#results of round two coming later btw

[andorshitdaily]

ROUND THREE CATEGORY: Class Couple

Two pairs will win and go into the yearbook. Who's it going to be?

Round four category: Most Unique

NOMINATE NOW

[sonics-atelier]

Blooms of Friendship: Thorin and Bilbo's Garden Challenge

For @bagginshieldweek24 Day 6 : Single Parents/Uncles AU + Gardening

Summary: Mr Gamgee has a gardening competition, Thorin doesn't have a green thumb so frodo helps, cue fluff.

a/n : I had a blast writing this, btw if anyone cares Sam and Frodo went frolicking in the Forest later.

In the peaceful heart of the Shire, where the hills rolled gently under a sky that seemed perpetually blue, Gaffer Gamgee announced a grand gardening competition. The rules were simple: whoever could grow the most beautiful, vibrant garden in a month would be declared the winner. The competition stirred excitement among the hobbits, and even more so for Master Baggins and Master Oakenshield.

Bilbo, ever the lover of nature, had always kept a flourishing garden. His flowers bloomed brightly, their colors a vivid tapestry that delighted the eyes. Thorin, on the other hand, was a dwarf of stone and steel, more accustomed to the cold beauty of gems than the delicate life of plants. Yet, never one to back down from a challenge, Thorin decided to participate.

For the first two weeks, Bilbo’s garden thrived as expected. Flowers of every hue and fragrance filled the air with a sweet perfume, and Bilbo took great pleasure in watching them grow. Thorin, however, found himself in a different predicament. Despite his best efforts, his garden was a desolate sight—wilted plants and dry soil that seemed to mock his determination.

It was during one of these frustrating afternoons that Frodo, Bilbo’s young nephew, noticed Thorin’s plight. With a gentle smile, Frodo approached the dwarf. “Uncle Thorin,” he began, his voice encouraging, “I could help, if you’d like. Gardening just takes a little patience and understanding.”

Thorin looked at Frodo, surprised but grateful. “I’d appreciate that, Frodo,” he replied, nodding. “Perhaps you can teach this old dwarf a thing or two about the Shire’s secrets.”

And so, Frodo took Thorin under his wing, guiding him through the basics of gardening with the wisdom that came so naturally to the hobbit folk. Together, they tilled the soil, planted new seeds, and tended to the ailing plants with care. Under Frodo’s patient instruction, Thorin began to see the subtle changes in his garden. Slowly but surely, green began to spread, and small buds appeared, promising blooms yet to come.

As the competition drew to a close, Thorin’s garden was not the most vibrant, nor the most extravagant, but it was alive and blooming—a testament to his perseverance and Frodo’s guidance.

The day of the competition arrived, and the hobbits gathered to admire each other’s hard work. Samwise, acting as the judge, made his rounds, carefully inspecting each garden. Bilbo’s garden was, of course, a sight to behold—full of color and life, just as it had been from the start. Thorin’s garden, though more modest, held a charm of its own, with sturdy flowers and a sense of quiet resilience.

When the results were announced, Bilbo secured a well-deserved second place. Thorin, to his surprise, was awarded third place, his efforts recognized by Old Gaffer Gamegee, who appreciated the effort and care that had gone into reviving the once desolate plot.

Bilbo laughed warmly when Thorin’s name was called, the sound full of mirthy. Thorin, however, had eyes only for Frodo as he handed the boy the bronze medal. “This belongs to you, Frodo,” Thorin said sincerely, “You’ve taught me much, and this is as much your victory as it is mine.”

Frodo beamed, clutching the medal with pride. “Thank you, Uncle Thorin,” he said, his face alight with joy.

As the crowd began to disperse, Thorin placed an arm around Bilbo’s shoulders, drawing him close. The two of them stood together, watching as the evening sun cast a golden glow over the Shire. Bilbo leaned into Thorin’s side, a contented smile on his lips.

“You know,” Bilbo said teasingly, “I never thought I’d see the day you’d take up gardening, Thorin.”

Thorin chuckled, his gaze soft as he looked down at Bilbo. “Well, I never thought I’d enjoy it, but it seems the Shire has a way of surprising even the most stubborn of dwarves.”

Bilbo grinned, tilting his head to meet Thorin’s eyes. “It certainly does.”

Without another word, Thorin leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to Bilbo’s forehead, a simple gesture that spoke of quiet affection and shared contentment. In that moment, there were no grand declarations or flowery speeches—just the peaceful understanding between two souls who had found a home in each other, in a land where flowers bloomed as brightly as their love.

- @sonics-atelier 2024 , do not repost or reuse in any way , shape or form.

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 1

Homestuck art by Timeless-Knight on deviantart

Propaganda under the cut:

Debra/Dexter:

I'm sorry but you just HAVE to vote dexter/debra for the absolute insanity of it all. Debra not only unsuccessfully dates her brothers brother (serial killer btw), she also dates stand-in for her dead cop dad (gets murdered btw) before she, AFTER TWO THERAPY SESSIONS, comes to the conclusion that she was in love with her actual brother all along (also a serial killer btw). Similarly, dexter unsuccessfully dates a stand-in for his dead cop sister while simultaneously hallucinating her ghost. And the normal sibling award goes to.....

She made him stop killing, is there anything more romantic?

Debra killed to save Dexter even after she knew he was a serial killer!!

She's canonically in love with him and after she dies, her ghost haunts, torments and comforts him all at once

Even before the later more explicitly incesty seasons they're always really leaning into being siblings, calling each other brother and sister, but also SO touchy and coupley with each other

Dexter repeatedly hallucinates himself strapped naked to a table with Deb killing him by stabbing him (penetrating him hehe), which is how dexter kills his victims

They are in a love triangle made entirely of siblings can you say iconic...Deb gets engaged to Dexter's half-brother, Brian, but Brian is really just obsessed with Dexter and using Deb to get to him, and Dexter wants to go with Brian but knows he'll kill Deb and chooses Deb over Brian, killing Brian to save Deb

"She's the only person in the world who loves me. I think that's nice."

"You're all I've got." "Not such a great bargain for you."

"It's like I've always been looking for someone like Dexter, or someone who's the opposite of Dexter, as a way to avoid the fact that I'm in love with him."

"We'll always be together, right?" "Well it's not like we ever had a choice."

"Are you even capable of love?" "I love you."

Stridercest:

It's brothercest. It's dadson. It's both, as a result of ectobiological shenanigans! It's finding a kid in a meteor crater and molding him in your own image, and watching him take to that like a fish to water (and only realize much, much later how irrevocably that fucked him up). It's having REALLY complicated feelings about your adolescence spent dodging swords on rooftops

Its about the idolization! The pedestal that Dirk puts Dave upon!!

This ship used to have tumblr in a vise grip I remember I was there. Stridercest lives. Stridercest is so foundational to the height of Homestuck fandom. If you didn't have Dave/Bro cosplayers making out at conventions, were you even at a convention?

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

DUMBASS DUO SHOWDOWN ROUND 2 BATTLE 3

Josuke Higashikata & Okuyasu Nijimura from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (ship name: josuyasu) vs Cole Brookstone & Jay Walker from lego ninjago (ship name: bruise)

REMINDER TO CHECK OUT THE PROPAGANDA UNDER THE CUT!

JOSUYASU PROPAGANDA

Josuke is fairly decent, but okuyasu, you know how in math, if you multiply a negative number with a positive one it is always negative, that is josuyasu for you. Josuke has 6 braincells and Okuyasu has -6734. Their first meeting was okuyasu trying to kill josuke, then he shows up at his house a few days later and goes "hey lets go to school! btw your mom is hot!" Josuke punches a plate of spaghetti because he thinks the chef is evil, they both fight a middle schooler who stole their cash. Okuyasu got the third most op ability in his part but he is too stupid (and kind) to realize it. Somehow they survive their entire part. They are thus far the second jojo and jobro duo to not lose each other. the second one? THEM IN AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE! (okay but okuyasu is swapped for koichi in that one, but still).

Josuke normally is pretty smart, but somewhat silly, but Okuyasu. Isn’t incredibly bright but he’s the best jojo character idc. Okuyasu brings out josukes stupid and then they are just besties and totally bouncing off each other’s stupid ideas. Idk what Okuyasu does to josukes brain but I’m here for it

I saw the post title and without reading anything else immediately went to submit them, only to go back and read the full post and realize they were included by default. They are THE dumbass duo. Ever. The worst protagonists for a detective story, but they dumbassed around so hard they somehow caught a genius serial killer. No matter who wins, they’ll always be the number 1 dumbasses in my heart.

they are the best of friends, which of course means they met by trying to kill each other.

They’re both so stupid. Like josuke isn’t that stupid on his own but he’s kinda dumb and when you put him with dumbass incarnate okuyasu they multiply each others’ stupidness. Together they are a menace.

JOSUKE AND OKUYASU FOR THE WIN BECAUSE THEY SPEND AN ENTIRE DAY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHETHER OR NOT A RANDOM ITALIAN WAS EVIL BECAUSE HIS PASTA WAS TOO GOOD

Okuyasu and Josuke share a braincell and they lose that braincell at least 5 times a day

The majority of Diamond is Unbreakable is those two getting themselves and their friends into absurd situations. There's no way the sportsboys can compete with discovering aliens are (maybe???) real and immediately trying to use the alien(??) to cheat at dice. Then they burned down someone's house

#josuyasu are DUmbass Incorporated and i love them#its literally canon that okuyasu has one of The Most Powerful Abilities In The Entire JJBA Universe#but is too dumb and good natured to put it to world ending use

this gif

don't ask about the weird space

BRUISE PROPAGANDA

They both come up with the dumbest ideas on the team and make jokes all the time

They got into a love triangle/fight because they were just dumb and missed each other. Also they’re canonical besties who are so fucking stupid but also love each other so much

They’re both just so silly… anxiety dumbass and emotional support dumbass…

They ended up in jail once because they broke a dangerous criminal out with good intentions, had a fight over a girl but in the end said that they were more upset about losing each other

part of the bruise propaganda being "they fought over a girl but actually they just missed each other too much" is RIDICULOUSLY funny to me they also were paired off at the start of season 8, resulting in jay mimicking cole, cole getting INCREDIBLY annoyed because jay doesn't understand how vows of silence work, and then the two of them getting into an argument which leads to an entire monastery of monks breaking their vow of silence. they singlehandedly caused an entire monastery of monks to break their vows of silence because they're that stupidly annoying. jay also got really jealous that the princess they meet in season 13 was interested in cole. like bro literally said "the princess seems interested in cole. i mean, he's my best friend and all, but, cole??" vote bruise.

[tawus]

what is your advice on writing smut? i rlly struggle with creating the chemistry and the tingly feeling in the pits of my stomach it ends up coming out too formulated

Sorry about the delay in answering this. I’ll give my personal pointers and also a more well-rounded resource at the end for the deeper dive

1. Good smut is driven by dialogue, with stakes

Usually for the purpose of turning us on, you gotta have dialogue. Endless descriptions of sexual acts on their own end up becoming dull and nowadays there is SO much smut content out there that if you get bored with one, you can instantly click on a different fic.

Sexual acts come secondary and they’re tied to the primary thread of the tension-filled dialogue between the characters. All the way to the end there’s gotta be dialogue, and the sexual acts are performed almost in the background.

Plus, this is fanfiction, right? We turn to fics to be able to indulge in the attention of our 2D faves. So any dialogue line you write - we will read in the voice of our favourite character and that is what breathes life into that scene.

One of my best smut works is in chapter 6 of Sophisticated (warning: very filthy), but god knows I spent so much time building up the tension between the characters that some readers actually began complaining under the previous chapters, going "When are they gonna fuck already??". When they finally did fuck, 10 out of 10 readers admitted it was worth the wait. Doesn’t mean you gotta write a slowburn longfic to deliver a great smut, but you gotta establish the stakes for either character: what do they have to lose as a result of this lapse of judgement? What does it mean for each of them to let the other fuck them? Don’t be afraid to give your Reader character a personality and preferences - I know a lot of ‘x reader’ authors are afraid to do this, but I do nothing but this.

2. Good smut has to turn me on as I write it

This is lowkey TMI but it is what it is. I tend to write my smut scenes in one sitting, or two if it’s a really long one. I make sure to sit down to write it at a time I know I won’t be interrupted, so that I can catch the horny flow and ride it to the very end. I don’t think about how my sentences turn out, I just keep writing and writing it as filthy as it gets. Editing the text on a later day will fix it all up.

