#each time you try on a formal gown you have to know that this might be the one you get dumped in by your celebrity crush lmao

[foxilayde]

If Oscar & Elvira are taking applications for partners for a poly relationship I’ll def sign tf up.

If they make this a reality competition dating show, a la Flavor of Love, yes I’m first in line to publicly humiliate myself for the opportunity to win dates with those two.

[luvsupa]

“PRINCE GOJO?!”

tags: fem!reader x prince! gojo satoru, childhood enemies to lovers (eventually), slow burn, bully!gojo, angst, royalty, lots of tension, smut-ish, kissing, gojos very cocky, there will be multiple parts to this! mdni.

w.c: 2.7k (sorry)

a/n: THANK U ALL FOR THE SUPPORT!! I had to make a different blog bc my old one @luvsupas was not working :(( so this is my new blog !! (I’ll be reposting the sukuna fics soon)

part 2!

the grand halls of the gojo estate echoed with the quiet elegance of centuries-old tradition. white and blue hues filled the castle, weaving through the curtains and tapestries. each door bore the rich blues of the family crest with gold accents.

this year, the gojos have invited your family to spend the season at the estate—a common occurrence given the close relationship between your families. however, this is the first time they have personally invited you. usually, your parents would spend the warm season at the gojo palace while you remained in your quarters, convincing them each year that you had more important activities to tend to. little did they know of your personal dislike for gojo satoru.

growing up, you and satoru never got along. he always belittled you and excluded you from activities. as you both reached your mid-teens, your bickering became more extreme. he would embarrass you during family dinners and important gatherings. initially, you thought he might have feelings for you until he and his friends humiliated you with a fake confession. just as he leaned in to kiss you, you found yourself pushed into the garden pool, their laughter echoing around you. that day hurt more than any argument you had ever had with him. you felt a sense of freedom when satoru and his family moved estates to a bigger palace, as if the old one wasn’t big enough.

walking behind your parents, you are stopped by the guards who open the double doors to the drawing room. inside, you see satoru’s parents already engaged in conversation, which halts as the doors open. “your majesties,” your parents say as you all bow slightly in respect.

“please, no need for formality!” the queen, satoru’s mother, says, embracing you in a warm hug. her bright blue eyes catch your attention, her royal blue gown making the color pop, similar to satoru’s eyes.

soon, the king, satoru’s father, and your father are deep in their own conversation, while your mother and satoru’s mother catch up, leaving you alone in the gigantic room, observing and listening. you begin to wonder where satoru would be—

“you’ve changed since i last saw you! adulthood suits you well,” satoru’s mother compliments your appearance, interrupting your thoughts. “thank you, your majesty,” you respond, quickly apologizing for the formality at her glare.

“satoru will attend tomorrow’s gala,” she continues, and your ears perk up at his name. “he’s been studying abroad, and it’s perfect timing for his return!” the queen informs you. how did she know you were curious about his whereabouts?

as the conversation winds down, the king informs you all that your rooms are prepared, allowing you to get comfortable in your temporary home.

⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . *

as night falls and the estate quiets down, you busy yourself unpacking, trying to make your new room feel like your own.

just as you’re almost finished, the grand doors slam, followed by cheers and applause. did i miss the gala? you hurry out of your room, following the noise to the grand staircase. from the top, you see gojo’s parents, guards, and servants clapping—there he is, his tall figure embracing his mother and father, basking in their affection.

quickly and quietly, you retreat, hoping to avoid any interaction with gojo. but on your way back to your room, you bump into your parents. “oh, there you are, darling. we were just looking for you to welcome satoru home!” your mother says, guiding you down the stairs despite your resistance. “i can’t—i’m not dressed in formal attire,” you protest, glancing down at your pajama gown. “nonsense, dear. wear my robe. you must greet him,” your mother insists, wrapping her silk golden robe around you as you descend the steps.

you curse yourself for leaving your room. this cannot be happening. “our little prince, we’ve missed you!” your mother exclaims, nudging you towards satoru. he greets your parents warmly, but when his eyes land on you, his demeanor shifts. he ignores you at first, addressing your parents with practiced charm.

you stand there, awkward and tense, as the one person you despise charms your parents. suddenly, he grabs your hand, his touch both surprising and unwelcome. “it’s been a while, hasn’t it, my lady,” he says with a disingenuous smile, softly kissing your hand. you stand there, slightly pouting, stunned by his audacity. then he leans in, his breath warm against your ear, “did you want me to kiss that pout like before, hmm?” his tone is condescending, followed by a dark chuckle.

you gasp as embarrassment floods your senses, old humiliations resurfacing. you shove him away, and he stumbles back, drawing your mother’s attention. she starts to scold you, but he intervenes smoothly. “don’t worry, it was a playful shove, wasn’t it, my lady?” his blue eyes lock onto yours, and you feel the weight of everyone’s gaze. “i’m sorry, i don’t feel well. goodnight,” you manage to say, rushing up the stairs and into your room, praying for the season to end quickly so you can escape his presence.

⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . *

as the morning light floods the room, you’re met with bright sun rays directly in your eyes, eliciting a groan of distress. the thought of last night’s events churns your stomach in embarrassment. pushing aside the memories, you get dressed for breakfast to join the mothers calm breakfast outside.

approaching your mother and gojo’s mother, they turn their attention to you, their expressions lighting up with amusement and boosting your ego.

“how beautiful! It’s delightful to have breakfast with you two!” gojo’s mother remarks, her eyes shifting between you and behind your figure. two? your smile fades as you turn to see satoru standing behind you—ego crushed. walking together to the dining table, you take your seats across from each other. how much worse can this morning get?

“we were just discussing the gala happening tonight. this will be good upon arrival, ‘toru,” his mother explains. tou notice his visible annoyance at the nickname. he doesn’t like being called ‘toru—noted. you sit in silence, quietly eating the food prepared by the hardworking chefs. just as you’re enjoying your meal, you hear an obnoxious squeal, “my prince! you’re finally back!” all four of you turn towards the noise. a beautiful tanned skinned woman draped in a lilac gown, runs towards your table as her maid struggles to keep up.

you watch her movements, as she runs straight to satoru, tears filling her eyes. she jumps into his lap, smothering him with kisses. the entire scene makes you wish you had never attended. without any shame, they engage in a heated make-out session in front of everyone. satoru opens his eyes to see your visible shock as he smiles into the kiss, while still maintaining eye contact with you.

the queen coughs, breaking the moment. the unknown woman apologizes to the queen without looking, maintaining her gaze on satoru. “ruru, I missed you so much! we should go up to your quarters soon,” she whispers, but unfortunately, you hear. “ayana, that’s enough. my mother was discussing the gala tonight,” satoru replies, disregarding her request as she pouts. so that’s her name.

“hello, your majesty. I apologize for my behavior; I haven’t seen satoru in so long!” ayana formally apologizes to the queen and everyone who had to witness that display. gojo adjusts her position, propping her up on his lap with her back against his chest. as gojo’s mother looks annoyed from the interruption, but she continues where she left off.

as breakfast continues, you try to focus on the discussion about the ball, but it’s impossible to ignore the tension radiating from across the table. satoru’s voice is low, murmuring something to ayana that makes her giggle. your curiosity piqued, you glance up- and nearly choke on your food.

satorus hand is shamelessly sliding up ayana’s thigh, disappearing beneath her dress. her breath hitches, a soft gasp escaping her lips but her eyes are locked onto you. he’s doing this on purpose, you realize. the sick twist in your stomach intensifying. he continues fingering her under the table as she’s holding back from releasing a loud moan, a smirk playing on his lips as he watches your reaction.

your heart pounds in your chest as he continues his sinful acts publicly. you abrubtly push your chair back, catching the attention from everyone as you quickly excuse yourself, standing up on shaky legs. satorus eyes follow you, a triumphant gleam as ayana clings to him, her giggles haunting you as it echos in your ears.

⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . *

you’re getting ready for the long-awaited ball, adorned in a gown that perfectly complements your skin tone. as you make your way to the drawing room, you realize you're ready before anyone else, which allows you to kill time and explore the estate. eventually, you find yourself in the grand library, which is far larger than you anticipated. a beautiful fireplace is placed near a cluster of chairs, offering a cozy spot for reading. browsing the bookshelves, you find yourself drawn to scientific novels that capture your interest.

“library’s not your usual scene, sweetheart. did you get lost on the way to the ballroom, or are you trying to impress me with your newfound scholarly interest?”

you quickly turn around at the voice. great. “trying to impress you? I have better things to do than seek validation from someone like you,” you spit back. he steps closer to you, and you already hate the proximity between you two.

“feisty, aren’t we?” he continues to walk closer, both of you now toe-to-toe as you look up at him, his towering presence looming over you. “you’re still the same girl I used to taunt,” he mocks with a fake pout, his voice dripping in condescension.

he closes the space between you, his warmth radiating off his body as you inhale his rich, masculine scent. “used to follow me around like a lost puppy—always trailing around, desperate for my attention. how pathetic.”

your jaw clenches with frustration, but you refuse to show him how much his words affect you. “maybe I did back then,” you retort, your tone laced with defiance. “but that was long ago. I see you exactly for who you are, satoru—someone who gets off on belittling others.”

his laughter rings out, grating on your nerves. he leans in, your faces dangerously close, your lips almost touching. “am I now?” he smirks, a look you want to slap off his face. “but deep down, you still crave my attention, don’t you? admit it, darling.”

his eyes flicker between your lips and your eyes, and you’re betraying yourself- slowly leaning in to kiss someone you so desperately hate—

“ruru! where are you? I hope you’re dressed!”

you’re the first to move back, breaking whatever spell he had you under. you look up at him in fear, while he looks at you with amusement. he has you wrapped around his finger, and you both know it. with a final smirk, he leaves to find ayana, leaving you alone in the library with so much to process.

⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . *

as you composed yourself and caught a breather, you exited the library and made your way to the ball room. the grand space was adorned with vintage antiques, paintings, a live orchestra, and all the opulence one would expect from a gojo event. the ballroom teemed with more people than you anticipated, their gowns and suits a beautiful contrast against the castle backdrop.

feeling nervous, you scanned the room, seeing your parents conversing with the king and queen. the refreshment bar catches your attention and make your way to the bar as you help yourself to a cool drink. suddenly, you felt a presence too close for comfort behind you. turning, you see ayana.

“you’re ruru’s friend, right?” she said, eyeing you up and down.

“ehh, I wouldn’t really say—" you began, but she cut you off.

“well, he’s told me so much about you! especially before he started his studies!” she informed you, causing your heart to skip a beat. he talks about me? “ahh good things I hope,” you reply with an awkward chuckle at the end.

“good? oh no, honey! he was always telling us how obnoxious you were, driven by your hopeless feelings for him,” she continued with a smirk.

oh.

“I’m very amazed at how you still came to see him despite your little feelings. after all, him and I are together,” she said, trying to flaunt her status. your mood shifted, and the desire to leave resurfaced. she rambled on, recounting embarrassing moments you wished were never brought up, as you zoned out of her relentless gossip. suddenly, your conversation was abruptly interrupted. finally.

“ladies and gentlemen,” one of the guards loudly caught everyone’s attention, silencing the room. “welcome back your prince, gojo satoru.”

as corny as it could get, gojo walked in with full confidence, the center of attention as the room filled with cheers and clapped for his arrival. internally scoffing, you discreetly made your way to the doors leading to one of the gardens, exiting the ballroom to avoid his speech.

taking in the scenery of the fountain and lush greenery, the orchestra continued playing, indicating gojo had finished his welcome speech. “not interested in what I have to say?” an annoying voice pierced through from your peripheral vision. you were so fed up with the past events that you just stared at him in annoyance.

“what troubles you, darling? do you seek my attention now?” his voice dripped with a sly undertone, causing your jaw to clench in frustration.

“I’ll see you inside, prince gojo,” you replied through gritted teeth, your tone dripping with bitterness. with a curt nod, you turned away, walking back to the ballroom, leaving gojo stunned for the first time—not by you leaving him alone, but by addressing him with such formality. it was always satoru.

⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . *

part 2!

[thedroneranger]

Buzzing Romance

Robert "Bob" Floyd

Synopsis: You and Bob have always vibed, and now it's time for this budding romance to blossom.

Note: Hi, friends! I know I've been MIA around these parts. And I hate it, but priorities. Anywho, I wanted to stop by, drop this little gift and say happy Valentine's Day! And say thank you to those who continue to message, chat, tag and send asks 🖤 This fic is a companion to Vibe Check and Sending Vibes. Reading one or both will provide additional context but isn't mandatory. Enjoy!

Warnings: 18+ only, fluffy but sex toys.

Word count: 1.1k

Bob wanted tonight to be perfect. Along with dinner at a steakhouse you’d been jonesing to try, he had a beautiful bouquet of roses to give you. 

Ever the perfectionist, Bob had called his florist friend, Riley. Since Bob always made sure Riley was on the shortlist for any local Navy events, he had an open line of favors ready for redemption.  

A few days later, Bob spent over an hour in Riley’s shop, before she opened at seven in the morning, handpicking the biggest, reddest roses.

Later after work at home, Bob spent another 30 minutes adding the final touch. A 25th rose that would never die—as long as you kept it charged. He wanted to confirm that not even a petal was out of place, and the rose-shaped vibrator was well hidden so you didn’t notice at first glance. 

Meanwhile, you were at your place—a rare occasion on its own. However, you were also giddy to get glammed up and go out on a real date with Bob. The thought made you laugh. 

It was clear you and Bob were in this for the long haul, but nothing about your relationship was traditional. You’d been seeing each other exclusively—a mutual decision—for nearly a year but had yet to formally define the relationship. 

Hell, you were still discovering new things about one another. Barely a month ago, Bob found out about your culinary skills when you cooked him his favorite meal as a welcome home surprise. 

The same night he also saw you in something other than an oversized Naval Academy t-shirt for the first time. You thought Bob’s eyes might bulge out of his head when you donned a sheer nude bra and panty set embroidered with the most delicate flowers.

You were hoping Bob would have a similar reaction tonight when he saw you dressed up for something other than a work-related gala. Your gala gowns were always striking but also conservative since you were among colleagues and leadership. Secretly, you hoped Bob fantasized about what was under your garb during galas as much as you fantasized about what was under his dress uniform. 

Your phone shook you from your fantasies. Bob messaged to check that a 6:45 pickup left you plenty of time to get ready. After responding, you put your phone back on the bathroom counter to inspect your face one more time before going to your room to put on your outfit. 

Bob was having nearly the exact same thoughts about your relationship, firsts and fantasies as he stood in front of the mirror, deciding which switch shirt to pair with his slim-cut gray suit. It felt cliche, given the holiday, but he decided to go with a soft pink shirt. One last check of his carefully styled hair, and then Bob was sliding into his two-door 90s Silverado. 

Fifteen minutes later, Bob rolled to a stop in front of your rental. Flowers in hand, he strode to the front door. He poked the doorbell and waited. 

You didn’t even bother to look before you flung the door open. “Hi,” you sweetly greeted him. He nearly dropped the bouquet. Bob couldn’t help but let his gaze roam over your body. 

The sheer bodice and the low sweetheart neckline of your top had him reminiscing about his first night home from his last deployment. The silk high-waisted midi skirt and strappy heels you paired it with were the perfect compliment.

Remembering he was standing on your doorstep, Bob’s wits came about him. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you.” You chuckled. There was no way Bob’s cheeks weren’t as red as the flowers in his hand. 

“These are for you!” He gently held the bouquet out. 

Your face lit up as you used both hands to take it. “These are gorgeous! Do I have time to put them in water?”

“Of course.” Bob smiled. “I’ll get the door.” You thanked him and turned to go inside. He closed the front door and trailed you into your kitchen. 

“Here.” You gave him the bouquet back as you reached into the top of a cabinet to get a vase. While your back was turned, he adjusted the vibrator to be a smidge more obvious. “Come.” You waved a hand from him to join you at the sink. 

While the vase filled with water, you grabbed some scissors, and then turned off the faucet. Then you pulled a rose from the bunch to snip the bottom. “These are gorgeous, Bob.”

His smile widened. “I hand picked them.” You stopped to look at him in disbelief. He shrugged. You smirked as you grabbed another rose and trimmed the end before placing it in the vase. Bob watched as you continued to pick roses and diagonally trim the ends. 

Then, you saw it. You froze and looked at Bob. He was smirking. Your expression morphed to mirror his as you unearthed the rose-shaped vibrator. Your eyes flitted between him and the toy. 

“It’s kinda our thing, isn’t it?” He said with a wink. Bob placed what was left of the uncut bouquet on the counter. You also sat the vibrator there, and then wrapped your arms around his neck. His hands came to rest on your hips as he looked at you. 

“You never cease to amaze me, Bobby.” Your gazes were locked. Your fingers brushed the short hairs at the back of his neck. 

“I have to admit my intentions aren’t purely altruistic.”

“Oh?” Your eyebrow arched as he began to slightly sway you as if music were playing.

“I want to take my girlfriend to dinner.” Bob stopped moving and let his hands wander to the small of your back to pull you closer.

