#disney give him more hairstyles and my life is yours

[aimapandu]

Peepaw Lilia

[dayswritting]

"There she goes"

Chapter 1. The one with the library meet cute.

Bob Floyd x Teacher! OC

Summary: Lucy's first encounter with the man with beautiful cobalt eyes.

Word count: 2,4 k

Warning: Bad spelling (English is not my first language), fluff, Bob being gentleman, Rooster's menace daughter.

Author's note: Hey everyone! So, this is my first time posting here on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did while writing it. See you in the next chapter.

Masterlist

With Sienna Bradshaw's eighth birthday right around the corner and Bradley getting a call to Top Gun again. The three musketeers would be together for a while. Since her sister’s death, Lucy knew how much it meant for her niece to have a family so she tried to make everything as smooth as possible. Even if that meant moving to a house closer to the base so father and daughter could be together.

People around the town talked about her and Bradley’s relationship. People talked about how difficult must be for a widowed man and his sister-in-law to decide to raise their long-lost older sister. And how inconvenient their family was. But they weren’t alone, Lucy’s family was always there for them and they were thankful for that. Especially Bradley since he came from having no one to have the biggest family that he ever imagined.

Today Bradley was coming back and his daughter wanted to pick him up. And Lucy couldn’t say no to her niece. So early on a Saturday, they had breakfast and got dressed to pick up her annoying best friend from the airport. The day before she and Sienna prepared a list of things to do when her dad came back. Even Lucy’s mom prepared food for them so they didn’t need to worry about cooking that weekend.

“Sienna, honey” Lucy called her nice “Can you fetch me your bag? I need the books we borrowed from the library. We need to return them today before going for your dad at the airport.” She heard Sienna’s footsteps coming down the stairs with the backpack on her hands and messy hair all over her face.

“Oh Bumblebee” Lucy picked her up and sat her in an aisle chair.”What hairstyle would you like today, my princess”

“Two pigtails, please,” Sienna answered enthusiastically. While Lucy did her hair, the blonde girl played with the plane toys her father bought for her. One of those was a mini version of an F-14 jet. “Tia, can we bring Daddy some of the cookies we made yesterday?” Sienna turned to Lucy with pleading eyes.

“Alright” Lucy accepts surrender “But only a few, because your dad loves to eat everything” Sienna laughs at her aunt's joke while Lucy finishes her nice hairstyle "Okay, your hair is finished. Now I want you to put these books inside your bag while I go for mine. Got it, Bee?” Sienna nods and gives Lucy a thumbs up.

When Lucy comes back from her bedroom she finds Sienna waiting at the door with a cookie bag in her hand. She gets on one knee to take the cookies and put them inside Sienna’s bag.

“That’s better” she smiled before standing up “Now let’s get going, Bee.”

The journey to the Library was one of their favorite things to do. They listen to music and sing along, from Disney to Bluey to some Taylor Swift, especially “Love Story”. And Sienna always reminds her, to Lucy’s dismay, to play her dad’s favorite “Great Balls of Fire”.

They arrive at North Island’s library and get out of the car. This was her’s and Sienna’s tradition for every Saturday. Get breakfast and start the day by going to the library. And Lucy loved this more than anything, even if it had been a real challenge helping her best friend and his child. She enjoyed being able to take part in the life of someone like Sienna. This little girl had saved her life in more ways than she could have imagined, and she would do anything to keep her safe from this big world.

Inside the library, they’re greeted by Nora the librarian. Nora has known Lucy since she and her family moved to Miramar. She knew almost everything about her and was one of the few who knew Sienna’s mom's real story. “Hi, girls. Finish your books already?” Nora asks cheerfully

“Yes! My favorite was the one with the secret Garden” Sienna answered happily. “I've finished it and another book all by myself.” Nora made an amused sound about the news and gave her a high five.

“Yep, so we are going to take it again with us so Bradley can listen to her reading,” Lucia says while putting the books in the return cart and giving Nora the “Secret Garden” book “Can you check it again for us?” Lucy ask Nora, who answered with a nod “We’re going to look for our weekly batch”

Sienna decided to go to the kid’s section while Lucy went to the classic section straight to where Jane Austen’s books can be found. Right on the top of the shelf, she found the one she was looking for. It was an old version of Pride and Prejudice that Lucy has read since she was a teenager. When she went to take it, another hand interrupted her way. Turning to see the person that didn’t let her take the book. She’s greeted by a pair of blue and shy eyes behind some Birth control glasses, a shy smile, and the most handsome man she ever met.

“I believe this is the one you were going for. Right?” The blonde haired man asks quietly before he starts to ramble “I just, I saw you were trying to grab it but you couldn't make it to the top. So I thought it was a good idea to help you. '' he looked at her eyes ``Please don’t think I’m a freak” he finished while handing her the book.

Lucy was so endeared by his shy manner of him that she just started laughing “I never thought that” she takes the book from his hands shyly “And yes, this was the one I was going for”

“ It’s a great book,” He says quickly, hoping to not scare her off. He had never seen such beauty in his life. And the smile she gave him after he said that, he felt like he was going to faint “I read it when I was in college. Jane Austen is an awesome author. She knew how to tell a story and make her characters grow.”

“I know, right? It’s one of my favorites” she said enthusiastically. The man in front of her smiled and opened his mouth to speak before being interrupted by a small “Tia” coming from behind her.

Lucy turned around and Sienna was looking at her with a smile on her face and arms full of books “ Bee, darling. Why do you have so many books?” Lucy asked while kneeling on her level. “You know we only take three or four per week” When she finished the sentence she heard a small whining coming from the child.

“Fine,” Sienna said with a pound “I’m going to take back the ones I don’t want to read right now” She places the books on the floor and takes three of them to hand them to Lucy “I’ll be back in a minute” she used her serious voice like she was on a mission. The one she always uses to hide her deception.

Lucy smiled with fondness at her niece before remembering there was a handsome stranger behind her. She quickly stood up.

“My niece is a little bookworm just like me” she chuckled feeling embarrassed.

“I don’t think there is something wrong with that.” He smiled at her and realized he’s been staring at her too much. “I mean, I’m one too if you haven't figured it out. Pretty sure the glasses give me away" A little laugh escaped from his lips.

"That, and your choice of books." Lucy raises the one in her hands and looks at the other in his hand. One with Miramar's history and another of the Treasure Island "Or maybe, it's your way to get a date." she jokes, gaining a chuckle from the man.

"Oh no, ma’am. I ain't that type of guy." The sudden southern accent from him caught Lucy by surprise. Before she could ask him for what reason he was there, Sienna came back. The little girl had her round cheeks flushed as if she had just run a marathon.

"Tia, I'm ready. Can we go now?" She asked to take her hand to try to move Lucy with her.

“Hold on one minute, little missy” Lucy stopped Sienna and kneel before her “Your father will be here in 2 hours. What's with the rush?” When her niece was about to answer, a little voice spoke, startling them.

“Excuse me,” The adults present look at the child who is just talking. A red-haired boy with glasses twice the size of his head. Lucy recognized the kid, he was in the other first-grade class, with Ms. Peterson and a teammate of Sienna’s soccer team. ”I think you forgot your bag, Sienna.” The mentioned girl hid behind her aunt and stared at her like asking for help.

“Thank you, darling.” Lucy replied to her niece while taking the bag “You’re in Ms. Peterson's class, right?”

“Yes!” He replied quickly before taking a look at Lucy to open his eyes like he just recognized her.“You're Ms. Orozco, right? I’m Marcus O’Malley. My little brother goes to your classroom.” he genuinely smiled, happy to share that information.

“That's right, I´m Georgie’s teacher.” Lucy smiled at the kid and stood up to extend her hand to him “It's a pleasure meeting you, Marcus.” The little kid shook her hand excitedly when an older woman called after him.

The kid got called by his parents, who, when they saw Lucy they greeted her with a wave

“I need to go,” the boy said when he saw his parents. Then he turned towards the girl“ Would you like to play with me tomorrow? ” he asked and Sienna just answered with a nod. “Great! See you tomorrow at school, Siena. You too, Ms, Orozco” Marcus turned and said goodbye quickly and left.

Lucia was in shock, her niece was shy and red as a tomato. Before she could say anything to the girl, the man decided to talk. Remembering Lucy of his presence.

“So, you’re a teacher? That's… That´s a beautiful profession.” the blond man says when she turns to face him. Darcy just smiled at him embarrassed, without knowing what to say.

“She’s one of the best teachers in Miramar’s elementary school” Sienna interrupted cheerfully, gaining the man's attention.

This gave Lucy a wake-up call. She realized that her niece just gave personal information to a total stranger. And that they really shouldn’t be doing this, especially her. She is the grown-up in charge of her niece. A pretty face it’s not worth their security.

Immediately, Lucy turns to her niece and asks her to give her books to Nora so they can go and hand her library card. When she gets her attention back to the man in front of her. Lucy’s heart almost melted when she saw the soft look he was giving her. But she shook it off since he was a stranger and her niece always came first.

“I love to keep chatting. But we need to go,” she said with an apologetic smile “We have to finish some stuff.” Lucy lets out an awkward chuckle, hoping the man in front of her doesn’t realize what she’s trying to do.

“It’s okay, ma’am. I won’t entertain you any longer, sorry” he smiled genuinely at her before making her a sign to wait for a second. He quickly took one of the books in his hand and extended for Lucy to take it “A little recommendation from bookworm to bookworm” Lucy took it carefully like it was made of crystal.

“I’ll give it a try” Lucy replied softly “Thank you, library savior.” She smiled one last time and turned to where her niece had gone. Walking she sent a last glance at where the handsome man was. He was still but just moving backward until he was stopped by the bookshelf making him almost drop his books and turn red ashamed. Lucy let out a little giggle and kept going. With a copy of The Treasure Island in her hands, even if she already had read it.

Walking out of the building to their car, Lucy turned at her niece and smiled mischievously.

"So… Marcus, huh?" Lucy starts the conversation.” He seems nice.”

"So… the man in the library, huh?" Sienna counterattacks, shocking her aunt.”Anything you wanna share?”

"Don’t try to avoid the question with another question” Lucy replied, opening the back door and helping her niece to get in the car seat.

“I’m just stating the facts,” Sienna said while hopping in.

Lucy laughed, definitely Sienna was Miel's daughter. Too smart for her good. She secured Sienna's seat belt, closed the door, walked to the other side of the car, and opened the driver's door.

“You know, for an 8-year-old you have a lot of opinions” Lucy mumbled, sitting and putting on her seat belt.

“I know, my teacher says I’m too advanced for my age” Sienna replied with a smirk.

“Kinda feel sorry for her” Lucy shook her head, turning her Jeep on.

“Don’t be, I hear her talking behind your back” Sienna declared while checking her new books.

“What?” Lucy snapped looking at her niece. Thank God they were still in the parking lot.

“Yep, she wants your parking spot. So she tried to spread some rumors.” Sienna replied uninterestedly, "That woman needs to remember that children understand more than she thinks.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Lucy asked.

“Because Principal Cho shut her up,” she explained, since the situation had been cleared it wasn't important anymore. Then she added “And I put a bag of spoiled eggs inside her car”

“It was you? How did you do it?" Lucy questioned her, her head started to feel heavy, too much information for one library ride.

“A magician never shares her secrets," Sienna replied witty. "And I don’t like people that talk about my family.” This girl was without a doubt her family. She needed to reduce Sienna’s time with her family.

“Well, thank you," Lucy responded ironically. "That wasn't good, but I appreciated the intention. Just don’t do it again. Next time you tell me, okay?” She gave her niece one warning look making Sienna nod

“Okay,” Sienna replied not truly convinced.

"Great. Let's go for an ice cream before your dad gets here"

Sienna let out a cheerful "Yes!" In response. And just like that Sienna evaded the whole awkward situation for her and her aunt. Meanwhile, Lucy leaves behind her thoughts about the blue-eyed beauty she meets at the library.

[twisted-confessions]

I'M GOING TO CRY IM TEARING UP RIGHT NOW HOLY FUCK THANK YOU YOUR RANT IS SO SWEET AND BELLA LOOKS SO FANTASTIC!!!!

Now to properly reply to each part lol

Omlll I'm so shocked that people can recognise my twst account now, this is INSANE!!! I'm so glad you and so many others have liked my Nani idea!!! YES YES YES @boopshoops IS SUCH A COOL ARTIST I LOVE EVERYTHING SHE DOES!!! I met her through our gimmick blog server and found out she made the Twst comic with Yuu Shi and my jaw dropped, especially when she agreed to help me out with designing Bella! Oml, it honours me so much that you were going to draw her beforehand I could cry, Bella is such a special OC to me and the fact she's been getting so much love in the twst community more than any other OC i've ever made just absolutely warms my heart, i feel like crying again. I understand getting scared of someone elses art and panicking whenever they interact with you lol, i have the same kinda reaction whenever I edit cards of Twst artists I admire.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! She turned out so well in your style and I'll instantly be adding your art into my folder of reference for her!! I also love Hiccup and Toothless lol, I really liked the idea of bringing the big scaley boi over to Twst and just terrorizing everyone there with her lmao. Thank you so much, I love how well she turned out, Shoopy did a fantastic job.

OOOH THATS SUCH A GOOD POSE!!! Really helps show how awkward Bella can be and how the two are related lol. Despite how confident she looks in Shoopy's style, she's just as self-conscious as her brother heheh.

OMGGGGG THE FRANGIPANI FLOWERS!!! Irl, frangipanis are my all time favourite flower, that's such a cute little detail for her outfit! The pony tail looks great!! If i would change anything about it, it would be giving her the Pre-Book 5 hairstyle since I'll be putting the Stitch Event for her AU before Book 4 but it looks so nice regardless!! The skirt and shorts are such a good touch, I feel like Bella would be embarrassed to show off so much skin and exposing her leg/scars from over the years for the first time since she's always worn long clothing all her life so the longer shorts are very in character for her <3. (Speaking of this event, in my AU Stitch 100% comes with Bella and her bois back to Ramshackle HE'S STAYING IN THE STORY BECAUSE I LOVE HIM AND NO OTHER REASON WHY HE'S NOW HER SECOND ADOPTED LITTLE MONSTER SON AND GRIM AND STITCH ARE GONNA TEAR THE SCHOOL DOWN FOR FOOD!!!)

AGCAKAK THE TOOTHLESS SCALE NECKLACE IS SO CUTE TO THINK ABOUT I LOVE IT!!!!! When Shoopy first added the green leaf accessory to her hair, it reminded me of Jack Sparrow's hair beads for some reason so I suggested adding two black Night Fury Scales to the end of it to match her braids!! The scales are taken from both Toothless and Hiccup's Night Fury, Thor, so she can always keep them with her, just like how she has her family's hair braided in her own. And in HTTYD 3, it's said that dragons actually shed a lot which is how they made their armour! I like to think the Book Magic took her hair accessory and changed it into a necklace with your outfit :)), and you're so right, trying to bring a dragon into a library is a terrible idea lmaooo.

I never noticed the bracelets on their outfits!! I did see the fish hook neck but I think that's more a David reference if anything (which is hilarious to think about if my Nani=Yuu idea was right lmaooo Aceyuu shippers winning thanks to Stitch-), but he definitely give Maui vibes to lmao. The little heart is perfect <3, especially cause Nani has stolen mine- SHE IS THE SURFING QUEEN!!!

Lilo and Stitch was my favourite disney movie growing up, I would watch it non-stop and the second one was so beautiful as well, I cried as a kid at the end (oh who am I kidding I still cry at that one scene-). The Pelekai family is the true definition of Found Family which I think very perfectly suits Twisted Wonderland. I hope Stitch comes back in the future for another event, I love him so much.

Bella i'd say is very much like Hiccup, just a mini-him but with powers and more easily provoked lol. A very hot-tempered girl with weapons, so just your standard scrawny Viking lol. I'm so glad you like her, anytime I get to talk to someone about Bella always makes my day :) <3 Thank YOU for accepting my request and doing such a fanastic job!! And never stop ranting, I loved reading every bit of it!!

send me your ocs to draw fan art of!!

I’m a beginner artist, (Haven’t learned much, but I’ve drawn enough that if my art was good, I’d be able to solve world hunger) willing to draw ocs for free and I won’t be amazing at it.

Im just so bored with having art block and making reference sheets for ALL my ocs.

Please! Just three!

[tomurasprincess]

A Caged Dove Part 4 (Shouto Todoroki x Reader)

Summary: You are a princess from a smaller territory within the kingdom, summoned to the castle to meet with the heir of the throne in the absence of your parents. You think it will simply be a routine trip, until you realize that Prince Shouto has his own plans for you. Whether you agree with them or not.

Pairing: Prince Shouto Todoroki x Reader  Rating: E+ Word Count: 6.5k Chapter Warnings: Dubcon, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, breeding, praise kink, obsession, yandere Series Warnings: Noncon, dubcon, breeding, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, stalking, yandere Note: Fairy Tale AU. (Still more Grimm than Disney). This took longer than I expected because it expanded beyond my expectations and I got a bit stuck. But I’m rather proud of how this chapter turned out. After this part, there will only be one more part and then this series will be finished! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and find that it was worth the wait.

One || Two || Three || Four || Five (Finale)

It doesn't seem real as the palace erupts into a whirlwind of activity, the entire castle preparing for a royal wedding. In fact, it is the first royal wedding in years, as all of Prince Shouto's siblings have yet to marry.

It doesn't seem real that you have a wedding planner taking you through all aspects of the wedding, through the gown fitting, for the decorations, for the reception. So many choices in such little time that it has left your head spinning.

It doesn't seem real that you don't know how your parents are doing, don't know if they're even still alive and if you're doing this all for nothing. That he won't take you to see them, that he shrugs off the question every time you ask him, under the guise of not wanting to stress you before your big day.

And it certainly doesn't seem real as you're waiting to walk down the aisle, wedding music playing in the background and a smiling Prince Shouto Todoroki standing at the end.

His smile looks genuine, beaming and radiant as if this is simply a traditional wedding with a normal husband and wife. But you know full well the darkness that lay behind that smile, know how utterly wrong this whole thing is.

You pause for a second before you begin to walk down the aisle, mind running through all the scenarios that could get you out of this situation. But you know there is nothing left, nothing to stop this from happening. You pause for another second as you internally weep at the lost opportunities. At the thought that your father is still in a dungeon somewhere, unable to walk you down the aisle or watch his only daughter get married. At the thought that the one you truly wanted was murdered by the very man you're about to marry.

You take a deep breath as the wedding march begins to play and you start to walk down the aisle. All eyes are on you, smiling at the chance to watch such a historic event. You want to scream at them, to claw at their eyes until they're forced to acknowledge that something is very wrong here. But you don't. You simply plaster on a fake smile as you glance at each of them, noticing that nobody from your lands is in attendance at this event, no familiar faces to cling to.

You don't know why you would have expected any differently. Prince Shouto is determined to isolate you, take away everyone in your life that you could cling to for support or comfort, leaving only him for you to rely on.

You make it to the end of the aisle far too quickly and take up your place beside Prince Shouto. His gaze, to an outsider's perspective, may look loving. And perhaps it is. But it's also stark possession and obsession, with just a hint of triumph that he is about to get everything that he wanted.

"Now face each other and hold hands," the priest smiles gently. Prince Shouto instantly listens, turning to you and grabbing your hands as he pulls you just a bit closer. His grip is just a shade too hard, as if he's worried you'll run at the last minute. He has nothing to worry about. You know that there's no escape.

You glance over at the priest and wonder if he knows the truth of this sham of a wedding, if he would help you if he did know the truth. But you suspect that he genuinely does not. His happiness at being called to lead this occasion radiates out from him. But you know you've been fooled before. Nobody is to be trusted in this court.

"Prince Shouto Todoroki and Princess, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?"

"I have come freely and without reservation," the Prince says with no hesitation. As he finishes the sentence and it becomes your turn, you feel your hands being gripped even tighter, this time to the point of pain. You're barely able to conceal your wince, to prevent everyone staring at the happy couple from seeing. The grip is a warning, telling you that you need to continue playing your part or there will be consequences.

"I have come freely and without reservation," you reply, a fake smile plastered on your face with your tone as happy as you can manage. Internally, you're screaming.

"Will you honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?"

As before, the Prince instantly agrees, and it becomes your turn. This time the agreement comes more naturally to you. "I will."

"Will you accept children lovingly and bring them up according to the law of the Todoroki Court?"

A bolt of panic runs through you, freezes your veins as your thoughts scatter away into nothing. How stupid to forget this part of the vow, to be surprised in front of such a large crowd. Your family's lives depend on you making it through this ceremony, of pretending you are happy to be getting married.

Prince Shouto is not taken aback at all by this question. Of course he wouldn't be, he had to have expected it. You wonder if you imagine the dark laughter in his voice as he agrees. But when the priest's eyes turn to you for your agreement, you see him smirk out of the corner of your eye and realize one thing. He's amused by this. Amused at your discomfort, at seeing you be forced to surrender to him.

"I will," you barely grit out between clenched teeth. The audience doesn't seem to notice your hesitance, or they least attribute it to nervousness from being married in front of such a large crowd. The priest doesn't notice either, smiling at you as he begins to instruct on the words for the next part of the ceremony.

"I, Prince Todoroki, take you to be my wife for all of time. I swear to be true to you and only you, to have and to hold, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep you only onto me. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. Forever and ever."

Your heart sinks into your chest at hearing those wedding vows. You know they are not traditional to the royal family, having learned about them as part of your nobility and etiquette lessons. Surely someone must notice that something is wrong. But as you scan around the church, you see everyone gazing at you with looks of adoration. Some even coo at each other in soft whispers about how sweet this is, how clearly you're in love with each other.

You're brought back to reality as Prince Shouto digs his nails into the underside of your hand, warning you to pay attention. To recite the final words that will leave you bound to him, with no hope of ever breaking up the marriage. Royals divorcing or separating from each other simply does not happen.

"I, Princess Todoroki, give myself to Prince Shouto, to be my husband, to be yours for all of time. I swear to be true to you and only you, to have and to hold, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep you only onto me. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. Forever and ever."

