#artificial magnolia flower | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ink-flavored · 22 days ago

Text

Anthology Blast Prompt 6: Artificial Pollination

for the Athendroyln After Dark Anthology Full prompt list for the Anthology Blast Tips are appreciated! Contains: human/dryad, misunderstandings, accidental indecent exposure, accidental public sex, muffing, fingering, handjobs, tree/flower/non-genital sex, magic sex toys, first time (with each other), fondling, explaining sex and genitals Dysphoria warning: There is a trans woman in this story. Her genitals are referred to as: clit/clitoris, hard/erection, ball(s), testicle(s), inguinal canal(s), inguinal ring(s), cunt(s). Please use discretion if these words will trigger any dysphoria.

Candice stumbled off the train with the few other passengers who took the Athendrolyn Public Transportation rail this far out. Arborbend was the final stop on the line, and compared to the other APT rail stops, it was falling apart at the seams. The metal-framed wood structure was rickety and weather-beaten, A few planks squeaked under her boots in a way she was particularly uneasy about, considering the river was only one unfortunate accident away.

She shook herself, traipsing down the stairs. There was no way this place wasn’t magically reinforced—she hoped. It should have been.—and if it was really that structurally unsound, they wouldn’t run the train on it anyway. Besides, there was no point in letting something so small bother her today. She was meeting Maggie for plant shopping.

Candice had never been to Arborbend before, but Maggie insisted it was the neighborhood with the best plant nurseries in the city. Which made sense—being so close to the edge of town and therefore the local forest, Arborbend was the unofficial dryad population center of the city. Stepping out from the rail stop and into the midsummer sun, it was obvious.

The roads were completely dirt. No streets, no pavement, not even any wheel tracks from anyone who dared try to drive or bike. Instead, dozens of dryads glided right through the uncovered soil, almost floating as they pushed themselves along by their roots. Some planted themselves in the middle of the path, standing motionless to soak up the afternoon sun.

The buildings were all wood, some using fully grown trees in their design, and every single one had a garden. Whether it was a neatly tended window planter, or vines climbing up the walls, not a house or business crossed her eye without one. They were taller, too, and so were the doors. They reminded Candice of the “nested doors” in more populated parts of the city, but there were no alternate doors for shorter creatures here. She didn’t mind that—she had to use the taller nested doors to avoid banging her head on the “human sized” doors that were just a little too short for her. Dryad doors would be a welcome relief.

The one thing this neighborhood did not have was any street signs. Candice bounced on the balls of her feet, trying to figure out where she was going.

“Over here!”

Candice snapped her head around and slumped in relief. Maggie waved her gnarled branch of an arm from not too far away. Her evergreen leaves were as big and forest-dark as ever, the crown of her branches piled tall on her head in a cone shape. If anyone could help her navigate this part of the city, it was a literal magnolia tree.

“Thank the Gods,” Candice said, approaching at a light jog. She had to crane her neck to look Maggie in the face, the tall and lanky tree that she was. “I thought I was going to have to memorize this place myself.”

“Don’t worry,” Maggie said. She spoke with magic, like all dryads, her face made of twisted bark, with no mouth, nose, or skin to wrinkle. Despite that limitation, her tree sap eyes shone a happy amber. “I know it’s hard for the unrooted to navigate around here.”

“Yeah, I bet.” She gestured down the street. “Go ahead, lead on.”

“Well, first.” Maggie pointed in the opposite direction. “We’re going this way.”

“And that’s why I’m glad you’re here.”

Maggie laughed, her bark creaking, and she started off down the dirt road. Candice could have sworn she saw one of her closed flower buds start to bloom, but it was gone the next time she looked. Maybe it was her imagination.

The path they took was so convoluted Candice knew she would have gotten lost a hundred times if she tried to do it herself. There was almost nothing intuitive about how the roads were organized—to a human, anyway—and sometimes buildings appeared out of nowhere to block the way. Maggie navigated it all flawlessly, as if she had a map right in front of her. Though, more accurately, the map was underneath her, her roots churning through the dirt to find her way.

“Here we are!” she announced, at the end of their maze. “Welcome to Whistleroot Plant Nursery.”

Before them was a beautiful, massive greenhouse, more extravagant than even the most decorated buildings Candice had seen on their way here. The glass walls displayed plants and flowers for at least two stories from top to bottom, all of them flourishing. The roof burst with them, the glass top opened to let them stretch their branches and give the whole building a leafy haircut.

“Wow,” Candice said.

Maggie plucked her roots out of the dirt to walk on top of the ground instead. “Shall we?”

Candice raced ahead to beat her long stride and open the glass door for her. “After you.”

A big white blossom popped open near her face, ten big petals and a bright yellow center. It was beautiful, but Candice didn’t get to admire it for very long. Panicked, Maggie’s hands flew up to coax the flower back to a closed bud.

“Thanks,” she said, hurrying into the nursery. “Sorry, I—Thank you.”

“No problem.” Candice followed behind her, feeling like she was missing something.

It was another short-lived feeling, as the inside of Whistleroot Plant Nursery dazzled her even more than the outside. An entire spectrum of colored blossoms spanned as far as the eye could see. Knowing almost nothing about plants, she could already tell which ones were magical—flowers unfurling when someone walked by, only to close again when they passed, vines reaching out to dig around in other planters, some that spoke. Although, maybe that wasn’t so shocking.

“What do you want to look at first?” Maggie asked—a walking, talking plant.

“I need something totally unkillable,” Candice said. “I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb is.”

“Come on, I’m sure you aren’t that bad.”

“I’ve killed a cactus before.”

Maggie nodded slowly. “Okay, that does change things. Let’s… go this way?”

She ducked under a curtain of vines and Candice followed. She hadn’t touched a plant in years, but since meeting Maggie at a terrarium build-off, she was warming up to trying again. After all, her gray-banded kingsnake, Barbecue, was going need a new enclosure soon. If she could overcome her plant-killing tendencies and make it a vivarium for him, she would be the proudest snake parent in all of Athendrolyn.

“So, I don’t know about unkillable,” Maggie said, approaching a wide tray of ferns, “but magical plants do tend to be hardier than mundane plants.”

“I’ll take whatever I can get, honestly,” Candice said. “As long as it won’t kill me back.”

She shook her head, laughing. “No, no, of course not. Most of them are totally harmless.”

That wasn’t really an encouraging caveat, but hey, Maggie was the expert here. Candice turned the label of the nearest pot toward her. “’Echo fern,’ huh?”

The plant rustled its leaves. “Echo fern, huh?”

She jumped back. “Gah!”

“Gah!”

“Are you okay?” Maggie asked, clearly trying not to laugh.

“I’m fine.” She glanced warily at the talking fern. “Not sure about this one, though.”

“No problem, there are plenty more!”

They kept moving through the magical section. On the left, they passed a tray of cute looking flowers. Candice felt a little more at ease looking at them—they didn’t move, or talk. Maybe they were for potions. In fact, they looked like completely normal oxeye daisies, clustered together in big white and yellow groups.

“What’s so magical about these?” she asked, picking up one of the planters.

“No, you shouldn’t—”

The flowers angled their petals right at her face. Maggie yanked them out of her hands just in time for one of them to shoot all of its petals clean off its stem. They went flying around the nursery. One sliced clean through a thick vine and sent it tumbling to the ground.

Candice stared, horrified. “What the f—"

“Those are assassin daises,” Maggie explained, and gingerly put the planter down. “They’re, uh, not for beginners.”

“Right. Shit.” She scooted a little farther away. “I’m… going to listen to you before touching things from now on.”

Maggie quickly ushered her away from the assassin daisies and towards something much nicer looking. A series of plants in medium-sized ceramic pots were lined up by one of the glass windows, waving their long, stringy stems in the air. Pea-sized leaves ran up and down each stem, shifting back and forth like they were caught in a breeze.

“This is a twisted tassel vine,” Maggie said. “It’s happy with being watered once a week in a spot with good sunlight, and it’s friendly!”

She brushed her hand across the nearest vine. It delicately wrapped itself around her finger-branches, all the way up to her wooden wrist. The other vines from the same plant listed through the air toward her, swaying side to side.

“And they like to dance,” she giggled, and joined it swaying from side to side.

“That’s so cute,” Candice said, smiling at the sight. Maggie froze in place, glancing between her and the plant.

“H-here, you should—Come on, try it!”

She grabbed Candice’s wrist and held her hand over the plant—kind of unnecessary, since she would have done it anyway, but whatever. Maybe she was just excited.

The twisted tassel leaned toward her, feeling through the air for her hand. True to its name, the vine twisted around and around her fingers, soft leaves brushing her skin. It had a tighter grip than she expected, as if made of muscle and not a fragile stem. When it moved its free vines, swishing back and forth, she felt it trying to pull her along. The little tug from a plant that liked to dance was simply too adorable for Candice to pass up. Now she and Maggie stood in the corner of the plant nursery, swaying back and forth like it was something to do.

“This feels kinda silly,” she said.

“But it’s fun,” Maggie added.

“Yeah, it’s fun! Somehow!” She laughed at how ridiculous it was—she was dancing with a plant. Two plants, if she counted Maggie.

Although, maybe she shouldn’t, because Maggie had stopped again. She just stared, amber eyes sparkling. If she had a mouth, Candice would have bet money on a grin.

“What?” she asked.

“Hm?”

“What’s that look for?”

She startled, as if she didn’t realize what she was doing. “I—I wasn’t—”

“Excuse me,” said a terse voice behind them. They turned and saw an oak tree dryad, as disgruntled as their near-featureless face could express. “I believe the magnolia here is flowering.”

“W-what?” Maggie rushed to pat down her leaves, leaving the twisted tassel behind, and gasped. “It was behind me, I’m so sorry. I—I didn’t even realize.”

“Just be more careful next time, hm?” The oak dryad left before either of them could reply.

Candice frowned after them. “That was rude.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Maggie insisted, but she stood a little farther away. “Let’s keep going?”

“Well, hold on. I like this one.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, it’s fun.” Candice carefully untangled herself from the vines and lifted the pot into her arms. “My new adventure in plants starts now.” The twisted tassel seemed to like that idea, reaching up to play in her hair. “Although, uh. Does it ever stop… doing this?”

“It stops at night,” Maggie said. She reached over the twisted tassel display and plucked a long piece of string out of a cup. “You can tie it up for now.”

Candice held the pot as far from her as her arms could reach so Maggie could pluck the vines out of hair and tie them together gently. It didn’t completely stop, wiggling half-heartedly, but it wasn’t so adventurous while she carried it around.

Neither was Maggie. She rattled off plant facts when they got near one she liked, but not as enthusiastically. She kept her distance from Candice, too, leaving a polite bubble of air reserved for strangers. It was really weird, and a little worrying.

Every time Maggie bloomed, she tried to close the flower back up. Candice had only seen a full flower bloom from her once while they were hanging out, on accident, and she apologized profusely for it. She was always cagey about why, so Candice just assumed it was a dryad thing she wouldn’t be able to understand. After that stranger scolded her about it, she was even more sure that she was missing something. But after this reaction, she wondered.

It seemed like Maggie was repressing herself. Flowering was a natural thing for plants, right? Why was it such a big deal that she would go out of her way to apologize for it? Why was it such a big deal that strangers would scold her for it? Candice didn’t really want to ask her in public, if the subject was so embarrassing. But there had to be some way to make her feel better.

“This twisted tassel obviously can’t go in a vivarium,” she said, off-handedly. “I think I’d be scared of it dancing Barbecue to death.”

“Me too, it would be too risky,” Maggie agreed. “Plus, he would definitely hate it.”

“Yeah, he’d try to murder this thing.” Candice nudged her with an elbow. “You helped with the build-off, right? What kinds of plants usually go in one?”

“Hmm, he’s a desert species, right?” She glanced around at the sea of plants before them. “You can always play it safe with mundane desert plants—palms, agave, aloe vera, bromeliad if you want some color. Oh!” She rushed over to one of the mundane plants and plucked out one with long, wavy leaves, growing in the shape of a star. “This is a red cryptanthus, aren’t they pretty?”

“That’s awesome. It almost matches his orange-y part.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Maggie gasped and shoved the cryptanthus back on the tray. “That gives me an idea. Come on, over here!”

Candice hefted the twisted tassel pot in her arms and followed as close as she could. Maggie led her back to the magical plant section, and stopped in front of a relatively normal looking leafy specimen. Suspiciously normal, she thought, but maybe it was the daisies getting to her.

“This is a chameleon blossom,” Maggie explained. “It looks like a normal plant, right?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Maggie took the pot from her. “Go on, touch it. It won’t work if I try.”

Candice shuffled forward. “Are you sure?”

“It’s totally safe, I promise!”

Cautiously, she reached out to brush one of the leaves. The whole thing shuddered and turned the same peachy-beige as her skin.

“Whoa,” she said.

“And it copies other animals too! So if you put this in Barbecue’s enclosure, it would change colors to match whenever he got near it.”

“That would be pretty cool. I wonder if it would stress him out, though.”

Maggie nodded. “Good point. It is a defense mechanism to scare animals away.”

“I’ll ask around the herp scene.” Candice took the twisted tassel pot back. “Someone else must have tried it at some point.”

“Probably.” She picked at a groove in her bark. “I really thought it was a good idea, oh well.”

“Don’t worry about it. I still have to prove I can keep one plant alive before I start building an ecosystem.” She started walking backwards to the checkout. “And this thing is getting heavy, so I’m good starting with one.”

Candice paid for her plant, including the upcharge offer to enchant the pot to be easier to carry. While they waited at the register, she gave Maggie a light punch on the arm.

“Thanks for coming plant shopping with me,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Maggie said, but shrugged. “I don’t think I did all that much, though.”

“What do you mean? You recommended I come here in the first place, which is why I’m buying this plant right now. That was my one goal, and your suggestion is why I did it today.”

She shifted her weight, glancing down at her roots. “Well, I guess.”

“You gave me some good advice for Barbecue’s future home. I learned some plant facts!”

“You almost got attacked by an assassin daisy.”

“And that. Which you saved me from, so hey, you also saved my life today!”

Maggie laughed, leaves rustling. Another one of her flowers popped open—a big one, soft-looking petals forming a delicate circle around the cone-like center. She raised her hand, no doubt to close it, and Candice couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

“Why do you do that?” she asked.

“Do… what?” Maggie replied, frozen in place.

“Why do you close your flowers all the time?” She reached for Maggie’s hand and guided it away. “I think they’re pretty.”

“Uh—I, um—Thank you, but—”

“I didn’t say anything before because… I felt weird, I guess, but I really wish you wouldn’t.”

Maggie glanced all around, anxious, but she didn’t take her hand back. “C-Candice, that’s really nice of—”

She went completely still as Candice reached up to cup the flower she tried to hide. The petals were soft, and a little waxy. It was too high up for her to smell, but maybe if she got on her toes—

“What is going on out here?”

Maggie snapped upright. The dryad cashier was back with the twisted tassel, looking as shocked and appalled as a tree could get. Before Candice could explain, Maggie snatched the pot out of the cashier’s hands and shoved down to her. She stumbled back—but it was much lighter.

“I’m so—we’re so sorry,” Maggie stammered, already shuffling toward the exit. “She’s still learning about, uh, dryad things—”

“If you want to teach her that, wait until next spring and save it for the rooting area. Please.”

“Th-that’s what I was about to tell her! Thanks, goodbye!”

And then Maggie dragged her full-speedout of the plant nursery by the crook of her arm. She didn’t settle for just being out of the building—she dragged them down the street and into an alley between houses. That one flower was closed up tight. Candice felt less confused and more like she’d fucked up. Big time.

That cashier was almost as horrified as she was to be attacked by the assassin daisy. Was flowering out of season rude? Was it really impolite to touch someone else’s flowers? That would make sense, it was a part of someone else’s body after all. Maggie seemed more bothered by Candice touching her than the other dryads telling her to close her flowers, too. Standing awkwardly in the alley, her stomach sank.

“Are you okay?” Candice asked, not knowing what else to say.

“I—I think so? I’m fine,” Maggie stammered. She stared right at the ground. “I’ll be fine, it’s not a big—”

“No, stop.” Candice sighed and put her plant on the ground. “I didn’t mean to—I thought I was helping. You seemed so upset when that one person told you to close up, and it seems like it stresses you out a lot, so I thought…” She circled her hands, searching for an explanation, but quickly gave up. “I don’t know what I thought. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, really. It’s a little embarrassing, but—”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you. I wasn’t thinking, and I made you look rude in front of everybody. I didn’t mean to, but I still messed up. I’m sorry.”

Maggie slowly looked up. “Rude?”

“Yeah? Isn’t that why everyone was upset?”

“Not… exactly.” Her bark creaked, the dryad equivalent of a sigh. “I should have told you what it meant before now. It is sort of rude for me to flower in public, but it’s not offensive or anything it’s—indecent.”

Her heart did a little nervous kick. “Indecent how?”

