#And put on the wig too which still needs styling

[honeyrotsoul]

so, i was thinking about adult Natalie’s hair last night. (weird, i know, but walk with me.) the reason i was thinking about it is because i own a lot of wigs and was thinking of cutting one into a bob until my own hair recovers but that’s beside the point. WHEN I WAS THINKING ABOUT IT, i realized that this is the shortest we see natalie’s hair in the series. her hair in her arrest photo is closer to her original style, and we know that it grows out in the wilderness (obviously.) and i know that not every style choice means something. like it could just be as simple as not messing with juliette’s own hair that much. but i was wondering if nat’s hair could be another symbol of rejecting the wilderness and the past. visually, it looks kind of close to what we would expect from nat stylistically. there’s the layers and the messiness, but no bangs and no length - not even the length she preferred. it’s like simultaneously reaching for the past while rejecting the part of her that lived in the wilderness. (and still not letting go of it that same time, e.g. no bangs) she wants to move forward. she wants to forget who she was and what she did, so she can be the person Coach Ben thought she was. but she ultimately fails. she reverts back to her younger self, just when she thought she was finally getting better. it’s a relapse, but a different kind. because Natalie thinks she’s moving forward, she thinks she’s got everything under control and no longer relates to that version of herself, but she’s actually trapped. she’s still stuck in the in between somewhere, and she doesn’t even realize it until it’s all over. her mannerisms stay the same. who she is internally stay the same. it is only the physical aspect that she rejects.

and that got me thinking about how ALL of the girls’ hair as adults kind of reflects who they are and where they are in their journey.

tai’s hair is closer to where it was pre-crash. (specifically in that classroom scene.) she chides van for being stuck in the past, but in this way, she’s also reaching for it. it’s longer than it was in the past, so she’s trying to grow, but she also isn’t. wilderness tai cut her hair, and adult tai wants to appear normal so she goes the complete opposite. she runs. time and time again, we see that tai wants to be a leader. she wants to be in control. but when things get too much for her, when they don’t go her way, she runs. she likes to think that she fights for what she wants, but, really, she only fights enough to say she tried. (see: simone and sammy. she made a few attempts, and then she went back to van. yes, this was other tai, but other tai is still tai - she just doesn’t want to accept that, because other tai is a reflection of who she truly is. the deepest parts of her, the things she actually wants in life, etc.) this is why tai never got the chance to be captain in spite of being the best player on the team (the latter part being a fact which is canon - tai was the star player) when it comes to stepping up, tai puts in effort, but somehow, someway, she falls short. with simone, with van, with being a captain. (Allie is a good indicator of this. jackie was the captain because she cared about all of them and every angle. tai couldn’t be captain because she was ruthless. she cared about some of them, but not the weak link. jackie saw vulnerability as something to be nurtured, whereas tai saw it as something that needed to be cut out. she expects everyone to live up to the same amount of pressure she puts on herself. tai wants to be a star, and if you can’t shine as brightly as she does, you have to go.) that is why, when it comes to emulating herself, tai falls just a little short. hair is a little too long, the outfit she put on to go home is just a little bit off, etc.

on the flip side of that, van’s hair is pretty much unchanged. similar length to where it was pre-crash, sort of in between the two. she hasn’t changed it much. it’s comforting, familiar, and right where she wants to be. van doesn’t consciously embrace the wilderness, but she doesn’t consciously reject it either. she’s willing to fall back into those old patterns if you nudge her just the right way. van’s hair shows that she’s stuck in the past in ways that even she doesn’t realize. everyone else grew up and moved on. she stayed there, and she’s still waiting for everyone else to come home.

shauna’s hair is closer to where it was pre-crash, but not exactly. it’s a similar length, similar styling, but not always exact. some episodes it’s perfect, sometimes it’s too wavy, too straight, appears shorter, etc. she’s trying to be good girl shauna in the hope that it will erase her sins, even if she doesn’t exactly remember what it looks like. (even the theory of ghost jackie’s hair changing could add to this point - shauna is reaching for her past but forgetting what it actually looked like.)

lottie’s hair mimics pre-crash the least. while nat has rejected her wilderness image, lottie embraces it. she’s still there. she keeps the length, the choice to not cut it again because she feels closer to it that way. she knows she wouldn’t have been able to cut it in the wilderness, so she doesn’t cut it now either so that it knows she’s still faithful. still loyal even though it cut her off. she even keeps the middle part. the most noticeable attribute to this is her bangs. pre-crash lottie had a full fringe. wilderness lottie’s bangs grew out, but if you look closely you can see remnants on the sides. meanwhile, adult lottie has curtain bangs. versatile enough where she can blend them like wilderness lottie, or leave them on show like pre-crash lottie. like she tried, but not hard enough because she no longer sees anything pre-wilderness as a reflection of herself.

misty’s hair is the most different, but also so similar. she hasn’t touched the color, but she’s chopped off the extra length and her curls are more manageable. this is because Misty wants to be seen as in control. she wanted to be a leader, someone others could depend on, but was always rejected. this way, she blends. she looks normal and tame, like she has her shit together even though, deep down, she knows she’s unhinged. but you wouldn’t know that from looking at her, because that’s exactly the point. she wants to look ordinary so people will like her, but they’ll also underestimate her. and her hair also nods towards one of her favorite people, Natalie, because both have changed their appearance in favor of something shorter. (albeit for different reasons.) who better to emulate, if she wants to be liked, than her best friend and the coolest person she knows? adult misty neither rejects nor accepts her part in the wilderness. she just accepts helped for she is, and that includes every part of - past, present, and future. adult misty has learned to adapt, like a chameleon.

and lastly, just like nat, adult Travis has rejected the wilderness completely. he cut his hair shorter than ever, so short you can barely see the waves. he ignores the fact that his destructive tendencies and addiction are a reflection of wilderness Travis, because he wants to believe that he’s evolved. that he’s better than that. keeping his hair short and neat emulates the most respectable person he knows - his father. he wants to be a man that his father would have respected, not realizing that that idea is already out of reach.

oh, and a bonus: melissa. melissa has barely changed. her hair is a similar length and color, if not a little warmer and a little thinner. she’s tamed herself down, tried to be normal, but this reflection of herself is still slightly off and, deep down, she knows it. same hat, same style, same mannerisms and ways of dressing. she tried to be boring. not because shauna said she was, but because boring felt safer. except this life she tried to build is all a lie. she is not the woman she’s trying to reflect, and that’s why you see it in her appearance. she judges shauna for her behavior, but they are two sides of the same coin. shauna learned how to fake it, but she is still wilderness shauna. melissa learned how to fake it too, but she is also still wilderness melissa. except this time, she’s not going to pull punches and back down. melissa never grew. she wants to believe she did but, just like Van, she’s still there. still waiting for everyone else to come back. wilderness melissa never left, she just got stronger.

in conclusion, yes, this is a reach. however, in black culture and many others, there is the theory that hair holds memories. so, this is me reaching into that. just for funsies. i love my yellowjackets.

[anime-kia]

Bottle Girl

Hi! I apologize for the hiatus (it feels like it's been really long). There has been a lot that has happened both in my life and things outside of it. I kind of felt inspired to write this after listening to hip hop clubbing tracks. Honestly, it's gonna be short and "typical", but hopefully still enjoyable. We all need to feel good, especially during these times. 

(So I ended up taking a break from writing this, and my life and the mood I'm feeling is kind of different so, instead of going with a generic approach, Erik is a whole cheater instead of a regular club goer... tehe.) 

Relationship: Ex-Boyfriend Erik x Bottle Girl Reader

No warnings.

Word Count: 3.9k

You didn't imagine that this job would be so demanding, but still so rewarding at the same time. Hours on your feet in heels, holding grossly expensive bottles of alcohol in a skimpy outfit was quite the experience. It gave you opportunities to meet all kinds of celebrities, from rappers to actors or just the crowd who could afford two yachts and a private jet. Either way, those were your best tippers. Your favourite ones, in fact.

The crowd that hassled you the most were drunk men just looking to have a good time. They were extremely shameless and highly insensitive. Those were the ones that couldn't hold their liquor and became very aggressive and touchy…

Being a student in the day, you had to find a way to pay for your loans. Your long-time friend, Anthony, was the one who recommended it. He was always into the nightlife and deemed you a perfect fit. Stripping was also on the table, but you wouldn’t be able to face your parents if you did. Also, you knew some of your male family members were too familiar with the clubs around town.  

"If I were to ever see my brother, uncles or cousins while I'm dancing on stage, I think I would die." You told Anthony, and that's when he suggested bottle service. 

Tonight, your boss told you and the other ladies that there was a big crowd coming tonight. Around fifty guests who rented out one section with very popular names and titles. 

You were parked in one of the employee spaces, which was at the side of the building, so you could still see anyone who was pulling into the lot. As you applied your brown lip liner and glossy nude lip combo, around twelve fancy cars rolled into the parking lot. They all were brightly coloured, had tinted windows and loud music blasting through upgraded speakers. 

Who would be showing up today? You wondered as the boss didn't tell you anything. 

You were used to seeing fancy cars due to this club being one of the more popular and upscale ones in the city, but never an entourage like that. 

People stood outside staring as the vehicles all chose a spot to park, waiting for the guests to exit.

You found youself caught in the same gaze until three taps on your window caused you to turn around and roll down the glass. It was your favourite coworker, Nicole. She sort of reminded you of Ari, in fact they could pass for sisters. She typically had her frontal wigs done in a half-up-half-down style, but today it was long, bone-straight and burgundy with a deep side part. 

You could tell she was cold based on the goosebumps peppering her skin. The uniform, tank top with the club logo decalled in rhinestones with short shorts and fishnet stockings did absolutely nothing for warmth. The evening brought in a cold chill despite it being the middle of summer. 

She leaned over, pushing some strands behind her ear, “Hey, sis. Frédo is looking for you. He got you, Willow and me on for that big group.”

"Just three of us?” You raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah the club is supposed to be packed tonight and you already know we're his best girls.”

"You right." You put your makeup into your purse and removed the keys from the ignition. "I'll meet you inside."

It wasn't even past midnight and the club was already so lively. Still, you had no idea who these guests were, but it seemed damn near half the city knew. The line outside to get in wrapped around the entire building.

"There's my girl!" Frédo, your boss, came into the back room to greet you. "Alright so you know the drill, I trust you not to mess up.”

"I never mess up." You slightly sassed. 

"Ma'am, you broke a whole bottle of Don Julio." Willow added, as she always did with her smart ass mouth. 

Sometimes you wished that you could stick a push pin in her bloated lips. You remember when she came to work bragging about getting her lips done by some celebrity doctor downtown LA, but something told you she got them done from an unlicensed friend-of-a-friend.  

"First of all, you bumped into me." You retorted with a glare.

"Ladies, ladies, now is not the time." Frédo diffused the situation before you two could get into it as usual. "I need you to go out there and do your absolute best. And please, be extremely- and I mean extremely careful with these bottles. You do not want to know how much one costs.”

"How much?" Willow challenged. 

Even though Willow was annoying and always liked to test people, you were actually quite curious to know as well.

"Enough to pay for your house, now go!" 

It made you gag sometimes, thinking about how much people would spend on a bottle of alcohol. Sure they can afford it, but a nice $15 wine at the local liquor store would not only give them the same buzz, but also save a whole lot of cash in the long run.

Whatever though.

Nicole met you both at the bar, collecting the bottles that your fancy guests would be drinking tonight. 

"You letting ‘em do body shots on you tonight?" Nicole cheekily asked you. 

"I know I am. You see this bottle of Brandy?!" Willow butted in, holding up the grey bottle. "This shit could really buy me a whole new house." 

You both rolled your eyes at her.