You are not even surprised at this point to find that nobody notices the difference in your vows. Even the priest doesn't seem to find it strange, as he claps his hands together in joy and says the words you've been dreading to hear.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride."

Shouto wastes no time crossing the distance, wrapping an arm around you and dipping you as he claims your lips in a dominant and possessive kiss. It is far past the etiquette of court and downright immodest for a royal wedding. But everyone simply chuckles, commenting that Prince Shouto is so in love with his bride that he couldn't help but get carried away.

He lifts you up and pulls you into his arms, leaning down to whisper something that causes your whole body to shiver. "Now, you're mine forever, Princess," he chuckles darkly. "I told you I always get what I want." 

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Everything becomes a blur of motion and activity after that. You're ushered away from the wedding chapel and into a separate room as you're freshened up by more servants than you know what to do with. They touch up your makeup, fix any hairs that have fallen from your elaborate hairstyle, and put the train of your wedding dress up into a bustle to dance freely at the reception. As they finish, a beautiful woman with silver hair and a kind smile on her face enters the room. She dismisses the servants with a wave of her hand before turning to face you.

"You're Queen Rei Todoroki." You instantly move to get off the platform where they had you as your dress was being worked on so that you can curtsy, but the woman shakes her head.

"That's not necessary." She examines you closely, walking around to admire your wedding dress. You don't say a thing, too intimidated at making a wrong move or giving away the reality of the situation.

"I know what you're going through," she says calmly. "I know this wedding is against your will."

Your eyes widen as you stare at her, wondering if this is some horrible trap. You keep your mouth shut in fear of saying the wrong thing.

"The same thing happened to me, you know. Enji forced me to marry him as well. The whole of the royal family knows what's happening."

"Then why is Shouto doing the same to me," you blurt out, "and why are you all letting this happen?" Fear slices through you as you slam your hand over your mouth, as if to keep more words from slipping out. What you just said, the tone you used could mean severe consequences when used against the Queen of the Todoroki empire.

"You don't have to fear me," she sighs as she takes in your panicked look. "And as for why we're allowing this, well. The answer is that no one here has any real power beyond Enji. And Shouto also has a bit more power than the rest of us as heir to the throne. And as for why, well, that one should be obvious."

"Obvious how? It's not obvious to me," you say in shock. "I never expected any of this."

"It's obvious because Shouto has been pressured into taking a wife for several years now, and he refused every single time."

"Then why now, and why me?"

"It's because of you that he refused, Princess."

At your confused expression, Queen Rei lets out a sigh. "He refused because the King was trying to match him with other princesses. One more beneficial to the country. But he only has eyes on you. It's always been you for him."

Your mind reels at the implications of this statement. "I wondered," you murmur quietly, "why Shouto chose me, from a smaller territory with little to offer, instead of someone more useful to the kingdom."

She gives a quick nod. "You're a smart woman. That is exactly why. And recently, Enji ruled that Shouto had to take a bride or lose his right to inherit the throne."

You let out a small gasp at that. "Prince Touya abdicated, so that would mean Prince Natsuo, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, and Shouto was not about to let that happen. He wants to rule this kingdom, to be the most important of the country. But your parents kept refusing offers of marriage. So he had to take desperate methods."

You cross your arms over your chest as you glare at her, anger at her building. "It still doesn't excuse any of this."

"No, of course not. But I wanted you to know the truth before you get thrown headfirst into the lion's den of court life."

Your anger deflates just as quickly as it came. There is no use in getting angry at someone who has no control over this situation and is at least trying to be honest with you. You don't thank the Queen, but you do give her a quick nod to show your appreciation.

"Good. I'll have the servants escort you to the reception hall." -------

As the servants lead you through multiple twisting hallways, you have the first opportunity of the day to take a breather and think about what's happened. You're married now. Officially. You have become Princess Todoroki, wife of the heir to the throne and future Queen. Like Queen Rei, however, you doubt that you'll have real power even when Shouto ascends to the throne.

You finally make it to the reception hall, where Shouto is waiting so that you can be officially announced as a married couple and walk in together. He smiles at you as he pulls you closer. "You're going to behave at the reception, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. There's nothing to be done anyway. Not anymore. You made sure of that."

He gives a deep chuckle. "Glad you finally came to accept it. Now let's go, the announcement is about to happen."

You walk through the ornate double doors of the reception hall to face a massive crowd of royalty and nobility, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to greet you both.

"Everyone, please welcome the happy couple, Prince and Princess Todoroki, future heirs to the throne of the Todoroki Empire!"

As you walk arm in arm with your new husband, you feel a level of despair you never knew you could reach. All of the noblewomen have smiles on their faces, but behind those smiles hide pure envy, even hatred. Envy that you were the one married to Prince Shouto and the one that will be Queen alongside him. Hatred that such a lowly noble as you has received the honor instead of them with their more blue blood backgrounds. If only they knew, you think bitterly.

On the other hand, the men also look on with envy. But it's envy directed at Prince Shouto, the man that they consider as having it all. The most handsome in the kingdom, heir to the throne, and now married to someone as beautiful as you. But you notice that they refuse to look you in the eyes, as if they're scared. You sneak a glance at your husband and see that his gaze turns cold whenever he feels someone has stared for just a hair too long. His gaze turns even colder as he turns and sees something.

"Well well well, you're the princess who caused my little brother to lose all sense," a profoundly sarcastic voice says from behind you. He has dark hair and glittering turquoise eyes, along with facial and hand burns that appear to go up under his clothes beyond the parts you can see.

He circles you like a shark circling prey, blatantly ogling you from head to toe before turning to Prince Shouto and smirking. "Gotta admit, I can see why. She's hot enough to be worth pissing the old man off."

"Your comments are unnecessary, Touya," Shouto grits out between clenched teeth. "I didn't marry her to piss him off."

With that name, you can now place the man in front of you: Prince Touya, the oldest of the Todoroki family, who should be heir to the throne. But the black sheep of the family never wanted responsibility and had deliberately ruined his chance years ago. The incident that caused his abdication from the throne has been hotly debated and believed to be what caused his burn scars.

"But it was a nice side benefit, wasn't it?" Prince Touya simply shrugs before leering at you. "And I wouldn't mind getting a piece of that -"

"Seriously Touya, do you always have to be so crude?" A larger, muscular silver-haired man sighs in exasperation as he appears behind Prince Touya. "I apologize for my brother, Princess. Although he is right on one thing, pissing off our dear old dad is always a nice side benefit."

"Something that all three of us can agree on, Natsou," Shouto remarks as he pulls you slightly closer into him, as if trying to stake his claim on you in front of his two brothers.

"All three of you need to behave and act like an actual family in front of the public," a feminine voice scolds. A small woman with silver hair streaked with red gives you a kind smile. "I don't think we've gotten to meet yet. I'm Princess Fuyumi, the only daughter in the family." She gives you a deep curtsy. "That makes us sisters now."

"We'll never be sisters," the words spill out before you can even think to stop them. Your eyes widen as you glance over at your husband to see his reaction. He does not look as furious as you thought he would be, choosing instead to glare at his oldest brother, who is snickering at your response.

"I know your circumstances for joining this family are unique, but that doesn't mean you have to be rude. I promise you'll get used to all of this and learn to love Shouto and the rest of the family."

You hear Prince Touya snicker again at the comment, while Prince Natsuo simply scoffs. Shouto says nothing, merely looking at you to gauge your reaction.

"Unique circumstances are putting it lightly," you say with a certain amount of caution. "But I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it." You leave out the part where you don't think you'll ever love any of them. It won't do you any favors to mention that.

"Don't be silly, of course you will. Mom did, and now she's very happy," Princess Fuyumi reassures you. Having met Queen Rei for all of 10 minutes, you strongly doubt this statement but choose not to push your luck in refuting it.

"Still living in a fairy tale where everything is just fine with this family, are you," Prince Natsuo's voice comes out bitter.

Prince Touya gives a deep chuckle. "Hey, if she wants to live in a world where the royal family isn't fucked up, then let her be naive. We still know how rotten royalty really is."

"Enough, all of you," a deep, booming voice rings out. "You are all still of the Todoroki bloodline, and you will act like it in public."

You instantly know who that voice is without looking. You had always heard that King Enji was a large man, but you were not prepared for the reality. This man is enormous, tall and bulky, with flames decorating his face and body. There does not seem to be an ounce of fat on him, his frame looking like pure muscle. A scowl decorates his face, and you are thankful that it is not yet directed at you and hope that it will stay that way.

But nothing in your life has been lucky so far, and so you freeze when the man turns his scowl on you. You think his expression softens for just a second as he glances between you and your husband, but you can't be sure that you don't imagine it as it vanishes before you can put words to what you saw.

"So, you're my new daughter-in-law." He studies you carefully, as if to figure out what Shouto sees in you. "As my son, Shouto is above his peers and could have had any woman in the kingdom. What made him choose you?"

After a moment's pause, you realize this question is directed at you, and he expects you to answer it. "I beg your pardon, King Enji, but even I am unsure. There must have been better options than me." You know that it's useless at this point to try and get out of this marriage, but you figure that it can't hurt to be on your father-in-law's good side. As the King of the realm, he could make your existence more of a living nightmare than it is already.

"Well, at least you know your place," he gives a sardonic chuckle at your diplomatic response. "You're attractive enough, and your quirk isn't so bad that your children couldn't have a strong combination from the two of you. He could have done worse, I suppose."

The reminder of children leaves you feeling shaky and nervous, and you barely stop yourself from taking a step back from the overwhelming scrutiny of King Enji's gaze. His presence is so strong, so intimidating, that it almost feels like a physical weight against your skin. You only feel able to breathe again when Enji turns to walk away.

"Now, I must attend to my wife and play nice with the commoners for a bit longer. You don't have to, though." He gives a meaningful glance at his son. Prince Shouto's lips curve up into a devious smirk as he nods at his father.

As he finally leaves, you finally relax a bit. You realize that at some point during that conversation, you tucked yourself even closer against Prince Shouto, as if you trusted him to protect you from his very own father. You quickly glance up at his face, hoping that he didn't notice, but when you see his satisfied grin, you know that he did.

Prince Touya sees the exchange between his father and brother and can't stop a laugh from bubbling up. "Yes, Shouto, why are you even still here? Shouldn't you be attending to your new wife now?" The emphasis on attending leaves little doubt on what he means. "Maybe you need some help? I'd be glad to -"

There's a grunt of pain from Prince Touya as Prince Natsuo gives you an apologetic smile before pulling his brother away from the two of you. Princess Fuyumi smiles politely at the two of you, waving her goodbye as she moves to follow her brothers. Prince Shouto ignores them completely as he turns to you.

"My beautiful wife," Shouto murmurs in your ear, "don't you think it's time to retire to the bed chamber?" Your blood runs cold at his words. You did not consider yourself foolish, as you knew this would be coming. But you did not expect it to be quite so soon. Maybe you really are, you muse to yourself, if you genuinely believed that he would wait for you a moment longer than he had to.

"But what about the reception?" You try to pull him towards the crowd of people again in hopes that he will be distracted, but he does not budge. "Don't you want to mingle a bit more? I'm sure more people want to meet with us" He simply smirks at you as he interlocks his arm with yours and pulls you even further away from the party-goers. "You heard my father. He all but dismissed me. And even if he hadn't - I don't care," he shrugs.

"All I want is you right now." You give up trying to pull away, realizing there is no use when he is so determined, and simply let yourself be guided away from the Grand Hall and down multiple winding hallways.  He walks so confidently through them, knowing them like the back of his hand, and you soon find yourself standing outside of a massive, ornate red and white door inlaid with gold trim.

Prince Shouto's quarters. And now your quarter as well.

He pushes open the door smoothly before ushering you inside, locking the door behind him and wasting no time pulling you in for a heated kiss. He's possessive and dominating, devouring your mouth and massaging your tongue with his own. He reaches around to grab your ass, pulling you even closer into him and grinding his hips against your own.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment, my wife," he sighs wistfully. "I have wanted you for so long, and now you're all mine."

He kisses down your jawline, licking and biting at the skin and sucking hard on your pulse point, hard enough that you know it'll leave a bruise. Your heartbeat is frantic as he continues to lick at your skin, trailing his tongue down the column of your neck.

He reluctantly pulls away from you, leading you further into the bed chambers and twirling you around so that he can begin unhooking your wedding dress. He struggles briefly with the complicated fastenings and buttons that make up the dress, and you can't stop a soft laugh.

"Do you need to call someone in and help with that?" You snark at him. "I was told it was rather difficult to get me into it."

Shouto lets out a small growl as you feel a flash of heat against your back, and a ripping sound as he pulls apart the now burnt ribbons and begins to slide your dress down.

"Do you know how expensive that thing was," you say in a shocked tone. From what you could tell, that dress was worth several years of salary from your whole kingdom, let alone your family.

"I'll buy you another dress, hell I'll buy you ten more dresses. But right now, I need to see you." He trails his hot fingertips down your now bare back, causing you to shiver and goosebumps to rise as he follows them up with cold. "I need to be inside of you, wife," he whispers seductively into your ear, and you can't stop the bolt of lust that runs through you.

He chuckles as he feels you tremble, pulling your dress down to the floor and coaxes you into stepping out of it. You stand in only your wedding lingerie, a fancy white ensemble that does nothing to cover your assets. He bites his lip and lets out a low groan as he takes in your appearance before lifting you up and gently placing you on the bed.

"God, you're even more beautiful than I imagined," he murmurs as he runs his hands up your sides. He steals another kiss before making his way down your body, kissing every inch of your heated skin until he makes his way to your breasts. He unhooks your bra with relative ease compared to the dress and wastes no time kneading the soft flesh there. He presses a nipple between two fingers, causing you to let out a soft gasp as he takes the other nipple into his mouth. He applies just the right amount of suction as he laps at you and works them into hardness.

You feel your panties begin to get wet, your skin feeling like it's on fire as he works your body like he already knows it. A finger slips underneath your panties as he traces a cold finger across your folds, causing you to buck away from the sudden sensation. He laughs as he slides down you, ripping your panties apart as if he can't even be bothered to waste time removing them.

"I'm going to make you feel so good, princess." He pushes your thighs apart as he examines you, causing you to burn with embarrassment and try to close your legs. He grips your thighs just a shade too roughly, nails digging into your skin as he snarls. "Don't ever hide yourself from me."

You give a quick nod as you slowly reopen your legs, and he slots himself in between them as he teases your folds with two fingers. "Fuck, you taste so good," he groans when he leans in to lick a wet stripe up them, beginning to devour your juices like a man starved.

You instinctively try to squirm away, the feeling so utterly foreign to you. But Shouto simply tightens his grip on your thighs again, hard enough to bruise as he growls at you. "Stay put, princess. You don't want me to have to tie you down, now do you?"

"N-n-no," you stutter, although whether it's in embarrassment or excitement, even you can't tell. "I'll be good."

He grins at your submissive reply before diving back in between your legs, lapping at your folds before spreading them open with one hand. He attaches himself to your clit, and you throw your head back at the intense sensations running through your body. You have never felt this good, never had anyone touch you so intimately. You reach down to tangle your fingers into his hair, bucking your hips up towards his hungry mouth.

He chuckles at your eagerness, the vibration of it only adding to your pleasure as you feel something building up inside of you. "Shouto, please," you groan, "don't stop, it feels so good."

He slips a finger inside your tight heat at your words, curling it upwards to press against your wet insides. You can't contain your gasps of pleasure, hand tightening against his hair even harder as you try to ground yourself.

Shouto doesn't seem to mind, choosing to suckle even harder on your clit while adding another finger and scissoring you apart at the same time. You realize with a flash of arousal that goes straight to your pussy that he's practically humping the bed as he eats you out, groaning at the friction against his rock hard cock.

The sight of it causes the pressure inside you to finally snap, tearing a moan of pleasure from your throat as you clench down around his fingers. He doesn't stop at your orgasm, continuing to thrust his fingers inside of you as he finds a spot that has you screaming out your pleasure to the room. You're overwhelmed by how good it feels, your first orgasm quickly followed up by your second as your body quivers. Your pussy gushes around Shouto's ruthless fingers, but you can't bring yourself to feel ashamed when he simply continues to lap up your juices as they squirt out of you.

You collapse fully back against the bed, unable to stop the shaking from the aftershocks of your orgasm. Shouto finally removes his fingers, pulling away to smirk down at your blissed out look as he licks his fingers clean. You briefly wonder if he expects you to return the favor, and you find yourself asking the question before you can stop yourself. "Do you - I mean, do I need -"

Even though you can't bring yourself to finish the question, he understands your meaning anyway. "As much as I'd love your mouth on my cock, I'd much rather be inside of you already."

He quickly begins to undress, tearing clothes off when he can't remove them fast enough. His urgency has your pussy clenching, and you do nothing but watch until he stands in front of you completely naked. You can barely stop drooling as you take in his form. He is more muscular than you expected under his clothes, with very little body hair covering his chest. You trail your eyes lower until you see his cock, long, girthy, and already fully erect. "Like what you see, princess?" He laughs as he takes his cock into his hand, smearing the bead of precum at the head and using it to pump his length. He crawls up your body until he's straddling you, grabbing your neck lightly and using it to pull you up into another kiss. You can taste yourself on his tongue, and it only fans your desire even more.

You feel his cockhead prod at your entrance, and your eyes widen as you feel how thick he truly is and realize that's about to be inside of you. "Wait," you stammer, "please go easy."

"I know it's your first time, so I'll go gentle," he smiles down at you, looking softer than you would expect. But then his smile turns up into a smirk. "At first, anyway."

At that, he begins to press slowly into you, inch by agonizing inch. Even though your pussy is soaking wet and he prepped you, the stretch still burns as he slides past the tight outer ring of your muscles. You whimper in pain, a tear running down your face that he kisses away as he shushes you. "It'll only hurt at first, I promise," he comforts you, reaching down in between your bodies to rub his thumb on your clit to distract you from the pain.

Finally, he's sheathed fully inside of you, balls pressing against your backside as he stills to let you adjust to his size. Your walls feel so tight around his cock, and he's barely able to contain himself from instantly pounding into you. But he wants this to feel good for you too, so he continues to rub tight circles on your clit, causing you to pant and clench down around him.

The stretch of your walls around his thickness no longer burns quite as severely, and you already want more. "I think, ahh, I think I'm ready," you manage to gasp out.

He doesn't question you further, choosing to take you at your word as he begins to finally move. His length drags against your sensitive walls, allowing you to feel every vein and ridge on his cock. It only increases your pleasure as he sets a slow but hard pace, pulling almost entirely out of you before thrusting all the way back inside.

"Finally," he moans, "finally you're truly mine." He grabs your legs and traps them against his body, lifting your hips so that he can fuck down into you. Your ankles are resting against his shoulders as he pins you down with his body. "I'm going to fill this pussy up with my cum."

You don't consider the implication of his words immediately, too distracted by how deep he is inside your aching pussy in this new position. But that quickly changes as words begin to spill from his mouth as his pace increases.

"God, I can't wait to see how big and swollen you look when you're pregnant with our baby. You're going to look radiant." His moans get louder and his thrusts get quicker inside of you. "I'll pump you so full of cum, every single night until you're finally knocked up."

Your eyes widen in fear as the impact of his words hit you. You are not ignorant. You knew that there would have to be the eventual talk of children. But you were naive in thinking there would be a discussion, maybe even a way out of it. You had no idea that he already intended for you to be pregnant.

"Wait, wait," you fumble with the right words, "not yet, we don't have to do this yet." You try to reason with him, but when he adjusts his angle to thrust against a spot inside you that has you seeing stars, you find yourself unable to think of anything at all. The thickest vein running down his length presses against that spot, grinding against it as he pounds into your pussy so hard that your breasts bounce.

"Going to be so full of cum that it spills out of your pretty little pussy, ahh, fuck you feel so good," his grunts are bordering on primal now. You try to move, plant your legs into the mattress, and get away enough so that he doesn't cum inside you, but he simply presses down even harder on your body. The weight of him against you has you gasping for air, the lightheadedness as you try to suck in air only increasing the intensity of your pleasure.

His rhythm becomes erratic as he nears his end, thumb grinding down hard onto your throbbing bead as he seeks to make you cum alongside him. "Ahh, Shouto, please," you whimper as you throw your head from side to side, toes beginning to curl as the pressure inside you continues to build up.

Finally, he thrusts himself as deeply as he can, pressing hard against your cervix as you feel thick ropes of cum shooting inside of you. He groans into your ear as you feel his cock pulsing inside of you. You can't stop your orgasm, pussy clenching hard against his cock. Your fluttering walls seem to suck his cum even deeper inside of you, and the position you're pinned in lets not a single drop slide out of you.

Shouto smiles down at you as you come down from your orgasmic high, both of you panting and sweaty. "Shh, you were so good for me, princess," he coos gentle words at you as he kisses away tears that you didn't even realize were there. He uses his cold hand to trail along your skin that still feels like it's on fire, cooling you down as he holds you tightly against his body.

You squirm to get out from under him, but he instantly stops you. "No, we're going to stay just a bit longer like this. Can't have any of my cum slipping out."

You can't seem to stop shaking, the reality of your situation finally hitting you hard. "Shouto," you whisper, "can I ask you something? And get an honest answer?"

"Anything, my wife," he murmurs as he plays with your hair and continues to cool you down with his hand. "I will never lie to you."

You're afraid to know the answer to this question, not even sure if you want a yes or a no. But you have to ask it anyway. "Do you - "you swallow hard, "do you actually love me? Or did you simply want a wife and children, and it didn't necessarily matter who with?"

You feel a moment of satisfaction as you see him look surprised for the first time. But that satisfaction is quickly squashed when you see his face fall, looking desperately crushed at your question. "Of course I love you," he whispers in a pained voice, "and I have always loved you. This was never just about a wife and children. This was about having you as my wife, and having children with you." He pauses for a second before adding, "You're going to be such a great mother, you know. And a great queen to stand by my side."