Maggie diligently refused eye contact as she explained, “Dryads don’t reproduce like unrooted creatures do. It happens in the spring, when we get pollinated. Our pollinated flowers turn into fruits, and planting a dryad’s fruit is how more of us are ‘born.’ In that way, all our flowers are like your… sex organs.”

Candice put her hands over her mouth. “Oh Gods.”

“So when I flower in public it’s pretty embarrassing, but, uh, touching it—”

“Oh Gods, I’m so sorry.” Her face burned too bright to hide, but she did her best. “Maggie, I’m so, so sorry, I can’t believe I just—”

“Please don’t feel bad! It’s my fault, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to know how much I want you all the time and—” She broke off with an anxious creak.

Candice peeked between her fingers. “What?”

Maggie stood perfectly still, as if she would turn invisible and the conversation would disappear. As the rest of her statement sunk in, Candice realized Maggie had been flowering for almost the entire time they’d known each other. She slowly lowered her hands from her face.

“I didn’t know dryads could have… urges,” she said, and it was true. If she had known, she might have brought it up sooner.

“Yep,” Maggie squeaked.

A different kind of heat flushed her body and pooled in her lower back. “How about this: I still feel really bad for having accidental flower sex with you.” It broke the tension, finally, and they both laughed. Candice reached out for one of Maggie’s gnarled-branch hands, running her thumb across the bark. “If you like, we can have flower sex on purpose. To make up for it.”

Three different blossoms burst open on her head. She didn’t make a single move to hide them. “Really? You want to?”

“I want to try, at least? I don’t really know what dryad sex is like.”

“I don’t know what human sex is like either.”

“Cool, so we’ll both be learning things.” Candice reached for her other hand. “Your place is definitely closer, soooo…?”

She nodded so vigorously that a couple of her leaves fell off. “Yes! Yes, it’s this way.”

Candice barely remembered to pick up her twisted tassel before Maggie raced off down the maze-like streets. She was really excited, not that Candice could blame her if she’d been waiting around all this time. And Candice was too, if apprehensive. Not only had she never had sex with a dryad before, she hadn’t been in a sexual situation with another human in ages. Unless she counted herself, which felt like cheating.

Still, her body reacted where her mind faltered. Since the promise of affection had been raised, she hadn’t been able to stop her heart from racing. The heat in her cheeks hadn’t left and neither had her growing arousal. She was glad she’d stopped tucking years ago, because her hardening clit would have made it very uncomfortable.

They arrived at Maggie’s place quick. She didn’t waste any time opening the door and inviting her inside, and Candice obliged just as fast. Maggie clapped and fairy lights leapt into enchanted lanterns lining the walls, washing them with a soft yellow glow.

“Make yourself at home,” she said, gesturing out vaguely. “Oh! I should—do something.” As fast as they arrived, she rushed into a different room.

“Don’t stress yourself out,” Candice called after her, setting her plant by the front door. She knelt down to unlace her boots, scanning the room as she did.

The twisted tassel would have plenty of company. Maggie’s home matched the trends of the other buildings: covered in plants and exceptionally tall. Disregarding the height, the place was small, with one huge living space and only two additional rooms. Most of the decorations were plants, blooming in all colors, creeping up the walls, or across the floor. There were a few shelves and tables free of vegetation, holding books or picture frames. In the center of the living space, there was a big comfy looking couch and low tables on either side. In the corner near a window, the floor was entirely ripped out. The exposed soil looked like the roads—churned up by roots, like it was used often. A nightstand with a few drawers rested against the wall nearby.

“I’m back!” Maggie said, somehow sounding breathless. She had a fistful of stones in one hand and a parrot-sized gargoyle in the other arm. It chomped down on her bark, to no effect.

“Who’s this?” Candice asked, making her way across the room.

“This is Feldspar. It’s cranky because I woke it up.” She hefted the stone animal in her arm and ushered it to another room. “I just want to get it set up in the library, so it won’t, uh, interrupt.”

“Wait, you have a library?”

“It’s nothing crazy!” She came back out, free of her passenger, and shut the door. “I’ll show you… another time? Or later?”

“Yeah, later is fine.” Candice stepped a little closer, her heart in her mouth. “So, uh, how are we doing this?”

“Right. So. I sleep in the corner over there, so I have this.” Maggie gestured at the couch. “I keep this for unrooted guests, and I can unfold it for more space.”

“Sure, that works.”

She went over to the couch and pressed a button on the side. The whole thing sparkled and popped into a fold-out bed. Candice waddled over and sat down, blood thumping in her ears. Maggie sat next to her. They looked at each other.

“What do humans do first?” she asked. A few more flowers bloomed among her branches.

“It depends,” Candice answered, scooting closer. “Do you know what a kiss is?”

“I’ve seen them. I don’t know if…” She gestured at her mouthless face.

“It’s worth a shot, though. Right?”

She nodded, so Candice made the first move. She reached up and cupped her face, all braided branches and shiny amber eyes. They closed the distance together, Candice planting a kiss where Maggie’s lips would have been. The rough bark scratched against her. It tasted like wood. They pulled back and looked at each other again.

“Did you,” Candice asked, “get anything out of that?”

Maggie shook her head apologetically. “Not really.”

“Okay, scratch that off. How about touching?”

“Most of my sensation is up here.” She pointed at her crown of branches. “But I know yours is everywhere, right?”

“More or less.” Candice reached for the hem of her shirt. “I can take this stuff off and we’ll go from there?”

“Y-yeah, okay. If you—if you want.”

Candice stood up, smiling into her chest. Maggie knew enough about human sex to understand that part. She peeled her shirt off and dropped it to the ground, then unclipped her bra to let her breasts swing free. Maggie reached out shyly.

“Can I…?” she asked.

Candice stalled at the button of her pants. She redirected to take Maggie’s cautious hand and press it to her stomach. “Go ahead.”

Her bark creaked in a way that sounded a bit like a human whimper. Her branchy fingers skidded across her skin, over her soft belly and up her sides. Candice held her arms in the air to give her room to explore, flushing. The rough touch of bark felt weird on her mouth, but against her body, it felt nicer than she expected. Like a pumice stone or rough brush, Maggie’s hands dragged across her skin with a comfortable scrape.

“These are more sensitive,” she said, guiding her up.

Maggie cupped her breasts, and she sighed hotly. She flicked her amber gaze up and down, working her way up to massaging them in her coarse hands. Candice put her arms behind her head and threaded her fingers through her hair, biting her bottom lip. It felt a lot nicer than she expected.

“Is this okay?” Maggie asked, keeping up her work.

“Yeah, yes,” she breathed. “Can I do something for you?”

Her hands stuttered. “Uh, my… my leaves?”

Now that she was sitting down, Candice was face to face with her leaves and flowers. As enticing as the flowers looked, she started with a leaf first. Maggie creaked as she ran her fingers over the wide, oval expanse. The dark green top was smooth and leathery, contrasted by the rough, yellowish underside. Candice pinched it at the base with one hand and used the other to run down the center of the blade, all the way to its tip.

“C-Ca—” Maggie stammered.

“Is that a good sound?” she asked.

She nodded. “Y-yes, it’s good.”

Encouraged, Candice hopped to the next nearest leaf. She traced her fingers across it, feeling it up like she’d feel a human’s body. She pinched and dragged some more, smoothed it with her thumbs, followed the path of the veins. Maggie made more creaky-whimpers as she had her leaves fondled, hands slipping from Candice’s chest to wrap around her waist.

It didn’t phase her. Enthralled in her work, she switched leaves when Maggie’s voice tapered off, revving her back up again with a fresh caress. The only thing that slowed her down was the flowers.

Maggie opened so many new blossoms, Candice was worried she’d run out of leaves. Her fingers already brushed the sides of petals on her search. They bumped against flowers as she stroked and touched the leaves. The air smelled light and lemony, sweet and enticing, begging to be noticed. And Candice definitely noticed.

They weren’t in public anymore. They were here to have sex. She could touch them now. She wanted to touch them even more, knowing what they really meant. So she did.

Candice cupped the nearest flower in both hands, cradling the petals in her palms. Maggie shook, branches trembling, and warbled a moan through her enchanted voice, bark squeaking even louder. Candice couldn’t help but smile, bending down to sniff. The citrus was even more powerful this close.

“You smell nice,” she said.

“Th-thanks,” Maggie shuddered. She lifted her head, eyes shining desperately. “C-can we—I need to—”

“Yes, I want to.” Candice dropped her hands to cup her face. “Just tell me what to do.”

“O-okay. I have to get something.”

She stood up and Candice felt a little proud to see her wobbling. She went to the corner of the room with the ripped-up floor—her “bed”—and dug around in one of the drawers. When she came back, she had what looked like a rubber glove with tiny brushes on the finger pads.

“This is a pollination toy,” she explained. “It’s not safe to touch the carpels or stamens with your hands, so you can use this instead. It feels like a pollinator, but it doesn’t actually carry pollen.”

“That’s a good idea.” Candice took the glove and pulled it on. It was a little big at first, but an enchantment shrunk it down to fit snugly around her hand. “Like this?”

Maggie stared blatantly at the fingertips of the glove. “Mhm…”

She smiled a little, showing it off. “I can’t reach you up there.”

“Oh! Right! Let’s, uh, lie down?”

They scooted onto the fold-out bed together, until Maggie was on her back and Candice sat by her head. There were dozens of flowers open on her branches now, each with its petals spread invitingly and curly carpels lifting toward the sky. Candice held a gloved finger over one, suddenly aware of how fragile they must be.

“Let me know if I do too much,” she said. And lowered her hand.

The instant the brush touched her carpels, Maggie made a long creaking sound. Candice rubbed it in a gentle circle, hoping treating it like human genitals wasn’t too far off. The branches under the flower rustled and Maggie creaked again.

“Good,” she moaned. “Good, good, feels good.”

Candice nodded, relieved she was doing something right. Experimentally, she used her thumb and index finger to brush the sides, among the dozens of stamens. Maggie squeaked, body twitching underneath her.

“Bad?” she asked, backing off preemptively.

“N-no, no it’s good.” She wiggled a little. “Please, it’s good.”

She went back to what she was doing, stroking the whole center. At the very top, she tickled the carpels with her finger, and slid back down. It made Maggie creak-moan again, so she kept it up. It did feel a bit like playing with someone’s clit, teasing it over and over. The petals were easy enough to imagine as soft folds to push through to get to her sweet flower-pussy.

“C-can you switch?” Maggie stammered.

“Switch flowers?” Candice asked.

“Mhmm. It feels good to switch a lot.”

“Gotcha.”

Candice gave the flower one final tease and dragged her fingers to one next to it. Now in the right mindset, she brushed the carpels in tiny circles, fucking her gently like she asked. This flower was just as sensitive as the last, Maggie creaking for each little brush. She rubbed the stamens with her thumb, spanning her other fingers wide across the inside of the flower.

“O-oh fuck,” Maggie moaned, and Candice almost jumped.

“Did you just swear?”

She covered her face with her hands. “S-shut up, you made me.”

Candice had to pull her hand away so she could laugh. “It’s not a bad thing! I’m proud of myself for that.”

Maggie uncovered her face, reaching for her leg. “Can you try again?”

“You can count on it.”

She got back to work on a third flower. Like before, she teased and circled the carpels, stroked the stamens, but added brushing the petals to her repertoire. It was even easier to continue her personal metaphor, listening to Maggie moan as she rubbed her flower-clit and fingered her flower-pussy. Before she reached her peak, she jumped to a different flower, starting fresh in a new cunt. The broken sound Maggie made with her bark made her gut twist itself in horny knots.

Candice twirled around the base of the carpels and stamens, teasing it before using all five fingers to stroke it to the top. Maggie arched off the bed, branches trembling in ecstasy. Candice tried to keep her there, fucking this one a little rougher. Careful not to damage her delicate flower-pussy, she flicked the carpals, raked her fingers along the petals, pressed into her stamens hard. Maggie trembled harder, moaning crazily. Candice smiled to herself, imagining the flower was a leaking hole. A sweet, aching cunt, sticky and wet from her fucking and desperate for more.

“C-Candice—” Maggie sobbed, clamping down on her leg.

“Are you—” she started to ask, but completely forgot what she was going to say.

All down Maggie’s body, she leaked sticky amber tree sap. Her face, her arms, her torso, her legs, all of it oozing through cracks in her bark and dripping down her slender frame.

“Gods, are you serious?” Candice breathed. She wished she had taken her pants off earlier, clit leaking pre-cum freely.

Maggie nodded, creaking out a whimper. “M-more.”

It was impossible to resist that.

Candice used her pinky to fuck one flower, and stretched her hand as far as it could go. She just barely planted her thumb in the center of another, and did the best she could to fuck two at once. Maggie shook and moaned, and—fuck, she leaked more sap. A huge glob pushed through her cheek, glistening as it slid across her face. Unable to resist, Candice bent down and sucked it off.

They both moaned that time. The sap was sticky and thick and tasted as citrus-sweet as her flowers smelled. Candice jumped to another pair of flowers, this time close enough that she could fuck them both without stretching too much. She used her free fingers to tease her petals, and kissed another glob of sap off her face. A sticky, glistening Maggie writhed, spreading her sweet wetness all over the cushion. Candice whined and slid down to lick some off her neck.

“You taste so good,” she whispered, her tongue thick and sticky.

“H-haa-a—”

Candice worked double-time on her flowers. She fucked at least two at any time, using her other fingers to stroke the curve of her petals. When three flowers lined up close enough, she fucked all of them, using her middle finger as the point of the triangle. She wasn’t sure if Maggie could come, or if the sap was her coming, but she hadn’t been told to stop yet, so she kept it up.

Gods, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to—watching her whole body leak was so sexy it made her wonder why they hadn’t fucked months ago. The only thing keeping Candice from licking her up from head to toe was that she knew Maggie wanted her flower-pussy railed. She needed to be fucked in her dozens of cunts, needed every one of her clits teased until she screamed, she needed Candice to fuck her so bad she was begging for it in public.

So she fucked Maggie hard. She fingered the curve of every petal she could reach, flicked her carpals, rubbed her stamens, she fucked each flower like it was its own sopping wet pussy. And in a way, it was. As Candice fucked her a dozen times, she moaned brokenly, trembled with lust, and drooled sap across every inch of her body.

When Candice lost track of which flowers she’d fucked and which were neglected, Maggie grabbed her arm and pushed it aside. Even her hands were sticky with sap.

“You okay?” Candice asked.

“D-done,” she stammered.

“Done it is.”

Candice peeled off the glove and set it on the arm of the couch. She turned back and admired the mess Maggie was, laying in a shallow pool of her own sap, and still covered in it. She laid down, propping her head up on her folded arm so her hair wouldn’t get caught in the sap.

“Did I do a good job?” she asked.

“Mhm,” Maggie mumbled. Her eyes were dim with exhaustion. “Much better than bees.”

Candice smiled softly, reaching out to swipe her sticky cheek. “Does this stuff just happen, or is this your version of an orgasm?”

“What’s orgasm?”

Well, that answered that question. Candice licked the sap off her fingers. “I can show you what mine is. Or we can do it another time, I get it if you’re too tired.”

She grabbed her hand with a sticky branch. “No, no, I wanna see.”

“Okay, I’m going!”

Candice flopped onto her back and finally, finally, wiggled her pants off. She kicked them over the couch, shivering as the air rushed over her naked body. As predicted, her clit leaked pre-cum at a steady rate. Her pubes were sticky, and so were her inner thighs, all coated in a thin layer of her wetness. Her clit was soft, too, as her erections had been short lived for years, a warm bundle of sensitive skin. She breathed, trying to relax.

“There are a lot of different ways to do human sex,” she explained. “It just depends on what you like to do, and who you like to do it with.”

“What do you like?” Maggie asked.

She opened her mouth to explain, then thought better of it. “I’ll show you.”

Candice sat up and leaned against the arm of the couch. She spread her legs, a blush rising to her cheeks again, but she swallowed it down. Maggie rolled onto her side to see better, watching with genuine curiosity. She swallowed.

“So, I guess I should tell you all the parts. This is my clit, or clitoris.” She picked it up, cradling it in her hand. “There are other words for it, but mine is a clit. It’s my main pleasure-thing, and it’s also where the uh… seed comes out.”

“Like a stamen?”

“Yeah, sort of.” She flipped her clit up to lay on her stomach, and cupped her sack next. “These are… there’s not really a sexy way to say it, they’re balls. Testicles. This is where the cum—the seed is stored, before it comes out. I don’t really use them for that, though.” She curved her fingers around the round shape of one ball. “Instead, I do this.”

Candice could do this easily, but went slow for the benefit of her audience. She pushed the testicle inside her sack up inside itself, gently pressing it up and folding it inside. Like a pocket turned inside out, she pushed the testicle and then her sack back into her inguinal canal, and sighed at the familiar feeling of being full of herself. She followed it with her fingers, pressing up into the inguinal ring—into one of her cunts. She kept her thumb against the bulge of her testicle in her abdomen, keeping it in place.

“Like this,” she breathed, almost forgetting to speak.

“What does it feel like?” Maggie asked, creeping forward to get a closer look.

