#If the Fates Allow

[izloveshorses]

it’s been years but they’re absolutely insane for having reeve and eva, orpheus and eurydice, sing winter song for the hadestown christmas album. 

[stereopticons]

if the fates allow [david/patrick, M, 4k]

playlist

The light glints off of the four silver rings on Patrick’s hand as he leans back into the mic and says, “I’d like to dedicate this song to a very special someone in my life. David Rose.” And, oh, David had no idea how much he needed to hear those words again, to get to be a very special someone in Patrick Brewer’s life again. Tears are already springing to his eyes and Patrick hasn’t even started yet.

The intro that Patrick plays is soft and quiet, and it’s not immediately recognizable to David, not until he opens his mouth and begins to sing.

One year after their reconciliation, David and Patrick hold an open mic night on Christmas Eve.

I was listening to the Phoebe Bridgers version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and had an idea for a follow-up to @blueink3’s let your heart be light series, and Blue very graciously allowed me to play around in her universe to create this look into the year after the events of her fic.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and 2023 is kind to you all.

[musicalrecs]

Today it's not just one musical Christmas song, but an entire album and a bonus!

The album is If The Fates Allow: A Hadestown Holiday Album. You already know if you love it or not.

And as a special bonus, here is "Midwintersong" from Carols for a Cure volume 22. Slime tutorials are well and good, but if you can swing it there are worse things to spend money on this holiday season than supporting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS via the power of your favorite casts singing holiday songs. Makes a great gift for that one person in your life who unironically wears a santa hat to December rehearsals.

[eurydices-carnation]

Fuck all I want for Christmas is you, winter song from the hadestown holiday album is my new Christmas song

[someonelookingpraediti]

OwlCrate Unboxing

If the Fates Allow June 2023

I love this box! It's so, so cohesive - I love it when you get items that work together, and this box is full of items that have a mythology theme AND a blue colour scheme! And the items are all really good too! The theme is "If the Fates Allow".

The featured book is "Threads That Bind" by Kika Hatzopoulou. The book looks interesting, inspired by the Fates of Greek Mythology, so I'll put it on my TBR. However, the special edition is a bit of a failure. OwlCrate have produced a transparent plastic dustjacket, with a white design on it. I totally get what they were aiming for, but it just doesn't work. The designs of the jacket and hardcase don't match together well enough, so they just look kind of messy where they overlap, and the jacket just sort of distorts the hardcase artwork. Also, the static the plastic jacket produces is astounding - every speck of dust in the room clings to it. The other exclusive feature is custom endpapers, but honestly, they're awful - clunky, blurry silver foil line drawings.

The first item is a hand mirror! This is inspired by "The Song of Achilles". It has a quote from the book along the top of the mirror, and artwork of Achilles' helmet on the back. It's impressively heavy, and an item I've never had before! I really love this!

Next is a picnic blanket, inspired by "The Scorpio Races". I still haven't read this, but I did get the OwlCrate limited edition box a couple of years ago, and this would have fit into that box perfectly! This is another item I haven't seen before. It's not very big, as picnic blankets go, but it is waterproof, and I love the design!

There's also a ceramic trivet, with a quote from Neil Gaiman. I didn't realise how much I needed one of these in my life! I usually put hot pans etc on a dinner plate - I definitely need a trivet! This one is gorgeous! And yet another original item!

The last item is a necklace, inspired by the "Percy Jackson" series. It features Percy's sword, Riptide, on one side, and an owl to represent Annabeth on the other. I don't think I'll ever actually wear it, but I love the design.

This month's pin is the one I've been waiting for! It's based on Gansey's journel from "The Raven Cycle" It has a raven on a blue background on the front, and the inside is designed to look like pages from the journal.

Honestly, this is an amazing box! OwlCrate have been consistently good this year, I never thought they'd outmatch FairyLoot, but somehow they've done it!

[ao3feed-larry]

If The Fates Allow

by zita17

A chance meeting led former boy bander and current pop star Harry Styles to fall in love with a boy named Louis nine Christmases ago. Six Christmases ago, that boy left him to raise a baby that wasn’t Harry’s. And, well, Harry never quite got over that. But this year, he gets a second chance at first love.