"Hell nah, ion know where they mouths or hands have been. And honestly, I would rather not be thrown up on too, cuz it seems like these folks came to get super lit.”

"Yo' boring ass." 

"Shut the hell up, Willow.”

"Aight y'all, what we need is to make money, not fight. So get your bottles and let's fuckin' go!" 

The both of you grabbed your bottles and headed towards the main area. The music was booming, it was some trap song playing in the background. Bodies crowded the entire room, it was dim, but bright stage lights guided a path to your section. The other girls had already been working on serving other customers, secretly side eyeing you, Nicole and Willow because of the money they could've made tonight.

Initially you were looking down slightly, avoiding the extremely bright lights and the chance of tripping over your own or someone else's feet. But as soon as you looked up, the shininess from the diamonds and gold jewelry resting on the special guests almost blinded you. The men were covered in thick chains, rings, watches, and grills. The women had on diamond earrings, bracelets, chains, necklaces, anklets, and body chains. The whole sha-bang really. 

It might as well have been a jewelry store. On a normal day, you wouldn't even see a quarter of the real gems these people had on. 

They were dripped out from head to toe in designer clothes too. This entire section could probably build a city with the prices of everything they had on their bodies from head to toe. One lady had on a platinum blonde straight wig, and you knew she didn't pay any less than $1000 for it. It was almost intimidating, all this money in one place.

 As you got closer to your section, the esteemed guests started to cheer. There were tons of male voices with a few females here and there.  

Taking a closer look you could start to make out some of the faces of each individual. Some were rappers, models, social media influencers, actors, and singers. The crowd was full of the different shades of melanin, and for that you were very happy to see it.

Black excellence was truly great. 

Willow and Nicole made sure to entertain their guests with their colourful personalities and willingness to do almost anything that would have their bills paid for a couple months. Hell, you couldn’t blame them. College wasn’t cheap and you had one more year to go. 

While serving the expensive bottles and carrying on as if you cared for the holler and excitement this crowd provided, you could just feel those eyes on you. Despite recognizing a few current and up-and-coming celebrities, male and females alike, he stood out the most. 

No, he wasn’t a rapper nor any celebrity for that matter (…well maybe a little infamous but average nonetheless), only a man who was adored and just so happened to have royal blood flowing through his veins. 

Erik Stevens.

He sat so comfortably in the centre of the VIP section, looking deliberately casual but, so stylish all at the same time. That smug smirk of his appearing once your eyes locked.

It took the strongest urge in you to not roll your eyes as you had the upstanding duty to serve him as he beckoned you over with two fingers. You maintained your professional composure as you guided yourself closer to his table.

“Wassup? Long time no see.” He greets you smoothly, voice cutting through the music. Suddenly, more eyes are turned to you and Erik, particularly the women who sat within an earshot and had their knees turned towards him.

Anyone who was paying attention noticed how he was looking at you - a mix of hunger, possession and unfinished business. 

You take a deep breath before placing his bottle down. Hennessey of course, what else would you expect from him? It was always stored away in his cabinet.  

Honestly, you should’ve taken Willow’s offer earlier and told her to handle Erik instead. You could just feel the tension growing in the air. The judgement was palpable from the other curious guests. However, you had to remain professional. Frédo ingrained those words into your head from the very moment you were hired. No wonder…

“Nice to see you again, Erik.” You replied cooly, disregarding the glares that were shot your way. 

“Is it?” He began, and already you knew it was going to go downhill just from those two words alone. “Seems like you ain’t wanna come over here for real.” He challenged, leaning back and crosing his arms with a grin. You could tell that he knew you were lying, and even more so that you had to keep a poised demeanour. After all, he was one of the highest paying customers. 

You force a smile, “Well, I’m just making sure that everyone is happy and getting all the bottles they ordered.”

“Oh, aight.” He unconvincingly responded. 

One of his drunken rich friends staggered over and plopped down next to him, but not without grazing your hip with a gentle hand to get by. Ugh. He threw an arm around the back of the sofa, oblivious to the current tension. “Bruh, I just invited two baaaad bitches to the section, when I say bad I mean bad.”

Erik was half paying attention to his friend, but his dark eyes were still trained on you.

You stifled a laughter, how many more women could they need? There was more than a handful over here and as far as you were concerned, these were the “bad bitches”!

The friend finally glanced at you, “Bring back two bottles of Patron.” He demanded. 

Your eyes narrowed just for a moment, expressing irritation, but everyone missed it except for Erik. You knew how to smile while conveying a totally different message with your eyes. It was something he picked up on after he would frustrate you and ask what was wrong, in which you always replied, “Nothing, I’m fine.”

“You heard me?” The drunk asked after you were standing there too long for his liking, apparently… Erik’s grin deepened almost as if he found amusement in your discomfort. 

You averted your attention to the pest, “They’re on the way sir. Just making sure I get everyone elses’ orders before I head back.” 

“Aight then, Miss uhh…” he peered at your bedazzled name tag before saying your name, sarcasm lacing his tone. The others in the section started to chuckle and that was your cue to hurry back to the bar, take a quick three second breather and then head back into the boistrous section. 

You had no issue calling security to kick customers out, hell you’d even do it yourself if you were paid to, but you recognized that bastard. He was a producer, songwriter and had an upcoming line of sneakers that everyone was anticipating. You knew Frédo would’ve been pissed if you got rid of a high profile guest. In fact, he was probably the one who booked out the section.

Typically interacting with the customers was fun and lighthearted, but sometimes you got assholes like that one. Some nights you could get away with retaliating, but this definitely wasn’t one of those.

“I’ll make sure you’re taken care of, be right back.” You quickly walked away, pinching Willow to get her to follow you back to the bar. Nicole was busy entertaining the other table otherwise you would’ve called her. “Come on girl, we’re refilling the hors d’ouevers and we got two more bottles.”

She was shoving a couple bills into her bra as she stalked behind you, “Bitch, I know you ain’t just take me away to help you get two bottles.”

“And food, you goof.”

“Where the fuck is Nicole? Ginny Vincent was about to take shots from my tits!” She complained. Ginny Vincent was a lesbian rapper, fem presenting but sometimes masculine, especially in her music videos.  

Ignoring her question you got the bottles from the back and shoved them in her hands, “Do me a favour, give these to the table with Killmonger and that ugly bald headed ass producer nigga sitting next to him. Lemme get your tables instead, please.”

She narrowed her eyes at you, “You are not about to take my fun-“

“Girl, I do not want Ginny!” Willow was so incredibly narrow sighted it killed you every time she opened her mouth. “I just don’t want to deal with them right now.”

“Oh you got choices? The amount of girls that would die to be in this section right now and you’re being picky? Crazy.” 

“Willow. For the love of everything good, please shut the fuck up for once. I am literally giving you the table with the most money and the biggest tippers and you’re complaining, for what?” You reach forward to take the bottles back from her, “Actually, you’re right. Lemme just have my bills paid for, for the next year. Since you wanna be grateful and shit, fuck it.” 

You could see the gears finally turning in her head, “Uh, you know what, bitch, my bad. You are absolutely right. I got it, I got it.” She took the bottles back, and cheerfully walked over to the section again, hollering as if her life depended on it.

You took a deep breath again as your eyes rolled drammatically. In the mean time, you got some water and freshened up in the bathroom. With the bright lights and the endless sea of people, you were hot. Unfortunately you forgot your portable fan at home. Not even ten seconds after stepping out of the bathroom you were summoned again. 

“Ah, there you are!” Frédo came from the kitchen, he was definitely yelling at the cooks to hurry up. “Okay, they want one more of those mortgage costing bottles. I only trust you with it, so take it out to that section for me.”

“I was getting them more refills on the hors d’ouevers. Willow and Nicole are-” You tried to stall.

“Not important, now hurry.” He interrupts, shoving the theatric cart towards you. The bottle was in a decorated ice bucket, sparklers coming out from all sides and really, as fun as it was, it was so ridiculous. This one bottle got more attention than some people ever did on their birthday. 

Either way, you put on your game face and hyped up the crowd as you made your way back into that jewelry store of a section. This in turn got everyone else excited too, so many phone cameras were flashing, drunk people cheering on top of their lungs, and onlookers desperately wanting a sliver of the action. 

But as you engaged with the customers and filled new orders, you could feel Erik’s gaze lingering on you like a hawk. You just knew how badly he wanted your attention, even with the other women chatting his ears off, or at least attempting to. They weren’t there before, maybe these were the two bad bitches his friend was talking about.

“Aye!” He called out, voice travelling over the music. Of course he was talking to you, “C’mere.” He beckoned you over. The two women huffed, realizing that they were not priority and decided to walk away. He didn’t even spare them a glance as he trained his eyes onto you.  

You treaded over, this time your face lacked the false pleasantires. “What, Erik?”

“I’m just tryna talk to you.”

“Look, I’m here to do my job. I’m not tryna get into anything with you right now. So just tell me if you need more drinks or-“ 

“More drinks?” He chuckled slightly and scratched his beard, “Nah, I need more company. Ain’t it your job to entertain me?”

You scoffed, “Well we both know what happened the last time we were entertaining each other so pardon me if I have no interest in opening that door again. I got about fifty people to look after.” Your tone was losing its calm. 

He evidently enjoyed this, his smirk grew. “Is that so? I mean, I thought you’d enjoy catching up since you been ghosting me and all.”

“Me!?” Your surprised outburst caught the attention of more partygoers than you wanted. However, what the fuck was he thinking? “You expect me to want to catch up with the man who decided to cheat on me?!”

The music felt quieter now, and the excitement seemed to die down, but maybe it’s because anyone in an earshot was focused on what Erik had to say to you.

“Who else, Miss Bottle Girl?”

“Look, I’m not about to do this with you right now. Are you placing an order or what?”

This had his possy laughing, his friends jabbing at him with remarks suggesting that you have been the topic of conversation at least one time since leaving him.

“So this is the shorty you been telling us about bruh, damnnnn. She ain’t playing witch’yo ass.” One of them chortled.

“Shut up, bruh.” He shot back with a laugh, but the seriousness in his eyes remained as he looked back at you. “You can’t pretend it was all bad.”

“Pretend? Trust me, I’m not pretending. This isn’t a game.” 

“Then what is it, hm?” He leaned forward, challenging you. “Just think about it, if you were so pressed, you wouldn’t be standing here now would you?”

The audacity of this man to try and gaslight you in front of all these people, “I’m just doing my job.”  You retaliated. “It really has nothing to do with you, and I can’t believe you think I’m working this section for you. Had I known you were here I would’ve swapped out.” 

His eyes narrowed, “Stop pretending like you don’t miss me, (y/n).”

“And don’t. So if you don’t place an order in the next three seconds, I’m gonna go tend to my other customers.” You cross your arms, professionalism out the window as you glared at Erik. 

This time he stood up and entered your personal space, “Stop acting like that, (y/n). You know how much you want me. C’mon.” He leans in closer to whisper, the smell of henessey and cologne danced around your nose. “None of this shit matters, I want you back.”

“We’re done, Erik. Get that through that thick skull of yours. Trying to gaslight me in front of a bunch of folks is not playing out as well as you think it is. You just look like a complete jackass.”

“I ain’t worried about them, princess. I know you miss what we had.” 

Anger rushed through you, pushing you closer to the edge. “Miss what exactly? The back-and-forth? The lying? Me catching you with multiple bitches? Please.”

The laughter from the section was fuelling your irritation as well. This wasn’t a fucking reality TV show for his crowd to find amusement in. You decided to drag him out of the section because having people in your business was not ideal, and you were certain some people were recording everything too. 

Your red nail jabbed him in the chest. “You thinking that I miss you is actually insane. What I do miss is what we first had, before I really knew the truth.”

