#spring event ;; tourney of flowers

[bestfictionalplant]

Bracket reveal

Text version under cut!

The tourney is split into 4 32 brackets, and the winners of each will go to the semi finals! I'll make a different post about HOW the tourney will run, and this will serve as a pinned post for round 1 :)

Bracket 1, Side 1

Peppino (Vampire Survivors) vs Winged Strawberry (Celeste)

Herb (Monster Hunter) vs Triffids (Day of the Triffids)

Gigi (Xiaolin Showdown) vs Silent Princess (The Legend of Zelda)

Breath of Evil (Wings of Fire) vs Thorn Thallid (Magic the Gathering)

Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors) vs Farewell Flower (Mistborn)

Togemon (Digimon) vs Silverwood Tree (Witch Hat Atelier)

Golden Apple Tree (Greek Mythology) vs Potbelly (My Singing Monsters)

Sculk (Minecraft) vs MocDonald (One Piece)

Bracket 1, Side 2

Vida (The Promised Neverland) vs Glaze Lily (Genshin Impact)

Dr Brewer's Clone (Goosebumps) vs The Spring (Friends at the Table)

Kite Eating Tree (Peanuts) vs Zotoh Zhaan (Farscape)

Wheel Tree (His Dark Materials) vs Mushtree (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist)

Medusoid Mycelium (A Series of Unfortunate Events) vs Radial (Ooblets)

Chikorita (Pokemon) vs Blast Cone (League of Legends)

Gooloog (AAAHH!!! Real Monsters) vs Venus (Bug Fables)

The Thorian (Mass Effect) vs Yggdrasil (Norse Mythology)

Bracket 2, Side 1

Deku Tree (The Legend of Zelda) vs Blood Blossoms (Danny Phantom)

Hotblonde37159 (Angel: The Series) vs Vash the Stampede (Trigun)

Kinoko (Don't Hurt Me, My Healer) vs Wolfsbane (The Vampire Diaries)

Plant (Monster Rancher) vs Flower of Life (Mesopotamian Mythology)

Truffula Tree (The Lorax) vs Slurperon Enchantress (Internet Scam)

The Brain Tree (Neopets) vs Ginseng Baby (Scarlet Hollow)

Chompy (Bug Fables) vs Whispy Woods (Kirby)

Clavu (Overlord) vs Ivern (League of Legends)

Bracket 2, Side 2

Bulbasaur (Pokemon) vs The Trees of Valinor (Lord of the Rings)

Leslie (The Amazing World of Gumball) vs Hayzee Dayzee (Paper Mario)

Piranha Plant (Mario) vs Specimen 34/The Blessed Eternal (Wolf 359)

Potted Plant (Wander Over Yonder) vs Morbuzakh (Bionicle)

Jabe & the Trees of Cheem (Doctor Who) vs Black Mercy (DC)

Mr Plant (The World of Mr Plant) vs Feculant Gnarlmaw (Warhammer 40k)

Tree Rex (Skylanders) vs Flowey (Undertale)

Sundrop Flower (Tangled) vs Venus McFlytrap (Monster High)

Bracket 3, Side 1

Pinchley (Long Gone Gulch) vs Frank the Plant (Harley Quinn: the Animated Series)

The Venus (Hello From the Hallowoods) vs Nirnroot (The Elder Scrolls)

Food Fight (Skylanders) vs Paopu Fruit (Kingdom Hearts)

Phillogenous esk Piemondum (Rod Albright Alien Adventures) vs Plant (Wall E)

Tannot Root (Farscape) vs The Broccoloids (The Powerpuff Girls)

Rockbud (The Stormlight Archive) vs Sylvan Hound (Guild Wars 2)

Eldridge Johnson-Mayer (The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) vs Hyacinth/Hyacinthus (Greek Mythology)

Selas Flower (Kingkiller Chronicle) vs Treant (Disgaea)

Bracket 3, Side 2

Dragonflame Cacti (Wings of Fire) vs Sunflower (Plants vs Zombies)

The Bioplant (The Rising of the Shield Hero) vs Turnip Boy (Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion)

Shambling Mound (Dungeons and Dragons) vs Mandrake (Shin Megami Tensei/Persona)

Cowplant (The Sims) vs Ebony Queen's Apple (Limbus Company)

Devil Fruits (One Piece) vs Donkey-Cabbage (Enchanted Forest Chronicles)

Oaktopus (My Singing Monsters) vs Field Dungeon (Rune Factory 4)

Mushroom Tree (Stardew Valley) vs Jumpkin (Cassette Beasts)

Undergrowth (Danny Phantom) vs Karzahni (Bionicle)

Bracket 4, Side 1

Dreamstalk (Kirby) vs Myconid (Balders Gate 3)