Onanism beforehand is forbidden btw. If you do, post-nut clarity will set in and you won’t be in the right mind for writing smut.

3. Good smut is built around MY kinks

Say, if you chose to take on a commission or a request, in that case you might be forced to write someone else’s kink – and even in that case, it won’t come out quite as genuine if you don’t at least try to embody their kink. But in general when you’re writing fics, centre your smut scenarios around your OWN kinks. That way they will come out most authentic. Don’t try to cater to everyone; you’ll never be able to. Whatever your favourite way of doing the nasty is, write it that way and I guarantee you there will be readers out there who share your preferences and those will be the ones who appreciate your work.

4. You can be inspired by well written smut, but please, for the love of enjoyment and author integrity, don’t copy – it shows.

Sorry, this isn’t directed towards you, but I’ve had experience related to this where someone copied my smut scene almost word for word and I was just like…bruh. In any case, because there is already so much smut content both here and AO3, people are just looking for something new, something unorthodox, something that doesn’t use the same cookie-cutter smut sentences, scenarios, and terms. So the more original your scene is, the better! Don't be afraid to get extra filthy with your descriptions or dialogue lines, venture out of those bounds you read in other smut fics.

And here is the external all-rounded source for writing steamy stuff: ‘I Give You My Body’ by Diana Gabaldon. Dm me if you can’t get it anywhere

[dxncingwithastrxnger]

1. it’s been a secret for the longest time

A/N: Hey, guys!!! I've been working on this story for about a week or so, I'm so excited to finally be posting it!!! A couple of weeks ago, I became absolutely obsessed with the song inspiration for this and eventually my brain started applying it to Trilance and I'd say the result is absolutely beautiful. This is actually Chapter 1 out of at least 2 (though I might continue with more than that if people really want me to). Originally this was going to be much longer, it was actually going to include a whole smut scene which would've almost doubled the word count at least, maybe even fully doubled it, but my laptop needs to charge and I need to go to sleep, lmao. So you guys get part one now and part two sometime tomorrow!! Imma have to go back through and do some proofreading later on, but for the most part, it should be good to go!!! Happy reading!!!

Pairing(s): Tristan x Lancelot

Summary: For months now, Tristan and Lancelot have played a game of secret flirting, lustful longing, and maybe even something a bit more. But now that a certain date has finally been set, they're running out of time to decide what they want and Tristan decides he's going to finally make a move to advance things forward.

Tags: Aged up characters (somewhere around 21-24), alcohol, sexual tension, slight Guinevere bashing (💀💀), cheating/infidelity sorta (depends on how you look at it, I guess? But people have tried to come at me for not tagging cheating in the past, so, lmao)

Song Inspiration: Shameless By Camila Cabello (Highly recommend, btw)

Word Count: 4,883

Not beta'd, all mistakes are my own.

~*~

[Series Masterlist]

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9]

[Read on AO3]

[Author Masterlist]

~*~

Lancelot holds his breath as he waits. It's time. This is when he always shows up. Well, when they always show up, but he could care less about her. It's only him that he's concerned about. And there he is. Right on time. He watches from across the crowded club as two people come in through the front entrance. The flashing lights of the paparazzi that have followed them here were barely noticeable thanks to the heavy door blocking the club from the outside world quickly closing behind them.

A pinkette and a silverette make their way through the dancefloor slowly, stopping and talking to people, going by the bar to get their first round of drinks. Both of them are the closest thing to royalty you can get in their country, and in this club that means they are royalty as far as anyone is concerned. And they definitely live up to the title. A prince and a soon-to-be princess.

They're both beautiful. Stunning, even. They're shining stars, a picture perfect couple. The ultimate couple goals. Their life is perfect and nothing could be better. Everyone wants someone to love them like those two love each other. All anyone wants in life is to find someone who treats them as well as the prince treats the princess. That's all according to the world-wide media, anyways. But again, Lance doesn't care about anyone but the prince.

Finally, after a few minutes, they make their way over to where Lancelot is. Because of course. If they're the prince and princess, then he's a nobleman, his father being the royal advisor to the King himself, after all, if he were to continue his kingdom metaphors. He could even go so far as to say he was a family friend, though he's personally never spent much time with any of them.

"Lancelot, hello!" The princess addresses him kindly. "How have you been?"

He meets her eyes reluctantly. Not because he's afraid or intimidated by her, quite the opposite, in fact. There's just better places for him to look at right now. "I've been well, and you, your majesties?" He tacks on his little nickname for them with a playful grin.

She flushes slightly, but just shakes her head at him with a roll of her eyes while the prince beside her lets out a deep chuckle that absolutely lights Lance up inside. "We've been very well, isn't that right, my love?" The prince looks from Lance to the woman beside him as he speaks.

"Oh, yes, so much has happened recently. We must catch you up once we've finished making our round of greetings." The princess looked to be positively bursting with excitement. She then looks to the rest of his booth with curiosity and confusion, seeming to just now notice the lack of a brunette beside him. "Both of you. Where's your princess, Lance?" She questions, a mischievous spark in her eyes as she teases him with his own nickname for her.

Oh gods, don't let her hear you call her that. She would never let any of us live it down and then we'd have some real problems. He thinks with a mental sigh of exasperation. "She had a business call to attend to, I'm sure she'll be back by the time you two are." He states politely.

They both nod. "We'll be off then, see you in a few." Is called back at him as they turn and walk away. He shakes his head and turns back to the table, downing the rest of his drink in order to keep himself from staring at the Prince's backside as he walks away. He sets his glass back down and tilts his head back, closing his eyes and sighing as he sags in his seat.

The prince and princess. Tristan Liones and Isolde Connors. Son of Meliodas Taizman and daughter of Chester Connors. Chester is someone who started out as nothing more than average middle-class and managed to work his way up the ladder and into the livelihood of the rich after finding a way to create a new piece of technology that allows people to rediscover long lost memories.

Meliodas is the Mayor of the city of Liones, the capitol of our country and the biggest and most populated place in all of Britannia. He's married to the previous Mayor's daughter, so some like to say that he didn't rightfully earn his place as leader of the people, but the truth is, he had already started making a name for himself before he'd even met his current wife, through his connection with the Sin Committee.

They were a group of activists who came from out of town. They're an interesting mix of people. Each of them have their own individual cause that they wanted to focus on the most, so they'd be in charge of that topic, situation, idea, etc. But whenever there was a protest or a meeting or a vote, all the other members would gather to help out. There was 7 of them, so they each chose one of the seven deadly sins to use as a code name, which is also where their official group name came from. They gathered for all kinds of stuff. Protests, uprisings, voting polls, they made speeches and outed assholes who tried to make themselves look good. And they didn't just do it in Liones, they did it all over Britannia. Danafall, Edinburgh, Benwick. They were changemakers and they were damn good at it.

They were planning on eventually traveling out of Liones and continuing on, but then Meliodas met the mayor's daughter, Elizabeth Liones. And he decided to stay so that he could be with her, settle down and actually grow out some roots somewhere. And the rest of his group followed suit, each one finding some reason or another to stay here and build an official life for themselves. Eventually Meliodas and Elizabeth got married and not long after, Meliodas ran for Mayor as Elizabeth's father stepped down.

So, the prince. Yeah, Lance thinks it's a pretty fitting name, considering the whole damn city is named after his family. That choice of nickname definitely doesn't have anything to do with the fact that if told to, he would immediately fall to the man's feet and do whatever else was asked of him without hesitation. It definitely doesn't have to do with the fact that for months, the only constant thought in his mind is what Tristan's skin might feel like and how his lips might taste. And it definitely doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Lance has never wanted any man, any person, more than he's wanted Tristan Liones. Definitely not.

"What's up with you? Tired already?" A voice breaks him from his thoughts as the brunette slides into the booth next to him, having finished up with her phone call.

The only thing making me tired is you, Lance thinks wryly. "No, just lost in thought, thinking over some stuff." He replies, flashing her a quick half-hearted smile. "Isolde and Tristan stopped by to say hi. Isolde says she wants to tell us about some things. They should be back anytime now." He informs her.

"Oh good, it's been awhile since we've seen them, it'll be good to catch up." She states, smiling as she loops her right arm through Lance's left one and leans her head on his shoulder. Lance suppresses a sigh and places an arm around her shoulders out of obligation more than anything else, the girl under his arm sighing contentedly and snuggling closer. He grimaces, glad she can't currently see his face. Luckily, he's saved from having to linger too much on her, as Tristan and Isolde take that moment to appear once again.

"Oh, Guinevere, you're back! Lance said you would be back before we were, but I was worried when he mentioned it being a business call." Isolde admits to the woman at his side.

"Oh, it was nothing, everything is fine now." Guinevere waves her hand in front of her with an air of nonchalance.

Lance stops focusing on the women's interaction as he finally gives in to his urge that's almost instinct by now to look at Tristan. Tristan, who currently appears to be burning holes into Guinevere's arm with his eyes, glaring directly at where her arm is looped with his. Oh. Jealousy was not something seen often on the prince, but Lance is just now realizing that it is a very good look on him. Especially when it's about Lance himself.

Tristan must've felt Lance's eyes on him because his multi-colored eyes were suddenly meeting bright red. Lance's breath hitched. He was suddenly pinned by the hot spark in those green and blue irises of his. Something had changed, had finally shifted in this long game of theirs. He knew right then that tonight would be different. He didn't know how yet, but he was excited to find out, and he made sure to hold his realization and how he felt about it into his expression, with a hint of questioning. The silver-haired prince shook his head with a quick wink, just the tiniest of movements that no one would notice unless they were specifically looking for it. 'Not right now, you'll see.' Is what he was saying. Lance gave a nod in acknowledgement, another barely there movement, and smirked. Tristan is the only reason he really even continues to come here and he never disappoints, not that Lance has ever expected him to.

"So," Tristan speaks up then, clearly having paid enough attention to the other conversation happening to know when to interrupt. "Shall we head up to the lounge? It's so much easier to talk privately up there." He suggests, looking away from Lance and between the pinkette and brunette.

"Oh, yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea." Guinevere says, already getting up with her drink in hand. Lance follows suit as Isolde chimes her own agreement and the four of them head up the club's spiral stairs, the prince and princess leading the way and Lance swears that Tristan is swaying his hips slightly. Gods, he'll be the absolute death of me, Lance groans inwardly.

They enter one of the VIP lounges, the one they enter completely empty except for the bartender at the bar in the back of the room. Lance orders a second drink as the other three go sit down and he walks over to join them soon ever. When he reaches the table that they chose, he freezes for a moment. The place that was picked to sit at was a round, single booth with two spaces to enter it. On Lance's right, he could easily sit down right next to Guinevere, just like he always does, just like he should. But next to Guinevere is Isolde and next to Isolde is Tristan with an open spot right next to him and for a split second, Lance genuinely considers turning to the left and sitting next to the prince. But he catches himself and dutifully takes the spot to the right.

As he slides into his seat and places an arm across the top of the booth behind Guinevere's head, he looks to Tristan with nothing but a deep longing, finding the same emotion reflected back at him. He swallows and turns away from him, afraid he might do something stupid if he continues looking at him in that moment.

"So, Isolde? What's all this exciting news you guys have to tell us?" Lance asks as he looks at her, an eyebrow raised as he takes a sip of his drink. He notices out of the corner of his eyes that Guinevere also turns to her as she leans into his side again. He forces himself not to shift away from her.

Isolde suddenly gives out a quiet squeal. "Okay! So," She looks at Tristan for a moment before turning back to them, Lance watching as the positions of the prince and princess mirror almost exactly Lance and Guinevere's. But he doesn't think much of it as Isolde continues talking. "Tristan and I have finally gotten a date for the wedding figured out!!" She exclaims happily, positively beaming. Guinevere gasps and shares in Isolde's excitement, the two women taking a moment to ramble together.

Tristan gives out a low chuckle and Lance turns to him again, something off about the sound that escaped him. The prince seems tense, his expression tight, and it becomes clear to the blonde that his chuckle wasn't born out of any kind of amusement, though it could easily appear that way to the two others in their party, as they were barely paying him any attention in this moment. Lance's brows furrow, a slight tilt of his head asking Tristan what his reaction was for. Yeah, so they figured out a date for the wedding already. Not ideal for Tristan, he was sure, but-

"Yes!" The fakest smile he had ever seen to date plasters itself across the prince's face. "August 28th." He states. "Of this year." And right there was the answer to Lance's question. Four months. Tristan and Isolde were getting married in four months. The public had only known them to be engaged for three.