“What truth? That you’re jealous?” His condescending tone triggered a shockwave of fury to flow through your veins.

“Jealous of what?! Seeing my supposed to be man entertain other women while he’s with me. It’s fucking insane that you are still trying to convince yourself that you weren’t the one wo fucked up. Now your ass can’t secure a good woman to save your life and its exactly what you deserve. So when I say this, I mean it in the most disrespectful way. Fuck. You. Erik. Stevens. Fuck! You!” 

“Already did.” He smriks smugly.

Sick of his provocation, arrogance and narrative twisting to make you feel like you were the problem, you grabbed a fruity red cocktail out of a passerbyers hand to which she complained, splashing the drink all over his crisp white t-shirt. 

His face went from shock to anger quickly. There were so many ‘ooos’ and people making noise after witnessing what just went down. 

“What the fuck!?” He pulled his shirt away from his torso. 

“Maybe you will finally get the message now. We are done! Fucking asshole!” You stormed off as he shouted at you come back. Erik was left there, stunned. He underestimated you one too many times. 

This wasn’t nearly as bad as what he did to you, but you felt a sense of victory. It was exhilirating almost. Surely someone recorded it and you were sure that it was going to be all over social media the next morning.

Karma is a bitch, Erik Stevens. You thought to yourself as you made your way to your car. 

Frédo would definitely be infuriated with you, in fact you weren’t even sure if you would still have a job the next day. You wouldn’t even be surprised if you got a million phone calls and long text messages from your boss, coworkers and “unknown numbers”. Either way, you were fed up, done with Erik and ready to take off your damn heels.  

(Start/Finish October 23 2020 - Dec 5, 2024)

It’s funny that I finally found inspiration after getting over whatever I was going through back in 2020. Because I wanted this story to be more lighthearted and typical, but then it took on a new tragectory. Fours years to complete because writers block is a bitch!

This was sitting in my drafts for about 2 months, but I randomly decided to read it and actually really enjoyed how it came out. So, I edited it and boom here it is! (February 24, 2025)

Thanks for reading!

[ocelettelatte]

How are they when they do your hair?

Includes: Gojo, Nanami, Geto, Choso, Toji x Curly Hair!Reader. (+Todo Bonus) Author's Note: First and possibly the last post I'll make. Made this just for fun so the characters might be OOC. Self-indulgent, but I did try to make the reader ambiguous. Divider by @/saradika

Gojo

Gojo learns how to do your hair pretty quickly.

He watches you do it once and he’s able to do it almost immediately.

He’ll go all out for you. That hairstyle you saw online? Boom you got it.

That one hair product you wanted but were always told you needed some kind of license to get it? I don’t know how, but he got it.

Your hair gets the slightest bit messed up and he’s pissed for you. Just straight whiny about it.

Has given you mini heart attacks before. “My bad I messed up, we gotta go bald.” while braiding your hair...

Buys all kinds of charms and accessories for your hair.

While he knows you shouldn’t do it often, he actually likes your hair straight. It always amazes him how long your hair actually is.

He also loves curl-defining. Going one by one curling each ringlet with his finger is oddly satisfying to him.

Definitely uses all of your products. When you ask about it, he’ll deny it.

Nanami

Nanami likes your hair however you like it. braids, twists, dreads, loose, straightened, wigs, short. If you’re happy with it then he’s happy.

If you ask him to do your hair, he’ll keep it simple. Nothing too flashy but not too basic.

He does this because he always feels bad when you have the prettiest hairstyles, knowing you’ve spent hours on it and it just gets messed up because of your line of work.

The face you make when you tell him it’s fine always tugs at his heart.

However, this doesn't mean he won't give you a glamorous hairstyle for date nights.

Nanami has bought little charms for you to put in your hair and keeps everything you leave at his place in a little basket.

Helps you with your hair when you’re getting ready for bed.

Buys a silk pillowcase just for you.

If he sees you're running out of product he'll use the last of it and buy you new ones.

If there's a particular product you have to order online, Nanami knows exactly when to order said product.

Geto

You always let the twins do your hair, Nanako being the most interested in it. You see it as a learning experience for them.

However, You never let Geto touch your hair. You weren’t too fond of his choice of words when referring to non-sorcerers.

After a bit of warming up to one another, you finally allowed him to do your hair.

Geto absolutely loves braiding your hair.

I’ve always thought that Geto might have picked up on some mundane hobbies once he started his cult. One of those hobbies being Ikebana. Which is why he loves hair braiding.

After learning how many intricate things you could do with this style, it would become his go-to thing.

He has the gentlest hands when doing hair.

With permission, he would put flowers in your hair. Sometimes he’ll go the extra mile of getting you to wear a Hakama or Kimono just to tie the whole look together.

Granted, he knows that he has to give your scalp a break. On those days he actually likes your hair loose.

Choso

All of his experiences doing hair have only been on himself. So when he meets you, he learns so much about his and your hair.

Unfortunately, Choso is scared to touch your hair. The last time he did he tangled it pretty badly.

He is so gentle that things end up getting loose and he has to start over.

Still learning all the different hairstyles. Confuses twists for dreads.

Constantly asking if you’re okay and making sure that he’s not hurting you.

Sometimes he hesitates when doing your hair and you reassure him that he’s doing fine.

Either uses too much product or not enough. There’s no in-between.

If you ask him to buy shampoo and conditioner, he'll get a little overwhelmed and come back with three in one.

Loves giving you any hairstyle that has twin tails. He also likes to put little ribbons in your hair sometimes.

Toji

“Stop moving your damn head.” Kind of vibes.

Definitely rough and says that he’s not.

Most definitely would pop you with the comb.

All jokes aside, Toji is pretty good at doing your hair. Though it’s like pulling teeth trying to convince him to do it.

Prefers if you’ve done whatever you needed to your hair so he can style it however.

Toji doesn’t have a favorite style for you. At the end of the day, it’s just hair to him.

Your accessories are floating around his place. He even stepped on one.

Here's a bonus because Toji was so short!

Todo

Todo definitely has everything he needs to do your hair. Unfortunately, just like that one hair lady in your life, he’s hard to get a hold of.

This Takada mega fan will cancel on you when he finds out there’s an event in the area. Those days you’ve contemplated going bald…

The only reason why you keep going back to him is because he's so damn good at it. It’s just one-on-one... and the occasional mentions of Takada, but you can deal with that.

Has tried to convince you to lock your hair a handful of times.

Gave you starter locks to see if you like it. If you don’t he’ll do whatever you like.

“Stop being so tender-headed.”

"HOW!?"

He’s not gentle but he’s not rough either.

Silk. Pillow. I’m confident that he owns at least one.

[roses-of-the-romanovs]

Tips to Date Photos of OTMA

If you take a look at the the hairstyles and clothes of the Romanov sisters, it can often give you a date of the photo.

Firstly, we have the classic photo shoots, consisting of famous photos with immediately noticeable clothing or ambiences. For example, the 1906 photo shoot consists of light-colored dresses, distinct poses, and often dark backgrounds. Although these aren’t particularly distinguishable, the photos are memorable for their classic grace and beauty.

Many of their photoshoots consist of them wearing kokoshniki. These are easy to date, as it seems the only years they wore these in formal shoots would be 1904, 1911, and 1913. Since the years are so far apart, it’s easy to tell which are which.

1904:

1911:

1913:

1913 is the only year where the court dresses are full-length.

Other famous shoots include the 1913 photoshoots and the 1914 photoshoot. However, both of these can also be identified by Tatiana’s distinct hair, which we’ll get to later, so I won’t spend too much time on these.

1913:

1914:

Knowing these famous photoshoots is especially good as they provide you with a baseline of how OTMA looked as they aged. But now, onto something even more useful—the hair! 1911 is where this first comes into good use, as this is when Olga and Tatiana transition from their childhood hair to more adult-looking hair—specifically, Olga starts tying it back. Around 1910, they also start wearing it in pompadours. In 1912, Tatiana also starts tying it back. Interestingly enough, Maria and Anastasia don’t go through this process, even when they are at the age their older sisters were. Olga’s hairstyle, however, is still poufy and very much in the style of a pompadour in these years. You can tell when the hair is simply tied back as opposed to entirely up due to the large and shiny bow that will be present at the nape of the neck.

In 1913, noticeable changes happen as well, particularly to Tatiana. But Olga also gets that look she has in the famous 1913 and 1914 formals. Now, she tames down her pompadour, letting her hair instead lie in flat marcel waves.

But perhaps even more importantly, in 1913 poor Tatiana catches typhoid and has her head shaved. This means that in 1913, she’s either pretty much bald, has very short hair, or is wearing her wig. It’s very easy to tell when she’s wearing her wig, because the wig is frizzier than her natural hair, and even has bangs! It’s clear whenever she is wearing a wig. Always a sort of pompadour without hair hanging down, similar to Olga’s style in 1912.

In 1914, Tatiana once more goes through a change—two, in fact. 1914 is a year of change for Maria as well, as we’ll see! This is the year Tatiana’s hair is long enough so that she no longer needs a wig—now it looks like she has a brushed-out bob. Although this look she had for less than a year, it’s undoubtedly the most famous thanks to the 1914 formal photos.

But, bam! Once Tatiana grows out her hair sufficiently, she’s able to put it up in the same style as Olga (the style Olga began in 1913). In 1914, she sticks to the side part she had when her hair was at a bob. Photos from later years always or almost always show her with the standard middle part. (The first photo on the right is from 1914; the other two are from 1915 or later.)

Now 1914 is the year Maria joins in the fun. Instead of waiting until she is 16 (1915), Maria starts putting up her hair in 1914. These photos are all from 1914:

So, now we know that when Maria’s hair is up, it’s 1914 or beyond. We can further divide this into two more categories: 1914, and 1915 and beyond. That is, we can when Anastasia is in the picture. Anastasia’s bangs and hairstyle undergo a noticeable change in 1915. Here are two photos, the first two from the former category, the last two from the latter:

In 1915 and especially 1916 and beyond, Anastasia’s bangs are much straighter and lay flat against the forehead without or nearly without curl. Her hair on her head also loses the pouf it had in 1914.

The easiest photos to date is when they are completely bald. Then, you know it is 1917:

However, these rules are not hard and fast, as obviously the Romanov sisters did not simply say every year on January 1, “Oh, New Year, new hairstyle!” They only provide general approximations. Feel free to develop your own system for more accurate "pinpointation"!

[forbidding-souda]

Hii!! May I please have some headcannons with Gundham, Kazuichi, and whoever with a gyrau s/o!!! Please and thank u!!

Gundham Tanaka and Kazuichi Souda with a SHSL Gyaru S/O

here's another gyaru s/o fic i did with mondo, shinguuji, and kaito! it was rather recent too since when was i posting in 2022 what the fuck. i didn't add any characters because i realized i had three that i have already done so there's more mwahahahahaha

i love gyaru's rawr rawr i'm so excited to write this ty anon

-Mod Souda

Gundham Tanaka

❤ It's clear you two are a couple. You both have a very eccentric way of speaking which makes you guys such a good couple wow, nobody is surprised when you tell them you're together. They can probably guess that. With you two having voluminous hair and heavy eyeliner, it's as if your aesthetics were compatible. Though being in two different subcultures, the overlapping stylistic details adds a charm to the times you've walked together hand in hand. Your both overdramatic way of talking makes people group you together.

