I’m mostly neutral about the Faith storyline until we know the end and here’s why: I find it compelling to watch J and C revisiting Paris, the moment of their marriage when they *both* had reasons to walk away, but didn’t. It’s almost the only canon moment like that.

I keep thinking of the credits shot of J wiping C’s mouth just before she nearly drowns in the shipwreck. “Faith lived but then pulled a Buck MacKenzie and has been in the wrong time until recently” would explain a few things…

Today’s OL observation: I noticed Jane’s middle name on the pamphlet is Eleanora. Not that far off from Ellen (not etymologically, but they *sound* adjacent), and gives her a middle initial that starts with “E” like Claire’s and Bree’s. Someone on the writing team probably chose that deliberately.

Friday night research: I’m contemplating a fourth entry in my “Claire scandalizes Jamie with modern clothes” fic series. So now I know the story can totally involve C making herself a pencil skirt, since they were popularized by Dior in 1954. Especially fitting given C’s S2 Dior look.

Also my cynical side thinks DG is annoyed about the print shop rewrite because *she* considered killing off Fergus in Book 10. In Bees they send the kids away to the Ridge without them because of the danger…at least this way H-C is spared and Fergus does what Jamie would have and saves his kids.

Today in callbacks: the clip from Season 7 at the end of the 8.7 episode credits is J and C on horseback, after they send the MacKenzies back. And Bree is so much like Claire when she’s with Marsali—holding in her own tears as long as she can, strong for her sister the way C always is for her.

Given developments, I want to mention that I recently finished a long fic where Jamie doesn’t marry Laoghaire, there’s no William, and Claire beats Frank at his own game. Everyone Lives Happily Ever After. If 19 chapters of that sounds good, try Not Time’s Fool. archiveofourown.org/works/787501...

Amid all my heartbreak, I am still laughing at Fanny’s induction into the “we love Claire for her many talents but none of them are cooking” club. JAMMF should hold meetings for that now that the Masonic lodge is disbanded.

I like Lord John and David Berry has done fantastic work this season (especially in his brief scenes with Bree/Sophie). So making William as cruel to John as he is to Jamie—who he at least doesn’t know so it’s plausible he’d resent him most—is just…get him off my screen. He’s mean and naive.

Redoing this quote post because the first had a horrible typo. C’s hands are also, in a sense how they met—how she healed him/ Which adds to my sense of this season as a Jamie x Claire vow renewal of sorts. And the blue light is a hands thing too. All very intentional IMO.

#Outlander thoughts: 1) This episode had me straight up weeping as soon as Henri-Christian said “I don’t want to disappoint you, Papa.” Then I straight up LOLed at Fanny’s induction into the “people who love Claire enough not to tell her she can’t cook, club” (JAMMF is the president).

The Claire Fraser in my head had a lot of suggestions for a fix-it/post episode for 8.06, so a fic happened. archiveofourown.org/works/83183686

Drop your crime fighting Catholics

Happy #Wednesday100! Two from me this week. One Jamie POV when Elspeth asks permission to go. Another imagining Jamie the evening after the episode, thinking about sacraments.

Was flipping through Bees today (first time in a while) and wow does this book ever meander even by DG standards, which partly explains the season’s uneven pacing. Jamie giving the women their land back is about 75% through. King’s Mountain itself is less than a hundred pages from the end!

I forgot to post here that all 19 chapters of Not Time’s Fool are now up! It seems like a good week for an AU where William doesn’t exist and all the injuries are minor. Also features Claire outwitting Frank and many J/C sexcapades. And Adso. archiveofourown.org/works/787501...

I just opened Tumblr to a sympathetic post about Frank Randall and was like “who the fuck am I following?” Reader, I had accidentally selected the “For You” tab instead of “Following.” False alarm. 😂

My phone’s notes app would be somewhere between baffling and amusing if it were ever found by people who don’t know what fanfic is or that I write it. Definitely just added to my outline for an 8.06 post ep, “J is still injured/recovering so this would influence sex choreography.” 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

Today in old fic self-promotion: in the fall, I decided to write a story where Jamie tells Claire, “I like you, I love you, I worship you, I have to have my cock inside you” in separate scenes rather than all at once. It was fun and made me miss S5. archiveofourown.org/works/74902556

Fanfic writer problems: you’re at a kid’s birthday party when the Claire Fraser in your head starts talking. Home now and have successfully preserved lines of potential dialogue in my notes app.

I don’t know why it took me this long to figure this out, since DG is not subtle about what or how she names her characters, but I was today years old when I finally looked up that “Elspeth” is a variation on “Elizabeth” which is, of course, Claire’s middle name.

Outlining a fic on my lunch break (a short story set in the same universe as Not Time’s Fool), and definitely just made a note “more conversation about how Frank was the fucking worst goes here.” I’m nothing if not consistent. 😂

Rachel made me cry. For me her relationship with Ian echoes Jamie and Claire. Ian knows from them to be totally honest with a partner. Here Rachel takes Frank’s role, raising a child from another marriage. But unlike Frank, Rachel does so with generosity, not as a weapon to compel Ian to silence.

This was a filler #Outlander episode but: Jamie evoking excommunication is reminiscent of his becoming a Mason even though he’s Catholic: when the pope’s not there JAMMF will step in. And fucking Crombie claims going after Jamie wasn’t personal: what about when you tried to kill his wife, Hiram?

The other bit I loved was Sam’s line delivery on “my wife won’t allow me to harm you while you’re still in her care.” Heavy on the subtext of “generally people who hurt my wife don’t live to have chats with me.” Cunningham is lucky JAMMF never makes Claire break her oaths.

