#shipper idiocy

[eye-of-yelough]

love bringing neve n lucanis on each others quests. the writers may have been too cowardly to give us polyamory but at least i can have a “couple and a third guy (gn) who’s also there” thing

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

to all you freaks (derogatory to the most extreme degree) that keep shipping freya and milo together, just know that i am rooting for your downfall and hiring a hitman as we speak

[layyeschips]

Patron Ghost King AU #2

A sort of continuation to this

"hey bats, I think your kid's broken" "hn" "what's green flavour?" "what's a poptart?" "dude you don't know what a poptart is?!?!?"

Tim couldn't be bothered to figure what came from who, not when he's just trying to block out the unnecessarily bright lights of the watchtower. So he did the thing that any other self respecting tired student™️ would do, which is tossing the spare oreo he had in his suit pocket onto the hastily drawn summoning circle that one John Constantine brought with him on a piece of paper.

Now the last thing the League was expecting to happen was the lights dimming and green smoke coming from the printer paper that John took from who knows where.

---------------------------

Danny doesn't usually do this much paperwork in one sitting but someone just left a full mug of coffee on his shrine in hopes of being able to finish their assignment on time so he might as well finish the small pile he has on his desk. Ever since he accidentally gained a following he could taste the offerings and even feel the strong emotions from each one of them. It's not a really a big deal, pushing waves of calm/relax/focus doesn't take much energy and the offerings are nice too. So when he felt the pull of a summoning followed by drowsiness, exhaustion and the familiar taste of a stale oreo, who was he to reject the call of one of his favourite humans?

First of all, kind of rude to be summoning your patron by using such a small summoning circle but he'll cut the poor student some slack. Secondly, bright lights were definitely no good for this sleep deprived human, he'd probably be more comfortable if Danny turns it down a bit. The room full of heroes and magic users were unexpected but, hoLY- IS HE IN SPACE????? Did he say one of his favourites? He meant his number 1 favourite.

Sorry this was a bit short but feel free to write down/comment your own additions to this au. I also don't mind if anyone wants to write their own fic based on this but do tag me if you do!

Also sorry if I missed some tags, I tried. I won't be doing a tag list in the future because I don't want there to be people who are left out

[tag list] @gin2212 @jaggedheart11 @amercurio @raven-6-10 @onlyhereforthechaos @booklover9114 @fisticuffsatapplebees @overtherose @impulsiveasshole @shorterthanadverage @mimilikey @mnemovoid @chip-thief @mouzerequis @thegatorsgoose @spectralstardustandphantomnights @malice-of-the-sunrise @temporalhunter @nappinginhell @idkmrpianoman @vythika96 @seraphinedemort @meira-3919 @avelnfear @akikkobara @addie-lover-of-stories @ghostface3100 @yurineko135 @sjrose1216 @proper-idiocy @screamingtofillthevoid @sailor-goddess @the-legal-shipper @alcorbearson @dannyphantomphan @lady-time-lord- @starlightcat04 @liedboutmurder @jerithe @dixiwoods @gamma-radio @mirellacoco @blankliferain @violetfox2 @nexux-point

[onesidedradiostatic]

My worthless Radiostatic headcanon is that Vox met Alastor because he was new to hell and captivated by the pretty redhead at the bar swigging gin and was flabbergasted that nobody was asking him to dance. He was also equally oblivious to everybody else at the joint shitting their pants as this absolute NOBODY approached the Radio Demon for a dance. And Alastor who was bemused by his ignorance and idiocy can still admire someones moxxie and agreed to dance. And listen, this is mostly because with all these great shipper tag names I can't help but call their past partnership "electro-swing." So yes they danced to something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3hjodKJTRs. Suffice to say Vox was enamored and Alastor was surprisingly amused and it was the start of both of them chasing that high.

HAHAHA I like this, there's like so many different ways to imagine their first meeting, and like imagine this being like. okay you know how he probably couldn't openly like men in life but once he landed in hell he realises it doesn't matter anymore (depends on if you interpret him believing himself to be straight(tm) and closeted prior or he already knew but just couldn't act on it openly), so he's freshly landed, walks into a bar and just walks up to the first cute guy he sees cause he no longer has to hide it LMAO. he gets what he wants (the dance) for NOW, but of course, getting what he wants doesn't last forever, and he was kinda doomed from the start when he made a beeline to making moves on the aroace guy.

also part of me is going like. this is the 1950s. electro-swing didn't exist then. (just roll with it anyways. just roll with it anyways. just roll with it anyways.)

