#yes these are mostly paddy

[a-wine-dark-sea]

there are loads of little moments, mostly dialogue, in sas:rh that I still think about and needed to compile.

1.

this whole exchange in early s1 is insane and for us to not have heard paddy say sweetheart again is a cruel and unusual punishment

2.

this whole scene is devastating obviously but the choice to costume paddy slightly differently, plus the way he carries himself really stuck with me

3.

boys sunbathing

4.

reggie trying to make a quip but not knowing shit about instruments

5.

the very limited glimpse we’ve got of paddy’s family I hold close to my heart. him leaving them gifts when he comes home, signing ‘love’, his letter where he talks about eoin..

[charmac]

Earlier this month I asked members of the fandom to answer a series of questions related to the concept of "Canon Macdennis" — does it exist and what does that mean, if so, or if not?

I highly appreciate everyone who participated and shared their thoughts, as the concept of ships being canon in something like Sunny is a complicated and fascinating idea to me, and it was a lot of fun to pour through the results!

In short, the fandom is almost evenly divided on the idea of Macdennis being canon:

And this really comes down to a fundamental difference in interpreting canon as something that in the intent of the show (it is canon because jokes and/or plot rely on the audience reading their relationship a certain way), or something that is true to the characters (it is not canon because the characters don't acknowledge the relationship as such).

For those who believe that, yes, they are canon, I asked for Respondents to pin point the earliest season in which they are canon, and found that while results were a bit scattered, the majority sees Macdennis as being canon since Season 5 or earlier

Mac and Dennis Break Up was the most cited episode for the early Seasons, as may be expected, with the later Seasons heavily citing Dines Out or Tends Bar. In all of these episodes, Mac and Dennis are written to be viewed as a couple, clearly intentionally, but the divide on when this makes them canon seems to be at the point in which the viewer believes the intention of pairing them together "like a couple" isn't purely for the joke. Whether or not they're still paired to tell or perpetuate a joke is mostly irrelevant, because such a continuation of that, across so many years, makes it clear that they're written to be interpreted as being in a [extremely dysfunctional and fucked up] non-platonic relationship (and, in fact, many jokes and plots just don't work as well if you aren't reading them as a couple).

Those who don't agree that Macdennis are canon didn't report much on the idea of whether or not they're intended to be read as a non-platonic relationship, but instead focused more on the fact that Mac and Dennis, themselves as characters, do not identify as being in a romantic and/or sexual relationship (either because they won't admit it or because they truly don't think they are), and that is what bars them from being considered canon.

I asked those who responded no to Macdennis being canon to provide me with an idea as to what would make them canon, and responses were truly across the board on this idea: everything from 'once Dennis makes his feelings about Mac clear' to 'they have to be in an official relationship for the rest of the show' was quite evenly split. Even when narrowing the ideas down into two set categories, the fandom seems divided:

For some, it's just about getting a physically consensual act between the two and for some it's just about getting Dennis' admitted feelings, but for many it's about both of these ideas being continuing and genuine, as many expressed that they see Dennis having admitted feelings as a minimum expectation, but the two of them hooking up as a minimum standard for canon. But, unless Sunny becomes a completely different show, it is pretty unlikely that both of these things happen (at least, not at face value or without some kind of "catch") and stay consistent for the remainder of the show.

So, in some sense, it seems like the Fandom will probably never universally agree on whether or not Macdennis is canon..... but I can confidently claim that a sloppy makeout is guaranteed to push us over the line for more yeses than nos!

There's a more in-depth and complete discussion/breakdown of the Fandom's idea of canon Macdennis on The Paddy's Pub Blog!

[uhhlifeig]

Impression - May 23 - word count: 292 - @wolfstarmicrofic

“Alright, boys, what are we not doing today?” Sirius asked his son and godson.

“Making a ruckus,” Harry and Teddy mumbled in unison.

Sirius grinned at them. “Exactly! We don’t want people to get a bad impression of us, right?”

“Yes, Paddy,” Harry said, as Teddy peered up at his dad curiously. 

“What’s a in-presh-un, Papa?” the boy asked.

“It’s what people think of us when they first meet us, Teddy-bear. If you and Haz are too loud, they won’t like us as much.”

“Why?” Teddy asked, like a true three-year-old.

“Because our society is based on perceptions and stereotypes, Teds. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“Okay.” Teddy grabbed one of Sirius’s hands, causing Harry to grab the other so he wouldn’t “be outdone”.

Opening the door to the bookshop with some difficulty- mostly due to the fact that it was a pull door and both his hands were occupied with toddlers- Sirius walked behind the register.

“Hey, Moony.”

Remus lit up immediately. “Sirius! I didn't think I’d see you here today- don’t you have stuff to do?”

“Nah. Look who I brought, though.” Sirius tried to gesture at the two children holding his hands.

“Hey, Teddy. Hiya, Harry,” Remus said, eyes crinkling as he smiled. “How are you?”

Immediately, they both started babbling, each trying to out-talk the other.

“So much for them not being loud,” Sirius chuckled. “Speaking of loud, d’you know when the rest are back?”

Remus thought for a second. “Well, Prongs and Lily are back tomorrow with their partners, and Marlene and them are back Monday.”

“So we’re going to be able to host a party next Friday?”

Both Harry and Teddy looked up at him. “Party?”

Sirius huffed a laugh. “Sleeper agents, the lot of you.”

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

HOTD with book ages vs show casting

It's interesting to think about how fans perceptions of characters would be radically different if we had book accurate casting.

Emily Carey (aged 18-19 here) is perfectly age-accurate to play an 18-year-old Alicent.

Meanwhile Paddy Considine, at 48, was pushing it a fair bit to play a 29-year-old Viserys.

For reference, Tom Glynn-Carney was 28 while filming Season 2.

So not that he's my fancast for young Paddy or anything, but let's be real. You would all be writing self-insertxVizzy fics. Alicent would have no more agency in the marriage if Viserys was his book age than his show age, but fan perceptions of Viserys would definitely be different if he was played by a young and attractive actor (no offense of course to Paddy, he is serving Targaryen realness etc.)

Or look at Fabian Frankel. He would have been around 27/28 while filming season 1. You were shipping Alicole back when Emily Carey was still in the role, after all.

And then there's Rhaenyra, who was 8 during the events of the first episode, and 9 when Viserys married Alicent.

Milly Alcock, roughly 21 here, is just a tad older than 8-year-old Rhaenyra.

Amelie Child-Villiers would have been 12-13 while filming Rings of Power, so older than Rhaenyra at the very beginning but can pass for younger.

To anyone who thinks a child Rhaenyra wouldn't have been interesting to follow, er... have you read ASOIAF? There are quite a few prominent child POV characters, you may have noticed. And Alicent doesn't automatically become uninteresting if she's 18 rather than 15... or 40.

I mean I get it, Rhaenycent shippers, you prefer the sapphic dynamic in HOTD... and it is absolutely fine to prefer something! But it isn't inherently deeper or more interesting. It isn't objectively better. BFFesbians can be just as one-note as you claim step-mother/daughter relationships are with the wrong writing, and step-mother/daughter relationships can be richly complicated.

Now, I've already gone through the absolute horror that is book Rhaenyra and book Criston

Criston Cole was 22 when he met a 7-year-old Rhaenyra, 23 during the events of the first episode. So Fabian at 27 (pictured here) is a a few years older, but his age gap with Amelie is the same as Criston and Rhaenyra. And yikes. This is why 'Criston the Dad who Stepped Up' posts make me throw up in my mouth. (Also it is so weird that Criston is never recast after the time jump even though the actor is younger than Emma D'Arcy - Criston is 47 during the Dance).

And yes, Daemon has a similar age gap with Rhaenyra

Daemon was 24 during the events of the first episode. Though I would add that Daemon wasn't, contrary to popular opinion by greens, grooming Rhaenyra when she was a young child. There isn't really any indication that he paid particular attention to his 8-year-old niece - he was mostly sulking on Dragonstone in a relationship with an adult Mysaria for starters, and then he was off in the Stepstones till Viserys and Alicent's 5th wedding anniversary tourney.

From then, no I'm not in favour of a 30-year-old Daemon and a 15-year-old Rhaenyra... I am not in favour of childbrideros. But considering he'd been absent from her life between the ages of 8-15, and there is no indication he ever paid any attention to her before then... it is less creepy than Criston Cole being Rhaenyra's shadow from the age of 7, with rumours of a sexual relationship beginning at a point when she would have been 12-14.

By Westeros standards Daemon unfortunately falls into the 'culturally normalised and could have a whole lot worse' category (and tbf, considering the popularity of ships like SanSan...). This isn't a pro-daemyra or anti-daemyra post, I'm not really going to go into their relationship or whether or not it's healthy here, just clarifying that Daemon isn't the Humbert Humbert of this story - that would be Criston (not being Humbert Humbert of course is a very low bar).

And when it comes to the casting and how that impacts audience perceptions... Matt Smith at 39 was too old for both 24 and 30 year-old Daemon (though exquisite in the role of course).

Considering how his haters condemn Daemon for his actions in episode 1 while excusing Aegon for rape and Aemond for murdering Luke (and burning alive many many other children)... Let's have a look at an age-appropriate actor for 24-year-old Daemon and see if that changes anything.

Ooh would you look at that, Ewan Mitchell at 24 while filming S1.

Or Tom at 28 during S2, just two years younger than 30-year-old Daemon. With a face that wins hearts over rape. You telling me if Daemon was his book age you wouldn't be excusing his actions? You wouldn't be taking all the rape apology arguments Aegon stans use and applying them to Daemon's seduction of a 15-year-old Rhaenyra?

Especially if you still had him acting alongside 21-year-old Milly, who was supposed to pass for a 14 to 18-year-old Rhaenyra.

Hopefully though no one would be excusing a younger Daemon played by Tom Glynn-Carney if he had been put against an actual 14/15 year-old like Evie Allen. Who would have been a more age-accurate (and disturbing) casting for Rhaenyra...

Oh wait, how old was Maddie Evans (Dyana) while filming S1 again? 15? Never mind.

Casting teenagers in such scenarios is of course a difficult business - above all the first priority is to protect underage actors. Milly was well-suited to convincingly play Rhaenyra from early teens to late teens, and it's impossible to constantly re-cast for absolute age-accuracy across the time jumps. But it does impact perception - while the first priority is to protect underage actors, the casting of older actors to play teenagers does contribute to society's perceptions of teenage girls in particular as mature adults, rather than children.

Meanwhile the attractiveness of adult male actors - and the younger they are - does indeed shape what some audiences are willing to forgive or excuse. Reactions to Daemon and Viserys by fans (especially green fans) would be radically different if they were cast with their book ages - sorry to say it greens, but your objections to their characters is in large part due to the fact that you are not attracted to DILFS (or leprosy!). And even if we still aged up Rhaenyra like the show does when she first met Criston Cole, reactions to him during the Dance would be vastly different if he was played by a book-accurate 47-year-old. Again, Fabian Frankel is younger than Emma D'arcy.

