#faith hill title bc i HAD to

[terrainofheartfelt]

a collection of flash fiction kisses

[interlvgos]

Hello dear Coral!<з

I’d like to request 3, 8 and 15 from the fic writer ask game!

hiii my love thank you so much for these! <3

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

right i'll be 10000% honest here and say currently absolutely none of them asdfghj not even in a woe is me way but i feel like ive developed so much as a writer that both my published fics make me.. cringe now and i cant read them back at all!! i appreciate them as demonstrative of the writer but i was at the time but ya. if i HAD to pick one it would be firestone because apollo was my first time ever writing smut and nothing about that process was enjoyable i was 90% stressed 10% embarrassed

8. What project(s) are you currently working on?

sooo currently i have my gax fic following the 2023 season/not sure how far into 2024, the britcedes hand kink fic and a 5 + 1 britcedes fic that is entirely self indulgent, but just those three at the moment!

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters?

im soooo weak for a lyric title its essentially my entire brand as its usually songs that ignite inspo for a fic! firestone is named for 'firestone' by kygo, let's take it slow, apollo (this love is mythological) is a combination of lyrics from 'apollo' by faith zapata, the working title for tp lewis (not sure if ive actually said this??) is the finish line (is a good place we can start) from lyrics in 'the finish line' by snow patrol, and the gax fic is 'run for the hills' from the tate mcrae song sdjssuds so yes. definitely on brand. the hand kink fic is called keep your hands to myself based on the saying can't keep my hands to myself etc purely bc i thought i was hilarious when i thought if it as its exactly what george wants to do lmao

[weirwoodking]

who do you think will be on the throne at the end? is there a chance it will be a woman? do you agree with the theory that bran will be king in the north bc he symbolizes winterfell? idk if i see dany on the throne bc i don't feel like she belongs in westeros, i think she would be better off with a throne on the other side of the narrow sea but i really don't know what i'm saying

It’s very hard to make predictions for ADOS, because we don’t have TWOW yet. So much can change about the story and the characters in one book, thematically and narratively. Think of how much the plot was influenced by just that final Bran chapter in ADWD. 

But, here I go anyway.

My short answer is: no one. (And no, I don’t mean Arya)

Let’s get into it.

Part 1: How the Show Tainted Everyone’s Brains

Obviously, a lot of people care about the Iron Throne plot. Sometimes too much. I do believe that this is mostly because of how much the HBO show changed everything about the story to make the Iron Throne seem like it was more important than anything else. Like promotional posters of all the actors each sitting on the throne, the name of the series itself being changed to “Game of Thrones”, actors getting asked in every interview “who do you think should get the Iron Throne?” as if it’s the last cupcake at a birthday party that everyone’s fighting over, the final episode was titled “The Iron Throne”. The marketing for everything was “it’s the fight for the Throne!” up through the eighth season. It made the object itself become a huge pop culture symbol.

It almost felt like the show was trying to make it seem like the goal of the Night King (a character not in the books) was to sit on the Iron Throne! The show portrayed it as if the Others were just a little distraction that needed to be dealt with so the characters could get back to arguing over the Porcupine Chair. However, in ASOIAF, it’s the exact opposite. The Porcupine Chair is what’s distracting the characters from the real conflict, the Others.

It’s almost comical how that has somewhat transferred over into the fandom, the “game of thrones” is what’s keeping everyone from focusing on what really matters, the “song of ice and fire”.

Part 2: GRRM’s Quote

It wasn't easy for me. I didn't want to give away my books. Every character has a different end. I told them who would be on the Iron Throne, and I told them some big twists like Hodor and "hold the door", and Stannis' decision to burn his daughter. We didn't get to everybody by any means.

-George R.R. Martin

So, he “told them who would be on the Iron Throne”. Something important about this quote is that he doesn’t say who. And, of course, the Iron Throne gets destroyed at the end of the show anyway. Show!Bran doesn’t really “end up on the Iron Throne”. Show!Dany does. George never said that who “ends up” on it in the books is who ends up on it in the show. He’s said that the Shireen thing and the Hodor thing will “happen very differently” in the books anyway. And, of course, another major part of that quote is “every character has a different end”.

I don’t think that who sits the Iron Throne last is necessarily going to be the ruler of Westeros at the end. For example, Cersei (or Aegon) may be the last person to sit the Iron Throne. Or even Euron (however, even though his goal is to rule post-apocalyptic Westeros as a god from the Iron Throne, I don’t think he’ll actually get there). If wildfire is hot enough to melt iron, I could see the throne being destroyed during whatever fiery shenanigans go down with Cersei and JonCon in TWOW. I think it would be fitting for the fight over the throne to end in the next book. ‘Cause the winds of winter are coming, baby, and it’s gonna be time to start dreaming of spring.

Part 3: The Weirwood King

The idea/theory of Bran becoming King has been around for a long time, long before the HBO show even started airing. This is because of the Celtic myth of King Brân the Blessed, whose name means “Blessed Crow” or “Blessed Raven” in Welsh. Other than the obvious connection with the name, Brân the Blessed’s story involves a magic cauldron that can bring the dead back to life. 

In the myth, Brân’s head is cut off and continues talking (think of how Bran’s most powerful aspect is the magical powers of his mind), because in Celtic mythology the head is believed to be where the soul is.

Celts had a reputation as head hunters. According to Paul Jacobsthal, "Amongst the Celts the human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the otherworld." (source)

Catch that? “Otherworld”. There is another myth (Irish, specifically) called the Voyage of Bran, in which the title character goes on a quest to the Otherworld. The Otherworld is a supernatural realm in Celtic mythology. It is also where the sidhe (a.k.a. aos sí) live. Remember, the sidhe are what George has said the Others are inspired by. In Irish mythology, the Otherworld is called Tír na nÓg, Mag Mell and Emain Ablach, in Welsh mythology it’s called Annwn, and in Arthurian legend it’s called Avalon. Fun fact, “Avalon” was the title of the novel George was writing when he had suddenly had the idea of a scene in which a young boy and his brothers see a beheading and then find a litter of direwolf pups in the snow. And so ASOIAF happened.

I’ll leave that there, and try not to go down the great big rabbit-hole of Celtic (and other cultures) mythology connections in ASOIAF. The takeaway is: ASOIAF has been influenced by these myths.

I do believe that Bran is going to be King. Not just because of his ties to this mythology, but also because of symbolism in his own story. The most notable one being…

Under the hill, the broken boy sat upon a weirwood throne, listening to whispers in the dark as ravens walked up and down his arms.

[...]

The singers made Bran a throne of his own, like the one Lord Brynden sat, white weirwood flecked with red, dead branches woven through living roots. 

[...]

His father and the black pool and the godswood faded and were gone and he was back in the cavern, the pale thick roots of his weirwood throne cradling his limbs as a mother does a child. 

- Bran III, A Dance with Dragons

Bran is also the only one of the Stark kids who still thinks of himself as royalty:

What was he now? Only Bran the broken boy, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins.

- Bran III, A Dance with Dragons

Bran is the heir to Winterfell. It doesn’t matter if Robb named Jon his heir in his will, the will was written under the pretense that Bran and Rickon were dead.

However, Bran doesn’t have any connection to the Iron Throne. It’s far more likely that he would sit on a weirwood throne, because of, y’know, everything about his story. So, if Bran was King of the Seven Kingdoms, I don’t think it would be on the Pincushion Stool.

If Bran is king of the realm, I do think there would still be a separate Lord/Lady of Winterfell, but I do think that there’s a possibility of a Pevensie siblings ending, where all the Stark kids would rule together as the Lords and Ladies and Winterfell.

Something that I’ve never really seen talked about regarding the idea of Bran becoming King of the Seven Kingdoms is the religious differences between the North and the southern regions of Westeros. Of course, the show didn’t deal with this at all. For fuck’s sake, they had Cersei blow up the Westerosi verison of the Vatican and face no backlash. It was so laughably absurd how Show!Cersei’s destructive reign was shown to have like… zero impact on the Seven Kingdoms. 

In short, I’m not too sure that the Kingdom who is majority Faith of the Seven worshippers would react too well to a weirwood-tree-Old-Gods-warg-wizard-king. I mean, when Janos Slynt finds out Jon is a warg he calls him a “thing”, a “creature”, and a “beastling that is not fit to live”, and wanted to execute him not just for being a turncloak but for being a warg as well. And Jojen warns Bran of these things, saying that his own folk may want to kill him if they know what he is.

But… all of that anti-magic attitude might not matter after night falls. 

Part 4: Winter is Coming

I believe that the Long Night is going to be very devastating for the Seven Kingdoms.

Martin is a big believer in making things have meaningful, permanent consequences in his stories. I don’t think that an apocalyptic event like the Long Night is something that’s just gonna get dealt with in a quick snap and have no lasting effect.

