#like they’re both artsy at least?? no personality match though

[shake-la-la-la]

Kind of want to make a pbdc tbhk au, since they’re probably my two favourite series, but I haven’t quite decided which characters to swap…

[thedevildomdaily]

Demonic Possessions Ch 9: Love Advice & Interior Design

Note: Here’s the Master List for the full story. I recommend reading my stuff on my actual Blog if you enjoy OM! official music! Thank you so much for the support. Please let me hear from you in the comment section. I wanna talk OM!

I decided to make this chapter with more light banter and fun interactions and give the nephilim brothers some attention.

Warnings: Swearing, NSFW implied, light stuff this time ********************************

A couple weeks had passed. Construction on the attic was nearly complete. Lucifer and Azriel had negotiated a schedule in which the nephilim brothers would work on the attic bedroom for their sister. This helped avoid chaotic mornings, at least where the nephilim were concerned.

The overall mood of The House of Lamentation had shifted from the unease of having a new occupant amongst the Brothers and Lilly, to an odd sense of which the brothers had never experienced before. A shift in their dynamic as a family twisted due to a certain blossoming relationship.

Leviathan had become more outgoing and less reluctant in participating in events. He was more welcoming of everyone hanging around his room as well and his mood was less-likely to sour thanks to Lena. His brothers were happy for him, but it was an unusual experience for them as well. It was hard to ever find the two of them apart from each other.

“Thank you for doing my nails Asmo!” Lena chimed, “Your skills are amazing!”

Asmo grinned with brimming confidence, “Of course they are Leee-na. I’m an absolute master with nail art.”

“He’s also the best hair stylist.” Lilly chimed.

Asmodeus’s room had transformed into a spa for the two female residents and himself. The human was laying on his bed with a face mask and cucumbers over her eyes as her toe nails dried. Her hair was in a towel and she was completely relaxed as she sipped on her mimosa.

The nephilim had a peel on her face as she sat in a lavish chair while the demon painted a cute black cat on her accent nail. She too had her fill of mimosas as they relaxed from a week of cramming for a chapter test in alchemy. The math involved was exhausting, but she’d probably do well enough.

“Your brother is almost as bad as my old man when it comes to studying. I’m doing my best to be civil about it, but it’s getting on my nerves…”

Asmo gave a dramatic sigh, “If you think he’s bad now, wait until midterms. It’s a boot camp nightmare.” He then exchanged looks with Lilly as she peeked at them from her cucumber. He was underselling Lucifer’s regime.

“You know….” Asmo began with a sly voice, “I’m surprised Levi isn’t in here to get his nails painted…” Lena knew he was just baiting her at the mention of his brother. He wanted to open a dialogue to gossip about their relationship.

Shrugging, “I offered an invitation but Levi’s nails are still great from the last time you painted them. He’s also really engaged in a super hard game. The last time I saw him, Beel and Belphie were watching him battle a boss. It was getting intense in there…” It was also extremely cute, she thought.

“I’m just saying, given the fact that he’s the Avatar of Envy, I figured Levi to be a little more possessive and be following you around a lot more.” his younger brother admitted.

“Not gonna lie…” Lilly added, “I kinda anticipated that myself.” The brothers were all very possessive and it was easy to picture any one of them being like that. Well, Lucifer excluded. He was too damn cocky to believe anyone would stray from him ever.

Lena thought about it for a moment, ‘Well, I took your collective advice and talked directly with him when we went on that first date. I laid it all out for him: I’m not being held down to any single relationship. And in a kinder manner, that I basically don’t want to deal with jealousy. I’ve given up on monogamy….” he chuckled for a moment, “He actually compared me to you Asmo, and then asked if I wanted to start a reverse harem...and ya know what, I kinda like that idea haha!”

The other two blinked for a moment and joined in the laughter. “Pffft, that’s definitely a Levi-type of conclusion…” Lilly chuckled. She peeled the cucumbers off and ate them as she sat up. “It looks like you guys reached an amicable agreement then?”

The nephilim looked upward, clearly thinking about it for a moment. “We have. He agreed to an open relationship and to not be overly clingy with me. It’s beneficial to the both of u-”

“BOTH!?” Asmodeus interrupted, “Please explain!!?! Has my big, nerdy brother been hiding some secret affairs over these past few centuries?!” Why would it benefit the both of them, when only one of them has even been in multiple relationships?

“Oh, it’s quite simple really,” Lena chuckled, “His 2D waifus. I won’t ever complain about them or come between him and his fandom and I can have relationships with others as well. Besides, we’re immortal beings...forever is a realistic timeframe for us...why cling to each until we both become miserable? Monogamy hasn’t ever worked for any immortals I know...what about you?” Of course she was asking Asmo as he finished her last nail.

The demon shook his head as he released her hand and got his DDD ready to take pictures of his work for the gram. “Not that I’ve ever paid attention to it, I really can’t think of anyone...even angels drift apart and take loooooong breaks.”

“Well that’s a bit depressing….” Lilly mumbled.

“Oh, Lilly dear...don’t get depressed about it. It’s the beauty of humanity. You guys are far more capable of having a one, true love...not that you have to stick to it. It’s a valid option though.” She didn’t mean to depress the human. In her very long life, Lena had been in 100+ year relationships with various long-lived beings and it never seemed to work out. She was now trying this open relationship thing so that she didn’t feel tied-down or tired. She didn’t want anyone she was with to feel that way either.

“It’s all good. I was teasing for the most part.” Lilly smiled, “There’s only so many ways a person can spice things up and keep their relationship fresh; I’m sure an immortal couple could really struggle after a few centuries. It’s that case in my favorite vampire novel series anyways…”

Asmo didn’t comment on the matter. He couldn’t relate since he was loved by all and could charm anyone he wanted. He never for a moment considered a relationship because he could never love anyone more than himself.

“So, since you’ve found a way for things to work, have you guys……?” He smirked at the nephilim.

“ASMO!” Lily shouted. He merely chuckled.

“It’s none of your business…” Lena responded.

“That would be a solid ‘No’ then.” He quibbed. Lilly exchanged a look with him and nodded.

“Y’all are both horrible! It’s hard given he’s so reclusive and nervous. But also very cute….NO! I’m not talking with you guys about this, especially you Asmo. I’m not giving you any ammo to blackmail Levi…” She paused for a moment and contemplated, “I know he’s shy. But I also….”

“Also what?” Lilly blinked.

“I don’t know how to approach him. I’ve never been with a demon. Are you guys...very different for other beings?”

“Oh, you wanna see? Hmmmm?” Asmo teased. Or was he?

“Stop it!” Lilly smacked his shoulder lightly.

“Lena. You’re gonna have to make the first moves on Levi. Good news is there won’t be much effort you’d have to put into seducing him. It’s just finding the opportune moment when you’re feeling it.”

The girls both stared at Asmodeus for a moment.

“What? Is there something on my gorgeous face?” He immediately felt his pale, rosey cheeks.

“No, you’re just being surprisingly perceptive and giving profound advice on the matter.” Lilly said, “Lena should definitely wait until she feels right before taking the move. Like you said girl, you’ve got eternity. Take your time. Levi is a great guy and I know he’d never pressure you...”

Lena smiled and looked-up while thinking about him. “Yeah, he’s great. Special. I have so much fun with him. It’s nice to have someone interested in the same nerdy stuff as I am and not being picked-on about it 24/7.” Her last relationship went down like that. “When he blushes simply by me taking his hand, or how shocked he gets when I sneak behind him and wrap my arms around his waist...oooh... He’s too cute!!!!”

The nephilim squealed and shut her eyes hard thinking about her Levi-kun and the other two just laughed at her. Her responses to his cuteness just didn’t match her aesthetic at all and they found it hilarious to watch.

"Oh.." Lilly chimed in again, "They're 'normal' I guess."

Lena and Asmo blinked at the human for a moment.

"You asked if they were, ya know, compatible. I've had the horror of accidentally entering the men's bath when we went on a trip to a demonic hotspring before...I wanted to shove hot pokers in my eyes..." Lilly cringed.

"Oh, that's right! Lilly got to see me in all of my glory...jealous?" Asmo grinned.

The trio laughed and picked on each other all afternoon.

****************************

“Okay, we need a few more pieces of paneling. I want some nice filigree border work.” Azriel said to himself out loud as he took a step back to look at the progress made on his sister’s room.

Zak stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, as he watched his brother pace across the room. “Hey bro. It’s looking good. You really outdid yourself this time.” His siblings were super artsy, creative types. He couldn’t keep up with them on that. Instead, the middle sibling put any creativity into vehicle design and engineering. “Let’s take a break and go to Hell’s Kitchen for lunch. Then when we get back, you can spot anything else we need to do….”

“You do have a point. Let’s eat and come back with a new perspective…”

**************************

The nephilim brothers went for lunch, meeting up with Beelzabub and Belphegor. The twins were in the back corner, where the owner often put them so they weren’t a distraction for the other customers.

Belphegor had his arms folded on the table, propping his head up as he watched Beel chow down on ten burgers.

“Hey guys, can we join you?” Zak asked when he approached the demons.

“Sh--rr” Beel nodded as he wadded another large bite of food. Zak could have sworn the demon’s jaw had unhinged to take such a huge bite.

Azriel took a seat next to Beel. The two of them were the same height, though Azriel was much thinner, with more of a swimmer’s body then a body-builder’s. Zak sat by a groggy Belphie. They too, were the same height but different build. Zak liked to work out when he wasn’t working on a new engine.

“You guys about to finish remodeling?” Belphie asked with a yawn at the end, “I’m curious what you’ve done to my old...space.” Was it a bedroom or a prison? He didn’t know quite how to label the attic Lucifer kept him in.

Azri gave a pleasant smile, “Yes. It’s all coming along smoothly. Lena will be thrilled with it. It’s a touch of old european with her beloved gothic asethetic. She might not like the light-colored flooring, but it makes the space look bigger…” he went off into deep thought for a moment. Then, he saw some green in the corner of his eye and smiled, “excuse me for a moment…”

“Sorry, I swear Azri has ADHD or something...don’t mind him. ‘Creative Genius’ at work 24/7” Zak chuckled and looked at the menu.

“S’okay.” Belphie nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. “Sounds like you’ve had a lot of things to do. It’s nice putting in that effort for your little sibling.”

The twins and Zaksalamel chatted and ate their lunch, nearly forgetting that the elder nephilim had even came to Hell’s Kitchen. When he finally returned, there was an empty plate left at his spot.

“You shouldn’t have ordered and left when sitting by Beel…” Belphegor responded after seeing the shocked expression on Azri’s face. “Your food didn’t stand a chance...and apparently the napkin…”

“S-sorry….” Beel scratched the back of his head.

After a moment of silence, Azriel sighed, “it’s okay. That one was definitely on me….”

Zak noticed his brother’s cheeks get a little rosy. His mind was elsewhere clearly. What was he up to. “Hey, Devildom to Azriel...where’d you disappear to?”

“Oh, forgive my rudeness..again.” He suddenly returned to the conversation. “I just happened to see someone I know and asked for their opinion about the flooring choice…”

“Mmmh-hmmm…” Zak’s eyes narrowed at his brother, knowing there was something else to it. Azriel’s voice tone was suspicious. He’d leave it alone for now.

“So, anyways, I made the right decision, and I think we will be finished with everything in 2 days.” Azri clapped his hands together, chipper with the apparent results of the consultation he’d just had. “Beel, if you’d like to make it up to me for eating my highly-anticipated lunch, could you help carry furniture upstairs? You must be very careful…Lena is going to flip out when she sees it!”

As the four of them returned to the House of Lamentation together, Beel and Belphie walked some space behind the nephilim.

“They sure seem to care a lot about their sister to spend so much time on this room. I don’t think it was that bad..” Belphegor said quietly.

‘True. But, we’d do the same thing for our sister too. And that means Lilly as well…” Beelzebub nodded.

Agreeing, Belphegor let out a small sigh. He wasn’t sure about his own opinion of Lena so far. They didn’t start off on the best of terms. No, he’d admit that he behaved like a brat that day. But he never had the opportunity to get to know her or to apologize for his overreaction. Maybe he’d help with the furniture too?

[rbbalmung]

Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Get to know ______ P3

It’s time for THE BOYS. My biggest conclusion from putting this together is that while Raihan enjoys pushing everyone else’s buttons, Leon is the only person that can fluster the hell out of him. Please enjoy. 

Get to Know: Leon x Raihan (TrueRivalShipping)

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other? Leon. He feels like the type of person whose love language is gift giving (ex. giving Hop Wooloo and Grookey, giving Gloria Scorbunny, Yamper, and Charmander, ect.). That being said, he’s terrible at getting gifts. He can tell exactly what type of Pokemon a person would want and catch it, but presents? He once got Raihan a charmander watch made for kids without even considering it wouldn’t fit him. 

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap? Leon. They’re both tall, but Lee’s the smaller of the two. 

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes? Raihan would definitely strut around just to get a reaction out of Leon. Half the time his intentions are to get him into bed, but the other half? Embarrass Leon when he’s on Rotom calls with his mum (don’t worry, he wears pants for those instances). 

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway? They’re both night owls. They stay up either playing video games or watching Netflix (or whatever the pokemon equivalent to that is). They had to invest in a bigger couch due to how often they have passed out on it. (When I say bigger couch, I definitely mean a futon. They just straight up by the closest thing they can to another bed). 

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies? Hop inherited their mum’s cooking skills. Since Leon spent most of his young adult life as a champion who never really had time to stay at home and cook a real meal, it is up to Raihan to provide. Lee was permanently designated to cleanup duty after nearly burning the apartment down. 

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”? Leon would say,” Oh, that’s us!” and Raihan would say,” Eh, not really?” just to spite him. There is a lot of teasing and playful banter in their relationship. 

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes? Raihan, but only because he would literally murder Leon if he borrowed one of his designer sweatshirts. There’s also the added benefit that Lee’s clothes are a lot comfier. 

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?” Leon isn’t allowed to run errands by himself because he’d get lost, so Raihan is usually the grocery-getter. Raihan will be in the checkout line and almost always get a last minute text from Leon asking for one more item. It drives Raihan bonkers. 

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions? Leon is the driver, and Raihan is the “direction giver” (let’s be real, he’s more focused on what song they play next than getting them to their destination). If it’s a group road trip, neither of them are allowed in the front because they’ll just end up getting everyone lost. 

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws? Ok, so I don’t really think one of them would draw the other. They’re much more of an “active, sporty couple” than an “artsy couple”. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, though. During one of their dates, they decided to doodle each other on their napkins to help pass the time. They were both terrible and it got really heated when the waitress chose Leon’s drawing as “slightly less worse”.  

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips? Are you kidding? They’d both try to out-do each other. Both backflippers. 

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking? I feel like even though Leon has more body mass than Raihan, he’d be the lightweight of the two. Both have been in the League since they were in their late teens, but Leon’s public image had a lot more specifications than Raihan’s. That meant Raihan got to go to a lot more college parties on his nights off and build up his tolerance. Leon’s public relations manager didn’t let him even look at alcohol until he stepped down as champion. He had to “set a good example for his young fans”. (Sufficed to say, Gloria quickly got a new PR manager when she filled his role). 