Of course, the bar for age accurate casting is clear in the way we were supposed to accept Olivia Cooke playing Tom Glynn Carney's mother (they are two years apart).

Because again if Alicent had been 18 at the start of the show and 41 at the start of the dance she would have ceased to be an interesting character or something I guess. Because no one wants an older woman (ew gross!) as the series co-lead alongside a non-binary lead. And because mother/stepdaughter relationships are inherently one-note while BFFesbians are inherently rich, deep and complex... apparently. It has nothing to do with, you know, the writing quality.

Final Round!!! Aegon and Aemond picking fights with kids

Harvey Sadler here is 8/9 years old when he played young Lucerys. Which makes this baby face 2-3 years older than... a six-year-old Book Jacaerys when 10-year-old Aemond was 'pummelling him savagely'.

So yeah, "3 against 1" - the oldest of those 3 being younger than Harvey Sadler. And honestly, 6-year-old Jace has my undying respect for the sheer balls on him to go up against a bigger kid twice his age and size. Does he care that Aemond has just claimed the largest dragon in the world? No, he pushed over his baby brother!

"But it's more interesting if Aemond and Jace are peers" Maybe. If HOTD gave Jace equal screentime and character development perhaps. But they didn't. Any value added by making the antagonist interesting and sympathetic is cancelled out if the cost is ignoring the protagonist or making the protagonist boring (especially in a family civil war drama!).

"But sympathetic Aemond is much more interesting" I am not arguing against making him sympathetic. He is still a kid here, and he still has Aegon to bully him and earn him pity points and trigger a cycle of bullying as he takes out his grievances on others who don't deserve it etc. You don't need to age up his victims or remove sympathy or screentime from them. Sympathy doesn't have to be zero-sum.

Leo Hart was 13 at the time of filming, so the perfect age to play a 12-year-old Jace during the dinner scene where a grown-ass Aegon picks a fight with him over asking Helaena for a dance. Also an accurate age to play a 13-year-old Luke when Aemond murders him.

Elliot Grihault who played teenaged Luke was meanwhile actually closer in age to Book Jace during the dance than Harry Collett (no offence Harry, you still made a more believable teenager than 24-year-old Jon Snow did).

And lest we forget Aegon's true nemesis... 13 year old girls on tiny dragons 'no bigger than a horse'. No offence to a 24-year-old Bethany Antonia, but Shani Smethurst at 12 was perfectly cast to play Baela during the Dance and absolutely would have been the next Arya if this show didn't hate black girls.

But hey, at least we got adult Baela saying "I am blood and fire" while the script struggles (*cough doesn't bother) to find her anything to really do. That sure is an improvement over book Baela acting out, causing chaos, kissing kitchen boys and crying to save them from punishment, grieving alone on dragonstone after the gullet, trying desperately to get the adults around her to believe her suspicions about Grey Ghost, wrecking Aegon on her tiny dragon, being forced to grow up quickly under captivity and fiercely defending her rescuers from execution.

[janeyseymour]

My Irish Girl

Anon asked for a fic where Mel and r celebrate St. Paddy's! Not edited in the slightest because I wanted to make sure I got it out before the day is over!

WC: ~2.3k

Melissa and you have been together for just about a year, and coming up was your holiday: St. Patrick’s day. As an Irish woman, you were delighted to tell her about all of the different traditions that you loved to do back in your homeland before moving here. You were more than excited to partake in some of the American traditions as well. 

“So, why do we wear green for St. Paddy’s?” your girlfriend asks you as the two of you roam around Walmart, chuckling at the different apparel that was set out for the upcoming holiday.

“Wearing green makes you invisible to the leprechauns… the mischievous things- going around pinching those who aren’t wearing green,” you chuckle.

She hums. “Good thing I look good in green then.”

“Damn right you do,” you grin as you kiss her cheek.

You continue to peruse the aisles, throwing various things that you need for your living space together, as well as a few little trinkets for the holiday. It’s the usual things that you throw in- four-leafed clover glasses, a few festive shot glasses, the ingredients to make irish potatoes and the dinner that the two of you will be having on the day of corned beef and cabbage.

You’re heading for the checkout with the cart when you realize Melissa isn’t following you anymore. No, she’s stopped in front of the shirts that are there for the Irish day.

“Look!” she grins. The redhead is holding up one of those shirts that says, ‘Kiss me, I’m Irish!’ on it in a font that looks quite similar to the Lucky Charms cereal font. 

“I think people know I’m Irish just by looking at me,” you roll your eyes playfully as you gesture to your clearly natural ginger hair and freckles. “And if they can’t tell by looking at my complexion, when I talk, they definitely know.”

Your girlfriend shrugs. “I’m buying it anyway.” She throws it in the cart before taking it from you and steering it towards the checkout area.

She pays for it, of course she does (always spoiling you), and the two of you head home to make some of the treats you want to make for your students.

You’re in the middle of mixing together the cream cheese and butter for the Irish potatoes when your mother calls you.

Immediately, you switch into your native tongue as you pick up the phone, balancing it between your ear and your shoulder as you continue to beat together the ingredients.

Your girlfriend looks over to you, still in awe at the fact that you are bilingual. The conversation is short, mostly just explaining to your mom that you’re doing just fine out in Philly, that yes you are still going to church and are celebrating St. Paddy’s day. You also let her know that Melissa says hello, and that the two of you are quite looking forward to coming out to visit during your Summer vacation.

“Hi, Esther,” your girlfriend pipes up as she settles behind you and wraps her arms around your waist, setting her chin on your free shoulder.

Your mother switches to English, greeting Melissa kindly. “Hello, dear. Are you taking care of my daughter?”

“Mam,” you groan. “I already told you that we are doing just fine over here.”

“You know I have to check,” you can practically hear your mother’s smirk.

“I’m taking care of her just fine,” Melissa promises. “We’re in the middle of making Irish potatoes for the kids at school as we speak.”

“Oh, how lovely. I suppose I’ll let you go, but give me a holler on St. Patrick’s day- preferably before you decide to get intoxicated with that blasted green alcohol,” your mother tells you.

“Will do, Mam,” you roll your eyes. “I love you, and I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye, Esther,” Melissa singsongs.

“Chat later,” your mother says. “Love to you both.”

The two of you finish making the sweets for your students before settling on the couch.

“So tell me more about your own traditions,” your girlfriend requests as you take a sip from your wine glass.

You do. Your eyes light up as you tell her what your family used to do, and how you’re quite thrilled to be able to share the traditions with her- even if some of them are silly.

“What do you usually do?” you ask her.

“Get piss drunk,” the faux redhead grins. “Go down to all the skanky dive bars and drink some green beer to pregame the parade.”

“And what do you do with the kids?” you roll your eyes. “I kind of assumed that was what you did.”

“Oh,” she laughs. “Sometimes we make leprechaun traps, I’ll put a few gold coins around the classroom, and whoever finds them gets a prize. They usually all get a baggie of Lucky Charms… and sometimes I dye the toilet water green in the morning and tell the kids that I guess we were struck.”

“That’s cute,” you say as you snuggle into her. “I’m sure they love it.”

“They have for the last… however many years I’ve been teaching at this point,” she sighs. “But I’m sure this year, they’ll all be more excited when you bring in the potatoes and when you teach them the basics of Irish dance.”

“Oh, god,” you groan. “Don’t remind me that Ava practically blackmailed me into doing that.”

“I think it’ll be good. The kids like interactive stuff… you see how they still talk about Tariq and his short lived career with F.A.D.E.”

“I guess,” you roll your eyes.

Your girlfriend is right. The kids are delighted to learn from you and learn about you and your country. You don’t think you’ve ever seen their eyes light up the way they did when they each got a few of the potatoes you and Melissa made last night.

You teach them a few steps, and they love it.

“This is so cool, Ms. Y/N,” one of your sweet students tells you.

St. Patrick’s Day at school comes to an end, and the two of you go out to happy hour with your crew to celebrate a successful school wide holiday. 

The Philly streets are already in the spirit, with green painting the town. Most are wearing their Eagles gear to get into the green spirit, and a chorus of ‘Go birds!’ can be heard at any given time as you walk through the streets with your girlfriend and work friends.

You find your usual little pub and order a round. The beers are already dyed green.

“So, what are your plans for this holiday?” Janine asks you.

You wrap an arm around Melissa as you speak, “Get hammered? Make dinner drunk, and then show up to church on Sunday hungover as hell?”

“Sounds about right,” Gregory rolls his eyes. 

Saturday morning rolls around, and you and Melissa get ready to head out for the day. You bought those little shamrock tattoos and place one on each of your cheeks before grinning.

“My Irish girl,” Melissa grins as she kisses you softly.

“We should probably call my mom now before we go out,” you chuckle. “We can do it while we get ready.”

You dial her, greeting her in your native language before switching back to English. You and the redhead chat with her for a few minutes, also getting to say hello to your father, before she lets you go to ‘participate in juvenile activities’.

Melissa has all of her eagles gear on, complete with the jersey that she has signed by Jalen Hurts, and you have on the ridiculous shirt that the redhead threw into the cart at Walmart.

You head down to the pub the two of you frequent, and while it’s busy as hell, even for 10:30 in the morning, you’re able to get seated due to the staff knowing you.

Melissa looks away from you to order you a Guinness and her a Yuengling before spinning back around to look at you. She pecks your lips quickly.

While it’s not unwelcome, you do raise a brow. She’s not usually so big on PDA.

“Your shirt,” she chuckles.

Your bartender hands her the drinks and then she turns back around and kisses you again.

“I think I see how today is going to play out,” you chuckle. The two of you clink glasses and chug your first beers. 

By the time the parade starts at noon, it’s safe to say that both you and your girlfriend are intoxicated. She’s yelling ‘Go birds!’ at anyone she sees who is also clad in Eagles gear, and there are a lot of people wearing the football team apparel. She holds your hand tightly as you roam the streets around city hall trying to find the best spot you can to watch the parade.

The two of you are delighted to watch as the parade goes on around you. You spend the next hour and a half smiling and laughing so hard your faces are red. Each time she turns away from you and turns back to you, she kisses you- and the more intoxicated she is, the harder she kisses you. There’s something in the back of your mind that tells you at some point today, you’ll end up in bed.

There’s only one hiccup during your outing. Melissa has let go of your hand and is doing her best to sound as sober as possible when one of her old students comes up and gives her a hug. She’s engaged in conversation with the child for a bit, and when she turns around, there is a man who is very clearly trying to hit on you. His lips are puckered, and he’s telling you that he’s just trying to follow the directions on your shirt.

