#sometimes he still wears the cloak with this outfit but it's not really needed

[aetherean-alchemist]

QSMP February drawing of the day

Day 2: Q!BBH updated design/concept art

An agent of destruction and a reaper of death

[itsjaywalkers]

a lil smth under the cut for u guys (part 2) <3

part 1 part 3

Regulus gives himself one last look at the mirror in the locker room, cheeks tinted pink and brows furrowed. 

James’ clothes look ridiculously big on him; the black t-shirt reaches his mid-thighs, and the collar is so low on him his collarbones are on full display. He had to tie the basketball shorts quite tightly, and they still feel a bit loose, even if not at risk of leaving him exposed. 

And really, the point of this is being comfortable, not looking pretty, but Regulus is used to always wearing outfits that fit him like a glove, that don’t have a single crinkle and are perfectly pristine. He feels too out of his element like this. 

There’s also the fact that he’s not very sure about how to deal with the fact that he’s wearing James’ clothes, his scent cloaking his senses and making him dizzy, but he refuses to focus on that side of things. Regulus is already feeling restless enough as it is. 

With a tiny sigh, he sets his shoulders and makes his way out of the locker room, raising his chin slightly as soon as James appears in his sight. He’s leaning against the side of the ring, lazily checking something on his phone with his lips pulled up in half a smile. 

Regulus hates the little flip his stomach gives. Despite how very little he can stand to be around the other man, it’s impossible to deny how attractive he looks. Regulus especially likes him right now, away from the spotlight and without all those flashes lighting up his face. No shirt, still a little sweaty after today’s training, dark hair even messier than usual and shorts riding low on his hips. The laces of his right trainer half undone, and that little golden ring he only takes off during fights shining in his ear.

He does miss the glasses, though. James barely wears them, because he’s vain like that, and also because boxing isn’t the best place for them, but Regulus has caught him with them a couple times. He doesn’t think James is very fond of them, but Regulus thinks they suit him, even though he’d rather die than let the other man know.

They make him look more real. Tangible. Less like a character created to please the masses, and more like a normal man. The kind of bloke you’d cross paths with at Tesco while doing some last minute shopping before it closes, instead of an internationally famous boxer that hasn’t lost a single match since he seemingly appeared out of nowhere, a little over a year ago. 

Regulus doesn’t like James, regardless of the version of himself he chooses to show, but at least one of them doesn’t feel scripted. 

James raises his head all of a sudden, and Regulus isn’t quick enough to avert his gaze before he’s caught staring. Heat climbs up his neck just as a scowl twists his features, a couple of excuses and snarky responses appearing inside his brain, already ready at the tip of his tongue to argue against whatever arrogant bullshit James decides to spout this time. 

However, it never comes.

The other man seems to have frozen in place, watching Regulus with parted lips and wide eyes. The blatant gaping makes him want to squirm, but he refuses to give him a single reaction, so he opts for arching an eyebrow and closing his arms over his chest, waiting patiently for James to make the first move. 

“Fuck,” James murmurs, the word sounding almost like it’s been punched out of him. “Come here.”

Regulus considers refusing, or being difficult about it, or even demand that James comes there himself, but it wouldn’t make much sense, considering he needs to get in the ring for what they’re about to do. 

Arguing with James, disagreeing with everything that comes out of his mouth, it’s second-nature to Regulus at this point. Sometimes, he has to take a moment to turn that side of his brain off. Not like he has the necessity of doing so often.

He huffs a little, but Regulus still does as he’s told, walking slowly and with some wariness in his step, but never faltering. It doesn’t take him long to reach the ring, but he keeps a little distance between his body and James’.

This has nothing to do with the way James’ gaze follows every single one of his movements, or the way his pupils dilate when his eyes fall onto his exposed legs. Regulus’ hands twitch with the need of pulling the hem of the shorts down. He can only hope that the heat he can feel climbing up his neck isn’t showing in his face. 

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Regulus grumbles, after a few more seconds of complete staring and a lot of intense staring. 

James’ eyebrows shoot up and he blinks at him. “Can I?”

Regulus sputters a bit, losing his proud stance and even taking a step back. His cheeks feel like they’re on fire, and he’s unable to look away from James’ sparkling gaze.

“What? No!” he exclaims, hugging himself tightly. “I was teasing! Why would you even want a picture in the first place?”

James blinks a bit more, as if he’s waking up from a daze, and then he grins widely at Regulus, cocking his head to the side. 

“You’re wearing my clothes,” he says, like that explains everything. 

“And?” Regulus questions, incredulous. 

“And I want to fucking devour you,” James responds without missing a beat, tone calm as if he’s merely commenting on the weather. 

Regulus chokes on his own spit, and he opens his mouth, ready to curse the other man out, but his voice refuses to cooperate. 

“Shut up,” he ends up mumbling, too aware of the red that must be covering his whole face. Even his ears feel hot. “I thought you were supposed to be teaching me how to punch.” 

James snorts, shaking his head softly, but he turns around to grab the ropes of the ring and pull himself up, slipping inside with an ease that Regulus refuses to find attractive. 

Every single boxer gets in and out of the ring the same way, with the same naturality that can only be born from habit. If he doesn’t get affected by watching Barty doing it, he shouldn’t feel anything when it’s James, either. 

If only his brain could get with the program. 

James offers him a hand, the other one holding onto the ropes to keep his balance, even though he can probably lift Regulus without breaking a sweat. Regulus stares at his palm for a couple of seconds, lips pursed, before he takes it with a sigh, barely repressing a yelp when James pulls him up with a harsh tug.

He stumbles forward, and the only things that keep him from falling onto his ass are the ropes he crashes into and James’ hand grabbing him by the waist. Regulus is too dazed to appreciate the other man’s raw strength, the way he holds him up easily even after letting go of the ropes himself. Regulus is still trying to make his heart slow down while James helps him inside the ring, not letting go of him for a second until he’s sure that he can stand on his own, and he's far away from the ring’s edge.

“Careful,” James murmurs, squeezing his waist before he finally steps back and stops touching him. 

Regulus can’t help but send a glare his way. “A bit late for that, isn’t it? And it was your fault, anyway.” 

“How was it my fault?” James questions, a disbelieving laugh slipping between his words. 

“You pulled me too hard!” Regulus retorts, pointing an accusatory finger at him, uncertain if his embarrassment is due to almost falling in front of James or to having had him so close, manhandling him with such ease. “None of it would've happened if it weren’t for you!” 

James rolls his eyes, a smile already pulling at his mouth. “I was just trying to help you, love. But I didn’t expect you to weigh so little.”

Regulus scoffs, pointedly ignoring the urge of rubbing at his very warm cheeks. “I weigh a perfectly average amount for my age,” he hisses, eyes never focusing on James, always jumping from the floor, to the ropes, to the door that leads to the locker rooms. “It’s you who’s—”

“I’m… what?” James cuts him off, shit-eating grin already in place. Regulus can’t wait to be able to wipe it off his face with his fists. “Incredibly strong? Insanely fit?” 

“Desperately trying to overcompensate,” Regulus finishes drily. 

James huffs, but it sounds amused, and instead of responding with something snarky of his own, he shakes his head a little and begins rolling his shoulders. It takes Regulus a beat too long to realise that James is stretching. 

He rushes to do the same after the other man arches an eyebrow at him, still doing his best to keep their gazes from meeting. Regulus focuses on James’ movements, on the way he rolls his ankles and how tightly he pulls his arms over his head. 

They both work in silence, and despite it not being uncomfortable, it does feel a bit heavy. Tense. Like there’s a sword swinging over their heads, waiting for the right time to be dropped down. 

Regulus isn’t sure if that’d be a good or a bad thing.

By the time James finally starts to slow down, shaking his limbs to loosen them up, Regulus is already feeling some soreness in his muscles. James’ stretching wasn’t exhaustive, or even that intense; Regulus has seen what his actual routine looks like, as well as his daily training, and this was nothing in comparison. 

But, well. James is a professional athlete, while Regulus sits behind a computer to write his articles. He likes to think he’s in decent shape, despite having what’s mostly an office job, but this is making him start to doubt it.

“Okay, love,” James begins, and his voice startles Regulus a little. This might be the longest they’ve been silent in each other’s presence. “The first thing you need to understand about punching is that you don’t do it with your arms, you do it—”

“With your whole body,” Regulus intervenes, grinning a bit smugly. “I already knew that. Sirius told me ages ago.”

James rolls his eyes so hard he even tilts his head back, and Regulus has to make an active effort to repress a snort. 

“Good. I see he’s not completely useless,” James sighs, and Regulus narrows his eyes at him.

“I also know that you shouldn’t tuck your thumb inside, unless you wanna end up breaking it, and that your lead foot should be forward for jabs and crosses.” 

James sighs, his smile slowly becoming less genuine and more strained. “Fine, then. Since you’re such an expert, I’ll skip the basics. Show me your stance.”

Regulus lets out a quiet exhale and nods, a furrow setting between his eyebrows as he tries to remember Sirius’ lessons back when they were teens. If he’s being honest, he doesn’t remember that much, because they were quite young, and his brother wasn’t even half as good back then, but he’s too proud to admit this to James.

He spreads his legs slightly, always making sure that his right foot remains forward. Regulus pushes his shoulders back and crouches slightly, raising his arms enough to adopt a defensive position. 

When he’s satisfied, he raises his head, sneaking a glance at James, who’s looking at him with an unreadable face. 

“So?” Regulus questions after a moment.

“Wrong,” is all that James says, his tone neutral. 

Regulus does a double take. “Excuse me?” 

“Wrong,” James barks again, his focus shifting from his body to his gaze. He crosses his arms over his chest.

“How is it wrong?” Regulus demands, losing his stance just so he can properly scowl at James.

“It just is.” James shrugs, always so nonchalant it makes Regulus sick. “Spread your legs a little wider.”

Regulus scoffs, but he listens, even if a bit begrudgingly. 

“Wider,” James instructs again, and Regulus huffs loudly, but he still does as he’s told. “Okay, no, that’s too wide.” 

He throws his arms up in the air, already more than done with James’ stupid lesson. He’s about to let him know what he thinks of his shitty teaching skills when James closes the distance between them with two long strides. Regulus snaps his mouth shut even before the first syllable has left his parted lips.

