#ashford in the water

[orangeredandgold]

river wye in bakewell and ashford in the water 🦆

[the-ashford-arms]

Explore Natural Beauty Around The Ashford Arms in the Peak District

Discover the stunning natural beauty surrounding The Ashford Arms in the Peak District. Enjoy captivating trails and breath taking landscapes right from the heart of Ashford in the Water. Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast or seeking a peaceful retreat, The Ashford Arms offers a perfect getaway. Plan your visit today!

[fandomsbyladymelodrama]

Speaking of The Expanse, I’m in the midst of reading the book series and I’m about to do a second rewatch of the show because umm, it’s wonderful? And I don’t even know why I’ve fallen so hard for a hard sci-fi series 😆 So not my thing, usually (more a Jane Eyre/Jane Austen girl than…I’m seriously blanking on any famous sci-fi writers names 😂). Anyway, the show’s great and the books are great (except for this false character masquerading as “Ashford” when he’s so obviously Not-My-Ashford 😂 and the unforgivable absence of Camina Drummer during the whole Abaddon’s Gate saga 😭) and I highly recommend them both. But also, I’m back on my Drummer/Ashford love (we were never off 😂) so here, have some random, totally AU and not-canon-compliant-at-all fic 💞

[crescentmp3]

my ocs are very contrasting with each other

[nheiraashford]

Rius Isonder © himself

Etsy | Site | Bsky

[abaplumbinginadelaide]

[adragonprinceswhore]

The Way I Feel Under Your Command

Chapter I: Red Lake I Next I Masterlist

Aemond Targaryen x Reader (she/her pronouns)

Summary: After being forced to spend his summer at Red Lake Resort, a drunk Aemond meets a pitiful dance instructor at a party he did not want to attend.

Warnings: 18+, she/her pronouns, alcohol consumption, intoxication, classism, Aemond thinks he’s better than everyone, Aegon is an awful older brother

A/N: Enjoy 🫶

The lush greenery of the Reach would still be beautiful even if the mid-summer sun didn’t illuminate it. 

Despite the modernisations of Old Town, Ashford and Tumbleton, the southwest region of the Seven Kingdoms still feels reminiscent of a time when Westeros was ruled by noble families. Fields of wildflowers and ruins of ancient castles lay scattered across the vast landscape, instilling a false sense of serenity inside Aemond Targaryen as he steers his fathers car towards Red Lake. 

He had mistakenly assumed he’d successfully dodged his mother’s pleading; begging him to join the family’s yearly resort get-away. Besides his siblings, the only other guests seem to be his father and grandfather's old business associates, making the holiday he’d grown tired of appear even more unappealing. 

Embarking on his final year of university, Aemond had gotten used to the solitude of one-man study sessions and spending his weekends working with his grandfather. It was all worth it in his eyes; the tireless preparation for the position he’s been working towards since he was old enough to walk. 

He’d planned on using the summer holidays to fully submerge himself into the mechanics behind the almighty machinery that was Targaryen Holdings. Unsurprisingly, his father had barely responded when he told him about his desire to spend the summer working, but his grandfather had offered him a nod of approval and a comforting pat on the back. 

The fleeting moment of validation had provided Aemond with enough fuel to cancel all other summer plans in favour of spending his last weeks of freedom soaking up as much knowledge as possible inside the glass-covered skyscraper Targaryen Holdings called their HQ. 

Yet he found himself driving his parents to their usual summer retreat, only two weeks after finishing his last seminar for the semester. 

When Aemond had ignored his mother’s countless requests begging him to join the family one last summer before being completely engulfed by the corporate world, she’d changed tactics and instead reasoned with her father, convincing him that for Aemond to successfully integrate with the top of the company, he needs to familiarise himself not only with the business side of being a Targaryen, but the private expectations as well. 

That entails rubbing elbows and making contacts at exclusive holiday resorts. 

His grandfather and siblings had arrived a week prior, but because of his father’s deteriorating health, hospital appointments and check-ups had held him and his wife back, giving Alicent the perfect opportunity to push her third child into complicity and ask him to join them by acting as a chauffeur. 

After enough nagging, Aemond often gave in to his mother’s wishes simply because he couldn’t stand to disagree with her for long. 

Pulling up to the luxuriously restored ruins of House Crane’s seat, he recognises every detail from his previous summers there; the multicoloured flowers abundantly hanging over the sand-coloured balconies, the brightly yellow lemons ripening in the citrus trees decorating the sides of the villas, the variegating shimmer dancing in the water of Red Lake. 

He hands the keys to the valet diligently standing by the driver’s side of his father’s favourite vehicle as his mother helps the withering elderly man out of the sleek, black car. She offers him a hand to hold and another to steady his trembling body. 

“Mr. Targaryen, what a pleasure to see you again”, a middle-aged man clad in an impeccably tailored suit exclaims enthusiastically to Viserys, white teeth on full display as he quickly signals for two bellboys to grab the esteemed guests' baggage. 

Feeling like he’s gotten his fill of mandated family time for one day, Aemond quietly retreats to the usual villa where the Targaryen’s stay. He slips inside undetected, heads to his usual room, and promptly locks the door behind him. 

It is easy for Aemond to get lost in his thoughts whenever he’s around his family. 

Either it’s his older brother retelling a ‘funny’ anecdote that he doesn’t feel sad to miss out on. Or it’s his younger brother and mother discussing plans for the summer, a topic he knows he doesn’t have much say in anyway, consequently choosing to remain silent. 

As long as he remembers to hum in reply whenever addressed, he can comfortably sink into the depths of work or school related pondering; laying out a plan for when he’s allowed to get back to being productive and useful instead of wasting his time drinking overpriced wine. 

The unbearable sensation of his older brother's wine-soaked breath next to his ear pulls Aemond out of his thoughts, “I’ve been told there’s a staff party happening tonight”

“Have fun” 

Aegon snorts and then smiles at his brother’s instant dismissal and the predictability of it, 

“Oh, come on! I can’t go alone” 

“Ask Daeron” 

Aegon leans in even closer, causing Aemond to recoil further away from his brother as he clicks his tongue in annoyance, “Daeron and I had a little disagreement this morning, he won’t talk to me” 

He hadn’t even noticed the strained tension between his brothers during dinner, the uncomfortable aura seemed to be a permanent companion to the Targaryen-Hightower family. And Aegon angering one of his siblings didn’t come as a surprise to him. 

Aemond’s momentary silence is wishfully mistaken as compliance by his brother, who finishes his glass of wine instantly before standing and thanking his family for the “lovely dinner”. He gestures for his brother to stand as well, flashing a victorious smile at his table-companions before he informs them, 

“Mondo and I have a party to attend” 

Aegon's rough hands shove Aemond into the packed room, following so closely behind that the younger brother has no choice but to walk further into the room.

Rarely in his life had he witnessed such an over-crowded space, sweat flying from intertwined bodies, the heat of the room causing the air to almost taste salty. 

He wrinkles his nose at the scenery in front of him, shoulders stiffening as he feels embarrassed by how utterly out-of-place he is. Afraid that his uncomfortable state will soon become prevalent on his features, Aemond shifts to the side, moving away from his older brother in an attempt to slink off as quickly as he’d been forced inside. 

Before he has a chance to retreat, he feels Aegon’s arm tighten around his shoulder in an aggressive, false sign of brotherly affection. 

“Don’t you fucking dare”, he leans in to scold his younger brother, steering them both towards the wonky fold-up table filled with colourful bottles of alcohol. 

The music’s loud enough to drown out all other noise, and Aemond has to duck his head to speak directly into his brother’s ear, “You really should have brought Daeron”

“He’s not the one who needs to relax”, Aegon replies matter-of-factly. He grabs two clear plastic cups from the table and fills them with what looks like vodka and some type of red soda. Shoving one cup into Aemond’s chest, he swallows half of his own’s content in one gulp. 

Aegon watches how his brother eyes the cup suspiciously, gaze trained on the fingerprints sporadically decorating the clear plastic, evidently reluctant to bring the stained cup to his lips. 

“Oh come on, princess!”, Aegon shouts, catching Aemond off-guard as he grabs his hand to forcefully move the cup towards his lips, “It won’t kill you!”

Aemond slaps his brother’s hand away before reluctantly taking a sip. The drink is sickly sweet, nothing but sugar and food colouring, but with a sharp, bitter aftertaste of cheap alcohol. Quite the contrast to the aged Dornish Red they’d had with dinner. 

The neutral expression he’d schooled his face into falters as the revolting taste of the concoction prompts him to involuntarily grimace. Aegon’s obnoxious cackle follows, face beaming at his younger brother's misery, “So I take it you don’t party at uni then?”