“I think it feels good.” Candice used her other hand to form her other cunt, much faster for the sake of getting it done. She whimpered a little. “Feels… full and warm.”

“What do you do now?”

She laughed breathily. “Well, now, I fuck myself.”

Candice gently rubbed her fingers around in her cunts, against the entrances of the tight rings. She shuddered and sighed, treating herself like she just treated Maggie. Soft, but firm. A delicate touch, but still a fuck. Luckily for her, her cunts were not as delicate as a flower. She moved her fingers in and out, properly fucking herself from both sides.

Maggie watched her finger her cunts with rapt attention. Most of her flowers had closed, exhausted from their fucking, but a few remained open. Candice watched Maggie watch her, and her legs spread wider on instinct. She wanted her to see, to learn about human fucking just like she’d learned about dryad fucking.

She fucked a little faster, pausing with one hand to give herself more room. With one hand, she fucked her cunt, in and out, fingering herself until she whimpered and bit her lip. With the other, she massaged the entrance, her inside walls, the bulge in her stomach. Candice squirmed for her own touch, fucking and caressing both. She fingered herself as deep as she could and moaned, curling her toes on the couch. Her clit leaked freely over her stomach, pre-cum sliding down her body like Maggie’s sap.

“Can I try?” Maggie asked, scooting even closer.

“S-sure,” she breathed. “You might n-need to clean off the sap first.”

With a wave of her hand and a magical shimmer, the mess of sap evaporated from the couch and from Maggie, leaving them both spotless. Candice was a little disappointed, but that wasn’t important. She clenched her stomach, like she did when she used to tuck, and took one of her hands out. Maggie scooted forward, staring down at her crotch like it were as delicate as her petals.

“Gimme your hand,” Candice said. Maggie placed her fingers into her palm. The ends of her fingers were blunt, like sticks that had been snapped off at the end. No pointy bits, good sign. The wood might be rough, but she already liked that. “I’m going to put you inside me, okay?”

“Do I need to be careful?”

“Generally, yeah. I’ll let you know if something hurts.”

Her fingers were so thin that Candice easily guided three of them inside her with barely a stretch. The wood was scratchy, especially on such a sensitive area, but when it grazed her skin it felt good. Good enough to have her chest heaving, eyelashes fluttering, and Maggie staring at her.

“What now?” she asked.

“You can move,” Candice managed, “if you want. Or you can just rub it around. Both are good. And I’ll do mine.”

She nodded and Candice went back to fucking herself. Without the barrier of her own hand, she could pull out farther and fuck herself deeper. She groaned for herself, and then gasped. Maggie’s fingers ground against the inside of her cunt as she moved them out slowly. She pushed them back, another gentle scratch against the most sensitive parts of her. Candice whimpered.

“Does it hurt?” Maggie asked, sounding worried.

“Not enough that I want you to stop,” she replied. “Keep going, please.”

She obliged, fingering her cunt gently. Candice, on the other hand, fucked her other cunt with all the pent up arousal she’d been stewing in. She pressed against her walls, circled the tight ring of her entrance, pressed her fingers up as high as she could. It was contrasting erotic torture the way Maggie carefully made love to her. The wood of her branches felt like a rough, raw fuck, but her gentle press was anything but rough. Maggie pressed into her slow and deep, and pulled out so carefully that she felt every inch leave her cunt. It made her legs tremble, and she needed more.

Candice used her free hand to rub her leaking clit, stroking it as fast as she fucked herself. She whimpered, hot and wet and aching, chasing her climax with reckless abandon. Maggie pressed her fingers in so deep—she bucked her hips and moaned.

“More, more, keep going,” she begged.

“Can I do this too?” Maggie asked, pointing at her clit.

Candice just nodded and she got the hint. Maggie wrapped her hand around Candice’s, and they stroked her soft clit together. It was slower than she wanted—it was agony—but she let it happen, too desperate to say no to anything. She fingered herself slower, too, matching pace with Maggie’s careful lovemaking.

Her whole body felt connected. The two of them fucking her cunts, sliding her wet clit in their hands, it tied all of her pleasure together into a tight knot at the base of her spine. Candice hung her mouth in a silent moan, watching the way they fucked her together, deliberate and deep. Her thighs quaked.

“Fuck,” she whispered, “Fuck, fuck, I’m close.”

“Close to what?”

Candice came with her mouth wide open, moaning and arching her back. Her clit spurted a little clear cum, throwing the glob onto her chest. After a moment of ecstasy, she relaxed and let her hands drop. Maggie followed her lead, pulling away.

“Th-that’s an orgasm,” Candice breathed.

“Oh,” she said. Another flower bloomed. “I liked it.”

She laughed a little. “Hey, me too.”

With a little help from magic, Candice cleaned up and readjusted herself. In the aftermath, they laid on the couch together, Maggie holding her close against her bark chest. Candice didn’t hear a heartbeat, laying where one would have been, but she smelled like lemons and wood. It was a good trade off.

“Sooo,” Candice started, “are we dating now, or what?”

Maggie hugged her. “I would like it if we were.”

She smiled. “Me too. I guess this is our first date, then.”

“Oh, I guess so.” She covered her face with a hand. “What an intense first date…”

“We can do something more relaxing next time. Like… take a nap or something.” Candice snuggled into her neck. “Starting now.”

Maggie laughed her creaky wooden laugh. “Goodnight, Candice.”

Candice smiled, closed her eyes, and dreamt of pretty white flowers.

Athendrolyn After Dark Taglist: @foxys-fantasy-tales @auroblaze @monstrify @thelaughingstag @auntdarth

@srjacksin

Events Taglist: @foxys-fantasy-tales @thelaughingstag @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @srjacksin

@alesseia @monstrify

Want to get on any of my tag lists? Check out my Google form!

16 notes · View notes

innerpalaces · 9 months ago

Text

The Princess Wei Yang - 148 Part 1

Chapter 148: Princess of Yuexi

It was May and it was already a bit hot in the capital.

In the past two years, there have been numerous pavilions built in the suburbs of the capital.

Many prominent people owned villas in the suburbs so people usually vacation here during the heat waves.

Among them, Princess Yongning's Chang'an Pool was the most eye-catching.

This pool was sited in a twenty-mile radius of land. The scenery was natural and gorgeous with meandering waterscapes, flying pavilions, blooming gardens, sloping bridges and elegant passageways. It was all very dazzling.

Princess Yongning specially invited the Ninth Princess and Li Wei Yang to visit the newly built garden.

The reason why Li Wei Yang was invited was because she was the adopted daughter that the Empress Dowager had just accepted.

She was a very popular figure in the capital right now so even Princess Yongning was very close to her.

To be honest, Li Wei Yang was shocked by the Empress Dowager's decision.

She didn't expect that her words would bring about such a result.

"So, I guess from now on, you're considered my Aunt..." The Ninth Princess had a strange look on his face.

Princess Yongning was a serious person, however she couldn't help laughing. Her slightly skinny face looked rather lively: "Yes, Wei Yang's seniority is far above ours. Now, you are my father's younger sister."

Li Wei Yang still felt a sense of absurdity regarding this situation. However, she understood the reason why the Empress Dowager did this.

Her identity needed to be changed. Even if it was just a difference in seniority, It was necessary to stop Tuoba Yu's actions. No matter how arrogant he was, no matter how much he likes her, he couldn't break through such a hierarchy barrier.

The Empress Dowager had ruthlessly cut off all possibility of this marriage. The Seventh prince, Tuoba Yu was not happy with this development.

"Wei Yang, Seventh brother is very angry. He has refused to enter the palace recently. He even refused to come when the Empress Dowager called him. He has never done something like this before." The Ninth Princess said softly.

Li Wei Yang smiled slightly and said: "His Royal Highness, the Seventh Prince will figure it out soon."

She took a look at the scenery in the garden and nodded.

This garden contained lots of pavilions as well as countless famous flowers and plants. There were golden pines and forest trees from TaiZhou, crabapples and laurels from Zhoushan, magnolia and bayberries from Tangcheng, and even sequoias, rhododendrons, red beans, and cherry blossoms from Jinzhou.

The Ninth Princess touched a crab-apple tree and couldn't help but say in admiration: "I have to say third brother is indeed very capable. He actually made the garden that his father ordered him to build so beautiful. Knowing that the Emperor liked these trees, he traveled thousands of miles in order to find them."

Li Wei Yang smiled and said: "That's true, the third prince has taken a lot of trouble."

Tuoba Zhen was good at pleasing people. If he wanted to, he could pamper someone to high heaven. However, if he was grumpy, he could make someone feel like they were in hell.

He definitely did all in his means to win over Princess Yongning. The Emperor and Empress had always felt guilty about Yongning, hence they wanted to give her all the best. If he did his job well, he would definitely get in her good graces.

Princess Yongning also had a smile on her face: "Indeed third brother did well."

The three of them walked in front, and the maids followed behind them respectfully.

After the bend in the corner, one can find a huge arched bridge that goes over a lake. The rippling sound of the blue water was very soft. It looked even more fascinating in the sun. There was also an artificial island built in the middle of the lake. Coupled with the mountain view, it all made a beautiful scenery.

Suddenly, Li Wei Yang stopped. A short distance away from them walked a group of people. There was a beautiful girl in their midst.

Princess Yongning was furious as she said: "This is a private garden, who are those people?!"

She treated Li Wei Yang well because Wei Yang was good at talking and was astute. Besides the Empress Dowager favored Wei Yang so Princess Yongning had to give her face.

As for other people, she didn't have to be so polite. Princess Yongning pointed over there and ordered: "Kick those people out!"

Li Wei Yang looked at it and felt that something was wrong, but before she could stop it, the Ninth Princess had already rushed over, leading several servant girls.

In the distance, one could see a servant girl saying something to the beautiful girl. Afterward, the beautiful girl ordered someone to throw her in the lake.

The 'plop' made everyone stunned.

The Ninth Princess screamed and fell backward.

"Zhao Yue!" Li Wei Yang shouted and Zhao Yue flew up and caught the Ninth Princess immediately.

Li Wei Yang and Princess Yongning looked at each other and hurried over.

When they reached the bridge, Yongning immediately ordered: "Save the person first!"

A female servant who knew how to swim quickly jumped into the lake and after a while dragged the first servant girl to shore.

"Hahaha! Look at her, how embarrassing!" The strange and beautiful girl giggled and said to the guard standing beside her.

Her voice was rather unique with a lazy bit of charm. The final sound of each word was abrupt but also lingering.

Li Wei Yang frowned. This girl broke into someone else's garden without explaining. And she further dared to throw someone into the lake over a small disagreement! Such arrogance was unheard of.

She looked closely at the girl standing opposite a bit stunned.

She had an oval shaped face and a pair of black midnight eyes that glowed under her two thin eyebrows.

Her nose was straight and her lips were thin and red.

When she smiled, two rows of thin white teeth were revealed.

Her delicate and smooth face seemed aloft. Devoid of the stains of this world. Her dimples were charming even when she was not smiling.

This was a peerless beauty. When she turned up, the bridge, lake, beautiful scenery and everything around her seemed to pale in her step.

Li Wei Yang did not care for her face. Rather what attracted her was her shoes.

The girl was wearing a pair of particularly eye-catching shoes. The upper layer was made with a special kind of soft red leather. The flowers were embroidered with silver and gold threads with a sparkling gem embedded in the middle of each flower.

Dozens of large and small beads traipsed along the upper layer of the shoe. On the high sole were embroidered water waves with a few jumping.

The Ninth Princess's face was red with anger at this moment: "You are so brave! You dare to push my maids into the lake, do you know who I am!"

The beautiful girl clapped the whip in her hand and glanced at Ninth Princess lazily saying: "Who you are is none of my business!"

Her domineering attitude made the Ninth Princess feel choked.

Several guards were in the area. However, they did not go up to help the servant girl who had earlier fallen into the water because it was taboo to recklessly touch a servant girl of the princess.

The Ninth Princess feeling choked up with emotions went to them and drew a sword from their sword belt saying: "How dare you! How dare you speak to this Ninth Princess in such a manner!"

Unexpectedly, the dozen or so tall guards that were guarding the beautiful girl also pulled out their swords unhesitatingly.

Li Wei Yang noticing the expression on Zhao Yue's face couldn't help but whisper to her: "What's wrong?"

Zhao Yue did not reply. Instead, she glanced at a young man on the opponent's team with a horrified gaze.

Li Wei Yang followed her gaze to the man, noticing a scar on the other's cheek that ruined his otherwise handsome face.

While everyone else pulled out their swords, he and three other black guards that were behind him remained motionless, guarding the beautiful girl like four unholy statues.

Upon noticing Li Wei Yang's gaze, the man merely raised his eyelids lazily with no intention of paying any attention to her.

Li Wei Yang couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. The other party didn't seem to take the Ninth Princess seriously at all.

The beautiful girl took two steps forward, unconsciously revealing her knee-high embroidered soft leather shoes.

Li Wei Yang looked at the long tubes of the shoes that were embroidered with a phoenix, spreading its wings and ready to fly.

Surrounding the phoenix, were many small embroidered birds. Each of them was vivid. Altogether, the scenery became a hundred birds before a phoenix. The eyes of each bird was inlaid with gems of different sizes and colors. With each step, the gems glittered like the blinking of bird eyes.

This girl dared to use the pattern of a hundred birds facing the phoenix. And using so many precious gems on a pair of shoes! The identity of this girl was definitely not simple.

In this one moment, while countless thoughts flashed through Li Wei Yang's mind, she calmly grabbed the Ninth Princess's arm.

The Ninth Princess who was charging up to argue "..."

However, this one move of hers caused the beautiful girl to notice her.

"Who are you?" The girl stretched out her slender, white hands. Her fingers were porcelain smooth and delicate like jade. However, this beautiful sight of her fingers was ruined by the riding crop in her hands.

She tilted her head and stared at Wei Yang as though curious.

Li Wei Yang smiled and said: "I am Princess Anping of Dali. I wonder who this lady is and how she could come here."

The beautiful girl raised her chin and sneered: "Princess Anping? Who do you think you are? Are you deserving to know my identity!"

"You!..." The Ninth Princess almost exploded with anger. She had been pampered ever since she was a child. No one had made her suffer in this manner. Today, she was treated so casually by someone she had never met before! This strange girl continued provoking her to fury!

She threw away Li Wei Yang's hand and stepped forward to scold her.

Unexpectedly, before she could speak, she heard a whip crack. Screaming, she covered her face.

Not to mention Princess Yongning, even the female officials around the Ninth Princess were stunned.

The first person to react was Li Wei Yang. She quickly went over and hugged the princess, breathing a sigh of relief.

When the whip came down, the Ninth Princess subconsciously covered her face with her hands. Thus the whip hit her arm, tearing the sleeves of her dress, leaving a red mark on the skin.

Fortunately, it did not hurt her face.

The Ninth Princess was dumbfounded.

Wei Yang however quickly ordered a palace maid nearby: "What are you standing around for? Quickly fetch the doctor!!"

The palace maid went off in a hurry.

It was at this point that Princess Yongning reacted. She didn't bother to check the injuries on the Ninth Princess. She angrily ordered: "Someone! Come, lock them up for me!"

The beauty was not fazed. "Hui Nu!" she called out.

One of the four black-clothed guards who had not moved came out in response.

He was tall and strong, and his facial features were nondescript. People would not remember this face after seeing it once. It was a rather ordinary face with no special features.

The guards on Princess Yongning's side did not expect only one person to come out to fight with them. They felt humiliated and decided to charge as a group. There were twelve of them.

Hui Nu immediately unsheathed his sword and launched a fierce attack. without any panic. His swordsmanship was rather astonishing. His sword moves were swift. Defeating the enemy with ease. He could attack 12 swords with one stroke.

This fast and agile swordsmanship was unique. Swift as the wind and fierce as thunder.

With this momentum, the twelve guards were defeated and thrown aside in the blink of an eye.

The Leader of the guards at Princess Yongning's mansion had practiced martial arts since he was a little boy, but he had never before met such a master.

In order not to lose face, he decided to fight to the death to capture this person.

But suddenly, Hui Nu's sword stabbed out with a terrifying gust. The sharp sword edge pierced through layers of wind, heading straight for the opponent's wrist. With a flash and a clang, the leader of the guards staggered back a few steps.

The long sword had fallen to the ground and with it a severed hand. Everyone was stunned.

The beautiful girl smiled and said: "Are we still competing?" Her mannerisms showed that she had considered this matter as a mere game and did not take human life seriously.

Princess Yongning felt rather embarrassed. All twelve of of her guards had been knocked down. Not only that, the commander of the guards had his right hand cut off.

Li Wei Yang glanced at Zhao Yue. From the start, Zhao Yue's attention had been on the young man with scars on his face. Countless emotions flashed on her face until it finally settled on fear. She lowered her head as if she was afraid of being recognized.

Li Wei Yang thought for a moment and then concealed Zhao Yue with her body and whispered to her: "You, leave first."

Zhao Yue was stunned. She never expected Wei Yang to give this order at such a time.