Stingbulb (Fablehaven) vs Treebeard (Lord of the Rings)

Stray Cat (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) vs Peashooter (Plants vs Zombies)

Giant Turnip (Codename: Kids Next Door) vs Treasure Mushroom (Guild Wars 2)

Tree of Wisdom (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs Fire Flower (Mario)

Stump (The Angry Beavers) vs Groot (Marvel)

Maise (Oneshot) vs Konohana Tree (Okami)

Red Weed (War of the Worlds) vs Pod Plant (Fortnite)

Bracket 4, Side 2

Plantera (Terraria) vs The Grass Snake (Friends at the Table)

Breathweed (Warhammer 40k) vs Campestri (Dungeons and Dragons)

Neo Alraune (Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle) vs Kringlefucker (Homestuck)

Slimefoot the Stowaway (Magic: The Gathering) vs Gatfruit Tree (Space Station 13/14)

Sex Pollen Plant (Fanfiction) vs The Rumor Weed (VeggieTales: Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed)

Dr Madley Radish (Papa Louie) vs Vervain (The Vampire Diaries)

Yatevon (OCTAHEDRON: Transfixed Edition) vs Echo Flower (Undertale)

Wither Rose (Minecraft) vs Hydramon (Digimon)

[a-world-of-whimsy-5]

Wither on the vine

Wekk 1 picture prompt for: Spring picture prompt event by @hotd-bigbang

Themes: Angst

Warnings: Maternal/child death prior to the beginning of the story

Wordcount: 500+words

Summary: Alicent writes about the cherry blossom tree in the Godswood, and her upcoming wedding.

A/n 1: This ficlet is written in the epistolary form of writing

A/n 2: Alicent is 18 in this story

Minors DNI

Alicent Hightower’s journal

5th day in the third moon of 106 AC.— It is still spring, and flowers in the cherry blossom tree have already bloomed in the Godswood. It is the only tree of its nature in Westeros, a gift to the king from the Empress of YiTi in honor of his ascending the throne. There was a solemn ceremony in the Godswood when it was planted into the soil, with a tourney and a grand feast afterward. High lords and ladies came from all over the realm to bear witness, and more than one champion made their name on the tourney grounds. It had been a glorious day, filled with warm sunshine, music, and laughter, and purses growing fat from wagers.

Rhaenyra and I often sat beneath its flower-laden branches and talk and read and laugh. She would share her father’s tales of old Valyria and tales of her little adventures flying atop her dragon, Syrax. She often begged me to come with her, and I always refused. Then she would pout, pursing her lips into a thin line. And then she would smile and enlist my aid in her quest to raid the kitchens for cake. 

“I want to fly with you on dragon back,” she once said after wheedling the cook into giving her a tray laden with cake and other sweets. “See the great wonders across the Narrow Sea, and eat only cake.” 

What happy times they were! The realm prospered, queen Aemma was with child again, and commoners and nobles alike awaited the birth of a little prince, an heir to wear his father’s crown and put an end to the question of succession for good and for all. Alas! That was not to be. Good queen Aemma perished in her labors, and her son followed her soon after. And that was when Father began his scheming, though, at the time, I did not see it for what it truly was. 

A ploy to put me in the king’s bed as his new queen and secure more power for himself.

“I would like for you to seek out the king,” he had said, “and offer him comfort. Viserys is plagued with grief. He will be glad to have a kindly visitor. And Alicent? Be sure one of your mother’s dresses when you call on him.”

As strange as it was, I thought nothing of his request to garb myself in one of my lady mother’s dresses. I did as I was bid, because that was what dutiful children did. They obeyed their mother and father in all things. I obeyed my father and listened to him, never questioning him or his motives, even when my own conscience pressed me to do so. And because I listened to him without question and toiled blindly on his behalf, I am now left without a true friend in court and the companion I once considered as dear as a most beloved sister. I am about to wed a man I could neither love nor desire and produce his heirs year after year, all while the cherry blossom tree continues to bloom and my own wishes and dreams slowly wither on the vine. 

Image: Arno Smit/Unsplash

Cherry blossom divider by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

[strangelittlestories]

In time, Croak’s brother, the prince Snapdragon (who you might just call Snap if you were sure he couldn’t hear you) began to wonder why his sister was always late back from her springtime questing.

After all, he required her presence at the summer tourneys - for while Snapdragon excelled at almost every event, he sometimes required a blunt instrument to put some of the neighbouring baronies in their place. And if the complex weave of politics could not be ironed out at the tourney, then the prince would require Croak to be on top form in case he wanted to dip his toe into a war in the autumn. He did not need her distracted.

Thus did Prince Snapdragon go sniffing around the princess’s various routes and haunts and associates and eventually found the location of the rowan grove in early summer.

