon Prince)

Ace (Kuni no Alice)

Adam (RWBY)

Adam (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Aden (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Adrien (Miraculous)

Ahanu (OC, The Untamed Wilds series)

Aizawa (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Ajali (OC, The Lion King*)

Ajax (OC, Ascension**)

Akabane (GetBackers)

Akei Okami (OC, Wolf Song)

Akira (Persona 5)

Akiru (OC, The Cat Returns)

Akisu (OC, Harry Potter)

Aladi (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Alekai (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Alexios (Assassin’s Creed)

Aljunn (OC, Poison Daggers)

Altair (Assassin’s Creed)

Amani (OC, The Lion King)

Amon (OC, Solomon’s Key)

Anchor (Finding Nemo)

Angus (OC, untitled novel)

Anik (OC, Portal Skip)

Anubis (OC/mythological figure, untitled novel)

Apollo (Olympos)

Aramis (OC, untitled novel)

Archer (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Archibald (Tales of Arcadia)

Archimedes (OC, Secret of NIMH)

Argent (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Argo (OC, untitled novel)

Argus (OC, untitled novel)

Ari (OC, untitled novel)

Arius (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Arno (Assassin’s Creed)

Arqaedyn (OC, Overreach)

Arrow (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Arsene (Code:Realize)

Arsene Lupin (OC, The Mysterious Cases of Arsene Lupin)

Arten (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Artimaes (OC, The Horseman Series)

Artix (AdventureQuest/DragonFable)

Aspen (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Asra (The Arcana)

Asra (OC, Black Souls Rising)

Asra Fisher (OC, Harry Potter)

Asta (OC, Ascension)

Astaroth (OC, Solomon’s Key)

Aurelio (OC, Seas of Stormfall)

Auren (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Avel (OC, The Faded Legends saga)

Averin (OC, Firestone)

Avis (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Avos (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Aym (OC, Solomon’s Key)

Azir (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Azkhal (OC, untitled novel)

Azra-Khal (OC, untitled novel)

Azriel (OC, Crossover)

Bael (OC, Solomon’s Key)

Bagheera (The Jungle Book)

Bakugou (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Balthasar (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Balthazar (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Balto (Balto)

Ban (GetBackers)

Banjo (Banjo-Kazooie)

Banzai (The Lion King)

Barik (Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom)

Baron (The Cat Returns)

Barrel (OC, Pokemon)

Bartleby (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Bartleby (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Batty (FernGully)

Beast (Beauty and the Beast)

Bear (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Beetle (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Beta (OC, Viral Infection)

Black Jack (OC, The Untamed Wilds series)

Black Joker (Kuni no Alice)

Blaine (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Blitz (OC, How to Train Your Dragon)

Blood (Kuni no Alice)

Boomer (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Boris (Kuni no Alice)

Bow (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Bowser (Mario)

Branch (Trolls)

Break (Pandora Hearts)

Briggs (OC, Finding Nemo/Finding Dory)

Buer (OC, Solomon’s Key)

Bunnymund (Rise of the Guardians)

Caine (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Cal (OC, untitled novel)

Cale (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Callum (The Dragon Prince)

Camber (OC, untitled novel)

Campbell (Camp Camp)

Canterbury (Black Butler)

Capper (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Cassius (OC, Brightwire)

Caster (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Catra (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Chardonnay (Sweet Beginnings***)

Charlie (Monsterkind)

Cherry (Sweet Beginnings)

Chester (Tales of Phantasia)

Chouza (Itsuwaribito)

Chris Blackford (OC, Crossover)

Chrono (Chrono Crusade)

Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Colte (OC, Viral Infection)

Conn (OC, The Arcanum Chronicles)

Connor (Assassin’s Creed)

Connwaer (named by me, with permission from crimson-chains)

Cornelius (Thumbelina)

Cranberry Lemon (Sweet Beginnings)

Creek (Trolls)

Cress (Tales of Phantasia)

Crosjando (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Crow (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Crowley (Oz+)

Cryptic (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Cysero (AdventureQuest/DragonFable)

Dabi (My Hero/Boku no Hero Academia)

Dagan (OC, untitled novel)

Daisuke (D.N.Angel)

Daniel (Camp Camp)

Dantalion (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Dante (Devil May Cry)

Dante Ignatius (OC, untitled novel)

Dante Kronos (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Dante Rhodes (OC, Harry Potter)

Darien (OC, Misplaced Magic)

Dark (D.N.Angel)

Dark Law (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Dark Pit (Kid Icarus)

Darrow (OC, untitled novel)

Dastan (OC, Silence Lost)

Data (OC, Viral Infection)

David (Camp Camp)

Dazai (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Deaikil (OC, Ascension)

Decim (Death Parade)

Delta (OC, Viral Infection)

Devil (Sweet Beginnings)

Devon (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Devon (OC, The Camp Mythos series)

Dezimir (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Dhambi (OC, The Lion King)

Digit (OC, Viral Infection)

Docks (OC, untitled novel)

Dodger (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Dodger (OC, Secret of NIMH)

Don Karnage (Talespin)

Double Trouble (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)

Drake (OC, Black Souls Rising)

Drossel (Black Butler)

Duststorm (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

E (AdventureQuest/DragonFable)

Ed (The Lion King)

Eivan (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Elias (OC, The Pariah Chronicles)

Elias (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Elijah (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Elliot (Kuni no Alice)

Elliott (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Elliot Redmond (OC, Seas of Stormfall)

Emmett (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Envy (Full Metal Alchemist)

Envy (OC, The Intentions series)

Eravi (OC, untitled novel)

Etienne (OC, untitled novel)

Euro (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Ezio (Assassin’s Creed)

Ezra (OC, Star Wars)

Fai (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles)

Falkor (The Neverending Story)

Fallon (Sirius the Jaeger)

Fangtooth (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Farren (Lego Elves)

Felix (Satan and Me)

Felix Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug)

Fengari (OC, RWBY)

Fenris (Dragon Age)

Ferio (Magic Knight Rayearth)

Ferran (OC, GrimmalWar)

Ferrin (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Ferris (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Festus (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Finn (OC, Brightwire)

Fisk (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Fox (RWBY)

Gadget (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Gage (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Gajeel (Fairy Tail)

Gale (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Galvyn (OC, untitled novel)

Ganta (Deadman Wonderland)

Gareki (Karneval)

Garrett (Quest for Camelot)

Garrick (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Garry (Ib)

Gavin (OC, Seventh Shard)

Gawl (Generator Gawl)

Geilver (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Gideon (Seven Princes of the Thousand-Year Labyrinth)

Gil (Pandora Hearts)

Gilvein (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Gin (OC, My Hero/Boku no Hero Academia)

Ginji (GetBackers)

Ginko (Mushishi)

Ginti (Death Parade)

Gintoki (Gintama)

Gintoki (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Giza (OC, The Lion King)

Gizmo (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Gizmo (OC, Beyond the Rainbow)

Glitch (OC, Viral Infection)

