#zi your art is always so CUTE | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

war-sword · 5 years ago

Text

the ilvermorny exchange (6)

Part 6 | index | masterlist

summary: you’re an Ilvermorny student, and you’ve applied to the International Magic Student Exchange Program to attend your sixth year at Hogwarts instead. You and your friends are excited to go to school overseas, but a certain blonde prefect has decided to personally make your exchange year suck. You decide to give him a taste of his own medicine. (draco x reader, enemies to lovers, female reader) words: 7,699 A/N: Hi guys! Welcome back! So many people asked me to continue this fic so I decided fuck it lets go. And here we are!!! Hope you all enjoy. Small side note, when I was writing the first 5 chapters of this story I did originally have a side-plot of Alex having a crush on Ginny Weasley. I took those parts out because for some reason I thought it might be distracting?? Or people would think it was weird?? Idk but now I'm putting it back in because the person irl who Alex is modeled after asked me to lmfao. So I've gone back and added those into the past chapters, in case you wanna go back and refresh yourself anyway! taglist: @tragically-cordelia @mhftrs @2pumpkin-pasty @gingerlouisgirl @seriouslynotfunny @clockworkherondale @cherrie511 @songforhema @marvelrose @acciodracoo @eltanin-malfoy

◈◈◈

“Fucking finally.” Alex smirks at you good-naturedly as you meet her in the corridors between the Horned Serpent and Thunderbird dorms.

“Ms. Angeles had to pin my skirt! It was an emergency!” You reply.

Alex just rolls her eyes, and you head off in the direction of the center of the Ilvermorny castle. “Ugh. I wish Mr. Foxbrair had let me wear the boys outfit,” she pulls at the suspenders of her pale blue skirt irritably.

“At least we have pockets!” You say, digging your hands into them for emphasis. “I think they’re cute.” You spin as you walk, letting the skirt flare out. You and Alex, like all the rest of the last years, are dressed in your formal Ilvermorny uniforms. Blue suspender skirts and white long-sleeve button downs for the girls, while the boys wear cranberry pants and white button-downs. Everyone wears ties with their house emblem.

As last years, you’ve arrived at Ilvermorny a few hours early to change into your uniforms and prepare for the lower years to arrive. You get perform the opening dance at the First Feast tonight, and help younger students find their way as they settle in. But first– you want your wand.

There’s a bit of a line at the counter, which has multiple windows. You and Alex join the shortest one, and you peer over the shoulder of the person in front of you to watch the slender wand boxes fly around as the teachers working the counter summon them from the safe behind.

“I’m so glad this is the last time we ever have to do this. I can’t wait to do magic at home,” Alex sighs.

“Same. It’s so hard having to go from cleaning my room here and then having to do it manually all summer,” you agree.

You and Alex are both startled by a hand clapping down on your shoulders. You both turn to see Chris behind you, laughing.

“Chris! Hey!” You say, grabbing him around the middle in a tight hug. Alex piles on top and the three of you giggle, swaying unsteadily.

“What’s up?” He asks as you all separate.

“Not much,” Alex says. “You look good in those pants.”

Chris poses. “I think pink and red are my colors. Too bad I’m going to look like a giant idiot when we have to dance.”

“Chris, literally all we do is weave between the tables and shoot the streamers out of our wands. We’ve watched it happen for the past six years, do you not know how it goes?” You ask, incredulous.

“You think I pay attention?” He responds. You just laugh and move forward in the line.

Alex gets her wand first and cradles it like a newborn. “Ohhhhh, my sweet baby, I missed you.” She kisses it gently for dramatic effect. You don’t even laugh though, because the second you have yours in your hand, you feel like you could do the same. Holding your wand for the first time in three months makes your nerves come alive and you feel like you could burst at the seams with happiness. Being reunited with your wand feels like being reconnected with a part of your soul.

You flick your wand and gentle wisps of glittery mist come out of the tip and dissipate into the air, making you grin. “I love magic.”

The three of you mill around in the entryway afterwards, greeting all your other friends you hadn’t seen over the holidays. Some of your friends from last year’s exchange trip come over, too.

“What’s up, Y/n?” Kenny asks as he sweeps you into a hug.

“Hey!” You and Alex take turns giving him a hug, and he goes in for a handshake with Chris.

“How was Taiwan?”

“Oh, so cool.” Chris’s eyes glitter.

“Whoa, I forgot you were going there!” You exclaim. “You were meeting family, right?”

“Yeah. So many cousins, so many family meals. I’ve never eaten so much zong zi in my life, dude.”

“Did you go anywhere else?” Kenny elbows him, a sly smile on his face. “England, perhaps?”

Chris just rolls his eyes. “No. Emi only ever sent me three letters, but she was in China visiting her family like I was in Taiwan. What about you guys?” He turns to you and Alex. “Either of you go to Europe?”

“Hell no, Portkeys overseas are expensive!” Alex says. Chris was, of course, referring to her visiting the Weasley’s. Alex had started dating Ginny towards the end of the term in May, shortly after the last Quidditch match. Ron was of course angry Ginny kept dating his friends, but the rest of you thought it was cute. Chris and Kenny look at you expectantly.

You shake your head. “Me neither. Draco was traveling, and we agreed against meeting the parents anyway. It was never that serious.” You give a shrug. It was true, though. Still, when you’d left Hogwarts in June, it had obviously been a sad departure. You’d been a little teary as you hugged goodbye.

“Are you crying?” Draco had asked, sounding both shocked and concerned for you.

“No,” you said grumpily, rubbing your eyes fiercely on the edge of your sleeve.

His eyes had softened and he brushed your hair out of your face. “Come on, you know you can’t lie to me. Why?”

You’d just buried your head into his chest, too embarrassed about being so emotional. “‘Cuz we’re breaking up and I can’t handle it like an adult. Ugh.” You’d mumbled.

Draco pulled you away from him a little so he could whisper in your ear. “Who said we’re breaking up?”

“We’re not?” You’d sniffed.

He’d had that stupid smile on his face that made you want to deck him but also make your heart jump into your throat. “Last I checked, I didn’t break up with you, so, unless you’re the one doing the breaking up…”

“Oh, I hate you!” You’d groaned, but also smiling at the same time. Draco had picked you up off the ground to make you giggle.

“I hate you, too. So stop crying!” He’d put you down and pressed a few kisses on your cheek and your forehead. “Write to me, okay? I promise we’ll see each other again.”

“Okay, we better. Wait, I need your address!”

“Oh, shit. Do you have parchment?”

“No.”

“Uh, okay stick out your arm.”

You’d both been a giggling mess as Draco scratched out his address onto your forearm with one of his fancy Always-Inked Quills, your laughing interspersed with him begging you to be more still and not smudge.

“We’re such idiots.” Your tears of sadness had turned to ones of laughter.

“Speak for yourself!” He’d exclaimed. You kissed one last time.

“Bye, Y/n.”

“Bye, Draco.”

“Uh, ‘not that serious’ my ass.” Alex says, bringing you back out of your memories. “You were both crying.”

“We were laughing!” You defended. “And it’s true, we only exchanged a few letters. We were both busy and international owl post takes a while.”

“Damn, we all got the shaft from our British wifeys!” Chris complains.

“Aha, not me!” Alex does a little dance. “Ginny is coming for the Exchange this year.”

Chris and Kenny ooh’d. You already knew this, of course. Alex was lucky that Ginny was in the year below. It was unlikely you’d see any of your Hogwarts friends until you graduated, but Alex and Ginny would get a whole other year together.

“Who’s coming for the Exchange?” Sarah had appeared, walking up with Alice.

“Ginny Weasley,” you answer.

“Ooh, fun. Who else is coming?” Sarah asks.

You all exchange glances. “I dunno, I guess we didn’t really know many other people in the year below us while we were there,” Kenny says.

“I don’t think any of Gin’s friends are coming, she probably would’ve mentioned it,” adds Alex.

“Anyone want to go to the inner courtyard to go do some spells?” Chris suggests, changing the subject.

You all agree readily, and head outside. You take turns messing around– levitating rocks, each other, and you and Chris have a mini-duel, ending with his dress uniform completely ruined. Sarah expertly Scourgifies it clean again. Alex and Kenny work together to enlarge a small patch of mushrooms so you can all climb on them. Chris has just discovered they’re great slides when you hear a voice ring across the courtyard.

“WHAT DO YOU YOU ALL THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

Everyone freezes, your first instinct being fear. You turn your head, gazing down from the mushroom to see Ms. Bell standing a few feet off, watching you with a smile on your face.

“Uh, nothing!” Kenny calls.

“Hey Ms. Bell!” You, Sarah and Alice chorus.“We’ll put it back, don’t worry!” You slide down off the mushroom and run over to her to give your favorite teacher a hug.

“How was your summer? You need to come visit me and tell me about your Exchange year!” She asks, giving you a gentle squeeze.

“Great!I’ll definitely come by to tell you about Hogwarts.”

“Awesome!” She beams. “Ready for your last year?”

“Yes! But also no, I’ll be so sad to leave.” You say, as the rest of the group comes over to say hello. “I’m going to sign up for your new class! the History of Magical Painting and Photography, right?”

“Yes, I’m excited for it,” she says, giving Sarah a side hug. “You should all sign up if you like art, I think it’s going to be lots of fun. I’ve been planning for it all summer.” Sarah and Alice nod, and the others politely say they’ll consider it.

“Alright, I’ve got to go. I’m on Exchange Student duty again.” Ms. Bell brandishes a scroll of parchment, her own dress cloak swishing as she moves. “Fix those mushrooms back before you all leave, please!”

“Wait, which Exchange?” You ask.

“Hogwarts, same as last time.”

“Can we see the list?” Alex asks. “My girlfriend is coming, we just want to see if there’s anyone else we know.”

Ms. Bell unrolls the parchment and you all gather around to read it. Your eyes scan the paper and you don’t recognize anyone else except Ginny– Wait! Your heart skips a beat, and you blink your eyes and grasp the edge of the parchment next to Ms. Bell’s hand, making sure you read it correctly.

Draco Malfoy.

“See anyone else you know?” Ms. Bell asks.

Alex catches sight of your shocked expression and laughs. “We know him!” She points to Draco’s name.

“But… but he’s in our year. He isn’t eligible for the Exchange,” you say softly. “It must be a mistake.”

“Hm, I don’t think so. I remember he was a later addition.”

You’re still staring off into space while Ms. Bell rolls up the parchment. “I really have to go. Would you guys like to come along to greet your friends?”

You and Alex follow Ms. Bell out of the courtyard, still slightly in a haze. Was Draco really coming? He’d never mentioned it to you, while you were at Hogwarts or in any of his letters. And besides, IMSEP rules were really strict; He was too old for Exchange. Alex elbowed you and broke you from your stupor.

“You didn’t know he was coming?” She asks.

“No! I had no idea! Is that like, allowed?” Even as you say it, thoughts are already bubbling into your mind. Draco, here, at Ilvermorny. With you. You’ll get to show him around, go to classes again, you can go on dates on weekends out… You were getting excited. Alex is smiling like crazy and clutching your hand. You can’t help but grin also.

When you get to the front lawn, the afternoon sun is getting lower as the last of the Portkeys come in. Students are arriving in descending order of their grade, so they can get settled into their dorms before dinner. First year’s arrive last, as well as Exchange students, so they can be sorted before the First Feast. You watch a group of eleven year olds go by, led by a teacher and another last year. Ms. Bell leads you over to an open patch of grass where the Hogwarts Portkey will let out, and checks her watch. “They should be here any moment.”

A moment later, there’s a whooshing sound and a group of almost twenty people land on the lawn pretty far away, some of who you can see toppling over as they land hard. “Oh no, we’re too far away!” Ms. Bell begins walking at a brisk pace towards the group.

Alex starts running, obviously already honed in on Ginny. You walk along with Ms. Bell, still not sure Draco will be there. As you draw closer, you spot his bright hair in the mass of people. You start running too.

Draco spots you coming, and looks slightly surprised, but still smiling. He lets go of his trunk and bag to open his arms, and you launch yourself into them.

“Hey baby!” He laughs into your ear as he spins you around. “Are you surprised?"

“You. Are. The biggest. Bastard!” You cry once he puts you down, hitting on his chest with your fists to punctuate your words.

“Ouch! Okay, enough with the hitting!” He’s still laughing though, pulling your fists away. You put up a tiny fight, but he’s much stronger than you. When he lets go you wrap your arms around him in another hug.

“Yes I’m surprised!” You say, pulling back again. You’re not sure if you want to hug him again, kiss him, hit him some more or just look into his eyes. There’s so much you want to do at once. “And wow, I think you got tan when you went to Italy.”

Draco chuckles. “It won’t last long. And look at you! You’ve cut your hair!” He takes his hands off your waist to brush through the strands.

“Yes! It’s a little shorter now. You like?”

“I love it.” His eyes keep flicking across your face and the rest of you like he can’t get enough, and you’re glad to know he feels the same way. He leans down and finally places a gentle kiss on your lips, and you feel like you could explode from happiness.

Ms. Bell finally reaches the group. “Hi Everyone! Welcome to Ilvermorny. Please look around and make sure the person you were standing next to is here, sometimes people do go missing… all good?” She retrieves the used Portkey, an umbrella, from the ground, and waves her wand. Everyone’s luggage vanishes, off to be kept until after the sorting. “Alright, let's go!” We don’t want to get behind schedule, we’ve got lots to do tonight before we get to eat!”

You grab Draco’s hand as you all start the walk back towards the castle. “So how were you allowed to come here? You’re too old for Exchange! How did you convince your parents? How long will you be here?” All the questions that were buzzing around in your head came spilling out all at once.

“I’ll be here all year,” Draco said. “I transferred, I’m not on Exchange. And lots and lots of convincing.”

You really didn’t have anything to say, you were just in happy shock. You smiled to yourself as you looked back at the castle and thought about Draco living there, too.

“I hope you’re not mad,” he said, looking over at you. “Should I have told you?”

“No! I’m not mad, just surprised is all!” You say. “Wow, I can’t wait for you to get sorted!”

“Should be interesting,” Draco muses. “I’ve been wondering how it will go.” The group had reached the castle, and Draco gives your hand a squeeze. “We’ll talk after, okay? You can show me around.”

Ms. Bell marches up the steps and stops in between the large statues of Isolt Sayre and James Steward, where the large group of first years are gathered. She motions for you and Alex to follow her, and you leave Draco behind with a wink. The three of you go around the set of big front doors and enter through a side corridor.

You part from Ms. Bell, and head quickly up the stairs to the balcony under the glass dome on the main rotunda. Alex spots your friends, and you both hurry to join them, muttering apologies as you make your way to the railing– last years get to sit at the front to watch the sorting.

“Hey,” you mutter, sitting down just behind your roommates, Stella and Grace. You hadn’t seen them since you moved in earlier that afternoon. “Guess what?”

“What?” Grace asks. Chris shifts back to be next to you so Alex can sit near the railing and dangle her feet off the edge.

“Y/N’s boyfriend is here.” Alex answers before you can.

“What?” Stella gasps. Grace’s mouth drops open in surprise. “You didn’t tell us!”

“I literally found out ten minutes ago! Sneaky asshole.” You look between Alex and Chris. “He’s transferred.”

“Oh, shit.” Chris looked impressed. “Because of you?”

“Maybe? I don’t know! We didn’t get to talk too much, we were coming in here.”

“Point him out to us when he comes in.” Grace says, looking towards the big double doors. Stella nods in agreement.

A hush falls over the rotunda as your Principal, Joan Rittler, sweeps into view below to stand on the golden knot on the floor, surrounded by the four statues of Ilvermorny. She’s wearing dress robes also, long black ones with intricate navy, cranberry and gold embroidery that swirl gently. Her long dreadlocks are piled on her head in a complicated knot that also has gold accents decorating it. She raises her ring covered hands for complete silence. “Hello, everyone,” she begins. “We are about to start our age old tradition of Sorting our new students. Please remember to remain quiet until the student has chosen their House.”

She turns and raises her hands toward the double doors, and they swing open. The group of first years all shuffle in uncertainty, the older group of exchange students sticking out at the back because they’re so much taller. Principal Rittler ushers them to come further inside with a welcoming smile on her face. Once the blob of kids has made a rough semicircular shape at the edge of the room, the doors close back. You spot Draco near the wall, his eyes scanning the balcony for you, but you’re probably just a bit too far back. You elbow Grace and point to Draco’s blonde head.

“I didn’t know you were dating an albino,” Grace murmurs over the sound of the footsteps below.

You can’t even argue with her. “He’s actually tan right now, if you can believe it.”

