#christening gift ideas

[yolandachoclate]

From Chocolates to Keepsakes: A Complete Christening Gift Guide for 2024

Introduction

Christenings are among the most cherished events for families, symbolising love, blessings, and the welcoming of a child into their faith and community. Selecting the perfect christening gift can be a meaningful way to share in the family’s joy, offering something that will be treasured for years to come. As we wrap up this christening gift series, this guide will explore a diverse range of ideas—from sweet treats like chocolates to heirloom-quality keepsakes—that make for unforgettable gifts in 2024.

The Importance of Thoughtful Christening Gifts

Christening gift ideas are not just a present; it’s a reflection of the giver’s love, support, and good wishes for the child’s future. Gifts chosen for christenings are often symbolic, representing values like purity, protection, and love. Selecting a gift that aligns with these themes not only makes it meaningful but also turns it into a cherished keepsake that can remind the family of this special day. Let’s explore various gift ideas that encompass both traditional and contemporary choices.

Personalised Christening Chocolates

Personalised chocolates are a perfect combination of sentiment and delight. From engraved names and dates to chocolates moulded in shapes like angels or stars, customised chocolates add a personal touch that makes them unique to the occasion. Chocolates can be presented in festive packaging, like gift boxes adorned with ribbons or decorative wrappers that match the christening’s theme. Personalised chocolates can also be shared among guests, making them ideal as take-home treats that everyone will enjoy.

Timeless Keepsakes for Cherished Memories

Keepsakes are traditional christening gifts that often become family heirlooms. Here are some classic options that bring a timeless elegance to the occasion:

Silver Items: Silver gifts like spoons, cups, or rattles are symbolic of blessings and purity. Many silver items can be engraved with the child’s name and christening date, adding a touch of personalisation. They’re often displayed in the child’s room as a reminder of their christening day and may even be passed down through generations.

Photo Albums and Frames: A personalised photo album or frame is a lovely way for families to collect and display photos from the christening. Choose frames with engravings, or go for an album with a special dedication on the cover. The family can use these to preserve photos of the day and keep them as a memory of the child’s first major milestone.

Personalised Jewellery: A piece of jewellery, such as a bracelet, necklace, or locket, can serve as a meaningful keepsake for the child to cherish in the future. Look for pieces that can be customised with initials, birthstones, or religious symbols like crosses or doves. For a holiday christening, consider festive jewellery styles that blend with the season’s theme.

Practical Christening Gifts with Sentiment

Practical gifts that also hold sentimental value are always appreciated by parents. These items are not only useful but also serve as heartfelt tokens of love and care.

Personalised Blankets: A soft, cosy blanket embroidered with the child’s name and christening date is both practical and personal. Many blankets come in elegant designs, with options for customisation that can match the theme of the christening or the child’s nursery. This gift will keep the child warm during the winter season and serves as a lovely memento of their christening.

Memory Boxes: Memory boxes are thoughtful gifts where parents can store keepsakes from the child’s early years, including mementos from their christening day. Choose a memory box that allows for customisation with the child’s name or a special message, making it a unique and lasting gift. Some memory boxes are crafted to look like treasure chests, adding a whimsical element that makes it even more endearing.

Growth Chart: A growth chart is a practical yet sentimental gift that parents can use to document the child’s growth over the years. Personalise the chart with the child’s name, and select a design that complements the nursery or has a holiday theme if the christening falls during the festive season. Watching their growth progress on this chart will be a cherished reminder of the family’s love and support.

Religious and Symbolic Gifts

Christenings are spiritual ceremonies, making religious gifts a meaningful choice. Here are some ideas that honour the faith and symbolism of the occasion:

Children’s Bibles or Prayer Books: Gifting a children’s Bible or prayer book is a thoughtful gesture that supports the child’s spiritual journey. Look for editions designed for young children, featuring illustrations and stories that are easy for them to understand. Some versions come with the option for personalisation, adding a heartfelt dedication inside the cover.

Rosaries and Crosses: A small rosary or cross can be a lovely christening gift, serving as a symbol of protection and faith. For a more personal touch, choose a cross pendant that can be worn as jewellery or a decorative wall cross for the child’s room. Rosaries in soft pastel colours or made with beads that spell out the child’s name add an extra layer of thoughtfulness to this traditional gift.

Baptismal Candles: A beautifully crafted candle, often decorated with the child’s name and christening date, can serve as a reminder of the light and blessings bestowed upon the child. Some families light the baptismal candle on significant anniversaries, such as the child’s baptism day, adding a cherished ritual that grows with the family.

Modern and Unique Christening Gift Ideas

For those looking to break from tradition, here are some modern and unique ideas that are sure to make a memorable impression:

Time Capsules: A time capsule filled with notes, small gifts, and memories from the christening day is a wonderfully unique gift. Family members and friends can contribute letters, well-wishes, and mementos, which the child can open on a future significant birthday, like their 18th or 21st. This creative gift grows in sentimental value over time, becoming a treasure trove of memories.

Star Naming Certificate: Symbolic and ethereal, gifting a star named after the child is a one-of-a-kind gesture that holds a deep meaning. Each star comes with a certificate, allowing the family to locate it in the night sky. This gift is particularly fitting for a child christened during the holiday season, symbolising the light they bring into the family.

Personalised Storybooks: A personalised storybook where the child’s name is woven into the story offers a modern twist on traditional gifts. These books make the child the hero of their own tale, providing an engaging experience as they grow. Opt for stories that focus on values like kindness, courage, and love, reinforcing important lessons in an enjoyable format.

DIY Christening Gifts for a Personal Touch

For those who enjoy crafting, homemade gifts can be an especially meaningful way to celebrate the child’s christening. Here are some DIY ideas that bring a personal touch to the celebration:

Knitted Blankets or Clothes: A hand-knitted blanket, hat, or sweater can be a beautiful and comforting gift for a christening, especially if it’s made in holiday colours or decorated with small festive motifs. Each stitch reflects the time and care put into creating something special for the child.

Memory Jar of Blessings: Create a memory jar filled with notes of blessings and well-wishes from family and friends. Decorate the jar with holiday-themed elements, and present it as a keepsake that the family can revisit over the years. This thoughtful DIY project invites the entire family to participate, making it a collective gesture of love and support.

Handwritten Book of Affirmations: A book filled with affirmations, quotes, and positive messages for the child can serve as a source of inspiration as they grow. Write each message by hand, or create a scrapbook with decorative elements that make each page unique. This book will become a meaningful reminder of the family’s wishes and encouragement for the child’s future.

Conclusion

Selecting the perfect christening gift is about more than choosing an item; it’s about celebrating new beginnings and sharing love, blessings, and joy with the family. From timeless keepsakes and practical gifts to modern innovations and DIY creations, there’s something for everyone in this comprehensive gift guide. Each gift idea here serves as a reminder of the special occasion and the lasting bond shared with the family.

Call to Action

Explore these ideas to find or create a christening gift that reflects the joy and significance of this special day. Thank you for joining us throughout this series—may these ideas inspire you to give gifts that create beautiful memories for years to come. If you’re just starting your search, don’t miss our first article, "Sweet Beginnings: Discover the Best Christening Chocolates for the Holiday Season," where we explore unique chocolate gifts perfect for celebrating the arrival of a new life.

[dolcevalentinaofficial]

Celebrate Baby's Baptism with Unique Christening Gifts for Boys

A christening, or baptism, marks a momentous occasion in a boy's life. Choosing a gift that reflects the importance of this day can be a challenge, but fear not! This guide offers a variety of unique and memorable ideas to make this special day even more meaningful.

Timeless Treasures: Traditional Christening Gifts

Silver Keepsakes: A classic silver cross necklace or engraved baby cup becomes a cherished heirloom, passed down for generations.

Spiritual Guidance: A personalized Bible or beautifully illustrated prayer book fosters a connection with faith from a young age.

Modern Touches: Personalized and Practical Gifts

Cozy Comfort: A customized blanket with the child's name and christening date provides both comfort and a sentimental reminder.

Story Time Magic: A personalized storybook featuring the boy as the hero makes bedtime stories extra special.

Memories to Cherish: An engraved memory box becomes a treasured safe haven for christening keepsakes like photos and cards.

Gifts that Spark Curiosity: Educational Delights

A World of Knowledge: A curated collection of classic children's books or a personalized encyclopedia ignites a lifelong love of learning.

Playful Learning: High-quality building blocks nurture motor skills and creativity, while child-sized musical instruments spark a passion for music.

Beyond the Ordinary: Unique Gifts for the Special Boy

Reach for the Stars: Commemorate the christening by naming a star after the child, complete with a certificate and star map.

A Work of Art: Commission a personalized artwork featuring the boy's name and christening date – a painting, print, or digital illustration.

Gifts from the Heart: Sentimental Keepsakes

Delicate Keepsakes: A bracelet or pendant engraved with the child's initials and christening date creates a touching memento.

Handmade with Love: A handcrafted quilt passed down through generations or a hand-knitted blanket with a special pattern offers warmth and a sentimental connection.

The Perfect Gift Awaits

The ideal christening gift is one chosen with love and reflects the significance of the occasion. Whether it's a traditional treasure, a personalized keepsake, or a spark for learning, your thoughtful gift will be cherished for years to come.

[thebearer]

if you lie down, lie next to me |carmen berzatto x reader|

prompt: you and carmen are newly weds, moving into your forever home.

inspired by @carmybears fic assembly required which has been SO heavy on my mind lately mixed with lana del rey's "if you lie down, lie next to me" <3

contains: fluff. just fluff newly weds, alludes at smut, some language, but tooth rotting sweetness and fluff.

“Carmen, I’m not even kidding. Where the fuck did all of this stuff come from?” You groan, collapsing another cardboard box with a huff, shoving it into the pile with the others by the door. “Our apartment was, like, one-fifth the size of this one. The living room was like our whole apartment. How do we have this much shit?” 

Carmen snorted lightly, grinning and unpacking the various pots and pans. New pots and pans- wedding gifts.Your wedding came with an influx of appliances and cookware, gadgets for the kitchen that Carmen bubbled with excitement about. And a margarita maker- for you, of course- courtesy of Natalie Berzatto herself. The old apartment, you barely had space for the dishes and pots you had, let alone new ones. 

So Carmen kept them tucked away, until he got the new place for you. He didn’t have a clue at the time he’d be buying you the Brownstone you were in now, nestled in the heart of Old Town. A good neighborhood, close-ish to the restaurant, zoned in a good school district- a forever home, for the two of you. 

“I mean, most of it was wedding gifts.” Carmen shrugged. “The rest are your shoes.” He teased, a playful glint in his eye when he looked over at you. 

You rolled your eyes. “Ha-ha,” You said sarcastically, bumping him with your shoulder. “Seriously, though, I’m never doing this again. We’re here for life, Berzatto.” 

“That’s the plan, Berzatto.” Carmen nudged you back lightly, leaning to press a sweet kiss to your blushing cheeks, a loving squeeze to your ass when he passed you that left you squealing. 

“The good news is,” Carmen paused, sliding the pot onto the hanging rack over the island, stepping back to admire it. “The kitchen is unpacked.” 

