#i mean she's kinda just talking to herself and going nuts

[biibini]

Hii!! After mizu graduates college, what type of job do you think she'd have? Would it have to do with sports or maybe something way different? (I absolutely love your writing and headcanons !! 🩷🩷)

modern!mizu post-college life headcanons

tags: post-grad life, engineering mizu, stable work life, a woman in stem, moving in with reader, basketball with mizu, mizu join fencing club, peaceful post-grad life (the dream)

a/n: ngl the thought of post-college life is tripping me out,,, im a junior in college rn and the thought of it just kinda doesnt?? exist?? also ive heard too much info from my friends' rants ab their engineering degrees and switching majors from mechanic to electrical back to mechanical engineering,, theyre fucking nuts

modern!mizu would prob be in the engineering sector of jobs

wooo stem baby (i am a digital marketing major i should not be talking)

bc hello?? money???

also let’s use that mechanical engineering degree to good use

she didn’t leave home for nothing

with her technical skills from eiji

modern!mizu would probably be a CAD engineer

CAD aka computer aided design

technically speaking, it would allow her to work from home or hybrid

and she can easily transfer her mechanical and on-hand knowledge to a digital format

like she’s smart yall

she just got some troubles w procrastination

but dont we all?

(coping so hard)

this job would also allow her free time and flexible hours to do her job

and i feel like modern!mizu opts for a good work-life balance

if she wishes, she can take the day off snd just go out with u or go to the gym

the freedom of choice while staying comfortable at home?

sign her tf up

she can have her tea time, gym time, spending time w u time, and her self care time

the self care in question: enjoying the silence

and realistically, its a well paying job thatll keep her and u afloat while helping eiji financially if need be

modern!mizu hopes her work and smarts can help her provide for others and herself

its ab time she doesnt let herself depend on a man for money

yeah thats a fuck u to u, m*k*o

shes made the mistake once

shes not gonna make it again

just bc postgrad modern!mizu isnt in sports doesnt mean she’ll stop playing

she needs to get her exercise and movement some way some form

basketball with taigen

and always aim for the three-pointers

and is successful most of the time

and then proceed to aim for the half court shots

and fail most times

fencing with eiji whenever shes back home

she’ll def try to teach u

and its fun at first but

she wants to stretch her wings out

modern!mizu would prob join a fencing club

it would be a great for her to fully practice and spar

not just against her old man

or go soft w u

but also go against ppl her age

modern!mizu would move into a place w u

nothing grand but a small apartment where u could refresh and build the place to be ur own

ringo is a good friend

a true best friend she could trust

but it was time to move in w u

and not be wary of ringo hearing u when he comes home

modern!mizu would be more adventurous in hobbies

yeah she has basketball and fencing and her tea collection

but now she has a stable job

no need to worry about grades

and just to live life one step at a time

she would probably try out pottery with u

definitely practice her cooking with ringo's and ur help

all in all, a very patient life

(she deserves it)

[y2kmcblingirliee]

“I guess Y/N likes her kisses down low..”

cw: dom!kate kinda mean!Kate Oral(reader receiving), Fingering (reader receiving), degradation, praise kink ~ sub!reader

pairings ~ Kate Martin x Black Fem reader

Y/N was alone in her & Kate’s shared home. Just waiting for her girlfriend to come back from basketball practice. Y/N was braiding her hair, while wearing a cutsie little outfit & giving herself some bohemian braids. She was up to her last few. She finally finished which felt like hours. In her excitement, she sent Kate a cute photo of herself. Y/N started to watch YouTube. Until she heard her phone ring. So of course she checked it. The name was “baby 👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼” Kate messaged said “Baby, you look so good. Why are you trying to tease me while I’m at practice babe?” So of course Y/N messaged back saying “Baby, I just miss you.” Kate texted back quickly saying “baby I’ll be home in a few. I love you.” I messaged back saying “Okay baby I love you.” 45 mins pass by and I heard the door open. I go to the door and jump on Kate holding on her shoulders & Her holding me by my ass. Y/N starts to kiss from Kate’s jaw down to her neck. Kate starts to put her hand in-between Y/N’s legs. Kate says “omg.. Y/N, what’s got you this wet?” & She starts eyeing Y/N up & down while biting her lip. Y/N starts to hide her face in Kate’s neck, as Kate continues to carry her and puts her on the bed. Kate starts to take Y/N’s top off while putting her hand under her skirt. Y/N starts to moan as Kate starts to put her hand & rub figure 8s on her clit. As she kisses her. Y/N starts to whimper & say “Baby, let me kiss you please.” & Kate slaps her across the face & chokes her. As Kate has her hand around Y/N’s throat. She starts to go down & lift up Y/N’s skirt while kissing on her thighs. Kate let’s go of Y/N’s neck to pull down her underwear. Y/N says with tears filling her eyes “Baby, why are you being so mean to me.” Kate starts to flick her tongue around her clit to tease her even more. Y/N starts to try to move away from her tongue by trying to lift up with her elbows. Kate brings her hands & grabs Y/N’s thighs & continues to eat Y/N out. Y/N starts to feel like she’s about to come. Kate senses that so she speeds up her movements & adds her fingers. Y/N nuts in Kate’s mouth & on her fingers. Kate takes her fingers out & puts it in Y/N’s mouth. Kate starts to make out with Y/N while sliding her hand up & down her waist. Kate starts to sit up & puts Y/N on her lap. Kate starts to take off her clothes leaving her in her sports bra & underwear. Kate starts to kiss on Y/N’s neck again while putting her fingers inside Y/N again. While with the opposite hand slapping her ass. Y/N says “mm-m Kate it’s to-too much.” Kate slaps her across the face again. & Kate says “Well if you think it’s too much then start begging me to stop then.” Kate continues her finger movements if not even faster. Y/N says “mommy, please stop it hurts.” while crying. Kate kisses her tears away & gets close to her ear & says “baby what did you just say?” stopping her hand motions. Y/N repeats & says “mommy, please stop it’s too much.” & Kate starts to kiss her while Y/N comes on her fingers a 2nd time. Kate licks her fingers off & lifts Y/N off her lap. Getting up to kiss Y/N on the forehead. & gets a towel & some water to clean Y/N up. & asks her if she’s okay which Y/N responds with yes. Kate starts a bath for Y/N & they both get in the bath, talking about each others day. & Y/N massaging Kate’s shoulders . Kate whimpering a little at the relief. Y/N starts to kiss on Kate’s neck. Kate turns off the bath and drys the both of them off. Kate carries Y/N to the bed & puts Y/N in her IOWA hoodie. While Kate kisses on Y/N till she falls asleep. Kate eventually falls asleep right with Y/N.

this is my first ever smut / story I hope you guys enjoy!!

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Elisa tries so hard to be a good guardian for Reader, especially after everything they have been through. This means she really wants to give Reader all of those normal experiences.

Sadly, Herself and Reader are honorary Manhattan clan members, so all those ideas are thrown out the window.

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

Elisa: I'm thinking of taking Reader to coney Island for a little getaway. Take their mind off of everything ya know?

Goliath: Not on my custody day, you're not.

Elisa, confused: What.

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

Reader: Elisa, can you help me with my history homework?

Hudson: Come here, I know history better than anyone.

*Reader proceeds to fail their test on the French Revolution cause Hudson has not been there before*

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

Reader: *comes home from after school activities late at night*

Bronx: *tackles them, drags them to the currently empty nest like a favorite chew toy, and lays on top of them*

*Everyone returns an hour later*

Reader: a little help? I have a science project to do and I need to pee.

Everyone: *shrugs and joins the pile, definitely not helping*

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

After the whole artifact thing happens, I imagine she joins in on the overprotectiveness and weirdness.

Elisa: *watching Reader go to Prom (they went stag) from the bushes with binoculars*

Manhattan clan: *also watching Reader's Prom from the rooftops with binoculars. They relay info through walkie talkies*

Goodness knows what will happen when Reader's biological parents try to get custody back. Goliath may try to kill them, and Elisa might just let him.

Reader, at prom: Why do I feel eyes on me?

Reader, spotting them watching: WHAT THE F*CK?! CAN I HAVE ONE MOMENT?!

Goliath: No cursing, young one!

Reader: 😡😠😤

Reader: ELISA!!!!

Reader, studying Macbeth: Huh... so he's kinda nuts

Macbeth: appears

Reader: Who the h*ll are you?

One adventure later~

Reader: He IS f*cking crazy!!!

Macbeth: Woo! I haven't that much fun in centuries!

Reader: is sleeping

Elisa: Huh, they're pretty cute when they're alseep

Reader: Wha...? Elisa, why are you in my room?

Elisa: I heard you talking in your sleep

Reader: Uh-huh... what did I say?

Elisa: recalling crying, pleading, and muttered "dont's"

Elisa: Hmmm... nothing much. Good night!

Yee. Elisa tries to parent Reader, and is half parent half older sister. Reader has met her family, Reader respects her mom and dad, Reader has met Derek/Talon, they find him funny and a bit of a handful.

Reader has met Xanatos. They tend to ignore him when they can (they don't want to get tricked by Mr. Sneaky-Sneak)

When the artifact thing happens, Reader takes to hiding, having to rely on pretty much anyone who can take them and isn't about to hand them over (so Reader is hiding and holing up like a rabbit or fox being hunted) (they're very annoyed, and very scared, and want to kick Xanatos for this) (because whether he causes this or not, Reader blames him for it anyway, because Xanatos is usually at fault for problems like this)

[artzychic27]

Okay how about some redeem Chloé and Science Kids headcanons?

Jean: Lacey, my slapping glove, please?

Lacey: *Hands them a purple glove* Here you are.

Jean: Thank you... *Slaps Chloé across the face with his glove* Good, I have your attention. You! Need! Some! Self! Respect! Girl! Enough of the bratty rich girl routine! It’s not a personality! You’re just copying your bitch mom!

Chloé: I-

Denise: We’re not done, here. Now, you’re gonna attend a nice long therapy session with us. It’s we go to vent about a few of your classmates, mostly Marinette, and then pretend the cranberry juice is wine to forget our troubles… We drink a lot of cranberry juice.

Chloé ends up venting A LOT at group therapy, going into detail about her disdain for her egg donor, how she wants to be more independent but doesn’t know how, how she loathes Marinette for doing horrible things yet getting off scot free, and how she wants a descent friendship with Adrien but Marinette and the girl squad keep preventing that

Simon: Oh, now that’s just harsh.

Denise: You’re trying to be good, aren’t you?

Chloé: I am, but they don’t believe me. They only give me a chance when Marinette convinces them!

Marc: That’s kinda… Bitchy.

Chloé: I know!

Later, they start inviting Chloé to group sleepovers, which she discovers Nathaniel is a part of as well

Chloé apologizes for getting him Akumatized, and to her surprise, he forgives her and even says how the Science Kids talked him through how that drawing of Marinette was kind of creepy

Chloé: Well, you’re WAY less of a creep than her.

Nathaniel: Beg your pardon?

