#i know i am hardly ever online anymore but its nice to see everyone's posts

[ot5era]

its weird because usually when something sad happens i listen to one direction, still, after over 10 years. it's light, it's nostalgic, it's mindless and i know it better than the back of my hand

but now it doesn't feel like the comforting blanket that it usually is. now it feels hard and painful and i'm not sure what to do with that

[kristens-chaotic-life]

KTrip86 Boutique&Ritza Life

So if you follow me on facebook over the last few years I was kinda all over business wise trying to find where I fit.  Well back in 2015 I had found that fit.  I was with Jewelry in Candles. Well, really I was with several companies...Paparazzi, Tastefully Simple, Norwex, Simply Aroma, Buskins, Tupperware...probably more. I don’t even know anymore.  I was pretty much joining whatever had a deal. Other than paparazzi. I paid full price for that join on...don’t ask me why, because I have no idea. That was a flop for sure. If you sell it and do well, good for you. Nothing against it, it just wasn’t for me. 

But one day I saw Jewelry in Candles had sign on for $1. Sweet! I had just heard of them and been wanting to try the products. Sign me up for a buck and get that discount! Then I thought ya know what, its a dollar, lets see if some friends will join me. And they did. Several of them. I had a nice little team. I leveled up quick! Senior rep, Team leader, Senior Team Leader(I think that was the next level) and then after just 1 year, I was a Director. I was in love. In love with the products, the company and my team. It was like a family outside of family. My team became some of my close friends. I was actually amazed too. Amazed that I was able to do so well, selling products. Hardly ever leaving my home. I did a couple vendor shows and 1 in home party, but other than that I did it all online. It was great.  

Now lets go to summer 2017. JIC is closing. Things just weren’t working out, we were graciously allowed to move into another company, Gemstra/Jewelscent, who had comparable products, without having to pay their joining fee. People were upset, I lost some team members. But I gave it my best effort. Tried to be excited about it, and get my team excited. I had a few who stuck it out for a little while with me. The products were good, prices were comparable, but it wasn’t selling for me. It was good quality, but it wasn’t the same. So I closed my account and that was that. If people are looking to buy it, there is a rep I send them too, so friends, if you are looking for their product, I can hook you up with an AWESOME rep who will help you.

Now what? Well, of all the other messes I was apart of in the past I had buskins left. I signed on a few more things. Nuskin, for the whiting toothpaste. Which I love, and have an account still if anyone needs some lol. But I don’t promote it anymore. I signed up with some dip company and didn’t do a thing with that either. And then for the first time ever I signed up with a company that I actually tried the product first before joining! Senegence! I fell in love with the lipsense products and was like well, I might as well sell it I buy it enough. So I did. And I kinda sold. I love the product, but with so many reps going out of business it is almost impossible for me to sell it anymore. I still keep my account and maybe eventually can sell it. I love the stuff, seriously AMAZING stuff. But it wasn’t giving me what I was looking for, hadn’t filled the hole I had from JIC. 

(Cue bright red long lasting lip color, and bright white teeth) 

One day, I don’t even know when it hit me, it was in the summer this year. I was like HEY lets make this legging thing work! Lula reps sell, why can’t I sell leggings and make off it, buskins are way cheaper and good. So I invested in inventory. Decided to expand from just buskins; ordered more inventory. Did a live show, and did decently well! And then I got into ordering from designers who make their own custom prints and offering them to my customers.  I decided to give myself a business name. KTrip86 Boutique. I run a group and have a lot of awesome customers! I only sell the custom prints now because people love them. ( I still have a handful of others but trying to sell them off). The online boutique is a lot of fun. I like the interaction with people and finding fun prints that people like.  For anyone who wants to give a look at that here is my fb group link:  www.facebook.com/groups/ktrip86boutique

So I have a boutique that is going well. Why do more? Why add another company? Something I miss is having that team, and a family of people in a company.  I hadn’t found that again. Yes I LOVE the fact that the boutique is MINE! And I can do what I want with it. It’s great. And I’m keeping the boutique. There is no question there. I will still be running that. And I plan to add some of these products into it. Whatever my customers there want, that’s what I’ll bring in! 