"Ohhh, an end of summer wedding will be beautiful." Guinevere says in awe.

"Oh, won't it?" Isolde coos, her hands clasping in front of her.

"In just four months, huh? That's a lot sooner than I would've expected." Lance pipes up, his eyes not having left Tristan's at all yet.

"Yes, well, Isolde just couldn't wait any longer." Tristan states. "And apparently neither could my parents. August was supposed to be a completely unavailable month. But upon hearing that August was ideal over September or November, he completely canceled all matters of business for the month. That way we could have "the pick of the lot", he said." Tristan spat out, his words getting colder as he continued, and this time it didn't seem to be for a reason that he cared to hide.

Lance's suspicions were confirmed when Isolde spoke up next. "Oh, Tristan, cut your father some slack. I know you were excited for that trip, but your father just wants to help us in any way he can." She tells him, her voice on the verge of scolding. The tone made Lance almost scoff.

Tristan looked down at Isolde with a much softer expression than he had just a moment before and smiles at her. "You're right as always, I'm sorry. Forgive my thoughtlessness." And then the prince lays a soft kiss on the princess' lips, and the young nobleman has to look away quickly at the sight. Lance takes a long drink from his glass as he surveys the rest of the lounge outside of their booth, seeing it still empty as it was before. He's about to excuse himself for a moment, needing some air, when he's stopped from doing so.

"Isolde, do you mind if I talk to Lancelot privately for awhile? Most of the rest of your announcements have to do with the wedding more than anything else and Guinevere seems a lot more interested in those details than Lance does. Plus, I feel like I should finally get to know a bit more about the man. His father is practically my uncle and yet I feel I've barely spent any time with Lancelot himself." Tristan explains to his fiance, looking at her with casual questioning.

Isolde smiles at him, believing his explanation entirely. "Of course!" Suddenly she lights up even more. "Oh! Anne should be here soon, too! Guin, have you met Anne yet? You would absolutely love her!" Isolde gushes as she looks to the brunette.

Guinevere shakes her head. "Oh, I don't think so, but if she's a friend of yours, then I have no doubt that we'll get along." She states warmly. Isolde beams at her as Tristan exits the booth to let Isolde out and Lance follows his lead, letting Guinevere out. Isolde and Tristan share a peck on the lips and Lance turns to Guinevere to do the same, knowing she'll expect it.

"Take your time, don't rush, okay? I want you to have fun with your friends. We are here for that purpose, after all." Tristan points out to Isolde.

Isolde grins and throws her arms around him in a quick hug and for a moment, the smile on Tristan's face is back to being genuine, obvious affection on his face for the woman before him. Just not the kind that it's supposed to be. "Thank you. Have fun with your new friend, Trist." Isolde says before turning and looping her arm with Guinevere's, dragging her away as the brunette waves at Lance as she goes. Once the two of them have left the lounge and headed down the stairs to go meet up with Anne, Lance turns back to the booth, seeing Tristan already sitting once again. Lance sits back down as well, both of them choosing spots that allow them to be exactly across from each other.

They both stay silent for a few minutes, simply staring at each other, both seeming to be in quiet contemplation. Then Tristan breaks the silence first. "So, when are you and your fiancé going to make an announcement? The public doesn't even know that you two are engaged yet." He points out.

Ah, yes. His fiancé. Not by his own choice, of course. He doesn't have a single romantic notion towards her. In fact, he doesn't really have any platonic ones towards her, either. Guinevere is too arrogant for her own good and has way too big an ego, not to mention her whole I-know-everything attitude. It's all just a big turn off for him. But he's stuck with her. For now, at least. She's the person that his parents chose for him. Just like Isolde is the one that Tristan's parents chose for him. Some people have said recently that arranged marriages are way too old school and going out of style, but in reality, they're just as common now as they were 200 years ago.

"I'm not an actor like you, Prince Tristan." Lance tells him with a wry smile. "Guinevere is well aware that I'm not in love with her and she doesn't want to start up the wedding process until I do fall in love with her, because, apparently, she's absolutely certain that I will eventually."

Tristan tilts his head to the side slightly. "And how do you know that I'm acting with Isolde?" He asks, a hint of teasing in his tone.

Lance raises an eyebrow at him and he chuckles softly. "Considering you look at me in ways I've never once seen you even consider looking at her, I'd say you're more likely to be in love with me than with her."

Tristan's eyes widen as soon as the words leave his mouth and Lance's do, too, once his own words register in his mind. That right there was territory neither of had even dared go into before. There's never been any communication of feelings besides lust, passion, and curiosity. There couldn't be any romance between the two, could there? He was frozen, unsure how to recover from his own suggestion.

"Well. You certainly are observant, that's for sure." The silverette seems to have recovered faster than him, though his voice is much softer than it was before.

The topic switch definitely helps. Lance locks eyes with him, pouring every ounce of want he has for the man into his eyes without a single bit of shame or hesitation. "Yes, but you already know that, don't you?" Flashes run through his mind of all the times they've checked each other out or sent silent flirtations towards each other.

From the way Tristan bites his lip, he's thinking of the same thing. But instead of replying, he slides further into the booth, until he's in the middle of the half circle. He pats the spot right beside him. "Come over here." He orders.

Lance hesitates for a moment. Not because he doesn't want to be closer to Tristan. He knows that once he moves closer, it'll be the turning point of whatever this is between them. All of this is completely new. As he noticed before, he makes note of it again. Something is different about tonight. And he has a feeling he's about to find out exactly what it is. But he hangs back a little longer. It's like when a roller coaster reaches the top but then stops for just those extra few seconds, building up the anticipation so that you feel it just that tiniest bit more when the ride finally dips and takes the drop down. And it seems his decision was the right one.

When Lance doesn't immediately come over to him, Tristan bows his head down slightly, then looks back up at Lance through his lashes, an almost shy look on his face. "Please?" The single word comes out as half whisper, half purr and Lance suddenly feels the need to adjust himself. Fuck.

Lance slides across the booth until he's right beside the prince, only about an inch of space between their bodies. He's tense now. He doesn't know what to do with himself, where to put his hands. Eventually he decides to just place them on the table in front of him. He left his drink across the table, so he just lays his hands flat on the dark wood. Then Tristan places his hand on top of Lance's and he startles slightly, sucking in a deep breath at the contact. He can hear Tristan's breath hitch beside him and he knows that he must've felt it, too. The bolt of lightning that struck through to the very core of his being as soon as their skin connected. But Tristan continues despite it.

"Just take a second to relax, okay?" He says casually in a low voice. And then he starts moving his hand across Lance's wrist and over his arm slowly, causing Lance to do the opposite of relax. It felt like electricity was coursing throughout his entire arm, spreading out from where Tristan's hand was. He watches with wide eyes as the silverette's hand reaches the crook of his elbow and starts making it's way up.

"Relax, remember?" Is whispered into his ear as he feels the slight brush of hair against his cheek. He closes his eyes as his whole body shudders.

He tries his best to follow the instruction, urging his body to relax against the seat. Then Tristan changes the position of his hand slightly, pressing the tips of his nails against Lance's shirt and then lightly dragging them against the skin over his collarbone and Lance melts. His head falls back against the top of the cushion behind him and bites his lip as the other man's palm presses flat to the spot where his neck meets his shoulder, sliding up the side of his neck and over his collarbone, until his hand finally stops, resting gently against Lance's cheek. The electricity has followed his hands path, leaving a pleasant burn in it's wake, every part of him that's been touched feeling so warm.

He slowly opens his eyes as he sits back up, looking at Tristan. The prince has a look of pure awe on his face as he stares at him, as if something Lance just did has absolutely amazed him. Lance reaches up and threads his fingers into some of the hair at the top of the prince's head and runs them through it gently. Tristan's eyes flutter closed and he hums, a pleased sound. Once his fingers reach the tips of his long hair, he brings his hand back up and mimics what Tristan did, his hand curved around his cheek. When Tristan opens his eyes again, the blue and green in them is barely visible with how wide his pupils are blown.

"Lance." He whispers, his voice shaking slightly now. "I don't exactly know what it is going on between us. What all these feelings are and what they'll lead to. I know that I want you. I want you more than I've ever wanted anybody or anything in my entire life. But," He brings his free hand up to wrap around the wrist of the hand Lance has on his face, tracing small circles into his skin with his thumb. "I feel like it's something more than that. Like even if I finally have you, I won't be able to let you go." He admits, giving Lance that same shy look as before, but with a hint of fear in it this time. Fear of what, he wasn't sure.

Lance swallows before answering. "I think I know what you mean." Is all he whispers back. He has his own theories of what it all was, but he isn't sure he's ready to confront that just yet. Tristan runs his eyes over Lance's face a few times, like he's searching for something. Then they lock eyes once again and Lance suddenly realizes that it's not Tristan's voice that's shaky. Tristan himself is trembling. Before Lance can question him, he speaks up again.

"I don't know what it is," A fierce determination sparks in his eyes and Lance is both surprised and entranced by it. "But I want to." He says just barely above his breath. "I want to-" He cuts himself off, like he's afraid of what was about to come out of his mouth.

"What is it?" Lance asks him. "What do you want to do?" He brings his other hand up to cup Tristan's other cheek gently, looking at him pleadingly. Somewhere deep down, he knew exactly what the prince wanted, because he wanted it, too, but he needed to hear him say it first.

Tristan leans into his touch and lets out a sound close to a whimper. "I want to find out together. You and I. We could do it, you know. Because you were right. Of course you were. Isolde has never been anything more than a sister to me, a friend. I hate the idea of marrying her and everything that's meant to come with it. Tomorrow, I can break things off with her. Tell my parents that there's someone else. I don't care how mad they get at me. And then you and I, we can take this however far it goes, as long as you do the same. We can make our own choices for once instead of just always doing what everyone else wants us to." His own eyes are pleading now and the fear is even more evident. Lance realizes that the fear is of rejection. That his proposal will be brushed off and turned away from.

"And what would your choice be, Prince Tristan?" He asks, his own voice trembling.

"As of right now, my choice would be you, Sir Lancelot." Tristan says with certainty.

"What if I don't want that?" Lance asks him. Not because he's considering no. Not at all. Only because he's curious as to what the alternative is.

Tristan leans in slightly, taking his hand from Lance's wrist and reaching up to run a thumb down his temple and over his cheekbone before his hand lands on his jaw and stays there. "Then we won't continue this any further. I couldn't handle doing anything more if you don't want the same as me. But it's your choice. Kiss me right now and I'm yours. Walk away from me right now and we'll never be this close again, everything we've been doing will stop."

Lance looks at him. The answer was clear as soon as the idea left Tristan's pretty pink lips. Leave Guinevere and the stupid arranged marriage behind in order to pursue Tristan and see where the feelings between them go? It wasn't even a question. Lance gives him a grin. "Stupid of you to think that I could ever walk away from you." He tells him. And then Lance is crashing his lips against Tristan's.

~*~

A/N: So, how is it so far??? Did you guys like it?? Cause I honestly loved writing this. I love these boys sm and this AU was really fun to come up with. You guys will get the rest tomorrow!!! Please, lemme know all your thoughts on this!!! I hope you enjoyed it!!!! Love y'all 💜💜💜

~*~

Tags:

@darkelf-7

[Lemme know if you’d like to be added to the tag list for this story and anything related to it!!!]

[everyveganrecipe]

🌱 Ingredient Spotlight: Asparagus!

SHARE this with a friend 🥰

Eaten raw, juiced, or cooked, this vegetable is high in: essential minerals like zinc and selenium and vitamins like A, K and folate. They have active plant constituent compounds that help break up oxalic acid crystals, contain an amino acid that help relieve the body from poor digestion or exhaustion, are high in an antioxidant called glutathione, contain inulin which feed good gut bacteria, and have a good amount of healthy fiber and plant protein.

🟩 Asparagus comes in various colors though green is the most common. Green and purple asparagus are a variety of asparagus. White asparagus is made from blocking asparagus from the sun by piling soil on top of the emerging spears. Some people think white asparagus is not healthy to eat because of this, but we cannot confirm nor deny. 😉 BTW purple asparagus turns green when cooked.