Subconsciously, she took two steps back. Her legs were shaking with overwhelming fear.

Noticing Zhao Yue's movements, the man with the scarred face smiled mysteriously.

"Miss, this is Princess Yongning's private garden. It's already wrong for you to trespass, why do you dare to hurt others?" Li Wei Yang lifted her cold face and looked at the beautiful girl.

The beauty clicked her tongue twice and looked at Li Wei Yang disinterestedly. Calling with a loud voice, she said: "I have long heard that in Dali there is a stunning beauty named Li Chang Le. Call her out!"

This was the first time in a long while that someone mentioned Li Chang Le. Li Wei Yang smiled and said: "I wonder what business this young miss has with my sister?"

"Li Chang Le is your sister?" The beautiful girl's expression showed disbelief. "Since you're this ugly, Li Chang Le must not be very beautiful!" As she spoke, her clothes swayed in the spring breeze, making her appear graceful and delicate.

This beauty is not only domineering and arrogant, but also rather temperamental.

Li Wei Yang sighed in her heart and said: "The Young Miss is right, my sister was indeed the most beautiful woman at the time. My appearance is incomparable to hers. Its just a pity, if you wanted to see her, you're one step too late."

The beautiful girl frowned and asked: "What do you mean?"

Li Wei Yang said slowly: "She was extremely beautiful but she died so suddenly. Unfortunately, the young miss would not be able to see her again."

The beautiful girl clapped her hands merrily and said: "That's good! If she weren't dead, I would have had to kill her myself!"

The Ninth Princess covered the wound on her arm and looked at her in disbelief. Saying subconsciously: "What are you saying!"

The beauty raised a brow and said naturally: "I am the most beautiful woman in the world. Anyone who dares to be more beautiful should die!"

Li Wei Yang suddenly laughed.

The Beauty was not amused by this: "Why are you laughing?" She said angrily.

Li Wei Yang's face shone with a half smiling expression: "Young Miss, I'm not laughing with joy, I just feel it is a pity. I wonder, if my sister was still alive and she heard this, what would her reaction be? I would have liked her to hear your words. It turned out that beauty has its own persecutions!"

The beautiful girl sneered, staring at Li Wei Yang's pair of eyes that were as quiet as ancient wells, she suddenly felt unhappy in her heart: "I don't like your eyes. Hui Nu, dig out her eyes for me!"

Hui Nu replied in the affirmative and quickly stepped forward to carry out the task. Zhao Yue who had been silently watching from behind Wei Yang pulled out the soft sword from her waist and rushed forward without hesitation.

She parried against Hui Nu's sword immediately and the two of them began to fight.

Li Wei Yang watching the battle sensed that Zhao Yue had met a difficult opponent this time. Usually, with a few strokes, she would vanquish the opponent.

'Who is this girl' Wei Yang thought to herself. A guard around her had such a high level of martial arts.

Thinking back to the horrified expression on Zhao Yue's face when she saw the scarred man, Wei Yang instantly had a horrible premonition.

Suddenly, someone in the distance shouted loudly: "Stop!"

Everyone turned to see a noble man in splendid attire and a jade belt on his waist. He was with several guards.

Zhao Yue and the Hui Nu separated at the same time upon seeing him.

Hui Nu stood firm while Zhao Yue took a three steps back before finding firm footing.

Li Wei Yang, although looking calm and composed could barely believe her eyes. She watched with horror as two diagonal white marks appeared out of thin air on Zhao Yue's cheeks. It took another moment before the red color appeared.

Zhao Yue hesitantly raised her hand to touch the scar. Her fingertips were stained with blood.

Although Zhao Yue had lost, the beautiful girl did not view it lightly. She looked at Li Wei Yang coldly and asked: "Who the hell are you?"

This question was extremely strange, and the people around did not pay special attention to it. However, Li Wei Yang knew what she meant. Zhao Yue's martial arts skills were of the same type as that of Hui Nu. Most of the women present were dependents, with no real power of their own. How could Wei Yang find such a powerful guard!

Li Wei Yang understood that this girl was from Yuexi! And further, that she had a very high status.

Upon this realization, Wei Yang glanced at Zhao Yue subconsciously.

Around this time, Tuoba Zhen rushed over. Seeing the altercation, he laughed: "I was just a little bit late, why are we suddenly fighting?"

The beautiful girl raised her eyebrows and said, "You really know how to choose your timing. Why did you have to arrive at this time. I was just about to deal with someone." There was a hint of intimacy in her words.

Tuoba Zhen replied to her without looking in Li Wei Yang's direction at all: "I'm late because I had to deal with something. What is going on? Why is everyone looking so angry?"

The Ninth princess reached out to her brother and said: "Third brother, she rushed into the garden with a group of people, and even whipped me!"

Tuoba Zhen frowned. Glancing at the wound on the Ninth Princess, he relaxed his brow and said: "Fortunately, it's not serious."

The Ninth Princess was dumbfounded. She looked at Tuoba Zhen in shock!

However, Li Wei Yang guessed the identity of the mysterious beauty based on Tuoba Zhen's attitude.

"Xiao Jiu, you have always been arrogant and willful, and now you've caused trouble with our distinguished guests from the west. How about you apologize to Princess Anguo immediately!" Tuoba Zhen scolded her in a low voice and a serious face.

Everyone was stunned, Li Wei Yang's eyes narrowed slightly.

It turned out to be her. Princess Anguo. Aged sixteen and the most beloved daughter of Empress Pei of Yuexi.

The Empress pampered her in the palm of her eyes and held her as extremely precious and delicate.

However, this Princess Anguo was rather famous for her unscrupulous conduct and misbehavior as well as her recklessness.

Yuexi was separated from Dali by a southern border, so they did not have much communication. However, this did not prevent the numerous fascinating stories about this princess from spreading into Dali.

It was said that the eldest princess of Yuexi built a beautiful and luxurious garden.

Princess Anguo was not willing to be outdone by her own sister, so she seized the common people's land without permission, dug up a large pool and named it Kunlun pool.

The banks of this pool was inlaid with jade. Both sides of the river was covered with exotic flowers and plants that wee fragrant no matter the season.

The bottom of the pool stream was built with corals and gems which glowed in the moonlight. It was said that she had also built many pavilions and halls along the pond and recruited many fishermen and hunters to live there. Somedays, she dressed up as a fisher man or a hunter and fished in the pond or hunted in the mountains.

In order to build this pond, it was unknown how much money was spent and how much fertile land was seized from the common people!

Princess Yongning's garden was completely inadequate compared to hers.

#the princess wei yang

6 notes · View notes

leafartificialplants · 3 days ago

Text

100cm Pink Magnolia Floral Spray Artificial

Realistic pink magnolia flower stem. This meticulously crafted piece features lifelike plastic leaves and flowers that mimic the natural beauty of magnolia and the flowers are 3D shaped to look fantastic in any display. The wired stems allow for easy shaping and positioning, making it simple to customize the spray to fit your desired aesthetic. Perfect for combining with other artificial stems,…

0 notes

pureblisscleanings-blog · 1 month ago

Text

Christmas Decorating Ideas for Zephyrhills Homes

As the holiday season approaches, Zephyrhills homes transform into cozy, festive spaces filled with cheer. Decorating for Christmas is an opportunity to express your creativity while celebrating the season’s spirit. Whether you prefer classic décor or modern twists, here are some Christmas decorating ideas tailored for Zephyrhills’ unique charm and climate.

1. Incorporate Florida Flair

Zephyrhills’ warm weather during the holidays offers a chance to combine traditional Christmas elements with tropical touches:

Use palm fronds or tropical leaves as part of your garlands or wreaths.

Add ornaments in vibrant shades of turquoise, coral, and gold to reflect Florida’s coastal vibe.

Create a centerpiece with citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and limes for a fresh, local touch.

2. Highlight Outdoor Spaces

In Zephyrhills, the mild December weather allows you to extend your decorations outdoors:

String warm white lights around your palm trees or porch railings.

Set up an outdoor Christmas seating area with weatherproof pillows and throws in festive colors.

Decorate your patio with lanterns, poinsettias, and small potted evergreens to create a holiday ambiance.

3. Embrace Southern Charm

Give your home a warm and welcoming feel with classic Southern-inspired décor:

Use burlap ribbons and bows in your tree or wreaths for a rustic yet elegant look.

Incorporate magnolia leaves and pinecones into your garlands and centerpieces.

Display a vintage sleigh or wagon at your entryway filled with faux snow, ornaments, and wrapped gifts.

4. Choose Lightweight and Airy Decorations

Considering Zephyrhills’ humidity, opt for lightweight materials that won’t droop or fade:

Use artificial greenery and flowers treated for outdoor use.

Opt for LED lights to avoid excess heat and save energy.

Decorate with fabric banners, paper snowflakes, or mesh ribbons that stay crisp in humid conditions.

5. Create a Festive Front Porch

Your porch is the perfect place to welcome guests and show off your holiday spirit:

Add a wreath to your door with a mix of traditional Christmas greens and local flora.

Place a pair of oversized candy canes or nutcrackers on either side of your doorway.

Hang a cheerful holiday sign that reads “Merry Christmas from Zephyrhills” or similar personalized greetings.

6. Incorporate Sustainable Décor

Celebrate the season while being mindful of the environment:

Use natural materials like twigs, burlap, and recycled wood for décor.

Make your own ornaments using seashells or driftwood collected from nearby areas.

Repurpose mason jars into snow globes, candle holders, or mini terrariums.

7. Go Big with Lights

Christmas lights bring magic to any space, and Zephyrhills is no exception:

Wrap your home in twinkling lights, focusing on windows and rooflines.

Use LED string lights in whimsical shapes like stars, flamingos, or palm trees to match the local vibe.

Install a light projector to create moving snowflakes or festive patterns on your home’s exterior.

8. Personalize Your Decorations

Make your decorations uniquely yours:

Display family photos or ornaments with special memories on your tree.

Create a custom advent calendar with small trinkets or notes for each day leading to Christmas.

Include handmade crafts or DIY decorations created with your loved ones.

9. Add Festive Scents

Don’t forget the power of scent to enhance your holiday atmosphere:

Use candles or essential oil diffusers with fragrances like cinnamon, pine, or peppermint.

Simmer a pot of water with oranges, cloves, and cinnamon sticks for a natural and inviting aroma.

Place fresh greenery or eucalyptus in vases around your home.

10. Host a Decoration Party

Bring the community together by hosting a holiday decorating party:

Invite friends and family to help deck the halls while enjoying festive music and treats.

Set up stations for DIY ornaments, wreath-making, or gingerbread houses.

End the night with a tree-lighting ceremony and hot cocoa under the stars.

Conclusion

Zephyrhills provides the perfect backdrop for creating a festive and welcoming holiday atmosphere. By blending traditional Christmas themes with local charm and a touch of creativity, your home will radiate the joy and warmth of the season. Whether you’re hosting gatherings or simply enjoying the holidays with loved ones, these decorating ideas will make your Zephyrhills home sparkle this Christmas.

House cleaning services Zephyrhills

[email protected]

Call: - +1 813 838 2810

#housecleaningservices #housecleaningservice #usa #dadecity #dadecitymx #wesleychapel #dadecityflorida #wesleychapelfl #wesleychapelmoms #wesleychapelnails

0 notes

storytellersumayyah · 7 months ago

Text

8. camilla and tristan- memories

for alfiya, who always remembers

tw: food mentions

Tristan tries to eat an orange two months after the fire.

The smell as he digs his nails in so he can peel it makes him so nauseous he worries he will vomit all over the freshly cleaned kitchen tiles. Then he tells himself he’s being an unnecessary and dramatic little boy and he continues.

The peel breaks twice before he finds himself completely unable to handle it. And it’s ridiculous. It’s a fucking fruit. The scent of Camilla’s hair had been artificial. It wasn’t the same. It was nowhere near the same, but his hands are shaking and he can’t eat it. He can’t even peel it.

He would ask his father. If only so he doesn’t waste it. But that will raise too many questions. Too many concerned glances and annoyingly gentle words. And it will all be performative. It’s never because they care about him, and always because they care about their image.

He bins it. He covers it with an empty packet of biscuits from the day before. They’re his favourite. He didn’t eat a single one. He goes straight to his room, convinced that he can still smell Camilla’s hair until his face is buried in his pillow and all he can taste is salt.

At some point, he loses control of his cries and they turn into sobs. Despite everything, the walls of the manor are thin. His parents do not come, even though they must hear.

Victoria brings a packet of tangerines a few days later. She asks Tristan to eat one.

He leaves the room with shaky legs. He hates his mother. He hates himself more for not hating her enough.

Camilla’s mother asks her if she wants to take photos in front of the magnolia tree.

She says yes without thinking. Because every time they go anywhere and she gets dressed up, she takes her photos in front of the magnolia trees. It doesn’t matter if it’s winter and the flowers are gone. It’s just a nice thing to do.

But it’s not winter.

It’s spring. The cold has passed, and with it, the hopelessness that she had felt ever since she returned. Because she had made it through the darkness, and the sun was starting to rise again and again and again.

She poses, adjusting her dupatta as she does so. She wishes that someone could have seen her. So confident. So elegant. So convinced that she was the right person in the right clothes in the right place.

Her mother smiles as she takes a few photos.

There’s a magnolia in her line of sight.

She suddenly wants to get far, far away from their house. She wants to run and never return. She wants to break everything the way she said she never would again. She wants to look at her mum and scream. To question how on earth they could have ever let her back into their lives after everything she had done.

Her smile drops, and she walks straight past her mother, not even bothering to take her phone.

Divya pauses for a moment. She doesn’t know if she knows how to love her daughter. Every time she gets close, Camilla pulls away. And she gets it. She knows why she does it. She just doesn’t know how to tell her that she can stop. It’s her fault that they don’t speak the same language properly, but she doesn’t know how to fix it.

She texts her husband, asking him to delay things for a few more minutes.

And then she follows her daughter inside.

“What happened?” She asks.

Camilla’s eyes are watering. Her make-up is waterproof, but Divya wants nothing more than to reach into her bag and fix it for her. Because Camilla has never let her fix things, but maybe it’s time that she stop asking for permission and asks for forgiveness instead.

“I don’t know how you can love me,” Camilla whispers.

It suddenly makes sense. Divya doesn’t understand the significance of the magnolias, but she knows where it comes from.

“Because you hate yourself enough for too many people,” she says. “Because you made a mistake, and no mistake was ever going to be worth losing you over.”

Camilla shakes her head. “It wasn’t a mistake.”

And her mother knows this. But her mother does not have the words to explain that it has never mattered.

She just pulls her daughter in for a hug and wishes for another chance to raise her properly.

#sumayyah writes #the heartbreaker's handbook #thhturns2 #tw food mention

0 notes

bethestaryouareradio · 1 year ago

Text

Nature's Yuletide Jewels

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Everywhere we go, lights are twinkling, Christmas trees are glistening in windows and parks, and gigantic shiny balls are hanging on front yard trees.

Holiday cheer permeates the air as we hum carols and children pine for the jolly white- bearded man in the red suit to land his flying reindeer on their rooftop soon.

The most miraculous part of this festive season is how the landscape lights up with lots of colorful berries, bushes, and cones that we can use to decorate naturally. For the first time in years, my Christmas cactus is blooming in December! In the past, it bloomed at very odd times. The cascading stems and beautiful blooms create cheerful table displays. The vibrant tubular flowers arrive in shades of red, pink, and white. I’m thrilled that my pink Christmas cactus finally is on schedule.

Pine, fir, redwood, spruce, and other conifers retain their needles throughout winter. I use this time of year to do my pruning so that the cut boughs may be added to my mantels, counters, and front porch as wreaths and garlands. A big bonus is that these evergreens add that nostalgic Christmas aroma throughout the house

I also collect pinecones and magnolia cones to incorporate into my displays. The red seeds of the magnolia cones add a touch of elegance to holiday decorations. All the cones can be left natural for a rustic and sophisticated look, or they can be spray painted to match any style.

Holly is a classic Christmas plant renowned for its sharp, pointed, glossy green leaves and vibrant red berries. Adorn with shimmering lights and the yuletide symphony begins!

What about mistletoe, you ask? Doesn’t everyone want to kiss under the mistletoe? Mistletoe is a parasitic plant with green leaves and white berries that are poisonous to humans and some animals. Globally, there are 1300 species spread by the sticky seed from the berry either attaching to a bird or other mammal or consumed by them. The Anglo-Saxons witnessed that mistletoe grew where birds left their droppings. In Anglo-Saxon, “mistel” means “dung” and “tan” means “twig”, thus the name mistletoe means “dung-on-a-twig.” Not as romantic as most of us thought! For several years baskets of mistletoe flourished on my beautiful cottonwood tree until these “witches’ brooms” killed my host tree and it had to be removed. From that day forward I kissed the mistletoe goodbye!