“Hey, asshole, she’s very much spoken for,” Melissa shoves him away from you.

The man stumbles slightly. “Her shirt says to kiss her.”

“I’m the only one who gets to kiss her,” your girlfriend says as she pushes him again. “If you wanna try again… well, fuck around and find out.”

He backs away with his hands raised in surrender, and before he can turn around to run, Melissa’s lips are on your own. She kisses you deeply, throwing up her middle finger in the direction of the guy as she dips you just slightly.

When she pulls away, your cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are filled with lust.

“C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”

You follow her quickly as you head back in the direction of your apartment.

“Fucking asshole thinks he can get my girl,” the second grade teacher grumbles. “No way in hell.”

“Hun, it’s fine. I could’ve handled it myself,” you tell her as you squeeze her hand gently. “But it’s nice to know that you would fight a man in my honor.”

“Like hell,” she tells you. “Ain’t no way anyone else is gettin’ my girl.”

As soon as you’re inside your apartment, she has you pinned up against the door. Once again, her lips are on yours aggressively, and her hands quickly roam to other parts of your body. She squeezes gently, and you have to bite back a moan when she bites down on your neck. She grabs you by the thighs and lifts you up, taking you back into your bedroom.

By the time the two of you are finished, you’re breathing heavily. That was… wow.

“C’mon, baby,” she whispers as she holds you close. “We gotta start making dinner.”

“I’m gonna need some time to gain feeling in my legs,” you sigh out.

She chuckles as she kisses you softly- much more softly than she was earlier. “That’s fine. I’ll get it started.”

When you finally catch your breath again and the shaking in your legs subside, you make your way out of the bedroom. You still have your ‘Kiss me, I’m Irish’ shirt on, but you have her denim shirt on overtop of it and a pair of her shorts.

“Damn, baby,” she licks her lips. “You come out looking like that and expect me to be able to focus on dinner?”

You roll your eyes and head back into the bedroom before returning wearing a pair of sweatpants. She pouts, but that quickly goes away when you wrap your arms around her waist and kiss her cheek.

“What all have you done?”

“Gotten a beer,” she says cheekily as she cranes her neck to kiss you.

You roll your eyes. “I was in the bedroom for like forty minutes.”

“Okay,” she sighs before confessing, “So I had two beers while I looked at the pictures I took of you. Sue me for getting distracted by my gorgeous girlfriend.”

“Get the cabbage,” you swat her away from you. “And grab me a beer, please?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she grins as she kisses you again.

Dinner is delightful, and the two of you drink a few more beers before heading out again to meet up with the Abbott crew, aside form Barbara and Gerald. You end up getting absolutely hammered, chugging green beer after green beer with your girlfriend.

By some grace of God, the two of you get home without Melissa getting into a bar fight for all of the creepy men trying to hit on you.

That outing ends much like the first outing earlier in the day. But after, she holds you close and the two of you drift to sleep.

The next morning is brutal, both of you hungover as hell and promising you’ll never drink again (until the next time you decide to drink). You both get ready for church, moaning and groaning the entire time as you drink pedialyte and try to rehydrate yourselves.

While the hangover is killer, this Saint Patrick’s Day is one that will go down in the books. 

[bobbie-robron]

Forget about where is he gonna live… I wanna know where are they going to meet up for the inevitable affair they’re going to start 😈

Hiya! Since I haven’t really kept up with the show (more or less) since the blonde one’s last episode, I am not sure what locations are still there intact and ones that might have been set on fire, blown up or whatnot.

I think what I would like to see first is how they are gonna re-situate Robert back into the village once he’s out of prison once again (he better not skip any more probation meetings in the future). How will the run in’s happen (maybe in the pub mostly?) between the lads. Will Robert be involved in the farm plot with Jaye Griffiths’s character Celia (with the dogs adoring Robert while hating Paddy 😂). If yes, based on where her farm is, might be a possibility. In Classic, they had one of cottages vacant where they could meet, not sure if there are any like that now. Either case, it would be a new place to create new memories.

Hypocrites Chaddy once again would probably be their 2015 versions keeping an eye on their five-year-old son to ensure he stays on the beaten path with the psycho killer faux and away from the ex-convict who isn’t good for him 🙄.

[very-straight-blog]

As a mostly TB fan, I hate how bidimensional they made all the characters. They glossed over so many things: Aegon and Helaena's grief for Jaehaerys' death, Aemond's trauma and guilt, Jacaerys and Rhaena's grief for Lucerys — the characters seemed to have blatantly ignored Rhaenys' death, literally no one other than Corlys cried for her!

Now this could have (barely) been excused in exchange for epic battles and dragonfighting scenes, but there's next to nothing! We have politicking, unnecessary sex scenes, Aemond acting (rather uncharacteristically) sadist, and the battles that were supposed to be the core of the show (the show literally talks about a WAR) lasted like fifteen minutes each and then no one mentioned them anymore. They cut out characters that had great or some level of relevance in the book (Maelor or Kermit Tully for example, and at this rate we probably won't have Black Aly or Benjicot either) and changed up the storyline on a whim.

The things that angered me the most, however, is the unnecessary age gaps they put in just for "medieval accuracy": Viserys could have easily been younger than they made him the show — he could have been in his early or mid thirties, there was no need to make him 50-60 years old (though I love Paddy Cosidine, he's a great actor and a sweetheart). Same thing for Laena: she was supposed to be older than Laenor, why the fuck did they make her FOURTEEN when she married Daemon?

Yes, thank you! I've been saying for a long time that even though I write mostly about Aegon and Aemond, the writers destroyed all the characters on both sides and I can't deny it. The whole show is now a huge piece of nonsense that cannot be discussed or analyzed. We have reached the point where the actions of the characters inside the story don't have any logic, so they cannot be taken seriously.

[disinherited-dornishman]

One-shot on the way

So I've discovered I'm an impatient bitch because in the midst of writing my longer Crisnyrent (yes, that's what I've chosen to call this throuple's pairing) fic I've written a shorter fix-it one-shot. Good news is that it's almost finished. There are elements of pro Team Green, except that Greens and Blacks aren't even political factions yet, which mostly means I acknowledge that Rhaenyra was selfish and that she's not just a victim, but that her former friends have reason to resent her. Also a small sprinkle of anti Vizzy T because not even Paddy's charming performance can make me ignore how much of a pos he is.

Idea of this one-shot is that something goes wrong with Rhaenyra's first birth and Alicent and Criston realize maybe the differences between them aren't so irreconcilable after all, when the alternative is letting her die alone.

Here's the summary (subject to change): "The maesters' assiduous forecast proves accurate. On the very day the arrival of the Crown Princess' child is predicted, her screams echo through the halls of the Red Keep. But childbirth is never truly predictable, and again the gods deign to imperil the mother and child both.

When Rhaenyra Targaryen cries out for help in her delirium and agony, it is the names of her enemies she calls, and like the invisible hands of the gods, it changes everything."

UPDATE: Fic Release!

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Hello! I'd like to request a match-up please, romantic and platonic, if that's okay. Fandoms: Hobbit, LotR, MHA, Supernatural. 24 year old woman, bi, she/they. 6'0, chubby and muscular, brown eyes, sort of dark red short hair, lots of deliberately 'scary' tattoos. I'm an introvert and usually appear awkward or shy, but open up fairly quickly when talking to a friendly stranger. I have a raunchy, morbid sense of humor. I'm emotional and very easily to fluster or bring to tears. Low-energy, but with short fuse. Sceptic, materialist. Do my best to be kind to people and approach everything with an open mind. I love to provide, dote and care about people who are close to me, but rarely able to vocalise it - my love languages are acts of service and quality time. My hobbies include reading, hiking alone and all things horror - books, games, movies etc. My favorite book is 'Trainspotting', favorite movies are 'Annihilation' and 'Lilo and Stitch'. Bilingual. I really value my alone time and often indulge in maladaptive daydreaming. Love walking aimlessly all night long, with a right playlist used to walk up to 15 miles in one go. I don't have a favorite artist, lately have been listening to Slaughter to Prevail, Hozier and Paddy and the Rats. My style is something between butch and tomboy, usually I wear hoodies, sweatpants, jeans and boots. Almost everything is oversize, since I don't really care about how I look in my day to day and prefer comfort and practicality. Make up is only for special occasions and usually very simple, only around the eyes.

Thank you! Hope you have a good day!💙

Hi! I am so sorry for the long wait!

I hope you like your romantic and platonic match-ups for The Hobbit, LOTR, MHA, and SPN! <333333

(Trying a different layout)

Romantic and Platonic Matchup; The Hobbit, LOTR, MHA, and SPN

Romantic;

~~~

The Hobbit;

Thorin Oakenshield -

You met Thorin after the battle of the five armies, where you worked with a couple of others finding people who were injured and needed to be healed.

You had been healing Thorin as some of his dwarven friends, and Fili and Kili, sat and watched as you helped him.

During the healing, you were doing your thing, when he opened his eyes slightly. his blurred gaze found you above him, tending to his wounds.

There was this feeling that came over him, this warm and tender feeling. And he swore that he almost heard birds singing.

And, even though his vision was not the best, and his mind was hazy, he swore that your brown eyes had met his.

This feeling... What was it?

Before he could even answer his own question, he fell back into a deep slumber.

After leaving the battle scene, you didn't think you would run into the King again, but you were proven wrong.

He was told about your kindness and service when the he awoken a day or so later, and being grateful, he sent out a dwarven messenger to go out to Dale to find you.

He needed to thank you.

He needed to see you again.

The messenger found you at the marketplace in Dale, where you were selling books at your market stall. The dwarven messenger noted that you sold mostly books, but most of those books were in the thriller and horror genre.

You were a bit shocked as to why the messenger said that the King Under The Mountain wanted to speak to you, but nonetheless you made your way there.

Upon meeting Thorin, he gave you a smile, and thanked you for healing him, for saving him. On top of all of that, he asked you to be his special guest for the upcoming festivities celebrating the victory of the war.

And so, you found yourself Thorin's guest, and actually having fun?

Though, near the end of the night, you found yourself wandering about slightly, finding yourself amidst some maladaptive daydreaming; you didn't even realize how far you had wandered until you heard a voice beside you.

"Beautiful night, is it not?"

You felt a little bit awkward, should you bow to him, and what would you call him? Your Highness, my king-

"Yes, it is quite beautiful." You somehow heard yourself saying.

For the next however long, you and Thorin just talked (about likes and dislikes, and you even made him laugh), and the more you talked, the more you opened up; even including some of your morbid humor, which Thorin found refreshing.

Yes, Thorin had thought that night, this feeling was because you were his One.

Surprisingly, it took some time after the party to reveal his feelings and wishes of courtship toward you.

He gifted you a custom hand-forged dagger; the dagger was made of silver, with emerald gemstones on the hilt.

You weren't going to lie and say you weren't interested in Thorin at all; you found him quite handsome, ever since you first met him, albeit when you were healing him.

It wasn't long until you moved into The Lonely Mountain.

When Thorin is not busy with Kingly duties, he would often be found spending time with you; whether that be reading in the grand library, walking down the halls talking, or even just sitting together in the peace and quiet.

Speaking of walks, he enjoys quiet walks with you in the evening, particularly when you share stories or observations about the stars and forests.

And when you are both reading, he likes sitting with you in comfortable silence, occasionally you would both talk about the chapter you had just finished.

Thorin would teach you dwarven traditions, like crafting or ancient songs, to bond and share his heritage with you

He would show his affection through quiet acts of service, like you, and makes sure to mend your hiking boots or ensure you have a warm cloak before you head off for a solo hike.

Though he’d keep his emotions guarded around others, with you, he’d let his walls down, sharing his fears, hopes, and dreams, trusting you fully.