❓ Did you know? They take nearly 3 years from planted as a seed to when they are ready to harvest! 🪴 Asparagus grown from seed result in a 50/50 mix of male and female plants. The flowers look slightly different between the two and the female plants produce a red berry. The production of this berry diverts energy from the plant though, making the female plant less productive per acre. That is why commercial asparagus are genetic male clones for better production yield.

🏹 Fun fact: The emperor Caesar Augustus would bark “Velocius quam asparagi conquantur!” or “Faster than cooking asparagus,” which can be loosely translated as, “Get going already!” Augustus was such a connoisseur of the elegant vegetable, he organized elite military units to procure it for him. The famed Asparagus Fleets made rounds in the empire to import the best varietals back to Rome, while the fastest runners were employed to carry fresh spears high in the Alps, where it could be frozen for later use.

[gauntletqueen]

You've talked positively about 2 before, but what about the rest of the Rayman series?

I have a long history with the Rayman series! So I'll put it under a readmore

I used to play Rayman 1 a lot when I was little, but never beat it because it is Bullshit. You need to 100% it in order to get the ending. Not the "good ending" or "best ending" but ANY ending at all. You're not allowed to fight the final boss unless you've collected every collectible and some of the levels later on get Pretty Bullshit afhhgasf That said, the visuals and music for it are wonderful! And most of the levels, with their slow, careful platforming, are very fun and unique even today. I think, anyway.

Let's also include Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which is one of my all-time favorite games! I own like over 10 copies of it across several platforms (PC and 3DS are the best ways to play it btw) and have beat it more than any other game, easily (Sonic R runner up) It more or less reinvented the world from the first game, giving clearer lore, and a more mystical, immersive feeling to the fantasy world. The characters are endearing, the gameplay is tight and makes it super enjoyable to run through the fluid level design. Also the soundtrack is REALLY GOOD!!!! (Some of this might be nostalgia speaking but also I think I'm right probably)

Rayman M is FUN I love the music and visual design of the levels. It's not like. Good. Per se. There's basically no way to catch up once you're behind in a race, and the arena mode is pretty awkward, but I have a soft spot for it :>

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (which I'll be streaming on the 21st for charity!!) retains a lot of the cool mystique and creative fantasy from the first game, along with expanding on the wonderful artstyle. It's VERY 2000's with making Rayman more rugged and quippy, but not to any degree that really ruins the character. I like it a lot!

Rayman Raving Rabbids makes me Sad. It was supposed to be so much more than just a wacky minigame collection. Many of the minigames are fun! And if this was just a little spinoff from the main Rayman series it wouldn't be that bad. However, this marked the beginning of the death of Rayman as I knew and loved him. From this moment on, we just got more Raving Rabbids games. each subsequent installment focussed less and less on Rayman, until he was removed entirely, and wouldn't appear again until many years later. I was extremely saddened by this and hated the rabbids for a long time as a result.

Rayman finally made his return in Rayman Origins, which is critically acclaimed and the first thing that comes to mind for many people when they think of Rayman. I was Extremely Excited when it was announced, and like the previous games, the visuals of the game are beautiful. The gameplay is also fantastic, but I actually hate the story and how it portrays the characters. The game sends many mixed messages about what it wants to be, where it fits into the series, whether it's a sequel of a reboot, it's a mess. I was worried about where the series would go from here.

Rayman Legends validated my worries, by being even nicer to look at, more satisfying to play, and even worse in terms of story. The most half-baked setup for a story with no payoff. But hey it does have the music levels and those are the best so. I guess it evens out. (fun fact even though I don't like the two most recent games, I still 100% them ashfhgaf)

(bonus round) Rayman Adventures is like random small Rayman Legends levels but on mobile, they did a great job of fitting the controls to just sliding and tapping the screen, it was quite fun actually

Thank you!! Hope this was fun to read cause it's a lot hsafhgafs

[hwasong]

#ᴍᴀᴛᴢ | 𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: the boys ghost you for their friend and later regret it

ᴀ/ɴ: gn reader but rq specified female friend

⟣ 𝗞𝗜𝗠 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗝𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗚

hongjoong was excited to catch up with his old school friend

you weren’t scared of him being unfaithful to you but it was discouraging to see him cancel many dates to meet up with her

she was new back in town and he graciously offered to help her navigate her way round but it got to the point that you hadn’t seen him alone for over two weeks

you quickly brought it up in conversation and it ended up in a yelling match

Hongjoong couldn’t help but feel the guilt eat at him as he edits the song he made with you in mind. Even with Eden and Maddox in the room, he bites at his thumb as he messes around on the software he uses to create the music he loves the most. The two artists notice his odd behaviour, and Maddox leaves the room to let Eden speak to Hongjoong.

“Are you okay, Hongjoong?” Eden asks curiously as he lets his headphones rest around his neck. He rakes a hand through his hair as he glances at Hongjoong in the dimly lit studio.

Hongjoong sighs as his stiff posture finally evens out as he allows his walls to fall. A sense of anxiety fizzes in his stomach as he explains most of the situation with Eden.

“Honestly Hongjoong, you need to show them you’re sorry” The piece of honest, yet simple advice was what Hongjoong needed to hear. So with that, he test you with a hopeful smile on his face and an anxious wave in his stomach.

⟣ 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗦𝗘𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗛𝗪𝗔

seonghwa was popular in high school so it’s no surprise he has a few friends pop in and out of his life as he got older

however, his old best friend from school hit him up asking if he’d want to come out for drinks with himself and a few others

he said yes and told you before he went and ofc you were fine with it! hwa would never cheat on you and vise versa

however you noticed a friend was a bit touchy and even had the balls to flirt with him when you came to pick him up after he got a bit too drunk (who btw! you had never heard of this apparent ‘good friend’!)

he fought with you about it - still drunk - and stormed out, probably staying with hongjoong or someone else from his usual friend group

he regretted it though. when he woke up in the morning and had his sense knocked into him by a horrible headache and a furious hongjoong who dealt with his drunk shenanigans

The world feels like it’s spinning as Seonghwa awakens with a groggy groan. The light seeping into the room causes him to clench his eyes together, but the action only results in a quaking migraine that causes him to grind his teeth together.

He gathers he’s not home pretty quickly. In fact, the art supplies strewn across the coffee table beside the sofa his body hangs off of smacks him with the realisation that he ran straight to Hongjoong’s apartment after his immature fight with you. It’s apparent that his guilt washes over him like a bucket of ice cold water - and the reality hits him like a brick to the head.

“Drink this” Seonghwa glances between his fingertips to meet Hongjoong’s almost amused gaze. He points down at the tall glass of water perched on a paint stained coaster with a slight smirk on his face.

Seonghwa nods, propping himself on his elbow as he grabs at the glass. Only then does he feel the dryness that scratches at his throat.

“Take these too” Hongjoong opens his palm to show Seonghwa two ibuprofens. Seonghwa glances from the rim of the glass to peer at Hongjoong curiously.

“You’ll need it” Yep, he does.

— sorry for only doing matz but this reaction would end up too long!

[audreydoeskaren]

History of Chinese standing collars (part 1: Ming & Qing)

So, a lot of people nowadays refer to a certain type of standing collar as a “Mandarin collar” but I'm not sure if that’s legit, because standing collars throughout Chinese history looked different. I was confronted by this topic when I was writing my post on 1950s Chinese fashion and felt like I had to make a separate post. I’m gonna do a quick break down of all the different types of standing collars in historical Chinese fashion from the 16th century to the present and how they developed.

Ming Dynasty  (1368-1644)

The first mature 立领 liling standing collars were applied to women’s robes in the late 15th/early 16th century. Before any garment with a standing collar was invented, both men and women in Ming China wore garments with either a 圆领 yuanling round collar, 直领 zhiling parallel collar or 交领 jiaoling crossover collar, with crossover collars being the more common in womenswear.

Source here

Early Ming Dynasty portrait of a lady in a crossover collar robe.

The development of a standing collar was in large part thanks to the invention/adoption of the 子母扣 zimukou metal clasp button. I wonder why the fabric knotted buttons used on round collar robes were not used on standing collars in this period? They were awfully similar to the pankous of later. Anyway, at one point in the 15th century, some women thought it would be cool to add zimukou to their clothes and it resulted in this (they were also used on 比甲 bijia, 半臂 banbi and 短衫 duanshan but those are irrelevant to collars):

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Part of 明宪宗元宵行乐图 (a painting depicting various Lantern Festival activities at the court of Emperor Xianzong), 1485. This lady is wearing a crossover collar robe with a zimukou at the middle.

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Modern reproduction zimukou. You could buy these for cheap on Taobao if you want to sew your own Ming style hanfu btw.

In the 16th century a fashion revolution took place in China: the standing collar, which came out of nowhere, began to suddenly dominate women’s clothing. This OG Chinese standing collar was very tall and form fitting, usually covering all of the wearer’s neck. It had sharp, rectangular edges and was closed by two zimukou, one placed at the bottom of the collar where it meets the bodice and another slightly above, not reaching the top of the collar. An important feature that set this apart from the collars of the 20th century is that it was unstiffened and made of the same fabric as the robe, meaning it was soft and could be worn with the top bit folded over, showing the lining which could be of a contrasting color. For archival purposes let’s call this collar style 1.

There are various theories as to why the standing collar was invented, e.g. because of colder climate during the little ice age, which peaked in the late 16th/early 17th century. Methinks it was just a fad which stayed.

Source here

Late Ming Dynasty portrait, collar style 1.

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Late 16th century/early 17th century aristocratic lady wearing a standing collar robe underneath a round collar robe. The top of her collar is folded over. Collar style 1 variation 2.

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

This style of collar became the norm for Han Chinese women’s fashion in the mid to late 16th century and stayed that way throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. While the clothing silhouettes and accessories changed, the shape of the standing collar remained the same.

Source here

Late 17th century illustration for pornographic novel 肉蒲团 (1657). Collar style 1, but it became fashionable in the 17th century to have rows of piping around the neck for each button, so variation 3. Oh and wlw pride come throoouuuugh

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Early 18th century court painting, collar style 1 variation 3.

At some point in the late 18th century Han women decided it would be cool to use 盘扣 pankou, this fabric braided/knotted button of Manchu origin (more on Manchu dress later) on their collars instead of zimukou. The decoration also became more extravagant, with often rows of thick binding, piping or trim, corresponding to the decorations on the rest of the robe. It’s also slightly shorter, the upper button being at the very top of the collar. Let’s call this collar style 2.

Source here

(Presumably) late 18th century reverse glass painting showing collar style 2. The late 18th century deserves more attention, it’s such an important transitional period but also charming in its own way. This is true of European fashion of the period as well, I honestly love both places in the late 18th century.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the fashionable collar shape suddenly changed for some reason. It became extremely low, approximately only 1-2cm tall, only tall enough to accommodate one button. It still had crisp, rectangular edges. You could say this is another variation of collar style 2 but it is so iconic to the 19th century I think I’ll call this collar style 3.

Source here

Reverse glass painting ca. 1830. Han lady wearing a robe with collar style 3.

Now a brief look at Manchu womenswear.  I am not an expert on Manchu historical fashion so tell me if I’m wrong. So the Manchus, who were apparently a confederation of Jurchen tribes from the area in what is northeastern China nowadays, invaded China successfully in the 1640s and remained the rulers of China until 1911 when they were replaced by the Republic of China. Throughout most of the Qing Dynasty Manchu women wore collarless robes, it was not until the mid 19th century that some Manchu women started to wear detachable collars to emulate Han women’s fashion, and not until around 1908 (!) when standing collars were actually added to their gowns themselves. Yes, period dramas did Manchu women dirty, poor gals have been dressed in the wrong costumes this, entire, time. The misrepresentation of Manchu historical fashion in the media in general is just fucking infuriating, but well, topic for a future post.

Source here

Late 17th century/early 18th century portrait of a Manchu lady. She is wearing a 衬衣 chenyi, a robe with straight sleeves, no slits and closed at the right side. It’s a casual gown worn for everyday activities. Her chenyi is collarless and the collar is closed by binding.

Source here

1840s/1850s court gown.  She is wearing 氅衣 changyi (the bottom part of the first character should be 衣 not 毛 but this character is so obscure that it literally DOES NOT EXIST in the Chinese language anymore omg), a more elaborate style developed in the early 19th century with slits down both sides and wide trims along the collar, cuffs, side closure, side slits and hem. I have yet to see an extant example with a standing collar, all the changyi from the 19th century I’ve seen in museum collections are collarless, so the collar seen in paintings must’ve been detachable. Maybe some Manchu women liked Han women’s fashion and wanted to wear a detachable collar. I have, however, seen Manchu women’s vests and jackets with standing collars. These were similar to late 18th century Han women’s collars, so collar style 2.

