#note from the mod: sad but not unexpected at this point

[servants-hall]

Megan Cusack will be bowing out of Call the Midwife as she confirms to Radio Times that she is exiting the period drama after four years.

Cusack stars as Nancy Corrigan, who, since arriving in Poplar, has fallen in love, got engaged and, more recently, accepted a new job - which is in stark difference to when viewers were first introduced to her.

During last year's Christmas special, Conor O’Donnell’s Roger became part of Nancy’s exit storyline as the pair departed Poplar for Surrey - although his character wasn't initially thought up for that reason.

"Sometimes, you've got to step out of your comfort zone to grow," Cusack told this week's issue of Radio Times magazine. "I've learnt so much, but I'm at the start of my career and I need to take a leap of faith."

She continued: "It's bittersweet, really. I've made lifelong friendships there and I get to take those with me.

"But when I think about not rocking up to set and seeing Tim, who's part of the grips team, with his guitar hanging out of his van and serenading people at half six in the morning��� It really has been like a family."

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

@esperantoauthor some extra notes on Stray, aka things I wish I had known:

So far, I am in chapter 10 of 12 (I think?), I have played around 6 hours, and I am enjoying the game and recommend it. I do have some things to say that might weight in in your decision:

This game has no manual saving option, only auto save. This autosave kicks in a lot: every time you reach a new place, when you find a collectible, when you find a special place, etc. but there have been moments where I walked around for like 10 minutes, hoping to trigger an autosave, because I wanted to quit the game and was tired. At moments like that, I missed the manual save.

The dev say it's best to play this game with a gamepad, and yes, that is true, but the game doesn't recognise any button schemes apart from the Xbox controller, even when you use a different one. I have downloaded a mod so that is shows up the correct buttons for my procontroller, which was a relief. Especially in stressful moments. Kinda sad the devs didn't take this into account. (There is also a similar mod for PS controllers)

This game is NOT relaxing. I was expecting a cute, cosy kitty sim and it can be that, sure, but not all the time. There are stressful moments where monsters can kill your cat, swarm you, and there's stressful music playing in the back. There are also areas with disturbing light (non-human and non-animal) gore with creepy music playing. It's not a horror game! Still far from it! And there are no jumpscares or anything. But if you are going into it thinking it's just "cat walking around game", you'll be mistaken and every person on the internet who has called it a cute, relaxing, cosy game owes me €1000 in damages.

I do REALLY REALLY like this game and the last point is not necessarily a bad thing in my eyes, I just was bamboozled by it, since it was unexpected.

And it still is a cat simulator. I will climb on every surface! I will kick over every bottle! I will scratch every spot I can scratch! I WILL MEOW!!!

[uponrightful]

Second Chance Ch. 6

Read Chapter Five Here

Warnings: Injury, Angry/Sad/Confused/Depressed? Din, Cursing, Bad Guys Die in canonical ways & as always my terrible editing.)

Authors Note: I have no idea what possessed me have such a fucking sad chapter. (Insert Fair Warning Here) But not only did I personally need this, the plot needed this. 

Word Count: 11.5K

Mando woke up to the low ambient noise of his quarters funneling through the amplified speakers in his helmet pressing up against his ears. His body felt stiff, and his mind felt fuzzy from the unusual amount of sleep he’d somehow allowed himself to have. The windowless hull afforded him the luxury of not being able to discern daylight from dark and the deflector mods for some reason had darkened his HUD. With a low grunt he reached for his vambrace with his opposite hand and adjusted the brightness on his display before hauling himself back to his feet with another defeated sigh. His swim with the girl still weighed heavily on his mind despite his long sleep and as he walked into the empty hull the silence surrounding him only made his conscience weigh heavier. The door to the girl’s room was swung wide open with no sign of her boots, or her anywhere to be seen. Only an empty can of soup sitting next to her bed gave Mando any sign that she’d been on the ship any time in the last couple hours.

He knew better than to think she wasn’t confused with him, but that didn’t help his own confusion when it came to how easily she affected him. With an empty ship he took the opportunity to find some food for himself and quickly get it down his throat ignoring the opportunity to fully remove his helmet in the chance that she did come back soon. Glancing over the ration stock he took note of its reorganization, the corners of his mouth twitching up in appreciativeness of the unnecessary job she’d completed. After a couple checks of the Slave, he made his way to the cockpit in a habitual routine of checking fuel and water levels before noticing the bright light flashing on the comm link. He felt the hair on his neck raise as he stood looking at the anomalous sight of a missed comm.      

As unusual as it was he pressed the strobing light, bracing himself for what was to come. His stiff muscles stayed bunched in anticipation until he saw a familiar green and red Mando helmet staring back at him through the blue tint of the HUD. Boba Fett and a his gruff tone urged him to respond at his soonest -convenient or otherwise- opportunity, letting Mando know just how irritated he was in the strict posture he held.

Begrudgingly, he turned to look towards the ladder to the hull and listened for any sign of the girl’s approach before connecting to Fett’s last link. Glancing back towards the ladder again, hoping that she wouldn’t walk in right in the middle of this unexpected conversation and get caught in the middle of Fett’s -admittedly- unavoidable charm.

“Find someone better to talk to last night?” Mando could sense Fett’s irriation and mocking in the strict sound of his tone. “Maybe you’ve found someone to warm up that bed you’re not doubt not sleeping in.”  

“Why complain if you’re the one wasting time?” he barked back with impatience.

“A group of Hothian’s came looking for you, asking questions about a beskar Mando and a little slip of a girl he was keeping hostage.” Fett almost chuckled after mentioning the girl, finding humor in the terrible reasoning for the girl being with him. “Of course there was no one with any helpful information or a sighing… but that didn’t keep them from upsetting a few of my contacts.” He tone settled back down, lulling back into a more business-like tone that unsettled Mando more than his typical grumbling.

“Did they talk to you?” Another bad feeling crept up Mando’s back and settled at the nape of his neck, biting hard into his conscious.

“I hardly blend in.” he remarked, tilting his head down to motion towards the helmet. “I said there was no Mandalorian for parsecs. They were more than ready to leave with a unfriendly warning.”

“Combative?” he questioned, watching as Fett’s shoulders sagged as he blew out a breath.

“Approaching anyone with blasters on a foreign planet is kriffing unusual… but that didn’t keep them from shoving them in anyone’s face that looked suspicious enough.”

“You didn’t lie. We’re perfectly safe here.” Telling Fett their exact location wasn’t necessary, even if the other Mando was simply trying to warn them.

“That’s bantha shit. And from the way you keep looking over your shoulder I expect you know it to.” He pointed into the holocall transponder, straightening his posture with a satisfied smirk perceivable on his shielded face. “You’ll receive encoded coordinates in the next minutes. I expect you can read Mando’a.”

“I���m not leaving without kriffing good reason for it.” Mando was aware of how his pride was getting the best of him. Fett wasn’t overacting, but it wasn’t sitting right with him that Boba was keeping such close tabs on him and the girl for no good reason other than personal intrest.

“My offer stands. I expect you’re in an uncharted sector, but that only deters the Imperials. Anyone after you certainly knows their way around all of the little hiding places you’ve found rat hunting.”

Mando and Fett stood silent in a battle of wills, completely content to wait one another out until the other conceded. However Fett was the first to break this time, growling impatiently when the familiar sound of Cleeah’s voice echoed from in the distance. Mando couldn’t make out the entire sentence, but she sounded like she was in a hurry. No doubt Fett was leaving Coruscant before the Hothian’s came knocking for a follow-up interrogation. Even in the best of circumstances Fett wasn’t willing to risk his posh hideaway under any conditions. He surmised that Fett was inviting them to a secondary location; One where Mando was unhappily admitting to being safer than anywhere he’d taken the girl up to this point.

“Mando’a.” It was all Fett said before the holo disappeared and Mando was left to decide on whether or not to leave.

***

FOUR HOURS EARLIER

A walk would clear her mind. After all, it was too pretty of a morning to waste it sitting on the ship.

Mando weighed heavily on the her mind, more so than she’d ever anticipated. He was the embodiment of emotional whiplash, steeled over from any real infiltration by the thick glittering beskar jacketing him. She tried her best to gauge his moods and respond accordingly but the more she thought she understood, the Mandalorian seemed more than happy to prove otherwise. Mando had a knack for using her lack of control against her in the worst moments, leaving her with more than a knotted up stomach and tangible mortification. The waterfall hadn’t been an accident, he was the one who said he would teach her… but after he’d shown interest it immediately dissolved like sugar in a hot cup of tea. It wasn’t like she could see through that kriffing visor of his; something kept her from acting on the obvious -yet confusing-  ways he acted around her.

He must believe that she wasn’t good enough.

The girl’s stomach dropped at the thought of him preferring someone else to her even though it was a ridiculous idea in the first place. She didn’t belong to him, or vice versa so it shouldn’t really matter anyways. Mando was a man with undeniable magnetism no matter if you hated him -or had began to develop a certain liking- for the bounty hunter. She wasn’t jealous, but after hours of imagining the woman she believed to match Mando, it was like shooting herself in the foot with a blaster… nothing but pain and no benefit to herself. All of the imaginary women were like Cleeah, exotically unattainable with beautiful clothes and lifestyles that exposed them to all of the things she lacked. The longer she compared herself to these illusory women it became apparent that as long as they weren’t her nothing else really mattered. She was too small, and couldn’t defend herself like Cleeah. The names of changing seasons were still new to her, along with the idea of swimming in water that wasn’t cold enough to freeze a person in minutes. She could shoot a blaster, but that didn’t mean anything to a trained bounty hunter… nothing she did made a difference

Maybe learning a few things would impress him? Then he might not think so lowly of her.

Despite her perpetually adverse sentiments towards herself, there was one thing she knew she was lucky to experience… Mando. Living on the ship gave her more than enough time to soak in his small idiosyncrasies - when he wasn’t paying enough attention to mask them – and without anyone to discourage her, she paid painstakingly close attention to them. It wasn’t smart, and she knew that doing so wasn’t helping her growing infatuation towards the Mandalorian; pouring fuel onto the fire that licked at her core when he was around. Every day she found more and more parallels between him and the many suns they’d passed travelling through the galaxy.

Domestic things that Mando did made the biggest impressions. Seeing him rinse out a cloak in a stream and hang it to dry, or mindlessly rubbing his gloved fingers rubbing at the dirty spots on his thigh plates to clean them was radically opposite to his typically statuesque personality. He liked to cook, or at least when it was available for him to, and for a man who lived on the edge of certain death laying low on this moon suited him right down to the ground.

Every living thing gravitated towards him, from the tall waving grass to the low hanging tree branches that skimmed his pauldrons and helmet. Inherently he looked more machine than biological, but every movement was fluid and effortless like there wasn’t anything unnatural about him. Mando blended into his environment, letting the mirror-polished shine on his beskar envelop him until he was almost a shadow against his surroundings; Like he was the perfect hunter with the entire moon assisting in his hunts. The girl couldn’t be sure if Mando knew how well he blended in or if it just naturally happened; Either way it was always something she had begun to love about him.

Quietly she slipped out of the ship, hoping not to disturb Mando as he slept through the morning. Hopefully until after she got back… There was nothing worse than the feeling of his hand wrapping around her waist and pulling her back again him after she’d wandered too far from his eyesight. It had nothing to do with  the thought of him tracking her down, but more so with the way he did it. Feeling the icy surprise of his steel curiass against her back and the slow rise and fall of his chest made more than her chest clench. It was hard to think straight with Mando so close, and the idea of him chasing her down was more than enough to have her trembling.  

She neglected her boots, opting for the soft padding of the grass under her feet. Saying this moon was anything less than divine was a discredit to just how beautiful it was. She couldn’t imagine a prettier color than the deep browns of the soil sticking to her toes and the hundreds of shades of green covering every inch of the valley. Of course, Ashas Ree had been beautiful but not a single drop of rain had fallen since they landed and it was nice to explore without getting wet. After deciding on a heading, she made out towards the waterfall hoping one last visit would get it off her mind before Mando woke up. A clear head would make talking to him much more approachable when she returned back to the ship.

It wasn’t long before the familiar sound of the water reached her ears, and an even more familiar feeling of dread filled her stomach when the sizeable resonances of voices layered over the spray of the water. The girl stopped in her tracks and dropped down to the ground behind a tree placing a hand over her chest; Trying desperately to calm the thumping feeling in her heart that racked against her sternum. There were at least six different voices she could differentiate, but from instinct she estimated there to have been more than ten people rummaging about at the base of the cliff and waterfall.  

Get yourself together, and find out what’s going on before you lose your kriffing mind.

Her next exhale was shaky, but not as bad as her knees when she peeked around the thick tree trunk to look between the thick trunks towards the sounds. One ship sat at the top of the cliff, it’s durasteel paneling just barely peeking through the canopy of densely needle-covered branches. Less than a hundred feet or so, stood a group of men preoccupied with setting up tents and another group sitting around a stump with playing cards in their hands. Immediately she recognized them playing Sabacc and slowly came up to her feet, taking two careful steps backwards. All of them were covered in grease, and filthy beyond any real recognition of who they might’ve been. That didn’t keep the girl from identifying that they were smugglers, just getting ready to settle in for the day.  

She needed to get back to Mando before they noticed the Slave sitting in the middle of the valley… or her spying on them.

The girl didn’t have enough time to realize anything but the dull throb of a fist swiping across her cheek. Her whimper covered the sound of her body slamming back down to the ground from the heavy assault. Tears welled in her eyes, blurring the tall figure towering above her who presently stood resting his hands on his hips, laughing darkly at her.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing way out here?” his scratchy voice rumbled as he roughly yanked her to her feet, sneering with blackened teeth. The girl winced away from him, still feeling the awful pain in her face and fearing another blow. His awful breath blew in her face leaving her feeling doubly sick in her current situation.

“Please, don’t hurt me.” She cried out unable to resist the need to let her tears flow. The man laughed aloud this time, shoving her in the direction of the camp she’d desperately been trying to  hide from.

“Oh I expect we’ll have some fun first.” He laughed again, calling out to the men nearest to them. “Look what I found boys!” Her gut churned as she struggled against the man dragging her, violently kicking and jerking her arms in attempt to get away before someone else could come to help her attacker.

“Please let me go!” she screamed, praying that somehow Mando might hear her before anything happened to her. It was all in vain for the quick reflexes of her captor who clamped a hand over her mouth, pressing down hard against her already aching face. Her ability to breathe slowly worsened as they got closer to the camp, multiple voices coming closer and almost echoing in her pulsing ears.

A black rim started closing in on her vision, collecting at the corners of her sight and slowly dotting closer to the center of her field of view. The girl couldn’t fight much longer, and the outlook of her situation ending positively made resisting feel that much more unreasonable. Maybe it was the overwhelming helplessness that enveloped her right as she was passed through the flaps of one of the many tents that she’d been observing Or it might’ve been her body’s lack of oxygen mixed with her quick hyperventilation that caused her to pass out. Either way she wasn’t awake to feel the second blow to her face, or hear the way her body hit the ground after being tossed carelessly to the floor by her attacker.

PRESENT TIME

Mando was growing more impatient by the second as he waited for the girl to return. The girl had never been away from the ship this long, especially without giving him some type of idea as to what she was doing before she left. He tapped his heels impatiently on the floor, watching the valley in front of him, as if his thoughts alone were going to be enough to make her appear from thin air. It wasn’t the first time he’d went out searching for her, and he was sure this time wouldn’t be the last either. His mind raced with instinctual thoughts, running through scenario after scenario until he’d worked himself just short of full-blown fury before he collected his blasters and set out to find her.

There was a certain coldness in the air around him as the sound of distant voices were picked up by his helmet, chilling past his weighted armor and icing over any of the emotional turmoil that the girl had created in her absence. The sun still shown bright but Mando couldn’t feel anything other than that prickling sense of death creeping up on him. A slight breeze rustled the trees but for Mando it sounded like millions of whispers all crowding out any thought that didn’t have to do with his girl. Even death seemed quite willing to agree with Mando in the moment and he was certain that even if death wasn’t willing it wouldn’t have mattered anyways.

Laughter and the unawareness of the smugglers were telling. All of their tents were set up, and sabacc decks were huddled around by a few groups of men, all of them either yelling or doing their best to keep their tell from showing. Baudy jokes and drunken howling set the background of a hellish encampment of men who most likely wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to steal away a stranded pretty girl. Mando bristled at the sight before him, instinctually targeting the tents in search of any movement that might mark if she’d been taken by them. He could see multiple heat signatures, but at this distance there was no definition to the blurry red blobs in his HUD. She was here… he knew it.

