#this felt tooo long to add it in here too

[kentocalls]

kusakabe atsuya | gentleman suggestive. regency!au , psst @jjk-eugie i owe you a part 2 with spice heavily inpsired by the lovely art by @jjk-eugie

Kusakabe Atsuya has little need for pride. He’s worked hard enough to establish his shipment company, is considered successful in all matters of the world that matter — to him.  You see, the ton would tell you a different version on the gentleman Kusakabe’s success.

He’s a businessman first and foremost. Practical, doesn’t use his masculine charm to strong arm anyone into a bad deal, yet commands presence as soon as he enters a room. He’s not one for small talk, couldn’t tell you how to butter anyone up.  Perhaps this too adds to his charm.

Being a man of not many words is ideal for many afterall, and frankly a  line of suitors that would exist for the gentleman Atsuya if; well… if the gentleman were friendly. Nay, that’s too vague, if the gentleman were approachable.  Not only is it impossible to get Sir Kusakabe to attend affairs of the society, it seems when he does show face; he’s akin to that of a ship adrift in a stormy sea.

His aura is….intimidating.

He stands tall, proud, strong. 

Eyes lost.

Provides society members little to gossip about and yet, somehow, has attracted the attention of a cousin of the Crown Prince.  Probably a Princess or almost a Princess from a far away land who has yet to learn that the gentleman Atusya is not someone you approach for a favor. And yet,  “Your..Lady.… you’d want me to what?”

Perhaps he heard wrong, perhaps the almost Princess is looking for a decorative item. “Good Sir, I’d like you to teach me the sport of Fencing. It seems you’re quite an expert.” The way you bat your lashes, this is, this is flirting is it not?

Why would an almost Princess approach a stern man like himself?  “Please, I do not wish to make a fool during the Autumnal play. It would ruin my chances at a proper debut.”

Debut? You’re not too young looking but then again Atsuya couldn’t care less. You’re either a fool or have more guts than most of the ton, and guts are something he can respect.

“Please Sir Kusakabe, I promise I’ll have the Crown Prince reward you handsomely, something for your travels a far…”  Oh, aren’t you a businesswoman?  As you walk around him, if his eyes linger at the sway of your hips, it’s only to assess your gait. Nothing more, if he’s to teach you, he must discern if you can maintain proper form. It has nothing to do with how beautifully intricate the lace on your dress is nor the curve of your—“A new ship?”

A few days of his time is not worth an entire ship, he sighs. It seems you may just be a splendid fool.

If he thinks of your smile, the way your eyes light up upon his affirmative nod, it means nothing. He thinks not of your pretty hair as it sways opposite your hips. Nor is he intrigued by the many tows of ribbons lining the back of your tight dress, corset isn’t is it?

All those curves are simply an illusion.

But still, his mind supplies that you are;

A beautiful, splendid, fool.

  —

  This has to work.

The Sir Kusakabe Atsuya is a perfect gentleman. Doesn’t encroach in your space despite being tasked to teach you how to move. Always asks if he can touch, always announces where he is going to touch, and yet his touch doesn’t linger, he’s clear and precise in his instruction. You’ve already adapted to his style of attack and defense, making strides. You have yet to best him in a duel, but truly, is it a duel if he’s not taking it seriously?

“You are distracted today Princess.”  Tch, that nickname.

You’ve told Sir Kusakabe as a cousin of the Crown Prince you don’t bear any real royal title. You’re simply provided the comforts and privileges. Things that you have used to your advantage many a times, whether it be indulging your hobbies or proving others wrong. Your royalty adjacent status has helped you many times. Folks consider you innocent, harmless, stupid.

You wonder if the Sir Kusakabe also considers you as such. You hope so.

It will work in your favor. Because eventually, he will loosen up. Let you wander his home without an escort, let you roam the expansive gardens and satisfy your curiosity with his esteemed weapon room. That will allow you to accomplish your real mission.

Why yes, you will be in a play and will have a sword duel in it. However, your Fathers have had you learn the art from French professors every single Friday since you were seven. You don’t need Sir Kusakabe’s help at all. What you need is to charm and disarm the man.

Sir Kusakabe is in possession of your custom Bavarian sword. An angry cousin and suddenly your precious metal was cold heartedly sold off  to the stoic, handsome man in far away lands. You had just gotten your hands on the sword by trading a very beautiful jade hilted saber. How you acquired the jade hilted saber is a story for another day.

Currently, the Bavarian blue decorated gliding blade is somewhere in Sir Kusakabe’s manor.   You’ve gather it sits somewhere in the weapon room, and with his vast collection, there is no reason he’d notice one beautiful blade go missing.

Wait, it’s not going missing, it’s returning home, back to your side.

But nothing is working, he does not respond to your flirtatious remarks nor lingering looks nor looks of distress. It angers you, forces you to hold your foil closer, tighten your stance, lunge at him with force.

When you concentrate a little too hard in the duel and knock his foil from his hands he stands stunned. Eyes discerning and expression neutral. “You’ve made progress.”

Is that the way to his heart?

Not that you need to know. You simply want...to distract the man.  That's all.

—

  Progress that is beyond potential, Atsuya notes. There’s far more grace and tactical strategy in your movement that cannot be considered beginners luck.   Had it not be for societal rules, Atsuya is sure you’d best the current champion. You’re up to something bigger perhaps; using the play as a ruse for something, or a natural genius.

Whatever, it’s likely harmless.

He discredits his growing doubt because receiving your smile across ball rooms is much more merciful than the dreaded gossip what wallflowers make about him. A womanizer, a salacious brute and his favorite — rude.  He follows society rules just fine, thank you very much. So what he doesn’t send thank you cards or get well flowers or dance at these things.

He eats when he’s supposed to, greets the hosts upon arrival and before leaving, and is gone by 7pm — a decent time!  His business is international, he spares what he can to attend these silly society functions.

“You’re glaring into Lady Fushiguro’s vase. Why?”   Sneaky, sneaky, thing you.

Walking right up to him, without an escort, dance card full of names that Sir Kusakabe has no interest in knowing. “Was I?”

He shouldn’t look at you, not the new shade of berry gracing your lips, nor that even tighter corset providing you the perfect posture and dip. And absolutely not your exposed neck, he’s used to your hair being up in a ponytail as you spare. The high necks of your sparing jacket keep you fully clothed and concealed after all.

Besides, what use is the visual knowledge of what your neck looks like to Kusakabe? It’s not like he would trace his fingers across it, not like he’d paint his lips up the column towards your ears that dangle with sparkly rocks, it’s not anything, it’s simply nothing. He’s a gentleman, your teacher. Nothing more.

  —

  The fact that Sir Kusakabe has finally started cancelling your sparring sessions last minute is perfect.  You wish he’d only let you take drink tea alone in his home instead of rushing you out back to the carriage. All you need is a good ten minutes, you’re sure your sword is in the back room, where he keeps the expensive books.

You don’t have long left on your trip to see your cousin the Crown Prince, Suguru is busy climbing a mountain to impress his Lady friend after all.  So, despite not wanting to, you take a spoon full of black pepper. Let yourself down a whole glass of water and then enter the Kusakabe manor.

He’s ready to rush you out, on premise of working, but stops as soon as he sees the reddened eyes and tears that threaten to spill. A well timed, organic, coughing fit and he has you seated in a guest room, personally taken a carriage to call a doctor over, making sure to bring one he trusts.

This is it. 

Ten minutes.

  —

  He does not attend the museum gala for any other reason than making friends with the artist. He can export these paintings and make a fortune, nothing else.

If you happen to be around and wander in front of him, it’s only natural his eyes follow that seductive swish of your hair and the shift of weight by your hips.   If you happen to be within earshot, discussing the nuance of capturing a persons soul in portraiture, it has nothing to do with his own desire to hear your voice.  It’s not his fault your voice is honey sweet.

But it is his fault for smoking in the garden, for causing that coughing fit and compelling you out from hiding. It’s his fault for not stopping you when you ask, “Does this taste good?”   And take his lit cigar and pull it to your very berry lips.   

It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, patting your back, tucking you into his side away from any potential pedestrians or your lady maids or your escorts. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, wipe at your lips and offer you whatever candied goods he has in his pockets. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, unwrapping the butterscotch sweet and pushing it past your lips.

The tensing of his jaw?

The extra swipe across your bottom lip?

The way his eyes bore into you?

  —

 You should put it back.

Even though your cousin stole and sold the sword from you, Sir Atsuya paid a fair price.  If you had simply told him the ordeal, as a gentleman, he would’ve sold the sword back to you, nay, he would’ve handed the thing over.  The once coveted blade now prickles at your heart because you lied to such an handsome, honorable. infuriating man.

He has to be doing it on purpose right?

Waiting for all the other men to fill up your dance card, never approaching you for a dance, leaving at 7pm on the dot.  Pray tell, why bother showing up to these balls at all?  He speaks to the host and no one else, sometimes older gentlemen but never a woman.

Perhaps, you’ve misread him?

No, no, no.

The swipe of his thumb at your lips still burns, causes your face to flush and your thoughts to wander.  All this from one, singular swipe…imagine if his hands dared to— no, no, no.

He’s a gentleman.

Honorable.

He’s likely sworn himself away from society and pursuit of a wife and yet…yet your mind supplies that doesn’t mean he’s sworn himself away from sex.

He’s a healthy, strong, broad man.

There’s no reason he doesn’t have a Lady friend….or two….or three…or….oh no, no, no.

Do not think of him without his shirt, do not think of him with loosened slacks and his head lolled back in pleasure, do not think of the sounds he makes.

Do not let your duels with him supply the grunts, and groans, and praise.

Do not.

  —

Madness, pure madness.

You’ve snuck out of your chambers and the Royal Palace, no less with the help of the Crown Prince Suguru who was also breaking curfew.  You agree to never having seen one another and part ways. It’s nice to borrow a royal carriage and driver who will keep his mouth shut.

You stop a bit away from the Kusakabe Manor, absolutely certain at this time, Sir Atsuya is likely barricading himself inside the office wing. Which leaves the weapon room open and free. You can return the sword without him ever knowing it was gone.

Only, only.

It’s not madness that drove Sir Kusakabe Atsuya to the saloon, no.  It’s simply, the need of a distraction, the need to forget how soft your lips felt under his skin and the way your eyes darted to his in no, no. He won’t let himself add labels where they should not exist.

And perhaps, it was also trouble Sir Atsuya sought, especially when scoundrels dare state that you make no Princess? That you have no grace or elegance ? The buffoons had to be dealt with, and perhaps he had drunk too much and fought too many dishonorable men, that results in him staggering about his manner.

It’s a small wound, but a wound nonetheless.

“Sir Atsuya!” A ghost, a vision, a dream.

The scent of rose and amber, soft perfumed skin invading his space. He’s floating before he’s miraculously tossed into his study.  Small deft hands pulling at his cravat, then his vest jacket and opening his white red stained dress shirt. “Princess…this is but a scratch.”

“A scratch does not bleed Sir Atsuya.” You look around the room, notice bowl that can be used as a water basin. He keeps clean towels on in the second floor lavatory, and you ask his staff to boil some water and go to inspect his medicinal cabinets.

You’re too familiar with his manor, a grin on his face, commanding it as the Lady of the House.

He must still be drunk to imagine such a visual, a Princess in his home as his wife?

A very warm, very wet rag is applied to his abdomen, your hands work as quickly as possible to clean the wound, inspecting the depth, trying to discern if a doctor is needed. At his grumbling you compromise and instruct his staff to call one tomorrow morning. You clean his skin as best you can, pulling his slacks down just a tad, making it easier to bandage his skin but, “Princess, you mustn’t do this with others.”

What? “Being kind is not a crime, Sir Atsuya.”

Oh but it is, it is when it’s the form of you, on your knees, concern etched in your eyebrows, touching him so dangerously with innocence—do you, do you even realize what this looks like? Anyone other than his staff would be quick to label this as a compromising position and yet —“My Fathers taught me how to handle wounds, it game in handy when I would fall from…my horse.”

What a lie, you’ve never ridden a horse, and falling from a horse would not result in a blood wound. You had almost slipped about your fencing training, fuck. Stop, bandage this man up and go home, hide in the safety of the Royal Palace. But it’s so distracting. This… man.

Well, you know that, you’ve always known that but…it’s different. He has defined abdominal muscles, the broad chest you expected but the way it tapers into a V towards his hips is…well…concerning.   You want to touch more, you want to confirm just how different he is—

“Princess…” why does his voice sound like that, “What are you doing?” Your hand grazing and pushing softly against exposed skin.

“It’s…you’re…so different.”

 Sin after sin runs through his mind before he can finally address a proper reply, “Different?”

 “Well I don’t have these,” fuck your hand shouldn’t feel that good against his burning skin, you shouldn’t take his own rough hand to your soft, delectable belly, “See, it’s like a loaf of bread compared to your…washboard.”

It, has to be on purpose, yes?

The way you look up at him, the way you display curiosity so openly, this must be what you consider seduction or charm or whatever Princesses’ need to do to get all favors they want.

But, what possibly could you want from a gentleman like Atsuya?

And you don’t know what it is, the mood shifts, his hand leaves your belly to rest at your hip, you like the weight of it there, the grip. Why? Why does the intensity of his gaze cause your body to feel feverish? What does he do that causes embers to flame inside your chest?

“Sir Atsuya?” 

Perhaps, it’s only proper, for you to lean forward, his hand supporting your movement. It slips to your lower back and then snakes itself to the push at the nape of your neck as your lips inch closer to his.

Perhaps, a proper, honorable man would make a better effort not to compromise a Princess in secret as such.

However, as a gentleman, Sir Kusakabe Atsuya places the honor of guarding your heart above some silly notion of society. As a proper gentleman, he will not reject your advances, especially for a kiss so feathery soft and sweet.   

You haven’t done this before, and yet you want more, there’s a hunger in your eyes. And you hope, you hope he can see it, you home the grip in your hair doesn’t loosen, that his wound is truly just a scratch as he adjusts to seat himself higher, pulling you into his lap.

After all, isn’t it the gentlemanly thing to do, keep you in his arms and teach you how to kiss?

Where else would you learn such a thing?

[kimiro-art]

How the touchstarved character react to MC in lingerie

Nsfw?

MHIN

They swear. It wasn't their intention to walk in on you like that. But all those drunk people down at the bar were just too much for Mhin at the moment and didn't really help the fact that they already had a having bad day. They just wanted to calm down in your room and maybe even cuddle. :(

You were about to take off your underwear after trying them on (and failing, the whole outfit was too complicated to figure out anyway) and then take a well-deserved bath. Instead, you're interrupted by a groan and then the sound of a door opening and closing.

“Y/n, are you here? I-“ And sure enough, you were here. Fully dressed in black lingerie with beautiful feather patterns. Strings adorned your entire body and hung from your hips.

All Mhin could do was blankly stare. Their eyes roamed over your beautyfull body and there was nothing they could do to keep their eyes from doing so. A blush formed on mhins cheeks and without saying anything else, Mhin turned around and was about to leave the room.

You just stood there confused. You and Mhin had been together for a while now and you had both seen each other naked, but Mhin still had this thing that made them look away when you changed clothes or walked around your room with little clothes on. You think it was their way of being polite and maintaining their demeanor even when it wasn't necessary. Not after the many times you and Mhin have shared a bed.

“Stay here,” you say and mhin stops in their tracks “come here. I need your help to take this off again. I was having a hard time getting all those cords in place.” you turned your back to them to show mhin all the knots and loops you had to tie together, hoping that somehow it would be right this way.

Honestly. It looked kind of funny.

When Mhin turned to you, they had to suppress a smile. you looked like a wildly wrapped present in the back and you indeed actually needed help.

Mhin hesitantly walked towards you and started helping you undo all the knots and loops again.