^^(link in ask)

[blastaway2004]

Zutara shippers are truly braindead.

I really don’t know what more I can say here. I already talked about how Bryke saying Aang and Katara’s relationship was INITIALLY “like a kid crushing on a babysitter” was an INITIAL pitch bible idea that was scrapped in the final show as Katara clearly harbors feelings for Aang and views him as an equal (NOT someone to look after like a baby).

These Zutara fanatics are so desperate and pathetic that they take an out of context statement and information from people they don’t even like, and cling to this thinking it’s some checkmate, because they’re still bitter Bryke didn’t give into their middle school delusions and entitlement.

This loser in particular is jumping through hoops and reaching for the moon trying to make Aang and Katara’s relationship as problematic as possible claiming it to be “pseudo-incestuous” because “Katara viewed Aang as a little brother for most of the series” and “their dynamic had mother-son vibes”, both statements are objectively, factually incorrect. No matter how these clowns try to rationalize it. It just makes this idiot look stupider than they probably are.

Oh and of course all comments disabled. So they can remain in their safespace and no can point out their idiocy.

ZeeK freeks like these are something else, man. Not a single good take from these guys. Why can’t these fake fans go find another show to watch instead of whining for almost 20 years about their mid-ass ship not being canon.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for taking part in testing a stranger a few years ago?

Sounds worse than it is but I just want to ask. Long story bear with me. Fake names, all of us were 19-21 when it happened.

I'm in a very close friend group where we all share multiple fandoms, went through all kinds of discourse hell and fandom drama together for years. We're closeknit and we only get closer with time. One of the pillars of this group is Pearl who I deeply admire. Pearl is popular because she has good meta analysis and she's a vocal progressive just like everyone else in the group. All of us are popular to some degree but she's the most eloquent among us.

A few years ago we were hosting a group chat session to discuss a new show, Pearl was the host and she posted the invite for anyone to join. A new account named Ruby who was following some members of our group for a while, joined the chat along with a some other unknown people and a few mutuals. The chat had about 20 people, don't remember the exact number. So it was Pearl, her friends including me, some mutuals, some new people- all from Sauce fandom.

We were really happy to see so many Sauce fans like the new show. We were having fun until Pearl brought up shipwar from Sauce fandom for the sake of a mutual who was out of the loop. It was a mayo/ketchup vs ketchup/mustard drama and we were fans of mayo/ketchup. We were all shitting on the delulu ketchup/mustard shippers when Ruby said she was one of them. Pearl immediately showed her shitty takes from mustard fans, screenshots of anon hate Pearl got and some other things I can't remember. She asked for Ruby's opinion on those.

I admit Pearl was a little bit condescending, but at that time I was too busy agreeing with her and laughing about mustard/ketchup shippers' idiocy. I was giving more examples to support Pearl in case Ruby decided to counter. Ruby on the other hand laughed and said she also thought those anons were obnoxious and said she was only a casual fan. Pearl said she was relieved because these days you can't trust mustard/ketchup shippers to be normal. We went back to the original topic.

That was over, but I kept an eye on Ruby and I remember she unfollowed Pearl after a few days. I brought it up later a couple times when new members of our group became mutuals with Ruby. And one of them was outright making fun of her for being a little simpleton but we grew up and had other things to talk about.

Then I saw Ruby left Sauce fandom for Fruits fandom where she became a little more popular for meta discussions. She's still friends with a couple people from my group who are casual fans of Fruits. She sometimes shows up on my dash for general fiction takes I agree with. All good. But yesterday I saw her talking to her friends about something friendship and virtue signalling related, she said it was weird how many times she's been "tested" by fellow fans including people who she knew for years, and she thought maybe it was because she came off as dumb and oblivious. She implied She never needed to test anyone.

Now I don't know about other times Ruby was tested but I remembered the story from above when I was one of the strangers testing her and I'm wondering if it was a bad thing to do? I can see why she thought it was maybe rude. But it is true that many shippers happen to have dumb takes and I'd rather not waste my time, rival shipper or not. It's not even a big deal.