Gojyo (Saiyuki)

Goku (Saiyuki)

Gourry (The Slayers)

Gowland (Kuni no Alice)

Graham (OC, Assassin’s Creed, Harry Potter, Outlander)

Gray (Fairy Tail)

Gray Ringmarc (Kuni no Alice)

Griffin (Quest for Camelot)

Grillby (Undertale)

Guy (The Croods)

Guy Cecil (Tales of the Abyss)

Guy Diamond (Trolls)

Hades (Olympos)

Hagane (OC, untitled novel)

Hak (Akatsuki no Yona/Yona of the Dawn)

Hans (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Hapsun (OC, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic)

Harper (OC, The Moonlight Ring)

Harrison (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Harrow (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Haru (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Haruka (Tactics)

Hatari (OC, The Lion King)

Hatch (OC, untitled novel)

Hatchet (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Hatsuharu (Fruits Basket)

Hawke (OC, Beyond the Rainbow)

Hector “Striker” Marques (OC, The Edge of Dawn)

Hibiki (OC, Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Hikae (Itsuwaribito)

Hiraishi (OC, untitled novel)

Hiro (Big Hero 6)

Hiruko (Itsuwaribito)

Hiruko (Nightmare Inspector)

Hisago (Itsuwaribito)

Hisirdoux “Douxie” Casperan (Tales of Arcadia)

Hook (Okashi na Shima no Peter Pan/Sweet Neverland)

Hunk (Voltron Legendary Defender)

Ibal (OC, untitled novel)

Ifari (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Ikuto (Shugo Chara)

Impey (Code:Realize)

Indigo “Indie” Tyrian (OC, Among the Stars)

Indivar (OC, Seventh Shard)

Inosuke (Demon Slayer)

Inuyasha (Inuyasha)

Isaac (OC, The Stormfront Chronicles)

Isaac Vivre (OC, Camp Camp)

Isaiah (OC, Evermore)

Isandro (OC, Black Souls Rising)

Izark Kia Tarj (From Far Away)

Izaya (Durarara!!)

Izmael (OC, Dead Man’s Day)

Izo (OC, untitled novel)

Izrael (OC, Cantor Descending)

Jabber Quill (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Jace (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Jacquimo (Thumbelina)

Jack (Rise of the Guardians)

Jade Moonfeather (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Jael (OC, untitled novel)

James (Pokemon)

Jasper (OC, The Moonlight Ring)

Jasper Taigan (OC, The Sand Skulls Series)

Jax (OC, Misplaced Magic)

Jay (OC, Camp Camp)

Jellal (Fairy Tail)

Jericho (Kuni no Alice)

Jester Ring (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Jinx (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Johnny (Sing)

Joker (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Judal (Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic)

Julius (Kuni no Alice)

Jumba (Lilo and Stitch)

Justin (OC, Camp Camp)

Jyugo (Nanbaka)

Kade (OC, Plague)

Kaelan (OC, The Wild Warriors series)

Kagura (Demon Love Spell)

Kai (OC, untitled novel)

Kal (OC, untitled novel)

Kale (OC, Animorphs)

Kaminari (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Kanda (D. Gray-Man)

Karimu (OC, The Lion King)

Karkat (Homestuck)

Karma (Assassination Classroom)

Kasi (OC, The Lion King)

Kaspar (OC, The Tangled Series)

Katsuo (OC, Persona 4)

Kaushal (OC, Desert Sands)

Kavit (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Kazuki Fuuchouin (GetBackers)

Kazuki Muto (Busou Renkin)

Keidynn (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Keith (Voltron Legendary Defender)

Kestrel (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Keturi (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Khazroq (OC, untitled novel)

Khireus (OC, untitled novel)

Ki (OC, untitled novel)

Kifo (OC, The Lion King)

Kin (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Kirishima (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Kizami (Corpse Party)

Klarth (Tales of Phantasia)

Klein (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Korand (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Koro-sensei (Assassination Classroom)

Krampus (OC, untitled novel)

Kratos (Tales of Symphonia)

Krin (OC, Ascension)

Kuhani (OC, The Lion King)

Kuiba (OC, The Lion King)

Kuro (Servamp)

Kurogane (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles)

Kutal (Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Kweli (OC, The Lion King)

Kyle (OC, Desert Sands)

Kyo (Fruits Basket)

Lark (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Lavi (D. Gray-Man)

Law/Lawrence (OC, Plague)

Lawrence (Seven Princes of the Thousand-Year Labyrinth)

Lawson (OC, The Untamed Wilds series)

Leif (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Leon (OC, Beyond the Rainbow)

Leonardo (Oz+)

Leraje (OC, Solomon’s Key)

Levi (OC, untitled novel)

Li (CardCaptors)

Lily (Servamp)

Lincoln (OC, untitled novel)

Link (Breath of the Wild)

Lion-O (Thundercats 2011)

Lionheart (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Locien Kei (OC, untitled novel)

Lock (OC, Pokemon)

Lock (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Loki (Kamigami no Asobi)

Lokus (OC, The White Game)

Lotus (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Lowell (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Lucas DuSauvage (OC, Crossover)

Lucian (OC, Catching Smoke)

Lucian (OC, untitled novel)

Lucien (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Luka (Miraculous)

Luke Ainsworth (Sacred Blacksmith)

Luke fon Fabre (Tales of the Abyss)

Lune (The Cat Returns)

Lux (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Lyric (OC, Second Moon)

Lyric (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Mad King (X-Ray and Vav)

Mael (OC, untitled novel)

Majestic (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Makoto (Free!)

Marco (Animorphs)

Marius (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Marius (OC, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Markos (OC, untitled novel)

Marquis (OC, Brightwire)

Marshall Lee (Adventure Time)

Mason (OC, untitled novel)

Masquerade (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Mauti (OC, The Lion King)

Maverick (OC, untitled novel)

Max (Camp Camp)

Maximus (Tangled/The Tangled Series)

Mercury (RWBY)

Merlot (Sweet Beginnings)

Merrick (OC, untitled novel)

Messiah (Seven Princes of the Thousand-Year Labyrinth)

Micah (OC, Micah’s Guidebooks series)

Michal (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Midnight Star (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Mifune (Soul Eater)

Migs (OC, The Camp Mythos series)

Mikasi (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Mikhael (OC, Fall of the Titans)

Mikhael (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Milori (Neverland Fairies)

Mist Flare (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Mitsuhide (Akagami no Shirayuki/Snow White with the Red Hair)

Mitsuru (Nanbaka)

Mizani (OC, The Lion King)

Mkali (OC, The Lion King)

Mogar (X-Ray and Vav)

Momotaro (Free!)