If the smugglers hadn’t been engrossed in their petty gambling they would’ve been shocked to see the imposing figure lurking right out of eyesight. It would’ve looked like the gods had created the image of hell right in front of them. The shadows of the trees clung to Mando, radiating outwards like an ominous haze of black unfurling like heavy wings around his statuesque frame. A reaper had taken form in the shape of a bounty hunter, more destructive than any known to walk the galaxy. Mando knew that death clung to him but he didn’t know that this was what set him apart from all others. Others didn’t see him as a purveyor of death’s wishes, what others saw was the incarnate of revenge and prowess. Power and menace fearfully evident on the slate black visor of The Mandalorian. This was what the girl hadn’t seen of him. Nothing she’d heard or ever would hear about Mando would compare to the malevolence displayed before these smugglers. The sunlight that she saw, swallowed whole by the all-encompassing rage that flowed through Mando as he paced imposingly towards the center of the camp. His calmness only proved the efficiency of his body and the instinctual way he was able to concentrate his intensity for the most lethal means.

Only after a dried branch that had been carelessly tossed to the edge of one of the groups snapped under the weight of his boot did one of the men look to meet Mando’s emotionless stare. The man’s eyes widened in panic just long enough for him to remember that he wasn’t the only man there. He collected his fear long enough to nudge the man sitting next to him who still sat focused on his hand of cards, unaware of the mental battle Mando was waging on the now standing smuggler. The Mandalorian couldn’t help but smile, wickedly content with the silent terror he was providing.

“Who the fuck are you?” the man finally spat out, masking his voice well enough that his partners wouldn’t notice what Mando was privy to. All eyes in the camp looked up from their cards to stare at the beskar-clad reaper. Mando’s silence unsettled the entire clan and the unanswered question rang true in the minds of all the grease-stained men. After a long moment, one of the larger men singled himself out and approached Mando with an obvious false-confidence that screamed out for attention. His long blonde hair was coated in filth and ratted into knots that collected mud; freshly dried blood coating the knuckles on his right hand.  

“We were under the impression this moon was deserted.” The man smiled, unable to help himself from smiling at the inside joke Mando was also privy to. “My men and I just settled in for the evening… I expect you’re coming to say hello?” The man reached out his blood-stained hand to Mando, who momentarily thought about shooting it clean off.

“I came to get what’s mine.” He growled lowly, lowering his visor to meet the eyes of the man speaking.

“I have nothing of yours.” The man responded casually, settling his tightly clenched fists on his hips. He even took a glance down at the blaster strapped to Mando’s hip. “We just dropped our shipment, so there’s nothing for you to take anyways.” It wasn’t a convincing bluff, but the other members of the crew were obviously certain that it would deter the man in front of them into leaving. Their visible relief diminished once Mando rested his palm over the handle of his blaster, slowly resting his fingers over the well-worn finish of the weapon.

“You’ll die in five seconds.” He pointed to the tents gathered behind all of the men with his free hand. “If you don’t return what you’ve taken.” Mando’s mind wasn’t allowing him to speak of her, despite his honest attempt in saying that she was his. His anger blocked any real thought of sentiment, protecting himself in the chance that they would try and use it against him, or worse realize that she meant something important to him.

“We don’t have what you’re after.” The man sneered quickly drawing out his own blaster. The action end trained itself right at the center of Mando’s chest, gently wavering in the anxious hands of its owner. Mando sneered under his helmet at the pitiful challenge in front of him, feeling just how threatened the man felt under his unhuman stare.

Everything happened quickly. The first shot between the two men were almost in sync, Mando’s dropping the man to the ground in a fit of screams. The first blast Mando took was to the chest, knocking him off balance long enough for others in the encampment to pick up arms against him. Only a couple others picked up blasters, issuing three more inaccurate shots to his beskar; These men were the next to fall. The rest preferred hand to hand combat, assuming that Mando couldn’t fight off more than a couple men at once. His Whistling Birds allowed him the space to fight off the remaining stragglers that didn’t catch the attention of his heat seeking projectiles. In his haste, he checked the tents and found that one tent still carried the signature of three bodies huddled in a corner. Before he could move close enough to see inside a booming voice echoed over the rocks of the cliff surrounding them.

“Get any closer and she dies!”

Mando moved to stand in the opening, allowing himself to wince at the sight before him. Two men -bigger than any he’d seen- crouched over the still form of the girl, one pointing a blaster at Mando while the other held a knife to her throat. He was in terrible position and any wrong move would result in a stray blast hitting her, or a knife wound that couldn’t be healed on the ship. There had to be some way to get them away from her.

“What do you want with her?” he asked coolly, letting his modulator mask the infinite levels of fear and rage mixing with his tone.

“A fuck.” The knife wielding one spat, touching the edge of the blade to the girls throat with a an evil snarl.

“She’s a criminal.” -he lied- “Wanted for murder on Hoth. I hunted her to this moon, so she could stand trial.” It was his only chance. Even horny smugglers didn’t like the idea of fraternizing with well-known criminals.

“You’re a bounty hunter.” The second man surmised, “Then you’ll pay to get her back.” He smiled, glancing down at the multiple satchels attached to Mando’s belt, his eyes widening at the thought of making even a few extra credits.

“I wasn’t given an advance. Instead you’ll split the bounty head.” He quickly thought on his feet, watching as the gravity of the situation began to lift, if only by a minuscule amount.

“How much?” The first man asked, glancing down at the girl who was still breathing evenly despite how weak she looked.

“I take half. You split the other.” They would be insane to not take an offer like that from any bounty hunter… especially from a man like Mando.

The two men shared a glance, and nodded before removing themselves from overtop of the girl, and tucking away their weapons. It was foolish of the two smugglers, but Mando already knew how much power money held over every sentient being in the galaxy. The two men followed a silent Mando as he brought them back towards the center of the camp, and turned around to face them, mimicking the actions of finding something in his belt. He listened as the two men talked, mentioning how simple of a fight the girl had been.

“She’d gone down in two punches. Kriff, I can’t imagine how she’d killed anyone bigger than a child.” It was the man who held the knife who laughed as he imagined the false scenario of the girl.

“You think that’s the best part? I’m guessing you didn’t get the chance to smell her did you?” The second man emphasized his addition to the conversation with an exaggerated inhale. “Sweeter than any candy I’ve ever tasted.” He chuckled, turning to Mando who’d finally had enough of the charade he was orchestrating.

“Did you get more than a smell?” Mando prodded with a low growl, watching as a grin crept across the man’s face.

“I may have sampled the goods.” He chuckled before leaning in just far enough that he could reach Mando’s implied ear. “That little curve at the top of her tits… well, let’s just say it couldn’t resi-.” The register of Mando’s blaster echoed in the trees, barely muffled by the point blank contact with the man’s chest. It was followed by confused shouts and a loud groan, but it all fell on Mando’s deaf ears. There was nothing stopping him from finishing this, these men had been dangerous; Now that they were away from the girl Mando could fully punish the bastards for what they’d done to her.

Those horrific thoughts kept replaying in his mind long after he’d dispatched of the other man who’d been to startled to even make a reach for his knife. Mando’s entire body was trembling with emotion as he lifted the opening of the tent to face his failure to protect her. She was still out-cold, and a deep blue bruise was already forming on her face as Mando gently collected her in his arms to abandon the now silent camp. She didn’t move a muscle the entire walk to the ship, and Mando did his best to keep her close to his chest in case she was more injured than was visual. He could feel that shadow of darkness trailing behind him, it’s draw to seek out any of the men left alive dissipating with every step closer to the ship. He looked back down at her and set his jaw, doing his best not to scream out in frustration at the pain he’d allowed to fall on her. The outline of knuckles were already imprinting themselves onto her face, with a gut wrenching trail of blood running from her nose.

“I’m so sorry little one.” Mando’s broken gasp spoke louder than any apology he could ever verbalize. “I need to clean you up.” He murmured as he shut the hatch door behind him, feeling the need to separate her from the world outside the ship.

He laid her in his bed, cradling her head down into the pillow as he checked for any other outward signs of injury. His shaking body jerked even harder the longer he stood over her, waiting for her to open her eyes. He smoothed her hair back out of her face, and let his fingers lace through the strands for a few minutes, in his own mind thinking it might soothe her knitted brows and tightly shut eyes.

“Please wake up little one.” He begged quietly, “I need to know you’re okay.” If he’d not been paying attention Mando might’ve missed the slight twitch of her fingers followed by a quick  reaction of pulling her knees to her chest, and wrapping her arms over her face. His heart clenched with helplessness as she opened her eyes and peeked through the space in her arms to face him kneeling down at her side.  

“You found me.” She whimpered still protecting her face. He nodded silently, losing all of the words he’d been speaking before she’d had the ability to look back at him. Her shaky inhale was followed by another whimper as she touched for fingertips to her bruising cheek; Wincing, she lowered her arms back down and slowly scooted herself closer to the edge of the bed, judging Mando’s reactions closely.

“I didn’t protect you.” His sadness was pitifully evident as he lowered his eyes down to the floor in front of him. Nothing he could do would make up for the hurt that she’d displayed after touching her cheek. He felt her hand rest on the crown of his helmet, pushing gently as to ask him to raise his head back up. At first, he protested unwilling to face her after such a breach of trust.  

“Look at me Mando.” Her voice was raspy, no doubt from screams that he hadn’t heard. It was another blow to his gut as he relented and met her soft gaze. “You found me. Saved me.” It was her acceptance of his apology, however he was almost sick to accept it. Nothing he’d done deserved such an honor as her acceptance of his failure, and it was enough to drop him to both knees under the weight of her hand on his helm.

“I don’t understand you.” He murmured, the weight of her hand traveling over the back of his helmet towards the sides and back up to the top where she seemed content to hold it. “I almost lost you.” He admitted, finally able to allow some of the weight of his emotions to strip away.

“You didn’t, and you won’t.” she assured. Mando was astonished at her bravery after what she’d endured, and he found it hard to believe that she was the one reassuring him as he shook with adrenaline release on the floor next to her. She let out another whimper, this time letting her arm fall back down across her eyes, biting her quivering bottom lip. Even in his wrecked state, he could tell she was trying to be much stronger than she needed to be.

“Where does it hurt?” he questioned her gently, making sure not to touch her as he repositioned himself to stand up.

“My head.” she whispered. “They hit me… and other things.” Her whisper broke into small sobs as she began to remember the encounter much quicker than he’d hoped she would. Mando didn’t know what to do this time as he watched her rub small circles at her temples.

“What can I do little one?” His voice broke again.

“I want it all off me.” She whined. “ ’Fresher…” she mumbled, pulling at the hem of her dirt and blood stained shirt in attempt to pull it off. “Help me… please?” Her tears welled in the corners of her eyes, as she looked up at him.

“Can you stand up?” He asked, keeping himself from touching her. Nothing would be worse than another man touching her without making it clear first. She tried, but didn’t get further than sitting at the edge of the bed before she looked back up at him, pleading eyes and a wobbling bottom lip.

“Please.”

Mando broke, and nodded gently before setting to his armor slowly removing it piece by piece until only the much preferable fabric of his shirt flight suit remained. Nothing could be worse than having her feel the cold beskar, he’d always noticed her gasps when the cold steel made contact with her skin. She reached up to grip ahold of his shoulders, defiantly wanting to do as much as she could independently while Mando supported her at her hips, keeping an arm secured around her as they slowly made progress towards the ‘Fresher. The girl did her best to hide the pain but Mando knew it was making this easy walk virtually impossible.

“Sit down here.” He whispered, sensing how easily it affected her to hear loud noises. Tired and frustrated at her lack of independence, she let Mando ease her down without even trying to do it herself anymore. He opened the water valve and let the heat rise until it was comfortable enough on the back of his bare hand before turning back to see her staring in the mirror in front of her.  

“I look hideous.” She furrowed her brows and frowned, upsetting the sore muscles in her face again. She moaned at the frustration situation and looked back up to Mando who was already crouching down next to her again, tilting his head as he searched her face for any signs of sever injury.

“Can I check something?” he lifted a bare hand up towards her face, watching as her eyes widened at the sight of his scarred skin in the light for the first time. “I won’t hurt you.” It was a weighted statement; One that the both of them understood to mean more than the current circumstance at hand. She hummed a quiet okay as he touched the edge of her cheekbone, just underneath of her eye feeling along the edge until an abnormal angle caught his attention.

“What is it?” her brows pulled together for a moment before forcibly relaxing again.

“Let me look at the other side.” He removed his other glove and mirrored the same path he’d followed on the bruised side hoping that the edge he’d felt was just unique to her bone structure. Mando let out a deep sigh when he didn’t palpate that landmark on her other side. “You’ll need bacta… more than a patch.” His hands dropped away from her face. “You’ve got a fracture… that’s part of why the bruising is so bad.” There was a certain softness in his voice, only attributable to his need to soften the edge of hearing that her wounds looked awful.

“I just want to get clean.”

Mando helped by pulling the narrow legs of her pants from around her ankles, not allowing her to reach any further than necessary; Also by cutting the side out of her shirt so she didn’t have to reach above her head to remove it.

“You’re always cutting my clothes off.” She remarked with the slightest intonation of humor, and Mando couldn’t help but stifle a chuffed laugh. It wasn’t the most endearing thing to be known for, but it did seem to interest him that she didn’t seem the least bit upset by his newfound propensity for ruining her clothes.

“You can have something of mine when you get out.” He offered turning his eyes towards the floor as she reached around to unwrap her breast band. Mando worked at his own boots, sitting them out of the way as he waited for her to make the next move. Her hand rested gently on his shoulder and gripped tightly onto the fabric as she tried to push up onto her feet.

“Give me a second...” She sighed before once again attempting to get to her feet.

“Take your time. I’m right here little one.” His endearment plus the small support of his words seemed to give her enough stamina to get onto her feet, and remain there long enough that she felt confident to let Mando get her the rest of the way into the ‘Fresher.

It wasn’t comfortable in the small stall, and the sopping wet feeling of Mando’s flight suit didn’t bode well under the hard water pressure either. The girl rested against Mando as she slowly worked soap over her face, cleansing off the dirt and blood while Mando took the liberty of washing out her hair. It didn’t take long for her to get so tired that she couldn’t continue, and simply let Mando finish what she couldn’t. All of the necessary places she’d done herself, and he couldn’t have been more grateful that she’d spared him from the experience. Even if the situation was ideal, he wouldn’t have had any way of knowing just how she did things, and he didn’t want to get it wrong.

“I’m cold.” She murmured against his chest, nuzzling her unscathed cheek into him a little more as he ran his hands down her soapy back to remove the excess lather.

“You’ve been in the water too long.” She only nodded in response, and relaxed further into him as he turned off the water and reached outside of the door for a towel to wrap around her. “Here. Take this.” He wrapped it around her back, handing both ends to her with his head turned to the side.

She was about to lean away, but Mando had already decided that she wasn’t walking back. Without much effort he pulled her off the floor and kept her tight against him as he brought her back into his quarters. The room was already darkening due to night approaching, and it made transferring her onto the bed a much simpler process without the impropriety of seeing her without the towel. Mando himself reached under the bed and blindly pulled out a dry set of underclothes for himself and retreated into the girl’s room for the old shirt of his that she’d taken to wearing to bed. He changed before returning, running a towel over the wet strands of hair that strayed from underneath his helmet and donning a pair of socks and his gloves. After he'd hung his flight suit over an active draft grate and returned to his dark bedroom with the shirt and the highest strength bacta patch he could find in his supply stores.

“This should keep you warm.” He held the shirt out blindly, hoping that he was close enough that she could take it.

“Thank you.” The sound of the fabric rustling gave Mando a sense of calm and he was prepare to leave her in peace when she hesitantly mumbled something. It wasn’t loud enough to hear, but he knew it was directed at him off instinct. Patiently, he waited for her to repeat herself, either her courage or energy needed the chance to catch up.

“Say it again.” He prodded gently, taking a step towards the bed.

“Would you stay?” Her voice sounded much like normal with that sweet intonation that reminded Mando just how innocent she really was. He went cold then hot in a matter of seconds, feeling the pull of fear and desire pulling at his conscience. He stood in silence, weighing his thoughts until he just couldn’t stand the idea of needing to rationalize every decision he made when it came to her.

