#lime yellow dress

[pajebafittings]

Women Suit for Indian Wedding

Elevate your look and embrace the cultural charm by descovering the tradition and style with Pajeba's curated collection.

https://pajeba.com/article/16/women-suit-for-indian-wedding

[dezi-desire]

My citrus aesthetic is my main source of joy 💛💚

[artdecoandmodernist]

Alfred Reginald Thomson, Portrait Painting of Mrs Vivienne Hilliard, 1934.

[playfullygrownup]

This pencil hem dress definitely has DIY potential whether you sew (piecing) or not (fabric paint). By Cassie Stephens at Teach the Elements of Art!

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

Napoleonville [Chapter 3: The House Of Soup, Salad, And Breadsticks]

Series Summary: The year is 1988. The town is Napoleonville, Louisiana. You are a small business owner in need of some stress relief. Aemond is a stranger with a taste for domination. But as his secrets are revealed, this casual arrangement becomes something more volatile than either of you could have ever imagined.

Chapter Warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), dom/sub dynamics, Nintendo, smoking, kids, parenthood, all-you-can-eat breadsticks, wedding planning, mentions of birth trauma and abortion, a brief Greek lesson, Audi Quattros have very tiny back seats.

Word Count: 9k (someone take this laptop away from me!! I am out of control!!).

Link to chapter list (and all my writing): HERE.

Taglist: @marvelescvpe @toodlesxcuddles @era127 @at-a-rax-ia @0eessirk8 @arcielee @dd122004dd @humanpurposes @taredhunter @tinykryptonitewerewolf @partnerincrime0 @eltherevirr @persephonerinyes @namelesslosers @burningcoffeetimetravel-fics @daenysx @gemini-mama @chattylurker @moonlightfoxx @huramuna @britt-mf @myspotofcraziness @padfooteyes @aemonddtargaryen @trifoliumviridi @joliettes @darkenchantress @florent1s @babyblue711 @minttea07 @libroparaiso @bluerskiees @herfantasyworldd @elizarbell @urmomsgirlfriend1

Thank you so much for your patience and encouragement, I was really not doing well for a while but all your kind comments meant the world to me!!! I don't know when Chapter 4 will be ready, but hopefully early next week. My posting schedule is super wonky now. We'll get back to regular Sunday updates eventually, besties. 🥰🧁

It’s Thursday, late-morning, sunlight bending in through the open windows and a flock of blue-winged teals toddling through the backyard on their clumsy webbed feet. From the little pink Panasonic boombox pipes Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again. Your steps as you dart around the kitchen are airy and effortless; you’re humming without realizing that you are. You can’t seem to stop watching the clock, the second hand ticking endlessly, revolving like a moon around its planet. Olive Garden tonight! Olive Garden with Aemond!

“Knock knock?” your guest ventures tentatively as the front door creaks. You hear her heels click on the ever-so-slightly inclined floor and the bright jangling of keys and bracelets. Her accent does not surprise you; you were the one who answered the phone when she called in a panic yesterday.

Jade Dragon is a European company. I shouldn’t be shocked that Brits are descending upon Napoleonville.

You greet her from the kitchen, sight unseen: “Hi! Come on in!” Amir rushes over to set the very last cupcake on the glass serving tray, key lime with cream cheese frosting peppered with zest like flecks of emeralds. You have scrubbed the counter meticulously to make a space for your guest to do her cake tasting. There is an open wooden barstool for her, a yellow legal pad for you to jot down her selections. She steps into the kitchen—click click click, jangle jangle—and she is a stranger, surely, and yet something about her face strikes you as familiar.

“I really must thank you again,” the woman says, wringing her pinkish little hands, glittering with rings; she’s flushed all over from the heat, which she isn’t used to. She wears what for many women would be their Sunday Best: a modest organza dress patterned with sunflowers, gold jewelry and heels, and (oddly) a khaki overcoat that runs to her knees. Her hair hangs in thick, glossy, auburn waves. She smells like perfume, amber and roses, a brand you don’t recognize. “I was so distressed when I called, I must have sounded like a madwoman. It’s all just been so fraught. I know this is very last-minute, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you making time to see me today. I’m sure you’re very busy.”

“We are delighted to help!” Amir croons warmly as he swoops in to take her coat, which she surrenders with some bewilderment, her large dark eyes clever but innately vulnerable, anxious. Again, you cannot shake the sense that you have met her before. Amir’s hands sweep down the overcoat as he peeks at the tag inside, and he mouths to you, grinning, eyebrows raised above the tortoiseshell rims of his glasses: Christian Dior! He’s delighted to help this lady, sure; but he’s far more enthusiastic about the prospect of squirreling away more cash for his imminent exodus to San Francisco. Amir hangs the coat in the tiny living room closet and then goes to the stovetop to check on the Kentucky butter cookies that are cooling there.

“Amir and I love baking for any occasion related to a wedding. Everyone is cheerful and excited…and hungry too, of course!” You give your guest a reassuring smile and wave her over to the counter. She’s still tormenting her own hands, still glancing uncertainly around the kitchen. Amir is using a spatula to transfer the cookies from the baking sheet to a cake plate. “Remind me, ma’am, on the phone you said your name was…Allison?”

“Alicent,” she corrects, taking a seat on the barstool beside you and clutching a camel-colored leather purse. She hesitates before she adds: “Targaryen.”

Targaryen?! Jade Dragon?! You gawk at her. Amir drops a Kentucky butter cookie on the floor. You exchange a glance with him and can practically see the bills flitting through his mind: Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Franklin.

“Please don’t make any fuss on my account,” Alicent pleads with those sleek, imploring eyes. “I’m just a customer, just an ordinary customer—”

“A VIP customer!” Amir says, beaming. He won’t work on their rigs, but he’ll take their money in a heartbeat. He considers it compensation for the inevitable environmental catastrophe, for the souls of all the places their dynasty bleeds dry.

“Ma’am…Alicent…Mrs. Targaryen…” you sputter. “What on earth brought you here?”

“My son is getting married.” She squeezes her eyes shut, an infinitesimal frustration, a self-reproach. “Our son, I mean. Viserys and I, our son is getting married, and we’re hosting an engagement party for him and his fiancée this Saturday, as I mentioned when I called. We had arranged to have caterers fly in, but now there’s some sort of visa problem and they won’t be able to make it in time. I found a company based out of New Orleans that is very well thought of for hors d’oeuvre and lunch, but the cakes I sampled…well…they left a lot to be desired. I was desperate, I tell you, utterly bereft, you know we have family and friends and all these industry representatives who will be in attendance, photographers, journalists, and I can’t ruin it, I can’t embarrass the happy couple, it’s not as if people get more than one chance at a wedding!”

Amir rolls his eyes at you from across the kitchen. Listen to this idiot, he means.

“But then I asked around town, and I got the same recommendation over and over again,” Alicent tells you, smiling now. “Everyone said that I just had to stop by Hummingbird Bakery.”

And now you know exactly where you recognize her from. She looks so much like the drunk man from the holding cell; his hair was blonde and his eyes were that sad swirling blue, but nonetheless he was a Targaryen the same as Alicent, and they share so much of the same bones, blood, innate defenselessness. That boy is getting married? His poor goddamn bride. “Well I am thrilled that you found your way to us, Mrs. Alicent Targaryen. And I think you’ll taste at least a few cakes that you’d be proud to serve at the engagement party.”

“And you can have them ready by Saturday?” Alicent asks fretfully.

“Absolutely.” You won’t sleep much between now and then, but the business matters more. And if you can recruit the Targaryens and some of their associates as regular customers…well, you might actually be able to start saving up for that new house Aemond asked you about on the night you met. You gesture to the glass tray on the counter. “Amir and I have baked twelve cupcakes for you to sample today. I’ll write up a list of the flavors you like best, and we can make any customizations. You can choose one flavor and have multiple cakes made, or four cakes in four different flavors, or any other arrangement, you just let me know and we’ll see that your wishes are granted.”

“These are all for me?!” Alicent says, surveying the cupcakes.

“Yes ma’am. Vanilla bean, triple chocolate, coconut, red velvet, carrot, white chocolate raspberry, key lime, lemon, peanut brittle, cherry chocolate chip, blueberry jam and cream cheese, and hummingbird. But don’t get overwhelmed, you only have to eat one bite of each.”

“And whatever you don’t finish we’ll let Cadi throw to the gator,” Amir says.

“Gator?” Alicent is alarmed.

“She lives in the tree row,” you explain. “She doesn’t bother anyone.” And you almost add: Except Aemond, of course. He hates her.

“Oh. Fascinating.” Alicent blinks a few times. “And who is Cadi?”

“My daughter. She’s ten, she’s at school. She’s…” You glance at the clock. “Learning about fractions and decimals at the moment.”

“How wonderful! And what does your husband do for work?”

“Terrorism,” Amir says, and Alicent Targaryen’s jaw drops.

“He’s the sheriff of Assumption Parish,” you swiftly amend. “But he’s my ex-husband now.”

Alicent doesn’t know how to reply. She stares at the cupcakes instead of at you. After several long, awkward seconds, she says: “My, do these look delicious! Where should I start?”

“Wherever you’d like.”

“This one is hummingbird cake, you said?” She picks it up. Her hands are fidgety; she doesn’t seem to ever stop moving. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. Did you name the bakery after it, or did you name the cake after the bakery?”

“Oh no, the cake existed first. It’s been popular around here since…what, Amir? The 60s? Something like that. My mom taught me how to make it when I was seventeen. Hummingbird cake was my favorite dessert for years.”

“It’s from Jamaica originally,” Amir notes. The Kentucky butter cookies are displayed on the kitchen table, and now he’s beginning to peel vivid green Granny Smith apples for dumplings.

“It has bananas, pineapple, cinnamon, pecans…”

“Mmm!” Alicent sighs as she takes a bite. “Oh, it’s fantastic! The different fruits add such dimension of flavor! And the texture too, so interesting. Very substantial, almost like a fruitcake. Yes, I think that is a strong contender.” She continues on to the next cupcake. As she nibbles on each one, she chats nervously, almost compulsively. “She’s a darling girl. Woman, I mean. My future daughter-in-law.”

You get up to pour Alicent a glass of sweet tea. “What’s her name?” you ask politely. You are actively trying not to let your thoughts drift to Olive Garden: soup, salad, breadsticks, Aemond licking blood-red marinara sauce from his lips as he smirks at you from across the table, acting like he doesn’t want to be there.

“Christabel.” Alicent sets down the carrot cupcake, opens her purse, and digs through her wallet for a photograph. It’s small and rectangular, and the girl trapped inside the frame—a girl, truly, if she’s twenty you’ll eat your white denim shorts—looks like Teri Copley: billowing platinum hair, squarish jaw, pink cheeks and red lips, large dollish blue eyes. She reminds you of Barbie; she reminds you of something that belongs in a box on a shelf somewhere. “Her father is a marquess.”

“She’s gorgeous! And is that…is that a job…?”

“It’s a title,” Alicent Targaryen says with a demure, apologetic smile as she tucks the photo back into her wallet. She has spoken of things she should have known were above you. “Like a duke or a baron. Christabel is from a noble family back in the United Kingdom. Milford Haven, more specifically.”

Amir gasps, elated, waving his paring knife around in the air. “She’s just like Princess Diana!”

“She’s very young,” Alicent says, a bit wearily. She takes a bite of the lemon cupcake. “But then again, I was even younger when I got married, seventeen. That’s just the way it was back then. None of my friends even thought of going off to school for years and years, or playing the field, or getting a serious job. In our eyes, there were no other options. You found a good man from an acceptable family and you settled down and started having babies.” Alicent sips her sweet tea, ice jangling in the frosted glass. “Oh, that’s dreadful! Cold tea!” She shudders. “I suppose that’s how you all keep from getting heatstroke down here. Cold drinks and no clothes.”

“Sorry.” You glance self-consciously down at your shorts.

“No no, it’s quite alright. I’m in your jungle, I can’t expect you to conform to my idiosyncrasies.” This is a word you don’t know, although you try not to show it. Then Alicent winks. “Now, if you ever find yourself across the pond…”

I’ll never visit another country. Nevertheless, you chuckle as Alicent expects you to. “I understand what you mean about not having options. I got married at seventeen too.”

“Did you?” she asks, somber now. Her large umber eyes are uneasy, searching.

“Yeah. I was way too young. And unfortunately, the only way to know you’re too young is to not be young anymore. And by then you’ve already made such a mess of things.”

Amir looks over at you; this is not recruiting-a-customer conversation. Alicent nods, slow and thoughtful, studying you with those vast eyes like a dark mirror image of that Targaryen boy in the holding cell. She nibbles on the peanut brittle cupcake to avoid having to respond.

You pivot. “How many children do you have?”

Now Alicent brightens. “Four.”

“That many! I can’t even imagine. They must bring you so much joy.”

“In between the chaos, yes,” Alicent says, sampling the key lime cupcake. “Daeron is my youngest, he’s so sweet-natured, so encouraging, always offering to help with my projects around the house. He never complains. He hasn’t been gobbled up by the company yet. My only criticism is his obsession with his godawful parrot. I’d have it murdered, but tragically Daeron already knows it’s supposed to live 50 years. Helaena reads a lot—about gardens and insects and other planets, all sorts of things I can’t make heads or tails of—but she’s kind and gentle, and she still lets me fix her hair and take her shopping once in a while.” You think, smiling: If I tried to touch Cadi’s hair, I think she’d claw my face off. “And then my son who’s getting married—”

The front door bangs open and heavy footsteps race across the floor. He appears in the kitchen: greased-back black hair, a single gold earring, tan skin, white suit, a bold Hawaiian shirt—sapphire blue water, green palm trees, hot pink flamingos—underneath. He’s breathing heavily and his forehead gleams with perspiration. Alicent appears stunned to see him.

“Criston? What’s wrong? I said you could wait in the Lexus.”

Amir asks the man: “You’ve been in the car this whole time?”

“Don’t feel too bad for me. The Lexus has air conditioning.” The man, Criston, turns back to Alicent. “There’s a lizard out there!”

Amir sighs impatiently. “It’s a gator. And she’s perfectly harmless.”

“I just watched her maul a duck to death! There’s blood all over the grass!”

Amir is unfazed. “To humans, I mean.” He resumes peeling apples.

You tell Amir glumly: “I might have to get Willis to shoot her.”

“Only if it’s a murder-suicide.”

“Criston, help me choose,” Alicent says. She has a gift for ignoring unpleasantness, you’re beginning to notice. “I suddenly feel so overwhelmed.”

He walks over to the counter and begins taking a hefty bite out of each cupcake, eating after Alicent without any trepidation. They confer in murmurs, nods, shrugs, their own language that is threaded with a distinct and curious familiarity. Alicent catches you observing.

“He’s my bodyguard,” she explains hastily, then titters. “And my personal assistant, and my driver…”

“And your babysitter,” Criston says, grinning, crumbs all over his face.

“Yes, they never seem to outgrow the need for that, do they?” Then Alicent addresses you. “Could you manage to have six cakes ready by Saturday, do you think? They’re all so lovely. I don’t think I can narrow it down to less than that.”

Amir casts you a petrified glance. Notwithstanding that, you reply: “I suppose we can handle six.”

“Brilliant.” And you think: Aemond uses that word a lot too. “Then we’d like one vanilla, one chocolate, one blueberry, one coconut, and one hummingbird. And a key lime. I just adore the color, don’t you? A gorgeous, vivid green. It reminds me of the moors back home.”

