#singing LYN | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

writingwenches · 4 months ago

Text

Aemond x Peasant OC

synopsis: Aemond leaves the comfort of the Red Keep to trek around the backwoods Riverlands, where an annoying peasant doesn't believe he is a prince. Then they do hand stuff near a lake.

themes: brat!Aemond, spoiled!Aemond, mixed race main character, mc grew up in a westeros version of a nunnery, surprise trans side character~ this is just the start of a larger “rewrite HOTD” type story.

word count: 10k (i hate me too.)

warnings: 18+ MDNI, no targcest, hand stuff, mouth stuff, mommy issues if you squint, mentions of sex work, mentions of child death and pregnancy complications. Religious nonsense.

PART TWO OUT NOW

Freedom From – Act One

Charity is the only hope for useless girls, and not enough to go around. The Maidenhouse of Haronfall was an ancient structure, run by the Faith for centuries as a place to send discarded girl-children, forging useless girls into something worthy. It was their true calling, regardless of what those girls’ wants.

For unwanted men of the realm, there was the Night’s Watch. Some unwanted boys are sent as soon as they were old enough to lift a sword. They were raised and trained to be useful along their brothers, forged to the sole purpose of defending the realm and never to be left wanting.

The Septas of the Faith of the Seven recruited woman of fine birth, in want of a life not owned by a husband, and those who’s families were willing to pay handsomely for a life of purpose for their unfortunately female child. Women worked and clawed and won their way into the duty of a Septa, the Faith had no use for useless girls.

There was no place in the realm for unwanted girls. Brothels did not want them. They already had enough bastards, and young flesh did not turn enough of a profit. Girls were not wanted unless they were useful, and many unuseful girls found themselves living on the streets or dead in a ditch.

That was what would befall Lyn is she were ever to be found wanting, of something more, of something else. She was lucky to have been given her place amongst the holy woman of the Faith, even if she was not going to benefit from their handouts much longer. Lyn had been found wanting at an early age, never reaching the hidden marks required to be gifted a role as a Novice. Those girls found wanting were given hard work of servitude, waiting on the Septas that filled the halls of the Grand Motherhouse, constructed around the ancient order’s orphanage, nestled in the swamp lands of The Bite.

The prayer before work was never ending, but no one had the heart to interrupt the young girl, hands clasped together, eyes stitched shut, conversing with the gods in earnest. Lyn tried to shake her mind from racing at the thoughts of the future, focusing on the task at hand. House Erenford was not able to keep a staff his large permanently, but they would take every chance for a few strong-backed girl servants from the Faith to tend their Keep during festivals and feasts. House Erenford honors hard workers, and knows that the serving girls’ would be in need of work away from their lands as soon as they could find it. The elderly Lord Erenford would always put in a good word with visiting households in need of additional servants.

Lyn tried to for her back to appear straight, as she lowered herself enough to reach the basket of herbs that needed plucking. Her fellow maid, Hanna, peeled potatoes below the table and out of sight of piety. This was not the first time the group of maids had been contracted to work during a feast at House Eronford’s keep, and Lyn knew that they did not have time for endless prayers and blessings if they were to keep their schedule. Their traveling party lost many hours to traveling from the Motherhouse, where the young maids hailed.

Lyn’s eyes remained downcast, she was raised by the Septas of the Faith of the Seven since as long as she had memory. She had learned to pray before she could do any other task, it took many years to learn how to appear to be praying, which is much more efficient.

Her small movements had been noticed, however, by the Lady Aeditya Mallister. She had been raised on a far-off world, at a distance Lyn could not properly imagine, away from the tradition of the Faith.

Lady Aeditya cleared her throat, trying to get someone’s attention, her empty cup dancing in her hand.

For years, Lyn assumed Aeditya was of mixed peoples, like Lyn herself, with skin of a strange middle ground between dark and light. But, after serving the lady on numerous occasions, she was assured that Lady Mallister was of impeccable birth, thought to possess ravishing beauty by her entire nation, a nation where all peoples looked like her, but obviously less beautiful.

Lady Aeditya exhaled loudly, and no move was made to fill her empty cup while prayers were still being pledged.

Lyn agreed that Lady Aeditya was beautiful, but knew that her distant land would not welcome her for her skin alone. Their features were completely different, were Lyn was plump and sturdy, Aeditya was slim and narrow.

“LYN!” the lady finally shouted. The prayers abruptly stopped. “My cup is empty. Where is the wine?”

“Of course, Lady Mallister,” Lyn said dutifully, flicking away the moist bits of shredded herbs from her fingers, glad that the room burst to life as work for the feast could finally begin. Behind the pillar of the wine cellar, Lyn suck a few gulps from the pitcher to warm her belly before returning to fill the lady’s empty cup.

—

“Ugh!” Lady Aeditya huffed, as she lounged on the stone hearth, stroking her distressingly pregnant belly. “It’s too quiet in here, someone speak,” she ordered, her wine cup almost empty one again.

“Is the duck ready for the oven?” Hanna chimed, thinking her thoughts aloud as she passed.

“No!” Lady Aeditya stamped, “The babe grows ears! Do not speak of things I know nought about!” Her words staccatod for emphasis. “It is isolating to me, we must not encourage such things for the babe,” she said as if it were obvious. “Lord Ryver and Waltel Frey are sparring, as always, and I did not come here to be bored.”

Lady Aeditya came to Haronfall, along the edge of The Bite, all the way from Seaguard, the western most point before the Iron Islands. It was the only area of land Lyn had ever known. It was more than a week’s journey between the two settlements, and every pregnancy, Aeditya seemed to spend the majority of her time away from her lord husband.

“What would you like to speak of, Lady Mallister?” Lyn asked, sharing smiling glancing to the other girls working. She tried to get the savory herbs from beneath her fingernails, to not spoil the sweet pie filling she was mixing.

Lady Aeditya signed again. “it is always up to me, the true burden of being a lady.” She sat up straighter and addressed the help with her eyes. The Lady Aeditya saw an unorganized gaggle of unmarried maidens, who were long old enough to bare children of their own. Poor, former infants that were abandoned by their destitute mothers at the Faith’s doorstep, now traded around as extra help for a few measly coins. Aeditya say little difference between this and woman who sell their bodies in other ways. She could never imagine sullying herself with such unfulfilling work with a true lack of purpose. She pitied them in some ways – an envied them in others. “Girls, be thankful your minds are not always at the helm of every stimulant in conversation.”

Honestly, Lyn was thankful as her brain was far away from the dank kitchens, hidden below the gathering hall. The windows were scarce and to allow only for light, rather than a beautiful view of the fertile swamplands surrounding the keep. Lyn’s mind was free to soar and wonder, watching a bale of turtles balancing on a single log as they competed for the best spot in the sun. Lyn often wished she were a simple turtle, floating along the creeks and bogs, armored against chomping lizards and long beaked birds. She was free.

Very much unlike Lady Aeditya.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, both hands reaching for her overlarge belly. “Come hither! The babe! He kicks!”

The room flurried with rushing girls and dropped buckets.

Lyn did not think Lady Aeditya so bad. Lyn was present at her last birth, as Aeditya’s labors began in Haronfall, and lasted days. The boy was born asleep, the Septas said, wrapping him in cloth and not allowing the mother a single look before carting him away, leaving Lyn and the other girls to hold Aeditya close as she wailed. At the request of Lord River, Aeditya remained in Haronfall to give Lord Mallister’s temper time to subside.

Lyn smiled as she felt the babe kick, before other girls pushed her palm away to feel for themselves. Lyn didn’t know how much she believed in the gods, but she prayed to all of them on behalf of the Lady Mallister, prayed that they would finally bless her with a single child that lives, if only to spare her from her lord husband’s much-gossiped-about wrath.

Lyn was very thankful she was a poor maid, with no hopes and no prospects. She had seen first hand what prospects could do to a woman.

—

Whatever the reason for Cinda Lannister’s personal crest being a lioness fighting a diamond snake, many speculated that she was much more the snake than a lioness. Perhaps the speculation began from Cinda herself.

“My prince,” she curtsied impeccably. “Oh, how I wish you’d allow me to call you ‘my favorite prince,’” she teased, snaking her hand around Aemond’s arm, without him offering it.

“As I have told you since childhood, you are allowed to do no such thing,” he scoffed, wishing he could shake her arms away like he could his mother. Cinda Lannister was a high-born lady, not something that could be manhandled, so he allowed her closeness begrudgingly. “What is it you want this time, Lady Cinda?”

The younger sister of Master of Coin, and personal possessor of the largest sapphire mine in all of Westeros, threw her head back with a laugh, allowing the tall prince a better view of her bare neck and low-lying neckline. “You are always a laugh, my prince!” she mused, “I do not want anything from you. I simply wish you tell you of a surprise gift I have found for your dear, sweet, sister, the Princess Helaena.”

“What is it?” he asked plainly, wishing the halls of the Red Keep were shorter, or any other reason for this conversation to end.

“Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you!” she jested back, “no, I will not tell you what it is, simply where to find it, if you would wish to help me fetch it for her.”

Aemond offered Cinda his hand at the end of a long staircase, as any proper gentleman should, and she gracefully accepted it. “Fine,” he held his tongue in anger, “where is it?”

“Haronfall,” she replied quickly.

“Heronhol?” he had heard, expecting the gift to be some haunted tree spider.

“No, my prince. That is a common miscommunication. Haronfall, along The Bite, Near The Twins, but not quite. Ruled over by Lord Eronford. It is far older than Haronhol and some say it could be the inspiration for Lord Aaron’s naming of his own Keep.”

It was not often when Aemond took more than a thought to remember the heraldry of a house. “A heron on a pink banner?”

“Correct, my prince!” Cinda used this as an opportunity to giggle. “That is correct?” Cinda asked, turning towards Aemond’s back.

Aemond had not noticed the girl following behind, a girl, barely old enough to be called a lady, clad in bright red rubies and lace. “Yes, aunt,” she replied meekly, not looking up at Aemond. The daughter of the Realm’s Lannister Master of Ships.

“Thank you, Cordelia,” Cinda said.

Aemond had been offered the young Lady Cordelia on numerous occasions since her birth. The second-born prince had no interest in playing nursemaid to a child, or bedding one.

“Haronfall is where I shall be traveling to, unfortunately I shall be missing the King’s nameday festivities, but as you know, your sweet sister’s own nameday is so soon after, that she rarely receives much fanfare.” Cinda said.

“And with all of the troubles she has had of late with those nasty girls from the Stormlands. I simply shudder to think of the vile insults thrown her way.”

—

In the past, Helaena’s ladies forced her around the keep, the princess’s feet dragging paces behind the ladies’ closely fortified wall of linked arms. They had all hailed from the Stormlands, a great honor bestowed by the crown. Jena Estermount, the eldest daughter to the second richest house in the region who openly mocked the gods, Arianna Tarth, a half-dornish girl, and Corenna Storm, a noble bastard of House Baratheon.

As they wafted through the walls of the Keep, Aemond thought it plain to see that the princess’s ladies were not interested in the princess at all. Helaena did not seem at all bothered when the Queen dismissed the group of catty ladies from court after she discovered them mocking the princess behind her back. Queen Alicent distrusted each girl for their own glaring flaw, and only had the prejudices enforced through the girls’ actions.

In reality, Helaena had not minded the names they called her. Some of the names were quite clever. One of the girls, the bastard, had called her “Batty.” Helaena had never given much thoughts to bats before that name, and since has discovered she finds them quite fascinating.

—

Cinda had always seemed to have the Queen’s interest at heart. Aemond figured Cinda was a child when his mother was married, basically offered as a gift from the Lannister family. Cinda was a Lady in her own right, the rightful daughter to the Lord Paramount of the West, and had the authority born from her great house, to assist the queen with any ladyly matters that concerned women.

Aemond wasn’t sure what ladies did all day, but he supposed planning gifts for a princess was a worthy endeavor.

Aemond had only known Cinda to honor his mother in whatever way necessary. He liked the way she made people squirm.

“Careful, Lord Larys,” she quipped once, while his mother and the clubbed foot whispered in the corner. “If you aren’t careful, I shall marry you. And I shall keep my husband on a much shorter leash.”

Cinda was young enough to be a proper match to marry Prince Aemond, but old enough to lack many more fruitful child baring years. It would basically be admitting to the realm of his care for the woman, which he had none, no matter how many times he returned to her bed to lay his head upon her chest. It meant nothing, he told himself, even as the tears stung the corners of his eyes as he burrowed himself into her.

Cinda was just a teen, helping the Queen Mother after Aemond’s incident on Driftmark, letting the small boy lay on her chest as he was sick on milk of the poppy.

His mother was there, asleep on the chair near his bedside, but she could not bare to touch him. The last time she cradled his face, the night it happened, she erupted with rage and she was horrified, afraid she would lash out at the boy with her anger like she had attacked her once best friend.

It was Aemond that snuck into Cinda’s chambers a few moons past when they stopped sleeping in his own chambers. It was the first time he had seen a lady without a corset, when he climbed into her bed, teary eyed and pouting about the pain his family was tired of hearing. She let the pitiful boy sleep on her chest, Aemond thought her was much more comfortable without her corset.

Cinda had never changed the way she looked at him. He had always been the poor, second son that she loved to dote upon. Even after gaining Vhagar and losing his eye, she never faltered in her incessant mothering of him, always to his annoyance.

The winter following his lost eye, Cinda had made sure to strap him into his winter coat personally, buttons, belts and all. So many, the young boy would grow too impatient every time he attempted to shrug it off.

Aemond would threaten to feed Cinda to his new dragon at her every annoyance, and every time she would hug him close, and before long he was tall enough to get a face-full of her ample chest.

It had become a game for him, without him realizing what he had been up to, with his newly formed fascination with women’s breasts.

Cinda was the first to notice his little scheme, calling him out in their quiet place, “I thought you my favorite prince for being so different from your elder brother, His Grace. I can’t have you being a leacher as well.” Her thumb as passed over his lips as she caressed his cheek and he felt every inch of skin set aflame.

He legs stormed him out of her room and down two corridors before he was able to hear the world again. The blush did not leave his flesh for weeks, as every time the young boy caught a glimpse of a red dress, he was reminded of her alluring words.

Aemond had been panicked for so long that Aegon noticed. When Aegon approached Cinda about the incident, she licked her thumb to wipe away from dirt on Prince Aegon’s nose. He lost interest quickly, not enjoying her mothering the way others did.

His grandsire had even requested to speak with him about something important. Aemond was enameled by the strategic maps and sums that scattered the office of Hand to the King.

It was a meeting, much worst than he could have ever feared. Otto thought it had been time that the young prince he spoken to about urges. Aemond thought about jumping from the Hand’s Tower, surely death was better than this.

“I don’t…” Aemond was cut off, Otto was not going to let him get out of this one.

A large, ancient tome was presented to the young prince. Aemond closed the book as quickly as he opened it, after seeing the crude drawings of nude bodies. “I don’t want this,” he said, pushing it back to his grandsire, not making eye contact.