Chloé doesn’t leave anything out when she tells Nathaniel all the things city workers have told her about the times some blue haired girl tried to scale the walls of the Agreste mansion

Now she, Zoé, and Nathaniel have a betting system where they bet how Marinette will stalk Adrien this week

Nathaniel usually wins all of them

Chloé even begins taking shelter with him and the Science Kids during Akuma attacks and discovers that it’s kinda nice being in a group instead of running around like a nut job

It doesn’t take long for the Akuma Class to notice how close they are, and Marinette pulls Nathaniel aside to talk guiltrip him into stop hanging out with Chloè

But, hanging around Jean and Chloé have helped his confidence, so he shuts that down quickly

They gossip with Jean, Zoé, and surprisingly Mireille about everyone at school. Turns out, M. Grotke has a crush on M. Monlataing

Zoé helps change up her style to something less… Audrey

Now Chloé’s got her hair down, she’s wearing descent makeup, a yellow crop top, white wide leg pants, and a comfortable pair of sneakers the Science Kids and Nathaniel all draw on

Chloé finally gets a minute alone with Adrien and tells him upfront she’s been working on changing herself for the better and hopes that they can be friends again

Adrien gives her a chance and even invites her to get some frozen yogurt after school. Yay!

Of course, the Science Kids are proud and immediately group hug her the next day while ignoring the scowl on Marinette’s face

Marinette finally confronts them as to why they’re suddenly friendly with Chloé after everything she’s done to her

Jean: … Uh, she got me Akumatized, ya know. And, we’re cool now.

Denise: She called me ‘Meathead’ for five years. I’m over it.

Lacey: No sweat up my ass.

Marc: You’re not the only person she’s hurt. Besides, we can be friends with whoever we want.

Ismael: Yeah, as long as she ain’t a TERF, she’s cool. Plus, she knows how to skateboard, and that is something I was not expecting.

Aurore: I’m cool with her.

Zoé: Who else will I vent to about that bitch who married the mayor for status like some common gold digger?

Mireille: You mean your mom?

Zoé: Same difference.

[nattousan]

i got a new job recently as a lab tech making dentures on recommendation from my sister. We both have pretty significant adhd and i'm hella on the spectrum, and she said, from her experience, the fast paced nature, art focus and hand-engaging detail work works very well for people like us.

And she was right!

I'm taking to this job like a rat to pizza, like a flame in a fireworks factory. I'm sinkin into it like a farmer in a grain silo, because its a job that suits how my brain works in a way that no other job has done before. I'm not gonna say it's because of my adhd /autism that i'm successful but it definitely lets certain elements shine.

Now my trainer, bless her, has been a lab tech for almost 40 something years. But She doesn't have adhd, she's just absent minded. She doesn't have autism, she just needs me to use the airhose and torch sparingly because the loud noises drive her nuts. She just talks to herself, reuses a certain carousel of rote phrases, forgets what she's saying in the middle of a sentence, has SEVERAL neurodivergent children, gets upset when certain routines aren't followed to the letter or done correctly, talks at top volume, rarely makes eye contact, and is unusually passionate about teeth.... because, "that's just how she is..."

👀

Needless to say we've been getting along swimmingly. Along with all the things I've been silently noticing though, one thing in particular sticks out to me. And that is how she talks about herself. Often she'll (laughingly) punctuate a rant about teeth or the processes therin with " yea i know, you're thinkin "will this lady just shut up and leave me be??" or " I'm not overwhelming you with all this am I?" She's constantly apologizing for herself or referring to herself as mean things or saying "there's somethin wrong with me" How many times has she heard that said to her? When did she start repeating that to herself?

idk, i just find it really sad that this very nice and passionate woman in her 60s who raised 5 kids by herself and endured some of the worst kinda shit a person can go through never gained a deeper understanding of herself. I wish I could ask her about it, gently, and let her know that I see her, 40 years into a career she loves, with the respect of her peers, a nice home, children who love her and still visit, and see... myself.

I see that I can have that for myself. It's possible, to have a good life, not despite me being me, but because of it. Someday.

[newtabfics]

Could I request a drabble for poly!Rauru & Sidon accidentally overhearing hylian female reader say out loud that she realised that she's in love with Raoru & Sidon & both of them are more than happy to show how they love her? *Cough*Could I ask for smut too? I'm surprised that we have similar tastes too*Cough*

Yeeeeeaaaaah I kinda went ARF ARF BARK WOOF when I read this.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

"What?" Link's low voice asked as the two hid behind the wall.

Sidon hissed a hush as Rauru raised his ear to listen.

Y/N groaned and rubbed her face as she slumped forward. "I love them both. I want to be with Sidon and Rauru, Linky," She sighed heavily. "But I can't do that to them. I mean, the first king of Hyrule revived and the future king of the Zora people. People would talk of course. I just--" She looked down at her hands. "I just don't want to ruin things for them."

"You should tell them that," The knight responded simply. "If you wait too long, you might not get your chance. If you tell them and they agree, it's your business, not the kingdom's."

Y/N studied him before smiling softly. "Thanks." She hugged him, making the monarchs smile as they looked at each other.

"I think we know what must be done," Rauru said softly.

"We'll surprise her!"

"Sh!"

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Y/N came into the room and skidded to a stop, blinking at the two on her bed. "Uh...hey?"

"About time," Rauru teased as he stood and approached. He reached over her, closing the door as her face flushed. "We've been waiting for you, Y/N."

Y/N gulped and cleared her throat. "Uh, sorry. I didn't know, ifyou guys told me--"

"It would've ruined the surprise," Sidon chuckled, approaching now.

Y/N's breath hitched as the king's hand found her waist, pulling her against the Zonai. "Ra--Ah!" She whimpered when Sidon's tongue found her neck. "Guys, you can like pick me up or something if you need to-to! I know I'm pretty short and--Eep!" She squeaked when Rauru lifted her and pulled her legs tight around his waist. "C-Can you guys maybe talk to me? I'm sorta going nuts here."

"We don't want you to have to choose," Sidon said, pressing against her back as he nuzzled her neck. "We're willing to share...and other things," He chuckled.

Y/N's heart hammered as she looked up at Rauru. "I'm dreaming," She concluded.

"Then let's make it a sweet dream,” He hummed as he leaned in.

The kiss was only the beginning. Y/N soon found herself straddling the Zonai as the Zora was thrusting into her alongside him. “Goddesses, yes!” She whined loudly when Rauru rubbed her clit as Sidon began to thrust harder.

“Fuck,” The Zora moaned. “Both feel so good.”

Rauru grunted as Y/N’s walls clenched tight around them, pressing Sidon’s cock against his own. He let out a low moan when Y/N soaked them both. “Going…”

Sidon moaned as Rauru twitched against him before spilling out inside of the Hylian, sending her into another climax. He could only fall in sync with them, the sensation sending him quickly over the edge and even his smaller secondary length coating Rauru’s inner thighs.

The three stilled, kissing and touching at each other for a form of grounding, finding each other in the fog, almost.

Y/N whimpered at the fullness, looking down to see her stomach beginning to stick out a slight from both their sheer sizes stretching her open and her womb being filled by both men.

“You two…are brutal,” She hummed with a satiated smile on her face.

The king smirked and cupped her face as Sidon playfully nipped her shoulder. “You’ll have many more nights to get used to it.”

[bloomblanche]

＊✿ It's Melly!! ✿＊

I just realized that I haven't talked about her much on my blog. Time to fix that.

(Text cut for aesthetic purposes)

Bear in mind that she kinda evolved from "splatsona" to "OC who shares a lot of things with me (but not everything!) and still represents me sometimes but is mostly her own character now"

❥ Mélusine (full name Mélusine Larchipel) is 20 years old and goes by she/her. Her height is 166 cm, aka 5'5. She's autistic and pansexual.

❥ She's all academics, no street smarts. She's rather shy, overly polite, and has trouble voicing her opinions (as well as socializing in general). Her enthusiasm and eccentricities regularly slip through the cracks of her demure appearance.

❥ Melly moved to Inkadia around 10 years ago (making her multilingual as a result), but she still hasn't gotten used to everything because she would mostly spend her time inside without interacting much with other people. She's only recently started to open up, and she uses ink sports and tableturf as a way to do so.

❥ Her mom is a surface Octoling, but her dad is a Cirraling (which is my fan species of cirrate octopuses). That makes her half-grimpoteuthis! The reason why it matters is that the top design isn't her true appearance. The bottom one is what she looks like all-natural.

(Older drawings for comparison)

❥ Due to the biological differences of cirrate octopuses, her chromatophores and her ink sac are a bit underdeveloped. It takes roughly 15 minutes of light exposure for her chromatophores to be able to change colour and roughly 30 minutes in darkness for her to revert back to her natural colour.

❥ She's a bit insecure about her differences, so that's why she disguises herself as a regular Octoling. In fact, her hairstyle is meant to make her ears look smaller since she would get teased for them as a kid.

❥ This character is pretty much a metaphor for masking, when you think about it

❥ Now! Being part-dumbo has its perks, such as better night vision, but it also has its downsides. Remember when I said that her ink sac was underdeveloped? Because of that, she has to focus almost all of her gear abilities into ink saving.

❥ And that combined with her being unable to play anything other than brushes means that Melly REALLY sucks at Salmon Run. She sucks so much that her teammates kept complaining, and she ended up getting kicked out of Grizz Co. She doesn't mind it too much, though, because she's happy earning money with turf war and sewing. Not to mention that the whole business looks really shady anyway.

❥ Going back to brush weapons! Melly has a weird obsession with them. She owns all of the available ones on the market and will only listen to Sheldon's rambles if they're about brush weapons (if they aren't, she will immediately zone out)

❥ She's named Mélusine after the fairy from the eponymous myth. Mélusine is a spirit of fresh water who was cursed to become a serpent from the waist down every Saturday. So! Not only does it have a water theme, but it reflects her appearance-changing deal. She likes her full name, and her family uses it on a regular basis. The reason why she mostly goes by "Melly" is because it's easier for her friends to pronounce.

❥ Her favourite band is Chirpy Chips, and her favourite song from them is Shellfie. She's also a big fan of Raian (guess where that came from) and has a celebrity crush on them.

❥ Her favourite show and videogame are called "Magical Mumi Uni-chan" and "Coral Village 2" respectively.

❥ She loves blueberry pies and hates walnuts for their dry aftertaste (macadamia nuts are more up her alley)

❥ She developed emetophobia as a kid after a severe bout of salmonella.

❥ She really likes flowers as well as lolita fashion and does sewing as a hobby.

❥ While not visible in this drawing, she has some webbing between her fingers (which are tainted purple)

❥ Her shoes are punk whites with ruffle socks.

❥ And last but not least: Melly is based on this specific octopus! She's also very interested in the deep sea and likes to search for books about it.

Thank you for your interest!!

Here are some silly gifs

[roninkairi]

And now for something, completely different...

The Persona 5 Cast Goes To See "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"

(At LeBlanc)

Zenkichi: Hey Ren, thanks for getting tickets for me and Akane! I've been swamped with work, so I hadn't had time to get some.

