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lizzybeth1986 · 2 years

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A Blossoming Friendship

Book: The Royal Romance, Book 1

Characters: Hana Lee & Kiara Theron (platonic for now)

Rating: G

Word Count: 2,864 words approx

Summary: Rivals and suitors for the Prince's social season, are never really expected to become friends. All that changes - for Lady Hana and Lady Kiara - with one conversation.

A/N: Takes place after the apple-tasting task at the Apple Blossom Festival (TRR1 Ch 11) Plum blossoms are China's national flower, and orange blossoms are used often in Moroccan cuisine (and Kiara is part-Moroccan from her father's side).

This story is a prequel one-shot to a Hana x Kiara series I'm planning, Petals and Thornes. Let me know if you'd like to be tagged.

Tagging @choicesficwriterscreations for FotW.

The first crop of the season has a particular bite to it.

As Hana Lee walks away from the trio of chosen frontrunners - the bitter aftertaste of Cordonian Rubies still ringing on her alarmed tongue - Hana finds herself feeling something vaguely approaching anger towards her mother.

All that time, all those lessons. The best tutors, the best academies, the best books. Etiquette embroidery dressage dancing music ice-skating tea-serving. Only for her downfall to be brought about by an apple.

She is sure Mother must be sitting at home right now, watching the live feed, scowling at Hana's face as she blurts out - barely masking her disgust - "I wasn't expecting such a sour taste!" She has no doubt Mother must be hissing the rare expletive at the TV screen.

As if you had nothing to do with that, Mother!

Her brain is such a deluge of words and smart phrases, things she could absolutely say if she picked up the phone right now. How could you? You sent me here thinking they tasted like honey! She can just imagine Mother on the other end of the line, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. How the hell do you expect me to be Queen of Cordonia if you can't even let me know what their apples taste like! It would be so simple: she could outshout Mother, interrupt her the way she's been interrupted half her life, leave her speechless with quick, short, harsh catchphrases and ironclad logic.

Except she knows that won't happen. The moment she picks up that phone, every single word - no matter how well-rehearsed - will crumble into ashes in her mouth. Yes, Mother. I'll try, Mother. I'm so sorry, Mother. I'll work harder, Mother.

But she knows one thing now, in a way that her mother still refuses to. All the effort in the world won't be enough. She could have stood there stone-faced and waxed lyrical later, and still not stood a chance. It's a realisation that dawned on her over the past few weeks - she is not Cordonian enough, not white enough, to be worthy...no matter how perfect her dressage moves are or how skilled she is at everything a noblewoman is expected to do.

Broken engagements are small change for the likes of a Countess Madeleine - they're only reputation-ending scandals when the woman in question is a brown-skinned foreigner.

"Vous voulez de l'eau?" a familiar and rather musical voice calls from behind.

Lady Kiara Thorne is one of those women who doesn't even need to try to look gorgeous. Even on her worst days, Hana doesn't doubt that her hair will be the glossy black of a raven's wing, her skin smooth and dewy, her stride sinuous and confident. Among fellow Cordonian nobles who smile sweetly to her face, and engage in mindless whispered gossip about her skills as a polyglot (or lack thereof, they would insist - she only ever speaks two languages!) behind her back...Hana envies Kiara's ability to remain so supremely unruffled, so self-assured. She is sure that getting to that point can't have been an easy journey.

Today Lady Kiara is holding out a small bottle of water - likely taken from the stands kept for the apple-pickers. Hana's eyes search her face, warily, suspiciously, for signs of disdain, and finds none.

"Take it, I don't have all day," Kiara taps her foot in impatience. She clarifies as the doubt in Hana's face changes into pure confusion. "It'll take the edge off of the taste."

Kiara is right. The moment the water touches her tongue, the sour taste instantly dissolves into a mellowed sweetness, lingering in her mouth.

Satisfied, Hana settles down on a stone seat a little away from the press and the three women. Kiara takes a sear beside her. It's the first time they've ever sat together like this, out of choice rather than necessity or seating arrangements. Hana regards the other woman with wariness and more than a little admiration.

Lady Kiara was the first to drop out of the running, around the time of the Lythikos Ball. Hana remembers, even now, how when the spare of Castelserraillan claimed the Prince would fall for her, her smile never reached her eyes. This woman knew from the beginning she wouldn't stand a chance - not with half of the press, not with the royal family (and once Esther blazed into their lives like a rogue comet, not even with the Prince himself).

But what most people would view as a failure she'd transformed into opportunities; she has never stopped hustling from one contact to another, one prospect to another, patiently laying the foundations for the next step in her career, whatever that may be.

The two women watch now in silence as the frontrunners of the season vie for press attention, their blindingly white faces turning a little pink in the sun. Duchess Olivia stands a little back, surprisingly. She looks tired, bitterly aware that she's lost most of her footing with the public since her infamous public kiss with the Prince. Countess Madeleine exudes confidence from every pore, except when she steals glances at the woman she'd never expected to last a week. Her eyes blaze in a naked need to possess what she considers her territory. And Esther...

"This is your first time?"

"Hm?" Hana murmurs distractedly, her eyes still focused on the dark-haired woman whose striking sapphire eyes caught all of Cordonia's attention from the moment she blazed into the social season, and into Prince Liam's life. Unbidden, she lets out of soft sigh.

Kiara rolls her eyes, and tries harder than ever not to scan the area for her very own special...also-dark-haired...person.

There are a great many things Lady Lee may be good at; hiding her feelings isn't one of them.

"Eating a Cordonian Ruby," she repeats, slower and more deliberate this time. "Is it your first time?"

"My mother used to bring only a few from trips she took to Bethulia," Hana says, curling within herself and cupping her chin, almost defensively. What kind of Cordonian are you? she can almost hear Kiara thinking. "Mostly for pies. Or to be more accurate...to make me learn how to make pies. I've never actually tasted one on its own."

"How did she describe the taste?" Kiara asks, the corner of her mouth tugging upwards very slightly.

"You know...the usual," Hana says tiredly, "Pleasantly crisp. Intense flavour. Notes of caramel." Hana lets out a harsh laugh at the last description.

"To be fair, it's the first pickings of the harvest that have the harshest bite." Kiara concedes, "they mellow down a little after that."

Hana bites back a smile. "Only a little?"

Kiara grins back. "You must understand...Cordonians - especially here and among the descendants of the Fire Tribes - tend to have more of a taste for the astringent. You should try their glazed duck with garlic potatoes once - you'll understand."

Hana nods. Above her and Kiara, the petals of some apple blossoms fall, leaving the remaining to release their own bouquet of scents: some delicate and mellow, some spicy, some like mulled wine - warming your limbs and your soul.

"Perhaps that's why I might never be fully into this kind of apple. I was brought up in Shanghai. Sugar was always seen as a sign of prosperity. Most of our foods are at least a little sweet."

"That makes sense," Kiara says, "What is your favourite fruit then, if it isn't an apple?"

Hana allows herself a tiny smirk, anticipating the horror on Kiara's face when she whispers, "Durian."

"You're not serious!"