In two strides his knees his the edge of the bed, and he felt his way up towards the head where he nervously sat down, and brought his legs up beside hers. He crossed his arms over his chest, and took a deep breath to calm himself down. The girl made her own small adjustment and settled down closer to his side, intent on seeking out the warmth that she apparently wasn’t getting from the shirt or sheets. Quietly, he placed a hand on her face turning it so that he could apply the patch. She hissed under the cold contact, but stilled after a few minutes of letting the analgesic treatment work into her damaged muscles and bone. The girl rested an appreciative hand on top of his arm and gave a gentle, sleepy squeeze.

“Are you still cold?” He asked through a tight jaw, still feeling the radical effects of her gentle touch vibrating though his arm. She gave another light squeeze, and nodded a little before tilting her chin upwards to look at him though the dark room.

“A little.”

Responding quickly, he turned onto his side and laid still as she turned onto her side to fit herself right against his chest. Even her legs fell flush against his thighs as Mando lifted the blankets over her. The girl let out a warm sigh of approval and Mando released his own withheld breath, only his held the strain of her bare legs entangling with his own. For someone that felt like they were running a fever, Mando couldn’t understand why she’d become so cold all of a sudden. Her light snores lifted into the bedroom within minutes; Already sleeping by the time he’d found the mental capacity to think about something other than the way her skin scorched though his compression pants and shirt. Under his unnecessary justification that she might still be cold he draped an arm over her waist, and gently pulled her closer watching to make sure he didn’t move her head more than necessary.

The steady rhythm of her breathing gave him time to think for the first time since he’d went searching for her. It pained him to think that he’d been so close to losing her… a group of smugglers who hadn’t had any idea of who she was or that there were men after her. Even worse, she was seriously hurting and the only thing that was keeping her from feeling it was the adrenaline still slowly passing through her system, drip feeding protection from the fracture in her cheek. He looked down at the bacta patch, studying the dimly lit lights glowing on the surface, lighting up her face just enough that Mando could trace her features. Mando couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen such a pretty face, and he was even more certain that he wouldn’t find someone that beautiful for the rest of his life. Freckles had begun to appear on her skin after being in the sunlight, darkening the smattering of color that collected on her nose and on the apples of her high cheekbones.

All of the darkness that he’d felt when walking into the camp had faded into grey, mimicking the steel tone of the beskar that lay abandoned in the floor of the ‘Fresher. It felt like he was finally able to escape the draw of battle for once in his life. Simply laying with her was enough to keep that biting instinct to hunt and fight away, even if just while he held her. He tightened his grip on her waist further, dreading the moment that he’d need to leave, and pilot them away from the maker-forsaken place forever. There was one person he needed to tell before they left.

Inside the safety and sound-proofing of his helmet he comm’ed Fett, letting his hand trace along the curve of the girl’s hip as he waited for an answer. He toyed with the frayed hem of his old shirt, feeling how low it rode on the girl’s thigh and silently admiring the drastic incongruity in their sizes.

“Mando.” Fett sounded quite tired, and for a moment he wondered just why he hadn’t comm’ed early in the morning instead of in the dead of night. He didn’t dwell on it for much longer than it took to register the thought.

“She was attacked.” He admitted, watching the miniscule reaction in Fett’s shoulders as he took in the information. Mando recounted details of the smugglers and their assault, leaving out nothing as he made certain to reassure Fett that none of the men had gone unpunished for the attack and that the girl was still unlocated by anyone other than the two of them.  

“She’ll need healed.” He growled back to Mando, emphasizing the glaring issue at hand.

He had failed…

“They shouldn’t have died so easily.” He added with a sinister tone that Mando wasn’t very accustomed to hearing.

“I didn’t think… It was all I could do to get her out of there.” His voice broke under the pressure of his admission. “You’re offer still stands?” Mando asked quietly, glancing down to look at the girl who’d nestled herself tight against him, resting peacefully under the physiological sedative she’d been fighting against in the shower, mixed with bacta.

“Bring her here, she’ll be safe.” Fett’s typical tone of flattery and undercurrent of sexual tension was absent as he resent the coordinates to Mando even after he’d denied needing them a second time. Fett asked more questions about the girl, more so about her condition than anything. Repeating himself when Mando couldn’t keep his train of thought in one coherent strand as he delved deeper into the missing minutes of her rescue that had gone blurry in the midst of the blaster fire.

“She’s sleeping. It was kriffing impossible to help her do anything… Her way only.” He murmured, more to himself than Fett with a slightly frustrated sigh. Fett grunted in appreciation of her determination, although the mood wasn’t light enough for any real laughter. Boba took the lull in conversation to discuss the security procedures that he preferred -more so demanded- Mando take when approaching his landing on arrival.

“Drop straight in on the location. Don’t waste time. There aren’t inhabitants close, but if you come in at cruising altitude I’ll shoot you out of the sky myself.” Fett threatened, altogether serious in his attempt to covey the strict measures he necessitated.

“Fine.” Mando nodded, though Fett couldn’t see the physical acknowledgement.

“Make sure she doesn’t wake up to an empty bed… She’ll be feeling the full force of this tomorrow… bacta patch or not.” Fett added, dropping his visor with an lowly with a disheartened sigh. Of course he couldn’t fault Fett’s reaction, if anything he wasn’t surprised at how seriously he took the care of the women in his life when it came to safety and being overly protected when the situation called for it. Boba Fett might’ve been the most irritating man Mando had ever met, but he was still respectable in Mando’s visor. More than ever he was beginning to think that getting the girl her own comm link was one of the best decisions he’d made since bringing her aboard.

The comm ended, and Mando returned his full attention to the girl, didn’t move an inch the entire night and neither did Mando; He didn’t sleep, but that wasn’t anything new. She had lulled him into a state of complete resignation when it came to thinking about getting up. He couldn’t bring himself to disturb her obviously comfortable position. It would be the best sleep she’d get for at least a couple days, and Mando was set in the idea that he wasn’t going to be the one to ruin her opportunity. He spent the hours rubbing her back, and smoothing her hair back out of her face until he was certain she’d need a shower to clean the smell of his blaster residue- covered gloves.

She wouldn’t wake up until late morning, with a low groan and a deep stretch that made her muscles quiver. Mando watched as her grogginess wore off and the gravity of the situation fell onto her face. He was fully prepared to answer any questions she had, practicing his responses throughout the night in the idea that he would be more than competent to provide any information she wanted.

His work went completely untested.

The girl took a moment to reach up for the patch covering her cheek, letting out a whimper when the light pressure she applied intensified her pain. When she recovered, her sleepy eyes fell on Mando who still had his arm possessively tucked around her middle. No amount of preparation prepared him for what she finally asked him;

“Did you sleep well?”

Awestruck by her comically causal statement he gave a swift nod, feeling the edge of his helmet gently bump against the crown of her head. He touched the spot with his free hand, hoping that it hadn’t hit her hard enough to cause any discomfort. When she happily sighed, and relaxed back into his palm heat spread through his chest, warming the cold anxiety he’d been harboring throughout the night. They laid in comfortable silence for what felt like an eternity to Mando, as she let him continue running his fingers through her hair without any complaint to the way it gleamed with oil from his gloves or the tell-tale smell of a freshly fired amban rifle. It was enough to have Mando feeling like he was back in the water, toeing the edge of an endless cavern, dangerously warm and inviting.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe. Where I can be sure that you’ll be safe even if I leave.” His voice rumbled with the lazy intonation that could be felt in every inch of the rest of his body.

“I shouldn’t have gone so far from the ship.” The girl shifted onto her back, looking up at him with an apologetic look that fired his fury towards her attackers all over again. He didn’t know how else to tell her otherwise, feeling contrary to her point of view and blaming himself for the attack.

With a deep breath he lowered his helmet to rest his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and hoping that she understood what he was incapable of telling her. It was an unfamiliar intimacy that Mando was already impatient to get more of. Nothing compared to the subtle way her presence cleared away his anger, and effortless ability to blind the dark shadows he could feel lurking patiently just outside the door to the bedroom. The girl was the first to break away, only to press another kiss to his visor and settle her forehead back against his. She was the one hurting but found the necessity to calm his unspoken distress.

“When are we leaving?” Her hot breath fogging up his display.

“It’s up to you little one.”

***

With a fresh bacta patch and some soup Mando was thankful that she slept through the entire flight. It wasn’t a long journey -no more than five standard hours- but by the time Mando’s landing gear hit the ground it was night on Aeos Prime. Nothing but the sound of water could be heard over the Slave Two’s engines as Mando piloted the ship above what looked to be a bombed out shelter of some kind as he took note of  the jagged edges of durasteel, melted and bent from the long-past impact. Endless ocean surround him and for a moment he was unable to register just how much reach Fett had across the galaxy.

“Kriffing impossible.” He breathed out, watching as a shield rose up from beneath the thrashing waves to push away the water that covered a ship-sized lock gate nestled into the sand at the sea floor. Hesitant to push through the blue forcefield, he slowly pushed though watching as the penetrable shield bent around the ship until he was fully within it’s protection. The angry water raged against the power shield, trying it’s best to thrash at the charged wall separating Mando from the risk of losing another ship.

The lock gate below him opened with a metallic thud, allowing access so the slave could descend into the cavern below. Once his revelation faded, Mando was left to observe a single ship sitting in the underground loading bay… the sister to his own ship, the Slave One. Old cargo crates sat at the wayside, along with old land speeders retrofitted to haul the same crates that sat strewn about the ground. The grey duracrete walls and steel support beams looked almost untouched compared to the reinforcements above ground. Although everything was well preserved, abandonment was obvious. Dust covered the once striped floors, and deactivated droids sat at the edges of the bay, rusting from the lack of maintenance. All of it screamed military property or something of the like, what exactly he wasn’t sure of… but it reminded him of the Imperial Base on Nevarro that they’d blown sky high. That didn’t keep him from opening the hatch and stepping out into the recycled air of the underground world he’d been so hesitant to enter.

“I told you to haul ass, di’kut.” Fett’s booming voice echoed through the empty loading bay as he appeared from one of the long tunnels that connected to the giant room.

“Don’t act like that’s normal…” Mando challenged, feeling the slightest bit embarrassed that he hadn’t ever experienced something quite as unreal as disappearing underneath the ocean. Fett approached with a somewhat friendly smile, and clapped a hard smack over Mando’s pauldron before turning his attention towards the ships.

“What a pair.” His voice beamed with pride as he looked at the sister ships. “I haven’t seen them together like this in longer than I’d care to admit.” His slight chuckle eased Mando’s taught nerves.

“What is this?” Mando took his own glance around the bay, trying to find some marker of property or ownership.

“It was a city… at one point. But now it’s almost a dead planet.” Fett explained, wandering towards the Slave Two’s open hatch. “Only beings are on the opposite side of the planet, and they keep to themselves… all twenty of them. But I don’t like giving them the opportunity to do so anyways.”

Mando could only silently agree. Not just for the consistency in Fett’s operational standards, but for the safety of the girl who still lay asleep in his bed.

“How is she?” he asked, lowering his voice when he came into the hull of the ship.

“Sleeping for now. But I’m afraid she’s got a fracture, or maybe more than one.” Mando hated saying it, but there was nothing he could do but help her heal at this point. If that meant telling Boba, then so be it; It wouldn’t’ve been the first time he’d swallowed his pride in the presence of the green Mando.

“I’ve got everything she’ll need.” Fett nodded back in the direction of the way he’d come, before turning his attention back to the ship’s ration supply crates. “Bring these along… and anything else you can think of needing. If we are caught, there’s nothing worse than being without everything.” It was directed at The Crest, and no matter how badly Mando wanted to defend himself he could tell that Fett was simply being rational. Within the hour, Mando and Fett had loaded one of the speeders with rations, a third of Mando’s weapons closet and the two small boxes that the girl kept her belongings in.

Lastly, Mando made one last trip to get the girl. She was still dead asleep when he lifted her off the bed, bringing along the blankets she’d wrapped herself in to keep her bare legs from being exposed to the cold air and Fett’s possible wandering eyes. In her dream-filled slumber she nuzzled her face under the edge of his helmet, breathing steadily against his neck. Boba gave Mando a nod of approval, ignoring the opportunity to make a comment about her unconscious desire to seek him out; Instead he opted to settle behind the controls of the speeder, and pilot them down the long tunnel. Mando shielded her from the wind, keeping his back towards Fett as they traveled the long distance deeper into the darkness until the arcing floor grew tall enough to block the view of any light from the loading bay.

Further underground… He thought, instinctually wrapping the girl tighter in the blankets to keep the cold from getting through. Even the duracrete walls seemed to get darker the further they traveled below the surface of the planet. Fett slowed the speeder outside of a sealed door at the end of the hall, taking a look at his own vambrace before unlocking the thick security doors. He pulled though, and resealed them before turning to face Mando.

“Take this hallway,” -he pointed down the one to his left- “And you’ll see the common area. From there, pick a door and that’s where the two of you will stay. Full accommodations.” He gave a curt nod, and began unloading the supply crates without giving Mando any further instruction.

The room he found himself in was similar to the loading bay, but not available for any ship to enter. Most likely a docking station for speeders. He examined the room another time before following the general direction that Fett had given. Once down the hall he came into the ‘common room’ as Fett had called it, seeing the generic markers of a kitchen and dining table with a large portion of the room being occupied by a wall of instrument panels, communication equipment and radar monitors encompassing a remarkable distance around the central location of this base. Mando found the furthest door from the entry hall, shouldering through the door to find what he could only describe as the most domestic place he’d ever seen.

A bed was centered at the back of the room, with a full ‘Fresher off to the side through another side door, accompanied by three geometrically designed shelfs molded from duracrete in the walls of the room. Left untouched, the room looked empty despite its somewhat lavish accommodations. Even simulated moonlight peered from behind a thick curtain that hung over the false window in the wall.

Kriffing impossible. He repeated to himself, feeling the girl stirring in his arms. She let out a tiny whimper, sleepily brushing her hand against her face. The girl opened her eyes and looked around for a moment before resting her head back against Mando fully contented to stay right where she was as long as he would let her.  

“Are we safe?” Her voice coming much clearer than her physical reaction to waking up.

“Yes. How do you feel?” He strode over to the bed and regrettably sat her down so she could gather herself without the struggle of being bunched up against him. He saw how difficult it was for her to move her mouth without the pressure being too overwhelming and quickly changed his tactics. “Are you hungry?”

She nodded quite quickly, her eyes widening at the thought of getting something to eat. Mando was more than pleased, feeling much better knowing that it wasn’t deterring her from wanting something to eat. He studied the way she looked about the room, bringing her palm up to her cheek and a small wince forming on her brow.

“Do you feel like walking?” It was a test question. Of course he wasn’t surprised when she shook her head ‘no’. Quietly he thanked whoever was listening that she didn’t say yes.

He wanted to prolong her interaction with Boba as long as he could without drawing attention to how miserably obvious it affected him. He bowed out of the room, leaving her to fully wake up and take some time alone while he went to check with Fett who’d made himself busy settling the final two crates in the common room. His own stock was nothing compared to Fett’s towering collection of non-perishables and water supply that looked just re-stocked. In silence the two men worked to collect everything into designated shelves before either of them felt the need to speak to each other.

“You don’t trust me around her.” Fett stated with a somewhat smug tone, sharply snapping his gaze toward Mando who was still sitting the final few cans of soup on the shelf.  The tone in the air was charged at the quick bite Fett hadn’t been able to hold back any longer.

Mando swiftly turned to meet the hard stare in the man’s eyes, scanning the almost black rims of his eyes. Their silent battle seemed endless as both fought under the pretense that they were the clear dominant. Both had a damn good reason to stand their ground no matter who’s floor it belonged to, or what physical prowess the other possessed. Mando didn’t understand what he’d done to Fett, or why it mattered if Mando trusted the girl’s life in his hands. He hardly trusted himself with her…

“I don’t.” He finally growled out straightening his posture so Fett would have to look up at him.

“You’re foolish to think you deserve any part of her when you can see past your fucking helmet boy.” The venom of the truth dripping from the Mandalorian’s words poisoned any calmness that Mando had been carrying. The space between the two stayed out of arms reach, but that didn’t keep them from slowly walking a dangerous dance around the common room.