You close your eyes as you begin to tremble at his response, unsure if the emotion overcoming you is relief or not. Unsure if you'll ever be able to reciprocate his feelings, or if you already do and just won't admit it even to yourself. Unsure if you're ready to become a mother, to become Queen, to become Shouto's one and only.

But you are sure of one thing.

To a caged dove, none of that matters.

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Tags: @burnedbyshoto, @thewheezingwyvern, @animewh0re, @ttamaki, @lildreamer93, @yaoyorozuwrites, @redbeanteax, @kittygonyan, @bat-eclecticwolfbouquet-love, @daedaep69, @heyybrittannia, @groovydreamertrash, @hisoknen, @chou-maitresse, @shoutogepi, @togasknifes, @kingtamakimurder, @1-800-callmekatsuki, @league-of-thots, @bakugotrashpanda, @engel-hageshii, @hoefortodo, @mhafanfics19, @daringbanshee, @otaku-explosion, @hellomary16, @vanillaicebaby, @theravencawsatmidnight, @universaltys​, @simixchan​, @crackhead1-800​, @acehyacinth​, @ererokii​, @la-lay​, @hadesnewpersephone​

[thesimperiuscurse]

T H E N  /  N O W

Rules — Find the oldest photo you have of your favorite sim. Post it next to the most recent photo of that sim to see how they have (or haven’t) changed!

Thanks @obscurus-noctem for tagging me ❤ Yes, I’m doing this challenge again. I’ve done glow-up sets for Mako at least one million times, but I’ve never actually shown his earliest versions because... no. Plus, I thought @itssimplythesims & @ariadnew might appreciate this, hehe. Long history under the cut!   

01  —  MAY 2016

Mako’s very first iteration was born five years ago as Daniel Jete. He was initially created as the love interest for Gen 3, which was meant to be the ballet generation, but thankfully, that got pushed back in favour for crime. The name was based off the character Daniel from The Next Step (a Disney Channel dance show haha) and Jete as a placeholder (it’s the ballet term for ‘leap’). He basically looked like Luc, but I’m surprised that elements have survived from the first version. 

02  —  MARCH 2019 

Three years later, after Fallen Angels ended, I allowed myself to begin working on the sim again (by then his character had developed significantly) and he officially became Mako Hayashi. I had turned him half Japanese, so I was inspired by the first of eight facial influences, Arthur Mariano (a Jap-Mexican gymnast). Clearly, my sim skills weren’t good enough to capture the handsome, because this version... terrifies... me. His personality at this time was yet to have proper depth, and was entirely cold and asshole-ish. 

03  —  JUNE 2019 

Less scary, still ugly. 

04  —  SEPTEMBER 2019

I think around this point (the beginning of En Pointe) Mako’s character began to soften and develop cute + sweet aspects. This was probably the first picture where I thought, fuck yeah, he’s looking really good now. I quote, “finally, I can take a picture from the front!”. You naive idiot. 

05  —  MARCH 2020

This hairstyle is my favourite cc of all time, because it’s perfect for Mako, and allowed me to finally begin executing my vision of a handsome businessman. I also discovered the fourth and main facial influence, Daniel Henney, and resculpted his face to become more mature and elegant. 

06  —   APRIL 2020

The Big Glowup ✨ Bless to that random anime illustration I found on Pinterest. The versions after this date are what I deem acceptable and not eye-burning. I still like the general facial structure that this glowup laid out, but the hard eyes are the biggest issue to this day. For the life of me I can’t figure out how to shape softer, narrow, anime-style eyes. 

07  —  MAY 2020

An honourary inclusion because snowy-haired Mako is yes. 

08  —  FEBRUARY 2021

The current version has developed into a razor jawline and finely articulated features. From the side this gives him a youthful and subtle softness, and from the front it’s Armani Model™. The duality reflects his personality now really well, I think. Mako is ultimately my favourite sim, but only when he’s cooperating. There’s a grand total of maybe 5 poses which he looks decent in, so I have to create the rest, and half of those custom poses are unflattering and end up being trashed. He’s incredibly high-maintenance, and he has a long way to go, but I’m proud of how far he’s come! 

[thewitchofbooks]

Konnichiwa~ How about...family headcanons for ikepri suitors???? You can chose whoever you want~ thank you! 🤝🤝

Hello there~You didn't ask for someone specific, but I didn't want to come to conclusions, so I wrote for everyone, haha. I hope you like it! Also, thank you for the request! 

Game: Ikemen Prince 

Type: Headcanons 

Characters : All the characters

Warnings : Kind of spoilery, I hope it is okay, lol,my English,the characters might be ooc. 

~Chevalier Michel 

🔹Chevalier becomes a bit more gentle when you two start your own family.

🔹Sometimes, you catch him smiling at your children and playing with their chubby cheeks. They always giggle and hug him. 

🔹He tries to tell them how much he loves them, more with his actions and not so much with words. But they know he absolutely loves them. 

🔹"I love you too." You heard him once say. You peeked inside the library and saw your handsome husband kneeling in front of the youngest, who was crying. The moment your kid heard that, he/she was grinning as he/she threw himself/herself at Chevalier. 

🔹Then Cheva walked out (after a lot of awkward but comfortable cuddles on a small chair. 

"Chevalier?" You said his name. 

"What?" You smiled and asked. 

"What did you say before?" Chevalier frowned. 

"Nothing that concerns you, dummy." You laughed as he walked away. 

🔹Once, you went to wake Chevalier in your shared bedroom, only to see a large lump and a lot of smaller ones, covered with the fluffy blankets. 

🔹Now you have to wake them all up, but you gave up a few hours later and slept with them. 

🔹Chevalier is very clever and very strong so, sometimes, he teaches his children. 

🔹Every night, he reads them to sleep. 

~Clavis Lelouch 

🔹You were in for it when you agreed to start a family with Clavis. 

🔹If your children didn't look like him, they surely took his character. 

🔹Clavis will be coming back after work and instead of being greeted with deep bows from the maids, he gets greeted with buckets full of sparkly confetti and glitter. 

🔹He is very proud of them but he doesn't want you to have a lot of headaches. 

🔹Clavis always makes time to play with his children. He is being sweet and he helps them however he can. 

🔹He teaches them to not be too open with suspicious people and if they get in trouble, he shows them how to get out of it. 

🔹He let's them keep pets. And if you're allergic to furr, it's okay! None of these pets have furr at all! They can be from small, little snakes to big birds and fishes. 

🔹He is trying his best. 

🔹Your children love him and they show it all the time. 

🔹Clavis is getting attacked with love, which he wasn't used to. He was completely shocked. In the end, he got used to it and he adores it. 

🔹There will be days where you'll wake up with sketches on your face and your husband laughing with your children. 

🔹They are very adorable when they're sleeping together, Clavis arm wrapped protectively around them (and you, of course).

~Leon Dompteur 

🔹Leon is a very loving man. You and the family you both made are his oxygen. You're the most important reason to keep loving and enjoying life at the fullest. 

🔹There are days where Leon has finished with training his army, so he takes you and your children for rides with his horse. 

🔹You ride in the city and go straight to the food section. 

🔹He spoils his children very much, you have to stop him. Do they like sweets? He'll walk through hell to buy cakes, chocolates and everything else. (or ask Yves to bake fresh cakes, lolol). Do they not like sweets? What are those? He never heard of them. (He still eats them.) 

🔹Leon always tries to find new activities, just to make sure his children are having fun in the palace, or outside. 

🔹Everytime they do something troublesome, like breaking glasses and plates with their father, they try to play innocent. 

🔹If they have nightmares, Leon will help them through them. 

🔹He always tells them that they don't have to 'stop seeing nightmares' to be brave. Braveness is when they search for someone they trust, because opening up is harder than keeping it inside.

"But dad, when I'm sad and I don't tell anyone... am I weak?" Leon wiped his kid's tears away. 

"No. You are strong. But if it is something too hard to keep to yourself, you can share it with anyone you trust." 

~Yves Kloss 

🔹Yves is a big tsundere and he is shy. So, when you asked for a family, he blushed and tried to deny it. It wasn't working. 

🔹His eyes light up everytime he looks at his children. They're the most adorable children in the world. And his world is made with you and them. You are all the matters. 

🔹After his royal duties, he bakes cakes, the children are decorating and you have to watch the chaos. 

🔹Before having a family of his own, he found it bothersome and annoying to have things all over the place, but he got used to it. 

🔹He is sneaking kittens in the palace for them to feed and pet. Where did those stray kittens you show on the street when you were shopping? Yves doesn't have any idea what are you talking about, but you now have to sleep in your shared bed with foolur freshly bathed kittens. 

"Are you sure you don't know them? They look comfortable around you." You said, your brow raised. The kittens were sleeping on him. He blushed and glared at you. 

"Hmph, I don't know them! No, lay down Snowflake, we aren't fighting with your mom." He stroked the white furr and the small animal fell asleep again. 

🔹He gives to the children gorgeous clothes and he brushed their hair, putting it in the best hairstyles. 

🔹At night, he praises them for being kind. 

~Luke Randolph 

🔹Luke grew up in a bad environment, so he makes sure that his children won't ever have to grow up like that. He could give his life in a blink of the eye to do that. 

🔹He doesn't spoil his children too much, because he wants them to be down to earth. For him, his role as a prince is not important, but his family is. 

🔹The children are tripping on his long legs while they're playing outside and he sleeps. 

🔹Luke is a Disney Prince. That means all the animals love him. He gently cradles small fragile butterflies, or cute little birds to show them. 

🔹Luke is taking them for walks in the forest. As the time goes on, more and more animals are attached to their gentleness. 

🔹If anyone dares mess with his children, they are in for a big surprise. Luke will take them down and fight them until he is sure that they won't bother them again. He won't kill someone though, only hurt them enough for his family's safety. 

~Sariel Noir 

🔹Sariel is a very busy man and you know that. So when he asked you if you wanted a family, you were super exited. 

🔹By the time your children are born, their bedrooms and everything inside is already ready to use. 

🔹Sariel seems pretty strict, but he has a soft spot for your family. 

🔹He helps them study all their lessons. If they don't understand something, he'll go out of his way to search it up and give them all the information he gathered. 

🔹After babysitting the Princes, he takes a few books filled with fairytales and reads to them in his soothing voice. 

🔹Sariel loves his kids dearly and he protects them from harm, even if it means being in the shadows. 

🔹The children love to hug him and cling on him, while he is giving lectures to the Princes. (translation = scolding Clavis.) 

🔹Sariel was lonely before, so he won't let anyone hurt his family. He'll let his people "clean up the dirt". 

🔹Sariel kind of spoils his children, and you, because he is weak for your eyes and pouts. 

~Licht Klein 

🔹Licht seems distant from afar, but his family gets to see his true colours. 

🔹Whenever his children are playing or doing something else (that isn't harmful), he smiles softly, his red eyes fill with love and adoration. 

🔹He is scared that someday, they'll have the same bad luck his brother and he had. 

🔹That's why he always keeps an eye on them. 

🔹Licht was never troubled if he died, until one of his children told him he/she loved him so much, that he/she will make him the proudest dad in the world. 

🔹Licht's eyes are wide open and he thinks about his choices again. He'll have to live in order to help them grow up. 

🔹He is very supportive with their choices, unless it's something bad for them. 

🔹At nights, he sings to put them to sleep, his smooth voice calming the down completely. 

🔹You can find the m all sleeping together on a chair. 

🔹He won't admit it, but he loves sweet food and his children are no better. 

~Nokto Klein 

🔹Nokto became a whole new person when you had your children. 

🔹He still stayed playful for them. 

🔹Nokto is happy when they are happy, he is sad when they're sad... 

🔹He despises it when they hurt themselves, physically or not. 

🔹He is also scared like Licht. He doesn't want then away from each other. He wants for them to be happy. 

🔹Before they were born, he was scared that he wouldn't turn out to be a good father. He was scared of rejection. 

🔹He lived with the same fear, until his children run up to him and hugged his legs. 

"Dad! Thank you for taking us with you! We love you so much!" They said happily. 

🔹Nokto.exe has stopped working. 

"I love you too." He quickly hugs them to his chest, trying to keep the tears in. 

🔹He is teasing them (in a good way) till there's no tomorrow. (with uncle Clavis). 

🔹The children, with your help are making presents for him. He gets so happy! 

🔹His past self still haunts him, but he doesn't let himself fall. He is strong. 

🔹Nokto doesn't take risky jobs anymore. He takes better care of himself for the sake of his family. 

🔹When stormy nights fall, his strong arms are ready to close you and the kids to his heart. It's his promise of never letting go, even in the scariest times. 

~Rio Ortiz

🔹Rion is as exited as a puppy! 

🔹Right after they are born, they are in his arms, cuddled up to him. 

🔹Rio travels with them in other places (for personal reasons). He shows them all around and does anything they ask. 

🔹Are they hungry? A whole buffet is made for them. 

🔹They have his heart and mind. Sometimes, he is scared they'll think he is annoying, but they always tell him how much they love him. 

🔹He takes time off his work and plays with them in the garden or in their Rooms. 

🔹He always hear their problems. If he can help it, he'll tskr care of them. 

🔹Rio won't let others hurt his children. If someone tries and he is in front of the scene, his hand might slip and he the other guys might get hurt. 

🔹At night, he cuddle with them and they all wait for you to read them to sleep. 

~Jin Grandet 

🔹Jin was feeling bashful. He really wanted a family with the most beautiful person in the world (you). 

🔹Like almost everyone else, his character changed a bit. He spends more time with his family. 

🔹His children like to climb on his back and go fit walks. His back hurts, but are they happy? They it's worth it. End of the conversation. 

🔹There are days where he is too tired so he takes food and drinks (not alcohol) and sets them on the king sized bed with you and the kids. 

🔹He is manipulating Yves to cook (lol), but Yves does it for his nephew(s) /niece(s). 

🔹If the children are terrified from the nightmares or other scary things outside of the windows, they'll run to him, crushing him on your bed. 

🔹When morning comes, they are all over the bed, sleeping soundly. 

THE END~

AN: I'm writing from my phone now, but I'll fix it when I'll get my laptop! 

NadiaSilver~

Also, fun fact: When I first started the game, I fell asleep while reading/listening the prologue, because Sariel and Chevalier were speaking! I love their voices and I want them to put me to sleep every night, lololol.

[giuliafc]

Deception

Ao3 || FFN

Written by: JuliaFC

Beta: Etoile-Lead-Sama, Lots_of_free_time, @rose-beagle-bagel

Summary: A new kid who looks exactly like Chat Noir has joined Collège Françoise Dupont. Marinette is worried, Adrien is jealous and Plagg… has the time of his life. Before the truth comes out, that is, and Ladybug purifies a very dangerous Amok.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Written for the "Snippet July" challenge of the Miraculous Fanworks Discord server @miraculousfanworks AND for LadyNoir July @ladynoirjuly. Day 3 — Deception/Tease. Let me know what you think!

oOoOoOoOoOo

"I need to do something," muttered Adrien as he paced around the washroom. "I can't ignore it."

Plagg popped out of his shirt's pocket. "You could choose better places for your jealou—"

Adrien glared at him. "I'm not jealous!"

Plagg gave him a snarky look. "Riiight," he snarled.

"I just," muttered Adrien, starting to walk around again, "worry for my friend." Plagg stared blankly.

"She's in love with Chat Noir!" Plagg kept staring.

"I must warn her that Gad isn't Chat Noir." He scratched his nape. "I must protect her, even if it means revealing myself. She can keep a secr—"

Plagg put his paws up. "Okay, calm down! Why would you want to reveal yourself to Pigtails?"

Adrien looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "Because she thinks that Gad is Chat Noir?"

Plagg huffed. "And that bothers you becauuuuse?"

"Uh, nothing. Just... she's my friend." Adrien blushed. "I don't want her heart broken again."

Plagg smirked. "To be honest, I don't see anything wrong in Pigtails getting closer to this new kid. All he's done is have the same hairstyle as Chat Noir and say cat puns. So what, if your friend likes him?"

Adrien's hand flew to his nape, his previous blush growing darker. "Uuuuh… b-but she will be devastated when she finds out!"

"Why should she?" Plagg raised an amused eyebrow. "Unless, you tell her." The kwami smirked at Adrien's silence.

Adrien slouched his shoulders. "I don't want her to get with him, Plagg."

Plagg's smirk widened. "And you don't want to, becauuuuuuse...?"

Adrien growled again. "Shut up!" He marched out of the restroom, forcing the kwami to hide inside his shirt pocket, but when Adrien reached the locker room. Plagg noticed that nobody was around, so he came out.

The kwami looked at him sardonically, which only caused Adrien to sit down on one of the benches and hide his face. Plagg, however, still managed to get in front of his nose, and stared at him in silence.

"Okay, okay, I admit it I—" started Adrien, but before he could finish, the door of the locker room opened and he ducked behind a locker.

Marinette stormed in, immediately followed by Alya. Adrien squeezed against the wall and held his breath.

"Marinette? Why are you so terrified that Gad may be Chat Noir?"

Marinette turned towards her best friend, flailing her arms. "It's a disaster, Alya! I could hide my identity up to now because I've never interacted much with him out of the mask. But if I start spending all day with him in school, he may find out that I'm Ladybug!"

Adrien's world crashed.

He put a hand to his mouth, muffling a gasp. His knees failed him and his head started spinning. He needed to sit down, but instead, he leaned more strongly against the wall, his eyes shut full of tears.

"I think you're paranoid," groaned Alya, and then continued by lowering her voice, "I've been sitting next to you for a whole year and had no clue. He won't notice." She looked around. "Besides, maybe we should've checked if anybody was here before spilling secrets of this stance?"

Marinette looked around. "I can't see anyone."

"Trixx heard a gasp. Maybe we should check—" she said, but the bell rang, signaling they had to return to class.

When the door closed, Adrien let out the breath and allowed his body to slip down the wall, sitting on the cold floor. He was shaking.

Marinette was Ladybug. But this wasn't what had hit him like a punch in the stomach, no. It was the fact that ALYA knew. Marinette told her. She'd told her before telling him.

Adrien felt deceived. He didn't even stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks. His Lady revealed her identity to a civilian—ah, no, Alya mentioned Trixx, the kwami of illusion. She was Rena Rouge.

Why would she tell Rena and not him? How many other people knew? A sob erupted from Adrien's clenched throat and he hid his face behind his knees.

"Gamin?" Plagg put a paw on Adrien's head, but Adrien couldn't find comfort in it .

"Leave me alone!" shouted Adrien, continuing to sob.

It took a very long time. When the bell rang again, finally, Adrien's head emerged from behind his knees and the boy stood up, staggering.

"You don't look good, gamin. Go wash your face," whispered the kwami.

Adrien looked in his direction, but he wasn't seeing him. "It hurts, Plagg." His voice was groggy. "Why does she never trust me? I… feel so empty."

He walked towards the door and Plagg flew to his nose. "Listen to me. You need to wash your face and get yourself together or people are going to wonder which member of your family just died."

"I don't give a damn," spat Adrien. "I'm fed up with pretending everything is okay."

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Bye bye little feather!" whispered Ladybug. Chat Noir decided to wear his carefree mask, with sad eyes.

"So… who's confusing fantasy with reality now?" His smirk reached his eyes when Ladybug—Marinette!—blushed and looked away. "I can't believe that you fell for that poor imitation of my pawsome sense of humour, Ladybug."

The superheroine groaned. "Stop teasing me, chaton. I can't believe I fell for Lila's acting skills!"

"Well, there's only one way to never have this purr-oblem again, M'lady. You should ask to see me in all my maskless glory." He winked and held her hand as his Miraculous gave a beep. After dropping a soft kiss on her knuckles, his gaze trained into hers, he whispered in her ear, "But until you won't accept to do that, I'll need to s-cat." Then he leaned even closer and in a lower whisper, he finished, "Marinette."

"WHA—" She gasped, her eyes wide, her face pale.

"See you around!" He smirked at the terror in her face, picked his baton from his lower back and propelled himself away.

--------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:

Here's day three. Unfortunately the story I wrote was way too long and I had to cut it, so bear with me, I may expand it later. I borrowed an idea I had for a much longer story, with Shadowmoth creating a sentimonster portraying a maskless Chat Noir because Lila had seen Chat Noir coming out of Marinette's balcony and had thought that Marinette was having a relationship with the superhero.

Hope you'll like it even if it's half the story I had planned, and thanks so much to CardCQ and lovelybuggg for the great help in cutting words around. We managed the impossible and the story is now 997 words ^^.

Please let me know what you thought by dropping a comment! You know that comments are my bread and butter!

Until (hopefully) tomorrow, bug out!

[mikaze-discord]

Love letter project ♡

Sooo to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Shining live, I put together a project! I basically got a bunch of people to write a love letter for their favourite boy. Things like, why they like them, how they got to like them and what they like about them were all accepted!

The event was supposed to have 2 fans for each boy but unfortunately I was unable to get two for some of the boys. 

Under the cut will be the love letters for all of Class A!!! Please enjoy~ And thank you for all the people who participated in the event and taking the time to write the love letters out. 

CLASS A

OTOYA ITTOKI

From @ponzu-penzui:

Hello world! My nickname is Yuki, and I’m here to tell you about the sunshine boy that is Otoya Ittoki. The redhead of the series, Otoya is your seemingly a-typical sunshine in a mascot boy character. But, as we all know with these types, the sunshine isn’t as, well, sunshine as they seem. Or, if you didn’t know, well… spoiler alert I guess. Go watch the anime, or play the otome games, then come back here. Anyways, let’s get started on our journey, shall we? Through the rabbithole that got me here in the first place!

Otoya immediately became my best boy the second I saw him. I’m not quite sure what immediately got me at first, whether it be his red hair and eyes, his voice, or his immediate friendliness, but here we are. I should also mention that UtaPri was my first idol anime, so I was completely unaware what was going to hit me later. And, if you’ve watched the entire anime, you know where I’m going.