“Not like this”, Aemond admits, once again letting his eyes wander across the room. The space reminds him of the utility room at the Sept he visited as a child, old and worn down without anyone ever bothering to fix the dilapidated space. 

Some effort had been done to zhuzh up the place; hanging thin, blinking strings against the walls in lieu of using the cool-toned fluorescent lamps, and placing a mirror ball by the oversized speakers shoved into the corner. Still, the obscuring lightning couldn’t hide how foul Aemond found his surroundings. 

For their entire lives, his older brother must’ve downplayed his ability to read his younger sibling’s mood, because as soon as Aemond attempts to place the nauseating drink back on the table and leave, he feels Aegon’s alcohol-infused breath warm his ear, 

“It’s your last summer before graduating uni and officially taking up residence in Grandfather’s arse”

Despite his clear intoxication and the playful jab, Aegon sounds uncharacteristically serious as he adds, “Have some fucking fun”

The filthy floor sticks to the soles of Aemond’s shoes, forcing him to aggressively pull up his feet with each step. He doesn’t recognise any of the music playing, and the people surrounding the Targaryen brothers grind on each other in the most depraved excuse for a dance he’s ever witnessed. 

Still, he stays, bracing himself as he downs the rest of his cup, reluctantly readying himself to learn what Aegon’s idea of ‘fun’ entails. 

Despite continuously finishing cup after cup of the sickly sweet concoction Aegon’s forcing down his throat, Aemond fails to see what it is about parties like this that his brother finds so much enjoyment in. 

The crowded room still feels suffocating, the smell of sweat is pungent, and the young staff members Aegon’s been chatting up provide little in terms of being interesting conversation partners. 

“You’ve never had a girlfriend, right?”, Aegon half-shouts into his ear as yet another girl escapes Aemond’s one-word replies to her intrusive question, “You still a virgin?” 

He stares blankly in reply to his older brother’s question. Like he’d tell him of all people about that. 

Before being forced to answer, he’s saved by an excited shriek, 

“Oh Aegon, you made it!”

A clearly drunk young woman appears behind the duo, wobbling a bit to the side as she tries to find a comfortable stance. Aegon flashes her one of his insufferable smirks, surely thinking it’ll impress her. 

He introduces her to his brother, explaining that she’s the sad thing working as the resort’s dance instructor, and thereby spends most days in the arms of soggy, old pensioners. 

She rolls her eyes at his comment, gaze melancholically drifting away as she states, “Hopefully this’ll be my last summer here. If all goes well, I’m enrolling in dance school” 

Aegon’s barely listening to what she’s saying, instead he giggles over how she slurs when she says ‘enrolling’. 

Guess she’s not the only drunk one here. 

“So we’re celebrating tonight!”, his brother happily says before filling another cup to the brim and offering it to the dance instructor. 

“More like grieving”, she mumbles, bringing the cup to her lips to take a large sip, “Just found out I’ll need to bring a dance partner to the entrance exam in three weeks” 

Her unfocused gaze again drifts across the room, to a lean, mousy-haired guy grinding on one of the restaurant’s busboys, “I’ve asked Greyjoy to help me out but he’s not strong enough” 

The older Targaryen’s eyes light up at her comment, leaning in closer to her ear, “You know, I’ve got some experience” 

Her eyes widen in hopeful excitement, “You do? What kind of dance?” 

“Well-“, he licks his lips as he locks eyes with her, “Most of my practising has been horizontally. I’m very skilled with my hips” 

She instantly pulls back, expression thoroughly unimpressed, “I’m fine, thanks” 

Turning around to leave, she’s stopped in her tracks as Aegon grabs her elbow, 

“Oi, what about Aemond here? He works out like a maniac, I’m sure he’s got the stamina”

Aemond hadn’t really been paying attention to the conversation, finally feeling the effect of the alcohol heating up his face and causing his hands to tingle. 

She turns around, eyeing him up and down, “Have you ever danced?”

“No”, he answers truthfully. 

“He used to do horseback riding”, Aegon chimes in, “That’s kinda the same thing, right? Like, girly sports” 

Her eyes stay trained on the statuesque man before her, “I need someone who’s strong enough to lift me over their head”

“I’m not interested”, he curtly replies. 

Her gaze travels between the two brothers, once again rolling her eyes and shaking her head before mumbling something and walking off on unstable legs. 

Unpredictable as always, Aegon releases a roaring fit of laughter, “You’re so fucking dumb, Mondo” 

“Shut up”

“She’s out of your league anyway”, he breathes out between cackles, “You’d probably cum just from touching her” 

Aemond clumsily places his cup on the table, drunken haze elevating the irritation his brother instils in him, “I’m leaving” 

Shoving Aegon out of his way, he hears his brother’s laughter grow louder as he shouts, “You’re so fucking boring Aemond! Live a little!” 

When he’s finally free from the musky prison of the party, he takes a deep breath of fresh summer air and sets sight for the family villa. 

Aegon’s mocking echo in his head, much harder to shake off when he’s not in his usual, sober state. 

Just as he hears Aegon calling him boring for what feels like the 100th time in his mind, he spots her outside one of the more modest-looking cabins on the outskirts of the resort. 

Fuck it. 

Stomping towards her, he blurts out, “I’ll do it!”, a bit too loudly, causing her to jump from the sudden noise, eyes darkening as she recognises who’s approaching her. 

“It’s fine, I’ll find someone else”

Aemond huffs impatiently at her unwillingness to cooperate, “I said I’ll do it”

Her eyes narrow, taking in the stern look on the strange man suddenly insisting he wants to help her out, 

“Fine. Tomorrow morning at 07.00. Meet me by the boathouse” 

She’s by the boathouse almost every morning, thoroughly enjoying the fleeting moments of solitude she’s allowed at the resort. 

None of the residents were ever out and about at this hour, which means no distractions or expectations of politeness on her part. 

Taking a large gulp of water, she’s still feeling the taste of yesterday's cheap cocktail on her tongue. 

Drinking your problems away never works, stupid. 

Like most days here, there’s not a cloud in the sky. 

Early mornings were really the ideal time to practise; the sun’s still hanging low and the air is still chill enough to remind its surroundings of the night that had just passed. 

Starting with stretches, she stands wide while altering between preparing the muscles in her legs. 

Being granted a reserve spot at the school meant she had to perform an original routine, which was clearly instructed to showcase her creativity, as well as taking a written examination, testing her knowledge of dance theory. So, she’d made it a habit to spend the limited leisure time she had before work practising physically, and the evenings in her dorm reciting theory.  

The grass under her feet might not be the optimal choice for stability, but it allows her to take risks, the green softness cushioning her failed attempts. 

Just as she’s about to put on her headphones and begin, she spots a figure emerging from the other side of the large field overlooking Red Lake. 

He walks with pride, broad shoulders pushed back and head held high; a clear contrast to his slightly unstable steps outside of her cabin last night. 

Despite the time it takes his non-rushed movements to reach her, his eyes stay on her, locking her in place with his gaze. She’s almost overwhelmed by his presence; shock, intrigue and fatigue from yesterday's partying swirling in her gut. 

He came. 

[trashpandacraft]

hi! ok so i'm going to talk about one of my top-five favourite things, which is: dyeing stuff! this is going to be specifically about dyeing protein fibres (animal fibres—wool, alpaca, silk, etc) in a pretty low-key way in your kitchen.

to be clear up front: this is not the most scientific, most perfectly reproducible, or most Objectively Correct way to dye things. i get a lot of fibre that i like this way, though, and i think that other people can, too.

fibre i've dyed that i think is neat:

you can also dye yarn like this:

yes, i like blue a lot. i also really like variegation and heathering, which is why most of the fibre here has patches of white—it's an intentional choice that i've made. you can make different choices.

here is what you need to dye things:

fibre, vinegar, dye, a pot, heat, and some water.

that was so you don't get overwhelmed by the impending wall of text. here is what you need to dye things (it's the same stuff!), but with way more detail:

fibre or yarn. this is the big one, obviously. i tend to dye in 100-200 gram batches, because that's approximately what fits on my stovetop easily. if you're very nervous about felting or harming your fibre, you can use stuff that's been treated to be superwash, start with yarn (which is harder to felt than fibre is), or use a felt-resistant breed like dorset or suffolk. honestly, though, i learned with merino because that's what i had, and it was fine. again, though, this guide is only for protein fibres. it will not work for things like cotton. the only exception to this is nylon, which will take on some colour, but less than a protein fibre will.