Ritza LIfe. Why this company? I will tell you. I have been watching it come together. Watching the CEO hard at work planning. Looking into products. Making sure they are the best quality that there is out there. When the opportunity opened, after having a phone conversation with the CEO I was confident this was going to work. I jumped on board. I believe I am rep #16 in the company. How awesome is that; to be a part of something so early on. And with the help of some amazing people I made the decision to be a founding rep. Why? Because I know this is going to be AMAZING! My team started super small, and really I only had a team at all starting because of an awesome friend and former JIC sister, Peggy. When joining I was on the fence of joining leaderless, or to sign up under someone who I know is also an amazing leader, and puts in a lot of work. So I did that, I signed up with Heather Cruz, another former JIC sister, who was an elite director. So now this is back in September, no products yet. Just watching it all happen; which is pretty cool.  Now here we are February. First round of products have been shipped. And a recruiting special drops. I’m not going to tell ya what it is ;) If you are interested hit me up and we will chat. And if I have already reached out to you about this, its because I know you are awesome ;) With this special my team has grown, fast and big. I have a team now of 35 awesome people.  15 of which are on my level 1.  This is amazing. I am so happy to be growing a team, a good strong team of people who are ready to rock this brand new ground floor company with me.  Most of the people on my level 1 are also former JIC reps, who I am SO excited to be working with again. And they are just as excited as I am.  

So what is Ritza you are wondering? If you haven’t seen my other posts yet, its all about healthy lifestyle. Things that go in your body or on your body. Making sure things are toxin free and good for you! Right now our first 3 products are out. They are coffee creamer, smoothie mix, and fat burning hot chocolate. The awesome thing about these products is they are all vegan, diabetic friendly, gluten free, gmo free; all around great for you! Coming soon we have cbd oils, natural medicines, wax melts and candles(which we are all soooo excited about! 100% soy again! Just no jewelry surprise) and there will be much more! My hot chocolate is on the way. And next I’ll be getting some smoothie mix! When they come in I will post a review, from me and my kiddos! If you are interested in getting in on this ground floor opportunity with me, please please shoot me a message. To check out products you can visit me here: 

https://www.ritzalife.com/store/ktrip86 or www.healthritzalife.co

My vision now is to link things together. Create an awesome boutique for my customers. Which is why Be Healthy. Be in Style. Be Beautiful. Be with Family <3 is the subtitle of my blog. Those are the goals of my boutique. To incorporate a healthy lifestyle with Ritza Life, bring you style and feeling beautiful with the clothing you can purchase in my boutique and the seneegence products. And then of course, be with your family; because that is the most important thing!

I know this was a novel. But it gives a good background of my “direct sales” background and how I ended up where I am now.  And to be clear, I have nothing against any of those companies that I was with that I chose not to carry on with. They just weren’t a fit for me. They all had aspects of them I liked, or I wouldn’t have joined them. 

And for those of you who think all of these companies are “pyramid schemes” They aren’t. It’d be a scheme if the people at the bottom weren’t making money. But they are. Everyone starts at the bottom and you build up your team. This is true in any work industry! Put the time and training into your people and it pays off. The only people who aren’t making money are the ones who aren’t working their business! I am looking forward to where this company will take me, and for the new products I’ll be able to offer people. As well as working on changing the lifestyle and products my own family uses to healthier options, and helping others do the same! Please follow me on this journey. I hope you enjoyed reading this. And if you are looking for a company to join, I urge you to check out mine if it sounds interesting. But if not, and you have questions about any of the others I mentioned in this blog, I am more than happy to talk about them, and even point you in the direction of great leaders who sell those products :) 

[not-poignant]

Tumblr is full of writing tips posts. What is the most stupid and horribly wrong writing tip you've seen here? That possibly made you go 'ffc no, you should never do THAT'

Honestly I see so many horrible fucking writing tips that I often don’t know where to start.

But there’s one I see a lot which has persisted over the years on Tumblr, and would have like...genuine writing teachers responding like this:

And that’s any writing advice that suggests about four million other words you should use in place of the miraculous word said.

There was this trend (it’s thankfully on its way out) of posts that got absurdly Thesaurus happy to suggest a billion other words you could use in place of ‘said’ as though you were in a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story where characters would ‘ejaculate’ instead of speaking (yes really: ‘I can’t believe it!’ he ejaculated.)

Said is a marvellous word. It’s really an incredible, wonderful word.