“Yes ma’am.” You scribble her order down on your legal pad.

“And how much do your cakes cost?”

“$10 each,” Amir tells her.

“$10!” Alicent exclaims, looking at Criston. “Can you believe that? We’re certainly not in Knightsbridge anymore.” She takes $60 out of her wallet and hands it to you. “And you can deliver it to the house if I leave you an address? Around noon on Saturday?”

“Of course, no problem.”

Alicent gives you an address to add to your notes—you don’t recognize the street name, it must be in a new development—and then checks the clock on the wall. “Oh, is that right?! Christabel will be landing at the airport any minute. I’ve got to rush back to the house to make sure everything is ready for her. I can’t be a subpar host.”

“Where’s your coat, Ali?” Criston asks.

“In that closet over there.”

Criston fetches her coat and drapes it over her shoulders. Amir flashes you a salacious smirk. You wiggle your eyebrows back.

As Alicent and Criston cross the kitchen towards the living room and the front door, they pause by the table where an assortment of baked goods, different every day, is displayed for walk-in customers. Criston points to a cake plate piled high with Rice Krispie Treats. “You know who likes those,” he says softly.

“They’re very popular!” Amir announces, ever the salesman. “And we can make them with any kind of cereal you could imagine. Fruity Pebbles, Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Puffs…”

Alicent says, a bit randomly: “Cap’n Crunch?”

Amir doesn’t hesitate. “Absolutely!”

“Alright.” She has a faraway look in those dark oil-drop eyes, always a little shimmery, always a little sad. “I’ll take two dozen of those as well.”

“I’ll add it to the list,” you say.

“Thank you. Cheers.”

“Cheers,” you echo, perplexed.

Criston and Alicent depart. You hear the front door swing open and then close again. Outside, Criston reminds Alicent to leave plenty of space between her and the gator. An engine rumbles and gravel crunches as the Lexus rolls out of the driveway.

“If they’re not fucking, I’m Tom Cruise,” Amir says. “Speaking of fucking, what time is Scarface coming to pick you up?”

“5:15.” You nod to where Alicent was sitting. “She’s not bad for a robber baron.”

“Oh, please. She would grind your bones into flour if that’s what it took to have cakes ready for her child bride engagement party. I hope that Christabel girl knows what she’s getting into.”

What is she, eighteen? Nineteen? “She doesn’t.” The phone rings and you scramble for it. “Hello?!”

It’s not Aemond. “Hey, sugar.”

Ugh. “Hi, Willis.” Across the kitchen, Amir mimes slitting his own wrists with the paring knife.

“Listen,” Willis drawls in his familiar, I’m-about-to-deliver-bad-news tone. You can hear noise wherever he is: sirens, shouting. He must be using his car phone. “I’m all tied up down here on Route 90, we got a hell of a wreck, ten cars and an 18-wheeler. Had to close all the goddamn lanes in both directions. I don’t think I’m gonna get home until late, really late, maybe not ‘til 9 or 10.”

“So you have to switch nights. You can’t pick Cadi up from school.”

“Tell her I’m sorry, will ya? And that I’ll take her fishin’ this weekend to make it up to her. I’ll keep her Saturday and Sunday, if that works for you.”

“She’ll love that,” you say distractedly. No Olive Garden. No Aemond. Not tonight, anyway. “Anything outside and with animals. Anything that lets her get filthy.”

“Thanks for understandin’. I gotta run.”

“Bye.”

“So long, sugar.” Willis hangs up. So do you.

“Oh no!” Amir waves his knife around threateningly. “No, not a chance, that gremlin does not get to ruin the first real date you’ve had in…what…ever?!”

You smile; you can’t help it. “It’s not a date. Aemond is fancy and kinky, I’m a mom covered in frosting, people like us don’t date. Besides, his personal ad was very clear: Single and not looking to change that.”

“He’s not acting very single.” Amir begins chopping the peeled apples.

“It’s fine. It happens. We can go to Olive Garden some other time. I’ll try to call Aemond, and if he doesn’t answer I’ll tell him when he gets here. Maybe we can at least chat on the front porch for a while or something. Watch the lightning bugs come out as it gets dark.”

“I’ll hang out here with Cadi,” Amir offers.

“What? Really?” Olive Garden might be back on the menu! “You will?”

“Yeah, ho. I can’t in good conscience just stand by while you are deprived of traumatized war veteran dick. I need a break from Grandma anyway. She’s gotten really into Unsolved Mysteries and that shit gives me the creeps. I don’t want to hear about missing or murdered people. I’m already scared I might end up like that.”

“I’d find you. I’d rescue you. My and my pet gator.”

Amir laughs, his eyes sparkling behind his glasses. “Sure you would.”

“I’ll give you $10 out of my share of the bakery profits this week. For watching Cadi, I mean.”

“Deal,” he says. “Now help me with these dumplings so we can get started on those six cakes for the motherfucking Rockefellers.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s 5:13 p.m. when Aemond arrives at what Cadi named the Fall-Down House when she was in kindergarten, toting in her Chewbacca backpack sheets of homework about shapes and seasons, things you could help her with. You wonder what you’ll say when she gets to her senior year of high school and starts asking about calculus, physics, Shakespeare, college applications. It’ll be like she’s trying to talk to you in a foreign language. It’ll be like trying to explain colors to a blind man.

You’re almost done wiping down the stove and counter; Amir and Cadi are singing along and dancing to Kyrie by Mr. Mister: the Moonwalk, the Electric Slide, the Wop, the Sprinkler. Aemond wanders in and hovers on the border between the living room and the kitchen, his neon teal duffle bag hanging from one shoulder, staring with this profound, childlike puzzlement on his face. He looks like he’s never seen people dancing before; it’s some exotic ritual, some rite of a religion he doesn’t practice. He wears dark jeans, a black button-up shirt, black Converses, and his trusty Marlboro jacket. His fists are buried deep in the pockets like he’s holding something precious there, treasure, wisdom, secrets.

“Wassup, Scarface?!” Amir yells over the music, pretending to be reeling Aemond in like a fish. “Show us your best moves! Do the Worm! Do the Robocop!”

Aemond raises an eyebrow, drops his duffle bag, and—after a moment’s hesitation—glides across the tilted wooden floor to you. He takes your hands, spins you around, something like a clumsy, out-of-practice waltz, something real and enchanting beyond measure. And when was the last time you really danced with a man? Willis’ senior prom? Aemond sings as Amir and Cadi do the Running Man:

“Kyrie eleison down the road that I must travel,

Kyrie eleison through the darkness of the night,

Kyrie eleison where I’m going, will you follow?

Kyrie eleison on a highway in the night…”

Aemond releases you, sweeps his blonde hair off his forehead, and guzzles your frosty glass of sweet tea that you left on the counter in an expanding pool of condensation. You are reminded of how Criston devoured the cupcakes with no concern for the fact that Alicent had already tasted them.

“Such a weird song,” Cadi says as it fades out, as the cicadas and nighthawks grow louder through the screens of the open windows. “What the heck is a kyrie eleison?”

“It means Lord have mercy,” Aemond tells her. “It’s Greek.”

“Willis got stuck cleaning up an accident about a half hour south of here,” you explain. “But Amir and Cadi are going to have some nice couch potato time together.”

“Can we watch Unsolved Mysteries?” Cadi asks Amir excitedly, clinging to his arm. Amir groans.

“I might have an alternative,” Aemond says. He returns to his duffle bag, unzips it, and produces—not blue silk scarves, fuzzy handcuffs, a riding crop, or any other tokens of depravity—but a Nintendo game console.

Cadi screams and sprints to Aemond, unable to rip it out of his hands fast enough. “No way! Really?! I can play it?!”

“You can keep it.”

“What?!” She ogles the tannish rectangular box, the two handheld controllers. “This is the most epic day of my life!”

“I’m glad I could deliver it in person. I was just going to leave it with your mum.” Aemond starts taking cartridges out of the duffle bag. “I have Commando, Super Mario Bros., Star Force, the Karate Kid, Kung Fu, Burger Time, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong 3, Alpha Mission, the Legend of Zelda, and Golf, which I honestly would not recommend. I used to have Top Gun too, but my brother spilled Tang all over it.”

“This is better than Christmas!” Cadi shrieks. “This is better than my birthday!” She dashes to Amir and starts hauling him off towards her room. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

“I’m being kidnapped,” he tells you, feigning distress.

“Cadi, chill. Do you know how to hook that up to your tv?”

She reluctantly surrenders Amir’s hand. “Yeah, Michelle has one.”

“Okay. You can get it ready, I have to talk to Amir for a sec.”

“Fine,” she grumbles, and vanishes into her bedroom with the Nintendo and a precarious armful of game cartridges.

“Thank you,” you tell Amir quietly. “Seriously. I know I owe you.”

He grins. “Anytime. You’re helping to pay my way to San Fransisco, I really can’t complain.”

Aemond perks up. “You’re visiting San Fran?”

“I’m moving there,” Amir says. “And as soon as humanly possible! Sun, sand, and Speedos, here I come! Why? Have you been?”

“I have, actually. It’s a great city.”

You turn to Aemond; this is new information. “Did you go to school there?”

“No, I went to Imperial College in London. But I flew to San Franscisco to interview someone I was writing a term paper about.”

Amir squints at him. “Imperial paid for you to fly across the world for one interview?”

Aemond shrugs, hands back in his jacket pockets. “I got, uh, a research stipend.”

You ask: “Who did you interview?”

“I don’t think you’d recognize the name, but he was a really incredible guy. He was a nurse and the first person to ever come out publicly as having AIDS. Then he spent the rest of his life educating people about the disease. Bobbi—”

“Bobbi Campbell?!” Amir is awed. “Of course I know who he is! You actually met Bobbi Campbell?!”

“Yeah, we had lunch together. Wine and cioppino. His partner was there too.” Aemond is somber, reflective. “It’s probably the most worthwhile thing I’ve ever done.”

“Well you just get better and better, don’t you, big boy?” Amir says. “Have fun at Olive Garden. Don’t hurry home or anything.”

~~~~~~~~~~

You are beaming, serene, warm all over, bewitched by the magic of liminal spaces, doorways between realities that rarely touch. Frank Sinatra—Fly Me To The Moon—floats through the restaurant speakers. The table is cluttered with plates and bowls: breadsticks, salad wet with Italian dressing, zuppa toscana, minestrone, main courses. Families in nearby booths are chattering; wine glasses clink, stories are recalled. You always wonder when you see cheerful married couples surrounded by children: Are they really happy? Is it worth it? Or do they go home after these displays of fairytale adoration and ignore each other, argue, brawl, crack open the Bud Lights, crack knuckles, crack bones like glass? Does true love exist at all? Or is it a lie we’re taught so the species can live on? “I’m in Italy.”

“You’re not in Italy, Cupcake. You’re in Gonzales, Louisiana. I can glance out the window and see a Doller General and a Burger King.”

“I’m basically in Italy.” You gesture to your plate, large and oval-shaped. Your entrée is divided into thirds: chicken parmesan, lasagna, fettuccine alfredo. “I got the Tour of Italy. I’m now an expert in all things Italian.”

Aemond smiles at you, the way he usually does: amused, teasing, craving. “In Italy, the pasta is always al dente. And they use very little sauce, not like here where everything is drowning in it.”

“I personally love my ocean of sauce.”

“And in Italy the bread is served plain. No butter, no olive oil, no…” He scrutinizes a breadstick. “Whatever this is. Assorted soy products, probably.”

“Don’t ruin my dinner or I’ll tie you up next time.”

Aemond laughs: crinkles around his eyes, pure boyish radiance. “Go ahead. I dare you.” He eats a bite of his herb-grilled salmon. “I looked into your Saint Honoratus of Amiens. He’s the patron saint of bakers.”

You roll your eyes like this is obvious. You like knowing something Aemond doesn’t, Aemond with his vocabulary and his high-powered career and his petroleum engineering degree from Imperial College in London, England, a place you have never seen and never will, a city that might as well be located on one of Saturn’s rings. “Yeah, clearly.”

But you never feel like the clever one for long. “And of oil refiners.”

“Is he really?”

Aemond grins. “Yeah. So we’ll have to share him.”

“Did you ever think about doing something besides engineering?” You already know the answer. You saw it in the way he talked about Bobbi Campbell.

“I did,” Aemond admits. “The engineering thing…it was expected of me. It wasn’t really my choice. It’s fine, I’m okay with my job, I’ve come to terms with it. But when I was a kid, I wanted to be a historian.”

“People get paid for that? To study history?”

“Not a lot. But I love the stories. When I was at Imperial, I’d fill every extra space in my schedule with history and anthropology courses. I interviewed Bobbi for my Microhistory class.”

“Micro…history? Tiny history…?”

“You learn everything there is to know about one individual, or one town, or one product, whatever, and through it you can get a better sense of the bigger picture. Like…you could catalogue what specific pieces of furniture were in George Washington’s house to study 18th-century trade routes.”

“Or you could use Ketchikan, Alaska as an example of the dangers of oil rigs and the corrupt, greedy company policies of modern-day robber barons.”

Aemond stares at you. “Yeah. Sure. You get it.” He wastes no time changing the subject. “Where did you go to college?”

“College?” This is preposterous. “Aemond, I never finished high school.”

“You’re joking.”

“No, I’m not,” you say. “I dropped out. I don’t have a high school diploma. I definitely didn’t go to college.”

He’s utterly bewildered. “But…you aren’t stupid.”

“Yes, Aemond, a lot of not-stupid people don’t go to college. And I’d imagine the opposite is true as well.”

He sighs, long and deep, rubbing his scarred forehead with his fingertips. “I’m sorry. I could have worded that more sensitively.”

“Willis is a year older than me. I got pregnant the night of his senior prom. I never went back after summer break. I figured…you know…what was the point? I didn’t need Calculus or World History. I needed money. I needed baby clothes and a crib and a car. And my high school wouldn’t have let me in anyway.”

Now Aemond glares, though his wrath isn’t for you. “They kicked out pregnant girls?”

You smile wryly, chomping on a breadstick wet with marinara sauce. “They still do. They have to make cautionary tales out of us. The weak and the lustful.”

“Well then how the fuck is someone like you supposed to provide for yourself?”

“By marrying whoever got us pregnant and never leaving them.”

“Medieval,” he snaps. He stabs at his salmon, loses his appetite, slams the fork down on the plate. The waitress had just been approaching to ask about dessert; she does a 180 and vanishes again.

“Aemond,” you say gently. I don’t want to ruin tonight. “Please don’t be angry.”

“There are specific things that make me angry.” He rests his chin on his knuckles and peers out the window. Seconds tick by; Frank Sinatra sings about New York, another city you’ll never visit. Then Aemond looks at you again. “What is it like to be a parent?” he says, in the same reverent and mystified tone that someone might use to ask what it was like to flatline on an operating table before being brought back to life. Did you get a glimpse of the gates of Heaven? Did you feel the heat of Hell?

“I can only tell you how it feels to me.” You are wistful; you are painfully honest. You’ve never told anyone this before. No one has ever asked. “It’s…wonderful, and terrifying, and exhausting. You love them more than anything, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get tired, irritated, impatient, resentful. One minute you’re laughing hysterically with them, the next you’re begging them to go to sleep so you can have a half hour to yourself, or just ten minutes, or just five. And then as soon as they’re gone you miss them. You’re too strict or too lenient, never just right. You sacrifice—money, time, your body, your soul—but it’s never enough. You accidentally hurt their feelings and then tie yourself in knots to fix it, but you can never show them when you’re sad, or frustrated, or afraid. They can be so sweet and then so inadvertently cruel. They’re too young to understand that they’re being ungrateful. They ask you questions you don’t want to answer. They’re your reason for living, they’re a burden, they’re the best thing that ever happened to you, they’re your closest friend, they’ve trapped you somewhere you don’t want to be. There are all these emotions that come in waves, they go around and around and never stop. It’s like a tire spinning in mud.”

Aemond considers you for a long time before he speaks. “I think you’re doing a good job. Cadi seems happy. She’s…uh…spirited. But happy.”

“She’s a little wild, but that’s my fault. We grew up together. I didn’t draw many lines, and now it’s too late. And she’s getting old enough to notice things she didn’t see before. Most of her friends’ parents are still married. They might not be in love, but she doesn’t understand that part yet. What she understands is that we’re broke and her dad lives in a different house, and I’m the one who made that happen.”

“You’re doing a good job,” Aemond insists. He starts to reach across the table for your hands, then stops, reconsiders, grabs his duffle bag that’s squeezed next to him in the booth instead. He unzips the small pocket on the side and pulls out a toothbrush, a travel-sized tube of Crest, and a miniature bottle of Listermint. “I’m going to go brush my teeth in the bathroom, and then I’m going to fuck you in the back of my car. Okay?”

Your smile has returned. The magic has too. “Okay. You don’t want dessert?”

“I don’t need tiramisu. I already have a Cupcake. Unless…do you want tiramisu…?”

“No, I don’t like coffee.”

“I think they have other things too, cannoli, cheesecake…”

“Aemond,” you say. “I want to leave now.”

“Got it.” He leaves $30 for the waitress on the table—he always pays with cash, you notice—and bolts for the bathroom. Fortunately, you’d had the same thought; shortly before Aemond arrived at the house two hours ago, you’d packed your pink toothbrush and a tube of Ultra Brite in your Valerie Barad rainbow purse…just in case. By the time you get back to the table, Aemond is waiting and looking uncharacteristically anxious: biting his lower lip, clasping his hands together behind his back. He’s relieved when he spots you. “I thought you might have ditched me.”

“What, and walked 25 miles home?”

“Forget it. Let’s go.” And he shoves his hands into the pockets of his Marlboro jacket before he can reveal any more of himself with them.