a mordant. this is a fancy way of saying a thing that makes dye stick, and for what we're doing here, it's citric acid or vinegar. your grocery store definitely has at least one of them, though if you can choose, i prefer citric acid, because i love wet wool smell but i do not always love wet wool vinegar smell.

dye. i use acid dyes, and am personally deeply loyal to dharma acid dyes, but ashford and jacquard acid dyes work the same way. if you don't want to buy dye or don't have access to it, food colouring will often work, as well, though i haven't tried this with natural food colourings and have no idea how well they'll work.

a dedicated dye pot. ok, if you're doing food dyes, you don't need this. if you're not, it's definitely best practice, though i don't know how dangerous it is not to. any large metal pot will do, but my favourite option is hotel pans, which are those huge metal pan/tray things that hold food at buffets and the like. i have a full-size one that's 15cm deep, and a half-size one that's 4cm deep. they're great because they let you lay out the fibre you're working with so you can see most of it in a single layer.

dedicated dye utensils. as before, i don't know how much of a huge deal this is. i'll be honest and admit that for several years i had a single pair of tongs that got used for all tong-requiring events, including dyeing, and i'm still alive. i suggest that you have at least a big spoon, and a big spoon and tongs are even better.

something to mix the dye in. yeah, i use empty plastic sports drink or soda bottles for this. you can be fancy and get mason jars or little squirt bottles or whatever, and if you get super into dyeing you'll want to mix up dye stocks, but that's way outside the scope of what we're doing here. i like the powerade bottles that have a little squirty mouthpiece, because it's fun to squirt dye onto things.

personal protective equipment. i think this is the part of things that freaks people out. ideally, you wear plastic gloves and a mask (yeah, like your covid masks) when you're working with dye. realistically, i almost never remember to put on gloves and just accept that my hands are going to be blue sometimes. you should wear a mask, because dye is an irritant, but the world is an imperfect place and i have wicked bad adhd and sometimes i forget. this isn't advice. i'm just being honest. you should use some kind of safety stuff. you probably won't die if you don't.

you might also want some little random bits: an old toothbrush or paintbrush, a pipe cleaner, some toothpicks, etc. this is mostly if you like speckles, or if you want very small patches of colour.

so first: there are a million ways to dye things, and i'm not convinced that any of them are objectively correct. i do what i do and it works for me. some of the things i do are the opposite of what most guides suggest, but i do them because i like the effects they create.

ok, that's all the background stuff you need. let's dye some stuff!

the number one most important thing to remember when you're dyeing is this:

you can always add more colour. you cannot take it away.

that's in fancy writing and bold because every once in a while i forget this, and every single time i end up regretting it.

here is how to dye things:

put water, citric acid (or vinegar), and fibre into a pot. add dye and heat. let cool completely. rinse the fibre in cool water, then hang to dry.

like, sure, we're going to go into way more detail, but push come to shove, if you do that, you're going to end up with dyed fibre. there are a lot of tutorials telling you that you must soak your fibre first, or you must add your citric acid this way, or hold the water at exactly this temperature, and i'm here to tell you that while any of these things can give you different results, those results aren't necessarily better.

the only way that you can totally screw this up is by accidentally felting your fibre, so before i get into the way more detail part of things, i'm going to talk about that.

how not to felt your fibre

i feel like if you've read this far, you know how things felt: wool, heat, and agitation. you may also notice that at least two of these things are required for dyeing. this can be stressful! but you don't have to be afraid of it. there's only been one time that i felted something to the point that it was unusable, and that happened because i literally fell asleep for several hours while the pot was on the stove. you can avoid doing this by simply setting an alarm—this is a good idea anyhow, because you'll want to check on your dye pot!

when you're dyeing, use the lowest heat that you can while still keeping the water at a simmer. if your stove, like mine, has one burner that's wildly unpredictable and sort of out of control, you may want to look for some sort of flame diffuser, also called a flame tamer or a simmer ring. i bought one on amazon for about fourteen dollars, and it's literally just a thick metal circle. it works fine.

you can also keep the heat low by using a pot with a thick bottom, though in my experience those are expensive, and if i had one i would be using it for soup, not wool.

avoid shocking your wool—never put room temperature wool into hot water, and never put hot wool into cold water. leave your wool in the dye bath until it's cooled completely, which for me usually means overnight.

finally, obviously you have to move the fibre around some. you'll need to peek under it in the pan, and when you're done, you have to rinse it and squish out the water. try to minimise handling, though. don't run water directly onto the fibre, don't get a wooden spoon and stir your dye pot around, don't wring the fibre dry when it's done.

you're probably never going to be perfect. i often find that i lose a gram or two of wool where fibres have grabbed onto each other, or where parts of the ends clumped up. it's not really felted, just sort of compacted, but it's not great to work with, and i'd rather lose a gram of fibre than fuss with the clumpy bits.

back to how to dye things

let's take it step by step, assuming a hundred grams of fibre.

put your pan on the stove and fill it halfway with water. add either a teaspoon of citric acid or a tablespoon of vinegar. this is going to help the dye strike, or stick to the fibre. the teaspoon/tablespoon is a guideline, but one that it's fine to exceed. adding more will help the dye strike faster, which can be useful if you're trying to create blocks of colour on your fibre. i usually err on the side of a little more than the guidelines, and just eyeball this—if you feel like the dye isn't taking well, you can add more later.

add your fibre to the pan. this is the first place you have to think about what you want the finished fibre to look like! you can put it into the pan any way you want, but i suggest trying to keep it in a relatively even layer, regardless of what that layer looks like. here are some ways to get specific effects:

if you want a gradient from one end of the fibre to the other, use a rectangular pan and lay your fibre out so that the line of it is parallel to the short sides of the pan

if you want a short, repeating gradient, use a rectangular pan and lay your fibre out so that the line of it is parallel to the long sides of the pan

if you want something that starts with very close repeats that get further apart as you go down the fibre, make an approximate spiral

if you don't want A Pattern (i usually don't) just lay things out in a single layer, more or less

here comes the next exciting part! decide if you want to let your fibre soak or not. again, doing or not doing this gives you some different effects!

soaking your fibre will mean that dye takes more evenly. if you want consistent colours, you'll want to soak.

not soaking your fibre means that the dye takes less evenly. the fibre on top will have less acid available to it, spends less time in the dye bath, and also has to actually get wet before it will start to dye. i actually love doing this, and think it affords a lot of cool opportunities to play with and layer colours.

if you're soaking, leave the fibre there until it's submerged. if not, don't.

now you're going to add dye! decision time, again.

you can add dye when the water is cold, which will give you more even dye coverage, and in my experience gives the colours more time to mix together

you can add dye when when the water is hot, which will give you less even coverage, and tends to encourage the colours to stay more delineated

probably surprising no one, i tend to heat the water first unless i'm starting with a base colour or i'm doing a two-colour gradient.

time to mix up some dye

as i mentioned earlier, i'm assuming that you're using powered acid dyes for this. if you're not, this mixing up part is technically optional—but doing it gives you way more control about how and where you place your colours, so i'm going to assume that you'll do it.

i usually mix dye in some sort of empty drink bottle. regardless of what you're using, before you add dye to anything, put some water in the bottle, wipe off the lip, put the lid on tightly, and shake the bottle vigorously. if there is any leakage at all, do not use that bottle. find a better bottle. if your bottle cap doesn't seal well or if you have an empty condiment bottle that's just a little wonky or whatever, you will get dye all over the kitchen, and your landlord will be really really mad about it, and you will regret your life choices. (if you own your kitchen, you can do whatever you want, but this isn't about you and you know it.)

so you have a bottle that seals tightly! great job. dump out the water and carefully put some dye powder into the bottle. remember earlier how i said you should be wearing a mask? this is the part where you should be wearing a mask.

i know that people are reading this and going, ok, but how much dye do i put in?

my answer is put in the amount that feels right in your heart, and don't forget the number one rule of dyeing things, which is that you can always add more colour, but you cannot take it away.

this isn't a very scientific answer. most dyes have a guideline about how much to use, expressed as a percentage of the dry weight of the fibre, which is what you use to get the whole quantity of fibre dyed evenly. for dharma dyes, it's like 1.5-2%, i think ashford is 1%, and jacquard is more like 2-4%, depending on the colour.

here is the problems with doing that in your kitchen: first, using that much dye will get you an evenly dyed piece of fibre, which—for me, at least—is basically the opposite of what i want. second, and more importantly, unless you have one of those teeny tiny scales used by jewelers and drug dealers, your kitchen scale will not weigh out such tiny quantities with any accuracy. third, if you do it like this, you really have to plan what you're doing ahead of time, because there's a point after which no more dye will bind! the fibre will be like enough thank u that's it i'm good and that'll be it, so you lose some of your ability to decide that actually, you want more green.