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own? Raihan learned that if he used Leon’s last name, he could get special treatment. It’s an abuse of power! Especially when they’re having dinner at the Hoffman house and Raihan casually slips in that he’s planning on taking Lee’s last name once they marry. Leon’s convinced his grandparents like Raihan better than they like him at this point.  

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside? Raihan, though he’ll go to an early grave before admitting that. He just doesn’t want them getting webbing on his new shoes! Yeah...that’s it. 

16: Which one gives the other their jacket? Leon. It was mentioned above, but Raihan has to be in a really good mood in order to let Leon borrow his stuff. It isn’t that big of a deal, thankfully: The Hoffman boys are like personal heaters.  

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling? Ok, ok, ok: Raihan is slightly intimidated by Hop. He just wants the best for his big bro! If that means calling Raihan out of his shit from time to time to keep him in line, so be it. Raihan can’t fight back either, because that’s his boyfriend’s little brother! One of the only things Leon gets testy over is people bullying Hop, so Raihan has to do it when he isn’t around. 

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other? Leon. It wasn’t one of those things where they’ve always liked each other, but after being friends for so long, their feelings blossomed into something new. Lee is a big flirt and never officially came out, so Raihan just figured he didn’t mean it whenever he complimented him. Leon literally confessed to Raihan at least five time before it sank in that he was serious. 

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting? I think they’d actually be pretty good! Leon helped raise Hop and he definitely has the dad act down, so adopting children would be something he’d be super interested in. Raihan may struggle a little bit at first (especially with where the line of what he could and couldn’t post on social media was), but he has a big heart. They would always be there for their kids. If Gloria and Hop are the cool parents, Leon and Raihan are the embarrassing ones. Would tease their kid lovingly. 

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters? Leon has sent a lot of professional texts because of his former position as champion, so he’d win by default. If they’re texting each other, it is all in numbers, emojis, and abbreviations. Sonia, Piers, and Nessa hate being in group chats with them. 

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them? Lee is the more protective of the two, especially when it comes to people bullying Raihan online. Raihan tries to tell him that he doesn't have to do it, but he’s secretly very flattered.  

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun? Leon makes the worst dad jokes in the world. Sometimes he does it just to embarrass Raihan. 

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy? They take turns. Raihan will catch a Hakamo-o to beat Lee’s Aegislash, only for Lee to catch an Azumarill from the Isle of Armor a week later. It’s a never ending game of trying to one up the other. 

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired? Leon. He’s pretty buff, so carrying Raihan around is nothing. He usually does it without asking if his boyfriend looks tired and flusters the heck out of him. 

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering? Ever since Leon left he league, he makes it a priority to go to every one of Raihan’s matches. He often dons ridiculous disguises in order to not get recognised, but he always gets recognised. There is an online forum just made up of pictures of him in different, weird attire. He might’ve even been able to slip by public notice if not for the fact that he tries to make AS MUCH NOISE AS POSSIBLE to cheer his boyfriend on.   

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder? Is there even a possible different answer than Raihan? The man takes selfies as a living. You better believe he has 8 different folders of pictures of Leon. 

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked? Raihan. Leon is so close to having style, but then he’ll throw on his signature snapback and a cape and ruin everything. You know the cape isn’t even a requirement for the champion to wear? Yeah, Lee just chose to wear it. He counts it as a small victory whenever Leon decides to buy something at one of Rai’s favourite stores.  

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of? Raihan tries not to get between Leon and Charizard. It’s a similar situation to the Hop one: Charizard is Lee’s baby, which means Raihan isn’t allowed to tease them.  

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains? Raihan, but he purposely will move the umbrella out from above Leon to get him soaked. It’s payback for all the other stuff he does. 

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures? Like Gloria and Hop, I think they’d travel to all the regions. They’d have to do it on off seasons and couldn't stay long due to their duties in Galar, but they like seeing the new types of pokemon. Once again, Rai would take millions of pictures. He has a photo album per vacation, not just vacation in general.  

[love-musicheart]

ML S4 Trailer Analysis

A LOOOOOOT of spoilers ahead. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t look under the cut. 😛

This is the trailer I’m talking about in this post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOLnaSGvZw

If you didn’t see my post from yesterday, it’s also the trailer I reblogged and screamed about the music from it. (But seriously, though; it sounds like an orchestration of the ML theme song, and I’m living for it. I keep playing the trailer just so I can hear the song 😂)

There are a lot of sections from it that are either a) from episodes we’ve seen (Truth, Lies, and Furious Fu - though I have yet to watch Furious Fu, as I’m attempting to watch the season in order 😅) or b) we’ve already seen the clips in other trailers/teasers. 

However, there are a couple parts that I noticed and didn’t see anyone else talking about yet - SO obviously I had to take it upon myself to do so. Because this is totally what the internet needs.

___

FIRST UP:

Rena Rouge is coming back!

Based on the facial shape, I’m assuming this is still Alya using the miraculous. The hair looks a lot like her, as well. That speaks a lot to the fact that it’s probably Alya still, as we’ve seen people use the same miraculous and get different hair styles. (Viperion and Aspik, for example, or Queen Bee and the new Bee miraculous holder - who we’re all sure is the new character, Zoe.)

The fact that Marinette would pull Alya is significant, however. I have 2 theories:

1) Something serious has happened - serious enough that Marinette would risk her best friend’s safety when Hawkmoth knows her identity.

2) Someone else is using the fox miraculous and making it appear that the old hero that used to use it - Rena Rouge - is the one controlling it as a distraction.

Either way, the episode that she makes her appearance is probably going to be an intense one.

___

New bee hero!

We all have assumed already that it’s the new character, Zoe.

We can see earlier in the video that, when she appears, she’s in the art room at school. If you go back to the trailer where we first saw the new bee hero transforming, we could see her shoes in it. A lot of people guessed that she was an artsy person because of how they looked, and this confirms that.

But going back to the first image, I find it interesting.

The pink puff of smoke behind Zoe reminds me very much of Princess Fragrance. That means it could be from episode 3, Gang of Secrets (which comes out this coming Saturday!).

However.

It appears that this is the episode with Princess Banana.

My guess is that I’m just overthinking things and that’s just the same special effect used for Princess Banana. 😆

___

Gang of Secrets looks really interesting for multiple reasons:

We’re bringing back some old villains

They’re going to be around all at the same time (that’s like 5 episodes smashed into 1)

THIS:

OKAY OKAY OKAY this excites me.

In the first image, we can see Lady Wifi is being spoken to by Hawkmoth, because she has the butterfly shaped thing in front of her face. But she’s bent over, holding her head - which tends to be the position characters take when they’re fighting against Hawkmoth’s hold. There have only been 2 other times this has occurred:

Chat Blanc

And Truth

Both times, characters were fighting against Hawkmoth’s hold because they did not want to hurt Marinette.

If you’ve seen some of the recent trailers, we see Marinette grab Alya’s hand at the end of one of them, the screen go black, and Marinette says, “I am Ladybug.” 

It is entirely possible that Alya might know Marinette’s identity as Ladybug - and that she might be fighting for her.

However, even if Alya doesn’t know her identity, we see a blast of power go out from her. It’s purple, which I first assumed was her own power as Lady Wifi. However, we don’t see her phone - which means the purple might apply to Shadowmoth’s power.

Alya may have broken herself from his control. 😱

We definitely see Shadowmoth is affected by whatever just happened, so something at least has likely happened to their connection.

___

GUYS THERE’S A NEW TRANSFORMATION.

AND I KNOW WHO IT IS.

Okay, that’s cool as heck.

But first off: very pink. Specifically, light pink.

Now, I am not expert on which miraculous is which if we haven’t seen it in action yet - but can I just say that this just strikes me as the pig miraculous for some reason? (If anyone knows which one this is specifically, please tell me! :) )

What’s this? White leggings?

And a pink skirt?

Now who do we know that wears those?

Rose.

There have been a lot of theories that she’ll get the pig miraculous, and this totally fits. But this is confirmation that she’ll be getting it in season 4.

This is the only hint we have at her hero suit. I can’t tell if it’s just her skirt transforming into one of those suits again, or if she’ll actually get a skirt as part of her suit. That would so cute. Also, totally a Rose thing.

___

Finally...

This thing.

There are two possibilities concerning it.

Either it’s a thing for Zoe to use (come one, it’s totally bee-themed) or it’s a miraculous. I’m not entirely sure how it would a miraculous, as it doesn’t look that much like a piece of jewelry, and I can’t think of any of the kwamis that we’ve seen matching up with it. However, it would explain why Zoe’s outfit looks extremely different from Queen Bee’s. I saw a post recently that pointed out how pointed all her edges were, whereas Queen Bee’s had more smooth curves in hers. A wasp miraculous would make sense.

However, again, it doesn’t look exactly like a miraculous. It looks a lot more like a charm of sorts, to be honest. So, most likely, it’s a personal item that someone lost, or a weapon that they’re going to use. (Perhaps a Queen Banana episode thing?)

If anyone has any theories as to what this item is, I’d love to hear them! I’m still pretty confused as to what it is exactly, but it seems to be important, seeing as Ladybug stored it in her yoyo. Then again, she stored an order for constipation medicine in there, so who’s to say?

___

A lot of interesting content was definitely hidden in this trailer! I’m mostly leaving the shot of them flying into the pink void alone, as it was from a different trailer, and I have no clue what that is. (Though... it reminds me a little of both Feast and Princess Fragrance. 🤔 Any theories on that one, anyone?) 

[whimsywit]

Could I get a bnha student matchup please? I love how you write them! I'm an introverted bisexual girl with a libra sun and aries moon+rising and my love language is physical touch (I'm the type of person to not go 10 mins without hugging my s/o lol). My hobbies are trying new things, embroidery, baking, learning about baking history and watching horror movies. I like doodling, cryptids, sunshine, adventures, road trips, dancing badly in my room, fashion, fashion history, and the colour pink. I love art so, so much in all its forms even though I dont do it often/am not great at it lol. I dont like being around kids/babies for extended periods of time, following recipes exactly or republicans. Benefits of dating me are that I'm non judgemental, really hard to embarrass, and it's easy to make me laugh. Downsides of dating me are: I'm indecisive, a little detached from reality sometimes, and I couldn't care less if your family likes me (I'm still nice and polite! But I prob wont like them and will try to avoid them). My talents are that I have a good fashion and interior design sense and I know a lot about cryptids and the paranormal. My fears are: the dark, being the last person left alive on earth, and loosing my grip on reality. My aspirations are to move somewhere warm by the sea and own a citrus tree, I would also like to hold peoples hands and make them laugh. Qualities I admire in others are: KINDNESS, humor, confidence/ not caring what other people think, liking fashion (or at least appreciating when other people have good fashion), and being able to do math. Qualities I avoid in others are: being rude/mean without reason, bragging or complaining constantly, and people who get jealous easily. My extra info is that people usually describe me as confident, a little intimidating, and artsy. Thank you so much! Sorry I wrote a whole novel in your ask box! 💛💛

anon NEVER apologize for writing too much i love all of it!! You’re such a peach and sound so cool to be around 🥰 Hopefully I’m right with this, but I think you’d have the overall the best relationship with...

Toru Hagakure!

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

A CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED GIRL if there ever was one, shame on you fan artists and writers!! You and Toru would instantly be connected at the hip since you share all the same hobbies, especially in the fashion department. She’s so glad there’s finally someone she doesn’t have to drag along shopping with her, and you guys endlessly share tips and opinions and create looks on looks on LEWQS!

It’s good that it’s you don’t get embarrassed, because being around Toru and her naked-half-the-time-self is gonna test those limits. She’s confident enough to use her abilities at a moment’s notice, and ends up making fun of the whole situation which is just a ball of laughs for you!

Not only does she love that she can laugh with you while other’s have always judged her for her... uh, methods, she cherishes how artsy you are, and indulges in your talents all the time by asking questions and taking commissions and everything! Despite what most might think, she would likely end up getting into the paranormal same as you—I mean Toru’s basically a cryptid in and of herself, it’s a match made in heaven.

Oh god, actually, don’t get me started, holy jeez she’s a Gemini, and as a twin sign myself, I can certify Geminis and Libras are one of the true soulmate pairs of the zodiac. They’re both so open and sociable and have so many shared interests that there’s never a dull moment between them! I don’t even know how to phrase things, there’s so much going on in there, I’m envious of your match I NEED me a good Libra 😭😭

The only difficulty that would come up is Toru is a bit of an airhead as well, and you two have moments where you float away with all your ideas. But once she knows about your concerns with it, she’ll do a 180° and try to help keep you grounded as best as you can. Actually, it’s something you can both learn together, grow to be more mindful for the sake of the other and ground them when needed. The toughest obstacle might end up being the strongest glue between you <3

Toru more than makes up for that fault in other areas though! Least to say she’s quite opinionated, and won’t hesitate to make decisions for you in your uncertain moments. Her bubbly disposition will never leave you wanting in affection, and just like you she dreams of a soft domestic life somewhere gorgeous. She thinks the citrus tree is a bit random, but she’ll jubilantly hold your hand and walk with you into the future until you meet that sea together.