Happy #Wednesday100! In 8.05, Claire tells Jamie she knows where the guns are, just in case. Here’s a glimpse at how that came about, set sometime before the episode.

Sometimes, my brain ignores bedtime and my TBR and produces bantery fanfic instead. Specifically, the third installment of my Take Me There series (Jamie steals Claire’s comb so he can do her hair himself and she retaliates by wearing modern clothes). archiveofourown.org/works/82672796

If you need me I’ll be getting emotional rewatching the scene from episode 7.4 where Jamie tells Claire her hair hasn’t gone white yet because now it’s started to. 🥹😭

Am I going back to the draft of story 3 in my “Claire scandalizes Jamie with modern clothes” series because I have a suspicion we all need bantering Frasers to fortify our nerves before a new episode, or at least I do? Yes I am.

I spent three minutes today trying to figure out why we care about Ben Grey at all and I think it has something to do with how or why LJG will end up kidnapped by Richardson and have to be rescued by William and Jamie? But I think you could get John kidnapped without all of that. Sigh. So pointless.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WEE CHEETIE? Reward available for the return of Mr. and Mrs. Fraser's beloved missing cat. Anyone with information, please contact The Big House of Fraser's Ridge. #Outlander

#Outlander 805 thoughts: 1 Even watching the grandkids play means J and C recapping prior times they have killed for their family’s sake. Loved Claire acknowledging aloud they killed together.

On Monday, I finished my oneshot where Claire finally takes Frank’s ring off. For #Wednesday100, I went another direction entirely. I noticed Claire is sitting with Oggy and Rachel during 8.04, while Jamie talks to Ian, so here we are in Claire’s head in those moments.

I got so excited about posting my “Claire takes Frank’s ring off” story yesterday that I forgot to tag it with “Claire Fraser thinks sex solves almost everything.” All my fics are either tagged with that or “Claire Fraser thinks sex solves everything.” I am relieved to be consistent once more. 😂

Turned my recent #Wednesday100 drabbles into a longer “Claire takes Frank’s ring off during S8” story. With many thanks to everyone who was so encouraging about those, especially @ladyjane.bsky.social, @toitoitoi136.bsky.social, and @strawsunhat.bsky.social!

Neglected my family for a few hours today and I appear to have produced a draft of a Claire Takes Frank’s Ring off fic. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Do I still have the last chapter if Not Time’s Fool to finish editing? Yes, yes I do. Apparently I contain multitudes of #FuckFrank feelings.

05x04- The Company We Keep #outlander JamieClaire are so cute in this scene 🥺🤍

Chapter 18 of Not Time’s Fool is up! I usually refer to this story as the #FuckFrank #Outlander AU I needed to see in the world, so I wrote it. But it also turned out to be great fun to imagine a romantic future for Bree that doesn’t involve Roger. archiveofourown.org/works/787501...

I was rewatching some scenes from last night’s episode without headphones and my cat was Very Invested. I think she too wants to know where Adso is.

Some Friday fic self promotion: if you’re in the mood for Fergus and Marsali *with* Jamie and Claire, try my Take Me There series. Jamie hides Claire’s hairbrush. She retaliates by having Marsali help her sew modern clothes. Family moments and sexcapades abound: archiveofourown.org/series/5636601

Fergus in this episode somewhat echoes Jamie’s S2 agony about having to claim Lord Lovat as kin. C tells him his father’s history doesn’t matter, she knows who he is. Marsali says the same. Jamie knows Brian was the truly great man, and Fergus feels the same about Jamie. #Outlander

If the biggest theme of last week’s #Outlander was Claire finding ways to tell Jamie, “there’s still nowhere you can go I won’t find you” this week’s was about what the promises they made each other have created: a family built and chosen, who are there for them in love and loyalty.

People have lived (and not lived) to regret underestimating Claire Fraser. But *menacing* her in her own home is more foolish than stepping on a snake. Her husband who already stepped on a snake and lived to tell about it *will* end you.

I adored Bree casually and not so telling us what I’ve always hoped: she has two brothers and she loves them both. I also totally loved that Marsali knows everything about the family business: Jamie taught Fergus that your wife is your partner in all things. It’s what great men teach their sons. 🥹

I think I have finally finished all the Jamie/Claire sex scenes in the last two chapters of Not Time’s Fool. Peek behind the fic writer curtain: sometimes, like now, I write those last to make sure they emotionally fit the chapter arc. Will celebrate with ice cream later.

For today’s #Outlander #Wednesday100, imagine Claire runs into Bree early in the morning after her makeup sex with Jamie in 8.03, because I wanted more of Bree bantering at Claire’s expense. 😂

Today in shameless self-promotion: do you miss Adso? Do you want a fic where Claire and Jamie process how upsetting Season 6 was mostly through science and sexcapades? Want to see Bree get closer to a #FuckFrank place? Check out my oneshot You And Me On the Rock. archiveofourown.org/works/75521231

Okay, on my 150th rewatch of #Outlander 8x03 and I think I found another callback to Season 1. When they’re fighting, Jamie gets up from the bed to start explaining how he feels when he thinks about John. He’s standing in front of a dresser and I could swear there’s a vase on it. Anyone else? 🤯

Updated my WIP today! Not Time’a Fool is an AU from Season 2 where Claire gets a letter from her future self telling her she might have to go back to Frank…but only so she can spy on him so she knows when it’s safe for her and Bree to return to Jamie. archiveofourown.org/works/787501...

“Another 8.03 parallels The Reckoning” thought: In S1, Claire grabs Jamie’s face to demand a promise *from* him to never hit her. In S8 she’s keeping a promise *to* him that no one else is in their bed. Sometimes biting your spouse is a sign of emotional growth! Oh, Frasers.