Montague (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Monty (OC, Pokemon)

Morgan (OC, untitled novel)

Morgana (Persona 5)

Musashi (Nanbaka)

Mushra (Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Muta (The Cat Returns)

Myles (OC, Rewrite)

Mzungu (OC, The Lion King)

N (Pokemon)

Nagi (Deadman Wonderland)

Naro (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Nathan (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Nathaniel (Miraculous)

Natsu (Fairy Tail)

Nephr (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Nero (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Nguvu (OC, The Lion King)

Nico (Nanbaka)

Nico (OC, Black Souls Rising)

Nicolae (OC, untitled novel)

Nicu (OC, untitled novel)

Nightdream (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Niklaus (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Nikolae (OC, D. Gray-Man)

Nils (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Nirav (OC, Desert Sands)

Nix (OC, untitled novel)

Njozi (OC, The Lion King)

Noah (OC, Beast in the Bottle)

Nod (Epic)

Noir (OC, The Cat Returns)

Nora (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Nora (Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom)

Obi (Akagami no Shirayuki/Snow White with the Red Hair)

Oga (Beelzebub)

Ojiro (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Oleander (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Oriander (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Orion (OC, untitled novel)

Orpheus (OC, Edge of Legend)

Orson (OC, The Stormfront Chronicles)

Orson (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Orson Gibbs (OC, Plague)

Oseru (Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom)

Ouro (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Oz (Oz+)

Oz Diggs (OC, Beyond the Rainbow)

Ozpin (RWBY)

Pallum (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Pax (Satan and Me)

Peter Pan (Okashi na Shima no Peter Pan/Sweet Neverland)

Peter White (Kuni no Alice)

Phalanx (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Philip (Sirius the Jaeger)

Pips (FernGully)

Piras (Awaken)

Pit (Kid Icarus)

Pteryn (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Qivral (OC, Ascension)

Quinn (OC, untitled novel)

Quirin (The Tangled Series)

Qwan (Qwan)

Rafiki (The Lion King)

Rai (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Rai (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Raimundo (Xiaolin Showdown)

Raito (OC, The Cat Returns)

Raitou (OC, Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Raja (OC, untitled novel)

Rajan (OC, Desert Sands)

Rama Anin (OC, untitled novel)

Rampo (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Ratchet (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Ravenblade (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Reik (OC, untitled novel)

Reiss (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Remus (Harry Potter, Marauders’ Era specifically)

Remy (X-Men, personal adaptation)

Ren (RWBY)

Rhett (OC, Finding Nemo/Finding Dory)

Rick O’Connell (The Mummy)

Ridge (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Rin (Free!)

Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist)

Rishi (OC, Desert Sands)

Rivan (Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom)

Rivaren (OC, The Kingship Quartet)

River (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Roane (OC, untitled novel)

Robin (Disney’s Robin Hood)

Rock (Nanbaka)

Rocky (Chicken Run)

Roman (RWBY)

Rome (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Ronin (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Rowain (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Roux (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Roy (Full Metal Alchemist)

Roy G. Biv (Monsterkind)

Rukh (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Runaan (The Dragon Prince)

Rush (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Russell (OC, untitled novel)

Russell “Rusty” Carmine (OC, Among the Stars)

Rusty (OC, Blackwater)

Ryo (OC, Crossover)

Ryuji (Persona 5)

Ryuma (Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Ryuu (OC, Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Sabito (Demon Slayer)

Sadir (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Sage (OC, The Kingship Quartet)

Sago (Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Sahar (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Sahari (OC, untitled novel)

Saiqeit (OC, untitled novel)

Samhain Shade (OC, Among the Stars)

Samon (Nanbaka)

Sanji (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Saru (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Sasha (OC, Pokemon)

Satan (Satan and Me)

Scar (The Lion King)

Scissor (Okashi na Shima no Peter Pan/Sweet Neverland)

Senji (Deadman Wonderland)

Sesshomaru (Inuyasha)

Shade (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Shahad (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Sharrkan (Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic)

Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)

Shetani (OC, The Lion King)

Shin-Ah (Akatsuki no Yona/Yona of the Dawn)

Shiro (Voltron Legendary Defender)

Shirou (Brand New Animal)

Shizuo (Durarara!!)

Shock (OC, Pokemon)

Shockwave (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Shuseki (OC, My Hero/Boku no Hero Academia)

Sigma (OC, Viral Infection)

Silence (OC, The Intentions series)

Silver LeBlanc (OC, Among the Stars)

Sindar (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Skek (OC, DnD, untitled novel)

SkekMal (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance)

Soren (The Dragon Prince)

Soul (Soul Eater)

Spark (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Staz (Blood Lad)

Steele (Balto)

Stein (Soul Eater)

Sting (Fairy Tail)

Stormblade (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Strix (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Styx (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Sugino (Tactics)

Sumu (OC, The Lion King)

Sun (RWBY)

Sun (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Sunny Pine (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Surefire Arrow (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Sval (OC, untitled novel)

Swift (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Syaoran (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles)

Syuro (OC, untitled novel)

Taavi (OC, untitled novel)

Taeval (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Taigus (OC, untitled novel)

Takhal (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Tamani (OC, The Lion King)

Tanjiro (Demon Slayer)

Tatizo (OC, The Lion King)

Tempest (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Terra (OC, untitled novel)

Terra (Kingdom Hearts)

Terence (Neverland Fairies)

Thomas O’Malley (Aristocats)

Thompson (Black Butler)

Thor (Kamigami no Asobi)

Tick (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Timber (Black Butler)

Tink (Okashi na Shima no Peter Pan/Sweet Neverland)

Titan (OC, Dragonmist)

Titian (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Titus (Seven Princes of the Thousand-Year Labyrinth)

Tjarron (OC, Brightwire)

Tobias (Animorphs)

Todoroki (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Tokiya (Time Guardian)

Tokoyami (Boku no Hero/My Hero Academia)

Toris (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Torren (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Train (Black Cat)

Travis (OC, Camp Camp)

Tyr (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Tyrian (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Tzekhal (OC, untitled novel)

Tzuriel (OC, untitled novel)

U-1146/White Blood Cell (Cells at Work)

Ueki (Law of Ueki)

Umbra (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Undertaker (Black Butler)

Uno (Nanbaka)

Uno (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Uriel (Satan and Me)

Utsuho (Itsuwaribito)

Vafa (Arabian Dreams)

Valiance (OC, The Stormfront Chronicles)

Varian (The Tangled Series)

Vasha (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Venn (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Venture (OC, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Vheildar (OC, Ascension)

Vince (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Viper (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Warren (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Watanuki (xxxHolic)

Wesley (Oz+)

Weston (OC, Beyond the Rainbow)

White (Love Among Us)

White Joker (Kuni no Alice)

Willow (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Wisp (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Wit (OC, Beast in the Bottle)

Wizardmon (Digimon)

Wolf (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Xander (OC, The Faded Legends Saga)

Xavier (The Tangled Series)

Xelloss (The Slayers)

Yamato (Nanbaka)

Yarrow (OC, Neverland Fairies)

Yasuo (OC, untitled novel)

Yildun (Star Crossed)

Yogi (Karneval)

Yosuke (Persona 4)

Yudar (OC, the Edovin Trilogy)

Yukito (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Yukito (OC, The Cat Returns)

Yuliy (Sirius the Jaeger)

Yuri (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Yuri Plisetsky (Yuri on Ice)

Zack (OC, Camp Camp)

Zeig (OC, The Edovin Trilogy)

Zeik (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

Zelgadiss (The Slayers)

Zen (Akagami no Shirayuki/Snow White with the Red Hair)

Zera (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Zevran (Dragon Age)

Zigisu (OC, untitled novel)

Zoroaster (OC, Blossoms of the Heart)

Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Zwei (OC, Shinzo/Mushrambo)

[rules-for-boys]

Spring Break in Speedos

For @chocolatehimbos​

The young men of Alpha Theta Psi were ready for spring break. More than ready. It had been a long semester and the boys were ready to party. To that end, money had been pooled together from their own pockets as well as the fraternity’s coffers to put together a hell of a Spring Break: travel to a tropical island to a beachfront villa with a small private beach.