~~~~~~~~~~

You’re flying down Route 70 with all the windows down, warm twilight wind flooding through the gaps between your fingers, centuries-old southern live oaks and flowering dogwoods passing by in a blur, an Eddie Money tape in the Audi Quattro’s cassette deck. Under the bridges you cross, brackish bayou water ripples lazily, thick with cypress trees, duckweed, spider lilies, salvinia, wading great egrets and lurking alligators. The seats are tan leather and spotless. Aemond rests a palm on your bare thigh, just below the hem of your shorts. His blonde hair whips in the breeze. From the passenger seat, you can only see the right side of his face, the unscarred side. It’s almost like he’s whole again. He puffs on a Marlboro Red, smoke escaping through the open windows, tobacco and tar and nicotine, chemicals and earth.

“We better stop before we get into Assumption Parish,” you tease. “You don’t want one of Willis’ deputies to stumble upon us.”

But Aemond is particular; he wants the perfect spot. Just a mile before Ascension Parish gives way to Assumption, he finds an overgrown dirt pull-off used for fishing. He parks the Quattro just out of sight of the highway, rolls up the automatic windows, blasts the icy air conditioning.

“Get in the back,” he orders, unclicking his seatbelt. The intro of Take Me Home Tonight thunders through the speakers. You obey, climbing into the (very not-spacious) back seat. Just seconds later, Aemond follows.

You giggle when he pulls you into his lap to straddle him. As you toss away his Marlboro jacket and unbutton his shirt, Aemond yanks off your orange tank top, unhooks your bra, accidentally breaks the tab of the zipper off your white denim shorts with his strong, frantic hands. He needs you; he needs you all the time, everywhere, and he’ll never get enough. He’s kissing you deeply, roughly, nipping at your lips and tongue, breathing his smoke into you. His fingers slip into your shorts and under the silk that you bought for him, blue like his eyes, blue like the sky before heavy rain. You’re moaning, grinding, impatient; he’s helping you shimmy out of your shorts, he’s tugging down his jeans. And now you realize that he wants you to stay on top. “Aemond, no, I’m not good at it…”

“Shut up. You’re good at everything.”

That’s a lie, you know it is; still, Aemond makes you believe it. He grabs your hips and shows you exactly how to move them, and soon the rhythm feels effortless, soon you are wet and relaxed enough for him. At the last minute, he gets a condom from the pocket of his jeans, rips it open, and rolls it on. And again, you are struck by a strange but unmistakable disappointment that you cannot have all of him, that you cannot experience what it’s like to be as close to him as humanly possible, this man that you hardly know, this body that unleashes ecstasy in yours.

It’s quick: your arms linked around the back of his neck, Aemond kissing your throat and the slope of your jaw, his hands and murmurs guiding you, delicious fullness and friction. You’re amazed when he comes—I made that happen?? I did that??—and a tidal wave of extraordinary pride, lust, power surges through you. Aemond helps you finish with his fingers, only a few vigorous strokes, and then he drags you down onto the Quattro’s back seat with him.

“Careful,” you say as you lie on top of Aemond’s chest, both of you breathless and slick with sweat, goosebumps springing up in the chill of the air conditioning. You’re all tangled up in each other; there’s no room to get away. “You’re not going to be able to get rid of me.”

“I’ll accept the risk.” The last rays of sunlight fall across his damp skin, turning him to amber, tiger’s eye, gold. “What happened when you had Cadi?”

You turn your face to look at him. “Huh?”

“You said you were unconscious for a few days after she was born.”

“I told you that?”

“Yeah. The first night I came over. And you’ve been on the pill ever since. You never wanted more kids?”

“No,” you say quietly. “No, I didn’t. I still don’t.”

“So something happened.”

“It’s not a cute story. It’s not sexy.”

“I’ve surmised that.” Another word you don’t know.

“I don’t really ever talk about it.”

“Because you don’t want to, or because people don’t ask?”

You’re amazed by how much he sees, like you’re a clean window, like your skin and skull are made of glass. “My water broke and I went into labor, but I wasn’t progressing fast enough,” you tell Aemond. “I mean, the nurses told me I wasn’t progressing. I didn’t really understand what that meant. It felt like something was happening. There was a lot of pain and pressure, and it was intense, definitely, but it was bearable, I still felt like myself. I was actually really proud of how calm I was. But I guess it wasn’t enough. So the doctor started me on something called Pitocin, and then the contractions weren’t bearable anymore. They were…I can’t even describe it. It was like this bone-breaking twisting, but also sharpness, razor sharpness. I imagined knots of barbed wire. It’s the only thing I could compare it to. And I wasn’t in control anymore. I wasn’t myself at all. I was this animal being trapped, being tortured, and there was no break between the contractions, they happened over and over and over again, one right after the other, and it went on for hours. I kept telling everyone that I couldn’t do it. I needed an epidural, laughing gas, pills, anything. I was begging them to knock me out. I was trying to rip the IV with the Pitocin out of my hand. But no one listened. The nurses acted like I was being dramatic. Women have babies every single day all over the world, why couldn’t I just shut up and deal with it? My mom was around, but she had pretty straightforward births, and I don’t think she could comprehend what it was like. Willis told me I was doing a good job. That’s all he could say: Good job, sugar, you’re doin’ just fine, sugar. But I didn’t want mindless encouragement. I wanted somebody to help me. I thought I was dying.”

Aemond’s hand smooths your hair. He’s watching you closely.

“When Cadi…when she was finally born, I wasn’t excited to hold her. I didn’t even care. I was just relieved the pain wasn’t so bad anymore. I told my mom to take her. I could hear the baby crying, and I remember thinking: Who is that? I almost died for that? I felt nothing for her, absolutely nothing. And then I heard…it sounded like someone had turned a sink on, because there was water running. But then the nurses were yelling and the doctor rushed back into the room. I was hemorrhaging, and it wasn’t water that I’d heard, it was blood, my blood, gushing all over the floor. I passed out and I needed transfusions and I woke up three days later. The very first thing a nurse said was that she was so happy to tell me that they’d been able to stop the bleeding without doing a hysterectomy, so I’d be able to have more children. Can you believe that? It was like I didn’t exist. I was just a vessel. As if I wanted to go through that again. No, never, no thank you. I got attached to Cadi, but it took months. Obviously, now I love her. But I was empty for a long time. Just empty, and sad, and in pain, and hopeless.”

“And your useless fucking husband named the baby you almost bled to death having.”

“He didn’t mean for it to be hurtful,” you say. “He thought he was helping. And it’s a hell of a name, I have to admit it. Arcadia Dove, like a Star Wars character or a superhero. It suits her.”

But still: Aemond shakes his head, incredulous, outraged on behalf of your long-gone teenage self. “When you found out you were pregnant, did you ever consider…you know…not having it?”

You give him a small, guilty smirk. What kind of mother could admit this? “Yeah. Yeah, I did. That was my plan, actually. I called a clinic in New Orleans and made an appointment. Cleared out every penny of my savings to pay for it. Cheaper than a life sentence, right? Amir offered to go with me, but neither of us had a car or a license, and I could never let my mom know. So I asked Willis.”

“And he wouldn’t drive you.”

Worse. “He told me that if I went, I’d be a murderer.”

Aemond jolts upright, furious. “He actually said that to you?”

“Aemond—”

“No, hold on, he actually said that?! He said that you could drop out of high school, you could throw all your dreams out the window, you could become a mum at fucking seventeen years old and marry some guy you barely knew, and if you wanted a way out that would make you a murderer?!”

You offer weakly: “Willis is really, really Catholic. A lot of people down here are, and—”

“He’s a coward, that’s what he is. He was willing to sacrifice your future to soothe his conscience. His life didn’t change. Yours did.”

“I love Cadi. I don’t regret her.”

“But you should have had a choice.”

You study Aemond: his glinting right eye, the deep stormy furrows in his brow. “Why are you so angry?”

“Because you deserved better. You could have been something more.”

Something more? Something more? “I’m not horrified by how I’ve turned out, Aemond. I made the best of my circumstances. I have a job I enjoy, I keep a roof over our heads, I have people to live for.”

“You deserved better,” Aemond repeats, soft and low.

“So did you.” You touch your palm to his scarred cheek and ask in a whisper: “What happened? Who hurt you?”