“Think of it as an early nameday gift,” Otto patted him on the head, not allowing Aemond to leave without the book.

The young prince held the tone like it was covered in acid, not wanting it to suddenly burst into flames. That was until he noticed Aegon a floor below, and Aemond hid the book under his shift, tucked into his breeches to unsuspiciously walk past his elder brother and little cousins.

It obviously did not work.

It never worked.

He stopped seeing Cinda unnecessarily after that, only allowing a passing conversation at a mutual dinner or ball. It wasn’t something he needed, he reminded himself, with his hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed the Harvest Ball in the Red Keep. The festivities were distracting his brother and his club of suitors from The Reach, all who took great pleasure in Aemond’s discomfort. If the Reach Ladies ever found out about his secret nighttime travels to Cinda’s chambers to be swaddled with a babe…the only option would be to sacrifice himself to the Old Valyrian gods by Vhagar’s dragon fire.

Even as a man grown, Aemond could still picture the sting of Lady Ivyanne Tyrell’s voice in his imagined scenario that he allowed to play on loop every night.

“By the gods, One-Eye, do you love Cinda Lannister?” He could feel their laughter, even without it ever happening.

Not that he had thought about the exact scene in his loneliest hours of sleep, Cinda was never at a lack of quips and womanly come-backs. Lady Cinda Lannister was not afraid to call out Ivyanne for the sapphic invert she truly was. “Have fun with your Game of Flats, I’m sure Prince Aegon enjoys watching.”

Not that Aemond ever imagines such things, especially right after he had just finished his imagining. It was always the last time, every single time.

Lady Cinda Lannister bathed in the morning, before the sun is fully risen, beginning her day before some of the Keep’s servants. Aemond knew that much about her routine, after being gently woken and forced to trek back to his own chambers before the castle was awake.

The early morning after his thirteen nameday festivities Aegon had talked him into, Aemond found himself in Cinda’s chambers once again. She did not have to ask, his tears could not be controlled.

Cinda had derived a way to lock the doors from the inside, she was never one to to be caught off guard.

They both bathed in their shifts. Aemond cried into her neck as she washed his hair and sponged his face. She distracted him with Lannister family histories, courtly gossip she had overheard, talk about her excitement for his sister princess’s new ladies-in-waiting arriving from the Stormlands soon.

They couldn’t stay there forever, as Aemond would have wished. The dream between sleep and awake evaporated together into the cloud of his memory. Aemond could not remember if he asked Cinda to marry him that night, or if it was only a fleeting dream. Regardless, there was a sweet declaration of her painless rejection. Aemond had not minded.

—

“I hope you are daydreaming of me, my little prince,” Cinda laughed, grazing his cheek with her fingernail.

The waking nightmare had been so real that Aemond started back to attention, tripping young Cordelia, who was following him too closely.

“You will be gone for weeks,” Aemond continued forward, leaving the young Cordelia to pick herself up from the floor.

“I hope you do not miss me too fiercely while I away,” she shined.

“I never do,” Aemond blanched as she pressed her lips to his cheek.

—

Aemond could not withstand another moment of his father’s sixtieth nameday celebration, and took to the skies before the great hunt had finished. He had been given his heading of The Bite, and he had studied the wastelands of the kingdoms in his youth for this very reason. He had no need for a map.

Vhagar circled the estuaries trickling out of The Bite, the bitter air of the cold swamp fluttered upwards, the smell of fresh death, and decay played inside him. Only a place like this could grow the strange bog creature his sister was surely going to cherish from Lady Cinda.

The settlement had been easy enough to find, after a few hours of searching the shores. Vhagar’s legs sank into the muck as she landed, the elderly she-dragon grunted with every movement, refusing to lean on her wings for support. She took two additional landings for Aemond to calm her enough to dismount.

Before his dragon had disappeared from view, tall, squawking birds had found perch upon her wide back. Aemond was sure her dragon fire would not find purchase amongst the brush and trees, the place was too dank to be set ablaze.

By the time he reached the settlement, Aemond had cursed every rock and root he had passed for the past few miles. He wished Vhagar had roasted the entire countryside rather than spend another moment knee deep in cold muck.

—

“Ryver has gone mad yet again,” Lady Aeditya’s slurred down the stairs, she risked tumbling for a change at her favorite exaggerated eye roll, marking her judgement on others. “He thinks there is a Targaryen prince at his door.”

The work in the room stopped at once.

“…another one?” Hanna asked, her hands almost burning on the pan she paused handling.

“It seems so,” Aeditya shook her cup until it was filled.

“This shall be the fourth ‘prince’ to show at up his door, correct?” Lyn asked, she could not hide a smile stretching over her lips.

“When his Lord father is away, Ryver will open the Keep to anyone with silver hair and a claimed title.”

“What do you think this one will be like?” Hanna asked, “handsome for once?”

They all had a laugh at that.

“This one is different,” Aeditya answered, “Or so Ryver claims. This one…has lost an eye.” The lady stretched out her iris as she drained her cup.

Lyn did not understand the gesture.

“The prince,” a quiet maid said, “one of the prince’s is missing an eye. They call him ‘One-Eyed!’”

There was mumbling amongst the ladies, Lyn even joined in.

Aeditya could not help but be correct in all things, “Girls! Do not be such gullible lambs! Are we really to believe there is only a single silver man in the entire world and he lives at the king’s palace?”

The new mumbling confirmed that the Lady had a point, as she usually did. Lyn was glad that her worldly education was being put to good use somehow. “Girls these days–” Aeditya said, ignoring their clearly overlapping ages, “–are so quick to believe whatever best suits them. Back when I was a maid, girls were instructed on forming more than the quickest of opinions.” Her hands were at her belly, wishing her wisdom above all for her future son. Wisdom and breath.

“And besides, I’m sure he would have been born without the eye. Marrying one’s brother dilutes health, it is a simple matter of nature. And besides,” Aeditya looked over the gathered foods. “How would a young princeling lose an eye to begin with? They own the strongest guards on the continent”

“Perhaps it could have been an accident?” Hanna asked, seeing it as a reasonable offer.

“No.” Aeditya put down her goblet. “I saw the creature’s face, that scar was no accident.”

—

Lyn did not want to admit to herself that she wanted a peak at the potential prince herself. If only for the chance to see a nasty scar. Lyn wasn’t one for violence, but she did think the human body a fascinating thing. She sometimes forgot about the prominent marks that scar her own face, a thing that some Septas preach as a consequence for a mother’s sinful life. She was only reminded by her betters. When a traveling Septon instructs her to stand as an example for his sermons on the ill-effects of sin on the body. Lyn did not mind the occasional Maester passing through their congregation asking to examine her. She had been assured that there was nothing malicious about the marks on her face.

Lyn likened her marks as her calling card, she was an easy face to remember a few summers past, it was what helped her gain her odd-jobs, helping rebuilt fences and carrying stone for ailing paupers. Most in the Realm would scoff at the offer of manual labors from a woman, but those in need are much kinder. They they are not always grateful, it is not because of her sex but because no one wants to turn beggar. Though, accepting help from the Faith was always easier on an ailing conscience.

For as long as Lyn could remember she had been amongst the statues of the Seven Gods, and the Septas of the faith. She had learned to clean herself by them, she learned discipline by their rods, she learned how to be of use to the world.

Lyn was grateful for her life amongst the Septas, but was glad to be away whenever possible. Lyn thanked the gods that they only appear in Haronfall for the markets, and only require novices to accompany her during work in the Erenford’s Keep.

Lyn surmised most of the Septas had not imagined ending up in such a cold, dank place in the middle of the Kingsroad. The western shores of The Bite was unforgiving terrain, a swamp of brackish, mud-colored water that every structure eventually sinks into. The Reverend Mother often reminded the girls of her life in the southern Reach, of the endless summer days and sweet smelling grass. The wet, grey skies where the North, Riverlands and Vale meet leaves much to be desired for a southerner.

Lyn was not meant for a life as a Septa, as was foretold since her youth. The maesters and Septons tested the young girls as they came into the charge of the Faith and Lyn, and the other girls of the Maidenhouse, left them unimpressed. She had not shown intelligence, or gifts for art, or sums, or memorizing prayers. So, she was ranked amongst the useless girls who needed to be molded into something more.

Lyn knew of the dangers of a beautiful face, the Septas told them every tale that could exist of beautiful girls being dragged away and savaged by men of all ages and sizes. It was horrifying. Lyn was glad that no man would ever want to drag her away or trap her in a tower. Lyn did not mind being disgusting and ugly because of the marks on her face.

Besides, girls did not care about such things as ugly, they cared about her all the same. So, she was glad the world was not ruled by women, just like the Septas they would force a use for her in their world, no matter what she looked like.

“You can really give it to him, my Prince!” The eldest child of the current Lord Erenford called. “We Riverman can handle our own!” Lord Ryver shouted, as he hurled his sword into the guarding shield of his companion Waltel Frey.

The two young men began fighting in earnest, as a third party looked on. The Supposed Prince. Lyn assumed.

A small boy ran into the fray, wooden sword blazing and iron helmet blocking his line of sight, requiring a few strikes to properly attack his opponent’s buttocks.

“Yes Robyn! Attack!” Ryver shouted, “Go for the legs!” the small boy wrapped himself around the Frey’s knees as the clang of realm swords sounded until Waltel Frey yielded, which was traditionally followed by a rant of Red Ryver from the Erenford boys.

“Oy!” Waltel called from his chosen place to end his tragic death rattles for the amusement of Little Lord Robyn.

“Well, isn’t it my favorite grayscale woman!” Robyn leaned against the fence encircling the training yard.

“Have you ever seen greyscale?” Lyn asked, her tone trying to convey that this was not her favorite greeting.

“Obviously not,” Robyn answered, he might have been known as the Red Ryver, but he didn’t have a death wish.

“It does not look like this,” Lyn pointed to her face, “I know this because Maesters have shown me their drawings.”

“Do you speak to Maesters often?” It was the turn of the Supposed Prince to speak now.

Lyn regarded him, with her eyes. “Charmed,” she stated, echoing the word of Lady Aeditya to denote that she was less than pleased.

“Lyn lives at the Motherhouse!” Little Lord Robyn added, firing an arrow into the fencepost Lyn was standing in front of, thankfully his ever present helmet did not effect his view, this time.

“The Maidenhouse?” Waltel questioned.

“Maidenfort!” Ryver echoed his common words for the Faiths Cloisters.

“We get plenty of Maesters there, if it please you,” she stated, bowing slightly in the presence of Supposed royalty.

“Are you a Septa?” Aemond regarded her this time. She had a ruddy face covered in mess and sweat, brought upon by the brisk pace of a servant’s life. Her hair was braided down slick to her head, it was either flecked with blonde or dirt. What Aemond first guessed was mud on her face turned out to be her, freckles could not contain the black stains that blotched her cheeks. “You are dressed like a child servant.”

Lyn’s skirts were inches shorter than the noble ladies and their proper servants, “It’s easier to walk,” Lyn stated the obvious. She did not need yards of extra fabric mucking about her purpose in life. “And I am no Septa,” Lyn clarified, though not wanting to explain her life any further to this imposter.

“So…it seems the Prince of the Realm has come to Haronfall.” Just as Aeditya had many times before, Lyn brought the conversation to the group. Ryver had wasted no time to clasp his hands upon the Supposed Prince’s shoulders. He did not seem to like that. “That is exciting. What brings you here Ser–Prince?” Lyn had never thought how to address a royal before.

The Prince scowled, “I am here to fetch a gift for my sister,” he answered plainly.

“I make baskets!” Lyn could not help but exclaim proudly. The Septas had instructed her to always he in search of work, then one would never be wanting for it. “If your sister is in need of a gift.”

The Haronfall boys were dutifully thrilled at the suggestion.

“–no,” the Supposed Prince chuckled the word with an arrogance Lyn had not experienced in a man of his young years.

“Alright!” Lyn did not need to defend the usefulness of a basket very often, and her blood was beginning the boil.

“You make baskets?” he mused in her direction, not lowing himself to speaking directly at her.

“I do. I make them all m’self, I do. I harvest the grass, I dry them, I weave them, without help from no one,” the words bubbled from Lyn’s mouth. “Unlike the looks of you, who could nought tie his breeches alone.”

Aemond did not like when she pointed to his breeches, or their ties, or the general area in which they reside, in some field, in the damned Riverlands. It was unseeingly! Prince Aemond Targaryen was a god amongst men, the rider of the largest dragon in the world and he would not have his manhood regarded by some peasant.

“I am a Prince of the Seven Kingdoms–”

“More like six,” Lyn said loudly enough for Ryver and Waltel to stifle a laugh. Ryver’s only respite was promising to explain the jest to little Robyn at a later time.

Lyn pointed at his breeches straps again, just to watch his face twist in annoyance.

“I could have you whipped for saying that,” Aemond spat, nearly disrupting the wooden fence separating him from the swampland creature that dared to grace his–

“If you were the real prince–“

Aemond’s mind echoed the if, convulsed his annoyed face into confusion.

“If!” Lyn repeat to overpower the groans from Lord Ryver, who had thought the group was at a place far past this. He had only been wrong three times before. That did not denote a pattern. Yet.

Lyn looked the supposed prince in the eyes, a gaze devoid of any reverence or interest. “If you were the real prince, you could have me whipped no matter what I say,” she regarded the man no further. “If it please you, I have a job to return to.”

Aemond’s hand was on his dagger, he had every right in the whole of the realm, on any continent on this earth to carve a hand from the woman’s body and feed it to Vhagar on his return to the Crownlands.

“But! He had one eye!” Ryver called after the disappearing peasant.

A shiver dripped down Aemond back like a bead of sweat on a hot day, his body defensively braced himself for a jest at his own expense.

“Everyone here seems to think,” Lyn turned and shouted across the lawn, “that the prince was born with only one eye! So, perhaps, have your tale at the ready for your…situation,” Lyn mimed his injury with her giddy hands.

She was too far away for a sword, but Aemond was sure he could hit her if he pried the bow from the little boy Lord’s hands.

In reality, Aemond was greeted by the stare of Haronfall boys who seemed to think the peasant woman had a point to make.

Aemond could feel Vhagar rushing through him, she was far from this place, instantly disliking the frigid swamp mess. The easiest option would be to cart the nonbelievers to his dragon, but he knew he would be too tempted to order Vhagar to feast upon them before taking to the skies to burn the village to the ground.

It seemed that the truth was taken as fact relatively quickly, with little questioning. Both Lord Ryver Erenford and Ser Waltel Frey seemed to ponder a vague memory of their fathers reading a message over dinner, some years ago, regarding the tale.

It seemed that the lowborn, lord, peasant men and the helmet clad child believed him long enough for supper and a bed, though he was growling unsure he even wanted that.

—

Prince Aemond had never been to such a disorderly affair, seated as one of many at a large cypress table that curved around the hall. The food was served in no rememberable order, plates of meats and desserts lingered together on the table.