A lot of people are going to die. I don’t mean main characters, I mean people that would not survive a normal winter and sure as hell won’t be prepared for this one. Westeros’s food stores have been severely depleted by the War of the Five Kings, and we’ve been told multiple times in the text (particularly AFFC and ADWD) that feeding people during this winter is going to be extremely hard.

Besides that… the whole, uh, invasion of the eldritch ice beings thing might have a bit of an impact on the realm. 

I won’t go into depth about how the Seven Kingdoms will be affected by the Long Night, ‘cause we really have no idea. But, however it all goes down, I do think it will have lasting changes for the people of Westeros. The impact that it leaves may make the concept of Bran being a wizard-king more acceptable. “Oh, well we’ve just seen zombies and winter elves, so what’s too surprising about a magical greenseer warg king?” I think that Westerosi culture becoming more aware and accepting of the existence of magic is the only way that Bran could become the king of the whole realm. The Westeros at the end of the series is not going to be the place that it was at the beginning.

Part 5: Dany: A Home, Not a Throne

To sum up my thoughts on our dragon girl, I don’t think Dany will end up on the Spiky Toilet. I don’t want Dany to be on the Spiky Toilet.

Now, my personal speculation (which a lot of people disagree with, which is fine) is that Dany will never see King’s Landing before the Long Night. I personally don’t think that Dany will ever meet Aegon or Cersei. I don’t see there being enough time in the story for that. Yes, GRRM said that there will be a second Dance of the Dragons, but he also said that the second Dance does not have to involve Dany. He may have originally planned for it to be Aegon and Dany, but probably not once the Meereenese Knot happened.

The Meereenese Knot is what Dany’s ADWD plot is referred to as. GRRM did not intend for Dany to stay in Meereen as long as she has, but because of his “gardener” style of writing, that’s where the story led him. GRRM has said that one of the hardest parts of writing the Meereen plotline (which involves Dany, Barristan, Quentyn, Tyrion, and Victarion) is trying to find a way to cut the plot knot he accidentally got himself stuck in. He has said that Tyrion and Dany will meet towards the end of TWOW, which means that Dany will most likely be spending a large portion of her story with the Dothraki. That part is a completely blank page, but I believe that Dany will meet Tyrion possibly ¾ of the way into the book, and sail for Westeros at the end.

I won’t write a full meta about this here (because that’s not what this post is about), but to summarize my prediction: Aegon VS Cersei is going to be the battle in King’s Landing, a battle which will destroy the city. Dany (who has already rejected sailing for the Throne multiple times) will still be stuck in Essos, dealing with everything she’s still got going on, and will sail for Westeros at the end. Not for the Throne, but to go North for the real fight (remember that Marwyn is also on his way to Meereen to tell Dany that they need her).

Because Dany's purpose is not to fight for the Iron Throne, it’s to fight the Others. Dany (fire, light, and life) VS the Others (ice, darkness, and death) is the main thing the title refers to:

“Well of course the two outlying ones, the things that are going on north of the Wall and Daenerys Targaryen on the other continent with her dragons are of course the Ice and Fire of the title, the Song of Ice and Fire.” 

- George R.R. Martin, 2016

One of the most important excerpts that shows us where Dany’s story is headed is this:

That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper's rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened.

- Daenerys III, A Storm a Swords

Dany has a short prophetic “this is what I was meant to do” dream. Dany could possibly have more dreams about the Others in TWOW, visions that will make what Marwyn has to tell her more believable. It’s not like that dream was the only one Dany has had that alludes to the winter threat, Dany has had visions about this since book one:

The red door was so far ahead of her, and she could feel the icy breath behind, sweeping up on her. If it caught her she would die a death that was more than death, howling forever alone in the darkness. She began to run.

- Dany IX, A Game of Thrones

Anyway, there’s just a lot more foreshadowing in the plot that this is what Dany is meant to do. I think adding in another conflict into her story once she leaves Meereen would make the story feel bloated and would severely fuck up the pacing.

I don’t think Dany will ever see the Iron Throne. The themes of her story have never been about her wanting the Iron Throne for what it is, but for what it represents to her. It represents the possibility of a home and of feeling safe for the first time in her life, what Dany truly wants. I think that it’s absolutely fine if Dany never sees the Throne or sits on it, and that it makes more sense for her narrative arc if she discovers that she can find a home somewhere else, not necessarily where she thought it would be. 

Part 6: Final Thoughts

So, in conclusion, I don’t really give a shit who ends up placing their ass on the Forbidden Laz-E-Boy, I care about the War for the Dawn. I care about seeing the characters I’ve followed for the past five books coming together to fight the real conflict of A Song of Ice and Fire. Also, even if we do get a Scouring of the Shire-type post-climax for ASOIAF, it doesn’t matter. People don’t see the Scouring of the Shire as the climax of Lord of the Rings, they see the climax as Aragorn leading the forces of good against the forces of evil and Frodo and Sam throwing the One Ring into Mount Doom. Whatever ending resolution comes after the climax of ASOIAF, it doesn’t change what the climax is.

"Do you think your brother's war is more important than ours?" the old man barked.

Jon chewed his lip. The raven flapped its wings at him. "War, war, war, war," it sang.

"It's not," Mormont told him. "Gods save us, boy, you're not blind and you're not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?"

"No." Jon had not thought of it that way.

- Jon IX, A Game of Thrones

TL;DR:

My prediction: Cersei will be the last person to sit the Iron Throne, which will be destroyed in the Wildfire of King’s Landing. After the Long Night devastates the Seven Kingdoms, Bran will become the King of this new Westeros that has been majorly affected by the return of magic. Also, it would be real nice if Dany found her red door.

God I hope my rambling made sense

[victoriareyloficlists]

5 May 2021 Additions to Reylo Fluff

These fics have been added to the Fluff lists located in the following lists:

Fluff Part 1 Titles A-G

Fluff Part 2 Titles H-M

Fluff Part 3 Titles N-S

Fluff Part 4 Titlez T-Z

A merry Reylo Christmas by MeadowHayle (AO3 2018  Rated M Complete, 24 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey and Ben are roommates and celebrate the most wonderful time of the year together. For Rey it's the first real Christmas with friends and family and she wants to make up for all the things she missed as a child. Ben tries to help as best as possible, giving her a Christmas experience she deserves.) That's mine! by CrystalDen (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, 3 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When their new supervisor came from a different department, it had been a temporary solution to fix the swift exit of their boss. No one really cared that it was, well, a dude. A very tall, quiet dude with big features and a churlish expression. Gathering around the main hub of their floor to make introductions, Rey found herself mildly invested. He’d be around for a week, two. Maybe a month tops. It’s been three, and Rey just wishes he would go the fuck away.) Go And Catch A Falling Star Chapter 59 by Ayearandaday (AO3 2021  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: This chapter was born during a video about how pockets on women's clothing shrunk through history. Modern Rey would be outraged to know that womankind used to have pockets big enough to stash a loaf of bread. Imagine all the snacks they could fit! But she would have to make do with her boyfriend's pockets. Yep, that's basically the plot. Warnings: if Reylo babies bother you, you might want to skip this one.) A World Where There Are Octobers by Ben_Solo_Good_Boy_Sweater_Emporium (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, 12 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey is a ranch hand helping Han when the prodigal son returns.) Deliciously Dateable by Hellyjellybean (AO3 2021  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey hosts a Youtube show eating theme park foods. Ben is her producer and cameraman. The internet ships them thanks to their crazy chemistry even though Ben’s rarely on camera.) A Season of Frost & Warmth by shewhospeakswiththunder (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, 6 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben and Rey attend a costume party and there is contention between them; also including descriptions of season-appropriate cooler fall temperatures, warm clothing, and pining.) Free Fallin' by SageMcMae (AO3 2018  Rated M Complete, 5 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: A modern AU with pilot Ben Solo and brewery owner Rey who meet with disastrous first impressions, but somehow find themselves unable to deny their intense connection. Taking a leap of faith is a gamble. Taking the plunge towards love is a free fall.) and they were roommates by myownlittleinfinity (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Ben loses a bet to his roommate, Rey, he has to eat her out for 30 days.) Butter Crisp Sandwich by DarkMage13 (AO3 2021  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: “Mr, I insist you join me for a tea party today, at precisely noon. My teddy will be there.” Ben glanced at the boring clock on the wall. Ten minutes until noon. He swallowed in fear. There was no escape.  Or: Ben Solo cannot say no to an adorable hazel-eyed little girl's request for tea.) the way I see you by ocjones (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Historical AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben glides a finger over the painting’s shining face. It’s long since dried, having traveled the slow journey of hills between Naboo and Mortis, yet the varnish is so glossy it almost feels wet to the touch.And there she is: a soft-looking woman, her breasts pillowing over the top of her corset, her hair held lightly back with a band and flowing out behind her. Her delicate fingers grip a book, clasp it in her velvet-clad lap. The smile on her face is as gentle as her portrayal. His wife.) melting snow by makeshiftcandy (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: “Rey?” Ben said, his voice suddenly right there, just in front of her, and no, oh no, he couldn’t be here, shouldn’t be anywhere near her because–“Alpha,” she whimpered, watching as the portion of his body visible to her froze.) Sweet Things by DarthBaker23 (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, 3 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Alpha Ben enters a bakery and finds himself obsessed with a sweet scent. He's obsessed with the delicious smelling scent but can't find its source. He tries every pastry in the shop but eventually turns to the bakery owner, Rey, for help. When he finally meets her in person, he gets a big surprise.) Rey's Braids by Magdalane (AO3 2021  Rated M Complete, 6 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben's little girl falls in love with braided hairstyles. He watches video from the popular YouTube channel in which Rey teaches different braiding techniques. After weeks of failure, he DMs her on Instagram, desperate...) Cashmere by ladyofreylo (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: “Technically, Cashmere is a dating service. It’s for women who need escorts—literally, a date—to events. There are many women out there who don’t have partners or don’t wish to come out as lesbians—and they want to have a man on their arm. However, Cashmere is unofficially a place to find sexual partners who are vetted and cater to a variety of tastes.” Rose paused. “It’s great because they only hire the best-looking men, with great bodies and great sexual skills. It’s hard to go wrong. I’ve known a guy or two who worked for them. They are gentlemen and very skilled lovers.” Rey is looking for someone to take her virginity. When she calls Cashmere, they send Daddy Dom Kylo Ren...) Penetration Testing by SageMcMae (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Tired of their difficult boss, Phasma, Hux, and Mitaka hire Rey to help their CEO Ben run a security test but forget to tell him. “Good morning, Mr. Ren. I’m Rey Niima. I’m here to conduct the penetration testing you requested.” "Excuse me?” “We will begin with a preliminary assessment of your system, conduct the initial penetration test, after which I will provide a gap analysis to highlight the areas requiring improvement. I’ll make sure to list them out in priority order so you improve your performance.” “My...performance?”) Lip Balm by Jammy_Dodger (AO3 2020  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben HATES the lip balm Rey uses. He's been throwing it out, hiding it, trying to find ways to make her stop using it. So he ends up going to Sephora to buy her some new lip balm, but he comes out with VIB Rogue status, a curling iron, a hair dryer, a flat iron, heat protectant spray and a lot of stress. Ben hates shopping but he'll do it for Rey. Fluffy.) Homestead Fire by ladyofreylo (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, One-Shot, Prairie AU, Quick Synopsis: In this story, Ben Solo is a homesteader trying to court O. Kenobi's adopted daughter whilst on the prairie. He believes he will make Miss Rey a good husband. He shows her how when he stops by to chop wood and build up her fire.) Coffee by Jammy_Dodger (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey sits next to Ben in the coffee shop bc he doesn't talk or bother her. One day he doesn't show up. Rey waits for him. Someone else sits in his seat& hits on her. Rey is annoyed. Ben shows up late, tells the guy he's in his seat. The guy refuses to move. Rey gives Ben her Seat, and then sits in his lap. She continues to read her book and he reads his. She asks for his number. They date. He goes to the coffee shop bc he still lives with his parents. Rey's apt is going to be condemned. They move in eventually. She still sits in his lap.)

[morethanonepage]

fic titles meme

tagged by @aimmyarrowshigh​ um -- ages ago??? sorry i’m really behind in responding to things 

Look at the most recent 20 (or however many!) fanwork titles on your AO3 account and answer the questions below.

the unconscious conscious

the fire and the flood

a last minute possibility 

careful fear, and dead devotion 

overflow 

stir 

need a little time (to wake up)

drive 

laid bare 

a double bed, and a stalwart lover for sure 

the bloom of youth 

Washington Square 

raw 

some strings attached 

no assignment for cowards

not what ships are built for 

Anything Can Happen (On Halloween) 

Adrift

mages against literacy 

a boy with a thorn in his side

1. How many are you happy with?

I think I’m just answering in terms of the titles and not the fics themselves (bc the answer would be two in that case; you can guess which two). I like the pun of laid bare a lot, and Adrift is probably the title I call back to the most in the fic itself, if not directly. Washington Square is just meant to be parallel with Notting Hill bc that’s what it’s a fusion of & because the other option would’ve been East Village, which I guess now thinking about it might’ve been better lmfaooooo. 

I also like raw, bc as the tags say: “#unpremeditated barebacking #it's a metaphor”. It’s about the intimacy. 

2. How many are…not great?

I hate mages against literacy lmfao it’s so lame. I think if I had a better idea for it I would change it now, but also the fic itself is a little ehhhhhh so I also probably wouldn’t bother. 

otherwise i’m not SUPER proud of the TWO smiths songs referenced above but. what can i do. that’s my #brand. 

there’s also SO many things inspired by songs i just randomly listened to on youtube but like, w/e, titles are hard.

3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?

ALL OF THEM.

most recently I was casting about for the title to the fire and the flood, even once I had the text of the fic itself uploaded to AO3. I think I had it in drafts already and was still going through potential titles. some of the options i still have in the evernote document I wrote it in:

zephyr 

by some glamour change 

My faith is sick and my skin is thin as ever

All of which are bad imo. the fire and the flood is from the Vance Joy song, which doesn’t fit the mood of the fic really but I like the -- idk the contrast of the words? Both the fundamentally destructive nature of both fire and flood but also the way they cancel each other out, basically. And they’re both sweeping and epic and idk vaguely biblical and I’m #CatholicTrash, so. 

4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?

Two -- the unconscious conscious is a phrase comes from some haphazard research I did about ~sex magic back when I first started writing that fic (I should’ve. Like, saved that, I guess???). And a last minute possibility was bc  @jessicamiriamdrew was telling me about a film festival she was helping organize, and she mentioned that she’d received one film late and it was a last minute possibility, which I thought was the title of the movie itself (twas not) but I jokingly said that I was going to use it as the title of whatever I wrote next bc I liked the sound of it. et voilà.

5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?

Hmm let’s see:

the fire and the flood -- Fire and the Flood by Vance Joy

careful fear, and dead devotion -- Don’t Swallow the Cap by The National

need a little time (to wake up) -- Morning Glory by Oasis

a double bed, and a stalwart lover for sure -- I Want the One I Can't Have by The Smiths

Anything Can Happen (On Halloween) -- Anything Can Happen On Halloween

a boy with a thorn in his side -- The Boy With A Thorn In His Side by The Smiths

6. How many are other quotes?

no assignment for cowards -- allegedly this is a quote from Ovid (well, the quote itself is, “Love is no assignment for cowards”, but I think it’s cute to skirt around the l word, and if someone knows the full quote that’s a fun little easter egg for them/a shared joke between us)

not what ships are built for -- an old adage of undetermined provenance (”A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for”) but i uh. 100% cribbed it from a Valvert fic I read in 2013. God I’m old.

7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?

probably raw.

i mean. they raw. it’s raw...emotionally. i -- that really does say it all.

i also think the onomatopoeic feeling of the word stir (like, the slow susurrant awakening it evokes) really fits the mood of the fic itself. just the soft simplicity of waking up with someone you know and love. 

8. Which best reflects the theme of the story?

Adrift, no doubt -- Adrift is probably one of the best fics I’ve written on all levels, including the title, and that’s probably because it’s ALL p thematically tight. 

9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/pov of the fanwork?

Hmm none of them, really? They all reflect my voice which is why so many are lyrics from the Smiths but I really don’t make the effort to tailor fic titles to character voice. maybe a boy with a thorn in his side, by virtue of it being modern au/teen Cassian Andor who’s -- Mexican and simmering with pretentious progressive rage and therefore, also probably a Smiths fan.

10. Which is your favourite title?

hmmm i think tied between raw and Adrift. gotta love those one word titles i guess

(but of fics i’ve written, ever, or at least on AO3, my crowning achievement for titles has to be save an x-wing, ride an ex-stormtrooper. I remember SCRAMBLING to finish that fic bc i was worried someone else was going to poach the name first, BUT THEY DIDN’T and i won.)

[thecollegefootballguy]

2019 ACC Coaching Power Rankings

During the offseason I like to do some of these fun projects that I normally wouldn’t have time to write while football is actually getting played. One of my favorites is the Coaching Power Rankings, where I decide where each coach rates relative to his peers. 

The ACC was probably the worst Power 5 conference out there last year, but the coaching seems fairly strong. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of good football coming out of the conference very soon as so many programs develop.

