YOU - Season 4 Trailer

Answering this in TWO PARTS because I have a lot of thoughts! CLICK HERE FOR PART 2.

PART 1: AMARANTHINE 'VERSE (Hyden's default setting)

Interesting question! Kwillow and I have, of course, contemplated such things at length. The problem is that Frank is so far below Hyden, status-wise, that he may as well be completely invisible. A dopey dirt-farming peasant slurring his words while he mucks out the cow pens would basically be furniture as far as Hyden is concerned. He'd hardly ever come in contact with someone of that social class, especially in his later years. Even when he was younger and did visit small towns and farming villages regularly, he was far more concerned with the mayors and innkeepers (or, even better, the mayors' and innkeepers' starstruck daughters and wives) than with grubby average Joes like Frank. Hyden's only interested in relationships that are "useful" and it would be hard to imagine what "use" he'd have for someone like Frank.

Frank's opinion of Hyden would vary depending on what he'd heard about him. If he was a humble, rural peasant who had heard great things about Hyden's benevolence and great magical skill (as many humble peasants did during his Royal Mage years), he might be view him as cool celebrity here to save the day. Frank tends toward hero-worship and loves to build wildly inaccurate, idealized versions of those heroes in his head. A powerful wizard who he only ever saw once from a distance would be perfect fodder for that. He has an impressive capability to self-delude, rationalizing away any evidence that his chosen hero might not be as great as he thinks they are.

However, an actual one on one conversation with Hyden would probably dissolve that impression pretty fast. Frank doesn't like people who are promiscuous, who lie, and who drink heavily. Hyden has all those vices and many, many more. He'd find Hyden's intense personality and loose morals deeply uncomfortable, once he got to know him.

i just hit up the midnight mass tag on ao3, and it's the place to be if you're a fan of tortured priests, but i was disappointed there wasn't any sheriff hassan/joe collie fic. i mean i see why, joe collie is old and fat, and fandom is a shallow creature (i do not exempt myself). which is a shame, because it's such a good dynamic.

joe collie, town drunk and outcast, with plenty to atone for and so much character development to play with. textually he's an outsider for shooting the mayor's daughter; his reasons for this are never explained, but he clearly regrets it immensely. i have a feeling that it was a terrifying moment for him, when he came face to face with the monster inside himself; and i think it drove him fully into alcoholism. as far as shipping is concerned, it wouldn't be hard at all to include "closeted gay" to his list of issues. maybe beverly keane saw him kissing a mainlander down by the marina when they were 17, and no one talks about it, but everyone knows. an insular, catholic town like that? there's no way joe escaped unscathed. maybe that's why sarah gunning is so cautious about her girlfriend: she saw what happened to joe collie.

and sheriff hassan el-shabbaz. he's an outsider, too, and just as intolerable to a conservative christian parish. he's mourning his wife; he's struggling to maintain dignity in a town whose leaders only accept him in letter, not in spirit. joe calls him 'sharif' and scoffs at his faith, and make no mistake: after a long day of the same crap from everyone else on crockett island, it's hard to bear. but joe's as likely to call bowl out for starting shit as he is to start shit on his own. he apologizes for being a bother, instead of pausing for hassan to apologize for islam. if hassan stops to think about it, it's depressing as hell that the closest thing he has to a friend is the town drunk. but it's also a relief to share a cup of coffee with someone who gets it when bev keane acts up.

there's such compassion in their interactions. well, from hassan to joe, anyway; hassan cares about joe. he's the only one to comfort him or try to help when pike dies; he's the only one who validates joe's anger toward bev. he's probably the closest thing joe has to a friend, too, after pike. joe's a little too much of a surly asshole to fully return the favor, too wrapped up in his own hurts to be compassionate in kind, but i think he would have, if he'd been given the chance. joe wanted to fix himself; he just needed the motivation (or the permission).

there's fodder for a very quiet, self-effacing love story here. hassan struggles with being a queer muslim and with fears that he's betraying his wife; joe struggles with remembering how to be a good person and with trusting that sometimes life brings good things. it's hard, of course, but it's also as simple as a cup of coffee.