Season 4 was an emotional wreck. I cried at least twice. Did I have a newfound appreciation for Otoya after all that heartache? Definitely. Without spoilers, it was incredibly painful for me to watch, but I don’t regret it.

After watching the anime, I soon found out about the existence of Shining Live. So, with no other UtaPri content to binge, I started to play SL in late 2018. After playing for a little more than a year, I tiered in my first Otoya event (Heartwarming Snow Festival), and achieved my first top 200. Ever since then, I’ve tiered in every Otoya event, getting top 200, then top 100.

But, why do I like Otoya Ittoki even to this day? Well, I guess this is the time where I say that, after a certain point, I started to see bits of myself in Otoya. This led me to start to RP him, and, as you probably know if you’ve ever roleplayed a character before, I started to look at the miniscule amount of translated game content (many thanks to the Ohayaho Translation Team) for, well, more content. And content I did receive. Long story short, this only served to solidify Otoya as my favorite boy of not only UtaPri, but from all anime/manga/game content I’ve ever seen/watched. His cheerfulness may have been the first thing that got me in this rabbithole, but his backstory and how he managed to grow up pulled me in even further. And, I don’t think I will or want to get out anytime soon.

Next one from; Anon

As much as we all know our Otoya for how sweet and kind he is, there is so much more to him than just a precious smile. He is uplifting, cheerful towards everyone he meets. He has empathy and goes out of his way to make sure his friends are happy. Even so, Otoya has feelings that aren’t always happiness and smiles. He can feel sad and angry just like anyone else.

The reason I care and love Otoya so much is because he has shown me that I don’t have to always put on a smile. It’s nice to show off your pearly whites, but sometimes, it’s okay to be sad too. There are times in everyone’s life when they feel out of place and that they don’t belong. Otoya also felt this way and that’s perfectly okay. He’s still being the best idol he can be: The idol that Otoya loves the most.

MASATO HIJIRIKAWA

From Anon: 

Masato Hijirikawa. Why do I like Masato Hijirikawa? I like him to the point that it feels weird for me to even question why I do. He's just- a good boy. A great boy. I love him. As a joke, I'd usually say that it was his weirdly pretty, bowl-cut hairstyle that drew me to him, or I'd say that he caught my interest when I read that he was "very good with his hands" (wink wonk) in his Shining Live description, and while both of these reasons are still true, it wasn't until I started role playing him in an old server that I really started to appreciate his character more.

Masato, despite his aloof and almost "perfect" initial image, is a very relatable character. When he first arrived at Saotome (in-game) he wasn't necessarily seen as someone with a lot of talent to become an idol, which he acknowledged with grace and worked hard to make up for. He's humble despite his privileged upbringing and is incredibly self-aware of his flaws, which are sources of insecurity for him sometimes (a lot of times). Though it should be said that most of this insecurity stems from not having a lot of control over his early life, which is why it felt so gratifying to see him break free of his metaphorical chains to pursue his happiness without any doubts. He's a hard worker and is willing to accept criticism with open arms, not only for himself but for the people around him. Despite his traditional upbringing and nature, he's very receptive to change as long as it benefits both him and STARISH. He values the people he cares about more than anything, which is why he constantly strives to be a better version of himself every day, not only for himself but for the people around him.

Though his stoicism sometimes makes him seem plain or even "boring" to some people, he hides a warm, hidden passion within that's just as bright as everyone else's. Like the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms after winter, Masato shows his passion and love with no restraint to anyone who takes the time to understand him, and I can very much attest to this. I love him a lot and I hope to see more content of him, STARISH, and the others for more years to come.

NATSUKI SHINOMIYA

From uh....me:

HELLO I’m Z~ also known as the mod of the mikaze-discord/utapri-hcs tumblrs, as well as the organiser for the event! But enough about myself, let's talk about Natsuki Shinomiya.

When I first watched the anime as a youngin, I had already known about the games and their plots but had decided to try out the anime as well since I had nothing better to do.

Natsuki was actually one of my least favourite characters in the anime just because of how they presented him. I just...didn't care for him at all. He was just some random tall guy who loved hugs and almost murder…. Yeah.

I’m sure like most, I had a changing point. Originally, I was a Tokiya rper but...I was just unhappy with how my Tokiya was, I wasn't as experienced in rping with that server being my first rp server i was ever in. I didn't feel like I matched up with the others. I felt my Tokiya was just lacking something, substance maybe. Another person actually had a similar feeling and had changed their character from Camus to Syo and since we already had an Ai, I had just decided to go with the flow and complete the rest of the cute team. Best decision of my life. I’m so grateful for Natsuki and everything I associate him with. Without him, I probably wouldn't have made my tumblrs, I wouldn't have stayed in that server, I wouldn't have gone looking for other servers to rp in. I don't think I would be the same without Natsuki. I just find him so endearing now, he is just a lovable giant who happens to be able to be a disney princess. He is just so darn cute damn it. , just look at his Christmas card, his King card, quite literally just half his Shining live URs. Also, just like his songs just slap. Natsuki to me, is just serotonin. He gave me so many opportunities that I could have missed. I don't even think I would have started this love letter project without him if I’m being completely honest. I genuinely enjoyed all the memories I made as Natsuki. Thank you to Natsuki and to the Mikaze-discord for basically starting me off.

From Luke:

Natsuki was actually the very first character I encountered before I got into utapri. A friend showed a photo of him and told me that I'd probably be into this guy. She sure was right! After installing shining live for the first time and having a familiar face on the screen, I grew curious of him each day and just had to find out why was so attracted to him. The fact that I've seen him so many times in the past was haunting me, telling me that this man actually watched me grow up from a distance without even knowing his name. It sounds weird but I find it rather comforting for someone who doesn't want to be protected but isn't strong enough to defend myself alone.

The thought of having him there was enough to get me through the day and gave me enough reason to wake up to the next. I admit I may have adapted some of his habits after looking after his account for a year but that isn't a bad thing if it means that it would turn me into a much better person than I am now. I guess you could say we've grown together now in a sense, preserving the feelings and just living through the moment no matter how happy or sad it is. What's important is that we're not alone in all things we do and in everything we feel, there will always be someone there to keep us moving when we feel like giving up.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Ranked S

Tigre stood in the doorway to the dining hall of Cassell College in awe of the massive chandelier. It was gold, in the shape of a great tree under a high domed ceiling and every leaf was a light. It was the most magnificent thing he had seen in all of the College so far and it was accessible because he knew what a tree was and what a lamp was and he could see that this work of art was the two put together. What great innovation!

After spending a few hours last night with Chu Zihang’s friends, he felt too excited to sleep. He kept fiddling with the tablet computer all night, surfing the internet and googling all manner of things until the machine ran out of batteries. They had explained how to charge it, but Tigre felt a moment of great panic when the low battery warning came up. What if he tried to charge it and it didn’t work? He’d be up a creek on his first day of school.

The freshman students in green uniforms all sat at very long heavy wooden tables. He recognized the Smith sisters and waved, trotting up to them and sitting down. “Hi! I hope you feel better now!”

The Smith sisters all looked at him in silence and uncomfortable smiles. Except for Ruby. She gave a little laugh and said. “Yeah, we do… thanks.”

They all wore the same hairstyle with their hair tied up and back and the mass of curls poofed out like a bouquet of flowers. They still had the insect motif. Ruby with her butterfly earrings, Porsche with her dragonfly earrings, and Ladybug Celeste.

“Oh. What’s that on the wall? Is that dragon language too?” Tigre asked in wonder.

“That’s Latin…” Porsche drawled. “You should be able to tell if you speak Spanish.” She rested her cheek in her hand and pointed at him, doubt filling her voice.

“He said he only spoke a little!” Ruby was quick to defend him. “It’s just saying ‘Welcome new students.”

“Oh… Latin…” Now that he stared at it he could tell it was a bit like Spanish. 

Suddenly a silver platter was settled in front of him and the lid opened to reveal a plate of hardboiled eggs, bread, cheese and ham. He yelped in surprise. “Woah!”

Ruby laughed again. Even Celeste cracked a smile. “You must have grown up in the boonies. You act like you’re in Disney World.” She said, chuckling.

Tigre was already stuffing his face with the bread and eggs and mumbled. “No, I’m from Mexico.”

Celeste shook her head, covering her smile. “I know! What I meant was… you know what? Never mind. It’s nice to meet someone who’s not a sourpuss.”

A sudden hush fell over the dining room and a few students stood up as Lu Mingfei entered accompanied by the members of the Student Union Elite and a beautiful woman walking behind him. “That’s Lu Mingfei, S ranked President of the Student Union. I hear he’s back from killing a real dragon.” Ruby explained in a hush whisper. “I hear he’s the strongest student the College has ever had.”

“Really he did?” Tigre watched in awe. This guy was so quiet and normal and humble, he never imagined that he could have killed a dragon. “I heard he was President of the Student Union. What does that mean?”

“There are many clubs here but two main ones. The Student Union and Lionheart. The Student Union was run by Caesar Gattuso who killed the King of Bronze and Fire two years ago. He passed his club to Lu Mingfei. Lionheart was run by Chu Zihang who killed the King of Earth and Mountains year before last. They had a great rivalry but Lu Mingfei doesn’t seem to be interested in continuing that and Lionheart leadership has been hollowed out. Chu Zihang, Susie, and Lancelot all graduated. They were all the Lionheart elite.”

“Was run? Chu Zihang doesn’t run it any more?” 

“No, he graduated recently and was sent on missions. In fact, they’re all graduated now. Caesar is in Rome in the Italy branch.”

Tigre’s chewing slowed and he swallowed. “Graduated… so Chu Zihang doesn’t go here any more…”

“No, he was just here recovering from his last mission. He’ll probably go back to work now that he’s fully recovered.” Porsche shrugged.

He sighed and lowered his eyes. “Oh… he… he didn’t tell me that.”

Celeste’s elegant eyebrow raised. “Why would he tell you that? Do you know him?”

For the first time, Tigre seemed genuinely sad to the sisters. He stopped eating and hung his head. “Yeah. He saved my life.”

“Get out!” Porsche’s eyes were wide in her head. “How did that happen?”

Tigre looked on the verge of tears. “It’s kinda sad but I was not let out of a prison all my life. Chu Zihang broke me out of that prison and that’s how I came here. He gave me a computer tablet. He didn’t say he was leaving.”

The sisters all fixed him with sad serious gazes.

“No wonder you don’t know anything…” Ruby sighed.

“I… I’ll send him a farewell message later I guess.” He mumbled. He understood that Chu Zihang had to leave, but did he have to leave without saying anything? The tablet computer must have been a goodbye gift as well as a welcome gift.

The Smith sister’s eyes all went wide at the same time, like a row of kittens. They were looking behind him and when Tigre turned around, Lu Mingfei was standing behind him. 

“All settled in?”

“Yes… sir?” He asked.

“Oh no, not you too with the sir stuff.” Mingfei lamented, one hand on his head. 

“I’m sorry I just heard you were the strongest student in Cassell!” Tigre explained quickly.

Lu Mingfei winced slowly and sighed. “Anyway. I wanted to ask you if you’ve settled in alright.”

Tigre nodded. He noticed that all the students in the dining hall were staring at him. Some of them whispered to each other, their eyes fixed on him as they did so.

“I heard Chu Zihang was leaving. Do you know when?” Tigre asked quietly sad.

“Oh… yeah he left last night. He didn’t tell you?” Mingfei’s eyes widened slightly.

Crestfallen, Tigre shook his head. 

“Ah… Senior Brother is always like this. He comes and goes without a word and doesn’t understand how that might affect people. He thought a lot of you. Anyway, We can talk later, don’t take it so hard, okay?” He gave Tigre an awkward pat on the shoulder.

The sisters were rendered speechless. Lu Mingfei walked away to the Senior Student’s table where he sat down, surrounded by men in suits as he was served by three separate waiters. It seemed like he was in the lap of luxury, the King of Cassell. Yet, looking at him, Tigre couldn’t help but think that Lu Mingfei was very lonely. He didn’t really talk to the people next to him, just lowered his head and ate like a horse in a stable.

A hand suddenly slammed into his view. “Hey, I’m talking here.”

“Charles Xavier!” Tigre exclaimed.

The boy with dark hair and eyes who challenged him before apparently had been trying to get his attention when he was looking at Lu Mingfei.

“My name’s not ‘Charles Xavier’ I was messing with you!” He wrinkled his nose and glared his eyes down at him. “You know Lu Mingfei? How the hell?”

“I… I met him yesterday after the test. There was a little party at Chu Zihang’s house.” Tigre answered honestly with an owlish expression.

‘Charles Xavier’ massaged the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut like he suddenly had a massive headache. “You were at… Chu Zihang’s party?”

Tigre flinched. “Uh… Yeah… Sorry, if I knew you wanted to go I would have invited you…”

Celeste and her two sisters all lifted their coffee cups in unison and sipped, watching this scene with great pleasure.

‘Charles’ cleared his throat. “Well then… allow me to reintroduce myself. I’m Robert Musonda, of the Musonda copper mining company in Zambia. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh… nice to meet you too.” Tigre accepted the offered hand.

“Have you decided which club you were going to join? I personally have not. I was waiting to see how things were. With all the elites gone, things could go either way. The Student Union could fall, or Lionheart could resurge.”

“I haven’t… really thought of clubs. I…” Tigre looked to Ruby for help. She’d been very helpful so far.

“Lionheart and Student Union were huge rivals before. I think people are expecting that to continue but it doesn’t have to. It depends on leadership. I think Lionheart will really push hard to regain some ground after losing so much to Student Union.” She nodded to him.

Robert Musonda clasped his hands behind his back. “In fact, leadership itself is up for grabs at Lionheart. A lot of freshmen are thinking of going to see if they can snatch the spot. With you being good friends with Mingfei and Chu Zihang, you’d be a shoe in!”

“I wouldn’t call myself good friends… We just met yesterday…”

Robert Musonda leaned forward. “He came over here and greeted you and only you… I call that good friends.” He patted Tigre on the shoulder the same way Lu Mingfei had and dropped his card next to him. “Let’s chat after class.”

Robert sauntered away. His card had a small floral scent but was simple and white with black block lettering of his family business and name along with a phone number and email.

As they were leaving the breakfast hall, Tigre’s tablet computer chimed. When he looked at it, he had a new message in his inbox. “Oh. I got my exam results.”

“Quick check your email!” Celeste exclaimed.

Apparently all the results were posted publicly and at the same time.  Students all stopped what they were doing and were looking at their results, heads bowed over their phones. Some students cheered and pumped their fists. Others gave each other high fives. Some students huddled together, giving consoling pats on the back. They were listed in order by last name and, since Tigre didn’t have a last name, the null entry in the last name field put his name right at the top.

Name: Tigre

Resonance Test result: S

Attached to his email was several pages of materials. Based on his ranking, he was afforded a stipend of money. $100,000! He also had a lot of privileges like first pick of meals and he could call the train to take him to Chicago whenever he wanted.

“Congratulations on your high level of Ranking.” It said. “With these privileges also come responsibilities. You are expected to perform at high level in the college in both class attendance and performance. If you fail to perform, you will be downgraded and your privileges will be revoked.”

He looked up at Ruby, relying on her once again for guidance. “What classes do I have?”

“You have to pick your own classes.” She said, with a trembling voice. “I can’t believe you’re S ranked. That’s insane. Are you half dragon?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?” Tigre shrugged.

Celeste stepped in, pushing Tigre forward. “There’s a link to register for classes. But let’s not do this in the hallway where everyone stares at us.”

She leaned over to him, smiling gently. “So, do you have a roommate yet?”

“Uh… I don’t have a dorm.” He said quietly.

“Then you should stay with us. We’ll help you.” Celeste smiled at him.

“Yeah!” Porsche said, glancing at her Celeste and holding his hand. “We’ll start by registering you for classes and stuff. Do you have anything you need to move?”

“Not… really? Just a few things.” Tigre said nervously as he was herded out of the Dining Hall by the three women.

Ruby clung to his other arm. “Then I’ll help you move!”

“Move? Move where?” 

The triplets turned and looked at him with shining brown eyes. They beamed at him, speaking in unison. “To our dorm silly!”

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Short Cuts

So the reviews for Rapunzel’s Return are taking longer then expected and due to real life complications I’ve now fallen behind in my intended schedule. So in order to catch up, I’ll be doing a series of rapid-fire mini reviews of all the official shorts that the series released in addition to the usual reviews. 

Summary: Ten shorts were released throughout the three seasons of the show detailing Rapunzel’s misadventures in Corona. 

 Check Mate

Pascal tries to get Max to play chess with him, but the horse is too busy with guard duty to play. Pascal’s antics wind up causing a fire and Max must save him. 

This short, plus the later Unicorn-y short, and the episode Pascal’s Story pretty much confirms that chess is pascal’s favorite game. Shame that’s the only idiosyncrasy that the series gives besides being the conscious of the group that sometimes gives the other characters guilty looks.  

I said it before and I’ll say again, the animal sidekicks in the franchise don’t have enough personality to carry whole episodes by themselves, but shorts like this are ok and where things like this should have stayed.   

Prison Bake

Attila recounts how he used his baking skills to break his fellow pub thugs out of prison back before they met Rapunzel. 

This just raises so many questions. Why were they arrested? What was their punishment besides jail? Why weren’t they just re-arrested later after escaping? If they were all wanted criminals before meeting Raps then why did they try to call the guards during the movie to collect the reward money on Eugene’s head? Do we really think “crack-down on crime” Frederic would pardon them before Rapunzel’s return? How do we know they weren’t just framed given how shitty Corona’s legal system is? 

Like I just need a tiny bit more context show. Two to three minutes isn’t really long enough to set up conflicts. These shorts should have been more like five or six minutes really. 

Also Ludwig the Castle Cook is also just wasted. They built a model for him and hired a VA and everything and all he does is appear in this one short and nothing else. Like I think he makes a non-speaking cameo in The Alchemist Returns or something, but that’s it. It’s a clear mismanagement of resources.  

Make Me Smile

Rapunzel tries unsuccessfully to make Old Lady Crowley smile, but it’s not until she holds an honest conversation with the woman does she find a solution. 

This is best short out of the bunch, and not just cause it stars the great Pat Carol either. 

This is how Rapunzel should have been handled in the main series proper. Which is why I screen-grabbed this whole convo. It’s perfect. 

Rapunzel spent 18 years lock in a tower. Of course she doesn’t understand different perspectives from her own cause her development has been stunted. She’s compassionate but lacks empathy. So she has a hard time connecting with others, but once she slows down an actually takes the time to listen to people she is capable of learning. 

We needed more of this; just on a larger scale. Have Raps make mistakes, have people be annoyed with her or right angry when she messes up, and then have her learn. 

Why the series thought it was a good idea to have everyone kiss her royal arse instead while she dug in her heels and consendinly took charge of everything even while still screwing up, I’ll never know. 

Hare Peace

Feldspar asks Rapunzel to take care of his “precious”. Rapunzel thinks he means a pet rabbit, and is run ragged trying to keep up with it, but it turns out he was talking about his prized cabbage instead. 

These shorts overall work a lot better than the main show. They know what they are and don’t try to be anything else. Therefore they deliver what is promised competently. They’re nothing amazing nor groundbreaking and in truth I wouldn’t want a whole series of them, but I get the feeling this is what the head executives at Disney were expecting when they signed off on the show and not whatever mess the main series turned out to be. 

Night Bite

Rapunzel, Eugene, and the animals are out camping for the night and Max gets irritated by all the bugs. 

What doesn’t work so well is the placement of some of the shorts. This particular short aired during season two and indeed that would make sense given that they are camping out here. Which why would they do that if they were still in Corona... 

Yet some of the later shorts, which also aired during season two, clearly do take place in Corona debunking that theory. Just some context would be nice show, that’s all. 

Also this short is meh.. not bad, not, good, just there.  

Hiccup Fever

Rapunzel gets the hiccups and everyone in Corona seems to have advice on how to get rid of them, but only Eugene has the solution. 

I’d argue that this is the funniest of the shorts. I legit laughed out loud at some points which is rare. 

However it does sadly prove on thing. 

Rapunzel was always a shit girlfriend, even before season three. 

Being a douche to your boyfriend isn’t funny show. 

Snowball

Rapunzel and Pascal plan to have some fun in the snow and things go awry.   

So where and when is this exactly?

Unlike the other shorts, the context and setting for this one is paramount to whether or not Rapunzel is a simply lazy or a an outright dick. 

For you see, Rapunzel had never been outside in the show before Queen for a Day. Ergo, this can only take place during the latter half of season one or during season two. 

Now season two makes a lot of sense. They’re at some cabin in the woods that was never mentioned are seen on screen before and this did air during season two anyways. If that is the case then Raps just avoiding her planned road trip like always. 

However, the last short and the next two also aired during season two and all of those do take place in Corona during season one and even the wiki states that they were all meant to take place during season one in original concept. 

Yet if that is the case then Rapunzel is ignoring Varian right now and playing around in the thing that almost killed him... 

Oh and that still doesn’t explain where this cabin is. Is it the mountain retreat that the King and Queen were going to spend their anniversary at? 

What’s really mind boggling though is that they made this short in order to reuse the character models from Queen for a Day in order to save money, but then went and built this whole set that’s never seen outside of this short. 

Like seriously who was on charge of the budget decisions in the series? 

Hairdon't

Rapunzel offers to cut Eugene’s hair but then messes it up. She spends all day trying to stop Eugene from seeing his new do, but turns out the hairstyle becomes a hit with the Corona townspeople. 

Rapunzel seriously lucked out here and it borderlines on the main series style levels of BS. She asks Eugene not to get upset before he sees what she’s done and, guess what, he is rightly upset. 

Honestly the series needed to let Eugene get angry at Rapunzel for stuff. That’s what happens in relationships, you will make your partner mad at times and that’s ok. It’s all about how both of you handle that. 

We never get to see how Eugene and Rapunzel would handle a real ordinary conflict and not just magic/ex girlfriend shenanigans that don't end with them putting off talking about it. 