The place wasn’t as big as they maybe would have liked it, they would have to stay in close quarters. The houses that were big enough but were also right on the beach were too expensive, and houses that were big enough and in their price range were too far from the beach. They were used to close quarters from living together in the fraternity house, and they had voted for the convenience and beauty of the smaller beachfront place. It could be a little bit of a pain when – no “if,” when – they found some girls to bring home but the strategies that served them well in the house would serve them just as well here.  

They had endured a longish plane ride and a surprisingly long car ride; the setting of the house was a little more secluded than Ezekiel had expected when he was setting things up but it was absolutely beautiful out here; the warm light of the island sun, the pure blue of the ocean, the white sand of their *private fuckin beach*. Zeke barreled out of the car as soon as it stopped and almost went running right for the ocean before he could even pay the cabbie. Chuckling as he got his feet under him and remembered himself, he grabbed his wallet and paid the man, making sure to leave a generous tip.

The twelve-passenger van that they had chartered probably would have fit twelve little old ladies fine but it was less accommodating for strapping college-aged men, many of them athletes. Zeke had gotten the passenger seat way up front and the rest of the boys had been cramped together in three rows of too-small benches and now that they were parked they were rushing for freedom in a less-than-orderly fashion. Corey was the first to get free and he shouted “Yes!” as he feet touched the ground. Despite his moving quickly, he was no match for the other boys barreling out of the van after him; he didn’t have time to take two steps forward before another boy was slamming into him, pushing him to move up faster

For his own part, Joey got a little carsick and he had somehow found himself pushed up against a corner of the van, making it worse. He hadn’t actually gotten sick but it was a near thing, and he was still feeling queasy as they started to climb out. Despite this, he waited until the van was pretty much clear before moving; some of these dudes were throwing elbows to get out and he did not want to see what happened when a causal, brotherly elbow caught him in the gut right now. Eventually, he did make it out, and breathed deep, the salt sea air immediately doing wonders for him.

“Alright, Alphas,” Mac said, clapping his hands as the boys stretched and whooped their freedom. “We gotta get all of this shit inside the house,” he said. “And let this gentleman be on his way.” He opened up the trunk area and grabbed two of the many large black bags that the boys had brought with them, and trudged into the house, expecting the others to follow.

In short order, bags were inside and the boys were starting to think about immediately hitting the beach, because what else had they come here to do? That was when Kyle started looking through the bags, trying to identify his own. Instead of seeing the familiar names of his frat brothers, he saw names like “Giuseppe” and “Etienne.” 

Eventually he came to the conclusion: his bag definitely wasn’t here. “Hey guys,” he called out, “I think they switched our luggage.”

[umbralsound-xiv]

“Having missed the ceremony -- I’m sure it was lovely -- I thought, at the very least, i should make some kind of apperance at the festivities that followed. Of course, i’m... Perhaps not the most social person, but i don’t mind such things from time to time.

There’d be a chance to catch up, alcohol, and dancing. That would be good enough for me. The food sounded... Interesting, too. And naturally, i... Took Kuroko with me.

Why not? I mean. We’re... Close. Friends. Of sorts. We’re known to be associated together. No one would think it strange. Everything would be fine.

...Or at least, it would have been, had i not almost died of embarrassment when he referred to us as ‘fuckbuddies’, which of course isn’t innacurate, but i hadn’t quite expected him to use that terminology in polite company. Amongst the company, perhaps. But not here.

Not that anyone seemed to mind. It was mostly laughed off, whilst i gathered what scraps of moral dignity i’d managed to retain. We’d spoken with Milloux and her new husband, Khalil. With Etienne, Vander, and a good many more of the other faces in attendance. All was delightfully cosy, until someone made mention of a certain wedding tradition. The bouquet toss.

I should have never bloody stood up. Kuroko, eager to learn of how certain traditions are different here in the West, urged me to participate. A smaller woman caught it first, who was promptly barrelled from her feet by another, which landed me on my backside, and the flowers atop me. I screamed, threw them in the air... And Kuroko caught them.

And gave them back to me.

Twelve.

...Milloux said they could also be used for good luck. Not just... For whoever is going to be married next. I’ll take that. I can’t imagine sauntering up an aisle myself, never mind Kuroko, exhanging vows and all that nonsense. Love makes people do stupid, reckless things; and i’ll be having none of it.

...The flowers are pretty, though. I took them home and found a vase for them.

Love makes people do stupid, dangerous things, i told him. He told me, for a woman that claims not to love, i’ve done a great many of them.

...I don’t want to think about it.”