you can probably guess, at this point, that i don't weigh the dye. once you've done a couple batches of fibre with a given brand of dye, you'll start to get the vibes for how much you should use. if you really want a guideline, for a hundred grams of fibre, start with a quarter teaspoon of a given colour. you can add more—either more of this colour or a different one—later, as desired.

put your dye in the empty bottle, and then fill the bottle partway with hot water. the amount of water doesn't really matter here, nor does the specific temperature of the water. i usually fill about 3/4 of the way, because that way there's plenty of room for this next step, which is: wipe the lip of the bottle, recap it tightly, and then shake it up real good. the dye powder is going to dissolve into the water, and you now have a bottle of dye!

if you're going for a gradient, you might want to mix up your second colour so you can add them at (basically) the same time for more even mixing. if you're not, or if you only have one mixing bottle, you can do them one at a time.

oh my god we're finally putting dye on the fibre

are you ready? it's time!!

you have basically infinite options for how to do this, and many of them will give you different effects. here are some ideas:

pour the dye all at one side of the pan. and if you don't add anything else, your fibre will fade from the colour of the dye to the natural colour of the fibre

pour two colours, one at either side of the pan. depending on how much dye you use (and remember, you can always add more), this will give you either chunks of colour surrounded by white, or a two-colour gradient

add all the dye to unheated water and mix it gently, then let the fibre soak for a few minutes longer before turning on the heat. this will give you a fairly even colour

pour randomly all over, and you'll either end up with a tonal yarn or a heathered one, depending on how much dye you're using

add the dye to the water under the dry fibre, which will sink in and take up more dye on the bottom of the fibre than the top

if your heat wasn't on before, it should be now, and you're going to let the dye hang out in the hot but not boiling water for a while. how long? well, one of the cool things about dyeing with these dyes is that they exhaust, which means that when the dye has been sucked up by the fibre, the surrounding water will be clear. how long this takes will depend on the specific dye, how much of it you used, how much mordant you used, etc. i try to check every fifteen minutes.

reminder: if you started with room temperature water, the dye's not going to start taking until the water heats up, so don't check it after fifteen minutes and freak out that nothing has happened. it is fully normal for it to take up to an hour for the dye to exhaust. don't turn up the temperature, just give it time.

yay it worked!

at this point, you have a pot of hot water with some beautifully coloured fibre in it! but maybe it's not beautiful enough. maybe you want...more colours.

that's cool as hell and you should go for it. we mentioned two-colour gradients up there, but what if you want something else?

the answer, probably obviously, is adding more dye.

first, a caveat: while you can successfully make multicoloured gradients like this, it's more difficult than you think, and if it gets messed up—all the colours bleed into each other, say—it turns into a muddy mess. my suggestion is to stick to two (or three at most!) colour gradients until you have a much better feel for what you're doing.

let's talk about ways you can add more colour. you have two options: big colour and little colour.

big colour is going to add a lot of colour—you're going to mix up the dye and pour it just like you did before, but paying more attention to places that don't have dye yet. sometimes it's the middle of a gradient, or the white splotches from random pouring, or the half of the fibre that wasn't submerged when you started. or maybe you dyed the whole thing yellow, and now you want to add a blue gradient over top. whatever!

if you don't want to freehand pour, consider buying a couple large syringes, or a bottle with a squeezy top. these are also fun because you can easily get more colour between the laid-out fibre, or even under it.

in the pictures at the start of this post, the red-and-gold top and both yarns were dyed by adding big colour.

little colour isn't going to add big patches, but is going to add speckling, tonal depth, or smaller patches of colour. all of the blue-base fibres and the yellow-and-blue yarn were dyed like this.

if you're still reading this closely, you might have caught that i just said both yarns were dyed with big colour, and that the yellow-and-blue yarn was also dyed with little colour. these are both true! the base colours of the yarn were done to make big colour, but if you look at the full-size image, there are also a bunch of speckles. you can do whatever you want! no one can stop you!

here are some ways to add little colour:

mix up some dye, but use less water. add drops of the dye, either directly onto the fibre (more dramatic!) or in the water (tonal!)

use a toothpick to grab a little bit of dye powder and drop it into the dye bath (similar to the previous one, but a little less predictable)

put on a damn facemask. take a clean toothbrush, paintbrush, or pipecleaner, and just barely touch it to the dye powder. gently flick or tap the brush to add speckles of that colour

find a salt shaker that you're never going to use for anything but this. put citric acid, salt (to make it distribute better), and dye powder into it, and shake it up (with the holes covered, please cover the holes) to make sure they're evenly distributed. gently shake this over the fibre to add speckles, but more of them, and clustered together

put a little dye in a spray bottle and gently mist the exposed fibre, kinda glazing it with colour

another thing is that if you like a natural coloured yarn with dyed speckles, you can do any of these techniques without doing big colour first. the only thing to note when doing this is that you'll want to be very sure to spread out the fibre well, and maybe to consider dyeing one side, then very very carefully flipping it over and getting the other side.

ok, now what?

let's say that you've added all the colours that you want, and you've let your bath simmer long enough that the water is clear, or nearly clear. (if it's not, check troubleshooting, below.)

put the lid on your pan and walk away. if you don't have a lid, just walk away, but it's less dramatic.

the super frustrating part here is that the safest thing to do is wait until the water and fibre is fully cooled before you do anything else.

have i ignored this? yes

has it ever gone horribly wrong? not horribly wrong, but it's definitely caused me to lose an inch or two of roving on occasion

is it way more stressful if you don't wait? absolutely yes

honestly maybe just go to bed and deal with your fibre in the morning

so now let's say that it's morning and you slept long enough that your water and fibre are both room temperature, which often actually feels quite cool on your hands.

you have to drain your fibre. there are two ways to do this:

lift the fibre out of the water. this has the upside of not risking dumping your beautiful fibre into your sink, and not needing to maneuver a full pot of water, both of which are admirable. the downside is that wet fibre is fragile, and you'll want to be careful to support it.

dump the water out of the pan. this has the upside of minimising how much handling you're doing of the fibre, as well as (in my opinion) making rinsing easier. the downside is attempting to keep the fibre into the pot while you dump the water into the sink, and also needing to carry around a full pot of water.

secret third option: dump the fibre (and the water) into a strainer. upside: very easy, and you can keep the fibre in the strainer while you rinse, minimising both how much it needs to be handled and the weight on the fibre. downside: i never remember that this is an option until i'm already elbows-deep in acidulated water, discovering every tiny cuticle tear.

you're going to fill your dyepot with water again so that you can rinse the fibre. you want to minimise thermal shock, so keep the water temperature as close to the temperature of the fibre as you can, and don't run the water directly onto the fibre. i like to pull all the fibre to one side of the pan, and fill the pan on the other side.

side note: if you, smart person, remembered that you can use a colander, simply fill a pot with water, put the colander in the pot, and gently agitate the colander.

if you, person who is deeply relatable, did not remember you can use a colander and now have a pot with clean water and fibre, gently move your fibre in the water to encourage any excess dye and also citric acid to get out of there.

drain your fibre again, and this time, you're going to squeeze it dry. you're still trying to minimise agitation, so this isn't a 'wring it out' situation, it's a 'gently squish it between your hands and/or a hand and the side of the pot' situation.

hang your fibre to dry. remember what i was saying earlier about it being fragile? let me suggest, here, that you do not simply drape the entire length over a single hanger or something and hope for the best. if you literally have a single hanger, at least drape it back and forth a bit, but better if you can use more than one hanger, or a clothes drying rack, or that weird metal wine rack thing that came with your fridge that you've never used, or whatever.

important reminder: drip-drying things will make your floor wet! if you live somewhere very clear with no major roads or pollen nearby, you can probably dry things outside, but if you don't, you'll probably want to position the drying rack in a bath, shower, laundry area, or otherwise over something that will catch and/or absorb the water.

how long it takes for the fibre to dry is another unknowable variable. if it's warm and dry where you are, it might literally be overnight. if it's damp and cool, it can take days. the batch i posted a couple days ago literally took almost a full week to dry. spread it out as best you can, gently squeeze out the water you can, and otherwise you just have to wait.

you're done!

when it's dry, that's it, you're done! you might find that you need to pick off some little lint balls or a bit of compacted or slightly felted fibre from the tips, but other than that, you should be good to go.

like most fibre stuff, this is best maintained by handwashing in cool water. you may see a little bit of dye or colour loss the first time you wash it, which is pretty normal and nothing to worry about.

congratulations! you made it to the end of this incredibly long post, and if you followed along, you've just dyed some fibre!