The ACC lost four coaches last season, the highest among the Power 5, including some of the best in the league. The venerable Paul Johnson (last year’s #4 coach in the conference) and Mark Richt (#2) retired at the end of the year. Bobby Petrino (#5) was fired after Louisville completely collapsed after years of strong play. Similarly, Larry Fedora (#7) was canned when North Carolina’s rebuild kept spinning its wheels.

That means the ACC lost four coaches in the top half of its ranks. That’s pretty tough to overcome, at least immediately. However, the league has made some good hires which should help get all four programs back on track, though it may take a while.

Oh yeah, and since he has to go somewhere, Brian Kelly is being counted as an ACC coach for the purposes of this list.

Check out the list from last year to compare and contrast by clicking this link.

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15. Manny Diaz

Record Overall: N/A

Movement: N/A

Manny Diaz is the only first time head coach in the conference, so he has to start all the way at the bottom. Diaz has been a talented DC everywhere he’s coached. Under Mark Richt, Diaz fielded one of the best defensive units in the conference. We’ll see how fast Diaz can get the Hurricanes back to their winning ways, but in 2019 that turnaround will have much more to do with the offense.

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14. Geoff Collins

Overall Record: 15-10

Movement: N/A

Geoff Collins has the monumental task of de-converting a triple option team back into a “regular” football offense. So Georgia Tech is probably gonna suck this year as personnel gets moved all around and the offense entirely reworked. However, there’s good reason to be optimistic about Collins. In his two years as Temple’s head coach, Collins kept up the Owls’ run as the plucky yet steady winner in the AAC. If he can bring Tech into the modern era and make them the University of Atlanta like he seems to be trying to do, he could do a whole lot of winning. Eventually.

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13. Willie Taggart

Record at Virginia: 5-7 Overall Record: 52-57

Movement: Up 2 spots

More or less by default, Willie Taggart moves up two spots to make room for two of the four new coaches to the ACC. His first year was not exactly a smashing success. It was Florida State’s first losing season since 1976, so people were pretty upset. I mean, it wasn’t totally his fault. He inherited a team that somehow didn’t have offensive line personnel, that he won 5 games is an accomplishment. 

I have faith in Taggart, he built Western Kentucky into a competitive FBS program, he totally rebuilt a South Florida team that was in shambles, and in one season he returned Oregon to the ranks of the respectable. All things considered I think he has the potential to reawaken FSU and challenge Clemson. But that’s a ways away, and he better start winning this year.

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12. Steve Addazio

Record at Boston College: 38-38 Overall Record: 51-49

Movement: Up 2 spots

For a couple weeks in the middle of last season, it was looking like Boston College might be turning the corner. The Eagles were 7-2 and ranked for the first time in a decade. Then they lost to Clemson, FSU, and Syracuse and their bowl game against Boise State was literally rained out. So, BC ended the year with 7 wins for the fifth time in Steve Addazio’s six seasons on Chestnut Hill. I give Addazio a lot of credit for getting the FBS’s furthest Northeast outpost back to being a competitive team year in and year out. It’s not a bad place to be, but they just can’t seem to take that next step and climb into the top third of the ACC standings. I hope he does it, but it might take a coach with more talent than my dude Steve Addazio.

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11. Scott Satterfield

Overall Record: 51-24

Movement: N/A

Scott Satterfield leaps in higher than the other newbie coaches because, I mean, did you see what he did at Appalachian State? Well, you probably didn’t, at least not on TV or in person. The Mountaineers have been one of the best G5 teams in the country for the past four years. App State won the Sun Belt for the past three seasons and were the winner of the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Championship Game in 2018. I’m sure he’s gonna do a great job at Louisville, though like Collins in Atlanta, this might take a bit of time.

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10. Bronco Mendenhall

Record at Virginia: 14-22 Overall Record: 115-65

Movement: Up 3 spots

The Virginia rebuild took a big step in 2018, as the Cavaliers nearly won the ACC Coastal in Bronco Mendenhall’s third season at the helm. I expect that they’ll keep improving, in fits and starts perhaps, but Mendenhall is a great coach and he’s done a wonderful job so far. I expect he’ll be climbing this list as long as he’s in Charlottesville. Adjusted more heavily for difficulty, he should be even higher up this list.

-

9. Pat Narduzzi

Record at Pittsburgh: 28-24 Division Championships: 1 (2018)

Movement: Up 3 spots

Pat Narduzzi won Pittsburgh’s first division title in the ACC last season despite a 7-5 record. It’s still pretty good accomplishment, especially considering that the Panthers probably weren’t the best team in the Coastal. They got hot at the right time and sometimes that’s enough. We’ll see if Narduzzi follows Addazio in the perpetually mediocre basket, but he’s off to a better start and he’s in the right division.

-

8. Dino Babers

Record at Syracuse: 18-19 Overall Record: 55-35

Movement: Up 3 spots

Narduzzi’s counterpart in the Atlantic Division had an even better year. Dino Babers’s Syracuse Orange exploded to their first 10 win season since 2001. From Eastern Illinois to Bowling Green to ‘Cuse, Babers has won everywhere he’s coached. He’s not in the right division to really compete for a conference crown, but with Florida State and Louisville out of commission, let’s see what Babers can build so long as he’s not offered gobs of money to take his considerable talents somewhere warmer. 

-

7. Justin Fuente

Record at Virginia Tech: 25-15 Overall Record: 51-38 Division Championships: 1 (2016)

Movement: Up 2 spots

I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed in Justin Fuente. His first season went over so well I assumed he’d have the Hokies almost back to Beamer-esque levels by now. Perhaps that’s a bit optimistic, but 2018 was a nightmare season for the Hokies in terms of sheer attrition, very few teams lose that many guys, so I can give him a pass here. Still, expectations are high, I’m sure Fuente can win 10 games again, but it’s not like he’s got all the time in the world to do so. He’s entering his fourth year after all.

-

6. Dave Clawson

Record at Wake Forest: 28-35 Overall Record: 118-115

Movement: Up 4 spots

Applause all around for Dave Clawson. Wake Forest lives one of the more desolate existences for a P5 program and Clawson has had the Demon Deacons bowling for the past three seasons. His predecessor, and best Wake coach in living memory, Jim Grobe only managed that feat once. I’m very interested to see how high the Deacs can rise, but I’m worried Clawson also might get poached before Wake Forest reaches their full potential. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t gotten more attention, he’s perhaps the best turnaround artist in the game right now.

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5. Dave Doeren

Record at NC State: 43-34 Overall Record: 66-38

Movement: Up 3 spots

Welcome to the top 5, Dave Doeren! NC State has been one of the top programs in the ACC in the past two years and the Wolfpack are eager to see how far they can go under Doeren. It’s really hard to see them competing at Clemson’s level, but everything after that is up for grabs, especially with FSU, Miami, VA Tech, GA Tech, and Louisville all struggling.

-

4. David Cutcliffe

Record at Duke: 67-72 Overall Record: 111-101 Division Championships: 1 (2013)

Movement: Up 2 spots

The beloved professor emeritus of the ACC, David Cutcliffe gets a nice bump up the rankings to the top five, where he truly belongs. Cutcliffe has turned the Blue Devils into one of the most consistent winners in the ACC in the 2010′s, which is just a stunning accomplishment considering Duke football’s usual lot in life. He really is a cut above.

-

3. Mack Brown

Record at North Carolina: 69-46-1 Record Overall: 244-122-1 National Championships: 1 (2005)*

*with Texas

Movement: N/A

Oh man, Mack Brown is back in college football. Brown was one of the best coaches a generation or so ago, so it’ll be very interesting to see what he can do at North Carolina...again. Brown, of course, was already the head coach of the Tar Heels for a whole decade, from 1988 to 1997, before heading off to Texas where he reached the apex of his career. Back in the day, Brown had UNC running like a well-oiled machine. If Bobby Bowden’s Florida State wasn’t pushing everybody around, North Carolina would have won several ACC championships. He got back to back top ten end of year rankings at UNC, that just doesn’t happen.

Of course, that was over 20 years ago. Old coaches usually don’t do as well when coming back out of retirement like this, but Brown will probably do a lot to re-energize the fan base, bring in big recruits, and get newer facilities built. That’ll go a very long way in the Coastal Division.

-

2. Brian Kelly

Record at Notre Dame: 81-35 Overall Record: 252-92-2

Movement: Up 1 spot

Notre Dame’s not very lovable hardass crashes the ACC party all the way up at #2 on the list. It’s kind of hard to remember how bad Notre Dame used to be before Kelly came into town, they were pretty pathetic for all of the 2000′s, which is kinda crazy because the Fighting Irish are one of the most successful programs in the history of the sport. It’s hard to remember because Kelly has done such a good job building ND back into a powerhouse. They’re still one step or so removed from being real National Championship caliber, but hey, that’s a short list. Notre Dame, of course, went 12-0 last year, their second undefeated regular season under Kelly, and they’ll probably pick up right back where they left off. The only loss the Irish suffered last year...was to our Mr. #1.