He departs from the barn, quickly making his way back to the main building, where you wait on your phone. He doesn't have to look for you. Your appearance is eye-catching. Your loose shirt, a more casual one, is heavily wrinkled from how quickly you put it on this morning. You're not even wearing any of your iconic belts. You wanted to join him despite how early it was. Your eyes flick up to his once you hear him approaching. "Are you done?" You ask. You turn your head towards him, makeup still perfectly done (you focused more on that then your outfit, which you did last). Before he can respond, you squint at his name tag. "That's cute." He grumbles and unpins it. His mind was too busy for a proper conversation. He was logging all of the animal's names in his head and the medications and treatment they needed it. While you two walk, he places his hand on the small of your back, a simple form of affection to tell you he was still paying attention. But when you yawn, it breaks his thought process. "You're tired?" You nod. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yawn like that." "Nonsense. Perhaps we can arrange an hour of slumber." You nod. "Can it be more than an hour?" He hums, thinking for a second. "As many as you need, my dear enchantress."

❤ Oh my god if you wear more dark colors or purples (else a goshikku gyaru) you could absolutely be the same color palette as him. Purple and black pleaded skirt with eyeliner in your waterline omggg. Or a zip-up with skeletons on it.

❤ He absolutely loves your style, he adores anything vaguely alternative and subnormal. Ur definitely getting some more romantic nicknames like "my muse" or "my agony".

❤ Ya ya ya it's unhygienic but you can share makeup if you can't find something (aka you probably left your eyeliner in your purse but completely forgot).

❤ You will scream and cry when you tease your hair and then you go to visit animals with him and a giraffe just starts licking it.

❤ But the hamsters love your hair / wigs.

❤ You can probably convince him to wear more eccentric earrings.

❤ And necklaces. Omg matching necklaces. From the one dogtag he wears, you can convince him to wear a chain or a bunch of layers of silver.

❤ I doubt he has social media so he doesn't see your persistent presence, but he will take pictures of you with the animals for some posts.

❤ When you start using a bit of his lingo online no one questions it.

❤ Also in the scenario thing above I fought the urge to say you were playing dress to impress.

.

Kazuichi Souda

❤ He was so nervous around you. He wasn't as bold as he was with Sonia. He'd give you compliments and then promptly walk away after you say thank you. It takes you and your boldness to finally get him to have a lingering conversation ("No, no, you get back here"). He's such a charmer, you loved the conversations, and whenever you gave him compliments back he was fighting the urge to completely melt.

❤ You post a lot of photos of you two together. You just love his pink hair and it tends to fit your layout perfectly. Some of them aren't just cutesy selfies, it's things like him with his jumpsuit tied around his waist as he's too focused on his work to realize you have your phone pointed at him. He's started to do the same to you. Taking pictures as you're posing yourself for your own camera. You love the candid photos he takes of you so much you end up posting them instead. He loves your online presence. He's gonna pick up the slang you use and it's gonna be funny LMFAO.

Upon entering the house, he spots you sitting on the couch with a sugary snack in your hand. You immediately smile. "Sorry," you say, "I couldn't help myself." He was planning on a real meal for tonight, but of course, you've indulged in the popular snacks you love so much. At least your well, that smile on your face says as much. He kicks off his shoes, leaving them scattered by the door. You study him for a moment, wondering if his sour mood is because of you or whatever job he had outside. "Are you good?" You ask mid chew. He eyebrows furrow a bit and he nervously scratches at his jaw. "I lost the necklace you gave me." "What?" "I took it off and I don't know where it went, I'm an idiot." You place your snack aside and stand, approaching him. "Dude," you place your hands on his cheek. "It's not that serious. I have a thousand of them. I'll get you another one." "But you gave me that one." "And I'll give you another 'that one'. You worry too much." He sighs, placing his forehead against yours, the small thunk drawing you back, but you don't pull away. He's constantly fearing offending you or disappointing you. But you always assure him that things are alright. The simple things he stresses over are never things that will push you away, and he needs to understand that.

❤ He loves it when you scratch his back with the long, decorative nails. Or when you massage his scalp when he's trying to sleep. His small, half-awake hums are soooo cute.

❤ He'll want you to do his hair. He trusts your stylistic abilities with his life. You're not going to be able to do the dramatic makeup on him, nice try. But hair yesss. He'll want to add small braids to your style as well.

❤ His work is a little too messy for you and if he gets motor oil on you you're gonna fight the urge to throw a fit. On your yellow shirt? Kaz. You piece of shit.

❤ ^ Frantic cleaning-related google searches.

❤ ^ On the rack beside the front door, you keep your shoes far away from his.

❤ He gets you a lot of those glitter, bajeweled (or whoever it's spelled) reusable cups. He uses them a lot for himself though. He wanted an excuse to have them, and you definitely figured this out LOL.

[agrosehamada]

I'm taking a moment to appreciate how healing AG-blr has been for me :) Growing up I was absolutely obsessed with AG, but I didn't really have any friends who were into AG, and my siblings didn't want to play with dolls, so I was kind of left in my own little hyperfixation bubble all alone. I mean my mom liked AG but that wasn't the same as having someone to play with. Yes I hosted multiple AG themed birthday parties and even put on a backyard productions of both the Molly and Felicity plays but no one... Really got it?

I remember the last AG birthday I had, having my brother tell me that my friends were all talking about how they were "too old" for AG when I was out of the room, and I think that was the beginning of the end for me because not too long after that I put my AG dolls in a cedar chest with all their things and closed it up.

I was still kind of interested in AG in highschool. I remember visiting the AG Store when the one in my state opened. And I remember desperately wanting a special doll I could make a wardrobe for and take everywhere with me. I had a little success with a few handmade dolls but nothing that really stuck, and my sewing skills were not up to par with what I wanted to make so I kind of gave up on that too.

Then the end of highschool happened, and I kind of went into survival mode. My mom's health got really bad. I had to start working and taking evening college classes on top of regular highschool and helping out more at home. Which kind of put my mental health in a crisis mode which kind of broke in my first year of college. Which finallygot me the help that I needed. But then I got kicked out for being queer and I was REALLY in survival mode, although I was lucky enough to have first a friend's family and then one of my siblings take me in through the end of college.

I remember getting mildly interested in AG again once I was working my first full time job and living with my first non-family roommates. I was (and still am) really into Big Hero 6 at the time, and when Luciana came out with her little robotics lab I ended up ordering her. Then I bought a secondhand Nellie, one of my grail dolls from childhood I never got to have. So that opened the door.

But then I remember being on Tumblr and finding some AG blogs and being like, "Hey! There's other adults who like AG and create their own characters?" And I really wanted to be a part of that. But I wasn't sure what kind of character I'd want to make. And then I remembered an old BH6 fanbaby I'd made in college and was like, "There's no way AG has a pink hair option." (I didn't really know about doll customizing back then so I didn't know wig swaps were a thing.) And then I checked the CYO generator and guess what was an option? XD

I was not in the best financial state, so it took a few months for me to be able to afford Rose, and then another anxious month of waiting for Rose to get here, in the meantime trying to plan out her wardrobe in the style of the og historical girls. And I made a placeholder blog for once she finally got here.

I finally came home to her delivery sometime in the early am after an event--if you go waaay back to the very beginning of this blog you can find a video of me very emotionally opening Rose's box for the first time XD Love at first sight for sure, I was happy to have my little girl home, and I had no clue how she'd change my life.

From there snowballed my deep dive into doll clothes making--I planned to buy Rose's clothes originally, but I couldn't find a school uniform I liked, and there was a very specific anime winter coat I wanted to make. I'd been making cosplays for a few years but then, so my sewing skills were finally up to the task. And then I just kept getting more cute outfit ideas and so... I just kept making them XD

And then I started posting pictures of the outfits on this blog. And adding new dolls to the family and posting about them too. And I am so honored you guys were so excited about my posts and brought me into the community! I saw your posts and got the inspiration to start taking Rose out places to get pictures, and she quickly became my emotional support doll, going everywhere with me and helping me through some of my worst mental health times. And I've been fortunate enough to actually get to meet some of you in person, and talk with so many of you online! And I even managed to rope my best friend into AG with your support XD It's really been such an amazing community, and I finally have friends who get my love of AG, and I finally have that special doll I take everywhere with me :)

So--thank you, AG-blr ^^ You're all amazing, and I look forward to many more adventures with you :)

[tache-noire]

im gonna complain about the tiktokification of cosplay for a bit

i have 2 main issues with this

1: it's FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE to just find still images of people's cosplays anymore! everyone's just making goddamn lipsynch videos with seizure-inducing cuts and effects on them! I can't see the work you've done, how something was put together, how your wig was styled, your props and makeup, etc!!!!!

1.5: this extends to tutorials too! fucking stop with the 3 part tutorials that spend 5 seconds on each step and literally just amount to "sew a costume! you're done!"

2: Because the main way people show off their cosplays now is through social media instead of at conventions (I used to see extremely elaborate cosplayers at anime conventions ALL THE TIME, now it's mostly casual to mid-level cosplay-- which is not a dig at them at all, just listen to me for a second), I seriously feel like the art of balancing quality with long-term wearability is dying. You are not wearing that heavy ass wig constructed from 4 other wigs, a full face of makeup, a tight vinyl costume, and platform stilettos FOR 8 HOURS AT A CONVENTION, don't bullshit me. All I see are cosplays built to be worn for maybe 30 minutes of filming a 2 minute video.

2.5: AGAIN, TUTORIALS. I DON'T NEED TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE A FRAGILE ART PIECE, I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE A PROP THAT I CAN CARRY OR SHOVE IN MY BAG AND PROBABLY GET BUMPED INTO SEVERAL TIMES. WHERE ARE YOUR POCKETS MY GUY. HOW ARE YOU HANDLING VENTILATION AND OVERHEATING IN THAT COSTUME THAT COVERS YOUR HEAD AND HANDS AND FEET AND MOST OF YOUR SKIN.

[spindledreams]

Been busy at my house again. The Molly Project took up most of the week.

Molly on the right belongs to Middle. Prior owner chopped off the top layer of her bangs. When I was fixing her up Middle asked me to trim it so the ends were even and that made it too short for braids. She didn't mind, but then we went to AGP Orlando this month and Middle decided she wanted to be able to braid Molly's hair. Which needed a new wig.

I was talking about it to a friend on the Discord server I mod for and she has mentioned before wanting a silver-eyed Samantha. Well, I happened to have a Samantha wig that I took off another doll for another custom, so we went looking for a silver-eyed Molly with a good wig. This one arrived with hair that I'm pretty sure never came out of factory braids. I kept her Meet outfit in trade for the work.

I carefully removed the wigs to put the good one on Middle's Molly, and then removed the eyes from the doll we have now been calling Moonmantha to intentionally silver them.

While those were drying I restrung Moonmantha. Unfortunately I damaged the eyelids a little putting the eyes back in, so I had to take them out again to repair the damage. I painted on a tiny dot of plastic putty, smoothed it out, and let it dry before painting the lids to match.

Finally got them in again, and then I could work on her hair. I rolled and dunked it in hot water, but it was still not dry after 13 hours so I put my drying bonnet on, set my hair dryer to cool, and let her sit in my bathroom for an hour and 15 minutes.

Then when she was finally dry, I put her head back on and styled her hair, complete with ribbon.

Now I'm finishing up a stain treatment on her leg - I'm hopeful one more treatment will do! And since I can't send her home naked, I made her a hospital gown to go home in. I expect to mail her on Saturday.

I also FINALLY got my Singing Bird base doll in today. Doll is in really good shape and I'll share photos in a future post when I have all the parts I need to finish the custom.

Tonight I'm working on Josefina and my Samantha. Josefina needs some stain treatment before I put her back together. There are pink (whyyyyy pink?!) stains on her face, and I can't just send her to the doll hospital because she's first edition and she would come back with a different head. So she's gonna be a bit.

Samantha just needed restringing and hair help. I've rolled and dunked her hair, and am waiting for her hair to dry (hopefully overnight but if not she'll get the bonnet too).