Now, Snapdragon was a man who certainly appreciated beauty. So when he saw the blossoms dance, he stepped into the midst of them to offer his hand. The prince and the Flux danced a perfect, elegant and controlled reel. Snapdragon had no scars to be soothed (he only fought battles he knew he could win) and he told the spirit no tales (for he kept his stories closely guarded).

They parted amicably.

The next day Prince Snapdragon sent a crew of woodcutters to fell the rowan grove. He told them he wanted to plant a flower maze there instead.

Croak returned to see the rowan trees torn from the ground, their blossoms still and browning on the floor. She flew into a rage and her blade flew into her hand (a mottled grey zweihander, broken at the tip to bring it down to bastard length). She grievously injured several of the workers before Snapdragon could be summoned to stop her.

They crossed blades - her heavy broken blade against his flash of golden lightning - and eventually cast these aside to wrestle each other to the ground.

Snapdragon held his weeping sister and when her fury was spent, he gave her a mission - a small, local war - to keep her busy through her grief.

And while Croak was gone, Snapdragon finished turning the grove into a garden. For Snap knew what Croak did not - that it was surprisingly hard to kill a Flux, for they were born of transitory moments. They were always dying and being reborn - summer blossoms would fall, but they’d be back the next year, after all.

But if you could transform them? Say into a lovely garden, where their energy might take hold and become a Constant spirit of the place? That’s how you got rid of a pesky Flux.

What even Snap did not know, however, was quite how deep the cycle of a Flux went. How summer petals became an autumn compost, then winter rot, spring shoots and so on.

Or how much control they could have over their rebirths if they cared to. If they’d been fed on stories. If they’d fallen in love with someone’s scars.

That winter, a knight made of mushrooms emerged from the soil. It wore woven mycelial armour and wielded a sword made of rot. The flower garden wilted as it passed.

It went looking for Croak.

If the Princess Crocus (who you should never call ‘Crocus’, but always Croak if you know what’s good for you) had listened in class, she would have known that there were two kinds of nature spirit.

There were the ‘Constant’ (also known as the Entotheoi), the spirits of places or things like rivers or trees or mountains. And there were the ‘Flux’ (or Metatheoi), the spirits of events and changes like sudden frosts, changing winds or sudden deaths.

But Croak had not attended that particular class (and likely would not have listened anyway), so when she returned from questing one day to find the rowan blossoms dancing on the wind as they fell … her only thought was: “That’s beautiful.”

Without thinking about it (for she did many things without thinking, most of them problematic) she began to dance amongst the blossoms. She danced with jerky, violent, reckless abandon; all passion, no grace. To her surprise, the falling blossoms twined themselves around her and held her close to make the dance a duet.

And every summer, when Croak would return from the spring’s quest with new scars and stories, she would travel first to that rowan grove. There, she would tell her tales to the petals as the floated rapt in the air. With each word, the spirit would grow more solid - until a figure could be seen in the swirl of flowers and dappled orchard light. Then that figure would reach out with soft perfumed fingers to rub the aches out of the princess’s scarred limbs.

So it passed  the same way for several years, and each year the Flux got a little more solid, and Croak got a little gentler (though she had many hard and broken edges still).

[halidomhappenings]

Tourney Dance: Second Movement

“Need a break?”

“You look amazing!”

“… Breathtaking.”

“Is there anyone you want to dance with?”

“I’m happy for the two of you.”

“The food is GREAT-”

“Do I know you?”

“I’m enjoying this more than I thought I would.”

“Nobody’s dancing with me.”

“Sure I can’t change your mind?”

“They’re taking donations in Flana’s memory.”

“Who do you think won the egg hunt?”

“Somebody’s spiked the punch.”

“Do you think ___ would want to dance with me?”

“Not really my style of music.”

“How long do you think before the musicians go on break?”

“Did you see Lady Emmeryn arrive with Khan Basilio?”

“Did you see Prince Chrom arrive with his tactician, Robin?”

“Everyone looks so beautiful... “

“You’re more beautiful.”

“I’m sorry, I need to stop.”

“... I under-dressed, didn’t I?”

“My feet hurt.”

“Isn’t the music a bit too loud?”

“I didn’t mean to step on you!”

“They need to play a bit louder.”

“I feel way too over-dressed.”

“Why did you give me a flower?”

“Things are calm... Too calm.”

“Let’s make things more exciting!”

“Whatever crazy idea you have: no.”

“Do you know what that flower means?”

“I’ve been waiting to dance with you all week.”

“I don’t want to dance with you.”