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1. Dabo Swinney

Record at Clemson: 116-30 Division Championships: 7 (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) Conference Championships: 5 (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) National Championships: 2 (2016, 2018)

Movement: Same

Dabo Swinney had a pretty good 2018. He put together his best season yet, a 15-0 campaign that looked absolutely effortless for large swathes of the year. Do you know how good of a job you have to be doing to have people think that you’re outdoing Nick Saban? It’s incredible, honestly. Dabo Swinney, ten years into his career, might already be the best coach ever in the history of the ACC. Bobby Bowden is the only man with a better resume, but he spent some of his best years outside of the conference. And Swinney could coach another 20 years. My God.

-

Lastly, a fond farewell to my favorite image since starting this blog:

Happy trails, Paul Johnson.

[katzuyas]

I was tagged for a few things still back in 2018, so let’s get these out here to have a clean slate for 2019 and tag some lovely peeps along the way!

tagged by @kazul9

to post the last sentence from a wip, and here it is!

" [...] You're free to get yourself a nice corner of the house and make those love notes come true."

this is from SSS which was supposed to be my christmas smut fic, but I got so busy I never managed to finish it in time for the holidays //sighs regretfully maybe next christmas!

WIP title meme game

tagged by @kanzaki19 and @and-then-yoi-happened

The Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Pick out the title that most intrigues you, or interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

Gardenia's Gathering of Roses

dazzle me with gold

believe in the heart, for tomorrow

samovar

SSS

Apollo (which I will probably never finish rip)

 as for one that intrigues me most... that would be probably dmwg but I won't share that bc it's been too long and I need to get back to writing it soon-ish, so instead have a little bit of Apollo, for the unsung fic that will never find its conclusion:

 Victor felt his mask slip on the sweat caking his face and a single thought had him reach back to untie the strings holding it in place. He was stopped halfway, though.

"Don't," hot mouth whispered into his ear and he'd listened, spellbound.

"You don't want to know who I am?" Victor turned his head to capture that mouth, but he'd missed, nuzzling against the soft velvet of the man's mask instead. "I want to know who you are, too. Will you tell me?"

Clumsy fingers sunk into Victor's hair, brushing through it, while amused dark eyes looked into his as if the man already knew. And he had, which should've spiked caution in Victor, but he was too far gone by that time to care about anything else other than the subtle quirk of the lips that he couldn't forget the taste of.

"Who could ever mistake you for anyone else, Victor?" the man asked, caressing Victor's jaw with his thumb in a way that made Victor lift his chin up like a puppy begging for scratches.

Teeth scraped over the column of his throat like a promise of something Victor desperately wanted with a force that surprised even himself. He swallowed hard, feeling how the man's lips caught on his Adam's apple as it moved, and blessing the second his eyes fell on the guy's ugly tie.

"I'm a little bit at a disadvantage here." Victor smiled, pushing his own hand into the man's hair: clumped with gel, messy, but no less divine. "You seem to know me, but I still don't know anything about you."

"You know I can dance," the man said. He gyrated his hips against Victor's as if to prove his point and Victor greedily pulled him closer. "You know how my body looks like under these clothes," the man was talking while they shifted against each other. "You know how my lips taste like."

Dark eyes looked at Victor, mischievous, and Victor was powerless against the force of his want. He dipped his head down and stole another kiss, a brief, short one, just enough to make him hungry for more.

"Your name," Victor begged, chasing after the man's lips when he swayed away with the music. "Just that. I promise I won't ask anything else."

There were fingers on Victor's tie, undoing the knot, undoing the buttons of his shirt, undoing his self-control. When he opened his mouth to ask once more, the man lifted the expensive fabric of Victor's Armani tie and wrapped it around his head, akin to his own, another crown on another god. Leaning closer, the man smooshed their cheeks together hard enough that their masks shifted. He laughed into Victor's ear, drunk on delight.

"Now we match," he told Victor while he completely ignored his question.

If it was a hint that he would get no answers from the man at all, Victor knew when to take it. He sighed quietly. Rubbing his nose into the side of the guy's head, he got a whiff of the distinct stink of alcohol and sweat, but that gave him absolutely no clues. Victor wrapped his arms around the body pressed so tightly against him that he could feel each breath and thrum of the heart beating to the music, which threatened to have swallowed them both if Victor hadn't allowed the man to steal all of his attention first.

He would've caved and given up on finding who the man was, content enough to have him for this one night of life and love, but the soft, barely audible words spoken into his jaw rejuvenated the hope inside him.

"I've dreamed of you all my life."

A simple sentence like that should've made him uneasy, should've made Victor step back and away, and run for the hills, but it didn't. It made him sway them to the music and say back:

"You've got me now."

And that was his mistake, it seemed.

The man pulled out of his embrace, eyes downcast and mouth a wry smile. Before Victor could take his words back, explain, correct himself, anything, there were lips on his own and then–

–he was gone.

The man disappeared into the mass of bodies around them like a ghost, like smoke into thin air, only leaving the memory of his lips against Victor's and an empty ache inside his heart. Which Victor was not about to take.

He tore through the crowd, only catching the sight of the ugly tie disappear behind another group of people. Victor knew he shouldn't, but something inside him called for the other man, urged him to follow him, and he was powerless to resist it... so he did it anyway. He tore his mask off, dropping it to the floor without a care, and without the obstacle to slow him down he caught him – right when the lighting in the club shifted, the vibrant colours playing off of the fear, regret and beautiful, striking longing in the man's dark eyes.

"Where are you going?" Victor asked, holding the other's wrist lightly enough that he could pull away if he truly wanted.

He didn't.

But he didn't answer either.

Simply turned his head away, the blue of his mask telling Victor how close he was to drowning in the ocean of his own despair.

"How am I supposed to find you again?" Victor asked once more. He wanted. He needed. Pleas–

"The whole point of a masquerade is to stay anonymous, isn't it?" the man said, finally looking at Victor again. He stepped closer, lifting his hand as if to touch Victor's face, but hesitated and let it drop. "You aren't."

Victor felt like his heart was being pierced by a thousand golden spears made up of all the medals he'd won over the years. Was his fame the reason? His media persona? His hand shook where he was still holding onto the man's wrist, but he refused to let go. Not until he tells him to.

"Is there really no chance I could change your mind?"

The man bit his lip, seemingly at a dissonance with himself, and then lurched forward to join their lips together in a kiss that was not only hinted with Victor's desperation, but also the man's own longing. Losing sense faster than he could control, Victor blinked dazedly when the man pulled away too soon. Dark eyes looked into Victor's with something sweet, something fragile, that Victor did not dare call adoration.

"If you can find me, you can try," the man said, his thumb swiping over the plush of Victor's bottom lip.

Swallowing hard, Victor spoke, aware of how his mouth moved around the man's finger. "But how? How do I find you?"

"You're Victor Nikiforov." The man smirked at him, confident, sexy, playful, and with complete faith in what he was saying, added: "If anyone can do it, it's you."

And Victor realized that this was another challenge that he was issued. To keep him on his toes, to make him work for it, to keep his interest going – and going it was. It was only right that to keep a god, he was to go to incredible lengths. Feeling his heart beat so much faster, Victor smiled.

He was ready for this.

First Sentences Game

tagged by @iwritebetterthanispeak

Rules: list the first lines of your last ten published stories. note if there are any patterns yourself and see if anyone else notices any! tag ten friends!

I'm going to go with ao3 only since those are the fics I actually do any sort of editing and concrete writing for, so let's go!

 A single rose, red like the setting sun that bleeds though the branches of a tree outside a window of a loveless man's house, by all means should look lonely. – from red, for love triumphant

If Yuuri wasn't so used to Phichit's phone going off constantly, he probably would've jumped when the thing came to life in his friends' hands. – from draped in your love, I breathe

"A little shorter in the back maybe," Victor says, looking into the mirror that Lucien is holding behind his head. – from thread your needle through my heart

Everyone knows who Victor Nikiforov is. – from dazzle me with gold

There's an elegant line to Victor's nape when he bows his head over the small piece of paper with jumps and combinations scrawled onto it in a confusing sequence of symbols that no one other than a figure skating junkie could decipher. – from pulchritudinous

"The Garden of Tears, they call it," the old healer says. – from Everlasting

"How about we just take the popular vote and give Yuuri his gold already?" Victor sighs as they all watch Yuuri Katsuki make his way around the ice before the start of his free skate. – from together, we're golden

There is nothing worse, Victor thinks as he shakes the already wheezing bottle of conditioner, than being empty. – from what living feels like

St. Petersburg is... dark. – from lighter, better, fuller

Standing at gunpoint in his own bathroom, of all places, with hands still under the lukewarm stream of tap water, Yuuri imagined there were worse ways to start the day. – from a black heart of gold

 the patterns I see are mostly in titles bc wow all the lowercase really got to me huh? lmao also very dramatic and almost all of them are from some song or another, so I'm very obvious in that department.

as for the actual first lines... I do tend to start my fics either in the middle of some action/scene/conversation or it's a statement of fact, which I then agree or disagree with and try to prove to the readers. the first one, I've found, definitely works better to get people involved faster!