So Was I the asshole?

PS thank you for reading the full story and sorry I will not say the real names of Sauce fandom or its ships, none of us go there anymore.

What are these acronyms?

[sgiandubh]

Why isn’t there a release date, trailer or official image for Cait’s new film? It’s unusual.

Dear Unusual Anon,

The film has officially been released at the TIFF 2024 festival, which is not that unusual for a relatively small, indie production.

I found the answer to your question, dealing with a release date 'in a theatre near you' in last Friday's Guardian:

Benjamin Lee, The Guardian's movie critic, gave The Cut a 2-star review, which found C's performance remarkable - a very good omen, but confirms my thoughts on her being grossly miscast:

[Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/sep/06/the-cut-movie-review-orlando-bloom]

Note the 'Outlander's Caitriona Balfe'. Surely those parochial fans did not do her any favor, with their ridiculous T-shirts. If anything, it showed one more time C is still an enigma to the mainstream media, at best tethered to her Claire Fraser performance, and almost an unfair afterthought to some critics. I wish those women could understand the difference between 'fangirling' and 'turning a premiere into a circus performance'. I am not holding my breath, though - idiocy is one of the most disruptive forces in the entire Universe.

You will have a theatre release date, a trailer and all the usual goodies once they find a good distributor, Anon.

PS: Shipper Mom accidentally watched Money Monster last week, while I was at the office. She told me C was 'absolutely wonderful, but I so wished to see more of her'.

[yoshidenss]

what made me like blue lock in the first place and the reason I used to love Isagi was that he was flawed, he was losing and his frustrations felt real. manga wasn't afraid of letting their mc suffer significant loss, and he made mistakes. there were stakes. but all of this just lost its edge after U20 Japan match. now all we got is shippers arguing, with even dudebros' plot discussion demoted to "himsagi with his femboys defeating everyone". isagi isn't allowed to be flawed or lose, characters aren't allowed to exist outside of him and if they do, be prepared to be ignored by the narrative. it's sad and sucks honestly. arcs and characters are shafted over unless you are isagi/Rin/Nagi, stakes are gone, plot points make your head hurt in utter idiocy, and anyone who isn't protag fan is just reading it to keep with the plot

[ren-rambles-often]

I watched Code Geass but before I get to my short rant about the show and the ship you can pretty much guess this is about…. Let me just say….

This show peaked at the pseudo incest brocon subplot, I'm taking no arguments!

Fine, fine, that's definitely not entirely true but Rolo's death had me pausing the show and staring at the screen like for what reason?! Let the boy be hopelessly obsessed goddammit 😭😭😭

Now I've gotten that out of my system…

Guess who's the character I hate most?

shocker I know/sarc

I haven't hated one half of my otp ship in a piece of media this much since that one Episode Nagi panel of Reo's heart getting destroyed by Nagi's dumbass (Reo my love love I'd treat you so much better)

Suzaku's case is worse by several degrees because his idiocy and attitude only continued to stoke the flames of my annoyance for the whole two fucking seasons until like the three or two episodes at the end cause oh my fucking God I cried.

(That shit was a wild ride enough nothing is making me watch any spin offs or side stories I care that little)

From the first moment he entered that Lancelot suit and agreed to help the side that attempted to silence him by murder, I clocked his ass and marked him as the dumbest bitch to ever exist but we love a protective loyal dog Top don't we ladies?

"I want to change the system from the inside-" bitch shut up these are colonizers you ain't changing nothing 😭

Even after they they tried pining the murder on him to sentence him to death AGAIN!! BOY WENT BACK.

AND!

He refused Zero?!

HUH?!?

Now I'm not a particularly patriotic person (I hate my county so so much) but if we got neo colonized, No matter what merits I would never be friendly or cooperative with the other side.

Suzaku stopped his country fighting back (valid reason or not I don't remember, he killed his dad and that meant surrender ig) and proceeded to kiss up to brits, fall in love with one of them, and further hinder every attempt of his own people fighting back because 'Violence wrong' but it's okay when he does it because some made up ideal told him being subservient would make a change. And it did….just for him tho, all other 11s? no one cares.