[mark-lyn-and-friends]

Van ran over to Mark's stand. "Mark!! How have you and Lyn been? It has been some time since i last saw you both! Speakimg of, where is Lyn?" (Wanclerlust)

“Hey, Van I see you made it to this event as well!” Mark said greeting his friend with a hug. “Lyn and I are doing great, and yeah we need to meet up again, we both had a lot of fun when you came over last time. Lyn is actually practicing for her match, she joined the archery competition, and it should be starting sometime soon. Hey, while you’re here, do you need a map?”

[vallablooded]

(WHEEZES. I’m finally done! Here’s the lineup of the Sword Duel for the Tournament of Flowers! This took all day to color and such. But I’m super excited for this upcoming spring rp event!)

[reglanteria]

ooc.  i started sketching faye’s dress for the dance, but then i decided to finish it up! if you think faye isn’t gonna wear her favor even though she’s not competing anymore, you’d be dead wrong.

[heroismdreams-archived]

“Swear you won’t be mad if I trip us up?”

Me : Cynthia doesn’t like public dances, and would do her best to avoid them

Spring Event : Hey there’s going to be a dance at the end

Me : 👀👀 ... well time to draw the dress she’ll wear.

[awakenedprince]

I CAN’T BELIEVE CHROM’S HORSE IS A MEME

[sagelyexalt]

@feroxiox -- You already know what it is. . .

The dance was only just beginning. Couples were still adorning one another in flowers, and the bands were still warming up. The courtyard was bedecked in flower garlands and paper lanterns. The fountain in the middle glistening in the light.

She made sure to find him before he had entered the event proper. Very careful to be sure that they were not seen.

“...Basilio?” her voice was quiet. She approached him softly, her hands folded dutifully behind her back. Her dress was heavily embroidered with flowers, a spring time skirt that was far fuller than her usual attire. But no less lovely. the bodice certainly revealed a bit more than usual for her.

“Might I have a word with you?” she asked, her head tilting towards the now empty statue garden down a path that many had stopped visiting.

“Before we enter the dance, I... wanted to speak in private.”

[radiantxhero-moved-blog]

“...Um, is everyone going to dress like this...?”

[wyvernrisen]

[exalted--zealotry]

“...Should ‘General’ Valter ever set foot on Ylissean soil again once this tourney is concluded...”

“...He shall be welcomed by a sea of blades.”

[seaknighted-archive]

If anyone needs an example of how to check in, here’s something i threw together! 

( URL, IF IT’S A SIDEBLOG HERE ) ‘Hey! I’m here to check in [MUSE NAME] for the [ SELECTED BRACKET ] division! [ MUSE NAME ] is carrying [ FLOWER ] and [ NAME’S FAVOUR ]! 

here it is filled out with Coralin, as an example! She’s not actually in the tournament, so!

‘Hey! I’m here to check in Coralin for the sword duel division! Coralin is carrying hydrangea and Aldric’s pen!’

[halidomhappenings]

Tourney Dance: Finale

“I haven’t had a chance to dance with you yet!”

“No more drinks.”

“Do you think the musicians will end on a slow dance?”

“I forgot to tell you earlier but... You look handsome.”

“I forgot to tell you earlier but... You look gorgeous.”

“You’ll come visit my homeland soon, right?”

“I don’t want this night to end.”

“Sorry I didn’t seem so enthusiastic before. You were right.”

“Do you think the hosts have a surprise waiting?”

“You’re the reason I enjoyed this week so much!”

“Was that... Flana?”

“Time passed so quickly.”

“I’m exhausted!”

“Can I kiss you?”

“I think you should put your circlet on display.”

“Will you walk me back to my room?”

“The fireworks might be beautiful, but not as much as you are.”

“I was just nervous, that’s all.”

“Someone should actually invest in a lizard band.”

“Are those fireflies?”

“My flowers are starting to wilt.”

“Can we come back someday?”

“You’re still wearing my favor.”

“May I be your final dance partner for this evening?”

“Let’s keep on dancing - we don’t need any music!”

“Wait!”

“It can’t be over already... “

“I can’t remember the last time I smiled this much.”

“Ylisse is alright, actually.”

“This week’s had me thinking... “

“I’m never going to forget tonight!

“Don’t worry; I’m not going back until the morning.”

“Everything’s just so romantic.”

“Thank you. For everything.”

[mark-lyn-and-friends]

@thereallemres

“Hey, do you have a map for the event yet?” Mark asked the man in the big floppy hat. “Because we’re selling them, only one gold a piece. It was going to be five with the opportunity for a handsome or beautiful discount, but that’s the case for everyone here, including you.”

“And it begins.” Lyn said as Mark, true to his words, flirted with the first customer. “I also have some Sacaen trinkets if you’d like. Everything you can get is hanging on the back wall or you can make an order today or tomorrow.”