Akane: Wow, I can't wait! I heard it almost made a billion bucks before it came to Japan!

Ren: No problem. It was Sojiro's idea actually.

Sojiro: Think of it as a thank you for helping out Ren and Futaba last summer. But man...never thought I'd see them try to make a movie out of that game again.

Zenkichi: Yeah tell me about it. If you told the teenage me this was going to happen, I'd thought you were bonkers.

Ryuji: Wait, you guys know about Mario Bros?

Sojiro: Of course we do.

Zenkichi: I still have my original Famicom and a copy of the game stashed in my attic. I used to play the hell out of it after I had finished my studies.

Akane: So that's what's in that box. I thought it was old festival decorations or something. How far can you go in one life?

Zenkichi: Well, I suppose I could go as far as 8-3 now if I tried today...

Sojiro: First or 2nd run?

Zenkichi: Second, definitely second.

Akane: No fair, I barely could make it to World 6 on my first!

Ryuji: I'm kinda lost here, what do you mean 'first run'?

Sojiro: Let me explain...(sips coffee) When you first play the game, your basic enemies are Goombas. After you save the Princess though, the game gets harder. All the Goombas are replaced with Buzzy Beetles.

Ryuji: Buzzy Beetles don't sound so bad.

Zenkichi: No, but they are fireproof and they work in the same way that Koopa Troopas work.

Akane: Plus platforms get shorter and in certain areas, new obstacles are added.

Ren: In short, the game gets harder.

Sojiro: I remember watching Wakaba play that game on her days off. She could clear the game within 45 minutes if she felt inclined.

Zenkichi: Wow. That just kills my own personal record.

Ryuji: Hey, where is Futaba? She would be going nuts talking all about this video game trivia.

Ren: She's been in line with Haru and Morgana since last night for the premiere.

Sojiro: And she brought a tent and everything with her.

Zenkichi: That doesn't sound so bad.

Ren: Uh...

Ryuji: This is FUTABA we're talking about. And knowing her...

Zenkichi: Uh oh.

(At the movie theater, Yusuke and Makoto look at a tent pitched outside the movie theater...which is in the shape of a Toad House. Futaba is sitting in a chair dressed as Mario next to it)

Makoto: I am NOT surprised she is doing this.

Futaba: Hey, glad you made it! Please tell me you brought my camera from Sojiro!

Makoto: I did but I thought it was going to be for entirely different purposes.

Futaba: Yeah, but after the premiere of "Neo Featherman x Masqueraider Ouga", I had to get prepared for a cosplay bonanza!

Yusuke: She's not wrong. There are a lot of dedicated fans on line here dressed as other characters. Some of these are indeed most sketchworthy. By the way, Ren told us Ann and Haru were with you.

Ann's Voice: I'm right here. (Ann steps out of the Toad House tent wearing the Princess Peach riding suit. In her arms is Morgana dressed as Luigi)

Morgana: (staring a hole into Yusuke) NOT. ONE. WORD.

Ann: Oh come on Morgana, you look TOTALLY adorable!

Futaba: (whispering to herself) I'm fairly certain that may actually have killed kitty's ego there. (Haru arrives, dressed in a very accurately detailed Princess Peach dress)

Haru: Oh, you're here! How do I look?

Yusuke: O_O

Makoto: o_O

Morgana: WHOA!!!

Every Other Customer In Line: O_O

Futaba: And if you look to your right, you will see that once again Beauty Thief has stolen the hearts of the fanboys in attendance today. (Instinctively, Haru does her pose upon hearing the words "Beauty Thief")

Ann: ...we're so getting our pictures posted on the internet for this, I just know it.

Makoto: At least your riding suit does not come with spikes.

Yusuke: Such elegance! (pulls out sketchbook and begins to sketch with much passion)

BONUS SCENE-

(As the audience watches the movie, Iwai who is with his son, looks and sees Ren sitting with Haru on his left side. On his right side...is Lavenza, dressed in a blue version of Princess Peach's dress, happily eating popcorn.)

Iwai: Somehow, that kid attracts all types.

[popculturebuffet]

Big City Greens: Gwendolyn Zapp Retrospective (All 5 Episodes, Movie Next Month) (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people! We continue the halloween celebration with the spookiest monster of all: A NARCSITIC DANGEROUSLY UNCHECKED TECH BILLIONARE!

Yes it's time to talk not about Elon Musk, thank god, but about his marginally less unsettling Disney counterpart

No the other one. The one I made the whole picture of whose in the title. It's Big City Green's Gwendolyn Zapp!

Most of ya'll reading this probably know Big City Greens, a wholesome series about a family of colorful country folk living in the city, the son's rich best friend, and their adopted purple adult daughter what lives in their basement after she gave up her job to protect them. I've previously covered this series ongoing story arc with Chip Whistler, and likely will again whenever the current story arc with him coming back wraps, and have nothing but praise for it: it's a calm fun series with lots of great gags, a stellar main cast and which avoids being a status quo sho: the basic premise remains the same, but things do change and it's lovely.

But Chip isn't the series only ongoing antagonist and with this recurring character having upgraded herself to Big Bad for the movie, me and kev thought it was a good time to look at Gwendolyn Zapp and her hyjinks. This was also fun for me as I hadn't seen ANY of Gwendolyn Zapp's episodes before this, only the movie. Lucky for me watching the film the first time when it came out, Gwendolyn was chosen over chip entirley because her gimmick is pretty simple: She shows up, is entertaining and kinda nuts, and her reckless disregard for proper testing or human life means whatever she built this week is going to make our heroes lives harder. Unlike Chip who went on a whole journey of picking a fight with a small child, facing the consequences for that, not leanring anything and faknig his way to being a CEO, trying to ruin the Green Family out of pety spite, trying to murder said child and being exiled from town, and that's not getting into his recent journey of trying to live a normal life before fleeing to the sewers to plot his vengance and putting the family in a saw trap.

In contrast Gwendoln's Schtick is set from her very first lines on the show:

She's the other side of the dangerous billionare one step from being a super villian coin that Mark Beaks represents: Mark represnets the petty childish cide of people like Elon Musk, the obession with getting likes, with being seen as hip, the petty obession with anyone who bothers them and willing to tank their reputation and billions just to spite their enemies, even if that enemy is their own daughter. Gwendolyn Zapp, as the movie shows IS just as petty, no question but taps more into the ethical problems: While science is neat and should progress, Gwen is the side that says "so what if it might kill people market it anyway!", who gleefully talks about giving away a robot for free because control over lives is more precious, and who thinks humanities flaws just need to be laser gunned away.

While Zapp exagerates this to the levels a cartoon can it really ISN'T by much. We're really not far from trying to use programs to modify personlities, farm vegtables on the moon, send cars to mars because why the fuck not, and we're already pretty damn close to space vacations for the rich and already at replacing workers with robots whose ai are is nowhere near where it needs to be for a complicated task. Gwen's a great satire of tech ceo bullshittery at a time we need it most. I hate saying Elon Musk's name so much as I know he gets just a little hard anytime somoene says his name, but it's hard not to compare the two as while Mark Beaks fits him WAY more personality wise, Zapp represents how little he cares for testing, human life and how rich assholes like him could get us all killed one day by pure hubris.

So let's unpack her 5 appearnces in the show proper and then next month i'll look at the movie, as we see her take the tiny step to full on cartoonish supervilliany.. and by that I mean she actually does this shit on purpose.

Gwendolyn is one of the few recurring characters not from Smalton who dosen't debut till season 2, but she enters the series fast as she can in only the season's second episode.

Car Trouble focuses around Bill, which is a trend for most of these Zapp focused stories, and fits perfectly. Bill is a very traditional guy not really into tech in any way shape or form, the most he uses are various farm tools, the tv on occasion and his Truck, The Kludge. He's not anti tech or today's youth or any of that nonsense but he's often baffled by it. He's open enough to try it as he loves getting out and generally trying to explore the city, within budget, but he's also stuck in his ways and cautious enough for there to still be a story.

In this case the Kludge is breaking down, not helped by Bill's spiffy new addition to the buisness: Vegtable Delivery. This being a cartoon hit's breakdowns are seats so broken they nearly impale tilly on their springs and the floor being so brittle Cricket nearly falls out. The family , like many , simply can't afford a new car and the car means too much to bill.

So enter Gwendolyn Zapp. Zapp is played by SNL album Cheri Oteri and Oteri.. is fucking phenominal here. I didn't really remember her much from SNL but here, she's hilarous and the animation helps, given Gwendlon a lot of weird jerky movements. She comes off like a muppet wearing a human costume and it's great to see.

Zapp in addition to making Robo Pants, had a Kludge herself, and I like this bit of humanizing to an objectively zany nonsense character. She wants to shoot it off into space, not that she tells bill that last part, because she generally wants the Truck on mars with her. That's... really it.

She offers one of her fancy tesla like cars.. back when they made cars people would want and not giant metallic divorce machines that malfunction if you so much breathe on them wrong. THe family agrees and again I like that Bill isn't being a stick in the mud, that he dosen't always HAVE to be against something and accepts the car.

I gotta admit I wasn't looking forward to this plot as it's one i'd seen before: Bobs Burgers did a similar plot with Sacred Couch, albeit with Louise destroying the couch so they'd get another, and King of the HIll's Chasing Bobby, which had Hank Stubbornly refuse to get rid of his old truck till a train makes the decision for him. Sadly this episode dosen't quite hit the highs of those others, and I wasn't a huge fan of sacred couch to begin with: the family likes the new car, which Cricket names Dr Bubblebutt because of course he does, until they don't with Gramma too overly relaxed by the massage features and Tilly nearly dying being cooked like a waffle.

While Cricket gets restrained by Dr. B mistaking him for being a baby.. which... fair. But what I like is Bill admits Dr Bubblebutt is objectively better, he just misses his old truck as do they all and wants what he considers a member of the family. My problem with that is it kinda.. breaks the groundeness of the series. And yes this is the same series where soon after they have to scramble to save their old truck from being sent to mars, I admit that, but the core of the series is grounded, like early simpsons: The Greens aren't destitute but do struggle with money, having come to the city in the first place because they had to sell the farm and by this point are on managable but still uneasy footing. It takes a lot of hard work and the upswing of sales from the Deliveries and farmers market to get them solvent and the later increased crops from getting the farm back to put them in the black and even then it's more a modest success. So Bill taking back a car that's pretty much broken without any solution just dosen't quite work. I can buy the series elastic reality, but not when it breaks the series more grounded bits.

The climax is decent with Dr Bubblebut sacrifing themself for it's new family.. which again makes me think this would work better if they just.. had ot accept hte new car. This episode is okay.. it's a great introduction to Gwendlolyn Zapp, but otherwise is a plot i've both seen before and done better, getting the sentiment part down but grounding in reality better. Thankfully the later episdoes with Gwendolyn have the cartoony fun without ignoring the series more grounded bits, ala early simpsons.