“I’m nothing to her. Therefore what I think has no importance.” Mando couldn’t argue against Fett, but he wasn’t willing to abdicate the challenge from a man who had no reason for desiring the fight in the first place. “I am not your son.” Mando’s words gritted under the his tight throat and the urge to show Fett just how much he was willing to prove his blood superseded Boba’s. His chest swelled with the pressure of a tightly wound coil, slowly twisting tighter with every second that Fett didn’t leave the subject alone.  

“You’ll do well to keep her alive.”

It was the last straw.

Both men lunged at each other, in a clash of armor and wordless communication verbalized in low growls and grunts as they wrestled each other back and forth. Both men pinned the other to the walls of the room, struggling when the other gained the upper hand with a swift punch or a well-placed grapple that caught the other off guard. By the time each man hand found a hand on their blaster each had their sights set on the weakest target on each man. Mando found the center of Fett’s forehead most preferable, while Fett had chosen dead center on Mando’s hips with a more than deadly look filling those dark eyes.

“Mando!” The girl’s scream brought him out of the haze he’d fell into but he couldn’t drop his sights from Fett, who was fully focused on the girl who no doubt had a horrified expression. The full weight of her crashing into his exposed side rocketed him the rest of the way from his stiff posture towards Fett.

“Please don’t hurt him Mando.” She pleaded with a wobbly voice, as she gripped tightly to his cloak and the edge of his chest plate. Her hard tugs at his armor finally unwound the bunched coil around his focus. Finally realizing what the girl had said, his entire body burned to hear her say it again. Mando relished in the knowledge that Fett would have to live with the idea that she thought him superior. It stroked his flaring -and bruised- ego long after the tension in the room faded through the floor both men still stood bonded to. Again she tugged on his chest plate, pulling him to break the hard stare that as still fixed to Fett’s profile. Her whispered pleads, mixing with fear brought him to look down at her shielding his weaker side as she stared up at him with expectant eyes, looking at his outstretched blaster, then back to him.

“You don’t have to prove anything.” She quietly soothed, reaching a hand out to palm the cold metal of his barrel and assist his frozen muscles in lowering it. “I’m not going anywhere.” She seethed, taking a hard glance towards Fett who had replaced his hard stare with a somewhat amused smile in her direction; Obviously finding her irritation with him humorous. With one final pull on him, she broke his feet from their holds finally letting herself grimace from the overuse in her mouth.

Mando could see fresh blood soaking into the backing of her bacta patch, and he was quick to exit the room away from the both of them towards the Slave 2. Fett was right. No matter how much he wanted to ignore the truth, he’d only proved Fett’s accuracy within three minutes of him speaking. The girl called out for him to come back, and she followed for a short while down the tunnel before she realized that he wasn’t interested in listening to what she had to say. He needed distance from her, more than ever before. A burn in his chest only accentuated the pain that floated through his mind as he replayed the times he’d let himself fall into her lull of security, thinking that maybe the old woman had been right. That even a damn soul could find some solace in the arms of a sweet girl who didn’t see his blood-stained hands, or ink-black soul.

He shut the hatch to the Slave and ripped his helmet away from his head, throwing it into the wall with a loud cry of desperation. In a fit of rage he balled his fist and slammed it into the durasteel wall, frantic for some release in the constant war he’d internalized. Mando wanted to go back to her, and ask for the relief that was unique to her. Let go in the heat of her arms and feel that acceptance he was finally able to admit he desired more than anything. Another loud scream scraped though his vocal chords, irritating his throat from the demanding use he’d suddenly used. It rattled the ship, an empty canister suddenly being filled with the bottled up anger of a man who’d suffered more loss than he could bear the weight of.

His rage continued on throughout the night crashing down on Mando like the thrashing waves of Aeos Prime hundreds of feet above him churning like an monster with an endless instinct to devour or demolish anything in it’s path. He wallowed in the loss of control that Fett had placed upon him, and there was only one way he knew he could solve it. It only made the blow worse, when he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Sealed in his quarters with his armor strewn about the hull along with his helmet and flight suit he finally collapsed onto the bed with a singular need to seek out any traces of the girl on his sheets. Even in the solitude he’d chosen over the presence of the girl, Mando found himself burying his bare face in the pillow searching for her comfort in the only way he knew how. Underneath the heavy scent of leather and metal he could finally smell that sweet mix of her sweat and something else foreign to anything he could ever guess to describe.

He found what he needed.

It smelled like her.

After all this time of keeping his distance he’d never allowed himself the purely selfish indulgence of knowing what she smelled like, and now he laid writhing like he was in pain to get just another hint of her. It was unlike him to be so unhinged; Only after Grogu had been kidnapped had anything ever felt so severe to him. Now nothing but his own guilt and fear stood guard over the one and only thing he’d ever realized he wanted. He stayed wrapped in the subtle reminder of the girl in his sheets, battling with the shadows of his training and the creed just hiding in the corners of his room and doing everything he could to fight them away just for a little while longer. Those dark figures and the evil laugh of death in the hull echoed for hours into an undetectable Aeos Prime daylight.

@spacedaddydinn​ @absurdthirst​ @crazybirb​ @hornystarwarsbisexual​ @roxypeanut​ 

@bookloverkat​ @kat-r-in​ @clairobeatmeup​ @auty-ren​ @justbecausewecan​ @roseallisonparker​

@peterztinglez @theamuz​ 

@jade-jax​ 

@hoodedbirdie​ @strawberryperegrine @panndastasia​ 

@bel-ppa​

[sagara-megumi]

[Fanfic] Naruto - Family Ties: Prologue

I’ve been away for a week, so between preparations and the actual trip, I couldn’t start the SasuSaku Month on time. Also, I’m going to use it as a sort of excuse to finish a story I began a long, long time ago, so I probably won’t use all the prompts.

So, this is the prologue to said story but since Sasuke and Sakura are only mentioned in it, after asking the mods at @sasuxsakumonth for advice, I’m leaving it out of the Month and the prompts. I’ll be linking it to the first chapter when I post it.

Title: Family Ties

Rating: T/PG-13 (just to be safe)

Words: 1458

Notes: VERY IMPORTANT. When I started writing this years ago, I had just finished reading the manga up to what had been published at that time in my country (I think it was at the beginning of the last arc). Sakura’s parents hadn’t shown in the anime but they have a very important role in the story so, I invented names and appearances for them. And when I saw them in the film, I was quite disappointed so I preferred to stay loyal to my idea. It’s up to you to follow my creation or imagine them as in the anime; whatever you choose, it’ll be good.

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please tell me so I can correct them. I sincerely hope that you like it ^^

.

PROLOGUE

Without making a noise, the woman turned on the bed and, propping herself on an elbow, leant her head on one of her hands, staring at the face of the man who slept beside her illuminated by the lights of the city, which filtered through the half-open curtains. Even after almost a year and a half, she could not explain what attracted her so much to him. Maybe it was his eyes, which were filled with tenderness each time he looked at her, or his smile, warm and fascinating, or his way of speaking, with a slightly hoarse voice, always soft and full of kindness.

With one finger, barely touching him, she traced his slightly angular features, his jaw, his slightly plump lips. Perhaps, it was simply that he was different from the men she had known in her life, cold, distant, proud. The only thing she was sure of was that she had not wanted a serious relationship after her divorce and leaving the family clan, and less with someone like him, but his character and his way of treating her had ended up making her fall in love. She did not know where they were going, or how long it would last, but she had decided that she would not worry about it, or regret it. She would enjoy that opportunity and she would love him until destiny decided to separate them.

He opened his eyes slowly, awakening from his slumber, and stared at her for a long time, watching her smile faintly. Since the beginning, she had seemed an unattainable woman, with her beauty and elegant manners, which betrayed her high social status. But when Providence had made them meet again and again, he had seen that behind that capable strong façade laid a deep sadness and a wounded heart. And something had driven him to want to help her move on. He did not even remember when that friendship that they had been building little by little on conversations and coffee had evolved into something much deeper, but he knew that he wanted her to keep on being a part of his life. His feelings now were very different from those he had felt, and he still did, for his first wife, whom he had loved with all his soul. However, he was aware that love at twenty was not the same as at forty, when other things were valued apart from passion, idealism and 'forever'.

“You should keep on sleeping,” she whispered, placing a hand on his chest.

“And you?”

“I'll do it when I get home. We had a meeting to plan the new decoration for the windows yesterday, so I went to bed very late, and I slept into the morning since I had an afternoon shift today.”

One more lie that stained their relationship. She was so used to them now that she did not get upset anymore when they left her mouth. In his eyes, she was a saleswoman in a department store from a city in southern Japan, her parents had died a long time ago, she had no siblings ... Perhaps the only truth she had said was related to her marriage, her children and her divorce although at that point, she was not sure of that either.

He sat down and leant back against the headboard, scratching his head with a sigh.

“What’s the matter, Akihiko-san?” she asked worried, sitting up too and pressing the sheet against her chest.

He shook his head negatively and looked at her hesitantly, and something twisted inside her, sweeping away the peace she felt and erasing the smile from her face.

So soon? She had just thought about when their affair would end, and apparently the moment had come only a few seconds later. Maybe it was her fate that things started to go wrong when she thought that she was about to touch happiness with the tips of her fingers. Like with her husband.

“Mikoto-san... I know that what I'm going to tell you is probably something you don’t expect and that once I’m finished you won’t want to see me again ...”

Her fingers fisted in the fabric that wrapped around her and she opened her mouth to stop him, but he continued talking and she swallowed with difficulty, waiting for the inevitable.

“I want you to know that I’ve been thinking about it a lot, it’s not a hasty decision... We are both mature people and we have gone through this experience before, so we won’t be taking blind steps... What I mean is...” she saw him smile faintly, as if embarrassed to make so many detours, and in spite of the news she was expecting, she could not help but feel some tenderness. “... I would like our relationship to continue for the rest of our lives, without having to meet with a schedule or in hotels because our children are at home...”

Mikoto opened her lips slightly, surprised to see the unexpected turn that everything was taking, and thought that if someone like her could cry, it would surely be very similar to what she was feeling at that moment.

“Would you do me the honour of marrying me?” seeing her lack of response, Akihiko continued, getting more nervous by the moment. "We-we don’t have to have a ceremony or anything like that, just register our names... and...”

He stuttered again, the spark in his eyes wavering for a moment, and the woman could not help a small laugh that stopped him, and made him blush and put his hand to the back of his neck.

“You don’t have to answer me now. I know it's an important decision, that you've been through a lot and that you surely want to talk about it with your children...”

“And what about you?”

He smiled softly.

“You're going to be surprised, but it was Sakura-chan who gave me the push I needed... A week ago she asked me if we hadn’t talked about marriage, and said that if we were serious, we should at least think about it...”

“It's a good girl.”

He nodded and for a moment he stared out the window into the city, lit by thousands of fluorescent signs, street lights and offices where people worked overtime, with a sweet and proud expression on his face, and she knew who was occupying his thoughts. And she did not mind sharing him with her at all.

She leant back next to him and rested her cheek on his shoulder, accompanying him in his silence. She knew that by his side she would be happy, her heart was screaming at her to accept, but there were two things that held her back: her children, who she knew did not agree with their relationship, and all the lies that would be revealed. Who knew how he would react to them, because even the best man’s heart could change if he discovered that everything he believed was false. And though apprehension was starting to invade her, it was she who had to take the next step, and she had to do it with all the consequences.

A warm hand covered hers, cold and pale, and she moved her head to look at him, meeting his eyes.

“If you decide to refuse, I want you to know that nothing will change. I’ll understand your reluctance and respect it.”

She closed her eyelids and smiled gratefully, certain that she would never find a man like him again. She wanted a life with him in a house full of warmth and sounds that spoke of love and family, to listen and to be heard, to make decisions together, to wait and to be awaited... Was that asking too much for a woman like her? Itachi was an adult and had become independent a few weeks ago, when he had taken over the international relations department of a major company, and Sasuke had only one year of high school left, after which, and knowing the attachment he had to his father, he would probably leave her too. Then, she would be alone and regretful about the decision that she was not brave enough to make.

She pressed her lips together and opened her eyes. The opportunity was there, within reach of her hands, she just had to take the risk. She took a breath and turned to him.

“Akihiko-san, before giving you an answer, I want you to know something... that I've been hiding from you” he looked at her seriously, with some concern reflecting on his features, and she crossed her hands tightly. “And if after listening to me, you don’t want to see me again, I’ll understand and accept your decision too.”

TO BE CONTINUED

[imagineclaireandjamie]

The Last All-Clear: (7)

Notes from Mod Bonnie

This story is a series following the premise: “Imagine if Jamie travelled through the stones, but instead of finding Claire in Boston he found himself having arrived years too early, when the War was still happening and Claire had yet to meet him… What would he do?”

Formatting note: Bolding in Jamie’s letters = underlining

Previously:

(Part 1) September 17, 1942: A Rusty Nail 

(Part 2) December 3, 1942: Comb and Glove 

(Part 3) 1943: Blood and Whisky | (Part 4) 1943-1944: Gifts and Ends

(Part 5) June, 1944: The Road | (Part 6) June, 1944: The Ditch  

(7) Samhain, 1946: Inverness

“Did you have many scots in your charge during the war?” Frank asked quite suddenly. I was more happy to change the subject from his kilted spectre, which, while surely utter nonsense, had given me chills.

“Yes, there were quite a few! There was one in particular,” I added, unable to stop the grin from blooming across my face at the memory. “He was a piper in the third seaforths. He couldn't stand being stuck with a needle. He was—” 

I stopped, the implication suddenly settling over my shoulders like cold, creeping damp. Not a non-sequitur, then?  

His expression did nothing to suggest otherwise, nor his flat, “Right,” as he averted his gaze. 

Why, you bloody bastard! 

“What is it, exactly, ah...” Carefully. Oh-so-carefully. “...that you're asking me, Frank?”

He didn’t even miss a beat. “When I saw that chap staring up at you, I thought he might be someone you'd nursed. Someone who might be looking for you now. To reconnect.”

“To ‘reconnect?’” My breath shortened and for one wild moment, I felt the hands of panic around my throat. How could he have known? was the unbidden thought. 

“It wouldn't be unusual,” he was saying, quite gently. “It wouldn't be surprising if you'd sought some comfort, or—” The anxiety vanished as my senses returned, along with my absolutely righteous indignation. “Are you asking me— If I've been unfaithful?” 

It was hardly the worst fight we’d ever had, but it was the worst we’d had in a long time, made still worse by occurring during the ‘honeymoon’ we had both wished to perpetrate. Yes, it was tense and volatile, but at least it moved rapidly, through the near-accusations, the retractions, tender reassurances and, inevitably, to sex—the Randall fix-all. Or, rather, the Randalls-mutually-agree-to-pretend-that-it fixes-all. 

Long after Frank was asleep, though, satiated and carefree, I lay awake, privately seething. That he would have the audacity to even suggest such a thing when I’d never so much as kissed another man since I married Frank, let alone— 

Still, something still caught in my mind: ‘If you’d sought some comfort...’ 

It was only a harmless flirtation, I reassured myself, before scoffing, because that made it sound cheap, and wasn’t at all what it had been, in any case! But what had it been? We’d never touched in any way that wasn’t perfectly chaste. He’d never found his way to my bed in the secrecy of lonely nights, as so many others did in camp. I didn’t even know his full name or fully what his face looked like, for Christ’s sake. 

And yet, Danton had been very important to me, for that brief period during our time together: we had been friends. I had sought comfort in his company, many times, and he had given it, with his words and his good drink, his attention and encouragement. Hell, I doubt I would have stayed in France through the end of the war, without his friendship and the gentle support he unendingly gave; without the solace he brought to my lonely, doubting heart in those days. 

I stared at the ceiling, wondering—not for the first time—what ever became of him. There was that terrible fight between the tents, when he’d said those things and I’d stormed off in a rage that became a sobbing breakdown in the privacy of my tent. As much as he hurt me—deeply, viciously, even with so few words—I did regret, later, that I hadn’t sought him again and tried to talk things through. That cold, cruel disdain had seemed so out of character, even at the time. Surely, if I’d gotten in his face, forced him to speak to me with the sort of candor that was integral to our friendship, we might have reached some sort of rapprochement. But I’d only ever seen him again in faint glimpses across camp. After that, he was gone. People said he just up and left, one day, never to be heard from again. 

‘Someone who might be looking for you now. To reconnect.’