troubleshooting

this isn't dyed enough! i want more colours!

add more dye! i'm not the boss of you.

this is true even after the fibre is all done and dryed. there's nothing that says you can't dye it again—you can, and i have.

some fibre seems to require more dye than others. silk, for example, dyes beautifully with acid dyes, but also needs way more dye than i expect it to.

remember that if you're dyeing something that's a wool/cotton blend, for example, the cotton isn't going to dye. the only exception is nylon, which will kinda dye, but not as dramatically. this guide will not work for plant fibres.

this is too dyed! i want fewer colours!

please refer back to the number one most important thing about dyeing, which—as you know—is: you can always add more colour, but you cannot take it away.

pull out some more fibre and try again. this has a learning curve, just like any other fibre craft.

these colours don't look like i expected!

this can be about a lot of things.

colour guides, especially if you're looking at them online, aren't always very accurate.

colour guides tend to assume that you're dyeing a single colour at the suggested dye percentage of weight, and using less than that will give paler colours.

dyes, especially if you're mixing brands, can interact with each other and behave in ways you didn't expect.

dyes can also break, which is when they split into their component colour molecules. this happens commonly with blacks and browns, food colouring, and anything that dharma trading has marked as 'advanced'. some people find this very desirable and seek it out; some people are very frustrated by it.

the ph of your water can sometimes affect your dye. i've been lucky enough that i've only lived places with lead problems, not weird ph stuff, so i haven't investigated this closely, but if you're consistently not getting the results you expect, even going for a single, solid-colour dye, look at the ph.

my dye water's not clear!

if you used a quarter teaspoon of dye and a hundred grams of fibre, and it's been, say, 45 minutes of actually hot water and your water still isn't clear, you probably didn't use enough mordant, and you should add some more citric acid or vinegar to encourage the dye to get in there and do its thing.

if you used you used more like a teaspoon of dye, or if the citric acid doesn't change anything, you used too much dye for your fibre. you can either shrug and pour it down the drain, or you can add some more fibre and dye that, too.

my rinse water's not clear!

you probably used too much dye. it's ok—just keep rinsing it, gently, until it's more or less clear.

some colours just like to run—you know how every once in a while you get a yarn and it just bleeds a little bit every time you wash it? sometimes it's just like that. i wouldn't worry about it too much.

my fibre has felty/clumpy bits!

a little bit of this is normal, especially at the ends of a fibre that felts easily (this means you, merino!)

pick off the bits that you don't like—this is generally fairly easy, and involves very minimal fibre loss. i don't bother doing it until i sit down to spin, and then just pull off bits as i come to them.

if there's a lot of felty/clumpy bits, more than you can reasonably pick out, you agitated the fibre too much. there's not much for this other than trying to card it out, which may or may not work.

sometimes this happens because your stove got weirdly aggressive and boiled your fibre. especially for wool that's prone to felting, the bubbling and jostling can be enough to encourage more clinginess than you'd like.

i want my dyeing to be reproducible!

this is kinda doable. it's a handmade thing, so it's always going to have some natural variance, but you can do it.

buy a jeweler's scale that measures in fractions of a gram.

start measuring your dye and acid, and take detailed notes about what you do.

follow those notes in the future, and you'll be probably 90% of the way there.

i want to dye with natural dyes!

i fully support this and have played around with it a little bit myself, but absolutely do not know enough about it to advise you.

the internet is very large and full of many people who are much smarter than i am, and i feel confident that at least one of them is desperate to tell you all about how to do natural dyeing.

i am, at this point, not that person.

i want to dye plant fibres!

i am begging you to find another guide, because this one will not work.

you didn't answer my question!

that's what my inbox is for

i have to reiterate that i'm just a person with real specific interests who started dyeing things because i couldn't find or afford the kinds of colourways that i wanted.

i am not a professional

i will do my best to answer questions, but sometimes the answer is 'just fuck around until you find out'

plant fi—

shhhhh

the end

thank you for reading this incredibly long post! i might make another one in the near future, either so i can show pictures or because i took out an entire section about how to choose colours and pick a colour scheme and work with colours, and i kinda want to talk more about that, but this is no joke almost six thousand words long, so i thought, you know. maybe not tonight.

anyhow, i hope that this was useful to someone! thank you for letting me talk about one of my very favourite things.

[stargazing-sapphire2]

Legacy - 1/?

Summary: With the disappearance of Logan and with Rorke still out there, the Ghosts soon find themselves back at war with the Federation. Amidst the chaos and death, Beth and Hesh will soon find their relationship put into question when an unexpected surprise finds its way into their lives...and whether or not they will live to see the end of this conflict.

[A Post Call of Duty: Ghosts fanfiction; David "Hesh" Walker/OC]

TRIGGER WARNING(s): Canon-Typical Violence, spoilers for the Ghosts campaign, Unplanned Pregnancy, Alcoholism/Drug use, Psychological Torture/Brainwashing, Rorke is a whole ass trigger warning, PTSD *more to be added for future chapters*

TAGLIST: @thatonesillyducko @deeptrashwitch @gunnrblze @maymaylyn @blacktacmopsi @milkteaarttime @imagoddamnonionmason @me-is-confused @seraphiixiao

“So…is this it?”

Hesh lifted his head as he heard her speak. He glanced over at her curiously, noting the frown on her face.

“About what?” He questioned.

Beth shrugged, reaching over to push back her bangs from her face.

“You’re going after Rorke.”

“Yeah?”

Beth went silent, as if contemplating her next words. Hesh watched her passively, but some part of him knew deep down he was not going to like what she said.

It was the way she is, after all.

“I could go with you,” she offered softly.

Hesh immediately sat up with a start, and she mimicked the gesture.

“No,” he said, a little too quickly for his liking.

Beth frowned, sitting up next to him.

“Why not?” She demanded.

He hesitated.

How so badly he wanted to tell her…

“This is mine and Logan’s fight,” he replied.

Her eyes flared.

“It’s my fight too!” She snapped. “You’re not the only one who has a stake in this!”

Hesh’s hands grabbed at her shoulders, and Beth froze, eyes widening as she stared at him.

“I can’t..” His voice was shaky, breathless. “I can’t lose you. Please, don’t make go through that…”

Beth stared at him, her eyes softening monetarily as he said this. The pair sat in silence, waiting for the other to speak first.

Finally, Beth exhaled, reaching over to grip at one of his wrists as he slowly released her.

“It won’t come to that,” she murmured, squeezing it lightly as if to reassure him, or herself.

Perhaps to reassure both of them.

Hesh gripped both her hands now, his green eyes staring into her blue ones.

“Don’t make me go through that…” He repeated, voice wobbling as he looked her in the face. “Please…

“You won’t lose me,” she told him, leaning in closer and--

~*~

Hesh opened his eyes.

The first sight he was greeted to was the black canopy of a tent, and a dull, aching throb in his abdomen. Breathing heavily, he slowly sat up, flinching as his hand instinctively went to his torso as pain shot through it.

Where…?

A startled gasp came from a few feet away, and he turned his head, locking eyes with the source.

“Eva..?” He spoke, wincing at rough his voice sounded, and his throat felt like sandpaper.

“You’re awake,” Eva replied, sighing in relief. She set the clipboard that she was holding down, and made her way over to him, checking over his vitals and the wound in his abdomen, which was currently wrapped up. “How do you feel?”

“Awful,” Hesh admitted as she pulled away. Before he could ask for water, she departed from the tent, most likely going to inform someone he was still alive.

He was left alone with his thoughts, and everything came rushing back to him.

Rorke’s boot smashing into his jaw and knocking him back; his own screams echoing in his head, and laying there, helpless and useless, as Logan was stolen away from him.

All because he did nothing

He did nothing.

What kind of brother am I?

The tent flaps opened, and Hesh lifted his head to glance at the intrusion, his eyes meeting the sharp emerald gaze of Henry Ashford.

After the death of Elias, the other Captain had been named his successor, and as of now, remained the current acting commander of the Ghosts. Despite having grown up with the other man as another authority figure in his life, Hesh had seldom ever seen the man in person ever since he enlisted; having only ever spoke to him on the comms when they were out in the field.

To see him in person now meant it was important.

The Ashford patriarch looked tired, his eyes bloodshot and his hair slightly disheveled and a five o’clock shadow on his face. However, he offered a wry smile to the younger man.

“It’s good to see you alive, son,” he said. Hesh sat up, wincing as pain ripped through his abdomen, but he did his best to ignore it.

“Sir-“

“We’ll be moving out as soon as you’re recuperated,” Henry said, cutting off whatever Hesh was going t say. “We put a dent in the Federation’s forces, but—”

“Henry-“ Hesh tried to get out, frustration bubbling inside him.