“Stop,” Aemond says, flinching away from your hand. And that’s the safe word; you have to listen.

~~~~~~~~~~

At home, Cadi and Amir are chatting at the kitchen counter with a late-night snack of apple dumplings, warmed in the microwave, and Breyer’s vanilla ice cream. Blue Bell is cheaper, but Breyer’s tastes real; it’s one of the few things you won’t compromise on.

“Mom, guess how many levels I beat in Super Mario Bros.!” Cadi doesn’t notice that your tank top isn’t quite covering the brutalized zipper of your shorts. Amir definitely does notice; he mouths to you: Baby Jesus is so sad.

“Um, I don’t know…how many levels does it have?”

“Thirty-two,” Aemond informs you.

“Seven?” you say.

“Try ten!” Cadi grins triumphantly.

“Radical! Amazing!”

Aemond applauds. “No way! You’re a prodigy!” You don’t have to ask if he wants to stay. He scoops two apple dumplings into the same bowl and then pops open the microwave, like he lives here too. “How long should I heat these up?”

“About 45 seconds,” Amir says. He yawns and puts his dishes in the sink.

“Thanks again for entertaining Cadi.” You give him a tired, repentant smile. “I would tell you to take tomorrow off, but we both know that’s not an option. I’m going to set my alarm for 3:00 a.m.”

“I myself will most certainly not be awake at 3:00 a.m. But I’ll try to get here by 7:00.” Amir gives Cadi a hug that she pretends not to appreciate. “Goodnight, slayer of Bowsers.” Then he waves to Aemond as he breezes out of the kitchen. “Goodnight, destroyer of zippers.”

Aemond covers his mouth to keep from laughing. “Cheers, Amir.” He brings the bowl of apple dumplings from the microwave to the counter, adds several heaping mounds of vanilla ice cream and two spoons, and slides it over so you can share. Outside, you hear Amir’s Ford Escort pull out of the gravel driveway. “You have a lot of baking to do, huh?”

“Oh my God, I completely forgot to tell you. You’ll never believe who showed up—”

“Mom, can we go shopping tomorrow?” Cadi asks, derailing your train of thought.

Cadi? Shopping? This is an unusual request. “Shopping for what?”

“For my riding boots,” Cadi says brightly as she finishes her apple dumpling, and you think, sinking in ways you can’t let her see: Oh fuck. Here’s the conversation I’ve been avoiding for weeks. “Michelle and Erica are both going to that horse camp in July. Breanna and Sam are going too. Kristen might even go, and she’s a total freakazoid! I can go, right? I’ll need boots, and a helmet, and I want to ride an Appaloosa. They have all kinds of horses, but Appaloosas are my favorite, and if they don’t let me ride one I’m going to go nuclear.”

“Honey, I don’t think it’s going to be possible this year.”

“But I have to go. Everyone else is going.”

“I tried, I really did. But I just can’t swing it right now. Next summer I’ll have more money saved up, hopefully, and then you can go to horse camp, and maybe we can even go to Biloxi for a week too—”

“I don’t care about Biloxi.” And now she’s lashing out, because she’s realizing the answer might really be no. Aemond is silently picking at the apple dumplings, looking between the two of you but not knowing what to say. “I care about going to horse camp when literally all of my friends get to—”

“Cadi, I’m so sorry, I really am. But sometimes things just don’t work out, and that’s okay, that’s a part of life. We’ll still have fun this summer.”

“I’m not going to have fun if I’m just stuck here at home all day!”

Stuck here with me, stuck here in the life I built for her. “Cadi, please—”

“I’ll give up my birthday presents,” she pleads, her eyes turning misty. “You can just not buy me anything for my birthday, or Christmas either, and you can use what you would have spent on that for—”

“I’m sorry,” you say gently, a hand on her little shoulder, her tiny breakable bones. “I wish I could give you what you want. I really, really do. I’m trying to make things better for us.”

“Can’t you ask Daddy for more money?”

And you remember what Willis said at the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office: Tell her if she grows her hair back out, maybe she can go next year. “Daddy wants to help too, I’ve already talked to him about it. We just can’t make it happen right now.”

“Daddy always says he’d have more money if he didn’t have to send you so much every month!” Cadi blurts out. Aemond is watching you, but you shake your head. He can’t say anything. It’s not his place. “That’s why I can’t go to horse camp, isn’t it? Because we don’t all live together?”

“No, Cadi, that’s not what this is about—”

“Erica’s parents live together and she gets to go! Michelle’s mom and dad are always taking vacations!”

“Every family is different,” you say, fighting to stay calm while your throat is closing up and the blood in your face is hot enough to scald.

“Sam’s mom just bought her riding boots and gloves!”

“I’m not your friends’ mothers, I’m sorry, I’m just not.”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have kids if you can’t afford them!” Cadi screams, tears streaming from her bloodshot eyes, and then she storms off to her bedroom and slams the door.

You and Aemond are left alone in the midst of humming florescent lightbulbs, long-eared owl hoots, the ambient shrieks of cicadas. The apple dumplings and ice cream have dissolved into a soup. Your lips are trembling; a single blistering tear escapes down your cheek. You refuse to break down. You learned years ago that there is nothing to be gained from it. Aemond studies you, seeking and worried. You avoid his gaze. His hand reaches for yours, stops short, retreats to drum his fingers against the counter.

At last, Aemond says: “How much is the horse thing?”

“Too much. Way too much. It’s over $300, I won’t be able to make rent.”

He sighs; not a frustrated sigh, you think, but a sigh of incredulity, maybe even of pity, which is the last thing in the world that you want from him. Aemond takes his wallet from his jeans pocket, leafs through it, and counts out $400 in twenties and tens that he stacks on the countertop.

You are mortified, horrified. “Aemond, no—”

“Look, next time I see you, we need to talk. We need to talk about my situation, and your situation, and what we’re going to do going forward. And it’s…fuck, it’s, it’s complicated. You’ll see. But we have to get it sorted out, because this is…” He gestures to you, to him, to what you’re building between you like a bridge linking islands. “It’s different than what I expected it would be. And that’s a good thing, but…there’s just a lot we have to discuss.”

“Aemond, I can’t accept this much money from you.”

“The money doesn’t matter. $400? That’s nothing. The money’s not real to me. But it is real to you. So please just take it. And next time I see you we’ll…we’ll decide what happens next.”

It’s complicated, Aemond said. You’ll see. See what? How bad could it possibly be? “We can’t talk now?”

“No, I can’t do it now. I just can’t.”

He’s not just uneasy or distracted. He’s fucking scared. “You’re married,” you say.

“No. No wife, no kids. I swear to God.”

“No girlfriend either?”

“No.”

“You’re divorced.”

“No.” He combs his fingers through his short blonde hair, stares blankly at the wall behind you. “You’re free Saturday, right?”

“Yeah. I think Cadi will be with Willis all weekend, actually. He’s taking her fishing on Lake Verret. If Jade Dragon hasn’t blown it up by then. I’ll be busy with work Saturday morning and early afternoon, but after that I’ll be around.”

“I’ll come over around dusk, probably,” Aemond says, hands in his Marlboro jacket pockets, thoughts miles away. “I have something going on Saturday afternoon too.”

And he leaves before you can thank him for the stack of cash on the counter, or for any of the rest of what he’s given you.

[nikosaki]

“I want to use specific names for colours/shades but I don’t know many!” Hahaha sakira has got you! If you want to add colour to the objects or stuff in your writing you shouldn’t just write it like this

“Her dress was red” “His eyes were purple”

That makes your writing bland, it dumbs down the readers imagination during reading. Instead describe the colour like this

“Her dress was like a cup of Rooibos tea under a sunlit day”

“His eyes could be compared to that of a raven’s deep violet eyes”

(tip: amethyst is an overused word, there’s a list of other purple words below you should check out)

You can describe colours using objects because it will give shape to the sentence but don’t always go too detailed. If you make one sentence with a lot of adjectives and everything then don’t over use it in the other sentence that’s is.

But remember to use a simile like “as” or “like” if you do use objects.

I already wrote “Her dress was like a cup of Rooibos tea under a sunlit day” so next time when I mention the dress’s colour again I am going to write something like this

“Her garnet dress flowed in the wind”

Why? Because simple sentenced always enchance the writing and gives reader a feeling.

now that we are done with how to write colours let’s see some synonyms!!

white- bleached , colourless , pearly , milky , snowy, ivory , salt , Lacey , linen , frosty, daisy parchment , porcelain, cotton , rice bone

black- ebony, midnight, jade , spider , coal , pitch black, void , empty, sooty , obsidian , metal, onyx , ink , crow

grey- shadow, ash , graphite , foggy, dove , silver , dull, cloud ,slate, iron, smoke, pebble

red- garnet, blush , Merlot , cherry , crimson, rose, sangria, bloody, berry , currant, terracotta, jam , merlot

orange- tangerine , ginger , apricot, autumn , spice , amber, rust, marmalade, pumpkin , carrot , clay, golden , copper , ochre

yellow- gold, canary , light , butterscotches, dandelion, honey , blonde, corn, saffron , ocher, buttermilk

green- beryl , viridescent , olive , emerald , pickle, leafy , sage , lime , pear , mint, mignonette, glaucous

blue- ocean , aqua , cobalt, navy , sapphire, admiral, denim , cerulean, indigo , lapis , peacock, aegean, azure , turquoise, cyan , arctic

purple - amethyst , raven , violet ,lilac , lavender, plum , magenta ,orchid , mulberry, heather, raisin, amaranthine , eggplant , iris , periwinkle

pink- blush , cherry blossom , taffy , peach, flamingo , rosey , salmon , fuscia, rosewood , pale red

IMPORTANT : remember to do GOOD research on shades!! You need to know which one you can use as an adjective and which one is a noun. If it’s a noun turn it into adjective, if it cannot be turned into an adjective then use a simile.

There’s more and if you know put it in the reblogs

[staytiny-dreams]

a pair of hearts (j.yh x reader)

pairing: jeong yunho x gn! reader

genre: mutual pining, friends to (implied) lovers, fluff fluff and more fluff

warnings: alcohol consumption? nobodys super drunk tho, no pronouns used, reader is mentioned to wear a dress once

wc: 3.9k

note: inspired by my friend who wanted to get drunk but didn't so that she could drive me home bc she could tell i wasn't vibing. i tried my best to edit/proofread if u find any mistakes lemme know ill fix it up.

you scrunch your face in distaste as the alcohol burns down your throat. a gag rises in your throat but you push it down, biting into the lime that brings welcome relief.

“that shit tastes like soap.” you whine, glaring at the bottle of tequila as if it had launched a personal attack on you.

the next person reaches for a card and you fold your arms in front of you where you lay, stomach down on the carpet. with a huff, your head drops down to your arms and your eyes flutter closed.

unknown to you a concerned pair of eyes follow your movements from their place on the couch across the room. yunho is nursing a glass of water, excluding himself from the game in favour of sobering up.

“can we move outside now?” wooyoung suggests for the fifth time. a groan leaves your lips as - for the first time tonight - everyone agrees with him.

as the group stands to go outside, you don't move from your place on the floor, lifting your head to see empty glasses kicked over and forgotten cards strewn across the yellowing carpet.

the music seems louder now that the room has emptied and it causes your head to pound. you curse silently at your own behaviour.

you really did want to have a good time tonight, but as the first drop of alcohol hit your tongue, any energy you might’ve had at the beginning of the night dissipated.

with a groan, you push yourself upwards with your arms, sitting up with your legs folded, looking around the room tiredly. the velvet of your dress rests softly over your knees, the skin of your legs glowing slightly blue beneath the lit christmas tree.

you take in the speaker; still blasting music despite the group's departure, the empty chairs strewn about the room; all of which are surrounded by empty cans and glasses, telling of how intoxicated the rest of your friends already are.

finally your eyes come to rest on the couch, mild surprise shoots through you, your heart jumping, as you finally notice yunho, still sitting on the couch.

having been keeping his eye on you, he immediately noticed your gaze on him, giving you a warm smile.

you briefly wonder why he didn't follow the rest of the group outside, your heart beating faster at the thought that he stayed for you.

dismissing the thought quickly, you push yourself up onto your knees, then onto your feet. smiling back up at yunho, you carefully navigate the carpet of cans, glasses, cards and food as you make your way to the couch.

with a sigh, you flop down onto the couch, close enough to yunho to rest your head on his shoulder, his knitted brown sweater soft on your cheek.

“yun-ah…” you whine and he chuckles quietly, reaching over you for the fluffy, grey blanket resting on the couch. leaning back, he pulls the blanket over the both of you causing you to press yourself into his side even more.

his breath hitches at your closeness, however the alcohol inhibiting your senses makes certain you don't notice this movement.

“yes (y/n)?” he asks, his voice almost a whisper.

“wanna get out of here…” you mumble into his shoulder, curling the blanket around your fingertips and pulling it closer to your chin. you keep your voice low, afraid to break the bubble you two have created, sinking into the couch cushions together.

“i know,” he admits, reaching an arm around your shoulders and rubbing your arm comfortingly.

you squint up at him in confusion, your eyebrows scrunching. it takes everything in yunho to keep himself from reaching out to smooth your furrowed brow.

“been watching you, pretty,” he confesses with a surge of confidence. after registering his own words, his face flushed, red creeping up his neck and the tips of his ears.

your heart sits in your throat at yunho's admission, alcohol still clouds your mind and you think you must've imagined his endearment.

“you want me to take you home?” he asks, wanting to move on from his previous comment as fast as possible, especially considering your lack of response.

“haven't you been drinking?” you remind him, shifting around to pull at your phone from where it sits, beneath your leg.

“not for a while, i stopped drinking at like eight. i can be okay to drive by eleven? eleven thirty?” he takes another sip of his water as if to prove his point to you, but you only pout.

“why'd you stop? are you not having a good time?” you poke his chest with both questions and your phone finally comes free.

yunho's chest warms at your concern, especially considering you yourself were not having a good time. in fact, yunho had noticed your energy levels were lower than usual upon your arrival. after your first shot of the night, your demeanour dropped once more.

“no, i'm having a good time, you're not though.” he points out and you whine into his shoulder.

“having a great time… now.” you unlock your phone and open tiktok, once again pushing yourself further into the warmth of yunho's body.

“now… that you're not drinking and you're left alone?” he teases and you snort a small laugh at the picture his words paint in your mind.

“not alone, with you.” your free hand, not scrolling through your phone, reaches around for yunho's hand where it still rests on your arm.

pulling his arm forward so his hand rests on your lap, you turn his hand over so his palm is open to you.

yunho's heart is beating in his throat, his face feels hot. you begin to play with his fingers and he holds back the whine that wants to leave his lips at your touch.

you tilt your screen towards yunho so he can watch over your shoulder, despite the music blasting and preventing either of you from being able to hear the phone properly.

your eyes flit to the time, showing nine fifty-seven. a groan leaves your throat before you can stop it.

yunho notices your impatience and smiles to himself.

“(y/n)-ah…” he calls and you hum in response, eyes still on your screen. with the knowledge that you're still fairly far under the influence, yunho finds his courage and rests his hand over yours around your phone.

you turn your neck to look up at him, raising a brow at his sudden move. his cheeks burn for the nth time tonight - as do yours - yet he continues.

squeezing your hand with his own, your phone screen goes dark.

“why'd you do that?” you mumble in protest and he shrugs.

“you weren't paying attention to me.” is his only explanation and you laugh in disbelief.

yunho's face lights up, an affectionate smile resting on his lips.

“did you watch that new special you were excited about?” he asks and a sullen pout takes over your face.

“no, i wanted to rewatch the original show first, but they took it off of my streaming service.” with your phone turned off, you drop it in your lap and turn your attention completely to yunho who was humming thoughtfully at your words.

“what streaming service is it on?” he probes and you bring your hand up to trace the knitted patterns on his sweater.

“amazon i think, but i had to cancel my subscription a few months ago.” you try not to sound too ungrateful or whiney, your hand movements continuing absent-mindedly.

yunho thinks he must look like a fool, a blushing mess as his face feels hotter as the seconds pass.

“i have- i have amazon.” he says with no further explanation.

“hm?” you prompt, still focusing your attention on playing with his shirt.

“i mean we could… you could… well, we could watch it together?” his statement is not a question, but his inflection suggests otherwise.

“really?” you finally bring your attention from his shirt, lifting your head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes.

with your innocent eyes shining up at him, tired, but swelling with affection and fondness, yunho finds himself choking on his words. afraid that if he speaks, his voice will come out shaky, he gives a small nod in lieu of a verbal response and your smile widens.

“okay, but you know they only start at the new series, right?” you warn and he nods again, this time huffing out a laugh.