Even their best episodes in season two still are over conflicts that don’t have any immediate impact on their lives and are mostly hypotheticals to them, like kids or how other people should approach dating. And of course by season three Eugene is just reduced to a doormat. 

Unicorn-y

Rapunzel tries to help Vladimir find his missing prized unicorn figurine in this spoof of old detective movies. Turns out Max and Pascal had found it and were using it to play chess. 

Ok, first off, Eugene has the patience of a saint and deserves so much better than Raps and her bullcrap here. Same goes for Lance who is tied up as well during this scene. 

But also this is another short that needed to be more than three mins long. The “mystery” is over before it even starts and the film noir parody only barely has time register in the viewer’s mind and then it’s over with. 

Shorty’s Theme Song Takeover! 

The last of the shorts aired after the show had ended as part of the Disney Channel’s on going promotional gimmick “Theme Song Takeover!” 

Shorty finds Rapunzel’s journal and sings his own version of the show’s theme song, “Wind in my Beard”. 

It’s ok. 

All of Disney’s animated shows for the 2019/2020 line up has done one and some are funnier than than this and others not so. The Shorty one is pretty middle ground but what makes it work is that Rapunzel is completely oblivious to what’s going on and only Shorty, always the anomaly of the series, can perceive the fourth wall. Thus proving he was never really human. 

As for placement, we know it’s season three cause of Rapunzel’s dress and they’re mostly likely inside the Snuggly Duckling right now. So just slot it in wherever you see fit. 

Conclusion 

That’s it for the shorts. The rest of Rapunzel’s Return should be up later this week and then hopefully I’ll be all caught up in time to cover the next episode next week. 

[romansleftshoulderpad]

Almost Had You (But I Guess That Doesn’t Cut It)

Tags: @fandermom @my-analogical-romance @patchworkofstars @poisonedapples @hogwarts-my-love @opaque-puppet 

Words: 1,706

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of doing drugs, the word “slut” used in lyrics, weed, Deceit and Remus mentioned but not by name

Ship: Prinxiety

Quick note: the formatting might be a little off on mobile, but it works fine on AO3!

---

I almost got drunk at school at 14 Where I almost made out with the homecoming queen.

It had been 12 years since Roman and Virgil met. It had been 10 since they became friends. It had been 8 since they started dancing around each other like pining, gay ballerinas.

Who almost went off to be Ms. Texas, But lost to a slut with much bigger breastes.

Roman could remember the exact moment he started to fall in love. It was the end of their senior year. They had been messing around in Virgil’s “studio”, an extra walk-in closet in his dad’s apartment. Virgil was painting a stormy sky while Roman played around with an old guitar that hadn’t been touched in years (save for specks of paint and purple storm clouds painted on the wood). Roman had been messing around with different chords but he found himself enchanted by Virgil. His bangs were tied back into a bun and his arms were covered in white, lilac, and navy blue. His tongue stuck out between his lips in concentration as he tried to paint the moon just right.

That’s when it hit Roman. He could easily see them doing just the same in 20, 30, or 40 years. Maybe in a different town, maybe with different hairstyles or clothes, but still them. Still happy. Still soft and domestic.

Married. He could see them together and in love. It was terrifying, but as he closed his eyes, he played a love song.

I almost dropped out to move to LA Where I was Almost famous for Almost a day.

It was college that separated them. Roman was going to a fancy music school and Virgil wasn’t going anywhere. It was one of the worst fights they’d ever had.

“Come on, Virge! It’ll be perfect!” Roman pleaded.

“Perfect for you, maybe,” Logan muttered.

“Oh shut up, nerdy wolverine,” Roman snapped.

“Even combined, how are we supposed to afford an apartment in L.A?” Virgil asked, not looking up from his sketchbook.

“We’ll figure it out!”

“You mean I’ll figure it out while you get a degree.”

“Just forget about rent,” Roman said. “We’d have so much fun! We can watch Tim Burton movies every week and cook together and go on adventures!”

“Roman, if I may add some input-“

“Logan,” Virgil said quietly, “can you give us a moment alone, please?”

“Don’t sign any contracts without a lawyer present,” Logan said, and with that, he left.

“Roman, I can’t just pack up and leave because you need a roommate,” Virgil said. “I’m not even sure why you’re asking me anyway. Obviously, there are better options.”

“Better options?”

“Yes! Like Logan-“ Roman scoffed. “Or Remy! Or even your brother!”

“I’ve lived with my brother for far too long, thank you very much,” Roman said. “But why do you think there’s better options? Why is it so hard to imagine me wanting to be closer to you?” Virgil chewed on his lip, visibly becoming more anxious. “Virgil, you’re my friend. I care about you.”

“You shouldn’t!” Virgil yelled but it echoed like a scream. Tears pricked at his eyes and as Roman took a step forward he took a step back. “I gotta go.” He grabbed his backpack and ran out of the door before Roman could go after him.

I almost held up a grocery store Where I almost did five years and then seven more

Virgil was 22 and living with a friend of the brother of a friend. It sucked. He spent most of his nights' painting and wondering how much better his life would be if he had said “yes” to Roman’s offer. He picked up a drawn on canvas he had titled “Two Lovers” And began to paint as his thoughts spiraled.

Instead of loud music and loud... other sounds coming from his roommate’s bedroom, he’d at least only have to deal with Disney songs and rapping along to Hamilton. And yes, Virgil would have to admit, watching The Nightmare Before Christmas would be a lot more enjoyable than airing out the living room to get rid of the smell of weed.

He looked at the painting. The two lovers were still just a sketch. He took a pencil and adjusted one of the lovers to be male instead of female. “Could be gayer,” he mumbled to himself as he did so.

What would watching movies with Roman be like anyway? Virgil grabbed a clean brush and started painting in the couch the lovers sat on. He’d be annoying and talk through the whole film, of course. Probably eats popcorn way too loudly. Of course, he would have been the one insistent on making popcorn. Probably homemade because he would insist that it’s superior to the bagged stuff.

He’d probably fall asleep during the movie. It’d be far too much of ask of the arrogant asshole to actually appreciate art. He’d lean onto Virgil as he’d begin to doze off. He’d pretend to yawn and put his arm sound Virgil’s shoulders, holding him tight. Virgil chewed his lip as he painted. He worked on the lovers’ clothes and skin. Roman was always a deep sleeper; he’d be impossible to wake up. This would, of course, keep Virgil trapped on the couch. Virgil hated being trapped.

But would being stuck with Roman even be a bad thing? Virgil had slept on plenty of couches before, surely it wouldn’t be worse to share that space with someone warm holding you tight. Roman’s heartbeat would be calming and lull Virgil to sleep.

Cause I almost got popped for a fight with a thug Cause he almost ran off with a bunch of the drugs That I almost got hooked on cause you ran away.

Virgil looked at the two lovers holding each other tight and dressed in red and purple.

And I wish I would have had the nerve to ask you to stay.

Roman dropped out of that college after two years. It was a tough choice, but it was for the best. He’d looked at a picture from his high school graduation. He wasn’t the same anymore, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He just had new interests and passions.

And at 26 he was going back to a new college to pursue a writing degree. But he kept drifting back to that graduation photo. He hadn’t seen Virgil in 5 years, but he still had a soft spot for him. He still had so many things left to say.

Here I go thinking ‘bout all the things I could’ve done.

He pulled out his laptop.

I’m gonna need a forklift cause all the baggage weighs a ton.

Virgil pulled the rest of his boxes out of the moving truck. He finally got away from roommates and memories of the past. He was free.

He opened a box labeled “Paintings” and saw it staring back at him. The two lovers.

I know we had our problems. I can’t remember one.

Roman kept typing. It was a stupid email to write to someone he hadn’t seen in years but getting all of these feelings out was pure ecstasy.

I almost forgot to say something else And if I can’t fit it in I’ll keep it all to myself.

Virgil put the painting in a frame and hung it up in his unfurnished living room.

I almost wrote a song about you today. But I tore it all up and then I threw it away.

Roman deleted the email.

And I Almost had you, But I guess that doesn’t cut it.

Both of them sat, miles apart, staring at their screens and silently begging for contact. For nostalgia. For a second chance.

Virgil hated risk. He hated change. Yet, as he looked around at the unpacked boxes, he knew a tiny bit of change between him and Roman wouldn’t make that much of a difference. He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts.

Almost had you.

Ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Virgil’s heart raced. He hated phone calls and Roman probably didn’t want to talk to him anyway and- oh this was such a bad idea. “R- Roman?” he asked, his mouth dry. “It’s Virgil. You still live in L.A right?”

“Virgil,” Roman repeated. His heart was beating just as fast. “It’s been a while. And yeah- yeah I still live here.” He took a deep breath. “How are you?”

“I, uh, just moved to California. Exciting, right? Uh, and I- I was wondering...” He took a deep breath and tried to steady his shaking hands. He exhaled slowly. “Do you want to grab coffee?”

And I didn’t even know it.

“Coffee,” Roman said with a smile. “Coffee would be great. You can tell me where you’re near and I can meet you somewhere. You must be tired.”

“You have no idea,” Virgil said with a laugh. He glanced to the painting and let his anxieties melt away. He smiled. “I’ve missed you.”

“I- I’ve missed you too,” Roman said, barely above a whisper. He wondered if Virgil could hear his smile.

“Meet me at 4?”

“4,” Roman said. “See you there.”

You kept me guessin’ And now I’m destined To spend my time missing you.

He looked the same way he did six years ago. He had his hair pulled back into a bun with colors on his arms, only now they were stray tattoos and not paint splatters. He looked more tired and spaced out. Surely from the stress of moving, but Roman was one hundred percent ready to take this man home and properly lull him to sleep.

Roman was different though. Dressed to impress as if meeting a stranger and not an ex-best friend. It was appropriate, almost. They had become strangers. Almost. Strangers didn’t spend years thinking of one another.

“Virgil,” Roman said with a smile and open arms.

“Princey,” Virgil said with a smile, falling into his open arms and holding him tight. Past fights and years of regrets faded away. They were together now, and Virgil knew he’d have his chance.

I almost wish you would have loved me

Wish you would have loved me too.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Samurai Jack Season 5 in Review: EPISODE XCVI

Things can change greatly when one is open enough to see the truth.

As the episode’s TV spot promoted (as with earlier TV spots for the season in general), it’s time for the Scotsman episode of Season 5! Enough said.

NOW, as the Scotsman proclaimed, “NOW we... CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!!!”

This’s the first episode in Season 5 to be rated TV-PG-V (for “moderate” violence), although it’s not really that violent. It clearly could be TV-Y7-FV, but I guess that Cartoon Network is concerned about easily imitable violence such as kicking and punching (unlike Disney Channel/Disney XD), so it may never be TV-Y7 again.

NOTE: Obviously, I started working on this post on Memorial Day of 2020 in honor of our dear Scotsman. Anyway, I’m curious as to what was going on with the Scotsman’s family and what they were plotting, during the time that we’re focusing on Jack and Ashi... but we still have 40 episodes to come until the series is complete. I was too busy or lazy to finish the post before the end of the day or month (for that matter, I was mostly inactive on it for 6 months), but I’m slowly back on it, so WACH’OUT!

We start with Aku’s place... which appears much more barren than it was in EPISODE I. The episode is another Andrews-Tartakovsky duo-boarding. Just the sound of wind, but no mist full of demons for some reason. Perhaps some bombing or missile attack cleared Aku’s yard?

A tank rolls over to the edge of Aku’s yard. A soldier within signals the other tanks to advance with his horn. These tanks are designed by the late and great Chris Reccardi and @heydusty​.

The camera streaks further back to reveal another army of men riding a 20-legged, rhino-like creature, in armor similar to the exterior of the tanks. He signals his army with his horn, too.

How about another army, then?

Signaled by a woman with her bagpipes, she leads her army...

a whole army of women

Talk about girl power... compared to The Powerpuff Girls, which stopped in 2019 and wasn’t nostalgically correct enough for the last 3 seasons anyway.

Whichever one I find most attractive all depends on which hairstyle looks most attractive... like the one in the bottom right corner. Aside from that, they pretty much all look and sound the same.

The sound of wheels grows audible. Who is that man in the wheelchair?

He has a machine gun for his left leg. Slowly, the camera, defocused except on his leg, eases out.

“Ha ha! We found him!”

It is, indeed, the Scotsman. The hype-inducing Scotsman!

And he’s pretty much ready to fight!

Well... except for one thing...

“I take you out for a day of battle, and you’re dressed like you’re goin’ dancin’!”

She’s kind of bashful. Isn’t she, Scotsman?

Flora was apparently out of appropriate uniform... not that it’s the time for dancing, or dance-fighting, however they intended to take Aku down face-to-face. She looks kind of hot, but this’s not the time to be thinking about fashion or a sultry appearance.

“That goes for all of you.”

“Cover yourself!” the Scotsman yells; “You’ll catch your death of cold!” He definitely cares about his daughters--I know not how many he has, but it’s an army’s worth--but I don’t think that they’re really cold at all.

What season is it, anyway?

(Oh, and, for the shot above, Flora has tiny dot eyes X3)

“Now”, the Scotsman proclaims, “we... CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!”

“EYAAAAHHHHH” he shouts excitedly, as Flora drives him into battle.

The Scotsman’s army rolls into battle, firing with some nicely-colored smoke.

*p-powaa-p-p-powaa-powaa-p-powaa-aa*

Yep. There’s that more familiar Universal/Hanna-Barbera explosion, like one would hear in Seasons 1-6 of The Powerpuff Girls, serving as the sole sound effect for this shot and repeating itself. Joel Valentine’s uses of these classic explosions are probably different from those on Sound Ideas’ Universal & H-B sound libraries as these’re cleaner in quality.

The armored creatures apparently shoot some pretty hot snot out of their trunks, leaving us to wonder what this particular animal ultimately is. That classic Anime whistle (kind of sounds like “SHELL SCREAMING WHINE DOWN”) becomes audible as the bunch of hot snot falls toward Aku’s place.

“It seems we are under attack”, Aku overhears. “Under attack?” Aku highlights, beginning to consider use for this opportunity as he slowly stretches his beard. Aku takes a peek at the war through his own kind of TV or something. “Perhaps annihilating this scum will break me out of my...

me-lai-i-i-i-i-se.” Aku streak immediately upward.

Meanwhile, the Scotsman was firing HIS LEG gun... (footage that the last TV spot advertised for the coming of Season 5 in March, well before this episode itself was advertised, also showing the same footage)

Not sure at what HIS LEG gun was firing, since Aku wasn’t out, until...

*bwssss! wb-wb-wb-wb!*

...Aku rockets out of his place...

...trailing blazing fire as he turns into a giant ball...

...bowling his way over all of the tanks. The armored creatures on which 1/3 of the army rides are next!

“You know what?” The Scotsman said, come to his senses. “This was a bad idea! Time to go, girls.” Protective of his many daughters,  the Scotsman knew what to do in such a disastrous moment: “I’ll stall him while you escape.”

“I’m sorry, old man; I think you are lost.”

Just as Aku was about to make the annihilation complete, a voice froze him: “Hold it! You’re not goin’ anywhere, you big buffoon”. Not knowing who this guy was at all, Aku looked down upon him... and he seemed pretty serious, even though he met not this guy before at all.

“The samurai is still out there, inspirin’ people by the thousands!”

“I ain’t lost, y’ tree ogre!” The Scotsman talked back, pushing his insults further and further. “After all these years, you’re powerless against him... afraid to show yourself ‘cause you know he’s out there, and you can’t do anything about it!”

“Ah ha ha! You’re just a big baby! Why don’t you go cry to your mama--”

Aku was not in the mood for being “roasted”.

*wshiiiiiing*

A third of a sword flung out of the explosion.

Aku burned him.

*psst*

Aku burned him good.

Those catchlight-y eyes don’t lie, Flora.

OK; “highlights” would be the more common term.

This’s why I began writing this post on Memorial Day 2020.

When you roast Aku, Aku roasts you back.

“Why did he bring, up, the samurai?”

A relative question: If Aku cares no longer, what else has Aku to do with his life? Must he be evil? Some centuries worth since he started ruling... I guess that the Scotsman was just trying to make Aku upset, when he could speak a better conversation than mostly insult him.

Flora stabs the remainder of the sword into the ground by his ashes. There is some inscription on it that should be interesting to decode. I wonder if there’s an Easter egg in its words...

“I be back--and in me prime, no less!”

BOOM! Souls don’t die! Of course, rather than probably being in Heaven, he’s more of a ghost who’s still able and willing... by Celtic magic, which apparently connects to the inscription on his very sacred sword. “We’ll find Jack” he plots, “and finally defeat that BIG BABY!”

Anyways... one night, probably very far away from wherever Aku’s place is, Ashi was doing some thinking.

She grew up with her mom, who claimed that Aku created everything, but now she met Jack, who told her that Aku had the world ravaged.

Ashi was raised to believe that “The samurai is the poison killing the land”... as if Aku even cared at that point; she never even met Aku. Jack’s wisdom begat conflict in her mind: “If you... let go of (your) hate, you will see the truth.”

At least it’s an otherwise peacful night.

Well. It was.

“I have questions, mother.”

Ashi began to hallucinate (or it was some kind of weird fever dream... I know not) as the moon turned into her mother’s mask. “The samurai sleeps”, she slips through her mouth. “Kill him in his slumber before he wakes!”

“How DARE you?!”

I suppose this’s what comes of wishing for the moon.

Ashi was not ready to act on instinct as this samurai saved her life, but her vision was merciless. She had questions (and had the... moon failed??? Well not the moon, just her mom), and frankly one could question if she or her mother knew who exactly the samurai was and what he looked like. She was apparently secluded from the rest of society and we know little of her life growing up, so of course she’d have questions.

From there, that very island, Ashi’s journey began, and the next morning Jack found a sea dragon to continue the journey.

Although the dolphin chirps act as a faint, echo-y sound in the scene, they stand out as more unique recording than the stereotypical Hollywood Edge recordings one would hear pretty much everywhere else, like in Spongebob or whatever.

The sea dragon submerges into the ocean and makes a giant leap into the sky! Not sure why, but it probably got them closer to land.

ANIME LINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It might not seem too noticeable, but the animation right here looks a bit... tight/slow-paced or whatever. Korean animation’s been thinning out on ln-betweens since, like 2016 for some reason, but they still put more effort on this Cartoon Network Studios project than most right now.

“I shall not forget your kindness.”

The sea dragon gives him a snort and a roar of... gratitude?

Jack and Ashi finally made it to a bigger land (and probably not just a bigger island). Now where would they go from here?

“Goodbye.”

It looks like Jack was just going to part ways.

I’ll continue working on this post later, preferably/almost daily if not weekly. (I’ve just been very slow mentally and more autistic this year than I ever realized)

[lopez-richter-fangirl]

So. Homecoming. Holy fuck. It’s taken me this long to even start to get my thoughts together. Very spoilery post under the cut. Like, as much as I can possibly remember of the show spoilery. Also rambly. And long. Ridiculously long. So you’ve been warned.

Also disclaimer, this is just homecoming to the best of my recollection and it might not be 100% accurate. So first of all the setlist (this was everything they sang but the order of songs in act 2 is a bit hazy, I think it’s about half right. Also I don’t think hardly anyone at the show could tell you exactly because it was just so overwhelming). They did medleys for all the non-Potter shows in act 1 in reverse chronological order, act 2 they did full songs from all the Potter musicals.

Act 1 TGWDLM, Join Us And Die, Show Stoppin Number We Got Work To Do, Make The Most Of It Ani, With My Own Eyes, Back On Top Gone To Oregon, Naked In A Lake, Speedrun No One Remembers Achmed, A Thousand And One Nights, Happy Ending Holy Musical B@man, Rogues Are We, Superfriends Status Quo, Kick It Up A Notch, I Wanna Be Me And My Dick, Listen To Your Heart, Ready To Go Act 2 Going Back To Hogwarts Harry Freaking Potter To Have A Home Different As Can Be (and reprise) Coolest Girl Cho’s Song Hey Dragon Granger Danger Guys Like Potter Wizard Of The Year To Dance Again Sidekick Voldemort Is Going Down Everything Ends Not Alone Days Of Summer Not Alone (reprise)

Thursday 25th The more I think about it the more I realise I really had no idea what I was expecting from the show. We’d been planning before they even announced what it was to fly out for it, but we had very few details. I didn’t even know they had an orchestra until like two hours before. I’d barely been able to watch any of their rehearsal stories. But I don’t think I’d ever been more excited for anything in my life. I was super excited for AVPW but also, it was my first time seeing any of them, the whole thing felt like a dream, and I had no idea how much it was gonna mean to me so it didn’t even hit me properly until the last night. Whereas I already knew exactly how special this would be, it was entirely once in a lifetime and I was nearly shaking.

Outside the theatre I’ve said it before but genuinely my favourite place in the world to be is surrounded by Starkid fans. Seeing people in cosplay, in merch, talking about the same shows and people I love, I just get such a sense of ‘this is home’. There was the classic waiting-in-line going back to hogwarts singalong. And some la dee da da day thrown in for good measure. Liam was walking along the line filming and doing interviews for the bts. Tessa got out of a car right next to us, we saw Jade and Traci and their friend Bella. They’re all gorgeous it’s insane and unfair.

Inside the theatre Spent over $100 on merch but honestly could have spent so much more, really I showed a lot of self restraint. They didn’t have the programmes though which I’m still heartbroken over. Saw Denise Richter which I was maybe too excited about. Didn’t speak to her or anything but even just to see her she exudes kindness she’s the best. Then we were hanging out in the lobby and Tessa was talking to everyone and hugging them and taking selfies and jumping in people’s group pics and I love her. Like she made my night even without me talking to her because she was SO sweet to everyone she spoke to and I was stood there falling in love with her by the second. Also, let’s talk about how cool the venue was? It looked unbelievable and they had a bunch of posters up with AVPM quotes. And the stage? Y’all have seen by now but they made it look like an actual homecoming dance and it was amazing. Considering how far back our seats were it was actually a very good view, it helped that I had an aisle seat so had a clear view of the entire stage. I’ve posted the pre-show playlist here, it was perfect, especially the JATP like, hell yeah to celebrating all their various projects. At this point I literally thought I was gonna die of excitement. AJ and Clark came on stage and as much as I was having great fun freaking out with the groupchat about how soon the show was I couldn’t wait to put my phone away cause that meant the show was starting. And then the lights went down.