Lord Ryver regaled his guests with the grand tale, depicted on the keep’s newest addition to the tapestry gallery. In the threads it told the story of renowned warrior, The Red Ryver, and House Erenford’s defeat of some Rivermen, somewhere. Even Ryver’s younger brother, little Lord Robyn, was featured, wearing the iron he has refused to remove for the past six moons and his miniature bow.

Aemond watched as the help gathered around the table, listening to Ryver climb upon the hall’s table to reenact memorable battle moments.

The servants were dressed in an array of clothing clothes and fabrics, as if the group had been bandied together for this night alone. Most of the maids wore a grey dress fit for a child, the length only reaching to their mid-calf. Aemond had a mind to walk back to Vhagar and never leave the comfort of King’s Landing again, Cinda could fetch her own surprise.

Aemond did not make himself sick from wine and exotic liquors often, but this was a specific situation he wished to forget his memories as he went about making them.

—

There was dancing after the meal, and the maids joined in on that as well, acting as if they were High Born ladies, dancing with visiting lords and

Lyn stepped out of the overly warm keep, to get a deep breath of the fresh night air. It smelled of rotting plants and decaying leaves, like the smell of new life sprouting from under every stone. She noticed that she was not alone.

“I see we both needed time away,” she said to the figure, clad in leathers like he was ready to ride away given the slightest reason.

The prince had just excused himself to be sick on the grassed levee fortifying against the encroaching swamp.

Prince Aemond scoffed at the girl, his mouth foal with the taste of wine and sick. The peasant girl’s skirts were riding even higher on her legs from the dancing, her leggings as disappeared hours ago as the temperature of the kitchens rose and warmed the entire keep. She looked like someone begging for his coin.

“Hello, Greyscale,” he retorted, his mind shifting to the quick insult.

“Hello, Cripple,” Lyn barely tolerated the language from her friend and employer, this man would get no sympathy.

Aemond did not like that. He did not like a single moment. His skin lit up in a drunken daze as if he were standing on guard for a fight. His hazy mind did not know where he had placed his weapons.

He opened his mouth to speak, but thankfully was interrupted, for he would not have been able to swallow his sick back into his stomach in that moment.

“Listen closely, Silver-boy,” Lyn began, as Aemond gripped the hilt of an imagined dagger.

“As I am sure you are well aware,” he started. The moon was mostly full in the sky, but the torchlight of the terrace was not enough to see his lavender eyes sway drunkenly as they attempted to focus. “Your brothers have visited here. Three times now, I’d wager.”

“What?” That made no sense to Aemond, as his mind reeled to Cinda. Had she charged Daeron and Aegon into her mission? She would never do that to him.

“And I think it only fair, seeing that the last Targaryen Princeling to weasel their way into these walls stole a favored sword of the Lord Erenford!” Lyn’s tale weaved itself. She was sure Haronfall had been the talk from the North to the Vale after the beating Ryver’s Lord Father gave him after that.

“I just think,” Lyn continued, “That after the feast, you should just take your leave. Lord Erenford need not know of this feasts guest of honor.”

“I will not be ordered about by some–“ Aemond was sick again.

“You’ve filled your belly, just leave quietly,” Lyn laughed at his misfortune, “It was smart of you to come during the King’s nameday celebrations. The Septas told us of the King’s nameday and all of his grand plans. And I would assume…” Lyn moved closer, clasping her hands behind her back. “…That you knew Lord Ryver would be left alone and… vulnerable, with Lord Erenford traveling to the capital…where I would assume the true prince is,” Lyn enjoyed immensely being right. “–celebrating his own father’s nameday?”

Never in Aemond’s life had he needed to prove his lineage, it had been clearly written on his face and stitched into his clothing. The green of House Hightower was as thick in his veins as the blood of dragons. And yet here, he was some imposter.

And he was growing tiered of this ruse he was seeming to play. He was growing tiered and perhaps too drunk. It reminded him far too much of the time a young Aegon recruited the Reach Girls and his cousins to pretend that he had been rendered invisible for weeks on end one boring winter in their shared youth.

“Fine!” Aemond had been many things in his life, he had been a failure, a twat, an annoyance, a disappointment, but never…no one. “Fine! I shall leave! Just stop with the ceaseless tales, of rivers and princes! My head is spinning.” He could walk to Vhagar and leave this place and no one would never know or believe that a real prince had graced their halls.

It could have been the wine, or the company, but Aemond could not prevent a laugh when regarding his current fate.

“I’m glad that you agree,” Lyn was pleased. “I was a good plan. Little Robyn even believes he saw your dragon fly above the keep.” The deep breath of the night air carried with it something that she had only smelled somewhere in the memory, that she could not place.

Aemond could not stand the taste of sick in his mouth and fished a forgotten fruit from his coats pockets.

“What is that?” Lyn asked.

“What?” Aemond asked, as the woman pointed to what he was idly palming between his hands.

“Is it something for your dragon?” she laughed.

“This?” he asked, “is an orange.” Aemond was sure he recalled his mother telling a story about it being one of his first words as a babe.

“An orange? Like the fruit?” she asked.

“Yes, you imbecile.”

“Well, where did it come from? Was it a gift from The Twins? Ryver has never–– it seems so–“ The wine rushed through Lyn’s system, and the beautiful smell embolden her.

“No, I thought it for my travels,” he quipped. “I am glad of it. I was not aware the Riverlands to be such a dreadfully barren place”

“The land is plenty fruitful here, when it wants to be,” she replied, holding out her hand. “Now, give it here, I want to try it.”

The fantasy played through Aemond’s head that it pulled a smile onto the corners of his face. The image of himself offering her the fruit, and just as it graced her palm, he would use his entire strength to throw it into the fucking swamp. His glorious vision was interrupted by the disappointed eyes of his mother. Her furrowed brows were too vivid from much wine. Aemond groaned and handed over the mysterious fruit.

Lyn inhaled loudly, the smell like she had never experienced before. It filled her nostrils and woke up her blood.

Aemond’s hand twitched slightly as she prepared an opened mouth bite into the skin. His hands were then crossed under his arms.

“Is it safe to eat?” she asked, stepping forward to eye him in the dim lamplight. Aemond felt the stone wall of the terrace against his leather clad back.

“No, it’s poison, I will gladly watch you die.”

Her laugh sounded like a pigs snort. Her smile was quickly replaced with a scowl as her teeth peeled a thick membrane of skin into her mouth. “It’s–delicious,” she forced herself to say, open mouth chewing the bitter bite.

“No! You fool,” he wrenched the fruit back before she could cover it in any more of her bile. “It must be peeled first.”

Aemond was so glad of the dark night’s lack of light upon their shadowed corner of the terrace as the woman spit the bitter taste into the dirt. The Prince nearly dropped the orange in disbelief of a lady performing such a disgusting act.

She laughed at him once again.

“Here!” He huffed, as he had picked away the disgusting bits. His bare fingers gripped the dripping fruit as he held it out as an offering.

The blood drained from his body and disappeared deep inside of him at the contact of her tongue on the tips of his fingers as she took the fruit from his offered hand with her mouth. Aemond had not been aware of the deep breath that had been held up inside his lungs, but they emptied as the girl’s eyes flashed in the torchlight, the color of honey passed before a flame. The prince watched the endless dance of emotions over her face as she experienced the flavors for the first time.

“Its a mess!” The fluttered giggle that left her made him offer another piece without thinking, and she took it the same way.

He responded somewhere between a right and a yes as he tried to memorize the coloring and ridges and valleys of her face, as if he would need it later to solve a life threatening puzzle. He wanted to lick the juice that he had watched drip down from her chin, to the place under her clothes.

He felt things under his own clothes stir.

“Come swim with me,”

“What?”

“Its the least you can do after eating all the food I helped prepare,” she said, beaconing him away from the terrance and into the expanse of the night. “A prince would be in want of a bath, I am sure,” she laughed, for she nor any other servant would be prepared to carry water up stairs after a feast like tonight.

Aemond allowed himself to be led away. His hands still grasp around an imaginary dagger, at the prospect of her robbing him blind.

“I do not plan to steal your virtue, princeling” Lyn’s words had a drunken edge in their own right. She did not often partake in wine, as it was not offered to her as it could take away from the Septas reserves.

Aemond’s hand released the dagger that had never been there, as his eyes played their way over her body as he followed her into the moonlight. He played the scenes of her trying to overtake him and none seemed to have purchase. Unless she attacked him with a stone, but Aemond was sure his arms were longer. This had not been the first time since they met that he had imagined choking her.

“So, where are you from?” Lyn asked, flexing her lady-like conversational skills that Aeditya spoke so highly of. Lyn allowed him some time to answer, as they maneuvered past a precarious log.

“A Valyrian bastard,” he replied, just like his nephews. “I hail from Dragonstone. It is an isle in the mouth of Blackwater Bay. Near the capital.” He got close enough to see her face in the dark, adding on more information until he found recognition take root.

“Could you see the palace, from your isle?” she sounded eager to be fed more.

“From my own palace?” he felt something inside of him at her gasp.

“Did you really live in a palace?”

Aemond could not begin to guess what she had been imagining, but he liked watching the wheels turn in her mind. “When I was a boy,” he did not want to get too far from her now.

“What was it like? Could you simply ask for an orange and it would be fetched for you?” He nodded until she continued. “And there would just be oranges in the kitchens? And what if the kitchens run out? Would they–“

“They would be punished severely,” he added, strangely not enjoying her new gasp as much. “But–“ he had to think quickly to play her throat like an instrument. “We could never run out of oranges, they grow on the island.” She enjoyed this more, he enjoyed when she licked her fingers at the lingering taste. “Giant orange bushes, all along the ocean’s edge, too many to ever eat in all the feasts of the year.”

She touched him with her next astonished laugh.

“And when you needed clothes they would clean it? And when you wanted a bath…would they bathe you?” her last words were a whisper, a topic proper ladies should not be speaking about.

The Septas and girls of the House of the Faith all bathed together. It was a cloister of women, no one had anything to hide. And Lyn had once heard Lord Erenford state that men should not sit in stagnant water, it unaligned the humors.

“Yes,” Aemond whispered back. “They would bathe me every day.”

“Would they only bathe you? Or would there be–?”

Aemond licked his lips as he watched the moonlight dance on the dipped juice along her chin. “Would there be what?” he could barely hear himself speak over his heart beating. “What could they have done?” he played dumb, he could smell the orange on her breath.

“They would have…” Lyn eyed his lips, his eyes far too towering above her head. She guessed that he liked being tall. Lyn could not help but laugh. “… they would have stolen your virtue!”

“The servants did not bathe me!” He admitted, rolling his eyes at her naivety. “They were servants, they only fetched water.”

Aemond would mow anyone down with his sword if they overlord the ‘wow’ that left his lips as the girls twirled in the moonlight.

“We are here!” she announced, it seemed to be a river.

“Turn around! It is too dark to see anything!” she called, her hands moving to unclasp her work clothes.

“If it it too dark, when why must I turn around?”

“Valyrian gentlemanly duty?”

He turned without much fuss until he heard her body splash into the water. He had been a gentleman and not looked, he had given his word.

His eyes fell on her discarded clothes and drifted to her swimming form. He did not know the state of her, but from the pile she left behind it didn’t seem she have many options to be left wearing.

“Now you turn around,” he ordered, as he kicked off his shoes.

He watched her turn, not knowing when to stop himself in his state of undress.

Aemond watched as her head turned over her shoulder. He undressed completely and wadded into the water. He had not taken a breath the entire time. The water was warmer than he expected.

They spoke about the sky, and the weather, and whatever other topics that flattered them, their distance ebbed and flowed like the tides, inching closer to one another and then pulling away.

“Ryver is a bastard?” Aemond asked, his toes could feel the bottom of the lake if he put his mind to it.

“No. Ryver is the first true born child of Lord and Lady Erenford,” Lyn explained. “But, little Lord Robyn is the heir because Lord Ryver was born…as Lady Ryver.”

There was a pause in the air as Aemond let it all sink in.

“The Lord Erenford allowed it, and all will be well as long as Robyn lives to inherit after their father dies.”

“And if not?” Aemond asked.

“Lord Erenford’s brother does not approve of…any of it. And he is next in line after Robyn. But! Even before then, The Red Ryver wishes for a Keep all his own. ‘Feast Keep’ he calls it. A place where all and everyone are welcome. Fortified to withstand any threads from his uncle and…those would you see them all hang. Away fro the Septas…”

“Away from King’s Landing,” Aemond added, understanding her meaning, forgetting his imagined birthplace. He turned his body in the water to face her.

His hands floating in the water to support himself, just as she did the same in the moonlight. He had washed his mouth out of the water many times over, he smelled her beautiful orange breath, assuming his own was foul. The orange juices had been long wiped away, but Aemond will imagined her lips would taste of sweetness.

He was brought back to reality when she spit a mouthful of water into his face.

“That’s disgusting!”

“We’re in a lake,” she shrugged one arm above the waterline.

Aemond eye was at the water’s edge when he saw the moonlight glisten off the skin on her bare shoulders. She had marks there too. He wondered where else on her body she had them. He watched her skin disappear below the water, like a beaconing ancient puzzle.

“You’re disgusting.” Perhaps for the first time in his life, he did not mean that has an (entire) insult.

“And you’re a liar,” she pointed out.

Aemond enjoyed being a low-born, if only because he knew it was entirely temporary. He let out a laugh and a breath at a realization he had yet to make.

“You’re naked with a liar,” he whispered, if he could see her bare shoulders then what else could she be wearing.

“Well!” she laughed, “You are to, I’d say.”

“But–“ That was entirely different.

“Because I’m a girl,” she barked back.

Aemond swam after her.

“–a woman,” she corrected. “A lady, even!”

“You are no lady,” he was enjoy this game that he could not tell you last time he had ever been angry.

“How would you know?” she teased.

“Because–” they had stoped swimming, just treading water, his toes dipped to the pebbled floor if he covered his nose. She was close enough to touch. Aemond reached his hand out and brushed her bare waist. “I’ve met ladies, and they would never be so–”

Did she not notice his touch to not flinch away? Or did she simply not care? There was no word for this feeling. He had felt it above the clouds, away from the red keep, and now between his toes in the muck.

“Ladylike?” she offered.

Aemond watched as her her hand breached the water, like she was trying to not frighten her prey, and rested itself atop his shoulder.

“What are ladies like?” she repeated herself, after her second hand touched his shoulders. He had not heard her the first time.

“They must…” he tried to remember anything else that wasn’t here, in this lake, under his moon. “Beautiful, and well-read. They should sing, and dance, be pious, but not overly-so. Painting, embroidery…drawing, even, an art is important for ladies to be accomplished with.”

Lyn was surprised there was even more.

“She should know her histories, and geographies, and sums so she might not bleed her husband’s purse dry. And, there is just something about her,” he almost sighed, “in her manner, and walk. Her air should be build to maintain her husband’s social and political alliances.”