“yeah? why don't you tell me about the old seasons then?”

so you do. you rest your head back on yunho, cheek to his chest, faces warm and a pair of hearts beating faster than normal, and you explain the plot of each season that yunho won't get to see.

yunho practices active listening throughout your explanation, nodding and humming in response, gasping when it’s appropriate, even asking questions about the lore and history of the world.

with every gasp he lets out, every question he asks, you can feel your heart grow bigger and bigger. you would think that a big heart means you have room for everyone in your heart, but that's not true. at least not for you. because for you, yunho had rooted himself deep in your heart, and there was no room for anyone else.

your tangent was interrupted when a sharp ringing cut through the air. finding your forgotten phone hiding in the tangled blanket, you turn it over to see a reminder to take your tablets.

“did you bring them with you?” yunho's voice grabs your attention again, and you swipe the alarm away, turning back to him.

“i took them before i left.” you look back at your phone, checking the time again only to find that as you ranted about your show to yunho, over an hour had passed.

“eleven eleven, make a wish.” there was a teasing lilt to his voice as he too took note of the time.

but, looking up at yunho and his playful smile, his arm around you, your head on his chest and his hand in your lap you thought that if this was your life, you didn't need to make a wish.

the alcohol had started to wear off now, having been just over an hour since you'd had anything to drink.

yunho on the other hand, had been drinking water and snacking on spring rolls for the past three hours.

“shall we get you home now?” if yunho noticed your all but lovesick expression, he didn't say anything.

yunho simply writes off your affection as a result of the alcohol running through you which gives him the courage to tap your cheek affectionately in a gesture for you to sit up.

your cheeks went up in flames as you separated from yunho's side for the first time in about an hour. you hold back your whine at the loss of his warmth and instead stand from the couch.

you turn and hold out your hands for yunho and he raises a brow. despite his scepticism, he grips your hands and lets you try to lift him.

yunho moves easily from the couch at your first pull and you frown up at him.

“okay well you could've resisted a little. you didn't even try to make it seem realistic.”

“what do you mean? i didn't do anything, you're just that strong, really!” his tone is incredulous and you roll your eyes even as a smile spreads across your face.

“you couldn't just humour me? i could pick you up, im strong enough.” you state firmly and he shrugs.

“i’ve been taught it's bad to lie. now go get your stuff.” he places his hands on your shoulders, spinning you around and nudging you in the direction of your bag.

you reach through your bag checking you've got everything, phone, wallet, headphones, charger. deciding if anything else had been left, you could pick it up another day, you sling your bag over your shoulder.

turning back around, you find yourself alone in the room. you consider heading outside to say goodnight to everyone, but a wave of exhaustion washes over you again at the thought of rejoining the group, and you opt instead to message your close friends goodnight.

you pull out your phone and open messages, searching for the groupchat with your closest friends as you walk over to the front door. it had been propped open to allow for easy access to party goers and a cool, midnight breeze was sweeping through the entrance.

you lean against the wall next to the doorway, just out of the way of the entrance, avoiding any goosebumps that could be caused by the wind.

as you type out your message, yunho comes back into the house from the back door, tossing his keys into the air and catching them again.

“ready to go?”

“are you sure you wanna leave early with me?” you wonder, once again. you feel bad he hadn't been drinking with the others, instead staying inside and coddling you just because you weren't feeling it.

“(y/n) i just spent the last hour and a half sitting on a couch with you while everyone parties outside, i don't know what else i can do to show you that you are who i want to spend my time with.” he affirms, but you say nothing.

conveniently, the hem of your clothing becomes very interesting. you look down, picking at the seam as if you can't feel him approach you.

“besides, i didn't spend the last three hours not drinking just so i could end up not driving you home.” you huff out a laugh, still playing with the velvet that hangs around your legs.

yunho reaches out and places a hand on your shoulder, however you are still unable to meet his eyes with your heart swelling, cheeks hot, blood pumping loudly in your ears.

suddenly you wish you'd waited in the doorway maybe the breeze rushing through the door frame would've aided in cooling your body down.

“i told them all you said goodbye and that i was taking you home. didn't think you'd feel up to braving the masses again.” he places his large hand on the small of your back and leads you out the front door.

“you make me sound like a loser.” you complain, letting him shuffle you to his car that sits at the end of the driveway.

“not a loser. just sleepy. hm?” he reaches past you to open the car door for you. you throw your bag to the floor first, then, finding yourself still a little off balance, you grip the centre console with one hand to aid your entrance into the car.

the warmth of his hand doesn't leave your back until you settle into your seat when he finally pulls away he closes your door and disappears from your side.

you watch him through the windscreen as he rounds the car. his dark hair rests on his forehead just above his eyes, shining in the moonlight, looking softer than the blanket you'd been wrapped in half of the night.

his cheeks were flushed and while it was probably from the cold, you could only hope that maybe, the red in his face and neck was an indicator of an effect that you might have on him.

he closes his own car door behind him and smiles at you from his place in front of the wheel. you give a weak smile in return, your head lolling to the side, unable to keep holding your neck up as it nears midnight.

the drive seemed fast as you dozed in the passenger seat, the late night talk shows on the radio droning on and on putting you in a tired trance.

yunho had to remind himself to keep his eyes on the road, knowing that if he glanced over at your sleeping frame, he wouldn't be able to pull his gaze away.

all too soon, he was pulling into the carpark underneath your apartment building, parking in the visitor section.

“is your roommate home?” he asks and you mumble an incoherent response, eyes still closed.

“jagi… are you awake?” he reaches a hand over, resting it on your shoulder, his warmth spreading over your body once more.

“no.” you say, leaning into his touch.

“no?”

“mm mm.” you hum with a minuscule shake of your head.

“ah okay.” is all he says before exiting the car and closing his door.

in a split second, yunho is at your door, the night breeze sweeping over you and his body leaning over you to unbuckle your seatbelt. you can't tell if the goosebumps prickling at your skin are from the wind, or from the proximity of the man above you.

“come on, time to get inside.” his hand rests on your cheek and jaw and you peek an eye open.

“will you stay? don't want you driving home so late alone.” yunho's smile makes your chest hurt, his eyes scrunching and smile lines creasing on his cheeks.

“okay sweetheart, i'll stay.” a smile of your own makes its way to your face and you lean forward into him, allowing him to wrap his arms around your waist to pull you out of the car and to your feet.

leaning into his side, he places one arm around your shoulders and grabs your bag using his free arm. he throws your bag over his shoulder and closes the car door, locking it and shoving his keys in his back pocket.

“keys in my bag yun,” you mention. exhaustion seeps from your pores and you let yunho support your weight almost completely, simply focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

despite your whole body weight being placed upon yunho along with your bag, yunho walks you both into the building, up the elevator and to your apartment door with no complaints.

as you reach your own door, a relieved sigh falls from you and you leave yunho's side to lean against the wall while he rummages through your bag for the keys.

when his fingers brush against the telling seahorse keychain, he hooks the keyring on his index finger and pulls them out. with ease and familiarity he unlocks the door and pushes it open.

you duck under his arm to enter the apartment before he's even fully opened the door and he chuckles at your eagerness.

locking the door behind him, he leaves the keys in the deadlock and puts the chain across.

while his back is turned you make your way through your apartment, heading straight for your bedroom.

“(y/n)?” he calls out for you when he turns back to the empty living area. you call out to him from your bedroom and when he enters behind you he can see you at your linen closet, pulling out spare pillows and blankets.

your own bed looks hurriedly made, the top blankets pulled over, however the lumps underneath suggest that the sheets below the top layer have not been as carefully fixed.

“don't look at that.” you mutter, pushing a pillow into his chest as you pass him on your way out of the room.

he grabs the pillow, hugging it to his middle, turning on his heel and following you back out into your living area, feeling a bit like an overgrown puppy as he trails you through your house again.

in the living room, you finish setting up the couch with the spare blankets before turning back to him.

“will this be okay? or you can take the bed and i can take the couch” immediately he's shaking his head at you, with two large strides he's at your side, placing his pillow on the couch conclusively.

“if the other option was a couch made of rocks i still wouldn't take your bed from you.” he ushers you back towards your bedroom.

“you're so dramatic, the couch is comfy enough.” you whine and he laughs, pushing past you into your bedroom and pulling the covers on your bed back. his earlier suspicions are confirmed when he finds your second sheet scrunched up in the middle of your bed.

choosing not to comment on the mess of a bedspread, yunho turns to you, gripping your shoulders gently and spinning the both of you around so the back of your knees hit your bed. you huff playfully at his actions, which he also ignores in favour of pushing down on your shoulders, prompting you to sit on the edge of the mattress.

“if that’s true, i'll be fine to sleep on it then hm?” you don't respond to him, a pout resting on your lips as he crouches in front of you.

“what are you doing yun?” you swing your legs forward and back slightly before he stops your movements with a gentle yet firm grip.

yunho doesn’t answer, instead he smooths his hands down your calf and unties the laces on your left shoe, ignoring the pitchy sound you release in surprise, yunho slips the shoe off with minimal effort.

focusing his attention on your right shoe next, yunho misses the look in your eyes as you gaze down at the man undoing your laces for you. you think you could cry at the sight, unable to make sense of his behaviour tonight, but your heart feels full.

finally standing, yunho pushes on your shoulders and you follow his lead as he lays you down, petulant frown morphing into a sleepy smile at the teddy bear of a man above you.

he pulls your blanket up around your shoulders and tucks it in tightly beneath your neck and around your shoulders. another cute smile spreads across his face as he takes in your frame, wrapped up in the ocean blue of your blanket, blinking sleepily up at him.

“yunnie?” he crouches down once more to be face to face with you and his hand comes to rest on your cheek.

“hm?”

“jagi?” you ask, finally finding the courage to clarify whether or not you had imagined the term of endearment in your sleepy state.

yunho swallows, face hot as it always seems to be around you.

“yeah. yunnie?” he fires back and you let out a weak, tired laugh.

“touche.” yunho smiles warmly and your eyes close.

he takes a deep breath, pulling all the courage from every crevice of his body, leans over, and presses a soft kiss to your forehead.

assuming you're too far into your sleepy state to respond, he lets out a sigh and begins to stand, only to be stopped by your hand shooting out and gripping his neck.

he lets out a small yelp of surprise as you pull him back down and press a hard kiss to his cheek.

his knees go weak, legs wobbling slightly and his heart leaps into his throat at your affection. recovering from the surprise, he opens his eyes to see yours open again and searching his face as if trying to see inside and find out what he’s thinking.

“we'll talk about this tomorrow, hm? get some sleep.” he leaves his own, softer kiss on your cheek, before disappearing from your line of sight. shortly after he’s left your field of vision, you can hear your bedroom door click softly closed.

despite your racing heart, and your bubbling excitement for the following morning, your eyes flutter closed and you finally let sleep overtake you.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

The X-Men The Animated Series/'97 Friendsgiving Special:

• It's a bit chilly outside, but it doesn't matter much. The air is crisp and clean, the fireplace has a warm, burning fire in its center, and everyone is together for today...

• Reader has been trying to make a dish for the potluck, making sure their lemon pie is tangy and sweet and sets. They spent the early morning hours making it, and now they set it in the fridge to cool for the next few hours. They're not the only one scrambling to finish for the potluck.l, though

• Remy has been trying to make gumbo since dawn, adding in the spices and meats and vegetables and muttering hurriedly to himself. He tastes it every now and again, trying to make sure it tastes perfect. He's in a warm pink sweater, and his hair is is tied up, his eyes focused on the task at hand...

• Jean finished her gift to the potluck the night before, a sweet potato casserole, which hopefully is more flavorful than last year's Christmas dinner. She spent a lot of time trying to get it right, so they'll all try some, and thank her for making it... She's wearing earrings with small acorns dangling from them, amd her sweater has a turkey on it...

• Scott had prepared a soup, regular chicken noodle, and it smelled good. It was left to simmer on thr back eye of the stove, and he uses the fun shaped pasta pieces in it this time. He was still a bit strict today, but he was smiling, and it was nice to see him happy for a change...

• Logan had hunted a deer for this occasion, and spent thr while week making jerky. Reader had tried a piece, and it tasted amazing. A bit tough, but all jerky is, with the perfect smoky, salty flavor. He was proud of himself, and the team was, too. He was wearing flannel today, in red and black, and seemed to be a bit more relaxed than normal...

• Morph was in charge of the mashed potatoes, and they took great strieds to make them the best. They added butter, salt, pepper, even sour cream, into the pot, and they seemed pleased when they tried a bit. They were dressed in a sweatshirt with fall leaves on it, and they kept making turkey jokes throughout the day...

• Storm had made a turkey, using garlic and salt and baste, stuffing it, and it was to cook until dinner was ready... it smelled heavenly, amd she had to swat away anyone who tried to steal a bite when she checked it's temperature. She wore a white sweater with golden thread running through it...

• Rogue had made a pecan pie, and Reader had to stop themself from drooling at the warm, nutty scent in the air. She kept it on the table, and made small talk with Remy, the two eventually evolving into playful banter. Rogue qore a maroon sweatshirt with a cardinal on it...

•Hank had made some sausage balls, happily explaining his recipe for them as he set the bowl down. They smelled like sausage biscuits, and he let Reader, Jubilee, and Roberto try one when no one was looking. They tasted like a warm house and sleepy holidays. Hank was wearing a mustard yellow sweater, with specks of black and brown dotting it...

•Jubilee and Roberto were in charge of the punch, amd the two kept excitedly chattering about what to add. Reader spotted lemons, oranges, cherries, and limes in it, and were asked to taste test it. It tasted like a citrus explosion, with hints of club soda and fruit punch. The two were wearing matching sweaters, both bright yellow with orange leaves on the sleeves...

• Reader was happy to see Cable, Bishop, amd Forge show up, each mumbling about being home for the holidays. Jean and Scott hugged Cable tightly, while Hank and Storm were quick to start up conversation with Forge, and Bishop and Logan went about trying to taste the food, being swatted away by Rogue while Remy waved his spoon at them, light crackling along it...

• It was a surprise when The Professor and Magneto came down, both wearing ugly Christmas sweaters, and both saying they'd invited Erik's children to come by... it wasn't much later when Pietro zoomed in, followed by Wanda and Lorna, who carried a box of sugar cookies and gingerbread, saying they'd decides to stop by, if only to cause a ruckus...

• Reader had been outside, taking a breather, when they spotted Mystique sneaking through the front doors... and they were quick to startle when they saw Sabretooth staring at the mansion from the woods. They were happy to wander inside after that...

• Kurt showed up at the last minute, happily asking about the holiday, and bamfing around the mansion, hanging decorations and calling our to Rogue and Logan and Morph to watch them... he wore a bright orange sweater, and smiled brightly when he saw Rogue and Remy getting along...

• Once dinner was ready, everyone was squeezed into the dining room, pulling out the chairs and setting out the dishes. Jean, Scott, and Cable were sat together, by The Professor amd Magneto, with Wanda and Pietro and Lorna on their other side; Logan and Morph, as well as Jubilee and Roberto, were sitting together, on the other side of the Summers-Grey Family; Forge, Storm, Hank, and Bishop were sat across from them, happy to discuss the history of the turkey; Rogue, Remy, and Kurt were at the end, along with Mystique, all of them getting along for once, all of them ready to try the food; Reader, when they went to sit down, was offered by everyone to sit with them... they ended up sitting between Jubilee and Roberto, feeling a bit warmer and a bit lighter among friends...