[hyuckles-chuckles]

— the ultimate tag

i’ve combined at least 3 tags from my mutuals @neo-cult-ure @mistymark @ki-aechan @moondustaeil​ @jaextapose​ i’m literally the worst and haven’t done this for a few months, but i’m here to do it now

rules: honestly, answer whichever ones you want to because there are a lot + tag blogs you want to get to know better!

tagging: @junguws​ @jupitersmark​ @jenonctcity​ @macaroni-sly​ @vouisluittontrash​ @marculees​ @masterninjacow​ @ahgase55g7​ + anyone else who wants to partake in the ⁽ˢᵉˡᶠ⁻ᵖʳᵒᶜˡᵃⁱᵐᵉᵈ⁾ ultimate tag

— personal

name: adiba 👉🏻🥺👈🏻

nickname: a nickname my irl friends gave me is adobe because that’s what my name autocorrects to lol + other friends and fam call me deebs or adeebs

birthday: july 1 like our king ty track

zodiac: cancer – don’t make me cry

nationality: south african + american

languages: i speak english and sometimes i’ll spout an afrikaans sentence but don’t ask me to translate complex sentences i’m bad at that. i can also read korean and know some korean words from binging nam joohyuk dramas😍

gender: female

sexuality: straight – but i’ll risk it for all y’all ladies and yeri and chuu

height: 164cm / 5’4” i believe

— blog stuff

inspiration for muse: i honestly find inspiration everywhere, the latest have been music as well as tiktoks lol😳

meaning behind my url: i chose this url after it won a poll on here, but the reason why I had this as an option bc we have the chocolate candies called chuckles and chuck rhymes with hyuck so I just added les to hyuck and that’s how the haechan chuckle blog came to be🤭

blog established: i believe i’ve had this blog since 2014 bc my mom let me have one bc she thought zayn malik had one (it was just a random blog), i only really started using it in 2018 and posted my first fic on the 14th of march

followers: i have 1.6k right now, it’s slowly increasing thanks to that mark fic i posted last month lol💫 thank you king lee

— favs

favourite animals: ferrets! they’re so cute and so dumb i love them! someone buy me one for my bday, it’s really soon

favourite books: you can probably tell from my writing, but i enjoy the harry potter and percy jackson series. i also like the series of unfortunate events

favourite colour: i like warm colours so like orange (absolute fav!) as well as brown + a cool colour i like is blue 🧡🤎💙

favourite fictional characters: nam joohyuk in weightlifting fairy kim bokjoo the only boy ever, stiles from teen wolf, satoru and kayo from the anime erased even though the bad guy was🥵, seth from twilight + i literally can’t think i like too many characters

favourite flower: idk, but i like daisies and sunflowers  but that might be the haechanctzen in me haha, roses and lilies are all really pretty!

favourite scent: my candles; i have vanilla ones as well as a strawberry and vanilla one which i adore but don’t use because it smells so good and my friend got it for my bday two years ago. i also only have strawberry flavoured lip balms so strawberry and vanilla final answer🍓

favourite season: i used to say it was winter, but now that my feet are frozen i’ll say spring + i like spring despite my allergies i just don’t like getting a sunburn

— random

average hours of sleep: i’ve been getting 7-9 hours of sleep, but i’m also only going to bed at 3am so yikes

cats or dogs: i like both, but i guess i prefer dogs

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: i like hot chocolate and chocolate based coffee

current time: 16:44 / 4:44pm

dream trip: like europe, specifically the countries that i didn’t go to when i went in 2017, even more specifically greece where my inner demigod can thrive

dream job: professional musician for sure, like singing and whatever

hobbies: right now it’s just writing and finding new songs to listen to. i miss hanging with my friends

hogwarts house: ravenclaw (but i’m lowkey dumb so don’t listen to me)

last movie watched: the last movie i watched was call me by my name ⚠️ spoilers ⚠️ and i would’ve enjoyed the artsy fartsy movie if i didn’t know timmy was a minor and the love interest was 30 years old

last song listened to: sour candy by lady gaga ft blackpink i just love rosé’s voice in the last chorus like WOW🥰

no. of blankets you sleep with: it’s winter now and i can’t blast my heater all night long so i have one duvet, one blanket and a snuggie. i plan on getting another duvet but i’m too lazy to put a cover on it. when it’s warmer weather just one

random fact(s): (1) i have a blue freckle on my shoulder and i like to think i have a matching tattoo with phoebe from friends (2) i’m growing out my bangs and this is the first time in my life where they’re actually growing out nicely when i can’t see people so i think that’s unfair (3) i bought a moomin doll when i was in macau and it literally cost me the last of my money

if you made it to the end; have some stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ you deserve it😘

[luvknow]

tempting | hwang hyunjin

genre: fallen angel!hyunjin x reader summary: “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, no matter how small the temptation. wc: 4.4k

The first time you saw him was at the flower shop. That’s right, the damn flower shop, also known as the most fairy tale, cliche, and disgustingly corny place to lay eyes on possibly the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen in your entire life. It was weird because junior year literature class and Disney movies taught you that Hades was this bad blue fire-haired guy who ruled the underworld, but after learning that he fell in love with Persephone while she was tending to flowers, you think that maybe Hades couldn’t have been such a bad guy, right? I mean, totally disregarding the whole part where he kidnapped her, took her to the Underworld, and bound her by contract to visit him for a third of the year by a pomegranate seed, you were practically Hades and you weren’t a bad guy, so by transitive property, Hades wasn’t a bad guy.

Yeah, math wasn’t your best subject.

While peeking through the peonies, you noticed the bundle of brown paper he took from the cashier. He was buying bunches of eucalyptus that hugged little lavender sprigs. Quite subtle, but still fragrant bunch - he was tasteful and you respected that. But of course he was, he looked like that, after all.

Ah, but he was probably buying that for his equally-hot significant other. Not that you thought you had the slightest chance with him to begin with, I mean look at him, but hey, one can daydream for a couple of minutes, right? You wondered what kind of person captured his heart and compelled him to buy such a unique arrangement. Were they someone as stunningly beautiful and graceful as he was that he had to buy something muted that would only accentuate their perfections? Maybe he liked someone more on the reserved side, someone who didn’t catch the attention of everyone within a mile radius and wanted to match their delicacy. Or you know what, he was probably into those artsy types because what non-artistic being would be excited over a bouquet of koala chow and perfume?

Then again, if you got a bouquet from any boy, koala crisps or not, you’d be ecstatic because getting something from any guy ever was all you ever wanted. So not only were you a desperate damsel, you have also succumbed to capitalism just so you could dump a dozen flowers into a vase and show it off to your equally-single coworkers at the office. One day you’ll live that fantasy of hearing ‘flower delivery for _____?’ echoing throughout the entire room and all your coworkers gasping with jealousy. One day.

The tall, handsome, mysterious man must have felt your eyes boring holes through his fancy long coat because he turned to your direction before signing his receipt.

Oh shit, you were caught! What should you do?

“_____, welcome back! Can I help you?” a blessed, loyal employee slash friend named Seungmin asked suddenly, causing you to jump. The look on his face was all but welcoming as he knew exactly what you were doing between the pink blooms.

“A-Ah, Seungmin! My favorite worker! Th-These peonies are quite beautiful in their pre-bloom state. But I’m wondering if I should wait another week until they are in full bloom…? You know how picky Sunmi can get.” Your boss’s love for all types of flowers allowed you to pull some bullshit out of your ass and saved you from embarrassment. Seungmin was impressed, so he’ll save you the embarrassment for some other time.

“Definitely get pre-bloom. Sunmi can look at them longer.”

“But she’ll order more before they even reach full bloom, so that’s why I’m wondering if I should leave empty handed? She specifically asked for peonies this time.”

“In my humblest opinion, they are much prettier this way. And who knows, maybe she’ll see them bloom and fall in love with them and keep them for another week.”

You pointed an accusing finger at your friend. “You work commission, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Was I too pushy? Too obvious?”

“Not at all. If I were any other customer, I’d be convinced. I’ll take a dozen.”

“Excellent choice. I’ll meet you at the register.”

Peaking with your peripherals towards the register, it seemed like that mysterious hot guy hasn’t left yet. What the hell was he still doing? “Uh, no that’s ok! I can wait here…!”

“But you need to pay…”

“Can’t you just pull up the credit card number, or something?”

“Uh, no?”

“You don’t save our credit card history? After all the business we’ve given you?”

“No, because I don’t think that’s legal…?”

“Ugh, you’re such a goodie two-shoes.”

Seungmin shook his head while grabbing the twelve finest peony bulbs. After he made his way towards the back of the register where he’d wrap the bouquet in that signature brown paper, you made your way towards the tall, hot guy and waited patiently. It was an awkward silence between the three of you and the boy ten feet to your right stealing glances at you wasn’t helping one bit. The shop was starting to feel warm. Was there one of those fancy warmth lights above you? To help with photosynthesis, or whatever?

But all of that was beside the real matter at hand - why the hell was this guy still waiting here? Who was he waiting for? Did he buy something else?

Slipping between Seungmin and the register, Mina, your real favorite flower shop worker, popped in with a neatly-wrapped bouquet of a different color pre-bloom peonies than the one you were purchasing.

Ok, was this really coincidental, or did he overhear your conversation with the achingly-slow flower wrapper boy? Maybe not though, because the bunch were actually really pretty… Much prettier than yours. You knew that whomever he was giving them to was one lucky person.

“Do you like peonies?”

Oh, my God, even his voice was hot! It sounded like fresh honey dripping from the comb itself! Or like the pounds upon pounds of melted milk chocolate in a patisserie. Or something else along the lines of corny poetic metaphors comparing the sweetness of his voice to equally sweet foods.

“I love peonies,” you answered honestly and surprisingly normally. You even dared to return the eye contact, which might have been a bad idea because wow, there was no way you’d be able to look away now. How could one person look so perfect? “Y-You, too?”

“They’re ok. I prefer this boring bunch of green and purple.” Of course he did. “My girlfriend likes peonies.”

All thoughts created in the last fifteen minutes under your smitten state were thrown out the window now that it was confirmed that he was indeed taken. You could finally act normal again. The chase was kind of fun while it lasted, at least. This would go down in record history of the fastest time for being rejected.

“She’s a very lucky lady.”

“Yeah, I guess. Although I think I’m the lucky one.”

His gaze on you was strong. Not like in a weird creepy way, it was just strong - that was the best way to describe it. If you thought you burned holes through his jacket, then he was searing your skin slowly, making sure you would remember this very moment. Your creepy stares between the peony bulbs was nothing compared to him being up close and personal. Being under the microscope was not fun and you wondered if he was doing this to get back at you from earlier, but his intentions weren’t that at all. They were quite flirty, if they were anything, especially with that heart-stopping smile of his.

Something wasn’t right.

“You’re all set, sir. Have a nice day!” Mina said, breaking the silence.

“Excellent, thank you!” With the cutest, nearly heart-stopping smile, he gladly took both bouquets. His face dropped back to that flirty gaze when he turned to you. He even dared to wink. “Enjoy your bouquet.”

“U-Uh, thanks…! You too, peony pal!!”

He laughed while exiting the store. Look, if you couldn’t win hearts with your looks, you could win them with your humor. God couldn’t have nerfed you in two of the most important human traits. What did it matter anyways, he was taken! Right? But who knows, he could have been lying… Maybe he was hiding something…

“Peony pal? Really?” Seungmin teased. “You’re so bad at social interactions!”

“I’m only bad when people look like that! Did you see that guy!? He’s sculpted from marble and gold! Mina, how did you keep your composure the whole time?”

“When I had my back facing him, I practically allowed myself to melt where I was standing. That guy is unreal…”

“It’s no wonder he’s taken.”

“Mm, I don’t know about that…”

“What do you mean?”

“While you and Seungmin were discussing peonies and their bulb maturity, he was looking and listening the whole time. That’s when he asked me to get a bouquet for himself.”

“So? Maybe he just thought, ‘ah, I bet my super hot model girlfriend would love those, too.’”

“It could be. But you should have seen the way he was looking at you, _____.”

“Wha-? How was he looking at me…?”

“Like he wanted to claim you as his own.”

Your heart leaped up to your throat. It was a gross and quite sexist proclamation, but damn did that boost your ego into space or what.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” you mumbled, though not bothering to hide your giddy smile. “You really think so?”

“Of course!”

“Hey, don’t go feeding their big head, it can’t be good to have all that air in there,” Seungmin scolded. “I’ll admit he was staring. I don’t think I’d call it flirty. Creepy is much more like it.”

“He did seem kind of off, huh? Oh, well. I don’t think I’ll ever see him again. So what do I owe you guys?”

“Nothing today!” Mina grinned. “That guy paid for you.”

With a blush on your cheeks to match your bouquet, you shyly took them from Seungmin. “Holy shit, really? Three bouquets is a lot of money.”

“Yeah, that means he has a lot of money.”

If creepy hot guys at the local flower shop you frequented wanted you to fall in love with them on the spot, they should just say so! You were already making your way there, anyways.

The second time you saw him was on the way home after working overtime. The office was in the middle of the city and the walk home to your place near campus was a solid thirty minutes. Somewhere between the popular cafe and the overpriced chic clothing store at the end of the street was where you saw him. You knew it was him, too, because in his hands was another dozen of the same peonies he bought last week wrapped in Seungmin’s signature ribbon. There was no way the man in front of you was just any random man. You couldn’t explain it, but you just knew it was him.

Something compelled you to follow him. There wasn’t a snake to blame for tempting you to the shiny red apple, so whatever happened to you tonight after following a hot stranger in the dead of night was all your fault.

He turned the corner where the overpriced boutique stood. Then turned the corner where the late-night bbq place was. Then finally, he turned into one of the busiest streets in town, where all the street food vendors and bars gave life to the night. That’s when you lost him and felt a wave of relief wash over you. This was definitely for your own good.

“If it isn’t my peony pal.”

Behind you stood the gorgeous man a little too close for comfort. So close, you could smell the intoxicating and expensive Gucci cologne. It felt like your shoes were melting with the cement, for you couldn’t move a single cell in your body and now you were sure this was the start of your slow, torturous death after he kidnapped you and locked you in some jail cell he built in the basement of his mansion.

When did he get behind you?

“H-Hey, peony pal…! What a coincidence meeting you at nightlife’s hot spot, huh? Crazy, ha ha ~”

“Not quite a coincidence if you’ve been following me, is it?”

Well, shit. “Yeah, about that -”

“I’m kidding!” he chuckled, showing you his curvy eye smile that made you want to sign all your possessions over to him. “I was actually hoping you were.”

“Really!?”

“Mhm. I was hoping I’d see you again.”

“Why...?”

The clever boy only winked and continued on forward towards the crowd of people populating the street. “I’m kind of hungry. Wanna grab some street food? My treat.”

Was it normal for strangers to be this friendly? Nothing bad could happen anyways, right? Especially in such a public place? And you were getting quite snacky… but again, something didn’t seem right. Something in your gut and your brain told you that this guy was hiding something. But your weak, dumb heart that beat for cute, tall boys said fuck it! YOLO, right!?

“I promise I won’t kidnap you,” he persuaded.

“I knew that…! It’s just wouldn’t your girlfriend be upset about this…?”

“Hm? What girlfriend?” he teased lightly.

“Eh? Were you lying at the flower shop?”

“Maybe.”

“Then who were the flowers for?”

“A man can buy a bouquet of flowers for himself if he wants.”

“Of course he can, but you didn’t have to lie!”

“I wanted to see your reaction.” You’re pretty sure he said that so he could get another reaction from you and by the coy smirk on his lips, it’s safe to say you delivered just how he expected - face flushed a bright red from embarrassment.

“You’re kind of weird.”

“Will you come with me or not?”

He held his hand out to you. Before you could reject, before your mind and gut could convince you of all possible red flags this guy had, your body had already gravitated towards him and took his hand to guide you through a place you’ve been many times before. His hands were soft.

“Who are you?” you asked.

“My name is Hyunjin.”

“I’m _____.”

“Nice to meet you, _____.” Your name sounds oh-so sweet in his honey tone. “Let’s get to know each other.”

Hwang Hyunjin liked peonies and eucalyptus bouquets, red wine, tiny puppies, eating tons of bbq, liked kissing (a lot), and was a sweet and sensitive man during romantic movies. This was what you’ve learned in the past couple months dating him.

Well, not dating dating… the conversation hadn’t been brought up yet. It was more like you were seeing each other. Exclusively. While sneaking in a kiss or two at the end of the night. Totally normal not dating-kind of dating stuff, right?

How you even got to this point was a mystery to you. One minute you were caught following him at midnight, the next he’s prince charming while buying you food and walking you home, and now you’ve practically fallen head over heels for him like he was your middle school crush all over again.

To put it simply, he was perfect. Almost too perfect. Still, even after figuring out that he wasn’t going to kidnap you that night, you could still sense that something was off.