“All at once?” She removed her hands from his shoulders. “All the time?” Lyn could not help but laugh.

“Not all the time, but yes! All at once! Some try and many fail,” he scoffed.

“You seem pleased with the failures of women,” she mocked, stretching herself backwards to wade towards the shallow edge. Her back arched and she felt cold air on her chest.

There was a pause in Aemond as his brain worked, a whisper brushed against his mind that reminded him of Aegon. “…What women?” he asked, closing the distance between them.

Lyn was pleased, this time, she wrapped her arms around his neck, not close enough to touch him. She nodded her head, and he copied, she shook it and he did too.

“Good boy.” It was as quiet as the wind. He could stand easily, and palmed her waist with a sigh.

There was a long silence.

“…have you…?” she asked, he felt it in his chest, as if she had said it in any worldly tongue he would have known what she was asking.

“Yes. Once. A long time ago.” The words came out, slowly, one at a time, but it was said. “My brother, took me to a brothel on my thirteen nameday. And…never again.”

“Oh,” she only said, her tone dipped in sadness at the edge of the sound.

“Have you?” his brow furrowed, in a genuine question. He had never given much thought to the purity of lowborns.

“No,” she answers firmly. “…yes,” but she corrected. “He…It wasn’t my…” she sighed into the story, never having told it before. “Last winter,” it had been over a past year, “A friend got sick, the Septas wanted us to pray but, she a needed medicine, and there was a man…and he was very handsome…so I…got the coin…” She picked her fingers behind his back. “But at least…I did not lie to a Riverlord for a free meal?”

“But aren’t you worried the Septas will check you?” Aemond heard her attempt to make light, but ignored it.

“I don’t think they can tell,” she answered.

“What?”

“I grew up with girls, and some went out and…had their fun, and some were taken before getting there, and some swore to have never and…I think the Septas feel what they want to fell.”

“So you think they're lying about it all?”

“Maybe!”

“You think everyone is lying,” he teased.

“Perhaps, sometimes, they are!”

He wanted to kiss her, to feel her lips on his, but she stopped him.

“Come sit on the dock with me,” she motioned, they were back where they started. Her hands gripped and pulled herself out of the water in one fluid motion, to sit atop the dock, bare as when she was submerged.

Aemond watched the watch drip from her hair down her neck and disappear into the shadows of the night, if only he could see in the dark. He was at her knees, standing in the waist deep waters, he could rest his chin on the dock if he liked. He liked his lips and place his hands on the girl’s knees.

“Have you ever seen a lady like this?” Lyn asked, she shoulders swayed in the sticky night air and her should feel her breasts shake as they lay on her crossed legs.

He shook his head in answer.

“What about this?” she asked, moving her hands with her knees and she spread her legs wide, exposing her cunt to him.

She had something else snarky to saw, but Aemond did not hear it. The moon and the stars would not support his endeavors to drown in the sight of her. Where his hands had been idle before, he gripped her knees to pull her further spread before him.

“What are you–?”

He was close enough he could almost…His tongue licked up her core and she played him music with her voice. He moaned into her as his tongue explored the raised flesh where her opening met. His tongue circled whines and moans around the bundle of nerves until he kissed her clit with his lips and didn’t let go. He suckled the bud, as he had wanted to suckle hard nipples of bellowing beasts in his sick fantasies. Her hands are in his hair, Aemond would not be freed from his prize, leaving Lyn to fist his hair like reins of a saddle. Her moans were shaking her entire body.

His finger played at her entrance. “Have you ever touched yourself?” he finally relented, for his desperate question.

“No!” she shook her body. “It’s…messy and wet and,” she could never bring herself to do it, and he did not let her finish.

His two fingers sank in, “You are wet.” She spread her own legs now, bucking against him as he returned to lapping at her clit while he coiled his fingers in side of her. “And messy,” he pumped in and out, his free hand twisting her nipple in his hand. He had never seen it gentle, but she clasped both hands over her own mouth to scream.

Aemond felt her clenching around him fingers as his mouth continued its attack. She bucked and tried to press her legs together, but he would not allow it. “Ahhhg!” she moaned, into the air, and slowly her quakes came to and end.

“Stop, stop…please–” she panted, her back layer against the dock.

Aemond did not like his lack of a view, and joined her on the platform, his own breath panting as he studied her face like a treasured map. She breathed, and her chest rose up and down, the water had dried from her skin but dripped from her hair. Aemond’s hands were firmly planted on the dock besides him, not wanting to touch something to fragile that she might run away.

“My turn,” she finally said, sitting up and catching his lips in a kiss. He had tried kissing before, but not often, mostly in games of children who could still play innocent. His mouth opened slightly and her tongue licked at the entrance.

He moaned into her as she wrapped her hand around the base of his cock. Lyn nipped at his lips lightly as she began to pump him, she could feel his skin tighten with every stroke, growing longer, and wider, filling her hand.

His mouth was useless for her kisses, she licked his tongue as his mouth hung open in pleasure. Aemond’s head found the crook of her neck and moaned into her skin. Her free hand fingered the strands of his silver locks. He was a shivering mess as he pumped his hips into her firm palm.

“Mmm,” he moaned as her free hand found his balls, palming them with every trust of her hand. He matched her pace and trust himself with her, she breathed heavy in his ear to match the pace.

“Lyn!” a voice called out from the darkness.

“What?” she shouted back, the loudest and sweetest sound Aemond had ever heard.

“Where are you? It is the Hour of the Owl! We must be going!” The ghost voice cursed them.

She moaned. “I am coming! I shall be there! Away! Please!” she begged.

Aemond had lost his pace, his head was shaking, he could not do this anymore.

“Wait,” Lyn hushed him, “Shh, shh, wait.” She was assuring, her strokes still strong as she could feel him hardening into her hand again.

“Let me,” she moved herself to between her legs and lowered her face to his cock. Her tongue starting at his base and licked up to twirl his head around her lips. She peppered kissed down his length as her hand returned to stroke him. Her kissed reached the base and went lower, kissing and sucking in the skin of his balls as he trust himself into her hands. He did not last long, the naked girl with her mouth on his cock. He trust and whine and pumped and he could hear her laughing and sucking and breathing and he came shaking on his chest.

They breathed together, and their breathing turned to laughter. Their discarded clothes still in the same pile it was forgotten.

“You’re called Lyn?” he said, praying to whatever god allowed him to remember her name. “I’m called–“ she interrupted him with a finger over his mouth.

“I don’t care,” she said, kissing his cheek and disappearing into the darkness, leaving Aemond a mess of himself.

//authors note – thank you SO MUCH for reading! This is the first project Im posting that I am proud of. It is barely edited, so I will eventually work on that. But, this is the beginning of a story worked out well. Plenty of twists and turns to come! I am always here for encouraging words, fic recs, headcanons, questions, and anything else~

My work on this fic inspired THIS POST. I’m just fascinated at HBO’s lack of “courtly ladies”, especially in a family where sisters are born to marry their brothers. So, I changed that and made some angsty mean girls to make fetch happen

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heymeowmao · 1 year ago

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2023.11.07 - https://weibo.com/l/wblive/p/show/1022:2321324965501234446524

LYN: Hallo everybody, good evening. I am Modern Brothers Liu Yuning. Welcome! LYN: Long time no see, long time no see.

C: It’s so early! LYN: Are you not home yet? In that case… what do you want me to do? Let me pause and then start again when you get home. We really want to provide the customer service mentality, here. A customer’s satisfaction is always the priority. Let me stream when you get home then, okay?

C: Monthly streamer. LYN: Stop provoking me. You mean to say that I only stream once a month, right?

C: How long have you been streaming? LYN: I just now turned it on. So that fact that you were able to come immediately means that you are my good friend. It’s like if I opened a restaurant- as soon as I open the doors for the night, and you are the first person in. You are my first customer. - C: Why can’t I see the comments? LYN: If you can’t see them that means that you’re lagging. Exit the stream then come back in. - C: I’m also the first to be seated! LYN: Yes, yes. I’m sure that those of you who came in right when I started the stream all pay attention to me very closely. You watch everything I do- so as soon as I started the stream, you came in. That means you are very indulgent of me.

C: Are you in Hengdian? LYN: … What do you think? You can tell by my background that I’m in Hengdian. Or else, this is all fake?

C: You’ve turned into a monthly streamer. LYN: I mean… there’s a reason behind that, you know?? How could I turn into a monthly streamer just randomly. There has to be a reason- I have work, so I started streaming less. But as soon as I have time, I will come to stream! Don’t worry. Therefore, stop pushing me. I don’t stream for a reason, it’s just that sometimes I can’t tell you what that reason is. C: Why? LYN: I can’t tell you. Otherwise people will accuse me of having a big mouth. I should say less. C: Who said that about you?? LYN: There are people who say- a proportion of people- who say that I- I don’t dare to take up the label myself, but some people are calling me a living “insider”. Everything I say is particularly thrilling. But being a “living insider” means that I can more easily take the heat for things I say. So from now on I want to be a “dead insider.” Okay? Less problems are better than more. C: Nonsense!! // You’re not “dead”!! LYN: It’s okay! It’s like I’m trying to comfort children- “pei pei pei (knock on wood!!)”

C: No! Ning-ge, you are the person in my heart. LYN: Oh, you don’t need to be so polite. You should date or marry when you need to, don’t wait for me. Be someone better- be the “woman that even LYN can’t have.” [t/n: his fans who get married call themselves that.] Thank you.

C: The Dalian accent is too strong. LYN: I’m from Dandong. I can speak Standard Mandarin, but when I’m streaming I just want to make it feel more alive, so I use my hometown dialect. But I CAN speak Mandarin, because I use it when I’m acting. For example if I’m in a guzhuang drama… there’s no way I can just be speaking in my Dongbei dialect throughout, right? I still have to use Standard. LYN: For example, if someone came over, I should say, “Who goes there? State your name.”, but if I were to use my Dongbei dialect, it’d be more like, “Who’s there? Who’re you?” That doesn’t work. So I normally do speak Standard, but for my stream I like to use my accent to sound friendlier/closer to you and a little more humorous. - /starts reciting tongue-twisters/ LYN: Not only can I speak putonghua, I can also recite tongue-twisters. :)

C: It’s snowing in Dongbei. LYN: Yes, I’ve seen. The weather’s gotten cooler, so- especially those from the South- remember to keep warm. You can catch a cold too easily. Now that it’s cold out, you should go out wearing a face mask. Don’t get sick. LYN: Hengdian hasn’t snowed yet. It’s still okay- around 20C- pretty hot. I mean warm, not hot! XD

C: I’m from Guangdong, it’s so hot! LYN: It’s so curious, isn’t it. South (warm) vs North (cold). C: In Shanghai it can drop to the tens in a single day. LYN: Wow. Then, remember to keep warm. Please don’t get sick.

C: Ning-ge, did you purposely leave some stubble behind? LYN: WhAT?! I shaved before I started streaming! Am I so manly, now? I JUST shaved and now someone is saying I purposely left some stubble. I guess it’s pretty apparent? I washed my face and shaved before this stream. Most of the time I’m shooting a drama, so when I don’t have any activities for the day I don’t shave- so I can look more manly. But now you’re saying I left it there purposely. Now what? I guess I can only look into getting it waxed. I’ll look for a painless hair removal and get it waxed.

C: I’m suspect this is a recording. LYN: There’s no need. I’ve already said- the charm of a live stream is that there is on- and off-line simultaneous interaction. If I had recorded one and am uploading, I don’t think it would be very meaningful.

C: What’s up with your hair? LYN: I’m wearing a wig.

---------- Promo Time

LYN: Why wasn’t I playing any of my recent OSTs up until now? Because I was waiting for people to come into the stream. That’s right. You are now listening to the tv drama Wonderland of Love’s ending song called 如果爱记得 (If Love Still Remembers) sung by Modern Brothers Liu Yuning.

bgm: 如果爱记得 (If Love Still Remembers) [Wonderland of Love OST]

LYN: This drama is actually very good- I turned it on yesterday to watch some. It’s not bad. The actors are cool and the plot is good. These two actors are so good-looking… It’s has a good plot, with good-looking actors- I watched an episode yesterday. You can support it, if you have the time. It’s called Wonderland of Love. If you have nothing to watch, you can watch this because… I sang the OST. LYN: Also if you look carefully in the credits, there’s also a character called Mu Xianhe. That’s my cameo. :) It’s rare that I would cameo in a drama- I’d do it for my good friends. So for this drama, I made an appearance. Three scenes total. I’ll probably only show up in the later few episodes. But the roster is really respecting me by adding me into the credits. In this case I’ve acted in it, got credited for participating, and sung a song for this drama, which is not bad at all.

C: Which episode? LYN: I don’t even know. Nearer to the ending. 30 something. I’m not too clear on it. C: Do you have three minutes? LYN: Aiyoo, of course~! How could you ask me to cameo, but give me less than three minutes of screentime? Of course I have more than that! Let me think- three scenes, plus music, plus slow-motion, plus other people’s lines… let me calculate. I should have at least… 8 minutes worth. LYN: At the time someone had recommended me some OST work, for which I was thankful for. Then later they asked me if I wanted to cameo. I said… “It’s not impossible.” So they found a role for me to cameo in. But my main question was whether or not this cameo’d role would have any interaction with the main leads or not. Did I have direct scenes with JT or XK? I didn’t want to go and just act with other supporting actors- then what would be the meaning in me making an appearance? Just to be a background character?? I mean- it’s not that I would be against the thought, but the meaning would not be a impactful. But they clarified that my scenes would be directly with the leads, so I agreed. I haven’t collaborated with either of them before, so we can consider this a fleeting collab. It’s likely that I won’t get another chance, so I just wanted to know how it felt.

C: Commission. LYN: There’s usually no pay for cameos. Usually it’s friends cameoing in other friends’ projects, so how much money do you think is appropriate? Do you think it would be proper for me to go and ASK for 2000RMB? Or do you think I would say, “Since I have three scenes I’ll give you a little bit of a discount and only ask for 1500RMB?” It’s not worth it. It’s such a big project- an S-tier- they’re not lacking in the funds, so it’s not like they can’t afford to. But I can’t really do anything with that money, so I might as well not accept payment and do it as a favor. I didn’t ask for money- I went for free. But they gave me an OST to sing, right? I was paid for that. Not a little amount, either. The jianghu isn’t about fighting and killing, the jianghu is about people and relationships, right?

LYN: Anyway, this song is called If Love Still Remembers. It’s another song I really like.

-- 如果爱记得 (If Love Still Remembers) [Wonderland of Love OST]

C: It sounds sad. LYN: /sigh/ It’s all about the heart-wrenching break-up. The feelings are a must.