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1890s/1900s women’s vest with collar style 2. 

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Ca. 1908. Chenyi with standing collar. If the passage of time is still not clear, notice the Western fabric used. Collar style 2.

At first glance this might look like a cheongsam but it is not. Chenyi did not have slits down the sides, unlike most 20th century cheongsam. It may have been a source of inspiration for cheongsam though, as I have explained in one of my 1930s posts, although the more obvious prototype for cheongsam was the changyi with slits and standing collars.

Let us now turn our attention to Manchu menswear, which is where things get complicated. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Manchu riding habit, 行服袍 xingfupao, was a form fitting calf length robe with form fitting long sleeves and 马蹄袖 matixiu “horse hoof cuffs”, closed at the side with pankou. It was constructed in the same method as Han Chinese clothing. This original Manchu robe was collarless----I cannot stress this enough. The Manchus did not come barging into China wearing robes with standing collars goddamnit, get your facts right period dramas.

Source here

Portrait of Emperor Kangxi in a xingfupao. This is from the early 18th century already but the style didn’t change much so you get the idea. I love this color btw I think he looks great in it.

The xingfupao was an informal riding habit and only one small part in the gigantic system of Manchu court dress, the rules of which are well documented but I don’t bother to look them up. If you would like to do that, Google 大清会典.  At one point in the early 18th century some Manchu dudes decided it was cool to add a collar to their xingfupao (like... Han women??) and it resulted in this:

Source here

An early example from the Kangxi era (1661-1722), a xingfupao with a standing collar of a contrasting color. The hem is detachable for horse riding (horse riding was an important aspect of Manchu culture and that influenced many of their fashion decisions). Judging by the fur lining I assume the standing collar was added for warmth in winter? I also saw some xingfupao with fur trim attached to standing collars so maybe that was the purpose.

Standing collars on xingfupao was constructed in a similar way to Han women’s collars, with rectangular edges and closed by two buttons. Pankous, which were unique to Manchu dress, were used instead of the Han zimukou. It appears that this collar was also soft and unstiffened, so it could be worn with the top bit folded over like in ye olde times (the 16th century). It’s important to note that xingfupao with a standing collar were not common at all, maybe a 1/20 probability to see in museum collections. Construction wise it’s similar to collar style 2 but it appeared earlier and was exclusive to menswear, so let’s call it collar style 4.

Source here

Qianlong era (1735-1796) portrait, xingfupao with standing collar of the same color folded over. Collar style 4 variation 2.

Another garment with a standing collar was the dress of the officials, known by white people as “Mandarins”. From the artworks and photographs I’ve seen, the collar only appeared in the outfit with a 行服褂 xingfugua, a button down tunic with straight, wide sleeves and slits at the front, back and sides. It was usually worn in combination with xingfupao, like how a shirt and vest are fixed combinations in European menswear. However, the collar of this kind of outfit was separate from the tunic itself. A plastron with an attached collar was worn underneath the robe and tunic (completely detachable collars were also used I think??) and the collar was buttoned from the inside. Not sure if this qualifies as a standing collar at all since it isn’t even attached to the robe itself, but anyway let’s just call this collar style 5.

Source here

19th century portrait of an official. He is wearing a blue xingfupao, an indigo xingfugua and a blue detachable collar; a standard ensemble (well he’s also wearing pants and boots and stuff but that’s not the focus here). Collar style 5.

Oh I forgot to mention, after the Manchus took over China, they enforced their dress code on Han Chinese men but not Han Chinese women, so in the Qing Dynasty Han and Manchu menswear were one and the same but Han and Manchu womenswear were not.

I’ve only been talking about court dress so far, educated/well off civilian Han men would wear 长衫 changshan, a floor length robe, sometimes with a 马褂 magua, a short riding vest (derived from xingfugua), whereas poorer Han men would wear 短打 duanda, a short button down shirt, and pants. Well people who wore changshan also wore pants underneath but they’re not visible. All men wore pants tbh (incoming tangent), a while back when Harry Styles in a dress (which I stan) was making the rounds on social media some well meaning people were trying to find historical precedents for men wearing dresses and they named Chinese historical clothing as an example. I just wanna say, while I appreciate the sentiment, the harsh reality was that historical Han Chinese fashion was extremely gendered (except for a few brief time periods and a few select garments). Pants were reserved for men and skirts for women, the long gown like garments seen on men in historical portraiture were all robes, not dresses; you wouldn’t consider a long coat or bathrobe a dress nowadays, would you? Men always wore pants as undergarments while women wore petticoats. However I think that’s great for illustrating how our perception of whether a garment is masculine/feminine could change over time and that gender is socially constructed. Back to the main topic, to my knowledge, magua never had collars because it was a vest, changshan commonly had collars and duanda sometimes did too. I’m not sure when the standing collar began to appear on changshan, maybe when the court xingfupao gained collar style 4 it stuck in civilian fashion, maybe it was some point in the 19th century.

Anyway, fast forward to the late 19th century, the men’s changshan had a tall standing collar but again it was different to everything we’ve seen so far. It was exceptionally tall and had a smoothly tapering edge closed by only one pankou at the bottom. This resulted in a huge v shape gap down the middle. It’s still unstiffened but because of the lack of a rectangular edge it couldn’t be worn folded over. Let’s call this collar style 6.

Source here

Late 19th century/early 20th century portrait of a man. Changshan with collar style 6.

Let’s finish this part with Han women’s collars in the 1890s and 1900s. Around this time Han womenswear began to modernize and become simpler, but that trend did not apply to collars: the collars of Han women’s robes suddenly became unnaturally tall. They were so tall that they touched the wearer’s cheeks and couldn’t be closed at the front at all, kind of resembling Regency era European men’s collars?? This style of collar was oftentimes called 元宝领 yuanbaoling, ingot collar, or 马鞍领 ma’anling, saddle collar, after the object it resembles. Let’s call all of these tall collars that touch the wearer’s face collar style 7, but bear in mind these had a lot of variations.

Source here

Photograph from the 1900s. This could be categorized as a cursed variation of collar style 6 judging from how it only has one pankou and a tapering edge instead of a rectangular edge. But like, belle époque Chinese collars are a whole other species, so let’s comfortably call it collar style 7.

Source here

More collar style 7 representation. This collar style will never stop being funny to me, like just look at it it’s so tall.

So, in summary:

Collar style 1: OG Ming Dynasty standing collar, in fashion from the 16th to mid 18th century. Tall, unstiffened, rectangular edges. Closed with two zimukou. Could have piping (17th & early 18th century). Could be worn with top bit folded over (16th & early 17th century). Worn by Han women.

Collar style 2: developed from collar style 1, popularized in the late 18th century. Medium height, unstiffened, rectangular edges. Closed with two pankou/other fabric buttons. Commonly has binding, piping or trim. Worn by Han women in the late 18th century, partially adopted by Manchu women in the late 19th century.

Collar style 3: developed from collar style 2, exclusive to the 19th century. Extremely short, unstiffened, rectangular edges. Closed with one pankou. Commonly has binding, piping or trim. Worn by Han women.

Collar style 4: collar style 2 but simpler, appeared in the late 17th/early 18th century. Tall, unstiffened, rectangular edges. Closed with two pankou. Commonly plain. Worn by Manchu & Han men.

Collar style 5: detachable standing collar, a staple of official’s uniforms throughout the Qing Dynasty. Medium height, unstiffened, rectangular/rounded edges. Buttoned from the inside. Always plain. Worn by all officials (exclusively men in this era).

Collar style 6: civilian men’s collar characterized by v shape gap at the front, I don’t know when it first appeared, some point in the Qing Dynasty. Tall, unstiffened, rounded and dramatically tapering edges. Closed by one pankou. Worn by civilian Manchu & Han men.

Collar style 7: cursed belle époque (1890s & 1900s) women’s collars that touched the wearer’s face. Extremely tall, stiffened, both rounded and rectangular edges existed. Closed by one pankou at the bottom but sometimes had more pankou for ornamental purposes. Worn by Han women in this period.

Join me next time as we dive into the Republican era where things get extra complicated.

[writers-block246]

Sex with the Batboys Hc

Jason:

* One kinky mf

* I feel like he would be down to experiment with a lot of things (like choking, breath play, handcuffs, etc)

* Honestly, mans probs has a daddy kink

* Nothing that would hurt you tho

* He’s experienced enough pain in his life and doesn’t want to inflict that on you

* He doesn’t mind a little pain, tho (like scratches down his back)

* He can be rough, especially when he’s had a bad day or when the memories become too much for him

* On those days, he’ll pin you against the wall or the bed and fuck you senseless

* He loves to dirty talk, especially during times like these

* “You take my cock so well, Princess”

* “Look at you, being so good for daddy, babygirl”

* “You’re mine”

* He also enjoys eating you out. He likes to get you off at least twice

* He also doesn’t mind switching roles

* He’ll totally be a sub if you want him too (and he likes it)

* Riding him with a hand around his throat is always an experience

* He’s very vocal, too, and he’s not afraid to hide it

* But he is a romantic at heart

* Don’t tell his brothers tho

* So he enjoys soft, meaningful sex, too

* Sometimes he’ll quote Shakespeare in your ear

* Always tells you how beautiful you are

* Dude is huge (like 6’4”)

* Probs has a size kink

* Likes seeing how small you look beneath him

* Also, he’s covered in scars from his nightly activities, so he doesn’t shy away from yours

* Will press kisses against them

* He’s lowkey possessive because sm has been taken from him, so he enjoys leaving hickeys where others can see them

* If someone flirts with you, this possessiveness comes out and he’ll fuck you roughly later that night

* He might even finger you under the table so the person who was flirting with you knows who you belong to

* Jason loves when you beg

* Will go multiple rounds

* Btw bro is hung. Red Hood doesn’t have big dick energy for nothing

* Likes cuddling after sex

* Prefers when you are curled up on his chest with your face in his neck

Dick:

* Dick’s always touchy and flirty, and this transfers over to the bedroom

* He always has his hands on you, no matter what

* He just likes to reassure himself that you’re alive and with him

* Constant flirting, as mentioned above

* “Are you my math homework? Because I wanna slam you down and do you all night long”

* *insert wink*

* “Dick, we are literally having sex rn”

* His cheesy flirtations and jokes never fail to make you laugh

* Lots of fun, giggly sex

* Sex is so easy with him

* He makes you feel so comfortable

* And those pretty baby blue eyes make you want to risk it all

* Mf is also kinky af

* Will try anything once

* Loves handcuffs and blindfolds, and will use toys

* Definitely a bit of an exhibitionist, as he enjoys the spotlight and lives to perform

* Likes to be risky

* Public sex occurs often

* He’s a switch, so he’s down for anything, depending on your mood

* He used to be an acrobat, so his flexibility is amazing

* You have a lot of fun with this knowledge

* You watching how gracefully he can move

* He’s legit so beautiful it hurts

* Hella good stamina

* Dick’s a sweetheart, so he’ll whisper sweet nothings into your ear

* “You’re so beautiful”

* “I love you so much”

* While sex is usually lighthearted, he does like to have meaningful sex, too

* He likes to show you how much you mean to him

* He has a thing for fingering you

* Like Jason, he wants to get you off a few times

* Loves the facial expressions and noises you make

* Encourages you to moan for him

* “That’s it, baby”

* Will kiss you right before you cum

* He likes cumming together

* It makes the experience more special to him

* He’s not huge down there, he’s pretty average actually

* But he knows how to use it

* Love love loves to cuddle after sex

* Will be the big or little spoon he legit doesn’t care

* Likes to play with your hair until you fall asleep

Damian: (aged up obvs)

* Because of his background growing up, he’s very new to the whole dating and affection thing

* As a result, he will constantly ask if you are doing okay or if he needs to stop/change what he’s doing

* He is somewhat nervous at first, but he’s a quick learner so it isn’t long before he has your likes and dislikes memorized

* Once he becomes comfortable and more assured in what he’s doing, he becomes a lot more confident