It takes him a lot of effort to keep his body from taking a step back.

James’ eyes slide down his body, slow and careful, and Regulus bites the inside of his cheek so hard he tastes blood. There’s none of the usual interest in James’ expression; he’s focused on the task at hand, looking for flaws and ready to correct Regulus’ form like a surprisingly stern teacher. 

That doesn’t mean he can’t feel the weight of James’ gaze on him like a brand, Regulus’ skin burning in every zone where the other man’s eyes stop. 

“Close your legs, we’re starting again,” James instructs, and Regulus hesitates momentarily, trying to blink himself out of his daze. 

He does, rolling his eyes for good measure, and then waits for James’ next order with the most deadpan face he can muster. 

James walks around him, deep in thought. 

“Open,” he murmurs, frowning slightly. “Like you did the first time.”

Regulus gives him a very pointed look over his shoulder, but he complies, and this time, he doesn’t try as hard to get it right. He’s had enough judgement for the day. 

When he stops, James squints his eyes. “Open more,” he presses, attention never leaving Regulus’ legs.

“How much more?” Regulus asks, with a bite in his tone. “Because I also did that last time, and apparently it was wrong.”

“Just a little bit, Reg,” James sighs, and he has no business sounding so exasperated when Regulus is the one dealing with that attitude of his. “It’s not rocket science.”

“Well, that’s what I thought too, until you started to criticise my stance as if we’re doing something actually complicated, instead of just throwing a stupid—”

James interrupts him with a groan, and before Regulus can tell him to fuck off, the other man is moving forward, extending his hands and making Regulus go completely stiff. 

Noticing the sudden tension, he stops right before his fingers wrap around his waist, so very close Regulus can already feel their warmth. 

“Can I?” James wonders gently, and Regulus swallows thickly. 

He considers refusing, kind of curious to see what James will do, how will he react, especially considering that he’s a master of casual touches, and he usually never asks before wrapping an arm around Regulus’ shoulders, or patting him on the back and letting his hand linger for a few seconds too long. 

In the end, though, he’s also too tired of arguing. 

“Yeah,” he mumbles, looking away from James’ hovering hands. 

James seems to doubt for a second, before he finally grips Regulus’ tightly, squeezing for a moment and dragging a tiny gasp out of Regulus. It earns him another squeeze, this time, longer than the other one. 

The other man sneaks a leg between Regulus’ thighs, and he kicks softly at his feet until he opens the slightest bit wider, murmuring a breathy “good” when he likes the width. 

Regulus is helpless to the shiver that racks his frame. He’s sort of expecting James to make a teasing comment about it, or maybe just laugh a little, but he stays silent, still holding onto Regulus. 

Somehow, that’s even worse.

[radioroxx]

*slides you $500 in monopoly money* spare deets about the isafrin kids? i love them soooooooo much and would love love love to know even more!!!

like!! how did they get wished into existence? were they just There one day as small kids, or did they come as babies? did aurore come first and then eile? and isafrin!!! they look different!!?!!?! love love love love postcanon designs and would love to hear your thoughts on them (and! their bonding earrings??)

I WROTE THIS OUT AND REALIZED HOW STUPID LONG IT IS SO. ITS GOING UNDER A CUT. WOWZERS

Ok first- WISH BABIES!!!

uh. uhm. uh

ahah. oops!!

though we did get to discussing a few options after getting this ask (more like. i. asked them. and they provided. im not the thinker in this group. hehe!)

(@chromatasia )

for context on this one- i believe a while ago we also talked about wishing involving sacrificing? the idea of givinf up a piece of yourself (sometimes physically, like hair) to help power a wish! or link yourself to it?

a second option (three whole screenshots…)

(@unregisteredskybox )

carve your own baby!! yay!

general idea for our fankids though is that yes, they were created super young. and as babies. so aurore wouldve been crafted a few years before eilé :)

so yea ur two options <3 pick i guess lol. i dont have a solid idea there.

the second half of your questions- yes!! isafrin! theyre older and different!! wahoo!

the older isafrin designs were moreso. i wanted to have a little fun and made them. lawl. but now i get an excuse to share anyway :) so here!!

numbered the details to make it a lil easier. also dont mind these r quick scribbles,,

1- general outfits and stuff. siffrins i wanted to keep mostly similar to how i usually draw them. sleeveless top, horrible and unnecessary amount of belts,, knowing that hes maybe not as eager to change as some others might be. they are comfortable in their style and thats what matters. for isabeau i wanted to keep a familiar vibe, but still change it up. i think he would still wear clothes that are flowy-er etc etc, buuut yeayeayea. not an outfits guy really so jfkf theyre pretty simple.

2- themb!! they look different! siffrins hair is longer obv obv, and no lightless dye anymore. they tie it back usually, but he still likes it long. also some facial hair. important to me. (you may also notice lack of eyepatch,, personal hc that siffrin gets more comfortable without it after making up with bonnie some more. that he maybe depending on it a lot because he thought it would make them uncomfortable, which theyyy dont have to worry about. anymore! so less eyepatch. sometimes still though). isa on the other hand looks mooostly the same! except. ofc. bigger beard. you guys should know i love my beards by now. lawl. other than that mostly the same,, physical pain in me trying to think of a different hairstyle for him… maybe in the future but for now he gets This.

3- new cloak-thing for sif! his regular cloak is probably much more well suited for the travelling lifestyle, much less the domestic stay-at-home lifestyle, soo they changed it up! (and totally not an excuse for isabeau to try out craft stitching nooo definitely not as practice for the future whaat who said that.) they will still wear the old cloak occasionally, buuut not as often as they used to.

4- finally! bonding earrings!!! yes! the designs themselves are pretty simple. squares and change symbols for the design sif made for isa, and a star with bits that go ding-ding that isa made for sif. more importantly, siffrin carved the earrings himself! it is. hard. to do that. a design that is so small. there were many failed attempts and scraped ideas but they got it done! and isa loves them very much. for isas design, the main star part is glass, and the dangling bits are carved gems (picture isabeau, panicking because this is siffrin hes making these for so it needs to be perfect. and he gets odile to help him, because despite all the teasing she is ofc very fond, and helps him out with that aspect of the design.)

ok thats all - bye bye bye

[lemonnotlemonade]

N AND SIFFRIN HEADCANONS!!!

(No angst, all happy and fluff)

(English is not my first language, so I might have a lot of errors 😢)

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

- Bonnie teach them how to cook some basic dishes, even if in the beginning it seemed like he was NOT cooking shit he ended up learning

- Siffrin get really nauseous if he smells / eats anything banana related (he doesn't have a really good memories with bananas...) (this one not so fluffy tbh)

- Even if he can't cook shit outside of 4 dishes, they like to help Mirabel and Bonnie while baking (they eat everything edible they can get their hands into)

- After the loops Siffrin started officially living with Bonnie and Nile, but they very often travel to their other family members houses (except Mira, he stills feels uncomfortable being in there, but he stays on the town! Not the clock tower tho)

- Siffrin gets a chubbier since they escaped the loop (and thanks to Bonnie) (it represents the healing process) (and I'm chubby so my favorite characters must be too ;3)

- They keep the two coins in the drawer

- Isabeau got a lil bit out of hand while making eyepatch so now they have one for almost every outfit he have

- Siffrin stopped wearing the cloak and the same hat after Isabeau and the others gifted them some other clothes (mostly lightless), he has like a whole drawer with different hats

- Still has his messy hair but sometimes Nile or Mirabel will brush it (Bonnie and Mira put lil flowers on them :33)

- He's learning ka buan!! :)

-They have a little shop that sells wooden sculptures! He is quite popular since they're one of the saviors of Vaugarde and they even get orders from other places outside Bambouche :)

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- N builded a robo-dog by himself (well, Uzi helped a little)

- He enjoys all types of food and is trying to build immunity to spicy food! (Let's just imagine that spicy drone food exists)

- N LOVES baths, so he brings buckets of snow into the bunker and puts them in a bathtub in his apartment and waits for it to melt so he can cool himself in the cold water (even if it is dirty)

- Uzi and Khan helped the Dissasembly Drones with their need of oil and cooling problems, they didn't fix it completely but now it is not as serious as before (N can now stay in the sunlight for a while)

- He works at the bunker by creating different robo-pet animals! If anyone wants a pet they just have to talk to him

- He gave one to Uzi for her birthday (a crow that he jokingly called DarkXWolf) and one to V (a white cat)

- N got tired of his coat very early after starting living in the bunker, so he had to order customized clothes for himself

- He often wears T-shirts or hoodies

- He sleeps early and wakes up early, but when he's really tired he sleeps like a rock

- He hugs his pillow while sleeping

- Has the room almost full of stuffed animals

- His robo dog sleeps in a lil bed next to his, her name is Biscuit

- Doesn't curses often, but he once hit their food into a table by accident, and I think almost all the Bunker heard it XD

- He puts old human music ON BLAST every time he cleans his apartment

- He sings and doesn't do it bad either, but he would die of embarrassment if somebody brings it up

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[offbranddrpepsi]

may i please request some jax (league of legends) x male reader? maybe just some fluff headcanons/how he shows affection? thank you!!!

-the jax anon

I'll do my best as a bot laner absolutely terrified of this man!

Jax shows affection in many ways some a bit more conventional than others. At first, in an attempt to not hurt you, it was head bonks. His face pressed into parts of you be it your stomach when laying down or your hair when standing. As you two grew closer and any need for gentleness faded, you showing numerous times you could absolutely handle just how rough of an individual he is, leading to him being much more unconventional. Often on long nights during his travels he calls you to spare, claiming that a 'young man' needs to keep himself honed. He's teasing and antagonizing you between blows while also admonishing you for dodging poorly. You may not be as much of a warrior as he is or nearly as old but you aren't unskilled either so while exhausting its not impossible. You are also, of course, used to how he fights. Despite his speed and mobility you know the best tactic is to out run his strikes then close the distance when hes recovering from them himself, that window being small but easy for you. Of course you still aren't really a match for him and are on your ass before you know it, sore and a bit dizzy. This is when he relents and starts walking back to your shared tent, praising you as the only man that could fight him and just end with just a bruise.

