Ok So

ok so

Imagine that Ronan’s tattoo isn’t actually a tattoo. The nine hundred dollars went somewhere but it didn’t go to that.

Imagine that the gang have found Glendower, that they broke Blue’s curse, that Gansey and Noah are alive and well. (I may or may not be in denial) They’re all exhausted but they’re satisfied and by some unspoken agreement they crash at Monmouth in one giant pile.

The next morning Ronan gets up to feed Chainsaw (because he is a good dad) and the others just stay tangled together, warm and safe and happy. Only suddenly Gansey goes what???? and Ronan, still with his back to them all, goes what? But when he turns around its not just Gansey staring at him in disbelief, its Adam and Blue too.

(Noah just looks somewhere between pleased and smug because of course he knew and now he knows)

And it turns out that they’re all staring because Ronan’s tattoo is no longer vicious hooks and bold black lines but its bleeding into colour. Pastels and flowers and sunsets at the Barns and watercolours are dripping down his back because most of Ronan’s feelings that aren’t happiness are anger and pain but right now he is nothing but joyful.

 As it turns out the tattoo isn’t just a tattoo but rather its him, etched under his own skin for the world to see.

And see, the thing is that its rarely ever like that outside of that moment? The tattoo is hardly ever in full colour, there is always some black in there somewhere but most of the time after that morning colour dominates the thing and thats how the rest of the gang try to keep it.

There are hiccups of course, like the first time Adam and Ronan get into an actual fight after Glendower. Ronan turns and walks away but not before Adam catches a glimpse of the tattoo and sees black hooks curling over Ronans shoulders. After they apologise (as much as those two ever really do) Adam tells him about the tattoo and Ronan doesn’t go without a shirt for a week. 

(he never wanted to guilt anyone into anything he just wanted people to know because he cant always make them understand with words)

But the first time he and Adam kiss daisies bloom along Ronan’s spine. The first time they sleep together roses curl around his ribs.

One day Blue makes Ronan laugh so hard he cries and daffodils peak out from over his shoulders and his back is a sky painted in lilac. Gansey causes sunflowers to grow under sunsets when he talks about something he loves (mysteries, the pig, monmouth, them) because Ronan loves it when he’s happy. Noah makes forget-me-nots blossom when he dances or laughs or smiles because he’s so alive that it makes Ronan’s chest tight.

(and no matter what there are always a few raven feathers dancing at the edges. For Chainsaw. For his family. For their quest. They’re never truly black, shining purple and blue in the right light.)

there's a recent post on maggie's blog about which instruments she plays and she mentions scottish bagpipes and uilleann pipes so she knows the difference and it's likely that it was intentionally written that way because it wasn't ronan's pov

I am v sorry I’m so late getting back to this but this is v v v good info, thank you! I felt that was probably the case, it’s unfortunate though that it’s resulted in so many people continuing to refer to them as bagpipes as though bagpipes are irish without actually learning from this mistaken pov. Thanks so much again! This is in reply to this post for anyone interested xo

concept: the foxes doing hot ones interviews. andreil doing hot ones interviews. 

PSA for the raven cycle fandom or any other fandom with irish characters or characters of irish descent - irish people call the irish language irish or, in irish, gaeilge. the word gaelic is usually used to refer to gaelic football. no one says that they speak gaelic here. 

there are gaelic languages - scots gaelic, for example, being the name of the gaelic language spoken in scotland - but, if you’re talking about irish people speaking the gaelic language of ireland, it’s called irish/gaeilge. thanks so much for tuning in. 

raven cycle au where everything’s the same except all the tarot cards are from the lisa frank deck

Gansey, a disembodied spirit who had just died and was thrown through the cycle of time to walk the ley line with all those who had also died that year: I can’t let this girl know that my name is a euphemism for penis