“The most important room.” You hummed playfully. Carmen nodded in agreement, arms slipping around your waist, pulling you into his chest. 

“Think we should celebrate?” Carmen grinned. “Christen it?” 

“We already christened it.” You rolled your eyes at him. “Twice- no, three times, already.” 

“Yeah but now it’s done.” Carmen countered. “No more boxes in the way.” 

“I think you can only christen something once.” You give him a pointed look, ignoring the way his crotch is rubbing against your hip. You were still sore from the celebratory round of “putting the coffee table together” from earlier. 

“And I’m starving. Should we order in again?” You hum, looking at the fridge. Nothing but a bottle of champagne and leftover takeout Chinese food. Your stomach turned at the thought. 

Carmen caught your grimace, a hand running soothingly down your back. “If you want. I can run to the store, too. Grab some things for dinner. Break in the kitchen now that it’s done.” 

“I think I like that idea better.” You nod, leaning against his chest, feeling his chain through his t-shirt- the same chain you had tucked between your teeth earlier. Your knees wobbled at the thought. “What are you making?” 

“What’re you in the mood for?” Carmen tilted his head back to look at you. “Can make you whatever, baby, just lemme know.” 

“I am down for anything that doesn’t come out of a box.” You giggle, nose snarling at the Chinese food. “Surprise me, Chef.” You grinned smugly, content at how Carmen’s cheeks flushed with heat. 

“You wanna come with me?” Carmen asked, reaching over to swipe his keys off the kitchen counter. 

You rolled your lips in thought. “I need to shower.” You blink at him sweetly. “I feel all sweaty and gross.” 

“Alright. Need anythin’ else, baby?” Carmen is looking for his phone, patting his pockets and turning in a semi-circle to look around him. 

You roll your eyes, plucking the phone off the coffee table in the living room, passing it to him. He was always losing his phone. You’d begged him to get an Apple watch but he swore it got in the way of his cooking, so you took to texting Nat or Richie- who always had their phones- when you needed him. 

“Something to drink? Unless you want champagne because I’m pretty sure that’s all that’s in there.” You giggle, looking at the fridge. 

Carmen smiled, pulling his hat over his tousled locks. “I got it.” He muttered, leaning to press a sweet, soft kiss to your lips, hands splaying over your hips, pulling you closer and closer into him. 

He always managed to make you swoon like that, cheeks rushing with heat, dizzy and light with love. You hoped you’d always feel like this. Even when you were old and wrinkly and wobbly, you hoped Carmen would still kiss you like that- in this very spot, in this very house. 

“Oh, Cass Elliot?” You grinned, spinning with the vinyl in your hands, brows raised playfully at Carmen. “He has taste.” 

Carmen snorted lightly in laughter, dishrag slung over his shoulder, spooning the sauce over the chicken in the pan. The kitchen was warm, smelling heavily of spices and a dash of citrus. You’d set up the vinyl in the corner by the nook, an old school record player passed down from Carmen’s grandmother. His Nonna Berzatto, who he adored. He had told you about how he’d always go over and help her make Sunday sauce. She had that same vinyl in her kitchen, next to a picture of her parents, and a prayer candle of Mary. It was all he managed to get, keep after she passed and his parents sold everything else that they could. He’d even snagged a few records, though the one you held looked new. 

“Yeah. Thought you liked her stuff?” Carmen muttered, eyes cutting to yours gently. 

“I do.” You grinned, slipping the record out of the protective paper. “How’d you know that?” You lifted the arm of the record player, slipping out the old disk and sliding in the new one, careful of the bouquet you’d just placed by it. Carmen had snagged one at the grocery earlier, surprising you with the beautiful bloom when you’d gotten out of the shower. 

“Because, you told me.” Carmen said simply, checking the asparagus inside the stove. Your heart fluttered. “When we were comin’ back from that trip… The, uh, the one we took to Detroit, remember? You played it on the way back.” 

Your chest soared, filling with that warmth that made your body tingle from head to toe. “You remembered that? That was… two years ago?” 

“Of course I remembered that.” Carmen scoffed lightly, shaking his head at you like he couldn’t believe you’d say something so ridiculous. “You said that, uh, that one song was like the love song to you. So I-I started listening to it because… ya know, it reminded me of you and stuff.” Carmen muttered, cheeks heating at the omission. 

You beamed, lifting the long arm of the record player, letting it softly come to life with a scratch of static before the slow melody filled the room. “You’re sweet.” You hum, arms wrapping around his torso, swaying gently to the familiar medley. “Never would’ve guessed you woulda been this sweet.” 

“Yeah? I’m given’ off asshole vibes?” Carmen laughed, hips turning slightly to face you. 

“Not at all.” You shook your head. “Gave off recluse vibes.” 

“Recluse?” Carmen turned to you. 

“Yeah, like… quiet, shy boy vibes.” You giggle. “You barely spoke to me when I started… and you hired me!” 

“I thought you were pretty.” Carmen shrugged boyishly. “And I thought if I talked to you, I’d throw up or embarrass myself. Also thought there was no way you’d be single. Too pretty and funny and… I dunno, thought you’d never go out with me.” 

“Little did you know.” You grinned wickedly. “I had been stalking you in secret.” Carmen laughed at you. “I thought you were pretty, too.” 

Carmen blushed at your omission, lips twitching in a smile. You swayed lightly, cheek pressed to his chest, letting the soft melody lull you. You remembered the car ride back from Detroit. Carmen was going to some chef expo there, trying to network and get Sydney the star she deserved. You’d agreed to go along. Things were far enough along it was stable, but still new and exciting. Your first real trip as a couple. You’d stayed in a hotel, gone to Carmen’s colleague’s fancy restaurant, went sightseeing and shopping hand-in-hand. You couldn’t help feeling so romantic, shuffling songs from the playlist you listened to when you were getting ready for a date. Old school tracks, filled with symphonies and ballads of love. 

“I think this is almost done. D’you want to grab the glasses and I’ll-” 

“-Let it sit for a minute.” You sigh contently, turning down the heat on the stove top. 

“What’re you doin’?” Carmen huffs in laughter, turning while you pull at him, your hand lacing through his own, tugging him to the open space on the other side of the kitchen island. 

You just smile at him, pulling him close to you. Your hand in his, the other wrapped around and settled on his spine. His free hand followed, sliding down your back. You leaned towards him, chin tilted towards his face, his curls tickling your forehead. You swayed slowly, nothing elaborate or coordinated, just a soft shuffle type sway, Carmen pulled close to you. 

“‘M not good at this.” Carmen’s breath hitched, hand squeezing yours, his thumb gliding over your wedding rings. 

“Yeah, you are.” You hum, nose brushing his. “Best dancer I’ve ever seen.” You mutter, your lips slotting over his sweetly. Carmen’s hand left yours, cupping your jaw and pulling you closer, his lips soft against your own. Your head found his shoulder, dipping into his collarbone, arms wrapped around his torso while he rocked you gently. The sound of Cass Elliot’s voice humming out of the record player Baby, I’m Yours fading into Words of Love. The fan from the stove still buzzing with life, wafting out the steam from the pans, rhythmically merging with the sounds from the street. A relatively quiet neighborhood, filled with quiet cars and the occasional children’s screech from their strollers that pushed by. It was all so calming, the sound of your new home. Sounds you hoped would become familiar overtime and still shared with Carmen.

[hanasnx]

(the executive dysfunction monster hit me too, i fear. was stuck between babydaddy!red hood and babydaddy!arkham knight, but i settled on red hood bc i'm choosing to gatekeep my ak thoughts)

baby daddy!jason, who you co-parent with in a very civilized way. no joke, the picture of camaraderie between exes. he takes your daughter on the days he's supposed to (which isn't that often, given his occupation) and brings her back on time, always with a little gift for you as well. flowers, chocolates, a little knick-knack reminiscent of when you were together. it's not because he's in love with you or anything; it's just the principle of the matter. "happy wife, happy life," not that you were married or even dating, but he figures the mother of his child should get love sometimes. 

baby daddy!jason, who, the next time he sees you, it's to drop off something your daughter forgot with him, and as he's handing you the bag, he casually asks why you haven't been asking him to take her more often. you had been for a while when you were going on dates weekly, but for some reason, the relationships never went anywhere, so you just gave up. "oh, you know, it just wasn't working out." you say off-handedly, "kept getting ghosted." you sound only marginally disappointed, moreso annoyed. "hm, what a shame, they're really missing out," he says, getting real close to you and taking up your entire field of vision.

baby daddy!jason, who's got your entire calendar memorized and knows that his daughter's not home tonight, and you've got no plans other than watching movies in solitude. he knows you're too stubborn to call him over for company even though you've been giving him fuck me eyes in passing for the past few months, so he figures he just has to take matters into his own hands and corner you until you give in like he knows you want to.

baby daddy!jason who fucks you on damn near every surface in the house, telling you he's just christening the place like he would've already done if you lived together. whispers apologies in your ears about scaring off all of your dates while he's splitting you open, bullying his cock into you while your eyes roll to the back of your head because you haven't been fucked this good in years, not since the last time you'd been with him. your face is deep in some pillows when you realize the memories you had of his dick pale in comparison to the real thing, and you weren't sure you could go back to using your imagination to get off after tonight.

baby daddy!jason, who keeps you up all night until your pussy's red and puffy from how many times it'd come in contact with his hips while he was fucking you. fat tip kissing your cervix until you were clawing at his biceps, begging him to give you some reprieve, tears in your eyes while you babble incoherently, too lost in the feeling of him to make any sense. he admits in the midst of sex that he tried to get over you, he really did, but he just couldn't; just couldn't picture you with another man in any capacity. the thought of someone else touching you, fucking you, loving you, made his stomach turn, filling him with rage and an overwhelming need to claim you as his. 

baby daddy!jason, who's a level-headed, non-fragile ego'd man until it comes to his family, which, contrary to what some would say, did not only consist of his daughter but you too, and any guy who tried to get with you was a threat. he didn't know the intentions of other men, but he knew his own, which was to keep his little family happy as long as he was alive. if that meant putting a gun to the head of anyone who made a move on you and consoling you by stretching you out the way he knew you liked until you just said "fuck it" and let him put another baby in you, then so be it.

-🍃

i have a hard time responding to long inbox messages but i wanted to tell you thank you for indulging me in my idea i loved reading this :)

[esther-dot]

Cinderella

Cinder-Jaehaerys 5k by @wendynerdwrites

A gender-flipped Cinderella Story

Lavender's Blue 4k

Once Upon A Time, in a faraway kingdom, Sansa Stark was humming a song while she swept the floors of Winterfell. Her face was covered in dirt and ashes. Her hands were dry and wrinkled from washing clothes and doing the dishes. But her hope and kindness had not been damaged by all those years of being ordered around by Ramsay Bolton and his girlfriend of the week.

The Weirdwood, the Wolf, and the Glass Slipper 5k

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a girl who loved her father very much….A Cinderella version of Jon/Sansa, mixing elements from the Cinderella stories as told by the Brothers Grimm and the film Ever After.

Together All the While incomplete 28k

Sansa Stark wanted to keep her household together. She borrowed a dress. Prince Jon wanted to escape his fate. He stole a horse.