A love letter to second chances, unconventional families, and Christmas in New York. Loosely inspired by James Arthur’s Emily and Dickens' A Christmas Carol featuring Liam, Niall, and Zayn as the ad hoc ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The recipe for this Christmas treat includes ingredients like a fateful blizzard, a pinch of angst, a dollop of fluff, several cups of clichés, and The Rockefeller Center skating rink as a supporting character.

Words: 25886, Chapters: 4/4, Language: English

Fandoms: One Direction (Band)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik

Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne

Additional Tags: Exes, Famous Harry Styles, Non-Famous Louis Tomlinson, Kid Fic, Single Parent Louis Tomlinson, Rock Star Harry Styles, Post-One Direction, without Louis, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Angst, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Ice Skating, Talk Shows, Love On Tour, Minor Sarah Jones/Mitch Rowland, Minor Zayn Malik/Liam Payne, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Feels, Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, Closeted Character, h is out in this but there's mentions of prior closeting, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, mentions of such in the past, Beards (Relationships), brief mentions of such in the past, Mentioned Lottie Tomlinson, Mentioned Jay Tomlinson, the tomlinson fam is mentioned (all alive and well), Fandom Allusions & Cliches & References, will i ever NOT tag that?, Fetus Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, in a flashback, Secret Relationship, Kissing, Boys Kissing, Implied/Referenced Sex, soz that's all in this one, they don't have childcare or privacy and we're all upset abt that, the M is for, Cussing, and adult themes, Meet-Cute, ok i think that's it for tags if i missed something pls lmk, Domestic Fluff

via AO3 works tagged 'Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson' https://ift.tt/JEVfqLy

[insomniamamma]

The cast of Hadestown recorded a holiday album. I'm only, like 4 songs in and this so so pretty.

[between-the-pages657]

Can’t wait to get to the book!

…whenever that is lol.

[probablybadrpgideas]

Sexually transmitted destinies

[ziainpoetry]

"How do you make this work? Can someone tell me how?"

(15:20 | 31-01-2023)

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 81

Danny blinked at the small children Ellie was holding the hand of, looking quite proud of herself. The small children- between ten and twelve so somewhere similar to Ellie’s age- who both practically stank of magic and Gods. 

He took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose even as Dan cackled while opening the door more to let them inside. “Alright, what’s your name, kids?”

“B-billy…um, Billy Batson...” “‘m Percy! Percy Jackson.” 

“Nice to meet you two- any idea where in your family you have a god or two, because one of you definitely smells like Zeus and I’m pretty sure Poseidon and I am not dealing with either of my half-brothers.” 

[kastillia]

[sonolynn]

What the Fates Allow-C1

summary | You were used to your routine. Tending to drunk men and then the drunken prince, but what happens when he comes to you with an offer.

pairing | Aegon Targaryen x Bastard!Reader

tags | mentions of overconsumption, drunkenness, talks of "whores", not proof read

w.c | 2.0 k

note(s) | I don't think I've mentioned this, but I'm definitely making this out of cannon.

____________________________________________

You stood aimlessly behind the bar, humming softly to yourself as you cleaned the dirty pints in front of you. This was how you spent most of your mornings; cleaning the dirty cups, trays, tables, pints etc etc, only to fill them up later and throw them in the hands of extremely intoxicated men. But, every night came with the same routine. 

Drunk men. 

Filling and empty pints.

Cleaning tables. 

Aegon. 

That was the order in which your night always seemed to go. And you always looked forward to when the drunken prince would stumble his way into the brothel and make his way over to her. There were times when Aegon would find himself in the bed of one of the ladies, but he would always make a point to walk his way over to the bar, sit down, and have a “pint”.

In truth the pint was just water, because you did not wish for him to get sick. 

And, in truth, Aegon knew this, but he indulged you nonetheless. 

“A moment of your time?” Aegon asked softly, a goofy smile on his face as he slid two dragon coins over to you. You rolled your eyes, accepting the coins. 

“And what would you like to discuss today, my prince?” You smiled at him, leaning over the edge of the bar, tilting your head slightly in Aegon’s direction. You had always found him captivating. The premise of how someone could look like they washed their hair in straight olive oil and yet look devilishly handsome always made the gears turn inside of your head. 