Darren Very pleased to say it was not the Darren show, even though he did give the opening and closing speech. And as much as I have opinions about him, when he walked out for the first time it was a pretty special moment because it’s like, this is it this is really happening. The amount of energy in that room when he came on stage my god. You would not have believed there were only 1600 people there. The whole show people could barely get a sentence out without cheering, which in hindsight was probably annoying but it just shows how incredibly loved they are, and we were as grateful to them as they were to us. I loved the atmosphere in both shows, it was completely different both times and I’ll obviously get to the Friday night show, but there was something special about being in a room of majority backers, all of us seeing these show for the very first time, it was totally new. Again, literally no idea what to expect and it was the most exhilarating feeling. Darren did a little ‘look for your exits pretend we’re at Disney’ which was cute after being at Disney for two days beforehand. Classic starkid fashion, he told us they had no idea how long the show would run for. He made a G.L.E.E. joke so it’s nice to know he’s still on our side at the end of the day. I don’t know if it was him that talked about Starkid performing with a 13 piece orchestra for the first time, but I’m gonna bring it up here anyway. I’m so grateful they were overfunded and that they were able to have the orchestra, because it’s probably something they really wanted and it’s also something they 100% deserve. I’d sell my soul to hear every starkid song with that orchestra, it was magnificent. I really hope we do get an album because it all sounded SO GOOD. Unsurprisingly don’t remember much else of what Darren said because I was just so excited for the show to start.

TGWDLM medley  So as soon as the opening started playing even as Darren was still introducing people went insane, literally within two seconds I knew undoubtedly that this was gonna be the best two hours of my life (also the fastest. Often watching theatre shows I lose attention a little bit but there wasn’t a single second of this show that I wasn’t 100% in the moment they’re completely captivating, and it went by way too fast). Oh wow this is where we got to see Joey and Lauren for the first time. Fuck. I cannot describe to you how good they looked. Pictures do not do it justice. Thank god the mustache was gone. Thank god Lauren didn’t wear the boots. She was wearing my favourite hairstyle. Joey’s hair looked great. Their outfits were incredible. They literally could not have been more perfect looks for me and I’m so grateful. I could have cried happy tears at seeing them. This in itself could go on for five pages so I’ll leave it there. They all did the whole iconic zombie pose entrance. Corey sang Joey’s astronomical line which was kinda a shame cause I love the way he sings that line however I’m glad they did it like that cause Joey got to sing a lot in the show (still not enough for my liking but then again my liking is Joey and Lauren singing the whole show so I’m good). Wish they did Lauren’s ‘pines after a cute lil barista’ bit. Also kinda wish they did inevitable so Jon could sing because I love him and he deserves better @ starkid when are you going to hire me. However they made up for that when Jaime went ‘it is time’ and the room was absolutely electric because everyone knew exactly what was coming. That note had me shook from the moment I heard it on the digital ticket and I feel honoured to have heard it in person. Jeff was still her hype man. Jaime’s voice is honestly out of this world, she’s the person I’d most heard sing live but it was still mind blowing. She’s incredible I love her so much. Then Robert came on stage so like, room exploded again. Joey and Lauren should have been on stage doing their bit for show stopping number but again, what do I know? This song was 100% pandering but as much as it’s overhyped it is a good song and Robert fucking killed it, he actually impresses me so much. His voice? He did the hip wiggles, maybe even more than were in the show, and people went absolutely wild for it. He did the working boys bit and of course everyone lost their minds. And I loved it, I loved that atmosphere of everyone being entirely obsessed with every tiny thing these people do because that’s what connects us all. Jon did get to be a working boy (as did Mariah) and sounded great. They actually sang so much of this song holy shit definitely pandering. But they really were giving Hamilton some competition.

Firebringer medley Lauren Walker introduced this one, do I remember what she said? No, I was too busy wondering if they were going to sing Climate Change. They didn’t. You sang three songs from every other show but two from firebringer and one of them wasn’t climate change? Okay sure. This sounds like I’m complaining I’m not this section was still gorgeous and I loved every second of it. Hearing music from firebringer was amazing because it has some of my favourite music from all the starkid shows, and also because apart from TGWDLM which was so recent it’s the only show we hadn’t heard anything from since. They sang we got work to do which again, pandering and not even to what most people actually wanted if we’re being honest. But I’m happy about it because hearing Lauren sing that first line was a spiritual experience. Her voice? No words. So good. Can’t believe I got to hear it live? Properly?!? Also Joey got to be in this bless his heart and I couldn’t stop watching him doing the choreography. Lauren’s little expressions throughout the whole thing are adorable god I love her. Meredith sounded so good. Rachael got so much of a cheer when she sang her bit. Joey comforted Joe after the shadow bit. Then they sang from the proposal bit of the finale. Brian was pretending to be jealous when Meredith was singing to Lauren which made my life, p.s. Joey step up your game. The first time hearing Lauren sing ‘this is the dawn’ literally took my breath away. And with that orchestra!? (Will I ever shut up about the orchestra? The answer is no). The CHEERS for ‘we are womankind’. Hell yeah. And then Lauren did the arm thing like way to literally flex on us Lo. Not okay. They did the little Molag dialogue bit and Denise did the being-blessed-with-knowledge face. Watching Denise off to the side was honestly one of the highlights of the whole show. 

TTO medley

Now I’m questioning my memory but I think Jaime went offstage after Firebringer when she wasn’t supposed to because I’m sure I remember her not being on stage for this at first. Like everyone else was there and there was a moment where I was like ‘I feel like someone’s missing...’ and then Jaime walked on late. She did mention Julia having to remind her of her cues. Anyway. Gone to oregon was first and I was reminded what an actually good performer Jeff is. He’s great in that show. Corey got the cheers he deserved at his ‘wisconsin’ bit. Lauren singing Naked in a lake was beautiful. Even if not enough people sang with her when she asked for help (spoiler, we stepped up Friday). She was definitely trying to get us to sing the high bits cause her voice was tired and she didn’t want to but that’s fine. This was one of the songs from that show I really wanted them to sing and I’m glad they did, it’s so much fun. Also Lauren does kinda steal the show but watching everyone else in this song is great. Shoutout to the sax guy, I’m glad we as a fandom always appreciate the band/orchestra. I still can’t believe everyone just lets Lauren sing a whole song about skinny dipping but I’m here for it. Then they did speedrun which was. An experience. Still think Joey should have sung wagon on fire but would I have passed out most likely yes so maybe it was better off this way. I’m glad Rachael got a moment. The ‘faster’ bit was fucking insane I don’t know how they had the breath for it. Everyone clapped pace and I’m pretty sure we clapped faster than the song ever goes so, sorry guys that you had to go through that? I think I have a newfound appreciation for this song. It was either in this or possibly in Naked in a lake that Joey did something stupid and Lo looked at him and shook her head. There were a lot of little looks throughout the show and trying to catch each other’s eye across the stage and it was very cute and probably won’t make the cut even though it should it’s the best part of the show.

Ani medley Moses introduced it and he was wearing like the jacket that’s one of his costumes and he wore in the final SK10 livestream idk you guys I’ve seen that show twice. The Ani band is fucking great, they had Mark, Nick Gage (?? idk there was definitely a fourth person I was mostly watching Meredith let’s be real here), Clark and Meredith all sing. Meredith had the biggest smile on her face at all times it was a joy. Ani is such a fun song so many starkid songs are so fun. Also they added a key change (was it even a key change? I’ve never studied music whatever they did it sounded good.) Actually the whole arrangement of this medley I loved, I hope it makes the people who don’t appreciate the music in this show appreciate it. With my own eyes is my favourite song in that show and I’m very happy they did it. They should have had Denise do her choreo when they did Back on top tbh. I love Meredith in this song though.

Twisted medley Joe came out to introduce it but kept hyping everyone up about Ani first. I really miss Joe he has so much onstage energy. I knew they were doing No one remembers achmed but I was still so excited about it. It’s such a good song. And the whole ‘you ooze sex’ bit in the flesh? That’s all. Obviously the best part was everyone yelling tigerfucker. Experiencing that in person is unbeatable. Then they had Britney and Carlos sing their version of 1001 nights and it was beautiful, I very rarely listen to that version of the song but I should, Britney is unbelievable and I love her so much. I can’t believe she’d just flown in and had such a rough time right before the show, you wouldn’t have known it. Dylan walked out and I kinda thought they were gonna have him and Meredith do a quartet (starkid when are you gonna hire me??) but then he sang ‘and with my wife beside me’ and I was like :’) this is good. That part of the song always gets me and Dylan’s voice is a goddamn gift. I love the overlapping parts at the end of Happy ending too so it’s always a good choice. But why they didn’t sing dream a little harder when Alex was right there I do not know. 

HMB medley Pretty sure they had Julia introduce it? Guys it’s been a week gimme a break. Either way she definitely introduced something at some point and I’m glad everyone cheered so much for her because she was the glue of Starkid for a while. Nick Gage sang HMB and they had a reverb (again, is that the right term? not a clue) and he looked so pleased with himself every time we laughed. Then they sang rogues are we (rogues medley would have been better but in fairness that would have ruined the whole thing they had going). I do love Lauren singing we are the harlots and the hussies. A lot. But Denise does it so well. And Jaime’s ‘we’re rising up from the underground’?? I don’t think I have a single thing to say about any of the men in this song and I’m not sorry. Superfriends sounded very cool. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I always love the matching tattoos bit, and seeing Meredith’s story afterwards about how she was directing hers at Jade made it even better. I don’t even remember who sang Robin’s lines because I was too busy watching Lauren do the dance, she’s adorable. It was funny watching like five of them doing it cause they were the only ones who had learned it before and the rest not knowing it. Also, I don’t know which makes me happier, when they point into the audience for ‘I wanna be your friend forever’, or when they point at each other. Both are good.

Starship medley Denise introduced the show and um hi I love Denise she’s so cute. She said the thing about her mom calling Starship a show for dreamers and I still think that’s the most adorable thing. I will say for the rest of time that having Alex and Mariah sing Status quo was a weird choice. Also made me pissed that basically no one cheered for Alex but of course everyone went fucking crazy for Mariah. Not even that Mariah didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t deserve it more than Alex. Just saying. It did sound very good with the orchestra and they both have good voices, but I still think we deserved it sounding good with JOEY and the orchestra. I would have died to hear Joey sing that song. Moving on though. Kick it up a notch is always better in rogues medley but I do adore the Jim Brian and Jaime trio anyway. And it’s SUCH a good song. Then they sang I wanna be which I was psyched about I love that song (it was straight from Brant’s verse though like hello what happened to Joey rights). Hearing the older songs makes me wish so much they’d remount them because they all sound so good now it would be amazing. Joey’s voice is legitimately a blessing from the gods. 

MAMD medley Brian introduced the show and walked away from the mic before he said dick, which was funny but also reminded me of how they said this would be the most PG show starkid had done which is laughable. Joey did a whole bit in the beginning that reminded me a lot of his jekyll and hyde performance in shitty broadway. I love that man. Again, we deserve a remount of this show if only for Joey’s voice. Then we have maybe the most iconic moment of the thursday show which is when Joe had way too much excitement for his entrance, fucking sprinted on stage, knocked over the mic stand and had to rescue it, spraining his ankle in the process. And recovered BADLY, he was trying to figure out what to say to pull it back and Joey basically had to tell him to just sing already. I feel a little guilty now because it looked pretty bad, but it was really fucking funny. And then the cheer at the head tilt, why do we all love it so much??!? Then Joey sang Listen to your heart with AJ (him and Brian are a better duo fight me). I loved their little added dialogue, with Joey being like ‘do I smell?’ and AJ being like ‘so bad’. I always always love the little dance break Joey is the sweetest boy. I think I remember something like ‘am I doing it?’ ‘not even close Joey’. Then Alle Faye and Ali came out for ready to go and it went from their bit. It was really nice seeing them back together again. It wasn’t like nearly ten years had gone by at all. God it’s weird how nostalgic I was/am for something I wasn’t even there for. The ‘we’re finally ready’ bit sounded so gorgeous with the orchestra, I had it stuck in my head for days. They slowed it down, and we had everyone on stage, and it was just beautiful. The perfect way to end the act, which was over way too soon, and I was already feeling sad about the show nearly being over even though there was so much good to come. Wait how could I forget to mention the ‘my hormones are freaking out’ bit. Fuck all of them for that. Even if I pretty much just watched Lauren with a quick glance at Joey, which is an accurate description of what I did for a lot of the show.

Intermission First quick thing to say, as much as I wish we’d heard some more full songs from the non-Potter shows, I think I like that they kept it separate. The first half was celebrating everything they achieved since where it all started for them, and the second half was pure nostalgia. And even though I wish it wasn’t the case, more people know the potter shows so it was kinda nice that everyone was even more united than they had been for the first half. Secondly, what I should have done during intermission was used the time to recover, because the show was a whole lot of excitement and emotions and I knew it was only going to get worse in the second half. But instead I yelled to the groupchat and met @starkidmelly. More JATP was played, everyone was buzzing, I couldn’t believe I was there. I think it was a long intermission but it did not feel it, Nick came out on stage and it’s like oh shit here we go again.

Nick’s speech He worried me because he said he wanted to take a minute to get sentimental, and I’d already cried a couple of times it was too early in the show to do it again. But then he just talked about the movie Starkid and how it was a bad movie and made us all laugh which I appreciated. What I really did love was how much people cheered for him when he came out, and also for Matt in the audience when Nick shouted him out. Especially on that first night the happiness on Nick’s face at everyone cheering made me want to cry it was so special and he deserves every bit of it and you could tell it still comes as a surprise even now. Also I’ll tag it on now because I don’t remember exactly at what point it was, but at some point in the second act Corey was telling people to stop filming, which kinda made me mad cause they’d asked people not to film and he looked so mad, but was also kinda funny because like, it’s one thing being stopped from filming by an usher but it’s a whole other thing being stopped by Corey Lubowich himself. I probably would have volunteered to leave the theatre if I disappointed Corey like that tbh. But anyway back to Nick, he introduced GBTH with the original cast of AVPM and everyone fucking lost it.

GBTH So you already know what you’re about to be blessed with and then you hear that opening note and people are impossibly screaming even louder and Darren comes onstage and crouches down and it’s like nothing has really changed at all. I’ve been in a room of people singing this song before and it was magical, but this was even more people and even more special. This is where it all started, and there we were ten years later. And it was so surreal actually hearing them sing this in person. Darren put the glasses on and people went insane. The amount of anticipation I felt for Joey’s entrance was ridiculous, and he got the cheers he deserved (almost. he always deserves more). And no matter how many times we see it or how long it’s been it always makes me feel a lot of feelings seeing Darren and Joey on stage singing this together. Joey messed up the floo powder a bit and it was cute. Still iconic. It was deafening when Bonnie came out, which I guess was to be expected we haven’t seen her in nine years. I will say that she did look genuinely happy to be there, and they looked genuinely happy to have her there. Plus the line ‘why do you have to be such a buzzkill’ was so much more funny with the irony of her pretty much bringing the house down. The nostalgia factor ramped up even more here and it was pretty awesome to have that original trio back on stage after so long. Again, so much but simultaneously so little had changed in ten years and trying to articulate those feelings would require a hundred page essay. I didn’t expect them to change the original but I still think they should have kept Lauren’s altered ‘that would be cool’ line. It’s better. But I digress. Jaime got to do her bit and it was a masterpiece. But rest in peace to the whole Cho Chang and Cedric bit, you were deeply missed. Lauren’s entrance, do I even need to say more? Fucking iconic as ever. One of the best moments in all of history. I’m glad they kept in most of the dialogue-y bits although I do not remember what her accent was like. People delivered on ‘whatever I say’ and I love how that’s become our thing. The train bit always makes me emotional, even more so this time with so many people old and new onstage. I always think of Lauren saying she hates the train move but she should have told her face that. Dylan did his entrance from the back of the theatre aka right by us and it was magnificent, he held the note all the way down to the front. They added in the lines about sorting here so Tyler got to do ‘hufflepuffs are particularly good finders’ which was a good choice they did good on that one, Dylan’s ‘what the hell is a hufflepuff’ was drowned out by people still cheering for Tyler, it was a pretty great moment. I may have cried a bit at ‘it’s all that I love and it’s all that I need’. Just a bit. I loved so much that they got everyone to be a part of this song.

Harry Freaking Potter Have I lost all my memories of this song? Maybe. I remember it being amazing. Predictably I watched Lauren a lot, it’s very hard not to she’s so cute when she’s dancing. It’s funny to me how they hold out the mics for the last ‘harry freaking potter’ but most people are already cheering so they get nothing. They should have learned by now.

To Have A Home Was possibly next? I know I got teary again pretty early on in the act (saved the full crying at this song for Friday though stay tuned). I know I’m very far from being the only person who felt the most at home I’ve ever felt. How can you not, surrounded by so much support and mutual love for these incredible people who’ve done so much for us. Starkid is a huge family and it’s tangible in moments like that. And ‘to know this is real’ hits hard. Especially because you can really feel it from Darren, as famous as he is now being on stage with his friends is truly home.

Different As Can Be There’s just something about this song that brings so much energy and Joe and Brian are an iconic duo. And they brought the Quirrelmort vibes strong. Loved everyone shouting ‘prevails’. I’m super glad they did the reprise too. The reaction when they go back to back is incredible. Also, Joe’s ‘Quirrell’ was impeccable. 

Coolest Girl I will say to Bonnie’s credit that she did a very good job opening this song, considering how many people were there and how much pressure there must have been seeing as she’s suddenly making a reappearance after so many years. And she did get a lot of love for it. But Meredith coming out to duet with her actually made me cry, she looked so happy and they did a cute little ‘hi’ and I really truly consider this Meredith’s song, even if she didn’t originally sing it, so I’m glad she got to do it. It was a special moment having them sing it together with no resentment or jealousy. And then Meredith confirmed that Bonnie was pregnant again at the end of the song.

Cho Chang Of course Darren sang this. Of course. What would a starkid show be without Darren playing his dumb songs on guitar. But nothing beats a room full of people shout-singing ‘that’s in canada’ (side note, why did this stick so much? every time I saw it on the map when I flew to Canada it’s all I could think of). But also, idk why Darren introduced this song by saying he wanted to test if we knew the words like buddy pretty sure we know the words to your songs better than you do but sure.

Hey Dragon More of Darren playing dumb songs on guitar but this is also a pretty fun song so we’re letting it slide. Also he did say that he didn’t want to do this song and said they should cut it to make time for better songs but that everyone else made him do it, which does not surprise me. He obviously had to call out his own songwriting abilities from ten years ago, it makes me laugh every time he does it but this time he really came for himself with how bad the rhyming was and how the lyrics are dumb. I love that he can’t get through the song without laughing because it is pretty stupid but we love it anyway. They trusted us on the ‘la la la’s and I think we came through. 

Granger Danger Okay. OKAY. So after all that Darren was like ‘let’s take it to a school dance’ which did not register for me at all because that song has gone way beyond that and now it’s just Joey and Lauren’s song. But then Darren’s playing it (which I found ??? sweet?? for some reason? idk it was good) and Joey and Lauren are on stage and I’m like here we fucking go. This is what I’m here for. Cannot begin to describe how happy I was to hear this song. I literally had said I refused to die before I heard them sing this live and now it will forever be one of the highlights of my life. The amount of power on that stage. Also the amount of attractiveness. They honestly are a power couple. The most iconic duo singing one of the most iconic songs. Their stage presence just blows me away. And it always makes me feel things too because they’ve done this song so many times and when they were first performing it they had no idea where they’d end up and now they’re fucking living the dream together and I can’t believe how far they’ve come. This is a hole we don’t need to go down though. It absolutely is a crime that they haven’t had more songs together but it does make this one particularly special because it’s fucking THEIR song and there’s no doubt they love performing together and their chemistry is so good anyway anyway I swear I’ll get back on track. This song with the orchestra??!? Holy shit you guys it sounded so good. They managed to take a song I love with every inch of me and make me love it even more. They came out and did a handshake because they’re fucking dorks. My heart genuinely felt like it was about to pump out of my chest, the adrenaline rush from seeing this live was crazy it’s a fucking experience. Joey was remarkably in character when it got to Lauren’s bit but she could not be in character for the life of her when he was singing my god she just did not give a fuck. Her heart eyes were off the charts I swear to god I couldn’t believe that dumb girl. Also Lauren was practically making love to her mic stand half the song which was honestly unnecessary but I love her. And her looking at her crotch murdered me. And then Joey was looking at her for most of the ending and she didn’t look at him once so she sucks. As always the last note was heavenly. When do we get a two hour concert version of this song??

Guys Like Potter Maybe came next? I love the apocalyptour arrangement of this song but it was nice to throw it back to the original and Tyler’s great. Joe tried? We’ll leave it at that.

Wizard Of The Year I think this followed after purely because of AJ saying something like ‘that’s enough about that Potter boy’?? And then he only went and did the whole fucking mouse monologue. And the entire time I was sat there having an internal conflict between ‘this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed’ and ‘they could have used this time to do climate change’. Honestly hearing him pull that out was wild. But then he sang the song and some of the girls came out to do the ‘gilderoy’ bit (which was the best part duh).

To Dance Again The beginning of this song is always iconic. Most important thing to say here is how I’m even more impressed now with Joe’s dancing after seeing what his ankle looked like. Also, hearing all the tapping (thudding) from the audience brings me inexplicable joy. Lauren ran on stage before her cue when Darren came off and had to book it back off and I feel a bit bad immortalising it because I’m sure she’s glad they weren’t filming that night. While we’re on the subject, the Thursday show was a little messy but like, there were no HUGE fuck ups apart from maybe Joe’s in MAMD and it was all surprisingly well rehearsed considering they’d had barely two days of rehearsal and they’re all so so impressive. Still think they should have had a 40 person kickline but the three person Joe Darren and Brosenthal kickline was still pretty good. Also, I remember someone doing a very cool harmony? It maybe sounded like Holden? His voice is underrated. 