“Merlin.”

Principal Rittler’s voice fills the rotunda without her even trying. “Welcome, students. You are all about to be sorted into your Houses. You will come up, one at a time, and stand on this knot–” she gestures to her feet– “and your House will be announced by the movement of the statues. You may then go over and join your new House mates behind the statue.”

“We have Thunderbird, for those with powerful and adventurous souls. Puckwudgie, for the strong and healing of heart. Wampus, for the brave warriors of body, and Horned Serpent for those engaged and scholarly minds. If more than once House wants you, it is up to you to choose, so think carefully.”

You felt a tiny twinge in your stomach at Principal Rittler’s words as you did every year.

“May the sorting begin.” Principal Rittler pulls her wand from inside her robes and conjures a scroll. She steps back off the knot and outside the circle of statues, and lets the long scroll fall open. “Acworth, Ames.”

A tiny girl with thin hair scurries from the middle of the blob and goes to stand on the knot. A few tense moments pass, and then the Thunderbird comes to life and beats it’s huge wooden wings. Thunderbirds all around the balcony burst into cheers as Ames beams and walks over to stand behind the statue.

It goes on like this, down the list. Ilvermorny is a huge school, and between first years and Exchange students there are at least eighty people to be sorted. You lean over and whisper in Chris’s ear. “Kinda makes you miss the fifteen minute Hogwarts sorting, doesn’t it?”

Chris’s eyes go wide as he gives you a deep nod.

You watch as the light changes from yellow to orange through the top of the dome. Two children have more than one statue offer them a place in their House, which always livens up the sorting. One girl immediately chooses Puckwudgie, while the other boy starts to cry before finally choosing Horned Serpent. You hope he’s not wrong, and make a mental note to try and find him at some point during the first week.

Finally, all the first years are done, and it’s time for the Exchange students. Principal Rittler turns her scroll over to the back side. “Álvarez, Jose!” A tan boy steps onto the knot and is immediately made a Wampus.

When Principal Rittler calls out “Malfoy, Draco,” your heart starts to go double time, like it’s you getting sorted all over again. You lean forwards to look between the bars of the railing, and you can feel Chris, Alex, Grace and Stella all watching you as much as they watch him.

Draco steps out onto the knot. There is no movement for a second, and then, three statues come alive at once. The Puckwudgie raises his arrow up, while the Thunderbird beats its wings. The crystal set into the forehead of the Horned Serpent glows, and it twists its neck around.

Murmurs are heard across the rotunda. You’ve seen threes happen only twice more in your years at Ilvermorny. Twos are much more common, and fours almost unheard of. Everyone is watching with bated breath to see which house Draco will choose, but you have a feeling you already know.

When Draco walks over to join the group behind the Horned Serpent statue, you scream along with Stella and Grace. The rest of your House is the loudest it’s been all night.

Several other students go, and then it’s Ginny’s turn. Alex is gripped by the same anticipation as you as Ginny strides out of the group and onto the knot. She’s made a Thunderbird, and Alex whistles loudly for her.

You grab Alex’s shoulder. “Did you guess right, too?” You yell over the other Thunderbird’s raucous applause.

“Uh-huh!”

You and Alex high-five hard.

Finally, the sorting comes to an end. Another set of double doors opposite the main ones open into Ilvermony’s Great Hall, and the newly sorted first years rush inside to receive their first wands. While the wand choosing doesn’t take nearly as long as the sorting, it’s another round of waiting the upper years have to endure. There’s lots of traffic going down the two staircases from the balcony to the main floor.

“Aw, guys, that was our last sorting!” Stella pulls a face and puts her hand on her heart.

“So many lasts,” Chris adds.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” you interject. “This gets to be our first time leading the dance and the songs!”

“True.”

You finally emerge at the bottom of the stairs. You intend to try and find Draco, so he can know where to sit, but your Head of House, Ms. Angeles, is collecting last years at the back of the rotunda. You and Alex exchange an annoyed glance as you make your way over.

Ms. Angeles is attempting to count everyone, but gives up. She rests the tip of her wand on her neck and clears her throat. Everyone stops talking, lower years still filing into the Great Hall peer over at you all as they walk. “I sincerely hope that after six years you know how this is going to work!” Ms. Angeles’s voice sounds extra loud.

Next to you, Chris grimaces.

“If you don’t, stand behind someone who does and follow them. Four lines, please! And do not stand next to your house mates!”

Alex grabs you, and you in turn grab Chris. Grace and Stella follow you anyway as you make your way to one of the four lines forming. “Think again if you thought I’d listen to a single order Angeles tells me this year,” Grace mumbles.

Ms. Angeles evens up the lines until she’s satisfied. Through the open doors you can see that most everyone has taken a seat at the many tables, first years closest to the walls, with a cluster of empty tables in the center of the room for the last years to sit at. The edges of the room are fraught with excited conversations as eleven year old’s hold and compare wands for the first time, unable to contain their excitement. Ms. Angeles leaves you to take her seat at the staff table, and you all wait as the last few people sort themselves out. It’s then you notice Draco sitting all alone at one of the empty tables. He’s picked one on the edge so he blends in with the sixth years at the tables nearest to him, but it’s still a sad sight. You cover your mouth with your hands, not sure if you want to laugh or cry.

“Aw, Draco!” Alex notices, too.

“That’s literally the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Stella comments.

“We have to go over there after, oh my God,” you giggle, tearing up. All your emotions from the past hour– seeing your friends again after summer, Draco suddenly appearing, and remembering you’re doing this all for the last time– are coming to the surface in a weird mix.

“Babe! Are you crying?” Alex turns around and puts a hand on your shoulder.

“No! I mean, yes, but… I don’t know, there’s too much happening right now!” You sniff, flicking away the tears that cling to your lashes. “Ugh! Okay, let’s go.” You pull out your wand and bounce on the balls of your feet, ready to get the dance started.

There is some whisper-arguing amongst the four leaders of the lines, and then they set off skipping, starting to clap in time. The two center lines wind their way back and forth between the tables through middle, while the outer lines go along the wall.

“We stand as one united,

Against the Puritan.

We draw our inspiration,

From good witch Morrigan.”

The students sitting down continue clapping while you all sing. Your line turns when you reach the staff table, and you begin to skip in the opposite direction of the other lines. Most of the first years sit at their tables and listen to the song, watching with excitement. Older students reach out their hands and you give them all high fives as you pass. Across the hall, Draco catches your eye, smiling as he watches you dance. You grin back as your classmates sing about Ilvermorny, the supreme wizard school, and green streamers come out of your wand as you twirl around.

After a long and satisfying First Feast, you jump up from your table to go find Draco. After the dance, you hadn’t been able to make your way to sit with him. Alex was also unable to find a seat near Ginny, and so you’d both suffered through the meal away from your partners. But now that it was time to go back to your dorms, you had the chance to find Draco and not be separated again.

As everyone exited from the hall, you squeeze your way over through the crowd. “Hey.”

“Hey.” He grabs your hand to keep you together.

“I knew you’d be Horned Serpent” you say, following your House mates out of the hall and towards the west staircase. “Did you pick it to be with me, or because you felt it fit?

“Many reasons,” he says. “But I will have you know I read up on Ilvermorny this summer and did think about it before I got here.”

“Really?” You’re impressed, but also that’s such a thing he would do. Draco doesn’t like unknowns.

“Of course. Got to be prepared, right?”

You don’t say anything, and instead just enjoy a moment to yourself gazing at his face. “Wait ‘till you see our common room, it’s so fun.”

You climb up several flights of stairs until you reach a large wooden door that’s covered in a grid of carvings. The door is already open, letting the steady stream of students through. “You get in my tapping certain squares in a pattern,” you say as you pass. “We’ll find it out from someone before tomorrow. And I want to take you around.”

As you enter the Horned Serpent common room, you turn to Draco to see his reaction. The Horned Serpent dorms are located in one of the five big turrets of the castle, meaning the construction leads vertically rather than horizontally. The common room is a the bottom, a large circular room with chairs, couches, and three fireplaces on the walls. Piles of books are all over the floor, separating clusters of chairs near the fires or windows, so people can study or talk in groups. Your favorite part of the common room though is the ceiling– perhaps hundreds of chandeliers, ranging from the largest one in the center to tiny ones the size of cups cover the room in a soft glow. On opposite sides of the room are entrances to the different dormitories, and you drag Draco over to the left one.

“This is to the girl’s rooms, I want you to meet my cats!”

“Can I go in there?” Draco says, unsure.

“Duh.” You roll your eyes. “I wouldn’t be taking you if I couldn’t”

You lead the way up a spiral staircase. You stop on the second landing, which is semicircular, and lead Draco to the second door.

“Hey.” You poke your head inside. Grace is already laying on her bed, reading, while Stella is at her desk struggling to open an ink bottle.

“Hey,” Stella and Grace answer in unison. “Did you bring him?” Grace asks, marking her place and closing her book.

You nod. You step into the room and pull Draco in behind you. “These are my friends, Stella and Grace.”

Draco looks back and forth between the three of you for a moment. “Are you guys… sure you aren’t related?”

Grace laughs and you sigh. “People get us mixed up all the time. Our hair looks the same from the back. But other than that we all look different, I’d say.” Your first year at Ilvermorny had been a tough one for teachers. Stella and Grace being your roommates, they were also your first friends, so you all had to endure lots of “Grace! No, er- Y/N!” “Actually, I’m Stella,” in any class and around the hallways. As you’d gotten older and the three of you had changed around your haircuts, it had gotten easier.

“Congratulations on Horned Serpent, Draco,” Grace says as Stella continues to struggle with her ink bottle. “It’s lucky you got to pick. So did Y/N.”

“Yes, she’s told me about it. And you all, too. Er, do you want a hand with that?” Draco asks as Stella slams the ink back onto the desk in defeat.

“Please.” Stella grabs the bottle and silently offers to toss it. Draco nods and catches it deftly with one hand, cracks it open in one go, and throws it back to a bewildered Stella.

“Show off,” you mutter, bending down to look under your bed.

“Hot,” Grace corrects. “You picked a better one this time, Y/N.”

You choose to ignore this comment. From under your bed, you pull a fat grey cat. “Draco, this is Benedict, one of my cats.” With Benedict’s massive body balanced against your chest, you reach onto your bed and scoop up a much smaller black cat with huge green eyes with your other hand. “And this is Sophie.” Now that you’ve woken the cats up, their voices start to filter into your head.

‘Who’s this?’ Sophie questions, sniffing the air.

‘Mom, I don’t like it, he smells different!’ Benny starts to squirm in your arms.

“Settle down,” you say, clutching Benny tighter to you. “And be nice! This is Draco, I’ve told you about him.”

“Ahem, your cats?” Grace interrupts. “They’re my kids too now, I looked after them for you while you were gone.”

“Fine, our cats.” You hold Sophie out to Draco. “Here, she wants to see you.”

Draco takes Sophie from you with some hesitation. You wrangle Benny in more securely now that you have both hands. ‘Oh, he’s warm!’ Sophie closes her eyes and starts to purr. ‘I see why you chose this one.’

‘Mom NO! Sophie don’t, he seems strange! Don’t trust him!’

“Don’t be rude!” You scold. Benny continues to writhe in your arms so you put him down, and he runs over and jumps onto Grace’s bed.

“Hah!” She says triumphantly.

“He’ll come around,” you assure Draco. “But for now Sophie really seems to like you, she’s always been the friendlier one.”

‘More like reckless!’ Benny meows allowed, but only you understand what it means.

“Be nicer to your sister!” You say to him. He sulks back and hides behind Grace.

“What are they saying?” Draco asks, intrigued. He scratches Sophie under her chin and she purrs even more.

“Benny says you smell and Sophie says you’re warm and I made a good choice.”

Draco laughs, which disturbs Sophie a bit. ‘Ah, he can be loud though! I’m too hot now. I want to keep napping.’ She leaps from Draco’s arms and back onto her little hollow in your blankets.

“It seems like they’re done. Let’s go on a castle tour.” You move around Draco to go back out the door. Stella and Grace chorus goodbye as you whisk Draco out again.

As you re-enter the common room, Draco stops you. “Can I find my room first? I want us to be able to take our time and I want to know where I’m going when we get back.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. My bad.” You start to blush with embarrassment that you’d forgotten. “Want me to go up there with you?”

“I think I can manage.” He gives you that stupid crooked smile and you immediately realize you’ve been a little clingy.

“I’ll wait down here for you when you’re ready,” you say as Draco disappears up the stairs. You settle into one of the chairs to wait, swinging your feet over the side. Several more of your House mates pass, including Alice, who gives you the pattern for the door. After what feels like an eternity, Draco reemerges from the boys dormitories looking pleased.

You close the book you’d pulled out to pass the time. “Are you with anyone you know?”

Draco shook his head. “No. You know Gao and Will very well?”

“Which Will?” You chuckle as you get up. “There’s at least 5. And Gao’s real name is Will too, by the way. We just all call him Gao.”

“Brilliant,” Draco sighs. “Also no. He’s got brown hair and green eyes if that helps.”

“Nope, two of them look like that.”

“I give up.”

“I’ll find out tomorrow and give you my opinion.”

You lead the way out of the common room and into the halls. “Where do you wanna go first?”

“I don’t care.” Draco takes up your hand. “Your favorite spots.”

So you take Draco around the castle. Ilvermorny is massive, and you show him little shortcuts along the way when you can. You take him to the halls where all the seventh year classes are located, and down to the hallway where Ms. Bell’s new history classes are taking place and halfway convince Draco to sign up with you. As you go through the halls, you greet all the statues you’ve come to know over the years. Ilvermony’s corridors are filled with enchanted sculpture, some small, some lifesize, and others so massive they require their own small rounded spaces and are situated in the middle of hallways. You take him to see your favorite, called Lady Lightfoot, whom everyone affectionately calls Lucy.

You pull Draco into her rounded hallway room, one side of which has huge windows that look out onto the East Lawn of Ilvermorny. Linda has long locks of flowing hair and is sculpted in a sheer dress. She’s in her true sculpted position, resting against a rock, when you enter.

“Hi, Lucy!” Your words echo in the empty room.

Lucy turns away from gazing out the window at the sound of your voice. “Y/n! What a lovely surprise, I should expect one of my favorite students to come and visit on the first night! And after such a long time, too.” The two of you walk to stand in front of her, and Lucy’s pale marble face beams down at you. Her stone locks fall about her face as though they were as soft as real hair. “Who’s this?”

“Lucy, this is my boyfriend, Draco. He’s from Hogwarts.”

Lucy gasps so loudly both you and Draco jump. “Boyfriend! My, you leave me for a year and come back with an English beau? And he’s handsome too!” She leans down to get a better look.

You laugh, and start to blush again. “I’m just showing him around.”

“How lovely,” she sighs, clasping her hands together. “I’m so glad you’ve opened your heart up again, Y/n.”

You draw in a short breath. This was not a subject you wanted to broach tonight, and take this as a cue to get out before Lucy spills anything else about your embarrassing lower year self. And why did everyone keep bringing it up?

“We’ve still got lots to see, but we’ll be by tomorrow. Bye!” You drag Draco to the exit and keep going down the hall. “Okay, I’ve saved the best for last. Come this way.”

At the end of the hall, you find a wooden door to the left of another big window. You tug on the door–it’s always a bit sticky– while Draco gazes out across the lawn.

“The Quidditch pitch here is huge,” he says, sounding impressed. “Much bigger than Hogwarts’.”

“Oh, yeah definitely,” you grunt, giving the door one last hard pull and it finally comes open. “That’s what we’re going to look at, but the view is better from up here.” You usher for Draco to follow you into the door.

It leads to a short set of stairs which have a trapdoor at the top. Draco closes the door at the bottom at your instruction, and you light your wand to see in the darkness. The trapdoor is easier to open, and you climb up and out.

You come out on a small landing, a circular balcony with a roof just big enough for four people to sit or stand. Draco emerges from the trapdoor and you firmly shut it behind him. “So this is what those tiny little turrets are,” Draco says.

“Yep, there’s little places like this all over the castle.” You use your wand to blow a few leaves and dust off the floor of the balcony. “Some are permanently closed, but others you can get to. This is the one my friends and I use. Mostly people use it for smoking, but I like the view.”

You join Draco in leaning against the railing. “You can see the pitch, and that building is the creatures barn, where all the magical animals live.”

You watch the sunset over the trees for a few moments before you feel Draco staring at you. “What?” You say, looking over.

Draco pushes off the railing and leans back against one of the pillars holding up the roof. “I don’t know what you’re waiting for.”