And it didn't even matter because Lulu's methods were always the ones that brought things closer!

I know it's a kind of a commentary on something, I ain't stupid but I was still pissed.

Literally had me gritting my teeth almost every time he stepped on screen, especially when he went pseudo emo after becoming a knight of round or whatever.

Bottom line, he frustrated me as much as he did Lelouch but I still wanted to see them FUCK.

The last couple of episodes where genuinely the best things I've ever watched and a brilliant end to the series. I wouldn't say I grew to enjoy all the characters but God did the plot threads keep me going.

Trust I understood very little about the gate shit and the killing God aspect but when you're having a fun time everything just looks good.

To sum up SuzaLulu…

Giving me friends to enemies to lovers (correct me not I won't hear you) All mixed together with the palpable hatred and vitriol they held toward each other is just too much.

And Lelouch as a bottom is literally my type >.< psycho, pretty, and bad at sports (also having a natural inclination to dominate others)??? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!!!

His dramatic ass had me gripped and his personality contrasted so beautifully with Suzaku's dumbass that while I did want to be sad about that redhead he might have liked dying….girl bye 👋 make way for the gay 🏳️‍🌈

(Srsly tho, I was sad for a sec, it was a very shocking scene to say the least but Rolo pulled such a Brocon move I was laughing for a solid minute.)

I very much didn't want to be like most other yaoi shippers that watched this shit when they were ten and went for the very obvious but still delicious low hanging fruit yaoi but I see enemies to lovers mixed with tragic yaoi and an undeniably fun story and brain stops functioning lmaooo. Turns out I'm very much like other fujins ;p

Closing thoughts: Umm…If you're going to defend Suzaku in the replies…go for it I'm down to listen but he'll forever be my bitch. I love Lelouch but Light is better, Orange x Lelouch is underratedand C.C. and Kallen should have gotten married.

[bbqhooligan]

ACTUAL AANG HATING ZUTARA SHIPPERS IN THE YEAR OF 2024???

TO PARAPHRASE KENDRICK LAMAR??? IM ABOUT TO POP A VESSEL

im telling you we werent meant to hear the unfiltered unprovoked idiocy of others, this is bad for ones health. this is brainrot levels rare to witness.

[eye-of-yelough]

3 and 15 for the Ship Ask game, I hope you have the greatest day! <3

i hope YOU have the greatest day

what are their first impressions of each other?

basically “what’s this angry fucker doing in my clinic?”

but seriously i like to think Anders is so exhausted (mentally, physically, spiritually, wink wink nudge nudge) that he mistakes Leo for a man at first and gives the “don’t threaten me, little boy” line. apart from that it’s “woah. is she taller than me? 😳”

for Leo it’s basically “ah it’s good be around magic again - did he just RESURRECT that kid. that’s. impressive. oh he seems very tired after that. okay that’s good. with a little bit of force he should back down and give us what we want”

Anders: dont threaten me little boy

Leo:

and thus begins the greatest love story in the history of ever.

oh and for Isabela let’s just say that Thedas is lucky hawke doesn’t have a dick because she would’ve been able to hammer a nail with it after seeing Bela’s introduction

what is a song that reminds you of them?

thee handers song. none other compares.

i’ve never been able to find a good hawke/handersbela song unfortunately, but this one’s pretty close:

[infinityinakiss]

i think every person that said "the caitvi shippers couldn't handle diana and leona, the true doomed yuri" need to come apologize to me right now because no one warned me how truly fucking dumb they are, like what do you mean they're not together? the sun and the moon represent the harmonious balance of the universe, of course their aspects would be literal soulmates, but nooooo these idiot lesbians had to be fucking stupid and fight each other instead of recognizing that the whole fucking universe is screaming at them to keep fucking kissing, for fuck's sake.

i was expecting something like "oh their powers are keeping them apart, they must love each other from afar like the sun and the moon do" not stupid lesbian idiocy, what the fuck.

[p-redux]

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary to Caitriona Balfe and Tony McGill!

Thanks to CaitTony in Instagram for putting together this wonderful tribute to #tait !