You bit your lip to cull the smile involuntarily pulling the corners of your mouth. “I would love for my boyfriend to take me to dinner.” You could feel the excitement in Bob’s embrace. “And afterward, I hope he’s willing to test out the gift he bought me.”

Bob’s face lit up with both a smile and rosy cheeks. He gladly accepted your lips against his and let his hand drop to cup your backside. You caught him off guard by nipping his lip when he gave you a squeeze. “Let’s skip dinner. I want to go straight to dessert,” he stated. You giggled as you uncoiled your arms from his neck and let a hand come to rest on his chest.

With a playful eye roll, you turned to the counter and finished trimming the roses. Patiently, Bob watched you situate the blooms. When you were done, you took the vase to the living room and sat it in the middle of the coffee table. While you admired your bouquet, Bob went to the bedroom to leave a single rose on the nightstand—ready to keep your romance buzzing.

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[lime-sketches114]

Welp...FF7 Rebirth came out and ummm....I have this ship with an OC called Raven and I put her with Sephiroth...Ravenroth??? Idk

I'm debating on what prompt to do them with but we'll see with the actual story. This may also tie into a painting I did~

(they also have a kid named Mercury, he's a sweetie and I made Sephiroth a sister named Seri...yay) (Mercury is not in this story but Seri is!)

Without further adoooo let's get started.

May I Have This Dance?

Rating/Warning: minimal stuff but also AWWWWW

★★★★★

Ever since I can remember, I've always been by his side. Sephiroth. The Golden Child of SOLDIER. Ever since we were young we'd be teamed up together. He was there when my father died in that freak accident. There i remained in SOLDIER. Even as a First Class rank I didn't care much for the formalities or the perks of being this popular. I always thought myself a medic and only that.

Genesis or Angeal will always tease us as teenagers. Teasing about dating, who would win in a fight, best aim, you name it. As the years passed by, I found myself trying to answer why. It had been years since Genesis and Angeal disappeared and I still hear their voices egging me on. I had things, priorities, to attend to, especially one that was his very sister, Seri.

"Raven!!! What do you mean you're not coming to the company ball?! Everyone will be there!" Seri whined as I checked her vitals on the screen and took some tests.

"I told you Seri, I have my duties to the hospital and you. Sephiroth will have a conniption, you know he doesn't dance anyways" I replied.

"well I'm going with Zack! He invited me in Aerith's place because of her circumstances! She insisted!" She fussed as she crossed her arms.

"Oh are you? Then I guess I have no choice~" I rolled my eyes playfully as I gave her medicine and a change of clothes from her closet and helped her put them on.

"Yay! Dress shopping!!!" Seri squealed. I helped her onto her wheelchair and we walked to the elevator to get to the bottom floor.

We walked along the streets of Midgar to a dress shop nearby. I was never really into girly stuff even as a kid. The only girly thing I wear is earrings bc my face still says masculine. I guess looking more like my father was half of a good thing. I'm glad I developed nicely up top and got ass for days. My dad would try and get me to wear hair berets or make up to make me look more feminine but I was a part of SOLDIER. I couldn't/it would run or snag in the field.

Seri and I walked through all the clothing racks. Seri picked out a few dresses her size. She kept on pointing to other dresses that might look good on me but none were speaking to me. Seri started scanning the whole store. I know those eyes too well, just like her brother's, always on target and ready to pounce. Then she grabbed a dark colored dress and snuck it under her picks, thinking she was sneaky. I only caught a glimpse of the color but not the style. I was worried but not in a scared way.

As we made our way to the changing rooms, she picked out a cute pink dress because she told me Aerith liked pink and wanted to respect her favorite color. Seri really has grown fond of both Zack and Aerith these past few years. I've never seen her this excited unless it was Sephiroth coming home to take her to a fancy dinner and toy shopping. She's 7 years younger than him yet they're both a spitting image of each other. They definitely are siblings.

I remember the day my father showed us her, so small and frail. It was devastating to see her health decline when she reached 10 years. My dad did so much for her, even as he got up in age, he was like a father to her. His death put a toll on all of us, I stayed with Shinra because I had nowhere else to go. That's when I became on call for SOLDIER and mostly full time at the Hospital. I made a promise to my dad and myself.

Seri showed off her dresses and then from underneath she revealed the dress she swiped for me. It was a long sleek slender gown with a slit up the leg that stops at the thigh and has one strap. It was a dark blue with shimmers.

"oh no...that's no me..." I deflected.

"Come on Raven just try it on! You never wear dresses so how can you know?!" Seri pouts and shoved the dress and shoved me into the changing room, "imma go find ya shoes! Be right back!" With those parting words she wheeled herself away and I was alone. In the changing room. With a floor to ceiling mirror...

I placed the dress over me to get a feel then I started to undress from my uniform into this dress. Once it was on I saw myself. My figure helped but I had muscle. Was that sexy? Appealing? I even posed with my leg out the slit.

"Raven! I'm back with shoes!" Seri snapped me out my thoughts and shoved the shoe box under the door. I looked inside. They were black high heels...

"You sure about this Seri?" I called out.

"trust me!!!" Seri giggled.

I gulped and tried on the shoes. I looked at myself again and was amazed. Everything...matched me... Was Seri some kind of fashion genius? Maybe those fashion magazines around the hospital didn't help.

"come on out I wanna seeeeee!!!" Seri whined and scooted her wheelchair back.

I opened the door and revealed myself. The look on Seri's face said it all. She looked like she saw an angel.

"you look...amazing!!!!" She took a picture with her phone. "Sephi will FLIP when he sees you in this dress!!!"

"you think so?" I blushed.

"I know so! And with your silver earrings to match him it'll be perfect!!! Zack is already matching me with a pink tie already. He is not scared of pink!" Seri laughed.

I smiled, "then I'll get this dress. And maybe a necklace for both of us"

I quickly got unchanged and went to go pick out some necklaces. I got matching silver bang necklaces for us. I paid for the shopping spree and we headed on home to the apartment. Only god knows what will happen tonight...

---------------

The ballroom of the venue was packed with higher ups and other important people. I adjusted my dress. My hair and make up fixed up to match my dress. I touched my necklace and took a deep breath and walked into the venue. Seri already left earlier with Sephiroth for the venue. She was adamant Sephiroth doesn't see me get dressed in my pretty gown. My heels clicked along the floor as my presence started to turn heads and unwanted whispers. Why am I so nervous?

Then I saw Seri and Zack talking it up in the SOLDIER section of the venue with our names on the tables on the outside of the dancefloor.

"well look who decided to show up!!" Zack chuckled, "you look pretty good in a dress and is that a clutch?!"

"yes Zack...and you look stunning in that suit. Really brings out your eyes" I teased. Zack's cheeks turned pink. "And your cheeks~"

Seri chuckled, "he at least has some good dance moves."

"Seri where is your brother?" I asked.

"over there next to the corporates and higher ups. He's been sipping champagne for an hour with them..." She pointed.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to them. The drunken fools started whistling at my appearance. I deflected their looks and focused on Sephiroth.

"Look who finally decided to wear make up after so long" Sephiroth commented as he left the drunken old men to come to me.

"you don't look half bad yourself" I adjusted his blue tie. I knew Seri would make him match me.

"Shall we go out to the balcony? Away from these fools and noise?" He suggested. I gladly accepted and we walked outside.

"I'm so used to the sound of the battlefield and hospital. Yet I always get nervous around other people." I chuckled. "At least Seri and Zack are having a great time."

Sephiroth chuckled and held Raven close, "who says we can't have our own fun out here? May I have this dance?"

I blushed and smiled, "you may" he soon pulled me in and we began slow dancing on the balcony to the muffled music of the ballroom. The moon shines full and bright above us.

We swayed back and forth and he spun me a few times. I knew he wasn't much for dancing but he learned to cheer me up when we were teenagers. He knew my father loved to dance with me. Even Genesis and Angeal got on the bandwagon. They were all my best friends. Well now I only have Sephiroth. Ever since we were young we were glued to the hip, even in battle we had each other's backs.

My heart started pounding faster at the thought of feelings for Sephiroth. Are we allowed? I'm not in SOLDIER anymore by default but I work with Seri now so it might be?

"you're making that face again~" Sephiroth spoke softly and snapped me out of my thoughts.

"what face?"

"the cute face you make when you're deep in thought or worried." Sephiroth smirked. Cute? Cute?!

"oh...sorry..." I chuckled embarrassingly.

"don't be sorry, I like it, besides you're beautiful tonight. Seri picked out a nice dress" he placed a hand on my hip, trailing his fingers against my exposed back, "and don't worry about the muscles, I like that about you, you're not dainty or fragile like Seri. Strong and stubborn."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, "you think so?"

"I know so" Sephiroth placed his other hand on my hip, leaning in closer to where we're almost nose to nose.

"I'm glad you said that, because I like a man who can keep me on my toes and always had my back for the past 25+ years" I stared into his eyes as the moonlight hit them.

"then I'll hold you to it for the rest of our lives. You've done too much to just be rewarded once" he leaned in closer.

"it's a promise" I closed the gap and kissed him. We held each other. He lifted me a bit to get one last jab at the toes statement. His chapped lips were soft and his hair was like silk. He even put it up for once in a low pony with a small braid.

We separated with a few good breaths between us. Was dad always right that I might end up with Sephiroth? I don't care, if it is true, I know where my heart lies tonight. It's definitely with him. Soon we were surprised to see Seri and Zack. Seri looked like she was about to lose it at the fact we finally kissed. Zack was dumbfounded that Sephiroth knew how to be romantic.

"I did it! I knew you guys would come out here! And you kissed!!!!" Seri squeaked out giggles and stumbled to her brother and I.

Sephiroth held her steady, "I guess your constant nagging about me staring and smiling paid off, little sister."

Seri smiled, "it's only a matter of time till I hear wedding bells! I wanna be the maid of honor! Can we invite Aerith?! Cloud?!"

"Slow down Hyperactive Kitten, it'll be way down the line for that possibility. What if we just eloped?" I chuckled.

"don't care! I still get wedding bells!" Seri smiled as Sephiroth twirled her around in his arm. She brought him so much joy. I don't remember a day where he tried to visit her and play with her, even being a muse for her paintings. She loved him just as much.

"maybe once I retire, we'll see about that" Sephiroth smiled.

Zack gasped, "you're leaving me all alone no fair! It'll just be me and Cloud!" He pouted playfully.

I laughed at his expression and we had a fun night for the rest of the evening. My feet were sore and tired from dancing. At the apartment I helped Seri get ready for bed and hung her cute dress up for her to look at in her room. I made my way to the other bedroom and got undressed into pajama shorts and a tank top. I wiped off all my make up.

Sephiroth was just in sweatpants as he looked at me with soft eyes. I walked to him and gave him another kiss. Memories of sharing a tent or a bed together on trips, even into older age, came into my mind. Entangling our bodies together to stay warm. Him placing his head on mine. Even in uniform it was comfy. Like we were two sides of one coin. We laid down in the large bed, embracing each other, with me laying my head on his chest. Listening to his strong heart. His strong arm wrapped around my figure. My olivey complexion is a clear difference from his pale skin.

"Goodnight Sephiroth" I yawned softly.

"Goodnight Raven...I love you" He smiled.

"I love you too"

[subehind]

Keigo saves lives

(Keigo being the system of humble/polite/honorific speech in Japanese)

A several times already I stumbled upon a posts saying this is the one thing they cannot forgive Sukuna.

Fucker burns down half of Shibuya and this is what overcooks your pasta? Smh

Anyway, he was right to be insulted by the twins‘ request and you know why?

Because the phrasing of the request was shit.

The level of politeness they used was basic at best and lazy at worst. The form (koroshi)te kudasai is a grammar form you learn fairly early on just to not sound like a complete degenerate, but you only use it casually with people you know. A cashier would not use it towards a customer, business partners would not use it towards each other. That's how basic and lazy it is.

And these two said it to a king. When asking for something that benefits them and burdens him. Fuckin' hell, like what were they expecting? Them kneeling, head on the floor and saying *this* is the linguistic equivalent of wearing a ball gown with sneakers.

And it's also clear they know how to speak properly, because a moment later they one says "o oshie shimasu" (for "we'll tell you"). That's a humble form, that's proper given the circumstances.

THEN WHY THE HELL DID THEY GO WITH THE BASIC FORM WHEN ASKING FOR THE FAVOUR IN THE FIRST PLACE!

It's laughable. And it is an insult not only to Sukuna, but also to all the Japanese language learners, who spend hours writing a formal e-mail trying to get it as right and polite as possible, because there is so much you can fuck up it is an excuse to do a tequila shot in 10 am. They were stupid and they had it coming because they should have known better. Sukuna would probably still kill them anyway, but at least they would not have embarrass themselves as they did.

Why not just straight up tell him "korose" as if he were dog.

So next time, ladies, go for something better. Such as "koroshite kudasaimasen ka", "koroshite itadakemasen ka", "koroshite itadakenai deshō ka" or "koroshite itadaitemo yoroshī deshō ka" (and the list goes on and on and on). Hell, even "okoroshi kudasai" would have been better then this disgrace of a politeness. A big difference is the "ka" at the end, which makes it grammatically a question (=> request), not an order.

Remember, kids, when speaking in Japanese - the longer, the more polite. And when talking to this asshole, you might wanna take it up a notch.

[toast-tales]

Cursed Cravings, Chapter 11: Ad Libitum

In which Danny gets a clearer glimpse of high society...and of Christopher. Contains: 3.8k words | Chapter 1 | Read this story on A03!

Ad libitum, adj: In music, performed with free rhythm and expression; improvised and without restriction. 

* * * * * * * * * *

“Sam. What the heck is this?” 

Danny stared at the thing on her nightstand with open-mouthed shock, trying to understand what it was she was looking at. 

The lamp next to it flickered on, a flame dancing back and forth in what could have been an amused chuckle. “Well, you made a mistake last week. You got Christopher excited about something.”

“I said I was curious about what rich people did for fun. I didn’t expect him to…” Something clicked in her mind, both incredibly obvious and utterly improbable. “Wait, is that what those measurements you took were for? Did he make this?” she exclaimed in disbelief, holding up a corner of the elaborate pile of ruby-colored fabric that appeared to be a gown made for her size. She’d hardly even seen clothing this fancy before, much less touched it with her own hands. 

“Yep. You should have seen him, he was going absolutely nuts all week trying to sew it, tearing out his hair and going on about the size of lace and buttons and stuff. I’ve never seen him so dedicated to something before.” The flame danced about before shrinking back down. “Uh, don’t mention I said anything about all that. But you’ve gotta try it on.” 

Danny scowled slightly—not in distaste of the idea of wearing such fancy garb, but to hide her embarrassment at the fact that she wore little fancier than her everyday, much more simple dress. “Uh…where…how do I even…”

She was almost caught off guard by the silk curtain that had been wrapped around the bedframe coming undone to reach over and hold the dress, as if the delicate fabric was actually a pair of hands. “I could help you put it on, if you’re alright with that?” 

It was odd to think that Danny still had no idea whether or not Sam was a man or a woman, and was frankly hesitant to ask, even in this situation. She found that she didn’t actually care all that much—Sam was Sam, as far as she was concerned. “...sure. Yeah, you can help.” 

Sam gently directed her in how the dress was worn, showing her the different parts of the dress as they explained each step. An hour passed easily by the time they were done—not just with the dress, which fit her surprisingly well. Sam had even managed to help put her hair up in a fancy updo, which held together even without the help of any sort of pins. They left briefly to fetch “a surprise,” which turned out to be a few tiny white flowers made of silk, small enough to entwine into her hair—probably plucked from the decorative vase in the front entry.

She looked at herself in the small handheld mirror that Sam held up for her, turning this way and that. It was like she was looking at a stranger—a beautiful stranger, one draped in a lovely shade of red that flowed around her like the delicate petals of a rose. The stitching, while somewhat unwieldy and larger due to the nature of the giant thread it used, was still executed by a neat and careful hand. She’d never even dreamed of wearing clothes like this before—even if they were made by giant hands and missing a few of the details that normal formal attire might have had, it was just as magical to her—if not more so.

“Well? What do you think?”

She hadn’t realized she’d gone on without saying anything for a while, still quite overwhelmed with her drastic change in appearance. “I…it’s…wow. It’s amazing.” 

“Then let’s go. He’s got more to show you, you know.” 

“He what?” Danny exclaimed. The rolling cart that Sam often controlled pulled up next to the nightstand she was on—one of its handles bent up towards her, like a hand extended to guide her onto it. 

She barely suppressed an amused smile as she placed her hand atop the handle and stepped down onto the cart, carefully lowering herself to a seated position as it gently rolled out of her room and towards the main entryway.

“What exactly does he have planned?” she whispered, a little bit more uncertainty stirring in her gut as they approached. 

“Just wait and see,” the cart whispered, sounding as if it barely held back a grin as it did.

She complied with silence, looking around nervously as they emerged into the mansion’s grand entrance room. It was twilight—the room was cast in the shadows of the day’s end, the lights not yet lit inside. It was empty, as far as she could tell, with no sign of Christopher yet. 