Cinderella gifset by @yenstarkofrivia

Allerleirauh

Past Our Satellites 140k

Inspired and loosely based on the tale Thousandfurs (from Allerleirauh: All-Kinds-of-Fur) and Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm Rough summary of the tale for those who are unfamiliar with it: "A king promised his dying wife that he would not marry unless it was to a woman who was as beautiful as she was, and when he looked for a new wife, he realized that the only woman that could match her beauty was his own daughter." (from Wiki)

Princess Furball 9k

When Sansa's father announces his intent to marry her, she attempts to trick him out of it, demanding impossible gifts. When her father inexplicably succeeds in fulfilling her requests, Sansa fakes her death and flees her father's kingdom in a coat of many pelts. Sheltered by her trusty direwolf, Lady, Sansa is found by the prince of a foreign realm, who christens her "Furball". The former princess hides out working in the king's kitchens as a curiously humanoid animal as war looms. But things change when two kings and a prince die…

Swan Princess

The Little Bird Princess 18k @captainbee89

When Rhaegar defeated Robert Baratheon on the Trident, he only spared Ned out of love for Lyanna. And on the condition that Stark's eldest daughter would one day wed his son and quell the fighting between the North and the Crownlands for good.

This isn't my idea (this is my idea) of fun 10k orphaned

Their eventual marriage is meant to strengthen the Northern/Southern alliance, but Jon Targaryen and Sansa Stark can hardly stop bickering long enough to make peace with each other, let alone their kingdoms. But it only takes a few meddling parents, suggestive friends, and a jealous sorcerer's magic spell to show this couple that what they've been dreaming of has been there all along.

Moodboard and ficlet by @otp-that-was-promised

Every summer since they were children, Princess Sansa and Prince Jon are brought together in hope that they will fall in love and marry, uniting their two kingdoms. When they meet for the first time, the royal children take an immediate dislike towards each other, but as the years pass they gradually fall in love.

Snow White

Younger More Beautiful Queen 1k by @captainbee89

If the rumours were true, Jon Snow would be Sansa's cousin, a suitable match in both name and blood. Together, they could bring the whole of the seven kingdoms together peacefully. With Jon, Sansa would be Queen. As Queen, Sansa could order the death of Joffrey as revenge for Ned Stark's death. And what of her other children? Tommen and Myrcella would be taken from her, labeled as bastards and stripped of all their prospects. How dare this silly little girl be the more beautiful Queen she had feared? She would not have it.

The Dragonknight 7k

The day that Sansa got her moonblood, Queen Cersei's magic mirror named her the most beautiful woman in the world. There was only one thing to be done with the imprisoned Queen of the North... the child had to die. Cersei hadn't counted on her twin's soft heart or the wolf in the woods.

Little Red Riding Hood

Throw me to the Wolves 2k

Winter had been hard on Old Nan and everyone in the village worried about her, so it was decided that Sansa should make the trip to her cottage on the other side of the woods to bring her some bread and ale. On her way there, she meets a stranger…

In the Company of Wolves 10k incomplete

Fair of face and kissed by fire, Sansa Stark is a force to be reckoned with—with a feisty spirit to match the flare of her flaming hair. Still, there’s no shortage of suitors vying for the hand of the eldest daughter of Ned and Catelyn Stark—but despite all their clever plans, Sansa vows she will only marry for love. A chance encounter with a mysterious stranger in the woods, sets her on a path of passion and dangerous intrigue. Is Jon her salvation or her damnation? Perhaps he is both.

Red Riding Hood Gifset by @dcbicki

The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Tin, Paper, Snow 17k incomplete

“Brave soldier, never fear. Even though your death is near.” The flames danced as high as a dream in a million, billion colours- scarlet, orange, purple, even blue, casting rich shimmering shadows on their faces and their hands and their hair. He steadied himself, stood upright, held onto her for dear life. "Would that we were made of glass," he thought. "Tin doesn't do well here. Nor paper." Higher and higher, the flames rose, crackling, singing. Tin, Paper, Snow, they whispered. It's time to let her go.

12 Dancing Princesses

Drifting through the halls with sunrise 3k

They were selfish girls, it was their choice that sentenced these men to death, month after month. The cycle would continue, soon the girls behind her would forget about the man on the stone steps, they would don their masks and new shoes and dance until the sun rose over the Narrow Sea.

The Little Mermaid

only a salt kiss remains ficlet by @flibbertigiblet

He was drowning, and then he was not. (He hears her before he sees her, his angel.)

wish i could be 10k by @theshipshipper

"Oh dear, you look cold," Queen Cersei said softly, floating next to her. "Come, come. Let's get you inside." The Queen led her into the dark cave, offering her a seat. "Now, then. I'm told you're here because you desire to be with your Prince?" She flicked her hand and an image of Prince Jon erupted from thin air. "Hmm. I see now... Quite a handsome fellow." Sansa couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. She'd wondered how he was faring after the shipwreck and ached to check for herself. She was relieved that he seemed alright. "My sweet summer child, you have it bad," Queen Cersei informed her, a smile in her voice. She blinked. "I -- what?" "You're in love," she clarified with a laugh before swimming towards a tall shelf in the corner. "I know exactly what you need."

Mermaids Have No Tears ficlet

Little Mermaid AU, specifically the Hans Christian Andersen version.

Gifsets: Part of Your World by @tatesharon The Little Mermaid by @swainlake The Little Mermaid by @dcbicki The Little Mermaid by @sardoniyx

General

Jonsa fairytale ficlet and gifset by @thewindsofwolves

Even though Sansa is now fourteen, she still feels a special enthousiasm for magic. And as Jon likes nothing more than pleasing Sansa, he shares the same enthousiasm. Then, as they are both bored during the great annual Christmas party hosted by Sansa’s dad, she asks her cousin to make one of his trick so the night can be less boring. Taking her outside, he brings her to the well, and asks her one of the ribbons she wears in her hairs. He asks her then to close her eyes and make a wish, before dropping the ribbon into the well. I wish we could go into an adventure.

The Snow Queen and the Huntsman Gifset by @dcbicki

Jonsa x Disney gifset by @amandapeetshusband

PRE CANON - WESTERN - FAIRYTALE - REGENCY - LITTLE WOMEN - HOLIDAY - SEASON SIX - ANNE OF GREEN GABLES - THE GIRL IN GREY -- next week -> POLITICAL MARRIAGE/MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE

[blakelysco-pilot]

Over the Threshold

A post-war interlude in the Eight To the Bar series.

When Valencia had written home in August 1943, she wasn’t sure how her mother would react to the news that she had met someone. She’d been through it before; once, where she had gushed over a wonderful man that had only ended up hurting her, only after she’d given all of herself to him. When she had spent hours crying on Curt’s shoulder, never fully divulging to her mother what had happened. Only that, her wonderful man had found someone else.

Her mothers first letter had been what she expected. Skepticism and worry for her daughter; so far away and falling in love on a whim with a pilot. But as time wore on, and Everett remained part of her letters her mother seemed to warm up to the idea of him. It was a letter in March of 1945 that had surprised her- the parlor floor in her childhood home, a gift for them both, should they choose to start their life in New York after the war.

A building that her father had saved to purchase when they immigrated from Sicily, and that her mother had kept pristine after his death. She’d collected rent from tenants for years, and to know that her mother was giving up the rent on that floor for her and Everett, well, that meant something. Everett was excited at the prospect, writing to his own mother back in Seattle to invite her to meet him in New York, to meet Val, whenever the time came. But he knew his sweethearts family relied on that rent, so he made a promise to his mother in law that they would continue to pay rent until they found a place of their own.

So, they had stayed, and lived in the DiRosano home while they worked on their own fixer upper. It had taken them six months into their marriage, plus the eight months prior, to get their forever home ready. Not going far from her mother in Bensonhurst, they were making the ten minute move to Dyker Heights.

Now, the day was upon them, and he wasn’t surprised to find her sitting in the bay window in their now vacant parlor floor apartment, knees tucked up to her chest as she watched the leaves fall over Bath Avenue.

“Honey?”

“Hmm…”

“Val, all that’s left is, well, us.”

“Okay…”

That’s when he saw the tears in her eyes. He rarely ever saw her cry; there had been only four occasions; when Curt went down, VE Day, when he proposed, and the day they got married. He could count it all on one hand.

“Oh, sweetheart, are you okay?”

“I’m being silly,” She furiously wiped her eyes. “It’s not like the house is going anywhere. Mama and this place are staying put.”

“It’s okay to feel sad,” Coming to sit behind her, he pulled her back against his chest. “You lived your whole life here. We started our life here.”

“You’re right…”

“Of course I’m right. Now come on, I want to carry you over the threshold of our house.”

“Charmer,” She scoffed. “How many thresholds have you carried me over now?”

“Hmmm, this will make three,” He murmured, pressing his lips to the underside of her jaw. “The hotel in Palm Beach on our honeymoon, this place, and now…”

“Hmm, I see your point. Lots of new rooms to christen, too, Mr. Blakely.”

“Exactly,” He grinned against her cheek. “What do you say? Ready for the next adventure Mrs. Blakely?”

Turning from her spot, she wrapped her arms around him, carding her fingers through his already mused hair, the curl that fell over his forehead landing right back in place. Everett pulled her into his lap with practiced ease, holding her close as she took her time letting her hands explore him as they had done countless times before. Nosing against him, her eyes fluttered closed as she inhaled his scent, the cologne he had put on after his shower that morning now mixed with the scent of a hard day's work. She had never loved a single scent more than that of her husband.

“Take me home,” She whispered, teeth closing over his earlobe, tugging gently. “But first, one more for the road.”

Tag List: @winniemaywebber @sagesolsticewrites @bobparkhurst @rosiesriveter @victoryrollsandredlips @bcolfanfic @major-mads @footprintsinthesxnd @roosevelt-stalin-cocacola @justheretoreadthxxs @claireelizabeth85 @hephaestn @ktredshoes @barrykeoghussy @peachessndreamss @hellfirequinnie @spinteresting @prettyinlimegreenboots @manonsmanicmind @precious-little-scoundrel @beingalive1 @ptvstvrrr

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hi! I have a mentor at work who is about to move on to bigger and better things, and the entire team wants to get them something as a thank you. They're Welsh, and whilst we could just get them a nice bottle of alcohol or something I was wondering if there's any traditional Welsh item or gift that is traditionally given as a sign of respect or thanks? We'd really like to make it personal for them to express how much we appreciated all the work they put into our team. Thank you!!

This is extremely sweet! What a lovely idea

You could in theory get a little lovespoon? They're traditionally for a partner, but in modern Wales we give them for Christenings, new houses, etc. "Thanks, we love you (professionally)" would be appropriate.

Diamonds, horseshoes, wheels and dragons would all be appropriate symbols (wealth, good fortune, hard work, protection), as would the more modern ones. And a single heart would just be a sign of affection. You can get either wood or metal ones, and it needn't be a huge all-bells-and-whistles one.

The Lovespoon Gallery in Swansea have some nice ones:

Or you could get one made special. Either way! That would be my suggestion.