Pomegranates and persimmons offer a departure from traditional holiday decorating, infusing a touch of nature beauty and symbolism into arrangements. The deep red color of pomegranates is associated with the merry spirit of Christmas. In many cultures, pomegranates symbolize prosperity, fertility, and abundance. The distinctive round shape and shiny crown resemble a fancy ornament, and their jewel-like seeds are delicious and nutritious as edible décor.

The warm orange tones of persimmons may seem more appropriate for Thanksgiving, yet the sweet, chewy texture of Hachiya varieties is the perfect ingredient in a Christmas pudding while the crunchy, apple-like quality of a Fuyu is fabulous in a festive salad. A bowl of persimmons is elegant as a table centerpiece with its symbolism of good luck and joy.

When it comes to Christmas cherished memories, live trees offer the biggest bang of tradition and aesthetics. While artificial trees are practical and cost-effective, the joyous experience of choosing a living tree creates a connection to nature and environmental sustainability. Purchasing a live tree supports agricultural endeavors as Christmas tree farms replant and replace trees that are harvested. These farms contribute to increased green space. Live trees are biodegradable and can be recycled into mulch and compost. Be on the lookout for the days that your tree can be placed curbside for recycling. With a live tree, there is the opportunity to select a tree that fits your preferences of type and fragrance including fir, spruce, pine, cedar, or cypress. You can also purchase a container conifer which can be moved to a patio or balcony after the holidays and redecorated the following year. If you have room in your yard, it can be planted and decorated annually in celebration of Christmas.

Walk around your landscape to discover the yuletide jewels in your garden. Nature always wears the colors of the season and the spirit.

Don’t forget that it is the season of giving so consider a donation to your favorite charity.

May Santa Claus fill your stockings with peace, health, and prosperity. Wishing you a magical Christmas.

Happy Gardening. Happy Growing.

Garden “To-do” advice before the end of December:

1. Fertilize trees, shrubs, ground cover plants.

2. Apply snail bait around plants susceptible to snail and slug damage.

3. Lower the soil pH for better color and overall appearance on acid-loving plants by applying soil sulfur.

4. Shut off irrigation systems.

5. Monitor watering needs during extended dry periods.

6. Start to rest and relax. Winter is sleepy time. Read The Lamorinda Weekly.

For more gardening advice for all seasons, check out Growing with the Goddess Gardenerat https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/books. Raised in the vineyards of Napa County, Cynthia Brian is a New York Times best-selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® 501 c3. Tune into Cynthia’s StarStyle® Radio Broadcast at www.StarStyleRadio.com. Her newest children’s picture book, Family Forever, from the series, Stella Bella’s Barnyard Adventures is available now at https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/online-store. Hire Cynthia for writing projects, garden consults, and inspirational lectures. [email protected]

Share StarStyle® Empowerment

For photos vist: https://cynthiabrian.substack.com/p/botanical-brilliance?

#naturesyuletidejewels #christmas #cynthiabrian #botanicalbrilliance #starstyle

0 notes

qqdahao · 2 years ago

Text

The harvesting of plant medicinal materials

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the general term of traditional medicines in China. It is a kind of medicine with complete theoretical system and unique application form, which is based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine to guide the collection, processing and preparation, explain the mechanism of action and guide the clinical application.

The sources of chinese traditional medicine, except for some artificial products, are mainly natural animals, plants, and minerals. The origin, harvesting, and storage of traditional Chinese medicine are important factors affecting the quality of medicinal materials. Unreasonable harvesting will also destroy medicinal resources and reduce the yield of medicinal materials for wild animals and plants.

Whole grasses: most of them are harvested before or just after flowering when the plants are fully grown and leafy. Such as schizonepeta, motherwort, Perilla, etc. - cut the above-ground parts of plants; Plantain, dandelion, purple flower, etc. - with roots of the whole herb medicinal, need to uproot the whole plant; Night cross vine, honeysuckle vine, etc. -- the vine whose stem and leaf are used as medicine at the same time should be cut when they are growing vigorously; Prunella, mint, etc. - must be used with leaf flower tips more timely harvest.

Leaves: usually when the flower buds are about to bloom or are in full bloom. At this time, when the plant is in the stage of flourishing growth, the nature and taste are complete and strong, and the medicinal force is strong, the most suitable for harvesting.

Flowers: It is generally carried out when the flowers are open. Because the flowers are open many times, they should be picked at different times, and the picking time is very important. If the harvest is too late, it is easy to cause the petals to fall off or discoloration, and odor loss, affecting the quality, such as chrysanthemums, and helix flowers. Some flowers require picking buds when they are ready to bud, such as honeysuckle, Sophora japonica, and magnolia; Red flowers are suitable for collecting when the corolla changes from yellow to orange-red.

Fruits and seeds: most fruits, such as Trichosanthis fructus, Lycium barbarum, and Aristolochia, were harvested after or about to mature. A few varieties have special requirements, and should use immature young fruit, such as dark plum, green peel, bitter orange, etc. (1) As the fruit of a fruit sequence has a similar maturity period, the whole fruit sequence can be cut and hung in a dry and ventilated place until the fruit is fully mature and threshing; (2) if the fruits of the same fruit sequence mature in the second time, the mature fruits should be picked in different times;(3) Some dried fruits fall off soon after ripening, or the shell is split, and the seeds are lost, such as fennel, white cardamom, and morning glory seeds, which are best taken at the beginning of ripening; (4) Easy to go bad berries, such as Lycium, Ligustri lucidum, in slightly ripe in the morning or evening harvest is better.

Roots and rhizome: the experience of ancient people is better in the second and August of the lunar calendar. There are also a few exceptions, such as Pinellia, Yanhusuo, etc., with the summer harvest being appropriate.

Bark and root bark: bark is usually peeled between Qingming and summer solstice (i.e., spring and summer). At this time, the plant growth is vigorous, not only the quality is better, but also the tree branches are rich in SAP, cambial cells are rapidly divided, and the bark is easy to peel. Woody plants have a long growth cycle, so simple methods such as cutting and peeling bark should be avoided to protect the medicinal source. As for root bark, similar to roots and rhizomes, it should be collected after seedling death in autumn, or before germination in early spring.

#yiling

0 notes

pacific-silkscapes · 2 years ago

Text

Silk Bridal Flowers

SILK BRIDAL FLOWERS & WEDDING TREES

Silk Bouquets, Boutonnieres, and Corsages

Pacific Silkscapes offers the highest quality silk bridal flowers. Silk flowers are perfect for weddings or any special occasion or event. We specialize in elegant, tastefully-designed bridal bouquets. The exceptionally high quality, botanically-accurate materials we use guarantee an ultra-realistic, fresh flower look. Pick from our list of quality pre-made wedding bouquets, boutonnieres & corsages, or have a special one custom designed! Our premium quality designs and satisfied customers are a testament to our perfectionist standards. No more worries about wilting, watering, or drying out. Silks today come in all varieties and in a rainbow of colors and, unlike years ago, look and feel just like fresh flowers. New lines of flowers have been created named “Real Touch” where the petals look and feel like fresh flowers. With the creation of such exquisite silk flowers, it is hard to tell the difference between wedding bouquets and special event creations. And, your flowers may be arranged well in advance helping to ease that last-minute stress. Need 5 more reasons to go silk on your wedding day? Check out this article from Australia. SILK BRIDAL FLOWERS: BOUQUETS

Berry Oakleaf Bouquet

Calla Lilly Bouquet

Anemone Bouquet

Cymbidum Bouquet

Lilly of the Valley Bouquet

Magnolia 3 bud bouquet

Paperwhite Bouquet

Peony Bouquet in vase

Pink Rose Bouquet

Pomegranate Bouquet

Poppy Hydrangea Bouquet

Protea Poppy Bouquet

White Rose Bouquet

Silk Pink rose wedding bouquet SILK BOUTONNIERES SOLD BY PACIFIC SILKSCAPES

Rose Sedum Boutonniere

White Gardenia Boutonniere

White Rose Boutonniere

Set of 2 rose Boutonnieres SILK BRIDAL CORSAGES SOLD BY PACIFIC SILKSCAPES

Rancorous Snowball Corsage

Garden Rose Corsage

Calla Lilly Corsage

Rose with Rhinestone Corsage

Ranunculus Lilly Corsage Custom-Made Silk Wedding Trees

Cherry Blossom Wedding Archway

White wisteria bridal tree Experienced Wedding Floral Designer Our designer (with over 30 years of experience), loves creating themed special events and flowers. With our imagination and creativity, we can turn your wedding or special event into a night that you and your guests will remember forever. For more ideas, check out our Bridal Pinterest page. One of the benefits of using silk flowers during celebrations such as weddings is the fact that you can order them as far in advance of the celebration as you need them and when the day arrives they will still look good as new. Located in Sacramento, California, Pacific Silkscapes will treat each order as if it were someone from our own family getting married. Allow us the privilege to provide you with exquisite and realistic faux wedding flowers for your amazing wedding. Planning a special event or maybe just having short-term guests and needing a little something extra? Our plant rental service can help. Please call for rates and information, at 877-883-5672. We can also design a custom-designed wedding tree or archway for you. Choose from cherry blossom artificial trees, artificial olive trees, artificial dogwood trees, and artificial wisteria trees.

Custom Bridal wedding archway Read the full article

0 notes

nzdepot · 4 months ago

Link

$376.25 $165.55 SOGA 6 Bunch Artificial Silk Magnolia denudata 4 Heads Flower Fake Bridal Bouquet Table Decor Purple - - HO-F007 https://nzdepot.co.nz/product/soga-6-bunch-artificial-silk-magnolia-denudata-4-heads-flower-fake-bridal-bouquet-table-decor-purple-ho-f007/?feed_id=177822&_unique_id=67108bf5028d9 Features: Best Gift: Real touch silk flower brightens up your life! It is a beautiful gift for your girlfriend, friend, mom, family, or just for yourself. Application: It is great for wedding bouquet, party, office decoration, decor, altar, church, corsages, pew bows, and reception centerpieces. Material: Artificial Magnolia denudata are made of high-quality silk. They are non-toxic, odorless, and durable and can be used for a long time. Ideal for placing in a vase, filling of centerpieces, home or wedding decoration. DIY Time: You can easily decorate your own style by trimming and matching, let the beauty accompany you. The […] #

0 notes

noseandnous · 2 years ago

Text

Masque Milano Kintsugi: this thing is for thinking

People don’t like this.

Reviews complain that it’s too old and fusty, or too modern and artificial; that its tenure is too brief and also that it goes on forever. I can imagine this scent getting accidentally associated with a painful event and becoming intolerable, intolerable; it is a very sponge for memory.

It’s not friendly, not easily construed. It doesn’t enable you to smell like pastry, green tea, or an ocean wave. It is not wholesome, like a flower field or a string of laundry drying in the sun. At certain angles, however, you might detect… a room? A room, a chair, a window that looks out onto night: a darkness pierced in places by faint sodium lights, far from us, and wreathed in violet cloud; a darkness that threatens rain.

There is more than a touch of smoke in this old-school chypre. Sweet at turns, with a hint of fruitiness that comes not just from the bergamot but also from the rose: almost a nectarine, though there’s no sign of one on the notes list. This sweetness comes and goes, trading places with art supplies, modeling clay, and a faintly resinous quality supplied by benzoin and possibly, possibly, the raspberry leaf. The smell of paper: readers, you know what I mean. It combines with a cold, rainy magnolia in a way that's very hard to parse, hard to pin down. An intoxicating boozy vanilla appears from time to time but never takes this fragrance into modern gourmand territory. Not at all. Not ever. This acerbic vanilla is the closest that Kintsugi gets to the gold implied in its name: a gold for seaming, a potter's gold.

This fragrance does not soar, although my heart leapt when I first smelled it. It does not resolve its harmonies. It's not involved with heaven; its sky is a lowering one, the sky of a room whose window looks inward.

This thing is for thinking. It’s not telling you anything you already know.

It’s my birthday, and I think I’m getting myself a bottle of this.

The notes: bergamot, magnolia, and amber on top (I sure don't smell the amber); golden suede, centifolia rose, and violet leaf at the heart; and benzoin siam, raspberry leaf, patchouli coeur, and vanilla at the base.

#olfactory #masque milano #kintsugi #fragrance review

6 notes · View notes

the-lost-girl-in-the-tardis · 2 years ago

Text

The Companions as perfumes

I did it anyways lol. Once again let me know if you want a link to any of these.

Rose Tyler: Blackberry peach preserves- Nui Cobalt

Fox in the flowerbed- Imaginary Authors

Notes: Blackberry peach preserves-Deep and delicious, this scent recalls the purple skies of Autumn’s sunset. Ripened plump blackberries, vanilla sugar, luscious peach, and subtle spice. Wear for soothing, healing, and protection.

Fox in the flowerbed-Jasmine Tulips Frankincense Wildflower Honey Pink Peppercorns Silver Thistle Alpine Air

I feel like these both complement the ninth and tenth doctors pretty well. And they are both a sweeter and sort of flirty scent which suits Rose's personality. A note about fox in the flower bed is that it isn't a artificial flower scent. It smells exactly like if you laid down in a bed of flowers. I'm not one for florals but this is a perfume I would be reaching for.

Martha Jones: Zuma 1975- Thin Wild Mercury

Notes: Top Notes Bergamot, Coriander Middle Notes Ocean waves, Jasmine Sambac Bottom Notes Sandalwood, Vetiver, Ambrette Musk

I don't have this perfume but from what i've heard it is very good. It's advertised more as a beachy summery perfume I believe.

Donna Noble: Yesterday Haze

Notes:Fig Iris Cream Tonka Tree Bark Walnut Bitters Orchard Dust

This perfume immediately draws you in. It's personally one of my favorites and would suit Donna insanely well. It's just one of those perfumes that if you smelled it out in public you would never be able to forget about it.

Amelia Pond: O'Unknown- Imaginary Authors

Notes-Black Tea Lapsang Souchong Tincture Orris Butter Kyoto Moss Musk Balsam Sandalwood ???

Another perfume that I don't personally have but just from the name alone I had to pair this one up for Amy Pond. Each of the Imaginary Author perfumes have a story behind them and this one is Amy's. A man that left for adventure ready to leave it all behind.

Rory Williams: Classic Old Spice.

Look. I love Rory. I really do. But I have a pretty good feeling the only thing he wears is old spice. It's comforting and well known scent. Not only that but it's dependable and I feel like that Rory to a t. In order to have Rory wear something else I'd feel like it would have to be a gift. And if that were the case I'd choose Painted Fires by death and floral.

‘Painted Fires ’ - Dry desert rose & dusty ground, sweet summer citrus, leftover bonfire ash, white sage distilled in New Mexico, sun-warmed ghostly glow

Clara Oswald: Saint Julep- Imaginary Authors

Notes:Sweet Mint Tangerine Southern Magnolia Bourbon Grisalva Sugarcube

This smells like drinking a sweet tea with some bourbon in it during the summer time. It's not over powering but it still lets you know that it's there. It's a delicate sounding perfume that gives a nice hit once you smell it.

Captain Jack Harkness: Apre's - Ellis Brooklyn

Notes: Juniper Berries, Bourbon, Cedarwood

I have heard this perfume is that it is the embodiment of cutting up wood all day out in the forest and coming back home to sip on a glass of bourbon. There's also some notes of sweet vanilla to some. It's a more masculine leaning scent that envelops all who smell it.

River Song: Whiskey 1969- Thin Wild Mercury

Notes: Top Notes Pink Pepper, Cardamom Middle Notes Raspberry, Nutmeg, Ylang Ylang Base Notes Cedarwood, Bourbon Amber

This is a perfume I wish I had. From what i've heard its a more sexy and sultry scent that breathes of something wild. Another perfume oil I had in mind for River Song was Two cups of tea a summer monsoon and me and you by Death and Floral. It's a sweet summery petrichor scent that I just adore.

#Doctor who #Rose tyler #Martha Jones #Donna Noble #Amy pond #Rory williams #Clara Oswald #Captain Jack Harkness #River Song

6 notes · View notes

lrissa · 4 years ago

Text

I’m right here

summary: levi and you have grown close in the underground, but when you’re forced to join the Survey Corps and attend your first expedition it all goes south

warnings: vomiting, angst, fluff, all of levi’s ova

this one is long, apologies.

✧ ೃ༄*ੈ✩

Levi, Isabel, Farlan and you flew through the air with the Military Police hot on your tail. Recently you were given information on a secret mission, to kill Erwin Smith.

Happiness tingled in every bone of your body, it was close to the time for you to go to the surface with Levi, to experience the sun together.

“The military police again? Haven’t learnt their lesson have they?” Isabel remarked with a cocky tone, peering back at our pursuers.

“Levi-bro! What I just said was cool, right?” She grinned widely and you smiled at her, already knowing Levi’s answer.

“Are you an idiot?” The raven head answered, Isabels face turned into a frown and she rolled her eyes.

Levi took off with his ODM and spun around before latching his grapples onto a wall, perched there for a moment while the attackers followed him as he jumped off, spinning backwards and joining us again.

“Show off.” You retorted as Levi stayed silent.