LYN: Honestly OSTs, album songs, and live performances are all different. For a live performances, what you want to focus more on is the atmosphere/mood. You want the audience to feel what you’re feeling, so you will need to put “fuller” feelings into it. But when you’re singing OSTs, comparatively, you should be holding back. Not too much, but more than in a live performance. Why? Because you need to understand that the function of the OST is to act as a foil to the plot of the drama, and not serve to take the focus away. You can’t be too aggressive with it, otherwise you would be stealing attention away from the plot- the actor’s lines or their feelings. That’s why whenever I sing OSTs, I will restrain myself just the slightest bit. Of course, that’s not to mean that I don’t sing with any emotions at all. For albums, it depends on individual preference/attitude, and that’s a whole other story.

C: How are you so knowledgeable? LYN: If you have nothing else to compliment me with, you don’t have to force it. What “knowledge” could I have? This is something that anyone with a brain can figure out.

C: How come there’s a little breathy croaking sound? LYN: /clears his throat/ My voice is a little uncomfortable today. And… don’t you think that speaking like this… is very magnetic? // For any new friends who are coming in, please don’t think that I’m greasy and I’m making this voice on purpose. I’m not- my throat hurts. - /starts singing with ~feeling~/

LYN: It’s so sad- it makes me want to cry. So- if you don’t have anything to watch these days, please check out Wonderland of Love. I did watch it. I rarely have the time to watch dramas, but it so happens that I had the time. I watched all the episodes that came out- not in their entirety, but I watched here and there. I wanted to take the opportunity to learn something. Because as a new actor there are many things I need to learn. The last time I streamed I said something along the lines of “for young actors like me” and by “young” I didn’t mean that I was young IN AGE, rather that in this industry I count as a rookie. So my job now is to learn more, think more, and see more. That way I will be able to grow.

-----

C: Have you watched Romance on the Farm? LYN: That’s my good friend’s drama, how could I NOT watch it? What is a friend? If it’s a friend, then I have to take a look. I really did watch it, though. I don’t have very many friends in this industry, but for the ones I do have, I always check out their dramas. LYN: Honestly though, I can’t watch the whole thing. I don’t watch from beginning to end, but I always check it out.

C: Have you watched Mysterious Lotus Casebook? LYN: Of course. I watched it, how could I not. Also- it’s such a great drama, how could I miss it? Why do I say it’s great? Because first of all, I sang the OST. By that I mean: it’s not good BECAUSE I sang the OST, but rather it’s good SO I sang the OST. I’M benefitting from this situation. LYN: On the day it aired actually I was watching it with- one of the main leads. We were having a meal together, so we watched it. That got me thinking- when my drama airs, I should invite a bunch of friends over to my house. I’ll get some food and some beer, and we can watch the broadcast together. I can do it. // I’ll invest in a color tv- a 45 inch color tv. Then call all my friends over and make a night out of it.

C: We are also friends. / Ning-ge, didn’t you say that your fans are also your friends? Then, we are going too. LYN: Eh… I know we are far apart (distance), but our hearts are together. It’s not important where you watch me from. We’re friends, aren’t we? Your house is my house, right? So you can watch at home, and it will equal to you watching in my home. LYN: I know I said “your house is my house”, but I was just being polite. If you want to survive in this society, you have to learn to discern when people are saying things to be polite. They’re not actually being serious. It’s just out of politeness, don’t take it seriously. Someone asked me, “Is my mother your mother?” We’re just making friends. I’m not here to take someone on as my godmother. We’re just making friends, OKAY?? - /Daimi barking/ LYN: See? Daimi doesn’t even want to hear it. As for your mother, I can only call her “Auntie.” Anything else is unwarranted. “Auntie” or “Sis” is okay.

LYN: There’s a downside- despite the fact that I am a new actor, it does not change the fact that I AM acting- which is, that when I watch dramas it’s difficult for me to get invested in the story. It’s hard for me to feel what the leads are. Why? Because I just objectively want to see how the actors are executing the scene. How did they act the scene? Was it realistic? Why did they decide to lift their glass at that exact moment? Why did they look at the other person right then? I want to analyze and pick apart their performance. Then sometimes I make some predictions- I want to predict what their next move will be. Sometimes I guess right, sometimes wrong. If I don’t guess right, then I learn something. If I do, then I won’t act like that in the future.

LYN: So when I’m watching dramas most of the time I do it to learn, to see how other people are acting, how they design the scene, and if there is anything particularly challenging. I’m just starting to learn this industry, though I’ve been filming dramas for four years- now I have just a tiny bit of understanding towards acting. Very little- I don’t dare to say that I know how to act. But through what little understanding I gained in the past four years, sometimes I am very accurate with what I’m seeing. Like if an actor remembered their lines or not. If they’re familiar with their lines- I can tell. Or whether they were in character, or if they were still thinking about their lines. Are they thinking about what to say next? Is there some real emotion behind their eyes? Those are all things you can tell by looking. LYN: It’s not to say that I am professional. It’s just because I also act, so through observation I can figure out what’s going on. It does suck though, because due to that it’s difficult to become invested in the plot. - /acts it out himself to show us the process. says he likes it when he guesses correctly. XD/ LYN: You can imagine- throughout the whole drama I’m just sitting here guessing how they’ll execute what comes next.

C: Do you act like that, too? LYN: What do you mean? It’s not definite- there’s no right and wrong way to acting. Just like with this- /picks up the glass/ drinking and then looking to the side- isn’t wrong. It’s not wrong. It has nothing to do with acting incorrectly or badly. I’m just guessing what their next move will be. It’s like Rock-Paper-Scissors. You’re not wrong if you play rock/paper/scissors. You can play what you want, but the point is to guess what your opponent will play. I’m just playing.

LYN: What other drama came out recently that I sang for? There’s none, right? I only had the mission of promoting Wonderland of Love today? I guess there’s also Dragon’s Roar. It’s a character song I sang for NiShuiPan. That’s also a nice song. I’ll play the video for you later when I need to go break up a fight. Don’t worry.

C: Ning-ge, is your clothes 1 layer, or two, or three? LYN: It’s just one. It’s a fake double-layer. Stop staring at my clothes.

C: Ning-ge, the MV was too cool! LYN: It was so strange, that day. I don’t know what happened, but I was in a pretty good condition that day. Inexplicably, we filmed it and it came out looking quite nice! At least I thought so. I don’t know why my face was so thin, that day. I don’t know what I did- but I came out looking nicely on the camera. It’s all good. As long as you like it.

LYN: That’s why I think it’s better if I’m thinner, so I’ve started to lose weight. I’ll be joining a drama crew and starting filming again soon, so I’ll start with adjusting what I eat. I didn’t really eat today. I only had some Purple Seaweed and Egg Drop Soup, a box of Chinese crepes, one large order of fries, a cup of hot chocolate… and a chicken wrap… plus a bunch of chicken wings… and a fried drumstick. I only ate that much- the whole day. I’m really hungry. C: Wow, that’s so little! /sarcastic/ LYN: No, seriously though, I need to start watching my weight. So that I can look good on camera.

C: Are you working out? LYN: Not with a whole routine, but these days I’ve been doing some training for my back. It’s good for men to train their back, at least. It helps with posture, too. For guzhuang dramas, their requirements for posture/physicality are a little higher. For modern dramas, on the other hand, it’s all about acting naturally- you can’t keep straight posture the whole time. You may just sit there casually, and it’s all okay because it doesn’t matter. But for guzhuang dramas you have to have some rigidity- so I have to train. C: Your posture is very good already. LYN: It’s just average. I’ve seen the post-filming editing for a few dramas. But it’s not as if in 500 scenes, you can be stiff for all of them- there’s no way I can do that. I’m guessing there are a few scenes here and there where my condition is not the greatest, but for the most part it’s good. So I want to thank all those people online who were critical that my posture wasn’t great. Sincerely. Because they’re the ones who made me realize that this is very important. LYN: When I was acting before, I didn’t pay attention to a lot of things- because I didn’t understand, then. You all know I jumped into this blind. That’s why I was unprofessional. I didn’t have any demands for my hair or makeup- it used to be that I would accept whatever the stylists put on me. I thought that an actor should adhere to the role, so I just silently did the work I was asked to do. In reality things like hair/makeup, clothing, and posture are all very important. I want to thank those people who were criticizing me, because honestly they were right. I realized that, and start trying to improve myself. That’s why posture is one thing that’s not a big problem for me, now. It’s because I had that realization.

LYN: Truthfully speaking, if the people around you only compliment you- because my fans all love me very much, so they think I’m handsome no matter what I do. Even if it’s a lie, they’ll be able to tell it to me. It’s because their feelings toward me are different. On the other hand, people who don’t like you are often times more capable of pointing out your faults. For example, “You’re ugly.” That’s okay too, because the truth is that I’m not very handsome. That just means I have to be more aware. For example when I was shooting a drama I was looking really fat/swollen, then starting from the next drama I started a routine of using guasha on my face each morning. Friends, when I get the chance I’ll shoot a vlog on how to use guasha to reduce swelling for you. - /describes the whole process/ LYN: I used to get into hair and makeup half asleep, and just let the artists do what they want. I was in a daze. But now I’m so energetic! Because I’ve been busy taking care of my face. I start right when they’re applying the wig. It’s a good thing. If no one every told me I was ugly, I would have never known. It’s not as if I suddenly look better, but I at least have to hold myself to higher expectations. C: Drawing a “pie” again. // You only do it two times a week, don’t you? LYN: No- I was doing it every day. C: What uses does it have? LYN: Reduce swelling, for one. And two- it makes your skin look nicer. Your tendons, too- for example the double chin. You rub the neck tendon here, and here (on the collarbone)- so that they can relax/loosen. You press them like this. A lot of actors are super into skincare/maintenance. Gao Weiguang gifted me with a muscle scraper. I don’t know if you know what it is… it’s like… a piece of metal- you use it to scrape your tendons/ligaments to relax them. Then your posture will be a bit better. He gave it to me on set one day, and I started using it immediately to rub at this part just under my collarbone. I went home that night and took off my clothes to shower- it was just a ring of red. LYN: 筋膜刀. Muscle scraper. It’s not like what you’re thinking- /makes a cutting motion/. You can look it up. I just can’t discuss anything too fashionable with you. You know what a fascia gun (massage gun) is, right? You use it to relax your muscles? The fascia “knife” is just a piece of metal and you use it to scrape yourself. Have you never had guasha done before??? Friends, you should go out to find a massage parlor and get some guasha done. Look around- there are lots of those places around. If I wanted to be a beauty blogger or share my life with you, you wouldn’t get it! D:

-----

LYN: Someone keeps spamming, asking when I’m going to hold my concert. Stop spamming. If you were REALLY my fan, you would know why I’m not holding my concert yet. Stop pretending that you care. If you were my fan, you would know when I plan to hold it. Stop repeatedly asking. C: Why aren’t you holding it? LYN: Because I can’t get my tickets to sell! Are you satisfied with that answer? I’m not holding my concert because I can’t sell my tickets. Now I don’t want to hold it, because it will look embarrassing. Other people have a concert and can sell-out in 0.5/1/3 seconds. I can’t sell out, so I’m not holding a concert. Are you satisfied with that answer?? LYN: That’s a joke. I’m not holding my concert because my schedule this year is too full. I don’t have the time to hold a concert. Do you think it’s as simple as making an announcement, going one day and coming back the next? It needs preparation! Even just rehearsals can take up to half a month. A concert isn’t a joke like choosing some songs, grabbing a mic, and singing like you’re in a KTV. You need to design the stage and everything else. Rehearsals only- without all the equipment and stage settings, even though they don’t need my supervision- are so complicated. As the person singing, rehearsals for me take half a month. I’ve run out of time, this year. All of it is dedicated to filming. The most important thing is that I haven’t released my album yet. I have enough OSTs to hold a concert, but I was hoping I could hold my concert after I’ve released my second album. Then, everything will be lined up.

LYN: Stop spamming! It effects other people’s view. You’re all customers, here. Why are you spamming??? This is like if you go to a restaurant to have a meal and you take off your shoes as soon as you’re seated. Do you get what I mean? It’s not against the rules but other people find it annoying. Okay? Stop spamming. Thank you. C: The customer is here. It’s my first time watching. LYN: Ah. What we want is returning customers. If it’s your first time here- I’m sure for a lot of you, it is- please subscribe to my weibo. I am Modern Brothers Liu Yuning. If you come once, we’re friends. If you come a second time, then we are good friends. LYN: So, welcome to all the new friends and please subscribe to my weibo. I haven’t started filming with the new crew yet, so if I have time I will come to stream more often. Wait- Wow… somehow I’m digging my own grave. I’m willing to stream, though! It’s just that sometimes… I am unable to.

LYN: How about I sing a song? I haven’t sung in a long time. Let me sing two. Even though my throat is uncomfortable, I can still manage two small songs. How does that sound? You can just listen for entertainment. /thinking/ I won’t be singing Dragon’s Roar today. How about this- wait for me a second. Let me use the restroom and then I will come back to sing for you. Since you like it so much, I’ll play you the video.

----- break #1 [t/n: Plays the mv with comments on. There are SO MANY. I’ve seen people describe it as looking like a virus. This one’s actually better than others I have seen- in which the whole screen is covered in text the whole time.]

LYN: /giggles/ We have a Sanitation Committee, here. Every time I use the restroom and come back someone asks me if I’ve washed my hands or not. I need to shake my hands to prove that I’ve washed them.

C: Ning-ge, did you “like” your own video? LYN: Usually I “insert coins”. Any video that’s related to me, I will invest in.

LYN: Let me sing a song! I have’t been able to sing lately, so let me find one or two to sing for you. C: 雪落下的声音 (The Sound of Falling Snow) LYN: Okay. It’s been snowing recently, too. In that case, let me gift this wonder to you. I hope you like it. / Let me find some shades. Listen for entertainment. I just want to say again: they way I sing during my streams is not representative of my working ability. I don’t want to mess it up here and have it affect my OST work later. Alright? The focus here is to be “happy”. This is a gift to all my good friends in the stream. LYN: Hold on. We need to create the mood. Wait a sec. /sets up his mic stand and grabs his guitar/ C: Hand-sync. LYN: What nonsense are you saying?!? This is called “performing”! What do you mean “hand-sync”??? It’s fine as long as I don’t lip-sync, isn’t it? Let me raise the chair higher, otherwise you can’t see my guitar. Ok. Let’s go. C: The guitar strap is broken? LYN: No- this is just the string- I can’t talk about anything fashionable with you.

LYN: /hand-syncs/ Doesn’t it look like I’m playing? :) -- 雪落下的声音 (The Sound of Falling Snow)

-- 黑夜一束光 (Praying)

C: You’re not singing anymore? LYN: No, I’m going to switch it up. Whatever you want to hear. It’s weird, because before when I sang in my streams, people would end up leaving. Now I don’t want to sing because I’m afraid it will affect my dream as a singer. I want to be a singer, but whenever I sing people leave. I can’t take it. It’s a blow.