The rule for using words like ‘whispered’ or ‘taunted’ or whatever is (and this is not universal): if you can tell what the character is doing from the dialogue alone - use said. If there is no way you can tell tone from the dialogue, consider using something other than said to indicate tone. If you always have to use something else, your dialogue is probably not very good. And if you constantly use a word other than said because of I don’t know...personal vanity or whatever - that’s awesome man I can be guilty of it too, but sometimes it really means that you’re telling your reader the same thing multiple times in different ways and it can get jarring.

Said is a nice, invisible word. It’s mostly just letting people know who is character A and who is character B and who is speaking when. That’s all its for. Invisible words are great in writing! Why? Because they aid reading flow. The invisible words get your reader’s eye to the most important parts of your story.

Dean Koontz used to do this thing where he did great streams of dialogue and omitted all markers of who was speaking. Almost no one liked it, and almost everyone got confused by it. But it was a personal habit of his and he did it for about a decade before he was like ‘wait people really don’t like this‘ (to be fair he could do it for like three solid pages, like seriously imagine this:)

‘I don’t know’‘What don’t you know’ ‘I’m just saying this horrible thing we’re dealing with...’‘Yeah maybe we could do this to fight it’

FOR THREE PAGES IT GETS CONFUSING. (In short sections it can work). Sometimes how your character talks is not enough to get you through that clusterfuck. Enter the miraculous word ‘said,’ with a name or pronoun in front of it, that just acts as a gentle map for the reader, that goes ‘hey maybe you’re not reading this like it’s an examination for university, and to help you not get lost, here are some words you hardly have to notice to make sure you’re still involved in this story.’

Dean Koontz doesn’t really do this anymore, lol.

Anyway, honestly, I am kind of...against universal writing tips anyway, so any time I see a writing tip post on Tumblr, 9/10 I am usually doing this in response:

And it’s sort of... it’s a few things:

- I think a lot of these posts are written by highschoolers or first year university students who are sort of processing some basic writing rules (that in no way apply universally, culturally or even geographically to all - seriously if an American incorrectly ‘corrects’ my Australian grammar one more time I will reach through the internet and throttle them, we don’t use double quotation marks for our dialogue!) and do that by sort of regurgitating them with their own take and applying them to everyone. It’s awesome they’re learning, but you’re not in their class, and they are not your teacher. A lot of these articles are like post-educational-processing and not actually genuinely helpful writing advice.

- The universality of these tips tends to annoy me. It’s one thing to suggest that most fics on AO3 should have paragraph breaks - that’s basic functionality and accessibility, in the same way that it’s basic to put spaces between words. But it’s quite another to suggest that passive tense is always evil or adverbs are the devil. It’s simply not true. Fucking Pulitzer Prize winners have used both, lol. And they didn’t win in spite of doing these things. It’s one thing to say ‘it can be lazy to rely on this too much’ it’s another thing to say ‘no adverbs! Ever!’

- Sometimes it’s really really really easy to tell when someone has picked up Stephen King’s writing book. Also that book is super fucking ableist. Like most writing books, it’s centred in a whole lot of privilege. Also Chuck Palahniuk’s writing manifesto doesn’t apply to 98% of writers but thumbs up if you’re in the two percent.

- ‘How to write’ is an intensely personal process. Writing tips are like...idk, good to read, but in a light-hearted way. Sample often, discard just as often. Try before you buy (into it). Always think ‘do I know authors who have broken this rule and did I still find them entertaining?’ Almost always the answer is ‘yes.’

- I know a lot of professional writers and editors. Like, that’s my main ‘crew’ online (and in real life, even though I hardly ever see them, but if I see more than four people at once, it’s generally some of the big writing names in Perth and we’re usually bitching about something like how many small publishers can’t stand up to Amazon and not how that one author always uses ‘said’ too much pfft). On Twitter. On Facebook. On Dreamwidth. All I hear about every day is people dropping new books, getting nominated for awards etc. and here’s the thing about professional writers - they rarely share the same kind of writing tips you find on Tumblr, because they’ve learned that a lot of that stuff isn’t universal. 

Most of us are tired of Tumblr articles on how to write (don’t get me wrong, some of them are very very good, and Neil Gaiman has given lovely advice on Tumblr repeatedly - I don’t actually love his writing, but good god, I love him as a giver of writing advice lol since he’s not a homogenising dickbrain about it), most of us are tired of the grammar police, etc.