Well, and if there WERE someone come looking for me, Frank, I silently spat as I rolled onto my side away from him, he bloody well wouldn’t have been a Scot. 

2 0 2 4   

Passing strange, it was, to arrive back in Inverness this afternoon. Odd on the one hand, of course, to compare it with the Inverness of old; but stranger still to traverse its streets with money in my pocket and proper clothes on my back, my steps certain. You’ll have read by now of my wretched experiences here of seven years ago, not one of which I should ever wish to repeat (though I give you leave to tease and laugh about them for as many years to come, as ye wish).

Suffice it to say, I found myself murmuring a prayer of heartfelt gratitude for being able to stride boldly up to the innkeeper’s desk to give them my custom; for the money to hire a room (and by no means the cheapest in the place); for knowing precisely how to operate the hot water geyser and how I might go about seeing to my supp /

/     Forgive my artless interruption, but I must immediately explain that I had been writing the above while sitting at the desk in my second-floor chamber. Some whimsical soul had thought to situate it at the window, overlooking the square and the fountain beneath. A pretty aspect, to be sure, though the night is foul and thundering, at present, and hardly anything to be seen at all. 

On that point, I couldna have been more wrong, for there ye were, Claire, right before me in the window of the inn across the street, brushing your hair. 

Christ, the joy that coursed through me was so immediate, so complete, I couldna rightly say if I was crying or laughing. It’s likely to have been some of both, but as I say, I wasna paying much heed to anything save you, glowing in the lamplight as ye wrestled and tussled with that brush. How I’ve missed that sight, mo nighean donn: you and your great curly wig, both! I ken well that I laughed, the sound loud and full and bursting, when ye suddenly brandished the brush in a fit of pique when it caught in a tangle. I didna need one bit to peer at the reflection of your lips to ken precisely what it is ye said. Jesus H—RRROOSEVELT Christ! with that pursed, growling R that makes ye sound like a wee, angry bulldog, and at which I can never help but chuckle in delight. I leaned elbows on the desk and sat my face in both hands like a schoolboy, half-covering my mouth as I grinned like one, too; as I watched my sweetheart across the way. 

It shouldna have been altogether a shock, I suppose. I kent you were in town, for I’d come to Inverness to see you, or rather, to see ye safely gone through the stones tomorrow; and yet I canna express what the gift of that unexpected sighting did to fill my heart. It was more than two years since the last time I’d laid eyes on ye, and that memory marred by blood and fear. So, to see ye suddenly there before my eyes, all alight ? I shall cherish that image, always.    

Ye might think it a strange thing to mention, Sassenach (I wonder if I ought to scratch it through, altogether), but to my own shock, I found myself feeling a trifle sad on behalf of Frank Randall, of all people. For, while I hold no great fondness for the man, he is a man, after all, a man who loves you; and how many years has he, too, waited through wartime and separation for a peaceful life with his wife? with the very woman in that window?  Ye chose me, I remind myself, with no little relief and satisfaction: with a free choice between us, I was the one you wanted. Still, I found that I pitied him your loss; that you’d be gone from him forever, first in body and later in your heart, after tonight. 

That is to say, I pitied him right up until the moment I saw the selfsame bastard coming up the street in the storm, at which time all soft, generous consideration was replaced with purest loathing for everything from his hat to his umbrella to the manner of his gait. 

The electricity cut off suddenly enough to be startling, and from the corner of my eye I saw your own light vanish as well. The work of the storm, I should expect. I fumbled for a candle in the desk drawer (when did I become so blind and helpless in the dark, I find myself wondering), and by the time I’d gotten it lit, I could see that you were about the same business, slowly illuminating your room with candle after candle. It was even more breathtaking, to see ye by candlelight again, silk and curl alike sparkling with gold as ye moved about.  

You should know that the moment I saw the door behind ye open, I stood and closed the curtain. The both of ye deserved privacy, this last night. Besides, my jealous imagination would more than manage on its own, I’m afraid, without newsreel footage of the event.

Besides, my brown-haired lass, I shall see ye again on the morrow. 

2 0 2 5   

I have seen ye this day, Sassenach, though not entirely under the circumstances I expected. 

You’d told me, once, that you’d gone to the stones with Frank at sunrise of that morn, and had returned on your own to Craigh na Dun later in the afternoon to gather your wee plants. Hoping to occupy my time until after midday, when I would drive out to the vicinity of the hill to lay in wait, I put on my coat and scarf (your Christmas gift, remember?) and passed the time out on the moors. 

There was naught I cared to hunt, but I hadn’t the mind for it, in any case. I just wandered, unsure if my thoughts would ever settle. There was no task to be done on your behalf, this time, as much as I might prefer otherwise, nothing to be done at all, save wait. I only wanted to see your last moments before ye touched the stones, so I’d ken for certain. Hour after hour, I walked, trying to enjoy the gusting winds and sounds of the animals and trees, but finding little comfort therein. 

Only, just after noon, when I was nearly back to the outskirts of town, I heard the sound of a Car approaching, coming in my direction, and then there ye were, driving fast around the bend in the road. At once, I felt the gripping of horror, for it was so much earlier in the day than I’d anticipated, and I kent I should never be able to get to my own vehicle in enough time to reach the stones before you. 

As I beheld you in all your glory, though, driving that automobile at terrifying speed, and looking absolutely thrilled for it, the fear vanished and peace settled at last. It was alright. That was the way I wished to remember ye these next years in which you’ll be truly gone, mo chridhe; not you vanishing before my eyes, perhaps screaming—as I did— when the stones pull you into their terrible embrace. No, not that: only you, dressed in white, your hair flying free in the wind and your face glowing with inner joy as ye drove off toward our life together. For today, mo chridhe, is the day we met. 

April 16, 1948 

2,557 days

His breath was white against the dark of the wee hours, coming in gasps of exertion as he made his way up the frost-covered faerie hill, heavy-laden in more ways than one. 

He hadn’t often been able to bring himself to write in the diary, since he had left Inverness. It wasn’t that it was a bleak or unhappy time, on the whole. Much like the two years prior, he had both his employment and his personal projects to keep him well-occupied; and even in the quiet moments, there were countless books to read, rides to take, long walks to be had, and prayers to say. 

But as the months wore on, as the days on the calendar began ticking closer and closer to this day, his waking thoughts were plagued by dark thoughts more and more, those that had tormented him so unrelentingly in the earliest days since coming through the stones: that he himself had been sent to a year misaligned with Claire’s own life, and that she might well do the same. In the end, he’d been meant to go to 1941, to be there in that ditch with her and see her rescued. It was a comfort, to be sure, that his steps had been ordained, but that was the very thing: what if she and the bairn were likewise meant, somehow, for some purpose unknown, to be elsewhere? He had given her up with no doubt in his heart that a better life awaited her on the other side of the stones, but who was to say that such a place and time should be—

Let it be with me, Lord, he prayed for the millionth time as he emerged from the wood empty-handed and took up a place of waiting before the terrible stones. That her better life would be now, here, with me. Let it be 1948. 

Dawn broke, in golds and pinks across the horizon. The birds in the nearby wood began their twittering chorus, joyously heralding the start of the new day. Back in 1746, it would be sunrise, as well—the redcoats would be arriving—she would be running up the hill—

Minutes passed. 

And passed. 

An hour. 

Grant her to me again, he begged, his back and his heart aching with the pain of every passing second as he waited, give me once more this rare woman, and I will love her still better than before. I swear it by all that I am. 

Eight o’clock. 

Please.... Please....

Ten o’clock

He was in the grass on his knees in the center of the circle, palms upturned 

Let her place be with me.

Noon

Tell me what I must do to make it so; what I must give in return.

Tell me.

Just tell me and I’ll do it. 

Three o’clock. 

Give me strength, he prayed unendingly as the evil whisperings of doubt crowded around his heart.  Give me the strength to wait beyond the time of hope. Guide my steps to her as you did before. Give me the strength to find her. 

Sunset.

“Lord, that she might be safe,” he wept aloud over shaking hands, despair he hadn’t known since 1746 rending him apart, “wherever she is. Wherever she has gone, she and the—”

A crack like the sting of a whip rent though the world. 

His legs hadn’t even fully straightened before he caught her. 

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only) INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART XI

MOD NOTE: this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[maeberrycosplay]

We covered our cosplay process in our panel “Queer and Plus Sized Cosplay” at ClexaCon, but we thought it might be fun to walk you through how we do it for those who missed our panel. And who better to model it after than the beloved Hollstein heroines that we brought to life on the floor at ClexaCon? Now, for those who did not get to see us walking around we did not choose the street wear looks for Carmilla and Laura. As cosplayers (and having worn their Season 1 clothes the first year of ClexaCon) we can attest that street wear, while great for closet cosplaying, is not quite as impressive as a fully built cosplay and we really wanted to make a statement as panelists. So, we created the gowns from the ball in The Carmilla Movie, ruffles and all. It was our most ambitious project yet, but @skyberry13 has been wanting to dive into ballgowns for a while now and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Step 1: What do You Want to Cosplay?

So, before we even start researching a cosplay, when we are deciding what we want to do there are some vital questions we ask ourselves:

Where Are We Wearing it?

What is Your Budget?

How Long Do You Have?

What Are Your Favorite Characters?

Is A Favorite Actor/Actress A Guest?

Do You Want To Do A Closet Cosplay?

Do we want to mash up two different characters?

What version of the character do you want to do?

Obviously many of these are a ‘do as we say and not as we do’ situation since walking between hotels and around the casino floors in ball gowns was not our greatest idea yet and I promise the fabrics for Laura and Carmilla were not cheap. But this is a good list of ideas and things to consider when deciding on a cosplay. Really, our deciding factor on cosplaying Hollstein was that Natasha Negovanlis and Elise Bauman would be guests at ClexaCon and we really wanted to impress them.

Step 2: Draft a Timeline

Before you do anything you need to take a serious look at how far out you are from the event you plan on wearing  your cosplay at. We definitely should have started earlier on this project. If you follow our Instagram, in true professional cosplayer fashion we checked our sewing machine on our flight and were sewing up until the day we wore the dresses. Depending on the complexity and size of the project, you want to start earlier. Knowing how apt at sewing and how long certain types of garments will take will serve you well. We bought the fabric for this cosplay in February, which, did not give us much time. I would suggest six months to a year for a big project. If there are additional embellishments like embroidery or special stitching, possibly a year or more. But for those cosplayers who like to fly by the seat of their pants A.K.A. us and almost every “professional” cosplayer we know, make a timeline that works for you. Life happens, so be prepared and factor that into your timeline in advance. Part of our unexpected drama which shortened our timeline on these dresses was the lack of purple striped fabric in the world which meant that we had to dye it on top of everything else, which we’ll go over later.

Step 3: Search for Reference Photos 

View on Twitter

This is one of the best parts of creating a cosplay even though not a single fabric has been cut. It is the first stage of imagining what your cosplay will look like. I start with Google, but with live action there is a sad lack of 3D images of costumes. Finding photos of the Hollstein gowns from the back proved almost impossible, but we have become really good finders through our cosplay research and, of course, my day job optimizing SEO. I also like to gather character reference photos that, while they may not depict the costume best are good poses for photoshoots of your cosplay. Planning out poses ahead of time before you are taken aback by people wanting your picture on the convention floor is a good practice.

Step 4: Take/Know Your Measurements

The most common measurements needed are Bust, Waist, and Hips. If you know these then you can figure out what size patterns you will need. The Bust is the measurement taken at the widest part of your chest. The measuring tape should be parallel to the ground. If you do not have a measuring tape, but have a hard ruler then you can use a piece of string to get your measurement. The Waist measurement is taken at the smallest part of your torso. The Hip measurement is taken at the widest part of your butt. Some other measurements that you might come across on a pattern are the neck, shoulder (width of one shoulder to the other), under bust (directly under breasts, along the rib cage), torso length (along the back from the base of neck to the top of butt), leg inseam (from the crotch to where you want the hemline), leg out seam (waistline to hemline), arm inseam (armpit to wrist), and arm out seam (shoulder to wrist).

Step 5: Find/Modify/Make Patterns

@skyberry13 searching for patterns with @moonlitprince at Joann’s

This step is where you really need to get creative, because the likelihood of you finding a single pattern that is exactly what you need is pretty much zero. So, you are going to need to pull from several different patterns to create your final look. The skirt for Laura came from a wedding gown pattern (Butterick B4131), and the top was from a pattern set that had separate corsets and skirts (Butterick B6338). From that I found the correct corset shape and skirt shape, but I needed them to be one piece. This is where the frankenstiening begins. I knew I was going to have to heavily modify the pattern for it to do what I needed it to do, but it was going to be easier to make the mock up according to the original directions and manipulate the mock up into the new pieces I would need. Carmilla’s dress did, in fact, come from one pattern but required heavy modifications as well (Butterick B5969). Ironically, I really do not like Butterick patterns. They are hard to read and the instructions can be confusing. I prefer McCall’s and Simplicity. They have a wider selection of costume style patterns so they are easier to work with for cosplay. Butterick does have the market cornered on historically accurate patterns and that is why they worked out best for our Carmilla and Laura.

Step 6: Choose Your Fabrics/Materials

Picking the right fabric is critical to the overall outcome of your finished costume. Are you wearing a bodysuit? Cotton probably isn’t the way to go. A ballgown? Sure spandex looks fun, but it’s not going to have the weight needed to have a flowing dress. If you are stubborn, you can make pretty much anything work, but here are some tricks that I use and some that I have yet had the opportunity to use. For general sewing of woven fabric I always use a heavy duty needle. Is it overkill? Yeah, probably, but I’ve had too many needles break on me because they couldn’t keep up with the speed I was sewing at. However, if you are working with a finer woven fabric like lace or chiffon you should switch to a more delicate needle to prevent snagging. If working with denim or leather go ahead and use a denim or leather needle. They make specific ones on purpose. The trickiest fabric to work with is knit fabrics. This is basically going to be anything with stretch. defaultThere are also special needles for knit fabric called ball point, they also prevent snagging. There are some fabrics out there that can be sticky. The easiest solution is to use a walking foot on your machine. If it is still sticking you can put tissue paper on both sides of the fabric you are working on. When you are done with the seam, you just tear the paper away. Sometimes, you will not be able to find the fabric you need in the color you need. That’s okay. There are so many dye options. There are dyes for both natural and synthetic fibers (RIT had both, Polydye works on synthetics). RIT has a guide for color mixing to get you all sorts of colors. (Here is RITs official page but there are also tons of guides on Pinterest.) There are also plenty of household food items that can be used on natural fabrics (coffee, tea, KoolAid). The most important part when you are dying fabric is to make sure you have all that you need. It is nearly impossible to come back and match a second batch to your first batch. (Trust me, I know. Carmilla’s skirt was supposed to be only one color of purple.)

Step 7: Create Mock Ups/ Do a Fitting

This is when things get crazy. Mock-ups should be made in a much cheaper fabric so that if you need to do it over you will not cry. Most of the time muslin is a good fabric to use, but you should use a fabric that is similar in weight and stretch to your final fabric to get an accurate fitting. If the original pattern is similar enough to your end product it is easier to just create your mock-up following the original instructions. Once the mock-up is complete you can begin your modifications. Laura’s skirt was exactly what I needed so I left it alone but, like I mentioned previously, the top required heavy mods. The corset and top skirt started out as separate pieces so I first sewed those together. Fortunately, the way the pattern was designed, most of the seams lined up. Once it was all together, I made sure I liked the way it fit. When I was happy with it I began the process of taking it all apart with a seam ripper. If you can, you should use a longer straight stitch in your mock-ups so it will come apart quicker. Once you have it disassembled, you can use your mock-up pieces as the pattern for you final product.

Step 8: Sewing and Crafting

This is the part that will take the longest, so prepare yourself. If the original pattern worked for you go ahead and follow the directions that came with it. If you had to bend the pattern to your will, make sure you take note of the order things will need to be sewn in. A smart person would actually write it down like a journal or something… but that’s not how it happens in my craft room so I just number my pieces. Fortunately, this works for me, so do whatever works for you. The worst thing about making ballgowns is the sheer amount of fabric that goes into one. This means long seams and even longer hemlines, so buckle-up cupcake, you’re in for the long haul (cries). Once you have it all together you are going to want to put it on again to make sure that it still fits. If you need to make adjustments, put it on inside out and pin along the seams that need fitting.