@crimson-sunrise-ffxiv @aethersmoke-and-ash @elegant-etienne

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Monday 2 July 1838

7

10 ½

fine but dull morning F63° at 8 am out A- and I at 8 ¼ to the pépinière départementale, and called at the pépinieristes’ house and took him with us – quick clever looking man he had laid out the pépinière and seemed very proud of it – said there were very few such – few are prettily, so beautifully situated – the Douze winding along at the foot of the garden – very pretty – could not well catch his nomenclature – soon found that he was gardener not botanist – asked for Mèrat little livre de botanique – he had lent it to someone – but declined selling it – said there was one published every year and referred to the great and best pépiniériste à Paris M. Ville Morin Andeliene, Quai de la Magisserie dit de la Férral, n. 30 enough – I have thus got the address of the best nurseryman – the mans’ place here worth not more than 1,400 fr. a year exclusive of house and fire wood, and a bit of ground (they wink at this) planted with vines that produce a barrique or more per annum – he and his garçon (a labourer aetatis 18) do all the work except for December to end of April when the department allows him 6 additional labourers does not know the quantity of ground he has in nursery garden – it is the property of the Department – gave me a sale catalogue of trees and shrubs, but said he had a great many not down in the catalogue – not having the catalogue till we came away, could not verifier anything and .:. learnt nothing except to know perfectly the beautiful bignonia catalpa (in flower – and with some pods also remaining of last year?) and that it is propagated by seed, and when quite young has more the appearance of a luxuriant shrub-growing plant than a fine large tree – on coming in saw the ortolans – from 150 to 220 maigre in the large darkish high narrow slip ‘volerie’ looking in the court (perhaps 6 or 7 yards long and 1 yard broad) taken off from a building that forms the back of the court, and perhaps 50 in little cages in a dark warm  ground floor large room where are empty barrels etc. etc. 3 weeks to a month in feeding – take about ¼ hour roasting at a good feu vif as for a common rôti – her brother puts down the ortolans when the potage est servi and they are ready to come in when we have done eating – that is for the last course – should be white when roasted, not red – she (the daughter) born at Eaux-Bonnes – and the mother from Oléron – goes every year to the baths of Biaritz [Biarritz] (pronounced Beeariz) very good for cutaneous complaints -  the king of Naples here 1 night – 60 people in his train – the house not large enough for all they received 3500 fr. and the other Inns were paid besides – asked the name of the proprietors of the great house at St. Sauveur ‘M. Sarrat, le maire de Luz’ – his house always let to English – not many people have passed this way aux eaux this year as yet – sat writing the above of today till 12 – having talked sometime to the demoiselle de la maison – off from Mont-de-Marsan (Hotel des Ambassadeurs, very good) at 12 40 – pass thro’ much of the little ville the smallest chef lieu of department in France – very nice little ville – fine road-avenue, the demoiselle said, all the way from here to Bayonne – beautiful sortie from the town thro’ gardens thro’ Spanish chesnut and oak and fir (left) and meadows and greed hedges and trees (right) down to the river Douze and soon pine-forests all the way to Campagne at 1 ½ (poste aux chevaux) and farmstead – our road thro’ an avenue of Platanus, poplar, catalpa, different species of [acer] etc. about Campagne a few fields corn and grass – the corn in large sheaves piled all in one pile – the pine forest again (good rubble road) with every now and then champs and picturesque farmstead to Tartas at 2 35 picturesque little ville – market day – town on the top, on the slope, and at the bottom of hill, and divided, by the Midouze river, into haute and basse ville – a calêche and pair passed us on our entering the town, and a calêche and pair set off just before us which we afterwards found it tiresome not to be allowed to pass – the people assembled here (Tartas) Pyrenees-like people – blue men with crimson sashes and women with crimson petticoats and ditto printed handkerchiefs round the head, and a few with large brimmed black beaver hats – narrow streets except the one main street – very picturesque town – the Post-house stable, an old church – nice cultivation all round the little ville – avenue, rubble road, as before – at a little distance from Tartas forest again and picturesque farmsteads and champs here and there as before – and wherever there is an opening (left) fine distance of cultivated and much wood line of hill – could have on much faster (the road so good) but for the calêche a head of us that we came up with at 3 ½, and then stopt a few minutes to let it get out of our way – at 3 50 picturesque little scattered bourg of Pontons [Pontonx], and waited ¼ hour to let the calêche get out of our way – walked ten minutes went into the little church – neat village church – and got into the carriage at the far end of the town – no regular forest this stage – fine distance (left) as before but much more seen – at 4 ½ distinct at several of the mountain forms but still too far off in misty distance to be of any importance to the view – about 5 meet scattered on the road above 20 priests – very fine drive from Pontons [Pontonx] and very good road – from Pontons  [Pontonx] to the poste at Dax at 5, and gallopt forwards and turned left to the city of Dax and alighted at the hotel St. Etienne Dax at 5 8 – settled all – to dinner at 7, and took a boy guide and A- and I sauntered out 5 35 – saw the bains de Bagnols   in passing and then to the [campagne] of M. De Borta to see his fine collection of fossils and minerals  found here – Madame de Borda just gone (and Mr. out also) sent for him – he was with his workmen cutting wood and desired them I might see whatever I liked – the tower observably locked up – ditto the minerals  .:. having taken a turn in the garden set off home again – fachée at our loss of time – In returning saw the source chaude  really very curious – and saw the plain modern cathedral – came in at 7 – dinner in an hour – then came to my room and till now 10 pm (A- in bed this ½ hour) wrote the last 9 lines of the last page and so far of this and found F66° in my bedroom – very fine day – [ga.] very abundant everywhere dans les lands some English gentleman at Mont-de-Marsan last winder for shooting – nothing has gone well since 1830 – taxes high – our hotel at M. de M. pays 210fr. per annum, and the taxes get higher and higher – our demoiselle said no Stilts (echassée in the patois [?]) except dans les gardens Lands at la Taste -12 lieues d’ici and very narrow bad roads must go on horseback – in light little carriages – ought to have gone to La Teste from Bordeaux – c'est pour une autre fois – at the baths this evening saw bains de bone, the 1st time – ordered the horses to be ordered here at 5 ¾ tomorrow morning – Dax a very nice little picturesque anciently fortified town –

[lsbaird]

The Devil’s Luck - Chapter One Preview!

A day late but hopefully not a dollar short! It was a deliberate delay, I think we could all use the distraction today, and if I’m looking at post notes I won’t be reloading the news. (Allow me a small interjection: Please please please go vote if you’re eligible. It is without a doubt the most important thing you can do today, and possibly this year. Already voted? Thank you!) Now let’s hunker down and hope for the best. I plan to make soup and play Hades, myself. But you get to remember today as the day you met your new favorite murderer: Etienne of the Order of the Crimson Seal. 

Etienne Vynae Na'Gammon had endured considerable discomfort in the course of his long and shadowy career. He had spent long nights navigating steep and icy rooftops, he had waited out the tides while clinging to pilings beneath the city's piers, and on one (far too memorable) occasion he had traveled down the canals in an olive barrel. In his crowning achievement he had even covered himself in plaster and posed—quite successfully and for several hours—as a garden statue in the middle of a widely-attended soiree. Many was the time he had been out and about the Order's business during the bleakest winter gale, when decent people shuttered their windows and were cozy in their beds. And yet, for all his ordeals, he had never encountered anything as devilishly uncomfortable as a single hour in this accursed carriage.

As if to punctuate the thought, the carriage hit a yet another canyon in the road, and Etienne pitched forward with a barely-contained oath. He’d been travelling now for four days, and he estimated he had spent at least a quarter of the journey suspended in mid-air inside the carriage, rattled around like the bead in a baby's rattle. He landed with a jolt and a groan as the wheels surmounted the crater and plunged gamely towards another. Then again, Etienne mused, maybe it’s not the carriage that’s to blame. Easting roads were not meant for lowland carriages, or for lowland assassins.

Massaging his side as he eased back onto the seat, Etienne drew back the curtain and peered out. A muddy, piney smell unfamiliar to the city-dweller seeped around the glass and crawled boldly into his nostrils. The light was fading fast, but even if it had been noon under the bluest sky, there would still be very little to see outside. Easting's countryside was naked under heaven, the bare bones of her hills clad only in the brief modesty of heather.