Anyway I do get impatient about it and it’s one of the few areas - there’s a reason why my ‘on writing’ / ‘pia on writing’ tag tends to feature very specific sorts of writing advice - i.e. focused on encouragement and motivation, over people saying ‘this thing should be universal’ when no, actually, it shouldn’t be.

And my way isn’t the right way either? And that’s why I don’t often share writing tips (though I think I could stand to do it more sometimes, maybe some people want to actually learn to write like me; I don’t recommend it personally lol). Like I break rules because I like the outcome, especially around length and passive tense and long scenes without ‘scene breaks’ and so on. But theoretically Cecilia Dart-Thornton’s The Bitterbynde Trilogy would be trash by some of these writing articles standards and it’s honestly one of the most sumptuous epic fantasy trilogies of all time and the purple prose works and it deserved the awards it won.

So imho, honestly, a lot of those articles can bite me, lol. But especially the ones where people are like ‘hey, have you considered not using ‘said’ and making everything 400 times harder for your reader, just to prove you can use a thesaurus???’

(PS: I talked to Glen about this, who is also a writer (and scriptwriter) and the thing he says he hates the most is: ‘write what you know.’ Totally feel that too.)

[floregonzalez]

For the people who wants an update about me:

I wont try to kill myself anymore.. and I dont want to self harm again.

I have been feeling so much better since I got out of tumblr, I want this feeling to keep going.

I dont want to stop posting my art online tho.. I still want to animate something that makes people happy.. I want to grow up as an artist and I want to keep growing up as a person. I want to keep learning and I want to find a style for me.

I dont want you (people who has supported me through the years) to be sad bc you wont ever be able to see my art.. I know some people got smiles whenever they saw me in their dash, so I wont be away from you, I know many people discovered that datfeli was me (yep. it was me. I didnt do a big effort hiding it tbh.. What a surprise. But good job to everyone who found out..? idk im surprised,,).

I am still on Internet tho.. I dont post drawings as often tho.. and I'm watching SU again (just wont interact with the fandom by drawing shipping, or drawing so much of it,, I just will maybe draw new charas and enjoy the show's excllent character design.) I wont get back in tumblr in a long while (idek if i will ever come back tbh) but I am in another social media: Instagram. If you find out what my username is there, youre free to ask if its me i guess. I still dont know if I will be open about it there on IG, but, still you can ask, I have nothing to hide.

Also, I'd like to give you a clue for what the account name is.. it also has "feli" on it, and atm it has 3 posts.

And yeah.. my name is Florence Felipe.. heh. also yesterday (january12th) was my bday and it was quite nice! 

I also want to mention someone: @wal-uigi, for being one of my most active followers, thank you so much for always being so nice to me. Im sorry I left,, but dont worry, Im ok, as in your dreams, and Im posting my art again. Thank you for being a loyal follower who could always agree with me, and defend me, even tho I used to have a bad behaviour in the past.

I know there's a lot like them, but I hardly remember many names of many people, I have some of you in mind, but I cant remember the exact url, so i cant mention you,, im sorry.. but you gotta know that I love you, and I want to thank you for being there for ne when I needed you.

I dont know what else to type, so, bye, and thank you all for understanding. I might have forgotten something, but if i remember, Ill type it in a new post.

[shakesonaplane]

Throwback Blog Post: “Top 5 Airplane Personalities”

Season’s greetings my intrepid band of misfits. I hope the coming weeks bring some sort of wonderful holiday cheer and joyous good times. If you’re like me, you’re huddled around something warm right now as the Northern Hemisphere plunges into the cold abyss that is the winter (#brr). In my meandering on the internet and my old archives, I somehow stumbled upon a blog I wrote from back in College / University. In reading through my realized how frightfully embarrassing that whole thing is (not that this is any less embarrassing mind you), but I did find a gem that really brought a smile to my day.

So instead of some trip recap (and because I’m lazy), I’d like to offer you a throwback post from 2008 where I decided to tell the world that I’m a pathological liar when I travel. Given the upcoming increase in your travel plans, I figure what better time to remind everyone that airplanes are sincerely a fun place to make some new friends. So, without much further ado, I present an “anshubhaiyya” special from 9 years ago on how much I enjoyed messing with people on airplanes as a young adult.