This one opens with Cricket and Bill going to get farm tools as their down to just .. er.. uh...

Melissa yeah that's it, she's the mower. Also Melissa's wiki page needs serious work. The wiki for this show is fantastic otherwisse and has been an absolute dream in getting this review done. And gramma ramming into things just isn't a good hammer. Cricket's annoyed at loosing his day which is fair, why Bill needed Cricket or thought he'd be at all helpful I don't rightly know. But Cricket hates Chorin and wishes there was an end to it. Cue a Gwendolyn Zapp hologram who introduces her latest invention: the Farmbot: A robot made to resemble farmers using actual farmer dna.

Yeah we're only two episodes into having Gwendolyn Zapp and we're already up to her cloning baby farmers to harvest their dna. And the saddest part was were this at all legal we'd already have tesla baby farms. Tesla Baby Farms: only one in every two babies catches fire!

So despite the dubious sci fi hellscape methods made to create the farmbot, named F.R.A.N.K., Cricket is intrested as he's one worker who WANTS to be replaced by automation. Suprisingly Cricket actually thinks of the cost for once and knows they probably can't afford F.R.A.N.K. but there's a free 30 day trial and Bill figures eh why not, more hands make less work.

The setup is really well done with Bill once again not being a stick in the mud. Sadly the bulk of the episode.. is a plot we've seen before. And look while I complain about having seen a tried and trued sitcom plot on this blog a lot, I just did earlier, i'm not against it if you can do something fresh with it. That King of the Hill Ep I mentioned, Chasing Bobby, is one of the series best and the more i've had to think about it for this article, the more I love it. It's not one I go to often, because hank really is a jackass at times, but it's a well done story about accepting loss and listening to your children. All through a truck.

This however is just "X Character suddenly has too much free time and annoys the hell out of everyone". It happens a lot usually when a characters between job and while the setup is unique, Bill is such a workaholic him not having to work hard leaves him with NOTHING to do, the jokes are just kinda eh: Bill is too hands on for Cricket's latest shenanigan, a leaf blower jet pack, accidently sits on one of Tilly's toys at a teaparty (The one joke that really works) and annoys Gramma by ruining her painting. Bob Joles tries, lord does he, but the plot is just too by the jokes aren't just there. You can elevate a stock plot with jokes, as the Loud House did a hiccups episode that was actually funny thanks TO it's jokes, but this isn't their finest hour.

Cricket tries to teach bill to relax by watching tv, but that backfires and he overdoes it. I do love the tv's notifcations as he's binge watching

This episode isn't TERRIBLE it's just kinda there. The climax is good as Cricket realizes he needs his actual dad back and goes to destroy the farmbot... who refuses to shut down, rebels and leads to a fight with cricket, then him tilly and gramma nad finally bill who gets into a fist fight iwth a robot. Look I may not LIKE this episode, but I can't hate one that has a fist fight with a robot. I just can't.

I do love the ending punchline too of them returning it.. and the Saleman's casual and smiley "Yeah that's been happening a lot! Cash or credit?"

I do like the black mirror shout out here. While I don't watch Black Mirror, I do apricate doing something similar to it's cracked screen motif it uses for it's logo and various promos. I also like that this is more an homage than a direct parody: most kids probably won't have seen black mirror, but using the basic concept, seeing how a modern technology could be taken to scifi distopia levels in the not too distant future, works and they already had the perfect character for that. Also just as a note it would be REALLY fun to get Cheri Oteri to guest in a black mirror episode. Just saying.

At any rate this episode, while still having jokes, is more a character piece as once again the family is delivering to Big Tech, a name that's so on the nose it works. I mean they already live in big city, the pun is right there, i'd use it too.

Bill wants everyone else to stay in the car as everywhere they go there's chaos. It's a nice bit of lampshading you see from a show after a bit and I like what they do with it, with Tilly, being the quiet completlative type, wondering if that's true and what they could do about it. And while I do feel bill was wrong to leave Tilly behind, he wasn't exactly wrong on his mother and son as Gramma and Cricket bounce the second they can.

So TIlly goes to fetch her family only to find Gwendolyn Zapp's latest product presentation: New You! Using computers subjects would upload their brains, have their flaws removed and come back being perfect. It's an idea that honestly could be a black mirror episode, the idea of humanity erasing it's flaws not realizing why those matter. It's simple, horrific, and plausable.

And to seemingly prove bill's own point the greens end up destroyign the presentation: Bill accidently got trapped in a pod due to nerves, Gramma stole a fucking mech suit to piece by piece replace herself, and Cricket stole a golden egg from a bunch of geese, a truly amazing refrence.

Tilly apologizes and Gwendolyn, true to form.. is instead HAPPY.. mostly because the greens seem like the perfect test subjects for New You. They all agree, if reluctantly aside from Tilly.

So our heroes get their brains uploaded and end up in the digtial world. Sadly there are no agumon in this episode but we do get a LOT more Gwendolyn Zapp. So the plan is simple: she gets their flaws to pop up, using the computer so they appear as binary code she can use a big gun to

Away. I do like the line the episode threads: this idea is inherently unsettling, but they do thread enough comedy in the first half or so to ease you into it. And the comedy is great. We have Gwendolyn casually, and horrifyingly making backups "ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR WORK", and while you can see where we're going with those, it's enough of a great bit of black comedy to see her drag full copies of the greens minus tilly into a folder to work. I also like her using a giant cable sized gun and casually answering "No" when asked if it has to be this big.

So it's time to zippy zapp their problems away: Bill's anxiety which stems from , unsuprisingly, his mother crticizing how he picked flowers as a child. Alice is just.. always angry like a hulk and Cricket got attention the first time he destroyed somethign. It's a nice bit of character in this fun high concept episodes.

So seemingly this isn't the worst thing: removing one's worst flaws probably isn't a bad idea and Bill's anxiety, Alice's rage and Cricket's destrcutiveness, impulsivness and need for attention could be worked on. The problem is Zapp.. goes too far.. she finds EVERY fault htey have and lasers it away and the result is deeply unsettling. The Perfected Greens are smily shells of who they were: Cricket is the perfect child, Alice makes cookies and is sedate and Bill is no longer afraid. What makes it so creepy, besides the nice touch of bags under the eyes, is that .. it's not them. It's something resembling them, but it's not the characters we've come to love. Thes how makes a valid if hard aseop: that yes we all have flaws... but their also part of us. They can be worked on and I appricate the show having bill, we'll get to that, make it clear they do have room for improvment, but you can't just.. remove something like Anxiety or anger issues. You can work on them, I need to work on both, but you have to accept it's part of you or you'll never get better.

So Tilly wants her old family back and Gwendolyn naturally sees this as a flaw. Thankfully we have that handy chekovs gun and Tilly frees the copies. This leads to a mirorr match, with the backups winning because their flaws give them the edge and escaping just in time as the digital world collapses, seemingly killing gwendolyn.

So this leaves a moral quandry I hadn't thought about till going to the tv tropes page that even the creators aren't sure on: Are the greens that came out really THEM? After all it apparently used the backups and the real ones were apparently erased.

My take? Yes the originals were destroyed. Which is horrifying as it means one version of the family was essnetially brainwashed and then died horribly. But the copies are ultimately the same characters: they were put away in a folder before the big change in these two versions of the greens, have all the same emotoins, memories, and what not. Like a data backup their the family BEFORE the procedure took place, and thus I treat them like the family we've been following this whole time. It'd be like if you perfectly duplicated a file on a computer: The only distinction till you change either version is that one came second. There is a lot of exestential questions from this: are the original greens technically dead? How many times can you copy yourself and still be you? But there not ones this episode sets out. It put the greens in a folder, copies perfectly so we could do this high concept without loosing them. And given they and Gwendloyn, who also backed herself up are the same, i'm inclined to treat them as the same people for the most part, just not the ones who died horribly.

Green Mirror is now one of my faviorite episodes, a creative, creepy romp with a lot of good jokes, a good message told just right, and a LOT of Gwendolyn Zapp. And even the ending as weird as it is that the greens are technically copies of themselves, had a lot of intresting implications to think about. They did a perfect homage that would fit right alongside the original.

The biggest episode of this collection and one of the series few half hour specials. It's also their second halloween special which is why we're doing this retrospective in october even though only 2/5 of the episodes are horror. I might do the other two halloween specials next year if your all intrested.

For now though Squashed! takes us to season 3, with this being the premiere though the next episode, Boss Life, seems to be the intended season premire. Still it doesen't harm the season any and is a LOT of fun.

So we open with Gwendolyn Zapp's latest project having seemingly failed. She takes some martian goop with her and leaves her staff behind to be mauled by possessed vegetables while she takes this dangerous chemical that already nearly killed people to earth.

On earth our heroes are preparing for Halloween! Their second one after Blood Moon aka that time they tied up gloria and left her for dead.

I double checked with Kev. The poor girl just gets a chuckle for this and understandably intends to just work through this at the Cafe she now owns. With the family trying to assure her that

Hopefully once season 4 wraps we can do a Gloria retrospective but for now our heroes are all getting set with Cricket and Tilly showing off their costumes: Cricket is Trickor, a jester who plays pranks and looks like Pomni before that character existed, and Tilly is bill complete with a padding pillow. Bill is touched though tells her one is enough. He has to have pride.

Said pride is shattered right after as while everyone's excited for pumpkins this years are teeny tiny. Bill goes to deliver some to Big Tech, dejected and Tilly comes along because cheering her up is what Bill does so as Bill she should cheer Bill up.

So they go to big tech and Gwen is delighted at the tiny pumpkins.. because she can juice them up with the space goo she what found. For once Bill.. isn't intrested and it makes sense. The previous three times he was offered a car that was proven to be safe, reliable and more than any trade in on the kludge could provide. He was offered extra help for a month. He was offered some mental health he didn't know going in was going to be "erase your personality with a raygun". None of them worked sure but it makes sense it'd take a few tries to make him warry of Big Tech. Granted her destroying their minds with a big ole laser and killing corrupted versions of them shoudl've also made him pull out buisness with Gwendolyn, Tilly sums up why they put up with her "She has money papa". IT's that sly commentary that sometimes when your a small buisness you have to deal with people you don't want to. Zapp is dangerous as fuck.. but she DOES clearly pay well which is more than you can say for most bilionares.

So Bill declines the untested grow juice that looked like it came out of a stygian hole in the ground. Tilly however swipes some because she just wants her dad to be happy.

So i'ts party time! That includes both a bunch of recurring characters like Officer Keys, Kiki, Bennie and Wheezie and.. whoever these people are

If you know tell me. I'm digging purple witch lady.

So the party is in full swing and everythings going smoothly for all but two guests. Vasquez is in a bad way as while he's wearing matching dinosaur costumes with Remy, which is just.. adorable, he can't quite grasp that everythings not real but also scary so his papa wolf senses are all upside down.

The other is bill whose attempts to carve the tiny pumpkins scaare the children but is delighted at the juiced up results. Naturally this being a halloween episode and us having seen Gwen leave people for dead over the results, this can't remotely go well. The fact Tilly lied on a family sitcom does not help.