He flirts by telling you to fight harder, train harder. Sometimes he asks for you to show him your muscles so he can check your 'progress' when he actually just wants to make sure he hasn't hurt you while training and to check you out. He runs off in battle to take the enemy out himself while you deal with their lackeys, claiming you aren't ready but not ever leaving a gap for you to disprove this baseless claim. He has lost his people, he wont lose you, and he loves when you dote on him after fights.

Outside of fights he nearly always finds a way to touch you or be touched by you. A hand on your back as you walk through Shurima. Arms brushing as you rest in an Ionian bar, Jax glaring at anyone that dares talk to you. One of his favorite ways is throwing his cloak over your head under the guise of keeping you from catching a cold only to comment how cute you look glaring up at him from under it. Nuzzles are exchanged as often as teasing words. Eventually its hard to not wear a piece of his outfit when you're out. He's even started teaching you to hold his staff and how to swing it, hands over yours as he guides you.

You may not exchange kisses or hugs as often as most couples but you know you're loved, Jax makes sure of that between sarcastic jabs and actual praise.

[kh-wanderers-of-twilight]

@khoc-week 2024 Day 1 - Introduction

I am so happy to introduce those two, they are connected to two other OCs of mine that I introduced back in 2022. 😁

Kionas

Kionas(meaning Pillar in greek), was originally an unversed that was made by Vanitas 16 years ago and represented the physical manifestation of the thoughts, feelings and will of Vanitas. When Aceso and Vaillant arrived at the Keyblade Graveyard for exploration they found the Vanitas Remnant and engaged in combat, after they won Aceso and Vaillant(mostly Aceso) took pity of the weird boy and wanted to be his friends.

Aceso was the one who named him Kionas because of some rocks she saw that looked like pillars and Vaillant gave him a new haircut and outfit. Currently he is traveling with his new friends and helping other worlds.

Appearance and Personality:

Kionas looks similar to Vanitas and Sora but he is almost unrecognizable with his white spiked undercut hair and has sky blue eyes. His outfit is inspired by Punk fashion. He is 16 years old.

Unlike Vanitas and Sora, he is calm and silent, doesn't talk much, he is loyal and protective of his new friends, he is really curious of the worlds around him and he is interested to learn new things. He really loves giving hugs to people that are close to him. In battle his really aggressive and he will not hold back if one of his friends gets seriously injured.

Abilities:

He can wield the Keyblade and manipulate the shadows.

His fighting style is similar to Vanitas but as he grows as person he learns new fighting skills and magic.

Trivia:

As Kionas travels and interacts with other people and becomes his own person, in the future his keyblade is going to change appearance.

For his hair I took inspiration from this screenshot of Vanitas in KH 3 and the manga

Telos(Teleshoros)

Telos is the Nobody of Aceso's older brother Teleshoros*(means the accomplisher or bringer of completion), unlike his family who are known Potion Makers in his homeworld, Harmonic Plateau, he used to work as fisherman in the docks.

After the events of Birth By Sleep, he lost his world, his sister and heart by the heartless, but his will was so strong that a part of him became a Nobody and found himself in Traverse Town for unknown reason. During his years in Traverse Town, he took the name Telos, he learned that he had the ability to manipulate both light and darkness (similar to Vaillant, this power is called Twilight manipulation) and helped the people around town.

When a black cloaked figure arrived at the world Telos took residence, he was curious about the Black portal they opened and he tried one day to open a portal himself and arrived to different world. He also learned those dark portals where dangerous without the required protection and then he stole the cloak of one the hooded figures after he hit them in the head.

And so Telos travel to different worlds with the goal to find his younger sister and his heart.

Appearance and Personality:

He is 1,80 cm, he has long brown hair and light purple eyes. He wears a black cloak which he stole from one of the members of Organization XIII and modified it, he wears a green shirt and a light brown vest under the cloak and a red cloth like a belt. He is 18 years old.

He is stubborn and hardworking, he is an overprotective brother and loves and cares for his sister, loves to help his fellow people and gets really suspicious with strangers from other worlds. He loves to train a lot especially with bladed weapons or clubs and also completing any tasks. After loosing his world and becoming a Nobody, he became distant and reclusive but still trying to help others in need. He sometimes forgets to relax when he tries to complete a task.

Abilities:

Twilight Manipulation: Light and Dark powers, creating Dark corridors.

Blade weapons and Bats/Clubs training

Close/Hand to Hand Combat

Trivia:

*He was originally named Aratus but I decided to change his name.

In Greek mythology Teleshoros was the sod of Asclepius, God of Medicine and brother of Aceso.

Link to previous characters I mentioned:

[mask131]

As a continuation of my previous post here, to expand a bit more my explanation to @themousefromfantasyland about the French Père Noël, here is even more pictures of the "pre-50s" Père Noël, with a few additional comments about the visual depiction of the character. (Well technically speaking there are some Bonhomme Noël and even Bonhomme Etrennes pictures in there, but since they're all variations of the same guy...)

As you will note by looking at all these pictures (and those of the previous post), there are two main "fashions" when it comes to depicting the Père Noël. One is the "colorful" Père Noël, who wears clothes of brilliant colors - red (which led to the modern Santa Claus look), green, blue, purple... This is a visual habit that also occured in England for Father Christmas.

The other would be the "drab" Père Noël, depicted as a poorer and humbler person, with rather brown or dark clothes - usually a robe and a hood instead of fur-lined coats and large cloaks. This second incarnation of the Père Noël, much more unique to France, is also highlighted the disturbing connection if not gemellity between him and Père Fouettard, Father Whipper, the "evil companion" of Father Christmas in France. Père Fouettard is also depicted as an elderly man with a beard, also wearing brown or dark clothes. While sometimes Fouettard's beard is black, it can be white like Noël's, and Fouettard can also carry a wicker basket, but to take children away instead of giving toys... And you have many pictures where both Fouettard and Nël sport the same serious, judgemental, no-nonsense look (a far cry from the jolly Santa Claus).

In fact, you might notice in some of the pictures I shared that among the numerous toys Père Noël brings, there is... sometimes a whip... sometimes a bundle of branches, aka an old form of whip for children... Another one of the fleeting, confused, hesitating sides of Père Noël: sometimes, he doesn't need Père Fouettard as he is the one who gives both the toy and the whip.

I evoked the "monk-like" appearance of Père Noël, but the whole religious imagery needs to truly be explored, as Père Noël is essentialy a toned-down version of Saint Nicholas. The rich bishop clothes are gone - but there's still colorful, rich fur-lined robes with a hat on one side (colorful Père Noël), or clothes that distinctly remind of a monk's outfit (drab Père Noël). There's the ride that is very often a donkey. And the bishop staff is replaced by a walking staff or by a cane. Plus, sometimes Père Noël is shown holding a lantern to light his way through the snowy night - which evokes another archetype, the one of the semi-religious figure of the hermit. Think of the tarot card. The hermit is typically this elderly man with a beard, in simple brown robes, holding a lantern...

There is also in typical Père Noël depictions a certain tendency to give him robes or cloaks covered in moon or stars symbols. I don't know if there is anything to it, or if it is just an artistic fashion of the time, but I really like how these star-robes and moon-cloaks, coupled with his walking staff, hat and beard, make him look like some sort of fantasy wizard.

The fact the Christmas lore of Germanic countries reached France through the East is also manifesting itself in those imageries: you'll see leftovers of the Christkindel tradition in the shape of female angel, saint-children and other holy cherubs accompanying Père Noël.

[unagidevi]

WHIMSICAL DREAMSWAP FACTS REVISED (whs ds for short) + long post

-Nightmare goes by Nightmare, Man of the Moon, Man IN the moon and Akli. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s something along the stars and moon.

-Nightmare helps people, or well, better should say- monsters like Blue to escape the JR and to have safety.

-Nightmare is based on a crow, despite looking like an elf he has wings that hide under his cloak for the most part so usually he can get away with being in villages if the wanted posters aren’t plastered around.

-Nightmare and Error work together to help others and their emotions to be a little better after the JR attack, like now they are working with Blue.

-Nightmare loves spicy foods, but he also likes savory food. He also tends to test the limits of his cooking and has Cross eat it for him as the test subject.

 (Cross does not mind, and actually enjoys it even if it’s really bad)

-Nightmare can play the ukulele and the violin, he tried to learn bass but he wasn’t very good at it and he didn’t have any space to keep the one he rented for a little while.

-Nightmares' pet raven, Kevin, has many different names that are all joking. Kevin doesn’t mind, besides, at least he’s being called michael myers for stalking them outside the house.

-Sometimes Kevin escapes the house, not like Nightmare minds, but Kevin ALWAYS comes back in the end.

-His cloak is usually draped over his shoulders but sometimes he uses it to catch his balance or mock one of his friends in a joking manner. (He also has a spare cloak that has slits for his wings to be free so he can fly around, which isn’t often.)

-Nightmare is NOT a careful person physically, he is emotionally but he is always getting hurt here, there, everywhere.

-If you asked Nightmares favorite food he’d probably say Salad mostly because of the tomatoes and how much dressing he puts on it.

-Nightmare doesn’t really exercise his wings much because if he’s in the sky he can easily be found by the JR, instead he walks like a normal person.

-Nightmare and Cross are best friends, they helped each other through the littlest stuff and are easy to talk to.

-Nightmare does his best to keep the monsters alive he’s met past and present, he doesn’t wish a horrible fate upon the JR either. He just wishes they could fix what they have done to the creatures.

-The apple incident was more of a, ‘i don’t wanna be friends with you anymore so i’m gonna be petty and turn everyone against you’ type thing. Kinda like elementary playground dramas, but thats like how unhinged i’d put it cuz it’s really childish (lmao)

-Nightmare likes playing chess and card games, the video gamer is Cross. Nightmare has a small limited edition glass chess board that he hides and puts up so it doesn’t break

—-

-not keeping the stupid harpich idea where they were harpies sooo… Dream is now an Horned Barn Owl! I thought it worked better since the old idea was some shitty harpy concept that didn’t go very well.

-Dream is very formal, but there are times when the act breaks and he just talks out-of-character.

-Dream is usually very warm, he doesn’t need many layers but he wears it anyways in the JR. He does have some casual, normal outfits but he just wears the checkered one in the JR.

-Dream has a really poor sense of fashion, so sometimes Ink chooses outfits for him (even if Dream doesn’t like it very much.)