I also tend to put the first names of the characters whose pov I use in the first line, if I can, to help people figure out whose voice to read with

these are all writing tags so I will tag you for all, one, or whichever of these you prefer! @accioharo, @belovedyuuri, @gabzjones, @louciferish, @lilithsins, @joeys-piano, @victuurikatsu, @dreaming-fireflies, @teekettle, and @postingpebbles

have fun, if you wish, and if not then feel free to forget this ever happened 😉 I hope you have an amazing, productive and inspiring new year!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[stillgotclaws]

under the cut are my verses for mobile users.

verse \ MAIN VERSE !          Reyna Hill is a dedicated handmaiden who was born and raised in the Crag . Sent by Lady Westerling as a gift of good faith to serve ‎Lady Dorna Swyft & Ser Kevan Lannister. later on, she is sent to King's Landing to serve the acting Hand of the King Joffrey Baratheon , Tyrion Lannister with the sole purpose of keeping an eye on him & informing Ser Kevan on Lord Tywin's behalf.          this verse follows the events of both the show && books canon, set anywhere in the series, and Reyna's own timeline. this is the default verse & most first interactions are set in this verse. leaning slightly more on the books. so far, i've finished the first and second books & just started the third book. in the series, i have finished the first two seasons & plan on starting the 3rd soon. do not worry, i can catch up with you as i do not mind spoilers. this verse is open to any and everybody.           \\ faceclaim : charlize theron \\

verse \ LADY LONGCLAW !           NOBLE AU;; follows Reyna’s own timeline ( & the canon timeline as well ) all the same, however —- instead of being sent to King’s Landing, Reyna marries  Raginmund Rivers, a lowborn sworn sword five years older than her that claims to be son of the late Lord Reynard Reyne &  Greta, a butcher’s daughter from the riverlands that went back to her family as soon as the REYNE-TARBECK REBELLION took place. Born under the Tully domains, it was no wonder that the boy grew up to be a loyal servant of said house —- earning the title of knight & being allowed to choose a name for his own: LONGCLAW. Albeit not all too bright, Ser Raginmund was sweet & not even once suspected that the only reason why Reyna married him was for his ( allegled ) bloodline.  they’ve met when he was assigned to secure the safety of a package Lord Tully sent to Lannisport to pay a debt. serving him, she found out his story & worked on getting under his skin. the couple married two years before King Robert’s death & went to live in a small property nearby The Blue Fork. as lady Longclaw, Reyna gave Raginmund three sons & a daughter —-  ambrose and hoster, twins that died at childbirth, and a year later little roberta, followed by gawen a year later. Roberta was a weak child & ended up succumbing to pneumonia and died. Once the war for the iron throne started, however, Reyna sent her only living son to her grandfather Earl in a weak attempt to protect him as she stayed beside Raignmund —- of his fate, it’s unknown if he is alive or dead. her grandfather’s small ship sinked after an attack of an iron islander ship, way before they arrived to their destination. as Raignmund left to join King Robb’s army, lady longclaw wasn’t allowed to follow him as she was with child and the early stages were risky. the news of the lord her husband being killed by the Kingslayer’s army were enough to make her take a difficult decision: she would go & serve the King in the North to honour  her husband’s memory.          this verse follows the events of both the show && books canon, set anywhere in the series, and Reyna's own timeline. this is the default verse & most first interactions are set in this verse. leaning slightly more on the books. so far, i've finished the first and second books & just started the third book. in the series, i have finished the first two seasons & plan on starting the 3rd soon. do not worry, i can catch up with you as i do not mind spoilers. this verse is open to any and everybody.           \\ faceclaim : charlize theron \\

verse \ HEIRESS OF NOTHING !          without money, all they had was their name aka that noble au in which the Reynes weren't all murdered & Lord Roger didn't die of his wound. against all odds, he and Ambrosia marry & raise their daughter as an actual Reyne. their happiness is cut short when Ambrosia dies before giving birth to her second child, apparently poisoned. it is later known that Lady Elly was the one behind this, ashamed that her brother had taken a maid as wife. Reyna grew up knowing she wasn't liked by her own aunt & uncle but still, she tried her hardest to be like Lady Ellyn, always trying to please her. that ended up being rather harmful to her as Lady Ellyn used the girl for her own schemes. Reyna's destiny is unknown in this one as i have yet to finish the books.          this verse is seletive, but will eventually be open later on.           \\ faceclaim : sasha pieterse \\

verse \ THE SILVER LIONESS !         LADY LONGCLAW!AU Reyna's husband doesn't die as in the Lady Longclaw verse & instead they live a long life together. in this verse, Reyna reaches old age with her kids beside her ( bc i need at least one happy plot okay ? ) . contrary to her younger self, Lady Longlcaw is a very smily person & seems harmless.          this verse is seletive, but will eventually be open later on.           \\ alt!faceclaim : probably vanessa redgrave, but that might change \\

CROSSOVER VERSES

verse \ A LITTLE WICKED !          harry potter / fbawtf verse ! Reyna Hill is a dedicated auror. half-blood & perhaps too ambitious for her own good, she found her happiness  in her work as private detective after she lost her job as an Auror due to an indiscretion with her former boss.          a variation of this verse is the hogwarts au in which she is a slytherin. the timeline might change according to the plots.           \\ faceclaim : charlize theron ; young!fc : sasha pieterse \\ 

verse \ METAMORPHING !          mutant!verse - Reyna Hill was a normal girl till her 10th birthday. after that, everyone she touched she got a bit of their looks for a few hours. this was her powers starting to show. she started trying to control her powers on her own. it was hard, but now, at age of 40, is able to use it at her will, shapeshifting into anyone she touches ( incluiding their voices) - a pit she doesn't know how to handle these talents too well when she gets emotional and things get rather awkward from time to time.          this verse was specially made for DC / Marvel / superhero characters.           \\ faceclaim : varies, actually charlize theron ; young!fc : sasha pieterse \\

verse \ IN A GALAXY FAR AWAY !           star wars / alien / predator / general sci-fi verse ! Reyna Hill is a former pilot who, after having her son Gawen lost her job in the company she worked for. now she does all sorts of odd jobs in order to get money enough for her son, who lives with her mother in an human colony.          a variations of this verse occur. the timeline might change according to the plots.           \\ faceclaim : charlize theron ; alt!fc for the alien verse is Jessica Chastain \\ 

verse \ MODERN !          modern!verse - Reyna is a fashion blogger who is currently unemployed && yet she spends more money than she has, buying clothes of well known labels to fill the gap that her life has even since her mother died & her father kept her in a boarding school. her father is Roger Reyne, a rich banker who barely remembers he has a daughter - well, he does when the bills come to his door. modern!westeros applies in this verse. this verse is deeply insipired by hbo's sex and the city.           \\ faceclaim :  charlize theron ; young!fc : sasha pieterse \\

[thereviewsarein]

There isn’t much that Aaron Pritchett hasn’t done in country music, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t new experiences to be had and new things to do.

We caught up with Pritchett to talk about his 2019 headlining tour, his next album, and his career, and we also took a few minutes to play a round of 5 Quick Questions while we had him on the phone.

In a more than 20 year career (so far) Aaron Pritchett has landed nine singles in the Top 10, released eight albums (with a ninth on the way), and has taken advantage of the opportunity to bounce back and flourish in part two of his career. And through it all, he remains as humble and grounded as you could possibly expect from a Canadian and country music singer.

The overwhelming takeaway from our phone conversation is that Aaron Pritchett is still full of energy, enthusiasm, and love for his career. His Out On The Town Tour will hit no fewer than 32 cities across Canada in January and February. And he can’t wait to get started.

We talked about getting ready to hit the road and the cities and towns along the way. Pritchett told us that he’s played every one of the markets at least once before, but some, like Thunder Bay, were years ago, and he’s excited to get back. And whether it’s Lloydminster or Bloomfield, it’s clear to us that the CCMA winner is ready to put on a show. At 48 years old he knows that he’s not as young as tourmates Kira Isabella and David James, but he still feels 25 everytime he gets up on stage to perform.

In his own words, it’s pretty nuts to think about headlining across Canada after years of playing clubs with multiple sets a night and then getting out on the road in his career as an opener. It’s a step that he’s pumped to be taking, and a big feather to put in his cap.