"You only think so because you haven't eaten one yet," Hana points out, laughing slightly louder now, "even if it smells like turpentine and onions wrapped up in a sock..."

"...or as Anthony Bourdain once put it so elegantly, 'as if you'd french-kissed your dead grandmother -'"

"Hah! That's a new one," Hana says, feeling a little bolder and less polite, in the face of Kiara's teasing demeanor, "But the taste is divine. Smooth like custard, pillowy like the softest cheesecake. A...slightly strange mix of flavours, like garlic or cheese or caramel, but it works."

Kiara raises her eyebrows.

"Really!" Hana says, laughing again, "but the funniest part is you can never truly know how ripe it is, except by smelling it."

Kiara wrinkles her nose. "One small sacrifice isn't much for something that delicious, oui?"

"Oui," Hana echoes. "What's yours?"

Kiara grimaces. Her answer is uttered so softly Hana isn't sure it can even qualify for a whisper.

"...oranges."

Hana lets out a rather audible gasp. "The national fruit of Auvernal?"

"Keep your voice down!" Kiara hisses, then laughs at her own brief panic, embarrassed. Hana presses her lips together to stem any more laughter, but her eyes glimmer with mirth.

Sheepishly, she whispers: "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Hana playfully performs a zipping motion with her fingers, over her mouth. "My lips are sealed. We can't possibly have the daughter of diplomats creating an international incident at Cordonia's biggest social season yet, can we?"

Kiara's eyes widen in surprise at Hana's own audacity, before she chuckles herself and joins in the fun, pretending to jokingly punch Hana's arm.

"You're teasing!" She shakes her head, "though to be quite honest with you, the fruit is just alright. It's the flowers I'm crazy about."

Creamy-white, with honey-hued orange tips at the center of the flower...Hana has never tasted orange blossoms before, but she's aware of their scent - fresh, like new soap...now if only she could remember the words from her old copy of the Language of Flowers...

"Your purity equals your loveliness," Hana whispers suddenly, a slow smile gracing her lips.

"What?" Kiara responds, confused.

Hana laughs, lifting a small petal of apple blossom from the ground. It is velvet at the tip of her fingers. "That's what orange blossoms are meant to signify... according to the Victorians, anyway."

Kiara shakes her head, gazing at Hana with something approaching fondness. "The next time I need to send someone a bouquet, I'm calling you. I gave up trying to remember flower symbolism before I turned 15."

Hana strokes the petal lovingly, smiling as it bends a little at her touch. "Why orange blossoms?"

"My father's father came from Morocco," Kiara tells her, stretching as she makes herself comfortable and staring into the distance, as if she were there in Morocco with her father's family. "A traveling musician who married my grandmother - the Duchess of our province. Along with my Jiddah, he is considered one of Castelserraillan's best Dukes."

Hana lets the petal fall, looking downwards. "That's a very sweet story."

Kiara doesn't seem to hear her. "Orange blossom water is everywhere...our perfumes, our mint tea, our couscous...and dessert without at least a drop of it never tastes quite right to me."

"How does it taste?" Hana asks, her eyes softening. She knows, already, that her companion's mind is not even in Cordonia right now, but far away, in Morocco, exploring the streets and sinking her teeth into a sinfully honeyed almond baklava. She knows, because even though she grew up in a whole different continent Hana has felt in her bones what it feels like to belong to many places at once.

It's a rare moment, indeed, to see a pragmatic Lady Kiara wax...poetic...over practically anything, so orange blossom water must be something pretty damn special.

"You have to be careful with it," Kiara says, smiling slightly, "it's clean and bright, floral and citrusy all at once....but it's that tiny kiss of bitterness that makes it truly special. Too much and you'd let that same bitterness overpower a dish."

Hana smiles brightly, wrapping her arms around herself. "That's beautiful," she says, "I hope to taste something like that one day. My favourite blossom doesn't really get used in food that much."

Kiara regards her curiously. "Which one is it? Foxgloves? Daffodils?"

Hana shakes her head, laughing. "Plum blossoms."

"Ah, I should've guessed. China's national flower, yes?"

"Yes...and people like to see it as symbolic of our spirit as a people. A sign of persistence and grit. It looks delicate but you'll find it blooming in the harshest winters. We even have a saying somewhere about how its fragrance comes from the bitterness and the cold."

"A defiant little flower," Kiara says softly, then smiles, "It sounds like exactly the kind of flower Lady Olivia would like. She'd probably nick a shrub and try to grow it in Lythikos."

Hana fakes a cough. "Listening to her you'd think Lythikos is the only place that knows what resilience means." she mumbles under her breath.

"You only have to drop a pebble for Olivia to rant about how good Lythikan pebbles are and how no other pebble compares," Kiara whispers back, winking. Even in a voice so low Hana has to strain to hear her, Kiara manages to capture Olivia's way of speaking perfectly.

Hana and Kiara look at each other, gauging the other's reactions. Then they burst into peals of laughter.

"Are there any foods you can use them for? The plum blossoms?"

Hana pauses. In her minds eye she can see those pale pink blossoms, can almost get a whiff of their distinctive scent. No one here knows what that flower means to her...and perhaps they never will. Her Nǎinai and aunt had named her after it. Her aunt had read her poems on it. Our love is like the plum blossom/The freezing snow won’t be able to bury it/It blooms on the branch at the coldest time. When Nǎinai died, Hana placed a plum blossom from Nǎinai's favourite tree, next to the urn that held her ashes.

No one, not even Esther, knows this. And Hana is not ready yet to tell.

"Sometimes," Hana runs a fingertip over her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Usually as garnish for desserts. But you can also use it to make some wonderful tea."

"Really?" Kiara has always wanted to try more teas from China and Japan, but has never really ventured beyond some of the more popular varieties.

"It's lovely. It smells like peaches but the taste is absolutely like plums or stonefruit, and sometimes it'll have the nuttiness of almonds. Very sweet, very fruity, very floral. Layer upon layer upon layer of flavours."

Kiara grins. "You sound like you're describing a vintage wine!"

"We should take you to a proper tea ceremony!" Hana says, already excited by the prospect. She knows there is a chance the court may visit her city after the Coronation - maybe she could ask her parents to include that teahouse in Hangzhou in the itinerary. "Many of the tea leaves go through an ageing process - much like wine - and the drinks have their own aromas and flavour profiles."

"Only difference is you won't get drunk," Kiara teases.

"You'd be surprised!" Hana responds, with an airy playfulness. "If we ever get a chance to visit China on the next tour as a court...I'll show you."

Kiara tilts her head slightly, a smile still on her lips. Hana shifts nervously in her seat, wondering if she has overstepped.

They're not yet friends, after all. Just two people who happened to have a lovely conversation.

"Is that a promise, Lady Lee?"

Silently, eyes wide, Hana nods yes.

"Good," Kiara says, her smile a little wider. She looks down on her watch, and gasps when she sees the time. "I'd better leave. Penelope has been begging me to come join her for cocktails a little away from here. She'll be very upset if we're late."

Hana stands up, brushing away the dust and fallen petals from her dress. "Have fun, both of you."