But that’s for another night to lie awake figuring out.

Tonight was a warm night spent having dinner at an expensive restaurant near the beach. He even paid for everything before you asked how much the bill was. And sitting in one of the empty chairs between the both of you was a bouquet of peonies picked just for you. While walking off the dinner hand-in-hand, Hyunjin took a sharp turn and dragged you to the sands of the beach.

“Let’s go for a swim,” he said.

“A swim? At this time!?”

The handsome boy ignored your incredulous cries, for he had already taken most of his clothes off. He turned to you, clad only in his underwear, with an adoring smile on his lips that made you fall deeper every time you saw it. As usual whenever he’d tempt you to do something you were skeptical of, he held is right hand out for you to take.

“Will you come with me or not?” he’d always say.

And every time, wordlessly, you’d take his hand and follow him to nowhere. Tonight’s nowhere was the ocean.

Of course you stripped down to the bare minimums also, revealing the most of yourself to him than ever before. It wasn’t awkward or shy as you’d expect. In the cold ocean waters, laughing in the arms of someone so beautiful, you felt so alive! You hoped Hyunjin felt the same way.

“I really like you,” you admit as you two waded calmly in the waves.

His hold on you only tightened while he pressed a loving kiss to your forehead. “I like you, too, love.”

“No, I mean I really like you. I want to be with you. I want to be yours.”

The boy brushed away hair that clung to your face and cupped your cheeks in his hands. “Are you sure you want that?”

“I’m sure. Do you not want that…?”

“There’s nothing I want more than for you to be mine.”

“Then why did you ask me if I’m sure?”

“I’m… just a lot to handle.”

“I can handle it.”

“Are you sure -”

“Yes.”

His sweet giggle rang in your ears. “So eager.”

“Not that eager…”

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that now I can call you mine.” An ocean-salty kiss on the lips under a full moon was what sealed the deal and you wouldn’t have it any other way. “Let’s go before we get sick.”

Hyunjin headed to the shore first. This was the first time you got a good look of his bare back. Much like the rest of his body, he was well-toned in all the right places. You could trace every bone, every muscle fiber on him for hours on end if you could. Then you noticed two long scar slashes on either side of his spine between both shoulder blades.

“Hyunjin,” you called out to him.

“Hm?”

“What happened to your back?”

He turned to you half-way, enough for you to see his broken smile. “I had an accident.”

You left it at that.

“Tempting?”

“H-Huh?”

In the middle of his kitchen, Hyunjin was cooking you both some delicious dinner. His technique was flashy and cute and the aromas from all the spices were delectable, but he was even more so, in the best and worst possible ways. You were staring at his back for a moment too long when he caught you. Still, even after months of being together he was able to have your heart leap in your throat.

“Am I tempting, or something? You keep staring at me,” he teased.

“Seems like I can’t get enough of you.”

“Mm, you do have a habit of giving into temptation.” The boy who held the universe in his eyes took them off of the sizzling pan and over to you, where he leaned in just before the tips of your noses touched. “So do I.”

“Match made in heaven?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

A light, feathery kiss graced your lips and you think maybe you give into temptation a little too much because you wanted more of the boy named Hyunjin.

“Ah, I forgot dessert!” he whined childishly.

“That’s ok! We don’t need any.”

“I’ve been really looking forward to some cheesecake, so I’m going to get some and you can’t stop me! I’ll be right back -”

“No no, I’ll go. I could go for a walk, and I wouldn’t trust me with a pan full of food if I were you.”

“You’re the best.” A kiss on your forehead was planted to bid you a short farewell. “Be safe, ok?”

It was that time of the year when the nights were longer than the days. Luckily, the market was just a short way down the street. You used this time to think about Hyunjin, as you always did. When you said you could not get enough of him, it was the truth. You knew the moment you laid eyes on him between the bulbs of peonies at the blessed flower shop that you’d find yourself thinking about him at ungodly hours, even if he ended up being a passing stranger. But now he was your loving person, someone who meant the absolute world to you in just a short amount of time.

Since the night at the beach, Hyunjin didn’t bother hiding his scars from you. Whether you caught him in the middle of changing or were tracing tiny shapes in the middle of a nap, he let you memorize the most vulnerable parts of him. For that, you were thankful, and you felt like you’d gotten closer to him because of that, but there’s still so much of him that you don’t know. The details of his accident are still unknown to you, but you hoped he’d tell you when he’s ready. You wondered if other couples had doubts about their partner the same way you do.

Your thoughts about the mysterious boy ran wild with all possibilities of what happened to him from the moment you left his place to the moment you realized someone was following you. He kept a safe distance and covered his face with a hood, a sign telling you that this guy was up to no good. You tried to lose him at random corners and different alleys, but somehow he still managed to catch up. He was narrowing in by picking up his pace and you were running out of ideas, but when you turned the corner and ran into a dead end, that’s when you knew you were screwed.

“Oh, fuck me…” you muttered to no one.

The mysterious man hadn’t said a word. Instead, a maniacal laughter was heard and you watched him pull out a knife. Whether it was going to be used as a scare tactic to rob you or it would be used to carve you open like a pumpkin, you just hoped it would end quickly.

“Hey there, darling,” he finally spoke, inching his way towards you. “You ready to have fun tonight?”

Out of fear, your shaky hands dropped the cheesecake. You hoped Hyunjin would forgive you later.

Suddenly, a heavy and loud THING landed behind you. You called it a thing simply because there was no way any human could not only jump down from one of the rooftops and survive, but also make the ground shake and boom with a loud thud. You figured this thing wasn’t a part of this man’s plan or posse by the look on his horrified face and you’re glad, but on the other hand, you had absolutely no idea what the fuck was behind you and you didn’t want to look. You could tell by its shadow peeking through your peripherals that this was nothing human.

The man before you dropped his knife and ran away, tripping multiple times throughout the process. You’re stuck in your spot, unable to turn around and face reality.

“_____,” Hyunjin whispered.

When you recognized his voice, you spun around quickly. Here your hero was, plain old beautiful Hyunjin in all his glory, glowing against the light of the moon. His shadow, however, was anything but the beautiful Hyunjin you knew. From the brick wall behind and around you, you saw the shadow of what was once his wingspan. The expanse of all the black space hugging the walls was so terrifyingly beautiful. It matched him quite well.

“Say something,” he begged quietly.

You touched his shadow. It felt like a thin velvet film covering the bricks. “You’re a real work of art, Hwang Hyunjin. What am I going to do…?”

The boy, or Angel, or Devil, or whatever he was, didn’t respond. All he could do was wait - wait and see if the only person that made him feel like he could fly again would continue to do so. But who would after seeing the real him? Really, one had to be so damn stupid to continue on with this life -

“Will you come with me or not?”

You’re confused, you’re scared, you’re absolutely bamboozled, but most of all, you’re an idiot. You’re the idiot who stared too long between the peony blossoms, the idiot who stalked him in the dead of night, and the idiot who fell into temptation whenever he brought it to you on a silver platter. But you loved him… what were you supposed to do about that?

Hyunjin took your hand and led you home. Then he fed you dinner like you hadn’t seen the ghost of wings thirty minutes ago. Then you spent the night in his arms while watching a movie until it was time to go to bed. His hold on you was tighter and the kisses that were smothered atop your head lingered a little longer than they had before, allowing both of your worries to subside.

In bed tucked warmly beneath the covers, you refused to let the night consume your tired soul and stayed up studying every last bit of Hyunjin’s face hoping to find something more phenomenal than angel wings. You found nothing out of the ordinary. Honestly, you’re not sure how you didn’t figure it out in the first place - you knew from the start he was way too hot to be a normal human.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” he mumbled, nuzzling his face closer to yours.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Too many questions?”

“I have a million.”

“I’ll allow one for tonight.”

“What happened…?” you trailed off, referring to his clipped wings.

“Long story short, temptation is a terrible thing.”

“Really? I don’t think it’s that bad.”

“You’re right. If it brought you to me, it can’t be that bad.”

“Does this change anything between us?”

For the first time since you came to bed, Hyunjin opened his eyes. You were right to say that his big, round eyes held the universe - the mortal universe, the heavens, and even hell. They held stories he couldn’t wait to tell and heartbreak he’d hope to fix with your help. He was a whole-ass mess, but he was your mess.

“No,” the most beautiful angel told you. “Not one bit.”

[mia-ugly]

This is nothing, but it’s a start (thanks to the Branjie Discord as always. Here’s the absolute beginning of my lesbian political AU. CONCRIT WELCOME. CW for domestic violence, but don’t worry, this asshole boyfriend will get punched out by a tall blonde Amazon at some point. And after this it’s basically ALL SMUT so.)

Vanessa is nineteen, and in the bathroom soaking beer out of her silk tank top. It is not the best Friday night she’s spent, but it’s not the worst, and at least there’s no one here to see it.

Her hair smells like beer, and her jacket too.  It takes her back to being ten years old, and ain’t that a trip. She spent more than enough time back then at the bottle depot with her mama - still gets flashbacks from the smell of stale alcohol and sticky floors. 

Which brings us to now - beer and empty bathrooms and Vanessa’s shitty boyfriend. Cody had gotten pissed about some guy Vanessa was talking to, thrown his drink in her face and fucked off.  He always got mad real quick, but he’s one of those emotional, artsy asshole-types. You can’t take it personal. Vanessa had laughed it off, and waved away any offers of help as she headed to the bathroom.  She wanted to be by herself for a few minutes.  Just long enough to stop her heart from racing. 

Sometimes it takes her a bit to come back down and she doesn’t know why. She ain’t scared of him and he wouldn’t hurt her.  They were in a crowded bar for fuck’s sake. The worst he’d ever done was smack her across the face once and she’d been so surprised she’d barely felt it. He’d treated her like royalty after (which was entirely fucking justified.)

Vanessa looks up from her ruined shirt and winces when she sees herself in the mirror. The beer has made her makeup run; she looks like some broken-hearted prom queen and stinks like the floor of a night club.  Cody’s probably gone home and passed out (he’ll be on his best behaviour tomorrow so that’s something to look forward to.) She hears a sniffle. Fuck. Vanessa thought she was the only one in here but clearly she was wrong. From the only stall, a tall blonde girl (like six feet even in flats, holy God) comes weaving out.  She looks drunk and miserable. Her makeup is running just as bad as Vanessa’s.

“Shit, sis. We match.” Vanessa laughs weakly, gestures at their faces.  

That’s about the only thing about them that does match. This bitch is clearly posher, taller, whiter. She must be a swimmer or something, she’s got that slim muscly look about her that some of the girls in Vanessa’s senior class had. Her leather bag probably cost more than Vanessa makes in a month and even though her clothes are rumpled, they’re tailored to her body exactly. Some trust-fund bitch, probably slumming it at the local dive bar.

The blonde doesn’t seem to understand what Vanessa is talking about until she glances in the mirror, sees their identical tracks of mascara. Her mouth curves in a pathetic smile, an expression that looks like it causes her pain.

Vanessa realizes (with an uncomfortable and familiar certainty) that she’s stunning.

Which is fine.

She also realizes - as the blonde chick reaches out for the sink and misses, tilting dangerously toward the mirror - that this bitch is a minute from falling over.

“Fuck,” Vanessa yelps, putting her arms around her waist  The other girl has easily got thirty pounds on her, maybe more, but Vanessa makes up for the laws of physics by being a bad ass bitch. She digs her heels in, prevents a drunk girl from bashing her head on the edge of the sink (like a fucking hero) and slowly leans her up against the wall.

“Maybe you should sit down,” Vanessa suggests (there's a limit to her powers.)

The blonde shakes her head, “No,” and stays leaning against the wall. She rubs her hands up and down her long white arms, like she’s anxious or cold or maybe on molly? If Vanessa had a jacket that wasn't sticky with beer, she might offer it to her (no, she wouldn't, that would be so weird. Just - mind your business, Ness.)

The blonde sniffles, and squeezes her eyes closed. "I'm sorry I'm - never like this." 

Vanessa is wetting some paper towel, dabbing at the black circles under her eyes.  "You wanna talk about it?"

The girl looks away, frowning. "No.”

"Okay, well.  There anyone out there I can get for you? You got a friend or something? Boyfriend?"

The girl laughs once, a mean, jagged-edged sound. “Yes. But for Christ’s sake, don’t get him.”

“Okay,” Vanessa says again. She tries to fix her hair, but it’s a lost cause. She wishes she hadn’t cut it all off, bleached it to shit. Cody thought it looked cute all straight and blonde like this. Probably a bad call.  

Vanessa’s ready to return to her friends and the crowded bar, ready to kick it on home and deal with Cody’s drunk ass - but she worries a bit about this long-limbed blonde girl, older and taller and so much sadder.  Probably for a bunch of white-girl, rich bitch reasons.  Maybe they didn’t make her bellini the way she wanted or some shit.

“Can I -” Vanessa gestures to the door of the bathroom, as if that makes any fucking sense. She’s thinking ‘do anything? get anything?’ but the words die in her mouth as she meets the other girl’s eyes.

She’s looking at Vanessa like she’s terrified.  Or maybe like she’s gonna puke. Those two kinda blur together. 

“Are you okay?” Vanessa asks, and then this giant Amazon of a woman leans forward quickly and puts her hand on Vanessa’s neck and kisses her.

It’s hot and wet. Sharp.  

Brief.

The girl’s tongue licks into Vanessa’s mouth and Vanessa pulls back with a gasp (what is happening and why is she on fire) and then the other girl is backed up against the wall, eyes wide and horrified. Her hand is over her mouth like Vanessa burned it.  She stammers something into her fingers (“sorry, I’m oh my god, sorry”) and then almost falls over in her haste to get out of the bathroom, bashing her shoulder on the door as she pulls it open and disappears.

Vanessa just - stands there.

After a moment, she looks into the mirror.  Looks at the pink of her mouth.  

It’d be crazy to think she was blushing, right? Crazy. Because she isn��t.

Her tongue tastes like vodka. Vanessa licks her lips and they taste like cinnamon lip chap.

Crazy.

She breathes, and shakes her head, and leaves the bathroom like she got nothing to be embarrassed about. 

She’ll tell her girls, and they’ll laugh.  It’ll be a good story. Fuck, she’ll even tell Cody (when he’s sober) and he’ll probably think it’s hot.

And Vanessa won’t think about the blonde girl in the bathroom, with the eyes full of soft shadows and the lips like cinnamon (Valentine’s Day and candy hearts) until eight years later.

By then she’s got a different name, different hair, different life.

And then one day she looks up, and recognizes a woman on television.

The blonde from the bathroom is older, sharper, at a Focus on the Family rally with a tiny gold cross around her neck.  

But Vanjie would know those eyes anywhere. Can still feel the pressure of that mouth, those perfect teeth hard against her bottom lip.

“Holy shit,” Vanjie murmurs.  She puts both hands on the desk in front of her so she doesn’t fall the fuck over. 

She kissed Brooke Lynn fucking Hytes.

[orchidhelm]

15 questions, 15 mutuals.