The cart stopped in front of the huge, marble staircase. “Wait here,” Sam whispered again, and Danny could almost hear the whoosh sound as their presence swept from the cart to somewhere else in the room. 

All at once, the lights on the walls blazed to life, and the crystal chandelier overhead sparkled with a million tiny lights within it—bathing the place in a warm and inviting glow. And just as the room was illuminated, she heard the footsteps from above. She rose to her feet instinctively as she saw Christopher appear from around the corner and begin to descend the steps, adorned in a more formal suit than his usual attire—a long, dark blue tailcoat with elaborate golden stitching all along it, lace peeking out from the collar and the sleeves. He carried himself with all the poise and grace that was to be expected of nobility, walking with a slow and steady gait as he made his way down towards Danny. 

His eyes fell on her—and though it at first made her feel as if she was being appraised, wondering if she looked as out of place as she felt, her unease began to fade as he gave her a gentle smile. 

He bowed towards her like a gentleman. “You look lovely, Danny. I’m glad the dress fits you so well.” 

She couldn’t do much more than laugh slightly, shaking her head. “I still can’t believe you went through the trouble of making it. That can’t have been easy, with your big-ass hands and all.” 

His composed air broke as he barked out a laugh. “You have such a way with words, doll. But you’re correct, it provided plenty of…unique challenges. And unfortunately, I couldn’t replicate many of the other essentials you’d normally wear to an occasion like this. The dress is also…rather simple, but it was the best I could do with limited materials.”

“Simple?” she gasped. “You’ve got to be joking. This is easily the fanciest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” She grabbed a few handfuls of the fabric and waved it about. “I bet it’s probably more expensive than all the clothes I own put together. It's beautiful,” she gushed, temporarily forgetting that she was feeding directly into his ego.

He chuckled, clearly quite pleased with her admiration of his handiwork. “Well then, I’m glad you enjoy it.” 

She gave him a funny, ever so slightly suspicious look. “What’s all this about, anyways?” 

“You wanted to know what people like me entertained ourselves with. So I want to show you what a ball is like.” 

She raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been to balls?”

“Well, I’ve…read a lot of books on the subject,” he admitted, with a slightly sheepish grin. “As far as I’m aware, this is what the upper class tend to concern themselves with. Truthfully, I’m interested in trying out some of the things I’ve read.” 

The giant gestured widely around the room with a sweeping motion of his arm. “Now, you have to imagine a lot more people in here—all of them dressed in beautiful gowns and whispering amongst each other. There’s noise everywhere—noise and color and life.” He gave her a sideways grin. “...at least, that’s what the books say.” 

“Uh-huh.” Danny tilted her head to the side. “So what do you do at things like this?” 

Christopher shrugged. “They’re mostly an excuse to show off your home and your status. There’s a lot of socializing, making connections, keeping face—they’re much more dull than you’d expect. But outside of all of that…” 

Christopher looked to the side and gave a short nod, meeting Danny’s eyes again with an excited gleam about them. “...generally, you dance.”

The sound of music began to fill the air of the grand room as a violin that had previously been resting on a nearby table came to life, its bow pulling itself across the strings in a lively, bright rhythm. 

Danny laughed in surprise. “Sam can play the violin?” 

“They’ve picked up a lot of things over time,” Christopher said with a smile. “Unfortunately they can't replicate a full band—they can only control one thing at once. But the violin is their favorite.”

He took a few steps forward towards the middle of the floor, turning back to look at Danny. “This music is called a waltz.”

Christopher began to step in time to the rhythm, moving with graceful precision from one foot to the next as he danced alone, demonstrating the steps clearly. He spun and held his arms out, as if he held an invisible partner within them, but his eyes always came back to rest on Danny. He smiled wide, clearly enjoying himself.

“You seem like a natural,” she remarked, absolutely fascinated with the way the giant moved. Christopher always moved with such an oddly delicate poise, but the way he danced took it a step beyond—it was a fluid sort of grace that made it hard to look away. “Are you sure this is your first time dancing?”

He chuckled slightly as he continued. “I’ve practiced a time or two. Like I said, I’ve read a lot of books.” 

The music’s tempo increased slightly, and Christopher’s steps became a little faster and more complex to match. She wasn’t sure if this was still a waltz or a different dance entirely, but as it went on, Christopher seemed to get lost in it, flowing with a natural ease and vigor from each step to the next. 

As he executed another spin, she caught a glimpse of something on the side of his head—or at least, she thought she did. She’d always written off the twists of hair on the sides of Christopher’s head as part of some fancy rich person hairstyle she wasn’t cultured enough to know about, but she swore in that moment she saw the hint of something…within them? A bit of his hair slipped further, revealing that they weren’t quite simple braids at all—instead, his hair was wrapped around something just as dark, but quite solid all the same. 

It almost looked like…

She waited until the music slowed down and the giant had seemingly finished his routine before she found the courage to ask. “Hey, Christopher?” 

The giant was still smiling, seemingly oblivious to the hair that had fallen out of place as he strode back towards Danny, slightly out of breath. “Yes?”

She gestured to the side of her own head. “Do you have…something—”

His face immediately fell, his eyes wide as he reached up to feel the twists of hair on each side of his head at once. His fingers moved quickly to adjust the fallen strands back into place. “No, no, it’s just my hairstyle. I’m afraid it might have slipped a little while I was moving.” 

Now she was curious, because while she knew Christopher had a tendency to be somewhat dramatic, she doubted his immediate, almost frightened reaction to his hair being slightly out of place was warranted. She tried to give him a somewhat encouraging smile, tilting her head inquisitively. “You don’t have to hide anything from me, you know. I’m just curious.” 

He hesitated for a long time before he spoke again, looking as utterly apprehensive as if she’d asked for him to strip down in front of her. “...are you sure?” 

She nodded. “Show me.” 

His lips set into a tight line before he gave a slow nod, hesitantly reaching up and beginning to fiddle with his hair. He undid a strand from the elaborate updo he wore, and began to unwrap it until it fell loose past his face, still holding a delicate curl.

On the side of Christopher’s head, where the hair had hidden it before, was a ridged, ebony-black horn, almost blending in with the shade of his hair except that it reflected the light of the chandelier along its edge. It laid close against his scalp—seemingly leaving enough space to wrap his hair around to hide it, but close enough that such an effort would have been effective had it not slipped. 

He mechanically undid the other side of his hairstyle to reveal a matching horn on the other side. Both curved back but didn’t extend beyond the back of his head. 

Danny’s eyes widened. She admittedly knew quite little about giant anatomy, but she’d just assumed Christopher was a large human that didn’t need to eat, and maybe had hearing a little better than most. This put things into a slightly different perspective, to see him adorned with such blatantly non-human features. “You’ve had horns this whole time?” 

Honestly, she was just impressed that he’d managed to hide such a glaring thing from her for a week. But why did he care?

For perhaps the first time since she’d met him, Christopher seemed genuinely embarrassed, tucking the strand of hair he’d just unfurled behind his ear and looking down at the ground, away from Danny. “I try to hide them. They just…remind me that I’m…not human.” 

“I mean…” Danny paused, trying to think about how to handle this topic delicately. She hadn’t heard Christopher ever express disdain for his own nature like this. And “delicate” wasn’t exactly her strong suit.

“...you’re not. But that’s okay.” She gave him an encouraging grin. “Personally, I think they look kinda cool. Way better than that funny hairstyle.” 

His head snapped up. “Funny?” he gasped, almost offended. Then he regarded her more curiously, a little blush coloring his cheeks. “...you…like them?” 

She laughed, finding something very amusing about the hundred-foot-tall man’s chagrin. “Yeah. Like I said—you don’t need to bother hiding stuff from me. I don’t care that you’re a giant or whatever. I literally talk to a possessed house everyday, you having horns is probably the least weird thing about all of this.” 

“Hey! I’m a whole-ass mansion, at least.” 

Christopher seemed to contemplate her words for a little longer, something like awe dancing in his expression. A little of the light from above seemed to reflect in his dark eyes even more than before, and a wide smile crossed his face. 

He extended a gloved hand towards her as he bent forward in a gentlemanly bow. “Would you care to dance, Danny?” 

She gave him a strange look. “...huh?” 

“It’s not half as fun without a partner, doll.” He remained bowed, grinning a little further. “I can’t just show off and impress you all night. You ought to try it too.” 

Danny stared at Christopher’s hand like it had grown another finger. “Um…I mean, sure, but um…how are we going to…I mean, I’m not really a huge fan of getting stepped on—”

“We’ll improvise,” Christopher said, and he extended his other hand towards her as well, to hold her hand between his fingers to guide her onto his palm in the same manner that Sam had guided her onto the cart earlier.

Dumbfounded, she couldn’t help but laugh slightly at the absurdity of the whole situation—even so, she held onto one of his fingers as she took a few steps onto his palm. He slowly raised her up closer to his chest as he stood again, holding both of her hands between his thumb and forefinger. 

She did her very best to remain upright and try not to think about how far down it would be if she tripped over the long hem of her new dress and fell to her death. 

She clearly hadn’t contained her worry well enough, because Christopher gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “I won’t let you fall, Danny. Trust me.” 

“A-ah-okay,” she mumbled, swallowing nervously and forcing herself to look up and meet the giant’s face instead of looking down. It helped, somewhat. “So…now what do we do?” 

Christopher’s face was soft, even as it was now framed by the newly revealed horns. “Just hold on, and try to get a feel for the rhythm.” 

She held onto his fingers tighter as he began to take long, sweeping strides across the floor, muttering quietly in time with the music as he did—one, two, three, one, two, three.

“Normally, yes, this dance is done with a partner of the same size, and there are a lot more hand motions involved,” he explained as he moved. She could feel even from her vantage point how graceful and practiced each motion of his was, as if this was truly second nature to him. He held her incredibly still as he danced, keeping his palm relatively even. It was enough that she didn’t even feel nauseous from the movement, if she kept herself focused only on his face, and the new horns her eyes kept getting drawn to, and not the giant room that spun around them.

Unfortunately, she did eventually make the mistake of glancing to the side, and felt a sudden rush of vertigo flip her stomach over. She squeezed her eyes shut and bent over slightly. “Oh, god—”

Christopher slowed to a stop, suddenly sounding concerned. The violin paused in its playing as well. “Was that…too much? Are you alright?” 

Danny took in a deep breath and forced her eyes to open again as she gasped for air. “I-I’m fine, it was just…we were moving so fast…”

“I’m sorry,” he murmured gently. “I didn’t take into account how disorienting it must feel at your size.” He looked thoughtful. “Maybe…I’ll move a little slower. I could try taking smaller steps.”

She nodded wearily. “Much appreciated.” 

He nodded towards the violin again, which resumed the music at a slightly slower tempo. This time, Christopher took steps about half the size of the ones previously, moving in a much smaller circle as he stepped along to the music. 

This was, indeed, much more tolerable. Danny was tempted to look down towards his feet to see what the steps were and try to copy them, but she was not feeling brave enough. Instead, she began to sway slightly to the music, keeping the same rhythm that Christopher whispered. One, two, three, one, two, three.

“This is the part where you’d twirl around,” he said with a smirk, slightly adjusting the way his fingers held her hands to be positioned above her head as he stood still. “Go ahead and try it, doll.” 

The nickname had dwindled down from a source of massive irritation to nothing but a mild annoyance at worst—it felt more like the same kind of playful tease she and Nathan would exchange. She sneered back at him. “Yeah, sure, bastard.” 

She complied with his request, holding very securely to his fingers as she carefully, very carefully, turned around in place—certainly not the most graceful motion, but she prioritized not falling to her death over grace. 

Even so, it prompted a wide smile from Christopher, who resumed the steps from earlier—every now and then pausing and lifting his fingers slightly to encourage her to twirl. They both began to get lost in the steps and the music, Danny turning every ounce of her focus to the moves. Once she got used to it and realized that she really was unlikely to fall while Christopher held her—or perhaps she’d simply forgotten about the floor below her entirely—Danny found herself laughing, filled with a carefree sort of joy as she let Christopher demonstrate the dance, and joined in with what little ability she had to contribute. 

Later, the memory of this evening would be but a swirl of motion and color, the dark blue of Christopher’s suit and the glint of his horns in the candlelight, the faint echo of a violin—but it would not be something soon forgotten, perhaps not for the rest of Danny’s life. 

She would remember that rush of ecstasy—the feeling of a true friendship beginning to be kindled in the most unlikely of places, with the most unlikely of people. 

When the music finally stopped, reaching its crescendo before one last, drawn-out note faded to silence, Danny was out of breath—but she didn’t want to stop now. She didn’t want it to end, not yet.

Christopher bent his head down as he continued to hold onto her hands, only slightly out of breath himself and grinning widely with his eyes closed. “Did you have fun?” he whispered, between breaths.

His low voice was much closer to her than before, almost close enough to raise the hair on the back of her neck. It surrounded her like a blanket—comforting, in a strange way. She normally didn’t like people getting close to her, but for now, she’d make an exception.

“I…I did,” she admitted with a laugh. “Thanks for not dropping me.” 

His head bent even further down until his forehead rested ever so gently against the top of her head. She could feel each soft exhale across her skin as his breathing began to even out. It was such a foreign experience that she found she couldn’t move or react at all—she was stuck, breathless, in awe of the way that Christopher was so utterly huge and all-encompassing, yet so gentle at the same time.

“I told you that you can trust me,” he whispered, almost…affectionately.

All of a sudden—like the soft silence in the air had been sliced with a knife—she could feel the giant’s entire body stiffen around her, and he drew his face away from her quickly, as if he hadn’t realized how close he had gotten. His face seemed slightly more pale than before.

“Are…you alright?” she asked, cautiously trying to determine what had startled him to such a degree.

He wasn’t trying to like…KISS me or something, right? That would be so awkward, oh my god, I should have told him I’m not interested in him that way—

“I’m fine,” he replied stiffly. He put on a charming smile—but something about it seemed only skin-deep, not reaching his eyes. “I think it might be time to retire for the night, though.” 

Without another word passed between them, Christopher carried Danny back to her bedroom and set her down on the bed, giving her a short bow of his head before he turned to leave.

“Hey!” 

Christopher stopped, but didn’t turn to face her.

She stared at the giant’s back pensively, a little worry beginning to creep into her. “Thank you, for tonight. It was fun.” 

He was still for a moment before he turned halfway towards her, the ghost of a grin tugging at his face. “I should be thanking you for indulging me. I had a wonderful time, truly.” She noticed his grin falter only a little before he turned away again. “Sleep well, Danny.” 

She stared after the door that closed behind him. What's wrong with him?

She would not get an answer to that question for another week—unbeknownst to Danny, an entire week past Christopher’s self-imposed deadline to keep his curse at bay. 

It was not enough time for either to prepare for what would happen as a result. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Next chapter ->

Thank you for reading! Now things are going to start ramping up.

Next week, Chapter 12: The Beast.

[ourtearsofrain]

The Barbarians (D.R.W/S.F.K) - Chapter 5

Pairings: Danny Wagner x Sam Kiszka

Genre: angst, hint of platonic hurt/comfort

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: AU typical events/threats/violence (later in the series), more family issues

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I See Me Through Colors, Gems, and Trim

Sam

 Wednesday, July 6th

Sam had kept to himself over the last two days; he didn’t want to deal with Hazel’s obsession with him, Joshua’s obsession with The Garden, nor Electra’s irritating personality. Most of all, he didn’t want a repeat of his conversation with Jacob. After he had gotten over how much his words had hurt him, Sam didn’t know how to feel about what his brother had revealed. Just because he went through shit in the arena doesn’t mean he gets to be a dick to me. And it’s not like anyone I care about will be in there, I only have to focus on myself. No one can toy with my emotions the way they did with the twins, they can’t hurt me that way. And they were only 17 when they were in the games, I have a whole year on them, that’s sure to count for something, right?

No matter what thoughts crossed his mind, he couldn’t forget Jacob’s words, they always circled back to them. “It actually might be better if you die.” Maybe Jacob was right, maybe I don’t know what I signed up for. That’s idiotic, I know what I’ve gotten myself into. Fame and glory and all that. I’m a strong fighter, I can do this. Not like I have much of a choice anymore anyway.

“Samuel? Samuel Kiszka?” Sam blinks himself out of his daze, lowering his hand from where it had been at his lips, having been nervously chewing on his cuticles.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Fantastic to meet you, Samuel. I’m Laurent Blanchard, I’ll be your stylist for the Tribute Parade tonight.”

“Great, that’s great.” Sam tries to keep dismissal out of his tone, not entirely caring for who his stylist was. As long as they made him look good for The Garden, he was indifferent.

“I had the honor of styling your brothers four years ago; you must remember their lavish Sun and Moon themed outfits?”

“How could I forget?” Will I never fucking escape their shadow? Jesus Christ, wherever I go it’s all ‘Jacob and Joshua’, ‘Joshua and Jacob’.

“For tonight, I was thinking of styling you and Hazel in star themed outfits, as a nod to my work with them. Obviously, we’ll spare no expenses, each outfit will be embezzled with more diamonds than you can count. How does that sound?”