Crafting is @operadivablock’s specialty. It basically means props and all embellishments on the clothing. For Laura’s gown this meant pleating all of her ruffles by hand. So, for days I sat there with an iron and folded each pleat into place before running the iron over it and letting it dry in place until it held it’s shape. The only other embellishments on Laura’s gown was a circular broach like element laying at the cleavage and corresponding to the one on Carmilla’s gown in the middle of her flower, and a single ruffle of white chiffon along the bottom of the skirt, made that same way as the ruffles on Carmilla’s.

Carmilla’s gown had allot more work as far as embellishment. To begin, the bulk of the dress and it’s train are made up of striped purple ruffles. As we mentioned earlier there was no purple white and black fabric to be found. So, we bought 10 yards of a white and black fabric and dyed it with a purple polyester dye. First we cut across the grain of the fabric with the stripes of the pattern upright for six inch strips.  The dying process is pretty straightforward, but for that amount of fabric it took longer. We have a large dying pot where we mix the water and dying components before putting the fabric in. The fabric steeped for half an hour with constant stirring. Then, we rinsed it off in cold water to retain the color while washing off the dye. We let it air dry outside for about an hour. Then we ironed each strip so that @skyberry13 could crate the ruffles. (I made the ruffles separately by pleating about every 2 inches. Then I attached the ruffles to the dress.) Unfortunately, we underestimated how many ruffles would be required to go around the circumference of the gown as many times as was needed so we had to repeat this process twice which ended in two different colors of purple.

For the embellishments on Carmilla’s gown we bought some laces that could be cut into similar shapes as those lining the front opening of her gown. We sewed those in place along the edges of the opening. We then found a single black and white fabric daisy, cut the stem off and glued the matching broach in the middle before mounting it to the right side of the front opening.

There are also chokers for each of these cosplays. Laura’s is made up on two pieces of white lace with triangular fringe sewn together and a scalloped silver pleather strip glued along the center with E6000. Carmilla’s choker was made with a black pleather ribbon with silver spikes sewn at two inch intervals. Then, I hammered on clips at the edges and attached lobster claw clasps.

The props for these cosplays were masques from the masquerade ball. There were also few pictures of this, but we finally found a closeup online that helped us craft them to a T. I started with white bases that had almond shaped eyes and the face shape I was looking for and wooden dowels. I cut the black wooden dowels in half and sanded off the edges. I also sanded the edges of the masks to make sure everything was smooth and then sprayed a clear primer on, letting that dry. Then I spray painted them a matte black. I coated them with a clear matte coat once they were dry. I used a mixture of hot glue to hold the rod to the edge of the mask and E6000 under it to permanently glue the two together. Then I used various beading elements, rhinestones and feathers to decorate each mask as it appeared on the show.

Step 9: Choose Wigs

While many cosplayers favor more expensive wigs from cosplay specific brands like Epic Cosplay Wigs and Arda Wigs we tend to lean towards the less expensive options. Mainly, we purchase wigs from Amazon and have only had a couple we were not happy with. While they may are made of lower quality fibers the maintenance on them fixes them right up. Of course, there will be frizz which you would not experience with a higher quality wig because of the type of fibers it is made out of. I would, however, caution against anything but a heat resistant wig unless you know for sure it will never need styling. Since we do order from Amazon, we can order the wigs closer to the convention, however, if you are ordering specialized wigs or do not have Amazon Prime I suggest leaving an extra week between the expected arrival date just in case.

Step 10: Finalize the Details

You’ve done it. It’s all one piece and it is wearable. Congratulations! Are all the loose strings cut? Did you add all the embellishments? Do you have shoes? You bought a wig, but is is styled? What are you going to do with your face? Make-up? Some contouring? Do you need to do a body paint? Do you have all of your props together? How long are you going to be able to wear your costume? There is no shame in needing to change halfway through the day. Your comfort is so important. Is your costume going to require a friend to act as a handler so you don’t get stomped on? These are just some of the things you need to consider before calling your costume finalized. But once you’ve dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s, you’re good to go! Time to rest? Probably not if you cut it close to the deadline, but have fun and revel in all of the hard work you have put into your costume!

For those of you who want to join in the craziness of creating a cosplay from scratch, welcome to the insanity. You will sweat, you’ll likely cry, and there will probably be blood; but the end result is totally worth it all. For those of you that aren’t sure if you want to sign up for that but still want to enjoy costume play. Go for it! Whether you commission a piece or do a closet cosplay, your cosplay is still valid and still something to be proud of. Be kind to each other and encourage everyone, no matter what their skill level is.

That is our cosplay process. These 10 steps were only the first slide of our panel “Queer and Plus Sized Cosplay” at ClexaCon 2018. Keep an eye out for our future appearances as panelists, hopefully at ClexaCon again next year! If you want to see our Carmilla Movie ballgowns in action check out ClexaCon’s Sunday Highlights video from their YouTube channel.

  Bringing Hollstein to Life for ClexaCon We covered our cosplay process in our panel "Queer and Plus Sized Cosplay" at ClexaCon, but we thought it might be fun to walk you through how we do it for those who missed our panel.

[merlinficreview]

The Student Prince: Chapter 1-5 Review!

Sorry it’s been 84 years since Romeo or I have posted anything. Romeo is back to school for the semester so her time is limited and work has been really draining on me recently. Never fear, we are still here though and I’ve got a review!

The Student Prince by FayJay

Word Count: 145222

Ok guys, this is it. The infamous Student Prince fic. I have read this one before and I liked it because it seems to be the closest fic I’ve found to a modernized version of the BBC show. Plus, as I’ve already said before, I am a sucker for Modern Royalty AUs. This fic also takes place at the University of St. Andrews, which I know nothing about. So google will be my trusty friend throughout this review.

Here we go!

Chapter 1

We begin with Merlin getting hit in the face with some luggage and falling onto some poor elderly lady. Merlin has to maintain an extra sense of control when objects are flying towards his face because he has magic and doesn’t want to out himself. Yay Modern Day Magic Fic!

So it turns out the luggage situation was someone else’s fault. “She glanced from Merlin to the lady and then back again, her face the picture of mortification, and Merlin – who had been feeling a little disgruntled about the whole unexpected-rain-of-luggage scenario – took one look at her huge brown eyes and immediately wanted to reassure her that he had thoroughly enjoyed being knocked half unconscious.” Haha, aww.

The luggage canon introduces herself as Gwen. Yay, Gwen! She is studying engineering at St. Andrews. I think it’s weird that Gwen already has all her textbooks. Have they already signed up for their classes? How would she know what to buy?

Gwen tells Merlin she also has a hammer in her bag. "’Of course there is,’ nodded Merlin, gravely. ‘Who travels without a hammer in their luggage these days? One never knows when a spot of joinery might be in order.’ The corner of his mouth twitched. ‘Stop!’ he said, raising one hand in front of him. Gwen blinked, and after a beat Merlin added: ‘Hammer Time! Dooo doodoodoo! Doodoo! Doo! Hammer Time!’ as he improvised a quick, and truly terrible, attempt at the Hammer Dance in the cramped confines of the aisle.’”

Oh my God. How embarrassing. Stop it, Merlin. Then Gwen tells Merlin that she makes her own jewelry and Merlin is super impressed. Merlin even does the dance a second time and I want to crawl in a hole and die from secondhand embarrassment. Merlin, you JUST met Gwen. Calm yourself.

“’Hey, it's not really Merlin, is it?’ Gwen asked, looking at him sidelong. ‘I mean – really really? You're pulling my leg, right? I mean – nobody's called Merlin. Why would any woman name her baby after an old man with a long white beard and a pointy hat? It's like calling your baby Gandalf.’” This is the second time Gwen has awkwardly expressed disbelief about Merlin’s name. Stop being weirdly obsessed with his name, Gwen. How fucking rude. Poor Merlin. Getting assaulted by luggage and then getting his name made fun of. Good start to college, Merlin. Good start.

Then Gwen points out that Prince Arthur is also going to be attending St. Andrews and she says Merlin and Arthur will become besties. Merlin points out that her name is Guinevere and that she’ll be future queen.

"’That isn't why I applied there,’ she insisted. ‘I mean, I know that there must be thousands of girls who filled in their UCAS forms with St Andrews just because they're living some kind of stupid “Princess Diaries” fantasy and they think they're going to meet him and he'll fall for them and they'll end up with a tiara and a load of corgis, but I'm serious about my career. St Andrews has an excellent engineering department. I was going to apply there long before I heard that's where Arthur was going.’”

But that’s not the plot of The Princess Diaries at all?

I also have the St. Andrews website pulled up because like I said, I know nothing about it, or going to school in the UK, to be honest, and it doesn’t even look like St. Andrews has an engineering department. Man, Gwen is going to be pissed when she finds out she spent all her money on textbooks for a degree her school doesn’t offer.

Then Gwen tells us how King Uther met his wife while they were at Oxford once upon a time. "It's such a beautiful story, isn't it? The way they met at Oxford when she borrowed his jar of Gold Blend, not even realising he was the Prince of Wales at first because he was in the middle of shaving and she was distracted by her friend's dog...oh, they were so in love!" Gold Blend is coffee, by the way. I had to google it too. In what situation would a man be shaving his face next to a container of instant coffee while a random dog is nearby? That’s such an odd scene to imagine. Maybe she knocked in his door to borrow the coffee and she had the dog with her? Were there co-ed dormitories back then?

Merlin is just as suspicious about this story as I am and pops Gwen’s bubble, telling her it was most likely PR. I agree.

"Merlin shook his head mutely, and carefully didn't mention any of the books or magazines he might possibly have read about Prince Arthur and his family. Especially not the outrageously hot photoshoot in GQ magazine that he'd been hiding under his bed for the past three months, and frantically jerking off to most nights. Nope, definitely not mentioning that. Gwen rolled her eyes. ‘Uther and Igraine – it's like a modern day Romeo and Juliet!’" First of all, 100% do not mention that to Gwen. Good decision. Second of all, Gwen has a really hard time grasping plots, doesn’t she? No wonder she decided to major in a non-existent department at her university. She’s not a very bright girl.

We then learn that Merlin is planning to major in physics. That is a department at St. Andrews, good job, Merlin! Then Gwen compares their journey to Hogwarts. “He found himself wishing he could explain about Professor Gaius and Doctor Nimueh, and about the kind of text books he had stuffed into the bottom of his rucksack – but that wasn't going to happen. Magic was secret, and secret it should stay. Nobody wanted to go back to the days of witchburnings.” Poor Merlin. It’s always so sad that he has to hide himself. I will also give him a pass for already having magic books because that’s different.

Gwen and Merlin talk a little more about Harry Potter and then go right back to talking about Arthur and how they’ll probably never meet him. Well…

Then Merlin gets real depressing real fast. "Whatever. All those posh interbred types with more rooms than they know what to do with and flocks of sheep wandering around on their enormous ancient estates - that's who he'll be hanging out with. Not with a physics student from a grotty little council estate in Cardiff, or an engineering student – however lovely – who lives above her dad's garage in Wembley. Face it – we don't have our own flocks of sheep." Brutal Honesty Hour! It’s my favorite time of day!

Merlin then shares some chocolate with Gwen and they enjoy the rest of their train ride.

Chapter 2

“The door was open a crack when Merlin reached his room in St Salvator's Hall, and he could hear voices inside, and what sounded rather a lot like The Rolling Stones.” I looked up St. Salvator’s Hall and holy crap those rooms are nice. According to the photos, the rooms are like twice as big as the dorm rooms of the university I went to. I also decided to compare prices, for funsies, and also to sit and cry about how much more ridiculously expensive it is to go to university here than in other countries. The fee for a shared room at St. Salvator’s Hall is £5,837 which includes a meal plan. That’s 6292.55 USD for comparison. At the University that I went to, a shared room with communal bath is 6,795 USD. This does not include a meal plan which could add up to around 800 USD if you pick the one with the most meals. Those rates are also per semester and not for the entire academic year. Now, St. Salvator’s rate does not state whether the fee is per semester or for the whole year but either way, it’s still way more expensive here in the US. It also looks like St. Salvator Hall doesn’t have communal bathrooms like the one located here that I looked up. Yay not affordable education here in the US!

Anyways, Merlin enters the room and his roommate is none other than the Prince of Wales himself, Arthur. Oh my god. I NEVER saw that one coming!

“’Only – I thought – well, I pretty much assumed that you'd be staying over at New Hall. Where they have single rooms. And ensuites with all the mod cons,’ blurted Merlin. ‘Not sharing a room in Sally's. Why are you sharing a room in Sally's?’ Arthur frowned. ‘Because I lost a bet, if you must know. With my father.’ He stared at Merlin, looking puzzled and a touch irritated. ‘You weren't expecting this, then? They didn't get you to sign things – Official Secrets Act, all that?’” I think that’s a fair question Merlin is asking and I also want to know what sort of bet Arthur lost. How fucking awkward that no one alerted Merlin to who his roommate was supposed to be. Don’t they give out roommate names before the semester starts?

So then Arthur gets bitchy that Merlin hasn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement. “Well – sorry if this sounds, you know, rude, but basically if you touch any of my stuff, or take photos of me or my friends, or tape conversations, or sell your story to the press, or – basically, if you act like a dick, right? Well, we're talking Tower of London, pretty much. That's the Cliff Notes version.”

Calm the fuck down, Arthur. Throwing Merlin in the tower for borrowing your history book is way too excessive. So then Merlin asks if he can make a citizen’s arrest if Arthur does any the aforementioned things to Merlin. Good job, Merlin. Arthur is a complete asshole about that, acting like Merlin’s stuff is grosser than the stuff on the bottom on Arthur’s shoes and tells Merlin he will replace anything he ruins with something of “equal value.” "’Like a stick of gum,’ murmured Kay, sniggering.” Yeah, be prepared to really really fucking hate Kay in this. "’I can see why you have to swear people to secrecy, if this is how you act when you're not around a reporter,’ blurted out Merlin, feeling cheated. ‘You really are a massive prat, aren't you? A smug, self-entitled, patronising git.’” Yassssss. You tell him, Merlin.

Arthur and his friends leave and then Merlin goes to find Gaius. We learn a little about the School of Sorcery. This School can be found in every single building on campus, one just has to find the special door with a dragon on it. Merlin finds the door located in his residence hall. Of course the dragon on the door talks to Merlin, "’Young Merlin!’ it said, in a voice like a rusty gate, blinking sulphurous eyes impossibly as it writhed through the wood like an eel in water. ‘Back so soon?’ ‘What?’ Merlin stared at it. ‘I haven't – this is my first time here, Master Dragon.’” So we get a little hint of reincarnation.

Merlin finds Gaius who tries to shoo him away until Merlin gives him his name. Gaius changes his tune after that and tells Merlin he knew his father. The first thing Merlin does is complain about sharing a room with Prince Arthur. He says it will make it too hard to hide his magic. “Gaius blinked at him owlishly. ‘Then I suggest that you learn some discretion, young man, and quickly,’ he said.’” That is such an annoying adult thing to say. What a non-answer. Poor Merlin. Gaius tells Merlin he is supposed to be rooming with Arthur so he can protect him and that wizards have always protected kings and queens. Merlin is unhappy with this news.

Chapter 3

This chapter opens with:

“Hey, Gwen – how's McIntosh Hall?

Brilliant! How's Sallies?

View good, mattress soft, roommate total plonker. Yours?

She seems OK. Sorry you got plonker. Want to meet later & go to Union together?

God, yes please!” It’s written just like that (italics represent direct quotes and bold represents italics within the fic. You know the drill). I assume they are texting.

Anyways: “It was the tail-end of summer, but apparently that meant something rather different on the East coast of Scotland than it did in Wales, and by the time Merlin got to Gwen's Hall of Residence he was wishing he'd brought a coat, rather than just pulling on a black v-neck jumper.” Does Merlin not know how to read a map, or?

Like… I know the UK is small compared to the US but he can’t really be that surprised that the Northern part of the UK is colder than the Southern part. There’s almost 500 miles in between Cardiff and St. Andrews. I’m glad Merlin isn’t majoring in geography.

So Merlin meets up with Gwen outside her residence hall where she has acquired a gentleman caller. It’s probably Lance. Merlin and Gwen hug. “’Hey, you,’ he said into her hair, feeling something in his chest tighten unexpectedly. ‘I missed you.’”

Calm down, Merlin. You’ve known her for thirty seconds and only been away for her for three of those.