Tomorrow's plans are finishing up Samantha's hair, sewing Josefina a pair of shoes (she arrived without them), and working on the Tenney wig I plan to eventually give to Marta. Another Discord friend has a Joss and a pair of PC Kirsten eyes she will be sending me once I can pay her for them, and I need to get working on straightening and defrizzing that wig!

[aishangotome]

Main Story Chapter 21 Card: Osborn - The Circular Highway (环形公路) Part 2 | Light and Night 光與夜之戀

Part 1

♡———♡

Wen Wan and Osborn rushed angrily towards that coffee shop, only to find Ye Chuan sitting opposite a lady of about the same age as him.

Her hair was styled up, her figure was slightly plump, and she also looked carefully put together. Both of them seemed a bit reserved and shy.

Osborn and Wen Wan sat behind a few tall potted plants, pricking up their ears to listen to their conversation.

Ye Chuan: I also have a son, he's especially outstanding, never makes me worry... Hey, I heard you also have a son? He must be very sensible too.

Wen Wan winked at Osborn, lowering his voice.

Wen Wan: So Uncle Ye is in love, scared me to death.

Osborn was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood. So this was the reason why Ye Chuan started paying attention to his appearance, losing weight, and buying a wig.

The word "love" was too distant from them, which is why he hadn't realized it immediately.

The two chatted for a while, talking about their daily lives. The atmosphere became increasingly harmonious, with relaxed laughter coming from time to time.

It wasn't until the coffee was slowly finished that they both stood up and walked out of the coffee shop together.

Wen Wan turned his head and exchanged glances with Osborn. Osborn nodded in confirmation.

But unexpectedly, the place Ye Chuan took her to next was not a park or a mall, but the bustling vegetable market.

They walked straight to a stall. It turned out that the lady sold vegetables and braised foods here. She filled a large bag with bean sprouts and potatoes for Ye Chuan, and also weighed out quite a bit of cold braised duck gizzards.

Ye Chuan happily accepted them, handing over fifty yuan.

Ye Chuan: My son just loves eating these. Your place has the best taste.

The other person smiled and shook her head, pushing the money back.

Lady: No need, you already treated me to coffee just now. Consider this my treat.

Osborn's gaze fell on the bag of potatoes and bean sprouts, his face turning a little green.

Osborn: No wonder I've been eating these every day lately.

Wen Wan: Brother Xiao, you're too slow, you couldn't even sense this! Men, ah, when they like someone, they become like this!

Wen Wan spoke confidently, as if he had seen it all.

Osborn: Ye Chuan is always like this, acting on a whim.

Wen Wan stared at his face, shaking his head emotionally, and muttered softly behind his back.

Wen Wan: Tsk tsk, no wonder he wouldn't even take one letter and found them annoying. Turns out he hasn't caught on at all.

Over there, Ye Chuan was diligently helping her pack things up. His practiced movements made it look like it wasn't his first time.

Ye Chuan: Should I stay and help you close up shop later?

Lady: My son is coming to pick me up today, it might not be very convenient if you stay.

The other person looked troubled, and Ye Chuan nodded repeatedly to show he understood.

Ye Chuan: Ah, it's still a bit early now, so I'll head back first.

Lady: Be careful on your way.

After saying goodbye, Ye Chuan walked out with the two bags of groceries, his face radiant and humming a little tune. Wen Wan nudged Osborn's arm with his elbow.

Wen Wan: If Ye Chuan really finds you a mom, would you accept her?

Osborn didn't say anything, just stared at the busy woman behind the vegetable stall.

Wen Wan called out several more times before he came back to his senses. He took out a fifty yuan note from his pocket and slipped it into Wen Wan's hand.

Osborn: Go buy some potatoes and braised dishes, and we'll split them.

Wen Wan: But, I've already eaten!

Osborn: Doesn't matter if you've eaten or not, I haven't.

Only then did Wen Wan understand Osborn's intention, and his expression fell.

Wen Wan: But I don't like potatoes, they don't taste good.

Osborn: If you don't eat them, can't you just give them to the neighbors?

Wen Wan: Then why don't you just go buy them yourself?

Osborn glared at him. Wen Wan immediately understood his intention and held up two fingers to bargain.

Wen Wan: Let me play on your computer for two hours.

Osborn: And I'll delete all your game records.

Wen Wan immediately sprinted off, calling out "Aunty!" with great enthusiasm.

Back home, Ye Chuan had already finished cooking. Osborn's gaze swept over the table and found the familiar dishes, only prepared differently this time.

Ye Chuan: Come eat quickly, this cold braised duck gizzards is really good today!

Ye Chuan's face was flushed with health, and he looked as if he had gotten younger by a few years.

A TV drama about parents' love was playing on the television. He watched it with great interest, commenting on it from time to time.

Osborn suddenly realized that in the years they had depended on each other, he had never seen Ye Chuan have time that belonged just to himself. He seemed to have spent all his energy on him.

Ye Chuan's first half of life was troubled by poverty and his original family. The child he met by chance became the main melody of his destiny, and now, he was no longer young.

When he lay in bed, Osborn kept thinking about these things. The double portion of dinner made him too full to sleep, so he could only close his eyes and rest.

The door creaked softly. Ye Chuan thought he was asleep and tiptoed over to cover him with the blanket, then quietly closed the door and left.

Osborn opened his eyes in the darkness.

Actually, when he first found out Ye Chuan was dating, for a moment he felt a sense of being betrayed.

He subconsciously wanted to stop the intruder in his world, afraid that this sudden change would destroy the hard-won peace of their current life.

At that moment, a blurry face appeared in his mind.

Memory told him that person had also chosen to leave him because of love, but too much time had passed, so long that he couldn't remember exactly who it was.

But it must have been a very important presence in his life. So even though he had forgotten their appearance, recalling it now still brought a huge panic.

He didn't know if Ye Chuan would end up like that too, having a relative more important than himself and starting a completely new life.

Rationally, he understood that it was Ye Chuan's own life, but he couldn't control the selfish thoughts spreading in his heart.

Osborn turned over and happened to see the small dog doll at the corner of the bed. Before, Ye Chuan had bought it to accompany him because he was afraid he would be scared sleeping alone.

He pushed the little dog over with his finger, looked at its still bright eyes, and let out a light laugh.

Now he was no longer panicking. Even knowing that some care would be divided in the future, Ye Chuan still loved him, and more than he had thought.

He and Ye Chuan were unique existences to each other.

He was very certain that he wouldn't be abandoned this time.

-

A Long Confession Part 2

The next day, Osborn woke up to a rich aroma.

He groggily walked out of the room, didn't find Ye Chuan in the kitchen, so he turned and went to the bathroom.

Indeed, Ye Chuan was holding a can of hair wax, studying how to style the few strands of hair on his head.

Osborn: That's not how you use it.

Osborn looked at the instructions on the can for a few moments and used the hair wax to give Ye Chuan a neat and tidy hairstyle.

Osborn: You look more energetic this way.

Ye Chuan admired himself in the mirror, smug for quite a while, before going to the kitchen to bring out the heated breakfast. A serving of braised pig trotters occupied the center of the dining table.

Osborn: Eating so well first thing in the morning?

Osborn teased him pointedly. Ye Chuan's old face turned red, and he forced himself to act calm as he put a piece of meat on Osborn's plate.

Ye Chuan: Isn't it time for your exams? This is for supplementing your nutrition.

The TV was still airing yesterday's drama. The father, middle-aged and divorced for many years, finally met someone he liked, but his children's opposition saddened him.

Ye Chuan secretly glanced at Osborn and spoke as if casually.

Ye Chuan: If... I'm just saying, hypothetically, what if I also met someone I liked, would you object?

Osborn looked up and saw the anxiety in his eyes. He didn't expose him, just chuckled softly.

Osborn: Then go for it. If you like her, that's fine. It's just that I don't believe anyone would be interested in you.

Ye Chuan's tense emotions clearly relaxed, and his tone became excited.

Ye Chuan: What are you talking about? I was reasonably handsome when I was young, okay!

As he spoke, Ye Chuan suddenly blurted out a question.

Ye Chuan: Do you have a girlfriend, kid?

Osborn spat out a mouthful of water and fumbled for tissues in embarrassment. Seeing how useless he was, Ye Chuan shook his head and started rambling again.

Ye Chuan: It's okay if you do, it's normal to be dating at this age.

Ye Chuan: Don't suppress yourself. Everyone has had crushes when they were young, but don't let it affect your studies too much.

Osborn: Got it, got it.

Osborn picked up a piece of pig trotters and put it in Ye Chuan's bowl, interrupting his endless hypotheticals.

Ye Chuan: You don't really have those thoughts, do you? You don't like any female classmates? Or are your standards too high?

Osborn kept a straight face and calmly uttered a word.

Osborn: Boring.

Ye Chuan: How can that be boring? Pursuing love is such a wonderful thing. Oh, what a waste of that face of yours!

The TV screen showed a scene of the male and female leads passionately kissing under a peach tree. The falling petals looked exceptionally beautiful.

Ye Chuan: Oh dear, can't watch this!

Ye Chuan exaggeratedly raised his hand to cover his eyes. Osborn looked at him speechlessly, but his ears also turned red unconsciously.

-

During the break between classes, Wen Wan and Osborn went to the rooftop to play ping pong as usual. As soon as they pushed open the door to the rooftop, they bumped into a young couple being affectionate with each other.

The couple, pressed together, were startled and ran away together in a panic, like frightened birds.

Wen Wan: Hey, what do you think dating feels like? Is it like Uncle Ye, being happy even eating dishes he doesn't like?

Osborn: How would I know?

Wen Wan: Uncle Ye looks so happy. Ah, I'm really envious...

Osborn leaned against the wall, playing with the ping pong ball, listening to Wen Wan leaning on the railing, full of longing like a teenage girl in springtime.

Suddenly, he straightened up and turned his head to look at Osborn with sharp eyes.

Wen Wan: Brother Xiao, so many people write you letters, why don't you try dating and see if you're happy?

Osborn curved his lips into a smile, picked up his racket, and hit Wen Wan on his empty head, eliciting a wail in return.

Osborn: If you keep thinking about these things, don't even think about getting into high school. Get back and do your test papers.

Wen Wan left, daring not to be angry, leaving Osborn sitting by the wall's edge, distractedly playing with the ball.

In his mind, he replayed Wen Wan's words and Ye Chuan's unintentionally revealed happy smile. Suddenly, he thought of someone.

It wasn't love. When they met, they were just kids, each with their own concerns.

But when he closed his eyes, the details of that day were crystal clear. To this day, he still remembered that face, those eyes. Sensitive, clear, bright.

Osborn stood up and found the academic affairs office. After the teacher left, he secretly slipped in and started searching for the information of students in the entire city.

Unfortunately, the information between schools wasn't interconnected, and he didn't find the information he wanted.

He didn't know the girl's name, only that she was in the same grade as him. He knew nothing about her other school or address.

This kind of search was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but he really wanted to try, to see that face again.

He didn't know why he suddenly wanted to find her. Back then, she had even stood him up. But there was a strange obsession urging him to go before her.

Osborn asked people from different schools and frequented forums for various schools, but he consistently got no leads.

When he had free time, he even squatted at the abandoned factory for a few days. Aside from the occasional stray cat that wandered in, no one else ever came.

Maybe the girl had already left this city. Maybe she had long forgotten this place.

Osborn felt his actions were stupid. He put the opened can of cat food on the windowsill, patted the dust off his pants, and turned to leave.

But the more he couldn't find her, the more his curiosity was piqued.

Osborn: Do you have any friends you haven't contacted in a long time, maybe only met once?

Although Ye Chuan found the question strange, he answered him directly.

Ye Chuan: Yes, I do. An old co-worker of mine is now a city leader. We're even from the same place.