Kiara doesn't take more than ten steps away when she suddenly turns back towards Hana.

"...Lady Hana."

"Yes?"

Kiara stares at her for more than just a few seconds, and Hana fights the urge to shuffle her feet nervously at the scrutiny.

"Would you like to join us? It's not too far, and we won't be there too long. I can always get our driver to drop you back if you want to return early."

Hana knows exactly why Kiara is asking. She'd seen the writing on the wall herself weeks ago, ever since her embarassingly desolate yacht party, but today's show of honesty has sounded the death knell on any hopes that she'd get any further in this competition. If you'd told her this weeks ago Hana would have been a wreck, dreading the next phone call from her parents.

But right now she feels surprisingly...light.

She knows why Kiara is giving her a hand in friendship. A show of solidarity. A recognition of Hana's own position, now.

And in all honesty, it doesn't actually feel all that bad.

Hana closes the wide gap between herself and Kiara, coming over to her side.

"Lady Kiara," she says, offering her new friend her most charming smile, "I'd be delighted."

Notes:

Vous voulez de l'eau? - Do you want some water?

Jiddah - Darija for grandmother.

The poem Hana's aunt taught her is a Song-dynasty verse called "One Plum Blossom"

In the P&T-verse, Hana has a name that only her relatives from her father's side use to call her - Méihuā (plum blossom).

While Kiara's surname/House name is Theron in canon, I've changed it to Thorne in the P&T-verse

#hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #HLAW #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #HLAW Day 6 #HLAW Day 6: Flowers #lizzybeth1986 #content: fanfic #kiara theron

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hanaleeappreciationweek · 2 years

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We are moving towards the last two days of HLAW now, and the response thus far has been amazing. It's unbelievable how gorgeous all the content we've received thus far is, and we cannot wait to show you our masterlist when this week is done!

Day 6 focuses on something that is connected to Hana both socially, and personally. Flowers! We have already seen her love for flowers in the Conservatory Scene in TRR2, where she shows us how much she loves flowers, and what all of them could mean. But flowers are also associated with Hana through her mother - they are part of her mother's House Crest. So it would be great to explore Hana's relationship with flowers, and what they mean to her!

This is also Throwback Day! This is a day specifically put aside for Hana fans to show (and talk about if they want) content that they have made for Hana in the past. You can reblog the content (art, fic, moodboard, anything!) and if you'd like - give us an insight into your process creating it! In case you're not sure where to start, here is a list that can help you!

As we have mentioned before, the theme is a prompt meant to inspire those who want to write. It doesn't necessarily have to be sent that day itself : you can always create content later on and we will tag you! Just make sure you tag it with the day you intended it for.

Additionally, we will also keep a week's gap for anyone who wants to send additional content but hasn't been able to because of time constraints.

Make sure you do these things while making your posts:

1. Write #hanaleeappreciationweek and #HLAW in the tags.

2. Tag @hanaleeappreciationweek, along with co-hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes

Optionally, you can send in content to these fan blogs as well!

@choicesficwriterscreations - Mostly fics. Here is their event roster!

@choicesmonthlychallenge - Any and all content is welcome. They have monthly prompts - this time, it's Picktober!

@choicespride - Any and all content is welcome. Currently they are still accepting entries for Bisexual Awareness Week!

Have a great Hana Lee Appreciation Week, everyone!

#hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #HLAW #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #HLAW Day 6 #HLAW Day 6: Flowers #HLAW Day 6: Throwback

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thecapturedafrique · 2 years

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HLAW: Day 6—Flowers/Throwback

Good evening everyone and happy Hana Lee Appreciation Week! For day 6 I’ll be sharing the character page I created for Hana since her name itself means flower lol. As with the page I shared for Liam during his appreciation week (here), there will be notes below the read more explaining the points specific to my AU.

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and the marvelous hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Full Name: Hana Lee Hua

In Hànyǔ: 李花 (Lǐ Huā)

In Greek: Ανθεια Λι (Anthea Li)

Nicknames: Meihua (Xinghai), Xiao Hua (Bao), ánthdáki (Floure), Ánnáki (Liam), Flora (Ally), Han (Maxwell & Penelope)

Noble Title: HG Hana Lee of House Ryuka, The Duchess of Chrysopolis, Guardian of the Realm, DOS, RC

Charge and Colors: sunflower; murrey and or (w/ bleu-céleste)

Epithet: The Ideal/Idol → Psyche Anthea

Age: 24

Date of Birth: September 24th, 1994

Place of Birth: Shanghai, PRC

Zodiac: Virgo ♍️ (Sidereal), Dog 🐶 (Chinese)

Gender: Cis woman

Pronouns: She/her

Sexual Orientation: Biromantic Demisexual

Enneagram: 9.3 (w1; Negotiator)

Optimistic, reassuring, supportive: have a healing and calming influence—harmonizing groups, bringing people together: a good mediator, synthesizer, and communicator.

Height: 5'6"

Race/Ethnicity: Han Chinese, Agni Hito, Malayali Nair

Nationality: Chinese and Cordonian

Face Claim: Vanessa Tevi

Education: Balissande Finishing School; Swiss Grand Diploma in Pastry & Chocolate Arts from Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland

Languages: Putonghua, Shanghainese, English, Cantonese, French, Italian (intermediate), Greek (novice), Latin (studied)

Favorite Color: pink

Tattoos: apple stylized as a heart with an A in its center on right shoulder blade; flowers growing from a book on inner left wrist

Piercings: single lobe; left nostril

Partner: Kiara Theron (girlfriend)

Best Friend(s): Ally Romiere

Family: Lorelai Lee (mother), Xinghai Lee (father), Floure Ryuka† (maternal great-grandmother), Bao Lee† (paternal grandmother), Qinghai Lee (paternal uncle), Yawen Lee (paternal aunt-by-law), Aparna Nair (maternal cousin once removed), Ganesh, Karthik, Ganga, Jyoti, and Manikantan Nair (second cousins)

Character Notes:

Hana’s Greek name is a transliteration based on the meaning of her given name 花 and her Western name Hana, as Anthea also means “flower”

As her House name indicates, she is a descendant of Sei Rhuka; I changed the surname to the correct spelling and covered up PB’s mistake in canon as being in-universe an incorrect romanization

Liam’s nickname for Hana is based off Anthea, which he chose to use in part due to the similarity between Ánnáki and the common Cordonian pet name “ánthdáki,” Greek for “little blossom” and previously used by Floure. Bao’s nickname 小花 was the Chinese equivalent, and her father called her 梅花 (“plum blossom”) when Hana was little.