Lance is not happy with Merlin’s presence. “’Hi, Lance,’ he said, ducking his head in Lance's general direction. Lance smiled back – or at least, he bared his teeth, which was almost the same thing. Merlin had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. ‘Hi,’ said Lance reaching out a hand that Merlin rather suspected was going to be bone-crushing. He let go of Gwen and accepted the handshake, and managed not to buckle under the pressure of Lance's Very Manly Indeed deathgrip of macho posturing.” LOL HOW HILARIOUS. Men treating women like objects and prizes to be won. Real knee slapper, that joke.

Gwen tells Merlin that Lance is going to be her Academic Dad and then informs us that there’s only 8 weeks until Raisin Weekend. Thanks, Exposition Gwen! So I also googled this Academic Family business since that’s not a thing we have here. So, basically an Academic Mum and Academic Dad are like mentors for first year students and freshmen are allowed to ask for someone to be their Academic Mother but the Academic Dad has to do the asking to the freshmen. So it makes no sense that Gwen was so shocked about Lance asking her. Whatever. Raisin Weekend is basically just an excuse to drink excessively with your Academic Parents and dress up in costumes that Monday and have shaving cream fights. Typical college nonsense.

“’Well, if I'd known they were giving away hot blokes with every room, I'd definitely have put my name down for McIntosh Hall.’ Lance made a startled noise, and his territorial expression shifted rather quickly into something entirely different and almost maiden auntish as Gwen punched Merlin's arm.” Get it, because Gay Merlin is no longer a threat to Lance chasing after Gwen. No one tell Lance bisexual people exist. I think his head would explode. No, you know what? Someone should tell him. He’s an asshole.

“Lance gave her a slightly sheepish grin. ‘It's okay,’ he said. ‘I'll be your designated driver – I'm not big on the alcohol.’ ‘I don't need a designated driver,’ said Gwen, looking at him sidelong. ‘It's a three minute walk! It would take longer to get a car started than it would to get there!’ ‘Right – well, designated guard dog, then. Or knight in shining armour, or guardian angel, or overprotective Dad – whatever you want to call it. I don't drink, so, you know – I'll make sure you're okay. Promise.’”

Oh my God. Slow your fucking roll and let her do what she wants. She’s not some poor defenseless damsel in distress.

Lance gives off an extreme sense of superiority in this fic. He’s a Buddhist, doesn’t drink, volunteers all over the fucking place as Professional Knight in Shining armor and he’s vegan. “’My Dad disapproves of the veganism,’ he admitted, sheepishly. ‘But it's not so hard, really. It feels good, knowing who I am, and what I want out of life. Being mindful in all things.’” Be more pretentious, Lance. Really, I want to see if you can top all of that.

“Merlin studied Lance, trying not to be too damned obvious about it. He wasn't at all sure if this guy was for real, or if he was playing some kind of elaborate joke, with all this holier-than-thou schtick. There was a disconcerting intensity to the man. Merlin wanted to like him, but he wasn't at all sure what to make of him. He did seem a bit too good to be true.” See, Merlin knows.

Oh and Lance is going to teach Gwen kickboxing. He has classes on Wednesday. Of course he does. Merlin is not into it, especially after meeting one of Lance’s students, Elaine. “Merlin looked at her biceps and swallowed. ‘Yeah – no thanks,’ he said, with a watery grin. ‘I've got a suspicion she'd crush me like a bug.’” Mostly I just included this because I wanted to talk about the phrase, “watery grin.” I see this ALL THE TIME in fanfic and it drives me crazy. What the fuck is a “watery grin?” If your smile is “watery,” swallow your fucking spit. That’s disgusting.

“Gwen bit her lip and glanced up at them. ‘Would you hate me forever if I left you for five minutes?’ she asked. ‘I need the ladies' room. I know I should have gone before we left, but I was caught up talking, and I didn't get around to it. Can you wait for me?’ ‘Until the stars fall from the sky,’ said Lance, bowing with an elaborate flourish that made Gwen roll her eyes.”

I don’t even have a response to this bullshit.

So Gwen goes to the bathroom and Merlin does his, “hurt her and I’ll kill you,” speech to Lance and afterwards they become friends and Lance offers to be Merlin’s Academic Dad.

When Gwen comes back she is absolutely flipping her shit because she saw Arthur. “’ComeOnComeOnComeOnComeOn!’ she said in a singsong voice. ‘You should see him! He's sitting at a table! Drinking a beer!’” Yes, let’s all go and gawk at him like an animal in the zoo. Gwen and Lance are being really annoying so far.

So Merlin tells Gwen that Arthur is his roommate and that he’s an asshole. He then requests that they not go stare at him like total creepers. Gwen is not happy. “He looked at Gwen and sighed. ‘Look, I promise that you'll get to see him again. In fact I'll text you when he's in the room, so you'll know when's a good time to swing by and visit me in Sally's and meet him properly. I'm sure he'd love to pose for a photo with you, and give you his signature, and all that kind of meet'n'greet thing.’” Ok, Merlin. This shit is why Arthur already doesn’t like you. No inviting people over to stalk your roommate and make promises on his behalf. Stop it.

They all go dance and Merlin makes a fool of himself doing the hammer dance, covered in glitter, wearing DIY hammer dance pants (I don’t know) that he got from… somewhere. Arthur stares at him and Merlin falls off the stage.

Chapter 4

Merlin wonders how many other sorcerers are at St. Andrews and we learn that he is there on scholarship. Must be nice. My poor loan debt ass is going to be paying for the two years I spent in nursing school for like ten years. Cheers.

Merlin hears Gwen laughing, “He spotted her over on the other side of the room, in front of a table advertising the St Andrews Fencing Society.” Gwen? Fencing? I mean, I guess. Why not? She’ll have a lot of time on her hands when she realizes the major she’s chosen doesn’t exist at that school. Gwen is with her roommate, Sophia.

“With that thought in mind, he marched purposefully over to the rainbow-festooned table advertising the St Andrews LGBT Society in cheery glittering letters. ‘Sign me up,’ he said, firmly, grinning at a bald girl with enough silver in her various cavities to sink a small ship. ‘I'm a card-carrying friend of Dorothy, and I'm gagging for a shag.’” What a colorful way to introduce yourself, Merlin.

Merlin stops in the middle of registering for his LGBT club to fantasize about Arthur. As you do.  “’Oh, marvellous,’ said a faintly familiar voice behind him, rippling with laughter. ‘Oh, that's just perfect. Does Arthur know yet?’” The person is Morgana, “’Er...?’ he said, trying to think where he knew her from. ‘Sorry, are you talking to me?’ ‘He doesn't, does he? There'd have been even more bitching and whining if he did,’ she said, decisively. ‘Oh, this is going to be good.’” Get it? Because Arthur’s homophobia is such a hilarious joke and it’s going to be SO LAUGHABLE when he finds out his roommate is gay.

Merlin goes out for coffee with Morgana, who I do like in this fic minus her laughing at Merlin’s sexual orientation in the previous scene. Morgana asks Merlin if he is in to Arthur. “He's an insufferable, rude, arrogant, overprivileged berk, and I wouldn't suck his cock if he was the last man on earth and he was paying me, so there!” Me thinks the man doth protest too much.

“Fine. We won't talk about how much you want to get into my cousin's royal boxer shorts. So – magic!” Morgana gives no fucks. I like that about her. Merlin freaks out because you can’t just go talking about magic all willy nilly like that. Merlin insists on calling magic “macramé,” but Morgana is having none of it. They decided that their cover story for being so familiar with one another is that they have played World of Warcraft for years and are finally meeting in person. Sure. We also learn that Morgana is studying Art History. Good job, Morgana. That is also a subject that St. Andrews provides.

“’Now then – word on the street is that you might actually be worthy of that remarkable name.’ She took a long, thoughtful drag, and Merlin watched blue curls of smoke snake out of her nostrils like she was some kind of very small, elegant dragon. ‘Is it true that you changed the seasons?’ she asked. ‘No!’ Merlin said. ‘Or at least – well, not on purpose.’” Yikes, Merlin. I guess Merlin was 10 and throwing a tantrum about cherries not being in season so he changed the season from winter to summer. He also summoned a kracken when he was 12 years old on a school field trip. Poor Hunith having to deal with Merlin. He sounds like an insufferable child.

They then proceed to get drunk and Morgana becomes Merlin’s Academic Mother thingy. Merlin gets Morgana to be Gwen’s as well.

Chapter 5

Merlin gets back to his dorm and Arthur is there. Arthur apologizes to Merlin and suggests they start over. Arthur then realizes that Merlin is drunk. Merlin drunkenly tells Arthur that he is friends with Morgana and they were drinking together and that she is now Merlin’s Academic Mother. Turns out she is also Arthur’s. Who didn’t see that one coming? Arthur admits that he looked Merlin up and knows a lot of stuff about him. Merlin says stuff he shouldn’t say, basically admitting he is a sorcerer and he finds Arthur hot and Arthur doesn’t pick up on any of it. Arthur is stupid.

Merlin starts to fall asleep on the floor and Arthur can’t have that, for platonic friend reasons, and so he gets Merlin into bed and decides to help him drink water and take some pain killers. “There was an uncertain space of time, and then Merlin was being manhandled upright by someone warm and shirtless, who smelled good. Merlin knew he smelled good because he was slumped bonelessly with his nose pressed into the hollow of a freshly-washed collarbone. Because it seemed like a good idea, he licked it, and made a small appreciative sound, and then tried a gentle bite. The owner of the collarbone gave a startled hiss, and flinched away, but didn't drop him; and the voice, when it came again, was decidedly hoarse.”

See, Arthur is fucking stupid. If a friend/someone I wasn’t into randomly bit and licked my chest, drunk or not, I would be like, “yo, that’s not cool.” Because that’s not something someone does with their platonic friend.

When Merlin wakes up, “Another thought wandered idly through his brain, and he was faintly aware that it was significant: he wasn't alone. He was, in fact, wrapped around somebody else in the manner of an affectionate baby octopus, one leg tangled between theirs, one arm hooked firmly around a neat naked waist and his mouth pressed damply into the warm, soft-sharp curve of a shoulder blade.” Arthur is awake too, “Do you have any idea of how much fun and frivolity I could have been having last night, while you were busy cutting off the circulation in my limbs? I'll have you know I was going to have a fantastic evening.”

Umm… you made the choice to stay behind and spend the night cuddling your roommate, Arthur. You could have shoved him over if you wanted to.

Merlin and Arthur go get breakfast together. Merlin texts Gwen to tell her about Morgana being their Academic Mother and that she is also Arthur’s. Gwen freaks the fuck out.

That’s it for this review. It’s a decent set-up to the fic. We get to know a little bit about Merlin and how powerful he is. We also have a rough start to the Arthur/Merlin friendship but then it’s nice to see Arthur actually own up to his shit and apologize to Merlin. Arthur is stupid for not realizing how into him Merlin is. Gwen and Lance have been pretty annoying so far and if I remember correctly, they continue to be insufferable for the majority of this fic because their “will they won’t they” cliché set-up is stupid.

Until next time

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only) INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART XII

MOD NOTE: this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[imagineclaireandjamie]

For FMM- Jamie meets this guy named Murray, that comes from a Scottish family and for the story he tells Jamie he could be a descendant of Jenny and Ian.

Flood my Mornings: Hogmanay 

Notes from Mod Bonnie:

This story takes place in an AU in which Jamie travels through the stones two years after Culloden and finds Claire and his child in 1950 Boston.

See all past installments via Bonnie’s Master List

Previous installment:  Flood my (Christmas) Mornings 

December 31, 1950

“Is it ridiculous that I’m feeling nervous as a girl on the first day of school?” I asked, smoothing my coat with one hand and squeezing Bree’s hand with the other as we waited in the tidy hallway outside the MacAlister’s door. 

“You’ve no reason, lass,” Jamie assured me. I knew he wanted to put his arm around my back, but his hands were full of whisky bottles and Bree’s diaper bag. He did manage to lean in and kiss my cheek. “They’ll take to ye just fine.” 

This particular get-together was long overdue. I’d been delighted to learn about Jamie’s serendipitous meeting with the Irish hurling group, and the subsequent connection with the lone Scot, Charlie MacAlister. Though Jamie had gone several times since to join the game or else get a drink one-on-one with Charlie (apparently a chap after Jamie’s own heart in many ways), the several times we had tried to schedule a family dinner since Halloween, the fates had always seen fit to intervene, with holidays, birthdays, morning sickness, et cetera, et cetera. 

Fitting, though, that at long last, we should be spending this thoroughly Scottish holiday with a thoroughly Scottish (well, Gaelic, collectively) family. 

The door opened with a bang and a roar of “A GOOD NEW YEAR TO YE!!”

Even in the first five seconds of our acquaintance, Charlie MacAlister gave me so strong a recollection of a MacKenzie clansman, I felt like I’d been jolted back into Castle Leoch itself. Jocular, irreverent, fiercely protective and loyal to a fault, those men had alternately vexed and delighted and protected and astounded me with their vigor and kindness and overall enthusiasm for living, in all its forms. 

Perhaps that’s why it didn’t perturb me in the slightest that Jamie’s friend’s choice greeting was to lift me clear off my feet in a massive rib-crushing hug; and even though it was the first time I was laying eyes on the man, I couldn’t help but laugh and hug him back , brimming with warmth and affection at once. “Well, hello to you too!”  I felt Jamie relax behind me: I’d given my permission, so he would not come to my rescue. I thought I could actually sense him grinning.  

“I’m so glad to finally meet ye, Claire!” Charlie boomed as he set me back on the ground, taking me in. “From the way Jamie speaks of ye—” His eyes suddenly lit up and he whipped them up to Jamie with a grin. “Why, ye wicked wee dog, Fraser: ye didna say!!” He threw his head back and roared with, “Meal a naidheachd to ye both!” He straightened to give me a wink. “When are ye due, then, lass?” 

“CHARLIE!!!” barked a red-haired woman behind him, his wife, Saoirse. 

“What? It’s—” Charlie spluttered and made vague gestures between himself and my notably curved belly. “I’m only—” 

“You’re only about making a fool of yourself, Charlie Mac. Keep your mouth shut, if you please?” She gave me an apologetic look that was nonetheless warm and kind. “Please be accepting BOTH our apologies for that great gowl over there.” After greeting Jamie, she turned and swatted her husband hard on the shoulder, her eyes blazing as she said between clenched teeth. “Have you no control over that tongue??”

“I do—and ye tend to like my control of it, lass…” and he bent her head back to kiss her thoroughly. She tried to push him away but she couldn’t resist laughing as his hands roamed and she relented and kissed him back. 

God, this. THIS I’d missed—to see another couple who loved our same kind of irreverence and warmth and informality. Husbands and wives in these times—at least in post-war America—tended to err on the side of reserve in public, bordering on primness. Even Tom and Marian, as dear as they both were to to us, weren’t free with public displays of affection toward each other. Jamie and I tended to act precisely the way we wished and damn whoever should judge us for it, but it was unbelievably refreshing to not be the only ones in the room who would not be scandalized by lewd jokes.

On top of that, “Pregnancy” was considered a rather rude word, in American culture at present. Considering the massive increase in childbearing after the war, this seemed an enormously ridiculous cultural hangup (“be fruitful and multiply, but pretend the penises and vaginas don’t exist”). Those in the family way —as I now found myself—were treated with a delicate, pointed kind of embarrassment, as if to say, ‘look what she’s been doing…Heavens, what if she actually enjoyed it??’ 

I was used to the taboo, of course, having experienced it with Bree, and seen it around me, since; but it was an unexpected kind of relief to have it be so singled out with such joy and goodwill by these new friends. In fact, I was grinning like a prize idiot as I assured them both, “It’s quite alright, really.” I felt a rush of joy and pride at finally being able to share our news. I felt Jamie’s hand resting on my back. “You’ve spotted it right: we are expecting!”

Charlie gave a crow of triumph “I thought you’d been a little shifty these last few months about ‘family’ and things happening next year! When will the wean be arriving, then??”

“Late July,” I said, “or it might be the first of August.”

 Charlie stepped forward to clap both of us on the back, at which Saoirse looked absolutely mortified. I made a point of reassuring her when she leaned in to kiss me on the cheek and offer her own comhghairdeas. 