As we spoke about the tour, we touched on Kira and David being along for the ride. Aaron told us that he looks forward to working with them both and that he hopes that there are chances to use his career insights as advice and mentorship for the opening acts. With mentorship being something he hopes to continue for a long time.

Note: We spoke with Kira Isabella about the tour during our recent interview, and she’s got all kinds of excitement about joining Aaron to cross Canada in 2019!

Aaron Pritchett knows that he won’t be making albums and releasing singles forever (though he has no plans on stopping any time soon), but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be involved and active. To hear him talk about wanting to mentor young artists, to share his stories and struggles and triumphs is something special. There is a genuine desire in this singer/ songwriter/ performer/ father/ friend to pass on what he knows so that others might smoothly navigate their careers in the industry.

It’s admirable.

Along with the tour is the upcoming EP, Out On The Town. The album is scheduled for release on day one of the tour, Friday, January 11, 2019.

The EP release will mark the ninth time that Aaron Pritchett has released a selection of songs to the world. The lead single from the project, Worth A Shot climbed as high as #6 on the Canadian country music charts and has racked up more than 2 million plays on Spotify. And the follow-up, Better When I Do has made a strong impression with nearly 15,000 spins in the first few days since its digital release.



Aaron told us that the full album will include a diverse mix of songs, with upbeat tracks and slowed down ballads to give fans something to dive into. That diversity itself is a mark of Aaron Pritchett’s country music career.

In 2006, fans across the country got loud and fell in love with Hold My Beer as it went to #9 on the charts. It’s a fun song that’s a huge part of his career and still gets the crowd fired up. And then, in 2017, he released When A Momma’s Boy Meets A Daddy’s Girl, another song that will stay with him for a long, long time. It’s about as opposite as you can imagine, and as it rose to #5 on the Canadian country music charts (his highest entry to date), he proved to everyone in the industry that he’s more than capable of being the party song guy and the slowed down, sweet story guy in country music.

While we talked about live shows and his career, we asked Aaron about the feeling he gets when the crowd starts singing along at the tops of their lungs. He told us that it’s crazy that makes him feel like he knows that he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing in his life. He also told us that the first two times he really experienced it was with Hold My Beer. The first was at Dauphin’s Countryfest when the song had just come out, so it caught him off guard, to say the least. And the second was in Halifax to end his set before Keith Urban came out to headline. He can still remember more than 30,000 people taking the song and turning it into a choir number in the crowd. We have a feeling he’ll remember that for the rest of his life.

Those feelings together, the crowd singing, the youthful energy, and the loyalty of country music fans, all add up for Aaron Pritchett. And the way he speaks about his experiences so far, and his upcoming tour across Canada, it’s easy to see that he loves every piece of it. It’s a hard road sometimes, but he does it with that love.

So if you’re anywhere near a city or town that the Out On The Town tour is coming to in 2019 (more dates could be added, stay tuned), we highly recommend getting tickets and being there to experience it with him.

Before we finished our call we asked Aaron if there was anything he wanted us to make sure we passed on to his fans. He told us that he wanted to make sure people knew how much he loves the opportunity to engage with them on social media. The comments and messages with his fans are a big thing for him, and he is happy that he is able to have that connection with people that love his music as much as he loves making it.

We also got Aaron to play a round of 5 Quick Questions with us. Have a look and learn a little something about the Canadian country music star from beautiful British Columbia.

5 Quick Questions with Aaron Pritchett

Q1. If you’re on a long drive and have to choose an album to put on and play all the way through, which album do you choose?

AP. Garth Brooks, No Fences

Q2. Do you have a dream duet partner

AP. Aaron told us that he’s always wanted to sing with Faith Hill and loves her voice.

Q3. Do you have a dream venue you haven’t had the chance to play yet?

AP. BC Place Stadium in Vancouver tops Aaron’s list of venues he’d love to play for a packed crowd.

Q4. Do you have a dream vacation spot you haven’t visited yet?

AP. Hawaii was the first sunny vacay spot that came to him.

Q5. Is there an artist that you think people should be paying more attention to?

AP. Sturgill Simpson. While he’s not new by any means, Aaron thinks that Simpson deserves more ears on his music. And we agree.

Note: Aaron Pritchett also told us that he’s excited for people to hear the country music that his son Jordan and his partner Danielle Marie have been working on.

Photo Credits: Trish Cassling, Canadian Country Music Week 2016 / Ray Williams, Boots & Hearts 2016

Out On The Town – Aaron Pritchett Interview and Tour Preview There isn’t much that Aaron Pritchett hasn’t done in country music, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t new experiences to be had and new things to do.

[junker-town]

College football’s still a Big 2 sport. Here comes Ohio State again

Urban Meyer and Nick Saban haven’t won every title of the last 11 years, but they’re the favorites in 2017. Yet again.

College football isn’t quite as lopsided as men’s tennis — where Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have won 44 of the last 54 grand slam tournaments — but CFB’s still very much in the era of the Big 2.

National titles since 2006:

Nick Saban and Urban Meyer 7

Everybody Else 4

It felt significant that Dabo Swinney’s Clemson took down both Meyer’s Ohio State and Saban’s Alabama to win the ring last winter. It was the culmination of a decade-long ascent for Swinney and the Tigers.

Congrats, Dabo. Now do it again. You’ve still got some catching up to do.

The early 2017 top 25s had Alabama No. 1 and Ohio State No. 2. So did Athlon’s preseason top 25, Stewart Mandel, and my S&P+ projections. Some people inject a Florida State or a USC into the mix, and Clemson is still a consensus top-10 team. But the safest bets are the same as always.

Meyer is a stunning 61-6 at OSU. He’s lost twice each to Michigan State and Clemson, once each to Virginia Tech and Penn State, and that’s it. Meyer had a Hall of Fame-worthy career at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida — four top-five finishes, six top-15s, two national titles, 104 wins in just 10 years — but has added three more fop-fives, five more top-15s, and another title in a half-decade in Columbus.

Meyer’s strength has been his pragmatism.

He mostly hires mostly excellent assistants. An incredible 8 percent of FBS head coaches (Boston College’s Steve Addazio, Oregon State’s Gary Andersen, Rutgers’ Chris Ash, Maryland’s D.J. Durkin, Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell, Texas’ Tom Herman, Marshall’s Doc Holliday, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, USF’s Charlie Strong, Texas State’s Everett Withers, and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham) have been Meyer assistants.

He identifies strategies and tactics and sticks with them, from offense to defense to special teams. A mobile quarterback gives the offense a numbers advantage that defenses have to account for, so he almost always deploys a run threat at QB. He almost always lines up his kickoff team across only about two-thirds of the field, to minimize running lanes. Et cetera.

He recruits his butt off, hires assistants who do the same, and gets as many former star recruits as possible onto the field, even if just in special teams.

The approach shifts, and sometimes a unit veers off course. But Meyer’s pragmatism, his mastery of both the micro and macro, has made him one of the two best college coaches of the last 15 years.

He’s somehow only 52. And if early indications are accurate, he might be figuring out how to recruit even better. He is the Nadal to Saban’s Federer, playing from behind, but with age on his side.

Last year was what constitutes a down year. For the first time in three years, Ohio State lost twice! The offense lost its leading passer, an 1,800-yard rusher (replaced by a redshirt freshman), five of its top six receivers, and three line starters and cratered to 23rd in Off. S&P+! The Buckeyes ceded the Big Ten East title! They lost a game by more than 10 points for just the second time under Meyer! Burn it all down and start over!

Granted, the defense improved for the third consecutive year, to fifth in Def. S&P+, and OSU finished in the overall S&P+ top five for the third straight season. The Buckeyes still won 11 games, beat rival Michigan for the fifth consecutive year, and made the CFP for the second time in three years. OK, Meyer probably isn’t on the hot seat just yet.

Still, there was a weakness. Offensive coordinator Ed Warinner made a “personal decision” to seek a “new challenge” as Minnesota’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator, and Meyer brought in former Indiana head coach and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.

Wilson had one of the best coordinator runs of all time in the 2000s, helping to engineer a power-heavy version of the spread at Northwestern, then weaponizing it at Oklahoma. His 2008 Sooner offense scored 58 or more points for six consecutive games before running into Strong’s Florida defense and stalling at the goal line in the BCS Championship.

Under Wilson, Indiana made back-to-back bowls for the first time in 25 years. Under OSU defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, Rutgers went from laughingstock to annual bowl team. Meyer might once again have the most talented stable of assistants in the country. He might have the most talented, experienced roster as well.

2016 in review

2016 Ohio State statistical profile.

Technically, OSU overachieved in 2016. The Buckeyes lost so much production from their 2015 squad that, despite recent history and ace recruiting, they were projected to fall to 14th per S&P+. They fell only to fifth.