“Well…My mother is a raging cunt,” Aegon frowned gently, shrugging as he reached over the bar and grabbed himself a full pint, “and she seems to not like it when I have fun.” 

“You do spend half of the Targaryen wealth on this particular brothel, my prince.” You smiled softly as he drank the pint, knowing you were in for a long night. 

“I do not understand her. She says I ought to be in the library. Studying.” At his words, your eyebrows furrowed. Aegon? With his head inside of some books? That was like asking him to stay sober for more than three hours at a time. 

“For what exactly?” 

“That,” Aegon said while pointing his pint straight at you, “Is exactly what I said. She wants me to study, and yet she will not tell me why. She wants me in the training yard for a war that has not happened in a decade, she wants this, she wants that! It is sickening how much she expects of me, really.” You listened carefully as Aegon spoke. It was often that he would come in and spew his disheartening thoughts about his mother. You had grown to expect it honestly; if it was a day in which Aegon did not come in and rant about his mother, then perhaps it was a good day. 

“She is your mother, my prince-” 

“Aegon.” He corrected. He had a habit of doing such-correcting you in the middle of your thoughts. 

“Aegon,” You spoke teasingly, before bending down and grabbing a dirty tray. “And you are her firstborn. Such things are natural for a mother.”

“And you would know?” Aegon spoke with annoyance, but his face softened slightly as he realized what he said. “Fuck. I’m sorry I-”

“I’m not offended, Aegon. You are right; I do not know what it is like to have a real mother,” You leaned forward, your eyes gazing into his own as you smiled softly. “But what is common knowledge is the fact that mother’s only wish the best for their children. Hence, perhaps, why she has such high standards for you.” 

Aegon went silent at that. He didn’t wish to correct you. You did not know Alicent like he did, obviously; She was his mother, and he lived with her. Yet, it never felt like she had his best in mind. More so, he thought quietly to himself whenever you would say such things, or when his mother would berate him, that she only had survival on her mind; Only thinking of her best, no one else's. 

“Sometimes, I think these standards are too high.” 

“What if you are just not reaching far enough?” 

“Everytime I try to grab at or even meet her standards it is like she raises them!” Aegon angrily slams his drink on the table, his face now slightly flushed. “She does not let me get to these standards of hers. And I do not think I ever will.” His voice faltered, and when you looked up, you noticed the glossy nature of his eyes. You frowned softly and you placed your hand over his, a comforting gesture that wasn’t remotely comforting in a situation like this. 

“Aegon-” “Dont.” He spoke more harshly than he meant to, but you didn’t take offense. You never did. 

“I did not mean to hurt you.” You spoke softly, as if a slight infliction or raise in your tone would set the gates flooding open. 

“You didn’t. You never do.” 

___________________________________________

Aegon sat in his chambers later that evening, his mind reeling with the words you had spoken. He thought to himself over and over again about the way your words felt. 

“What if you are just not reaching far enough?” 

In truth the words stung, they hurt like hell and even though he knew them to be true, he never once thought that they would come from you. 

As he sat, and pondered, he made a silent promise to himself.

He would make everyone around him proud. He would reach as far as he could, strive to be the best. If at all to make you recant your words. Or, he would give up entirely, perhaps run away and sail as far as he could. 

In Aegon’s mind, he seemed to enjoy the latter. The idea of running away and starting a new life with a new name in a new place was seducing beyond comprehension. But, how would he do it? 

___________________________________________

Eat, clean, wash, repeat. You told yourself. You were ready for another boring, dull day. One just like the others, and only continuing the next day. As you were cleaning, Aegon walked in, a set determination on his features. You had never seen him look so determined in the multitude of years that you had been by his side. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and you opened your mouth to speak but Aegon shook his head. 

“I have a proposition for you.” He spoke hurriedly. That's when you noticed his attire. The hood around his face, and the shitty clothes that he wore. You had never seen Aegon so dressed down, and never had you expected to see it. 

“A proposition?” You spoke softly, cleaning the mug carefully as you eyed him. His determined face didn’t falter, and before you knew it, Aegon grabbed your hand, and dragged you towards an empty room. Once inside the room you stumbled back, giving him a look. 