[charmercharm3r]

could i request riding but mostly fucking han in a new set of lingerie? (like a new set for him as a present for anniversary or something?)

i just cant get han out of my head lately bro 😵‍💫

oh wowww I love the idea of hannie being into lingerie. may I suggest another one of my own that alsoooo stirs that pot a bit ;) (sharing is caring) ONTO THE NEXT!!!

Scarlet Letter

HJS

Masterlist

wc: 4k

Synopsis: Night owl workaholic boyfriend, needy horny girlfriend. What else needs to be said?

warnings: smut, sexual explicit content, softdom!jisung, porn with no plot lol, thigh riding, thigh fucking, pretty pretty lingerie, nicknames (good girl, bunny), cum eating, reader gets a bit dumb but he loves it lol, lmk if I missed anything :3

-

This was a bad idea, a very, very bad idea that could end catastrophically. He hated surprises, so why were you doing this? It would’ve been easier if you’d just told him you were frustrated, god knows he would’ve been more than happy to make sure you were fucked and happy.

But no. Difficult is your middle name. Jisung wasn’t any easier going, but you knew he hated surprises, especially ones that interrupted his creative process. Then how did you still manage to put on the deep red lingerie and get to his studio? It was so cold out and you were dumb enough to hide the lace set beneath a big trench coat, one Jisung knew you to wear during the winter.

You’d been together a good amount of time, explored new sexual territories together that broadened both your horizons. However, this was exponentially new. His studio was scared, untouched and pure and free of distractions. Yet that only made you want to christen it even more.

Twiddling with the necklace he’d given you for your three month anniversary, the letter “J” was cold beneath your fingers and made you shiver. The metal against your warm skin was sort of soothing as you anxiously looked outside the window of the cab. Soon enough, the company building was coming into view and your leg started to bounce. The driver all but kicked you out, probably annoyed because it was pushing midnight and people were supposed to be at home in their warm beds.

Thankfully, the visitor pass Jisung had gifted you a while back was able to open the door after hours. You remember he asked for those privileges by begging on his knees to his manager that, “someone needs to drag me away from this place eventually. I’m just such a hard worker!” The memory made you smile for a second before fear washes over you upon heading up the elevator.

The beeping of your arrival to his floor was nowhere near the sound of your heart beating out of your chest.

He hates surprises. Oh god, he’s gonna be so mad. Maybe he’ll be happy to see me? No, he hates things like this. I should’ve just added a day to fuck in his google calendar.

Your brain wouldn’t shut up as you paced back and forth, still in front of the elevator. His studio was just a few doors down, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else here. There was no way you’d get caught, so that wasn’t an issue. But oh, if Jisung were to get mad, you’d cry and probably sleep alone for the next few days. You couldn’t have that.

However, you missed him. Sleeping alone wouldn’t be far off from what was currently happening between you two. Jisung had been spending more and more late nights and coming back so early into the morning, just to leave as soon as the alarm went off at 8 a.m.

And you were desperate. So desperate that you’d found the deeply hidden courage to walk up to his room and open the door before you could talk yourself out of it.

“This room is occup— oh! Y/N!” Jisung sat at the desk with a pair of headphones much too large slung around his neck. A pen and yellow notepad lay in front of him with crumbled balls of paper scattered around the room.

His smile was big and bright, though eyes ridden with sleep deprivation. The same toothy grin faded within a few seconds, “baby, it’s so late. Why are you here?”

Closing the door behind you and locking it, you placed your stuff onto the couch behind him. He didn’t move, which meant he was busy, so you came to him. You walked behind his seat and wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing in his hair and nipping ever so playfully at the tops of his ear. “I’ve missed you.” Truthful enough.

He took the answer well, kissing your wrist in front of him and nuzzling into your arm. “I’ve missed you too, but—“

“Ah, no but’s. I wanted to see you.” Jisung looked at you over his shoulder, confused. You’d kissed the questioning expression off his face too quick for him to retaliate, Jisung taking in your lips happily.

Though, he pulled off a moment later, “your lips are so cold. I should turn on the heater.” He moved to stand, but you pushed him back down by the shoulders and pulled out his rolling chair away from the desk. “What’re you doing? Aren’t you freezing? That coat isn’t warm enough.”

Now or never, I guess. 

“Then warm me up,” the words were a sultry whisper. A good start, Jisung hadn’t told you to go home just yet.

The stumble in his words gave time for you to stand up tall and confident, then untie the front of the coat. His jaw dropped along with the garment to reveal the scarlet lingerie. Jisung was practically drooling, eyes raking up and down your body unsure of where to look. You particularly liked how he ogled you, running your prettily painted nails over the snuggly fit garters around your thighs that made the flesh slightly spill over, then up the lacy underwear– the hole in the crotch was a wonderful touch that he could find for himself– and finally snapping at the strap of the sheer balconette bra.

Jisung groaned deeply, slumping back into his chair and spreading his legs. “What did I do to deserve this?” His voice strained as he pushed his hair back.

As you slowly walked up to him, Jisung hurriedly hooked his fingers into the strappy garters and tugged you closer, now standing between his legs. Warm hands palmed at the skin of your thighs and up your ass as he took in your appearance, his tongue quite literally hanging out of his mouth. You let him touch and grope you because just having him near was already rewarding in itself. His tongue disappeared back into his mouth as you reached down to cup his face, thumb swiping at the wet spot he’d left. “You’ve been away too long, baby. Been needing you so badly.”

You simultaneously threw one leg over his lap and moved to straddle him, exposing your bare cunt as you towered over his figure. However, his gaze fell onto your chest right in front of his face, not noticing the crotchless panties until you stripped one of his hands off your ass to cup your pussy. Jisung’s eyes went wide at your assertiveness as well as the sudden wetness that coated his fingers. “What– oh, have mercy. Look at you.”

He slid his fingers through your soaked folds as his thumb played with the lace hem of your panties, clearly enjoying the filthiness of it all. As you moved to remove the headphones from around his neck, Jisung’s horny brain snapped back into work mode. “Fuck, babe I can’t. I have so many things I still need to finish. You’re so incredibly hot and you have no idea– No. Fucking. Idea– how badly I want you. I just can’t right now.”

Pouting your lip, you caressed his cheek and pushed his bangs back, only barely grinding your hips against his hand that didn’t move. In fact, he pressed harder against you, letting you spread your slick around his fingers and rub your cunt into his warm skin, “then tell me to stop.”

Jisung didn’t speak, just watching you roll your hips and use him for your pleasure. It wasn’t until you let out a muffled whine did he finally pull away.

You looked at him with wide, glossy eyes, confused. “Poor baby. Are you that desperate you’ll take just my hand?” You nodded embarrassingly quick, not truly registering the mocking tone of his voice. “Have I been neglecting you so much you had to come bother me at work? Like a needy little bunny.”

He was getting worked up, as well. It was obvious in the cheekiness of his grin, moreso in the tent in his pants. Jisung tapped your hip to make you stand so he could pull his pants and underwear down. When you went to straddle him again, he stopped you. Jisung patted one thigh, and you knew what he wanted. He took his hard, leaking cock in hand and tugged slowly, awaiting you to take a seat. You let out another whimper, almost hesitating as you eyed his smooth thigh. “C’mon now, bunny. I have a lot of work to do. Didn’t you say you needed me?”

The nickname made you shudder. “B– but I need–”

“My cock? No, you don’t deserve that yet. What makes you think you could interrupt me and still get what you want?” The involuntary pout of your lips again made him softly reach for your hip to bring you closer and coo, “maybe if you do as you’re told, you’ll get a reward. Be a good bunny for me.”

Slightly reluctant, you did as told and climbed into his lap again, only this time his bare thigh was between your legs. Jisung radiated body heat like a furnace, you could feel it without your core even having to touch him and it made you throb in anticipation. No, this wasn’t what you wanted, not even close. But it was a step in the right direction. Bracing your hands onto his shoulders, you looked at your boyfriend with pleading eyes. He only nodded his head, not giving in.

Jisung’s head fell back against the chair, watching you hungrily through his lashes when you sat down fully. Lip between your teeth, you didn’t know what to do next. Truth be told, this isn’t something you’d ventured before, even with Jisung. The way he was looking at you, though, lustful with his cock in his hand and restrained frenzy that you knew he could unleash at any moment, you wanted so badly to appease his wishes. The only problem was how humiliating it was.

The same humiliation was something you loved coming from him. Jisung made you feel small, miniscule even as you towered over him and he was laid out bare. Using his thigh to get off was a new low blow to the embarrassment that was usually fed to you in words, nicknames like the one he decided to use today.

“I’m losing my patience, bunny. Use me now or you’re not coming at all.”

Use me now, oh how delightful that sounded. The three little words coerced you into rolling your hips forward. A stifled moan found it’s way out your mouth at the new sensation, his hot skin a strangely wonderful feeling. So you pushed your hips back, deciphering whether or not you could physically will yourself to continue or whine cutely until your boyfriend gave you what you wanted. After all, he always wanted you just as much as you wanted him, no matter how much he denied it.

But Jisung was always impatient, releasing his dick to grip tightly onto the garters and force you to move faster, guiding you and flexing his thigh. You verbally whimpered at his assistance, more like assertion in how roughly he pushed and pulled your body against him. Even if he wasn’t touching himself, you could see his own neediness when his cock twitched upward and leaked even more precum. How badly you wanted to lick it off, suck him until he was whimpering just as much as you were now.

Oh, you were picking up speed now. You probably looked feral at how quickly you’d become accustomed to this sinfully delicious feeling. Using your boyfriend like this, in this sacred room, you were coming undone much too fast. You wanted to savor this and make Jisung see how much you’d been needing him, but the feeling was too great.

His dirty mouth didn’t aid in prolonging the fun, “that’s it. Good girl, such a good bunny. What a horny little thing, aren’t you? If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t let you come at all. Make you ride me like this all night, deny you for bothering me and making a mess all over my thigh.” You cried out louder at that, almost scared he’d actually take his own words seriously. Humiliation and desperation is all that coursed your veins and made you reach under Jisung’s shirt, hooking onto the bare skin of his shoulders. You just wanted to feel him, feel that he was just teasing the way he always did when you were like this.

“Please, please let me. Need it, need it, need it. Have to cum. Have to—“ your words strung together as you grinned mindlessly against him, no longer needing his guiding hands. Still, he kept a firm grip on the garters and watched with his mouth slightly open. 

“Running out of time, baby. Gotta get back to work. Cum now or don’t cum at all.”

That was all the motivation you needed to lean forward into his neck and press your clit the hardest into his thigh you had all night, clenching your own legs around him as the high made your body tense powerfully. If anyone were to have walked past the studio, they’d have heard your loud, lewd, borderline pained yet blissful moans as your hips came to a halt.

You almost didn’t hear Jisung whispering in your ear, his hands coming up your back and pulling your upper body closer to his. The feeling of his chest beneath your fingers was the only thing grounding you from the embarrassing yet scandalously delicious actions you just took part in. 

“Come back to me, baby,” he said sweetly, digging his hands beneath your ass and grasping firmly. You hummed in response, then yelped in surprise when he stood up and took you with him.

Your ass came into contact roughly with the desktop he’d been working at. To catch yourself from falling you’d accidentally knocked away the notepad and scattered the crumbled papers to the floor.