“I’m the one waiting?” You put a hand to your chest in disbelief. “I brought you up here.”

Draco opens his arms up. “Come on.”

“No.” You smirk.

Draco’s mouth drops open. “Stop being difficult, Y/n!” He pretends to sound aghast.

“I’ve never been difficult in my life,” you say airily, turning back to look out across the trees. Draco comes up behind you, wrapping his arms around your torso and resting his chin on top of your head. Your heart flutters in your chest with excitement. Draco reaches a hand up to brush your hair away from the side of your face, and you feel his breath on your ear when he dips his head down. There’s nothing you can do to stop the involuntary curl of your toes when he presses his mouth to the sensitive part of your neck, and your resolve is immediately broken.

You twist around in his arms, and your noses brush together as your lips meet in a much anticipated kiss. An entire summer of waiting comes to the surface immediately, and you’re pulling each other close with an almost desperate need. You hadn’t forgotten how well you fit together and the wonderful ways Draco could touch you that made you dizzy with desire, but it was nice to have a refresher.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” you say unevenly between kisses.

“Me too,” he responds, just as breathless.

After several long minutes of heated kissing, you end sitting on the floor in Draco’s lap, his fingers tracing patterns along the sides of your thighs while you catch your breath.

“I know how much you like Ms. Bell, but Merlin if I wasn’t angry I couldn’t kiss you like that when I first caught sight of you.”

You let out a soft laugh, and press a kiss to his forehead. “So tell me, I want to know the story of how you ‘go here now’.”

He lets out a sigh and looks off to the side, fingers still trailing across your legs absentmindedly. “I was so tired of Hogwarts. My father always wanted to send me to another European wizarding school, but mum wanted me closer to home. I told them about how all the Exchange students from America took much more useful and interesting classes and how schooling abroad looks impressive, and after a few weeks I had them convinced. Mother was annoyed I didn’t just apply for Exchange last year, but this way I won’t get behind in classes like everyone, because I’ll graduate with you all here.

Obviously I chose Ilvermorny because you’re here. But if you’re worried about this being some grand romantic gesture I was expecting you to return, that’s not it.”

You nod, taking in everything he’s said. You brush a finger down the line of his neck to his partially unbuttoned shirt collar. “I did wonder about that. But those are good reasons. Ilvermorny is superior, anyway,” you smirk.

“Good,” he says, running his entire hand over your leg now. “I thought you might be mad that I came without telling you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I know you do like a little romantic gesture.”

“Thanks. I really think you’ll like it here, too. I meant it when I said I’m glad you’re– hey, stop that! I’m trying to talk!”

Draco’s slid both his hands under you skirt, making you gasp. You grab his wrists and put his hands back near your knees while he laughs.

“You know, it won’t be as convenient as it was at Hogwarts. We both have roommates now, it won’t be like when we could have your Prefect’s room all to ourselves all the time,” you say.

“Yes I know, which is why I’m trying to get a head start.” He grabs one of your hands, brushing his fingers across your open palm.

Suddenly you feel a bit shy. “I hope you don’t regret transferring. It’s a lot different here than Hogwarts, and my friends can sometimes be a lot sometimes.”

“So I’ve gathered from Alex and Grace.” Draco flips your hand over and your fingers intertwine together. “I’m sure it will be fine, darling. I’ll make my own friends too, some of yours are bound to be obnoxious.”

That makes you laugh again. “I’m sure, especially since Ginny will be hanging around.”

Draco seemed to have genuinely forgotten this because he leans his head back against the railing and makes a face. “God, I forgot about her.”

“Come on, Ginny isn’t that bad! She’s less annoying than Ron.”

“They’re all annoying,” he scowls.

“Now who’s being difficult?”

He reaches out and pinches your sides, making you squeal. “No tickling! Or no kisses!” You warn.

“How about I get both?” He wraps his arms around you and pulls you against his chest, kissing you repeatedly on your cheek while he digs his fingers into your sides again.

“Nooooo!” You cry, wiggling around like your cat had earlier. You sucessfully pin one of his arms against the railings and grab his other wrist, your free hand groping at your side for your wand. He’s strong, though, and twists his arm around in your grasp to keep you from reaching it.

You wrestle for a minute, which unfortunately ends with you against the ground under Draco’s iron grip. The two of you never fully grew out of the fighting phase of your relationship.

“At least you can’t tickle me now,” you pant, blowing a wisp of hair out of your face.

Draco eyes are flirting all across your face and down your neck, just like when he saw you when he first arrived. Except it’s different now that you’re alone and pinned beneath him.

“Let me go,” you say, narrowing your eyes.

Draco stays silent and loosens his grip experimentally. You slip your arms out from his hold and instead rest them across his back, inviting him to come closer again.

You might not have Draco’s single bedroom this year, but you suppose the balcony isn’t too bad either.

#draco x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco imagine #draco malfoy x you #hp imagine #the ilvermonrny exchange

176 notes · View notes

h3trappedcollection · 5 years ago

Text

Author Interview Part V

The talented and all-round fabulous @weilongfu joined us today for another part of the Author Interview.

Stories written for the Collection:

The Day of Singularity

Four meetings with Officer Meng (But one with Shao Fei)

Interview:

How did you come into the Trapped fandom?

I came into the Trapped fandom the way I’ve gotten into many of my fandoms. By everyone around me screaming about it. People like @andwebegin, @ctl-yuejie, and @florbexter were pretty instrumental in getting me aware that it was going to happen. Especially after having taken their word about HIStory2: CTL, I was more than willing to check out Trapped. Especially after I found out more about the potential plot.

My usual philosophy after that is to at least watch the first few episodes. If I’m not hooked by anything, then I give it up. Trapped kept me hooked for good! I fell in love with everyone in the show and the rest is… history?

Who’s your favourite character?

I love a lot of characters in the show for different reasons. I love Zhao Zi for his honesty and genuine desire to do good. I like the mystery and mischief of Jack. I admire Tang Yi’s deep feelings and emotions. And I greatly enjoyed Shao Fei’s straightforwardness and ability to commit. If I had to pick one, I’d go with Zhao Zi because we both love food, potentially like dangerous boys, and we both want the world to be a better place.

What’s your favourite trope?

I honestly have been enjoying a lot of the AU fics that are in the fandom. Like the original Trapped setting is great, but pushing the boys into college or further back? It’s been an amazing thing to read and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. As to whether I’ll write it? Eh… Someone did ask if I’d ever write a proposed fic about College Freshman!Jack dating HS Senior!Zhao Zi so…

What do you like about writing for Trapped?

The best part about writing for Trapped has actually been the fandom. Everyone is so supportive and nice. It’s a real pleasure to see the responses I get which are also always very friendly.

Aside from that? Trapped has such varied and interesting characters. It’s very easy to find the right knob to twist or switch to flip that can make a large variety of fics happen.

Care to elaborate about your writing process?

My writing process is a mess!

I don’t usually outline because then I over-outline. A lot of my fics were spawned from just coming up with a good title! And that’s in every fandom I write for.

But once I get going, things usually just flow. I’ll go back and read it once or twice to make sure I haven’t truly fucked something up, but once I’m done, I’m usually done for good and I post it before I second guess myself. Truly, I treat writing fics like how I take exams. Just get it done and hand it in before you delete/erase something that actually worked!

Sometimes it’s not that easy, and I have struggled with a few fics just because I’ve managed to overthink myself or I get hung up on an idea, but I have yet to find a better or more comfortable way for me to write.

Your favourite Trapped fic by another author?

Oooo…. Well I have to give a shout out to @decadentdeerpolice and @the-wintry-mizzenmast for their lovely fics during the last exchange. I absolutely loved how they filed the prompt for me.

I’m also a big fan of Skuld’s The Divine Art of the Househusband series. It’s definitely a twist on what Jack’s life as a househusband would be like and it’s always fun to see a new update!

I also liked @sarah-yyy ‘s fics fortune and amuse bouche.

The next set of fics I’m actually eagerly awaiting updates on is Flor’s Breaking the Firewall series. The espionage and manoeuvring that’s happened in just the first parts is already super fun.

What do you want to write but never had the nerve to?

Hmm… I’m not sure? There aren’t a lot of ideas that I’ve never really had the nerve to put down on paper, if only to get them to stop bothering me. There are a few that never really made it to paper though. Like my Fantasy!AU where all the boys are different positions and have different abilities.

I wanted to write Jack as a member of the Assassin’s Guild. Zhao Zi would be part of the guard and mostly be seen as a scribe, except when he pulls the robes off and gives most thieves a run for their money in his trap deactivating, lock picking, and ward/seal breaking. Shao Fei would, of course, be a paladin as he believes in the law and doing what’s right. Tang Yi would so be a weapons master type character, as once he was adopted by the ‘noble’ Tang Guo Dong, he was trained in many styles to defend himself.

The idea fell apart after that because I had no idea what they’d do afterwards. Plus they’re missing a ranged caster and committed healer in the party and everyone who has played D&D knows that’s a mistake waiting to cause a total party kill. (I mean you could argue Hong Ye would totally make a great sorceress and Dao Yi would be the cleric cleaning up her messes, but let’s not get this any bigger.)

If you want, please share a snippet of your current Trapped WIP!

It wasn’t very often that Zhao Zi wondered what was the first link in the chain of decisions that lead him to slightly less than desirable outcomes. Not because Zhao Zi lacked insight or critical thinking, he was a police officer after all. It was often because Zhao Zi was usually pretty good at pulling himself out of a pinch.

A smile and innocent disposition were very good for many things. When those failed, being flexible in many ways helped some more.

(The third option was that he was legally allowed to carry a gun, even if no one wanted Zhao Zi to carry a gun.)

But as Zhao Zi lifted a large, homemade sausage to his lips while Jack eyed him expectantly, Zhao Zi contemplated if his grandmother would approve of what he was about to do to a perfectly decent piece of food and what had brought him to this new point in his life in the first place.

------

Zhao Zi had been through practice interrogations before, but none of them had prepared him for someone like Jack. And despite Jack’s initial countenance, there was something about his smile, how easily he showed his teeth. It should have been predatory and dangerous. But in the curve of Jack’s eyes, Zhao Zi knew he wasn’t in any danger.

Of course, Zhao Zi knew plenty about Jack. Working with Shao Fei for so long, Zhao Zi knew plenty about Tang Yi’s most recent right hand man. Jack was a known mercenary, but he’d somehow managed to keep his nose just clean enough, just on the gray side of legal. All evidence was circumstantial. Even the International Crimes Division was often stuck dancing around Tang Yi’s lawyers when they were aiming for whatever secrets were hiding in Jack’s mind.

So it was Jack’s smile and eyes that allowed Zhao Zi to sell Shao Fei out in exchange for food. He did not expect the food to taste as good as it would. Nor did he expect that he might enjoy Jack pulling him close as Zhi De knocked over his bowl of noodles.

Zhao Zi decided to be open-minded. Jack was certainly interesting and fun. No harm in getting to know someone, right?

------

Jack knew he was smitten the moment Zhao Zi sold out his friend for food.

Good survival instincts. Good taste. Cute face too.

Jack was also hardly the kind of guy who just let things happen to him. But Zhao Zi was a new quantity. He’d have to slowly edge his way in, find out just how Zhao Zi might handle another man pursuing him.

So when Zhao Zi said, “Don’t you need to try it?”

Jack knew this was his chance to appeal to the clear foodie Zhao Zi was. “I don’t need to. I know I’m a good cook.”

“Huh? I meant Ah Fei’s number!”

“Too subtle,” Jack thought.

But Jack got to hold Zhao Zi close and a promise to see him again anyway.

“That could be like a date, right?” Jack thought as he rushed to collect Tang Yi from the hospital.

Thank you so much @weilongfu for the Interview

#h3trappedcollection #history 3: trapped #history 3: 圈套 #author interview

31 notes · View notes

tsunflowers · 6 years ago

Text

zi-o coffeeshop au

geiz: heres your coffee

sougo: can you draw something on it for me

geiz: what.

sougo: woz always draws me latte art

geiz: *just plops some whipped cream on top* here

sougo: what’s this

geiz: it’s the cotton you have instead of a brain if you think I’m seriously going to draw you latte art

sougo: you’re so funny geiz. well I think this is worth a 10% tip but if you want a 20% tip I want to see real latte art. I think a bird would be cute :)

#geiz through gritted teeth: have a nice day #au zone

20 notes · View notes

writinggeisha · 6 years ago

Link

Really helpful website to find nickames for characters.

Cute Chinese Nicknames for Guys

Calling a guy by a cute nickname is a great way to express love and praise his attributes. So, if you need cute Chinese nicknames for a guy, try any of the following popular names:

萌宝 (Meng Bao) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Cute baby,” which makes it a great nickname for a cute guy.

乐乐 (Le Le) – It literally means “Happy-Happy.”

喜洋洋 (Xi Yang Yang) – Originated from a Chinese popular animated series Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, a great nickname for an outgoing and righteous guy.

大宝 (Da Bao) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Big treasure.”

二宝 (Er Bao) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Second treasure.”

来福 (Lai Fu) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Luck comes.”

牛牛 (Niu Niu) – “牛” means “Bull,” for a cute, strong and energetic guy.

小汤圆 (Xiao Tang Yuan) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Dumpling.”

麦兜 (Mai Dou) – Originated from a Hong Kong cartoon character who is a cute little piggy.

呆头 (Dai Tou) – For a guy who is clumsy in a cute way.

球球 (Qiu Qiu) – It literally means “Ball-Ball,” an intimate nickname for a cute guy who is a little fatty.

肉肉 (RouRou) – It literally means “Meat-Meat,” an intimate nickname for a cute guy who is a little fatty.

正太 (Zheng Tai) – Originated from Japanese manga, for a guy who looks like 12 years old.

小鲜肉 (Xiao XianRou) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Fresh Meat.” Boy, you are delicious!

男神 (Nan Shen) – For a God-like guy.

笨笨 (Ben Ben) – It literally means “Clumsy-Clumsy.”

绵绵 (Mian Mian) – For a boy who is docile like a sheep.

暖男 (Nuan Nan) – For a boy who can melt your heart.

尖头闷 (Jian TouMen) – It is homophonic to “gentleman” and is used to nickname a guy who is a gentleman.

校草 (Xiao Cao) – It literally means “Grass Of School” and is awarded to the cutest guy in a school.

音痴 (Yin Chi) – For a cute guy who has a bad sense of lyrics and tones in songs.

小胖 (Xiao Pang) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Fatty.”

大胖 (Da Pang) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Big Fatty.”

高富帅 (Gao FuShuai) – Tall, rich and cute.

佛系男 (Fo XiNan) – A Chinese phrase meaning “A Buddhist Guy,” for a cute guy who is ok with everything.

Chinese Nicknames for Boyfriend

One of the cutest ways to show your boyfriend you love him is to call him nickname that tells him just how much he means to you. The following are popular Chinese nicknames for boyfriends.

老公 (Lao Gong) – It literally means “Old Husband.” Chinese couples tend to call each other husband and wife before marriage. They call their partner’s name directly after marriage.

老头 (Lao Tou)/老头儿(Lao Tou’Er) – It literally means “Old Head.”

亲爱的 (Qin AiDe) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Darling.”

相公 (Xiang Gong) – An ancient term for “Husband” in Chinese, which makes it a high-profile and romantic nickname for boyfriend.

当家的 (Dang JiaDe) – It literally means “Master of this home”.

小美男 (Xiao MeiNan) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Beauty Boy.”

小亲亲 (Xiao QingQing) – It literally means “Little Kiss-Kiss.”

小可爱 (Xiao KeAi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Cute Thing.”

夫君 (Fu Jun) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Gentle Husband.”

小绵羊 (Xiao MianYang) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Sheep.”

嫩宝宝 (Nen BaoBao) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Young baby.”

小嫩肉 (Xiao NenRou) – It literally means “Little Fresh Meat.”

傻瓜 (Sha Gua) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Silly Pumpkin.”

笨蛋 (Ben Dan) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Clumsy egg.”

小弱智 (Xuai Ruozhi) – Little silly head!

宠儿 – The guy you cherish.

大郎 – A Chinese phrase meaning “ Big Guy.”

君仔 – A Chinese phrase meaning “ Gentle Puppy.”

囝囝 (Jian Jian) – “Kiddy-Kiddy”, usually used by Cantonese and Wu Chinese. A similar term for girlfriend will be “囡囡 (Nan Nan).”

官人 (Guan Ren) – An ancient Chinese that meant bureaucrats, now becomes a seductive nickname for girlfriend calling her boyfriend.

外子 (Wai Zi) – The person who is responsible for work outside the home.