• Getting dinner was amazing. The turkey was crisp and juicy, popping with flavor; the gumbo was spicy, a warm taste lingering on the tongue; the sweet potato casserole was sweet, the marshmallow top soft and adding an extra fluff to it; the chicken noodle soup was delightful, each bite full of chicken and pasta; the mashed potatoes were perfect, tasting salty and peppery and with the right amount of sour cream; the sausage balls tasted like sausage biscuits, each a warm bite of home; the pecan pie was divine, each bite nutty and full of spice; Reader's lemon pie was tart and creamy, each bite lemony and sweet; and the punch packed a punch, full of citrus zest and sparkling with bubbles...

• Reader was happy to talk with their family, everyone giving thanks for their friends and for everyone taking time to make the meal, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood, the holiday cheer infectious and bright. It was nice, a warm home and warmer friends, all gathered together...

• And when they all went to the living room to nap, Reader was glad to sleep amongst friends, falling into warm, peaceful dreams and gentle sleep...

@roxanndrummond @sugar-soda @vivid-bun @thewickedweiner @danniloversugar

[raynerberg]

Agate birds

A deep, barely perceptible sigh drifted like a tiny ghost through the dark, lightless corridor of a place that once sparkled with every hue of life. Accompanying this ghostly breath was a persistent rhythm - heavy, confident footsteps echoing along the shabby, colorless concrete walls, where jagged, rusted shards of frame and partition jutted out like grotesque fangs. Walking forward with measured steps, the man kept his gaze fixed on a small white dot at the far end of the passage. With each step, it grew larger, spreading like a white blob on a pitch-black canvas touched by a soft, damp brush. There it was - an archway covered by construction plastic marked with dried, mysterious splatters. The absence of a door hinted at years of abandonment. Although light filtered through the makeshift curtain, it offered no clear view of what lay ahead. All that remained was to lift the veil and step forward.

— Aw, come on! Why?! You said it was here. Liars! — a sharp, irritated voice sliced through the gloom, freezing a clawed hand encased in black carbon fiber mere millimeters from the plastic. The man was sure that he was alone here. His artificially honed animal instincts had suggested as much - or perhaps their silence merely implied that the voice’s owner was not an enemy. But then, who was it?

After only a brief hesitation, the unexpected visitor tore down the curtain with a grating rip, sending flakes of grimy gray paint scattering across the floor. Two swift steps later, he stood fully revealed in the doorway’s gaping maw. On the dusty concrete floor, covered with a fine layer of lime powder, sat a delicate figure wrapped in a coat the color of deep midnight. It was a girl. She sat sideways, her head raised, fixing a vivid emerald gaze on the newcomer. Her eyes held a mixture of mild concern and genuine curiosity, but no fear.

— Oh, hello! We didn’t know there was anyone else here. — the girl offered a modest yet sincere smile. Her fluffy canary-yellow braids framed a round face dusted with freckles that sparkled like tiny copper crystals under the open rays of the sun. — What’s your name? — she asked, studying the stranger intently.

— Grayson, — came the hoarse reply. Only then did he allow himself a quick glance around the spacious hall: the same stark white walls, massive columns stretching upward to support a ceiling of concrete and rebar, a floor resembling miniature sand dunes, stray sheets of translucent plastic scattered about, and in the distant corner, a solitary industrial ladder with wide treads. His toxic-amber gaze returned to the girl.

— And yours? Who were you talking to? — now it was his turn to ask questions. Noticing that the girl showed no intention of rising from the dusty floor, Grayson crouched beside her, his black nanocarbon armor emitting a faint vibrating hum as it mirrored his movements. Up close, he could see her pearl-like jewelry - round earrings, a necklace, and a sun-shaped hair clip.

— Claire. And I’m here with my friends. — the girl’s lively gaze shifted in the opposite direction as she cheerfully waved.

Grayson followed her line of sight and snorted. Two large blue pigeons strutted across the floor, cooing softly and contentedly to each other. Was she talking to them? Well, why not? Some people befriend dogs, others cats, and bird lovers - birds. Whether tame or wild, whether capable of talk or not, that was secondary. People who truly love animals always stand apart, understanding creatures better than most humans ever could. Grayson had heard as much. He continued listening in silence.

— They told me it was here. I followed them, and they led me here, but I couldn’t find it. I’ve been here for a long time and got so tired I had to sit down. My coat and dress - ugh, so dirty! — Claire concluded indignantly.

— Well, at least it’s warm and dry here. You can sit without worrying about catching cold, — a shadow of a condescending smile flickered in Grayson’s eyes. The scars on his face made it impossible to fully express the emotion. Perhaps that was for the best. He could always ruin relationships later with a misplaced smile or careless word.

— But what were you looking for?

— A bracelet. Another friend of mine gave it to me. He’s a good guy. It was a birthday gift - tiny beads and two birds made of white agate. He said, “It’ll bring you luck,” but I didn’t even notice when I lost it. Even if it’s here, how did it end up in this place? I don’t understand anything, — she sighed mournfully.

— Wait a minute. A white bracelet with birds, you said? — Grayson had patiently listened to the little story, but the mention of the bracelet stirred him into movement. Pressing an invisible button near his elbow, the man opened a compartment for storing small items. The bracelet in question fell onto his wide Kevlar-covered palm. In the daylight, the agate shimmered with a kaleidoscope of colors. Yes, this was it - white beads on a leather cord with two tiny minimalist birds. He examined the trinket for two seconds before handing it to its rightful owner.

— I agree, sometimes I don’t understand things either. But maybe some events and objects don’t want to be fully understood or studied. Otherwise, they lose their special properties. I found this one floor up. It was just lying on the floor. That’s all I know.

Claire took the bracelet in silent surprise, turning it over in her hands. Gently smiling and stroking the smooth agate surface, she said:

— Yes, I’ve heard that. Luck and happiness love silence. Thank you! — Claire stopped gazing at the bracelet and winked playfully at her new acquaintance. It was clear what she meant, but that conversation could wait for another time.

— Well, since this unexpected search is over, we can leave. I’ve finished inspecting the place, and there’s nothing more to do here, so... — Grayson rose and extended a hand to Claire. The girl accepted his offer without hesitation, clearly pleased. Dusting off her clothes as best she could, she donned the bracelet and playfully tapped her fist against his armored torso. Of course, the man felt nothing, but surprise flickered across his angular face.

— Let’s go. I want to get back before lunch; I’m starving! And we’ll make someone happy with this find. I think you’ll get along with him. Guys, time to head out! — the petite yet confident girl commanded as she strode toward the main exit. The pigeons flapped their wings in unison and flew out through a wide-open window.

Grayson exhaled and shook his head silently, gathering his long jet-black hair streaked with silver into a ponytail. Casting one last glance around the room, he left just as silently, leisurely catching up to his new acquaintance.

~

Hi @hc-svnt-dracones95 ;) Thank you for your patience. <3 Thanks to @/merilinalex505 for some help with the translation. ^3^

[rumeysawrites]

CHARACTER PROFILES #1: HUI XIE / UDELA THERMIN (from Team Space)

Hi everyone! I FINALLY finished Hui's profile! I know it took long but you'll see why it took this long, hopefully!

DISCLAIMER: I made the profile template myself, so if you like it and want to use for your OCs / characters as well, please either ask first or credit me. Thank you so much for understanding already!💙

TRIGGER WARNING: This character profile contains kidnapping, severe trauma due to it, implied child abuse, vaguely implied racism, and possibly more that I'm missing.

_____________

BASICS:

Real Name: Udela Castemera Thermin

Preferred Name: Hui Xie (Xie Hui in Chinese tradition)

Alias(es) & Title(s): Legendary Spirit Of Space

Nicknames: Lightning Bolt, Little Grumpster, Scary Ghost Girl, Hu-Hu, Shortie, Box-O Thunder

Age (At First Appearance): 11

Age (When First Joined Team Space): 15-16

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Probably Pan

Species: Human-Based-Living-Spirit (one of Eleven Legendary Spirits)

Alignment: Chaotic-Good, a bit leaning towards Chaotic-Neutral

Date Of Birth: Biha 4th, 977 AL (equals to April 4th 2007 CE)

Homeland: Thamir (in Yugenri)

Lived In: Rinfalme (Yugenri), Ba City (Yugenri), Spirit Depths (Umbraer), Ningzhou (Tiria), Nihynia's Realm (Greater Cosmos)

Organizations: 

A member of BSA. Though she's not a fan of Miraculum or Mr. Winfield.

Hates Dark Crystal wholeheartedly. It's like a trigger for her.

Despises the Theorists for their actions and what she heard from Hiroki.

Occupations: Trainee in BSA, Team Space member

Appearances In The Books: Hui is first mentioned in Shan's thoughts during chapter 5 of book 1 "Search For The Legendaries", but she first appears on page as a minor side character in book 2 "Revival Of The Legend", as a prisoner, when Frank visits the Spirit Depths. From Year Three (Eternal Winter Arc) onwards, she becomes a constant member of the main cast even if she doesn't have POV chapters until the second half of the Solium Arc.

Living Status: Floating between alive and dead

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

General Description: With her small, light-footed frame and sharp yet child-like features; Hui gives off a distant and immature vibe from afar, though those who see her face or expression could often be intimidated.

Height: 4'10

Build: Scrawny but somehow still agile

Skin Tone: Pale, turns translucent when she reflects strong emotions

Hair: Messy, curly orange-brown hair that looks like it hasn't been combed in the past five years

Eyes: Golden-brown, similar to the Asian eyes

Distinguishing Features: 

Her wrists and ankles are extra-thin from having magic chains around them for years.

Has pierced ears.

Has a bite mark on her lower lip due to constantly biting it when she was alive.

Her hair has sort of a life of its own.

Clothing Style: Practical and light. Often likes to wear short, thin tunics (often with short sleeves) in bright colors like vibrant orange, yellow, or lime green, with a pair of comfortable shorts that are often shorter than knee-length; and likes to wear sandals even during rainy or snowy days, likely to completely ditch shoes on warm days without missions. She wears this kind of clothing even if she can materialize and change her style, in an attempt to "feel" everything that the outside world has to offer.

Accessories: Wears small, colorful earrings, a handmade pendant that's a gift from Shan, and if someone attempts to style her hair, they often tie it with bright colored ribbons.

Extra: 

Has a sharp nose and thick eyebrows.

Looks like she has no muscles but indeed she has been training.

When she has to dress in a specific way, she often doesn't go by the dress code / culture (either by accident or out of annoyance).

PERSONALITY:

General Description: Reserved, distant, watchful, distrustful, wary, and grumpy; Hui's exterior has a hard shell guarding the deeper aspects of her, which she tries too hard to keep private but secretly wants to be open about it.

First Layer: On surface level, Hui appears as a distant, blunt, disillusioned, irritable, stubborn, fiery, short tempered, snappy, somewhat brash and gruff, and very closed off, making sure every other person knows to keep their distance from her as well. She tries to be serious and threatening, but can appear as an angsty teenager or an irritable little girl instead. She also has a "weird" and strange way of interacting with people, realizing their annoyances and intentionally adapting them into her behavior just to test them.

Second Layer: Underneath her layer of dramatic-angsty-teenager-meets-grumpy-weird-old-lady-with-anger-issues attitude, Hui holds a deep-rooted sense of precaution, distrust, and fear of bring tricked or betrayed again. Hui tries to put up walls, in an attempt to hide these deeply fearful, uneasy, insecure, and vulnerable sides of her. She feels like letting her guard down for even the slightest moment, will cause her to be tricked, betrayed, or to fall back to the depths she had to endure for so long. These fears might surface in various ways, sometimes even acting paranoid.

Third Layer: Locked even behind these worries and fears, lies a girl with an unapologetically free-spirit. Hui thrives in action, in exploration, and all around new experiences. Having missed a significant portion of her childhood, she tries to compensate for it and experience freedom as much as possible. She loves the sensation of spontaneity, the feeling of the blowing winds on her face, the rush of water over her body, the taste of all types of food (even ones that might possibly kill her). Even running through an open field or climbing up sharp mountains, having picnics under a bright blue sky, or colorful, even (as much as she doesn't want to admit to herself) crowded places. Basically, anything vibrant, anything freeing, anything new: All of them fascinate her. She loves the thrill and the rush, but her fears and distrust in others make her put up walls to hide this side of her from other people. Her attempts of independence also are halted by her lack of life skills.

Fourth Layer: Along with her free-spirit and attempts of independence, Hui holds an even deeper side to her once you manage to get past her walls of distrust. Once she trusts a person (a very rare occasion), she becomes fiercely loyal and protective of them. She almost feels like she can find trust in them, determined to remain by their side and valuing them greatly. This can lead to Hui developing tendency of clinginess and worries of "what if they change?" though. She'll stick with her trustworthy people, acting as both a fiercely protective guardian, and a scared young girl newly learning to feel at ease thanks to them. She'll try to control herself, out of the worry that she'll eventually either scare them away or exhaust them to the point they wouldn't want her around. She expects them to return the loyalty she offers, but doesn't say it out loud. Though around these people, she also tends to be more talkative and expressive about things. She has a silent way to express how much she treasures them and is willing to go extra lengths to ensure they're well. This is a reason why (besides her striving for freedom), she wants to be strong and independent.

Fifth Layer: At her core, Hui longs for connection, safety, and self-expression, but has a heart full of doubts, worries, and fears. Due to having been left alone in a cell for five years, and only rescued by someone trying to save their friend, and helped her "as an afterthought", she deep down feels like she's been lost, forgotten and uncared for before, and she might be completely lost and forgotten again at any moment of weakness. She doesn't see how she might even matter besides her status as a "Legendary Spirit" (which she despises being by the way). She's in desperate need of reassurance: of the fact that she's worth being remembered and cared for. Not because she's "The Legendary Spirit of Space", but because she's herself, Hui. She most wants to feel safe and understood being herself.

Demeanor: Distant, wary, intimidating, ready for a fight, definitely has some issues

Refused Traits: Hui isn't exactly "refusing" her parts of personality, but she tries to hide her deeper sides of her, like her loyalty, protectiveness, free-spirited and loving of life, as well as many of her deeper fears. Hui knows who she is and wants to keep it to herself.

Seemingly Uncharacteristic Traits:  Hui has a boundless enthusiasm to experience life, and often gets excited and curious when trying something new or traveling to a new place. This might seem uncharacteristic for those who don't know her well enough. Also her emotional side, can surprise people who don't know her much. Finally, her friggin' aesthetic choices!

When Alone: It depends on whether she's outside, in her room, or an unfamiliar closed place. For the first one, she'll first check everywhere to make sure no one is watching her, then either run around like an excited puppy, or sit on a high spot and enjoy the scenery. If in her room, she'll open the window (doesn't really matter the weather), lay on her bed, and watch outside while getting lost in thought, uncharacteristically peaceful. If an enemy, especially in a closed space, uhhhhhh...

When Angry: Tends to launch herself directly at the person or thing, probably either her spear or something sharp in hand, filled with enough electricity to at least leave permanent injuries.

When Annoyed: Tends to throw the closest throwable object at the source / person.

When Receiving / Showing Affection: Hui is not good at showing affection. She's likely to stare awkwardly at the person and try to say something she assumes to be kind or soothing, still with a weirdly blunt attitude and clear lack of communication. It causes the person to give her a strange look, trying to understand what in Multiverse she meant. She often refuses to show physical affection, however with people she absolutely trusts, she'll cling to them as if glued (surprisingly okay with hugs in that case). Though she struggles even more with receiving affection as she'll most likely find the person suspicious and in a freak-out, will try to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

What Keeps Her Up At Night: Where do I even start? Worries? Her need for constant noise to feel safe? Intruding thoughts telling her to do things like "throwing pies at your teammates' faces, particularly Ruxir and Wendolena, sounds good", or "what would it be like to leave the team and become a rogue space bandit?". 

Habits & Quirks:

Tends to bite her lower lip when uneasy or uncomfortable.

Lets out an uncharacteristically strong laughter and proceeds to stare straight into a person's soul, when nervous, trying to put on a confident demeanor.