Jisung no longer looked relaxed like he did when he was below you. This was the frenzy, the lust and unadulterated nature that came forth when he was frustrated— whether that be from work, life, sexually, anything and everything. And you were there to take it happily with your legs wide open.

He had to do very little to get you to spread for him again, cunt glistening from your orgasm and new wave of arousal from seeing your usually reserved boyfriend so worked up. The dim yellow orange lights lit up his face beautifully, hungry and so full of love at the same time. 

As if second nature, you took the initiative to scoot forward on the desk and make more room for Jisung to tap his heavy cock against your sensitive pussy. Nerves raw, the feeling made you jolt and clench around nothing. “Oh, how cute. Such a pretty pussy. My bunny’s got the prettiest little cunt. Perfect for me.”

Mindlessly he muttered, just running the tip of his cock through your wet, used folds. “Listen to that, baby. You’re so wet. What’s got you all worked up?” He made a show of spreading your arousal even more, precum mixing and coating his dick thickly. 

“Y— you. Need more, need you.” Jisung chuckled at that, your voice reeking of deprivation.

“Fuck yeah, you need me. Clenching around nothing like a slut. Are you a slut, bunny?” You only hummed, to which Jisung lightly smacked his dick against your overwhelmed clit and made you jump again.

“Yes! Yes, a slut— your slut. Please,” hips bucking up, you reached for his disheveled shirt to tug him impossibly closer. Jisung gave you that, let you pull him in and push his shirt over his head though not taking it off entirely, just enough so his abs were on display for you.

Dragging your nails down his chest, Jisung’s eyes fluttered closed as his handle on your thighs tightened. He let out a guttural moan before hiking your knees up and taking a step in. At this angle, all he needed to do was slide in, but first he’d placed your knees to his pecs, heels steadying you on the table. Your nails trailed over his biceps and forearms, finally enticing him to fill you.

The initial stretch was so intensely maddening, you’d been craving it for so long that your eyes physically crossed and rolled back, another loud moan following. Jisung himself wasn’t any sturdier, stuttering into your cunt as you engulfed him in heat. It took him a minute to calm down when he’d finally gotten to the hilt, taking in your lips with a sweet, reassuring kiss. Even when you were contorted like this, Jisung never failed to make sure you were comfortable.

When he’d regained his composure— all the while you were slowly losing yours— he moved his grip from your legs to your ass, taking in handfuls as he pulled out half way before slamming back into you. It was lazy in the way he opted for pulling you to him rather than pushing his hips towards you, though you didn’t mind. The desk shook and he’d met his own actions half way, hitting your deepest parts from the very start.

It wasn’t sloppy but it wasn’t graceful, either. Nowhere near should it have been considered lovemaking when he was taking you so harshly, so primally that all you could do was whimper and hold on for dear life. All the more, it was the kind of fucking you’d been so helplessly needing.

Solid, consistently Jisung kept his rhythm until his own touch starved body began to betray him, orgasm arising much too quickly for his liking. He had to pull out before he finished prematurely.

You hummed sadly as he did, bringing the previous (weightless) threats to the forefront of his mind again. “Still not satisfied, bunny? You got to cum, even had my cock. What more could you want?”

Relaxing your legs and letting them hang off the desk, you took his hand in yours and pulled him in for another uncoordinated kiss. Against his lips, you muttered, “want your cum— inside— cum inside me— want it— deserve it—“

“Oh no, you don’t deserve it,” Jisung detaches from your lips and kneaded the flesh of your thighs, toying with the garters again.

“But I was good. Did as you asked—“

He looked around the room for anything to clock you on. Your hand rested on top of the yellow notepad, ink smeared and crumpled, he smirked. “Where are we right now?”

You looked at him, confused, eyes watery and shaky. Still, you answered him, “your work.”

“That’s right. You barged in here, baby, demanding I fuck you. Is that right?” You nodded, ashamed. “I think I’ve been more than generous. You don’t get my cum tonight. Bad girls need to learn.”

With that, Jisung stepped aside for a moment to bring your legs together then lift them up, hooking them into the crook of his arm and gently leaning them to the side. If you were confused before, you were even more now. Though, Jisung always had a way of impressing you with his genius mind.

Creative as always, he took his cock in hand again and used your arousal as lubrication. You watched him intently, hole clenching around nothing, so needy and wet. He kept it that way, pushing the blunt cockhead into your raw clit before messily sliding it up and between the warmth of your closed thighs. You suppose you were both trying new things tonight.

This was torture in its sinfully purest form. Only barely did his dick graze your swollen bundle of nerves on every push and pull. Jisung almost laughed at the desperation on your face— almost. He couldn’t really do that, he had to push down his cute aggression to just give in and just fuck you senseless, though you were already half way there. No more concept of time or where you were, you were brainless and pliant beneath his hold.

“Perfect little fuck bunny,” he muttered, occasionally catching his lip between his teeth. “Look what you made me do. Wish I could be fucking you right now. My bad girl needs to learn, though.” You held back tears, overwhelmed from your previous orgasm and his words, paired with the shameful way he used you and that you were loving it. If your moans didn’t give you away, the useless clenching of your cunt surely did. “My naughty bunny with her pretty hole. Want to be filled? Want me to stuff you full?”

“Yes, please! All I want, I won’t bother you again. I promise!” Jisung smiled down at you, his eye catching the initial necklace around your neck. Simultaneously, he gripped your legs tighter with one arm, brought his free hand down to your cunt and circled your entrance with his fingertips, while leaning forward and connecting his lips to your neck. You had to steady yourself from tipping over at the sheer force of him.

One more pleading cry, he sunk two fingers into you, picking up the pace of his slick cock between your thighs. It took him a second, but matched the speed of the digits with his thrusts. It wasn’t nearly as good as his cock would’ve been, but the light graze across your clit was slowly nearing you closer to the delightful edge once again.

His teeth somehow found the pendant of your necklace, keeping it in his mouth as he fucked you, fucked himself and using you to do it. It was so dirty and taboo, the location just being the icing on the cake. Your hand tangled itself in his hair and pushed his face deeper into your bra clad chest. Your scent was overwhelming him, teetering him on the very brink of combustion until you regained half the mind to speak.

“Be good— swear I’ll be good. Good bunny. Cum, please cum.”

Jisung couldn’t hold back anymore. A sudden rush of extra adrenaline made him rut faster into the ring of your plush thighs with no more pattern. His thighs slammed against your ass and finger pushed deeper into your cunt, your pleasure just barely behind his own desire to get off in this very moment. When he finally came, hand in your cunt stilling then decorating the scarlet garment with his hot, white seed, Jisung’s brain flipped. He watched your mouth drop and let go of your legs, falling to his knees and immediately attaching his lips to your clit. The pace of his fingers was nowhere near the speed they were before, but rather focusing his energy on sucking you in. The softness of his lips were soothing and stimulating at the same time, a wonderful change of pace that was all you needed to reach your own final high. The blinding white light clouded your vision and made your body shake in pleasure, with Jisung holding you down through all of it.

When your muscles relaxed and you slumped back onto the desk, your boyfriend stood, taking you into his arms. He was sweaty, you were sweaty but also covered in his cum. Brushing your hair from your forehead, Jisung used the same two fingers that were in your pussy and picked up some of his cum, bringing them to your lips. You took it gratefully, tasting both you and him as you swallowed everything he gave you.

Humming satisfaction, Jisung stripped his shirt off and draped it over your tired body. It was a sweet gesture considering you only had a coat for the ride home.

He kissed you gently, helping you off the desk and into his chair while he reorganized the room. “Was that worth the interruption?” You finally spoke up, somewhat nervous of his answer.

Jisung looked up at you from where he crouched on the floor and picked up the fallen papers. He sported the goofiest, brightest smile, “definitely worth it. Can I schedule another one? I’ll put it in my google calendar.” 

[adarkrainbow]

Aulnoy's famous fairytales: The White Doe (2)

Now that we made a recap for the overall story, let's look at little details here and there, shall we?

1 ) Despite this being one of the most famous and reprinted fairytales of d'Aulnoy, The White Doe/The Hind in the Woods is one of the more dated of these stories. Not just because of the problematic racist elements of "princess Black of Ethiopia", but also because this story was clearly written in honor and reference to the king of the tme, Louis 14. When the fairies create a palace for princess Desired to live into until her fifteenth birthday, and have inside of it the whole history of the world depicted by art pieces, d'Aulnoy breaks her narration to describe in a poem form the "greatest and most brilliant warrior king of History", who is not named but is very clearly Louis XIV. Earlier, when the queen visited the six fairies' palace, the fairies told her that to build it they hired "the architect of the Sun", who basically recreated "the Sun's palace" but in smaller proportions. This is an obvious reference to Versailles, the wonderful castle of the "Sun-King", Louis 14. And if this wasn't enough, there are also several explicit comparisons to an actual historical event contemporary to the story: a royal wedding. Several times throughout the narration, d'Aulnoy says that the beautiful clothes or gorgeous outfits of Desired are identical with or "right behind in term of beauty" to the outfits and jewels worn at a "certain princess" wedding. These are all comparisons made to a certain woman named Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, who had just married the duke of Bourgogne, aka... Louis XIV's grandchild.

All of this makes the story feel very NOT "intemporal" since, if you don't have the historical context, all those moments seem a bit weird and mysterious. And yet, this fairytale stayed one of d'Aulnoy's most popular ones... My guess is that what seduced people in this story was the imagery it brought rather than the story or writing itself. People's mind and imagination were struck by the supernatural white doe a prince cannot capture, by the visual of this monstrous crayfish terrorizing a queen and fairies by cursing a baby, by the idea of a beautiful girl doomed to live in the dark until her fifteenth birthday...

In fact, the way madame d'Aulnoy writes this tale to celebrate the royal wedding might explain why the main protagonist here, Desired, has such a young age - barely fifteen. Because Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, upon being wed to Louis XIV's grandchild, was only twelve... [Note however that madame d'Aulnoy did not condone or enjoyed at all child-weddings of this sort - she herself had suffered from an atrocious arranged wedding in her very early life, and this ended up in a complicated business of manipulations, false accusations, exiles and murders - but when you live in 17th century France, you better be a propagandist of the king, especially if you are a woman who tries to write fiction.]

2 ) The beginning of the fairytale is obviously to put in parallel with Perrault's Sleeping Beauty. Same "gift-giving christening by the fairies" scene, the same way the older and more powerful of the fairies arrives to curse the babe only to have her curse "eased" by the others, the list of gifts offered by the fairies being quite similar to the one of the Sleeping Beauty fairies - more explicitely, in the beginning of Sleeping Beauty it was explicitely said the queen visited/tried several miraculous/healing waters to try to have a baby - which is what the queen does in the beginning of this tale, except here it becomes the start of the plot.