Fucking horrible. All they’ll see is my brothers. “Fine, yeah that sounds great. Thanks.”

“Perfection! I’ll just take your measurements then I’ll be on my way. There’s much to do today.”

Sam sits patiently as Laurent measures him, scratching down notes in his notebook every so often as Sam tries to steal a glimpse at whatever he had planned. Laurent finishes in no time, bidding a temporary farewell to him before leaving his room quickly, on to Hazel. Alone again, but what’s new. Might as well try to find something to pass the time.

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“And you’re sure about this?” Sam raises his eyebrows as he looks down at the fabric covering his body. If he was being honest, it wasn’t his style or taste at all. Despite the star-patterned, diamond encrusted lace covering his chest, he felt too bare, too exposed with his open, white suit jacket. Even worse, Laurent had given him a “cloak” of sorts made of silver, sheer fabric, the pure amount of material he had used weighing Sam down. And the pants, the pants were a nightmare. With loose fabric matching the jacket, they felt too baggy on him, no matter how many times Laurent insisted the size of them were a stylistic choice. Even the jewel-encrusted formal slippers felt wrong, the tight fabric squishing his feet to the point of discomfort.

“Yes, of course I’m sure. I am the professional here.” He looks to Hazel next, making last minute adjustments to her gown. It seemed to be made entirely of the sheer fabric his cloak was made of, also embellished with diamonds and sapphires, with her own cloak to match it. Stars were sewn into the fabric of each of their outfits, covering them from head to toe.

“And you’re sure about the makeup and hair? It’s not too, I don’t know, gaudy?”

Laurent looks visibly offended at his words, an expression of distaste passing across his face before he controls his features once more. “Of course it isn’t. I want you two to shine like the stars you are. Now you better get into the chariots before they begin, you are first in line after all.”

Both do what he says as Sam fights the urge to scratch his face. He hated the silver makeup painted over his eyes, the way the diamonds felt adhered to his skin. He didn’t know how the people in The Garden did this every day. The way his attendants had braided part of his hair was unlike anything he had ever done himself, the strands pulling at his scalp painfully to keep the diamonds and sapphires woven into place. Laurent checks his watch momentarily before leaving them without another word, speeding across the room of tributes and their stylists to find a seat before the parade began.

“How do you feel?” For the first time since they arrived at The Garden, Sam isn’t annoyed by Hazel’s question. Nothing could annoy him more than what he was wearing.

“Itchy. Sweaty. I can’t wait to get out of this, I might burn it in the bathroom when we get back to our floor.”

“Yeah, I feel that. I know we’re from 1, but it all feels like too much.” Hazel laughs out. “Although it would be a shame to waste all these gems.” When Sam says nothing, she elbows him gently, pointing across the room when she captures his attention. “At least we aren’t from 7, did you see what their male tribute is wearing?”

Sam snorts, sparing a glance over at the chariot for District 7. “I know right, seriously what were their stylists thinking? Is that- is that a vine going through his nose?”

“I think so, yeah. He looks like he’s lived in the forest his whole life, all overgrown with branches and shit.”

As they laugh over the other tribute’s horrific outfit, Sam finally feels a sense of peace there with Hazel. Maybe she’ll make a good ally, at least for a little while. She’s not too bad when she isn’t shoving her love in my face. Before either can say anything else, their chariot moves underneath them, signaling that it was finally time for them to be presented to The Garden, to all of The New World.

Just breathe. Remember to smile, make the crowd remember you. Sam takes a deep breath through his nose, exhaling it out his mouth as the large doors open before him, immediately bombarding his senses. He can barely hear his own thoughts over the roar of the crowd and knew by the sound there must have been at least a hundred thousand people in attendance, although he could see only the first few rows as a spotlight blinds him.

Ignoring his discomfort, Sam grins wide at the crowd, trying his best to look relaxed and comfortable in their chariot. Thankfully, he knew Hazel was doing the same, relieved to have at least one person that knew how he felt. Their chariot comes to a halt, stopping as the other tributes filter in behind them before President Starcatcher comes into view behind a microphone. The crowd silences themselves in anticipation, awaiting her words as if they weren’t the same every year.

“Welcome, Tributes! We salute your courage and your sacrifice. And we wish you a happy Hunger Games. And may the odds be ever in your favor.” And just like that, their time in this spotlight is over as the horses pulling their chariot begin to move again, back the way they had come. The smile is wiped from his face the second the doors close behind them, immediately jumping off the chariot and slipping out of his shoes, relief already flooding his body.

He brings a hand up to undo the braids, his head aching from the strain of them and the noise of the crowd, collecting each gem that fell out in his palm. Hazel’s at his side in an instant, too tired and uncomfortable to bombard him with her presence. His eyes wander over to the other districts’ tributes as he waits for Laurent, Electra, or his brothers to come collect them, unintentionally stopping on the male from 7.

He wouldn’t look too bad if he wasn’t covered in all that shit. He has nice hair, it’s a shame they covered most of it. His nose too, very unique. His stylist did him wrong by drawing attention away from his features. Sam doesn’t realize that he had been staring for longer than he should have until the tribute looks his way, his eyes going wide with surprise as he realizes he was being watched. He thinks he can see anger flash across his features momentarily, but he couldn’t be sure with how far away they were.

“Samuel?” His name rips his focus away from the other man as he turns to see Joshua looking at him expectantly.

“Hm?”

“I said, do you guys want to go back to our floor to get out of those clothes and eat dinner?”

“God, nothing would make me happier.”

Joshua snorts, looking his brother up and down knowingly. “Yeah, I bet that’s uncomfortable. Jacob and I’s outfits were a fucking nightmare.”

Sam looks around, finally noticing the absence of the third brother at his name. “Where is he, by the way?”

“He uh, he wanted to stay up in his room. I’m sorry, Samuel.”

Asshole. “Oh. It’s fine, I get it.” As the others move to leave, his eyes drift back to the man from 7, seeing him intentionally avoiding his gaze. Finding that he was about to be left behind, he bends quickly to retrieve his shoes, nearly jogging to catch up with his group. “Hey, uh, who’re the tributes from 7?”

Joshua glances back in confusion, his brother’s care about who any of the other tributes were surprising him. “I think the girl is Daphne something, and the guy is Daniel, Daniel Wagner, if I remember correctly. Why? They giving you trouble already?”

“No, nothing like that. Just curious is all.” Maybe I should try to talk to him at training. He’d make a good ally. He looks strong, really fucking strong. It’d be nice to have someone else on my side that isn’t Hazel. Just before he leaves the room, he steals one more glance back at the male tribute, Daniel. He really is something.

--------------------------------------------------------

You're In and Out of Fashion

Danny

Wednesday, July 6th

What the actual fuck is this? Danny keeps himself from saying the words out loud as he looks at himself in the mirror.

“What do you think?” He looks over to his stylist, Juniper Mosswood, only to see them looking back at him with excitement painted across their features.

“It’s- it’s something.”

“Something good, I hope?”

“It’s a lot of something, I’ll tell you that.”

Juniper’s face slightly falters at his lack of enthusiasm, turning to distract themselves by adjusting Daphne’s outfit. Danny’s eyes go back to the mirror, and he regrets the decision immediately as anger courses through him. Once again, they’re only mocking us, mocking our district. I feel like a fucking tree, but I guess that’s the point. Danny adjusts the vined jewelry going through his septum, the sensation of it making him feel like he constantly needed to sneeze. He had tried to fight to keep his simple, gold-tone hoop, but it had been vetoed by Juniper almost immediately.

The rest of his accessories and outfit weren’t much better. The vine through his nose snaked up the sides of it and back into his hair, branching off in all directions to tangle in his curls. Instead of fashioning a simple shirt to cover him, Juniper had chosen to give him one made entirely of fake, rich green leaves, vines, and evergreen needles, the material uncomfortable on his skin. He felt as if he couldn’t move without it constricting around his muscles, which was unfortunate as he had been stressed the entire day, his body refusing to relax for even a moment.

At least his pants were somewhat simple and mostly comfortable, with light fabric in shades of dark green embellished with bedazzled branches and leaves. Danny spares a glance over to Daphne, thankful that at least his outfit wasn’t as horrendous as hers. He felt bad for the kid, weighed down with a headpiece designed to look like branches of trees, her light green dress heavy with similar embellishments.

“Alright, you two look runway ready!” Juniper exclaims, taking a step back to look over the pair one final time. “Now, they should be starting soon. You two should get in your chariot so they don’t leave without you. I’ll see you out there!” They say nothing more before leaving them, off to watch the show with the other stylists.

Danny helps Daphne into the chariot before joining her, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves as he sees other tributes do the same. He looks down at her, noticing her wide eyes and shaky hands. Reaching down, he takes her hand in his own, offering a gentle squeeze that causes her to look up at him. “It’s ok, remember I’ll be right here the whole time.”

“Ok, yeah, ok. Thank you, Danny.”

“Any time, kid.”

“I feel stupid.” Her comment comes out of nowhere, but he completely understands the sentiment as he watches her carefully reach under the headpiece to adjust it.

“I do too. Let’s get this over with, and then you can come hang out with Luna and I. We were talking about watching a movie if you’d like to join us.”

“I’d like that, thanks.” Before Danny can say anything more, he sees the wide doors to the stadium open before him, the first chariot in their line beginning to move. He feels Daphne’s hand tighten in his own as more and more tributes filter out into the stadium, offering her one last comforting squeeze before their own chariot begins moving beneath them. Daphne drops his hand immediately, her own hands coming to grip the rail in front of her for support.

Inhale, exhale, you got this. Just try not to look like you want to kill every person in that goddamn room, and you’ll be fine. “Do something to make them remember you.” Danny’s blinded by the lights as the roaring crowd comes into view, repeating Luna’s advice in his head, unsure of what she meant. It isn’t until he sees himself projected onto a large banner overhead that he understands. He relaxes his body, plastering a grin on his face as he looks to the crowd. Before he can stop himself or fully understand why he was doing it, he mimes nocking an arrow on his imaginary bow, shooting it into the crowd with a sugary sweet smile. He hears the crowd roar at his action, their attention almost distracting him from how stupid he felt.

As their chariot comes to a stop behind the other district’s tributes, the crowd’s attention moves onto the tributes behind him, giving him a moment of peace as he analyzes everyone around him. The stylists this year really did “represent” each district, I’ll give them that. Everyone looks like a mockery of their districts. Except the two from 1, bet they feel right at home covered in all those fucking diamonds. Prestigious assholes. Before Danny can work himself up, the crowd goes silent around him, and he notices for the first time the tall stage-like space before them as President Starcatcher steps in front of a microphone.

“Welcome, Tributes! We salute your courage and your sacrifice. And we wish you a happy Hunger Games. And may the odds be ever in your favor.” The crowd’s applause and cheers grow silent to Danny as rage fills him. Courage?! Sacrifice?! Who the fuck do they think they are?? And a ‘happy Hunger Games’?! Tell me what is ‘happy’ about this entire thing. Is it dressing kids up like their own little dolls for their own entertainment? Or sending those kids to die, again, for their own entertainment? Are they so blind that they can’t see or care what’s happening? Danny trains his face into a neutrally pleasant expression despite his spiraling mind, despite his fury at the extravagance of their merciless killing as the chariot moves back down the clearing.

As soon as he’s sure no one from The Garden can see him, he lets his anger seep into his expression, uncaring if the other tributes, their mentors, escorts, or stylists saw it. “You ok, Danny?” Daphne’s voice is small as she takes her headpiece off, holding it under her arm as she massages her aching scalp.

“Yeah, just angry at them all. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine once we get back to our floor.” He steps out of the chariot, carefully helping her out of it after him, afraid she would trip over the unnecessarily long train and skirts of her dress. “You see Luna anywhere?”

“Right here, kid. How you feeling?” She appears behind them, a pleasant smile hiding her discomfort.

"Not great, if I’m being honest. Ready to get away from everyone and get back to our floor.”

“Understandable, I’ll get you out of here soon as I can.”

Suddenly, Danny feels as if he’s being watched, his eyes darting around the space between the other tributes. Finally, they land on the male from 1, Samuel. Why the fuck is he looking at me like that? Does he have a fucking problem? Who does he think he is, covered in diamonds and sapphires, judging me? He maintains eye contact, not wanting Samuel to think he was weak or scared of him until he finally looks away, his attention turning to a shorter man with a wild head of curls. Joshua. Or is that Jacob? I can never care enough to keep them straight. Whatever. They’re leaving now anyway, not my problem anymore.

“Alright, we should be set to head back up. Let’s get you two out of those costumes.” As Danny focuses his gaze on Luna, he can’t help but feel Samuel’s eyes on him, keeping his own eyes away from him as he follows her from the room.

Wonder if he’ll try to start anything at training. That’s my problem tomorrow. Entitled ass Career.

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Taglist: @jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka @milojames16 @gretnavannfleet @aioba1503-sdm @sanguinebats @cheersdannyx2 @musicislove3389 @holdingup-fallingsky @Maddie-Rae

[consumeroflemoans]

Hello, you asked for Vilidia asks and I'm gonna try my damndest to deliver because I crave content of them as well, so I'm just gonna knock out a few scenarios I have in my head, they're a bit half baked, but I hope that's fine

So the social event thought, Vil is famous, Idias family is kinda too, he's bound to be forced to attend something at some point and does acting coincide with conglamerate shit? Probably not, but I don't know how being famous works and a man can dream

This then could lead to a classic run-in and then "chilling outside because you're the only person here I like or maybe even know", but what I personally think is just a tad funnier is if the rest of Idias whole extended family was also present and Vil can be introduced to those guys for a nice little "wtf Idia has friends/a boyfriend", depends on wether he'd be willing to tell them, and not only that it's Vil fucking Schönheit

Of course there's Mr. and Ms. Shroud which in and of itself already good, but an idea I've seen floating around too is that Idia has a cousin who could be TWST Zeus and I like that thought plus aunts, uncles, whoever you want really

Secondly, something smaller is that I like to think Idia at some point in his life is going to get glasses because I have glasses come on, he sees more blue light than sunlight

And now that could go over into funky glasses frame shopping because just because glasses are made to make you see better doesn't mean that they aren't just as much capable of looking fun and I think Vil would agreePlus you could also get a nice chain to attach if you wanted to

Proceeding with more fashion stuff, now it's no uncommon scenario to see Vil dress Idia up a bit, but I also like the thought that by the end Idia is so flustered that his hair is entirely pink and now the outfit colours Vil picked out don't work anymore

I might come back at some point and tell you about more thoughts, but I feel like that's enough for now and I hope you enjoyed them

Have a nice day :]

Dude I am going absolutely insane

AUACAUA omg

Vil and Idia at some stuffy party they don’t want to be at is golden.

I absolutely adore Vil having the chance to meet Idia’s family but also consider:

They’re the only two outside and already familiar with each other. Vil notices Idia visibly uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to have to dress up and socialize, that much is obvious. They stand in silence for a long time, far enough apart to not intrude on one another. Vil mentally debates the whole time, wondering if he could be irresponsible for just one night. He wants to help Idia, but he has an obligation to make his presence known at the party. Eventually he decides, sweeping over towards Idia in whatever elegant gown he donned. Vil asks point blank if Idia wants to get out of there. Idia’s obviously taken aback but stutters out an agreement. They take a night out, finding some gazebo far from any human life and spend the night together. They’re still in their formal wear as they explore together and chat, but neither of them mind much. Outside of the obligations of the party, it’s nice to have a chance to be themselves.

Augh actually on the topic of Vil and family I feel like he’d be kind of shocked by Idia having a large family. It’s always been just him and his dad, so him suddenly having a massive extended family would be so fun. Also I feel like he’d be the kind of guy to absolutely adore kids. He might not have them for himself, but he loves Ortho and any of Idia’s younger cousins. Idia finds it really endearing seeing Vil get along so well with his family.

ALSO OMG IDIA EITH GLASSES

I’m just imagining Vil looking over the options with Idia, both of them trying to find the perfect one to match his vibe. They can’t seem to find the perfect one, so they take matters into their own hands. Both of them have the money and talent to design custom glasses. Vil would sketch out designs for different outfits and scenarios while Idia would build the frames and add some sort of techno magic to them. He can’t have boring regular glasses after all.

Omg one of my favorite things ever is them combining Idia’s technological genius with Vil’s skill with design. They could pull together so many cool tech savvy outfits

Just them trying fashion together!!! Aaaaa Vil dressing Idia, standing back to appraise him, and saying Idia looks stunning. Idia immediately breaks, his hair flaring a bright pink and Vil watches him smugly. Vil adores how easily he can break Idia and he often will whisper small compliments into his ear just to see that reaction. They pass each other in the halls and Vil leans down for a brief moment to say Idia looks cute. Idia tugs his hood over his head and quickly shuffles away, now unable to think about anything besides Vil.

Swipe you thank you so much for feeding me. As promised I am kissing you platonically /silly

Now excuse me while I die

[sldlovescartoons]

Summary: Essek has been exploring his personality since he's gone into semi-hiding. Including his feminine side, which spiral into him orchestrating a feast of sorts while The Nein and company are vacationing in Rumplcusp with the help of Jester, Yasha, and Veth. Fluffy fun. R&R!