In case you’re wondering what I looked like in 2008 when I wrote all of this insanity (only things that haven’t changed are the hairy arms)

Hi I’m Ken Adams - Top 5 Airplane Personalities

I love airports…well, I take that back, I don’t like being in them when I’m in a rush or when I’ve just had my fourth cavity search, but I love to people watch. When you go to an airport, everyone is so busy and so hustled that people’s real, unfriendly selves come out. Whether its the angry mother with her four kids being rowdy, who she normally handles well but given the lack of Sesame Street or toys, she’s stuck keeping them occupied…or the busy business person who doesn’t seem to notice there are other people in lines or on escalators and always has a damn bluetooth headset attached (btw its funny to talk as the other part of their conversations and watch their reactions)…or the harassed traveler who is stuck in a place they don’t want to be because of weather and they’re either yelling or sleeping due to exhaustion from too much yelling…

But, when you get on that plane, you’re forced to sit and be nice to a person who is far too close for comfort…and if you’re like me you’re usually alone in traveling so you don’t know this woman/man and have to be cordial and polite for any amount of flight time while all you wish was that you could land and do something mildly interesting…..the best, though, is how people tend to strike up conversations with each other in order to make the time fly….maybe even asking thought provoking questions but usually just trying to keep the conversation going because, let’s face it…if you start and stop abruptly it’s just awkward

So, this guy sitting next to you on the flight, they don’t know you and chances are you’ll never meet them again….so what do I do? I lie….I make up who I am and where I’ve come from and what I’m doing because, to me, that’s more interesting…the more exciting you are the more fun you can have with people and in turn, the more fun they have….it’s fun to meet someone interesting, so much so that you feel better about your trip given a fun tidbit of information or a cool personality (see Fight Club)…

1) The Child Prodigy

A lot of us like to travel as comfortable as possible, and in doing so we tend to wear shirts, hoodies or hats that have our school’s name on them….so usually a good way to start a conversation with this person is to see their age and ask, “oh do you go to school there?”…to which one can simply reply…”oh no, I actually teach”…the cover story I used was that I was a child prodigy and graduated high school at age 14, college at age 17 and got my Ph. D. last year (usually I’m about 21 or 22)…people are usually astounded and I say “no, it’s not that great, I don’t have tenure yet, just an assistant professor” and when asked about what you teach, make up some information about the last final or test you took and run with it….whether you’re an economics guru or a biological whiz or whatever…this one is always fun because the first look you get is the “what the hell?” look to which you can laugh and say “I know, sounds crazy…”

2) The identical twin

This particular way doesn’t usually work, unless you sit next to someone who barely recognizes you (someone from school or an extracurricular or someone that hardly knows who you are)….this is actually what started, for me, the lying on airplanes…One day when I met a girl I recognized from high school debate (nerdy, yes), she ended up sitting next to me in the small hometown airport….she was a HUGE ass kisser/gunner/bitch/etc. but wanted to befriend me on the plane….she led with a “have we met”…so I countered with the “no, I’m sorry” and when she said I looked familiar and had I done debate I said, “oh, no that was my twin brother Abhishek….yeah my name is Neil, I didn’t do all that…he did”….after which I spoke about myself in the third person to her and just basically made up whatever I liked…where I went to school, how I was doing, what I had said about debate/her/Harvard (where she went)….sometimes talking about yourself as someone else to someone else who actually thinks they know your original self can be fun…write that down

3) The Arranged Marriage-er

This one always kills because of the ethnic card I have…see being a young Indian man flying to and from random cities can get really annoying…people tend to glare at you, almost afraid you’re a ticking bomb…so when you sit down next to your John/Jane Doe…you start to fidget, act uncomfortable, and ultimately ask them if they’re married (it usually helps if they are)…when they reply, you start asking interesting, thought provoking questions about married life in America (accented is a plus), and ultimately end the line of questioning with…”well that was probably easier bc you met your spouse well before”…after they try to figure it out….you start with the ethnic barbaric nature so many people think exists….I’m only 22 but it’s a good marriage age…my parents found a wonderful person from India who is our caste and all the stars and signs agree we’re a great match…I’ve met her a few times but I’m on this plane to go to my wedding…they live in ______ (insert town) and basically I’m going to be married in a few days….then just sit back and watch as they ponder the crazy arrangements, they congratulate you, or they are shocked….my ultimate goal is to have a champagne toast or something with the cabin after several people hear about it…but yes, this is one of my favorite airplane personalities bc marriage makes people happy