-Dreams Justice Reigns is actually called Valor Affiliation, so it’s VA instead but for this I’ll refer to it as both.

-Dream is aware of Ani here, but Ani is just a traveling trader with a giant turtle friend. (in the works still!)

-Dream still adores kids, monsters or elves, doesn’t matter- he thinks they are all equal.

-Dream doesn’t mean to harm the monsters around him as he is a monster himself, but he does it anyway by accident.

-Dream plays a little bit of the harp, but he did it in the past and isn’t very good at it now.

-Dream does his best to treat VA like human beings instead of co-workers or servants because oh my god the amount of DS Dream ‘i’m a bad guy’ i see is going to make me go feral- excuse me.

-Dream has a ton of trust in Ink even if Ink is a little bit suspicious and mischievous. (ink does not care, he likes the power.)

-Dreams favorite foods vary every other week, so he just decided what he likes that week.

—-

-Cross is an albino raccoon, and genuinely a sweetheart.

-Cross cannot draw for shit, so when asked to draw his feelings out it’s mindless scribbles or things/stories he’s heard from others to put on paper.

-Finders keepers man, fuck off.

-The fridge is always stocked because of him (error buys groceries from monster shops), he’s always getting into food but he always asks permission beforehand.

-His nails can come out sharp, or dull, it’s a personal thing that comes with his species and a sign of protection.

-Cross is always washing the food so Error and him can cook together. They do the best work together, but if one is cooking (cross is not allowed to cook alone because where’s all the ingredients going to go?) It's probably just Error.

-Cross has minor anger issues, sometimes they get in the way of his friendship with the trio but other than that he’s able to manage it!

-Cross (sometimes) digs in the trash if he’s looking for something he lost, mostly because he has a tendency to throw stuff away that shouldn’t be thrown away.

-Cross used to ‘collect’ (he stole it) jewelry and set them on a stand in his bedroom, however Night found out and he had to return most of it. He kept a few cherry picked.

 (he doesn’t even wear jewelry…)

-Cross uses make-up to put the circles in his design on his face, as most of his markings are under his outfit instead of somewhere on his face.

-He plays an alto flute, and usually it attracts raccoons in the area who sit and watch. Sometimes he has leftovers to give to them to share!

-Instead of multiplayer games (he’s really bad at that), he plays singleplayer games. His favorites are something like stardew valley and the sims 3.

—-

-Error is in the insect category with Blue, he’s based on a yellow garden spider.

-Errors very insecure of his fangs, which aren’t poisonous but can do major damage. He has problems with them, and worries people will hate him.

 (Cross and Nightmare always stick around to cheer him up!)

-Spiders are more afraid of you than you are of them.

-Error cannot stand smoke, it makes him cough really bad. He’s extremely sensitive to it and it tends to make it hard to breathe for quite awhile.

-Error still has haphephobia.

-Error likes coffee still, but he’s very particular about it and what it’s in it. (two sugar, one cream)

-Error can hypnotize other people, but he really doesn’t use that power because he doesn’t want to harm anyone or anything.

-Error loves the little spiders that appear in the winter in the Meme Squads base, it makes him feel welcome.

-Error can speak to other spiders through chittering (he doesn’t do this often, he usually just speaks normally to them)

-Error can play a little bit of the ukulele and a little bit of the kazoo, he has more experience with the ukulele though thanks to Nightmare.

-Error has a problem with overthinking, but his friends always reassure him that everything will be okay.

-Error is usually really helpful when it comes to helping monsters attacked by the JR as he was attacked by the JR previously, and saved by Nightmare (not blue).

—--

-Blue is a moth creature, again, insect category. He’s genuinely skittish after what happened with Ink.

-Blue is extremely flexible, the only problem he has is his wings when doing such things because they help him balance.

-Blue still does yoga, instead he does private classes so that he can help them. That and it’s mostly monsters he helps, but sometimes elves come in.

  (He doesn’t want any conflict.)

-Upon first meeting Cross and Error, they were like ‘wtf why’d you bring this person home they don’t seem very injured’ but they soon realized what happened, and where he was damaged at so they welcomed him into their home (they would’ve anyway, but, yknow)

-Blue doesn’t really do weapons, or fighting. After what happened with Ink he kinda gave up fighting and meeting people, kind of shutting himself off from the world. The meme squad is helping him open up though!

-By what happened with Ink is that Ink ‘befriended’ Blue, and when Blue got most comfortable and vulnerable he pulled out a small dagger he carries around and sliced part of his wings and damaged his eye. Now he is unable to fly and his eye is blinded with a nasty scar in the place.

-Blue is a very skittish being, he is very afraid and is always trying to listen in to whats going on around him so he knows what is going on and not to fear.

-Most of Blues trust is in Nightmare, but luckily there is some in Error and Cross

 (Error is a little more than Cross, but that doesn’t really matter.)

-Blue is a very non-picky eater, there's just specific stuff he doesn’t like: doesn’t mean he won’t eat it.

 “He asked for no pickles”

 “It’s okay-”

-As mentioned before, Blue never saved Error: it was Nightmare who had done so: they don’t have any previous bonds before said meeting present-time.

-Sometimes he wears cloaks, but most of the time he just wears his citizen design because he now lives in a monster-only town ran by Nightmare.

—-

-Inks nickname is Swindler, or The Man with a Sharp Tongue

-Inks not a stupid hybrid elf thingy. He’s a Western Rat Snake, I did my best to incorporate that into his design but we’ll see how you guys like it instead.

-His civilian design is usually used outside of the JR that way he isn’t painted as a citizen inside his workplace.

-Ink is not a good guy in Whimsical Dreamswap, he has alternative motives that Dream does. He actually means to harm.

-Ink genuinely does not care what you think of him, just what your actions are.

-Ink likes to nitpick workers every now and again just to irritate them and get on their nerves. Finch is so used to this it isn’t so surprising to him so he jokes around about it.

-Ink likes to do leatherworking and crafting as a hobby, nothing much more than that but he genuinely likes creating things out of work.

 (work kinda bums him out)

-His weapon is usually a tiny dagger that he keeps in a boot or on his belt, used to hurt or collect: either or.

-Ink has little trust in Dream and just wants the power place, he’s power hungry but he doesn’t make it obvious.

-He considers Dream a friend though, so he won’t force his way to the top.

-Inks not very sensitive to hearing, but it is enhanced. Same thing with smell.

-Probably the only OTHER creature besides Dream in the JR.

—-

-Finches name is different in this AU, it’s Lorcan Ruth or just Ruth works (Lori works as well, he doesn’t care.)

-Finch is a forest elf, and is very loyal to his job.

-Finch was previously saved by Ink, but instead Dream took the role of taking care of him as Ink didn’t do a very good job.

-Finch is the same age as Ink, there’s no doubt about that.

-Finch likes the quiet, he does his best work when it’s quiet and no one else is focused on what he’s doing.

-He’s not very close with Dream, but more close with Ink in a playful/teasing manner. Sometimes they throw joking insults at each other, but they do appreciate both of their presences in the same room.

-Captain uniform is different from Officer, Chef and Janitor.

-Finch made the coat, which isn’t part of the VA uniform, with Ink because they needed a bonding lesson and Dream offered to give them an idea.

-Finch is loyal no matter what, even if he knows what the JR is doing is very wrong, he just does his best to do things differently than everyone else would.

-Finch sometimes smokes a pipe, mostly because it’s stressful to do the job he’s doing but Ink knows and sometimes smokes with him so he’s not alone.

 (sometimes other guards join in.)

-Finch is very respectful and respects boundaries, he doesn’t see the monsters as threats.

-He’s very good at communication, sometimes he uses that speciality to get the guards to lay off attacking the Monsters for a little bit. It works most of the time.

—-

-Randy is a female, and a mom in this instead! I will be referring to Randy as Rana, this way it’s easier to understand.

-Rana is a coyote, for the most part she's very helpful and adoring.

-Her oldest designs she was created by a stupid wheel challenge because I didn’t know what to do, now she is fully developed.

-She usually wears rags, that way she can’t be pointed out very easily.

-Rana has a southern accent, sometimes it influences Bobby and Hacker.

-Rana cares more about the people around her than herself, hence the outfits Bobby and Hacker have and then you have hers.

-Rana has two outfits I draw her in! A Dress and one more cloak like.

-Ranas cooking is one of the best, she works as a cook in a monster restaurant in a separate town.

-Rana has very bad paranoia, but she doesn’t let it control her.

-Rana once had a lover, that lover is unknown and long gone. By long gone, I mean dead.

—-

-Hacker is both male, female, and non-binary. She’s all of it.

-Hacker is a night elf, they were taken in by Rana for safety, and because her parents abandoned her in a forest near Ranas old home.

-Hacker has a very close relationship with their mom and is happy to say has a good relationship with Rana.

-Hackers relationship is very healthy with Bobby too, her little brother might be a pain in the ass sometimes but they don’t mind very much.

-Hacker will buy any game for Bobby as long as it’s okay with Rana. Hacker also sometimes plays with Bobby if he’s okay with it.

-Hacker and Cross don’t exactly get along, in fact, they aren’t really friends either when Hacker and Bobby went to a meet up. They have trouble getting along– probably due to Cross's hate for elves.

-Hacker is really good at make-up and prosthetics for make-up. They wish to be a make-up artist but for now they just do it in her freetime.

—-

-Bobbys literally a squirrel in this. I have no other words, he’s a squirrel and that’s final.

-Bobbys natural hair color is Brown instead of Black, give it a different pop.

-Bobbys a streamer and has a pretty good audience doing so, his audience wides from humans, elves and monsters. (humans are in like, another world. They just think it’s a vtuber or something)

-Bobby is on very good terms with Cross, they sometimes stream together that way they grow both of eachothers audiences.

-Sometimes he uses Hacker as a junglegym, and other times he uses trees.

-He loves piggyback rides, no questions asked.

-Bobbys very affectionate, it just depends on the person.

-The type of person to be quiet when you first meet them, then loud and happily talkative the more you know them.

[ultimatedetectivequeen]

Kyoko what are you going for as Halloween to get the most candy...especially the 'vanilla' sort~

Lewd topics lie below!

