#I want a worth inspired gown with a train of real flowers

[artschoolglasses]

Everyone ready to judge a bunch of incompetent celebrities and designers who can't follow a very simple theme tonight?

[pendulum-sonata]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Akaba Ray/Zarc Characters: Akaba Ray, Zarc (Yu-Gi-Oh), Akaba Reiji Additional Tags: One Shot, Romantic Fluff, Family Fluff, Inspired by Art, ZarcRay Week, genesishipping - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, obviously Summary:

…A reconciliation of mutually contradictory propositions, the mutual contradiction being reconciled on a higher level of truth. This is a one-shot inspired by the prompts of the Zarcray Week 2k18, because to be honest I was a little busy to do a prompt every day

[The Forest]

“Deep within the forest dwells a wolf monster….”

The painting appeared to depict as first impression, shadowy figures surrounded by a splash of greens, blues, greys, reds and purples; the lighting of the room gave it an ominous feeling and he had to wonder if it was on purpose for when you watched from a certain spot the shadowy figures came into light and took the form of two black arms holding tight onto a feminine figure wearing red, her eyes almost glowing in what he now realized was a dark forest.

[Red Flowers]

“…Its petals and leaves remind us of lovers who never meet”

This one had a woman with a bridal gown kneeling in front a of a pond filled with red-spider lilies and as she extender her hand to grab one of them, a dark monstrous arm raised from the waters reaching out for her.

[Marine]

“Call me soulless or heartless… I do not care, I still long for you”

This time it was all blue, all shades and tonalities of it, and in the middle of it a merfolk creature, its tail was a combination of obsidian luscious scales and green and long fins some of which blanked in with the rays of light shining in the water.

Like with the previous ones, the brush work and colors were beautiful and almost held movement, this one in particular felt alive and almost out of place with the rest of the paintings.

Almost.

Until you noticed that the girl the merfolk was carrying down the sea with him was neither a mermaid nor breathing.

[Death and the Maiden]

“Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form…”

This one was less abstract: it was a young naked girl – despite himself he felt his body fighting the blush creeping up his neck – a crown of flower resting on top of her red hair, behind her stood a figure of a man draped in a dark cloth, only his face was visible and half of it was nothing but a skeleton. The other half had a golden eye, a skeletal hand covering her eyes.

[La Sylphide]

“A waking dream…”

This one was different.

This one depicted a young man holding the lifeless form of a feminine spirit draped inside a veil, her wings withered and falling off.

He doesn’t focus on that detail though, despite seemingly reversed roles, the woman still finds her demise on the hands of a lover and once again she has a hair colored a deep red color – if mitigated by the veil – and the man who holds her has golden eyes.

[Revelation]

"It's a difficult matter to keep love in the dark..."

This was the first one that had the girl completely facing the audience without shadows or light tricks.

She was wearing a sleeping gown and holding a lantern on of her hands, her face wore a face of full surprise at the sight illuminated by the light: a bedside where a young man laid awoken and a look of anger and betrayal in his – once again golden – eyes, the young man could be called beautiful even as he had a harsh-looking grayish skin almost resembling plates or scales, wings folded behind him.

[Frontier]

“Lovers, foolish him and foolish her…”

Any doubt in his mind was cleared by this moment, but he still took the moment to appreciate the painting.

It was a woman wearing a bridal gown, leaning to kiss a sleeping young man… no, he wasn’t asleep, the skin was pale as paper and he wore black clothes and was surrounded by white lilies.

.

.

.

“I still don’t understand why I had to accompany you tonight.” Reiji told her as soon as they were alone on another section of the gallery not on exhibition.

“Oh please, I saw you gawking at these works, you love good art.” She said, a glass of wine in her hand.

“I wasn’t gawking…” Reiji muttered the obvious lie, but he left it at that, because otherwise it would be admitting the embarrassment he felt at seeing an image of Ray, his sister, naked, idealization and perspectives be dammed. “When you told me you had a gig as model, I certainly never thought this was what you meant.”

“Neither did I, I thought I would just be modeling for some art students, not for a professional artist.” Ray didn’t look phased in the slightest, and Reiji had to remind himself the lengths she often went to piss off their parents.

Just when Reiji was about to say something else, there was a person approaching them, Reiji almost dropped his own glass – which he accepted because of manners – when he recognized the features of the young man in some of the paintings; and he finally did drop it when he saw Ray greeting him by fixing his lopsided green tie, his face blushing and her eyes shining brightly at the mere presence of him.

“Zarc, this is my little brother, Reiji.” She said breaking his train of thought. “I wanted you to meet him first.”

“A… pleasure to meet you.” Reiji found himself saying, automatically as usual, thanks to harsh etiquette lessons which were already nagging at the back of his head because of the growing stain on the wooden floors.

“Same here, kiddo.” The man said with a wide grin, he definitely didn’t give the vibe of someone who could thought up such grim subjects for any type of art, but here he was.

“I’m sorry Reiji, but I didn’t know how else to introduce you two without my parents knowing or suspecting anything.” Ray did sound like she was sorry and Reiji felt his sour mood mellowing the slightest bit. “So… why don’t I leave you two alone so you can chat and become the best friends!”

There it was again, Reiji thought sighing, of course before he could formulate a response Ray has already whisked herself away.

“Uh… so tell me the truth…” Zarc started, his hand scratching the back of his head. “What do you think of the exhibition? I mean, beyond being exposed to your sister’s nudity.” He laughed at the last sentence, and Reiji was thankful for his poker face now more than ever. “That bad uh?”