Jamie accepted the hearty congratulations, grinning like a fool himself, “Let’s keep it between us, aye? We havena told Brianna yet.” He nodded at the children, who were already playing on the living room floor. “Perhaps talk in a wee code if it should come up?”

Saoirse nodded agreement. “Wee Nolan has ears like a hare and a mouth like a magpie.” She gave a pointed roll of the eyes. “Wonder who he could possibly be getting it from…?”

It had all the same modern conveniences as our own house, the MacAlister’s little flat, but something about it—the spices, maybe?—or—no, that wasn’t it….Something about it just felt like Scotland. Like home. 

If nothing else, I could see it in Jamie’s posture and manner. As for my own country of birth, I had rarely felt any great attachment to England that went beyond good tea and rolling hills. Home had been wherever I laid my head that night, and between Uncle Lamb, the war, and my experiences in the eighteenth century, I’d certainly spent more of my life amongst strangers than my own proper countrymen. But Jamie was Scotland, through and through, and even this small taste of it—Americanized and quasi-Irish as it might be—was enough to make him glow with an ease that filled my own heart in the seeing. He was happy with our life in Boston, I knew; blissful, even! To have our family together and safe was all he desired; but something about experiencing that deeper home-ness again was a restorative to his soul, and I thanked God for putting Charlie Mac in Jamie’s path. It was pure delight to see the two of them going on in rapid Gaelic, like brothers.

“They’re like two pups together, aren’t they?” Saoirse said fondly, echoing my silent thoughts as she took a seat beside me on the sofa. 

“Indeed they are,” I laughed, looking at them through the dining room doorway. 

Saoirse was as red-haired as Jamie, freckled and cheery-eyed. “Will you be speakin’ the Gaelidgh yourself, Claire?”

“Very little,” I attempted in that language, my accent horrendous but the words correct, I was fairly certain.

“Very well done,” she replied, laughing before switching back to English, her Irish accent broad and unashamed. “That’s about as much as I know of it, myself. My parents weren’t too keen on my marrying a Scot, but I’ve no regrets. Except maybe Charlie’s tendency to put his fool foot in his fool mouth.” 

“It’s rather endearing, actually,” I assured her. 

Despite herself, Saoirse grinned. “Damn me if it wasn’t one of the things that had me head-over-heels for the idiot.” 

We laughed and settled deeper into the comfy couch, covered over with homey afghans. “So, Charlie tells me you and Jamie met in Scotland, originally? Did ye like it, there?”

“I did!” I paused just for a moment. “Well, to tell it true, a lot of sad things happened there…but we had some of our happiest days, as well,” I added, thinking of those days at Lallybroch before the war.  

“Do you think you’ll ever go back?” 

I thought about that for a long while. “To visit, certainly. When Brianna and—” I gestured to the baby, “are old enough to see and hear the stories, I think.”

“You’d never think of moving back permanently? Seems to be a dream of Charlie’s—It’d surprise me if Jamie had no similar desire.” 

We had indeed talked about it, and I knew Jamie’s very conflicted thoughts on the matter. “Part of him wishes for Scotland, yes—but it’s a Scotland that’s long-gone.”

That surprised her. “How so?”

“Jamie had…a lot of hard things happen to him there. He lost his family, and so doesn’t have anyone left.” 

“Not a soul?” 

“No one,“ I said, feeling the ache of it. I rubbed the baby absently. “So, he misses it, the land and its people and ways, but there isn’t anyone left in Scotland to make it home for him.”

“That’s very sad,” Saoirse murmured, sparing a glance toward the men in the dining room.

“It is. But you see, it’s easier to have our life in America: to keep Scotland in his mind the way it was, rather than feel the ache of it, seeing always what’s missing.”

“Aye, I understand….At least he has his lady—and his little ones.”

We shared a smile, and I wanted to ask her more about her own family, but just then the children descended, Bree, four-year-old Nolan, and little Will, just barely walking. No impromptu migration, this: the pack of them squealed in, chased by their fathers at their heels. 

“You lot are no better than the children!” I laughed. 

“Aye, maybe no’,” Jamie agreed, grinning, “But at least we’re old enough to drink, and they’re not.” 

“I AM!” Nolan insisted. “I’m plenty grow’d up!” 

“Oh, aye, to be sure,” Charlie said with a wink.  “I forgot we had a grown wee mannie in our midst.” He went to the kitchen and returned with an armful of ginger ale bottles. “A man needs a stiff drink.” He cracked open a lid and handed the glass bottle to his son, who looked terribly important at acknowledgment of his maturity. 

Bree was NOT intending to be overlooked. She put on her hips and insisted, “I’M mannie, TOO!” daring Charlie to say otherwise.

Nor did he, bless him. He already had a bottle ready for her. “Here ye go, wee mannie.” 

Bree had never had soda pop before, and she recoiled in surprise at first taste of the bubbly treat, looking as thought she’d rather skip this novelty; but, a true Fraser, she would never admit defeat with Nolan so proudly enjoying his, and so she gamely drank, getting violent hiccups almost instantly. 

“A Hogmanay toast?” Saoirse suggested, rising to her feet to pour some whisky. She offered one to me, but I accepted only a ginger ale.  Many people drank alcohol regularly during pregnancy, I knew (as had I, in the past) but somehow now it made me feel ill to think of accidentally intoxicating the poor thing. 

The toasts flew thick and fast. To our families! To the new year! To a better season on the pitch! To the whisky! And even—

“To our Bonnie Prince!” Charlie said, with an eye to Jamie, making a rude gesture toward the ceiling. “May he sleep wi’ spiders in his grave for the feckless wanker he was.”

“AAA-bloody-MEN!” I intoned with feeling.

“Aye,” Jamie said with a rueful nod as he drank, though he crossed himself.

He promptly choked as Bree squeaked out, “Whatssa WANE-gr?”

Before the rest of us could react, Nolan grinned fiendishly and started in with, “It means a–”

“That’s QUITE enough from you, a blalaich,” Saoirse said sharply. “And what would Great-Gran Murray say if she heard ye were knowing such a word??”

I shook with silent laughter along with Charlie, such that I almost didn’t hear Jamie’s quiet question: 

“…Murray?” 

My belly tightened and I whipped my eyes up to look at him. He’d schooled his face into a mask of control—a sure bellwether of the deep emotional turmoil within him. 

Good Lord…. 

“My mother’s mam. They live together in Cambridge,” Charlie said blithely as he poured more whiskey all around. “The MacAlisters were none too pleased about my Da’s choice, but even they had to admit in the end what a fine woman she was. Strong and certain and wi’ a mouth on her that could wither fruit. Not one to charm royalty, she, but a damn formidable sort, Murrays.”

Formidable.  Like Jenny. 

“From, erm, which part of Scotland, is your mother’s family?” I asked casually.

“Roundabout Inverness, mostly.”

My heart quickened with excitement. Not far at all from Broch Morda. I was opening my mouth to ask more questions, to narrow and ascertain, but then I caught Jamie’s eye, his ever-so-slight shake of the head. I closed my mouth.

Later, after supper, while Charlie and Saoirse cleared the table (refusing our many offers of help), Jamie and I took the children into the sitting room again.  

I took Jamie’s hand. “Why not, my love?” I asked gently. 

He knew what I meant, but he didn’t answer right away, nor did he look me in the eye. He pulled me close and pressed a kiss to my cheek. 

“Does it—” I began tentatively, but he was already speaking. 

“Tis enough to me,” he said, simply, “that they might be.” 

And though it at first struck me as utterly ridiculous, not to wish to know for certain, I did come to understand what he meant, as the evening went on. To KNOW was so final.  Jenny and Ian certainly had THOUSANDS of descendants, and even so, the chances that we’d encountered someone from their direct line was highly unlikely, or at the very least, very difficult to prove. To allow himself to believe–that was the gift, here.

And I could see it in his eyes, the soft contemplation of it, the sense of true brotherhood between he and Charlie now even deeper. The tenderness that radiated out from his face as he knelt to speak to little Will about a toy. I could almost see the thoughts rolling through him.

Might some scrap of this lad owe itself to Ian? 

To Jenny? 

To Ellen of Leoch or Black Brian Fraser?

Aye…it might.

“Bree, a leannan, do ye want to come sit wi’ Da?” 

“No,” she said, shrugging back and rubbing her face, “I wan’ Mama.” 

“Fair enough,” he laughed. “I would want your Mama, too.” 

“Come here, baby,” I beckoned, groaning a bit as I gathered her up against my chest. “Oof, there’s my sweet girl.” I savored the feeling, as I always did, of holding Bree in my arms and the baby in my body. The sounds around us were muffled and distant as we settled into a warm heap of love.

The radio was switched on at 10:00, detailing the new year’s celebrations happening around the country. We’d arrived late in the evening, with the little ones having taken naps late in the day to stave off sleepiness, but the late hour was still wearing on them. Hot chocolate and slices of Black Bun cake at 11:00 were enough to rouse them temporarily, but it still took a great deal to get them all conscious for the big moment as we all got to our feet for the final seconds of 1950. 

5…4…3…2…1!!!!

And as it always did, Auld lang syne began to play. It meant absolutely nothing to Jamie, of course. He had predated Robert Burns and his lyrics, and couldn’t have discerned the tune in any case, but he listened to the words with eager interest. Charlie was drowning out the radio with the traditional scots rendition, though I only knew the same anglicized version that was playing. 

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne?

And for the first time in my life, with my children held close and Jamie’s arm around my back, the song gave me chills:

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot

since auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

And both of us had tears running down our faces as we locked eyes. No, we wouldn’t ever forget the things of our past: neither the daisies of our life, nor the weary feet from the trampings of war, nor the roaring seas of tragedy that had indeed once swept us apart.  

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give me a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And as we moved toward the front door for the first-footing, I kissed my trusty friend, and didn’t need to see any dark stranger outside to know that 1951 would be the best year of our lives. 

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only) INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART IX

MOD NOTE: this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only)    INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART I

MOD NOTE:     this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only) INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART V

MOD NOTE:  this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only) INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART VIII

MOD NOTE: this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only)   INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART II

MOD NOTE:    this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…

[frombrahams]

silent hill 4: the room original soundtrack (japan only) INESCAPABLE RAIN // PART X

MOD NOTE: this ghost story is on the second disc of the japan only edition of silent hill 4: the room official soundtrack. there is no official or unofficial translation in full but i will add a very brief overview under the cut:

Title: Can’t Escape From Yoshiwara In The Rainy Night

Background

This horror story is told about a deep-seated hatred and revenge by murdered mother and her daughter who attempted suicide because they were deceived and sold into prostitution in yoshiwara by a bad person. Yoshiwara was a famous district in where there were many brothels for the Edo-era, present-day in Tokyo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was a widespread meal and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate’s trying to prevent the nouveau riche chonin (townsmen) from political intrigue. The yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt. One way out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal concubine. Another would be if she managed to be successful and clever enough that she was able to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often, though.

Characters: Gennsai: A man professed to be a fortune-teller. However, this is the outward appearance. He is a rascal who extorts money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes kills people. Gonji: Gennsai’s junior male peer. Osato: A seventeen years-old daughter of Osaku and Heibei Osaku: Gennsai’s elder sister and Osato’s mother Heibei: Osato’s father

===============================

Abstract In Fukagawa Kueicho (now in Tokyo), a man whose name is Gennsai was doing a rapacious business pretending to be a fortune-teller. He often extorted money from a traveler, but also commits a robbery and sometimes murdered people. Meanwhile, a crackdown on such crimes by shogunate officials had been strict, his business fell on hard times. This situation was enough to make him plot evil. Osaku, who is Gennsai’s elder sister, was living with her husband, Heibei and her seventeen years old daughter, Osato peacefully. However, one day, Heibei died suddenly by apoplexy and their life had grown worse off day by day. Soon after hearing this news, Gennsai approached Osaku with his proposal in regard to sending Osato to his acquaintance in Edo (now is Tokyo) for working. He told that his acquaintance, a timber merchant sought somebody to take care of his younger sister who was ill in bed. Gennsai also tried to set Osaku at ease by talking that she could get remittances and letters regularly from Osato if she would work there. Finally, Osaku was persuaded by Gennsai to send her daughter to Edo for working. One day, Gennsai took Osato to Edo to introduce her to his acquaintance. However, it was a complete lie to deceive her into coming to Edo. He didn’t have no intention whatsoever of helping her get a job from the beginning. He finally took her to his junior male peer, Gonji, who arrived in Edo in advance to conspire to Gennsai. On the other hand, as Osato was not knowing at all that she was taken in fooled, she was taken to a brothel in Yoshiwara with Gonji. Gonhi was receiving money from an owner of the brothel in exchange for leaving a new young prostitute. After a few months passed, Osato was feeling anxious about Osaku without receiving any remittances and letters from her. Although she still believed that her daughter was going well, after all she decided to go to Edo and meet Osato. She visited to Gennsai’s house near Edo first to ask her daughter’s recent situation. Gennsai was surprised at Osaku’s unexpected visit and desperately pretended to be calm. He showed her into his house and explained that Osato had been fine and doing well at his friend’s house. After hearing about Osato’s situation, she felt relieved and requested him to have a look at her daughter. Although he was completely at a loss as to what to do for a little while, he talked her into waiting at his house until he would get permission to meet Osato from his friend after sending a mail. Osaku gave reluctant consent to his proposal and decided to wait patiently in the upstairs of the house. Every day, Osaku asked Gennsai when she could meet her daughter. However, he dodged her question every time and he gradually began to dislike her existence. Finally, he ignored her and stopped to serve meal for her. After few weeks passed, she has continued to wait patiently while believing to be able to meet her daughter soon. However, she had become emaciated and her drooped eyelid became swollen, making her eyesight worse. So she had continued to wait being on the point of death upstairs. On the other hand, Osato finally realized her situation. She was deep in grief and did nothing but cry thinking of her mother every day in a dark small room at the brothel. One day her grief came to a head, she attempted suicide by cutting her neck by a razor and throwing herself down off upstairs of a brothel. She died a miserable death and the sight was shocking to look at. Soon after Osato’s death, Osaku dreamed that her daughter appeared in her dream covered in blood. Osaku talked to Gennsai about her dream and plead him to meet her daughter. He chided her for her stupid dream and promised to let her meet her daughter before long. Osaku reluctantly went back to upstairs. It began to rain heavily at night. After a while, Genji rushed into Gennsai’s house. He told Gennsai about Osato’s death while running out of his breath. Gennsai was surprised and embarrassed by the news. He suddenly came up with his mind to kill Osaku on this occasion. While Gennsai explained to him about Osato’s mother’s visiting to his house, Osaku looked at them downstairs from upstairs. Genji was surprised at her face and figure like a ghost. Gennsai talked to Osaku that he got permission to meet Osato from his friend and he would take her to his friend’s house right now. Although Osaku wondered why she must have gone in such a bad weather at night, she felt easy soon looking at Genji who would take her to meet her daughter. Gennsai whispered in Genji’s ear to kill her tonight. Moreover, he gave him money for his task. Osaku was happy and made bow to Gennsai and Genji many times. Osaku, who believed to meet her daughter working at timber merchant’s house, left from Gennsai’s house and followed after Genji. In the rain, they walked for a long time with no particular destination in mind. When they came near to the bridge of a river Genji told her the truth that Osato was sold as a prostitute into a brothel and she committed suicide due to disappointment. Then he suddenly tried to choke her neck on the bridge, but she resisted furiously. Although she escaped from his murder and ran off in a hurry to a riverbank, her stamina was no longer enough to escape from him and she was finally captured and stabbed to death by him. She disappeared into a river. After he killed Osaku, he decided to go back to Gennsai’s house by a palanquin to get rest of money. Fortunately he could catch a palanquin and ordered a driver to go to Gennsai’s house not going through Yoshiwara where Osato committed suicide. So he was a little excited about his criminal act. After a while since he took a palanquin, he asked a driver where they were. A driver answered they were still in the riverbank. After a certain amount of time passed he asked the driver again whether they were almost arrived at near the destination. However, a driver answered they were still in the riverbank. They also had unpleasant feeling that they couldn’t get out of the riverbank of Yoshiwara. On the other hand, Gennsai was waited for Genji in his house. He hoped that everything would be going well and their criminal acts would never be revealed. Just at the moment, a light in the room suddenly went out and a sliding door of the entrance opened. Gennsai thought that Genji came back right now, a person who were standing in the dark at the entrance was Osato expressing sad and hateful face covered in blood…