Closed for @youngwolfastrid
Cinder was finding herself enjoying her meal. It was just a bunch or tourists no one would miss them. She bit into the heart savoring the flavor. The siren paused when she noticed another prescence. Eyes glinted as she noticed the new person.
"Want some?"
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Ruby, her arms folding over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently: You promised we would go out tonight at seven thirty.
Vampire!Cinder, hissing from beneath the bed: It's still too light out! Tell your friends to wait! You know how I get in this kind of sunlight, it's embarrassing!
Ruby, spinning around and taking steps towards the door: Hmph. Fine. And I was gonna let you feed tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ruby, sitting at a small restaurant's outdoor patio, swirling a wine glass in her hand, chuckling with a bit of a blush: Sorry about her, she uhh...she had a bit too much to drink.
Velvet, raising an eyebrow: You're the only one who's had any wine though.
Ruby: Aheh...yeah, uhh, before we came here. She's got...social anxiety...
Coco, absolutely buying it: No that makes total sense I had a shot before we came here too, girl I like your style.
Vampire!Cinder, wearing a wide brimmed black hat, having been basically draping herself over Ruby for this entire conversation, basically pawing at her face: Ishent scheee sho ccccccyyyyuuuuute! I luv her, luv luv luv luv. Shuch preetty, pretty face. Pretty pretty eyyyyyeeeeeeeees. Pretty blooooood~
Ruby, panicking for a cover story: Uhhhh....we're kinky?
Coco, slamming her hands to the table: I! LOVE! IT!
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Two Very Different Books That I Read Overnight
I adore fairy tales. Since my present of Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book at about age 5, I have always enjoyed them, and I enjoy equally those who rewrite them and inject new life into them, from Marissa Meyer's Cinder to Robert Munsch's The Paper-Bag Princess, Amanda Lovelace's the princess saves herself in this one and my beloved Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles to Jane Yolen's grim Briar Rose and Charles deLint's Jack the Giant-Killer - oh, I could go on and on. Oddly, a number of "princess saves herself" narratives appear in The Blue Fairy Book, though I suppose they're Mulan-esque: she has to disguise herself, either her cleverness or her beauty or both in order to be badass, and the resolution DOES involve a man. In Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) takes another angle altogether: the traditional villain of Sleeping Beauty IS the sleeping beauty. Narrated by Toadling, the "evil" fairy godmother of the usual story, Kingfisher's story takes us into faerie, giving us Toadling's history, but Maleficent this isn't. The author herself calls it a "sweet" novella, and that's a good description. Both hero and heroine are flawed, basically gentle characters, and the tearing down of the briars is a dubious prospect that both engage in, finally, as if they must finish the fairy tale rather than because the "prince" desires the "princess". For those who enjoy new interpretations, Thornhedge is a little gem.
How can I resist a book entitled The Book No One Wanted to Read? I spied this one on the "to be shelved" cart and grabbed it. It's a quick read, but fun. Author Richard Ayoade is a British comedian, director and actor, and his acerbic sense of humor showed throughout the book. The illustrations are lovely pen and ink images of a library and multiple "fig. 1" images that relate tangentially to the dialogue taking place between the narrator and the book who has written this book - that's not a typo. It's very meta - children who enjoy Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie series might enjoy this later in their reading careers. I specifically refer to We Are In A Book!, one of the most delightful examples of breaking the fourth wall I have ever seen, children's lit or otherwise. Deadpool might have been raised on such literature. While the dialogue (and pictures) feature a high degree of snarky humor, the ultimate result of the conversation is almost cliche. Like all children's books, the ending inspires readers to go out and create their own works of art, yet Ayoade never lets it get sappy. This reader smiled, picturing the narrator tucking the grumpy, prickly book under her arm and quietly leaving the library to find a coffee shop to write in. This is probably a terrific book to read aloud with a kid who's a bit too old to be read aloud to.