“…The paintings are beautiful, although I would lie if I say I was not increasingly unnerved by the themes in it, specifically Ray perishing.” If he was going to be honest, then Reiji could do it too.

To his surprise, Zarc laughed before explaining:

“Oh yeah, that was a concept – you knoe ‘Tragic Love’ – I had been working on since before I put the announcement that I needed a model, I swear I have no sick fantasies involving Ray – well, at least not of that type – but she was very understanding and cooperative.”

“You do know she only took this ‘job’ because she wanted to piss off our mother right?” He said. “And while I hate to put it like this, it isn’t the first time she has dated guys with the exact same purpose.”

“Yeah I know; she didn’t tell me but I guessed by how much she complained about her parents during the first few appointments – she talks a lot when she’s bored right? – Another laugh from him.

This time however, Reiji was able to tell the glee did not reach his eyes and instead glimpsed the worry in his eyes.

“Still… for what is worth, she has never introduced none of these guys to me, and certainly never dragged me to any event for the sake of it.” He said adjusting his glasses and watched carefully the relief that settled on his shoulders.

“Thank you, for real.” Zarc started, “And for what is worth, even though she complains about you too, it’s never with the same spite and afterwards she always goes on a length on how smart and dedicated you are.”

“…Thank you, I appreciate that,” Reiji could only hope that the low lighting of the place hid his burning cheeks.

“I want to marry her.” He said, his eyes suddenly very serious and eager to hear his answer he supposed, because there was a deep silence after his statement.

“I have no troubles with that.” He started, surprisingly he was serious, for some reason he could imagine them living together already. “But I can’t guarantee the same from our parents.”

Especially not from father, who thought no man in the earth was good enough for Ray.

“I guessed as much, but Ray said she didn’t care as long as she had your support.” Zarc was smiling even more now and went to call Ray when she exited what he supposed was the restroom.

Despite everything, it had not been a bad night at all.

[nurkhamis-fcnu-blog]

Prom dress, 2017

I’m walking in the ballroom, trying not to trip on my dress’s train, overwhelmed by people’s stares. The ballroom is magnificent, with its high ceilings and immense chandeliers, stunning flower arrangements on each table. I feel powerful, beautiful, but at the same time, nervous about the night. Prom is the last event I’ll experience with the people I’ve spent the past four years with. The dress is exactly what I envisioned. After all, every girl likes dreaming about her prom night, her dress, what she’ll look like. I wanted to look like a princess, I wanted to be remembered.

It took months to find it, and fate brought it to me, in a little shop in Bucharest I didn’t even want to go to. My mum and I searched for a dress in all the shops that my hometown would offer, a city where fashion is not a priority. I tried wedding dresses, tacky gowns and eventually decided I’d custom make my dress at a tailor, so my ideas where drown from the Internet, mostly Pinterest, the website every ‘fashionista’ uses for inspiration. Even after making this decision, my mum wanted us to visit other shops. I didn’t want to, I was tired, I knew I wouldn’t buy anything. Besides my plan of making the actual dress, I had a back-up one, a red, simple, satin dress with an open back. It wasn’t the typical prom dress, but it made me feel good. Eventually, I ended up in this little shop, hidden in an old, dirty looking house, but the shop itself was almost unreal. The contrast between the shop and the place I found it in was incredible. The shop was modern, fashionable, with expensive gowns and contemporary furniture. I saw this dress, hidden between others, and it was love at first sight. It reminded me of a dress a Greek goddess would wear. A long, voile, sky-blue dress, with little silver stars embroiders on the corset. The colour itself reminded me of Cinderella. I was lucky, because that is my favourite colour. It was magical. As soon as I tried it on, I knew I found the dress I’d wear on my prom night. I always like taking things to another level, I like being in the centre of attention. I’m a Leo after all, that’s what we are known for. I wouldn’t let this event be an exception.

It cost an arm and a leg, but my parents thought it was worth it. It was prom, after all. My father is quite critical when it comes to clothes, but even he loved it. If my father loves something, it means it’s quite amazing. I also thought it was an investment, like a wedding dress. You give it to your daughter, maybe she’ll wear it as well. I’d like to think that will happen.  

I slowly realized during the night that the saying ‘beauty is pain’ is indeed true. The train wouldn’t let me dance, because my heels would get stuck in it. I’d have to hold my dress, or take off my shoes, which isn’t the most fabulous thing to do, is it? People around me would step on it while walking or dancing, and I’d have to mumble a quick sorry and check if the dress is not completely destroyed. When you pay that much for a piece of clothing, you want it to survive. It did, fortunately, and after one trip to the dry cleaners, it looked new again.

We’re taught that you shouldn’t care what people think about you, but that doesn’t work when you’ve spent a fortune on a dress and other preparations such as hair and makeup. You want to know what people think, you’re silently begging them to tell you their thoughts. You want to be complimented, you want to be the centre of attention. I got them all that night. I was the talk of the night, teachers whispering to each other about the girl with the blue dress, the girl that usually has blonde curly hair, now replaced by long, straight, locks of hair; classmates asking if they could vote me as the prom queen, a superficial title I would’ve liked to win, people I’ve never interacted with coming to me to tell me I look beautiful. I was feeling great, and eventually, the fake confidence I had at the beginning of the night transformed into something real. It was showing, I felt like I was shining.

I took off my strappy nude high-heels, and danced the whole night, laughing with the people I wouldn’t see again, photographers capturing every moment. It was almost like a dream, and I didn’t want to wake up. And all that because of a dress. That’s what you’d think, but truthfully, I think it was more than that. I realized not long ago that clothes shouldn’t wear you, you should wear them, and attitude is the most important thing.