3 ) While there is still the manichean divide typical of French literary fairytales of "good fairy and wicked fairy", here d'Aulnoy plays deliberately on the fairies ambiguity, to show that despite acting by a binary pattern, fairies stay a "gray" set of beings. For example, the Fairy of the Fountain or Crayfish Fairy, despite being one of the main antagonists, starts out in the story as a helper and a benevolent force - and in a twist, still does fulfill her role of "good fairy godmother"... but she does so to the princess Black, who is an unwilling/accidental antagonist to the hero of the tale. (A similar process, where the antagonistic fairy is just the fairy godmother of someone other than the hero, was already used by d'Aulnoy in several of her previous fairytales, including The Blue Bird). As for the six benevolent fairies, while they are all good and nice throughout the story, the narration still highlights that they have two sets of chariots, and that when angered they drive the dragons, snakes and panther-driven chariots, hinting that while they are here helpers they can become antagonists in other stories.

4 ) While there is all the racism I talked about before, it is quite interesting to see here that we have two "anti-portraits" of ugly women, meant to oppose Desired's supreme beauty, two anti-portraits that actually help us understand the beauty criteria at work in this end of the 17th century of France. For Princess Black, we see that her ugliness comes from a "dark skin", "big lips" and a "crushed, large nose" - which are, beyond traits typically "African connoted", the opposite of the French ideal of women with very pale skin, very small noses, very thin lips. But in contrast, we also have Long-Thorn who presents another set of flaws. Just like princess Black there is the nose - here too red and too hooked - but beyond that we also have added poor teeth hygiene (Long-Thorn has black and unaligned teeth), and more interestingly a body too tall and too skinny. In general, when it comes to ugliness d'Aulnoy typically invokes smallness/dwarfism or fatness/obesity, but from time to time she also insists that when a character is too tall or too skinny, they also are ugly. Because in this time era, while they wanted women tall, they still didn't want them as tall as men, and there was still a certain "interest in the curve" as without being very large or big, women needed to be plump and fleshy enough to have a body to appreciate (a bony and skinny body was not a beautiful one at the time). Of course, no need to remind you that this was a set of aristocratic ideals - because only the noble and the rich could afford to be chalk-white and "pleasantly plump".

5 ) People have noted that, funnily, the way prince Warrior falls asleep in the woods after eating apples he found there looks like a "male Snow-White". It is quite interesting because, while there probably wasn't a Snow-White reference (since it is not a typically French tale), madame d'Aulnoy had the very Christian background and culture of the apple as the "forbidden fruit" with the whole Garden of Eden story. Which leads to an interesting point...

6 ) This fairytale is a sexy tale. It is not an overtly erotic fairytale, no, but there is an obvious VERY romantic if not sexy if not erotic connotation. This however only appears in the second half of the story, when Desired becomes the White Doe. Desired, turned into a prey, and Warrior, improvising himself a hunter, those two lovers, find themselves reunited deep into the woods (the uncivilized, savage, wild world) after purposefully leaving or fleeing their respective courts (the forest is noted to be filled with dangerous predatory animals, such as bears or lions). Warrior hunts down the White Doe, not knowing that she is the girl he is in love with and obsessed over - though he also grows a fondness, familiarity and love for this white doe. And all the while, the White Doe recognizes her hunter as the one she is in love with, and having to flee from him for her life is said to be just as painful as if she was actually hit by his arrows... Madame d'Aulnoy clearly plays here on metaphors and allegories to weave a whole "game of love" or "love as the hunt", "hunt as the love" section. Warrior hunting for the White Doe, the White Doe making sure she can be hunted while never letting herself be caught, it all evokes a bizarre game of seduction. Warrior clearly treats the Doe as more than a simple pet, claiming he "loves" it and wants it to follow him everywhere and to live with him. When the Doe tricks Warrior to escape him, and Warrior complains to his friend, Becafigue jokes about the situation being like an unfaithful woman cheating on her lover - but the prince answers his joke absolutely seriously. And of course, it is after the prince and the princess spend the night together, sharing their love, in human form, that the spell is broken... [Note: In my previous recap I might have written things backward, saying the spell is broken when "night comes and nothing happens". It is the reverse - they talk all ight long together, and as the morning comes she doesn't transform. Sorry about that.]

Beyond the general image, if things weren't clear eough d'Aulnoy keeps addng little details that make the story even more erotic - almost scandalous. The apple section I mentionned - prince Warrior eating apples in the woods before falling deeply asleep reminds of the first human consuming the "forbidden fruit", and it is when the White Doe dares sleep near him for the first time. When the prince catches the Doe or tries to "woo" it with gifts, it is said he keeps petting it, hugging it, caressing it, kissing it - as a pet, as an animal of course, but we reader know that there is a human woman underneath this doe skin, and so the erotic content cannot be escaped. ESPECIALLY when it is said that, after running from each other all day long, both return to their respective bedrooms "sweating and panting, exhausted by the time they spent together". And don't even get me started on how the prince ends up, to conquer and tie up the doe, hitting her with a single arrow in the leg, making her bleed... This is not a fairytale safe for kids.

7 ) Speaking of love, I did not mention it in my recap, but this fairytale is one of the rare ones of d'Aulnoy to have a moral in the end. To summarize it, d'Aulnoy explains that "With the story of this princess that wanted to leave too soon the dark place a wise fairy placed her in to hide her from the sun's light - and the metamorphosis and misfortunes that resulted from it - you will find an illustration of the dangers to which a young beauty exposes herself when she enters too young, too unprepared in the world. If you were gifted with all the traits and qualities that attract love to you, you better know how to hide them, because beauty can be deadly. If you think that by making others fall in love with you, you will shield yourself from love, well know that by giving too much, you always end up taking." So yes, long story short, this is meant to be more than just a fairy love story, but a warning for girls that too young, too beautiful, too unprepared, throw themselves in the world of love, adult and serious romance, and have to be confronted with the many dangers in it.

8 ) On a more "traditional love story" side, this fairytale accumulates ALL the story devices typical of romances of the type to avoid having the two lovers meet each other. In fact, this is the entire point of this story, the apex and climax and culmination: when princess Desired and prince Warrior can finally see each other in person, and talk to each other. At first you had the exchange of portraits and the sending of ambassadors, then you had the fake princess Long-Thorn hijacking the planned meeting, then the two lovers finally got under the same roof, but not only ignored each other's existence, even when meeting each other they didn't recognize themselves thanks t the doe curse... So when they finally see themselves as humans and touch each other as humans and talk a full dialogue, the story is complete and the curse is broken

9 ) Note however that despite the seemingly virtuous and chaste moral added at the end, madame d'Aulnoy does write the character of a more proactive and manipulative princess that "plays" her male lover. It is she that is happy with his caresses and petting and allows herself to be "touched" of the sort, and it is she that sneaks up by her lover's asleep body, and again the terms of the curse are clear - by day she is forced to become a beast, and to do as beasts do, aka to wander in the woods, aka to return to the world of savagery, primal desire and bestial behavior. On the other side, something that might escape a reader at first glance is that prince Warrior is not supposed to be a "prince Charmng" of the traditional genre. As I said, we are inside d'Aulnoy's second book of fairy tales, and so she reached a point where she plays with the conventions of the genre. In the whole hunt story, we have a brutal lover who tries to kill, seriously wounds though he heals it afterward) and ties up with knots his lover, treating her like a prey and a beast (well, because she IS, but you know) - and there is also the use of the peep-hole by Becafigue that solves the whole problem indeed, but by the undignified way of spying into women's bedrooms (Becafigue had already a not so good behavior when he acted as Warrior's ambassador, encouraging Desired's parents to ignore the "powerless" and "silly fairies" and disobey Tulip's warnings - and in the world of fairy tales one should NEVER underestimate the power of fairies)

But that's just for the second part of the story. In the first part, prince Warrior's behavior is also to be criticized. In fact, it is quite ironic that he is called "Warrior" and introduced as the winner of "three battles", because the first part of his character act has him acting as un-warrior, if not un-manly as possible. He becomes a love-stricken mess, he locks himself in his room talking to a portrait, he despairs of not being able to be with his love, he spends his day dreaming, and doing nothing, and wasting away, with no appetite for anything, making himself sick over lethargy and depression - and so fragile that he can't even wait three months for his loved one to come without fearing he would die. And even worse, when his hopes and dreams of love are crushed, he acts as a selfish coward by simply abandoning his parents, his throne, his court and duties, leaving secretly at night with just one letter behind to explain everything to his parents, and isolating himself from the world in desire to just cry on his own fate forever in some isolated place... We've got some emo teen in love vbes here.

10 ) This fairytale is very "medieval" like in tone. Beyond the "fairy christening" scene that is reused everywhere ever since Perrault and inherits from similar medieval scenes, a la Perceforest, the entire topic of the hunter going after a supernatural, white animal he cannot capture is an iconic topos of medieval literature. Typically this doubles or is tied to the hunter meeting some mysterious woman in the woods, preferably near a fountain, who might take him to a wonderful palace - but this happens rather to Desired's mother, who meets a fairy at a fountain, and is then taken to the six fairies' magical castle.

11 ) In terms of folkloric inspiration, if we use the Catalogue Delarue-Tenèze (a local form of the ATU Index but exclusively covering French fairytales), this story is clearly a literary take on the story type 403, "The substituted fiancee", "The fake fiancee". More specifically, it is a literary take on the 403-B (characterized by the metamorphosis of the real fiancee replaced by a fake one), though there is one element typical of the 403-A (the fact that the prince falls in love with a portrait). While inspired by it, madame d'Aulnoy clearly adds several purely literary elements that make this story very unique. For example the scene of the "fairy-gifts" and the "fairy-curse" at Desired's birth, or the presence of a first fiancee for the prince in the person of the princess Black, two elements united by the character of the Crayfish Fairy or Fairy of the Fountain - this all comes from d'Aulnoy's mind, and is traditonnaly not found in French folktales. And this was clearly placed here only to complicate the originally straightforward story into something much more focused on a "twist-and-turn romance".

[yolandachoclate]

Divine Delicacies: Selecting Christening Chocolates as Heartfelt Gifts

In Divine Delicacies: Selecting Christening Chocolates as Heartfelt Gifts, the focus is on the thoughtful selection of chocolates that resonate with the spirit of a christening. These chocolates are not mere sweets; they are a canvas for expressing wishes of happiness and prosperity for the child, making them stand out among christening gift ideas. The act of giving these chocolates is symbolic, representing a sharing of joy and blessings. As a good christening gift, they encapsulate the essence of the occasion, leaving a lasting impression on the recipients by blending the divine with the delightful.

[burningvelvet]

one of my favorite theories about wuthering heights — which is admittedly controversial, probably disliked by many, and can never be definitively proven — is that heathcliff may have been mr. earnshaw's bastard child.

if mr. earnshaw didn't feel some paternal responsibility for him, then it really does make me question why he would take in a random poc kid from the city he often stayed in on business trips (which was notably liverpool, a city famously known at the time for the slave trade as well as for prostitution!), and then favor that child over his previously beloved son, especially when his wife is racist & the story is set in rural 18th century england, & liverpool was probably full of homeless orphan kids he had seen before, but i don't believe he ever mentions wanting to take in any other child, and i don't believe mr. earnshaw is described as being a particularly generous man on the whole either (although he does seem initially fond of his children when he tells them he's going to bring them back gifts).

and we never learn anything about heathcliff's background or if "heathcliff" is supposed to be his surname or his first name — so it would make sense if maybe mr. earnshaw simply wanted to conceal that he wanted to name him "heathcliff earnshaw" but his wife &/or societal conventions would never allow it.

consider: 1 heathcliff & hindley's brotherly rivalry, 2 the linton/earnshaw families are supposed to parallel each other so edgar/isabella and heathcliff/cathy would be paralleled even more if the latter two were genetically related considering both married the other two, 3 this theory fits with the traditional gothic incest theme in literature, 4 heathcliff sees himself in hareton earnshaw and even has a whole monologue about this, 5 heathcliff/cathy being half-siblings sort of adds to their whole soul connection thing.