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bramble jam girl!dadstarion, <1k
“I thought it’d be nice! Everyone likes jam!”
“In what realm would we need this much jam?”
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(x reader)
christening this most inaugural of dadstarion fridays with the most fang-rottingly sweet fluff i could muster. enjoy!
w/c: 700+
He kneels next to her with a pensive furrow, the critical moment; small wooden spoon in hand nudging little closed lips smeared already in a sticky purple.
Bated breath.
Astarion taps as her mouth remains closed. She looks at him with the same half-baked incredulous look he gives you - a firm ‘no’, with notes of why would you even ask me to do this, you freak?
“Come on! It’s delicious. Look!”
He lifts the spoon to his own mouth and pokes his tongue just past his lips, darting briefly into the bizarre gloop.
The resulting wince is priceless. It tastes of nothing to him; of cinders and dead syrup. The wobble of a smile as he aims to convince her that whatever the spoon yields is lovely wrapped in a deeply unsatisfied ‘mmm’.
Looks at him with genuine disgust. She’s too perceptive.
Behind his back the kitchen sits a picture of disarray - spattered in bramble pulp and dotted with various wooden stirrers, bubbling cauldron atop the stove, littered granules of sugar now crystalline on both the countertop and your floor.
“What is this?” You break your cover, his head whipping round to find yours sheepishly.
“I made jam! She won’t eat it.”
A feeble quirk of his lips. Whoopsie!
“Why would she eat plain jam?”
“Why wouldn’t she! Yummy jam! Yum!” He speaks in a sing-song lilt, cracking in sleep-deprivation.
“Why have you used all my brambles on said jam?”
The tar-like brew looks awful. Thick and dark, smelling of dark sugar and burnt lemon. He winces once more.
“I thought it’d be nice! Everyone likes jam!”
“In what realm would we need this much jam?”
The shoulders sag and he stands from his kneel, tilting his head to look at her and putting the spoon on the bare table. You fight the instinct to roll your eyes knowing full well he won’t be the one wiping the sticky spot later.
“I don’t know! Jam!”
Hands wide around his head, a tired smile wracked with mirth. Eyes round.
He tried. He really did try. Recipe book pages open on the side now splattered with maroon fruit juice. The air is thick with the smell of sugar. You take a spoon from the silverware drawer and try a little straight from the pan, blowing the purple globule to cool it; and it isn’t bad in the slightest.
Not particularly good, granted, but he’s neglected the aromatics - you presume because his target audience is just breaching a year old. You clear your throat in preparation for the most saccharine baby voice you can muster.
“Little love! Look!”
You take the spoon from Astarion and suckle on the cool jam, smiling animatedly and nodding in visible contentment. A joyous ‘mmm’.
She watches on with genuine awe. Nods along. Her own attempt at a ‘mmm’ sounding more like a kitten mewl. Chubby fingers reaching for your spoon in little bunny bounces until her face looks to be on the verge of crumpling with want.
He watches on in amazed resent, eyes soft.
“She can tell you don’t like it. That’s why she doesn’t want it.”
You refill her spoon from the pot and blow over it for a minute or two while he lifts her gently from the ornate baby chair and brings her little form over.
“That was witchcraft. I’m calling in on the nearest guild of mage-breakers first thing, you know.” He whispers as she burbles and reaches out for your warm hands. You press a small kiss to the high of his cheekbone.
She grabs messily for the spoon as you bring it to her lips. Opens wide in anticipation of ‘the red dragon’; one of the smallest seeds on top of the gloopy pile christened after Lae’zel with both you and Astarion wailing in mock horror as she eats your long-time friend. Her little laugh is like a singing bell, the messy flicks of her tongue as she relishes the taste and bounces in his arms.
“No. She simply just reveres you. Why would she eat something if she knows you don’t like it? Clearly something of a tastemaker in those little eyes.” You smile at him with a slow blink.
He looks to you and back to her with the warmth of a Kythorn highsun. Rests his head atop yours.
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