Tilly gets paranoid as Benny swears he sees a face on one, and when checking in on a prank by cricket, finds out that nope, their real when one attacks them. And I LOVEEEE the designs on the alien mutant pumpkins

Three eyes and that sickly glow is all they really need to be deeply terrifying and the red pumpkin guts adds to it while adding a gore factor to their smashing. Somehow the censors okayed this and that's wonderful.

So our heroes TRY to stop the party but community sue ain't going to stop partying till community sue is ready to stop partyin.. also the pumpkins attack publicly making it hard to hdie and reveal another trick.. they can posses people by getting on their heads, taking out most everyone except bill, whose captured, tilly, cricket and Remy, and poor, poor poor gloria who closed up early to join the party only to get attacked once again

I'm really happy she seems to sit out the most recent halloween special, both segments as Gloria has been through enoguh shit. Let her make out with Katy Lynn or do some poetry in a beret in a dark room. She already has enough stress in her life.

So we're down to a small party of survivors. The good news, as Cricket finds out fighting a pumpkinfied vasquez they can be free. And better news while they got him in the first place because he thought it was another halloween fright and not an alien invasion, Vasquez is back in his comfort zone.

They do make the mistake of splitting up gang, but for valid reasons. Bill was dragged outside so Tilly goes to free him and that leaves DA Boys to clean house.

So while they do and find a weird.. horrifying eldrtich pumpkin spire growing out of people.

Gotta say love the scares in this one. It's not too extreme for kids but grown ass me is still creeped out.

So Tilly rescues Billy.. ugh.. no.. she rescues bill. Never calling him that again. Feels so wrong. Tilly rescues her daddy guy and he finds out she done fucked up and is upset. .but then gets grabbed by pumpkins again, leading to an awesome fight as Tilly and Bill go back to back:

"How are we going to fight them? "By doing what we do best.. we farm"

So we get a kickass farm tool zombie pupmkin fight with cricket eventually joining in. It's sadly for nough as our heroes get overwhelmed.. but luckily Cricket has a plan. He makes it look like he got stabbed what bad, which IS okay by network standards as this happened a few months prior

This fake death allows Tilly to run over the last pumpkin with a fucking lawnmower. Bill forgives her as hey she saved the human race from plant monsters instead of feeding them, and Zapp shows up, realizes i'ts over and heads back to mars.

Squashed is my faviorite of the five, with green mirror a close second. A fun zombie romp with a unique twist, toneso f great scares and child friendly kills, and a heck of a finale. Truly fantastic and I can see why their next special was two shorts instead. This one would be hard to top and given how the season ends, I suspect season 3 was written knowing this might be it given that's usually when Disney forces a series to clock out, hence the big swing in the second half and going all out for halloween.

So with that we end this.. oh right... that one.

We end on an.. okay one. I do like the concept: Cricket is doing deliveries for the Gloria + Green Cafe and takes HOURS to do them due to stopping off to play pingpong with Miss Torrees, a widow played by the legendary Rosie Perez. I do like the opening, cricket going around, delvering coffees and having a report with the customers.

Sadly he's also four hours late and Gloria is stressed to all hell because he disappears for hours on end, even though she knew who she was hiring and the cafe probably can , even this early on, afford to hire help that is'nt a children. So you see both sides: Gloria is right to be stressed but Cricket.. is a children and is keeping the customer company and getting another grandma out of the deal.

So in comes Gwendolyn Zapp who happened to be sitting there and offers Gloria a free delivernator, a dog like robot that is honestly the most down to earth thing she's made all series a si'ts fairly close to where real life bots are at. It can do it fast, dosen't need pay or unions. Cricket however LIKES doing deliveries so a contest is held: may the best noun win, and winner gets the job, looser gets inventory.

It goes how you'd expect: The delivernator easily laps cricket even with Remy and Vasquez slowing it down, even rebuilding itself, whlie Cricket gets held up with Ms Torres. But ultimately the fact Cricket actually spends time with the customers, if way too much on the ping pong court, that wins him as while he's not FAST the customers love him. That and he promises to cut it down. Gwendolyn can't fathom her choice but leaves with the dog anyway.

There's also a whole subplot about Gramma declaring war on the ants in the house and stabbing them with a sword after they destroy her cinnamon roles. This at least solves inventory as bill comes in half crazed willing to do anything for them and lucky he made the right turn into the coffee shop and not an alley way.

I just kinda glazed over as I watched this one so I don't have much to say. It exists, i've seen better man vs machine stories, but I appricate it for pointing out WHY workers are more valuable than souless robots. When the robots get souls then we'll be in trouble.

So that's Gwendolyn Zapp, CEO, Lunatic and one of the shows best chartacters. I admit 3/5 of these episodes are okay, not bad but not really great, but her presecne alone livens them up, while also allowing the show to take on sci fi plots with Green Mirror and Squashed. Part of why those eps could be as ambitous and fun as they were is that Gwendolyn Zapp helps break the show out of it's usually grounded nature and into it's more simpsony-over the top aspects that lay just under the surface. Again I may of only LOVED two of these episodes.. but i'm glad I saw all of them.

So that' sit.. for now as next month we take a GREEN FAMILY VACATION and look at the recent movie, with Gwendolyn front and center as our big bad. See you then and thanks to reading.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Tbh, timeline is the least of my problem with Miraculous. I was born around the time Detective Conan released and 20 smt years later the he's still first grade elementary, so yeah, I'm so used to the whole comic book timeline. My problem is with how fast he "fell in love" with Marinette, the girl who he rarely talk to because she always got tongue tied in front of him, the girl who he think is hated him in pupetter 2. Which also the episode the writers claimed to be the episode when Adrien fell in love with her.

Anyway, Adrien get over Emilie's death in less than a year is weird yet he's also a character who tend to keep everything bottled inside and also an "actor". I think many people already write about how good of an actor he is. The fact that we rarely get his POV also doesn't help in grasping his thought about his mother's death.

In special (I watch FR dub) though, we got an implication that he hasn't truly move on but he tried to. When asked by Griffe Noir about why he never try to get the wish despite knowing it could revive his (our) mother, he admitted that he has thought about it. It's the price that he wouldn't want to put to anyone. Life for a life.

“I resumed my life, trying to be happy just like what she would've wanted. I have friends who support me. I'm alright now. ...well, as alright as possible anyway."

I read the line as Adrien being "fake it till I make it" and he haven't fully move on, he's just good at hiding it. Which is pretty in character for him imo. The thing about being "easy children" is that everyone tend to think you're always alright, that you have no problem and with a parent with emotional immaturity like Gabriel being an easy children is a must, or punishment awaits him. So the combination of "what Emilie would like him to do" and Gabriel parenting who hates when Adrien being emotional, we got this child who tried to be okay and griefing alone.

I agree that the timeline isn't a huge deal, it's just kinda fun to point out how nuts it is. Adrien falling in love with Marinette is far less fun to talk about because I don't buy it for a second. Especially since it's literally the episode after Jubilation. You know, that episode where Chat Noir and Ladybug got married and had a bunch of kids? That's the thing that makes him give up on Ladybug? REALLY???

And then they have the audacity to claim that Marinette is the one who is lying to herself about her crush flip:

Alya: You're lying to yourself anyway, you’re in love with Adrien. (Elation, S5E9)

Because Marinette giving up on a guy she barely talks to after her crush lost her all of the miraculouses is totally ridiculous, but Adrien giving up on his partner who he's closer to than ever before makes perfect sense. Right.

I mean, I know crushes don't have to make sense, but this is a story not real life! This is not how you tell a convincing love story!

Re Emilie, you make a fair point about the special actually acknowledging Adrien's pain. It was a nice moment and I agree with how you say Adrien should be played. I just don't think that's actually what the writers are going for since season five has Adrien never talk about Emilie and ends with her statue destroyed so that Adrienette can have a new makeout spot. I really think we're supposed to read Adrien as fully moved on, possibly from both of his parents. It's really gross. Unless season six surprises us and Emilie is back, which might actually be enough to make me watch it. I really doubt it, though.

[elvendria]

NOTICING YOU - e.m x fem reader Part Three

tw: Reader is a cynic who doesn't believe in love, Claudia Henderson isn't the best :/ (is that a trigger? idk.), big sister acts like a parent, smoking, insomniac (??kinda if you squint??), swearing, jealous!Eddie (if you squint), pet names

word count: 4710

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part one part two part three part four part five part six part seven

Y/N'S POV

"So, were you able to get through to someone to get your car fixed?" Mom asked. I told her the conversation I had over the phone with Eddie and explained that he'd be here first thing in the morning to collect the car and take it to the shop. 

"First thing? But they're always swamped with cars on a Saturday. I thought you wouldn't get seen till Sunday, Monday at the latest." Mom said. 

"Same here," I attempted to stifle a yawn but failed. "I've to be up early so uh... goodnight." I turned around and walked away.

I was never close with Mom, and then things kicked off with Dad. 

I guess it was then I realised I wasn't as close with either of my parents as I had thought.

I padded down the hall towards Dustin's room in my bare feet, the feeling of the cool wood underneath my feet relaxing me with each step. I passed by my room to see Tews sitting on my bed cleaning herself. I hate that cat and I have no idea why my mom loves it so much. 

That's not to say all cats are bad, I just don't like this particular cat. 

Knocking on Dustin's bedroom, I waited to hear him say "It's open," before opening it slightly and sticking my head around the door. 

"Goodnight boys," I smiled at them, all gathered around together talking about god knows what.

 Mike, Will and Lucas will always feel like little brothers to me, I've known them so long. It felt weird seeing them as a trio, and a part of me missed seeing Will around the place. I hope he's happy in California. 

"Night Y/n!" 

"Thanks for letting us stay over!"

"Sleep. Soon." I said pointedly, "Just because you're in high school now does not mean you are to be up all night. You'll just end up being super tired tomorrow."

"But can't we just have-" Dustin started. 

"Dustin the last time you had coffee you went nuts. Not happening again under my watch." I said, leaving the room

"Technically we're under Mom's watch," He mumbled back defeatedly. 

I stuck my head back around the door, giving him a look that blatantly said 'Really? Moms' watch? Have you ever even met our mother?' before he groaned causing me to laugh as I exited the room. 

Sometimes I love to play the authoritative big sister card just to mess with him, it can really piss him off. 

I didn't know how what time 'first thing' was, I'm grateful and all but couldn't he be a bit more specific? Either way, I was going to need to get to sleep so I could wake up early. I set my alarm for 7:30 am, which isn't even a time that should exist on a Saturday morning, so I could get up and be ready for when he calls. I had switched off the handbrake and managed to push the car till it was outside my house. Could've done with Robin's freakishly strong arms but she had her Family Video shift, plus I'm fairly sure I earned a few muscles of my own. 

Changing into a pair of old biker shorts and an oversized misfits t-shirt, I crawled into my bed and lay on my side, willing sleep to come, but my head was so full of thoughts it was like there was no switching it off. I lay like that until I could hear everyone in bed, and the faint sound of my mother's snoring echoed through the halls. 