Osborn: Did you get in touch with him?

Ye Chuan: How could I? He doesn't even remember me. I just saw him in the news.

Ye Chuan: I wish I had gotten along well with him back then...

Osborn: I know!

A flash of inspiration struck Osborn. He pushed his chair back and stood up, rushing out under Ye Chuan's confused gaze.

He ran into an internet cafe and typed the girl's information into the search engine. After loading for a fraction of a second, relevant content flooded the screen.

Osborn patiently browsed page by page. Sure enough, in a primary school's administrative information, he saw a photo from back then. It was blurry, but he was certain.

Back then, the girl was rated a "Three Good Student" for her excellent academics and conduct. Following this clue, he found news of her being accepted into a high school.

His gaze lingered on the name of this school for a few moments. Osborn suddenly felt a sentiment similar to the timidity one feels when approaching home after a long absence.

He had insomnia again that night, constantly thinking about what that girl from back then looked like now. Would she be the same as in his memory, or completely different?

-

Standing before the gate of that high school, Osborn silently took a few deep breaths, calming the emotions that kept surging in his heart, one after another.

Expectation, eagerness, hesitation, and timidity appeared simultaneously. For a moment, he was afraid to approach. He was both afraid that his sudden appearance would startle her and worried that she had already forgotten him.

He randomly pulled a passing student, but he couldn't ask about a specific person with only fragmented information. The person was startled by his action and shook their head in a panic.

Osborn frowned in disappointment, released his hand, and let the person go.

Osborn: Remember to keep today's matter a secret.

He lingered outside the school gate for several days in a row. Since he wasn't wearing a school uniform, the old security guard at the gate even thought he was a suspicious loafer.

Security Guard: Hey! Which school are you from? What are you doing loitering here every day?

Osborn wasn't angry. He beat around the bush to inquire with the old man, but the old man flatly refused with a straight face.

Security Guard: That's student privacy, we can't disclose anything. If you show up at the gate again, young man, I'll have to call security.

Fortunately, after asking around for several days, Osborn finally found out the girl's class.

But along with that, he also learned the distance between them. The girl was leaving the country to study soon.

The chasm between two worlds lay before him, blocking his courage to approach.

Osborn felt a bit disheartened. He found the girl's best friend and stopped her on her way home by bike.

She was a short-haired girl, thin and small. When he mentioned her best friend, she immediately adopted the strongest defensive posture.

Osborn: Did you ever hear her talk about a promise she made with someone when she was a child?

Girl: We're this old now, who would still remember a childhood promise!

The girl hugged her schoolbag, shaking her head fearfully, and warned him, feigning toughness.

Girl: Don't you dare get any ideas about her, or I'll call my brothers, and we'll beat everyone we see!

Osborn was startled and raised an eyebrow unhappily.

Osborn: Are there other people interested in her too?

Girl: Look, that guy over there.

The girl pointed to a boy not far away and ran off while Osborn was looking.

Osborn rode his bike and stopped in front of that boy, sizing him up – shorter than him, average looking, seemed weak, not much of a threat.

He didn't say anything, just unhurriedly rode his bike in a circle around the boy, scaring him so much he was caught between advancing and retreating and almost fell to the ground. Only then did Osborn coldly speak, asking if he was harassing a female classmate.

The boy cowardly shook his head and denied it, swearing he would stay far away from all female classmates in the future.

Osborn then cleared a path for him and made the boy write a guarantee letter and put his fingerprint on it.

Osborn: Remember what you said. Now you can get lost.

The boy scrambled away. Osborn rode his bike home alone, the yellowish sunset fading behind him.

The fiery clouds rolling in the sky instantly turned into ember-like darkness. The fire burning in his heart also suddenly calmed down.

Thinking about it, it made sense. Who would still remember a childhood promise? So much time had already passed. Although he still knew nothing about the girl, at least, it resolved a knot in his heart.

However, after the knot was untied, instead of relief, there was more of an empty feeling of loss.

Osborn believed he hadn't shown anything unusual, but Wen Wan was keenly aware.

-

This day, Osborn was playing ball when Wen Wan came over and said mysteriously.

Wen Wan: The girl you're looking for is leaving the country next week.

Osborn glanced at him. The ping pong ball in his hand bounced high and was hit out with force.

Wen Wan: But coincidentally, the city-wide high school joint sports meet is this Friday!

Wen Wan: Even more coincidentally, in the relay race, our school and her school are in the same group in the draw!

Osborn: What does that have to do with me?

Osborn walked over nonchalantly to pick up the ball, hit it again, and it landed on the table with a crisp sound.

After class in the afternoon, Osborn found the class teacher.

Osborn: I want to sign up for the sports meet relay race.

Many students signed up, but Osborn easily passed the preliminary rounds and fought his way through to get a spot.

Wen Wan was cheering from the side, with an expression that said "I knew it all along".

Wen Wan: Brother Xiao, you have to seize this opportunity and make sure she remembers you well!

The day of the sports meet was a rare good weather day. The floating clouds in the clear blue sky seemed to sparkle.

Standing on the red track, Osborn's heart began to pound.

He saw Wen Wan and Ye Chuan cheering loudly in the stands. He saw the section of the audience stands for the girl's school.

He took a deep breath, got into the starting position for the run, and his gaze suddenly became firm.

The moment the baton landed heavily in his palm, he took off, rushing forward like a young eagle leaving the nest, spreading its wings.

Fierce airflow rushed into his shirt. The name on his back fluttered wildly in the wind.

All sounds seemed to fade away, and then, the moment he crossed the finish line in first place, they surged back intensely.

He raised his arms and turned back, looking at the cheering sea of people.

-

PHONE CALL

Osborn: Answering so fast, looks like you're pretty much done with work today?

You: Pretty much, finished up everything I was working on.

Osborn: That's good news, why do you sound a little down?

You: Because, I didn't get to do the most, most important thing yet!

Osborn: Oh? What is it?

You: I was busy all afternoon and didn't get to eat the lemon mousse you ordered for me. And it collapsed.

Osborn: Oh, that. Easy fix, I'll reorder one and send it over right now.

Osborn: How about you play a game with me before your late-night afternoon tea arrives?

You: Okay, what game do you want to play?

Osborn: This game is called "You Say, I Search." Remember the umbrella we bought together last time?

Osborn: Our mission is to work together to find it.

You: Did you forget where you put it?

Osborn: I don't know which little guy at home hid it as a toy. It's been a real search.

You: Let me think. The most likely places they hide treasures.

You: Is it under the shoe cabinet by the entrance?

Osborn: Let me see... No. But the souvenir photo on the shoe cabinet is quite eye-catching.

Osborn: It's the photo we took on our first date. You looked so silly and cute in that picture.

You: Hmph, it was so long ago, why are you still making fun of me!

Osborn: How am I making fun of you? The key point of that sentence was cute. The cutest in the world.

You: Alright, since it's not here, how about behind the storage cabinet in the living room?

Osborn: Unfortunately, not there either.

Osborn: However, I did find another treasure that's been missing for a long time.

Osborn: That hairpin you lost before, it somehow secretly moved here at some point.

You: Ah! How did it get there?

Osborn: Based on the hair stuck on the hairpin, we can deduce that the culprit is Xiao Xiao Yi.

You: Wow, you can figure that out?

Osborn: Of course. I'm familiar with each competitor's characteristics. Xiao Xiao Yi usually bothers you the most, so shouldn't I keep a close eye on things?

You: Haha, let me think again, where else could the umbrella be?

Osborn: ...I found it. This location is truly unexpected.

You: You found it? Where is it?

Osborn: Under the bed, covered by the hanging bedsheet.

You: Good that it's found! But looking at it this way, your place seems to be filled with my things.

Osborn: Is that not good? My life is full of your traces. I really like this feeling.

Osborn: The rest of our lives will also be like this, densely filled with each other's traces.

You: That sounds so romantic... Ah, the mousse cake has arrived, I'll go get it.

Osborn: Okay. You go get the cake. I, who found the umbrella, should also set off.

You: Huh? Where are you going?

Osborn: Looks like the little dummy who was too busy to eat mousse didn't notice the change in the weather either.

Osborn: The rain has gotten heavy. Finish your mousse and wait obediently. I'm coming to pick you up and take you home now.

-

TEXT MESSAGES

Osborn: Stepped out of the venue after training, and it was pitch black all around, only one light on. Don't know why, but I suddenly thought of you. You: Maybe because we haven't seen each other in a while? After all, you've been focused on training lately, our last date was a week ago. Osborn: A week? Feels like longer than that. Osborn: No wonder my mind is full of you right now. You: Actually, I also think of you at times like that. Osborn: I remember now, one time you even suddenly called me. Osborn: I picked up and said I was coming to find you, but you said you were just feeling a bit melancholic for a moment, and you'd be fine right away. Osborn: So, when you were standing alone under the streetlight at that time, what feeling made you think of me? You: It was the joy of seeing hope, because there was a beam of light in the boundless darkness, and it made me feel emotional without even realizing it. Osborn: Is that feeling like, a lost boat seeing a lighthouse? Osborn: A traveler in the desert seeing a water source? Osborn (Voice MSG): Or to be more precise, like I saw you.

-

TIMELINE POST

Osborn: A certain lazy cat wasn't paying attention during an online meeting, and I caught them.

You: What wage earner doesn't slack off? We just tough it out!

Osborn's Response: Slacking off is normal, the problem is, a certain restless hand wasn't just slacking off.

*The Chinese idiom for slacking off is "touching fish." By saying that MC's restless hand wasn't just "touching fish," it is insinuating that she was probably touching him.

-

"Over the years, I've only had one way to judge what is good and bad: by making that judgment belong only to myself."

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S2 Chapter 6-01

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[desertdollranch]

Eyeswapping my A Life of Faith doll

~*~*~ Before & After ~*~*~

This adorable little lady here is a doll from the doll brand A Life of Faith. The dolls were first released in 1998, and are based on characters from the Elsie Dinsmore book series, which was published in the 19th century. Since the dolls are no longer being produced, I had to acquire mine secondhand.

But they can sometimes be tricky to find without a certain very common condition affecting dolls: eyes that have changed color over time to red, orange, or purple.

(Left: a Violet Travilla doll; right: a Laylie Colbert doll, both from A Life of Faith; both pictures taken from secondhand listings)

This is absolutely not the only brand that has that defect; My Twinn, Ruby Red Fashion Friends, and Berenguer Classmates are some others I've seen whose eyes turn a bright shade of red.

My new doll came to me in excellent condition, but with light purple eyes that I did not like. I planned on removing and replacing them the moment before I bought her. It turned out to be easy and surprisingly inexpensive.

When I received my doll, I could tell immediately that she had the right kind of vinyl that would make it easy to replace her eyes. I took photos of each step so that I could show precisely how you can do the same.

The first thing you will need to do is get yourself a pair of flat-backed oval glass eyes, size 20 millimeters, in the color of your choice. I used these eyes from CR's Crafts and I'm pleased with what I got, but I can also recommend Dolls By Sandie as a legit source of doll parts that I have purchased from in the past. This size of eyes is also commonly used in reborn baby dolls, so if you're wanting to shop elsewhere you can search for that type of supplier. But do not compromise on the 20 mm size. Too big and they won't fit in the socket at all; too small and they will move around in the socket.

What else you'll need:

A very small screwdriver, or a similar slender metal or plastic tool

A large pot of water, and a way to heat it up (ideally a stove)

A few extra large plastic sandwich bags; large ziploc style bags are what I used

Dry towels in case your doll gets wet

What you'll be doing here is using the water to heat up the head, which will make the vinyl soft and flexible. Then you'll use your screwdriver to pop out the original eyes. Then you'll heat the vinyl again and use your hands to insert the new eyes.