The sight of that vast nothingness, rolling interminably into the deepening dusk, made Etienne feel as exposed as a sinner's soul on the cold pan of St. Justicia's scale. There were no havens, no hiding-places on those moors, only sparse bursts of trees here and there, and those were already leaf-bare. The isolation of it struck an unfamiliar chord of loneliness within Etienne. He was sworn to do his duty for the sake of humanity in the broadest sense, but he enjoyed his own company best and had no great love for his fellow man. Under close examination he found most of them to be extremely irritating. Still, in Ivanis City, he knew how easy it was to be invisible in the crowd, he knew how to lose himself among the rooftops and canals. The city was no mere backdrop, it was a fundamental part of his art. If he could transform himself into a blade of grass or a gorse bush, he might have felt equally at home in Easting.

Even worse, his disguise was made to attract the eyes of others, to make him a focus of attention rather than to avoid it. Which was well and good for a distraction when distraction was called for, and quickly shed for comfortable anonymity. But there would be no shedding it now, not for some time. Ephaseus had said that the challenge would be a good thing for Etienne, and make him more well-rounded in his craft.

Etienne was as well-rounded as corsetry could make him, and so far, it had done very little for either his craft or his mood. For one thing, there was something off about the fit. Etienne could not understand the difficulty. The corset had been custom made for him, and had fit perfectly three years ago when he’d poisoned the Viscount of Brinesgreene at a dinner party. But then, that was only for one evening, and his victim was dead before the soup course was finished. It was simply a matter of having to wear it longer and while traveling, Etienne concluded, and there was no other reason (certainly not a reason in the form of numerous ginger biscuits), that it did not fit now. True, the stays of the garment were sterner than fashion demanded, as Etienne's slim steel throwing blades were sheathed between the whalebone, and most ladies already possessed at least a semblance of the curves that Etienne's corset was forcing upon him, but he couldn’t quite fathom the cause. Bad luck, that was all.

The carriage shuddered again, knocking Etienne's forehead against the glass and then sending him in a heap of rumpled skirts to the carriage floor, and this time he indulged in some heartfelt profanity. The carriage slowed, and for a moment he thought his outburst had actually reached the ears of the coachman. But a quick glance outside revealed the first man-made structure Etienne had seen for miles: thorny black iron gates looming up out of the darkness. They had reached the edge of Chancelion.

The gate was lodged in the low hummock of some feudal earthworks that had once enclosed the property, which years ago had been the ancestral seat of some forgotten and long-dissolute noble line. It was Chancelion now, named so by Lord Evern Reichwyn decades ago when he won the whole pile in a game of hazard, and took a fancy to the marble cats perched on the gate. That was the first of Lord Reichwyn’s two legendary card games, a tale still told even as far away as Ivanis City. The second game was even more famous… and had not gone quite so well.

“Miss Elsa Lenoir,” the coachman said, as the gatekeeper approached the twin pools of light cast by the carriage lanterns.

The gatekeeper lifted his shaggy eyebrows and cast a fleeting glance to the window of the carriage. He was too interested in getting back to his warm apartment in the gate to stand and stare for long, however, and Etienne, in his guise as a lady of quality, stared gravely forward into the middle distance without taking note of him. The gatekeeper attended to his duty, the carriage wheels rolled onto the blissful smoothness of fresh gravel, and Etienne's mission at last unfolded before him in shades of greenish gray.

Now in the distance he could see the black shadows of trees, the timber hills a dark stain on the edge of the pale moor. The wind carried their soughing along with the low, aching cry of a wolf.  Etienne frowned at the thought of wolves prowling the countryside. An extra factor to consider, without a doubt. When he was obliged at last to make his escape, he decided he would do so on the fastest horse he could steal.

“Almost there, ma'am,” the coachman called back, startling Etienne from his unpleasant reverie on snapping wolf-jaws. “Less than 'alf a mile.”

Etienne steeled himself to his task. There was a difficult task between him and his freedom, and his frequent trips to the carriage floor had knocked his wig askew. A few minutes' maintenance restored the glossy black curls to their proper places on his shoulders, some repeated pinching forced maidenly color back into his cheeks. His kohl would have to do as it was; Etienne was skilled at the art, but did not trust himself with anything so delicate inside the dark, rattling carriage. A brief inspection in the small hand-mirror pinned to his skirts presented him as a passable version of the portrait miniature Ephaseus had painted, with the exception of the peeved expression. Etienne forced his eyebrows up to get rid of the frown line between them.

The lady-to-be of Chancelion would be fatigued from the trip, and perhaps a little anxious, but she would be excited to meet her future husband for the first time. And who could blame her? Lord Freyton Reichwyn Landry was a bastard, and only recently had he been tracked down as the heir to his great-uncle's property. But he was young, handsome, beloved by his tenants, and fabulously rich. Elsa, on the other hand, had a bloodline that was beyond reproach, but she was a pauper and an orphan, dependent on her wealthy city relations for her room and board. She had little for her dowry save her name, and a ruined family castle that stood derelict and bat-infested in a part of Easting even more remote than Chancelion. Elsa needed a rich husband to save her an endless string of aunts, and Lord Reichwyn needed nothing save for a bit of blue blood to improve his standing among the gentry.

As a match it was absolutely ideal, save for the trifling detail that Etienne was not Elsa Lenoir, and he was determined to murder his bridegroom before the week was out.

One can't have everything in an arranged marriage, Etienne thought, with a dark chuckle, and checked his glass again. He couldn’t help feeling that he was a bit of a step-up on the original. He much resembled the real Elsa Lenoir—who had been selected as much for that reason as for her suitability—with the exception, Etienne presumed, of murderous intent. She was presently socked away with a pious spinster Aunt in the city. Etienne had seen her on a few occasions and knew her well enough, but their social circles did not often overlap. She spent her days attending only the most respectable soirees and the most moral theatre, and would probably be teaching embroidery at a convent school long before word of her ill-fated engagement ever reached the city. It would no doubt be the most mysterious puzzle of what Etienne suspected would be a thoroughly dull life.

The Order had, of course, considered completely inventing a bride from whole cloth, but an unknown woman of mysterious origin would attract the curiosity of the whole district. But a real and boring one, with a family name everyone has heard somewhere, would be no more than a passing novelty, at least for long enough to serve the Order’s purposes. Etienne tugged his glove further up his arm, though his tattooed wrist was well-concealed by kid leather. When this was done, no trace would be found. Not of the ersatz Elsa, or of her doomed bridegroom. They would fade into the legend as a footnote of that second card game, and only the Order would know the truth of it.  

An inviting light glowed beyond the curtains, and Etienne felt the first, long-belated tingling of anticipation for his task. He had no love of killing for its own sake, but he was a man of principles, and he took his craft very seriously. The disposal of his betrothed was only the final flourish in a long, precise dance. First, he would win over the butler, with the charm of a noble lady that had been so wanting (so Lord Reichwyn's letters had said) in Chancelion. From there it was a simple step-by-step acquisition of the hearts of the whole household, and Etienne knew full well that once you had the confidence of the domestics, the rest was as easy as filching cakes from an open pantry. And once the business was done, Elsa would vanish like the mirage she was.