~~~

The Lord Of The Rings;

Éowyn -

You had crossed paths with Éowyn during one of your solar hikes/walks, where she rode up on her pretty horse.

She was quite curious about you, seeing as you were just hiking out in the middle of nowhere near Rohan.

She quickly strikes up a conversation, asking about your journey.

Your initial shyness endears her, as she finds it a refreshing change from the arrogance she often encounters.

Like that stupid creep Wormtongue. Ew.

Somehow through the conversation, as you also began to open up, you revealed that you were just a humble traveler, your home was the forests, and your friend was Mother Nature.

Éowyn wished to speak to you more, and so, she offered Rohan as a place for you to stay whenever you wished. In case you want to sleep on a more suitable bed.

A bed sounded nice, but for some reason, your sleep wrap did nothing against the rocks and pebbles pressing against your back.

For the next couple of months, you went back and forth from staying in Rohan and wandering in the forest.

Rohan was like a checkpoint, really.

During your time at Rohan, you spent more time with Éowyn too.

The more time you spent with her, more harder it was to leave back into the forests for the next couple of weeks, but being alone wandering was incredibly soothing to your soul, and it was something that made you happy, (aside from spending time with Éowyn).

Éowyn actually grows fond of your raunchy humor, though it catches her off guard at first.

The connection deepens as she realizes you share similar scars - both physical and emotional - and that you understand her yearning for purpose and freedom.

Your acts of service, like tending to her sword or brewing tea during quiet evenings, speak volumes to her. She begins to crave your companionship during her rides and training sessions, even when no words are exchanged.

Éowyn initiates small, romantic gestures, like offering you a wildflower from her rides or inviting you to spar with her under the guise of teaching.

She’s protective of you, particularly when others misjudge your introverted nature or dismiss your emotional side.

The moment she confesses her feelings is unplanned. After a long ride, she impulsively reaches for your hand, admitting, “I think I was searching for someone like you all along.”

She’d write you heartfelt letters when words fail her, leaving them tucked where she knows you’ll find them during your day. Or even leaving them in your bag before you go off into the forests.

Éowyn would gaze at you in quiet admiration, often caught off-guard by how deeply you’ve touched her heart, though she’d struggle to put it into words.

~~~

My Hero Academia; Hizashi Yamada -

You met Hizashi when you were out with friends.

They had thought that a karaoke bar was a great place for an outing, and immediately when you all entered, you spotted him.

He was the life of the party, belting out tunes while you observed him in the corner booth with your friends.

He spotted you, and was quickly into your vibe, loving the hoodie that you were wearing; he just had to tell you how much he loved it and compliment you.

Well, everything happened so fast, that you somehow got his number.

The next meeting, Hizashi asked you out to a small diner he just knew you'd love.

In which he paid for everything.

Hizashi thrives on your low-energy vibe, appreciating how you balance out his chaotic personality.

You, in turn, find his zest for life refreshing, and he helps you step outside your comfort zone without ever pushing too hard.

Your love of horror intrigues him; he starts recommending creepy soundtracks and then offers to take you to the movie theaters where that one new horror movie is playing.

Hell yes.

As the two of you get closer and closer, becoming fast friends, (and maybe harboring something more), he realizes how much you value acts of service, and he starts doing small things like carrying your things for you or making playlists tailored to your midnight walks.

Hizashi loves surprising you with over-the-top gestures, like dedicating a radio segment to you or showing up with coffee and snacks unannounced.

"You're my favorite kind of noise."

He loves planning horror movie marathons for both him and you to watch for movie night dates, he'd hold you close, with an arm around your shoulder.

Also, surprisingly, he is somewhat quiet with you. He doesn't yell as much unless he is really excited about something.

Takes you to thrift shops to find oversized clothing and unique pieces that match your style, always making it a fun adventure.

Oh, and don't even get him started on him making his own music for you! He loves sitting down for a good hour or so coming up with lyrics and music only to them serenade you with his lovely voice.

Hizashi would take you dancing, even in your living room, just to make you smile as he spins you around like you’re the only person in the world.

He'd even show you some of his favorite music, and you would show him yours like Hozier and Slaughter to Prevail.

Your relationship is full of playful banter and spontaneous adventures, balanced with comforting evenings where he listens to you talk about books and life. ~~~

Supernatural;

Sam Winchester -

Oop, Sam, and Dean saved you. Yep, that was how you met your future boyfriend Sam.

You had just been doing your thing, walking around the woods near your home, headphones on, and listening to your playlist when you heard a distinct 'rawr' over your music.

Who knew that there was a werewolf in your neighborhood?

Before you could even conceptualize that there was a werewolf in front of you ready to pounce, it was dead.

One minute, the werewolf was in front of you, and the next, it was lying on the ground, unmoving.

The two men in front of you, one taller than the other, were talking quickly among themselves before the tall one - Sam - went over to you and asked if you were okay.

You raised an eyebrow, a song from Paddy and the Rats playing still as you slid off your headphones to get an explanation.

You didn't know if it was the scare or the fact that the werewolf on the ground was real, or maybe you were just overwhelmed, but you felt yourself tearing up slightly.

Was this a joke?

No, you had kicked the werewolf in the side with your foot, it felt real.

And that was how you met Sam and Dean, and how you started staying with them in their bunker.

Since the beginning, Sam was drawn to you.

Sam was drawn to your intellect and emotional depth. And your willingness to care for others even when you struggle to express it verbally, finding it aligns with his own struggles.

And when he is not studying the next beast to kill to make the world a safer place, you and him swap books with each other. Especially with horror books. You swap book recommendations and debate the merits of classic versus modern horror movies.

His confession comes during a hunt gone awry.

You had started going on small hunts with them, wanting to help, but after seeing you injured, Sam blurted out, “I can’t lose you. Not you. You’re… You’re everything I didn’t know I needed.”

Do you steal his hoodies? Maybe...

If you ever want, Sam joins you on your midnight walks when neither of you can sleep, there you both talk about more of your interests and you have fun making each other laugh.

He loves setting up movie nights, where you both watch Lilo and Stitch, sitting close, and eating popcorn together.

Actually bought you tickets for you and him to see Hozier live once.

Best night ever.

Your relationship is built on deep conversations, mutual respect, and quiet moments of comfort, with Sam always ensuring you feel seen and valued.

~~~

Platonic;

~~~

The Hobbit;

Kíli Durin -

During your time courting his uncle, you, of course, spent a good amount of time with Kíli and Fíli, but found more of a connection with Kíli.

Kíli, ever curious and friendly, loves striking up conversations with you when you are free.

Your morbid humor matches well with his own cheeky and mischievous remarks; you both end up bantering and teasing each other most of the time.

He often goes to you for advice, when he is stuck on what to say or what right thing to do.

He loves it when you tell him horror stories, so then he can retell them to Fíli and try and freak him out.

He will also often steal snacks from the kitchens to give to you.

If you aren't in the mood to be alone, and Thorin is busy, Kíli makes sure you don't feel alone and make sure that you are happy.

Kíli would convince you to spar with him, claiming he needs to practice, though he’s always impressed by your strength and determination.

He’d sneak you into the forges to show you dwarven craftsmanship, even teaching you how to make your own trinkets.

At some point, Kíli tries to come up with a horror or spooky story to try and scare you or even make you laugh.

He enjoys teaching you bits of Khuzdul, so you could surprise Thorin.

Though, he might teach you words that might make you flustered.

You can never be too sure with this guy.

~~~

The Lord Of The Rings;

Aragorn -

You originally encountered Aragorn when he was most commonly known as Strider at the beginning of your solo traveling.

Way before you met Éowyn.

You had just been wandering in the wilderness when you bumped into each other.

You both traveled together for a day or two, in which Strider (at the time), was intrigued by your reserved nature; his patience allowed you to open up at your own pace. In which, you did open up quite a bit, seeing as Strider respected your independence and your strength.

He saw you as someone who valued solitude as much as he did.

During the day or two that you travel together, Strider becomes a steady and calming presence in your life, offering his wisdom and encouragement when you are feeling uncertain.

Your travels, overall, were a mix of peaceful and comfortable silence, and learning from one another.

You didn't see Strider after that until you began staying in Rohan.

The reunion was lovely, and a hug was shared.

Upon remeeting, you learned that he was Aragorn, the soon-to-be King of Gondor; which surprised you, but it made sense; he got that vibe.

During his time at Rohan, he makes sure to check on you when he can.

And when he does, it's mostly after you get back from a walk, in which, he admires your dedication to walking great distances, often marveling at your endurance and determination.

When he can, and when you are able, you both like to sit and catch up, retelling the stories of your ventures in the wild.

Overall, you both have the same love for reading, stories, the wilderness, and solitude.

~~~

My Hero Academia;

Nezu -

You met Nezu at the nearby bookstore where you had been reading at a table near the corner, having found a new horror book that you couldn't wait to bring home, so you just started reading then and there.

Nezu had entered the bookstore, looking for something in particular, when he spotted you, your quiet focus caught his attention.

He hated interrupting your reading, but upon seeing the small pile of books beside you, well, he had to immediately introduce himself and ask if were looking for a job.

You were confused and skeptical, wondering why he would just walk up to you, a stranger, and ask you to work for him.

However, his warmth and curiosity quickly put you at ease as he apologized and explained.

That's how you got your job at U.A. High School as the new librarian.

Nezu loves your open mind and willingness to dive deep into meaningful topics, so he often asks if you would like to observe one of Aizawa's lessons.

He also appreciates your ability to approach things analytically while staying kind.

During breaks, he loves to engage with you in thought-provoking conversations.

He enjoys your morbid humor and surprises you by having a dark streak of his own - his laughter at your jokes is contagious.

He also often lets you eat in his office if the break room gets too overwhelming, in which, he makes you some tea if you so want it.

Sometimes he likes to ask for song recommendations.

Nezu invites you to play strategy games, enjoying how your quick thinking and creativity make every match exciting.

Nezu loves your advice and always is willing to listen to you if you have any concerns or any good ideas.

He ensures you have access to resources for your daydreaming and solitary hobbies, always encouraging your creativity and independence.