Kyoko Kirigiri wasn't one known to follow most holiday traditions. Key word being most, because when it comes to Halloween, it's actually an entirely different story. But why is this?

The answer isn't too strange. The truth is, she sees Halloween as an opportunity.

An opportunity to dress herself up as skimpy as possible, of course.

Kyoko may sometimes claim otherwise, but she has the same needs that any other girl her age has. The desire to be seen by others... and to get a mouthful of tasty spunk while she's at it~

And what better way to see those desires through, than to go door-to-door as a sexy detective, a lewd police officer, or even as a cliché slutty bunny bitch. The list goes on, and she has done it ALL.

And because of that, she soon grew a bit insecure. Don't get her wrong, she is perfectly aware of her own beauty. The issue is that all the other girls had one advantage over her.

Fictional Characters. Or rather, their knowledge of them.

For instance, Sayaka was going as some sort of Idol-esque girl with long turquoise twintails. Junko was in a sexy red skintight cat-suit. Chiaki was dressed in a... red plumber's outfit? (Even if the outfit confused her a bit, her point still stood due to just how tightly those overalls hugged the gamer girl's heavenly curves.)

The point is, if Kyoko was going to compete for the most eyes, she needed a bit of guidance. So she confided in the first person that came to mind.

—————

"U-Uh, come again?" Makoto wasn't sure if he heard Kyoko correctly.

"You heard me. Which fictional character are you most attracted to?— Oh, my apologies, I should be more clear..." She reached down and firmly grasped the luckster's crotch, eliciting a moan out of the boy.

"... Which character have you thought about doing what I do to you every night?~" Kyoko whispered in his ear in a sultry voice, ensuring that he had practically no choice but to confess.

Once he quickly folded and told her what she wanted to know, she then got real close and asked him to...

...pull up a picture because she quite literally had no clue who he was referring to.

—————

[October 31st]

Makoto sat in his room and stared at the clock, nervously awaiting his girlfriend's arrival. He just couldn't get his mind off of what he had admitted to her the other day.

Ding-Dong!

Makoto shot out of his seat in surprise, before getting a grip and walking to answer the door.

Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was so concerned. Really, what were even the odds that her previous question had anything to do with today?

He closed his eyes, grasped the doorknob, and turned it.

What were the odds that he would open the door and open his eyes to see Kyoko wearing...

"Trick or Treat~"

... an exact replica of Raven's costume from Teen Titans. In other words, an outfit that she looked absolutely RAVISHING in.

Kyoko stood with her hands on her hips and a smug smirk on her face as she watched her boyfriend's eyes travel across her body.

She donned the magical goth girl's purple cloak and wore her hair in a ponytail as she also had the cloak's hood over her head, almost but not quite hiding the single red crystal that she managed to stick to her forehead by one way or another. Under the cloak, her voluptuous body was tightly embraced by a long sleeve black leotard, and her hips hugged by a gold belt with red jewels embedded across it.

"Would you happen to have any vanilla flavored sweets?—Ah, how fortunate— it seems you do~." Kyoko eyed the thick bulge in his pants with hungry eyes as she kicked the door shut behind her and pounced her prey onto the bed.

What transpired next was something that the mystically costumed girl would proceed to do a countless amount of times throughout the night until her stomach was completely full.

And believe her, on this night in particular...

She had a monstrous appetite~

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 5.02 ‘A War on Two Fronts' Reaction

Rex what on earth are you wearing?! Look what they did to my boy.

Naw, he’s got jaig eyes on the front of his chest plate. I’d love to know the story behind Rex getting his jaig eyes.

Ok, who thought it was a good idea to give Rex a jetpack?

Gymnast Rex! Look at him being all flexible and flipping about like a Jedi. Also, his little grunts/old man noises during this. 

Rex, you did not need to backflip off the tank. Sir, you are showing off again.

Ahahahahah omg, it’s an absolute 'blink and you’ll miss it' moment but after Rex leaps off the tank and just before the shot changes, you can see him brush off his shoulder. Sir, you are definitely showing off. You utter dork. I love him so much.

“We must not train terrorists.” Well, that’s going to come back and bite everyone in the arse.

Rex sounding like a drill sergeant there while they’re training the rebels. Also, hello to that jawline.

So this is where we meet Saw Gerrera. Great.

Pitting two young girls against each other over the affections of some teenage boy. How original. I thought something written in 2012 would be better than this but that’s probably looking back with far too rose tinted glasses. Or the awful goggles Rex was wearing.

Rex’s outfit would’ve been so good without those bloody googles. We were robbed.

Just paused it and the hat and earmuffs aren’t great either. And why is he wearing long socks with the pants tucked into them? Is that an aerial or view thingy on his right earmuff? What is the random patch under the long sleeved shirt on his right bicep? Are the blotches supposed to be a camouflage pattern? Ok, I revise my opinion. This entire outfit is trash. Burn it with fire.

Where on earth did Rex get this abomination of an outfit anyway? Does the 501st just have a random closet full of awful civvies clothes? Ahahah, it’s a disguise box isn’t it. 

Ok I’m now analysing Rex’s outfit way too much but oh well, here we are. What are the random pouches attached to his belt for? Why have pockets on your pants if they’re not holding anything? Now that I look at it, the chest plate really doesn’t seem to be covering a great deal. Why are you wearing 2 layers Rex? Unless the underneath layer is his blacks, then it makes more sense. And what are the holsters for your DC-17s attached to? They’re sitting on his hips but the belt is around his waist and they don’t look like they’re connected. Are they just magically connected to his person? Do ARCs just come out of training with their holsters glued to their hips? I have so many notes about this outfit.

Tangentially related outfit notes: Why does Ahsoka have to wander about in a) a boob tube and then b) a skin tight outfit with cutouts, yet Rex and all the guys are fully covered in loose clothing. Oh wait, I know why.

Ah, so Steela was the voice of reason. Of course, it’s the young girl that has to keep the arrogant, hot headed male in check. This is painfully dated, and probably explains why Saw went completely off the rails after her death.

Really not impressed with Saw. He’s arrogant, dismissive and hot-headed. That line from Steela about how he fashions himself as their leader even though no one elected him does not bode well either.

So many Jedi cloaks in this episode! I love the return of their ridiculously obvious and completely unsubtle “disguises”. 

Lmao at Obi-Wan and Anakin at the end having their serious Jedi conversation while pretending to be subtle in their cloaks. No one is falling for that boys.

“I am hopeful, Anakin. Hopeful.” How mysteriously Jedi of you Obi-Wan.

Oh, this is the planet that The Bad Batch went to in ‘Aftermath’. I thought Onderon felt familiar. It’s decidedly weird sometimes watching The Clone Wars after watching The Bad Batch. There’s a lot of moments that I didn’t understand the significance of and thus completely missed out on. Like the return of Rex in ‘Battle Scars’, Cody in ‘The Solitary Clone’ and Gregor (who I still haven’t met in TCW yet) in ‘War-Mantle’. Things like understanding exactly who Cut and Suu were in ‘Cut and Run’ and the importance of their history in TCW, especially with Rex. Even Trace and Rafa are characters from TCW, though I’ve yet to meet them either. And then there’s moments like this where a planet that is completely new at the time of this TCW episode being broadcast is familiar to me because of the backwards way I’ve watched everything. I’m definitely going to have to rewatch The Bad Batch at some point once I’ve watched all of TCW, Rebels and Tales of the Jedi to fully understand and get all the moments and references. 

Lmao of course they have the two characters that were fighting team up at the end and use the same training exercise they failed at earlier to defeat the droids. I know it’s an “animated kids TV show” and sometimes you can really tell. And yet there’s also commentary in here about the folly of an external (essentially) military force training insurgents/rebels from another planet country and the consequences there of. Hmmmmmmm, I wonder what on earth that could be referring to. Hmmmm.

I still cannot believe Rex’s outfit. The ribbing in the group chat is going to be even worse than after the Zygerrian armour. 

[florintradat]

: ̗̀➛ name: florin cel tradat

: ̗̀➛ from bran, romania; lives in bran castle

: ̗̀➛ 1,000+ years looks 20 [1.18, capricorn] / 5'10" / pansexual / he/they

: ̗̀➛ multi-ship; dating @evicted-oc Lugh [sunlight ☀️], uninterested

: ̗̀➛ occupation: anonymous author

: ̗̀➛ appearance: black wavy hair, two nose piercings, one side lip piercing, smiley piercing, tongue piercing, belly && hip piercings, has one tattoo on his pec, is always wearing makeup [winged eyeliner, black lipstick, sometimes smokey red eye shadow, sometimes glittered blush/highlights/eye shadow], black && purple/red nail polish, he tends to shimmer in moonlight, grey eyes [turn red when hungry, purple when fed]

: ̗̀➛ personality: cold, blunt, very silent, hates when sterotype vampires, can be really closed off, easily annoyed && irritated, can be softer once close to you, bullying = 'i love you'

: ̗̀➛ abilities: abnormal strength && speed, can adapt to sunlight but only lasts a little while without magic/items, greater stamina, agile, amazing reflexes, doesn't age like humans, can not get sick [unless he doesn't drink blood]

: ̗̀➛ because of evolution he does not have all things ancient vampires have, he can still see his reflection, walk in the sun, he does still need to be invited into homes and needs to feed or will go into bloodlust and sickness

: ̗̀➛ likes: blood, bats, nail polish, red and purple, black, makeup, glitter, victorian gothic outfits, goth outfits, boots, cloaks/capes, reading, writing, strawberries, cherries, watermelon, tomatoes, most red fruits && vegetables, smoking, weed, wine

: ̗̀➛ dislikes: being called chupacabra or dracula, being sterotyped, being annoyed, noise

: ̗̀➛ nsfw: is a hard dom size kink, gagging [giving], choking [giving], wax play, bdsm, impact play [giving], rimming [receiving && giving], oral [receiving], dirty talk [giving], burning [will burn you with his cigarette; giving && receiving], multiple rounds, he is open to most kink and prefers harder kinks; will sub once he trusts you enough

: ̗̀➛ faceclaim: @/ghost0id

[worldcatlas]

PIC: Remembrance

Please note: This article contains spoilers for ST: Picard 1x01 (and earlier events that you should really already know about by now).