⭑ Are you named after anyone? My actual name? Eheh, no. Though I guess you could count the fact that my name was chosen to kinda match my older sister’s? Both Greek/Latin names, ahaha. My alias, Ruri, is borrowed from the DRRR character Hijiribe Ruri, though! ♫

⭑ When was the last time you cried? Oh,, I don’t know. I,, cry a lot, eheh. Probably about a week ago.

⭑ Do you have kids? Nope. I think I would wanna have children, though! \(^-^)/ I like children, aha, and I already kinda call some of my friends my children,,

⭑ Do you use sarcasm a lot? Ehh, not really? I,,, think my sense of humour has changed so that I don’t really rely on it as much ;;

⭑ What’s the first thing you notice about people? Ohh, I don’t know. I think just general mannerisms? Speech and movement. Stuff like that interests me. Hands, too! Hands tell you a lot about a person. (wise nodding)

⭑ What’s your eye color? Green! Not,, like,, a super bright green, though? It’s, like,, oliveish green but darker.

⭑ Scary movie or happy ending? Happy endings! I get scared really, really easily, so watching scary movies is just impossible for me ;; I’ve never been able to finish one, rip.

⭑ Any special talents? Uhmm,, I’m pretty flexible? I’’m also a pretty artsy person, aha, and I like to cosplay. I think that’s kinda it, though.

⭑ Where were you born? London~~ The city of afternoon tea and rain. At least all the big cons are here --

⭑ What are your hobbies? Uhm,, roleplay, obviously, and art is another big thing. Apart from that, horseriding! It’s pretty much the only sport that I like ;;

⭑ Do you have any pets? No ;; I had a couple of goldfish when I was ten, though..? Does that count?

⭑ What tattoos / piercings / body mods do you have? Unlike Amami,, none. I’d definitely like to get some piercings, though! I think they look cool. Tattoos aren’t my thing, though.

⭑ How tall are you? An incredible 5′0. I’m gonna be tall one day. Just watch me! 

⭑ Dream job? Uhm,, I feel like an author is way too obvious, so I’m gonna say,, maybe something to do with baking? I enjoy that kind of thing a lot,, so maybe a cake shop would be fun.

⭑ Favorite subject at school? Art,, or English. I’m not sure. aha ;; They’re just the ones I find easiest and that I’m best at. Plus,, y’know. Roleplay and being artsy. I tend to be good at languages,, too,, so I think I’m gonna have to add Mandarin and Latin - oh that was four.

tagged by: the super awesome @peekabloody  tagging: oh god i don’t know who to tag - @mikancore @ultimatevcosplayer i don’t know who else has and hasn’t been tagged and who’s active and,,  hhhhhh just do it if you want ♫

[mks-magical-menagerie]

[Dabs but in an adoption-y way]

Hey there! I’m Fluffy, of @flufflebones fame, here to get set up with a bara if possible! I can provide proof of my ko-fi donation/ownership of the flufflebones blog if needed, but!

  I’m a digital artist and caretaker to two very demanding individuals in a bit of a tough spot financially and emotionally, ideally looking for a friend first and romantic/sexual partner (somewhat shortly) after– Though I’d like to take it a little slow on the romantic front, to make sure that I’m personally in a place where being in a relationship serves to improve both of our lives rather than only satisfying one of us/our needs. Our housing situation is going to be changing rapidly and without warning for a while until we’re in someplace concrete, but that doesn’t mean we’re giving up on eachother– Or that I’ll give up on my boy when things get tough.

I’d ideally need support in most regards (financial, physical, emotional, etc), at least until the worst of my current life situation blows over and I’m able to seek help for myself to attempt to improve my ability to move forward, and would definitely at least be able to provide comfort and support emotionally/physically to them in return– Though, given my background and general aversion to louder, bombastically aggressive/demeaning personalities, I’m not sure that the more extreme skeletons would be a perfect fit, aha.

I get attached relatively easily, and actually kind of prefer others being attached to me so long as they tolerate my interactions with others and give me some breathing room from time to time when asked (as I’d do the same for them). I’m personally very open to the concept of having more than one bara, and would like to consider it for the future, but don’t feel *super* strongly about it either way– As long as they’re willing to make sure they take care of me as I care for them, they’re good.

As a note; I was paired with Stretch here https://msmkcreates.tumblr.com/post/173897179458/hey-there-matchmaker-help-me-out-please-im-51 and would definitely like some of the details here to be included in consideration for the new match; Though I’m still caring and still something of a peacemaker, recent events have basically eroded my softer edges– I can snap and get upset/frustrated easily, I no longer completely prioritize others over myself (at least for the sake of my health, lmao), and though I try to mediate wherever I can (more for my sake now than anything else) I’ve noticed that my fuse has gotten significantly shorter and my body gets tired more and more easily– so I’d probably need a bara who’s chill with… all that, lmao. Thank you for the help! I’m leaning toward Honey and Tramp type baras, but i’m definitely curious to see what you suggest/what you think about my preferences.

The gifts that I’ve brought are as follows;

-A resin pendant, with the suspended materials inside resembling a little universe (gold flecks serving as further off stars, a white swirl as space dust) all centered around a small opal that serves as its star, set on a pink background. Its a gift that I treasure dearly from a friend, and if prompted to explain its significance I’d gladly go on for hours about how I use smaller wearable trinkets as a method of reassurance– It’s a solid, physical reminder of the fact that others are there for me, something that I can hold on to when I feel like I’m losing control of the situation at large.

-a black ‘leather’ sketchbook filled to the brim with countless sketches, medium tests, and “finished” artwork of my characters, fandom characters, or still life subjects. Some of the sketches are nsfw, but the most stand out trait of the sketchbook is that the artwork shows a steady progression in terms of artistic growth, and is marked with notes that i’ve added in hindsight; encouraging little footnotes that remind me to keep moving forward, rather than moving back.

- I’d probably offer them an acoustically sung song or two rather than a third ‘item’ gift, though i guess a booklet of the lyrics for the various songs (because i can’t memorize worth shit, whoops) could count? These songs are all, like, something that can be repeated a few times and sung at slower tempos if a bara wants to try and dance a little with me while I sing, you know? You can find a general idea of what sort of songs would be sung (here), and I’d largely be picking the songs in random order while going through the ceremony; Music is a big thing for me, same as art, and singing always makes me feel a little more vulnerable and open to others– I hope that it shows!

 [Thank you so much for all the work you’ve put into this event; You’re doing an amazing job!]

---------

Before MK can say anything, Mutt has swept you into his arms to twirl across the floor, chuckling at your surprise as he starts to sing “Paris in the Rain” in a low voice. He gives you a twirl and lands a kiss on your cheekbone that sets your face aflame. Behind him you watch MK bristle a bit, and Boss scoff about his manners.

“As you can see, Tramps definitely take a liking to all that you’ve said,” MK says, snapping her fingers. Mutt squeaks as foxfire clutches his hood and pulls him staggering backwards away from you.

“anywhere with you feels right~” Mutt croons sweetly at the kitsune as if begging forgiveness for his boldness. “anywhere with you feels like--”

“ANYWAY,” MK says loudly, exasperated, and Mutt’s face falls a bit. “A Tramp would be a wonderful partner for you. Artsy, music lovers, and prone to wearing a lot of sentimental accessories. They’re good workers despite seeming to be lazy, and they’ve got wandering souls so they won’t mind moving about so long as they have you.”

“am i in trouble?”

“However you might not want one of these flirts if you have a temper like me,” MK scoffs, not answering his question but somehow still answering it.

Tramp or someone else?

[caveartfair]

The Art of China’s Empresses Reveals Their Powerful, Secret Lives

Probably Giuseppe Castiglione and other court painters, Empress Dowager Chongqing at the Age of Seventy, ca. 1761. © The Palace Museum.

Probably Giuseppe Castiglione and other court painters, Empress Xiaozhuang, ca. 1750. © The Palace Museum.

At the onset of Empresses in the Palace, the 2011 miniseries that caused a sensation in China, a beautiful young woman, Zhen Huan, is paraded before the emperor. She is one of many marriage-age girls who have been summoned to Beijing’s Forbidden City to be considered for the Yongzheng Emperor’s harem. Although it is an honor to be chosen as an imperial consort, Zhen is dismayed—she must leave her family behind and enter into a new life of luxury, restriction, and scheming ambition.

In the historical epic, set against the backdrop of the flourishing Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) in the 18th century, Zhen navigates the treacherous, strictly regulated court, where eight ranks of consorts compete with the top empress and vye for the emperor’s attention. (While there was only one empress at a time, the larger lower ranks could move up the social ladder, especially by bearing sons.) At the top of this food chain stood the empress dowager—a consort who had either installed her son on the throne, or was the widowed primary wife of a previous emperor.

The real women who lived in the palace are shrouded in mystery, but Daisy Yiyou Wang and Jan Stuart—the curators of a new exhibition that delves into the empresses’ lives—emphasize that the TV show is a dramatization. At least, there’s not enough evidence to prove that the salacious backstabbing and love affairs that dominate the plot actually took place.

“Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912,” a collaboration between the Palace Museum in Beijing; the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts; and the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, D.C. (where it is now on view), capitalizes on the popularity of such costume dramas. The exhibition centers on five empresses’ little-acknowledged influence on art, religion, and politics through the furniture and objects they used, the paintings they enjoyed, and the jewelry and clothes they wore.

Court hat with phoenixes. Probably Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 18th or 19th century. © The Palace Museum.

Festive robe with bats, lotuses, and the characters for longevity, Jiaqing period, 1796–1820. Probably Imperial Silk Manufactory, Suzhou (embroidery), and Imperial Workshop (tailoring). © the Palace Museum.

Pair of bracelets with bats, peaches, and flowers, probably 19th or early 20th century. © The Palace Museum.

Seal of empress with double-headed dragon with box, tray, lock, key, and plaques, 1922. © The Palace Museum.

Hairpin with figure and vase, 18th or 19th century. © The Palace Museum.

The relative obscurity of these women runs counter to our understanding of royalty today. “If you watch the royal wedding in England, it’s a public affair, a spectacle,” Wang said. “Back then, imperial women were probably completely invisible to the general public.” In European monarchies, copies of rulers’ portraits were circulated around the world for others to venerate; in China, access to imperial powers was a privilege, their images considered sacred.

The curators also knew they were up against pernicious gender bias in their field. Scholars of Chinese art history generally believed that women at court had access to inferior art, fashion, and decorations compared to those used by the emperor. “People questioned us from the beginning because we didn’t think objects used by women and made for women were secondary art objects,” Wang said. She was convinced that some of the most spectacular pieces in the Palace Museum collection were enjoyed by powerful women. She was right.

Court painters, Drinking Tea from Yinzhen’s Twelve Ladies, 1709–23. © The Palace Museum.

Probably Giuseppe Castiglione and other court painters, Consort of the Qianlong emperor and the future Jiaqing emperor in his boyhood, probably 1760s. © The Palace Museum.

The curators found that the quality of art and objects owned by these high-ranking ladies matched those of the emperor, though they didn’t always feature the same motifs. “There’s a longstanding thought in Chinese culture that if you have good omens, images of what is desired surrounding a person, that can help actualize the goal,” Stuart said. Thus, women in the court found themselves surrounded by images of mothers and sons, or symbols suggesting fertility—a woman holding a seeded gourd, or two interlocking jade circles, a reference to continuity.

Their quarters were decorated with exquisite pieces of furniture. One delicate lacquer cabinet in the exhibition—whose staggered shelves offer discreet places to put personal treasures—is painted with a delicate landscape scene and auspicious motifs like the bat. Each piece in an empress’s living space was similarly spectacular and refined.

Festive robe with bats, clouds, and the characters for longevity, Qianlong period, 1785 or earlier. Probably Imperial Silk Manufactory, Nanjing (weaving), and Imperial Workshop (tailoring). © the Palace Museum.

Still, the lives and activities of these women have been obscured for centuries. The Qing court, like many other monarchies around the world, had a patrilineal structure. There was a tradition to record the emperor’s life in great detail, but no such tradition for his wives. “To say they’re not documented at all,” however, “would be a false statement,” Wang said.

Often, the influence of the empresses is only obliquely referenced in archival documents written by the emperor, and so they are characterized from their husband’s or son’s point of view. “Although it’s not strictly articulated, you can get a very strong hint that many of these women were educated, they could talk about state affairs, and be the soulmate of their husband,” Wang said. The empress was also expected, like women all over China, to be a good household manager.

Qing Kuan and other court painters, The Grand Imperial Wedding of the Guangxu Emperor (detail), ca. 1889. © The Palace Museum.

To navigate the intense competition at court, savvy networking with both men and women became paramount for success—and survival. The women who rose to power in the imperial court were those who understood the rigid social codes and worked to exploit their possibilities. Their influence on state affairs “was more about subtle subversion than overt,” Wang said, and often went undocumented.

Shrewd dowager empresses took advantage of traditions of filial piety, which demanded that the emperor bow to no one—except for his mother. “That quirky fact is a nice way to be reminded that in the Manchu culture, women actually had dignity, authority, and status,” Stuart said. Empress dowager Chongqing was visited by her son, the Qianlong Emperor, almost every day, Stuart observed, and though her advice—on battle strategy, or how to pray—was not always recorded, we know from historical records that he did, in fact, follow her suggestions.

Ritual space in the Main Hall of the Palace of Longevity and Health. Courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing. © The Palace Museum.

Empresses could additionally wield influence as religious patrons. Empress Xiaozhuang, who was Mongolian, was the first person to bring a dedicated worship of Tibetan-style Buddhism to the Qing court, which became the main religion practiced there. As part of her patronage, she commissioned a tremendous amount of high-quality art for the temple near her residence. A portrait of Xiaozhuang from around 1750 appropriately shows the empress in a monkish brown gown, clutching prayer beads.

The Qing dynasty’s last empress, Cixi, achieved an unprecedented level of overt influence, “controll[ing] the power of the court for more than 40 years,” Wang said. Cixi played up her position as the senior matriarch to manipulate the men in her life, especially her husband, son, nephew, and grandnephew, all of whom became emperor at one point. When her son ascended the throne as a little boy, Cixi ruled as co-regent with another woman and the emperor’s brother. “She must have had incredible people skills,” Wang said.

Empress Dowager Cixi with foreign envoys’ wives in the Hall of Happiness and Longevity (Leshou tang) in the Garden of Nurturing Harmony (Yihe yuan), ca. 1903–05. Photo by Yu Xunling. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

Cixi’s subversion of gender roles isn’t found in texts, but in art. In the Chinese tradition, the most important person is depicted as the largest figure in a painting. In one work showing Cixi playing chess with her son, she is tellingly shown as bigger than the emperor.

Cixi deeply understood the power of images. At the dawn of the 20th century, invasive foreign powers seeking an “open-door” policy in China threatened the Qing empire. Cixi cannily began to cultivate relationships with foreign diplomats, especially their wives. She sent weekly gifts to Sarah Pike Conger, the wife of an American ambassador. Conger convinced Cixi to let an American painter, Katharine A. Carl, create her portrait. “For Westerners to see the real her rather than a dragon lady—that’s the kind of press she got at the time—was quite a coup,” Wang explained. She caused a revolution in Chinese court portraiture when she had an official portrait of herself exhibited at the World’s Fair.