~~~

Supernatural;

Charlie Bradbury -

You met Charlie at Comic-Con which your friend dragged you to.

You were hanging out over at the horror corner, where you had already bought a couple of posters featuring classic horror characters like Frankenstein, Swamp Thing, and Dracula.

Charlie had been wandering about, when she spotted you and had to compliment your hoodie, which had your favorite horror character on it.

Quickly, her bubbly personality and her nerdy charm drew you out of your shell.

She also complimented your tattoos and asked you what your favorite horror movie was; in which you replied that one of your favorites was 'Annihilation.'

Before you knew it, you were laughing, having a good time, and swapping movie recommendations.

You soon found yourself spending time with Charlie outside of Comic Con, and outside of just texting.

You both would either meet up at a coffee shop or nearby park to either eat and talk or walk around and talk.

Charlie adores your morbid humor and matches it with her own playful sarcasm, leading to endless banter.

She loves how fiercely you care for those close to you, often reminding you to take care of yourself, too.

She loves to try and bake things to give you just because; cookies, cupcakes, and so on.

You bond over shared interests in gaming, books, and movies, often geeking out together over the latest horror releases.

She loves to join you for horror marathons.

Will love jamming out with you, anytime.

Your casual, practical style is something she admires, and she’d occasionally suggest adding a geeky pin or patch for fun. For holidays or birthdays, she loves gifting you fun horror-themed clothing, like shirts, more hoodies, or comfy socks.

You and Charlie have regular gaming nights, complete with snacks, laughter, and the occasional (friendly) competition.

She’s always there to cheer you up after a tough day, using her humor and enthusiasm to brighten your mood.

[journey-to-the-attic]

I've just discovered the pet zoo au and I.am.obsessed.

NO CUZ LIKE IMAGINE IK AND BELPHIE LISTENING TO "WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY" AND BELPHIE JUST STARTES MAKING FOX NOISES ON THAT PART.

Also for some reason I think beels "woof" would be like that one meme with the husky where the humans are trying to sush it and he just lets out the most definde 'woof' ever.

Another thing,what if they tried to write out their names??? Like Satan steps in int and tries to make multuple paw prints on a paper to draw out his name in a way (he fails)

Also, it's said that crows can learn some words...what if crow Mammon (due to being magic as well) manages to start saying a few words and even starts making full on sentences. Can just imagine him flying through the window and landing in front of Ik and her dad like "feed me mortals or perish" as a joke to freak them out BC 'omg a talking crow' AND THEY INSTEAD START SCREAMING THWIR BUTTS OFF WHILE MAMMON IS TRYING TO CALM THEM DOWN BUT IT ONLY TURNS WORSE.

On the talking crow Mammon topic,what if he tells Ik what the others want to tell her?? Like "Yeah Lucifer wants you to put more Britney Spears" or "Levi wants to watch you play this game" or "Asmo says you gotta go pet him"

(wanna hear more from you tho BC I like your hcs, they're funny and silly)

orders given, orders received (/j i've been wanting to talk more about this au too!!)

i love the idea of the brothers attempting to communicate their names,, i feel like lucifer and/or satan would come up with some really smart method of going about it (like laying out books or ripping up a newspaper and using the letters), but ik and her dad are just like 'ah, what silly animal antics' and clean up the mess without even noticing what they're trying to spell out

so at first they just all have nicknames-

lucifer: peter (as in Peter the Peacock)

mammon: car (crow goes "caw!", caw sounds like 'car', ergo, car)

levi: socks (on the first morning after they took the animals in, ik found him trying to hide inside one. it's also funny because usually you get cats or dogs named this)

satan: paddy (aunt lisa picked this one - as in st paddy, for his green eyes)

asmo: duchess (ik had a feeling he'd like it)

beel: boof (it's the noise he makes)

belphie: hu (from the chinese word for fox (zhao picked this one). sometimes it's extended to hu-hu)

at first, satan and asmo are the only ones who like their new nicknames, while everyone else is mostly neutral on theirs, apart from lucifer, who HATES his

however, he still responds to it, so really it's his fault that it sticks

eventually everyone warms up to their new nicknames, but they'd still like their new family to know their actual ones

i like the idea of mammon learning speech, so yes he'd be the one to eventually relay the message!

he hops around on ik's shoulder going "lucifer! lucifer! lucifer!", and ik thinks her crow friend is conducting a ritual up until she realises he keeps pointing his beak at peter the peacock

she does switch to their actual names once she learns them, but in her head she still tends to refer to them by their nicknames, and they still respond when she uses them aloud

mammon's language would be more fluent than a regular crow's, but i don't think he'd generally be able to string together full sentences

so it's more like a "hey! food!" when he's hungry, "kid? okay?" when he's concerned, "levi. bowl. broke!" when he's snitching

he can manage full sentences if he tries really hard, but he usually can't be bothered, so he saves them for when he's serious

for example, if ik were getting bullied, he would go full fluency mode to say "i'm gonna kill them for you"

the other brothers are mostly happy to just chill (particularly levi and belphie), but lucifer gets so restless with no work to do that he starts assigning himself random chores to occupy himself

for example he's decided it's his job to open all the curtains in the morning and close them at night

ik starts bringing home random worksheets from school and lucifer will just sit there staring at them (he doesn't have hands to write with so he just has to answer mentally)

levi has a little box by the window from which he can see the tv and also sunbathe

ik brings home a sheet of stickers so that he can pick some to decorate with

beel is SUCH a big dog that he would take up the whooole sofa or bed if he sat there, so usually he very politely sticks to the floor

but then they buy him a big blanket and he starts carrying it with him from room to room to rest on (belphie also steals it a lot)

everyone has their own little spots around the house where they usually stay, apart from mammon, who is nearly always found on ik's shoulder

if ik isn't home he will stand on zhao's head instead

satan nearly always sleeps on either ik or zhao's bed and at some point his habit extends to the others, so they start taking it in turns being 'guards' for both humans at night

lucifer pretends to be above it as if he DOESN'T trot himself right to rooms and stay there the whole night as soon as it's his turn

whenever ik's stressed out from school she comes home and just plonks herself on beel

he's such a big dog that he barely even feels it so he's perfectly happy to be a big fluffy pillow

levi spends most of his time in his box but he'll also be quite happy to go around the house draped around ik's neck and listening to her narrate her whole day to him

sometimes ik brings asmo ribbons and such and he gets so excited that he does that jumpy twisty thing rabbits do (i think it's called binkying?)

asmo and satan both get the zoomies but satan's always so embarrassed about it afterwards, while asmo simply owns the energy and then flops over for pats afterwards

belphie's normally very quiet and docile but occasionally he'll just SCREAM and it scares everyone in the house

[mr-snailman]

open tag from @fedoranoir to share 10 pieces of music I've been listening to lately. yes, I'm aware St. Paddy's was months ago, but around here the party goes all year long:

Niamh Parsons - Fear a Bháta originally a Scots Gaelic song. this is the Irish version. legend has it the songwriter did marry her boatman a year later.

The Clancy Brothers - Carrickfergus sad, sweet, and lovely. shares part of its first verse with "the water is wide"

The High Kings - Summer in Dublin makes me feel much, much older than I am.

Seo Linn - Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile welcomes Gráinne Mhaol home from the seas at the beginning of summer, come to free the land from foreign rule.

Apulanta - Ilona? for the record, I do actually listen to other music. like this tragic Finnish ballad about loss and love, continuing.

The High Kings - Caledonia is about Scotland. but whenever I sing it, I'm thinking about Boston and my ma.

Liam Clancy - The Dutchman when I first heard this I thought it was about Vincent van Gogh. maybe in some other world where he lived to be an old man watching the ships on the canal.

The High Kings and Mary Black - Past the Point of Rescue hadn't heard anything by Mary until this year but she's incredible.

Robert Panico - Jessica cannot believe it's been years since I watched marble hornets for the first time. still not over this gorgeous, haunting piano.

The Allman Brothers - Jessica but, uh. mostly the first sixteen seconds. for personal reasons.

tagging @garymerlow @fruitysalamander1398 @judasiscariotbf and an open tag for anyone else who wants a go

[dontbother94]

Tarot Reading: The Harry Government

A for fun, no facts look at key "Harry's Government" people in tarot:

Harry's feelings

(Five of Wands (reversed), Queen of Pentacles, Nine of Cups, Page of Cups (Shadow)

Harry is tired of tension. He wants peace, love and truth. He does not crave control he craves safety, trust is incredibly important to him. The Page of Cups in shadow shows his artistic heart is still tender, still open, but quietly guarded. He wants real love, not perfect structure. He is soft beneath the system. He very much leads with his heart and wants his team to be trustworthy in return.

Executives

Jeff Azoff – Manager (Six of Swords, Judgement (reversed), The Star (reversed), Ten of Swords (shadow)) Jeff is steering Harry through transition and distance from past chaos. But the emotional cleanup hasn’t happened. The partnership is still strong, but strained by unspoken exhaustion. Harry’s architect and buffer, still essential but carrying the cost of past decisions.

I also pulled for Glenne Christiaansen – (Apple) (Ace of Pentacles, The Magician (reversed), Seven of Swords (reversed), Page of Swords (reversed)) I wonder what hand Glenne had in Harry’s PR. Her cards are PR embodied so much I pulled more on Harry’s relationship with her which hints it was once trust and now not so, mostly strategy. I was surprised how much is there.

Rob Stringer – Chairman, Sony Music Group (Six of Swords, Eight of Wands, The Hermit (reversed) + Sony (Justice Reversed)) Rob helped Harry's shift from pop star to artist. He is someone who will clear a path for Harry but is not part of his day to day. Sony itself (Justice reversed) appears imbalanced, still presenting artistic freedom while applying hidden pressure which makes sense really.

Creative Collaborators

Kid Harpoon (Tom Hull) – Producer, Songwriter, Musical Director (Death, The World (reversed), Seven of Pentacles, Page of Pentacles (reversed)) Something between them has ended, even if they’re still working together. Harry is reflecting on the value of their work, wondering if it still fulfills him. Still in the room, but the magic has shifted.

Tyler Johnson – Producer, Engineer, Co-Writer (Page of Swords (reversed), Page of Wands (reversed), Queen of Cups, The World (reversed shadow)) Tyler remains trusted and steady, but the creative spark has faded. He offers support, not fire. Emotionally safe, but no longer a source of evolution.