Dark elf societies are highly matriarchal and thusly built many of it’s standards and customs around what Essek understands to be the more stereotypically feminine. Long hair, lots of jewelry and accessorizing, makeup were pretty standard unless you were poor. In a drow culture to be powerful is to be at least slightly feminine. So of course, from the time he started forming his own ideas, which is to say very young, he’d been rather prone to embracing his masculinity. He refused to wear the dresses gifted to him by suitors from other dens (very gender neutral gowns, normally), he cut his hair short as soon as he thought he could get away with it, he never had more than two piercings in each ear. His mother once said he looked like a poor harlot, but she also said it made him seem very threatening so it was more of a backhanded compliment than anything else. It was just one way for him to rebel, he’d been realizing. The one head of short hair in a court of long hair in complex styles, it’s like he was symbolically waving a flag that screamed ‘I’m a giant heretic’.

Point being, since his decision to go on the run and all the reflection that comes with it, Essek has been indulging his feminine side. He’s been growing his hair out, he’s been crafting and learning to bake with Yasha, and he was even considering getting another piercing to hang some sort of statement piece representative of the Caleb or The Nein! But right now, he was planning his biggest move yet.

In Essek’s experience, one of the ways women provided was by having and commanding the best hunters to get the best food for their Den. If they were of a particularly feminine sort, they might run the kitchen alongside the head chef and likely had a few recipes only they know. He wanted to play with this particular providing instinct, but he had no hunters or hunting abilities, and the only chefs he had ready access to were the cats in the tower. So, the drow went to get advice from one of his best friends, hoping that she might help him figure something out to help him while they were all vacationing together on Rumblecusp. 

“Awh, you want to make Caleb a nice meal like a cute little house wife, that’s so sweet! I don’t think the cats know how cook anything that we’d catch here, but I’m sure we can use the kitchen in the towers to do something super awesome, we can ask Yasha for help, she’s like, super knowledgeable about weird ingredients, Essek. She’d maybe help hunt, to!!!”

He regretted everything. He wanted to throw himself in a black hole, he’d made a mistake.

“I did not say- I said I wanted to indulge in providing instincts-” The dark elf felt his ears trying to flick back in agitation and was barely able to stop them as he felt his face warm. He took a deep breath. “So you’ll help me?”

“Of course! I know lots and lots of places to look, plus I could ask Artie if he knows anyplace- But, really really, we should get Yasha! This is totally her thing, you know. Don’t worry, Essek, we'll hunt down a beasty and help you make a nice tasty meal for everybody to impress your boyfriend.” The little blue tiefling wiggled, grinned, and her eyes sparkled with excitement. 

“Partner, Jester, Caleb is my partner, we aren’t in primary school.” Boyfriend just sounded so juvenile to him. He was a powerful wizard of noble blood, formally of high station, he was over 120 years old, he didn’t have boyfriends, he had partners. 

“Whatever.” Jester waved the complaint away. “Okay, be ready early in the morning tomorrow, I’ll handle everything.”

And off she went.

Well, it was too late now, this was going to happen.

###################################################################

He hated hunting, he hated it so much. He hated it when his father took Verin and him out on a hunt as a rite of passage for male drow, and he hated it now, but at least he had help and at least it was over now. They even had a decent haul of ingredients to work with! Thankfully on their last Aeor trip Caleb taught him how to perform The Amber Vault, so they were able to pack up any meat they gathered while it was fresh. They’d managed to gather some fruits and veggies, and now they just had to get into the kitchen and practice. Experimentation and iteration were a lot more in his comfort zone, so he was eager to get in the kitchen where he’d deserve it more when Yasha and Jester teased him. He’s a grown elven man, he should know how to cook more than he does, but a hunter he is not and it is frankly unfair how much he’s been made fun of today. Essek was also, frankly, excited to see what they could do with what all they caught, which was a lot. Because they didn’t know what would work and cooking a meal in this case means cooking for eleven people because Molly and Caduceus were both here and Veth brought her husband and child.

Rumblecusp was truly a wonder, it’s bizarre magical history meant they could find something from anywhere if they really wanted to, and they did. Provided nothing goes horribly wrong, he was going to provide a feast of exotic meats and fruits that would make his mother eat her fucking headdress. 

  Case and point, and the one the drow was most eager to use: They have dinosaur meat! He wasn’t familiar, but Jester called it a Stegosaurus. They’d taken the legs, a large part of the tail, and part of it’s small intestine (Yasha had insisted on that, he did not know why and it scared him). They’d also killed and vaulted a large pill bug, a bird the size of a large dog, and some strange, big mollusks they’d dived for. This had all the making of a great experiment, at the very least. 

They entered the kitchen unbothered, the others out on the beach and Caleb up in his study/lab coming up with his lesson plans for after Spring Break. But, when the lights in the kitchen magically flicked on as they entered, Veth has sitting on a countertop, one leg crossed over a knee, waiting, like a villain in dramatic stage play, effectively scaring the hell out of him, which Essek is sure was the goal. 

  “Y’all planning a fancy meal?” The halfling rose a brow in silent judgement, triggering Essek’s flight or flight reflex on account of his ‘mommy issues’.

“Were you spying on us?” Essek responded defensively, even though there was nothing to defend, because they weren’t doing anything wrong but some animal part of the drow’s mind swore they were.

“No, my kid was spying on you and told me what he saw.”

Fucksake.

  “Pffttt, don’t worry, Veth, we aren’t doing anything sneaky shady, Essek just wanted to surprise Caleb with a nice dinner for everyone. Isn’t that so sweet, we just had to help him, he’d die in the forest by himself.” Jester answered before he could respond at all. That seemed like a gross simplification of the original intent, but it did seem to be the thing that was happening now regardless.

“You weren’t planning on hoarding the goods for yourself?”

“Wh- no, I wouldn’t- No!” Essek wasn’t babbling and nobody could prove that he was. 

“Well, why didn’t you ask for my help?” Because she didn’t like him and he values remaining unshot? “I’m a former goblin and a sort of homemaker, my knowledge is invaluable here. Good thing I caught you, I’m here to help, Luc said you killed some sort of dinosaur? T-rex Steaks again?”

Yasha was put incharge of butchering the hunts, besides the Pill Bug and Mollusks, which were sealed back away quickly so they wouldn’t sour. Pill Bug was close enough to shellfish to warrant it, he knew that much. That left the rest of them to safety and taste test the scavengings as well as meal plan. The onion-type things they found were safe, but more savory tasting than a regular onion. A fruit that Jester said resembled something called a plantain made his skin tingle when they were doing the pre-tasting skin test but was fine besides that and tasted a bizarre taste between sweet and sour. All the various herbs they’d been deemed safe and identified or given an equivalent identification, but one of the two mushrooms they found were definitely poisonous and Essek was very embarrassed as someone who’s diet was so mushroom heavy most of his life that he’d somehow missed that in the initial finding. There were several fruits that they all seemed to recognize on sight and thus didn’t need to be tested for safety, but he was made to taste for meal planning purposes.

“So, what do you want to do with the Stego, Floaty?” Veth asked him, looking at him like he should have an answer, and he definitely should have one of those, shouldn’t he?

“I’m not sure- I don’t know it’s taste or texture to plan, but it should be like a Giant Lizard, should it not?” The elf was pretty sure he knew some lizard dishes. Sort of between chicken and pork, but with a slightly grainy texture. “We don’t have time to make a stock with the tail, but maybe it would roast well?”

“Maybe for the littler bit at the end of the bit you all took, but what about the rest?” The halfling said pointing to the large tail Yasha was currently skinning with her broadsword when there was a butcher’s block of carving knives right behind her. The cat that Essek recognizes as being in charge of the kitchen was having some sort of feline conniption directly behind her as the sight of a sword being at the use in his kitchen. Caleb would be hearing from the Cat Union, there was no doubt about it. 

“Oh, Oh, I know! Stego appetizers! Stego-tizers! We could chop up the good part of the tail and fry them up chicken tender style, with lots of dipping sauces.” Jester was practically vibrating with excitement at her idea, but Essek’s nose crinkled a bit at the thought.

“Stegosaurus Tenders? That sounds rather…” Don’t say childish, don’t say childish, don’t say childish- ”Undignified?” He didn’t know if that was better or worse.

“It also sounds fucking delicous, we should do it.”

“Oh, but this is Essek’s dinner…” The blue tiefling visibly deflated and Essek wanted to throw himself into the ocean. “I don’t want to step on his thing TOO much.”

“It’s fine, it’s a fine idea, we have lots of food to work with to try for more refined dishes.” He said, folding under the force of disappointing Jester like a wet paper bag. “Besides, this group is such an eclectic collection of peoples, it might be thematically appropriate for this impromptu feast to have a… variety of dishes. Both of type and refinement.” 

“Really?” The sparkle was back in her eyes, and when he nodded his consent she sprung forward and hugged him. “Thank you, Essek! I have even more fun suggestions, if you like that one, but mostly for the deserts-”

His spine definitely cracked with the hug, but he couldn’t deny her the affection. It would be like denying a cloud it’s ability to rain.

“Do we want to go ahead and do the stego-tizers as an early snack sort of thing? Since the rest could take a while and we have so much stuff here.”

“A great idea, Veth, Jester, could I trust you to make a list of sauces? You’re from money, you’re traveled, I’m sure that you could figure out some wonderful dipping sauces.” Part of running a household was effectively using and directing the staff, this was sort of like that. His mother and all his aunts of varying degrees of relation ran the den like a fine tuned machine. He gave the blue tiefling what Caleb called his ‘pretty boy smile’, hoping to convince her of this task so he can keep focus on the tasks at hand. 

“Yes, I tooottally can, I can make them match that theme thing you were talking about! Different places, different sauces! Eclectic! Yeah!” Jester’s tail lashed sound like an excited dog as she whisked herself away to start writing down her ideas.

“Okay, so now that she’s over there, what do you want to do with the rest of your haul? Yasha told me about this stuffed pillbug recipe once, do we want to do a play on that?” Veth said, absolutely locking in. She was a short, murderous angel. No wonder Caleb is so fond of her.

“Yes, I know of a few Pillbug recipes myself, in passing, so that should be very doable.” The halfling’s strangely steady presence bolstered Essek’s resolve and made is easier for him to press forward with confidence and try to stir the situation himself. “We should also have the cats bring out lots of rice, noodles, staple vegetables and the like, since most of these can’t stand on their own. Also, do you think we pull off a rice pudding with those exotic fruits?”

“We have magic, we can do anything.” Not actually an answer, but good enough!

When it was just him and Veth it was surprisingly easy to get the menu ironed out in time to start making the Stego-tenders. Well, Yasha and Veth handled the actual tenders because he found the meat slimy and gross to touch, Essek was helping Jester make dipping sauces. 

“Okay, so, this fruit here sort of reminds me of a tomato, so we are definitely making a Rumblecusp version of that one sauce that I forgot the name of that we had when we were chilling in the Dynasty. It definitely had like ketchup or something like it at the base, so yeah.” Jester rattled off, sitting a bowl and a pestle down in front of him. “While you guy were yap yap yapping, I went ahead and cooked these, you are welcome, so you just need to mash these up with some vinegar, that brown type of sugar or maybe some honey I don’t know it’s your dinner, some lemon juice, until it’s aaaallllllllll smooth. We’ll go from there, okay? I’m going to do the sweetie mustard, yell for me when you are done.”

The little blue tiefling had said so many things so fast, but he was versed enough in Jester-ese to understand the mission at hand. Improv some island ketchup while she made honey mustard. He could do this. Essek plucked the barely not steaming any longer fruit-berry-vegetable thing that they found that was pretty much a purple tomato and started dropping them in and mashing them a bit before adding another. After there seemed to be enough there for the amount of sauce they need he just started to grind away with the pestle. It reminded him of hand making ink in his youth as a part of his magic education, or any alchemy adjacent work he’d done over the years, for that matter. It was sort of soothing, if he was being really honest. He added a healthy squirt of honey, along with the vinegar and lime and soon he seemed to have some janky purple ketchup on his hands.

“Okay, now what?” Wait, he was supposed to be in charge here, he was running this kitchen. He tries again trying to sound less like a child asking their mother for assistance. “I need to know the next steps.”

“Alright, so now just grate up those.” Jester said, looking up from her stirring to point at the ginger and garlic on the counter. “And then add it in with some of the dark sugar, the soy sauce and- Oh, there’s the wine! Thank you, Gretchen, for the wine, you’re doing so good.” The mentioned cat sat a bottle of sweet xhorasian wine down on the counter as she got to it on the list. “Just a bit of those, for flavor, I think will probably get the flavor close.”

“Alright.” It didn’t take long to get the ingredients prepped and in the bowl to keep pestling until smooth-ish. Towards the end of his pestling, the blue tiefling’s unique cadence busted through into his attention.

“We should try to do a sweet and spicy sauce. The cats can get us some peppers from the back, but what fruit should we use for the sweet part?” She asked, picking up and sniffing some of their scavenged fruits as well the ones the cats had already brought out, like smelling could give her the answers that she seeked. This an opportunity to assert his authority as the kitchen head.

“I propose that we cook and mash the flesh of the fruits to see what their consistency is like and what it does to the flavor, and we can go from there.” 

“You are so smart, Essek! I will start to prep the fruits, then.” Jester said, whipping out a knife that Essek was choosing to not think about the size of. 

Alright, they were on… a track. This was going to work.

########################################################################

Essek decided he was going to bring Caleb’s late lunch to him himself. He could use a break from the kitchen (and all of Jester’s innuendo), and some food himself. Plus, the other wizard might need help with his lesson plans and grading and the ladies had already dispensed food to the others and started on the stegosaurus and bird roasts that they had planned, so he had time. In his hands was a platter of Stego Tenders (he wished he’d come up with a more refined name before that one had stuck) with four different dippings. Island Honey Mustard, Purple Xhorsauce, Green Sweet and Spicy, and some sort of thick dip Jester had made that had mushrooms and who knows what else in it. It was orange-ish, lumpy and tasted earthy but also sweet with a little zest. He didn’t know, it was ugly, but it tasted good. The Tenders themselves were a gorgeous golden brown that had taken probably too many tries to nail down if he was fully honest with himself.

“Good afternoon, Professor, would you care for a spot of lunch?” The drow half crooned as he walked up to his partner from his position hunched over papers at his lab table. His rusty red, gray streaked hair starting to escape the hastily made loose ponytail his hair was in to fall in his face. Good money would say that he was working on his lesson plans.

“Hm? Ja, yes, I would. A bit of a late lunch, but I appreciate it.” It seemed to take a second for Caleb to fully enter the moment, a testament to the degree to which he dives into his work. Blue eyes settle on the platter in his hands. 

“Fried foods? How surprising.” 

“It’s Stegosaurus tail.” Essek said with barely contained excitement at being able to serve his partner such exotic meat, gesturing at the table with the platter to hint at where it should sit. Caleb started to clear the spot.

“Dinosaur meat? My, you have been busy today, haven’t you?” Eyes gleamed at him in curiosity, asking without any words what he was up to.

“You have no idea. I think you’re going to be very pleased with dinner tonight, let's just say that much.” He sat the platter down on the cleared spot, promptly sitting himself down right after.

“Does this have anything to do with why Jester and Yasha were MIA this morning?” 

“A proper den leader uses only the best hunters.”

“But you didn’t bring Veth along?”

“You know she doesn’t like me.”

“But she does enjoy killing things.”

“Yes, and I am a thing.” The drow lets out a violent puff from his nostrils. “Anyway, as an opening prelude to the wonderful meal I’ve planned, we decided to make these Stego-Tenders, with four handmade sauces. Let’s enjoy this, shall we?”

“Ja, of course, why don’t you tell me about these sauces for the… Stego-Tenders?” Ah there was that annoying Teasing Eye Sparkle. The bastard.

“A good den head designates tasks to those most capable, Jester seemed a good fit for naming dishes.” He gave up as an explanation to a question that hadn’t been asked, but Caleb saw right through him and let out a snort of laughter that was unattractive but very endearing, because the human is just insufferable like that sometimes. “First, the Purple Xhorsauce- Jester.” The drow said in explanation at the open joy and mockery that had started to bloom across his partner’s face.

As Caleb laughed at him anyway, he plucked up a tender and dunked it in the purple sauce. The sauce turned out shinier and thinner than he’d ever imagined when he’d when he’d originally been handed those steaming island tomatoes. The sauce was such a homey color, too. He took a bite and was absolutely delighted. The crust had turned out crisp and so to his joy, Stegosaurus tail rather did taste like Giant Lizard! He found himself looking even more forward to the other dino dishes they had planned, since they’d been sort of planned around his own descriptions of lizard based dishes he’d had back in the Dynasty. The sauce also tasted remarkably like home, and so this particular bite was reminding him starkly of festival foods that he’d been considered generally too high class to have more than a handful of times. Like something you’d buy from a stand, but more refined.