The coachman cooed a relieved noise to his horses, the wheels slowed, and Etienne took a deep breath.  Elsa had arrived.  The curtain was rising, and he affected an air of weariness mingled just so with trepidation, and a tiny sprinkle of glowing excitement. It was a combination sure to win the affection of Lord Reichwyn's butler the moment the kind old soul opened the door. But when he stepped out of the carriage and onto his stage, Etienne got his first unpleasant surprise of the evening.

There was no kindly old butler there, ready to have his heart melted by the gentle beauty of his new mistress.  There wasn't even a crotchety retainer whose heart couldn't be melted even if it was dropped into a forge.  No, there in the rain at the folding steps of the coach was none other than Lord Freyton Reichwyn Landry himself, the Scion of Chancelion, as though he was no better than the footman. He was clear-eyed and handsome in a friendly, effortless way as he held out a warm cloak for his bride-to-be, and he wore a look of concerned relief that was unfairly earnest.

This, Etienne thought, with a sudden and grim foreboding, is going to be difficult.

“Here you are at last!”  Lord Reichwyn exclaimed, as though Etienne was a favorite sister who had spent too long at the county fair, and not a young noblewoman he had never met. “I've been worried sick—mind the puddle, there—all afternoon. Beastly weather for travel, and no mistake. The streams are all in full flood, and Alfred's horse-cart lost an axel in the mud today. I was afraid you'd meet worse trouble out on the moors after dark.  I was just getting ready to go out after you myself.”  

“It was a bit trying,” Etienne admitted, keeping his voice in the warm middle tones that he had decided best suited the demure Miss Lenoir. “But I felt it best to press on, since I… didn't wish to wait any longer to get here,” Etienne finished, at last. It was a weak reason, but he hoped girlish excitement could excuse it. Etienne was no expert on girlish excitement; his usual feminine persona was much more the quiet and murdery type. He thought it probably felt sort of like having to sneeze, but being startled halfway and not managing to get it out. He felt that way now, itchy and tingly in his spine, but he blamed the corset.

Etienne blamed lots of things on the corset.

“The bridge at Keeston washed away,” Lord Reichwyn continued, bundling Etienne up into the cloak and drawing the fur collar snugly around his shoulders. “You only must have just made it across before the river took it down.” His bride-to-be secured, Freyton leaned up into the carriage and emerged with Etienne's small personal case in his hand. “Have you no other luggage, my lady?” he asked, looking around the empty compartment in confusion, as though there was a large trunk of dresses hiding somewhere and he'd missed it on the first pass.

Etienne fiddled with a glass-eyed ermine head on the cloak. “It's to come along later, along with my waiting maid.”

“They will both have to wait, I’m afraid,” Lord Reichwyn said, shaking his head as he shut up the carriage. “With Keeston-bridge gone, we won't be able to get a carriage from the Highroad until they can do repairs.”

Good work, Bruin, Etienne thought. Aloud, he made only a soft noise of concern, one that was eclipsed as his betrothed offered the coachman a room above the carriage house until the roads were passable again.

“Here,” Lord Reichwyn said, on turning around and finding his bride-to-be still staring pensively after the retreating coach. “Let's get inside before—”

With a sudden crackle of thunder, the drizzle became a downpour, and a deluge of icy rain poured down on them like a baptismal cataract. The curl in Lord Reichwyn's blond queue vanished in an instant, and the lace on the modest neckline of Etienne's gown lost all its starch as he struggled to get the hood of the cloak up over his wig. Lord Reichwyn took Etienne's elbow and towed him along towards the house. “Quickly now, my lady!”  

They fled, skirting the puddles in the rutted gravel of the drive, and scrambling up the broad steps of the house.  Once inside the ebony-paneled foyer, they shook rainwater off their clothes and last got a good look at one another.  

“Your painter does not do you justice, my lady,” Lord Reichwyn said, with such wondering admiration that it could not be anything but honest.  Etienne was thinking something along the same lines.  The painter of Lord Reichwyn's portrait miniature had prettified him to city standards, obscuring the clean line of his jaw and falsely darkening the pale sweep of his lashes. His dripping hair and flushed face only enhanced his appearance as a prime sample of healthy Easting stock, a soft-spoken, broad-handed hero suitable for a syrupy novel by some love-starved city countess.  Etienne, however, had not been so fortunate. He caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the dim hall mirror behind Lord Reichwyn, and found that instead of a quivering maiden in the blush of first love, the rain had turned him into a drowned badger in a soggy dress.

“You must jest, my lord,” he said, aghast. The careful pile of Lady Elsa's black curls had been plastered straight down against his face; all that remained of their former glory were limp twists at the end, dribbling rainwater down his cloak. His carefully applied kohl was smudged around his eyes, and the chill had swiped an unbecoming streak of red across his nose.  The real Lady Elsa would have dropped dead of shame at being seen in such condition.  

“I assure you, I don't,” his paramour replied, with a perfect bow that contrasted sharply with the spreading puddle of rainwater around his boots.  “But please, you must call me Frey.  I insist.”

At that moment the gruff old butler at last made his appearance on the scene, far too late for Etienne's carefully composed introduction.  Considering the old man's pace, Etienne supposed he must have left the servant's quarters sometime early the day before.  “Your rooms are prepared, my Lady,” he wheezed.  “Will you be wanting some late supper?”  

Etienne leaned on the elaborate newel post of the main staircase with an air of great weariness that was not entirely concocted. “I fear the journey has left me far too fatigued,” he breathed, fluttering his lashes a little.  “I'm not at all used to such hard travel.”  Frey, his attentive affianced, was at his side in a second.  

“It must have been a dreadful journey, lady. You needn't make light of it.  Easting is already bitter this time of year.”  Frey placed an arm under Etienne's but kept a concerned, formal distance; common though his blood was, he would not impose himself on a lady's person.  

Bastard, Etienne thought, uncharitably.  If only Frey had been a repulsive cad right off the bat, with a leer in his eyes and groping hands, it would have been easier. Etienne knew this mission would be a challenge, his master had told him so. But Frey, so far, was the nicest fellow Etienne had met in the whole damn week. That took Etienne's task beyond a mere challenge and into farcical territory. Ephaseus, safe and warm back at Marlyon House in Ivanis City, was probably chortling into his tea at the thought of the whole lark.

“Lady?” Frey prompted, perhaps concerned by the audible gritting of Etienne's teeth, “are you quite sure you're well?”

“Ah, forgive me.” Etienne clutched Lord Reichwyn's arm with both hands, and struggled to inject a measure of gratitude into his smile.  “You are too kind, sir.”  

“Nonsense, I should have sent you straight up to bed at once, not made you stand around in wet things. You’ll catch your death.” Frey turned to his butler, who stood waiting attentively in his dusty black velvets, and plucked the candelabra from his hands.  “Tobias, be a good man and have the cook send up some of her excellent potato soup and a pot of tea for Miss Lenoir.  And none of you are to disturb her until she's rested.”  