* His newly found confidence and dark looks quickly get you hot and bothered

* Those beautiful eyes of his become dark and clouded with lust and it’s so sexy

* Will literally go down on you whenever you want

* He’s likes receiving, too, but he’s always gentle when guiding you

* Damian didn’t receive a lot of affection as a child, so he relishes in it during sex

* He loves soft and meaningful sex

* He just enjoys intimacy

* You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and sometimes he has a hard time showing it

* So, sex allows him to show you how much you mean to him

* “You are everything to me, Beloved”

* “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Habibi”

* He likes seeing your face as you two are making love

* He’s constantly watching your expressions to make sure you’re okay

* Will whisper in different languages to you

* He has a tendency to tell you how beautiful you are in Arabic

* Damian always keeps his eyes on yours as he’s thrusting into you

* He will tell you how much he loves you as he cums

* His breathless words always make butterflies erupt in your stomach

* Enjoys leaving lovebites on you (like Jason, he’s got a little bit of a possessive streak)

* He might keep them hidden tho

* He might let you dom him if he really trusts you

* He’s obvs hung, too. I mean he’s pretty much genetically perfect

* This comes with amazing stamina

* When he’s older, he’s hella tall

* Probs around 6’2”

* You like wrapping yourself around him

* He likes that you’re smaller than him so he can curl himself around you

* It makes him feel like he can better protect you this way

* Doesn’t mind cuddling because he likes feeling your skin against his, tho he’ll deny it in public

* He likes to sling an arm around your waist and keep you close

Tim:

* Such a smol bean

* He’s such a sweetheart

* The poor boy works himself to death tho

* So sex is usually a stress reliever for him

* You’ll comb your fingers through his hair to relax him

* He’s not really kinky, but he’ll try stuff if you ask him to

* Tho he does like being called a ‘good boy’ and receiving praise

* He doesn’t mind toys, he’ll just want to discuss them beforehand

* He just likes to please you

* He enjoys giving and receiving

* He’s pretty vocal, tho he gets really embarrassed by it and blushes so prettily

* You’ll purposefully do things to cause him to make noises just to see that beautiful rose color fill his cheeks

* When you praise him, he gets really vocal

* Like Damian, he’ll ask if you’re okay during sex

* He doesn’t want to pressure you into anything

* Sex with him is a mixture of lightheartedness and seriousness

* He’ll press tender kisses to your lips as you guys make love

* He’s hella gentle

* He has a tendency to whisper sweet nothings into your ear

* “I love you more than you’ll ever know”

* “I want you in my life forever”

* Sometimes a mishap occurs tho, and you’ll giggle into each other’s mouths

* Tim will definitely sub

* He actually really enjoys it

* Loves being able to look up at your face when you ride him

* Likes being choked

* He can’t handle when you tease him tho

* Will resort to begging

* He gets shy, but he can’t help himself as he’s so worked up

* It’s like those years of strict bat-training go down the drain when he’s with you

* He just trusts you completely

* The boy never sleeps either, as he’s always so busy with vigilantism and running Wayne Enterprises

* But sex always makes him pass tf out

* (Do you use it to make him sleep? Possibly)

* Like Dick, he’s average down there

* But he makes up for it in skill

* He’s smol so he can be either the big or little spoon

* Just likes to keep you close

* Will nuzzle his face into your neck and press light kisses there

* You’ll fall asleep tightly pressed against each other

-Admin Cheyenne :)

[yumgrapejuice]

An analysis on Ranboo’s lore playlist

okay y’all first of all, ranboo has a killer taste, i love him, and second, i couldn’t resist. i’m an analyst by nature. am i looking too deep into some things? did ranboo maybe choose some songs purely for the vibe? perhaps. do i care? no. let me have my fun.

I’m gonna drop my own analysis/interpretation based on these songs but feel free do use this yourself if you want!! And also feel free to disagree/correct me on anything!! I’m not a professional musical analyst lol and I did take some inspiration from already existing interpretations for the more lyrical songs.

here’s the playlist btw

“Introduction to the Snow”—introduction to the album. Fitting for the playlist’s beginning, seeing the tone. It’s mostly referencing (self-imposed) isolation.

“Dream Sweet in Sea Major”—this Miracle Music’s whole album is about dreams and reality, how they clash, loneliness and the wish to be close to someone, yet still remaining isolated. Very whimsical, metaphorical, melodic, and it has this vibe as if on the edge of consciousness. I’d say it fits quite well with c!Ranboo’s general vibe. This song in particular deals with sleepwalking(ha)/being in a dreamlike state, the line between what’s real and what’s not blurred.

“The Mind Electric”—oh this one fits Ranboo extremely well. First part is in reverse, the second in normal (mirroring), and it can get quite unsettling. Like you’re not sure what’s happening with the instrumentals, many different voices. Again, very metaphorical, but to put it shortly, the protagonist is being judged for a crime they’ve committed and, in their defence, they say: “Father, your honor, may I explain, my brain has claimed its glory over me; I’ve a good heart albeit insane”. They get “condemned to the infirmary” for that, where electric shock is used on them as a form of “therapy”. As a result, the protagonist loses grip on reality and themselves and truly does go insane. They beg for mercy and sympathy, but there’s no one to help them. “Someone help me; Understand what's going on inside my mind; Doctor I can't tell if I'm not me”—need I say more, really?

“Live and Let Die”—the phrase “live and let die” means to live your life how you wish and let others live how they wish without interfering. At first, you live by the phrase “live and let live”, meaning you have your ideals and you try to change the lives of others according to them, but as life progresses, you stop caring as much/try to distance yourself from others’ business.

“Turn the Lights Off”—dreams and nightmares. Mildly foreboding yet energetic. The actual meaning is about growing up (transition from childhood to adulthood), but we can take some other interpretations that’d fit with Ranboo’s character better. This Tally Hall’s album deals with differences, black and white, and how there shouldn’t be a divide between them. In this song, there are some noteworthy lines that I’d like to mention:

- “Bend the nightmare, you control it; Artful dodger, easy does it”—lucid dreaming, you have to be careful with it so as to not lose control.

- “Shut the closet, get under the covers”—you’re afraid of something and instead of facing it and seeing whether there even is something to be afraid of, you hide.

- “Turn the lights off”—confront your fears. It can also mean that in the dark, there’s no differences between people, going back to the album’s meaning.

- “And everybody wants to get evil tonight; But all good devils masquerade under the light”—this could mean that everyone has a darker part of themselves but those who actually indulge in their dark tendencies do so in plain sight by pretending to be someone else.

“Ruler of Everything”—the main theme here is time and how it’s the “ruler of everything”; time doesn’t matter about where it goes, and it will never stop. The second verse is most interesting to me—there are two singers, man and time, but for the sake of interpretation let’s just see it as two voices. One is obsessed about being liked, fitting in, constantly asking for reaffirmation (“Do you like how I walk? Do you like how I talk?”), while the second criticizes the first (“You practice your mannerisms into the wall”). They argue—”I’ve been you, I know you, your facade is scam; You know you’re making me cry, this is the way that I am”. The second is calling out the first for not being honest to himself. Tone is lighthearted but with an edge of unease.

“Merry-Go-Round of Life”—from Howl’s Moving Castle soundtrack. The title’s self-explanatory, I’d say.

“Killer Queen”—this one’s a harder one to interpret in regards to Ranboo lol. The song is about, based on an interview with Mercury, a high class woman that likes to indulge in her various desires (mostly sexual). I would doubt that’s what Ranboo was going for, so! Perhaps about a person that has no regards for their reputation and instead does whatever they feel like it? They have a certain image but still act however they like. Yeah, not too sure about this one :’) But that’s what I’ll go with for my later analysis.

“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”—quite straightforward. A person that performs bad deeds has reasons for them. Not excuses, but explanations, and you can sympathize with it. We all do “bad” things for one reason or the other, and, in the end, we’re all just trying to get by. Once again, plays into the theme of there not being a clear distinction between good and bad.

“The Bidding”—another harder one to interpret. On the surface, it’s about an auction where men are trying to sell themselves to women. They all present themselves in different images, and it’s remarked that the women care less about the date and more about the prospect of it, the pretty words. The date, actually, ends up being disappointing. Could be about expectations. Some men outright admit they’re assholes so whoever chooses them should know that. People can tell you what their intentions are from the start so if you end up hurt, you have no one else to blame but yourself.

“A Mask of My Own Face”—another interesting one! Unusual instruments, strong beat. They’re singing about how they have a desire to pretend to be someone else while secretly still being themselves. “I’d rob my own apartment and I wouldn’t give a damn; I’d blame it on the person that nobody knows I am”—implying they have no regard for their own livelihood and are just out to have some fun. Plus, that no one would be aware it’s all an act. “I'd wear it on Thanksgiving and I'd laugh in the parade; At all the people hissing, knowing I'm the one they hate”—they take delight in the idea of upsetting others and them not knowing it’s actually the singer that they should be hissing. “And at the big finale I would tear my face away; And smile as they grip their own and try to do the same”—everyone wears masks, and this person implies that their mask and their true self is not different from each other while others’ are.

“Stardust Crusaders”—soundtrack from Jojo. Action-packed? idk never seen it sorry lol

“I Can’t Decide”—oh, this one’s a doozy! One of the ones that do not fit c!Ranboo at all, but that’s what makes it interesting. A classic, the singer is out to have fun, very lighthearted and yet they’re singing about murder. The protagonist here is clearly mentally unwell and they’re indecisive whether they should let their enemy/toy/(up to interpretation) live or not. Some curious lines:

- “It’s not easy having yourself a good time”—in the context of the song, that “good time” implies something wicked.

- “I’m not a gangster tonight, don’t wanna be the bad guy, I’m just a loner, baby, and now you’ve got in my way”—they don’t view themselves as “bad”, however, the next two lines are paradoxal—the singer says they’re alone and yet decide to “mess around” with whoever comes up in their life.

- “No wonder why my heart feels dead inside, it’s hard and cold and petrified”—signifying lack of empathy.

- “It’s a bitch convincing people to like you”—they don’t actually want to do that and see it as a bother.

“Stranded Lullaby”—back to Miracle Musical, back to the theme of isolation. Super lyrical, super musical. They talk about how their memories float around aimlessly in their head, a sea, and may sometimes get lost. The protagonist, a sailor, is losing touch with reality and can’t tell apart what’s a dream anymore and what’s not. They question what they’re going through and why.

“Hidden In The Sand”—a song about longing, in my eyes. The protagonist sings about how “you” love things and how he wishes to love the same things, in the end admitting that “all I’ve wanted was you”. They don’t wish to be separated, they wish to have someone in their life that they could love.

“Now I’m Here”—euphoric. They sing about how they’re alive again, thanks to one specific person. I’m not gonna go too much into this one (partly because it’s a more difficult one for me again, partly because it’s Queen and I don’t wanna uhh talk nonsense on accident lol), but what I got from it is that when one one else saw them, someone did, and they made them “live again”, and now as a result the protagonist is devoted to them.

“&”—really highlights Tally Hall’s album’s theme of black and white and that there shouldn’t be a divide. The repetition of comparing opposites is present throughout the entire song (Weak & Strong & Wet & Dry…) and it’s heavily implied we should “say goodnight” to this mindset. But people love to choose sides, put things into good or bad categories. By the line “They took a lesson from their fathers” it’s implied that people don’t develop this mindset by themselves and are rather influenced by others around them. The whole album is titled “Good & Evil” and Tally Hall examines and criticizes this idea. If we keep dividing people into good and bad, eventually, we’ll all destroy ourselves.

“I’m Gonna Win”—a song about someone who’s struggling to get by. “Sometimes it can seem like a merciless dream”—life can get really hard and the protagonist wonders “what’s really worthwhile”. In the chorus, whoever, they declare that they’re “gonna win” no matter what. They might get “bloody and bruised” but they won’t give up until they “won’t be abused” and until they’re “laughing alone”. No matter how hard life/others kick them down, they’ll keep going. By the lines “It’s hard to be charming and smart and disarming; It’s hard to pretend you’re the best; It’s hard to fulfill everyone’s expectations; It’s hard to keep up with the rest” it’s implied that they find it tiresome to keep up appearances and be liked. It’s challenging to always fit everyone’s expectations, but they’ll continue doing whatever they have to to “win”.

if ranboo ever adds more songs to his playlist, i may add them here too :) 

[hopelesshawks]

Are you still taking song drabbles? If you are, then could you do "Monster" by all time low ft blackbear for Dabi? ty <3

I am!! High quality song choice btw 👀

Sorry these are taking me so long but I really hope this one and the others I’ll eventually get to 😬 are worth the wait!