Sidekick I cannot remember for the life of me if this is actually where this song goes?? I don’t remember if Joey went offstage or not. I just know that he ended up alone on stage and I damn near lost my mind. I know I’ve said it before but Joey’s performance of sidekick genuinely is a show stealer and I never in a million years thought I’d get to see it live so I feel extremely privileged that I did. God bless whoever included this in the setlist you have my eternal thanks. It’s what Joey deserves (and what I deserve). His voice!?! The high notes?!? Still love the irony of Joey singing this song. Classic cheering at ‘am I the hottest’ because yes you fucking are. He messed up a bit and sang ‘am I the one who takes you home’ twice but we love him. He absolutely killed it and being reminded that they’d not long got back from SDCC and finding out he had a fever made me even more impressed because you literally wouldn’t have known it.

Voldemort Is Going Down More on Joey continuing to kill it (but maybe not in this order). It was good to hear this song again, it slaps. And they all sounded so good too. And there was a super cool little piano riff at one point. This song makes everyone so hype I love it so much.

Everything Ends Haha tear time (jk just about managed to save them for Friday). But it is very much when things get sad because you can feel that the show’s coming to a close. This was Robert’s duet with a person he’d never sung with before and it sounded beautiful. We got the return of Joe’s snape voice or am I imagining that? I don’t remember what he said but I’m sure he said something and it probably made me sad. Literally the whole end of the show is just a blur because I couldn’t believe it was almost over so quickly.

Not Alone Jaime. Just, Jaime. Incredible every time she sings this song. Also, so many AVPW feelings because this is what they came out and sang and this song has been extra special to me since. So I was in tears from the get go tbh. God I’m really really really missing AVPW today so this is a lot just thinking about it. And personal feelings about Bonnie and also how much I love newer arrangements of not alone aside, it was unimaginably special to see the original four singing this together again. 

Days Of Summer We knew they’d save this to the end (or at least so we thought) but it was still a bit of an asshole move ngl. Like, do you enjoy our suffering? Seeing everyone on stage together singing this song that’s at the heart of starkid, if there was anyone who didn’t cry I applaud them. Darren gave a closing speech where he didn’t thank half the people he needed to because he hadn’t rehearsed. I wish I remembered more of what he said because it wasn’t exactly the same as Friday, it also didn’t make me cry half as much which I guess was a bonus. They did the little going back to hogwarts reprise probably partly to make us all feel a bit better and got everyone on their feet for it and as much as I never know which house to say I still love that moment of everyone yelling their house. Then they had “curtain call”, except they faked us out because Brian stayed on stage with his fist in the air and I’m like okay what are these idiots up to now. And Nick came out to tell him they sang all the songs and Voldemort’s dead, which of course meant ‘dead?! *skips stone*’ and we all needed that laugh. And then Joe came out and they did the ‘okay is good’ bit so I was sad again and god they really messed with our emotions. And everyone came back out and did the not alone reprise and literally stomped all over my heart because ten years ago they did the exact same thing, except now they were on a bigger stage with a bigger audience and a bigger family and they’ve all grown so much and achieved so many amazing things in their careers and their personal lives and they’ve grown up a lot but they’re still these college kids at heart who love performing with their friends and making people laugh and I didn’t want to leave my seat after they all walked offstage because it really felt like my soul had left my body and I was just completely emotionally drained. And unbelievably happy that I was getting to experience it all again the next day.

Friday 26th The one thing I have to say about the line this time round is shoutout to the kid handing out red vines, I don’t know how many people actually wanted one but it made me smile. As we were waiting in the lobby we saw Denise x2 (Joey’s mom still looked like the embodiment of kindness and Denise always seems so happy to be there I love them both).

Anyway when we got to our seats I just sat down and was internally screaming because we were So Close to the stage and I was like how on earth am I going to survive seeing this much beauty. Also I knew that some people had different outfits and I was trying to figure out if Lauren and Joey were wearing the same thing cause that was the most important thing so it was an anxious wait. Then when they came out being that close to the crop top nearly killed me and Joey looked even hotter in that red shirt than he did on Thursday so like, I want that image tattooed on my eyelids.

Oh and we saw MK, Sean, Sarah and Whitney up in the balcony before the show started. This is how the conversation went down... Sophie: is that MK up there? Me: I think so, that looks like Sean Sophie: it doesn’t look like Sean? (spoiler alert, it was Sean)

Also to quickly go back to the live atmosphere, Friday night was INSANE oh my god. Whether it was that it was the last show or whether it was being closer to the stage but the room was absolutely electric, it seemed like so many more people - including me this time - were singing and fucking reciting all the lines like it makes me so happy that we’re all fucking nerds who love these other nerds to death and memorise all their shows. As was my plan, the first night I took everything in and then the second night I just got to enjoy it and make the most of it. So the Thursday show it was kind of like I was observing everything but Friday I was LIVING it, and I really was living. It was a fucking party. And I could anticipate what was coming and it somehow made it even more exciting than witnessing everything fresh for the first time. I was literally sat there having the time of my life for two hours and I hope they all saw it, they would have just seen me with a huge fucking grin the whole time (apart from when I was crying we’re not talking about that rn). Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had. It made all the money I’d spent to get there 10000% worth it because as amazing as the DVD is going to be and you bet I’m getting it (well the digital download shipping’s an outrage), you can’t buy the atmosphere in the room and it was incredible to be there.

Okay y’all know the drill now so this is gonna be quickfire:

Act 1

Seeing everyone doing their crazy eyes in TGWDLM up close was an EXPERIENCE. Jon was a stand out. Also Jaime. Being so much closer the energy was so much higher for Join us and die. I think that was really my main thing about Friday, aside from how emotions were even higher, was how crazy the energy was it was SO MUCH FUN. And Robert is pretty great.

Have I mentioned Lauren’s look nearly killing me? Yes? Good. The gay came out full force in Firebringer. Lo’s talent is out of this world and I feel so lucky to have witnessed it live.

So many more people sang for Lauren in Naked in a lake and she looked so happy my baby. I made eye contact with her at one of the points she was holding the out mic for the audience to sing so I’m glad she saw me (quietly but extremely enthusiastically) singing my heart out for her. Joey made Lauren laugh when they were dancing during speedrun and it’s the most adorable shit I’ve ever seen. Those two are genuinely in their own world half the time they’re on stage together and I live for it.

Carlos wasn’t there this night so I think Dylan should have filled in for his verse of 1001 nights but my ideas are worthless right? Oh have I mentioned how much I live for over a thousand people yelling tigerfucker? And Robert smashed ‘he fucked a tiger’. Also I’m sure they did it the first night too but I noticed even more Denise and Meredith encouraging everyone to cheer when Joe was doing the dialogue bit I adore them.

Brant got so out of time on I wanna be my god Joey looked like he was trying to telepathically tell him to slow down but he never really recovered. But the chaotic energy felt appropriate? It’s not a starkid show without a mess up.

Joe’s MAMD entrance was more controlled this time but honestly it’s a shame the fuck up won’t be on the filmed version because it was definitely a highlight (I hope you’re okay Joe). Mere and Brian had their arms round each other when they were singing ready to go and I was hit with the ‘oh my god they’re getting MARRIED’ feels. Look how far they’ve come. They were also making faces at each other during one song, I don’t remember which one, and giving Joey and Lauren a run for their money for being in their own world. Still not nearly as bad though.

Intermission 

I remember even less of this intermission than the first one. I was just in total shock. Also when we came back from the intermission Nick went ��two people just got engaged’ and almost literally stopped my heart like I KNOW that’s not how it’s gonna happen but where did he expect me to go with it. And then he wanted to be reminded of their names but someone shouted ‘Joe and Traci’ so he had to be like ‘no I’m not talking about them’ which made me laugh a lot.

Act 2

GBTH was somehow even better this time round. It’s actually a spiritual experience. 100% my happy place. Also Joey didn’t have the headband the first night and I didn’t know I needed it until he came out wearing one on Friday, it was weirdly emotional.

To have a home was worse this time around because I had to come to the realisation that I was gonna leave this home behind. That’s always the worst part, it was the same with AVPW, it’s not just that I miss it it’s also that it’s this happy, safe little bubble where everything feels okay and it’s so sad to lose that. So yeah, cried a lot this time. Also Darren went offstage on Thursday too in the instrumental but this time he went offstage and ran round to the other side to come back on which was so much better good job Darren.

When Lo and Joey shook hands for granger danger they both had such cute smiles my HEART. Lauren still had heart eyes for Joey singing, she was just stood there grinning at him the whole time she loves him so much jesus christ. Also she was staring at him when they were both singing the ‘falling in love’ bit just saying. And they got super close to each other for the end but kept alternating looking at the other person and the audience so they were never actually looking at each other and it KILLED me I hate them. I also didn’t even think twice about singing Lauren’s part during granger danger until halfway through oops and now I kind of want to apologise, Mr Joey Richter I love you.

You could tell there were a fair few people in the audience who’d seen one or both of the other shows and knew what was coming so actually shouted out ‘what’s your fantasy’ when AJ was working up to the mouse monologue which made it even better. It was just as insane and funny the second time, but I still couldn’t believe they actually put it in there.

Back to Mr Joey Richter, he brought the house down with sidekick even more than on Thursday. He’s so talented y’all. You’d expect more cheering for ‘am I the one who takes you home’ but the urge for everyone to yell ‘definitely not’ is too much and it cracks me up. And he pointed at the very least in my direction when he sang the last ‘I love being at your side’ so I’ll take it for SURE.

They got everyone standing even earlier on in the show (during voldemort is going down) and I just felt a sense of elation, the whole show but at this point in particular, because everyone was there having a fucking amazing time and pouring out so much love, from our direction and from theirs, and I feel like that song really does do what it’s supposed to and make us feel united.

Everything ends made me cry a lot because it actually was the end this time, and starkid have some fucking heart wrenching goodbye songs that are supposed to make you feel better but really don’t at all. Not alone made me cry more, obviously. Days of summer was so much worse because it really was goodbye, me having to say goodbye to seeing them and one of the best experiences of my life, them having to say goodbye to each other. SO. MANY. TEARS.

Random point, Lauren looked so fucking cute when she came out in her varsity jacket with the sleeves pushed up because it was too big for her I just wanted to hug her.

Joey and Lauren kept looking at each other during Darren’s speech, Joey in particular kept trying to catch Lo’s eye which killed me he’s too soft. And Lauren pulled a face at the mention of a twenty year reunion like she felt way too old for that and he was smiling at her I hate them. 

There were a lot of tears, Joey and Tiffany especially and Lauren pulled her trying not to cry face. In the speech Darren said something about starkid bringing about this group of friends and Joey’s wide eyed already-crying-but-trying-not-to-cry-even-more-face was both heartbreaking and funny and I hope it makes it onto the DVD. I don’t remember much else of the speech other than that it was incredibly emotional and it very well summed up a lot of what we were all feeling about the show and how special starkid was. Also I made eye contact with Joey when we were both crying and we smiled at each other (tried to) and honestly that was a bonding moment for us.

And we saw Bob and Denise on our way out which caused a whole lot more feelings because those are their kids up there performing with all their other honorary kids and yep we’re done here.

I don’t really know how to bring this all to a neat end. I don’t really think there is one. It’s an experience that can’t fully be put into words, the emotions it brought up aren’t ones that I can properly label, and it’s going to stick with me forever. But it was a reminder of how special starkid is. Watching their shows at home, scrolling through their social media, of course it brings me so much joy it’s my reason for living. But getting to see them live and feel the impact they’ve had on so many people? Getting to do it with a friend I made because of them? I just wish I had the words or the time to give them the thanks I wish I could. I really hope they felt the sheer, deep love we all feel for them over those two days.

Anyway, I know this was way too long and half of it wasn’t information people care about but I’m done now. And I’m so excited for the DVD and (hopefully) album so I can experience it all again!

[nostalgiaispeace]

1755.

GENERAL WOMANHOOD:

1. Do you like the color pink?

yeah

2. How easily do you cry?

very easily

3. What food do you eat the most of when you’re sad?

nothing

4. How often do you experience boob sweat?

too often now

5. What time of month is your time?

the end

6. How moody are you when you are on your period?

very

7. Have you ever thought you were pregnant because your period was late? yeah 8. Have you ever been on the pill? yes 9. Have you ever thought about having children someday? What is your current opinion? yes, i want a baby 10. Have you ever given birth? If not, would you ever want to? no 11. How much do you like decorating for holidays? not really my thing 12. How good of a cook do you consider yourself? an alright one 13. What is your favorite thing to cook? pesto 14. Do you prefer cooking, baking, or both equally? baking 15. Can you sew? i think i still can 16. How feminine do you consider yourself? not very 17. Have you ever been told that you are too girly or feminine? no 18. Do you consider yourself a feminist? not really. 19. How do you define “girl power”? a woman doing what she wants 20. How much of a neat freak are you? not much of one 21. How you ever wished you were born a male? only when i have my period 22. Breastfeeding or formula? both are fine 23. What is your opinion of equal pay? no politics here please 24. What is one profession you think needs more women? - 25. Are you pro-life or pro-choice? pro life 26. Have you ever experienced any sexism? If so, please explain. not that i’m aware of 27. Have you ever been called a blabbermouth or a chatterbox? a chatterbox

28. What is one thing about women you think most men don’t know? idk 29. Is there anything you dislike about being a woman? periods

30. Complete this phrase: I’m so glad I am a woman because ______. i was born this way

LIFE EXPERIENCES:

31. Did you ever play with Barbie dolls as a child?

yes

32. Have you ever dotted lowercase Js and Is with hearts or smiley faces?

probably

33. Have you ever been a Girl Scout?

yeah

34. Have you ever been a ballerina?

No

35. Have you ever been a cheerleader?

No

36. Were you ever voted as homecoming or prom queen?

no

37. Have you ever hosted a sleepover?

yeah

38. Do you belong to a sorority?

No

39. Have you ever kept a diary or a journal?

yeah

40. At what age did you get your first period?

11

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

41. What is the longest your hair has ever been? Would you ever grow it that long again?

to my butt and probably not

42. Have you had a hairstyle above the eyebrows?

no

43. What hairstyle do you wear the most?

a bun

44. Have you ever died your hair? If so, how often?

yes, not often anymore

45. What is the heaviest you remember ever weighing?

fml

46. How muscular are you?

not at all

47. Do you have any piercings anywhere besides your earlobes?

not anymore

48. Do you have any tattoos? If you, where are they and what are they of?

yes, i have 9 on different parts of my body

49. Do you like wearing lipstick or lip gloss? If so, how often do you wear them?

no

50. How often do you paint your nails?

i paint my toes when they need to be

51. Have you ever worn any fake nails?

yeah

52. Have you ever worn fake eyelashes?

no

53. How often do you shave or wax your legs?

whenever

54. How white are your teeth?

they’re fine

55. Have you ever been told that you look like a certain celebrity?

yeah

56. How much do you look like your mother?

idk

57. How much do you look like your father?

i’ve been told i look like him

58. What do you think is your best physical feature?

nothing

59. What do you think is your worst physical feature?

my body

60. How good are you at communicating through facial expressions?

no

FASHION STYLE: 61. What type of clothing do you own the most of? tshirts 62. How big is your closet? normal sized 63. Have you ever looked through your closet and though “I have nothing to wear”? well yeah 64. What is your favorite fashion brand? i don’t have one 65. Do you wear skirts and dresses at all? If so, how often? dresses and for special occasions 66. What is your dress size? large 67. What is the shortest length of skirts and dresses you are comfortable wearing? knee length 68. How expensive was your prom dress? - 69. What is the most expensive piece of clothing you currently own? my wedding dress 70. Do you wear high heels or stilettos at all? If so, how often? not really 71. Have you ever worn high heels casually? yeah 72. How often do you take an OOTD (outfit of the day) selfie? Never. 73. Have you ever worn the exact same outfit from head to toe more than once? yeah 74. How often do you wear a bra when out in public? lol never 75. How often do you wear a bra when bumming it at home? never 76. When you get home from work, how soon does your bra typically come off? - 77. Have you ever carried a spare bra with you in your purse? No 78. Which are you more likely to go without: A bra or panties? bra 79. Does it matter to you if your bra and panties match or not? no 80. What type of underwear do you typically wear? comfortable ones 81. How much of your underwear is white? a good amount 82. Have you ever carried a spare pair of underwear with you in your purse? no 83. Do you like eyeshadow? Sure 84. Do you like mascara? Yeah 85. How much makeup do you typically wear? ether none or just a little 86. Have you every gone out in public without any makeup on? yes 87. How much jewelry do you typically wear? 2 88. Is there any kind of jewelry you pretty much always wear? my wedding bands 89. Do you carry a purse at all? Yes 90. Do you like tube and halter tops? no 91. Do you like crop tops? no 92. Are you comfortable showing off a little cleavage? no 93. One-piece swimsuits or bikinis? bikinis 94. Does it matter to you if your bikini top matches the bottom? no

WEDDING CRAZE:

95. Have you ever been a bridesmaid? If so, how often?

yes, onces

96. Do you have any desires to get married?

well i am so

97. For how long have you thought about your wedding?

i thought about it for a while

98. How much of your wedding do you have planned out already?

it’s over fam

99. Would you rather have a big or a small wedding?

i had a small one

100. Would you rather have a lot of bridesmaids or just a couple?

i have zero

101. Would you rather have an indoor or an outdoor wedding? Does the same go for the reception?

mine was outdoor

DATING & RELATIONSHIPS:

102. What is your current relationship status?

married

103. What is the longest relationship you’ve ever had?

7 years

104. Do you consider yourself a hopeless romantic at all?

yes

105. Are you a virgin? If not, which gender did you lose your virginity to?

no, male

106. What personality trait are you most attracted to?

strength

107. Have you ever been on a blind date?

no

108. Has anyone you know ever tried to set you up on a date?

yeah

109. Do you use any dating apps? If so, have they ever worked out for you?

no

110. Do you kiss on the first date?

no

111. How often do guys hit on you?

not often

112. Have women ever hit on you?

yeah

114. Have you ever kissed another woman while sober? If so, did you like it?

yes and no

115. Have you ever dated another woman?

No

116. After how long of dating do you typically consider a relationship to be serious?

idk

117. Would you rather your lover give you chocolate, flowers, both, or something else?

chocolate

118. Are you friends with any of your exes?

yes

119. Is sex before marriage wrong?

technically

ENTERTAINMENT: 120. What celebrity do you most admire and why? Lana 121. Do you like romantic comedies? Do you have any favorites? yes, the holiday 122. Do you have a favorite romantic movie? yes 123. Who is your favorite Disney princess? Belle 124. What is your favorite Disney song? don’t have one 125. Do you watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette? No 126. Have you ever watched Sex & The City? I have not 127. Have you ever watched any shows such as Project Runway or America’s Next Top Model? ANTM 128. Do you like watching any beauty pageants such as Miss America? no 129. Do you like watching the red carpet arrivals before award ceremonies? duh 130. Beyonce or Taylor Swift? neither 131. Oprah Winfrey or Ellen DeGeneres? neither

A PILE OF RANDOMNESS: 132. Are you named after anyone? No 133. How many male friends do you have? 3 134. Have you ever been considered the mother of your group of friends? no 135. Have you ever called your friend friends your ‘girlfriends’? no 136. Have you ever called a non-lover a term such as honey, babe, dear, or darling? no 137. How many items do you own that are of a floral print design? none i don’t think 138. Have you ever scoffed at something because you thought it wasn’t feminine enough? no 139. How healthy do you eat? not that healthy 140. What is your preferred way to carry a purse: Clutched in your hand, on your elbow, or on your shoulder? shoulder 141. Besides you phone, money, wallet, and keys, name five things you always have with you in your purse. chapstick, mask, fidget, pen, shopping list

142. Have you ever lost anything inside your purse? yes 143. Have you ever used your bra or your cleavage as a purse or a pocket? no 144. Do you consider shopping a sport no 145. Do you shop more in physical walk-in stores or online? online 146. What is the most amount of money you remember ever spending in one single shopping trip? a couple hundred 147. How often do you have a girls’ night out? never

148. Do you prefer coffee or tea? coffee 149. How polite do you consider yourself? i hope decently polite 150. Can you do the splits? No 151. Do you like doing any yoga? no 152. Have you ever been told that you have cute handwriting? i don’t think so 153. How well can you write in cursive? well enough 154. Have you ever successfully been on a diet? no 155. Do you currently or have you ever belonged to a book club? no 156. Have you ever talked yourself out of a driving ticked by using your looks? No. 157. Have you ever drunk a non-alcoholic beverage from a wine glass? no 158. Do you prefer showers or baths? Showers 159. Have you ever snorted while laughing? yeah 160. How strict are you about manners? a normal amount

[staycatcher]

Loving Seungmin Hours

A ask game for lovely stays who bias Kim Seungmin of skz or suffer from his bias wreckory💓🤠

Use the hashtag: ‘loving seungmin hours’ so we can see all your answers!!

Note: if you can’t see any emojis, just ask the question instead! Also the examples I gave aren’t the answers I’d give, but just to help give you ideas how to answer them or explain the question!

🆒) How did you get into kpop? How did you get into Stray kids?

🚮) How trash are you for Kim Seungmin and stray kids on a scale from one to ten each? (Ex: 10 for Seungmin, 10 for stray kids)

🆙) What other groups do you stan? Fav songs from them?

🆕) When you first got into stray kids, who’s names would mix up or have a hard time remembering?

🆗) Who were your first stray kids biases before you stuck with Seungmin?

0️⃣) Whats the age gap between you and Seungmin? How does that make you feel? (If you’re not comfortable sharing your age, just say younger, older, or don’t answer!)

✊) Do you also stan Day6, if so what’s your fav songs from them? Do you have a day6 bias?