When I was certain that she was asleep, I snuck out of the house and sat on the swing bench on our porch, curling my knees up to my chest underneath my shirt and resting my head on them. 

There was something about the nighttime, the way the town went silent. As a kid, I used to believe that because it was so quiet, everyone would be able to hear the slightest noise you make. On nights like these, I sometimes wonder the same thing. 

Except now I know about science and the speed of sound, so the idea is a complete fantasy. 

Sitting on the bench, lighting up a cigarette from my stash that kept my hands slightly warm. I looked out at the sky, not seeing a single star. Not seeing anything but the faint glow of the street lamps from down the road. There was a faint breeze that wrapped around my ankles now and again, but other than that it was a warm night, unusually warm for October. 

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

I sat there until I could see orange streaks beginning to paint the sky. So much for trying to get some sleep. I unfolded myself from the swing and walked to my room, careful not to wake anyone. Checking my alarm clock, I saw that it was 7 am. I could try and get a 30-minute nap in but knowing me, I'd sleep past my alarm. 

I took a shower, scrubbing the smell of the night air off my skin. I wanted to stay in the shower, to feel the steam rise around me, but I didn't have the time. I turned off the water, wrapped my hair and body in a towel, and then made my way to my room to start getting ready. 

I debated drying my hair but decided I wasn't in the mood to deal with the frizz today (I never am). Pulling on a low-cropped white shirt, black ripped jeans and combat boots, I got changed and grabbed some cereal before sitting on the couch and reading. By the time Eddie pulled up, my hair was almost dry but still damp in places. 

The doorbell rang and I looked at my mother, not surprised to find her fawning over that stupid cat once again. I got up and answered the door, a part of me freaking out before remembering why he was here.

"Hi," I said quietly, fear washing over me as I suddenly realised this was my first time talking to Eddie, face to face. 

"Hey," he replied equally as sheepish. Was something wrong? Had I done something?

His eyes moved down towards my exposed waistline, and I desperately wanted to grab a hoodie to cover up.

He must've found the shitty brown carpet very fascinating because he couldn't seem to look away from it. "So the truck is parked out front, I've hooked your car up to it and everything, I just need you to come down to the shop to fill out some stuff." He told me. I figured I'd have to go to the mechanics at some stage today, I just didn't think it would be so soon.

"Do you want a coffee or something before we go?" I pointed my thumb towards the kitchen, the mannerisms that my grandmother drilled into me coming into play again. He looked up, our eyes holding each other and suddenly I felt like there was a magnetic in each of his eyes, drawing me in closer. 

From where we were standing you could see beside the kitchen, where my mom was sitting there, talking to Tews like it was a human baby. 

"Uhm, maybe some other time?" He said, suppressing a grin.

"Yeah sure," 

Had I just 'yeah sure' d the idea of coffee with Eddie Munson? 

"I'll grab my mom's car keys, just hang on two seconds." I turned towards the living room where my Mom was sitting, combing the cat with an old comb of mine. 

"Um, there's room up the front of the truck if you want to ride up there with me?" He asked me, "It might be a bit easier." 

I turned one more time to look at my mother, who was now singing lullabies to this freaky cat before agreeing.

God, I miss Mews. Now that was a cat who did not like to be coddled.

Just as I was about to pull the door behind me, my mother called out. "Remember you're trying on dresses for homecoming this afternoon! We'd better hurry or all the good ones will be sold out!" 

My heart dropped and I wanted to strangle her. I prayed to whoever was up there that Eddie hadn't heard her.

I threw my book bag over my shoulder, I never liked to leave home without it. He opened the car door for me and waited till I was in okay before running to check that everything was hooked up properly. While I was waiting for him, I sat noticing all the little details in it. Things like his pack of cigarettes and a lighter, or a few jumbled-up mix-tapes sitting in the glove box and in the pockets on the driver-side door. A black bandana was thrown across the dashboard, most likely the one that Eddie carries around all the time. 

What surprised me most was the pack of hair ties hidden underneath his rolling papers. Although I guess when you have as much hair as he does and work as a mechanic, tying it up is more of an occupational precaution.

He opened his door and threw off his coat before jumping in. He grabbed a hair tie and pulled his hair back, and I tried my hardest not to look as every muscle in his arm flexed. Made all the more visible by his grey muscle shirt, his tattoos on full display.

"Buckled up?" He asked me, I nodded as I closed the seat belt around myself. He did the same and then started up the car. He drove with one hand on the wheel and another on the gear stick, right next to my knee. Every so often there'd be a bump in the road and his knuckles would graze against my jeans or my exposed knee, sending off shocks from where he touched me. 

The silence was deafening, the only noise coming from the metal music on his radio. It was a bunch of different bands which made me think it was a mix-tape. I was going to say something, compliment the music, but Eddie beat me to the punch before I could open my mouth. 

"So, you're going to homecoming?" His eyes were fixed straight ahead on the road. There was a tone to his words that I couldn't quite decipher, almost nervous.

"Um. Yeah," I fidgeted with my hands in my lap. "last year and all that, figured I'd see what all the fuss was about while I still can."

"And uh," His grip on the steering wheel tightened, his eyes unwavering from the road ahead, "and do you have a date?"

My chest tightened and I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe given the thickness of the air around us. 

"No, it's just me and Robin," I said lowering my head, suddenly very fascinated by my hands, "We'll probably both just sit on the bleachers till 10 pm before figuring out some way home."

"Good," he muttered quietly, almost as if he didn't want me to hear him. I had so many questions, but a few stuck out in my mind. 

 Was he happy I wasn't bringing a date? Or that I wouldn't be dancing?

"Are you going?" Why had I asked that? 

"No, it's uh," He chuckled slightly, "Not really my scene,"

I don't know why my blood felt cold and my heart sank as he said this, but they did. 

 Master of Puppets by Metallica came on, and I started tapping my foot quietly, letting the questions and feelings fade with every strum of the guitar. Dad hated this song, but I always thought it was a good one. Hearing it again after so long caused goosebumps to make their way across my skin.

"Come Crawling Faster,"

I thought I was singing under my breath, but that last line came out louder than expected. I sat there and prayed he hadn't heard me. 

"Obey Your Master," He sang back, a smirk plastered on his face. 

His voice sent tingles down my spine and makes the hair on my arms stand upright, leaving me with goosebumps all over my skin. He was so close to me that I was almost certain he could feel the tension rising within me. 

He looked like he was going to say something, but then we turned onto the gravel path leading up to the mechanics, and the moment was gone.

Why does he make me feel like this, it's not like I have a crush on him or anything. Crushes are for girls in middle school and people with their heads in the clouds.

Maybe it was just because he was helping me out with the car. Yeah, people find plumbers and firefighters hot all the time, it's just because they're providing a service. 

Not that I find Eddie hot. I mean he is very attractive, and when he stretches his arms it makes me feel all weird inside, but I am most certainly not attracted to Eddie. 

The truck came to a halt outside the workshop. Eddie jumped out of the truck and rushed around to my side just as I was opening the door. 

"Here, it's a bit of a step-down. I'll give you a hand." He said. I swung both of my feet out as he held the back of my arm with his large hand, and I would've been fine. 

But I'm me, and I have to fill my daily awkward quota.

I started to climb down, my back to Eddie as I side-stepped out of the van, the coldness of his rings sending mini shockwaves from where he held my arm and wrist when my ankle went from under me, making me fall sideways. 

I squinted my eyes, sure that I was going to hit the pavement. An absolute goner that was going to end up in the hospital before dying of pure embarrassment. But the ground never came to meet me. 

Instead, I was pulled tight against something, a pair of arms wrapped around my back and legs. It felt like all the breath had left my body, and a strong smell of cigarettes and sandalwood filled my nose. 

I opened my eyes as Eddie gripped me to his chest, looking down at me as he held me bridal style. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as his dark orbs explored my face. 

I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, but he rubbed his finger in circles across my knee where his hand gripped my leg. The air felt electric, almost as if it could shock us both if we moved. His arm was on my back and I was glad it wasn't a few inches lower.

I was almost certain his dark eyes flickered down to my lips and lingered for a second, before quickly returning to look me in the eye. 

We looked at each other in silence. I felt his hot breath fan my face and caught the smell of mint.  I was almost certain he was going to say something, but he just cleared his throat.

"Sorry," 

"Are you okay?" He said at the same time as me. 

"Oh uh. I'm okay." I stammered through my words, "Thank you." 

We looked at each other again, and a small part of me didn't want him to put me down, but that idea was quickly erased from my mind when Eddie cleared his throat again, gradually lowering me till I was on my feet. I could tell that the awkwardness I was feeling was mutual as we both shuffled our feet.

The workshop was on the other side of town, it was a long walk home without the car, and I didn't want to trouble Eddie with driving me home. But it was like he was reading my mind because the next thing he said was, 

"You should come in and sit down," He motioned to the desk and chair beside him, piled high with paperwork. "It's supposed to rain on and off all day. I'll drive you home after I take a look at this baby." He unhooks the car from the truck before pushing it into the shop.

"Oh, thanks. You don't have to." I replied, moving towards the desk and placing down my book bag,  desperate to keep the nerves out of my voice.

"My pleasure." He smiled.

 He bent into the driver's side, fiddling for something. 

"Oh, there's a knack for popping the hood,  here I can-" I started, but before I could finish he had done it, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. 

Eddie looked at me, and suddenly the concrete floor became very interesting, "Just a bit of pressure and some elbow grease should do the trick." He says, climbing back out of the car. 

He opens up the hood and takes a look as I sit down and place my bag on my lap. I want to ask if he minds me doing homework, but I don't want to look like I'm ignoring him or being rude.  

"Ok so, " he started, and I suddenly felt a drop in my stomach. What if my baby was fucked, and I could never drive her again? What if all she was good for anymore was spare parts? I was so worked up about never being able to drive my girl again that I completely forgot about the guy inspecting her. 

My freak out must've been clear on my face because Eddie's face became very soft and gentle, 

"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry, it's only a faulty spark plug and wire casings. You're alignments a bit off and your transmission is failing, but it's nothing I can't fix for you. There are some other things here and there that I'll need to get some parts for, and no offence but your car is an older model so it might take a while to get them all." He gave me a small smile, easing my nerves slightly. Eddie sounded like he knew what he was doing, so clearly he did. Right? 

"I'll be honest, none of that makes sense," I said, as he walks around and pulls out the chair for me. He's surprisingly chivalrous, opening car doors and pulling out chairs. I don't know what I expected him to be like, but it wasn't this. "I don't think she's ever been looked at after Dad renovated her." I sat in the chair and wonder why I ever thought my dad was a reliable person as Eddie walks into what I assume is a storage closet. 

"Here," he says, handing me a radio and a box of tapes that were just around, "Pick out some music, I wanna see what you choose." He had put the car on a lift earlier and was in the process of raising her, a skateboard and toolbox beside him. Once he was happy she was at a reasonable height he dropped to his knees beside the board, then flipped himself over so he was lying flat against it, using it to push himself under the car. 