Any Shippers and/or assorted trolls decide to live dangerously today and leave any hate comments, I will immediately block you...for the crime of Supreme Idiocy. Consider this your only warning. Everyone else, please congratulate the happy couple! And BabyBalfeMcgill turns 2 this month as well! 🥳

[jackoshadows]

I think most Jonsas looked around and were displeased with the guys GRRM wrote as potential partners for their fave so they landed on Jon because he is one of the few young, completely able-bodied and possibly attractive male characters around and he is not a jerk like Harrold or cruel like Joff. That's it.

Details like whether they give a sh*t about each other or if they are each other type's were completely ignored.

Fanfiction and AUs exist for a reason. If Sansa fans don't like her canonical story and relationships they can dabble in fanfiction. That's the purpose of fanfiction. Some of the most popular relationships in fandom are not canon. Not being canon has never stopped anyone. Personally, I find Jonsa to be bland and boring but go for it. People like what they like. Write all the fanfiction and draw all the fanart between the stereotypical disney princess and hot secret prince. That's never been the problem.

The problem is their insistence that Jonsa is canon, work backwards from there, mutilate and mangle the book characters, themes and relationships to shove Jonsa in there. And when this is pointed out, gaslight and attack book readers for being sexist haters of Sansa. It's tiresome.

Hence why we get utter idiocy about how Sansa was traumatized and bitter about Ned's favoritism towards Arya and yet Jon loves Sansa so much it's simply too painful for him to even think of her 😂

Jon Snow needs an entirely new personality and completely different story for Jonsa to happen and so we are stuck with a shallow, Littlefinger type who has a crush on the bully who mocks Arya for being ugly and horsefaced 🙄.

The issue with Jonsa shippers are their sexist, classist tirades on the tags against Dany, Arya, Jon etc. for daring to be tier one main characters with well defined central plots and complex themes that revolve around them, where the author has painstakingly written in relationships and leadership arcs for them, given them conflict and critical thinking skills and build this world of secondary characters to support these main characters.

Sansa fans read Jon's political intelligence and diplomacy, Arya's arc of being unable to fit, discovering her place in the world, her relationship with her father, the North and her siblings, the Lyanna parallels, Dany's revolutionary Queen getting the love of the people and want all that for Sansa. Hence the essays about how Jon and Dany are terrible rulers, how it's Sansa who was the outsider and outcast (Ned's so called favoritism is all about this).

The popular Sansa in fandom now is a self insert, a mish-mash of other characters and made up headcanons. Her most popular ship is a crackship, her relationships with Jon, Arya, Ned etc. has been rewritten. She is perennially a victim, has no agency. Right from Jon I AGoT, Sansa is an abuse victim. (All the while blaming Dany for not stopping the Khalasar's rape under Drogo!).

The fandom dichotomy when it comes to Sansa Stark is the insistence that only she be read like a realistic 11/12 year old and treated like a little child with respect to all her actions and yet she is also the most shipped character of the series!

As per fandom, Sansa is a little child who cannot understand when adults tell her a situation is dangerous or a drug is dangerous and yet she is also shipped romantically with a 27 year old adult who falls for this child. A child when it comes to her thoughts and actions, an adult when it comes to romance, love, marriage and babies.

Often someone will mention how much they love Sansa because she’s just so realistic, implying all the other characters are not realistic for their age.

And yet while we get called ‘pedophiles’ and perverts for shipping fictional children, fictional incest with age gaps etc. these same folks who appreciate realistic child Sansa will be shipping her with with Sandor Clegane, Jon Snow, Gendry, Willas, Jaime, Tyrion, Young Griff, Stannis, Littlefinger, Daenerys, Arondir, Rand, Harry Hardyng, Tom, Dick, reader etc.  

If Sansa is truly this naive and childlike, unable to understand when the physician is straight up telling her a drug is harmful and dangerous for a sick little boy suffering from epileptic seizures, why are the same readers treating her as being old enough to fall in love and have a romance arc?

Many of these Sansa stans have not read the books. They are fixated on a made up version, confront others based on this made up version. When we then ask for the book quotes they throw a hissy fit, block us, delete/change their blog name and then write essays about the evil Arya/Dany fans lol.