Tw for depiction of a toxic relationship, disassociation, mention of (but no actual) drug addiction, mild sexual content, degradation, mentions of dacryphilia, edging, and overstimulation

“You need to leave him (y/n) this isn’t healthy.”

It’s the same spiel you’ve heard a million times before.

Every time Dabi disappears on you you’re left a mess. And every time your friends are the ones who pick up the pieces of you and put you back together again as best they can. It’s always a long, drawn out process as they force you to do the most basic of tasks like eating and showering. It almost always takes at least a month to get you to a point where you can function in public for even the briefest of moments and every time they reassemble you the end result is always just a little bit more not right. Then after weeks of radio silence he’ll come creeping back and you’ll fall right back into his arms until the cycle repeats itself.

“He’ll call. He always calls eventually,” you refute. The incredulous and exasperated look you get back is as pointless as it is expected. Your friends just don’t get it. What you and Dabi have is special right? Right. Sure he’s been a ghost even longer than usual this time but he’ll call. He will. And then it’ll be alright. And one day soon, once he’s accomplished all his goals, the two of you will runaway together, leaving Japan behind.

Except another month passes

And then another

And then another

Until suddenly it’s been a year with no word and even you have lost hope.

You make your way to your friend’s house in a fog, barely processing the world around you, feeling like your body is merely a puppet you were struggling to yank forward. You’re not even sure you fully remember the journey, just one moment you’re about to cross the main road by your house and the next you’re turning the corner to theirs. They take one look at you before pulling you into a hug and inside the apartment. It’s like the show of affection is the final straw necessary to break your loyalty to Dabi and as you sob into your friend’s arms you decide that for real this time, you’re done. You’re done waiting around for him to call you again, done waiting for him to love you the way you deserve.

So you start to move on.

You lean on your friends, focus more on work and the few healthy relationships you have left, and slowly but surely you put back the pieces of you you thought Dabi had burned to ash. The craziest part? It works. With each passing day you get better, stronger, happier, and your friends beam with pride. You’d think you were a drug addict from the way your friends would talk about you “getting clean” but you can’t find it in yourself to blame them when it feels like Dabi was your own personal brand of heroin.

It’s New Year’s now and you’re giggling in the cab with your friend on your way home from the New Year’s Eve celebration you’d both attended. You feel light and bright from the champagne you’d sipped and the city lights are just a blur outside the window. When you finally do arrive, you slip out of the car, stumbling slightly and still giggling as your friend waves goodbye from where they’re still seated. You turn to walk to your door but your friend calls out to you, drawing your attention back. They’re half leaning out the car’s window, the cab driver looking thoroughly annoyed by now but your friend doesn’t care as they grin at your drowsily. “I’m so fucking proud of you (y/n),” they beam and the smile you give them back is even more radiant than the fireworks you’d watched earlier. As the taxi finally pulls away someone starts setting off another round of fireworks so you redirect your gaze to the sky as you turn back towards your front door. When your eyes slide back down, however, you notice a figure leaning against your front door, illuminated only by the explosions bursting above you. As you take a hesitant step closer your eyes suddenly meet familiar electric blue ones and your blood runs cold. Another firework bursts and in the resultant light you can more clearly see the scars and the condescending smirk.

“Hey Doll, miss me?” Dabi asks, smirk widening.

You’ve imagined this moment in your head quite a few times over the past year of healing. Sometimes you’d imagine yourself screaming at him, cursing him for making you waste years of your life trailing after him, coming up with swears no one had ever heard before just to express your hatred and anger for him. Sometimes, and these had been your favorite scenarios, you imagined yourself being completely indifferent to him, shrugging off his words and respectfully asking him to leave. You liked imagining you were so far removed, so thoroughly over him, that you didn’t even care anymore that he’d returned.

It turns out you do neither of those things.

Instead, without your say so, you find your feet carrying you towards him, slowly at first and then suddenly you’re running. You throw yourself into his arms and as he chuckles the vibrations through his chest and into yours rattle the pieces you’d worked so hard to mend in his absence and send them all shattering again. He is your weakness, your kryptonite, and you are helpless to his innate magnetism. So you let him inside your home and you don’t question why he abandoned you for two years and you don’t yell or scream or dismiss him at all. You let him tug you to your bedroom and treat you as if no time has passed.

He’s balls deep inside you, having just bottomed out, when you start crying. He doesn’t really care, but you’re blubbering unattractively and that’s not the kind of crying he’s looking for right now. He wants tears slipping down your cheeks from how full you feel, from being denied your orgasm when you’re so close, and then again from having too many once he’s decided you’re allowed to cum. He doesn’t want whatever emotional bullshit you’re spewing right now as your hands find his cheeks. Your glassy eyes stare into his and all he can think about is how pathetic you look as you force your sobs down enough to make whatever stupid point you’re trying to.

“Please just…. Tell me that you love me even if it’s fake,” you finally whimper.

He laughs in your face.

“You really are a pathetic little whore,” he continues to chuckle and it fucking hurts but then he’s continuing, “but you’re my pathetic little whore. I love you (y/n).”

And just like that you’re hooked again.

Later that night when he’s finally been sated and you’re curled up on his chest, you can’t help but think about how disappointed your friends would be; how disappointed the you from only a few hours before would be, if they could see you now. You don’t mean to voice your next words out loud but they slip from your lips unbidden just like the tears pouring out of your eyes and wetting your cheeks:

“Why do I run back to you like I don’t mind if you fuck up my life?”

Dabi doesn’t answer.

He just smirks.

General Taglist: @ahtsuwu @oikawaandkuroostan @oliviasslut @black-rose-29

[thatoneao3writer]

(4/?)

I have returned from my trip! I finished this last night while in the car, but I didn’t get around to sending it in, so here you go! Sorry if it’s a bit nonsensical, I wrote it mostly in bits and pieces over the past few days.

Okay, part four. The other two main hermits involved in the Important Plot Stuff in timeline a are Doc and Scar. In timeline b, neither of them would be on Earth, which would have some serious effects on the course of events. Let’s start with Doc.

In timeline a, Doc was a business partner of the Schlatts, helping them set up their human experimentation program before eventually falling victim to it himself. When he escaped, he created several holes in the security that aided both Dream and Quackity in their escapes years later.

In timeline b, because Doc wasn’t on Earth, the Schlatts didn’t partner up with him, and instead, their “company” ended up partnering with the organization that kidnapped Velvet. Their combined efforts plus the lack of sabotage from Doc meant that Velvet, Dream, and Quackity never escaped. In addition, there have been some new prisoners, but I’ll get to that later.

I was trying to come up with consequences for Scar not being the leader of the government hero organization in timeline b, and the main one that I could think of is that someone a lot less oblivious and a lot more ruthless would end up in charge instead. So it would make sense for them to make an alliance/“business deal” with Schlatt a lot sooner. Basically what I’m saying is that timeline b has a triumvirate of the three major “unethical human experimentation” groups working together.

In both timelines, the organization that kidnapped Velvet was unique in that it looked at the magical stuff it investigated through the lens of folklore and myth. It found Velvet through the myths about his mom, for instance. There were others, more powerful and more capable of defending themselves than Velvet was at the time of his kidnapping, that they also wanted to study. Fortunately, in timeline a, they did not have a sufficient budget. Unfortunately, in timeline b, with the support of the Schlatts and the govt., they did. Foolish, Eret, Karl, Sally, 5up (who was very confused as to why he’d been imprisoned; the govt. managed to track down his demon ancestry somehow, despite him not even knowing about it himself), and probably a variety of other characters are also captured by Schlatt, the Govt., and Co. (I’m just gonna say govt. from here on out bc it’s quicker to write and also the Schlatts and the other company would technically be govt. contractors at this point.) (Also, this is future fencer, going back and editing what I previously wrote: just to add on, since I realize I didn’t make this clear, part of the reason 5up was captured was because the govt. is rounding up as many demons as it can, for approximately the same reasons that hate against demons increased on Puffy’s home planet as the Crimson approached.)

Which brings me to another important point, actually. The Government Heroes. Since Doc didn’t come to Earth in timeline b, Sam didn’t have him as a mentor, and thus didn’t have the skills to take up hero-ing on his own. So when the govt. hero program tried to recruit him, he said yes. So in timeline b, the Titans don’t exist. As a result, Ant and Ponk both also ended up in the govt. heroes program.

The other main group to keep in mind is the Syndicate. With Phil and Techno in space, fighting the Crimson, Wilbur has become the Syndicate’s de facto leader. Surprisingly, Wilbur is actually doing marginally better in timeline b than timeline a. The fact that Eret was captured rather than betraying them played a huge part in this. Additionally, the fact that the govt. is so obviously corrupt helped (after the leak, Fundy “mysteriously disappeared,” btw,); when Wilbur heard the truth about the govt. hero program, he didn’t think “heroes are bad” and then have a crisis and start spiraling; he thought “the government is bad” and started fighting them at every opportunity. Timeline b Wilbur resembles pre-election dsmp!Wilbur, but with dsmp!Techno’s ideology. He’s not doing well under the pressure of leadership; he’s very depressed, has lots of self-hatred, but he mainly focuses his energy on hating the government.

Partially because of Wilbur’s very anti-government stance, partially because of the evil govt.’s efforts to get all the heroes under their control, the Syndicate are more vigilantes than just non-government-associated superheroes. Because of this, Ranboo has also joined. Tubbo and Tommy are both firmly on the team due to a need for manpower, Niki’s still on the team, and Jack also joined due to having a much more powerful mutual enemy (Schlatt).

-🤺

FENCER THIS IS SO FRICKEN POGGERS OH MY GOSH <3<3<3 Love this!!!

also holy crap timeline b sucks so much-

- 🏒

[chat-noir-always-here]

“Hey Arnold!” and “Miraculous!” parallels

Ever have an idea for a post that you take forever to get around to because 2020 is 

actively 

trying

to kill you?!

 Welp, that’s me. I mean, uh, this is that post.

Long post is long and I don’t like cuts cuz I’ve lost a few posts in the past using them. Please filter the tag “long post” I use it for walls of text like these.

So there’s this show from my childhood called Hey Arnold! 

Having been on air before I had cable (I and my unsupervised brothers and sisters spent our childhood watching Jerry Springer and Maury because there was literally nothing else on our cheap little TV. How hilarious is that?) I didn’t really have much of an experience with Hey Arnold! aside from brief little glances at it when i visited a friends home or the rare occasion where they showed cartoons at school. By the time I got satellite, the show was no longer on the air save for some late night reruns and the Christmas special which aired in December along with other Nickelodeon Christmas episodes (THE best Christmas episode EVER btw).

Really I couldn’t remember much about it until hearing about the Jungle Movie finally getting a release date (a total flop but at least its no cliff hanger) and decided to re-watch the entire series in preparation for said movie.

By which point I had discovered another show—Miraculous. 

At first glance the two shows have absolutely nothing in common. Miraculous being a French-born mahou shoujo-esque CGI superhero TV series about a couple of middle schoolers who regularly battle a walking peppermint-frappucino-looking psychopath. Hey Arnold! being a more realistic children’s sitcom about a young football-headed boy who deals out humanitarian aid in the form of advice and simple good deeds to his neighbors, classmates and friends. 

In terms of setting, logic, and animation the two series are as different as night and day.

So imagine my pleasant surprise to discover a whole post’s worth of parallels shared between the two shows???

And here they are in no particular order:

1)Arnold’s Parents/Adrien’s mom

Prior to the start of Miraculous, Emilie Agreste disappeared under mysterious circumstances leaving her family behind. Later on it was revealed that she was in fact sleeping (dead?) in a glass coffin beneath the Agreste mansion--unbeknownst to Adrien, or anyone else in Paris save for Gabriel and Nathalie.

In a similar fashion, Arnold’s parents, Miles and Stella, also disappeared prior to the start of Hey Arnold! and like Emilie were always referred to as “missing” rather than “dead.” 

The Jungle Movie later revealed Miles and Stella weren’t dead, but like Emilie appears to be doing in her coffin, they were sleeping. Having caught a bout of sleeping sickness (apparently they do not need to be hooked up to IVs or other medical devices while in a comatose state cuz fuck logic) they simply needed their orphaned son to come and cure them with the help of the magical golden heart Helga provided him with.