4) The Professional Dancer

This tends to work best if you’re flying to and from a major city….I first used this on a trip from LAX to Chicago…sometimes when people ask you what you’re doing in a certain city, this is a good way to go….it’s hard to be a professional singer or actor or athlete because more people will attempt to look for you or even know if you’ve been in certain things (unless you want to be totally aspiring but that’s no fun)…so I went the dancer route…you’re traveling from your home in City A to a concert in City B for _______ (insert obscure musician) in which you’re a backup dancer….you can start talking about influences, styles and even tell the person of where they might’ve seen you (“If you ever see a video with a group called N’Sync…called Pop, I was in the background of the ____ scene)…then you can start talking about the business, people you know, potential sexualities….it’s always quite fun

5) The Young Entreprenuer

Sometimes you find yourself sitting on flights and you’re dressed better than you should….you might be wearing a suit or just a nicer outfit than most and we all tend to own nice electronics like iPods and things…so this one I’ve devised on a trip back from NYC when I changed into my only clean (but very dressy) clothing…go with what you like but I tend to start my young millionaire personality as an online store that sells something really random…chairs are a good one, also random software, designer kitchenware, video gamer sites…basically anything that most people wouldn’t look at as millionaire making….when people ask what you do you say, oh well I’m just outta college but I’m working on my company, which I started in HS…right now we’re private but we’re getting enough buzz to warrant publicly selling to google/ebay/apple, whatever…basically running with the idea that you’re set for life and all you want to do is make more money…it’s always a good idea to have a company name in mind in case, but usually you can be small enough to be under the radar of most people….being a young millionaire can be fun too, because you can talk about the dream cars you own, the trips you’ve taken and, if you have an elderly person, it’ll melt their heart if you say you’ve made it so you’re parents don’t have to work anymore…

…Just to let you know, I don’t think lying is a great thing to do…the idea is that having fun is important and this person who you’ll never see again will only understand you as that interesting person they met on a plane….in a way you’ll brighten their day…people usually live their lives in such an ordinary, routine and mundane fashion that a little spark is always fun….so if you get away with your personality, you’ve made someone’s day more interesting and made yours more fun…it’s a win-win….

Well, that was generally an odd experience to re-read :) Hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane and have some fun ideas for what you’d like to do on your next holiday travel flight. Next year I’ll be back with loads more travel and hopefully some great stories to go along with them. Till then, Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/whatever it is you celebrate!

Cheers (and, for the throwback, jsk)! Abhishek

[emmaswritingdump]

Internet Friends- Chapter Three

Words: 2011

Pairing: Adrienette, Ladynoir

AO3 // Wattpad

Ch 1 // Ch 2

Masterlist

Summary: In which our favorite dorks get married.

***

Marinette nearly falls out of her seat when Alya suddenly gasps- very loudly.

"What is wrong with you?" Marinette demands in a whisper.

Alya holds up her phone to show her a tumblr post made by chatnoir- a picture of a "Save the Date" wedding invitation inviting all their tumblr followers to watch a live video feed of their "wedding" tomorrow at noon.

"Miss Césaire," Madame Bustier says, walking over to Alya and holding out her hand. "No phones allowed in class."

"Sorry," Alya says meekly, handing the teacher her cell phone.

Alya gets notifications when ladybug and chatnoir post.

Marinette knows for a fact that chat is on the same school schedule as her, so either he scheduled that to post, or he, too, is on his phone during class.

Why would he schedule it to post at 9:54 AM, though?

Thinking it over, Marinette remembers him saying his best friend's girlfriend is like Alya. Maybe he just wanted to see her reaction.

Marinette tries to focus on her work again, but now that she's thinking about the "wedding", she can't stop.

She needs to finish making her dress. She and Chat both agreed that he would wear a tux, and she would wear a pretty dress- not a wedding dress, but a nice dress all the same- and to top it off, they would both wear simple masquerade-style masks to match their outfits.