For the first time, the public was invited to not only know of the empress’s great power, but to gaze upon her powerful visage. It was a transgressive moment of significant cultural sway, a “coming out” for the hidden female leaders of China’s Forbidden Palace. The curators likewise hope that the exhibition will inspire other scholars of history, Wang said, to pay attention to women’s lives. “There’s a lot to be uncovered.”

from Artsy News

[widgenstain]

i hope this doesnt sound creepy but what were your thoughts on submergence? I love reading movie reviews/rants about my faves (jamesy)

Lol, no,not creepy at all, I wanted write a few words after I saw it two weeks (?) agoanyway, but got distracted. I hope this doesn’t disappoint you though! Not so many positive opinions here!

(light spoilers under the cut)

The best word to sum up my feelings about this is“meh”. I expected the worst after reading some reviews but it wasn’tTHAT bad. It wasn’t good either though. I felt pretty vindicated in myassessment from January 2016 ; Submergence isn’t abook that translates well on screen. And they didn’t even try very hard. Boy, thatscript is bad…

Sceneslifted directly from the book that anyone with even the tiniest understandingof how good narratives work would have changed, or at least tried to make morefilmable. Instead we got this mess; long, clunky, scientific dialogue thatworks as a build-up in the book but needed to be cut short in the movie andmore importantly: focussed on the message and motives behind it! What does it mean to behuman, to live in certain social structures and how insignificant are we andthose social structures really in the big picture? You don’t have to explain the layers of the Ocean if you can’t get across how vast they really are and what that vastness is meant to symbolise! 

Thedirection doesn’t clear anything up either. It’s so inconsistent in its levelsof subtlety. Especially in the parts that take place in France it needed to be waymore obvious; what attracts these two people to each other? THE importantquestion in a romance!

In the bookit’s intellectual understanding and fascination with the other person’sapproach to topics like love, death, religion etc.. I wasn’t kidding in my earlierpost when I said that in the book they aren’t really characters, but voices for differentworld views that somehow still see their similarities and learn from eachother. The whole thing is supported by their weirdly intertwining heritage andlife story; she’s a biracial cosmopolitan who explores the seas his ancestors sailed,before he became a spy in Africa, who’s deeply involved with Eastern Africanconflicts.

In the movie?Yeah, that first part doesn’t come across whatsoever. They try, but it’s fartoo subtle and the script doesn’t capture the differences/similarities at all. Theyprobably realised that, so they added a lot of sex scenes instead. I was veryworried for them but they’re actually fine.They’re notreally well-matched physically, James looks way older than Alicia (well, he is,widge) but they do have chemistry. Is it the chemistry the movie needs though? No,it’s not.

I totallycan see them as two people who met at a nice hotel on the Atlantic coast and thought��hey u cute!” “hey, u cute too, let’s have some really good sex since we’reboth people who are so good at sex.” And after the three days, they went their ways andmaybe thought of each other during a wank session or two.

It’s notthe chemistry of a couple where he thinks of her in the worst moments of his lifeand she in the most triumphant yet terrifying ones. 

As for the intertwiningheritages? They actually wrote, shot, edited and left in a scene in which hetalks about her being such a “mongrel” of Swedish and Australian heritage. Noone in that whole process noticed the disconnect or the freaking white-washing!Wim Wenders deserves a few punches in the nuts for that.

As for theacting, yeah… I’m not a fan of Alicia, there I said it. I don’t subscribe tothe hate the Fassbender fans/haters/toxically obsessed creeps (who keeps upwith this these days?) throw at her but I sincerely do. not. understand. how shemade it as far as an actress as she has. 

Still, she is ok in this, she showsmore than her usual three expressions and some actual emotions. That doesn’ttake away from the fact that she acts in scenes, not in movies. She’s onecharacter in one scene, another in the next. It - weirdly enough - works bestin the sex scenes where they allowed her to be an unusually tomboyish character,not the ultra-feminine seductress you’d expect in such context. She feels more or less natural and ok in them.

She’s farless believable as the career-driven and respected-by-her-peers scientist andit’s the absolute worst in the “phone” scenes. To be fair the script fucks herover in these as well, turning Danny, a stoic woman of science about to go onthe biggest adventure of her career, into a bawling teenage girl, who’s upsetthat the guy she had really good sex with doesn’t reply to her calls. 

A betteractress than her would have struggled with that garbage too, but with her scene-actingit really feels like you’re watching someone completely different each time. Addthe gloomy goth girl rambling about suffocating in really inappropriate momentsand you’ve got your stitched together Frankenstein character.

James of course knows how to portray a coherent character, but he isn’tat the height of his game either in the beginning. He’s a bit stiff, the whole spy stuff is thankfully short because it feels like an artsy-fartsydirector trying and failing to do James Bond, and the scenes in captivity would have hit much harder if you’d gotten WHY he adores her so and whispers “OH DANNY” all so dramatically.

I mean, I get thatmovie!James is trying to hang on to his sanity as best as he can, but why think of that random girlhe had really good sex with in France? Why not his mother, his best friend or, ffs, his housekeeper in Nairobi he’s known for more than 3 days?! The film doesn’tget this across and it’s sad (I’m also convinced the editor hated them. Herflashbacks show him squinting unattractively and his flashbacks show her from areally unfortunate angle.)

However, hisacting is top notch in the pivotal scene when movie!James’ captors send him into thewater to shoot him. It starts out all dramatic but then he takes it and turnsit into this absolutely painful, human moment where he yanks the audience’sheart out and crushes it like he’s wont to do. Man is he good. From that on Ilike the movie. 

The interactions with the doctor (helloooo Julian Bashir, didn’tknow you were in this!) are the best scenes in the book as well and they’reexcellent. Nothing is black and white, how different can the lessons differentpeople take from the same situations be, etc.? It’s great.

Except whenthe movie suddenly throws all subtlety overboard. There’s a scene where a womangets stoned and instead of focusing on the fucking amazing acting that goes on onJames’ and Alexander Siddig’s faces it has to ram the pointhome with the silliest effects. It’s such a waste of two excellent actors with an amazingly uncomfortable chemistry. 

Still, the scenes with the extremists are awesome. Too short and I don’t think the movie audience really gets how intriguingReda Kateb’s character really is, but they’re part of a movie that could havebeen great. Pity that wasn’t the whole movie.

I was a bitconfused after Tiff last year where Wenders said that he changed the ending butI don’t think he really has? Both are open in ways, but not really. I liked theending in the book and I liked it in the movie, super kitschy lifetime movieshots of Danny aside.

Anotherpositive thing I noticed was the light. Whoever did that really understood whatto do with the beautiful people in front of the camera and how to tell thefreaking story. I swear, the light on her face as he leaves the hotel, in hisprison and in her sub does a far better job at connecting them and explainingthe motives than script and direction together! I hope that light person got paid a ridiculously high amount of money and gets to do more movies.The script person should find another day job though and Wenders should stick todocumentaries from now on.

In short:Meh. Not gonna buy the DVD but maybe will check it out another time when/if itcomes along on Netflix and see if my opinion changes.

[rooibosfie]

All the otp questions for them boys of yours? 👀

Who likes to jump into the other person’s arms?

Zethys, because again, Uri is too tall an big to do that without killing anyone. He absolutely would if he could, though.

Who likes to take artsy photos of them together?

Also Zethys, but this time because in a modern AU, I can legitimately see him doing that?? A f t e r they get along better and turn into a better, more healthy couple, he really starts displaying how much he adores how Uri looks, so this would be something he’d do!

Who makes puns with numerous things that they find?

Neither of them have this type of humour normally, but drunk Zethys would (or try to, at least).

What do they like to watch together after a long day?

Probably cult classics, they’re both Refined Boyes™ .

Who is most likely to kiss the other on the cheek?

Uri!! He loves small displays of affection, just not so much in public. Zethys does it too, though.

Who is more likely to break out in a spontaneous dance?

Not something either would usually do, but drunk both of them are this exact type of person tbh. Zethys really likes dancing though, so at home it’s possible!;;

Who would hide in the couch to try and playfully scare their partner?

Z E T H Y S and Uri would want to murder him

Who would sing a love song to the other in the car?

Uri, absolutely. They both can sing to a level, but Uri is heckin good at it and Zethys loves to hear him.

Who can’t help but giggle when the other compliments them?

Honestly?? Zethys. Sounds weird but he just laughs and smiles at compliments, he’s not used to them at all. Uri blushes and freezes for a second instead.

What do they say to one another before they go to sleep?

Like I mentioned before, Uri loves late night chats, and he’d love to whisper sweet nothings to Zethys before falling asleep half on top of him still, Zethys would just listen and die inside because holy heck his boyfriend is cute??

What would they do/go if they were to have a weekend just to themselves? For example - small getaway, stay home and watch movies, go to an event, ECT.

Zethys likes big gestures, so he’d probably plan some big romantic getaway to a place he knows Uri cares about and buy him flowers and everything. Uri would rather stay home or go somewhere more reserved and spend all the time he can with his boyfriend instead.

Who looks at the other person like they are their world when the other isn’t looking?

Both, but mostly Uri. Zethys looks at him like that more when he’s asleep though, because Uri sleeps fast and heavy like a heckin rock.

If they were to have matching pyjamas, what would they be?

Fancy heckin silk robes or nothing at all. Uri isn’t into wearing anything to sleep, so.

Who would win in a pillow fight?

Uri, and it’d probably end with a broken bone and a lot of apologizing.

Who prepares/orders takeout for the other person just because they know how much their partner loves it?

Uri would l o v e to cook for Zethys because that dude won’t eat unless food is presented to him, he’s a bad cook and too focused on other things most of the time. That’d leave Uri to make his meals and say he needs to eat properly for the hundreth time.

[fairymascot]

WHY ANON (slams desk so hard it splits clean in half) I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED

now, picturing an au where max comes to arcadia bay after five years, rachel's there, no wacky time hijinks ensue and nobody's fucking suffering:

*rachel is genuinely SO hyped to meet max, though admittedly, it's got less to do with max herself and more with what she means to chloe. like, chloe would not shut up about max the whole time she's known her, and she sincerely sounds like such a sweet girl -- but also like the polar opposite of how chloe presents outwardly now. so getting to actually meet that goofy little shutterbug nerd who's owned a piece of chloe's heart since childhood is massively exciting to her. (and of course, gleaning Top Secret childhood info about chloe from her is a great bonus.)

once they meet, rachel's pretty much instantly endeared with her: she's so small and cute and fidgety, like a little pet squirrel! she's really fun to tease and mess with, and her reactions are adorable.

meanwhile, on max's end, her first impression of rachel amber is holy mother of intimidating, batman. chloe's built her up so much beforehand, but it still doesn't compare to actually being in the same room as rachel amber. she's like... electromagnetic. and almost definitely too cool for max to be breathing the same air as her. but she's also so NICE and friendly and not mean or condescending at all. so while max was initially feeling a little sour over chloe's best friend position being filled by someone else, she can't be actually mad about it. it's kind of impossible not to fall in love with rachel amber.

*though max is a little more reserved than rachel's used to, and rachel's way cooler than max is used to, they quickly find they can get a good conversation flow going, talking about art and literature and nerd stuff that chloe tends to zone out during. rachel offers surprisingly insightful commentary on max's photography, which catches her off-guard and makes her kind of embarrassingly fluttery on the inside. 'you should take my picture sometimes,’ she says with a smile. ‘i'm looking into modeling.' 'oh! oh. okay.'

*though rachel really enjoys teasing max, she's also very good at telling where to draw the line and when to pull back. she can see max struggles a bit in social situations with new people, and she wants to make sure that her reactions stay firmly within the 'adorably flustered' camp without crossing over to actual anxiousness. max really appreciates it, and she's kind of awed by it, too -- max is always doing her best to be empathetic and tune into what other people are feeling, but her particular mix of nosinesss and awkwardness can make it hard. to rachel, it just comes effortlessly, and it kind of blows max's mind.

*max feels a little out of place in her first week or two back in arcadia bay. even though chloe has accepted her back with open arms and rachel's been nothing but friendly, she can't shake the feeling that the two of them have so much more in common than she and chloe have now -- she's just this awkward nerd girl, and maybe they're only hanging out with her out of obligation...

though both chloe and rachel notice something's up with her, rachel is the one she ends up confiding in. paradoxically, it's easier to talk about personal stuff like this with someone she doesn't know so well, especially because she's worried that admitting it to chloe would just sound like guilt tripping. rachel proves a very sensitive listener, and instills new confidence in her, too: she tells max about how chloe puts on the pirate mixtape she made her in elementary school at least once a week, and how when they passed by a heap of old toys and summer clothes at the junkyard last month, she framed it with her fingers and went 'man, max would take a black and white picture of this and and call it farewell summertime, or some shit'. 

max feels better after that.

*rachel plays two truths and a lie with max. it is, after all, a time-tested bonding exercise. as chloe predicted, max fucking sucks at this game because she cannot lie to save her ass. she gives two completely mundane truths that no one would ever suspect to be false, then pauses, stares thoughtfully at her shoes, brushes at her hair, and comes up with some shit like 'i have a pet tarantula'. ('i've been to your dorm room, max,' rachel reminds. 'well-- yeah! i mean at home in seattle! my parents are taking care of him now. he's... bad with flights.') she's surprisingly good at picking apart rachel's lie, though, and rachel's impressed with her quiet attentiveness.

'but seriously, though. we gotta teach you how to lie.'

*rachel models for max, because i mean, come on, she’s gotta. max absolutely doesn't want to pass up this chance but she's also freaking out on the inside (and on the outside), because she's never actually worked with a model before -- it's usually just selfies, sceneries and candids. she's really worried it won't come out well and rachel will think less of her for it. she also has a minor heart attack when rachel walks into her room, drops her jacket on the bed, and says 'so is this where i take it all off, or...'

(when max just stares at her in terror, she laughs and says 'kidding, of course'. and the photos turn out really nice! so. all is well.)

*rachel absolutely loves that they're the same size and exploits the shit out of this, swapping outfits with max left and right. she thinks max looks hot as hell in her clothes, and while max can't really see it herself, being praised by rachel feels good. (her clothes always smell really nice, too.) she feels awkward lending rachel her clothes in return, because she has so much style and max really doesn't, but rachel always says 'oh, shush, your style's adorable' and steals all her lame hoodies and geek T-shirts anyway. and somehow makes them look drop-dead gorgeous every time.

*rachel loves dressing max up! she likes dragging her on impromptu shopping sprees, picking out bundles of clothes for her to try on, or just showing up on her doorstep and thrusting a bag into her hands with a 'here, wear this'. she's quick to pick up on max's aesthetic, and always gets stuff that's right up her alley, but just a little bolder than she'd usually think to buy: a bit more colorful, a bit more form-fitting. max finds the experience kind of embarrassing -- she doesn't want rachel to think she's some charity case -- but she can't deny that the outfits rachel pick out look... really good.

also, rachel LOVES matching outfits -- not in tacky over-the-top ways, but stuff like complementary color choices or little matching accessories. max really gets into the accessory thing too, and starts making a habit of gifting rachel goofy little nerd trinkets to match with. i'm talking stuff like this and this and this. rachel puts every last one of these on her keychain until it's considerably more chain than keys.