“That good, Schatz?” Caleb teased, looking at his ears, which he’d been too in his head to notice were doing little happy flutters that he promptly stopped. “Don’t stop, it’s cute.”

“It’s undignified for a man of my age.” Essek grumbled, displeased that he’d lost control of his ears like a young child. Being Seen was so mortifying, really. The drow dipped the tender in the sauce and shoved it towards the other’s face. “Try it, it’s very good.” And he did.

“Oh.” Caleb said, a bit of food still in his mouth like the heathen he was, after a bit of chewing. “That is good.” 

“Of course it is, I made it, why would it be anything less than wonderful.” The drow felt like he was puffing himself up like a proud bird, but he deserved it after getting roasted by his friends all day, damnit. 

“Of course, silly of me to be surprised.” The ginger rolled his eyes before picking up his own tender and pointing towards another sauce. “What's that one? It looks familiar.”

“Oh, Jester made that one especially for you, she called it Island Honey Mustard.” Essek answered and Caleb’s eyes gleamed with a sort of subtle joy that normally happened when one of his friends did something sweet.

“Why with the Island tag?” He asked as he dipped his tender in the yellow sauce with the drow quickly behind them.

“I think to sweeten it she used both honey and some sort of island fruit juice.” It was all the answer he had until he took a bite and surely, along with meat juices, mustard and honey, a subtle fruity undertone coated his tongue. It was… unique, to say the least. “Hm.”

“That is… interesting. It tastes like a vacation home feels.” Caleb muttered with furrowed brows, like he was trying to decide if that was a good thing or not. That also would have been a nonsense sentence if he’d said it to anyone but him, but he understood well enough. The red head took another, smaller dip. Thought on it. “This one is probably my favorite.”

“Surely, you zemnians love mustard.” Caleb glared lightly but couldn’t summon up a real retort because they both knew he favored mustard and mustard seed for flavoring in his cooking. “Now, onto the next one, it’s got a bit of a kick to it.”

The other wizard reacted as dramatically to the Green Sweet and Spicy Sauce, or Swicy Sauce as Jester called it. The ginger was famously bad at handling true spice of any kind, so even getting a mouthful of the rather mild sauce made Caleb start to go red in the face whine, going into his normal theatrics. After Essek had stopped laughing at him, they moved onto the Orange Mushroom Sauce, which he’d personally loved but Caleb was rather undecided on. After sampling all the sauces they slipped easily into their typical lunch routine, as the drow asked about the lesson plans he was working on and the other wizard had started to eagerly jump into explaining how he was trying to formulate the plans for Advanced Transmutation 302. He relished in the opportunity to eat exotic junk food and ramble about academics with his partner, as he knew that his day was likely going to get chaotic when he returned to the making and serving of his feast. 

[themisfitsedge]

Shining Brighter then the Stars

The night, the light, the sight of it all was just so much to take in. Blood and carnival, they always came together but never had you seen anything like this. You lazily twirl around as your every sense catches onto the different lights, sounds, and smells. Costumes galore, sights to behold, and fancy dresses that you're pretty sure would cost more than some people's hives.

Still that was the fun of it all, and the novelty. The 12th Perigee Yule Ball was a fun place to let loose, dress in extravagance, and shine brighter than any of the stars in the sky. Drink the right drink or smoke the right joint and you might see them shine even brighter. Hell, you felt like you were having a high right now, especially as you waited patiently for your beautiful date to make her way back from the bar.

It really was miraculous that she'd asked you here. She was always bubbly and excitable, but you always noticed that little undertone of shy there. You were the one who always took that step forward and were bold despite your tired demeanor, but this was her way of coming into her own. She had asked you here and the smile that dawns your face now shows more than enough of how you feel about it. If anyone hadn't noticed that, then you're sure that the lime hanging from your neck would also show how you felt about your little bunny.

And what she was to you, yours. Even if it wasn't officially official.

Still she was a sight to behold when she walked out of her tent to meet you. You thought formal wear would work, still tied into your normal look with corset and gauntlets to match, but that frilly ball gown kind of thing that people always talked about wasn't the only way to go, not tonight. When Velvet walked out... it was in the most beautiful outfit that you'd ever seen. Gold and purple and white shined on her in carnival glory, it was change and one that showed that she had really come into her own.

It's kind of funny to think about...You had seen her when she was awkward, giggly, and still trying to figure out who she was supposed to be. You watched her stumble her way through life and make friends and enemies, laugh and cry, and now here she was really just...there. This was her, this is who she was meant to be. This is the person that everything led to. It wasn't her grand finale, not by a long shot, but you felt like you were on the peek of a roller coaster, peering over with only a glimpse of what was to come before you begin to zoom off into the unknown. Your heart rate rose every time you saw her smile and now you just know you'll have an exciting ride with her by her side.

When she walks back over you, skip in her step and smile on her lips, you feel your heart skip with it. You take the drink with a smile, leaning down and kissing her cheek before letting out a chuckle. She blushes and looks away for a brief moment before meeting you with a smile of her own.

"Hey Pori, I've been wanting to ask you, have you ever been to one of these before?

"What, you really think that I'd get all dolled up for just anyone? Nah."

"And yet you're walking around here like a pro, nice to see you standing tall."

"How can I not? I have you for company." You take her hand and kiss it, winking at her and holding it by your side with a squeeze.

She smiles and looks at you nervously, worrying her lip between her teeth for a moment and you can't help but smile fondly, half lidded eyes taking in her every expression with a warm glow unfit for the cold nights of the Perigee. Then she looks at you again and you smile at her questioningly, tilting your head as you wait for her next words.

"Pori, I wanted to ask you something-or say something I guess?"

"What is it?" You ask bemused.

Velvet pauses for a moment, looking nervous but with a small shy smile she fiddles with your fingers, thumbing over each knuckle and tracing the pads of your fingers, a deep flush staining her cheeks. "I wanted...I wanted to ask you if you'd wanna go on more dates like this. You know, officially? As my...flush."

You stare, eyes wide as a flush rises to your own cheeks. It wasn't rare for people to ask you out, for a night or for a date, but never for a quad. But more then that you know what this meant, especially to her. Especially after that had happened. You know what Velvet was asking and damn if it didn't make your cheeks flush like nothing else. Your heart pounds and your hands begin to sweat. You feel like a teenager all over again. A nervous laugh comes out and you glance away shyly, tucking back a strand of your hair before looking back, meeting her eyes and nodding.

"Yeah-I mean...I'd...I'd like to."

She smiles at you, beams really and bounces, the excitement flooding the air around her. "Really?" You nod and she squeals in excitement before bouncing up on her heels and kissing you all over your face. You laugh and turn your face before kissing her back, smiling and laughing as you wrap your arms around her.

In that moment nothing else mattered, you and Velvet were the only ones in the world right now, and the smiles you gave each other...hell even the stars couldn't shine brighter.

[leiawritesstories]

blood-soaked gown

*clears throat nervously* Welcome to this You're On Your Own, Kid-inspired oneshot! (@house-of-galathynius it's angst monster playtime)

word count: 2.5k

warnings: language, Arobynn, business talk, drunkenness, violence, blood, miscarriage, angst

enjoy (?)

I looked around in a blood-soaked gown

And I saw something they can't take away

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Remind me why exactly we're here again?" Aelin Whitethorn Galathynius whispered into her husband's ear, slipping him a covert little wink.

Rowan's lips twitched with the effort of keeping his polite expression in place. "The usual--workplace expectation, family expectation, you know the drill."

"Ah, the perils of being born into a disgustingly rich family," Aelin murmured, squeezing his arm. "First chance I get, though..."

"I'll be right beside you," her husband promised. "Gods, I might hate these damn parties worse than you."

She chuckled. "That's because you weren't brought up to schmooze, Ro."

"Poor me," he whispered, his voice dropping low. "Having to sip drinks and serve as arm candy for my gorgeous wife all night long."

"You've got a few more uses than that," she teased, winking.

His smirk set fire to the embers pooled low in her belly. "Allow me to show you just that, my love."

"After the dinner, buzzard," she reminded him, giggling softly at his frustrated grumble.

"Fine," he conceded. "But if this thing drags on...we're leaving."

Aelin grinned. "I'll make my excuses." Smoothing one hand down the fine, lustrous silk of her formal gown, the deep pine hue perfectly paired with her husband's eyes, she redirected Rowan over towards the beckoning circle of her parents and a few of their business associates.

"Aelin!" Evalin exclaimed warmly, welcoming her daughter into the cluster of elegantly dressed, fabulously rich business aficionados. "You look stunning, my dear."

"Thank you," Aelin smiled, painting a charming smile across her face despite the faint nausea lingering in the back of her throat and pit of her stomach.

Probably because Arobynn Hamel was there.

A longtime business associate of her parents', Arobynn had long been known to have near-infinite wealth and almost as much affinity for eyeing young women. Aelin had first been introduced to the red-haired man at a gala she'd attended with her parents when she was fifteen. She'd immediately internally recoiled from his oily leer and the way his hand lingered on hers a little too long. And each time she came to a business function, she grew a little more disgusted by the man.

But his apparently endless wealth was well tied into Ashryver-Galathynius Realty, so she gave Arobynn Hamel the same cool, professionally detached treatment she gave to every other business partner and client with whom she met.

"Congratulations, Ms. Galathynius," Arobynn purred, tipping his whiskey glass at her. Aelin's blood froze solid for a moment, until he continued. "Closing that deal with the Cortlands is a remarkable achievement."

Right. The Cortland deal. Aelin inclined her head, smiling modestly. "Well, after enough time, even the Cortlands realized how much of an asset to their business it would be to partner with us."

The Cortlands were an old-money family who'd long been established in the banking business, and they had been Aelin's clients for several months as they looked into purchasing a new property in the sleek new business district in South Orynth. The only catch? They had been trying their very best to swindle one of the company's associates into buying the property for a ridiculously low price, until Aelin stepped in and told Sam Cortland in very few words where he and his dynasty could shove their offer.

Nearly seven months after the Cortlands had approached AG Realty, Aelin had closed a deal on the property, shaking hands with Sam and restraining her triumphant smirk to a pleased smile. That had been a mere week or so ago, so of course the firm and its associates would be hearing about it.

"I'm sure the Cortlands will be a wonderful asset," she added, flicking a knowing glance at her parents.

Rhoe grinned. "My fearsome daughter."

She chuckled. "Hardly, Dad. People are just scared of a woman who knows what she's talking about."

"Quite the threat indeed," Arobynn offered, his gaze a few shades more than could be considered polite.

Aelin restrained herself from stepping on his foot with her stiletto heel as she made her excuses, noticing Elide beckoning her from a short distance away. "Thank you," she murmured to her friend, giving the petite brunette a quick hug.

"Anything to save you from that creep," Elide returned, flicking the blonde a knowing glance. "Having fun, Whitethorn?"

"Shut up," Rowan mumbled, taking a larger-than-necessary swallow of his drink.

Aelin chuckled, sliding her hand back around her husband's arm. "He always has the time of his life at these lovely little parties." She pecked a kiss onto his cheek. "Love, will you get me a drink?"

Thankful to have something to do besides pretend he could tolerate anybody except his wife and the few friends in the room, Rowan strolled over to the bar, pouring Aelin a glass of sparkling cider. Why she preferred to drink something nonalcoholic at these functions, he didn't entirely know.

Though he suspected it may have something to do with how tense she always was around Arobynn Hamel and his disgusting roving eye.

"Here you are, love."

"Thank you." She stole a quick kiss, making Elide flutter her lashes and coo.

"Aww, look at the lovebirds!"

"Quiet," Aelin laughed, "you and that hulking brute of yours are just as bad."

Elide snickered. "It's not my fault Lorcan's a big old softie."

"Bet that's not what you call him in bed," Aelin smirked.

Her friend's face went scarlet. "Aelin!" she whisper-shrieked, smacking the blonde's shoulder. "No!"

"Girls' night never lies," Aelin crooned.

"And what happens at girls' night stays at girls' night," Elide retorted.

"All right, all right." Aelin raised her drink in concession. "I won't say anything else about you and Salvaterre being all sappy." Out of the corner of her eye, she caught yet another senior business partner motioning to her, and sighed. "Once more unto the breach."

"Do you--"

She shook her head, squeezing Rowan's hand. "It's just Darrow and a few of his associates, you can stay here and keep Elide and Lorcan company."

"Thank the gods," Rowan mumbled.

She just chuckled, kissed his cheek, and strolled over to meet Darrow and the few men with him, greeting the man who'd been her business advisor for many years affectionately. "So you need some young ears, hmm?"

"I'm not a fossil yet," Darrow fake-sighed, the lines around his eyes crinkling as he smiled at her. "We just wanted to congratulate you on the Cortland deal."

"Ah, don't make such a fuss about it," she smiled.

The older gentleman shook his head wryly. "Always downplaying your achievements, young one." He patted her shoulder. "Mrs. Whitethorn Galathynius here managed to rope the Cortlands themselves into a deal with AG Realty, can you believe it?"

"Impressive." Dorian Havilliard's dark brows shot up. "And you managed to do this in under two years?"

Aelin laughed quietly. She and the younger Havilliard--a brilliant civil defense attorney--had been friends since they were young. "Seven months, give or take a few days."

Dorian whistled. "Congratulations, then!" He raised his glass to her. "I argued a case for old Cortland several years ago, and let me tell you, the amount of demands that man had almost drove my partners insane."

"Oh, stop flattering me," she laughed, but raised her glass anyway. "Thank you, Dorian."

He winked. "Anything for the future of Orynth's commercial real estate."

She chatted with Dorian, Darrow, and a couple of others for a short while before Evalin came and stole her away to speak with the senior associates of AG Realty. Aelin caught Rowan's eye as she walked with her mother.

Need me? his raised eyebrow asked.

I'll be fine, she returned. Keep Lorcan from drinking too much, yeah?

Will do, Fireheart.

So Aelin sipped on her sparkling cider and chatted with the senior associates and her parents, discussing a few upcoming clients and whether or not they should accept some of the offers that poured in daily. Most notably, Arobynn Hamel was considering buying yet another property in the industrial district.

What that man wanted with so many warehouses, Aelin couldn't even begin to imagine.

"I don't see any reason why we shouldn't move forward with that deal," Rhoe mused. "He's always been a credible buyer, never misses payments or defaults on anything."

"What about the..." Evalin lowered her voice, keeping their conversation private. "What about that article?"

Two weeks ago, the Orynth Journal, which was admittedly a tabloid at best, had published an article that almost instantly went viral. In it, they claimed to have evidence linking Arobynn Hamel and his holdings in the industrial district to an international drug trafficking ring. Of course, since it was tabloid journalism, the reliability of this "evidence" had to be questioned, but still--was there any truth to it?

When privately questioned, Arobynn had--of course--denied all of it, maintaining his sleek professional exterior and, apparently, putting AG Realty enough at ease that they decided to dismiss the rumors as the workings of the tabloids. Aelin still had her suspicions, given that the man was a certified creep, but she deferred to her parents' judgment. She wouldn't raise too many questions, not unless some new information that cast true suspicion onto Arobynn came into light.

"We agreed that was all tabloid nonsense," Darrow reminded Evalin, though there was a hint of concern buried in his keen gaze.

"I know," Evalin sighed. "Very well, then. We can negotiate the deal with him when--"

"FUCK OFF!" The slurred yell completely shattered the elegant mood of the evening.

Horrified, everyone whirled around, finding Arobynn Hamel with a half-empty bottle of Scotch clutched in his hand, a glazed sheen of obvious drunkenness in his eyes and a sneer on his face.

His yell had been directed at Dorian, who held up his hands in a placating gesture. "No, Mr. Hamel, you misunderstand! I am not--I would never accuse you of anything illicit without proof!"

"Fuckin' lyin' lawyers," Arobynn growled, anger flaring in his posture.

Slowly, Dorian backed away from Arobynn, careful not to say anything lest he set off the drunk man's rage. Just as slowly, a few others approached Arobynn, gingerly offering to make him another drink, to get him some water, anything to defuse the situation.

"Don't fucking offer me water, you cock!" Arobynn snarled, whirling sharply about to rage at Darrow, who'd made that offer.

CRASH!

In his clumsy turnaround, Arobynn smashed the bottle of Scotch against the bar top, littering shards of broken glass atop the bar and leaving him with a broken bottle top clutched in his hand.

"Mr. Hamel--"

As if realizing he now held a weapon, Arobynn brandished the broken bottle at Darrow, all semblance of sanity drained out of his wild eyes. "Fuck off, Darrow."

"Arobynn." Aelin broke into the tense standoff, matching the drunk man's crazed look with her steel will. "Put down the bottle, gods dammit!"

"Don't tell me what to do, bitch," Arobynn snarled.

Aelin's glare intensified. "You want your new warehouse, don't you?"

A brief, charged moment of silence.

"Bitch," Arobynn hissed, but he released the bottle.

CRASH. It shattered all over the floor, shards splintering up into the air and clinking in discordant symphony against the polished marble flooring.