Tends to drum on a table, window, or any available solid surface with her fingers if there's no noise around.

Tends to use glittered color pencils in her drawings instead of regular ones.

Likes: 

Open places 

Travelling

Bright & fiery colors

Trying new things

Training

Food

Thunderstorms & sunny days

Camping

Hiking 

Adventuring

Windy or snowy places

Fluffy and colorful trinkets

Snacking while watching chaos (if she isn't apart of it)

Also sometimes enjoys drawing with Shan or learning to cook from Hematia (even though she has little talent in either of them-).

Dislikes:

Dark Crystal (the organization)

Too quiet places

Dull food

Formal occasions

Being pranked or made fun of

Forced romance (looking at ya the Matchmaker stories-)

Shapeshifters

Uncomfortable clothes

Overprotective people who might try to limit her

Not being taken seriously

Liars & traitors

Darkness

Currency conversion (it confuses her in every world they visit-)

Fears:

Enclosed & tight spaces

Being betrayed

Being kidnapped again

Being forgotten

Being completely alone

Losing those she comes to trust & care for

Sound of a door being locked

Being seen as useless or unimportant

Pet Peeves:

Pranks directed at her

People trying to tie her hair

People telling her what to do

The "godly cryptic speech" that Nihynia and other gods use.

Having to do a bunch of calculations for currency conversions.

Do shapeshifters count?

Motivations: She originally didn't want to be in Team Space and instead continue her training in BSA, but later, she found reasons to stay after realizing these missions might be an easier way for her to get stronger while also granting her a chance to explore places she otherwise would never even have heard of. As she warms up to the team, protecting them becomes one of her motivations as well.

Weirdnesses: 

Sleeps hugging a fluffy bright orange travel pillow.

Lowkey finds it funny when the jokesters (Ruxir, Wendolena, Eurus, and Kassin) prank someone other than her.

Draws with the glittered color pencils and doesn't use a regular pen or pencil.

In the kitchen, uses the knife like she's using it in combat - scaring everyone else.

Can't tie her shoes or style her hair in any way (yeah not even a ponytail), but refuses to have someone else do it for her either.

Has the worst communication skills a person can have and often interprets words, sentences, & conversations differently than intended. Her interpretations are often too literal.

Beliefs & Superstitions:

Believes the world is best experienced head-on, with little protection, except from people.

Believes drawing bright circles on a surface nearby brings good, cheerful energy to that area.

Believes most people are inherently evil, but with a few exceptions like Shan, possibly Barin, and later down the line - her teammates.

Believes magic should be easier to learn instead of a bunch of studying and concentrating. It's supposed to be more whimsical and fantastical than anything in Tiria.

Believes weapons are a necessity for someone to carry with.

Has no concept of "levels of proximity" and thinks trust and willingness are the only criteria for how close you can act towards someone.

Believes Dark Crystal is inherently evil, while the other organizations are suspicious at best.

Almost Always Refuses To: 

Cry or otherwise act emotional in front of someone else.

Let someone she doesn't fully trust, touch her.

Stay in completely quiet places.

Mannerisms & Speech: Direct and blunt, with zero sugarcoating, often not even caring about whether she's being rude or not.

Sense Of Humor: Dry, with a mix of bluntness and sarcasm.

Collects / Always Keeps With Her: 

Always keeps: her spear; a small, soft and fluffy blanket from her childhood before the capture, a few snacks for just in case, a Corestone, a pair of small knives, and a bunch of rope-like ribbons.

Collects: Tiny drawings from her teammates and trinkets from worlds she visits

Guilty Pleasures:

Coloring books when drawing can be too hard.

Lowkey enjoys watching others get pranked.

Is actually a huge food lover.

Music Taste: Can differ depending on her mood, but often likes rock and alternative; as well as the folk songs from places they travel to which she's fascinated by. She likes the Radiance's songs but is kind of tired of listening to their preparings.

Voice: Higher-pitched than expected, oftentimes sounding like she's yelling or screaming when she isn't.

Languages:

Fluent in: Thamirian

Can Hold A Conversation In: Rinfalese, Mandarin Chinese, Ba-Ri

A Little: Elirish, English, Celestial

Thoughts & Interpretations on:

The World: Both a cruel place when you let your guard down, and a place full of things worth experiencing.

Life: Life means thrill and movement for her, full of senses and emotions.

Freedom: Basically doing whatever she wants, without worry or fear.

Friendship: Friendship is based on trust and loyalty, someone who has your back no matter what, even after your "business" is done, is the ideal friend for her.

Love: Love is both selfless and selfish in her opinion. To love someone is to let them feel free to be themselves around you, and provide unwavering trust and loyalty; while expecting the same in return.

Hate: The definition of "hate" to her, is basically Dark Crystal. Or anyone / anything along that line.

Peace: For Hui, peace = freedom, especially feeling unthreatened and unlimited with it. "Peace" as in "harmony" seems meaningless to her.

Distress: The feeling of entrapment equals distress for her. Being unable to move or choose anything as well.

Fun: For Hui, fun equals thrill, excitement, or even some more relaxing stuff. It's more like doing whatever she feels like doing.

Fear: Fear is the feeling of entrapment, and a weight of hopelessness dawning on her. She often starts to act frantic, trying her absolute hardest to find a way out.

Trust: It means basically the most crucial thing she expects from life and people. It's a sense of safety and certainty she thinks she can only feel around certain people or places, that has to, has to earn it for her.

Happiness: Happiness = freedom to do whatever she dreams. She has a deep feeling of lacking this.

Concept Of A Team: It's new to her. She's suspicious of every single one of her new teammates and feels like they only work with her because they have to, and is willing to test their patience to the max.

Magic: Hui loves using her lightning magic in particular, but she doesn't like the process of learning magic. It feels way too stifling.

Technology: Compared to most members of Team Space, Hui actually has a better handling of technology thanks to her childhood years in Tiria and current training in BSA. Probably wouldn't like super high-tech or complicated devices, but feels more comfortable with most modern tech, viewing them as necessary.

The Gods: Nihynia and Ruxir aside, she's suspicious of all of the gods. For Nihynia, she's spiteful for being chosen as a Legendary Spirit by her, while she's annoyed to pieces by Ruxir for often being the target of his pranks and clashing with him in missions.

Chaos Factor In The Team: Hui is one of the more chaotic members on the team. Although quiet, her bluntness and short temper often make her more irritable and "fun to mess with", while her reactions can range from humorous to terrifying. On the other hand, Hui's desire for freedom, independence, and thrilling experiences often cause her to either temporarily leave, get into trouble, or, most commonly - both.

Changes & Arc: Hui's arc deals with the concepts of trust and freedom. In the beginning, she's a very guarded and distant figure whose distrust in her teammates causes her to restrain and restrict herself around them. She's also more defensive and impulsive in this point in time. However, as time goes by, she changes drastically during her arc. The walls she put between herself and others start to come crashing down, and she starts to express herself more easily and form deeper connections. As she forms these bonds and experience life, she also learns the value of tolerance and patience as well.

Extra: Although she does it when she's annoyed or angry, throwing small objects makes her feel sort of relieved, making others even more wary around her. Also when she's in "fight or flight" mode, she'll fight, like crazy, until she spends every remaining ounce of her energy. Though she also becomes extra clingy when scared, she doesn't admit to acting that way once she has her courage back.

ABILITIES & COMBAT:

Power(s): Storm Conjuration

Magic (Trick) Elements: Lightning / Electricity, Wind, Space

Magic (Other): Like most Legendary Spirits, she has access to "Spirit Magic", which lets her draw magical energy from the spirit world for her use.

Specialty / Natural Talent: Lightfoot (very quick and light on her feet)

Other Talents:

Skilled with close and mid-range weapons

Has a tendency to not give up until her opponent is unconscious enough to stop fighting (high stamina).

Not easily (non-magically) charmed by people with higher charisma due to her increased trust issues.

Skills with the spear

When feeling a strong emotion, she can accidentally become a rapper of sorts.

Strengths:

Fierce determination

Always alert

Loyalty for those who earn it.

Doesn't beat around the bush.

Quick on her feet.

Quick-thinking

Physically strong for her appearance.

Weaknesses:

Short tempered

Trust issues bordering on paranoia

Intense fear of closed spaces

Too blunt

Lack of survival skills

Lack of life skills in general

Has no communication skills

Too judgmental of people

Has little patience

Focuses too much on the experiences for herself rather her actions' effects on others. 

Lack of physical growth

Has RECKLESS spending habit claiming "It helps her do what she wants, so it's a part of her freedom" (owes money to at least five other characters)

Weapons: Her spear and (mostly lightning) magic. Also uses whatever throwable object she finds but isn't great at it

Items:

A satchel bag

A sketchbook Shan gifted

A pencil set

Ribbons

Trinkets

A water bottle even though she technically doesn't need it

Some sort of small, hard, throwable objects

Disabilities / Mental Illnesses: PTSD, Anxiety, and physical undergrowth

Stat Percentages (This has been a habit since Middleverse):

Speed: 85%

Strength: 58%

Stamina: 80%

Stealth: 85%

Agility: 65%

Endurance: 80%

Recovery: 84%

Balance: 40%

Accuracy: 78%

Close Combat: 58%

Distanced Combat: 60%

Survival Skills: 3%

Intuition: 35%

Magic: 60%

Luck: 25%

Intelligence: 64%

Emotional Intelligence: 18%

Wisdom: 35%

Strategy: 70%

Leadership: 45%

Cooperation: 15%

Charisma: 55%

Communication: 1%

Empathy: 41%

Memory: 75%

Hidden Abilities: Spirit abilities (intangibility at will, immortality, etc), Space magic connection

Improvements: Learns to control her trust issues and anger issues, learns to improve her lightning magic and space magic more efficiently, learns to face challenges more calmly.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Family:

Cerisna Thermin (birth mother)

Zyran Thermin (birth father)

Catelle Grimwood / Shufei Liu (adoptive mother)

Guyon Grimwood / Yuze Xie (adopted father)

Wendolena Witxen (caretaker, acts like Hui's older sister which is both annoying and endearing for Hui)

Friends / Allies:

Shan Lin (Childhood best friend and the only person Hui actually trusts.)

Shuang Lin (Shan's older sister who acts as a friend for Hui and deals with her nonsense more easily, while also being a caretaker for her.)

Payden Laerirn (Hui's friend and fellow spirit who was also captured by Dark Crystal. She's a bit suspicious of him due to his past with Dark Crystal, but tolerates him more than most people.)

Hiroki Nishimura (Another fellow spirit who was captured by Dark Crystal like her. She's alright with him especially since he's her companion in suffering.)

Erebus Nasethar (Fellow spirit even if he's given under the service of the Legendaries. Hui doesn't trust Erebus expectantly, but she has sympathy for him in her own way and can connect with him.)

Eirlys Umerina (Another fellow spirit but one Hui likes the least, or second least, among them due to her past of being raised as a spy and hiding her identity. She's basically the things Hui hates most in people.)

Arwyn Iluthmil (Fellow Team Space member, Hui has some respect for Arwyn for saving Shan's life, but can't trust him knowing he's like a brother to Frank (the person who tricked her when she was kidnapped). These suspicions only increased when she realized about his past in diplomacy and politics.)

Meissa Mocilla (Fellow Team Space member; Hui finds Meissa's intelligence intriguing but also finds her unwillingness and quietness to be insufferable.)

Ruxir Polarstar (Fellow Team Space member and the one Hui likes to call "The Bane of My Existence". Their interactions are some of the most chaotic out there.)

Libet Lamarre (Probably Hui's least favorite member of Team Space. Their values and perspectives of life are the polar opposite in possibly the worst way possible. They're only working together because a near-omnipotent goddess wants it.)

Myrkut (Fellow spirit and Team Space member; Hui finds Myrkut pleasant to be around but seeing his strategic mind keeps her on edge, knowing everything he does could also be a plan. Yeah she's paranoid even about this immortal twelve year old who's too shy to even talk.)

Hematia Rohtin (Fellow Team Space member; Hui thinks Hematia's fiery attitude can be fun but her maternal behavior makes Hui feel stifled. She feels mixed about it, wishing Hematia could tone it down and let her be, but also lowkey appreciates that someone is looking out for her.)

Tipus Icicle (Fellow Team Space member; Hui appreciates his quietness and relates to his lack of trust in others, but is irritated by his attempts of "playing the leader," and if he tries to make a slightly offensive remark about hers or Shan's membership in BSA.)

Eurus Storm (Fellow Team Space member and the other bane of Hui's existence. He's possibly even worse than Ruxir since Hui sees Eurus' chaos as more deliberate, but also due to his past as a thief known for his trickery. Yeah, it'll be hard for her to trust him.)

Kassin Silverwave (Technically a member of Team Space, but Hui prefers to consider Kassin to be "Arwyn's personal annoyance" instead. She knows the fairies like him can't be trusted in general, especially considering this little dude convinced her team's "diplomat" member within a single conversation to let him tag along cross-universe. But she's gained some respect for him after Kassin started to annoy Frank most.)

Tyttia Trace (Fellow Team Space member and the weird mentor figure for both Hui and Shan. Hui's annoyed by her overly bright and cheerful attitude and style, but has a weird respect and fondness for her.)

Vesta Merula & Vlad Ziskind (Both fellow Team Space members and former leading figures of Dark Crystal. So she only works with them because she has to, while turning the two's time in the team to hell, or aiming to do so.)

Chromos Acritas (Also a Team Space member that's a former leading figure of Dark Crystal, so she doesn't trust him either. But is more tolerant of him after learning he helped Arwyn save Shan (her closest friend) and that he also despises Frank, like she does.)

Tom Nels (He's a friend of Shan so indirectly an ally of Hui. She isn't really fond of him but thinks he isn't annoying at least, and since they both have trust issues, they rarely talk anyways. But she teases him and Shuang's romance.)

Rosena Freze (She's a friend of Shan so an ally of her too. Hui doesn't really like neither her nor Tom, but she thinks Rosena specifically can be too emotional which makes her more annoying to her. Though she likes teasing Rosena about her relationship with Payden.)

Nihynia (Technically Nihynia is the one who chose her to be the Legendary Spirit of Space and invited her to Team Space as a core member. Hui acknowledges Nihynia for giving her a purpose and her attempts to keep the greater balance. But she also loathes her for choosing her to be a Legendary Spirit.)

Rivals:

Eirlys Umerina (As a fellow spirit, they have connections, but they're both equally bitter about things that hold them back from their own potential. Hui and Eirlys were in the Spirit Realm together, facing the same challenges.)

Libet Lamarre (Inside Team Space, she's her main rival. They both are quick fighters who often have to work together, combining their lightning and water magic for example. However, their completely opposite beliefs make them constantly at odds with each other, causing them to often compete in situations where they need to cooperate.)

Niketria Hogan (While Niketria and her team might've ended up rescuing her while rescuing Payden, Hui feels a strong sense of both repellence and respect towards Niketria's stubborn, but caring "unbreakable wall of steel for the team" attitude, and finds her unexpected strength interesting. Hui does want to challenge Niketria one day and show that she's just as strong (also to see who's the true small but tough nut to crack of the Eight Alters.))

Jake Springlet (Jake is one of the students of BSA who doesn't like students from Tiria in general, and as Hui considers herself more Tirian than Thamirian, she takes things personally and tries to do better than Jake at everything to prove her point.)

Enemies:

Frank Theodore Milford (As her kidnapper, Hui holds a big grudge against Frank and doesn't trust him at all. She is always cautious around him after he kept her imprisoned in Dark Crystal, remembering those horrible memories.)

Beislar / Lorkness (As the main villain of the series and the one who ordered Frank to kidnap Hui, she naturally holds a strong grudge against him, determined to defeat him not just for good, but also for herself.)

Botolfe Cornelius (He is a leader of Dark Crystal who always took pleasure in messing with his victims, including Hui. She resents him for it and is wary of him too.)

Vanora Ziskind (Hui knows Vanora to be one of Dark Crystal's leaders as well, and the most bloodthirsty one (in the literal sense). She remembers her first days in Dark Crystal when she still wasn't a spirit, and how Vanora came after her. Like Frank and Botolfe, she holds a massive grudge against her.)

Tristia (While she doesn't have any personal connections to Tristia, Hui knows that she became a cursed spirit willingly and betrayed her family's and friends' trust in her. This is enough for Hui to absolutely despise Tristia.)

Ignacius Fiamel (Another leader of Dark Crystal, so naturally she sees him as an enemy, but isn't as big of an enemy to him as some of the other Team Space members (Tipus-).

Pets: Three small creatures she keeps as hers from the Tirian tour she participated in after first escaping captivity (a ladybug called Cherry, a pet spider called Hunter, and a black beetle called Spirit. Of course she tries to make sure Hunter doesn't catch the other two.)