*in the venn diagram of chloe and max's music tastes, rachel is the overlap. she likes all of chloe's thrashy metal and angry teen angst hymns, and she likes all of max's weepy guitar tunes and cringy pop from 2003. max admittedly never quite outgrew her seventh-grade nsync phase, and rachel is a huge slut for nostalgia shit like that, as well as a huge slut for making chloe suffer. which means that car rides with those three almost inevitably end up sounding like a middle school dance party while chloe grumbles and huffs behind the wheel the whole way.

*they have like a million geeky marathons, staying up all night watching dr who and buffy and lord of the rings. while they're both big fans of the classics, max is the more active fandom-connoisseur of the two, and introduces rachel to a ton of stuff like obscure european sci-fi films, old artsy cinema, and like a metric boatload of anime. max's taste is all over the place and rachel enjoys pretty much all of it, even the outrageously bad stuff, because she has no concept of cringe and if anything just finds the dumb shit more fun. she will enthusiastically watch final fantasy spirits within with max and not even complain once.

she loves seeing max's eyes light up during the parts she likes best, or how animated she gets when she talks about it afterwards, sharing all this background trivia and her interpretations of the stories. max is really glad for the way rachel listens, even about stuff that obviously didn't grab her as much, but sometimes she has to stop and just kind of trail off mid-sentence because rachel's looking at her like she's going to eat her and leaning in and oh.

[truthofherdreams]

Long and Lost (chapter 12)

Identities are revealed and lost friends are reunited once more... (ao3)

Emma decides to bury the hatchet at breakfast the following morning. Getting out of bed was a miracle in itself, too exhausted to move for long hours. Oliver, the guy on call at the station during the evenings and the weekends, had texted her at eight to tell her everything was fine and she didn’t have to worry until Monday morning. Which, it’s nice, she guesses. He’s nice, all man-bun and freckles, despite the fact that he also happens to be the Mayor’s adoptive son. At least she doesn’t have to force herself to do a few extra hours out of guilt for what happened to Graham.

She goes downstairs for food after ten, something that happens, well, never. Henry is watching cartoons on the couch, Mary Margaret reading peacefully in the chair by the window. Both are still in their pajamas, because it’s apparently that kind of day for everyone. Leo is in the kitchen when Emma enters it, vaguely offering her a wave of his hand. A bowl of cereals and a mug of tea are in front of him, and he looks like he fell out of bed about two minutes ago. Emma knows the feeling.

She turns on the coffee machine, because she definitely needs more than hot cocoa to keep her going today, and slides two Pop-Tarts in the toaster, before she turns to her brother again. Stretching out her arm, she watches as he blinks at the folded bank note between her fingers. She has to shake her hand a little for him to grab it, and he does it with a suspicious glance her way.

“It’s not a movie date without popcorn,” she gives as a matter of explanation.

Leo’s lips twitch, just a little. “It’s not a date at all, apparently.”

“Just buy some popcorn for your boyfriend and shut up.”

Her brother is grinning now, putting the bill in his pocket. He’s the only one of them who bothered with a shower and proper clothes, apparently. “Thanks.”

“No bringing boys home until you’re eighteen, though.”

“And you ruined it.”

But he’s still grinning, and Emma smiles too. If those stories of him are true, her only goal in life is to give everyone their happy endings. Maybe it doesn’t have to be big; maybe it can start with making sure her brother is happy and in love, with a boyfriend worthy of him. And who is she to deny him happiness, after all?

They discuss which movie would be the best one for a first date-except-it’s-not-a-date around breakfast, before agreeing that Gideon/Not-Gideon is enough of a nerd that he very much would like something artsy instead of the latest blockbuster, and so Leo picks some old movie in black and white Storybrooke’s little theatre is showing today, instead of whatever superhero movie is on at the moment.

He’s smiling all through their conversation, looking more like the teenager he’s supposed to be and less like the hero’s sidekick he’s been since they met, and it makes Emma’s heart a little lighter. His happiness is contagious and, by the time she decides she needs a shower, and to check on Graham, she’s smiling too and forgetting all about yesterday’s mess.

She makes her way to Granny’s first, to buy her boss the disgusting tea he loves so much and a bunch of pastries, because she’s fucking nice and she deserves a raise, probably. Ruby is behind the counter as always, black-and-red hair pulled into a ponytail, long legs clad in matching leather pants. Emma pretends not to stare, not that Ruby notices much when she’s busy bickering with the Latina woman from David’s party.

“Emma!” she exclaims when Emma makes her way to the counter. “Tell California here that she’s wrong.”

The other woman lets out an exasperate sound, throwing her arms in the air. “How many times will I have to tell you my name is Arizona, jesus. And I’m right, and you know it.”

“You’re wrong,” Ruby sighs. “I know my shit about wolves, okay?”

“What’s the problem?” Emma asks, even if she’s not sure she wants to know. It seems to be about more than just zoology trivia, and she wants none of it. But too late, she’s part of it now, for better or for worse.

“Alabama here,” (Arizona rolls her eyes and turns in her seat, muttering something rude) “is saying that wolf packs are led by an alpha male…”

“Which is true!”

“Which is wrong! They’re led by an alpha couple. Jesus, what do they teach you in school?”

Emma’s mouth opens a little as she blinks at one woman, then the other. They’re throwing daggers at each other, obviously fuming and, yes, she definitely doesn’t want any part of this weird mating ritual they seem to have going on. Not on top of all the drama with Leo’s love life, and all the drama Mary Margaret is hiding from them, thank you very much.

“Can I have a chamomile tea and two bear claws, please?” she says instead, changing the subject with very little finesse.

Ruby huffs, points a perfectly manicured finger at Arizona’s face and mouths ‘I’m right and you know it’, before she moves down the counter to prepare Emma’s order. Emma heaves a breath now that the tension created by the two women no longer surrounds her, and she taps her nails against the steel counter in rhythm with the song playing over the speakers, to pass the time. She’s muttering the lyrics too, when Arizona coughs to get her attention.

“Hottie has been staring at you for a while.”

Emma groans as she turns around, expecting blue eyes and an exasperatingly handsome face. Except, no. The face is definitely handsome, but the skin is black instead of white, the eyes a warm shade of brown, the smile more gentle than sarcastic. Mystery man from last evening definitely spent the night in town, and definitely wasn’t on his merry way this morning like she had hoped. Go figure.

With a sigh that hides a muttered curse, Emma turns around in her seat and makes her way toward the booth where he’s sitting. He doesn’t even pretend like he was not blatantly staring at her, the creep, and keeps smiling his kind smile when she stops in front of him. From up close and even despite the unflattering neon lights, he’s definitely more handsome than in the dark of the night. Not that it matters much, all things considered.

“You’re still here,” she comments in a tone she hopes is accusatory.

He simply grins back. “I’m still here,” he echoes.

Emma’s eyebrows rise of their own accord, her lips pressed into a tight line. She doesn’t have time for those games, or for entertaining a stranger who, according to Leo, shouldn’t even be here in the first place. All she wants is to know how he knows her name, because she’s damn certain she has never met him before, and the last thing she wants is a stalker following her all the way from Boston to Middle of Nowhere, Maine.

“Not exactly big fans of visitors here, are you?” he comments then, still smiling. Does he ever stop smiling?

“Not really used to people passing through,” she admits in a half-truth.

A little snort escapes his nose. Cute. “I figured. The Mayor didn’t seem too happy to see me. Guess tourism isn’t her priority.”

Emma forces herself not to groan and roll her eyes. Of course Madam fucking Mayor would see him, and make a show of being her usual delightful self. What else is expected of the human equivalent of stepping on a Lego?

“Yeah, well…” is all she finds to answer. Well done, Emma. Spectacular. “What led you to us anyway?”

He takes a sip of his drink – some weird tea, nice, he and Graham can be best buddies – and for a moment Emma thinks he’s going to avoid her question altogether. But then he puts his mug back on the table, and the annoying smile is back on his lips. “Just passing by, really. I love little towns like this one. I’ve always been fond of all the stories they contain.”

She squints at him, wondering for a moment if he’s openly mocking her or adding underlying meanings to his words. He can’t know. Surely he can’t know. And yet, she’s still squinting, and he’s still smiling, and she didn’t have enough hours of sleep to deal with whatever is happening right now.

“Sure,” she replies, even if she’s anything but. “How do you know my name anyway?”

“You don’t remember?” he asks. “I’m hurt.”

She wants to tell him she definitely would remember that kind of face, but it would just sound shallow. She wants to tell him she doesn’t remember anything, but it sounds too personal. She wants to tell him, should I remember you from this life or the one where I’m a princess prophesized to save the world, but it sounds too ridiculous, thank you very much.

So she doesn’t say anything at all. Which is probably better that way, truth be told. Not that she has time to reply anything, because then Ruby is calling her name and the little bell chimes by the front door, and she locks eyes with James when she turns around. He stops in his tracks, his eyes traveling between her and the stranger, once, twice, before a muscle spasms in his cheek and his eyes harden.

She wants to tell him that, whatever he believes is happening, it’s not it, but. Why would she say that? It’s not like she owes him anything. It’s not like she can still feel his breath on her mouth and smell his cologne, it’s not like her brain had replayed the scene from the bathroom a hundred times before she finally managed to fall asleep. Because that would be ridiculous.

“Interesting,” the stranger comments.

Emma wonders who would arrest her, if she were to sock him in the jaw.

Not that she will find out, for she makes a point of walking toward the counter and taking cup of tea and pastries from Ruby. The waitress knows better to ask her to pay, simply adds it to her note and sends her on her merry way with kind words for Graham. Emma offers her a tight-lipped smile in reply.

James is still standing by the door when she makes her exit, and she stops by his side for a moment. “Green doesn’t suit you,” she whispers before she opens the door.

She can feel his eyes on her as she makes her way to the car.

 …

 She isn’t lost.

She definitely isn’t lost, even if her pony has been trotting in circles for twenty minutes now and every tree looks the same. She is used to making her way through the forest to the Merry Men’s camp, has done it since she was old enough to ride her own pony alone. Roland was by her side, of course, because nobody would leave the crown princess wander the forest alone at the tender age of eight, but they decided to race down the path and now she can’t find him anymore. Or the camp. Or the way back to the castle.

But Emma isn’t lost, she’s just – not exactly where she is supposed to be.

It is more than fine, though. Brigands never come here, since it is well-known Merry Men territory, and Marian has been loyal to the crown for years now. If anyone finds her, they will be friends, not foes, and they will help her out. Not that she needs help, since she has established the fact that she isn’t lost. Just, somewhat, misplaced.

It’s too early in the afternoon to use the stars to guide her, and she didn’t think to take a compass with her. Mama once told her how to make one with a needle, a cork and a cup of water, but she has neither of those things in her bag.

It is another ten minutes of wandering around before Emma starts to feel restless. She throws one leg over her pony’s croup to jump down, before she grabs the reins and pulls the pony along. The little mare follows her without a moment of hesitation, trusting Emma’s choice more than Emma trusts her own instincts. Every tree looks the same, every path similar to the one before, and not a single wooden sign helps her find her way.

Maybe she could admit to being lost, but it would be admitting defeat.

She wonders if calling after Roland would be of any help at all, but the entire forest is silent around her. If Roland was looking for her, surely he would be the one to call her name. Emma wonders if he still hasn’t realised she is missing, or if he believes she will find her way by herself and doesn’t need his help (she doesn’t) or if he did it on purpose. Maybe he was a villain all along and his goal was to lose the little princess in the woods and let her die here. Maybe it is working. Maybe she should stop thinking about so many macabre theories.

“Well, hello there.”

A little scream escapes Emma’s mouth as she startles, turning around to face the newcomer. She didn’t hear his steps, didn’t hear anything at all. Like he wasn’t here, and then he was.

He’s smiling kindly at her, the kind of gentle smile she always sees on her papa’s lips. His skin is black – not as dark as Sir Lancelot’s but still darker than most people in her queendom – and he wears such a long robe that it brushes against the ground. He definitely wasn’t there, and then he was, because he definitely must be a wizard. He looks the part alright, if you ask Emma.

“Who are you?” she asks, tilting her head to the side.

The smile turns into a grin as the stranger answers with a question of his own, “Haven’t your parents taught you to say hello back?”

“My parents told me not to talk to strangers in the woods. Or any place.” She puts her chin up, just a little, in the way Leo says makes her look like a prissy little girl. Leo doesn’t know anything about anything beside his wooden sword too big for him.

“Can you keep a secret?” the stranger asks her as he kneels to look her in the eyes.

Emma knows mama wouldn’t like her to keep talking to someone she doesn’t know, but her curiosity takes over anyway. Emma loves secrets, and she’s very good at keeping them. After all, she is keeping the biggest secrets of all about herself, one she hasn’t even told Roland, or Gideon, or anyone. Only mama, and papa, and Leo know. She’s that good of a secret-keeper!

So she hesitates only for a second before she nods her head and takes a step closer to the stranger. He looks so kind, with the laughing wrinkles around his eyes and the grin; he won’t hurt her.

“Everyone's a stranger until they’re not.”

Emma frowns, until a giggle escapes her. It makes the man laugh too, with big dimples in his cheeks and stars in his brown eyes. When she was younger, papa used to tell her the stories about Sir Galavant and his beautiful Isabella every night, before going to bed. She loved the stories and often dreamed of adventures of her own, with mysteries and pirates and songs. Emma wonders if Galavant looked like this, pretty and kind and always smiling.

“One day, Emma,” he tells her. “One day we no longer will be strangers.”

“We’ll be friends?”

“Indeed. Once you’re older and ready to save the world, we’ll be friends.”

Emma frowns once more, wondering how the stranger knows her name as well as her destiny. She is about to ask him, when he stands up once more, brushing away the wrinkles in his robe. He points to the path leading west before she can say anything at all.

“If you go this way, you will find the Merry Men’s camp in less than ten minutes.”

Emma looks at the path above her shoulder.

When she turns her head again, the stranger is gone.

 …

 Graham looks way better already when she visits him, accepting the tea and forcing her to eat one of the bear claws. He promises he will be back to the station on Monday, but there is a shadow behind his eyes. Like he is still hiding something from her, not entirely saying the truth about what happened to him that day. Emma gives him time – if he ever wants to confide in her, he knows where to find her.

Instead, she gossips about Leo with him, and about their strange visitor. Graham asks a few questions, but it’s more to entertain her than out of sheer interest, and Emma decides to leave him alone. He needs his rest, after all, and she needs her weekend. It feels like forever since she last managed to have more than one hour with Henry on her own.