宝爸 (Bao Ba) – It literally means “Dad of future babies.”

良人 (Liang Ren) – It literally means “Good Person.”

老流氓 (Lao LiuMang) – You old hentai!

蓝票(Lan Piao) – A homophone to 男朋友(Nan PengYou, meaning boyfriend). Its literal translation means “Blue Ticket.”

傻帽 (Sha Mao) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My silly hat.”

死鬼 (Si Gui) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My little ghost.”

总裁 (Zong Cai) – The chief executive officer.

魔王 (Mo Wang) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Demon King.”

皇上/陛下 (Huang Shang/Bi Xia) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My emperor”

小东西 (Xiao DongXi) – My little east and west.

哥哥 (Ge Ge) – It means “Brother”. Calling your boyfriend “brother” is to treat him like a family member.

爸爸 (Ba Ba) – Yes… You can also call your boyfriend “爸爸 (daddy)”.

大爷 (Da Ye) – It literally means “Old Grandpa.”

蜀黍 (Shu Xi) – A cute way of saying “叔叔(uncle)”. Also, a common nickname for boyfriend…

小心肝 (Xiao XinGan) – It means “Little Heart and Liver”, and makes a great pair with “小宝贝(Xiao BaoBei, meaning my little precious stone)”.

皇阿玛 (Huang Amma) – It means “Royal Amma”, a royal title when emperor’s kids called their dad in Qing Dynasty. It makes an exact pair with “太后 (Tai Hou, meaning queen)”. It’s a great nickname if you and your girlfriend want to try some royal family fantasy.

土匪/土贼 (Tu Fei/Tu Zei) – It literally means “Bandit”. A great nickname if your boyfriend is hungry for sex.

莫须有 (Mao XuYou) – It came from one of the most known ancient poets. Usually for a sweet-talking boyfriend.

笑傲江湖 (XiaoAo JiangHu) – It came from the most popular Martial arts novel of all time “The Legend of The Condor Heroes”. The boyfriend will be called “笑傲江湖”, who is the main male character, and the girlfriend will be called “东方不败 (DongFang BuBai)”, who is the main female character.

Funny Chinese Nicknames for Guys

The following are funny Chinese nicknames for a guy:

(Bei Ye) – A man who is as strong as Bear Grylls (a Northern Irish adventurer).

左撇子 (Zuo PieZi) – For a guy who is left-handed.

小平头 (Xiao PingTou) – For a guy who has a buzzcut hair.

独眼龙 (Du YanLong) – It literally means “Single-Eye Dragon,” for a pirate-looking guy.

极客 (Ji Ke) – A tech geek.

大侠 (Da Xia) – For a guy who loves to help people. An example of “大侠(DaXia)” will be Robin Hood.

低头族 (Di TouZu) – For a guy who always plays on his phone.

肌肉男 (Ji RouNan) – For a well-fitted and masculine guy.

和尚 (He Shang) – “和尚” means monk in Chinese. For a guy with a bald hair.

书呆 (Shu Dai) – Does he spend all of his free time reading?

金针菇 (Jin ZhenGu) – He is so slim, like a tiger lily bud!

老铁 (Lao Tie) – Our friendship/relationship is as strong as iron!

化肥 (Hua Fei) – A chemistry nerd.

老王 (Lao Wang) – The guy who lives in your next door. Although he is not Mr.Wang, we call him Mr.Wang.

纯爷们 (Chun YeMen) – A Chinese phrase meaning “A Pure Man,” for a brave and righteous guy.

唐僧 (Tang Seng) – We all have a friend who always talks.

老大 (Lao Da) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Old Big,” for the guy who leads your team.

牙擦苏 (Ya CaSu) – For a guy with big buck teeth.

眼镜 (Yan Jing) – It is granted to the first glass-wearing guy in a class.

宅男 (Zhai Nan) – Same as otaku, for a guy who barely participates in social activities.

技术宅 (Ji ShuZhai) – Not only an otaku but also a tech geek!

叶良辰 (Ye LiangChen) – Originated from a screenshot of WeChat dialog. The guy called “叶良辰” behaved arrogantly to a girl. Since then, it to refers to a guy is behaving overbearingly.

龙傲天 (Long AoTian) – For a guy who is perfect in any sense.

老好人 (LaoHaoRen) – Chinese girls usually say “You are a good guy” when rejecting a guy’s proposal. The guy who always gets rejected is called “老好人.”

绅士 (Shen Shi) – It literally means “gentleman” but is now used to nickname a guy who is a hentai.

特困生 (Te KunSheng) – We always have one guy in class who falls asleep immediately when class starts.

妻管严 (Qi GuanYan) – For a guy takes a subordinate role in a relationship.

Cute Chinese Nicknames for Girls

If you need nicknames that express affection for a lady, try the following cute Chinese nicknames for girls:

倾国 (Qing Guo) – It literally means “Flip a country.” For a girl who is world-changing cute.

倾城 (Qing Cheng) – It literally means “Flip a city.” For a girl who is world-changing cute.

萌妹 (Meng Mei) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Cute Sister.”

郡主 (Jun Zhu) – Originated from the title of a royal-born girl in ancient China, we now nickname it to a girl who is cute and precious.

咩咩 (Mie Mie) – An onomatopoeia of sheep bleating, for a girl who is docile like sheep.

教主 (Jiao Zhu) – It literally means “hierarchy,” for an outstanding girl who leads people

丫头 (Ya Tou) – Very commonly used by Cantonese and Wu Chinese, for a cute and naughty girl

小仙女 (Xiao XianNv) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Fairy Girl.”

美眉 (Mei Mei) – Ms. Beautiful.

MM (Mei Mei) – An acronym of “美眉,” same meaning.

点点 (Dian Dian) – It literally means “Dot-Dot.”

豆豆 (Dou Dou) – It literally means “Bean-Bean.”

双马尾 (Shuang MaWei) – For a girl who has a beautiful double-tail hair

呆毛 (Dai Mao) – For a girl who has a protruding branch of hair (a symbol of cuteness).

电波女 (Dian BoNv) – For a girl who is nerdy in a cute way.

女青年 (Nv QingNian) – For a teenager girl who is very literal.

大小姐 (Da XiaoJie) – For a girl from a well-known family.

千金 (Qian Jin) – It literally means “A thousand golds,” for a girl from a wealthy family.

女王 (Nv Wang) – It literally means “Queen,” we nickname it to a dominant girl.

媚娘 (Mei Niang) – For a grown woman, who is charismatic.

麻花 (Ma Hua) – For a girl with a braided pigtail hair.

校花 (Xiao Hua) – It literally means “Flower of School” and is awarded to the cutest girl in a school.

女神 (Nv Shen) – For a Goddess-like girl.

御姐 (Yu Jie) – For a grown but young woman who is protective, confident, and knowledgeable.

萝莉 (Luo Li) – Originated from a Russian book published in 1955, for a girl who is mature but looks like 12 years old.

贝贝 (BeiBei) – A Reduplication of 贝 (“宝贝(baby)”), it is a great nickname for a precious girl.

宝宝 (BaoBao) – A Reduplication of 宝 (“宝贝(baby)”), it is an excellent nickname for a precious girl

Chinese Nicknames for Girlfriend

A cute way to show your girlfriend you love her is to call her a cute name. The following are cute names you can call your girlfriend in Chinese.

囡囡 (Nan Nan) – “Kiddy-Kiddy”, usually used by Cantonese and Wu Chinese. A similar term for boyfriend will be “囝囝 (Jian Jian).”

可可 (Ke Ke)/可儿 (Ke Er) – “可” in Chinese represents cute (“可爱(cute)”).

雪儿 (Xue Er) – For a girl who is as pure as snow.

灵儿 (Ling Er) – For a girl who is spiritual.

多多 (Duo Duo) – It literally means “More-More”, with a wish of having more luck and fortune in life

天天 (TianTian) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Day-Day.”, with a good wish of having a good mood every single day.

鱼儿 (Yu Er)/小鱼(Xiao Yu) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Fish.”

小金鱼 (Xiao JinYu) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Golden Fish.”

静儿 (Jing Er)/小静(Xiao Jing) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Patience” In China, patience is viewed as a good character for girls.

猪猪 (Zhu Zhu) – It literally means “Piggy-Piggy.”

糖糖 (Tang Tang) – It literally means “Sugar-Sugar.”

小琴 (Xiao Qin) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Piano”, we nickname a girl “小琴” to grant our wish that she would be skillful.

小凤 (Xiao Feng) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Phoenix”, we nickname a girl “小凤” to grant our wish that she would be strong and independent.

婷婷 (Ting Ting)/小婷 (Xiao Ting) – “婷(Ting)” is a very common first name in China. A great nickname if your friends’ names are Christine, Christina, Tina, or Tiffany.

宜宜 (Yi Yi)/小宜 (Xiao Yi) – “宜(Yi)” is a very common first name in China. A great nickname if your friends’ names are Joey, Zoey, or Yvonne.

娜娜 (Na Na)/小娜 (Xiao Na) – “娜(Na)” is a very common first name in China. A great nickname if your friends’ names are Anna, Nina, Joanna, or Hannah.

妮妮 (Ni Ni)/小妮(Xiao Ni) – “妮(Ni)” is a very common first name in China. A great nickname if your friends’ names are Cindy, Nina, Jenny or Wenny.

丽丽 (Li Li) – It literally means “Beauty-Beauty.”

蓉蓉 (Rong Rong) – Hibiscus, viewed as a beautiful flower in China.

小花 (Xiao Hua) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Little Flower.”

甜甜 (Tian Tian) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Sweet-Sweet.”

太后(Tai Hou) – It literally means “Queen”.

爱妃(Ai Fei) – My beloved consort.

领导(Ling Dao) – My supervisor.

妞妞(Niu Niu) – It literally means “girl-girl”. The reduplication adds an extra cuteness to this nickname.

老婆 (Lao Po) – It literally means “Old Wife.” Chinese couples tend to call each other husband and wife before marriage. They call their partner’s name directly after marriage.

媳妇 (Xi Fu) – Same as the last one.

爱人 (Ai Ren) – An Chinese phrase meaning “My beloved one.”

夫人(Fu Ren) – It means “A person of the husband”.

内子 (Nei Zi) – The person who is responsible for work in the home.

妹妹 (Mei Mei) – It means “Sister”. Calling your girlfriend “sister” is to treat her like a family member.

娘子 (Niang Zi) – An ancient saying of “Wife”, which now is a romantic nickname for a girlfriend.

小跟班 (Xiao GenBan) – A Chinese nickname meaning “My Little Follower”.

小甜心 (Xiao TianXin) – A Chinese nickname meaning “My Sweetheart”.

小妖精 (Xiao YaoJing) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Ghost”.

小美人 (Xiao MeiRen) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Beauty”.

小祖宗 (Xiao ZuZong) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Ancestor” (P.S. Chinese people respect their ancestors and think they will bless them from above).

小天使 (Xiao TianShi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Angel.”

小崽子 (Xiao ZaiZi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Puppy.”

小考拉 (Xiao KaoLa) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Koala.”

小阿狸 (Xiao ALi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little ALi (A popular animated fox).”

小娇妻 (Xiao JiaoQi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Wife.”

小瓜皮 (Xiao GuaPi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Melon Rind.”

小淘气 (Xiao TaoQi) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Naughty.”

小捣蛋 (Xiao DaoDan) – A Chinese phrase meaning “My Little Naughty.”

小笨蛋 (Xiao BenDan) – It literally means “My Little Clumsy Egg.”

小坏蛋 (Xiao HuaiDan) – It literally means “My Little Bad Egg.”

小呆萌 (Xiao DaiMeng) – Clumsy as well as cute.

宝宝(Bao Bao)/贝贝(Bei Bei) – Both words come from “宝贝 (baby)” and make a perfect matching pair for a couple. You can take one for your own and call your girlfriend the other!

小宝贝 (Xiao BaoBei) – It means “My little precious stone”, and makes a great pair with “小心肝(Xiao XinGan, meaning my little heart and liver)”.

太后(Tai Hou) – It means “Queen”. It makes an exact pair with “皇阿玛 (Huang Amma, meaning queen)”. It’s a great nickname if you and your boyfriend want to try some royal family fantasy.

东方不败(DongFang BuBai) – It came from the most popular Martial arts novel of all time “The Legend of The Condor Heroes”. The girlfriend will be called “东方不败”, who is the main female character, and the boyfriend will be called “笑傲江湖 (XiaoAo JiangHu)”, who is the main male character.

Funny Chinese Nicknames for Girls

The following are among the most popular funniest nicknames for girls in Chinese:

白富美 (Bai FuMei) – It literally means “White, rich and Beautiful.”

辣妹 (La Mei) – Girl, you are hot!

毛毛虫 (Mao MaoChong) – A Chinese phrase meaning “Fury & Fury Worm.”

大嘴 (Da Zui) – For a girl who always talks.

某爷 (Mou Ye) – For a manly girl, “爷” means “lord” in Chinese.

巾帼 (Jin Guo) – For a legendary girl, usually referred as a national heroine (e.g., Hua Mulan).

红娘 (Hong Niang) – For a girl who loves to help matchmaking couples, although she herself doesn’t involve in any relationship.

姬友 (Ji You) – For an intimate and trustworthy female friend, who you can share all those secrets that you won’t even tell your mom. Usually between boy and girl.

闺蜜 (Gui Mi) – For an intimate and trustworthy female friend, who you can share all those secrets that you won’t even tell your mom. Usually between girl and girl.

学姐 (Xue Jie) – A general Chinese nickname for a girl in your school who is older than you.

学妹 (Xue Mei) – A general nickname for a girl in your school who is younger than you.

女汉子 (Nv HanZi) – For a girl who is strong and masculine.

毛妹 (Mao Mei) – For a girl comes from Russia, commonly viewed as independent and powerful (e.g., Zarya in Overwatch)

拜金女 (Bai JinNv) – For a gold digger.

迷妹 (Mi Mei) – A mysterious girl whose ways are difficult to comprehend.

玛丽苏 (Ma LiSu) – Came from a female character called “Mary Sue” in a Star Trek fan fiction and is used to nickname a girl who is so perfect as to be annoying.

青梅竹马 (QingMei ZhuMa) – A guy’s best childhood friend who is female.

花痴 (Hua Chi) – A funny Chinese nickname for a girl who is boy crazy.

路痴 (Lu Chi) – For a girl who has a bad sense of direction.

家里蹲 (Jia LiDun) – For an otaku who always stays at home.

傲娇 (Ao Jiao) – For a girl who is initially cold and sometimes even hostile, but gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time.

元气 (Yuan Qi) – For a girl who is full of 气(Chi), always brings happiness to friends around her.

戏精 (Xi Jing) – A dramatic girl.

冰美人 (Bing MeiRen) – For a cold-looking girl who is beautiful inside.

暴力女 (Bao LiNv) – The girl who fights better than any men in your neighborhood.

猫奴 (Mao Nu) – It literally means “Cat Servant,” for a passionate cat lover, usually referred to as female.

玻璃心 (Bo LiXin) – For a girl who is easy to get heartbreaking.

醋缸 (Cu Gang) – It literally means “Vinegar Gallon Bucket,” for a girl who is easy to get envy on someone or something.

爸宝 (Ba Bao) – For a girl who is intimate with her dad. Vice versa, “妈宝” means a boy who is intimate with his mom.

小姐姐 (Xiao JieJie) – A Chinese nickname meaning “Little sister,” to phrase a girl’s everlasting youth.

河东狮 (HeDongShi) – We nickname a girl “河东狮(East River Lion)” who screams really loud as if she masters the legendary Kungfu technique “河东狮吼.”

#chinese names #nicknames #names #tools #links #lists #word lists

17 notes · View notes

ryukoishida · 6 years ago

Text

QZGS Rarepair Week 2018 | Day 4: Cooking | In which HST and ZZK are popular food vloggers.

QZGS Rarepair Week 2018 | Day 4: cooking / thunderstorm / battlefield

@qzgsrarepairweek

Title: Of Dumplings and Secret Admirers Fandom: The King’s Avatar / Quan Zhi Gao Shou Character(s)/Pairing(s): Zhou Zekai/Huang Shaotian (featuring Jiang Botao) Summary: In which the two food vloggers bond over their love of dumplings. Rating: PG A/N: Just a quick note – because there are so many types of “dumplings” in China, I will be using the Chinese names/pinyin to differentiate them! I’m craving xiao long bao now, btw. Damn.

Writing Commission | Editing & Translation Services

---

“Speaking of dumplings, does anyone know the origin of this tasty, tasty food? No? Well, let me tell you this heart-warming story!” the young man in the video was talking with such enthusiasm that it was emanating from the brightness of his eyes and his excited hand gestures.