[supersaiyanjedi14]

Just saying this now on behalf of my fellow Sabezra shippers in light of recent drama. We do not, nor will we ever accept or endorse harassment of other people here on the grounds of shipping a rival ship. Putting aside the idiocy of getting into a proverbial dick-measuring contest over whether or not two fictional characters should make out or not, we are all (ideally) adults here and should have the maturity to agree to disagree. Personal taste is one of the few areas of our world where we are afforded unrestricted freedom, and respecting differing opinions is critical to that. And resorting to bigoted language and insults of any variety is an automatic indication that whatever argument or position you have has no value whatsoever.

I've been a fanboy long enough to see the unfortunate frequency of fandoms being unwilling to clean house when it comes to their toxic members. Here's my contribution to the exception.

If you harass, bully, badger or insult someone because they don't have the same shipping opinions as you, kindly go somewhere else. We don't want you here.

[sgiandubh]

Keepers of the Quaich

This time, we're going to look at things a bit differently and this could very well be my most speculative post ever. So be it: it is a risk I am taking and warning you about from the get go.

The only thing Mordor understood about the next October 4 event organized by the US Chapter of The Keepers of the Quaich is something that probably gave them collective relief: S is not going to be with C on her birthday. Not together. Not on the same continent. Shut up, shippers, you are stupid.

As usually, Mordor takes things at a very primitive face value, without bothering for context. But they always focused on the lewd side of the story, not on its deep ramifications, of which there are many. Anything that denies S's halfwit manwhore image upsets them greatly.

The Scottish society of The Keepers of the Quaich is not one of those old, steeped in tradition clubs, but it is damn selective. It only dates back to 1988, which is almost five minutes ago, for Europe (and especially the UK) and is deeply rooted in Highlands' lore, celebrating excellence in whisky trade and promotion worldwide. General facts about it have already been discussed elsewhere, but with a bias and little to no context. Also, really LOL at Mordor's idiocy to think that was a fan promotion event and go ballistic for the members-only and by invitation access to it.

Membership is by co-opting and with a five-year proven performance history only (ten years, if you step up to Master level). You need not one, but two recommendations, which makes it harder to join than a Masonic lodge or the Rotary Club (and I know what I am saying, heh). That S could actively seek to be inducted, rather sooner than later, is pretty much clear, as he could use the network it readily provides, along with the prestige:

(Sourced at: https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/341/people/keepers-of-the-quaich)

I first had a look at the list of its International Chapters and it is interesting to notice Muslim countries as Turkey or the Emirates each having their own chapter, which clearly tells me it's all about luxury and more specifically, luxury hospitality business, in that case. If inducted after the customary five years' wait, S could also make good use of the German chapter's (a market that proved to be very problematic for him) network, along with the Nordics and Netherlands, if he would think about cleverly expanding his trade in the EU. Last but not least, I would keep an eye on Brazil and India (along with the more predictable South Africa and Australia), because he already has a solid fanbase in the first one and well, Asia is always interesting, when it comes to alcohol business.

I did not really bother with the list of the Patrons, which spells a good and prestigious sliver of Debrett's Peerage's Scottish section. But I also looked at the list of the Management Committee, who does all the hands-on dealings and is directly responsible for the induction ceremony of new members. Aside from representatives of Diageo and Pernod Ricard (giants of the alcohol business world), a familiar name popped right at the bottom of the page:

Annabel Meikle, Director of The Keepers of the Quaich and as such, directly involved in the management of its activities (and probably also in all the underground shenanigans leading to the induction of new members, too). A great contact to have in your rolodex, judging by her public CV on LinkedIn:

Glenmorangie (also a member of the Keepers) - keep that reference under your sleeve, we are going to need it soon :).

Could she be related to...

I am leaving this without an answer, because I don't know and I will always refuse to go data mining for anything, but that sure as hell is not a common surname, as Smith or Martin!

