For a little change of topic, I am leaving the remaining three (!) fan challenge letters aside today. Ha! Can’t believe I am finally getting nearer to completing it. My own dilettante fan fiction prompts have heeded some return… I was absolutely thrilled to read how JennyS’s continued my Raybo idea… My prompt in italics, followed by JennyS’s piece of standalone fluff. Her title will become clear in the end:
[Guylty]: Chastised by the religious valour of The Mute, Raymond decides to down all weapons. To exorcise his own demons, he leaves his father, his family and his legacy. Disguised as a mute friar, Raymond wanders through Normandy, looking for salvation. One hot summer’s day, as he has taken off his robes and is refreshing himself with a dip in the nip in a small pond, a local woman spots him (and the horrible war scars he carries with him on his back) while splashing in the waters…
Defense de Double Entendre.
Alienor first became aware of the intrusion when her skein of prized ducklings came squawking up the hill to her secluded cot. Troubled, she abandoned her preparations for the evening pottage and hurried to investigate.
As she reached the tangle of thorn bushes that marked the final turn in the path, the source of the disturbance became clear.
There was a man in her pond!
He stood naked to the waist amidst the rushes and duckweed, scrubbing his back with a handful of soapwort – a back scored by a criss-crossing of livid scars. Who was he, and what was he dong here? Were those brutal excoriations the grim legacy of battle wounds or the bite of a flagellant’s whip?
Alienor stared at the tall body; the broad shoulders, the muscled arms and narrow waist. She could not wait to get to the bottom of it.
Loved it! That was worth rescuing from the comment section, wasn’t it??? We want more, we want more, we want more *chants*
And then there are odes from our talented, lyrically-minded fellow fans. Check the latest ones by Kathy and Sue:
Have I forgotten more? In any case, you can see that our imagination is still alive and kicking… More fan art always appreciated! Love to all fan artists! 😘
Well done Jenny, Sue and Kathy!!! You guys rock!!!❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏👍👍😘
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Verrrrrry nice.
For what it’s worth, the next chapter of Aside is pretty much finished – the deed is done, and I just to need to wrap a few things, clean it up and it’s off to the betas… and I’m home today (everything hurts and is swollen from that quick turnaround trip we took to Atlanta Monday-Tuesday.) So hopefully, it will go up in all the usual suspect places by the weekend – DreamerFiction first.
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Wonderful news indeed! Def made my day and I hope you are feeling better. Get some rest girlfriend!! Oh and thank you again…
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Right now, I hurt. I’m thinking a couple of tylenol and maybe a long soak or a shower would do me a world of good. I”m thinking of moving to my big ass comfy chair with the laptop as well…
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That sounds heavenly!! Go for it!!
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Yayyyyyy!!!! I can’t wait! I re-read a few Aside chapters the other day 4 K to N I think. And I am in the mood for a reread of Manna. But original work is even better…
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Ribbons? You’ve read Ribbons???
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Ribbons?
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Yeah, you said original. My original fic is When the Ribbons Dance. I assumed wrong?
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Oh, oops, by ‘original’ I meant something newly written.
Having said that – I have read your LotR fics, so yes, that was great stuff!
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🙂
Ribbons is completely original – a Welsh Time Travel to the time of Madoc the Explorer. His half-brother Meaurig, looks a LOT like a certain British actor we adore…
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Damn, my memory is like a sieve. Not sure now, but I *think* I have read it!
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Yet another WIP to add to my lazy susan of fics not finished!
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https://archiveofourown.org/works/12606672/chapters/28716648
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Back to “Time Team”!

On duty this evening , I shall read your fan fiction. Thank you, because that is about not wasting my time, while customer doesn’t need my time.
I’d like to propose myself as ideal partner for excursions through the prestigious castles in Normandy. Where you’d be called to follow the footsteps of William the Conqueror.
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Squirrel, gorgeous photo! You would no doubt be the ideal partner for excursions anywhere esp Normandy!
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🙂
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with LadyButterfly too
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😘😘😘❤️❤️❤️👏
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Sainte Suzanne’s castle (Mayenne): the only fortress, stronghold that the Conqueror has ever taken
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Gorgeous and breath taking!!! Sign me up!!
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Oh I like that first one of Kathy’s!
Thanks for posting my humble offering.
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I like yours too, Sue.
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Thanks!
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Thanks for sharing it with us!!!
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Masterly illos there, O Virtuoso of Visuals. You’ve made me want a man in my duck pond too. (Applications will be filtered in advance) And you chose the perfect pics for the Odes as well — Porter’s little grin, and the original inspiration for its Ode.
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🙂
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OMG you are all so funny thank you for all of this!!!
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And that artwork of RA standing among the rushes is…fabulous.
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*hehe* just the usual dilettante illustration that yours truly hacks together in the matter of 5 minutes…
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That’s pretty damn good for 5 minutes of hacking together!!!!
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I think Fizzy Custard ( or someone) wrote a ‘very engrossing’ fan fic on the exact same subject of a naked Raymond discovered bathing in a pool by a servant girl. I’ll see if I’ve a link – although it must have been in a round- up last year, because that’s my only springboard to them. Love this version though , with the scars, and the poems. ( I spent some considerable time scrutinising RA’s groin on my pic from the same day and the stubborn lint is still there – unless it is a zip – and stupidly looked at the next day’s until I realised he was wearing different trousers.)
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LOL! These are great!
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All credit to the artists 😉
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