“Those movements, they’re not Military Police!” Farlan commented as he stared back at the enemies

“No mistake, its them,” Levi broke through, keeping his eyesight strained forwards “That Wings of Freedom crest.. It’s the Survey Corps.”

You stared wide eyed then looked past your shoulder at them.

“Heh, as people who battle titans they’re as different as expected.” Farlan lightly joked

“You guys... You know, right?” Levi inquired.

“It’s the job, right” You answered, hair whipping behind you as you flew forwards.

Instantly you all released your ODM’s and shot them off in separate directions, splitting up.

Gazing back you examined as one followed you, narrowing your eyes you fixated your eyes straight.

‘Show me how good you really are’ You thought.

Nearing a tunnel you shot your ODM inside, spinning into a ball to gain quicker on it, flattening out once inside.

Exiting the tunnel you noticed someone above you, eyes widening you shot forwards, releasing your gas excessively. Letting one grapple go you swung around on the one, watching as your pursuer anticipatied this they unsheathed their blades and went to strike you, dodging barely you fell back into a crate full of food.

Tumbling backwards you grunted, glaring as he ran after your fleeting figure. Finally gaining ground you straighten up until being thrown onto the floor again by a man.

You yelled and flipped eachother over, throwing punches at the mans face while another hooded figure came from the side. Throwing you off the man as you slid across the floor

Jumping up you gained your ground and pulled out a small dagger whilst they wielded their long blades.

One threw their blade at your knife, unsuspecting this it succeeded and they ran at you. Eyes widening as they kicked down one of your legs, landing painfully onto the hard stone.

Placing your hands behind your back they cuffed you and hoisted you up, struggling against their grip.

“You think you’re so strong.. Well fuck off” You sneered as they smacked the back of your head, furrowing your brows at the surprise.

Levi soon came into view with a blonde man holding a blade to him, anger spiked through every nerve in your body. With your futile attempts to get out the grasp of the handcuffs your wrists began to become red with irritation.

Levi’s eyes locked with yours and his eyes narrowed, the blonde man muttering things to Levi before he opened his palm to release his dagger.

“Levi!” You yelled and tried to break free of your captor.

Levi took steps back as a new Survey Corps came up behind him and placed the handcuffs on him.

Bringing us over they lined us up and made us go on our knees, staring at the ground your hair hung over your eyes.

Levi was to the left of you, turning your head you peered at him, there was a distant look in his eyes as he hyper fixated on the ground beneath him. You frowned and returned your gaze back to the floor.

“I’ll ask a few questions.” The blonde one asserted infront of you all “Where did you get this?”

There was silence as we all kept our mouth shut, why would we fucking tell you, idiot.

“You guys are skilled with 3D Maneuver Gear. Who taught you all that?” The man questioned again.

He walked towards Levi, stopping infront of him. “You’re their leader, right?” he persists “Were you in the Military?”

Suddenly a man grabs the back of Levi’s head, his fists knotting in his hair as he slammed his head into a puddle of mud.

Your head shot up immediately “Let him go!” You yelled and struggled against your cuffs, your gaze deathly as you glared at the man holding Levi.

“I’ll ask one more time. Where did you learn to use 3D Maneuver Gear?”

Your face was in a large scowl as your eyes were trained on the man restraining Levi, if looks could kill he’d be doubled over.

“We learned it by ourselves!” Farlan shouted

“Self taught you say? No.”

“It’s just so we can rise even a bit in this dirty garbage place!” Farlan persisted, shouting “People who’re used to sunlight wouldn’t understand!”

“That’s enough! Let bro go.” Isabel shouted at the blonde giant, “Dont be cocky just because you’re soilders!”

“Take your filthy hands off him.” You seethed at the one gripping Levi’s hair, paying no mind to you.

Eventually he lifted Levi’s head from the dirty mud whilst the man squatted infront of him.

“My name is Erwin Smith. Yours is?”

“Levi.”

“Levi, why don’t we make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“I will let your crimes go unpunished. In return lend me your strength, join the Survey Corps.”

Your eyes widened and you gasped lightly “Levi, no...” You called, the Survey Corps were extremely dangerous and you didn’t want Levi to risk his life by himself.

“And if I refuse?”

“The Military Police will have you, considering all your crimes, you and your friends won’t be treated very nicely.” The man stood and returned to his original placement, “Choose whichever you prefer.”

There was a long pause as Levi considered this, thoughts of you flashed through his mind vaguely. He didn’t want you beaten for his choice, but neither did he want Farlan and Isabel to either.

“Fine.”

You looked down at the floor, a frown evident on your face as you shook your head.

“I’ll join the Survey Corps.”

You were going with him no matter what.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

“Introduce yourselves!” Bellowed a voice as you stood, leaning your weight against one hip as you crossed your arms over your chest.

You all ended up joining the Survey Corps and stood wearing the outfit, atleast it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“The names Levi.”

“Levi.. The first thing you’ll need is some goddamn discipline,” argued the commander “Next.”

“I’m Isabel Magnolia! Nice to meetcha!”

“My name is... Farlan Church.”

With your arms crossed you studied the crowd as they waited for you,

“My name is Y/N.”

“Flagon, these four will be assigned to your squad.” Ordered the Commander.

The introductions ended and Flagon brought them to the barracks, they began to converse amongst eachother as you walked behind Levi.

His hand lifted and rubbed behind the wood, dust falling and sticking to his fingertips. Farlan, Isabel, and your eyes all widened in fear as you quickly noticed what it was.

“I know you all lived in the underground, but try to keep this place paper clean.” Stated the man.

“..Huh?” Levi remarked as he walked towards Flagon, his gaze icy with a glare.

“Why are you looking at me like that? How dare you.”

Farlan rushed forwards and placed a hand between the two, “Sorry! We will keep this place clean.”

Flagon nodded and headed for the door “Training begins to tomorrow,” and left.

You looked back at Levi, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder, gingerly squeezing it.

“Don’t pull anymore tricks like that Levi.” Commented Farlan as he watched him clean the filth off his fingers.

Levi frowned angrily and looked past you to Farlan “Did you not hear what that piece of shit had spouting out of his piece of shit mouth?”

You grinned a bit at that and stepped away from Levi, sitting down on the bed as you let the two argue. Resting your head in your hands whilst you shut your eyes.

You felt the bed dip and removed your hands, looking to see Levi. A disgusted look present on his face as he couldn’t believe he was sitting in such filth.

“Levi, are you worried?” You asked softly. You and Levi’s sides were pressed together as he stared straight on.

“Yes, but we have training tomorrow. Then we can finally see how real this is.” He remarked as you nodded, taking his hand in both of yours. He allowed you to, his gaze staring at your hands.

“I wish you hadn’t come.” Levi added, your eyes snapped to his as you held eye contact.

“What, and let you come here by yourself and get potentially killed. Fuck no.” You snapped at him whilst your grip on his hand tightening.

Levi’s gaze softened at you, he knew these titans were dangerous and he was terrified. Terrified for your safety, but he’d never show it.

Suddenly you released your grip on his hand and instead wrapped them around his neck, pulling him close to you as you put your head in the crook of his neck. He smelt of soap and artificial flowers from a cleaning product.

Levi had stiffened under your touch, his heart beat quickly. His mouth only a fraction open as he registered the human contact. A warm feeling bloomed in his chest and clenched his heart, warmth spreading throughout his body. It lasted mere seconds until his face went back to emotionless. His arms slowly wrapped around your waist and he breathed in your scent momentarily. You smelt of light flowers and vanilla. He loved it almost instantly.

Despite his wishes, his eyes shut and his grip on you tightened. Taking in this moment for he was fearful it’d be the first and last. Pulling back slowly, his hands traced along your waist to your cheeks as he cupped them gently.

Your hand gingerly hovered over his as you two stared at eachother, the tension so strong it gripped your heart and squeezed. His eyes flickered to your lips, his thumb extended from your soft skin to your plump lips, rubbing it tenderly.

Running your hand along his arm you traced it to his hair, your nails going through his silky raven locks until your hand reached the back of his neck where his hair began.

Inching him closer, “Levi..” you whispered delicately. Your noses nearly touching as your eyes fluttered shut, Levi took this as acceptance as his lips neared yours.

BANG

“Levi, Y/N,” Farlan.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

It was the morning after and you stood, unsheathing the blades from your gear, turning and flipping them as you inspected the sharp objects.

“Eh, what do you think your doing?”

Holding the blades you turned to gaze at one of the captains, flipping the blades you gripped them correctly.

“Don’t worry, if I wanted to kill you, I would’ve.” You remarked with a small grin as the captain’s mouth gaped open until his face contoured into one of anger.

“Do not talk to your superior like that—“ Bellowed the captain before you took off into the trees, a laugh following you as it left your lips.

Soaring through the tall trees you kept your eyes honed on any fast approaching objects, gripping your blades tighter as you steadied your breathing.

A large cardboard cutout rose from the trees infront of you, it was bigger than an average human but small when maneuvering above it.

You gasped lightly and faltered momentarily. Leaving your trance you scowled and sent off an ODM on the tree above.

Grappled to the tree you were perched on the tree bark, readying your blades you sent off the ODM on its nape and sliced it through successfully. Grappling away instantly to look for more.

Adrenaline flowed through you, your eyes crazed more as you came across another. Using the nearby trees to swing above and behind the cardboard titan, spinning around you glided above the nape. Grappling the nape and slicing through it perfectly.

The one controlling the cardboard titan stared up at you in shock, how was she so fast?

Continuing this until you made it back to the rest, landing smoothly your eyes scanned the crowd. Spotting Levi you rushed over, grabbing his arm whilst his cold glare turned to look at his grabber.

Levi’s gaze softened realizing it was you and planted a hand on your head, his fingers tangling in your hair before they trailed down your locks and let go.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

“I’ll be going alone.”

Levi’s words echoed in your mind as you stared at him, eyes wide. Tch, who does Levi think he is. A scowl formed on your face and your hands clenched into a fist.

“What?” Isabel and Farlan spoke in unison with shocked expressions.

“You three must make up and excuse to stay behind.”

“But bro, why!?” Isabel exclaimed loudly.

“We haven’t seen a real titan yet and it will be our first time outside the walls. It may take all we have to make it back alive. But if i’m by myself, i’ll manage somehow.”

“But..” You got up off the crate and stood, crossing your arms, “So you’re saying is that we can’t handle it?” You questioned briskly.

“That’s right, or atleast, how I feel.” Levi spoke coldly.

Isabel frowned deeply and walked towards Levi, her hands in fist as she shook slightly, “How can you say that? You won’t know till we tried!” She defended “What’s wrong? This isn’t like you,” She’d add.

Levi frowned and clenched his fist, glaring at you three “If you won’t stay behind, then we’re done talking!” he finalized and walked past you, his painful words attacking your heart as you hung your head.

They yelled for him to stop but you stayed silent, Isabel and Farlan began to argue. Looking up you gazed to where he’d gone, the roof.

Walking towards it, it brought the attention of Isabel and Farlan “Y/N” they began as you gestured your hand to follow.

Reaching the roof you noticed Levi sitting, the door opening had caught his attention, he stared at your nearing figure.

“Levi.” You spoke and walked forwards.

“Bro,” “Levi,” spoke Isabel and Farlan simultaneously.

“I can’t let you go alone.” Farlan demanded, standing confidently.

“You said we’d all go at once, have you forgotten?” Isabel added coldly.

You stopped almost infront of him, crossing your arms “We still have to see the beyond the wall.” Levi’s eyes widened and he lost air for a moment, turning back to the view of the roof.

“It’s the same. When you can’t see the moon or stars, the sky up here is just the same as down below.” Levi said dully, staring straight on.

You three looked up into the dark sky, clouds were clogging the beautiful sky from the stars and the planets beyond.

“The color sure, but..” Farlan began, “But it’s different” Isabel concluded as Levi turned his head to Isabel, “We know there’s no ceiling! It’s completely different.”

“Look,” you pointed into the sky, the gloomy clouds moved to reveal a bright moon. “The moon is so bright!” Isabel exclaimed loudly in an awe tone.

Farlan and Isabel took seats on the edge with Levi, staring up. You walked forwards and took a seat next to Levi, your knees touching as you yourself gazed up at the moon and stars.

“We’ll never go back down there.”

“She’s right bro. The four of us always pulled through, right? It’ll be the same with the titans. Let’s do this together.” Isabel grinned widely as she turned to look at her friends.

“Levi, believe in us.” Farlan spoke and looked to his friend, Levi’s eyes dilated when he heard this. His emotions were powerful but so were his friends determination.

Levi looked to the starry sky and pondered this, memories of his friends passed through his mind. Looking back down a smile had taken his lips “Alright. I’ll believe in you.”

“Yay!” Isabel yelled as she put her arms in the air whooping with joy, “Bro sure is a stubborn one isn’t he?”

Farlan began to chuckle whilst you placed your hand on Levi’s, interlacing eachothers fingers as you looked up to the sky. Levi stared at you with determination and most importantly love, the smile he held never ceased to falter from his face.

──────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────────

“We will now begin the 23rd Expedition Beyond the Walls!” Bellowed the Commander of the Survey Corps, “Forward, Everyone!”

He whipped the reigns on his horse and took off, yelling loudly. Everyone followed his command and started off behind him. To the right of you was Levi, Farlan, then Isabel.

As you galloped under the wall it opened to reveal the great plains with some strips of trees. Tilting your head up you found the sun belting down on you, it was gorgeous, better than you could’ve imagined. The sunlight stretched as far as you could see, it’s bright rays lighting the beauty of the land.

Along with you, Farlan and Isabel seemed awestruck while they stared at the bright blue sky, “Wow!” Isabel spoke in awe.

“Yeah. Not bad at all.” Levi said from beside you, staring up he saw the sun. He had fulfilled his promise to Y/N, to go beyond the wall together. A faint smile on his usual bored lips.

“Levi, thank you.” You spoke from beside him, turning to look at the girl who grinned broadly, “Thank you for showing me.”

Levi stared at you, impossible to mutter the words he so badly wanted to say ‘I love you’.

He could only muster a nod at you and turn his head straight on, his heart beating wildly in his chest but his face a stoic one.

A girl scolded the four of you for losing focus, exclaiming we’d die before we know it.

“Titan spotted!”

Your gaze cut to look ahead of you, a 15 meter was running straight at your squad. Air hitched in your throat as you stared at it ‘So this is what a titan looks like’ you thought.

“Two 10-meter class titans are heading for us from behind!”

Snapping your head back you saw the other two titans, eyebrows furrowing.

“Prepare to attack! Equip your 3D Maneuver Gear!”

One man went to attack the titan, shooting his gear at it head on. Before the titans mouth gaped open and crunched down on the man.

Flagon quickly shot his ODM at a nearby tree, flying up off his horse and escalating on the titan, flying behind it and turning back to advance on it he striked at the nape, killing it as it tumbled to the ground.

You were shocked but felt the heavy footsteps of the titans behind you gaining, turning you looked to see the two titans.

“You three! Stay in your course!” Flagon shouted from ahead.

Suddenly a green cape flew by, fluttering in the wind as it headed straight for the two titans behind us.

“Levi!” You yelled and spun your horse around, whipping the reigns roughly as you leaned forwards on the horse, gaining speed by the second.

“Y/N! C’mon Isabel we can do this” Farlan called as they both turned their horses around, chasing after you and Levi.

You watched as Levi jumped off his horse and grappling to a tree behind them before grappling the titan and swinging around it until finally slicing its nape clean off. The surface rumbled as the titan fell to the ground, grass and soil flying into the air.

Taking a deep breath you stood on your horse, grappling to a tree. Unsheathing your blades you released the ODM on its leg, striking behind his knees. From above you saw Isabel get grabbed by the titan, fear striking your heart as you shot your ODM to save her.

Luckily, she cut off the fingers holding her and whooped loudly before swinging away. Farlan came from behind and swung at the nape, ending the titan. You were just infront the titan as you saw it begin to fall forwards, eyes widening as you grappled away hastily.

You landed on the ground and felt a gust of wind and dirt hit you heavily, protecting your eyes with your arm.

Dropping your arm you stood infront of the head of the titan, hot steam exiting into the air.

Levi came from behind you on his horse as he held the reigns of your stead, staring at your figure as you stood, nonmoving.

Despite your best efforts your hands shook from post shock, the blades shuddering in your grip as you still held them.

Levi got off his horse and came up from behind you, his arms snaking around your waist while he pulled your back to his chest.

“Levi..” You whispered softly as you felt your hands steady, sheathing your blades and placing your hands on his.

“Thank you..” Taking his hands off your stomach you held one and turned around, he only nodded at you and squeezed your hand before dropping it.

Isabel and Farlan came from ahead whilst you and Levi mounted your horses silently, “Levi! We took down a titan all by ourselves!” “We did it bro! We did it!” Isabel and Farlan said excitedly, huge grins on their faces.

“Yeah... You guys did well.” Levi agreed while you pet the mane of your horse gingerly.

“Indeed,” The sudden voice made you turn to see Erwin Smith, eyes widening a fraction “that was impressive, considering it was your first time. But you used too much gas. You need to be especially conservative out here.”