Warning..... there are pictures within this post of an eyeless doll. If that is something you don't want to see, do not continue reading this post.

.........

Start by heating up some water in your large pot. Make it about 8 inches deep.

While that heats, remove the doll's wig and peel off the eyelashes. If you want to put the lashes back on after the eye swap, keep them in a safe place where they won't get lost. Eyelashes have the tendency to stick to random things and get far away from you.

Removing the wig isn't absolutely mandatory, but I do recommend it. It will make the whole process much easier when you're not worrying about damaging it or keeping it restrained and out of the way. You can always glue it back on afterward.

When the water is ready, get your doll suited up for the hot water plunge.

I covered her with two large plastic sandwich bags, then a plastic grocery bag. This will protect her from getting wet, while still allowing the vinyl of her head to heat up and become soft and flexible.

Bring your water to a boil, and then immediately turn off the heat and take the pot off the heat. Carefully bring the pot of hot water to a stable surface--I put mine down on the floor and sat there to work on my doll.

Turn the doll upside down and lower her head into the water. Make sure your water is deep enough to be level with at least her chin. Hold her there for about two minutes.

If your water is hot enough, the vinyl head should become warm and flexible.

Oops, she got a little bit wet. My bag leaked. If this happens to you, use towels to dry her off completely. Do not let her eye sockets get wet and remain wet, as this could let mold grow.

Working very quickly before the vinyl cools down, slip your screwdriver or other skinny tool into the eye socket behind the eye and pop it out. Be careful not to scratch her skin. If you're having trouble, put her back into the bags and heat up her vinyl a bit more.

Jeepers creepers! This is what you'll see after extracting them peepers.

Set the old eyes aside, and get the new eyes ready at hand. Then stick your doll back into the bags for 60 seconds to heat up the vinyl again.

Once she's warmed up again, it's time to insert the eyes.

The previous steps were the easy part. This is the tricky part that's hard to photograph in a helpful way. What I did was slip the top half of the eyes into the eye socket and then just pushed down hard on the eyes until the bottom halves popped into the socket.

You may need to reheat the vinyl again after putting in the first eye and the second eye.

If that's not working, you can also try squeezing the head to stabilize it and push the eyes in that way.

As soon as they're in, you're done! Reattach the lashes and the wig if you took that off.

Success!

This is an older picture and she has since changed wigs, but I'm so happy with her new eye color. It gives her a completely different, more natural look.

[weird-barbie]

Effie Trinket / Hayffie Headcanons (probably pt 1) hokay here we go

-Effie's name is just Effie - it's not short for anything. Yes I know the use of Euphemia in a lot of fanfiction ties into most Capitol names being Greco-Roman in nature but I think it's important to distinguish Effie's name from the others while still recognizing that tie and here's why

-Effie doesn't come from money - we know that not everyone in the Capitol even made it through the 'first' uprising with their lives and if you put Effie at about 40 in the 75th games (which I do personally) this means she was born around the 35th which is only 25 years after ABOSAS which isn't really that long. Long enough to take a generally poor family (during the 10th games) to a lower middle class family (during the 35th) if you worked really hard and scrimped and saved, but they're not going to reap wealth in one generation without connections, which I don't think they had.

-I have Effie's mother as a seamstress (duh) and her father in a labor position - there wouldn't be enough avoxes to cover all of the labor the Capitol needs ever so someone has to do the dirty work. She's also an only child because kids are expensive. To me, 'Euphemia' is an upper class name. Effie isn't. It's the one thing she keeps that ties her to her past. So how did she wind up being an Escort? -Well for one thing she's one of the most determined women in Panem, she's sharp as a tack and quick as a whip, and you don't learn style without being into fashion and you don't get into fashion without absorbing art like it's water. She'd have faked her way right into the Academy if only she had the resources to make the clothes for herself that she was churning out and dreaming up for her studies, but she didn't. She was a relatively poor girl with talent and resourcefulness that looks a lot like Tigris' talent and resourcefulness and you know who would've noticed that? Coriolanus Snow.

-Before you get ahead of me, no, I don't subscribe to any kind of belief of an infatuation here from either side and I don't wander into that ship tag (go off if you do it's not my thing) but I do think that Snow (by the 53rd games - so approaching his mid 60s?) definitely has a hand in selecting students for the key programs in the Academy that flow on to having an impact on the Games themselves. And this woman - young and blonde (we'll talk about her wigs another time) and talented and determined and loyal reminds him too much of who Tigris could've been to just pass on her because she can't afford the tuition (am I being obvious enough with these parallels?).

That's all for now but I might come back with more later. I...didn't get to Haymitch at all but I will.

[struungout]

My order from Taobao arrived today (in a severely beaten up box ahaha…)!

Leyla’s outfit finally looks more complete with the suit jacket. :) Absolutely loving the color.

The framed butterfly pieces are pretty cool, but I mostly got the set to use the frames for other artwork to put in my roombox (which has been in dire need of wall decor for a few years now lmao). The candy dish looking thing was marketed as an ashtray, but it’s a smidge too big for my minis for that purpose, but it’s still a very cute dish! Maybe I can make my dolls little tiny Andes mint chocolates. ;P

Then got moar of these tennis shoes. I have two pair already for my larger dolls (both in white), so just had to get another two pair for my minis (and a black pair for my large girls).

Lastly, what I was most hype for, were the wigs! The black/white one will be for Sachi when she eventually makes it back home (though it might still get replaced later on), and the mullet is for Rie. I need to get some pomade for both to style them a bit better, but they’re both pretty cute!

[fromtheboundlesssea]

HotD Season 2 Episode 1 Live Watch Thoughts

Yay recap! I missed you Emily and Milly!

The recap really does make it obvious that Alicent thinks she is following Viserys’ will.

Mysaria you did nothing to put Aegon on the throne. You did diddly squat that season.

I’m still blown they had Rhaenyra’s coronation at her daughter’s funeral.

Now onto the actual episode.

Ooooooo this opening is SOOOOOO MUCH COOLER!

I think it’s showing off what will happen during the season? Last season?

Opening is soooo much cooler than season 1 and all of Game of Thrones!

I beg you HBO! Keep this style of opening next season and all season!!!!!!

Love the contrast of the epicness of the opening to the quiet forest with a crow flying upon the wind.

“Duty is sacrifice” okay Cregan—mister I will show up last minute.

What has the seven kingdoms done for you really?

Was that SARA?!?!?

Is that adding to the watch from lore in the books or…

Random Stark boy be cute though.

Thank god they let Jace’s actor have his natural curls. So much better than that wig.

Cregan really is missing a beard. I think that is what is odd about his appearance.

The Conqueror went North to the Wall? I can’t remember that happening.

Jace… he bent the knee to not let his people burn. It wasn’t because they necessarily believed in the Targaryens and their right to rule.

Jace’s actor is 100% going to be used for Jon Snow faceclaims and gifs from these scenes.

I guess they are going to delete Sara, which kind of sucks tbh. I wanted Jace to have some conflict where he follows in his mother’s idea of lust and duty or goes against it.

“The mother grieves as the Queen shirks her duties” so like Viserys

Call him out Rhaenys. You deserved better when it came to your children.

Rhaenyra has no battle experience on her dragon and Syrax has no battle experience either. Aemond would not be in any trouble.

“Would that you were the king” OOF. He is going to be rattled by that for sure.

Power to Rhaenyra for not scorching Storm’s End tbh.

Honestly, I love the Velaryons so much. I wish we had more content about them in the shows.

I like that Corlys does seem to care about Luke. I just wish he showed just as much care about his granddaughters. I don’t think they’ve had any scenes together thus far.

So, is Alyn Corlys’ son in this or are they making no familial connection? And he married Baela and had an affair with her niece doesn’t he?

Oooo the same gate Otto left Alicent is the same gate the Green soldiers seem to come.

Love the scorpions. I wonder if they were suggested by Criston or if they just had them. They’re Dornish inventions right.

HELAENA MY GIRL! Is that a golden dragon you’re making?

JAEHAERA! MY CHILD!

Aw! Aegon checking on Jaehaera first before asking about Jaehaerys.

Okay, wow. Okay, having Alicent being eaten out. I wish their first time would have been after B&C where they are consumed by a need for comfort.

Interesting how we see Criston put on his armor after and Alicent helping him with his armor (giving him his cloak where Rhaenyra took it) and her clocking his shift in title and setting a boundary as opposed to Rhaenyra allowing him to assume (not fully blaming her btw).

JAEHAERYS! MY OTHER BABY

Aegon smiling at Jaehaerys 🥰

Tyland trying to be kind with he little prince while being annoyed.

Not Alicent blaming Tyland for the interruptions. 🤣

Here comes our new war criminal.

Aegon giving Aemond a place in the same way Viserys gave Daemon a place.

Me too Aegon. I am also like that when Otto talks.

I wish they gave an explanation of the balls. Have they given any in the BTS stuff?

Yes she was indisposed Larys you perverted creep.

Alicent definitely does not like that Larys chose her new staff. It feels controlling.

Why does Rhaenyra have ash on her face?

Appropriate fear of dragon.

That cgi of Rhaenyra getting off Syrax was awkward. Was that just me?

I hope they give Emma better writing this season, because they are an excellent actor.

RHAENYRA BUNCHING UP THE CLOTH TO HER BELLY!!!! 😭😭😭😭

Not Aegon and his crew sashaying in.

Interesting having Aegon being shown to handle matters of the kingdom before Rhaenyra is shown doing so. It’s an odd choice, especially him initially wanting to be helpful.

Hugh? However you spell it? Is it the dragon seed? Just a common name?

Interesting how we do not see him getting cut.

Starting Aegon as listening to the smallfolk in a way Rhaenyra dismissed is also interesting.

Love Aegon ready to dismiss Larys.

No Aegon do not listen to him. Yes I think Otto is not the best person, but Larys is not the best person to listen to either.

I wish we saw Alicent with the children or her with their things in her room.

Alicent defending her kids. That’s right. Because Otto has seemingly done nothing for those kids. He could have taken them under his wing.

The idea of men silencing the voice of mothers in the rearing and council of their children!

Rhys is such a good actor and I have to think about how he was also Mr. Lovegood.

Goats!

Hello Mysaria.

Man. This dynamic between Daemon and Mysaria is definitely giving off book Tyrion and Shae with his immediate act of ready violence.

Man, the idea of the Kingsguard not knowing what to do during Targ x Targ violence spans a the centuries huh.

Wigs are definitely a little better looking.

BAELA! RHAENA! MY DARLINGS!

Rhaena’s wig is soooo much better!

Daemon definitely does not like being silenced. How does it feel to have be treated in the same way Viserys treated Alicent?

Let my girls (Baela and Rhaena) have lines!

The way Jace’s voice is cracking!

Why do I feel we are not going to get any of the similar comforting moments between Alicent and her children? They are allergic to showing positive motherhood with he Greens.

Change in Joffrey actor.

Where are Aegon the Younger and Viserys?

Wish we got to see more of Rhaena interacting with Luke.

AND JOFFREY THROWING IN THE TOY!

Will rhaenyra hold any regret or kinder thoughts/prayers for Jaehaerys in the way Alicent does for Luke?

Same shore that Tyrion and Davos came in on maybe?

Why is Daemon coming in himself? Surely he would be able to just go inside himself if he was going to be traveling through the passages (although I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen in the show)

I guess this is Blood and Cheese.

And the rats were there while Viserys reigned, Daemon.

And they are really going to make the death of Jaehaerys an accident. Is everything going to be an accident in this show? Not let anyone but the Greens be held accountable.

Oh, so Daemon probably told them to go after any of the other Targaryens in the keep if they couldn’t find Aemond.

Like seeing the different types of map this episode.