I was flicking through the mix tapes he had when one stood out to me. Dad used to play it for Dustin as a kid, which in hindsight seems a bit weird but at the time it made him laugh and dance like crazy. 

Rock You Like A Hurricane by Scorpions started to echo around the building, and I hesitantly pulled out my economics textbook and attempted to try and understand this nonsense they tried to teach us, while Eddie just silently bopped his foot along to the tempo. 

Silence passed between us as I attempted to do homework and Eddie tried to fix my car, the only sound surrounding us being the music from Eddie's radio. Once homework was completed I started on a piano lesson plan for Joanna Kelly, a girl who lived down the street from us, I gave her parents a discount given how nice they were to myself and Dustin growing up. 

When that was over, I slyly pulled out a math notebook and began to work out my expenses. Eddie could try and sugarcoat it as much as he wants, but I knew this service wasn't going to be cheap. I mean, needing to get replacement parts? It's got to cost at least $2000+, which is definitely more than I make teaching kids how to play twinkle twinkle and three blind mice. I'd landed a job over the summer at the Hawkins Hypnotic Record Store, but only as a way to save up for college.

Now I'll have to apply for scholarships if I want any hope of getting into somewhere decent. That meant taking on more extracurriculars and writing a killer college essay. 

Ms Kelly had advertised on the intercom the other week about finding someone to help out in the front office for extra credit. Looks like I was going to be taking her up on it.

 I'm barely going to have time to breathe let alone sleep. 

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

Listening to Eddie banging and crashing around the car had me nervous, but only a small bit. Eddie knew what he was doing, his uncle didn't seem like the kind of guy to give Eddie a job based on familial connections. 

Suddenly Eddie comes flying out from under the car, grease and oil covering his face and sweat glistening along his arms, his tattoos practically shining. 

I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts about how much this was going to cost me that I didn't even notice him talking to me. 

"Hey, Y/n?" He asked with a touch of confusion, "Hellooo?" 

My head snapped to look at him, his voice bringing me to my senses.

"Sorry, I was lost in my own mind. Worrying about stuff y'know?"

He rubbed the grease off his face with a cloth and a soft grin, his eyes closed. I took this moment to examine him a bit further. He looked like he had strong arms, and his tattoos were kinda impressive and cool. I heard he paid his friend a 3 months supply of weed, and they did them with a pin and some type of ink. 

But I don't know if any of that is real.

"What does a pretty girl like you have to be worrying about?" 

Pretty girl.

The words bounced around my stomach before settling between my thighs. I squeezed them together as if on instinct, the words rolling over my skin like waves.

I remained silent, not too sure how to answer that, my mind was blank as I tried to ignore the sudden throbbing I felt.

A few moments pass by and Eddie sits up and looks at me, his hair coming loose from the hair tie.

"Hey, could you pass me the wrench? It's on the counter over there, it's the one with the round-"

"I know what a wrench looks like Eddie, I'll grab it now," I said shuffling around to the counter to look for it, silently loving the way his name felt on my tongue

5, maybe 6 minutes pass, and I've no luck. I had handed him a wrench, but apparently, it wasn't the right wrench. So now I was back staring at a workspace full of stupid tools with stupid names. 

I hadn't even heard Eddie come up behind me until I felt his breath. 

"Here, let me help" He spoke softly, "It's the least I can do,"

I wanted to tell him that he was fixing my car, and it was the least I  could do to find the stupid wrench when suddenly his hand was on my waist as he moved to step beside me. His fingertips brushed off me like tiny flames searing into the exposed skin, and I knew what was coming next.

I tried to resist it, believe me. But I can't help it. I've never been able to, it's my number one weakness. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth as I braced myself.

His fingers trailed along the base of my back. I managed to suppress the moan, but that was about it. Like always I arched my back and jerked sideways in a fit of the most unattractive laughs you can picture. 

Eddie didn't have to pull his hand away, I had already squirmed from his grip as he looked at me stunned. A toothy grin formed on his face as he crossed his arms. 

"What was that?" He said laughing slightly.

Looking at him laugh made me laugh more. It was like someone flipped my giddy switch. I turned to the countertop and bent over on it, determined to catch my breath with my hands clasped behind my head. 

"Oh god," I said breathlessly, "I'm sorry, I just have a really ticklish back."

I couldn't see his face, but when he spoke he whispered, 

"Heh, yeah," He said lowly, "That's definitely a first. I'll try not and accidentally tickle you in the future." I felt like he was grinning, but I was too embarrassed now to even look him in the eye. 

I nearly made a potential sex noise in front of Eddie Munson. 

After a bit of silence, I hear him say "Found it, it was a torque wrench I was looking for, sorry for the confusion."

His voice had become very soft, and once again we were wrapped in silence, only now it wasn't uncomfortable.

As the day went on, and while I was fretting over how I was going to pay for my car and most of the house bills, a few people came in to drop off their cars, barely exchanging words with the guy classed as the town freak. Eddie didn't look too bothered as they tossed him their keys before turning on their heel and walking away, but something told me deep down it annoyed him.

But what could I do? I doubt he'd want any consolation from me, he barely knows me. 

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

"Well, from the looks of things, the repairs shouldn't take more than 3 to 4 weeks. Maybe 5." He told me, which downhearted me slightly, I mean a whole month without my car? Maybe more? That was a whole month getting the bus to school, adding an extra touch of hell onto the day. 

"Oh, okay. Would you be able to give me a rough idea of the price? It's ok if you can't, I really appreciate you doing this for me." I gave him a slight smile and watched curiously as he looked to the ground and walked behind the counter. He almost looked nervous. 

"It's not going to be cheap, as you probably guessed, but luckily for you," He released a breath that sounded like he had been holding onto it for a while, resting his fist underneath his face "Flattery works with me." 

I gave a small chuckle, relieved that he was easing the tension. 

"I'll write up a docket next time you're here, we can sort something out then." He said calmly, moving to sit back in his chair. Meanwhile, my heart had started beating a mile a minute. 

"Next time I'm here?" I asked curiously

"Yeah, next time you're free and I'm working on your car. It's kind of nice to have someone around who appreciates good music," He was flipping through papers on the countertop, and I was praying he didn't look up anytime soon and see the mixture of surprise and confusion on my face. He looked at the clock on the wall behind him and I saw that I had spent the whole day here, and it was almost 9 pm. 

"C'mon it's getting late. Plus now you definitely can't walk home, it's too dark. My car is parked out front, I'll give you a lift." He pulled his keys off the rack and threw on his jacket that he took in from the back of the van earlier. 

"Um, thanks. Means a lot." And suddenly I was back to tripping over my words in front of him. 

He likes having me around?

He appreciates my music taste? 

Edward Munson, what are you doing to me?

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

part one part two part three part four part five part six part seven

[irishhills]

fragility

Eliza goes about the day in a stupor after finding out she’s on the prom court. The Class of ‘92 got together to vote on five prom princesses before they choose their queen, and she’s one of them. She’s not sure how to feel when they put that plastic tiara on her head. Two and a half years ago, she would have been desperate for it. She would have thought it was the best and only way to get noticed in all the right ways. For boys to think she was beautiful, for other girls to think she was worth talking to. So she could relate to her mother.

But now … now, she’s not sure what to feel. Everything’s happened in such a weird way. She hasn’t had a real boyfriend since Luke, and that was two years ago. But as of last month, she’s not a virgin, either. She’s not a virgin, but she hasn’t talked to the boy she slept with since the night she slept with him. She hasn’t even told anyone, except Blair, who swears she would never tell Chris, no matter how much she might want to. Two and a half years ago, Eliza thought this little plastic tiara was her ticket to love, beauty, sex … all of it. It doesn’t seem to mean much now. Just a sign that being the yearbook’s main photographer puts you at the front of people’s minds, even if you’re the one behind the camera. People want your lens to notice them, so they notice you. Even if they didn’t mean it.

She asks to go to the bathroom in the middle of fifth period, which feels like a silly thing to do. In a few months, she’ll be in college, and if she asks a professor the same question, they’ll look at her like she’s nuts. But these are the last weeks of high school, and hall passes are a necessary evil. She takes a slip of yellow paper from her teacher’s desk and wears the crown all the way down. When she gets to the bathroom, she grips the sink and stares at herself in the mirror. A real cinematic moment. Part of her expects “About a Girl” to start playing out of nowhere. Isn’t that the kind of song that would go here? Blair would know, but she wouldn’t understand the stress. The stress of a cheap tiara.

Eliza hears one of the stalls swing open. Over her shoulder, she sees Amy in the mirror, too. They politely smile at each other. It’s been a long time since they were really friends, but Eliza has never stopped loving her. She has never stopped hoping they could be friends again.

“Nice move on the prom court,” Amy says, and she really means it. Eliza can tell.

“Thanks. Sorry. I know you would have liked to be on it.”

“Eh, maybe. But homecoming court makes you ineligible, and I’m good with being homecoming queen. Don’t know how I pulled out that win.”

“Couldn’t have anything to do with you being popular and beautiful.”

Amy laughs like she doesn’t believe it, but Eliza knows she does.

“You don’t like it,” Amy says, almost out of nowhere. “Do you?”

Eliza’s heart stops.

“Don’t like what?”

“Being on the prom court. Having that kind of attention. Any of it.”

Eliza doesn’t say anything. There’s really no use in lying to Amy. After spending all of third, fourth, and fifth grade telling each other ridiculous secrets about TV star crushes, dream careers, and fantasy outfits, she knows Amy can see right through her. There is a kind of transparency that only comes from being children together. It never goes away.

“It’s just weird,” Eliza says, “to have that many people looking at me. I’m the one who’s usually looking at them, and now … I don’t know, do they expect me to take pictures of myself?”

Amy laughs a little. She shrugs, takes out a tube of lip gloss, and applies in the mirror like this is a normal conversation. Perhaps it is.

“The thing that got me,” Amy says, “was the fragility. You take off that crown, and it’s so cheap. It just … breaks without you even having to bend.”

“Did yours break?” Eliza asks. “Your homecoming crown?”

Amy shrugs again.

“I think so,” she says. “I kinda don’t remember.”

She waves goodbye and leaves without another word. Eliza still stands over the sink, and the crown still rests atop her head.

She’s not going to do anything on purpose, but she wishes it would fall off and crack in half. Just because.

(part of @nosebleedclub february challenge -- day 16!)

[beedlemania]

I'm copying my ask because I was told you could answer, but Ooooh, talk to me about genderfluid Davy! i know that's pretty vague, but go nuts, go crazy tell me everything you love about it because to me, it's canon.

To me, Davy exists in this area where they could be Bigender/Genderfluid/Transmasc/Transfemme/Intersex, and it just all works so well, like they just fit all of those at every given moment. So go nuts scream about Davy as a gendrfluid monkee

Trans Davy is everything to me!!