“You know... the ribbons aren't suppose to go like this” they say quietly as they undid a bow and brushed the ribbon from your shoulder. you felt mhin move their cold hands from one spot to another as they worked their way through the chaos. “I know, but it's hard to figure out where everything is suppose to go. It's not like these things come with instructions" maybe they come with instructions. But you had to buy one without one. A pity.

Mhin glanced over your shoulder towards you in the mirror. secretly taking in the view again. They had to admit. Even only half complete. You still looked absolutely gorgeous like this. "I could help you put it on next time if you want... but I doubt it's going to stay on for very long" they say with a serious face. Tho. Their eyes seemed to flicker a bit at the last part.

Before you could say anything else. The last knot was undone and your top part fell to the floor, finally freeing you . “I like you more without all the fancy stuff,” mhin says. Hug you lightly from behind and look into your eyes through the mirror. You knew that expression too well.

(I know I take way tooo long making these)

[lemonlurkrr]

@aureateart​ ok. My favourite parts of twilight princess  (and some other random thoughts about TP sprinkled in there) taken from my monster TP word vomit google doc :

Link lmao

Ok but for real, I like this incarnation of Link :)

I love Ordon (it just seems like such a chill and cozy village)

ALSO love how easy it is to interpret Link as being a sort of older brother figure to the Ordon kiddos. It’s just,, super cute? AND GHHH nice nice good thanks nintendo for giving me characters to care about/characters that I can imagine Link caring about

He didn’t sign up for any of this (tbh, none of the Links really signed up for this jshdjsd). But I mean like, dude was just going to take a trip to castle town, drop a gift off for the royal family, and come back. But haHA oopsies he did get to castle town eventually but definitely not the way he expected hsjdhsd

He’s just a little dude?

AND FUCK. HE REALLY HAD NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF ORDON UNTIL ALL OF THAT

everything is new for the player AND Link

Midna

She’s cool :)

she really just

*teleports into your jail cell* hello whore.

I am no master at writing but AYYYY she do got a character arc!!!

She was actually pretty helpful sometimes, I ALWAYS checked in with her before turning to a game guide

Other NPCs

NICE

Love all of the TP character designs (ASHEI’S ARMOUR??? AOWOAOAOOAO)

Saving Zelda and all of Hyrule was important yea but thinking back maybe it was more like, the Ordonians and the kids were what was pushing Link to keep on going

I like the Resistance members :) Very video gamey of them to have one NPC assigned to each dungeon but hey!!! Kinda cool getting to see a little glimpse of each of em

Idk, it’s just fun to imagine Link popping into Telma’s bar after each dungeon and taking a little rest :) (or to celebrate? maybe just chat, idk, give this man some downtime!!)

Honestly it was just kind of nice that Link wasn’t entirely alone. I mean, I know Midna was there the whole time, but I am always for giving Link a big group of friends (see my love for hyrule warriors, age of calamity, and LU LMAO)

Hero’s shade, very very cool, kinda sad he died with regrets but HEY. He got to pass on his knowledge eventually

AND the connection to OoT?? AND assumed to be related by blood too????? GOOD SHIT

Ilia, I REALLY really wanted to like her (er, it’s not like I dislike her, she’s just,,, kinda there for me).

It definitely seems like Nintendo was pushing to make her the romantic interest, but GHHHHH they really threw that out of the window for me by having her lose her memories

I saw a text post a while ago that said it would have been interesting if Ilia was Link’s sister instead and YES!! That would have been cool too :0

Wish we got to know Zelda a little more

I feel like we barely know anything about her

Idk man, like I said earlier, I never really had any sort of drive to save Zelda during my playthroughs

She obviously knows Midna, so maybe if they gave us just a little bit more of that relationship I’d be more interested in her?

TP WORLD BUILDINGGGG

Botw has good world building too, but each race felt kinda,,, isolated? I absolutely love the different architecture and vibe each town has (and all the the weapons too) but ghhh yea everyone felt so separated. As far as I can remember, we don’t see tooo much of the races interacting with each other? Now that I’m typing that out maybe that’s to be expected because of the calamity but KLSJDKJFD ANYWAYS THIS IS ABOUT TP

The world feels nice and alive, love how populated everything is

Castle town I like castle town a lot, it feels dense and busy and I really like how you can’t talk to every NPC you see

Very cool very fun that we got to see the Gorons hanging out in multiple spots

kinda wish we got to see the Zoras a little more (I guess they are a bit limited since they need water but GHHHH the tp zoras are so prebby,,)

BUT HEY, I do remember seeing a zora or two hanging out in the hot springs around death mountain after beating the lakebed temple (I think, might have been a different dungeon) 

but aaaa would have been nice to see them in at least a couple of other places. I think it would have really added to the “congrats Link!! You’re restoring peace to Hyrule” feeling you get from seeing the Gorons hanging out in Kakariko and Castle Town

ORDON

Love how chill it is and how it’s kind of separate from Hyrule proper

They really do seem to be doing their own thing apart from the rest of Hyrule

Just kinda adds onto the “he’s just a regular dude minding his own business” kind of vibes I get from TP Link

Also I like Ordona :)

THE LIGHT SPIRITS,,

Love their design

And love how they’re not exactly like a pure white?

Different spirit representing each aspect of the triforce my beloved

But yes hi I think Ordona is very cool

Who are you, how did you get here, which goddess do you represent? Do you even represent one of the three golden goddesses? Do the Ordonians know about you? Have any of them ever SEEN you??? Do they worship you? Does anybody even know about the existence of the light spirits?? FUCK so many questions but ghhh I like how they broke the status quo a bit by throwing in a fourth spirit :)

I feel like this one is kinda weird but I like that voice sample they used in the light spirit music. It’s spooky and pretty at the same time :)  

cutscenes mmmmm

Ok ok, the spooky lanayru cutscene is very good

BUT THE “Link, Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!” CUTSCENE MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT SO MUCH

IT just

Idk man

It just hit different

I like the music

And seeing the light spirits swimming around in the light juice water whatever it is

Summoning the light arrows?

AND HHHHH “Lend us the last of your power!” THIS IS IT. This is the final battle.

Seeing Zelda bow down, and then Link putting his hand out 👌👌👌

Link: ok bud, let’s do this together :)

Connection to OoT (did I already mention this? Maybe., Whatever)

Very cool nintendo :)

I love seeing connections between all the diff zelda games.

Because like, on one hand, they’re all separate from each other because of yknow, individual hero stuff. BUT ALSO, they’re all connected because of the reincarnation stuff

Grrrr walking through the sacred grove and going “The Hero of Time walked around here a long time ago” FUCK THATS SO COOL

Is the Hero’s Shade watching me? What does he think of me? DIsappointed? Proud? The Hero of Time went through HELL so this timeline didn’t have to deal with any of the shit Ganon was gonna pull with the triforce, better not fuck this UP Link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Midlink is cute

Kinda hurts that she smashed the mirror but that was probably so Nintendo didn’t have to worry about people going “but what about the twili??????” for any of the other games LMAO

BUT ALSO LIKE SKJDKLJFJ There are some pretty massive plot holes in TP anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever it’s fine we’ll just use this for angst because GOD do y’all like angst

So is Shadlink

Honestly don’t know where this ship came from but it’s cute so whatever

THE MUSIC??

Love Midna’s theme and how they referenced the dark world theme from ALttP (I remember trying to learn the dark world theme on the piano and doing the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme at the little jingle I recognized from Midna’s theme)

Hyrule field theme SLAPS.

Apparently references a couple of the other over-world themes from the previous zelda games (I got this from 8-bit Music theory’s video on the over-world zelda themes, he talks about TP at around 11:40 but def recommend watching the whole video if you’re into music analysis stuff)

So there’s this bit of the Hyrule Field theme, I don’t know the official name for it but I remember seeing somewhere it being called the “at an advantage theme” since yeah, you hear it during the boss music whenever you expose their weak points. FUCKINGGG LOVE THAT. Didn’t notice it during my first playthrough, but hearing it during my second was like a little easter egg for my ears every time :)

Midna’s lament is very pretty (and fun to play on the piano)

COURAGE THEME.

I didn’t care for it too much when I started playing the game but hearing it in ZREO’s arrangement of the Hyrule Field theme literally makes me turn into a puddle of emotions. Also hearing it around and of the Ordon kids (I think it plays after Link saves Colin) AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Orchestra piece #1 and #2 HOLY SHIT???????????????? 

Literally, the first time I listened to those I just,,,, plugged in my headphones, volume 100, layed on the floor/against my desk and silently vibed. I don’t know what the hell it is, but those two just fit so well with TP?? I still avoid listening to them nowadays cause if I DO I definitely will get overwhelmed with the “god I love this game so FUCKING MUCH” kind of feels.

Wolf link sucks at singing

the first time I heard him howling Zelda’s Lullaby I lost my shit because LKSJLDKSGLKJFSKG god that was.,, Bad. Anyways, hearing him howl some of the songs from OoT was cute :)

TP STAFF ROLL??? 

VERY GOOD. IT’s like 10 minutes long and GOD do I love every single second of it. It doesn’t have the same energy as the skyward sword staff roll or the orchestra pieces but GOD does it hit good??

Nice and calm after that big exciting adventure. Maybe it would have been more fun or emotional to have a higher energy piece but it was really nice getting to sit back and watch the camera fly around Hyrule. Seeing like, the Gorons and the Zoras having a good time, the kids returning to Ordon? GOOD SHIT.

and AAAAA that end, when you hear the main Zelda theme and see Link riding off out of Faron woods on Epona… good shit. It gets you thinking, where the hell is he going? What is he doing? Off ot do more adventuring? Going to help out the resistance or something? Going to help Zelda? Or maybe he’s trying to figure out a way to restore the mirror of twilight? Whoooo knows.

hhHHHHhhh it’s just that final reminder that YES!!! YOU JUST PLAYED A ZELDA GAME. JUST ANOTHER STORY APART OF THE WHOLE EPIC OF THE ZELDA SERIES AS A WHOLE

I also want to acknowledge the instrument/samples they used for all the twili stuff.

They’re all just so unique and contrast SO well with the rest of the TP OST. LIKE FUCK!! Anytime I hear the screech from the Twilit Kargarok? Sends a shiver down my spine. I associate those sounds SO strongly with the twili realm. (Like, the same way you associate the BSHEWW VVWWMMM sounds with light sabers)

I love it so god damn much

literally any time there’s a certain sound or motif associated with something I lose my shit

Sacred grove sacred grove sacred gro-

lovely lovely lovely so much fun playing that on the piano. AND again, I did the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme when I heard the theme from the lost woods come in GHHHHHHHH

shoutout to TP Faron Woods for helping me study and get through all of my schoolwork

BLEGUUHHH can you tell that I really love music?

and also yea I guess TP is kinda cool too :\

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT THANKS I GUESS

[delfts-purple]

Saints Row Reboot Thoughts

So originally I had a massive ass post of my SR5 wish list sitting in my drafts but since that's now useless, gonna do this. For some context I have been playing since 06, when I was way to young and I fucking hated 4. Now lets go!

My Wants and not wants:

Reboot after SR2 or SRTT. No hate, SRTT was alright but it may be easier and better to reboot from SR2. I seriously do not want you to redo 1 and 2. They are very good games that can stand the test of time and deserve their place. I may be more pissed if you retcon 1 and 2 than I was at 4. Like I guess I could live with a remaster if it was a graphical and control scheme overhaul only. I do hear you young fans, we did have clunky controls back then but they were normal so I don't get put off by it.

It looks to be the case we are going back to the roots and my god are we overdue.

Lets talk clothing. Basically the entire clothing system from SR2, that is what I want pray for. It was peak customization that I have not had another game match.

BIG PHAT GOLD CHAINS PLEZ. I know its probably not fashionable anymore but hot damn it looks so good.

Body slider/Gender slider (idk what to call it) from SR2. Not only is it great for our Trans homies. It was just a great, nah, amazing tool. Really before its time.

Please, make it so I don't have to be a body builder. Like skinny Bosses need more love. My boy Ty was always skinny till 3 and 4 forced him to be bulky. Skinny boys need love tooo!!!!

Honestly like a hybrid of the character builder from 2 and 3 would work. The color, make up and feature diversity of SR3. Paired with the fine tuning of SR2. Its just like chefs kiss.

Custom walking styles, I always loved that my and my friends boss not walk alike.

Two tone hair again maybe? I just think its neat.

Honestly just all the fucking activities from SR2 and SR1. I loved them all, well except Heli assault but people liked that to so let them have it.

Tagging, please, I love tagging.

GOLD/PLATNUIM WEPON UNLOCKS! So gangster like hot damn.

BOOZE AND DRUGS! Like I have had 100s of hours of fun fucking about with that. Like if we had the variety of SR1 in booze and drugs, I would die and got to heaven.

I mean if you can find a way to not make romancing a bastardization I guess you can keep it.

JUST DON'T! Don't bastardize that charaters.

Can we maybe have back some of that grit? Like SR2 was a prefect balance of grit and humour. SRTT felt like I was a toddler been mollycoddled by shallow humour. Not enough grit and felt like it was wrote by a 10th grader tbh.

Make the Boss... them again. Like non of this 'he hu puckish rouge' shit. I don't play a gang game to be a fucking hero. I know, shock, horror. I play it to be a sociopathic bastard. I got 100 fucking games where I am the good guy, sometimes ya boi needs a break. A evil, going to hell for this, I do question my mental status when I laugh at this, break.

Mission and cut scene replay. One of the reason SR1 and 2 save files can rack up into the 1000s of hours for me is this feature. If I want to play one mission, I don't have to replay the whole game. I can give in to whims. I do not have a word for it in English but it is maximum happiness with fun.

More cut scenes. Like there felt like there was less of them in 3 and 4.

Idle animations. My Boss just been like 'yep, Delfts gone, time to go fishing or drinking or smoking' was just great.

Look Gat was never some weird immortal, unbeatable guy until you made him that way in 4 onwards. He was the kinda hot headed, asshole, who got him self into trouble over it, guy who we adored. Bring my boi back.

A photo mode. I mean I got very, very good at cropping screenshots and clipping my camera of walls but, my Boss deserves better! He his my handsome little killer and people need to know that.

MKUltra elevator nightmare shopping/wardrobe/garage screens, you know the ones, fucking scrap them. Go back to how it was in 1 and 2. I do not need to be subjected to CIA brutality while playing SR. I got enough of that thanks.

Keep the phone menu, that shit was tight. Real immersed me and I love seeing the Bosses phone. I mean I have bought and made replicas of them ffs.

Make hazel eyes behave like the did in the remaster. Like damn. Just. I have a whole post on this shit thats how good it was.

I know you guys are good for it but keep them fun af cheats. I spent to long as a massive af beating up super small people as it rained corpses. Oh and the gravity was gone.

Don't have dual wielding as a fucking upgrade. My Boss just dual wields, let him, like you did in 2.

Weapon skins, like in SR4, that was alright. I wouldn't mind that one.

Keep the Bosses back story vague still. I haven't wrote and perfected his back story over the last decade or more so you can piss on it.

Jackets and hoodie, stop the putting my hair in a ponytail. Last time I put on a fucking track jacket I didn't have to tie my hair back, It didn't happen in 2 so why 3 and 4?

Respect and Missions. Can we either have a return to the old style respect system to make people play the side missions or just not make people play them by force. I fucking hate Heli assault and all that flying shit, so been forced to do it made me want rip my hair out. Like if they are there people will play the ones they want, I do not want to be made to do it by the main story. THX

Bring back the day/night cycle. I could play for much longer when it wasn't so monotone. Also it made me think about what I was doing when. Like I wouldn't got to the night club at 10am.

Bring back Nightclubs. Tyde want's to party and so does Delfts.

Stop making the character hollow 2D’s of their former selves.

A varied city, like Stilwater. Seriously, feels like a real city and I have lived or worked in over 6 in my life so I know. Steelport felt like what some Vatnik Babushka (Boomer Grandma) in rural Siberia would describe the city, dull and unrealistic.

Have the gangs act like actual gangs. You know, go around doing crime and harassing NPCs like they did in 1 and 2.