And I feel like the show has changed Aemond’s characterization because we don’t have Alicent and Aemond directly talking.

Good. The line comes before B&C and not after.

Fabian is so hot. I need him in another period drama—OH him and Olivia in an adaptation of Persuasion by Jane Austen. It would SLAY

Nice to have Otto actually talk to his grandchildren in a way that isn’t violent or outright condescending.

If the rat catcher knows everything about the keep, wouldn’t he freaking know where Aemond is?

And if he’s going through the passages, again why couldn’t Daemon do it?

DOGGY! Little scruffers!

Ugh. I’m not excited for this and how they’re going to change this. (Although I get not wanting to put child actors through difficult situations)

And people were complaining about people paying no attention to the rat catcher, but we saw rat catchers wandering the hall throughout the episode in the background. So it’s not like it would be unusual for them to be there. And someone does notice them. But they’re servants seemingly doing their job. Why would people notice them wandering the castle.

And Aegon is being so casual on that throne.

Okay, but could they not have just waited for Aemond? Come back later?

And that is a cool as heck mural on Aemond’s wall.

I don’t like this. I don’t like this. I don’t like this.

Why does the maid look vaguely like Emma Stone?

NO HELAENA!!!!

Helaena struggling! 😭

I’m surprised they didn’t just kill them both?

THE TEAR!

Baby!!!!!! The necklace!

NO! This is worse!!!!!

Why is the maid not getting someone!!!!!!!!

The sounds!!! NO I DONT LIKE THIS!!!

This is so much worse than Luke!

WHY IS Helaena not screaming!

Why could they not have Helaena say her son’s name?!?!?

AND THATS THE END?!?!?!?

It should have ended with Helaena screaming instead of that!

And I’m glad the Alicole sex scene wasn’t intermixed with the killing of Jaehaerys. How people were describing it made it sound like it was.

Promo Thoughts

Now we see Aegon the Younger and Viserys.

Destroy that stupid Lego set Aegon!

Good! Yell at Daemon!

I wish Addam had white hair! I wanted more Velaryon face claims.

Is Laenor just never going to appear again?

Looks like Baela and Rhaena will do things next episode.

Hopefully we will have Alicent comforting her children in the same way Rhaenyra comforted Jace.

[quilleth]

Finally getting around to posting about NYC Dollcon, which really is mostly just my haul lol

I went with no solid plan of things to buy beyond "cute, anachronistic, pink things for Vanora, and also shoes" and managed to find some things. A lot of vendors didn't have much 1/3 scale clothing, or what they had didn't feel like the right style. Unfortunately, one of the shirts I bought for her is too small, so I'll have to look into selling or trading it, since I don't know if I'm particularly motivated to take it apart and alter it to fit better. And the pants that I bought for Faolan are too big, so same thing with those (I was thinking of the pants for his formal outfit when I got them, but honestly, I can just make some simple ones for that anyway). I'm still undecided on what want to do about his body, so I'll probably wait for those. But I bought the things below, including the exclusive head from Logan Dolls, which will become Mercutio, aka discount Shakespeare xD! I got another wig for Vanora too, that's a bit closer to what her hair color should be. It will still need to be styled into a partial ponytail though, so I'm still at "well see how this goes" that I am with her other one lol. I might leave one down so she can have somewhat different hair styles, probably the other one, since it's a little shorter.

Bonus of Vanora in the outfits (minus the heels because i can't seem to get her flat feet off to swap them for heeled ones lol) and dollisabeth in the flower crown I bought for her :3

I went to the molding and casting panel on Saturday, which was really interesting. I don't know if I'll ever sculpt anything, but it could be good to know even for making little accessories or something like that. I mostly wandered and shopped Saturday, and we left a little early xD Sunday I went to the Tianba faceup panel, which was really cool! I also went to the zbrush panel, which was interesting for the bit that people weren't interrupting or arguing with the host (some people were seriously SO RUDE! It was made clear at the beginning that the panel was meant for people with no experience and those who'd tried it wouldn't gain anything, but that didn't stop people who'd tried it before from staying and trying to ask more advanced questions or just argue in what was labelled a beginner panel). I have blendr anyway, not zbrush, but seeing some of the basics would still have been cool. And I also went to the one of joint engineering, but that definitely went mostly over my head because I'm nowhere near trying that xD

The VIP tickets were worth the extra expense! They came with so much stuff! I might have to get a project doll at some point just so I can use the eyes from Tianba, because they're lovely, but don't suit anyone I currently have. And the little teeny monster doll from Logan dolls is cute! the heels have little hearts on them! I'm kind of afraid to try anything with her at the moment though because she's so small lol

I still haven't figured out what to put in the commission forms for the faceup I won in the raffle, so I'm working on that slowly xD I am probably overthinking it, like usual. But also, it says to send the eyes for final pictures, so I need to finish those first I feel like. I think I can also ask for them to do the ear "piercings" which also means sorting out one of his earrings, since it's not a typical stud or hoop. I'm still really excited about it! I've never commissioned a faceup before though, so I'm not quite sure what information is helpful to send and what's more relevant for an illustration (and what's just me infodumping about characters tbh lol).

Overall I enjoyed it! I don't know if I'd go every year (it's an expensive trip with travel and hotel costs!) but maybe every few years if they keep doing it. It sounds like it was successful, so I imagine they'll do it at least one other time.

[atopvisenyashill]

i have to watch everything at least twice to understand it but preliminary thoughts

wigs look good so far even tho aegon’s looks dumb. i get they want to go for like “greasy sadboy” here but it looks like they plopped it on his head 10 minutes before they started filming. crazy bc little jaehaerys looked adorable, helaena looked very nice, and rhaenyra’s fucked up wig was divine.

baela and rhaena crumbs were nice and while i think the dresses on the whole looked better, i’m still genuinely annoyed that they consistently choose to put baela in these random no character targaryen style dresses instead of her trousers. it’s fine at least they were at the funeral up close this time, given that luke is their literal brothercousin.

we could have gotten a wall scene AND the cregan tells jace about luke reveal. imo there was time in this episode to have jace at some sort of small dinner where cregan introduces him to some people, talk about the long night, and see jace Relaxed, Funny, And Politicking like the aegon & jaehaerys scenes.

that said, him crying as he tried to report to rhaenyra was well done, and picking up joffrey actually made me yell out loud. i will take these crumbs thanks.

aliotto fatherhusband and daughterwife scene was really really excellent. i might turn into an alicole hater bc i think those scenes were a waste of time and i want alicent to fuck several relatives And larys before that man, if she must fuck a man. we’ll see going forward.

b&c was kinda disappointing? not married to the idea of helaena picking maelor/jaehaera to die over jaehaerys so much as blood or cheese making sure to get in that “hear that your mommy wants you dead” line. THATS what makes it the tragedy, that helaena chooses a child over the other and has to live with it. i Kind Of get the change here, the continued themes of helaena being ignored, the idea that helaena almost wants to spare jaehaerys from ever being king by letting him die (i mean that’s what i was getting from the earlier convo + “they killed the boy” - spare her boy by letting him die, try to protect her girl by ensuring she lives). but then they should have found a way to work in an extra level of psychological torture there with the choice she made.

i DO like that they chose jaehaerys to kill bc they were kinda rushed. they’re doing this for the money, bc they don’t like the hightowers, there’s a different rat catcher for different floors, they’re not thinking about the politics of whether it’s better to risk killing aemond in a messy way or settle for jaehaerys, they’re just trying to get the job done. i think there needed to be a little more oomph in that decision though - either more gore/sadism during the moment of killing jaehaerys or a longer scene with daemon about what to do if they can’t bag aemond that makes the viewer a bit unsettled by daemon.

rhys looked infinitely sexier to me. he dumped his annoying deadbeat husband (viserys) and glowed the fuck up. i respect the game.

in general, it’s the same issue as last season which is too much plot heavy tb scenes whereas tg has a good mix of character & plot driven scenes. it’s so frustrating that they can get the same information across but in a scene that has more character analysis & humor but seem determined to Only do this for the greens. the only one we really got for tb in that regard is maybe the corlys/alyn one.

i don’t want to end on bitching let’s end these with MY FAVORITE PARTS: ✨🖤jace’s fire new look🖤✨ and every aegon scene!

[asher-agere]

I do not have anything extra to add to this request since nothing has really happened today for me (other than finally getting a wig for my Halloween costume. Pink wigs are apparently very uncommon so I had to get a white one and pink hair spray to just make it pink myself) so I’ll get straight to the point! Can you share your thoughts on caregiver Kōyō with a very very shy little. Like, refuses to talk to anyone except her and even then at most only says a few words to her and refuses to even be around other people… like the little is already shy when not regressed but it just gets ten times worse when they’re little. Once again, no specific character in mind :3

- Fyodor enjoyer

Getting a wig is so exciting! (๑ > ᴗ < ๑) I actually style wigs for cosplay so I know it can be a nightmare… I wish you luck! So much luck! And I can absolutely do that! That level of shy reminds me of Kyouka actually so this might be kinda based on their dynamic! (Wan Kyouka and Kōyō in the preschool episode… My babies…)

Caregiver Kōyō + Shy Little

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

⛥ Kōyō would find a shy little absolutely adorable! She would grow so absolutely protective over them, never wanting them out of her sights even! She’d be very careful to them comfortable at all times! Always safe from as many stress factors as possible!

⛥ If her little one is already shy when they’re in a bigger headspace then I think she’d be pretty used to handling them! She’d have enough experience to know what kind of things might stress them out, likes and dislikes, which is perfect! That way she doesn’t need to make the baby talk if they don’t want to!

⛥ She definitely lets them hide in her Kimono! She’ll wear shoes that specifically make her taller and therefore easier to hide behind. She’ll let her little one grab her sleeves to hide behind, make use of the long flowy fabric to seemingly disappear. She’ll reach out and gently pat them on the head, but otherwise pay them no mind. If they disappeared she can’t see them right? She doesn’t want to stress them out

⛥ She’ll always make sure there’s a blanket or a stuffed animal around! More ways to hide their face hehe. For a stuffed animal she’d pick something easy to hide behind! For example the ears on a bunny plushy! She’ll always have something to give them, not wanting to force them to interact any more than they need to

⛥ Kōyō can be a very clingy caregiver. But if her little one is too shy for overwhelming contact that’s perfectly ok! She’ll sit them on the couch, put on a cartoon, maybe get a small snack ready, then she’ll sit on the opposite end of the couch. She doesn’t want to be overbearing. If as they watch her baby crawls over into her arms she won’t mention it, she’ll just gently run her fingers through their hair and hum

⛥ She’d never force her baby to talk! If they’re too shy to that’s perfectly ok! The only time she might try to is if something is seriously wrong, even then she’d try making it as simple as possible. But mostly she likes giving them options! Drawing pictures is an amazing way to communicate! Bonus points if the baby hides their cute face behind the paper hehe

⛥ I’ve mentioned before that I think Kōyō would use Golden Demon to help her take care of a little, but if they’re super shy I don’t think she would! Sure they’re both aware Golden Demon isn’t an independent person, but it still seems like one at times and that can be stressful. She’d rather it’s just her and the baby

⛥ While Kōyō wouldn’t pressure her little one into contact, she would want to be in the same room as them! Especially if they’re non-verbal therefore less likely to ask for help. For example if her baby needs a bottle of milk she wants them to come with her into the kitchen. Yes even if they’re comfy on the couch watching a show, she just needs to make sure they’re safe!

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Yay requests! Probably the last thing I’m posting tonight, time to go devote my night to my caregiver >:3 I feel oh so very productive! Seven posts in one day? That’s genuinely like insane- But so much fun! I could do this daily hehe. It’s a really nice escape from stressful things. Have a wonderful night to anyone reading this!