Okay so my headcanon of Davy being genderfluid mostly comes from how much he’s dressed in drag in the show and seems to actually enjoy it (except in some like it lukewarm). Like in my series on AO3, I think Davy found out during one of their adventures where he had to dress as a girl and was like 🧍🏻🙀🧍🏻‍♀️ and the rest was history.

I mean, growing up in a house with three sisters, Davy definitely had to learn to embrace femininity and I think its something that wasn’t seen as a big deal until he saw how others react to it. Like in Monkee vs Machine Davy seems in his element dressed as a girl, then in The Chaperone Micky’s all salty about dressing as a girl then suddenly, Davy’s protesting dressing up himself. It’s kinda like he was comfortable being feminine and being referred to as a girl until he saw Micky and was like “oops maybe it’s not normal to like it this much”. But that’s bordering on being off topic so ANYWAY

Davy’s real comfortable being a guy, likes being a guy, but then there’s times when he’s not so content. It starts small like he’ll see a girls outfit and be like “I wish I was a girl so I could wear groovy clothes like that” then snowballs and snowballs until he’s like “I wish I was a girl” but still, he’s comfortable being a guy so he’s really conflicted about it and has no clue what it means.

Sometimes he’s on a date and is swooning over this girl then sometimes he’s on a date and wishes he was the girl someone was swooning over. I think Davy would have a very 60’s stereotypical pov on it where being a guy means being all macho and buff, while being a girl means being dainty and looked after and we all know Davy loves attention and to be pampered.

Davy eventually figures out that he’s a he and sometimes a she and starts to gain some more confidence around the subject. She starts dressing in more typically feminine things but making plausible excuses to the guys “it’s not lipgloss, my lips were just chapped is all. Girls dont like kissing chapped lips.” And she just kinda integrates herself into average daily life until the other guys dont bat an eyelash when Davy’s wearing a skirt or eyeshadow.

The others would be supportive because really… things could be a lot worse things have been a lot worse.

Davy picks up on more feminine traits from his plethora of girlfriends. He watches how they act, dress, talk, etc and in his room alone she practices this stuff in front of the mirror. Peter catches her one day and just rolls with it and gives commentary that’s sometimes surprisingly harsh “a lady would never say such vulgar things”.

Babbitt is convinced Davy’s sister has come from England to live with the Monkees but he can’t increase rent because he’s never actually seen them in the same room at the same time.

I hope this answers your ask, I’m sorry I’m kinda blanking rn 😔😭. But I shall hopefully add more later and feel free to add your own takes/whatnot

[iamnotawomanimagod]

What did you think of Gag Order?

Oh god, I love it.

And, as per usual, when I love something, I write a damn essay about it. The shortest version: this is going to be my album of the year. I think it's Kesha's masterpiece.

It's definitely Kesha's most mature and vulnerable album yet. It reminds me a lot of If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey, in that they both deal with a lot of reflection, confronting their self-loathing, finding faith. But while I think IICHLIWP is ultimately Halsey's story about finding faith in love and in themself, Gag Order is about Kesha seeking answers and surrendering to something else.

It's powerful, nameless - and hard to resist wanting to follow her when she cries out for it. Some might call it "god," but I think that, while she does name-drop some religious figures, she's not really talking about any specific religion or belief system.

But I also think this album is about Kesha struggling with the darker parts of herself. Rainbow and High Road were so much about finding peace and acceptance, forgiveness and redemption. Even when she explored darker topics or her trauma, it was couched in this (probably necessary) optimism and positivity that acted as a wall between the painful truth and our perception of her. Maybe even her perception of herself.

I don't think she was willing or ready, for whatever reason, to fully leave the "Tik Tok"/"Die Young"/"Blow" party-queen of the early 2010s behind. Both Rainbow and High Road have had multiple party anthems on them, even if they were more grown up and less focused on youthful recklessness than the songs on Animal and Cannibal.

But the closest thing Gag Order has to a party/dance anthem, the kind Kesha is most known for, is "Only Love Can Save Us Now." And while it starts with a really aggressive, thumping (fun!) beat and the verses feature that iconic Kesha kinda-rap (her words, not mine,) the chorus bursts out in this incredible, gospel-esque belting chant of Kesha begging god to save her. And the music shifts from a dance/club beat to an acoustic guitar and a gospel choir arrangement.

It's so powerful, and while I go nuts to it, it definitely is a far-cry from songs like "Die Young" and "Blah Blah Blah," or even "Woman" and "Tonight."

It's not a song about partying. It's a song about surrender.

The same themes are echoed in songs like "Eat the Acid" and "Something to Believe In." Kesha was reckoning with some dark shit, and she found herself seeking something more. I don't know if she always liked what she found, or enjoyed the process.

As a result, it's also definitely Kesha's saddest album. She's had one or two sad songs on every album ("The Harold Song," "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes," "Resentment," "Father Daughter Dance," etc) but this record has at least four, depending on how you interpret them.

"Too Far Gone," "The Drama," "Living in My Head," "Fine Line," and "All I Need Is You" are all pretty sad, definitely more slow-tempo and ballad-y. And "The Drama" is the only one that ends with any sort of tongue-in-cheek humor.

That protective armor, the silly party-queen persona, is almost non-existent on this album. And as a result, this is Kesha's best work yet.

And I love party-queen Kesha, don't get me wrong!! I've loved Kesha since the beginning, I never had a moment where I didn't. I talk a lot about Halsey being the artist that changed pop music for me, but Kesha came before. There's no world where I listen to Halsey without Kesha. (God, y'all, I think I'm realizing how much she means to me writing this, lmao.)

The hopeful songs are definitely there, like "Hate Me Harder," "Happy," and "Peace and Quiet." But even those have a melancholy to them.

Sonically it's also really different. Not just the instrumentation, although that's a big part of it. It's more trance-y, industrial, kind of psychedelic, and the vocals involve more chanting and repetition. She's also using her voice in a really cool way, often more like an instrument than just a way to convey the lyrics.

The vocalizations in "Peace & Quiet" and "Living in My Head" are really novel, and I've never really heard her sing like that before. She started out singing as a yodeler, and I think people always underestimate her voice. It's stronger and more interesting than ever on this record.

I also really liked how she used the repetition of "you don't wanna be changed like it changed me" as a rhythm element in "Eat the Acid."

This album is definitely a departure from anything she's ever done, and I think it's going to have a mixed reception as a result. "Only Love Can Save Us Now," the closest thing to a party song, is already quickly becoming the most popular one on the album. A lot of them haven't even cracked 1mill plays on Spotify yet. (I'll get them there by myself dammit.)

But, if you ask me, it's a no-skip album. I think Kesha's first.

This is so long, and although I could absolutely keep going, I'll stop now. But I'll go deeper into my album ranking/what I think of each song if anyone asks, haha.

But yeah. Go listen to Gag Order. Unless you don't wanna be changed like it changed me.

[bisluthq]

The whole unfollow mess does look even more ridiculous when you realize she was already in deep with Matty 💀 I mean, yeah sure have everyone literally create the most wild theories about what your ex did to you to throw him under the bus when you have someone else already and couldn't even care less.

I also haven't forgotten how they tried to set the narrative so people would accept better that they had rough patches (which everyone translated to oh so they were on and off a lot, makes sense) and then tried to say her and Joe had been broken up weeks ago like February for sure. Just to make the timeline less bad 💀 it probably would have worked if we all weren't aware he was there at the Grammys and if Tree herself wasn't still saying he was coming

😂💀🤷🏻‍♀️

Guys, cheaters are crazy. So my partner’s ex-wife, as I’ve told y’all, got caught cheating. Like she came home fucked off her face late one night and he was already in bed (we’re talking like 2AM) and she flung her phone down on the bed and stumbled into the en-suite and her phone was going mental so he looked at it and it was a bunch of texts from this guy thanking her for a great time, asking if she’s okay, and seeing like when they’d meet up again (and also one explicitly saying like “I hope he’s not too angry” which obviously was even more of a 😱 to my bf). So he told her to get the fuck out. Like he got up and he told her to pack some things and get the fuck out. Which she did. She went to the boyfriend’s house.

she then subsequently tried to say, to mutuals, that she was kicked out because he’s nuts and she had nowhere to go (which is objectively not even true because she had her own apartment from pre marriage that she wasn’t letting out at the time - he’s pointed this out because like he’s said he would never even in the heat of the moment tell me to leave because I would legit need time to find a place but also lol like I did leave anyway for a bit so 🤷🏻‍♀️😂) so she went to a friend’s house and happened to meet this guy there that very night lol and idk how she thinks anyone believed that especially since subsequently it transpired he was not the first side piece. But yeah she tried to fudge that timeline badly. That’s what cheaters do. She also, even when admitting to the cheating, said stuff about how my bf pushed her to do it because he was withdrawn and cold and not very nice. So like they… sound like similar situations.

I don’t think she’s an evil cunt - he obviously does - but I do think she’s crazy lol and same for Taylor. Not an evil cunt and obviously has her own internal logic about how it all went down but like… kinda crazy lol.

[tadpolesonalgae]

CBMTHY: I think Azriel being so mysterious and elusive is what keeps us all hooked, so good job on that! But I gotta say it does drive me NUTS how inconsistent he is. Especially now that is kinda? clear that Elain isn't exactly returning his interests (going to see Lucien? that's progress baby) so while reader isn't entitled to his affection he could at least be neutral to her lol. It's not like she's putting herself as competition, and he's made it clear to her that she isn't.

He's jealous and then mean af, understanding and then dismissive, and I don't really read him as fighting his feelings, just as him being mercurial as a character flaw. Or that he doesn't really like her much, but remembers he has to be nice because he thinks she can't handle honesty (and that she's the High Lady's sister). Which is fine. It just drives me insane >.<

Anyway I've said this in another ask but your writing really has me hooked and I love your prose so much. It's amazing. Thank you for all that you do. You could write a Kermit x Big Bird fic and I'd eat it up!

While he isn’t explicitly comparing her to Elain (apart from that one comment, Az🙄), and reader isn’t doing it consciously either, Elain is the one she’s closest with and cares the most about, so it’s pretty easy for her to see why Azriel would want Elain over her—not in a completely healthy way :/

‘just as him being mercurial as a character flaw.’

If, like me, you don’t know what this means:

Mercurial. subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind. E.g. "his mercurial temperament" Similar: volatile, capricious

(Damn good word—thank you for introducing it into my vocabulary 😌)

Although—I don’t think I properly elaborated on it in the first part—she has changed parts of herself to appear “more appealing”, like the whole:

‘…instead plastering on a smile that you hope he reads as oops, look at me! There I go again, haha.’

‘…giving him a smile that reads, can you really blame me for not wanting to talk about Elain all the time?’

So while Az is very observant, he was also much more preoccupied with thinking about her older sister and she was fully complicit in the spying sessions 🫠🥲

‘You could write a Kermit x Big Bird fic and I'd eat it up!’

Ah yes, the angsty + smutty mermaid!kermit x Vampire!Big Bird fic that I’ve secretly been working on all this time 🤫