Edit: in my struck-through text, I had forgotten here that in chapter 3 we learn Heathcliff is named by the family after Earnshaw's dead son (whose idea was it exactly? I assume Earnshaw's): "This was Heathcliff's first introduction to the family. On coming back a few days afterwards (for I did not consider my banishment perpetual), I found they had christened him 'Heathcliff': it was the name of a son who died in child-hood, and it has served him ever since, both for Christian and surname. Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him: and to say the truth I did the same; and we plagued and went on with him shamefully: for I wasn't reasonable enough to feel my injustice, and the mistress never put in a word on his behalf when she saw him wronged."

[synergysilhouette]

Plotting out "Rumplestiltskin" (Disney movie)

After I finished the Reinvention era, I decided I wanted to do more fleshed-out posts of original films I wish Disney had done during their previous eras. To start, I decided to work on the films suggested for the post-renaissance era, which I did a revision post that you can find here. It's best to read that to understand what I'm about to mention.

Background: By this time, Disney has not greenlit a fairy tale since the 90s, and when John Musker and Ron Clements come to them with an idea for "Rumpelstiltskin," they are open to it--albeit somewhat hesitantly; they've achieved unprecedented success with mostly original ideas, and the thought of going "back to basics" does bother them somewhat, with the fear that they'll be attacked for running out of ideas. Nonetheless, they let the film pass, scrapping their "Home on the Range" film. They enlist Alan Menken and Tim Rice for the music, and the team opts for a darker take than most Disney films (later said to have inspired Guillermo del Toro), and they consider briefly to do a non-European setting, but it's quickly scrapped, and a medieval England is considered, with particular inspiration from the Late Middle Ages to the Tudor period. While the specific setting and historical aspects (including pitches for Scandinavian, Slavic, Brazilian, and Iberian settings) are eventually removed for "magical purposes," Tudor-inspired fashion (eh, more 40% accuracy than 100%) is kept. They realize the unlikeability of having a king who marries a woman he threatens to kill three times over, and it's not a desirable trait for marketing, so they take influence from the king in "Cinderella," King Hubert from "Sleeping Beauty," and King Triton from "The Little Mermaid" to make a well-meaning but stressed and temperamental king who offers his much more benevolent son to the protagonist. They also scrap an early draft featuring a love triangle between the protagonist, the prince, and the antagonist, and the thought of doing 3D is considered, but eventually passed on. They planned on making the protagonist "older" (somewhere in her 30s), but Disney worries that this would alienate their younger audience, and move her to mid-20s--a bit older than they'd like, but not too young to be a mother without upsetting the parental audience.

(Note: This film will have been released in 2004, but several visual aids used are from media post-2004 and are serve to give the audience the idea of how the characters would look/act, rather than the influences Disney would use in the early 2000s.)

Plot

In a faraway land, a kingdom is wrought with misfortune. It is heavily in debt after a war has drained their coffers, and the economy has eroded. They're in debt to other countries, and not repaying them risks another way, and raising taxes could lead to civil war. A noble brags that his daughter will bring all the kingdom's problem to an end by turning straw into gold, and when the ill-tempered king hears of this, he gives her an ultimatum: spin several pounds of straw into gold for three days straight and marry his son, or her father will be executed for his insolence and she will be imprisoned for fraud. She undertakes this task successfully and falls in love with the much more amiable prince, and years later, she gives birth to a child. The day the child is to be christened, a guest bursts in, reminding her of a "deal" they made, revealing they spun straw into gold in exchange for gifts from her, the final of which being her child. When the princess begs to be let out of the deal, the creature humors her with a game: find their child, and discover the creature's name. With that, the fiend and her child disappears, and the princess only has 3 days to save them.

Characters

Aurelia--A quiet young noblewoman who lived a naive and sheltered life due to her upbringing, she was taught to be quiet and demure, and her station gave her a fairy tale look on life until she too was struck by poverty. Her father is an advantageous man whose kindness in these circumstances has been pushed down and seen as a sign of weakness. He had tried to suggest a match between Aurelia and Prince Aldous before, but was unsuccessful until he felt pressure by his contemporaries to brag about why his daughter deserved to marry the prince. When her father is threatened with death should she fail, she makes a deal with a mysterious creature that appears each night to spin gold with her, though they only tell her what they want after they do a day's work. In doing so, she gives up two things her deceased mother gave her that she promised never to give up: a necklace and a ring. But true to her word, she does, and she is horrified to realize a potential child is the price to be paid for a third night. When her son Caspian is kidnapped, she races to the far reaches of the country, following clues to the creature's hideout and their true name.

R--Hint, hint. People are always willing to make deals when they're desperate, yet they don't know what the price will be. No matter. R is quite a vicious fellow (or lady? Their form and associated pronouns change to fit the ocassion) who's all too happy to take advantage of the ocassion. Disney took the opportunity to make the shapeshifter's disguises appear as twisted parodies of iconic Disney characters, along with original designs. R is endlessly imposing and clever, managing to finagle Aurelia out of a necklace that tracks whoever she wants and a ring that can summon creatures to assist her--but since she had no idea about the true nature of these items, the only loss she felt from handing them over was of a sentimental nature. But now that they're in R's possession, they're able to not only track Aurelia's progress, but hinder it as well. Should she fail to find and name R in three days time, Caspian will become corrupted in R's domain and be their "son" forevermore. Tick tock, tick, tock...

Aldous--The crown prince of Sceptimar and the oldest of three brothers, he has to deal with his overbearing father's expectations. After the death of his mother, he sought to get away from home and was educated abroad, and both situations contributed to his father's bitter and controlling attitude. He is sympathetic to Aurelia's situation, though is not pleased that his hand is offered as a prize in exchange for her success. Similar to his bride, he starts off as superficially kind, good at keeping up appearances and saying nice things, but when he joins his wife on retrieving their child, his compassion becomes genuine, and his grief helps him develop sympathy and empathy for others. That said, he hasn't completely lost his sense of haughtiness, but most say his demeanor contributes to his charm, in proper doses. His cleverness compliments Aurelia's, and his physical abilities (fighting, horseback riding, etc.) rubs off on her. To put it simply, what was once a "reward marriage" became a relationship where both parties help them become better people. Before Caspian was kidnapped, Aurelia feared Aldous would become controlling similar to his father.

Songs

Sacrifice--The story of how Sceptimar, once a prosperous kingdom, fell into disrepair thanks to continuous war, and was financially bankrupt, and King Osric hoped to marry his sons off to powerful princesses in exchange for a significant dowries.

Golden Opportunity--Lord Ricard is quick to fold to pressure, but when his contemporaries turn their annoyance at the king considering raising taxes on him, he makes a reckless brag that his daughter has been blessed with the ability to spin straw into gold, and they relay this to the king, not believing him.

Don't You?--In despair, Aurelia prepares to be imprisoned for life, but laments the possible death of her father, and a creature hears her praise, appearing and offering to help her three days in a row. Each day they finish a task, they ask her for something, to which she hesitates, and they remind her that they can expose her at any moment, and it will be her fault at this point if her father is executed.

Something For Me--Aurelia must venture to find Caspian before he is corrupted by R, and prince Aldous joins her to help rescue their child. R scoffs at their urge to make deals, as Aurelia already agreed to the original terms of the deals and they had no reason to bargain further with her. But they do have some magical items that Aurelia so graciously gave them, so it's not like they won't win this game anyway.

Life Without--Aurelia and Aldous lament on their childhood and situations that led them to their current predicament, with each of them blaming the other's father for their situation. That said, they've developed a deep love for each other, and they've gained so much from their union, not least of all a child that they adore above all else.

Who Are You (with "Don't You" reprise)--Based on the hints that they've left behind (and an accidental one), Aurelia is able to deduce R's true identity as well Aldous finding Caspian hidden in the domain. R, despite their rage, is bound to the last deal they made, and relinquishes the child to the prince and princess. But they warn the couple that this isn't goodbye; anytime someone is desperate, anytime someone wants something, Rumpelstiltskin will be there to grant their deepest desire.

Hope you enjoyed this! Lemme know if you have any questions. Technically the next original film from my revision of the post-renaissance era is "The Chronicles of Narnia," but it'd pretty much be the same as the live-action film, just animated and a musical, so IDK if I'll post it. So that probably means I'll just move onto "Tam Lin."

[catalinadearagonsblog]

Katherine of Aragon & Gertrude Courtenay

Gertrude was daughter of William Blount, fourth Baron Mountjoy, a distinguished humanist scholar and chamberlain to Katherine of Aragon. As the daughter of such an esteemed gentleman at court,  Gertrude received an outstanding education and served Katherine of Aragon as one of her maids of honor. The Queen oversaw the education of her young charges, so Gertrude benefitted from the royal patronage. In 1519, she married to Henry VIII’s first cousin Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon. Gertrude was the wife and mother of the last Plantagenets at the Tudor court.

Gertrude was one of Queen Katherine of Aragon's attendants at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. If the Chateau Vert rings any bells it’s probably because it was the masque that saw Anne Boleyn, freshly returned from France, debuting at the Tudor court in March 1522. A little-known fact is that Gertrude Courtenay also took part in it, playing the role of Honour. In 1525, Gertrude’s star was on the rise once again when her husband was created the Marquess of Exeter, making Gertrude a Marchioness.

Gertrude was among the key political players of Henry VIII’s court during the infamous annulment, known as the Great Matter, commencing in 1527 and ending in 1536. The Marchioness of Exeter was among the high-profile ladies-in-waiting who staunchly supported Katherine of Aragon. Seeing how popular the Queen was among the women at court, Anne Boleyn used her influence and dismissed some of them, including Gertrude.

During the summer of 1531, Katherine of Aragon was banished from court. The Queen received gifts and letters from her trusted friends and former servants like Gertrude Courtenay in her exile.

Henry VIII had had enough of his wife’s resistance, and he married the pregnant Anne Boleyn in secret on 25 January 1533. On 31 May, Anne rode in a procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Hall—it was the most impressive part of the coronation festivities. The Marchioness of Exeter opened the cavalcade, a clear sign that she was a high-profile lady-in-waiting. Gertrude had no other choice but to follow the King’s orders and accompany the new Queen: a clear sign to Katherine’s followers that unconditional obedience was required. Gertrude’s husband managed to avoid appearing at Anne’s coronation. Whether the illness Henry Courtenay suffered in June was real or feigned cannot be discerned now, but Gertrude later “much lamented her husband’s sickness at the time of the Queen’s coronation, and said that though her person was there, her heart was at home with her husband”.

Gertrude’s prominent role during the christening of Anne Boleyn’s daughter was calculated as an insult to Katherine of Aragon. Henry VIII selected Gertrude as one of Princess Elizabeth’s godmothers. The disgusted Marchioness complained to her friends that “she really wanted to have nothing to do with this” but took part “so as not to displease the King”.