The video then shifted to a short animation of stilled drawings as he continued with the story.

“According to legend, during the end of Eastern Han dynasty, many people were sick and dying of epidemics, but there was a brilliant doctor named Zhang Zhongjing, who not only had excellent medical skills but also treated both the poor and the rich. So anyway, after he retired and returned to his hometown, he saw that many of the townsfolks were suffering from starvation and the cold, even their ears had become frozen and infected. That sounds absolutely nasty, doesn’t it? In order to treat them, he had his assistants cook a big pot of soup made with lamb meat, chili peppers, and medicinal herbs that helped deter cold. The cooked ingredients were then chopped up, wrapped with dough shaping them like ears, called “jiao er” — or “delicate ear”, and were cooked once more. After people ate them, their bodies quickly heated up, their blood circulation became more efficient, and their ears instantly felt warmer. And after eating these “jiao er” for a while, their infected ears were healed! Isn’t that amazing?”

The camera focused on the young man again, who now had a plate of what seemed to be boiled jiao zi in one of his hands. He carefully used a pair of chopsticks to pick up a dumpling, cooked to perfection with its delicate, ivory outer layer, and dipped it into red vinegar before taking a bite.

Some of the juices ran down the corner of his mouth, which he quickly wiped clean with the pad of his thumb while trying not to laugh.

“Mmn, that is a damn good dumpling,” he nodded appreciatively after eating the rest of that dumpling and continued with a sunny smile, “so for the next… hmm… few weeks, I’ll be making a series of videos completely focused on the best variations of dumplings that are popular in different parts of China, including several recipes and restaurant recommendations! I hope you’ll all be able to join me on this soulful dumpling-searching adventure! And remember: The Q&A live stream will take place tomorrow at 8 p.m., so have your questions all ready to go, and I’ll try to answer them as best as I can. Bye for now!”

Just as he did every time he finished watching Troubling Rain’s videos, Zhou Zekai clicked the ‘Like’ button at the bottom of the screen the moment the video ended and leaned back against his chair with a soft sigh.

“Xiao Zhou, you’re watching Troubling Rain’s channel again?” Jiang Botao asked from behind and leaned in a little to see the content of Zhou Zekai’s screen.

“Mn,” Zhou Zekai nodded once, probably not realizing that there was a hint of a smile hidden in the curved corner of his lips on his usually impassive face.

Though Jiang Botao saw the subtle expression, he knew better than to bring it up. After all, he and Zhou Zekai had been childhood friends since elementary school; now they attended the same university — though in different faculties — and rented an apartment complex together.

The smile, however, quickly disappeared as Zhou Zekai suddenly remembered something, and he turned his panic-stricken gaze towards his friend to speak with a soft but urgent tone, “Jiang, his Q&A tomorrow.”

“Ah, you said you have a group project tomorrow evening, right? Is the Q&A session happening around the same time?” Jiang Botao immediately comprehended Zhou Zekai’s concern despite the minimal number of words the dark-haired young man had spoken.

Ever since they were young, the adults had called Jiang Botao’s ability to understand Zhou Zekai’s intentions when others around him could barely grasp what the quiet-spoken boy meant “mindreading” when really, Jiang Botao just happened to be a person who paid special attention to other’s facial expressions and body language.

And perhaps there was something to be said for growing up together, but Jiang Botao never had any issues getting along with Zhou Zekai, who, to someone who’d never interacted with the boy, might appeared to be unfriendly, stuck-up, or even downright hostile just because of his placid nature and sparse explicit display of emotions.

When Zhou Zekai nodded in the affirmative, Jiang Botao basically knew what his friend wanted to ask of him, and so he continued with a knowing smile, “want me to record it for you?”

“Please,” Zhou Zekai’s gaze could only be described as grateful.

“As long as I get to keep the leftovers of whatever you’re making for your next video. It’s matcha green tea cookies, right?”

Zhou Zekai nodded again.

“Do you still need help with filming your next video, then? I have some time now, but I need to head out in two hours and won’t be back ‘til late tonight.” Other than best friend, schoolmate, and roommate, Jiang Botao was also Zhou Zekai’s voluntary cameraman for his vlogs.

Speaking of his vlogs and channel, one might think it strange that a quiet man like Zhou Zekai — though having been voted the handsomest male student in their university’s campus for three years straight — would want to be in front of the camera and be the focus of attention. It all started with Jiang Botao’s casual request that one time: one of his female friends wanted to learn how to make the strawberry cupcakes that Jiang Botao brought to school, so he asked his friend to make a video tutorial. What Zhou Zekai didn’t realize was that Jiang Botao had uploaded the tutorial onto the school’s online forum, and from there, the popularity of the “cute college boy baking cupcakes” video just spread like an uncontrollable wildfire.

There were tons of cooking videos on the Internet, but what made Zhou Zekai’s stood out, at least according to Jiang Botao, was the fact that he never spoke in his video — not even once; instead, he filled the silence with grainy, lighthearted jazz music in the background, which made the entire mood of the tutorial somewhat more… aesthetically-pleasing and intimate.

Zhou Zekai wasn’t sure what his best friend meant by that when he tried to explain to him the amazing reactions he was starting since the video was posted; he was just glad to help out. Baking and making sweets had always been Zhou Zekai’s favorite way to relax, and since he started learning by watching and helping his mother in the kitchen at a young age, his interest in the culinary arts had been carried on to his adulthood. Making professional-quality videos, however, was mostly Jiang Botao’s idea; Zhou Zekai just sort of followed along.

Besides, having Jiang Botao, one of the top students in their school’s multimedia design department, filming and editing his videos was the icing on the already very appetizing cake.

Zhou Zekai nodded again in response to Jiang Botao’s question, and the two men started to get to work. Soon, their shared apartment was filled with the gentle sweet scent of baked sweets.

It’d been about fifteen minutes into the Q&A live stream, and Huang Shaotian was having the time of his life answering his viewers’ questions, which ranged from actual queries about culinary skills and methods (“Best way to make the silkiest steamed egg custard? Oh man let me tell you how Mama Huang make hers. Usually you’d just mix water or broth with eggs and beat them and then pour the mixture directly into the utensil, right? Wrong! The most important step to achieving that silky smoothness of the custard is to use a fine mesh strainer while you’re pouring the mixture through — the smaller the holes are, the better! And then! Let it settle for a few minutes so any bubbles will rise to the surface, and then you can skim them off with a spoon. Voila — egg custard as smooth as a baby’s butt!”) to inquiries about his personal life and interests (“Do I have a girlfriend? Come on! I expect more creative questions from you guys! Anyway, I could have a boyfriend, couldn’t I? By asking that question, you have offended all the potential boys who could have been interested in me. Shame on you!” he said, and laughed at all the exclamation marks and colorful emoticons that followed his answer.).

One of the questions flashed by in the lively chat and Huang Shaotian caught it right away, his eyes flashing in excitement for a moment. “Oooh! Someone just asked whether or not I’d be interested in working with other vloggers again. Yes, I would as long as that person is not goddamn Lord Grim, who — if you missed the video that bastard had posted on his channel a while ago — almost murdered my taste buds. Just because I’m from Guangzhou doesn’t mean that he should take advantage of my intolerance of spice! So rude, so rude! Never again, nuh-uh!”

The viewers on the chat who knew what Huang Shaotian was referring to expressed their amusement of the hilarious aforementioned video, in which Lord Grim — real name Ye Xiu –who was a good friend of Huang Shaotian’s in real life, challenged the popular (both for the variety of his content and the cheerful chattiness of the vlogger himself) foodie to the notorious Fire Noodle Challenge.

Huang Shaotian had initially ignored him because he knew his stomach was sensitive to spicy foods in general, but him being him, he could never backdown from a challenge, especially when Ye Xiu was practically verbally rousing him up in all the right ways. In the end, Huang Shaotian realized belatedly that this — eating this insanely hot and spicy Korean ramen that had numbed his entire mouth and lips, the spiciness having exploded exponentially after Ye Xiu “helpfully” gave him a glass of water — was a mistake. Needless to say, he’d completely embarrassed himself in front of his audience in that video. At least most of them found it hysterical, and the rating and number of viewings had only increased.

“Other than that asshole friend of mine, who else would you like to see me collaborate with?”

The chat flooded with usernames; some he didn’t recognized while others he knew and were mutual followers of each other’s’ channels. One name did stand out amongst others: Cloud Piercer. Unbeknownst to his followers, Huang Shaotian was a bit of a fanboy of Cloud Piercer and his calming cooking videos and had started following his channel with his personal account some time ago. The vlogger rarely showed his face on his videos, and even when he did, it was mostly blurry so all that could be seen was his dark hair and the vague shape of his face, but just watching those elegant hands meticulously measuring ingredients and kneading dough was enough to make Huang Shaotian’s imagination wander at times.

“You guys want me to collaborate with Cloud Piercer?”

Lots of ‘!!!’s and variations of ‘yes’s’ flurried past the chat, which made Huang Shaotian grin because he’d finally found the perfect opportunity to approach the vlogger he’d been admiring from afar for far too long.

“I’ll try to contact them and go from there!”

And this was how two weeks later, Huang Shaotian travelled over 1,100 miles on the high-speed train and ended up in the city of Shanghai.

Their first meeting, which took place at the busy Hongqiao Railway Station, was an awkward one. Through the exchange of their emails in order to arrange this meet-up, Huang Shaotian would have never guessed that Cloud Piercer — or Zhou Zekai, as he soon found out the vlogger’s real name — was such a reserved individual. After a quick introduction, which involved a brief greeting and exchanging their real names, Zhou Zekai decidedly started walking in the front to let Jiang Botao do all the necessary talking. What Huang Shaotian missed — and Jiang Botao definitely caught from the corner of his eye — was the hint of blush that tainted Zhou Zekai’s cheeks right after they’d shaken hands.

Still, after that initial greeting, Zhou Zekai didn’t say anything more as they winded and dodged their way in between locals and tourists. Not that he was rude or cold or anything like that, Huang Shaotian observed while he allowed Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao to lead him out of the station to get on the public transit, but when he tried to initiate a conversation, all he received from the dark-haired man was prolonged “……”, nodding, or shaking of his head, with the occasional nervous smiles that vanished whenever Huang Shaotian looked at him with genuine curiosity.

He glanced over to Jiang Botao, who was comparatively easier to communicate with and seemed like an amiable person overall, with silent plead in his eyes, as if he was asking, “what am I doing wrong? Why is your friend ignoring me? Why is this happening??? How do I talk to him???”

To that, Jiang Botao only chuckled in response and patted Huang Shaotian’s shoulder in consolation, “Xiao Zhou takes a longer time to get used to people he’s not familiar with. Don’t take it too personally. In fact…”

He paused and quickly checked to see if Zhou Zekai was looking at their direction before he leaned closer to Huang Shaotian and whispered covertly, “…he’s a huge fan of yours, actually.”

“No way! He is?” Huang Shaotian frowned in confusion, once more fixing his attention onto the man walking a few steps ahead of them. His frame was lean and tapered from the well-fitting jeans and black leather jacket he was donning, and at his full height, he was at least a few centimeters taller than him, which made the man slightly intimidating, even if he had the most dazzling ash-grey eyes and cheekbones sharp enough to shred paper-thin slices of prosciutto, but that had never stopped Huang Shaotian before.

“Sure is. So, imagine how surprised he was when he saw your email,” Jiang Botao continued, returning to walk beside his new acquaintance, “he could barely talk — he was that excited.”

“Huh,” Huang Shaotian made a non-committal sound and stared at the back of Zhou Zekai’s head. He wanted to say something like “you mean the guy’s capable of talking even less than this?” but he didn’t because that would be incredibly rude and he wanted to be on his best behavior during this short trip in Shanghai. It wasn’t as if he was trying to impress a certain someone… Oh, who the fuck was he trying to fool?

“Anyway, we were thinking that we’d let you rest during the afternoon, get something to eat together, and then start filming the first section tonight. We already have all the ingredients that you’ve requested prepared at our place. What do you think?”

“Sounds good!” Huang Shaotian’s grin returned, vibrant and infectious, and Jiang Botao could understand a bit what his best friend saw in Huang Shaotian despite his chattiness and almost too-cheerful persona that he presented in front of his audience in his vlogs.

“Hello everyone, this is Troubling Rain of the Blue Rain Eatery channel! Guess where I’m currently at? This is Cloud Piercer’s apartment! Can you believe it? Yeah, me neither. But as promised, the two of us are collaborating for the next two videos. This first one will be posted on my channel, where, with the assistance of the wonderful and beautiful Cloud Piercer, I’ll be making a Cantonese style-fried dumpling — gok jai. In the second video, Cloud Piercer, who’s born and raised in Shanghai, will take me to his favourite restaurant to try one of the city’s most well-known delicacies: xiao long bao. So, without further ado, let’s welcome our special guest: Cloud Piercer!”

Huang Shaotian clapped with as much enthusiasm as a child being told that he could run free within a candy store.

The camera panned out to reveal Zhou Zekai, wearing a simple black long-sleeved t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a light grey, yellow-trimmed apron, standing adjacent to Huang Shaotian. He gave a slight wave and a small but sweet smile, and introduced himself with a soft voice, “Hello, I’m Cloud Piercer.”

“You Cloud Piercer fans should thank me,” Huang Shaotian faced the camera and said with mock seriousness, “apparently this is the first time the man is willing to show his face properly in front of the camera. Oh my, I think I could hear your fangirls and fanboys screaming in the distance, Cloud Piercer.” He grinned slyly, aiming the teasing expression at the dark-haired man who only scratched his cheek bashfully, grey eyes darting to the side with a helpless but adorable smile.

“That’s…not nice,” Zhou Zekai managed three words — an actual complete sentence, even if it was a rather short one — but it was more than Huang Shaotian could ever hope for.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It was meant to be a compliment, I swear!” Huang Shaotian burst out laughing when he saw Zhou Zekai’s expression.

“All right! Let’s get started! Since Cloud Piercer here is too shy to speak, he’ll be doing all the hard work while I do the talking. First, let me just say that we’ll be making the sweet version of this tasty dumpling, which, granted, is usually only served during the New Year, but what the heck, I heard this man likes his desserts so that’s what we’ll be making. Also, the original recipe calls for deep-frying, but I know all you ladies out there are probably weeping about the oil and cholesterol. Don’t worry! We’ll be baking ours instead! So, have as many of these as you want!”

“But too much…” Zhou Zekai, to Huang Shaotian’s pleasant surprise, spoke up again, and if he weren’t wearing a lapel microphone on his apron, his voice would definitely have been lost, “…unhealthy.”

“True,” Huang Shaotian nodded in agreement, and began to list out the ingredients and the required amounts of each. While he talked about each step with a flurry of hand gestures and animated, rising and falling tenor, Zhou Zekai followed along silently in graceful and efficient movements beside him, adding dry and wet ingredients into a glass mixing bowl, combining them thoroughly with a wooden spoon, and then kneading the dough — already a nice, golden shade from the egg yolks — until it transformed into a smooth, glistening sphere.

All this time, Huang Shaotian made sure that he wasn’t talking too fast, as he sometimes had the tendency to do when he got too excited, but he realized that he’d been worrying over nothing because as little as Zhou Zekai seemed to speak in words, the man carried himself in the kitchen as if he owned the place, and the ingredients and pieces of equipment were under his perfect control and manipulation.

It wasn’t the first time Huang Shaotian watch Zhou Zekai cook (let’s face it, he’d watched some of the videos more than once… fine, more than five times) but seeing him on screen and being there with him were two entirely different experiences. While Zhou Zekai’s videos were mostly peaceful, calming, and almost therapeutic, standing beside him while he was preparing the ingredients and gradually assembling them was strangely intense and entrancing; in fact, Jiang Botao had to wave at him vigorously to get Huang Shaotian’s attention because the blond had been staring at Zhou Zekai rolling a small piece of dough into an almost-perfect circle without the use of a cookie-cutter, quickly placing a spoonful of peanut and coconut filling in the middle, and folding the edges together into an elegant border of flourished twists.

Zhou Zekai’s fingers, slender and pale with nails trimmed neatly, were precise in measuring out ingredients and kneading the dough for only as long as necessary, like a gunner flawlessly hitting his intended targets, yet laced within that precision was a kind of grace found only in an artist’s bones.