-- 落了白

LYN: What should I sing…? 笑红尘 (Laughing at the Mundane World). I do have the accompaniment, but I… I’ll sing it for you next time. I keep forgetting to download it. It’s a bit of a hassle to look.

C: 摩登爱情 (Modern Love) LYN: I think I sang that once before, right? It’s this song, right? I’ll sing it, but I think I forgot most of it. Just listen for entertainment. LYN: Let me make some adjustments. /radio effect/ Hello? Welcome all my radio listeners, good evening. This is Modern Brothers Liu Yuning Radio. Welcome and thank you for tuning in by your phone. The hard part about this song is that you start singing as soon as it starts! - /trying to get the timing right/

-- 摩登爱情 (Modern Love)

LYN: It’s been a long time since I last sang this song. Did I only sing it once before? This will be my second time. I remember I had learned it that day (the first time). Listen just for fun! C: It sounds good~ LYN: I sing just averagely.

LYN: Let me think… how about one of MBY-laoshi’s songs? Let me see if there’s a track. … Oh? There’s not! … There’s no track!! D: … If that’s the case, then there’s no helping it. - /looking for the track on a different app./ LYN: It has it! Let’s do it. I really like this song. I even heard it in concert, and I really liked it. So after I got home, now I will often listen to this song. It’s called… -- 平凡的一天 (Ordinary Day) LYN: !! There are no lyrics? No matter how much of a fan of his I am, I still can’t remember the lyrics! Don’t do this to me. What is this?? There aren’t- /sighs/. I can’t even remember the lyrics to my OWN songs, let alone his! Hold on, let me change a song. Let me see if this song has lyrics. If it doesn’t, then I give up. -- 给你给我 (Give You Give Me) LYN: There’s not. /gives it a try/ /sighs/ I’m not singing it. I don’t have the lyrics prepared. /sigh/ Let’s forget it.

- /arguing with fans about a track which LYN says is not there and fans say is/ LYN: I told you that track wasn’t available, but you’re insisting it is. Are you the singer here, or am I? I know better than you do! - /video is frozen/ LYN: You just had to insist- you made me look through two different sites for nothing! Forget it. I’ll forgive you. LYN: … LYN: Great, now it’s frozen. /sigh/ You just had to make me look. Now the video’s frozen. I’m going to blame everything on you making me look. LYN: Now what. We’re done for. - /troubleshooting/ LYN: I don’t think I can save it. If it keeps on like this then I can’t keep streaming. The camera’s broken. Let me plug it back in and see if I can save it. Hold on. ~ we are now experiencing technical difficulties ~ LYN: /sigh/ Thank you. I was busy trying to fix it and none of you left. Since none of you left, I’m sure you are all my family. Nice. // I’m surprised I was even able to get it back. C: Time to upgrade your tech. LYN: OMG, I’m already using the best there is. C: There’s an echo. LYN: ? Is there? Oh no. // There’s not? Maybe there was a little bit, when the program started up again. LYN: You still hear it?? / Oh, it’s clear now? Okay.

C: Change your equipment? LYN: Friends, no! I have the best. All that I have is very expensive equipment. Let’s not change it. This time was the camera- the other time my computer was aliens (t/n: Alienware?). It’s very expensive. C: Then you haven’t streamed in too long, so it’s out of date. LYN: Stop calling me out. - C: That sweater looks like something my mom would wear. LYN: … I don’t think I’m wearing the same thing as your mom. This is men’s clothing. - C: You have to use streaming equipment often. LYN: Reasonable. I’ll do my best to use it more often. But I can’t just stream every day. I should still do some work. C: Stream 800 times in one day.

LYN: How about I take this camera and aim it at my bed. We’ll do a “daily-life livestream”- you can see me when I’m on my bed and playing with my phone. It’ll be like a security camera, what do you think? /sarcastic/ “Okay”? You must be a pervert! LY: I really can change it, though. Because I’ve seen that some new ones were released, so I was thinking I should get a new set.

-----

C: You’re trending. LYN: What number? Please don’t trick me, friends. /looking it up/ /checking the comments/ Oh, I see it. LYN: It’s in the Entertainment tab. That’s enough. C: Since you’re trending today, are you going to change your outfit? LYN: There’s no need to. It’s not any high-ranking topic, so I will not change today.

C: Ning-ge, was Lingyin Temple fun? LYN: People nowadays… can’t have any secrets. I was in Hangzhou a while back, right? The day before I was supposed to leave- I hadn’t much travelled around Hangzhou, only a very long time ago- but I went to visit Lingyin Temple. I guess people there took pictures of me and posted it online. After that there were people looking up, “What blessing does Lingyin Temple offer?” and the answer is “marriage”. The temple’s specialty is fortunes for marriage. So now my fans are thinking that I went to pray for marriage blessings. I guess that’s fine? LYN: But the reason is: 1. I just went to look, and 2. It’s almost time to start filming again. Actors like to pray at temples before the start- to ask that everything goes peacefully and smoothly. I just went to sightsee.

C: I want to see Dragon’s Roar. LYN: You came too late, I played it already. I won’t be singing it today because my voice is a little hoarse. I don’t think I can handle such a hard song. I played the video earlier. You can just watch it for entertainment.

----- break #2

LYN: I’m back. /shakes his hands to prove he washed them/ Are you satisfied now?? C: You’re trending at #37 on main now. LYN: Friends! How could I be trending on #37 on main?? I don’t believe it. How could I be worthy? C: 38. LYN: Really? It’s 38? See- I only just said a few words and dropped a rank!

LYN: Anyway, thank you. The only reason I am able to be trending is because of all of you in the stream. You upvote the “LYN Livestream” topic and open it for a wider audience. I'm thankful to you because it’s all due to your efforts. Thank you all for viewing. Today we’ll gift a bowl of malatang out. We’ll do an event today- we’ll randomly gift someone a bowl of malatang at the end of the stream. We’ll be like those market influencers and do a “3, 2, 1- screenshot.” Whoever’s first will win a bowl of malatang. I’ll buy takeout for you- if it’s within 20RMB. // Is 20 not enough? 30, then! C: I don’t believe it. LYN: That’s your choice. In any case- we’ll do it and it’s on you to contact my studio to collect your 30RMB bowl of malatang. C: Add a cup of milk tea, too. LYN: Your demands are too much.

C: Transfer me 50RMB. LYN: We’re raffling off money now?? Those of you who watch my stream have a chance to win a red envelope for up to 50RMB??

C: Ning-ge, I’m an international fan. I live overseas now. LYN: ? Is that so? What you mean is that if I order takeout for you, it would be difficult for you to receive it? XD You’re outside of the delivery area? Uh… You’re overthinking it. The problem is- out of so many people in the stream, how are you so confident you will be the winner? Let’s say that you are- can’t I just wire you 30RMB and call it a day?

- /comment asking about a variety show/ LYN: It’s… in the works. But for a lot of projects- for example I was supposed to have recording for a variety show in November. But they are no longer recording. Things just happen. The fact of it is I did not attend any filming, so now we just wait. If I go, great! If I don’t, then we just wait until we hear something. It’s unpredictable.

C: Can you gift a concert ticket to those watching your stream? LYN: Uh… that’s a little difficult. My fans all know that I am not the type to be hungry for wealth, right? I don’t do any business deals and I don’t do marketing- or if I have, only very little. So… my stream is also free, where the main focus is “keeping you company.”You can’t exect me to keep you company (for free) but ALSO expect to take something away from it. This type of “star-chasing” is a little TOO comfortable. LYN: Let’s say I do raffle a ticket. Which pricing tier should I give you? A front-row seat? Let’s say it’s worth 1680RMB. I think… that’s a little too generous. I tfeel like I’m losing in this deal. Let’s say I give you a row in the very back- worth 360-380RMB- the ones in the far back balcony. Then it will look like I’m stingy. So it’s not an easy thing to give. If front- my heart hurts. If back- it looks like I’m stingy. In that case, I won’t give it at all. I won’t offend anyone.

C: LYN, you’re trending. LYN: I know. My fans already told me. It’s not for anything terrible. It’s just the normal “LYN Livestream.” The normal ones don’t usually reach any high ranks. We want to stick to the principle of “good things don’t leave the house, but bad things are spread thousands of miles.” When I’ve had high ranking topics it was never for anything good. LYN: I really hope that one day I can be trending high in the ranks for a product or work that people really like. I’ll just keep working hard (until that day). LYN: Thanks again to everyone who is keeping me company in this stream tonight.

C: Being popular because people love to hate you is still being popular. LYN: I’ll… pass. I don’t want to be popular for that, because I’m already going through it. I’ve never won. From the moment I’ve debuted, I was already considered popular because people hate me. It’s not something I wanted for myself, rather something people made me popular for.

LYN: The path I’ve been on has always been the “people love to hate me” one; but it was never my intention. The first time it happened was when I was on “I Am a Singer”- boy, people loved to hate me, then. This happened four years ago and I remember it to this day. I remember I was trending at #2. “LYN Challenge Failed”- I remember clicking in and every comment was one cursing at me. Well- let’s not be so harsh- they were all very equitable, saying, “He’s just a viral singer, what right does he have to be on Singer?” “Who does he think he is?” “He’s not worthy.” etc. 80% of passersby were all saying I had no right to be on Singer, and that I only got there because my fans voted me in. LYN: Friends- here’s the problem. When the show was first starting I already received a call from the show, telling me to go to Changsha to audition. I passed. Then I figure that the production crew thought it would be strange for someone like me to be announced officially, so they found a different way to announce my participation. But in the end I wound up carrying that burden. LYN: But it’s better now. For the most part people won’t complain that I am not worthy to be a singer, anymore. It took me five years for that to happen, though. Now people are saying that I am not worthy to be an actor. I want to tell them to give me five more years. I’ll see if I can make it happen- just like I made you admit that I was a singer. I’ll work hard. That’s why, don’t blame me for streaming less. I’m trying to keep my momentum. Since I’ve chosen to go into acting, I want to do it well. I want to do well so that one day I can gain some accreditation.

C: When was the second time? LYN: What’s it to you?? I already told you the first, why would you ask about the second?? Are you rubbing salt in my wounds? Have you never heard of that song, “Don’t let yesterday pour salt into your wounds”? You’ve never heard it? ~ /sings/ ~ I’m already hurt, and you’re rubbing salt in my wounds. Get out of here! LYN: You’ve never heard it!? Do you not listen to songs?? I’ll find it for you. I can’t believe you’ve never heard of it! -- 别在伤口洒盐 (Don’t Sprinkle Salt on the Wound) LYN: Is there anything wrong with it? No! The focus is the expression “pouring salt in the wound”! I wasn’t tricking you this time. C: Ning-ge, I was born after the 00’s. LYN: What’s wrong with that- do you not listen to this song? Pay attention to the lyrics- // What’s wrong with it??

----- /Oldies Jukebox w/ LYN/

C: I just got in and it feels so old. LYN: ?! How old are you, tell me. What you’re telling me is this song is aged. What do you normally listen to?? You must only listen to the latest releases? You think this song is old??? C: 16 // 19 // 23 // 18. LYN: Do 18 years olds not listen to this song? You really haven’t? This song was really popular back in the day. I can’t believe you’ve never heard it. /shakes his head/ LYN: Maybe it’s because I’m a singer, so I’ve encountered more songs than you have. I used to sing in a bar, so I probably heard a lot more songs. You think this is old??? C: It sounds like something from my mom’s era. LYN: Then I’m probably about as old as your mom. // What year was this song released? I actually don’t know… You must have heard this one, though? -- 我可以抱你吗? LYN: This one came out around the same time. C: It feels even older. LYN: No way! Now I’m starting to doubt myself… When I was in the bar- Let me tell you, I can sing a number of old songs. - /starts running through songs trying to find an “old” one people recognize/

-- 驼铃 -- 江山无限 (LYN: Have you heard this one? If you haven’t, there’s no excuse.)

LYN: I can sing anything.

C: Journey to the West. LYN: Which version do you want? -- 通天大道宽又阔

-- 青城山下白素贞 C: You really must have come back from travelling to Hangzhou. [t/n: I guess these are the types of sings you’d hear there]

-- 新鸳鸯蝴蝶梦 LYN: I’ve seen people complimenting my singing lately, saying that I really have that sense of the “jianghu” when I sing. It’s because I grew up on these songs. These songs crafted my understanding of music. Do you get it? [t/n: I grew up on these songs, too! LYN: 1990, me: 1991.] -- 刀剑如梦

-- 你爱我像谁 (LYN: What about this one?) LYN: That’s about enough. Unless you want to hear? Then I’ll keep looking for old songs for you.

C: 江山. LYN: Which one is that? Oh, you’ve stumped me. There are very few old songs that I haven’t heard before. / I really haven’t heard this one before. But it does remind me of a different song. -- 大侠霍元甲 LYN: This song is great, isn’t it? C: You learned it just now. LYN: I’ve HEARD them, but never sang them before. I’ve heard them all, though.

LYN: The songs you’re requesting… C: This suits you so well. LYN: ?? Why does it suit me??? -- 梅花三弄 LYN: How do you figure this song suits me?

-- 逍遥游 -- 问情

LYN: Very few people- in my stream- have heard this song, huh? This is a very popular, very good song, though. But many of you- I asked earlier how old you were, and the 14 and 16 year-olds are already in a daze. C: I’ve heard it. LYN: I’m sure you have. But the 16-17 years olds are lost. LYN: When I was little I loved listening to OSTs. That’s why when I grew up I was able to become an OST singer. Everything has a reason, friends. The reason why I am a prolific OST singer now is because I liked to listen to OSTs when I was little. -- 追梦人 (Dream Chaser)

LYN: There’s an even older one. This one- friends, if you call your mother and father over to listen to this song, they would know it. -- 渴望

C: Play something I haven’t heard before. LYN: You’ve heard all of these? It’s very easy to play something you haven’t heard before- I’ll just play a Modern Brothers Liu Yuning song. I’m sure you’ve never heard it. Have you heard it? -- 狂風襲來 (Fierce Wind is Raging) [West Out of the Yumen OST] LYN: You haven’t, have you? / Hold on, let me grab a bottle of water. LYN: You haven’t heard it, huh? C: I’ve heard it 800 times already. LYN: My fans have definitely heard it.

C: Did you grab herbal medicine? LYN: /laughs/ Yes- I’m getting shanghuo.

----- LYN's Biggest Anti is Himself

C: 心太软. LYN: As soon as you said this title, I get the feeling you don’t pay attention to me very much. Em... you must not pay close attention to me.