Not so coincidentally, the plum blossom is one of her favorite flowers next to the lotus and the moonflower

Ally (my TRR MC) actually nicknamed Hana after the character Flora from the Winx Club due to their resemblance in both looks and personality

Since Liam mentions his desire to revitalize the old unclaimed duchies, I head canon that he also bequeathes one to Hana at the end of TRR2, both because she’s proven herself to be an excellent candidate and also because, like with the MC, he wants to ensure that she always has a home in Cordonia

Duchy Chrysopolis in particular is also significant because it was formerly held by his mother Queen Eleanor

Guardians of the Realm are members of the Order of the Seven, a knighthood which confers upon Hana the title of Dame (DOS)

The other post nominal letters RC indicate her status as a member of the Royal Council

Under Eleanor, Chrysopolis’s house sigil was a sun, and Hana chooses a sunflower as an homage to the late queen as well as her own House

During her engagement to Viscount Peter, the media dubbed Hana “The Ideal Woman” or “The Ideal” for short, and after an interview where she names Astrid Leong a fashion inspiration, the homophone “The Idol” becomes another version of her epithet when comparing her to Astrid (who is known as “The Goddess”)

Upon becoming a duchess, she’s given the new epithet “Psyche” (the goddess of the soul) appended to her Greek name, which she shares with the goddess of gardens

Hana’s enneagram is type Nine, also known as “The Peacemaker”: the easygoing, self-effacing type described as receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent. She is a One-Wing, who are generally more idealistic and serious than other type Nines, and her level 3 is the level of social value.

Like their founder Sei, House Ryuka are members of the Agni Hito, the Fire Tribe’s name for their people; their lands are the regality of Antirrhinum, and their sigil is the cherry blossom

Lorelai’s father was born into the regality of Samsara’s noble House Nair, whose founders were Malayali of the Nair caste

In order to attend the Queen Charlotte's Ball, debutantes must be preparing for or enrolled at a university, so Hana is allowed to attend the Culinary Arts Academy in Switzerland where she earns her degree

In my HC, her parents disown her earlier in TRR2 during the Shanghai leg of the trip, and in a moment of pure impulse she winds up exhibiting her new freedom by getting her first tattoo while in NYC; it’s based on the ace of apples, one of the Cordonian card suits that is used within the queer community to represent demisexuality

Hana gets her next tattoo done by the same artist after Liam gives her Chrysopolis, this time choosing a regularly visible part of her body (symbolic of her sense of security)

When a body piercing is offered for free as part of the second tattoo deal, she elects to get her left nostril pierced, having always admired her mother’s own but not being permitted to have one since her parents feared it would “ruin her appeal”

Aparna is The Baroness Samsara and cousin to Lorelai, both of whom inherited the feud between their two Houses; as such, Hana doesn’t meet her until during TRR3’s timeline, and those details will be shared in Hana/Kiara’s love story B&tR

#playchoices #choices #the royal romance #trr #hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #hlaw #hlaw day 6 #character page #late again but i am embracing the idea that late is better than never!#not quite sure this totally matches the theme but i wanted to share this anyhow #especially bc i’ve thought of a great idea for tomorrow 😁

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postsofbabel · 2 months

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#posts of babel #screenreader unfriendly #HTML posts of babel

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cassiopeiacorvus · 2 years

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content masterlist

general choices content

transparents & scripts

choices failplay video series

choices mcs: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

fanfiction

a courtesan of rome

roman questions

bloodbound

death rattle

the royal romance

a lesson in sources

the royal couple: 20 years later

headcanons/prompts/appreciation weeks

bloodbound

kamilah sayeed headcanons

perfect match

hayden young appreciation day 2022

hyaw 2020: day 1

nadia park appreciation day 2023

sloane washington appreciation week 2023: day 1 day 3

swaw 2022: day 1 day 4

the royal romance

hana lee appreciation week 2024: day 1

hlaw 2023: day 2

hlaw 2022: day 1

king liam appreciation week 2023: day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5

klaw 2022: day 1 day 4

kiara theron appreciation week 2023: day 3

ktaw 2022: day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day 6 day 7

liam headcanons

trr au

meta/essays

general

being single in choices books

the billionaire's baby

washington state surrogacy laws

bloodbound

love interest appearances & diamond scenes

a courtesan of rome

xanthe: courtesan, rival, pawn

the royal romance

the broken base of brothers beaumont

Meta

Skills vs Passions - What's the Difference? from Hana Lee: A Study in Erasure by @lizzybeth1986

Moodboard

Dance Moodboard for Hana by @lorirwritesfanfic

Chocolate

Art

Hana's Chocolate vs Liam's Vanilla by @cassiopeiacorvus

Fanfic

Eurochocolate by @masked-alien-lesbian

Day 3: Music/AU

Music

Art

Hana and her Keytar! 🎹🎸 by @sazanes

Headcanon

Hana Lee: Music Headcanons by @lizzybeth1986

Fanfic

A Ballad to No One by @lorirwritesfanfic

Edit

Wood Nymph!Hana by @masked-alien-lesbian

Fanfic

HLAW Snippet from Dark Elf by @angelasscribbles

Day 4: Relationships/Homes

Relationships

Fanfic

I'll Be There For You from American Girl by @angelasscribbles

Worthy by @noesapphic

Headcanon

Relationships, Homes and HCs by @angelasscribbles

Hana's Engagement to Peter by @thecapturedafrique

Moodboard

Moodboards for "Out of the Chrysalis" by @lizzybeth1986

Homes

Art

Hana Lee with a Lotus by @pixi3ferry

Manhua Reader by @sazanes

A Tea Party by @mariemarieohcontrary

Headcanon

Hana's Origins by @lizzybeth1986

HC: Relationships and Homes (and an AU) by @masked-alien-lesbian

Day 5: Hana's Perfect Wedding

Art

Hana's Perfect Wedding!! by @sazanes

Headcanons

Headcanon: The Wedding of Duchesses Kiara Thorne and Hana Lee by @lizzybeth1986

Hana's Ideal Wedding by @masked-alien-lesbian

Hana(ra)'s Perfect Wedding by @thecapturedafrique

A huge thank you to ALL our participants - we're in awe of all the stuff you've put out and we honestly can't wait for everyone to see your pieces too!!

We know a lot of you struggled to get your pieces out, and would like you all to know that if you'd still like to send in something when you're done...we would be happy to include it in the masterlist!! Do tag us!! 💖💖💖

We would highly recommend all of you who see this masterlist check out every piece in this masterlist 🤗🤗🤗🤗

To find the HLAW 2022 masterlist, go here.

#hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #HLAW #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #HLAW 2023 #HLAW masterlist #HLAW 2023 masterlist

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hanaleeappreciationweek · 2 years

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HLAW Masterlist 2022

Day 1: Music

Art

Hana Plays Piano for Tzipporah (MC) by @cassiopeiacorvus

Hana Plays the Piano by @ohmyblues

Hana at the Piano by @sazanes

Character Appreciation

SpreadJoy Quote by @storyofmychoices

Edits

Pop Star AU by @phoenix-sayeed

Goth!Hana and Indie/Grunge Music by @masked-alien-lesbian

Headcanons

Music Headcanons by @lizzybeth1986

Playlists

Hana Lee: Character Playlist by @lizzybeth1986

Day 2: What I Love To Do

Art

Hana's Hot Chocolate by @sazanes

Headcanons

"What I Love To Do" by @thecapturedafrique

Moodboard

Hana Lee: Passions Moodboard by @lorirwritesfanfic

What Hana Loves To Do by @masked-alien-lesbian

Poetry

Secret Notes in Library Nooks by @lizzybeth1986

Day 3: Romance/Pride Parade

Art

Hana and Kiara by @sazanes

Fanfic

When You're Not Looking by @phoenixrising308

Hindsight is 20/20 by @lizzybeth1986

Hana's Crushes Over The Years by @masked-alien-lesbian

Support by @thefirstcourtesan

Headcanons:

Sexuality Arc Headcanon by @thecapturedafrique

Khadijah and Hana Lee-Rys by @boujeechoices

Moodboard:

Hana and Kiara's wedding by @lizzybeth1986

Day 4: Tea Party

Art

Tea Party with Princess Snickerdoodle by @sazanes

Fanfic

Tea Drunk by @lizzybeth1986

The Time Apart: Needle and Thread by @phoenixrising308

Teas of the Past and the Present by @masked-alien-lesbian

Day 5: Home/Childhood

Art

Hana's Grandmother by @sazanes

Headcanon

Hana's Family History and Childhood by @thecapturedafrique

Day 6: Flowers/Throwback

Flowers

Art

The Goddess of Spring by @sazanes

Fanfic

A Blossoming Friendship by @lizzybeth1986

Headcanon

Hana Lee: Character Sheet by @thecapturedafrique

Throwback

Art

Hana's Moon-Themed Masquerade Outfit by @cassiopeiacorvus

Edit

Demon!Hana by @masked-alien-lesbian

Fanfic

Black Sheep by @thefirstcourtesan

With A Little Help From My Friends by @lizzybeth1986

In Bloom by @lorirwritesfanfic

Day 7: What If/Duchess Hana

Art

Goth!Hana and her cat Li Ming by @sazanes

Edit

Rebellious!Hana AU by @masked-alien-lesbian

The Rise of Her Grace Hana Lee, The Duchess of Chrysopolis by @thecapturedafrique

Headcanon

Hana Lee: Duchess of Krysanthe by @lizzybeth1986

Thank you so much, to everyone who participated in this week and made it so special. We're so proud of each and every piece of content that made it here, and we urge everyone who comes across this masterlist to take a look at every piece - we're positive you'll love them all as much as we did!

If there's any content we've missed, we're very sorry, and do let us know so we can add it to the masterlist.

Enjoy this year's list...and we hope to see you all next year!! 🥰🥰🥰

#hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #HLAW #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #hana lee masterlist

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thecapturedafrique · 10 months

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HLAW: Day 5—Hana(ra)’s Perfect Wedding!

Like several members of the fandom, I too ship Hana and Kiara together, and though I have yet to write the fic where they fall in love, I’ve long since come up list of head canons about their wedding. I originally meant to share this for Kiara’s first appreciation week, but I wasn’t able to finish on time. Fortunately, one of the benefits to being a Hanara shipper is that their romantic content can work for both characters’ weeks! 😆

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and the stupendous hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

This moodboard was designed to reflect the Pinboard that Hana would 100% make for her wedding to Kiara given the numerous ones she’s crafted in canon.

Bridal Ring Sets

The ring on the left is the one Hana chooses for Kiara; I initially searched for a ring similar to Hana's ring for MC in canon but didn't want a one-to-one match, and then I diverged further by selecting one with a vine design to reference Castelsareillan (aka Rowan’s tattoos which I head canon were tribal in nature and design). The side stones are diamonds since they’re both the ducal stone and Kiki’s birthstone, but Hana went with moissanite for the central stone since it's not as hard and refracts more multi-colored light, representing how there's more to Kiara than what the surface may show and that she is a lot more kind and sweet and thoughtful than her tough facade leads people to expect.

For the ring Kiara gives to Hana*, resetting a family heirloom is very popular in France, especially with traditional affluent families. The ruby was originally from her late maternal grandmother’s engagement ring, and Kiara had it reset in a rose gold band to match her own since Hana proposed first. Due to the canonical Cordonian tradition of lovers throwing a copper, a silver, and a gold coin into a well to guarantee that they stay together for eternity, I head canon that rose gold—which is made of those three metals—is a popular choice in Cordonia for engagement/anniversary jewelry. The wedding band is inlaid with opals since they're the ducal stone of Hana’s duchy, Chrysopolis.

*I was also partly inspired by @masked-alien-lesbian’s beautiful pick to find a more floral design than my original choice, and when I found one with embellishments that mirrored butterflies as well, I knew it was the one.

Bridal Party

In Chinese numerology, 8 is considered one of the most auspicious numbers, with 2, 3, and 6 also being lucky in general. As such, the bridal party is a total of 6 people (3 for each side) who combined with the 2 brides equal 8 in total.

Hana's Bridesmaids: Ally (MOH), Olivia, and Ganga

In my version of events, Olivia actually does offer a genuine apology to Hana in the beer garden scene at the end of TRR2, and so by the time Hana’s planning her wedding, the two have grown close enough for her to ask Liv to be her bridesmaid.

The name Ganga may be familiar to anyone who read Hana’s character page, as she’s one of Hana’s second cousins on her mother’s side. They meet and bond over the course of my reimagined TRH series Silver Spoons.

Kiara's Témoins: Penelope (MOH), Zeke, and Savannah

Instead of bridesmaids and groomsmen, French couples have témoins (witnesses) of any gender/age that stand next to them during the ceremonies. While Penelope is still courteously given the MOH title, Ally is the one who provides the most support in regard to the planning/corralling.

Wedding

Following Moroccan and Chinese traditions, the wedding celebration is several days long. I also head canon that many western regions of Cordonia outside of the five major duchies have three-day-length celebrations, including the regality from which Hana’s maternal family hails. The negafa (wedding planner) is Kiki’s paternal aunt Leïla, who is assisted by Hana’s own aunt Yawen.

Day 1: Castelsareillan

Hammam

In Morocco on the first day of a wedding celebration, the bride spends a day in the hammam (a type of steam bath or place of public bathing akin to a spa) with her companions, treating themselves with multiple body masks, scrubs, and massages as part of a bridal ritual of purification and beauty. Hanara chooses the baths and spa in Applewood visited in TRR2 and attend with their bridal party sans Zeke.

Bachelorette Party

Their joint party is thrown in Côte d'Or, the Cordonian gambling district visited in RoE which in my verse is located in one of Castelsareillan’s vassalages off the coast. Aside from the standard night on the town events, Ally also arranges a series of chuangmen (Chinese door games) for the couple to play: an alcoholic version of the Four Flavors of Life, Q&A Tests, and a Sweet Serenade karaoke session.

The theme is a rainbow, with everyone wearing a different colored dress: Ally in red, Ganga in orange, Kiara in yellow gold, Olivia in green, Penelope in blue, Savannah in purple, and Hana in pink. All of the bridesmaids wear the same cap-sleeved sequined style, while the brides’ outfits are pictured below:

Day 2: Samsara

Henna Party

Both Morocco and India have wedding traditions involving decorating the bride’s hands and feet with henna (mehndi being the South Asian term for the body art itself). Lorelai’s cousin Aparna offers her estate in Samsara (a western regality in Cordonia) as the venue, and the party is a long affair filled with food and music.