She's making a dress she designed a few weeks ago. The past couple of days, she's been devoting most of her free time to sewing it, and she's hoping to finish it up tonight. She's also planning on getting her mask and shoes tonight.

Tomorrow, she will meet chatnoir in person.

She couldn't be more nervous- yet excited all the same.

***

Adrien grins at Alya's reaction to the post he scheduled that morning.

He thinks over everything, making sure everything is taken care of for tomorrow.

He got his tux, his mask, and his shoes last night- along with a little something else. He smirks remembering the surprise accessory he bought on a whim.

He already called the donut shop to explain to them what's happening, and they seemed cool with it; it turns out the manager's daughter is a ladynoir shipper, so she'll get to see the "wedding" live instead of on a screen.

Now all that's left is to actually meet the girl of his dreams.

***

***

Marinette wakes up the next morning and immediately leaps downstairs to eat breakfast.

"I'm going out today, maman," Marinette calls to her mother as she goes back up the stairs.

"Okay, Mari," Sabine responds. "Will you be back before dinner?"

Marinette hesitates. "I'm not sure. I'll text you later and tell you."

"Okay."

Marinette runs up the stairs to her bedroom and sits in front of her vanity to do her hair and makeup.

She does her makeup as she usually does- though perhaps with a tiny bit extra mascara, and adding some subtle pink to her lips. She elects to wear her hair down instead of in its usual pigtails, and she curls it elegantly.

She puts her dress, mask, and shoes in a bag, deciding to change into them when she's closer to the donut shop, and puts on a pretty necklace she got for her last birthday, along with a t-shirt and jeans.

The plan for the "wedding" is to livestream it on Chat's blog, and to have the manager of the donut shop "officiate" it. She and Chat will say their "vows," they will both bite into the same donut, and the manager will pronounce them canon.

Why anyone would watch this video is beyond her.

Checking her hair and makeup one last time before leaving, she goes down the stairs and heads outside.

***

She arrives at the donut shop at 11:50 and changes in the bathroom of the coffee place next door.

Leaving the coffee place, she gets a lot of people staring at her.

She's wearing a short red sleeveless dress with black polka-dots on the bottom half, a black sash around the middle, and thin black lace peeking out from the bottom. Her feet are adorned with black heels that have straps with tiny bows around her ankles, and her mask is red with black polka-dots to match her dress.

She tries to ignore the staring, and walks out of the coffee place and into the donut shop next door.

She immediately spots him sitting at a small table near the window.

That stupid boy is wearing a headband with cat ears on it.

His face lights up in a slightly-amazed grin as soon as he sees her. His green eyes shine with excitement and happiness, and his blond hair is a messy- yet endearing- mop on his head.

He stands, and Marinette nearly stops breathing.

He's tall.

She has a thing for tall guys.

And he's really tall.

Grinning, he makes his way over to her, not paying any attention to the many stares both of them are receiving.

He takes her hand in his larger one and bows slightly. He brings her hand up to his mouth and kisses the back of it, still grinning.

"My lady."

This time time, Marinette does stop breathing for a moment or two.

His voice.

His. Voice.

His. VOICE.

Marinette repeats the words in her head for what seems like an eternity, but is really only a second or two.

He has one of the most beautiful voices she's ever heard.

Blushing, she gives him a small smile. "Bonjour, Chaton."

***

Adrien is internally screaming.

Even with a mask, ladybug is more beautiful than he could've imagined.

And her voice is so sweet and soft. Although she only said two words, he can tell that he could listen to her talk forever.

Her hand in his, he leads her back to their table and pulls out her chair for her. She thanks him softly and sits down. They still have about five minutes to talk before the "wedding" starts.

"How are you?" he asks awkwardly.

"Good. And you?"

"I'm good. Did your parents ask why you left the house dressed all fancy?"

She shakes her head. "I came here wearing regular clothes and then changed next door."

Adrien laughs. "I wish I'd thought to do that. My father wasn't home, luckily, but his assistant was, and she thought I was insane."

"Your father has an assistant?"

"Yeah, um... he runs a fashion label."

Ladybug's beautiful blue eyes light up, and he smiles. "Really?! That's so cool! I love fashion; I design a lot- which you probably know from my Tumblr. What's it like? Do you know a lot of designers? Do you get to meet a lot of models? Do you get free clothes and stuff?"