“Uh, yes, um, so keep repeating these steps,” Huang Shaotian blinked and forced himself to turn away from those attractive hands before continuing in a more steady tone, “don’t worry too much if your first few don’t look as perfect as the ones Cloud Piercer’s making right now because hell, I don’t think I can make them that pretty myself, and put them in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees Celsius, for 18 to 20 minutes or until the surface looks golden-yellow.”

By the time the baked gok jai had been cooled down enough, Huang Shaotian picked up one of the golden dumplings, baked to a crisp and warm to the touch, with his thumb and index finger, and offered it to Zhou Zekai.

“Taste test time! Go on then, Cloud Piercer, take a bite!”

Zhou Zekai’s gaze strayed from the dumpling dangled between Huang Shaotian’s fingers to Huang Shaotian himself, who was giving him an encouraging smile almost too bright for Zhou Zekai to handle; his gaze landed back onto the dumpling, which was held only an inch away from his mouth that had sudden gone very, very dry.

“……”

“Come on, man, don’t be shy now,” Huang Shaotian misinterpreted Zhou Zekai’s hesitation, though he wasn’t really that far off.

“…you first,” Zhou Zekai finally spoke, his voice so small even his microphone was having a hard time capturing what he’d said.

“Oh nonono, I insist you should take the first bite,” Huang Shaotian shook his head vigorously, his fluffy blond hair flying every which way so that it reminded Zhou Zekai of a golden retriever shaking himself dry. The image almost pulled a smile from his lips, but he somehow managed to control himself. “You did all the hard work, so you deserve to have the first one. Now be a good boy and open your mouth — say ‘ah’.”

His face remained impeccably neutral, as if he wasn’t about to be hand-fed by someone whom he might consider to be his online crush, but the red tinted at the tip of his ears, thankfully concealed by his dark hair, betrayed his troubled thoughts. All too aware of the camera’s lens focusing on him, Zhou Zekai just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible; he swiftly lowered his head and bit a small mouthful before pulling himself straight, one hand politely covering his mouth while he chewed.

The crispy texture was utterly mesmerizing, but when combined with the chewiness of the wrapping and the crunchy sweetness of the filling, Zhou Zekai’s taste buds were very blissful indeed.

“How is it? How is it?”

Since Zhou Zekai was still chewing, and he honestly didn’t trust his voice at this point, the best he could do was to give a thumbs-up at the camera to show how much he enjoyed the taste.

Without even thinking about it, Huang Shaotian popped the remaining of the gok jai into his own mouth, and Zhou Zekai could only stare at him as the blond mumbled with his mouth full of the dumpling. Meanwhile, Zhou Zekai’s brain was running wild with the colourful comments from the viewers, especially those very zealous fangirls, this video was about to be consumed by.

“It’s too bad Xiao Jiang can’t join us for dinner,” Huang Shaotian commented as he placed his phone down on the table after watching the video they’d filmed and edited two days ago. He grabbed the menu to inspect it even though they’d already placed their order about fifteen minutes ago, but he couldn’t let Zhou Zekai see the blush spreading on his cheeks.

What the hell had he been thinking? Huang Shaotian’s mind was running a marathon — a marathon of a never-ending circle. Hand-feeding Zhou Zekai like that as if… as if they were anything more than acquaintances! He hadn’t been thinking — that was the problem. He’d been so distracted by Zhou Zekai’s presence that he thought nothing of the gesture until after Jiang Botao shouted “cut!” to end their filming session and the man sent him an amused but knowing grin.

He tried to redirect his attention to elsewhere: the reaction had been even better than both vloggers had expected, and that gave them the motivation to film the next video as soon as possible, which was how they ended up in a hole-in-the-wall diner in one of the back alleys in the city near Zhou Zekai’s apartment.

“God I haven’t had xiao long bao in ages. You have no idea how long it’s been! Like, you’d think Guangzhou would have some good restaurants that serve half-way decent xiao long bao, but they’re either way too expensive or way too overrated,” Huang Shaotian rambled on until he felt like he was about to be suffocated by the way Zhou Zekai was staring at him with those ash-grey eyes and slight curve of his lips. “So, anyway, uh, I just wanted to thank you again for accepting my invitation to do this collaboration! It’s been really fun, and I can’t wait to try the food here. Here’s to another successful video from us both!”

Huang Shaotian raised his tall glass filled with beer and clinked it against Zhou Zekai’s, the foam overflowing the rim and sliding down the glass in rivulets of white.

“Mn.”

Zhou Zekai sipped his liquor in a slow and steady pace but Huang Shaotian seemed either very thirsty or very nervous, for he gulped down three-quarters of his beer in one breath.

Since they’d settled into their seats, Zhou Zekai hadn’t really spoken other than placing their orders. It wasn’t like he was ignoring Huang Shaotian though, because the blond could tell that the other man was listening to him attentively and gave the appropriate responses like nodding in agreement, or tilting his head to the side in puzzlement, or even occasionally giving one-syllable replies.

Before he allowed the silence to get any more insufferable, however, Huang Shaotian began to fiddle with his camera and tripod. Since their voluntary cameraman was not available today, Huang Shaotian had taken on the responsibility to record their session tonight.

When the dishes they ordered finally arrived, Huang Shaotian released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. With another one of his signature sunny smiles, he turned to Zhou Zekai and asked him if he was ready to start.

Sitting inside the bamboo steaming basket was the star of the video, the piping hot xiao long bao — the soup dumplings with their pale-yellow skin, glistening with moisture, the crown cascading with spiraled ripples, and their bodies plump with meat and stock inside just waiting to be bitten into. Huang Shaotian positioned the basket between himself and Zhou Zekai while moving the other dishes out of the way; they’d have to enjoy those a bit later, unfortunately.

“Welcome to the second installment of Cloud Piercer and myself Troubling Rain’s collaborative video about one of China’s most delectable and versatile food — dumplings! Today, Shanghai local Cloud Piercer takes me to his favourite restaurant in town that serves excellent xiao long bao, ta-dah!” Huang Shaotian tilted the basket to display the jewels towards the camera and continued, “And of course, when we’re eating these delicious little things, there are some courtesies that must be followed so that you can enjoy the dumplings with maximum level of scrumptiousness and minimum level of danger, i.e. accidentally letting that hot soup burn your tongue!”

As they’d discussed beforehand, Zhou Zekai took the cue and carefully picked up a xiao long bao with his chopsticks, placing the dainty dumpling into his soup spoon, which had already been filled with a dash of black vinegar.

“First, if you don’t dip your xiao long bao in some black vinegar, that should be a food crime and you should be put into food jail! Shame on you! The sourness of the vinegar and — yeah, don’t skip out on those ginger either!” Huang Shaotian added as Zhou Zekai delicately topped the dumpling with some finely-chopped ginger slivers, “the sourness of the vinegar and the mildness of the ginger will balance the slight saltiness and oiliness of the pork filling, so remember—”

What they hadn’t discussed, but what Zhou Zekai was currently doing, was the dark-haired man holding the dumpling a few inches away from Huang Shaotian’s lips, his eyes expectant and the corner of his lips slightly tilted upwards in what seemed to be a teasing smile. Maybe.

The scene was all too familiar.

“Uh, hmm? Cloud Piercer, what’s up?” Huang Shaotian didn’t dare back away but he was raising one of his brows in bewilderment.

“…”

The spoon with the plump xiao long bao sitting snugly in it was moving a degree closer, Zhou Zekai’s intention clear as day.

“F-for me?” Huang Shaotian wanted to be sure anyway, because what if he misinterpreted the whole thing and made a fool of himself in front of this gorgeous man? …Again?

Zhou Zekai nodded with a faint smile, and Huang Shaotian gulped noisily.

And since, as previously mentioned and demonstrated, Huang Shaotian was an infatuated fool who was too easily distracted, all his attention was focused on how pretty Zhou Zekai looked with a smile on his face, how sincere he seemed in offering him the first dumpling, and how insanely long his eyelashes were, a perfect frame for his ash-grey eyes that were also smiling warmly at him. His attention was so askew that he forgot about the one taboo any experienced xiao long bao-consumer would never commit: he took the entire freshly-steamed dumpling into his mouth and sank his teeth into it.

He regretted it instantly.

“Huang Shao!” Zhou Zekai yelped in forewarning, the loudest Huang Shaotian had ever heard from him. His eyes were widened almost comically, but it was too late.

Scalding, fragrant soup filled Huang Shaotian’s mouth, the heat of the stock burning its way around the tender flesh of his oral cavity and the back of his throat as he tried to swallow as quickly as he could without choking himself in the process. He coughed in the most unbecoming manner, soup dripping down his chin messily, his eyes turning red and watering from the heat, “Fuaaaah! Shit, shit, owwwww…”

Armed with several napkins, Zhou Zekai leaned in to dab Huang Shaotian’s chin and cheeks dry, his movements nothing but gentle, all the while his brows frowning with obvious worry, “…hurt? Need ice water?”

His face was only a few centimeters away from Huang Shaotian’s, and he was too preoccupied by his task of cleaning the blond up to realize that said blond was staring unabashedly at him.

‘Too close,’ Huang Shaotian thought to himself, blinking slowly and appreciating the flawless cheekbones and rosy pink of the other man’s lips in such close proximity. ‘Oh god.’ He had a feeling he was about to do something he was going to regret again.

“Water would be nice, but…” Huang Shaotian finally located his voice, slightly raw and hoarse from hot soup sliding down his throat just minutes before, and he glanced up to maintain steady eye contact with Zhou Zekai, his topaz irises blazing with a sudden burst of daring, before the words rolled out of his mouth, “a kiss from you might be better though.”

“…….”

At Zhou Zekai’s pause, though his hand remained on Huang Shaotian’s chin with a clean napkin, Huang Shaotian’s cheeks began to grow warm and he wished the ground would swallow him up already because hadn’t he embarrass himself enough in front of this guy today?!

“I-I mean— mmf?!”

His lips were warm, was Zhou Zekai’s first thought as his eyes fluttered close when their lips touched tenderly for the first time, warmer than expected, and so, so soft, like the fluffy chiffon cakes he liked to bake. On the other end, Huang Shaotian’s lips felt oversensitive due to the burning soup from the xiao long bao, but the slight tingling verging on numbing sensation was addictive, and he found himself leaning in closer, his arms hanging loosely on Zhou Zekai’s shoulders to keep him in place, their breaths gradually becoming more and more unsteady until Zhou Zekai pulled himself away and opened his eyes.

They were dark but glimmering with the kind of desire not unlike wanting to swallow his favourite dessert whole.

Huang Shaotian’s breath stuttered at the sight, but he still managed to grumble convincingly with an accusative tone, “Zhou Zekai, you realize we’ll have to film this from the beginning again, right?”

“Worth it.”

#qzgs #quan zhi gao shou #tka #the king's avatar #huang shaotian #zhou zekai #bowie's crappy writing #I think this is my fave so far #and I'd totally write this ship again because omg the cuteness potential is so there

26 notes · View notes

peinde · 7 years ago

Text

((yeah

- What is your Full name? Include any maiden names, aliases, or nicknames. 3B| My name is Feferi Peixes-Pyrope. Nicknames include Fef...T)(e Princess of Fas)(ion...and...Feffy-Weffy... - When is your birthday? Do you know where you were born and at what time? June 26t)(! I was )(atc)(ed on Alternia, but I don’t know w)(en. - What is your star sign? Do you know your Chinese Zodiac too? I am a Cancer! I’m year of t)(e Rooster. - What is your earliest memory that you can remember? I don’t like t)(inking about my memories, t)(anks. - Where was your childhood home? Was it more urban or rural? I guess you cod say it was rural? Nobody else lived near me, and t)(e only friend t)(at ever came to visit )(ad to fly over. - How was your childhood in general? Did your parents treat you well? Did you have a lot of friends? My lusus treated me reel well! I didn’t really )(ave lots of friends at all. - How was/is school? What is your favorite and least favorite subjects? What were your grades on average? Sc)(ool sucked. - Did you have a best friend growing up? What was their name? Are you still in touch? Vriska 38)! We’re still best fronds and we always will be. - Were you in any cliques? I guess? I )(ave a circle of friends w)(o are pretty stubborn and won’t leave me alone. - Best childhood memory you can recall? ??? - Worst childhood memory you can recall? All of it? - Name an event in your childhood that has shaped you into the person you are today ...I glubbing died. - What is the dumbest thing you have ever done to impress someone? Were they impressed or was it all for naught? I do dumb stuff to impress people all t)(e tide! T)(ere’s a long list, really. - Did you ever have any sweethearts or lovers? Do you have a boy/girlfriend? I’m married and )(ave t)(ree mates. I also )(ave two lovers. - Are you a virgin?

)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A!

- Do you ever plan on getting married in your life? Do you want kids? I am married, but I will N-EV-ER )(ave c)(ildren. - Would you rather have your own kids or adopt? How many kids would you want? Wtf? I said no kids??? - Do you think you'd be a protective parent or a relaxed parent? I’d be a “reverse my c)(ildren’s aging so t)(ey Benjamin Button t)(e fuck out of existence” kind of parent. - How would you prefer to pass away? Surrounded by loved ones and at peace, or while doing something heroic? Just obliterate me. - Generally, how healthy are you? Do you get sick or injured easily or are you fit? Due to my powers, I’m in perfect )(ealt)(! - Have you ever been badly injured before? W)(o )(asn’t? - What is the worst injury you have ever gotten? What was it and how did it happen? Were you ever close to death? I mean I’ve died before, does t)(at count? - How many times have you been to the hospital/doctor's? Never? - Have you ever had a concussion or brain injury? Have you ever had amnesia? Of course! amnesia’s a coin flip on t)(e fun scale. Sometimes you spend t)(e entire day finding cute fins you leave lying around, Ot)(er times you wind up in t)(e desert wit)( no p)(one service. - What was the worst illness you ever contacted? Do you know what it was? How long were you sick? I’ve never been sick in my life. - Ever had any extended hospital stays? What for? Nope! - Have you ever had to give yourself or someone else emergency first aid? What happened? O)( yes! It was awful. Vriska was bleeding from 3 big wounds! It only took a bit of )(ealing, but t)(e clean-up took FOR-EV-ER! Plus, it got on my s)(oes. T)(ose were SATIN, Vriska!!! - Are you employed? Where do you work and who do you work for? What do you do? I’m a model. - Are you happy with your current job? O)( yes! - Did you have any previous jobs? What were they and what did you do? ... - Most dangerous thing you have ever done? Anyfin I do is dangerous. - Do you consider yourself a more active person or a more relaxed person? Active. Relaxing’s for squares. - What is your dream come true? How about your worst nightmare? My dream come true is Zi-Zi. My worst nig)(tmare is losing Zi-Zi. - What is the biggest and most important goal you have set for yourself? To make my wife )(appy, no matter t)(e cost. - How persistent would you say you are? How much does it take to get you to give up on a task? I’ll never give up. You could kill me, and I’d still come back! - Would you surrender yourself to your enemies or fight to the very end? Fig)(t until t)(e end. --Enemies only kill you anyway. T)(ere’s no point in begging for mercy. - When do you usually do your shopping? What is currently on your shopping list? I s)(op w)(enever I want! I don’t )(ave a specific list, but I always )(ave a general idea of w)(at to get. - Top three things on your wishlist? I don’t )(ave a wis)(list. - Currently, what is something you want but do not need? Most of t)(e t)(ings I own. - Do you like shopping? What is your favorite thing to shop for? Y-ES I DO! I like s)(opping for clot)(es! - What is the most expensive thing you have purchased? Was it worth it? T)(at’s a toug)( one, but it usually is wort)( it. - What would you do if you were suddenly given one billion dollars out of the blue? Give it back. W)(y t)(e fuck would I need someone else’s money w)(en I )(ave my own? - What would you describe your style of clothing as? Simple, conservative, minimalist. - Do you have any hobbies? Name all of them if you can. Cooking, baking and gardening! - Do you like and appreciate art? What is your favorite piece of artwork? Art is cool, but it’s just not my t)(ing. I do )(ave an original Dali in my guest wing t)(oug)(. - Do you like music? What is your favorite style of music? )(eavy metal is pretty good, but I also really like dance and pop music! - Have you ever seen any musicals? What is your favorite? I t)(ink Roxy took me to sea Cats once. I wasn’t paying attention. - What are your top three favorite animals? What would you say your "Patronus" or "Spirit Animal" is? All of t)(e ones in t)(e sea. - What are your top three favorite colors? Blus)(, lilac, baby blue - What is your favorite season? Do you prefer hotter or colder weather? Do you like snow at all? Summer, )(ot, and s)(ell no. - What kind of flavors do you prefer: Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Spicy, Dry, or Umami (savory meat taste)? Umami, or moby spicy. - Can you cook at all? Yup! - What is your favorite dish? Can you prepare it? Do you have the recipe handy? )(and-blowtorc)(-seared sliced blowfis)(. I can prepare it, and I’ve t)(e recipe memorized. - What is your favorite fruit and vegetable? I really like lettuce. - What is your favorite dessert? What is your favorite type of candy/treat? I don’t like sweet t)(ings. - What is the best thing you have ever had the opportunity to eat? What is the worst? I once managed to eat an entire )(otdog. It was plain and bunless, but very eye-opening. T)(e worst fin I’ve ever eaten was a c)(ocolate bar. - Do you like to drink tea or coffee? Any favorite flavors? Tea! I prefer green, but I’m pretty partial to orange pekoe and pink tea. - Describe your sense of humor. Spongebob Squarepants and dicks. - What is one thing you are justly proud of? My career. I’ve worked )(ard on it. - Do you have any religious beliefs? If not, have you ever been to a church service? ---Ew, no. - What would you say is the worst thing someone has done to you? What is the meanest thing someone has ever said to you? ... - What is the worst thing you have done to someone? What is the meanest thing you have said to anyone? ... - Share the latest entry in your diary/journal. I don’t )(ave one. - What is the most precious thing you own? Is it valuable at all? Somefin given to me by my wife. It’s more valuable t)(an anyone could ever know. - Talk about someone you know. It can be someone you either like or dislike. My wife! S)(e’s beautiful, smart, articulate, cunning, considerate, compassionate, funny, talented and t)(e most perfect person you could ever meet! S)(e’s got t)(e most beautiful body, all squis)(y and curvy wit)( lovely folds. A smile t)(at bot)( terrifies and delig)(ts. ---Eyes t)(at burn wit)( joie de vivre and dept)(. A devilis)( cackle t)(at rings t)(roug)( my ears like music. S)(e’s got t)(e sensibility and wisdom of a monk, wit)( t)(e revenge streak of an assassin gone rogue. S)(e’s stuck wit)( me t)(roug)( all my bulls)(it, and is t)(e only reason I’m alive. I love )(er so very muc)(. - FREE QUESTION ???