Eighteen years after Nemesis, the first episode of Star Trek: Picard opens with our titular admiral playing a game of poker with his old friend Data, who wears the DS9 style of uniform he died in. It’s hard to tell, but it looks like the vertical lines on the grey shoulder area of this remake may have been made by pleating the fabric, rather than quilting.

Yes, our favourite robot is back from the dead, but can we talk about these seams?

Picard himself doesn’t wear anything particularly noteworthy just yet, which is fine, because this was all a dream. Sadly, I can’t say the same for the next scene, in which this cool Xahean guy’s awesome vest–

–does not prevent him from being immediately murdered.

Great lining on the vest, though.

Jean-Luc, awake now, strolls through the vineyards of Château Picard looking absolutely dapper. With a cane and flat cap, he is the very image of a peaceful, pastoral retirement. Somehow, this is the cottagecore content we all needed in our Star Trek.

Number One also looking very gentlemanly.

In a move that seems surprisingly self-important, Picard also appears to be wearing a pin of his own family crest while touring the grounds… but I think he just feels naked without a little badge there. I also appreciate that he has pinned it to – in true Trek fashion – an asymmetrical sweater.

Straight lines were banned in 2360.

Speaking of great sweaters, another member of the household who wears the Picard family crest is Laris, Jean-Luc’s Romulan housekeeper. 

The fuzziness offsets the pointiness.

Our plot needs a catalyst, so a mean reporter is introduced to bully Picard into action. Her outfit is fine – nothing particularly futuristic except the weird single lapel – but she accessorizes it with digital makeup. We only get to see this concept for a few seconds, but I’m sold, I want ten, and I wish she’d gone with the indigo lip.

And here I am using crushed berries and charcoal like a chump.

Back to moving the plot forward, important character Dahj shows up to the vineyard wearing what I can only describe as an elven cloak.

Good boys know good fashion.

This gorgeous coat appears to be made of a heavy green wool with black strappy accents, a big slouchy hood, and a very pointy hemline. The sides cross over in front instead of having a traditional closure, which seems like it would leave your tummy chilly, but does allow for greater flexibility.

Always buy a coat that you can wear in snow, wind, and combat.

I’m also a huge fan of the thumbhole sleeves/built-in gloves.

Next, it’s time to visit the Starfleet Archives, which means another rib knit sweater.

If you’d spent a lifetime in polyester uniforms, you’d make the same choice.

I know it makes sense that, in any century, most people will still just wear normal, everyday clothes. But it doesn’t quite feel like the future without, like, androgynous holograms in wispy all-white outfits made of sheer fabrics and angular lines, you know?

Oh, there we go.

After some unfortunate events, our hero finds himself speaking with one Dr. Agnes Jurati, whose lab coat is business in front… box cutter mishap in the back?

Maybe she Hulks out sometimes and needs a contingency.

And then, just when you thought we couldn’t possibly introduce any more characters, a dark and brooding Romulan makes a dramatic entrance.

I’m sure the outfit is great, but these guys REALLY like shadows.

[deadrlngers]

formal, informal, outerwear, and footwear for fenix and zefyr? 👁️👁️

character design questions

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

fenix: god it's so difficult to imagine him in smth formal, i feel like he'd dress up only if forced. he loves looking fashionable but more in a disinterested type of way. if he somehow gets forced into smth formal i so bad imagine him wearing either a double breasted jacket or like a very plain combo of blazer jacket + shirt and slap on some dress pants. no tie or whatever, he greatly hates those, you really need to put in some hard work to convince him to wear one. STILL THO once he gets all dressed up his mood goes from grumpy cat to smug peacock the moment he realises he looks pretty hot. he'd take a photo, send it on the group chat and write smth dumb like 'who's going to suck me off sloppy style in a corpo office now?' (<he gets kicked out of the chat)

zefyr: i think they don't exactly care about looking formal but they DO care to look important, statuary, like oozing off power. so if the occasion calls for it i think they would wear smth like some cool ass sorcerer robe, just to underline that they are a big shot, someone to fear for their power. many silver decorations, maybe an intricate breastplate that's more for show than any use. they would wear jewels on their horns, bracelets or gems hanging off them, maybe a few on their tail as well. decorate their claws, wear their hair in some complicate style with something pointy poking out of it like spikes or idk. zefyr would 100% go off with the style, they came to serve cunt

informal: What's your OC's lazy-day look? How do they like to dress when they're winding down?

fenix: picture this. some kind of t-shirt with holes in it because 'who cares, it's not like anyone is going to come judge me at home' and with smth dumb written on it like this guy has fire bussy, that or he doesn't wear any shirt at all, i wouldn't complain tbh. either some plain shorts if it's hot or sweatpants (AND SOCKS. HE'S COLD.), he basically looks like he just came back from a 20 hours shift.

zefyr: they basically live in the middle of nowhere of a forest in some kind of cozy cabin sorrunded by a forest so their lazy-day outfits consist of something very simple, light fabrics, a tunic or a shirt and an opened jerkin on it. something comfy for their legs like wide legged pants or maybe they are wearing a light robe and breeches and they sometimes tend to walk barefoot in their own home or out in the nature

outerwear: What's your OC's outerwear situation? Jacket, sweater, cloak? What sort of weather do they deal with most and how do they protect themselves?

fenix: he lovessss a good jacket, if it's not like extremely hot then you can bet it all that he's going to wear a jacket. leather, denim, suede, shearling jackets, all of it (vesper steals them a lot). tho he doesn't wear anything that goes past his waist (so like a coat etc) because he needs to show off his ass, god bless. sometimes you could see him wear a turtleneck but everyone makes fun of him every time he does so he doesn't do it often..the gang just loves to make fun of him, vesper genuinely likes the look <3 if it's hot outside then he's going to pull out his light shirts and tank tops, he hates sweating, summers back in italy where hell for him (i get him)

zefyr: draconic bloodline and all i want to believe zefyr isn't greatly affected by the cold, hot blooded creature they are!! but at the same time they really don't like the cold in general so they will cover up a lot, cloaks, more layers, fur, whatever you could do to fight off the cold. they like warmer temperatures better but not extreme, thankfully they don't have to deal with it. they don't wear any cloak if they are wandering through the forest, they dress pretty plainly if they are exploring for erbs and whatever they might need

footwear: What does your OC wear on their feet?

fenix: talked a bit about his obsession for boots in a previous ask..he loves cowboy boots baby!! brown, lightly worn out just enough to make it look cool, black boots that get to his ankles, and his absolute faves which are pointed boots, either plain slick black or smth decorated. he likes combat boots as well, but he wears them way less, usually when he wears a very simple outfit or has no big plans for the day or he's just lazy and tired

zefyr: a pair of boots never failed anyone!! they wear comfy plain boots that get just below their knees mostly, sometimes they could go wander around barefoot and if they want to Go Off as said in the first question then they are going to pull out something extreme like idk, boots with pointy ends with intricate designs

[vilandel]

Don't worry, moodboard is also more than fine and it did inspired me for a little something 💘

He was there, in his library. Looking at a painting. The portrait of his mother.

Vanessa closed the door behind her and didn't forgot to lock. Simple security measure, since she didn't came here the proper way or as Nozel would say, the orthodox way. Vanessa liked to use that word right now.

"I'm glad you came."

He didn't look up, but she heard the relief in his voice. Vanessa smiled. It was somehow a miracle that their hearts started to beat for each other, considering that their circles were different and they didn't like each other at first.

And yet, here they are.

Vanessa advanced. This library was bright, thanks to the dark bookshelves and the night blue walls. Only a fire in the chimney gave some light, since outside wasn't giving any light either. Well, it was evening and it was raining.

When Vanessa passed the windows, she realized that it was even pouring now. So much that she couldn't really see what was happening outside, on the streets of the city.

Nozel turned around and Vanessa realized that he put himself in a vulnerable state he usually wouldn't show to anyone. He didn't wear his braid, his hair was undone and falling on his shoulders, silky and thick and even a bit wavy, he only wore a white shirt with long sleeves and some old pants. So much different from his usual neat look, from the officer with the dark blue and silver ceremony suit she met for the first time at the Roselei ball.

Well, she certainly wasn't looking like the young woman with the burgundy ball gown, the unconventional hairdo and the fourth glass of wine in her hands he met the same ball. Her cloak was wet, her dress humid and her hair must be a mess.

And yet, he looked at her like she was the queen of this nation. How could she have thought that he was only cold and nothing else?

"I came as soon as I heard... Sorry, I don't look quite proper."

"But you are beautiful."

"How are you, handsome?"

Nozel didn't answer immediately. He just sighed with sadness as he took her cloak from her shoulders and lead her towards the fire, so that she could warm up a bit.

"I... I'm not fine."

"I guessed that. Where are your siblings?"

"Nebra is currently at the Ball of the Lügners, Solid might be at the club and Noelle visits Mimosa, might sleep over there as well. I'm glad they weren't here today."

"But you still need support."

"I need also to protect my siblings. I've done it wrong so often... especially with Noelle. I need to do something right for once in my life. Just once..."

There was a hint of despair mixed with exhaustion in his voice. Nozel was close to his limits and now that Vanessa knew him as much as he knows her friends, she couldn't let him alone.

"You don't have to go through this again all alone. I'm here now and before you say anything, I refuse to leave you all by yourself again. It breaks my heart to see you shattered like this. I know that I'm so ignorant about how things work in your circles and that I need to learn a lot first. But I know that I can be here with you. I won't leave you alone. You don't need to be strong and cold in my presence."

Vanessa was surprised how quickly Nozel gave up on his posture. But at the same time, the fact that he was in a more cozy outfit already spoke volumes how he was tired of dealing alone. He took her in his arms and his face went into the crook of her neck.

Vanessa closed her eyes. It was a wonderful feeling.

"Sometimes I wish to get rid of my status altogether. But..."

Oh, Vanessa surprised about that. And if it weren't for his mothers legacy, maybe Nozel would have done just that right now.

"Do it for tonight. It will be just us, in this library."

Nozel kissed her as an answer and Vanessa melted at how soft yet passionate it was.

They didn't left the library for this whole rainy night.