Hana wears a pink sari while Kiki dons a green kaftan. Since the brides plan to walk down the aisle the next day, they’re carried to their seats in the amaria (an elegant roofed platform) by four men: Zeke, Drake, Bertrand, and the male cousin Kiara mentions in TRR3 who I named Patrice and head canon is Joëlle’s nephew.

Having forgone a wedding shower, the brides open their gifts during the party, some of which revolve around the traditional “something old” rhyme (with the givers corresponding to whose side they walk on):

Something Old: received during the tea ceremony

Something New: white lotus hair stick (Ally), silver and onyx Berber necklace (Zeke)

Something Borrowed: Scarlet Handkerchief (Liv), Golden Tiara* (Penelope)

Something Blue: garter set (Savannah), nagapadam mala (Ganga)

*The Golden Tiara is the House treasure that was granted to the Amaranth’s when they were elevated in 1600 C.E. It was rumored that while donned, the makeup of any who wore it would remain flawless.

Rehearsal Dinner

The ribbons and bows from unwrapping the gifts are turned into two giant bouquets that the brides use for the following wedding rehearsal in place of the garlands they’ll be using for the real ceremony. They also incorporate some elements of the nischayam, an Indian Malayalee engagement ceremony generally held to formally announce the marriage, which includes exchanging horoscopes as well as the mothiram maattal (ring exchange). Since pigs are favored animals in Chinese culture, Kiara’s pet teacup pig Tambour acts as the ring bearer. At the end of the rehearsal dinner, the couple signs their marriage license following both French and Moroccan tradition (the latter of which call this ceremony Drib Sdak).

Day 3: Chrysopolis

Shutou & Jing Cha

The morning of the third and final wedding day begins in Hana’s manor in Chrysopolis with the Chinese shutou or hair combing ceremony performed by their mothers Lorelai and Joëlle. Immediately afterwards, the two change into their traditional formal wear (Hana in a qungua and Kiara in a takshita) before heading downstairs for the jing cha or tea ceremony, where their aunts have built an ancestral altar for the occasion.

The ceremony is done with both families at the same time, and in return for the tea that the couple offer, their families offer them golden jewelry and red envelopes filled with money called hongbao. They also receive from their fathers the “something old” gift that’s been passed down by their late grandmothers: a set of golden phoenix & dragon bangles for Hana and silver Berber bracelets for Kiara.

Vow Exchange

The exchanging of vows takes place outside in the sunflower garden. Kiki’s four-year-old cousin mentioned in TRH2 serves as the flower girl, and the bridal party are all dressed in a reddish mulberry and adorned with golden jewelry*. The brides change into their white outfits (Hana wearing the same dress as in canon and a veil, while Kiara dons a jumpsuit with a cape) and walk down the T-shaped aisle on the arms of their fathers to meet each other.

Hakim place Kiara’s hand in Hana’s and Xinghai hands them a pair of scissors before leaving the two to continue their march together. In a slightly altered French tradition, they must cut through the rows of white ribbons stretched across the aisle to reach the dais, where they exchange a set of garlands made from roses, fire lilies, jasmine, sunflowers, and Vescovi (magic) flowers in the Hindi jayamala ceremony, a pledge which substitutes their “I Do’s.”

Liam acts as the officiant and joins the couple’s hands together following the Agni Hito tradition of using a red string to represent their fates being bound. He hands them each a lambatha (Greek taper candle) to hold as the brides recite their individual customized vows to one another. They then use the lambathes to light a brazier filled with Heartoak wood which is placed before them.

This functions as the sacred fire for the saat phere, a Hindu wedding ritual continued by the Agni Hito where the couple walks around the fire seven times while reciting specific vows. Each circuit holds a certain meaning. Once the seventh one has been completed, Liam pronounces the two wives, and butterflies are released as they share their first kiss as a married couple.

*One of the bridal party’s statement pieces is a golden pin in the design of Hanara’s onnamon, pictured below. Mon are Japanese emblems that function similar to heraldic charges, and onnamon specifically are created by women after marriage through modifying her original family kamon. The Agni Hito, being of Japanese lineage, continued to use them within Cordonia. After becoming the Duchess of Chrysopolis, Hana adopted a new mon by turning her mother’s kamon/charge (the cherry blossom) into a butterfly-shape.

Reception

The rice toss is performed while the newlyweds exit down the aisle before everyone heads inside, where the vin d’honour (the French equivalent of a cocktail hour) is held. Kir Royale cocktails made with Cristal champagne and chocolate-coated almonds called les dragées are served, and both mahjong and mancala are played. Once all of the ~200 attendees have been greeted, they drive to the banquet hall with a liberal use of horns preceding the “just married” limo.

Each guest upon their arrival signs the livre des visiteurs (guestbook), delivers their hongbao, touches a set of oranges for good luck, and washes their hands in the orange blossom water. Ouzo and Moroccan mint tea are offered until everyone has been seated for the grand entrance, where under a shower of petals and sparklers, the newlyweds perform a TRR 2.0 Olivia-style change into their reception dresses pictured below (Hana on the left and Kiara on the right):

Thanks to @lizzybeth1986 for sharing the tumblr post with these lovely designs!

They step onto the floor with their fathers for the first dance, which they finish as a couple following French tradition. The song is one that Hana composed titled Le jardin de l'amour and performed by Kaitlyn Liao. The feast itself is a ten-course affair that contains a vast variety of cultural dishes, including drunken shrimp, butter chicken, Peking duck, pork jiaozi, tangine, bird’s nest soup, and seffa. Maxwell serves as the emcee, and toasts are given in between the various acts.

Friends provide most of the entertainment, including a ballad sung by the Cordonian Quartet, but there are also lion dancers and firecrackers following Chinese tradition. Halfway through, the couple changes into their final outfits for the night (a red qipao for Hana and a kaftan jumpsuit for Kiara). Once the last course has been served, the croquembouche (a French dessert that serves as the wedding cake) is wheeled out along with a Cordonian Ruby for the apple-cutting ceremony.

After feeding each other a slice of both, the dancing begins. The party lasts long into the night, but just before the newlyweds retire for the evening, they take part in another French tradition: eating a dish from a brand new pot de chambre (chamber pot). The bottom is lined by bananas and covered with melted chocolate before the leftover alcohol from the wedding is poured in. After the couple’s takes a drink and eats a spoonful of the gooey contents, the rest is left to be finished off by the bridal party.

Honeymoon

Lorelai’s wedding gift is the most expensive home in China, and it is here in Shanghai where Hana and Kiara spend the first week of their honeymoon, which ends with the Mid-Autumn Festival. The second week is spent in Tours, France where they go cycling and visit the famous châteaus before returning to Cordonia just in time for the Last Apple Ball.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Sources

#the royal romance #trr #hana lee #kiara theron #hanaleeappreciationweek #hlaw 2.0 #hlaw day 5 #head canons #had the whole thing written out but putting this post together took much longer than expected #but got it finished nevertheless and by the deadline!#now i am going to pass out for the 3 hours i have left before work

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masked-alien-lesbian · 2 years

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HLAW Day 4: Tea Party Time

Teas of the Past & the Present

Pairing: Hana Lee x f!MC (Riley)

She was always a little bit scared to ask her mother directly so she always invited her mother to her tea party with a written invitation. She used her best paper, best pens and her best penmanship to write out the perfect invitation, then she used the coloring pencils her grandmother gave her to decorate them. After her master piece was complete, she laid it on her mother's desk, where she was sure she'd see it. Maybe this time Lorelai would show up to her tea party.