Molly Hawkins – Creative Director (Knight of Wands, Two of Swords (reversed), Eight of Swords (reversed), Lovers (reversed shadow)) Once a visionary creative partner, Molly now feels emotionally distant. Harry may feel boxed in by their past visual language. They may be in a transitional state. The bond feels more professional than personal now.

Harry Lambert – Lead Stylist (The World (reversed), Page of Pentacles (reversed), Four of Pentacles, The Chariot (reversed shadow)) Their styling work changed pop culture, but Harry now feels creatively stuck. The collaboration feels rigid. He may feel claimed by an aesthetic he no longer fully owns. Visually iconic, but emotionally restrictive. Harry wants a change.

Are New Collaborators Involved in HS4? The Sun, The Star (reversed), The Hermit (reversed), The Hanged One (base) Yes. Fresh energy is entering. The Sun confirms joyful new voices. But the shift is emotionally complicated, especially for long-time collaborators like Kid Harpoon. Kid is still involved, but no longer central. The new creative chapter has already begun.

Support

Luis – Personal Assistant (Wheel of Fortune) Lois is in sync with Harry’s natural rhythms. He appears exactly when needed, helping stabilize periods of transition. Loyal, adaptable, emotionally aligned.

Paddy (Patrick O’Brien) – Security (Knight of Pentacles) Steady, loyal, and deeply protective. Paddy offers not just physical safety but emotional grounding. He is part of the infrastructure that allows Harry to remain soft in public, quietly guarding the person behind the persona. Paddy is deeply trusted.

Public Relations

Full Stop PR Team (Four of Swords) A deliberate pause. Possibly unsure, regrouping, or just done. Full stops PR is present, but not proactive. Awaiting direction, they may only do things when asked, but I wonder by who.

Sony/Columbia PR Team (The World (reversed)) Sony's PR is more active but not connected. Harry has moved on emotionally, but Sony may not know or what the new vision is. Still working from a script Harry no longer lives in. This may change with HS4.

Why Doesn’t Harry Hire a Tree Paine-Type Publicist? (King of Wands (reversed), Five of Cups (reversed), King of Cups, The Devil (shadow)) He wants to be in control and doesn’t trust anyone enough to fully manage his image (King of Wands reversed). The Five of Cups reversed suggests he’s had disappointing or even painful experiences with PR in the past, and he’s made a conscious choice to move on and handle things differently. The King of Cups shows he believes he can navigate this himself with emotional intelligence, diplomacy, and restraint. But at the root of it, The Devil in shadow implies something deeper: he may associate the world of publicists with toxic power dynamics, a loss of autonomy, or unwelcome scrutiny into private behaviors he’d prefer to keep hidden. This reminds me of a podcast one of the band's publicists did that sounded like he disagreed with them on an article and it ruined their relationship.

[riversimmone]

Three's A Crowd

Three's A Crowd - Chapter 1

RiverOfTheSand

Summary:

SasuSaku. He didn't mean to kill that man. He had simply reacted to being attacked. And now Konoha is forced to hunt down the rogue members of Team 7, or risk open war. Eventual NaruHina.

Notes:

Cross-posting from fanfiction.net. Where it is complete. I wrote this back in 2011 and I wasn't sure whether to put it on AO3 or not. But why not, right? Please just keep in mind that it's not a representation of my current ability or style. I am cross-posting for the sake of having it on AO3. Don't get me wrong, I do really like this story. I have many fond memories of when I was writing it and certain songs are very nostalgic for me with this fic. And it's 20 chapters long and complete so it was a milestone I am proud of still. Please read and kudo and comment. I hope you enjoy. :)

End chapter notes:

Thankyou so much for reading. :)

This is a work in progress story you can also find on AO3 and FF.NET.

Enjoy. :)

Chapter One. Moving On.

Sakura Haruno. That was the name her parents had given her. They were lost amongst a sea of civilians and ninja alike who had died when Konoha was levelled and left masses of orphaned children in their wake. Sakura and her two team mates, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were amongst those who had no-one left, and decided to abandon Konoha.

Of course, Team 7, minus their teacher Kakashi Hatake, had been the only ones to actually leave. They spent years on the road, doing odd jobs to survive, while honing their ninja skills. They had even stolen jutsu from countries that despised their own, but their ultimate goal was just to keep moving, and find the one who had killed their respective families.

Revenge, yes that was it. No-one inside of Konoha, who had been left standing anyway, had wanted to actively search for that fiend.

It had been six years since they'd set off together, and Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were now nineteen years old. They didn't trust anyone but each other, and even though Naruto had a bad habit of sleeping with disreputable women in dingy hotel rooms, they were only comfortable around each other.

No, Sakura was not the cream filling in some sort of sex trio, although Naruto had suggested he and Sasuke fuck her from both ends one night when he'd had too much sake. She'd violently motivated him never to suggest that again! That said, she had knocked him unconscious mostly to cover her own embarrassment. While she knew she'd never act on it, the idea of sleeping with Naruto had had her slightly intrigued. She was not a cream filling!

Sakura fumed at the memory, staring out over the picturesque view before her. She was standing outside a tea shop, only an hour outside of the small village she had spent the last few days scouring. It was called Gakutsuna town, and was home to low life reprobates. This land was abundant with them. The Land of Rice Paddies they called it. Sakura called it Freakville.

A loud crash coming from within the shop did not bother her. It was just routine after all. The owner of this shop had information they needed and was being stubborn. He just needed a little persuasion. Sakura smiled at that, imagining that that intimidating Uchiha stare as well as Naruto's brusque interrogation "techniques" were scaring that old coot. And normally she'd be in there, doing the whole fisticuffs thing she liked so much, but the owner was a seventy year old pervert and Sasuke had asked her to leave when she'd tried to kill him for asking her for sex. They needed him alive to talk.

Sakura shivered involuntarily. Yeah, she was happier out here.

Still, she was bored, staring out over this valley, wondering how much longer her boys were going to play for. They needed this information yes, but they also needed to be out of this valley by night fall. Rumour had it that leaf ninja were coming this way tonight. Sakura remembered Konoha fondly, but had no desire to run into old friends or even complete strangers when she was a missing-nin who had to be captured or killed on sight. Whoever these leaf ninja were, their mission had nothing to do with Kitsúne.

Kitsúne was the name Konoha knew them by, but as far as Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto knew, they didn't know what they looked like, let alone who they really were. That notorious S-Rank bingo book was only filled out by the living, and they weren't in it. Of course, when it came to people they didn't need to kill Sakura was very good at making them forget. A little Genjutsu went a long way. She was a natural with that particular type of jutsu.

Sasuke and Naruto exited the tea shop ten minutes later, in an orderly fashion. Naruto then ruined the image by poking tongue at Sakura and pulling down the bottom of his eye lid in mock. She glared at him.

"Who the hell are you mocking, dweeb?" She said threateningly.

He just chuckled and ignored her question. He was so immature, such a dobe, that if Sakura had not seen him kill on the battlefield before, she would never have believed he was capable of it. But he wasn't some blood thirsty animal – in fact, the only one of the three of them that sometimes had to be pulled back from that dark brink was Sasuke.

"We got what we needed," Sasuke said in a monotone voice.

She loved him, but would it kill him to at least sound like he cared? She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah yeah, and while you boys got to play I've been bored to tears."

Sasuke spared her a smile, although it wasn't really his style. "You can do the next one."

She grinned. "Thank you Sasuke-kun!" She refrained from jumping him. They were out in the open and Naruto was here. That could wait until they were alone again.

"Teme!" Naruto whined. "I wanted to do the next one!" He huffed. "You're not in charge you know!"

"I know, dobe," Sasuke said, genuinely amused.

They had decided long ago that this would be a democracy. There were three of them, so when it came to making decisions, they were never deadlocked. But quite often, Naruto was the odd one out, voting for things that would never happen. Occasionally, either Sakura or Sasuke would change their vote to make their friend feel like one of the gang. He hated that he was outvoted more often than not.

Sakura glanced back at the little shop as they moved away, toward the setting sun. It was in the early stages of the orange tint that only sunset could bring.

"Did you kill him?" She asked, thinking about the old pervert and realising there was no sound within the shop anymore.

It was obvious they had, considering Sakura was the only one of them that could mess with people's memories. There was no way the boys would leave this guy alive if he could finger them in a line-up. Sasuke's Sharingan came in handy, but he hadn't figured out how to use it to do what came so easily to Sakura. This bugged him, but there were also a lot of things he used his Bloodline Limit to do that the others could never do, like put up a genjutsu that hid them from view from even other ninja.

"Of course, Sakura," Naruto said, waving away her concern. "He just didn't scream, that's why you didn't hear it."

"He didn't scream because I told him not to," Sasuke said, sounding slightly annoyed. His face remained impassive though.

"Don't argue boys," Sakura said, as Naruto opened his mouth to retort. She grabbed Sasuke's hand, linking their fingers together. "The important question is what did he tell you?"

"We were right," Sasuke said, without elaborating.

On Sakura's other side, Naruto brightened, humming softly to himself and admiring the trees as they found the path they'd taken to get here and entered the woods. They were well on their way to leaving the valley, and the nearby Gakutsuna town, so he was happy, but content – which explained why he wasn't bouncing all over the place. The energetic knucklehead was taking a time out, so it seemed.

Sakura ignored him and squeezed Sasuke's hand. "Well?"

"The cloud ninja are cleaning house with their missing-nin. If we enter Lightning Country, we'll have to keep a low profile."

Sakura nodded. "I still don't understand how he knew that."

"You'd be surprised the sort of things shop owners overhear," Sasuke said. "He didn't even realise how valuable that information would've been, if he'd just bartered for it, instead of holding back."

Naruto chuckled at that, barely listening. "Old goat."

"Stop." Sasuke pulled Sakura still and shot a glare at Naruto as the blonde glanced at him, still walking.

"You're not in charge, teme."

"There's someone coming this way," Sasuke said softly. "Ninja by the feel of them. We should hide."

"Leaf?" Sakura asked, worried. They had wanted to avoid this.

He nodded. "Don't worry, they don't know we're here... yet."

They jumped up and off the road, and he activated his Sharingan to protect them. Sakura watched the four figures heading their way, ambling along the road as though they had no idea anyone was around – which they didn't. They were definitely ninja though. As they came closer, she recognised their faces. A heavy weight on her heart almost made her sigh deeply. She missed Konoha, but Kitsúne could never return. Sasuke pulled gently on her hand and she followed him and Naruto away from their old friends, and into the sunset.

X X X

[unfortunate-arrow]

arrow | she/her | isfp | hobby writer | a menagerie of ocs 

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𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐎𝐍: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

general disclaimer: book spoilers abound! show spoilers too, but i’m using more of book canon than show canon. so, yes, ~95% of my bridgerton works involve book canon superseding show canon.