NPCs, make them like you did in SR2. They acted like real people, did the most random and weird shit. Felt real. They also all look different or their was such a wide variety in base models I didn’t notice repetition. SRTT and SRIV they were like 5 NPCs. I had occasions where there was 10 of the same model and I was like, two or three is okay but fucking 10?

Make them drive the way they did in 1 and 2 too. I have drove in a city for a long time and that shit was so real. People are dumb sometimes.

Bring back Freckle Bitches!!!!!!

If I think of anything else I will add it but feel free to add your own and disagree with me. I kinda want to here how all you others be feeling about this. I feel fear and happy. Also can you tell I blasted this out at like 4am.

[missmeltycat]

24. favorite scene you’ve ever written

Asks for fanfic writers

24:

That’s a tough one. I’ve written a number of scenes that I still grin over. It’s not very often I like my own work, but a few do spring to mind. The majority of them I actually co-wrote with others.

I’ll add a couple here.

Conflict of Interests

A fic based on the old fan Inspector Gadget series Go Go Gadgetinis. This was a collab between me and @thatredheadedchick12

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15563118

As Gadget heard the ruckous die down, he relaxed a bit more. “Actually it isnt so bad after you get past the initial metallic bitterness. It has a very unique after taste.” He smiled before taking another healthy pull, as his brain already began to grow a bit cloudy around the edges.

“Good, I’m glad you like it. Just be sure to take it slow. If you aren’t used to drinking then it could go to your head fast.” She relaxed and braced herself on the bar with her elbows. “So…” She peered at him under the brim of his hat. “Tell me about your gadgets? I am curious about them. What kind of stuff do you have in that there body of yours?”

He set his glass down from another healthy pull as he listened to her. Something about taking it slow? Oh. His gadgets! “Well there isnt a lot I dont have. I actually have a mobile phone in my right hand. Keys, pen, helecopter…” he went on listing each gadget hidden within him as he looked at her. He was happy to tell her about himself. As he was happy to listen to her talk about herself. She was a very interesting lady and he very much enjoyed how he felt around her. They barely knew one another for 24 hours and yet he felt as though he had known her a lot longer. The way she acted around him… So… Unique. She was something else and as his head began to cloud a bit more he nearly lost track of his gadgets he listed. “So that is basically all of it. I think I forgot one or two but im sure I will remember them before the night is out. Wowzers this is good.” He took another pull, as her voice telling him to take it slow sounded deep within his mind. However a louder voice was yelling at him to drink the beautiful liquid faster as each sip tasted better than the last.

“So, you’re quite the package, huh?” She raised her glass to her lips once more. “You really are as amazing as they said you are.” Prince offered a wink before having another good swig of her ale. He was fascinating. She’d never met anyone like him before. In the back of her mind there was a prickling sensation, but she tried to drown it out by downing the rest of her glass in one go and ordering another. “You good, or are you up for another?”

As he drained his glass completely, he hiccuped rather loudly. “I… Yes! Yes another. If you dont mind?” he asked as the cloud began to take hold. It was so delicious! He couldnt help himself!

She patted him on the back and gestured for two to the bartender. “Wow, I’m glad we did this! I got to introduce you to something new and it’s been fun!”

Dick had been spying around the corner and saw her pat his back and then snake her arm around his shoulder. His brows knitted together as a pang of jealousy washed over him. That was not right…

Digit was having very much the same issue as he looked inwards through the mucky old window and almost slipped and fell off the dumpster he was stood on.

Gadget tried to swallow the lump in his throat as she threw her arm around his shoulder. “Y-yeah. You know what? I am glad we did this too. I was honestly afraid you would reject the idea of dinner with me after all the stuff I had done this morning.” His face turned instantly red as he recalled the details of his face between the twin peaks. “I… Uh… Yeah. I am glad you accepted.” His speech was slightly slurred, but not to the point of being unintelligable. As the barkeep brought their drinks he clapped his hands like a giddy school boy in a chocolate shop before he took a good swig of his beverage.

Prince let out a loud and hearty laugh as she watched him down his drink. “Think nothing more on this morning! It’s all water under the bridge. I know you didn’t mean any of it.” She joined him in downing the ale, her own brain now comfortably fuzzy. “It’s best to forget… Especially if we’re working together for a while. And you know what? I like you! You’re the best partner I’ve had so far!”

He smiled stupidly as his face took on a pink tinge from the alcohol. “And you know what?” he said before taking a few more swigs. “You…. Are amazing yourself. And not bad on the eyes.” The fuzz completely took over. He downed his stout in no time and pushed his glass forwards. “Nmmn I think I have had… ‘Hic’….. Enough…” He said as the slurring became a bit more prominant.

Easy on the eyes? Her face suddenly flushed a vivid red colour over the compliment. “Oh! W-Well, thank you, I er…” She chugged the rest of her stout, not really knowing how to respond to such a comment and placed it back down with a wobbly hand. “Me too. M-Meee tooo. I think… We… Uh… Did you wanna go? Or stay a while?”

“I… I am up for whatever you are up for. We can uh… Head back to the hotel if you want.” he said as he picked up his glass and slammed the dregs before returning it to its coaster. He attempted to get up, but ended up tripping on the bar stool and fell backwards, causing the row of chairs behind him to fall like a line of dominoes. “Heh. Whoops.”

That was strangely funny and she found herself laughing so much she couldn’t even stand up straight due to her stomach muscles tensing. She offered a shaky hand to him, still chuckling over the perfect way the chairs had fallen. “You stupid arse!”

The landlord, however, wasn’t impressed and gave them a glare.

Dick watched as Prince made for the exit with Gadget and felt a tug at his heart. It wasn’t fair… He couldn’t even speak to her. If he did, he’d risk everything.

Gadget hardly even registered the dirty looks as he took Prince’s hand and stood, nearly toppling over again. “Yes. I say we go back to the hotel now.” he said as he walked rather wobbly over to the doors and attempted to hold the door open for Prince, which was actually the only thing keeping him from faceplanting into the sidewalk.

She skipped her way awkwardly onto the pavement outside and moved quickly to Gadget’s aid as she could see him wobbling rather badly. She caught hold of him around the chest and propped him up as best as she could. “Wooooah now, hehe. You gotta stay upright! I’m not strong enough to carry you.”

“Never fear dear lady for I am…. I can walk!” he announced a bit too enthusiastically. Fortunately the hotel was a block away. “Is it hot out here?” he asked as he loosened his tie a bit. He felt… Amazing. Laid back. Relaxed. As though all his cares just melted away.

She still had hold of him, but adjusted herself so that she kept one arm around him under his own. She wasn’t feeling too steady on her legs either. In fact, the pavement was looking a bit uneaven. “It’s n-not far!” She giggled as she swayed and then came back against him with a thud. “Someone needs to tell the street to stop it.”

“It is a lot more uneven than the last time we were through here. Obviously the earth shifted!” Gadget stated as he held on to Prince.

It was a hell of a trek, but they had made it back to the hotel and Gadget had finally gotten her safely back to her room. “Welp… Prince… I ‘ave had a 'hic’ wonderul evening. I… Thank you.” he said with a silly smile as he turned to look at her, reaching up to caress her face and nearly missing.

She reached out, the night air having enhanced the drunken effects and patted his face back in return the same way as he was doing with hers. “You too! This was… Like… SO fun. We need to do it again. Because, we… I mean… We won’t get long to like… Work together and stuff. You know?” She swayed a little and used her free hand to brace herself on the wall that joined onto her bathroom.

Inside the room by the window, Data and Scooter were on recharge mode and that meant they were dead to the worldand Prince glanced over quickly to make sure they hadn’t woken up.

“Yes! Oh yes. Please. I mean… If you want. I quite enjoyed tonight. I… Yes. May I do anything for you before I turn in for the night?” he asked in his gentlemanly fashion. He probably wouldnt have been able to do much in his current state of mind, but he would try none the less.

Prince wobbled a bit again and used her other hand to grab his jacket. “I think… I think it’s… That’s all. I mean… Unless you can tell the room, the floor and my bed to hold still.” It was unusual for her to feel so woozy after just two pints, so her theory about the cask sitting for a while must have been correct. What was originally just over 6% was probably closer to a 9%.

“I… I mean I can try!” he said happily as he walked, no, staggered into her room. “Listen here room! Prince isn’t in a mood for your incooperative nature! Behave!” he said as he shook his fist at the room and it’s general contents.

Prince wobbled inside a bit as she watched him order the room to stop its shenannigans. “My hero!” She clapped playfully and laughed as he waved his fist around. The fact that he was trying was brilliant and she was glad he had a sense of humour. She’d hate to have been saddled with a partner who was as funny as a brick to the face.

“All 'n a day’s work m'lady” he said as he struck a heroic pose as he attempted to bring her in for a hug. What was the worst she could do? Push him away? He felt… Bold. He supposed they werent kidding when they called alcohol liquid courage.

She didn’t put up a fight, in fact she was still chuckling and hugged him back in return. It was a pity his threats hadn’t stopped the room from moving around so much, but she could live with that. She snaked her arms around his chest and held onto him tightly. “Are you a knight in shining armour doing battle against the evils of spinning rooms and shifting floors?”

“For you, anything.”

King of Iron Fist Tournament 8

A fic in collaboration with @thatredheadedchick12 again. NSFW WARNING

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13810308

Inside her room Rae breathed a sigh of relief as the hammering on her door stopped. She didn’t fancy the maid stumbling across her bloody corpse, after all. She slowly slumped back onto her bed and let out a large sigh. Great, now she’d definitely screwed up and made an enemy. Maybe he wasn’t malfunctioning after all.

Raihiko leaned against her door and let out a sigh. She could hear the muffled argument going on outside, but at least she couldnt see is anymore. Dear god. That thing should be registered as a weapon!

Bryan, however, wasnt going to waste any more time. He reared back and punched a hole near the handle and quickly unlocked and opened it and stormed right in.

“You want to fucking die- you!” he snapped as he recognized the heap on the bed.

Rae flailed as she heard the splintering of wood, as she sat bolt upright on her bed, her leather jumpsuit around her waist. “THE FUCK!?” There, stood in his white underwear, was Bryan looking exceedingly miffed. “You call that fucking knocking!?”

“I fucking knocked.” he growled as the fact that her jumpsuit was around her waist completely went over his head. “The fuck is the big idea?” he hissed as he stepped closer, letting the broken door swing shut behind him.

Meanwhile Raihiko had grabbed a cocktail glass and was listening in. If he was going to throttle her new friend she would be ready to jump in, but she felt if she barged in there that very second she would only make it worse.

Rae grabbed a nearby pillow and held it in front of her. “The hell are you even talking about!? I was minding my own business trying to cool down and having a banging contest with whoever was next door! And now this? Now my door is busted and people can see in!” She hurled her pillow towards him in frustration. “I don’t want any old git seeing me change!”

Bryan growled as he caught the pillow from out of the air and tossed it to thw side.

“Yeah! That was me telling you to shut the fuck up! I’m next door.” His voice rumbled as he stepped closer.

“That was YOU? Oh for crying out loud. Why didn’t you just yell? You do enough of it as it is!” She tried to battle with her jumpsuit again, her skin sticking to the fabric again making it hard work. “How was I to know that thud was you saying that?”

Sergei had been disturbed from his poetry reading by the commotion and has ventured outside of his room to see what was going on. If it was someone who had come for him, he would deal with it. As the shouting continued, his eyes narrowed. No. It wasn’t for him. But whoever it was they were sure being overly loud and loutish.

Rai’s eyes widened as she tossed the glass on her bed. She grabbed her Tonfa from the top of her bag as she moved to her door and quickly opened it to see she was not the only one disturbed by the happenings. She looked to the man across from her before she moved to Rae’s door. She noticed the big hole near the handle and swallowed hard. She didnt want to use her weapons. She wpuld surely be disqualified from competing if she attacked another competitor, but she wouldnt let this brute harm her new aquaintance. She stood by the door, listeing as he tonfa rested against the back of her arms, the end blades past her handles resting on the back of her thighs. She was ready if she was needed.

Sergei simply regarded the other woman who had joined him in the hallway. When he caught sight of her weapons, he gave her a very subtle shake of the head.

Raihiko tilted her head at the man in the doorway.

“What? Am i supposed to just let him tear her apart?” she whispered harshly as she backed up to her doorway. Was he nuts? Though…. Maybe he was right? Maybe she shouldny poke the bear with her weapons.She gave them a professional spin before she retreated to throw them on her bed for now before she ran back to the hallway to listen.

Bryan narrowed his eyes. She was certainly testing his self restraint, and there wasnt much there to begin with.“An idiot would know a knock to the wall is a sign of shut the fuck up!” he yelled as he balled his fists. He was on the verge of seething. This woman was jump roping with his last nerve.

Sergei simply stood with his eyes on the broken door. He was conflicted with regard to the other female voice he could hear coming from inside. This was the King of Iron Fist. If she was unable to defend herself, why would she be here? But if he allowed Bryan to go ahead and kick seven shades out of her, what sort of gentleman would he be? Not that he would ever really speak about such things, but he had strong opinions. He glanced over to Raihiko, moved forwards and leaned against the wall next to Rae’s door, his arms folded across his chest and one boot on the paintwork.

Rai blinked as the man stood besides her and leaned against the wall. Wait, would he help her take bryan if he tried to take out Rae?

“Can you see anything?” she asked in a whisper as she tried to peer around him. Wait. Could he ever understand her? She couldnt quite figure it out yet. He hadnt said a word. She didnt even know his name! She nearly tripped on her own foot as she tried to move around him to get a better look.

He held out a gloved hand to stop her toppling over, but to also stop her revealing herself. The hole in the door was large enough to be able to see movement through, after all. He slowly raised a digit on his other hand up to his lips. He didn’t want to do anything if it was not needed and he certainly didn’t want them to know they were there.

“An idiot!? Rich coming from someone who just goes around destroying things for no god damn reason and then expects me to magically know via telepathy or some shit that a bang on the wall meant shut up when he is CLEARLY capable of using his brutish, overly loud voice!” She shot to her feet. “And another thing! What gives you the right to even enter my room?”

Bryan ground his teeth as he tried to keep his cool.

“You know what? Fuck you.” he said as he turned on his heel to leave. He was pissed. And if he didnt leave now, the maid would be scraping her off the walls.

“Try to keep it the fuck down in here.” he growled before he ripped open the door.

Rae felt her stomach churn as he turned to leave and watched his retreating form until the door had slammed shut behind him. Something didn’t quite sit right again. Why was he being so passive? It wasn’t that she wanted to die horribly. But she couldn’t help but wonder what was happening to the man… If he could be called that. She scrunched her eyes shut and flopped back down on her bed as images of his white underwear assaulted her mind. She would find out, though. She had always enjoyed watching his fights, so if he was breaking then surely someone needed to be informed.

Outside Sergei stood bolt upright as Bryan left the room, the door slamming, but swinging due to the broken handle and lock.

Rai slapped her hands over her mouth to stop the sudden gasp that nearly escaped her lips. “Arigato. I am normally not so-” but she was cut off by the form of Bryan plowing through the door. She suddenly pressed her back against the man, trying to make herself small as the brute trudged back to his room.

Bryan didnt even register that he had a mini audience as he ripped open his own door and entered before slamming it shut, causing Rai to flinch. She finally let out the breath she didnt realize she was holding.

He was pissed. He grabbed his pack off the table and lit up a smoke as he began pacing. He needed to let off some damn steam. But how? That bitch next door to him had really lit a fire under his ass.

Rae was also pissed. She scrubbed at her face furiously and rolled off of her bed. Once she was on the floor she shuffled to the adjoining wall and punched it making sure it made as much noise as possible without damaging it. “NEXT TIME WEAR SOME DAMN CLOTHES, YOU FUCKING ASS!”