This is amazing for your event and such a neat idea! Thank you for creating this, truly. So, if I may... can I have Solid x Rosette (my beloved OC) for the Coffee shop AU and Nozel x Vanessa for the Victorian AU? Fluffy if it's okay for you (and sorry that it is two requests, I hope it's okay) 🥰

Hiya Vilandel, and thank you so much again, I’m so glad you liked the AU event idea 🥰! So for you Vanzel request I couldn’t really find any prompts or ideas that stuck out to me for them, so I just decided to make them a moodboard. I hope you like it 🥺!

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[sunnyville36]

Mamihlapinatapai {part 1}

See {overview} for more info!

Pairing: Bang Chan x Female Reader

Themes: royal au, medieval au, court intrigue, arranged marriage, original characters, mutual pining, slow burn

Warnings: mentions of death/war, emotionally abusive parents

Rating: Mature

Word count: 4.2k

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

Mamihlapinatapai - (noun, Yagán origin) a silent acknowledgement and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate)

Bond  |  Kingdom of Gu, present day

“Good morning, Your Highness,” you called, entering the prince’s room and walking to open the curtains, revealing the cloudless sky behind them.  Of course a beautiful day like today would have to be ruined by the very event you were here to collect Chan for.

Chan’s head peeked out from around the dressing panel, smiling softly as you pressed the shirt he’d clearly been looking for into his hands. “Good morning Y/n.”

“Your father’s in quite the foul mood this morning,” you said, leaving Chan to finish changing as you tidied up his dresser and prepared the many pins and beads bearing the royal crest that would adorn his formal attire for today.

You could hear the scowl in his voice as he grumbled, “Only he could manage to be upset during an event solely orchestrated by him and his insufferable band of so-called advisors.”

You nodded your head, indulging him in his ranting.  Better he get it all out now with only you here to hear than cause a scene in front of the court.  The prince took his responsibilities seriously and hardly ever openly clashed with his father, no matter how much they disagreed.  But this had been an exceedingly upsetting matter for him, and, by extension, you as well.  You’d spent the majority of the last week attempting to keep the peace between him and his father, as well as show your support for your friend as best you could.

Chan stepped out from behind the screen, and you had to stop yourself from doing a double take at the man in front of you.  A far cry from his normal outfit of loose breeches and dirtied, tattered tunics, his cleanly pressed white shirt was tucked neatly into snug fitting black trousers, accentuating his broad shoulders and trim figure.  You were sure he hated the confines of such an ensemble, but you were equally sure he would turn every head in the kingdom during today’s events, and you smiled at having the privilege to see him here first as he struck a nonchalant pose and asked, “So, how do I look?”

“Very handsome,” you replied, stepping up to pin his bright red cloak around his shoulders and set to work attaching the fineries to the outside.

“You do as well.  Look very nice, I mean,” he corrected sheepishly, pose all but forgotten and head tilting forward as a blush formed on his cheeks.

You glanced upward, smoothing his hair that had gotten tousled from his rushed dressing.  “Thank you, Your Highness,” you replied quietly.  You decided to throw in a humorous quip, hoping to lighten his mood as you finished decorating the course, red fabric.  “We couldn’t have the prince’s personal attendant looking like she’d just had a spar with a knight and lost, now could we?”

“Certainly not,” he laughed, then quieted as he continued, “And you’re still wearing the flower.”

You reached your hand absently up to the flower that was perched behind your ear, and you felt his fingertips ghost over yours as he gently pushed your hair to sit behind it.

“Of course, Your Highness.  Is it not our tradition that I wear it until it is completely bare of petals?”

“Mhmm… our tradition,” he hummed, his hand lingering next to your cheek.

“We really must be h-heading out.”  You cringed at the unsteadiness of your voice.  You needed to get out of here, needed to get him out of here.  You straightened the clasps of his cloak and tapped your hands on his chest.

“There.  Now you look like a real prince charming,” you said, forcing a smile to your lips that didn’t quite reach your eyes.

He shook his head as he half chuckled, half grimaced at your words, lips forming into a straight line.  “Then I suppose we must go meet my future wife.”

You Have My Bow  |  Kingdom of Gu, 19 years ago

“Mama, Mama, look what Papa made for me!” you squealed, bounding into your tightly-packed cottage and nearly crashing into your mother’s legs as she stood boiling soup at the stove.

Your father had taken you to the woods that morning, your favorite place to go with him when he had a rare spare moment away from the castle.  You had thought he was taking you for your usual ritual: fishing by the river’s edge in the hopes of catching something to use for dinner.  Instead, when you reached the riverbank, your father knelt down and pulled a tiny child’s bow from his knapsack, small enough to fit in your four-year-old hands.

“I’m going to teach you how to use this bow Y/n.  Not many girls will know how to, but you need to be able to fend for yourself and your mother if anything should ever happen to me.”

“Why would anything happen to you Papa?”

“Well, Papa helps the king to keep our home safe, and there are some people who might want to make it unsafe.”

“Like the Lajorans?  Or the Mirohans?  The ones with the missing princess?!  Or the Sillans?  I heard old man Jerrald talking outside the tavern, and he said Lajorans like to ...”

“Yes, just like those,” your father interrupted your enthusiastic babbling, “though you shouldn’t believe everything old man Jerrald says, alright?”  You nodded as he continued, “The king does everything he can to keep the peace, but sometimes our peoples get into fights.  Really big ones, where people use swords and bows like this.  And I want to make sure that if that ever happens, if one day a fight should come here, that you can keep yourself and your mother safe.  Do you think you could do that for me, Y/n?”

You’d agreed of course, your little body bouncing with excitement as he pulled you in for a hug then took the bow and began to show you the basic principles.  The two of you had spent the rest of the day practicing, and you couldn’t be more excited to show your mother what you’d learned.

“Y/n be careful,” your mother admonished, kneeling down to your height as she gave you a tight squeeze.  “Now let’s see what that father of yours has cooked up for you this time.”

“It’s called a boo!” you all but shouted, whipping the bow out from behind your skirts and drawing back the string in a mock archer’s pose.

“A bow, Y/n, it’s called a bow sweetheart,” came your father’s voice from the doorstep.  He crossed the small space to pull your mother into a tight embrace as he said, “And be careful with that in the house, or your mother will have my head.”  You nodded back at him and he sent you a mischievous wink over her shoulder.

Your mother turned to face him with a wary smile as you started galloping in circles, pretending to ride an imaginary horse.  “Giving our already rambunctious child a deadly weapon, Minhyuk?  You want to get her into trouble, I see.”

“Julietta, you worry too much,” your father whispered, pressing his lips to her temple in a gentle kiss.  “Besides, I’d be more concerned about the trouble she’d be in if she didn’t know how to take care of herself.”

Little did you know that everything you learned that day would soon come crashing into your life, taking many precious things with it when it left.

All That Glitters Is Not Gold  |  Kingdom of Gu, present day

You struggled to keep up as you walked behind Chan, the two of you heading to the throne room where you were sure a very short tempered King Bang would be waiting to reprimand you for your tardiness.  Sure enough, when the guards opened the doors, you saw the king pacing in the small space in front of the raised thones, his head snapping up as he heard your footsteps approach.

“You’re late.  I told you to have him here 20 minutes ago Y/n, did I not?”

“It’s not her fault,” Chan defended.  “Besides, they’re not here yet, are they?”  He gestured around to the otherwise empty hall, save for the usual servants and guards, then slumped into his seat at the right hand of his father’s.

“You would do well to lose that attitude before they do arrive.  I will not have you embarrassing yourself or this court because of your petty feud with me.”  Chan gave a hollow laugh at that, eyes closing to block out the mere presence of his father.

You took your place behind Chan’s throne, hands coming up to rest on the ornately upholstered back.  You liked keeping your hands there; it made you feel like you were supporting Chan in some way, the closest you would ever come to being able to actually hold his hand the way you wanted to right now.

After a few moments, you heard the telltale sound of trumpets and the growing shuffling of a group of approaching footsteps.  Chan straightened in his seat and his father took his place at the head of the room.

The doors opened, and you were greeted by a small party of what appeared to be political ministers and guards, in the middle of whom stood a woman clad in a yellow gown.  She was beautiful, golden hair spun up into a twist and a delicate silver circlet resting above it.  You would know she was a princess from a mile away.

The Gu herald spoke first, gesturing towards the two men seated at the thrones.  “May I present His Majesty, King Bang Geun of the Gu Kingdom and his son, His Royal Highness Bang Christopher Chan, crown prince of the Gu Kingdom.”

The gaggle of people gave a quick bow, then parted to allow the woman through.  She stepped to the front, then dipped into a low curtsey.  “I am Princess Korenna Dormio of Lajor,” she spoke, her high, clear voice ringing in the chamber.  “It is a pleasure to meet you both.”

The king stood up, walking towards Korenna with you and Chan trailing behind.  He took her hand and kissed the top of it, his voice exclaiming in a fake bright tone, “We are honored you could join us in our kingdom!  May I present my son, Christopher.”

Chan stepped forward at that, hand outstretched to take hers.  “I prefer strangers to call me Chan.”

You could feel the icy gaze King Bang was sending to his son, but he pressed on, ever the politician.

“This is Y/n.  She is Chr- err Chan’s personal attendant, and will be at your service during your stay.  Go to her with whatever you may need.”

Korenna eyed you with a curious look, and you knew why.  It was unusual, though not entirely unheard of, for a prince to have a woman as his personal attendant.  Not only did they complete duties for him in the domestic sphere, but they also served a professional purpose, a sort of squire, scheduler, and strategist all in one, roles typically reserved for men.  The unique circumstances surrounding the time of your’s and Chan’s upbringing had made having you as his attendant a logical choice, but you could understand her concern about the man she was supposed to marry spending most of his time in the company of a woman she knew nothing about.

You knelt into a curtsey, head leaning forward as you heard Korenna’s voice.  “A pleasure to meet you Y/n.”

“You as well, Your Grace,” you responded.  Glancing up, you saw that Chan was not even looking in her direction, gaze apparently trained on a fascinating branch just outside the rightmost window.  Well this was off to a wonderful start.

“Very well,” King Bang said tentatively, “I will let you two become acquainted.  Y/n, I believe you were given their itinerary for the day?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As the king made his way to mingle with the rest of Korenna’s visiting party, Chan turned to the both of you, eyes almost glaring at the princess.