Like her father, Gertrude walked on eggshells trying not to displease the King, but ultimately it was impossible for her to accept Anne Boleyn as the new Queen. The Catholic Marchioness soon found herself in a position of open defiance of Henry VIII and his second wife. Gertrude gave ear to the Nun of Kent’s prophecies (for which the Nun was executed in 1534). She remained fiercely loyal to Katherine of Aragon and Princess Mary in their fell from grace. She exchanged letters with Eustace Chapuys, ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and even visited him in disguise during the period when it was dangerous to become Henry VIII’s enemy. How much Gertrude knew of the proposed match between Reginald Pole and Princess Mary remains unknown, but she certainly favoured the idea of the Anglo-Imperial war. In late 1535, Katherine of Aragon’s health began to deteriorate and it became clear to everyone that she was mortally ill. She died on 7 January 1536 amid rumours of poisoning.

Sources:

Sylvia Barbara Soberton, The Forgotten Tudor Women: Gertrude Courtenay. Wife and Mother of the last Plantagenets

https://tudorsdynasty.com/ten-things-you-didnt-know-about-gertrude-courtenay-marchioness-of-exeter/?amp=

[silverloreley]

Thoughts about Descendants: Rise of Red

I saw Rise of Red.

It was a mess and, as I expected, it blew up the lore of the whole franchise, so I'm going to consider it an AU of sorts from now on, or out of the original canon because there is no way to make everything work together.

Besides, it feels very rushed, especially the ending, it comes far too soon, and even if it's basically certain there will be a sequel or two, it still doesn't work on so many levels.

That said, it was a funny nice little thing, the songs are catchy (Red and Life is Sweeter are pretty great) and if it was for a different franchise it'd be nice and fine.

But it isn't. This is set in Descendants's world and that's where a good bit of the issues arise.

This is going to be long.

First of all, we already had enough problems with timelines as it was, but we kind of solved the issue with different theories (merged universes, different developments due to segregation, they were different but the unification brought a super quick collective development... it all depends on what line of thinking you prefer) the only one that never worked in the first place was that everyone was the same age and went to school together, Heroes and Villains. It simply doesn't add up, most of the Villains are supposed to be much older and most certainly didn't live along Heroes peacefully. But RoR went exactly there?!

And I see the appeal of it all, sure, but Maleficent should at least be older than Aurora by the simple grace of having been the one to curse baby Aurora at her christening so Maleficent being the same age as Cinderella, and Aurora by proxy since Chad and Audrey are the same age too we can assume Aurora and Ella are around the same age, makes no damn sense. Hades is a similar issue, but that one can be solved, let's say he was too bored in the Underworld (or was trying to escape punishment for his coup and was depowered by Zeus) and decided to take a younger appearance and mingle with mortals (ahem, with Maleficent in particular, I do love the pair, okay?), Greek gods did that in the myths, I can accept that.

On the same line, Aladdin and Jasmine being there puts them in a spot that is just too strange. Unless their whole plot already happened and the Sultan agreed to ship them both to school before they got married? Idk, some things can be fixed, some not, Aladdin and Jasmine probably can. The "call us jaladdin" can't, I draw the line here.

What can't be fixed in the slightest is Cinderella's story. I mean, I have seen many movies that set Cinderella's story in modern times, they're fine, for the most part, but in this case, a huge bit of the original plot just disappears, and it's the search Charming has to do to find a girl he met at the ball and only there through a single glass shoe that a Fairy Godmother made for her. Charming knows Ella already here, he doesn't have to look all over the kingdom to find the girl with glass shoes?! And since we're told the glass shoes are important for Ella and Charming when the gift the new shoes to Chloe, you can't tell me they aren't relevant.

AND Fairy Godmother, here Fay, being the same age too, if not younger, and unable to correctly do magic is a bit I have beef with too, FG was supposed to be friends with Ella's mother, but she's too young here! And clearly unable to perform magic as she should. Let's use the "fairies grow slower" explanation here, so Fay is much older than she looks, it's fine, we can even use the same for Maleficent too, just for the bit. I have no idea why would either of them go to Merlin's school for teenagers if they are not so, but let's just say it's because no one can teach them as well as Merlin can and let's call it a day. The problem Fay isn't able to correctly perform spells is a huge issue also because we're explicitly told in Descendants she had a "motherly smile" when she helped Cinderella and FG didn't correct that, she even got upset when Maleficent talked about hamsters and eggplants instead of mice and pumpkins when the carriage was discussed so it's pretty much established that FG was the one to help Ella, it couldn't have been anyone else.

Let's talk about the great absentees while we're at it, shall we? Aka, the makers of Auradon, Belle and Adam. Where are they? Is Adam cursed at this point and Belle doesn't go to school? Like in Beastly (great book btw, not so much the movie tho...)? I mean, everyone else is missing too, if we want to get technical, but the problem is that Merlin school's existence undermines a good chunk of Auradon's lore as we know it.

(After I started writing this post I came across the very disturbing info they almost put Beast in the plot of RoR, as a jock kid who could switch between beast and boy basically at will, which is not how a curse that leaves a boy traumatized for life to the point he decides to ban magic as soon as he becomes king should work, so his presence would have been much worse than his absence. In fact, I think it's for the better he didn't appear at all)

We speculated and we were sort of told by the extra books that the reason Auradon united and the Isle was created was because of a "Villain takeover" for which a rebellion was necessary (exact words we find in the guide), so there was a war and all, do we have to assume everything happened after the ones we saw in RoR left school? Since we have added the info Wonderland didn't want to join Auradon, hence the seal of the Rabbit Hole, what side did Bridget stand on during the war? Did she already have the authority to call the shots? When did it all happen?! How do you go from going all to school together to rise up in arms?

On a similar note, as funny as it can be the idea a coup can't start from a school so Ben is very relaxed when told, I've been informed by people who know this kind of stuff that a coup can, indeed begin from any place, as long as there are enough important people/resources where it all starts. As we know, Chad was considered second-in-line after Ben (he says so in D2), although I guess this changed in the years after the first 3 movies (possibly because Chloe was deemed more fit to rule?), so the Charming family is important enough that the Queen of Hearts seizing Auradon Prep with her whole army can be considered a successful coup, even more so in absence of the actual High King and Queen from the country. If we add many royals and their kids were there, as well as Fairy Godmother and Uma (yes, Uma became very important for Auradon, you can't change my mind), it is, most definitely a very real coup.

One thing I saw around is that it's likely Red and Chloe solved nothing or made things worse for Bridget and I sort of agree only in part. People tend to underestimate how much traumatic events can affect people, especially people as sweet as Bridget seemed to be, even more so when she didn't have any friends but Ella (by her own admission) and Ella was too busy with her own happiness to help her friend who got hurt, so yes, that single prank could have changed her completely. Also, I believe, after she went dark, the Queen of Hearts killed Ulyana.

I suppose we're going to find out what did Red and Chloe messed up for real in the next movie, I tend to think that either Red realizes she doesn't like bubbly Bridget as a mom that much because she's too kind and it makes her a rather bad queen, not a dictator but not capable of making the right decisions either OR something else vital in the franchise was blown up, like Ulyana being still alive (yes I totally stand that the Queen of Heart killed her, but if she didn't it means there's a problem on the loose).

Another thing is the freezing spell in the cookbook. Some say that its existence should have blocked Ulyana's plot all the same and Chloe and Red's intervention actually changed nothing, but I disagree.

Assuming it would have worked all the same on Ulyana in the original timeline, we could suppose that she didn't open the book inside Merlin's study, but simply the gang took the book and left before Merlin could arrive, so one of the others (Maleficent, Morgie and Hades all had magic) could have unfreezed her, then she could have found someone clueless to open the book for her (Ella in exchange for a chance to attend the ball, so Ulyana was her actual-but-evil-FG? a random extra who the gang brought specifically for the goal? Bridget herself, naive as she was, they left the book there and she opened it sealing her own fate?), so the prank would have happened, the main change was that R&C activated the security system much earlier and kept the gang in the room longer, so Merlin got around to catch them and give them detention this time around, that part works.

Now, this is all I have for now, but I may add another post and reply to the comments to this one, so go wild!

[karizard-ao3]

It's not important to the story but did Armin stay is the baby February group or join one for December?

Also what did he decide to do with the amethyst earings he bought ?

He stayed in the Februbaby Mommas group! Alexander was still due in February even if he was born earlier, and he had already built up a friendship with the other moms. I'm sure at least a couple other babies also came earlier, too, so Alexander wouldn't have been the only preemie who didn't make it to February.

As for the amethyst earrings, I'm thinking maybe he went in to the jeweler's and convinced them to let him exchange them, or else resold them. Although, someone suggested that they could have Alexander christened in February and Armin could give Annie the earrings as a gift then, and I think that's a pretty cute idea! So, it could be any of those options.

[theonlymanintheskyisme]

ol' faithful keyboard broke thanks to a firmware update. loved that keyboard, didn't even have it a fucking year.

also been battling a stomach bug this week, got the idea for this whilst trying to sleep to the boys the other day. figured i'd best christen this new keyboard the only way i know how.

the filthiest smut i could muster.

mild priest!kink homelander, i'm not religious in the slightest so no fucking clue if these are the right terms. posessive!homelander, masturbation, facial under the cut.

This was what you wanted, you told him. This was what you needed to feel whole, you’d said. Begged. Pleaded. And this was now what he was giving you. 

Oh, but the stench of him. Stood above you, covered in blood. Stood above you like the fucking God he is, ready to welcome you into his flock. Ready to welcome you with open arms into his fucking inner circle. 

You, on your knees, naked. Bare and exposed to him. 

He raises his hand, runs his tongue over his leather clad thumb, and he drags it over your forehead. A mark, a mark to show you’re his. Blood mixed with his spit. It’s beautiful. As is the whimper that comes out of your mouth. He takes hold of your chin, gentle but firm, and traces his thumb over your lower lip. 

You can’t help it. 

Mouth opens, and takes it in. Eyes on his, eyes on such a merciful, fucking powerful God, as you receive his gift. Sucking the warm, filthy leather clean with the smallest of whimpers and whines. And fuck, how he can smell you start to wetten down between your legs. This is your christening. This is your fucking holy awakening. 

You’d do anything for him. He can see it in your eyes. Pushing his thumb further in, watching as those eyes roll back, as you spread your legs a little, and in an instant, he’s exposed, cock in hand, watching you as you switch your attention to his hand on his cock.

Watching as he masturbates to you. 

Hand is controlled. He’s an expert. He’s almost silent, save for the last few moments when he truly loses control. Grunts, grunts he probably makes when he’s alone and in bed with just his hand. Grunts of a fucking God losing himself to pleasure.

Thumb slips out of your mouth, and he holds your jaw firm as you feel the first, then second shot hit you on the face. A third follows, and by the fourth, he’s bringing himself closer, wiping himself at the side of your face. 

He’s slow to let go. Deliberate, dragging his hand away from you, tucking himself back in as you bask in the glory that is the gift from your God. 

You look a delight. You look so fucking perfectly his. 

‘Mine.’