Currently Untitled

An FF7 fic with no title I started years ago and never finished. It’s so old and terrible, But i enjoyed writing the comical dialogue.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2836442/chapters/6363332#workskin

Seeing the city in the distance, they both swallowed loudly. It was a beautiful place, but they only saw it as a place of evil.

“DAMMIT”, cried Cloud punching at a near by shrub, “Why!?”

Cid decided to follow suit and began to strangle a small sapling, but to no avail.

One of them needed to get a grip, as flying off the hook in such a manner was really not going to do them any good. So, Cid, seeing he was getting no where in his attempted sapling strangulation, took a deep breath and tried his best to calm Cloud down.

“I don’t get why. I mean… I do! But, WHHHYYYY?!”

“Get a grip, man… DAMMIT!” Cid gave him a good thwack across the face, to which Cloud responded by sniffing.

Wacky Races 2004 - Chapter 14 (Chapter 6 of DD’s Ending - Survivalists)

A fanfic I started in 2002/2003. One chapter in particular stands out, as I wrote it with my husband.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9018259/1/Wacky-Races-2004

The wind howled against the side of the car causing the snow to form large drifts. The windshield had been smothered blocking all view to the outside world. Rachel shivered into her coat and laughed at Dick as he struggled to get to the back seat over the stick and hand brake.

“Drat! Double drat! Last time I opt for a manual!”

In his frustration he forgot to balance his weight and keened forward.

Raising a brow Rachel placed her hands on her hips. “Hey, careful of the upholstery. I jus… What do you mean YOU? It’s my car you fool.”

Another laugh echoed through the car, but it was cut short as he lost his balance.

“Ah. AGH!”

His head was caught in a dizzy whirlwind where images of planes and pidgeons assaulted his mind. He thought how lucky he had been to have his fall suppressed by the vehicle’s air bags but then…remembered that was at the front of the car.

“Oh…my…”

Rachel let out a surprised shriek, pushed his shoulders back and leaped backwards in her seat. She wasn’t sure how to feel and flushed red hot. “Aiiyaah, c-careful where you stick that nose of y-yours!”

It suddenly felt very warm in the car and it wasn’t anything to do with the heaters.

He reflexively touched his nose in response to the comment. The assertion blocking out any guilt of having accidently violtated his fellow racing competitor.

“Look Felicity Funbags! I happen to have a nose of character! What occured was an accident - pure and simple!”

She had adopted a somewhat fetal position in the corner of the car, her knees up to her chest.

“What did you just call me!?”

Her brow furrowed, but it was difficult to tell due to the lack of light in the car.

“And, yes. I suppose I should expect it from you. Mr Accidents-R-Us!” She scoffed and flailed a finger in the dim light towards what she hoped was his face. “You’re so accident prone it’s a wonder people don’t follow you in an ambulance!”

“Accidents? Those were fully intentional schemes gone awry to secure the lead posi-” He stopped and brushed a finger over the tip of his nose. “Uh, yes. You’re right accidents.” He chided, settling into the back seat opposite her.

“Hmph.” She pulled her coat on tighter even though she was radiating heat. “Anyway, you’re here now. I told you that the front seat was no good for sleep.”

The wind howled louder, subsided and then got up again as she paused for a moment to figure out just how close he was sitting.

“I told you there was room for two.”

“Then how did you fit back here?”

He smirked to himself twisting his moustache around his index finger then realised Muttley was not there to be present to his jest. It felt a little depressing not hearing that familiar snicker.

“I beg your p…” she certainly was not going to stand for that comment.

She swung a punch satisfied that it would at least land somewhere that hurt.

Removing his plump hat and toying with it in his hands as he thought on the absence of his cohort and was suddenly surprised to see a fist punch through it’s crown.

“Eegads! My hat!”

“What?”

Rachel struggled to see in the dim light and could just make out the outline of Dick flailing with his hat.

“What about your hat? Nuts to your hat! You insulted me!”

“Getoffgetoffgetoffgetoff-!”

In his panic, he yanked his hat towards himself trying to get the fist through it out but through lack of planning yanked the entire arm and body of Rachel onto him.

“Oof!” She landed with a thud, face first onto his chest, her fist still stuck through his precious head gear.

A moment passed as she attempted to get up, her free hand slipping off the side of the leather seat every time she tried to push herself up and landing on Dick each time she aimed wrong.

“Agh! Eep! Let go!”

Dick froze with his arms paralyzed above his head holding the hat aloft as the aggressive woman continued to rise and fall onto him. Thoughts were a luxury his male biology couldn’t afford right now.

Rachel felt him tense under her and this made her realize just what sort of a predicament she was in. She took the opportunity to attempt to get up. Each movement was slow and exaggerated to be sure she didn’t make the situation any worse.

He lay stiff like a board, watching her arm slip easilly out of the hat despite having created the awkward situation earlier.

After managing to sit up once more, she fanned herself with a hand and squinted towards her racing companion.

“A-Are you OK?”

He seemed to still be rigid and she began to get a little concerned.

“Hey! I s-said are y-you OK?” She prodded him lightly and as best as she could in low visibility in the hopes of stirring some sort of reaction.

“Fine as wine!” He squeaked out.

He still didn’t move. Her body atop his prevented any thoughts of movement.

She slowly slid herself off and returned to her corner. He certainly didn’t sound fine, despite what he said.

“Are you sure?”

She drew her knees back in towards her chest and gave him some room.

“I didn’t hurt you or anything, did I?”

He pulled the hat back over his crown to hide the heat in his cheeks as he rose to sit much like she did opposite him.

“Not at all! Perish the thought!”

“Oh phew!” She let out a sigh of relief. Though she wanted to punch him for that comment, it was only going to be a light punch. She didn’t want to cause too much harm to him. After all, she was fond of the idiot.

“Uh, so, er…” She twiddled her thumbs. “Nice weather. Shame about all the frostbite.”

He chortled nervously.

“Eheh, why yes. It’s very…” He looked out the window with a sigh. “Bitey.”

“Bitey?” Rachel shuffled around a little. “Yes. Bitey frostbite. Mmm.” It seemed as if she was just blurting out any old thing that entered her head. She felt awkward and was not sure what on earth she should do about it. There was no escaping the car, not unless she wanted to walk miles back to the hotel and probably freeze to death on the way.

“Uh…I uh…” He noticed her shiver and removed his purple coat, holding it out to her. “It’s pretty cold so…”

She watched as he took off his coat and hold it out to her. Almost taken aback, she stared at it for a few moments before finally managing to form words. “Oh! N-No, it’s fine. Don’t worry. I don’t want you getting cold either.”

He put it on her and crossed his arms, huffing out a cloud of frosty air.

“H-Hey! Now you’ll get cold.” She started to take it off again to return to him.

He shook his head and laughed.

“You kidding? When I didn’t sleep on the floor the living room in my childhood home was colder than this! Ahah!”

Rachel tilted her head and pulled the sleeve back on. “Living room? Wait, sleep on the floor? You didn’t, did you? When was this? Who made you do that?” Her voice took on a shocked breathlessness as her mind tried to process what he had just said.

“Mother. I think. I just remember a woman who told me what to do. It wasn’t very fun.” He stroked his moustache nostalgically.

“Oh. That sounds rather horrendous. So, it was cold?”

“I suppose. It was the forgetting to feed me that mostly took it’s toll. Oh. The floor. Yeah. It was.”

Rachel lowered her gaze to the floor. “I had no idea. Wow.” A small smile spread across her face. “Well, things are better now, right?” She patted his shoulder. “I mean, you’re a Wacky Racer, after all.”

“It’s alright. I don’t remember much. I can only recall finding a runt in a cardboard box and nursing him back to health.” He touched a finger to his chin, thinking back. “After that it was just schemes and dreams.”

“Dreams? You had something to hope for? I take it that was the goal of winning, right?” She reclined back in her seat and rested her knees against the back of the drivers seat.

“Hope for? No. No nonsense like that. I just kept coming up with reasons to laugh with that stupid mangy hound.” He chuckled despite the remark.

“Heyyy.” She nudged him with her elbow. “He’s not so mangy.” Muttley was indeed a favourite of hers and she found herself feeling terribly sorry for him whenever one of Dick’s plans would backfire. “Is that all you do it for?”

He scratched his chin idly in thought. “I used to believe I was achieving something back in my hayday, but the more I failed. The more I realised I didn’t want to succeed. It was more fun that way.”

“You didn’t want to succeed? But, what about winning the races? Being crowned the world’s wackiest racer? The sponsorships, money, fame?” Rachel’s brow furrowed. “I don’t get it. You always seemed so driven to win.”

He turned to her rather somlemnly and spoke slowly. “But what happens when you do win?”

“I guess,” she looked at her hands, her fingers were nervously linked together, “I guess that you win the money, the title, go on with sponsorships and…” She paused for a moment. “Wait for the next race?”

He nodded not turning away. “And then what?”

“I don’t know. I never really thought about it. I guess people just go on with their lives.” She shrugged her shoulders. It was true, she hadn’t really thought about it. Like everyone, she had just been focussed on winning.

“I don’t want to win or I have nothing left to…what’s that word you used? 'Hope’ for.”

She reeled back in shock. “What? I find that somewhat hard to believe.” She began chewing on her lip anxiously. What he had said had jolted her internally. “Everyone knows who you are and what you do. You could probably do anything you wanted.”

He chuckled and fell back in his chair forgetting the cold for a second. “Haha, my dear, that is precisely what I am doing!”

“But, as you say, then what? What happens when this race is over? What will you do?”

“I would have won and would no long be the dark horse underdog of the Wacky Races. Why would I give up that thrill so easilly? People never think I’m going to win, so it makes it all the more fun when I finally do.”

“So you want to win eventually? Have you thought about when that might be? I mean, you’ve been winning the last couple of races no problems.” She leaned back and rested her head against the seat. After removing her cap, she tossed it into the front and awaited his reply.

He smirked scratching his chin idly with a finger. “Heh, like you…I don’t put much thought into it. I just make sure I’m having fun with it.”

“Like me?” She raised a brow and chuckled under her breath. “What makes you so sure I don’t think about what I do, Mister?” She jabbed him on his shoulder. “I may be smarter than you think.”

“Because if I’m not mistaken when I asked the purpose to winning, you answered and I quote: 'I don’t know. I never really thought about it.’”

Rachel shook her head. “Agh! Damn it. Heyyyy, fine. Come on. It’s late and cold. My head is in a mess.” She chuckled again. “I can’t help it if I’m spouting bollocks. It must be, what… 3AM?” She craned her neck to see her dashboard.

Dick’s Head was lain back under his hat. “Snooooort!” The sounds of his nostrils flaring from exhaustion resounded through the vehicle.

“Hey! HEY!” Rachel jabbed him in his ribs. “Wake up! That’s not fair, you’re not supposed to fall asleep while I’m talking to you!”

He snorted and sat up at attention “Huh whu whassat?”

Unfortunately, when he sat up his head collided with hers. “OUCH! Ooyah!” She grasped her head and keeled over. “Nrrrgh!”

He grasped at his head in pain. “Yeow yeowzer yeow!” He then blinked momentarilly afterward and rather then insult the girl; “Are you alright?”

Rachel just let out a low 'hnnnnn’ sound as she rolled back and fourth on the seat. She now wished she hadn’t removed her hat as it may have stopped or cushioned the blow.

He glanced at her forehead and chuckled “Now, now it isn’t all that bad. Just think we can call it a beauty mark tomorrow!”

She peered up at him with a furious expression, still doubled over on the seat. “I’ll give you beauty mark. Just be glad it wasn’t my eye! How would we explain a black eye?”

He stopped to think a moment then grinned. “Mascara?”

“I don’t wear that crap!”

He smirked. “Oh yes yes, quite. My bad.”

She hit him again, this time harder. “HMPH!”

“Owch! I see your mother passed some wonderful traits onto you,” He said nursing his poor arm.

“OH, we’re talking about mothers, are we?” Her eyes narrowed as a strange smirk spread across her face.

“Yes, well if you ever meet mine I’m sure she’ll be sporting a wicked attitude and moustache herself,” He retorted

That did it. Just the mental image alone. Rachel sucked in air, choked a little and fell about in hysterics. Her mind instantly imagined Dick in a dress.

Dick could only imagine what she was laughing about but he had a pretty good idea.

She attempted to catch her breath and leaned forwards resting her chin on the back of her hands. “Oh man. That’s funny. That’s good stuff.” A tear rolled from the corner of her eye from all the laughter and landed on the seat.

He smirked and tipped his hat at an angle over his eyes as he sat back and cross his arms. “Laugh it up, I know I would.”

After wiping at her eyes with her sleeve she shook her head and pulled on Dick’s coat over her, bundling up like a sausage roll. “You know nothing.”

“Uh huh” was all he could manage. The fatigue dragging his eyes down like weights.

“Ah ah ah!” A hand shot out from under the coat and prodded his ribs. “Are you saying I’m boring?” After sitting up straight she unfurled the coat from around her shoulders and handed it over towards him. “Here. Have it back. You don’t want to end up with a crick in your neck or something.”

He glared unfavorably at her. His eyes stemming red from the lack of sleep he was getting. “Are you capable of shutting up and going to sleep?”

Her brow instantly furrowed and her lips thinned to a small line. “Fine! Take your smelly coat!” She threw it at him. “Telling ME to shut up. Especially after that little stunt at the hotel earlier. What was all that about, huh?” Her voice trailed off into a low mumble as she continued cursing under her breath, turning away in a huff and folding her arms.

He flinched as the coat slapped against his side but just sighed and tried to drift off, ignoring her frustrations.

“And budge over.” She ignored his sighing and pushed her butt into his to shove him further to the side. “Taking all the god damn room. How am I supposed to sleep like that Mister I-Love-You-Shut-Up-And-Go-To-Sleep.” She fidgeted some more and folded her legs under her to take up more room.

He chuckled and made a fake groan. “Oh lord, is that the moon falling? What could this crushing weight be?” He reached out and grabbed a hand full of it to emphasize his point.

Rachel instantly yelped and jumped over to her side. “Aiiie! Watch where you’re grabbing!” She slapped a hand around in his general direction in case he was still trying it.

He had already moved his hand and watched her swat out of corner of his eye, only replying with a chuckle.

“Grabbing ladies butts. You should be ashamed of yourself.” She turned her head and stuck out her tongue. “First you’re all moody then that! HMPH!” She shuffled noisily, trying to make as much noise as she could on purpose.

“When I see a lady…” He yawned. “I’ll be sure to do so.” A wicked smirk arose on his face.

Rachel shot upright and glared at him. “I beg your pardon?!”

He once again lapsed into a bout of snoring under his hat.

“How dare you!?” Her voice was high pitched as she grabbed hold of his hat and began to pelt him with it over and over. “Insult me, will you? Tell me to shut up, will you? Say my ass is as big as the moon, will you!?”

He flailed and twitched under her assault but found himself laughing regardless.

“Stop laughing, you nit!” She continued to swipe. “It’s… not… funny!”

He finally gave in, sat straight and grabbed her wrist in mid attack. “I think you’ll find, my dear, it is.”

“Ouch!” She scowled at him and wiggled her nose in disgust. “Careful how you g…” He kissed her cheek and smiled at her cutting her sentence short. “Don’t… Don’t you try and butter me up, Mister!”

His smirk only widened. “That I can accomodate you with at a later time.”

“Wait… What?” She blinked in confusion, her brain trying to figure out what he had just said. When it finally registered her grimace transformed into a wide, goofy grin. “Now, that’s just dirty.”

He released his grip, twiddling his moustache as he sunk back into his chair. “Dastardly one might say.”

She picked up his coat and flopped it on his lap. “Seriously, though. I’m OK. Take it back and keep warm. I don’t want you getting hypothermia or something.”

“You know” He said, still twiddling his moutache. “They say the best way to keep warm in circumstances like this is to share body heat.”

She blinked again, leaning forward on the seat with her hands. “Wh-What?” She slipped off the seat and quickly caught herself. “They do? Who is this 'they’?”

He only continued in stroking his moustache. “Oh, you know, survivalists.”