“At once, my lord,” Tobias bowed, and crept off to the kitchen at a snail's pace.  Etienne would be lucky to get his supper before breakfast-time.

“It's only a short way,” Frey said, helping his lady up the stairs, his boots making damp prints on the thick carpet.  “I've given you the tapestry room. It's a bit smaller than the traditional best guest room, but that's on the other side of the house and cold as a crypt.”  

Etienne, getting a bit more into his role, answered in a plaintive sigh.  “Oh, I would be happy with a hay bale in the barn now, my lord!”  

Frey laughed as they came up onto the first-floor landing, and it was a friendly, open-handed sound.  “I hope my hospitality is not so poor!  And you must call me Frey.  Everyone does.  Except the servants, of course. One simply cannot make them listen to reason.  But I haven't given up hope yet! Here we are.”

He opened a heavy rosewood door, and bowed his lady into her chamber. Etienne entered, and tried not to flinch.  The room was furnished in an Easting show of wealth and luxury, which was, to Etienne’s taste, an eye-stabbing explosion of colors and textures.  The bed, a vast antique fortress of carved oak large enough to sleep a family of bears, was stuffed to the brim with eiderdown, the pillows barely held in check by the red velvet bed-curtains.  Only fragments of the parquet floor were visible under its coating of vivid rugs, and old-fashioned tapestries covered the walls, concealing the simple wood paneling. There were no less than six mirrors, each one encrusted with more gilt flourishes than the last, each reflecting the bright tapestries in a dizzying whirl.  Etienne tried to imagine sleeping in such a cacophony of patterns and hues, and thought he'd rest better in the belly of a bagpipe.  

Frey was undeterred as he surveyed the room.  “Looks like Toby has a fire going, good.  You should dry out thoroughly before retiring. It's so easy to catch a chill here. Will the room suit you?”  

Etienne eyed an ostentatious gold cherub that was looming with ominous pudginess over the red and green enameled washbasin.  “I'm sure I shall feel right at home,” he demurred.

“I do hope so,” Frey said, fervently.  “It's a lovely view of the gardens in daylight, and—and I can't tell you how glad I am you're here at last.”  He paused, and seemed to forget what else he was going to say, his pale blue eyes going soft as he looked at his future bride.  

Etienne's scalp prickled under his wig; he wasn't quite prepared for this scene yet.  Fortunately, he was spared further ardor by Tobias appearing with a tea-cart and her ladyship's minimal luggage, and Frey remembered how to speak.  

“If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask,” he said, as his servant carefully removed the lids from the platters and laid out the silver.  “Breakfast is at nine if you want to come down to the dining room, but if you wish to sleep longer, just ring for a servant when you're ready.  I took the liberty of supplying your wardrobe with a few things, so I hope the delay of your trunks will not prove too troublesome. Shall I send one of the house maids to assist you?”  

“I think I will be fine on my own.”  Etienne held out his hand, and it was promptly accepted.  “I'll have a little supper and then retire at once.  Thank you for your kindness, my lord.”  

Tobias discreetly withdrew as the lord of the manor bowed over Etienne's hand.  “Frey,” he whispered in reminder, and brushed his lips over Etienne's gloved knuckles.  His eyes met those of his presumed lady's, and the moment not only dragged, it dragged as though it had been lashed behind a team of mules and taken through the city square to the gallows.  Etienne at last summoned a dismissive smile, Frey wished his lady good night, and the Lord of Chancelion hurried from the room as though pursued.

The latch clicked, and Etienne collapsed into a chair so appalling it would have sent the minister of the royal household screaming into the hills.  Damn, if it wasn't as bad a start as he had ever done, Etienne thought dourly, peeling off his wet gloves. It was worse than the olive incident, and Etienne didn't even think that was possible.  A lucky thing his lover was so smitten. Etienne could probably have turned up in jackboots and a beard without losing any of his betrothed's affections.  

Damp skirts and the smell of hot soup forced him up again, and with a last suspicious glare at the cherub, he hurried to get himself undressed.  All his clothes, including the corset, had been altered so that he could get in and out of them without help, and in doing so a few liberties had been taken with current city fashion. He had been worried that his slightly outdated stomacher and downright pious neckline might attract too much notice.  He had no such concerns now.  Etienne kicked off his petticoats and scowled at his loud bedchamber. This household wouldn't recognize good taste even if it was indecently assaulted by it in an alley.  

The clock on his mantelpiece chimed ten o'clock and Etienne settled in the hideous armchair to eat his dinner, relaxing a little for the first time in the whole interminable journey.  He only required a day or two to of reconnaissance, after which he could tiptoe down the corridor and murder his fiancée.

Mood considerably brighter at the prospect, he attended to his supper with pleasure.  

[farehamwinecellar]

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Janneau 1973 Vintage Armagnac is a single vintage Armagnac. It will make a perfect 50th birthday gift for any one born in 1973 and celebrating in 2023. 

Janneau is one of the top Armagnac houses. Not only  is it one of the oldest of the great houses but  it is also the world’s leading brand of Armagnac, available in 80 countries worldwide. The company was founded by Pierre Etienne Janneau in 1851 and it is located in the heart of the Armagnac region in the town of Condom. Janneau Armagnac has been through some ownership changes since then: it was bought by Cognac Martell in the 1974, which was eventually bought out by Seagram, before the Giovinetti family bought it in 1993 with the intention of returning the business to a family-run concern. The company was last sold in 2014 to the French spirit specialist The Spirit France Group. Uniquely, Janneau are the only major house that distils, blends and ages its own stocks under its own roof.  Having access to their own distillery gives Janneau complete control over the quality and personality of their Armagnac.

Janneau’s fame comes partly from its unique mastery of both distillation methods allowed by the appellation decree: continuous distillation with Armagnac alembic and double distillation with Charente pot stills. Only the heart of the distillation, the best part left after the heads and tails are discarded, are used to produce this brandy which gives it great finesse with concentrated, fruity flavours. After distillation the vintage Armagnac is carefully aged in French Limousine oak barrels until it is ready to be bottled.  In barrel, the Armagnac leaches vanillins and tannins from the toasted oak which lend the spirit colour and flavours – without barrel ageing the spirit is just a colourless liquid. The depth of colour and complexity of flavours increase all the time the spirit is aged in cask and the colour becomes darker with age ranging from pale straw to rich amber. As well as becoming darker in colour as Armagnac ages it also becomes softer,  smoother and more elegant on the palate whilst aromas and flavours of prunes, violets, fig, honey, butterscotch and rancio develop.

Janneau 1973 Vintage Armagnac is made from 100% Baco 22A grapes grown on sand soils in the Bas Armagnac region. It is the product of a single continuous distillation.

Also in 1973

11th January – The Open University awards its first degrees.

1st March – Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is released in the UK. 

5th July – The Isle of Man Post begins to issue its own postage stamps.

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