#long #fis)(canons

1 note · View note

veganvenom · 7 years ago

Text

Tagged by @spacestationtrustfund

Rules: answer these 85 statements & tag 20 people

the last:

1. drink: Tea. Always tea, although I was sensible tonight and made it decaf because I’m about to go to bed.

2. phone call: To my landlord, trying to sort out my water being shut off. It’s fixed now.

3. text message: If we’re counting by messenging apps in general then the last person I texted was my qpp Ollie about their art. If by sms specifically, then my husband telling him how cute he is.

4. song: Ying Li by Voodoo Kungfu.

5. time you cried: About a week ago, because I was having a bad day and was worried I’d messed up my relationships by being me.

have you ever:

6. dated someone twice: Yes. My asshole ex, who kept guilting me back. Don’t do it - if you broke up once already you are probably not going to work together.

7. kissed someone and regretted it: Only asshole ex actually. Everyone else I’m happy I kissed.

8. been cheated on: Did I mention my ex was an asshole yet?

9. lost someone special: Yes.

10. been depressed: On this stretch it’s been about a year so far.

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: Many many times. Less often now I’m older - my body generally gets tired too quickly to get that drunk any more.

favorite colors:

12. Purple. Specifically a darkish, bluish kind of purple.

13. Green. Forest green I guess?

14. Black I suppose, which is most of my clothes.

15. Red, for its revolutionary significance.

16. Blue because I’m running out of colours that I don’t dislike.

in the last year have you:

17. laughed until you cried: Yes. I have very funny friends, and both my partners love a good (terrible!) pun.

18. found out someone was talking about you: Yes. Generally it’s been good.

19. met someone who changed you: Lots of wonderful friends! And especially one person <3

20. found out who your friends are: Yeah definitely. Though I don’t blame those who haven’t kept in touch now that I’m less fun and don’t have the spoons to chat much/often.

21. kissed someone on your facebook list: 5 or so I think.

22. made friends: So many lovely friends, probably including you if you’re reading this!

23. fallen out of love: Not this year thankfully, but I have done the opposite :)

general:

25. what did you do for your last birthday: Well that’s not so happy! I woke up to multiple tumblr hate messages from fashy blogs (not because it was my birthday - they just happened to coincide). Cried quite a bit because I didn’t understand why I was so upset (yes this is ridiculously circular!). Then had a handful of friends over for about two hours in the evening for a couple of quiet beers, but I was too sad to be social.

26. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: All of them, maybe apart from one or two who I’ve added because we share multiple common interests.

27. do you have any pets: No, but I’d like to be able to adopt animals when I have more space.

28. what time did you wake up: This morning, it was about 7:45 I think. Though I was still too physically tired to get up until about midday.

29. what were you doing at midnight last night: Sleeping! My meds have been good for helping me do that early most nights.

30. name something you can’t wait for: Being healthy enough that I can go back to and be enthused by my research.

31: what are you listening to right now: Ocean Land by Orphaned Land

32: have you ever talked to a person named tom: That is a very common name here, so of course.

33: something that’s getting on your nerves: Liberals saying that punching n*zis makes you just as bad as them.

34. do you want to change your name: In practice I changed it about 3 years ago, but I do intend to do it legally in the next year or so. The bureaucracy would be too much effort right now.

35. hair color: Purple, but faded so that it has bluish and greyish streaks.

36. long or short hair: Short hair definitely. Once I’ve been on T for a while I might consider growing it long again, but not before. I love it short.

37. piercings: Three in my upper ear.

38. tattoos: Not yet. I have a wishlist but negative money and social anxiety.

39. blood type: The most useless one.

40. nicknames: Don’t think I’ve had any in a while.

41. relationship status: Married to my cute nerdy husband and in a queerplatonic relationship with my cute nerdy best friend.

42. zodiac: I can’t remember.

43. pronouns: They/them. I’m so lucky to have surrounded myself mostly with friends who at least try to use these.

44. most visited website: Tumblr! Which is better than last year when it was either Facebook or The Guardian which both made me angry on a regular basis.

45. right or left handed: Right-handed.

46. surgeries: Only a couple of minor ones, both on my face though they didn’t manage to make it look good lol

47. sports: Kickboxing, though I’m no good at it.

48. favorite tv show: Black Sails. For goodness’ sake, watch it if you haven’t!

49. vacations: The week in the Highlands I spent with my husband.

50. sneakers: I do have a pair of trainers yes. They are cheap and vegan.

more general:

52. eating: Luckily I’m ok with food atm. Don’t have many stipulations other than it should be vegan and affordable. Hot helps too.

53. fave drink: Tea, duh.

54. what you’re up to: Trying to rest.

55. waiting for: My brain to get well enough to work again.

56. want: Motivation, energy, an international anarcho-socialist post-scarcity world

57. get married: Eloped and got married in a forest by an officiant who didn’t misgender me. Loved it.

58. career: No longer in academia, that’s for sure.

which is better:

60. hugs or kisses: I love hugs. I like kisses from my partners, but bises freak me the hell out I’m too working class British for that kind of thing!

61. lips or eyes: Eyes.

62. shorter or taller: I guess I would like to be a tiny bit taller, but I’m about average height for a human adult and that’s fine with me.

63. older or younger: I guess I was happier a year ago, but I wouldn’t give up the friends I have now, so I like this age.

64. nice arms or stomach: I don’t really know how to answer this. I guess equal?

65. hook up or relationship: Relationships.

66. troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant, but I do so want to cause trouble.

have you ever:

67. kissed a stranger: I don’t think I have actually.

68. drank hard liquor: Too much.

69. lost glasses/contacts: I lose my glasses often, but have always found them.

70. turned someone down: Echoing Mochi with the having met straight men before...

71. sex on the first date: Yes, but I prefer sex and then deciding to date while in bed afterwards.

72. broken someone’s heart: Yes, but I’m not sorry.

73. had your heart broken: Yes, but it’s stronger now for it.

74. been arrested: Actually no, not yet! Cautions only. This just tells me I’m not doing enough tbh.

75. cried when someone died: Yes.

76. fallen for a friend: SO many times. And apart from the straight ones they’ve been good choices.

do you believe in:

77. yourself: Not generally. I do the best I’m capable of and if I fuck it up that’s about what I expected, and if I don’t then that’s great.

78. miracles: No.

79. love at first sight: No. That’s not what love is.

80. santa claus: No, and I don’t have memories from when I was young enough to have believed.

81. kiss on the first date: Yeah. Though none of my relationships have ever really followed the ask-on-date, go-on-date, go-on-second-date, etc. model.

82. angels: No.

other:

83. current best friend’s name(s): Ollie

84. eye color: Green.

85. favorite movie: The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk.

Tagging @eldritchsqurriel, @buildarocketboys, @amiedelabaisse, @wanttodrawmothsfrommemory, @synchronysymphony, @prettypettypansexual, @scouse-jesus-vikingson, @everyoneinspaceisgay, @thequeerkingdom, @acemummerz, @c3rn, @attercop-attercop, @do-a-saving-roll, @iamamathmagician, @willowveild, @jackaalope, @blooming-rivers, @luthienlight, @deprofundisresurgam, @jehnt. Feel free to ignore your tag - it was hard to get to 20.

#personal ;gjg

7 notes · View notes

the-girl-and-her-sister · 7 years ago

Text

*EXO 12 sits down at the dinner table eating, to see what the EXO L think of them on social media, now it begins*

Minseok: long time all 12 of us has been together. Let's see the comments *reads off of the tablet* I'm not always obsessed with coffee

Luhan: are you kidding me! Your all about the coffee

Minseok: no I'm not, coffee isn't my whole, it's an art. A very good smelling one

Luhan: hmm, if you were not in EXO you'd be barista

Minseok: nothing wrong with that Luhan nothing wrong with that. let's see what yours says... Where are you? Ah yes here. Swears your manly but is girly

Luhan: I am manly, not my fault I have soft features.

Kris: is that why you got dreads

Luhan: you had dreads in your July video. at least I'm not stupid. You say "uh" and looks so stupid half the time

Yi Fan: first of all, those where just twist. I didn't actually GET dreads and secondly listen I only do that is because I am translating in my head to the language I need. I know more than just two languages okay.

Junmyeon: it's okay, because your music now is very lyrical *rolling his eyes*

Yi Fan: says the one who still has no lines after 4 members are not in the group. Mr sugar daddy.

*gasps and laughter*

Junmyeon: why are you laughing Lay? Your in the group and is never there. Always high looking and forgetful

Yixing: that's because I have a lot on my mind, I still have my solo career and I look tired because I have no time to sleep being in two countries and with the group. Baekhyun shut up *takes the tablet and looks on it * your nothing but a whore for anyone who breaths. Pick one member to love

Baekhyun: that's mean I do love one.. This is coming from a guy who is singing about a woman's ass *SeHun and Chanyeol looks at him* Chanyeol is nothing but a big giant elf!

Yixing: at least it's better then singing how I want a girl to do me. *points at Luhan*

Luhan: ya!

Chanyeol: baekhyunee!! That's mean, you know I can't control it, besides at least I'm not loud mouth over here,

Jongdae: YA! I'm not loud you all are just deaf so I got to be heard.

Chanyeol: oh your well heard.

Baekhyun: he has sensitive ears *Chanyeol glared*

Jongdae: shut up Tao, you think your so tough!? Your a cry baby.

Zi Tao: I am not! Sorry for have emotions and want to express them.

Jongdae: all the damn time

Zi Tao: you think I come here to apologize for the way I was, then you'll be waiting a long ass time.

Kyungsoo: I don't see why I am here... I am who I am, I can be cute and caring or not so I'm out. *gets up but Jongin stops him* urge fine

SeHun: of course the center of attention gets you. That's all Kai is.

Jongin: no I'm not, am I *the others just look at him* what I am way better at dancing then all of you. I need to give the EXO L what they need. A good show.

SeHun: show off is more better

JongIn: says the big baby of EXO, you can't do anything for yourself and your life is your dog. Who doesn't listen to you.

SeHun: because I'm 23 and living my damn life

Junmyeon: it's so nice to have the family over for dinner

Yi Fan: last time I listen to Xiumin, I'm out *gets up and Luhan follows*

Minseok: are you happy now beagle line

Zi Tao: I'm coming too

SeHun: oh look they are leaving in order again *staring at Luhan*

Xiumin: we are supposed to be reading what the fans say when we aren't looking

Baekhyun: well I am saying things when you are looking

Jongdae: you don't shut up do you

Baekhyun: I hate you Chen

Jongdae: fine I will write you out of my lyrics

Baekhyun: I love you Chen

Jongdae: thought so.

Chanyeol: what about me!?

Yixing: I'm leaving too, I have an album to promote

Yi Fan: oh by the way, Suho your doing a good job being a leader.

*8 remaining members sat there and watched, as 4 of their members leave*

130 notes · View notes

ask-jackie-chan · 8 years ago

Text

Bruh guys

Yesterday, almost all night I made up this detailed JCA High School AU

It’s going to be...mm...rather interesting, I guess.

Now bear with me here I say that this AU is pretty long, so this will be the Jackie Chan Adventures High School AU Part I. I hope it’s okay.

So the High School AU revolves around Jackie Chan, the newest Chinese foreign exchange student in San Francisco High.

San Francisco’s High is one of the biggest schools in California, so everyone calls it “The 13”. The mascot for the school is the San Francisco Pirates.

Principal Black’s name is Captain Black, because he is practically the captain of the school haha Principal Black (Captain Black) has been S.F.’s principal for 10 years and is a strict one at that, but most, if not all, students and faculty agree that he’s a good one.

Ok so back to Jackie

Jackie is 17 and is in his last year in high school. Ever since he was 6, it’s always been his dream to go to America. To prepare, he watches American TV and taught himself English every day after school in China. He’s very good, but no one besides his uncle knows about this.

Every year, Capt. Black searches up potential foreign exchange students to study at his school. He finds Jackie Chan, who has good grades in his high school. Impressed at what he sees, Black calls the principal from Jackie’s school during the summer before his senior year and asks if he has the permission to let Jackie study in his school for that year and Jackie’s principal allows this.

On the first week of his senior year, Jackie’s principal talks to Jackie about the foreign exchange program and asks him if he wants to join. Jackie at first says yes, but then thinks "Who’s going to take care of my uncle (Uncle)?", so he’s unsure. The principal gives him a week to think about his options.

When he gets home, Jackie talks to Uncle about the foreign exchange program and explains his dilemma. Though Uncle isn’t too happy about his only known relative leaving him, he is very happy his nephew is following his dreams and encourages Jackie to do the foreign exchange program. The next day Jackie accepts, and his principal notifies Capt. Black right away.

The day before his departure, Jackie spends his last day in school in China saying goodbye to all of his friends and teachers. There’s a lot of crying involved, since Jackie is one of the nicest and most hardworking of students in school. Jackie himself couldn’t help but to cry a little from happiness and anxiety since he’ll be alone. Of course, Uncle reassures his nephew and lets him know that he’ll be fine in America.

Now fast-forward to when Jackie arrives.

Jackie goes to Uncle Chen and Aunt Mei, who volunteer to be Jackie’s host family. There he meets Jade Chan, his 15 year old cousin in America. Jackie has seen Jade when she was smaller, so seeing her as a 15 year old is surprising. At first glance, Jade is unsure about him, but it grows over time.

The first day of school for Jackie is very hectic. He’s seen ‘America’ on TV before, but not like this enter in the culture shock. He did not expect for his school to be so big and for him to be very popular so quickly. When he steps foot in the school, everyone immediately knows who he is and likes him instantly. Jackie’s highly intelligent, unintentionally funny, kind, has a nice smile, handsome and has nice, long and cute hair so what’s there not to like about Jackie, right?

Well...

Enter Zi Long, aka Drago, in San Francisco High. He is the most popular football player in the San Francisco Pirates, along with his buddies the Ice Crew. Drago is 19, StrikeMaster Ice/Dwayne Miller is 18, and MC Cobra/Michael Cristiano Costa and DJ Fist/Damian Soto are both 19. They are the stereotypical representatives of mean high school jocks. They give football players in school a bad name, but no one will say so to their face and risk getting into a fight.

Now Drago is a special case. He is popular, smart and handsome, but is a major bitch and immature so he’s not exactly 100% cute material. Even if he was, Drago has a mysterious and messy past and no one really knows about it, not even the Ice Crew. Not like it’s a problem; Drago prefers to keep it that way.