“Oh? You know some survivalists?” She gave him a sarcastic grin and yanked at the other side of his mustache.

“Yeah, I contacted them shortly after falling for you.” He mired back at her.

She tilted her head. “What?” An eyebrow raised again. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh nothing you have to concerned about, my dear.”

“Now you said that I can’t HELP but be concerned.” She folded her arms in a huff and sat back roughly.

He replied by only smiling in a dastardly way and snuggled down into his seat.

Silence fell again as Rachel pouted. She hated not being in the know and she was sure he was doing it on purpose. After a while she couldn’t resist piping up again. “So, what else did these survivalists say?”

“About what in particular?” He said gesturing in a quizzative way.

“Well, you said they told you about this whole body heat thing.” She narrowed her eyes. “What else did they say?”

He smirked. “Oh lots of helpful survivalist..things.”

“Liiike?” She leaned forward on her hands and urged him to continue. She did not intend on letting it go.

“Hey look, a sudden distraction!” He pointed wildly in a panicked state at the window.

“Hm?” Her head whipped to the side. “Oh yeah. Snow. Great.” She narrowed her eyes again and slumped back into her seat again. “Fine. I get it.”

He stretched, flexing his fingers infront of him while casting an innocent smile.

Silence once more. Rachel hated uncomfortable silences. She kept giving Dick sideways glances hoping he’d start conversation again. When certain it was a lost cause she sighed. “So, yeah. About Max…”

Dick raised a brow awaiting the end to her statement.

“I didn’t encourage him, you know. That’s not the type of person I am. He just got,” she paused for a second and rubbed the back of her neck. “Clingy.”

This Doggy Bites

Still going RP between me and @dagurlicious

https://www.wattpad.com/story/54795952-this-doggy-bites

Below decks, Dagur had taken to picking at a wooden table with a small blade, mumbling incoherently to himself and occasionally rubbing at his arm. When he heard footsteps his head snapped up to see who dared disturb his brooding time and saw Rae. “What do you want, wench? Can’t you see I’m busy?” He saw the deer on her shoulders and frowned deeper. “I thought I told you to leave that to the men!?”

“Yeah? Well, I didn’t.” She dumped the deer right onto the table that he was picking at and stood with her hands on her hips. “Unlike some, I actually like to pull my weight around here.”

Dagur flinched as the deer hit the table right in front of him with a violent thud. He scowled up at Rae with an unimpressed glare and slammed the blade into the wooden surface. “There you go with those jaded insults again, wench! How about you say what you really mean?” He pushed himself away from the table and circled it until he was face to face with her.

Rae stared up at his face and wrinkled her nose at him, a small smirk on her lips. “You couldn’t handle it if I did, wussboy.” She shoved him playfully. “You can’t even handle a little punch. You whine and complain like a baby!”

She had touched him again. Made physical contact. It may not have been as painful as a punch, but it still caused him to shoot her a nasty look. “Don’t call me that!” He gripped hold of her tunic again. “So help me, I will crush the greedy milk from your bones with my teeth!”

“I haaave noooo idea what you just said, but it sounds brutal and awesome.” She reached her hands up, grabbed hold of his hands and attempted to remove them from her clothing. “Easy on the clothes, Wussboy. Yeesh! I only have this set on board.”

He kept his grip firm despite her attempting to pry his hands off of her attire. “What did I just say!?” He virtually roared in her face, spit flying out of his mouth as he shouted. “I can only take so much of your crap, Rae! Only so much before I-” He began to chuckle, his face breaking from his frown into a psychotic smile. “-Before I snap and teach you a lesson.” He let go of her tunic with one of his hands and moved it to her throat. “Go on. Call me Wussboy again. I dare you.” He moved his face in closer, his nose touching hers and hissed. “I dare you, wench.”

Rae didn’t know how to react. The fact that he had his hand around her throat was one thing, the fact that he was in such a close proximity that she was being tickled by his breath was another. And now he was daring her to call him names again. She tried to avert her eyes to focus her thoughts and continued to attempt to pry his hands off. “I… Well… Why should I? Not on your command. I’m not a trained dog!”

He tightened his grip on her clothing and moved his hand from her throat to her chin, tilted it upwards so that she was looking him dead in the eye and laughed. “Not so tough now, are you? …. Little doggy?” He made a barking sound to tease her further and continued laughing to himself.

Such a mockery, although expected, was not something Rae wanted to let him get away with. She reached her hands out to either side of his helm, yanked him closer, leaned her face in and sunk her teeth into his lower lip triumphantly.

“YARRRGH!” Dagur’s eyes flew open as her teeth sank into his lip in the most agonizing way. The pain was sharp, piercing and intense and he felt tears form in the corners of his eyes. He shoved himself backwards in an attempt to get away from the crazy wench. Unfortunately, that only served to stretch his lip and, in turn, caused more pain and broke the skin. He flailed around and managed to yank his lip free, stumbled back tripping over his own feet, landed against the table and grabbed at his mouth protectively.

Rae wiped her mouth and spat onto the floor. She had not known how he’d react to her doing that and her heart was racing, ready to defend herself should he have retaliated right away. “This doggy bites!”

[winterfellchild]

When did you start shipping jonsa and why? And what would you like to see regarding their relationship in season 7?

When did I start shippingjonsa?

Iwrote a long reply when I first saw this message because I wanted tosay why I liked Jon and Sansa separately longbefore I started to like them as a couple but this is already tooolong so I’ll talk just about Jonsa.

Well, that’s a toughquestion because I’m not sure exactly when I started, it justhappened during season 6… I think the better answer is that withoutknowing that I was doing it Jonsa was already a thing in my mind.

BeforeI start just let me say that I already said why Jonsa is so specialfor me here so maybe I’m going to repeat myself a little but bearwith me I want to say something more :)

Let me start with saying that Iwas not shipping anyone before Jonsa, I had some couples I liked/like( Jamie/Brienne, Arya/Gendry, Robb/Talisa, Sam/Gilly) but shippingsomeone seemed too much so even if I’m a hopeless romantic thatmost of the times always find someone to ship in everything I see GoTwas the exception and it was alright for me.

Butsomething changed when I saw Jon and Sansa hug in 6x04, that is themost poignant and satisfying scene in all 6 seasons… for me nothingcan beat that hug:

Jon’sface show that he can’t believe what he is seeing, and that’s a lotfor someone who just died and came back to life;

Sansathrowing herself in Jon arms is heartbreaking because she just runaway from a monster who raped her for months.

Bothof them touched the bottom during season 5 and I was ready for moresh*t to happen because it’s GoT and there is always a new bottom totouch for my favourites, especiallyif they are Starks.

Iadmit it, I was ready for more angst but not for an happy moment.

Ithink I started to ship Jonsa in that moment, but I’m telling thetruth when I say I was not consciously doing it… I was justobsessed with the hug and by the time episode 6x05 was airing I hadwatched the hug scene so many times that I lost count ( and evenafter 6x05 I can’t say how many times I keep rewatching that scene).

Anywayafter the hug I liked the idea of them together but I didn’tconsciously add a romantic meaning to that idea… I was just sohappy to see Jon smile so much.

Ithink his smiles are worth more than a thousand words because seeingJon Snow smiling so much is out of character. I know he smiled beforebut when I thought of Jon Snow before Sansa got back in his life Ithought of him brooding alone on the Wall now I think of him smilingat Sansa… it’s a 100% improvement.

Anothermoment that got me deeper in this ship is when Sansa gave Jon thecloak, not because cloaks exchange is a clear reference to marriagein Westeros ( at that time I was not thinking so much about it) butbecause it has the Stark sigil and Jon was not allowed to wear hisHouse sigil before because he is a bastard so all he can wear is asigil with colors reversed. I know there are no colors on that sigilbut I don’t think Jon ever wore the direwolf sigil before so that wasanother meaningful moment.

Andof course “I like the wolf bit” is so cute and not platonic at all, but really when I seethe Stark sigil or I hear one of the Stark saying “I’m a Stark”that has such a powerful emotional impact on me that I go a littleout of my mind everytime and I don’t see much else.

Thestory told us many times that a name is not just a name in Westerosand that there is power in a name and I’m totally irrational for theStark name and consequently the Stark sigil.

Thatsaid in ep 6x10 when Sansa said “you’re to me” I was laughinglike a crazy person while almost crying becauseit was too much… after 6 seasons finally a Stark said it loud andclear. That’s what Jon wanted all his life, that’s so important forhim… she really couldn’t have given him something more important.

Ididn’t expect more from that scene but the forehead kiss was thecherry on top of an already worthwhile scene.

Andit’s not just because Jon kissed Sansa on the forehead ( who know,maybe a cheek would have been less visually striking) but it’s theway he did it, with his eyes closed he gave her a not so shortkiss… like he was savoring that kiss.

Withthat kiss I finally reached a boiling point, I was shipping Jon andSansa… the chemistry was too hot ( do I really need to talk aboutall the fighting and screaming that happened? Some of it bycandlelight? Or Jon’s heart eyes? Jon stared at Sansa fondly everytimethey were on screen like he was tring so hard to understand her and for me he felt fascination and wonder at her most of the times he looked at her) and the meaningful scenes are too many toignore, the season was done but I wanted more of Jon and Sansa.

Forthese reasons season 6 was a slow but constant path towards Jonsa forme.

Iwas never worried about the fact that they are cousins, I read toomany historical novels to ignore the fact that cousins marriage wasnormal in that setting and I know a think or two about Europeanhistory to know that cousins marriage is not just fictional material.

Thestory has a precise setting so I find it boring to read the samecomments over and over again from people who ignore that setting.

Forexample Pride and Prejudice ( I know that’s a love story and ASOIAFis not, there is no need to tell me that, but I’m talking about apossible romance here set in the an historical period so it’s a goodexample) was published in 1813 ( ASOIAF is based on centuries beforethat so there were even less moral restrictions on marriages) andcritics commonly regard Pride and Prejudice as an autobiographicalnovel so what it’s said in that book is a realistic example of  theenglish society in the past and guess what? There are two cousinsmarriages ideas in that book and one of them is between two cousinslike Jon and Sansa with the same degree of relationship.

Ican use thousand more examples but really if fans choose to ignorethat even the Wars of the Roses, G. R. R. Martin drew heavily fromthe War of the Roses ( the honorable Northagainst the cunning South),ended with a cousins marriage there is not much hope to stop the annoyingsame comments to be posted over and over again and in truth I don’tneed to convince anyone, to quote the Three-Eyed Raven :

“Thepast is already written. The ink is dry.”

thehistory is not something anyone can change, but if fans are happyignoring it who am I to say what they should do?

Ijust think it’s so ironic that some fans call Jon and Sansa grosswhen they don’t share much DNA and have many historical examplesbecause they ship a pairing that share almost the same amount of DNAthat real siblings share… the world is full of inconsistencies.

Anyway I’m going off topicandthis is already a long post and there is another question that I needto answer.

Whatwould I like to see regarding their relationship in season 7?

Adeclaration of never ending love, a marriage, children, by the end ofseason 8 Jon and Sansa old in Winterfell surrounded by their verylarge family… ok, I know that’s too much but a shipper can dream.

Talkingseriously I would like to see more heart eyes from Jon and him slowlybut constantly realizing that he is doing not so well in showing hisbrotherly love and his actions and stares are not platonic at all.

Iknow that he won’t be in Winterfell much so I hope that after chokingLittlefinger because of Sansa he will broodoverhis relationship with Sansa all the way to Dragonstone.

Afterhe will arrive to Dragonstone he can start to broodover why he spared Theon life because of Sansa.

Andof course before leaving Dragonstone I want him to brood over why hesaid to Tyrion that Sansa is not his wife ( I think it’s inevitableto talk about Sansa and Tyrion marriage, it’s the elephant in theroom, an obvious problem that maybe they will not want to talk aboutbut it’s important to talk about it for the North).

Yes,I’m petty since I want Jon to brood all the time but really he needsto brood a little since he will leave her after he promised toprotect her and since they won’t be together I just hope he will thinkabout her a lot.

Ifhe will want to smile again he can go back to Winterfell anytime…of course he can’t since there is a great war to fight so he willbrood over Sansa for season 7.

Asfor Sansa in Winterfell she will busy to protect his crown fromLittlefinger.

Iknow she will be resolute on this because she is not going to giveany trust to anyone that is not family anymore.

Ithink that Jon’s decision to leave Winterfell in her hands will havean huge impacton her because it’s a real proof that he trust her and that she ishis equal… before anything  romantic I think Sansa need to restoreher faith in men.

It’sreally a necessary step towards becoming ready to love someone forreal for the first time in her life.

Inmy opinion Sansa will just start to think about a possible romanticrelationship between them only after Bran will tell them about Jon’strue parentage, maybe near the end of the season, but not beforebecause she has not much experience in love and the only times shetrusted her heart her father died, that’s a big scar in her heart soeven if she will have some feelings about Jon she won’t acknowledgethem before she will be ready to love him freely.

Ithink if it will happen D&D will put another Ned/Cat 2.0 parallelon how Sansa will start her relationship with Jon:

“Lovedidn’t just happen to us. We built it slowly, stone by stone, overthe years.”

Isee Sansa more pragmatic even over matters of the heart and Jon moreimpulsive.

Andthat’s also the reason why I think we saw more heart eyes from Jon inseason 6 than from Sansa and that there will be not much progress inseason 7, if something will happen it will happen in season 8 whenJon will have a clearer mind after some time away from Sansa andSansa will have a more open mind for love after some necessaryhealing of her heart.

Ialso believe everything that happens in the show is essential and agood reason why D&D put Sansa in Winterfell cutting her Valestoryline can be because they needed time to build Jon and Sansarelationship… if it’s going to happen it won’t be an easy love story so they need solid ground before starting to write about it.

[yurimura]

Duet (Cisco Ramon x Reader)

A/N: I’m not tooo pleased with how this turned out but? You can’t always have a good writing day and I’m still learning. I’m such a huge sucker for Carlos Valdes’ voice, and the first time I heard him sing I cried. So here’s a little fluffy fic about the reader finding out that Cisco can sing. The song is Good To You by Marianas Trench.

Word Count: 956 words

You didn’t mean to stumble upon Cisco jamming out in the Cortex when he thought everyone had gone home, and you certainly didn’t mean to stay hidden and listen to him sing. But damn, you had no idea that boy could sing. You weren’t really sure why you stayed hidden, but as far as you knew, Cisco hadn’t told anyone that he sang.

‘Maybe he doesn’t want people knowing?’ You thought, back pressed against the wall in the hallway so he couldn’t see you.

“And I do want you to know, I hold you up above everyone, And I do want you to know I think, You’d be good to me, And I’d be so good to you.”

His voice echoed down the hallway. You couldn’t reason why he could keep this talent hidden, he had a strong voice that seemed to reach right to your heart. A soft sigh of admiration escaped you lips, he had a voice that you could listen to for days. Your face flushed when he went for a particularly high note.

‘It’s not fair,’ you told yourself, ‘he’s just too good!’

Lost in thought, your grips loosened on the files you had accidentally taken home with you, the real reason why you were at STAR Labs so late might you add, and they scattered to the floor. All singing suddenly ceased, there was no way he didn’t hear that. Quickly you started to collect the scattered papers, hoping to make a quick escape, but to no avail as Cisco jogged over to where you were.

“_____?” He looked confused, he was sure that everyone had already left STAR Labs.

“H-Hey! Cisco! What’s up? Sorry, I accidentally took this data home with me, and I didn’t trust myself to keep it until morning. You know me, always losing things,” you tried your best to play things off, but you knew, you knew your face was still beet red.

Cisco seemed to notice it, because he suddenly knelt down and pressed his hand to your forehead, “_____, are you feeling okay? Your face is all red.”

“Yeah, I’m fine… I just…” you bit your lip, might as well tell him straight, “I heard you,” you said.

“Oh…” Now it was his turn to turn red, “so you found out my little secret, ahaha…” He awkwardly rubbed the back of your neck.