- /plays the Our Song S1 version w/ Richie Ren/ LYN: Look at this- who’s that little fool on the side? Who does he look like? The fool. Look at this- he’s even nodding his head. // Look at how uncomfortable this looks- if you’re singing, then sing, Whya re you pretending to be sad. Just stop singing. // Now he’s pretending to be cute, even nodding his head! I can’t stand him!! Stop pretending you’re cute!! If you’re singing, then sing. What are you putting on an act for?? I can’t stand him. // Look at this kid- face full of oil. Did he not know to blot before he came on stage?! Oh my goodness… It’s like he ate 2kg of pork head-meat before coming on stage. Look at the reflection off the oil from his face. As an artist he has no sense of image-control. // His hair looks like it’s been licked by a donkey, what’s he doing?!? Oh my god. Oily face and greasy hair. /shakes his head/ // He’s singing “Are you tired?” and you’re over here pursing your lips and nodding, like “Yes.” Stop acting cute. It’s so off-putting. What’s it to you?!? This singer sure knows how to put on an act. // Okay, let’s stop watching. I can’t take any more. I get annoyed anytime I see LYN.

LYN: Let me tell you- if I ever get the chance to be an uploader that just makes fun of everyone, I’d be great at it. But right now I only make fun of LYN. If I try it with anyone else I’d be torn apart. I can only and only dare to make fun of LYN. I’m really accurate at seeing all the little tricks and intentions.

LYN: Let me find another stage for you. -- 烟花易冷 (Our Song ver. w/ Xiao Gui) LYN: Today we will be commenting on Singer LYN’s hair/makeup and outfit. // He looks a lot more energetic today. Visibly not as greasy. His hair and the shape looks pretty light. His clothes- I have to comment- why does he keep wearing such long clothes?? What’s he trying to do, fly? Paired with the slim-legged pants, it’s like a pair of chopsticks wrapped up in a napkin. Friends- take a look at his slim legged pants. Look at them- like a pair of chopsticks on the stage. // Let’s change the video- he (Xiao Gui) is too cool and I’m being overpowered.

LYN: Let’s see if there’s anything else we can comment on. Let’s take another look at this guy (LYN). What works does he have and what exactly has he been singing? What does he even do?? -- 女儿国 (Our Song S3 ver w. Shan Yichun) LYN: Tsk. Again, I can’t stand him. Why are you closing your eyes when singing, are you sleepy?? If you’re sleepy then go home and sleep. If you’re on stage, can’t you sing nicely for everybody? What are you closing your eyes for?? You’re pretending to be so enchanted with yourself?? What are you doing- just singing a song, right?? If you’re sleepy then just go home and sleep. I can’t stand this, I really can’t. Pretending to be so invested in the song… 🙄 Just sing it. What are you acting for?? It’s so insincere. C: He’s acting as Tang San(zang). It’s right for him to close his eyes. LYN: I can’t believe you’re making excuses for him (LYN)!! Let’s say this IS the Kingdom of Women and he’s Tang San (a monk)- so he should close his eyes- see nothing and ask nothing. // He doesn’t respect the stage at all. If he really wanted to act, then he should look the part. He should have shaved his head. Put a wig cap on. What’s he acting for?? That’s why it comes across as fake. LYN: I can’t take any more of this. Let’s just leave it at this.

C: Ning-ge, you shut up! LYN: I’m wearing these glasses, aren’t I? Let me just pretend to be an anti-fan. C: You can’t diss my idol. LYN: Okay, okay. I’m just playing. Don’t be so serious.

C: What are your comments on the Dragon’s Roar MV? LYN: Let’s not. For that song… LYN actually didn’t sing terribly. As a pure passerby, seeing that MV I thought: 1) LYN’s singing is not bad and the MV was also shot well. The whole production, editing, and everything was done very well. It’s something good. The Dragon’s Roar MV is not bad. I can’t find any point to nitpick. If we can’t find anything, then we switch a place. There’s always something we can comment on. But we never compliment the good things. C: Let’s see the MV again.

LYN: What’s there to see about it?? You can go watch it yourself. Maybe later when my drama airs I can watch an episode with you. Or maybe not, as there might be some copyright issues.

-----

C: Ning-ge, do you have a song called 别来无恙? LYN: You don’t need to cue me. There is a song called 别来无恙, and it’s one I really like. But there’s a problem- this song can only be listened to. I can’t really sing it. It’s SO hard to sing. When I was recording it, it made me nearly pass away. -- 别来无恙

LYN: Thank you. I never really dared to sing this song. Because when I was recording it I hard a hard enough time. But I can modestly say that I have improved myself since the time of recording. If you had me record the song again, I’m sure I can do much better than I did before.

C: LYN. Why does your hair look like your dog’s? LYN: You don’t think you’re complimenting me, do you? You don’t think that was very humorous and that I’d find you cute, do you?

LYN: Honestly, friends, let me share. I think one of the hardest songs I’ve ever sung was 别来无恙, but there’s one that’s even harder. It’s one that I have not dared to sing live ever since it was recorded. - /typing/ C: 琉璃 (Liu Li/Colored Glass). LYN: It’s not 琉璃. Actually, that song’s okay. LYN: Was it this one? Yes. It’s this one. This is the hardest song I’ve ever recorded. -- 造化 (Zao Hua/Destiny/Creating Change) [MDZS Donghua - Wei Wuxian Character Song] LYN: This song is the hardest- when I heard the demo I was dazed. This is one of the songs to date that I will never sing live. It’s not that I CAN’T sing it, I can do it if I force it, but I’m very likely to break. When you have time, you can listen to it carefully, with your headphones. The nuances would be a lot clearer that way.

LYN: ! Someone’s throwing money at me! C: One billion. Will you sing it? LYN: At this moment. You throw one billion to my face and ask me if I’ll sing this song or not? … I just want to ask- what are you trying to prove? Are you trying to prove that I am someone who does things that are purely profit-seeking, or… what? Tell me. If you REALLY gave me one billion to sing this song, I definitely would. There’s no one who wouldn’t accept that amount of money. You don’t even need one billion- if you transferred me one thousand right now, I would sing it. If you transferred me 200, I would sing a part for you right now. Okay? You don’t need one billion, 200 is enough. I can sing it for you acapella, too.

LYN: You want me to open my WeChat friend code? Then, scan me. C: Come on, I can do it. LYN: If I really put my QR code up, I’m sure that there would be a flood of people scanning it. But it would be a scam code that sucks all the money from your bank accounts. Friends. Can you grow a sense of awareness for scams? You have to be wary of these electronic scams! If you really scanned a scam code, it would take all the money from your bank card. How can you go around scanning random codes you see on the internet?? Don’t do it. C: I don’t have money in my card. LYN: Then what are you trying to scan me for?? XD No, what I mean is- weren’t you going to send me 200? I would only sing for you if you transferred me 200. Ifd you have no money, then why would you try to scan me at all?! C: Come on, I want to test your skills. Let’s see if you can really empty my account. LYN: Let me tell you- a lot of scammers target people exactly like you. People who think they would never be scammed, but also want to test the scammers.

-----

C: Ning-ge, my ID is “Melancholy Handsome Boy” (you yu de xiao shuai). Add me. LYN: A person’s ID can tell you a lot about them; you can examine what type of personality they are likely to have. “Melancholy Handsome Boy”... means that this person… let’s say something nice first. There’s a 70% chance this person is male. Let’s think about why they chose this name: first, this must be a man with a story. He’s “melancholy”, so I’m sure this is a quiet type of handsome guy. You must have heard of this person called “小帅 (Xiao Shuai)”, right? Have you ever scrolled across videos that say, “This man’s name is Xiao Shuai.” or “Watch carefully- this man known as “Xiao Shuai”...” This is exactly who we’re talking about. You will always hear about him in other people’s stories. “Melancholy Handsome Boy”- it’s him. This must be a reflective, quiet handsome young man with a story. It must be him. LYN: /flips/ Honestly, though. I’m so old that I can tell what type of person this is just by their name. “Melancholy Handsome Boy”?? You must be pretending to be melancholy. Let me tell you- this type of person doesn’t have a sense of self. Due to this, they would want to explicitly tell people- “Look. I am very melancholy. Look at me.” But actually they are a very chaotic person, who doesn’t have many thoughts. Really. If you call yourself “melancholy”, that mean that you aren’t at all. People love to emphasize what they lack, hence the “xiao shuai.” They know they look just average, so they call themselves “handsome.” I’m sure they don’t look all that handsome at all. If you were very confident in your looks, you’d call yourself “Melancholy Big Handsome Guy”. But by calling yourself “Melancholy Handsome Boyi”, it means that they are only a little bit (xiao) handsome (shuai). [t/n: this is a pun. semantics.] Therefore, I won’t be adding you as a friend, okay? LYN: Friend, don’t be angry. I’ve said the good and the bad. I’m not saying I know which kind you are, but I have a feeling you are the former.

C: Ning-ge, I’m called “Da Mei (Big Beautiful)”. LYN: Da Mei is very good. It sounds appropriate. You can call yourself whatever you want, you don’t need to tell me! It’s not as if I am here collecting 3-5RMB to tell a fortune based off your internet ID. There are people like that- you can create an ID and they will calculate for you whether the name is fortuitous or not, and what fates it can bring to you. There are people like that! It’s not a job I can take on. C: Sounds like you have a lot of experience. LYN: I don’t have experience. LYN: A long time ago- many, many years ago- when I was 15 or 16, my web ID was “Bing Ruo Han”. Friends. The “bing” as in “refrigerator” (冰 = ice). “Ruo” as in “as/seem” (若). “Han” as in “frigid cold” (寒). That was my web name (= cold as ice). Wasn’t it non-mainstream? I’m sure that all the girls back then would see my name and be charmed by me. Was that not a good name? LYN: !! Not the “ruo” as in “weak”!! (弱) C: Ning-ge, if you’re “bing ruo han” (冰若寒), then I am “ai ru huo” (爱如火/Love Like Fire). LYN: Wow, we have couple names. That’s amazing. LYN: Another thing people liked to do was use “mu rong X X” and “shang guan X X”. I don’t know if I’ve called out anyone in my stream? Did you like to use that naming convention when you were younger? Or, “ou yang X X.” - [t/n: more examples of names, but they’re difficult to translate :p] - [t/n: some Northeastern slang, which is even more difficult to translate than the names are. Something about the metal part of a hoe. Farming tools, idk.]

LYN: /laughs/ Do we ever talk about anything normal in my stream? We’re talking nonsense, now. Do you like it better when I have a point and discussion to make, or when I am just blindly chatting? Could you tell me which type of content you prefer? Which style do you like, and in the future I will try to develop more in that direction. C: Either is good. // It’s all good. LYN: If it’s my fans I’m sure the answer is “Anything, as long as you stream more often.” (Putting words into his fans’ mouth:) “Don’t say anything, Ning-ge. As long as you stream, we like it. As long as you are here. Don’t say anything. Just turn the camera on like a security cam, and we would be satisfied.” C: I like it when you sing. LYN: Okay. If there are so many people who like it when I sing, then you have to remember to buy my concert tickets in 2024.

----------- Album/Concert Talk

C: Your album..? LYN: I recently went back to Beijing and… recorded another (1) song! It’s sounds very nice. I like it. The songs on my album this time around- I have no pursuits. I don’t care about any particular musical concept, or how well it is produced, or- no, that’s not what I meant- I only mean that I care for two things: 1. the song sounds good, and 2. I like it. That’s it. There’s nothing fancy. I just have to think they sound good, and like them myself.

LYN: Fall in Love was supposed to be the first track of this album to be released. But we couldn’t keep up with the release of the rest of the songs. So then we decided Fall in Love would be a single instead. The overall feeling of the album should be like Fall in Love, though. Something that makes you happy and comfortable. Something that makes you relax. C: Ning-ge, it’s your own investment, so whatever you say goes.

LYN: That’s true, but my albums are provided to you at no cost, after all. I might release some vinyls, but that’s not definite. You know I released vinyls, right? Its not to make profit, though. C: Are there student discounts for your concert? LYN: … … You might now understand concerts very well. There is always a collaborating party. Usually- and I don’t know how other people work, but this is how I work- I don’t have a lot of say in it, actually. Its not as if it were my restaurant, and I told you that you could have a meal on me. Even though it’s my concert, I don’t have a say. I am only the performer. If it were my restaurant, I could let you eat there for free. But for the concert, I have no say in whether there will be student discounts or not. There are industry rules for pricing. But the 5RMB discount coupon still counts. Of course, there is no way the system will let you apply the coupon at the time of purchase. So you will have to buy the ticket at full price first. Then, at the concert I will have staff at the doors checking for coupons and they will transfer you the 5RMB. Either that or I’ll go to the bank and ask them for 5RMB bills and then just give you a bill as you go.

LYN: There have been many people holding concerts lately. Rather, the whole year. All singers have pretty much held a concert this year. But I haven’t because 1. My album isn’t complete yet, 2. all my time is tied up in dramas, and 3. I want to be rebellious. I don’t want to hold mine when everyone else is holding theirs. I’d rather hold mine stably next year.

C: Can you go overseas? LYN: To me, I don’t believ I’e reached the levels of other very amazing singers. For my concerts, the large majority- 70%- is my fans. The other 30% is people who’ve watched my drama, heard my songs, or people who have time to kill on the weekend and want to watch a concert. Even if I do hold one overseas, I don’t think it would have much meaning. Because my market has not crossed the seas yet. My music is not yet international. The only thing holding a concert overseas would do is make my local fans buy a flight ticket and go overseas to watch me. What’s the meaning in that? I’d rather they save some money to reserve a better hotel room here and watch me in concert.

C: You have a lot of fans overseas, though. LYN: Don’t trick me. I know myself- I know that I don’t have very many overseas fans. I HAVE them, sure. But not many. I don’t think you all would fill up a whole concert venue, would you? I’m sure that all my overseas fans together would not fill up a venue. I can’t think too highly of myself, and say that I’m “international.” It’s easy to subscribe to my weibo, but as for the number of people who would actually come out to watch me in concert, that’s about 1 in 100. Let’s say I have 10k fans. 1% of them- so only 1k fans. That’s about enough. Really- the people who would willing spend money to watch a concert is only about 1%. So.. I’m not thinking about that right now.

LYN: Acting and Singing go hand-in-hand, so I’ll wait until my drama airs first. Then I’ll have a better time selling my concert tickets. Right? Doesn’t it make sense? There’s nothing wrong with the logic. I’ll wait until my dramas air, and then I’ll have an easier time selling tickets. Nowadays when dramas are super popular and they do a post-airing fan-meeting, the tickets always sell out, don’t they? If a bunch of actors can sell out a fanmeet/concert, then that goes to show if my drama does well then people would buy tickets to my concert. I’ve thought it through: I should film more dramas so that my concert tickets sell well. C: I’m afraid I won’t be able to get a ticket. LYN: Please do not have the misconception that I am very popular. You will definitely get a ticket, trust me. Because if I hold a concert tour next year, there will be 2,000 stops. You tell me if you’ll be able to get a ticket or not. 6am, 12pm, 8pm, 12am, 3am. I’ll do five in a day, all year. 2,000 concerts. There are 365 days in a year, with 5 showings a day… 1825 showings. That’s enough. C: You’re not going to sleep? LYN: /laughs/

LYN: Anyways, I’m sure you’ll get one. Don’t make it seem as if my tickets are hard to come by. Don’t let me have that misconception, otherwise I’ll just keep adding showings.