“I don’t want to be here, and I doubt you do either, so let’s just get all of this shit over with so we can go back to our normal lives.”  With that, he stalked towards the door, leaving you and a highly affronted Korenna to follow in his wake.

***

The next few hours only got worse.

The pair were thrust immediately into making a multitude of decisions about the wedding ceremony: What kind of flatware did they want?  Which cakes were their favorite?  How should the shrubbery around the edge of the garden be trimmed?  And all the while you stood between them, relaying information to the various servants charged with these tasks and corralling the two royals between each of their stops.

Your latest one was with the palace groundskeeper, to determine what flowers would adorn the wedding canopy.

“We can always have tulips brought in from the highlands, Your Grace.”

“Tulips are fine, but I was thinking something more along the lines of white roses or lilies.”

Chan’s annoyed huff at her words was impossible to miss.

“Can you at least try to give some input about this?”

“We’ve barely met and they have us making all these asinine decisions about something weeks away!  What do you even care what I have to say about flowers anyway?!”

“I don’t want to fight with you about this.”

“Isn’t that what your people are good at?!  Picking a fight with someone who never asked to be involved in the first place?”

You hated seeing Chan like this.  His normally kind, generous, and thoughtful demeanor, that you knew to be his real self, not just some facade put on to impress the nobles or win ladies’ affections, was being replaced by this antagonistic attitude, intent on ruining any chance of finding common ground with this woman.  You knew he was doing it to protect himself, both from his father’s antics and from his own fear of being open, of letting someone in and risking actually wanting to keep them there.  But under different circumstances, you knew he would never want to be seen treating anyone like he was right now, let alone a princess from another powerful kingdom.  And she didn’t seem to be so bad; if she felt the same malice as he felt towards her, she at least did a better job of hiding it.  You needed to stop him before he did something you knew he would regret.

“Your Highness, I believe Prince Minho wanted to brief you on the latest border patrol, seeing as he is back in the city for the time being.  Why don’t you meet with him while I escort Her Grace to the ladies afternoon tea?”

“A wonderful idea,” Chan muttered unenthusiastically and began walking towards the closest castle door as you guided the princess in the opposite direction.  You looked back and locked eyes with him, reading the expression of thanks on his face.

When you were out of earshot from Chan, Korenna turned to you almost immediately and asked, “Is he always this standoffish?”

You were unsure how to answer that question, wanting to make it clear he wasn’t always like this without getting her hopes up that he would change his attitude about this particular situation any time soon.

“His Highness is not especially fond of this arrangement.  It has nothing to do with you personally, Your Grace.”

“Well I am also not especially fond of this arrangement, but it’s the arrangement we have at present and at least I’m attempting to be civil towards him.”

“Perhaps you should tell him of your similar feelings, to establish some common ground?”

Korenna became agitated at that suggestion, visibly tensing as she said, “And risk my father finding out I feel that way.  Absolutely not.”

You understood that apprehension, that fear.  Stories of her father, King Eunther, had spread often throughout your kingdom, and from what you heard, you knew he was not someone you wanted to cross.

You walked in silence for the rest of the way, until you rounded the corner into the courtyard where you could hear ladies’ voices and the gentle clinking of fine china.  Korenna turned to you, placing her hand on your arm.

“You and him seem to be… close.  Maybe you could talk to him, ask him to try to appear like he doesn’t despise me and everything I do or say?”

You had a feeling that would only make it worse, his oldest friend asking him to grin and bear it for the “good of the kingdom.”  You also knew his political protest against his father might not be the only reason for his general disdain of everything that had happened the past week.  But Korenna seemed like she was genuinely trying to put in some effort, and you couldn’t bring yourself to outright deny her request.

“I will try, Your Grace.”

As you left Korenna in the garden, you reached up to feel for the flower by your ear, and found that all the remaining petals had fallen off.

Arrangements  |  Kingdom of Gu, 1 week ago

“Have you heard anything?  From the staff, about what this announcement might be?”

Chan was walking briskly ahead of you, voice coming out slightly strained.  You knew why; his father calling an unscheduled meeting with the entire court, alluding to some mysterious “announcement,” had everyone on edge, Chan most of all.  The king still kept his son in the dark about the majority of his political proceedings, much to Chan’s frustration and chagrin, and no one but his closest inner circle had any inkling as to what this might be about.

“No, Your Highness. It’s been quiet in the servants’ quarters; everyone is equally surprised.”

“Well, whatever it is, promise to take my side?”

“Have I ever not?”

The two of you entered the throne room, and despite your knowledge of what a full court gathering was, you were still taken aback by the sheer amount of people present.  Every nobleman, every knight, every person who wasn’t otherwise occupied was here, filling the space along the wall and facing the dias at the head of the room where King Bang sat, the empty seats to his right and left standing out amongst the crowded room.  Even Prince Minho, the king’s nephew and second in command of the royal guard after Chan, was back from his post on the Lajoran border.

Whatever this announcement was, it was serious.

Chan approached his seat next to the king as he usually did on occasions like this, but was stopped by his father’s voice.

“Chan, please remain there.  You are the subject of my announcement today.”

You saw Chan’s face pale as he remained in the center of the room.  You were still standing behind him, debating whether or not you should stay beside him or step back to one of the walls where the servants stood.  As you scanned for your mother in the crowd, that question was answered for you.

“Y/n, you too shall stay where you are.  I will have instructions for you as well.”

You bowed your head slightly in acknowledgement of his order, and took your place slightly behind Chan’s left shoulder to await whatever insane proclamation King Bang was about to make.

Nothing could have prepared you for the words that left his mouth.

“Chris, I have made you a wedding match.  You are to be married to Princess Korenna of Lajor in six week’s time.”

The entire room was silent, every person holding their breath to hear what the prince’s reaction would be.  This was not something anyone was expecting, Chan least of all.  It took every ounce of your willpower to school your face into a neutral expression as you tried to contend with the hundreds of thoughts flooding your mind.

Chan was to be married?  To someone from Lajor?  One of Gu’s oldest enemies suddenly wanted to form an alliance, and through marriage?  What would that even entail?  Who would hold what powers?  Why was the ceremony so soon?  Who would be in charge of the preparations?  How would this change your relationship with Chan?

After what felt like hours, but was more likely only several seconds, you heard Chan’s voice echoing one of your thoughts out loud.

“A Lajoran?!  But father, they are responsible for - “

“You need not remind me what they are responsible for, Christopher.”

“Then I don’t understand, how did this come about?!”

You couldn’t stop the low ringing slowly building in your ears, accompanied by a sudden wave of nausea.  You vaguely registered the king’s voice, explaining how King Eunther had approached him, how he agreed “it was time we put that mess behind us,” and how his daughter would be a suitable match for the Gu prince.  Your mind wandered, remembering how many times Chan had told you he never wanted to be used as a pawn in his father’s political games, how he hated the idea of being forced to marry a stranger.  You couldn’t seem to register any other information, thinking solely about Chan, the man you’d known since childhood, your friend, having to be married off to satisfy his father’s need for power.  Finally, a loud voice cut through the fog in your head.

“Y/n, are you listening?  Look at me when I’m talking to you, girl!”

You looked up in surprise to see the king’s unpleasant expression looking down at you.  Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Chan’s pained face turned slightly towards you, waiting to see why his father had kept you in the center of the room as well.

“I apologize, Your Majesty.”

“You will serve Princess Korenna when she arrives for her introductory stay here a week from today.”

You heard a scoff from next to you and glanced to see Chan’s face growing angrier by the second.  “First you lay this on me, now you’re taking away my servant?!  How do you expect me to cope with all of this?”

You sucked in a sharp breath at his words.  You knew he was simply talking in a language his father would understand, explaining how it would be an inconvenience for him to not have someone available at all times of the day, to keep track of his schedule, to clean his clothes, bring him his meals, prepare his horses and armor.  But you couldn’t help the sting of being referred to as a “servant”; surely Chan saw you as more than that, just as you saw him as more than just your future monarch.

“You will manage with half of her normal attention,” the king answered, his tone laced with a hint of irritation at his son’s current attitude.  “Besides, you’ll spend most of your time with Korenna, so she’ll be with the both of you regardless.”

The anger was coming off of Chan in waves, so palpable you felt like you could reach out and touch it.  Finally he set his jaw, facing his father.

“Is that all you had for me?”

“Well that’s all for the matter of the marriage yes but - “

Chan turned on his heel, walking out of the room to the sound of hushed whispers and his father’s increasingly pitiful protests.

You wanted nothing more than to run after him, to pull him into your arms and soothe him, tell him everything would be alright.  But you knew better than to leave, not having been dismissed by the king yet.  So you stood there, heart aching so badly, feeling exposed, like everyone could see the shattered pieces of it that had fallen at your feet.

“I’ll go look for him,” you heard Minho say as he passed by you, the king nodding and waving his hand to dismiss the rest of you.  You heard your mother calling for you but you ignored her, wanting to get out of that stifling room, to go somewhere, anywhere where you could be alone.  You knew where Chan had gone, where he always went when he was upset and needed time to think, but no one bothered to ask you in their search for him.

***

He returned to his room that evening like you knew he would, the door creaking open as you stood across the room ironing his rarely used formal wear with the glass smoother.

His voice came out choked as he whispered, “I’m sorry for what I said.  For referring to you as my servant.”

“It’s alright, Your Highness.  I know you were upset - “

“That’s no excuse.”

Feeling his presence close behind you, you turned to him, reaching for his hand.  “I forgive you.”

He brought his other hand to your cheek, and when you looked up, you saw his eyes staring at you, imploring you to stay, to talk to him.  It was so tempting, the desire to give in, to lean in to him and let him hold you like you knew he wanted.  But you had to be strong, for him and for yourself.  And you knew if you stayed, if you opened up to each other, tried to confront the feelings you knew you still had and could only hope he reciprocated, neither of you would ever recover.  So you took his hand from your face, holding both of his in yours between you as you said, “You should get some rest, Your Highness.”

“Y/n please,” he murmured.

“It is done.  There’s nothing you or I can do.”

He made one last attempt, turning and holding your wrist lightly, but let you go as you pulled away.  Opening the door, you wished him goodnight, desperately trying to hold in your tears as you left.  Your footsteps took you down the hall quickly, but not before you caught the small sound of a sob coming from behind his door.

{part 2}