Perhaps Mari holds the key to waking Emilie? That would be nice to see. 

Not the miraculous of course--but some other key.

Although personally I’m hoping for a hardcore, devastating ending like Emilie dying, Gabriel going to prison where he belongs, and Adrien leaving the country for a bit until the second Hawk Moth shows up because I just like devastating cliffhangers and angst and being in utter turmoil over fictional people. But that’s just me.

2) Their best friends are dating

Smol parallel here: Arnold’s best friend Gerald and Helga’s Best friend Phoebe wind up together in The Jungle Movie after being imprisoned together by Lasombra. Similar to how Nino and Alya ended up together after being imprisoned by Ladybug (for their protection, of course).

3) The Bag of Money Episode/ The Ladybug episode

OOh boy both of these episodes make me rage. 

Some context about the Bag of Money episode: Arnold and his friends Gerald and Sid find a random bag of money containing almost $4000. Sid is ecstatic and wants to split the money evenly between the three boys, but Arnold worries it could just be lost and convinces them to let him, Arnold, take the money to the police station. On the way he accidentally switches the bag with another one that is identical and contains a bunch of useless junk, and when he tries to explain what happened to his friends they don’t believe him because their bag of money was accidentally taken by an “old lady with pink hair and a peg leg.”

 Arnold’s a good boy and he’s telling the truth--but the truth sounds crazy, even to my ears. Sid accuses Arnold of stealing the money and spreads lies to their classmates, whom Arnold has spent the ENTIRE SERIES helping in some form or fashion. Despite everything he’s done for them though, the vast majority of the class come to believe Arnold is a thief. Even Gerald, Arnold’s closest friend, nearly believes Sid over Arnold but eventually comes to Arnold’s defense. The other kids (save for Helga who doesn’t really make an appearance this episode) gang up on Arnold, but thankfully the old lady with pink hair and a peg leg shows up with an officer and together they explain the bag of money is now at the lost and found where it will remain and if gone unclaimed will be returned to Arnold, Gerald and Sid. 

Pretty much everything is resolved and things return to normal between the kids. 

But I hate this episode. I hate this episode so, so much. Arnold has spent the entire series helping these people out in some form or fashion. Literally thats the entire show. And after everything he’s done for them they’re so. Quick. To. Turn. On. Him. 

Sound familiar???

4) Hidden Personality                   vs.          Surface Personality

 I do not refer to the cruddy “true selves” thing half the Miraculous fandom believes in. Depending on one’s individual circumstances, environment and how comfortable they are, said person’s behavior can fluctuate or even do a complete 180. This can be kinda frustrating when dealing on one’s own--”Who am I anyway? Is that me or is this me???”

It’s all you, fam.

Arnold and Helga are themselves too, no matter what metaphorical/actual mask they put on. There’s the side that everyone sees and then there’s the side almost no one sees. The hidden personality isn’t hidden due to a lack of trust, necessarily, but rather it is the result of retreating to their respective “shells”--ones which both Arnold and Helga were kinda punched, kicked, and shoved into. 

Helga’s surface personality: Class bully, puts up a tough front, constantly torments Arnold because she can’t stand him and his niceness

Helga’s hidden personality: Poetic, abused and isolated, is in love with Arnold to the point of being obsessed with him and bullies him via surface personality in order to hide that fact

Of course Adrien is no bully--his reasons for not being the “cunning, funny, ultra-charming Chat Noir” 24/7 DOES have a lot to do with his toxic household, his dad, and the overwhelming expectations which are constantly smothering him as Adrien. 

Adrien is a bug under a magnifying glass (or so he feels)

Chat Noir is a chance for a freedom.

 Adrien’s surface personality was molded by his dad.

 Helga’s is the result of her entire family. Her father is brash and loud, her mother is a confirmed alcoholic, her sister is a gifted prodigy, well-rounded and spends most of the series at university or elsewhere. Although her sister, Olga, has been shown to genuinely care for Helga, Olga is kinda the reason their parents neglect Helga. With their first daughter being the genius and prodigy she is, Helga’s parents poured all of their pride and affection and parental devotion onto her. Meanwhile Helga had to walk to pre-school alone. At four years old. In the rain. Not for the last time. 

Which leads me to the next parallel.

5) Umbrella in the Rain

squeals in delight over this parallel<3<3<3

If you’ve never seen Hey Arnold! do yourselves a favor and watch this short little clip over how Helga and Arnold first met. If you have seen it, watch it anyway because it is the most adorable clip in the entire show.

Dr. Bliss: “So nobody’s ever noticed you?”

Helga: “...There was someone.”

The soft way Helga confesses that--you can actually hear how grateful she is to have such a tender memory from such a painful time. 

 In a similar manner, Adrien offered his umbrella to Marinette. Of course Adrien did it because Mari had to walk home in the rain and Arnold did it as a simple gesture of kindness (seeing as they were already at the school)--one of the many kind acts he displays throughout the series. 

 But just like Adrien needed unconditional love coming from somewhere, so did Helga. They were both denied this one common necessity which everyone else around them had. It’s not a lot to ask for, and they should’ve already had it coming from their families--but they didn’t.

 And then, one rainy day, there it was--the unconditional love they needed.

6) Clinginess

What happens when you take someone, specifically a love-starved abused child from an unstable home environment--deprived of the one thing most crucial to their mental well-being--and miraculously provide them with that very necessity? 

Clinginess. 

I can’t really think of the correct word to describe this. “Clinginess” is pretty close to what I’m trying to describe, if not on point, so let’s go with that. 

 What I mean is Helga and Adrien both need Arnold and Ladybug respectively. That’s not a bad thing--it’s okay to need somebody else. What’s bad is hinging your entire being on this one connection. For if either kiddo were to be left behind they wouldn’t handle it very well.

 It can’t really be helped with either Helga or Adrien. They didn’t really have the option to learn certain things and went deprived of unconditional love for such a long time. They’re kids--nine and fourteen/fifteen respectively. They’re not perfect and they’re traumatized for life. Being denied love from your family--the very people designed to love you--would do that to a person. Naturally they would cling to the first people to show up and provide them with the love they needed. 

 The Hey Arnold! wiki says this about Helga and Arnold’s relationship

Due to her unstable family upbringing where both her mother and father constantly neglect [Helga] and shower all of their attention onto Olga, leaving her deprived of the love and attention she needed growing up. On her way to preschool, Arnold helped her by keeping the rain off her with an umbrella and even complimented her on her hairbow. He even later gave her crackers during their snack time. Arnold's kindness and being the first person to notice her quickly caused Helga to transfer all of her love and attention to Arnold.

Of course Adrien’s tunnel vision isn’t quite as bad as Helga’s.

 He treats his friends better.

 He does love his father--

Even though his father is THE. 

WORST.

 PARENT.

 EVER!!!

--because he’s Adrien and he’s just too precious a cinnamon roll and that’s still his dad even if the man does belong behind bars.

7) Unhealthy Obsession

I--

I...

Ugh. I am not going to delve too far into this. You’re just going to have to take my word for it. Helga’s creepy stalker behavior is a thousand times worse than Marinette’s. That pic up there of Helga hiding out in Arnold’s room watching him is pretty decent evidence to back up my argument, but it’s hardly the only example or even the worst incident.

 Honestly I’m amazed at what Nicktoons were able to get away with in the late nineties/early 2000s. 

But yes, Helga’s obsession with Arnold is rather unhealthy in the most extreme moments leading her to display behavior which is more often than not disturbing and concerning. 

The Hey Arnold! wiki has this to say about Helga’s obsession with Arnold

Helga is possessive of her love for Arnold and thinks non-stop about him to the point of obsession. This is evidenced throughout the series by the many shrines and poems she makes of Arnold and of her frequent dramatic soliloquies about her love for Arnold.

Again--Mari isn’t as bad as all that. She’s a sweet girl with many healthy relationships in her life. She has ambition, creativity, and drive. But yeah she can be rather possessive of Adrien too, and that needs to stop. Like right now. Adrien doesn’t need another girl being possessive of him and thinking he’s perfect--he needs someone who acknowledges him as a flawed person and loves him despite that. 

As for Helga and Arnold--show creator Craig Bartlett confirmed they are “made for each other” and wind up married with three kids, so I’m guessing Helga grew out of some of these bad habits? Or at least I hope so...

8) Helper/Humanitarian tendencies

As mentioned before, the plot of Hey Arnold! is more or less about Arnold helping people. As stated by Gerald in The Jungle Movie, “He’s a humanitarian! Like his parents!” Of course not every episode is about Arnold helping people. There are episodes devoted to supporting characters and they’re just as enjoyable and satisfying. 

 But as he is the titular character he spends a lot of time in the spotlight. 

Remember that “best christmas special EVER” episode I mentioned before?

 The reason it’s the best special, in my less than humble opinion, is due to a few things.

 The special is not about Santa Claws. In fact, I don’t think he’s even mentioned, let alone shown and treated like an actual living character.

The focus on the entire episode is again on Arnold helping someone, but he doesn’t succeed. Not really.

The one who succeeded in helping someone was Helga, who accomplished the goal Arnold had set out to do. 

The episode deals with some rather dark subject matter and is actually quite heartwarming as the “perfect present” Arnold was trying to provide someone with wasn’t something you can buy in the store

It’s also one of the episodes where Helga’s love for Arnold leaves her to do good and as her love for him is a secret, she expects nothing in return. She’s just happy to help him.

 Kinda similar to Mari who is, as Adrien puts it in Mayura, “Our every day Ladybug.” Her kindness and devotion to helping others is what drives her as Ladybug and Marinette. It’s what brought Ivan and Mylene together. Is the reason Nathaniel and Mark now have a comic book together. And at the end of the day, that’s the reason for her strange behavior around Adrien--she wants to help him. Even if it’s just as a “good friend.” 

9) There are two main characters

Although Hey Arnold! is technically a show about Arnold, one could argue it is just as much Helga’s story. 

Similarly, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir is named thusly in order to convey the fact that Adrien is just as much a main character as Marinette is. 

Although I must say Hey Arnold! did a much better job of giving it’s co-character their dues. GIVE. ME. MORE. CHAT NOIR. FOCUSED. EPISODES. DAMMIT.

But, yes, in terms of screen time, Helga gets about as much as Arnold does. Her story and struggles were given just as much importance as Arnold’s and many people have even come to believe that the show is really about Helga. I’d say its about both of them.

10) Constantly bumping into each other

Granted this happens between Arnold and Helga more often than it does to the love square dorks. 

 But yes the two people meant to be together keep knocking into each other in their respective universes. 

 I forget who, but I remember reading that someone a while back theorized that this was the universe’s way of trying to push Arnold and Helga together. Kinda like the “Now kiss!” meme

Perhaps it’s the same for Adrien and Marinette? 

;)

[everyveganrecipe]

All about asparagus! 🌱

Eaten raw, juiced, or cooked, this vegetable is high in: essential minerals like zinc and selenium and vitamins like A, K and folate. They have active plant constituent compounds that help break up oxalic acid crystals, contain an amino acid that help relieve the body from poor digestion or exhaustion, are high in an antioxidant called glutathione, contain inulin which feed good gut bacteria, and have a good amount of healthy fiber and plant protein.

🟩 Asparagus comes in various colors though green is the most common. Green and purple asparagus are a variety of asparagus. White asparagus is made from blocking asparagus from the sun by piling soil on top of the emerging spears. Some people think white asparagus is not healthy to eat because of this, but we cannot confirm nor deny. 😉 BTW purple asparagus turns green when cooked.

❓ Did you know? They take nearly 3 years from planted as a seed to when they are ready to harvest! 🪴 Asparagus grown from seed result in a 50/50 mix of male and female plants. The flowers look slightly different between the two and the female plants produce a red berry. The production of this berry diverts energy from the plant though, making the female plant less productive per acre. That is why commercial asparagus are genetic male clones for better production yield.

🏹 Fun fact: The emperor Caesar Augustus would bark “Velocius quam asparagi conquantur!" or “Faster than cooking asparagus,” which can be loosely translated as, “Get going already!” Augustus was such a connoisseur of the elegant vegetable, he organized elite military units to procure it for him. The famed Asparagus Fleets made rounds in the empire to import the best varietals back to Rome, while the fastest runners were employed to carry fresh spears high in the Alps, where it could be frozen for later use.

www.everyveganrecipe.com