LYN: I was planning on 10 stops for next year. Any more than that is unnecessary. C: Which 10? LYN: The main cities, mostly. Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi’an, Dalian- the big places. C: Shenzhen. LYN: If I hold one in Shenzhen, then the people in Guangzhou can come to it, too. Likewise if I hold one in Guangzhou, the friends in Shenzhen can attend it. Depends on distance. C: Qingdao. LYN: It’s not impossible, Qingdao would be okay. It doesn’t matter where I go, the more important thing is whether the venue is available and aligns with my timing or not. For example, if I want to reserve Shanghai, but they’re booked for the month, or next three months. Then, I can’t go there. It’s that simple. There’s no predicting this, so you can stop trying to guess. C: Can you do two showings in Wuhan? LYN: It’s possible. But the first stop is probably not going to be Wuhan. Many of my friends are very good, and the thing that touches me is that at the time- three years ago- I held my first concert tour. The start of the pandemic was right around when I was supposed to go to Wuhan. The tickets were all already sold. To this day many of you have not returned those tickets. I’ve even told you, you can return them. But you’ve told me that you don’t want to return them, that you’re afraid you won’t be able to buy another one later. So- it’s been four years- So this time I will definitely make that stop up to you. There’s no way I would just take your money for that showing and not sing anything for you. I will definitely make it up to you. I’ll make it up to you, but the first stop is not likely to be Wuhan. Don’t worry, though. I will return that stop to you.

LYN: We’ll continue on, slow and steady today and tomorrow I’ll hold my concert. It’s a must, as a singer. I’ll pretty much be a fan-meeting. It’s been so long since I had a concert. It’ll be good to hold one again.

C: Lao-da, it’s too far. I won’t ve able to go. LYN: Find a stop closer to you. I’ll be all around the country. Just find a closer stop to attend. LYN: I get worked up just thinking about the concert… /sigh/

C: Ning-ge, when are you going to advise the neighbors to stop fighting. LYN: I already did. They made up. LYN: How long have I been streaming for? I think I started at 7:40p… right now it’s /calculating/… I’ve been streaming for almost four hours?? Then… I’ll stream until 10p. LYN: Let me play you a video while I use the restroom. Wait for me.

--- break #3 C: I can recite that whole video now. LYN: Amazing. I also want to thank everyone who has been editing these videos for me.

C: When do we get the malatang?! LYN: You can’t eat something different, like xiao long bao or??? Maybe some porridge? Is that not okay? I can’t believe you still remember. I thought I was going to be able to save 30 RMB. C: I want to eat jumbo shrimp! LYN: Keep dreaming! LYN: How about we do this… let’s not give any prizes today. I don’t have any spare change. In the next stream I’ll pick two winners- I’ll be nice. I don’t have any spare change today. I’ll save up. C: If you don’t want to give us takeout, then you can give an autograph too. LYN: /laughs/ Artists’ autographs are all really hard to get. But here you want to replace a 30RMB order of xiao long bao for one of mine?! Oh my goodness~ Is that how it is?? My autograph is only worth 30RMB- two baskets of xiao long bao??? One bowl of rice noodles? /sigh/ - C: Ning-ge, you said you don’t have change right? I do. I can break it for you. LYN: Do you mean to say that I hand you 100RMB, and you give me back 70? - C: Ning-ge, if it’s a personalized autograph, you can add 50 cents. LYN: Hold that thought. I think we should forget about the autograph. I really don’t think my autograph is worth very much. I’m not some big celebrity or anything, whose autograph is very valuable. I just don’t want to.. overflow the market? Because sometimes when a drama airs or I have collaborations or I go on a variety show, they’ll make me sign a set of photos, to help with promotions. If fans are able to attain them in that way, there is more of a sense of interaction/participation. That’s why I personally won’t just give out autographs. They’re better saved for events, so that fans can have a sense of collecting for completionism's sake.

----- Daimi Time!

C: Ning-ge, could I have Daimi’s autograph? LYN: Wh- You want me to prepare a bunch of photos of Daimi, then grab her paw and stamp it on there? Take an inkpad, and press her paw into it, then stamp it on the photo?

LYN: Daimi’s probably sleeping. Do you want to see her? I can just call her over. LYN: Daimi, come here. Some friends want to see you. Come here, quick. No need to be shy. Your fans want to see you. LYN: She hasn’t had a bath lately, but she still looks like this. Kind of silly.

C: The two of you match in color so well. LYN: :) - /Daimi tries to move/ LYN: Hm? Sit a while, sit. Accompany your ge a little as he streams.

C: Have Daimi sing us a song. LYN: Sing something. - /moves the mic to her level/ LYN: Sing. Come on. If you bark, it’d be okay too. Bark! - /messes with her to try to get her to make a sound. she does not./ LYN: My dog really doesn’t have any special talents.

LYN: … I’m going to say my spell now… Watch carefully now, friends. See how her whole mood changes. LYN: Want… a… sausage? /chants/ You want one? Want one? - /gets excited, so she gets excited in turn/ LYN: You want one or not? - /now she’s impatient/ LYN: I’ll give you one in a bit. Hold on! Okay, okay! I’ll give you one. LYN: You can go now. I’ll give you one after the stream.

C: She wouldn’t bite you, would she? LYN: No.

- /looks down at her/ LYN: Wait! LYN: … She’s already had four sticks today. I give her dog food, but she doesn’t really eat it. So I give her the sausages… but that’s why she’s fat.

-----

LYN: It’s about time. If you have not yet subscribed to my weibo, please do so. I am Modern Brothers Liu Yuning. Thanks for keeping me company tonight. I just want to say again- the drama Wonderland of Love is currently airing. I’ve watched it, and really think it’s a good watch. So, if you want to watch a drama you can check it out. It’s not bad. In the first episode, there are some fight scenes which were shot prettily. You can go support the drama. C: I don’t have membership. LYN: ?? Watch if you want to. I’m only here to promote the drama, but you can watch it if you want. What do you mean by telling me you don’t have a membership? You want me to buy a membership for you? If that’s what you meant, then I think you can… watch if you want. (It’s not my problem.) It’s not a drama I acted in, anyway. I’m only recommending it, but if you want me to pay money into it then there’s no way. C: You cameo’d. LYN: I did cameo, but the problem is… I wasn’t paid for it. XD LYN: I can’t just pay for your membership. It’s not worth it. Friends. (Spare me.) Thank you. I beg you. // I cameo’d for three scenes. I said it earlier- about eight minutes worth. - /thinking about it…/ LYN: Wait- I only acted in three scenes, for about eight minutes total. You don’t think anyone would think I added scenes for myself because of this, do you? Do you think they would? Now I’m worried. I afraid and don’t want people to think I accept roles in dramas then find a way to add scenes for myself. I was originally supposed to cameo for one scene, but I ended up having three. I… got added scenes. LYN: I don’t think it was three scenes. Let me think! Four scenes! If I remember correctly, it should be four scenes. Not more than five. C: Eight minutes turned into eighteen. LYN: Honestly, I don’t know about that. It’s only four- it should only be four scenes. I still remember the lines… but I’ll reenact them for you if I get the chance to later.

LYN: I’ll log off when I hit 4000. We’ll play a starting contest; the tortoise stares at the mung bean. For the next five minutes, we won’t say anything, just stare at each other like this. /stares into the camera/ The last time I used this expression, someone replied, “I choose the mung bean.” Why do you have to be so sensitive about all these online rumors? Why do you care so much?? If you can’t even take that expression, then let me tell you, there’s no way you can be a celebrity. You wouldn’t be able to handle all the pressure that comes from online talk about you. You’d have a breakdown. You can’t be an artist. You have to be able to bear it. Do you understand? LYN: Also, I say that “A tortoise stares at a mung bean, and it suits the eye.” Do you think that’s a good expression? By “mung bean” I mean “mung bean fly.” [t/n: ?? I don’t really get it.] It’s not the simple mung bean- the one in the popsicles- that we’re talking about. The way I understand this expression, it’s meant to refer to the mung bean fly. It’s just an expression, not a literal description.

----- Welcome to Bikini Bottom🍍

C: Liu-ge! Do you know… is Patrick Star in Spongebob a man or a woman? LYN: People who call me “Liu-ge” are generally not my fans. If you’re in my stream and calling me “Liu-ge”, then you’re likely not my fan. My fans call me “Xiao Ning” or “Ning-ge”. If you call me “Liu-ge” you are likely distant from me. They asked me a question: “Liu-ge. Is Patrick Star in Spongebob a man or a woman?” LYN: … LYN: Em… I don’t think I could keep up if we want to discuss the genetics of marine life. But, even if we want to start from a viewers perspective, all things have a model for basis. Do you get what I’m trying to say? A novel is a novel, a manhwa is a manhwa, but after being converted to video format there are bound to be changes. You should understand that concept by now, after watching so many drama adaptations. You don’t need to think about whether Patrick is male or female- it really doesn’t matter. However, in the animation, we can see that they are male-presenting. Because Patrick only wears shorts. If the character were female, there’s no way it would appear just wearing shorts in the animation. Patrick would be like Sandy- with her helmet and bikini. The original thing is one thing, the animation is another. Do you get it?

C: Is Spongebob male or female? LYN: Spongebob!? First of all, let’s not think about whether a sea sponge is male or female. In the animation, they must be male because when they go to the beach to play, they only wear shorts. You can tell from what they’re wearing! What does he wear when he goes to Bikini Bottom to swim? If it’s a bikini, then they’re female. If they’re wearing shorts, then they’re male.

C: What about Squidward? LYN: /laughs/ Why are we discussing this? He must be a male because he’s called “Squid-BRO” (章鱼哥)! [t/n: technically a zhang yu is an octopus though…] He’s not called “Squid-SIS”! He’s called “ge”, so he must be a male! What logic are you operating on??

C: What about Mr. Krabs? [“crab-boss” in chinese] LYN: Mr. Krabs has to be male, because his daughter calls him “Dad”! He has a daughter, and she calls him “dad”, so he must be male. It’s not like she calls him “Mom.” You- LYN: Friends, if you can’t even understand Spongebob, then all these dramas must be a challenge for you. You can’t even tell male and female apart?? C: If Mr. Krabs is a male, then is his daughter male or female? LYN: /laughs/ LYN: How about this- I’ll set up a sign in my stream. One that reads, people with an IQ below 30 may not enter. This place doesn’t suit you. We discuss high-education topics here. We’re talking bout biology. We even have to distinguish if living characters in an animation are male or female. Is Mr. Krabs’ daughter male or female? How about you stand in front of an elementary school tomorrow and stop the kids as they pass by. Stop them on their way out of school and say, “Hey. Let me ask you a question. If you answer right, I’ll give you a candy.” Ask them, “Is Mr. Krabs’ daughter male or female?” Let me tell you- if this kid is five years old you’re going to confuse them. If they’re seven, they won’t be able to come up with an answer…. As if!

C: What about Plankton? LYN: Let’s not worry about whether plankton have gender. Look at this- as an actor, I’m already starting to interpret character profiles. I don’t know if a plankton has gender, but in the animation, Plankton is male. Why? Even though he doesn’t wear any shorts- doesn’t wear any clothes, for that matter- we have to understand this character through its relation with other characters. His voice is very thick and rough; it sounds manly, so we will lean towards male. Secondly, he has a wife, who is a computer. From these two points, Plankton is likely a male. No arguments there, right? C: Is Plankton’s wife male or female? LYN: Now you’ve hit the nail on the head. Plankton’s wife is a computer. Computers count as AI. If you want it to be male, it can be. If you want it to be female, it can. That’s your own choice. It depends on what type of voice you give it, I suppose. Let’s not touch AI and computing topics, though. Truthfully, I did not learn computer science in high school. In high school I was learning how to be a cook. Computer Science is a different discipline. You can find someone who studies it and ask them if Plankton’s wife is male or female.

C: What did I walk in on. I don’t understand what you’re talking about. LYN: It’s not important. The last twenty minutes or so was just complete nonsense. It doesn’t make a difference in your life whether you heard the last twenty minutes or not. In the four hours that I’ve streamed, most of it is nonsense. You’re listening, but you’re also not. These four hours have just served to help you pass the time.

C: What about Gary? (In Chinese, the character is called “Xiao Wuo” for “Little Snail”) LYN: The snail? Gary SHOULD BE male. Why? Because if I am remembering correctly, there was an episode where he had a crush on a girl snail. I don’t remember if there was an episode like that? I think there was, but I could have also imagined it just now. I remember there was an episode, he saw a girl snail and was really happy about it. I think that’s what happened.

C: Why is Mr. Krabs’ daughter a whale? LYN: … I don’t know. I don’t watch every episode. I don’t know the canon, but it could be- the way I see it, since it is an animation after all- from a certain perspective, they would have to promote kindness. It could be- this is what I think- she was adopted. Or he, designated her as his daughter. There might be some terrible backstory of the elimination of marine life. Do you get what I’m saying? Maybe her parents were killed by humans and then Pearl was adopted by Mr. Krabs. Even though he’s greedy for money, he is still someone with a lot of love. At least, that’s what I think. When you watch dramas, you can’t only see what’s on the surface. Why is he a crab, and she a whale? You have to think about what they’re trying to teach you through the story behind the characters. The thing Spongebob is trying to tell you is that if there are no business transactions (for greed), then there is no hurt/harm. That’s the moral they took many episodes to tell us.

C: I want to eat crab now… LYN: Okay, later I’ll probably order some.. Krabby patties. /laughs at himself/ Krabby patties, plus two bullfrogs. [t/n: ???]

C: Ning-ge, what’s the Krabby Patty secret? LYN: The secret is.. HOW WOULD I KNOW??? Quit with your nonsense.

-----

LYN: There are people advertising for me. “Welcome to LYN’s livestream. If you’re here, you can subscribe.” You can subscribe to my weibo, if you want. I’m Modern Brothers Liu Yuning. When I have time to stream, you can come watch. It’s not shameful to follow me. You can watch for entertainment. Let me play a song. It’s about time. LYN: Thank you for all of your company and support today. It’s because of you that I was able to get a trending topic, so I’m happy about that. I see that many of you are watching my stream for the first time- I’m sure that you think I’m not quite sane, but this is how I usually am. I just hope that if you come in, you can stay until the end. Thanks to those of you who were here from the start of the stream and have stayed these four hours until the end. I’m happy that you stayed. Thank you.

C: Ning-ge, please say, “Goodnight Princess.” LYN: /laughs/ … /sighs/ LYN: Out of bounds. LYN: Rest early.

LYN: I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing night. It was great to have you and I hope you enjoyed yourself. I’ll see you again in the next stream. Goodnight everyone.

#Liu Yuning #lyn livestream #(4:09:58)#topics:#drama promo time #some singing segments #lyn's biggest anti is himself #the hardest song ge's ever sung & why he'll never sing it live #album/concert talk #spongebob gender discourse #(how did we get here?)

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