“Yeah, sorry, I really did accidentally take the data logs home with me, but I heard you singing and… Cisco, your voice is beautiful,” you confessed, “I-I don’t know why you’ve kept it a secret for so long! I swear I could listen to you sing for the rest of my life,” you covered your face with the papers, too embarrassed to even look him in the eye.

You couldn’t see it, but Cisco’s face immediately went from embarrassed to awestruck. You thought he sang well, you said his voice was beautiful. It was a well known fact amongst the members of Team Flash, yourself not included, that he had been crushing on you practically since day one. “Y-You really think so?” He asked, unsure if he actually heard you right.

“Yes I do!” You said, peeking out from behind the paper, “it’s such a powerful voice, I, gosh Cisco, it made me blush.”

Cisco was at a loss for words, he tried moving his mouth but nothing would come out. You two stared at each other for a good ten seconds, averted your gaze elsewhere, and kept on stealing glances at the other. You weren’t really sure what to do, so you decided to sing, cause that’s what people do in awkward situations.

“I thought I saw a sign, Somewhere between the lines, But maybe it’s me, Maybe I only see what I want.”

Cisco looked up at you, confused but then realizing that it was the same song he had been singing earlier. He knew you could sing, he’s heard you sing before, but this time was different. Last time you were putting on a show for the rest of Team Flash, this time it was a performance just for the two of you.

“And I still have your letters, Just got caught between, Someone I just invented, Who I really am, And who I’ve become.”

You made eye contact with him, waiting to see if he understood what you were hinting at.The two of you had a silent agreement, and Cisco gently took your arms and guided the two of you up.

“And now I do want you to know, I hold you up above everyone,”

The two of you singing together was like a match made in heaven. It was a perfect duet, a wide smile spread across your face and, the papers a forgotten stack on the floor.

“And I do want you to know I think, You’d be good to me,”

Cisco pulled you in close, hands resting on your hips. You wrapped your hands around him and the two of you started swaying to the music you were making together.

“And I’d be so good to you.”

You leaned in close, leaving only a small gap between your lips and his.

“I would.”

He looked at you, asking, searching for an answer. You gave him a small nod and finally, finally he closed the gap between you two. It was the softest kiss you had ever received, he was gentle, taking no more than what the moment called for, but when your lips moved against him, you could feel and the love and wanting he felt for you. As the two of you continued to sway in the Cortex, both of you knew that it was the start of a beautiful duet.

[jerome-blog1]

Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love

via

Bedtonic founder Julie Ramsay. Photo Rae Fallon.

I always admire it when people don’t merely just dream or talk about doing things, but they actually go out and give them a red-hot go. It makes sense that I frequently admire small business owners, professionals and creatives, and one of my favourite local businesses is also run by one of the nicest women. Julie Ramsay, the founder of Bedtonic, is not only a wonderfully generous person who has the most infectious energy; she also founded, in a highly competitive market where most small businesses go bust in two years, a successful, sustainable small business selling the most beautiful linens for the home (and body). On top of that, she started Bedtonic in her early 50s, wrapping her head around the complicated worlds of tech, e-commerce and social media at an age when, to be quite frank, I know other 50-somethings who can barely send a text message!

I can personally attest that Julie’s Bedtonic linen is a pleasure to have on our bed… and on my body. (Her iconic Poet’s Tunics are one of my go-to’s, particularly perfect for holidays and days at the beach).

This year we have had the pleasure of experiencing one of the new pure French flax linen bespoke blankets from the Bedtonic range too. I could probably write a blog post just on this blanket and how much I love it. Here it is, below. If you think of linen as being hard and rough, you’d be extremely surprised. Julie’s flax linen blankets are super soft straight off the bat, they come in the most beautiful colours, and they keep you so snug and cosy. It has been absolutely freezing at night this winter, and we honestly have not turned on the split system in our bedroom ONCE all these chilly nights. We pop the blanket over our lightweight doona, and the blanket is enough. It’s perfect. And it’s perfect on warm nights too – you don’t get tooo warm – and we just chuck it in the wash when it needs it. (I next want to buy one for Little Nerd’s bed… lucky boy! I believe all of my childhood sheets were 110% flammable polyester).

Our Bedtonic bespoke blanket teamed with my Euro Hawtrey cushion from Orno Interiors.

Julie grew up in picture-perfect Wanaka, New Zealand (yes, home of the famous Wanaka tree). She later moved to Australia, married her husband Donald, and they had a daughter, Mollie, spending the first year of her life on a cattle farm north-west of Perth where Donald had farmed all his life. The flat and often very dry landscape was completely different to the scenery Julie had been used to growing up amidst the spectacular lakes and soaring alps of Wanaka, but inspired Julie all the same.

When Mollie was still young, Julie saw an opportunity to start a drive-through coffee business in Broome.

“We were building our own house at the time and noticed there was nowhere for all the tradies who were starting work at seven to get a good coffee first thing in the morning! My husband said I would ‘blow my dough’ but that didn’t stop me. I started with a tiny trailer that I trucked over from Brisbane and made twenty coffees on my first day. Four years later I was making four hundred or more coffees each morning.”

Donald’s initial skepticism of Julie’s business concept disintegrated quickly and he joined her in the coffee shop. “My husband swapped cows for coffee and we worked like mad together in the business for four years,” she says. “We had incredible community support and went on to win a small business achiever award for the Kimberley region. I learnt a lot about grit and determination during this time.” In 2013, they sold up and moved to Perth to be nearer to their families.

Photo Jessica Wyld

Bedtonic began after Julie realised she was getting tired of working long rigid hours in hospitality. She knew she wanted a new job that would give her more flexibility with family life. “Mollie was put in daycare from 18 months to five, and I really wanted an online business that would allow me to be present with her more,” she says. “I also felt washed-up in hospitality at 50 when we moved back to Perth. So I took a year off and creatively brainstormed ideas around how I wanted the next chapter of my life to look.”

Photo Rae Fallon

Julie could see the transition with e-commerce, noticing more and more people were gathering faith in buying things online, and decided to begin an online store. “This suited me with Mollie who was seven at the time,” she says. “I saw the retail environment changing and e-commerce becoming the new way forward. Removing the retail overheads was also a big tick for me. By taking the wholesale out, I could pass the savings onto our customers. Providing personal customer service in a timely manner was and still is also key.”

But what to sell? Julie soon realised her favourite business ideas related to sustainability – and her happy childhood. “Growing up in New Zealand, my mum was a seamstress,” she says. “I remember a constant stream of ladies coming in and out for fittings and alterations, with patterns and pins and Mum’s Singer sewing machine taking pride of place on our dining table. My dad had a rafting business and was involved with the conservation and fisheries department. So from a young age I was very aware of sustainability, and nature and all that it offered.”

Searching for a sustainable business idea, Julie looked back to her roots for inspiration. “I’d always loved natural textures and fibres – oh, and I LOVE my bed,” she laughs.

“It’s the place I go to escape the flurry of life. It is my sanctuary when I need to unplug.”

With both of these loves as her inspiration, she decided to create her own line of high-end, long-lasting bedding, blankets, cushions and clothing, and started researching all sorts of different fibres. “I have always worn natural fibres and before I fell in love with sleeping in linen, I was always an Egyptian cotton girl… thick white crisp sheets like Grandma’s!” she says. “But ultimately, linen won me over,” she reveals, adding that she thinks of linen as nature’s wonder fibre. “Linen is a sustainable crop. It uses fewer fertilisers and four times less water than cotton during cultivation.”

And the feel.

“I love the fact it’s soft washed (with pumice stones) which makes it so buttery soft from the first time you wear or sleep in it… it’s not scratchy like grandma’s old tea towels!” laughs Julie. “It’s so soft but still has a weight that drapes around you. It’s whisper quiet, breathes well and keeps you cool in the summer months yet warm in winter. And the garments are so well made – French seam finishes ensure longevity and durability.”

Some people think that a hotel-like bed is only possible in well, hotels. But Julie says she believes in investing (in a good quality mattress, toppers, bed linens and pillows – whatever you need) to make every night you sleep at home as rejuvenating as you can.

“We spend $200 on a garment or pair of shoes but often short-change ourselves when it comes to sleep,” she says. “And we shouldn’t – after all, we spend one-third of our lives in bed! Bed is our haven so our bedroom should be the place we go to unwind. A comfortable bed with your favourite bedding is key to a good night’s sleep.” (Perhaps a good night’s sleep every night is why she has so much energy?)

Photo Jess Wyld

Starting with only a few key items in her online shop, it wasn’t long before the name Bedtonic was well-known – now Julie’s linen products have appeared in an impressive host of nationwide magazines and newspapers and her thrilled customers regularly give her five star reviews (“Gosh, I wish we had started those reviews three years ago!” she moans) and one of her biggest sellers, her iconic poet’s tunic, has become a staple of effortless capsule wardrobes, with fans from millennials to the more mature.

“I think it’s the structure of the garment, its French seams (no raw edges) and durable weight give it an industrial, lived-in, no-fuss look and feel,” says Julie on why she thinks they are so popular. “The cut of the garment allows it to fit all sizes and it cuts across generations in appeal. They are the epitome of the capsule wardrobe staple. We hear stories all the time of our tunic being spotted in different corners of the globe. Customers wear them straight out of bed to the school gates, beach, bar and back to bed! We have customers who own up to five of them in different lengths and colours. They really do have their own cult following!”

One of the Bedtonic Poets tunics (modelled by my lovely friend Kaylie Bodeker! Perth is a small world city). Photo at Kawa Heart Studio.

So how does a typical day running her small business go? As much as Julie loves her bed, she will leave it for a hot cup of coffee, which is how she starts every day at work. “I get up for coffee – always!” she says. “I’m actually a tea drinker for the rest of the day but it must start with coffee.

“Then it’s a walk around my neighbourhood with our schnauzer Buddy in the winter, or in summer I try and swim as many mornings as I can. It’s without doubt the best start to my day. By 9.30 I’m in my home office – even though I have an assistant, Cass, there is always my nail it list to work through.

“Orders are packed by my niece who’s studying, so she comes three days a week. By 5pm I’m either ready for a glass of wine before dinner or it’s tea on the run and more work. I’m trying to make myself stop work at nights and lock some Netflix in. No two days are the same though. Next week I will be in Shenzhen visiting our makers again which I do each year.”

2019 has been a huge year for the Bedtonic team behind the scenes as they have been working on a rebrand to tie all their labels, packaging and swing tags in line with each other, they’ve introduced new eco-friendly reusable and recyclable shipping bags, and Julie has been working closely with her seamstress designing new loungewear to add to their collection. “This design process is really important for me so I can hold me hand on my heart and say this has not been copied form another store – true ethically designed products,” she says.

They recently launched three news clothing items – their Field Dress, an oversized linen shirt called the Mollie Shirt (“think big comfy pyjama shirt with large shell buttons!”) and Slouch pants, which Julie is very excited about! “They are THE most comfortable slouch pants you will ever wear with a wide ribbed top to fold over for superb comfort!” she says.

“I had friends over in different shapes and sizes when these pants were being sampled and some would say, ‘Oh no, I won’t be wearing those.’ I said just try them for me and then, ‘Oh you’re right, they are soooo comfortable’.

“I’m super excited about these pieces as they are as comfy as pyjamas but you can wear them out for coffee, lunch, to the bar and home to bed again, just like all of our Poets tunics!”

My new linen Euros with our bepsoke blanket – I love these colours together.

While Bedtonic keeps her busy, Julie also says one of the wonderful things about Bedtonic is the work-life flexibility it gives the Ramsays. Julie, Donald and Mollie, as well as their schnauzer x poodle Buddy and cat Harry (“they are best mates”) currently live in Daglish, where the human members of the family think big – and exciting – when it comes to the future.

“We sold our workers cottage in West Leederville so we’re in a transition period of renting while we plan out our next digs,” reveals Julie. “The plan is to spend six to twelve months in France before Mollie finishes high school, and then I would love a pod home on land back in the country and a weekender in Perth!” Her own interiors style is an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage and I love contemporary art. “A lot of my furniture is repurposed, some from kerbsides or bought from travels,” she shares. “I love mixing things up and I’m not afraid of colour. I have moved so much over the years that I now loathe clutter (or maybe it’s an age thing) I really like the notion of ‘less is more’ and I hate waste.”

So what advice would Julie give to other people wanting to take the plunge into their own small business?

“You have to really hone in on what you’re passionate about,” she says. “What makes your heart sing, what works for you around your lifestyle, family, your location, etc and then go for it! If you truly follow your passion then you will not tire of it and on the nights long after everyone else has gone to bed, it really won’t feel like work at all! There is a saying that goes starting a small business is like jumping off a cliff and building a model aeroplane on the way down… true that!” Maya x

The post Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love appeared first on House Nerd.

house-nerd.com/2019/10/16/bedtonic-linen-win/

Posted by anneedmonsonus on 2019-10-16 13:29:18

Tagged: , Online , Guides , E-Guides , E , Service

The post Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love appeared first on Good Info.

[anneedmonsonus]

Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love

Bedtonic founder Julie Ramsay. Photo Rae Fallon.

I always admire it when people don’t merely just dream or talk about doing things, but they actually go out and give them a red-hot go. It makes sense that I frequently admire small business owners, professionals and creatives, and one of my favourite local businesses is also run by one of the nicest women. Julie Ramsay, the founder of Bedtonic, is not only a wonderfully generous person who has the most infectious energy; she also founded, in a highly competitive market where most small businesses go bust in two years, a successful, sustainable small business selling the most beautiful linens for the home (and body). On top of that, she started Bedtonic in her early 50s, wrapping her head around the complicated worlds of tech, e-commerce and social media at an age when, to be quite frank, I know other 50-somethings who can barely send a text message!

I can personally attest that Julie’s Bedtonic linen is a pleasure to have on our bed… and on my body. (Her iconic Poet’s Tunics are one of my go-to’s, particularly perfect for holidays and days at the beach).

This year we have had the pleasure of experiencing one of the new pure French flax linen bespoke blankets from the Bedtonic range too. I could probably write a blog post just on this blanket and how much I love it. Here it is, below. If you think of linen as being hard and rough, you’d be extremely surprised. Julie’s flax linen blankets are super soft straight off the bat, they come in the most beautiful colours, and they keep you so snug and cosy. It has been absolutely freezing at night this winter, and we honestly have not turned on the split system in our bedroom ONCE all these chilly nights. We pop the blanket over our lightweight doona, and the blanket is enough. It’s perfect. And it’s perfect on warm nights too – you don’t get tooo warm – and we just chuck it in the wash when it needs it. (I next want to buy one for Little Nerd’s bed… lucky boy! I believe all of my childhood sheets were 110% flammable polyester).

Our Bedtonic bespoke blanket teamed with my Euro Hawtrey cushion from Orno Interiors.

Julie grew up in picture-perfect Wanaka, New Zealand (yes, home of the famous Wanaka tree). She later moved to Australia, married her husband Donald, and they had a daughter, Mollie, spending the first year of her life on a cattle farm north-west of Perth where Donald had farmed all his life. The flat and often very dry landscape was completely different to the scenery Julie had been used to growing up amidst the spectacular lakes and soaring alps of Wanaka, but inspired Julie all the same.

When Mollie was still young, Julie saw an opportunity to start a drive-through coffee business in Broome.

“We were building our own house at the time and noticed there was nowhere for all the tradies who were starting work at seven to get a good coffee first thing in the morning! My husband said I would ‘blow my dough’ but that didn’t stop me. I started with a tiny trailer that I trucked over from Brisbane and made twenty coffees on my first day. Four years later I was making four hundred or more coffees each morning.”

Donald’s initial skepticism of Julie’s business concept disintegrated quickly and he joined her in the coffee shop. “My husband swapped cows for coffee and we worked like mad together in the business for four years,” she says. “We had incredible community support and went on to win a small business achiever award for the Kimberley region. I learnt a lot about grit and determination during this time.” In 2013, they sold up and moved to Perth to be nearer to their families.