Love Interest / Love Life:

Barin Igarashi (He is a ninja she couldn't trust at first, who was just as closed off as her. However, the two connected and understood each other better than expected, her guard falling as time passed (she is sometimes bashful about expressing her feelings). (Barin is Hui's main partner / love interest in the series, having met in Team Space stories.)

Wei Zhang (Wei was a childhood friend of Shan and Hui, who had a crush on her when they were kids. Hui did have brief feelings for him as a child, before being captured, but after returning, she was disappointed in him. She no longer holds any romantic feelings for him.)

Other Relationships:

Alondra Busker-Nels (Well, she's technically the house leader of the house (the Busker Mansion) Hui lives in with them (and a whole bunch of others), even though Hui herself isn't related to any of the Busker or Nels families and neither pays room rent, nor does any chores in the house. Instead, she annoys Alondra a bit, especially with the fact that she calls Radiance's music (the band Alondra leads) just alright too. But well, they're still allies and Alondra is trying to be patient with her.)

The Flying Café Crew (Besides Payden, Hui's just alright with the Flying Café Crew, though she finds Elvis and Miyuki to be too annoying and flirty with each other, and thinks Mr. Venor's level of knowledge on everyone else is too eerie for her to trust.)

Legendary 10 (Already mentioned the first half (Rosena, Shan, Tom, Elvis, and Miyuki), and as for the other half (Kent, Faren, Nour-Jawhara, Mert, and Marcelino), she sees them as allies in a way, but she doesn't really trust them as much as expected from her.)

Miraculum Karril (of all the leaders in BSA, she's the one Hui can't stand the most. She realizes Miraculum does plenty for BSA and against Dark Crystal, which she supports. But how far Miraculum can go for these purposes irks Hui, if not scares her a bit.)

STORY:

Role:

In The Main Story: In the Interdimensional main series, Hui is an important secondary character. Besides her role as the Legendary Spirit of Space and a close friend of Shan, she also acts as a strong ally of the Legendary Carriers and an antagonistic figure for Frank all throughout the series.

In Team Space: Hui is one of the most main members of Team Space, being a crucial figure in Nihynia's eyes in the battle against Beislar and more. She's also the youngest member of the team until Shan and Myrkut become constant members too.

Backstory: Hui Xie, or, Udela Castemera Thermin, was born in the stormy kingdom of Thamir - in the world of Yugenri, as the only child of Lord Zyran and Lady Cerisna, a mid-scale noble family. However, soon after her birth, some oddities about her were noticed: she was too quiet as a baby, she was learning to move (and then moving) far too quickly, and was too light that it felt like she was intangible. All of this, combined with her random bursts of magic, made her parents worry. They took baby Hui to a healer, who noticed that she was a living spirit (which is extremely rare compared to other types of spirits, most likely being tied to the Legend of Karril).

This made her parents ask for advice from the higher-ups, and a BSA official suggested hiding her in Tiria (as Tiria is considered by Yugenrins to be the safest of the worlds in Eight Alters, due to not having direct connections to any other world besides Yugenri and having little to no magic). This idea was accepted, and little Udela was sent to Tiria, after being given to the guardianship of two BSA officials who're also partially Thamirian (Guyon and Catelle Grimwood). The pair already had three children, who they had to leave to Guyon's sister as they left for their mission in Tiria. As Guyon was good friends with Lin Kun / Kun Lin (Shan's father), and Catelle was still lecturing Shouren Sen / Sen Shouren (future Potionsion professor) on medicine making, they settled in Ningzhou. There, Udela was given the name Xie Hui - as the daughter of Xie Yuze and Liu Shufei.

In her childhood, Hui went to the same school as Shan and became close friends with him (along with Zhang Wei but she won't talk about him). However, when she was eight, close to nine, her powers of storm creation surfaced and were more clear and worrisome than Shan's, who had also newly discovered his teleportation. For this reason, BSA instructed Guyon and Catelle to bring Hui back to Yugenri for training. And a few weeks after she turned nine, they were going to set out. But when they were about to, Hui was distracted by some colorful hairpins and called by a woman who looked and sounded like Catelle / Shufei. Hui followed her until she felt dizzy and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she was in a dark room, alone. Frank, Botolfe, and Vanora came and explained what happened, hearing her call for her parents. They tricked her and she was their prisoner now, and that her parents wouldn't come for her. After a check-up by Vanora and Itzal (for different reasons), Botolfe threw Hui into the Spirit Depths with help from Frank (who as a shapeshifter was the one who brought her there).

Hui stayed locked in a cell inside the Spirit Depths for almost five years, as she only escaped about a week before she turned fourteen. She was completely broken by that point, as she had been all alone for almost five years in complete darkness, people only coming once a month to check if she was there. However, they visited the Spirit Depths twice in total to lock Hiroki and Payden up too, who Hui tried to contact but was too scared to. She felt like she was nobody, nothing, something to be forgotten in this abyss.

In year three (during the Eternal Winter Arc); Ellenie, Zabar, and Niketria found the Spirit Depths as they were searching for Payden, but saved Hui and Hiroki along with him. Hui felt grateful but realized they didn't come for her either. They'd come for their friend, and she was an afterthought. She accepted it and as Payden and Ellenie left Dark Crystal, she ran away with them and learned the truths. She then joined the Legendaries (at that point only Rosena, Kent, Shan, and Faren were around) in their Tirian-Tour quest to prevent the Eternal Winter. She formed her friendship with Shan again there, but learned to not trust the others as she also faced Frank and Botolfe knowing who they truly were, and learn that the people who she knew as her parents were just guardians. She tried to react like how any teenager would react then, but BSA offered to start her training now. She accepted and in Year Four (when everyone else was suffering in the Solium War), Hui stayed in Yugenri and learned basic combat skills (which she was too enthusiastic about to be considered healthy). When Team Space was established in Year Five, Hui was one of the first people Nihynia picked to send on missions across the Multiverse for herself, as she was already chosen by Nihynia to be the "Legendary Spirit of Space." Hui didn't like the idea of being with all these "random weirdos" at first, not trusting a single one in the beginning.

Themes & Character Arc: Hui's arc mainly centers around the themes of trust, freedom, fear, self-worth and connections. The first time we see Hui, she's a scared child trapped in the Spirit Depths. When she first escapes, she's too afraid to trust even the people she's closest to and she acts extremely impulsive and unpredictable in her attempts to not feel like a captive or prisoner anymore. Over time, she slowly lowers her guard towards those she forms connections with, experiencing what the words "family", "friendship", "love", "trust", and "freedom" mean to her. As she begins to trust, she also begins to act more freely, slowly but surely letting her fears leave as she grows into a stronger person.

Extra / Fun Facts:

Among the Team Space members, Hui is seen as the "grumpy younger sister of the family" which she despises at first but starts to not mind it in time.

Hui is banned by Hematia from going shopping alone.

Hui sings in the shower or when alone, but will yell at any person trying to eavesdrop.

Hui loves ribbons but doesn't like tying them.

Hui won her "spirit yelling" contest against Eirlys simply by being more angry.

Hui is one of the few, rare characters who didn't participate in the Solium War. She would have participated but it ended on her first year of training.

Hui is a huge foodie and wants to try all sorts of food, as long as they won't be poisonous.

Hui tackles and wrestles people either playfully or angrily. It doesn't matter if the person is a 6'7 tall celestial (Ruxir), she won't give up until she wins.

Hui has a collection of small trinkets from places she visits, many of these being tiny plushies or keychains.

Hui's favorite place to visit was Eliri, with its open skies, peaceful atmosphere, and cloudmobiles to drive around.

Due to the people in Dark Crystal calling her "Udela", she hates being called by her birth name. It's like a trigger for her now.

Hui first met Barin in the "Matchmaker Event" short stories, specifically, the one with Valentine's Day "Triple Spins".

Due to the fact that Frank (a shapeshifter) had turned to the person she knew as her mother, to deceive and kidnap her, Hui has developed extra wariness and fear towards shapeshifters, that can come off as offensive to them.

Questions For YOU (readers):

Which one(s) of your characters / OCs do you think Hui would get along best with? Why?

What song(s) do you think would fit her best?

Would you have any headcanons for her?

What would you do if you met her irl?

In general, what do you think about the character?

_____________

(Tagging everyone: @seastarblue @illarian-rambling @dearunreliablenarrator @avalordream @the-ellia-west @leahnardo-da-veggie @azz-writes @satohqbanana @storyteller-kara @daishitheprofessionalfool @thecomfywriter @the-letterbox-archives @imsoveryveryconfusedatlife @writeblrfantasy @author-a-holmes @heycerulean @ominous-faechild @kaylinalexanderbooks @willtheweaver @paeliae-occasionally @elritze @vesanal @wheres-all-the-tea-gone @lb-archives-atlas-department @onixieisawriterrr @glassfrogforest @write-with-will @the-golden-comet @distantflickering @distortedsense @thebadphilosopher and everyone else who I couldn't add but would appreciate the views & reading of! Thank you for reading it all and stay tuned for chapter 2 of "Search For The Legendaries", and the character profile for Arwyn, as soon as I can finish them!)

[2010s-nostalgia]

[bleue-flora]

Was gonna do everyone, but I'm feeling lazy so here's what I got so far for the playdate au character details:

Name - Make Believe Name(s) - Age - Favorite Color - Physical Appearance - Other

Phil - Philza, Dadza - 16 - dark green - greenish blue eyes, gingerish blond hair - when he decides to go outside and play with the kids he tends to wear a silly looking striped hat (mostly though he tends to stay inside and text his girlfriend, Kristen)

Wilbur - WilburSoot (or also Ghostbur, Revivebur) - 13 - Blue - pretty fit and tan (because he’s on the school’s swim team), tall and lanky, brown hair and eyes - almost always wears his colonial style hat and when it’s cold enough his favorite yellow sweater

Sam - Awesamdude, Sam, Sam-nook, The Warden - 12 - green - naturally light brown hair he dyed green, brown eyes - has glasses, wears yellow tee-shirt and green cargo pants that he fills the pockets of with all kinds of handy tools and things, including rocks that he loves to collect, has a fake ruby necklace he loves to wear as well as his crown

Clay - Dream - 11 - lime green - green eyes, dirty blond hair - as he’s autistic he wears comfy clothes only like gym shorts and soft tee-shirts for example and hoodies when it’s cold enough (he will not be caught dead in jeans), used a paper plate with a smile on it to jump scare Tommy once and now it’s his Dream aesthetic

Luke - Punz - 11 - blue - bright blond hair and blue eyes - has a gold necklace he never takes off, his ears are pierced with some gold studs,, his favorite outfit is his ripped black jean shorts and white tee-shirt

Alex - Quackity - 10 - Red - dark brown eyes and black hair, kinda more short stubby - him and his family are mexican, tends to wear classic dark blue and black and doesn’t mind getting dressed up for the occasion, always wears a beanie though, carries a pack of candy cigarettes he pretends to light with a lighter he found, tends to carry a deck of cards and his dad’s old pocket knife, knows a little more than a kid should, has a little scar over his lip from falling face first that Techno turned into a whole lore point

Alexander - Technoblade - 9 - red - blue eyes and dirty blond hair though he tried to dye it an edge red to be cool and it turned out pink instead - he loves to wear his red cape and crown all the time, someone once called him a pig because of his pink hair and after that he added pig ears and nose to his Technoblade look, he also often is seen riding his stick horse steed named Carl, he has glasses that George often steals

Mark - Ranboo - 8 - purple - brown hair, green eyes and super tall and lanky - entire wardrobe is black with lots or variations of black and white, often see with sunglasses and face mask on to be mysterious and of course his crown

Nick - Sapnap - 7 - Orange - brown eyes and unkempt hair that’s just long enough to be annoying that he keeps out of his eyes with his white ninja headband - favorite outfit is black athletic shorts or pants with a flame themed shirt, when it’s cold he’ll wear the same shirts just with a long sleeve black shirt underneath, often carriers around a katana and pretends to be a stealthy ninja

Karl - Karl Jacobs - 7 - purple - light brown hair and blue eyes - when it’s cold he loves to wear his iconic hoodie, he wears lots of fun colors and patterns like the stereotypical stylish gay guy, he has a old stopwatch he likes to carry around

Thomas - Tommy, Tommyinnit - 6 - red - blond hair, blue eyes, tall (for his age) and lanky - likes to wear khaki and that two toned classic tee-shirt, often see with red bandana around his next like some western outlaw and appropriate red devil horns

Toby - Tubbo - 6 - green - bright blond hair and blue eyes - Niki gave him bumble bee barrettes he wears to keep his bangs out of his eyes, he’s very attached to his stuffed pig, can be found wearing cuffed jean shorts or sometimes overalls

George - Gogi - 5 - light blue -  brown eyes and messy hair - always carries around his mushroom patterned blanky, likes wearing his favorite iconic blue shirt and jeans

Current families developed in age order:

Dream, Techno, Sapnap, George

Phil, Wilbur (and surely Fundy needs to be the youngest)

Purpled, Quackity, Slimecicle

Punz, Vikk and Lazar (4 year old twins)

(Ya know based off appearances alone maybe Tubbo and Tommy should be twins?…)

 Others TBD...

[mallleus]

OMG i LOVE your headcanons of Stan with a Hispanic spouse and I wanned to rant a little bit since I'm from Costa Rica and wanted to share and know what you think about it, we have some desserts that I found funny for them to try out like the arroz con leche you can eat it hot or cold so it can be like el caldo de pollo but in dessert

-its okay chiquilines hay arroz con leche!

Dipper/Mable/Stan: :D

-Fresh out the olla!

Dipper/Mable/Stan: D:

There's also tamal de Maizena that looks kinda like yellow squares and it's pretty tasty, also the helado de sorbetera

Also in the parties telling Mable about the los dulces 15s and now making the dress and all for her future 15 party

Also disguising sometimes like for Halloween or to scare the Tourists in the shack dressed as la segua or el cadejos

And with the fun remedies my grandma have black tea, lime and honey to ease the throat and it does work or Do gargles with baking soda dissolved in water that works for Phlegm's

Also a specific for Stan, el cofal, it's a Muscle rubbing cream it's white and it really help for backache or Shoulder pain neck pain etc

Also thought in the "estan" to call him when the spouse it's angry, in my family it's the long full name so would be kinda like "ESTANLIIII PAAAAAAAINS"

I love this ask, send more Stan with Hispanic! Spouse reader

[annislittleshopofhorrors]

I’m not going to lie…

I was pleasantly surprised by how obvious they made it last night that they pay attention to the fandom chatter (or criticism) 😂.

1) arriving in the same car and letting people see them come out from the same side! Remember ghosted? And I guess Berlin but I didn’t bother to go looking for that arrival footage. The weird going around the side instead of just opening the door to the crowd…they fixed that last night!

2) matching outfits. Finally not one dressing in lime green and dark brown and the other wearing bright red, looking like they didn’t bother to check what the other was wearing. However, she’s shy but wore a dress that was showing 3x too much sideboob to a family movie? 🤔

3) holding hands and smiling this time for 5 seconds. Good improvement on the last 6 times where it was dead pan face while running through a park.

Now other areas that still need improvement….I mean, not going to give them more ideas.

But I do have to say, I’m continuously disappointed she keeps letting down the shy, private, and hates attention narrative. What kind of shy person who wants everyone to forget her keeps showing up to world premieres with chaperones wearing an outfit fit for 2016 era clubbing? In 50 degree weather ? Also…the clearly repeated outfit choices…

The fact that even I recognized the shoes and bag that she’s reused like three or four times this year alone for these events is both sad but also funny. Your BFF claims to be a fashionista himself and often gives the impression he loves judging on others. Yet he’s friends with you who continues to make fashion faux pas after fashion faux pas?? Either he’s setting you up to embarrass yourself or he’s just given up.

You will never be invited to the met gala. What happened to that next miumiu It girl????

It's still funny whenever they try to get rid of plot holes, they create new ones. 😂 But yeah, they took notes.

Oh and what about her bestie? She has so many brand deals. Couldn't she borrow anything from her. (Not the yellow dress again) Not even a nice purse?

[mercair]

Two pretty ladies in a dress

So yesterday i just happened to draw to beautiful women... For no apparent reason lol

Deltarune Lemon-Lime Tenna by Kris (twitter)

And the Yellow Lady owned by Quevod (twitter too lol)

[dailyanimatronics]

[ID: a drawing of mini mozzarella in a sleeveless, shiny yellow dress with a bow at the waist. she has a pearl necklace on. she's smiling with her arms behind her back. the drawing is outlined in a deep blue, with a lime green background. /end ID]

tried to change up my colors slightly. and mini is my favorite to draw so