“Aegon what is this about? You cannot just drag me away from-” “Run away with me.” He spoke hurriedly, like time was chasing him, which, in truth, it very well could be.  You stared at him for a while, your mind refusing to actually comprehend the fact that a Taragryen Prince just asked you, a barmaid, to run away with him. 

“You jest-”

“Maybe before but not now.” Aegon walked closer to you, gently taking your arms in his calloused hands as he stared you down. “What you said yesterday made me realize that I would never be enough. Not for my father, nor my mother, nor anyone. But you..” He trailed off, staring into your eyes. His heart skipped a beat, at least he thought. He did not know truly. 

“But me..?” The words that came from Aegon’s lips confused you like none other. He had many drunken rants before, but this, even though a “sober” thought, was hard for your mind to comprehend. 

“You think me better than what I was made for.” His voice dropped, and he placed his hands on your face, cupping your jaw with the utmost tenderness. “You are my one true friend.” 

“I do not see how this correlates-” 

“It does! I swear to you it does.” His voice dropped, a pleading and pathetic sound. You didn’t seem convinced. 

“Aegon you’re drunk-” You moved to get away from him, but he grabbed your arm and pulled you close to him. 

“Not this time.” He spoke, his eyes piercing into yours. “You’ve always said your life, as it is now, is just as strenuous as it is boring. It needn't be! Not anymore!” “Aegon, this is ridiculous! You speak nonsense-”

“I have enough money to pay for a ship, or-or a carte ride! One that will take us as far as Winterfell or as far as Dorne.” “The..North? Dorne? Aegon this is madness! You speak of giving up your luxuries, your pleasures-” 

“Pleasures and luxuries be damned, I wish to be free!” He raised his voice slightly, but only a bit. He whispered your name, his eyes softening and his hands itching to touch you. “Free, y/n. Just as you do! If we run away we would never need to know boredom again.” 

You listened to his words, because oh did they sound tempting. Running away with your one friend to a new land and masking new identities. It was thrilling, and it was risky beyond comprehension but you couldn’t shake the feeling of excitement that laced through your veins with every word that he spoke. But, even with the excitement came logical reasoning. 

“Money and coin do not last forever, Aegon.” “ I am a prince. I can get us enough coin to be comfortable for the first couple months. Then, well, then we may work, and trade, just as the common folk do.” 

“You? Work? That is more unbelievable than the notion of running away.” 

“Do not jest with me! Now is not the time for you to jest!” He stared at you, watching you as you mentally went through all the downsides and upsides to running away with him. But, the longer you took the more restless he got. “I am leaving tonight, late in the evening around the twenty-third hour. I will be waiting at the docks. If you come you come, but if you don’t, we will never see each other again.” 

And with that, Aegon gave you one more look over before he rushed himself away, clear on his intentions. 

You stood, absolutely shocked. How dare he? He comes to you whilst you are working and demands that you make a decision in less than a mere few hours? This was a life altering decision, one that very well could get you killed if you were found.  

Maybe it was the adrenaline of getting caught, or the idea of living a life of comfort with your dear friend. Perhaps the latter, perhaps both. But which ever it was, caused you to start packing your bag, taking a few changes of clothes and a necklace, the nicest thing you owned. 

You gave yourself a once over as you threw the hood over your head, staring at the mark on your chin. You ran your finger over it for a moment before you turned, grabbed your bag and left your brothel room for the final time. 

___________________________________________

Aegon stood at the dock, placing two gold coins in the crewmate's palm. The crewmate bowed, a small “thank you, my prince”, before he rushed off. The hour was almost at the twenty fourth, and with a reluctant sigh Aegon tried to mentally prepare himself for the trip alone. But, then he heard your voice. He immediately turned, smiling widely as he saw you. 

You ran up the dock, panting softly as you stood in front of him. 

“I cannot possibly let you drink yourself to death. At least, not alone.”

___________________________________________

AHHHH I have so many fun ideas for this now 🤭

[wolfofcelestia]

Current collection of Zayne's smirks

[kagoutiss]

oot zelda doodle i liked :’-)))

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

How to read the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Light Novels

I was recently reminded that there is a lot of people who simply don’t know that they can read the Case Files light novels, and that there are people who do know but have no idea where to find them. This is especially a problem when these people have only watched the anime and want to know where they can find more of the story. Since it kind of requires you to go through some hoops (not a whole lot but still), I decided to take a page out of @humbertozero​‘s excellent Fate/strange Fake resource post and make one for my other favorite Type-Moon Fate spinoff, the dossiers of El-Melon.