“-With Santa Monica destroyed, we’ll need to find another base of operations. I’ll be getting our guys from DC on the line soon and—” Henry continued to drone on.

“Henry, where’s Logan?”

Henry paused his yapping, immediately focusing his attention on Hesh.

“Lieutenant?” The older man questioned.

“Where’s my brother?” Hesh repeated. “Where’s Logan?”

Despite his earlier thoughts, Hesh clung to the hope that maybe, just maybe, they managed to catch up to Rorke, and managed to rescue Logan.

Maybe he was nearby, maybe he was outside the tent right now, waiting to be called in.

His heart sank when Henry remained silent.

“Henry, please,” Hesh begged, desperation bubbling inside him. “Where’s Logan?”

Henry closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling as if contemplating what to say next. Finally, he opened them again, looking Hesh dead in the face.

“He’s gone.”

His heart shattered.

‘What do you mean…” Hesh stammered, trying to keep his voice steady. “That can’t…he has to be—”

“He’s gone, David,” Henry repeated, a little more sternly this time. “Wherever Rorke took him, he was long gone by the time we got to you.”

Hesh stared at him in disbelief, and Henry shook his head, glancing away from the younger man.

“I’m sorry…” He continued. “But I can’t afford to squander anymore resources looking for one man on a wild goose chase, nor is it a top priority. I’m sorry, David, but Logan is gone.”

He’s gone.

The words repeated in his mind over and over, like a broken record.

Anger, sadness and despair all welled within him, cracking at the wall he tried to hold up; damned if he would weep in front of his commanding officer.

Henry watched him passively, although there was a glean of sympathy in the green of his eyes.

“Take all the time you need alone, son…” He said in a low voice after a heavy pause. “Just shout if you need any assistance.”

He seen exited the tent, and Hesh was alone again.

Bringing his knees up to his chest, Hesh buried his face in them, his body shaking as heaving sobs began to tear their way out of him.

I’m sorry, Logan, he thought sorrowfully. Mom, Dad…I’m so sorry…

He let them down.

He had failed all of them.

What do I do now?

The dam broke, and the tears finally fell.

And he began to weep.

“I’m sorry…” He cried.

[rolotouto]

Official art #108

The 2nd Rolo in the series of monthly pictures called Small and relaxed Code Geass Life! This one is called: "Being considerate"

Here was the 1st Rolo we got, last year, which showed him under the rain. All of the pictures this year seem to match the ones which were released during 2023, and just like 2023's rainy day Rolo was followed by a rainy day Lelouch a few months ago, this month's Rolo is offering the bottle of water to last September's tired Lelouch. And I might as well also include the translations for the remaining Lost Stories monthly lines here, since Rolo thinks about giving Lelouch something to drink in one of these too:

July (both regular and dying Rolo): "Lately, the temperature and humidity have raised quite a lot. It's important to stay hydrated in order to avoid suffering summer fatigue." Why does this murder weapon know about the importance of staying hydrated... July (sailor Rolo only): "Lately, the temperature and humidity have raised quite a lot. I'll bring some sports drink for Brother so he won't get heatstroke." Tanabata (7th July - any Rolo): "A wish... As a student of Ashford Academy, perhaps "for the Academy to stay peaceful"... or something like that... Since regular!Rolo was added in July last year, the 1st of these was already available then, but I failed to record it. For now, I think I have posted every month-specific (and date-specific, like Tanabata, Halloween, etc.) line, including those which have a variation when you choose sailor!Rolo. There have been no dying!Rolo variations so far (and oddly enough he gets the same lines as regular!Rolo despite sailor!Rolo being the one who is more attached to Lelouch).

[hell-heron]

So. Nedbert Timeline. Especially good shippy moments/fanfic hooks highlighted

(sources: A search of ice and fire, A wiki of ice and fire, this fanmade timeline for some travel times)

262 - Robert born, around the middle/later part of the year probably. Brandon born, a little earlier the same year

263 - Ned is born

264 - Stannis is born, earlier in the year. Rickard visits KL but I wanna say doesn't bring the babes? But possibly that's when the fostering is decided if he had occasion to meet Steffon also

266 - Lyanna is born, late in the year, I really want her to be 15 at Harrenhal lmaooo

268 - Benjen is born (canonically have a similar age difference to Arya and Bran which I believe is 18 months) . Robert and Stannis visit court with their father, which would have made perrrrrfect sense as a stop on the way to the Eyrie where Robert was left with Jon at KL and Stannis went home with dad, but nooo. Couldn't have it.

271/272 - Ned and probably also Robert begin their fostering at the Eyrie. Meh. It's late fall or, if 272, the beginning of a "terrible cruel" winter, btw, great time to do this journey to the mountains. Great job making safe choices for these children, Rickard, Steffon and GRRM. Anyhow GRRM stated both boys were able to visit home during this time and divided their time between home and the Eyrie freely after turning 16. During this time, they also engaged in an orange fight in the great hall of the Eyrie

277 - Renly is born

278 - Cassana and Steffon leave early in the year to find a bride for Rhaegar. Robert turns 16 and goes home. Probably about the end of the year, Cassana and Steffon die in a shipwreck in the waters of Storm's End on their return.

279 - Rhaegar and Elia betrothed. Robert abandons lordship and young brothers to go straight back to the Eyrie and conceives Mya (he must be 16/early 17 as according to Ned he was younger than Mya is in AGOT, love these riddles). Note that I can't imagine Robert right now gleefully embarking on a ship, at least not from Storm's End, and KL-Vale is like two months' journey by land according to Tyrion's movements. He really peaced out of there fast. Possibly Ned is absent/has also gone briefly home for his majority? The winter also begins here around mid-year

280 - Wedding of Rhaegar and Elia which may or may not be attended by the Vale gang. Mya is born. By this time both boys are back in the Eyrie as Ned held Mya as a babe. Princess Rhaenys is born in the last quarter of the year also.

(some point between 280-281) : Ned visits Winterfell where Robert and Lyanna's betrothal is announced and they have the conversation about Mya and Robert's faithfulness

281 - Tourney of Harrenhal. Ned states he "came down from the Eyrie" to go there. This is in the third quarter of the year according to vibes I get. False spring lasts less than two months, in the last quarter of the year it's winter again. In the last month of the year, Aegon Is born.

282 - In the first month of the year, Rhaegar vanishes with Lyanna. Around the same time, Littlefinger and Brandon duel with all the drama that is involved. The Cat/Brandon wedding is probably scheduled around the second/third month but we know that doesn't happen. All this time however Ned appears to be in the Vale pointedly not attending 👀👀. Brandon and Rickard die. Various drama in the Vale with Ned and Robert going home to raise their hosts. Do Mya's vague memories of Robert work with her being two years old when she last saw him?? Anyhow. Ned and Robert spend the rest of the year apart to raise their banners and for the latter fight at Summerhall and Ashford

283 - Largely using the wiki at this point bc twoiaf says The Trident was in 282 and just no. Spring probably begins at some point this year. At some point between late 282 and early 283 Robert is wounded, hides at the Peach and conceives Bella. Ned and Hoster Tully arrive to save his ass. Battle of the Bells. Ned and Jon's wedding to Lysa and Cat, all within the first couple months of the year I believe based on Robb's nameday. Battle of the Trident - Robert is once again wounded (by Rhaegar??) so Ned goes to assault KL alone. At this point it's decided Robert will be king. The sack has to be within about a year of the start of the war, so first half of the year? Robert reaches the city, pardons are made, Ned is horrified by Robert's reaction to Aegon and Rhaenys's deaths. Ned leaves to interrupt the siege of Storm's End and do the Tower of Joy stuff.

284 - By this point it's summer. Stannis's assault of Dragonstone. Robert marries Cersei. DOES NED ATTEND THAT WEDDING? Canon says Lyanna's death reconciles them after their fight about the the Targaryen babies, so they saw each other after the Tower of Joy. Would Ned really bring Jon to KL, even if hidden? Did he send him home with Howland and went to Winterfell himself only later? Cat does say by the time she reached Winterfell "Jon and his wet nurse had already taken up residence" though also that "Ned brought Jon home with him". All this, btw, taking in account all the travel times, implies a Robb possibly 1 year old being able to walk and talk by the time he first saw his father, with relative disruption of bonding and possible struggle for Cat to get him to accept this strange man initially, all while she's in agony over Jon... take notes, NedCat week participants!