*****************************************************

Hana could see her daughter fidgeting impatiently in the corner of her eye as she and Riley finished up the video call with the council. Ever since covid hit, all business calls were done virtually, and tensions between Duchess Olivia and Duchess Madeleine were still as high as ever. They spent a large portion of the meeting diffusing arguments and threats of war between the two.

"Finally!" Lily excitedly cries out as Riley finishes the call.

"Finally indeed," Riley chuckles, "What's up Firefly?"

Lily runs into Hana's arms and tugs at Riley's arm at the same time. "You been on the phone all day! You got to play with me. I want to have a tea party! Please, please please?" Lily unleashes the puppy dog eyes at her mothers. Riley bites her lip at the massive amount of paper work on her desk, then shrugs her shoulders and turn to Hana.

"We could use a break for one tea party, right my love?"

"Of course." Hana smiles and helps her very pregnant wife up. Hand in hand they go to leave the office but Lily stops them.

"Wait! You guys have to dress up all pretty for the tea party!"

"Honey, I don't know if it's even possible for your mama to get any prettier, being as beautiful as she is." Riley says winking at Hana.

"Flatterer." Hana says squeezing Riley's arm playfully before turning to her daughter. "Alright, we'll get dressed and meet you in your bedroom."

"Yes, of course. This is a very posh, fancy, high society, exclusive event. We must dress to impress!" Riley exclaims as they climb the stairs to their bedroom.

*****************************************************

Her and her "guests" waited and waited...15 minutes...20 minutes. Hana's lip wobbled slightly as she realized her mother wasn't coming to her tea party...again. But Hana shook her head to shake herself out of it before forcing a smile and turning back to her guests.

"Yes Princess Snickerdoodle, you may eat a cookie, mother must be running late." Hana smiles through her tears and begins to "pour" a cup of tea for the small group of household items around her.

*****************************************************

She startled when Riley placed a hand over hers. Hana looked up and registered her surroundings. The bright pink cheerful playroom, colorful stuffed animals sitting at a pretty table with the most delicate porcelain tea set imaginable and a lavish display of plastic treats in front of her. She was sitting in a child size chair that she would definitely have to help Riley get up from once the tea party was over.

Lily was, thankfully, chattering away oblivious while Riley looked at Hana with concern in her eyes. Hana smiles and shakes her head subtly, telling Riley to ignore her so not to alarm their daughter. After being married for 5, going on 6 years, the two could almost speak without words at times but it also meant Riley could read her wife like an open book.

"Firefly, these snacks are delicious but mommy's getting some serious cravings, could you go grab the cheetah cakes from the pantry?"

Lily wrinkles her nose. "Okay, but no pickles this time. Pickles aren't tea party food." She says before running out the room.

"But she's serving us these cucumber sandwiches. What's wrong with pickles?" Riley says scandalized as she waves the plastic sandwich around. Hana chuckles at her wife's antics and Riley turns serious and takes one of Hana's hands. "Are you thinking about your own childhood tea parties?"

"I might be." Hana says sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bring the mood down."

"Don't be," Riley quickly reassures Hana, "The neglect you experienced your entire childhood is bound to leave an impact on you. Of course you're going to feel some sadness. You deserved better." Riley clenches her jaw, a dark look in her eyes only reserved for those who wronged her wife and child ever present when Lorelai and Xinghai were mentioned. Riley would hold a grudge against Hana's parents for the rest of her life, even though she played nice. Not wanting to upset Hana or Lily.

"I'm fine my love, don't worry. I just don't want to upset Lily." Hana says smiling and readjusting her cup and saucer. Riley continues to stare intensely at Hana before taking Hana's hand and kissing the back of it reverently.

"Okay, but afterwards talk to me, if you need or want to. I'm always here for you."

"Riley...." Hana says leaning in to kiss her wife, Riley leans to meet her halfway and ends up nearly overturning the entire table with her baby bump. The two women rush to catch all the dishes, Hana laughs and Riley sighs exasperated.

"Mommy! Don't break the table!" Lily shrieks as she comes flying back into the room.

"Its your sibling's fault, baby girl. I'm innocent!" Riley exclaims wide eyed. And Hana laughs, all previous angst forgotten, surrounded by love and family.

*****************************************************

She sneakily watches her mother as she picked up the invitation she left on her desk. Hana's heart sank as Lorelai barely looks at it before tossing it into the trash. Tears ran down her face as she marched back her room. That was the last time Hana invited her mother to her tea parties.

*****************************************************

All the snacks had been eaten and all the tea had been drank. Lily stood up and wrapped her arms around her mommy's neck and then around her mama's neck.

"Thank you for playing with me." Lily says quietly in Hana's ear causing Hana to hold her tighter for a moment. This was why she always said yes to Lily's requests for tea parties. Lily's laughter, her smiles, her happiness, meant everything to Hana. She was determined that her daughter only knew love and to never feel that crushing disappointment that her own mother dealt her all her life.

Lily squirmed and Hana reluctantly let go, Riley discreetly wiped tears from her own eyes. Dang these pregnancy hormones.

"Uhh...I might need a little bit of help getting out of this chair." Riley sheepishly says breaking the moment causing a new round of laughter to ring through Valtoria.

*****************************************************

@hanaleeappreciationweek @lizzybeth1986 @sazanes

Sorry, this is pretty late, I've been a bit under the weather lately. I may had made myself cry, writing this lol.

#hanaleeappreciationweek #hana lee #trr #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #hlaw #hlaw day 4 #hlaw day 4: Tea party

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hanaleeappreciationweek · 2 years

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It's the final (official) day of Hana Lee Appreciation Week!! It's been amazing to see all the art, the writing, the headcanons...we loved every single entry that made its way to this blog and can't wait for what we'll see on this final day!

Day 7 has two themes: "What If...?" and "Duchess Hana". "What if...?" is all about AUs. It's about exploring Hana in different universes, different possibilities, different trajectories. You can think of what Hana may have done if she didn't come back to Cordonia, or what Hana in a crime AU would turn out like! Anything goes!

"Duchess Hana" is about giving to Hana the power that she deserves, and that she doesn't always get in canon. You can envision Hana as a Duchess either through marriage, or through heading a duchy of her own. Think about the place she runs, what her plans are, how she uses her power, how she makes a difference.

As always, the theme is just a starting point for your ideas, and you don't need to churn out specific content only on specific days. You can still send content on another day as long as you tag which day you made it for (eg. #hlaw day 6, #hlaw day 7 etc).