Read the First Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.1 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Second Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.2 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Third Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.3 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Fourth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.4 (PDF) (EPUB1) (EPUB2)

Read the Fifth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.5 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Sixth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.6 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Seventh Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.7 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Eighth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.8 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Ninth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.9 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Tenth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.10 (PDF) (EPUB)

Important note!

It should be noted first that I am just the compiler here. I am neither the translator nor am I the files’ creator. So all credits go to...

Credits

Credits and thanks to TwilightsCall on the Beast Lair forums (from which the majority of the other creditors originally posted their contributions) for translating the first 4 volumes and some of volume 5, thus getting the ball rolling. Further thanks to azwhoisverybored for translating the rest of the series from volume 6 onwards, and thanks to Kneenaw for starting the translation for the rest of volume 5. Thanks to Dotelias for making EPUBs for volumes 1-3, thanks to  cereal_ for making EPUBs of volume 4, thanks to u/confusedkuratowski on Reddit for making EPUB of volume 6, and thanks to ProtoformX for making PDFs and EPUBs for volumes 5 to 10 as well as for Adventures volume 1!

And big thanks to Makoto Sanda for writing Case Files in the first place!

Further explanations

Anime

The anime adaptation of Case Files, with the mouthful of a title that is Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note, is particular to use as an entry-point in the series, because it only partially adapts the series. See, the author, Makoto Sanda, said in interview that the two first arcs/cases in the series didn’t quite work as scripts for anime episodes, so the anime only adapted the third case/arc, Rail Zeppelin, which is more action oriented than the more mystery focused first arcs. But because they still needed to explain stuff like Gray, Reines, El-Melloi’s students, etc., many of whom are relevant characters to the arc, the first half/six episodes of the anime is about introducing them.

So to the question “where do I start reading after the anime?”, the answer is unironically to restart at volume 1. And then you may skip volumes 4-5 since they are the Rail Zeppelin arc and there are not much differences besides some characters not being present during that arc. This is why I think you can watch the anime first if that’s more your speed (I have my problems and criticisms of the anime but that’s irrelevant to this post).

And you can’t start with the anime and start reading with volume 6, the first 3 volumes have characters and plot points that come back for the final arc, so you’re gonna be incredibly lost if you think to consume the series this way.

Weirdly enough, despite being original episodes, the anime originals are most likely canon in some ways. Episode 0, the original OVA, is an expansion of an anecdote Gray mentions in the first volume’s prologue, and Episode 1 takes place during Waver’s travels before the story starts and is an actual story, one of the 3 incidents Sanda has in mind for Waver’s journey before he returned to London. Episodes 2 to 6 take place during the one month period between volume 3 and volume 4, and finally the special OVA take place on Christmas also in between arcs.

Manga

The manga has gorgeous art, but, at the time of writing, it is unfortunately only translated up to the second case right now. Still, go check it out.

The Adventures of El-Melloi II

The sequel series currently ongoing, started a year after the first Case Files ended in 2019. You might know it as “the (other) series where Rin shows up grown up and also a pirate”. @reignsan has been compiling pretty thorough chapter-by-chapter summaries of the volumes by @kaibutsushidousha if you don’t mind being spoiled. Or you can be patient and wait for azwhoisverybored to finish translating them on Beast Lair in this thread.

At the time of writing (27/07/23), the first volume of Adventures has been completed and compiled into PDF and EPUB forms.

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material

This is absolutely not required reading in any shape or form, those lore books are usually of interest only to dumb nerds like me lol. A timeline of the Clock Tower? An explanation of its politics? Yes please. But it also has insights into the characters by the author that aren’t in the books proper, as well as behind-the-scenes explanations for some decisions (for example, why it’s Gray with the American spelling instead of Grey with the British spelling). Only the glossary/encyclopedia is translated, but give it a look...after you read the series, because it assumes you did and has some big spoilers.

Drama CD

What’s that? You heard something about a Buzzfeed quizz about the most handsome Clock Tower teachers and how it’s somehow a plot point? Look no further than one of my only posts that did numbers. Read the summary, it’s hilarious.