Adrien laughs softly, grinning fondly at his lady's eagerness to learn about his father's business. He knows she doesn't want to know his identity, though, so he tries to reveal as little as possible about who he his.

"It's... it's different. I wouldn't say it's great, but I have almost everything I need or want, so it's not horrible either. Yeah, I know a lot of designers, and I... I know a lot of models, too. I'm usually allowed to have my pick of the clothes every time he releases a new line."

Ladybug smiles in awe. "That sounds amazing to me."

He laughs. "Yeah, well, I'm not really into fashion."

"Really?"

"Really. I guess being raised on it has some consequences- I have some pretty bad memories associated with fashion."

Ladybug frowns. "Like what?"

Adrien thinks back on some of those memories. "Like when I was a kid and my father pulled me out of a photoshoot- that I was, um, watching- to tell me my mom had disappeared. And when, after she vanished, he threw himself into his work and hardly paid attention to me anymore."

Ladybug's eyes fill with sympathy. "I'm sorry, Chat."

He shakes his head. "Never mind. What do your parents do?"

"They own a bakery," she says hesitantly.

He smiles. "That sounds like fun."

She gives him a small smile in return. "It can be. I help out with the baking a lot, and I get to eat free treats all the time."

"That sounds like a dream come true for me."

Ladybug laughs.

Adrien's phone buzzes, informing him that it's two minutes to noon. He smiles, thinking about the "wedding" and the surprise he has planned for the end.

"Looks like it's time," he tells Ladybug. He stands up and starts speaking to the rest of the customers. "Excuse me, everyone, we're going to be doing a live video now. Please refrain from making too much noise or getting in the shot."

The manager's teenage daughter walks out from behind the display case, holding a video camera, and smiles eagerly at them. She and her mother start moving tables out of the way, and the girl then sits at a table in the center with her video camera hooked up to her laptop. Adrien is already logged into Tumblr so she can stream the video on his blog.

The manager gestures to Ladybug and Adrien, showing them where to stand, and then takes her place between them to officiate the fake wedding.

Adrien smiles at Ladybug as he takes both her small hands in his. The manager nods to her daughter, who presses record on the camera.

"Dearly beloved followers and shippers," the manager begins. Ladybug giggles. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Ladybug and Chatnoir."

She continues with her speech, and Ladybug and Adrien exchange "vows" promising to always feed each other junk food and to never throw shade at each other online.

The manager reaches behind her and picks up a donut, then holds it out between the two of them.

Trying to fight back their giggles, they bite into the donut together.

They pull away and quickly chew and swallow the donut. They smile at each other as the manager speaks again.

"I now pronounce you canon. You may kiss the bride."

Ladybug's eyes go wide in surprise as realization takes over.

Adrien leans in and presses his lips to hers.

Fireworks go off in his belly, and he is giddy with the knowledge that he's kissing his lady.

Her lips are soft and warm against his, and once she gets over her initial shock, their mouths begin to move together in perfect harmony.

He smiles into the kiss, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her into him as she places her hands around his neck.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

***

Marinette giggles as she and Chat leave the donut shop hand-in-hand.

He leads her to a waiting carriage pulled by a white horse. They step onto the carriage and sit down, smiling.

"You're not mad about the whole kissing thing?" Chat asks her after a moment.

She thinks about it. "I'm surprised- and maybe even a bit irritated that you didn't tell me about it- but I'm not mad, no."

He smiles. "Good."

They go for a carriage ride around Paris, seeing all the beautiful sights.

At some point, Marinette finds herself resting her head on Chat's shoulder, her hand still intertwined with his.

Finally, they arrive back at the donut shop. Chat assists Marinette out of the carriage and, before she can see it coming, hugs her.

"Can we meet up again sometime soon?" he asks in a whisper. "We can still wear our masks."

Hesitantly, she wraps her arms around his torso and hugs him back. "I'd like that."

After a few moments, he pulls away from the hug and looks at her. "Do you need me to escort you home?"

Marinette shakes her head. "Thank you, Chat, but I'll be fine. Besides, I don't want you to know who I am- yet."

***

Adrien's heart leaps. "Yet? Does that mean you'll tell me who you are one day?"

Ladybug smiles. "We'll see."