Be sure to do the following in your posts for the week:

1. Use #hanaleeappreciationweek and #HLAW in your tags.

2. Tag @hanaleeappreciationweek, as well as the co-hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes so we don't miss your entries!

Optionally, here are a couple blogs you can follow or tag in your content, in case you'd like to participate in their events:

@choicesficwriterscreations - Primarily fic related content. Here is their event list!

@choicesmonthlychallenge - Any and all content is welcome. They have monthly challenges...this month, it's Picktober!

@choicespride - Any and all content is welcome. They are still accepting entries for Bisexual Awareness Week! If you'd like, and if your content fics the criteria, you can send it to them.

While this appreciation week will be officially over after today, we will still be keeping it open for any entries that couldn't be finished due to time constraints. We will be keeping the event open for a week, before closing it and getting our masterlist and offical thank you post ready.

Happy Hana Lee Appreciation Week, everyone!!

#hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #HLAW #the royal romance #the royal heir #the royal finale #HLAW Day 7 #HLAW Day 7: What If?#HLAW Day 7: Duchess Hana

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thecapturedafrique · 2 years

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HLAW: Day 5—Home/Childhood

Good evening and happy day 5 of Hana Lee Appreciation Week! This is one the easiest days for me to contribute to, as I’ve already spent an extensive amount of time creating head canons for Hana revolving around this very theme. Since PB’s mostly left her backstory a blank page aside from Shanghai being her home town and her having a late grandmother, this leaves us Hana fans to build her one ourselves. I hope y’all enjoy reading mine! 😁

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and the truly spectacular hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The Lee’s originally immigrated from mainland China to Singapore in the mid 1800s; they started their own textile company just before the boom hit as a result of WWI

When the Great Depression struck, they moved their business to Shanghai and continued to thrive until the Second Sino-Japanese War began destroying mills and supply chains

The Lee’s left for Hong Kong and were able to recover until their company the Lee Kowloon Group had become the biggest privately owned manufacturer of textiles in China, with a yearly revenue of 25 billion yuan (~$3.5 billion)

Cheung Bao (张宝) [1] was a Cantonese fashion designer who married into the Lee Family; as their second son, Xinghai (星海) wasn’t expected to inherit a controlling share of the family company

As such, Xinghai moved to Shanghai to re-establish the textile market there (since the only real competition was the government) with a subsidiary focused on high quality fabrics aimed at the rich

This move was made several months after he’d married Lorelai Ryuka, who he’d met in Cordonia when he’d gone to accompany his mentor/friend Charles Shang [2] to the celebration of Prince Liam’s birth in order to network

The only daughter of Lady Syeira, Lorelai was heir to their regality Antirrhinum, but after her parents passed, she chooses to relocate permanently to Shanghai with her husband and leaves its stewardship in the hands of her grandmother Floure

Though they both hope for a son, Lorelai gives birth a few years later to a daughter who they name Hana Lee Hua (李花), and she is raised in one of the Rose Garden Villas in the Xuhui District of Shanghai

During her Zhuazhou ceremony, Hana picks the cooking utensil which means she’ll make a good housewife, and later turns out to be a child prodigy (particularly on the piano)

Her parents’ aspirations are thus reignited and they pin all of their hopes onto her, as due to the One Child Policy she will be their only one

While visiting Lorelai intermittently to update her on their regality, Floure spends time with Hana to regale her with fairy tales and Cordonian folk stories [3]

Floure passes when Hana is 6, who is not able to attend the funeral since it’s in Cordonia; Xinghai instead takes her to the zoo where she sees pandas for the first time

Hana is educated from the ages of 5 to 10 primarily by her Taiwanese governess Tài Luó, who after is replaced by Lady Julianne de Montfort of Brittany [4]

Under Lady Julianne, she begins studying etiquette in preparation for her first society appearance at the start of England’s Social Season, after which there is a sharp decrease in time spent with her parents outside of social engagements

While abroad, Hana is also enrolled in the Wimbledon Village Stables, a riding academy where she studies dressage, and she successfully schemes to no longer have to play the piano in public at the age of 12

Though her parents end her lessons since they refuse to spend money on a skill that’s no longer of “use,” Hana’s instructor Lin Changsong [5] already told her that there was nothing else he could teach her

Bao is a central figure in her childhood as well as her primary caretaker at home when Lorelai and Xinghai are out of town; she inspires Hana’s love of fashion design and fosters her talent

Hana herself serves to inspire some of Bao’s own designs, and as canon states, they sew a black cheongsam together the summer before Bao dies, which is only a few weeks before Hana turns 15

Thus sparks her “goth phase” that goes hand in hand with being gifted a laptop of her own in order to attend the online Balissande Finishing School

The phase is also inspired by the black kitten Li Ming her grandmother left to her, but it’s less gothic and more angsty, as she uses her laptop to wax bleak poetry on her Stumblr blog, stream sad romance movies, and indulge in hurt/comfort fanfiction

Hana goes undiscovered for nearly a year, but once Lorelai finds out about the blog, her laptop is confiscated; she dyes her hair pink in retaliation for her 16th birthday celebration, and though it’s only temporary, Li Ming is taken as punishment [6]

At 18, she attends the first Shanghai International Debutante Ball in the dress pictured below, heralding her official debut into society and the start of her parents attempts to have her be chosen by a suitor

Foot Notes:

Bao’s face claim is Vivienne Tam, a real Chinese fashion designer. Credit to @cassiopeiacorvus for the Cantonese HC!

Charles Shang is a character from Crazy Rich Asians; after watching the movie following @mand-delemonde pointing out that Hana should be living the same sort of lifestyle, I decided to have CRA crossover into my version of the Choices world. I imagine Xinghai and Charles bonded over neither being the heir to their respective family companies. Charles was invited to celebrate Prince Liam’s birth since I head canon his niece Princess Cassandra was a friend of Queen Eleanor’s.

This is based on the coin tradition scene Hana shares with her fiancée in TRR3, which she states she learned from her great-grandmother. I’ve fleshed out Lorelai’s side of the family further than is shown, but the details weren’t included in this post since the only Cordonian family member Hana met during her childhood was Floure.

Tài Luó and Lady Julianne’s names are derived from the characters Miss Anne Taylor (from Emma) and Julian (from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper). Julianne’s surname is due to how I made her the daughter of the Duke of Brittany, a duchy which is extinct IRL. She’s actually a friend of Joëlle’s, who in my head canon is a noblewoman from a neighboring French duchy that’s also extinct IRL, but those details will be shared during Kiara’s appreciation week later this month.

Lin Changsong is a parodied version of the pianist and composer Yin Chengzong. I imagine that if Hana had not been forced to hide her skill in order to keep it from being exploited, Lin would have tried to convince her parents to enroll her in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (which Yin himself joined at the age of 12).

I do plan to have Li Ming and Hana reunite in my post-TRR fic because I could never be that heartless. 🤧

#playchoices #the royal romance #trr #hana lee #hanaleeappreciationweek #hlaw day 5 #hlaw #head canons #this post took me way longer to compile than i expected 😭#no doubt bc i kept adding further details to it lol #we’ll see if i can get tomorrow’s post in before 11 PM EST

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