Aelin winced as something bumped into her stomach--probably just a stray elbow as everyone around Arobynn collectively rushed backwards, out of range of the glass. Behind her back, she gave the prearranged signal to her parents, clasping her fingers together.

Call security.

The building's security personnel were in the room only minutes later, swiftly and efficiently subduing Arobynn and escorting him out, most likely to spend a night in the loving embrace of the Orynth Police Department.

"Everyone all right?" Aelin asked, brushing her hands against her gown, feeling the oddest sticky-wet sensation. Huh. Probably liquor from the mess.

Nods and murmurs of "yes, I'm okay," rippled through the guests.

Until Dorian gasped sharply, his sapphire gaze trained on Aelin's stomach. "Fuck!"

"What?" She glanced down at her gown, wondering what the hell had gotten into her friend.

And gasping, the color draining from her face.

Apparently, it hadn't been an elbow bumping into her, but a stray shard of broken glass.

Her breath breaking, shuddering, Aelin touched her fingertips to the warmth spreading over her stomach and pulled them away slowly, almost unable to believe the dripping crimson stain. Blood, some faraway part of her brain realized. My blood.

And as her legs quavered and failed beneath her, Aelin Whitethorn Galathynius could only form one thought. Her eyes shot across the room to a lock onto the pine green gaze latched onto her, her heart constricting at the sheer depth of shock and pain etched into her husband's eyes.

“Rowan…”

The only thing she could think, the only thing keeping her rooted to the ground as she splayed one hand over her stomach, over the thick dark pool of blood welling there, the scarlet stain seeping into the fine silk of her evening gown.

“Rowan….I’m pregnant.”

And then everything went black.

~

Aelin blinked awake slowly, like she was rising up from a bath of molasses, her head fuzzy and disoriented. Slowly, the room around her came into focus--an IV coiling out of her arm, the steady beep of machines tracking her heart rate and pulse and oxygen level, the slightly uncomfortable bed, the cotton fabric against her skin, the firm warm pressure of Rowan's hand in hers.

She was in the hospital.

"Rowan," she croaked, her voice a bare rasp, turning her head to meet his broken gaze. "Ro..."

"You're going to be okay, Fireheart," he rasped, not bothering to try and mask the tears choking his face, his voice.

Ignoring the agony that sliced through her whole self, she gripped his hand and swung herself out of the bed, suddenly desperate, flattening her other hand atop her stomach. "Our baby, Rowan," she gasped.

Her husband's veneer of calmness cracked, splitting down the seams, and his shoulders heaved with a choked sob. "They--Aelin, they said you--miscarried." He could barely get the last words out.

"No." She shook her head, dropped his hand, wrapped her arms around her middle reactively, protectively. Her whole body screaming with the effort, with the pain, she took one searing step after another until she reached the mirror over the sink and stared into her pale, shell-shocked reflection.

Familiar heat bloomed at her stomach, her disoriented stumbling having torn her stitches, letting the deathly rose of her blood bloom across her abdomen. The blood seeped through the bandages, through the thin cotton hospital gown, soaking her hands with the heat of her own life.

Words failing her, Aelin stared at herself in the mirror, captivated and horrified by the broken, bleeding woman who stared back, a chasm of unspeakable pain yawning in her eyes.

And as the nurses who'd come rushing when Rowan pressed the call button caught her, murmuring soothing words into her ear, and injected something that slowed her pulse to drugged sleep into her IV drip, Aelin tilted her head back and released a scream that clawed up and out of her throat from the shattered coffin of her womb.

They can't take my child. The last thing she remembered thinking before the pull of the sedative claimed her.

They will never take my child.

~~~

A/N: if you thought bit at the end resembled Rhaenyra in HOTD no it didn't ;))

~~~

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[sunsetno4]

face and formal for vendetta? :3

Ah, thank you so so much! <3

face: Describe your OC’s face. What’s their smile like? Are their orbs cerulean? What would someone notice first when looking at them?

"Ne looks an angry little alley cat." That was probably the first thought I had about Vendetta's appearance, lol. But let's tackle this question backwards because the last question is the most interesting. >:3

The first thing people notice is they can't hold an image of Vendetta in their mind. Vendetta's face might as well be a bunch of puzzles pieces, mixed up and jolting away from each other like repelling magnets. They might remember green, but not why the color comes to mind. Maybe it's a bland smile, no. It was an endless pout! Maybe? Was it? No ones meets Vendetta and leaves with a solid impression (with few exceptions), even back in the pre-HB days. Ne really doesn't want to be noticed and it bleeds out hard. I think most people would write it off as nem just being unexpectional.

But if you hang around long enough, stuff starts to stick better.

Mild green eyes, seemingly miles after but it's a deception. Don't fall for it. After the Void though, there's sometimes flashes of this unnatural poisonous green in them. Scary. Only happens when Vendetta gets emotional, so rare to see for most people.

Typically, it's an unimpressed frown but sometimes a real smile sneaks through, bigger and brighter than one would expect from such a sullen seeming soul. Ne never seems afraid to show nir teeth when smiling. Pointy little canines, would hurt to be bit by. Isn't afraid to bite either. Avoid.

So, so many freckles. Eyebags galore. You think ne could sleep a hundred days, but they would still persist. It just feels like a Vendetta thing ultimately, not something to truly worry about. Broken nose, but oh. Was that because of Owl? Or, was it broken before? It's hard to say, even after knowing nem for years.

Because while you might be able to hold down a few pieces to form impressions, remembering Vendetta's face as a whole is always tricky and hard to do, exponentially so after Heartbreak. Pieces are just easier.

(Unless you're Ortega, of course.)

formal: What’s your OC’s formal look? Do they like dressing up? Do they have different looks for different occasions?

Ahhhhh, that's complicated. Vendetta enjoys dressing up, to a degree. Getting dressed up is fun, as ne loves finding and wearing interesting and chunky jewelry and flowy gowns with a fair amount bare skin as Deja. Ne only wears formal clothes while working though, and that brings up one too many negative and conflicting emotions from nir time at the Farm, and it honestly makes nem feel sick the more ne does it as Deja.

(Silly Gala Deja doodle, btw.)

Vendetta nemself really doesn't do formal clothes, and there's no way anyone is convincing nem to wear any outside of work (and even then, ne wore this to nir Hollow Ground meeting, sooooooo??).

If ne did have a reason to wear formal as nemself (outside of work, like for fun as strange as the idea is), definitely smart fitted blazers, for sure! God, ne would love them. Like bright colors and/or funky prints, orange would be fun! Suspenders too!! \m/!! If it wasn't for nir tattoos, ne would love forgoing a shirt too. Because even Ven trying out formal, it isn't gonna to be super formal. ^^;;

[whatisreggieshortfor]

Found Her

The princess needs to find a suitor. Her father wants to ensure that being forced to wed doesn’t mean she can’t have love.

Ciaran x MC

Born as a princess, Odella knew that she would one day inherit her kingdom. But no matter how fair a ruler- how good a father- the King was, even he could not contest against the Council of Nobles when they urged that a marriage showed stability for the crown. But they each fancied their heir as her would-be King, ignoring the disrespect their sons had showed the princess- the whispers that echoed long after they left about the woman their people deemed the Commoner Queen, a name she was given when she worked among the people to understand their struggle or the Kings Guard would appear to bring the disguised princess home after she’d spent a day listening to their plights.

So as the day of her coronation drew closer, Odella grew more fearful. A king could take her power from her and her people, bend laws as he saw fit to rule the people that would willingly bend their knees to her. The King wanted her rule to hold power, but he also wanted her happiness, so he agreed to her plan when she asked to execute it.

Instead of granting a competition of noble suitors, the King held a ball that nobility and commoners alike could attend. The only rule for attendance- wear a mask. Dressing her lady-in-waiting, and dearest confidant, in the finest of her princess gowns, Odella herself donned a plain dress she’d bought from the capitol’s tailor. She looked like a village girl instead of royalty, and so the plan was set in motion.

As Valentina took the place of the princess beside the King on the dais, Odella meandered through the crowd of citizens attempting to make conversations with the nobles, trying to find any that would look at her to treat her as an equal and not the commoner they saw.

She found none.

Every nobleman she tried to speak with turned their nose up, not taking the chance to trade words with a citizen when they were to win the hand of the princess. Eventually she ran out of nobles to approach, and as she took a moment to breathe she was approached by the one person she hadn’t expected- one of the lads that she had grown alongside in the castle grounds.

The one she wished could win this day.

“My lady,” Ciaran bowed his head surreptitiously, not giving away her position as he leaned against the wall close by, “It’s a pleasure to see you this evening. I hadn’t dared hope for the chance.”

“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage,” Odella offered, playing into a role of the stranger and not the princess that knew every person under her family’s rule, “Might I ask your name?”

Ciaran just gave her a small smile, his eyes shining with amusement behind his mask, “Apologies, my lady. Allow me to correct this err in judgement. I am Ciaran O’Connor, apprentice of the blacksmith.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” the princess smirked, until the two of them fell into a fit of snickers, “How did you know it was me?”

Ciaran’s own lips curved into a smirk as he gazed into her eyes, “You think my heart wouldn’t recognize the one it loves?”

“I…” Odella’s eyes widened, unsure what she was going to say as the words fell away.

A flush erupted on Ciaran’s cheekbones, the confident facade he had approached her with fading away as the shy boy she cared for came into view, “My heart calls out to you with every breath, Del. I just follow the pull.”

The princess couldn’t recall a time where she didn’t long to hear those words, even as heir to the throne where she expected her husband to be found for her. As a little girl, she would often hide away from her lessons, usually seeking refuge in the castle’s library- but she found herself with company more often than not. As the blacksmith’s son, Ciaran wasn’t granted the same formal education she was, but over the years she had helped him learn the words until eventually her escape became him reading to her.

She wanted nothing more than to return his sentiment, but the King stood, commanding the attention of the crowd, “My people, from noble born to commoner, we are here today for the princess’s betrothal. In history, we hold a contest of suitors, activities chosen by the royal heir to select whom will rule alongside them, and we have a solitary event planned for this instance today.” The King’s gaze fell on his daughter in the crowd, unbeknownst to their people, as giddiness and love radiated in his gaze. Gesturing to Valentina next to him, the King continued, “Today will have only one event to win the princess’s hand. A game of hide and seek.” Laughter bled into his tone as Valentina flashed a mischievous smile and raced out of the ballroom, “When I give the signal, every eligible person in the kingdom may take part in the search. The first to find the princess wins her hand.”

Shocked murmurs filled the room as the guests spun around speaking to each other about the unorthodox task at hand, but a few minutes, as the King announced the search, all the men and several of the ladies ran from ball to begin searching.

“Shouldn’t you be searching?” Odella asked, hoping she hid her disappointment well enough.

“Why would I?” Ciaran asked, head tilting to the side like the dog he’d befriended, “I’ve already found you.”

The King stepped down from the dais for the first time that night, approaching his daughter and the man who had yet to leave her side, “A pleasant evening, wouldn’t you say?”

Dropping into a curtsy, Odella bowed her head, “A pleasant evening indeed, Your Majesty.”

“Come now, my dear,” the King laughed, “No need to stand on formalities.”

Ciaran offered a slight bow of his own, “Thank you for the invitation, Your Grace. I would hate to miss this once in a lifetime event.”

Smiling, the King nodded his head, “I don’t believe I’m mistaken, but you are the blacksmith’s boy, aren’t you? Ciaran?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Odella had an unsettling feeling in her stomach at the look on her father’s face, the kind that only appears before embarrassment at the hands of a parent, but the King was undeterred, “And when were you planning on claiming your win?”

Ciaran’s eyes widened behind his mask, a choked stutter jumping from his lips, “I- Shouldn’t it be- I mean I- was that why you said- I thought you misspoke!”

“I never misspeak,” her father smiled, “But if I may be so bold, the two of you look at each other much the same way her mother and I did. I’ve seen it for ages. You simply needed to be granted the opportunity to act upon it.”

“Father,” Odella spoke carefully, “Are you saying…”

“Should he want it, we can declare Mister O’Connor the victor.”

“But he’s never been interested in becoming king!” Odella blurted, she didn’t want him to be trapped.

But the soft gentleman she had known all these years was ready, “I may not have had interest in becoming king, my lady… but I have always held interest in becoming yours.”

Searching her head was useless, but searching her heart gave her the only answer she needed, “If you are to be mine I suppose it’s fair, for I have been yours long before you uttered the words of my heart.”

Against all propriety, the King yelled a cheer as Ciaran wrapped her in his arms, announcing to the servants that the search was over.

The nobles were bound to unleash a flurry of insults at a commoner winning the hand of the princess, but Odella couldn’t care.

Not when the one wish she ever held for her life was going to come true.

Masterlist

[elitefashionboutique]

TIPS FOR FINDING THE PERFECT BRIDAL GOWN.

Your wedding day is a mix of emotions and dreams, finding the perfect dress of your dreams is a journey filled with excitement, but it can be a challenge. We are here to help you in this adventure. Some of our essential tips to find your perfect dress. ensuring your search ends with the gown in your dreams.

Each bride is uniquely beautiful. Understanding your body shape and style is the first part. The key to finding the perfect gown starts with understanding your style. Begin by exploring your style, and what makes you feel confident and beautiful. Whether it is modern or classic, knowing your style sets the tone of your gown search. Explore your style through magazines, websites, social media platforms, and other fashion-related articles. Knowing your body shape helps to find the most suitable outfit for your special day. Understanding your preferences will make the search more focused and enjoyable.

Weddings are magical but the budget is real. Setting a budget is the crucial thing, crafting your wedding involves setting practical expectations including a budget for your gown. Be realistic and open-minded, explore various options within your financial range, and consider enough budget for alterations and accessories. Elegance doesn't always demand huge money. finding quality dresses within the budget. Knowing your budget will help narrow down your options and prevent heartache later in the process, ensuring your budget remains a source of joy not worry.

Begin your search at least 4 to 6 months before your wedding date. This time allows you to do fittings, alterations, and some unexpected delays. Starting early prevents last-minute stress, ensuring a relaxed and enjoyable experience. Visit different boutiques to explore their collections, allowing yourself to understand various styles and fabrics. Dresses might surprise you, Don't rush the process, explore different styles before making a decision. Aim for your final fittings closer to your wedding date to ensure a perfect fit on the day itself.

Finding the best designer or boutique is the next thing. Following their guidelines they understand the art of translating your vision into reality. Don't hesitate to seek their expertise. They might introduce you to new trendy styles and open up a world of possibilities. Share your preferences and thoughts with them. Find the best boutique based on its reputation, reviews, customer services, and wide variety of collections,to ensure a very good shopping experience.

Consider your Wedding venue and theme suitable for your wedding ambiance. The ambiance of your wedding sets the stage for your dress to shine in harmony with the surroundings. A dress suited for an outdoor wedding might differ from one more fitting for a formal indoor wedding. Choosing your dress with the wedding theme ensures a stunning view.

Always prefer comfortable dress, beauty should never compromise comfort. You will spend hours in your wedding gown so comfort is the key. Prefer comfort without sacrificing style. Proper fittings and consider the weight of the fabrics to feel at ease throughout the celebration. Pay attention to the comfort and fit of the dress, move around, sit, and walk to ensure you feel confident and comfortable in your gown. Comfort elevates confidence, making you shine even brighter on your special day. 

Choose one or two close friends or family members whose opinions you value and trust. Having a small supportive group can be helpful while avoiding overwhelming opinions from too many people. Don’t forget to capture your wedding gown journey, take photos and videos of yourself trying on different styles with your loved ones.

At the end of the day, you get a lot of opinions and options. Trusting your insistence is the best deal. If the dress resembles your emotion, trust the feeling. Your emotions are the most reliable in this search. Finding the perfect bridal gown is not just about the fabric, It's about a gown that expresses your feelings. When you find the suitable dress that aligns with your dreams and makes you feel like the best version of yourself. Don't rush the decision, take your time to make the final choice. Don't settle until you say, This is the one.

Your bridal gown is more than just a dress, it's a symbol of your love story, your personality, and your dreams. May these tips help you embark on this beautiful journey to guide you to the gown that ensures your confidence and beauty on your special day.

for more about us please visit our website www.elitefashionboutique.rf.gd

[ellasalterationsllc]

Don't Be a Last-Minute Bride: The Perfect Timeline for Finding Your Dream Wedding Gown

Introduction

Welcome to the exciting journey of finding your dream wedding gown!

This momentous occasion is not just about selecting a dress; it's about embracing a significant milestone in your life.

Often, the process can feel overwhelming, especially with so many styles, fits, and designers to choose from.

This is why starting early is crucial.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through each step of the wedding dress shopping process.

From understanding your personal style to setting a realistic budget, choosing the right boutique, and navigating fittings and alterations – we've got you covered.

Our goal is to ensure that you enjoy this special time without any stress, making informed decisions that lead you to the gown of your dreams.

So, whether you've been dreaming about your wedding dress since childhood or you're just beginning to explore the possibilities, this blog is your go-to resource.

Let's embark on this beautiful journey together!

Understanding Your Style and Preferences

Exploring Your Bridal Style

Every bride has her unique style, and the key to finding the perfect wedding gown starts with understanding what resonates with you.