They buy greasy burgers at the White Rabbit and go to the park, before Henry decides that he wants to go to the beach. It’s starting to get cold outside, but her son wants to walk in the water one last time before winter, and Emma doesn’t have the heart to say no. So she sits on the sand and laughs at Henry’s little shrieks every time a wave comes to lap at his feet.

He jumps and runs and laughs, his cheeks red with excitement. And then he’s running toward her, sand in his hair and between his fingers, all laughter and smiles and happiness. Emma opens her arms to him, laughs too when he throws himself at her. For a moment, she forgets about everything else, everything that isn’t her son’s cheers and smiles. She kisses his cheek and he giggles, drops a sloppy kiss on her cheek too.

“Mom, can I ask you something?” he asks once his breathing is back to normal.

Emma frowns a little -- this can go a lot of different ways, knowing Henry, and she doesn’t know what to expect. “Sure, kiddo. What’s up?”

“Remember that Christmas when you got me the big fire truck?”

She does, indeed. She also remembers what Henry wanted, instead of the truck. From there, it’s not too hard to guess where this conversation is heading. Come to think about it, it’s almost surprising that it took him so long to ask at all. He was pretty set on the idea, three years ago.

“I remember,” she answers, waiting.

“You said… You said an apartment was too small and he would be too miserable, and we needed a house. But we have a house now, and I asked Mary Margaret this morning and she isn’t allergic and Leo isn’t allergic and she said yes and…”

“Okay, kiddo. Breathe.”

Henry takes a large gulp of air, before he offers her his most beautiful smile. “Can we get a dog?”

Emma knows, in her heart of hearts, that a million reasons to refuse exist. A dog is expensive. Henry might not know how to properly take care of it. He might get bored. They will go back to Boston eventually. And what then?

But Henry is looking at her in that way, the one where Emma doesn’t entirely feel like a failure of a mother, like she might actually do a decent job at this parenting shit and… Henry deserves to be happy. He hasn’t made proper friends quite yet, and she’s afraid he’s a bit lonely at times. Maybe he needs a furry companion, loyal and adorable.

“You know what,” she starts, and Henry gasps, happy and loud, “Let’s check with Mary Margaret first.”

Mary Margaret replies to her text with ‘as long as you don’t force me to take care of it’, and Emma guesses that it’s doable, between Henry, Leo and her. So she leads an overexcited child toward their car and ignores his never-ending babbling as they drive back to the Main Street.

She’s smiling by the time she parks in front of Granny’s, even more so when Henry runs toward Ruby. The waitress stops cleaning the outside tables long enough to blink confusingly at the small human yelling at her. “We gettin’ a doggie! We gettin’ a doggie!”

Ruby barks a laugh, and grins at Emma. “Good luck.”

Which, as it turns out, Emma needs. David is the one to welcome them when they enter the animal shelter, all too eager to show them the puppies they have in the back room. The smell is a tad too overwhelming, which makes Emma reconsider her choice for a second. That is, before Henry runs for one of the cages and presses his nose to the bars, laughing when the puppy licks him. She hasn’t heard him laugh like this in ages, and it makes guilt crawl up her throat in return.

She pictures the next hour to be full of puppy cuddles – or, worse, for Henry to find some Stitch-like creature or something. Instead, one dog throws himself at his cage repeatedly, getting louder by the second with his yapping and whines, until they have no other choice but to focus their attention on him.

He’s the kind of dog Emma has always found pretty – those Australian shepherds with the soft fur and mismatched eyes and pink nose. And, when David opens his cage, he throws himself at Emma like his life depends on it, jumping on her until she kneels down and scratches his ears and his belly. The dog is so excited Emma is afraid he’s going to pee on her at some point, but instead he just licks her hands and headbutts her stomach and is otherwise so adorable her heart melts on the spot.

“Mom! He likes you!” It’s a bit of an understatement here. Thankfully, Henry seems to be on board, and the dog is quick to focus his affections on the smallest human in the room. Which. Fucking adorable.

“Guess we have a winner,” David says with a smile.

Emma stands up and brushes the invisible dust on her pants, along with some white hair. Oh, Mary Margaret is going to hate her for this. “Guess we do,” she grins, upset flatmate-slash-landlady be damned.

David gives Henry a collar and leash, and boy and dog run around the shelter while Emma fills in the necessary paperwork. She pays for the shots and the other stuff the vet did to the dog, and buys some bowls, toys, and a nice cushion while she’s at it. She might be more into the idea of owning a dog than she thought at first.

David tells her some story about how sad the dog was and how he didn’t let anyone pet him, until David came back from the hospital. But Kathryn doesn’t like animals and David spends enough time around them as it is, and the dog is going to a good family anyway. All is well in the world.

Thankfully, the dog doesn’t throw up in her car, and Henry is still in the process of listing potential names by the time they come back home. He’s hesitating between Mister Scruffy and Pluto, because he still very much is a seven-year-old, and tells Mary Margaret so. The poor woman looks in horror as the dog runs around her kitchen, sniffing ever new smell and piece of furniture. He also seems to be happy to meet her, his pink tongue hanging low when she pats his head.

It has nothing on the way his head jerks up at the sound of the front door opening, though.

“Hey, we’re back! The movie was aweso--oh fuck. Wilby!”

Leo stops in his tracks and Gideon/Not Gideon, who was close behind, just bumps into his back. Not that the boy notices all that much, his eyes glued to the dog. The dog’s ears perk up, before he lets out a loud bark and throws himself at Leo. He jumps on the boy with all his strength, until the both of them are on the floor. Henry is quick to follow them in a tangle of limbs and fur and laughter.

It’s five long minutes of flailing around before Leo sits on the floor with the dog between his legs, arms wrapped around the animal’s neck and nose pressed to his head. His eyes are misty from unshed tears as he sends Emma the most grateful look she has ever seen in her life. She isn’t sure what she did, exactly, but whatever it is, she did it right.

“How about everyone goes to play in the garden while we get some hot chocolate ready for everyone?” Mary Margaret announces, ever the one to find the perfect solution to any tricky situation.

An old tennis ball is found in the cupboard under the stairs, along with a bright yellow frisbee, and everyone is sent on their merry way to play with the dog. The living room grows quiet suddenly, leaving Emma dizzy and confused. Yes, hot cocoa might be a good idea after all, she thinks as she makes her way to the kitchen.

Mary Margaret, bless her heart, is already taking the milk out of the fridge and pouring it in a pan, so Emma grabs a bunch of cups from the cupboard. She’s pouring two spoonful of cocoa powder into each mug when her flatmate speaks once more.

“Shall we talk about it?” she asks, with no need for further explanations.

Emma knows perfectly what she means, yet has no idea how to discuss it. Did she just give Leo his dog back? Is the dog cursed too? No, the dog seems to remember them all quite well, if his reactions to everything and everyone is anything to go by. But so… What even is going on? She has never been more confused in her life.

“I have no idea,” is all she finds to answer.

Mary Margaret is tactful enough to leave it there. Not tactful enough to keep her next thought to herself, though. “Shall we talk about the hickey on Fabian’s neck then?”

The groan out of Emma’s throat is loud and ugly. As eventful as Leo’s entrance had been, she hadn’t missed the purple bruise on the other boy’s neck, no matter how high his collar was. And, okay, Emma isn’t stupid -- she doesn’t remember being a teenager, but she can only guess what they are up to at that age. She just… didn’t expect Leo to get so obviously, well, obvious with his not-boyfriend? Especially not after his tearful moment yesterday.

Whatever happened with Fabian (Fabian! That’s his name!) today, it definitely worked. Emma doesn’t know if she wants to be impressed or terrified, to know her teenage brother has more game than she does.

(But then again…)

“Can we not?” she whines.

Mary Margaret laughs, shaking her head to herself as she pours the hot milk into each cup. Emma wants to tell her, This is your son. This is your son getting touchy-feely with this boy and you’re just laughing. The thought scares her even more.

It scares her, by how easily it comes to her mind.

In how much truth it might hold.

What even...

[mybabyhunters]

HEAD TO TOES!! 😘

LONG BOI

Head: How do you like to wear your hair? What hairstyles do you find attractive? Have you ever wanted to do something drastic to your face/hair? What’s your favorite part of your face?

Oh when it’s not an absolute bird’s nest I love wearing my hair down because it make me look hot

I don’t think I find specific hairstyles attractive? It depends on the person wearing the hairstyle you feel me

I’ve always wanted to dye my hair red or platinum blonde but MONEY

I’d say my eye color is the only good part of my face lol

Ears: What’s your favorite music genre? Do you have any piercings? Favorite non musical sound?

Literally anything that makes me feel. Genre who?

I used to have my ears pierced but when I was in color guard/winter guard we weren’t supposed to have piercings in so they healed

RAIN

Eyes: What’s your favorite color? Time of day, aesthetically? Animal you find the prettiest? What do you find attractive in a person?

Purple!!!!!!! 

I enjoy me a sunset that sets the sky on fire. Also is nap time an aesthetic? 

All animals are beautiful you absolute fool

POWER I find a lot of traits attractive in a person but kindness!!! is the number one thing that determines if I find a person attractive or not also power

Nose: What’s your favorite smell? Least favorite? What scent do you find comforting? Is there an outdoorsy smell that appeals to you? (beaches, pine trees, sand, ect.) Boop? Y/N

So many smells!! Some perfumes/colognes, cooking food, that just-out-of-the-shower smell, COFFEE, I could go on

Ever smelled rotten food because that shit makes me want to die on the spot

The smell of yarn always gets me nostalgic because my grandma loves to crochet

I love the smell of the ocean!! That’s some Good Mist

MM YES BOOP

Mouth: Do you have a favorite taste? Least? Do you like kisses? How do you feel about teeth? Do wear lipstick? What’s your favorite shade?

I can’t get enough sweets my pal and it’s probably what’s going to kill me. Anything sweet. Just give me the sweets. Also did I mention coffee

I can’t think of anything because I don’t eat what I don’t like and I can’t determine what’s the worst lol

WHO DOESN’T LIKE KISSES

I notice teeth way too much and for some reason people who have too-perfect or too-white teeth make me feel threatened. Don’t ask why because I have no idea

I never wear lipstick, only if it didn’t get EVERYWHERE

Blood red just screams power and is obligated to be my favorite

Neck: Where are you most sensitive? How deep is your voice? Do you like your voice? Can you sing?

My heart Neck and ears probably are the most sensitive because those are the places that go the most untouched I guess? 

My voice is not very deep at all

I’d like it better if I could change it at will to scare off creeps

Boy do I love to sing but can I? Who knows!!

Shoulders: Do you consider yourself to be easily stressed out?

I’M STRESSED OUT AS WE SPEAK

Arms: Are you strong, physically? Do you think you give good hugs?

I got them noodle arms so no. I am not.

Hugs!! I’d like to say I give good hugs because I love hugs

Wrists: Do you wear a lot of jewelry? What kind? Is there a certain type of jewelry that you just can’t stop getting?

I only wear one necklace and it’s the one my best friend gave me and they’re a matching pair because we’re romantic like that. Other than that I don’t wear jewelry because I lose everything too easily unless it’s given to me by someone really important

Hands: Are you artsy? Do you play any sort of instrument? Do you draw? Do you write? Do you have soft hands? Do your hands ever idle or do you always have to be doing something with them?

I leave the artsiness to My Art Friend

Is mayonnaise an instument

Once again THE ART FRIEND DOES THE ART NOT MOI

Gosh I used to write all the time and I still like doing it occasionally but I do it so rarely now I think I’m losing the ability asdjaosdj

I’ve been told many times that my hands are soft are so they must be

It depends on if I’m feeling stressed. I will play with the buttons and zipper on my jackets til the end of time if this is the case

Fingers: Do you paint your nails? Are they painted now? What color?

I haven’t painted my nails in so long oh gosh, they chip way too easily. I love painted nails though 

Chest: Where do you feel safest? What comforts you the most? How do you usually calm down?

I feel safest probably in the presence of people I trust

My cat child is honestly one of the most comforting things. She could be a demon sometimes but I love her

I usually pop in my headphones and hope to calm down but it’s 50/50 that it actually works

Stomach: What’s your favorite thing to eat? What gives you butterflies? Have you ever been on a roller coaster? Do you have any food allergies?

Like food food? I love pasta so much oh my god

Me BOY

I have and hope to go on every roller coaster possible in this life

I’m sensitive to milk but I love it so much I will FIGHT THROUGH THE PAIN DAMMIT

Hips: Do you put your hands on your hips a lot? Do you close doors and things with your hips? Can you dance? Have you tried?

I’m like a goddamn mom I put my hands on my hips so much

Yeah buddy I sure do use my hips to close things. Why are drawers hip level if they weren’t made for hip-smacking

NO I CANNOT I have no idea why they let me dance competitively

DON’T MAKE ME DANCE IN PUBLIC AND WITHOUT CAREFULLY PRACTICED CHOREOGRAPHY TRUST ME I’VE TRIED

Back: What position do you sleep in? Got any tattoos?

If I’m tired I can sleep in a freaking chair. But I usually fall asleep on my stomach or turned toward the wall regardless of which side it’s on

I’m a baby with a low pain tolerance so I have no tattoos but I hope one day I can get one or two

Butt: Ever really hurt yourself slipping on something? Ever accidentally sit on something you really wish you hadn’t?

YES just off of the top of my head I’ve slipped wearing roller blades and slammed into a table resulting in some nasty bruising

YES I’ve sat on gum and cake and probably more things because I’m too trusting of chairs apparently

Legs: Are you a strong runner? How flexible are you? Do you consider yourself to be a clumsy person? Have you ever broken a bone?

I hate running so no

I’m actually pretty flexible, but I used to be more so when I danced. I sticky my leggy up in the air almost every time I sit down at home

I am very clumsy, my family likes to tell stories of how I literally just fall out of nowhere. I have no excuse

Luckily no and hopefully it stays that way

Ankles: Do you feel like you have enough support? What would you consider a weak spot, physical or mental? Have you ever broken something on purpose? (Smashed a window, knocked over a lamp, ect.)

Maybe? I feel like people support me but I don’t feel it that much because most of the people I know and love are two states away

Both are pretty weak man. I can only lift things out of spite and I tend to overthink and all that bad stuff A LOT

I have never broken anything on purpose, I’m not a violent person and I have strong feelings against people who break things out of anger or for fun

Feet: Do you ever go outside barefoot? Do you like slippers? Have you ever stepped on a lego or something similarly bad?

Not in the winter but I’m barefoot pretty much at all times when its warm outside

I LOVE slippers in fact I have a pair that say “More Coffee” that were gifted to me by my bff

I’ve stepped on a needle before. You’ve not experienced fear until you lift your foot and see a needle halfway in your freaking foot

Toes: Are you a risk taker? How tall are you? What’s the worst thing you’ve ever stubbed your toe on? Can you pick things up with your feet?

I am definitely not a risk taker, I am shy and nervous at all times

5′3 and a half now I think?

Door frames are the absolute worst thing to stub your toe on and I do it way too often. I’m surprised I still have all my toes

I pick up thinks with my feet all the time because I’m lazy and bending down is much more effort than I want to put into picking up dropped items