🧲) What about Seungmin drew you in?

🤔) Who else are your biases and bias wreckers besides Kim Seungmin? Aka who is threatening Seungmin for the ult title!

🤠) When did you realize Seungmin owned your ass heart and/or soul?

🔎) Pros and Cons of having him as your bias / bias wrecker?

👤) Does Seungmin remind you of someone, if so who?

☺️) Do you have any nicknames for Seungmin? What are they?

🐚) Fav aesthetics? (Ex: peaches, green, the smell of rain, laughing so hard it hurts)

📋) List a bunch of aesthetic things you think of, when you think of Seungmin, and a seperate one for skz! (Ex: for seungmin: sunsets, daisies, cookies, smell of old books. For skz: late nights, forest, cityscape, spicy food, smell of good cologne) (I had to keep it short lol)

📻) Dedicate a song to Stray Kids and explain why you chose the song! Dedicate a song to Seungmin and explain why you chose the song!

🎫) Have you ever been to a concert? A kpop or stay kids one? (IF YOUVE SEEN SKZ LIVE YOURE OBLIGATED TO SHARE IF YOURE READING THIS AND TAG @writenowskz in it;))

📢) Rant about how much you love him!!!

👋) Tell him off for ruining your life!!!

💭) Something about Seungmin that you think about a lot?

🗯) What’s your fav thing Seungmin’s ever said or done?

💬) If you met Seungmin, what would you want to tell him?

‼️) Whats something you want him to know / remember?

😃) Describe how Seungmin makes you feel using only emojis!

👀) Fav Seungmin moment? Fav stray kids moment?

💲) Have you bought any skz cds and which members’ photocard(s) have you pulled if so?

🔊) Songs that you think Seungmin shines in? (Can include covers he’s done!)

🎧) Fav stray kids song and album in general?

🎙) A song you want stray kids to cover? A song you want Seungmin to cover?

💽) Fav mixtape track? And what 3racha song do you want to be a future mixtape track?

🎬) Fav stray kids clip / video? Fav Seungmin clip / video?

📕) Fav era / concept for stray kids? Fav era / concept for Seungmin?

🙅‍♀️) Least fav era / concept for Seungmin? Fav era / concept for stray kids? If not applicable, what concept would you hope they and he never do?

👟) Fav outfit Seungmin has worn?

👞) Fav outfit other stray kids members have worn?

👠) Least fav outfit Seungmin has worn?

🥿) Least fav outfit other members have worn?

👕) A piece of clothing / outfit / something he and other members have worn that you want to steal?

👖) A piece of clothing / outfit / something he and other members have worn that you want to burn so it never sees the light of day again?

✂️) If you could style Seungmin, how’d you style him? (Crack Ex: I would make him wear 80s short shorts, cowboy boots, and I would slick back his hair with shiny, thick gel) Do it for the rest of the members as well, if you want!

👑) Fav hairstyle on Seungmin?

🎩) Fav hairstyles in the other members?

🖌) Fav haircolor Seungmin rocked? What is a color you hope to see him sport in the future?

🖍) Have you or do you dye your hair? Fav color you’ve dyed it, if so?

💋) Fav facial feature of his? How many kisses would you give him on that spot ;)? (2nd part optional <3)

😉) Fav physical feature of his that’s not his face? (Ex: I think he has nice shoulders)

🗣) What’s your fav thing about Seungmin’s personality? Fav quirks of his?

🍪) How do you feel about Seungmin’s mole?

🥛) Do you have any moles or beauty marks yourself?

😆) Fav Seungmin meme?

🥴) What meme / vine / tweet gives you Seungmin vibes?

😝) What’s something Seungmin does / has done that make you wanna yell “ME!”

😗) Out If all nine members, who do you relate to the most?

💌) Write Seungmin a confession / love letter!

💞) Fav ship with Seungmin? (Platonic and/or romantic)

💕) What would your relationship dynamic be like? (Plantonic and/or romantic)

💗) Do you personally think you and Seungmin are compatible? (Plantonically and/or Romantically)

💖) Would you rather have Seungmin as your best friend or significant other? Pick another member of stray kids to fill up the other title. (Ex: I would have Seungmin as my best friend and Changbin as my significant other)

💝) Do you believe in true love or soulmates?

❣️) What would you give him at a fan sign? (Ex: A flower crown and a letter)

💔) Saddest Seungmin moment / moment that made you emo?

❤️) Recommend your fav Seungmin content made by stay! (Fics, moodboards, edits, users, youtube videos, crack, etc)

🧡) If you had one day with Seungmin, how would you spend it? Where would you go? What would you do? Etc.

💛) What’s something about Seungmin that you think should be talked about more?

💚) What would be your dream Seungmin fan interaction? (Ex: he blows you a kiss at a concert)

💙) How do other Seungmin stans make you feel? Are you friends with any? If so tag them and tell them how much you love them!!

💜) Do you have a fav Seungmin au? (Ex: Prince! Seungmin)

💟) Ship yourself and your mutuals with the members of stray kids!

🖤) What’s something Seungmin does that makes you lose your mind?

🏆) If you fought Seungmin, who would win? (Physically and/or verbally)

🥊) What would be the cause of you and Seungmin fighting? (Physically and/or verbally)

⚡️) Which Hogwarts house do you think Seungmin belongs in? What is your Hogwarts house in comparison?

🛍) Pretend you’re going on a shopping trip with Seungmin. Which stores would you hit up? Do you think he’d be helpful? If he bought you an ugly jacket, would you wear it? (Wow I really threw Hyunjin under the bus lmao)

🧭) If stray kids landed in your hometown, where would you take them? (Yes you can sit next to Seungmin whenever you’d like ;))

🙄) How often are you blown away / irritated by other’s stupidity?

🍼) Are you babey? How does the word ‘uwu’ make you feel, do you use it?

😶) Do you have a resting bitch face? Resting sad face? Or are you cursed with an approachable face?

😐) What is your main emotion / emotion you feel the most? Does Seungmin change that?

🧀) Remember when Seungmin was an MC on After School Club? Did you like him on there? Did you miss it?

😎) Rapper Seungmin. Thoughts?

🕴) How does Seungmin’s Dance to day6’s shoot me make you feel? Have you ever done the dance yourself, if you haven’t pls do it now and share your experience!

🎤) Do you like to sing? Are you any good?

🎹) Do you play any instruments? How long have you been playing them?

🎼) Go to kaoroke song? How embarrassing are you at kaoroke?

🚘) Fav song to blast in the car? Who’s in the car with you?

🤘) What’s a song you really wanna see live?

💃) Fav song to dance to?

👣) How good are you at dancing / choreography?

📷) Do you like photography?

🎞) What are some of your hobbies?

🌟) What are your personal talents / skills?

🎓) How good were you at school? And what’s the most trouble you got yourself into at school?

⚾️) Do you play any sports? Support any teams? Fav sport? How do you feel about baseball?

🐶) Do you have a dog, or a pet in general? Can you please show us a pic of them if so?

👹) Are you the type of person to annoy or get annoyed?

👺) Are you the prankster or are you the one who gets pranked?

🤪) Everyone has a person who they tease. Who is someone you tease? (Unnecessary Ex: Seungmin teases Changbin)

😈) Evil Seungmin or Soft Seungmin?

💀) Fav evil thing he’s done?

😇) Fav soft thing he’s done?

💄) Barefaced Seungmin or Madeup Seungmin?

👔) Casual Seungmin or Dressed up Seungmin?

💣) Are you a hard stan or a soft stan? If you’re a mixture of both, tell us your percentages (Ex: 3% soft stan, 97% hard stan)

💉) Thoughts on tats and piercings? Do you have any or plans on getting any?

🔪) Kill or be killed? Die for or kill for?

🔫) Weapon of choice?

💪) Beat up or give a stern talking to?

🙏) How forgiving are you? Do you hold grudges?

💍) Do you prefer to woo or be wooed?

🌺) Do you blush easily / get flustered? Or do you make people blush / get flustered?

😳) Are you shy? What situations make you shy, if not?

😀) Things that make you :D?

🤓) Are you an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert?

☹️) Are you an optimist, pessimist, realist or opportunist?

💯) Are you a perfectionist?

🔮) Fav mythical creature? If you and Seungmin were mythical creatures / beings, what would y’all be?

⚰️) Vampires or werewolves? (This is a serious, valid question, okay? It tells a lot about someone)

🎃) Fav Holiday? How do you spend it? Any holiday traditions?

🍂) Fav season? Your fav aesthetics for that season? (Ex: Winter: snowflakes, fuzzy socks, hot cocoa, ugly sweaters, smell of cinnamon)

👻) Do you like horror movies? If so, what’s your fav and which are you excited for seeeing when it comes out?

🐭) Fav Disney movie? If Seungmin and yourself were characters in that movie, who would y’all be?

📺) Do you watch Kdrama? If so, what are your favs?

📽) Your Fav variety show? Have skz appeared on it, if so tell us your fav part of that ep?

🍰) Fav dessert? Would you share it with him or tell him to get his own?

♈️) Whats your astrological sign / birth chart (if you know your birth chart)? Are your signs ‘compatible’ with his? (Ex: I’m a Virgo and so is he so we’re comparible! I don’t know my birth chart so I’ll leave it at that)

👯‍♀️) Whats your role in friend groups? (Ex: Carefree gay uncle who’s house is the fun one to hang out at)

👄) What languages can you speak? Please say ‘hi, I love Seungmin’ in each ;)!

❄️) Have you ever seen snow in person? How do you feel about snow?

🌼) Fav flower and/or plant?

🌱) If Seungmin were a plant, what plant would he be? Why? (Ex: he’s a cactus flower, cuz he can be prickly to his members cough cough changbin cough but he has a heart of gold, and can grow despite the driest of deserts!) feel free to say which plant you’d be as well!!

🌾) Do you go on walks? Do you listen to music while you do it? Where’s your fav spot to go?

✈️) Dream vacation?

🐤) Are you a morning bird or a night owl?

🏞) Mountains or beaches?

☂️) Rain or shine?

🐱) Cats or dogs?

📱) Mobile to desktop?

💻) Vlive or YouTube?

🍽) Breakfast in bed or late night takeout?

🏙) Country side or city?

🎀) Play with someone’s hair or have your hair played with?

☀️) Do you burn or tan? (Either way please take care of your skin and wear sun block!)

☕️) Tea or coffee?

📖) Books or movies?

🔥) Cool or hot?

[tcplnyteens]

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories Of Queer Teens Throughout The Ages Edited by Saundra Mitchell

Written by Anna-Marie McLemore, Natalie C. Parker, Nilah Magruder, Mackenzi Lee, Robin Talley, Malinda Lo, Dahlia Adler, Kate Scelsa, Elliot Wake, Scott Tracey, Tess Sharpe, Alex Sanchez, Kody Keplinger, Sara Farizan, Tessa Gratton, Shaun David Hutchinson and Tehlor Kay Mejia

In this wonderful collection of short stories, you will be pulled into worlds filled with magic and worlds much like ours, where love, in any form, can overcome all. Whether it be two girls becoming pirates and taking charge of their lives, a thief and witch tearing apart a corrupt system or a new years revelation, this book will pull at your heartstrings and is bound to make you want to fall in love.

–SPOILERS–

This book is such a great collection of short stories and I would highly recommend it to all. There are so many important lessons within each and every one of these stories and I think there are valuable pieces of information that I think everyone should have in their repertoire.

Roja: This story was so good, I’m not usually one for historical fiction but it is starting to grow on me, especially when magic and fairytales are involved. I loved this retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. I loved that it involved an accurate trans character, there are real historical accounts of girls dressing as men to fight, although they were not always trans, I did love the accurate historical representation. It was so great that the girl wasn’t ashamed of him and loved him for who he was, she fought for him even though people looked down on her for existing. These people didn’t even care enough to acknowledge her as a human. Her strength, her power, her willingness to fight against those oppressive men is not only representational of the plights of what women have gone through for centuries, but it’s also great to see a powerful female character stand up for what she believes in and for the people she loves. This story was just wonderful and I loved it so much. It is one of the many reasons I would recommend this book.

The Sweet Trade: I feel like this story fits a common theme that appears in some of the books that I’ve read: girls wanting to be pirates, which is awesome. I love that even though Clara is only sixteen she knows what she wants from life and it’s not to be married to some pushover of a man who only wants money. She wants to take control of her life and create her own destiny which is completely badass if you ask me. And then she meets Pearl, who is also running away from her wedding, and they help each other, women supporting women at its finest. It is such a sweet little story of two girls falling in love as they take charge of their lives. I liked it very much, although I wish it were a tad longer.

And They Don’t Kiss At The End: I don’t have a whole lot to say about this story but it did like it a lot. My most prominent reason for enjoying this story so much was that it had asexual representation. You never ever see aromantic or asexual representation and I really loved how this book went about it, it was just wonderful to see. Another reason I loved it was because Vince didn’t pressure Dee into doing anything she didn’t want to, he was completely accepting of her boundaries and that is so important in any kind of relationship. These types of stories are the kind I want to be made into a full out book, it’s so important for teens to know that they have options and whatever they might be feeling or not feeling is normal. Diverse representation in media is so important, and this book does it right.

Burnt Umber: This story was sweet and simple. I love the fact that you don’t really see the end coming. From the beginning, all Constantijn can think of is the handsome boy who works at the docks, it’s very endearing until Joost comes to model for his class. I was so excited that maybe they’d become friends and then something more, but then it turns out Joost is kind of mean and Constantijn loses interest, yes he may be pretty but he isn’t nice to Constantijn’s friends. I think that this is an important story about knowing what’s good for you and what’s not, no matter how appealing it may look on the outside. It is a very sweet little story and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Dresser And The Chambermaid: Again with the wonderful historical fiction! This was such a sweet little story, I don’t have a whole lot of analysis for this one but I will tell you I was so happy in the end when they both got to be dressers and Suzanna got recognition for her hairstyle. It was so funny that when they were kissing in the hallway and the king kind of walked in on them and was just like “whatever, I can’t judge since I’m going to meet my mistress and cheat on my wife” and just left. Like that was a little piece of comic relief and I loved it, what a wonderful upbeat little story.

New Year: Same as the last, I don’t have much to say about this story. I do think however, it was a great way to highlight the adversity that queer people have faced throughout history, especially queer people of color. ‘Minority’ groups have long faced persecution, as well as queer people. When you persecute two groups that sometimes overlap, its an onslaught of discrimination, and although this story doesn’t go very deep into that issue it hints at it. But I also think that this story was a little bit about the main characters queer awakening. She has little exposure to the LGBTQ community but she sees something in it that intrigues her and makes her feel something, and I think it’s important that people realize that exploration outside of the socially accepted “norms” is good and can show you parts of yourself that you didn’t even know existed. At least that’s what I gained from this story.

Molly’s Lips: I love this story, first it is a reference to one of my favorite songs, which is great, who doesn’t love Nirvana(more specifically the Vaselines)? I think it’s great that this story addresses the insane amount of grief the country was feeling over his man’s death. He was an icon loved by millions, and he was just gone. I love this because I totally get what Molly is feeling. When you love someone that much you just want to be enough to make all the hurt go away and make sure they will always be okay, but it’s not always enough to just be there, you have to listen and try to understand because that’s what they need you to do. The way this story played out, however short, was just perfect and adorable, like so many of the stories in this book I wish it were a full-length book.

The Coven: This story also contains something I read about often, witches. I love magic! Magic is so cool, in almost any aspect. I also just love the way this was laid out, I love Dean’s description of Vivi, I’m a sucker for women in cool hats and doing *scandalous* things in eras past. I also love the little easter egg in there, Gertrude Stein was having a conversation with young Ernest Hemingway, cool! But I just love this story, it’s very mysterious and its another piece of historical fiction, a story after my own heart. And who doesn’t love a little magic in Paris? I also liked that Dean had those foggy days because I totally feel that, when you’re a person who tends to take on other peoples problems because of your big heart, you put those problems ahead of dealing with your own pain, it was really great to see her deal with her grief and realize that she can help herself.

Every Shade Of Red: Another take on a fairytale, yay! Everyone knows the classic story of Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor, most kids my age grew up watching the Disney version with all the animals. But this version has a special place in my heart. I love fairytales and retellings of them, and I love that in this story we have Robin as a leader of a motley crew but he’s also trans which is so cool, we have a trans character where the story isn’t only about them being trans. That is so important, most YA novels and stories that have trans protagonists its only about their journey of self discovery and figuring out what they want to do with this newfound freedom, which isn’t a bad thing, but trans people have lives outside of their transition and dysphoria and I think it’s important that people recognize that. But I also think that this story would ring true for many trans people, their parents disowned them or cut ties completely because of who they truly are and this happened for Robin in this story, although I do like the twist that he used to be Marian, I was kind of suspecting it but it was still surprising. This story gives off Six of Crows vibes, even though there are no trans characters in that book it has similar themes (go read it if you haven’t yet). But I was so incredibly upset with the ending!! Totally unfair of them to do that to Robin, it was a cruel twist of fate that I didn’t see coming, and Will’s father no less, like wow. Did not see that coming at all, not cool, not cool at all. I did love this story but there needs to be more, I need to know if they find their way back to each other because if they never do I’ll be very upset for like, the rest of my life.

Willows: I had mixed feelings about this story. It was interesting and weird but also really confusing. Benjamin was himself, but also other people. And the Return? Like what is that? And if the town knew that he and Sebastian were a thing, why hadn’t they taken care of it yet if they cared so much about maintaining the sanctity village? Also in the end when they run away it was kind of implied that Sebastian knew that the witches were there and teat they could protect them, but it was written in a way that made it kind of hard to understand. Overall this story was intriguing but I think things could’ve been laid out more clearly so that it makes better sense to the reader.

The Girl With The Blue Lantern: I love this tory! Although its a little short for my liking its so cute, although I wonder what Oriana is, is she a sprite? A fairy? A nymph? Who knows but I like her. It sucks that Ella had to live with her father like that it was so awful, I can’t imagine, and then she’s been taking care of him and helping him this entire time and when she finally has enough money to et themselves up for a decent life he takes her money and accused her of stealing from him and selling her body to make money. Like that an awful man she never deserved that. I was a little nervous though when she stepped into the water, I thought something bad might happened but I was so glad that they are able to be together now and will be able to love each other forever, it’s such a nice happy ending. Very cute, 10/10.

The Secret Life Of A Teenage Boy: Again too short! I know this is a book of short stories but I want all for them to be full books, I love all of them too much. I did love this story, its just so sweet and innocent and its kind of a self-realization story, he always knew he was different and was to afraid to say anything but then by fate he meets this guy and it changes his whole life, even though it only took not even an hour, stuff like that just makes my heart melt, because that’s what I want true love to be like, one minute can change your whole perspective on life, and you just gotta roll with the punches but you also have to know what is good for you and what you want from life and I think that this story was a perfect example of that and I really enjoyed it.

Walking After Midnight: I love this era, the ’50s and ’60s are my jam, especially fashion-wise, but the era was so cool in many ways. This story was so sweet, I think it was another little piece of the lgbtq+ spectrum that we don’t usually get to see, maybe demisexual or asexual, but either way it was a super cute story about exploring your options, no matter where you are in life, you’re not stuck, there is a way out and you have options, it doesn’t matter your age or race or gender, you have those opportunities if you look for them they’ll be there. I just really like this story because it was just so hopeful and upbeat and it did have some serious parts but it was very just flowing but it also had a great underlying message.

The End Of The World as We Know It: I love this, I was born two years after the Y2K thing so I totally missed it but it sounded interesting. I also missed the Columbine shooting, the fact that this book brought it up was like a punch in the gut, the way that the characters said it was probably never going to happen again, and here I am in June of 2019 and in the twenty years since the Columbine there have been over 230 school shootings in the US, and although I don’t usually get into politics on this account I think that this is an important statistic that everyone should know. On a different note, I did like this story, it was sweet and simple, another story of self-discovery and young love like many in this collection, it was just super chill and I love the note at the end when it says “sorry I couldn’t stay I had to go break up with my boyfriend” like what a great way to start out the new year.

Three Witches: I love this story although I am a bit confused about the title, I don’t really know what it had to do with the story, I can only assume it is Gracia, Violante, and the unknown woman at the end of the book. This story made me sad but also happy, sad because this woman was being accused of being a sinner for loving a woman, she was being punished because the church said it wrong to love freely. It made me happy because she, in turn, found love in her imprisonment and set both herself and Gracia free. Stories like this really pull at my heartstrings because I don’t understand, and this is my personal opinion, I’m not judging anyone, how you can believe that one superior being makes everything so and he said that loving someone is wrong, I just don’t understand that. But this story made me happy because they both discovered strength in themselves and each other in times of weakness and that’s what love really is.

The Inferno and the butterfly: I love love love this story! It’s so good! Both of these boys had gone through so much and thought they had people who loved them and cared for them and both had that idea ripped from their hearts and minds but they found each other and they found a way to create real love that wouldn’t be taken away by anyone else, and that is beautiful. As I addressed earlier, historical fiction is growing on me, but magic has always been something I loved reading about. This story kind of reminded me of a darker shade of magic, old London and magic are like the best duo ever and this is such a great little love story and the combination is so good, this is probably my third favorite out of this collection.

Healing Rosa: This story is so cool, I have a little bit of an obsession with different cultures and their healing rituals, myths about where they come from interest me so much and I think that’s why I love this story so much. Another reason why I love this story is that it addresses in some aspect, mental illness and how it can affect someone, not only mentally but also physically. Lastly, I love this story because, in the end, Rosa’s dad accepted her for who she was and realised that his own sadness and bitterness was nothing compared to what he would experience if he lost his daughter and that’s what truly pulled me into this story. There are so many people in this world who are disowned and pushed away by their families because they don’t know how to accept their children’s differences and I think it’s important that we address the happier sides of the narrative instead of only the bad ones, it gives hope to those who may not have it, and that goes for everything in life.

Top Three: Every Shade of Red, Roja, The Inferno and The Butterfly

-maren