Whether you envision a traditional, romantic, modern, or bohemian look, your wedding dress should reflect your personality and make you feel like the best version of yourself.

Start by browsing bridal magazines, Pinterest, and Instagram for inspiration.

Notice the patterns in your preferences – do you gravitate towards lace, sleek lines, dramatic trains, or intricate beadwork?

Knowing Your Body Type

A crucial aspect of selecting the right wedding gown is understanding your body type.

Different styles and cuts of dresses flatter different body shapes. For instance, A-line dresses are universally flattering, while mermaid gowns accentuate curves.

If you’re unsure about what might suit you best, consult with bridal store stylists; they have a wealth of knowledge about what styles complement different body types.

Remember, the goal is to feel confident and beautiful in your dress.

Comfort Matters

While style is essential, comfort is equally important.

You’ll be wearing your wedding dress for several hours, so it needs to be comfortable.

Consider the venue and time of your wedding.

A beach wedding calls for lighter fabrics like chiffon, whereas a formal evening wedding might suit a gown with more structure.

Move around in the dresses you try on – sit, dance, and walk to ensure you feel at ease.

Personalize Your Gown

Personalization can make a significant difference in how you feel about your dress.

This could mean adding a belt, changing the neckline, or incorporating a family heirloom into your gown.

Discuss customization options with your bridal consultant to make your dress uniquely yours.

Stay True to Yourself

Amidst the plethora of advice and opinions, it's easy to lose sight of what you truly want.

Always remind yourself that it’s your day and your dress.

While it’s great to consider others' opinions, your comfort and preference should be the priority.

Choose a dress that makes you feel beautiful, happy, and, most importantly, like yourself.

By understanding your personal style, acknowledging your body type, prioritizing comfort, personalizing your gown, and staying true to your preferences, you set the stage for finding the perfect wedding dress – one that not only looks stunning but also feels uniquely yours.

Setting a Realistic Budget

Navigating the Financial Aspect of Your Dream Gown

The journey to your dream wedding gown is as much a financial consideration as it is a style choice.

Setting a realistic budget for your wedding dress is an essential step that can shape your shopping experience.

Understanding the Costs

Wedding dresses vary significantly in price, influenced by factors such as designer, material, style, and level of customization.

It's not just the gown itself; additional costs include alterations, accessories (like veils, belts, or jewelry), and potentially cleaning and preservation post-wedding.

Before setting your heart on a particular style, research the average costs and factor these into your overall wedding budget.

How Much to Allocate?

A common rule of thumb is to allocate about 10% of your total wedding budget to your attire, including the dress, alterations, and accessories.

However, this can vary based on your priorities and overall wedding plan.

If the dress is a significant aspect of your day, you might choose to allocate more.

Finding Value for Your Money

A higher price tag doesn’t always equate to a better dress.

Look for value in your wedding gown purchase.

Consider bridal trunk shows, sample sales, and off-season discounts, where you can find high-quality dresses at a fraction of the cost.

Exploring pre-loved gowns is another excellent way to find a stunning dress within a budget.

Budgeting for Alterations

Alterations can be a hidden cost in wedding dress shopping.

They are often essential to ensure your dress fits perfectly but can be pricey.

When budgeting for your dress, always include an estimate for alterations.

Speak to your bridal consultant about what alterations you might need and their costs.

Balancing Dreams with Reality

Finally, balance your dream gown with your financial reality.

It's easy to get carried away with a beautiful gown that's way over budget.

Remember, your wedding is about the celebration of love, not just the dress.

Be open to different styles and designers that can offer you the look you love within a budget that works for you.

By understanding and setting a realistic budget, researching costs, exploring value options, accounting for alterations, and balancing your desires with your financial situation, you can find a gorgeous gown that won’t leave you financially stressed.

The Ideal Timeline for Wedding Dress Shopping

Timing is Everything

Finding your dream wedding gown is a journey that requires careful timing.

Understanding and following an ideal timeline can make the process smoother and more enjoyable.

12 Months Out: Dream and Research

Start dreaming about your dress as soon as you get engaged, especially if you have a long engagement.

Spend this time researching different styles, designers, and trends.

Create a mood board or a Pinterest board to collate your ideas.

This is also a great time to start browsing bridal magazines and websites to understand what styles you are drawn to.

9-12 Months Out: Begin Shopping

The best time to start shopping for your wedding dress is 9-12 months before your big day.

This period gives you enough time to browse, try on different styles, and order your dress without feeling rushed.

Many gowns take 4-6 months to be made and delivered, and you want to allocate enough time for fittings and alterations.

6-9 Months Out: Say Yes to the Dress

Aim to make your final decision and order your dress 6-9 months before your wedding.

This timeframe ensures that there is ample time for the dress to be made, shipped, and altered.

It also allows for buffer time in case of any unexpected delays.

3-6 Months Out: First Fitting

Your first fitting should ideally be 3-6 months before your wedding.

This is when you see your dress for the first time post-production.

It's a crucial fitting as it will determine what alterations need to be made for the perfect fit.

1-2 Months Out: Final Fittings

Your final fittings will usually happen 1-2 months before the wedding.

These fittings are to ensure that all the alterations have been completed to your satisfaction and that the dress fits perfectly.

It’s also the time to finalize details like the bustle and ensure your accessories complement your gown.

2 Weeks Out: Dress Pickup

Plan to pick up your dress at least 2 weeks before your wedding.

This gives you a bit of extra time in case there are any last-minute adjustments.

It’s also the time to try on the complete look, including shoes, accessories, and undergarments, to see how everything looks together.

The Week of the Wedding: Last Check

Finally, in the week leading up to your wedding, try on your dress one last time to ensure everything is perfect.

Check for any last-minute adjustments that might be needed.

By following this timeline, you can ensure that each step in the process of finding and perfecting your wedding dress is done without hurry or hassle, leading to a stress-free lead-up to your special day.

Remember, the key is to start early and allow yourself the luxury of time to make this important decision.

Choosing the Right Bridal Boutique or Designer

Navigating the Bridal Shopping Landscape

The bridal boutique or designer you choose can significantly impact your wedding dress shopping experience.

Selecting the right one is crucial in finding your dream gown.

Research is Key

Start by researching bridal boutiques and designers in your area.

Look for reviews, ratings, and feedback from other brides.

Social media and wedding forums can be great resources for honest opinions and experiences.

Boutique vs. Designer: What’s Right for You?

Consider whether you prefer a boutique experience, which often offers a more intimate setting and personalized service, or a designer showroom, where you might find more exclusive and custom designs.

Both have their unique advantages, and your choice will depend on your style, budget, and the level of customization you desire.

Schedule Appointments

Once you have a shortlist of boutiques or designers, schedule appointments.

Remember, many popular boutiques require appointments well in advance, especially during peak wedding season.

Quality and Variety

During your visits, pay attention to the quality of the gowns and the range of styles available.

A good boutique or designer should offer a variety of dresses to cater to different bridal styles and body types.

Customer Service Matters

The level of customer service you receive is vital.

You want to work with a boutique or designer that listens to your needs, respects your budget, and provides valuable advice.

A good consultant should make you feel comfortable, not pressured.

Ask About Customization Options

If you’re considering a custom gown or alterations, ask about the process, timeline, and costs involved.

Understanding these details upfront can save you time and avoid any surprises later.

Consider the Full Experience

Remember, your wedding dress shopping isn’t just about the dress; it’s about the experience.

Choose a boutique or designer that makes you feel special and contributes positively to your wedding journey.

Trust Your Instincts

Lastly, trust your instincts.

If you feel a connection with a particular boutique or designer and they seem to understand your vision, that’s a great sign.

Your comfort and confidence in your choice are crucial.

By carefully selecting the right bridal boutique or designer, you set the stage for a wonderful dress shopping experience.

This decision is not just about finding a dress but about creating beautiful memories along the way to your big day.

The Fitting and Alteration Process

After finding your dream wedding gown, the next crucial step is the fitting and alteration process.

This phase ensures your dress fits like a glove and complements your figure flawlessly.

Understanding the Fitting Process

Typically, you will have two to three fittings.

The first fitting is where the major adjustments are made.

This could involve taking in or letting out areas of the dress, adjusting the hemline, or modifying the bust.

It’s essential to bring the shoes and undergarments you plan to wear on your wedding day to ensure the alterations are accurate.

Second Fitting: Refinements

During your second fitting, the alterations made after the first fitting are reviewed.

This is the time to check the fit with all the adjustments and ensure there’s no pinching or discomfort.

Any further tweaks will be marked and noted.

Final Fitting: The Last Check

The final fitting is your last chance to make sure everything is perfect.

The dress should fit comfortably, allowing you to move freely.

This is also the time to learn how to bustle your dress if it has a train and to confirm all the details are as you envisioned.

Communication is Key

Throughout the alteration process, clear communication with your seamstress or tailor is vital.

Be honest about how you feel in the dress and any concerns you might have.

Remember, it’s their job to make the dress fit you perfectly.

Budgeting for Alterations

Remember to budget for alterations in your overall wedding dress cost.

Depending on the extent of the changes needed, alterations can range from a minor expense to a significant part of your dress budget.

Patience Pays Off

Alterations take time, so patience is crucial.

Trust your seamstress or tailor’s expertise, and give them the time they need to perfect your dress.

Rushing this process can lead to mistakes or less than ideal adjustments.

By understanding and actively participating in the fitting and alteration process, you ensure your dream dress not only looks stunning but also feels comfortable and fits you perfectly on your wedding day.

This process is the final step in making your gown truly yours, a masterpiece that reflects your personal style and bridal vision.

Final Preparations and Dress Collection

As your wedding day approaches, the final preparations for your wedding gown become paramount.

This is the moment when all your planning, fittings, and patience come together.

Final Fitting and Collection

Your final fitting is usually close to your wedding date.

This is when you ensure that every detail of your dress is as you envisioned.

Once you're completely satisfied, the dress is yours to take home.

It's a significant moment, often filled with a mix of excitement and relief.

Caring for Your Gown Pre-Wedding

After collecting your dress, proper care is essential.

Keep it in a breathable garment bag and in a safe, dry place.

If you're traveling, consider how you'll transport your dress.

Some brides opt for professional transportation services to ensure their gown arrives in pristine condition.

Last-Minute Checks

A few days before the wedding, do a final check of your gown.

Ensure there are no loose threads or missing beads.

If your gown has a train, practice bustling it if you haven’t already.

This is also a good time to try on the entire ensemble, including shoes and accessories, to envision the complete look.

On the Big Day

On your wedding day, give yourself plenty of time to get dressed.

Have someone you trust help you with your dress, especially if it's complex to put on or has a detailed bustle.

Memories to Last a Lifetime

Remember, your wedding gown is more than just a dress; it's a symbol of your love story and a key part of your special day.

The effort and care you've put into selecting and preparing your gown will shine through as you walk down the aisle.

By taking these final steps in the preparation and care of your wedding gown, you ensure that when your big day arrives, you can step into your dress feeling confident, beautiful, and ready to make unforgettable memories.

Conclusion Reflecting on Your Wedding Dress Journey

As we wrap up this guide, it's important to reflect on the journey you've embarked upon in finding your dream wedding gown.

From the initial stages of understanding your style and setting a budget, to selecting the perfect boutique or designer, and navigating through fittings and alterations, each step has been a crucial part of your bridal story.

Embrace the Experience

Remember, the process of choosing your wedding dress should be as special as the day itself.

It's not just about the final look, but about the memories you create along the way.

Each appointment, fitting, and alteration is a step closer to your dream coming true.

Your Perfect Dress Awaits

With patience, planning, and a bit of excitement, finding your dream gown can be a joyful and fulfilling experience.

Your perfect dress is out there waiting for you, a dress that not only looks stunning but also embodies your personal style and essence.

A Journey to Remember

As you approach your wedding day, take a moment to appreciate the journey you've taken to find your perfect wedding dress.

It's a significant part of your wedding story, one that you will cherish for years to come.

Congratulations on Finding Your Dream Gown!

Congratulations on finding the gown of your dreams!

May it bring you joy, confidence, and beauty on your wedding day, and may your marriage be as beautiful and unique as your dress.

Here's to a lifetime of love, happiness, and wonderful memories!

FAQ Section

Q: When should I start shopping for my wedding dress? A: Ideally, start shopping 9-12 months before your wedding. This allows enough time for browsing, fittings, and any necessary alterations.

Q: How do I choose the right wedding dress style for me? A: Consider your body type, personal style, and the theme of your wedding. Try on different styles to see what feels and looks best on you.

Q: What's a realistic budget for a wedding dress? A: Wedding dress budgets can vary widely. Set a budget that's comfortable for you, considering additional costs like alterations and accessories.

Q: How many fittings will I need? A: Typically, you'll need 2-3 fittings. The first is for initial adjustments, the second to refine these adjustments, and the third for final touches.

Q: What should I bring to my dress fittings? A: Bring the undergarments, shoes, and accessories you plan to wear on your wedding day. This ensures your dress fits perfectly with all elements combined.

https://www.ellasalterations.com/2023/12/24/dont-be-a-last-minute-bride-the-perfect-timeline-for-finding-your-dream-wedding-gown/

[amit122]

Dress to Impress: Finding the Perfect Outfit Online for Every Occasion

It can be difficult to know what to dress for certain occasions, such as weddings and job interviews, especially since some events have gone more casual (while others unquestionably have not).

The setting, the level of formality of the invitation, the season, and frequently what everyone else is wearing all influence what you should wear. Check some of the options available for online shopping for women and check some of the trending outfits.

You've arrived at the appropriate place if you're preoccupied with making the best selections to pick the ideal dress. However, there may be times when choosing the appropriate attire will be difficult.

It is important for you to read this material all the way through in order to avoid such issues. The day when individuals would choose casual clothing is long gone. Everyone wants to look their best and take the most eye-catching pictures on social media these days. Read on to discover the fundamental advice for selecting the ideal outfit for each occasion.

Individual Style

Your unique style is the first and most crucial consideration. Remember that it will be difficult for you to make the appropriate choice if you lack perspective in your thinking and don't depend on your intuition.

Since everyone has a unique personal style, it is advisable to take it into account while choosing the appropriate attire.

Remember that your instincts may lead you to the appropriate choices rather effortlessly. You should feel at ease in whatever you choose to wear since individuality and style go hand in hand.

It wouldn't be worthwhile to spend your time and effort wearing anything that doesn't make you stand out. In order to constantly feel confident when dressing up for any occasion throughout the year.

Dimensions and Colour

The final garment needs to match your body type well. Dislike wearing anything that is uncomfortable or bizarre-looking. Being precise about their size is crucial today since everyone wants to embrace their curves.

Visit the dressing room and experiment with your selections. Second, it's important for you to pay attention to every detail of the dress when you want to buy it from a certain website. Avoid placing an order on the day of the event since you might need to make modifications. You should be aware of the process because changes might take some time.

The Attire Required

This can help you choose the ideal attire if you are ready to attend an event where you must adhere to a certain dress code. Although it is preferable to express your personality, there is no harm in adhering to the event's dress requirement.

Second, while standing out is OK, it is not advisable to do so out of context. For instance, you could be required to wear formal attire to a business meeting. However, it might not seem like the best choice if you decide to dress in a revealing attire.

Despite their tiny size, these choices assist those around you form an impression of your personality. So, wherever a dress code has been specified, abide by it.

Check Your Footwears

Always try on a dress while wearing the shoes you'll be wearing or that you're most likely to be wearing. If you put on heels after trying on a full-length evening gown, you could discover that it is the incorrect length.

You may determine whether a dress fits you better by trying it on while wearing heels; an evening gown won't look appropriate without them.

Look for the Occasion

Additionally, be sure to dress appropriately for the situation. This is not the time to wear anything daring if the occasion is particularly serious or conventional. Although the dress code might be more liberal these days, it is typically inappropriate to wear either black or white to a wedding. A wedding is not the time for flashy attire, either!

Get Accessories

Be sure to bring them with you when you go shopping if you want to choose anything to go with something or somethings you already possess. You should try on any clothing you might buy with your own accessories to avoid purchasing anything that doesn't fit well.

Budget

For a truly special event, it may be worthwhile to spend extra, but if you do, you should search for a piece that will work for several occasions. Consider renting a dress for a special event when you want to make an impression.

There are several internet stores where you may hire a designer outfit for a reasonable price. If money is tight, another option is to browse resale shops for a deal.

Feel Good

You should wear something that makes you feel exceptional for a particular event. We certainly don't attend big events very frequently, but we want to feel great when we do.

Keep in mind that you may choose a pretty basic dress and allow your accessories to speak for you. A stunning pair of shoes or an ornate stole can be what gives your ensemble the wow factor.

Give Time

Finally, give yourself plenty of time to select your attire. If you wait until the last minute, you'll likely grab anything hastily since you're out of time. Keep in mind that if you choose online shopping for women, you will need to allow time for delivery.

Spend a few hours shopping for your ideal clothing; take your time choosing it. Avoid spending too much time shopping since you could grow bored and buy anything. What amount would you spend on a particular event?