Of the cheerleaders and sports players of San Francisco High, it’s actually the so-called “nerds” in school who are the most popular and coolest. Smart people like them are capable of making or breaking your grade, so people are careful not to make them mad, even people like Drago.

Soon enough, everyone finds out that Jackie and Jade are related so everyone ask Jade all the questions, which boosts her popularity in school. She and her friends, Frank, Charlie and Rocko have gained quite the reputation for being the school’s troublemakers with faculty like Assistant Principal Hartman. Jade’s troublemaking is part of the reason why Jade’s parents wanted Jackie as their host child: so she can have a good role model to look up to.

One day early in Jackie’s school year, Drago has the audacity to steal $5 from Jackie’s bag for lunch bc he thinks Jackie won’t do anything to him. Jade quickly finds out she has bumped heads with Drago numerous times before and tells Jackie. Jackie knows Drago and his reputation, so his goal is just to get his money back without any problems.

At lunch, Jackie and Jade play good-cop-bad-cop to get Jackie’s lunch money. Drago laughs in Jackie’s face and says the infamous line, "Make me". Jade accidentally-on-purpose throws a gunk of mashed potatoes at Drago, humiliating him. He thinks this is Jackie, so a fight quickly ensues. Before he knows it, there's a huge food fight and Drago and Jackie fight. Jackie wins in a couple of seconds with his martial arts skills and surprises everyone watching this is when Jade likes Jackie more. Principal Black and Vice Principal Hartman find the lunch scene and mess and pulls Drago and Jackie into the office.

Capt. Black already knows that Drago started the fight and Jackie was only defending himself. To save them both the trouble of suspension and calling their parents, their punishment is to clean all of the cafeteria with the janitors Mr. Finn, Mr. Ratso and Mr. Chow.

They are popular in San Francisco High School for being the jokesters and pretty much the school’s unofficial guidance counselors, known as the Enforcers. The three of them get to know Jackie and are quite fond of him despite the fact that Jackie has beaten them numerous times in friendly sparring matches.

Once the cafeteria is finished, school is over and everyone is going outside to get home. Exhausted over the cleaning, Drago lets Jackie know that “this isn’t over” and leaves. Jackie couldn’t help but to wonder what that means going home as nearly everyone congratulates Jackie on his feat on defeating Drago. Of course, when they get home, Jackie makes Jade swear not to tell her parents for the fear of greatly disappointing them and eventually, Uncle back home. Jade uses this and makes a deal with Jackie that she won’t tell if he agrees to teacher her in “the ancient art of buttwhoop”. At this, Jackie reluctantly agrees.

11 notes · View notes

ddrkirbyisq · 6 years ago

Link

Aaand we're back! I was out all last week for a trip to Asia with my best friend and am finally posting about it now. Since I've been back it's been a quite strange mix of fast and slow, with the days both rushing by quickly yet also seeming to drag on at times. The flow of time has been really strange for me this week as I'm dealing with some jetlag and some of the strangest sleeping hours I've had in recent history (sleeping from 3-10....PM). I've had some times when I crashed in the afternoon and set an alarm for one or a couple hours later, only to end up snoozing it a billion times.

I've got Friday off work this week, which is nice, though it also contributes to feeling that the flow of time is weird -- did a week really pass? I've had what feels like some "extra days", especially after sleeping from 3-10PM and waking up and having so much extra time at night, yet somehow the week still passed by relatively quickly. Thankfully, I've been able to start catching up on various things, such as putting away all of the things that I bought on the trip and even running some errands including a trip to the DMV (yay..........). Physically I am still definitely recovering though -- I don't have the strongest constitution and the trip definitely got me a bit sick.

Anyways, enough about all that -- I know you're all here for the photos anyways! This was a ~10-day trip to Asia, first stopping by Beijing where my friend was visiting family, and then to Tokyo where we met up and stayed with another friend (with a side trip to the Hakone area for hot springs).

I'll admit I'm not usually a huge photo-taker (anymore?) but I tried to be good about snapping some every so often. Even if I don't actually end up looking at them later, I've found that they're at least good for showing to other people, and for recounting some various things that happened (e.g. for this post itself). I took more photos than just the ones below, of course, but somehow I'm feeling like it's better to just post the more relevant ones rather than dump a whole bunch at you guys. Well, let's get to it...

Beijing was like an weird mix of SF and Tokyo, though the smaller and more old-fashioned streets were a bit unique in their own. Whenever I travel I'm always a little struck by how nice the trees and foliage are, I think it's because the areas I frequent here in California don't really have that much of that.

We saw some stray meowmies, and even got to pet and play with a meowmie at the tea house we went to, which was really nice :3

Sitting and having tea at the teahouse was a pretty cool experience, not really because the tea was amazing (though it was quite nice), but because of the atmosphere. Time seemed to flow differently, I'm not so sure it was the place itself but more just the circumstances...It's almost never that I just sit around letting time pass by so freely without really a care as to what I need to do next. Thinking about that was a bit elucidating for me, I think. Speaking of tea, I used to be super into white tea but currently am pretty into grain-based flavors, like genmaicha and barley or buckwheat tea.

The air quality was actually not too bad, or at least not bad enough to bother me noticeably, though of course I ended up getting a bit sick at some point over the course of the trip (not surprising really, but it wasn't terrible thankfully). Around the airport area it was quite bad though, enough to bother me -- couldn't tell whether it was just that area or maybe just the construction they were doing in the airport itself.

The food we had was quite tasty! The mapo tofu and other sichuan-style dishes were really yummy, and the pork belly + mustard greens were really great too, and of course the Peking duck. It wasn't wholly different from Chinese food back here in CA though, so it's sort of nice knowing that I'm not really missing out on all too much when I'm at home either.

I'm not a huge fan of la zi ji (sichuan style spicy chicken -- which basically just looks like a plate of dried chili peppers), but gotta have it while I'm here right? Definitely had a lot of sichuan peppercorn numbing flavor...

We spent a day walking around the Summer Palace, which is an imperial garden with a bunch of trees and lakes and really old buildings. Some parts were nice, others were more crowded with tourists.

The weather was nice for the most part on our trip, but we got hit by one or two unexpected rainy days, which I definitely had not packed for. Fortunately it worked out OK in terms of the timing and the weather at the Summer Palace was quite nice.

Lots of red and gold and green everywhere -- and all the ceilings had fancy designs like these.

Lots of water rock formations everywhere...

Some pretty flowers.

Some of them looked quite nice!

Lots of these long corridor-like walkways, too.

More flowers...

Gold-colored roofs...

Got to try some candied Bingtanghulu (candied hawthorn).

Lots of extra high bridges over the water too.

Suzhou street, a shopping street with river running through it.

Having some homemade zha jiang mian, a common beijing dish made of noodles topped with ground meat and fermented soybean paste, along with various veggies.

Cow followed us on the trip! Was borrowing him from a friend to use as a pillow pet.

Of course Hello Kitty shows up in Asia all over the place. Here she is as some sort of robot in the Beijing airport...

Sometimes the simple food is the best. This bowl of porridge we got at the airport really hit the spot...

Finally off from Beijing and taking the air to fly to Tokyo! I noticed that there were all these green-colored areas that we could see from the air, wondered what they were. Maybe tarps to cover the dirt?

Cow~

It was cold and raining when we landed in Tokyo...luckily our friend was so gracious to meet us at the station with some umbrellas, and they also had a kotatsu at their place :O We were really in their debt for much of the latter half of our trip...

Tsukemen dipping noodles! We have them here in the states as well but I don't think I've ever gotten them before.

Putting Little Twin Stars on your product is a surefire way to get me to buy it. These cookies were yummy~

We were in time to catch the tail end of the Sakuras blooming, though we had missed peak viewing time. Still, it was nice to finally get to see these famous ephemeral flowers that is such a big deal in Japan's culture.

Potato corn dog! It's like eating a corn dog and some french fries at the same time...definitely much better than your average corn dog.

While in Tokyo we mainly went around the Harajuku/Shibuya area, filled with a lot of shops and fashion establishments, both upscale malls and more hole-in-the wall places alike. There were also a bunch of just...very interesting places, including this place with a whole bunch of bath bombs arranged in a mesmerizing display. It really felt more like an art installation than anything else. Lots of tourists and foreigners around these areas too, which is unsurprising.

One of the more fun things we got to do was go to Harry hedgehog cafe in Harajuku -- where you get to pet live hedgehogs!!!

They are apparently nocturnal, so a lot of them were kind of just sleeping or dozing around. They just look like fat hairy blobs!

We had a more active one that we played with a lot. Here it is drinking some water...they give you some little mealworms to feed to the hedgehogs too :3 So cute...

The other one was sort of just sleeping there for the most part...

You wear gloves to pick them up and play with them! They were really fun <3

Some more of them just sleeping together in the corner.

Such good product marketing...we of course bought one of these little plushies to take home with us.

Here we are in the top floor of Kiddy Land -- a place I've been to all 3 times I've been to Japan now! They've got the Sanrio/San-X goods on the top floor of Kiddy Land, as well as other various things on the other floors (Ghibli/Disney/Marvel/Peanuts)

We also got to check out the "Kawaii Monster Cafe", which definitely feels like something you wouldn't see anywhere other than Japan. It was pretty interesting seeing this end of the broad "kawaii" spectrum.

Sort of a creepy + cute vibe all around.

The food was super interesting, especially this dish, which looks disgusting but actually tasted not too bad. It was like a sort of beef curry with rice, and the pink frosting-looking thing is some cheese-based sauce. The mysterious red candy balls are actually quail eggs!!! Was so impressed by that...

I also got to try some monjayaki for the first time! It's kind of like okonomiyaki, except with more of a watery broth, so it's more runny. You spread the raw ingredients around on the grill and then pour in the broth, which sort of thickens as it heats up from the heat. It ends up looking.......like barf, really. Not the most appetizing thing, but tastes quite alright despite that, lol.

Some more close up photos of the sakura.

Now just imagine that all of them were still pink lol.

Apparently Sanrio was doing a collaboration with It's Demo, a sort of fashion/convenience store. This is a beautiful Pochacco design! The best I've ever seen out of this pup. Real props to whoever did the designs for this. It's super refreshing to see that this sort of aesthetic is still going strong over there in Japan, even though it has basically disappeared from the US -- you can only really find these things online now or maybe at Kinokuniya / Maido-type stores, and even then, you don't see such great stuff. Ah, really, that is one of the greatest things about being over there in Tokyo -- such great aesthetics. So many pretty people and cute things, great designs and good fashion. Definitely something I miss every time when I have to leave.

While we were in Hakone we took a side trip to the Petit Prince museum!

Some more sakura at the Little Prince museum.

They had lots of little quaint pretend building setups like this one.

Along with figures of the titular character.

Some japanese explanations of some things from the story.

The fox that the prince befriends by "taming".

A pretty cute place! It was fun to go through, though also definitely made me a bit sad.

Last time we stayed at a ryokan we had traditional new year's food (Osechi ryori) which was....sort of weird. This time we had more of a standard kaiseki dinner which was much more tasty! Had so many different foods (more than what is in this photo, this is just the first set), including some really fatty steak, sushi, pickles and rice, sake, fish, miso soup with clams, soba noodles, tofu, and more.

Window leading out to the balcony of our room.

Private bath out on the balcony of our room, which had a view overlooking the river. Of course, I couldn't really take a photo of the public baths for.....obvious reasons.

Same window, in daylight this time.

More awesome food, this time for breakfast. Don't know if I've ever had such a fully-featured breakfast lol, goodness. Had everything from soba, grilled fish, miso dengaku egglant, tamagoyaki, fruits, more rice and pickles, sushi, ...

Nice aesthetic in the other room...

We decided to write something sort of silly in the guestbook lol.

The rest of the Hakone area was very pretty, lots of river scenery with many trees growing all over the hillsides.

We even got to see a glimpse of Mt. Fuji in the distance while we were taking the train back to Tokyo (didn't notice until the group of westerners on the car all stood up and started snapping a whole bunch of photos omg)

Closer look at the Sanrio x It's Demo collaboration -- ended up going there and buying a keychain :)

Finally made it to Takeshita Dori, the sort of "main" fashion street in Harajuku! It was WAY more crowded this time, dunno if it's just gotten more crowded over the years or maybe we had gone during a weekday last time (it was a Saturday this time). It was packed with people but not actually too bad. Many of the shops were super cramped (in terms of the amount of space there) though, nothing like the La Foret mall we had gone through which was more in the Shibuya direction.

Of course no visit to Harajuku is complete without some yummy crepes from one of the famous crepe places! Mine had banana, nutella, and of course an exorbant amount of cream...

Made it to Sanrio Vivitix in Harajuku, which had quite a great amount of stuff that I ended up buying, including a bunch of Sanrio shirts/tops (!) and a whole bunch of really nice Cinnamoroll merchandise. Yay Cinnamon!~

Put in all my votes for the Little Twin Stars! Pom pom purin was actually the most popular character at this store -- kind of interesting to see him making such a comeback, as he was also featured in Sanrio Danshi (which I still have not finished watching lol). Though it may also be because the Pom pom purin cafe is on the upper floor of the same building...

Here's the Pom pom purin cafe! Didn't actually eat anything here unfortunately -- had other things I wanted to get to, and not the hugest fan of Pom pom purin, but he is definitely cute!

Looks really nice :)

Went back to Kiddy Land to see if there was any more stuff we wanted to get, haha.

Just look at these Cinnamoroll designs!!! Gah! Miyuki Okumura is the designer and character illustrator for Cinnamoroll and she really does a great job. She is the designer for Wish Me Mell too!

More collaboration stuff -- this time Little Twin Stars x Gintama.

Eating some yummy sushi after another day of shopping! Last time in Japan we had some amazing sushi at one of the big name places in Tsukiji fish market, but this time just had some at a place in Harajuku. Like with Beijing, it's sort of nice knowing that the sushi over here in CA isn't super far off from what is in Tokyo. Which is not to say that it wasn't good, of course :)

Yay shopping~

Had some very yummy fluffy pancakes as well before getting ready to leave :)

Some food from the grocery market too :)

The haul of all the stuff I got :D Lots of clothes, including some interesting (and expensive!) stuff that I didn't expect to bring back, but am very glad I found -- I'm always craving more good Asian styles for my fashion, so I'm super happy to have brought back some nice clothing in my haul, since it's so hard (basically impossible) to find over here in the states. Also a metric ton of stationery, a bunch of assorted cute things, a nice water bottle, and some other random odds and ends. Success! Assorted thoughts on the trip overall... - Being in Tokyo was super nice. I could never live in Asia I don't think, because of a lot of things, but there are things about Japan and Tokyo that I definitely appreciate a lot. I already mentioned the aesthetic and good design sense, and of course public transit is awesome, but also just the efficiency of everything is great. If I was there for too long I would probably just feel like a cog in a machine, but for a short bit it was certainly nice. - I did alright overall with nausea and airsickness...my flight over there was relatively fine, but I didn't end up catching any sleep on the way back, so I was pretty tired and fatigued, ugh. - Having an epipen on me definitely made me feel a lot safer about eating things. I luckily didn't end up having to use it for anything -- caught quite a few things with disciplined awareness and care -- but it's something I definitely will always have for any future overseas trip. (not such a big deal for here in the states) - The experience involved quite a bit of ups and downs, but was smooth overall. I got stressed out a few times though. Nothing new really, just the same old types of things. I don't think there is any way to really improve at it except by trying again and again, and perhaps sucking a bit less every time. - Came back from the trip overall with some assorted thoughts on people and life. Nothing revolutionary, nothing mindblowing, just some refreshed perspective. - I actually got some nice chunks of work done on Rhythm Quest done during the flights and some of the downtime lol. I guess I really do decompress by.....doing more work.....sigh. - Traveling with a wifi hotspot was infinitely easier than the past two trips where we traveled completely offline lol, especially when it came to trying to meet up with people who were also traveling, yeesh. Traveling offline is definitely more than possible, but maybe there's not really a good reason to do it anymore. Since coming home I've been up to a variety of different things, including work, putting away all the stuff that I bought, reorganizing my wardrobe, running some various errands, One Hour Compo, playing Risk of Rain 2 (has been fun so far!), etc. I also reorganized and revamped my soundfont collection and converted quite a bit of them into .wav files (much easier to work with) so it should be much easier to make SNES-styled music in the future -- I'd like to try to make an album like "SNESQUE" at some point. Cooking at home again has been lovely, as well as simply just being home in general. It was a good trip but I definitely was excited to be back. This Saturday I'm hosting a little celebration for 30 -- side note, I went over to disable timeline posting only to find that it was already disabled since last year lol. Should be fun! Until next time...

#Blogger

0 notes