A/N: If you've never read a piece from Mairead System, please go have a look at the profile before proceeding, or you will be a bit confused and have to draw some pretty out-there conclusions based on context.


Eren here. We often get visitors here, but usually not many at once. Well, Oliver Queen and Alexander Herr had been around for quite some time, and then Vin and Chris arrived. It was weird, because Mairead's favorite from the Magnificent Seven is Britt (I'm talking 1960 here - we refuse to see the new one because you cannot possibly improve on the original and it is an insult to a masterpiece to even think of updating it... though maybe we'll change our tune one day. This is a volatile system after all).

Anyway, we'd been speculating about what the survivors of Mag7 might do after leaving the little Mexican village, so maybe that's why it was those two who showed up. Though, Mairead doesn't (or didn't much until he got here) have much attraction to Chris or his actor, fine an actor as he was, and if you're a handsome guy, you're more likely to become a regular here. Just saying. She doesn't deny it.

(Here Levi arches an eyebrow, which could mean one of several things... 1. So, does that mean she thinks I'm attractive? 2. Are you saying you think she finds you attractive? 3. That's just weird. 4. Some other thing I can't begin to imagine.)

It was about like any other arrival. We were kind of trying to keep Britt out, to be honest, because while Mairead likes him and might like to see him up close and personal, we already had Ollie and Sasha. So, when Vin joined the conversation we weren't totally prepared, and we were totally blind-sided by Chris. All in all, I'm glad they came, don't get me wrong. It's just... sometimes I reach a limit on how many weird things I can deal with, you know? And by weird things, I don't mean Vin and Chris themselves.

Well, Mairead always thought Britt's name was Red, and when she saw it on IMDB she was all surprised, and I had thought the same, so I was chagrined too, and Chris said something to the effect of "We didn't know how to break it to you." Thanks. Thanks a lot. It's not like Levi makes me feel dumb very often. (Sarcasm.)

Anyway, I didn't expect either of them to stay long, but they did. They attended a play with us - a musical! - and then we went to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, where Harry Potter showed up. Leo had to transport some of us to both of those locations because we were having trouble all fitting in the car. Seriously. You'd think imaginary people wouldn't take up space, but it's true.

When Harry stuck around for a while after the movie (we liked it, by the way. Oh, and I introduced Harry to the show Phineas and Ferb, which he thought was "brilliant.") Levi was getting a little uncomfortable with the number of regulars. Seven of us there together, an eighth that shows up almost every week, and a ninth that comes when we call (Leo is awesome, we don't think of him as a dog or room service at all - but it is so nice that we can summon him), not to mention our host, Mairead herself, though she tends to keep to the back of her mind where she can spectate. He said something to the effect that someone, or a couple of people, had to go.

Harry surprised us a bit by speaking up, reminding Levi that we're here as Mairead's coping mechanism, and it's not "down to him" to decide who is needed and who isn't. If we're not needed, we'll go, simple as that. And he was actually proven right. Ollie and Sasha hadn't been very involved in things for a while, so they made it official and left, though they still have a sort of residual presence that will allow them to jump right back in if they feel like it. Harry left after a few days, so then it was just me, Levi, Vin and Chris for regulars, and after a week or two, Chris left, too.

Vin has been fading lately, but he's not in a big hurry to go. It's odd, but sometimes we alters forget information about our own lives when we come to this world, and something Vin and Chris forgot were their own last names. I looked it up, and Vin's is Tanner, apparently. I don't remember them saying it in the movie, but I might have missed it. Maybe it was in the credits. Whatever.

Vin and I have gotten to be very good friends. He kind of sees me as the son he might have had if he had settled down instead of becoming a gunfighter. He's a really good guy and I like him a lot. But I think the better friends we become, the more he thinks he should go back to his world and settle down and have an actual son of his own. So I'm kind of my own undoing in this relationship. It's bittersweet. I'm trying to get him more involved in stuff to prolong his stay, and to be honest this piece of writing is an attempt in itself. It might be cool if someone sent him a message via pm to start a conversation with him, but again, it would just be putting off the inevitable. We're all temporary here.

Still... Levi and I have been here for more than ten months straight. Not many have lasted this long. I don't know if that should make me worried about Mairead, or just proud of us for being what she needs for so long. Meh, I don't know.

What I do know is, my captain is with me, my host is ok for the moment, and for now I have a super cool cowboy friend. Not too shabby.


If you have any questions or comments, feel free. Just remember to look at the profile if you want information on why we're all connected to a "host" in this world.