Masterlist

*under construction*

𝐇𝐏 𝐎𝐂𝐒

general disclaimer: do not support or agree with jkr’s views or actions, but not here to explicitly discuss my personal or political views. canon storylines are utilized mostly for the hphm ocs. also quick note that all linked profiles are under construction until further notice, so published information may be outdated.

oc x oc connections: 1870-1960 • 1961-2010 • minor ocs

𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Orla O’Rourke | profile

Cillian Lynch | profile

Tadhg Lynch | profile

Niamh Kelly | profile

Vincent Fitzroy | profile (wip)

Brianna O’Rourke | profile

Fankids (wip)

𝐡𝐩 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Maxwell “Max” Pembroke | profile

Georgie Parsons | profile

Edmund Kennedy | profile

Minerva Kennedy | profile

Simon Battersea | profile

William Devlin | profile

Fankids (wip)

𝐡𝐩 𝐰𝐰𝐢 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Ophelia Lovell | profile (wip)

Linus Sullivan | profile

Colm O’Shea | profile

Minor OCs → Eugene Lovell • Ralph Myers • Enid Baudelaire • Malachy Lynch

Fankids (wip)

𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Rory O’Neill | profile

Aisling Lynch | profile

Fankids (wip)

𝐡𝐩 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Oscar Lynch | profile (wip)

Fankids (wip)

𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Ruth Rosen | profile

Ryan O’Donnell | profile

Cara O’Donnell | profile

Sara O’Donnell | profile

Conor O’Donnell | profile

Cian O’Donnell | profile

Fankids (wip)

𝐡𝐩 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬

Nicholas Wraxall | profile (wip)

Fankids (wip)

𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Finn MacKade | profile

Nate MacKade | profile

Jack Whitten | profile

Thea Whitten | profile

Minor OCs → Paddy MacKade • Owen MacKade

Fankids (wip)

𝐡𝐩 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐫𝐚

Sophie Power | profile (wip)

Luke Battersea | profile

Declan O’Donnell-Lee | profile

Jude Cozens | profile (wip)

Fankids (wip)

𝐌𝐘 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧

In Which William Bridgerton Is Born Prematurely

I’d Still Dance with You

To See My Son Become a Father

You Belong Somewhere You Feel Free

You Must Know You Are Beloved

The Aftermath

Bridgerton Writing Requests (closed)

𝐡𝐩

HP 12 Months of Magic (2023) one-shots

30 Day (2020) OTP Challenge

Valentine’s Day 2022 Challenge

Spring Break 2022 Challenge

Summer Break 2022 Challenge

Back to School 2022

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

Just things I need to happen in DGD.

-Diana rips Bill a new one. I love to hate him.

-Diana has at least two minutes of cuddle time with Withers or Reg. either will do.

-Diana interacts with another woman. There is literally all of two women in this series and they are badass. As is my little war criminal.

-just for shits and giggles Diana telling Paddy to shut up when he goes off on one of his monologues. I love them but I think Diana would go insane listening to Paddy talking shit everyday.

-Diana being like fucking England. Like I’m from the north and it’s fucking awful when it wants to be. As a woman from Egypt she’d fucking hate it.

-Diana just gets to kill a man with her bare hands. Because she just needs to. Like my girl has emotions and she needs to let them out in the most unhealthy way possible.

-Diana scares the shit out of the 2nd SAS. Like the boys are just babies and there’s this blood covered Egyptian woman. And Reg is just like yeah that’s my girl and she p*gs me every night.

-Almonds being like a big brother to Diana because she needs something gentle in her life. She been through it.

-Eoin haunting Diana because she (and I) miss the gay boy.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I have very strong feelings about Diana. I have more stuff but I should be writing a 3000 word essay rn.

ANONNNNN ILY!!!! the diana love is so real and every one of these points is sooo correct - let's discuss

we all know my girl does NAWTTTT like bill stirling. wdym THIS is the guy replacing her annoying big brother David. nuh uh. not happening.

diana will be having hug time with reg, this i can PROMISE!! episode 4 was so bad for my boy, get in there queen i beg (diana and withers content is nonexistent and i need to remedy this so so bad)

DIANA AND EVE!! DIANA AND ALESSIA!! YES TO ALL OF IT, IT'S HAPPENING.

she's already permanently at the end of her tether with paddy, you just know these two are shit-talking each other the entire time he's in charge. do they like each other? mostly. do they listen to each other? fuck noooo

diana in the UK is just

SHE'S COLD!!! IT'S COLD!!!!! LET HER GO BACK TO AFRICA JESUS CHRIST WHY IS SCOTLAND SO BLOODY COLD

amen to her absolutely demolishing some more fascists. it's her whole Thing fr

every time diana interacts with 2SAS they piss themselves. canon. confirmed. the guys are used to her ofc but that woman is literally TERRIFYING

diana is giving almonds the hug of his life when he rejoins the unit - you're so right he IS her big brother. their tiny moment together in chapter 12 had me so :') she loves that man fr

you can't tell me diana wasn't having eoin flashbacks during the 2 parachute jumps in s2. that blame is never gonna be 100% gone for her and she will NEVER fully trust herself in that situation again

season 2 has given me LIFE and it has fuelled SOOOOO many ideas for future DGD chapters. we've never been so fucking back

[madmarchhare]

The Monk and the Traveller Ch.1

I have posted a few semi-contiguous snippest of this sotry before, but I wanted to post some of the early chapters as I am going through to proof-read them. Hope you all enjoy.

The story is set in 1908, specifically in Northern Japan.

The sun shone pleasantly overhead, marking the status of midday as it glowed over a forest path, narrow and surrounded by Japanese pines and Siberian Dwarf pines and ground cover, peppered with vibrant flowers. The path was wild, nearly consumed by the wildlife around it. A man walked down the path, holding a khakkhara[1], using it to assist his every other step though he seemed to lack a limp. He wore a kāṣāya, a Buddhist monks robes, which was near black in colour, though bleached a paler colour from sunlight, along with a pair of wooden sandals and black socks, and a paddy hat on top of his head, shielding it from the blistering sun. He was somewhat short, around 5’6” with sloping shoulders and a thin frame, his hands thin but worked, marked by ancient chill banes on his fingers and knuckles. His face was long, somewhat drawn and broken up by a wispy moustache on his top lip. Wise yet temperamental eyes watching the world around him as he advanced forward in a slow but firm gate. He walked on a for a long while, occasionally hearing the echoes of animal calls or watching the shadows of birds as they flew overhead.

“Ah, hello my good sir,” a boisterous voice called out behind the monk, making the man spin his head around to search for the origin. He saw a giant of a man, at least compared to himself, standing over 6’ tall, and broad shouldered. He wore a khaki coloured safari jacket over an open collared white shirt underneath, and trousers that matched the jacket, tucked into a pair of rugged pale boots, the colour of dry mud. His face was mostly obscured by a large maple coloured beard, topped by a thick moustache underneath a thick nose. His eyes were vibrant, full of an unrestrained energy under a pair of thin eyebrows. His brow was large, capped under a pale brown pinned slouch hat, vent holes around the crown. He strode over to the smaller man, a wide smile on his face as he did, the monk noticing a trio of foxes strung at his hip off his belt, and a copper pheasant hung loosely in his right hand.

“Do I know you?” the monk replied sourly, displeased by the interruption as he looked up at the man before him.

“No I don’t believe so,” the man replied jovially as he came abreast to the monk, the latter only now noticing the clear Japanese the Englishman was speaking but pushed past it through his irritation.

“Then why did you call out to me?” he again chided, glancing at the high-quality rifle that gleamed in the sun on his back as well as the two revolvers holstered on the opposite side of his belt.

“Do I need a reason to greet someone?” the man replied pleasantly, getting a sour look in response, not that he seemed to care, “besides, we seem to be going to the same place! Why not have a conversation as we go?” the man continued on boldly, the monk grumbling at the rhetorical question, having a few answers to it.

“… Why do you have so many foxes?” the man asked, deciding to try and satiate his curiosity if he was stuck with the conversation.

“One of the people from the town ahead needed someone to clear a few out, they’ve been going after chickens and the like for a while. I was passing through and offered to help, I spotted the pheasant when I was looking for some more foxes,” he replied happily, lifting up the bird when he mentioned it.

“Why do you have them with you then?” the monk asked, looking up at the man confusedly.

“To see if the man wants the pelts or the meat. If not I skin them and cook the meat to have later,” he responded informatively, the brace the foxes were tied in clinking slightly as he marched forward.

“So you’re a hunter then?” the monk asked, already sure of the answer the Englishman would give in return.

“Among other things yes,” the man replied brusquely, smiling down at the man as they continued down the path. The monk glanced at him from the side, having received a slightly different answer than he had expected. “I just came down form up north, I was doing some hunting in Hokkaido and Sakhalin, oh, Karafuto to you,” he continued, correcting the name of the Island to the Japanese name. The monk looked back up the hunter, curious as he listened to the man though still begrudging in his presence. “What about you, why do you walk this road of yours?” the man asked pleasantly, leaning down slightly to eye-level of the monk, making the latter jump slightly.

He looked at him annoyed, but quickly settled himself, still wearing the unpleasant expression he had throughout. “I am on a spiritual journey, I aim to absolve myself of wants and reach enlightenment,” he replied snappily, expecting a slight dismissal from the foreigner.

“Ah, so you are on an asceitic journey then!” the man replied, making the monk balk(?) in response, surprised that the other man knew the term. “A noble cause, though I could not uphold it myself. I am too fond of the articles of life,” he called back as the monk fell back slightly, still surprised by the foreigner, “a man’s got to have a few vices after all!” he declared with a grand finality, chuckling slightly to himself as he continued on ahead of the other man. He looked at the advancing man, seeing a rucksack on his back next to his rifle, along with an expense pouch[2] at his hip, pushed out of the way of the foxes. He opened his mouth to ask how he knew it, when the man cut him off, “ah, here were are,” pointing out the town in the distance, the pair having walked quickly. He continued forward at his usual pace, smiling comfortably as the monk followed after him with a curious look attempting to press his sour expression from his face, though failing in the end.

They came into the town, the buildings all made of wood, with various eves and gabled rooves, signs strung up around various business, people moving around the streets, pulling carts, hefting merchandise or chatting to themselves as young children played in the street. The taller man received a few looks as he strode through, some disapproving from older men, punctuated by fascinated stares from a few children. But these soon ebbed away, the crowd having mostly seen the man before when he had passed through the first time. The monk was much less fussed over, most attention he received coming from the Englishman’s slipstream, though a few people bowed to him respectfully as he passed, which he returned.

The taller man came to a stop, turning around to the other, “I’m afraid we’ll have to part here, as I need to take these foxes to the man to see if he wants them,” he declared apologetically, smiling nonetheless, “I suppose you have somewhere to stay, regardless,” he added, straightening back up, the monk looking surprised in response.