Photo Jessica Wyld

Bedtonic began after Julie realised she was getting tired of working long rigid hours in hospitality. She knew she wanted a new job that would give her more flexibility with family life. “Mollie was put in daycare from 18 months to five, and I really wanted an online business that would allow me to be present with her more,” she says. “I also felt washed-up in hospitality at 50 when we moved back to Perth. So I took a year off and creatively brainstormed ideas around how I wanted the next chapter of my life to look.”

Photo Rae Fallon

Julie could see the transition with e-commerce, noticing more and more people were gathering faith in buying things online, and decided to begin an online store. “This suited me with Mollie who was seven at the time,” she says. “I saw the retail environment changing and e-commerce becoming the new way forward. Removing the retail overheads was also a big tick for me. By taking the wholesale out, I could pass the savings onto our customers. Providing personal customer service in a timely manner was and still is also key.”

But what to sell? Julie soon realised her favourite business ideas related to sustainability – and her happy childhood. “Growing up in New Zealand, my mum was a seamstress,” she says. “I remember a constant stream of ladies coming in and out for fittings and alterations, with patterns and pins and Mum’s Singer sewing machine taking pride of place on our dining table. My dad had a rafting business and was involved with the conservation and fisheries department. So from a young age I was very aware of sustainability, and nature and all that it offered.”

Searching for a sustainable business idea, Julie looked back to her roots for inspiration. “I’d always loved natural textures and fibres – oh, and I LOVE my bed,” she laughs. “It’s the place I go to escape the flurry of life. It is my sanctuary when I need to unplug.”

With both of these loves as her inspiration, she decided to create her own line of high-end, long-lasting bedding, blankets, cushions and clothing, and started researching all sorts of different fibres. “I have always worn natural fibres and before I fell in love with sleeping in linen, I was always an Egyptian cotton girl… thick white crisp sheets like Grandma’s!” she says. “But ultimately, linen won me over,” she reveals, adding that she thinks of linen as nature’s wonder fibre. “Linen is a sustainable crop. It uses fewer fertilisers and four times less water than cotton during cultivation.”

And the feel.

“I love the fact it’s soft washed (with pumice stones) which makes it so buttery soft from the first time you wear or sleep in it… it’s not scratchy like grandma’s old tea towels!” laughs Julie. “It’s so soft but still has a weight that drapes around you. It’s whisper quiet, breathes well and keeps you cool in the summer months yet warm in winter. And the garments are so well made – French seam finishes ensure longevity and durability.”

Some people think that a hotel-like bed is only possible in well, hotels. But Julie says she believes in investing (in a good quality mattress, toppers, bed linens and pillows – whatever you need) to make every night you sleep at home as rejuvenating as you can.

“We spend $200 on a garment or pair of shoes but often short-change ourselves when it comes to sleep,” she says. “And we shouldn’t – after all, we spend one-third of our lives in bed! Bed is our haven so our bedroom should be the place we go to unwind. A comfortable bed with your favourite bedding is key to a good night’s sleep.” (Perhaps a good night’s sleep every night is why she has so much energy?)

Photo Jess Wyld

Starting with only a few key items in her online shop, it wasn’t long before the name Bedtonic was well-known – now Julie’s linen products have appeared in an impressive host of nationwide magazines and newspapers and her thrilled customers regularly give her five star reviews (“Gosh, I wish we had started those reviews three years ago!” she moans) and one of her biggest sellers, her iconic poet’s tunic, has become a staple of effortless capsule wardrobes, with fans from millennials to the more mature.

“I think it’s the structure of the garment, its French seams (no raw edges) and durable weight give it an industrial, lived-in, no-fuss look and feel,” says Julie on why she thinks they are so popular. “The cut of the garment allows it to fit all sizes and it cuts across generations in appeal. They are the epitome of the capsule wardrobe staple. We hear stories all the time of our tunic being spotted in different corners of the globe. Customers wear them straight out of bed to the school gates, beach, bar and back to bed! We have customers who own up to five of them in different lengths and colours. They really do have their own cult following!”

One of the Bedtonic Poets tunics (modelled by my lovely friend Kaylie Bodeker! Perth is a small world city). Photo at Kawa Heart Studio.

So how does a typical day running her small business go? As much as Julie loves her bed, she will leave it for a hot cup of coffee, which is how she starts every day at work. “I get up for coffee – always!” she says. “I’m actually a tea drinker for the rest of the day but it must start with coffee.

“Then it’s a walk around my neighbourhood with our schnauzer Buddy in the winter, or in summer I try and swim as many mornings as I can. It’s without doubt the best start to my day. By 9.30 I’m in my home office – even though I have an assistant, Cass, there is always my nail it list to work through.

“Orders are packed by my niece who’s studying, so she comes three days a week. By 5pm I’m either ready for a glass of wine before dinner or it’s tea on the run and more work. I’m trying to make myself stop work at nights and lock some Netflix in. No two days are the same though. Next week I will be in Shenzhen visiting our makers again which I do each year.”

2019 has been a huge year for the Bedtonic team behind the scenes as they have been working on a rebrand to tie all their labels, packaging and swing tags in line with each other, they’ve introduced new eco-friendly reusable and recyclable shipping bags, and Julie has been working closely with her seamstress designing new loungewear to add to their collection. “This design process is really important for me so I can hold me hand on my heart and say this has not been copied form another store – true ethically designed products,” she says.

They recently launched three news clothing items – their Field Dress, an oversized linen shirt called the Mollie Shirt (“think big comfy pyjama shirt with large shell buttons!”) and Slouch pants, which Julie is very excited about! “They are THE most comfortable slouch pants you will ever wear with a wide ribbed top to fold over for superb comfort!” she says.

“I had friends over in different shapes and sizes when these pants were being sampled and some would say, ‘Oh no, I won’t be wearing those.’ I said just try them for me and then, ‘Oh you’re right, they are soooo comfortable’.

“I’m super excited about these pieces as they are as comfy as pyjamas but you can wear them out for coffee, lunch, to the bar and home to bed again, just like all of our Poets tunics!”

My new linen Euros with our bepsoke blanket – I love these colours together.

While Bedtonic keeps her busy, Julie also says one of the wonderful things about Bedtonic is the work-life flexibility it gives the Ramsays. Julie, Donald and Mollie, as well as their schnauzer x poodle Buddy and cat Harry (“they are best mates”) currently live in Daglish, where the human members of the family think big – and exciting – when it comes to the future.

“We sold our workers cottage in West Leederville so we’re in a transition period of renting while we plan out our next digs,” reveals Julie. “The plan is to spend six to twelve months in France before Mollie finishes high school, and then I would love a pod home on land back in the country and a weekender in Perth!” Her own interiors style is an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage and I love contemporary art. “A lot of my furniture is repurposed, some from kerbsides or bought from travels,” she shares. “I love mixing things up and I’m not afraid of colour. I have moved so much over the years that I now loathe clutter (or maybe it’s an age thing) I really like the notion of ‘less is more’ and I hate waste.”

So what advice would Julie give to other people wanting to take the plunge into their own small business?

“You have to really hone in on what you’re passionate about,” she says. “What makes your heart sing, what works for you around your lifestyle, family, your location, etc and then go for it! If you truly follow your passion then you will not tire of it and on the nights long after everyone else has gone to bed, it really won’t feel like work at all! There is a saying that goes starting a small business is like jumping off a cliff and building a model aeroplane on the way down… true that!” Maya x

The post Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love appeared first on House Nerd.

from Home Improvement https://house-nerd.com/2019/10/16/bedtonic-linen-win/

[faithfulnews]

Thanksgiving from the Upside Down . . . and Stuffing

Today I am preparing a message for New Day Community Church in Stockton that has a special Thanksgiving Day Service tomorrow, followed by a Thanksgiving meal, and I have been invited to speak. I am not sure if I am more excited about talking during the service or presenting my Thanksgiving stuffing at the meal. And since I am preparing both at the same time, I thought I would add notes on both. Besides, my chef daughter Elizabeth asked me yesterday for my stuffing recipe so now is a good time to share my thoughts on my stuffing and also my message which deals with a spirit of thanksgiving when things go wrong, go upside down, as they did for me last year when I lost my wife of 29 years to malaria in Africa.

First of all, the stuffing. It’s different for me every year and I don’t have exact measurements but I can tell you that the first thing I do is roast a chicken. This gives me the stock I need to add the right taste long before the turkey turns up. And I put the heart/liver/neck etc in a pot and boil it for 20 mins to get even more stock which gives taste and moisture.

And since I am roasting a chicken, I might as well roast a few potatoes also.  I will get a separate meal out of this – roast chicken and potatoes for my family, but no gravy because all the juice and stock will go into the stuffing.

The big players for the stuffing are celery, onion, and meat. I sautée each one separately in butter and throw them into a large bowl. I usually do bacon and mushrooms but don’t have any right now. And my kids hate mushrooms so I am used to not cooking them, but I totally recommend them.  For the meat, I like to mix it up with bacon and different minces, pork is good. I have used some rabbit before for a more gamey taste. But today is beef because its all I have.

The other big player, apart from croutons (which I will talk about in a minute) is parsley. I used a big bunch of it, cut roughly but not chunky. And rosemary needs to be present – thyme might suffice – but rosemary is a necessity. I had to sneak into my neighbor’s yard to steal some but I told them 6 months ago I would do this on occasion and they were cool with that.

But what about that message. Ah yes. The text is Ephesians 5.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,     rise from the dead,     and Christ will shine on you.”

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul borrows here from Isaiah 60:1 but takes a little license in adding his own spin. I want to do the same thing with this passage. Most people read it in a prescriptive way – a list of do’s and dont’s, which is fine. Giving thanks is a command. Yes. An argument can be made for that and I could make it also. But there is a deeper layer here that I see as descriptive – a pattern, a journey, a teaching on not only what to do, but what happens when you do that. And this is what I want to share tomorrow.

It goes like this.

As you step into the light and embrace God (does that sound too SHIRLEY MACLAINE for church? HA HA) and as you are embraced by God (oooh ok this is WAAAY TOOO SHIRLEY), something will happen to your mind and your heart

Your mind

You will gain perspective, you will be illuminated, enlightened. You will understand what God is up to and you will speak out on behalf of that truth. This will affect your life – you will recalibrate your life, your actions, your habits to align with what you know of God and what he is doing. What is good, what is right, what is true. This will be your new default setting.

Your heart

God will put a song in your heart. That song will play even through the most difficult circumstances. You will have a soundtrack, and its called “thanksgiving” and that will spill out into encouragement to others. Thanksgiving will also become a new default setting. Just like a drunk person is controlled by alcohol, you will be consumed with and controlled by God’s Spirit. This will change your demeanor, alter your posture, define the way you hold yourself and the way you relate to other people. You will be a person characterized by thanksgiving and not a person who bickers, judges, fights, complains or sees life as half empty.  This god-filled-ness will also spill out into other relationships including the way you relate to others, as one who uses your song to encourage and uplift others who need to hear, and as you relate to your spouse and your children and parents – you will be someone who easily surrenders and submits and finds common ground, seeking unity, rather than fighting for or defending your ego.

OHHHH I just took the potatoes out of the oven. They are lovely and crispy. Nothing to do with the stuffing but this will be a great compliment to the roast chicken tonight.

Speaking of the stuffing, I spruced mine up with lemon juice, sauteed garlic, and raisins. I usually add orange zest, and to be honest it really needs it, but don’t have any oranges today.

For the liquid, which is really important because you don’t want your stuffing dry, I added orange juice, white wine, stock from the liver/heart, and stock/juices from the chicken itself. Melted butter also works and I waited until the very end until pouring some all over the top and over the cranberries so they would turn golden brown and not burn.

This is really lame. I spelled the word “THANK-FUL” with the cranberries. You can’t even read it. You need to ask for the gift of interpretation to even see it. But thats OK. I know it’s there and its a teaching embedded into the stuffing that will impact people, even subconsciously, but the most important thing is that it has meaning for me.

Oh yes, those croutons. I took the rest of our bread, cut it up into cubes, and baked it in the oven until it was firm and a little brown. They need to be robust enough to handle the liquid. And I added herbs – whatever I had. Sage is awesome. Thyme is marvellous. I had neither, but, as I say, I used what I had. I also ran short on bread so I scraped off the pizza toppings from the pizza I made last night, cut up the bases and threw them in also. OHH and speaking of leftovers, I only ate half of that amazing Cubano sandwich from Cuban Kitchen in San Mateo yesterday so the ham and pork was also cut up and added to the stuffing. HA!!!!!

Back to my message.

This is my story

Last year I lost my wife. She died of malaria and other diseases. It was the darkest time of my life. I couldn’t sleep alone in a bedroom. I couldn’t make decisions. I lost the other half of myself and after 29 years of oneness with a single person, that is pretty much most of my life and certainly the life I was used to. On top of that I was really sick for a really long time, surviving the diseases that took my wife but basically unable to function for many many months.

And yet, throughout the entire time, I felt God’s presence in a calming way, knowing deep in my heart that He is good, He is faithful, He is patient, He is caring and He will look after me. He knows whats up and that spirit of thanksgiving that permeated my mind and heart was not a drummed up motion of obedience but rather the overflow of truth, of what was real.

Some people think God is distant and occasionally invades earth to bring disaster or tragedy. I see God as near, intimately connected to us and everything else, constantly enlivening and sustaining His creation, always standing guard and protecting us, and yet occasionally and empathetically removing his hand when He knows the time is right.

This is my song

The name of my song was thanksgiving. It was there all the way through the devastating process of losing my wife and explaining to my youngest daughter that she no longer had a mother. I am not being chirpy here. I am not being naive or brainlessly religious. Yes IT HURT. IT HURT MORE THAN ANYTHING IN MY LIFE and I was hurled into the Upside Down world of darkness, solitude, confusion, fear, GRIEF, emotional pain, and loss of hope for the future. I was BROKEN, plunged into grayness, emptied of life, emptied of hope. I am not reducing that reality or downplaying the significance of what happened to me. I am just saying that there was a soundtrack playing the entire time, a song of thanksgiving. And at my best moments, my grief gave birth to gratefulness.

I am still thankful.

I am thankful for so many good friends.

I am thankful for 29 years of marriage to the most wonderful woman on the planet.

I am thankful that I got to say everything to my wife before she went.

I am thankful that my wife got to finish her race and go out in the way she always imagined, in the country she loved.

I am thankful that my daughter was spared from disease and that I have 5 wonderful kids.

I am thankful for a softer heart and new wave of consideration for others. I am a different person  – more in tune with suffering and more empathetic to those who are going through loss.

I am thankful for the next season that is coming upon me and that I have the freedom to enter in. 

This is my dance

Grief has become my friend and my reminder of a wonderful life with a wonderful woman. My grief is warmer now than it was last year. My grief and the grieving process I have embraced has allowed me to push forward into new levels of understanding and awareness. That has given me a softer heart, as I said, and it has also positioned me to be of help to others who are also grieving. God comforts us so that we can comfort others.

When you lose someone, a lot of other people, more than you can imagine, also lose someone. Grief is a shared experience. Our friends feel the pain of our loss but they also struggle with their own loss. They find it awkward to talk to us about it. But the healing we experience is for them also.

A few months ago one of my wife’s best friends lost her husband. This is what I told her.

It’s a strange dance this grief of ours. We hold our own sadness and allow the processing to continue thru it’s various stages, knowing it moves forward step by step, finding firmer hold with each telling of the story, with each new person entering into the story and at the same time we become priests for others who find it awkward to enter, but know that they need to. We hold the keys for them. We give permission. We invite them into the dance and make it easy for them, we suggest, we put their words out in front of them, we show the appropriateness of the conversation, the shared hurt of loss, the rightful pace and flow of what needs to be said. Being closer to the pain and further along in the process, we hold out our leading hand and invite others into the dance, into the spiral of healing.