Farlan scowled and readied to argue before Levi put his hand out to stop him, speaking cooly, “You’re expecting me to take priority of my equipment over the lives of my friends?”

“You’re performing a lot of unnecessary movements. Are you beginning to have doubts?” Erwin challenged as Levi grimaced, “If you are, that’ll be the death of you very soon.”

You stared at Erwins retreating figure while Isabel and Farlan bickered amongst themselves.

Following after him soon after, the clouds beginning to turn a dark gray from above.

Small bullets of water began to rain down on the land, soaking everything it touched and fast.

Pulling your hood up you noticed fog cloud the area around you, your eyes darting to the areas of open land, fearful for a titan to appear.

“I didn’t know rain could be this heavy!” Isabel called

“We can’t even see any titans!” You exclaimed

“This is our chance.” Levi calmly spoke from ahead of you, “We’ll use the rain as cover and get close to Erwin.”

Small gasps left their mouths, they have totally forgotten their mission.

“Levi!” “Are we gonna do it bro?”

“Yeah. But it’d be suspicious if all three of us were to break away at once. I’ll go alone.”

You tsked and turned your head away from him, shaking it. He is so persistent to be independent all the damn time.

“True, it’s best not to carelessly move around.” Farlan stated.

“Alright fine, we’re counting on you bro! Go and secure our citizenship.” Isabel grinned widely, her teeth shining.

A terrible feeling was inside your chest, it was unexpected and hurt terribly. Something was bound to go wrong and you could feel it pierce your soul.

“If anyone asks, tell them I went to survey the terrain.” Levi gazed at you when he ended, noting the discomfort in your face.

“Y/N” The cool tone caught your attention as you looked to Levi, his eyes narrowing as he looked to you.

“Be safe.” Time slowed as he said this, this answered all your fears. Levi himself was terrified and he emitted it from his eyes, his eyes, they were so scared and vulnerable.

Time came back as he whipped the reigns of his horse and rode forwards, no..

“Levi!” You screamed as he turned his head to you.

“I love you!” You yelled as confidently as you could, his eyes and mouth visibly opening wide, his heart clenched with an igniting warmth. He snapped his head back forwards, he’d say those words when he returned, he had faith in your survival.

Levi’s figure disappeared into the fog as Isabel and Farlan gaped at you, a blush rushing to your cheeks when he never reciprocated it.

“Y/N..” You looked to them, they smiled at you “I’m sure bro loves you! How could he not?” Isabel exclaimed happily as you gave her a faint smile.

Minutes later from riding your hands shook lightly, gazing at your friends you sighed.

Then, Isabel was in the air, why was she in the air? But your eyes hadn’t registered the huge fleshy fingers gripping your close friend. Your eyes widened in fear as your mouth opened to scream for her, Farlan was beginning to unsheath his blades as he rose from his horse.

The titan brought your red headed friend to its mouth, why her? She was always so kind and optimistic. Her happiness always giving her hope in the darkness of this shitty world.

Tears pricked at your eyes as you watched it, watched the titan eat her small, fragile body. Blood, her blood, splattering yours and Farlans face.

“Isabel!” Your screams finally broke the trance you were in, unsheathing your blades and jumping off your horse. Tears streamed down your soft cheeks as you saw Isabels head fall to the floor and roll.

You screamed as you went behind the titan, slicing down its nape, slicing its arms, knees, hands, anything that was connected to the titan was gone or bloody.

Farlan fell to his knees with tears flowing down his face, looking down to Isabels mutilated head. Sobs wracked his bodily heavily as he moved the red hair from her bloody face.

A new titan came from where the other titan had come from, running at you. “Farlan!” You shouted madly as you crouched down quickly, shaking his shoulders violently as he sobbed.

“Farlan! We have to survive, for Levi!!” You screamed at him and kept shaking him, removing the hands from his eyes he stared at your confident look, slowly, he’d nod and shakily stand.

You shot your ODM at a tree and stared to the incoming titan, a hard scowl overcoming your features as you jumped up, grappling its arm.

The titan looked to you and his hand stuck out, you gasped and attempted to move out its way. But it’s hand had caught one of your legs, your eyes dilated as you watched your leg get crushed by the hands of a titan.

A scream left and echoed around you, your terrified and fearful screams.

Farlan came from behind the titan and sliced at its nape, stopping any further damage.

Grappling away quickly, fell to the ground as soon as you landed, your face was coated in filth. Mud and blood covered your body.

Sitting up, you groaned in pain as you looked ahead. Farlan was running to you, shouting for you to stay awake.

But, as there always is, was another titan, it was an abnormal as it ran over on its four limbs. Your eyesight was blurry, looking at Farlan infront of you. His worried gray orbs roaming over yours as you saw his mouth shout words at you.

“Titan..” you mustered out as Farlan spun around to see the abnormal, he was scared, upset, but mostly angry. Angry for the death of Isabel and Y/N’s injury, but more furious at his short life. Farlan was smart he knew he wouldn’t survive this one and it pained him but he’d fight for atleast Y/N to survive this.

He grappled off towards the titan, you watched with zero control. Pain sizzled up your leg and ignited your body in a fury of agony.

“Farlan!” You attempted to shout, reaching your hand out towards his retreating figure. He looked back at you and gave a smile, a smile at a time like this. You wailed loudly and slammed your fist into the dirt sobbing.

From the distance you heard the loud sobs and screams of Farlans last moments as the abnormal bit down on his abdomen, ending his suffering. There was silence but for the titan feasting on Farlan.

Your head hung downwards as wind blew through your hair, shutting your eyes as tears streamed down your face.

Clutching the grass around you, you went against your pain and pushed yourself up off the ground, resting your weight in your good leg.

Levi was in the distance, crouched infront of Isabels head. He hadn’t looked up as he stared at his red headed friend. ‘Y/N, Farlan. Where are they?” he thought painfully as he forced himself to look up.

He caught your standing figure staring at the abnormal, Farlans body dangling from its teethy grin. Levi’s eyes dilated and he immediately stood, unsheathing his blades he ran towards you and the titan.

The abnormal began to reach its hand out to you, it’s fingers unclenching and expanding to grab you.

Blood splattered your face, along with the ground thumping. The raven head stood infront of you with mutilated fingers behind him, his glossy eyes looked back at you and he shoved you.

Levi shoved you to the ground as you landed flat on your ass, you stared at him with an awestruck expression.

“Do not stand! I’ll kill it!” Levi yelled at you, your eyes darting to his hands. They shook violently before he ran towards the abnormal and grappled it.

You sat there like he had insisted you do, hair blew over your eyes as you surveyed the battlefield. Blood streaks littered the area and Isabel, oh Isabel. Farlans body was spit from the titans mouth as he thudded against the dirt, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and an intestine hung out his stomach.

Vomit come up your throat as you leaned over and hurled your morning breakfast, your body heaving as you fell onto your back, staring up at the gray sky. ‘Maybe it was like the undergound’ you pondered.

Far away were Levi’s shouts and screams as he sliced the titans whole body, so much so that the titans head flew off and rolled onto the ground, sputtering blood everywhere.

Blood poured out of every slice Levi had inflicted on the titan, he held no remorse for the monster as he sliced its hands clean off. Until finally, slicing its nape.

Levi landed and kneeled down, his black hair covering his eyes as he shook. He felt knees fall to the ground ahead of him and a hand touch his bloodied cheek.

His head snapped up and he was met with Y/N’s eyes, she rubbed his cheek tenderly. Staring at his dull gray eyes with love and vulnerability. Levi’s eyes glossed over as he was flushed with a wave of gratefulness, his true love lived through this hell.

“Levi... I’m here, I’m right here.”

Levi’s hands cupped your face and pulled you in quickly, your lips fusing together as your eyes fluttered shut. Tears leaked down your eyes as you moved your hands to the collar of his shirt, gripping it tightly.

Slowly he pulled back, your lips softly breaking apart as he rubbed away your tears with his thumbs.

“I love you too.”

don’t forget to follow :)

#levi ackerman #levi x reader #anime #aot #aot anime #aot imagines #aot fanfiction #levi aot #levi angst #levi x y/n #snk levi #levi heichou #snk #snk anime #snk x reader #angst

231 notes · View notes

love-we-write · 4 years ago

Text

Cosmic Railway

pt. vii: no matter how many times, let's cross paths again

Character: SoulmateAU!JakexMC. Genre: Hurt/Comfort Words: 5,895 Summary: The two of you have walked your separate paths, a path slowly drawing closer to each other. 4 years later, there were two times your paths draws so close it almost converged, and one time it actually did.

A/N: ANNDDD WE ARE DONE! Thank you to everyone who read this monster of a fic, who stuck around the way I never write to the point and keep droning on and on and on lmao. Even with all the mistakes and everything, I'm pretty proud because this is one of the few fics I actually stuck around and finished (ngl, these last two chapters almost made me want to chuck everything in the trash but I'm glad I didn't :D) Thank you for sticking around and reading this, for leaving me comments that made me keep going! Thank you!

4 years later

Over 4 years ago, he made a promise to someone in his dreams, someone whom he does not want to forget, a promise that he will find her. A promise that they will meet and they will remember. And since that day, he has traveled to different countries, over different parts of multiple continents, going from commercial gardens to research greenhouses to wild forest blooms, to find the clues of the magnolias and chrysanthemums that will lead to you.

The views of the night sky that he gets from wherever he travels make the journey all the more worth it. In every country he visits, he makes sure to stay at places far away from the bright city lights that he possibly could, and every night he would look up at the night sky. He would see the stars scattered across the pitch-black canvas almost like snowflakes in one country, catch the trails of light that are the tails of the galaxy in another. These views are something he wants to see, something he wants for himself, something close to him and real, not something flashed by his hacking skills on an alabaster dull white ceiling.

And with every different skies that he is seeing every single day, his dreams become different too. Magnolias and chrysanthemums still adorn his dreams, its reds and whites now brighter and richer, but alongside slowly the number of flowers grow. 2 years ago, he saw the buds of blue irises starting to grow, much like the artificial ones Hannah gave him to keep him company in the hospital. Over the years, he starts seeing butter-yellow daffodils, golden daisies, and ivory white snowdrops. He sees shy violets and the carnation pinks, the deep blues of the forget-me-nots, and the tinkling bluebells. And with those dreams, the vestiges of emptiness that used to come from you 4 years ago, also start to dissipate. Each day he wakes up anticipating. Waiting.

He supposed that a lot has changed. The both of you have changed. Back then, it was easier to discern which ones are his emotions, and which ones were yours bleeding into his days, because you were both in different places. He used to be angry, and you used to be concerned. He used to live for others and you used to be empty. But now, the both of you feel as if there is something entirely yours that is worth fighting for. Something that the both of you want for yourselves. Something worth waiting for.

There is just that starting point that he needs to find, that clue of the magnolias and chrysanthemums. He has had doubts before, when the first 39 places he had gone to did not click with him. He’s had doubts whether he will really be able to find her, but Jake supposed he’d just have to trust the process and he’ll know when he sees it. But he’s at place #40 now, and something feels good about it.

Place #40 feels good to him, feels different, something he could not say about the previous 39 places he has been throughout these 4 years, Jake thinks to himself as he takes in the hustle and bustle of the town. There is something to be said about this particular town, an electricity that fills his vein, and a rightness that he could not describe.

The first point of convergence between your and Jake’s separated paths came at place #40 on Jake’s list. It came as he was walking to the town square from his lodgings, it came with the jolt of scalding hot coffee spilled onto his hoodie, the involuntary wince, and the alarmed apologies from the woman who just collided with him.

It comes in doses of confusion as Jake looks at the light-haired woman with the red-flushed face and the flustered hands trying to wipe down the stain probably unnoticeable against his black hoodie, confusion intensifying tenfold with the exasperated shout of “Jessy, I told you to look where you’re going!” and the heavy footsteps coming soon after.

It comes with the highly apologetic look of the man in front of him as Jake tries to politely decline the persistent woman (whom he now knows as Jessy) who keeps on insisting that Jake give her his hoodie so she could wash it anew. It comes when Jake takes a good look at the pair and realizes, with a start, that there is some form of familiarity to these two people.

“Have we met before?” Jake could not help but blurt out to the pair, who looked confusedly at him. Their bewilderment makes sense, he has never stepped foot onto this place until yesterday, and with how much he keeps to himself, Jake has doubts that both the man and the woman, here in this place literally on the other side of the world from where he lived are within any circles of people he knows.

And yet it feels as if he’s heard of them, from stories shared with a distant fondness for a faraway adventure. A story shared between whispers and quiet smiles, of unabashed appreciation recalled by someone that fades away from him into misty forgetfulness.

Jake shakes his head, cancels his thoughts, and apologizes to the two for the peculiar question, speculating that he must have the two mistaken for someone he has heard of. Jessy, the woman with the bright green eyes that are clouding with guilt, offers one more time if there is any way to make up for Jake’s clothes that she has ruined. She offers to buy him lunch, claiming that both she and the man (whom she introduces as Richy) are on the way to meet their friend to get some food for the afternoon, a tradition for their trio that Jake is more than welcome to intrude on for today.

The first crossroads between your and Jake’s path diverge that moment Jake politely thanks them after declining the invite, dismissing the accident as nothing more than a minor inconvenience. It diverges that moment Jake walks separately from the pair, him to the place he has saved in his phone where he would find the magnolias and chrysanthemums in a private garden, Jessy and Richy on to the other side to have their lunch - and no doubt recall this tale of why they were late - to you.

You are already waiting for your friends outside the building of your therapist’s office for a while, just taking in the day. It was the kind of day you like, where the sun shines cheerily and yet not overbearingly bright thanks to the numerous cotton-like clouds, when the skies are transitioning from the cold-gray of the winter into the baby blue of spring, and the days start to hit that sweet spot between warm without being hot, and a refreshing chill without the bone-biting cold.

The shop where you work is in order for the morning for you to take a half-day leave; you have made sure that all orders for the morning are already arranged, and only had to be delivered. That part, you’re very sure that the shop is in capable hands of your worker, Dan’s hands.

“Sorry, we’re late. Jessy got too excited and spilled her hot coffee all over this stranger and it was a whole mess. Luckily, the guy was pretty cool about it,” Richy apologizes as they quickly come up to you, a remark which earns a short protest from Jessy.

“I asked him to join us so I could make it up to him for his ruined hoodie, and who knows, introduce him to my pretty, pretty friend over here,” Jessy replies as she links her arms around yours and begins walking in the direction of the cafe, and you tease whether inviting the stranger is more for you or for her, which Jessy protests vehemently and says that it’s really for you when the stranger is on more similar wavelengths to you than to her. She continues, “He seemed like your type; quiet and speaks only when necessary.”

“Yeah, right. He doesn’t stand a chance with our friend here,” Richy snorts, “Not when she has that someone she’s waiting for.”

The rest of the walk is filled with Richy’s teasing you for that bright hot pink flush you have on your cheeks.

Over lunch, they had asked you how your sessions are going, and you told them, without pretense, that it had gone well. You don’t lie to Jessy and Richy anymore, that is the one constant over your journey to self-healing since that day you made that promise. You might have days when you feel like it takes too much commitment to care for yourself, that it’s much easier to let the negativity built upon years of habit consume you, but the one constant on your journey is that you reach out to Jessy and Richy with nothing but the truth all the time.

You tell them when everything is well, but you also tell them when the dark clouds catch up with you, when the intrusive thoughts get too loud. You tell them of your initial apprehension at seeing a therapist, at having everything that is wrong with you laid out over the table in front of a stranger, and you tell them of the rocky start at building a bond of trust between you and her, but you also share with them of those times when you come to a revelation within your sessions, those days when you come out of the office with a clear idea on what to do next.

It’s an active work, unraveling the threads of your self-loathing and gaining that sense of color back in your life, but you work through it one day at a time. The road to self-love is up and down, and you have days when you despair and fret over the fact that you will never attain that happiness you want. But over the years, you get better at catching yourself before the thoughts spiral out of control, you’re more in tune with yourself enough to question some of the malicious harmful things you hear inside your head, you get better at seeing happiness not as a destination, but a never-ending journey that you savor each and every day of.

It’s an active commitment, but you’re slowly getting better at appreciating the highs and acknowledging the lows. And on days when you’re riding out your lowest of the lows, it was the promise you made that pushed you to find help; that promise to keep trying to live.

Live for the you who want to see him. Live for the person you are becoming, the person who has so much love for that person who is pushing you forward, while at the same time working towards having it healthily balance with the love she has for herself. When will you see him, you do not know, and you have no idea who it is you’re looking for, but you suppose you’d just have to trust the process and you’ll know when you see it. When you look up at the night skies, thinking of that person who you made that promise to, something inside you tells you to wait, that your path will cross when the time is right.

And so you keep trying to live, fulfillingly, day by day.

The second crossroad, this time converging both your paths closer, comes in the evening when the sun is on its descent on the horizon and Jake finally stops in front of the garden gates that are his destination.