(it's not known whether Robert and Ned had any occasions to meet again in this 5 year span. A winter comes and goes sometime in this period)

289 - Greyjoy rebellion. Seems to have been spring/later summer. Ned and Robert are together for the siege and assult of Pyke. Unknown whether Ned also attends the tourney of Lannisport or any further celebrations. As we know Robert chooses to celebrate the happy reunion by immediately renewing Ned's child murder trauma from their last argument by giving him his own child hostage <3 unknown whether that was Robert's idea or Ned's ofc but I prefer the first personally.

292/293 - Seems to have involved a visit of Cat and Ned to the south as Cat recalls meeting 5 years ago Lysa and infant Sweetrobin and Ned recalls seeing Tommen during his breastfeeding years, however he claims to not have seen Robert after the Greyjoy rebellion. Interesting choice, could def use some fic and fanwanking. At this point Robb's 9, Sansa 6, Arya 3/4, Bran 2 - Joffrey 6, Myrcella 2, Tommen 1 - Theon 13 - Sweetrobin around 1 too but a few months younger than Tommen, to give an idea.

298 - Robert's visit, we know what happens

[orangeredandgold]

winter sunshine/sunset, bakewell to ashford in the water, 26/12/22 🌇☀️

[the-ashford-arms]

Discover the best day trips in the Peak District with Ashford in the Water as your base. Explore Monsal Dale, Chatsworth House, and Bakewell. Enjoy walking the Limestone Way, visiting Eyam, and water sports at Carsington Water. Plan your visit and stay at The Ashford Arms for an unforgettable experience. Book now!

[freehawaii]

HAWAIIAN ANCESTRAL BONES AT RISK ON MAUI

Hawaii News Now - April 5, 2023

Tensions surrounding the planned expansion of a luxury hotel on Maui are rising. The Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria Resort, has been wanting to expand for years. But protectors of ancestral bones, or iwi kupuna, say enough already. “I feel I was really called to do this. Like I was tapped on the shoulder and said, ‘come and help,’” said Clare Apana, head of Malama Kakanilua. Apana, along with Hooponopono o Makena president Ashford Kaleolani DeLima, are committed to protecting iwi kupuna on Maui. DeLima’s ancestors are from South Maui, where the Grand Wailea is located. “You feel this wind? This wind is gentle. That’s because my kupuna knows that I’m here speaking about them and trying to tell the truth,” DeLima said. DeLima, Apana and others say the Grand Wailea was built on sacred burial grounds. They are against the resort’s plan for expansion and renovations. “This is one of the areas where you find concentrations of burials. You don’t find this on any other property. You may find burials … but you don’t find burials in the concentrations that are on this property,” Apana said. The Grand Wailea wants to add 137 guest rooms, enhance its landscaping, pool amenities and restaurant facilities and improve its infrastructure. Maui Planning Department recommended approving the project with conditions in 2019. But last month, a Maui Planning Commission’s appointed hearing officer recommended that the Grand Wailea’s permits be denied until they can make “adjustments in the areas of traditional and customary native Hawaiian practices, traffic and water.” The permits are needed to complete the expansion. The resort says the project scope was reduced by nearly 40% to reflect community feedback and avoid ground disturbance in areas of archaeological or cultural sensitivity. “The hearing officer’s report was a welcome confirmation of Grand Wailea’s enhancement plans and commitment to being a good steward,” said William Meheula, counsel for the resort. “We agree with almost all of the recommendations, including that the project’s archaeological inventory surveys and monitoring plans that were approved by the state met the legal requirements, and have submitted a response largely supporting the report and demonstrating the project has satisfied the necessary conditions to proceed if approved by the Maui Planning Commission.” The hotel says its commitment to giving back is reflected in the more than $5 million donated to nonprofits over the last seven years. The resort’s managing director added that the hotel employs more than 1,200 people, and that the expansion will create hundreds more jobs. Apana and DeLima said all they want is respect. “The right thing to do is malama the iwi,” DeLima said. “Show respect and not only make money....”

[queenendless]

🏫School Mates (SuzaLulu x Reader)PT 1🏫

A/N: Testing the waters with posting the few fanfic content I have out so far for one of my nine fave anime ever. This reworked piece I've had for a long while is coming out. This AU is where you're a late new student at Ashford Academy. Yeah, it's sort of a love triangle. Hopefully, I can make this short story make sense in some way. All credit for Code Geass characters and pics goes to Sunrise.

DON'T COPY OR STEAL MY FANWORK, RATHER LIKE AND REBLOG. I hope you enjoy.

"Y/n … Y/n … Y/N!"

You get awoken from your dream by the calling of your name. Your head resting on your folded arms snaps up in attention to who spoke out only to spot violet eyes trained on you, exasperatedly looking at you.

"Being the new student and sleeping during class isn't a good way to make a good impression. Be grateful you sit behind me, otherwise you'd have your neck strung out by the teacher."

You then noticed students parting as class was over "Mmm … sorry … Lelouch." You mumble sleepily as your rub your tired eyes.

Said man, Lelouch, glared a bit more before his eyes softened, sighing before running a hand through his hair. "Honestly, where would you be without me?"

"I'd be dead." You dully uttered. You get hit lightly on the head by a rolled up paper, making you pout at him. "Hey!"

"No time for jokes. Come on, the others are waiting." Lelouch put the paper in his bag before taking your hand and pulling you to your feet, dragging you behind him.

"Lelouch, I can walk to the student council room just fine without you dragging me like a rag doll." You pitifully moaned as you felt sparks run through your hand as his held yours tighter taking the lead.

"You've been attending here for weeks now and you still get lost in these halls." Lelouch reminded you in matter of fact tone. His tone made you stick your tongue out with his back facing you. "And I'd quit sticking my tongue out if I were you or else you'll attract flies."

"Come on, Lelouch. Cut her some slack. She's still a late transfer, after all." An amused voice lightly chided as your free hand was held by a callous, warm hand that easily pulled you free from Lelouch's grip. "I got your back, Y/n." You turned around to see Suzaku in time as he gently bumped your shoulder with his fist, smiling carefree.

"My knight in shining armor," you softly cheered as you hugged Suzaku's arm, giving a closed eye smile as both guys blushed as they thought it was one of the cutest smiles they've ever seen. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Suzaku laughed a bit, smiling toothily back at you.

"If you two are going to flirt in my face, I'm not sticking around to watch." Lelouch rolled his eyes, he almost sounded like he was jealous; especially when deep down he didn't like you hugging Suzaku's arm in his presence. And he didn't know he would feel that sort of emotion over such a silly thing. But he couldn't keep a small smile from growing on his face as he shook his head to clear those ridiculous thoughts. "Come on, you two."

When you did arrive …

"Okay everyone, time for GUTS~!" Milly was loud and flamboyant as always.

"Aw come on, Prez! Another guts spell right from the start?" Rivalz complained, even though underneath he was secretly swooning for her hard.

"Um … hello …" Nina was typing at her computer, being meek as usual.

"Nice of you three to finally show up." Kallen said nonchalantly.

"Hi, Lulu~! Ready for another day of good old student council work~!?" Shirley ran over to greet Lelouch, teeming with a giddy, enthusiastic personality.

"Ready as always. You all should know that by now." Lelouch smiled charmingly, making Shirley almost swoon as the meeting commenced.

As the daily meeting began and went on for an hour and a half, you couldn't help but have your eyes travel around the room, landing on each single person. Every person here welcomed you into their school lives and their personal lives in some way.

Milly was as flirtatious as she was dramatic in her own lovable way.

Rivalz crushing on the pres hard while also being a goofball.

Nina, well, she was a shy introvert but a genius beneath … even though there were times you felt suspicious towards her.

Shirley, such an upbeat, enthusiastic girl with a good heart even though she's obviously falling hard for Lelouch and making it so obvious to everyone.

And Kallen, looks calm and mysterious on the surface but you had a feeling there was more to her and you had no idea why but you kinda like her for it. They slowly but surely became the first ever friends you ever made.

Soon, the meeting ended and you walked between Lelouch and Suzaku to the clubhouse which is also Lelouch's home on campus that he shared with his maid Sayako; you get the impression there was more to her like with Kallen as someone not to underestimate, and his little sister Nunnally … she was like the little precious sister you never thought you wanted; spending quality time with her especially when Lelouch was away doing his own thing.

Speaking of, Lelouch and Suzaku even … they were like two sides of the same coin. Two peas in a pod. So similar yet so different in their own respective ways. Lelouch is the brains, Suzaku is the brawn, but put them together … there's nothing they can't accomplish. You couldn't have one without the other and you wouldn't have it any other way.