“Of course, a monk can always count on the peoples hospitality,” he declared grandly, a slight bite of overconfidence nicking at his words. The taller man smiled at him warmly in response, a note of cheek lying hidden in it, thrusting out his hand to grab the monk’s, shaking it firmly.

“Well, then this shall be farewell! I wish you may be well and happy!” releasing the monk’s hand as he finished then striding off in the direction of a number of rice paddies off in the distance. The man watched him go, slightly bewildered at the whirlwind of a man but pushed him from his mind, turning away to continue on his own.

He walked over to  a shop. The front display left open as a young woman, slightly taller than himself, and dressed in a plain light blue yukata[3], a white obi[4] tied around her waist, swept outside on the shop patio. The shop was rather unspecific in its sales, displaying everything from sweets and food to calendars, the latter advertising the European date of 1908, the 41st year of Meiji reign[5]. The monk walked over to the stall, bowing to the girl as he came close, working a pleasant smile on his face, the slim woman bowing politely back, gripping the broom as she smiled kindly at him. “Good afternoon young miss,” the monk replied, his voice clear as he looked up to her.

“Good afternoon, [Mr. Priest],” she returned, a note of cheek in her voice as she did.

“Ah, I am but a humble monk on a journey of enlightenment,” speaking grandly as he placed a hand over his chest, looking solemnly up at the sky.

“Humble you are,” the woman responded, and amused expression on her face as she looked down at the man from the patio. The man smiled back pleasantly, adjusting his hat with one hand.

“And as I am on a journey, I wished to ask an honourable person such as yourself if you would lodge me for the night,”

“Oh. No,” the woman responded quickly, before the monk could finish, waiving her hand dismissively as she smiled down at the man, who wore a surprised expression in response.

“What?” he replied, pausing for a moment as his mouth hung open in surprise, before pressing a smile back onto his face. “May I ask why?” he added, his eyebrow twitching from nerves as he asked.

“We’ve got no room to spare,” the girl replied pleasantly still smiling down at the monk, “besides, father doesn’t appreciate freeloaders!” she added happily, the relation in question walking out from the shop behind her to place a box of fruit on a stand, wearing a pair of glasses bound his face by two loops of thread round each ear, a scar coming down above one eye as a medal was pinned onto his yukata, glancing over to the pair with partial disinterest.

The monk bristled slightly as the veteran looked at him, the light turning the lenses opaque, and smiled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. “I see, I apologise for the disturbance then, I shall ask somewhere else,” he responded genially, holding his hand perpendicular to his chest to offer them a prayer as he left, a nervous smile on his face as he felt the gaze of the veteran, who looked at the fleeing holy man with bemused confusion as his daughter smiled cheekily as he fled. The monk walked quickly away from the store, assuring himself that the next place would let him stay.

After about five hours, he was sat on a bench slouching as he stared at the ground, his steepled hands pressing into the bridge of his nose, a look of despair on his face. “How can no one have a single free room?” he asked himself weakly, pressing his face into his palm as he tilted his head back, groaning. By this is point it was beginning to get dark, the light slowly dimming with the descending sun. He knew that it would probably be warm enough to sleep outside, but had been hoping to sleep on a mat as he was near a town. To say nothing of an aversion to being rained on during the night. He pulled his hand from his face, feeling his hat shift on top of his head slightly as he stared up further into the sky. He had heard some of the towns people talking about an inn on the other side of town, so he decided to try there.

“Hopefully the owner is charitable, or a patron will be kind,” they muttered weakly to themselves, his sandals clacking on the packed dirt of the street as he walked forward, watched by a number of stray cats. The inn was the largest building in town, a sign over the entrance stating the owners name proudly: ‘Surogasu Inn’. He pushed open the front door, the light from inside making him wince as he let the door fall closed behind him as he stepped into the lobby. The room was well lit, incandescent bulbs hung from the walls, likely the only ones in the town. The floor was made of wooden planks until a certain point, where it transitioned to tatami[6] mats, a few shoes placed into racks nearby. The clerk was stood behind the counter at the side of the room, made from polished wood and black iron, reading from a novel, the back of his hand obscuring the title. The monk stepped over to the clerk, a wide faced, broad shouldered man wearing an impassive expression as he read.

“How may I help you?” the clerk asked somewhat gruffly though sounding polite nonetheless as he asked, placing his book upside down on the counter, the pages against the wood.

“Hello my good sir, I am journeying to find enlightenment, while aiding those around me on this journey as best I can. I was wondering if you would offer me a room for the night, so I may rest and continue my journey?” the monk spealed out, his face pressed into a Cheshire cat smile, his hands pressed together as he bowed slightly to the man.

“That’ll be 20 ¥ for one night,” the clerk replied pleasantly, though his face not quite reflecting it. The monk looked at him deadpan for a moment before giving a light laugh.

“Ah, I had assumed that, through grace of charity you would grant me a room,” he replied, looking across at the man encouragingly, attempting to coax the gift from him.

“No,” the man replied simply, “rooms are for those who pay,” staring boredly at the man, cocking his head to the side to press his point.

The monk gave a nervous smile back, his eye twitching slightly as he held onto his staff. “Ah, but I am a man of faith! I am sure that if you get your master, or the owner of this place they will attest how foolish it would be for me to pay,” the monk replied, a conman’s tone meshing in his voice as he spoke, letting his staff fall into the crux of his arm as he placed the hand that had held it to his chest, gesturing widely with the other.

The clerk’s countenance shift into one of agitation, turning over to the holy man furiously, straightening up. “I am the owner,” he responded firmly, “and I fail to see how it would be ‘foolish’ to make you pay,” leaning over the counter to peer down at the other man.

“Well, ah, I had not wished to tell you an bring you alarm… But a dreadful spirit haunts this place. I have come here to dispel it, allowing it to pass on, simply in return for a room for the night,” he retorted, throwing out the theatrics, his staff clinking as he shifted it, the rings bound at its head clacking together. The owner looked at him deadpan, walking back away from the counter, then out from behind it, walking slowly around to the monk.

He looked down at the holy man, wearing a neutral expression, before grabbing him by his robe and hefting him up into the air. “First you try to get a room for free then you say my Inn is haunted?!” he roared, shaking him violently, the man’s staff rattling loudly because of it.

“Sir, please! Anger will only aggravate the spirit!” the monk cried back, forcing a confident look on his face, the owner’s twisting further from fury.

“That is it, I am throwing you out!” her declared, dragging him towards the door.

“Wh-I am trying to- I shall place a curse on you, you miserly bastard!” the monk blabbered back, stammering as he was dragged by the bigger man.

“Your presence is curse enough!” he retorted, flinging him closer to the door as the both squabbled, the smaller man smacking at him like a furious cat.

“What’s going on?” a voice suddenly boomed out from behind them, along with the sound of firm footsteps on the matted floor. Both the other two men turned around to the voice, the monk still held in the clerks’ grip, who himself was shoving one hand against his face, trying to push himself away. They saw across from them the man the monk had met on the walk, now in an unbuttoned white suit, his tie tucked into his light blue striped shirt with a mandarin collar.

“Oh, just an unruly guest, sir,” the master declared, “please don’t worry!” smiling at the man as the foreigner himself inspected the bundle the two had tied themselves into.

He spotted the monk and smiled at him, “ah, my good chap you’re here! Though, I did not expect a monk would be unruly!” he called, strutting closer as he put an arm behind his back smiling warmly to the both of them.  

“I had simply wanted to dispel the spirits haunting this place, and only asked a room the night in return,” he narrated back his half-honesty just as the owner shook him by the robe again.

“No, you just wanted to scrounge a free room of me you mad monk!” the owner cried back, the two devolving into a shouting match as the taller man watched, smiling jovially as he gave a light chuckle.

“If this is a matter of money, I am can simply pay for his room!” he declared, coming up closer to the man, placing his hand on the owners shoulder, the man looking up at him surprised. “That would solve the matter, yes, Surogasu-San?”[7] he asked, already expecting his answer as he towered over the pair.

“Uh, yes of course,” Surogasu replied, having been caught off step as he let go of the monk, who fell to the floor, landing on all fours. The Englishman placed the money into the owners hand, not bothering to ask the cost nor for the change as he walked over to the other man.

“I suppose I both got to wish you good fortune and enact it, eh? my good chap!” the man declared with great relish, Surogasu behind him doing a double take between the money he had been given and its previous owner before silently gripping it and going behind the counter.

“Yes, I suppose you did,” the monk replied, somewhat coldly though trying to be appreciative.

The taller man wrapped his arm around the holy man’s shoulder, pulling him close, the smaller man in question stiffening up as he did. “As I paid for your room, the least you can give me is your name!” he declared kindly, striding forward and dragging the man in tow.

The monk managed to wrestle himself free, not that the other man was exerting much to encapture him. “… Nekomata, Nekomata Cherry. But call me Cherry if you must,” Cherry responded after a moment, adjusting his clothes. “And your name?” he asked the taller man, who smiled back in response.

“Elisah Collier,” he replied, moving to grab Cherry’s hand and shaking it vigorously, practically bouncing the man on the mat, “call me Collier,” he finished, releasing his hands as he turned. “The farmer I shot those foxes for only wanted two, so I kept the last one and the pheasant as well! Come have them with me, I fried the meat with some fresh fruit and herbs! You’ll love it!” he rambled on as he marched forward, Surogasu coming up aside of Cherry to politely hand him his room key and nod to him warmly.

“I hope you enjoy your stay, Nerkomata-Sama[8], a monk of your calibre is most welcome,” he stated, bowing to him slightly as he offered a prayer. Cherry, looked down at him confusedly until the other man raised up and walked back to the counter, accompanied by the sound of rattling coins which somewhat explained his change in demeanour. “I would recommend your catch up to your benefactor, he walks quickly,” the man added, making Cherry realise and hurry after the man, not wanting to make poor on a favour.

[1] Sometimes called a Pewter Staff in English, it is a metal staff topped with multiple metal rings. It is traditionally carried by Buddhist monks in East Asia.

[2] A small satchel ,often worn by a shoulder strap where loose ammunition or ammunition packets are placed for ease of access.

[3] A lighter, summery version of a kimono, made from soft lightweight material such as cotton and fastened with a sash[obi].

[4] A sash used to fasten together a kimono. For women, it is usually decorative with a separate piece of fabric actually fasting it underneath the obi.

[5] Referring to the reign of Emperor Mutushito, commonly known as Emperor Meiji.

[6] Flooring made of rice straw with cloth edging, typically in a 2:1 size ratio. A staple of Japanese home design, previously used as flooring in every room in Japanese homes, though now more typically reserved for a single room in the home.

[7] A Japanese honorific equivalent to Mr. or Mrs.

[8] A Japanese honorific used when addressing lords, gods or customers.