My hope tomorrow, at the church, is that other people who have experienced loss, whether the loss of parents or children or spouses, divorce (which can be far more devastating than the loss of  a spouse), the loss of dreams, whatever it is they have lost, that they might enter into that spiral of healing, and find themselves in that dance, with God, where the juxtaposition of pain and joy, of grief and thanksgiving, of tears and laughter, might come together to find healing, wholeness, hope, and a song of thanksgiving that will play on and on. Amen.

This is my stuffing

The stuffing is ready. Its not completely cooked with that attractive blackened burned look but I need to take it to Stockton tomorrow and they will heat it up right before the meal and I think it will come into its own at that moment. I might bring some parsley to freshen it up on location. If you look really carefully, you can almost see the word “THANK-FUL”. Almost.

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[rahuratna]

Girl.

Okay, firstly. Thank you for inspiring THIS @jjk-eugie because PHEWWWWWW. Before I get onto Atsuya, I don't know if I've ever commented specifically on what I like about your writing style, April. It's like a ballroom dancer barefoot on hot coals. It sweeps you along, with this swiftness of phrasing, with an little agile leap from one burning moment to another, barely giving the reader time to catch their breath. It's so unique and stylized in terms of the types of stories you write.

Right. Atsuya. The agenda is strong with this one. Your descriptions of his character are so strong, they practically leap off the page (screen?) and your depictions of his numerous characteristics adds to this. Also, I love the seamless transitions from the reader's perspective to his, and how elegantly you wrote their viewpoints. Changing perspectives with such a nebulous drift isn't easy, but you've made it look that way.

Thank you. Bless you for gruff, no-nonsense, bachelor Atsuya. Bless you for straightforward merchantman Atsuya, a gentleman. Bless you for expert duelist Atsuya. Bless you for bloody, shirtless Atsuya who has just fought with someone who insulted your honour. Yes. Gratitude, my friend.

PLEASE. PART 2.

kusakabe atsuya | gentleman suggestive. regency!au , psst @jjk-eugie i owe you a part 2 with spice heavily inpsired by the lovely art by @jjk-eugie

Kusakabe Atsuya has little need for pride. He’s worked hard enough to establish his shipment company, is considered successful in all matters of the world that matter — to him.  You see, the ton would tell you a different version on the gentleman Kusakabe’s success.

He’s a businessman first and foremost. Practical, doesn’t use his masculine charm to strong arm anyone into a bad deal, yet commands presence as soon as he enters a room. He’s not one for small talk, couldn’t tell you how to butter anyone up.  Perhaps this too adds to his charm.

Being a man of not many words is ideal for many afterall, and frankly a  line of suitors that would exist for the gentleman Atsuya if; well… if the gentleman were friendly. Nay, that’s too vague, if the gentleman were approachable.  Not only is it impossible to get Sir Kusakabe to attend affairs of the society, it seems when he does show face; he’s akin to that of a ship adrift in a stormy sea.

His aura is….intimidating.

He stands tall, proud, strong. 

Eyes lost.

Provides society members little to gossip about and yet, somehow, has attracted the attention of a cousin of the Crown Prince.  Probably a Princess or almost a Princess from a far away land who has yet to learn that the gentleman Atusya is not someone you approach for a favor. And yet,  “Your..Lady.… you’d want me to what?”

Perhaps he heard wrong, perhaps the almost Princess is looking for a decorative item. “Good Sir, I’d like you to teach me the sport of Fencing. It seems you’re quite an expert.” The way you bat your lashes, this is, this is flirting is it not?

Why would an almost Princess approach a stern man like himself?  “Please, I do not wish to make a fool during the Autumnal play. It would ruin my chances at a proper debut.”

Debut? You’re not too young looking but then again Atsuya couldn’t care less. You’re either a fool or have more guts than most of the ton, and guts are something he can respect.

“Please Sir Kusakabe, I promise I’ll have the Crown Prince reward you handsomely, something for your travels a far…”  Oh, aren’t you a businesswoman?  As you walk around him, if his eyes linger at the sway of your hips, it’s only to assess your gait. Nothing more, if he’s to teach you, he must discern if you can maintain proper form. It has nothing to do with how beautifully intricate the lace on your dress is nor the curve of your—“A new ship?”

A few days of his time is not worth an entire ship, he sighs. It seems you may just be a splendid fool.

If he thinks of your smile, the way your eyes light up upon his affirmative nod, it means nothing. He thinks not of your pretty hair as it sways opposite your hips. Nor is he intrigued by the many tows of ribbons lining the back of your tight dress, corset isn’t is it?

All those curves are simply an illusion.

But still, his mind supplies that you are;

A beautiful, splendid, fool.

  —

  This has to work.

The Sir Kusakabe Atsuya is a perfect gentleman. Doesn’t encroach in your space despite being tasked to teach you how to move. Always asks if he can touch, always announces where he is going to touch, and yet his touch doesn’t linger, he’s clear and precise in his instruction. You’ve already adapted to his style of attack and defense, making strides. You have yet to best him in a duel, but truly, is it a duel if he’s not taking it seriously?

“You are distracted today Princess.”  Tch, that nickname.

You’ve told Sir Kusakabe as a cousin of the Crown Prince you don’t bear any real royal title. You’re simply provided the comforts and privileges. Things that you have used to your advantage many a times, whether it be indulging your hobbies or proving others wrong. Your royalty adjacent status has helped you many times. Folks consider you innocent, harmless, stupid.

You wonder if the Sir Kusakabe also considers you as such. You hope so.

It will work in your favor. Because eventually, he will loosen up. Let you wander his home without an escort, let you roam the expansive gardens and satisfy your curiosity with his esteemed weapon room. That will allow you to accomplish your real mission.

Why yes, you will be in a play and will have a sword duel in it. However, your Fathers have had you learn the art from French professors every single Friday since you were seven. You don’t need Sir Kusakabe’s help at all. What you need is to charm and disarm the man.

Sir Kusakabe is in possession of your custom Bavarian sword. An angry cousin and suddenly your precious metal was cold heartedly sold off  to the stoic, handsome man in far away lands. You had just gotten your hands on the sword by trading a very beautiful jade hilted saber. How you acquired the jade hilted saber is a story for another day.

Currently, the Bavarian blue decorated gliding blade is somewhere in Sir Kusakabe’s manor.   You’ve gather it sits somewhere in the weapon room, and with his vast collection, there is no reason he’d notice one beautiful blade go missing.

Wait, it’s not going missing, it’s returning home, back to your side.

But nothing is working, he does not respond to your flirtatious remarks nor lingering looks nor looks of distress. It angers you, forces you to hold your foil closer, tighten your stance, lunge at him with force.

When you concentrate a little too hard in the duel and knock his foil from his hands he stands stunned. Eyes discerning and expression neutral. “You’ve made progress.”

Is that the way to his heart?

Not that you need to know. You simply want...to distract the man.  That's all.

—

  Progress that is beyond potential, Atsuya notes. There’s far more grace and tactical strategy in your movement that cannot be considered beginners luck.   Had it not be for societal rules, Atsuya is sure you’d best the current champion. You’re up to something bigger perhaps; using the play as a ruse for something, or a natural genius.

Whatever, it’s likely harmless.

He discredits his growing doubt because receiving your smile across ball rooms is much more merciful than the dreaded gossip what wallflowers make about him. A womanizer, a salacious brute and his favorite — rude.  He follows society rules just fine, thank you very much. So what he doesn’t send thank you cards or get well flowers or dance at these things.

He eats when he’s supposed to, greets the hosts upon arrival and before leaving, and is gone by 7pm — a decent time!  His business is international, he spares what he can to attend these silly society functions.

“You’re glaring into Lady Fushiguro’s vase. Why?”   Sneaky, sneaky, thing you.

Walking right up to him, without an escort, dance card full of names that Sir Kusakabe has no interest in knowing. “Was I?”

He shouldn’t look at you, not the new shade of berry gracing your lips, nor that even tighter corset providing you the perfect posture and dip. And absolutely not your exposed neck, he’s used to your hair being up in a ponytail as you spare. The high necks of your sparing jacket keep you fully clothed and concealed after all.

Besides, what use is the visual knowledge of what your neck looks like to Kusakabe? It’s not like he would trace his fingers across it, not like he’d paint his lips up the column towards your ears that dangle with sparkly rocks, it’s not anything, it’s simply nothing. He’s a gentleman, your teacher. Nothing more.

  —

  The fact that Sir Kusakabe has finally started cancelling your sparring sessions last minute is perfect.  You wish he’d only let you take drink tea alone in his home instead of rushing you out back to the carriage. All you need is a good ten minutes, you’re sure your sword is in the back room, where he keeps the expensive books.

You don’t have long left on your trip to see your cousin the Crown Prince, Suguru is busy climbing a mountain to impress his Lady friend after all.  So, despite not wanting to, you take a spoon full of black pepper. Let yourself down a whole glass of water and then enter the Kusakabe manor.

He’s ready to rush you out, on premise of working, but stops as soon as he sees the reddened eyes and tears that threaten to spill. A well timed, organic, coughing fit and he has you seated in a guest room, personally taken a carriage to call a doctor over, making sure to bring one he trusts.

This is it. 

Ten minutes.

  —

  He does not attend the museum gala for any other reason than making friends with the artist. He can export these paintings and make a fortune, nothing else.

If you happen to be around and wander in front of him, it’s only natural his eyes follow that seductive swish of your hair and the shift of weight by your hips.   If you happen to be within earshot, discussing the nuance of capturing a persons soul in portraiture, it has nothing to do with his own desire to hear your voice.  It’s not his fault your voice is honey sweet.

But it is his fault for smoking in the garden, for causing that coughing fit and compelling you out from hiding. It’s his fault for not stopping you when you ask, “Does this taste good?”   And take his lit cigar and pull it to your very berry lips.   

It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, patting your back, tucking you into his side away from any potential pedestrians or your lady maids or your escorts. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, wipe at your lips and offer you whatever candied goods he has in his pockets. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, unwrapping the butterscotch sweet and pushing it past your lips.

The tensing of his jaw?

The extra swipe across your bottom lip?

The way his eyes bore into you?

  —

 You should put it back.

Even though your cousin stole and sold the sword from you, Sir Atsuya paid a fair price.  If you had simply told him the ordeal, as a gentleman, he would’ve sold the sword back to you, nay, he would’ve handed the thing over.  The once coveted blade now prickles at your heart because you lied to such an handsome, honorable. infuriating man.

He has to be doing it on purpose right?

Waiting for all the other men to fill up your dance card, never approaching you for a dance, leaving at 7pm on the dot.  Pray tell, why bother showing up to these balls at all?  He speaks to the host and no one else, sometimes older gentlemen but never a woman.

Perhaps, you’ve misread him?

No, no, no.

The swipe of his thumb at your lips still burns, causes your face to flush and your thoughts to wander.  All this from one, singular swipe…imagine if his hands dared to— no, no, no.

He’s a gentleman.

Honorable.

He’s likely sworn himself away from society and pursuit of a wife and yet…yet your mind supplies that doesn’t mean he’s sworn himself away from sex.

He’s a healthy, strong, broad man.

There’s no reason he doesn’t have a Lady friend….or two….or three…or….oh no, no, no.

Do not think of him without his shirt, do not think of him with loosened slacks and his head lolled back in pleasure, do not think of the sounds he makes.

Do not let your duels with him supply the grunts, and groans, and praise.

Do not.

  —

Madness, pure madness.

You’ve snuck out of your chambers and the Royal Palace, no less with the help of the Crown Prince Suguru who was also breaking curfew.  You agree to never having seen one another and part ways. It’s nice to borrow a royal carriage and driver who will keep his mouth shut.

You stop a bit away from the Kusakabe Manor, absolutely certain at this time, Sir Atsuya is likely barricading himself inside the office wing. Which leaves the weapon room open and free. You can return the sword without him ever knowing it was gone.

Only, only.

It’s not madness that drove Sir Kusakabe Atsuya to the saloon, no.  It’s simply, the need of a distraction, the need to forget how soft your lips felt under his skin and the way your eyes darted to his in no, no. He won’t let himself add labels where they should not exist.

And perhaps, it was also trouble Sir Atsuya sought, especially when scoundrels dare state that you make no Princess? That you have no grace or elegance ? The buffoons had to be dealt with, and perhaps he had drunk too much and fought too many dishonorable men, that results in him staggering about his manner.

It’s a small wound, but a wound nonetheless.

“Sir Atsuya!” A ghost, a vision, a dream.

The scent of rose and amber, soft perfumed skin invading his space. He’s floating before he’s miraculously tossed into his study.  Small deft hands pulling at his cravat, then his vest jacket and opening his white red stained dress shirt. “Princess…this is but a scratch.”

“A scratch does not bleed Sir Atsuya.” You look around the room, notice bowl that can be used as a water basin. He keeps clean towels on in the second floor lavatory, and you ask his staff to boil some water and go to inspect his medicinal cabinets.

You’re too familiar with his manor, a grin on his face, commanding it as the Lady of the House.

He must still be drunk to imagine such a visual, a Princess in his home as his wife?

A very warm, very wet rag is applied to his abdomen, your hands work as quickly as possible to clean the wound, inspecting the depth, trying to discern if a doctor is needed. At his grumbling you compromise and instruct his staff to call one tomorrow morning. You clean his skin as best you can, pulling his slacks down just a tad, making it easier to bandage his skin but, “Princess, you mustn’t do this with others.”

What? “Being kind is not a crime, Sir Atsuya.”

Oh but it is, it is when it’s the form of you, on your knees, concern etched in your eyebrows, touching him so dangerously with innocence—do you, do you even realize what this looks like? Anyone other than his staff would be quick to label this as a compromising position and yet —“My Fathers taught me how to handle wounds, it game in handy when I would fall from…my horse.”

What a lie, you’ve never ridden a horse, and falling from a horse would not result in a blood wound. You had almost slipped about your fencing training, fuck. Stop, bandage this man up and go home, hide in the safety of the Royal Palace. But it’s so distracting. This… man.

Well, you know that, you’ve always known that but…it’s different. He has defined abdominal muscles, the broad chest you expected but the way it tapers into a V towards his hips is…well…concerning.   You want to touch more, you want to confirm just how different he is—

“Princess…” why does his voice sound like that, “What are you doing?” Your hand grazing and pushing softly against exposed skin.

“It’s…you’re…so different.”

 Sin after sin runs through his mind before he can finally address a proper reply, “Different?”

 “Well I don’t have these,” fuck your hand shouldn’t feel that good against his burning skin, you shouldn’t take his own rough hand to your soft, delectable belly, “See, it’s like a loaf of bread compared to your…washboard.”

It, has to be on purpose, yes?

The way you look up at him, the way you display curiosity so openly, this must be what you consider seduction or charm or whatever Princesses’ need to do to get all favors they want.

But, what possibly could you want from a gentleman like Atsuya?

And you don’t know what it is, the mood shifts, his hand leaves your belly to rest at your hip, you like the weight of it there, the grip. Why? Why does the intensity of his gaze cause your body to feel feverish? What does he do that causes embers to flame inside your chest?

“Sir Atsuya?” 

Perhaps, it’s only proper, for you to lean forward, his hand supporting your movement. It slips to your lower back and then snakes itself to the push at the nape of your neck as your lips inch closer to his.

Perhaps, a proper, honorable man would make a better effort not to compromise a Princess in secret as such.

However, as a gentleman, Sir Kusakabe Atsuya places the honor of guarding your heart above some silly notion of society. As a proper gentleman, he will not reject your advances, especially for a kiss so feathery soft and sweet.   

You haven’t done this before, and yet you want more, there’s a hunger in your eyes. And you hope, you hope he can see it, you home the grip in your hair doesn’t loosen, that his wound is truly just a scratch as he adjusts to seat himself higher, pulling you into his lap.

After all, isn’t it the gentlemanly thing to do, keep you in his arms and teach you how to kiss?

Where else would you learn such a thing?