In fact, it was Lelouch himself that allowed you to live with him and his sister in the clubhouse and asked Milly to convince her grandfather to allow it since the dorms on campus were already full. You may not remember much of your life before coming here, but a lot of meaning was brought back into your life, gaining new memories and a new life instead.

'So, why do I still have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind … this added pressure deep within my heart for how I feel towards these two guys … seems familiar. Whether it's good or bad … I don't know.'

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

"I like pancakes with marshmallows on top~! Heeheehee~! Yippee~! Whee~!" You blurted out randomly, causing Nunnally to laugh gleefully as she clapped, making you laugh too. You had just finished dinner with Nunnally and the guys; Suzaku was invited to eat over since he's their occasional guest as well as their childhood friend, and you were currently playing with Nunnally's hair. From the moment you met her, your heart instantly melted at the pure innocence that is Nunnally Lamperouge that compelled you to protect the precious girl with all your might!

"Oh, I'd love to try that sometime! Can we?" Nunnally had hope laced in her voice.

"Your wish is my command, my lady." Lelouch smiled charmingly, bowing before his little sister, making her giggle.

"I second that request, please." You raised your hand, smiling bashfully.

"At your service, my lady." Suzaku appeared by your side, also bowing to you, making your cheeks heat up and feel all fluttery inside. His eye closed smile radiated sunshine that is this wholesome boi.

As Lelouch gathered the empty plates to take to the kitchen to clean them up, you noticed him stopping to side glance at you, nodding his head for you to follow, before walking through the doorway. "I um … I'll be back in a bit, Nunna."

"Okay. Suzaku, do you want to make paper cranes with me? Miss Sayako and I were working on some earlier."

"That sounds fun. I'd love to." Seeing him gaze affectionately at her like another older brother to her made your heart skip a beat before you walked to the kitchen.

You spotted Lelouch's back to you as he washed the dishes. You slowly approached him, feeling nervous as you wondered what he wanted. You rubbed your arm as you do when you're anxious. The sound of his voice made you halt in your tracks.

"You and Nunnally have gotten closer over time. It feels like just yesterday when I met you; a meek new girl to our class. And yet, as days passed by, that very same girl became a part of our daily lives. As a school mate, then a student council member, and now a friend. For what was once hollow is now becoming whole again. At least, that's my basic sum of it."

You felt your stomach tie itself in knots as you timidly approached him, "And now?"

You watched as the reflection of his calm face in the window above the sink looked back at you; his violet eyes twinkling with speculation, before looking over his shoulder, now looking amused. "You look like a scared little thing with that look on your face. Relax. I'm not gonna bite."

"A – Are you sure about that?" You gulped audibly.

"I'm serious. I'm grateful to you for being here for Nunnally in my stead. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to Sayako and the student council being around to spend time with her when I'm busy with stuff … and I don't say this as much as I should … but … thank you." The smile he gave to you felt genuine and it made your heart flutter.

"It – it's fine. Nunnally … she's an absolute angel. And I'm grateful to her and you and everyone for accepting me into the student council and your friend group – !"

You stop speaking mid sentence. You froze, stunned in shock at the feel of lips pressed against your cheek. It took you a minute before you blinked your eyes back into focus from the daze you were in. "Consider this my gift to you."

You slowly raised your hand to touch your cheek; the tingling feeling where his lips touched your skin made something within you click into place. Your eyes traveled to meet his; you swore you just saw them glow magenta for a moment there. But his eyes were fine. Very fine in your opinion as you became lost in their beautiful violet sea; almost like delving deep into his soul and searching for something beyond your understanding.

You felt an unfathomable pull to him, making you lean closer as you noticed he did the same when the realization that Lelouch kissed your left cheek made you snap out of it; face aflame as you covered your mouth to muffle your squeak of surprise, snapping Lelouch of his apparent trance as well as he blinked several times to get back into focus.

"Mmm … I swear, everything I say and do gets you so easily flustered, doesn't it?" He laughed softly, even though his cheeks were flushed red too.

"N – No!" That just made him snicker in his hand. "I – I should head back now."

"But seriously, Y/n." You looked back to see his smile still there, tender and true. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

You returned to the living room and felt a smile break out at the sight of Nunnally and Suzaku smiling, laughing, making paper cranes together when Suzaku noticed you and waved you over to help out. But you were still reeling from what transpired in the other room.

'Lelouch kissed me. Of all people, me! It was on the cheek, but still! I don't know that much about his personal life; aside from his gambling trips with Rivalz. Did he kiss anyone before, cheek or otherwise? Before me?' You couldn't get that image of Lelouch's bemused expression out of your mind. You also couldn't ignore the fact that you felt Suzaku's eyes on you, a suspicious glaze to them.

Sooner than you expected, it was time for Suzaku to leave. You were lost in thought as you watched Suzaku bent down to hug Nunnally before nodding at Lelouch only to have your name being called on, pulling you out of it to say good bye. But as he smiled and waved, walking out the door, you watched his retreating form while Lelouch pushed Nunnally's wheelchair to her bedroom to get her ready for bed. That's when you felt the same magnetic pull with Lelouch reappear, making you follow the soldier outside.

"Suzaku, wait!"

He stopped in mid walk and turned back around, curiosity and concern flashed on his face as he cocked his head to the side, making him appear that much cuter. "Y/n? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No … the exact opposite, in fact. I feel …" Why are you feeling this way, twice in a row? "I just want to say thank you. Not just for tonight, but for every day since we became friends. It means a lot to me." You rubbed your arm, shyly smiling. "You … mean a lot to me."

His smile lite a fire in your heart. "You mean a lot to me too. You, Lelouch, Nunnally, the student council … you've all become so important to me." He walked towards you until you were standing face to face. "You above all else."

You gaped at seeing his face start to flush red and his green eyes became glossy and … tempted. "I … I am?"

He looked a bit stunned before his face broke out into a smile. "Aw, come on. You honestly can't see why?"

What happened next took you by surprise, almost as much as Lelouch's did.

The feeling of Suzaku's lips pressed against your other cheek; once normal but now burning with heat from those soft velvety lips of his. He pulled back to give a bashful smile, scratching his cheek, "Is that enough proof for you?"

You gingerly touched your cheek, feeling the warmth beneath your fingertips, as butterflies fluttered in your stomach and your heart was racing quickly. But that's when you noticed his green eyes glow; those mesmerizing emerald gems now stuck upon your awaiting face. His eyes softened as did his smile.

Your cheeks burned as you smiled shyly at him. "I … think so."

Suzaku laughed softly before holding your hands. "Y/n, you do mean that much to me. This past month spent in school with you, sharing classes and having study sessions, even just spending time with you like that has been … wonderful." You smiled the more he talked, leaning closer as did he when you noticed his eyes looking over you to far behind you; suspicion laced in them. "It's getting late. I should head back to my place. Have a good night … " Suzaku pulled your hands up to litter gentle kisses on top of them, making you smile bashfully, " … Y/n."

You took him by surprise as you leaned up to kiss his cheek "Good night, Suzaku."

You waved good-bye as his goofy smiling face looked back at you over his shoulder as he waved back too while hurrying off, almost falling over his feet from not watching where he was going, causing you to laugh out loud at his stumble.

But unbeknownst to you but not to the brunette was that Lelouch was watching outside his bedroom window.

He watched his best friend kiss your cheek as he did earlier.

He watched as Suzaku ran off, leaving you smiling and blushing as you felt yourself floating off your feet as you walked back inside.

He did not look happy. Not one bit.

[389]

BLNDRAVE XV MIX MAY '23

[ACID, BASS, BREAKS, BREAKBEAT, ELECTRO, TECHNO, JUNGLE]

Aroma Pitch - Water Air Water (Neukölln Mix)

Tony Q & Barry Scran - You Should Be Listening

INVT - ZUMBAYA

Aloka - Concave

False Persona & Tom Jarmey - Swarm

Liebknecht - Colossus

Boris Barksdale - Phormix - slip the pick

Private Caller - Bring That Back

Borai - Ruff

Ashford Knights - Sinkhole

Borai & Denham Audio - Make Me

Code Walk - Touch

Doctor Jeep - Vault of Glass (VIP Mix)

TSVI - Pull Up - Luru Remix

Ejeca - BetterB

Loco Dice, DJ Tennis - Roots - DJ Tennis Remix

Bambounou - EX06 (Galtier Refix)

Chicago Loop - Shifting Dimensions

Blk. - Kick Out

4am Kru, McDonald & Jannetta - Pianos Raining Down

Tessela - Hackney Parrot (Disaffected Bootleg)

Young Muscle - Smiley Face

Scaefa - Every Time

Shlundee - sometimes

Dexorcist - Rage Signal

Zomby - Euphoria