At any rate, Mrs. Meikle is also (along with the Duke of Argyll, the current Keepers Grand Master) a member of The Scottish Committee of something very, very prestigious: The Worshipful Company of Distillers (https://www.distillers.org.uk/), based in London and founded in 1638, by Royal Charter (for “Body Politique and corporate” to govern the “Trade Arte and Mystery of Distillers of London” - how I love history, people!) granted by Charles I, a Stuart (of course). I am speculating and having visions of Livery status and Freedom of the City, followed by Knighthood for S (no bong needed, this particular narrative writes itself and believe it or not, it's not entirely without logic). And it is my strict constitutional right to be a poetic coo about it - that guy is smarter than we thought and I would curate that contact to death if I were him (but I am not, I am just a benevolent and intrigued observer, as you all know). Back to Earth from these optimistic conjectures, I will keep a tab on it, as I dutifully took note that one of their current interests is tequila:

Onwards to the US. We can have a fair idea of October 4th event just by looking at one of their few press releases on the occasion of the Chapter's launch gala, on September 25 2019, in New York (https://www.distilledspirits.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/KOTQUSA-Release-10.04.19.pdf - with quotes selected by me):

Moët Hennessy. Another reference to keep under our sleeve, for it will be soon very relevant. So yes, what has been speculated by Miss Marple is partially true: more business than aristocratic. But this is only if we do not consider as American aristocratic the venue of the next event. The Metropolitan Club is a very East Coast, WASP old money and (well, technically yes) Republican (but not MAGA Republican and this, to me, is very important for some reason) organization:

That was the state of play on Friday, folks, and I was already excited to share my optimistic findings with you. And then, C went to Paris and more dots started to speculatively connect. Bare with me for this long passegiata, I think it's worth it.

It was particularly important that C would be seen in a very friendly-casual pose with Delphine Arnault, out of all the other people attending that event. Not because Arnault is currently the big boss of Dior and Loewe (as I already explained here: https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/729801825900953600/city-of-lights?source=share). And not only because C suddenly seems very interested to renew and expand her fashion days' old network. But also, because, as I already said, Delphine Arnault is also the daughter of her father and in France, business and family are always closely entwined. Always.

The French luxury market is roughly split between two behemoth players: Bernard Arnault (LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A) and Antoine Pinault (Kering, ex- Pinault-Printemps- Redoute). These people and their businesses are number 1 and 2, respectively, on the global market. And out of these two, the only one very interested in the alcohol business is Arnault (Pinault does not deal in this sector).

So I took a look at his very diverse alcohol and spirits brand portfolio (25 references - https://www.lvmh.com/houses/wines-spirits/): rhum, brandy, champagne, tequila, wines (Argentina and even China). Two Scottish whisky brands: first Ardberg (the graceful peat from Islay). And - oh, hello, Mrs. Meikle - Glenmorangie, acquired by Arnault in 2004, after a bitter battle with Pernod Ricard (https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/business/world-business-briefing-europe-france-scotch-maker-acquired.html):

Back at Mrs. Meikle's CV - hers was a pivotal role in the post-acquisition reshuffle, as part of LVMH:

Coincidence? I think not.

And then also a bourbon reference. Woodinville (based in the state of Washington, USA) with a pitch that made me grin again like the Cheshire Cat:

Sounds familiar? Rings a bell? See a pattern? You should: no, it's not S in disguise, but it could be SS in a couple of years, if S decided to sell it for a hefty profit.

But I was also interested in what is missing from this catalogue.

NO GIN.

Who knows? Maybe these French people could be enticed? In that case (and remember: I am SPECULATING), it would have to be a brand with a proven track record. You see, Arnault is famous for always buying only brands with a proven history and proven recognition (Tasting Alliance, anyone? LOL). Up until now and as is, FMN is just a pet project and a virtual endeavor. Nothing more and we shall see. But that little wild Scottish gin which could win hearts and already an award in Frisco is something completely different.

Now, then. You connect the dots. You draw your own conclusions. I see something very intriguing here and, as I already told you, the business underground situation is completely different from the bland façade.

You see, this is not about papers or checking a pulse or awkwardly grabbing a fist on some stairs. This is show me the money time. This is all about finding unexpected connections, at a very high level and on a very narrow niche.

So you think S and C can't stand each other anymore?

Humbug. They have each other's back from Day 1. And more. Ship on, ladies. Whatever clownery these days might bring, I know what I know. And by now, you should start asking yourselves the real questions, not if Waldo is with Carmen Sandiego (we KNOW), nor if they were online at the same time or not. I mean, that's cute: but to be honest, I think we're past that... uh... waypoint?

Next on my list is that Lallybroch trademark thing. This is the most complex one and I will take my time. I may speculate, but never without a logical base. And I always take these things very seriously.

Keepers of the Quaich, indeed. :)