That said, No. 5 reflects more on the first half of the season than the second. Meyer teams tend to thrive when underestimated, and they romped over Oklahoma by three touchdowns in Norman (the final loss of Bob Stoops’ career, as it turned out), pummeled Wilson’s Indiana, and survived Wisconsin in Madison.

The offensive glitches began to show up in Happy Valley, however.

First 6 games (6-0): Avg. percentile performance: 95% (88% offense, 84% defense) | Avg. yards per play: OSU 6.7, Opp 4.1 (plus-2.6) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: plus-18.5 PPG

Last 7 games (5-2): Avg. percentile performance: 74% (59% offense, 74% defense) | Avg. yards per play: OSU 5.5, Opp 4.6 (plus-0.9) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: minus-2.1 PPG

It still took two fourth-quarter blocks — maybe the most random events in football — for Penn State to beat Ohio State at home, but the offense ran out of tricks. The run game kept working for the most part, but after recording a passer rating of 151.8 through 10 games, Barrett produced a paltry 80 over the last three. The Buckeyes averaged just 4.2 yards per play over their final three games, and the season ended with a 31-0 humbling by Clemson.

The task was clear: fix the passing game and keep the defense moving. Wilson should make progress toward the former, but the latter will require some young defensive backs to step up.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

It took me a long time to figure out what was so frustrating about the Warinner offense, but it finally clicked: he and Meyer quickly took things off the table.

Most of the time in 2015-16, everything worked. OSU averaged more than 6 yards per play in both seasons and more than 7 yards per play in eight games. And even when something did get taken off the table, the remaining pieces worked just fine.

If you take too many things off of the table, though, you end up with an empty table. Against Michigan State in 2015-16 and Clemson in 2016, the Buckeyes ran out of options.

2015 MSU: Barrett rushed 14 times (not including sacks) and averaged 5.1 yards per completion, while star back Ezekiel Elliott got just 12 carries.

2016 MSU: Barrett rushed 21 times and averaged 8.6 yards per completion, while RB Mike Weber got 14 carries.

2016 Clemson: Barrett rushed only eight times due to an early deficit but attempted 36 passes while averaging just 6.7 yards per completion, and Weber got just five carries.

Ohio State was mostly awesome but capable of losing the plot. Wilson’s primary task is changing that.

Well, that and fixing the passing game. Even at its best moments, it wasn’t producing many big plays.

Ten Buckeyes were targeted at least 10 times in 2016. Only two — Dontre Wilson and K.J. Hill — averaged more than 12.6 yards per catch. Noah Brown averaged 14.9 through four games and 11.5 thereafter. Curtis Samuel, the No. 1 target and No. 3 rusher, averaged 11.7 per catch.

This was an efficiency offense through and through, and while efficiency is the most important trait you can hope for in an offense, breaking off the occasional big play means you don’t have to be efficient.

Samuel, Brown, and Wilson are all gone. Hill is the leading returning wideout, and he had just 262 receiving yards last year. Either Hill or junior Parris Campbell could end up in Samuel’s H-receiver position; in the Meyer offense, the H is basically a slot receiver who gets a lot of carries (Samuel finished with 97 carries and 97 targets last year).

Junior Terry McLaurin and sophomores Binjimen Victor and Austin Mack figure to factor heavily, and OSU welcomes three four-star freshman receivers* as well, including Trevon Grimes, a top-40 overall recruit. There are plenty of options, and if a) a couple can get downfield regularly and b) Barrett can get them the football, all is well with the offense.

* Actually, every player I mentioned above was a four-star recruit. Recruiting is hard at Ohio State.

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

J.T. Barrett

We know Barrett, a fifth-year senior, pretty well. He is one of the most efficient runners you’ll see. But you still need a QB who can pass, and Meyer hasn’t always had faith in Barrett’s arm, accuracy, and/or decision making.

It will be interesting to see what Wilson adds to this equation. Over the last two years, his Indiana quarterbacks completed only 58 percent of their passes (Barrett has never completed under 61.5 percent in a season) but averaged nearly 14 yards per completion. Wilson’s offenses have both a power element and a look downfield.

If Ohio State can get somewhere in the big-play department, lord knows the running game will be fine. Weber averaged 6 yards per carry in his first year, fellow sophomore Demario McCall averaged 5.5, and freshman J.K. Dobbins might’ve been the country’s most athletic recruit. Experience and depth at RB could be shaky (it’s possible that the entire three-deep is freshmen and sophomores), but the talent is obvious.

And Ohio State returns four of last year’s starting linemen. All-world center Pat Elfein is gone, but that’s it.

Defense

It took a while for Meyer to situate defensively at OSU. His first two Buckeye teams ranked 33rd and 44th in Def. S&P+. Since then, though: 14th in 2014, ninth in 2015, fifth in 2016. He brought Schiano aboard last fall, and the effects were immediate.

The Buckeyes were shakier on passing downs after losing ace pass rusher Joey Bosa and safeties Tyvis Powell and Vonn Bell, but they improved in the red zone (3.42 points allowed per scoring opportunity, fifth in FBS). The national average for points per game was about 28 last year, and Ohio State didn’t allow more than 27 until the Playoff.

Ohio State had to replace three of its top four DBs and now faces the prospect of doing the same after the departure of safety Malik Hooker and corners Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley.

Senior safety Damon Webb has been around the block, and corners Denzel Ward and Damon Arnette nearly got starter-level reps. Ward broke up nine passes and gave up just 15 completions in 42 attempts, per CFB Film Room. So the cupboard isn’t exactly bare. Still, there was regression in pass coverage, and we could see more of it.

Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Denzel Ward

The front seven, meanwhile, will be among the best. Every lineman returns, as do three of last year’s top four linebackers and a 2015 contributor in Dante Booker, who suffered a knee injury last year.

Ohio State ranked first in FBS in both power success rate (48.5 percent) and stuff rate (28.1 percent) in 2016, and linebacker Raekwon McMillan is the only player missing. Pass rushers Tyquan Lewis and Nick Bosa — combined: 17.5 tackles for loss, 13 sacks — are back. So are A-grade run stuffers in ends Sam Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes, tackles Dre’Mont Jones and Robert Landers, and linebackers Jerome Baker and Chris Worley. This line was awesome, and Jones, Bosa, and Landers were all freshmen.

There’s so much returning talent here that you have to wonder if blue-chippers like end Chase Young (the No. 8 prospect in 2017, per the 247Sports Composite) and linebacker Baron Browning (No. 11) will find much of a role as freshmen.

Corners Jeffrey Okudah (No. 7) and Shaun Wade (No. 17) might find less resistance on the depth chart.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Tyquan Lewis

Special Teams

Meyer has long been known as one of the most special teams-minded head coaches, but Ohio State ranked only 56th in Special Teams S&P+ in 2015.

A momentary glitch, that. The Buckeyes surged to 14th last year thanks to punter Cameron Johnston, kick returner Parris Campbell, and steady strength elsewhere.

Campbell’s the only one back this year. Johnston, kicker Tyler Durbin, and punt returner Dontre Wilson are all gone. Meyer will get the benefit of the doubt, but 2015 proved a top special teams unit isn’t a birthright.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 31-Aug at Indiana 39 17.0 84% 9-Sep Oklahoma 5 5.7 63% 16-Sep Army 102 38.5 99% 23-Sep UNLV 118 41.6 99% 30-Sep at Rutgers 92 30.8 96% 7-Oct Maryland 72 30.0 96% 14-Oct at Nebraska 42 17.9 85% 28-Oct Penn State 8 7.1 66% 4-Nov at Iowa 48 19.1 87% 11-Nov Michigan State 44 23.4 91% 18-Nov Illinois 85 34.5 98% 25-Nov at Michigan 10 3.7 58%

Projected S&P+ Rk 2 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 9 / 3 Projected wins 10.2 Five-Year S&P+ Rk 20.7 (2) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 2 / 2 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 15 / 1.6 2016 TO Luck/Game +5.2 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 63% (68%, 57%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 9.0 (2.0)

There are potential stumbling blocks. The passing game is a mystery, and the Big Ten is not without solid pass defenses. If the double-dip turnover in the secondary ends up problematic, Oklahoma and Penn State could exploit it.

Still, this is an Urban Meyer team that returns:

a fourth-year starting quarterback.

a 1,000-yard rusher.

an offensive line with 80 career starts.

the most disruptive defensive line in the country.

every defensive lineman.

You’ll take your chances with that.

S&P+ projects Ohio State second, gives the Buckeyes basically nine nearly sure wins (win probability of 84 percent or higher), and projects them as three- to seven-point favorites in three games against top-10 teams (Oklahoma, Penn State, at Michigan). The mere presence of three top-10 opponents means the odds of going 12-0 aren’t spectacular, but OSU will be favored in every game. I guess that makes sense for a team that’s lost six times in five years.

Team preview stats

All power conference preview data to date.