It comes with the tug he feels at his heartstrings and it comes with his breath taken away, it comes with the clumsy steps up to the gate and the way his eyes could focus on nothing but the vast garden of scarlets and whites in front of him.

The cottage itself is a quaint little thing of red bricks and white fence, quite a walk away from the main road where the buses travel, at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. But even from afar, the view cannot be missed. Against the blue of the sea and the reds of the setting sun, lies a garden of brilliant scarlets and whites of the grown magnolias and chrysanthemums.

Jake hears himself gulp, hears the crash of the ocean, hears his heart still. He could only stare in awe at the sight in front of him. This feeling of ease, of peace inside him, there’s no mistake about it. He knows it, that voice inside him told him. This is it. This is the place. This is the place he has been looking for, all these years.

The place he sees in his dreams.

It feels liberating, like finding the treasure at the end of a journey. After all these years, all these uncertainties, the nights of questioning whether he’s making the right decision, and he’s finally made it. He finally found the place that he is looking for, and the joy that is overflowing through every fiber of his being almost made him drop to his knees.

But then, comes the questions. As he approaches the gate, the questions keep flooding in his head.

Okay, so now what? He’s come all this way and he’s found what he is looking for, now what does he do? At the end of the journey, where does he go from here? How would he know where to go next? Is MC around at all?

“She’s not here, you know,” came a voice behind him, startling Jake from his reverie, his hand stilling at the gate door.

Turning around, he sees an old woman with a basket in her arms full of fruits, still looking bright and spry despite her thinning gray hair, with wrinkled yet kind eyes full of mirth as she smiles at Jake. Jake stares back at her with what he’s sure is a dumbfounded look.

“I’m sorry?”

The old lady laughs, eyes sparkling almost as if she knows something he does not.

“The last time someone looked at my garden with that much awe in their eyes, like all their hopes lie in those flowers, it was a young lady who came to my door about 4 years ago. You were doing the same thing, young man, with the exact same look, so I can’t help but assume a connection,” she clarifies as she walks up to the gate with a knowing look. Every word registers in Jake’s ears, but he does not know how to process and respond to any of it. Wordlessly opening and closing his mouth in search of words, Jake settles on the next best thing; that is to offer to take the basket from her arms and carry it into the house, an action which made the old lady chuckle in delight.

“Well well, aren’t you a gentleman? Tell you what, why don’t you come inside with me and have some tea, and I’ll tell you all about her.”

The table was set up to overlook the garden, a small set up with a vase of magnolias and chrysanthemum arrangements in the center. As he’s having tea with blackberry pies that the old lady (or Miss Sully, as she introduced herself) is offering him, he can’t help but steal discreet glances at the sparkling ruby-reds and honeyed whites of the flowers against the sun setting in the horizon. Miss Sully, noticing Jake’s glances at the garden, smirks knowingly.

“I planted them when I first got this house with my husband. He got me the flowers on our wedding anniversary and I planted them here. I never expected them to grow so well, but now that they do, you cannot help but care for them more and more. My husband is long gone, but these flowers that came from his gift make me feel like he’s here with me.”

Turning back to look at Jake, Miss Sully grins and adds, “Anyway, enough about my story. I used to think they were a source of comfort for me and me alone. That is, until 4 years ago, a young lady knocked on my door. Back then, she was a timid-looking thing, poor dear. Looked as if she just contemplated for a thousand years just to knock on my door. But the way her eyes transform when she looks at my flowers, the way that timid thing suddenly gains a moment of confidence and bravery just by looking at them, you don’t forget about that at all.”

Miss Sully smiles to herself as she recalls that day all those years ago when she opened the door and met you looking worried and nervous, out of breath and frazzled. And yet, when you spoke, you spoke with quiet determination.

“She’s a strong one, that one. Told me that she is battling some inner struggles for long, and that looking out at my garden as she commutes to and from work is one of the small reprieves she has had for all these years. She told me she wants to take her happiness in her own hands now and that if I would let her, she would like to have some of the flowers to grow for herself as a reminder on days when she feels like giving up.”

It feels a little strange, to say the least, but when hearing Miss Sully talking about you, Jake feels as if he knows you. He cannot picture how you look physically but he imagines you being a bit flustered after making that request to the old lady, imagines your voice faltering a bit trying to calm your nerves, imagines you reverting back to your old habit whenever you’re flustered, that is to furiously pat down your cheeks as if to cool it down. It feels as if he has seen you.

“What happened? What happened to her?” Jake asks, wide-eyed and curious, because for all these years, this is the first time he has heard of you from another person. Talked of by another person like a normal human being, instead of wisps seen in his dreams and heard in his heart.

“I gave them to her, of course. Told her she’s welcome to take as much as she wanted to. She comes by often nowadays, checks up on me, and helps me do groceries. Takes care of the garden. You know these old knees cannot hold for so long. You just missed her when she came around yesterday.

“These arrangements are from her, too. She took the flowers from the gardens and arranged them here; a fresh arrangement every month and I never ever get tired of them.”

She does not notice how Jake goes wide-eyed, not hearing the leap in his heartbeat as he hears only those three words that are most important to him; she is still here. You were here where he is. The flowers in the garden, the flowers in front of him in the vase, those so close within his reach, they hold traces of you. You’re no longer only the whispers of presence in his days, no longer intangible in dreams. You’re real and within reach now.

Looking up at Jake with his dumbfounded expression, Miss Sully smiles and continues.

“You know, I asked her once, what was it that made her take that leap to change? What made her knock on my door when she hasn’t done so all these years? And you know what she told me? She shrugged, looked outwards like you’re doing now, and said ‘I’m doing it for me, and for someone I’m waiting for’,” the old lady recalls, holding Jake’s gaze with her knowing eyes, and then she asks the big question, “Would that someone happen to be you?”

Jake looks down, suddenly self-conscious of the question. Now that he knows you are real and within reach, it dawns upon him that this is the first time he has talked of you and in front of a total stranger too. How does one explain the intangible to the tangible, how does he describe what he has with you to a common stranger? A search across the world from voices in one’s heart and images seen only in dreams, of vestiges lost and words unproven once sleep is gone. So he does not know whether he would have any right to say anything, what relation would be appropriate to you, how best to describe that faceless, voiceless figure in his dreams all those years ago.

But then, he remembers the hope and anticipation that he wakes up to nowadays, and he thinks of the promise that keeps him going. And he pushes through, “I… I hope so?”

There is comfortable silence that envelops the both of them, surrounded by the flowers and the darkening skies that had brought two separated souls together, a knowing silence that Miss Sully has learned to savor before breaking it with a chuckle.

“Well, call me crazy but I think you are. No two people would have the same look like all their dreams center around these flowers, but why don’t you see her for yourself?”

She looks up at Jake and smiles.

“She has a flower shop now. Quit her fancy uptight corporate job a year ago, and now she’s the best florist in town. And I think if you hurry, you might be able to catch the bus there.”

Somewhere not too far away, you jump in surprise when the front door chimes that familiar ‘DING!’ that lets you know of a potential customer.

Strange, you thought to yourself, no one rarely comes at this time, not when the shop is about to close. You look up towards the front of the shop from where you were squatting by the flower pots, pushing them back to its place. Outside, the sun is already starting to set, bathing the room in a soft orange glow and hitting the newly repotted daffodils, making its white petals turn a soft honey yellow. It both delights you to see the flowers still so thriving.

“Coming, just a sec!” you call out to the front and stand up, straightening your long-hunched form and wincing when you hear your back cracking in protest. God, you really need to invest on a low stool here if you don’t want your bones to hate you.

Stretching away the kinks in your muscles, you look at the flowers surrounding you; the room washed in a rainbow of sunflower yellows and rosy reds, of carnation pinks and forget-me-not blues, of shy violets and daisy whites, a symphony of colors made muted pastels from the dimming sunlight that leaves you at ease. There are buds waiting to grow into blooms, there are younglings, there are seeds and you smile to yourself, wishing the flowers to grow well as you exit the back room.

The man waiting at the counter is a bushy-browed and respectable-looking man, standing straight with shoulders wide. He greets you formally albeit a bit stiffly, and you laugh sheepishly, feeling slightly uncomfortable and awkward in front of this stranger. You still struggle to talk to people, still sometimes second-guessing whether you’re saying the right thing, and you still overthink sometimes whether you’re saying or doing something wrongly, but you’re also more conscious whenever you do it and are actively working to be kinder to yourself.

“Can I um… help you?” you ask quietly, and the man straightens himself, and looks at you.

“Sorry for coming in so late. My friends said you’re the best florist in town, and I have a quick order,” he says gruffly, but his eyes are nothing but cordial.

Oh.

The man, Det. Alan Bloomgate, as you later found out, is a police officer who works in the area, and he needs immediate help finding flowers for his wedding anniversary. Seems like he’s a bit late to the promised anniversary dinner and would like an arrangement to make it up to his wife. You nod in understanding, this kind of last-minute request is not uncommon; you have seen the occasional flustered teenager who was trying to buy flowers as an apology or the old man who decided to gift a bouquet to his partner on an impulse on their evening walk.

You ask whether he has any specific flowers in mind that he would like to be included. Det. Bloomgate responds in the affirmative, requesting that the bouquet include white roses, his wife’s favorites. Further making small talk, you smile to yourself when you hear the stoicism drop in the detective’s voice as he talks in adoration of her and their lives together, and you deftly pick the flowers to make the bouquet while listening to the man talk about his beloved.

As you are arranging the flowers, you ask Det. Bloomgate about his work life, how work as a detective had been for him, and what his most memorable case was. You won’t get many exciting cases here when this small town has only about 5,000 people, he begins, but he has to admit that one of his most memorable times in the police force was when the international police came to set up a temporary office in their small station about 12 years ago.

“Apparently some vigilante hacker’s proxy servers were triangulated somewhere around this area, so they thought he’d be here. Sent some officers, the type you’d see in those spy movies with how little they would talk. From what I heard, that hacker is some type of genius that they had been pursuing for some time now,” Det. Bloomgate continues, recalling the cold calculation and eerie efficiency with which police who work in massive organizations operate, only viewing breach of civilians' rights as collateral damage in pursuit of this man.

Your ears perk at the story, interest piqued.

"Oh, and did they ever catch this hacker?"

"Not that I know of. I think they found out it was just a dummy proxy he used to confuse them. They got pretty mad and left soon after. From what I heard, the hacker was never caught."

"Wow, he's that good, huh?"

"The best, I heard. He uses the name Nymos, and apparently was responsible for some of the biggest security breaches, and also some of the biggest exposé of international crimes and political scandals. They say no system is safe from this guy,” the detective carries on, looking on as you begin to wrap up your completed arrangement.

You hum in interest at the tale, more so on the fact that these extraordinary feats could have had come from just another commonplace person, an unassuming face that people pass by without even sparing a second glance. In fact, you could have met the person so skilled and so well-known amongst law enforcement, you could have bumped into Nymos sometime in your life and you would not even have known it, and the prospect of such possibility made you chuckle to yourself.

Finishing up the final few details to the arrangement, you catch sight of the flash of awe and wonder in Det. Bloomgate’s eyes as he looks at the finished product, a sight that injects you with a sense of pride. To you, each flower tells a unique story, speaks a different language and by arranging them, it gives you a chance to write and interweave your customers’ stories. And in Det. Bloomgate’s hands, the bouquet of white (admiration) and red roses (true love), white carnations (faithfulness), and red daisies (beauty unknown to the beholder) with a few placements of ivory snowdrops (hope), are what you hope could come close to the love story of him and his beloved.

“My friends were right, you truly are the best,” the detective remarks when you ring up the flowers at the counter, and you feel your cheeks heat up at the unreserved compliment. It feels good to be acknowledged but you could never get used to it.

You watch as Det. Bloomgate exits the shop, flowers in hand and a small smile on his usually stoic face, and as his retreating back slowly becomes smaller in your view, you catch sight of the arrangement of magnolias, chrysanthemums and irises by your cash register, and you smile to yourself. Every customer who walks in here has a story that they want to be told by the different languages of flowers. You do too.

The small arrangement of colorful scarlet, white and blue that you keep fresh on your counter every time are not just an eye-catching centerpiece, but it tells them of your and his story. A story of hope and perseverance, of happiness and love. Your mind begins to wander to the detective’s story of Nymos, and like how he could be anyone you pass by and you would not even know, you wonder whether you’d recognize that person whom you have been waiting for if you see him. You hope you will, because you are trying every day not just for you and for your friends and family, but for him too.

The third crossroads comes definitively at the break of night, when the curtains of day pull back into the richest of blues and purest of blacks, when the sun retreats and the stars come out and the town is closing down and retreating into the comforts of their homes. It comes in his heaving breaths, the burning he feels in his strained lungs as Jake rushes in front of the small florist at the edge of the town, the pit-a-pat of dread that beats a mile a minute in his heart when he sees how dark the shop is. It comes in worry of being unable to catch you in time that dissipates with a spark of light hope when he catches a sliver of light peeking out from a small room from behind the counter.

It comes with the anticipation of pushing the door and finding it still open, of hearing the tell-tale ‘DING!’ of the door chime in the background, an anticipation that mixes with awe as soon as he enters the shop and feels himself surrounded by the tell-tale silhouettes of flowers. None of the lights are on at the front of the shop, but the small line of light coming from the backroom, as well as the light coming from the stars and the moon on the night sky outside filtering through the large shop window shows him buckets on the floor and hanging on the wall, a safe haven full of blossoms, of butter-yellow daffodils and golden daisies, of shy violets and carnation pinks, of ivory snowdrops and cerulean forget-me-nots. There in buckets hung in perfect symmetrical lines on a rack, he sees the biggest collection of pillow-white magnolias, scarlet red chrysanthemums, and deep blue irises.

You were tidying up the backroom and were just about to close up shop when you heard the faint chime at the door. Confused, you catch the glimpse of someone entering and you wonder why a customer would come in so late. It’s already dark outside, a time not for business but to retreat into yourself and you had half a heart to call out that you are closed for the day and watch the customer exit but something made you stop in your tracks. Finishing up the last of your tracks, you quietly make your way to the front of the shop, your hand settling on top of the light switch that would bathe the dark shop into light.

Something makes your hand still and your eyes scrunched in vague familiarity as you take in the man with his back turned from you.

For as he continues to stare at the blooms of magnolias, chrysanthemums, and irises you had cared for in your shop, you are struck with the oddly calm sense of familiarity, like someone you have met before somewhere. You look at his hair black as the night sky you see behind him, and you’re brought to think of deep blue eyes like the iris blooming in your dreams, bright like the stars you see twinkling outside the window. You think of calm voices keeping you grounded. ‘It’s okay. You’ll be okay.’, that voice had said once upon many times ago.

You’re reminded of firm hands outstretched palm upwards in dreams just waiting for you to take, of gentle smiles that make you feel at home. You think of that promise to meet, a promise between two souls sealed with a feathery light kiss. That promise which has led you here, all these years.

You probably have never met this man, have never spoken to him, but inside your mind, one word stood out like flashing neon lights in the dark, blinking furiously at you and before you could stop yourself, you blurt out--

“Jake?”

Jake, who was captivated by the display he saw in front of him - heart still and breath taken away - stops when he hears that voice. A small voice blooming amongst the pin-drop silence amongst the flowers. He turns around, eyes wide and he sees you.

It’s you, the person who pushes him forward, the person who he has been looking for, a person whom he has never met but knew in dreams over and over again. The person behind his path to happiness, his path and his destination. He was not sure what to expect when he did see you, but this sense of ease, a sense of being complete feels almost right.

One half of him who is used to yearning for 4 years had half-expected it to only be a mirage that will disappear into that dull white-washed walls of the hospital hallway that he is used to. And yet, here you still stand, in front of him, touchable as he feels your hands in his, tangible as he sees your small watery laugh, and real as he commits your smile to memory and that feeling he gets of floating and flying at the same time, and remembers the words he so much want to say.

“I finally found you, MC.”

Jake whispers in the quiet and smiles, feeling at ease, content where he wants to belong.

There is so much to say and so much to ask, but for now this is enough. You are here and he is here. You’ll remember and he’ll remember too.

There, under his night sky and amongst your flower fields, you meet again. From where he was pushed forward from what he once thought was irreparable unhappiness, from where it had lifted you from your most broken, the place where your two paths cross now holds a whole new meaning. When your fields where he can be at ease in dreams now a testament to your hard work in chasing down happiness, when his skies where you seek solace in dreams now proof of him prioritizing himself and living each day for a reason that he wants, when the point where your two paths converge are no longer a fleeting instant disappearing in forgetful dreams but a testament of a promise between two souls finally fulfilled, you meet again but this time never forgetting and never disappearing.

More Chapters

pt i: wandering around the far ends of the sky

pt ii: weaknesses that you don't show anyone

pt iii: in the midst of time, let's meet

pt iv: a place where you can be at ease

pt v: rendezvous under the twinkling starry sky

pt vi: to return besides my beloved you

pt vii: no matter how many times, let's cross paths again

#duskwood everbyte #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #duskwood jake x mc

36 notes · View notes